Chapter 96#
Fu Yucheng said hoarsely, “Admiral Mo, do you remember now?”
The Commander stood frozen, not saying a word. Those inorganic, pitch-black eyes actually revealed a look of dazed confusion.
“When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. He who fights dragons must take care that he himself does not become a dragon.” Fu Yucheng forced down a surge of blood in his throat and whispered, “Perhaps Du Yueheng gave you that book by chance; or perhaps he truly understood you. After you fell out with Rong Qian, he worried you would do something foolish, so he gave you that copy of Beyond Good and Evil… Unfortunately, things still moved toward the worst possible outcome.”
The handsome, gentle, and cold-blooded Commander couldn’t help but stagger. He propped himself up with one hand against the nearby control panel, barely managing to stand.
The Commander panted lowly for a few breaths and slowly closed his eyes.
A large number of fragmented images, like the rising tide, flooded into his mind.
…
He had pleaded with his best friend: “A-Qian, have you forgotten the oath we took the day we got into the military academy? We promised to protect humanity together, to protect Earth, to protect the Dyson Cloud. Now you’re overthrowing the coalition government and establishing the Central Empire… you’re making an enemy of all mankind. You’ll be ruined; you won’t have a good end… do you understand?”
His friend lifted his eyelids and said coldly, “Mo Hanchuan, you talk too much. For the sake of our past friendship, I will not hold this offense against you. You are dismissed.”
And nearby, Du Yueheng only lowered his eyes in silence.
…
“Du Yueheng is dead… beaten to death. Rong Qian, is your heart made of stone?” He knelt below the high steps, clutching half a mangled corpse. “Why… why did you become like this? Du Yueheng was truly blind to have kept helping you…”
Rong Qian looked down at him, his dark green eyes devoid of any emotion: “He got what he sought.”
…
Later, he had gathered many forces to try to overthrow Rong Qian’s iron-fisted rule, but he failed… Then, Rong Qian stripped him of his spiritual power and exiled him to Earth…
“Hanchuan, one day, you will understand,” Rong Qian said softly from outside the prison cell window of the spaceship.
Then, he shook his head with self-deprecation: “In fact, even if you never understand, it no longer matters.”
Since then, he had never seen him again.
…
The images in his memory were messy and fragmented… it seemed there were still many important things floating beneath the surface of his memory, dark and unclear.
…
After a very long time, Mo Hanchuan slowly opened his eyes.
He seemed to have finally figured something out, his dark eyes empty: “A-Qian did those things to deal with Medusa, to preserve humanity… he never changed.”
His voice was very soft: “The one who changed… was me.”
Fu Yucheng lay on the floor, coughing lowly a few times, saying nothing. Blood loss and intense pain left him in a very poor state.
“You should go,” Mo Hanchuan said suddenly.
Fu Yucheng tried several times before he managed to prop himself up and stand, swaying.
He clutched his mangled shoulder, looked quietly at this commander of a Type III civilization, and suddenly asked, “Admiral Mo, you have the ability to control time. Why didn’t you use that ability against me?”
Mo Hanchuan looked up at him, his gaze suddenly becoming dazed.
“Perhaps because you… resemble someone.”
Fu Yucheng nodded, not delving deeper, and turned to walk onto the aircraft.
By the time the aircraft left the Medusa flagship, that massive blue energy pillar had disappeared.
At this moment, the massive flagship and the eleven starships near it floated quietly in the empty universe, appearing so lonely and so small.
They were like fallen leaves in autumn that had left their mother tree one day and could never return.
The aircraft glided for a distance, and the deep ink-blue starry sky suddenly flashed fiercely for an instant.
That incredibly bright color lit up almost the entire solar system.
Fu Yucheng did not look back.
He knew it was the light of the “Fallen Leaves” self-annihilating.
The people in the Twilight Belt and on Titan stared blankly at the incredibly bright sky above… while the billions of humans in the industrial zones watched the broadcast on virtual screens in universal silence.
“Mom, what is that? It’s so bright!”
“Medusa… disappeared?”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know… did our people do it?”
Billions of humans saw it—the massive Medusa fleet no longer existed after that bright moment of annihilation.
They had turned into atomic dust, floating in the vast universe.
The large ice screens over the Dyson Cloud ecological zones were constantly melting… All the ecological zones were shrouded in a hazy, ethereal rain.
Amidst this misty rain, humanity ushered in a new chapter.
…
When Bai Mo opened his eyes, it was already a week later.
He looked at the snowy white hospital ceiling, feeling exhausted to the marrow, not wanting to move even a single finger.
He seemed to hear some noise and turned his head with great effort. A person was sitting by the bed, clumsily peeling an apple with their head down, a snowy white bandage wrapped around their shoulder.
Bai Mo looked at the person, a sense of calm joy gradually rising in his heart: “Yu-ge.”
The person looked up, their dark eyes with a hint of dark green narrowing slightly, revealing a very surprised expression: “Yu-ge? Are you calling my great-great-grandfather Fu Yucheng? He and I look quite alike. By the way, you’ve been asleep for over a hundred years; you were just moved from the hibernation pod into the ward.”
Bai Mo looked quietly at the other person. He naturally knew that this person was teasing him again. However, he was no longer as annoyed as in the past; instead, he felt a surge of warmth and tenderness in his chest.
Fu Yucheng raised an eyebrow: “What? You don’t believe me?”
Bai Mo’s heart suddenly stirred, and pretending to have realized something, his body began to tremble violently: “You, what did you say? I’ve been asleep for over a hundred years? I, I…”
The other person was slightly stunned, and then indeed became anxious, throwing down the fruit knife and apple, and holding him firmly while saying repeatedly, “Hey, what’s wrong? I was just playing with you! Doctor, where’s the doctor? Didn’t they say he just overexerted his spiritual power?!”
Bai Mo held it in for a moment before finally bursting into laughter: “Cough, Yu-ge, you actually fell for it.”
Fu Yucheng then realized he had been played by this kid.
He was both annoyed and amused: “Hey, Bai Mo, you kid, when did you become so cunning?”
“I learned from you.” Bai Mo rested his chin on the other’s shoulder and rubbed it gently.
The two held each other quietly for a while, and then slowly began to kiss, their tongues intertwining with utmost tenderness.
“Cough.” Yao Ning, at the door, gave an embarrassed cough.
The two, lost in their entanglement, suddenly came to their senses.
Bai Mo’s snowy white face turned slightly pink, and Fu Yucheng also sat up straight, panting, and cursed, “Yao Ning, you should at least knock on the door!”
Yao Ning couldn’t help but feel a bit wronged: “I knocked several times. You… you were busy and didn’t hear. Elder Ouyang and Elder Chen from the cabinet have come to visit.”
“Those old fossils who curse us for being a faint-hearted monarch and a sycophant all day long? Why have they suddenly become so open-minded?” Fu Yucheng rolled his eyes, helplessly tidying his messy clothes and hair. “Fine, let them in.”
…
Ten years later, 2412.
Following the Medusa crisis, human society had undergone earth-shaking changes over these ten years.
The Dyson Cloud, the Twilight Belt, and Titan had resumed normal trade and civilian exchanges, gradually reintegrating. The barriers between ecological zones and industrial zones were broken, and people could migrate and live freely. The government invested heavily in education, healthcare, scientific research, and environmental protection—funds that were previously used for building new Dyson Clouds and maintaining the “Tower of Light.”
The post-disaster human society was thriving.
And all of this was proceeding in an orderly fashion under the leadership of the supreme executive—who was naturally the last monarch of the Central Empire, the White Emperor.
Over these years, those with sharp eyes could clearly see that the White Rose Palace was gradually decentralizing power, abolishing the strict aristocratic hierarchy, and rebuilding the parliament… All of this indicated that the central imperial system was being weakened. In the near future, human society would return from the Central Empire to the era of the coalition government.
Everyone tacitly accepted this, including the old-fashioned Elder Ouyang.
As Princess Lingsha from Titan, the captain of the 5th Dyson Cloud Special Police Task Force, said: “After that Medusa business, I think everything is pretty good.”
On this day, the sun was bright, and the sky was clear.
Outside the imperial study of the White Rose Palace, a new young maid was carefully walking in with a tea tray.
Behind the massive desk, the Emperor was looking down, seriously approving a thick stack of documents.
In today’s White Rose Palace, the rules were no longer as strict as they used to be. The young maid secretly lifted her eyes, glanced at the Emperor, and then quickly lowered them.
This young White Emperor looked to be no more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old. His silver-gray hair, snowy white skin, and cold, stern aura made him look like a grim and dangerous glacier.
While the maid was lost in thought, her foot suddenly tripped.
“Ah!” she cried out, falling forward, and the scalding tea splashed out!
Almost instinctively and quite disrespectfully, she grabbed the Emperor’s sleeve!
The scalding tea spilled onto both of them, but in a super S-class spiritual field, it had already turned cold.
Bai Mo looked down at the clumsy young maid, unable to help but frown slightly.
That person hadn’t returned to the palace for a week, and Bai Mo’s mood was already bad; now he was even more displeased.
Just as he was about to scold her, a tall figure suddenly appeared in the corner of his eye.
Bai Mo’s heart stirred slightly, and his expression immediately softened. He let the young maid hold his sleeve and even softened his voice as much as possible: “What is your name?”
The young maid didn’t dare to look up and stammered, “My name is A—A-Tan.”
“A-Tan, that’s a nice name.” The Emperor nodded.
The young maid’s mind went blank, and before she could figure out what was happening, a low, pleasant voice suddenly came from above: “What happened to this young girl? Why is she all wet?”
Before A-Tan could react, she had already been helped up. She stared foolishly at the man who helped her up, unable to say a word for a moment.
The other person raised an eyebrow: “She looks quite cute, but why does she seem a bit silly?”
A-Tan stared blankly at him, her heart thumping wildly, her ears turning hot.
He, he really is so handsome…
“Did the tea spill? You’re not burned, are you?” The man looked at her wet skirt and frowned.
Being stared at intently by those dark eyes with a hint of dark green, A-Tan felt like her breathing was not quite smooth: “No, no.”
Bai Mo’s face darkened.
Fu Yucheng hadn’t returned to the palace for several days. He originally wanted to make the other person jealous and a bit nervous, but this guy was actually flirting with a young girl right in front of him!
“Leave,” he said coldly.
A-Tan scrambled to respond and withdrew.
Fu Yucheng said in dissatisfaction, “It’s just a young girl. Why are you so fierce?”
Bai Mo glared at him: “You went to inspect the military academies in the industrial zone and were gone for a whole week! You left me alone to approve documents!”
Fu Yucheng glanced at him and simply sat down at the edge of the desk: “The itinerary was for a week. I said that before I left. There hasn’t been any troublesome government business recently; you could just handle it casually… What’s wrong now?”
Bai Mo held it in before gritting his teeth: “That… that Ning Yue is studying there.”
“Oh, that…” Fu Yucheng coughed awkwardly. “I didn’t know that before.”
“I watched the interstellar broadcast of the academy’s military competition. He deliberately performed in front of you, and you even praised him…” Bai Mo’s voice became unconsciously aggrieved. “You stayed there for a whole week and wouldn’t even accept my video call requests…”
“I indeed stayed there for a week, but three days were for meetings, two days for inspections, and another two days for watching the military competition… That kid Ning Yue won the dynamic sniping competition, and I was the award presenter; I had to say a few words of encouragement, right?” Fu Yucheng said helplessly, “After the award ceremony, he came to find me again, so I told him everything about our relationship.”
“He went to find you again?!” Bai Mo’s voice suddenly rose.
“Xiao Mo, can you listen to the main point…” Fu Yucheng was between laughter and tears. “I already rejected him.”
Bai Mo stared at him, still huffing.
In truth, Bai Mo also knew he was picking a fight over nothing. But… but Fu Yucheng had been gone for a whole week and wouldn’t even answer his video call requests! He even hung a medal on that Ning Yue during the interstellar broadcast and said several words of praise with a smile! That Ning Yue looked extremely smug!
Fu Yucheng naturally knew why this kid was being difficult, so he comforted him softly: “When you requested those video calls, I was in a meeting, so I had to hang up. Next time, I’ll definitely answer, alright?”
Bai Mo kept a snowy white face, remaining silent.
Fu Yucheng really couldn’t do anything with him and had to coax him submissively: “How about I make it up to you?”
Bai Mo’s heart stirred slightly, but his face remained expressionless: “How will you make it up to me?”
Looking at him like that, Fu Yucheng felt both amused and tender.
He looked down at him and then unhurriedly loosened his collar: “Like this… Your Majesty, what do you think?”
…
The breeze brushed against the sheer curtains around the study, bringing in the scent of magnolia and the low chirping of cicadas.
Fu Yucheng lay back on the desk, finally coming back to his senses from the long afterglow, his unfocused eyes slowly focusing. He suddenly discovered something and couldn’t help but feel an indescribable embarrassment. Unable to bear it any longer, he said, “…What are you looking at? What’s there to see?”
Bai Mo lifted his eyes, his earlobes a burning pink, his eyes dark and moist: “…You, you’re handsome everywhere. There too…” He really was too embarrassed to continue and restless, wanting to flip the other over.
Sensing his intention, Fu Yucheng protested hoarsely: “Mmm… enough, no more.”
Bai Mo bit his neck, his voice incredibly husky: “You said you would make it up to me.”
After an unknown amount of time, the two finally stopped, drenched in sweat, nestling together in a large chair in a mess. Bai Mo held him in his arms, occasionally pecking and kissing his face and ears.
By now, the sky had completely darkened.
The evening breeze brought a rich scent of magnolia and brushed the white sheer curtains in front of the window. On the deep, semi-transparent artificial sky, Earth looked so distant and so beautiful.
“It’s so beautiful,” Fu Yucheng said softly.
Bai Mo also looked at that small planet and gave a low “mhm”: “That’s where we met.”
As the night grew deeper, the two snuggled together in the cool, fragrant evening breeze, quietly watching their beautiful and weathered mother planet, their hearts filled with peace and satisfaction.
After an unknown amount of time, Fu Yucheng spoke in a low voice: “Xiao Mo, in a few more years, when all the work is handed over… we’ll go back, alright?”
Bai Mo didn’t ask where they were going back to and whispered, “Okay.”
Fu Yucheng said softly, “We’ll go back and rebuild her… into a paradise.”
(The End)