In the afternoon, word came that General Gu had taken his men and left, though no one knew when he would return. This was their first departure in several days, and Geng Nuo finally heaved a sigh of relief. He felt as though his entire body was falling apart.
Yet he constantly worried that Gu Chengyan might simply not come back. Judging from their conversation that morning, it seemed they had failed to reach a consensus on certain matters, leading Gu Chengyan to use him as a pretext to repeatedly brush Pix off.
If the two of them had a falling out and parted ways, he would completely lose his backing. Whether he could escape before Baron Percy’s banquet would genuinely come down to pure luck.
Filled with a deep sense of crisis, Geng Nuo hid in his room all afternoon under the pretext of resting. Seizing the opportunity, he set about assembling the components he had collected. He had even fished a box of cigars out of Gu Chengyan’s abandoned jacket; both the tobacco and the wooden box would prove useful, so Geng Nuo grandly appropriated them as his own.
Upon returning to his estate, Gu Chengyan set about handling the work that had been backlogged over the past few days. Outside the entrance, a vast expanse of lily-of-the-valley swayed in the wind. The delicate stems and leaves looked as though they would snap in the breeze at any moment, only to ride the gusts and spring straight back up the next second.
Resembling a pair of white jade toes, tensed straight and then curling inward.
Gu Chengyan glanced at them before immediately looking away.
The butler led the servants out to greet him. Fran took the lead, flying directly into the study to connect with all systems, opening the holographic display panel, and laying out the piled-up pending tasks one by one. The group used the study as a temporary office, handling matters in an orderly fashion. The butler stepped in at the appropriate moment to serve coffee, placing a cup by Gu Chengyan’s right hand. He murmured something softly; when Gu Chengyan offered no response, the butler withdrew in absolute silence. For a time, the study was filled with the continuous clacking of keyboards, the flickering light of holographic displays casting dim, indistinct shadows across everyone’s faces.
Several hours later, the work was finally completed.
“Let’s hold a meeting.” Gu Chengyan leaned back against his chair in an utterly relaxed posture. “Let’s talk about the useful information you’ve gathered. I know you’ve all been dying to share.”
Wei Hai, Wei Lu, and Wei Kong had followed Gu Chengyan since their youth, fighting and clawing their way up from a status of universally despised nobodies to their current positions. Any one of them could be pulled out as an exceptionally outstanding general of the Empire.
They shared a close bond with Gu Chengyan, serving as his most loyal and capable aides as well as his most trusted, dearest friends.
Wei Hai spoke up first. “I originally expected Pix to act just like he does with other high-ranking officials and wealthy tycoons, presenting a beauty to captivate the General. We’ve been waiting all these days for what kind of scheme he might pull, but judging by how things actually stand, the other party seems completely indifferent.”
Wei Lu disagreed. “We cannot lower our guard. The very moment we let down our guard and remain unconcerned, that is likely when he will seize the opportunity to strike.”
Gu Chengyan sounded thoroughly unenthused. “With no movement for so long, it really has left me somewhat disappointed.”
Wei Kong voiced his doubts. “Could it be that our direction of investigation is wrong?”
Everyone turned to look at him.
Wei Kong analyzed the situation. “The Omega who first approached the General that day was all looks and devoid of competence, actually attempting to drug the General in broad daylight. I don’t think he could be a spy carefully arranged by Pix. As for the Beta right now…” He paused, seeming a bit hesitant. Gu Chengyan gave a slight nod to signal him to continue. “Speak.”
“It is true that he successfully approached the General, but I believe his approach was clearly more a matter of accident than design, especially if the General hadn’t called out to stop him… Besides, he’s rather different from the other servers; he’s quite inexperienced. I don’t think he possesses the capability to manipulate you. As for what Pix said in the billiard room, I suspect it wasn’t simply meant to flatter you. At the very least, they currently have no intentions of threatening you; instead, they want to rope you in.”
Gu Chengyan pressed his fingertips against his temple. “What you’re saying makes sense. Perhaps the good show is yet to come…”
“We must not drop our guard, but if we can’t find any clues for the moment, we might as well check into other matters.”
At this, Wei Hai chimed in. “I’ve uncovered some clues. There should be an intricate web of interest transmission between Lord Wright and Shark Club. When Pix leased this plot of land from Count Su Mang back in the day, Lord Wright was the one who stepped forward to broker the deal. The reason Shark Club has stood unshaken for years with no one in upper society daring to touch it ultimately relies on Lord Wright as its biggest backing.” Wei Hai handed Gu Chengyan a list. “This is the roster of guests who frequently patronized Shark Club in the past.”
Gu Chengyan took it, scanning through it with lightning speed. Many familiar names stood out; aside from nobility, the rest were political dignitaries and wealthy tycoons, confirming that it did indeed have a certain membership threshold.
“We discovered that certain servers would be offered as gifts to these guests, leaving the club in their company. But this roster contains both nobles and ordinary political and business elites. If we go by our previous hypothesis, that doesn’t quite add up.”
Indeed, if they were planting spies around political rivals, they certainly wouldn’t drag their own people down into the water.
“Therefore, these gifts must serve another purpose,” Gu Chengyan analyzed. “Such as being toys used for amusement, with no need to worry about the aftermath.”
He pondered for a moment and asked, “What about the whereabouts of these servers?”
Wei Hai shook his head with a solemn expression.
“Investigate,” Gu Chengyan ordered. “Investigate their identities, origins, and ultimate destinations.”
“Understood.”
“Lord Wright was involved in quite a few shady businesses.” Recalling the man’s miserable end, Gu Chengyan let out a cold scoff.
He continued, “We came here with the intention of securing a partnership, and Pix obviously shares that intent. However, based on the current situation, what we want to investigate and what he is showing us are completely polar opposites. That leaves two possibilities.” Gu Chengyan tapped his fingers twice against the armrest, then instinctively reached into his inner jacket pocket. Finding nothing there, he remembered he had left his jacket with a certain server, calmly withdrew his hand, and crossed both arms over his crossed legs.
“First, he doesn’t know. Second, he doesn’t have the clearance.”
“Still, the businesses he puts on display are wicked enough; one more investigation won’t make much difference.”
Everyone instantly understood Gu Chengyan’s intent: to pursue both paths simultaneously.
“However…” Wei Kong spoke up with a hint of hesitation. “What if their goal isn’t cooperation, but rather to control you, General?”
“Inciting you to betray His Majesty, if our guess is correct, they would surely use some method to strip away your consciousness and turn you into their puppet…”
“Weren’t we originally here to investigate this very matter?” Gu Chengyan interrupted him. “Or did you think I put myself in danger just to negotiate a partnership and enjoy their services?”
Wei Kong lowered his head. “It was my foolishness.”
“As for whether they can actually pull it off…” Gu Chengyan reined in his expression, his brows carrying an peerless sharpness and swagger, “that depends on whether they have the ability.”
The three Wei brothers turned solemn, the exact same person flashing through all their minds at once.
That Beta server.
“Good thing he’s a Beta,” Wei Lu muttered quietly.
Wei Hai and Wei Kong felt the exact same way. A Beta meant a complete absence of pheromones, incapable of exerting any influence over an Alpha. While the three of them were quite surprised that the General had actually allowed a Beta server to get close this time, they simply chalked it up to a fleeting, whim-driven caprice on the General’s part.
Besides, this Beta could even block all those Omegas Pix wanted to send over.
Even if he did possess some trait that attracted the General, it was nothing to worry about.
It still wasn’t enough for such filthy methods to take effect on the General.
Gu Chengyan gave his final instructions to the three of them. “Since Pix has already cast his bait, we should bite the hook appropriately and see what kind of power and ambition the Statue of God Pales in Lord Wright’s possession can actually bring us.”
The group replied in unison: “Understood.”
Gu Chengyan directed a pointed remark at Wei Lu. “Do not startle the snake in the grass just yet.”
Knowing this was aimed at his attempt to proactively approach Geng Nuo, Wei Lu quickly answered, “Yes.”
Before leaving, Wei Lu sidled up to Wei Hai and whispered, “I say, Steward Zhang is still…”
Wei Hai signaled him to keep quiet. “After all, he was arranged by His Majesty. Since the General hasn’t said anything, we shouldn’t meddle. If he really stretches his hands out too far, we can discuss it then.”
Once they had all departed, Gu Chengyan sat alone in the study, scrutinizing the categorized clues listed out on the display panel. Fran flew over to him, inquiring in a remarkably human-like electronic voice, “General Gu, fluctuations in your emotional state have been detected recently along with significant changes in your heart rate. Would you like me to schedule a family doctor for you?” It paused. “Given that the root cause of this condition is the heavy responsibility entrusted to you by His Majesty, I can also submit an application to His Majesty for a palace physician to provide you with treatment.”
Fran circled around him, and Gu Chengyan could even detect a hint of teasing tone within its electronic voice.
“Did I give you too much intelligence?” Gu Chengyan asked in a cold voice. “Shall I perform a factory reset to purge your systems?”
The underlying meaning carried a bone-chilling frost; even as a machine, it inspired a sense of dread. Fran instantly dropped below desktop level, pretending it didn’t exist at all.
Gu Chengyan resumed his work. After a long while, Fran slowly rose, leaking a third of its chassis out from the edge of the desk. Its panel displayed cautious, squinting bean-eyes as it tentatively went beep beep twice. Without sparing it a single glance, Gu Chengyan casually reached for an ash tray as if to hurl it, causing Fran to hurriedly switch to a proper, deadpan electronic voice and report:
“General Gu, His Majesty requests your presence at the palace first thing tomorrow morning.”
The Pesman Palace was situated on Fifth Avenue. Having stood for tens of thousands of years since its construction, it had witnessed the transformation of the galactic star system from an alliance to a federation and finally to an imperial regime. Today, this structure stood as the symbol of supreme power in the Empire.
Gu Chengyan entered the palace early in the morning. His airship landed in front of the central plaza; checking the time, he bypassed the Hall of State Affairs and headed straight for the Inner Court.
The palace had been built quite early on, and the technology utilized during parts of its construction was still quite primitive, with much of it being progressively updated and replaced over the years. This meant that the palace was invariably undergoing large-scale renovation and reconstruction several months out of the year.
Right now was no exception. The closer he got to the Hall of State Affairs, the louder the roar of the excavators became. Gu Chengyan pressed his fingers against his temple, starting renovations at the crack of dawn, life in the palace certainly wasn’t easy either.
Passing through the long corridor, every palace servant he encountered along the way bowed deeply to greet him. Upon entering the Hall of State Affairs, a mechanical voice echoed from above: “General Gu, please wait; His Majesty has not yet arrived.”
Gu Chengyan thought about it and decided to simply head straight to the imperial bedchamber to waylay his target.
The Emperor’s bedchamber was located at the innermost depths of the palace. Gu Chengyan strolled over leisurely; even if the Emperor and Empress hadn’t woken up yet, the worst that would happen was that he’d have to wait outside for a bit.
To his surprise, the bedchamber was already exceptionally lively early in the morning.
His neatly dressed Majesty the Emperor was pounding on the door without an ounce of dignity, shouting at the top of his lungs: “Xiluo! I’m telling you again! I did not cheat!”
Gu Chengyan: “…”
Judging by this attire, it was obvious he hadn’t been kicked out of the bedchamber early in the morning, but rather hadn’t been allowed in at all last night. Not daring to disturb the Empress’s rest, he had holed up in some other palace for the night, only to come back begging for forgiveness first thing in the morning.
Though the General and the Emperor were on good terms, this was, after all, top-secret palace gossip; lacking any trace of sympathy, Gu Chengyan folded his arms and leaned against the wall to watch the show.
“Let’s stick to the facts, shall we!” Mu Er deeply reflected on the cause of this cold war, offering a rather insincere apology: “Pouring cola into your mecha warship’s fuel tank the other day really wasn’t intentional, I was drunk at the time!”
As he spoke, he began shifting to unreasonable sophistry. “They’re both black! Who can tell the difference between machine oil and cola when they’re drunk? You should be thanking the stars I didn’t mistake machine oil for cola and drink it myself, otherwise you’d be a widow…”
With a loud thud, something slammed against the door, followed by the clatter and crash of something shattering on the floor. Startled, Mu Er jumped and took a few steps back.
Fine, he’d said the wrong thing again.
“Xiluo…”
An angry roar echoed from inside: “Don’t call me that! Don’t think you can play dumb and brush this off; I am not forgiving you this time!”
Mu Er felt somewhat unconvinced. “Aren’t you at fault here too?”
With a swish, the door flew open. An Omega stood in the doorway, his refined features slightly distorted by anger, his chest heaving rapidly. “You’re actually trying to pin the blame on me?”
Seeing Xiluo finally open the door, Mu Er felt a surge of elation, but upon catching sight of his wrathful expression, he shrank back with a bit of trepidation.
“Well… you haven’t let me back into the bedchamber for days now. If this keeps up, rumors are going to spread outside that our marriage is falling apart.”
“Let them spread! Who was it that went drinking and whoring the day before I went to the front lines, came back, and wrecked my mecha? Get lost!”
Mu Er thought to himself that he’d only done it to stop Xiluo from going to the front lines. But he couldn’t say that out loud; he could only play dumb and steer the conversation to another topic. “What do you mean ‘drinking and whoring’? I just went out to have a few drinks…”
“I don’t care what you were drinking,” Xiluo spared him not an ounce of face. “Get away! Go fix my mecha and bring it back, then go find your little paramour!”
Mu Er grew anxious. “How can you say that? I don’t have any little paramour! Alright, alright, all my faults are my faults, but that is entirely separate from cheating! You can’t accuse me of cheating just because I got drunk and poured cola into your mecha.”
Fixing it was out of the question. Outwardly, Mu Er had sent it off to be repaired the very next day, but because the replacement parts hadn’t matched, a key pipeline inside had blown and the smart board had fried. At this point, even if he wanted to fix it, he had no idea where to start.
This time it really had been an accident, and he hadn’t dared to tell Xiluo yet, hoping to smooth things over first and break the news to him gradually. Otherwise, adding fuel to the fire would only ensure he died an even more miserable death.
Had it not been for this incident, he wouldn’t have obediently endured being locked out for so many days. Previously, he would have long since forced his way in, hugging his wife, rolling around on the floor, and begging tearfully for forgiveness.
Little did he know that it was precisely his abnormal behavior that had convinced Xiluo even further of his infidelity.
He came back dead drunk, reeking of Omega scent, wrecked his mecha, and even spent all these days playing dumb!
If he was begging for forgiveness and admitting his wrongs so obediently, wasn’t it because he felt guilty?
Mu Er was utterly wronged.
“I really only drank, I didn’t do anything else! I swear, I never let a single Omega get close to me!” Mu Er swore to the heavens. “Isn’t it because you always forbid me from drinking at home? What Alpha doesn’t socialize or drink? The client was offering twenty-five thousand in galactic credits, how could anyone resist…” His voice trailed off into a mumble.
Xiluo sneered. “Right, and while you were buzzing from the drinks, you just casually hugged and kissed a little Omega, right?”
Mu Er roared: “I did not!!”
“I went with Gu Chengyan! He was the one who ordered the Omega; I was the one drinking! He was the one hugging and kissing that little O, eww, the smell on me definitely rubbed off from back then! I’m saying it again, I only drank! I didn’t do anything else!”
Gu Chengyan: “…?”
He narrowed his eyes and straightened up from the wall.