The house was very quiet, without a sound.

“Holy Maiden,” the servant called out again, kneeling on the ground. He didn’t dare to raise his head, and only worshiped the empty chair in front of him as a sacred object.

Moonlight shone through the window lattices, making everything in the room look extraordinarily pale. Time seemed to be frozen in this place, everything isolated from the world, and the occasional noises of barking dogs and people on the street could not reach his ears. The window on the other side was open, and Gao Lin and a group of guards hid in the darkness, watching the boy’s extremely pious worship from haishi to zishi, and then to choushi. If he didn’t move his body a little from time to time, the guards would almost think that they were staring at a corpse or a sculpture.

His prayers lasted the entire night.

The watchmen also kept watch all night. It was getting brighter at this time, and the number of people on the main street next door gradually increased. Gao Lin said: “This house is empty. He’s just a discarded fish, and we can’t catch any bigger ones, so let’s just catch him.”

The boy was already half-frozen from the cold, and when he was dragged up, his body was paralyzed as if he had been pricked by a needle. He didn’t struggle, as if he completely lost the ability to think and his whole body was baptized into a puppet for the cult. Gao Lin led his men to thoroughly search the house. The place was scrubbed clean, and only a silver hairpin was found in a cabinet, inlaid with precious stones and butterflies.

He brought this thing back to the government office.

Liang Shu asked: “Who is the owner of that house?”

Gao Lin said: “It is registered under the name of a butcher in the city. The government has already arrested him, and he is currently under trial. This person is also a member of the cult, and his status is not low. He has the tattoo of the Baifu Sect on his body.”

“Only this hairpin was found in the room?”

“Only this hairpin. As for the rest, there was not even a scrap of fabric, cleaner than a dog-licked plate.”

“We’ve seen this hairpin before,” Liu Xian’an reminded. “At the market during the new year, there were four butterfly-shaped hairpins in this set. I bought three of them for A-Yuan, and didn’t want the remaining one because the color was too bright. Does the prince have any impression of this?”

Liang Shu ordered Gao Lin to investigate, and the owner of the jewelry store was quickly brought in. He thought for a long time, and confessed that it was a girl in a yellow dress, saying: “That’s the one who kept asking if Third Young Lady Liu was pretty. After the prince and Young Master Liu left that day, she spent a long time choosing at my stall, and was finally urged by the people next to her to buy this in a hurry. She spent a lot of money and left without even asking for change.”

“Did she say anything else?”

“No, she only said those few words to Young Master Liu.”

She didn’t ask anything else other than how beautiful Liu Nanyuan was. After the jewelry store owner left, Liu Xian’an said to Liang Shu: “Could that have been Wumeng Yunle in disguise?”

“It is possible.” Liang Shu said, “Perhaps she came to the city to confuse the servant boy, or give some kind of reward, so that he could become a pawn of the cult even more determinedly.”

Song Changsheng had single-handedly caused the explosion on top of White Crown, destroying the Central Plains forces that they had painstakingly arranged for a long time. In the eyes of the Baifu Sect, such a traitor must die, or their teachings would never be convincing in the future. Liang Shu had taken advantage of this to release the news in Raven City, bestowing gold and silver, and respecting Song Changsheng as a great hero who destroyed the cult. He made sure all the common people saw it — as long as you stood on the opposite side of the Baifu Sect, they could gain fame and fortune.

Driven by that fame and fortune, there really was a trend of purging and suppressing the cult in the city. In this situation, Liang Shu strengthened the protection around Song Changsheng. Aside from the doctor and servant, no one else could approach him at all. The meals, soups, and medicines he took every day, as long as they were brought in, they were all prepared by the people of Xiao Wang Palace. Not to mention poison, not even a fly could get past them.

With the paths of assassination and poisoning all blocked, there were only two paths left before the Baifu Sect. The first was to give up, but they would most likely not choose this, so there was only the second way left — start with the doctor and servant who were still close to Song Changsheng, and look for an opportunity to kill him.

Liu Xian’an said: “For them, the most trouble-free way is to send a prescription that could kill a person and convince us that it was the antidote. Otherwise, even if they successfully bribed a servant, the poison would not make it into Song-xiansheng’s bowl.”

Gao Lin reminded: “But they may not do it immediately.”

Liang Shu said: “Then force them to act as soon as possible.”

Gao Lin hesitated: “How do we force them to make a mistake? Those grandsons are shrewd and cautious. I fear it won’t be easy to lure the snake out of the hole.”

Liu Xian’an said from the side: “It’s simple. They must believe that Song-xiansheng is about to recover, and that once he’s recovered, he will be sent to the Northwest Military Camp immediately.” Sent to the Northwest Military Camp and guarded by thousands of troops, even if the Baifu Sect had great abilities in the future, it would be difficult to assassinate him. So if they wanted to eliminate Song Changsheng, they must seize the moment.

Thus, under the “treatment” of the miracle doctor, the blue veins on Song Changsheng’s face became lighter day by day, and he seemed to be improving rapidly. But in fact, Liu Xian’an really didn’t know what kind of poison it was, nor how to treat it, so he still only used ordinary detoxifying and heat-clearing herbs, as well as a bit of disguising techniques. He covered him in a layer every day, along with applying a little rouge to improve his complexion, also fooling the doctors and servants in the room.

Seeing that Song Changsheng’s condition was getting better by the day, there was indeed movement from the Baifu Sect, and the servant boy took the initiative to bring a dilapidated “ancient text” to A-Ning. Gao Lin said: “And what a seamless story they made up to lure us in. It turned out to just be this rotten book.”

“If we hadn’t prepared in advance, the appearance of this book might really have helped them complete their plan.” Liu Xian’an explained, “Although not all the herbs for detoxification recorded in the book are common, they are all available to normal people. There are also several excellent tonics in it with no murderous intentions.”

“I understand, I understand this,” Gao Lin responded quickly. “Separate, they are good medicines, but boiled together, they become poisonous. Although I don’t have medical skills, I have heard many stories in teahouses.”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “Boiling them together still creates a tonic, and isn’t poisonous.”

Gao Lin didn’t understand: “Then where is the problem?”

Liu Xian’an said: “There is one possibility. These herbs are not poisonous, and they are not poisonous when boiled together, but if they are mixed with the poison already in Song-xiansheng’s body at this time, they will become a deadly poison.”

Gao Lin suddenly came to a realization. This unorthodox method was indeed sinister and cunning. With the prescription, Liu Xian’an plunged into the vast sea of books and mobilized his friends in white to search for an answer together. He could be seen lying on the table in a daze, and the second time a person passed by the room, he would be lying in bed asleep, and the third time he was standing by the window with his hands on his hips, looking into the distance.

Such a unique way of working, no wonder that Master Liu beat his son with a stick every day — most people really didn’t understand.

Only Liang Shu understood. When going to bed at night, he held his sweetheart who had been lying in bed all day in his arms, and asked: “Are you tired after working all day?”

Liu Xian’an sighed deeply. Very tired, ah.

Liang Shu leaned in and kissed him.

Kissing didn’t require thinking, and there was no need to move. It was very comfortable. So one more thing was added to the definition of bliss in Second Young Master Liu’s heart. He was bitten on the lips by the other party, kissed until he dreamed, and that world was also dripping wet. The next day, he continued to work with rosy and slightly swollen lips.

A-Ning was simple and pure: “Young Master, why are you so hot in the winter?”

Liu Xian’an lay on his back with his legs crossed, flipping through the books in his mind, and replied, oh, it’s not because I’m hot, I was bitten by the prince. I asked him to be gentle, but it still turned out like this.

A-Ning: “…….”

Don’t tell me in such detail!

Those friends in the Three Thousand Worlds had been busy for several days, and Liu Xian’an in reality also filled dozens of sheets of paper with all kinds of conjectures and densely packed names of medicinal herbs. In the end, by relying on the “antidote” prescription sent by the servant, a prescription was created that could really detoxify Song Changsheng.

When Liang Shu found him, the Sleeping Immortal who had completed the task was lying on the floor sound asleep, the wind blowing the rice paper all over the room. He sighed with an aching head and picked him up, carrying him to the bedroom.

“Huh?” Liu Xian’an opened his eyes in a daze.

“Sleep,” Liang Shu said. “Don’t wake up.”

Liu Xian’an raised his head slightly: “The prince seems to be in a bad mood.”

“You’re so tired, but you can still tell what mood I’m in?” Liang Shu kicked open the door and gently put him on the bed. “I’m not in a bad mood. I’m just calculating how many brocade and velvet blankets I must buy in the future to cover the entirety of Xiao Wang Palace, in order to cure your problem of being able to sleep on the floor.”

Liu Xian’an laughed and muttered something to himself, then turned around and continued to sleep. He slept for nearly ten hours, until he had completely recovered. Only then did he find Liang Shu to correct him, spreading blankets in Xiao Wang Palace would pamper him, but covering it with iron plates would cure him.

“Then do you want me to get used to it, or do you want to cure the disease?”

“Get used to it.”

Get used to it more, get used to it and become lawless. That was exactly what Liang Shu thought too. He smiled and pulled the other person into his arms, gently rubbing his temples with his thumbs: “After taking the medicine you prescribed, Song Changsheng’s health really improved, but he’s still pretending to be the same as before so that no one else will see it.”

“Then we can implement the next step of the plan.” Liu Xian’an stretched his waist. “I feel sore all over.”

“Sore, ah?” Liang Shu said, “Then I’ll massage you tonight.”

However, he was rejected. Because His Royal Highness Xiao Wang’s “massage” was not just a simple massage, but was often unspeakable touching and squeezing.

In the afternoon of that day, Liu Xian’an tried his best to disregard the objections of the other doctors, and used the antidote sent by the servant boy.

Song Changsheng logically “died.” Liu Xian’an even deduced what symptoms he should have before dying based on what he was poisoned with, and asked Song Changsheng to play along. Now, even if a cultist was standing beside the bed, he might not be able to see any flaws.

As for the boy, Liang Shu and Gao Lin both knew that he had a nine out of ten…..or ten out of ten probability of being an outcast, but they still decided to use him as bait for fishing, and arranged a guard to pretend to be a maid in white and rob the prison in the middle of the night. Although no big fish had been caught so far, at least the house and the butcher had been captured, which could not be considered a loss-making business.

Everything progressed according to Liang Shu’s expectations. The only thing that was not so pleasant was that the common people in the city were critical of Liu Xian’an’s medical skills, because the facts were in front of them, Song-xiansheng was put to death by him! It could be seen that the rumors could not be completely disbelieved. Although this Second Young Master Liu was as good-looking as an immortal, he was indeed an ignorant, lazy dandy.

Liu Xian’an himself was not bothered by this, because he could probably be called the one person in the world who didn’t care about fame. Seeing A-Ning crouching next to him and seeming unhappy, he pointed the jade fan in his hand to the sky and asked him: “Look at the current color of that cloud. Is that its real color? I don’t think so. The color of the sky is not the real color of the sky, and the color of the clouds is not the real color of the clouds. The colors of the sky and clouds are the colors that the world thinks they should have.”

After he talked endlessly for a long time, A-Ning fell asleep.

However, Liu Xian’an’s thoughts had already flown ninety thousand li away. He sighed, ah, life has a limit, but knowledge does not.

The news of Song Changsheng’s death also reached the ears of the Baifu Sect.

Wumeng Yunyou was seriously injured. Although the Master personally diagnosed and treated him, and a large group of doctors and ancestors waited on him, he was still unable to move at this time and could only lie in bed wrapped in thick bandages. He asked: “So smoothly?”

“Yes, ah.” Wumeng Yunle sat beside his bed. “He’s dead.”

Wumeng Yunyou said leisurely: “No wonder I saw that Master was in a very good mood this morning. It turns out that you have made another contribution.”

There were still many witch doctors busy in the sickroom, and Liu Hengchang was among them. Although the leader of the Baifu Sect promised that he could take a look at Wumeng Yunyou for the sake of Feng Xiaojin’s face, he really could only “take a look.” Firstly, he could not administer acupuncture, and secondly, he could not prescribe medicine. It was obvious that he was still not trusted.

Liu Hengchang was not anxious. Seeing that the witch doctor was going to the pharmacy, he volunteered to follow her and carry a heavy box, diligent and dexterous.

The pharmacy here was not an ordinary pharmacy, but a place where the Baifu Sect stored precious medicinal materials. There were also a large number of poisonous Gu hidden in the dark room. The witch doctor walked to the first gate and looked back at Liu Hengchang who was following behind, warning him in a blunt accent, this is the leader’s residence. After entering, don’t walk about or look around, otherwise be careful to keep your life and eyeballs!

“Yes, Sister, don’t worry.” Liu Hengchang hurriedly lowered his head.

The witch doctor took him into the courtyard with her. The residence of the leader of the Baifu Sect was naturally well-defended, and there were patrolling disciples everywhere. And Liu Hengchang was not qualified to enter the pharmacy, so he could only wait outside holding a box. While he waited, there were at least five disciples guarding him. Let alone wandering around, even if he looked around, he would probably be reprimanded. 

Liu Hengchang thought to himself, okay, this trip was for nothing.

The witch doctor stayed in the pharmacy for a long time, around half an hour. Even the sun was hidden in the sky and the wind began to blow. Liu Hengchang sneezed from the cold and then laughed, hehe, and hid under the eaves. Because there was not much movement, those disciples didn’t pay much attention to him.

The wooden door was blown open a crack by the wind. Liu Hengchang lowered his head, and his gaze drifted into the room. From this angle, he could see a small half of the space, which was an empty living room with only a short table and a portrait.

At the first sight of the portrait, Liu Hengchang was really taken aback. In the painting, there was a pair of fox-like slanted eyes. It looked like Feng Xiaojin at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was a portrait of a woman, beautiful in appearance, charming in expression, and flirtatious in movement. Leaning on a railing with her upper body and holding a round fan in her hand, she seemed to be joking with someone outside the painting.

Liu Hengchang pondered, they looked almost identical. Could this be…..Feng Xiaojin’s big sister? Little sister? There was a signature on the painting, but because of the distance, he couldn’t clearly see what was written. At this time, the witch doctor had already taken the medicinal materials and come out, so he could only stow away his thoughts, leave in a proper manner, and wait for the next opportunity to come back.

The atmosphere in Raven City became somewhat depressed because of Song Changsheng’s “death.” This was also the result that the Baifu Sect wanted to see. This death was used to inform all believers of the fate of betraying the Baifu Buddha Mother.

“His Royal Highness Xiao Wang, who is so famous, can do nothing about them?”

“Looks like it.”

“No matter how powerful His Royal Highness Xiao Wang is, can he still surpass ghosts and gods?”

“He can, ba, when His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was in the Northwest, it was said that the ghosts were afraid to see him.”

“…….”

But the Northwest and the Southwest were different, after all.

Perhaps the ghosts that were afraid to see him would also be uncomfortable.

In short, the joy and cheer from the New Year could not be seen at all in the present Raven City. And those who had boasted previously that they would go to battle and catch evil cultists so as to honor their ancestors like Song Changsheng also tucked their tails. What bring honor to one’s ancestors? If their life was gone, they didn’t know when they would be mourned. Alas.

When everyone passed by the government office and thought of this incident, they couldn’t help but turn their heads to look a little more and sigh.

But there was no black and white banner hanging out at the door.

At the same time, not far from the government office, there was sudden movement in the abandoned blacksmith’s shop in the middle of the night.

Clank, clank, clank!

The crisp sound of iron clashing could be heard endlessly, and in the cold, silent night, it could be called a nuisance.

The little dolls were woken up, and the adults were also woken up, crying out and cursing. They thought it was Lao Wang who sold kitchen knives who was acting like a demon again, and after waiting for a long time without any rest, they just put on their clothes and went to argue. But when they went out to look, Lao Wang was also wrapped in a big cotton jacket, extremely innocent: “Why are you all scolding me, I’m sick. How could I play with iron in the middle of the night?”

In fact, he didn’t need to defend himself, because while Lao Wang was cursing, the sound of blacksmithing continued without stop.

Clankclank, clankclank, clankclank!

It was more and more intense.

Lao Wang was the only blacksmith in Raven City. If it wasn’t him, then……at this time, someone suddenly remembered the number one swordsmith in the world, and let out a cry, stammering out, it c-c-c-can’t be Song-xiansheng who just died, right?”

The cold wind blew, giving everyone goosebumps. A haunting, ah! The timid ones turned around and ran home without saying a word, while the bold ones gathered in pairs and followed the sounds to see what was happening.

Clank, clank, clank!

The government was also alarmed by the sound, and when the common people reached the blacksmith’s shop, they found it already surrounded by government servants.

Over the short courtyard wall, they could see red flames soaring into the sky.

“Constable Li, Constable!” A young man whispered to his childhood friend, “Li-ge, is this a blacksmith invited by your lord?”

“Don’t ask, don’t ask, go back quickly!” Constable Li also looked flustered. “D-don’t stay here!”

“What’s happening?”

“Didn’t you hear what I said? My lord has ordered that no one is allowed to approach. Everyone, go back!”

The government servants collectively drove the common people away. The common people had gone out on this trip for nothing, but not to mention nothing, things had become even more mysterious and strange. It made one’s hair stand on end. The young man was very curious and walked back and forth, but still did not forget to look back and ask his childhood friend: “Is it a haunting?”

Constable Li nodded hastily and gestured for him to leave quickly.

The young man gasped and slipped away as quickly as if he had oiled the bottoms of his feet.

At this time, the situation in the blacksmith’s shop was indeed a haunting, because Song Changsheng, who had been “dead” for several days, was now forging a sword, clank, clank, ding, ding.

Liu Xian’an said: “So it should be quenched at this time. Previously, I quenched one and it broke. No wonder I couldn’t find the reason.”

Song Changsheng was surprised, and asked: “Second Young Master Liu can also forge swords?”

“It doesn’t count as such.” Liu Xian’an took the iron clamp. “My family has its own knifesmith, who is responsible for forging tools to cut medicinal herbs. My father thought I was lazy, so he drove me to the blacksmithy, and I stayed there for seven or eight days.”

Later, Second Young Master Liu fainted from the heat and lay in bed for three days with a cold handkerchief on his head. Liu-furen scolded her husband a lot because of this, and also scolded him for three days. The scolded Master Liu was so angry that he got on a horse and tried to run away from home. Later, it was Liu Nanyuan who came forward to persuade her father to return to the village.

Song Changsheng couldn’t help but laugh: “Master Liu is so impulsive?”

Liu Xian’an said slowly: “My father is also a normal person.”

It was inevitable that people would be impulsive. Anyway, Second Young Master Liu didn’t think that what his father did was childish or shameful. On the contrary, he thought it was very amusing and cute, and was better than picking up a stick and beating him every day, so he enthusiastically shared it with everyone he met.

Village Master Liu thousands of li away: My chest is suddenly tight.

Song Changsheng worked hard for an hour before returning to his room to rest. The city was quiet, but the people’s hearts were not quiet. Almost all the common people in the city spent this night with their eyes open.

The only one who slept well was Second Young Master Liu. Wrapped in a soft, warm blanket, he had great dreams and didn’t want to return. As for when he returned in the end, it was because his butt hurt.

He drilled under the quilt, dissatisfied.

Liang Shu spanked him again: “Come out!” 

Liu Xian’an turned around and looked at him weakly. Why do you want me to get up, you’re lying down yourself.

But His Royal Highness Xiao Wang did not reflect on it, and pulled him into his arms: “A-Ning taught me that if you can’t wake up with a shout or a shaking, you can only be beaten awake.”

“Then did you shout?”

“No.”

“Did you shake?”

“Also no.”

“…….”

Liu Xian’an sighed and threw himself back into bed. Forget it, I don’t care.

But Liang Shu refused to stop, and hugged him again, asking endlessly: “You’re sleeping again? We’ve been together for so long, but I’ve never seen you get angry with me once.”

Liu Xian’an replied with great sleepiness, why should I be angry?

“We have a whole lifetime.” Liang Shu lowered his head and kissed him. “I want to see you angry. Waking up angry is also fine.”

Liu Xian’an completely ignored this strange demand, because he didn’t intend to get up at all and also wasn’t angry.

So His Royal Highness began to play on his own, touching from top to bottom, through the clothing and then without the clothing.

The Sleeping Immortal remained motionless.

Liang Shu rested his chin on his shoulder and exerted a bit of force with his hands.

Second Young Master Liu lying on the bed: “…….”

Liang Shu tilted his head and said: “Are you angry?”

Liu Xian’an felt that, in fact, this was not a bad feeling.

He turned his head and glanced at the other party.

There was a smile in Liang Shu’s eyes, the distance between them extremely close: “Hm?”

Liu Xian’an lay down again.

Not angry.

Can’t get angry.

---

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Chapter Eighty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Ninety

When Bo Yueming returned to the room, Pei Yi was still curled up in a small ball under the quilt, with only a little curled up hair exposed. Inspector, who had just bathed, was also lying on the quilt stretched out on its back—

Two cats, one big and one small, were sleeping soundly.

Bo Yueming slowed his footsteps as he walked over. He had originally wanted to let his lover sleep a little longer, but Pei Yi turned around on his own and let out a muffled sound.

Bo Yueming caught a hint of grievance and quickly moved closer. “Are you awake?”

Pei Yi raised his eyes in confusion. “What time is it?”

Bo Yueming answered truthfully, “It’s four in the afternoon. Do you want to sleep a little longer?”

They didn’t stop until four or five in the morning, slept until eleven or twelve, got up reluctantly to have lunch, and then fell asleep again in one breath.

When Pei Yi heard the time, he reacted slowly and made a breathy sound of denial.

No more sleep.

If he continued to sleep, he feared he would have insomnia and be unable to sleep at night.

Pei Yi moved to Bo Yueming’s side dependently, an indescribable feeling of fatigue all over his body.

Bo Yueming asked him softly, “Do your knees still hurt?”

Pei Yi blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

“I saw that your knees were red and bruised. I suppose you rubbed them too hard on the carpet last night.”

Bo Yueming rubbed his knees through the quilt. “I took advantage of you falling asleep at noon to rub medicinal wine on them for you.”

Beneath his earnest words hid the nearly-devastating heat of the night before.

Pei Yi recalled that Bo Yueming had trapped him on the carpet in the cloakroom, their wildness revealed in front of the mirror. He was so ashamed that he blushed all over, and suddenly felt a little regretful—

He should have drunk more wine the night before so that he could directly forget!

Bo Yueming asked again, “Does it hurt?”

Pei Yi asked back, “If I say my knees hurt, can you not do it next time?”

Everytime, he teased and said, “I’ll give everything to you,” but once it was over, he regretted it so much that he wouldn’t admit it.

Bo Yueming laughed in spite of himself and bit his ear, replying, “The position can be changed, but Little Sir seemed to be very comfortable last night.”

“…….”

Pei Yi pulled the quilt over his head, but the indecent scenes remained in his mind.

How could they not?

It was so deep that his soul was pushed out.

Bo Yueming was afraid he would be smothered and uncomfortable, so he pulled off the quilt again and said, “Okay, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Pei Yi endured the soreness and swelling he was accustomed to and sat up. “Er-ge, give me your computer and I’ll take a look at the internal test data.”

The day before, they had announced the first round of closed beta testing and pre-heating videos for “The Last Fog,” and as the chief planner, he needed to pay attention to the game’s popularity.

Bo Yueming stood up and brought the laptop over, not neglecting to pull his lover into his arms. “Let me take a look too.”

Pei Yi found a comfortable position to lean into his arms, then searched for and entered the official Weibo account of their game group.

So far, the number of fans exceeded 200,000.

“We’ve gained another 70,000 to 80,000 followers since yesterday.” Pei Yi raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. “It’s better than I thought.”

After all, this was a domestic game that had not yet been released, and their YWY Studios was not a well-known game label. At this time, it was already very good for a single game account to have this number of fans!

“Meow-wu~”

Inspector woke up and leaned close to Pei Yi, nuzzling him coquettishly.

Pei Yi stroked his kitten with one hand and scrolled down the computer interface with the other. The Weibo video currently pinned to the top was the CG game trailer released at five o’clock the previous evening—

The video opened with a broken-winged butterfly resting on the dead grass in the deserted wilderness.

Suddenly, something happened.

The butterfly had no time to escape, and was crushed to pieces by a pair of hands covered with blood and veins, its broken wings crumbling under those fingertips.

The camera moved up along with those fingertips, and there was a bang sound effect.

A hand suddenly hit the “lens,” and in the blink of an eye, an enlarged and terrifying zombie face suddenly appeared in front of the shattered “lens.”

The camera quickly retreated and rose, and the complete image was finally displayed—

Behind this leading zombie were thousands of mutant zombies in different shapes and sizes!

And this seemingly vast wasteland was actually divided by an endless and unfathomable fissure in the ground.

In the next second, the seemingly naturally-formed fissure refracted a reflective screen like the light from a computer.

And underneath was China Underground City No.1, which had taken nearly thirty years to build!

The airborne lens passed the screening of the light barrier and descended all the way to the underground city, displaying its structure and facilities to everyone bit by bit.

There were five consecutive floors of military protection and various types of equipment lined up in sequence, followed by two floors of scientific research bases. In laboratories of various sizes, there were even live zombies that had been captured.

Under the dual protection of the military and technology, it was a stable place to live for ordinary people.

The video finally stopped on a freeze-frame image of zombies swarming the city, and two lines of characters floated back and forth on the screen — 

“Those who receive this mission, please return home in time.”

“China Underground City No. 1 will open on June 6th!”

The concept trailer was less than one minute long, and every frame was produced with high-quality movie images in mind. The comment area below had so far exceeded 10,000 comments —

“Holy shit! This is just a game trailer? I thought it was some kind of doomsday blockbuster movie!”

“You’ve worked hard, Big-Faced Cat, I like it so much! Finally, a studio that is serious about making domestic games. I will definitely buy this mobile game!”

“It’s really an original Chinese doomsday survival game, the residential areas in these scenes are all familiar! And seeing ordinary residents being protected by the military and technology, I don’t know why, but my nose feels sour!”

“I didn’t qualify for the first round of closed beta testing, ah. Has anyone got a trial account? Tell me if the quality of the game is good!”

“Me, me, me! I’m a rare lucky player that qualified for the first internal beta. My friends, you can rest assured that the game experience is unparalleled! The character models are so cool! I’ve been playing the closed beta from 12 noon until now, and I can’t stop!”

“Fuck, I’m so greedy looking at it. I’ll have a great time playing it when I get back!”

. . . 

Pei Yi looked at the nearly unanimous praise and couldn’t help but turn around to show it off to Bo Yueming. “Er-ge, what do you think? Isn’t it quite similar?”

Bo Yueming didn’t play games, but after watching the game trailer, he became curious and impulsive. “It’s very good. As everyone is saying, it has the qualities of a movie.”

There was a hint of pride in Pei Yi’s expression. “Naturally. I wrote the script myself, and Sister Yang personally checked it. She also asked her old friends and teachers to help create it.”

This sort of CG trailer was the most expensive. The budget allocated by the studio at the beginning was not enough, and Pei Yi even paid for it out of his own pocket. 

“Er-ge, the dungeon is just the first map hub. There will be new map hubs such as the Sky Castle and Deep Sea Ship in the future, as well as such CG previews.”

“Also, we produced separate trailers for the game characters. Seven versions for seven characters.”

“And the meaning of the last two lines is that — our ‘game protagonist’ will wake up with amnesia in various abandoned areas, and their task is to return to the dungeon within ten days…..”

As soon as he spoke about his exciting career, Pei Yi felt full of energy. His body was no longer sore and his head no longer dizzy.

He told his lover behind him everything he wanted to say, and finally looked up for confirmation. “See, wasn’t it worthwhile for your GM to choose our game and invest in it?”

Bo Yueming kissed his lover’s forehead gently. “En, it was worth it.”

Even though he knew that Pei Yi was excellent at what he did, the other person always proved through his actions that he could be even more brilliant.

Pei Yi said with a smile, “Pear Garden and I have agreed that ‘The Last Fog’ will occupy a place in the Chinese game market within two years.”

“You can do it,” Bo Yueming affirmed. “No matter what you want to do, I will support you from behind.”

Pei Yi felt elated, as if he was filled with honey. Although he was also a workaholic before, he had never felt as satisfied and secure as he did now.

Because Pei Yi knew that, bit by bit, he was using his ability to stand side by side with his lover.

Pei Yi retracted his overflowing thoughts and said coquettishly, “It’s just that I was too busy in the beginning, and sometimes I feel a little tired.”

Bo Yueming tightened his grip on him. “I see you haven’t hired an assistant yet? Do you need to ask Lin Zhong to help you find a good one?”

Pei Yi shook his head with a gleam of light in his eyes. “No need, I’ve already scouted one out. They’ll report to the studio in two days.”

Bo Yueming heard something unusual. “You’ve already found someone? Who is it?”

Pei Yi turned to look at him, and asked in a test of tacit understanding, “Guess?”

. . . . . . .

Three days later, Imperial Capital Airport.

It was just after eight o’clock in the morning and Pei Yi, who rarely got up early, was waiting at the airport pick-up gate.

Bo Yueming and Lin Zhong, who had come along, looked at each other and accompanied him silently.

After a while, Lin Zhong, who was still in the dark, couldn’t help being curious. “Little Sir, who is your assistant, ah?”

He actually had to get up early to pick him up in person? He wasn’t a big-shot in the gaming industry, was he?

As soon as he finished speaking, the sharp-eyed Pei Yi caught sight of a figure. “Hey, over here!”

The other person was holding a very large suitcase in his hand, looking around for something as he walked slowly.

Pei Yi got completely out of the car and showed himself. “Qiao Dong, this way!”

Lin Zhong reacted at once with surprise on his face.

Qiao Dong?

That young man who helped in Wencheng? Little Sir actually had private contact with him?

When Qiao Dong saw Pei Yi and the luxury car behind him, he walked up half cautiously and half excitedly. “L-Little Sir, long time no see!”

Lin Zhong got out of the car at Bo Yueming’s signal. “Qiao Dong? It’s really you, ah, is your foot healed?”

Qiao Dong’s aura was obviously much better than when he was in Wencheng. “Brother Lin, long time no see.”

He lightly stepped on his injured foot a couple of times, feeling a little happy about entering the big city for the first time. “I’m fully recovered now. I can run and jump, it’s not serious.”

Lin Zhong still felt strange. “What happened between you and Little Sir…..I mean, how did you become Little Sir’s assistant?”

Pei Yi raised his eyebrows. “I thought Qiao Dong was clever and had potential when I saw him.”

Thus, before leaving Wencheng, he had told Qiao Dong alone—

If the other person still had ambitions and expectations for his future, then after cleaning up at home, he should go and sign up for a professional management course. 

Once he had managed the basics, he could contact him.

At that time, although Qiao Dong was surprised by Pei Yi’s disguise, he understood very well that he was being given a chance.

Therefore, after Pei Yi and the others left Wencheng, Qiao Dong immediately used his few savings to register for classes and study professionally, then contacted Pei Yi a week ago.

Qiao Dong thanked him sincerely, “Thank you, Little Sir.”

“It’s time to work, why are you still calling me Little Sir?”

Pei Yi motioned for Lin Zhong to help move the luggage, and put his arm around Qiao Dong’s shoulder. “I’m older than you, so just call me Brother Yi from now on.”

When it came to Qiao Dong’s trip to the capital, Pei Yi had planned to charter the air ticket, but the other party refused to let him spend any money. He had simply bought the cheapest flight and rushed over.

Pei Yi feared he would be unfamiliar with the place, so he came here to pick him up.

Qiao Dong nodded. “Thank you, Brother Yi.”

Pei Yi asked with a smile, “Aren’t you tired? You have to go directly to the studio later. Don’t worry about accommodations, just live at home like Lin Zhong.”

The Bo family had a big estate. It was easy to have multiple pairs of bowls and chopsticks, and Uncle Kai and Lin Zhong were also familiar with Qiao Dong. The most important thing was that it was easy to hand over daily work affairs.

Qiao Dong knew that renting a place in the capital would not be cheap, and after a moment’s hesitation, accepted Pei Yi’s kindness.

“However, I’ll say the unpleasant thing first—”

“Qiao Dong, I’m not that easy to talk to at work. Right now, I’ll give you a one-month trial period. If you can adapt to the work and your efficiency is satisfactory, the studio will sign a contract with you.”

“If your ability or attitude isn’t good enough, then…..”

“I understand!” Qiao Dong responded positively, “I will definitely work hard and try to stay!”

Pei Yi knew that Qiao Dong cherished this opportunity, so he patted him on the shoulder and said, “You can do it.”

The three of them walked back to the car.

Only then did Qiao Dong realize that Bo Yueming was sitting in the back seat, and he became nervous again unconsciously. “H-Hello, Mr. Bo.”

“Why are you nervous? You’re my assistant and I pay your salary, don’t be afraid of him.” Pei Yi joked in order to overcome Qiao Dong’s nerves, and instructed, “Lin Zhong is driving, you sit in the front seat.”

Qiao Dong nodded obediently, “Okay, Brother Yi.”

When Bo Yueming heard this address, there was no trace of sourness in his eyes. When Pei Yi sat firmly next to him again, he quickly closed the electronic screen between the front and back rows.

Pei Yi was taken aback. “Er-ge?”

Bo Yueming said nothing, and only took the other’s palm and squeezed it.

Pei Yi belatedly realized something. Dumbfounded, he leaned close to him and whispered, “Mr. Bo, why do I feel that it’s sour in the car?”

“Didn’t I tell you earlier that I found a new assistant? You guessed it was him before, ah.”

In order to avoid being overheard by Qiao Dong, Pei Yi kept his voice very low.

Bo Yueming denied it. “I know, I’m not sour.”

Pei Yi couldn’t help but laugh. “I wanted to hire you as an assistant, but your hourly salary is too high and I really can’t afford it.”

Bo Yueming softly kissed the back of his lover’s hand and replied quite earnestly, “I can do it for free.”

Pei Yi burst out laughing. If not for the fact that he was wearing a seatbelt, he would have fallen into his lover’s arms.

“Er-ge, you’re so cute.”

“……”

This was the first time in Bo Yueming’s life that he was praised for being cute. He was stunned for several seconds, and then said, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Pei Yi deliberately raised his voice, “Cute, cute!”

Bo Yueming helplessly blocked his lover’s mouth. “Okay, Little Sir, stop causing trouble.”

Even if there was some sourness, it was only a trace, and wouldn’t make him unable to tolerate Qiao Dong.

Pei Yi tugged on the seatbelt, leaned over, and kissed Bo Yueming. “Er-ge.”

“En?”

“No one can take your place. I like you the most.”

. . . . . . .

YWY Studios.

As soon as Pei Yi and Qiao Dong entered the office hall, many employees followed after, obviously curious about this strange person.

Qiao Dong hadn’t entered through the company’s recruitment channel, but Pei Yi had no intention of hiding it.

He said in front of everyone to the HR team leader, “Sister Ling, I hired an assistant directly. Please help him with the internship entry information.”

The HR team leader said decisively, “Okay.”

Pei Yi looked around again. “Xiao Xiao.”

“Mr. Yi.”

The girl whose name was called came up immediately. She was the assistant that Li Yuan had hired some time ago, and was very capable in her work.

Pei Yi kept it short, “You and Qiao Dong go over the general work processes later. Please guide him this week.”

Xiao Xiao responded quickly, “No problem.”

Pei Yi didn’t explain any further, just giving Qiao Dong a silent look. The latter understood his unspoken encouragement, suppressed his unnecessary nervousness, and became full of energy.

Qiao Dong had already graduated from college, and his academic ability was not bad. Before coming here, he had taken special classes to make up for his deficiencies.

Although he had no actual experience as an assistant, he was very adaptable. Within three days, he integrated into YWY’s high-intensity work environment.

In the blink of an eye, it was Saturday afternoon.

After the weekly meeting, Pei Yi walked out of the conference room and turned to Qiao Dong. “Compile an electronic version of the meeting content before getting off work today and send it to each group.”

“Oh, and remember to send a copy to Mr. Li.”

Li Yuan, who was never absent from company affairs, had asked for a rare period of leave. When he called, he said he was feeling unwell.

Qiao Dong was appropriately serious. “Okay.”

“Thank you.”

Pei Yi’s cell phone vibrated. He saw the caller ID clearly and walked quickly back to his office. “Hello, Mr. Gu.”

“Still calling me Mr. Gu, why are you so polite?” Gu Jianshen’s voice sounded from the other end of the phone. “Congratulations. The first round of closed beta testing for ‘The Last Fog’ is very popular.”

In just one week, it was already first in the anticipated rankings of major app stores.

Pei Yi took a sip of water and said, “If you hadn’t agreed to help a while ago and gotten Weiyi’s senior management to balance things out, things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly for us.”

Gu Jianshen chuckled, and didn’t deviate from the purpose of the call. “By the way, I have something important to discuss with you today.”

Pei Yi raised his eyebrows and said, “Tell me.”

Gu Jianshen said bluntly, “Weiyi’s top management has allowed investment in the movie game to test the waters. Mr. Yi, let’s talk about cooperation?”

Pei Yi had guessed this would be the case. “Are you sure you want to cooperate with our YWY?”

Gu Jianshen didn’t hesitate. “To be precise, I want to cooperate with you. However, we can accept the investment funds from the two companies, and the final profits or losses will be calculated in proportion.”

Pei Yi’s eyes flashed with cunning. “How is the expected shares calculated?”

Gu Jianshen didn’t expect him to hit the nail on the head, and smiled as he sighed, “Mr. Yi, you are truly straightforward enough.”

He paused. “We can accept 20-80 here.”

As a major game company, Weiyi also had various connections in the film industry, which was unmatched by YWY Studios.

According to their lofty thinking, in this kind of “big and small” cooperation, they would naturally occupy the absolute majority of the shares.

Pei Yi was unmoved when he heard this expected answer. 

He placed the water glass back on the table and both madly and confidently, “I want to cooperate, but the shares must be 40-60.”

---

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Chapter Eighty-Seven <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Nine

Luo Ran stared blankly at his flat stomach.

Impossible…..

It had only happened two times, and only once did he forget to take the medicine. Lucas was going to battle the next day, after all, so he was really distracted.

He wasn’t as diligent……

Luo Ran was a little tense.

Regardless of the current battle situation, an Omega would be very, very dependent on an Alpha’s pheromones when he was pregnant, and would become very clingy. Luo Ran was afraid that he would cause trouble for Lucas.

And perhaps it was due to the psychological effects, but Luo Ran felt that he missed Lucas even more.

Lucas had gone on expeditions away from the capital in the past several years, but Luo Ran hadn’t felt this way.

Luo Ran was a little upset.

It was he who had been negligent.

He should have taken the medicine.

Luo Ran called Lucas again.

Lucas wasn’t asleep either, or he had gone to sleep and woken up again.

“What is it?”

Luo Ran paused, then said: “Admiral, I…..I want to discuss something with you.”

“Tell me.”

Luo Ran took a deep breath and said: “What should we do if I’m pregnant?”

“……”

For a moment, there was silence on the other end.

Just when Luo Ran was so nervous that his head hurt, he heard a heartfelt “Fuck” from the other end.

“Fuck…..!” Lucas’s tone became tense. “Why so suddenly! Has your battleship set off? How long will it be? Is there any discomfort, does it hurt, are you very tired? I’ll tell Lao Wang not to let you go out…..”

Lucas began to babble wildly, and Luo Ran was dumbfounded by his words.

Lucas seemed to be more concerned about Luo Ran’s physical condition, and didn’t focus on the child for the moment.

“No, I’m not……”

“Luo Ran, stay in the room tomorrow and don’t walk around! There is a lot of radiation on the battleship, especially near the mecha! Be careful where you go!”

“……Admiral!” Luo Ran couldn’t laugh or cry. He said: “I’m not pregnant.”

At least, he hadn’t checked yet.

“…….”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier!”

Luo Ran scratched his cheek, feeling very happy for some reason.

“I’m just…..asking what we should do if I was……”

“ ? ” Lucas was a little puzzled. “Just, if you were pregnant, ah?”

“En.” Luo Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

In their way of thinking, there was no concept of abortion.

After all, there was no need.

They were both people in good health who were going to spend the rest of their lives together.

After hanging up, Luo Ran thought about going for an examination the next day.

And Lucas nearly couldn’t sleep.

He was in a daze when Luo Ran brought it up, and didn’t start to react until now.

A child…..

The Imperial lion sat at the bedside, dazed once again.

He and Luo Ran hadn’t been intimate for long, and if there was a child in the future, would Luo Ran like the child more and ignore him?

But the little one might look similar to Luo Ran, made of his and Luo Ran’s blood.

Hiss.

It wasn’t impossible.

Lucas began to imagine his and Luo Ran’s children.

If they had children, then he and Luo Ran would be more closely linked.

They would have a family, lots of children and pets, and live in a little house together.

The Imperial lion began to laugh foolishly.

This was also pretty good.

What would the child’s name be?

Would it be male or female?

Would it be an Alpha, Beta, or Omega?

No matter what gender they were, they would be the heir to the military in the future.

Lucas was very confident that even if it was an Omega, his family’s Omega would be stronger than other Alphas, just like Luo Ran.

Thus, Lucas couldn’t sleep that night.

And Luo Ran’s battleship also joined Lucas’s brigade a day later to replenish supplies.

Luo Ran left the main control room and stood on the deck. He saw Lucas waiting for him on the pier, with Freeman and Zheng Lan beside him.

Luo Ran chuckled.

“Admiral.” Luo Ran and Luo Xingyuan disembarked the battleship with several adjutants and solemnly gave Lucas military salutes.

The two battleships were joined, and all the soldiers were present. Lucas glanced at Luo Ran and only nodded.

“Freeman, take inventory later.” Lucas said: “We’ll go to the meeting first.”

Only a few adjutants participated in the meeting, and they basically discussed their next strategies.

Now that the undercover agent had been caught, they could act with confidence, and their first battle also gave the Empire a great advantage.

Morale aside, Lucas himself bolstered their spirits. This battle had severely weakened the combat power of the star pirates, and they had little in the way of advantage.

It was a good opportunity to cut the weeds and pull up the roots.

After the meeting was over, the rest of the adjutants left very tactfully.

Only Luo Ran and Lucas were left in the room. Luo Ran said: “Admir—”

—Thud.

Luo Ran only felt dizzy as Lucas pressed him onto the table in the next moment.

Luo Ran lay on his back on the conference table. He looked at Lucas lying on top of him, and said in a daze: “Admiral…..”

Lucas bowed his head and kissed Luo Ran.

“Wu……”

Luo Ran’s mind immediately became a little hazy, and the scent of tobacco wafted over his face. So comfortable……

Luo Ran raised his arms and embraced Lucas comfortably, his legs unconsciously wrapping around Lucas’s waist.

Luo Ran’s spiritual realm had been a little painful, and he had missed Lucas’s pheromones very much these days. This sense of dependence even caused him to ignore the possibility of outsiders coming in. He just wanted to absorb more, more of the scent that belonged to Lucas.

Secretary Luo, who was strategizing in the conference room and discussing plans with Lucas a moment ago, presently hugged Lucas with blurry eyes. Lucas’s breath came quicker.

Only he had such a Luo Ran.

Noticing that Lucas’s hands had become restless and his pheromones had changed, Luo ran immediately said: “Admiral, I will go to Xiaxia for a checkup later.

“ ? ”

Luo Ran whispered: “……I really am.”

“ ? ? ”

Lucas asked in a daze: “What?”

“……Pregnant.” Luo Ran turned his head with reddish ears. “Just like I said the other day……”

“……”

Lucas was frozen in place, turned into a lion statue.

—Swish

After a moment of silence, Luo Ran was picked up by Lucas and held high.

“You’re pregnant……!”

“Fuck!”

“I have a child!”

“Admiral…..!”

“Right, okay.” Lucas quickly and carefully set Luo Ran down.

He didn’t know where to put his hands and feet.

“T-Then afterwards, you must have Xia Zhi give you a full-body checkup and prescribe medicine to recuperate……”

“And be sure to eat.”

“And take a picture later to see if it’s male or female……”

“Admiral, we won’t know until later. We can’t see it now.”

“Ah, oh……”

Luo Ran couldn’t laugh or cry: “I thought the Admiral didn’t like children……”

“I didn’t like them at first, but now that I think about it, they’re not bad. There’s a baby. It’s yours and mine. It’s our baby.” 

Lucas hehe’d and said: “Besides, I went to ask Shen Xiluo today, and he said that you are an excellent 3S Omega and your body can adapt by itself. You’ll be fine in half a month, and my pheromones and scent can also help you to conceive. After the child is born, I can still have a two-person world with you. If the child dares to cling to you, I will beat him.”

Luo Ran: “…….”

Luo Ran didn’t know what to say.

Lucas had been excited since the phone call that day, and planned everything out.

But now, after seeing Luo Ran, he suddenly felt anxious.

Would it be painful? Would it be very difficult?

“Admiral?” Luo Ran glanced at Lucas and said: “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Lucas said earnestly: “I will take good care of you.”

“Then…..since the Admiral has said so.” Luo Ran stepped forward and said with a smile: “A lifetime mark can also be put on the agenda.”

It just so happened that he had finished taking the medicine.

A lifetime mark could greatly reduce the distress caused by pregnancy.

Lucas was shocked.

Luo Ran said shyly: “I’ve already prepared.”

It just so happened that both he and Lucas had spiritual trauma, and could heal each other.

“……There’s no need to prepare.” Lucas hesitated for a long moment, then said: “Ranran, I won’t give you a lifetime mark.”

Luo Ran was taken aback.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas said, “but I won’t give it to you.”

Luo Ran frowned and said: “But the child……?”

“A child is a child. A lifetime mark is a different matter.”

As an Omega, Luo Ran offered a lifetime mark but was rejected. However, he wasn’t angry, and only smiled: “Admiral, you want to have a child, but you don’t want a lifetime mark?”

Lucas said nothing.

“Admiral.” Luo Ran stepped forward on tiptoe, wrapping his arms around Lucas’s neck. He teased: “How can an Omega request an Alpha to give a lifetime mark? You’ll become the scumbag that the Starnet says you are.”

“…….”

“Admiral, may I ask, will you mark me for life?”

“…..Don’t do this!” Lucas gritted his teeth and said: “I won’t buy it.”

But Lucas’s ears were slightly red.

Fuck. This little bastard was shameless.

“Admiral.” Luo Ran hugged Lucas and buried his head in his neck.

Lucas couldn’t bear it any longer, and babbled: “Luo Ran, having a child is insurance for the future. If anything happens, the child will protect you after inheriting the Aldor estate. He can take care of you, and you will have a place. But a lifetime mark is the opposite of this. If something happens, you will……in any case, be sensible and don’t speak of this. I’m not buying your argument!”

Luo Ran was silent for a long moment.

“Admiral.” Luo Ran embraced Lucas, lowering his eyes as he said: “You’re making an assumption. It seems that you think I could live well after your death.”

“……” Lucas thought, Luo Ran was not a weak Omega. No matter what, he could recover slowly.

Luo Ran said: “Then I’ll tell you right now, I can’t.”

Lucas froze.

Luo Ran repeated: “I can’t.”

“Ranran……”

“You think I can do it now because you’re here.”

“…….”

Lucas stared blankly at Luo Ran, feeling as if someone had stomped down hard on his heart.

“So the Admiral should stop being sentimental.” Luo Ran couldn’t laugh or cry: “Let’s be more straightforward. If there is a child, there should also be a lifetime mark. You don’t have to worry so much about life and death. After all, everyone dies. Let’s face it together and not overthink it.”

“Okay?”

Lucas looked at Luo Ran, aggrieved.

He spoke to him as if he was a lovesick little girl.

“Okay.” Lucas hugged Luo Ran, and then pressed him against the wall to kiss him.

Luo Ran finished the negotiations with ease and put his arms around Lucas, enjoying the passionate but desperately restrained intimacy and pheromones of the big lion.

. . . . . . .

The next day, the news spread on the Starnet.

— The First Prince has fallen……

— The First Prince is dead, and his body has been sent back to the capital by the military!

XXXX: Oh my god…..I really didn’t expect him to collude with the star pirates! Ahhhh oh my god, how much money and supplies did he give the star pirates?! Wuwuwu the Admiral is fighting on the front lines, but he helped the star pirates create Meteor Showers. How could there be such a cheap person! He deserved what he got!

XXXX: This…..the testimonies of Cyril, Yuan Han, and the people around him adde up. The First Prince’s misdeeds could fill a book, right? !  Not to mention the two crimes of forcing himself on someone and oppressing Secretary Luo for the benefit of UNK, the fact that he poisoned the Admiral and the birthday banquet and colluded with the star pirates for the sake of revenge is incredible enough! What is going on with the Empire’s royal family?! He’s so greedy that he doesn’t qualify to be a human being! He fucking deserves it!

XXXX: Ahhhh, look at the report! I really lost my melons, this is too much! He deserved to die!

XXXX: Death is too little! Then when the battle is over, the Second Prince will take the throne, right?”

The Starnet was full of righteous indignation and insults toward the First Prince, everyone wanting to mix his ashes with shit.

Due to the downfall of the First Prince, the people in the Imperial palace had been switched out, and even the pheromone management department had a lot of personnel changes.

An insider broke the news that Secretary Luo was actually an Omega, and he had seen the report that his gender was changed due to his connections.

— One stone stirred up a thousand waves.

— Secretary Luo was an Omega?! The wonderful love was actually an AO match?!

XXXX: Ah, this…..I’m not a CP fan, so I can’t understand the excitement of CP fans, but it’s not a good thing for a high-level person to conceal their gender, right?

XXXX: Secretary Luo wasn’t Secretary Luo when he concealed his gender! I heard that he asked his friend to change it!

XXXX: I think it’s understandable. After all, Secretary Luo wasn’t an Omega before, and the First Prince was already eyeing him. If he were an Omega, wouldn’t he have just tied him up?! 

XXXX: +1, if Secretary Luo had the identity of an Omega, it would indeed cause a lot of inconvenience. The situation in the capital wasn’t clear before. And Secretary Luo hadn’t proved his strength before, so if he told others that he was an Omega, wouldn’t he have been just a piece of meat and a soft persimmon?

The Starnet was chaotic and lively.

Then the military department’s official account directly posted Luo Ran’s gender report, listing him as an SSS Omega.

It also sincerely apologized, indicating that it was inconvenient to disclose such a thing due to official business, but it was not intentionally concealed.

Luo Ran also forwarded the apology.

XXXX: Ahhhh 3S Omega! So can we look forward to an excellent heir to the Empire?!

XXXX: God, a 3S Omega and a 3S Alpha. The children born of this won’t be able to directly destroy the galaxy, right?!

XXXX: How Many 3S’s have there been between ancient and modern times! ! ! This is the hope of the Empire!

The words “excellent heir to the Empire” immediately scrolled across the screen, and they didn’t know that Luo Ran was already pregnant.

……But he really was.

Looking at the excited chatter of everyone on the Starnet, Luo Ran was a little dumbfounded.

The war was still going on at present, and for Luo Ran’s safety, it couldn’t be publicized for the time being. Otherwise, the Starnet would probably be even more excited.

At this moment, Luo Ran was heading to the conference room with a stack of official documents.

They were going to discuss the giant insect. The investigation team had discovered its resting place, which was a cave not far away, but no one disturbed it.

“Secretary Luo…..!”

Wang Qiuyang ran over panting, then stretched out his hands and said: “How can you carry such a heavy load! Let me do it!”

“……? ?”

Although Luo Ran’s pregnancy could not be made public, the adjutants around Lucas and several familiar high-level officials already knew about it.

Luo Ran stared blankly at the documents Wang Qiuyang took away, which he could pick up with one finger.

Wang Qiuyang was also looking at Luo Ran’s stomach with eyes full of expectation, affection, and concern, as if he was looking at the hope of the future of the Empire.

Luo Ran: “……..”

Soon after, they arrived at the conference room. Luo Ran was about to open the door when Freeman, who happened to be there, rushed forward and opened it for Luo Ran.

“Secretary Luo, please come in!”

Everyone was afraid that Luo Ran would be uncomfortable at a single touch.

When Luo Ran went in and sat down, he saw Lucas pushing a cup of warm water toward him.

Lucas said: “I just went to get it. Drink more warm water.”

“Okay.”

Holding the warm water, Luo Ran couldn’t laugh or cry.

---

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Chapter Eighty-Nine << Table of Contents >> Chapter Ninety-One

The moment the flames hit, Luo Ran could feel Rong An rushing to block him, and he subconsciously deployed his spiritual power.

A small number of high-level Alphas and Omegas could turn their significant spiritual power into something physical in some instances, such as Lucas’s blade attack before.

A transparent layer of light appeared next to Luo Ran. It all happened so suddenly. It was the first time Luo Ran knew that he could do such a thing, his potential being drawn out by the critical situation.

It turned out that it wasn’t just Lucas. He could do it too.

Boom—

Luo Ran could feel the fire breaking through his barrier. It dealt a severe blow to his spiritual realm, and he eventually passed out.

. . . . . . . 

Boom—

The last wave of artillery fire was shot from the kaleidoscope array, ending the assault that had lasted for half a day.

The Empire ushered in its first victory.

Although Huntsman escaped, the vitality of the star pirates was dealt a heavy blow, and they were caught off guard. In the next battle, the star pirates suffered a great loss, and they could only rely on Meteor Showers most of the time.

Lucas didn’t know if the star pirates still had Meteor Showers left, but even if there were, it would only be one shot. After all, it took a huge amount of money and materials to make one.

At present, Freeman was cleaning up the battlefield while Lucas stood on deck and read the report from the reinforcements.

Luo Ran and the others had already set off to join him.

The undercover agent Wang Ruicheng had been successfully lured out and died in the explosion, and the First Prince was successfully hooked and arrested.

Lucas clutched the terminal tightly as he read the report.

He didn’t expect that the First Prince would be so……extreme.

He knew that the First Prince liked Luo Ran, but didn’t expect it to be to this extent……after all, everyone thought that the First Prince’s fondness for Luo Ran was mostly about benefits.

But the first time the First Prince showed his flaws was because of Luo Ran.

And his final downfall was because of Luo Ran.

In the end, he finally lost his life because he wanted to pull Luo Ran to die in the name of love. He could have fought again.

Lucas took a deep breath and waited for the second report. His eyes were locked firmly on the fist one, which said: “Explosion occurred. Survival of Commander Luo and Adjutant Rong uncertain.”

When Freeman came, he saw Lucas’s extremely bad complexion and shaking fingers.

“Admiral……?”

“I’m fine.” Lucas said coldly: “Speak.”

“We discovered the energy transmission of the giant insect nearby! Do you want to track it?”

“Yes.” Lucas said: “Have a team track it.”

. . . . . . . .

When he woke up again, Luo Ran found himself lying in an infirmary bed on a battleship.

His entire body hurt when he moved, from head to toe. The most serious area was his back, where his bandage-wrapped wounds were still burning hot.

Luo Ran lowered his head and saw bandages on his limbs.

“Commander Luo is awake…..!”

“Commander Luo, don’t worry, your injuries aren’t serious.”

What was more serious was Luo Ran’s spiritual wound, but only Xia Zhi knew about this. Luo Ran had already been injected with medicine, and the rest could only be slowly healed by Lucas or himself.

Luo Ran supported himself on the bed and sat up. He found that there were several doctors around his bed, elites under Xia Zhi’s command.

Luo Ran’s heart was empty.

Logically speaking, with his identity and his precarious spiritual state, Xia Zhi would definitely guard him.

Now that Xia Zhi wasn’t here, it turned out that Rong An might have……

“Where is Adjutant Rong?” Luo Ran asked in a deep voice. “Where is he?”

“This……”

“Speak.” Luo Ran took a deep breath and said with a long face: “Be honest.”

A doctor immediately said: “Commander Luo, don’t worry, the worst scenario hasn’t happened yet. Right now, Dr. Xia and several seniors are trying their best to save him.”

Luo Ran rubbed his temples and asked: “How long have I been out?”

“Half a day.”

Such a long time, and he still hadn’t been saved……

Although it wasn’t the worst situation, it still wasn’t good.

Luo Ran pressed his forehead. As soon as his mood surged, he started to have a stabbing headache — his spiritual power was injured again.

But now was not the time to care about such a thing. Luo Ran pulled out the needle from his arm and got out of bed.

“Where is Adjutant Rong?”

. . . . . . . .

In the battleship’s emergency room.

As soon as Luo Ran arrived, he saw his brother Luo Xingyuan standing to the side, facing the wall.

He had his hands braced on the wall, with his forehead leaning on his hands. His expression couldn’t be seen clearly with his back turned.

Luo Ran stood next to him. He paused, and said in a low voice: “I’m sorry.”

After a long moment, Luo Xingyuan said hoarsely: “He did the right thing.”

“In public, you are the most important person on this battleship. In private, you are my little brother.”

Luo Ran knew that there was nothing he could say right then, so he could only stand to the side and wait with Luo Xingyuan.

Wang Qiuyang came to look for the two of them. Not many people survived after the explosion on the battleship, and the remaining mercenaries and star pirates had also been recovered by Wang Qiuyang.

Luo Ran and Rong An were transferred to the emergency room of the main battleship for treatment, while the First Prince……he was still breathing when Wang Qiuyang and the others found him, but he committed suicide after being carried back.

Wang Qiuyang bowed his head and said: “He also asked me to bring you a message. He said they were his last words.”

“What?” Luo Ran frowned slightly.

Wang Qiuyang: “He said, ‘To Secretary Luo, I am sincere.’”

Even from that first encounter in the back garden.

Luo Ran paused, then said: “Understood. Preserve the body well. I will entrust the team to transport it back to the capital and hand it over to the Second Prince.”

“Yes!”

Wang Qiuyang glanced at the red light of the emergency room, and said in a low voice: “Adjutant Rong……”

“He will be alright.” Luo Ran glanced at Luo Xingyuan and said: “He’ll be fine.”

“Yes,” Wang Qiuyang said with red eyes, gritting his teeth. “Wang Ruicheng died on the battleship because he was closest to the door. His body is all in pieces……as it should be!”

“I taught him well since he was a child, how could he……I didn’t expect this from him!”

Wang Qiuyang stepped forward and gave a big military salute to Luo Xingyuan.

“I have shamed the military, I have shamed the Admiral, and I have shamed Commander Luo!”

“It’s fine, no one needs to blame themselves for this.” Luo Xingyuan still had his back turned to them. Wang Qiuyang didn’t know if he was crying, but Luo Xingyuan’s shoulders were shaking slightly.

Ding-dong.

After an unknown amount of time, the door of the emergency room was pushed open at last, and Xia Zhi came out in a surgery gown.

“He’s okay,” Xia Zhi said through the mask. “Adjutant Rong is alive.”

Luo Ran saw Luo Xingyuan’s body lose its strength, and he slid down the wall, falling to his knees.

Luo Ran keenly grasped Xia Zhi’s words.

“You saved his life, but what about…..?”

Xia Zhi hesitated, then said: “Let’s put it this way, it was a miracle to survive an explosion of that scale, thanks to you, Commander Luo…..”

After thinking about it, he realized that Luo Ran’s identity as an Omega had not been made public, so he said: “It is thanks to the fact that Commander Luo found cover and in turn protected Adjutant Rong, otherwise he would have lost his life.”

The explosion had originated from within, and they were in the reception room, which was the central location.

If Luo Ran hadn’t succeeded in breaking through his potential, then Rong An would have died, and Luo Ran would have been seriously injured and unable to stand here now.

“So don’t blame yourself. You both did a good job and protected each other.” Xia Zhi reached out and patted Luo Ran, aware of what he was thinking.

Luo Ran didn’t let it go. He asked: “Then as you’ve said, you managed to save his life. What else?”

Luo Xingyuan also got up and looked over.

Xia Zhi hesitated, then said: “Half of his face is ruined, and there will be scars, but long-term application of medicine will let them fade. There is also a spinal injury, so he cannot walk naturally in the future, but you can rest assured that with the Empire’s prosthetic technology, there will be no problem giving him mechanical legs.”

The doctors inside pushed Rong An out and transferred him to the intensive care unit. Most of Rong An’s face was covered in bandages, and he couldn’t see what was going on around him.

“…..It’s alright.” Luo Xingyuan lowered his head, and his expression couldn’t be seen clearly. “He’s an undercover agent. With this identity, it’s good enough that his life can be saved.”

“Commander Luo, go back,” Luo Xingyuan said hoarsely. “You are also seriously injured.”

Luo Ran glanced at Luo Xingyuan. He paused, then said: “All right.”

Luo Xingyuan said: “You need to have a good rest and refresh yourself. I’ll handle the official duties on the battleship for the time being. You can sign off on things once you wake up and read them.”

“Okay.”

Luo Ran nodded and headed back toward the room.

Once he relaxed, Luo Ran could feel the stinging wounds on his body and his spiritual state.

He leaned against the wall and frowned tightly.

Before his eyes was a sea of wisteria flowers.

He was hallucinating again.

“Commander Luo..…!”

“I’m okay.” Luo Ran accepted Wang Qiuyang’s support and went into the room.

Xia Zhi had just finished a day-long operation, but after disinfecting and tidying up, he quickly returned to Luo Ran’s side. After all, Luo Ran also needed him because of his confidential identity.

Xia Zhi focused on scanning Luo Ran’s head, then said with a frown: “The wound that healed with great difficulty…..you…..”

What a disaster.

Looking at Xia Zhi’s exhausted yet professional appearance, Luo Ran said: “Xiaxia.”

“En?”

Luo Ran lowered his eyes and paused, not speaking.

Xia Zhi looked at Luo Ran for a moment, then smiled and said: “I know what you’re thinking.”

Xia Zhi pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed, saying: “I used to be like this. I think you should know why I quit…..I couldn’t be as strong as they were. I was exposed to so much death on the battlefield, but I couldn’t accept it. What I didn’t understand at the time was why Lao Shen was so indifferent in that situation, why the Admiral was so unwell after Admiral Alton’s death.”

“So I regret it very much. Because of my cowardice, I couldn’t say goodbye to Admiral Alton. I lost my professional ability as a field doctor, and I couldn’t give Admiral Alton comfort on his deathbed.”

Luo Ran reached out and gently rubbed Xia Zhi’s shoulder.

Xia Zhi smiled slightly and said: “It’s okay, I understand now. It’s because I must be dispassionate. Just like how when Adjutant Rong sacrificed himself for us, Commander Luo became more determined. He couldn’t be discouraged or knocked down, and must quickly adjust his mood in order to continue to work on the battleship as a leader.”

Luo Ran nodded, then shook his head again.

“I understand, it’s just that now I can see the Admiral’s situation better.”

This was Luo Ran’s first time leading troops, and he also remembered the previous expedition with Lucas.

At that time, they were being chased and beaten by star pirates, and Wang Qiuyang and Lu Cheng quickly reached a consensus — Lu Cheng took him away, and Wang Qiuyang stayed.

At that time, Lu Cheng didn’t know if Wang Qiuyang would live or die if he stayed, but neither of them showed any emotion, and just completed their tasks.

Luo Ran thought, how difficult must it have been for Lucas.

So many years of immersion.

So many names struck out in the military’s system.

“Don’t think about it.” Xia Zhi finished his inspection and took out a syringe, injecting it into Luo Ran. “You’ll be able to meet the Admiral soon.”

“En.”

Halfway through the injection, Luo Ran suddenly felt nauseous.

“Wait, wait…..”

Luo Ran pushed Xia Zhi away, then turned his head and retched, as if allergic to the medicine.

Xia Zhi: “ ? ? ? ”

Luo Ran said with a pale face: “Sorry, I’m not feeling well.”

Xia Zhi: “……”

No wonder, Xia Zhi thought. After all, Luo Ran had just been officially marked.

Luo Ran glanced at Xia Zhi and said helplessly: “No, that’s not it. I took the medicine after the official mark.”

“……Ah.”

After giving him the injection, Xia Zhi went to rest.

After a while, Luo Ran received a call request from Lucas.

“Hello? Admiral?”

“……”

“Admiral?”

“…..Ranran.” Lucas said: “It’s good that you’re okay.”

“En, I’m fine.” Luo Ran noticed that Lucas’s voice was a little strange, and could probably guess what was going on.

Lucas should have received news of the explosion before, and had only just confirmed that he was okay.

“Admiral, I’m okay. I can protect myself.” Luo Ran tucked himself into bed and said with a smile: “We’ll meet again soon.”

“En.”

Luo Ran had a bit of a headache. Although he’d had an injection, he was still very uncomfortable. It was as if someone was poking his brain with hundreds of needles.

And what was even more strange was that Luo Ran missed Lucas very much, especially after hearing his voice at this moment.

He missed his pheromones. He wanted to be surrounded by Lucas and his pheromones.

It was like being addicted to drugs.

Perhaps it was because of the mark.

“Admiral…..” Luo Ran leaned back on the pillow and said: “What are you doing?”

“Lying down to rest.”

Luo Ran paused, not saying anything.

“Ranran, turn on the video.”

“……It’s inconvenient.”

Luo Ran was covered in bandages at the moment, and his face was very pale. He had been enduring the pain in his head, and didn’t want Lucas to see.

“Luo Ran.”

“Do it.”

Lucas directly sent the request, and seeing that Luo Ran didn’t accept it, he sent a series of them.

Luo Ran: “……”

Luo Ran had no choice but to cover himself up to his nose with the quilt.

“You…..” Lucas knew what was going on when he saw Luo Ran’s condition.

Lucas asked: “Does it hurt?”

“…..It’s fine.”

Lucas was a little upset. He wasn’t with Luo Ran at the moment, and couldn’t comfort him with his pheromones.

“Ranran, you……”

“Do it yourself, I’ll tell you what to do. Shen Xiluo said that this will relieve the pain.”

“……?”

“Go and ask Xia Zhi for Alpha pheromone simulation spray. It’s effective when you’re in heat.”

“……”

Luo Ran had never expected that one day he would have such a shameful, strange terminal conversation with Lucas. 

And his reasoning was justified. It really could relieve the spiritual pain a little bit.

Only, although Luo Ran was more comfortable after finishing, he still couldn’t help going to the toilet to vomit due to the mood swings.

Luo Ran suddenly remembered something.

After the official mark, he had taken the medicine.

But on Lucas’s birthday, he didn’t.

Luo Ran: “…….”

Hiss.

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Chapter Eighty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Ninety

Such a straightforward way of replying to a letter was comparable to the concise and to the point Liu family letter with the word “Okay” printed on it. It could be seen that the two were indeed a match made in heaven, and had specially selected the person with the greatest affinity to get close to.

Liu Xian’an asked: “What will happen after the Emperor receives the letter?”

Liang Shu said: “There is an eighty percent chance he will break my legs.”

But broken was broken, ba. It wasn’t a big problem. A broken leg could be healed, and there was even a doctor at the ready. However, Liu Xian’an felt that it was better for them not to be broken. Liang Shu saw that his brow was slightly furrowed, as if he was really thinking about the matter. It was both distressing and cute. He couldn’t help but lean closer to ask: “What, a forty-eight thousand year-old immortal also cares about these worldly affairs? I thought you would disregard it and drag me to the ends of the earth.”

“I didn’t care at first,” Liu Xian’an said, “but the prince is really troublesome.”

The trouble was that the general of the whole country could not resign casually, and someone from the Imperial family could not elope to the mountains and forests to live in seclusion. In any case, there were many free and romantic things that His Royal Highness Xiao Wang could not do now.

Avoiding trouble now would only lead to greater trouble in the future, so it was best to proceed step by step.

Liang Shu didn’t feel that he was trouble at all, and had no sense of guilt. On the contrary, he quite easily exploited the situation to his advantage, sighing deeply. I have neither romance nor freedom, so pitiful, kiss me for a while.

Liu Xian’an said in his arms: “Okay.”

And the kisses of His Royal Highness Xiao Wang had always been dishonest, not like meeting each other in the golden wind and jade dew, but more like collecting a debt with interest. His thumb first slid from the cheek to the knot of his throat, pressing down on the mole the size of a sesame seed. He rubbed it repeatedly, then lowered his head and bit it with his teeth. The two of them were at the table first, and later rolled together on the bed. He wore a lot of clothes in winter, but Liu Xian’an could still feel the hands grasping his waist, so hard that they almost left bruises.

He didn’t dislike being completely controlled by the other party beneath the bed curtains. On the contrary, this kind of good thing that only required cooperation but not initiative was quite in line with his usual lazy style.

Thus, he lay down restfully and was about to embrace the god of dreams, but because he was so restful, Liang Shu had to stop and pinch his nose, calling: “Don’t sleep.”

“Not sleeping.”

“If you’re not sleeping, why aren’t you moving?”

Why do I need to move, Liu Xian’an thought. This person is really difficult to serve! So he turned over cooperatively and opened his arms to him again. I moved, come here.

Liang Shu stopped and lay on the bed with his head pillowed on his arms, no longer in the mood.

Liu Xian’an had no choice but to coax him, okay, ba, then I will do some more research later.

The method of research, of course, was to recruit a few new guests to the Three Thousand Worlds. When A-Ning received this new task, he was stunned. First, he asked in a whisper, you’re just fine, why do you need books on this topic? After asking, he stammered, at present…..the prince…..it’s too early, ba. The Emperor doesn’t know and the Village Master doesn’t know either. Bear with it for a while, Young Master, and we’ll talk about it when we return to Baihe City.

Then he found an excuse and ran away. Fearing that he would be stopped if he ran too late, he said while running: “I’m going to find medicine for Song-xiansheng!”

This was the medicine written down in the servant’s ancient book. There were many trees in the Southwest, and the air was damp. There was no telling how many unique plants and flowers grew in the wild forests. Many of them were similar in appearance and extremely difficult to identify, and it took a lot of effort to find all of them even though they were disciples from Baihe Mountain Village.

Liu Xian’an temporarily halted Song Changsheng’s previous treatment plan. The rest of the doctors in the city were also taking this opportunity to study, and had been accompanying the doctor in the government office these days. Most of them were locals, but they had never heard of Huanxi Toad Venom and couldn’t quite understand the antidote. Thus, they cautiously asked, shouldn’t the miracle doctor think twice?

“I’ll try this for two days first.” Liu Xian’an said, “If he doesn’t improve, then I’ll go back to the previous treatment.”

Seeing that he was so persistent, the doctors could say no more. After all, the blue poisonous ivy on Song-xiansheng’s face really looked horrifying, and the authority of Baihe Mountain Village was indeed unquestionable. More importantly, even Song Changsheng himself had no objection to this, so that night, Liu Xian’an switched the medicine for him.

The first day was fine, and he passed the night without incident. In the early morning of the next day, the group of doctors were still watching him, studying whether the blue lines were getting darker or lighter, and the atmosphere was relaxed.

But in the afternoon, Liu Xian’an was slowly dispensing medicine in the courtyard when he suddenly saw A-Ning rush in, out of breath. He said: “Young Master, Young Master…..Song-xiansheng seems to be dying.”

“Talk slowly, why is he dying?” Liu Xian’an put down the basket in his hand. “Didn’t he look fine when I went to see him just now?”

“He vomited a lot of blood, and the blood was all, all blue.” A-Ning coughed. “While talking, Doctor Li was sprayed all over.”

“Let’s go.” Liu Xian’an wiped his hands. “I’ll have a look.”

There were seven or eight doctors crammed into the room, and Song Changsheng lay on the bed, his face ashen. Seeing that Liu Xian’an had come, the others hurriedly made way for him and shakily told him the situation just now: “It seems that even his heartbeat nearly stopped.”

Liu Xian’an tested Song Changsheng’s pulse, then turned to A-Ning and said: “Give me the medicine.”

A-Ning hurriedly fetched a bottle of pills, hydrated them with water, and fed them to Song Changsheng. A doctor asked curiously, “What kind of medicine is this?”

Liu Xian’an said: “Pills made by Baihe Mountain Village that can save lives in critical situations. A-Ning, where is the prince?”

“The prince already knows about this.” A-Ning notified him in a whisper, “I heard that Lieutenant General Gao immediately arrested Si’er.”

Si’er was that little servant, whose name was Wei Si. When he was arrested, he screamed continuously that he really didn’t know anything, and was currently being locked up in the dungeon. A-Ning asked, do you want to call him in for questioning?

“No need, I can’t look after him.” Liu Xian’an said, “Go get the silver needles, and make the brazier in the room even warmer.”

All the doctors agreed and went to work on their own. Those who had nothing to do still gathered around the bed to watch, inevitably muttering in their hearts, the treatment was very good, but the prescription had to suddenly be changed. He wouldn’t listen to any persuasion. Everything was fine, and now wasn’t there a different problem? Looking at Song-xiansheng’s current state, they really didn’t know how many days…..or how many hours he could live.

Although the government ordered that no news be leaked, there was no impenetrable wall in the world, and there were always maids, servants, doctors, and medicine boys who came and went in and out of the courtyard. So soon, all the common people in the city knew that Song Changsheng’s condition had suddenly worsened, and he probably wouldn’t survive.

“This……didn’t they say he was almost cured?”

“Who knows.”

Liu Xian’an kept him alive for three days in a row, and during these three days, all kinds of rumors arose in the city. Of course, there were people with ulterior motives among them. On behalf of the heretical cult, they only said that Song Changsheng had offended the Holy Maiden and killed the envoy, so how could he survive? Let alone a miracle doctor, even a god would find it difficult to heal him.

Fear could speed up the spread of rumors. For a while, even four or five-year-old dolls were chanting and singing nursery rhymes related to the Baifu Sect.

“What are you singing!” After the adults understood it, they quickly covered the children’s mouths and scolded, “Be careful not to be caught by the officials!”

“We won’t be taken away,” a little girl said naively. “When Xiao Fuzi was teaching me yesterday, that official servant Brother Liu^[1] was standing right across from us.”

“That’s because he didn’t hear it clearly. If he heard it clearly, you would go to prison!” The adult walked back with her in her arms. “Don’t go out to play during this time.”

“……Wu.”

Without the children playing in the streets, it was deserted and dull.

On the fourth day, Song Changsheng died.

The doctors packed up their medicine boxes and slipped out of the manor one by one. None of them dared to say anything. Everyone said that the prince’s expression at that time, ah…..they really felt that the heads on their necks were about to be plucked. And Second Young Master Liu was completely exhausted. He staggered and swayed when he walked, and his vision went dark when he stood up, causing him to knock his head when he passed out.

It was true that he knocked his head. His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was painstakingly applying ointment for him, but the ointment was an unsightly reddish-purple color. A thin line trickled down his forehead, and Liu Xian’an had to remind him: “This medicine was made by my father himself. The quantity is small and precious, don’t waste it.”

Liang Shu said: “I’ll put a little more on, it will heal faster.”

Liu Xian’an: “……Medical blindness.”

“Don’t speak.” Liang Shu said, “I haven’t taught you a lesson yet. You were just pretending, why did you really fall unconscious due to exhaustion?”

“Because there were too many people in the room. Those doctors were with me at all times. I also have to wonder, weren’t they tired?” Liu Xian’an was also very gloomy when this matter was mentioned. “So I could only make do with Song-xiansheng’s bed for a while.”

Liang Shu used the back of his hand to wipe the medicine that had flowed elsewhere, rubbing red and purple across his face.

Liu Xian’an: “…….” You people from the Northwest Military Camp are really not particular, ah!

In the end, he got out of the other party’s arms and applied the medicine himself. Halfway through the application, A-Ning ran in again. He lay on the window and whispered: “Young Master, Lieutenant General Gao and the others are ready to act, so I’ll go join the fun!”

Liu Xian’an waved his hand, go, come back and tell me after you’re done.

As for where to watch the excitement, it was naturally the prison.

The servant boy had already heard the news of Song Changsheng’s death at this time, and there was a strange smile of ecstasy on his face. He wasn’t even bothering to pretend. The jailor leaned against the door of the cell. Seeing this expression of incurable bewitchment, he warned indifferently, you committed such a crime, and I’m afraid you’ll be hacked to pieces by the prince. How can you be happy?

The boy ignored him, and only muttered to himself. The jailer became increasingly disdainful, and spat. He turned around to leave, but was knocked unconscious by somebody’s palm and fell to the ground with a thud.

The maid in white was covered by a light veil. The boy became even happier when he saw her, and rushed to the prison door: “Did the Holy Maiden ask this sister to come and rescue me?”

The maid cut off the iron chains and took his hand: “Let’s go!”

At this time, the sky was completely dark. A-Ning hid in the shadows and watched the two leave the manor all the way through the dim moonlight.

The Imperial guard next to him saw that he seemed to be very interested in this kind of excitement, so he simply lifted him by the collar and flew to follow after them.

A-Ning was caught off guard, and was fed a cold breeze.

He hurriedly covered his mouth and nose with a cloth towel, and the Imperial guard kindly reminded him: “No one will discover us.”

But A-Ning still insisted on covering up, because if he drank too much wind, it would be easy for cold to enter the body.

For the disciples of Baihe Mountain Village, the most important thing was to keep in good health, protect the stomach, and strengthen the spleen at all times.

The Imperial guard: “…….”

The maid led the servant all the way into a dark alley, where they disappeared.

The boy asked: “Are we going to see the Holy Maiden?”

Before the maid could answer, a sword shadow descended from the sky.

“Ah!” the boy exclaimed, and was pushed aside heavily by the maid. Gao Lin swept across with a sword in one hand, almost cutting off his bun. The servant boy felt a chill on the top of his head, and fell to the ground with disheveled hair. He looked on helplessly as Gao Lin and the maid fought. A dog was barking in the distance. Flustered, he turned around and ran away.

It wasn’t until he ran so far away that his figure disappeared that Gao Lin kicked the maid to a government official who had been informed. Then, he jumped to the other side to chase after him.

“Cough, cough!” The maid was escorted all the way to the manor. As soon as she entered the door, she began to tear the white gauze and mask off her face. After a lot of tugging, she finally revealed a man’s face.

The guards of Xiao Wang Manor were joking, I can’t see it, ah. You, boy, you’re still a graceful beauty, but you’re a bit fat. Remember to shave your beard clean next time.

“Scram!”

On the other side, the boy also scrammed very quickly. He couldn’t go home, let alone outside the city gates, so he took advantage of the darkness to run straight toward the house in his memory. Seeing the familiar shadow of the tree looming in front of him, he desperately climbed up the wall and jumped into this “sacred place” that haunted his dreams.

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[1] This is a different Liu ( 刘 ) than Liu Xian’an’s family. ⮐

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Chapter Eighty-Seven << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Nine

Early the next morning.

As soon as Pei Yi entered the studio, Li Yuan, who was waiting in the lobby, greeted him, “Pei Yi! You really predicted it correctly!”

Li Yuan handed the tablet in his hand to his friend and indicated, “Look, Xunya Technology’s official Weibo posted a new announcement at 8 o’clock in the morning, saying that Nanchan Games is not a subsidiary of their headquarters. Two and a half years ago—”

“That is, before large-scale plagiarism occurred, the relationship between them changed to a partnership.”

At present, Xunya Technology unilaterally announced the termination of its partnership with Nanchan Games, and apologized to the netizens who felt hurt by online public opinion.

From now on, company headquarters would conduct stricter inspections of its partners in order to keep similar incidents from happening again. Everyone’s supervision, criticism, and corrections were welcome.

Pei Yi clearly read the black and white statement with the official seal, and a glimmer of understanding flashed in his eyes. “A major company is indeed a major company. It is necessary to be clean and tidy, and they use this superficial skill well.”

Last night went from Mufeng Games’ stern questioning, to Chanming Studios’ statement, to the revelations about Nanchan Games’ series of plagiarism incidents.

Not only had it become big news in the gaming circle, but it had also made the two parties the target of attention and abuse from ordinary netizens.

Although the officials of the original game design competition had been hiding and pretending to be dead, there was no end to the ability of the vast number of netizens who could pick up and expose information. More and more evidence pointed to their shady behavior of using backdoors.

From Ke Ming and Changming Studios to You Chang and Nanchan Games, they became like street rats almost overnight.

There were waves of hot searches related to entertainment on Weibo, and the two topics about Chanming Studios’ backdoor and Xunya Technology were right there on the list of Weibo’s hot searches.

“There’s a lot more heat than I had imagined.” Li Yuan gave a low sigh, and then asked speculatively, “There must be someone behind this, right? Weiyi?”

Pei Yi raised his eyebrows slightly, which was enough of an answer.

The statement issued this morning was the result of a secret game between two sides regarding capital.

Whether it was Chanming Studios’ manipulation of the award results, or the shameless plagiarism of Nanchan Games in the name of profit, they had undoubtedly stepped on the moral bottom line of public conscience. 

Fueled by public opinion, people’s anger grew stronger and stronger.

For Xunya Technology, Chanming Studios’ “Destroy the Alien Beasts” was just a small subsidiary mobile game. The initial investment could not be counted as their own, and the profits in the later stage had not yet been achieved—

Although the backdoor investment in the competition was a bit of a loss, as a major game company, they could still afford it.

This time, Xunya Technology was forced to be at a disadvantage. If they didn’t cut off the relationship as soon as possible, the anger of the netizens would burn them.

“Don’t worry, the above and below-board fight between Xunay Technologies and Weiyi isn’t just a matter of a day or two. Although I’m the one who organized this counterattack, from Xunya Technology’s perspective, they probably consider our studio to be a move by Weiyi.”

Big companies had their own practices, and small studios had their own ways of living.

YWY had always done the right thing and sat upright. They were not afraid of retaliation by Xunya Technology. If something was said in private, they had the double protection of Bo Group and GM.

Of course, in the long run, their studio would sooner or later occupy a place in the Chinese gaming industry based on its own capabilities!

Li Yuan closed the door to the office. “By the way, Brother Xiang still has old work friends at Chanming Studios. He secretly discovered that Ke Ming got very angry at the company last night.”

“It seems that Nanchan Games suddenly announced an end to their partnership. Their backer pulled out suddenly.”

Pei Yi naturally understood who was responsible for this, and didn’t reveal more.

He imagined Ke Ming’s expression. “It’s normal to get angry. Given his temperament of looking at people with his nostrils turned upward, it would be strange if he could deal with all of this calmly.”

Li Yuan had never had a good impression of Ke Ming, and continued, “After the in-game transaction channel of ‘Destroy the Alien Beasts’ opened, it is said that the total income didn’t exceed 300,000.”

However, tens of millions invested in production and millions of operating expenses would only return an income of less than 300,000 in the end.

If Ke Ming was old and in poor health, he might have been so angry that he had a heart attack.

Pei Yi’s mind returned to reality. “Are the hot searches still up?”

“They are, the top hot search is at 18th place.” Li Yuan nodded and made another guess. “However, I estimate that as soon as Xunya Technology’s statement is released, related hot search topics will follow.”

There was a dark light in Pei Yi’s eyes as he said, “Pear Garden, make the announcement. Everything that needs to be prepared is ready, and it’s our studio’s turn to come out and make our presence felt.”

It would be their own loss if they didn’t take these free hot searches and exposure!

Ke Ming must still plan to make a comeback after a while, but Pei Yi’s intention was to make him fall again and again, never having a chance to get up!

Li Yuan fully understood what his friend was thinking, and nodded firmly. “Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

The studio’s online publicity team was already prepared. It was time to send back all the misunderstandings and malice they had received since Monday!

. . . . . . .

It was Saturday afternoon, the moment Weibo traffic slowly woke up.

A new post landed on the Youtu forum homepage: Take a look! YWY’s latest Weibo. After reading the entire article, I can only shout one sentence: Amazing!

It should be known that although public opinion in the past two days had circled around Chanming Studios and “Destroy the Alien Beasts,” the other end of public opinion was linked to YWY Studios and their similar work, “The Last Fog.”

This straightforward post immediately attracted the attention of many game fans.

Everyone smelled a big melon, and immediately clicked on the link, rushing to the latest statement released by YWY Studios—

[ On the same day, an internet user named Chasing Wind posted false information about our studio’s chief planner, Will (Mr. Pei), and the studio’s “The Last Fog” project on the Youtu forum and Weibo. We are making the following statement:

We took screenshots as evidence and filed a police report as soon as possible. The user (Qin Moumou) has admitted to the police that he paid for tracking and paparazzi, spread malicious rumors, etc. He is currently in the process of legal prosecution!

Several other users (the specific list is attached in Figure 2) have been confirmed to be paid commenters from the same marketing company, which collected money to spread malicious public opinion and rumors. This behavior has also seriously infringed on the reputation and interests of our Mr. Pei Yi and the entire “Last Fog” game team, and those responsible will be held accountable to the end in accordance with the law!

Finally, from its inception to present, the “Last Fog” game team has respected fairness, originality, and ability, and respects their peers and opponents even more!

The entire production team felt deeply powerless and angry about the suspicions they received after winning the “8th Original Game Design Competition” — 

From this moment, YWY Studios and the “Last Fog” team voluntarily give up the winning title of the “8th Original Game Design Competition” and also condemn the organizers’ inaction!

If an award cannot prove our excellence, then let the game itself shine and speak for us! ]

If the first half was a normal clarification, then the second half was the surprising part.

Although there was a lot of controversy over the original game design competition this time, its prestige could not be underestimated. It was also one of the few awards recognized by the Chinese gaming circle.

Give up their winning spot?

Did that mean that YWY Studios had voluntarily given up the series of subsequent exposure channels?

Just to protest and denounce the organizers of the competition from the perspective of the general public? The entire YWY Studios was so unyielding!

For a time, the comment area was occupied by netizens who followed the trend and came to enjoy the melons.

“To summarize Big Cat Face’s statement: A certain garbage studio used a backdoor and hired trolls to blacken them, and they asked the police to deal with this pile of trash! Also, their game relies on their own ability to be awesome. Whoever wants the prize can have it, but they don’t want it! Meow~ It’s over!”

“Hahahaha the cat-like summary is perfect!”

“Damn, this small studio has some backbone, ah.”

“The real thing is here. Let’s go try The Last Fog 1.0. It’s definitely the most interesting card game I’ve played in recent years!”

“It’s true, the painting style is so beautiful! And the game experience is also very smooth, without any messy advertisements!”

“YWY, my kitty cat treasure studio, ‘The Last Fog’ is really a domestically produced original. Now I’m looking forward to the 2.0 mobile game version!”

“Come quickly! There’s a big melon, the chief planner Will is a King of Drinking Capacity!”

This comment quickly attracted the attention of melon-eating netizens, and they all moved over.

Just now, Pei Yi’s Weibo had uploaded ten minutes of video content, and the accompanying post was unparalleled in its toughness—

Destroy the alien beasts copied and plagiarized.

Seven simple words, not killing without spilling blood.

The video began with a surveillance video from late August last year.

The fairly spacious conference room was packed with people, but soon, the focus of the video zoomed to the conference stage accompanied by clear subtitles.

It was the scene of the meeting during the first bidding in the capital. The video was accelerated, but it didn’t affect the normal viewing and understanding of the netizens at all.

From Lou Yang coming on stage to accuse Ke Ming of plagiarism, to Ke Ming denying it, then to Lou Yang showing evidence and slapping him harshly in the face, and finally Li Yuan’s warning to Ke Ming—

Everything was truthfully announced to the public.

Perhaps even Ke Ming himself had forgotten that GM’s conference room was monitored!

Everyone was born as a human being.

Everything a person said and did would leave a mark on this world!

In addition, the content of the last five minutes involved the contacts and exchanges between the two parties in the recent competition—

““It wasn’t enough for you to copy the modeling at the beginning, but now you have to copy the character settings?”

“What did I copy? Do you have evidence? I’m the one who finished presenting the game settings just now, and you guys are presenting yours in the afternoon. Who is plagiarizing who in terms of timing?”

“I heard that you plan to customize the attack settings of the game? This is indeed a good idea.”

“How can you say it was copied? We are colleagues, let’s learn from each other and make progress together.”

As early as after meeting Ke Ming in Haishi, Pei Yi had been more cautious, and would use his cell phone to record in real time each instance they met.

Therefore, at present, every item listed by YWY had enough evidence to prove that it was the original work of their studio. On the contrary, it was Ke Ming’s shameless behavior and remarks that aroused strong resentment from the public.

“I’m going to vomit! I’ve never seen anyone more disgusting than Ke Ming.”

“Calling plagiarism learning and progress? No wonder Chinese games have had such a hard time getting ahead these years! They were hurt by worms like Ke Ming!”

“Teacher Will is awesome!”

“If you ask me, no one should question Will. What does the number of years in the industry matter? Last year’s ‘Joyful Spirit’ had the great atmosphere of a Chinese horror story! Recently, ‘Traces’ and ‘The Last Fog’ won at the same time! I’m super looking forward to it!”

“Well, Chanming Studios and Destroy the Alien Beasts will be completely blacklisted by me. Asking when The Last Fog will be released. I’m still looking forward to a doomsday escape game with China as the focus!”

“Chanming Studio has been reported to the relevant departments! Looking forward to The Last Fog.”

Pei Yi looked at the increasing number of comments on his computer, then at Li Yuan opposite, and went on to the next step.

“Pear Garden, get ready. At five o’clock tonight, we’ll officially announce that ‘The Last Fog’ is in closed beta testing.”

Li Yuan had just received the real-time data from the online publicity team and had to admire his friend’s marketing methods. “You’ve eaten up this wave of exposure to death.”

As the saying went, contrast creates beauty.

The more problems Chanming Studios and “Alien Beasts” had, the more it would boost the popularity of “The Last Fog.”

It might sound a bit unfair to the former, but business competition was destined to be cruel. After all, it was Ke Ming, who deliberately caused harm behind the scenes, so what was wrong with them taking advantage of the others’ ability and trying to exploit them?

Pei Yi chuckled. “Little Mr. Li, I’m going to trouble you next. From the beginning of the closed beta to the launch of the public beta, all kinds of publicity and marketing methods must continue on.”

“Now that the mobile game version is on the way, there will be a web-based game in the future. “The Last Fog” will be our core project to establish ourselves in the gaming circle.”

Pei Yi had completed the initial review of the work, and now it was time for Li Yuan to give full play to his abilities.

“I know. I won’t take it lightly.”

Li Yuan thought about the studio’s next path, and he had never felt that the future was so smooth and bright.

He looked at his friend who was still browsing the web, and said without thinking, “En. Pei Yi, thank you.”

Pei Yi was taken aback, and looked over. “Thanks for what?”

Li Yuan also felt that his sincere thanks had come a bit unexpectedly, and coughed in embarrassment. “I just feel like my life has changed since I met you.”

Whether it was his career or his new love—

He left behind struggling in the mud and walked onto the right path step by step.

Pei Yi deliberately put on the airs of a boss and joked, “Stop being pretentious here and get to work quickly.”

Li Yuan completely suppressed his sentiment and retorted, “Stop your lecturing, and don’t be lazy. You still need to keep an eye on the copywriting team yourself!”

Saying so, he paused and shared a smile with his friend.

. . . . . . .

Inside a beautifully decorated private box.

Bo Yueming and Pei Yi sat next to each other, and naturally opposite them were Yan Cen and Li Yuan.

Yan Cen pushed up his glasses and spoke first, “Come, let’s take this glass of wine to celebrate the successful start of YWY’s first mobile game. Thank you for your hard work.”

Pei Yi joked back, “It’s not hard work. Anyway, the money invested at this stage still belongs to Mr. Bo and Mr. Yan.”

Bo Yueming laughed helplessly and raised his glass. “Come, ba.”

— Clink.

The wine glasses tapped each other with a pleasant sound, and even the wine swayed with a moving glimmer.

Bo Yueming asked casually, “Has the matter been resolved? Do you need me to send someone to keep an eye on Ke Ming?”

The “keep an eye on” he spoke of was not only regarding his career, but his private life as well.

Someone as arrogant and conceited as Ke Ming had his career ruined after so many years of hard work, and if his emotions got the better of him, he might do something as extreme as Bo Guancheng did.

Pei Yi took a sip of wine and said, “Pear Garden and I asked my brother to send someone, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.”

Li Yuan nodded in agreement. “Ke Ming can’t protect himself now, so he shouldn’t have the energy to ‘harm’ us.”

Yan Cen didn’t speak. He just silently wiped his hands with a wet towel and began to peel the shrimp.

When Bo Yueming saw this, he remained calm on the surface and quickly accelerated the same movements of hand-peeling shrimp.

Pei Yi thought the champagne tasted good today, so he drank several more sips while his lover wasn’t paying attention. “You two probably don’t know yet, right? ‘Alien Beasts’ will likely be removed from the shelves.”

Yan Cen was taken aback. “Removed?”

Bo Yueming had learned the general situation from Lin Zhong not long ago. “Is it because of the game’s publishing rights?”

Pei Yi nodded. “En.”

This matter had come out this afternoon—

“Alien Beasts” had been blocked by the relevant game departments before and was unable to obtain distribution rights because some of its scenes were too bloody.

Later, they contacted Xunya Technology through Nanchan Games, and the latter obtained the game distribution rights through special means and channels.

There had been a lot of fuss over “Alien Beasts” in the past two days, which caused many netizens to go directly to the official website to complain. The truth was exposed over and over again.

“With the current reputation of Chanming Studios, it will be difficult to obtain the distribution rights for ‘Alien Beasts’ once it is removed from the shelves.”

Li Yuan paused, feeling indescribably complicated. “I heard that Ke Ming invested a lot. I’m afraid his studio will go bankrupt this time.”

Competition was destined to be cruel, but it was likely that many employees would suffer from unemployment.

Pei Yi’s eyes brightened when he heard this. “Then quickly ask Brother Xiang to find out if there are any highly skilled employees willing to come to our studio?”

Anyway, their studio would expand sooner or later, and the more excellent talents they had, the better.

Bo Yueming was long accustomed to his lover’s way of doing things, and simply put a pile of peeled shrimp in his bowl. “You can take the opportunity to ask. Water flows to lower places, and people to higher places.”

Li Yuan nodded, his eyes unconsciously focusing on the pile of shrimp meat.

He was a little greedy.

In the next second, Yan Cen put the same shrimp meat into his bowl and coaxed him in a low voice, “You should also eat more.”

Li Yuan’s ears turned red. “En.”

Pei Yi peeked at the small interaction on the opposite side with great interest, and then glanced at the dining table—

The other dishes weren’t touched at all, but the shrimps on the side were all divided up by Bo Yueming and Yan Cen!

Good fellows, where was the competition here?

. . . . . . .

Dinner ended happily, and both parties returned to their respective homes.

The car parked outside the villa.

Pei Yi drank a little too hard that night, and he felt a drunken softness for the first time in a long time.

He was so drunk that he didn’t even think about getting out of the car. Instead, he sat on Bo Yueming’s lap, face to face with him. “Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming signaled for Lao Fu to get out of the car first, then unbuckled his seatbelt and hugged this person tightly. “I wasn’t watching for a moment tonight, and now you’re a drunken kitten again?”

Pei Yi lay his head on his shoulder and groaned. “A little thirsty.”

There was a thermos cup in the back row. Bo Yueming held his lover with one hand and poured him some warm water with the other. “Slow down and have a drink?”

Pei Yi swallowed it all in one gulp and leaned back onto his lover’s shoulder.

Bo Yueming coaxed him, “If you’re sleepy, how about we go upstairs?”

Pei Yi shook his head, feeling that Bo Yueming’s arms were soft against him.

He raised his head to look at his lover’s superior jawline, and smiled infatuatedly. “Er-ge.”

“En?”

“I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

Bo Yueming pinched his earlobe and said, “It would be bad if you got tired of me.”

Pei Yi straightened up slightly and asked in a low voice, “Have I been neglecting you lately?”

Since being criticized by the public due to Ke Ming’s malicious designs on Monday, Pei Yi had been working hard to prepare for his counterattack for the next five or six days.

Bo Yueming kissed his lips. “No, I know you’ve been busy.”

Unlike the already stable Bo Group, Pei Yi’s career was still in its infancy, so he naturally needed to put more thought into it.

Bo Yueming understood him. Joy spread in Pei Yi’s heart.

He took the initiative to kiss his lover’s lips, somewhere between innocent and sultry. “Er-ge, I won’t be working tomorrow or Sunday.”

Bo Yueming was stirred up by the person in his arms. The hands around his waist tightened and he said knowingly, “Is that so?”

“I’ll give you everything.” Pei Yi was ambiguous and clingy. “I’ll give you whatever you want tonight.”

---

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Chapter Eighty-Six <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Eight

The H6 battleship carrying Luo Ran had been hijacked.

Luo Ran gripped the command station with his hands and did not speak.

He was the only one in the command room. Wang Qiuyang and Rong An had left.

It seemed that someone had used another command room, or had set the timing earlier. At this moment, communication between the battleship and the outside world was completely cut off, and it moved uncontrollable toward the pier where the cargo was located.

The interception of the communications system proved that a distress signal had not been sent out, and Wang Qiuyang and the others had not come.

Luo Ran tapped the command station lightly with his fingers. After a while, Wang Ruicheng came in.

— Armed.

“Secretary Luo, please cooperate.” Wang Ruicheng stood not far away, holding a rifle. He pointed the weapon at Luo Ran and said: “We don’t want to hurt you.”

Everyone knew how capable Luo Ran was, so Wang Ruicheng didn’t dare to step forward at this moment, for fear of Luo Ran’s counterattack.

“Wang Ruicheng, you’ve given your life to the star pirates. Does your cousin know?” Luo Ran raised his eyebrows and said: “Adjutant Wang has worked hard for the Admiral and the Empire, and the Wang family is deeply trusted by the Admiral. When it comes to stabbing the Empire in the back, what is the difference between you and Cyril?”

Wang Ruicheng’s expression froze, and he said sharply: “People seek a way up just as water seeks its way down!”

Luo Ran shook his head and said: “For a soldier, this is truly shameful.”

Soldiers swore an oath and received training. Wasn’t a soldier’s betrayal a slap in the face for Lucas and the Empire?

“Secretary Luo, be at peace!” Wang Ruicheng waved the gun in his hand.

Luo Ran had always been gentle and kind, but for some reason, he still had a subtle vigor and inviolable prestige.

Maybe it was because he had been with Lucas for a long time, maybe it was because he still had pheromones from Lucas, the top Alpha in the Empire, or maybe it was due to his own ability.  Others knew that Luo Ran was kind, but they didn’t dare to be presumptuous in front of him.

At this moment, Wang Ruicheng, as an Alpha, was overwhelmed by Luo Ran’s Omega aura and felt a little unstable.

Swish.

The door was pushed open. Rong An came in, and was stunned at the scene in front of him. 

“Adjutant Rong.” Luo Ran said: “Please inform Adjutant Wang to send reinforcements quickly. Don’t worry about me. He doesn’t dare kill me.”

Rong An stood there unmoving.

“Hahahaha……” Wang Ruicheng said with a laugh: “Secretary Luo! Rong An is my contact!”

— Rong An and Wang Ruicheng were minions of the star pirates.

Luo Ran didn’t speak.

Rong An also didn’t say anything. He was Luo Xingyuan’s adjutant, so he naturally had feelings for Luo Xingyuan and Luo Ran.

Luo Ran sat down and said: “Who are you taking me to?”

The purpose of this hijacking was already very clear — to take him away.

“You’ll know when you get there.”

. . . . . . .

The warship landed in less than ten minutes and established contact with another warship that had been stationed here.

Wang Ruicheng kept Luo Ran in the control room while Rong An went out to greet someone.

Everyone in the ship was brought down, and it could be said that they were on their own without any backup.

“Secretary Luo, please go out.”

Luo Ran was escorted to the deck of the other battleship. When he saw its owner, he paused slightly.

“Secretary Luo.”

First Prince Zhou Mingyu stood to the side and nodded toward Luo Ran.

“Please believe that I have no malicious intentions.” Zhou Mingyu smiled and said: “Secretary Luo, as long as you don’t resist, we will not hurt you.”

Luo Ran observed for a moment and saw that Zhou Mingyu’s battleship was full of his own personal soldiers……and star pirates.

Luo Ran wasn’t in the main control room and didn’t know the structure of the battleship, but there were star pirates on the ship the First Prince escaped in, which proved that Lucas’s guess was correct.

After Zhou Mingyu escaped, he made a deal with the star pirates. Presumably he had given the star pirates what they wanted, whether that be materials for the Meteor Showers or money, and the star pirates gave him a hand and protected him when he left.

Only, Zhou Mingyu had escaped directly, but now he had taken a lot of trouble to return.

“It seems that my value is rather high.” Luo Ran chuckled.

“Secretary Luo, from my point of view, these words have two meanings.” Zhou Mingyu invited Luo Ran to sit down in the ship’s reception room.

Rong An and Wang Ruicheng stood behind Luo Ran, one on the left and one on the right.

“First, you are indeed very valuable because you can control the battle situation — and you are the only one Lucas can be threatened with. Secondly, to me, you are……” Zhou Mingyu paused, and said with a half-smile: “I feel that you are very valuable in my heart.”

Luo Ran lowered his eyes with a smile, but didn’t respond.

“Secretary Luo, I am not here for profit this time. I know you won’t believe me, but I’m mostly here for you.” Sitting opposite Luo Ran, Zhou Mingyu poured wine for him. “I picked you up in order to save you.”

“Did you think I would die under a Meteor Shower if I met up with the Admiral?” Luo Ran raised an eyebrow. “Your Highness, you have too little confidence in the Admiral.”

“It has nothing to do with confidence. No one can escape the Meteor Shower. No one.” Zhou Mingyu said: “The Admiral’s fate will eventually be the same as Admiral Alton’s.”

Luo Ran smiled and said: “That’s right, the Admiral is brave and good at fighting. He is loyal to his country and his comrades. Like Admiral Alton, he will be an admiral who goes down in history. He is straightforward and honest, naturally different from the rats in the gutter.”

Luo Ran’s tone was still gentle and smiling, but when he touched on the topic of Lucas, his tone became sharper.

Zhou Mingyu paused, but didn’t take offense. He just said: “Secretary Luo will understand later.”

“As for why I gambled on returning this time, Secretary Luo will understand in the future.”

“I think I still won’t quite understand.” Luo Ran chuckled. “I’m not capable of understanding.”

“Secretary Luo may have grown accustomed to the Admiral.” Zhou Mingyu held his wine glass and drank slowly. “Lucas has the mind of a soldier. He thinks that the safety of the soldiers and the common people is the top priority, but I am a strategist, and if I have to give something up to gain something, I will consider it more.”

Luo Ran said: “Please don’t compare yourself to the Admiral.”

The implication was that the First Prince couldn’t compare to Lucas at all, and didn’t even deserve to touch his toes.

Zhou Mingyu looked at Luo Ran, and his eyes dimmed.

No matter how good his temper was and how he strove to maintain his smile, it was somewhat difficult.

After Luo Ran bluntly refused that day, Zhou Mingyu truly lost control of his emotions. Therefore, he ignored the monitoring devices and directly attacked Yuan Han, which kickstarted the beginning of his downfall.

Zhou Mingyu thought to himself, just go all in.

In any case, he wanted Luo Ran.

No matter what, he must have him.

Zhou Mingyu thought he must be crazy, but it had already come to this point. Even if he must force himself upon him, he must have him.

Originally, Luo Ran would have been his.

It was he who personally pushed Luo Ran toward Lucas.

He had initially wanted to drug Lucas and let Zhou Mingzhu and a woman deal with Lucas in rut, but he didn’t expect it to be Luo Ran in the end.

He had contributed to this with his own hands.

Zhou Minyu grasped the armrests of his chair tightly.

“Rong An, Ruicheng.” Zhou Mingyu glanced at Luo Ran. “Tie up Secretary Luo.”

“Yes!”

Wang Ruiching took a deep breath and rolled up his sleeves. He couldn’t beat Luo Ran, but there were several people here, so he should be fine.

Bam—

However, in the next moment, something unexpected happened.

Wang Ruicheng likely never expected it. Before he could make a move, Rong An beside him suddenly knocked him down with one punch. Then his hands were wrenched behind his back, and he was subdued to his knees by Rong An.

Wang Ruicheng cursed, and was knocked unconscious by Rong An when he tried to resist, falling to the floor.

At the same time, Luo Ran also jumped up and took the gun thrown to him by Rong An. He rushed toward Zhou Mingyu, who was unprepared, and wrapped his arm around his neck, pointing the muzzle of the gun to his temple.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Zhou Mingyu only sensed the scene in front of him flicker before coming back to his senses — Wang Ruicheng was held down by Rong An, and he was being threatened by Luo Ran.

Zhou Mingyu hesitated for a long moment, then looked at Rong An and said: “You hid…..very deeply.”

Rong An’s habitually indifferent expression changed for a rare moment. He smiled: “Good game.”

Rong An was an undercover agent placed by the star pirates into the Empire.

And Rong An’s real identity was someone whom the Empire arranged to work with the star pirates, a spy who won their trust. He cooperated with other undercover agents in order to capture the real traitor — Wang Ruicheng.

He was deep undercover.

Rong An and Luo Xingyuan were originally the same rank, but the latter was promoted because of Luo Ran, so Rong An became his adjutant.

Rong An’s temperament was overly cold, and he didn’t seem to be close to Luo Xingyuan, so the outside world thought he had a grudge like many others back then, looking down on Luo Xingyuan, a commander who relied on connections.

But Rong An was also a person who grew up with Luo Xingyuan, who fought alongside him, just like Lu Cheng and Wang Qiuyang were adjutants who grew up alongside Lucas.

Even at such a time, Zhou Mingyu didn’t panic. He just smiled bitterly and said: “I……seem to have been tricked?”

Luo Ran said with a smile: “Why else would the Admiral have arranged Rong An for me?”

Zhou Mingyu understood.

Pulling the snake from its hole, catching the turtle in a jar…..killing two birds with one stone.

Not only was the undercover agent caught before the battle, but Zhou Mingyu was also drawn out.

He had miscalculated again with Luo Ran.

It was Yuan Han before, but now……

He returned to the capital for Luo Ran, but fell into Luo Ran’s net.

Zhou Mingyu thought to himself, no wonder Luo Ran’s location was leaked so easily.

It turned out that he was waiting for him.

Zhou Mingyu raised his eyebrows and said: “The Admiral was actually willing to let you use yourself as bait like this.”

Luo Ran smiled and said nothing.

It was because Lucas trusted him.

Lucas not only regarded him as a partner, but as a comrade-in-arms.

Lucas didn’t see him as a delicate Omega, and trusted him from before until now.

This made Luo Ran proud and confident.

After a few more minutes of being at a stalemate, they heard a commotion outside.

“Enemy attack! There’s an enemy attack!”

“Everyone get ready! Protect His Highness!”

The alarms sounded.

Wang Qiuyang came with reinforcements.

Held by Luo Ran, Zhou Mingyu sighed and said in a low voice: “It’s a pity. Since Rong An is one of yours, it is likely that the Admiral will be fine.”

Zhou Mingyu closed his eyes slightly.

He was already aware of his fate.

No matter how hard he tried to escape, he would eventually be taken back by the reinforcements. This time, he would likely be thrown directly into prison.

He was so tired.

Zhou Mingyu carefully put his hand into his pocket, where there was a small controller inside.

…….

Boom—

Soon after, the entire battleship detonated.

The moment the flames hit, Luo Ran reacted swiftly and knocked Zhou Mingyu unconscious with the gun in his hand, then went to find cover.

He saw Rong An rush forward to protect him.

Boom—

Boom—

. . . . . . .

Bombing was also taking place in Luobing thousands of miles away.

The Meteor Shower landed.

The sky was filled with flames, fireballs falling one after another.

Huntsman’s aircraft landed on top of a tall hill. He was standing at the window at this moment, and chuckled as he watched the mechas and aircraft being blasted to pieces below.

Their Meteor Shower had been modified to be stronger over many years, and now the flat ground was burning up like volcanic magma.

Huntsman turned and went to the deck.

“Have you taken stock?”

“Eh…..” Huntsman’s subordinate hesitated slightly.

Huntsman frowned. He looked at the expressions of the people around him, and his smile faded away. “What is it?”

“There is nobody.”

“What?”

The subordinate bit the bullet and said: “Reporting, there is nobody in the Empire’s aircraft and mechas. They are empty, and the material of the mechas and aircraft are all inferior iron.”

“…….”

Huntsman’s eyes narrowed.

How could this be?

These were obviously the coordinates given by Rong An, and the location of the Empire’s forces. They had an excellent ambush position!

Could it be……

Boom—

Another explosion sounded. Huntsman’s heart sank. When he turned his head, he saw the Empire attacking from the rear.

Fuck.

Lucas’s Lion One was in the lead.

“Kill! Don’t leave a single one alive!” Lucas’s eyes were red.

The same Meteor Shower, the same descent.

But this time, at last, there was a different ending.

Seeing the densely-packed Empire forces rushing forward like a tide, Huntsman clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth.

“Retreat……!”

---

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Chapter Eighty-Seven << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Nine

After the two left, the girl in the yellow dress also came to the stall to pick and choose. The other two women who had come with her seemed anxious, and kept urging her to hurry up, saying: “If the Master finds out we’ve sneaked out again, he’ll be furious.”

The girl in the yellow dress picked up a silver hairpin with a butterfly embedded on it and twirled it in her hand. “Let’s go back.”

The female companions were relieved. They paid the money at once and quickly led her away from the market.

The footsteps of the three of them became faster and faster, and in the end, they were almost jogging. When it was confirmed that nobody was following them, they turned inside a house. The girl in the yellow dress removed the mask from her face. It was Wumeng Yunle. Just now the maid said again: “Miss, let me put away the hairpin for you. The Master’s people are coming soon, and we still need to change your clothes quickly.”

While speaking, and without waiting for her to agree, they had already stepped forward to surround her, taking down her hair and removing her clothes.The division of labor was methodical, as if they were dressing up a delicate puppet that could not speak. Seeing that she was looking at the hairpin, the maid said: “Those frivolous and common gems are nothing but cheap ones that can be bought anywhere. Is the Holy Maiden lacking in jewelry?”

Wumeng Yunle said happily: “I’ve seen them twice, plus this time. This is the third time.”

The maids didn’t understand: “What twice?”

“They’re different every time, but their backs are the same. Or to put it another way, although their backs were disguised and their shoulders were hunched, they were still them.” Wumeng Yunle was thoughtful. “It’s always them.”

The maids looked at each other in blank dismay, not understanding the meaning of these words. At this time, footsteps came from outside in the courtyard, and a voice said: “Sisters, the person has been brought.”

“Bring them in,” a maid ordered softly.

They both helped Wumeng Yunle sit in a chair. She was dressed in white again, like a pure and holy cloud.

With a squeak, the wooden door was pushed open and a man immediately walked inside. The man who was similar to tens of thousands of Baifu Sect believers, with fanaticism and panic in his eyes, knelt down in front of the Holy Maiden with a plop.

It was dark all around, and the light was also blocked from outside the house.

. . . . . . .

Liu Xian’an said: “Look, I said everyone would avoid the prince.”

Liang Shu felt aggrieved. I didn’t offend them, so why can’t we go shopping during the New Year?

Liu Xian’an smiled and held his cuff: “The shopping is almost done, let’s go back to the government office.”

Liang Shu didn’t listen, and continued to stride around. Not going back, I just came out.

Liu Xian’an trotted along for a while at first, but then he couldn’t keep up, mainly because he was too lazy to follow. So tired, ah. Liang Shu walked two steps and didn’t hear movement behind him. Turning around, he saw that the man had gone to queue up at a shop to buy snacks. He promptly laughed with anger and turned back to grab his snow-white hairband: “Ridiculous!”

According to folk rumors, if His Royal Highness Xiao Wang said something like “ridiculous,” almost everyone at the scene would lose their heads. It was rather frightening, but the atmosphere this time was not the same. Liu Xian’an was clearly prepared. Being dragged back two steps, he didn’t panic, but laughed instead. Liang Shu supported his lower back to keep him from falling down the steps: “Be careful.”

“Do you want to eat?” Liu Xian’an handed over the oiled paper bag in his hands. “Glutinous rice sticks.”

Liang Shu said: “They’re sweet and greasy, hard enough to pry up stones.”

Liu Xian’an still forcefully gave him one. Liang Shu bit it in his mouth with a frown, seeing that the people around him wanted to laugh but didn’t dare to. It wasn’t until the prince and the miracle doctor walked away that a bold young man said: “The prince doesn’t seem to be as unkind as the rumors say, ah.”

Everyone agreed. Not only was he not cruel, but he was easy to approach, and the Second Young Master was not as lazy as in the stories. Look at him, he can still walk by himself. It is amazing that he can walk through the streets for so long.

Just as they were boasting, Dayan’s number one lazy fellow didn’t want to go any farther, and looked around as he stood on the steps. Liang Shu asked: “Do you intend to sleep here?”

Liu Xian’an replied, it is not impossible.

Liang Shu turned his back to him: “Come here.”

Liu Xian’an lay on the ground with peace of mind, and the people around him were shocked. But the Sleeping Immortal didn’t care if others were shocked or not, so he picked up the glutinous rice sticks and entered his dreams, and invited His Royal Highness Xiao Wang who was soaking in the hot springs to eat as well.

After waking up and telling this person about it, Liang Shu said with a toothache: “Why can’t I escape this thing?”

Liu Xian’an stood by the table and poured tea for himself. As for “escaping,” the prince in the Three Thousand Worlds ate a lot without his persuasion.

Liang Shu wrapped one of his arms around his sweetheart’s waist and drew him close, ordering, next time you dream of me, let me educate you. Don’t lose face by not eating good things.

Gao Lin stopped at the door. Look, just as I said, jumping up and down.

But despite the jumping up and down, he still had to do what should be done. He was mainly here to report to the government that an article had been drawn up and would be posted the following morning.

The content of the article was to give a more detailed explanation about the explosion on the top of White Crown. It also mentioned Song Changsheng, and how his originally happy family, under the temptation of the Baifu Sect, encountered tragedy step by step. The local governments in the Southwest were very familiar with writing this kind of story, and the big article was eloquent and sensational.

After reading it, all the common people in the city were incited to discuss the same thing. Coupled with the deliberate guidance of Xiao Wang Palace, Song Changsheng soon became the number one loyal warrior in everyone’s hearts who sacrificed his life to blow up the cult. Everyone sent cured fish, eggs, flowers, and pastries to the government office one after another, and so much was piled up in the courtyard that there was almost no room for it all. Chang Xiaoqiu had to walk around these things, and asked again: “Why is it so noisy outside?”

“It’s all the neighbors. They wouldn’t leave after delivering things, and they’re inquiring about Song-xiansheng’s poisoning and injuries, whether they are serious or not.”

They were serious. Several bones were broken by the explosion, how could it not be serious? The official government gatekeeper stood on the steps with his hands folded and told everyone vividly. But having said that, no matter how serious it was, with the presence of people from Baihe Mountain Village, he would definitely be healed, so there was no need to worry at all.

The common people had reservations about this, because although Baihe Mountain Village was capable, Second Young Master Liu of Baihe Mountain Village was just……but after thinking about it, it was said previously that His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was ferocious-looking, a born demon who spent his days killing people for fun. Comparing this ghastly image with the handsome prince eating glutinous rice sticks in the market, one had to admit that the rumors were indeed outrageous.

“What about the poison?”

“The poison is a little troublesome, but it can be dealt with. In short, don’t worry, Song-xiansheng will be fine. Because of his meritorious service in eradicating the Baifu Sect, the prince also rewarded him with a box of gold and silver, and promised that he can make a living making weapons for the entire Northwest military camp. Good days are yet to come.”

Rewards of money and trade. Such good things made the common people envious, and they even began to look forward to meeting a few minions of the Baifu Sect, so that they could arrest them and go to the prince to receive a reward. All of a sudden, the winds of purging the evil cult were blowing mightily in the city, and every family no longer asked, “have you eaten?” Instead, it changed to “have you gotten one?” Those in the know were aware that they were asking about the cult, and those not in the know were still asking about stomachs.

In the government office, Liu Xian’an was administering acupuncture for Song Changsheng. The blue veins on the other’s face were still thriving a few days ago, but now they had become much lighter. The aunt in charge of cleaning couldn’t help but praise when she saw it, Second Young Master Liu is truly amazing.

“It’s not as strong as the rumors outside say.” Liu Xian’an said, “I really don’t know what this poison is, so I can only slowly remove it bit by bit according to the method taught by my elder brother. Fortunately, it is effective. If I persist for three to five months, or a little slower and persist for another year, he will definitely be cured.

The maid interjected from the side: “It takes as long as a year?”

“I want to hurry too, but I can’t.” Liu Xian’an retrieved the silver needle. “How does Song-xiansheng feel today?”

“Much better,” Song Changsheng said. “Thank you, Second Young Master Liu.”

He seemed to be in good spirits, and his complexion was not bad. Although he was still unable to move, the rest of his body was indeed not affected by the poison much. A-Ning was decocting medicine in the kitchen. A servant saw that he seemed sleepy, so he stepped forward and said: “Let me do it, Young Master. You’re tired these days, you should go back and rest for a while.”

“That won’t work, my young master said that no one can get close to Song-xiansheng’s medicine.” A-Ning yawned and shook his head. “I must guard it myself, lest the people from the Baifu Sect bribe someone to sneak poison into it.”

The servant hesitated upon hearing this, and A-Ning took notice. He said: “What, the Baifu Sect really found you?”

“That’s not true!” The boy waved his hands again and again in shock, and said nervously, “This is nonsense, if someone else overheard, I wouldn’t be able to come back from it. What is this atmosphere in the city now, ah……I, I have serious business.”

“I haven’t gone out for several days, how can I know what the atmosphere in the city is like?” A-Ning smiled and put down the cattail fan. “Okay, don’t be nervous, there’s no one else here. What business do you have?”

“I have an old book at home that is dedicated to recording various poisons.” The boy took it out of his sleeve. “I don’t usually read this stuff, and if not for the strange poison in Song-xiansheng’s body, I wouldn’t have remembered it.”

A-Ning took the booklet with curled and yellowed edges in his hand. The paper was so rotten that it would not be surprising if a nest of cockroaches came out in the next moment. Seeing him frown, the boy hurriedly explained: “There is a type of poison in this book that is similar to the poison in Song-xiansheng. It also causes blue lines on the face, and it lists the medicinal materials needed for detoxification. It should be useful, right?”

A-Ning flipped through a couple of pages and found that this was indeed the case, so he said happily: “It’s possible, ah. My young master is still working hard, worried that he won’t be able to find an antidote. Unexpectedly, it came without any effort!”

“Hehe, that’s great.” The boy was also happy, and stammered, if it’s really useful, will there be a reward……

“There’s no question that there will be reward money, but first let my young master see it.” A-Ning stuffed the book into his sleeve. “Let’s go, you come with me!”

Liu Xian’an was still in Song Changsheng’s room at this time, along with Liang Shu. A-Ning repeated the boy’s words and handed the book to his young master. Song Changsheng sat up and asked: “Is it exactly the same poison as mine?”

“It does look like there’s no difference.” Liu Xian’an said, “Huanxi Toad Venom. I didn’t know that there was such a poison in the world, but I have heard of the medicinal materials for detoxification. En…..they’re not too difficult to find.”

“I didn’t know either, but I happened to have the book at home, so I asked the miracle doctor about it.” The boy asked, “Is it useful?”

“It is.” Liu Xian’an nodded. “I can give it a try.”

The boy looked happy and glanced at A-Ning, hinting at the reward. A-Ning was cautious, and reminded his young master again that sometimes a hundred different poisons may show the same symptoms. Song-xiansheng’s poison was only similar in appearance to the one depicted in the book, was he sure that he should use this Huanxi Toad Venom for diagnosis and treatment?

“Although the poison is uncertain, the medicinal materials used for detoxification are all non-toxic.” Liu Xian’an said, “If it’s a mistake, one or two doses will not make too much of an impact on the body. But if it is correct, the time for detoxification can be greatly shortened. With such a balance, it is better to try.”

A-Ning said: “Then I will go find all the supplies immediately.”

Liu Xian’an personally thanked the boy once more and sent him to the treasurer to collect the reward. After everyone left, Liang Shu also took Liu Xian’an back to the bedroom and wrung out a wet handkerchief to wipe his hands clean: “Don’t touch that kind of dirty, rotten book in the future.”

“It can’t be considered a rotten book.” Liu Xia’nan didn’t care. “I even……wu.”

“All right, I know you are very capable. You have scalped people and cut out intestinal ulcers.” Liang Shu let go of him. “Emperor Brother sent a secret letter this morning.”

“What did it say?”

“It talked about you.”

“What about me?”

“It said that you’re not just an ignorant layabout.”

Liang Shu carried him to the table and sat down, leaning over slightly so they were face to face.

They were so close that their breaths mingled, and Liu Xian’an shrank back. I’m lazy, it’s not that I’m ignorant.

On this journey, Second Young Master Liu treated diseases east and west and ran errands north and south. The Imperial guards saw this, and naturally wanted to send the whole truth back to the palace.

Liang Yu was amazed, and also full of regret. If he had known that those rumors about laziness were false, he would have agreed to the marriage between Baihe Mountain Village and the princess. So he personally wrote a long letter to criticize his vexing brother. Since you and Second Young Master Liu get along well and cooperate tacitly, you should have seen that he is suitable for marriage. Why didn’t you report such a big matter to me earlier?

He wrote again, does he have a lover at this time?

With a wave of Liang Shu’s brush, he wrote with handwriting that was as large as the mouth of a bowl—

Yes, his signature is below.

---

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Chapter Eighty-Six << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Eight

The winter sun shone on the small courtyard. After Liu Hengchang finished drying herbs, he sat on the steps and took out a bag of fried tofu from his sleeve, dipping them in salt and pepper to eat them. While eating, he paid attention to the movement behind him. After a while, there were indeed footsteps, and the moment the door opened, he hastily stuffed what was in his hand into his mouth. Quickly rolling up the paper bag, he stood up and greeted: “Young Master Feng.”

As soon as he opened his mouth, there was the strong odor of salter, pepper, and tofu. Liu Hengchang looked a little embarrassed, and Feng Xiaojin sat on a stone bench: “Don’t be nervous, I just don’t eat it myself, I don’t prevent others from eating it.”

“Yes, yes.” Liu Hengchang placed the remaining fried tofu aside. “Earlier, Young Master Yunyou said that the stone-milled tofu from this store was delicious. I happened to be buying medicine today, so I bought a package when I passed by the store.”

Feng Xiaojin took the smelling salts out of his sleeve. It seemed that he truly disliked the smell of tofu. Liu Hengcheng tactfully tidied up the table, and rinsed his mouth two or three times before returning to the courtyard. He was intentionally trying to set the mood for a chat, and now that the atmosphere was almost set, he beat around the bush on the way to the subject, saying tentatively: “If Young Master Feng has any old sore spots, he might as well speak out. I may be able to cure them, and it’s better than keeping them in your heart all the time.”

“It’s not a sore spot, it’s just pure disgust.” Feng Xiaojin closed the smelling salts and frowned slightly. “I grew up in a tofu workshop. As long as I could remember, this strong and persistent smell of tofu had been everywhere in my life. My mother…..” He paused for a while at this point, and Liu Hengchang’s heart jumped nervously, for fear that the other party would cut the conversation off again.

Fortunately, Feng Xiaojin continued: “Everyone in town said that my mother was a great beauty, but I never understood. She covered her hair with a cloth towel all day long and dragged her sick body to wash and dry beans. Her body was so thin that there was no flesh left, and her face and lips were white, so how could she be called a beauty? In my eyes back then, any woman in my neighborhood could dress brighter and live a more glorious life than her.”

Liu Hengchang said: “In that case, no wonder Young Master Feng hates the scent of tofu so much. A young child and a widowed mother…..this kind of livelihood requires strength, and should be done by men.”

“It wasn’t her who chose this job, but her man. She took me and married a tofu maker.” Feng Xiaojin said lightly, “I killed that man later on.”

Liu Hengchang was startled: “Ah?”

Feng Xiaojin said that he deserved to die.

“I was only eight years old when I killed him.”

But he had been abused for five full years. That tofu man was ugly and useless. His family was poor, but he drank heavily and gambled. He lost money outside, and when he returned, he asked his wife for it and beat her if she didn’t give it to him. The mother and son embraced each other and cried bitterly in the cold winter months.

“That messy tofu shop originally had no business, but there were many men who were willing to buy ‘tofu’ at my house, and the annual income could be considered good. The women in town hated my mother because of this, and scolded her when they met. The funny thing was that the tofu man scolded her too.”

The content of the scolding was nothing more than what was between the legs. He said all kinds of ugly and dirty things all over the place, and life was so bitter that no sweetness could be seen. Feng Xiaojin said: “When I was eight years old, my mother contracted a serious illness and passed away. On her deathbed, she cried miserably and worried about my future, but I wasn’t sad. I was happy for her, glad that she didn’t have to continue to live a life worse than pigs and dogs. I buried my mother with a smile.”

On the second day after the burial, he used knockout drugs he had saved up and added it to the tofu man’s wine.

“When he woke up, he found himself tied to a tree in a remote mountain forest. He cursed at first, and then begged me like a dog.”

“It was no use begging. I remembered every lash he gave my mother.”

“I killed him.”

He blocked the man’s mouth tightly and used the same whip to return to him one lash after another, but it was a pity that the person was already dead before he finished. He was dead, bloody and filthy like a pile of rotten bean dregs soaked in red yeast rice.

Feng Xiaojin finished talking about his past and said: “Tell me, do you have the ability to solve this sore spot for me?”

Liu Hengchang was ashamed: “…..I thought my childhood was already hard enough. I even once envied Young Master Feng, thinking that like the two young masters Yunyou and Yunle, you were brought up by the Master who raised you meticulously. I never thought that there would be eight years of hard work living outside.”

Feng Xiaojin said: “It was more than eight years.”

Liu Hengchang took the opportunity to continue: “Could it be that after killing the tofu man, Young Master Feng still hadn’t met the Master?”

Feng Xiaojin looked at him: “You seem to be very interested in my past today?”

Liu Hengchang generously admitted: “Not just today, this is just the only opportunity I had to ask. Young Master Feng was finally willing to say a few words to me.”

Feng Xiaojin gave a rare smile. When he smiled, his eyes were more like a fox’s, charming and slanted upwards. They indeed had a beautiful shape. Even Liu Hengchang, who was accustomed to the beauties in Baihe Mountain Village, was unavoidably surprised.

“Go and see Yunyou, those witch doctors are not half as capable as you.” Feng Xiaojin had enough of the sun, and stood up with support.

Liu Hengchang revealed a look of embarrassment: “But the Master said that except for him and the witch doctor, no one is allowed to approach on pain of death.”

Feng Xiaojin shook his head: “Don’t worry, I’ll take you there.”

. . . . . . .

In Raven City, there was no festival of lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and there was no eating of sesame dumplings, but it was still lively and bustling with noise.

Liu Xian’an took A-Ning for a walk around the streets, and didn’t change his face. A-Ning bought a mask from a small stall and held it up, saying: “It looks a bit like the prince.”

“It doesn’t look like the prince.” Liu Xian’an completely disagreed. The prince was ninety thousand times more good-looking than this mask.

A-Ning was already used to the mindless flattery of his young master, and put the mask on his face: “Ninety-thousand is ninety thousand.”

Liu Xian’an tried to avoid it: “I won’t wear it. I can’t see the way clearly.”

“There is a big market ahead and there are many people. If you don’t cover your face, you will attract a group of people to chase after you,” A-Ning insisted.

Liu Xian’an had no choice but to obediently wear it.

The two had come out to buy gifts for Liu Nanyuan. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month was Third Young Lady Liu’s birthday. Although they couldn’t congratulate her in person, they still had to prepare the gifts on time. There were a lot of colorful things in the market, but Liu Xian’an went around without finding anything particularly good-looking or particularly interesting. In the end, A-Ning tugged at his sleeve and said with sharp eyes: “There is a jewelry stall over there, and the business seems to be pretty good!”

The store owner was surrounded by a group of girls and aunts, bargaining and haggling. His head was dizzy from the noise, and it was hard to tell whether he was selling at a loss or making a profit: “Is this inlaid with red bone jade?”

“Yes, ah, you have a good eye!” The stall owner said, “This is the best jade from the Southwest mines. Are you buying it for your wife?”

“No, for my sister.” Liu Xian’an took the mask off his face, wanting to see it more clearly, and the wind blew a few strands of hair down. His features were handsome, and the stall owner was dumbfounded, saying happily: “It turns out to be Young Master Liu, ah!”

The news that His Royal Highness Xiao Wang and his party were living in the city these days had spread all over the streets and alleys, and was not a secret. Liu Xian’an compared the hairpins in his hands and said: “I want all three of these. They are really finely made.”

The owner was in no hurry to negotiate the price, but asked: “Young Master Liu’s sister, is she Third Young Lady Liu?”

“Right, I only have this younger sister.” Liu Xian’an smiled. “How much?”

The guards of Xiao Wang Palace had already pulled out their purses, ready to contribute their prince’s salary at any time, but the boss insisted on not accepting it, and instead gave them away for nothing.

Liu Xian’an said: “These things are not cheap.”

“Yes, they aren’t cheap. Only if they aren’t cheap can they be worthy of Third Young Lady Liu.” The owner waved his hands again and again. “My wife has been in poor health for the last few years, and couldn’t invite a famous doctor. Later, the disciples of Baihe Mountain Village treated her, and she used Third Young Lady Liu’s prescription. Now she’s as strong as a cow…..aiya!”

Before he could finish speaking, he was slapped by the wife beside him. The people around laughed along with the stall owner and his wife, and Liu Xian’an laughed too. Amidst the noisy laughter, they haggled for a long time and ended with buying two and getting one for free.

The proprietress picked the most beautiful box to put them in, and put it in a cloth bag with flowers on it. Liu Xian’an was watching her bustle around when he suddenly heard a person beside him ask: “But I’ve always heard that Third Young Lady Liu doesn’t usually wear makeup. She wears cloth skirts and wooden hairpins. Why would she use such a gorgeous hairpin?”

Liu Xian’an followed the sound and saw that the person speaking was a teenage girl in a yellow dress, neither ugly nor pretty, but with bright eyes.

A-Ning explained: “My family’s Third Young lady only wears that dusty apron when she’s working, it’s not that she never wears makeup. She has many beautiful hairpins, especially those with butterflies. In Baihe Mountain Village, everyone remembers to give her a hairpin when they go out.”

“She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

“There is no one more beautiful.” Before A-Ning could speak, the people around him rushed to answer, it was Third Young Lady Liu, how could she not be beautiful?

The girl in the yellow didn’t listen, but looked to Liu Xian’an and asked the same question.

Liu Xian’an nodded: “She’s my younger sister. In my heart, she is naturally the most beautiful in the world.”

Just as he was speaking, the proprietress had already packed away the hairpins, and Liang Shu also came to find him. The noise of the common people suddenly became quieter. After all, even if the prince had commanded that there was no need to salute, it was not appropriate to be noisy in front of him.

It was precisely for this reason that His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was forced by his sweetheart to stay in the manor today. The reason was that, “If you go out, the common people will feel uncomfortable.” He was not unwilling, and complied honestly, fidgeting about in the study. Gao Lin was amazed at what he saw, and ran to Cheng Suyue’s bedside to tell his little sister, adding fuel and vinegar, making gestures and dancing around.

Cheng Suyue’s neck was wrapped in snow-white bandages, and she couldn’t speak a word. First she was almost strangled to death, and then after lying in bed for two days, she was told the shocking truth by Gao Lin about the secret between her prince and Young Master Liu…..not a secret, but a shocking love. Her eyes were wide in astonishment like a dried up fish, and she struggled to make a gasp with a gaping mouth.

“Really?”

“Of course it’s true, but please don’t talk.” Gao Lin said, “Listen to me talk.”

Saying this, he talked endlessly.

And Lieutenant General Gao’s literary level was very worrying. He repeated these few words back and forth.

Cheng-guniang on her sickbed listened and went back and forth between entertained and bored, sometimes energized and sometimes dozing off, and being unable to speak made it even more painful.

Her interest was with the flirting between the prince and Second Young Master Liu.

Her boredom had to do with the boring rhetoric inserted between the flirting. Although she didn’t know much about poetry, this cacophony of words couldn’t be used to describe their prince.

If he hears this, you’re dead.

Gao Lin didn’t appreciate his sister’s painstaking efforts, so he sat by the bedside and said: “You didn’t see, Second Young Master Liu just went shopping without him today, and our prince was so anxious that he jumped up and down, just short of jumping up a tree or the house.”

Cheng Suyue: “…….”

Shut up, I don’t believe you.

But in fact, it was close to the truth. In any case, the prince didn’t stay in the government office for long before finding the door himself. Liu Xian’an asked: “Didn’t you say you would wait for me?”

“I came out to see how the common people are doing this year,” Liang Shu said in an official tone.

Liu Xian’an: “…….”

The common people were very moved, and all replied that they were having a good year, very good, and now that the prince and Young Master Liu were here, it would be even better.

“That’s good.” Liang Shu grabbed Liu Xian’an’s shoulders, gentle and elegant, without a change of expression. “Let’s go, accompany me to look elsewhere.”

---

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Chapter Eighty-Five << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Seven

Ke Ming frowned when he heard this. “Why do you look like you’re in a panic? What happened?”

“The technical department called and said there’s another problem with the servers!” The secretary took a quick breath and quickly handed Ke Ming a cell phone that was still on a call. Team Leader Zheng is on the line.”

Ke Ming took the phone and spoke in an unhappy tone, “Tell me clearly! What happened!”

The technical team leader on the other line braced himself and explained, “Mr. Ke, listen to me, we just received news—”

“The two A4 and A5 cabinet servers in the old computer room have experienced operational failures again. Based on past experience, the conservative estimate is that they will take nearly an hour to repair.”

“If it weren’t for the opening of the in-game transaction channel, I wouldn’t be so anxious to call you and report it.”

The two sets of cabinet servers in the old computer room retained the most basic login data and user information. It was conservatively estimated that nearly one million users were unable to log into the “Destroy the Alien Beasts” app interface during this short time.

Ke Ming gritted his teeth. “Why didn’t you move such important data to a new server! Your technical team doesn’t know that the old servers have problems, and dared to make such a low-level mistake?!”

Team Leader Zheng complained without end, “M-Mr. Ke, you can’t blame us for this, ah.”

Once the servers in the new computer room were put into use, they were all used for game creation and core operations.

Three new units were originally to be put into operation next, reserved just for backing up the basic user data of “Destroy the Alien Beasts” —

But before the equipment was in place, Ke Ming announced that it would be released for public beta in advance!

It wasn’t as if Team Leader Zheng didn’t object to the proposal at first, but what was the use? Who could resist the boss’s wishes?

With no choice but to think on the bright side, he prayed that their old servers would be powerful enough, and that they could wait until “Destroy the Alien Beasts” was stabilized before transferring the data to new machines.

But what a pity!

The game “went on strike” less than four days after it launched, and was stuck at the point before the game fully released new props and stimulated players to spend money.

Naturally, Ke Ming would not admit to his mistakes. He pressed his throbbing temples, “If this problem cannot be solved within an hour, you can send your resignation letter directly to my inbox tonight!”

After saying this, he hung up the phone abruptly.

Ke Ming tossed the phone back into his assistant’s hands. Gritting his teeth, he made concessions, “Announce immediately that the event time will be changed from six to seven o’clock, and game coins for all game props will be discounted by 10%.”

They would make money later, so it didn’t matter if less money came in now. The key was to stabilize the enthusiasm of the participating gamers.

He must win this difficult battle to seize the market!

Knock knock.

There was another knock on the door.

The team leader in charge of online publicity came in and said, “Mr. Ke, this is bad!”

The exact same opening sentence made Ke Ming’s temples beat even harder.

“What do I need you for? What else can you do except say this?”

The online publicity team leader did not expect to receive a heap of criticism, and a hint of embarrassment flashed in his eyes.

It was the secretary who smoothed things over. “What is it?”

The team leader put the tablet he had brought on Ke Ming’s desk, his tone much calmer. “The boss of Mufeng Games just posted a long Weibo, and the official Weibo and original game design competition of our studio was featured.”

“He openly questioned the organizers of this competition for their shady activities and for giving our game a back door.”

“……”

Ke Ming’s expression tightened, and he quickly picked up his tablet to check the news. “Why are they suddenly suspicious of us?”

Deng Mufeng’s questioning Weibo was very long, and the main content could be summarized as—

He had a friend outside the industry who was responsible for advertising channel exposure. About a month ago, he was invited by the organizers to cooperate.

While negotiating, the person in charge of the organizers singled out “Destroy the Alien Beasts” as an example of a subsequent game that should win an award, and also specifically named the other party as a valued project of the game giant Xunya Technology, which was a guaranteed profit.

It was the first time for that friend to participate in an investment invitation for this type of game. He didn’t think it was strange at first, until he saw what Deng Mufeng said on the internet three or four days ago—

That friend belatedly realized that something was fishy!

The award results had not yet been released at that time, and the organizers had already begun to look for exposure channels for “Destroy the Alien Beasts?” Wasn’t this a clear indication of the default allocation of capital?

After some thought, he told his friend Deng Mufeng about it.

When Deng Mufeng was the chief game planner of “Exquisite Struggle,” he chose to leave alone because he couldn’t stand the prevalence of capital. 

Unexpectedly, the first game he restarted encountered this kind of capital manipulation again?

Deng Mufeng had real talent and knowledge, and he was also prideful in his conduct.

He was very confident that his “Dark Blue Sea” would win the award. After losing, he was passive and had suspicions, but because of the lack of evidence, he couldn’t speak out.

But now, the truth was coming out.

The game with the real possible backdoor and shady secrets was “Alien Beasts,” not the similar “Last Fog!”

Deng Mufeng took the initiative to not only question Chanming Studios and the competition officials in a long Weibo post, but also sincerely apologized to “The Last Fog” and YWY Studios—

He said that his preconceptions had caused a negative impact, and he was unable to come forward to explain immediately. He hoped that all game fans and netizens could discern for themselves.

“Don’t let the pure be obscured, and don’t let the impure steal the light.”

Deng Mufeng had a very good writing style, and all his comments were very inflammatory. It had only been ten minutes since he posted on Weibo, and the comments below had already been filled with support and outward criticism—

“Damn it! Did they actually go through a back door? Chanming Studios is too shameless!”

“I say, there’s no need for the official competition. The reputation gained in the first seven years has been ruined! Will it still have value in the future?”

“Support Teacher Deng! ‘Dark Blue Sea,’ a Chinese-style mobile game!”

“I’m speechless! Am I the only one who can’t log on to ‘Destroy the Alien Beasts?’ I originally wanted to go to Weibo to search for relevant news, but then I saw Teacher Deng’s post and it made me sick.”

“I can’t log in either! Why should such a low-quality mobile game win an award when it crashes even when logging in, ah? Did the officials of this garbage contest have money in their eyes?”

“Check it out! The boss of Chanming Studios is Ke Ming! This is a bedbug that hides in the gutters and sucks people’s blood! Get out of the Chinese gaming circle!”

. . . . .

More and more discussions occurred, and there were also boycotts of “Alien Beasts” and personal attacks on Ke Ming himself!

The curses came from all directions, turning into a loud slap that hit Ke Ming’s face hard.

The online publicity team leader became a little more cautious when he saw his boss’s increasingly stinky expression. “Mr. Ke, do you want me to contact Mufeng Games and Deng Mufeng privately to have him withdraw the post? Or use paid commenters to correct public opinion?”

“……”

The original plan to earn money through props had been postponed, and now such unfavorable remarks were being made at this juncture?

Ke Ming leaned back in the office chair, feeling that the worst was yet to come. He picked up the half bottle of red wine left on the table and drank two sips to calm himself down.

“No, you shouldn’t seek out Deng Mufeng privately.”

Deng Mufeng was obviously a person who was obsessed with fairness and honesty. To negotiate with him at this juncture to withdraw the post would undoubtedly put their handle in the hands of the other party.

“Then hire internet commenters?” The secretary at his side repeated the suggestion. “Right now, it’s just a few screenshots of chats and a long paragraph of Weibo text, which can’t be considered solid evidence.”

When the online publicity team leader heard this, a hint of indifference flashed through his heart.

Although he had just come up with this idea in passing, it was obviously futile in this situation.

Deng Mufeng’s Weibo post had spread very quickly once it was posted. There must be paid commenters stirring up public opinion, and they were completely aimed at Chanming Studios and “Destroy the Alien Beasts.”

If the studio followed suit and used paid comments to turn public opinion in their own favor, the agitated game netizens may uncover more clues and stir up greater controversy.

Ke Ming’s mind was still clear, and he knew that using commenters to redirect this wave of public opinion was just a useless waste of money.

He stroked the wine bottle and squeezed out the only solution he could. “Listen, make an announcement on the official website, Weibo, and the game — just say that our server has been maliciously attacked.”

When the secretary heard this casually composed remark, he was stunned, and said, “M-Maliciously attacked?”

“Yes! Say there has been a malicious attack, which caused the login bug to appear!” Ke Ming seemed to have thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone, and immediately became energetic. “Aside from the server problem, we will not admit to using any back doors or the like!”

Not only would they not admit it, but they would also openly and covertly attribute this wave of public opinion to malicious competition and manipulation by their peers.

The secretary and team leader looked at each other, both understanding the real situation in their studio.

Although they had to take orders from their boss in order to work and make money, they still felt a bit of aversion.

“Mr. Ke, are you sure it’s okay to clarify like this? Will the organizers of the competition be forced to come forward to explain this matter?”

“Are you the boss or am I the boss?”

Ke Ming looked over coldly. “I told you, just do it! Go out and do your work!”

The investor behind this competition was Xunya Technology, the owner of Nanchan Games. How could the organizers admit fault and offend a major game company just because of the suspicions of netizens?

What’s more, if they admitted to the “backdoor” incident, the competition would lose its credibility. Could it still be held in the future? Could it obtain money and fame?

Confirming this answer, Ke Ming picked up his cell phone on the table and dialed the number of his partner You Chang again.

On the surface, he had established a relationship with Xunya Technology through Nanchan Games, and had a big company as his backer. But in fact, since the partnership, You Chang had been responsible for communicating with the senior executives of the major manufacturers. 

In order to avoid unnecessary complications at this critical moment, he must communicate with You Chang about this matter.

. . . . . .

At YWY Studios, there was still a faint sweetness floating in the air.

Pei Yi took out the last two egg tarts and divided them. “Pear Garden, here.”

Li Yuan glanced at Yan Cen, but before he could act reserved and serious, his friend directly stuffed the egg tart into his hand.

“Eat, ah! What are you doing standing there?”

With that said, he took half a bite of egg tart.

Bo Yueming took out a wet wipe and wiped the hands of his lover before him. “How can you have one stomach and eat another stomach full of dessert?”

Yan Cen’s eyes were still on Li Yuan, and he asked, “Didn’t you say you had something serious to do tonight? Why are you so relaxed?”

They had originally thought they would have dinner on Friday night, but Pei Yi and Li Yuan both said they had business to take care of and must stay in the office to work overtime.

Bo Yueming and Yan Cen feared that the two business-minded people would forget to eat, so they could only come to the door with food.

Li Yuan took a bite of egg tart core, and signaled toward Pei Yi with his eyes. “The commander-in-chief is over there.”

Pei Yi glanced at the time and finally cut back to the situation. “Lin Zhong, how are things going now?”

“Little Sir, don’t worry. After Deng Mufeng published that long Weibo, the high-level commenters were arranged in advance infiltrated the ordinary netizens to guide public opinion, and the news has also penetrated into major social forums such as Youtu.”

Ke Ming’s guess was correct. There was indeed someone behind Deng Mufeng’s incident—

Except for Pei Yi, who had a grudge and was using the same troll tactics to fight back, the leader on the other side was actually a senior executive at Weiyi headquarters.

Ever since he learned that “Alien Beasts” would be released in advance, Pei Yi and Li Yuan not only contacted Deng Mufeng, but also Gu Jianshen far away in Haishi, and asked him to help them make contact.

Weiyi and Xunya Technology had been tit-for-tat for a long time, and even their subsidiaries were fiercely competing with each other. On the surface, the situation was like fire and water.

Now that there was an opportunity to defeat the opponent, how could Weiyi’s senior management be willing to let it go?

The reason Deng Mufeng and his people were willing to stand up and voice their suspicions was not only for fairness and to vent their anger, but also to reach a game-and-business-related cooperation with Weiyi.

Lin Zhong continued, “Also, I just confirmed the latest news.”

“What is it?” Li Yuan asked.

“There is a problem with the servers of ‘Alien Beasts,” and many game players say they cannot log in. In addition, some players who logged in reported feedback—”

“There is a bug in the in-game dungeons. The NPC monsters in the dungeons can resurrect themselves even if their health bars are drained.”

Lin Zhong listed several complaints taken from the official website.

Pei Yi shook his head with a smile. “The reason a game must go through one, two, or even three rounds of internal testing is to fix minor programming loopholes.”

Ke Ming was so eager for a quick success this time that he ignored the importance of internal testing.

These might seem like minor issues, but would add up to an amount that would dampen the enthusiasm of game players, which was very fatal for a newly released mobile game.

Pei Yi looked at his friend. “Pear Garden, do you remember what I told you before in Haishi?”

Li Yuan replied tacitly, “I remember.”

How could Ke Ming lose all his wealth?

Of course it was if he spent all his money on a game, but when it was about to be recovered, the funding channels suddenly collapsed—

Therefore, they discussed with Deng Mufeng and others to counterattack today when “Alien Beasts” launched the in-game transaction channel.

Originally, judging from the time difference between things fermenting, “Alien Beasts” could still be recovered to some extent. But unexpectedly, so many players were unable to log in at the critical moment?

Eight or nine chances out of ten, there was something wrong with the servers. It seemed that even the heavens had chosen to side with them.

“Pear Garden, go downstairs and have the internet publicity team leader keep an eye on this. He’ll get double pay for any overtime worked today.”

Pei Yi’s mind was running very fast. “I bet that with Ke Ming’s temperament, he will have to throw the dirty water of the ‘login’ issues on us.”

“En, I understand.”

After explaining to his friend, Pei Yi remembered something else and looked at his off-field aid. “Er-ge, what I told you last time, you…..”

Bo Yueming grasped his fingertips and said, “Don’t worry, Director You will speak for me over there.”

Pei Yi chuckled. “That’s good. I’ll have another phone call with Gu Jianshen.”

The first round of traps had been laid. Once Ke Ming issued his clarification statement, the next wave of real face-slaps would follow!

“Pear Garden, let’s go downstairs.”

“Okay.”

Pei Yi and Li Yuan exchanged glances, feeling a long-suppressed excitement toward slapping that person in the face. They left their lovers behind at once.

The office door shut unceremoniously.

Yan Cen and Bo Yueming, who were left behind, looked at each other. They had always been busy, and at this moment, they actually felt the sort of boredom of having “nothing to do.”

“Mr. Bo, you look very idle.”

“Right back at you.”

. . . . . . .

Night fell again, and in the brightly lit office building, the staff of the Chanming Studios internet publicity team complained with downtrodden expressions.

Ever since Ke Ming announced that the game would be released in advance, the internet publicity department had been caught off guard. They worked overtime until midnight almost every day, and there was still no compensation.

They finally made it to Friday. They had initially thought they could happily get off work at 6 o’clock and go home to rest, but unexpectedly, bad news suddenly fell from the sky, and they had to work overtime to write statements and catch up on notifications.

“I really want to resign!”

“I’m also thinking about it, ah. Day in and day out, there are no breaks and no overtime pay.”

“Stop talking! Mr. Ke is here!”

Within three seconds, Ke Ming strode in with an angry look on his face. “Have you written the announcement? What kind of work efficiency do you think this is?”

The team leader suppressed his dissatisfaction and responded, “Mr. Ke, it has been written and was about to be sent to you for review.”

Ke Ming approached. “Bring it here, I’ll look at it now.”

“Okay.”

The team leader handed over the tablet. The announcement was quite concise—

First, it said that the servers were malfunctioning due to a malicious attack, and were expected to be repaired before seven o’clock. There would also be an in-game money bonus for that night’s “Destroy the Alien Beasts.”

Secondly, it justly explained that the production and operation teams of “Destroy the Alien Beasts” had made absolutely no violations of the moral bottom line!

They believed that ability was the foundation of expression, and originality was the source of confidence. They had been contributing their share to the future of the Chinese gaming industry.

The team leader looked at this “false” statement and asked doubtfully, “Mr. Ke, shouldn’t we discuss this with Nanchan Games?”

After all, the game “Destroy the Alien Beasts” was produced by their studio, but it was also jointly produced with Nanchan Games.

Ke Ming took a quick look and said, “It’s too late! Just send it!”

After ending the video call, he had been unable to contact You Chang. The calls he made just rang and rang, and then the phone turned off directly.

How could he find that person to discuss this?

Since You Chang had asked him to pay more attention to the game before the video call ended, he still had the right whether or not to post this harmless statement.

“In addition to Weibo, other social media accounts must keep up. Also, the paid commenters behind this statement should still be bought, so remember to maintain the popularity!”

Blackish red was also red!

As long and the competition officials didn’t come forward to speak the truth, and as long as Nanchan and Xunya Technology were still his backers, then after this crisis, their “Destroy the Alien Beasts” could still go on!

When the team leader heard Ke Ming’s order, he could only suppress the doubts in his heart and obey.

Five minutes later, this statement was sent out simultaneously on all platforms, and the team of paid commenters that had been negotiated quickly took their deposit and started to work.

Time passed by minute by minute.

Ke Ming sat in front of the computer screen, clutching his cell phone and dialing the numbers of You Chang and Nanchan Games again and again, but no one answered.

His inner uneasiness did not diminish after the statement. On the contrary, he had a strong sense of impending crisis.

—Zizi

His cell phone suddenly vibrated with a message.

Ke Ming quickly picked up his phone to take a look, only to find a WeChat profile picture in the message that was a bit unexpected.

It was Xiang Nansheng, his former friend and partner.

Ke Ming took a breath and clicked on the WeChat comment.

— Ke Ming, it was agreed that I would tell you that your great gift to him has been received, and in reciprocity, he also has a return gift for you.

— [Weibo link]

— In addition, I would like to add a personal statement: I am glad that I saw through you and left the studio. If you behave badly, you will inevitably spin a web around yourself. Take care!

“……”

Ke Ming looked at the three WeChat messages, gritted his teeth, and clicked on the other party’s link!

Three minutes ago, a well-known blogger with more than five million fans in the gaming community had published a long piece of news!

— Relying on plagiarism to make a comeback, and now relying on a backdoor to win awards, Nanchan Games is a huge pile of rat shit in the Chinese gaming circle!

Just reading the Weibo title, he felt a surge of fury.

Ke Ming clicked on the long article with pictures and text, browsing through it. The blogger concluded that there was plagiarism in the stand-alone games produced by Nanchan Games in the past three years.

It involved eight games, large and small, and three of them had become popular stand-alone games after overwhelming marketing!

The total number of players had reached 600 million, and the revenue generated through advertising and other activities was conservatively estimated to exceed 250 million!

With such huge profits, the production and promotion costs of Nanchan Games only cost a few million, and the copyright fees cost nothing at all!

The creators of the original works had toiled hard, but their efforts had benefited a shameless thief, and because Nanchan was backed by a large company and was far overseas, they had no way to complain!

Especially in the past two years, Nanchan Games had made a lot of money. After encountering suspicions, they either directly removed the games or refused to admit it and waited for the storm to end!

The boss behind the scenes was so thick-skinned as to wall himself away!

It should be known that many people could only save up a few tens of thousands in savings every year. 

In the face of data that directly represented money, the anger of gamers, but also ordinary netizens, was rising—

“Holy shit! I admit it, I’m jealous!”

“Keep this in mind, friends! Support genuine games! Stop encouraging this shitty company!”

“Did some research. Nanchan Games is one of the subsidiaries of Xunya Technology, and Chanming Studios, which recently launched the mobile game “Destroy the Alien Beasts,” just issued a statement not long ago. The two companies have a partnership agreement together.”

“Ugh. These are all plagiarism veterans. Have the new mobile games also been plagiarized?”

“Don’t doubt it. It must be there, but just hasn’t been revealed yet. Dogs will definitely not change their habit of eating shit!”

“Ability is the foundation of expression, and originality is the source of confidence? Nanchan Games and Chanming Studios, let me ask you whether this statement is a slap in the face!”

“Let’s unite and complain to the relevant departments! This kind of game developer should not exist!”

. . . . .

Ke Ming read these angry comments and felt his face burning with pain. The suffocating anger in his heart was like a headless fly, flying around but unable to find a way out!

They were stuck before the opening of their in-game transaction channel, and Deng Mufeng’s suspicions and the alliance with paid commenters attracted the attention of the netizens, forcing them to come forward to issue a clarification statement.

This statement happened to be a self-created trap.

Since Nanchan Games and Chanming Studios were in a partnership, how could netizens distinguish so clearly?

Using the former’s past plagiarism scandals to stir up anger on the web, this successfully triggered everyone’s rejection of “Destroy the Alien Beasts.”

Each move of a chess piece was timed just right!

Was it Pei Yi?

— It must be Pei Yi!

The eyes beneath Pei Yi’s peaked cap reappeared in Ke Ming’s mind, and he finally realized that he had underestimated this person!

He had originally thought that the other party was just a kitten being raised in a greenhouse, and with the identity of Will, he might just be spending money to have some fun.

But now it turned out that the other party had strength and ambition, and even wanted to destroy his Chanming Studios!

The phone in his hand suddenly vibrated, causing Ke Ming’s hands to inexplicably shake.

He saw the name on the caller ID clearly, and with nowhere to vent the fire in his heart, it immediately rushed to his mouth. “Hey! You Chang!”

“Let me ask you, what’s going on with the online revelations about Nanchan Games? Do you know how this is likely to affect me…..”

Before this preemptive question could be finished, the other party responded with even stronger anger, “Ke Ming! Stop putting on airs! I ask you! When did you offend Bo Group?”

Ke Ming was stunned. “What?”

You Chang cursed again. “I’m going to be fucking killed because of you!”

We was from Wencheng. In order to avoid becoming a victim in the family disputes, he had decided to stay away and establish his own business. 

As for his cousin You Qinian, who now controlled the family, he hid far away from the man and didn’t dare to provoke him.

Not long ago, You Chang suddenly received a strange and frightening phone call—

Before he knew it, Ke Ming had already offended Bo Group, and the current chairman of Bo Group had a cooperative relationship with You Qinian.

A seemingly simple sentence sounded like a real threat to You Chang.

No matter how well-behaved he had been and how much money he had made in the past two years, compared to You Qinian, it was like an ant meeting an elephant!

“I’m telling you, the partnership between us up to now ends immediately! In two days, I will have my people terminate the contract with your studio!”

He didn’t want to get himself involved in trouble because of Ke Ming!

The phone hung up abruptly.

Ke Ming sat there blankly, his face turning blue and white, unable to understand You Chang’s inexplicable change of attitude.

There was currently turmoil on the internet, and Nanchan’s studio had been stigmatized because of past plagiarism. This situation was getting chaotic!

Now he had just gotten a phone call about ending their partnership? Was this like playing house?

You Chang and Nanchan could freely choose not to spend the money they invested in “Destroy the Alien Beats,” or even hide amidst the scorn like they had done in the past!

Then who would consider the crisis he was facing?

In order to release “Destroy the Alien Beasts” and to have more say, Ke Ming had proactively invested nearly 30 million in the early stages.

It was no exaggeration to say that this was all the wealth he and his studio had accumulated over the years!

Ke Ming’s eyes were about to burst out, his entire bodied overcome by an unprecedented panic—

If “Destroy the Alien Beasts” was really brought down by public opinion, wouldn’t he lose all his capital?!

---

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Chapter Eighty-Five <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-Seven