Chapter 130: The Child of Miracles

Xie Liu placed the unconscious Wang Qi onto the sofa. After a moment of hesitation, he withdrew a repair robot from his inner pocket. After pondering for a few seconds, he injected this high-value item into Wang Qi’s arm.

Once this was done, Xie Liu pulled a blood-bag-like object from his pocket, busily rigging up a makeshift stand to begin a transfusion for the fellow. After bustling about for over half an hour to get everything in order, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Turning back, he caught sight of the cat-girl sitting in the corner. Xie Liu had wounded her earlier, but after using the ointment he had provided, some color had returned to her face. She was currently cradling the infant, gently coaxing the child to sleep.

Xie Liu dared not look at her. After settling everything for Wang Qi, he found a corner and prepared to sit down. Seeing the blade still stuck in the floor, he scratched his head, thought better of it, pulled it out, and returned it to its sheath.

The atmosphere grew strange. Only moments ago, it had been a standoff filled with murderous intent, but now that tension had vanished. The entire room was deathly quiet; Xie Liu could even hear his own breathing. He didn't dare look at the cat-girl in the corner, staring instead at his own toes.

"What is wrong with me?" Xie Liu rubbed his forehead. "Aren't they my targets? Why am I helping them?" He awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes darting around the room.

Only now did he carefully observe the layout. It was a delicately decorated little room with a warm theme. The entire space used warm tones: walls painted orange, piles of tangerine-colored teddy bears, and violet-red sandalwood flooring that still emitted an antique fragrance.

The only thing that looked slightly out of place was the string of wind chimes hanging by the window; because the window was tightly shut, the chimes remained perfectly still.

The room was too quiet. After two minutes, Xie Liu could no longer bear it. He turned and walked out.

First, he removed all the steel wires he had set up on the first floor. Then, he cleared away the shattered railings on the second floor, cleaned up the corpses, and scrubbed the place spotless. Finally, looking unsatisfied, he found some repair tools and fixed all the furniture that could be salvaged, returning everything to its original place.

Having finished all this, Xie Liu packed the trash into several large bags and threw them into the dumpster at the end of the street. Only then did he return, satisfied.

Then, he checked the time.

"How has it only been forty minutes?" Xie Liu leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor like a pile of sludge. With nothing left to do, the restless Xie Liu felt completely out of sorts.

With a constipated expression, Xie Liu returned to the third-floor room, just as the severely wounded Wang Qi was waking up.

"Where am I? Am I dead?" the man asked. Xie Liu let out a cold snort. "Consider yourself lucky; you're not dead yet."

Hearing Xie Liu’s voice, Wang Qi sat up abruptly, only to collapse back to the floor due to the sharp pain in his chest. After struggling for a few moments, he managed to sit up, glaring coldly at Xie Liu. "What do you want? Are you here to kill us?"

"If I really wanted to kill you, would you still be alive to talk?" Xie Liu crossed his arms, casting a look of disdain at the man. This guy was clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed; nine out of ten questions he asked were nonsense.

"Huh?" Wang Qi looked puzzled, glancing down at himself. "You're actually not killing me? I'm actually not dead?"

Xie Liu felt a headache coming on. Fine, expecting this guy to drive the conversation was clearly a lost cause. He decided to get straight to the point, gesturing toward the cat-girl and the infant in the corner. "Explain this. What is going on here?"

"I knew you were up to no good!" Wang Qi’s expression changed the moment Xie Liu pointed at the cat-girl and the baby. "You lackey of the City, I won't let you succeed."

Xie Liu truly felt like strangling this man. If he wanted to kill the cat-girl and her child, he would have done it already—why bother wasting his breath? But seeing the man’s deep hostility, he realized he needed to explain himself.

"Don't be so hasty. I won't lay a hand on you again, at least not until I get to the bottom of this." Xie Liu raised his hands to show he wasn't holding any weapons. "I just want to talk to you."

Seeing that Xie Liu really wasn't attacking, Wang Qi asked, "What exactly do you want?"

"Sigh, finally," Xie Liu exhaled. This guy’s thought process was truly slow. "Nothing much. I just want to ask: as an esper of the Fantasy City, how did you end up mixing with people from the Special Alliance? And what's with this child?"

"Is that all?" The hostility in Wang Qi’s eyes didn't fade, but he answered the question.

"Li'er is my wife, and the child in her arms is our daughter. Is there a problem with that?"

Xie Liu nodded. "Oh, I see..."

He wore an expression of understanding, but half a second later, his face was filled with shock.

"Wh—what? Your daughter?" Xie Liu paused, thinking he had misheard. "Say that again. Your... daughter?"

"Are you sick in the head?" Wang Qi cursed coldly. Xie Liu raised a hand to stop him. "No, no... that’s not right. This... this isn't according to the rules. This isn't right... Don't modified humans and normal humans have reproductive isolation? Wait... hold on..."

"Ah! I understand now," Xie Liu’s expression turned to one of sudden realization. He walked toward the cat-girl in two quick strides. Wang Qi guardedly blocked his path. "What do you want? Get lost!"

"I mean no harm. I just want to see. Please, let me see your daughter—just one look, just one look." Xie Liu pressed his hands together, then raised his right hand to the sky. "I swear, I won't hurt your daughter. Really."

"Qi, let him come over," the cat-girl spoke from behind. Wang Qi had been standing in front of Xie Liu, but upon hearing her voice, he hesitated for a long time before finally stepping aside.

Xie Liu walked up to the cat-girl and looked at the infant in her arms. He said softly, "May I see?"

The cat-girl hesitated, then slowly loosened the swaddling clothes to reveal a tiny head.

It was a baby girl, only about two months old, currently fast asleep. Xie Liu had startled her earlier, but after the cat-girl’s long efforts to soothe her, she had drifted back into a deep slumber. Her cheeks were flushed red, looking incredibly adorable.

She was a beautiful baby, with only one difference: on either side of her head grew a pair of drooping cat ears, fuzzy and nestled within her sparse hair.

"This is a miracle," Xie Liu marveled after a single glance. "This is truly a miracle."

"Because modified humans are injected with many animal genes, their genes and even their chromosomes are no longer purely human. If one had to classify them, they could only be considered a sub-human species."

"According to the analysis provided by the City, the genes and chromosomes of modified humans are so vastly different from humans that they cannot combine to produce offspring; they have reproductive isolation. Therefore, to a certain extent, modified humans are no longer considered human."

"This is what the upper echelons of the City have always wanted us to believe," Xie Liu sighed. "Fantasy City has firmly believed this for over a hundred years. Because we believe that the people of the Special Alliance have abandoned their identities as humans, this is the fundamental reason for our hostility and our refusal to recognize them."

Xie Liu’s expression calmed after his initial excitement. After thinking for a while, he slowly retreated to the sofa where Wang Qi had been resting, continuing to speak while he mulled it over.

"However, I wonder if your situation is just a coincidence, as we have never heard of modified humans and humans being able to produce offspring." Xie Liu rubbed his chin in thought for a long time, then noticed Wang Qi and the cat-girl staring at him blankly.

"What's wrong with you two?" Xie Liu asked, surprised. He suddenly realized they still viewed him as an enemy, and he gave a bitter laugh. "Fine, I’ll speak plainly."

"If it weren't for this child, I would have killed you both already. That is my mission, and I would not disobey orders. But now I cannot kill you, because if you died, this baby girl would have no parents. So, rest assured, I will not attack you again." Xie Liu said with a serious face.

"I am a hunter, not a homicidal maniac."

"Now, can you sit down and tell me the whole story?" Xie Liu pointed to the sofa beside him. He knew what this baby girl represented: it meant the beliefs held by people for over a century were about to be shattered, it meant the Special Alliance might finally be recognized by Fantasy City, and it meant that a war which had lasted for over a hundred years might soon come to an end.

Wang Qi and his wife exchanged glances, finally convinced of the sincerity in Xie Liu’s words. They sat down. Seeing Xie Liu tear open a lollipop and pop it into his mouth, Wang Qi asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Start from how you two met." Xie Liu settled into a comfortable position, squinting as he watched them.

...

The story began a year and a half ago. At that time, Wang Qi was still an ordinary student in the Academy District of Fantasy City. According to the traditions of his school, every student was required to spend one year at a remote branch during their final year before graduation.

Wang Qi had been assigned to the "Kanto Branch" in the north of the Huaxia region. As a branch located near the north, much like the Hokkaido Branch, it was under constant attack by the Special Alliance, with battles of varying sizes occurring almost daily.

Xie Liu knew of the Kanto Branch. Along with the "Hetao Branch" in the west, it served as the northern gateway for the Huaxia region, guarding its northern borders. Because of this, it was a hotbed of war, and the Huaxia region deployed a large number of joint task forces and hunting squads there.

The story of Wang Qi and the cat-girl began during one of these minor skirmishes.