Life Is Hard, and This Dad Can Only Sigh

In the spring of Star Calendar Year 15, Luo Ke, a top student in the mecha design department at the Federal Interstellar Academy, found a tiny kitten on the verge of death in an alien nest. Kindhearted Luo Ke rescued it and named it Yuanyuan, wishing it a healthy, chubby life.

Not long after bringing Yuanyuan home, the men's dorm in Building 11 went into an uproar when an adorable baby was spotted crying in the hallway, looking for his father.

"Holy crap! Which one of you guys has a kid already?"

"Hey, does anyone have milk? Bring some down for the baby!"

"Move aside, I've got candy. Let me calm him down!"

About ten minutes later, Yuanyuan had been more or less soothed. He sniffled, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, then took a photograph from his little pocket. In a soft, tearful voice, he said, "Daddy. Find."

When they saw the photo clearly, the men's dorm erupted in a chorus of wails.

"Isn't that Luo Ke, the beauty and top student in our mecha design department? This makes no sense! Where did the ice-cold guy get a son?"

-

Luo Ke, who had been single for twenty years, recently experienced two surreal events.

First: the tiny kitten he'd been raising turned into a toddler of about two or three.

Second: a DNA test from the hospital showed that Yuanyuan was his biological son.

Luo Ke: Wait, what? Does this make any sense?

His duty of raising a cat had become the duty of raising a child. Parenting classes, little clothes, and baby food drained what had been a somewhat substantial wallet.

Life was hard. The baby's dad sighed.

Just as Luo Ke was getting ready to live on dirt to afford raising the child, an unexpected visitor arrived outside his dorm room.

The handsome man stood in a crisp military uniform. Seeing the face that had often appeared in interstellar military news left Luo Ke dazed.

The man's deep eyes settled on Luo Ke. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Lu Mingyao."

Lu Mingyao was an Interstellar Marshal with a long list of military achievements, the strongest mecha pilot of his generation, and a celebrated hero known throughout the stars. He had once ventured alone into a heavily contaminated zone, fought the four Lords of Contamination single-handedly, and liberated countless contaminated star systems.

But hadn't the news said that his mindscape had collapsed and he'd gone completely insane?

Luo Ke tensed and quietly backed away, but the baby didn't see it that way!

Hearing the familiar voice, Yuanyuan quickly climbed out of bed, pattered to the door in his slippers, and reached out his little hands to Lu Mingyao. "Yay! Uncle, hold me!"

Lu Mingyao picked up the soft, adorable child he'd been longing for and took out a stack of documents. "The central AI informed me that I need to fulfill my parental visitation obligations. Here's the DNA comparison report I received. Please take a look."

Luo Ke's pupils shook. "...???"

-

The talkative little kitten had wandered into Lu Mingyao's mindscape just as it was on the verge of collapse. The gentle psychic power they shared had helped him hold on to his last shred of clarity.

"Uncle, Yuanyuan, Daddy, pick up?"

"Yuanyuan, little house, no trouble."

"Baby, Yuanyuan, pretty OwO+"

"Uncle, poor poor, raising Yuanyuan, expensive TAT"

Hearing the little one's plaintive, tearful voice in his mindscape, the marshal, whom the hospital had declared unlikely to regain consciousness anytime soon, promptly performed a medical miracle.

Lu Mingyao opened his eyes in the medical pod, with only one thought in his mind.

No matter what had happened, he had to find this father and son.

Now. Immediately. At once!

[Reading Notes]

1. The baby came back from the future.

2. Yuanyuan is a long-haired golden shaded cat and incredibly adorable ww

Theme: After weathering the storm, you'll always see a rainbow