"Now that the battle is critical, a slave still dares to run around in the corridor. Are the patrol teams eating and drinking for nothing?" The speaker said disdainfully, his chin held high. "The infirmary is not a place for you to come. Go back to where you came from."

Looking at the haughty-faced youth in front of him who spoke in an unfriendly tone, Su Duan was stunned for a moment, feeling a little puzzled.

On his way here, he did indeed encounter soldiers patrolling the corridors, but at most they just looked at him curiously a few more times. No one stopped him, indicating that he had the right to be active here.

And coming to the infirmary... was what Avid had asked him to do in the first place. What was the problem?

Why was this person so hostile to him? They hadn't met before or anything, right?

Just as Su Duan was about to ask the person to let him pass, the infirmary door behind the youth was opened from the inside, and a tall figure with dazzling golden hair, wearing a crooked white coat, walked out.

It was Avid.

"This..." Avid frowned and thought hard. "...What was it again? Let him pass, you're blocking the door to the infirmary."

The youth, who had originally been looking down his nose at Su Duan, turned his head when he heard the movement and asked uncertainly, "Your Highness, are you referring to... this slave?"

"You." Avid frowned impatiently, his emerald eyes showing a hint of displeasure. "I'm talking about you! Take your medicine and get lost quickly. Don't block the door, or I'll record you for causing trouble in the infirmary. Also, don't call me Your Highness. Call me doctor, thank you."

As a fellow nobleman, the youth seemed to have not expected him to be so disrespectful to himself in front of a slave, and a hint of disbelief appeared in his eyes.

Avid said coldly, "Can't you understand human speech?"

After a moment of stunned silence, afraid of being recorded for punishment, the youth hurriedly took a few steps to the side, away from the door of the infirmary.

Avid took a few steps forward, looked Su Duan up and down to make sure he was okay, then said in a much gentler tone than before, "You came quite quickly. Come on, follow me inside."

Knowing that Avid was helping him drive people away, Su Duan nodded cooperatively and followed him into the infirmary.

Left outside, the youth's face changed several times. With Avid's attitude, how could he not see that he was deliberately protecting that slave?

The two royal princes were being so deferential to a mere slave, who knows what kind of bewitching potion they had been given!

After entering the medical office, Avid directly brought Su Duan into his office, had him wait in a chair, and then took out four or five bottles of medicine himself.

"Take one pill each morning and evening, the dosage is written on the prescription. I'm giving you extra this time, store it in your space button, remember to take it regularly, you must not stop, better to take more than less."

Su Duan nodded, obediently putting all the medicine bottles into his space button, and said softly: "Thank you, sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble." Avid's gaze lingered on the iris ring on his hand for a few seconds, and he smiled, "There's hardly anyone here at this hour anyway."

Su Duan didn't know how to respond, blinked and said, "Then I'll head back."

"Wait." Avid stopped him, his emerald eyes flashing, "I have a favor to ask...how about staying to assist me? You see, I don't have an assistant yet."

He had just helped Su Duan out of a bind, if Su Duan got stopped and harassed again on the way back, wouldn't his older brother be furious if he found out?

Better to keep him here where he can keep an eye on him. If he still got bullied on Avid's turf, then he might as well not be a prince anymore.

And he could also observe...what was so special about this slave that stirred his brother's emotions.

Su Duan hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement, "Alright, but I'm not very familiar with medical matters...I may cause you trouble."

Avid didn't mind, "No worries, hardly anyone comes at this hour."

Audrose had arranged his medical office in the very back, classified as the psychic power department. He didn't need to be on the front lines risking filth and danger treating soldiers' external injuries, he could just stay here and wait for the injured to be sent over.

What Avid said was true. Su Duan stayed in the medical office for nearly the whole morning and only saw a total of three patients. Avid handled them all by himself without needing Su Duan's help at all.

Su Duan sat on an empty sickbed and said to the system in his mind, "System, I still feel like there's something off about Avid, he keeps secretly observing me...as if he has some secret. Can you investigate for me?"

Although Avid's observations were natural and discreet, Su Duan, who was especially sensitive to such things, still noticed.

The system said, "Alright host, please wait a moment while the system queries the character information."

Half a minute later, the system read out the query results, "Avid Felton, second in line to inherit the Delaire Empire, special researcher at the Capital Star Research Institute...currently conducting top secret experiments using the treatment target's gene samples as material."

"Secret experiments?" Su Duan's voice was filled with suspicion as he grew alert.

Avid wouldn't be doing some terrible experiment on Audrose, would he?

But...he didn't sense any malice from Avid at all.

"Yes, the experiment aims to repair the damaged segments in the treatment target's emotional perception area on a genetic level, in order to cure his emotional deficiency disorder. Currently the experiment is progressing well and has reached the final stages."

"..." Su Duan opened his mouth. He was stunned by the information contained in this news. Disbelief and joy simultaneously filled his head to the brim. It took a long while before he regained his senses.

Su Duan cautiously asked, "Then, does that mean there is hope for Audrose's condition to be completely cured?"

The system said, "Based on logical deduction, there is a certain hope."

That's wonderful...Su Duan couldn't help but curve his lips, unable to restrain the brilliant smile he showed Avid.

Meeting his face filled with pure joy, Avid couldn't help but stare blankly for a moment. Although he didn't know what happened, he still slowly returned Su Duan's smile.

However, before Su Duan could be happy for long, he realized a logical loophole and shuddered, "No, in the original plot, Audrose's condition wasn't cured, right?"

The system said, "Yes, because in the original trajectory, in order to save the treatment target, Avid unfortunately perished on the battlefield. The experiment lost its most core leader. The remaining researchers tried to complete it based on the information Avid left behind, but over a dozen attempts all failed without exception."

Su Duan's heart surged with a bad premonition. He composed himself and asked, "What battle was that? When?"

The system said, "The A14 large-scale invasion. The treatment target was pulled into a cosmic rift opened by the aberrants. Avid found the treatment target through psychic resonance and rescued him, but he himself was left there due to his mech rupturing."

Su Duan's mind blanked for a moment. Very slowly, he found his voice again, "A14...the place Audrose went to now is A14...right?"

The system said, "Yes."

Su Duan asked, "How much longer...until Audrose gets pulled into the rift?"

The system said, "Half an hour."

Su Duan lowered his head, repeatedly dialing Audrose's communicator, but no matter how he tried, there was no response.

"The treatment target has entered an external network signal jamming zone," the system said.

Su Duan sat there in silence for a minute before softly asking, "Can you help me find Audrose and bring him back?"

The system paused for a moment and asked, "Host, are you sure? If so, we may not be able to complete the mission. Why not follow the original plot and let Avid—"

The mission had no clear time limit, but the only thing that was certain was that once Su Duan died, the mission would end with him. Audrose's current healing value was only half full. If it stopped here, the rating they received definitely wouldn't look good.

Su Duan interrupted the system, "I'm sure. Please tell me if it's possible."

He couldn't bear to watch Avid die to save his lover, because that should have been his responsibility.

Besides, with Avid here...Audrose's condition might be completely cured. In this regard, he was inferior to Avid.

The system said, "Alright host, theoretically speaking, it is possible to achieve this goal by having the system take over your body to control a mech, but first—we need a mech."

Su Duan paused, turned his gaze to Avid, who was writing something with his head down, and resolutely said, "He has a mech, standard military issue. We can take his."

The system said: "After calculation, the host, after eating 'a spinach with an iron content 1000 times higher', will have enough strength to take down Avid. The host only needs to buy one spinach, and the system will take care of the rest."

Su Duan nodded and said, "Okay, thank you."

So when Avid, who was recording drug reaction data with his head down, hadn't yet reacted, he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, his vision began to blur rapidly.

The last thing he saw from the corner of his eye was that the black-haired slave who had originally been sitting on the bed appeared behind him at some point, his lips stubbornly pursed, squatting down and reaching out to take the spatial button containing the mecha from his body.

When did this black-haired slave have so much strength? And he snatched his mecha, could he be a rebel?

A flash of shock and anger passed through Avid's mind, but before he could do anything, he completely lost consciousness.