Chapter 182: So You Really Would Go Mad for the One You Love
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
The leaden clouds pressed heavily against the sky, so low it felt as if one could reach up and touch them.
Lin Xu stepped out of the temporal rift and once again set foot on Endymion. The air was thick with cold, damp mist, and the wind swept across the horizon, carrying the scent of rain and bending the gray-green grass into waves.
Fine rain fell onto his black combat suit, sliding down its waterproof fabric in beads that rolled off and vanished into the ground. He arrived on the outskirts, cloaking himself and heading toward a nearby military warehouse.
When Lin Xu had left the Crescent District, he hadn’t taken Bard with him. He spent some time observing the soldiers guarding the facility, confirming that the warehouse was still operating as usual and hadn’t been repurposed. Only then did he tear open another rift and step directly into the hangar where his Bard mecha was stored.
He landed beside Bard’s massive right foot. The towering machine loomed silently in the dim light, and Lin Xu noticed a thin layer of dust had gathered on the surface of its heavy armor.
No one had touched her. Lin Xu keyed in his authorization and awakened the dormant Bard. The mecha stirred to life, lowering its boarding ramp to welcome its pilot home.
Inside the cockpit, he ran through his checks with practiced efficiency. Once satisfied with the readings, he settled into the pilot’s seat, powered up the systems, and secured his mental-link headset. Then, switching to the designated comm channel, he began to wait.
By now, on Capital Star, Capricciosa should have already begun her move.
– –
Lotus leaves crowded the water’s surface, blocking out most of the sunlight. Only faint rays pierced through the gaps, reaching the lakebed below.
An automated feeder along the embankment periodically dispensed pellets, and at every feeding time, the koi darted toward it in a colorful frenzy. Yuanxiao followed them out of curiosity, opened his mouth, and bit down on a pellet—only to immediately scrunch up his face from the fishy taste.
“Uuuh…” Yuanxiao whimpered pitifully. But he didn’t dare climb ashore. He knew the shore was full of bad people. While the koi fought over the food, Yuanxiao flicked his tail and drifted alone along the wall of the embankment.
Suddenly, he felt a strange current pull him along. Yuanxiao stopped swimming and let the water carry him forward. To his surprise, the current swept him straight into a large hole in the embankment wall.
The rush of water dragged him helplessly through a wide channel. It was dark inside, with more streams feeding into the main pipe. Silt drifted through the water, though it was still relatively clean. Yuanxiao let out a bubble full of sand and blinked at the sight ahead.
A soft glow shimmered in the darkness. His eyes widened, and curiosity pushed him forward. As he drew closer, he realized the glow came from a figure standing in the shallow water.
Startled, Yuanxiao flinched and immediately turned to flee. But the figure was faster. In an instant, a hand shot out and grabbed his black-and-white tail, lifting him upside down out of the water. The small, dripping mermaid flushed red, trembling on the verge of tears.
But before the first tear could fall, Yuanxiao froze. He stared at the man holding him. This person… looked just like Papa.
“Papa…?”
No. No, that wasn’t Papa! Yuanxiao couldn’t smell Papa’s sweet scent on this man.
“Waaah—!” Yuanxiao burst into tears, swinging back and forth like a tiny pendulum, pitiful beyond words. The Spiritual Monarch was startled and quickly set the little mermaid upright, cradling him carefully. But Yuanxiao kept struggling, squirming in his arms, desperate to escape.
“Yuanxiao, don’t be afraid. Don’t cry.” The Spiritual Monarch patted his back gently, rocking him softly in his arms, trying to soothe him.
“Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!” Yuanxiao cried even harder, sobbing so fiercely he could barely catch his breath. His tears soaked through the white robes the Spiritual Monarch had manifested.
“All right, all right, little one. Don’t cry, my sweet baby,” the Spiritual Monarch murmured.
【Who is this? Why does he look like Papa? But he’s not Papa! Where’s Papa?】
Finally realizing he could speak to Yuanxiao within the spiritual domain, the Spiritual Monarch said gently: 【I’m not your Papa. My name is Spiritual Monarch.】
【Why do you look like Papa?】 Yuanxiao sniffled, still crying as his words echoed in the spiritual domain.
【Because… well, I suppose you could call me your uncle,】 the Spiritual Monarch replied. 【Your Papa knows me too.】
Within his own consciousness, several of the Monarch’s fragments immediately started teasing: “Ew, creepy uncle.” Another fragment shot back, “Can you even say Yuanxiao isn’t adorable?”
【Do you know where Papa is?】
【He’ll be here to pick you up soon,】 the Spiritual Monarch promised.
【Can you take me to him?】 Yuanxiao clutched tightly at his robes, his big eyes shimmering with tears.
【No. Humans have their own stories to live through. I won’t interfere. But don’t be afraid, little Yuanxiao. You’ll see Lin Xu and Heinrich Chu very soon. They’ve been missing you so much. I’ll take you back to the garden lake. I’ve already calculated it—you’ll meet them there.】
He was only an observer. And an observer was meant to remain silent, not to meddle. The Spiritual Monarch had already witnessed the consequences of interference, and he had no desire to repeat the mistake.
【Stay put in the lake. You’ll be safe there.】
【But… Uncle, hungry,】 Yuanxiao whimpered. Warmth spread through the Spiritual Monarch’s chest, so tender it nearly melted him. Somehow, he pulled out a handful of sea crystals and held them to Yuanxiao’s mouth: 【Uncle has candy. Come on, open up—ahhh—】
“Ahm.” Yuanxiao bit down and swallowed one in a single gulp. The Spiritual Monarch felt as if steam was rising off his head. He was far too happy. What did it matter if he wasn’t supposed to interfere in human history? Feeding little Yuanxiao didn’t count. He fed him. And he kept feeding him.
– –
In the Crown Prince’s residence, Leo stood frozen, watching helplessly as Capricciosa dragged Luka and his men in. She tortured them until they relinquished every last authority over the Imperial Guard and city defenses, then, without the slightest hesitation, raised her gun and shot her own cousin—sharing the same last name as her—point-blank.
The energy rounds tore through their skulls, spraying blood and brain matter across Leo. The warmth of it made him shudder violently. Capricciosa cast him a cold glance. “Stay here. Don’t move.”
Then she strode out without a backward look. Leo wiped at his face with his sleeve, his hands trembling, before gripping his cane and dragging himself up to the highest tower of the Crown Prince’s estate. From there, he stared toward the distant Imperial Palace.
Bathed in the quiet glow of soft lights, surrounded by streams and forests, the palace seemed tranquil under the shroud of night.
But before Leo could take a closer look, a strange sound split the sky. He turned sharply, his breath catching. A honeycomb-patterned golden shield shimmered across the heavens. Normally, this defensive barrier was invisible, but tonight it burned bright against the darkness, blotting out the stars.
Then a crack appeared in its center, edged with brilliant gold, and began to widen. Piece by piece, the shield fell away, revealing the black void of space beyond. This shield was the keystone of Capital Star’s defense system. Its control rested in the hands of the city’s defense forces. Now, it was nothing more than a toy in Capricciosa’s hands.
How had she shut it down?! And then, in the night sky, several points of light began to move. Slowly, they aligned, pulling apart into two lines.
Those lights were the massive orbital fortresses of the Crescent District’s defense fleet. When running at full power, their engines blazed so brightly that even those on Capital Star could see them with the naked eye. They were supposed to maintain fixed relative positions, a wall of iron and light—yet now they were withdrawing, deliberately opening a gap.
If Capricciosa’s fleet was stationed at the Florence Front, far from this sector, then who was she clearing the way for?! A tremor ran through Leo’s body. His organs twisted in dread.
“Prepare a flyer,” he ordered hoarsely. “I’m going to the palace to see His Majesty!”
The Crown Prince estate’s AI responded with a gentle, almost apologetic tone: “Warning: active combat detected in the palace sector. Danger level: three. Travel not advised.”
Leo looked back toward the palace—and his breath caught again. The once-serene marble halls erupted with fire. Blasts from energy weapons flashed between the towers. Electrical arcs split the night, driving flocks of startled birds into the sky. Capricciosa had already begun her assault. Then something massive entered Leo’s view.
A blue LH818 mecha, its thrusters glowing white-hot at the elbows, waist, and knees, soared into the air. The heat scorched the forest and set nearby buildings ablaze. Flames licked skyward, red banners in the night. The LH818 rose, trying to break free of the battlefield.
Leo’s grip on his cane tightened. He remembered all too well—recently, the Emperor had demanded private instruction in mecha piloting. An LH818 prototype had been delivered to the palace. And now… Leo was certain the man piloting that mecha was the Emperor himself.
Rage. Envy. Hatred.
It all flooded his mind, drowning reason. He wanted nothing more than to watch that machine get torn apart, its pilot reduced to scraps of twisted metal. And then—
A sonic boom ripped across the sky. A black silhouette blazed down through the breach in the shield, wreathed in fire as it tore through the atmosphere at full speed. A black mecha. Bard.
Leo’s eyes widened. Lin Xu. Lin Xu had come—and he was working with Capricciosa!
– –
According to the plan, once Capricciosa seized control of the defenses, she would open the gates of the Crescent District, allowing the Alliance fleet to strike directly at the Capital Star.
The doddering old men in the Supreme Council must have just been jolted from their sleep by the roar of cannons and the spectacle of their sky splitting open. Opening the planetary shield early, however, wasn’t just for the Alliance. It was for Lin Xu.
Yuanxiao was still in Alfred’s hands. Zhou Pingbo had been arrested. Lin Xu needed to get in—and he needed to get them out. Bard streaked through the night like a black comet, slamming a fist straight into the LH818 just as it was beginning to accelerate out of reach.
The impact drove the blue mecha down into the palace grounds, shattering stone and soil, leaving a deep crater. Inside, Alfred screamed in pain. His head snapped toward the massive Bard advancing step by step, cold and merciless. Then his gaze shifted—toward the white egg lying nearby. And froze.
That punch… the shockwave must have knocked it down. The resonance had been just enough. The egg split in two. But there was nothing inside. The dragon—gone!
Before Alfred could process the disaster, Bard struck again. A fully-charged particle blade carved down in a single stroke, cleaving the LH818 cleanly in half. Bard followed with a brutal step, grinding one of the mecha’s legs into scrap. The sound of metal shrieking under force echoed like a death knell.
Alfred’s pain sensors flared white-hot. He tore his mental-link headset off, switching to manual controls, and fired wildly at Lin Xu.
Lin Xu didn’t even dodge. He took the shot on Bard’s left arm, the impact forcing the mecha back half a step—only for Bard to twist with the momentum, bringing its particle blade down like judgment. The LH818’s left arm was severed at the joint in a shower of sparks.
Alfred had never been on a battlefield. He was nothing against Lin Xu. Around them, the palace was still aflame with battle, but no soldier dared approach. Perhaps the Emperor had already been abandoned.
The LH818 flailed with its last remaining arm. Bard rammed its knee into the cockpit’s head, tearing the mecha apart piece by piece. With a savage wrench, Bard ripped off the machine’s arm entirely and hurled it across the palace grounds, where it crashed into the river, sending water spraying skyward like a geyser. The once-proud LH818 was nothing but a broken torso, sparking and crippled.
“Alfred,” Lin Xu’s voice cut through the comms, sharp and merciless. “Get out.”
“No,” Alfred rasped. Lin Xu didn’t believe it for a second. After confirming with Capricciosa that the palace’s power grid was down and the null-field generators disabled, he leapt from Bard, landing with deadly precision. He wrenched open the ruined cockpit.
Inside, Alfred lay slumped against the wall, blood soaking his body. It was a two-pilot mecha. He must have been thrown from his seat when his restraints snapped.
Lin Xu grabbed him by the collar, hauling him up so he wouldn’t drown in his own blood. Alfred stared at him, pale and trembling, then smiled. His teeth gleamed red through the blood.
“Lin Xu…”
Lin Xu’s gaze was ice. “Where is the device you’re using to control the Zerg?”
Alfred let out a strangled laugh. Blood bubbled in his throat. Lin Xu slapped him, cold and sharp, and yanked him closer. “Talk!”
Alfred’s smile twisted, snake-like. “I thought your first question… would be about your child.”
“Where is it?” Lin Xu demanded, voice cutting like steel. Alfred’s laugh was hoarse, ragged. “You look so cold… but tell me, Lin Xu… in there, is your heart fighting your logic? When you abandoned the entire 903rd special unit… Did you hurt for them? Or did you comfort yourself by saying you saved more people?”
Author’s Note:
Ling · Creepy Uncle · Jun
Lin · Absolutely Ruthless · Xu
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