Breakfast, along with new bandages and medicine, was transported directly to Alfred’s bedroom through the built-in transmission pipeline of the Morning Palace.
Alfred contacted and told him that the prince was with him and asked him to make sure no one came in. The red marks on Alfred’s face had not yet disappeared, so he couldn’t go out to see anyone. He didn’t mention at all that he had actually forcibly recovered from most of his injuries yesterday. He kept lying in bed and crying about the pain in his wounds, so Xiu couldn’t just leave.
The two of them had breakfast without leaving the house. Xiu Zheng was changing the bandage on Alfred’s abdomen. While wrapping the bandage, his arms were around Alfred’s waist, as if hugging him.
“Brother, is that question so difficult to answer?” Alfred looked down at Xiu who was busy. “You said you would think about it before telling me. You have been thinking about it all morning.”
Xiu remained silent, just wrapped another bandage around it.
“Hiss…be gentler,” Alfred complained. “I spent my 22nd birthday with stabbings, beatings, and open wounds. But last night made it all worth it. This year’s birthday present is better than the previous 20 years combined…”
Xiu looked up at him, and Alfred stopped talking, not daring to talk about what happened last night. Xiu was much more silent than usual, which was inevitable. No matter how stable he was, he would find it difficult to accept the sudden subversion of his understanding of his life experience.
Alfred tried his best to talk to him and not let him stop to think, so he changed the subject and asked, “Since you want to ‘think about it’ about who is behind me, then can I know who is behind the high priest?”
Xiu looked up at him again, a little surprised.
According to Alfred’s personality when he was a child, he would definitely get what he wanted, and he would definitely hear the answer no matter how long he pestered the other party. Xiu knew that he had been suspicious about that matter for more than a day or two, and finally found a breakthrough. He thought he would not have peace today, but he didn’t expect…
He has indeed grown up. He has learned to make a choice between “questions he wants to know” and “questions that are beneficial to him”.
“Can…”
“You have to answer one of my two questions… huh?” Alfred was halfway through his words when he suddenly realized that Xiu had agreed. He confirmed in surprise, “Okay?!”
Xiu tied the bandage and said, “Okay.”
Alfred didn’t bother pretending to be seriously injured and immediately asked, “So, who is it?”
Xiu didn’t say it directly, but instead talked about something that seemed unrelated: “We have always believed that our ancestors were lucky people. Do you know why?”
This was very basic historical knowledge, and Alfred answered without hesitation.
“In ancient times, the ancient Earth, the place where humans originated, was on the verge of collapse, and people migrated in all directions. Only our group was lucky enough to find a galaxy that could barely support civilization before the spacecraft resources were exhausted. Later, our ancestors adapted to the environment through genetic modification programs, and eventually human civilization was able to continue in this new home.”
“This is the answer in history textbooks,” Xiu said. “But the book Our Home: Heaven or Hell raises a point of view: During the great migration of human civilization, were there any survivors who were more fortunate than us?”
Alfred had read this popular science book, and Xiu had read it again in front of him not long ago, but he had not paid much attention to this point in the book that was not given much attention. When Xiu brought it up at this time, he felt a little horrified.
“But… it is said that the space travel technology in ancient times was very backward. It was already amazing that our ancestors could travel here from the distant ancient solar system. It was extremely unlikely that they would encounter a galaxy that could provide the elements necessary for survival. Later, we actually survived through the dangerous genetic modification plan, which was an even smaller probability among the smaller probabilities. We are so lucky to be able to continue our civilization. How could anyone be luckier than us?”
“For example,” Xiu replied, “it has never been troubled by the environment, never been threatened by a survival crisis, and its technology has never been interrupted.”
Alfred was silent for a while, then slowly said, “So, beyond the limits of our exploration, there exists an intelligent civilization with a very high level of technology?”
“It is a civilization with a very high level of technology, but it is not a ‘highly intelligent civilization’.” Xiu said, “It is just humans, humans with the same origin as us, humans who are… more fortunate than us.”
The history of the empire is a bloody history of a civilization struggling to survive. Even so, people who survived in the end thought they were lucky enough. But now tell him that it is not true. Some people survived without experiencing any hardship at all, and lived much better than you.
When there is no comparison, they think they are lucky, but with comparison, they become unlucky.
For a moment, Alfred found it hard to accept this. He reluctantly said, “Could the high priest have been deceived? If there really is a civilization similar to ours that survived and wanted to contact us, why didn’t they contact the royal family instead of him?”
“Because the other side also has a shady identity.” Xiudao, “The rebels once discovered a strange fleet outside the empire… or to be more precise, they were discovered by the other side. When the high priest contacted the rebels a few years ago, he originally hoped to reach a cooperation with the rebels, but he accidentally discovered that there were humans from a strange civilization behind the rebels. The other side claimed to be space pirates-”
“What are space pirates?” Alfred asked.
“They are bandits wandering among the stars.”
“Bandits…own Starfleet?!”
In the Empire, interstellar travel was not yet popular, and most ordinary people might never have ridden on a spaceship in their entire lives. Even the great nobles could not privately own interstellar spacecraft that could be called a “fleet”. All of them were controlled by the royal family and were called the Royal Legion.
It is of course surprising that a mere bandit could own an interstellar fleet.
“Not only do they have a fleet, but it is a fleet with a technology level far superior to ours.” Xiu said, “They claimed that they were lost in the universe because they were trying to avoid being hunted by the official army. They wanted to get intelligence and supplies. In exchange, they readily took out the weapon designs that the rebels wanted. Those people are all ordinary people without any genetic abilities, but the rebels dare not offend them at all because they have shown a strength that is beyond our comprehension.”
When Xiu said this, Alfred suddenly remembered that two years ago, Xiu changed his usual style on the battlefield and became very radical, killing all the rebels.
“That’s why you destroyed the rebels, hoping to monopolize this channel.” Alfred said, “And it was indeed successful. After the rebels were wiped out by you, the high priest became the only contact person… They helped you kill the second prince.”
Xiu did not deny it. He said, “The Xinghui Palace represents the highest level of technology in the empire. The so-called ‘living palace’ is just a toy in their eyes. Even though they are so powerful, they still need to avoid being hunted down by the authorities. So what kind of civilization is that? How powerful are their officials?”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you,” Alfred said.
“I don’t know.” Xiu said, “This is information only known by the high priest himself.”
Alfred’s expression flickered, and he said, “I thought he trusted you.”
“He does trust me,” Xiu said. “What I know is enough to prove his trust.”
“So you’re telling me all this now,” Alfred’s eyes lit up and he asked expectantly, “because…?”
Xiu was silent. He did not answer the question. Instead, he lowered his eyes to avoid Alfred’s gaze and said softly, “I have said so much, you should also answer my question. Do you know… who my biological parents are?”
Alfred paused and said nothing for a moment, then he finally admitted, “I don’t know, but I have a guess that’s easy to verify. If you want to know, I’ll arrange for someone to do it now.”
Xiu nodded and said, “I want to know.”
Alfred immediately made a call.
“It’s me.” In front of Xiu, Alfred did not call the other person’s name.
“Do another genetic test for me. No, I don’t need to send you a blood sample this time. Just use the blood sample I gave you two years ago and the one I sent you from Xueli Star not long ago. Help me see… if these two people are related.”
