Meng Jian spent the entire day in a state of fury, swallowing several blood pressure pills. Upon returning home at night, he gathered a group of subordinates to deliberate on a counter-strategy, deciding to publish some positive news to guide public opinion and mitigate the impact on the Meng family.

It was finally around three or four in the morning when he prepared to sleep.

Before going to bed, Meng Jian felt somewhat uneasy. He opened the network platform to check, and this single glance sent his blood pressure soaring once again.

A trending keyword titled #Mengyue Tribe Eats Human Flesh# hung on the trending search list, standing out like a sore thumb amidst a row of positively guided keywords.

When Meng Jian refreshed the page, he hadn’t expected the ranking of this trending keyword to leap up two lines.

The discussions beneath the keyword were shocking to the eye.

【The blogger has studied tribal cultures for many years. Today, I unintentionally discovered that General Meng’s ancestors actually belonged to that perverted Mengyue tribe.】

【The Mengyue tribe is an ancient race with a long history. Most of its tribesmen are warlike and bloodthirsty, treating external tribes as their primary hunting targets. They love gathering together to eat human flesh, frequently hosting human-flesh parties during savage eras. They would also fashion the bones of their prey into weapons and ornaments, and turn human skin into clothes and hats to wear on their bodies to flaunt their status and strength.】

【In that era of scarce resources, the Mengyue tribe often used human blood to supplement nutrients. The Alphas responsible for hunting usually drank the most blood and were also the strongest, leading them to believe that drinking human blood could extend life or even grant eternal life.】

【Due to the Mengyue tribe being warlike and extremely xenophobic, almost all tribes that came into contact with them went extinct. Very few people know that their tradition of eating human flesh and drinking human blood has continued to this day. In black markets and certain underground trading zones, many Mengyue tribesmen can still be seen purchasing human flesh. It is only because their movements are highly concealed most of the time, and they usually behave no differently from ordinary people, making it very difficult to detect them easily.】

If it were just a standard piece of popular science, it would at most attract a small wave of people interested in tribal culture. But once the words “General Meng” were appended alongside the Meng family’s related keywords, it was instantly and frantically forwarded and commented on, with the discussion volume instantly breaking one hundred million.

In the comments section—

“Key point: The Mengyue tribe eats human flesh and drinks human blood, and they still eat it now!”

“My goodness, this is too terrifying, isn’t it?!”

“Eating human flesh in savage eras can be understood, but it has continued to this day??? Is that really okay?”

“Terrifying to this extent! My neck felt cold after reading it.”

“Human flesh, human blood, bones, and human skin are all used. Truly not wasting a single bit.”

“Wait, is human flesh really that easy to buy?!”

The blogger replied under that last comment—

“Many human trafficking victims flow into the black market. Besides that, there are illegal human organ trafficking, human flesh cultivation, etc., all of which have complete underground industry chains. Anything the average person can or cannot think of, the black market has it.”

The comments beneath this reply skyrocketed—

“I thought human trafficking at most meant going to the border to do hard labor. It seems I was still too naive, sob sob.”

“Human flesh cultivation?? Surely it’s not like raising chickens and pigs? A… human raised for meat?”

“I can’t take it anymore. Just imagining it sends shivers down my spine!”

“Why can this kind of bad habit persist? No, wait, how many people have they actually eaten over all these years!”

“Both disgusting and perverted! As expected, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be askew. Not a single one is good!”

“The blogger is clearly a Meng hater. Everyone, don’t let them set the rhythm!”

However, the traffic was simply too massive to be swayed by any single individual. Even though the Meng family had already hired internet trolls, they still couldn’t defeat the curiosity of the countless onlookers.

Meng Jian’s eyes were blood-red with rage. He abruptly sat up from the bed, and the soaring blood pressure caused his vision to go dark, nearly causing him to tumble under the bed.

He dialed his adjutant’s communication frequency and roared upon connection: “Go handle the rumors online immediately! I want to see them vanish completely within one minute!”

The adjutant was half-asleep and half-awake, completely dazed by the roaring, and subconsciously responded, “Yes!”

Hanging up the video call, the adjutant opened the network platform to check and was instantly jolted awake.

This was already the third highest trending search!

The first was #Li Xiao Song Jin Livestream#

The second was #His Majesty’s First Appearance After Being Attacked#

The third suddenly featured a complete shift in tone, proving to be even more eye-catching than the first and second.

The adjutant contacted the platform overnight, requesting to first delete all relevant textual information before handling it by lowering the heat.

The platform administration also didn’t dare to cross the Meng family. They had already gone against the Meng family regarding His Majesty’s livestream. If they dared to be disobedient this time as well, there would truly be no way forward.

In the blink of an eye, the original update and all forwarded content vanished completely.

The adjutant refreshed the page and found the keyword gone, only then did his throbbing brain calm down slightly.

Ever since the Third Legion successfully retreated with the Li brothers, there had been no peace.

Onboard the warship, Song Jin was browsing the comments with great relish.

This kind of absurd gossip news would only be laughed off if placed in Shengya, but it was different in Danse, which emphasized diverse tribal cultures—they would actually believe it.

Adhering strictly to tribal culture was considered a highly proud matter in the eyes of the people of Danse, and it was also because the differences between tribes were so vast that conflicts arose constantly.

Every word and phrase of this little essay written by the brat Li Xiao struck right at the old man Meng’s vitals.

That old man cared most about face and reputation. Now his own was gone, and even his ancestors’ reputation in their later years was compromised.

Just as he was watching happily, the next moment a prompt indicated an error and all content vanished. Song Jin smiled lazily. “They sure move fast. It’s already the dead of night on the Imperial Capital Planet. Won’t the old man burst a blood vessel if he doesn’t sleep?”

Li Xiao: “Simply not sleeping won’t cause it, but if he takes another look at the news right before going to sleep, he might.”

This deadpan tone amused Song Jin. He took a tangerine, broke it from the middle, and casually handed half to Li Xiao. “You spent several minutes fabricating it, and you’re just letting them delete it like this?”

“Only what is fleeting is the most brilliant.” Li Xiao looked at his screen, his hands tapping away on the virtual keyboard.

Seeing that he was too busy to eat, Song Jin broke off a piece and fed it to his lips, taking a glance at the screen along the way, nearly dying of laughter.

When this brat genuinely intended to ruin someone, his strikes were truly ruthless.

Countless people online were just like Song Jin, watching with great interest when suddenly the entire topic exploded and even the account that originally posted the text was permanently banned by the platform, making the matter seem all the more bizarre.

Many people went wild under the keywords related to the Meng family.

“The Meng family sure covers mouths quickly.”

“Judging by this speed, eighty percent of it is true.”

“What did I miss? Someone explain it quickly, I’m so anxious!”

“The Meng family actually eats human flesh! Click my profile picture to chat privately if you want to see the full content~”

“This woke me right up in the middle of the night! Is the Meng family living in a primitive society?!”

Very quickly, a new update appeared under the trending keyword topic, posted by a newly created account.

【I am the blogger who posted the tribal culture popular science text. That account has been permanently banned. I solemnly clarify here that the blogger simply likes studying tribal culture and had no intention of targeting anyone, nor did I expect a normal discussion on tribal culture to arouse such great dissatisfaction from above. I sincerely apologize here and guarantee that I will not publish anything in the future. Please stop harassing me and my family.】

The comments beneath the update exploded—

“Blogger, blink your eyes if you are being threatened!”

“For the first time, I feel the terror of authority!”

“Even the Second Prince didn’t dare mention this family. How could anyone else dare to?”

“Just saw the screenshot of that update. If it’s true, then any one of us could become their food!”

“I am from the Mengyue tribe, and we never eat human flesh!”

“To the person upstairs, just because you don’t eat it doesn’t mean others don’t.”

“You don’t eat it because you can’t buy it. It might not be the same for others!”

The more they suppressed it and wouldn’t let people speak, the more it stimulated people’s rebellious mindset.

Although the original topic was gone, the discussion volume for other keywords related to his Meng family doubled in a short period of time.

Seeing that the effect was quite good, Li Xiao said casually to Song Jin, “It’s getting late. You don’t need to keep me company, go get some sleep.”

This day had involved another fierce battle, a standoff, and the need to constantly monitor Meng Jian’s movements, leaving absolutely no opportunity to rest.

Song Jin stretched his somewhat sore shoulders and back. “You’re not sleeping?”

Li Xiao wanted to say he wasn’t sleepy yet, but seeing this, he swallowed the words at his lips and pulled him up. “Let’s go, I’ll go back and give you a massage.”

Song Jin raised an eyebrow. “You even have this skill?”

Li Xiao said in all seriousness, “I have plenty of skills.”

Song Jin looked at him with a beaming smile. “For example?”

Li Xiao: “Children shouldn’t know so much.”

Song Jin: “…”

Tantalizing him?

He would unlock the remaining ninety percent sooner or later.

Returning to the rest cabin, the two finished washing up. Li Xiao had Song Jin lie face down while he sat by the bedside to help relax his muscles.

“How is the pressure?”

Song Jin narrowed his eyes in enjoyment. “Just right, comfortable.”

Li Xiao: “Please leave a good review after the service ends.”

Song Jin hummed. “That depends on whether I am satisfied.”

Li Xiao: “Definitely.”

The places being pressed felt both sore and numb, and all the pores across his body opened up. Song Jin grew drowsy, feeling as though he was about to die of happiness, content to lie face down and let Li Xiao keep pressing indefinitely.

Seeing the kitten lying down so relaxedly, looking half-asleep, Li Xiao let out a chuckle.

Not long ago, he wouldn’t even have imagined himself giving someone else a massage.

Song Jin was almost asleep when a sudden numb sensation like an electric shock traveled from the back of his neck, causing him to jolt awake.

Feeling the body beneath his hands turn rigid, Li Xiao stopped. “Too much force?”

Song Jin turned his head away from him. “No.”

Beneath the light golden hair, his slightly reddened ears were faintly visible.

Li Xiao stared for a couple of glances, then looked at the position he had just pressed. He pressed it again, immediately hearing a muffled groan from the kitten.

Song Jin held down his hand. “No need to press the shoulders anymore, move to the back.”

“Mm,” Li Xiao complied as if nothing had happened, his hands sliding down along Song Jin’s back.

Song Jin let out half a sigh of relief when he felt Li Xiao’s large hand press against his chest, while the other man’s low, deep voice traveled into his ear: “Why is your heartbeat so fast? Are you uncomfortable?”

Who could withstand this voice?

Song Jin grit his teeth and said testily, “Don’t touch the customer inappropriately.”

Li Xiao slipped his hand inside the hem of his clothes and asked in all seriousness, “There is a paid service that is free for a limited time today. Do you want to experience it?”

Song Jin held down his hand with a firm grip, propped himself up, and turned his head to look at him. “What service?”

Li Xiao merely smiled, taking a light bite out of his lower lip before deepening the kiss.

Song Jin lay back down, the hand grasping Li Xiao tightening, and quickly abandoned all thought.

After it ended, Li Xiao pulled out some tissues to wipe his hands clean and looked at the kitten panting on the bed. “Are you satisfied with this service?”

“What kind of shady shop is this?” Song Jin sat up, pressed against Li Xiao’s shoulders to pin him down, and looked down at him. His beautiful eyes were lazy yet highly predatory. “My turn.”

As he spoke, he prepared to violently tug at the waistband of Li Xiao’s pants.

Li Xiao clasped his hands. “Next time.”

Song Jin knit his brows in displeasure. “Give me a reasonable reason.”

Li Xiao said earnestly, “I’m afraid you’ll twist mine off.”

Song Jin: “…”

Song Jin said with a foul face, “Do I look that useless?”

Li Xiao pulled the person over to hold him against his front, looking at the kitten who seemed a bit different from usual. “Delicious things, of course, need to be eaten slowly. It would be a pity to finish it in one bite.”

Song Jin: “…?”

What did that mean?

Letting him eat?

While the young couple was falling asleep in a sweet and sticky display, Li Ji was experiencing what it felt like to have needles in his back.

He turned over for what felt like the countless time, helplessly sat up, and looked at Wei Feng not far away. “Can you stop staring at me like that?”

Wei Feng sat in the sofa, his legs propped up on the small table. “Your brother instructed me to watch you at all times.”

Li Ji: “You are staring at me with a pair of dead-fish eyes, how am I supposed to sleep?!”

Originally, having another Alpha in the room would make the body instinctively alert, and to make matters worse, he kept staring at him constantly. It would be a wonder if he could sleep.

Having not rested for nearly thirty hours and having been attacked by a modified human, Li Ji was in a state of extreme mental exhaustion, yet he couldn’t rest, making him increasingly irritable.

Wei Feng was dying of sleepiness, barely leaning on the cigarette in his lips to refresh himself. Hearing this, he turned his head in a shiftless manner. “Fine, fine, I won’t look. So dramatic.”

Without a word, Li Ji pulled off the blanket with a cold face and got out of bed, intending to beat this brat half-dead.

“What are you doing?” Wei Feng stood up warily and prepared to run.

Li Ji: “Get over here!”

Evading Li Ji, Wei Feng ran to the side of the voice-control system sensor area and shouted: “Someone, come! Your Emperor has gone mad!”

Hearing the commotion, Old Liu hurriedly entered and blocked Li Ji. “Your Majesty, you need to rest.”

Li Ji brushed Old Liu aside. “I’ll sleep after I kill him.”

“Hey, you are being too unreasonable.” Wei Feng hid behind Old Liu. “I’ve already sacrificed my own sleep time to work overtime, what more do you want?”

Li Ji’s eyes were blood-red. “Get over here!”

Old Liu was like a mother hen protecting her chicks, forced to join in a game of hawk catching chicks, turned dizzy from their spinning.

“Your Majesty, if you are not used to it, how about letting Mr. Wei go next door to rest?”

Wei Feng: “No way, what if he gets attacked, whose fault would it be?”

Li Ji: “Before I get killed by the enemy, I’ll be driven to death by your anger first!”

The warship’s rest cabins were unlike the layers of prevention and control inside the palace; the situation was rather special.

Although they had cleaned out a wave of moles previously, no one knew if there were still hidden enemies lurking.

Old Liu’s mind took a turn, and he spoke tentatively: “Then… how about letting Yan Qing come over to shift change?”

Wei Feng and Li Ji paused simultaneously.

Wei Feng stroked his chin and pondered: “How did I not think of that? He works too. That way, I can go to sleep as well, everyone wins.”

“Nonsense!” Li Ji’s face darkened. “He is no longer employed in the palace.”

“But you must rest. There are still many itineraries next, you cannot let your body break down.” As Old Liu spoke, he dialed a video call to Yan Qing, which was answered quickly on the other end.

“Assistant Liu, is there something wrong?” Yan Qing’s steady and gentle voice came from the other side of the screen.

Old Liu smiled apologetically: “I didn’t disturb your rest, did I?”

Yan Qing: “I’ve rested previously.”

After Old Liu briefly explained Li Ji’s situation, Yan Qing agreed very straightforwardly.

“Alright, I’ll be right there.”

Five minutes later, the door to the rest cabin opened, and Yan Qing walked in. Seeing that the atmosphere wasn’t right, he first said to Wei Feng, “You go rest first.”

“Big brother, do you know you just saved two lives?” Wei Feng patted Yan Qing’s shoulder solemnly. “Call me if anything happens, I’m right next door.”

With that, he left while yawning.

Yan Qing looked toward Old Liu: “I’ve got things covered here, you go ahead.”

Old Liu nodded. “Sorry to trouble you.”

Being arranged so clearly left no room for Li Ji to refuse. After Old Liu departed, he looked toward Yan Qing. “Have you really rested?”

Yan Qing nodded, walking over to a sofa on the further side to sit down. “Organizing data is the same anywhere. Go ahead and sleep, Your Majesty.”

Li Ji paused for a moment, ultimately still saying nothing. He silently climbed back into the covers and lay down with his back facing Yan Qing.

This time, he fell asleep very quickly.

Imperial Capital Planet.

Meng Jian woke up and slept repeatedly throughout the night, feeling more tired than if he hadn’t slept at all. When he got up the next morning, he saw stars before his eyes, his complexion extremely poor.

While eating breakfast, Meng Jian took a sip of the tea poured by the butler just as the video request from his adjutant came in. He casually picked it up: “How did matters go?”

Adjutant: “It was handled last night. All text and topics have been cleared.”

“Mm.” Obtaining the reply, Meng Jian only then opened the network platform.

That previous topic was indeed gone, but now another #Mengyue Tribe# hung on the trending searches.

Right before this entry was a trending keyword named #Shengya Military Cracks Down on Crime#.

With a dark face, Meng Jian clicked open the first entry. The top update was a Shengya military press conference forwarded by the domestic media.

【In this anti-crime mobilization, the military has currently wiped out nine small and medium-sized star pirate groups, confiscated a number of illegal firearms and military armaments, destroyed two wicked black markets, and uncovered illegal activities such as human trafficking, organ trade, and human experimentation, confiscating large amounts of human bones, human skin, and human blood…】

The virtual screen hovering behind the spokesperson displayed a large number of photos and videos captured at the confiscation scenes.

This kind of similar press conference was not the first, so it wasn’t particularly rare, and Danse had never paid attention to Shengya’s domestic anti-crime work either. Yet this time, it directly entered the trending searches across all platforms in Danse.

Under the related topics—

“What the heck, why did Shengya’s news make it to our trending searches?”

“Almost thought I walked into the wrong place.”

“I didn’t believe it last night, but now I have no choice but to believe it!”

“No wonder the mouth-covering was done so quickly.”

“Did I miss out on some gossip? Why can’t I understand it, sob sob.”

“Go check next door at #Mengyue Tribe# to shatter your three views.”

Meng Jian knew something was wrong the moment he saw the direction of these comments. His face was blacker than the bottom of a pot. Disregarding the butler’s attempts to dissuade him, he clicked open that topic on the Mengyue tribe.

“Sure enough, where there is demand, there is a market. Seeing those daggers made of human bones, I am stunned.”

“A human-skin flower drum, one look makes my hair stand on end.”

“Isn’t the most terrifying part those large jars of human blood? How many people’s blood had to be drained for this!”

“The Mengyue tribe is indeed a savage race.”

“This isn’t even a question of being savage or not, they are completely uncivilized!”

The page automatically refreshed, and a number of new updates appeared at the top.

【Heard that a certain General surnamed Meng uses an entire castle to preserve collected human bones. Someone saw it with their own eyes.】

【The youngest son of the General surnamed Meng loves visiting the black market the most. Every time he goes, he must visit the human-skin product store. My relative works there and saw him several times.】

【Some high-end private clubs on the Imperial Capital Planet offer dishes made of human flesh. Wealthy young masters said so a long time ago. Didn’t believe it then, believe it now.】

【My aunt’s father-in-law is very rich. Some time ago, he went to the border to witness a killing game. He heard that drinking the blood of the Bique race can extend life. He didn’t manage to grab any at the time and kept slapping his thighs upon his return. So the target clients of those people are the Mengyue tribe.】

Meng Jian nearly fainted from rage. He roared at the adjutant on the other side of the video: “This is what you call handled properly?!”

The adjutant’s face changed.

He had also just woken up. It was clearly cleaned up last night.

“I’ll have the platform re-handle it immediately!”

Meng Jian grit his teeth. “If they fail to handle it properly again, they don’t need to work anymore!”

Onboard the warship, Li Xiao and Song Jin went together to the command cabin after waking up and eating breakfast.

Li Ji was browsing the news online. Seeing them enter, he asked casually, “You guys did this?”

Li Xiao glanced over. “Pushed it a bit.”

As long as the traffic for topics related to the Meng family remained, such rumors would pop up endlessly.

Li Ji: “It’s venting, but it can’t convict Meng Jian.”

Looking at the content on the screen, Song Jin said lazily, “But it can ruin his reputation.”

Li Xiao: “This is only the first step.”