Broken Wings

His Majesty‍​⁠​​‌‍‌‌‍‌‌​⁠⁠⁠‌⁠‍‌‌‌⁠‍ the Emperor descended the high tower, his brisk stride turning into a limp. The corridor inside was unlit and pitch black. He braced himself against the cold wall, his spine trembling violently, and his usually upright figure collapsed like a mountain.

In truth, Pei Changyun had also had some dark thoughts in the past. At least, the first time he heard Cecilia say those words, he was indeed tempted. But in the end, he did not do it.

Just as Huo Chao had said, waking the deceased from their slumber was not a good thing.

Besides his love for Huo Chao, Pei Changyun carried many other burdens. Otherwise, when he had lost his lover and child at the same time back then, he would have followed them.

“Cough—”

“Cough… cough, cough…”

Pei Changyun suddenly covered his mouth and burst into a violent fit of coughing. Then, fresh blood scrambled to spill out from between his fingers, instantly staining his sleeve red.

He closed his eyes tightly, as if desperately enduring something. It was hard to say whether it was the pain of his lover leaving once more, the intense pain in his body, or both.

The parasite infection had a two-month incubation period, after which all the internal organs in the body would begin to fail. Death would follow within a short week, with no cure. This manner of death was like an accelerated version of Jiang Jinsheng’s death process.

“Your Majesty…”

“Your Majesty—!”

It was Zhao He’s voice.

The sounds of many people’s chaotic, hastened footsteps approached from a distance.

Pei Changyun struggled to open his eyes. In his blurry vision, he saw his secretary general dressed in a protective suit, followed by a group of medical and guard teams.

“Your Majesty, the situation is urgent… please excuse our rudeness.”

That sounded like a doctor’s voice, but Pei Changyun could no longer tell. His collar was quickly cut open with a scalpel, revealing his bare chest. A large, glaring patch of red spread across the skin over his heart, with hideous patterns rapidly spreading in all directions.

Just as He Zhun had predicted, Pei Changyun had indeed been infected.

Back then, when he had chopped off that counterfeit’s head with one stroke, the spurting blood had practically bathed Pei Changyun’s entire body. It was just that at the time, they had not yet received news of the parasitic plague, so no one had paid it any mind.

The Illusory God Church had gone to great trouble, expending countless manpower, financial resources, and time to obtain Huo Chao’s genes and create a clone. It wasn’t merely a political blow against Pei Changyun. Its role as the source of infection destined to be killed by him was the true killing move.

The secretary general knelt on one knee nearby, watching as the doctors surrounded Pei Changyun to perform emergency treatment.

“N… Next,”

Pei Changyun removed his oxygen mask. At this point, a large amount of blood spilled from his mouth with every word he spoke.

“Supreme… military command… is… transferred… to… Zhou Jiuya. The rest… will be temporarily handled… by the Imperial Mainframe… Long Dream…”

Just as Cecilia had said, the reason Pei Changyun had stayed on Eternal Cloud Planet for three hundred years without taking a single step away was because he was the brain and heart of this Empire. Only he could control and stabilize this vast Empire.

And also because he couldn’t find a successor who was one hundred percent trustworthy and capable enough.

So in this emergency situation, his only choice was to hand things over to Zhou Jiuya and the mainframe AI.

“Yes…”

Zhao He gritted his teeth, his eyes red, desperately holding back tears.

“I will… I will definitely carry out your orders.”

“Mm…”

Pei Changyun’s vision gradually blurred. The moment he knew he was infected, he had already prepared for the worst. Cecilia had said that the Holy Stigmata were “eyes”. So he couldn’t go to Zhou Jiuya and couldn’t tell anyone. Fortunately, before he had departed from Eternal Cloud Planet for Holy Dew Planet, he had already left behind many measures to deal with the future.

This included a list of successors and a method of selection.

But after choosing and choosing, he still couldn’t pick one.

Zhou Jiuya was the person he trusted most, but the other didn’t have enough political acumen or skill. Just as Huo Chao had said, he was only suited to be a sharp blade.

Then… there was no one else.

A full three hundred years had passed, and Pei Changyun couldn’t find a single successor who could take on the responsibility on his shoulders. And whenever he thought about the problem of a successor, he would think of the child he had lost.

If his and Huo Chao’s child had lived, would they have become the best successor?

This question had no answer.

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Pei Changyun closed his eyes. Tears fell from the corners of his eyes, gradually wetting his temples. He had watched Jiang Ci grow up. Because Jiang Ci was the child of Huo Chao’s sister, and also because Pei Changyun had lost a child, he had loved and protected Jiang Ci as if he were his own.

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Only Pei Changyun alone knew the entire plan. Zhou Jiuya didn’t know; he was just the executor, and was only told that it would be dangerous for Jiang Ci to stay in the palace, so he had to be kept at the Academy of Sciences. Huo Xianfeng was only gradually hinted at the truth after he arrived at the palace.

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Everything had been personally arranged by His Majesty the Emperor, including hiding it from Jiang Ci from beginning to end.

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So this was the most stable way, the safest way.

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“Why… why did you hide it from me?”

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“He knew you would understand. But it was probably because he knew that if you found out, you would have stayed in the palace no matter what.”

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Huo Xianfeng was very confident in his ability to protect Jiang Ci from any physical harm, but he couldn’t guarantee that Jiang Ci, being human, wouldn’t be infected by some accident like Pei Changyun was.

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Jiang Ci hugged him tightly. The immense lingering fear and relief made him choke up so much he couldn’t speak. Even now, his body couldn’t stop trembling. He was really, really so scared.

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“Don’t do this anymore…”

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“Okay.”

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“As expected of… Pei Changyun…”

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Huo Xianfeng turned his head, frowning, and protectively shielded Jiang Ci behind him.

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At this point, the woman’s long pink hair was no longer beautiful, but messy and stained with blood. She tilted her head back and the excessive curvature of her neck made her look like a dying bluebird.

“It’s too late…”

“’He’ is already here…”

Cecilia’s face was filled with despair. Her pink eyes stared blankly at the sky, large tears rolling down from the corners. The moment her words fell, Huo Xianfeng instantly sensed something and snapped his head up.

At this moment, the setting sun completely vanished. All the warm light disappeared, and the entire world plunged into darkness.

The sky directly above the imperial palace looked as if it had been torn open by someone out of thin air, creating a rift that stretched for nearly a thousand meters. Immediately after, the opening grew larger and larger, and finally, a torrent of white light poured down like a great tide.

A giant white tower fell majestically from the black hole, as if it were about to crush the entire world. A howling hurricane raged from the black hole across the entire Capital. Countless buildings shook violently, and the sharp sound of alarms was incessant.

“That’s—!”

Jiang Ci’s pupils dilated, and he subconsciously tightened his grip on Bright Moon in his hand.

Huo Xianfeng’s prediction had indeed come true. The vanished Sacred Relic White Tower had appeared on Eternal Cloud Planet.

Clatter—

Cecilia pulled the blade from her chest and tossed it aside. At this, the blood-red Holy Stigmata on her chest began to surge like a living thing. But instead of repairing the wound as before, it directly devoured half her shoulder, then spread across the side of her face, making her look like a walking, mutant monster.

“So close… just a little bit more…”

Cecilia laughed tragically, laughing until tears streamed down her face.

Back then, Huo Chao had died, and so there was no one left who could protect Bai Min.

Jiang Jinsheng couldn’t. Cecilia couldn’t either.

So Bai Min was imprisoned for over two hundred years. Her former glory and respected status vanished into thin air. The people who had once surrounded her all left. The only thing Cecilia could do was to stay with her, always.

The dark life of imprisonment was very painful for Bai Min, she was like a heavenly snow lotus falling into a dark sewer, withering day by day.

But Cecilia became Bai Min’s only solace. They were like two fledglings with broken wings, sitting drenched on a piece of ice drifting in the deep sea, huddling together for warmth.

[Lia… Lia, Xiao Huo Chao-gege is gone… You are… you are on my side, right? You… you will always stay with me, right?]

[Mm, Minmin.]

Cecilia held her beloved Saintess in her arms like a child, her tone gentle, yet she spoke to her with the firmness of an oath.

[Lia will forever and ever, protect Minmin…]

And so, every difficult night, they would huddle together in the dark cage, sleeping in each other’s arms.

Cecilia thought she would live on forever like this, accompanying her beloved Minmin.

Even if it meant staying in the cage forever and ever, to her, it was still a very, very happy thing.

—Until the reappearance of Jiang Jinsheng.

—Until the birth of Jiang Ci.

Bai Min died yesterday, while her child lives on tomorrow.

Cecilia actually hated it; why was it Jiang Ci who’d survived and not Bai Min?

But Jiang Ci was Bai Min’s child, the child her Minmin had exchanged her life for, so he still had to be protected.

And now, looking at everyone, only Pei Changyun and Huo Xianfeng could stand against the Pope. Cecilia had thought that by secretly passing intelligence to Pei Changyun, by secretly joining forces with him, she could stop it. That she could protect Minmin’s child this way.

—But it was still too late.

Too late.

“A-Ci… you’re just like Minmin. Disobedient…”

Cecilia stood up, a tragic smile on her face, large tears rolling down. She staggered in the hurricane, walking toward him step by step.

“You shouldn’t… shouldn’t have come.”

“You…”