Trap

edited by Shay

<hr>
“The fact that General Gu Huan stayed at this orphanage, are you sure about this, Team Leader?”

“This matter cannot be just a rumor.”

“But it’s impossible for the team leader to remember something wrong. Have you ever seen the team leader forget something?”

This is very suspicious, isn’t it? Why would people connected to Duke Chu Fengyuan hide in the orphanage where General Gu Huan grew up during his childhood? Previously, they thought that General Gu Huan was helping Duke Chu Fengyuan for some undisclosed reason. Now, it seemed that Duke Chu Fengyuan had been cultivating a group of people for a long time, and the twin girls were specifically trained individuals. How could General Gu Huan, who grew up in that orphanage, be an exception?

Perhaps he’s part of a long-planned scheme.

As they looked around, everyone began to harbor doubts. Chen Weiwei suddenly frowned and reprimanded, “Why are you all thinking wildly? If General Gu Huan were really what you think, he would never have discovered the existence of those twin girls, let alone inform His Highness Chu Xinglin of this matter. Just use your heads, you’ll figure it out. General Gu Huan would never be so foolish as to risk suspicion by revealing such evidence. This is definitely a scheme to sow discord. Don’t fall into this trap. First, report this matter to His Highness, and he will make a decision.”

By saying this, Commander Chen Weiwei was indirectly supporting Gu Huan because he knew that Chu Xinglin and Gu Huan had a strong relationship, so His Highness would definitely take Gu Huan’s side.

“Yes, team leader.”

<hr>

After exiting the virtual world, Chu Xinglin immediately saw the intelligence reports from the reconnaissance team. He instinctively glanced at Gu Huan.

Gu Huan immediately noticed the strange look in Chu Xinglin’s eyes, a mix of concern and, more notably, trust.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Huan asked immediately.

“The twin girls lived in the orphanage where you spent your childhood.”

“…”

Gu Huan finally understood what seemed off to Chu Xinglin.

It turns out it was a trap set for him.

They wanted to make it difficult for him to explain his connection to the twin girls. However, their plan to create discord had no chance of succeeding from the start. Moreover, this incident drew Gu Huan’s attention to something he had been neglecting – the orphanage where he had spent his early years.

In the original novel, such a minor place from the little villain’s childhood had no significant mention. Gu Huan hadn’t come across it in the novel, and he didn’t have the original host’s childhood memories, so he had paid no attention to whether this orphanage was problematic.

As he tapped his forehead and recalled the Empress’ words at his grave, it struck him – he had mentioned sending him to the orphanage…

Left and right, he pondered, and a sudden insight struck him. When he was by the Empress’ side, his psychic power was still expanding, so how did he know that he could control his expanding psychic power? This was related to him being imprisoned in the orphanage.

Therefore, there must be an agent from the Empress among the caretakers at the orphanage, capable of reporting his situation to the Empress at any time.

Gu Huan realized that he had been forgetting one thing from the beginning: investigating the orphanage. And it appeared that everything was leading him there.

“We need to go take a look.”

<hr>

When Mo Xiao landed on the planet, she didn’t find any signs of enemies. There were no traces of human habitation on the planet.

“No way, how could this lush planet be completely uninhabited? It’s such a waste of natural resources,” Andrew said, tapping the soft ground with his mecha’s foot, feeling awkward. He was destroying nature; could he get out of the mecha to investigate?

“Stop dawdling,” Mo Xiao said, giving her orders.

“Conduct a reconnaissance of the area. Report back to me.”

“Yes, Commander,” Andrew replied, saluting with a somewhat clumsy mecha salute.

Mo Xiao watched Andrew’s peculiar gesture, her frown deepening. She recalled that when Commander Andrew was still urging General Gu Huan to provide reinforcements, he had been disciplined. But now that he was no longer the commander, he seemed to have changed.

“Commander Mo Xiao!” Several mechas flew in from all directions.

They were reconnaissance units under Mo Xiao’s command.

“We’ve searched the entire planet and found no other individuals. We discovered a competition’s game warehouse at the orphanage, and it’s certain that the two girls lived there.”

“Our people also found traces of energy. Someone ran away in a flying car. It should be those girls.”

Mo Xiao looked toward the distant orphanage.

After jumping down from the mecha, the green grass brushed against Mo Xiao’s ankle in her high-heeled boots, creeping up her boots and eventually covering her knees.

Mo Xiao had to push through the overgrown grass to open the door.

It was hard to imagine that anyone had ever lived here.

Inside the orphanage, there were some traces of human habitation. At least the floor was clean and visible.

There were many children’s photos hanging on the walls of the corridor.

Mo Xiao, with Red Square

following behind her, reached out and took down one of the pictures hanging on the wall.

“General Gu Huan?”

Others might not recognize him because the person in the photo was still a child, but it is absolutely impossible for Mo Xiao to mistake Gu Huan.

Andrew entered through a window on the other side of the house and, upon seeing Mo Xiao pausing in front of a picture, couldn’t help but be curious.

“Commander, what’s going on?”

Mo Xiao shook her head, initially contemplating hiding this information to help the General, but after a brief thought, she realized that everyone on the starship was astute; hiding this photo would be counterproductive. So, she let go of the photo and spoke.

“This picture looks a lot like General Gu Huan.”

Andrew wasn’t initially concerned.

It wasn’t unusual for Commander Mo Xiao to think that anyone resembled General Gu Huan; she was a superfan after all.

However, when he came over to look more closely, he took a few steps back and covered his mouth in shock. “Is it really him?”

General Gu Huan was an orphan…? Could this be another orphanage?

While both of them were secretly contemplating these thoughts, the communication channel of their neural implants brought them a message.

“This orphanage is indeed the one where General Gu Huan spent his childhood.”

After merging with Mo Xiao and Andrew, the search team from the Prince’s Royal Guard reported what they knew.

“Team Leader Chen Weiwei has already reported the situation to His Highness Chu Xinglin, and both His Highness and General Gu Huan are on their way here.”

Andrew pointed to a certain direction outside. “It’s very convenient here; there’s a wormhole in the nearby star field. His Highness and General Gu Huan can spatial jump over here.”

Mo Xiao nodded. They didn’t need to dwell on whether this was indeed the orphanage where General Gu Huan had spent his childhood, as Team Leader Chen Weiwei knew more about the situation.

“Continue the search, and leave no corner unturned.”

Mo Xiao gave the order, and her team members started to act. The members of the Prince’s Royal Guard followed suit, searching every room of the orphanage for anything they could find.

However, apart from some girls’ toys, they only found one thing: an encrypted password diary with Gu Huan’s name written on it.

When they rummaged for ways to open the diary, General Gu Huan and Chu Xinglin had just arrived at the scene.

General Gu Huan, with his black hair tips slightly dusty, lightly lifted his hand, looking at the people waiting inside the orphanage.

After the blond alpha learned what happened, he handed the encrypted diary directly to Gu Huan without hesitation.

“A-Huan, is this your diary?” Chu Xinglin asked.

Gu Huan’s eyes flickered slightly, and he lowered his eyelids, looking at the diary in Chu Xinglin’s hands, and said calmly, “I don’t remember.”

“Maybe, it is.” Chu Xinglin responded.

The members of the Prince’s Royal Guard were a little restless, but Chu Xinglin’s deep blue eyes were fixed on Gu Huan, tranquil and profound, like the vast starry sea.

“Try to see if you can unlock it. If it was the password you used when you were a child, it must be similar to the one you use now.”

“If this is your diary, we won’t take it with us,” Chu Xinglin reached out and handed the diary directly to Gu Huan.

Gu Huan paused for a moment, then took the diary from Chu Xinglin’s hands.

His slender, pale fingers slid on the holographic password lock screen.

This kind of diary would be immediately destroyed if it was not opened with the correct password.

If he was really the original host, and the original host was really him, they should think of the same path to go…

He likes having the secret of something, using the first spelling of something.

Gu Huan’s Diary. GHD

My Diary. MD

Journal. J

It depended on how many digits the password was.

Gu Huan glanced at the number of digits in the password, which was five, and tried with the letters GHDJ.

Surprisingly, it opened.

As he opened the book, a piece of crystalline golden crystal was sandwiched in the middle of the book. The golden color in his eyes flashed, and he seemed slightly distracted. After he regained his composure, Gu Huan’s expression was enigmatic, and he looked at the diary, holding it tightly, and admitted.

“This is indeed my diary.”

He then handed the notes to several members of the intelligence team.

Chen Weiwei and a few other members of the intelligence team stared at General Gu Huan in confusion and found it strange that he had admitted it so quickly. When they opened the diary, they found nothing wrong with it; it was definitely the innocent handwriting of a six-year-old child.

It was very naive, all written in a child’s vision about daily life.

“General, do you remember anything about this orphanage and why it turned into an abandoned planet? Why is it so hidden?”

Chen Weiwei’s question wasn’t even half-finished when a roar sounded from the lawn outside.

Because they didn’t know who else would appear here, the two groups of people looked outside at the same time.

“People from the Interstellar Court’s planet? What are they doing here?” Andrew asked with confusion. At this moment, the Interstellar Court’s representatives had already approached Gu Huan.

“I’m sorry, General Gu Huan, but someone has reported that you may be related to last year’s disappearance of the Crown Prince.”