Chapter 32: The Mental-Linking Instrument
Three days later…
On a military aircraft flying toward Iskan’s District One, Jin Chi’an slowly opened his eyes on the hospital bed.
His eyes had not opened in a long time, making the light above him feel especially glaring. Even the objects around him were blurred.
“You’re awake.”
Beside the hospital bed, Xi Lian’s voice pulled him back to reality.
He was holding an ancient Earth book in his hand, boredly flipping through its contents.
Most relics like this kind of ancient Earth book were owned only by nobles from the empire’s District One.
Jin Chi’an looked at the words on the book cover and used the ancient Earth language knowledge he had once studied to translate the title with difficulty.
“The Domineering Sentinel Loves Fiercely?”
Jin Chi’an looked at Xi Lian’s slightly red face in surprise.
“You can understand it?”
“There are annotations on it.”
Xi Lian showed him the blue handwriting in the book. That ghost-like scrawl was very obviously Qin Hua’s handiwork.
In Jin Chi’an’s impression, Qin Hua had always been most interested in this kind of ancient Earth literature.
Thinking of this, Jin Chi’an suddenly recalled the day of the palace banquet operation and asked Xi Lian, “On the day of the banquet operation…”
“The Allied Forces have been disbanded.”
Xi Lian’s abrupt answer interrupted his question. Seeing Jin Chi’an’s puzzled expression, he explained, “The alliance between the two nations has been forcibly terminated. For the specific situation, you can consult the current military commander.”
“The current military commander?”
“Yes. Since Marshal Felix went alone to the zerg starship three days ago and contact with him temporarily cannot be established, the Iskan military is currently under Lieutenant General Charles’s acting command.”
Xi Lian calmly described what had happened over the past few days.
This sudden change made Jin Chi’an sit up in shock.
“What did you say?”
“The situation between the two countries is currently unstable, and the imperial military has already removed you from your position. You can rest and recover for now.”
Jin Chi’an threw off the blanket covering him and abruptly stood up from the bed.
“I want to see Charles.”
Xi Lian glanced at him blandly. Under his persistence, he finally compromised.
“I will notify my superior, but before the aircraft arrives at District One’s capital, you cannot leave this room.”
Xi Lian opened his optical computer communication link to contact his superior and said to the soldier connected to him, “Please notify Lieutenant General Charles and ask him to come to the special ward.”
“All right. Contacting Lieutenant General Charles now.”
After coordination between both sides, it did not take long before the door to the ward where the two were staying opened.
Charles entered the ward wearing an Iskan military uniform, leading two armed beastman guards.
The instant their eyes met, Charles asked, “Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”
“Where is Felix?”
The sudden overlap of their words made both of them pause, and the atmosphere in the room instantly grew heavy.
Charles, who had originally intended to gloss over the matter, awkwardly turned his face away, somewhat unwilling to face Jin Chi’an’s stern expression, which looked as if he were interrogating a criminal.
After repeated hesitation, a voice from the Iskan emperor sounded together with the door opening again.
“Tell him. He has the right to know what happened.”
Charles turned to look at Aphrodite, who had suddenly barged in. In the end, with his permission, he relented.
“Because a major mistake occurred during the zerg clean-up operation in the empire’s capital, District One, and because it involved the interests of both nations, the alliance was terminated, and the Allied Forces were forcibly disbanded.”
Worry flashed through Charles’s eyes. After a pause, he continued, “One of the issues involving those interests is that the imperial emperor was taken hostage by the aliens during this incident. The second is the large number of noble deaths among those who attended the banquet. And this matter is related to you…”
“The general situation is that we’ve fallen out with the empire. The empire has attributed the deaths of the nobles to improper military action by Iskan.”
Aphrodite sat on the sofa opposite the hospital bed, crossing his legs, completely lacking the bearing of a nation’s crown prince.
When he looked at Jin Chi’an again, his eyes carried the amusement of watching a wild rabbit hop right past a venomous snake.
“And also, during the autopsies of the dead nobles, they detected your offensive mental power. Since a large number of nobles were involved, they designated you as a first-class imperial criminal.”
Aphrodite gently brushed his lips with his index finger and looked at Jin Chi’an, whose expression had grown troubled, with a hint of playfulness.
“So are you planning to return to the imperial military, or…”
“Where is Felix?”
Jin Chi’an answered Aphrodite’s question with a sharp glare.
“They’ve already told you, haven’t they? He’s missing. Because a zerg space-time transfer device was detected on the battlefield, Felix went alone to intercept it. That is the answer your empire gave.”
Aphrodite pushed aside the tea Charles had brewed and stood, walking up to Jin Chi’an. He aligned his pair of snake eyes with Jin Chi’an’s.
“As someone who formed a mental brand with him, can’t you sense his existence?”
Facing Aphrodite’s questioning, Jin Chi’an looked up at his vertical pupils in confusion.
Aphrodite gestured to the soldier beside him. The other party transformed into a merle border collie and came close to Jin Chi’an’s side, circling him while sniffing his scent.
“There is indeed the marshal’s scent.”
The merle border collie nodded in Aphrodite’s direction, then seemed to ponder.
“But it’s strange. This scent is so faint that it doesn’t seem like they’ve bonded.”
Hearing this answer, Aphrodite narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to Jin Chi’an.
“Married for four months, and you two haven’t done it?”
“N-no.”
“No wonder.”
Aphrodite lifted the golden hair falling beside his ear, discussing his youngest son with some disdain.
“How useless. Four months and he hasn’t even gotten into bed, let alone produced a crown prince.”
Hearing the Iskan emperor’s frivolous words, Jin Chi’an’s ears flushed uncontrollably. He changed the subject.
“Felix’s mental brand isn’t on me.”
“Of course I know that. Felix told me.”
Aphrodite scratched his hair with some difficulty.
“The only way to break a one-way brand is for the beneficiary to voluntarily form a two-way brand. And you, as the original beneficiary of the one-way contract, will eventually have the brand return to you.”
“However… if you haven’t slept together, that makes things troublesome.”
While the emperor was thinking of a solution, Charles, who had been standing quietly beside them, interrupted, “Isn’t there still that imperial instrument?”
“What instru—”
Before Jin Chi’an could finish his question, the door to the ward opened, and a translucent barrier unfolded before him.
The entire ward was enveloped within the barrier, and several beastman soldiers stood guard outside.
Faced with such a grand formation, Jin Chi’an asked in confusion, “What is this?”
“If Felix is dead, we need to protect his widow. And you are currently a first-class fugitive of the empire. Your wanted notice is all over interstellar space. This means any aircraft you are on is at constant risk of being attacked by star pirates.”
Charles followed behind the emperor and explained the reason to Jin Chi’an, who was walking on the same side.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he kept carefully watching Aphrodite’s expression.
With everyone harboring their own thoughts, they arrived at a laboratory on the aircraft.
Among countless carelessly arranged medicines, several mental instruments stood sealed inside the laboratory, quietly awaiting their next user.
The emperor at the front gave the soldier stationed inside a look, and the other party tactfully withdrew from the laboratory, leaving only Jin Chi’an and the other two.
“What is this?”
Jin Chi’an’s gaze fixed on the instrument, his eyes complicated as he looked at the complex instrument circuits on it.
“This is an experimental instrument recovered from the room in the empire’s western district. Its previous owner was Talir, the attending physician of the imperial members,” Charles explained.
“Then why is it here?”
“Because only the DNA of a beastman from the imperial royal family can recognize and activate the instrument. This was a condition Talir set beforehand.”
As Jin Chi’an approached the instrument, his body felt a warmth from it. When he tried to extend his mental tendrils to sense it, his consciousness cloud felt as if a floodgate had been shut. He could not sense the mental power inside at all.
Realizing something, Jin Chi’an silently called Puff’s name in his heart. But at this moment, the Maine Coon that usually always acted arrogantly in front of him gave no response.
The mental sea deep within his consciousness cloud seemed as if it had died, without the slightest ripple.
The connection between his body and his consciousness cloud had also been blocked, making it completely impossible to access.
Seeing him lost in thought, Charles instinctively placed a hand on his shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing.”
Coming back to himself, Jin Chi’an looked at their puzzled expressions and said with certainty, “I probably can’t use this instrument…”
…
On a private aircraft, Xi Lian and Edwin sat in the pilot seats, connected to the communication line with Iskan’s main aircraft.
Looking at the empire’s District One gradually entering their field of vision, Xi Lian, now in human form, quietly gazed in the direction sensed by the mental brand.
Beside him, Edwin was asking Charles through the video call, “So brother-in-law means we’re supposed to sneak into the imperial capital’s military headquarters in District One and kidnap a human guide?”
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