Yuan Yi didn’t believe that those sea beasts following the submarine was just a coincidence. Maybe, like He Yanwu said, it was because he carried Li Heng’s pheromones—or maybe it was because he was pregnant.
The question now was how to make contact with those little sea beasts without bringing more trouble and understand their intentions.
“Has there really never been anyone else who came here while pregnant, besides me?” Yuan Yi asked He Yanwu.
“That’s right. On the surface, this place doesn’t seem suitable for human habitation. I don’t know if you noticed when you were outside—there were no people, and no human buildings.”
“I did notice. But there were birds and beasts on the sea trees.”
Logically, as long as birds and beasts can live, then it basically meets the survival conditions for humans too—after all, humans are animals as well. At most, certain specific issues would need to be resolved. But with how advanced technology is today, problems like that should be solvable—at least not to the extent that you wouldn’t see a single person.
He Yanwu said, “Those birds and beasts are just a small number.”
He led the group to a huge treehouse. Though it was a real tree, the space inside the trunk was over a hundred square meters—clearly exaggerated.
He had someone bring some water, sat down on a wooden chair and said, “The birds and beasts that can survive outside are different from the ones here. If the ones here go out, they die very quickly. Not because they can’t find food, but because of a certain kind of light unique to the outside. If they don’t avoid it, it will trigger all sorts of diseases.”
Yuan Yi said, “But when we were outside, we didn’t have any protective measures—does that light not affect humans?”
He Yanwu said, “Of course it does.”
He activated his communicator and pulled up a schematic to show Yuan Yi. “When you disembarked from the Phantom Ship, you were already within the protective layer.”
Yuan Yi saw from the schematic that the spot where the Phantom Ship had docked was already covered by a semi-spherical invisible shield.
Snow Wolf explained, “Although Planet Aysdiya is considered to have extremely low exploration value by default, it’s still monitored by the central star. So every time we take off or land, we have to be completely stealthy and shielded from detection—otherwise it would bring trouble. This place is a hidden zone the General discovered by chance. Not many people know about it. In the early days, it was used as a place to evade pursuit.”
“To evade pursuit?”
“That’s right. The ones you saw during your holographic call with the General—Zi Lu and Bi Chan—five years ago, they were on a mission. At the time, they made no mistakes; in fact, they accomplished great merit. But the credit was given to someone else, and they were made to bear the blame for something they shouldn’t have. Enraged, they decided to retire and investigate the truth, but were nearly killed. The General didn’t want to see talent go to waste and saved their lives. But even the General couldn’t do whatever he wanted back then, so at first he could only hide them here on Aysdiya for safety. Most people wouldn’t come to a place like this—survival is just too difficult. But in the process, they accidentally discovered some of the secrets of this place.”
“Earlier, Senior Yanwu mentioned that those sea beasts only lower their guard in front of Li Heng. Has that ever been studied?”
“Of course it has,” said He Yanwu. “But there are no clear results. First, time has been too short, and people with the relevant expertise are hard to come by. Second, even if someone had the ability, they might not be willing to come to a place like this. And most importantly—you’d need someone who could be absolutely trusted. That alone is no easy task. People’s hearts aren’t transparent. Back when Li Heng went to Marlaidol1Remember? Blue gel planet for support, he’d already started looking for a way out for Heavenly Wolf Fleet. This place is our last trump card.”
“Then is there a military presence here?”
“There is.”
He Yanwu gestured for Yuan Yi to go out with him.
After Yuan Yi stepped outside, he saw He Yanwu press a few times on his communicator. Then, from those mountains and trees he had seen earlier, as well as beside the waterfalls, many robotic soldiers began to peel away as if shedding skin.
They gradually removed their camouflage and transformed into warrior mode. There seemed to be different levels or perhaps different functions—there were three visible colors: gold, silver, and bronze. But it was immediately obvious that they were robotic soldiers.
Yuan Yi hadn’t noticed at all before that these soldiers had been disguised as those natural objects. They must have received He Yanwu’s orders, which was why they all left their ambush points and floated into the air, awaiting commands.
With just a few simple commands from He Yanwu, they returned and resumed their camouflage. Yuan Yi estimated silently—what he saw was at least a thousand of them.
He Yanwu smiled and said, “And this is only a small portion. So? Don’t you feel like you’ve married someone powerful and rich?”
Yuan Yi nodded. “Indeed—it’s successfully made me feel like my life-threatening index has gone up. Where does their energy come from? Is it also blue gel energy?”
A single tiny gel coin could power a thermal cooker for at least fifty years. Using blue gel energy in robots should be just as convenient.
But He Yanwu pointed upward and said, “Here, they’re using a type of light energy unique to Planet Aysdiya. This light can’t support humans or the animals in this hidden realm to survive outside, but it’s extremely valuable as an energy source. Look up—does it seem like there’s nothing special, like everything’s the same as outside? But what you’re seeing now is Aysdiya’s ‘seawater’. It has a shielding effect. The light outside, once filtered through this seawater, loses its harmful properties—only the people outside don’t know this.”
Yuan Yi said in disbelief, “So we’re actually under the sea right now?”
He Yanwu nodded. “Fun, isn’t it? A layer of seawater blocks the central star’s surveillance, blocks the harm from the light, and even provides a new energy source.”
Yuan Yi: “……”
It was indeed different from what he had imagined. Mainly, he just couldn’t figure out how exactly Li Heng had managed to pull all this off.
This place really did look like a paradise on earth—there was no sign of any lurking danger. But now that he knew, he understood that once war broke out, the defensive capabilities here would be absolutely formidable.
Snow Wolf said, “With the Zhenyuan Ship heading to Gallich this time, the Crown Prince and the others will definitely become aware. We need to stay on high alert here too.”
He Yanwu asked, “How’s the disassembly work on the Phantom Ship going?”
Flight Wolf said, “In nine minutes, it can be brought in via the sea route. The most important parts are the prenatal exam equipment and the delivery devices. The General said to be extra cautious. Our people have never handled this kind of thing before, so we’ll need a bit of time.”
He Yanwu glanced at Yuan Yi’s belly. “Right now, across the entire interstellar realm, you’re the most distinguished omega. Junior Yuan, senior truly admires you.”
Yuan Yi said, “Senior Yanwu, are you jealous? If so, you could just go marry an alpha too.”
Yang Mei pfft—spat out his water on the spot. “Cough cough cough cough cough…”
He Yanwu narrowed his eyes slightly. “Junior, you’ve gotten cheeky. Where’d you learn that?”
Yuan Yi said, “I see that Commander Liang Wei and Qian Chongwei are very loving. Besides, aren’t there artificial wombs now? You can raise children that way too.”
He had already learned about that when he underwent the insemination surgery. It was just that Li Heng’s genes were special and couldn’t use that method, which was why they had to find someone with a high genetic compatibility.
Yang Mei said, “Captain He can’t use artificial wombs either. His genes are also different from ordinary alphas.”
Yuan Yi asked, “Also a special ability in the spiritual domain?”
He Yanwu said, “No. It’s explosive power that can instantly increase by more than a hundred times.”
“So your goose…”
That large white goose with blue webbed feet was currently squatting beside He Yanwu’s foot. Yuan Yi didn’t believe it was just a pet. It looked completely different from any of the animals here. How to put it—as a goose, it was too well-behaved and too properly shaped.
At that moment, He Yanwu gently patted the goose’s head. “This is my supervisor. For us alphas with special genes, there’s a high probability we’ll enter a manic state after using the abilities brought on by hyper genes. Li Heng can instantly suppress that kind of negative state. But when he’s not around, we have to rely on other methods. My goose supervisor is my strongest restraint.”
Just then, the white goose suddenly transformed, becoming a large cage. Though its material looked light, Yuan Yi couldn’t help but feel it must be incredibly sturdy—it looked like it could trap three He Yanwus with ease.
Then it quickly folded itself back up and once again looked like a snow-white goose.
Yuan Yi: “……”
The atmosphere in the room grew a little heavy. Yuan Yi faintly felt like he’d overlooked something. He asked, “Are there many people with these special genes? I mean, within our Heavenly Wolf faction.”
Flight Wolf said, “Wouldn’t say many. There are few people with special genes to begin with. If you count everyone in Heavenly Wolf —both open and hidden—there should be fifty-seven. If you add our General, Captain He, and Scarlet Snake, it makes sixty exactly.”
Yuan Yi asked, “Then aside from physical restraint, isn’t there any other way? Like easing it through medication, or using special sound-wave interference for therapy or something. Even if it doesn’t exist yet, shouldn’t there at least be research teams working on this?”
Flight Wolf and Snow Wolf: “……”
Everyone looked at Yuan Yi.
Yuan Yi asked, “Did I say something wrong?”
At this moment, He Yanwu’s expression turned a bit cold. “If the things you mentioned really were invented, how would Li Heng still keep these people under control?”
Yuan Yi said, “I don’t believe Li Heng’s ability to lead you all comes from his ability to control you.”
He Yanwu said, “Then according to you, you’d like to see these special gene users freed from the need to rely on external force to stay stable?”
Yuan Yi answered without hesitation, “Of course.”
He Yanwu’s expression warmed, and he smiled like performing a magic trick, gratefully saying, “You know, the reason we follow Li Heng with absolute loyalty is because he’s different from the others. Other armies also treat those with special genes quite well—but their leaders have no desire to completely eliminate this burden, because most of the people commanding them are alpha generals with strong mental power themselves. But Li Heng has always hoped that we could truly have freedom.”
Flight Wolf said, “There is medicine. The military’s research teams developed it quite early on, but its side effects are pretty obvious. So the General told us to use it as little as possible—because if used too much, one day we really might never return to a normal state. Right now we try our best to rely on physical restraint, or to avoid using the special abilities altogether. But other armies aren’t like us. From what I know, every year there are some alphas with special genes who go insane. It’s better in the city garrisons, but in field armies, the rate is noticeably higher.”
Yuan Yi asked, “They still use it even knowing the risks?”
He Yanwu said, “Risk comes hand in hand with opportunity. After making contributions, there are a lot of benefits—it all depends on the individual’s choice.”
There is always some greed in human nature. Not everyone can give up wealth and power that’s right within reach.
Yuan Yi asked, “So where is our own research team currently located?”
He Yanwu said, “At present, there are two teams. One is led by Principal Li, mainly focused on developing anti-mania medication specifically for alphas with special genes. That team should be with the Marshal right now. The other team is here, researching the connection between the sea beasts and Li Heng—but whether it’s there or not doesn’t really make much of a difference.”
As for why it “doesn’t really make much of a difference,” Yuan Yi soon found out.
There was a lab here, and there were lab personnel—but only three, which wasn’t nearly enough to make any significant progress. And with Li Heng, the most crucial test subject, not present, there was even less they could do.
The three lab workers had already turned into vegetable farmers—planting vegetables, watering them, pulling weeds every day. Among them was none other than He Yanwu himself.
Yuan Yi felt that leaving people “exiled” from their professional field for too long wasn’t good—it could easily make them feel lost. Sometimes, to live, a person needs a certain sense of recognition. Maybe he should find something to do together with them.
But when it came to catching the little sea pups, he felt he couldn’t bear to.
What he couldn’t stand most in this life was families being torn apart. And He Yanwu had already said that those sea beasts valued their offspring greatly—of course he couldn’t possibly go and capture them. The two in his belly hadn’t even been born yet, but just thinking of someone trying to take them away made him feel unbearable. So how could he go and take someone else’s “children”?
He couldn’t take the young ones—but he still wanted to do something.
Yuan Yi opened his optical computer, just thinking about how he could contribute a bit to Li Heng—or rather, to the entire Heavenly Wolf —when something happened online: the people in the imperial court, unable to make use of Li Heng and the Heavenly Wolf fleet, actually started to smear Li Heng.
Yo, did they really think he was dead?
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Moonlightjie On RUHIP Chapter 025