Contrast

edited by shay

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Gu Huan was silent for a while, then suddenly turned towards Chu Xinglin.

“Do you know about the early days of the founding of the country?” Gu Huan asked. As the Crown Prince, Chu Xinglin should have a better understanding of the royal history than most people.

Chu Xinglin was puzzled as to why Gu Huan suddenly brought up the early days of the country. “I have some knowledge of it,” he replied.

“Do you know about the mythical figure who helped establish the Chu Empire?” Gu Huan inquired.

“I know a bit… What’s wrong?” Chu Xinglin propped up his head, looking at Gu Huan’s profile from a close distance, his attention almost distracted by the beauty before him.

“What was his relationship with the founding emperor?” Gu Huan asked.

“I believe it was a good one,” Chu Xinglin replied absentmindedly. “If their relationship was bad, how could they have fought together and entrusted the empire to my great-great-great-grandfather?”

Chu Xinglin continued to praise as he gently ran his fingers through Gu Huan’s hair. “He is a person worthy of respect,” he repeated.

“If someone else had played the role in the promotional video, it wouldn’t have been approved at all,” Chu Xinglin commented. “It’s because you played the role.”

The reason the royal family allowed someone to portray this character in the story was because Gu Huan played the role, and they wouldn’t permit anyone else to tarnish that character.

“…”

Chu Xinglin asked, looking down at Gu Huan who was deep in thought.

“Does what you want to know have anything to do with this matter?”

Gu Huan’s face was hidden in the shadow created by Chu Xinglin.

After a long silence, he began to speak.

In fact, he instinctively believed in Chu Xinglin’s words and he also understood that such trust was based on personal feelings.

Any person with emotions tends to be subjective.

Even he was no exception.

Because of Chu Xinglin’s trust and understanding, he was able to stand firm here.

Putting himself in Chu Xinglin’s shoes, even back when Chu Xinglin and he had direct enmity, Chu Xinglin had been able to understand and forgive him. Now, the enmity between Gu Huan and Chu Xinglin spanned many generations. Gu Huan had no reason to let the grudges of Chu Xinglin’s ancestors create a rift between them because they were the closest people to each other.

In their shared past, which had the potential to create rifts due to lingering resentments and grudges, Gu Huan desired to have a clear and open conversation with Chu Xinglin. However, he also didn’t want to burden Chu Xinglin with additional pressure.

“I heard a completely different version of the story,”

Chu Xinglin shifted his gaze from Gu Huan’s black hair and locked eyes with him.

“What story did you hear?”

Gu Huan looked back at him and continued, “He never voluntarily yielded the throne to the Chu family.”

“He was dethroned by the Chu family.”

Before Chu Xinglin arrived, he had heard that Director He from the research institute had visited Gu Huan in prison and stayed there for a while. After reviewing the visitation footage, Chu Xinglin found nothing unusual. However, he had the investigation carried out to ascertain the situation with He Yunan, as Gu Huan had requested him not to interfere with the Interstellar Court’s matters. There had to be a reason for He Yunan’s timely appearance after Gu Huan’s imprisonment.

The investigation revealed that He Yunan had a high probability of knowing Gu Huan. He was his mother’s senior, and during the years when his mother was imprisoned in the royal palace, He Yunan had coincidentally been banished to a planet by the Emperor, that planet…

…Which was the now-abandoned desolate planet where Gu Huan stayed in the orphanage.

He Yunan had likely been the person looking after Gu Huan during that time.

Chu Xinglin didn’t know what Gu Huan wanted to investigate, but he was sure that Gu Huan wanted to meet He Yunan. He could only have heard these words from him.

“He Yunan told you this? Why did he tell you this?”

Chu Xinglin didn’t understand He Yunan’s stance, whether he was a good guy or a bad guy.

It was really as they had guessed before. In addition to Nie Cen’s family, there were other people who helped Chu Fengyuan with his research. Or did they simply misunderstood and in fact, those twins have nothing to do with Chu Fengyuan, and He Yunan was kind enough to raise the two experimental twins until now?

Still… The darkness in Chu Xinglin’s eyes became more intense.

Gu Huan helped Chu Xinglin confirm his guess, “He assisted Chu Fengyuan in conducting the experiments.”

Under Chu Xinglin’s gaze, he revealed a crucial piece of information,

“From the beginning to the end, it was only my mental power that was infused into the Zerg Crystal, which gave the Zerg Crystal the ability to control the Zergs.”

Chu Xinglin’s pupils contracted, and Gu Huan continued, “When I was still at the orphanage, He Yunan had already prepared the Zerg Crystals. He stored my mental power in the Zerg Crystals and later gave them to Chu Fengyuan.”

“Chu Fengyuan thought I had died, and those Zerg Crystals would eventually be consumed. So, in order to continue harnessing that power, someone had to continue the research.”

Chu Xinglin’s mind worked rapidly, and he quickly connected the dots.

“The only successful experimental subject in the first batch was you.”

“The second batch of experiments to be conducted first was the twin control group experiment.”

Clearly, the twins were younger than Nie Chuan, so why were they experimented on first? Chu Xinglin had thought of this earlier,

Only in this way was it logical.

The meaning of the control group is to test the conditions.

If this control group experiment was not done, Nie Chuan’s birth would not make sense at all.

“The experiments on the control group may not have progressed to the creation of artificial humans. They may have only reached the stage of fertilized eggs and tested how the altered genes affected alphas,” Gu Huan explained. “After the alphas’ potential was confirmed, they gave birth to the second batch’s first experimental subject, Nie Chuan.”

“After my mother… left, the experiments on artificial humans were terminated, but He Yunan somehow managed to obtain the fertilized eggs for the twin control group and allowed them to be born.”

However, according to Gu Huan, all the experimental subjects in the second batch had ultimately failed.

At last. He is still the only successful experimental subject.

Chu Xinglin didn’t want to use the term “the only successful experimental subject” to objectify Gu Huan in such a manner, especially when describing the person he loved the most.

“But how does this relate to the story He Yunan shared with you about the early days of the country’s founding?”

This revelation only confirmed that He Yunan was likely aligned with Chu Fengyuan, but Chu Xinglin couldn’t understand why He Yunan would share royal family secrets with Gu Huan.

Was he trying to persuade Gu Huan by claiming that the Chu family’s ascension to the throne was illegitimate? But Chu Fengyuan was also from the Chu family, so this reasoning made little sense.

Listening to Chu Xinglin’s recap of the sequence of events, Gu Huan nodded and proceeded to reveal the most crucial secret. “He told me that I am the reincarnation of the mythological figure associated with the founding of the nation. I have a very close connection with that myth, which is why I became the only successful experimental subject.”

The medical room fell into a heavy silence, and Chu Xinglin struggled to process the immense amount of information. While he was trying to understand the situation, his thoughts involuntarily shifted to other matters.

The reason for his shift was perhaps because he had too much free time, as there were too many secrets surrounding Gu Huan. He had to amuse himself a bit to soothe his agitated mind.

Initially, he had believed that he was dating someone only one year older than himself. If what Gu Huan said was true, he was at least dating an ancestor hundreds of years older than him.

Looking at the hand he had been keeping on Gu Huan’s waist, he remembered his previous remarks about how they respected the mythological figure, and he wasn’t allowed to defile the character. He realized that he had already defiled the mythological character countless times, and he might do it again in the future.

When Chu Xinglin was lost in various thoughts, Gu Huan thought he might have been overwhelmed by the huge amount of information.

“He should be telling the truth,”

“Some of the things he said can be matched with what I know personally.”

Chu Xinglin’s expression shifted from being initially overwhelmed to becoming more composed.

For him, the myth of the founding of the empire was simply that—a myth. He had always adored and doted on Gu Huan, treating him as someone special, so regarding Gu Huan as a mythological figure was just another step further in their relationship with no significant difference.

However, he furrowed his brow as he inquired further, “So, Gu Huan, are you saying that my ancestors caused you harm at that time?”

How come. . . How can it be like this?

No matter how absurd his father was, the founding emperor could never be a coward.

This contradicted everything in history.

Gu Huan lowered his gaze and gently shook his head. “This is what He Yunan told me, but I can’t be sure if what he said is true.”

“During the celebration banquet, I lost many memories. Including some of my past.”

Amnesia?

Chu Xinglin quickly made the connections, thinking about everything Gu Huan had done for him before, as well as the change in his actions after that celebration banquet.

If Gu Huan had the memories from his past life, perhaps everything he had done, from helping Chu Fengyuan plot against him to tossing him into the black hole, might not have been due to any threats but rather actions he wanted to take of his own accord.

Chu Xinglin leaned in, his nose catching Gu Huan’s unique scent. The woody aroma with a hint of roses was alluring, and it reassured him. The scent, which only belonged to Gu Huan, confirmed that this was the Gu Huan who was marked by him, calming the sudden panic in his heart.

“So, is it because of your memory loss that you changed?”

Shouldn’t you really hate me? Since I am the descendant of an enemy?

Gu Huan’s eyes cast a shadow as he nodded slightly. It was true that the change was mostly due to his memory loss. But this nod hit on what Chu Xinglin was genuinely concerned about.

“Then, when you recover your memories, wouldn’t you change back?”

Chu Xinglin’s eyes flashed with darkness.

Gu Huan gazed at his worried expression for a while, pursued his lips and his eyes were very calm.

The next second, Chu Xinglin cupped Gu Huan’s cheek.

“You can change back.”

“But no matter how much you hate me, even if you throw me into a black hole again, don’t think that I will also change back.”

He couldn’t change back to his original self, and he couldn’t hate Gu Huan at all.

Gu Huan’s eyes flickered slightly, and he thought for a long time about how to express his feelings to Chu Xinglin. His final words were also very simple.

The white and slender fingers held Chu Xinglin’s fingers, and his voice was light.

“Even if there’s really a grudge.”

“That’s also my grudge against the Chu family’s royal family.”

“What does it have to do with my deputy captain?”

We agreed that once we defeat the Zerg, we’ll roam the planets and explore the vast cosmic oceans together. At that time, you will no longer be the royal prince Chu Xinglin.