Free Web NovelFaced with the Saint Clan’s aggressive advance, every race in the First Star Sector had spent these past days on edge, living in fear.
Just as they were debating whether they should give up resisting altogether or at least put on a token show of resistance, something they never expected happened—the Saint Clan fleet suddenly withdrew.
Just as no one had known why the Saint Clan had gone mad and turned the major star sectors upside down, no one could make sense of their sudden departure either.
No one knew what that group of Saint Clan was thinking at all.
But seeing those terrifying killers finally leave, the users on StarNet whose IP addresses were in the First Star Sector were overjoyed, celebrating one after another that they had escaped disaster.
The Saint Clan, however, paid no attention whatsoever to the commotion on StarNet.
Because to them, nothing mattered more right now than the fact that their long-missing little highness had finally returned to their side.
In the corridors of the Thanatos, a crowd of Saint Clan had gathered.
They were all low-tier Ge De and Tas.
These were supposed to be the most obedient soldiers in the Saint Clan, but ever since the little highness returned, even these low-tier soldiers had become much less “obedient.”
In their hearts, the little highness’s safety had clearly become more important than any order from their superiors.
The moment they learned the little highness had come back, each of these Saint Clan soldiers could no longer suppress the excitement and longing in their hearts. They insisted on guarding the entrance to the resting quarters.
No matter how the Heimo officers ordered them around, they stubbornly refused to leave, insisting on staying right there, the closest place to the little highness.
The low-tier species’ stubborn nature, acting purely on instinct, was on full display in a situation like this.
Left with no other choice, Alvin and Selet could only let these Saint Clan soldiers stay outside.
Inside the warship’s room, Wen Yuzhi was lying on a soft bed, surrounded by all the things he liked. There was the moon pillow, the teddy bear, and everywhere he looked was the same familiar environment.
Nothing here had changed from when he used to live in it.
Mond and the others had carefully preserved everything that belonged to Wen Yuzhi. No matter how small or trivial it was, they had kept it all safe.
From details like these, Wen Yuzhi could feel how much love these Saint Clan family members had for him.
Now that word of Wen Yuzhi’s return had spread, aside from Mansendis, almost every Saint Clan member familiar to him was here—Mond, Alvin, Selet, Merita, Kasha, and the others.
It could be said that the very top tier of the Saint Clan’s current leadership had all gathered in this room.
They had obviously all come for Wen Yuzhi.
Mu Luo was aboard the Thanatos as well. The moment Mu Luo saw Wen Yuzhi, there was a brief pause of surprise, followed by a huge embrace for the cub who had been missing for so long.
These past days, Mu Luo’s worry had been no less than the Saint Clan’s.
As for this little highness of the Saint Clan, Mu Luo had practically watched him grow up little by little.
Wen Yuzhi was the most sensible cub Mu Luo had ever seen. This child was so well-behaved that he barely seemed like one of the Saint Clan at all.
Soft and sweet.
And on top of that, this child had a strong interest in treating mental power and was gifted at it as well. Though they had never formally established a teacher-student relationship, Mu Luo had long since regarded Wen Yuzhi as a student.
So now that Wen Yuzhi had returned safely, Mu Luo was genuinely happy from the bottom of the heart.
“Little highness, welcome back.”
“I made all of you worry...”
Wen Yuzhi said it a little sheepishly.
Looking at all these familiar faces, Wen Yuzhi did not even need to think to know how worried everyone must have been while he was missing. Now that they had news of him, they had all come running.
After such a long separation, he actually had a great many things he wanted to tell Daddy and Mond and the others.
But before Wen Yuzhi could speak, Mansendis seemed to have already seen through those thoughts.
The silver-haired sovereign reached out and gently covered the boy’s hair with his palm.
“There’s no need to rush. You can rest first,” Mansendis said. Then, as if something had occurred to him, his tone paused for a moment before he added, “I’ll stay with you.” free𝑤ebnovel.com
Feeling that warmth resting on his head, Wen Yuzhi blinked, and the soreness in his eyes that had just settled a little seemed to rise again.
Seeing that, Mansendis let out a sigh. “As long as you’re back, that’s enough. Nothing else matters.”
Wen Yuzhi parted his lips, wanting to say something, yet he hesitated for a long time without being able to get the words out.
In the end, all those countless thoughts condensed into a single sentence.
“Daddy... I missed you so much...”
Mansendis lowered his eyes. From the very beginning, his gaze had never once left Wen Yuzhi.
Now, hearing the cub’s words, he rubbed his hair and said in a low, hoarse voice, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) “Daddy missed you too.”
During this stretch of time, Mansendis...
His cub had disappeared, and with that, the most important part of him had vanished too.
Again and again, all he could think about was the image of the cub clinging to him sweetly and asking when he would come back.
Mansendis had never imagined that by the time he returned, his Zhizhi would be gone.
As every lead failed one after another, even Mansendis no longer knew how he had managed to endure it.
Inside, he felt hollow, as if he had gone back to how he used to be, with every trace of emotion being stripped away bit by bit along with that child’s disappearance.
This should have been the state most familiar to him.
Lonely. Empty.
For countless days and nights after ascending the throne, that was how Mansendis had lived.
And yet that state had been broken by the arrival of a single cub.
Wen Yuzhi’s appearance had gradually taught him what it felt like to be a father, and had made him understand what blood-bound family truly meant.
More than that, the cub’s very existence tugged at his emotions every moment of every day, bringing him joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, making his world come alive.
Rather than saying the child could not live without the father, it would be more accurate to say that now it was he, the father, who could not live without his child.
After experiencing a bond like that, there was no way Mansendis could ever go back to the life he had before, when there was no cub by his side.
These few days of separation alone had already nearly driven Mansendis mad.
He did not dare imagine it.
If something truly had happened to his child, would his mental power have spiraled completely out of control and made him want to destroy everything?
Fortunately, in the end, his child had still come back...
At that thought, Mansendis took hold of Wen Yuzhi’s hand and pressed the back of the cub’s hand against his cheek, as though using that touch to confirm that his child was really still here beside him.
Only then did the anxiety and unease inside him ease a little.
It was rare for Wen Yuzhi to see such a vulnerable side of Mansendis.
He tightened his own fingers around Daddy’s hand too.
Mansendis’s hand was a full size larger than his. When Wen Yuzhi laid his hand over it, the large and small hands overlapped together like a parent holding a child’s hand.
Mansendis asked, “Does Zhizhi want some milk?”
Actually, Wen Yuzhi did not want to eat anything right now. He had no appetite at all. But seeing the hidden worry in Mansendis’s eyes, he still nodded.
Mond immediately brought over a cup of milk along with some food, and among it was a sandwich.
The moment Wen Yuzhi saw that sandwich, he thought of Xi Heyan and the others still on Blackrock Star.
He pressed his lips together and set the cup down.
“What is it? Are you feeling sick somewhere?”
When Mansendis saw the cub pick up the milk only to put it down again, he thought Wen Yuzhi was feeling unwell.
The other Saint Clan members also turned tense at once, all staring at Wen Yuzhi.
Wen Yuzhi knew they had misunderstood, so he shook his head and said, “I’m not sick... it’s...”
At that point he paused, then looked at Mansendis with some hesitation. “Daddy, can you have Selet prepare a warship? I want to go back and find someone.”
“Find someone?” Mansendis’s eyes darkened slightly.
But Wen Yuzhi did not notice. He was still trying hard to persuade him.
“When I was in the escape pod before, I crash-landed on a planet. The people there saved me. If they hadn’t taken me back with them, I probably would have died out there a long time ago...”
“Don’t say that!”
The moment he heard that word, Mansendis frowned sharply.
At that moment, he was like a lion ready to startle at every blade of grass, absolutely unwilling to allow even the slightest mishap to touch his cub.
Even hearing that word mentioned in passing was unacceptable.
Sensing Mansendis’s tension, Wen Yuzhi hurriedly promised he would not say it again. freēwebnovel.com
“Then the warship...”
“I’ll have Selet prepare a warship,” Mansendis agreed.
Wen Yuzhi’s eyes brightened instantly. He was just about to say that he wanted to go too, when Mansendis seemed to see through his intention in advance.
The silver-haired sovereign said in a firm tone, “But you can’t go.”
“The people you want to find—Selet and the soldiers will find them for you. But you have to stay by my side.”
From the moment Wen Yuzhi had been found again, Mansendis had already made up his mind.
To make sure something like this never happened again, he would never let his child leave his sight.
With him watching personally, no one would ever take his child away from him again.
Mansendis rarely spoke to Wen Yuzhi in such a forceful tone.
In the past, as long as the cub acted a little spoiled, Mansendis’s attitude would soften immediately. No matter what Wen Yuzhi asked for, he would agree.
Even if the cub asked for the stars in the sky, Mansendis would have sent out fleets and Saint Clan soldiers in great numbers to conquer those beautiful “stars” and bring them down.
But this time, faced with this tiny request from Wen Yuzhi, Mansendis refused no matter what.
And it was not just him. Mond and the others were unwilling too. Wen Yuzhi had only just come back, and they did not want him leaving again to go search for anyone.
Selet, the one being directly named, stepped forward at once and said, “Little highness, please rest. This subordinate will arrange everything.”
With the numbers stacked against him, Wen Yuzhi was alone on one side against all the others. In the end, with no other option, he could only tell Selet, “All right, I won’t go. But Selet, you have to get there quickly.”
“There are a lot of stray beasts on Blackrock Star. There’s also a laboratory there. The researchers inside did gene-modification experiments on the stray beasts, and those stray beasts are very dangerous!”
Wen Yuzhi did not know how he had left that place, nor how he had ended up back with the Saint Clan.
But he still remembered that before he lost consciousness, the stray beasts inside the laboratory had already broken out of their nutrient tanks.
And Xi Heyan and King of Clubs had not left, while the laboratory’s self-destruct countdown had only had ten seconds remaining.
He had no idea whether Xi Heyan and King of Clubs had managed to escape in those final seconds.
He also did not know how Uncle Chong and the others, now that they no longer had a base, were supposed to hold off that many stray beasts.
The moment Wen Yuzhi thought of Blackrock Star, he desperately wanted to know whether those people were safe.
That was why he had wanted to go with Selet himself.
But the Saint Clan had no intention of letting him leave again.
When Mansendis heard Wen Yuzhi mention the laboratory, he glanced at Selet.
The latter gave a quiet nod.
Selet bowed toward Mansendis and Wen Yuzhi, then withdrew.
Since the little highness had specifically said he hoped Selet would get there quickly, Selet did not waste any more time.
The order was given at once.
Very soon, among the vast fleet, several warships abruptly changed course and headed once again toward the human empire.
And their destination was Blackrock Star—the place Wen Yuzhi had spoken of.
.........
On Blackrock Star.
The enormous explosion had blasted a hole clean through the mountainside.
Amid the dust filling the sky and the flames burning everywhere, a faint light was flashing weakly.
“Cough, cough...!”
Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang covered their mouths and noses as they searched frantically through the rubble.
They were not the only ones. Anyone who had escaped and was still able to move had also rushed over to help.
Many of their companions were still buried underneath.
Alive, they wanted to see the person. Dead, they wanted to see the body. No matter what, they would not give up on a single one.
Uncle Chong was found beneath a pile of rocks.
When the old man was found, blood had pooled all over the ground, and his body was covered in multiple bite marks from stray beasts.
The moment Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang saw that scene, their eyes instantly turned red.
Fortunately, Uncle Chong’s injuries were only flesh wounds. He was still alive.
They quickly moved him to an open patch of ground nearby, where a number of injured people were already lying.
Little by little, whether corpses or survivors, nearly everyone was found through their efforts.
In the end, the only ones still unaccounted for were Xi Heyan and King of Clubs, who had stayed behind to cover the rear, and Wen Yuzhi, who had somehow been separated from them.
“They’re here!”
Suddenly someone shouted in joy.
At the very heart of the worst explosion, Xi Heyan and King of Clubs were lying unconscious on the ground. Beside them was a protective barrier device that had already run out of energy.
And the injuries on their bodies were even worse than Uncle Chong’s. Judging from the outside alone, they were practically two blood-soaked men.
Chong Fengxue checked their pulses.
“They’re still alive!”
That was unquestionably good news.
Everyone let out a breath of relief and hurriedly worked together to carry the two of them onto the vehicle King of Clubs had driven there.
Now the only one still missing was Wen Yuzhi.
But the wounded could not be delayed any longer.
Especially Xi Heyan and King of Clubs. They were hurt the most. Even with the protective barrier shielding them, their internal organs had still been badly damaged in the explosion. They needed treatment as soon as possible.
So they decided to split into two groups.
Chong Fengxue would take the injured and leave first. The base was gone, but back when Blackrock City still existed, the people there had set up a hidden base out in the snowfields. They planned to head there first and regroup.
Meanwhile, Chong Fengshuang would stay behind with several others and continue searching for any trace of Wen Yuzhi.
