Chapter 45
4.6 – Who is the true Emperor of these stars
Within the vast hall of the underground palace, a man lounged lazily on a throne that had been moved over from who knew where. Arrayed before him were many coffins that he had pulled out from various other halls and was ready to throw out. In front of his face was a nano-computer’s virtual screen.
The lips of the blonde on the screen were somewhat tight, his fists were clenched, and a pleasant voice flowed from his pink lips, sentence after sentence, like the collision between jade and stone—clean, crisp and particularly moving.
Only...
The man’s hand slowly caressed the youth’s face. “Your husband?”
He sneered once, then opened his nano-computer again and gave an order.
The nano-computer flashed a few times. It seemed rather reluctant, but ultimately could not resist its master’s strong hand and finally showed another image on the screen.
The youth in the image was precisely the same one who had just made the announcement and spoken such inspiring words. His fists were tightly clenched, and he had said he would swear to the greatest Emperor of the Empire. This made the man particularly happy, and now he really wanted to meet that lovely little fellow.
Xue Ling was sitting on the bed looking at all kinds of documents. He had no idea why his scalp had gone a little numb, and he felt as though someone was staring at him.
He looked cautiously from left to right, tapped on his nano-computer and appeared to be enquiring into something before his expression turned much more relaxed. Although his back was still stiff, it no longer carried the initial tension.
The man watched the person on the screen, and felt that his mood was getting better and better.
His nano-computer flashed, not daring to provoke and upset this big boss at all.
Xue Ling still felt a little strange. He once again bowed his head and asked the system, “Are you sure nobody is watching me?”
“Under normal circumstances, there shouldn’t be. I am connected to the Empire’s Star Network’s main server. That main server has no owner, and nobody can use it, so nobody is able to monitor you through me."
Xue Ling rubbed the back of his neck and told himself that it was good to be alert, but there was no need to be too anxious.
“Maybe it’s because there are too many things to deal with today, and I’m a little tired.” Xue Ling looked down, then stretched his waist. The white military uniform outlined his waistline, thin but compact.
He asked people to prepare hot water for his bath. Xue Ling stood up, and once again sorted through the things that he has handled today.
After recording that video in the morning, he had been sitting here to deal with these things.
The Empire was not a complete monarchy. The royal family only had 70% of the Empire’s authority, which was then divided between the Queen and King, who then had 35% per person.
But throughout history, as long as there was a King, there were relatively few chances for the Queen to participate in politics. The part that the Queen was responsible for was mostly related to miscellaneous domestic things. The real power lay in military and warfare, on the King’s side. The remaining 30% was divided into three parts, which were given to the neutral military headquarters, the Prime Minister on the Queen’s side, and the royal guard on the King’s side.
Currently, the Prince was in charge of the Empire, and the army’s power had been in his hands. Now that the Prince was missing, most of the information had been handed over to Xue Ling at the old King’s command. Although the power was not entirely within his grasp, Xue Ling could at least meet with the generals, and not simply carry the empty title of Princess with which he had no way to get started.
At this time, the assistance Warren could provide by staying behind to help became particularly obvious.
Although he was stationed in the front lines all year round, many of these generals attended school together or graduated from the same school as Warren. With Warren’s network of relationships, Xue Ling’s dealings with them became much simpler.
He took off his white coat, unbuttoned his white shirt and headed for the bathroom.
Xue Ling had no concept of these things at first, but when he made the decision to revolt, he understood clearly that if he wanted to grasp all authority within his own hands, he needed the army. The army was the real source of power. Otherwise, it would be useless even if more voices spoke out for him; he would still be driven away by the Prince.
He had very few advantages. The most important thing he had to do was to take advantage of the Prince’s disappearance to build his own prestige.
The door of the bathroom was closed, and the surveillance images could not continue, because Xue Ling had removed his nano-computer from his wrist. The man rubbed his chin regretfully, and glanced down at the Kings of the Empire who lay dead in their coffins. His face began to show a somewhat disgusted expression.
The nano-computer seemed to know what he was angry about. A white light flashed, reminding him that it was now time to study, and he should not be peeping at others. The most proper way to do it would be to finish his learning earlier.
The man lazily stretched his waist. His figure was tall and slender, not at all like those big and brawny men. From appearance alone, it did not seem that he could shoulder the title of being the strongest in the universe, but even back when mecha did not exist, this man could walk through the universe without any protective measures and kill the Zerg until they fled far away from the Empire, not even daring to come close to the borders. They even stayed away for the next seven hundred years, not once willing to cross the border and only tentatively testing the waters again and again.
Xue Ling had no idea what kind of existence now lived under the palace. It was the first time he had come to an interstellar world, and he was curious about all kinds of things. He learned and studied very quickly.
In addition to dealing with all kinds of government affairs, discussing policies with the Prime Minister and politicians, and even studying tactics with the generals, he has been making constant progress, which surprised many high-ranking officials within the Empire who interacted with him. If they weren’t absolutely certain that Xue Ling was an omega, they would unhesitatingly agree that the child before them must be an alpha.
This was not gender discrimination. It was just that they had never seen another omega with his temperament.
Xue Ling knew the plot, and knew how the protagonist shou of the world won the recognition of people around His Highness the Prince and even his subordinates. What he was doing now were things that the future protagonist would do. But Xue Ling could do them better, and in any case, his position was much more proper and aboveboard.
He was His Highness the Prince’s only Princess. Even if the protagonist shou and the Prince were in true love, he was still a lover and homewrecker who disrupted other people’s marriage.
His methods had been used to their fullest by Xue Ling in front of these officers and ministers. Later on, if the protagonist shou were to appear and do the same thing, it would only seem as though he was foolishly copying others.
Xue Ling had said three days, but in fact it took half a month before he could leave the capital star. After this half month’s hard work and achievements, the old King, Warren, and the Rhine family finally allowed him to leave for the front lines.
When he left, many people came to send him off. There were live broadcasts on the Star Net. Xue Ling also guaranteed that as long as it did not involve military secrets, he would publish everything that occurred on his personal space on the Star Net to reassure those who cared about him.
It was just that... after the Starship had left the airport, a purple light flashed twice in the settings of everyone in the capital star’s nano-computer.
This meant that the whole capital’s Star Net had come under the control of a single person, and had switched to control mode. The main server of the network had entered the Star Net and was directly monitoring the entire network. All messages that were not allowed to flow out would be directly blocked from entering the data stream.
The man watched as the youth on the screen left, and the smile on his face slowly faded away.
From his point of view, in order to become the overlord and control the entire Empire, all he had to do was to control the capital star. And he was now the sole master of the Star Network’s main server. The entire planet’s external contact network was in his hands. As long as he wanted to, he could trigger an explosion in every nano-computer and all the people would die.
He knew exactly what Xue Ling was doing. After all, he was a person who peeped at everything and had seen it all, but he felt that young man was a bit silly. Why did he need to plan and prepare so much? In the face of absolute power, even the royal family could only bow their heads before him.
What’s more, he was the Emperor of the Empire. He was unique. After him, there had never been a ruler titled Emperor in the Empire.
Within the underground area under the palace, barriers were opened, and the early alpha and omega who had gone to sleep along with their Emperor slowly woke up from their seven hundred year slumber. They watched as he stepped out of his hall, and came before them.
This dungeon was too mysterious. The royal family was only able to visit a few areas, and most of the remaining areas actually held many things from the early days of the Empire’s establishment. Those things had all purposely been buried by the nobles from that era, such as the Star Net’s main server that the royal family had dug and looked for everywhere.
It was the first ’superbrain’ in the history of human civilization. It had its self-consciousness and was able to continuously evolve and perfect itself.
People had always thought that the main server had no owner. Indeed, the main server had been operating in an ownerless state for seven hundred years, but ever since the man woke up, this all changed. That man was the main server and the Star Net’s original master and also the only master in its settings. His interests were placed above everything within the Empire, regardless of whether it was the people or the royal family.
Those scientists and generals who had been awake for more than half a month but had been trapped in the dungeon looked at their king with a little excitement as they gathered in front of the main hall. After all, since His Majesty had been asleep for such a long time, all they ever saw was his sleeping face. Was it not worth celebrating now that His Majesty had finally opened his eyes again?
His Majesty had finally found his Empress, shouldn’t they be celebrating?
If it hadn’t been for the fact that they had to quickly grasp the technology and other things about this era as quickly as possible, and therefore had no time, they would have danced for three days and three nights around the main hall of the underground palace.
It was too amazing, Their Majesty who had been single for ten thousand years was finally going to fall in love! Thank the heavens!
Augustine rather disinterestedly glanced over these people who had followed him for seven hundred years and yet still continued to accompany him. He felt that back then, when they had sworn to follow him all their lives, they really had not deceived him, and in fact had gone a bit too far with their loyalty.
His guards took the lead in coming forward and gave him a big salute, somewhat excitedly saying, "Welcome back, our Emperor."
The voice of the crowd was strong and wild. “Welcome back! To the stars that belong solely to you!!!!
The languid expression on Augustine’s face finally changed. He curved his lips, strode forward on his long legs, lifted his arms, and shouted, “Let’s go then, and let those worthless descendants know who the true Emperor of these stars is!"
The sound of cheers sounded from below.
If Xue Ling was there, he would definitely disparage this group of people for suffering from middle school sickness.
Using lines like those, were they not ashamed...
Besides, they came out as soon as he left. They really knew how to pick the best time!
Xue Ling, who was on the starship preparing to be the mantis stalking the cicada and win over the Prince’s people had absolutely no idea that even before he had left the star capital, the yellow sparrow underground had already awakened and started to make preparations.
If he was a mantis, naturally there would be yellow sparrows behind him. He had just left for a while, and he never expected that when he came back, the entire capital star, and even the whole Empire, would already no longer be within his grasp.
This story had become completely out of his control, and the course of history, like a runaway wild horse, began to run away in strange directions.
Those who once left their prestige behind in the history books, followed their Emperor and returned once again. What’s more, what they wanted to accomplish this time, was even more thorough than when they had founded the Empire seven hundred years ago!
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug
just a quick update to say that i’ve also started translating on ISO Translations. it’s a project that has been dropped several times by other translators, and i’m picking up where they left off. releases there won’t interfere with WTMT updates, as i’m only planning to post 1-2 chapters of BTTA a week. if zombie apocalypse type BL stories are your cup of tea, go check it out!