Chapter 173

Chapter 173

The representatives of the major families who witnessed the interrogation of the Crown Prince didn't know how to react.

The conversation between Qiu Zha and the Crown Prince was informationally dense, almost shaking the very foundations of humanity. This barrage of intelligence left them dazed, especially considering the Prince's bloodless, yet effective, interrogation tactics...

"His Highness has a special sharpness. She knows how to control the hearts of people. Although her approach is aggressive, she understands how to neutralize the resistance of others, maintaining a perfect balance..." A family representative pondered before adding, "Very mature, too mature for her age, almost uncharacteristic."

"Interrogation is not just a psychological battle but also a war of information. Her ease comes from her informational advantage. Qiu Zha thinks she knows everything, even subconsciously believing her to be omnipotent." An intelligence officer wondered, why did Bai Sha seem to know more than Qiu Zha?

Much of their conversation was incomprehensible to the onlookers – Qiu Zha's journey from arrogance to collapse was due to Bai Sha knowing more truths than he had anticipated.

As Bai Sha exited the interrogation room, the intelligence officers immediately approached her.

Thanks to Bai Sha, they had one less headache to deal with.

"His psychological breaking point is about to shatter," Bai Sha said calmly, "Add a little more pressure, and he'll spill everything."

Bai Sha not only denied Qiu Zha's position in the Silver Nexus, but she also invalidated his beliefs and, by extension, the value of his actions over the years. Pinning him down as someone who was duped into free labor by the Silver Nexus would inevitably lead to some regret. Under this regret, he would be willing to try cooperating with Bai Sha – but as soon as she extracted the information, she would coldly turn her back, leaving Qiu Zha completely bereft of any control.

The intelligence department still wanted to extract more information from Qiu Zha. In other words, Qiu Zha was still valuable. But Bai Sha insisted on making him feel "worthless"—

As long as Qiu Zha wanted to stay alive, the initiative would then be transferred to their hands.

If he no longer wished to live, then the intelligence department's unused contingency plans could be put into action one after another.

"Thank you for your personal involvement," the head of the Intelligence Department asked with a smile, "May I inquire about your source of information? After this event, we feel quite behind in terms of intelligence."

This was a tactful request for Bai Sha to share her intelligence channels, a gesture of humility and eagerness to learn.

"...The source is myself," Bai Sha left a deliberately ambiguous response and, without further ado, turned and left the interrogation room.

After the entire interrogation meeting, their focus shifted primarily to the "God Tomb" and "Solitude."

"Now that we have information that Star-Eater Worms can neutralize the virus, our next step is to immediately conduct related medical experiments," declared the Emperor, "until we find a method to perfectly counteract the virus."

This task was urgent—there were still many military academy students infected with the virus lying in hospitals.

"Exploring the 'God Tomb' should be scheduled, but we must not be hasty. Currently, our information is limited to the coordinates of the 'God Tomb' and the abundance of viruses within. Even if we overcome the viral challenge, there may be more traps inside the 'God Tomb'," Wei Li, sitting to the right of the Emperor and adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses, said with a hint of coldness in his gentle eyes, "We need professionals in the exploration of ancient civilization relics. I will take charge of this arrangement."

"I request to join the God Tomb exploration project," Bai Sha spoke up, "after all, I am not sensitive to the virus."

"The selection for the exploration team will be discussed later," the Emperor glanced at Bai Sha, "Next on the agenda is the issue of locating 'Solitude'."

The room fell into a moment of silence.

If the clues about the "virus" and "God Tomb" were relatively clear, then "Solitude" was the only topic that seemed elusive, with no clear starting point.

Some of the emerging families were even hearing the name "Solitude" for the first time.

The Sea Kind had migrated to space and isolated themselves from the outside world even before the founding of the nation. Technically, they were an untraceable entity. Moreover, they had a tradition of minimal contact with other families, and even when they did interact with the royal family, they deliberately concealed their whereabouts. Now, locating "Solitude" seemed an almost insurmountable challenge.

In reality, the greatest hope lay in Bai Sha.

Judging from her vaguely retained memories, she had lived on "Solitude."

If even she didn't know how to find the Solitude, what could others possibly do?

"The base point of the Boundless City is on the Solitude. So, we must be prepared for the Solitude having fallen," the Emperor glanced at Bai Sha again, "The sea people... might already be enslaved or sacrificed in the struggle against the Silver Core. In the name of the Emperor, I order the unsealing of all information archives connected to the Solitude for analysis by experts from all fields. Even if the chances are slim, we must find more clues."

……

After the meeting concluded, Bai Sha accompanied the Emperor back to Youdu Star.

Throughout the journey, neither of them spoke.

It was only after disembarking from the spaceship that Bai Sha suddenly requested a private conversation with the Emperor in the study.

Just the two of them.

Bai Sha laid bare her identity and her interactions with the Silver Core. The Emperor's frown deepened as he listened but remained silent until she finished her last sentence.

After narrating the entire truth, Bai Sha took a light breath and then bowed her head.

“...What’s with that expression, as if awaiting a verdict?”

Cecil·Luoning spoke sternly.

“It’s hideous.”

Bai Sha: "……?"

“Is that all you wanted to say to me?”

Cecil sighed, “When I first saw your mech talents, I really thought it was a genetic mutation in our Luoning family, a born genius. I never expected the cause to be this. So, you're not just a child who's just reached adulthood. Up to what age do your so-called ‘past life’ memories extend?”

Bai Sha gave a specific age.

“Very well,” the Emperor sat down, “Since we’re more or less of the same age, our conversation should be more relaxed.”

Bai Sha: "……"

Baisha could tell the Emperor was pretending to be calm; he must be very anxious now.

Wow, his niece used to be a researcher at the Lighthouse? How to describe her identity, a living fossil?

"You don’t have to force yourself to accept this fact," Baisha said earnestly, "If you have doubts about being 'uncle,' then we can communicate as monarch and subject. I'll call you Your Majesty, and you can call me by my name—as for the position of crown prince, let's wait until we find the Solitary Light and clarify the past..."

"Why would you think I doubt your identity?" Cecil scrutinized Baisha, "Your genes can't be faked, neither can your psychic form. Maybe your memory was tampered with by the Silver Core, but isn’t everything you've experienced in this life real?"

Baisha was taken aback for a moment.

"...I never thought so," she murmured in her defense.

"Then stop doubting me, and stop doubting yourself," the Emperor said sternly, "From now on, call me uncle. Understood?"

Baisha: "...Okay."

The Emperor: "Your attitude is really perfunctory."

Baisha retorted: "Uncle, in such a situation, you should guide me with a tone full of warmth and love, letting me feel the warmth of family, not by threatening me fiercely. No wonder so many people are afraid of you."

The Emperor chuckled coldly: "I’m already quite mild. If Cephas were here, she would probably beat you until you understood on your own."

"No way," Baisha instinctively argued, "She loves me the most. You're talking about yourself, uncle."

The Emperor: "..."

"You still say you can't remember anything?" He tapped Baisha's head in annoyance.

"Even if I remember, it's useless. Those are just fragments of daily interactions," Baisha, holding her head, sighed, "There's nothing in my memory that could help us find the Solitary Light. Unless the Solitary Light seeks us out." Pausing, she lowered her hand, "Is it possible to deduce the physical location of the 'Boundless City' based on its data?"

"It's a good idea, but not very feasible," the Emperor said.

"I've always been pondering why the sea people have been avoiding contact with the outside world," Baisha recalled her vague memories, "In appearance and customs, sea people aren't much different from other feathered and beast kinds, so integrating into the Empire shouldn’t be a problem. They are xenophobic, but not to an extreme extent—otherwise, how could Cephas have been accepted into their tribe? She's a dethroned crown princess, with a plethora of legendary stories and troubles. The sea people accepted even her..."

This indicates that the Solitary Light had other reasons for seclusion.

Moreover, Cephas's disappearance without explanation after losing her psychic form was strange. The accident report from the scientific expedition ship she handled mentioned a mysterious virus and Salmer Greiz, but not Quijia and the "Tomb of Gods." Even the coordinates of the "Tomb of Gods" were recent intel for Baisha and her team.

It seemed that Cephas had no intention of letting future generations explore the Tomb of Gods. She wanted to end it there.

Baisha narrowed her eyes, suddenly stood up, and grabbed the Emperor's hand: "Uncle, what about our past communications with the Solitary Light? Show me everything."

The Emperor was startled, but still complied with her wish, using his authority to access all information without reservation. Most of it was simple correspondence, occurring roughly every few decades to a century. With the Empire's technology, they could roughly determine the star domain the Solitary Light was in when the messages were sent. Later, as technology evolved, they could even estimate the distance between the Solitary Light and them based on signal exchanges—though it wasn’t much use, as the Solitary Light constantly changed its course, and the Empire didn't necessarily need to know their exact location.

Non-interference was an agreement reached by both parties since their ancestors.

Baisha analyzed all the communication data between the Solitary Light and the Empire, estimating the location of the Solitary Light at the time of each signal—for efficiency, she even wrote a program to assist with the calculations.

It took her three hours to arrive at all the results.

During this time, the Emperor patiently waited by her side.

Baisha finally compiled all the data and imported it into a star map. The map was covered with dense dots and some scattered dashed lines. Baisha marked these lines with different colors based on the years, then highlighted the coordinates of the "Tomb of Gods" with a bright red dot—

Both of them stared at the star map, falling into a brief silence.

The flight path of the Solitary Light had always been changing.

But one thing remained constant: every so often, it had to pass near the Tomb of Gods.

It seemed as though it was perpetually orbiting the Tomb of Gods.

"…I think I understand why the sea people refuse to interact with the Empire," Baisha said softly, "They bear the duty of tomb guardians and patrollers, yet cannot disclose the coordinates of the Tomb of Gods to the Empire—because they have concerns, fearing that a resonant member of the Empire’s royal family might be tempted by the Silver Core, bringing danger to the Ares people."

The sea people worried that the history of the Ares people being controlled by the Silver Core might repeat itself. The Ronin family's "resonance" was unique, incredibly powerful, but also very dangerous. The sea people's hope was that the Ronin family would stay away from the Tomb of Gods, preferably never knowing its coordinates.

Cephas's concealment of the Tomb of Gods' existence was probably for this reason.

The reason she was accepted by the sea people was simple—she had lost her psychic form, and thus, her resonance.

Her disappearance without a trace after leaving silently was likely for this reason.

Baisha and Cecil looked at each other, almost understanding the situation. Their expressions varied.

Baisha: "…Uncle, what are you thinking?"

"Hmph," Cecil sneered, candidly, "I’m thinking of blowing up that so-called 'Tomb of Gods' and the Solitary Light."

Baisha sighed.

"I wonder, is this fate?... A misfortune that turned out to be a blessing," she said thoughtfully, "If Cephas hadn't lost her psychic form, she wouldn't have found her love, wouldn't have boarded the Solitary Light, and I wouldn't have been born."

Cecil was silent for a moment, then said, "It only proves that her emotional state wasn't at rock bottom at the time. The world still left something good for her."

"Can we use these flight paths to speculate the current location of the Solitary Light?" Baisha looked up, her gaze falling on the glowing star map, trying to shift the topic.

Cecil: "If the Solitary Light is under the control of the Silver Core, then its flight path is unpredictable."

"My hibernation pod," Baisha suddenly remembered, "I woke up on Lancelot Star in the Federation. Although Professor Holman said he found me in a garbage recycling station, I must have fallen out of a hibernation pod. No, so many years have passed, that pod should have been disposed of..."

"We still need to search," Cecil said, "Sea kind technology is not ordinary. Even if it's mixed in a pile of garbage, someone who knows its value should recognize it. If there's a possible clue, we must go back and investigate. It's best to do this before we go to war with the Federation."

Baisha frowned slightly, "Will there really be a war?"

"If it's unavoidable," the Emperor said.

The war had just completely subsided; no one wanted to disrupt the hard-earned peace.

……

Baisha returned to her palace with a heavy heart.

Cecil Ronin said she had been working too hard recently and advised her to rest. If she couldn't relax, then tinkering with mechs was better than worrying all day.

As soon as she entered the hall, Yaning and Yan Jingyi looked up at her—they couldn't reveal their presence outside, so they simply moved into Baisha's palace to stay with her. They were petting a cat, seemingly trying to alleviate their anxiety.

"Want to join?" Yan Jingyi lifted a cat's paw and waved it towards Baisha.

Baisha hesitated for a moment before joining them.

The cats were currently shedding. After petting them for a while, all three were covered in fur. Due to the change of seasons, a couple of cats with upset stomachs were having diarrhea issues—it was hard to imagine that humans had entered the space age but still couldn't solve this problem.

"Cats are angels when they don't have diarrhea," Yan Jingyi held a cat, warily eyeing its behind. The cat innocently wagged its fluffy tail, silently staring back at her, "But when it had diarrhea yesterday, I thought getting a robotic pet might not be a bad idea."

In the space age, there were 3D virtual pets formed by realistic projections or even robotic cats, but to Baisha, they still couldn’t compare to the charm of a living, breathing creature.

Only when she had accumulated two big balls of fur from grooming did Baisha stop petting the cat, feeling somewhat relieved from her stress.

"I want to visit my classmates," she said softly, "Many of them are still in a coma."

For instance, Cen Yuehuai and Xino, who were severely infected by the virus. Their condition was fluctuating and they were among the most critically affected. Cen Haiyun, Cen Yuehuai's sister, had contacted Baisha, fearing that they might never wake up until a cure for the virus was found.

"Go ahead," Yan Jingyi patted her shoulder, "I know you’ve been afraid to see them, but you'll feel better after you do."

Baisha nodded.

Currently, all those infected with the virus were concentrated in the quarantine sanatorium—the same one Baisha had once stayed in.

Re-entering the sanatorium required scrutiny and rigorous preparation. Baisha complied, donning isolation gear and an oxygen mask before entering the ward.

She visited Cen Yuehuai first.

Cen Yuehuai lay with her eyes tightly closed, her complexion not too bad, but her expression was not at peace.

Cen Yuehuai was the type to easily forget, especially adept at forgetting unhappy things. Baisha had never seen her with furrowed brows and a weak face; she instinctively reached out to smooth the lines between her brows.

As soon as Baisha's fingertips touched her skin, she felt the chaos in Cen Yuehuai's psychic energy.

In her psychic energy, Baisha sensed an ominous presence—like venom flowing from dragon teeth, relentlessly corroding the world tree day and night.

Cen Yuehuai's psychic instability was far greater than that of Salmer Greiz.

Recalling her encounters and battles with Salmer, Baisha now realized how frighteningly stable Salmer's mental state had been.

"Star-devouring worms have such miraculous effects? If only they could devour the virus..."

Almost as if possessed, Baisha pursed her lips, her fingertips flickering with gray light, faintly forming a hollow vortex.

To devour the virus, it was inevitable that some of Cen Yuehuai's psychic energy would also be consumed.

But Baisha was very careful and patient.

Soon, ominous black wisps emerged on Cen Yuehuai’s forehead—the virus attempting to escape upon sensing something amiss. Baisha glanced up, and the gray vortex captured them all.

Afterward, Cen Yuehuai's frown gradually smoothed out, and Baisha felt no discomfort—except for feeling like her appetite was whetted only to find no more food. The main course was the psychic energy, and those black wisps were just an addition, shredded by the swirling gray vortex.

Baisha gazed steadily at Cen Yuehuai’s sleeping profile, occasionally glancing at the nearby life monitoring equipment.

No change occurred.

…Well, it wasn’t that simple after all.

Just as Baisha sighed and lowered her head, she suddenly heard a weak, mosquito-like voice from the bed:

"Your Highness...?" Cen Yuehuai struggled to open her eyes, "Are you... am I dreaming?"