OVPBM 21

Chapter 21 – A Light Pull of the Trigger Could End the Regent’s Absurd and Ridiculous Life.

What happened at the Empire’s administrative meeting quickly reached Pei Zhaoan’s ears.

Lu Yunwan had no interest in what the other party thought. With effortless ease, he turned and boarded a starship, leaving the Capital Planet behind.

—As a human, Lu Yunwan truly did not want to stay on the Capital Planet for even one more day!

* * *

Outside the starship’s viewport flowed a silent river of stars. At the end of the route hovered a massive rose-colored planet.

Lu Yunwan was still wearing the same military uniform as before, though now a black cloak trailed from his shoulders to the floor.

He rose from the sofa and gently traced the outline of that rose with his fingers. “This is the planet that belongs to Your Highness.”

Every imperial prince and princess, upon turning eighteen, would receive a planet entirely their own. Administration and taxation were wholly under their control.

From that point on, the planet would also become their personal symbol.

Unlike the habitable planets under other names, Chu Xuanzhou’s planet had an extremely harsh climate, barren land, and scarce resources. It was classified as an undevelopable, uninhabitable planet.

“Yes, Your Excellency. Its designation is L-6409.” The young man nodded lightly and followed Lu Yunwan’s gaze out the window.

“Mm.” Lu Yunwan suddenly turned back to Chu Xuanzhou and asked, “Does Your Highness not wish to take a look?”

Up to now, Chu Xuanzhou had never set foot on Planet L-6409.

Planet L-6409 was covered in black rock. That beautiful rose hue was, in fact, the lava spewing endlessly from volcanoes across its surface.

The starship was very close to Planet L-6409. The planet’s crimson glow reflected onto Lu Yunwan’s face, lending a hint of color to his illness-paled skin.

In the depths of Lu Yunwan’s dark eyes, Chu Xuanzhou saw rose-colored flames. For a split second, it gave him the illusion of being scorched.

The young man slowly lowered his gaze. After a few seconds of silence, he smiled and shook his head. “There’s no need, Your Excellency. Planet L-6409 is very ordinary. There is nothing worth seeing.”

Although he said so, the starship still gradually approached Planet L-6409. In the blink of an eye, raging fire filled the viewport.

Aside from volcanoes, Planet L-6409 had nothing. The air was thick with toxic gases, and the temperatures were abnormally extreme.

Lu Yunwan had brought Chu Xuanzhou here, of course, not for sightseeing.

At present, the Empire was still running steadily, and internal affairs were stable. For the time being, no one had discovered that the planet designated L-6409 happened to lie at the intersection of seven critical routes.

In the later stages of 《 The Merfolk Empire 》, several major wars would erupt near Planet L-6409.

Lu Yunwan felt it necessary to make Chu Xuanzhou take it seriously in advance.

At this moment, unaware of all that, Chu Xuanzhou’s eyes held faint helplessness. He even looked somewhat dejected.

Lu Yunwan felt a surge of sympathy.

…The royal family really knew how to treat people differently depending on their status.

In an Empire ruled by merfolk, blue and all things related to water were revered. Yet Planet L-6409 was wrapped in raging flames.

With its extremely harsh natural conditions, Planet L-6409 was what interstellar society commonly called a “garbage planet.” To make it Chu Xuanzhou’s symbol was no different from mockery.

“Your Highness, this planet is very beautiful.” Lu Yunwan walked over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Chu Xuanzhou by the viewport. Narrowing his eyes, he gazed at the rose-colored planet. “It suits you perfectly.”

Chu Xuanzhou could not help turning to look at the person beside him.

…What does the Regent mean?

He believed Lu Yunwan was not someone who would use Planet L-6409 to ridicule him.

Sure enough, Lu Yunwan smiled. As the Empire’s Regent, he brazenly said, “You are destined to be different from those parasitic nobles.”

“Me?” Lu Yunwan’s words startled Chu Xuanzhou.

Throughout the Empire and even across the entire interstellar realm, no one dared to say such a thing.

Lu Yunwan was human, but as the Regent, he was also a symbol of the Empire and the royal family.

By all logic and sentiment, he should not have said that.

The starship slowly departed from Planet L-6409. Not only did Lu Yunwan show no intention of retracting his earlier words, but his smile also grew even more unrestrained.

He was like the flames that had burned upon Planet L-6409 for millions of years, reckless and beautiful.

Lu Yunwan turned slightly and leaned close to Chu Xuanzhou’s ear. “Flames mean destruction and rebirth. Your Highness is destined to be the one who sets new rules.”

Warm breath slipped down through Chu Xuanzhou’s collar, like a thin current of electricity wandering across his skin.

The youth’s fingers trembled involuntarily.

“Someday, you will make Planet L-6409 and its rose-colored flames symbols of power and glory.”

Chu Xuanzhou could not help widening his violet eyes. He saw it clearly… Lu Yunwan was displaying his ambition to him without the slightest concealment.

He did not know why Lu Yunwan would place such trust in him, an illegitimate son with zero mental power and no background on the Capital Planet… Saying it out loud sounded like a joke.

Chu Xuanzhou doubted all of this. Yet Lu Yunwan’s gaze plainly said that he was serious.

Having grown up on a lower-class planet with his socialite mother, Chu Xuanzhou had only ever cared about survival. But after encountering all kinds of people, he had long since developed the ability to see through someone at a glance.

And yet he could never see through Lu Yunwan.

The less he understood him, the more he wanted to draw a little closer…

Bang!

“Warning! Warning!”

“Route intrusion!”

A piercing alarm suddenly rang out, and the starship jolted violently.

Something was attempting to attack them!

“Your Highness, stay here and do not move. I’ll go to the cockpit.”

Lu Yunwan had just turned when Chu Xuanzhou grabbed his wrist from behind. “I’ll go with you.”

In that instant, the glow of Planet L-6409’s flames fell into those deep violet eyes. They were filled with resolve.

His mental power had not yet awakened, but Lu Yunwan could already see in him the shadow of the decisive, battle-hardened ruler who would conquer the interstellar realm in 《 The Merfolk Empire 》.

They still did not know what was happening along the route. He could not let him be alone.

After a brief pause, Lu Yunwan finally nodded and led the protagonist, who had no mental power, toward the forward cabin.

Yet the moment he stepped into the corridor and saw the dark red carpet, Lu Yunwan laughed.

“Your Highness, I just remembered something very interesting.”

“What is it, Your Excellency?” The youth’s brows had at some point drawn tightly together.

The alarm inside the starship had not stopped. Because of the earlier impact, the massive vessel had veered off course and was drifting toward Planet L-6409. Outside the viewport, torrents of lava cascaded downward.

And yet Lu Yunwan actually laughed at a time like this.

“We just visited the Capital Planet,” he said. “Ever since I became the Regent, His Majesty had issued a new regulation to prevent me from launching a coup and killing him. Do you know what it is?”

This so-called “new regulation” applied only to Lu Yunwan alone. Chu Xuanzhou hesitated, then slowly shook his head.

Lu Yunwan lightly tapped the wall of the starship with his cane. He stopped outside the cockpit and said to Chu Xuanzhou, “Whenever I travel to and from the Capital Planet, I may only use a Z-type starship.”

Outside the viewport, flames blazed across the sky. Inside the cockpit, Lu Yunwan’s subordinates were struggling to control the vessel.

Everything pointed to danger.

Yet Lu Yunwan’s smile was dazzling, utterly out of place with the peril around him.

A Z-type starship was the highest class of commercial luxury vessel.

It was a luxury item flying through the cosmos. But being classified as “Z-type” meant it could not be equipped with any weapons.

In other words, Lu Yunwan had almost no means of retaliation.

No… To be precise, not almost. None at all.

The smile on Lu Yunwan’s face grew wider and wider… At last, he could not help cursing inwardly.

Damn it!!

We’re done for!

As someone born in the apocalyptic era, even though panic made his heart feel as if it might stop at any moment, Lu Yunwan’s control over his expression remained impeccable.

Before Chu Xuanzhou could fully grasp the meaning of his words, Lu Yunwan smiled and let out a soft sigh. He stepped past him, cane in hand, and walked into the forward cabin.

Three gigantic mecha hovered directly in front of the starship.

Unlike Lu Yunwan’s side, which had nothing, the mecha were fully armed.

“Your Excellency the Regent, he… um, we’ve encountered an unidentified attack.” Besides prohibiting weapons on the starship, Chu Zhang had also decreed that Lu Yunwan could not bring senior pilots or military officers with him when traveling to the Capital Planet.

The starship’s pilots were young and inexperienced, and most importantly, had never set foot on a battlefield.

Lu Yunwan gave a light nod and stepped before the viewing window, facing the mecha directly.

One second.

Three seconds.

Ten seconds…

Half a minute passed in the blink of an eye.

To the astonishment of Chu Xuanzhou, the soldiers aboard the starship, and even the people inside the opposing mecha, the Regent remained standing silently before the window. He stared straight at the mecha, allowing the starship to continue drifting off course.

What is he doing?!

The intense light outside the window nearly swallowed Lu Yunwan’s figure whole. From Chu Xuanzhou’s angle, he looked as though he had merged into the blaze itself.

Lu Yunwan slowly raised a hand to straighten his collar, then pressed his fingertips against the cold glass of the window.

From his back alone, Chu Xuanzhou actually sensed an emotion called “calm.”

In that instant, Chu Xuanzhou recalled the scene of Lu Yunwan piloting a mecha straight toward a star that day, and the… anticipation of death in his eyes.

The atmosphere suddenly froze.

No one aboard the starship dared disturb the Regent at such a moment. As for the people inside the mecha, his composure made them suspect that Lu Yunwan might have some hidden trump card. They halted in place and watched nervously.

In truth, Lu Yunwan also felt that the main villain Regent in the original story would never passively wait to be beaten. It was impossible that this starship had no escape systems or weapons installed.

But the fatal problem was that the shell called “Lu Yunwan” had long since been replaced by him. Whether there were any or not made absolutely no difference!

After a long silence, Lu Yunwan had to admit that the only thing he could do at this moment was to… die as beautifully as possible.

—That was also humanity’s final yearning and hope in the apocalyptic era.

“Your Excellency the Regent,” Chu Xuanzhou said cautiously, “It’s too dangerous for you to stand here.” He stepped half a pace forward, stopping behind Lu Yunwan.

Only then did Lu Yunwan remember. He was probably about to die here, but with the protagonist’s halo, Chu Xuanzhou should be able to remain safe.

With that thought, he suddenly turned around.

Dying beneath a mecha would certainly not be pretty. As someone obsessed with appearances, Lu Yunwan decided to settle his “last affairs” with Chu Xuanzhou at this moment.

“Your Highness, everyone wants to kill me.” Lu Yunwan looked into Chu Xuanzhou’s eyes as he finished speaking. Then he lowered his gaze and smiled.

The slightly upturned corners of his eyes had, at some point, flushed faintly red. He looked as though he were drunk, weary and helpless.

Chu Xuanzhou’s heart sank heavily. The young man realized that… after obtaining everything, Lu Yunwan seemed to have lost interest in continuing to play with the people of this world.

Nothing in this world could stir his emotions anymore. What remained was only emptiness and tedium.

At this moment, he had lost his patience.

Lu Yunwan’s voice was as light as a petal, drifting gently into the depths of Chu Xuanzhou’s heart.

“But I only wish to die in your arms…” Cold fingers slowly caressed Chu Xuanzhou’s cheek. Lu Yunwan’s gaze was as gentle as a spring morning breeze.

He lightly bit off the other glove with the tips of his teeth, revealing pale skin and the thin scar coiled around his wrist.

“Your Excellency, you will not die.” An inexplicable panic rose in Chu Xuanzhou’s heart.

Lu Yunwan shook his head and, in the next breath, drew a black quantum gun from beneath his cloak. It was the only weapon he had been permitted to carry when traveling to the Capital Planet. But against the mecha before them, it was not even worth calling a toy.

What does Lu Yunwan mean by that?!

Chu Xuanzhou took a step back, staring at him in disbelief.

In those beautiful violet eyes, such an emotion had perhaps never appeared before.

Lu Yunwan seized the young man’s wrist, preventing him from retreating.

“What are you doing!”

“Your Highness, take it.”

The human slowly pried apart Chu Xuanzhou’s tightly clenched fingers and pressed the black quantum gun into his hand.

Only then did he finally let out a soft sigh of relief.

The strength of a merfolk was not something Lu Yunwan could rival. Yet in this moment, stunned by his actions, Chu Xuanzhou allowed Lu Yunwan to lift his hand as if he were a puppet.

The dark muzzle of the quantum weapon came to rest against Lu Yunwan’s mental core.

The Regent slowly closed his eyes. “Your Highness, please bury me in the wilderness and plant freesia. If it is too troublesome, scattering a handful of grass seeds will do. Do not send me to the deep sea. Humans do not belong there.”

“As for the coffin… one stalk of bird of paradise will be enough.”

Lu Yunwan tilted his head back slightly, his slender neck looking as though it might snap with the slightest force.

His raven-feather lashes trembled with his breathing, so fragile that Chu Xuanzhou… could not help wanting to kiss them.

The youth’s gaze slowly dropped to his hand.

Unlike that moment in the laboratory when he had gripped Lu Yunwan’s throat, now he only needed to pull the trigger lightly to end the Regent’s grand yet absurd and ridiculous life.

𓇼 ˚｡⋆ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞⋆｡˚ 𓇼

Author’s Note:

Lu Yunwan: I’m tired. Let it all be destroyed! (x)