By lunchtime, Li Xiao informed Li Ji, who had just finished his work, of his decision.

“After entering the Zifu Cluster, Xiao Jin and I will go to Z152, while you guys continue with the inspection tour itinerary.”

“It’s too dangerous.” Li Ji knit his brows, highly disapproving. “These matters can be left for others to investigate.”

Li Xiao: “Leave it to whom? You’ve had people investigating for so many years without any results.”

Li Ji choked. “Then I’ll find people to follow you.”

Li Xiao: “Where is Gao Cheng, whom you mentioned before? Have him come and rendezvous with me.”

Li Ji paused and looked at him, hesitant to speak. “What if he has problems too?”

Li Xiao: “It’s fine if the problems can be seen; it’s only a worry if they can’t.”

Originally, arrangements were made for Li Ji to dine at a table alone, but the brothers had already sat together. Old Liu didn’t ask much and directly had the subordinates bring all the dishes over.

Song Jin took a look and saw that the small sweet desserts he had mentioned were delicious yesterday were all present today. He then happily sat down beside Li Xiao and began to eat heartily.

Seeing the kitten finish that dish of milk tofu in two bites, Li Xiao casually placed his own portion over to his side and asked Li Ji, “Do you have an impression of Major General Zhan Qiming of the former Hurricane Legion?”

“The one from the Gaofeng race?” Li Ji put down his teacup. “His personal capability was very outstanding. He died just as he turned forty, which was a pity.”

Only forty years old and suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage?

Li Xiao increasingly felt that the cause of this person’s death was problematic.

Seeing Li Xiao thoughtful, Li Ji continued, “I’ll have Yi Yongning help open the military background permissions for you. Whatever person you want to check, go into the system and check them yourself.”

Li Xiao complied. “Did the Hurricane Legion have conflicts with the Golden Oriole Legion in the past?”

Li Ji understood the underlying meaning of his words and shook his head. “I haven’t seen any records. But even if there were, what kind of conflict would cause the Golden Oriole to bomb the Gaofeng race’s old lair?”

“This sounds like something the Meng family would do.”

Song Jin, who was eating his favorite sugar beans, casually chimed in. “It can be seen just from the Meng family’s perverted methods toward the Raven.”

Li Ji: “And for what reason did the Meng family do it? Bombing a residential area for no reason—even the Meng family would have to bear considerable risks.”

Song Jin: “How could I possibly know the thoughts of a pervert.”

Li Xiao looked toward Li Ji. “Teacher Yan organized quite a bit of data. Sixty-three races were more or less attacked by the Meng family, and the Gaofeng race is one of them. However, gathering evidence is difficult, and the data remains to be verified.”

Li Ji’s action of picking up food paused, somewhat astonished. “Sixty-three races?”

“You didn’t hear him mention it?” Li Xiao was puzzled. “You guys haven’t been in contact at all over these years?”

Judging from his brother’s level of understanding regarding the Bique race, Yan Qing must have said something to his brother back then.

Rumors in the palace stated that Yan Qing was secretly executed by his brother, but in reality, he was sent out of the palace after having all his archives erased. He didn’t think his brother would do this without reason.

From various signs, he felt that Yan Qing ought to be his brother’s person.

Li Ji lowered his head to eat to conceal his somewhat rigid expression. Only after finishing did he speak as if nothing had happened: “He was the Empress’s attendant, what necessity is there for me to contact him? He doesn’t contact me either.”

Li Xiao: “…”

This last sentence sounded a bit subtle.

“Leaving such a crucial figure ignored—serves you right for not finding the truth for many years.” Song Jin was completely oblivious and mocked Li Ji.

Li Ji: “His entire tribe had already relocated by the time he was born, so he doesn’t know much about the events of that year either.”

After speaking, Li Ji felt this phrasing was somewhat improper and added another sentence: “The incident happened suddenly back then; no one in their tribe should have understood the truth.”

“Happened suddenly…”

Li Xiao mulled over these few words. “If they truly intended to stage a coup, would they rise in rebellion on a whim? At least they would have settled their relatives in a safe place first, right?”

Li Ji: “Listening to him, before that expedition, his father followed his grandfather back to their hometown. If they had been on the Imperial Capital Planet, they would have been arrested at that time.”

“So there was still preparation.” Song Jin secretly picked up a sugar bean from Li Xiao’s plate with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth.

Li Xiao caught his chopsticks. “You’re eating too much.”

Song Jin: “Don’t be so stingy. I’ll give you a massage after the meal.”

Li Xiao: “…”

He didn’t look forward to it at all.

After lunch, Li Ji had a period of rest time and sat in the rest area with Li Xiao and the others to wait for Yan Qing.

Li Xiao sent a message to Jiang Hao, telling them to follow the Third Legion’s spaceship to come to the main warship.

Before entering the Zifu Cluster, the competing students would be sent back one after another, and the military school students ought to return to school as well. He had some matters to entrust to Jiang Hao and the others.

Song Jin stood behind the sofa, helping to knead Li Xiao’s shoulders.

“How is it?”

Li Xiao praised expressionlessly, “Very excellent.”

“Not sincere at all.” Song Jin recalled the positions Li Xiao had pressed for him, bending over to observe Li Xiao’s expression.

Perceiving the kitten’s frantic probing, Li Xiao flipped through the data as if nothing were amiss. “A bit to the left.”

Song Jin complied verbally but simply didn’t budge from the spot.

There was no reason for Li Xiao to feel absolutely nothing. It must be a problem with his technique—was it not forceful enough?

Li Xiao held down his hand. “My bones are about to be crushed by you.”

Song Jin: “…”

Song Jin asked seriously, “You feel absolutely nothing?”

Li Xiao ruffled his hair. “I do. It hurts a lot.”

Song Jin: “…”

Why was it different from what he had anticipated?

Having finished approving a document, Li Ji looked up to see this scene and suddenly felt his own shoulders very sore.

Was it not good for him to work in the office? Did he have to sit here and endure public displays of affection?

Not long after, Yan Qing hurried over from outside. “Apologies, I was in a meeting just now and arrived late.”

Li Ji gestured for him to sit down and had Old Liu pour tea.

“What is the matter with those sixty-three races?”

Yan Qing glanced at Li Xiao and answered the course of the investigation honestly.

“Previously, the Second Prince mentioned Major General Zhan of the Gaofeng race. These past few days I started investigating from this aspect and discovered that within the nearly past hundred years, forty-nine out of these sixty-three races have produced military officers at or above the general rank.”

The few people present all looked over, and even Wei Feng, who was sitting to the side doing the face puzzle, raised his head with concern.

“My permissions are low, so some data cannot be retrieved.” Yan Qing projected the data of a portion of the personnel into the air. “Many were found from public databases. These people share a common point—they all passed away unexpectedly in their prime.”

Li Xiao had just obtained the military background permissions. He randomly entered one named Zhang Yu, and over ten thousand matching objects popped up. After filtering for general rank, there were three, but the race that matched the age did not align.

Yan Qing’s data showed he was of the Qu race, but the military data showed the Yunchuan race.

Yan Qing explained: “Major General Zhang’s father is of the Qu race, and his mother is of the Yunchuan race. The Yunchuan race has a tradition that regardless of marrying in or out, the child must belong to the Yunchuan race.”

Li Xiao took a look, and it truly was so.

The Yunchuan race was a large tribe with a population of nearly one billion, whereas the Qu race was a small ethnic group of barely a million.

“People of the Qu race have a very obvious physical characteristic.” Yan Qing gestured to enlarge the photo on Zhang Yu’s data. “The shape of their ears is slightly different from ordinary people; the tip of the ear is split.”

Song Jin was puzzled: “What is special about this Qu race?”

Li Xiao: “Regardless of being an Alpha or a Beta, people of the Qu race possess extremely high physical agility and very good dynamic vision. Many top athletes have emerged from them in the past.”

Yan Qing nodded: “Ninety-eight years ago, an infectious disease erupted on the planet where the Qu race commonly resided, killing three-quarters of the Qu race’s population.”

Hearing up to this point, Wei Feng cursed in a low voice.

“Where is there still such a severe infectious disease? Even if there were, did the local area have no prevention and control measures at all?”

“Data on this aspect is very difficult to gather.” Yan Qing took over the words. “I checked the few preserved news reports, and it is said that because the Qu race’s bodies lacked a certain substance, they had absolutely no resistance against that infectious disease. Therefore, other tribes were fine, but this tribe was almost completely wiped out.”

Song Jin looked toward the time of death displayed for Zhang Yu on the data.

How coincidental—exactly one year before the outbreak of the infectious disease, he passed away due to a car accident.

Li Ji: “Then what relation does it have to the Meng family?”

Yan Qing paused for a moment: “Six years ago, when I was looking for data online, I saw a post. Before the outbreak of the infectious disease, a group of local biochemical researchers frequently entered and exited that area. I investigated that laboratory, and the investor was someone from a branch of the Meng family.”

After speaking, he added further: “This, of course, cannot prove an inevitable connection with the Meng family, nor can it even prove a connection with that laboratory, however—”

His voice died down as he spoke.

Li Ji subtly perceived something, turning his head away and not continuing to press further.

The evidence on the data was not sufficient enough; some were even just a random guess from a passerby. Yet all sorts of clues converged upon the Meng family, which forced one to ponder deeply.

“Among so many races that met with mishap, it is enough for us as long as we can verify that one has a direct association with the Meng family.” Li Xiao took over the words. “The Gaofeng race and the Bique race have had intersection, so let’s start with the Gaofeng race first.”

Saying so, Li Xiao checked the time and sent a video call to Yi Yongning.

At this hour, it was around seven in the evening in the Imperial Capital, so he should have gotten off work.

The video call was answered quickly. Yi Yongning in the screen was sitting in his own dining room, currently eating.

“Second Prince, has some situation arisen?”

Li Xiao: “The matter regarding Major General Zhan Qiming I asked you to help inquire about previously, how is it?”

“Heard from my father that this Major General Zhan was a straightforward person whose speech loved to offend people, but he was a good hand at commanding combat.”

Yi Yongning suddenly thought of something, putting down his rice bowl. “Right, Meng Jian’s father, Meng Shan, once interned in his legion. It is said that his mood was consistently very terrible after returning to school, and he even had a major argument with my father over a trivial matter.”

Song Jin was amused by what he heard: “He’s already a centenarian old man, yet he still remembers matters from his student days so clearly?”

Yi Yongning: “I asked the same thing. Father said Meng Shan was taciturn, and that was the only time he threw such a huge tantrum, leaving a particularly deep impression.”

Li Xiao: “Who else went to intern that time?”

Yi Yongning: “Father didn’t mention this. I’ll ask again—”

Just as he spoke, Yi Yongning suddenly looked toward a corner of the screen.

Three youths were being led toward Li Xiao and the others by soldiers.

Li Xiao turned his head to look over—it was Jiang Hao, Qin Le, and Qian Can.

Noticing that Yi Yongning’s expression wasn’t quite right, Li Xiao suddenly recalled that when he met Yi Yongning secretly on the Imperial Capital Planet, the other party also featured this astonished expression upon seeing Jiang Hao.

“What’s wrong?” Li Xiao asked him.

Yi Yongning snapped out of it: “Apologies, where were we just now?”

Song Jin: “…”

As expected of an old man, forgetting so quickly.

Li Xiao pursued the question: “You know Jiang Hao?”

Yi Yongning: “I don’t know him, however—he looks a bit familiar.”

Jiang Hao heard Li Xiao mention his name from afar. Thinking something was the matter, he took a few quick steps over. “Big brother.”

The position he stood in was to the right rear of Li Xiao, just right to be captured by the camera.

Li Xiao saw that Yi Yongning couldn’t help but begin sizing up Jiang Hao again.

Seeing that the kids had arrived, Li Ji stood up and said to Yi Yongning on the other side of the screen, “Report your work to me in ten minutes.”

Yi Yongning hurriedly complied, “Yes!”

Li Xiao noticed Yan Qing take a glance toward his brother’s receding figure, lowering his eyes slightly as if he had something to say, but immediately acted as if nothing were amiss again, showing warmth and concern toward Qian Can and the others, carrying the air of a Director of Teaching.

Li Xiao gestured for Jiang Hao and the other two to sit down. “You guys are about to return to school soon. I have some matters I want you to do…”

While Li Xiao was entrusting the matters, Song Jin nestled into a single sofa to check the condition of public opinion online.

After Meng Jian responded to the royal family’s arrest warrant, public opinion eased slightly, but the rumors Li Xiao had stirred up previously were still raging.

A pile of arrested high officials hung on the trending searches, with the trending keyword of the Meng family drinking blood and eating flesh sandwiched in the middle—it was simply too beautiful to behold.

The terminal vibrated; it was sent by the legion commander at the border front line.

【With the current progress, does the speed need to be adjusted?】

Song Jin: 【Decelerate appropriately, don’t sweep it all clean at once.】

Commander: 【Danse deployed a legion to stake out.】

Song Jin’s fingers tapped lightly on the armrest, replying: 【Send people to move around near them, record them as well, create some content, and publish it.】

Commander: 【What content should we create?】

Song Jin: 【Praise them. Praise them with all your might. If you don’t praise them to high heaven, your bonus for this month is gone.】

Commander: 【We will definitely praise them to death!】

While the Meng family was protecting the feed base and observing the attitude of the Shengya legion, they discovered that Shengya’s logistics supply ship had actually docked near a residential area to distribute supplies to local residents.

Not long after, Meng Jian received the relevant intelligence, completely unable to figure out what they wanted to do for a moment.

Very quickly, an assistant entered to report: “The Shengya side just issued an official update, and it even mentioned us.”

Meng Jian knit his brows and clicked it open.

The video contained photos of various activities of the Shengya legion at the border, and at the end, there were several photos of the Danse legion surrounding a star pirate group.

A large segment within the text mentioned Danse, stating that Danse coordinated with Shengya to deploy troops to help crack down on crime, fully displaying the tolerance of a major nation and promoting friendly exchanges between the two countries of Danse and Shengya, blah blah blah a whole pile.

Assistant: “Can’t understand what Shengya genuinely wants to do?”

Meng Jian: “Releasing a smoke screen.”

This update was quickly forwarded and reported by the domestic media in Danse.

Public opinion on the Danse network eased once again, at least not in a one-sided state of cursing the Meng family.

However, after a mere two hours, public opinion reversed once more.

The Shengya military account actually started a front-line livestream, filming the anti-crime process while facing the Danse legion.

Yet two hours passed, and while Shengya’s supplies were all distributed, the Danse legion remained completely motionless, instantly drawing ridicule across the entire Shengya network.

Hadn’t expected matters to take this direction, and many voices also appeared on the Danse network, with many people running to the Meng family army account to inquire about the situation.

Shengya’s legion wiped out a dozen star pirate groups a day, while the legion on their own side didn’t know what they were doing after two hours, being compared and outclassed all at once.

Countless people called out to the Meng family army to quickly clean up that star pirate group to win back some pride for Danse.

By the time Meng Jian heard the news, he was so angry he slapped the table.

He had thought it was a smoke screen, but hadn’t expected them to play this tactic of killing with praise.

“Then what should we do?” the assistant asked.

They couldn’t truly bomb them, right?

Meng Jian’s tone was very impatient: “Have them go arrest people, just go through the motions.”

Assistant: “Yes.”

Onboard the warship, Yan Qing prepared to lead Jiang Hao and the others back to school after Li Xiao finished entrusting the matters.

“You guys are truly not returning together?”

Li Xiao: “A few days late.”

Qian Can felt very uneasy. Before leaving, he exhorted Li Xiao: “My brother is delicately brought up and can’t endure the slightest bit of hardship. You must take good care of him.”

Before Li Xiao could speak, Song Jin first gave Qian Can a kick. “Scram quickly, getting more and more long-winded.”

Holding his kicked butt, Qian Can turned his head back at every third step while being carried away by Jiang Hao and Qin Le.

“Boss, I will miss you, sob sob… you must return early.”

Song Jin carried a cold face, holding his arms while leaning against the back of the sofa. “Annoying.”

Li Xiao rubbed the back of his neck. “He didn’t say it wrong either. You are indeed a delicately brought up little lion.”

Song Jin narrowed his eyes slightly. “You have an objection?”

Li Xiao: “I just like this kind.”

Song Jin let out a light hum and raised his chin, the meaning highly obvious.

Li Xiao looked down, scratching beneath his chin. “So good.”

Song Jin: “…Kiss me.”

Li Xiao: “In broad daylight, how embarrassing. Be a bit more reserved.”

Song Jin: “…”

When doing the paid service, why didn’t I see you feeling embarrassed?

To go to Z152, they had to make some preparations—firstly, disguise.

Their national recognition was too high; going out like this would easily lead to being recognized.

Bringing some strange and bizarre materials back to the rest cabin, Li Xiao saw Song Jin handling them skillfully and asked casually, “You know how to disguise faces?”

Song Jin quickly mixed the gel film used for disguise. “Very well.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Why did he just not believe it so much?