A luxurious convoy of hovercars stopped outside the Federal Division headquarters of the Aaron Group. Office workers coming and going had never seen such an extravagant display before and could not help but wonder who had arrived.
The answer soon came when the head of the Aaron Group’s Federal Division hurried out of the building to greet the visitor.
The man stepping out of the hovercar had broad shoulders, long legs, and a lean waist. On his feet were Kate crocodile-skin shoes worth hundreds of thousands of federal credits a pair, and his privately tailored wine-red suit fit him perfectly.
As he got out, he casually rotated the silver watch on his left wrist. His movements were unhurried yet exceptionally elegant.
His skin was very pale, and the thin line of his lips curved upward as if he were always smiling. The warmth in his eyes made people instinctively want to approach him and start a conversation, yet the occasional hint of distance in his gaze quickly brought those eager impulses back to reality.
He was like a sacred snow lotus growing at the peak of a mountain—something that could only be admired from afar, never profaned.
Someone nearby quietly held their breath, but when their eyes fell on the crimson red-plum hairpin clipped into his soft blond hair, they stumbled and nearly fell face-first onto the ground.
The head of the Aaron Group’s Federal Division, Wang Yangwei, was not doing much better. After hesitating for a moment, he cautiously asked, “President?”
Already expecting this reaction, Rot twitched the corner of his mouth and stepped forward to shake his hand. “President Wang, hello. The sir has recently developed a small hobby. There’s no need to be surprised.”
Wang Yangwei gave two understanding nods and forced on a professional smile as he gestured invitingly. “Sir, please!”
People with immeasurable wealth often had hobbies ordinary people could not understand. Arcius had always maintained an image of elegance and nobility, yet who would have thought he liked wearing little girls’ hairpins?
At that thought, Wang Yangwei pressed his lips together. In the depths of his eyes, unseen by anyone else, a trace of disdain and disgust flashed past.
The news that Mr. Arcius had personally arrived at the Federal headquarters of the Aaron Group spread through the towering office building like a gust of wind. The overworked employees were each more excited and curious than the last.
This young man who had already risen to the top of the interstellar wealth rankings was the dream lover of countless women and the ultimate goal of countless men.
“This place is decorated quite nicely.” Arcius looked around the general manager’s office and praised it with subtle meaning.
He himself already leaned toward a life of luxury, especially after acquiring limitless wealth. Everything he used pursued absolute perfection. Yet Wang Yangwei’s office appeared even more extravagant than his own study back in the empire.
Wang Yangwei forced out a laugh. “If you like it, I could arrange an office like this for you.”
Arcius had only notified him ten minutes earlier that he would be visiting, leaving him no time to tidy the office. Even though he had hidden quite a few things, the decor still looked extravagantly ostentatious.
Arcius loosened his coat and sat down on the sofa. “No need. I don’t like vulgar things.”
Having the label “vulgar” slapped on his forehead, Wang Yangwei could only laugh awkwardly. “I’m a vulgar person by nature. Did you come today to inspect the work, sir?”
“I happened to come to the Federation and thought I might as well take a look,” Arcius replied casually, as if it truly were a spur-of-the-moment visit.
Wang Yangwei secretly breathed a sigh of relief and offered him freshly brewed tea. “Yes, yes. The employees have all been looking forward to your visit.”
He had been recommended for this position after the previous Federal Division general manager retired. Apart from traveling to the imperial headquarters once a year for his year-end report, he had almost never seen Arcius in person.
But that did not mean he knew nothing about the owner of the Aaron Group.
Since he took office, he had never seen the rumored formidable Arcius make any particularly brilliant decision.
A corporate giant like the Aaron Group had long ceased to be a privately controlled enterprise dominated by a single individual. It had its own operating system. The board of directors selected the most beneficial decisions for the company, and as the figurehead in power, Arcius hardly needed to worry about anything.
All those external rumors about Arcius were exaggerated nonsense. He was merely the representative figure pushed forward by a vast group of vested interests.
Arcius watched Wang Yangwei’s humble and submissive behavior, the smile in his eyes failing to reach their depths. After taking a sip of tea, he suddenly said, “I heard you have a good relationship with Keller.”
Keller was the name of the fox-mask man from the underground auction house, and also a lackey of Arcius’s adoptive father, Katesi.
The sudden question startled Wang Yangwei. His heart pounded wildly, yet perhaps because he had done too many duplicitous things in the past, he managed to show no panic at all. Instead, he displayed a perfectly timed look of confusion.
“Who’s Keller? Do I have a good relationship with him?”
Seeing him play dumb, Arcius smiled indifferently. “It’s fine if you can’t remember. You have plenty of time to recall. Before that, you can step down from your position.”
He dismissed Wang Yangwei with a casual tone. The latter had not expected him to tear off the mask so directly and widened his eyes.
“I don’t understand what you mean! I haven’t done anything wrong. On what grounds are you removing me from my position? Just because I don’t know the person you mentioned?”
Arcius ignored the accusation. He calmly finished the remaining half cup of tea before smiling faintly.
“Because the Aaron Group belongs to me.”
His tone had not changed from before. He was merely stating a simple fact.
Seeing that he was serious, the previously submissive Wang Yangwei suddenly sneered.
“Arcius, I think you need to understand one thing. This is the Federation.”
Even a powerful dragon could not suppress the local snakes. After leaving the aristocratic empire where nobles ruled with absolute authority, did he really think a single sentence could make everyone here grovel before him?
What stupidity.
Wang Yangwei spread his arms comfortably against the sofa. “I don’t know why you came today, but if you can pretend nothing happened and leave now, I can also pretend nothing happened.”
His response was a cold snort.
A powerful wave of mental force suddenly burst from Rot and crushed him.
Wang Yangwei had not expected such blatant violence in broad daylight. Completely unprepared, he screamed as the pressure struck him. An overwhelming gravity pressed down from above his head as if it intended to crush him into pieces. In reality, he remained seated on the sofa, barely changing posture.
Arcius, however, was unaffected. He poured himself another cup of tea and said calmly, “I wonder if you’ve heard that I dislike self-righteous people.”
Wang Yangwei was a completely ordinary person. Rot’s mental pressure suffocated him, trapping him in the sofa in a rather ridiculous position.
Through the overwhelming pressure, Arcius’s voice still reached his ears clearly. Suddenly, Wang Yangwei remembered something from years ago.
The first time he had gone to the imperial headquarters for his report, a man had made trouble there, claiming he knew one of Arcius’s secrets. If he were not given enough hush money, he would reveal the secret to the entire world.
Curious, Wang Yangwei had discreetly asked about that man after finishing his report. The headquarters staff had avoided the subject, and he learned nothing.
But later, after the year-end banquet ended, when he returned to his residence, he had passed through a narrow, dim alley and saw that same man lying in a pool of blood. His eyes were bulging wide, and he had clearly been dead for quite some time.
Later he learned that man had once been the head of one of the Aaron Group’s regional divisions.
Remembering that scene, Wang Yangwei gasped sharply.
How had he forgotten?
How could he have forgotten something so important?
The image of the dead man surged back from the depths of his memory, growing clearer and clearer. Wang Yangwei’s heart pounded violently, surging into a nearly manic state of excitement.
Rot sensed something wrong and immediately stepped in front of Arcius.
At the same time, the exposed skin on Wang Yangwei’s body began to swell. Veins bulged across him like disgusting worms, twitching beneath the surface.
His eyes were filled with bloodshot veins. His skin seemed unable to contain the monster inside him, splitting open inch by inch, revealing mottled blood beneath.
Pfft! His arm finally burst apart under the pressure.
Amid the spray of blood, a dark red thorny vine covered in dense spikes shot out, attacking Arcius directly.
Rot reacted instantly. Pulling an energy gun from behind his waist, he fired two shots at the vine and knocked it off course.
Black smoke rose from the place where it was hit, accompanied by a foul stench. Yet the thorny vine shook itself once and the damage instantly healed before it attacked again.
Arcius narrowed his eyes slightly. He also drew an energy gun and calmly fired, pushing the blood thorns back.
Enraged after being struck repeatedly, Wang Yangwei’s body split open further. Blood flowed from his seven orifices.
His body expanded and contracted like breathing, as if it could explode at any moment. The blood thorns spread even more branches.
The air grew increasingly dangerous.
The red-plum hairpin in Arcius’s bangs trembled slightly.
Rot suddenly pulled out a heavy machine energy gun from his spatial pack and unleashed a rapid burst of fire.
Before Wang Yangwei could explode, he collapsed to the ground with a thud, his entire body emitting a revolting stench.
“Ah-choo!”
Pu Xin sneezed lightly. Rubbing her nose, she clutched Lu Xunzhi’s sleeve and looked timidly toward Lu Bieling.
Lu Bieling still wore his usual icy expression, though anyone who knew him well could see the speechless helplessness in his eyes.
He glanced at Lu Xunzhi, who had already taken out a handkerchief to gently wipe Pu Xin’s nose after her sneeze. The marshal deeply felt that after acknowledging his mother, his son had embarked firmly on the path of becoming a mama’s boy.
And it seemed he had no intention of turning back.
With a headache coming on, he said, “Can you make him stop?”
Not far away, the FSB Director was still receiving a barrage of slaps from the little willow tree. The crisp slap slap slap echoed pleasantly through the empty prison.
The Federal Defense Minister, a spirited little old man, looked equally speechless. He had clearly never seen such an absurd scene.
Pu Xin still remembered how loudly the director had scolded her precious child earlier. She rubbed her nose with the handkerchief and replied reluctantly, “It won’t listen to me.”
Not a single person believed that.
Lu Xunzhi understood her little scheme fairly well. Amused and touched, he cooperated to give his father a bit of face.
“Mom, I think it looks less angry now. Why don’t you try talking to it again?”
Since her child had already asked for mercy, Pu Xin decided she could not appear too petty. She stuffed the handkerchief back into Lu Xunzhi’s hand and glanced at the little willow tree.
The tree immediately stopped, straightened itself proudly, and clasped two willow branches together in a respectful bow toward her.
Everyone present: “……”
Did that look like disobedience?
Lu Xunzhi pretended to be blind. “Mom, see? It really did calm down.”
Everyone else: “……”
One dared to say it, the other dared to boast.
Even Lu Bieling had never imagined that the honest, upright son he had raised would end up like this. He coughed lightly.
“Since it has calmed down, continue the interrogation.”
“Fang Jing, call a doctor.”
Fang Jing immediately contacted one.
The FSB Director, finally freed from the willow tree’s grasp, had cheeks swollen into a pig-like shape. Anyone unfamiliar with him might not recognize the once-formidable director.
Pu Xin immediately added fuel to the fire. “Calling a doctor is useless. You should just put handcuffs on him.”
The word handcuffs rang sharply, and everyone turned to look at her.
The little dandelion raised her chin confidently.
“Old Gou is him.”
The FSB Director had just regained some clarity when those words frightened him out of his wits.
He sat up abruptly, ignoring the pain in his cheeks and trying to explain, but his teeth had been knocked out. His speech was full of air leaks and no one could understand a word.
No one pitied him either.
The Federal Defense Minister frowned. “Are you certain?”
After learning about the alias Old Gou from Little Chives, Lu Xunzhi had already reported it directly to the minister and Lu Bieling. This mysterious figure had been the key focus of the interrogation.
Pu Xin’s earlier behavior made her accusation sound a bit like revenge, which was why the minister asked.
Pu Xin nodded firmly.
“The Colchicum told me. He hates aliens and often went to the underground auction house to whip them. So Colchicum spread its pollen on him.”
“He’s already poisoned by it. It should have been for quite some time. You can investigate.”
Lu Bieling’s icy gaze stabbed into the director. The latter trembled and shook his head frantically.
“Take him away. Investigate thoroughly!” Lu Bieling roared.
He had always known the Federation was not a perfectly unified entity, but he never imagined that even the head of the FSB could be infiltrated by terrorists.
His expression darkened further.
The Federal Defense Minister, standing beside him, hardly dared breathe. Though the director had not been personally promoted by him, the appointment had still been approved under his authority. Now that the man was exposed as corrupt, responsibility would inevitably fall on him as well.
The news that the FSB Director had colluded with terrorists from the underground auction house spread through the entire bureau within a very short time. Marshal Lu Bieling was furious and ordered a complete investigation of the FSB.
That was a matter for later.
After Lu Bieling left in anger, Pu Xin blinked, stuffed the little willow tree back into its prison, and said earnestly to the small aliens inside.
“You must behave from now on. Don’t fight casually anymore. Cooperate with the investigation properly. Otherwise…”
She did not finish the sentence, but glanced meaningfully at the little willow tree’s once-bald crown.
The little willow tree trembled and nodded frantically. The memory of its earlier baldness was still fresh in its mind.
The other little aliens also nodded vigorously, nearly swearing to the heavens.
Satisfied, Pu Xin then visited the other cells. Within just a few minutes, the violent-type aliens that had long baffled the FSB all became as obedient as quails. Some even showed signs of transforming into humanoid forms.
This shocked the experts who had spent years studying violent-type aliens in the FSB. Some even proposed a theory that violent-type aliens might be convertible into gentle-type aliens.
After finishing far more than expected, Pu Xin linked arms with Lu Xunzhi as they walked out of the FSB.
They saw Su Kai, Lu Bieling’s adjutant, waiting outside.
When he saw them, he quickly approached. “Young Master, the Marshal is waiting for you.”
He gestured toward a low-profile hovercar in the parking lot.
Pu Xin, who had not been mentioned, immediately grabbed Lu Xunzhi’s sleeve unhappily.
“He doesn’t want to see me?”
Under her clear gaze, Su Kai suddenly felt his scalp go numb.
The little dandelion was the young master’s mother, which made her relationship with the marshal somewhat awkward. However, she clearly had no romantic interest in the marshal and simply regarded him as her child’s father.
Even so, the question left Su Kai struggling.
As a competent adjutant, he shook his head.
“It’s about an important matter on the front line. It’s a Federation secret, so it can’t be told to you yet.”
Pu Xin did not really understand what “secret” meant, but she did understand that she could not go with her child.
She did not dwell on it. Pushing Lu Xunzhi forward, she pointed toward a nearby rest area.
“I’m going to buy some juice.”
Her mother was considerate and understanding. Lu Xunzhi nodded, watching her walk into the rest area before sending Qi Xia to follow her.
Inside the hovercar, only Lu Bieling remained. The atmosphere was extremely heavy.
“Father, what happened?” Lu Xunzhi asked.
After nearly thirty years together, he understood his father well. Something serious must have occurred for his aura to feel so oppressive.
Lu Bieling indeed looked grim.
“The situation at the FSB can wait. Something uncontrollable has appeared on the front line.”
The Federation currently had only one active frontline conflict: the battlefield near the Thin Mist Galaxy, where they fought the insectoid race.
If humans and aliens shared a relationship of gradual acceptance, humans and insects were natural enemies.
Like aliens, insects had not originally belonged to this universe. Aliens came from the mysterious Devil’s Eye, while insects invaded endlessly through a rift known as the Burial Abyss.
Every so often, insects reproduced in massive numbers, triggering a tide of insects.
“Is the insect tide coming early?” Lu Xunzhi asked, frowning.
For thousands of years humanity had learned the pattern of these tides. They occurred roughly once every ten years, yet it had only been eight years since the last one. The timing had never changed before.
Lu Bieling shook his head and sent him a video recording.
Lu Xunzhi opened it.
There were many kinds of insects. Some looked like disgusting wriggling caterpillars. Others had hard shells and were relatively less revolting. Butterfly and bee types were actually quite beautiful, though rare.
The creatures in the video were enormous, hideous caterpillar-like insects. Their bodies were pitch black, covered in thin spikes. As they wriggled forward, their spikes carved deep trenches into the ground. Sometimes they even pierced their companions, spilling dark red blood that left corroded scorch marks behind.
Lu Xunzhi continued watching calmly.
Soon the insects encountered a Federation fleet. The video sped up.
Under the rain of artillery fire, many insects were blasted into fragments, yet the rest surged forward fearlessly, attempting to devour the warships.
Suddenly Lu Xunzhi’s eyes widened slightly.
A black rift opened in the middle of the Federation’s heaviest bombardment zone, and a golden-red figure appeared at the center of the battlefield.
The Federation warships captured the image.
From the footage, it was a youth of about sixteen or seventeen. His black hair was tied high with a red ribbon trailing down his back. He wore elaborate golden-red robes. The wind seemed strong there, lifting his long hair and fluttering his robes like a descending deity.
That was, if one ignored the pair of translucent crimson wings behind him.
When the wings beat, golden dust drifted down but never touched the ground. It hovered around him instead, shielding him from the filthy air.
As if sensing he was being watched, the youth suddenly turned his head.
The moment his crimson compound eyes looked toward the warship, the screen distorted and went dark.
Pride! Lu Xunzhi had seen overwhelming pride in those eyes, along with utter disdain for the ones secretly observing him.
Very strong.
Even through a virtual screen, Lu Xunzhi felt the chilling pressure of that moment. Despite his confidence in his own strength, he could not guarantee he could defeat the youth.
After a moment he asked hoarsely, “This is…?”
“If we’re not mistaken, it’s also an insect. A very high-level one.”
Since the insects had invaded this universe, only low-level insects had appeared, relying on sheer numbers to attack human planets.
Some scholars had theorized about higher-level insects before, but they had never found evidence and had even been criticized for spreading panic.
Lu Bieling replayed the footage and froze it at the instant the youth looked back.
“He appeared suddenly on the Thin Mist defensive line. Our warship captured only this short segment before losing contact. When the rescue team arrived later, they found only the battlefield ruins.”
“In the following days, the insects that had always been active suddenly withdrew into their nests. The boy who appeared has not been seen again.”
A high-level insect with terrifying combat power appearing on the Federation’s frontline could collapse the defense entirely if no one could counter him.
After only a few seconds of thought, Lu Xunzhi made his decision.
“I’ll go to the front line immediately.”
Lu Bieling had waited there specifically for this reason. Looking out the hovercar window, he said, “Before that, arrange things for your mother.”
Pu Xin’s ability to deal with aliens was remarkable, but insects were different. On the battlefield she would only become a burden, and the army’s rules made it impossible to bring her along.
Lu Xunzhi’s brows tightened. He had only recently reunited with his mother.
After a brief moment of thought, he decided.
“Let her return to the empire with Arcius.”
It was the only solution he could think of.
His jealous younger brother might be annoying, but he genuinely cared for their mother.
Lu Bieling was silent when he heard the name Arcius.
Long ago, Lu Xunzhi had reported that the little dandelion had found another son. At the time, he had wondered how lucky Pu Xin must be for even Arcius to be her child.
Perhaps one day she would point at that insect youth on the battlefield and say he was her son too, and he would not even find it surprising.
Realizing how ridiculous that thought was, Lu Bieling felt that after meeting Pu Xin, he himself had started thinking in ridiculous ways.
He nodded.
“You handle the negotiation with him.”
Meanwhile, Pu Xin, who was happily drinking watermelon juice, had no idea her future had already been arranged.
She was holding a pink gerbera daisy given by the drink shop and absentmindedly plucking its petals.
“One child, two children, three children, four children, five children… where are you…”
The more she muttered, the more bored she felt. Just then the virtual screen in the shop switched channels to what seemed to be a large academic conference.
Nearby customers were chatting quietly.
“Has Ye Hanzhou gone crazy? He used to speak up for aliens, and now he’s saying humans can live peacefully with violent-type aliens?”
“Ha! Which researcher isn’t crazy? They don’t care about ordinary people at all. They just hide behind ‘academics’ to gain fame.”
“Good thing he’s in the empire now. Otherwise he’d be drowned in spit here! I even thought he was a rare genuine biological scientist before. What a joke!”
Pu Xin listened absentmindedly.
Then she looked up and saw Ye Hanzhou on the screen, writing something seriously while being filmed.
Her eyes lit up.
She plucked off half a petal and murmured softly, “Third little one?”