IPC Chapter 51: Firm

Interstellar Power Couple

Translator: Leslie

Quality Check: Lala

Editor: Chesh

First Published on Chaleuria

Chapter 51: Firm

The energy he had saved to defeat Godzilla was depleted just like that. Lei Jue’s devastation at that could not possibly be greater. However, at that moment, he was probably the only person who would think of such a problem, because everyone was still rather bewildered by his existence.

It was already certain now that Lei Jue wasn’t solely a wood elemental ability user, but… how was this possible? Wasn’t Lei Jianwei a normal plant elemental ability user? No one had ever heard that his mother was an ability user as well, so how did this anomaly of a person come to be?

Xiao Lingyu was stupefied as well. While he was happy for his wife because he was becoming more incredible by the day, he felt immensely pressured. He felt that his S-plus rank elemental ability that would, to anyone else, seem like it could take over the world, was practically garbage when compared to his wife’s dual elemental powers and ability to control animals.

It was at that moment that Lei Jue turned his head. “Do you still need to reevaluate my elemental power?”

Everyone looked toward Party Leader Li.

Party Leader Li’s expression still wasn’t good, but his attitude had taken a slight turn for the better. He nodded. “If you can, I hope that you can comply.”

The freshly snuffed embers of hope within the vice party leader and Lei Jianying began burning again upon hearing those words.

They didn’t expect that Lei Jue would still firmly say “No.” 

Lei Jue looked at Lei Jianying. “Unless there is an outcome I’m pleased with for the past abuse I suffered at the hands of others, I refuse to hand over my biological samples.” 

Lei Jianying sorely wished to flay Lei Jue alive upon hearing those words. However, with the reveal of Lei Jue’s possession of two elemental powers, on top of the presence of the Xiao patriarch and his son, he didn’t dare to do anything then. In addition to that, someone had brought up the delicate term of ‘divine retribution’ earlier, which was why everyone was still somewhat unsure for the moment. It had only been limited to plants withering when Lei Jue had used their life force to give the emperor hawks a new lease on life, so what would happen if someone were to oppose Lei Jue again? Would it only be limited to something that simple?

Party Leader Li nodded. “Alright, this case will be investigated properly as soon as possible.”

The vice party leader’s expression was darker than a storm. “Party Leader, are you just going to let him act like this?” He pointed at Lei Jue. “His power is this unusual, so of course it is more imperative that we determine the cause of it!” 

Just as he finished speaking, with a rumbling roar, a peal of thunder resonated from the sky. The clear, cloudless sky was abruptly cloaked in grey clouds.

That thunder seemed to sound right by the vice president’s ear. Instantly, he paled.

The hall was once again completely silent.

Half a beat later, the head of the audit panel opened his mouth. He first turned to look at Lei Jue, then turned to look at the others. “Party Leader….”

Party Leader Li eyed Lei Jue with a complicated expression.

The head of the Elemental User Council, President Yu, furrowed his brows. “This is the will of the heavens. Are we only going to cease this when a mistake that cannot be revoked is made?”

Plop, plop, plop…

Rain began pouring in torrential buckets outside. The emperor hawks, butterflies, and the rainbow birds began hiding from the rain. This building had no eaves, so they flew into the hall through the window that Xiao Lingyu had blasted open. In no time at all, the conference table was completely overtaken by them. Not even the canopies were spared. They didn’t seem to fear people, either, as they searched for a place to settle down after flying inside. Despite that, most of the butterflies came to rest on Lei Jue.

After a few moments, only Lei Jue’s head could still be seen.

Seeing Lei Jue’s predicament, Party Leader Li said, “You two should go back first.”

“Do we go back now?” Xiao Lingyu asked Lei Jue.

Lei Jue looked around the room filled with critters taking shelter from the rain. “What about them?”

Xiao Lingyu fiddled with his communicator. In just a few minutes, three jumbo tour aircraft flew right outside of the building. They came to a stop about two meters away from the broken window, and as one, their doors opened.

Lei Jue raised his left hand. A pale, golden light began emanating from his fingertips and drifting away, reminiscent of a drop of ink slowly expanding. The light drifted to every single corner. With this stunt, his wisdom energy was now utterly depleted. The little animals seemed to have received some unknown signal and began flying into the aircraft.

Once the last animal had flown into the aircraft, Xiao Lingyu shut the door. “Dad, do we need to wait for you?” he asked Xiao Zhicheng.

“No, I’ll return with your Uncle Si and Uncle Qi. You two have a safe trip,” said Xiao Zhicheng.

Xiao Lingyu nodded, then followed Lei Jue onto their personal aircraft to lead the way and bring animals back to the floating mountain.

The plants on the mountain were dripping with rainwater; it was apparent that it had rained here as well, but it had stopped now. Lei Jue watched as the emperor hawks and rainbow birds flew out from their aircraft and scattered in all directions, then followed Xiao Lingyu to look at the statue of Lord Lyniel for a while.

“Why does the child representing wood-type elemental powers have a sprout on his head? He looks rather like how I did as a kid.” Lei Jue couldn’t understand why a Golden Fruit clansperson, who only existed on Maikalun, would be here with a statue of the god of nature on Casweir.

“It might just be a coincidence, but the probability of a connection is certainly high.” Xiao Lingyu wrapped his arms around Lei Jue’s shoulders. “Do you want to go for a stroll up the mountain?”

“Maybe next time, the road is still wet right now. Curly’s burning up, too.” With that, Lei Jue and Xiao Lingyu returned to the Holy Eagles Mecha Corps.

It was late at night over at the mecha corps. Qi Yu, Lu Xian, and the others were beyond exhausted after their training. Despite that, they still hadn’t slept yet. When they heard someone enter the building, they immediately came out to see what was going on.

Although no rumors had spread from their stint at parliament, several people had seen the plants dying outside the building when Lei Jue was enraged. Many netizens had also snapped pictures of the large groups of emperor hawks, rainbow birds, and butterflies flying in the direction of the parliament building. This wasn’t a common sight, so there were already posts online in search of the truth.

Qi Yu had been stewing in his curiosity for most of the day already. When he saw Xiao Lingyu and Lei Jue return, he hurriedly asked, “Just what in the world happened there? Emperor hawks, butterflies, and all that… it’s become quite the stir.” 

The incident had been transformed into a fantastical story online. Some straight-up called it a sign from god. Others wondered whether someone had been struck by the lightning from the impromptu thunderstorm that had showed up out of the blue on a clear day. 

“Someone wanted Little Jue’s biological samples. We didn’t agree to submit them, so there was a stiff argument between us and the others,” said Xiao Lingyu. “Little Jue then pulled out the big guns and summoned some animals from the floating mountain that the statue of the god of nature is on.”

“Wait, that works?!” If this was true, Qi Yu thought it would be an incredible happening. 

“What big guns? I just attract animals.” Lei Jue was still a little shaken from the incident. In truth, when Xiao Zhicheng was speaking, they had indeed thought of faking “divine retribution” in order to shake up the people there. However, the withered trees and thunder really weren’t his doing; he still wasn’t capable of pulling such flashy feats.

Xiao Lingyu simply took off his communicator and placed it on a side table to show Qi Yu and the others some of the highlights that he had recorded earlier.

Lei Jue went to take a shower. Xiao Lingyu stood and pondered for a bit, then he and Si Qing took the protective cover off of the golden fruit to look at it. The crack on the golden fruit had already healed a little, these past two days, but Lei Jue didn’t dare to sprinkle blood over the tree’s roots. The good news was that it had been gradually, but steadily growing.

“How was it? It didn’t lose any leaves, right?” Seeing Xiao Lingyu come up, Qi Yu teased him.

“Mm.” Xiao Lingyu sat down. “Don’t you think it was like watching an epic xuanhuan movie?”

“Yeah, Lei Jue was too awesome there,” Lu Xian said in admiration. “And your metal elemental power, too. The color was just so… pure. But speaking of that, just what is Lei Jue’s second elemental power? Is it metal too? From its colour and what it looked like, it doesn’t seem like it.”

“It probably isn’t metal, but we aren’t sure right now what element it is.” Xiao Lingyu thought of that time back then. When he saw Lei Jue send out that beam of energy, Lei Jue had also been somewhat surprised. It was apparent that he hadn’t anticipated that things would turn out like that. Regardless, it was still truly impressive.

Since it was already very late, Xiao Lingyu did not continue conversing, returning to the house instead. Lei Jue had already finished his shower and was sitting on the bed clad in a pair of underpants, with a towel slung over his neck as he checked his hair in the mirror.

He had dyed his hair because he wanted to be seductive, but Lei Jue was indifferent to the hair color. It didn’t seem ugly, though, so he didn’t touch it again. However, once his hair had grown, the roots were now an obviously different color from the rest of his hair. This was making him feel rather conflicted.

“I’m going to dye my hair again tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I think your original hair color looks better,” said Xiao Lingyu. “Your current hair looks too provocative.”

“Oh shush you! Why do you think I dyed it in the first place?” Lei Jue flung the towel into Xiao Lingyu’s face, then lay down on his side to look at him. “What’s your opinion of Party Leader Li and the vice party leader?”

“Both of them are problematic,” said Xiao Lingyu. “The vice party leader was the one who proposed your reevaluation, but Party Leader Li was the one who was insistent about you providing biological samples. Both of them said it would be an absolutely fair and honest test. On the surface, the vice president might be the man behind Lei Jianying, but Party Leader Li… I can’t put it in words, but, I just feel that his situation isn’t as simple as it looks.”

“Let’s see what happens in the end. I wonder what their response will be to me refusing to forgive Lei Jianying no matter what.” Lei Jue laid spreadeagle on the bed, stretching out all four of his limbs before moving his left hand.

His wisdom energy was depleted, but it wasn’t a bad thing. He now knew that apart from being able to influence animals, his wisdom energy was also capable of offense, to a certain extent, so he should heal even more in the future to accumulate more wisdom energy. In the future, he might also be able to defend himself.

“Oh yeah, you went to see the primary fruit right? How is it?”

“The crack is already beginning to heal a bit. It’s still growing normally.” Xiao Lingyu took off his clothes. “What happens if the crack were to fully heal? How are we going to get in in the future? Don’t tell me that I’ll need to ask your uncle about this.” He didn’t want to be frustrated when he couldn’t get into the fruit once it had grown in the future!

“Like this.” Lei Jue raised a leg and extended it inside of Xiao Lingyu’s underwear, fondling his c*ck neither too gently nor roughly. “Hey, what did you eat to grow so big?”

Smack! 

Xiao Lingyu slapped Lei Jue’s leg. “Quit messing around. I’m going to shower. You should go to sleep.”

“Meh, I can’t sleep.” Lei Jue was a little depressed. When he used to live at home, it was convenient to bathe Xiao Lei; he could either do it at home or at a pet center. Now that he was in the mecha corps, it wasn’t quite as easy to go out, and there weren’t any large baths around here.

The only way was probably to bring Xiao Lei out every time he went to administer treatment, and wash him along the way. 

Just as Lei Jue finished thinking this, his communicator rang. It was Xiao Zhicheng.

“Dad, are you travelling now?” Lei Jue quickly shrugged on some house clothes before opening the hologram feed and seeing an interior view of Xiao Zhicheng’s fighter aircraft. Xiao Zhicheng was there, along with Qi Yu and Si Qing’s fathers, so he smiled and waved at them.

“That’s right. You and Little Fifth are fine, right?” Xiao Zhicheng laughed and asked.

“We’re both quite fine. However, we might have to impose on your help again.” It wasn’t as simple as acting cool at a Parliamentary meeting and being done with it, the aftermath still needed Xiao Zhicheng’s help to be cleaned up. 

“We’re a family. Whether it’s a bother or not, it’s fine so long as the two of you are doing well. In addition to that, you promised parliament that you’ll help to heal the injured in the other districts, that’s why you’ll find that more people will be seeking you out. However, all treatment must be carried on Holy Eagles grounds. If you can, do not go out of the Holy Eagles’ territory.”

“Alright, I’ll watch myself. Rest assured. Also, you don’t have to worry about me being tired. As long as they are people who well and truly need help, you should let them come over.” Lei Jue thought inwardly, I’ll be relying on those ‘morsels’ in the future!

“Good child, you should go rest early.” Xiao Zhicheng was about to cut the call, but Xiao Lingyu suddenly charged in butt naked, yelling, “Dad, wait a second!”

“F*ck, Xiao Lingyu, are you trying to be a streaking idiot here! I’ve got this on full hologram mode!” Lei Jue was impressed; what a shameless fellow!

“Weren’t you wearing nothing but your underwear earlier? Why do you have full hologram mode switched on!” Xiao Lingyu scuttled back into the washroom. However, the omni-directional hologram mode had already captured the image of his naked body and broadcasted it to Xiao Zhicheng’s fighter aircraft.

Both Si Qing and Qi Yu’s fathers, who were on the aircraft, couldn’t stifle their amusement at the sight of Xiao Lingyu rushing in butt naked and rushing out again. “I never knew that Little Jue could swear like that,” said Si Wannian.

Although Lei Jue wasn’t the centerpiece of this embarrassing incident, his face still instantly flashed an impressive crimson hue. “I apologize for letting both of you witness such an embarrassing scene.”

Qi Min’s laughter wasn’t as raucous as Si Wannian’s—he had the air of a well-behaved gentleman. However, this laughter-that-wasn’t-quite laughter was even more embarrassing to Lei Jue. “As I said, such a reserved person couldn’t possibly tame Lingyu.”

Lei Jue could only laugh dryly. “About that… Uncle Qi, Qi Yu and the others might not have gone to bed yet. Do you want me to call them?”

Qi Min waved a hand in dismissal. “There’s no need. Go ask Lingyu if he has anything to say. If there’s nothing else, your father is going to hang up now.”

“Lingyu, are you still not done yet?” Lei Jue shouted towards the washroom. “Didn’t you want to tell Dad something earlier?”

“Nothing, nothing. You can just hang up,” Xiao Lingyu called out from the washroom.

Lei Jue hung up. After a moment, upon seeing that Xiao Lingyu still hadn’t emerged yet, he grabbed the photon computer and scrolled through the news. He had originally wanted to chat with Xiao Lingyu once he came out, since he was unable to sleep, but he hadn’t anticipated that the first news article he would see was an article announcing that Feng Gu and Lei Haige were with child. Meanwhile, the websites that he and Xiao Lingyu were on were flooded with questions about when they would have a child. After scrolling for a while, he decided not to reply at all. He simply sat there, bothered by everything.

It was then that Xiao Lingyu finally emerged from the washroom. Lei Jue immediately closed the tab he was on.

Xiao Lingyu chuckled. “Do you have to be like this? It’s just Feng Gu and Lei Haige announcing that they’re going to be fathers.”

Lei Jue was impressed. “How did you know?”

Xiao Lingyu sat on his bed. “Since you have such thick skin, your awkwardness definitely can’t be because you’re embarrassed because you were looking at handsome naked men. You don’t like pretty ladies, either, so the only reason could be another matter that would make you evasive.”

Lei Jue mulled it over. It really wasn’t a big deal, now that he thought about it, so he shrugged. “I’m just here to watch the bloodbath, both sides are quite ferocious.”

The Western Moon District had more Feng Gu and Lei Haige fans, while they had more fans in Northern Ling. The two sides typically didn’t engage with each other. A while ago, when Xiao Lingyu was revealed to have S-plus metal elemental powers, their fans had been jubilant beyond belief. It had made Feng Gu and Lei Haige’s fans quiet down for a bit. Now that Feng Gu and Lei Haige were about to have a kid, those fans naturally came over in excitement to Lei Jue and Xiao Lingyu websites to show off and return the favor. Although these actions were indeed quite childish, being a fan was like dating; there were those who were more low-key about it, and there were those who were naturally more crazy about it. These insane fans had never dialed down their craziness.

Xiao Lingyu extended a hand, warmth in his eyes, and smiled. “Our future child will definitely surpass theirs.”

Lei Jue placed his hand in his. “Yeah, our child will surpass theirs! It’ll definitely be either a metal or wood type elemental user.”

“Maybe they might even be like you, a dual elemental ability user.” Xiao Lingyu gently ran his fingers across Lei Jue’s palms. “Maybe they’ll inherit the best from both of us.”

Lei Jue thought about it. “Maybe we’d better not.”

“Why?”

Lei Jue simply blinked. “It’ll be too wild.”