EOL Chapter 45

When the unidentified flying object approached the military base once again, the Imperial warship transmitted data from the military base. Everyone understood that there was indeed someone on that spaceship transmitting information to them.

“The connection is unstable during flight. Only by descending to a certain level can we ensure smooth and stable communication,” an officer analyzed. “Coincidentally, the military base has the most advanced communication equipment. That person took advantage of the other side’s close-range spying on our military base to transmit information!”

“It is quite a coincidence,” Alfred said dismissively, as if he did not think it was a “coincidence” at all.

He was looking down at the documents in his hand; this one was a description of the other party’s civilization, the “Federation.”

The handwriting on the paper was distorted and messy, as if it had been written in a hurry:

[A federal government, comprising fifty-three stars, each with its own council and military district. The larger stars are roughly the size of the entire Empire. The total population is more than a hundred times that of the Empire. Three years ago, there was a coup d’état in which the leader who once ruled the Federation was overthrown and is now dead. The spoils of victory were divided among the current leadership. The current president was one of the key figures during the coup and served as the first president after the coup, which gave him a lot of popularity, but he quickly withdrew from politics. This person is the leader urgently replaced by the Federation after the discovery of an ordinary civilization not long ago. He is extremely aggressive, a hardliner, and one of the greatest threats. He had a political marriage with the current commander-in-chief before the coup, and recently, to solidify the alliance, the two had a child through some kind of technology. (To be confirmed. Both are male.)]

Alfred suddenly couldn’t bear to read any longer. His eyes lingered between the phrases “a certain technology” and “having a child,” and he couldn’t seem to get into what was next.

“Take it and enter it into the database.”

He simply handed the paper to the communications officer and forced a change of topic to bring his thoughts back to the present.

“How’s the route monitoring going?”

“It’s still in line with our expectations,” the officer next to him replied. “Before we meet them, they can at most check one more military base… Should we instruct them not to fire on that base?”

Alfred looked up at him and asked, “Why?”

“There’s someone up there trying to pass information to us,” the officer said instinctively. “If he accidentally hurts someone or causes trouble for the other side, he won’t be able to pass on the intelligence…”

“Do you think a ceasefire is going to protect that person?”

The officer paused, and Alfred said, “Get the next base ready to fire, no stopping.”

****

The next day, on the spaceship.

“Where did you go just now?” The high priest frowned and looked at Xiu, who waved a reader in his hand at him.

“I found a quiet place and studied the Common Language of the Federation for a while.”

Joshua glanced at the high priest, then at Xiu, and asked, “Brother, you’ve been going out to learn their language these past few days. How’s it going?”

“Some of their language roots seem a bit like ours. After all, we share the same ancestor, just evolved differently,” Xiu said calmly, sitting down beside them. “If you want to learn, I can teach you; it’s not difficult.”

Joshua indeed showed interest, and Xiu showed him his notes.

Seeing that he had indeed learned quite a bit of the common language of the Federation, the High Priest’s brow relaxed, and he said half-jokingly, “Don’t wander off next time. I haven’t been able to find you several times in a row now. If it weren’t for the Imperial military base still tickling this ship as usual, I would have suspected that something was wrong.”

Xiu nodded, seemingly not taking the words to heart, and said, “Father, have you communicated with them? We’re almost back on the Third Cantilever, which is the best direction for us to leave. Are they planning to leave this time, or will they go around to another place to check?”

“I persuaded them, and they agreed to leave from the Third Cantilever and send us to the Federation first. These desperados¹reckless, violent criminals, I don’t know what benefits their president promised; they actually wanted to go to some areas they hadn’t been to before to take another look.” The High Priest shook his head. “Delay will only cause trouble! Although we have the speed advantage, if we keep going in circles, the main force of the Empire will be able to reach the border! That madman Stone, if the Emperor supports him in fighting, he’s capable of anything.”

Xiu said, “Unless they arrive ahead of time and intercept us. But we’ve changed our course so many times; how could they possibly predict our route? Besides, what could Marshal Stone do even if he came? You don’t need to worry too much.”

As Xiu spoke, he lifted his sleeve to look at the time displayed on his skin.

“It should… be soon,” he murmured.

His words made sense, and the high priest, somewhat reassured, breathed a sigh of relief and said, “It will be soon indeed. Once we leave the border and enter the unexplored territory of the empire, they will be completely helpless.”

The three fell silent. Midway through, a few trusted followers of the White Tower, brought by the High Priest, knocked on the door and came in, but Xiu reprimanded them and drove them out.

He had been the crown prince for too long and was used to making decisions, which displeased the high priest. However, he did not want to clash with Xiu at this time, so he said nothing.

However, Xiu seemed to be getting a little anxious and started checking the time frequently. Joshua was also affected by Xiu’s anxiety and kept asking, “How much longer until we reach the border?”

The high priest was not pleased with his two sons and said to them, “Calm down, children. We still have a long way to go to reach the Federation. Besides, we have mastered the core technology for mature gene modification, which is exactly what the Federation wants! We will be treated like VIPs, so what’s there to be nervous about!”

“How did my mother die back then?” Xiu suddenly asked.

The question came so abruptly that the high priest was stunned for a moment, wondering if he had really heard it.

“A difficult birth.” Joshua gave Xiu a disapproving look. “Why bring this up at a time like this?”

“I remember Joshua’s mother also died in childbirth.” Xiu insisted on continuing for some reason. “And Al- the late Empress also died in childbirth. When did the Empire’s mortality rate from childbirth become so high? What’s more, without exception, all these women had close ties with the High Priest before they became pregnant and gave birth. They were either the High Priest’s wives or had conspired with him in illicit affairs…”

“Shut up!” the high priest roared.

“Marshal Stone previously revealed to the Golden Palace that the Bai family’s genes were weak, making it difficult for them to have offspring. You sought the Stone family’s eldest daughter to improve the genes, but unexpectedly, even she had difficulty conceiving. So you illegally modified her constitution, leading to her death. If even the Stone family’s eldest daughter had difficulty conceiving a Bai child, what about your successor wife? It seems she also had to resort to artificial insemination, which led to her difficult childbirth…”

“What did you say…”

“I always thought you were too hasty in this matter. Now it seems that the reason you were in such a hurry was that the late Empress desperately needed a child. You wanted to seize this opportunity to make your child the Crown Prince, and then find an opportunity to kill the Empress and eliminate those who knew about your deeds, so that your own flesh and blood could ascend to the throne.”

“Xiu, what do you mean by saying these things now?”

The high priest stared coldly at Xiu, and Joshua’s expression was also unfriendly.

“Because if I don’t say them now, I’ll never have the chance to say them again. I don’t want to leave with regrets,” Xiu said, ignoring the two people’s reactions, and scoffed, “You know, when I was a child, I was genuinely grateful to you. Because of what you said to me, ‘Even with genetic defects, one can become emperor.’ How ridiculous! In reality, my genetic defects were caused by you, because you illegally experimented on my birth mother. And your encouragement and persuasion of me were just to persuade me not to carry out the late empress’s last wish, not to abdicate in favor of Alfred… The warmth I thought I received was actually all a scheme.”

The high priest’s expression changed several times. Just as he was about to speak, a loud bang was heard, and the entire ship shook violently.

The alarm blared throughout the ship, and the shaking was so intense that people could not even sit still. They stood up and swayed back and forth, grabbing onto the tables and chairs. Joshua could not control his fear and screamed.

Amidst the violent tremors, Xiu felt nauseous and wanted to vomit. He pressed hard against his chest, where in his inner pocket lay a photograph he had brought from the Dawn Palace.

“It’s okay, at least… I’ve received true love.”

Amidst the deafening alarm, no one heard this soft murmur.

After saying this, he calmly pulled out the knife that he had been hiding in his sleeve since lunchtime. Amid the commotion and cracking sounds, no one expected him to suddenly attack.

Xiu lunged forward, and the high priest, sensing something was wrong, staggered back. But he was old and frail; how could he possibly fight against a young man who had received combat training since childhood? Joshua noticed the danger, but it was too late to help. Xiu seized the opportunity to pin the high priest down and forcefully plunged the knife into his throat.

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  reckless, violent criminals