Chapter 45
Early in the morning, Yesi drove an aircraft to the secret medical base.
When he arrived and walked to the familiar room, Anxius was already waiting inside.
The outline behind the glass, so unmistakably the monster’s, looked somewhat pale. This was one of the patient’s recent adverse reactions.
Yesi nervously knocked and entered. After carefully observing Anxius’s condition, he could not help asking, “Are you certain you want to do it today? We can stop at any time… this concerns your own life and safety. I am only ninety percent confident. No one knows whether that remaining ten percent might happen… You really should not trust me too much.”
Anxius seemed to be in a rather good mood, his gaze even carrying a trace of absent-minded ease. “You misunderstand. I have never trusted you.”
Yesi froze.
“Other than you, there is no one else who could perform this operation better,” Anxius said. “Before the surgery, go eat some breakfast first.”
“Thank you, Your Highness, but I’ve already eaten…” Before he could finish, the crown prince’s deep, shadowed gaze frightened him so badly he hardly dared breathe. He hurriedly changed his words. “I’ll go eat right away. Please rest assured, I will do everything in my power to complete this surgery!”
Yesi withdrew from the room, and a soldier in uniform led him to the dining area.
Yet when the meal was placed before him a short while later, it was not the toast, milk, porridge, or other ordinary breakfast foods he had imagined. Instead, it was a boxed-up street snack… and, well, it smelled a little foul.
Yesi wrinkled his nose, suppressing his disgust. Just as he was about to ask about it, he saw the soldier smile and say, “Don’t worry. You’ll understand after one bite… really, before you came, all of us had already tried this special breakfast. Yours is the mildly spicy version, so it won’t be too intense.”
If he had not already spent some time with these people, Yesi might genuinely have suspected this was some sort of show of dominance from the soldiers. But seeing the straightforward look in the man’s eyes, he knew the soldier was not lying.
Helplessly, he opened the box. Looking at the black tofu cubes and the strange sauce, Yesi frowned at once… Was this really not spoiled tofu?
He leaned closer to smell it, then very cautiously took a small bite.
“Well? How is it?” The soldier seemed to be holding his breath, looking forward to his reaction more than anything.
To be honest, that tiny taste did not reveal much. But at least he could already tell that there was no rotten stench and no disgusting texture, so the food itself seemed perfectly normal.
Yesi relaxed slightly and popped the whole piece of tofu into his mouth.
The fried tofu cube burst with rich, spicy sauce the moment it hit his tongue. It was not overly salty, yet it instantly stirred up his appetite.
“It’s delicious… If it tastes this good, why does it smell so bad?” Yesi looked at the remaining tofu with delight and curiosity. After swallowing, he finished the rest in just a few bites, then started glancing around, clearly wanting to ask whether there was any more.
The soldier laughed. “Do you know how long the line is to buy this? It’s already lucky enough that you got to eat some. If His Highness the Crown Prince hadn’t sent us out to shop, I’d never have known there was food like this in the world.”
Yesi had not been back on Snar Star for long, so he had assumed he was simply out of touch. Now that he learned the other man was eating it for the first time too, he nodded vigorously. “Exactly. I’ve never heard of food like this either. It’s incredible.” If he did not still have surgery to perform, he truly wanted to go out and eat several huge bowls of it!
But the moment he thought of the crown prince’s surgery, Yesi’s expression turned grave again.
He only hoped everything would go smoothly.
In the rear court of the palace, clouds hung low like a curtain.
“His berserk phase is in disorder, and he wants to leave Snar Star for a vacation?” The beautiful, stately woman’s eyelashes trembled slightly. She turned to look at her husband, the ruler of this planet, and her tone carried something strange in it. “Your Majesty, did Anxius really say that?”
The emperor nodded. He was trimming the greenery before him with a pair of scissors, but with one careless motion, he snipped off the flower in the best bloom.
A guard immediately knelt to pick it up.
The emperor waved a hand. “It’s already cut. Throw it away. I’m not lacking that one flower.”
The empress’s expression shifted faintly. Looking at the flower on the ground, she felt a sorrow she could not put into words.
The emperor had always kept Anxius’s movements under secret surveillance, and as he had expected, Anxius was indeed desperately eager to restore his human form.
The empress did not know that part, but from the emperor’s earlier words, she had already guessed his judgment on Anxius. Slowly, she said, “Your Majesty, since his condition is already this serious, it seems he truly is no longer of use. Why not simply give him some planet at random and let him spend the rest of his life there quietly?”
If he was never meant to become emperor, then staying here would only make everything more painful, perhaps even deny him a good end… She understood her husband’s nature all too well. On the surface he was benevolent and broad-minded, but in truth he was suspicious by nature, arrogant, and utterly cold-blooded when it came to power. Ever since he had begun laying plans against his own son Anxius years ago, he had never intended to let that son become his true successor.
Anxius’s disability had been a fate decided from birth.
“Do you think he would ever be content to live beneath someone else?” The emperor smiled. “Right now, he is forcing me to make a choice.”
A cold wind passed through, and the woman turned her head away with a sigh.
The tall palace walls hemmed them in on all sides, so gloomy they seemed to turn even the sky gray.
At the mall.
This was the second day of the “Mimi Stinky Tofu” live stall broadcast. Yomi was so busy he was nearly losing his voice, though whenever fans came over, he still did his best to squeeze out time to greet them.
Lynn happened to be on break too. Knowing Yomi was especially busy, he had actually come over to help… though of course, he admitted to himself that he had selfish motives too. Yomi’s stinky tofu really was delicious! If he helped at the stall, he would not need to queue and could eat his fill! Hehe~
After the huge success of the stinky tofu stall on the first day, Yomi had contacted a manufacturer overnight and urgently ordered a few employee caps to make everything look more professional. The caps were yellow, with a big “Mi” printed on them.
The five staff members in their caps each had clear roles. Harvey and Meikai mainly made the stinky tofu. Arlo handled incoming payments on the communicator and passed boxed portions to customers. Lynn kept order on-site and occasionally helped move ingredients around. Yomi would sometimes go over to make stinky tofu with Meikai and Harvey, and when things were not too busy, he would chat with the customers waiting in line and also interact with fans in the livestream.
The atmosphere at the stall was wonderful.
When Arlo was checking the receipts, he turned and caught sight of the sweat on Yomi’s face. He quickly grabbed a tissue and handed it over.
As Yomi wiped his sweat, he said thank you.
Seeing Yomi’s flushed cheeks and the sweat trickling all the way down to his chin, Arlo felt as if he were watching a kitten being made to do illegal child labor. It hurt his heart terribly. “Boss, do you want to go rest for a bit? Don’t tire yourself out too much.”
“I’m not tired.” Yomi shook his head. He felt fulfilled and happy. Saying that, he adjusted the yellow cap on his head and then trotted off again to greet customers.
By evening, the day’s work finally came to an end.
Not a single bit of stinky tofu ingredient remained in the food cart.
Yomi brought everyone to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Small as he was, he spent with great extravagance. At first he had wanted to wave a hand grandly and reserve an entire hall, but when the server told him one of the tables inside had already been booked, he immediately drooped and said, “Oh… alright then.”
Meikai laughed. “There’s no need to reserve the whole hall. In the early stages of a business, you can’t be too lavish.”
Yomi understood that in principle, but the truth was that their sales and tips over the past two days had both been huge. They had already made a great profit, and their fan count had risen by a lot too. Reserving a hall really would not have been much of anything. He wanted to be a good boss and make everyone happy… Still, there was no need to change locations now. Everyone was already tired.
The five of them sat around the table. Once the food arrived, they immediately began digging in with huge bites of meat and vegetables. After a whole day of physical work, every one of them had a big appetite.
Yomi did not dare drink alcohol. He still had to prepare for tomorrow’s work that evening, so he used a drink in place of alcohol and clinked glasses with everyone in celebration.
Karl knew Yomi’s stall schedule lately, so he had come to pick him up early.
On the way back to the manor, Yomi said quietly, “Mr. Karl, you don’t need to come pick me up from now on. I can go back by myself. It’s too much trouble for you.”
Karl smiled. “You know I haven’t had much to do lately. At the very least, I need to make sure you stay safe.”
Of course, that was not the whole truth. Just this morning, the crown prince had summoned him to another base, and there Karl had learned of the prince’s plan.
Part of him could hardly believe it, and yet part of him suddenly felt as though everything had become clear.
The crown prince had given him only one task, and that task was to protect Yomi’s safety at all costs.
After they returned to the manor, Karl still did not leave. He stayed in the villa’s guest room.
When Yomi came out after bathing to get some air, Karl was standing outside, looking at him as though he wanted to say something but could not.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Yomi felt something about his state was strange. “Did His Highness Anxius scold you?” If Karl had suffered some sort of setback, that was the only reason Yomi could think of.
Karl paused, then shook his head and smiled, saying it was nothing. He turned and went out to the balcony, pacing there alone.
Yomi watched him in confusion. Perhaps sensing Yomi’s gaze, Karl stiffly ran back into the guest room.
Karl really was acting strangely.
Ever since learning the crown prince’s plan, his heart had not calmed down for a moment. Everything before now had only been forced composure. Because this matter was so serious, several times he had almost blurted everything out to Yomi.
But reason told him he could not. He could not let this little one live in the same fear and unease that he was carrying.
Since His Highness Anxius was so certain about everything that would come next, then there absolutely had to be a solution.
What he had not expected was that Yomi would chase him all the way to the guest room.
Yomi was truly worried about him. Karl always helped him, and Yomi could not simply ignore Karl’s terrible state. He ran over and knocked on the door. “Karl, what exactly is wrong? If it’s hard to say, then I’ll take you out for a drink… let’s go drink together?”
A few seconds later, Karl’s hoarse voice came from inside. “I’m fine, Yomi. I… I just have a bit of a cold and I’m afraid I might not be able to take you tomorrow.”
Yomi instinctively felt that was not the real reason. Leaning against the door, he said, “I can go by myself. Karl, if you’re sick, don’t you need to see a doctor?”
“I’ve already taken medicine. It’s just a minor cold, there’s no need to see a doctor… Yomi, I’m only afraid that while His Highness is away, I won’t be able to take proper care of you. That’s all.”
“You have no obligation to take care of me, and I’m fine, really fine,” Yomi said through the crack of the door. “Karl, have you been too tired from work? Do you want to take leave and rest? You don’t look very well…”
Inside the room, Karl lay on the bed, almost soaking the entire pillow with tears. Ah, he truly could not bear it anymore.
Even without the crown prince’s order, he would absolutely protect this little one.
“I’m already much better,” Karl’s voice came out muffled. “Yomi, hurry up and go to sleep. Good night.”
“Good night…” the person outside said, though he remained there for quite some time before finally leaving.
The next morning, Yomi got up very early. He first ran over to the guest room to check on Karl. Seeing that Karl was already up and talking with the servants, looking much better, he finally returned to his own room to wash up.
After breakfast, he told Karl to rest properly and took the manor driver’s hovercar into the city.
Yomi had no idea that from the very instant he left the manor, Karl had avoided everyone, taken a private aircraft out through an underground tunnel, and begun following him from far away.
Today was the final day of the short holiday, and business remained booming. People were already asking Yomi whether he planned to open chain stores.
He would definitely open stores, but that would require careful planning, so Yomi gave no definite answer and simply focused on selling stinky tofu at the stall.
Today the line was even longer than before. Before evening had even arrived, several times the amount of stinky tofu ingredients they had prepared was completely sold out.
A few fans still came over to take photos in front of the stall, covering their mouths and laughing softly at little Yomi inside in his yellow cap, looking like some kind of doll.
How could he look even smaller in person than he had on the show? Was he really not some doll that had come to life?
Once they closed the stall, Yomi took a comfortable sip of iced water. He removed his cap and smiled as he looked up at the sky full of glowing evening light.
The sky was so beautiful, and the beams of light piercing through the clouds were lovely too. It was the Tyndall effect.
There were birds as well. He did not know what kind. Eh… wait, no—
Yomi’s expression changed slightly. He frowned, staring at the object that had suddenly appeared among the clouds, then called Lynn over and pointed. “What is that?”
Almost the instant the words left his mouth, a violent explosion sounded in the distance!
The ground shook. The shadow high in the air rapidly grew clearer. Someone recognized the thing in time and screamed, “I-it’s a battleship!”
Before Yomi could even react, Lynn had already wrapped him tightly with his tentacles. At the same moment, warning sirens rang out overhead, everyone’s communicators automatically switched into emergency defense mode, and a mechanical voice sounded across the sky: “Emergency, emergency! All residents, please proceed to the nearest underground shelter immediately. Phizhi aliens have infiltrated the main city district—emergency! Emergency!”
Screams, crying, explosions, running… all those enormous sounds wove together into one, and Yomi was instantly reminded of the day before he transmigrated, the day the apocalypse had begun.
No…
Yomi’s face turned pale. Then he saw that Arlo, Meikai, and Harvey were all still together and running as well, and he quickly snapped back to himself.
They ran forward together.
Everyone was sprinting toward the mall’s underground shelter.
After another violent explosion, Yomi staggered when someone rammed into him. Lynn reacted first and lashed out a tentacle in time, wrapping him up before he could fall. “Mimi! Are you alright?”
In just a few short seconds, everyone else around them had already run clean away.
Yomi shook his head. He was just about to tell Lynn to hurry and put him down, when at that moment an aircraft came rushing toward them from not far away. It braked hard right in front of them, and the man who opened the hatch shouted urgently, “Get in! Quickly!”
“Karl?!” Yomi stared at the figure in shock.
In a situation like this, choosing an aircraft instead of the shelter was by no means the better option. But Yomi instinctively trusted Karl. Without a second thought, he ran toward it with Lynn.
Seeing that he was too slow, Lynn simply picked him up and charged into the aircraft. Over there, when Meikai and the other two noticed Yomi’s movement, they were equally stunned, but immediately turned and ran for the aircraft as well.
Once everyone was aboard, Karl instantly activated the aircraft and shot it up into the clouds. His expression was severe, but his tone remained steady. “Sit down. The flight probably won’t be stable from here on.”
Yomi and the others immediately fastened their seatbelts.
The aircraft flew at high speed through the sky. Once Yomi recovered his senses, he pressed close to the window and looked down. The ground below was already empty. Not a single figure could be seen anymore.
Lynn and the others were still in a dazed state, but they knew they could not distract Karl while he was piloting, so no matter how shocked and confused they were inside, they did not dare ask questions now.
The flight was indeed extremely unstable. Arlo had already started retching in the back.
Yomi did not even dare look at the distant battleship. Questions rose one after another in his mind. Why was Karl not taking them to the nearest shelter, but instead leaving in an aircraft? With the battleship still active, was being in the air not even more dangerous?
And yet, everything from the past made him instinctively feel that Karl would not make such a low-level mistake.
Sure enough, it was not long before the aircraft drew the attention of the distant battleship. Even from that far away, the other side clearly had no intention of letting them escape…
After a deafening cannon blast, the aircraft shook violently… it had nearly been hit.
Karl seemed to have anticipated this. He steered the aircraft in evasive movements and accelerated.
The people inside had never experienced anything this terrifying before. They were all frozen in fear.
The battleship closed in and launched another attack.
After a fierce spin and another bout of violent shaking, the aircraft somehow avoided the strike again!
Yomi hurriedly looked up—and saw that Karl, who had been in the pilot’s area, had transformed into a giant pangolin!
What happened next made Yomi’s entire body begin to tremble.
At some point, the window of the pilot’s cabin had opened. In order to save the aircraft, Karl had crawled half his body outside and taken the bullets himself to shield it…
When the pangolin pulled himself back in, half his back was covered in blood.
And he was still piloting.
“Karl… Karl…” In a daze, Yomi unfastened his seatbelt and lurched forward. But before he could even reach Karl, the aircraft began to pitch dangerously.
Karl shook his head hard, as if trying to clear the blood from his eyes so he could see the controls.
“I’ll do it, I can…” Yomi was so frightened he could hardly think. His eyes were blurry with tears as he took over the controls. He had to force them open wide so the tears would not spill. “I-I can fly an aircraft. Karl, where are we going?”
Karl’s back had been blown to pieces. He glanced at Yomi, seemingly shocked that Yomi really could fly an aircraft… He took great gasping breaths, trying to steady himself, but then he collapsed.
Yomi cried out for Lynn. He told Lynn to remove the bracelet Karl had once given him and put it back on Karl’s arm.
“That’s a safety sphere…” Under Yomi’s control, the aircraft weaved in an S-shaped path to avoid the direct line of fire. He had finally stopped crying, and his hoarse voice sounded strangely calm amid the bombardment. “Lynn, put it on Karl and then press the button.”
The safety sphere was small for Karl’s size, but once activated, it formed a protective globe that snugly enclosed half his injured body and stopped the blood from continuing to pour out.
After doing as instructed, Lynn was so terrified he had no idea what to do next. “…Mimi, what should I do now?”
“Drag him beside me,” Yomi said, steering the aircraft away from the battleship, his hands shaking violently. “Karl, hold on. I’ll find a doctor. We’re going to a hospital!”
“No…” Karl was still conscious. He shook his head frantically, breathing hard. “We can’t go to a hospital. The royal family has already started moving. They want to eliminate His Highness Anxius… If we go to a hospital, they won’t let us live… Head for the black market. Brule will protect you. You’ll be somewhere safe very soon.”
“No! Brule can’t treat injuries!” Yomi completely broke down crying again. He had never been through anything like this. He knew nothing. “There’s no doctor in the black market…”
“My dad is a doctor!” Arlo suddenly shouted. “My dad can save him!”
Yomi hurriedly wiped his tears. “Where is your dad?”
Arlo was just about to give his home address when a thunderous crash sounded from behind them. Nearly everyone stiffened and turned toward the source of that sound.
Several terrified faces stared at the scene there. “What… what is that?”
Afraid of being attacked, Yomi immediately switched the aircraft to autopilot and turned to look as well.
It was a gigantic shadow that had appeared out of nowhere, the figure of a monster with demonic horns.
—More precisely, it was Anxius’s original form.
Yomi rubbed his eyes hard. Excited, he grabbed Karl. “His Highness Anxius is here. Karl, you’re going to be alright very soon.”
“…What?” Karl thought the pain must be making him hear things. He struggled to glance in that direction. The moment he saw the familiar silhouette, he went nearly rigid with shock. “I-impossible. He only just finished surgery. There is no way… absolutely no way…”
And at that very moment, as if to prove his identity, the monster let out a hoarse, low growl. It was a sound that made one’s skin crawl. Barely two seconds later, an unbearable shockwave burst outward in all directions.
Yomi did not even understand what had happened. But when he looked back again, the enormous battleship had turned into dust in an instant.
Everyone on the aircraft stared in utter disbelief.
After destroying the battleship, the monster beat his wings and sped after the aircraft.
Yomi quickly opened the glass panel above. “Get in here!”
The monster leapt straight in. Though he was clearly exhausted to the limit, he still walked upright all the way to the pilot’s area where Yomi stood.
His golden eyes fixed on the small figure at the controls, and with infinite gentleness he took over flying the aircraft. The aircraft was heading toward the black market.
As he changed lines of densely packed data on the panel, he said to tear-streaked Yomi, “Don’t be afraid. You flew very well.”
The moment he finished speaking, the monster’s body shuddered slightly. In the next instant, that enormous form began to change…
“Anxius! Anxius!”
A bloody scent filled the air. The monster shrank, shifting into human form—but this human form still had fierce black horns… and yet it looked like a mummy, wrapped from head to toe in bandages.
He was only about 1.9 meters tall now. If not for those golden eyes, Yomi would never have believed the figure before him was Anxius.
“Anxius, what happened to you?” Yomi’s voice was so hoarse it scarcely sounded human. He was frightened, confused. “Why… why are you like this?”
In his human form, Anxius forced himself to remain standing in the pilot’s area. At last his hands finished setting the data, locking in a very concealed route. The final destination was still the black market.
Once he had done all that, it seemed he had lost all his strength. To keep from frightening Yomi, he deliberately sank backward and sat down.
Even before losing consciousness, he still remembered Yomi’s words. Reaching out, he held Yomi’s hand and said, “Brule has another basement below this one, a larger one. There’s a special starship hidden there… We’re leaving Snar Star for a while. Only for a while.”
…Leaving Snar Star?
Yomi felt as if his whole mind had turned to fog. He turned to look at Karl, but Karl had already passed out.
The aircraft flew into a tunnel and soon stopped with perfect precision atop a hovercar waiting there. As though it had been expecting them for a long time, the hovercar received the aircraft and immediately drove underground.
After endless darkness, it finally screamed to a halt at the entrance to an underground passage.
Yomi narrowed his eyes. He truly felt as though he were still dreaming.
Under dim tube lights, the person there to receive them was a man. From the back, Arlo saw the man’s face and blurted out, “Dad?!”
Yesi was not especially surprised to see him. The crown prince had promised to protect his family. But this was not the time for family reunions—he first had to examine the crown prince, who was covered in bandages from head to toe. So he called Arlo and the others over to help carry Karl and Anxius inside.
Meikai and the others still seemed unable to process things. They did not know where this was, but from the conversation Yomi and Karl had had on the aircraft, they had vaguely pieced together that the man before them—human form only 1.9 meters tall, original form being Louis—was actually their former war god, the empire’s crown prince Anxius…
But Anxius’s human form was supposed to be enormous.
Why had he become like this?
And why was the royal family hunting the crown prince?
What exactly had happened inside the royal family…?
No matter how many questions they had, they did not dare ask them.
A few minutes later, the whole group reached the third underground level beneath Brule’s place, and there, indeed, stood a magnificent transforming starship.
Brule had been waiting for them there the whole time, and Linda was there too. She had been crying all along and insisting on going out to look for Arlo. The moment she saw her son enter with the others, she could hardly believe it. She rushed over and threw her arms around him.
Knowing how worried his mother had been, Arlo hugged her back tightly. At the same time, he could not help asking, “Mom, why are you all here? Where is this place?”
Linda looked at her husband. Yesi, in turn, looked toward the bandage-wrapped man, his gaze complicated.
He could understand Anxius choosing to share a life with someone else. What he could not understand at all was why Anxius, having only just undergone human-form surgery, would be so desperate to transform back into his original form and flee… Just how terrified had he been that something might happen over there?
The surgery had succeeded. If the patient died after that, Yesi himself would not be able to accept it.
But no matter how incomprehensible it seemed, the patients still had to be treated first.
Giving his anxious wife a reassuring look, Yesi opened his medical kit and first administered some nutritional and restorative post-surgery medicine to Anxius, then turned and went to Karl.
Karl’s injuries were very severe. Linda knew some basic nursing and went over to help too.
After a long while—
Once he had painstakingly removed the bullet, Yesi let out a deep breath of relief. “If it had gone any deeper, it really would have killed you! But it’s alright now. Fortunately the safety sphere was used in time. Once the wound heals properly, he’ll be fine.”
Lynn said, “Yomi gave him the safety sphere. Luckily…”
Karl had been given anesthetic and knew nothing of any of this.
Yomi stood to the side, shaking all over.
Karl had nearly died.
The sick and injured both needed to rest down here, so Brule came over and picked up the little one. “Don’t cry. They’ll get better.”
Yomi shook his head. He was not crying.
Brule led the others up to the second underground level to eat. He turned on the light screen and began watching the latest news.
It was a live broadcast. On screen appeared Joseph’s face. The elegant prince said sorrowfully, “The Phizhi invasion was truly despicable, but please do not be afraid. Even though my elder brother has already perished, I will inherit his will and use my own life to protect every citizen of Snar Star…”
Perished?
Yomi’s eyes widened. Sure enough, the line below the news report read: mourning the passing of Crown Prince Anxius… And then the report began playing a short video. In it, after Anxius’s original form destroyed the battleship, he boarded a nearby aircraft. Unexpectedly, after flying away, that aircraft suddenly returned, seemingly out of control. It spun wildly in the air for a while before exploding.
Yomi turned to Brule in confusion.
In a low voice, Brule explained, “The royal family tampered with that aircraft. Anxius knew. He’d already set it to autopilot in advance… and also placed the remains of an ancestor inside, cough… After your aircraft left, that aircraft became your stand-in.”
Over there, Lynn suddenly gasped at his communicator. “Everyone online is saying the crown prince is dead! They’re also saying he was disabled…”
Yomi immediately opened his own communicator. In just a single day, the internet had been flooded with leaks and speculation claiming that Anxius had long since lost his human form. Some supposed palace insiders were saying that the crown prince frequently entered berserk states, and that this accident had absolutely been caused by an uncontrollable berserk episode aboard the aircraft. Even if he had survived, he was no longer fit to remain crown prince…
“…”
Even Yomi could tell these opinions were being manipulated by someone.
So Karl’s earlier words had been true. The royal family truly wanted Anxius completely destroyed, in both life and reputation.
“The timing of the Phizhi infiltration was far too strange…” Brule, however, was focused elsewhere. Looking at Joseph’s face on the screen, his own expression turned cold and grim.
On the other side, Lynn and the others looked at their communicators, then at one another.
All of them felt some fear. Now that they knew such a massive royal secret, would people like Brule really let them go?
Brule turned off the screen. He had never paid much attention to those young people anyway. Walking over to Yesi, he handed him the starship ignition module. “Aside from me, only three people here know how to fly a starship. Two of them are lying down. So this task falls to you.”
Yesi accepted the ignition module.
Brule then turned to the younger group and addressed what they were all worrying about. “As for you lot—since you’re already aboard this thief’s ship, why not go lie low on Junk Star for a while? It may be an exile planet, but things over there are complicated, and it isn’t under imperial control.”
At those words, Arlo looked overjoyed. “Back to Junk Star? Really?”
Lynn, meanwhile, blankly looked at Yomi, while Meikai and Harvey exchanged glances, seeming unable to fully process things.
Why were they suddenly going to another planet?
Brule watched their expressions and continued, “I imagine you more or less understand the overall situation, so I won’t say too much. For now, it’s a good thing that the royal family believes the crown prince is dead. But since you were all on that aircraft, if you remain on Snar Star, there’s a possibility you’ll be targeted. If you truly don’t want to go to Junk Star, that’s fine too… but for your own safety, you must at least stay and work in the black market until this whole matter is completely resolved. What do you think?”
He knew Anxius would definitely take revenge.
Silence.
After a long time, Lynn stepped forward first and nodded. “I’m going with Mimi. I’m an orphan anyway. I have nothing tying me down.”
Yomi froze. In his mind, Junk Star sounded like anything but a good place. He could not abandon Anxius and Karl, but he also wanted Lynn not to follow him there. At the same time, he was afraid Lynn would be in even greater danger if he stayed behind. He truly did not know what to do.
Meikai and Harvey were both clever people. Although they were still bewildered by the current situation, they more or less understood the circumstances. After a short discussion, the two of them decided quite readily to go to Junk Star as well.
In their eyes, the crown prince was unlikely ever to return. But Meikai did not care—he had never liked Snar Star in the first place, a planet filled with painful memories for him. Harvey, meanwhile, was bound to him almost like family, and Harvey was willing to wander anywhere with Meikai.
Not to mention that Yomi would also be with them.
The recent days they had spent running the stall together had truly been very happy.
Seeing that Yomi looked as though he wanted to speak but could not, Meikai smiled. “Honestly, I’m kind of curious what Junk Star is like. I always wanted to go on an interstellar journey before, and who knew I’d end up making it happen like this?”
Arlo quickly added, “Junk Star really isn’t that bad. As long as you work hard, you can still live a very good life there. Really.”
Linda, who had always longed to leave Junk Star, had come to terms with things by now… Heaven knew how hopeless it had felt to see those battleships yet be unable to find any trace of her child… Arlo was right. Junk Star was not so terrible. As long as the family stayed together, anywhere could be home. And she knew now that her husband’s earlier words had not been madness at all—he truly had completed the world’s first human-form restoration surgery. He had done it.
Even if the form was smaller now, it was still a real human form, still the former crown prince’s appearance.
While the young people went off in renewed spirits to discuss things, Yesi quietly called Brule away.
Behind a door, he asked, “Will the royal family really believe the crown prince is dead?”
“You can rest easy about that. Anxius arranged everything in advance.” The royal family’s actions had clearly all been anticipated by Anxius, which was why every step now was proceeding with such precision.
All those sleepless days and nights Anxius had endured had been for the sake of this very day.
After speaking with Yesi, Brule turned back and looked toward Yomi, who was lowering his head and wiping his eyes.
The old man’s gaze grew sorrowful—for Yomi, and for Anxius.
…I’m sorry. Even though it has disrupted your life, only this way… only this way can you gain a Snarian’s lifespan and stay here longer.
The only human, the sweetest little thing—please, keep living.
Just before departure, Brule called after him. “Little lamb, I have something for you.”
At that old nickname, Yomi seemed to drift into a brief daze. Then he followed Brule upstairs.
Once inside, Brule turned and rummaged around before quickly taking out a brand-new pair of little sheep horns and handing them over. “I made these for you some time ago. If your horns crack again, switch to this pair.” Since the little lamb was afraid of being discovered as a human, then there was no need to expose him.
Yomi stared blankly at the horns, then looked up at Brule. With reddened eyes, he placed the horns back into his bag. “Thank you.”
Brule looked down at him and slowly crouched. “Call me Grandpa.”
Yomi pressed his lips tightly together and lowered his head, continuing to pack his bag.
Then suddenly, a teardrop hit the floor.
Brule stroked his head. “Child, if you want to cry, then cry.”
The little one who had been holding it in all this time stiffened his neck, and after a brief silence, finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.
Brule thought he was crying because his life had been overturned, and he fully understood that. Patting the little one’s back, he said, “It’ll get better. You’ll all come back.”
“W-why?” Even crying that hard, his voice was still so soft and gentle, his whole body limp as cotton. “Why did Anxius have to do that kind of surgery? Yesi said… Yesi said no one had ever done it before…” How could Anxius be so reckless? What if he had died? And judging from things now, the surgery had not gone smoothly either—he had even shrunk…
He had already pieced together the truth of the human-form surgery from Yesi and Linda’s conversation.
Brule lowered his gaze to Yomi’s swollen red eyes. “…Anxius will not regret it. He knew that the size of his human form would change, and he still didn’t care. He knew everything. He doesn’t regret it.”
Yomi kept hiccuping through his sobs and said nothing.
“He’ll bring you back. Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” Yomi said through his choking tears. “It’s just… is a human form really that important? Important enough to pay with your life?”
“…It is.” Brule’s tone turned grave. “Even if the surgery had failed, I believe Anxius still would not regret it.”
Yomi kept speaking between hitching breaths. “W-why did the emperor do this… just because Anxius wasn’t close to them?”
At that, Brule actually laughed. In a tone almost like telling a story, he drew the little one into his arms and said, “Do you know? Snar Star once had two battle prodigies born through abilities. One was violent and bloodthirsty, and murdered his own father for the throne. The other failed in killing his father and was put to a cruel death… Anxius was never born because of love. He was born for battle. But once Snar Star became powerful enough that it no longer needed such a battle machine, the emperor began to fear him.”
“But Anxius…”
“The Anxius of the past truly would not have done such a thing. But the Anxius of the future will.” Brule let his smile fade. “Let’s make a bet. I think the emperor will die by his hand.”
Yomi looked up in utter shock, eyes wide. “…But isn’t the emperor your son?”
Brule gave him a mischievous smile. “Compared to royal struggle, blood ties are worth very little.”
“…”
It was deep into the night. The shadows of the roadside trees were dark and heavy, and the moonlight dim.
Yesi activated the transforming starship and departed through the underground passage. Crossing the forest, the ship finally shot into the sky in its smallest form, and only once it reached the distant star river did it gradually unfold into its full shape.
It was a massive, formidable starship.
Inside the wide vessel, Meikai and Harvey had fallen asleep leaning close against each other. Lynn stayed with Yomi to watch over the two patients, while Linda sat in the cockpit beside her husband.
They were on their way to Junk Star.
Arlo came over with a handful of candy and shared some with Lynn and Yomi. He was clearly the happiest person aboard the ship. “Mimi, don’t be sad. Junk Star really isn’t that bad. It’s my hometown, and I like it there. We can make stinky tofu there too.”
Yomi had still been grieving, but on hearing that, he nodded in deep agreement. He sucked on the candy, looking rather blank.
After Arlo left, Yomi said to Lynn, “There’s a bed over there. You should go sleep.”
Lynn asked, “Aren’t you going?”
Yomi pointed to the little sofa between the two sickbeds. “This can be my bed.”
Lynn wanted to argue, but after looking at Yomi’s size and then at the sofa, he found he really could not.
Lynn was truly at the end of his strength. He found a blanket, draped it over Yomi’s shoulders, and went to the lounge.
The surroundings became so quiet it was almost absolute.
Yomi rolled the candy around in his mouth with his tongue, trying to draw every bit of sugar from it. Sitting too long made him uncomfortable, so he went over to the window, stood on a stool, and looked out at Snar Star, which had already become a distant sphere. Even now, none of it felt real.
Suddenly, a strained groan came from behind him—it was Anxius!
Yomi instantly jumped down from the stool and ran over. “What’s wrong? Does it hurt?”
Right now, Anxius practically looked like a living mummy. Yomi was certain he must be in great pain.
Anxius had not fully awakened. He had only sensed Yomi’s presence moving away, and instinctively grew anxious. The moment Yomi came close again, his hand reached out and caught hold of the small hand—barely half the size of his own palm.
His breathing steadied.
Now the size difference between them was no more than that between a normal 1.9-meter man and a 1.7-meter man—noticeable, yes, but not large.
Sensing his unease, Yomi let him keep holding his hand and even gave it a very gentle little swing. He knew what it was like to be ill. Before, when he had been sick, Anxius had cared for him with such meticulous attention every single day. At that time, even while sick, Yomi had never felt lonely on an alien planet… and now, he wanted to give Anxius that same sense of safety.
Yomi turned and tucked the blanket more securely around Karl, then moved the sofa closer until it was pressed right beside Anxius’s bed. He lay back, curling himself fully into the sofa.
Wrapped in the fluffy blanket, with only his little horned head left exposed, Yomi kept his hand clasped tightly with Anxius’s.
Beyond the window stretched the vast, deep star river, the universe so immense, as though it were gently cradling them all.
Yomi looked up at it a few times, then turned to the bandage-covered face beside him. He felt as though he was not sleeping inside a blanket at all, but inside a snail’s shell. His eyes were swollen, so swollen that when he smiled, they nearly disappeared into slits. Sleepy and smiling, he murmured softly, “Good night. See you tomorrow.”
