Sixty-three

Bian Yu was quite a prominent figure within the Imperial Military Academy, practically serving as the right-hand man to the student president. As soon as he appeared, many surrounding military cadets cast curious glances his way, especially upon noticing that a Silver Star student was standing right across from him.

"What? Didn't you get your head handed to you enough this year? You want a repeat next year?" Yuan Hanshuang raised an eyebrow.

Fully aware of the arrogance characteristic of these imperial prodigies, she deliberately left her words uncompromising. Remembering their very first encounter in the lecture hall, when Bian Yu had exuded such an impossibly arrogant aura, she knew deep down that this type of person was like stubborn adhesive tape—they simply wouldn't behave without getting beaten up a few times.

To her utter surprise, upon hearing her remark, Bian Yu froze, and the flush on his cheeks intensified rather than faded. "Alright, sounds great!"

Yuan Hanshuang: "???" Why are you blushing like a teapot?!

Not only was this guy a social clumsy bore, but he was probably an absolute masochist too!

"Wait! I didn't mean it that way!"

Under the eerie gaze of a nearby junior female student, Bian Yu finally realized his words could be misconstrued and hurriedly waved his hands to backtrack. "I just really admire juniors like you who fight hand-to-hand, face-to-face, combining sheer power and impact with both courage and wits—melee fighters who never shy away from combat. Most importantly, you're fierce! Hahahahaha, I haven't seen a melee fighter with this much blood and arrogance in ages! You've got my kind of temperament. Not bad, right up my alley!"

The more he spoke, the smoother his flow became, as if he had finally managed to convince himself as well. He grew increasingly impassioned, "This is how we melee fighters should throw down! We should be talking trash while exchanging blows! I've been sick of those three rear-line branches for the longest time. You probably didn't know this, but I had a duel scheduled with Yun Liu before—our academy's control branch chief. All he knew how to do was kite me, utterly disgusting."

Yun Liu, the innocent control branch chief who caught a stray bullet: ?

"Junior, even though you're only Class A, I've got high hopes for you. It's just that by next year's tournament, I'll definitely have advanced to Tier 5 by then... wait, you're already mid-Tier 4? That was fast!"

Bian Yu's eyes lit up instantly. "Too bad our Imperial Military Academy is just too formidable. Unlike those rookie freshmen, the senior-year chief council of our batch is a regular galactic dreadnought. Your Silver Star probably won't stand a chance to reach the third round to play us in the team matches next year, though the first round still has some hope."

Should she call this guy emotionally clueless or utterly brainless? How could anyone say such deflating things? Clearly, he was the one looking for a fight, yet he still paused to boast about how awesome his school was. And he still expected to brawl with her?

"Yeah, yeah, fine, I'll beat your head in next year. Excuse me."

Yuan Hanshuang felt her head throbbing from the chatter and simply gave up on entertaining Bian Yu further.

However, the latter seemed completely oblivious to how irritating he was being and naturally trotted along behind her like a little tail. "By the way, Junior Yuan, feel free to come over to the Imperial Military Academy to spar whenever you're free! Even though we're rivals, I really admire your ancient martial arts. How about we exchange comm-links?"

If any of Bian Yu's Capital Star drinking buddies had witnessed this, their jaws probably would have dropped to the floor. After all, this guy was usually wildly arrogant and unruly; they had never seen him act so submissive to anyone.

Annoyed beyond measure and searching for a way to shake him off, Yuan Hanshuang suddenly spotted someone ahead and her face lit up. "President Lou."

Standing before the towering service desk of the library was none other than the Radiant Saint Son with his signature silver hair.

Hearing her voice, he turned his head slightly. Splashes of playful sunlight skipped across from the side and landed on the tips of his flowing hair, as though studded with a string of glittering stars.

"Ah, good afternoon." Though blind, he could feel a golden-red sun drifting into his spiritual perception, causing Lou Cai to involuntarily curve the corners of his lips.

Seeing him, Yuan Hanshuang genuinely felt like she was looking at an angel for a fleeting moment.

She quickly quickened her pace to walk over, conveniently pulling the book out of her spatial storage. "I've finished the thesis. Thank you so much for the book, President Lou; it was a huge help."

"Just call me Lou Cai."

"Alright, Senior Lou."

Bian Yu, trailing behind them, glanced between Yuan Hanshuang and his own president, a strange feeling inexplicably welling up in his chest.

"Junior, why do you call the president senior? I'm a senior too!" he muttered grumpily.

Yuan Hanshuang replied coldly, "If you transfer to Silver Star right now, I'll call you senior."

"The president isn't from Silver Star either!"

"True, but I really like your president. He's a good person."

The two military cadets present froze instantly.

Neither of them expected Yuan Hanshuang to deliver such a direct, straight-shooting remark.

Though everyone knew full well that this "like" was not that kind of "like," for passionate youths and maidens, the word inevitably carried a fair share of adolescent ambiguity.

The strange feeling in Bian Yu's heart grew even stronger. Lou Cai's smile remained unchanged, albeit tinged with a bit of helplessness.

"Alright, I have my own business at the Imperial Military Academy library today, let's chat another time."

In contrast, Yuan Hanshuang acted as unconcerned as could be, as if she had just uttered the most mundane and ordinary statement. "Bye-bye."

With a wave of her hand, she walked straight toward the electronic library section nestled deep within the military academy's library.

"Wait, Junior, we haven't added each other as friends yet!"

Lou Cai produced a book and held it up to block his path. "Now then, don't you have an imperial history paper to write today? If you come begging to borrow my notes at the last minute next time, I won't lend them to you for copying."

"Fine."

Despite being the melee branch chief, Bian Yu—whose humanities grades languished at the very bottom every single time—had no choice but to halt his steps. His combat scores and academic scores exhibited an extreme polarization, dangerously leaning toward the profile of a muscle-bound idiot. To make matters worse, the Imperial Military Academy had exceptionally strict GPA requirements; insufficient credits meant being held back a grade.

Meanwhile, having successfully shaken off Bian Yu's harassment, Yuan Hanshuang stepped into the electronic library.

The electronic library connected to the military academy's archives, situated deeper within the building and linked to the clock tower of the same structure. Here, heavily armed soldiers of the Third Legion could be seen on duty.

Yuan Hanshuang swiped her borrowing card and then her student ID, passing through only after her credentials were verified.

The moment she stepped inside, she caught a whiff of an extremely distant yet familiar fragrance. As luck would have it, it was drifting from the direction of the clock tower.

Yuan Hanshuang: "!!!"

Though five years had passed, that scent was still deeply engraved in her bones.

Strange, does the Imperial Military Academy have a silver apple tree too?

Suspiciously, she glanced toward the clock tower several times, only to be forced to retract her gaze under the stern glares of several soldiers.

Associating this with the deployment of an entire legion, Yuan Hanshuang felt she had probably hit the nail on the head to some extent. After all, from overhearing the conversation between Lou Cai and the Black Prince back when she was stranded on a low-level contaminated star, she knew that silver apples were exceedingly rare and precious treasures; wherever one appeared, bloodshed and chaos inevitably followed.

Setting that thought aside, Yuan Hanshuang walked up to a public console.

The Imperial Military Academy valued privacy highly; once someone swiped their card to activate a console, a transparent barrier would rise around it to block the view of others.

Taking advantage of this, Yuan Hanshuang stood expressionless before the console, zoning out.

She knew very well that her arrival had already sent a signal to those two behind-the-scenes figures. Unless she were a fool, she wouldn't actually use this console to search for anything or whip out the clearance card she bought from the black market. After all, in the digital world, preserving or recovering historical logs was no difficult task.

Sure enough, moments later, the privacy barriers on all the consoles in the electronic library were simultaneously lowered.

Before long, every military cadet currently using a public console was temporarily notified of an urgent matter and hurriedly rushed out of the area, leaving the cavernous library instantly silent.

Five more minutes elapsed before Yuan Hanshuang proactively dropped her own privacy barrier.

As expected, standing at the entrance of the library were two familiar figures.

"Principal Feng, Teacher Feng," she greeted politely.

Feng Yuanming, his hair frosted with white, stared intently at her. The battle-hardened veteran lieutenant general, who had made a name for himself decades ago, prided himself on being a master of emotional control. Yet, facing this scene, he still struggled to suppress the rise and fall of his chest, overwhelmed by a sense of settled dust and profound relief.

"This is not the place to talk."

Compared to him, Feng Bai appeared considerably steadier. "Please follow us, Student Yuan."

Once outside the electronic zone, Yuan Hanshuang realized that the heavily armed Third Legion soldiers she had seen at the entrance earlier had doubled in number, patrolling throughout the entire Imperial Military Academy library. Meanwhile, those ubiquitous military cadets had vanished—she reasonably suspected some evacuation protocol had been enacted.

Feng Bai lowered his voice, "Don't worry, they're our people."

Almost simultaneously with his words, those soldiers—who had previously worn stern, unsmiling expressions—also looked over. The moment their gazes met Yuan Hanshuang's, they unanimously broke into stiff smiles.

Stiff though they were, the sincerity and excitement radiating through those smiles were unmistakable, resembling parched travelers in a desert who suddenly spotted an oasis, their eyes glowing with desperate green light.

Yuan Hanshuang: "..."

Well, you can't deny it; looking at that was rather terrifying.

Following the two military officers, they ventured deeper into the library, arriving at the central command room on the second floor.

The command room was completely empty. As soon as they stepped inside, Feng Bai skillfully activated the command room's highest security mode and pulled up the full campus surveillance feeds.

Pale blue light screens hung suspended in mid-air, offering views of everything transpiring within the military academy from every conceivable angle.

Feng Yuanming glanced sideways at Feng Bai, who nodded in response. "It has been confirmed in advance; everyone nearby is one of us. Wei Wenwei has also just had the remnants of our old faction stationed at the battleship issue a communication, urgently transferring him away."

"The Radiant Saint Son was present just now. Is there any chance he noticed something during the evacuation?"

"The Radiant Temple has always stayed out of these matters. The Pope is gravely ill and hasn't appeared in public for nearly two years now. Even with the Saint Son's transcendent genius, his foundation is still too shallow to meddle in the internal power struggles of the Empire."

"You are right."

Assured that no one would interrupt them, the two men turned their attention back to Yuan Hanshuang.

Compared to his casual demeanor in the classroom earlier, Feng Yuanming's expression had turned vastly gentler, and even Feng Bai's perpetually stern face softened considerably.

"Apologize for this, but the matter is of monumental importance. For the sake of a final confirmation, we may need to run a DNA collection to conclusively verify your identity."

Since she was already here, and forcibly resisting was out of the question—she certainly didn't fancy her chances overpowering a Tier 7 talent and a Tier 8 talent—Yuan Hanshuang extended her hand quite readily.

Naturally, the military possessed its own portable DNA testing equipment; a single drop of blood was all it took to swiftly verify lineage.

Moments later, the light screen flashed with a brilliant, dazzling golden light—the hallmark signature of members of the imperial royal family.

Coupled with the photograph Feng Bai had glimpsed outside the captain's quarters years ago, alongside the indisputable proof of royal heritage, no further meticulous testing was necessary. Her true identity was plain as day.

"Young Sovereign."

Stowing away the testing device, they drew a sharp breath, abruptly pressing one hand over their hearts as their eye rims grew moist.

A full twenty years of searching, years of radio silence and unknown fates... all of it, thankfully, had finally paid off thanks to persistent efforts.

Regardless of what positions the two men held, given the immense contributions Feng Yuanming had made during the apocalyptic insect swarm, Yuan Hanshuang felt rather embarrassed and hastily stepped aside to dodge the salute.

Seeing her dodge, Feng Yuanming chuckled and shook his head.

"Let me reintroduce myself. I am a close confidant of your father and the former lieutenant general of the Third Legion. This is my son, currently a lieutenant general of the Third Legion, and the highest-ranking officer currently holding a post within the legion among the old guard."

Yuan Hanshuang frowned. "Old guard means...?"