Chapter 80
Inside the hospital room.
Jinwen had a nightmare.
In the dream, the warship his father was on was blown to pieces. He desperately wanted to stop it, yet he could do nothing, while his father—covered in blood—kept shouting for him to go find the emperor of Junk Star…
He jolted awake from the nightmare, drenched in sweat from head to toe.
Jinwen forced his eyelids open a sliver and could see only a wash of white light. Someone was moving around the room. Soon, a person was wiping his face with a towel while speaking aloud about his physical indicators.
Another voice responded.
Jinwen could tell who they were—the doctor and the student.
Even though he still could not take care of himself, the nightmare from just now made him realize once again what his duty was. His will to survive became stronger than ever. When Lin En came to hook up his IV, he tried his best to lift his hand higher to make it easier for the other party to insert the needle.
“Teacher, I think he’s awake. He was cooperating with me just now.”
“Being conscious is a good start,” Lin En said. “At this rate, he might fully wake up tomorrow.”
Jinwen heard every word clearly. For quite a while after that, he became even more obedient and did his utmost to cooperate with the two of them.
He wanted to get better—immediately!
When the time came, even if he had to kneel and kowtow, even if it cost him his life, he had to persuade the emperor of Junk Star to help them hold back Phizhi Star’s advance… His father was right. Even if they could delay Phizhi Star’s invasion by just one day, countless people of Snar could live one day longer. One extra day meant one extra thread of hope.
To hold out for Snar until the very last moment—this was his mission as a soldier.
That afternoon, someone came into the hospital room.
Jinwen woke hazily. He heard the person who often handled his IV talking to someone else.
“How is he now?”
The voice was very familiar. It reminded him of the voice he had heard after the ship crashed. Back then, muddled and half-conscious, he had thought it was Yomi… but now he was neither dying nor out of his mind. Naturally, he knew Yomi could not possibly be here. Yomi had long since passed away.
So he could only treat this person as some Junk Star resident whose voice happened to resemble Yomi’s.
The one handling his IV answered, “He’s doing pretty well. Teacher performed surgery on that leg, and as long as he keeps up treatment, it should be fine. As for that eye, there’s nothing to be done…”
“What about his back fin?”
“Burned. More than half of it’s already been destroyed, though it won’t affect daily life. In the future, he can go to another planet for a monster-trait restoration surgery, so it’s not a big issue.”
“Not a big issue?” That voice sounded a little tense. “It looks like he’s practically been roasted into grilled fish…”
“……”
For some reason, Jinwen suddenly wanted to laugh. He didn’t know that the corners of his mouth had already lifted into a tiny smile.
While they were talking, Jinwen strained to raise his eyelids by a few millimeters more, wanting to see what these people looked like and gather more information.
But all he could make out was a blurry figure.
Yes, only one.
Even though he could hear two people talking, he could only see one—and that one was relatively short.
While he was wondering about that, he saw the figure bend down and say toward the floor, “You don’t need to fuss with that anymore. I’ll do it.”
“It’s fine. I’m free today. You do your thing, I’ll tidy up the table.”
Jinwen was full of questions. He even suspected that the short person nursing him was talking to a ghost… until the corner of his vision caught sight of the person lifting a tiny little doll and setting it on a chair not far away.
?
The doll could move!
Standing on the chair, it deftly organized all the clutter on the table.
Jinwen’s heart jolted. He wanted to see more clearly, but this was already the absolute maximum he could force his eyelids open.
At the edge of his vision, the little figure finished tidying up, climbed down from the chair—and then even that tiny back disappeared from view!
…Yomi? Yomi!
He shouted the name over and over inside his head.
The overwhelming shock and stimulation made Jinwen’s chest heave violently, his eyes growing hot. His mind filled with the image of the first time he had met Yomi.
That tiny little figure soaking in the hot spring overlapped with the figure he had just seen.
A long while later, when Lin En came over to take his temperature, he suddenly cried out in surprise, “Y-you’re crying? Are you awake?”
Jinwen still could not see Lin En’s face clearly, but he was desperate to know who that strangely familiar person really was. He opened his mouth with all his strength, veins bulging with the effort, nearly suffocating, before he managed to force out the first words since waking:
“Just now… that person… who was it?”
Lin En had watched the variety show Yomi had been on, so he naturally recognized Jinwen from it as well. But at this moment, he was a doctor in training. If Yomi did not want his identity revealed, then Lin En would not reveal it.
In the face of Jinwen’s trembling urgency, Lin En calmly finished taking the patient’s temperature. Seeing that there was no problem, he said, “That person just now? That’s our Little Sheep Majesty—Nanbowan Yangxiuluosiji. He’s the one who saved you.”
Jinwen: !
…
Snar Star.
It had been raining nonstop in the main city for a full week.
Not long ago, the emperor had been meeting with one of his ministers.
“There’s no contact from the Marshal’s side? Has it been confirmed?”
“It’s absolutely certain… unless something unforeseen has happened…”
“Say it!”
“Unless something unforeseen has happened, they’ve already been completely wiped out.”
The air froze.
After a stretch of silence, the emperor said to a guard in a low voice, “Bring Yosef to me.”
The guard left.
When that guard returned, his face was full of panic. “Your Majesty! P-Prince Yosef is missing! The aircraft he was riding in has also lost all positional tracking!”
“What?”
The man’s face turned completely cold. His first thought was that Yosef had fled ahead of time. However, before that thought had even lasted an hour, the palace received a provocatively worded secret message—
Yosef has already been kidnapped.
There was nothing else in it.
Strange. Far too strange.
The empress, who had learned of the matter at the same time, was horrified. “Who would dare kidnap a prince? It must be Phizhi Star infiltrators sneaking in!”
The emperor, holding that letter, pondered for a moment before shaking his head. “Impossible. The enemy has no reason to kidnap him. They’d be better off killing him directly, or secretly taking him back to Phizhi Star as a hostage. They would never provoke us this openly… It should be interstellar kidnappers taking advantage of the chaos. Let’s see what conditions they demand.”
That very night, a message indeed came from the other side, demanding that the emperor personally come in exchange for Yosef.
After reading that message, the emperor only sneered. “Snar Star is already on the brink. Whether he’s really fallen into the hands of interstellar kidnappers, or whether this is some little trick he’s playing on me, ignore him for now… Contact every base commander outside the main city and order them to bring their forces back here at once.”
The moment that order went out, the entire palace erupted into chaos.
Those with keen ears and quick information networks, upon learning that Yosef had been kidnapped, the Marshal and his people had lost contact, and the emperor had suddenly begun summoning all available forces, already understood that the sky over Snar was about to change. Some had even packed their bags in advance, preparing to run.
Outwardly, though, everything still seemed calm. Ordinary citizens knew nothing of all this. They still assumed life would continue as usual, and got up on time for school and work.
Only this day, when they walked outside, they were quickly drawn to the giant screens in the shopping district.
On the screen was none other than Prince Yosef, tied up in a dim, shadowy room.
The passersby were horrified.
At first, everyone assumed this must be some bizarre advertisement. But then the Yosef on the screen seemed to see something, and his face instantly turned terrifying.
“Where did you get that intelligence?!”
Intelligence? What intelligence?
As if aware that the audience would be wondering exactly that, a smaller screen popped up in the lower-right corner. It displayed clear, legible documents. Written plainly on them was a transaction between the emperor of Snar and a prince of Phizhi Star—
The invasion three years ago had not been the result of Phizhi Star painstakingly infiltrating Snar. It had been the emperor’s own doing.
In order to get rid of the imperial crown prince who might seize the throne before he himself grew old, the emperor had collaborated with a Phizhi prince who at the time urgently needed military merit, using that chance to eliminate Anxius.
It was too absurd.
…The terms of the cooperation had been so outrageous that even the prince of Phizhi Star at the time initially thought the emperor was trying to lure him into a trap. But once he looked through Anxius’s battle record, and considered the age gap of less than thirty years between the father and son, and then factored in Snar’s old history of war gods slaying their fathers, he understood everything.
In less than half an hour, the main city exploded into uproar.
Almost no one could continue with work or school. Some people even began gathering in groups to head for the palace and demand an explanation. Meanwhile, the media had already surrounded the palace several layers deep in aircraft, right up until they were forcibly driven away.
The internet became a storm of outrage.
The citizens were shocked and furious. They could not believe that the empire’s crown prince—the man who had protected Snar time and time again—had actually died in such a scheme.
Of course, some people questioned the authenticity of it. Even though the appearance of those documents was itself ironclad evidence, the idea that the emperor could have done such a thing… it overturned everything they thought they knew.
Some analyzed it this way: This must be a conspiracy by Phizhi Star! Everyone knows we’re at war right now. If chaos erupts inside, that gives them the perfect chance to strike!
Others objected: Stop fooling yourselves. Snar Star is already no match for Phizhi Star… Even the Federation thinks we’ll eventually be destroyed by them, which is why they stopped helping us long ago! If you have the means, I advise you to go hide out on another planet while you still can!
Others focused on the more urgent question: What exactly is happening on the front lines? Why has there been no news at all?
Inside the palace, the emperor ordered all video signals cut and immediately had people track down whoever had controlled those giant screens.
Yet by the time they followed the signal and got there, the culprits were long gone. Even the workers in the building had been secretly taken away.
Every monitoring device in the vicinity had been destroyed by shockwaves.
Not a single one had been spared.
When the emperor heard this report, his expression twisted almost beyond recognition.
This was no interstellar kidnapping.
This was the work of a vengeful ghost.
The only person he could think of who could destroy every surveillance device in the surrounding area in such a short time was Anxius.
Anxius… could it be he hadn’t died?
Impossible!
His hand began to shake uncontrollably. He looked as though that fear might crush him on the spot.
If Anxius hadn’t died…
That very day, he personally led people to dig up Anxius’s grave. Only when he saw that the remains were still inside did he finally let out a breath.
Anxius had indeed died.
Someone was merely using Anxius’s name to play tricks and sow terror.
Once he calmed down, the emperor felt even more strongly that this did not resemble Anxius’s style at all. He understood Anxius’s temperament too well. If it had really been him, he would never have gone about it in such a grand and public way.
But if it wasn’t Anxius, then who could it be?
Could it be…
Could it possibly be his father, Bruller?
His father, who had willingly relinquished the throne back then because of the emperor’s ambition—had he truly done so without resentment?
The emperor immediately ordered people to seize him from the black market.
Before long, a report came back: there was no trace of Bruller in the black market, and the surveillance footage of Bruller’s last departure had likewise been erased.
The emperor nearly laughed from sheer anger.
…Bruller. It really was Bruller!
…
Unlike Snar’s rainy gloom, the weather on Junk Star was brilliantly sunny.
Yomi sat in the sunlight, using his optical brain to play little games and pass the time.
This was a cat-and-mouse game. Yomi usually played as the mouse, and his win rate was extremely high. He even shared his mouse-playing strategy with Anxius: the cat in the game has very sharp hearing, so it can quickly detect the mouse’s whereabouts.
Once Yomi discovered that, he practiced his movement. Each time he would only extend a foot to lightly tap the floor, luring the cat to run around everywhere. In the end, the cat would get so jumpy it started screaming and suspecting there were mice in every corner.
Then, just when the cat was exhausted and perhaps even beginning to wonder if the place was haunted, little mouse Yomi would make one sudden dash for the food and claim victory!
Yomi had no idea that on another planet, his boyfriend was very flexibly applying exactly the same tactics, frightening the emperor half to death.
Once he’d played enough, the deeply accomplished Yomi turned his attention toward the farm hospital.
The door to Jinwen’s room was still closed.
According to Lin En, after he left yesterday, Jinwen had suddenly spoken, asking who he was.
When Lin En told him the fake name Yomi used on Junk Star, Jinwen had begun gasping for breath and convulsing, trying to sit up—only to roll straight off the bed.
Lin En had been so frightened he called for help, and by the time Yexi got there, Jinwen had already fainted, his condition extremely poor.
That morning, Yexi had gone in to examine him again, and still had not come out.
When the door finally opened and Yexi emerged, Yomi immediately went over and asked, “H-he… how is he? He won’t die, right?” Yomi felt a little guilty. He couldn’t help feeling that Jinwen had seen his figure, mistaken him for a ghost, and been frightened into that state.
Yexi smiled. “Don’t worry. He’s out of danger now. His two subordinates have already woken up, but they’re extremely cautious and refuse to say anything… We’ve put the three of them together now. Once Jinwen wakes up again and sees familiar faces, he shouldn’t get emotionally agitated.”
“That’s good…” Yomi let out a sigh of relief. “Then their human forms won’t be affected, right?”
“They won’t.” Yexi patted his head. “You rescued them in time. Their injuries didn’t spread to any critical areas. The reason Anxius ended up disabled back then was actually because his treatment was delayed…”
Yomi froze.
Clearly, those words had completely stunned him.
It was the first time he had ever heard this. Before, he had only learned some things from Bruller about how the royal family had betrayed Anxius. As for the rumors on Snar’s network about how the crown prince had become disabled, they all said only that he had been seriously injured in battle. Not once had anyone mentioned delayed treatment.
…Now that he thought about it, of course the royals would never let that kind of inside story reach the public.
After parting from Yexi, Yomi quietly went back inside, his head hanging the whole way.
As he passed Bruller’s room, a voice from inside suddenly stopped him.
“Little Mimi, come look at Grandpa’s newest work!”
Yomi dragged his feet over. “I’m coming.”
Inside the room, Bruller’s huge frame sat at the table, and in his hand he held a pair of tiny, adorable sheep horns.
This time the material was the finest jade from Junk Star, so the little white horns looked exceptionally smooth and expensive. To keep them from seeming too plain, Bruller had even brushed them with a faint layer of pearly powder, making the entire pair glimmer prettily~
Tilting his head up to study them for a few seconds, Yomi evaluated honestly, “They’re so pretty.”
But the melancholy in his eyes could not be hidden.
Bruller chuckled, took off the old pair from Yomi’s head, and pressed the new ones on.
Because of the special fixing method he had used, the new horns stood tightly against Yomi’s head like magnets. When Yomi reached up to touch them, there was not the slightest gap; they felt exactly as though they had grown right out of his skull.
“Thank you…” Yomi genuinely loved them, but because he had something weighing on his mind, his smile was very forced.
Ever since learning the true cause of Anxius’s disability back then, he had been seized by fear that Anxius might suffer the same fate again. After all, bullets didn’t grow eyes. If he ever lost his human form again, could Anxius bear it? The violent episodes after becoming disabled back then had surely been triggered by mental shock too.
Bruller quietly put Yomi’s old horns into a treasure box for safekeeping. Then he turned and looked him over for a while. “What Yexi said outside, I actually heard all of it. You’re afraid Anxius might get hurt, and you want to go help him, don’t you?”
With his secret worry suddenly laid bare, Yomi’s mouth fell open a little.
Bruller smiled and lifted him up onto the table so they could meet at eye level. “With your size, even if I made you a completely different human-skin suit as a disguise, once you got to Snar, don’t you think a little person barely over one meter seventy tall would stand out rather a lot?”
Yomi blinked, then frowned and shook his head.
Not only would he stand out—he would turn heads one hundred percent of the time.
What Yomi did not even know was that because the emperor’s conspiracy from three years ago had suddenly been exposed and spread on a large scale, mentions of Yomi’s “death” from that year were once again constantly being brought up by his fans. His name had even risen back onto Snar’s trending searches.
If someone with a similar height suddenly appeared, they would absolutely become the focus of intense attention.
Yomi lowered his head and looked at his own body, then at giant-like Bruller in front of him.
And in truth, Bruller here had an entirely ordinary build. It was Yomi who was the different one.
After a long silence, Yomi said softly, “Grandpa, I won’t go over there. I attract too much attention.”
Bruller’s heart ached the moment he heard that. Flustered, he blurted, “It isn’t just because of that! Um… have you ever played tower defense games? Right now, you are the tower Anxius and everyone else have to protect. You’re very important.”
Yomi had not expected those words at all. His face filled with disbelief. “…The tower? I thought I was the assassin class.” He was small and even knew how to use a gun. Wasn’t he supposed to be the assassin who stepped in at the critical moment to do something big?
“…Ahem!” Bruller nearly choked on the air.
Only a few years apart, and this tiny thing was now radiating confidence from head to toe.
Clearly he had been very well cared for.
While the two were talking, a scratching sound suddenly came from outside the door, mixed with a few wolf howls.
“Gousheng? Why is he here?” Yomi hurried down from the table and went to open the door.
The moment the door opened, a mountain wolf as massive and imposing as a dinosaur strode inside. First it lowered its head and nudged Yomi, then it directly shoved Yomi onto its back!
Yomi jumped in surprise. “Gousheng, you’re still growing. Don’t carry me around all the time. Be careful or you won’t grow taller.”
Gousheng, who was already larger than every mountain wolf his age: “……”
Bruller: “……”
Bruller had already known from earlier secret communications that Yomi had raised a mountain wolf. When he first arrived a few days ago, that mountain wolf had been openly hostile toward him. Only after seeing how close Yomi acted with him had it finally accepted him as one of its own…
Bruller had carefully observed this mountain wolf. Whenever strangers came by, if they so much as tried to approach Yomi, it would block their way and snarl fiercely.
A good dog… no, a good wolf.
Perhaps the wolf had heard Yomi’s listless voice through the door and sensed that Yomi was troubled. Without caring about anything else, it barged in, scooped Yomi onto its back, and turned to leave for a walk—because for Gousheng, a walk meant chasing away sadness. Whenever he had been unhappy as a pup, Yomi would take him out, and he would cheer up right away.
Bruller did not stop him. Standing in the doorway, he said to Yomi, “A walk might do you good.”
Outside the little castle—
Gousheng carried Yomi toward the prettiest part of the flower garden.
At first Yomi lay on Gousheng’s back. Once they reached the sunlight, he sat up. “Thank you, Gousheng.”
Gousheng wagged his tail happily, and his steps grew quicker too.
Breathing in the scent of flowers, feeling the breeze brush his face, Yomi tilted his head back to look at the sky. The more he looked, the more he felt that one of the clouds resembled a little sheep, while a huge stretch of cloud beside it looked like Anxius’s monster form…
Suddenly, his optical brain began making a beep-beep-beep sound.
Yomi snapped back to himself at once.
It was his scheduled exercise reminder.
In order to keep his body healthy, Yomi had long ago set daily exercise reminders in his optical brain. But most of the time he was still lazy. He didn’t want to exercise, yet also wanted to keep the habit going… so whenever he got lazy, Anxius ended up holding him and exercising for him. The results had been remarkable—Anxius’s muscles had become more and more solid!
The reminder image on the screen had been set by Anxius: a pixel-art animation of a giant monster holding a little doll by the limbs and carefully helping it exercise. It was very cute.
Yomi had just been about to smile when he suddenly sneezed!
Once he had sneezed, his face turned full of surprise.
Oh dear—Anxius was thinking about him again.
A few seconds later, the little person who had been full of sorrow slid off the back of the handsome, mighty mountain wolf in a wiggling motion, raised both hands, stretched all four limbs, and burst into exercise with full vitality:
Darling, I’ll wait for you properly until you come back!
And so you won’t keep sneezing, I’ll stop thinking about you for now~
