Chapter 22: Met Him Once
An Dong’s heart skipped a beat—how did his mouth move so fast?
He anxiously and honestly replied.
[An Dong: Mr. Zong, back in the day, Brother Xun and Ning Zhanfeng—Major Ning—were in the same class. Later, they both joined the Imperial Military at the same time, and they were dubbed the “Twin Stars” of their class.]
But to be honest, Xun Xun could never compare to Ning Zhanfeng.
Before the Ning family’s downfall, the Xun family, while prestigious, had dwindled in numbers over the years and couldn’t match the Ning family.
Not to mention, the Ning family was a huge clan. A year ago, the head of the Ning family was Ning Zhanfeng’s father.
Mr. Ning wasn’t just the head of the Ning family; he also held a high-ranking position in the Federal Research Institute. The scientific achievements under his name would take several pages to list.
Furthermore, Madam Ning came from the Imperial Royal Family. Although she wasn’t favored, her status was still extraordinarily noble.
With such an illustrious family background, Ning Zhanfeng himself was a mental power double-S class.
Xun Xun was also double-S, but there’s always a difference between double-S ranks.
Xun Xun had just crossed the threshold, while Ning Zhanfeng’s power during his peak was rumored to rival a triple-S class.
A few years after graduation, Ning Zhanfeng had already earned the rank of Major, and his future was limitless.
On top of that, he was incredibly handsome, making him the most sought-after son-in-law among the noble families.
But even with such a distinguished background, the Ning family fell within just one year…
As An Dong’s anxiety grew, Ning Yunyi, sitting across from him, narrowed his eyes at the words *same class* and *same time*.
Today, Ning Yunyi had withdrawn all his star coins, intending to head to the underground city.
His purpose was to gather information about his elder brother—Ning Zhanfeng.
A year ago, after Ning Zhanfeng’s last battle, he suddenly disappeared. Afraid of worrying their younger son, Ning Zhanfeng’s parents didn’t tell him about the incident and privately searched for him.
Two months later, however, Ning Zhanfeng was labeled a traitor to the Federation. Not only was his military rank stripped, but he was also placed on the Federation’s most-wanted list.
It was like a bad omen. Soon after, Ning Zhanfeng’s father was suspended from his position.
His mother attended a banquet at the Imperial Palace to gather information, but she was detained and never returned.
Sensing something was wrong, Ning Zhanfeng’s father finally told everything to their younger son.
By then, six months had passed since Ning Zhanfeng’s disappearance.
For the past few years, the younger son had lived in seclusion in a small villa on a mountainside, not far from the Ning family estate. He avoided the outside world to protect Ning Xiaomiao, who was of half-beast heritage, fearing exposure.
This isolation left him unaware of the events until his father, fearing Ning Xiaomiao’s exposure, planned to send them away on a ship.
As they boarded the ship, a sense of foreboding filled the younger son’s heart. After searching for information, he learned about everything that had happened. He disembarked at the next stop and returned to the Ning family estate.
But upon arrival, he found out that his father had been taken away for investigation, and the head of the family had been replaced overnight.
The new head of the Ning family was his second uncle, who not only refused to let him in but also severed ties with him, driving both father and son away.
Fearing that any conflict might endanger Ning Xiaomiao, whose identity had been kept a secret, he had no choice but to leave.
That very night, they were ambushed by a group of people. They were nearly gravely injured when a supposed *friend* appeared and helped them escape to a remote garbage planet.
A week before the younger son’s death, this *friend* finally earned his complete trust, only to scam him of all his star coins.
From beginning to end, this *friend* was likely working for Ning’s second uncle, leading them to that garbage planet and then stealing all their money. In a place like that, full of chaos and danger, one could only imagine what fate awaited someone as beautiful and defenseless as the younger son.
When Ning Yunyi took over this body, this was the situation he faced. At the time, he needed to make money and find a place to stay.
He had no time to think about the situation with the Ning family or his elder brother.
Now, with the big cat guarding the house downstairs, Ning Yunyi used his spiritual energy to set up a barrier around Ning Xiaomiao. With 200,000 star coins in hand, it was time to head to the underground city for information.
Unexpectedly, more news about his elder brother was being delivered right to him.
The underground city, though well-connected, was too far from A Star, the capital of the Seven Major Stars. Even if information did reach it, it was limited.
But An Dong was different. The Xun family, which he mentioned, had a good reputation as a noble family. More importantly, Xun Xun had attended the same school and entered the military at the same time as Ning Zhanfeng. He might know things even Ning Zhanfeng’s father couldn’t find out.
However, Ning Yunyi couldn’t let An Dong know about his own situation, nor could he appear too eager to ask about Brother Xun, as that would make An Dong suspicious.
[#1 Knife of the Sect: Are you worried I’ll think poorly of Xun Xun because of Ning Zhanfeng’s current reputation? You’re overthinking it. I actually quite like Ning Zhanfeng.]
[An Dong: Really? That’s great! I never thought Ning Zhanfeng was the type of person they say he is.]
[#1 Knife of the Sect: Speaking of which, Ning Zhanfeng used to be my idol. I even met him once. Now suddenly everyone’s saying he betrayed the Federation. Do you know what happened? He doesn’t look like someone who would do something like that.]
[An Dong: He was my idol too! Mr. Zong, you don’t know how famous Ning Zhanfeng was back then. He was practically the dream of every unmarried man and woman on A Star—no, in the entire galaxy!]
Ning Yunyi smiled, coaxing An Dong to reveal more about Ning Zhanfeng’s past.
An hour later, An Dong finally lifted his head from the star stream, sitting there in a daze, still unable to believe what he had just learned.
It wasn’t until old Master An came over and saw his stunned expression that he frowned and slapped him on the back: “I told you to thank Mr. Zong. Why are you daydreaming? Did you contact him? Did you tell him everything?”
An Dong looked up, his eyes sparkling: “Old Master An, don’t you think my luck is a bit too good?”
Old Master An gave him a heavy slap again. But after hearing what An Dong said next, he too was shocked: “Are you saying that just because you and Mr. Zong share the same idol, he’s willing to provide you with three days’ worth of food to suppress your spiritual riot, and he’s not even asking for star coins? All he wants is for the An Dong and Xun families to help investigate why Ning Zhanfeng was labeled a traitor?”
An Dong nodded eagerly: “Yes, exactly!”
Old Master An laughed, half-amused and half-exasperated. How did he end up with such a foolish son?
Without saying much, he opened the star stream chat and read the conversation. After reading it, he fell silent.
At first, he thought An Dong had misunderstood something.
But after reading it all, he was stunned—it really was true.
Xun Xun’s spiritual riot had dropped to level 4 for now, but without continued suppression from a healer, it would soon rise again.
Xun Xun was officially considered *dead* to the public, and the healer currently treating him wasn’t someone they trusted.
To avoid troubling Mr. Zong, old Master An planned to immediately recall their family’s healer. This healer had been cultivated with great effort and was an S-class healer they could fully trust.
But the healer wasn’t on the main star at the moment, and it would take three days for them to return.
old Master An originally didn’t want to bother Mr. Zong, thinking An Dong could try to grab something from the star stream in the meantime. Even if they managed to get something once or twice, it would at least provide temporary relief.
But who would have thought that Mr. Zong was willing to personally provide treatment? And with such a simple condition?
Old Master An stared at one particular sentence in disbelief.
[#1 Knife of the Sect: I’ll accept the one million star coins as thanks. For the next three days, I can provide you with the food from my stream personally, so you won’t need to pay any more star coins. But I have one request: I’m curious about how Ning Zhanfeng went from being a rising star to a traitor. Could you investigate that for me as payment?]
And right after that, An Dong had eagerly agreed.
#1 Knife of the Sect hadn’t replied since.
An Dong leaned in: “So, old Master An, I wasn’t lying, was I?”
Old Master An ignored his impudence and, after a long pause, muttered, “Who exactly is this Mr. Zong?”
An Dong, however, felt a bit guilty and answered with a non sequitur: “Old man, don’t you think it’s not right to take his food without paying any star coins?”
Old Master An snapped back to reality and gave him a sidelong glance: “If Mr. Zong can provide food that suppresses spiritual riots, do you really think he needs money?”
The ingredients used to make those ancient Blue Star delicacies, whether food or medicine, could fetch astronomical prices in the Ancient Research Institute alone.
An Dong: “But why does Mr. Zong want to know about Ning Zhanfeng then…?”
Old Master An sighed: “It seems he’s truly curious. I’ll work with Old Xun to investigate this. You, on the other hand, should be worried about something else.”
An Dong’s delighted expression froze: “Huh? What?”
Old Master An pointed to the translucent screen: “Mr. Zong said he’d give you the food personally. How do you think he’s going to do that?”
An Dong excitedly replied: “He said he’d give it to me directly.”
Old Master An gave him a meaningful smile before walking away.
An Dong scratched his head, finally realizing—oh crap, he forgot to ask how exactly Mr. Zong would give it to him. The *Star Stream* doesn’t even have a feature for private deliveries, only a live stream backend for uploading food.
Oh no, Mr. Zong wasn’t still mad at him and playing a joke on him, was he?
Meanwhile, Ning Yunyi had closed his chat with An Dong and withdrew his star coins.
After the deposit cleared, his balance was nearing one million coins.
He still needed to make a trip to the underground city—he couldn’t rely solely on information from the An Dong and Xun families.
As for the food he promised to provide An Dong, it wasn’t a lie. Although the *Star Stream* didn’t have a private delivery option, that wouldn’t be a problem for Ning Yunyi.
The *Star Stream* had developed the live stream food delivery system, and its functionality was robust. The private delivery feature was likely still in testing, prone to errors.
But Ning Yunyi only needed to write a simple program to enable private delivery between him and An Dong for a short period.
Ning Yunyi hadn’t expected his spiritual energy to have such a significant effect. He understood old Master An’s concern—if the wrong people found out about this, and he had a powerful background, they’d simply add to his success. But without such backing, he’d be nothing more than a delicious meal for others to feast upon.
And he had another secret—Ning Xiaomiao’s half-beast identity.
When An Dong mentioned the situation, Ning Yunyi already had a plan. He would continue offering food in the live stream, but any future dishes would no longer be infused with spiritual energy.
The taste would remain the same, but it would no longer suppress spiritual riots.
However, the food he sent to An Dong privately would be identical in flavor but infused with spiritual energy.
In this way, he could obscure the truth, making the An Dong and Xun families believe the suppression came from the ancient Blue Star delicacies he prepared.
Before noon tomorrow, Ning Yunyi needed to finish writing the program for privately uploading food. That evening, the two of them and the cat made do with a simple meal.
After dinner, Ning Yunyi retreated to his study and didn’t come out again.
The next morning, after catching up on some sleep, Ning Yunyi walked out of his study, yawning, only to feel two pairs of burning eyes on him.
Looking down, he saw a big and a small pair of eyes staring at him from downstairs, filled with eager anticipation.
The bigger one was lying at the foot of the stairs, head lifted, with its tail occasionally sweeping behind it.
The smaller one had dragged a little stool over and was sitting obediently beside it, resting its chin in its hands.
The moment Ning Yunyi appeared, the little cat cub shot up, sending the stool flying as it dashed up the stairs and clung to Ning Yunyi’s leg, as if it wanted to turn into a tiny cub and burrow into its father’s arms.
The big cat, not allowed to go upstairs, could only pace in circles before lying back down, looking pitiful.
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