Chapter 203

Chapter 203

"Chief Xue!"

Xue Ji turned to see Freya hurrying toward him.

"There's an active volcano up ahead—it could blow at any moment. The survey team can't go any further." Freya handed him a tablet displaying the activity level of the lava inside the volcano. She traced a circle on the screen with her fingertip. "This whole area's gonna be covered. We have to go around."

Xue Ji glanced at the screen. They could already feel the volcano's heat where they were standing. The whole team had already stopped and started planning a new route.

This was day twenty-three of their deep expedition into the TC6509 mountain range. Every area of the planet reachable by aircraft had been marked and fitted with detection probes. Once robots were sent into caves and deep waters to install more probes, they'd have a full planetary detection network.

Dozens of teams like theirs were scattered across TC6509. The network was 70% done, with 20% of what's left blocked by active volcanoes.

Xue Ji's eyes landed on the debris and gas spewing from the crater, a flicker of worry crossing his mind.

He was worried the planet's unusual volcanic activity was because of the rare metals. That would mean the metals might be concentrated near volcanic zones, forcing them to take huge risks to mine them.

Seeing him quiet while everyone waited for his orders, Freya prompted, "Xue Ji?"

"We'll go around," Xue Ji said.

The team began moving in another direction. Xue Ji raised his wrist to check his optical brain, but the signal indicator was still gray. The signal in the mountains was spotty, cutting them off from the outside world most of the time.

When the team stopped again and the mechanics sent robots into a cave, Xue Ji looked around and headed off in one direction.

"Unit 1 goes here, Unit 2 here..." After Freya finished assigning the probe installation points inside the cave, she looked up and saw Xue Ji was gone. Frowning, she looked around and spotted him on a nearby rise, pacing back and forth with his optical brain held up.

After a moment, she figured out what he was up to. She handed her terminal to someone else and climbed up to join him. "Chief Xue, waiting to hear from someone?"

Xue Ji didn't answer.

"The signal in the mountains is bad. The temporary setup barely reaches the base," Freya said. "At this rate, we'll be back in three days. I've noticed you've been looking for a signal these past few days. If it's not urgent, Chief Xue, I don't think you need to stress too much."

Xue Ji still didn't answer, because after all his relentless efforts, his optical brain finally picked up a faint signal. He stopped immediately and refreshed his communication interface. Messages that had piled up over the past few days flooded in, but as Xue Ji scrolled through them all, he couldn't find the one he was looking for.

It had been like this for a while now.

Asuer hadn't messaged him in a long time.

That was really unusual.

Xue Ji's heart sank. Seeing his grim expression, Freya forgot her annoyance at being ignored twice and asked what was wrong.

Xue Ji just said it was nothing. As the lead on this project, he couldn't afford to abandon the team when the others were still unsure.

"How many robots do we need here?"

Freya glanced back. "At least three."

They only had five total, and all of them were already inside the cave.

"Call two back," Xue Ji said. "I'll take some people and push ahead to Zone 709. You stay here and head to Zone 710 once all the probes are installed."

All the areas had been numbered. Freya wondered why he was suddenly in such a rush for the final leg. "Is it that urgent?"

Xue Ji rubbed the bridge of his nose. Wearing contacts for days had made his eyes really dry. "I hope not."

Seeing him like this, Freya finally realized something was off with his mood. She didn't say another word and immediately went back to make arrangements. The team split into two groups, and Xue Ji left almost immediately.

Freya watched him lead his group until they disappeared behind the mountain. After a moment's thought, she sent a command to all the teams.

"Speed it up."

With Xue Ji pushing hard, three days' worth of work was squeezed into a day and a half. After the last probe was installed, Xue Ji immediately sent a message through the internal network to the base, asking for a shuttle to pick him up.

Oddly, the person who flew the shuttle wasn't Gene, but an Alpha under Freya's command.

"Any news from the capital?" Xue Ji asked once he was aboard the shuttle.

The Alpha glanced at him in the rearview mirror, hesitating. After a long pause, he said, "I'm not in charge of that. Gene usually handles it. The Knight's Guild keeps in touch with him." That's why Gene stayed at the base.

Xue Ji's heart sank. "Hurry up," he said curtly.

The Alpha didn't dare argue and immediately pushed the speed to max. His reaction just confirmed what Xue Ji suspected.

Something had gone wrong in the capital.

Back at the base, he saw Gene approaching from afar. "Chief—"

"You have one minute to think," Xue Ji cut him off. "Decide what you want to tell me."

Gene's half-formed smile froze on his face, and he shot a reproachful look at the Alpha behind Xue Ji.

The Alpha waved his hands frantically, mouthing, "I didn't say anything!"

"Stop making faces," Xue Ji said. "If you won't tell me, I have other ways to find out. Have you decided?"

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," Gene said, his face scrunching up in distress. "His Majesty specifically instructed that you don't need to know. You can focus on the research here."

Without a word, Xue Ji walked toward the base.

"Chief!"

Gene hurried after him. When he noticed Xue Ji heading toward the spacecraft launch area, he grabbed his sleeve. "Chief, where are you going?"

"If you won't let me know," Xue Ji said coldly, "then if my ears are useless, my eyes aren't blind."

It took Gene a moment to grasp the implication: Xue Ji was planning to pilot a ship back to the capital himself. Shocked, he tugged at Xue Ji's sleeve, shaking his head, but was quickly shaken off. Seeing Xue Ji pressing forward, he hesitated, then stomped his foot and shouted, "His Majesty isn't in the capital! Going back won't help!"

Xue Ji's sharp gaze locked onto him. "Then where is he?"

Knowing he couldn't hide it any longer, Gene explained, "The Empire and the Federation might be going to war again. His Majesty has already rushed to the border."

"Wasn't a truce just negotiated?"

That hadn't happened in his past life, which was why Xue Ji had felt safe leaving the capital.

Gene recounted the whole story. "...The five thousand star coins had special markings indicating their purpose. The second group of pirates must have noticed and used them to flaunt their gains at the Federation border. You know how those bastards love stirring up trouble there. The Federation thought we were deliberately provoking them and demanded new negotiations the next day. By my estimate, His Majesty should be reaching the border soon."

Xue Ji's face darkened. Just then, Freya returned with all the survey teams. He headed toward the research institute. "Have Freya come to the central control room. Activate the entire network immediately."

If it were just negotiations, he trusted Asuer could handle it. The priority was to find an energy source quickly and produce a batch of intimidating weapons, no matter how rough.

*

"I told you it was too risky! Now look what's happened—five million lost, the Academy's deals frozen, and the Federation might invade at any moment. What do we do now?"

In a manor on the capital planet, Duke William paced back and forth, muttering incessantly.

Villard, irritated by his restlessness, had shed his usual fake smile for a grim expression. "Five million is gone, so be it. The Academy's deals will resume eventually. As for the Federation... we can just pay them more. Your son was right about one thing: since we're in this deep, we might as well go all the way..."

Williams heard the murderous intent in his tone and was shaken to the core. He stopped pacing and asked, "What are you gonna do?"

"All this trouble started because some people can't stay put. Those who don't listen need to be replaced..." Villard's gaze was ruthless, but a smirk curled on his lips. "Isn't that what we've always done?"

While they cooked up a new plan, Asuer and the others far away at the border made a new discovery.

"Your Majesty," Serrick said in a low voice. "These are the genetic data pulled from the bodies of the first group of space pirates." He paused. "They match up a lot with the records provided by Chief Xue."

Asuer's brain froze for a few seconds before he fully grasped the latter part of the sentence. What did this mean? It meant the first group of space pirates were wolves in sheep's clothing!

No wonder that group of pirates had hit their target so fast and dead-on—they were fully aware of the route for transporting the star coins.

Rage exploded inside Asuer. He wished he could return immediately and chop off their heads, but with an external enemy at hand, he had to put all his energy into dealing with the current crisis.

He took a deep breath and glanced at the vast expanse of space outside the starship. "Speed up. Try to reach the next jump point within a day."

As for the scum within the empire, he'd settle the score later.

A sharp throb hit the back of his neck. Asuer raised a hand to cover it, took a step forward, but suddenly stumbled.

"Your Majesty!" Serrick caught him, worried.

Asuer waved a hand. "I'm fine. Watch the control room. Come get me when we reach the next jump point. Otherwise, don't approach my quarters unless it's an emergency." With that, he staggered back to his room.

Serrick knew he was having another flare-up. At times like this, the king hated anyone near him, so he could only comply.

Asuer returned to his room, locked the door, and immediately flopped onto the bed. The heat hit him hard, leaving him out of it. Before he knew it, the room was in chaos—glass shards all over the floor—and he was curled up in the center of the bed, clutching a wrecked trench coat in his hands, surrounded by all the potions and chocolates he had brought on this trip.

All of it was Xue Ji's.

Not a single one smelled like a Beta.

Asuer half-opened his eyes, taking in his situation, and knew he was screwed.

Last time, it was only half this bad.

He lay still, then closed his eyes, letting himself drown in the relentless need.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, unaware of day or night. At one point, Serrick seemed to knock on the door, but left when there was no response. After an unknown stretch of time, a violent jolt from the ship snapped him out of his frenzy.

Then came loud banging on the door and sirens blaring through the ship.

"...Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

With a deafening crash, the door was forced open. Through a blur, someone seemed to rush in, only to retreat under the overwhelming pressure of the king's pheromones.

"...What's happening?" Asuer felt as though flames were licking his body, blood rushing to his head. He vaguely recognized Serrick's voice at the door and pushed himself up, pulling on some clothes.

"It's space pirates," Serrick said, clamping his hand over his mouth as he charged in, propping up the monarch with one hand. "The ship's main system and oxygen are toast. It won't hold out much longer, and we're about to reach the jump point. The course is pre-set and can't be changed. We gotta bail in the fighters before we get too close." Otherwise, without the starship's protection, entering the jump point could either fling them to some corner of space—if they were lucky—or crush them under immense pressure.

He helped the monarch up, grabbing a handful of tubes—whether nutrient fluids or suppressants—from the bed and stuffing them into the king's pocket as they stumbled out.

Serrick's face was pale, sweat beading on his forehead. Asuer knew his pheromones were making it hard for Serrick, so he bit his tongue hard. The taste of blood spread, jolting him awake. He pushed Serrick away. "I know where to go. You handle the evacuation of everyone else."

"I've already sent word," Serrick said through gritted teeth, feeling his own pheromones rising to counter the king's dominant Alpha scent. Reluctantly, he let go of the monarch and stayed a few steps behind, guarding him.

They reached the fighter bay, where the entire crew had gathered. All fighters were open and ready for launch.

Asuer stopped, pulled a few tubes from his pocket, identified one as a suppressant, and handed it to Serrick. "Let them go first. You get in a fighter too."

With three genders mixed on the ship, stepping out now would make him a pheromone bomb. Before the pirates could finish them off or the oxygen ran out, everyone on board would be doomed. Serrick understood this and, without a word, took the suppressant and injected it into the back of his neck.

The suppressant worked wonders, taking effect within seconds. Asuer had already stepped back a few paces. Serrick glanced at him, then opened the hatch and shouted, "Everyone into the fighters! Close the hatches and activate onboard oxygen!"

The crew quickly paired up and followed orders. Serrick chose an empty fighter and called out, "Your Majesty!"

The starship was now teetering, alarms for low oxygen and pirate attack blending into a cacophony. Serrick shouted repeatedly until he saw the monarch stride in and board another empty fighter, swiftly closing the hatch, securing himself, and putting on an oxygen mask.

Everything seemed normal, but Serrick noticed that the king's once-bulging pocket had gone flat. This meant the monarch had likely injected a large dose of suppressants in that brief moment. Once the suppressants wore off, such behavior could be fatal for a king simultaneously in the peak of a pheromone disorder flare-up and his sensitive period.

Serrick's heart ached with worry. He hesitated, torn between joining the king in the same fighter—knowing that if the suppressants faded while they shared an enclosed space, they'd end up fighting each other under pheromone control—when he saw the monarch raise a hand, signaling departure.

Then, the starship's hatch opened wide, and the monarch led the way into space.

Everyone followed in a stream. Serrick gritted his teeth, started his fighter, and chased after them.

The jump point, suspended in the darkness, was now close at hand. The starship's engine bay silently bloomed into a golden explosion. Dozens of fighters tumbled through space, when suddenly, a pirate ship loomed nearby.

A massive light wave from a pulse cannon blast reflected in everyone's eyes.

Serrick's pupils contracted as the light wave exploded, sending a shockwave that hurled them toward the jump point.

In an instant, their world turned upside down, then plunged into darkness.