What Makes a Home (Part Two)

In Northern Frontier Base City, there was a luxurious restaurant in the City Center.

Only two people sat in the private room, yet they had ordered an entire table of dishes.

Watching Zhang Gui wolf down his food, Dongguan felt puzzled.

"Do you usually not get enough good food?"

Although Zhang Gui's family could not compare to a martial artist's, they were still comfortably well-off.

Captain Zhang, Zhang Gui's maternal grandfather, had left them a sizable inheritance, and Dongguan had looked after them often during the following ten years. After he left, Yang Bei had taken care of them too.

Even if Yang Bei had only become a War God in recent years, a mid-ranking War General or stronger should have had more than enough resources to support an ordinary family.

Zhang Gui shook his head repeatedly. Only after swallowing his food and taking a sip of his drink did he speak.

"The food's good. It's just..."

An indescribable expression crossed his face.

"Big brother," Zhang Gui said seriously, "can you imagine what it's like when every meal, every dish, has to be measured down to the gram?"

"What do you mean, measured down to the gram?" Dongguan's expression twisted.

"At home, whenever my mom cooks, she follows the recipe strictly, with exact quantities and timing."

That did not sound like much of a problem.

"She measures the quantities with a laboratory scale and the time with a stopwatch. Even the heat is precisely controlled."

"Then why doesn't she buy a cooking machine?" Dongguan could not understand.

Cooking machines had been around for ages, and their quality was fairly good. He used one himself. Though it could not match a chef, it was good enough for making sugar balls, rice balls, and meatballs. If he wanted to indulge, he could do that at the War God Palace.

"A cooking machine?" Zhang Gui shook his head. "She makes cooking machines. Cooking is part of her experiments."

"What brand of cooking machine does she make?"

"Fish Gate. She registered the company herself a few years ago. Apparently, the cooking machines sell pretty well." Zhang Gui looked puzzled.

How could such lousy cooking machines be so popular?

Dongguan used a Fish Gate cooking machine himself.

They were popular because they were very good at making dry rations and meatballs, and were fairly compact. With a few spare batteries, they could run for days.

Martial artists often spent long stretches in the Wilderness Zone, where food was meant to replenish energy, not satisfy their taste buds.

"So that's how it is."

Before he knew it, Zhang Gui had swept through all the dishes on the table. Dongguan had barely eaten a few bites.

He did not mind, though.

"Let's go." Dongguan stood.

"Where?"

The Limitless Martial Arts Hall had said Dongguan would handle things, which left Zhang Gui puzzled. He had never heard of going out for a big meal being the first step in the process.

"To your home."

"By the way, did you tell your mom you became a martial artist? What did she say?"

"I told her. There's no hiding something like that," Zhang Gui replied. "She was always against me becoming a martial artist, but after I passed the Quasi-Martial Artist test myself, she said I could do whatever I wanted."

There had to be a reason for that change in attitude.

"Big brother, tell me. Who exactly are you, and what's your connection to me? Why are you looking after me like this?"

Zhang Gui looked at Dongguan, waiting for an answer.

He was not stupid. After everything unusual that had happened, he had naturally begun to suspect a few things.

"Come on. Let's go to your home." Rather than answer, Dongguan patted his head.

They hailed a taxi and headed toward Zhang Gui's home.

A row of townhouses in the Anping Residential Complex.

Zhang Gui's family lived there.

There were three people in the household: Zhang Gui, his mother Zhang Yu, and Zhang Yu's mother.

The moment he opened the front door, Zhang Gui saw his mother sitting in the living room, facing the entrance.

"Mom," he called.

"Mm. Go to your room first."

"Oh." Even after becoming a martial artist, Zhang Gui still instinctively obeyed his mother's orders.

Once Zhang Gui left, only two people remained in the living room.

"You're here." Zhang Yu looked at Dongguan, her gaze showing little emotion.

"I'm here." Dongguan walked over and settled comfortably onto the sofa opposite Zhang Yu.

"Then what do you want to do?" Both Zhang Yu's expression and her gaze remained calm. Only her slightly clenched fists betrayed her nervousness.

"Shouldn't you have something to say to me?" Dongguan looked straight into Zhang Yu's eyes.

He had been entirely passive in this matter.

For a man to have been the passive one was embarrassing even to mention.

Yet after hearing that Zhang Yu had borne him a child, Dongguan had indeed felt something different stir in his heart.

"Grandma, what exactly are they doing?"

The door quietly opened a crack, and a pair of curious eyes peeked out.

With his War God Level physical abilities, Dongguan instantly picked up the familiar voice.

Two people were secretly eavesdropping inside the room: Zhang Gui and Zhang Yu's mother, Li Shilan.

The eyes beneath his forehead guard opened, and a pulse of spiritual force pushed the door shut.

Realizing he had been discovered, Zhang Gui immediately ducked back inside.

With that little interruption over, Dongguan turned his attention back to Zhang Yu.

"I don't know." The woman who had stayed strong for twenty years finally broke down, two trails of tears running down her face.

Almost instinctively, Dongguan pulled her into his arms.

Only after she had more or less finished crying did Dongguan ask.

"What exactly were you thinking back then?"

By "back then," he meant both that drunken night twenty years ago and her pregnancy fifteen years ago.

Though Dongguan had not been fully himself at the time, he felt he had never treated her poorly. He had done his best to care for Captain Zhang's widow and daughter. Why had she "stolen" from him?

And having stolen it, why had she used it on herself?

Something soft and warm pressed against his lips.

"Don't ask."

They lost themselves in passion, without another word.

When Dongguan came to his senses, he looked at the disheveled sofa, the scattered clothes, and the woman sleeping in his arms, then slapped his forehead.

What did I just do? Didn't I come here to confront her?

Fortunately, he had used spiritual force to close the doors and windows and block out the sound.

"Forget it." Dongguan shook his head and stood.

That woke Zhang Yu.

They looked at each other, the atmosphere strangely awkward despite the heat between them just moments earlier.

Only then did Dongguan take a proper look at her.

Thirty years ago, Zhang Yu had been barely into her teens. Her current age was easy enough to work out.

Yet despite having borne a child over a decade ago, she was still beautiful, with a mature charm that a young girl lacked.

Dongguan had just felt her physical condition for himself. She had reached the level of a Primary General.

But if she actually fought a Primary General martial artist, Zhang Yu would definitely lose.

Before coming here, Dongguan had already looked into Zhang Yu's records.

Twenty years ago, before he left Northern Frontier Base City, Zhang Yu had already attained a martial artist's physical abilities and obtained Quasi-Martial Artist certification.

After that, however, she had never taken the Martial Artist Combat Assessment.

A Quasi-Martial Artist's privileges were fewer than a martial artist's, but hers had not been revoked because she was a fallen martial artist's family member.

Over the years, she had continued absorbing cosmic energy. Even without a Guidance Technique, steady accumulation and decent talent had brought her to the level of a Primary General.

She had nothing against martial artists and respected them, but she did not want to become one herself, nor did she want her child to become one.

Still, Zhang Gui's father was Dongguan, and Dongguan wanted the boy to become a martial artist. Combined with her guilt toward Dongguan, that had led her to tacitly agree.

Not knowing what to say, Dongguan prepared to leave.

"Don't go." Zhang Yu's voice sounded a little cold, but that was simply its natural tone.

"What happened back then was my fault, but I've always loved you..." Zhang Yu clung to Dongguan like an octopus.

Zhang Yu explained that she had fallen for him after getting to know him when she was very young, and had only resorted to that desperate measure after being rejected.

Dongguan searched his memories. It was plausible.

After Captain Zhang's death, only he and Yang Bei had remained of the Dragon Shadow Squad's original members. Though the squad was later reformed, the two of them had been the ones who mainly looked after their former teammates' families.

Dongguan was stronger than Yang Bei and more handsome, too. It was perfectly normal for a young girl to develop a crush on him.

After Zhang Yu reached adulthood, there had been several vaguely flirtatious moments. Had those been her confessions?

But misunderstandings easily arose between men and women. Even friends could sometimes seem flirtatious, which was where the saying that men and women could never be purely friends came from.

Back then, however, Dongguan had been wholly devoted to martial arts. There had been more than one thread of romance, but he had eventually severed them all himself.

Once his reputation as a martial arts fanatic took hold, people gradually stopped inviting rejection.

Dongguan's reason told him that Zhang Yu's words were merely an excuse. Who stole someone's seed to use in experiments because they loved him?

"Do you believe me?" Zhang Yu asked timidly, looking pitiful. It was a stark contrast to how she behaved toward Zhang Gui, yet it held a charm of its own.

"I don't."

As Zhang Yu's face paled, Dongguan continued.

"But it doesn't matter anymore. Zhang Gui is my son, and you're my woman." Dongguan turned and pulled her into his arms.

He had said he did not believe her to make it clear that she had not fooled him. As for forgiveness, what else could he do but forgive her?

The issue with his wife was settled, but there was still his son to deal with.

Night gradually fell over the land, and lights shone throughout the base city.

Unlike previous nights, there was an extra bowl and pair of chopsticks at Zhang Gui's home.

"So, big brother, you're my father?" Zhang Gui stared at Dongguan with wide eyes, finding it unbelievable.

"Still calling him big brother? You should call him Dad now." Zhang Yu's mother, Li Shilan, scolded Zhang Gui for his lack of manners.

"Let me sort this out." Seeing his normally icy mother nestled in the arms of the man he had just accepted as his big brother, Zhang Gui still struggled to take it in.

"To be precise, I'm your genetic father." Dongguan's phrasing sounded strange.

"I left Northern Frontier Base City twenty years ago and only recently returned, while you're only seventeen."

Zhang Yu opened her mouth as if to say something, then gave up.

Li Shilan tried to intervene. "We're still eating. Why bring this up now?"

She did not really approve of telling the child the truth this way, either.

"He has the right to know where he came from," Dongguan said bluntly.

Only then did Zhang Gui speak. "So I wasn't born in the normal way."

He looked at his mother.

"You could say that." Zhang Yu nodded.

Everyone fell silent and continued eating.

Only when Zhang Gui set down his bowl and chopsticks and said, "I'm done," was the silence broken.

"Don't be upset," Li Shilan comforted him.

"I'm not upset." Zhang Gui forced a smile. "Today, I became a martial artist and gained a father. Two happy events at once. What's there to be upset about? Besides, the food was really good today."

But as soon as he finished speaking, he turned and went back to his room.

"I'm done too." Li Shilan left the living room, leaving Dongguan and Zhang Yu alone.

Nothing more was said that night.

Early the next morning, Zhang Gui was already practicing hard in the courtyard with his spear.

"You've looked through Limit Home, right?" At some point, Dongguan had appeared beneath the large tree in the courtyard.

"Yes," Zhang Gui replied, without putting down his spear.

"Any technique manuals you want?"

"《World Destruction》."

A moment later, Zhang Gui's Communication Watch chimed.

"100,000,000,000 yuan received."

"Then buy it yourself. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me." With that, Dongguan left the courtyard.

"Okay."

Only after Dongguan's back disappeared at the end of the street did Zhang Gui check his account balance again, confirming it several times.

"Really that much? A hundred billion?"

Actually, this isn't so bad, is it?

At that moment, Zhang Gui accepted his newfound father.

After all, he had given him far too much.

He began planning his next steps.

He had originally intended to join a martial artist squad and head into the Wilderness Zone, but now there was no need to rush.

He could buy the manual first, train for a while, then have his "father" arrange something for him.

The Oasis Residential Complex.

Back in his villa, Dongguan checked his account balance and felt a headache coming on.

Fifty billion to buy 《World Destruction》, a hundred billion for the bounty, another hundred billion given away, plus the earlier cost of his saber. His savings of over two hundred billion had suddenly dwindled to a fraction of that.

Looking at the few billion in Huaxia Currency left in his account, Dongguan could only console himself.

"Forget it. It's enough for now, anyway."

He felt that spending money to settle things with his son had been well worth it.