Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Grandpa's weapons laboratory was Tang Bai's childhood paradise.

The weapons research lab he remembered was large, so large that it was a universe unto itself, with silver-gray walls painted in starry oils to his liking and cold floors covered in his favorite thick wool carpet.

He likes to run around the weapons lab barefoot, to stand on his tiptoes, and to reach out and touch the weapons contained in the floating sphere.

The weapons were cold to the touch, sharp lines, monotonous colors, extreme mechanical aesthetics combined with violent aesthetics, each suspended in a shimmering floating sphere, like an endless planet in the vast universe.

When the lights are turned off, the starry sky oil paints emit Xing Xing dots of ghostly light, and Tang Bai loves to lie on the soft woolen carpet and look at the "starry sky" that his grandfather built for him.

Grandpa said that the universe was born with only two elements, hydrogen and helium, and then more elements were born from the nuclear fusion reaction of stars, and gold, a heavy metal element, came from supernova explosions, and the gold mines they saw were actually the glory of a planet billions of years ago.

Tang Bai then happily picked up the solid gold long life lock around his neck and said in a milky voice: "Then am I wearing Xing Xing on my body?"

However that kid never said anything stupid about putting an Xing Xing on his body after he wore an omega neck ring back in the day.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar research room, Tang Bai was in a trance, the display in front of him was still the same as when he was a child, but there were more weapons on the shelves, densely piled up together, except the first row of the shelves which was particularly empty, with only a simple butterfly robot placed on it.

Unusual compared to the other weapons in the Weapons Lab, this Butterfly Robot is simple to make and has a fantastic color scheme, a unique pinkish-purple color.

Beautiful as an ornament, it was the first and only anthropomorphic robot Grandpa Tang taught Tang Bai to make.

At the age of six, Tang Bai is already capable of making his own anthropomorphic robots. His grandfather asked Tang Bai to choose an animal to direct.

Tang Bai has so many favorite animals, he loves kittens, bunnies, puppies, birds ......

Why are there so many cute things in the world? Why doesn't anyone have bunny ears on their mech helmets? Why hasn't anyone considered making the combat light brain meow when it boots up? Why hasn't anyone painted a starship pink?

He had so many whys, and Grandpa helplessly told him that no one had ever done that before.

Tang Bai then proudly raised his finger and swore to the uninteresting world, "Then I'll be the first master weapon maker to do so~"

A beautiful butterfly landed right on his fingertips, perhaps the butterfly mistook the rose-style light-brain ring for a real flower, or perhaps Tang Bai smelled good.

It was a pink butterfly.

Tang Bai happily decided to make butterfly mimetic robots.

He drew the design under the guidance of his grandfather, bought the raw materials with his own petty cash, and successfully made the butterfly robot in the company of his grandfather.

When he was done, he deliberately maneuvered the butterfly robot to fly towards his mom and then boasted that she smelled so good that she attracted the butterflies.

He chose the iron shelf with his grandfather, who said that the shelf was bought especially for him, and that he would put it on the shelf every time he finished a piece in the future.

That was supposed to be a pact between them ......

Tang Bai reached for the lightweight butterfly robot; when he was a boy he always thought the iron shelf was so high it would require him to carry a small ladder to reach the top, and it would take him ages and ages to fill the shelf.

But now he touched the top floor with just a flick of his hand, just as he looked around this weapons research lab and realized it wasn't as big as he remembered.

Tang Bai walks slowly towards the production table, and as he nears it he almost trips over something, and looks down to see a small stool.

It's the little stool that used to belong to little Tang Bai.

Because the weapon crafting table was so high, Tang Bai had to step on a small stool to reach it.

At that time Grandpa would still hold him nervously, afraid he would fall and fall on his butt.

But now he didn't need the little stool anymore.

Tang Bai stands in front of the wide, lengthened weapons-making table, his nostalgic gaze flowing from the bending force press-folding bed, the electric fence panel locking bar, the smart cantilever beam ...... and the smart cantilever beam.

These high-precision tools are hard to come by on the market, so for many years Tang Bai had to buy some low-level alternatives to get by.

He ......

He had actually dreamed countless times of being a master weapons maker-

Turning cold metal into bullets that pierce the enemy's chest, building a battleship grand enough to hold the dead souls of our forefathers, and inheriting the Weapons Research Institute that was the result of our grandfather's life's work.

He would be the master weapons maker who would be revered, given the soul of metal, and go down in history.

His innovations can change the entire weapons age, his will can shake the war between the Federation and the Empire, and at his command, the vast weapons research institute will be set in motion immediately, cutting through the long night of the Empire with a thousand thunderbolts--

He had dreamed of these magnificent and glorious splendors countless times.

Fingertips slid over a cold tool, moving so gently that they were afraid of disturbing a dream.

Tang Bai gently picked up the long-lost mechanical pliers, and found an old photo being pressed by the pliers, the color of the edges of the photo was dull and furred, as if it had been frequently rubbed.

The photo shows a kindly old man holding a three- or four-year-old child in his arms, standing in front of the silver-gray Weapons Research Institute that rises out of the sky.

They looked like ordinary grandparents and grandchildren who had come to take pictures for a photo shoot, and both the old and the young were smiling immensely.

-- "Sugarplum, this is Grandpa's Weaponry Institute, and it will be handed over to Sugarplum to inherit from now on, okay?"

-- "Then I'm going to paint it pink!"

Halfway through the day, a teardrop hit the photo.

*

"Dad, shall I call Sugar out?" Tang's mother asked softly when she saw that Grandpa Tang's face didn't look right.

Grandpa Tang silently gazed at the figure Tang Bai operated in the research room, in a trance he seemed to see that year that stepped on a small stool threatened to use the work to fill the entire shelf of the powder doughnut.

At first, he thought it was an alpha grandson, an alpha grandson who had inherited his weapons-making talents perfectly.

His name is Tang Rong and he is a master weapons maker who has gone down in history and written in the history books.

At the time of the Confederation Uprising, he became known for his amazing talent for weapons manufacturing, and one-third of the munitions of the Confederation's insurgent army were built by his efforts alone.

The Federation was so poor that one energy crystal had to be broken into two pieces, and for that reason he developed low energy consumption combat mechs.

The Commonwealth was short of talent, and highly skilled technicians could be counted on one hand, for which he taught thousands of students in his lifetime.

He was known to the Empire as a mobile arsenal, his head was worth a hereditary title, and the Empire's men went to great lengths to try to kill him, while the Federation desperately tried to protect him so the Empire would have nowhere to go.

During those war years, his assistant was by his side, taking care of his work and life.

It was a female beta, quiet, gentle and kind, thin and not stunning looking, but he thought she was pretty.

They're together.

Without a proposal, without a wedding, without even an "I love you", his wife willingly married him.

Because of his special status, she couldn't even call herself Mrs. Tang.

His wife worshipped him, adored him, and regarded him as a hero, although he was always busy with his work and devoted almost all his time and energy to the Union, but his wife had no complaints.

Beta's fertility rate was so low that they were forty years old before they had a child.

Late that night, his wife had a terrible stomach ache, afraid of disturbing his work, went out to the hospital alone, and moved gently without waking up the shallow sleep of the children.

Naturally, it didn't faze him as he ambled along.

Many a midnight dream later, he wanted to drag his work-only self out and punch him hard.

His wife has been captured by the Empire, and a traitor has appeared in the Federation, who reveals his home address and information about his wife.

The Empire, knowing that he loved his wife dearly, tried to kidnap her to coerce him into betraying the Federation and then ......

To spare him the embarrassment, his wife chose to kill herself.

He dedicated his life to the Union.

His wife, however, devoted her life to him.

His wife left behind only one child.

His wife says she wants their children to be heroes like him.

He tried very hard to teach their children, forcing that child to study hard in mechanics, forcing that child to give up his dream of being in business, and his child suffered, his child tried so hard to learn, but always how he could not do well.

He's been pushing that kid for twenty whole years, and that kid is about to be driven crazy by him and is going to jump off a building and cut off his father-son relationship.

The line that hurt him the most was the one where the kid said, if my mom was alive, she certainly wouldn't have pushed me so hard!

Is that right?

Is that so?

The figure of his wife came to him, those tear-soaked amber eyes looking at him tenderly, and then she laughed and cried.

She laughed and cried like that when they went to get their license.

A marriage certificate that reads, "In good times and in bad, for richer and for poorer, in health and in sickness, in joy and in sorrow, I will always love you, cherish you and be faithful to you for ever and ever."

She honored her vow with her life.

He didn't get to say "I love you".

He was always too busy with work and his career to take care of his wife or their children, and when he pursued his remorse and tried to make amends, there was a life and a death between them.

He's tired.

Looking at the child who hated him, he shuddered and let go of his hand.

His children went into business as they wished, and his children were so business-minded that they became business tycoons.

And then he had a grandson.

With amber eyes like his wife's, his grandson shared his amazing talent for weapons making, even if it was more than blue.

He had poured so much of his heart and soul into this grandson, and he thought he could finally fulfill his late wife's last wish, but the heavens seemed to play a joke on him.

It's an omega grandson.

He'd always known Tang Bai was good, but he knew better than to expect such excellence from an omega, that being a maverick would invite criticism, and that the path to becoming a top weapons maker would be too hard.

The day the results of the differentiation came back, he and his son broke out into a huge argument.

He was disappointed that Tang Bai was unable to follow in his footsteps.

His son pointed his nose at him and cursed, "Dad! Even if my son is an omega, he can still have a good life! I will work my ass off to earn money to save him a huge dowry! I will let him have a happier life than anyone else in the world! Can you please stop sighing in front of Sugarplum? Will you please stop seeing things like inheriting your mantle as the most important thing in a child's life? Not everyone wants to live according to your ideal person!!!"

He owes so much to his son, who was the one whose life he interfered with back then.

His son said that it was up to Sugar to choose what path to take in the future, without anyone interfering.

But he rejected his son's suggestion.

He locked himself up in the weapons research lab for a day and a night, he kept thinking that the road to becoming a top weapons maker was so difficult and dangerous, the war between the Federation and the Empire never stopped, and the hunt for weapons makers never stopped, Tang Bai As an omega, if he went down this road, it would be even more difficult than a normal alpha.

He would need to work dozens of times harder and be dozens of times better than alpha to be able to plug that yo-yo, to be able to block that open fire.

Tang Bai should have had a stable and happy life, he would have grown up without any worries, married without any worries, had a bunch of children and lived an easy life.

Why choose a path full of thorns?

He's already made his son hate him, does he want his grandson to hate him again?

That's why he chooses to dust everything off, he wants Tang Bai to live his life easily and happily, not needing to carry the heavy expectations of a bad old man like him, not needing to suffer from the accusations of the rest of the society, and not needing to worry about his life in the future.

He was a failed husband, a failed father, and at the end of the day was he going to be a failed grandfather?

He told himself that it was right to let Tang Bai be a carefree omega, and he just brusquely took away all the mechanical toys without ever talking to Tang Bai about why.

He thought he was doing the right thing.

Just like he once thought it was right to force his son to learn mechanics.

Just what he thought.

If he had asked Tang Bai what she wanted, if he had really gotten to know Tang Bai's hobbies, would everything have been different?

Turns out his son really wasn't wrong to scold him, he was, from start to finish, a bad old man who didn't care about other people's feelings and made up his own mind.

His cloudy eyes gazed silently at the figures operating in the weapons research room, tears blurring his vision, and in a trance he seemed to see his wife's silhouette.

She opened her lips slightly as she pressed the hidden self-destruct button.

-- "I'm boring, cynical, inconsiderate, and won't have time to take care of you later, are you sure you want to be with me?"

-- "I know, I love you."

At the end of her life, she said I love you.

*

"Dad?" Tang's mother was startled by Grandpa Tang's old, tearful appearance; she had never seen Grandpa Tang cry before, and was so frightened that her hand was trembling slightly as she handed out tissues.

It's a dead giveaway! My sugar candy pissed off my old man! Crying! Cried!

"I... I'll call him out!"

"No need, since he likes it, let him." Grandpa Tang hunched his back, as if he had aged ten years at once.

Tang's mother shuddered as she pulled out her fast-acting heart pills, ready to hand them over.

Grandpa Tang waved his hand and sat on the sofa in silence, and Tang's mother didn't dare to speak, so she had to send a message to Father Tang, ''Hubby! Sugar Candy went into Dad's weapons research lab on her own, and Dad seems to be crying from Sugar Candy's anger! What should I do now!"

After waiting for half a day, her busy husband didn't return the message, Tang's mother was very anxious, at this moment, the lights in the weapons research room dimmed, Tang Bai walked out of the weapons research room, with a beautiful "butterfly" at his fingertips.

Grandpa Tang's gaze sharpened instantly, staring intently at the transformed butterfly robot, his cloudy eyes suddenly bursting with light.

He had thought that all these years of wasted time would have delayed Tang Bai and wasted his amazing talent in weapon making, but the freshly baked work in front of him was a reflection of Tang Bai's strength!

Tang's mother didn't know how to identify the quality of the finished weapon with the naked eye, she just felt that the Tang Bai in front of her eyes was suddenly strange and different from before, but she couldn't tell where the difference came from.

"Sugarplum, what are you going to do?" Tang's mother asked cautiously.

Tang Bai, who was bending over to rummage through the sacks, sniffed softly, "Hit man."

Tang's mother : "......?!"

My son rebels! Breaking my heart! I'm going to cry at Sugar's anger, too!!!!

Tang Bai found a discarded bag and was about to go out when he was suddenly stopped by a pale voice.

"Sugar."

Tang Bai's footsteps stopped where they were, his fingers moving as he clutched the sack, not looking back, he could guess what Grandpa was going to say again, the "omega code" that had calloused his ears, the chains that had been placed on him-- The "omega code," the shackles that had been placed on him one after another--

"You like mechanics, don't you?"

Tang Bai clenched his fists and said sullenly, "No?"

No?

Can't I like Palulu and weapon building at the same time? Can't I live as I like? Can't I use law and violence to punish the bad guys?

I don't want to lose my right to choose my future because of my gender when I'm only twenty years old, I'm not afraid of failure now, I'm afraid of what I could have been.

Then he heard Grandpa Don respond with a trill, "Of course."

"As long as you like it, then let it go, whatever you do, you've got my old bones to back you up."