Chapter 59: Deliberate Approach

Chapter 59: Deliberate Approach

The moonlight was bathed in a faint halo, while the flowers in the garden bloomed brilliantly.

The striking contrast of white and red was highly impactful, much like the two individuals standing opposite each other under the moonlight. The silence between them was thick with hidden tension, as if a dangerous confrontation was imminent.

One figure was slender, with slightly raised black eyes that seemed to hold a smile, though it didn't reach his eyes.

The other was tall, with a stern expression as if he were an icy peak touching the clouds, yet his aura was softer than polar ice.

Their gazes met in the air, a moment of silence and confrontation.

Cang Cheng had already gathered his mental strength. If Hilmeth made any sudden moves, Cang Cheng would not hesitate to strike first.

Cang Cheng did not fully trust Hilmeth.

As for the repercussions of Hilmeth's high rank and the potential fallout, Cang Cheng could easily shift the blame for Mù Jiāyuè's actions onto him.

After all, how could someone as frail as the fifth prince possibly harm Mù Jiāyuè, an Awakened?

A cold glint flashed in his pure black eyes, and Cang Cheng had already chosen the Spirit Runes he would use.

However, the expected confrontation never materialized. Instead, Hilmeth let out a weary sigh, breaking the tense silence.

He retracted his aura and even stepped back, showing his harmlessness.

"Mù Jiāyuè plotted against royal family members during the banquet. According to the law, he should be imprisoned for at least 50 years. As a general of the Canglan Star Region, I will not protect him.

If you trust me, Your Highness, I can take care of him."

Cang Cheng blinked his pure black eyes, clearly surprised by the other's words.

But upon further thought, it seemed normal for Hilmeth, with his rigid style, to handle things this way.

Cang Cheng's hostility towards Hilmeth lessened, though only slightly.

"What if I want to handle him myself? Would the general agree?"

Hilmeth chuckled and tapped his chest with his fingers, offering a respectful nod to Cang Cheng.

"Hilmeth Razel, at your service to ease your concerns, Your Highness."

His beautiful silver hair fell over his shoulders, glistening under the natural light.

The once unapproachable man now stood before Cang Cheng, his defenses completely lowered. The remote northern region was about to receive its first visitor.

The Hilmeth before him was obedient, elegant, and without any edges.

And such a Hilmeth was only revealed to Cang Cheng.

Cang Cheng tilted his head, clearly surprised by how different Hilmeth was from the rumors.

But since the other showed no malice, Cang Cheng didn't want to stir up trouble unnecessarily.

Moreover, despite this being their first meeting, Cang Cheng felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with Hilmeth.

As he pondered, he replied with a smile on his face, "Then I'll trouble the general to take him back to my villa."

"No problem."

Hilmeth walked over to Cang Cheng and placed both the water prison and the person inside a high-grade space button.

This type of space button could temporarily hold living beings, though its capacity was limited to just 5 square meters, making it suitable for small star beasts.

"Ready to head back?"

Hilmeth asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

With that, the three of them left the banquet hall together.

Cang Cheng led the way, with Hilmeth half a step behind him, and Mù Xīng trailing a step and a half behind.

Along the way, Hilmeth's attention remained fixed on Cang Cheng, never shifting away.

The protector and his precious charge had finally returned to the way they were three months ago.

Although someone had changed their identity, reuniting with Cang Cheng in this new human form brought Hilmeth a deep sense of calm.

His eyes softened with a quiet tenderness.

It's been a while, Cang Cheng.

*

Once they arrived back at the villa, the three of them went their separate ways. Cang Cheng passed Mù Jiāyuè off to Mù Xīng before heading upstairs to freshen up and get some rest.

As night deepened, the lingering effects of the medication still weighed on Cang Cheng.

Cang Cheng felt as if he were inside a scorching furnace, his entire body burning.

His originally pale lips had turned a deep pink, and he was constantly exhaling hot breath.

His cheeks were flushed, sweat beaded on his forehead and neck, and his black hair clung wetly to his light pink skin.

Due to the heat, Cang Cheng had kicked off the blanket and undone all the buttons of his sleeping robe. From his collarbone down to his flat abdomen, everything was exposed, even the edge of his underwear was visible.

His waist was slender, and his skin had a rosy hue.

It was visually striking.

The window suddenly opened, and the security system of the villa was deactivated.

The large-tailed alien nimbly and skillfully jumped through the window, landing without a sound.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw Cang Cheng in a state of intense heat.

His fluffy tail curled into an S-shape, his red-gold eyes flickered, and his breathing became irregular.

After a moment of discomfort, Xilimus grew angry over Cang Cheng being drugged, the veins on the back of his hand protruding, his violent emotions barely under control.

"…suffer…"

However, Cang Cheng's soft murmur brought Xilimus back to his senses.

He quietly approached Cang Cheng, unbuttoned his left sleeve, rolled it up to his elbow, and placed his slightly cooler hand beside Cang Cheng's cheek.

Feeling the coolness, Cang Cheng, in his sleep, instinctively moved closer to Xilimus's hand.

Familiar, cool, and comforting.

Cang Cheng’s soft cheek pressed against Hilmeth’s palm, seeking the coolness of his touch.

However, it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough.

Just the small area of the palm was completely insufficient for Cang Cheng to cool down.

So Cang Cheng moved closer, wrapped tightly, and pressed against him.

The strong arm was thus held in front of Cang Cheng's body, his cheek resting on Hilmeth’s bicep, his chin placed on the arm, while Hilmeth’s large palm pressed against Cang Cheng's abdomen.

Pressed tightly, their bodies fully connected.

The skin under the palm was delicate, its temperature slightly higher, damp with a light sheen of sweat.

Hilmeth’s palm was broad, and when fully spread, it could cover Cang Cheng’s waist entirely.

Hilmeth’s arm muscles involuntarily tensed.

He forced himself to focus elsewhere, away from this enticing scene.

His tail had quietly slid to the side of the bed, and with just one more move, it could touch Cang Cheng’s skin.

Hilmeth glared at his tail.

It wiltedly turned into a sneaky little mole, only daring to wave its furry paws to gather Cang Cheng's scent.

Hilmeth, whose body was usually cool, now felt unbearably warm.

He forced himself to focus elsewhere.

He took out a handkerchief he carried with him and crushed a Spirit Rune he had bought, focusing on controlling the water flow to wet the towel.

Hilmeth wiped Cang Cheng’s body to cool him down, his cheeks, neck, collarbone, and body...

The ice-cold towel, upon touching Cang Cheng’s skin, elicited a comfortable murmur from him, a breathy, muddled, and drowsy sound that made Hilmeth’s heart beat irregularly.

His hand trembled as he wiped.

After lowering Cang Cheng’s body temperature and the heat left his face, he covered him with a blanket again.

He stood there, watching Cang Cheng for what felt like hours, until the first light of dawn crept in, before he climbed out the window and left.

Back at the townhouse, Hilmeth took a cold shower, but it did nothing to cool him down.

He had hoped he could remain calm and start fresh with Cang Cheng.

However, he overestimated his own endurance.

*

On the other side of the townhouse, Mù Xīng released Mù Jiāyuè from the water prison and then fed him a pain-amplifying mushroom potion.

The pain from the severed wrist became twenty times worse, and at the same time, tiny mushroom mycelium slowly grew from the cross-section, feeding on Mù Jiāyuè's vitality.

As he felt his life force draining away, Mù Jiāyuè let out a scream.

"Ah! Ah!! What is this!!!"

"Be quiet."

Mù Xīng kicked Mù Jiāyuè to the ground and stomped on his chest.

"I ask, you answer, or you'll turn into a monster, understand?"

The white mask Mù Xīng wore bore only simple line drawings for eyes and a mouth. From Mù Jiāyuè's angle, the mouth, shaped like a "V," appeared to be the smile of a demon.

Gritting his teeth through the pain, Mù Jiāyuè nodded in terror.

He didn't want to die…

"Who drugged Cang Cheng?"

"It was the third prince. He drugged Cang Cheng during their toast. The drug takes effect just from being inhaled and only affects those with a C-class physique or lower, leaving the third prince unharmed."

"Why did you drug him?"

Mù Jiāyuè glanced at Mù Xīng, stammering.

Mù Xīng increased the pressure on his foot. "Talk!"

"The third prince did it for me… I told him I wanted to spend a wonderful night with Cang Cheng, so he..."

Mù Xīng's voice was cold. "Heh… foolish."

A waste of space is still a waste of space, even after five years of pretending to be someone else. His brain is still as empty as ever.

Although the third prince acted eccentric, he wasn't brainless. There was no way he'd risk drugging Cang Cheng just for someone as insignificant as Mù Jiāyuè.

The only possibility was that the third prince had long planned to eliminate Cang Cheng, and Mù Jiāyuè was just a tool he used.

"I'm telling the truth! I’ve told you everything. Can you let me go? I can give you money—lots of it. 200 million? How about 500 million?"

Mù Xīng said nothing, merely lifting his foot off Mù Jiāyuè.

Thinking that Mù Xīng was swayed by the money, Mù Jiāyuè was about to celebrate when he found he couldn't control his own body.

He wanted to stand up, to speak, but instead, his body stood rigid before Mù Xīng, then fell to its knees, forehead pressed to the ground in a humiliating display of submission.

What was happening?

Why couldn't he control his body?

Panic gripped Mù Jiāyuè, tightening its hold around his heart.

"Since I left, the Mù family has raked in over 10 billion from the formulas I left behind. 200 million, 500 million—frankly, I couldn’t care less."

Mù Xīng said, removing the mask from his face, revealing a face that filled Mù Jiāyuè with terror.

"Long time no see, cousin. How’s my spirit core treating you?"

Mù Xīng?

How could it possibly be Mù Xīng?!

Mù Xīng was supposed to have his spirit core removed and become a useless wreck, right?

He even sent people to hunt Mù Xīng down after his release. How could this person be Mù Xīng?

Mù Jiāyuè was so shocked he couldn’t think straight.

On the surface, Mù Jiāyuè still appeared to be respectfully pressing his forehead to the ground.

Mù Xīng reached out and tapped Mù Jiāyuè's chest, where Mù Xīng's spirit core was operating.

"You can borrow my spirit core a little longer."

He handed a row of potions to Mù Jiāyuè. "Take these potions to the Mù family’s lab, and then slip something into the third prince’s drink.

I want to see them turn on each other. Got it, my loyal puppet?"

No, no…

He didn’t want to drug the third prince, he didn’t want to work for Mù Xīng!

But no matter how much he resisted internally, Mù Jiāyuè could only watch as his newly regrown hand obediently took the potions.

"Yes, master."

With that, Mù Jiāyuè left Mù Xīng's villa.

Mù Xīng was in an excellent mood, humming a tune with a pleased smile on his face.

Today was truly a good day.

*

It seemed Cang Cheng hadn’t noticed the late-night visitor with the big tail.

Cang Cheng spent two days at the villa, living a relaxed life.

Each day, he watched internal broadcasts to see which attendees had struck deals and were contributing to the Canglan Star Region’s development.

However, it was clear that only insignificant cooperations had been confirmed, such as optimizing starship performance and reducing weapon energy consumption. There hadn't been any substantial progress on larger matters.

During this time, Cang Cheng wasn’t required to attend any meetings. After all, with his status, he didn’t have the qualifications to attend these high-level meetings.

Though… Cang Cheng was a little curious about these meetings.

"Alert, Admiral Hilmeth is visiting, allow entry?"

"Allow."

Ever since that night when they shared a secret, Hilmeth's visits to Cang Cheng had become quite frequent.

He would come 1–2 times a day, each time bringing gifts or care packages.

It was actually Cang Cheng who should be thanking Hilmeth, since the other had helped cover up Mù Jiāyuè's incident. But currently, it seemed their positions had reversed.

This made Cang Cheng feel uneasy—Hilmeth seemed overly attentive to him.

The door swung open, and Cang Cheng, who had been sitting on the sofa, looked up.

Hilmeth had probably just finished bathing. His usually well-groomed silver hair was now damp and slightly curled at the ends and bangs.

Today, he wore a loose white knit sweater with a wide neckline that revealed a glimpse of his collarbone, accentuating his broad shoulders.

Cang Cheng was pleasantly surprised by Hilmeth's outfit.

Not bad, actually.

Though he couldn’t quite compare to the fluffy exotic races.

"Not disturbing you, or am I?"

Hilmeth placed two cups of milk tea and a box of strawberries on the coffee table.

The packaging had a simple illustration of three stacked sugar cubes, the mark of the Sweet & Tasty food factory.

"Not at all."

Cang Cheng scooted to the side of the sofa, making enough space for Hilmeth.

Hilmeth sat down without hesitation. "Are you feeling better?"

He was referring to the incident where Cang Cheng was drugged at the banquet.

"I'm really fine, General. No need to worry too much. See, I'm perfectly fine now, aren't I?"

"I apologize that such an incident occurred within the region under my jurisdiction."

"No need for an apology, General."

Even if he apologized, did he really need to visit so frequently?

Cang Cheng thought to himself.

The star network claimed the general was cold and distant, but from what Cang Cheng saw, Hilmeth didn’t seem hard to approach at all.

"You are the fifth prince of the Canglan Star Region, Your Highness, sir. I must treat you with utmost care."

Hilmeth spoke with conviction and maintained a respectful demeanor, looking quite pleasing to the eye, leaving Cang Cheng with no room to find fault.

Hilmeth turned around, inserted the straw into the milk tea, and handed it to Cang Cheng.

"Would you like to try? It's a new milk tea, not yet on sale to the public, only being piloted within the summit. It's said to have already received quite a lot of investment."

"Milk tea?"

Cang Cheng pretended not to know what it was and asked.

"It’s a drink made from milk and tea, created by Sweet & Tasty. I thought you'd like it."

Cang Cheng sipped through the straw a couple of times.

Hmm... After long-distance transportation, the taste of the milk and tea hadn't changed much.

The freshly brewed milk tea perfectly balanced the rich milk and tea flavors, with a refreshing sweetness from the plants, a dual experience for both taste and smell.

And this one was fully sugared; the sweetness was just right for him.

Delicious!

No wonder it sells nearly 10,000 cups a day on Luo Ri.

"By the way, Sweet & Tasty seems to have... well, using a popular term, a 'protagonist's aura?'"

Factory Manager Zhou Kuan faced an investment failure and had alienated some powerful individuals, leading to the disruption of his supply chain. Just when everyone thought he was going bankrupt, it was said that someone invested in him, and he secured a new supply chain, rolling out a new product and promoting it intensively over the next month.

Just two months after launch, it was rumored that the revenue had already hit nine figures.

As he sipped his milk tea, Cang Cheng listened while Hilmeth, with his steady voice, recounted the development history of Sweet & Tasty.

His words were all positive, praising the Sweet & Tasty factory and the behind-the-scenes investor, and expressing curiosity and interest in the uncontaminated food supply chain behind it.

Cang Cheng listened with a smile, clearly enjoying the praise. As he sipped his milk tea, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile without him even realizing it.

Hilmeth observed Cang Cheng discreetly, noticing that Cang Cheng’s eyes were smiling, and his sky-blue eyes had softened, reflecting a warm, rosy glow.

Hilmeth picked up a strawberry and offered it to Cang Cheng, “Would you like to try this?”

Cang Cheng was still absorbed in Hilmeth’s story about Sweet & Tasty’s success and didn’t notice the gesture.

When he opened his mouth and took a bite, only then did he realize Hilmeth was feeding him, causing his heart to skip a beat.

The pale juice trickled down Hilmeth’s fingers, leaving a soft pink trail on his fair skin.

Cang Cheng swallowed the fruit mechanically, his dark eyes darting, before shifting his body slightly to the side.

“Thanks, I’ve got it from here.”

Hilmeth placed the half-eaten strawberry on the plate as if nothing had happened.

"I'll use the restroom."

With that, Hilmeth got up and left, leaving Cang Cheng alone in the living room.

Cang Cheng stared at the half-eaten strawberry on the plate, lost in thought for a moment, the sweet, fruity taste still lingering in his mouth.

Normally, Cang Cheng would have savored the strawberry and given it a thorough evaluation.

But now, his thoughts were clouded.

He absentmindedly tugged at his shirt.

He couldn't understand why he had let his guard down around Hilmeth or why he felt so familiar with him.

The general's strange behavior and the sudden sense of familiarity...

The pieces started falling into place, and Cang Cheng's thoughts sharpened. He bit down on his lip, trying to make sense of it all.

General Hilmeth...

Hilmeth...

...

Mo?