Part 3
The Crown Prince laughed bitterly. “Before Father fell into the coma, perhaps out of guilt, he asked me not to harm the Second Prince before he woke up. I captured and imprisoned him in the palace, but he escaped not long after and his whereabouts are still unknown. Because the palace is in chaos, I didn’t dare announce it openly. Once people know the true situation in the palace, I fear…”
Zong Hao: “So Your Highness thought of using the engagement to confuse the public, making people think nothing was wrong in the palace?”
The Crown Prince nodded. “Exactly.”
Zong Hao: “And Mrs. Ning…”
The Crown Prince: “Father and Mother were in trouble, and I was too. Third Brother is a loose-lipped incompetent. Plus, with your spiritual riot and accident, I was afraid you really wouldn’t come back, so I sent the three highest-level healers to find and treat you. Also, the healers truly couldn’t save Mrs. Ning, but to keep the secret, we had to send her to the Empress Dowager in Father’s name…”
Zong Hao hadn’t expected the Crown Prince to send healers to find him. He sighed. “What does Your Highness plan to do now? If the Second Prince is outside, he is an uncertain factor.”
The Crown Prince touched his leg. “He likely still wants to replace Father and become the Emperor, so he won’t leak the true situation of the palace. I just didn’t expect him to target Mr. White tonight. I don’t know if he wanted to test Mr. White’s background or find out if Mrs. Ning had woken up. He probably fears that if Mr. White has the ability to wake Mrs. Ning, then Father might wake up soon too.”
Zong Hao’s eyes darkened. “I will have people investigate the Second Prince’s tracks.”
Thinking of this, the Crown Prince reminded him, “Most of my power is within the palace. The military is usually commanded by Father personally, so over these few months, I’ve only been able to stabilize the situation inside the palace; I truly can’t help much elsewhere. However, you can check the Fifth Planet. He should appear there soon.”
Zong Hao was surprised. “How can Your Highness be so sure?”
The Crown Prince smiled bitterly. “It’s not certainty, but a guess. Not long ago, the spaceship carrying the Lyman family head had an accident. The family head and his family are missing, their fates unknown. This family head… is the Second Prince’s biological uncle.”
When Zong Hao left the palace, the expression under his mask was grim. Clearly, he hadn’t expected the situation in the palace to be no better than the outside world.
Once the Emperor failed to wake up, the entire Capital Star, or even the entire Interstellar Federation, would fall into chaos.
Ichi had been waiting outside. Once they boarded the spaceship and he felt the low pressure around the Marshal, he asked uneasily, “Marshal… His Majesty didn’t actually do this, did he?”
Zong Hao didn’t hide it from him and briefly recounted what the Crown Prince had said.
Ichi was dumbfounded. He sucked in a breath of cold air, unable to react for a long time. After a while, he realized the severity of the matter. “Marshal, what do we do now?”
The Second Prince was a ticking time bomb. If the Lyman family head and his family were truly gone, the Second Prince—who could already go mad enough to commit patricide because he believed the Emperor abandoned his mother—might go nuclear.
If the destruction of his uncle’s family was added to the mix, wouldn’t he want to drag the entire galaxy down with him?
Not to mention, the Second Prince likely controlled a squad of death soldiers who were high-level spiritual power users and unafraid of death.
It was truly a full stack of bad buffs; double the danger.
Zong Hao commanded with a solemn expression, “Order Agents 150, 152, and 153 to depart immediately for the Fifth Planet to investigate the Second Prince’s tracks. You are responsible for tracking the group from the Capital Star; even if they turned to ash, traces must exist. Also, send a message in your name to warn Mr. White to be careful, and tell him the reason for Mrs. Ning’s accident.”
When Mrs. Ning had her accident, they only knew a mental attack occurred during the ritual; they didn’t know it was the Second Prince’s doing. Ning Yunyi couldn’t get accurate information directly after she woke up.
If he didn’t guard against the right person, it would be detrimental to the Ning family.
Ichi was stunned. The Marshal was actually telling Mr. White such a closely guarded secret. “This… includes the part about the Second Prince?”
Zong Hao nodded. “Don’t worry, his lips are sealed. At least regarding the Second Prince not being the Empress’s son—he won’t spread that. But knowing the Second Prince is a danger in advance will allow him to protect the Ning family sooner.”
Ichi felt numb. Had the relationship between the Marshal and Mr. White really reached such a deep level?
But he didn’t dare ask or argue, so he obediently went to carry out the Marshal’s orders.
Ning Yunyi was woken up by a message in the middle of the night. He quickly cleared his head, looked at his wristband, and opened it.
He hadn’t added many people. Unless it was something important, no one would choose to disturb someone’s dreams in the middle of the night.
Seeing it was Ichi, Ning Yunyi wondered if they had already found out who had blocked him that evening.
Before he could finish reading the first message, Ichi sent several more in rapid succession.
Each one longer than the last.
Ning Yunyi: “??”
But after reading what Ichi sent, Ning Yunyi’s expression darkened.
The person he had suspected the most, the Emperor, was actually in a coma, and the true mastermind was the Second Prince?
Ning Yunyi recalled everything about the royal family in the book. Unfortunately, the book mostly revolved around the protagonist gong and shou, rarely mentioning the royal family.
Even when they appeared, it only mentioned “His Majesty,” by which time the prince had already ascended the throne.
Because the title “His Majesty” was used, and mentions were scarce, Ning Yunyi couldn’t tell if the final victor was the Crown Prince or the Second Prince.
Their public ages were similar, so one really couldn’t distinguish them by appearance or age.
Ning Yunyi quickly replied to Ichi, indicating he wouldn’t speak of what shouldn’t be spoken.
Waiting until dawn, Ning Yunyi contacted City Lord White and the Young Lord, asking them to go to the Fourth Underground City in District A today. He handed over full responsibility for the braised meat and skewers there to City Lord Xi, while they were to return to District F to take charge there.
City Lord White didn’t ask for reasons, simply replying with a “Okay.”
Ning Yunyi wouldn’t ask them to return suddenly without cause; clearly, District A wasn’t safe.
Ning Yunyi didn’t mention the attack from the previous night. After the noon livestream ended, he divided the extra prepared food into two portions. He took one portion to the other castle and handed it to City Lord White, the Young Lord, and the Ayres brothers.
He mentioned that he would be staying in District A for a while and would take charge of the two stores there.
Although the Young Lord found it strange that his uncle was suddenly leaving, a glance from City Lord White made him droop his head in silence.
Ning Yunyi laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll come back later; it’s just temporary.”
The Young Lord cheered up again. “Uncle, don’t worry, I will definitely guard this place well!”
Ning Yunyi raised his hand instinctively to pat his head, but remembering this person was much older than him and just young at heart, he silently lowered his hand.
Before leaving, he handed a box to City Lord White. “District A hasn’t been peaceful lately; it’s best not to go there. Inside are energy stones with healing abilities—they can save your life in an emergency. Contact me if anything happens.”
City Lord White’s expression turned serious. Naturally hearing the weight of these words, he nodded solemnly. “Rest assured, I understand the stakes.”
After all, he had experienced something similar over thirty years ago.
Only then did Ning Yunyi feel reassured enough to return to the castle, load the things he had packed in the latter half of the night onto the spaceship, and plan to stay at the Ning residence for the time being.
Running back and forth with the Cub and the Big Cat wasn’t safe.
Just in case—before the Second Prince was caught—he didn’t want to take risks.
However, the fact that the Lyman family head was the Second Prince’s uncle surprised him. By that logic, wasn’t the protagonist gong of the book the Second Prince’s cousin?
Given that protagonist gongs come with “beautiful, strong, and tragic” attributes or the luck of the Heavenly Dao, it made sense for the Second Prince to be the final winner.
In this way, Zong Ling obtaining the Zong family and taking the protagonist gong as an adopted son might have involved the Second Prince’s efforts.
Thinking of this, Ning Yunyi suddenly remembered a line from the book: Zong Ling had accidentally saved the protagonist gong in District F when the latter fled to the Capital Star and was wandering the streets.
Whether Zong Ling was chosen by the Heavenly Dao or if the Second Prince used it as an excuse to arrange his cousin with Zong Ling…
If he followed Zong Ling, the “destined adoptive father,” it would be easy to camp for the cousin, and subsequently, it wouldn’t be impossible to catch the Second Prince, the mastermind.
Ning Yunyi had limited manpower, so he simply contacted Ichi, exchanging energy stones for real-time tracking information on Zong Ling.
[Ichi: ?? Can I ask why Mr. White wants to track him?]
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thanks for the chapter!