TCPUAAV Chapter 136

 

 

Ever since Ruan Shiqing had gone into the cell, Rong Heng had been waiting just outside.

 

When he finally saw him come out, Rong Heng instinctively stood up to meet him, eyes scanning him with concern. Seeing that he was unharmed—though there was a faint weight to his expression—Rong Heng guessed he might’ve learned something. “Did you get anything out of him?”

 

“I did, quite a lot actually, but…” Ruan Shiqing glanced at Rong Heng, hesitated briefly, then began relaying everything he’d learned during the interrogation.

 

The more Rong Heng listened, the deeper his brows furrowed.

 

Ruan Shiqing couldn’t be sure if Rong Heng was thinking the same thing he was, but still offered a cautious reminder: “Do you think… His Majesty might be plotting something?”

 

He had never interacted with Siyan personally. His impression of the emperor came from scattered words in books, rumors from others, and carefully edited media appearances.

 

In the book he once read, Siyan had been described as the brutal “Mad King.” From Rong Heng’s scattered comments, he seemed like a cold, uncaring father, distant even toward his only son. And according to the news, he was an ambitious politician—a relic of ancient humanity who had seized the throne and was obsessed with war, indifferent to the empire’s future or the lives of its citizens.

 

His actions didn’t conform to normal logic. Even if he wasn’t as unhinged as the legends claimed, he wasn’t far off either.

 

There was a difference between being mad from irrational frenzy and going mad with clear, cold intent—but either way, it was madness.

 

Ruan Shiqing had never held a favorable impression of him.

 

But after hearing what Number 4 revealed—about the factions behind Queen Farah’s assassination—an unsettling possibility began to form in his mind:

 

What if everything Siyan had done was deliberate?

 

What if he had known all along that Queen Farah died by conspiracy—and was enacting a silent revenge?

 

Now, the Four Great Conglomerates were entirely under his control. Their heads were loyal to him alone, bending to his will. After Sijialan Star was exposed for colluding with the Zerg, the Empire launched a full-scale assault with overwhelming force. The Merfolk Patriarch was to be dragged before a military tribunal for judgment. And the Nine-tailed Fox Clan, long allied with the Merfolk, had been dragged into internal conflict stirred up by Siyan’s maneuvers—now they too were on the brink of ruin.

 

Siyan now held dominion over the Four Conglomerates. Warships and weapons flowed endlessly to the front lines. Since regaining consciousness, Ruan Shiqing had kept tabs on the internal war—and was shocked to see that the once-powerful Sijialan Star and its allied systems, which had seemed capable of rivaling the Empire, were now being soundly defeated.

 

News media even reported that planets like Tutar and others aligned with Sijialan had tried to negotiate peace with the Empire—only to be rejected without exception. His Majesty had made it clear: he intended to wipe them out entirely.

 

Everyone believed that the emperor, driven by his ancient human bloodline, was intentionally targeting the Four Ancient Clans, even willing to plunge the Empire into chaos just to annihilate them. Ruan Shiqing had once believed this too.

 

But now, thinking deeper… the truth might not be what they thought.

 

And if that was the case, it made sense that Siyan didn’t want Rong Heng to know the truth or get involved.

 

Ruan Shiqing’s suspicions were clear—and Rong Heng had already reached the same conclusions.

 

In fact, knowing Siyan better, and having a clearer picture of the Empire’s current situation, Rong Heng’s thoughts went even further.

 

From the moment he was attacked and forced to hide on Planet B3024 to recover, to reactivating Noah, reestablishing contact with the remnants of Yanji’ forces and with Lucien, to finally resolving—under Lucien’s persuasion—to fulfill his mother’s final wish…

 

Now that he looked back, it all seemed to have followed a track—like some invisible hand had been subtly guiding him forward.

 

He trusted the old comrades of Yanji who had fought alongside him; he was sure they would never betray him. Which meant the only possible variable—was Lucien.

 

The Elder of the Bai Pao Council—Lucien.

 

Their communication had only become frequent after Rong Heng was attacked. Before that, Lucien had been distant. And back when his mother was alive, the Elder Council had thirteen members, all elites from various fields who had pledged loyalty to the Queen and operated outside the Imperial Parliament.

 

But ever since he began working with the Council, Lucien was the only one he had ever heard from. He had never seen the other twelve.

 

Lucien’s reach was disturbingly extensive. No matter when or where, he always seemed to know everything about Palka Palace and Siyan’s movements at the earliest moment.

 

But Siyan was no fool. Would his intelligence really be that easy to uncover?

 

Rong Heng had suspected Lucien before, but their relationship was always one of mutual use, not trust. Since he never relied on Lucien to watch his back, he had chosen to turn a blind eye to his suspicious behavior.

 

But now, a jarring thought emerged in his mind—two completely different faces slowly overlapped into one.

 

His fists clenched involuntarily. He drew in a deep breath to steady the storm inside him.

 

“Let’s talk after we get home.” His voice was low, a little hoarse from suppressed emotion.

 

Ruan Shiqing could sense that this was something rooted deeply in the knot between father and son—something no one else could unravel. So he didn’t press further, and simply accompanied him back home.

 

Just as they were on their way home, a transmission came in from Dares: one of the warships led by the young cubs had stumbled across another Zerg nest during their return trip. Lacking sufficient manpower and firepower, they had sent out a distress signal to Planet B3024 requesting immediate reinforcement.

 

Upon receiving the message, Rong Heng rushed to the landing pad, quickly assembling a team to depart for backup.

 

Ruan Shiqing saw him off at the pad, watching as rows of soldiers swiftly organized, boarded the warships, and departed.

 

Once the fleet had taken off, Ruan Shiqing drove the crawler back to the repair shop on his own.

 

The Xiong brothers were out on a job, and Ruan Jiao was still in the lab. The only one home was 09.

 

The little golden robot hurried to meet him at the door, holding something in his tiny hands—a translucent crystal orb. “Sir, I found this under your bed.”

 

The orb was about the size of an adult man’s fist. At first glance, it looked ordinary. But the moment Ruan Shiqing saw it, he recognized it instantly—it was the crystal orb that had come with the mysterious key he had bought from the enigmatic street vendor.

 

Back then, he had fallen asleep from exhaustion while studying the key, and when he woke up, he’d found himself transported into this world. The key had vanished, and he naturally assumed the crystal orb had disappeared along with it.

 

But now 09 was saying he’d found it under the bed.

 

Ruan Shiqing frowned and took the orb from him, examining it carefully. “You found it under the bed?”

 

09 nodded and described the scene: “I was cleaning when I noticed something glowing under the bed. I reached in and found this crystal orb. But it only glowed for a moment, then went still.”

 

“Glowed?” Ruan Shiqing murmured, narrowing his eyes as he studied it again. But now, it seemed perfectly inert—no glow, no movement.

 

He considered for a moment and decided not to put it away. Since the orb had come from that mysterious vendor, it was bound to be significant—even if its purpose wasn’t clear yet. Who knew when it might come in handy?

 

So he casually placed the orb on the bedside table, thinking that if it glowed again, he could observe and study it further.

 

The day passed in a blur of activity. By evening, Ruan Shiqing turned in early.

 

Moonlight streamed in through the window, casting a soft glow over the crystal orb by his bedside. At first, the orb merely reflected the light. But slowly, that still gleam began to ripple like water. Brilliant dots of light appeared on its surface, connecting into lines, then into patterns, until the entire orb shimmered with a deep, cosmic brilliance.

 

Meanwhile, the mental energy around Ruan Shiqing began to stir, like invisible ripples spreading outward and gently colliding with the crystal orb—triggering a low, ancient resonance.

 

From somewhere deep within, he heard it: the sound of tides—the rhythmic crashing of waves against a shore.

 

But he was in his bedroom. How could he be hearing the ocean?

 

His instincts surged, and he forced his eyes open. What met his gaze, however, left him stunned—he was no longer in his room, but in the middle of a boundless expanse of space.

 

Stars shimmered all around him. The Milky Way flowed beneath his feet. Countless points of light moved in their own orbits, pulsing with life in eternal motion.

 

He stepped forward cautiously, and the galaxy beneath his feet shifted and shimmered. A strange, transcendent feeling washed over him—a quiet, majestic solitude, like standing atop the highest peak, gazing down at the world below.

 

His body tensed. He scanned the space around him, searching for a way out.

 

Then, the surrounding stars began to converge, forming a humanoid figure before him.

 

The figure was immense, like a deity gazing down from the heavens, surrounded by flowing light and shadow.

 

Despite the indistinct silhouette, a flicker of familiarity stirred within Ruan Shiqing. He narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, then spoke with certainty: “It’s you. Who are you, really?”

 

The starlit figure gradually condensed, its towering form shrinking. In a blink, a young man stood before him, lips curved in a faint smile. His appearance hadn’t changed—but the gray robes he once wore, previously dusty and nondescript, now shimmered with the glow of countless stars.

 

When he opened his mouth, his voice echoed faintly, ethereal:

 

“Believers call me a god. Scientists prefer to call me the Universe. But to be precise, I am the World String—the strands that make up this reality, and all others.”

 

His words were cryptic, layered in abstraction. Ruan Shiqing instinctively frowned but didn’t question the man’s identity.

 

This mysterious vendor had always been extraordinary. His sudden appearance here clearly wasn’t a coincidence.

 

So rather than dwell on who he was, Ruan Shiqing asked directly, “You brought me here. What do you want?”

 

The vendor smiled knowingly, as if he had already seen through the question. “Merely self-preservation,” he replied.

 

He extended a single finger and tapped the space between Ruan Shiqing’s brows.

 

“Watch—and you’ll understand.”

 

A sudden warmth bloomed at Ruan Shiqing’s brow. In the next instant, countless chaotic images flooded his vision, shifting rapidly until they finally froze on a bleak and lifeless void.

 

The universe—vast and infinite—had once nurtured countless planets, which in turn had birthed endless life. Like the first light breaking the blackness of dawn, life had emerged from silence and emptiness.

 

But now, all that could be seen was desolation.

 

Stars had fallen. Life had vanished. Within the vast and mysterious cosmos, only the remains of a great explosion lingered.

 

“This… is the future,” the vendor said quietly, his expression tinged with sorrow. “This world has already been destroyed countless times. I’ve tried to save it, over and over again—but it was all in vain.”

 

“This time is the closest I’ve ever come to success. This is our last chance—mine, and yours… and everyone’s.”

 

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Yup so the mysterious youth that saved Nota is the vendor, huh? Guess he also saved Heli (or technically was it a kidnapping since Garland and Hector “lost” the egg lol?) and 09 even if we don’t know the details? Is Ruan Ruan able to interact with him because of his spiritual powers as a “queen zerg”?

 

Thanks for reading!

For every three ko-fis, I will upload a bonus chapter~