Chapter 39: The Interstellar Marshal Who Doesn’t Save the Female Lead

Jiujiu could vaguely understand what his dad’s subordinate wanted to express, and proudly puffed up his feathers.

“What are you showing off for?”

Shen Yijing sat down beside him, gently stroking his feathers. On the way back, he carefully checked them several times; there wasn’t a single scratch on his wings.

It was very late when they returned. Jiujiu was so sleepy that he walked as if he were drunk.

Although Shen Yijing wasn’t very sleepy, he lay down to rest. Not long after closing his eyes, before even falling asleep, he first felt a warmth emanating from the spot where his blood had dripped in his previous memory.

He wanted to open his eyes to see, but his eyelids felt too heavy.

Unconsciously, he lost consciousness and drifted into a dream.

Since he was injured until now, this night was the most peaceful sleep Shen Yijing had. When he woke up the next day, he still had an urge to stay in bed.

“Daddy, wake up, wake up, Jiujiu is hungry.”

He wanted to continue sleeping, but the little ancestor beside him wouldn’t allow it, constantly rubbing his nose with his wings. The goose-yellow down on the small wings tickled Shen Yijing, forcing him to open his eyes and look at him.

“Hehe, Papa.”

After his dad woke up, Jiujiu leaned over and kissed him, instantly dispelling any lingering grumpiness Shen Yijing had from waking up. He lowered his head and kissed Jiujiu’s head.

“What do you want to eat? Nutritional fluid?”

“No, I want to eat the same food as last night, Papa. Abusing younglings will get you arrested.”

Just thinking about the nutritional fluid his dad drank made Jiujiu feel like throwing up. Only his dad was amazing enough to drink it; he definitely couldn’t.

“Youngling? Are you still very small?”

Shen Yijing wasn’t clear about his exact age. The Research Institute staff member who brought him over hadn’t mentioned it. From his clear, childish voice when communicating, he could roughly deduce that he wasn’t old.

“Yes, look, my feathers haven’t even fully grown.”

Jiujiu exposed his slightly bald spots to his dad, letting him have a good look.

He looked like his feathers hadn’t fully grown, but he was actually faking it. These bald spots were all plucked by himself. Before, when Daddy was still in the Heavenly Realm, he would help him maintain these feathers every now and then.

“You’re right, you are quite small.”

Jiujiu nodded in agreement. Although he had been with his dad for such a long time and traveled through many worlds together, he still considered himself a small youngling.

Papa said it takes many, many years for a phoenix to grow into a phoenix. He was still small now, so there was no need to rush anything. The most important things he needed to do were to eat well, sleep well, and then grow up on time.

“Papa, you’ll love me very much, right?”

“Yes, I will love you very much.”

Shen Yijing promised him in a low voice. Before, protecting all Imperial citizens felt more like an inherent responsibility to him. Most things were told to him that he should do, but rarely were they things he genuinely wanted to do or liked.

Now, this bird, with its soft voice, cooing and calling him Papa, made Shen Yijing feel that perhaps he could have more worthwhile things to do in this life.

For example, accompanying him as he slowly grows up.

“Jiujiu.”

“Papa~”

Shen Yijing first drank the nutritional fluid mixed with medicine, then, like yesterday, took him to that Natural Food restaurant to eat.

This restaurant, from the beginning, found it strange to see the Marshal come, even worrying about not entertaining him well. Now, they had gradually become accustomed to it.

What Shen Yijing didn’t expect was that before he was even discharged from the hospital, some opinions had already appeared on the StarNet.

The gist was that the reason his previous mission failed was because his character had become corrupt, and he no longer deserved the title of the strongest Marshal.

The Natural Food restaurant, which ordinary people might not even visit once a year, Shen Yijing seemed to want to live there.

In the past, Shen Yijing wouldn’t have cared about these comments. Outside opinions wouldn’t affect his own persistence; everything he did was because he wanted to do it.

But this time, seeing so many people condemning him, it was certainly false to say that he felt no chill in his heart.

It seemed many people had forgotten what he had done in the past, only remembering that he frequently visited the Natural Food restaurant.

And the Emperor of the Empire had no intention of defending him, seemingly planning to let the opinions ferment.

Jiujiu, leaning next to his dad, saw the comments people posted and was so angry that all his feathers stood on end.

His dad wasn’t greedy, nor did he indulge in pleasure. The reason he was like this was purely for him.

When Jiujiu first saw others scolding his dad, he reflected for a moment, wondering if he had done something wrong. But seeing their insults become more and more excessive, he was so angry that he wished he could go in and peck each of them fiercely.

What was wrong with him? He couldn’t possibly be wrong!

He was just using his dad’s money to eat. He couldn’t digest the interstellar nutritional fluid very well; a little bit filled his stomach with water, which was a bit awkward for Jiujiu, who was used to his previous eating habits.

He spent the money his dad earned, and he didn’t waste it, always eating everything cleanly. Yet, some people were still blaming his dad for doing something wrong.

“Papa, let me go peck them!”

“Forget it, there’s no need.”

Shen Yijing slowly helped him smooth down his feathers. The news of his recovery had not yet reached the Imperial Family. He had vaguely sensed the Emperor’s displeasure towards him before.

At that time, Shen Yijing felt that since he was performing missions outside and had very little contact with the Emperor, it didn’t matter if the Emperor had an opinion of him.

But now, thinking about it again, it felt like a thorn in his throat.

The Emperor’s attitude of letting public opinion ferment was very obvious, so Shen Yijing did not contact them. Instead, he used his social media account to directly start a live broadcast.

When he started this live broadcast, he even felt a bit absurd. Why did such a normal thing as taking his youngling to eat a few meals while recovering from injuries require him to explain himself to the public?

“Hello everyone, I am Shen Yijing. Before this, I didn’t think I needed to explain my private life to the public. The reason for the failure of the last mission is classified and cannot be disclosed for now.”

“Furthermore, due to my recovery, I cannot consume Natural Food. I went to that restaurant to take my youngling. His name is Jiujiu, and he is a new achievement researched by the Research Institute that can treat Mental Power injuries.”

Jiujiu sat there, wings folded, with a sulky face. When his dad tried to bring him in front of the camera, he resisted with every single feather on his body.

“Chirp chirp chirp!”

Jiujiu glanced at his dad, snorted lightly, showed his face for a moment, then instantly ran to the side. He didn’t want to bother with this dad who couldn’t understand his chirping thoughts at all.

Why explain? Jiujiu couldn’t understand.

“I don’t want everyone to focus on my private life. Moreover, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me taking my youngling to a Natural Food restaurant to eat.”

“If anyone truly has an opinion of me, there’s no need to say it online. Just come to the hospital and talk to me in person.”

After Shen Yijing finished speaking, he closed the broadcast. He really didn’t want to see what these people were saying, nor did he care much about their opinions of him.

When a person’s strength has reached a certain level, every word spoken by these people has no impact on him.

The reason for issuing this statement this time was merely his protest against the Emperor’s inaction.

After turning off the live broadcast, seeing the youngling sitting there clearly sulking, Shen Yijing placed him in his palm and then lowered his head to kiss his head.

“Are you angry? Don’t you like being seen?”

Jiujiu, though quick to anger, was also easy to appease. As long as his dad spoke to him gently, he would be so happy he’d start rolling around, completely forgetting what his dad had said to make him angry before.

“No, I don’t know why Papa has to explain to them? Papa clearly didn’t do anything wrong!”

The more Jiujiu thought about it, the angrier he got. Shen Yijing didn’t intend to explain too much to him, as he probably couldn’t understand the complexities with such a small head.

So, he chose a simpler way to end the matter. He lowered his head and apologized to the youngling.

“Yes, Papa was wrong. It won’t happen again. An angry Jiujiu isn’t cute.”

“Nonsense! Jiujiu is the cutest bird! It’s impossible for him not to be cute!”

Shen Yijing’s final provocative words in this live broadcast strangely did not cause too much resentment. Some even felt that he should have said it that way, giving those people a good lesson.

Whenever someone brought up Shen Yijing’s bad attitude again, someone below would suggest they go talk to Shen Yijing in person.

In addition, more people were concerned about the bird Shen Yijing mentioned in the live broadcast, the latest research achievement of the Research Institute, capable of treating Mental Power injuries. No matter which aspect, it was enough to attract everyone’s attention.

[I remember someone mentioning before that Mental Power injuries are irreversible. The previous Marshal was forced to retire because of this and is still recovering.]

[When did the Research Institute become so powerful? I used to curse them as useless, but now I’ve decided to apologize for my past youthful arrogance and recklessness.]

[Can this kind of bird be popularized? Can it help most people with Mental Power damage recover?]

People who could reach the position of Marshal basically had a large number of fans. When they were forced to retire, their fans deeply regretted it for them.

More and more people contacted the Research Institute, asking if this bird could be given to everyone with Mental Power damage.

Many also praised them, saying that they used to announce even the slightest progress, so how did they suddenly become so powerful behind their backs?

Not only were netizens confused, but even the Research Institute themselves couldn’t figure it out. Could it be that they really researched such an amazing bird?