This is an order

At the⁠⁠​‍​⁠‍‍‌‍​‍‍⁠​​‌‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠ very least, this deception and the loss of contact with Huo Xianfeng had already made it impossible for Jiang Ci to remain calm.

“Wait! Wait, A-Ci!” Dr. Wen tried hard to stop him. “This is His Majesty’s order. The palace isn’t safe. You need to stay here right now…”

“Move—!” This was the first time Jiang Ci had ever spoken to Dr. Wen in such an icy tone.

“…” Wen Xubai was stunned.

Click! The door opened, and Zhou Jiuya entered.

“Calm down, Jiang Ci.” The alpha’s dignified voice made Jiang Ci turn his head, but he didn’t feel any fear nor did he back down because of the other’s appearance.

Instead, he looked up coldly. “I’m going back to the palace to see him.”

“No.” Zhou Jiuya’s tall figure blocked the doorway. “Now is not the time. You have to wait. I promise, you will see him.”

“…” Jiang Ci stared at him for a few seconds and said softly, “And if I say no?”

Jiang Ci had already been deceived by his father once. He absolutely would not go through something like this a second time, not even as someone being protected.

Zhou Jiuya’s expression was blank, but the slight bulge in his cheeks showed he was clenching his jaw.

A few seconds later, the Legion Commander’s eyes turned cold and gloomy, and he barked out in a dignified voice, “Jiang Ci, this is an order!”

“…An order?” Jiang Ci took a step back.

He had deliberately changed into his military uniform when he went to the palace, and he was still wearing it. The next second, in front of Zhou Jiuya, he ripped off the insignia representing his rank of Major General and threw it at Zhou Jiuya’s feet.

He said coldly, “Then you can dismiss me from my military post now.”

“Jiang Ci, you…!” Zhou Jiuya was furious, but before he could finish, he saw Jiang Ci pull out the Bai Ze pendant, transform it into a long spear and shattered the window.

CRACK—!

The sound of shattering glass instantly echoed through the room.

Zhou Jiuya’s expression changed, and he immediately lunged forward to grab him.

Just then, Jiang Ci vaulted over the windowsill and leaped—

“Nora, hold him down!”

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Zhou Jiuya hadn’t expected Jiang Ci to wake up early; otherwise, he should have taken Bai Ze away. But now it was too late; he could only try to remedy the situation.

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On the other side, Jiang Ci leaped out of the window, his long spear embedding itself in the wall as he slid down. Just as he was about to deploy his mech and force a breakout, Xiao X’s voice suddenly sounded.

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A month after the kidnapping incident, when He Zhun returned, Jiang Ci had hugged him and wailed, vowing to protect him properly in the future. So before turning Xiao X into a mecha, he had first made a super signal transmitter for He Zhun.

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Jiang Ci gritted his teeth and asked, “Where?!”

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Perhaps because he had infiltrated White Solitude City with Huo Xianfeng once before, Jiang Ci was very skilled at this sort of thing.

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Beep—

It was the sound of the door opening. It wasn’t mealtime. He Zhun reflexively turned off his datapad, but when he looked back, he met a pair of familiar eyes.

The two stared at each other for three seconds, neither speaking. Then He Zhun quickly moved forward and helped Jiang Ci drag the two unconscious guards at the door inside.

Thump—

The door closed.

He Zhun didn’t wait for Jiang Ci to ask, nor did he ask why Jiang Ci was dressed this way or why he had appeared here so quickly. He directly took out his datapad, turned it on, and showed him the rearranged and organized information inside. “Long story short, this is the information my father left behind. Time is too tight. I only managed to figure out the first half, but there’s no time, so I have to tell you right away.”

All the errors in the compiled manuscript were clues for rearrangement.

Following the clues, He Zhun eliminated large amounts of redundant content and rearranged the key information, obtaining a portion of the crucial intelligence left by He Qichu.

He Zhun skipped the technical details in the middle and went straight to the conclusions for Jiang Ci.

“The neural fluid extracted from Huo Xianfeng was injected into Huo Chao’s body. This injection is different from how other believers feed the Sacred Mark. It’s not feeding the Holy Stigmata; it’s a direct injection into Huo Chao’s brain. So this is why Huo Chao’s appearance and power gradually approached Huo Xianfeng’s. In other words, he is consuming Huo Xianfeng’s life force.”

“The Pope’s plan wasn’t to use Huo Chao to create a god, nor did he treat Huo Chao as some beloved child. Huo Chao was just his tool. That person’s goal was to replace the Zerg King through Huo Chao, thereby achieving the goal of plundering the entire Zerg race.”

He Zhun’s speaking speed was very fast, but every word was clear. “The reason he’s going through Huo Chao is because the Holy Stigmata that the Pope can control cannot invade a Zerg’s body; it can only control humans. And other humans cannot accept the Zerg King’s neural fluid, only Huo Chao can. That’s why Huo Chao is the so-called ‘Son of God.’ As for your mother, Bai Min, she was chosen merely for her superior genes to be the mother for cultivating the next Huo Chao.”

He Zhun grabbed Jiang Ci’s hand, his eyes grave. “Jiang Ci, has Huo Xianfeng ever told you about Zerg degeneration?”

“…” Jiang Ci’s lips trembled slightly, but he still nodded.

“Good, then I don’t need to explain this part to you. In short, Marshal Huo Chao asked my father to find a way to reverse this process. And they spent a very long time searching for a method.”

He Zhun pointed to a highlighted passage on the datapad. “You probably wouldn’t understand the specific principle of reversal, so let me give you an analogy. Originally, the relationship between Huo Chao and Huo Xianfeng was parasitic. He absorbed Huo Xianfeng’s power, so the latter would die. To reverse this process, it has to be the other way around, do you understand?”

“…The other way around?”

“Yes! The other way around. But the process is far more complicated than that, and Huo Chao alone is not enough.”

He Zhun shook his head gently. “A-Ci, do you know why the only high-ranking Zergs you’ve seen are Huo Xianfeng and that little girl by your side?”

“Why?”

“—Because most of them sacrificed themselves for the King.”

“……”