Chapter 246

Chapter 246

Bai Qing wasn’t just making wild guesses. As the only white tiger in the royal family, neither Bai Ji nor Shuang'er wanted to see him after all the previous incidents. So, the only one left who could make him want to grow stronger to protect them, in the entire star system, was Xiao Hundred.

Currently, in front of Bai Xiaoyu was the eager, battle-ready little white tiger, while behind him was the snarling little golden tiger. He glanced at the oblivious Bai Qi and thought about how the latter had been resentful for nearly twelve years, chasing after the culprit without success, who might now be standing right in front of him. His lips twitched.

However...

Bai Qing’s eyes flicked between the little golden tiger and the brown-and-gold tiger cub with the once arrogant and pretentious ID. He had always thought Xiao Hundred’s mental energy had dissipated until the little golden tiger was successfully cultivated by Xiao Hundred. Only then did Bai Qing realize that their mental energies had returned to their rightful places.

Until today, he thought that Xiao Hundred’s mental energy might have been resting in its original body, only to return after suffering a severe injury. Now, if the top rank in the mecha cub zone belonged to Xiao Hundred, what did that mean?

Had his mental energy been in a disembodied state for all these years?

That couldn’t be possible. Even with specialized equipment, mental energy can’t survive more than a few years without a host. Without a body, a person’s mental energy would weaken and eventually dissipate.

Bai Qing ordered all records on 'Da Bai's Invincible Little Treasure' to be pulled up. The mecha prodigy who appeared out of nowhere had drawn the attention of every faction, including the royal family.

After defeating Bai Qi, who had prepared thoroughly, his data became visible to many factions. But no faction found anything significant, and the royal family only discovered a connection to the Sixteenth Legion.

The royal family could access information about the Sixteenth Legion thanks to the main brain.

When the empire was established, besides the royal family, the Bai family also had the highest permissions. Hence, it wasn’t just the royal family that had supreme authority; the Bai family had it too. Some permissions of the main brain weren’t entirely open to the royal family, especially when it came to investigating matters related to the Bai family. Without the Bai family’s consent, there were clear restrictions.

Back then, the main brain only hinted that the person in question was from the Bai family, providing no further details.

He had always assumed it was a member of the Bai family, which annoyed him, but he couldn’t do anything about it. After all, the top rank, even the Glory Rank, was a place where Bai family descendants competed. While other families struggled for centuries or even millennia to reach it, the Bai family dominated every generation.

The royal family hadn’t been on the Glory Rank for many years. If Bai Qi had secured the top spot, it would have been a joyous event for the royal family. But who knew that they would be overtaken at the last moment?

Bai Qing glanced at the tiger cub with the pretentious ID, calmly standing against Bai Qi. If it was him, then eleven years ago would have been a welcome surprise for the royal family.

This was a good thing.

However, if this were indeed true, it meant that Xiao Hundred had been saved by Bai Chen in some unknown way. He had already been clingy while still in his egg, and now he had been saved by Bai Chen, frequently interacting with him over the years.

Bai Qing gave Bai Xiaoyu a deep look. In such a situation, if Xiao Hundred had to choose sides, he probably wouldn’t stand with him.

At this moment, he actually hoped that "Da Bai's Invincible Little Treasure" wasn’t Xiao Hundred. The Glory Rank was ultimately just a vanity title. Xiao Hundred wasn’t the failure he once was. Able to brew potions and tackle dark substances, he became a beacon of hope for the star system, leading a large group of interns who could change the future of new eggs in the star system. Any single one of these achievements had a significant impact on the star system.

Of course, no conclusions should be drawn without clarity.

Bai Qing quickly went through the data without finding anything conclusive. He ordered more information from the past twenty years within the Sixteenth Legion, especially from the medical department, including some special occurrences and matters related to mental energy, to be retrieved.

Besides Bai Chen suddenly consuming large amounts of high-energy exotic meat from the canteen and his increased demand for mental energy restoration potions, there was also an incident where Bai Chen let out a beast roar in the dead of night.

These anomalies were immediately sent to him at the time, but he hadn’t thought much of them since they weren’t significant. Now, looking back, the first incident was understandable since Bai Chen often sold the high-quality meat provided to him to buy larger quantities of even more challenging high-energy meat. His energy needed replenishment, so an occasional meal was normal.

The mental energy restoration potions were somewhat relevant but were confirmed to have no significant connection to Xiao Hundred’s mental energy.

The midnight beast roar had puzzled him at the time. Given Bai Chen’s style, he rarely used roars to intimidate enemies on the battlefield, let alone when he wasn’t in battle. Various theories were proposed by strategists, including the pressure of facing the Insect Emperor.

Now, looking at the date, it coincided with the time Xiao Hundred had his incident half a month earlier.

Bai Qing fell into deep thought. This didn’t prove anything, but he had a vague feeling that if Xiao Hundred had been with Bai Chen all these years, it should have been around this time. But he had no evidence and could only continue investigating while also monitoring the efforts of the two tiger cubs on the star network to maintain the top rank, especially the little white tiger’s efforts.

At that moment, the main brain sent him a file containing information on the twenty or so cubs with the potential to become generals.

Seeing such promising young dragons, even the royal family was intrigued. It wasn’t just them—the Elder Council had already begun their investigation. But they were in a state of mutual checks and balances with the royal family. Everyone wanted the best talents.

The other major powers were the same.

However, none of them were as quick as he was. As soon as he saw it, his expression changed.

They were actually from the Dragon Lair.

No wonder.

Even in their little dragon form, half of their parents were of the bloodline of the boss of the Twelfth Legion. The rest were the strongest dragons of the dragon clans, excluding the twelve leaders. Given their naturally combative nature, it’s no surprise they had such potential.

Their optical brains and the Bug cubs were from the same batch, sent by Little Hundred, and even used the special privileges of F73 for the Bug cubs.

Bai Qing saw nothing wrong with Bai Xiaoyu hiding the star registry of the dragon cubs alongside the Bug cubs. In his view, even exposing the Bug cubs was acceptable, but the identity of the dragon cubs must not be revealed.

Now that the dragon cubs were targeting the Bug cubs, it seemed that with their heightened senses, they might have sensed something.

At this moment, Bai Xiaoyu didn’t know that Bai Qing was watching those fighting cubs. Even if he had known, he wasn’t afraid. He was prepared.

The royal family had the main brain, and the dragon cubs, whose star registries were also hidden, would inevitably attract attention. Instead of wasting countless efforts only to fully expose Little Fish Egg, it was better to just release the other identity details of the dual-system optical brain.

While other factions struggled to gather intel on the dragon cubs, the royal family could access it. However, they would likely not reveal it publicly and might even help cover up the cubs' identities.

As he expected, Bai Qing had already instructed the main brain to protect their identities.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at Bai Qi in front of him. He was busy and didn’t want to continue entangling with him here. So, he patted the little golden tiger, “Let’s log off.”

The little guy’s combat strength couldn’t compare to Bai Qi’s. If he stayed here any longer, he would definitely be taught a lesson by Bai Qi.

Having been provoked, Bai Qi, seeing the two tiger cubs trying to escape, directly blocked them. “Bai Xiaoyu, dare you log off?”

Bai Xiaoyu glanced at Bai Qi, and in the next second, he disappeared from sight. The little golden tiger, seeing this, proudly roared at Bai Qi, “We dare, so what can you do?”

After finishing, he also vanished from the spot.

Bai Qi was furious. Since the two had logged off, there was nothing he could do about it now.

The various factions watched Bai Qi’s face turn pale and couldn’t help gloating. At the same time, Bai Qi’s siblings sent congratulatory messages, laughing at his misfortune.

While the various factions were enjoying the spectacle, they didn’t forget to do their real work.

They had also been looking into the identities of these twenty-odd cubs recently. Since they couldn’t find anything, they wanted to use these cubs to trace their guardians. Over the next few days, they kept an eye on them and found that not a single guardian showed up.

Generally, parents wouldn’t feel at ease letting their cubs go through the trials alone. At the very least, they wouldn’t be completely absent.

But after waiting for several days, they found nothing. Not a single guardian appeared.

The various factions were astonished.

However, the more they watched these cubs fight, the more shocked they became. Considering how strong these cubs were, it made sense that their parents would trust them to handle the trials independently.

The stronger these cubs were, the more they wanted to recruit them into their own clans. Even Bai Qi, still bitter, attempted to recruit the cubs sent by the person who had beaten him years ago. If these cubs defected, not only could they uncover the identity of the person who had been hiding for eleven years, but they could also use these cubs to turn against that person.

The various factions quickly took action. Since they couldn’t contact the parents, they would approach the cubs directly. Adults weren’t suitable to interact with the cubs, so they planned to send cubs of similar age.

Thus, over the next few days, the dragon cubs were intercepted by other cubs, who tried to befriend them.

However, the dragon cubs were different from the Bug cubs. The naturally combative nature of the dragon clan was one thing, but the Bug cubs, being of the Bug race and under the influence of bloodline suppression and power supremacy, were still unable to fully control their instincts as cubs. Being friends with them meant trying to match their level.

They were originally among the strongest of the over a hundred leaders, the top twelve from the first tier and the deputies from the second tier. Even those from the later tiers wouldn’t dare to claim they could be friends with them so directly. Yet these seemingly weaklings actually wanted to be on equal footing with them?

Alright, let’s let strength do the talking.

So the dragon cubs threw down at these cubs. If they won, friendship was on the table.

However, after the fight started, they found the opponents' strength to be utterly weak. They were far weaker than the underlings they had taken a liking to before.

With one punch, the opponents couldn’t handle it and bawled like babies.

Not even fit to be lackeys, forget about friends.

But these punks just kept rolling in, which annoyed the dragon cubs. So they came down even harder. After getting their clocks cleaned the second time, these trained youths didn’t dare to come back and provoke them again. No matter what perks the factions dangled, they weren't biting.

When Bai Qing heard about the factions trying to cozy up to the dragon cubs, his face soured. He had his people draw up a list and, with a flick of his wrist, decided to make them earn their keep.

The factions were holding out hope for some good news from the cubs they’d sent. Despite repeated beatdowns, they weren’t ready to throw in the towel. Little did they know they’d crossed a major line and caught the eye of their emperor.