Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Faceless took a deep breath. He helped Ye Mo up, trying to keep his composure, though his voice was still a bit hoarse. "Let's go back to the room first."

His room had an auto-medical scanner that could perform a simple checkup and determine Ye Mo's exact age.

Ye Mo instinctively glanced at the small cart he had pushed out and the carpet he hadn't finished cleaning.

Faceless followed Ye Mo's gaze and realized that Ye Mo had probably never done such tasks before.

Outside, cleaning robots handled these jobs, but in the Driftstar Region, robots were far more expensive than humans. Even work like this was hard to come by.

Faceless had done almost everything. He had spent many years in the Driftstar Region, starting from being severely injured and fighting stray cats for food to now living a relatively normal life here.

No one understood these places better than Faceless: lawless, chaotic lands with no rules to speak of.

Faceless averted his gaze and led Ye Mo away.

Back in the room, Faceless let go of Ye Mo. "Sit there for now."

There were no chairs in the room, so Faceless pointed to the edge of the bed. Ye Mo glanced at the neatly made bed and carefully sat on the edge.

Faceless retrieved the medical device from the cabinet.

The medical device was a wrist-mounted type. Ye Mo remained seated, allowing Faceless to take his wrist and strap the device on.

Watching Faceless's scar-covered hands, Ye Mo suddenly reached out and touched one.

Faceless paused his movements. "What's wrong?"

"Does it hurt?"

Faceless continued fastening the device onto Ye Mo's wrist. "I forgot about it a long time ago."

The device started operating. It would take a few minutes to produce results, so Faceless stepped aside.

Ye Mo glanced at the running device but paid it no mind. He kept staring at Faceless. "Are you my father?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ye Mo keenly noticed Faceless's expression turn colder.

Faceless fastened the device onto Ye Mo's wrist and activated it. "No."

Ye Mo stared at Faceless. "I didn't think so either."

Faceless's movements paused for a moment before he released Ye Mo's wrist. Ye Mo noticed that Faceless was avoiding his gaze, but after hesitating briefly, Ye Mo still didn't look away.

Those unknown memories and inexplicable emotions had been troubling him for a long time. He was desperate to figure everything out.

He wanted to find his origins, to once again find the large hand that had stroked his cheek and the back of his neck in his memories, and that somewhat cold yet careful embrace.

Ye Mo continued asking, "Then do you know my parents?"

Faceless paused for a long time before answering, "If I'm not mistaken, your mother was my sister."

As if afraid Ye Mo would press further, before Ye Mo could speak again, Faceless added, "How long have you been here that you remember?"

"Less than a week."

A week. At that time, Grath was still on the front lines of the Insect Tide.

Ye Mo shifted his gaze away from Faceless, who was standing to the side, and scanned the room, trying to find any clues about his family.

Faceless relaxed slightly, but Ye Mo's next question immediately made him tense up again.

Ye Mo stubbornly steered the conversation back to what he wanted to know. "You're here, so is my mother here too?"

Faceless opened his mouth but finally replied stiffly, "She's dead."

Ye Mo abruptly turned to look at Faceless. The room fell into an oppressive silence, broken only when the medical device on Ye Mo's wrist beeped.

Faceless stepped forward to check the data, starting with the age: sixteen years and three months. There was still time.

He then switched to the genetic information, comparing it with his own. The results came out quickly.

"Shows a familial relationship."

Faceless looked at the results calmly. He operated the device a few times, deleting all of Ye Mo's information from it before turning his attention back to Ye Mo.

He didn't know how to treat this child.

Faceless had seen Ye Mo before. Strictly speaking, Faceless was the first to witness Ye Mo's initial birth.

He had watched that mass of flesh slowly develop limbs, grow into a complete infant, and finally begin responding to the outside world.

Faceless remembered clearly: if he tapped on the glass, Ye Mo would respond. It was a little game he often played with Ye Mo back then.

In the end, it was also he who personally took Ye Mo out and returned him to his sister. At that time, he had no doubt that Ye Mo would be destroyed.

He knew his sister's personality well. She excelled at everything, precise as a machine, always making the most correct choices. Her character was exceptionally decisive; once she decided on something, she never hesitated.

Just like when she came to him, telling him he couldn't succeed, so she would kill him to protect the family.

Faceless's thoughts drifted back many years.

Back then, he was still young. They entered the lab as usual, and when they opened the door, they saw her back.

She was already standing in the room, her back to them, her ponytail tied high. She was looking at the cultivation pod in front of her, tilting her head slightly, revealing a glimpse of her overly bright, lipstick-coated lips.

Faceless's heart skipped several beats at the time. Even though he had steeled himself several times before, he still felt uneasy when he was truly discovered.

His companion immediately pressed the alarm, but nothing happened after he pressed it.

She turned around, her expression colder than Faceless had ever seen. Behind her was the cultivation pod holding the infant. "Give him to me."

Faceless lowered his gaze and remained silent. His companion beside him spoke first, "You've seen that video too, right?"

He was referring to the widely circulated video on the StarNet, where a Grath lost control on the battlefield. A trailing starship captured the scene and uploaded it to the StarNet.

"Then you should understand how terrifying they are when they lose control. His Majesty realizes it too; otherwise, he wouldn't have killed them like that. The Empire possesses the most advanced medical technology, but for over a hundred, even a thousand years, there has been no progress."

"The Grath will eventually face extinction. That is the one thing that will never change. But the Glans Empire must continue. The Empire needs reform. Although losing the Grath will cause the Empire to go through a period of pain, it is necessary. Join us."

His companion stepped forward, reaching out to her, but as soon as he got close, she grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground. She struck the back of his head hard, and his body went limp, falling unconscious.

Faceless glanced at him before shifting his attention to his sister, who was walking toward him.

Faceless looked at her. "I know what you're worried about. If we succeed, the entire Ye family will be safe."

She interrupted Faceless. "You won't succeed. Don't try to persuade me. Just as my parents and I couldn't persuade you and the others to leave the rebellion, you can't persuade me either."

She looked at Faceless and said, "You have to understand, it's the Empire that needs Grath, not the other way around."

She stepped forward, stopping only when they were within arm's reach. Her voice was soft, but he knew she meant it.

"So I will do what I believe is right. I will kill you, using your lives to save as many of our remaining family as possible."

Faceless did not retreat; behind him stood many members of the Ye family. "I'm not on your level. Your psychic rating is higher than mine, and your grades were better. But I'm going to see this through. At least this time, I want to beat you."

"Brother."

She seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she remained silent.

Both of them knew that at this point, it was already too late for either of them to turn back.

"Hand him over. Do that, and I'll leave today. The next time we meet, I will kill you."

Faceless instinctively glanced at the incubation pod. "What do you plan to do?"

"Get rid of it. Pretend it never existed."

Faceless understood why. If it were merely rebellion, the rest of the family, the ones not involved, would still have a high chance of survival. But if it involved Grath genes, it would be a completely different story.

In terms of risk, disposing of it was indeed the best choice.

For them, this child was a contingency plan. Losing him wouldn't have derailed their initial plans.

Faceless remained silent for a moment before finally agreeing.

He tapped the glass one last time and got one last response from the tiny life inside. Then, he paused the incubation pod, halted Ye Mo's growth, placed him into a portable incubation pod, and handed it over.

Faceless had always believed she would destroy it immediately. It was living "evidence," and keeping it longer only increased the risk.

Ye Mo suddenly spoke, interrupting Faceless's thoughts. "What kind of person was my mother?"

Faceless snapped back to reality and looked at Ye Mo. The tiny infant who could only respond to tapping now seemed to merge with the present Ye Mo.

He lowered his gaze, pondered seriously for a moment, and then said, "An exceptional person, far more outstanding than I am. She was the pride of the family, our parents, and also my pride."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Faceless suddenly froze. In the past, he would never have admitted that he was inferior to his younger sister. The age gap between them was small, and they had grown up constantly being compared.

When they were about to start school, the family tested their psychic levels. His was B, while hers was S.

At the time, neither of them understood what this meant. Only their father casually remarked, "He is still a bit worse than his sister."

Faceless didn't mind; he was proud of his sister.

But that was just the beginning. As they grew up, more and more voices joined in, repeating the same praises for his sister's excellence while shaking their heads at him.

That pride for his sister slowly changed. Sometimes, Faceless even wished his sister could be more ordinary, less outstanding. Yet, at the same time, he felt tormented by such thoughts, believing himself to be ugly.

So he forced himself to work even harder. He was the first in the military academy with a B-level psychic ability to wear the white uniform, achieving top grades in every subject and filling every spare moment of his day.

For more than half of his first twenty years of life, he relentlessly strived, seeking his parents' approval and the family's recognition. It seemed to become an obsession.

Although, in the end, he never received a single word of praise from his parents, not even a "well done."

But now, he could calmly acknowledge the fact that she was far more outstanding than he was.