Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Cecil Ronin didn't immediately answer Bai Sha's question.

"…Go home first," said the Emperor.

Bai Sha couldn't discern joy or anger in the Emperor's voice, but she knew Cecil Ronin must have heard of this place.

Bai Sha didn't say much more, packed her bags, and returned to Youdu Star the next day.

The night over Youdu Star still shone like a pearl floating on the cosmic sea.

Bai Sha disembarked the starship and headed straight for the Emperor's study — a resplendent room filled with countless priceless treasures, where even the most mundane cup could be a centuries-old antique, a witness to the Empire's dynastic rises and falls. Once, she had to pass through layers of guards and checks before entering this exclusive domain of royalty, but now she almost walked in unchallenged, no one daring to stop her.

Both the Emperor and Wei Li were present.

"Sit down. Your face looks a bit pale," said the Emperor, his desk clear of any substantial paperwork, seemingly having cleared his schedule in anticipation of her visit. He instructed Wei Li, “Pour her some tea.”

This wasn't typically Wei Li’s job.

But all the nearby servants and guards had been dismissed, leaving only Cecil Ronin and Wei Li within Bai Sha's view.

Wei Li’s tea-making skills were even praised by the Emperor.

A cup of warm, fragrant, and rich black tea revived Bai Sha, warming her inside out. Wei Li, noticing her reaction, smiled slightly and subtly pushed a cup toward the Emperor.

Both uncle and niece seemed similarly preoccupied, both with noticeably pale complexions.

"I’ll start," Bai Sha began, recounting the memory fragments that had surfaced in her mind, carefully organized to ensure no detail was omitted. She remained cautious, describing objectively to avoid inventing any details, and also showed them the sketches she had previously sent to Jiang Gui.

After finishing, feeling thirsty, she downed the rest of her hot tea. During this, Cecil Ronin and Wei Li exchanged a confirming glance.

"Your memories seem to be authentic," said Cecil Ronin after examining the sketches, "If this is indeed about Solitude, then these details are quite plausible."

"So, you both know what 'Solitary Light' is," Bai Sha said, "Have you ever tried to go there to find her?"

"…No one can locate 'Solitary Light,' my Princess," Wei Li shook his head, "So we hardly ever considered the possibility that Princess Xipeisi boarded the 'Solitary Light.'"

Bai Sha paused, then the teacup in her hand made a clear clinking sound.

She asked, "Why not?"

She had always wondered why, even if "Solitary Light" was akin to a myth like ghost ships, there was no record of it in the empire’s history.

"Let me start from the beginning," Cecil Ronin took a deep breath, "This relates to the history of the establishment of the Ares Empire."

"At the time, it wasn’t just the current feather and beast kind families who founded the empire with us. There was another group among the Ares people—the Sea Kind."

Bai Sha almost choked on her drink.

She had been curious when she first came to the empire. Why were there psychic entities that flew in the sky and ran on land, and even some theoretically amphibious ones, but none that swam in the sea.

"The Sea Kind is a unique group. They have a special internal sense and their personalities and culture don’t quite mesh with the other two kinds. So, after the war and victory, while the feather and beast kinds chose to stay and build a new homeland, the Sea Kind chose a nomadic civilization, traveling and multiplying through the cosmos. However, they still maintained some contact with certain families. For example, they would send a signal every time they changed their leader and had also left us some messages," Cecil Ronin explained.

"But the precondition for maintaining communication was that the Sea Kind would initiate contact. This kind of activity happens about once every one or two hundred years," Wei Li added from the side of the table, his gentle eyes showing a hint of solemnity, "The Sea Kind's life sciences are highly advanced. They have mostly abandoned traditional life procreation mechanisms, but long periods of intermarriage within their group could pose a danger, so the Empire must periodically open its gene bank to them. Well, over a millennium, the Sea Kind people aren’t purely Sea Kind anymore, but their technology seems to enable each descendant to retain a marine psychic entity..."

"Furthermore, due to their prolonged drifting in the unknown regions of space, their aerospace and mechanical technologies also far exceed ours. Or rather, they are naturally gifted in this area. Our analysis suggests that though the Sea Kind population is not large, they likely consist of different tribes but share a common leader. The largest tribe and the historical home of their leaders is based on a movable super-large spacecraft, a space fortress—its name is 'Solitary Light.'"

As he spoke, Cecil Ronin waved his hand, dimming the room's lights. A screen emerged, displaying some ancient, supposedly archived data.

Among them was an image, supposedly sent by the Sea Kind, of the "Solitary Light." While not identical to the manuscript Bai Sha had drawn from memory, it appeared to be from the same school of design.

"The Sea Kind have always been advancing their technology. Overall, the Empire and they are equally matched, each with their strengths. However, despite their love for a free lifestyle, the Sea Kind are fundamentally conservative and xenophobic," Wei Li paused, "So it's hard to imagine that they would accept Princess Xipeisi into their tribe, even bearing offspring with her..." he said, casting a complex glance at Bai Sha.

Bai Sha: "?" What's with that look?

"The Sea Kind are conservative and xenophobic, so what? They would throw me out of the Solitary Light just because my psychic entity is a bird?" Bai Sha asked in shock.

"Not at all—not at all," Wei Li quickly reassured, "At that time, your psychic entity hadn’t even awakened. Not to mention, they wouldn’t commit such a morally reprehensible act as abandoning offspring. The Sea Kind are not barbarians. It’s just that your situation is somewhat complicated. According to their tradition, you should have inherited a Sea Kind psychic entity."

"It might have been an accident," Cecil Ronin said while holding his forehead, "At that time, Xipeisi’s psychic entity had already vanished. They probably didn’t even know her psychic entity was a mystical bird."

The genetic inheritance of the mystical bird is significantly different from typical Imperial genes.

However, Xipeisi must have known that the others were Sea Kind. She seemed to move freely on the Solitary Light, no different from the others.

So, did Xipeisi not reveal her true identity to them? Otherwise, such a significant event akin to a marriage alliance...! The Sea Kind would have at least sent a message!

Cecil Ronin suddenly felt overwhelmed.

He recalled his sister's past actions and even wondered if some naive Sea Kind had been deceived into marriage by her. But he couldn’t say this in front of Bai Sha.

And he was worried about another matter.

The Sea Kind often travel. Encountering an accident during their travels was not impossible.

But if Bai Sha's accident was not just a mere accident... then something must have happened on the Solitary Light.

"Do we really have no way to contact the 'Solitary Light'?" Bai Sha asked, somewhat incredulous.

Cecil Ronin and Wei Li remained silent for a moment, but Bai Sha could tell the answer from their expressions. A few seconds later,

Wei Li shook his head with regret, giving a definitive answer: "Yes. The last time the Solitary Light sent us a message was over twenty years ago, not long ago. This means, if everything is normal, we won’t be able to contact them in the short term."

Cecil Ronin: "At that time, it was the previous Emperor who handled affairs related to the Solitary Light. The Solitary Light sent a message of greeting, a brief exchange took place, and a starship was dispatched to collect genetic data—same old procedure, nothing unusual."

Bai Sha leaned forward: "Are the communication records still there?"

The three of them rummaged through the records thoroughly. The data mostly contained text and aerospace information, with only a few spoken exchanges recorded, from when the Sea Kind came to collect genetic data. As Bai Sha listened, the hairs on the back of her hand stood on end—

"Hello, this is Pilot Bai Yi, already departed from the Solitary Light. Flight route has been planned and is being shared. All observational values are normal. The starship will land at 9 PM at…… Please be ready to receive us."

Logically speaking, it was a voice so pleasant through the communication device that it was almost chilling, clear as water, yet with a fatally alluring quality. Is every Sea Kind's voice this mesmerizing? But that wasn’t what truly made Bai Sha’s hair stand on end—

"It's him, it's him," Bai Sha exclaimed softly, "the one in my memory... it’s him!"

Bai Sha found it somewhat difficult to call out the word "father."

She suddenly realized that this Sea Kind, biologically her father, also had the surname Bai. Such an astonishing coincidence.

Meanwhile, Cecil Ronin's expression turned grave again.

Wei Li slightly raised his eyebrows, took the now empty cup, poured the Emperor another cup of tea, and patted his shoulder soothingly.

"...Uncle, what's wrong with you? Why do you seem even more troubled than me?" Bai Sha asked.

Cecil Ronin suddenly looked up, his face pale, and slightly closed his eyes: "I just remembered, according to the timeline, Xipeisi was already the Crown Princess when we interacted with the Solitary Light. So, it’s very likely that Father Emperor assigned this task to her."

This meant that Sepis Ronin’s acquaintance with this sea-kind person named "Bai Yi" likely began earlier than they thought.

So, it’s highly probable that Sepis left with Bai Yi right after abdicating the throne. No wonder they couldn't find her!

Good news: The likelihood of Sepis being involved in a marriage scam greatly decreased.

Bad news: The possibility of Sepis eloping increased significantly.

Cecil Ronin's expression gradually twisted.

Bai Sha: “…”

Wei Li: “...”

Wei Li, concentrating intently and moving closer to Bai Sha, suggested, “I think it's best for you to step aside for a while, let His Majesty cool down before continuing the discussion.”

Bai Sha wholeheartedly agreed, finding his advice sound.

Just as she was discreetly trying to leave her seat, the Emperor suddenly slammed his fist onto the table, causing the antique piece to almost fall apart with a loud clang.

Bai Sha instinctively shuddered.

“Don't rush to leave,” the Emperor seemed to grind his teeth, “I mentioned changing your name a long time ago, maybe it's time to reconsider that…”

In the end, Bai Sha spent considerable effort to persuade her uncle, barely managing to keep her name.

Despite some hiccups, Bai Sha felt the ordeal with the poisonous gas was quite worthwhile. Although locating Solitude was challenging, they at least had a proper direction for their investigation.

The emergence of "Bai Yi" rekindled Cecil Ronin's resentment towards his sister's unannounced departure, but Bai Sha knew he must feel some relief.

Because Sepis Ronin didn't leave the Empire empty-handed; if their guess was right, she had someone she cared for back then. And her feelings were reciprocated, with Bai Yi overcoming immense challenges to have the sea-kind accept Sepis — either Sepis hid her identity or Bai Yi deliberately kept it secret; otherwise, the sea-kind wouldn't have allowed someone from the Ronin family into Solitude.

Bai Sha's lineage thus became even more complex...

She initially thought her origins might be tied to a mysterious man, but now it seemed to involve an entire enigmatic civilization. The world of the Sea Kind was different from that of the Empire’s people—they even had their own language and script. Having been away from the Empire for so long, Bai Sha couldn’t shake the feeling that the Sea Kind intentionally maintained their distance.

Bai Sha began recalling those brief yet warm fragments: Did the Sea Kind’s family life not differ significantly from a typical family? Or was it that her memories were too fragmented?

Bai Sha considered whether to inhale the gas emitted by the creeping roses again. However, the remaining gas was strictly controlled and used for research, making it difficult to acquire. Moreover, Bai Sha was wary of the gas's addictive nature.

This dilemma continued until her mentor, Jiang Gui, sent her a brief message:

"Where are you?"

Just that short question, and Bai Sha could almost feel her mentor’s anger.

She slapped her forehead: She had forgotten about this!

Bai Sha quickly replied, "The material is still in cryopreservation, I’ll bring it to you right away!" Hurriedly, she left her palace, summoned her servants, retrieved the remains of the king insect from her private store, and arranged for a spacecraft to transport it to Jiang Gui's private planet.

Jiang Gui, as the top-ranked mecha engineer, naturally had the means to own a private planet. However, private planets near the Tianqiu star system were exorbitantly priced. Jiang Gui's private planet wasn't too remote but was relatively small and sparsely utilized. Besides laboratories and manufacturing facilities for research, the rest of the land was barren, not even a blade of grass in sight.

Bai Sha’s first question upon landing was, "Teacher, why don’t you do some landscaping for your planet? I think it could hide quite a bit of ugliness."

Jiang Gui opened the security gate for her, glanced lazily at the bare ground, "Grass, no. I might consider planting some star insects."

Bai Sha: "......"

Bai Sha: "Maybe let's not."

This was Bai Sha's first visit to Jiang Gui's private planet. Jiang Gui opened the system to enter Bai Sha's biological information, granting her some access permissions, allowing her to bring her items into the lab area.

The star insect remains were stored in a silver preservation vault. Bai Sha had transported them by spaceship from the Dead Omen Star back to Youdu Star and now here. As they were her private property, her permission was required to open the vault—she tapped her hand on the verifier, and the preservation vault hissed open slowly.

"Let’s take a look now..." Jiang Gui, fully equipped with protective gear and electronic goggles, which flickered with blue light from the auxiliary analysis system in the goggles, observed for a while and then chuckled softly, "Not bad."

This was already a form of praise.

Bai Sha raised her eyebrows proudly: "Right?"

She had never seen a star insect's corpse preserved so well.

The body was free of unnecessary wounds, with no missing limbs. A deep, long incision through the chest and back indicated that the killer had succeeded in one strike.

"Who took the shot?" asked Jiang Gui.

"Uriel? I let him rest more when he's not needed," Bai Sha sighed, "His energy is limited, after all."

"One of the Four Angels? No wonder the skill is akin to a master butcher. You should learn from him when you have time, it'll benefit you for life."

The king insect's body was too large; Jiang Gui needed to operate mechanical arms to inspect it fully.

"Today, I'll teach you something else... starting with material processing. Watch how I do it."

"Next, my technique might not be delicate or artistic, but the sole pursuit is efficiency and utility—I'll teach you how to turn these gruesome star insect corpses into usable materials with limited tools at hand when you're in the wilderness, and then use these materials to reinforce mechas and weapons."

Bai Sha leaned forward curiously.

In reality, she might not need this knowledge—after all, she was the crown princess of the Empire. What situation would require her to rely on hunting star insects for materials?

Typically, the materials mecha engineers used went through multiple processes and meticulous treatment. The more basic the material, the stricter the quality requirements. Inferior materials would be destroyed or sold cheaply before leaving the factory. This was partly because of the Empire's advanced mecha manufacturing industry and partly due to the threat posed by star insect remains to humans—most star insects were poisonous to humans, varying only in toxicity. There were also issues of psychic residue, radiation, etc. Higher-level star insects posed greater threats. In short, mecha engineers generally don't start processing from star insect corpses. It’s not their job.

But Jiang Gui showed her a different perspective.

"You need to see... use your psychic power, not your eyes. Look at the energy pathways within these star insects, see how the power flows through their bodies..."

The energy system of a mecha is, to some extent, modeled after the circulatory system within a star insect.

"Star insects can also be your teachers. They often possess ingenious designs that humans can learn from."

The heart of this star insect was quite interesting. Not just one heart. Perhaps it could inspire the creation of an energy pump.

Jiang Gui's movements seemed instinctive, effortless. He now demonstrated a speed-type practice method. Bai Sha watched nervously, but Jiang Gui still explained each step to her.

“Pay attention to the residual aura on this starworm. It had preferences in life. Being a queen worm, it's special. If you don’t want its residual psychic power to affect the material quality or contaminate other materials, you must cleanse its psychic imprint — override it with your own.”

Watching Jiang Gui, Bai Sha suddenly remembered: Jiang Gui’s psychic power also surpassed 3S level.

Typically, those with psychic power above 3S level... are naturally strong fighters.

Bai Sha hesitantly asked, “Teacher, are you so skilled because you’ve personally killed starworms?”

“What are you talking about?” Jiang Gui replied, “How do you think I made my first legendary mech when I became famous? Who would give me such precious materials? I killed those starworms on the frontline myself.”

Bai Sha: “...” So you’re a violent mech designer too, and you hid it so well!