The First Prince's body slid down like a noodle.

A terrified expression froze on his face, his pitch-black pupils dilated, staring in panic at the direction the gunshot came from.

Fresh blood gushed down his forehead, quickly coagulating and turning black, becoming a bottomless bloody hole.

The entire hall descended into chaos. Everyone hurriedly dodged, and no one even bothered to support his corpse. Messy footsteps trampled over his body, ruining the priceless fabric.

—Even someone as noble as him looked like this after death.

Inside the aircraft, the glass curtain wall slowly rose. Lenon watched his fallen corpse, his face terrifyingly cold. His fingers slowly loosened, and the silver gun fell to the ground. Then, he slid down the edge of the sofa and knelt on the floor.

He had no strength left.

The bodyguards in the "Factory" were no fools either. During the brief five-minute encounter, they fired hundreds of shots at the aircraft. In order to get the perfect sniping angle, Lenon couldn't count how many grazes he had sustained. His right shoulder even suffered a penetrating wound, and blood gushed out in small streams, dyeing his pure white uniform dark red.

He didn't even have the strength to crawl back to the cockpit.

After the brief stimulation of adrenaline faded, pain surged up like a tide. A layer of cold sweat seeped from his skin, making his shirt stick to his back. Massive blood loss made him feel extremely dizzy, to the point where he couldn't even see the direction of the cockpit clearly.

—It's time to end this.

Lenon thought.

He turned his face, moving his gaze away from the First Prince's ugly face to the floor-to-ceiling window on the other side. There, countless dilapidated starships slowly drifted by. Their metal had long been deformed, and the insignia of the Third Legion on them was mottled and peeling. However, Lenon's expression softened, revealing a look of nostalgia.

His old friends were eternally resting there, and in a few more minutes, perhaps he would also be resting eternally here.

Two artillery shells were fast approaching, yet Lenon couldn't even crawl into the cockpit to perform the most basic steering maneuvers.

He was in too much pain right now.

It's just...

Lenon pinched his left index finger. On it, there was a small silver ring.

The commander of the Third Legion never wore jewelry on the battlefield. Useless burdens like rings would only affect his performance. But this ring was an exception. In the most important battle of Lenon's life, it still sat securely on the commander's index finger.

The ring was engraved with the four letters "WASD". Lenon never understood what they meant, but he remembered the owner of the ring.

Now, blood soaked his gloves and the ring. Lenon caressed the patterns on it and slowly closed his eyes.

Having come to this point, he had no regrets, only a little pity.

He regretted that he ultimately couldn't fulfill his promise to return; he regretted that they met too late, that they had spent too little time together, and that he had never completely possessed that tenderness.

If he had known this would happen, he should have asked Lin You for a couple more kisses.

To this day, the Colette Family's numbers had dwindled. Lenon didn't have many relatives worth worrying about. Devon and the others each had their own careers and didn't need him to worry about them. The only person he still cared about was Lin You.

Lenon stared at the ceiling and thought, 'Will Lin You be sad?'

'Would he be angry, heartbroken, or even resentful because he broke his promise?'

In the Third Prince's mansion, Lin You slammed a fist onto the power button of the training system.

To this day, connecting everything with the original text of the novel, he completely understood.

Why the proud Lenon in the novel had allowed the Third Prince to trample his dignity on the ground and still subserviently tried to please him; why, despite his Pheromone addiction and bleak future, locked in a dark basement without seeing the light of day, he still endured through those days; why he directly handed his family over to the Third Prince to seek asylum... All this lying low was just to wait for an opportunity.

The Third Prince in the novel thought Lenon was a plaything in the palm of his hand, but in reality, he was the pawn chosen by Lenon. Lenon's soul transcended the vast pain of the flesh, coldly observing all the suffering inflicted by the Third Prince without caring at all, because he had long chosen this barren galaxy as his grave, to fire this shot on this very day.

Years ago, during the battle for Zone 35, the Third Legion destroyed the black market. However, no one knew that the black market was the First Prince's property. The First Prince amassed massive wealth through inferior pheromones, winning over the powerful and wealthy to secure his position as the Crown Prince. In that battle, the Third Legion suffered tragic losses, and Lenon became a target of resentment, which led to the accusation of him murdering his fiancé.

The First Prince had sat securely in the Crown Prince's seat for years and held overwhelming power. Even Lin You's biological father, Admiral Hoyle, found it difficult to challenge his edge, let alone Lenon. This desperate assassination was his only chance to reclaim justice for his old friends.

Lin You closed his eyes.

He fastened the hatch of the training cabin.

System 55's calm voice rang out: "Connected to the spacecraft control system. Host, please be prepared."

The next second, his line of sight abruptly changed. The image in the training cabin shifted. When Lin You opened his eyes again, he was already in the cockpit of the aircraft.

On the screen to his right, two red dots were approaching at high speed. They were two missiles.

And on the main control screen, countless small blue dots bobbed up and down, flashing past—they were the rocky debris flying at high speeds in the planetary ring.

Lin You took a deep breath.

He had never done a flight simulation of this difficulty.

System 55: "Providing real-time calculation services for you."

Its CPU ran to its absolute limit, capturing and calculating the trajectory of every rock, and marked them on the screen. For a moment, the screen was densely packed with fine blue lines.

Lin You had always learned things quickly, and he was even less likely to get stage fright at the last minute. He calmly fiddled with all the buttons in front of him. A fine sweat broke out on his hand gripping the joystick, yet his operation remained meticulous and precise, just like the most experienced general in the military.

The two missiles violently collided behind the aircraft and then exploded. Furious cosmic rays blotted out the sky, and even though the spacecraft was equipped with shielding devices, it almost malfunctioned.

Lin You steadied the shaking hull and calmly stared straight ahead.

Ten kilometers, five kilometers, one kilometer...

The red-gold ring swept past the window, turning into a gorgeous backdrop behind them.

He had rushed out of the planetary ring.

To an outsider, it looked as if the aircraft had started up on its own without any human control, performed all kinds of highly difficult maneuvers in space, and finally left the danger zone.

The "Factory" tried to pursue, but it was an aircraft not built for war after all. Its speed was slow, and in almost the blink of an eye, the targeted aircraft disappeared without a trace.

System 55: "There is the First Prince's blockade line at the border of Zone 35, we have to take a detour."

It marked out all the outposts one by one.

Seeing that the biggest danger was gone, Lin You breathed a sigh of relief.

He half-slumped in the cockpit. "System 55, plan a route."

The journey from Zone 35 to the Main Star was a long one; even the fastest aircraft would have to fly for a day and a night. System 55 quickly provided a navigation plan: "Let's take this route. It's relatively remote and not easily detected. We will land at the First Legion's docking port on the border of the Main Star."

Lin You nodded. "Admiral Hoyle will cover for us."

Lin You hadn't ascended the throne yet and couldn't completely control the situation. The First Prince's biological father was also an admiral; with his son dead, he would definitely investigate. Lin You didn't want Lenon to bear the crime of assassinating a prince.

System 55: "Understood. Estimated flight time is 35 hours."

The conditions of the flight path were excellent, with neither massive cosmic rays nor adverse turbulence. Lin You pushed the speed to the max. Outside the living room's floor-to-ceiling window, countless planets flashed by.

During the journey, Lenon briefly woke up for a moment.

Lin You couldn't touch him, so he could only let the Major General lie on the living room rug. He adjusted the room's temperature and humidity to appropriate levels and commanded a small cleaning robot to drag over a blanket to cover Lenon.

Lenon's condition was very bad, but thanks to the terrifying recovery ability of a Military Female Zerg, he was temporarily out of mortal danger.

Wrapped in the soft blanket, Lenon was dazed for a moment.

His mind was muddled, his vision blurred, and he couldn't even tell if this was a pre-death hallucination.

At this time, they were passing by a Double Spiral Arm Galaxy. Looking from afar, the beautiful blue-purple spirals looked like two ripples in the universe.

—This was definitely not Zone 35.

But he couldn't think carefully. Blood loss made his body turn cold, and almost the very next second, he passed out again.

Lenon was groggy, having one dream after another. Sometimes he dreamed of war, the faces of deceased old friends sweeping past him, bearing the marks of blood and fire. Sometimes he dreamed of his childhood, his Female Father standing in front of him with a ruler, saying that female zergs of the Colette Family had to be the best in everything, and their demeanor must be upright. Sometimes he dreamed of Lin You, dreamed of Lin You touching his skin, bringing an unbearable itchiness, while the Third Highness frowned tightly and complained, "Lenon, you need to rest, you still have a fever."

He woke up in a daze.

Beneath him was a soft quilt. The bed was very large, wrapping entirely around him. The air was filled with the fresh, sweet, and clean scent of citrus.

Lenon fluttered his eyelids.

He was lying in a bedroom with neat and bright decor. White sheer curtains were drawn over the windows, and sunlight leisurely poured in. In the corner stood a fiddle-leaf fig as tall as a person, its branches and leaves stretching out, brimming with vitality.

"..."

Was he alive, or was this a hallucination before death?

Someone touched his face and wiped away a bit of cold sweat with a towel: "Are you awake?"

Lenon paused and turned his head to look. Lin You was sitting at the head of his bed, looking worried.

Why was he here?

"Third Highness..." Lenon tried to sit up straight, but pain suddenly spread. It wasn't sharp, even a bit dull, but because it covered such a large area, it was still unbearable.

He had wounds on his shoulder blades and back. The bleeding had already stopped, but the wounds tore open again with his movement, seeping through the bandages.

Lin You stopped his movements and forcefully pressed him back into the quilt: "Don't move. You are very weak."

He called a servant over, who brought milk and porridge: "You couldn't eat the past two days, so I put you on an IV drip, but it's more comfortable to have something in your stomach. I had the servant stew some porridge. Do you want to eat a little?"

The fingertips had warmth; it was not a hallucination.

It was difficult for Lenon to describe his mood at this moment. He was full of doubts, yet incomparably attached. Thus, he almost greedily traced the contours of the person in front of him, as if protecting a fragile dream.

Lin You just softened his voice: "Do you want to eat?"

"..."

Lenon hesitated for a moment and slightly nodded.

He attempted to raise his arm, trying to take the spoon from the bowl.

"Hiss—"

Lin You moved the bowl away, tapped him on the forehead neither lightly nor heavily, and said with a hint of anger, "With that wound on your shoulder, you still dare to raise your arm?"

He was referring to the penetrating wound on his shoulder.

The bullet from the rifled gun had torn through the muscle. Fortunately, it was a long-distance snipe, so the accuracy was lacking, and the sofa had blocked it slightly. Otherwise, his whole arm wouldn't have been saved.

Lenon pursed his dry, cracked lips and had no choice but to drink the porridge directly from Lin You's hand.

He felt extremely uncomfortable.

As the eldest son of the Colette Family, he had received the strictest education since childhood. Lying in bed waiting for someone to take care of him was neither tough nor decent. In his memory, his elders had never fed him like this either.

But Lin You's actions brooked no refusal. The porridge was pressed straight against his lips. One fed, the other ate. Aside from the sound of the spoon clinking, the room was completely silent.

When his stomach was filled with warm food, Lenon raised his face. His complexion was still pale. "Third Highness, where am I?"

He was clearly greeting death at the border of Zone 35, so why had he suddenly arrived at the Prince's mansion in the blink of an eye?

Lin You stirred the porridge and was just about to speak when suddenly a fierce wind whipped up in the courtyard, followed by the sound of a jet-propelled aircraft landing. Messy footsteps came from the entrance of the mansion, mixed with noisy human voices.

System 55, who was lying on the windowsill basking in the sun, lazily straightened up to take a look outside before lying back down: "Host, it's Admiral Lawrence."

Admiral Lawrence, the father of the First Prince Lin Yu, was the earliest Admiral to make a name for himself in the Empire today. He was also Admiral Hoyle's senior and currently commanded the Third, Fourth, and Sixth Legions.

Lin You stopped what he was doing. "He came quite fast."

Lenon had been unconscious for a full three days. Within these three days, the news of the First Prince's death had already reached the imperial capital. Although it had been suppressed by Admiral Lawrence, who kept the death a secret and did not hold a funeral, how could such news be easily contained? The city was already buzzing with rumors. The major families were getting restless, waiting for the power dynamics to be reshuffled.

For a time, the imperial capital felt like the wind before a storm.

The Old Zerg Emperor, who was sick to the point of death, had no choice but to crawl out of his sickbed. Dragging his diseased body, he issued a decree to form an investigation team, demanding a thorough investigation into the First Prince's murder.

Lenon was brought back privately by Lin You. At that time, the situation on the scene was chaotic, and the distance between the two spacecraft was far, so no one saw Lenon's face clearly. Moreover, his aircraft had been modified, erasing the insignia of the Third Legion. He had also left the borders secretly with Devon, so no one even knew he had appeared at the border. In the eyes of others, Major General Lenon had always been imprisoned by the Third Prince in his mansion and had never gone out.

But Admiral Lawrence was no ordinary person.

He clearly knew the grudge between the First Prince and Lenon. And in these past few days, Devon just so happened to appear at the border at this time, and no one had visited the Prince's mansion to see Lenon in the last three days. Admiral Lawrence firmly believed that there was no such thing as such a coincidence in this world.

What's more, there were not many people in the entire military who could shoot through two starships from over ten kilometers away with every shot being fatal. Lenon was one of them.

Therefore, he hastily requested an investigation warrant from the Zerg Emperor, intending to search the Third Prince's mansion.

The commotion at the door clearly disturbed Lenon. He sat up straight and grasped Lin You's wrist, using a bit of force. Then, he lowered his eyes and smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, perhaps you should kill me."

If he had died in Zone 35, then he would have secretly left the Prince's mansion on his own. The assassination of the First Prince would be his crime alone. Lin You wouldn't have known about it, and no blame could be pinned on Lin You. At most, it would be considered poor discipline.

But if he was discovered in the Prince's mansion, it would mean Lin You actively instructed him to assassinate his brother with the intention of becoming the Crown Prince. With brothers killing each other, the Old Zerg Emperor would definitely be furious. Lenon didn't dare to think about how much dirty water would be splashed on him then, or how many ugly words would be waiting for Lin You.

He couldn't bear for Lin You to be tainted even the slightest bit by this monstrous crime.

On the other hand, once the Third Prince was blamed and punished, the Colette Family, which had already been placed under the Third Prince's wing, would also be implicated. All of this was not what Lenon wanted to see. He would rather die on a barren planet.

Lenon's back still bore the gunshot wounds inflicted by the First Prince's guards. They were from bullets exclusively used by the Second Legion. Once Admiral Lawrence checked, it would be impossible to hide.

Seeing that the footsteps were close at hand, the inspection team was already coming through the garden. In the hall, Admiral Hoyle's voice sounded simultaneously, seemingly arguing and maneuvering with Admiral Lawrence.

But Lawrence had the inspection warrant, and Admiral Hoyle couldn't stall for long.

At least, he couldn't stall long enough for the wounds on Lenon's back to heal.

Lenon forcefully gripped Lin You. A hint of a smile actually appeared on his beautiful face: "Your Highness, could I beg for a whipping?"

Lin You paused, instantly understanding what Lenon meant.

Since they couldn't wait for the wounds to heal, they might as well completely destroy the traces, using whip marks to completely cover the gunshot wounds. For a tyrannical prince, using lynchings was already a commonplace occurrence; having whip marks on his back wouldn't arouse suspicion.

...But how painful would that be.

His back was densely packed with wounds that had just begun to heal after three days. To strike it with a whip at this moment and completely mangle the wounds was a punishment he couldn't imagine.

Lin You started grinding his teeth again.

Lenon was always like this, casually saying things about harming his body with an indifferent expression, as if this flesh was of no importance and he didn't care about the pain at all. He was actually still smiling when he made the suggestion to Lin You.

...What was he smiling about? Smiling because he had found the perfect solution?

Lin You's heart felt incredibly bitter. He wanted to bite his shoulder viciously to vent the overly full emotions in his chest, but Lenon's shoulders were covered in wounds, not even leaving him room to bite.

Lin You felt even worse.

He pursed his lips and didn't speak. He could only push the Major General back into the quilt again, wrapping him up securely, and then feigning fierceness: "You don't need to worry about this. I have plenty of ways. Just get some good sleep!"

A look of surprise appeared on Lenon's face, but looking at Lin You's ugly expression, he still lay back down in the quilt and said with a smile, "...Alright."