Lu Yuan grinned mischievously: “How about ‘The Xingyun Council Is Full of Idiots’?”
Xiao Jiu froze for a moment.
Then he gave an astonished look, “Brilliant!”
Once this name spread, it was said that Old Ming and Old Xue nearly had to take heart medication.
The Xingyun Council couldn’t even control such a small matter, so aside from a fit of impotent rage in their meeting room, they couldn’t stop the name from being forcefully spread.
…It even made its way online.
In the interstellar era, nothing could escape the reach of the internet. In fact, even the incident with beasts creating copies of humans on the lower-tier planet had already spread all over the web.
As a result, many people who had initially doubted the ruling faction harshly criticized the Xingyun Council.
Others, who had previously been duped by the ruling faction, were also shaken by what had happened on that planet.
It was the first time they fully realized they could never live in peace with the evolutionary beasts.
When they thought everything had calmed down, and they were safe, the beasts had secretly transformed into their loved ones, their friends, living alongside them every day.
…It was terrifying, terrifying to the point of sending chills down their spines.
When they took a step back, what they gained in return was the beasts inching closer and closer, followed by a bloody, insatiable hunger.
How could humans coexist peacefully with such creatures?
Did the ruling faction even know the true nature of the beasts? Did they seriously believe humans could make peace with them? Or had they always known the truth but misled everyone for the sake of power?
In an instant, the internet was flooded with criticism of the ruling faction and the current Council. If another election were to happen right now, the result would likely be very clear.
Meanwhile, within the Council, Xiao Ya began an investigation into Old Ming and Old Xue, using the events that occurred on that planet, the strange spatial tunnel in that star system, and other matters they had already been secretly investigating.
…As a result, both elderly leaders found themselves swallowing heart medication every day.
And then, something even more interesting happened.
News came from the front lines that the beasts had lost three more beast kings.
This news shocked all the soldiers!
Each time they took down a beast king, it took a huge amount of effort, so eliminating three at once—what did that even mean?
First, they needed to have intelligence; second, they needed the strength to do it!
Which unit accomplished this feat?
The answer from the front lines was: unknown, it was done by a mysterious force. All they knew was that three beast kings were dead, and excluding the one imprisoned in the military’s prison, the beasts were down to just one beast king, nearing the end of their power.
But of course, that wasn’t the most “interesting” part. The most “interesting” part was the message sent by the beasts.
—They were willing to stop the war and negotiate, but they had one small request.
They wanted them to hand over Xue Yuanqing.
When this news broke, Old Xue was immediately sent to the hospital.
—
Why did the beasts want Xue Yuanqing?
Was it because one of them had transformed into Xue Yuanqing?
But that didn’t make sense—if they wanted the copy, the demand should have been to “hand over the fake Xue Yuanqing.” Instead, their request was simply to “hand over Xue Yuanqing.”
So, what exactly had happened between Xue Yuanqing and the beasts?
In an instant, everyone’s gaze toward the Xue family became heavy with meaning.
Old Xue, Xue Lingying couldn’t stay in the military anymore. Lying on the hospital bed, Old Xue gasped and ordered his secretary to urgently find a doctor for a certificate… He was going to be in the hospital for the next month![mfn]TL: Chairman Xue, Councilor Xue, Old Xue and now Xue Linying Hahahaha I apologize guys. Still, they’re the same person, Xue Yuanqing’s father hehe [/mfn]
When the secretary ran out, sweating, Xue Lingying got out of bed, slammed the door shut, then went into the bathroom, locked the door, and took out a small communicator from his pocket, dialing a signal.
The call was quickly connected, and Xue Lingying lowered his voice, saying, “What are you really thinking? What do you want with Yuanqing?! Why didn’t you inform us before doing this?! Are we still cooperating or not?!”
“Old Xue, your son revealed the coordinates of our three secret bases, which led to the death of our three beast kings. We haven’t even settled that with you yet,” the voice on the other end mocked.
Xue Lingying froze: “What? Yuanqing? Impossible, this is definitely some misunderstanding, Yuanqing is currently in prison…”
“Have you been watching your son twenty-four hours a day?” the voice coldly replied. “Besides, who knows how long ago Xue Yuanqing revealed it? The clear information we got from the side that killed our three beast kings is that they learned the coordinates from Xue Yuanqing.”
Xue Lingying immediately said, “This is a trap, they’re deliberately saying this! It’s to cause infighting among us!”
“And what proves that?” the evolutionary beast on the other side responded indifferently. “We only have one beast king left. You’re at your wits’ end now, and continuing this cooperation doesn’t make sense. Whether what the mysterious force said is true or not, we’ve made our decision. Once we have Xue Yuanqing, we’ll stop.”
Xue Lingying nearly vomited blood. He switched hands to hold the communicator, took a deep breath, and said, “You want to give up so soon? There’s still a chance, why are you giving up so easily?!”
“Then what else do you want to do?”
Xue Lingying moved his lips but couldn’t come up with anything. Recently, he had been overwhelmed and honestly had no clear ideas. But he couldn’t back down in front of the beasts. If he did, what would happen to his son?
Don’t look at how Huo Lingqi’s father and his friends seem all proper, who knows what they might do!
After a few quiet seconds, Xue Lingying suddenly asked, “Can you beasts do the transformation?”
There was a brief pause on the other side, then the voice said, “…Under normal circumstances, yes. Why do you ask?”
Xue Lingying gritted his teeth and said, “I’ll knock Ming Yi unconscious and send him over. You replicate him, and then I’ll find a way to get you inside, put you back by his father’s side, and replicate his father. That way, you can directly enter the Xingyun Council.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
Would Xue Lingying dare to do such a thing, unless it was absolutely necessary?
But now, to continue cooperating with the beasts, Xue Lingying had no choice but to go to such extremes!
He couldn’t sacrifice himself to infiltrate the Xingyun Council for the beasts—he could only sacrifice Ming Yi’s father!
Xue Lingying wiped his sweat and said, “I’ll also send you the beast king who transformed as my son. That way, your side will have one more beast king.”
The evolutionary beast on the other end responded strangely, “Are you sure you can tell which one is your son and which one is our beast king?”
Xue Lingying firmly replied, “Of course I can. If others can’t recognize my son, can’t I recognize him myself?”
The evolutionary beast: “…”
The evolutionary beast: “Alright then.”
It paused and said, “In that case, once you send both people over, we’ll revoke the information we gave to your military.”
Xue Lingying quickly wiped his cold sweat, “Alright, I’ll send them over tonight! Give me a coordinate!”
After hanging up the phone, Xue Lingying let out a sigh, his eyes gleaming with determination.
…
Meanwhile, Xiao Jiu hung up the phone, looking at the communicator in his hand.
This communicator was something that Xu Yin had accidentally found among the ruins of the cave on that planet during the riots. It likely belonged to one of the beast kings.
At this moment, the repaired communicator was in Xiao Jiu’s hands, and besides him, there was a group of people around, stroking their chins and watching.
Lu Yuan: “The voice changer function of this communicator is pretty good.”
Yan Shui: “That’s not a voice changer. Evolutionary beasts can’t speak directly, so the machine translates brainwaves into mechanical speech.”
Lu Yuan: “Forget about that. Do you think Xue Lingying can really tell which one is his son?”
Yan Shui: “Who knows?”
It was obvious that the three beast kings being wiped out by the “mysterious force” was true, but the evolutionary beasts wanting Xue Yuanqing was false—after the “special forces” sent by Huo Lingqi found and wiped out the three secret bases, the evolutionary beasts didn’t even speak a word and fled several million light-years away overnight.
All the subsequent drama was prepared by the Ninth Legion for Xue Lingying.
Xiao Jiu pondered for a moment, then said firmly, “I bet Xue Lingying must have recognized number 2.”
Lu Yuan looked skeptical, “No way, I feel like number 1 is the real one. I bet on number 1.”
Yan Shui chuckled lightly, “I’ll also bet on number 1.”
Xu Yin stroked his chin, “I bet on number 2.”
Huo Lingqi nodded seriously, “Hmm.”
Half an hour later, a secret message came from the prison.
Number 1, Xue Yuanqing, was knocked out and taken away.
Lu Yuan and Yan Shui: “Tsk.”
The question now was, which one was real, number 1 or number 2?
…
Xue Yuanqing woke up on a spacecraft, realizing his mouth was taped shut, his hands bound behind him, and lying next to him was a still unconscious Ming Yi. Standing guard beside them, one of Xue Lingying’s subordinates gave him a cold glance and said, “Don’t worry, we’re sending you back to the evolutionary beast’s lair.”
Xue Yuanqing felt his vision go dark.
He’s going to kill his own father!!
LOL poor guy, but it was deserved. Thanks for the translation.