At night, Ji Ming, Qin Lin, and Qian Fan, along with Mianmian and Kele, followed Ban Li to the First Legion’s warship.

It was already bedtime, and the two little ones fell asleep on the way.

Qin Lin and Ji Ming carried them to a rest cabin first, leaving Qian Fan sitting alone in the passenger cabin, waiting.

The cabin door opened, and Rong Guang walked in quickly.

“Teacher Qian!”

Hearing the voice, Qian Fan turned his head. His body stiffened, and his hand on the armrest tightened.

“Rong Guang?”

Rong Guang walked over and knelt beside the old man. Under the other’s disbelieving gaze, he was momentarily at a loss for how to explain.

“Coming over so late in person, I’ve made you worry,” he said in a low voice. “I was planning to explain to you after things settled down here.”

Just as he finished, his ear was grabbed.

“You dead brat!” Qian Fan gritted his teeth in anger, twisting his ear. “You didn’t die, but you didn’t think to let me know? Do you know how many times I cried myself unconscious over this?!”

When Qian Fan heard Rong Guang’s voice on the public channel, he thought he had misheard. Later, when he heard him introduce himself, he almost had an existential crisis.

“Hiss—! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts—” Rong Guang didn’t dare to resist or move. “Calm down, your wrinkles are coming out.”

“I can’t be bothered with wrinkles!” Qian Fan was so angry he cried, refusing to let go while sobbing. “My wrinkles are all because of you two, father and son!”

Knowing he was in the wrong, Rong Guang didn’t dare to argue much and could only try to coax him, playing the victim.

“The situation was too dangerous back then. I was afraid of dragging you down, so I didn’t dare to contact you.”

That wasn’t entirely a lie.

Although Qian Fan was also a member of the military command, his heart was in education. He didn’t go to the front lines or participate in party struggles. Both Qian Li and Qin Lin had deliberately kept him from getting too involved in military affairs, wanting him to focus on his beloved career in education.

After a long time of coaxing and half a pack of tissues, he finally managed to calm the man down.

Qian Fan, his eyes red, sniffled. “And later? Surely you couldn’t have been unable to find an opportunity all this time?”

Rong Guang sat down next to him, preparing to weave a story, only to hear Qian Fan’s cool voice, “You’d better think carefully before you speak.”

Rong Guang: “…”

If he didn’t speak, Qian Fan would twist his ear. But if he spoke too much, it would be hard to explain to Qian Li.

Rong Guang thought for a moment and decided to sell out Qin Lin.

“When I realized the situation was serious, I had to be wary of the enemy’s tracking and also had to investigate on various planets. Even communication had to be done through code.” He sighed lightly. “Later, I found an opportunity to contact Professor Qin. I thought he had told you—”

The passenger cabin door suddenly opened, and Qin Lin happened to hear the last half of the sentence.

Receiving a sharp glare from his old partner, he shivered and unconsciously took half a step back.

Wife is angry. It’s over.

Ji Ming watched and sneered, “Afraid of your wife? Pathetic.”

Qin Lin: “Someone without a wife wouldn’t understand this kind of happiness.”

Ji Ming: “…”

---

In another rest cabin, the air was burning.

Rong Shi pressed the man against the wall. His collar was pulled messily, revealing a love bite on his neck, and large beads of sweat slid down from his temples.

Song Yu’s long fingers wiped away his sweat, and he lightly bit his lips, his voice languid. “My shirt is dirty from your stuff.”

Rong Shi chased his lips for a kiss. “Change into mine.”

They were so close they could feel each other’s breath.

After the kiss, Song Yu pulled back slightly, looking at him with a smile. “Again?”

Rong Shi was terribly tempted. His remaining rationality checked the time; there was no more time.

“Business first.”

Song Yu’s beautiful brows furrowed slightly, displeased.

He reached out and touched Rong Shi’s lower back. “As compensation, I get to go inside next time.”

Rong Shi’s expression was calm. He grabbed the mischievous cat paw and brought it to his lips for a kiss, reminding him, “Blank cheque.”

Song Yu’s face stiffened.

Rong Shi looked at him with a smile. “His Highness wouldn’t go back on his word, would he?”

Song Yu gritted his teeth. I’ll go back on it if I want to. He spouted nonsense with a straight face, “The one who owes the debt is the eighteen-year-old me. He has already disappeared. The one now is the forty-three-year-old me.”

“It doesn’t matter, as long as someone pays it back.” Rong Shi held him, his kisses falling on his forehead and the side of his face. “Eighteen or forty-three, I’m fine with either. I’m not picky.”

Song Yu: “…”

Rong Shi: “Let’s start paying it back when school resumes.”

Song Yu: “…”

Thinking about the number of checks he had casually promised back then, Song Yu’s scalp tingled.

“Gege…”

“I’m looking forward to the days you pay back your debt.” Rong Shi patted his head, ignoring his cute act. “First day, remember to wear the cat ears.”

Song Yu: “…Fuck.”

---

Ten minutes later, the two of them came out of the rest cabin and went to the passenger cabin. Ji Ming and Qin Lin had been waiting for a long time.

Smelling the same scent of toiletries on them, Ji Ming’s face was dark, wanting to lecture them but feeling he didn’t have the right.

“Where’s Father?” Rong Shi asked.

“He went to see Mianmian.” Qin Lin held a wet towel to his swollen cheek. “You can leave when you’re ready.”

Song Yu looked at his face. “Who hit you?”

Qin Lin said with a straight face, “I fell myself.”

Song Yu: “At your age, you should take it easy.”

Qin Lin: “…”

They were going to his hometown to pick up his dad. Rong Shi had originally planned to go with just Song Yu, but on second thought, he decided to bring Ji Ming along. He was the one who had personally modified his dad, so he should have a better understanding of his dad’s physical condition. It was a good opportunity to have him checked while changing the hibernation pod.

Qin Lin also said he wanted to go see, so the two of them came along.

Speaking of which, after Mianmian was born, he was cultured in vitro for two years. His dad and Mianmian were very unfamiliar with each other.

Especially Mianmian. Adding up his past and present lives, this was the first time he had seen his dad.

Only Father is left.

Rong Shi didn’t go to disturb them and boarded the small warship with the others.

Since there was no need for a battle, the atmosphere in the main cabin was not so tense.

Rong Shi made coffee and brought it to Song Yu, then chatted with Ji Ming and Qin Lin about his father’s condition.

“The medicine Mianmian is taking was sent by you, right?” Rong Shi looked at Qin Lin. “We also found the same medicine in the military hospital.”

At that time, he thought this medicine was causing Mianmian’s weakness, but now it seemed that was not the case.

If his dad was an experimental subject, then Mianmian’s illness was very likely hereditary. That medicine was to stabilize the function of his glands.

Qin Lin shook his head. “I know about this, but I didn’t send the medicine.”

Rong Shi immediately thought of another person.

“Xiao Yu’s father?”

Hearing this, Song Yu put down the sugar spoon and looked up.

Seeing Qin Lin nod, Rong Shi asked again, “Then the underground laboratory at the military hospital on Snow Star is also his?”

Qin Lin: “You can’t say it’s his, but he was assigned to Snow Star as an observer, responsible for recording the experimental subjects’ physical data and giving them regular injections of stabilizers, which is SYT7737.”

Thinking about what Rong Guang had said before, Song Yu’s fingertips grazed the rim of the coffee cup. He asked in a low voice, “Are observers usually quite free, able to move around at will?”

“How can there be freedom in the organization?” Ji Ming interjected with a dark face. “Especially for medical experts, the intensity of surveillance is several times that of other personnel!”

Qin Lin: “From what I know, each observer is accompanied by at least three supervisors, responsible for overseeing their work. Any abnormal behavior would result in them being taken back to the organization. For minor offenses, they would be transferred to other areas. For serious ones, they would be placed under house arrest to work in the base. Refer to Old Ji.”

Ji Ming turned his head away with a huff.

So that’s how it was.

Rong Shi couldn’t help but think of the several times Shen Sinian had hinted at him with objects. That appearance, forget freedom, it was more like being constantly watched.

Compared to his father, he could move around in more places on the surface, but his every move was restricted.

It was very difficult and dangerous to collect and transmit intelligence under such conditions.

Rong Shi took Song Yu’s hand and held it in his palm.

Previously, the kitten had pretended that nothing was wrong, but it seems he still cared a lot in his heart.

“Don’t believe that mouth of my father’s,” Rong Shi comforted him in a low voice. “Besides major decisions, not a single word he says is true.”

Qin Lin was confused. After hearing Rong Shi’s explanation, he cursed with a laugh, “That brat! He’s really good at putting others down.”

He explained to Song Yu, “Over the years, we have been relying on Rong Guang and your dad to collect intelligence on the organization. He was responsible for investigating external labs and bases, while your father was responsible for collecting data on drugs and experimental subjects internally. He was so heavily monitored that he couldn’t contact anyone. How could your father move around freely?”

Song Yu’s face relaxed, then his brow furrowed again.

“Was it your decision to let him carry out such a mission?”

Putting other things aside, he was the Queen. Even if the palace wasn’t safe, he could have gone into hiding elsewhere and returned when it was safe. There was no need to do this.

“He requested it himself,” Qin Lin said.

Song Yu thought to himself, as expected.

No one can make his dad do anything unless he himself is willing.

Thinking of something, Qin Lin sighed. “I only heard some things from my father-in-law. Your dad has a high aptitude in the medical field. If it were someone else, it would have been impossible to infiltrate the organization so quickly.”

Rong Shi asked, “What happens if an experimental subject doesn’t receive stabilizer injections for a long time?”

Understanding his underlying meaning, Ji Ming answered, “For ordinary experimental subjects who don’t receive injections for a long time, their glands will gradually atrophy, eventually losing their enhanced effects. At worst, they become slightly weaker than an average omega. But—A-Ruo and A-Ling are different.”

Rong Shi and Song Yu looked at him at the same time.

Thinking about what happened back then, Ji Ming’s expression was complicated.

“Experimental subjects are roughly divided into two types. One is genetic modification, where their pheromones are strong from birth. The other is postnatal modification through drug injections, which relies more on drugs to maintain. But the former is not easy to modify a second time, while the latter, through repeated stimulation by drugs, can greatly change the pheromone curve.”

Rong Shi immediately thought of 203, the omega who was a one hundred percent match for him.

The other party had undergone several modifications in order to match the pheromones of the mission target.

The side effects of this drug modification were also very obvious. Once the drug was stopped, the omega’s physical functions would rapidly decline.

Song Yu was confused. “So you created Ji Ling with my king-father as the target from the very beginning?”

“How is that possible?!” Being questioned again, Ji Ming became emotional. “Not to mention His Majesty had only just been born at that time. Even if I were aiming for him, I wouldn’t have been able to collect pheromone data!”

Song Yu: “Then what’s the deal with his pheromones?”

Ji Ming’s face was ugly. He opened his mouth but couldn’t say it.

“It was an accident,” Qin Lin helped him answer. “It was also one of the reasons I strongly opposed the continuation of this research back then.”

His voice was low, his mood heavy. “We obtained a large amount of data from animal experiments and simulation tests showing that the modified pheromones had a nearly uniform attraction to all members of the opposite sex. In other words, they could achieve a high compatibility with anyone.”

Achieving a high compatibility, even 100%, with all alphas?!

Rong Shi and Song Yu were both surprised.

“I really didn’t think that much back then,” Ji Ming’s mood was downcast. “I just happened to be doing this research, and just happened to want a child, so I did it. I didn’t expect—”

“Everyone hopes their child is the best. I never thought of making them do those things.”

By the end, Ji Ming’s voice was trembling.

Song Yu: “Then why did you help that organization create experimental subjects?”

Ji Ming supported his forehead, pained. “Besides my two children, I never touched any other experimental subjects.”

Rong Shi and Song Yu exchanged a look, both understanding the other’s thoughts.

The ambitious Lin Quan had used this research to try to create more super-omegas like Ji Ling and Ji Ruo. But although Ji Ming was kept in the dark, he had his own principles, which led him to have to hire another medical team to replicate his technology.

But from the results, the replication failed, but instead, it created super-omegas tailored for each target alpha.

---

Imperial Capital Star Airspace

Song Zheng and Qian Li finished their meeting and returned to the rest cabin.

It was already past midnight. The bedroom was pitch black. The door to the study next door was ajar, and a little light shone through from inside.

He walked over and gently pushed the door open.

On the large desk, various medical literature and materials were piled messily. The ashtray on the corner of the desk was full of cigarette butts, and a few sheets of paper with notes were scattered on the floor by the desk.

Shen Sinian was slumped over the desk, already asleep.

Song Zheng picked up the papers from the floor and skimmed through them.

It was a record of an experimental subject’s physical data, with dense notes on the side about possible symptoms and medication recommendations for each stage.

He tidied up the materials and placed them on the desk, then carefully lifted the man up and walked out of the study.

Just as he placed him on the bed, the person in his arms woke up.

“Song Zheng?” Shen Sinian’s voice was muffled and hoarse.

“It’s me.” Song Zheng kissed his forehead. “This is not your burden alone. Don’t be too anxious. We’ll handle it one thing at a time. It will get better.”

“You have the nerve to say that.” Shen Sinian smiled faintly, humming. “If I hadn’t married you, I wouldn’t have so many worries.”

Seeing him smile, Song Zheng couldn’t help but smile too.

“It’s too late for regrets. In this life, you are destined to bear this with me.”

---

The warship was very fast. Coupled with the use of military jump points, they reached their destination in just over two hours.

The sanatorium was as quiet as ever.

At the door of room 9899, Rong Shi scanned his terminal to open it.

Everything in the room was unchanged from his last visit. His dad lay there with his eyes closed, as if he would open them at any moment and call his name with a smile.

“A-… A-Ruo?” Ji Ming walked to the hibernation pod, his hands clenched at his sides.

“You two, get ready,” Rong Shi said, pressing a few buttons on the panel that popped up from the hibernation pod. The transparent protective cover then opened.

Ji Ming took a deep breath, took out tools from the medical kit he brought with him, and began to check Ji Ruo’s physical condition. Qin Lin checked the various data recorded by the hibernation pod.

Rong Shi and Song Yu stepped aside, watching them work, occasionally exchanging words and taking out injections from the medical kit.

Seeing Rong Shi’s tense expression out of the corner of his eye, Song Yu took his hand and held it.

“Dad will be fine.”

Rong Shi squeezed back but said nothing.

An hour later, Ji Ming closed the protective cover, activated the hibernation pod, and sighed in relief.

“A few more blood circulations, and he should wake up within an hour at the latest.”

Rong Shi’s eyes flashed. “Really?”

Ji Ming nodded and looked at him. “He’s not as serious as he looks. I’ve already missed his entire life. I won’t let him miss yours.”

Since he would wake up in an hour, they decided to wait for him to wake up and confirm his physical condition before deciding on a plan to move him.

Rong Shi didn’t want to go anywhere and stayed by the hibernation pod.

Song Yu stayed by his side and chuckled in a low voice, “Looking at it now, Mianmian is the real winner in life.”

Rong Shi: “Hm?”

Song Yu teased, “His father who abandoned him has returned, his other father is about to wake up, and his brother is right by his side. What a happy little cub. I’m so envious.”

Knowing he was comparing it to the previous life, Rong Shi chuckled lowly and patted his head.

“Your father who abandoned you has returned, your other father is also awake, and your gege-slash-husband is right by your side. Aren’t you happier than Mianmian? Why be envious of him?”

Song Yu looked at him. “I shouldn’t be envious of him. I should be envious of you.”

Rong Shi: “Hm?”

Song Yu leaned over and pecked him on his smooth cheek. “For having a husband who loves you so much.”

Rong Shi squeezed his hand, the smile on his lips deepening.

The little kitten loves sweets. He’s getting sweeter and sweeter.

Ji Ming / Qin Lin, silently acting as background props: “…”

Not enough to flaunt your love, now you’re humble-bragging too. Be decent people!

Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, Rong Shi was stunned and turned his head to look.

In the hibernation pod, Ji Ruo’s hand, resting at his side, suddenly moved—

---

Author’s Note:

One day after returning to school, Song Cat bought a pair of cat ears online.
Rong Bunny passed by and took a look: A cat tail would be nice too. [bunny is reserved]
Song Kitty: … [pervert]
#TheDaysOfPayingBackTheDebtAreAboutToBegin#