Rong Shi ran his fingertips over the indentations on the tree trunk. The rough feel told him this wasn’t a dream.

Judging from the growth of the bark, it wasn’t carved in the last year or two.

In other words, his father, who had died in battle, had been here three or four years ago and had carved a symbol on this tree that only his family would understand.

“What’s wrong?” Song Yu’s gaze swept over Rong Shi’s clenched hand. Seeing his unusual expression, he asked.

Rong Shi: “01—”

“Chairman! What’s so beautiful? We should get going!” Chen Chen’s shout came from not far away.

Rong Shi suddenly snapped back to reality.

They were still in the competition, every move under surveillance, and who knew how many enemies were in front of the monitors.

“Coming,” he replied, then turned his head to Song Yu, “Do you know how to calculate the age of trees in a Level 3 danger zone?”

Song Yu gave him another look, took a photo of the small tree: “I’ll study it more.”

The five people picked two large bunches of fruit. After moving them into the truck bed, the space became even smaller.

Qin Luo: “How about—we just take one bunch?”

They could originally lie down if they squeezed, but now they could only huddle.

The others also worried; they seemed to have been too greedy.

Liu Hong: “There are seven of us, we’ll eat them quickly!”

Ultimately, Old Liu made the final decision.

While the truck bed occupants worried about how to quickly consume the fruit, inside the cabin, Rong Shi became silent this time.

Rong Shi was usually a man of few words; Song Yu knew he was mostly too lazy to speak.

But now, his whole body exuded an aura of immense distance, and Song Yu felt such low pressure from him for the first time.

On the way back, up until they got in the car, he had maintained his composure perfectly. As soon as the car started, he didn’t even bother to keep up the pretense.

Song Yu opened the photo he had taken. The crude drawing of a rabbit on the tree trunk was a bit distorted, with two diagonal lines above its mouth, looking like two whiskers.

“You recognize this?” Song Yu asked vaguely.

It was a long while before Rong Shi responded.

“Hmm.” Rong Shi looked straight ahead. “Lower the volume.”

01 had already checked that there were no listening devices in the car. Just in case, Rong Shi told it to lower the recording volume of any listening devices in the surrounding environment.

[It’s okay as long as you don’t shout!]

Rong Shi’s voice was low: “This was drawn by my father.”

Song Yu’s eyebrow twitched. Something flashed across his mind, too fast to catch.

Qin Luo had given him Rong Guang’s data, Rong Shi’s father.

Rong Guang was also a military academy chairman during his student days. By time estimation, he was likely also a student of Qian Fan. Due to his excellent academic performance, he was promoted to lieutenant immediately after graduation.

Five years ago, while on a secret investigative mission, he was killed by enemy bombing due to his whereabouts being leaked.

Interestingly, for soldiers who die unexpectedly while on missions like this, the Empire would issue generous pensions to their families. However, records showed that Rong Shi’s family had not received any pension.

There was only one possibility for this kind of handling—Rong Guang was a deserter.

He had not followed his superior’s command during the mission, and there was even a possibility of betrayal.

Since Rong Guang had died five years ago, why would his drawing appear on a tree trunk that was only four years old?

“Maybe someone else imitated it?” Song Yu asked.

Rong Shi: “That possibility isn’t ruled out either.”

He said so, but in his heart, he knew very well that this was drawn by his father.

His father had drawn rabbit portraits for all four members of the family: Mianmian’s had a small flower on its left ear, Dad’s had a bow tie, and Father’s had two whiskers.

His father wouldn’t tell anyone about this, and even if he did, what would be the imitator’s purpose?

To mislead him?

But to mislead, they would also need to cooperate with actions to guide him to see it, and in fact, in his previous life, he had never even been to this planet.

Rong Shi: “01, can you interfere with the monitors?”

Just as he asked, the hand gripping the gear shift suddenly felt warm.

Song Yu had placed his hand on his, calmly saying, “Letting me listen won’t hurt.”

Rong Shi: “…”

[It’s a bit difficult. Interference is fine, but our tracks will definitely be discovered.]

Being discovered wasn’t Rong Shi’s biggest concern.

Even if the other party found out, they wouldn’t be able to trace 01, but widespread interference would definitely alert the enemy.

Rong Shi: “What if we choose the period between the end of the competition and our departure?” [Can try.]

Rong Shi: “Search all captured surveillance footage for rabbit insignias and mark their coordinates.”

Song Yu listened to their conversation, feeling surprised and uncertain.

Could a personal AI assistant do something to this extent?

The difference between a military AI system and a personal one was like heaven and earth.

Leaving aside everything else, purely from a defensive capability perspective, a personal AI absolutely couldn’t break through the defense system of a military AI.

But now Rong Shi was asking 01 to break through the Royal Academy’s AI, Mortis, without Mortis discovering it?

Was he still half asleep?

[The workload is so huge, and I don’t have much energy left. What if it’s not enough and I die suddenly halfway through—]

Rong Shi: “…”

Song Yu: “…”

[I don’t need much, just one leg is enough.]

Rong Shi: “…”

The energy stone cat was his; not a single hair could be touched.

“What one leg?” Song Yu was confused. “What energy does it need? Is it out of power?”

[Ah, ah, ah, I don’t want electricity! I want energy stones! Blue, buling-buling stones! slurp]

Under Song Yu’s curious gaze, Rong Shi explained, “A type of energy stone—”

Halfway through, he heard Song Yu curse under his breath.

“The friend he mentioned is indeed you.”

Rong Shi: “…Hmm.”

Song Yu looked at him in disbelief: “You’re really shameless, making an omega do all this for you?”

Rong Shi: “…Quite shameless, anyway, we’re familiar.”

That one sentence completely blocked Song Yu’s retort.

Great, they were childhood friends, and he was an outsider.

[Master hasn’t had enough to eat for three months to buy me energy stones. Seeing how obedient I am, Daddy, can you give me a billion little energy stones?]

Song Yu sneered: “He’s that poor?”

Receiving his dagger-like stare, Rong Shi: “…”

Song Yu: “You come and be my assistant, you can have as many energy stones as you want.”

[Woohoohoo—can I have an energy stone mansion too?]

Rong Shi: “…”

Song Yu smiled: “Yes, you can have an entire neighborhood if you want.”

[Aww-aww-aww!]

Seeing 01 being swayed right in front of him, Rong Shi felt that if he remained silent any longer, 01 would be led astray.

“Why separate yourselves when we’re family?”

Song Yu turned his head to look at him: “Who’s family with you?”

Rong Shi: “We’re not divorced yet.”

Song Yu: “We will be, eventually.”

Rong Shi: “You’ll marry him for your second marriage? I’m his childhood friend, you’re his wife, and I’m your ex-husband. So aren’t we still family?”

Song Yu: “…”

You’re really good at bullshitting.

Following the manually planned route on the map, after leaving the rainforest, they crossed the entire plain and entered a mountainous area.

At 3 PM, they parked at the foot of the mountain to rest.

Hu Feng opened the virtual map to check.

“To reach our destination, we have to cross this mountain, otherwise, the nearest detour would take four or five days.”

The closest route to the target had many impassable sections for vehicles, and they had already taken a huge detour because of it.

“No detour, let’s go this way.”

Rong Shi sat on the hood of the pickup truck, tightening the cap of his water bottle.

The purpose of coming to Imperial Capital Star was not originally for the competition. Delaying time was meaningless, and now he also had to investigate the sketch his father left behind.

He needed to complete the mission and end the competition as soon as possible.

Traveling at night was dangerous, so they set up camp on the spot, preparing to set off early the next morning.

The temperature difference between day and night was significant. By around 7 PM, some teams gradually arrived at the foot of the mountain.

After a day’s journey, they all had more or less injuries.

Seeing the tents and the firelight, they looked over.

Rong Shi’s team of seven people were gathered around the bonfire, roasting something. The aroma wafted over, and stomachs rumbled one after another.

Lu Ming and Zhao Wan followed a team led by a third-year student. The team consisted of good fighters, but even so, they couldn’t avoid injuries. Coupled with the rush, the team’s stamina was almost at its limit.

They had thought their speed should be the fastest, but unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived, they saw Rong Shi and his team leisurely roasting food.

Not only were they eating, but their clothes were neat and clean, and their faces were spotless, showing no signs of a day’s hard battle.

“They actually have a car?!”

Someone said this, and many people looked in the direction he pointed.

“No wonder they wanted diesel, so they have a car?! Is this cheating?!”

“We thought their reward was the worst, but it turns out to be the best!”

“We were happy for half a day after getting laser guns, but all our hard work is less than their two barrels of diesel.”

“Yeah, fighting beasts doesn’t count for points, so no matter how many you fight, it’s useless.”

“What are they eating? It looks so delicious.”

“Grilled bread? It seems like they’re grilling dry rations and adding meat slices, it smells so good!”

Liu Hong saw his cousin Liu Nan coming over with Song Ke, and went to greet them, eating a Roujiamo (Chinese meat burger) made by the chairman himself.

“Yo, you guys are too slow. We’ve been waiting here all day.”

Liu Nan’s gaze couldn’t move away from the Roujiamo.

“What is that you’re eating?”

“The chairman made it. He says it’s a perk for our team.”

Liu Hong took a big bite. Seeing the others busy setting up tents, he put his arm around his cousin’s shoulder and dragged him aside, whispering, “I think that guy in your team isn’t very smart. You shouldn’t try so hard to curry favor.”

Although he didn’t name names, Liu Nan knew he was referring to Song Ke.

Liu Nan tilted his chin in Song Yu’s direction: “Did he tell you to say that?”

Liu Hong waved his hand: “You know I hate that kind of thing. It’s just friendly advice, whether you listen is up to you.”

After saying that, he didn’t linger. While they hadn’t finished their Roujiamo, if he went back now, he might still be able to grab another one.

On the live broadcast screen, bullet comments flooded the screen.

“Following Chairman’s Grilled Meat, a new dish has been added—Chairman’s Roujiamo.”

“One for you, one for me, everyone who’s tasted it says it’s good.”

“The Chairman’s team has such great benefits, tears of envy are flowing from the corners of my mouth.”

“The arrival time difference isn’t much, but the physical exhaustion difference between teams is huge. Going up the mountain tomorrow, Rong Shi’s team has a great advantage.”

“They only used a little physical strength when climbing trees and picking fruit, the rest of the time they were eating!”

“Dangerous pig-raising strategy?”

By midnight, the sounds of footsteps and talking gradually diminished. Each team had arranged members to take turns on night watch.

Rong Shi replaced Qin Luo by the campfire, thinking about the rabbit insignia.

If his father had indeed carved it, what did he want to express? And where was he now?

He faintly heard Song Yu’s voice carried by the wind, and Rong Shi’s thoughts were interrupted.

He pulled open Song Yu’s tent; there was no one inside.

Rong Shi scanned the surrounding teams; they all had people dutifully on watch. He got up and walked in the direction of the voice.

Reaching the small forest at the foot of the mountain, the shouting gradually grew louder.

“Song Ke, don’t think I wouldn’t dare kill you!”

“Come on, do you think I’d be afraid of a bastard like you?!”

Rong Shi frowned, taking long strides to intervene. He stopped Song Yu before he could make a move, half-hugging, half-dragging them apart.

Song Yu’s eyes were red, and he couldn’t shake off Rong Shi after several attempts. He snapped, “Even you want to stop me?!”

Rong Shi put an arm around his shoulder, gripping his clenched fist: “Why are your hands so cold? It’s windy here, don’t catch a cold.”

Song Yu froze, pushed Rong Shi away, and stormed off angrily.

After he left, Rong Shi looked at Song Ke, whose face was covered with plasters.

“Please don’t deliberately provoke him again.”

Song Ke sneered: “He suddenly got angry at me for no reason. How is that my fault?”

Rong Shi: “No one gets angry at others without a reason.”

Song Ke: “You don’t know, do you? He inherited his father’s madness. He could go crazy at any moment. You should be careful.”

Inherited madness?

Rong Shi frowned: “Thank you for your concern, and I wish you a speedy recovery.”

A plain blessing, but in Song Ke’s ears, it sounded unusually sarcastic.

Upon returning to the camp, he saw Song Yu sitting by the fire, lost in thought. Rong Shi took a thin blanket from his own tent, draped it over him, and sat down next to him.

Rong Shi’s voice was very soft: “You’re too impulsive. Don’t let him get to you so easily.”

Song Yu clasped his hands over his knees, crossed in front of him: “I know, I couldn’t help it.”

Thinking of what Song Ke had said, Rong Shi wanted to ask but was afraid it would be too abrupt.

Family matters were private; even after knowing each other online for eight years, they hadn’t discussed much, let alone only knowing each other in person for less than three months.

The fire in the bonfire occasionally crackled.

Song Yu scoffed lightly: “Did he tell you my dad has a disease?” Rong Shi could feel Song Yu’s foul mood, but didn’t know how to comfort him. After thinking for a moment, he could only answer truthfully.

“He said you inherited it too.”

After speaking, the air fell silent.

Just as Rong Shi was wondering if he had been too honest and how to rephrase it, Song Yu spoke.

His voice was slightly strained, with a grainy magnetism: “My dad was very good and gentle to me; he never even scolded me when I messed up.”

He didn’t deny it, which surprised Rong Shi.

Song Ke and Song Yu were not brothers after all, and Song Yu’s father had a hidden illness.

When they met online before, Song Yu would talk about his father every other day. From what he heard, Rong Shi didn’t think he had a mental illness.

“So—I will definitely be very good to him too. I won’t hurt him, I promise.”

Noticing Song Yu’s hands clenching until his knuckles turned white, Rong Shi’s heart suddenly constricted, a pervasive ache spreading through his nerves.

Was he afraid that Rong Shi would object after finding this out?

__

Author’s note: 

Rabbit Dad: I heard I’m dead?

Cat Dad: I heard I’m crazy?

Rabbit: I won’t dislike you, because my dad isn’t normal either.

Cat: Where is he abnormal?

Rabbit: Our whole family is forced to like rabbits because of him.

Cat: …

#Is this how your image came about?#