He and It Chapter 122: Utopia (18)

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Chapter 122: Utopia (18)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

“We’ve got the guy,” Tian Yuan says, “Watch for him. Need a route plan?” 

“No,” You’re pretty fast, Gu Xingqiao said with a raised eyebrow, “I’ll do it myself.” 

Bidding farewell to Ming Sheng, he summoned his starship, abruptly increased the engine thrust, and instantly disappeared over Centrifugal City.

“After seeing your enemy,” White Spider lay motionless on his shoulder, “what do you want to say to him?” 

Gu Xingqiao gave a laugh.

“I’m not really sure.” Turning on the autopilot, he stared intently at a point in the cockpit, “I’m afraid that only when I see him will I be able to realize how much I want to say, and what the order of the topics will be.” 

Tian Yuan said quietly, “I won’t question your victory, but if you can’t get the result you want, is there anything else planned for the aftermath?” 

“What results are you referring to?” Gu Xingqiao asked, “Killing Sissel? Making him apologize to me on his knees and admit his mistake? Or make him promise to restore my honor, or all three?” 

“I’m thinking of all three,” Tian Yuan replied, “but the decision on how to execute it is yours.” 

“All three… Of course it’s a good idea,” Gu Xingqiao said, “but I’m afraid it can’t be done overnight. However, I still have a long time. The big deal is to pick him once a month, as an upgrade to fight the monster.” 

After a while, Gu Xingqiao suddenly asked, “You will not interfere, right?” 

“Intervene in what?” 

“My hunting.” Gu Xingqiao said, “I want Sissel to confront me with everything intact, from his body to his mind. You won’t interfere, will you?” 

There was a very brief pause, and Tian Yuan promised, “Yes, I will stay out of your feud. I assure you, Sissel will stand before you in perfect physical and mental condition.” 

He would not lie, Gu Xingqiao was wary of his power, yet he trusted Tian Yuan’s word. He nodded, and the starship descended like a fleeting meteor toward the atmosphere of its destination.

According to the information given to him by Ming Sheng, combined with Tian Yuan’s precise positioning, Gu Xingqiao had probed the location of a banquet in the ring star belt near the western part of the Empire’s center. As an unknown guest, the lover of the master builder would attend the banquet two days later.

Gu Xingqiao certainly could not show his true face, he easily got the banquet entry qualification, disguised his identity as a nobleman whose family was gradually starting to decline, and went to the black market to exchange an energy metal Tian Yuan had prepared for him, and purchased a full set of clothes.

Although he was born on the Wine God Planet, he had been in the power center of the empire and the military for a long time, so it was not a problem for him to imitate the words and actions of a nobleman.

All things were ready, only one thing was in order. Gu Xingqiao, wearing the golden buckthorn brooch as a proof of his qualification, calmly stepped off the hovering vehicle and blended in with the crowd, entering the destination where he needed to show off his skills tonight.

The huge gap between the rich and the poor had made the life of the residents of the center of the empire, not to mention the aristocrats, more affluent than could be imagined in the fringe regions. Returning to the glitz and glamor of the night and day, he grew weary and wished he had made contact with his target sooner.

“I see him,” whispered Gu Xingqiao, “the one with the red hair.” 

Tian Yuan, however, stirred uneasily.

“I want to look around, is that okay?” The White Spider voiced, “All the banquets of the past and present are the same, they just bore me.” 

Is he remembering the scenes of the past glory days…?

Gu Xingqiao pondered in his heart, there was nothing to dissuade him, no one could stop Tian Yuan from going wherever he wanted.

“Okay,” he said, “I’ll call you when I’m done, don’t go too far.” 

“Okay.”

After saying that, the white spider slipped off his shoulder deftly, and crawled out of the banquet hall along the corners where no one could see it, picking its way through the gold and silver carved frescoes, clattering and clanking.

Standing outside the door, Tian Yuan maneuvered the body of the mechanical spider, lifted up the two limbs, noiselessly tapping the air.

The night wind made a strange fluctuation, as if his fingertips touched the water, and in the ripples, the smooth lines of the small and exquisite starship quietly appeared in front of the spider.

Tian Yuan jumped in, like a drop of water blending into another, the white spider’s body instantly disappeared into the impenetrable hull of the ship, and the starship then rose up, and almost instantly, disappeared into the outer layers of the atmosphere.

.

“… The battle line has advanced to the three harbor planets of the Heidemark Galaxy, although the enemy lacks troops capable of effective combat, but supplies are plentiful, and for a while, the battle of attrition is still being fought…” 

“… The financial reports of the planets that produce resources such as agriculture, minerals, and technological research and development for this quarter have already been tallied, and I have already organized the documents that need to be cataloged for you…” 

“… Your Majesty, please review the briefings you requested, as well as the list of council members who have acted inappropriately this week…” 

“… Now that you have become the backbone of the empire, your marriage is naturally an important issue that we are truly concerned about…” 

Sitting on the seat in the study, Sissel played with the antique gold pen in his hand, always wearing a light and steady smile on his face. The antique and elegant crown was clasped in his hair, which was overshadowed by the sparkling blonde hair.

The holographic images of the ministers, glowing with a faint blue-white light, stood before him in orderly rows, they did not communicate with each other, and only the one who sat in this position could hear all of them at the same time.

For a Crown Prince who had trained and developed his brain power, dealing with the reports of these ministers at the same time was a trivial matter.

“I see,” Sissel smiled slightly when the last one closed his lips as well, “My approval has already been sent back to your terminal, and it is a blessing for me and the nation that you have worked so hard and diligently for the empire. The spring is so beautiful, I will not delay your precious time, goodbye, ladies and gentlemen.” 

The faces of the ministers, without exception, were all smiles of pleasure and deference.

“Harden,” said Sissel, “you stay.” 

And with that, the chief of the royal personal guard bowed, to his new master, whom he needed to serve with all his heart and soul.

“If you please.” 

From his point of view, the young Emperor was warm and handsome, his soft and compassionate personality, his zealous and pragmatic approach was enough to make men and women all over the empire go crazy for him, however, his true coldness and harshness of his inner self happened to be hidden underneath these warm and beautiful qualities.

Sissel casually raised his hand and set the golden pen on a delicate white spider table decoration, he raised his eyes, usually blue and clear eyes, this moment seeped out the blackness near the bottom of the sea.

“The task I gave you, how is it going?” 

Harden hesitated, whispered, “Storm’s communication has been cut off, I’ve sent a search party to explore the star field where they last signaled, but still nothing.” 

Sissel took a deep breath and smiled.

“Not bad for you, Xingqiao.” He nodded in admiration. “Never let me down.” 

Harden was incredulous, “The prisoner’s mental energy has long since been fully depleted, and his physical abilities, and the injuries he sustained, are more than incapable of sustaining him on a long interstellar voyage. You mean, even then, he could single-handedly wipe out a Storm squad?” 

“Why are you underestimating him, Harden?” Sissel frowned in displeasure, “He’s Gu Xingqiao, the genius of geniuses. With such a lowly background, he was recognized by my father and promoted to the second youngest general in the history of the empire, and I’m not surprised that Storm’s squad fell to him.” 

Harden didn’t say anything, in the middle of the day, he gathered his courage and said in a low voice, “Since the prisoner is a moldable talent, then perhaps you should use a more gentle approach…” 

Sissel’s eyes turned and locked on him so coldly that Harden immediately closed his lips and did not speak again.

After a long time, the young Emperor Don asked, “Have you ever pruned a flower, Harden?” 

Harden, after careful deliberation, answered cautiously, “I am a mere man of arms, and have no such refined interest, your majesty. I have, however, seen my wife’s flowers in action, and they are very pleasing to the eye.” 

“Well, then,” said Sissel, with a pleasant smile, “since you have seen how your lady trims her flowers, you ought to know: when faced with a branch that grows crooked, do you speak kindly to it, and wait for it to grow back, or do you take up the scissors, and cut it as cleanly and as simply as you wish?” 

Harden stared at the table, and said no more.

After all, man and flower are not the same… A brief thought crossed his mind, which he then snuffed out.

Sissel was the Emperor, not to mention a person, even a planet or a world, in front of him, they were all flowers that could be cut at will, let alone a person? 

“Forget it, you go down.” Sissel sighed, “Remember my order, live and die.” 

Harden said solemnly, “Yes!” 

The holographic image closed in mid-air, and Sissel relaxed, reaching out tediously, for his gold pen.

He paused suddenly.

As the pinnacle of the Empire’s pyramid of power and desire, the Emperor had no need to man the defenses himself, and with the first beat of his heart’s pounding imbalance, a twisting and turning path of light had enveloped his seat.

The air was like a winter river filled with crushed ice, a labyrinth of floating mirrors, and Sissel’s silhouette, distorted by the light, became an undulating shadow that no device could capture.

“Who are you?” He said coldly, “Show yourself, my friend, and be not a rat that hides his head and seizes the glory of rotten cheese in the shadows!” 

With the tight security of the palace, his strength and reflexes, it’s amazing that he didn’t notice the extra thing on the desk in the first place.

Who put this spider, when was it put, and what kind of effect does it carry? Is it spying, detecting, or deterring, assassinating? 

“In fact, I have been watching you openly, human.” 

The emperor’s ears suddenly rang a voice, indescribably cold and sharp. As the Crown Prince, who would most likely inherit the throne, Sissel had long practiced the skill of hearing voices, but until he heard these words, he had no idea that all the characteristics of steel, ice and inorganic matter could be decisively embodied in a handful of numbers.

The mechanical spider came to life, and with a dexterity and agility that even a real spider might not possess, it turned coldly toward Sissel.

A microphone, it turned out.

“I see, you’ve come a long way from the alien planet, my friend.” Through the infallible barrier, Sissel relaxed, displaying a perfectly angled, carefully designed diplomatic smile, “But is it not too presumptuous to venture into the private space of your host’s home?” 

He needn’t have worried, the alarms had sounded throughout the palace at the same time as the barrier had been activated, all he needed was a little time to stall, well…

–In Sissel’s vision, the spider suddenly changed.

Like flowing mercury, like soft ice, it cracked into a haze of scattered dots in a manner that defied the laws of conservation, and then crossed the dots into threads, as if a pair of divine or demonic hands were performing a horrifying miracle of weaving through the air.

Heads, torsos, limbs, and strange external skeletons… From the texture of the muscles, to the color of the permeating skin, a creature, a being born of strange dreams, appeared in the study of a human emperor.

He… Or his body was identical to that of a human being, yet it was even more massive and perfect, like a god of war, with a sense of oppression that was horrifying in the extreme. Supported by eight snow-white sharp exoskeletons, He could hang in the air without his feet touching the ground. When He stood with His hands behind His back and His eyes lowered, the arrogance of being like a human being but above humans appeared even more vividly.

In front of Him, it was as if the emperor was dust, the kingdom and civilization were dust, and Stella and the universe, power and strength, were even more unworthy of a footstep.

“Sissel.” He spat out the name slowly, each word pronounced as if it had been sifted with great care, “Perhaps, following human etiquette, I should greet the individual I am meeting for the first time.” 

In the extreme silence, Sissel suddenly realized that the time for responding to the alarm had long since passed, and that he had waited, more than he should have.

This is a presence that cannot be reasoned with, he thought, what is it that seeks me out, and for what reason has it come here?