Ryann walked back. He moved through the confused crowd, amid the rising clamor, walking back along his original path like a wandering spirit.
The emperor returned to the quiet White Jade Palace, once again seeing golden roses everywhere.
This time he didn’t vomit, but after walking just a few steps his spirit collapsed, and he suddenly fell to his knees.
The pain crept up like a slow-acting poison, and with unfocused eyes, he bit down on the arm that had injured Jiang.
Pain, nausea, discomfort.
It hurt so much, he felt like he was dying.
Ryann endured this pain miserably, knowing it couldn’t be relieved unless the person he had hurt appeared beside him and forgave him.
But what should he do next? He didn’t dare go back. Had Jiang gone for treatment? The palace had complete medical equipment, and Sylph was there too, so nothing serious should happen. But what about them, what should they do from now on…
As Ryann’s thoughts jumbled chaotically like this, he found himself shivering despite the midsummer heat. Suddenly his wrist device rang – it was a communication from Lin Ge.
The “beep beep beep” alert sounded like a death knell. Ryann felt like a condemned prisoner heading to the gallows.
He closed his eyes briefly, and fighting against every cell in his body that screamed in protest, he answered the call.
He didn’t hear Lin Ge’s expected scolding. Instead, after three or four seconds of silence, Lin Ge asked in a suppressed voice. “Kaios, where are you?”
“Outside,” Ryann replied casually, then forced himself to ask, “What is it?”
Lin Ge: “Come back immediately, something’s happened to Jiang.”
Ryann: “I know, I…”
“Know? You don’t know shit! He’s had an attack, he’s in emergency treatment now, and the situation is critical.”
Ryann froze in place.
“Listen, I don’t care what you two just fought about, or where you are or what you’re doing. Now, get back here immediately.”
After saying this, Lin Ge hung up without waiting for Ryann’s response.
The emperor was left holding his darkened wrist device, pale-faced, his lips trembling slightly.
Ryann remained rigid for a few seconds, then suddenly seemed to come back to life, abruptly standing up.
The heart-wrenching pain made his vision darken, and he trembled as he walked forward—
His vision tilted.
Thud, he fell again.
Ryann numbly propped himself up, looking down at his lower body.
A strange sight unfolded – red gold crystals were continuously emerging from the emperor’s legs and feet, spreading in all directions like wildly growing vines.
…What was happening, why were his legs…
Ryann dazedly pressed his knees. No, it didn’t matter what happened to him, Lin Ge said Jiang had an attack, he had to return immediately.
But his legs were broken, crystals kept growing from his flesh, tendons, and bones – he couldn’t stand or walk.
Stop, stop…
Ryann’s face turned ashen, his breathing rapid. He tried to control the disordered crystal particles in his body, tried to stop this mutation, but the more anxious he became, the less control he had, and the more out of control he got, the more he broke down.
Before long, tiny crystal particles in the air began to vibrate, and real crystals of golden red formed in the brick crevices.
“Your Majesty?”
In the distance, palace guards at the gate were alarmed by the mutation and hurried over to investigate.
Someone pointed in shock. “Look, real crystals have formed on the roses!”
Someone else said. “It’s the color of His Majesty’s real crystals, where is His Majesty?”
But after searching for a while, apart from some tiny real crystals, they found nothing else unusual. Not daring to wander too deep into the palace, they had to return to their posts.
In the shadows of the palace, the emperor curled up, his platinum curls falling down to hide his grotesquely transformed body.
He didn’t dare go out at all – if people saw the emperor in this state, the consequences would be unthinkable.
So this was what it felt like to hide, this was what it meant to walk on thin ice.
Ryann closed his eyes, listening to the guards’ retreating footsteps – his heart ached as he thought of his disabled human.
And in just these few short minutes, his legs had completely twisted, only able to writhe and slither on the ground like a snake; his five fingers had almost fused together, his whole body collapsed as if dismembered, becoming a grotesque amalgamation of crystals and flesh.
His body was breaking down, his structure was falling apart.
Right at this moment, Lin Ge’s communication came through again.
She cursed him through her tears.
“What are you doing, where the hell are you, Kaios? He’s dying, get back here right now!”
“Shut… up!” His heart felt like it was being squeezed, Ryann’s vision darkened repeatedly, he was nearly driven mad, forcing out words through bloodshot eyes, “Don’t talk… about him!”
In an instant, fine crystals crawled up the emperor’s tense face.
Ryann covered his face in horror, when suddenly large pieces of real crystal burst from his face, blood splattered everywhere, and four or five deformed eyeballs grew and writhed together!
What to do, what to do… what to do!?
He couldn’t… couldn’t hear any more news about Jiang… if this continued, what would he become?
“Just come back and see him once, if anything happens to him, after all these years, you two…”
There was static from the other end, the wrist device was snatched away. Soon Sylph’s voice replaced Lin Ge’s.
“Your Majesty…Your Majesty we are not joking, the situation is really dire right now!”
Her voice was all wrong, she was crying. “If you can’t come back immediately, at least say a few words to the Commander through the communication, I suspect his will to live is weak right now…”
In the palace’s special emergency room, Sylph stood helplessly holding the wrist device, tears hanging from her eyelashes.
She wore white sterilized clothing, behind her were countless machines. Several medical staff were shouting something desperately, on the cardiac monitor was a terrifying flat red line!
The patient on the bed had his eyes closed, his body gaunt and deathly pale, covered in crisscrossing scars – all marks left by surgical incisions and thick needle punctures.
As the electrode panels came down, Jiang Jianming’s body jerked up then fell, crashing heavily onto the blood-stained bed. His head lolled to one side, black hair in disarray, showing no signs of revival.
It hurt so much, too much pain. Ryann curled up in the shadows, covered in dust and blood. He opened his mouth in panic, making broken hissing sounds from his throat, but couldn’t produce any words!
How to speak, how to talk?
Ryann couldn’t make sounds anymore, his – or its – vocal organs had become bulging crystal masses, the taste of blood filling the line from throat to mouth.
“Your Majesty, please—”
The next second, the uncontrollable golden-red crystals pierced through the wrist device!
Beep… beep…
The line went dead.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Sylph completely broke down, throwing down the wrist device and bursting into tears, “I have no other options, Lin Ge, there’s nothing else we can do…”
The electronic tones of the rescue equipment still rang hopelessly in the background as Lin Ge breathed heavily, staring hard at the silent wrist device on the floor.
She said abruptly. “Something’s wrong.”
“Kaios’s reaction isn’t right, I feel like something’s happened to him.”
Suddenly, Lin Ge spun around, taking three steps in two as she rushed to the rescue bed. “Dawn!! You can hear me, right? Something’s happened to Kaios, damn it, get up!!”
Several nurses tried to pull her back in horror, but Lin Ge’s eyes bulged as she raised her voice desperately. “Jiang Jianming!!”
Sylph held her breath, her mind buzzing. “What did you call him?”
“Don’t you dare die! If you die now, Kaios will think he killed you, how could you bear that—”
Bang!
Another electric shock came down.
The medical staff performing the rescue were almost ready to give up, someone even looked dejectedly at Sylph. “Let’s stop, little chief, the golden rescue period has passed, the Commander… he’s suffering too much like this…”
They were all special personnel carefully selected by the emperor to secretly treat the Commander’s illness. How could they not be heartbroken watching Jiang Jianming being tortured by crystal disorder day after day over the years.
However, in the next second, the sound of the cardiac monitor changed. The silent red line that had been flat suddenly showed movement, struggling to pulse!
“We’ve got it, there’s a heartbeat!”
Along with the doctor’s joyful cry, Sylph collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat and nearly fainting.
She propped herself up against a machine, “Quick, add a crystal particle tranquilizer, surgery immediately…!”
…..
When Ryann returned, it was already dark.
His clothes were tattered, his body covered in dust and blood. His expression was numb, as if his soul had been extracted.
He ran into Sylph in the quiet corridor. The young woman had her silver hair up and wore a white coat, standing by the window in the dim moonlight, saying in surprise. “Your Majesty?”
She quickly took small steps to Ryann’s side, saying softly. “You… what happened to you?”
But he suddenly stepped back several paces. Ryann stood in the shadows not letting her come close, head lowered and silent.
Sylph could only stand still, helplessly looking at the emperor who was clearly troubled but she didn’t know why.
After a while, she pressed her lips together and tentatively said, “Are you here to see the Commander? His condition isn’t good, please go in and stay with him.”
The emergency surgery hadn’t gone smoothly – Jiang Jianming’s body was too weak, and his heart had stopped again halfway through, nearly preventing him from leaving the operating table.
Compared to that, things like a broken arm seemed minor.
Sylph guided Ryann through simple disinfection procedures and into the intensive care unit.
It was night, and the intelligent medical equipment inside emitted blue and green lights.
Jiang Jianming lay with closed eyes in the advanced treatment cabin, barely breathing, his frail body full of tubes and life support equipment. If not for the weak rise and fall of his chest, he would have looked no different from a corpse.
Sylph walked to the treatment cabin, looking at the Commander’s deathly pale face.
She lowered her eyelashes, saying softly in sorrow, “Maybe… just tomorrow or the day after.”
“None of us expected the Commander’s condition to suddenly worsen, but chronic crystal disorder is just like that, I suppose.”
“Actually, the patient has tried really hard. Your Majesty, do you know? During the day when we almost gave up, his heart suddenly started beating again. I think the Commander must have wanted to wait for you to return.”
“Oh, and Lin Ge told me. So the Commander was actually Lord Helga’s child. Ah, there aren’t many people left in the Glorious Autonomous Dominion who remember the name ‘Jiang Jianming’ anymore…”
Sylph sniffled, choking up, “I, I just never thought…”
This person’s life had been too bitter. He had lit the dawn for the new empire from darkness, yet before he could feel the true warmth of the rising sun, he would have to quietly bid farewell.
Sylph took a deep breath, “Well, let’s not talk about this anymore. Your Majesty, don’t you have anything to say to the Commander? He might still be able to hear a little.”
As she spoke, she wiped her tears. But when Sylph lowered her hand, golden-red spread across her field of vision.
It was clearly Ryann’s crystal bones. They had silently extended from behind her, reaching past her, grimly stretching toward the person in the treatment cabin.
“Your Majesty?”
Sylph turned around.
The next moment, the young woman’s pupils contracted, and an uncontrollable scream burst forth!
