AEKMEM chapter 2

Chu Heng would never marry a crown princess.

Did they really think he could be controlled by one?

Interstellar nonsense!

“Your Highness, everyone’s here. No one was left behind.” Adjutant Jiang Qi led the guards who escorted a group of tightly bound star pirates out of the tavern.

One of the young star pirates in charge blushed and shouted,

“Chu Heng, what do you think you’re doing!”

“Heh,” Chu Heng adjusted his black leather gloves lazily and sneered. In a low voice, he said, “You swallowed my energy crystals, and you still want to ask what I’m going to do?”

Some people who had just been gossiping about the imperial crown prince froze. They hadn’t expected the crown prince himself to overhear them.

Who would have guessed that the seemingly ordinary basement of the tavern was actually the secret base of a group of star pirates?

Hadn’t they said the crown prince went to the eastern frontier to sweep up the star pirates? How did he end up in their southern frontier?

They said the prince was so fierce in the war against the Zerg that he was regarded as a war god and a killer god. But would he really get angry enough to beat them just because of their nonsense?

The captured pirates thought they were hiding safely and hadn’t done anything illegal. They were shocked and terrified when Chu Heng revealed himself.

They were the Red Spider Star Pirates. Although they were called pirates, they were actually smugglers who specialized in transporting high-grade energy crystals that were strictly controlled by the Empire.

These crystals were extremely important resources for beastmen and elves.

Beastmen and elves generally had super strength and mental power.

Mental power is the foundation for guiding super strength. Most people are born with it. Except in very special cases, mental power cannot easily be improved, even with the long-term convenience of elf healing abilities. Even with the help of elves, it can only be increased by one or two levels.

Unfortunately, mental power is fragile and unstable. It is vulnerable to disruption and injury when super strength is enhanced, when the super strength level exceeds the mental power, or when the mental ocean is attacked.

Damage to mental power affects the use of super strength. Only the healing ability of elves can effectively restore it.

Super strength recovery, enhancement, and maintenance all require energy crystals. Of course, elves can also assist in restoring and maintaining super strength and even promote improvement. However, elves are too rare in the empire, so one usually has to rely on energy crystals.

Due to their importance and scarcity, high-grade energy crystals are strictly controlled by the Empire.

Smuggling high-grade energy crystals is an extremely serious crime.

Some of the high-grade crystals smuggled by the Red Spider Star Pirates came from the army’s “ammunition.”

The Red Spider Star Pirates’ leaders gathered for a meeting to address Chu Heng’s elimination of the star pirates at the Eastern Frontier and their potential arrival at the Southern Frontier.

What they didn’t expect, though, was that Chu Heng hadn’t gone to the Eastern Frontier at all—he had come straight to the Southern Frontier!

“Speak honestly!” Adjutant Jiang Qi kicked a young star pirate who dared to speak up.

Even during the war against the Zerg, they dared to smuggle high-grade energy crystals from front-line troops. These people truly had no sense of boundaries.

The young pirate winced in pain. Anxious and furious, he said, “Chu Heng, how dare you use the hanging punishment?! You’re the prince; you can’t ignore imperial law!”

Chu Heng walked slowly, his black leather boots creaking with each step.

He stopped in front of the young pirate and casually stepped on his right shoulder, crushing it hard.
“I even beat your master, the second prince. Besides, do you think this prince obeys the law?”

“You…” The youth felt as if he could hear his bones break. He widened his eyes, unsure whether he was more shocked by the fact that Chu Heng knew the second prince was behind this or by Chu Heng’s recklessness.

“Your master sure knows how to make money!”

Chu Heng’s voice sounded casual, with a hint of sarcasm and displeasure.

These people dared to cheat his second army!

They took advantage of the critical moment when he was fighting the Zerg and didn’t have the energy to pay attention, secretly intercepting several high-grade energy crystals from his troops.

High-grade energy crystals—money!

Chu Heng narrowed his eyes, extremely displeased.

Ha! Anyone who dares to cross him will be repaid tenfold!

He was about to say something when the optical brain on his wrist rang at the worst possible moment.

He tapped the interface and noticed a notification from the main brain system:

“Honorable Chu Heng, congratulations on a 100% match. Click the following link to view the matched object’s information: An Qiao.”

Chu Heng: “?”

It’s impossible to fulfill a marriage contract match.

This An Qiao had better be wise and agree to cancel the engagement!

**

An Qiao hadn’t received the matching notification from the main brain system.

He had temporarily disabled his optical brain because the unfriendly messages from opportunists were annoying and the ringing disturbed him.

In the cramped ward,

An Qiao sat on the bed looking gloomy.

An open copy of the latest edition of The Imperial Life Common Sense Book sat on his lap. Propping his cheek with one hand, he flipped through the pages.

“Hey, the prince really went to the southern frontier to wipe out the star pirates!” Song Leran, who had just come to visit An Qiao, glanced at his wrist computer and exclaimed.

Song Leran was An Qiao’s human classmate at the First Imperial Military Academy and an elf. Though awakened, he was the elf with the lowest healing ability.

Perhaps because An Qiao had suffered so much, Song Leran’s fatherly instincts flared. While An Qiao was in the hospital, Song Leran had patiently helped him many times.

By accident, perhaps, Song Leran’s light computer suddenly projected a video.

On a battlefield filled with smoke and blood under a starry night sky, a black dragon covered in fire dove down.

As if sensing its territory was being invaded, the massive dragon, which overshadowed the sky and sun, suddenly raised its head and looked up. Its vertical red pupils radiated feral danger.

Moments later, light and shadow swapped places, and the giant dragon vanished. Surrounded by thousands of firebirds shaped by flames, a man with beautiful eyebrows and eyes walked indifferently along a bloodied path strewn with the corpses of star beasts.

“Oh, sorry. I accidentally touched the external speaker.” Song Leran quickly turned off the video.

He said worriedly, “These pictures are too bloody. Are you scared?”

“Scared? No.” An Qiao blinked with a serious and sincere face. “I actually think they’re quite cute.”

“Ah?”

His eyebrows remained clear and cold, but a subtle, inexplicable burning appeared deep in his eyes. “Don’t you think that dragon is cute?”

“Well, what about those firebirds? Aren’t they cute?”

No one knew that the seemingly elegant Elf King was actually a lover of dragons.

He liked strange, beautiful, new, and interesting things. He especially liked large, ferocious beasts, such as dragons, which were at the top of the food chain. Their massive bodies and warm, dangerous breath matched his violent aesthetic perfectly.

If not for the elves, who had never provoked war with other races and didn’t want to fight dragons, An Qiao would have loved to catch one to study.

The dragon he saw in the video suited his aesthetic even more than any he had seen before!

Song Leran: “…”

Are you sure you’re not joking?

The giant dragon form of Prince Chu Heng emits an oppressive, suffocating pressure through a screen alone that can make one tremble—it’s terrifying.

The seemingly beautiful firebirds transformed by firepower are also terrifying beings capable of causing disaster and massacre. They leave a deep impression on anyone who has seen them.

Yet, An Qiao isn’t afraid. In fact, he finds them cute.

Song Leran thought that perhaps, after An Qiao lost his memory when he was rescued from the Zangling Snowfield, his cognitive abilities were affected too.

“Ha, you’re right.” Song Leran forced a smile.

The video turned off, but An Qiao still felt slightly reluctant. He silently memorized Chu Heng’s name, thinking that he might seek his advice one day and let him fight in his black dragon form.

With this thought, he smiled faintly.

A second later, however, he suddenly coughed and frowned slightly. His face was as pale as paper, and he looked unwell.

An Qiao: “… ”

He could barely restrain himself from swearing.

His weak body—he had just dragged himself out for a morning walk and caught a cold from the chilly wind. Somehow, the demon curse in his body had worsened.

His external wounds had been treated in the hospital, so that was not a concern. An elf doctor examined his internal injuries, but they were severe. Even worse, the Demon King’s curse continued to torment him.

An Qiao suspected that, unless his recovery speed surpassed the erosion of the curse, it would be difficult for him to restore his magic power in the future, let alone eliminate the Demon King’s curse.

Fortunately, his mental power wasn’t too damaged; he didn’t need to worry about his safety.

Restoring magic power requires a lot of energy.

In this world, however, the magical elements in the air were so thin that absorbing energy from the air was like a drop in the ocean.

Fortunately, the energy crystals in this world looked almost identical to the magic crystals in their world.

Since energy crystals could replenish energy and restore super strength for beastmen and elves, could they also restore his magic power?

Unfortunately, he didn’t have any to experiment with.

His star coins couldn’t buy the expensive crystals.

The pampered Elf King, who had never lacked gold coins before, was worried about money for the first time.

It was impossible to borrow. His only option was to go to the Star Beast Forest and hunt star beasts for their crystals.

The Imperial Life Common Sense Book he had just flipped through noted that star beast meat and cores, especially star cores, could be worth many star coins.

An Qiao, picky and clean, wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought of taking star cores from star beast heads. But right now, this was the fastest way to get energy crystals.

However—

An Qiao took the book, knelt, and opened the page introducing the ‘Star Beast Forest’: “Do you know how to get to the Star Beast Forest?”

Song Leran: “!!!”

He nearly died of fright and said, “An Qiao, you can’t be so reckless!”

An Qiao had previously gone to the Star Beast Forest in a fit of anger and was lucky to be rescued. Though he lost his memory due to life-threatening injuries and experienced delusions and memory disturbances, his temperament and personality seemed to have changed. This was better than having a memory but refusing to face reality.

Now, An Qiao suddenly felt so pressured that he wanted to go back to the Star Beast Forest

The evening sunlight shone through the window. An Qiao lowered his head slightly, and silver strands fell onto his cheeks. He frowned as he flipped the book, revealing half of his slender, pale wrist.

The golden sunset light formed a faint halo on his jade-white cheek.

Standing there, he seemed to radiate light. He was so handsome that he didn’t seem human, making people wonder if legendary elves looked like him.

Song Leran stared at him, wondering how someone so handsome could endure such tragedy.

Previously, the An family relied on An Qiao for profit. Now, since he hadn’t regained consciousness, An Qiao’s father had changed his attitude and accepted the illegitimate child again. The welcoming dinner originally prepared for An Qiao upon waking became a celebration of the illegitimate child’s revival.

After An Qiao’s mental breakdown, he traveled alone to the Star Beast Forest. The An family did not send anyone to look for him.

A rescue team found him and returned him to the hospital for treatment. His father never visited him, sending the housekeeper only a few times. The An family had enough money to stay in a high-tier VIP ward but only paid for the cheapest single room.

Now, An Qiao was still sick and not recovered, yet his family forced him to attend a terrible dinner.

Thinking of this, Song Leran’s expression turned serious.

“An Qiao, you shouldn’t attend your half-brother’s coming-of-age dinner tonight. I have a feeling there might be a plot.”

This was also why Song Leran came to see An Qiao.

“Yes.” An Qiao replied lightly, not thinking much about it.

His attitude was arrogant and indifferent because of his own strength, which was almost unmatched.

In comparison, the black dragon in the video was still worth pondering!

Unfortunately, his martial arts ability was inadequate at the moment.

**

After reading a bit, night had fallen.

With a furrowed brow, An Qiao stared expressionlessly at the nutrition tube in his hand.

This was the hospital’s regular dinner for the ward.

Honestly, the pampered Elf King, who always had high standards, had never eaten such disgusting food!

After a month of this, An Qiao was ready to vomit!

“Knock, knock, knock—”

A knock sounded at the door.

An Qiao pushed the nutrition tube to the side of the table in disgust, then closed his eyes.

“Come in.” His face was cold and his voice was slightly icy.

Pain surged through him, and he unconsciously frowned as the familiar sweet, metallic taste filled his throat.

Not good.

Would his broken body cough up blood again?

“This voice is pretty good.” Chu Heng thought inappropriately as he rushed back from the Border Star to the Imperial Capital Star at top speed.

The cold voice reminded him of cold silver ornaments falling on jade plates.

Seeing that the electronic door was unlocked, Chu Heng realized something.

His only reason for rushing back to the Imperial Capital Star was to convince An Qiao to cancel the match.

He pushed open the ward door without looking. “Tell me, what can you do to agree…”

Before he could finish, he raised his eyes and saw the man leaning at the head of the bed. The man’s expression was indifferent, yet the fatigue between his brows was clear. Suddenly, the man coughed up blood, and his pale cheeks were streaked with unsightly red.

Chu Heng: “… ”

For some reason, he suddenly felt guilty for causing this man to cough up blood.

“Are you…okay?”

“Not okay.” An Qiao glanced at him with slight displeasure.

“You scared me.”

—The Elf King, who carries an eight-ton idol burden¹“偶像包袱八噸重(carries an eight-ton idol burden)” is a humorous way to say someone is weighed down by their “idol image” or reputation, has never been this embarrassed in front of outsiders before!

You can read the full completed story here with instant full access. ✨

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  “偶像包袱八噸重(carries an eight-ton idol burden)” is a humorous way to say someone is weighed down by their “idol image” or reputation