CRA Chapter 1

---

Saving the world by being a nanny?

---

“There is a meteor shower tonight, it hasn’t occurred in a hundred years. I talked with a few old classmates, and we are going to the suburbs together in order to watch it. Are you coming?” At the other end of the call came an excited voice.

The young man sitting at the computer desk had his head tilted with the phone pressed against his shoulder. Both of his hands were placed on the screen in front of him. In his right hand, he held a pen and he continued to draw as he spoke, “The outside is too cold, I’m not going.”

“Forget it. Xie Lanlan[1], why don’t you laze to death?” Their relationship had always been the same as that of brothers. Lu Yuan, therefore, was not truly offended by the youth’s crude refusal, and proposed, “Well, let me at least take a few pictures for you later.”

Xie Luan responded with a few disinterested “Mms” as the other person continued chatting, and waited for him to hang up first. He then lifted a hand to remove the phone and put it back on the far end of the desk.

Xie Luan still wanted to continue working for a while longer; but when his fingers touched the edge of the drawing board, a stream of light glided past the corner of his eye. In the next second, a loud bang shook Xie Luan’s eardrums. He could even feel the impact through his desk’s tremors.

A meteor actually crashed onto his yard…?

Xie Luan held onto his precious drawing board for a second before turning to look out at the yard; he then finally decided to go out and have a look.

Walking downstairs, he discovered many of his indoor plants had been shaken by the impact and were lying broken on the floor. As he continued outside to the small yard, he also found almost all of his carefully grown potted plants in the same state. However, now was not the time to feel distressed.

As he looked around, Xie Luan noticed a hole in the ground, not far away. The hole was seemingly giving off a golden glow.

It was already late and the sky had begun to darken, some things would shine conspicuously in the dim environment. As Xie Luan was thinking about whether he should get closer and take a better look, the decision was made for him as he suddenly saw something float up from the nearby hole. It was a glowing golden ball…

“…” Xie Luan pressed his lips together and subconsciously took a step back.

Calm down, as a qualified citizen of the 21st century, he had to believe and have faith in science…

However, the power of science obviously couldn’t explain what was in front of his eyes and neither could it save him at this moment. He prepared himself to run, but the floating golden ball immediately saw through his intention.

Like a bullet, it shot forward with a speed far too fast for Xie Luan to avoid. In the scene reflected in his eyes, the golden ball grew bigger and bigger. It then hit him with a flash.

There was no pain, but Xie Luan’s vision immediately dimmed and he fell into darkness.

When he regained consciousness, he found that the surrounding area had become an endless white space.

Science, from a firm believer to completely giving up.

He looked around. The space seemed very unstable. In the distance, far away, he could see some of the space had even collapsed and twisted.

He felt he had encountered a very troublesome thing…

However, once this unscientific reality was accepted, Xie Luan was able to cope with the current situation and turned to the golden light ball that brought him to this space.

He did not know if this ball of light was a conscious being, but it was the only other thing in this space. Xie Luan could only try to communicate, “You…”

“I am Xia Zuo. I apologize for bringing you to this space without greeting you first, but it is only here I can speak to you.” The voice echoed in his head and interrupted what Xie Luan had wanted to say. The voice sounded very weak, but did not stop after the first sentence. “In my world, all the world lines lead to the same ending; even if I go back to the past and make all kinds of different choices, it will not matter. I have even tried to kill the root cause of the destruction of the world… but the outcome did not change.”

The other did not have much time left, and whether the youth could understand or not, they had to rush through all the necessary matters. “The final option requires the help of external forces, so I came to this world to find you.”

“This ball of light is my fading consciousness. After arriving in the other world, it will give you the final guidance.”

There was absolutely no chance of interjecting, and as he listened to what the other said, Xie Luan’s eyes widened. This was something way beyond his ability.[2]

Putting science aside, Xie Luan actually understood what the other party was saying.

To put it simply, the other party wanted to stop the destruction of their world, but couldn’t change the ending, so they placed their last hope on an external force, a person from another world.

Just like when subtracting “4-3” and finding it impossible to get “0”; the solution requires the involvement of a necessary “1” in the formula. Xie Luan was now the equivalent of this “1”.

“Then I will answer ‘OK’.” The fact that he was able to adapt so quickly to this weird situation made Xie Luan sigh and raise his hand to suppress the disorderly hair on his head.

Sure enough, he was in trouble, and he still didn’t refuse.

“Just build a link, don’t worry. No matter what the final result is, you will be safe and it will not have much impact on your real life. I’m very grateful…” There was no time to explain more and with the last sentence, the voice echoing in his head faded away.

Will not have much impact on your real life… Real life? Capturing the key information in this sentence, Xie Luan wanted to ponder on the meaning, but his consciousness was once again moved.

The link was established.

Opening his eyes, Xie Luan immediately took a sharp breath and cold air seeped into his lungs, cooling him further. Looking around, he found himself lying on the ground, his clothes were very thin, and his back was attached to the cold winter ground.

His first reaction was to get up and observe his surroundings. As expected, the scene was completely unfamiliar to him.

He was in a deserted alley, it was very narrow and would, at most, only let two people walk side by side.

The sky suddenly cast a shadow; he looked up and saw a huge silvery-gray starship with an icy metal gleam. Gaia Shipping inc.

He had really traversed.

The whole world here seemed to be in the high-tech era of an interstellar future. However, despite that, the appearance of the buildings was unexpectedly similar to that of his world.

Xie Luan looked at the sky for a moment, but quickly adjusted his mind and moved his eyes to the golden ball still floating in front of him.

As it came in contact with the youth’s gaze, the golden light floated forward a distance, then stopped and swayed in place, as if to signal for the youth to follow.

Xie Luan easily grasped the meaning of the action and without hesitation started walking in the direction of the light.

This planet was a famous trade planet, starships and airships could always be seen in the sky. Commercial streets were abound and there were many tourists moving about. It could be said that this was a very prosperous planet.

But even in a prosperous place, there would still be areas that are older.

After being led by the light ball for about ten minutes, Xie Luan was taken to a place seemingly untouched by the surrounding technology. Finally, the ball of light stopped in front of an old rusty iron gate.

They had arrived.

Xie Luan curiously raised his head, only to be stunned.

Cub… Cub Raising Association?

At this moment, Xie Luan even suspected that the other party had taken the wrong road. Was it not a “save the world” mission? A heroic script that held a nightmare-level difficulty and an exciting adventure?? How could it have changed the script?!

But the golden light ball that arrived at this place had no means of diversion and as a residual consciousness, it could neither understand the complex expression on the youth’s face.

The golden ball of light sank and touched a piece of paper stuck to the old iron gate that seemed to be on the verge of being blown away by the cold wind. It was obvious to the young man he had to peel off the piece of paper and read it.

Since the paper was not firmly attached, Xie Luan simply removed it from the iron gate. It was a recruitment flyer, a bit crumpled but still readable, and at the top was clearly written—

[Cub Raising Association seeks childcare staff]

Xie Luan: “…”

So… Saving the world by being a nanny?

He glanced down at the recruitment flyer in his hand, then looked at the various facilities that appeared very old and simple. Cub raising association… Xie Luan stood frozen in place.

This so-called Cub Raising Association, the definition of “association” here was not the same as the general association of Xie Luan’s world. The nature of it was a bit special.

The Cub Raising Association was more of an institution. It was almost equivalent to a combination of a juvenile welfare home and a kindergarten. In addition to the adoption of orphaned cubs, as appropriate, it would also admit other cubs for a fee and would in exchange be responsible for their care and education.

Much like the one in front of Xie Luan, the association had branches distributed on various planets. Like with some famous schools, there were countless parents who tried their best to find good connections and wanted to give their children a chance to enroll in the best branch. This was true even for the most powerful families.

A branch with a high ranking would without exception hire the very best caretakers who have passed the Star Alliance S-level evaluation; and thus, of course, would have very good environmental conditions for nursing the cubs.

Such elite caretakers may not accept all offers, even if they included a lot of money. Every caretaker who passed the Star Alliance S-level evaluation could be said to be extremely expensive to hire. Currently, there were only six in the interstellar and their scarcity only made them that much more desirable, everyone wanted them.

The reason they were so very expensive was also very simple. One of the core reasons was that the S-level certification signified the caretaker’s special ability to guide and motivate the cubs to develop their own abilities smoothly.

For example, a cub who could only develop a single ability could, with the help of S-level caretakers, dig out a potential second ability. This development of potential talents was only effective in early childhood. When they reached adulthood, the potential that was not brought out and up to the surface would be further weakened and buried deeper.

Another example was a cub who could only develop low-level abilities. After receiving guidance from an S-level caretaker, their potential could be stimulated, producing a certain probability that a high-level ability could be developed.

Although it was only a probability and may not be 100% successful, which parents would not want their cubs to win beginning at the starting line?

Therefore, there was a phenomenon nowadays. Every year, countless caretakers in the interstellar rankings were bombarded with tens of thousands of offers from expecting parents rushing to send them money. Most of the offers went to the caretakers who have passed the Star Alliance S-level evaluation. People would really give tables of tributes and burn incense in worship of them.

However, Xie Luan, who was still standing in a daze, staring at the flyer in his hand, was still unaware of it all. These beautiful things were not related to him for the time being – after all, at this branch, the various buildings were old and crude, the possibility of it being high ranking was almost nonexistent.

Taking back his line of sight, Xie Luan clenched the recruitment flyer in his hand and walked in, through the open iron gate.

__________________

Translator’s note:

Yay! My first translated chapter! ＼(^o^)／

---

[1] – In the marked sentence he says “Xie Lán Lán”, “Lánlán” is a nickname for Luán and means lazy-lazy. “Xie” can mean the following: To thank, to apologize, to wither (plants) or to decline. Yu Luan might just be addressing him with his nickname but it can also hold a sarcastic meaning: “Thank you Lazy, why don’t you laze to death.”

[2] – There was actually an idiom here that read “to drive a duck onto a perch”, it means to push someone to do something way beyond their ability.

---

TOC | Next Chapter