Li Yan sat up against the pillow.
After leaving the Prince and the General to themselves yesterday, they still found their way to crawl down to his bed.
He looked over at Prince Jing Yuchen, who was sitting in a chair right next to the mattress, his head leaning sideways against the bedding. His silver hair was messy, and his breathing was slow and deep.
On the floor on the other side, General Zhen Sheng was stretched out with his back against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. Both men were completely knocked out from pure exhaustion.
Li Yan watched them in the quiet room. A strange, heavy feeling pulled at his chest. These two powerful leaders, who usually ruled the empire with cold pride and military might, looked entirely defenseless right now.
As the silence stretched, a sudden spark of memory flashed in Li Yan’s mind. It started as a small detail, then grew into a massive, terrifying wave of information.
The fever had unlocked the rest of his memories about the original web novel he had read back in his office.
His hands began to shake beneath the blanket.
"No," Li Yan whispered to himself, his voice barely a breath. "That can’t be how it ends."
This fantasy kingdom did not have a happy ending. The romantic, trashy story about a forced marriage was actually a setup for a massive tragedy.
According to the book, a foreign nation from across the northern seas was going to launch a massive invasion in less than a year. They possessed a secret, engineered pheromone weapon that could completely scramble the senses of high-rank Alphas and Enigmas.
In the original plot, the foreign army used this weapon to drive the Prince and the General completely insane with rage, turning them against each other during the final battle.
The empire was totally destroyed. The Prince was stabbed through the heart on the steps of his own palace, and the General was torn apart by enemy beasts while trying to hold the northern border.
Duke Xiao Mingxuan, left entirely alone, went completely mad with grief and starved himself to death in the ruins of this very estate.
Li Yan opened his eyes, his breath coming in short, tight gasps.
"You idiots," Li Yan muttered.
For weeks, his only goal had been to find a map of the estate’s magical boundary, slip away in the middle of the night, and leave this crazy world behind.
He could not just escape and leave these two men behind to die horrific deaths. He hated them, gods know that, but he was not heartless.
"Mingxuan?" a low, groggy voice called out.
Zhen Sheng blinked his golden eyes open, rubbing his face with a large hand. He looked up from the floor, his brow furrowing when he saw the intense, cold look on Li Yan’s face. "Why are you staring at the wall like you want to kill someone? Is the fever coming back?"
The sound of the general’s voice woke the prince. Jing Yuchen straightened up in his chair, his eyes instantly clearing out.
"I am fine," Li Yan said, his voice completely changing to his cold tone. "Sit down. Both of you. We need to talk."
Jing Yuchen paused, his hand staying on Li Yan’s wrist. He exchanged a strange, confused look with the general. "You sound different. Your energy is steady, but your eyes look... cold."
"I am perfectly sane, Prince," Li Yan said, pulling his hand back and crossing his arms. "Zhen Sheng, get off the floor and sit on the bed. This is important."
The general frowned but did what he was told, sliding onto the edge of the mattress. "Alright, Duke. You have our attention. What is going on in that head of yours?"
Li Yan looked at both of them, his eyes serious. "We need to talk about the defense of this empire. Specifically, the northern border and the foreign forces across the sea."
Jing Yuchen’s expression instantly turned sharp and formal, his royal pride returning. "Why are you bringing up state military matters? The northern sea is peaceful. The Emperor receives regular reports from the border patrols."
"The reports are trash," Li Yan said bluntly. "Your patrols are only looking for ships and soldiers. They are not looking at what those foreigners are developing in their secret labs. They are building a weapon, Jing Yuchen. A chemical weapon made from synthetic pheromones."
Zhen Sheng let out a dry laugh, leaning his hands back on the mattress. "A pheromone weapon? Mingxuan, I love your spirit, but that is impossible. You can’t weaponize a biological scent to stop an entire army of trained Alphas."
"Yes, you can," Li Yan snapped, glaring at the general until the larger man’s smile faded. "Think about what happened to the three of us right here in this room. Our scents mixed together and completely overwhelmed my system, knocking me out for days."
"Now imagine an enemy force dropping a concentrated cloud of highly toxic, artificial Enigma energy directly onto your battlefield. What happens to your soldiers then, General?"
Zhen Sheng’s eyes widened slightly. He stayed quiet, his military mind instantly running through the tactical nightmare Li Yan had just described.
"They would lose control," he murmured, his voice losing its playful edge. "The Alphas would turn on each other in a blind frenzy. The entire chain of command would shatter in five minutes."
"Exactly," Li Yan said. "And while your army is busy tearing itself apart, their ships will sail right into your ports and burn your cities to the ground."
Jing Yuchen stood up from his chair, walking a few steps away before turning back around. His violet eyes were filled with deep suspicion and shock.
"How do you know this, Mingxuan? This house is completely cut off from the capital. No spy reports could have reached your hands without my knowledge."
"It doesn’t matter how I know it," Li Yan said, refusing to mention the original novel or the System. "What matters is that it is going to happen in less than a year. The Emperor is old and blind to the danger. The court is full of corrupt politicians who only care about taxes."
"If the two of you keep fighting each other for domestic power, you are going to end up dead, and this entire kingdom will become ashes."
The bedroom fell into a deep, heavy silence.
The prince and the general stared at Li Yan like they were seeing a completely different person. The arrogant, selfish Duke they used to know had completely vanished, replaced by a strategic mastermind who was looking at the entire world like a giant chessboard.
"You want us to work together, I understand everyone has secrets, but we will work with you. But you must tell us how you came to know of this soon." Jing Yuchen said firmly, not giving room for disagreement.
"We have the Triple-Soul Bond. Our spiritual energies are completely linked now. If we use that connection properly, we can create a counter-defense that can resist any biological weapon they throw at us."
"But to do that, you two have to stop your childish rivalry. And I will tell you when the time is right."
Zhen Sheng looked down at his scarred hands, a dark, intense look filling his face. Then he looked up at the prince.
"The Duke is right," Zhen Sheng said, his voice deep and steady. "If an enemy is building something like that, my men on the border are sitting ducks. I am willing to share my military codes with the royal family if it means protecting our home."
Jing Yuchen let out a slow, long breath, his shoulders dropping slightly as he accepted the reality. "And I will open the secret royal library to find a way to stabilize our combined pheromones against external interference. We will protect this kingdom together."
The prince walked back to the bed, sitting down close to Li Yan’s right side. Zhen Sheng moved closer on the left, his large hand coming down to rest over Li Yan’s knee.
"If what you say turns out not to be true, what we put you through will be a fairytale compared to what will happen next." The General said, giving him a tight smile, making Li Yan fear for what might happen.
A soft, clear chime rang inside his head, and the blue glass screen appeared before his eyes one more time.
[System Notification: Host has actively changed the core plot direction.]
[Hidden Objective Unlocked: ’Save the Empire from Destruction’.]
[Current Success Probability: 12%. Keep working with your targets to increase the survival rate.]