By this time, the entire research institute was in absolute chaos. On the terrace on the third floor of the Assisted Reproduction Center, the lights behind were flashing continuously due to system malfunctions.
Li Yixing pressed the button in his hand.
At the same time, flames suddenly erupted on the bed in the lounge where he had been staying. The raging fire quickly consumed a humanoid simulation dummy placed neatly on the bed!
His slender fingers, wrapped in black leather gloves, gripped the cold metal. Li Yixing cleanly and decisively vaulted over the third-floor railing, landing on the lawn in front of the building like an agile and athletic leopard.
He looked back, seeing the huge sign of the Assisted Reproduction Center and his own lounge where firelight was faintly rising. A few seconds later, a panicked cry rang out: “Oh no! Department Head Li has been attacked!”
Li Yixing sneered, looking down at his combat uniform, which was stained with a small patch of blood.
He thought of Stan Davis’s threat, the feeling of being at the mercy of others when the chip was implanted, and Fang Shengwan’s eager expression wanting him to get pregnant.
Trying to force him to resign and then bear a child for Feng Zhao?
They could keep dreaming!
He, Li Yixing, was not going to play this losing game!
Several rays of light streaked across the pitch-black sky, and the roar of mechas echoed through the night sky.
Li Yixing skillfully evaded the patrol guard’s search and exited the Academy of Life Sciences within ten minutes.
The moment he left, Audrey White descended from the sky with a team of special operations personnel, forcefully intervening in this sudden incident.
But these were no longer matters for Li Yixing to consider. He was only responsible for acting as an excuse. Afterward, all matters would be resolved by Audrey White, who remained on Nuwa Star, and colleagues standing on the same frontline as them.
Taking advantage of the night, Li Yixing quickly left this place of right and wrong.
About two kilometers away from the Alliance Academy of Life Sciences, an Alliance military mecha, the M-Gray Eagle, was parked.
Li Yixing stepped onto the mecha, turned on the automatic navigation, and initiated the jump sequence.
The silver radiance surged straight into the atmosphere of Nuwa Star and quickly disappeared.
The next day, the Alliance Gazette published this front-page headline: Confirmed! Alliance Academy of Life Sciences Infiltrated by Operatives from the Ojia Empire!
The headline content used extremely exquisite language to elaborate on the sudden intrusion into the Academy of Life Sciences last night, which resulted in the leakage of a large number of important documents. Even more hateful and regrettable was that the Ojia Empire operatives had also launched revenge against the former Director of the Department of Security, Li Yixing!
Following Li Yixing’s death, the Alliance Gazette finally disclosed the grievances between Li Yixing and the Ojia Empire. Back then, the Ojia Empire bore a deep hatred for Li Yixing, the Alliance’s ace agent. After capturing him, they first subjected him to severe torture. After Li Yixing escaped, they pursued him across a thousand miles for three months, which could be described as an extremely deep enmity.
Although Executive Audrey White hurriedly led troops to the Alliance Academy of Life Sciences after receiving a communication from her husband, Su Cheng, who had given birth half a month ago, she was still a step too late. Your Excellency Li Yixing had already died in the lounge, his body burned to charred remains.
Such a tragedy filled people with anger!
That very night, all staff members of the Alliance Academy of Life Sciences were taken away for interrogation!
The entire Alliance felt heartbroken over this. Your Excellency Feng Zhao and Your Excellency Li Yixing were elites of the Alliance and such a deeply loving couple, yet they died one after the other. Moreover, Your Excellency Li Yixing was carrying a double life! Not only was this a major loss for the Alliance, but it also left countless citizens feeling incomparably sad, lamenting the unfairness of fate. That day, countless people came to the small plaza in front of the Academy of Life Sciences to mourn and pay their respects, strongly demanding that the Alliance government thoroughly investigate the matter and give everyone an explanation!
The first to be held accountable was the Alliance Security Department. Acting Security Department Head Degu was accused of lagging intelligence, poor defense, failure to provide timely support, and failing to handle this emergency concerning Alliance security properly. The Alliance Council issued a suspension pending investigation that very day, and the work of the Security Department was temporarily taken over by Deputy Security Department Head Lin Yiran.
On the third day, this news, which shocked the entire Alliance, reached the Great Wall Fortress and also reached the dilapidated villa in the East District of Kenli on the Tartarus system’s planet.
When Feng Zhao saw this message, he was stunned for a full five minutes.
After regaining his senses, he read it over and over again, only seeing one fact from this message no matter how he looked at it: Li Yixing was dead.
Dead?!
Feng Zhao’s hand trembled, and the pen in his fingertips dropped vertically, striking the floor beside his feet with a crisp, echoing clatter.
The impact this news brought to Feng Zhao was no smaller than “Li Yixing is pregnant.”
What was going on?! Feng Zhao’s pupils trembled violently. Wasn’t Li Yixing doing well on Nuwa Star in the Alliance? How could he just drop dead like that out of nowhere?!
Are you kidding me?!
Feng Zhao stared at the line “Former Security Department Head Li Yixing Passes Away” for a long time, until finally only one thought surfaced in his mind: “Is he really dead?”
How could Li Yixing die so easily? He was someone who could crawl back from King Yama’s door with sheer willpower even when the Ojia Empire tortured him to the brink of death. His vitality was so tenacious that even Feng Zhao felt ashamed by comparison; how could he die so easily?!
Yet, upon second thought, it didn’t seem entirely impossible. The Alliance Academy of Life Sciences had a vast variety of drugs. Being forced into pregnancy, the Feng family and the Davis family would certainly be wary of his strength and afraid that he wouldn’t obediently obey. To ensure foolproof security, who knew what messy things they might have inflicted upon Li Yixing’s body, perhaps a chip or other medications.
Following this line of thought, what if Li Yixing had no ability to protect himself at this moment?
Feng Zhao’s mind was in a complete mess, his heart pounding heavily, almost leaping out of his throat.
He cautiously examined the corpse image provided by the Alliance Gazette. It was a completely blackened corpse whose features were unrecognizable. According to the Alliance Gazette report, this corpse had already been buried yesterday, laid to rest in the Angel Hall Cemetery in Yasi City, buried in a joint tomb with Feng Zhao’s cenotaph.
The size of this corpse was indeed similar to Li Yixing’s, and on the ring finger of the right hand, it still wore that dazzling colored diamond ring.
This matched their persona of deeply loving one another.
The quality of the ring was also quite good, leaving not a single flaw even under high temperatures.
Feng Zhao stared fixedly at that ring for over ten seconds, then turned off the wrist device projection, his heart filled with heavy doubts.
At the same time, the M-Gray Eagle piloted by Li Yixing had performed dozens of jumps, arriving at the edge of the Fourth Galaxy.
Inside the medical pod, Li Yixing was completely immersed in the nutrient solution.
After about half an hour, he sat up from inside the medical pod with his upper body bare. The terrifying scars on his chest had completely healed, and the puncture mark on his abdomen was left as nothing more than a tiny red dot, looking like an insect bite.
Alliance military mechas were all equipped with three or more medical pods and treatment instruments, capable of rapidly treating large-scale trauma, mental damage, and basic illnesses. They were essential emergency must-haves for injured personnel on mechas.
Li Yixing had originally planned to perform the puncture independently with the aid of the medical pod after boarding the mecha, but because the mecha’s medical pod scanner could not compare to that of the Alliance Academy of Life Sciences research institute, and coupled with the fear of making a mistake, he ultimately chose to let the young researcher perform the procedure.
A trainee researcher was still a researcher, and things taught and practiced in classes were always better than an amateur like him stepping up temporarily.
The medical pod flashed with green light, and a mechanical voice reminded Li Yixing: “Sir, treatment is complete. Your physical condition is good, and you may exit the pod.”
Li Yixing walked out of the medical pod and draped a thin cotton jacket over his shoulders.
The screen displayed that the destination of Li Yixing’s trip was Kenli Star in the Tartarus system of the Ojia Empire.
Going to Kenli Star was naturally not a whim of Li Yixing’s.
According to information provided by the Great Wall Fortress, one of the interstellar pirate factions had recently seemed to undergo a complete change, as if blessed by divine assistance, thrashing the other factions soundly. It was very likely that they had obtained help from the Ojia Empire. During battles between the two sides at the Great Wall Fortress, the harassment by interstellar pirates had never ceased.
The Alliance Council and Audrey White felt somewhat worried about this matter. The collusion between the Ojia Empire and the interstellar pirates posed a huge hidden danger to the defense of the Fifth Galaxy. The first purpose of Li Yixing coming here in secret was to investigate the true strength and situation of these interstellar pirates.
His second purpose was to seize the opportunity to enter the Ojia Empire and investigate intelligence related to the code name “X.”
Kenli Star was nominally administered by the Tartarus system, but in reality, it belonged to the interstellar pirates. A mecha landing in such a chaotic place would not arouse suspicion. Li Yixing needed to rest and recuperate here, waiting for Audrey White and his handler to send him the interrogation results of the Alliance Academy of Life Sciences researchers so he could proceed with his next steps. In addition, he needed to forge a fake identity for himself here to facilitate entry into the Ojia Empire’s capital planet, Riya.
Li Yixing checked the mecha’s energy bar. The energy of the M-Gray Eagle could still support a dozen more jumps, enough for Li Yixing to move outside the management scope of the Alliance’s five major galaxies, but afterwards, he would only be able to slowly fly through space to reach Kenli Star.
It would take about ten more days before he could reach Kenli Star.
The aftereffects of soothing agent A had not completely worn off, and Li Yixing’s vision blurred briefly for a moment. He shook his head slightly, his soft black hair swaying gently, and before long, his gaze returned to clarity.
Outside the mecha was the boundless space, with dazzling light shimmering in the depths of the universe. The surroundings were overly quiet, and Li Yixing could only hear the dull pounding of his own heartbeat.
He took a deep breath and pulled out his pocket watch once more.
Inside the pocket watch, Li Yunqie and Cangna were still smiling, looking gently at their child who had already grown into an adult.
Li Yixing could not help recalling a long time ago, when their family crowded into an officer’s dormitory at the Great Wall Fortress. His mother, Li Yunqie, was very busy and came home very late. His father, Cangna, would warm up meals for her, and the tulips arranged nicely on the dining table were very pretty.
She would take off her military uniform, scoop up Li Yixing, who was still shorter than the dining table, and ask with a smile, “Did Yixing behave and listen well today?”
While warming up the food and dishes, Cangna never forgot to respond to Li Yunqie: “Of course, our Yixing is the most obedient darling!”
Not knowing how long he stared, Li Yixing’s eyes felt slightly dry and sore. He blinked, gently closing the pocket watch.
He felt lonely for the first time in a long time.