In his previous life, Song Yu left shortly after the Shengya Civil War. However, Song Yang was forced to ascend to the throne, and Li Xiao maintained state-level communications with him, privately trading minerals for quite a bit of Shengya’s weapon technology. Old friends knew each other’s bottom lines perfectly well, which made negotiations significantly easier.

Li Xiao: “All transactions will only proceed after the issues within Danse are resolved.”

Song Yang: “That won’t work. What if you kick the bucket halfway through?”

Li Xiao replied casually: “So, to ensure the smooth completion of the deal, give me a few handy weapons first. They don’t have to be too good; those metal balls will do. I’m not picky.”

Song Yang: “Why don’t you just rob me?”

Li Xiao: “Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing?”

Song Yang stood straight, pockets stuffed, looking coldly at Li Xiao: “First, you need to understand one thing. The situation is different now. It’s not like I must buy minerals from you. As long as I spend a small price, all the minerals can belong to Shengya.”

Li Xiao rose leisurely, meeting his eyes directly: “If you are willing to send troops, that’s even better. I’d be begging for it—getting rid of those annoying bugs in my country for a little bit of money. Once I hand the mess over to you, I can enjoy a few days of peace and comfort with my wife and kids.”

Song Yang: “Dreaming, are you?”

Li Xiao: “Give them to me, or not?”

Song Jin, surrounded by metal balls holding snacks, watched the two argue over who could be more rogue-like and shameless. Shengya’s territory was vast and lacked nothing. Although deformable metal had military value, starting an invasion war for it was counterproductive. More importantly, his brother didn’t want to deal with the mess in Danse. It was better to let the Danse people solve it themselves than to interfere directly. As for the deformable metal, there were countless ways to exchange for it.

Song Jin brushed the crumbs off his hands, stood up, and walked to Li Xiao’s side: “Are you sure those mines will still be under your control by then? That no one will block the trade?”

“That is my private property. No one can touch it but me.” Li Xiao looked at Song Yang. “Besides, I’ve already married your nephew, aren’t you afraid I’ll run off?”

Song Yang: “…”

Song Jin: “…”

Seeing the sudden silence in the air, Li Xiao was confused. What was wrong with that sentence?

Song Yang chuckled lowly: “Li Xiao, look at you—you have days like this too.”

Li Xiao: “…?”

Song Yang pulled Song Jin over: “You dared to get married without investigating his background? Has my youngest boy bewitched you into losing your sanity?”

Li Xiao was bewildered, asking Song Jin: “You aren’t Song Yu’s son?”

Song Jin’s face darkened; he crossed his arms and snorted: “Who told you I was that old man’s son?”

Li Xiao had never been wrong before, so he re-evaluated Song Jin: “You couldn’t be his grandson, could you?”

“Death wish.” Song Jin shoved Song Yang away and threw a punch.

Song Yang picked up a snack, leisurely watching the young couple bicker and fight: “Youngest, his health bar is thick—hit harder, he won’t die from it.”

Li Xiao dodged Song Jin’s hand chop, quickly turned sideways, and took the opportunity to wrap his arm around Song Jin’s waist, pulling him close: “Song Yang’s son?”

Song Jin kicked backward, twisted his body, broke free, and attacked again: “Why don’t you call him ‘Daddy’ and see if I listen?”

Li Xiao retreated while dodging, grabbing his wrists: “Then who are you?”

Song Jin leaned in: “Asking me now—isn’t it a bit late?”

Li Xiao gazed at the magnified face in front of him and whispered: “As long as you want to know, it’s never too late.”

Song Jin snorted, pulled his hands away, and stopped the fight.

Song Yang: “…” Damn brat, he really has my youngest wrapped around his finger.

In the end, it was Song Jin who provided the guarantee. Song Yang and Li Xiao signed a cooperation agreement, and Song Yang promised to help Li Xiao customize a battle armor before he left the Imperial Capital. Song Jin knew very well that Song Yang wasn’t unwilling; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many physical and sensory tests when they walked in. He just wanted to let Song Jin earn the favor and leave the decision-making power to him.

Li Xiao: “Can’t I just take any one?”

“Of course not.” Song Yang beckoned for the metal balls to come over: “Do you think these are those cheap goods from Danse?”

The metal balls transformed rapidly in the air, surrounding Li Xiao. Virtual screens kept popping up, displaying various physiological data. In the blink of an eye, the metallic space surrounding Li Xiao vanished, and the integrated data appeared in front of Song Yang.

“Your five senses are both an advantage and a fatal weakness.”

Song Jin looked at the data and nodded in agreement: “One sound-blast grenade had him shaking and half-dead.”

Song Yang quickly adjusted the data on the screen: “We must enhance the counter-measures against vibration, sound-blasts, and extreme scent filtering.”

Li Xiao: “Will it weaken my five senses?”

There were many such devices on the market; he had tried them before, but they always weakened his senses, so he eventually discarded them all.

Song Yang: “Of course not, it only reduces the damage.”

After three more rounds of testing data, Song Yang’s terminal vibrated. He swiped it open, took a look, and said to them: “That’s it. You have a competition tomorrow, go back and rest early.”

Song Jin: “Did Major General Mian send that?” Only Rong Mian could make Brother Yang ditch his work so decisively.

Song Yang: “He’s afraid of the dark; he can’t sleep without me.”

Song Jin barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes: “Isn’t it you who is afraid of the dark?”

“Let’s go, off the clock.” Song Yang snapped his fingers, and the lights in the workshop dimmed layer by layer. He sat in the driver’s seat of the small vehicle and urged them to get on.

Li Xiao sat down: “You’ve changed.”

Song Yang: “Work isn’t fun anyway, obviously the wife is more important.”

Li Xiao: “Are you serious?”

Song Yang chuckled: “You wouldn’t understand my happiness.”

Li Xiao: “…” You wife-slave.

Thinking of this, Li Xiao tilted his head to look at Song Jin.

Song Jin noticed his gaze: “Why are you looking at me?”

“Nothing.” Li Xiao silently withdrew his gaze. He would never become a wife-slave; it was impossible in this lifetime.

It was past eleven when they returned to the Royal Academy. The two quietly went back to their dormitory, bathed hurriedly, and lay down. Li Xiao turned onto his side, back to Song Jin, pondering the tracking vehicles from the night before and Song Yang’s attitude.

Though Song Yang said he didn’t care, his attitude represented Song Yu’s to a certain extent. Otherwise, when Li Xiao probed for the armor, the other party would never have agreed. The production of cutting-edge weapons wasn’t decided by Song Yang alone, even if he was the developer. From this perspective, the existence of the “Modified Humans” might be serious enough to change Shengya’s national policy toward Danse. The Song family desperately needed to find a partner to resolve this quickly.

Currently, nearly a hundred people were identified with issues, involving dozens of noble families with military and political backgrounds. And that was just the exchange students—who knew how many such existences were in the military and politics? But if there were so many, why hadn’t he noticed in his previous life?

On the next bed, Song Jin lay with his back to Li Xiao, eyes wide awake. The words Li Xiao said to Brother Yang played in his mind repeatedly. If Li Xiao was the Second Prince, why come to find his brother this time? To ask for cooperation on behalf of the King of Danse, to secretly eliminate the Modified Humans? Did the Modified Humans have any connection to the Danse royal family? Could Li Xiao be something created by the Danse royal family to rule a world dominated by Modified Humans?

The more he thought, the more awake he became. Song Jin sat up abruptly and looked at the next bed.

Li Xiao was just thinking, when he suddenly felt his back go cold, and the next moment, his shoulders were pressed down, and an arm stretched across, forcefully propping itself up by his ear. Song Jin knelt half-way on the side of the bed, looking down at Li Xiao: “Keep pretending to sleep, and see if I don’t kiss you by force.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Li Xiao opened his eyes helplessly: “You can even do it to me?”

Song Jin stared at him, slowly licking his upper lip: “I told you long ago, I like your face. As for whether you’re an Omega, I don’t care.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Song Jin: “Figured out who I am?”

Li Xiao: “Song Yu’s younger brother?”

In his previous life, Song Yu’s parents died young, so he never thought in that direction. But since Song Yu had already been reborn via time machine, the parents’ fate could also be changed.

Song Jin: “What do you really want when you see my brother?”

Li Xiao: “Afraid I’ll harm him?”

Song Jin: “You don’t have the right to ask questions.”

Li Xiao: “I told you long ago, I am not your enemy.”

“Not answering?” Song Jin suddenly lowered his head and pounced, “You asked for it.”

“…” Before Song Jin slammed into him, Li Xiao grabbed his face and pushed him away: “Have some restraint.”

Song Jin pulled his hand away: “Are you going to talk or not?”

If this kept up, the last bit of sleepiness would be gone. Li Xiao asked in a low voice: “You’ve already guessed my identity, haven’t you?”

Song Jin: “There’s an unknown Second Prince of Danse who left the palace young and is unpredictable in his movements—that’s you?”

Li Xiao nodded: “Correct.”

He had guessed many possibilities before, but hearing Li Xiao admit it personally still left Song Jin restless. He hadn’t expected the person he’d taken a fancy to at first sight to actually be a Prince of Danse. The two countries hadn’t established diplomatic relations yet, but the two princes had already gotten married—no wonder his brother had been pouting.

Song Jin: “So why meet my brother?”

Li Xiao said straightforwardly: “I want to usurp the throne, so I’m letting your brother know.”

Song Jin: “…”

He had thought of many possibilities, but never this one, and yet it was damnably reasonable. If Li Xiao hadn’t brought it up, he would have almost forgotten—deadly struggles for power between royal brothers were common.

“You really don’t treat me like an outsider.” Song Jin sat up straight: “Can you just say things like that?”

Li Xiao sat up: “Aren’t you an ‘insider’?”

“…” Song Jin said coldly, “We can’t interfere in his country’s internal affairs, you should know that?” That old man was too lazy to manage his own country’s affairs, let alone foreign ones.

Li Xiao rested his chin in his hand, lightly brushing Song Jin’s face, his voice very low: “If you are willing to put in a good word for me, maybe he will agree to help?”

The dorm lights were off; the dim, ambiguous environment magnified his senses infinitely. Song Jin’s gaze swept over Li Xiao’s restless hand, and he almost lost his grip.

“Want me to help you?”

Li Xiao: “Why else would I marry you?”

Song Jin: “…”

Watching Song Jin’s eyes narrow dangerously, Li Xiao knew he couldn’t tease him anymore. Any more and the little lion would explode. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, the other party suddenly grabbed it and pounced, biting him hard on the face.

“Ssss—let go!”

Li Xiao was knocked down and slapped Song Jin on the butt. Song Jin held his hand down and pushed him inward: “Move over, I’m sleeping here.”

Li Xiao watched him crawl into the quilt: “Go back.”

Song Jin wrapped himself in the quilt: “Since I’ve already been used by you, I’d be at a loss if I didn’t sleep here.”

Li Xiao: “…” Is that the point?

Song Jin turned on his side, back to Li Xiao: “Don’t bother your grandfather while he sleeps.”

Li Xiao: “…” Who is whose grandfather?

To avoid being kicked out of bed again, once Song Jin fell asleep, Li Xiao silently went to the next bed. In the dark, Song Jin occupied the bed, rolled over triumphantly, and fell asleep quickly, smelling the lingering scent on the pillow.

The next morning at 7:00 AM, everyone set off for the designated assembly point on time. Li Xiao walked in the crowd, attracting countless gazes. Da Bei squeezed over to greet him and caught sight of the mark on Li Xiao’s face: “Brother, what happened to your face?”

Li Xiao touched the bite mark that hadn’t fully faded, somewhat helpless: “Xiao Jin bit me last night.”

Da Bei: “…!”

Everyone: “…!”

Stop! Stop the brain-imaging! They really didn’t want to know why he was bitten!

Seeing the subtle looks from everyone, even Qin Le and Jiang Hao couldn’t help but peek repeatedly, Song Jin said nonchalantly: “I have several scratch marks on my back that you left too.”

Everyone: “…?!” They play that rough?!

Li Xiao: “…” Kid, you really know how to play?

Li Xiao replied with a straight face: “Didn’t you ask me to give you a massage?”

Song Jin: “…”

The others let out a heavy sigh of relief. Oh, so it was just a massage.

Why am I feeling a little disappointed?

Not far away, Meng Tao, Zheng Lin, and others silently observed the situation.

Lin Zhou lowered his voice: “They left last night.”

Meng Tao was concerned: “In what direction?”

“We lost them in the city.” Lin Zhou’s eyes were contemptuous: “Looks like they went outside to have fun.”

Zheng Lin’s voice was very low: “Song Jin is very popular in the Capital; his family background is not bad.”

Meng Tao looked coldly at Li Xiao, who was chatting and laughing with everyone. Once the two countries entered a state of war prevention, Li Xiao, as the Second Prince, marrying a Shengya noble would be no different from treason.

By the time Li Xiao and his group arrived at the assembly hall, many people had already arrived; one could see several different types of training uniforms at a glance. In just a few minutes, Li Xiao received dozens of verbal challenges, all saying they wanted to see what he was capable of.

Seeing another wave of people rushing over, Li Xiao said blandly: “I didn’t plan to fight you for first place; do as you please.”

The leading Alpha: “No! You must fight us!”

Li Xiao: “…”

Lin Zhou walked over and threw out a sentence, dripping with sarcasm: “They don’t have the strength to take first place anyway, why must they fight them? Are all the second-years dead?”

This sentence made the faces of all the second-years in the audience look rather unpleasant. This competition was a mixed competition of first and second-years. Although there was only a one-year difference, the actual combat experience was worlds apart. The first-years were just there to gain experience; taking the rankings depended on the second-years.

Li Xiao nodded: “Yeah, don’t make it difficult for us.”

He didn’t refute at all, and Lin Zhou was choked; his stomach full of prepared lines had no room to play out.

Li Xiao looked at Lin Zhou: “I heard your group has a high chance of winning; I have high hopes for you.”

Lin Zhou thanked him with a lackluster tone: “Thank you.”

Qian Can walked to Lin Zhou’s side, sized him up, counted on his fingers, and made an ‘ah’ sound: “Sure enough, you have the look of a champion! Each team member is a seed player! Tsk tsk tsk, Boss Li’s eye for talent is indeed sharp!”

The second-years present looked at Lin Zhou differently. Since Li Xiao rated him so highly, they must pull him down!

Feeling the murderous intent surging around him, Lin Zhou’s eyebrows jumped, and he turned around and left with a stiff face. Li Xiao is holding him up so high—if he doesn’t take first place, it’ll be very embarrassing!

At 8:00 AM sharp, everyone boarded the spaceship to Wei 603 according to the system allocation. After a three-hour flight, they took a flying vehicle to reach the various starting points of the exam venue. There were about 500 people at Li Xiao’s starting point, with first and second-years from each school.

Two hundred meters ahead, they entered the forest; to the east, high-rise building clusters could be vaguely seen, but the styles were old-fashioned.

At 11:30 AM, a virtual giant screen over a hundred meters high popped up above the clearing.

【Welcome, students. I am Mortis. Next, I will explain the rules of this league tournament for you.】

【Each team collects nine puzzle pieces to get the final clue to pass the level. The pieces are scattered in various places in the competition venue and can be obtained by completing tasks. We will score based on actual combat performance and time spent.】

The giant screen played a simulated animation, simple and easy to understand.

Qin Le: “Nine pieces are in different places, so the road this time will be very long. We must hurry and grab a vehicle.”

Qian Can rubbed his hands: “Let me handle the draw in a bit!”

Mortis: 【The first piece hint: Forest.】

After speaking, the screen froze. Qian Can waited and waited, unable to help but ask: “No lucky draw?”

Mortis: 【No.】

Qian Can acted like a tough guy acting spoiled: “Give us one, Mo-Mo~”

Mortis: 【No means no.】

“Let’s go.” Li Xiao picked up his backpack and headed toward the forest.

Qin Le followed: “Self-reliance is the key to food and clothing.”

Qian Can: “…”

The competition lasted four days, but they were only given two days’ worth of rations. Other than that, other equipment was similar to the previous actual combat.

Jiang Hao flipped through the launcher and looked suspicious: “The launcher given this time doesn’t have an electrical function.”

Qian Can: “It did many years ago, but it was disabled later.”

Da Bei took over: “Why? It was very useful.”

Qian Can: “Precisely because it was too useful, some people played outside the rules, so it had to be banned.”

Li Xiao and Song Jin walked at the back of the team. Both were lost in their own thoughts, neither putting their heart into the competition. Just after entering the forest, the ground shook suddenly, and Li Xiao paused his steps.

“What’s wrong?” Song Jin was puzzled.

Li Xiao scanned the surroundings, listening to the position and direction of the tremors.

“There’s movement.”

“So many mutant spiders!” someone screamed.

The mutant trees around were over a hundred meters high, their branches interlaced, and many mutant white-headed spiders crawled out. The second-tier mutant spiders were nearly two meters large, and the small ones were over a meter tall, hanging upside down in the air by spider silk, their ferocious mouthparts constantly opening and closing, especially oppressive.

Song Jin held the handle of the knife at his waist with his backhand and moved toward the clearing.

“Song Jin, be careful!” Bai Yi ran over, his military knife stabbing at a white-headed spider about to land, just happening to cut the spider silk. The white-headed spider bounced a few times on the ground and rushed straight at Bai Yi.

“Wahhh!” Bai Yi was so scared that he slashed randomly with the military knife; the tip of the knife pierced the white-headed spider’s mouthparts, and foul-smelling mucus splashed all over him.

Song Jin took two steps back to avoid being hit. Seeing Bai Yi running over to play the hero to save the beauty, others also swarmed over to curry favor: “Protect our Song Jin!”

Song Jin was blocked so tightly he couldn’t go anywhere. Watching the unidentified liquid splashing everywhere, his expression sank on the spot.

Li Xiao solved two spiders casually. Seeing that the little lion over there was about to explode, he said blandly: “If the venom of the white-headed spider touches your scalp, it will cause alopecia areata—the kind where not a single hair will ever grow again.”

“Ahh—!”

A chorus of curses went through the crowd as they hurriedly took out their hats to wear: “Song Jin, my hat is for you—”

“Get lost!”

Song Jin seized the opportunity to release the launcher, hook it to a tree branch diagonally behind him, and leap into the air. With several flexible flips of the military knife in his hand, he took care of the five incoming white-headed spiders and landed steadily on a tree branch, meeting Li Xiao’s gaze as he looked down.

Li Xiao raised an eyebrow: Didn’t go bald, did you?

Song Jin snorted: Worry about yourself.

Qin Le fought while retreating, saying to them: “Let’s go!”

Qin Le and the others had all engaged in actual combat with Li Xiao and knew his pre-judgment was very accurate, so they moved toward his side without a word.

However, the white-headed spiders broke up the team of five hundred people, and they were going in all directions. Li Xiao’s group hadn’t gone far when they saw a group of students running back for their lives, shouting at the top of their lungs: “The wild boar herd is coming!”

Da Bei cursed under his breath: “The competition just started, are you playing this big?!”

The rescue at Q303 had caused him quite a psychological shock, and now his heart was pounding when he saw the mutant wild boars.

Qin Le frowned and observed the situation rapidly: “Go to the trees first, wait until the wild boars pass.”

Li Xiao listened to the movement over there: “There are white-headed spiders in the trees; it’s not necessarily safer than on the ground.”

Jiang Hao: “Run?”

Li Xiao: “Too late.”

If those people hadn’t gone to attract the wild boars, the wild boars might have bypassed this area.

Noticing a bamboo forest not far away, Li Xiao shuttled quickly between the trees against the crowd, took out the launcher, hooked it to a diagonally growing bamboo, aimed at the angle, fixed the tail of the launcher to the tree trunk, and retracted the rope simultaneously.

When the wild boar herd approached, Li Xiao seized the moment and released it instantly.

The dozen-meter-long bamboo catapulted over, accurately slapping away the four wild boars at the front. The giant sound of the bamboo hitting the trees, as well as the vibration that erupted instantly in the bamboo forest, deterred the younger brothers of the wild boars, who turned around and ran away one after another.

The students who had been chased all the way heard a noisy movement and the screams of wild boars from the rear, and were so scared they shrieked. Turning their heads to look, good heavens, a hundred wild boars were running faster than them!

“What happened?”

“Where are the wild boars?!”

The students who watched the whole process looked at Li Xiao with astonishment.

Dealing with a wild boar herd—actually this easy?!

Bai Yi and a group of “Flower Protection” envoys: “…”

Always feel like we lost at the starting line.

Song Jin jumped down from the tree and joked casually: “Wild boars are just like you; afraid of noise.”

Li Xiao said without expression: “It is also just like you; loves to be clean.”

Song Jin: “…”

Qian Can looked at the bamboo forest still shaking behind him, then looked at the Li Xiao in front, whispering: “I’m afraid the launcher is going to be banned too.”

Jiang Hao: “…?”

White-headed spiders emerged continuously. Seeing that Li Xiao and the others had run, others also retreated while fighting and left behind them. Running a thousand meters, competition props gradually appeared nearby, from baseball bats to javelins to tennis rackets—all sorts of messy things. Judging by the newness, either they were left by previous students, or they were deliberately dropped by the school authorities.

“There’s a car ahead!” Qian Can’s eyes gleamed as he accelerated, “Quick! Grab the car! Grandpa is about to run out of breath!”

That was an oversized sand-terrain off-road vehicle with a small car bucket for supplies in the back, sitting six people comfortably, except it was more than just a little old and broken.

Qian Can opened the driver’s side door and waved to the five of Li Xiao: “Get in!”

Being able to ride was certainly better than running. The six of them jumped on without thinking. Qian Can fiddled in the driver’s seat, finally got the engine started, and stepped on the gas pedal with a grin: “Let’s go!”

The next moment, the ground beneath his feet vanished, and he fell down.

“Ahh—!”

Li Xiao and Song Jin reacted quickly, grabbing the handles on both sides in the moment of weightlessness, but soon, the handles fell off too. They fell onto a soft, duck-poop-smelling spinning pad. After rolling evenly, they slid down the slope to a flat clearing. Lights lit up in the pitch-black space, radiating outward layer by layer.

“Ptooey!” Qian Can lay on the ground with stars in his eyes, almost crying, “It’s too pit-falling, I want to go home.”

Li Xiao scratched his hair, grabbing a handful of duck feathers. Seeing Song Jin sitting up with a dark face, he found it somewhat funny: “Are you okay?”

Song Jin: “I didn’t die.”

Li Xiao: “I meant, did you eat any duck poop?”

Song Jin grabbed a handful of duck feathers and smeared them on his mouth.

Li Xiao grabbed his wrist. Before he could speak, a calm, thick voice suddenly rang out in the space.

【Congratulations on triggering the first puzzle fragment task. Pass the test to get the puzzle fragment and transport vehicle.】

Jiang Hao stood up with a head full of duck feathers and asked seriously: “Are we going to count the total number of duck feathers stuck on our bodies? If it exceeds a certain amount, do we win?”

“…” Song Jin silently picked back up the duck feathers he had brushed off.

Li Xiao saw this and thought: “…”

Aren’t you a bit too cute?

【Now entering the two-second quick-answer session. Answer ten consecutive questions correctly to enter the next round. Please select two representatives from the team to play.】

Qian Can: “Answer questions? That’s my thing.”

“I’ll do it.” Song Jin threw away the duck feathers and stood up with a cold face.

Qian Can watched him come over and felt that his Boss had never been so full of fighting spirit, as if he had brought out the momentum of exterminating the Duck Clan.

Qin Le looked at the others and said to Li Xiao: “You go.”

Li Xiao’s reaction speed was the fastest of them all. Of course, Qin Le felt that this degree of questions couldn’t stump Li Xiao at all, even though he only scored nine points in his theory test last time.

Li Xiao didn’t refuse and stood up to go over. He never wanted to smell that duck poop scent a second time.

Seeing the countdown on the screen, Song Jin said leisurely: “You better answer well.”

Li Xiao: “The divorce quiz was an accident; have some confidence in me.”

A military theory question flashed past on the screen, and the next moment the question changed.

【Question: You and your partner are arguing and living apart. Your partner says to you: “It’s best if we live apart for a lifetime!”, what does he mean? A. Wants to live apart forever. B. Wants to make up. C. Wants a divorce.】

Li Xiao: “…”

Song Jin: “…”

Isn’t this the question from the divorce quiz?!