OVPBM 35 Part 2

He appeared remarkably meticulous. In just a few short days, he had thoroughly grasped the experiment.

Most importantly, unlike those nobles earlier, he did not treat the human military academy students who had volunteered as “lab rats”.

Apart from being a touch too innocent and lacking a deep understanding of the Empire’s darkness or a person’s heart, everything else about him was nearly perfect. 

“Very well,” Lu Yunwan said with a nod. “We will adjust it according to Your Highness’s suggestion.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.” The young man inclined his head slightly and forwarded the proposal to the Imperial Military Academy.

At the same time, he committed Lu Yunwan’s reaction to memory.

…Lu Yunwan had once told him, ‘Your eyes are untainted. They’re just like mine were back then.’

Chu Xuanzhou had not merely remembered those words. He had begun to seriously investigate and learn about Lu Yunwan’s past.

He wanted to know what kind of person Lu Yunwan had once been.

There was an overwhelming amount of information about him on StarNet, making it impossible to tell fact from fiction. It was far from a simple task.

Yet even before uncovering what had happened in those years, one concept known throughout the interstellar realm already lay before Chu Xuanzhou: Lu Yunwan had once been humankind’s hope.

That was precisely why Chu Xuanzhou had deliberately shown concern for humans in front of him.

Everything now confirmed that his speculation seemed correct.

* * *

As the assistant to the Regent, Chu Xuanzhou possessed basic authority to assist with official matters and manage schedules.

If it had been the original host, he would certainly have guarded himself carefully against his assistant.

But this “Regent,” hopelessly infatuated with Chu Xuanzhou and wishing the young man would one day kill him, clearly had no intention of doing that.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chu Xuanzhou swiftly familiarized himself with everything related to Planet Cangrui.

He even began bypassing Lu Yunwan entirely, taking it upon himself to “help” by handling certain unnecessary matters.

The Regent turned a blind eye, indulging him to the extreme.

Several weeks later, on Planet Cangrui.

A youth with brown hair in a pale green knit sweater strode briskly down the corridor and stopped outside the Regent’s study. More than a dozen guards were trailing behind him.

“Move,” he said with visible displeasure, glaring at Chu Xuanzhou as he attempted to bypass him and enter directly. “I need to see the Regent.”

“My apologies, Mr. Lu. His Excellency the Regent is currently occupied. Please wait a moment,” Chu Xuanzhou replied expressionlessly.

“Occupied?” At this, the youth let out a cold laugh. “Did Brother Yunwan tell Your Highness that you may make decisions on his behalf?”

Lu Sirong spoke through clenched teeth.

—He was not referring only to the present moment.

Ever since learning of Lu Yunwan’s experimental plan, Lu Sirong, who had previously maintained little presence, had inexplicably become active.

He had sent countless messages, hoping to stop or alter Lu Yunwan’s decision.

Yet every single one of them had been intercepted by Chu Xuanzhou.

“Continuing the experiment is His Excellency the Regent’s own decision.”

Recently, exhausted from keeping up the act, Lu Yunwan had no energy left to placate Lu Sirong. He had simply let Chu Xuanzhou handle those messages for him.

“I know,” Lu Sirong snapped irritably, “Which is why I want to persuade Brother Yunwan in person. Your Highness, please let me in.”

Despite addressing him as “Your Highness”, his tone had long since reached the brink of impatience.

Though they shared the same bloodline, the much younger Lu Sirong was far more outspoken and impulsive than Lu Yunwan.

In previous encounters, Lu Sirong had treated Chu Xuanzhou as if he did not exist.

But this time, Chu Xuanzhou’s behavior had truly provoked him.

“Move aside.”

Seeing that Chu Xuanzhou remained unmoved, Lu Sirong abandoned restraint and directly lashed out with his mental power.

—Although inferior to Lu Yunwan’s, Lu Sirong’s mental power was still considered top-tier among humans.

Against Chu Xuanzhou, whose mental power had only just awakened to 4%, he held an overwhelming advantage.

In an instant, a sharp pain shot toward Chu Xuanzhou’s mental core.

“Mr. Lu!” The guards following behind Lu Sirong hurried forward, yet one was the Regent’s biological younger brother, and the other was his… lover. For a moment, they had no idea how to intervene.

Chu Xuanzhou frowned slightly. He cared deeply for Lu Yunwan, but that did not mean he would extend the same courtesy to Lu Sirong.

The merman’s instincts urged his mental power to activate, but in the next second, he forcibly suppressed the impulse.

No one knew yet that his mental power had already awakened.

He staggered back two steps and braced himself against the wall, teeth clenched.

As the pain surged through him, a thought suddenly arose in his mind.

Though his mental power had already “awakened”, 4% was negligible.

If he wished to obtain authority and reach deeper layers of power, then he had to “become” stronger.

Whether in mental power or in the bloodline of a top-tier merman.

Lu Sirong’s sudden attack was the perfect opportunity for his mental power to “awaken further.”

In a place no one could see, the silver-haired merman allowed a faint smile to curve his lips. There was not a trace of pain on his face.

He slowly raised a hand to his forehead, recalling the memories of the day his mental power had first awakened.

After several seconds, Chu Xuanzhou lowered his hand and lifted his gaze toward Lu Sirong.

“You—” Lu Sirong saw that the deep violet of Chu Xuanzhou’s eyes had suddenly flared red.

The merman’s gaze was cold, dangerous, filled with hatred, like blades carving into him.

Lu Sirong, who moments ago had attacked Chu Xuanzhou without restraint, instinctively retreated, his shoulder slamming hard against the wall.

Before he had time to react, an overwhelming surge of mental power descended upon him.

It was suffocating.

Then came searing pain.

“Ah!”

Lu Sirong screamed and crashed heavily to the floor.

As agony exploded at the back of his head, realization finally dawned on him.

Chu Xuanzhou used mental power to attack me?!

Though it had lasted only an instant, Lu Sirong could tell that Chu Xuanzhou’s mental power was absolutely not the rumored 4%!

Under the oppressive force of that mental power, everyone else in the corridor scattered in panic.

Chu Xuanzhou’s pupils contracted sharply. He regarded Lu Sirong with the cold scrutiny of a dangerous beast stripped of reason.

Of course, Chu Xuanzhou, whose mental power had long since awakened, had not lost consciousness. He was merely seizing this chance to teach the person he despised a lesson.

Chu Xuanzhou did not like that Lu Yunwan cared about Lu Sirong.

“Your Highness?!”

Inside the study, Lu Yunwan sensed the abnormal fluctuation of mental power in the corridor and quickly pushed the door open.

At the same time, Chu Xuanzhou, who had been standing there just moments ago, suddenly began coughing violently. He collapsed heavily to the ground, bracing himself on one knee to keep from falling completely.

Lu Yunwan bent down at once, placing a hand on Chu Xuanzhou’s back, then turned his head and cast a cold glance at the guards. “What happened?”

The piercing agony in his mental core had not yet subsided. Lu Sirong was in such pain that he could not utter a single word.

Unlike Lu Sirong, who had been struck by Chu Xuanzhou’s mental power, the others had not yet realized that Chu Xuanzhou’s mental power had already “awakened”.

“Just now… uh,” the guard at the front hesitated for a few seconds before answering honestly, “Mr. Lu used mental power to attack His Highness.”

Lu Yunwan saw that Chu Xuanzhou’s expression was filled with pain. His brows were tightly drawn together, and the color had drained from his lips.

Most importantly… Lu Yunwan could sense a powerful surge of mental power emanating from him.

The protagonist’s mental power had awakened!

Lu Yunwan had never expected this. He had gone to great lengths to avoid any stimulus that might trigger Chu Xuanzhou’s awakening, fearing that, just as in the original novel, hatred would drive him into a brief loss of reason, and he would slaughter everyone nearby.

Who would have thought that despite all precautions, Lu Sirong would still cause disaster?

Fortunately, Lu Yunwan could feel that Chu Xuanzhou’s mental power had not fully awakened.

“Your Highness, come inside with me first,” he murmured close to Chu Xuanzhou’s ear.

Afraid that Chu Xuanzhou’s mental power would awaken completely and lead to indiscriminate killing as in the original story, Lu Yunwan decided immediately to remove him from the scene.

The merman seemed to struggle through the haze to recognize Lu Yunwan’s voice. After a few seconds, he endured the pain and slowly rose to his feet.

Seeing this, Lu Yunwan released a breath of relief and stood as well, issuing a swift order to those around them. “Take Lu Sirong away.”

“Yes, Your Excellency the Regent!”

Upon receiving the command, the guards hurriedly lifted Lu Sirong, who was still too distressed to speak, and quickly retreated down the corridor.

Silence fell almost instantly.

“Your Excellency…” Chu Xuanzhou murmured unconsciously. Without warning, he bent forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Lu Yunwan from behind, pressing his lips to the side of his neck.

Lu Yunwan’s body shuddered.

Recalling the sensation from the first time his bloodline had awakened, Chu Xuanzhou displayed an unusual degree of dependence on him.

His mental power surged erratically in all directions.

“Your Highness, I’m here.” Startled by the sudden embrace, Lu Yunwan’s first impulse was to push him away. But once he realized what was happening, he forcibly suppressed the urge.

The Regent gave a faint smile and slowly raised his hand, brushing gently through Chu Xuanzhou’s hair.

“Do not be afraid, Your Highness.”

Turning slightly, Lu Yunwan pressed a soft kiss to Chu Xuanzhou’s forehead. Then he gradually released his own mental power, winding it around Chu Xuanzhou’s chaotic, frenzied force, soothing and steadying it.

In the end, Lu Yunwan’s mental power flowed into Chu Xuanzhou’s mental core like clear water.

“Does it still hurt?” he asked softly.

Chu Xuanzhou’s heart gradually eased, like a stranded fish returned to the deep sea.

Sheltered behind the pretense of mental power awakening and losing control, he finally allowed himself to speak the two syllables he had been holding in. 

“Yunwan…”

Lu Yunwan paused.

Once again, he placed a gentle, reassuring kiss between Chu Xuanzhou’s brows.

At last, Chu Xuanzhou settled down.

Just as Lu Yunwan believed the awakening was about to end and the mental core was stabilizing, the scene before his eyes shifted abruptly, and a sensation of weightlessness struck—

The glaring cold lights on the corridor ceiling shone directly into Lu Yunwan’s eyes.

Chu Xuanzhou had dragged him down, and they crashed heavily onto the black corridor floor of the Regent’s residence.

The stone floor beneath him and the chill radiating from the merman wrapped around him at the same time.

“Yunwan…”

Another murmur brushed against his ear.

𓇼 ˚｡⋆ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞⋆｡˚ 𓇼

Author’s Note:

Lu Sirong (currently being beaten): I never wronged either of you! (?) Brother, look at me, I’m the one who is actually hurt! QAQ He’s faking it, he’s lying to you!!