After three minutes, Xing Chong, who had been forcefully wrapped in five layers of clothing, stumbled backward with caution. He glared at Li Yue before scoffing grudgingly.

Hey, hey, hey, did you forget about the flower mark on your back? It’s wrong to be such a casanova. It’s no wonder then that you couldn’t sway Li Yue!

“If it isn’t the bloodlings. Li Yue, you sure found a good backing. Do you really think they’ll scare me?”

“Stop spouting rubbish!” Li Yue looked constipated. Having no intention to be associated with the person in front of them, he jumped straight to the point. “I’m not here for vengeance. I just wish to ask you about Nirvana.”

“Nirvana?” Xing Chong stilled, then an insidious smile spread across his face as though a thought had struck him. “I was wondering why the bloodings would be here. Is it regarding the research base?”

“You are indeed aware!” Li Yue frowned. “That research base… Are you perhaps a part of it?”

“Wasn’t that a request from you bloodlings?” Xing Chong turned to them abruptly. “Many years ago, some bloodlings requested Nirvana for the research base, so I marked a spot for them.”

“Do you know what research was being conducted there?” Yao Si asked, taking a step forward.

“Why would I know that!” Xing Chong smoothed the hair on his forehead nonchalantly. “It was just a game planet after all. Besides, I couldn’t be bothered since the management had already been passed on to a gaming company. Just a few days ago, I received news that the place had been destroyed. Are you here to criticize me?”

He swept another glance across them, adding hurriedly, ” Let me make things clear, I played no part in the destruction of the place. I had no intention of kicking you out…”

“Who was the person that sought you out?” Yao Si’s heart clenched. Qu Ze had been right—there were bloodlings in Euphoria.

“You don’t know them?” Xing Chong exclaimed, but the next second, he seemed to lose his interest. He shook his head and said, “I don’t know anything about that. I wanted to build closer bonds with you bloodlings, but after I loaned the area, you never showed up again.”

He wasn’t even able to reclaim the area. “The person mentioned that they would only need the area temporarily. I wasn’t informed of the details, so I inspected it once, but there was only a house built. Since it didn’t affect the daily runnings of the game planet, I didn’t bother with it. Even after the many years, no one came for it…”

“No one!” Qu Ze froze, then advanced on him. “You mean there wasn’t anyone in the research base?”

“Yeah.” Xing Chong nodded. “I checked on it with my conscience many years ago, and there was indeed no one.”

“Explain yourself clearly.” Yao Si could sense an inauspicious omen. If the place was uninhabited, then where did the zombies they met and the information about the virus come from? “When did you realize that there wasn’t anyone?”

“From the beginning!” Xing Chong took a while more to ponder over before adding, ” About… twenty-thirty years ago?”

That long?! Yao Si fell into a daze as she turned to glance at Qu Ze who had the exact same dazed expression.

“That can’t be! The virus appeared recently. If the base had always been empty, why did they build it and lead us into believing that the virus had been produced there? What was their…”

Yao Si suddenly stopped, a horrifying thought striking her. She turned toward the other two, before shouting in unison with Qu Ze.

“Red Army 4!”

“Red Army 4!”

F*ck!

As expected, all of their optical computers lit up with an alarm. Three red warnings popped up at the same time. The Red Planet… was being ambushed!

“Sisi!” Mu Xuan’s face sank, then he instructed her, “Stay here, don’t move!”

“Mu Xuan…” She was about to protest, but the very next moment, he disappeared into a space portal.

“…” How are we going to go back if you’re gone!

The situation was finally clear. Ever since the start, Nirvana had been just a diversion. The doomsday virus wasn’t produced there, but in a research base on Red Army 4. Moreover, the research had succeeded a long time ago, and had utilized the explosion to spread the virus throughout the Red Planet.

The research base on Nirvana had been just a diversion to have Mu Xuan leave the Red Planet.

The warning on the optical planet grew increasingly more agitated, sending Yao Si into a frenzy as she worried about the situation and Mu Xuan who had gone back by himself.

“Qu Ze, aren’t you from the space series? Hurry, let’s go back.”

“Eh…” Qu Ze stiffened. “Your Highness, not everyone with space ability is able to go through so many Galaxies! Besides…” He sighed. “His Majesty instructed you to stay here precisely because he didn’t want you near danger.” The doomsday virus was there after all…

Yao Si was obviously aware of Mu Xuan’s intentions, but she couldn’t help worrying about him. Moreover, Euphoria had to have been plotting it for a long time.

She couldn’t stop the unfathomable anxiety rising in her heart at the thought of it.

“Is there any way to monitor the situation on the Red Planet?” If they couldn’t go back, they should at least be able to get updates on the situation.

Qu Ze took a moment before lifting his head toward Little Ball who was floating above them. “Little Ball, hack into the Red Planet’s security system and show the video feed. Hurry!”

“Little Ball understands!” The metal ball jumped, a series of codes flashing over its body. In less than half a minute, a video popped up, surrounding them.

There were millions of videos from all of the Red Planet. Once the trio was able to process them, a chill ran down through them.

Chaos!

The entire Red Planet was in chaos. Loud noises echoed in every corner, aircraft filled up every inch of the sky, trapping the entire planet in a ring. Explosions kept going off, and on closer inspection, Yao Si could recognize the logo on the aircraft!

It was… the army of the Alliance!

It was sort of expected though… If Euphoria had been able to sway even the bloodlings, then it could definitely sway the Alliance’s army. But why were there so few bloodlings on the streets?

“Hurry, look here!” Qu Ze suddenly pointed toward a screen. “Who are they?”

Yao Si turned and saw the screen showing a location near a fallen meteorite. A large crowd had congregated there. Unlike the bloodlings who were either attacking or hiding, the crowd near the meteorite seemed to be called by it. They approached as if in a daze.

That… What was going on there?

“Someone’s controlling their conscience!” Qu Ze exclaimed in disbelief. “One of them has a mental ability stronger than a bloodling’s mental strength, but there are so many of them… How can it be?”

Yao Si’s heart clenched. The meteorites held the doomsday virus. If they were to go any closer and any one of them got infected…

With one, there would be lots more!

As the crowd neared the meteorite, some of the bloodlings stretched their arms out, itching to touch the rocks.

Suddenly, the video feed shook as a force swept through the area, ad the crowd that was in a trance suddenly awakened. Some of the bloodlings lifted their heads in slight confusion as they glanced at the person in midair.

Yao Si heaved a sigh of relief. Mu Xuan had finally arrived!

“Leave the meteorite area!” he instructed coldly. At his words, the bloodlings finally regained their senses and started to retaliate.

“Ah, I guess it’s too late.” A low voice came from the sky, and a black figure suddenly appeared near Mu Xuan. “Long time no see, old friend.”

Mu Xuan frowned. It was an expression that wasn’t like his usual coldness. It was a solemness and slight shock Yao Si had never seen on his face.

Who was it? Who could alarm him so much?

She leaned forward, trying to take a closer look. The person was dressed entirely in black and was floating just like Mu Xuan. But somehow, she wasn’t able to see his appearance. Even though the face was clear, it somehow got blurred in her mind.

Was that because of mental strength?

“Qu Ze, this person…” Just as she was about to ask Qu Ze, she found that there was something amiss about him. His pupils were dilated as he stared at the screen in a daze.

“Qu Ze?” Yao Si’s heart sank as she grabbed onto him, but he still remained in a daze. It wasn’t just him, both Li Yue and Xing Chong who were still bickering a second ago were also in the same state.

What happened?

“Qu Ze, Qu Ze!” Yao Si started to panic, covering him with her mental strength.

The three stayed frozen for a moment more, then snapped back to their senses and turned toward her. “Your… Highness?”

“What happened?”

Qu Ze took two frantic breaths before speaking in a shaking voice, “It’s the mental strength, Your Highness. That person… I can feel a mental strength comparable to that of His Majesty from him.”

“…”

How can that be? Who exactly is he?