Chapter 83 Helplessly keeping him like a dream, sending him off like a guest.

"Is there still no confirmation?" Skrage II asked.

In the video, Lu Qi shakes his head. The Chaotic Starfield is in complete chaos. After news of Yi Lan's death reached Fortress Zerg, both sides amassed millions of troops, and armed conflict broke out on the border in the northwest corner of Manra. On Manra's side, the army that had just finished clearing out the remnants of the Zerg was surrounded by mercenaries. Fortunately, King Skrag II had taken Shi Wei back to the capital planet because she was unconscious; otherwise, a major battle would have been inevitable.

"Who's in charge of the Chaotic Starfield now? Which Omega?" the Emperor asked.

Lu Qi nodded and said, "Yes, it's the Omega who led the first group of mercenaries to arrive. Her name is Hela, and she's only 76 years old. Although her combat strength is average, based on previous intelligence, she should be a strong psychic. We all thought that Fenlor would be Yi Lan's backup choice because this Alpha's abilities and achievements are outstanding, but we didn't expect that Yi Lan would choose an Omega as his backup."

His Majesty flipped through Hela's file, which contained very little information. They hadn't paid much attention to this Omega before, always assuming she was just a tool Yi Lan used to boost ABO equality KPIs. The Emperor said softly, "Shi Wei once mentioned her to me, saying that this young female officer was good at understanding people's hearts and could easily see the weaknesses of her opponents... At that time, I only thought that she was targeted by this Omega when she was in the Chaotic Starfield, but now it seems that Hela is probably Yi Lan's true confidante."

"It was quite unexpected, but it's also very much in line with his usual style."

"Nervous, unpredictable, always doing whatever comes to mind," Lu Qi thought to himself.

Just like this conflict, it all started because Yi Lan abducted Shi Wei from the palace. He exposed more than a dozen spies, wasted a hidden leap point, and even personally infiltrated the palace, paying a huge price, all just to take Shi Wei to see the stars.

When His Majesty returned from Xiaoyao Star, he asked his subordinates a question: Why did Yi Lan bring Shi Wei to stay near a remote little planet for several hours?

The Free Star is located on the border between Manra and the Chaotic Starfield. If he had used the few hours he spent there to travel at full speed, he would have arrived at the Locust Fortress long ago.

What is it about this tiny planet that makes him want to stay?

Afterwards, they examined the tunnel ruins and found that when Yi Lan first arrived, the tunnel was not yet fully formed. Logically speaking, it would have been absolutely impossible for him to have discovered something was wrong beforehand, unless he could foresee the future—so the question is, if he could foresee the future, would he still have been surrounded by the Zerg?

In the end, Prince Similan gave an unreliable answer: "I read the statement of the spy at the Xiaoyao Star weather station. He said... a nebula stream could be seen near Xiaoyao Star those few days."

Everyone frowned, and then quickly felt confused, and unanimously recalled the photo of His Majesty and Shi Wei looking at the stars.

This moment is just like that moment back then.

While His Majesty was taking Shi Wei to see the stars, Yi Lan was lurking behind, waiting to catch them all in one fell swoop.

When he took Shi Wei to see the stars, little did he know that he himself had become a meal for the insects.

The outcomes of these two incidents are similar, but not entirely the same.

Upon receiving such an answer, even His Majesty, who had weathered countless storms, could only silently sigh in his heart that he deserved it.

But one can't help but sigh that Yi Lan is truly unlucky.

The universe is so vast, and he just happened to be there during that nebula flow.

The universe is so small, yet he just happened to run into the Zerg's tunnel.

"Try to exercise restraint on the border and avoid conflict with them. Lu Qi, keep an eye on things and try to make contact with that Omega." His Majesty said calmly, "Whether he's dead or alive, there has to be an explanation."

After all, Shi Wei hadn't woken up yet.

The doctor said that after multiple jumps and the shockwave from the Star Source Bomb explosion, coupled with his constant mental tension and the excessive consumption of mental energy to protect his body, his body had entered a dormant state. He would be fine after sleeping in the treatment chamber for a few days, but Sklag II was still very anxious.

At that moment, good news came from the medical team: Shi Wei had woken up.

The group observed His Majesty's expression, exchanged glances, and then casually offered a few words of congratulations before tactfully leaving the online meeting.

Before logging off, Lu Qi gave Simanan a wink, and Simanan had no choice but to bite the bullet and say to his father, "Father, Shi Wei just woke up, and she's very weak, both physically and mentally. Please don't upset her..."

He left the meeting room at lightning speed after he finished speaking, cursing Yi Lan hundreds of times in his mind.

Why must you kidnap people? Why must you go to see the stars? Why must you act like a savior and single-handedly defeat the King Mushroom?

Couldn't we have delayed a little longer? If we had delayed a little longer, Manra's main force would have arrived. Once he escaped the encirclement, with so many of them and so much heavy firepower, wouldn't a few Star Source missiles have been enough to take him down?

Now look what's happened, we don't even know if they're alive or dead.

Similan stood by the window and slowly covered her eyes.

...

Shi Wei felt like she had been having a very, very long dream.

She dreamt that she was playing and having fun on the grasslands, where she met a little red wolf. They became friends and had a lot of fun.

The little wolf carried her across the vast grassland. They encountered many terrifying and ugly insects. Finally, the little wolf couldn't run anymore, so he told her that he would run to the river later. He told her to count to three and jump into the river and keep swimming forward without stopping until she reached the end, where she would be safe.

Shi Wei grabbed the little wolf and asked, "And what about you?"

The little red wolf said casually as it ran, "If I throw you off, you'll only run faster! They can't catch me!"

So Shiwei jumped into the river. She swam and swam, the river water washing over her cheeks, taking away her warmth and leaving only coldness.

Then she sat by the river for a very long time, and the little wolf never came back.

...

When Shi Wei woke up, she only heard the joyful voices of many people, as well as the sounds of various instruments.

Her vision gradually returned. The world was blurry at first, then turned black and white. Doctors in white coats came closer, trying to communicate with her. She didn't want to talk because she felt too tired, so she just stared blankly at the ceiling... and then a pair of sea-blue eyes appeared.

The familiar scent brought tears to her eyes.

King Sklag II half-held her and whispered, "It's alright, it's alright now. We're home, we're safe... Don't cry, don't cry. Sigh, fine, cry if you want to..."

He gently patted Shi Wei's back, wanting to hold her tight but afraid of hurting her. She was too weak now, as weak as a withered flower, which would lose all its leaves at the slightest touch. He could only release his spiritual energy to soothe her heart, which was filled with sorrow and regret.

Seeing that Shi Wei was about to cry herself to death, King Skrag II was heartbroken but could not say anything to comfort her. He had the doctor give her a sedative injection, and after the drug took effect, Shi Wei was finally able to control her emotions.

The man helped her up and helped her sit up against the pillows so the doctor could examine her more easily. Shi Wei supported her weak body, and when she looked down, she saw the necklace around her neck, and tears streamed down her face again.

She gripped the pendant tightly, her fingers trembling violently. She tried several times but couldn't open the back cover. In the end, it was Sklag II who helped her open it.

The pendant was completely empty.

There was nothing there.

She looked at it for a long time, but never saw the ruby ​​on it light up even once.

His Majesty, having roughly guessed what it was, felt a wave of speechlessness. At this moment, he couldn't help but blame the culprit. "If you're going to die, then die. Why send something like this? Who are you trying to annoy?"

Shi Wei choked up as she asked, "Is Yi Lan still alive?"

However, he still tried his best to describe the scene objectively: "After he detonated the Star Source Bomb, the Ohmu didn't die immediately. I led people to eliminate it completely, but just as we were getting close, the Ohmu's vital signs on the detector suddenly disappeared. He was probably only seriously injured at the time, using his own brain to attract the Ohmu to prey on him, and then using his spiritual body to kill the equally seriously injured Ohmu—"

Shi Wei's tears flowed even more fiercely. She didn't know that Yi Lan had such intentions in sending her away.

The man also felt a little regretful.

To be fair, such a ruthless and decisive fighting style, and such strong mental strength, are unmatched in the entire universe.

If he were in that situation, it would be difficult to guarantee that he could kill the King Mushroom.

The most regrettable thing is that if Yi Lan had brought more people, he wouldn't have needed to use the method of detonating the Star Source Bomb at close range to break through the protective circle around the King Worm, and he wouldn't have been injured so badly.

King Skrag II couldn't bear to tell Shi Wei that although he arrived in time, Yi Lan had already been eaten away and was only half left. If his spiritual body hadn't been strong enough to maintain his fighting ability when he was on the verge of death, he would have been completely eaten by the insects long ago.

"At that time, he was barely alive. I had the doctors on the starship perform emergency treatment, and then... cryopreservation, because there was no professional equipment on the starship to... maintain his life... so this was the only way to do it..." Even His Majesty, who was usually quick-witted, could only carefully consider his words at this moment, trying to use words that would not upset Wei Jing.

However, Shi Wei had read books and spent a lot of time in the library, so she knew about the insectoids' eating habits, fighting power, and cruelty.

Tears were completely uncontrollable; due to physical weakness, she couldn't even cry out. All her breath was trapped in her throat, compressed to the extreme with each sob before she could exhale a little.

Shi Wei covered her face. Only now did she realize that he had already made a decision when he realized he was surrounded. So what she had felt was wrong was Yi Lan's emotions that he was trying his best to hide.

No matter how powerful he was, he was still a young Alpha not much older than himself. He was a human being, and it was impossible for him to remain calm in the face of death. Yi Lan must have been very remorseful at that time. Why did she have to come to see those stupid stars? Why didn't she realize something was wrong sooner? Why did she have to hurt her?

But he still pretended to be nonchalant, acting so well that he hid all his reluctance towards her and life itself, leaving behind only the casual remark, "You have to save the universe sometimes, right?"

He was afraid that Shi Wei would notice something was wrong, afraid that she would feel guilty.

But how could she not feel guilty?

Seeing her like this, King Skrag II felt even more distressed. He wished he could capture Yi Lan from the Chaotic Starfield, revive her, put her in a cage, and tie her to her bedside so she could feel at ease.

But he didn't have any concrete information, so he had to give a vague explanation: "I led him out of the swarm of insects and just ran into mercenary reinforcements. The insectoids deliberately blocked the signal, so they were late. The leader was the Omega you mentioned named Hela. Then I handed the frozen Yi Lan over to her. You can't imagine her expression at the time. She wanted to kill me, but she was in a hurry to save Yi Lan and left in a hurry."

He patiently wiped away Shi Wei's tears and comforted her, saying, "The mercenaries' medical skills are only above Manra's, especially when it comes to insects... He will definitely survive this kind of battlefield injury."

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Author's note: Your Majesty (inner monologue): Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell.

Shi Wei (with tears in her eyes): Is he still alive?

Your Majesty: ...Live, guaranteed to live.

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I made some changes to the plot, so there was no update over the weekend... because Lan is a fairly important character... so a lot of the later content needed to be revised...

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Lanbao (furious): So you really intended to kill me off from the start?

Trash author (feeling guilty): You're a supporting male character, right? Supporting characters are there to serve the plot, regardless of gender... Only the protagonist has an immunity from death...

Lanbao: You're such a stepmother! You're so biased! You bastard!

Trash author (flipping fingers): It's good enough that I survived... Don't be so picky...

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The phrase "keeping him is like a dream, seeing him off is like a guest" in the synopsis comes from Song Zhengyu's poem "Remembering Qin'e: Willow Catkins".