Victory in first battle

To Yu Chen, Heinz’s words could not be fully trusted.

Heinz was a civil servant in the cabinet. Ever since ancient times, the Western civil servant system had maintained a tradition of political neutrality. They didn’t form factions, they didn’t change terms with administrations, and they maintained a strict distance from the rulers. Even when standing at the core of power, they consistently implemented one principle—they were responsible only to national policy, not to the Sovereign.

This was precisely why Heinz could betray Kaide without a shred of hesitation. He served the regime, not merely Kaide as an individual Emperor.

This brought about a specific issue. Civil servants like Heinz didn’t care which Emperor sat on the throne. Compared to the Emperor’s future, they cared far more about whether a budget cut would cost the civil servant cafeteria two meat dishes. Therefore, Heinz would only select the portions that benefited himself when transmitting information. The details wouldn’t be fake, but they were certainly processed and tightly rationed.

Yu Chen had dealt with this group of civil servants for many years and understood their temperament inside out. He scrutinized the message carefully, calculating its veracity. Thirty seconds later, he made a rapid decision, ordering the hover-ship, which was about to land, to circle the airspace for a while longer until the ground crew thoroughly swept the landing pad before touching down.

As for assassination attempts, Izu Paraiso had experienced too many in his lifetime to count. Spies from the Federation, death squads from the ducal estates, radicals from the opposition parties… People often said they had walked more paths than they had eaten grains of salt; in Yu Chen’s case, he had survived more assassinations than he had swum laps.

These assassinations hadn’t ceased even after the collapse of the Old Empire when he stepped down to the second line. Yu Chen could cultivate fruits and vegetables in his greenhouse, but he couldn’t rely on that to truly live a pastoral life of total seclusion. The meat, wine, and medication he consumed could all potentially be laced with all kinds of bizarre poisons.

Kaide also frequently slipped minor doses of poison into his things, tiny amounts that his body could completely metabolize within ten minutes. The goal wasn’t to take his life, but merely to vent some dissatisfaction and disgust.

Yu Chen never took these matters to heart.

First, his exceptional kidneys could perfectly metabolize almost any poison on the market. Consuming toxic substances left him entirely unfazed. Though since the Little Bird had come to nest, the food screening in the sleeping quarters had abruptly grown ten times stricter; everything he permitted Bai Ling to put into his mouth was tested repeatedly.

Second, when a person has sustained every manner of trial and discovers they are incredibly hard to kill, a certain state of numbness inevitably sets in.

Yu Chen glanced at the time and looked out the window. They had already landed, and a ring of anti-riot bodyguards stood outside, each waiting in strict formation. Only when the Gorgon security team cleared out every suspicious target along the path would the cabin doors slowly slide open.

In Yu Chen’s arms, Bai Ling rubbed his forehead, opening his hazy grey eyes to ask sleepily, “What time is it?”

Yu Chen said calmly, “A quarter to one in the afternoon.”

Bai Ling sat up abruptly. Didn’t that mean his first match was in forty minutes?

The time seemed sufficient, but he had to pass through security checkpoints and clear a drug screening. Having received an IV drip today, he had to make a specific trip to the organizing committee to explain the situation and hand over the medical certificate issued by the clinic.

He stood up, the cashmere overcoat slipping from his waist and back. The moment he turned his head, his face instantly reverted to his habitual coldness. “I have to go.”

Yu Chen picked up the overcoat, draping it over the younger man’s shoulders once more. “I’ll accompany you inside.”

The cabin doors opened, and a gust of cold wind swept across the landing pad, lifting the corners of the coat. Bai Ling instinctively leaned closer to Yu Chen, slipping his scalding hand into the grasp of the merman, who wore only a thin black shirt.

Cold-blooded creatures didn’t fear the cold. But he couldn’t resist Bai Ling’s desire to give.

Immediately after, he frowned, scanning the tightly armed bionics and mercenaries surrounding them. “Why is the squad so massive today?”

Yu Chen offered a casual explanation: “Incidents have occurred during the grand finals before, so they’ve definitely stepped up security. Besides, I am one of the main sponsors of the tournament. I might even have to go on stage to present the awards, so the display naturally needs to be sufficient.”

Bai Ling’s eyes lit up, capturing the keyword: “Present the awards.”

Yu Chen smiled. “Mmh.”

Walking through the VIP corridor, the stark white walls were painted with a green trim that symbolized security. No heating was installed here, and only the frigid surveillance cameras rotated overhead.

Bai Ling exhaled a breath that turned into a curling white mist. He kept his arm hooked through Yu Chen’s, their shadows stretching and shrinking beneath their feet along with the changing angles of the light. He watched the shadows for a moment, then suddenly lifted his face to say:

“Sponsor, let’s strike a deal.”

“Go ahead.”

“If I win the grand championship, would you do me the honor of personally presenting the award? Hold up the Grand Slam trophy, hand it over to me, and you even have to personally give me that ugly bunch of fake flowers.”

Yu Chen didn’t hesitate: “No problem.”

Bai Ling’s eyes were full of amusement. “You’re truly easy to talk to; you agree to everything. Later, I’ll borrow a mask from the Captain. You can wear that on stage, and I guarantee no one will recognize you.”

Leaving the sparsely populated corridor, they officially entered the security checkpoint. A clamor of human voices echoed beneath the soaring ceilings, and the bodyguards who had been quietly trailing behind them alertly formed a defensive wall around them.

Yu Chen’s intuition told him that doing this would instead draw unwanted eyes and enlarge the target. But the area was packed with a chaotic mix of people, and aside from forming a human shield, there was no better alternative.

The security guard reminded them: “The inner field is directly ahead; only staff and competing pilots are permitted entry. Everyone else, please use the regular security lanes. Thank you.”

The bodyguards had to temporarily separate from them.

The crowd jammed into the security lanes, passing through the scanner arches one by one. Bai Ling thought nothing of it, walking ahead to pass through first.

Seeing him standing there alone, turning back to look at him and waving across the gate, Yu Chen felt an inexplicable tightening in his chest. He was deeply terrified of the Little Bird being left isolated, and even more scared of the Little Bird getting hurt. Ever since the veil over the wooden stump bird had been lifted, his misgivings had grown progressively deeper.

“Hey, excuse me, sir. You don’t appear to be a pilot; you can’t go in—” A brilliant gleam of molten gold flashed before the guard’s eyes. Dazed for a second, he hurriedly stepped forward to block the path.

Holding his credentials between two fingers, Yu Chen swiped them across the scanner. The machine issued a prompt: [Beep! Sponsor representative. Welcome, welcome.]

The security guard fell silent instantly, hurriedly bowing to let the tournament’s financial backer step through the gate.

Bai Ling watched him approach with stable and rapid strides, the black veil covering his face lifted slightly by the wind, exposing a tensed jaw.

What is he tense about?

The thought flashed through Bai Ling’s mind. Amidst his flickering reflections, the merman had already circled a hand around his waist, using his body to halfway shield him from view.

Not far from where they stood was the same spot where they had previously bought milk.

“Would you like something to drink? My treat this time—coffee, juice, or milk?”

The moment Bai Ling lowered his eyes, he noticed the prominent veins bulging on the back of the merman’s hand. He cupped it with both of his own; it felt chilly to the touch, almost unnatural for a living person.

“Let’s go with something hot,” Bai Ling decided on his own before the other could speak.

Inside the arena, the floors had to be kept pristine at all times, making the food and beverage zone a high-risk area for spills. Maid-style sweeping robots patrolled non-stop, their mechanical voices droning: “Please bypass, please bypass.”

Yu Chen spared it a glance, wordlessly guiding Bai Ling around its path.

Bai Ling looked at the merman in mild surprise, sensing that the man was being a bit… overly hyper-vigilant?

Nevertheless, he bought two cups of hot milk, a full-fat one for himself, and one with a milkshake blend for Yu Chen. An old guy like him really needed to consume some sweets to keep his brain from getting excessively tense.

Yu Chen, however, snatched his small paper cup and took a cautious sip.

“Please bypass, please bypass,” the sweeping robot droned as it approached their vicinity.

Yu Chen meticulously analyzed the components of the milk with his taste buds, determining that it was reconstituted from milk powder. Aside from that, he detected no other foreign “additives.”

Good. It’s safe.

Yu Chen was just about to hand the cup back to Bai Ling. In that exact instant, a bizarre intuition surged within him, like a wild beast sensing a trap a split second before stepping into it.

His muscles tensed to their absolute limit. Relying solely on his highly developed peripheral vision and hearing, he gauged the trajectory of an incoming bullet.

He could have easily dodged it.

But standing directly behind him was his jubilant Little Bird.

If he dodged like a coward, that bullet of unknown composition would pierce straight through Bai Ling.

Yu Chen made his choice in a mere 0.01 seconds.

The paper cup in his hand underwent a subtle tremor, and the milk splashed over the rim. It trickled down his pale, bluish knuckles drop by drop, splattering onto the polished marble floor like a small blooming flower.

“Please step aside, please step aside. Stain detected. Executing cleaning protocol.” The sweeping robot gently bumped against his heel.

Yu Chen lowered his eyelids, exhaling softly to steady his breathing before taking one more deep breath.

When he lifted his eyes again, they were swimming with his usual tenderness. “I’ve finished it. Go on and focus on your match. I’ll be waiting for your victory in this first battle.”

It was an ultra-silent bullet, one of the most covert and difficult-to-intercept assassination weapons on the market today. But instead of striking Bai Ling as intended, it pierced through Yu Chen’s back and embedded itself firmly between his ribs, missing his vital organs. How incredibly fortunate.

It hadn’t caused a single scratch to the Little Bird.

Bai Ling sniffed the air, faintly catching a metallic scent of blood. But the smell was heavily masked by the thick fragrance of the cleaning agents permeating the floor; it was so faint and weak that it vanished almost instantly.

After finishing his milk, he hooked his arms around the merman’s neck and planted a soft, deeply treasured kiss against Yu Chen’s cheek through the veil.

“Wait for my triumphant return, King.”

He didn’t notice the split-second spasm at the corner of Yu Chen’s mouth as he bid the merman farewell and strode confidently toward the pilots’ staging area.

Yu Chen watched his retreating figure, his breath hitching for a few seconds. By the time he slowly turned back around, he had fully recovered his habitual restraint and absolute control. With a sharp flick of his fingers, he gestured to the bodyguards rushing toward him.

Clear the area. Capture the target.

Before long, the highly trained sniper was forcefully dragged and pinned in front of him.

The sniper had clearly anticipated this outcome, having arrived with the resolve to die; he had swallowed poison the moment he fired the shot. The man possessed an utterly ordinary face, his entire body tightly bound as he groveled at Yu Chen’s feet.

“I don’t know anything. I just take the money and do the job. Don’t waste your time interrogating me.”

The man put on a completely fearless front, but when no sound came from above him, he instinctively peeked upward. That single glance revealed a pair of freezing, malevolent vertical pupils. The sheer terror of looking at something that seemed like a literal demon crawling from hell shattered his courage instantly. His jaw dropped as he screamed in absolute horror.

Yu Chen asked with a polite smile, “Did your employer order you to kill me, or the person next to me?”

The man trembled violently, shaking his head, not daring to utter a syllable.

Yu Chen lowered his eyes, slowly turning the gemstone ring on his finger. “Even if a person dies, their memory can still be extracted.”

The sniper’s mind instantly flashed with terrifying images of brain extraction procedures, spinning before his eyes like a revolving lantern. His eyes turned blood-red as he shrieked: “You monster! The one I was hired to kill was you!”

His words validated Yu Chen’s hypothesis.

Yu Chen exhaled a shallow breath, the curve of his lips leveling out as his entire frame reverted from a rigid tension back to total serenity.

Ah… it’s me.

So the target was me all along.

Instead of being alarmed, a profound sense of peace washed over him.