Chapter 201

Chapter 201

After arriving at the entertainment capital, Xue Ji stayed for a few days as a formality before embarking on his journey again, secretly hopping between several planets, and finally taking a small private spaceship that Gene had somehow acquired to reach Selenea.

This was Xue Ji’s first time on Selenea in either of his lives. The planet was indeed as peaceful and beautiful as it appeared from space, with a massive bay in the middle flowing with golden water. The spaceship touched down by the coast, and Xue Ji approached, bent down, and scooped up a handful of water. As the water drained, it left behind something like gold dust in his fingers, but the texture was much softer than sand.

Selenea’s terrain was mostly flat, but the crescent-shaped sea split the planet into two completely different ecosystems. One side was covered with tall, lush trees, while the opposite shore was dotted with low, blue shrub-like flowers, creating a striking blue, gold, and green landscape visible from space. The locals’ houses were mostly semi-capsule-shaped, scattered sparsely across the vast expanse of blue flower fields. With saturated colors and rounded lines, they looked like something out of a fairy tale, even the landing pad Xue Ji was standing on matched the style.

The blue flowers at his feet were blooming in thick clusters. Xue Ji’s eyes flickered, and he was about to bend down for a closer look when he heard the buzz of an approaching aircraft. Following the sound, he saw a vehicle speeding toward him, finally hovering above the flower field.

A few seconds later, the aircraft’s hatch opened, and a tall, curvy woman jumped out. She wore a cool helmet, leather pants, and a leather jacket over a tight top that showed off some cleavage. A steel military dog tag dangled from her neck. After landing, she made a beeline for Xue Ji, pulling off her helmet with one hand, letting a cascade of fiery red hair spill out.

“Chief, that’s Freya, the main person in charge of overseeing this project,” Gene leaned in and muttered. “She’s an expert in information security and encryption tech, and her team are all top-notch. The engineers and students you asked for were all handpicked by her—totally trustworthy.”

Freya had an exceptionally stunning face. Xue Ji couldn’t tell what gender she was. “Beta?”

“Alpha,” Gene said. “Everyone on Captain Freya’s team is an Alpha. If you can’t tell who’s who, just check the dog tags on their chests—they all wear one.”

Xue Ji nodded. As they spoke, Freya reached them, tossed her hair, and extended a hand to Xue Ji. “Hello, I’m Freya.”

Beside her, Gene had already respectfully performed a knight’s salute, indicating that this Alpha outranked him.

“Hello, I’m Xue Ji.” Xue Ji briefly touched her fingertips and immediately let go, but the Alpha flashed a bright smile, slid her hand forward, locked her thumb against his, and gave his whole hand a firm shake.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Chief Xue. Finally getting to meet you in person is an honor.” Freya’s eyes roamed over Xue Ji’s face, and she ran her thumb over the back of his hand a few times before letting go, only when she saw him frown. “So, Chief Xue, want to check out Selenea first, or head straight to the engineering base?”

The engineering base was the code name for the asteroid Xue Ji had purchased. Time was tight and the work was heavy, so Xue Ji had no interest in sightseeing. “Straight to the engineering base,” he said flatly.

Freya arched an eyebrow. “Then follow me, you two.”

She turned and walked toward the aircraft. Once she was a few steps ahead, Gene whispered awkwardly, “Captain Freya’s great in every way, except for a few, uh, quirks.”

“Like what?” Xue Ji pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his hand.

“Well… a bit,” Gene stammered, “a bit of a player. Doesn’t matter if they’re Alpha, Beta, or Omega, guy or girl, young or old—if they’re hot, she’ll, uh, mess with them a bit.”

“I can hear you, little Gene,” Freya suddenly called from ahead.

Gene’s face went through a thousand shades of embarrassment. He glanced at Xue Ji and decided to play dumb. “What are you talking about? Hear what?”

Freya just looked back, gave them a smile, and kept walking.

Xue Ji started walking. “Does her team have the same habit?”

“No, no,” Gene quickly denied. “It’s just Captain Freya… uh… the captain. But don’t worry, she’s just messing around—she never goes all the way.”

Xue Ji naturally trusted the people Asuer had set up. As long as they didn’t cause trouble, he didn’t give a damn about their quirks. His eyes landed on the blue flower clusters on the ground. “How long have these flowers been around?”

“A very long time,” Freya replied instead. She stood by the aircraft, and as the two got closer, she reached out and gave Gene’s cheek a light pinch. “Get in. You’re getting less cute the older you get.”

Gene yelped, his face reddening as he covered the spot and half-hid behind Xue Ji.

“These flowers have been around as long as anyone on Selenea can remember. No one knows when they first appeared on this planet. One theory is that they were born with Selenea, so they’re seen as the planet’s guardian flowers. The locals call them Flora, after the goddess of flowers,” Freya continued, gesturing for Xue Ji to board.

Xue Ji boarded the aircraft first. Gene hesitated, then pulled Freya aside before she got on, mumbling something.

Freya couldn’t make it out. “What did you say?”

Gene mumbled again, but Freya still didn’t catch it. “Spit it out or I’m leaving.”

Gene glanced into the aircraft, saw Xue Ji buckling his seatbelt, and blurted out quickly and vaguely, “…Xue Ji is the Monarch’s man…”

“I know that,” Freya said, finally understanding. She caught Gene’s awkward expression and paused, then raised an eyebrow and let out a long, meaningful “Oh.”

“So keep your bad habits away from Xue Ji.”

Freya shrugged. “Fine, what a shame.” She patted Gene’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

The two boarded the aircraft, with Freya at the controls. Xue Ji opened his optical computer but found no signal. Freya glanced at him through the rearview mirror and recited a string of characters.

“We don’t use the Empire’s standard signal channel. Use this one.”

Xue Ji looked at her. “Thanks.”

Freya made a casual “you’re welcome” gesture. “The Monarch specifically instructed us to set up a separate signal channel for you. Receiving and sending should work fine, and it’ll be the same at the engineering base.”

This piece of information carried a lot of weight. First, it meant the Empire’s signal couldn’t be used here, requiring either a powerful jamming base to block satellite signals or a self-built system via ground stations or separate satellites. Second, it indicated multi-channel signal control, with strict limits on sending and receiving.

This was a very high level of military-grade management, and the ability to cover the entire planet with their own signal meant they had full control over it.

It seemed Asuer had made extensive preparations behind the scenes.

Xue Ji switched channels, and the Monarch’s message immediately popped up, asking where he was. Xue Ji replied truthfully, then checked the other communication number the Monarch used as a volunteer, where the last message was still a thank-you for receiving the medicine.

Xue Ji put away his optical computer and closed his eyes to rest.

What followed was a long interstellar journey. The asteroid was remote, even a fair distance from Selenea on the Empire’s edge, but that made it more concealed. By the time Xue Ji actually arrived at the asteroid he had purchased, a month had passed since leaving the main planet.

This asteroid was only half the size of the main planet and two-thirds the size of Selenea, but its surface was covered with mountain ranges, with highly active crustal movements and numerous active and dormant volcanoes. It had no name, only the code TC6509.

Compared to its previous desolation, a small research base and several factories had now been established. Xue Ji took in the overview from the air and asked Freya, “Are my things all inside?”

“Everything has been moved in according to your earlier instructions,” Freya replied, handing him a portable tablet terminal while shutting down the thrusters and watching the control screen. “What needs refrigeration is refrigerated, what needs power is powered. Nothing else has been touched. The entire research institute is waiting for you to start it up.”

The terminal displayed a 3D view of the entire research base. Xue Ji flipped through it several times, memorizing the layout. Most of his ongoing mechanical experiments had been secretly transferred here, waiting for him to complete them before handing them over to the nearby factories for mass production.

“As for the blueprints you sent initially, we’ve already started production,” Freya said. The long-traveling spaceship landed in front of the base, and soon several people ran out, all wearing military dog tags. Freya unbuckled her safety harness. “Some operational robots are already in use. People take them out for exploration every day. Look, there they are.”

Through the spaceship’s front window, several massive robots could be seen marching mechanically toward the distant mountains, each followed by a person wearing a synchronized sensor headset and holding a controller.

These were all hastily designed by Xue Ji—not very agile, but quick to produce and resistant to wear and tear.

“Any results?”

“They’re all in your hands.” The hatch opened, and the fresh air of TC6509 rushed in. Freya took a deep breath, turned, and smiled at Xue Ji. “But I’m curious, Chief Xue, how did you determine that this unwanted asteroid has a new energy source worth developing?”

Xue Ji was flipping through the existing exploration reports and replied without looking up. “When the day comes that I call you captain, I might answer that question.”

“Fair enough.” Freya shrugged, pushed herself up from the seatback, and leaned against it, watching Xue Ji. “Then I hope things go as Chief Xue wishes.”

Although Xue Ji didn’t know what made Selenea special beyond its beauty, it was undoubtedly Asuer’s secret stronghold for cultivating power. Freya’s team was an elite unit under Asuer’s command—skilled in both combat and technical expertise. Sending them to an obscure, remote planet to mine a vein based solely on Xue Ji’s word was a huge investment.

Freya and her team were all top experts in their fields, which meant they had their own thoughts about things. Clearly, they were skeptical about the energy source, but they had no choice but to follow orders.

Xue Ji didn’t comment. He put away the terminal, grabbed his belongings, and headed out.

Gene and Freya exchanged a glance. Gene gave an awkward smile and was about to follow Xue Ji when Freya asked, “What’s in that box he’s been carrying all this way?”

“Probably some precious experimental materials,” Gene said, scratching the back of his head. “The Chief won’t let me touch it.”

He glanced back. Xue Ji, with his long legs and brisk strides, had already set one foot out of the hatch in the time it took to say a couple of words. Gene quickly stood up to follow, but then saw Freya suddenly wink at him with her left eye and raise her index finger to her lips in a shushing gesture.

That simple move of hers was brimming with charm. Even though he was also an Alpha, Gene couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat, frozen for a second. By the time he snapped out of it, Xue Ji was long gone.

A flush of shame washed over him, then he heard Freya go "Hey" and ask, "Let me ask you, was what you said earlier true?"

"What thing?"

"You said Xue Ji is the Monarch’s man." Freya brought her two thumbs together and tapped them a few times. "Are they in that kind of relationship?"

Gene’s face turned bright red. "No!"

"Then why did you say that?"

"Just... a guess," Gene stammered. "That’s the rumor going around the palace."

"Whether it’s a guess or a rumor, there has to be some basis. Did someone actually see them being intimate, or is it just random speculation?"

Gene didn’t understand why she was so insistent on digging into this. Was even Freya not immune to gossip?

"It’s nothing much," he said, fighting back his embarrassment. "It’s just that the Monarch’s pheromones keep ending up on Chief Xue."

"And you call that nothing?" Even someone like her, who enjoyed casually teasing others, wouldn’t let her own pheromones run wild like that. That would be sexual harassment, and it’d get her a visit from certain associations. "An Alpha and a Beta getting together is no joke. If Xue Ji really is the Monarch’s lover, then things get complicated."

Gene was taken aback. "How complicated?"

Freya didn’t answer right away. After a long pause, she suddenly came out with, "Do you think our Monarch could be a tyrant?" Forget the past, just look at this recent incident—if the Monarch made this decision based on a personal relationship with Xue Ji, that would be far from good for those under his command.

Gene was confused for a long moment before he caught on, his face turning red with anger. "The Monarch is absolutely not the type to joke around with something like this, and Chief Xue wouldn’t act recklessly either! This is your first time meeting Chief Xue; you don’t know him. He’s done a lot for the Monarch. Whether or not he’s really involved with the Monarch, there’s no way he’d treat the Empire’s major affairs as some kind of game. Say that once, and that’s enough—don’t let him hear it again!" With that, he stormed off indignantly.

Freya hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from him. She stood there for a long moment, then finally wiped the spittle from her face with a shrug, pursed her lips indifferently, and muttered, "Fine, fine, I won’t bring it up. No need to get so bent out of shape."