New Imperial Calendar, Year 55.
Empire’s Second Star System, Purple Silk Star City Outer Space.
Snap.
The thick book was closed by the boy’s fingers.
Riots and massacres, dark tyranny of power, secret human experiments… Heh, that period of history in the old empire was indeed not for human eyes.
The warm air in the civilian starship made one drowsy. The black-haired boy blinked his eyes, hugged the thick book, turned to his side, and let out a soft yawn. If he had lived in that era, who knows how miserable his life might have been.
…
“Where is my son?!!”
Half an hour later, in the control room of this civilian starship, a man’s wail rang out.
Jiang Sheng’s originally scholarly face was now twisted like an image from a funny camera. He waved a pair of pliers, banging on the walls of the control room. “I want to complain! What kind of lousy company is this? You claim to be the safest civilian space company, yet your starship’s navigation system can malfunction?!”
The staff were sweating profusely, bowing repeatedly. “We’re sorry, sir. We’re truly sorry, sir…”
“A malfunction is one thing, but not a single employee on the entire starship could find the problem! I kindly helped you repair the starship, asking only one thing – for you to take care of my child. Now, a day has passed, the navigation system is fixed, but my son is gone, gone!”
The staff continued to apologize frantically. “We’re sorry, sir. We’re truly sorry, sir…”
Jiang Sheng exploded in anger. “My child is a disabled human. If anything happens to him, your entire management team will have to resign and apologize!”
“Disabled human?!” The staff were shocked. “…Sir! Bringing a disabled child into a space environment – you’re quite a daring parent!!”
“Stop talking nonsense and go find him for me!!”
“Yes, yes, yes…”
****
While the control room was in chaos, the child they were looking for was sleeping soundly in an old warehouse.
The boy was still very young, wearing plain white clothes and black pants, looking only about twelve or thirteen years old. His features were beautiful, with long eyelashes casting faint shadows on his fair skin.
Yesterday, when the starship malfunctioned, most passengers were terrified, and even the staff were panicking.
But the boy wasn’t afraid. He knew his dad was skilled at repairing mechas. As for starships… well, they should be similar things, right?
With the starship at a standstill and his dad helping with repairs, he felt bored and wandered around to pass the time. Unexpectedly, he found rare paper historical books in the civilian starship’s warehouse, a pleasant surprise.
The young boy had nestled there reading books for most of the day. When he got sleepy, he curled up like a cat, using the book as a pillow.
At this time, Jiang Jianming was thirteen years old, not yet having experienced any hardship or pain. It was a truly carefree and peaceful time, rare in both of his lifetimes combined.
He didn’t know how long he had slept, but in his dream, voices seemed to come from afar, gradually getting closer.
“Your Majesty, should we…should we continue the experiment?”
A hoarse voice laughed twice, a very eerie, self-mocking laugh. “No more, hehe… no more.”
“Convey my imperial decree: The Gray Owl Laboratory is to be disbanded starting tomorrow.”
The voice burst into wild laughter, causing eardrums to ache. “It’s the last moments before doomsday, go enjoy yourselves, Zhen’s executioners! Zhen’s devils!”
“Revel in the apocalypse of humanity!”
Though it was laughter, it was filled with grief and unwillingness. Every trailing sound trembled, lingering endlessly.
After an unknown time, footsteps faded away, seemingly leaving only the laughing person alone.
Gradually, the laughter turned into crying. This crying sounded like vomiting, as if wanting to expel one’s heart and lungs, sending chills down one’s spine.
What a strange dream…
The black-haired boy woke up, lazily lifting his eyelids, then suddenly sat up in surprise.
Until he fell asleep, the other end of this warehouse had been pitch black. Now there was light over there, changing from darkness to dimness!
And in the deepest part, a hunched, kneeling figure could be vaguely seen.
Jiang Jianming stood up dazedly, hugging the book, and took two steps closer. However, a huge steel pillar lay across the warehouse, too big for a child to step over.
So he could only vaguely see that this strangely appeared person was tall, with flame-like bushy messy hair, wearing a formal classical dark gold ceremonial robe, the heavy robe trimmed with gold thread and red silk.
At this moment, the strange person was bent over, tearing at his own hair with his hands, while mumbling indistinctly and violently banging his forehead on the ground, drawing blood after a few strikes.
Jiang Jianming was startled and called out, “Hello?”
The figure on the other side suddenly froze!
The strange person raised his head, blood flowing down his nose bridge, two fierce eyes shooting over. “Who!”
Jiang Jianming peeked out. “Excuse me, do you need any help?”
— Due to the dim light and the not-too-far, not-too-close distance between them.
Young Jiang Jianming didn’t realize that the seemingly dozen meters of space actually spanned a hundred years of time and space.
He just thought there might be another door at the other end of the warehouse, and someone had come in while he was asleep… and was hiding here crying, how pitiful.
But the other person wasn’t so relaxed.
Odin’s pupils contracted, instantly stimulated by immense fear, every muscle in his body tensing up!
The Gray Owl Laboratory was a top secret of the empire, this experimental station built in outer space, with defenses every ten steps inside, every door having mechanical scrutiny.
Moreover, he had just ordered everyone to leave and locked all the doors. How could a strange child suddenly appear on the other side?!
It was space. Odin narrowed his eyes. The space before him seemed off… What were those shadows between him and the child? Steel bars and debris?
Cold sweat rolled down the tyrant’s forehead. Odin clenched his fist, blood-red crystal bones forming on his wrist.
He wasn’t a pampered born emperor. Until seventeen years ago, he was still a base leader who personally fought in bloody battles.
But the black-haired boy opposite showed no fear at all.
He delicately frowned. “Sir, releasing crystal bones in public is illegal.”
Odin’s eyes widened, blank for a few seconds.
Illegal…?!
How could there be someone in this world… Who would tell the emperor ruling the entire human empire that he was breaking the law?
Even taking a huge step back, what absurd regulation forbids new humans from releasing crystal bones?
Even sleepwalking or drunk, no one could come up with such a law!
Jiang Jianming: “I’m a disabled human. Please retract your crystal bones.”
“…”
Odin was dumbfounded.
Not recognizing him as the emperor was one thing, but how could a disabled human so openly state their lowly race, and dare to instruct a new human to retract their crystal bones!?
Could it be that he was dreaming?
Was all this just a chaotic dream?
Odin stiffly lowered his gaze, seeing the red crystal bones on his fist.
“…Heh.” The tyrant suddenly let out a bitter laugh, lowering his head.
Exhaustion spread through his entire body. With humanity’s doomsday at hand, whether this was a dream, hallucination, or supernatural event seemed unimportant now.
See, no matter how much he hated crystal particles, what he instinctively released when tense was still crystal bones.
Even if the experiment succeeded in the future and crystal particles could truly be separated from human bodies, so what?
In this cruel interstellar environment, without crystal bones, humans would only become food for alien creatures.
Humans… could never escape crystal particles after all.
Thus Jiang Jianming watched in surprise as the strangely robed man opposite slumped down again, motionless like a dead fish.
The boy blinked in confusion: I just said it was illegal, I didn’t say you’d be arrested… Is this necessary?
He was crying just now. Honestly, seeing a tall adult man sobbing like that was quite unsettling.
The black-haired boy couldn’t help but tilt his head, asking softly. “Sir, why were you crying earlier?”
There was no response.
The young disabled human was very patient and asked again. “Why were you crying? Maybe talking about it would make you feel better, sir.”
Emperor Odin remained motionless, but his eyelids quivered.
… Over so many years, this founding emperor had suppressed too much for too long in his heart.
The emperor’s violent and suspicious nature made him unable to truly trust anyone, while his arrogance and pride prevented him from showing weakness before his subjects.
He refused to admit defeat to crystal particles, preferring to charge recklessly in despair, bloodying himself in the darkness. But there’s a limit to the mental pressure a person can bear.
Now, the failure of the latest experiment became the final blow that broke him.
“I…”
In a daze, the emperor on the verge of collapse spoke to the dreamlike young boy before him.
Rather than confiding, it was more like talking to himself.
If he didn’t say it now, he would truly go mad.
“I was once… the most powerful human in this world.”
Odin’s eyes were as dim as ash as he muttered, “I ended the chaotic era, built my empire with my own hands, achieving unprecedented greatness…”
Jiang Jianming: “…Ah.”
The boy pursed his lips awkwardly, thinking: This uncle is a bit delusional, could it be a mental illness?
“…Child, do you know what it feels like to firmly believe you’re omnipotent?”
Once he started speaking, he couldn’t stop. Odin didn’t even remember how many years it had been since he last used “I” instead of “Zhen” to refer to himself.
He closed his eyes and said softly, “I once had that feeling, it was the most intoxicating addiction…”
“But it was all false. When I faced their invasion…”
Jiang Jianming blinked in confusion. “Their?”
The mentally ill person’s thoughts were indeed jumpy. The young boy tentatively asked, “Who are ‘they’?”
“…”
Odin paused.
That truth was too horrifying. Once revealed, human fear could easily lead the race to self-destruction, even without crystal particles taking action.
So even at this moment, his subconscious still refused to say those three words.
Moreover, it had been far too long since the emperor encountered a human who dared to listen to him speak like this.
Regardless of what this child before him was – a dream, a rebel’s trick, or even just the lowliest disabled human – he no longer cared.
He didn’t want to scare away this moment of peace.
So Odin moved his lips.
He said, “The enemy.”
“Hmm, the enemy.”
Jiang Jianming sat down, earnestly responding to the illogical ramblings from across, “The enemy is about to invade your territory?”
Odin quickly shook his head, eyes widening. “No, not ‘about to’, but ‘already’… Long before anyone was aware… they had already completed the invasion.”
“And at that time, we were still dreaming, imagining that invasion was a god-given evolution… Hahahaha…”
The red-haired emperor suddenly became hysterical again, roaring like a beast, “I’ve tried everything… I’ve already tried everything!!”
“Ten years! Ten years!!”
“I can’t escape their shadow, I watch helplessly…”
Odin stretched out his trembling hands, fingers pointing upward, “Watching my territory, my dynasty, my people!!”
He choked, “…Heading towards that doomed end.”
Tears once again overflowed from the tyrant’s eyes, tracing down his rough cheeks, some flowing between his quivering lips.
“Do you understand, child, hm?”
“Can you understand the feeling of carrying the truth alone, watching helplessly as the enemy…”
Odin widened his eyes, leaning forward, “Bit by bit, bit by bit, bit by bit, extinguishes your race, hm?”
In the mysterious universe, two figures, one large and one small, gazed at each other across time and space.
Somehow, Jiang Jianming’s heart trembled.
Originally, he thought this strange uncle must be mentally ill, his outfit stolen from some drama set.
But when those green eyes, filled with hateful tears, glanced over, he realized this person’s pain was real, every word he said filled with bleeding agony.
Although he didn’t know what kind of mental world this uncle was trapped in.
But the uncle’s anger, hatred, fear, helplessness, and unwillingness towards that “enemy” – he felt it all.
As if possessed, Jiang Jianming swallowed the words that had almost left his mouth… “Have you considered seeing a psychiatrist?”
The black-haired boy lowered his voice, confirming again. “You mean, an enemy has invaded your dynasty, and you can’t escape from their control?”
Odin laughed bitterly. “That’s right.”
“But,” Jiang Jianming said seriously, “why…”
“Why run away?”
The boy propped up his chin, smiled a little, his voice soft and slow.
“Since they want to destroy your kingdom, you and your people…”
— With a piercing force like the winter wind, playing the symphony of fate, disturbing a single note.
“Why not kill the enemy?”
