Interstellar Beastworld: Raising A Cub With My Mummy System!-Chapter 52: MS, AM I LOSING MY CHINESE FEATURES?

"Three days, if we move the fleet now. The ships are ready. The crews are standing by." Magus hesitated. "But if we move before the treaty expires, we give them the justification they want."

Uriel stopped walking. "I am not moving before the treaty expires. I am planning for after."

Magus stopped beside him. "And if they move first?"

Uriel looked out the window at the training grounds below. Soldiers in neat formations, officers calling orders, the endless preparation for a war no one wanted but everyone expected. Fourteen million active duty, another twenty-two million waiting to be called.

The largest military in the system.

"Then we move faster. We have the numbers. We have the weapons. We have the will." He turned back to Magus. "Keep the inventory updated. I want new numbers every day. And I want to know everything there is to know about the Zephorian leadership. Their weaknesses. Their divisions. The things they want more than they want war."

Magus bowed his head. "I will have it for you by tomorrow."

They reached the end of the corridor, where a set of reinforced doors led to the command center. Uriel stopped and looked back the way they had come, at the soldiers moving with purpose, at the base that had been his second home for more than a decade.

"I will be back at the estate by evening," he said. "Send me the inventory updates as they come."

Magus bowed slightly. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Uriel walked on, alone now, his mind already turning toward the days ahead. There was a war to plan and a peace to protect. He would do both.

He quickened his pace.

With Auriel sleeping soundly in his bassinet, Lin Yue slipped out of the nursery and into the adjoining bathroom. She had not had a proper moment to herself in days, and the thought of hot water on her skin was almost enough to make her forget the weight of everything else.

She turned the taps and watched steam rise from the basin. The bathroom was large, tiled in pale stone, with a sunken tub that filled quickly. She undressed and stepped in, sinking into the warmth with a sigh.

It felt like the first time she had seen herself in days.

The water was clear, and she could see her body beneath the surface. The loose skin on her stomach from the birth was still there, softer than before, but not as pronounced as she had feared. Her breasts were fuller, heavy with milk. Her hips seemed wider. Everything about her felt different.

She raised a hand to her hair, pulling a wet strand forward to look at it.

Streaks of white. Not grey. White. Bright against the dark brown that had been her natural color for twenty-five years.

Her breath caught.

"MS, am I losing my Chinese features?"

[You are changing. Your body is adapting to this world. The white streaks are part of that.]

She leaned closer to the mirror above the sink, wiping away the steam. Her eyes. They were not brown anymore. They were lighter, shifting toward something she could not name. Blue, maybe. Or grey. It was hard to tell in the dim light.

"Everything has been happening so fast. I have not had a chance to look at myself properly."

[That is understandable. You have been focused on your son, on the rat, on learning about a new world.]

She touched her cheek, her jaw, the bridge of her nose. Her face shape was still the same, but something about her looked sharper, more defined. The softness of her features was giving way to something else.

[These are biological changes. Your body is adapting to the atmosphere, the air, the water, the food. It is not magic. It is survival.]

"How much more will I change?"

[From the looks of it, your hair will turn completely white in a few months. Your eyes will likely settle on blue. There will be other visible changes as your body continues to adapt. But do not worry. You will not become a beastkin. You will remain human. A human adapted to this world.]

She thought about that, about returning to Earth someday, about what people would see when they looked at her.

[If you ever went back to Earth, you might be something like a superhuman. Your body has been altered at a cellular level. But that is a thought for another day.]

Lin Yue let out a slow breath and finished bathing. She dried herself with a soft towel, then stood in front of the mirror again, studying her reflection.

Her face had changed. Not dramatically, but enough. She was stunning, in a way she had not been before. Sharper. More striking. The white streaks in her hair gave her an ethereal look, and her lightening eyes seemed to catch the light differently.

[If you dared to go outside looking like this, you would be chased.]

She almost smiled. She twisted her wet hair into a messy updo and secured it with a clip. The white streaks stood out against the dark mass, but at least they were contained.

She dressed in a cottage skirt and a tube top, clothes she had found in her closet that morning. It surprised her how closely Primus had copied Earth fashion, but she was grateful for it. The tube top made feeding easier, and the skirt was light and comfortable.

She picked up her phone and walked back to the nursery.

The time on the display read the 12th mark of Jovis.

Just past midday.

Auriel was awake.

He was not crying, not yet, but his face was scrunched, his little body squirming in the bassinet.

His fussing grew louder as she approached.

She lifted him carefully, cradling him against her chest. His small hands waved, his legs kicked. She checked his temperature, his clothes, his position.

Then the smell announced itself.

She laughed softly. "Did Auriel make a stinky? Is that why you are all fussy?"

He let out a small wail.

"Don’t worry. Mummy will change you, and you will feel better in no time."