The Zhenyuan warship had been sailing through the starry river for eight full days and was finally nearing the main planet of Owanda.
During this time, Yuan Yi had recovered quite a bit and could now move around freely. He still couldn’t do anything too strenuous, and he had to be extra careful when holding the babies. The two little ones ate and slept well, and their strength had increased noticeably—completely different from the newborns Yuan Yi used to encounter back when he was a doctor.
If one of them happened to kick him in the abdomen while he was holding them, it really did hurt.
They no longer looked as red and wrinkly as when they were first born. Their skin had smoothed out and taken on a soft, rosy hue.
Dr. Luo had said they needed to be fed differently from ordinary alphas, because after all, these little ones carried super genes.
Looking at his two sons, Yuan Yi’s heart practically melted.
He was holding the younger one, while the older was in Ji Lan’s arms. Grandma was helping to prepare formula, and Li Heng had gone off to the command center to handle some matters.
Ji Lan said, “Just six more hours till we reach Auster. When we do, I’m going to soak up some serious natural sunlight.”
Yuan Yi teased, “Not planning to pounce on your Mr. Pei instead?”
Ji Lan laughed. “Those aren’t mutually exclusive. I can pounce on my Mr. Pei in the natural sunlight.”
Although the war was over, Pei She still had responsibilities guarding the main planet, so Ji Lan hadn’t been able to see him this whole time. They’d only been able to express their longing via holographic communication. The two had just entered the honeymoon phase of their relationship—right when things were supposed to be hot and heavy—so being apart this long was driving them both a little crazy.
Yuan Yi could hear Ji Lan’s eagerness just from how frequently he was talking today. “He should be coming to pick you up today, right?”
Ji Lan said, “He said he’s not sure, he’ll try his best. Honestly, whether he comes or not is fine. If he doesn’t, I’ll just go find him. I’m just sad that I won’t be seeing my two adorable little nephews for a few days. These two little ones are too cute—when I get back, I want a pair of my own too!”
Professor Jian was amused by his straightforwardness and laughed. “Come to think of it, didn’t you already hold a wedding before? It seemed rather rushed at the time. Are you planning to have a proper one when you get back?”
Ji Lan said, “I don’t plan on it, Aunt Jian. If we hold a second one, we’ll have to invite a ton of people. It’s just too much trouble and way too exhausting.”
More importantly, given the current political climate, anyone with eyes could see that Pei She’s status was about to soar. And considering his close relationship with Yuan Yi—this wasn’t him being full of himself—if they did hold a big celebration, loads of people would definitely show up just to curry favor. And that was completely unnecessary.
Just look at the way the public was treating Li Heng and Yuan Yi online now. It was clear that when Li Heng returned, he was bound to take the throne as Emperor.
The Royal Court Council supported the Emperor, but what they really supported was the will of the people. And frankly, with Li Heng commanding massive military power and enjoying public favor, the Royal Court’s opposition wouldn’t mean anything. They weren’t fools—at a time like this, they’d obviously pledge loyalty to the new ruler. Even if they had no chance to climb further themselves, they still had their children and grandchildren to think about.
As for the three princes—not one of them was dead, but no one obeyed their orders anymore. Let alone the commanders in the outer star defense zones, even the relatives from the maternal clans of the Fourth and Crown Princes were no longer supporting them.
The Second Prince, who had aligned himself with the Qiming Army and dragged in the Brute Barbarians of Bruteman, ended up utterly defeated and captured. The rest didn’t even need to try. If they didn’t resist, they could still live out the rest of their lives in peace. If they did resist, they might bring destruction upon their entire clans.
Now, even the billboards outside major commercial buildings were displaying celebratory slogans welcoming the victorious return of the Xingyan Fleet.
Li Heng had spent the past few years leading troops on the front lines, accumulating extensive combat experience. He was also highly familiar with the production and command of robotic soldiers. On top of that, he had a close relationship with King Marledor and had gained every possible advantage. Now, he’d even married a virtuous spouse and fathered two strong super-gene little alpha sons—going against him was nothing short of insanity.
By now, crowds had already gathered in Xingdu’s Taihua Square, waiting to catch a glimpse of the new sovereign.
The First1T/N: He is no longer in a position to inherit the throne. So, I hereafter refer him as First Prince and Fourth Princes were still in the Royal Court, but they were already plotting their next steps. As princes, they had plenty of private funds, so their remaining days wouldn’t be hard, just a bit humiliating.
“Fourth Brother, what do you think Father was thinking when he was alive?” The First Prince still couldn’t make sense of it and harbored some resentment toward the late Emperor. “Didn’t he ever consider that we’d end up like this? The troops we had didn’t even follow our commands—what good were they? Second Brother had the best hand, being backed by the Qiming Army, and what did he do? He completely messed it up and dragged in the Bruteman Barbarians. Do you think he’s insane?”
“He is insane. But the bigger issue lies with you, Big Brother. You were the one who held the best cards. If you had just brought Li Heng back in the beginning, none of this would’ve happened. At the very least, we could’ve held onto imperial power for another thirty years.” The Fourth Prince sighed, also feeling frustrated. “I totally got dragged down by you.”
If it hadn’t been for the First Prince’s stubborn pride and obsession with saving face, things wouldn’t have come to this. Even if Xingyan and Qiming were destined to clash, with Li Heng present, Qiming would never have been able to override the First Prince. He would’ve still had a chance to gradually shift the balance in his favor.
But now? The whole family had no choice but to move out of the royal court.
The First Prince had insisted on putting up a front before, but now he too regretted it. Unfortunately, regret no longer mattered.
“If you ask me, this all happened because Father gave them too much power. If he had just passed the throne to me earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
The Fourth Prince cast a pitiful glance at him.
If this were the old days, when the masses were ignorant and only recognized the mandate of heaven, maybe he really could have inherited the throne and ruled for a few years. But in this era, anyone still dreaming of sitting back and inheriting power without effort had better give it up. These days, whoever controls energy and commands the army is king.
Still, he couldn’t fully understand why the Emperor had let things spiral to this point.
The First Prince muttered, “What if I just stay here and refuse to leave? Would Li Heng really send someone to throw me out?”
The Fourth Prince stood and jerked his chin toward the door. “Li Heng won’t even need to do it himself—there are plenty of people eager to curry favor with him who’ll throw you out. Just wait and see for yourself.”
With that, he left the royal court.
Sure enough, not long after, members of the Royal Court Council came to “advise” the First Prince to make future arrangements. That was the polite way of putting it. In truth, they were telling him to get lost.
The First Prince snapped, “All of you swore loyalty to the Emperor!”
The two council leaders responded in unison, “But you are not the Emperor.”
The First Prince growled, “I am the Emperor’s eldest son!”
Chairman Shan said calmly, “The primary duty of the Royal Court Council is to ensure that the reigning Emperor is capable of leading the empire toward a better future. And we have determined that, at present, you do not possess that capability.”
The First Prince’s face flushed red and then pale. “And Li Heng does? Fighting a war and governing a country are completely different things!”
President Ling replied, “But he has the support of the people. Your Highness, please, we must insist.”
At that moment, Mo Ting entered with several attendants. “Your Highness, please let us know if there’s anything you’d like packed.”
The First Prince gave a cold snort. “You’re all just a bunch of opportunists!”
With that, he stormed off without looking back.
There was a lot to move, so he’d better start quickly!
The Zhenyuan ship drew closer and closer, and more and more people were filling the streets. The Zhenyuan flagship itself wouldn’t land, but its auxiliary ships would—Li Heng and Yuan Yi would disembark.
Li Mian said, “Brother Yi, so many people are eager to see Chenchen and Hanhan.”
Yuan Yi said, “They’re too little to be exposed to the wind—we can only do a livestream.”
It was still snowing outside, and the children were far too young to appear in person.
Li Mian said, “Exactly, a livestream. There’s a big screen at Taihua Square, and all the commercial buildings will also broadcast it.”
Yuan Yi replied, “Well, it’s nice that people can still see them.”
The two little ones happened to be awake and ready to feed.
Yuan Yi and Professor Jian each held one. Ji Lan had gone off to dress up so he could see Pei She, and Li Heng hadn’t returned yet.
On the giant screen in Taihua Square, a line of text appeared: Peace and happiness with Owanda. Then came the faces of two babies drinking milk. Tiny little faces, sucking hard on their bottles, with eyebrows that looked exactly like Li Heng’s—as if carved from the same mold—just smaller and lighter.
The crowd in the square erupted into cheers. Strangely enough, as soon as the babies appeared, the snow stopped. The sky cleared, and dazzling golden light fell across the snow, making the ground sparkle with silvery stars.
Someone said, “Wow! Isn’t this a sign of good luck?”
Another shouted, “This is too magical!”
Yuan Yi, watching through the feed Li Heng was broadcasting, was stunned to see so many people waiting—and his surprise showed up on the screen at Taihua Square.
Many people noticed his expression and laughed:
“Madam is so cute!”
“He looks like he’s scared, hahaha. Did he just see us?”
“How does he look that good right after giving birth? I’m so jealous!”
“Waaahhh I want to be Madam’s simp!”
Yuan Yi could hear some of the live crowd’s responses and gently said with concern, “Thank you all for waiting for us in such cold weather. It’s chilly—please take care not to catch cold, and head home early.”
His voice was warm and gentle, carried clearly back to the square. Someone in the crowd shouted, “We’ll go home only after seeing you!”
Many of the people there had once received help from Sirius or Yuan Yi. At that moment, none of them minded standing out in the cold. Their bodies might be cold, but their hearts were warm! They all joined in, shouting together, “We’ll go home only after seeing you!”
Yuan Yi was deeply moved. He even considered having someone bring a cup of hot tea to each person on site to warm them up. But Li Mian switched off the voice channel and said, “Let’s not do that, Brother Yi. You’re only seeing part of the crowd—there are actually way more people here than what you see now. Behind the screen too, it’s packed. There’s no way we could get tea to all of them. Besides, we’re almost there.”
Countless people looked up to the sky, and someone suddenly shouted, “Look!”
At the very edge of visibility, a silver dot was rapidly approaching, flashing as it moved. “Is that the Zhenyuan ship?!”
Many of them would never have a chance to witness such a fleet in their entire lifetime—no wonder they were excited.
But an even more delightful surprise was coming!
Li Heng had just finished a meeting and returned to pick up Yuan Yi. Seeing the two little ones still alert after feeding, he laughed and said, “Are you two already sensing we’re going home? Neither of you wants to sleep.”
Yuan Yi replied, “That’s possible.”
Professor Jian handed the elder child to Li Heng. “We’re almost there. I’ll go get their little wraps.”
It was cold—they had to be bundled up properly.
Yuan Yi held the younger one’s hand and waved toward Li Mian’s camera. “See you all in a bit.”
Li Heng also waved the elder one’s hand, then said to Yuan Yi, “Give them both to me—you go pick a thicker wrap with Mom. It’s cold outside.”
Yuan Yi didn’t think much of it—after all, Li Heng was strong and carrying one in each arm was no trouble for him—so he handed over the younger one too and followed his mother.
Soon, Yuan Yi returned with Professor Jian. Li Heng handed back the younger child to Yuan Yi, then boarded the dropship.
Even among dropships, there were many different models. Naturally, the one Li Heng took with his family and personal guards was the largest of them all—named Yuanlong.
For safety reasons, the main ship had greatly reduced its speed after entering the main star’s protective layer. But now that they were aboard a dropship, the speed increased significantly.
People on the ground quickly noticed that the main ship—which sparkled like a silver star—had more or less stopped moving, but another craft was rapidly flying toward Taihua Square, escorted by other guard ships.
There, Pei She was already waiting with his troops, maintaining order at the site.
Everything was ready—only the arrival of the new emperor and empress remained.
The Yuanlong ship grew larger and larger, and finally, to the thunderous cheers of the crowd, its cabin doors slowly opened. First, twelve robotic soldiers flew out from inside. They took positions floating evenly on both sides of the Yuanlong.
A landing ramp descended, and Li Heng and Yuan Yi each carried one of the children. Professor Jian, Ji Lan, and a team of personal guards followed behind.
The two council chairs had already arrived and were now leading the assembled Imperial Council members in a formal formation. Council President Ling stepped forward and said, “Welcome back in triumph, Your Majesty!”
The council members all echoed in unison, “Welcome back in triumph, Your Majesty!”
This was the Imperial Council’s formal recognition of Li Heng.
Then came the third wave of shouts—from the public.
The cheers at this moment were nearly deafening, to the point that even the vibrations of the Yuanlong ship couldn’t be heard. Everyone was immersed in this wave of joy.
But just as this festive atmosphere peaked, the four robotic soldiers closest to Yuan Yi suddenly activated. In the blink of an eye, they seized Yuan Yi—along with the child in his arms—and snatched them into the air!
The cheers instantly turned into screams.
Yuan Yi’s face turned pale with fear. He held onto the child tightly, terrified the baby would fall.
Li Heng’s face darkened like iron. “Outrageous! What do you think you’re doing?!”
The robot restraining Yuan Yi responded, “Release Commander Luo and the Second Prince, or I’ll kill them right now.”
The entire square fell silent. It felt like every heart had leapt into every throat.
Li Heng quickly gestured behind him, signaling his men to bring Luo Qizheng and the Second Prince forward at once.
Flying Wolf and Night Wolf immediately moved to escort the two over.
Luo Qizheng and the Second Prince had only half a bowl of plain rice between them in the last twenty-four hours. Both were so starved they barely looked human. Seeing Yuan Yi and the child being held aloft with a deadly grip, and the robot’s energy weapon barely a centimeter from Yuan Yi’s chest, Luo Qizheng let out a vicious grin. “Li Heng, you didn’t expect this, did you? Our Vajra Division may rarely use robotic soldiers, but mechas also need to fight independently from their pilots—so of course we developed our own intelligent combatants. They’re not within the scope of your preset defense protocols.”
Intelligent soldiers—those could either have physical forms or exist as intangible programs.
And on the Zhenyuan ship, with so many soldiers around, all he needed was to know which ones had the easiest access to Yuan Yi. That alone made his choice obvious.
Li Heng asked, “What do you want? Speak plainly.”
Luo Qizheng said, “I want you to kneel and admit you were wrong. Otherwise, they die today. I’m dead either way—I just want to see how much they really matter to you.”
Li Heng saw that Yuan Yi’s face was as white as the snow on the ground. He clenched his fists to suppress the burning fury in his chest. “And why should I believe you? What if I do what you say, and you still don’t let them go—or worse, you’ve lost control of those robotic guards entirely?”
Luo Qizheng said, “Relax. They only listen to me.”
Li Heng asked, “Are you sure?”
Luo Qizheng replied, “I’m sure.”
Li Heng looked at Yuan Yi, gently sending a trace of spiritual energy to soothe him. Then, without warning, he sharply turned to glare at Luo Qizheng, unleashing a blast of energy—dense and forceful as if materialized—at light speed, striking directly at Luo Qizheng’s mind and consciousness.
In an instant, Luo Qizheng’s eyes glazed over, as if he’d lost all control. His entire body froze, and his breathing turned erratic. The Second Prince, standing beside him, had just begun to feel a sliver of hope—only for it to shatter moments later. He called out, “Luo Qizheng?”
Luo Qizheng seemed to be resisting with every ounce of strength he had, yet not even a whisper escaped him. In the dead of winter, sweat drenched his forehead, and his face flushed dark red like liver.
Li Heng said nothing, but the veins on his forehead were taut. The two of them were clearly locked in some kind of silent mental battle.
Luo Qizheng also possessed spiritual power—but he couldn’t hold out for long. He felt as if he were sinking into an endless abyss of darkness, his entire mind overwhelmed by the crushing presence of Li Heng.
At last, unable to withstand the crushing despair, he muttered weakly, “You… let go of Yuan Yi… and the child.”
His words were sluggish, but they came out.
And as soon as he spoke, the robotic soldiers followed his command—without even considering they were still midair—they simply released Yuan Yi. Yuan Yi screamed, “Ah!” in fright, but Li Heng immediately stepped onto his hovering falcon and caught them in his arms as they fell.
The Winter Wolf and Snow Wolf rapidly closed in using their flight wings, managing to provide a buffer just before Li Heng landed.
Li Heng touched down steadily on the ground, sweat covering his forehead. Yuan Yi was trembling, patting the crying baby in his arms, his heart pounding like it was about to leap out of his chest.
Li Heng quickly pulled both him and the child into his embrace, comforting them, “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here. Don’t be scared.”
Seeing that the children were safe, Yuan Yi finally began to relax.
At that moment, someone started clapping, and the entire plaza followed suit. In an instant, a cheer erupted. The patrols hovering in the air were startled and hurriedly gestured for silence, signaling not to scare the babies.
The cheers quickly shifted into a round of applause. After calming down a bit, Yuan Yi smiled, bowed in gratitude, but couldn’t get any words out.
Right now, he only had one thought in mind:
He wanted Luo Qizheng dead!
Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing great. The end is in sight. Thank you for your love and support!!! Let’s walk these last few steps together. Love you all!! See ya!!
Loveguy On CFRFGC Chapter 12
Obrigada pela tradução 🥰
Thanks for reading❤