Soon, the remnant crystal officer of Yin Beidou and the second prince of the empire passed through the docking port of the two starships, and saw the people waiting for them on the opposite side.

Those are all members of the Black Shark Base. They are uniformly dressed in white scientific research uniforms, with translucent smart eyepieces hanging on their faces. They stand in two rows on both sides of the passage. At first glance, there are forty or fifty people.

The nebula is still imprinting its flowing silhouette on the huge glass porthole, and the colors are intertwined and changing like colorful clouds at sunset, but the background is the endless dark universe.

No one made a sound. In the silence, these scientific research elites in white uniforms all bowed and stroked their chests, paying their utmost respect to the two figures approaching.

"..." The corners of Jiang Jianming's eyes twitched. He looked at the neatly lowered heads on both sides, and always felt that the atmosphere was a bit exaggerated.

Garcia walked in front of him, and suddenly turned his face to the side and asked coldly: "This is the first time you saw someone from Black Shark Base?"

Jiang Jianming was keenly aware that His Royal Highness was not in a good mood.He thought for a while and said, "This is the first time I've seen so many."

——Black Shark Base, now the most mysterious distant interstellar scientific research base in the empire, its origin can be traced all the way back to the melee period of human bases earlier than the establishment of the old empire.

The core members of the base adopt a one-to-one recruitment system, and almost everyone is a genius prodigy with an IQ far exceeding ordinary people. If they raise their eyes, the shining eyes must be the most intelligent brilliance of the empire.

However, at this time, everyone was lowering their heads deeply in unison.This kind of collective quality is actually not much better than Yin Beidou, who is a special army of the distant interstellar.

And what's even more exaggerated is...

A few seconds later, when the two of them finally finished their journey, at the end of this sea of white people was a black figure.

The current leader of the Black Shark Base, who is also the first base leader after the establishment of the new empire, is standing here quietly, watching the two come to the front.

He or she is not tall, long black clothes cover the whole body, and a black metal mechanical hood mask is worn on the face, from the back of the head, forehead to chin, all are tightly covered.

As we all know, the leader of the Black Shark base never shows his true face.

Jiang Jianming took the lead to step forward.He put his hands on his chest, bowed his head and said: "Head..."

Unexpectedly, his arm was suddenly pulled by Garcia, so that he wanted to bend down but failed.

"Your Highness?" Jiang Jianming couldn't help turning his head, his eyebrows slightly moving.

I saw that Garcia's face was more gloomy than before. He held Jiang Jianming with one hand and stared at the leader with a layer of hard ice in his emerald eyes, "You don't need to salute this kind of person."

The leader on the opposite side didn't seem to care, the dark figure looked around, and an electronically synthesized voice came from under the hood: "Go down, our guests don't like to be disturbed."

With an order, the members of the Black Shark Base straightened up as if some switch had been pressed, and disappeared at the end of the corridor like white waves at ebb tide.

They didn't say a word during the whole process, and it even made people wonder if they were some simulated new robots.

Immediately afterwards, something even more astonishing happened.

The leader raised his hand and pressed on both sides of the black mechanical mask.

The visor "clicks" out of a slit.

The leader took advantage of the opportunity to open it and removed it from the head.

"Perhaps insignificant."

Thus, the inorganic, electronically synthesized voice was replaced by a benevolent female voice.

"But I think it shows at least a little sincerity."

Under the mask, it turned out to be an old woman.Wrinkles are engraved on her slightly slack skin, and her eyes are deep blue and distant, reminiscent of the sky and the ocean.

But her back was very straight, her silver hair was tied behind her head, and she was combed into a simple but elegant hairstyle, which made this old lady look very noble, and even a little bit of a holy aura.

In short, it is very different from the impression of "research geek" or "iron-fisted leader" in the public's imagination.

"The two are back."

This old woman, the mysterious leader of the Black Shark base, pressed her masked hand to her chest and bowed respectfully.

"I'm very happy... to see that the two of you can come back here together, back to the territory of our glorious empire."

"leader."

Jiang Jianming came back to his senses and stroked his heart in return.

He raised his eyes calmly: "Do you...remember me?"

Unsurprisingly, he felt Garcia's suspicious gaze suddenly cast over him, like two striking lightning bolts.

... The momentum is good, but it is a pity that the memory of His Royal Highness listening to the class and falling asleep last night has not been cleared from his mind.

Jiang Jianming turned his head, raised his eyebrows slightly, and smiled mysteriously at the prince.

"How can I forget?"

On the opposite side, the leader nodded gently and just right.

"You are the most memorable human with crystal-less crystals I have ever seen... Oh, maybe, may I say crystal-free humans make you feel more comfortable?"

"..."

"You guys," Garcia's eyes lost their light, his face was expressionless, his voice was stiff, "I know you."

Jiang Jianming: "There was a relationship once."

Garcia: "How many good friends do you really know?"

Jiang Jianming blinked: "More than you think."

Yes, the leader of the Black Shark Base, which has been widely discussed and extremely mysterious... He actually met him in the early years.

At the beginning, he and Lai An "privately decided for life" in Alien Omega.Due to various practical factors, the crown prince's marriage proposal was completely private.

But perhaps, the crown prince also felt that he was really sorry for his beloved by acting rashly, so he finally arrested a "marriage witness".

A person who can completely break away from various power struggles, stay out of the political vortex, and not interfere with any imperial affairs on the surface, but has a sufficiently noble and special status.

A person whose identity is a mystery in the past, who does not even hold a noble title, but whose qualifications can be counted until the founding war period, and who even has a close personal relationship with the current emperor.

This is the mysterious leader of the Black Shark base.

But even so, Jiang Jianming's heart is a little turbulent now.

He didn't expect that after the death of His Royal Highness, he could see the leader again so easily.

Now that the old woman had come over, she frowned her gray eyebrows, and looked in Garcia's direction as if she was about to start training her grandson: "Kaos, long time no see."

She gestured to Jiang Jianming with her eyes, and emphasized her tone: "I hope you didn't bully this young lord."

"Get lost." Garcia sneered, the smile not reaching his eyes.Words like daggers pierced out from between the thin teeth: "In what capacity do you speak to me like this?"

The leader said: "My identity is not important. It is important that you heard what I said."

"..." Jiang Jianming fell silent.

Reason told him that the leader of the Black Shark Base must not be a simple person.

Even this seemingly amiable old lady is very likely to be the operator behind all the truth.

However, when his eyes went back and forth between the two, it still felt more like grandma and grandson.

Garcia: "What the hell are you doing here? Other than talking all this superior nonsense."

"A few days ago, the emperor already knew the good news of the return of the two."

The leader raised his hands, "I'm here to welcome the two of you for His Majesty... Come on, it's too impolite for guests to stand here and talk, please come with me."

The three of them stepped onto the built-in gangway of the starship. Perhaps because of the leader's order, they did not see other members of the Black Shark base along the way.

They were led by small robots floating in the air, equipped with advanced intelligence brains, all of which had never been seen in the outside world.

Jiang Jianming secretly observed along the way: the starship of the Black Shark Base is not that big, and it is less than twice the size of their small starship.

This is not even a medium-sized ship in a real space and interstellar battle, and its combat power is not even comparable to that of a prince. It seems that it is indeed just a welcome.

During the staggered steps, Garcia glanced at Jiang Jianming inexplicably, and asked the leader: "Is he your man?"

The silver-haired old woman shook her head and sighed intentionally, "How is that possible? Caios, you are so disrespectful when you speak like this."

She bent her eyebrows at Jiang Jianming: "Sorry, this kid just has a bad temper. When getting along, isn't he not as good as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince back then?"

—Crack!!

In a blink of an eye, a red gold crystal with a thick wrist suddenly appeared out of thin air, directly piercing the metal floor in front of the leader, not even a centimeter away from her feet.

Garcia's eyes darkened: "Are you, looking for, dying?"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Jiang Jianming quickly stopped him, "Ah no, it's actually not bad, no matter which little Highness it is, they are very cute."

He said again: "Boss, can I spare you a little time, I have something I always wanted to ask you alone."

Garcia finally became furious: "Are you here again? Lieutenant Jiang, isn't Xie Yuduo alone enough for you to whisper?"

The leader smiled deeply: "Okay, no problem."

"The premise is that you can let our angry prince obediently live in the room of this starship."

...

After a while, the leader led Jiang Jianming to the bridge of the starship.

Unexpectedly, Garcia, who showed great hostility towards the leader and the Black Shark base, did not really prevent the two of them from being alone.

He just threatened Jiang Jianming viciously on the surface, ordering him to return to his side within half an hour, and then turned his head and left without waiting for Jiang Jianming to say anything.

The latter watched the prince's back shrink, and actually felt a bit of loneliness from it.

Although don't know if it was an illusion, it made Jiang Jianming decide to end the conversation with the leader quickly... Tonight, he still wants to continue telling stories to His Royal Highness.

"Actually, I know what you want to ask."

When the two stood still in the empty command room, the leader turned around slowly, her silver hair was reflected in the starry sky, shining with fragments of light.

"About the death of His Highness Lai An, about the resurrection of His Highness Garcia, about these three years, and the stories behind these three years, right?"

"But I'm sorry, you were a step late... I have already promised Kaios to keep it secret from you."

Jiang Jianming couldn't help shaking his head and laughing, he just pretended to be the leader and jokingly shied away: "You just saw him today."

The leader returned a faint smile.

She didn't speak, just looked at him.

In an instant, a tingling sensation spread all over Jiang Jianming's back, and a certain absurd guess pierced through his mind like an arrow.

His pupils shook, and he whispered in disbelief: "Lai An?"

The voice echoed in the command room, and the data of countless light screens and brains were still flashing regularly, driving the starship to sail.

Apart from this, there is no other testimony.

The leader sighed, and the elderly woman lowered her eyelids: "You are still so wise."

Jiang Jianming's fingers squeezed the cuff quietly, he heard his heart beating faster, but his face remained calm: "Why."

"Some things need to be done step by step. This universe is cruel. Getting in touch with certain things too early will only make people realize their own insignificance and powerlessness, and lead to self-destruction in despair."

The leader turned his face away, and she stared at the starry sky flowing outside the porthole: "He can't bear your pain."

It's Lai An.

Jiang Jianming was a little dazed by the meaning behind these few words.

Lai An met the leader before he died... and asked the leader to keep it a secret from him today... Doesn't this mean that His Royal Highness knew in advance that he would lose his memory...

Leader: "Since you came from the first fortress of Yin Beidou, you must have seen the Golden Dawn Crown. There should be some last words in it."

"That's right, I've read it. Is that message really left by His Highness Lai An?"

"Yes and no."

"Is everything now under his control?"

"Yes and no."

"What's the situation with His Royal Highness Garcia?"

"I can't tell."

"..." Jiang Jianming's eyes turned cold.

But the leader turned around at this moment, staring at the black-haired young man in front of him with those blue eyes, and slowly added her explanation:

"You are too smart, once I say it, you will easily guess the 'should not be touched', and I promised Kaios."

"what should I do?"

"Follow your inner guidance."

Jiang Jianming's breathing was slightly chaotic, and he closed his eyes.

He clenched his fist silently, then released it again.

My palms are already wet with sweat.

"Is Black Shark Base conducting forbidden experiments?"

"No comment."

"Who else knows the truth?"

"No comment."

"What else can you tell me?"

"He loves you."

One word fell like a heavy hammer, breaking the spirit with a bang.

For a few seconds, Jiang Jianming's mind went blank.His lips trembled, his throat was dry, and he couldn't say the next sentence immediately.

So the leader continued: "He is very painful and very guilty... about everything he owed you. Those things tortured his heart like Ling Chi's torture. I have seen him cry."

A few seconds of silence.

The will that was still tense to the extreme just now, as if in a fighting state, slackened, and the fast-moving thinking couldn't turn.

Between the high-speed interlacing of rational rhetoric, the word "love" has such devastating power.

"I don't understand," Jiang Jianming said in a daze, "he didn't... didn't owe me anything."

"Just because you don't understand, doesn't mean he doesn't think he doesn't. I have witnessed his parting. He loved you deeply until the last moment when his consciousness died."

"So, this is a small plea from my own heart."

The leader folded his hands, and there was a trace of sadness in his eyes.Standing under the starry sky, she looked like an old saint praying, "Please forgive him for his harm to you, just as the merciful God forgives his sinners."

"Whether in the past or in the future."

The past, the future... This is a sentence that sounds too loud.

But Jiang Jianming immediately understood its true meaning.The "future" in the leader's mouth means that Garcia...

"...Then, is that all there is?"

The black-haired young man spoke suddenly, and at some point, he had recovered his composure.

It's just that there is a little more sadness in the deep black eyes, just like the sadness in the eyes of the leader is soaked in.

"Aren't you willing to provide more information except for empty and unclear language and some provocative useless words?"

The leader was silent for a long time, then shook his head.

Jiang Jianming bowed, turned and left.When he stepped on the first step, the leader's soft voice came from behind.

"If you promise not to ask about its deep meaning, I would like to tell you a few more words."

Jiang Jianming stopped.

The leader's voice trickled into his heart like a stream of water.

"The dead are not really dead, and what is lost is not irretrievable."

"He's still waiting for you."

"It's been a long, long time."