Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 115

Chapter 115: The Real World 13

Alvia was only dazed for a moment, and then immediately regained consciousness.

Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings and people he didn’t recognize, he instinctively touched his wrist.

The bracelet was still there.

But where did Zhou Zhou go?

The room was not big, and in the brief moment of being awake, it was enough for him to see everyone in the room. They were all from the Mo tribe, and Zhou Zhou was not there.

“He’s awake, he’s awake.” Mo Zhu was the first to notice the person on the bed waking up, and she immediately stood up and shouted.

The other Mo children had been curiously surrounding the bed while Alvia was asleep. Seeing that the object of their observation had woken up, they immediately ran away shyly from the bedside.

“May I ask where the person who was with me went?” Alvia sat up and asked Mo Zhu. He had also seen Mo Lan in the instance before, so naturally, he could guess the relationship between the two based on their appearance.

“You mean Zhou Zhou? My sister took him to play games,” Mo Zhu said, staring at Alvia’s face. Normally, the game cabin at home was mainly used by Mo Lan. In Mo Zhu’s view, logging into the game cabin meant going to play games.

Play games? Did he go to log into the starnet?

Alvia immediately thought that Zhou Zhou must have gone to contact Zeus.

The girl had been staring at Alvia since he woke up, feeling like she had seen him somewhere before, but she just couldn’t remember where.

Although Alvia is the Emperor of the Empire, he usually only attends important occasions, so people don’t have many opportunities to see him. Additionally, due to the remote location and limited network access of this planet, most people here hadn’t recognized his identity right away.

At this moment, Zhou Zhou and Mo Lan had just finished their conversation and entered the room.

Zhou Zhou immediately spotted the man sitting on the bed. Although his face was still a bit pale, his bright ice-blue eyes still looked sharp and his spirit seemed decent.

“Al!” Zhou Zhou immediately rushed over and stood in front of the bed, anxiously asking him how he was feeling now and if he was alright.

Mo Lan slowly walked in. Upon hearing Zhou Zhou call the other person’s name, her ink-black eyes examined the man on the bed.

She remembered that in the instance where Zhou Zhou had made friends, there was also a player called Al. After some thoughts, Mo Lan immediately guessed that the person in front of her was not using his true appearance in the game.

But this man’s looks…

Being in the most remote star domain of the Empire, even the starnet had only recently become available here. The people here had very few channels to learn about the outside world, relying only on some people who had stopped on their planet before, as well as the humans who had recently brought new technology to the Mo tribe.

Secluded in this corner, they were completely unfamiliar with the Empire, so naturally, they did not recognize the person in front of them.

However, Mo Lan had just seen the Founding Ceremony not long ago, and her impression of Alvia was extremely deep.

Earlier, she was preoccupied with talking to Zhou Zhou and didn’t pay much attention to the man he brought. Now, as the man’s gaze inadvertently swept over her, those ice-blue eyes that seemed to contain frost and snow made Mo Lan absolutely certain that he was the person who appeared at the Founding Ceremony.

The Emperor of the Empire.

Why was he here? And why was he with Zhou Zhou? Moreover, why was he injured?

Mo Lan couldn’t figure it out. Seeing Zhou Zhou solicitously sitting by the bed asking him questions, and even using his hand to touch the Emperor’s face, while the Emperor softly replied to Zhou Zhou’s inquiries, the icy gaze that had swept over her when he first entered the room had now turned into a spring pool when he looked at Zhou Zhou.

“Are you really okay?” Zhou Zhou was still not at ease. This was the first time he had seen Alvia injured, and the fact that the person who was always capable of anything had been hurt while protecting him made Zhou Zhou uneasy no matter what. Upon hearing Alvia say that he was fine, just had a slight headache, Zhou Zhou anxiously cupped his face and looked left and right.

Unaware that Alvia’s headache was due to the depletion of his spiritual power, Zhou Zhou had no understanding of spiritual power at all. In his eyes, headaches were caused by head injuries, so he was now frantically searching for wounds but couldn’t find any.

“Really, I’m fine.” Alvia was no longer the Alvia who used to care about appearances. With Zhou Zhou touching him in front of everyone, he was completely at ease and even obediently lowered his head to let him examine, wishing they could get even closer.

After confirming that Alvia had no external injuries, Zhou Zhou finally let go and breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, the only sounds in the room were their conversation. Mo Lan was still pondering Alvia and Zhou Zhou’s relationship and their purpose, while the others were simply there to watch the spectacle, their curious eyes darting back and forth between the two.

After the examination, Zhou Zhou finally noticed that everyone in the room was watching him. He didn’t recognize most of the people here, so he smiled and nodded at everyone, then told Al that they had arrived at Mo Lan’s hometown. Zhou Zhou mentioned that Mo Lan had once invited him to visit her hometown, and it was quite amazing that they ended up here in this way.

Alvia sensed that the people around them relaxed a bit after hearing Zhou Zhou’s words. Previously, they seemed to be just there to join the commotion, but in reality, these people were on guard against them. After hearing that Zhou Zhou and Mo Lan not only knew each other but were also invited as guests, they finally let their guard down.

It was unclear whether Zhou Zhou had noticed their unusual demeanor and intentionally brought up this matter, or if he had done so completely unconsciously. In any case, the end result was positive.

Knowing that the two were not bad people, the Mo tribesmen who had come to join the commotion gradually dispersed, and even the children were taken away by the adults. Only Mo Lan and her sister were left in the house with Zhou Zhou and Alvia.

Although Mo Zhu was young, she could tell that her sister seemed to have something to say to these two people, so she took the initiative to offer to prepare some food.

After she left, Mo Lan’s sharp gaze turned towards Alvia: “How did you come here?” Her voice was still raspy with a trembling tone, but her pace was noticeably faster.

Although Alvia is the Emperor of the Empire, and theoretically the entire Mo tribe is under the Empire’s jurisdiction, for the Mo tribesmen who live a very primitive, self-sufficient life without interacting with the outside world, the Emperor’s status does not carry much weight.

Moreover, Alvia had arrived here injured, and Mo Lan couldn’t help but wonder if the person who had harmed him and forced him to flee here would also come after them, potentially bringing disaster to the entire Mo tribe.

From her words, Alvia could sense her unspoken concern. This was also what he had been worried about. Although the starship had been thoroughly destroyed at the time, most people would assume that they had been turned to ashes along with the starship.

However, the people who knew their exact location and used large-scale weapons might also know that they had developed a new type of protective membrane that automatically covered the human body when the starship began to disintegrate, and then ejected them to the nearest life-sustaining planet.

This was the Empire’s latest research achievement, which had not been made public yet. The starship they were traveling on this time was also the first ship to use this new technology.

It was originally intended as a final safeguard, but who would have thought it would actually be used.

Since the protective membrane was still in the experimental stage, no one could say for sure about its actual effectiveness. So at the last moment, Alvia also covered everyone with his own spiritual power.

Now it seems that this double protection did have an effect. Through the feedback from his spiritual power, he could sense that the others had also landed safely on different planets. As long as they were alive, that was enough for now.

What could be determined was that there must have been a traitor among them, since not many people knew about this trip, and the route was also very discreet, with very few people aware of it.

Being able to know their destination and the time they would arrive in advance meant that those people were fully aware of his movements.

If the enemy knew about the existence of the protective membrane, they would surely send people to continue searching for them.

For now, Alvia could not give Mo Lan any assurances.

Alvia did not conceal anything and told Mo Lan about the current situation.

Mo Lan’s expression became serious. The longer she stayed in the starnet, the more she felt that their own protective measures were too lacking. The various high-tech weapons, defense equipment used elsewhere were completely unheard of on this planet. They had originally been able to rely on the remote location of their star domain to develop themselves. But now, due to the arrival of these two people, it was very likely that those hunting them would also come to this planet.

Zhou Zhou also understood. He didn’t want to implicate the people here: “Mo Lan, do you have any spaceships here?”

If bad people did come here, they could use a spaceship to lure them away. After all, their target was Alvia. As long as the two of them left, the people on this planet would be safe.

Mo Lan gave a bitter laugh. If only they had spaceships. They had only recently acquired the starnet and game cabins, which were donated. How could they possibly have spaceships?

She sighed. Complaining now was useless, they could only think of ways to actively deal with the situation.

“I’ll have the tribespeople hide underground. We have a special shelter. You two should come too. If they can’t find us, they’ll leave.” Mo Lan stood up. She needed to inform her tribespeople about this as soon as possible.

This planet had been inhabited for hundreds of years, and the Mo tribe had experienced many disasters. Their ancestors had dug underground tunnels, which not only had underground rivers but also edible plants that could survive underground, providing shelter for all the tribespeople to hide for a long time.

“No, since we’re the ones who caused this trouble, let us deal with it,” Alvia said. It wasn’t arrogance. Although he currently had no weapons or mechs, with just his spiritual power, he could do things ordinary people couldn’t.

As the person with the highest spiritual power in the Empire, he had never been defeated in any war he participated in. Moreover, he had never truly used his full strength. Even though he had previously exhausted all his spiritual power to protect the people on the starship, he could fully recover within a day.

Zhou Zhou didn’t know what method Alvia had, but he fully agreed with his view: “Mo Lan, it was our arrival that brought this unjustified disaster to your tribespeople. You should all go to the shelter quickly. Leave the rest to us.”

Seeing their resolute attitudes, Mo Lan couldn’t help but look deeply at Alvia. The Emperor of the Empire was too distant for people like them. Even though she knew they were also subjects of the Empire, Mo Lan had never felt that the Mo tribe had any connection to the Empire, and the Emperor had nothing to do with them.

But now, faced with these two people showing no signs of evasion, Mo Lan knew they were serious and didn’t want to implicate them, wanting to resolve the trouble themselves.

Moreover, this person was very similar to Zhou Zhou. Faced with a group of people whose appearances were completely different from normal humans in the Empire, he didn’t reveal any oddity. Although not as gentle as Zhou Zhou, this attitude was already enough.

She didn’t want her tribespeople to be treated like monsters by outsiders. They were born looking like this, with their appearances given by their parents and ancestors. Why should they be shunned and scorned just for being different from others?

Mo Zhu knocked on the door and waited for her sister to tell her to come in before bringing in the food.

As soon as she entered, she realized that the atmosphere in the room was a bit unusual. Shouldn’t friends be gathering and chatting amiably? Why did it feel so solemn?

With these questions in mind, Mo Zhu carefully placed the food on the table by the bed. The dishes on the wooden tray she was holding were specialties that the Mo tribe would make when entertaining guests. These two were her sister’s friends, so Mo Zhu had specially prepared these specialties for them.

“Alright then, I’ll go settle the tribespeople first. You two eat first and replenish your strength.” Mo Lan got up and also took Mo Zhu, who was full of questions, with her. It wasn’t certain yet whether the bad people would come or when they would arrive, so they couldn’t wait until the enemy came before making preparations. She had to inform everyone about this now.

After Mo Lan left, Zhou Zhou brought the food over to Alvia: “Al, hurry and eat. Eating will help you regain your strength.”

Zhou Zhou himself was made of data, so he didn’t need to eat. These dishes could only be for Alvia. Normally in the game, when he had nothing to do, Zhou Zhou would specifically find gourmet restaurants and indulge for an entire day. But at a time like this, he wouldn’t be greedy.

Holding the dishes, he looked like an adorable little animal. Alvia reached out and ruffled Zhou Zhou’s hair: “You don’t need to hold it. I’ll come over and eat.”

Zhou Zhou sat by and watched Alvia eat. Gazing at his sharp features, he suddenly asked, “Is there anything I can do? Although my combat power isn’t high, if the bad people come, I also want to help and not just hide behind you.”

As he said these words, Zhou Zhou’s brows were tightly furrowed, and his expression was very serious. He recalled the previous scene where Alvia had protected him, watching Alvia fall unconscious while protecting him. He didn’t want to experience that sense of helplessness a second time.

Alvia knew that although Zhou Zhou appeared meek and soft, his inner self was very strong. He had originally wanted to keep Zhou Zhou under his wing, allowing him to slowly adapt to this society and grow up carefree. But he had forgotten that Zhou Zhou was not someone who would obediently stay behind others and wait.  Zhou Zhou hoped to be able to walk side by side with him.

“This time, I won’t leave you alone. We’ll face it together.”

Somewhere outside the wormhole, several spaceships hovered in the vast universe. A few small spaceships surrounded a massive one. At this moment, the people on the ships were engaged in a heated argument.

A skinny man glared darkly at Xia Yan, enraged that this man who had already lost his status and position would dare to defy him, a legitimate member of the Imperial family.

“Alvia is dead. That starship was reduced to ashes right before our eyes. Alvia is not a god, how could he possibly still be alive?” The man wasn’t extremely short, but his body looked as if it had been drained, emaciated to the extreme, as if a gust of wind could knock him over.

His attitude was extremely contemptuous when mentioning Alvia, but the fear revealed in the depths of his eyes exposed his true inner thoughts.

The once prosperous Sharp Family had been stripped of their noble status due to their rebellion. The family head was killed, and the remaining members were either exiled or fled. Xia Yan was originally supposed to be the next family head, enjoying the extravagant life of a noble and the adoration of all throughout his life. Now, however, he had become a fugitive.

If he hadn’t been desperate, how could he have conspired with these scum? Although he also hated Alvia intensely, he had to admit that this fellow before him couldn’t even compare to one of Alvia’s toes.

The smiling mask he had once used for disguise had vanished the moment his family met its catastrophic demise. Now, Xia Yan’s expression was cold, his fox-like eyes filled with gloom, utterly different from the youth who had completed quests with Zhou Zhou at the Doll’s House not long ago.

“Prince Alan, according to the intelligence I’ve received, the Empire has developed new technology that can protect the human body from harm in space. Moreover, the starship Alvia was on has been equipped with the corresponding equipment, so it’s highly possible they didn’t die. We still need to confirm this further.”

No one could believe that this stick-like man had once been the most beloved son of the previous Emperor and possessed an extremely powerful maternal clan. Everyone, including himself, had thought he would be the next Emperor. Yet in the end, he was robbed of that right by the Alvia he had always looked down upon since childhood, reduced to scurrying about like a dog.

Back then, he had originally been sentenced to death, but was ultimately saved by some rebels opposing the Empire. The Empire had been in utter chaos before Alvia took over, a complete mess with all sorts of people mixed in. No one knew that this prince who should have died long ago was still alive and even active among those opposing the Empire’s rule.

Whenever Alan thought of this, his blood boiled. He was the true Emperor of the Empire, yet Alvia, that thief, had stolen everything from him.

Alan cursed Alvia in a low voice, using extremely vulgar language. Xia Yan disdainfully glanced at the other man. Although he was cooperating with this guy for the sake of avenging his father and securing his own future, this person was simply unreliable, arrogant, rude, and uncouth. How had such a person become the crown prince in the past, just because he had a powerful maternal clan? For the royal family to produce such a disgrace was truly shameful.

Although Xia Yan looked down on him, he still needed the other man’s power for now, so he could only pretend to be respectful: “Prince Alan, there’s no need to be too angry. After all, once Alvia is dead, you will be the only one left in the royal family to inherit the throne. We just need to confirm his death now.”

These people were unaware of Aileen’s existence, as most believed this princess had died long ago. While they were scheming to find Alvia or his corpse, Aileen had already received the notice and swiftly begun purging the traitors. Even without Alvia, the Empire would not have any problems.

This spaceship nominally belonged to Alan. The rebels behind him, in order to use his name to resist Alvia’s rule, had provided a large amount of funds and weapons. So these many years of being on the run had not only failed to teach this empty-headed prince a lesson but had instead made him even more arrogant and vulgar.

“How do we confirm his death?”

Xia Yan lowered his head slightly, appearing very respectful and obedient: “Even with protection, having separated from the starship, they couldn’t have gone too far. So we only need to search the life-sustaining planets nearby to find them.”

Xia Yan’s words made it sound as if he had already confirmed that Alvia was not dead, which made Alan feel very uncomfortable. After all, he had just thought he had finally gotten rid of that annoying brother, only for the other party to pour cold water on him.

“Are you joking? There are three life-sustaining planets nearby. If Alvia really isn’t dead, with planets that large, he only needs to hide randomly, how could we possibly find him!” Alan shouted loudly. He felt he had been made a fool of. How was he supposed to confirm something like this?

How stupid!

Xia Yan cursed inwardly, but his outward appearance remained unchanged: “There were quite a few people on the starship, and they all have their own means of contact. If we can find one person and have them contact Alvia, we’ll know which planet he’s on. Even if we can’t find anyone, with the weapons on this spaceship, it would be easy to destroy those three planets.”

Although his tone was very calm, it caused Alan’s eyebrows to raise. He couldn’t tell that this once illustrious noble son was actually even more vicious than himself. Although it was the border of the Empire, there were still quite a number of humans living on those life-sustaining planets nearby. It was no wonder he was from the Sharp Family, they were truly cut from the same cloth. With just a few words from his mouth, he wanted to kill everyone on three planets. This was a true viper.

However, this was indeed a thorough method. Even if Alvia had nine lives, he would absolutely not survive.

The problem was that after the previous attack on the starship, a large portion of the ship’s energy had already been used up, making it impossible to destroy three planets.

“There must have been people from your side on that starship, right? Find them and have them contact Alvia,” Alan ordered. He wouldn’t tell the other party that they were out of energy.

The reason they had been able to strike accurately was because the Sharp Family had a mole planted on the starship. If Alvia was alive, then that mole must also be fine.

Xia Yan had originally wanted him to take the second approach, as that was the most appropriate. But it seemed Alan didn’t have the guts to do so. That mole was planted by his father. Although most of the moles had disappeared after the downfall of the Sharp Family, there were still a few deeply hidden ones that had not been cleared out. It was thanks to these people that he had known of Alvia’s movements this time.

The deed was done, and these moles would definitely be discovered, so there was no need to keep them around anymore. After finding out Alvia’s whereabouts from them, they would join Alvia on his journey.

As expected, Xia Yan did manage to contact that mole. The moment he made contact, Xia Yan knew that the previous attack had been ineffective, Alvia must still be alive.

Upon learning the other party’s current location and that Alvia might not have landed on the same planet as them, Xia Yan instructed the mole to immediately contact Alvia and ask for his location. However, the mole told him that despite countless attempts, he had been unable to reach Alvia.

Of the three planets, the other two were places inhabited by all sorts of people, fugitives, wanderers, many quite wealthy, so the starnet equipment was very well-developed. Only the planet the Mo tribe was on, because of rumors of hauntings, had gradually become an unofficially designated forbidden zone in this star domain.

Without the starnet, they had no way to contact Alvia.

Xia Yan was in a foul mood. He had originally thought they could easily kill Alvia, but kept encountering setbacks instead. Even their large-scale lethal weapons couldn’t kill him. Could they really succeed?

But this thought only lingered briefly. The current situation no longer allowed them to retreat or evade.

A few hours later, they still hadn’t figured out how to find Alvia when that mole contacted them again. This time, he brought good news, they had managed to contact Alvia. The other party was on the planet called the Forbidden Zone and had been seriously injured, on the verge of death.

“But you said you couldn’t contact him before. How did you suddenly reach him? And if you’re all fine, why is Alvia seriously injured?” Xia Yan asked with some suspicion.

“They said that planet doesn’t have the starnet, so it took them a long time to find a way to contact him. And His Majesty was injured while protecting his lover,” the mole explained.

“Lover?” Xia Yan had never heard that Alvia had a lover. Could it be…?

“Yes, His Majesty and Mr. Zhou Zhou were always eating and living together on the starship. Their relationship is very good.” The mole was already used to addressing the two this way. Although he had never seen them eating together on the starship, they definitely lived together. And judging from His Majesty’s attitude toward Zhou Zhou, it was simply like a gentle spring breeze.

After carefully listening to the mole’s description of their daily life, Xia Yan fell silent with his head lowered. The Empire’s population was in the billions, and there were many named Zhou Zhou, but this name reminded him of an unpleasant experience.

Xia Yan didn’t yet know that the Zhou Zhou he had encountered in the game was the same person the mole was describing.

Alan was also listening from the side, and the more he heard, the more incredulous he became. That monstrous brother of his actually had a day like this? Had he really inherited their old man’s philandering ways after all?

Thinking of this, Alan suddenly felt a secret pleasure, as if he had finally defeated the other for once. That man praised by all, nearly perfect, had finally fallen from his pedestal and become an ordinary person.

He suddenly wanted to see what he had become now. If they captured Alvia’s little lover, who knew what lengths he would go to for that little lover?

Would he allow himself to be beaten and cursed at like when they were children? Force him to kneel? Make him cry and beg for mercy?

Or perhaps, taste his little lover right in front of him and see what expression he would make then.

It was as if this scene had already played out before his eyes, causing Alan’s whole body to tremble, his blood boiling.

Allowing Alvia to die easily could never make up for the humiliation he had suffered all these years. He wanted to make Alvia grovel at his feet like a dog, wagging his tail and begging for mercy.

“Go to that planet,” Alan ordered.

The massive ship slowly changed course. Xia Yan’s expression tightened as he snapped out of the unpleasant memory: “Wait, this could be a trap.”

Alan glanced at him: “Are you saying the mole your Sharp Family planted has betrayed you?”

“That’s impossible, of course. I have leverage over him, I’m holding even his family’s lives in my hands. He wouldn’t dare betray me. I’m saying this could all be a ploy set by Alvia to lure us in.”

Xia Yan was very cautious, feeling that something was amiss about this.

“Didn’t you hear? Your family’s mole just said the one who contacted him was that little lover, and that Alvia had been seriously injured and fallen unconscious while protecting his little lover. What tricks could he possibly still have up his sleeve?”

“But what if Alvia is fine? What if he’s just waiting for us to go there so he can wipe us all out in one go?” Xia Yan’s gaze was sharp.

Alan paused. This was indeed something Alvia was capable of doing.

Staring out at the inky blackness of space, Alan suddenly said, “We destroyed their only starship. Those people likely have no weapons or mechs on them. Even if Alvia wasn’t injured, without Zeus by his side, could he really take on an entire spaceship by himself with just his own strength?”

This was Alan’s core issue. He should have had the chance to ascend to the throne, but he didn’t know what tricks Alvia had used to make Zeus obey him instead. Zeus was the very foundation of the entire Empire, handling all the starnet and the Empire’s important data and affairs. Before this, Zeus had never interfered in human affairs, yet in the end, he listened to Alvia’s commands. That guy must have used some despicable means.

Otherwise, there was no way he could have lost.

Xia Yan opened his mouth, then closed it. He was still young and had only heard of Alvia’s formidable reputation on the battlefield. In his view, for a noble prince to gain fame on the battlefield, they didn’t need to do anything, there would be plenty of people lining up to give them credit. So he didn’t know just how strong Alvia’s actual strength was.

This spaceship had over a thousand people on board, as well as countless mechs and weapons. And the enemy only had one person.

They could win.

If they could capture Alvia alive, it would indeed be much better than killing him directly.

This time, with their forces united, the spaceship immediately set course for the planet where the Mo tribe was located.

Zhou Zhou came out of the starnet, his eyes clear and transparent as if they had been washed, the redness around them making him look like a pitiful rabbit that had endured too much suffering.

He sniffled, then said to Alvia who was waiting nearby, “I’m done crying. I don’t know if they’ll believe it or not.”

This was a ploy Alvia had devised, to have Zhou Zhou use the starnet to contact the other people on the starship and spread the news that he was seriously injured, hiding the fact that the mole among them would definitely report this to the mastermind behind the scenes.

As long as they made contact, Zeus could then trace it back and invade their systems to find their location.

“What if they don’t fall for it? What if they attack the planet from a distance like before? Everyone would be in danger,” Zhou Zhou said worriedly. He had just put on an acting performance in the starnet, crying so sadly that the guards and others immediately rushed over, or else Alvia would have died. This was his first time really acting, and it was so tiring. He didn’t know how to cry at all and had to study a few videos first before being able to produce tears.

“They won’t. Capturing me while seriously injured is definitely more valuable than just killing me outright. They should have also received the news that Aileen has returned by now. In this situation, taking a seriously injured me as a hostage is obviously more advantageous.”

Although they rarely saw each other, Alvia could guess that in this situation, Aileen would definitely announce her own existence first to stabilize the situation. She absolutely wouldn’t let the Empire fall into chaos.

So no matter what the person behind the scenes was after, with Aileen’s existence, it became very inconvenient for them unless they could take the Emperor hostage to force everyone’s obedience.

If the enemy didn’t fall for it and still planned to use large-scale weapons to wipe them out, then Zeus would have to step in.

As expected, at this point Xia Yan and Alan did indeed receive the news that the current Imperial household was being presided over by Aileen, and there were no problems.

“Aileen? Wasn’t she supposed to be dead?” Xia Yan had schemes but lacked deep knowledge of many things since he was not yet the family head. He had previously said that after Alvia’s death, Alan would be the only one left in the royal family to inherit the throne. But now another Princess had appeared, someone whose seniority and experience far surpassed Alan’s.

Alan had completely forgotten this person’s existence. Although she was also his aunt, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had seen her, how could he possibly still remember her!

“Now our only path is to capture Alvia.”

The two men wore equally ugly expressions. After all, who could have imagined that at this critical juncture, a Grand Princess would suddenly emerge?

They had originally planned to take advantage of the chaos after Alvia’s death to have Alan naturally appear as the last remaining member of the royal family, surely garnering many supporters.

But now what could they do? With the Grand Princess out, who would care about Alan?

Their only option was to capture Alvia and force him to officially announce the next Emperor, allowing Alan to smoothly ascend the throne.

They were not far from that planet and soon arrived in the space outside it.

As the two were discussing how to capture the other party, a few of Alan’s subordinates behind him seemed like they wanted to say something but held back.

Xia Yan was the first to notice their expressions and said to Alan, “Your subordinates seem to want to say something.”

Alan was furious at Aileen’s appearance, and these subordinates conveniently provided him an outlet to vent his anger.

“Spit it out, what’s with all the hesitation!”

The subordinates glanced at each other, until finally one stepped forward: “Prince, we cannot go to that planet.”

Alan’s expression was blank: “Oh? And why not?”

“We people from the border star domains all know about that planet. It is a cursed planet inhabited by evil spirits, an absolute forbidden domain that cannot be entered.” The subordinate’s expression was terrified, and the few others also began to look panicked.

“Evil spirits? Hmph!” Alan sneered and spun around, kicking the subordinate closest to him and sending the stick-like man tumbling to the ground with surprising force for a grown man.

“I don’t want to hear any more of this ridiculous nonsense about curses and evil spirits. If you’re scared, go home and cry in your mother’s arms. It’s laughable that there are still people who believe such things.” Alan’s gloomy gaze swept over everyone, and each person his vicious eyes passed over lowered their head, not daring to say anything more.

“Now proceed immediately. Go to this planet and find the targets. You continue asking that mole about Alvia’s exact location. I don’t want to play any cat-and-mouse games.” Alan arrogantly ordered his subordinates and Xia Yan.

Xia Yan didn’t look highly upon his manner, but for now the two were allied by their interests, so he could only angrily remain silent and continue making contact.

“They’re coming,” Alvia said, gazing up at the sky.

Zhou Zhou immediately looked up… but saw nothing in the inky blackness.

The nights here were very long, almost taking up two-thirds of the entire day, which was why the Mo people would often wander outside in the middle of the night.

At this moment, there were no other people in this small village besides them. Mo Lan had been highly efficient, gathering all the tribespeople and disappearing within an hour.

Before leaving, they had asked Zhou Zhou and Alvia to come along too, but the two had already decided to resolve the trouble they had brought themselves and refused to go with them.

“Let’s move a bit further away. We don’t want to damage Mo Lan’s houses if a fight breaks out later,” Zhou Zhou said rigidly.

Alvia looked at Zhou Zhou and smiled: “Okay.”

The two slowly walked away from the village. Zhou Zhou felt that the place where they had landed earlier was quite good, with no trees around, so they wouldn’t have to worry about damaging any plants during a fight.

Feeling anxious, Zhou Zhou’s pace quickened. After walking for a while, he realized he had almost wandered too far and looked back to see Alvia casually lagging far behind, almost 50 meters away.

“Al~ hurry up~” Zhou Zhou cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.

Alvia maintained his unhurried pace until he reached Zhou Zhou’s side. Seeing Zhou Zhou angrily puffing out his cheeks, he couldn’t help but smile again.

“The enemy will be here soon, and we’re about to experience a fierce battle. You need to stay vigilant,” Zhou Zhou said, feeling like he was about to jump up and down from impatience. Why was Al still acting like this?

Alvia said seriously, “I’m trying.”

Zhou Zhou nodded: “Attitude is also very important. Alright, so what approach should we take for the battle? What should we do?” He knew his combat power wasn’t enough, so he just needed to listen to Al. He could do anything, as long as it would help.

There was no one else around, just the two of them in the darkness, which gave Alvia the utmost courage. He reached out and grasped one of Zhou Zhou’s fingers. Seeing that Zhou Zhou didn’t resist, he took hold of his hand.

“You just need to stay by my side.”

Zhou Zhou’s heart stirred, and he unconsciously looked into Alvia’s eyes. Those eyes only held him, their gaze focused and affectionate. Zhou Zhou’s pale lips parted slightly: “Are you… fond of…” me.

Before he could finish speaking, the two simultaneously looked up at the sky. The previously brilliant starry river was obscured by an enormous object, and both of them saw the full silhouette of a spaceship in the sky.

Zhou Zhou was somewhat annoyed. Why did they have to come at this inopportune moment, neither early nor late, but precisely at this timing?

Alvia was also displeased. Just now, what had Zhou Zhou been about to ask, if he was fond of him? It was probably that, right? But the timing of this spaceship’s arrival was truly inconvenient!

The two gazed at the spaceship with hostile eyes.

The people on the ship didn’t know they had interrupted a potential confession due to their arrival. Unable to obtain a specific location from the mole, they had no choice but to disembark and search themselves.

However, they had simulated the distance from the shockwave of the starship’s explosion to this planet and calculated Alvia’s approximate location. While there would definitely be some deviation, it was still better than searching blindly across the entire planet.

Zhou Zhou and Alvia held hands, watching the spaceship land in the distance, far from both the Mo tribe’s village and their current location.

“What should we do now?” Zhou Zhou glanced at their intertwined hands and shifted position, lacing his fingers through Alvia’s.

Alvia abruptly turned his head, but Zhou Zhou was staring at the distant spaceship, not sparing him another glance.

Yet they both knew something was different now.

“Wait for them to come,” Alvia said calmly, but his grip tightened. From an angle Zhou Zhou couldn’t see, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, his expression quite pleased.