Part 2
Ning Yunyi frowned, lowering his eyes in thought. “It’s impossible for two unrelated people to look identical in this world unless they share a bloodline. But once one party is a banshouren, one of the parents must be a banshouren. You probably aren’t mistaken. Based on the Jinqian Turtle saying he appeared a few months ago, the timing of the Second Prince’s disappearance, and the fact that they look identical, the renyu is undoubtedly the Second Prince.”
The fact that the Second Prince was His Majesty’s flesh and blood couldn’t be faked. Otherwise, His Majesty wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to have the Empress pretend to be pregnant to give the Second Prince a legitimate identity.
However, the Second Prince’s biological mother was the sister of Patriarch Lyman. The main protagonist isn’t a banshouren, which means Patriarch Lyman isn’t one, and neither is His Majesty. Yet the Second Prince’s biological mother was one… unless there’s another possibility: the Second Prince’s biological mother wasn’t Patriarch Lyman’s biological sister, but his sworn sister.
That would make sense.
Banshouren have unstable forms when they are young, so His Majesty and the Empress must have known about the Second Prince’s identity. That would explain why he was rarely seen in public.
Besides the official excuse of hiding his age, they also didn’t want to expose his identity as a banshouren.
Zong Hao said the Second Prince was normal when he saw him. That means itās very likely the renyu doesn’t lack jingshenli. Rather, after the accident a few months ago, he either suffered a brain injury or the trauma of the event was so great that he withdrew into himself, causing him to be unable to restore his human form.
Ning Yunyi shared his analysis with Zong Hao. Finally, he frowned and said, “Previously, all the emotional entanglements involving the late Emperor, His Majesty, the Second Prince’s biological mother, and the Empress came from the Crown Prince’s mouth. He isn’t as he portrays himself to be; one could even say he hates banshouren deeply. Therefore, what he told you back then might be half-truths, not necessarily the whole truth.”
The Crown Prince had said back then that His Majesty fell in love with a noblewoman but was stopped by the late Emperor. In a fit of rage, the woman left. Later, His Majesty and the Empress fell in love and married, giving birth to him a year later. It was then that Patriarch Lyman appeared with the three-year-old Second Prince, saying the woman had married someone else but had actually died. This led to the Second Prince believing His Majesty and the Empress caused his mother’s death, prompting him to cause His Majesty and the Empress’s coma.
But these things were now in doubt. Even if the late Emperor was dissatisfied with His Majesty’s choice of spouse back then, the sister of Patriarch Lyman was of high enough status. Yet the late Emperor still opposed it so vehemently. A major reason was likely that the late Emperor was well aware of her banshouren identity.
The late Emperor might have researched banshouren genes to combat the insect tides and beast tides and established that base. It started as mere research, but as human greed grew, the late Emperor became dissatisfied, leading to the tragic deaths of the first four banshouren, including subjects 1 through 4.
Madam Zong was likely a descendant of one of them, adopted by Old Master Zong to save her. The Second Prince’s biological mother was also likely a descendant of one of those four banshouren.
Later, the late Emperor had the Crown Princeāwho had not yet ascendedātake over the base. His Majesty went from initial reluctance to resistance, and finally to powerless acceptance and complicity. The irony was that he later accidentally met the Second Prince’s biological mother. He thought she was a normal person, only to find out later that she was a banshouren, and even the descendant of a banshouren his father had killed.
That was likely the reason the late Emperor used extreme threats to stop them when he found out. Later, His Majesty compromised, and the Second Prince’s mother left. He didn’t expect her to be pregnant. She gave birth alone and died from a difficult labor, leaving the child to Patriarch Lyman, who later found His Majesty.
As for the “commoner woman” His Majesty fell in love with after separating from the noblewoman in the Crown Prince’s story…
It was very likely that His Majesty sacrificed his love to keep his position as the heir, yet he was unwilling and sought to resist. He simply made a deal with a commoner woman. This would explain why the current Empress was willing to help His Majesty hide the truth and voluntarily fake a pregnancy to give the Second Prince a legitimate identity.
His Majesty must have felt guilty toward this child. This guilt included failing the Second Prince’s mother, and even more so regarding the base, or being the descendant of the one who killed her parents. Furthermore, His Majesty had abandoned the Second Prince’s mother again for the throne, and because of her banshouren status, he couldn’t show her child too much affection or let him appear in public often.
Eventually, he probably wanted to compensate the banshouren and change everything. He decided to hand the throne to the Second Prince, a banshouren, in an attempt to reverse the ugly situation he had caused over the years.
Itās just that His Majesty’s conscience arrived too late. The Crown Prince had already been involved with the base for a long time. When he realized his father wanted to depose him in favor of the Second Princeāa banshouren half-brother who wasn’t even from the same mother, but was technically his elder brotherāhe must have been consumed by jealousy and hatred. He decided to go all the way and staged a coup before His Majesty could announce the decision.
Or perhaps from the moment he sensed his father’s favoritism, the Crown Prince had developed murderous intent toward the Second Prince, not even hesitating to take down the Zong family to strengthen his own position.
Ning Yunyi let out a soft sigh after thinking through all of this. No wonder the future he had foreseen showed the extinction of the banshouren.
With the Crown Prince hating banshouren so much, once he truly became the master of the entire Interstellar and ascended to the throne of the Empire, he likely wouldn’t leave a single one alive. They would all become vessels for extracting jingshenli.
A selfish, ruthless, and extreme Emperor who never left any room for error or a way out, cruel and savageāit wouldn’t be surprising if the entire Interstellar went extinct later on.
Zong Hao fell silent after hearing Ning Yunyi’s explanation of the entanglement between the Second Prince and the Crown Prince. He knew he had never truly understood this friend he grew up with, but he never imagined the man was a thousand times more ruthless than he had thought.
Or rather, he knew the man was ruthless from the base, but he didn’t realize he could be selfish and cruel to this extent.
The fact that His Majesty could tolerate the Second Prince’s existence meant he at least had a shred of guilt.
But the Crown Prince had fully inherited the late Emperor’s ruthlessnessācutting the weeds and pulling them up by the roots, leaving no survivors.
Ning Yunyi gave Zong Hao a sympathetic look and patted his shoulder. “Try to look on the bright side. At least our luck has been good so far. We found the Second Prince first. If the Crown Prince had found him, he would definitely be dead.”
This was also the reason Ning Yunyi was willing to spend over a hundred million to win the renyu at the start. Initially, he just didn’t want him to fall into the Crown Prince’s hands and die a tragic death because he had no use. Who knew there would be such an unexpected surprise?
Zong Hao agreed: “If the Second Prince can truly be trusted, he could serve as a way to restrain the Crown Prince. Many people have seen the Second Prince. Currently, the Crown Prince doesn’t dare to announce His Majesty’s condition. As long as the Second Prince appears, the Prince won’t dare tell the public that the Second Prince is a banshouren.”
After all, wouldn’t it be a slap in the face for a banshouren to appear among the imperial offspring while the Capital Planet is holding so-called banshouren auctions? Moreover, once the news leaked, the noble families of the Capital Planet would likely start wondering if the Crown Prince himself might be a banshouren, which would affect his authority and even his right of succession.
Ning Yunyi nodded. “Previously, Yousi obtained the right to participate in the palace’s business, so he could take me into the palace at any time. I was thinking of finding an opportunity to wake His Majesty to restrain the Crown Prince. But clearly, there is a better choice now. However… the prerequisite is that we can get the renyu to recover.”
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