Chapter 35: The Throne Part 2

He spilled it all out like beans from a bag, chest heaving slightly. He caught his breath, then remembered something even more infuriating and added, “Oh, right! You heartless bastard have no conscience at all! What did you take me for? A human flesh sex toy? Beckon when you need it, kick away when you don’t, then climb out the window and scram…”

Yan Xinfeng itched to bite Wei Tingxia again.

But Wei Tingxia’s only response to the tirade was, “We’re not married.”

“…”

Yan Xinfeng realized coming to the military district had been a complete mistake. He should head back to base now and dismantle the Smart Butler into pieces.

His throat went dry, and for the first time, he regretted not keeping his Empire identity. “So you plan to divorce?”

Wei Tingxia lowered his gaze, looking down at him imperiously, emotions churning in his ink-black pupils. After a moment, he gave an honest—but more infuriating—answer. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“What’s holding you back?” Yan Xinfeng’s hand unconsciously tightened on his waist, though his face remained impassive.

Plenty of things.

Wei Tingxia pondered tangledly for a bit, then said, “I have things I need to do, and you have things you need to do.”

Yan Xinfeng exerted force under his hand, face unchanging. “What things do you need to do?”

“I want to be emperor.”

At those words, Yan Xinfeng truly felt he shouldn’t have come to the military district.

“You want to be emperor.” He repeated weakly.

Wei Tingxia nodded.

“Why?”

What kind of question was that? Did anyone need a reason to want to be emperor?

Wei Tingxia picked the most straightforward one. “I want to execute Wei Heng and Wei Shu.”

Yan Xinfeng asked, “Why do you want to execute them?”

“Has a meteor hit your brain?” Wei Tingxia furrowed his brows tightly. “So many questions?”

“You’ve hidden a lot from me. Or rather, a ton.”

Yan Xinfeng’s tone stayed calm. “From the first second we met, out of every ten sentences you say, three are lies. I’m not blaming you—in that situation, even changing your name would’ve been normal. I just don’t understand.”

He didn’t understand why Wei Tingxia was an omega, why he fled Capital Star on the eve of his coming-of-age ceremony, or how much of their three years of intimacy had been real.

The first time Yan Xinfeng met Wei Tingxia was on the return trip after a search mission. He waited in the cockpit for the final jump’s tremors to end when the mecha AI alerted him that a drifting life pod floated nearby.

He looked in the direction indicated by the system markers. At the edge of the deep cosmic curtain beyond the porthole, Yan Xinfeng saw a lone escape pod silently adrift.

It was not far from the outer defense perimeter of Deep Blue Base, covered in craters from meteor impacts and scorched streaks from high-speed friction, like a shattered diamond scattered in the universe. Without close inspection, it could be mistaken for space dust.

Deep Blue Base was hundreds of light-years from the military district, and there were no other pirate bases nearby. How had an escape pod drifted here?

“Scan for internal life signs and attempt connection.”

The mecha AI followed Yan Xinfeng’s order. Moments later, it reported: [Internal life signs stable. Connection failed, likely due to damaged port.]

Doubts swirled in Yan Xinfeng’s mind, but he still maneuvered the mecha toward the escape pod.

As the distance closed, the pod’s outline grew clearer.

It was not a fully sealed metal canister. The top of the cabin featured a massive, reinforced observation window, but now that supposedly transparent surface was covered in fine frost patterns and spiderweb cracks. A hazy white mist swirled inside, like frozen breath.

Yan Xinfeng adjusted the light source to peer inside. But the instant the mist cleared, a hand suddenly pressed against the observation window. The person in the escape pod had awakened.

Then Yan Xinfeng met a pair of eyes, like brilliant galactic vortices. From Deep Blue Base, traveling thousands or tens of thousands of light-years into the unknown, one might encounter such a sight once in a lifetime.

The Omega curled inside the escape pod traced letters on the observation window with a fingertip.

Thinking back on their first meeting always brought a shy annoyance, but Yan Xinfeng dared admit he had fallen in love with Wei Tingxia at first sight.

“Wei Tingxia…”

Gazing into those eyes he still loved deeply, Yan Xinfeng murmured to himself: “What exactly do you want?”

A flicker of emotion passed through Wei Tingxia’s eyes, as if he too glimpsed a moment from their past in Yan Xinfeng’s expression.

He slowly leaned down, his voice drowned in the light brush of their lips and tongues.

“I want everything.”

……

……

The next day, after Lin Tao finished combing her hair and sat in the living room, she saw Wei Tingxia and said: “The table in the living room is tipped over.”

Normal—it had been kicked over during yesterday’s fight.

Wei Tingxia stretched lazily and sauntered to the table, picking up a nutrient agent and popping it into his mouth. “Probably bumped into it by accident.”

“Is that so?” Lin Tao was half-convinced.

“Yeah.”

The nutrient agent was peach-flavored, heavy on the artificial scent. The military district did not chase top-quality, nuanced tastes; as long as it replenished energy without side effects, it was good enough.

Wei Tingxia sat on the sofa too, a cushion’s distance from Lin Tao, exuding laziness.

Though Yan Xinfeng had been most unwilling, he had been forced to climb out the window. Wei Tingxia had heard no system alerts all night, so he guessed Yan Xinfeng had safely returned to Deep Blue Base.

“Pull up the collapse index line chart for me.”

Wei Tingxia propped his legs on the coffee table, chugged some nutrient solution, and casually ordered 0188 to get to work.

0188 stayed silent and quietly displayed the chart.

Last night’s index had fluctuated again, climbing up and down before settling at a relatively high point.

Wei Tingxia mentally calculated the timing—that spike happened right around when he declared he wanted to become emperor and said he wanted everything.

Yan Xinfeng could not stand to see him become emperor?

“Something feels off,” he grumbled to 0188. “His emotional shift is not right.”

0188 did not understand human emotions, so it humbly asked: [What seems wrong to you?]

“After learning I want to become emperor, he looked utterly heartbroken,” Wei Tingxia complained. “Like his dad had died.” Especially in the second half of the night, when Yan Xinfeng had gone all out—Wei Tingxia’s waist still ached.

[Are you complaining about his performance last night?]

Wei Tingxia shot back: “No, I just think it’s abnormal.”

On the question of becoming emperor or not, Yan Xinfeng clearly hoped Wei Tingxia would choose another path and grew despondent when the answer did not match his expectations.

Wei Tingxia furrowed his brows, crumpled the nutrient agent wrapper into a ball, and tossed it into the trash.

Lin Tao saw him about to stand and quickly grabbed his wrist.

Wei Tingxia looked at her: “What’s up?”

“Um,” Lin Tao pursed her lips. “Can I check you over?”

“Check what?”

“Your body,” Lin Tao gestured vaguely. “I know you’re fine now, but I just want to confirm—after all, the damage was severe…”

She tried to convey it with glances and vague words, but upon meeting Wei Tingxia’s eyes, she lowered her head.

She whispered: “The leader would be heartbroken to know.”

Watching her expression, Wei Tingxia suddenly curved his lips and leaned closer: “Do I look heartbroken to you?”

His striking features were flawless up close, an overwhelming impact. Lin Tao blinked in a daze, then nodded and shook her head moments later.

She did not know.

By normal standards, he should be heartbroken, but Wei Tingxia defied all norms. His very existence was rebellion.

“First one’s wrong, second one’s right.”

Wei Tingxia straightened up and stretched again. Light leaked in from the window, draping him in a hazy shadow that obscured his expression. Lin Tao only heard his voice.

“I’m not heartbroken at all.”

He might not have to become emperor, but compared to that, what he wanted was still far grander.

Anything blocking Wei Tingxia’s path, he did not want.

……

……

The first thing Yan Xinfeng did upon returning to Deep Blue Base was grab a wrench and charge toward the archive room.

Scarface, who had just finished base patrol, saw his fierce expression and instinctively stepped back two paces before shouting: “What are you doing?”

Yan Xinfeng sneered: “Going to dismantle something.”

Really? He looked ready to kill.

Scarface backed up again, only to find Yan Xinfeng already gone. He let out a dry laugh, mustered his courage, and approached: “Talk?”

Yan Xinfeng’s face darkened: “Talk about what?”

How about your marriage meltdown and the backyard blaze that dooms the whole base?

“Just chat,” Scarface said. “I’ve got good booze. Let’s drink.”

Yan Xinfeng twirled the wrench: “Nothing to talk about.” He still wanted to dismantle that robot that only read trashy novels all day.

But Scarface, worried he might kill someone, stepped forward and earnestly advised: “AO couples fight at the head of the bed and make up at the foot. These things are normal—don’t take it to heart.”

“Even if he stabs me?”

“Normal,” Scarface said. “Might not be for others, but for you two? You know what kind of Omega you marked.”

Yan Xinfeng knew, of course. Truth be told, a stab from Wei Tingxia was nothing, but he could hardly broadcast that his Omega was the Second Prince, disguised as an Alpha and gunning for the throne.

So he picked the milder details.

“There you go!”

Scarface, evolving into an emotions expert, clapped: “Other AO fights are grudges—you two fighting is dating, flirting. When feelings run deep, you smash chairs over each other because you like them too much.”

Yan Xinfeng defended himself: “I never hit him.”

“Right, usually only he hits you—unilateral beatdown, doesn’t qualify as mutual.” Scarface waved it off. “But that’s not the issue. Didn’t you see all this when you marked him?”

“…”

Yan Xinfeng handed the wrench to a mechanical arm, leaned against the wall, and said nothing.

Feeling he had advised well, Scarface perked up and pressed: “AO pairs hold no overnight grudges. He let you mark him, so he has feelings for you. Talk it out, and life goes on.”

If it went on, he would become the Emperor’s lover.

Yan Xinfeng sighed, rubbed his face, and felt a tangled mess before him.

“Right,” Scarface recalled something here. “Isn’t the Emperor dying soon? What’s your next plan?”

He glanced around and lowered his voice: “This is the best chance. Strike while the iron’s hot, or once the new one’s on the throne, it’ll be harder for us.”

Yan Xinfeng’s head throbbed even more.