Chapter 55: Xiao Sa’s Second Differentiation

Chapter 55: Xiao Sa's Second Differentiation

Landis carefully examined the ultrasound images, finally relieved upon confirming that the baby in his womb was a normal fetus. Thank goodness it's not an egg.

Even if Xiao Sa were a foreign spy, nothing could have prepared him for this shock. There's no way Xiao Sa would lie to him with something so absurd.

He was certain that his body didn't have similar organs as the doctor suggested. If it weren't for Xiao Sa being an alien, how could his body have been modified to carry a child?

Landis also recalled the time he wanted to do in vitro embryo cultivation with Xiao Sa, but the man kept making excuses and even claimed he was infertile.

What a liar!

Infertile? Clearly, he had the ability but just didn't want to have a child with him.

Landis found himself questioning which of Xiao Sa's words were true and which were lies.

The brief joy he felt at the pregnancy news was quickly overshadowed by a suffocating anger.

As Landis touched his belly, seething in frustration, Caro hurried into the treatment room, carrying a stack of arrest warrants with brightly colored laser electronic seals, symbolizing the royal family's exclusive emblem.

Caro pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said seriously, "Sir, we've just received a royal decree ordering the military to conduct a wide-scale search for an Alpha who stole the Central Mind core and escaped."

As soon as Caro finished speaking, he noticed Landis's pregnancy diagnosis.

He was so startled that he forgot what he was about to say, his eyes widening and his jaw nearly dropping, his glasses almost slipping askew. "Sir, you, you, you can get pregnant?!"

How could a man get pregnant? And if anyone were to get pregnant, shouldn't it be Mr. Xiao Sa?

Caro's face turned pale, and he immediately felt like he had stumbled upon something he shouldn't know.

Landis narrowed his eyes and glanced at him. "The doctor mentioned that this isn't without precedent. Do you have a problem with that, hmm?"

Caro immediately shut his mouth. Well, it's their business. They can do whatever they want. Not my problem.

Caro handed the arrest warrant to Landis and asked, "What exactly is that biological weapon that looks like a combination of fierce beasts and humanoid mutants?"

This was a rare S-class wanted notice, with an empire-wide search, focusing especially on Central Star.

If it were just a routine military search, that would be one thing, but for the royal family to deploy a secret biological weapon, something hidden for who knows how many years, to assist in the pursuit? They claimed the Alpha carried a contamination source that only this biological weapon could detect.

Could this "source of contamination" be the unique scent Xiao Sa carries?

Landis's expression turned cold, and he said in a low voice, "I don't know. I've never even heard of it."

Landis's personal terminal kept beeping with incoming messages. First, it was General Laines, the Minister of Defense, followed by other high-ranking military officials from various legions. Almost every military leader was shocked by the royal family's hidden biological weapons, except for the newly appointed general of the Fourth Legion.

As the commander of an independent legion, Landis's rank was second only to General Laines, the Minister of Defense.

Yet neither he nor General Laines had ever heard of such eerie biological weapons in the hands of the royal family.

What did this mean? Did the royal family not trust even the military's high command? Or were these biological weapons developed specifically to control the military?

Moreover, whether it was their blue-green scales or their robust limbs and tails, they bore a striking resemblance to mutated forms.

The royal family claimed these biological weapons were the result of research on alien fierce beasts, but how could they be so obedient and possess considerable intelligence? It was hard not to entertain conspiracy theories.

After serving the empire for over a decade, Landis felt deeply disillusioned by this distrust and suspicion.

While the theft of the Central Mind core was indeed a significant matter, the royals did have backup systems and databases.

Theoretically speaking, as long as all the authorization from the original Central Mind core is removed, the core would just be a sophisticated empty shell, and in theory, it wouldn’t cause significant damage to the empire's operations.

After all, the Central Mind's terminal is an incredibly complex and complete system. A core alone can’t do anything. Issuing a search warrant for the suspect and having the military conduct the capture should be sufficient.

However, the royal family went as far as to expose a biological weapon that had been hidden for who knows how many years, and they aren’t afraid of potentially causing panic among the citizens or raising suspicions within the military, just to capture this Alpha.

This suggests that the core contains secrets the royal family is determined to keep hidden.

But Landis couldn’t have known about any of this.

Now, he needed to focus on the fact that Xiao Sa was an alien.

He still remembered discussing the topic of aliens and humanoid mutants with Xiao Sa. At the time, he was puzzled as to why Xiao Sa was so curious and concerned about finding aliens and humanoid mutants within the Exploration Corps.

No wonder his family had no mental entities. When he asked Xiao Sa’s clansmen about it before, he stammered and couldn’t explain. It was because they were from another star system.

Yet, humanoid mutants from centuries ago were supposed to have gone extinct long ago.

Xiao Sa, despite his unusual physiology and deceitful nature, didn’t seem like a brutal mutant at all.

His scent was pleasant and even had a calming effect on agitated mental entities. It was hardly something that could be considered a pollution source.

But considering how he took the gem and caused such a massive upheaval, with the royal family desperately searching Central Star to capture him…

Such an important matter, and he kept it hidden from me. Now I don’t even know where he’s gone, and I can’t tell him about my pregnancy.

Landis clenched his teeth. Yes, Xiao Sa clearly didn’t want children.

He just remembered that the first time he met Xiao Sa on the warship, this guy had the nerve to openly confess his love to him in front of everyone.

Now that he thought about it, it was probably because, as an alien, he couldn’t communicate properly, and he had misunderstood the situation.

Landis’ eyes darkened, his teeth itching with hatred—if he got his hands on him, he definitely wouldn’t let him off!

Landis’ grip on the search warrant tightened, and he eventually threw it aside, raising his hand to his brow, massaging it tiredly.

He wasn’t sure if the pregnancy hormones were affecting his mood, but after being angry for a while, Landis couldn’t help but start worrying about Xiao Sa. What if he really got caught?

Despite everything that had been kept from him and the chaos Xiao Sa had caused, Landis found himself softening and making excuses for him before he could even properly scold him.

Maybe Xiao Sa really had an enormous reason for it?

Maybe the gem was crucial to his alien species. The family he had been searching for, their fate still unknown, whether they were dead or alive.

Even though he was an alien, ever since Landis captured him and brought him onto the warship, he had never done anything wrong.

First, his family met with disaster, then his family heirloom was stolen by pirates, and by a twist of fate, it became part of the royal family’s collection.

Because he had no mental entity, he had always been discriminated against and “bullied.” Now, he was even being hunted by the royal family. It was already pitiful enough.

If you really wanted to blame someone, it wasn’t entirely his fault that today’s situation had arisen.

Moreover, last time on Frostfall Star, it was thanks to Xiao Sa that the humanoid mutant issue was resolved. Otherwise, it was uncertain whether the Exploration Corps would have held out until Landis arrived with his troops to support them.

Landis’ expression changed several times, and he finally let out a long sigh. Was it possible that, having committed too many sins, the gods had sent him a love-hate nemesis to torment him?

Caro cleared his throat and asked again, “Apart from the first and second legions stationed on the frontlines, the fourth legion is absolutely obedient to the royal family’s orders. Now, our third legion is stationed on Central Star.”

Landis lowered his hand from his brow, his face returning to its usual expressionless state, and he said coldly, “Since His Majesty the Emperor has issued a decree, we will cooperate.”

"But there's one thing you must remember: under no circumstances are these biological weapons allowed to enter Otolarum City, where the Wenser family's territory is located. It's my private territory, and I have the right to refuse entry to any strange and unknown species."

With the royal family deploying scent-tracking biological weapons and conducting an intense search, Xiao Sa can't stay on Central Star any longer. He needs to leave Central Star and avoid drawing attention.

If he wants to leave Central Star, the only way would be from Otolarum City's spaceport, aboard the Wenser family's starship.

Caro hesitated, "Won't this cause suspicion or anger the royal family?"

Landis frowned but offered no explanation, simply saying, his voice cool and distant, "Just follow my orders."

Caro, after hearing this, stopped asking further and nodded, "Yes, sir."

Landis thought for a moment and suddenly said, "In my name, go retrieve the historical records about fighting aliens before the empire was founded and bring them to me."

Caro asked curiously, "Sir, why the sudden interest in such old matters?"

Landis countered, "Don't you think these biological weapons look unusual? The royal family conducting such dangerous research behind the military's back, something feels off. Could it be related to the once-extinct humanoid mutants or even aliens?"

Caro knew that, apart from the loyal fourth general, the other generals were very sensitive about the biological weapons.

"What is it that you suspect, sir?"

Landis shook his head and said, "I don't know. What do you think?"

Caro replied naturally, "According to the empire's consistent policy, any alien lifeforms are generally eliminated."

"The royal family secretly developing biological weapons is dangerous, but they are still the royal family. Other than protesting, what can the military do?"

Extermination? Landis frowned. But Xiao Sa is nothing like those vicious, grotesque creatures.

He had completely forgotten that he had once given a similar response to Xiao Sa.

※※※

After Xiao Sa escaped the encirclement of the royal guards and the Sky Eye defense system with his mecha, following the predetermined escape route and switching between several different modes of transport, he finally, as Landis had anticipated, raced back to the Wenser family's spaceport in Otolarum City at top speed.

There, a transport ship prepared by Xiao Sa was waiting, containing the last batch of inhibitors and his factory equipment.

About an hour behind Xiao Sa, the royal guards, tracking him with biological weapons, were closing in like hyenas following a scent.

Cities, energy stations, and spaceports across the planet were placed under immediate lockdown.

Even starships that had just taken off were forced to return to the spaceport terminal, awaiting inspection by the fourth legion dispatched by the royal family.

When Xiao Sa returned to the port in Otolarum City, he saw that the port operations were still proceeding as usual, with starships of all sizes continuously shuttling in and out of the port, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the preparatory work for the plan hadn't been in vain. Who could have expected that the royal family had been hiding such a powerful weapon?

Even Haino didn't know. Judging by Landis's expression at the time, it seemed that the military high command was unaware as well.

The royal family probably hadn't anticipated being forced to reveal this under such circumstances.

Once aboard the starship, Xiao Sa's strength, which had been pushed to its limit, finally began to give out.

"Xiao Sa, those beast-shaped biological weapons are approaching Otolarum City, but they seem to have been intercepted for now."

Xiao Sa, looking out the window at the slowly setting sun, said in a deep voice, "Issue the command to start the ship immediately. If we're any later, it'll be too late."

A moment later, the transport ship let out a rumbling ignition sound, and the ship slowly lifted off, moving further and further away from the ground port.

Only when the entire city had shrunk into a dot and the starship broke through the atmosphere into space, completely leaving Central Star's gravitational influence, did Xiao Sa slowly exhale.

Haino exclaimed joyfully, "Xiao Sa, we're finally out of danger!"

Xiao Sa gave a weak nod, then placed Haino's core and his own gem into the core energy bay of a lifelike android in his factory.

A soft purple light flickered on, and electric currents surged through the connections.

After a brief moment, the android blinked and tried to lift its hands, then turned its head. Haino suddenly howled with excitement, "Xiao Sa, I can move!"

Xiao Sa said, "Make do with it for now. I'll get you a more suitable body later."

As he relaxed, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, and the tremors and dull pain in his mental sea became increasingly apparent. Xiao Sa fell onto the bed, taking two deep, rapid breaths.

He wasn't sure if he had truly undergone a secondary differentiation, something he had only ever heard about in legends.

He was even more uncertain how long his condition would last, only knowing that the pheromones emanating from his body had become too intense to control.

He vaguely thought it was lucky he hadn't returned to Wenser Estate as planned. Otherwise, those bio-weapons would have tracked him by his pheromones, and Landis, along with Kaman and the others, would have been in danger.

The starship was headed for a transit station in the border region of the Dawn Empire, where Broken Peak's people were waiting to receive him.

Xiao Sa's eyelids grew heavier, and after exhausting both his mental energy and physical strength, he finally collapsed into a deep coma...

※※※

When Xiao Sa finally stirred, he found himself in a quiet, unfamiliar room.

Three sides were white walls, and the other side had a huge floor-to-ceiling window. Sunlight filtered through the slits in the curtains, casting a faint golden shadow on the floor.

Xiao Sa held his forehead and slowly sat up. He wasn't sure if his secondary differentiation had ended, but he felt that his mental sea had returned to calm.

A nutrient needle was still hanging on his arm, which he casually pulled out, and soon his stomach growled with hunger.

But something felt off about his body. A few strands of silk-like hair slid off his shoulder and landed in his palm. Frowning, Xiao Sa ran his fingers through his hair and realized it had turned pitch-black and grown all the way to his waist.

Just as he was about to get out of bed to look in the mirror, the door creaked open, and Haino's android walked in. Seeing Xiao Sa, it immediately cried out in surprise, "Xiao Sa, you're awake!"

It quickly stepped forward and circled around Xiao Sa. "You're finally awake. You've been in a coma for almost half a month."

Xiao Sa said, "What?"

Xiao Sa furrowed his brow and looked at his reflection in the mirror, puzzled by his inexplicably wild-growing hair. "You said I've been in a coma for half a month. What happened during that time? What's the situation now?"

Haino shrugged and spread his hands in a very human-like manner. "The starship flew for about 10 days and reached the edge star system port, but you were still unconscious at that time."

"Moreover, the administrative regions have received an S-level wanted notice from Central Star, ordering a blockade of the entire empire. It's especially forbidden for starships from Central Star to leave the country, and they must be strictly inspected."

"It took some effort, but I managed to sneak your transport ship out of the country."

Xiao Sa was stunned. "Have we already left the Dawn Empire? Where are the people from the Broken Peak pirate group?"

Haino said, "Yes, we're at a third-party transit point outside the national border. The Dawn Empire is still in a state of full martial law, and starships coming and going need to undergo strict searches. Since we've left the country and the signal has been mostly cut off, even if we wanted to return to the Dawn Empire, we couldn't for the time being."

"The leader of the Broken Peak pirate group knows you're here and is outside now."

After a moment of thought, Xiao Sa asked again, "What's going on with my hair?"

Looking at himself in the mirror, he suddenly realized his eyes had also turned deep black.

Haino: "Since you were in a coma, your hair has been growing rapidly. I've trimmed it a few times, but it's grown back this long again."

Xiao Sa picked up a pair of scissors and trimmed his long hair back to its original length.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he saw that his facial features hadn't changed significantly, but his eyes seemed more elongated, with deeper eye sockets, making him look a bit more mature than before.

He opened the curtains, and the sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming him.

Xiao Sa spent a moment sensing carefully. The burning sensation from the solar rays that used to affect him had completely disappeared, and there was no longer any weakness from mental energy loss. It seemed he had become completely immune to the solar radiation here.

Xiao Sa raised his hand and clenched his right fist. Surge upon surge of mental energy surged wildly around him.

Haino handed him a spiritual neural connection patch. But the moment it connected, the mental energy monitoring screen on Haino's cyborg chest suddenly shattered with a bang, emitting a wisp of black smoke.

Xiao Sa immediately removed the neural connection patch and retracted his mental energy.

Haino scratched his head awkwardly. "That peak just now definitely exceeded S-rank. This cyborg's performance isn't great; it can only monitor up to this level at most. Your rank might even be 2S."

"My records have never shown a 2S before."

Xiao Sa didn't comment on that. Could it be that the legendary second differentiation was just about the growth of mental energy, raising one's rank?

At least it hadn't turned him from an Alpha into an Omega, which would have been maddening for him.

Xiao Sa suddenly remembered something and asked, "I remember you were surprised that your authority had been restored. What was that about?"

At the time, things were too urgent, but his authority gem had inexplicably started absorbing his mental energy, prompting his second differentiation, and even the Central Mind core had undergone some unknown changes.

As for the secrets of the star authority gem, he might only find out if he went to the clan gathering area to find his family.

For now, his gem was still connected to the core, placed in Haino's cyborg's energy compartment.

Speaking of this, Haino said excitedly, "Although I don't understand what happened, a small part of the Central Mind core's hidden section has been unlocked again."

Xiao Sa raised an eyebrow. "Tell me more."

Is this some kind of royal secret?

Haino projected a recording in front of him. "This contains information from hundreds of years ago about how humans, during the dark period after the great catastrophe, gradually awakened their mental entities, discovered spiritual entity abilities, and developed methods to fight against humanoid mutants."

Xiao Sa's eyes lit up with interest.

He had always been envious of the people from the star sea region, who were born with mental entities and spiritual entity abilities, something he unfortunately lacked.

He carefully examined this confidential information sealed within the Central Mind core's hidden area.

Could it be that hundreds of years ago, humans in the star sea region didn't have mental entities either?

If he followed these methods, could he also awaken a mental entity within himself?

That would be wonderful. He wondered what his mental entity would be like—perhaps as majestic as Landis's black flame.

Thinking of Landis, Xiao Sa's mood sank again.

After leaving imperial territory, all communications were cut off. With the borders sealed, he had no idea what condition Landis was in.

At least his identity hadn't been exposed, so the royal family wouldn't suspect Landis—at least not yet.

Fortunately, he had made a contingency plan. He left a box of pheromones in the bedroom at Wenshe Manor, just in case.

"Knock knock knock." The knock came again, and Broken Peak’s familiar voice called from beyond the door.

"Please come in."

Xiao Sa sized up Broken Peak, whom he hadn’t seen in ages. The burly middle-aged man looked composed, with a faint smile on his face, and moved with the same vigor he had when he was a general.

"It’s good to see you awake, sir. I’ve been worried."

The two sat down on the sofa, and after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Broken Peak gave a detailed report of what had happened during his coma.

"This is a private transfer hub we rented, and the transport ship is parked nearby. But since you were still unconscious, we couldn’t proceed without your approval."

"Fortunately, your vitals have been stable, and your synthetic assistant has been taking care of you. Otherwise, we would have considered sending you to the hospital."

"Now that the Dawn Empire is under martial law, our business has been affected as well. However, we can also sell inhibitors to neighboring nations, so our business isn’t limited to the Dawn Empire."

Xiao Sa reflected. He had already made all the necessary arrangements and informed Kaman via email that he’d be on a business trip.

Broken Peak continued, "There’s no need to worry too much. A lockdown this extensive can’t last long, or it would cripple the empire’s economy, disrupt daily life, and jeopardize the front lines. Once things settle, everything should return to normal."

"Are you planning to visit your clansmen’s settlement this time?"

Xiao Sa nodded. "Yes."

Since he couldn’t return anytime soon, this was the perfect chance to find his clansmen. He wondered if his parents and other relatives were still alive.