53: Identity crisis

Mata City was close at hand.

Thanks to Hain, Zhuang Qi not only didn't question Li's identity, but also provided a lot of extra supplies.

Under Tu Nan's meticulous care, Li was recovering better and better.

"Tu Nan, so you're having a baby?"

Little Bear pestered Tu Nan outside the tent.

"Yes, how did Little Bear know?" Tu Nan asked in surprise, giving Little Bear's chubby cheek a pinch.

Little Bear protected his face, his eyes darting around.

"Mom told me," he said very quietly, for fear of being heard by others. "Then will he have to call me 'Big Brother' when the time comes?"

Tu Nan felt a bit melancholy.

"We'll have to part ways once we reach Mata City. Next time you come to Mata City, I'll introduce my little brother or sister to you, okay?"

"And..." Tu Nan's eyes curved into crescents, "Ji Yu is about to give birth; you're going to be a big brother soon."

Little Bear buried his head in Ji Yu's skirt, looking sullen.

Tu Nan squatted down in surprise and took him into her arms, finding the little guy's eyes welling up with tears, on the verge of crying.

"What's the matter?"

Little Bear hesitated for a long time before asking Tu Nan with a sob, "I... I heard Ken talking to someone, saying Ji Yu might not make it through... that she'll die."

"I hate this little brother. I don't want Ji Yu to die."

Tu Nan suddenly didn't know how to talk to Little Bear.

Prompted by Little Bear, she suddenly realized that her parting with Ji Yu was imminent, and Ji Yu had said before... this birth wouldn't be easy.

Why exactly were Foster Mothers consumed like this? She didn't understand.

"Little Bear..." Tu Nan could only try to distract the child. "Didn't you say last time you wanted to learn how to play with a knife? Li made a little wooden knife for you. Why don't you go find him?"

The child's eyes immediately lit up, forgetting his distress of a moment ago.

"Wow! Really? Then I'll go find Li." Without even wiping the tears from his face, he scurried into Tu Nan's tent.

***

The caravan's beetles stopped moving. Tu Nan ran out of the tent to take a look; the entire caravan was lined up before a towering city.

This was Mata City.

The second largest city on Sand Star.

The beetles driven by the caravan were already tall, but they seemed tiny in front of the city walls.

"Why are the walls here even higher than those in the Capital City?" Tu Nan asked Ji Yu, who was standing beside her.

Ji Yu shook her head, but Li answered her from inside the tent.

"That's because this place possesses the strongest interstellar anti-aircraft weaponry on the entire planet."

"You could say that the fact we can still live on this planet without being wiped out by the Zerg is half thanks to this place."

So that was it; this was the planet's military heart.

Zhuang Qi, the caravan leader, was communicating with the guards at the city gate.

Ji Yu was a bit proud as she told Tu Nan, "Our Oasis Merchant Caravan is exempt from inspection no matter where we go. We are the most welcomed."

But this time, there was clearly an unexpected turn of events.

Zhuang Qi communicated with the guards for a long time before returning dejectedly, followed by a whole squad of soldiers who had marched out from inside the gate.

Before long, Ken came to inform the female quarters that the guards would be coming up shortly to verify identities and inspect belongings.

Tu Nan's brow furrowed slightly.

She retreated into the tent and asked Li in a worried whisper, "Will our identities... stand up to scrutiny?"

Li hesitated for a while but eventually nodded.

But he added cautiously, "A routine inspection should be fine."

Soon, a soldier arrived at the beetle where they were located. Tu Nan and Ji Yu went out of the tent to meet him.

"Sorry for the intrusion, we're just performing a routine check. Please cooperate." This soldier's attire was different from the others, and he seemed to hold a certain rank.

He took out a small square box. Tu Nan now knew that this was a mobile information terminal.

"Ji Yu, Foster Mother."

Just as Tu Nan was wondering why she hadn't seen a bracelet on Ji Yu, she saw the woman turn around and reveal the numbers on the back of her neck. The soldier's expression remained unchanged as he entered the numbers into the machine; a moment later, a 'ding' sounded.

Everything was in order, so he turned to Tu Nan.

Tu Nan extended the hand wearing the bracelet and tapped it against the machine.

With another 'ding', the soldier looked down. With just one glance, his gaze froze. He looked up and carefully sized up the slender, delicate Tu Nan, who lacked both ears and a tail.

He drawled slowly, "Tu Nan, civilian?"

Tu Nan's expression didn't change, and she offered a faint smile.

"Yes, that's me, a traveler with the caravan. Zhuang Qi has taken great care of me; it's thanks to him that I was able to arrive here safely."

She didn't know if the soldier had discovered anything amiss, but she was just a non-threatening Female Beast; they shouldn't make things difficult for her.

Nevertheless, she conveniently dragged Zhuang Qi into it to serve as her endorsement.

The soldier gave a noncommittal grunt and looked at the tent behind them. "And inside?"

"There's also an injured person. This way, please." Tu Nan lifted the tent flap and led the man inside.

Something wasn't right; she had to keep a close eye on things.

The soldier ducked into the tent. The light inside wasn't very bright. After a moment's adjustment, he saw a burly man half-sitting on a floor pallet in the corner.

"Name and status," he inquired as he walked over, efficiently reading the data from the wrist Li extended.

"Li, freeman."

The data lit up, and he looked up to verify Li's appearance. Li's singular looks suddenly met his eyes, and he abruptly took a step back.

"A Chaotic Beast... you don't see those often." He quietly observed the scars on Li's face and his newly regrown ears.

"What happened to these injuries? Stand up and let me see."

"Sir..." Tu Nan spoke up from behind him, "My guard was heavily injured while saving me and cannot get up. My apologies."

Tu Nan took a step forward, slightly blocking Li's line of sight, and pulled something from her bosom to show the soldier.

The soldier's expression instantly changed drastically.

"Otherwise, we wouldn't have placed him on the beetle for the female quarters... You see... shall we go outside to talk?"

The soldier took another look at Li, who had a fierce gaze and didn't look like a heavily injured person at all. Thinking of what Tu Nan had just shown him, he nodded slowly and turned to leave the tent.

"Don't move, okay? Zhuang Qi will help. He definitely won't let the caravan be pushed around by anyone." Tu Nan brought up Zhuang Qi, but Li was skeptical.

He grabbed Tu Nan's hand. "I'm much better. I can fight our way out with you."

Tu Nan sighed inwardly.

She pulled her hand away, leaned down, and gave Li's injured, furry cat ear a peck.

"Leave it to me. We have a child now; we need to be more cautious."

Hearing this, Li shifted his gaze to her lower abdomen and frowned. He really wasn't used to such indirect methods.

When Tu Nan ran out of the tent, the soldier was indeed still waiting for her on the platform. Seeing her come out, he flipped his hand over.

Tu Nan immediately and consciously handed over the token engraved with an eye-shaped pattern.

"How do you have Colonel Kong's medallion?"

Colonel Kong? The first person to jump into Tu Nan's mind was that Kong Jiamu. Perhaps the soldier was talking about him?

"Hain gave it to me. He said I would need this to settle in Mata City."

Tu Nan had originally just wanted to use this token to bluff her way through this inspection, but from the soldier's solemn attitude, she realized it would be better to settle things once and for all.

"He said his friend, Kong Jiamu, would understand his meaning."

Sorry, Hain.

Please help me one more time... If I were to ask you in person, you would agree too.

Right?

Tu Nan let out a melancholy sigh.