IMAO Chapter 73

2 AM.

On an unnamed street in Hoyt, cleaning robots were diligently at work, quickly sorting garbage for later biodegradable processing.

A car was parked by the roadside. From the alley, a figure in black darted out, vigilantly scanning the surroundings. After confirming no one was around, he pulled open the car door and got in.

After getting in, the person remained silent, sitting quietly in the car until it drove into Prince Hoyt’s residence.

“Is His Highness still sleeping?” Hughes asked the old butler anxiously, his brows furrowed.

“Yes.” The butler stood straight, hands crossed behind his back, responding to Hughes’s question with cool indifference.

Hughes frowned, his heart filled with anxiety. As a representative of the Reform Party, he organized and led numerous protests and gatherings, hoping to successfully push forward the country’s reforms. Many young people had joined the Reform Party due to his persuasion, but his most successful recruit was Hosea.

Thanks to Hosea’s participation, even though they were arrested multiple times during rallies, they never received severe punishment from the Iron-Blooded Emperor Horace. Horace’s concern for his younger brother Hosea exceeded everyone’s expectations, which made Hosea’s position in the Reform Party unique.

“I have urgent business with him.” Hughes’s brows creased into the shape of ‘川’. He had received news early this morning that yesterday Horace had summoned his ministers for a private audience. He urgently needed to know what His Majesty intended to do, but given the sensitive situation, he didn’t dare ask Hosea about it through communications. He could only rush to Hosea’s home in the middle of the night.

Just the day before yesterday, they had organized a protest, and the very next day Horace summoned his ministers. This was too suspicious to ignore.

He was very worried now, wondering if they had finally crossed Horace’s bottom line, if their Emperor had finally run out of patience and was ready to deal with them.

The butler frowned and reminded him, “Sir, it’s early morning right now.”

Hughes understood the butler’s meaning and could only contain his impatience and continue waiting.

Five minutes later.

Hosea leisurely walked down from upstairs. He wore a yellowish-white silk pajama with a carelessly tied belt at his waist.

The loose collar revealed the fair skin of his chest. His waist was slim, and looking down his straight, fair legs, one could see he was barefoot.

Hosea had a small black mole at the corner of his eye. He seemed to be still half-asleep. He rubbed his drowsy eyes as he descended the stairs.

“What’s so urgent that you came to find me?” Hosea asked casually, rubbing his forehead as he sat down in a chair.

Hughes stared blankly for a moment until he heard Hosea’s question, then finally came back to his senses and explained his concerns.

Hosea: “So that’s what this is about.”

“I’m worried about the protest gathering from the day before yesterday,” Hughes said anxiously, carefully choosing his words. “I need to come up with countermeasures quickly.”

Hosea gave Hughes an amused look and said, “Don’t worry, don’t do anything for now.”

Hughes’s tense voice suddenly halted when he heard Hosea’s words, and he looked at him strangely: “?”

Hosea smiled slightly. From Horace’s return to the palace to his summoning of ministers, he already knew what was happening. After all, that afternoon, Hans, that guy, had been hovering around him like a ghost. As Horace’s loyal dog, Hans knew far more than others.

Before Hughes could ask why, Hosea cut him off, patting his shoulder. “Don’t worry about this matter. It’s all within my plans. Trust me, there will be unexpected good news soon.”

Hughes looked at Hosea with confusion and asked, “What exactly have you been doing lately?”

Hosea just smiled without speaking, lightly pressing a finger to his lips. “Pushing for reform.”

Hughes: “??”

Hosea: “In another way.”

Hughes nervously grabbed Hosea’s arm and hurriedly said, “Don’t do anything rash…”

Hosea waved his hand. “Relax, I know my limits.”

Hosea was in high spirits now. He thought that using ‘Ji Chong’ might soften his brother Horace’s attitude. He tried everything to make this meeting happen, but he never expected the effect would be so good!

He thought it would take at least a year, two years, or even several years. His brother had clearly become gentler lately, slowly overlapping with his former cheerful and gentle self, even showing smiles again.

When that blockhead Hans questioned him about what he’d done to make Horace consider reforms, Hosea secretly delighted in seeing that guy’s confused and anxious expression.

If anyone should be asked, it shouldn’t be him, but rather what the Federation’s War God had done!

Hosea grinned, showing his little fangs, his beautiful peach blossom eyes dancing with laughter.

…

Jiang Yuan dreamed he was inside a giant furnace, and still felt hot even after waking up.

He threw off his blanket and got up to gulp down a glass of water. Checking the time, it was 3:09 AM. He went back to bed.

After waiting a while, when it finally didn’t feel so hot anymore, he touched his forehead gently before pulling the blanket back up to sleep.

But in the second half of the night, he woke up several more times from the heat.

So hot.

In his drowsy state, Jiang Yuan felt his forehead with his hand.

Burning.

His temperature seemed quite high.

Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment. He couldn’t even remember when he last got sick. Finally, in his hazy state, Jiang Yuan drifted off to sleep.

The next morning.

Because of Chris’s match, Jiang Yuan had set an alarm and got up early. His body temperature had returned to normal. He seemed to have recovered.

Ji Rong had slept through the night. Taking a deep breath, he wondered if he had dreamed yesterday.

Ji Rong pulled out his communicator and immediately saw Horace’s good morning message, which cleared his mind completely. The one he thought was his stepfather was indeed his Omega father.

His stepfather became his birth father, what a trip.

Ji Rong thought for a moment and replied to Horace’s message: Good morning.

Right after sending it, Ji Rong saw that the other party was typing a message. Several minutes of editing passed without any message being sent, which Ji Rong found somewhat amusing.

Was his Omega father planning to write him an essay?

Ji Rong thought for a moment and sent another message: Dad, I’m happy to have met you.

After Ji Rong’s reply, the typing on the other end stopped.

In the palace, Horace’s hand paused when he saw Ji Rong’s message.

Hans frowned. Who could be sending messages that made His Majesty hesitate?

Hans wasn’t the only one with questions; others had them too, but none dared to speak, all keeping their heads down and suppressing their curiosity.

After sending the message and finishing his morning routine, Ji Rong knocked on Jiang Yuan’s door next door.

In his room, Jiang Yuan checked and found his temperature had returned to normal. After a night’s sleep, all symptoms of fever had disappeared. Hearing the knock, he instinctively opened the door and headed downstairs with Ji Rong.

After taking two steps, he turned back surprised to look at Ji Rong. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you coming?”

Ji Rong rubbed his nose and hurried to catch up with Jiang Yuan.

Strange.

He thought he had caught a whiff of Omega pheromones in Jiang Yuan’s room.

Ji Rong rubbed his nose again. Was it just his imagination?

The round of sixteen matches were in full swing. For Chris’s match today, Jiang Yuan and the others arrived early at the venue to watch.

In the first match, Chris’s team was ambushed by the opposing team and quickly lost.

In the second match, they barely won thanks to Nolan’s extreme operation…

Finally, Chris lost the last match, with the opponents winning two to one.

After Chris’s morning matches and consoling Nolan and the others, Jiang Yuan’s group didn’t leave. Instead, they found a place outside the arena to eat lunch while waiting for Hoyt’s afternoon match, wanting to scope out their biggest competitor.

In the afternoon, the matches began.

The Hoyt team’s strength was undeniable, especially their youngest member Simon. As a close-combat player, Simon was incredibly skilled. He eliminated multiple players in each match.

“Ah! So cool! Holy shit!”

As Simon consecutively eliminated three players, piercing screams erupted next to Jiang Yuan’s ears. The screams assaulted his eardrums, and he looked helplessly at the frenzied audience.

“Damn, this Hoyt’s got something!” At the match’s most intense moment, Gu Bai openly praised the Hoyt team’s abilities while watching.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Jiang Yuan said as he stood up.

Seeing that Jiang Yuan hadn’t returned after a while, Ji Rong checked the time and said, “Why hasn’t Jiang Yuan come back yet?”

Less than a minute later, Ji Rong added, “You guys keep watching the match, I’ll go check on him.”

“Pfft.” Cyril, who was drinking water, immediately spat it out. Luckily his reflexes were quick, or he would’ve sprayed the back of the head of the audience member in front of him.

Ji Rong turned back with a questioning look.

Cyril cleared his throat, “Choked on my water…”

Although Ji Rong found it strange that Cyril would choke while drinking normally, he didn’t think much of it. He’d been looking for an excuse to leave anyway. The girl behind his seat kept trying to chat with him, and he didn’t want to reject her directly.

Watching Ji Rong’s retreating figure, Cyril teased, “Jiang Yuan’s been gone for less than five minutes, but it feels so long, tsk tsk.”

Gu Bai: “This must be what they call love.”

Liu Shan: “Ji Rong’s attempt to cover up is simply insulting my intelligence.”

Liu Shan’s words resonated with the others.

Everyone nodded in unison. Only Jiang Yuan seemed oblivious to it all.

Last time when Ji Rong used Jiang Yuan to reject that Omega’s advances, Liu Shan had suspected they were secretly together, and he’d specifically asked them about it after.

Ji Rong explained he just didn’t know how to reject Sivir and was only making an excuse.

He believed it then, but last night…

Thinking about how Ji Rong ignored him last night, and after Ji Rong and Jiang Yuan went to their rooms to sleep, he received enlightenment from Gu Bai and Cyril’s observations over this period. The group mocked him for being clueless, and he now felt he’d been too naive.

He only had one thing he wanted to say to Ji Rong: Like hell I’ll believe you! You’re totally serious about this! You just want to get with Jiang Yuan! Shameless!

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