Cage

Just like⁠⁠​⁠​​‍​‍‌⁠​‍‌​⁠​‍​‌‌‍‌‍ a TV abruptly switching off, the scene before Huo Xianfeng’s eyes plunged into darkness.

But the hatred swelling in his chest didn’t dissipate; instead, it grew, filling him until it seemed his body would burst, burrowing into his soul and threatening to tear him apart.

For some reason, this time Huo Xianfeng couldn’t sever his connection with the clone, unlike when he had linked with Huo Chao.

As a result, he didn’t wake up on a warm, soft bed but remained imprisoned within the clone’s body, trapped in a cage painfully familiar to him.

Due to the high danger Huo Xianfeng displayed earlier, the clone was placed in a new incubation pod—the very same one that was once used to imprison his original body.

Cold, viscous fluid filled the pod again, and countless tubes were reconnected to his body. Outside the pod, an array of strange white columns emitted bizarre frequencies, forming an invisible barrier.

—A mental shield device.

This was the same device used earlier to sever Huo Xianfeng’s connection to Bright Moon. With an increased number of devices and higher energy output, it now trapped him within this body.

“Clones were never designed to have consciousness,” Bernard’s deputy temporarily took over his job. His voice, muffled by the liquid and the protective glass, sounded distant and vague.

“His Holiness said this consciousness doesn’t belong to Huo Chao. We need to investigate further… perhaps it belongs to Bright City’s…”

The rest of the sentence was lost to Huo Xianfeng, whose mind was chaotic yet desperately trying to find a way out. But he was trapped.

Every decision and every plan that Huo Xianfeng made never had any holes. Each encounter with the Church had ended in overwhelming victory.

Every situation that seemed like dangerous gambits always turned into successes at the last moment.

But his method of skating along the razor’s edge meant a single error could prove fatal.

—And now, he was trapped.

With no way out.

It was as if he’d returned to that long-ago time when he was nothing but a prisoner.

In the void, Huo Xianfeng saw a massive vortex swirling in the darkness, pulling him down, deeper and deeper, into the abyss of hatred and pain. Yet there was no bottom to this descent.

He was back in the cage.

Fragmented memories swirled around him, forming a chaotic storm in the endless abyss.

These were his memories—truths he had desperately sought since awakening on Earth.

When he had known nothing, Huo Xianfeng never considered himself Huo Chao. Yet he also felt disconnected from the caged Zerg King Cub.

Because Huo Xianfeng had always believed he shouldn’t be like that—dark, twisted, hysterical, paranoid, and cruel.

He was supposed to be confident, carefree, and unrestrained.

Free of limits. Free of chains.

Huo Xianfeng had always looked down on everyone—be it generals, lords, emperors, or even Huo Chao, the supposedly unmatched. He could always laugh dismissively and say, “I can surpass that.”

—That was how a King should be.

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It turns out he was once so powerless, so tortured, so humiliated, and even failed to grow up. He did not succeed in revenge until his death, and even implicated the Zergs and was almost exterminated.

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Huo Xianfeng had become everything he loathed—hysterical, paranoid, and as crazed as a beast consumed by hatred.

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Kill them!

Kill them all!!!

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[Xiao Feng!]

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[Xiao Feng… wait for me…]

The blood-soaked memories replayed over and over, forcing Huo Xianfeng to confront every detail. The endless cycle eroded his sense of time.

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“Huo Xianfeng, wake up…”

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Everyone in the room broke out in a cold sweat.

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Only Jiang Ci was allowed to approach.

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Aside from those checks, such as blood tests, internal scans, or more detailed examinations, nothing else could be done. In his dormant defensive state, needles couldn’t pierce Huo Xianfeng’s skin, and human medical instruments couldn’t scan his internal structure.

Finally, Dr. Wen could only shake his head,
“I’m sorry, A-Ci. Uncle Wen can’t do anything more.”

Since Huo Xianfeng fell unconscious, the normally quiet and reserved Nora had become irritable and short-tempered. It wasn’t just her; the entire Zerg race had entered a state of agitation.

They surrounded the First Legion, attempting to take Huo Xianfeng away. A small panic broke out within the First Legion, but Zhou Jiuya managed to suppress it.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ci quickly sought out Nora, calmed her down, and asked her to temporarily stabilize the Zerg forces.

Huo Xianfeng had once explained that the Zerg hierarchy was extremely strict, and higher-level Zerg inherently suppressed lower-level ones. With him incapacitated, the next highest-ranking individual was Nora.

[Alright]

Nora nodded.

Thus, the situation was barely stabilized.

However, Jiang Ci still couldn’t determine the cause of Huo Xianfeng’s unconsciousness. There were no signs, and apart from being in a coma, he exhibited no other symptoms. It was as if he were merely sleeping.

Jiang Ci knew too little about the Zergs. Nora, unable to explain clearly, anxiously repeated,
“The King is gone, can’t find him… can’t find him…”

“But he’s right here,” Jiang Ci said, perplexed.

He is here!

Nora shook her head, repeating in distress,
“The King’s light… is gone…”

In the Zergs’ spiritual network, the King’s presence was represented by a dazzling sun, while other Zerg appeared as starlight.

“What does ‘light’ mean?”

Nora couldn’t explain further. The Zergs’ spiritual network was an innate part of their being, much like how a child can’t explain why their words are understood when spoken.

At this moment, Jiang Ci gripped Huo Xianfeng’s hand tightly and was on the verge of breaking down.

—Because he didn’t understand.

He couldn’t grasp what Nora was trying to say.

Jiang Ci knew Huo Xianfeng could control the Zergs, but he didn’t know the method involved the Zergs’ spiritual network. The connection between Huo Xianfeng and Huo Chao was also the secret that allowed them to coexist within the Church.

They had agreed never to reveal it to anyone.

So, for years, no one knew—not even Bernard, who had overseen the Zerg King experiments, nor the Pope, who had always monitored Huo Chao.

Jiang Ci didn’t know either.

Huo Xianfeng’s sudden coma filled him with a terror so overwhelming that he couldn’t think clearly. Because Jiang Jinsheng had also been in a coma for a long time before his death.

Since Huo Xianfeng’s coma, Jiang Ci had stayed by his side, just as he had done years ago when they first arrived on Winter Day Planet. He remained by Huo Xianfeng’s side without leaving.

But this time was different. That time, it had been due to exhaustion from overusing his abilities. This time, it wasn’t.