Chapter 80
[Xize: The main planet is not very safe during this period. Please be careful not to leave the protection. If anyone comes to your door, ignore them and let the army drive away the bugs.]
【Xize: Please be careful, good night.】
Yael stared at the two messages for a while, then suddenly lowered his eyes and closed his laptop.
"Aren't you going back?"
After the colleague put away his tail properly, he walked into the lounge and looked at the male insect in surprise, "Director Mod wants to see you again?"
After the inspection, Yael was quickly transferred to the main project and began his corporate life from 7 am to 7 pm every day. He cooperated very well with the researchers who were recruited in the same batch, and the progress was advanced rapidly.
Occasionally, Maude would take him over to sort out the data and help him catch up on the progress he had fallen behind. It was common for him to stay until midnight.
Fortunately, Xize has fully recovered and was dispatched by His Majesty to hunt down Anto. Otherwise, he would have been heartbroken and worried about him every day, and would have come to pick him up no matter how late it was.
Thinking of this, Yael pinched his brows and tried to cheer himself up. "No, I'll take a rest and leave soon."
The colleague had packed up his things and was ready to go out. Upon hearing this, he turned back and gave instructions.
"The main planet is not very stable at this time. Please be careful when you return home to avoid being attacked by terrorists."
"I see. Thank you."
It was already ten o'clock in the evening, and the night outside the institute was pitch black, with no stars or moon.
Fine snow was drifting slowly in the sky, occasionally landing on the tip of my nose, a bit of icy coolness that could not be melted.
An elite team was already guarding outside the door, armed from head to toe, wearing all kinds of precision weapons, and performing their duties diligently like silent shadows.
Yael nodded to the leading female officer, and after receiving the signal that everything was normal, he buried the lower half of his face in the plush scarf and got on the sled to go home.
This road has been traveled many times and there are generally no surprises.
He was originally closing his eyes to rest, seizing the time to relieve his fatigue, but suddenly there was a slight pause.
"?"
There seemed to be a blurry black figure standing by the road. Yael came back to his senses suddenly, narrowed his eyes slightly, and finally saw who it was when the car lights shone past.
Gano's hair and clothes were a mess, his face was pale, and he looked irritable and haggard. It seemed that he had not been doing well recently.
The noble male insect, who was originally so arrogant that he could do whatever he wanted, no longer cared about maintaining his posture and appearance. He rushed forward regardless and stood in front of the car with his arms outstretched.
“Stop!”
He gritted his teeth, squeezed out the two words with difficulty, and stared straight at this side.
"Stop the car. I need to tell you something."
Yael frowned and tapped his knees with his fingertips, a little unsure of what was going on.
It is true that Your Majesty forcibly liquidated the Duke's House, but only the Duke of Reims and a group of insects in his family were arrested for serious crimes. Ganuo escaped most of the punishment because of his identity as a high-level male insect.
But it's not so desperate that the arrogant male insects would be forced to stop the car on their own initiative.
"Your Majesty?"
There was a tap on the car window, and the captain lowered his head, waiting to receive his next instruction.
"Walk."
Yael said without hesitation, without any excessive curiosity or intention to contact Cano privately at this time.
"Your Majesty refuses to see you. For your safety, please leave the road as soon as possible."
The well-trained army quickly cleared a path, forced the male insects to the side, and carefully escorted His Majesty through this path.
The suspended car passed by Ganuo who was standing nearby. Yael moved his eyes slightly and met his gaze through the car window.
The pair of emerald green eyes stared at him viciously, like a wolf at the end of its rope. It had broken several teeth from biting the steel plate, and bloody saliva was flowing from the corners of its mouth.
A streak of light and shadow flows across Yael's profile, with strong black and white cutting through the clean lines.
He was reflected like an indifferent and snow-white statue, untainted by dust, and could only be viewed from a distance.
Ganuo's face suddenly twisted.
The suspended vehicle did not stop for a moment and sailed away in a cloud of dust under the escort of the army.
*
After returning to the villa, Yerle finally relaxed a little. Just as he took off his coat, he saw 015 rushing towards him.
"You are back! I have made the bed nice and soft!"
On top of the round machine's head was a little turtle, which was sticking its head out with a confused look on its face.
Yael reached out to tease it, then pulled his hand back just in time before he was bitten.
"Thank you, but I have a lot of things to deal with tonight, so I can't sleep on the bed that 015 specially made for me for the time being."
He had just sat down at his desk when a call came in.
"Good night, Your Majesty."
Vito's face appeared on the screen, the background looked like a study at home, and the male insect was wearing a custom-made suit and looked like he had just returned from a dance.
"These are new data. The survey results from a few days ago have come out. You can take a look. There are also some new trends of the nobles..."
Knowing Yael's character, Vito didn't exchange too many pleasantries and directly sent the previously collected information to His Majesty for his review.
"The details of the liquidation of the Duke's Mansion were also included. When we were halfway through the investigation, we were blocked by bugs on the Marshal's side. But when they knew you were behind it, they packed up the data and sent it to me."
The encrypted transmission was very fast. Yael directly clicked on the first folder and saw the information he wanted at first glance. He felt relieved.
He had been trying to expand his influence before, and this month he had built up a lot of connections and informants. Although he couldn't do anything big, at least he could get a lot of information in advance.
The news of Xi Ze's injury a week ago was also conveyed immediately.
Otherwise, given the female insect's nature of only reporting good news and not sad news, she might not tell him about this even after she recovers.
The male insect on the screen looked very focused, browsing the information very quickly, but the insect felt that he had read it all instead of just flipping through it randomly.
“Do you plan to go into politics in the future?”
Hearing this question suddenly, Yael raised his eyes and saw a helpless smiling face. Vito in the communication raised his hands repeatedly to show that it was harmless.
"I'm just asking for the convenience of future information deployment. If you plan to enter politics, now is the best time to plan ahead."
"No."
Yael said without hesitation, "I probably won't get involved in any political struggles, but my camp has always been clear, and that's enough to consider."
After looking into those bottomless eyes for a few seconds, Vito felt the hairs on his back stand up, and he kept saying that he understood.
"It's better to make it clear at the beginning. Anyway, you are on the side of Marshal Monte, right? I will reorganize my men to prevent any information from leaking."
After a pause in searching for information, Yael smiled and said, "Thank you for your help."
His tone was calm, but the content of his words made Vito stunned.
"You are very good at judging the situation and are very smart. You will have a broader world in the future. I am not your boss or the so-called leader. You don't have to be so afraid of me."
Yael moved the data split screen away and transferred something to Vito on the spot.
"What is this...?"
Vito turned on his computer with some confusion, but his vision suddenly froze the next second.
Ariadne Ultra-Pure Crystal.
It has a great healing effect on the mind and body, but due to the harsh growing environment, extremely low production, and a cultivation failure rate of up to 99%, it has become a rare treasure that is extremely difficult to obtain.
Higher-ranking males receive a fixed quota each year, which they use to nourish their mental strength and facilitate their release, but the quotas of males from less powerful families will most likely be snatched away or "bought at a low price."
Vito had had these things stolen from him three or four years ago. Although his rank was not low, the family behind him was a drag, so he had no choice but to swallow his anger.
I didn't care about it before, but this year the female cub at home got a rare disease, and I just needed this thing as medicine.
Most of the nobles I inquired about it said that they had already taken it or that they only bought it to watch the movies.
Vito blinked, suppressing the sourness that suddenly surged up in his heart, and whispered briskly while searching for the contract.
"I recently acquired a new place and just finished tidying it up this afternoon. I'll give it to you... I can't just take advantage of Your Majesty for nothing."
Yael was still browsing the information, with a thoughtful look on his face, not paying attention to this.
"No, just consider it as payment for your help during this period. I still have some left. If it's not enough, you can keep asking me for more."
The young male insect on the screen smiled somewhat helplessly. After a long time, he put down his laptop and his expression became more relaxed.
"Okay, Your Majesty, call me when you need me, and I will definitely get it done for you."
Vito also mentioned some suspicions or specious clues that could not be considered accurate information, leaving it to Yael to make his own judgment.
As he was discussing, he glanced down unconsciously and saw something moving in the male insect's hand.
The next second, Vito was met with a pair of confused black eyes.
"What is that?"
His breath was choked and he tilted his neck back subconsciously. The green head at the bottom of the screen stretched out a little bit more, becoming wrinkled and slippery, looking a little disgusting.
"The house-guarding beast."
Yael said nonchalantly, reaching out to catch the turtle that had crawled to the edge of the table, stuffing a teething stick into it, and patting the turtle's shell in fear to signal it to behave.
Vito was full of questions. After holding it in for a while, he couldn't help but yawn, with a hint of relaxation and sleepiness on his face.
"I have reported everything... If there is nothing else, I will leave now."
"Go to bed early. Good night."
The communication was turned off, but Yael didn't notice anything at all, all his attention was focused on the photo that suddenly popped up.
It was a photo of the Duke of Reims when he was young. He had the same white hair and golden eyes as Caesar, and looked upright and gentle, with a typical aristocratic demeanor.
他明明正微笑着，那雙眼睛卻沒有絲毫笑意，看久了甚至會感到一絲微妙的不适。
耶爾看着照片許久，試圖從雌蟲臉上找出一絲熟悉的影子，卻怎麽看都覺得不像。
不是五官或者眉眼，而是那種由內而外的氣質，很難具體形容。
但如果說蘭斯是陰暗處生長出的陰柔植物，那麽西澤就是歷盡磨難仍然正直坦蕩的白楊，完全是兩個截然不同的物種。
“你覺得像嗎？”
耶爾敲了敲手邊小烏龜的硬殼，自顧自詢問道。
小烏龜默默啃着那根肉幹，聽到詢問後轉了個身，翹起屁股對着他，然後就被捏住了小尖尾巴。
“你也覺得不像是吧。”
不堪其擾的小烏龜蹬了一下腿，啪嗒啪嗒爬走，把頭埋進了一旁堆疊起來的文件夾裏。
看繁瑣的資料看得眼睛疼，耶爾一手揉着太陽穴，忍着無聊又看了半小時。
最終他還是忍無可忍地往後倒在了椅背裏，蹬了一下腿把椅子轉了個圈。
夜涼如水。
書房裏的溫度極為舒适，卻仍然顯得空蕩又安靜，連呼吸都帶着一絲寒氣。
耶爾的視線落在半空中，許久又落在那搖着尾巴的小東西上，無意識輕笑一聲。
“原本家裏養烏龜，是希望在天上飛的家人能平安回家，或者留戀家裏盡早回來，你別只顧着吃，偶爾也發揮一下玄學的作用嘛。”
想念着的蟲沒有回應他，就連小烏龜也停下了窸窸窣窣，書房一片死寂的安靜。
耶爾的視線下意識移向抽屜，那裏面正放着雌蟲給的通訊器，但是想了想還是沒有撥通。
都這個點了，還是讓西澤抓緊時間休息比較好，而且他就是趁雌蟲不在才偷偷熬夜的，打過去肯定會挨唠叨。
糾結了一會，他還是決定放下資料去休息。
能量劑能保持腦子清醒，卻很難達到充足睡眠後的活躍精力，明天還有實驗要做。
“晚安，小烏龜……等會讓015送你回水箱去。”
*
遙遠時空外的宇宙一隅。
“最後一波異獸已經全部清除完畢，請指示。”
加拉赫駕駛着機甲盤旋在戰場周圍，一邊注意情況一邊将戰況彙報給元帥，在觸及那些血肉模糊的碎塊時，下意識皺了皺眉。
艦長室內。
戰場實時狀況由特殊儀器掃描，在沙盤上生成了分毫不差的虛拟影像，方便領軍者縱覽全局進行部署。
西澤垂眸，視線掃過剛才和異獸鏖戰的隕石帶，沉吟許久，突然看向不遠處的另外一顆星球，伸手做了個記號。
加拉赫的彙報通過微型通訊器于耳邊響起，他切換了一下頻道，簡潔有力地下了指令。
“A支隊返程補充能源，B支隊留下掃尾，時刻注意情況，半個小時後互換。”
“主艦隊暫時駐紮索柯-098星球，降落時注意不要驚吓到荒星原住民。”
追捕安托的任務并不難，卻始終差了那麽一點點，以至于拖了一周還沒什麽實質進展。
“又被異獸潮打斷了？！”
雷契爾的半身投影浮現在空中，神情驚愕又無語。
“真的有點太奇怪了吧，為什麽每次都是快抓到那家夥的時候，軍隊就會被四面八方湧過來的異獸沖擊，絕對有蹊跷！”
他看向一刻不停推演着剛才戰局的軍雌，啧了一聲。
“能快速彙聚甚至操縱異獸，還挺深藏不露的，單是這玩意就夠他死幾百次了。”
西澤緊盯着剛才戰場的回放，不放過一絲一毫的異動，聞言頭也不擡地道。
“當年不也一樣，将信號發出去後，來的不是支援，而是源源不斷的異獸潮。”
他意味不明地冷笑一聲，“而在那之前，我還沒見過屬性完全相異的異獸會一起行動。”
“當……年？”
雷契爾瞳孔驟縮，想到一種可能，渾身都震了一下。
當年的萊米爾戰役至今仍是一個謎團，五年前的一樁爛事，誰也沒那個時間精力，也沒那個能耐本事深究追查。
直到本該死去的，從地獄裏生生爬上來，才撕破了帝國粉飾的太平假象，露出內裏的黑暗不堪來。
雖然希爾澤不說，但其實他比誰都想平反的吧，以至于一次次複查當年的記憶，不放過一絲蛛絲馬跡。
“你是不是有頭緒了？”雷契爾沉默了一下，“不然怎麽這麽鎮定。”
終于找到想要的東西，西澤眸底劃過一絲了然，直起身後點了下頭，“是有點想法，應該很快就能驗證了。”
他将沙盤關閉，表情放松了些，坐回辦公桌後面，看向對面雷契爾的投影，“主星現在情況怎麽樣？”
“一切都在按預期進行，那些貴族基本被打壓得不敢冒頭，也不敢私下動作了，陛下恢複了日常議事，反對的聲音少了很多。”
“蘭斯已經入獄，正在等待審查，那些罪名一旦核實，極大概率會被判處死刑，迦諾現在還流竄在外，但應該很快也能找到由頭抓捕審訊。”
知道希爾澤對情況了如指掌，這麽做只是例行詢問，雷契爾不敢隐瞞什麽，把最近的事和盤托出。
“對了，他前天去攔耶爾冕下的車，冕下沒有接觸他，但總感覺這家夥心懷鬼胎，對冕下的安全很有威脅。”
“我知道。”
這件事發生的第一時間，他就收到了消息，而且立刻派了蟲去調查清楚始末。
“當晚我就派蟲進行了跟蹤調查，發現迦諾現在的居所裏藏着劇毒物，應該是從地下黑市那邊搞來的。”
想起彙報過來的消息，軍雌的神情冷硬，眸底沉了一瞬。
耶爾身上佩戴有各種屏障和防護，不管是面對槍林彈雨還是潑灑劇毒，都能将他保護周全，但仍然需要一再謹慎。
有時候他自己都覺得自己很煩蟲，叮囑這個限制那個的，但耶爾從來不會埋怨，在他看不到的時候一直有在好好保護自己。
西澤有些疲憊地捏了下眉心，往後倚靠在椅背上，看向顯示屏外荒星明淨遼遠的星空，驀地出神一瞬。
“你說，戰争什麽時候才能徹底結束？”
他近乎無聲地喃喃，放任了那一絲心底裏生出來的厭倦。
什麽時候穩定與和平才能長久存在，沒有那麽多黑暗也沒有壓迫，可以好好地生活，一日重複一日也沒有關系。
而思念好像輕盈而迷蒙的霧氣，融化在如水的月光中，在空曠的艦長辦公室內無聲蔓延，在每一次呼吸間來去穿行。
“什麽？”
身後的軍雌沒有聽清他的話，重複了一遍。
“沒什麽。”西澤斂去臉上的神情，突然想起來一件很重要的事，“對蘭斯的審判什麽時候開始？”
“三天後。”
“你明天啓程過來替我，我需要回主星一趟。”
雷契爾有些不明所以，但還是答應了下來。
*
耶爾一整天都泡在實驗室中，又因為要進行特殊試驗，必須要換上無菌防護服，便将光腦和其他東西都留在了外面。
一直等下午完成實驗，他才發現光腦一直閃爍紅光，幾個小時前星際最高監獄撥來了一條通訊。
監獄？為什麽突然來通訊？
耶爾蹙了蹙眉，又突然意識到什麽，将光腦合上後繼續把防護服換下來。
一直等坐在車裏，他才撥通了那個錯過的通訊。
“耶爾冕下？”
那邊迅速接通，語氣聽起來有些難以置信，又很是驚喜，“是這樣的，蘭斯申請和您單獨見一面，冕下的意思是？”
這是合乎規定的，而且這兩天審訊一直沒什麽進展，說不定可以借此機會套套話，負責審訊的長官語氣中帶了一點期望。
蘭斯。
耶爾不怎麽覺得意外，但仍然猜不到這位前公爵想和他說些什麽。
他們幾乎沒碰過面，好像從他來到主星開始，這位傳說中的蘭斯公爵就一直忙于拯救家族産業，從而錯過了各種可以遇見的時機。
但是耶爾想了一想，突然咂摸出一絲不對勁來。
明明是死敵，卻還來不及見面對方就锒铛入獄了，而且每次錯過的時間都太過巧合……反倒顯得有些刻意。
是西澤不想讓他和蘭斯碰面嗎？
“冕下？您要來嗎？”
通訊中的詢問小心翼翼，生怕惹到了這位傳說中的冕下，耶爾回神，垂眸思索了一會。
“具體時間？”
“明天，也就是周六下午三點！您确定要來是嗎？好好好，到時候監獄這邊會安排好警衛保護和接待的，您盡管放心！”
挂掉通訊，耶爾往後靠在椅背上，想了想還是給雌蟲發去一條訊息。
……
“回程需要經過六片隕石區，目測需要兩到三個小時才能到達主星，需要提前聯系警衛隊圍住星港嗎？”
白朗點了點操作臺上的一個地方，一邊靈活地穿越着隕石帶，一邊向元帥作出彙報。
“把行程轉為私密，不要洩露消息，這次回去只待七個小時。”
Xize was taking the time to close his eyes and rest his mind to relieve the fatigue of three days and two nights of continuous fighting, when he suddenly heard a slight sound from the computer.
He clicked on the message box, and then his eyes fixed.
[Heart] Yael [Heart]: Lance asked to see me, I agreed, I will go there at 3 pm tomorrow. ]
【[心] Yael [心]: Have a good rest and be safe. 】
Coincidentally, Bai Lang also received the news at this time and relayed it immediately.
"Marshal, Lance applied today to meet with His Majesty Yael alone. His Majesty has agreed. Do we need to make other arrangements?"
Beep. The computer light flashed red.
[[心] Yael [心]: The little turtle doesn't eat anything and has become thinner due to hunger. It may be trying to exert the power of metaphysics. ]
Xize paused, a trace of confusion flashed across his face, but before he could ask, the male insect sent the last message.
[Heart] Yael [Heart]: Waiting for you to come home. ]
He sighed lightly, his expression softened a little, and he replied to Bai Lang while answering the message.
"No need to make any other arrangements. I will go there in person when the time comes."
With him watching, nothing should go wrong.
The author has something to say:
Little turtle: Don't eat dog food, don't bother the turtle! (kicking legs) (chewing chewing chewing)
General: [Dear] [Heart] Yes [Dear] Er [Heart] [Dear]