In the Years When I Was a Father

Chapter 166: The Ruthless Marshal Father (9)

Liang Qiu had originally intended to stir up trouble, but he didn’t expect to suffer a setback right from the first step of his plan. Internally seething, he naturally wasn’t willing to leave so easily.

However, he wasn’t confident in defeating Qi Junye in beast form, so he wanted to challenge him to a mecha battle instead. While the general populace in the Federation only began learning mecha operation and combat formally in middle school, for children from noble families, mecha training began in the second year after their beastification.

By this calculation, Liang Qiu already had six years of mecha operation experience. Coupled with his own strength and talent, he had become quite proficient in mecha combat.

He wanted to crush Qi Junye’s arrogance in one fell swoop with a mecha duel, and also make Qi Junye understand that a beast who couldn’t complete their beastification would eventually become a worthless cripple.

Determined to defeat Qi Junye in a mecha battle that day, he now faced the challenge of how to initiate it.

Qi Junye was currently in beast form, so Liang Qiu couldn’t be the one to issue the challenge. He still wanted to maintain his good reputation on the Central Star, so the only way was to force Qi Junye into challenging him instead.

After all, wouldn’t it make for a much juicier story if a “disabled” beast, on the verge of being discarded, grew jealous of an old classmate and foolishly started a fight, only to be taught a harsh lesson?

With that in mind, Liang Qiu gave his companions a look, signaling them to continue provoking Qi Junye with words.

The three people with Liang Qiu always followed his lead, so they exchanged glances and began their performance of courting death with flair.

A black-clad youth was the first to speak: “Brother Qiu, are you hurt? Qi Junye, what’s wrong with you? Even if you’re jealous that Brother Qiu completed his beastification smoothly, that’s no reason to lash out and attack someone without warning!” Another boy, also dressed in black but with a head of red hair, added, “Yeah, Brother Qiu came over to check on you because you’re an old classmate and he was worried about your condition. Was that really something to get so aggressive about?”

Both of them spoke loudly, in sharp contrast to the volume they had used earlier when mocking Qi Junye. At that time, Butler Qi had chosen the most secluded and shielded area of the restaurant so the three little furballs could enjoy their ice cream in comfort. That choice now conveniently allowed Liang Qiu and his group to put on a two-faced show.

The two deliberately raised their voices, clearly trying to draw attention. Sure enough, once Qi Junye’s name was mentioned, many patrons nearby took notice.

Nowadays, Qi Junye was a household name not only on Central Star but throughout the Federation. The Qi family had strictly controlled the news surrounding him for the past two years, and gossip-hungry people had long been itching for updates. Everyone was dying to know the current state of the twelve-year-old who still hadn’t completed his beastification.

Many curious gazes subtly turned toward their corner, and some even perked up their ears so as not to miss any juicy details.

Seeing they had captured the crowd’s attention, the yellow-clad boy who hadn’t spoken yet put on the expression of a good-natured person and said, “Hey, you guys should take it easy. Qi Junye still hasn’t successfully beastified — maybe there’s some psychological issue going on. Brother Qiu just had bad luck. Let’s just let it go, okay?”

His words seemed to be defending Qi Junye, but the phrasing was even more vicious.

The three were clearly experienced in this sort of performance. The black-clad youth raised his eyebrows and pretended to be angry, saying, “How can we just let this go? Even if he has psychological issues, he can’t go around hurting innocent people! No way — he has to sincerely apologize to Brother Qiu today!”

The red-haired boy chimed in, “Yeah, he must apologize to Brother Qiu!”

The three of them kept echoing each other, trying to steer the whole incident toward the narrative that Qi Junye had mental problems.

At first, Butler Qi had wanted to step in when he heard the black-clad youth speak, but he was stopped by a look from Qi Junye.

Over the years, Qi Junye had endured no shortage of rumors and gossip. From initially caring deeply, he had long since grown indifferent. But even if he no longer cared about the beastification issue, that didn’t mean anyone could use it as an excuse to attack and mock him — or the Qi family.

Qi Junye coldly observed the fake performance of the group before him and more or less guessed Liang Qiu’s intention.

Qi Junye assumed Liang Qiu was targeting him due to some family conflict, so this time he didn’t intend to play nice. If you want to stir up trouble, great — I’ve been looking for an opportunity to shut people like you up.

“Liang Qiu, there’s no need for you to have your little lackeys provoke me. Your goal is just to fight me with mechas, right? Then challenge me directly.”

Liang Qiu gave a fake smile and replied, “Junye, you’ve misunderstood. Why would you think that? I really just came over because I was worried about you.”

“Oh? So your idea of expressing concern starts with kicking me? And then letting your little cronies go around publicly claiming I’m mentally unstable? Your way of showing concern is truly unique.”

Liang Qiu’s expression didn’t change. “Junye, you’re being too sensitive. I was simply trying to walk over to you. As for what Sun Lang said, he was just speaking offhand — he didn’t mean any harm.”

“Oh? So you’re saying you really were just worried about me earlier?”

“Of course. We were classmates for two years in the nursery school. Seeing you like this now, I can’t help but be concerned.”

Qi Junye nodded casually. “Alright then. Your concern has been noted. You may leave now.”

Liang Qiu was momentarily speechless at Qi Junye’s indifferent remark. The red-haired teenager hadn’t expected Qi Junye to completely ignore their provocation, so he angrily snapped, “Are you just going to let it slide after attacking Brother Qiu earlier? You must apologize!”

Qi Junye replied calmly, “Attack? I merely greeted him with my tail. What, old classmate, you’re upset over just a tap?”

Liang Qiu forced a somewhat awkward smile. “Of course not.” But he couldn’t stand how composed Qi Junye seemed, so he went straight for the jab: “Still, Junye, I suggest you don’t go around swinging your tail so casually. After all, we’re all used to greeting each other in human form. You’re bound to be misunderstood like that.”

Qi Junye deliberately flicked his tail and replied nonchalantly, “Can’t help it. I’m stuck in beast form—I can’t morph into human form. So naturally, some habits are hard to change.”

Liang Qiu hadn’t expected Qi Junye to be so nonchalant about his inability to transform. Even the gossip-hungry bystanders around them looked confused. This version of Qi Junye didn’t match their expectations at all.

No gloom, no brooding negativity—instead, his tone actually sounded proud of his beast form?

Everyone was baffled, and Liang Qiu was even more so. Is this guy really not the least bit anxious about being unable to transform?

He couldn’t openly challenge Qi Junye, so he thought bitterly to himself: Looks like I’ll have to find another opportunity to provoke him.

Qi Junye could tell he’d already teased Liang Qiu enough. Seeing the barely hidden frustration on Liang Qiu’s face, he decided to grant him a little satisfaction. After all, a decent crowd had gathered here—it was the perfect chance to show what he was made of.

“Liang Qiu, I heard your mecha combat results are pretty good these days? I’ve always been curious about the battle skills of my peers. Why don’t you give me a little demonstration today?”

“Junye, you…” Liang Qiu had actually given up on trying to humiliate Qi Junye today, but now the guy just walked right into it without even being asked?

Liang Qiu forced himself to hide the glee of a scheme falling into place. Although it was a bit disappointing that he couldn’t go all out in front of so many people, giving Qi Junye a “little lesson” by “accident” sounded just as good.

He pretended to hesitate: “Junye, well… how do you want me to help you? You can’t pilot a mech right now.”

“No problem. As long as you can, I’ll fight you in beast form.”

The bait had been taken so easily it actually threw Liang Qiu off for a second. He thought about pushing back a little more, but then worried that Qi Junye might suddenly back out, so he put on a generous face and said, “Alright then. But be careful—real combat isn’t child’s play. I wouldn’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

Qi Junye replied carelessly, “It’s fine. I’m fast—I can dodge.”

Hearing this, Liang Qiu rolled his eyes inwardly. Is this guy still living in the glory days of dominating the cub playpen? Fast? Can you outpace a mech’s auto-response or a particle cannon’s firing speed?

Mocking him inwardly, Liang Qiu thought, Qi Junye, I didn’t expect you to be not only arrogant but also foolish now. Since you’ve said so yourself, if I don’t use a particle cannon on you, it would be a waste of the opportunity!

In just a few seconds, Liang Qiu had made up his mind. While he couldn’t seriously injure Qi Junye today, toying with him a bit would be far more entertaining!

The second basement level of the shopping center had a large battle arena, often used by mech teams for weekly matches. It just so happened that it was unoccupied today—perfect for their duel. And even if someone had been using it, Liang Qiu would have made sure to clear it out for this rare opportunity.

He led the way toward the arena and discreetly signaled to the yellow-clad boy.

The yellow-clad boy instantly understood Liang Qiu’s intentions. He gave a quick wink to signal his understanding, then pulled out his neural device and deftly logged into his live-streaming account on the StarNet.

This boy was Sun Lang, fourteen years old, a younger son from a minor aristocratic family. His mother was the second wife of the Sun family’s patriarch, but the eldest son—child of the first wife—was so outstanding that even after his mother rose in status, she couldn’t secure many resources for Sun Lang.

Unwilling to live in his older brother’s shadow and worried the Sun family would ultimately fall into his brother’s hands, Sun Lang decided to forge his own path after repeatedly losing in the competition for family resources.

He had decent talent in combat and trained hard, so he’d gained some real experience in mecha combat. After studying countless videos of popular mecha warriors with millions of fans, he began sharing his own training content on StarNet—and occasionally live-streamed actual battles with his companions.

Because Sun Lang had good looks and appeared to have a nice temperament, his livestream account attracted quite a bit of attention from peers after he registered it. Thanks to this growing popularity, he managed to stand out as the second son of a minor noble family and eventually became acquainted with Liang Qiu, the prominent heir of an elite household.

Sun Lang had always been proud of his spontaneous idea to start streaming, and he had become increasingly committed to maintaining his channel. By now, he was already a well-known content creator on the StarNet livestream platform.

Once the stream went live, his followers began trickling in, curious why he suddenly started streaming. Then they noticed the stream title had changed:

[Genius Teen Duel Livestream: Liang Qiu VS Qi Junye!]

Liang Qiu was a familiar name to Sun Lang’s fans—a mech prodigy their idol highly admired. At the age of just twelve, he had ranked in the top ten of the youth division on the interstellar virtual mecha combat platform.

The youth division of the virtual mecha platform accepted participants between the ages of twelve and eighteen. However, since rankings were based on actual match victories, the top slots were typically occupied by 15 to 18-year-olds. Liang Qiu had shot up to 7th place at just twelve years old—a testament to his remarkable strength among the new generation of mech fighters.

Federation netizens had long suspected that Liang Qiu came from an extraordinary background. Given his surname “Liang,” many believed he was a descendant of the powerful Liang family.

As for Qi Junye—his name was even more widely known than Liang Qiu’s.

Why? Because not everyone followed the youth mecha rankings, but every citizen of the Federation knew the name of Marshal Qi Sheng of the White Tiger Legion—and his eldest son, Qi Junye, who was unable to undergo beast transformation.

The moment people saw the name “Qi Junye” in the livestream title, puzzled reactions flooded in:

[Qi Junye? That’s too much of a coincidence—same name as that young master?]

[Qi Junye? Is it the one? Did he finally succeed in transforming?]

[Are you stupid? If he had succeeded, the Qi family would’ve announced it everywhere. This is obviously just someone with the same name! Still, pretty gutsy to go around using that name. Must be on purpose!]

[Exactly! This guy is clearly trying to leech off the Qi family’s fame. “Genius teenager”? Never heard of him before!]

[Who even is this? That’s just messed up. Marshal Qi has done so much for the Federation. His son must already be suffering enough, and now someone’s out here using his name!]

[Come on, let’s be reasonable. What if it’s just an honest coincidence? No one’s denying Marshal Qi’s contributions, but you can’t expect everyone with the same name to go change it just because of his son’s condition.]

…

What started as a stream meant to showcase a mecha duel turned into a fiery name-based argument before anyone had even seen the fighters. Netizens fiercely debated the identity of this mysterious “genius teen,” and because “Qi Junye” was such an attention-grabbing name, the stream’s popularity skyrocketed. Within minutes, Sun Lang’s livestream was automatically pushed to the platform’s trending list.

As a result, viewers beyond Sun Lang’s usual followers began pouring in from across the StarNet. Everyone was curious—who was this Qi Junye? And more importantly, what kind of strength did someone bold enough to use the Marshal’s son’s name actually possess?

Many of Marshal Qi Sheng’s fans were furious the moment they saw the name. Their first reaction was outrage: someone had the audacity to share the same name as their idol’s son—a boy who still couldn’t transform. Feeling sympathy for the Marshal, their distaste for this so-called “genius teen” deepened.

No one believed he could be the real Qi Junye. Federation citizens were well aware that a prerequisite for mecha combat was successful beast transformation. Since the real Qi Junye hadn’t achieved that, it was assumed he couldn’t possibly pilot a mech—much less engage in combat.

As curious viewers flooded the stream, Sun Lang, watching the viewer count soar, discreetly signaled a number to Liang Qiu.

Liang Qiu wasn’t yet aware of the title Sun Lang had given the match. But upon learning the growing number of spectators, a thrill of satisfaction rose in his heart. Heaven is truly helping me today!

He imagined himself stepping on Qi Junye and personally reducing him to a laughingstock of the entire Federation once again. It was almost too much—he could barely maintain his mask of politeness.

He had to use tremendous willpower to stay composed before he took the lead and stepped onto the battle platform. Seeing that Liang Qiu was ready, Sun Lang smoothly shifted the livestream camera to the center of the platform.

And so, when Qi Junye ascended the platform with extraordinary calm, standing directly across from Liang Qiu, the livestream chat exploded with shock:

“Holy sh*t!!!”