Chapter 204

Chapter 204

Location: TC6509.

Hurried footsteps echoed through the empty corridor as Gene pushed open the door to the main control center, ignoring the stares from everyone inside as he strode quickly to Xue Ji’s side. “Chief…” He managed only two words before his throat felt like it was clogged with a rock, leaving him speechless.

The young knight’s frantic entrance already gave Xue Ji a bad feeling, and now, seeing this, his brow furrowed. “Speak.”

Gene gritted his teeth, glanced around, and leaned in to whisper in Xue Ji’s ear: “His Majesty… His Majesty is missing.”

Xue Ji’s mind went blank for a moment before he immediately pushed past the knight and walked out.

“Chief!” Gene hurried after him.

Everyone watched Gene whisper something to Xue Ji, and his face changed color before he strode out without a word. They looked at each other, confused, then turned to Freya. Frowning, Freya thought for a moment before quickly following him out the door.

“Xue Ji!”

The man called out didn’t seem to hear, continuing on his way, and even the usually good-natured knight didn’t bother to look back. Even Freya, as slow as she was, sensed something was wrong and jogged to catch up. “Xue Ji, where are you going?”

Xue Ji glanced at her, then stopped and tapped quickly on his optical brain. Then he tapped Freya’s optical brain. “Labs B105 and B217 are now fully accessible to you. In B105, there are blueprints for remote-operated mechs I designed, with the programs already on the lab terminal. If the current detection network doesn’t find anything in a day, start building new mechs to explore under the volcano.” He paused and tapped his optical brain again.

Freya’s optical brain chimed, and when she looked at it, she saw a notification granting payment access to an account.

“All material purchases should go through this account.”

“Where are you going?” Freya asked again.

“There’s an emergency at the Academy of Sciences. I have to go back,” Xue Ji said quickly. “If you find the new energy source before I get back, there’s a preliminary purification plan in B217. Tweak it as you see fit, and make a batch of weapons first, no matter the loss rate or lifespan.”

Freya listened as he laid out everything in just a few minutes, growing more puzzled. She didn’t have time to wonder why he’d written a purification plan before finding the energy. “What’s so urgent?”

Xue Ji waved a hand, took a few steps, then stopped and turned around, speaking solemnly: “Captain Freya, this project is about His Majesty and the Empire’s fate. I entrust it to you now.”

For the first time, Freya saw such a serious look on his usually calm face. She froze, and by the time she came to, Xue Ji was already far away, with the knight hovering around him like a bee.

“Chief, you can’t go back to the capital now,” Gene said frantically. “His Majesty ordered that if anything happens to the Empire, you have to stay here, or at least go to Selenia. Kexinia will protect that planet, no matter what happens. But you absolutely can’t go back to the capital—it’s too dangerous for you.”

Xue Ji gave a cold laugh. “Since when does he get to order me around?” He pressed the elevator button and stepped inside.

Gene squeezed in just as the doors closed, and faced with such disrespect, he could only go along: “It’s not an order, Chief. His Majesty was worried about your safety. When he assigned me to you, he gave a strict order: your safety comes before everything, even his own…”

“Shut up.” The elevator reached the first floor, and Xue Ji stepped out. “If he’s got such cheesy things to say, let him say them to me himself.”

Gene shut his mouth, watching Xue Ji head toward the spacecraft launch center again. His heart was racing with anxiety, but he didn’t know what to do. “If you leave, what about the project here?”

“Do you think everyone here is worthless?” Xue Ji shot back, and after that, no matter how Gene begged or argued, he wouldn’t respond.

What was the point of working hard mining here if the debtor was about to disappear?

Gene tried every argument, good and bad, until his throat was dry, but in the end, just like the first time he’d met Xue Ji, he ended up stumbling onto the spaceship with him.

“You have three minutes,” Xue Ji said, starting up the system. “Tell me the time, place, and details of His Majesty’s disappearance.”

Gene straightened up and started without thinking: “His Majesty went missing five days ago while on his way to the border, near the K7N9P jump point, after being attacked by space pirates. Serrick led most of the knights with His Majesty, while Devalen handled other matters with the rest and set out a day later. By the time they got to K7N9P, it was too late.”

“And the capital?”

“The news is still being kept quiet.”

“What about the Federation?”

Gene choked, feeling a wave of despair. “They’re still waiting for His Majesty to arrive.”

“You mentioned earlier that Kexinia would protect Selenia. What does that mean? Did His Majesty strike some deal with him?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Gene realized he’d slipped up. After a long pause, he stammered, “I don’t know…”

Xue Ji didn’t push him further. He fell silent, his mind racing as he frantically considered countermeasures.

At the same time, he called up the panel in his mind. The debt value hadn’t spiked, which meant Asuer was still alive…

It wasn’t until the spacecraft had lifted into space that Gene remembered the crucial question: “Are we really going back to the capital?”

Xue Ji hummed in affirmation, shattering his last shred of hope.

*

Despite Xue Ji opting for continuous jumps, the journey still took nearly ten days. Over that time, news from the imperial capital kept reaching Gene’s optical brain.

“The star network has leaked His Majesty’s disappearance. Everyone knows.”

“Kexinia has dispatched the Sixth and Seventh Legions to search for His Majesty under the guise of border patrols.”

“The Senate and nobles have launched a public vote to decide whether to select a new Monarch from the royal collateral line.”

“The Senate and nobles are preparing a new indemnity to send to the border.”

Each piece of news was worse than the last. By the end, Gene’s face looked as sour as if he’d just been pulled from a pickling vat, and he cursed the old bastards for being inhuman.

Xue Ji hadn’t expected things to escalate so quickly either; it felt as if an invisible hand was pulling the strings. His face dark, he kept increasing the spacecraft’s power while constantly checking the panel for the debt value.

Upon arriving at the capital, Xue Ji grabbed a flier from the spacecraft and sped straight for the Chinus Tower.

Gene wasn’t a stranger to riding shotgun with him, but this was the first time he’d experienced his wild driving firsthand. Dizzy and nauseous, he couldn’t even speak. When they reached the Chinus Tower, they didn’t go up but instead swapped for another flier in the underground garage.

Seeing Xue Ji about to take off in his own flier, Gene shook his head, scrambled into the passenger seat, and asked in the brief pause, “Chief, where are we going?”

Xue Ji pulled the control stick: “The Marshal’s Mansion.”

*

At the entrance of the Marshal’s Mansion, Kexinia and the Commander had just returned from the military base when they spotted a flier hurtling toward them, looking like it was about to plow straight into them.

The Commander’s heart tightened. He moved to shield Kexinia behind him, one hand already on his holstered gun. Seconds later, the flier screeched to a halt three meters away, and a tall, handsome man stepped out—Xue Ji, whom they hadn’t seen in days.

Then, stumbling out of the passenger side, came a baby-faced Alpha.

The Commander’s vigilance hadn’t faded; his hand still rested on the gun grip. Kexinia pushed down the hand blocking his view. “Chief Xue’s information network is impressive. It must be something serious to drag you back from your pleasure planet.”

Xue Ji ignored the veiled jab, stopping a few steps away. “Marshal, could we speak in private?”

Kexinia studied him for a moment, then tilted his head, signaling for them to go inside. Once the four were inside, before anyone could sit, Kexinia said, “Out with it. What’s the matter?”

Xue Ji didn’t answer directly. “Where has the Marshal just come from?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kexinia said. “The Monarch’s fate is unknown, the Federation is biding its time, and the Senate is about to push a new Monarch up to negotiate peace with the Federation.”

“The Knights only recognize Pulambago Carter,” Gene cut in angrily, earning a light snort.

“And what’s your opinion?” Xue Ji asked.

“Does my opinion matter?” Kexinia sat down on the sofa, unbuttoning his uniform cuff. “Whoever sits on the throne makes no difference to me or my legions. Even if it’s a fool or a madman, my legions will do what they always do.”

"Then why did you send your legions to search for His Majesty?"

"Just for show. Once enough time has passed without finding him, we can declare Polanbago dead. Once he's dead, a new Monarch can naturally ascend the throne."

"So the Senate has already found a candidate."

"Obviously."

Xue Ji was silent for a moment, then suddenly tapped his neural interface. A red dot instantly appeared on Kexinia's forehead. The Commander instantly drew his gun, aiming at Xue Ji, while Gene stepped forward, shielding Xue Ji, and drew his gun on the Commander.

The atmosphere instantly grew tense. The room fell silent for a moment before Kexinia looked up, unflinching, and said to Xue Ji, "Killing me won't change the fact that the throne is changing hands."

"Who said I was aiming for you?" Xue Ji tilted his head, signaling Kexinia to look out the window. A familiar aircraft slowly materialized in midair, its belly revealing three dark cannon muzzles aimed mercilessly at the person on the sofa inside—capable of blasting them to ashes in an instant. Strangely, through the front viewport, the cockpit was completely empty.

The Commander's pupils contracted, and his fingers instinctively tightened on the trigger. Gene swallowed hard—three shots from those cannons would wipe out everyone in the room.

"I have plenty more of these remotely controlled aircraft," Xue Ji said calmly. "Killing a new Monarch would be a piece of cake. As long as it's not Polanbago, anyone who sits on that throne will die."

Kexinia paused in fiddling with his cufflinks. "What if Polanbago is already dead?"

"He's not dead, and he's not going to die."

Xue Ji had studied Chu Heng's world and knew that those chosen by the underworld for rebirth were connected to people with great destiny. He believed Asuer·Polanbago·Carter was no exception—someone like that couldn't possibly die in some random interstellar jump point.

Though he held this conviction, his rationality was slowly being eroded by growing unease and anxiety, making his words colder and more ruthless: "If the Empire goes a day without a ruler, the Federation won't back down for a day. The Senate's full of cowards too scared to fight, just willing to keep paying reparations for a brief peace. Even if they prop up a new Monarch, it'll just be a puppet they can control. Sooner or later, they'll give up territory to sue for peace—first Gray Star-IX, then Seleneia, then countless similar planets, and finally the very planet beneath your feet."

"What's the Empire's survival got to do with me?" Kexinia replied coldly, a deep resentment flashing in his eyes. "I could just surrender to the Federation, take my people out of this, and hole up on some random planet."

"Hole up where?" Xue Ji's gaze cut like a blade. "Seleneia?"

Kexinia's face twitched, almost imperceptibly, and Xue Ji knew he'd guessed right.

After Gray Star came Seleneia. Kexinia choosing to sacrifice the mech his lover left him to stop the frontline from retreating at that moment was no coincidence. He looked down on Asuer, and Asuer's people must have noticed, yet they still trusted him to protect Seleneia without question. Combining these facts could only mean one thing: Seleneia held an unshakable place in Kexinia's heart.

"Let me tell you the truth," Xue Ji said. "Once war breaks out, that planet covered in Flora will be the first to catch fire."

Kexinia's face instantly darkened, and the Commander's expression also turned murderous. Gene watched them warily, taking small steps to the side to fully shield Xue Ji.

After an unknown amount of time, Kexinia spoke in a low, sinister voice: "What do you want?"

"I want you to send another legion to join the search for Asuer, and periodically release news on the Star Net showing he's probably still alive, send five legions to Gray Star to warn the Federation not to act rashly, and you and the remaining legions stay on the main planet to prevent the new Monarch from ascending. If necessary," Xue Ji's eyes turned ruthless, "eliminate certain people."

Kexinia made no comment on his series of arrangements but instead latched onto a specific word with meaning: "It seems he really trusts you, even telling you his childhood name."

Xue Ji paused, realizing he had let it slip. But—

How did Kexinia know?

He pondered this, but Kexinia had already returned to his usual demeanor. "I have no interest in playing your power games. For the sake of your gift last time, I'll help you this once. But I'm curious—why are you so devoted to Asuer? Did the Senate not satisfy your appetite, or is there something only Asuer can give you?"

"Is the answer to that question important?"

"Not really, but I want to give you a piece of advice," Kexinia said, looking at him. "Don't let a member of the Carter family fall in love with you."

"Too late." Xue Ji put away the aircraft's mortar cannons, waved his hand, and walked out. "I trust the Marshal is a man of his word. The main planet is in your hands."

Gene, still holding his gun, backed out of the room, keeping his eyes fixed on the two. The aircraft automatically hovered to the door, and Xue Ji entered the cockpit. Gene jumped in after him. Seconds later, the aircraft vanished into the air, disappearing from the sight of the two inside the room, with a faint engine roar fading into the distance.

The Commander holstered his gun, hesitating: "Marshal, are we really going to help him?"

Kexinia rubbed his temples wearily. "He is, after all, her son." He lowered his hand. "And at least one thing Xue Ji said is right—if we're going to war, the one on the throne must be Asuer."