“A massive swarm of Zerg has appeared in the A1 wormhole. We must figure out where they came from as soon as possible.” Marshal Kaisen wore a stern expression, a rare look of heaviness etching his weather-beaten face.
The A1 wormhole was the jump point closest to the capital star. With a massive influx of Zerg appearing there, it was hard to say whether the capital star harbored any Zerg capable of transforming into humans, just like Frank.
“Meow!”
A cat’s meow shattered the chilling atmosphere hanging over the table. Huo Jiuxiao was the first to rise and walk over, with several others following closely behind.
Ruan Bai was sprawled at the very bottom of the box. Seeing Huo Jiuxiao stand up, he trotted over, his little paws padding against the surface as he cooed and whined, acting like a spoiled child toward the Marshal, as if he had suffered a terrible grievance.
He had been enjoying his meal immensely just moments ago. Never-before-seen, billowing spiritual energy had been slowly nourishing his meridians, and right as he wanted to reach for another piece, he discovered there was none left. QAQ.
Was there anything in the world more agonizing than this??
The Marshal bent down to scoop the little milk cat into his arms. “I’ll give you more when we get back. Come with me now for a spiritual power test.”
Ruan Bai refused to cooperate in the slightest, struggling desperately as he tried to leap out of the man’s embrace.
He wanted to eat right now!
Just one more piece!!
Huo Jiuxiao tightened his grip instinctively to keep the uncooperative little milk cat from breaking free, while taking care not to hurt him.
“Be a good boy. You can eat as much as you want once the test is done.”
Marshal Kaisen and the others looked on in a daze. How long had it been, exactly? He had already devoured an entire box of energy crystals?!
One had to bear in mind that those crystals were enough to sustain a legion on strict rations for half a month.
After all, not every marshal possessed a mineral star with a colossal yield like Huo Jiuxiao did, let alone willingness to funnel every single mined crystal straight into the military.
Before they could fully recover their wits, they watched Marshal Huo negotiating patiently and tenderly with the little milk cat.
After coaxing the little feline for a long while to no avail, Huo Jiuxiao had no choice but to gesture for an orderly to bring over a single crystal.
Ruan Bai nestled happily back into Huo Jiuxiao’s arms, gnawing on an energy crystal in high spirits.
This human wasn’t firm at all. Grandpa Tree Demon had always said that children shouldn’t be spoiled.
Yet he seemed to indulge him boundarily.
The little cat demon had known since childhood that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, and everything carried a hidden price tag.
Yet, before he even realized it, he had already grown accustomed to the Marshal’s unconditional pampering, sinking deep into it. Even knowing it wasn’t quite right, he had no desire to change.
He harbored no ambitions of cultivating into an immortal, nor did he fear entangling himself in the karmic debts of the mortal realm.
Utterly oblivious to all of this, Marshal Huo gazed at the obedient little milk cat resting snug in his arms and felt thoroughly satisfied.
The full name of the spiritual power test was the spiritual power grade test.
Spiritual power grades were traditionally divided into five common tiers, ranging from E to A, with the S-grade standing above A.
Imperial citizens were born with spiritual power. Generally speaking, a person’s spiritual power grade was determined at birth and remained unalterable.
However, there were rare instances where individuals suddenly tapped into their latent potential during a life-or-death crisis, forcibly pushing their spiritual power grade up by a notch.
Researchers at the Imperial Academy of Sciences were still uncertain what threshold of danger carried a certain probability of enhancing spiritual power.
Initial research findings suggested that the only way to boost spiritual power was through a one-in-ten-thousand chance where the spiritual sea became contaminated, triggering a genetic self-rescue mechanism of turning toward death to find life.
Yet, ever since the Crown Prince survived an assassination attempt on the fringe stars and returned with his spiritual power grade elevated from A-grade to S-grade, the public sentiment shifted entirely.
Many began to argue that people who managed to upgrade their spiritual power did so because their inherent grade had always been exceptionally high, remaining hidden due to unknown temporary factors.
They hyped up the Crown Prince’s spiritual power, claiming it surely exceeded S-grade; otherwise, breaking through the grade barrier with such ease would have been impossible.
Quite a few people even believed that Gu Jun would become the next 3S-grade spiritual power holder.
However, one fact remained undisputed: individuals who engaged in prolonged combat against the Zerg inevitably suffered spiritual power contamination.
Those afflicted by spiritual power contamination usually perished from spiritual unrest long before their grades actually dropped.
Huo Jiuxiao’s father, Huo Zheng, had died of spiritual unrest while fighting the Zerg on the battlefield, leaving behind a body that was never even recovered.
Thus, the 2S-grade Elder Marshal Huo had vanished from the public eye entirely.
For various reasons, every imperial citizen was required to undergo a spiritual power grade test upon birth.
To ensure personnel safety, these spiritual power grade tests were conducted inside virtual simulation pods.
Otherwise, if someone with monstrous spiritual power like Marshal Huo were to release their power at full strength, everyone in the vicinity would likely need a trip to the medical bay by the time the test concluded.
The Marshal was currently instructing the little milk cat on how to enter the military’s internal virtual starnet. The virtual pods were primarily linked to the military’s internal network for this very reason.
After all, only through this method could the military immediately discover promising recruits with formidable spiritual power grades.
The Marshal placed a holographic helmet on Ruan Bai or more accurately, the holographic helmet completely engulfed the entire cat.
The little milk cat was simply too tiny, standing barely a palm’s length tall.
The Marshal guided him step-by-step on how to project his spiritual power to initiate the test.
The several generals also stared with bated breath at the testing metrics displayed on the screen.
Then, they watched as Ruan Bai’s spiritual power data fluctuated wildly like a bungee jump surging high one second and plunging the next before finally stabilizing at the absolute peak of the 2S-grade, teetering faintly on the verge of breaking through to 3S-grade.
They exchanged complex glances, staring at the data on the optical computer before lowering their gaze to examine the tiny kitten completely hidden beneath the oversized holographic helmet. Their expressions grew deeply complicated.
Were cats these days seriously this overpowered?
Or did people just naturally attract pets matching their own vibes?!
The Marshal had no time to spare for the turbulent waves crashing inside their minds. With lightning-fast reflexes, he severed the military network connection and rapidly deployed several layers of firewalls to prevent any data leaks.
Those old fogies at the Academy of Sciences were absolute research maniacs. If word got out that Xiao Bai possessed such an astronomically high spiritual power grade while also surviving on a diet of energy crystals, all hell would break loose!
Naturally, it wasn’t as though they would capture Xiao Bai to perform vivisection experiments.
Even so, having a crowd of old men and women with completely white hair and beards staring at you with burning, intense gazes every single day was more than anyone could handle.
Ruan Bai wrricled his way out from beneath the holographic helmet, his small paws hooking onto Huo Jiuxiao’s trouser leg as he scrambled upward with all his might.
“Meow-ao~”
The test is done, let’s go home!
Huo Jiuxiao scooped him up into his arms, rubbing his little head before pinching his tiny ears.
He was just about to open his mouth to sweet-talk Xiao Bai into accompanying him to the physical training room for another test when Qin朗 rushed in frantically.
“Marshal, it’s bad!” Qin朗 called out, panic etched across his face, not even pausing to greet Marshal Kaisen.
He flipped open his optical computer and projected the screen. “Marshal, take a look at this.”
A recorded video of the little milk cat’s holographic livestream had been uploaded to the starnet, and the comment section beneath it was utterly vile, filled mostly with vicious abuse directed at him.
Huo Jiuxiao’s expression darkened by the second, his eyes turning pitch-black and dangerously gloomy.
The precious treasure he guarded with his life had been dragged through the mud online like this while he remained completely unaware.
Noticing the grim, dark expression on the man’s face, Ruan Bai curiously stretched out his little head to take a look.
What is that?
Cat wants to see too.
Suddenly, total darkness fell. Before the little milk cat could catch a glimpse of anything, his eyes were firmly covered no, his entire little head was blocked from view.