The third day after the obituary was sent to the Capital Star, the Security Department building was shrouded in a solemn atmosphere. The door to Minister Li Yixing’s office stood wide open, but the room was completely empty, clearly, no one had come in to work.
This was truly a miracle from the west, it was simply unbelievable!
Everyone in the Security Department knew that their top boss, Li Yixing, was as steadfast as a clock when it came to work. For three years, apart from taking a single day off for his wedding and another when his partner died, he had never missed a day, nor had he ever been late or left early!
He was quite literally the model worker among model workers!
And yet today, Minister Li had not come to work! As if that wasn’t enough, he hadn’t even requested leave, and no one could get in touch with him.
This discovery made everyone in the Security Department nervous, as Li Yixing must have gotten into trouble.
They spent half an hour trying various methods to contact Li Yixing, but none of them succeeded. When the clock struck nine in the morning, the wrist-comms of everyone in the Security Department received the exact same notification:
“Minister Li Yixing is feeling unwell and is resting at home. Comrades in the Security Department, please do not panic and continue with your normal duties.”
The crowd looked at each other in dismay. Although they still had doubts about this notice, they reined in their anxieties and returned to their stations to attend to their respective duties.
At the same time, Audrey White, wearing knee-high military boots and a dark blue Alliance uniform, walked into the conference hall. She met the other two archons, Kaman Taylor and Feng Tingsong, along with the three hundred and fifty-four permanent members of the Alliance Council.
Gathered in the conference hall today, they were set to discuss the war at the Great Wall Fortress, the posthumous commendations for the personnel who sacrificed their lives there, and the resettlement of their grieving families. In addition to these matters, they also briefly touched upon the subject of space pirates.
Space pirates had been frequently harassing them lately, but they seemed to have run into a problem with uneven spoils distribution. Several reconnaissance fleets had discovered a large amount of mecha wreckage near the pirates’ lair, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place. To prevent the pirates from continuing to harass the Great Wall Fortress, the remote border worlds on the edge of the Fifth Galaxy, and the jump points, the council needed to formulate a corresponding plan to strike back at them.
The meeting agenda lasted for nearly three hours. Once it concluded, Audrey White opened her communication channel, glanced at it briefly, and then shifted her gaze to Feng Tingsong.
“Chief Feng,” Audrey White said, “I heard Yixing suddenly fell ill. Is he doing all right? As a former teacher to both him and Feng Zhao, I would like to go see him.”
Feng Tingsong’s gaze flickered for a moment. Beside him, Kaman Taylor, whose hair was slightly graying at the temples, watched the clash between the two archons with an air of leisurely detachment, his eyes shifting slightly.
The air grew stagnant in the subtle confrontation between the two. The permanent members of the council, who had not yet fully dispersed, could not help but glance toward the three archons. To be fair, while the Alliance archons held immense power, the ultimate decision-making authority of the entire Alliance rested in the hands of the Alliance Council. Of course, the council was hardly a blank slate, human hearts naturally held biases, and they each had their own supported archons who served as their spokesmen. Thus, undercurrents surged among the three archons as they kept each other in check.
Judging by the present situation, however, Kaman Taylor and Feng Tingsong were on friendly terms, whereas Audrey White appeared relatively weaker within the Alliance Council.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Feng Tingsong spoke up: “Thank you for your concern, Chief Audrey. I heard about this as well. Perhaps it is simply excessive grief, with Feng Zhao’s sacrifice, he is having a very hard time.”
As he spoke, Feng Tingsong’s eyes turned appropriately red at the edges. Kaman Taylor patted Feng Tingsong on the shoulder, gesturing for him to accept his condolences.
“However, ever since he returned to the Qingye Peninsula yesterday, he has stayed inside Feng Zhao’s room and refuses to come out,” Feng Tingsong said. “Chief Audrey, let him process this on his own for a few days first. You can go see him once he is feeling a bit better.”
This watertight response softly parried Audrey’s probe while also broadcasting the deep, devoted affection between Feng Zhao and Li Yixing.
Audrey White: “…”
She simply replied with a very well, and the group streamed out of the conference hall together.
Watching Feng Tingsong’s retreating back, Audrey White’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. Her face remained expressionless, but in her heart, she knew very well that Li Yixing’s situation was nowhere near as simple as Feng Tingsong made it sound. The fact that he hadn’t gone to the Security Department and was now claimed to be ill made house arrest the most likely explanation.
As for why they would place him under house arrest…
Audrey White already had some vague suspicions, and she couldn’t help but feel concerned. Her former student possessed a temperament that would rather shatter into jade than remain intact as tile, she truly had no idea what kind of choice he might make next.
Regardless of what choice that might be, as his former teacher and current direct superior, they had always stood on the same front line. Audrey White would do everything in her power to provide help.
Meanwhile, at the Qingye Peninsula, located a thirty-minute flight away from the conference hall, inside the villa belonging to the Davis family, Li Yixing remained in his room where a small white lamp cast his gray shadow against the wall.
Stan Davis had neither locked him in confinement nor assigned guards to watch him. Li Yixing had once managed to escape single-handedly from the airtight net of the Oga Empire’s Intelligence Agency, physical imprisonment simply did not work on him, as he had plenty of ways to break out. Therefore, wasting resources on security monitors, various laser weapons, or even guards was entirely unnecessary.
Yet, Li Yixing still had not stepped out of that bedroom. Stan Davis had demanded an answer before the night was through, stipulating that he was not to step outside the Qingye Peninsula villa until he gave it. If Li Yixing violated this rule, everything he currently possessed would be instantly reduced to ruins.
The Security Department could naturally function for a day without its chief, and Li Yixing was well aware that they had undoubtedly already begun privately lining up a successor for the position. Although he was ostensibly Stan Davis’s adopted son and the lover of Feng Tingsong’s eldest son, in reality, compared to those two men, he was much closer to Audrey White.
Aside from consolidating a political marriage and forcing him to bear a child, there were certainly broader political maneuvering considerations at play.
Of course, for the moment, Li Yixing only had one priority to weigh: compromise, or refuse to compromise.
Emotionally, Li Yixing was unwilling to compromise, but his reason told him that compromise was the far more suitable course of action.
Only by protecting himself could he retain the opportunity and strength to accomplish far more important matters.
Yet, to actually make him bear a child for Feng Zhao, that was something he deeply resented. First, he and Feng Zhao were by no means a deeply devoted, loving couple, when it came down to it, they had merely been putting on an act. He certainly didn’t have any masochistic tendencies that compelled him to give birth to a child with his sworn enemy! Second, Feng Zhao was already dead, meaning this child was destined to grow up without a second father, and their upbringing would inevitably lack a certain portion of attention and care. Moreover, since he didn’t even want children in the first place, the birth of this child would serve entirely to consolidate a political alliance and protect his own skin, which was far too unfair, too selfish, and too irresponsible toward the child.
What on earth should he do?
At that moment, Li Yixing wished more than anything that he had been the one to die in battle, sparing him from being held hostage here and forced into pregnancy.
The white lamp illuminated Li Yixing, making his fair skin look even more translucent in the light, as if he might feather away into nothingness at any second like a deity from a mythological tale. He picked up the fountain pen on the desk and wrote down several short words: pregnancy, gestational sac, Institute of Life Sciences, Security Department, alongside the names Feng Zhao, Feng Tingsong, Stan Davis, and Audrey White.
He quietly stared at these words and names, the tip of his fountain pen lightly tapping against the paper to leave behind a few dark ink spots.
Half an hour later, Stan Davis received a message from Li Yixing.
Over the communication channel, Li Yixing’s voice sounded slightly hoarse, carrying a strange, unnatural calmness.
“I agree to the pregnancy,” Li Yixing said. “However, I need some time to handle the handover work at the Security Department.”
Stan Davis was somewhat surprised, as he hadn’t expected Li Yixing to come around so quickly. With a chuckle, he answered with a very well, and then feigned consideration: “Maternity leave lasts for seven months, you know. You can handle the handover a bit later.”
A trace of a mocking chuckle came through the communication channel. “Lord Stan Davis, there’s no need for us to beat around the bush and exchange pleasantries. Since you plan to use maternity leave to hand my position over to someone else sooner or later, wouldn’t resigning early be exactly what you want?”
Because of those words, the smile on Stan Davis’s face faltered slightly.
“Then how much time do you need?” Stan Davis asked. “It cannot be too long.”
“Half a month,” Li Yixing said. “I will not accept a shorter timeframe.”
Half a month was a reasonable duration. Stan Davis pondered for a moment before finally replying, “Very well. By the way, you will need to have a monitoring chip implanted during your pregnancy until you successfully give birth.”
“Fine.”
To Stan Davis’s further surprise, Li Yixing agreed to this nearly humiliating form of personal control almost without hesitation. The deeply suspicious former Alliance General couldn’t help but consider that, aside from the chip, he might still need to plant a few plainclothes guards around Li Yixing to prevent him from changing his mind halfway through.
“Once you finish your handover work,” Stan Davis deliberated for a moment, “go to the Institute of Life Sciences. We will implant the chip first, evaluate your physical condition, and then implant the gestational sac under appropriate conditions.”
Li Yixing’s reply remained concise and to the point, offering only a single word of assent.
The work at the Security Department was extremely complex, and trying to hand it all over within half a month was a rather tight schedule. Early the next morning, Li Yixing arrived at the Security Department to begin the handover process and, incidentally, to see what kind of character had been chosen to replace him.
“Hello, Minister Li.”
Inside the spacious office, a man’s voice rang out.
The newcomer was a man of modest height with small eyes and a wide face, giving him a rather prosperous and well-fed appearance.
“My name is Degu,” he straightened his clothes and looked intently at Li Yixing, “and I am the newly appointed acting minister.”
Li Yixing invited him to sit down and then began handing over the duties of the Security Department one by one.
This acting minister named Degu was a relative unknown, but his attitude was fairly decent, which was the only thing Li Yixing took comfort in. He had previously worried that whoever was sent might be a good-for-nothing drunkard, in which case the Security Department really would have been finished.
As they worked through the handover, they exchanged a few casual words. Li Yixing learned that Lord Degu was formerly a staff officer in the Military Department, had previously worked under Stan Davis, and had achieved quite a few notable accomplishments. The two of them also shared a fairly decent relationship.
However, a sympathetic gaze fell upon Degu, as Lord Degu probably wouldn’t be sitting in this seat of Security Department Minister for very long either.
Big Brother Feng will quietly make a cameo appearance for two seconds [cat face]. They’ll be meeting up and fighting soon (?)