CH 34

The security officer quickly entered the information into his communicator and was about to send it to the highest security command, when his communicator made a high pitched buzzing noise and the screen switched off. No matter what he did, it seemed like it had been damaged beyond repair and no longer functioned.

The officer frowned slightly. He was a special correspondent from one of the top security branches in the Empire. Recently, a large number of elites had been dispatched from his department in order to search for traces of the top priority target ‘Ji Ning’. He was the only member of his security team who held this particular communicator. It was used to directly contact his department, as there was a risk that information sent on an average communicator could be leaked. 

But was the damage to the communicator simply a coincidence?

As the thought flashed through the security officer’s head, he decided to disembark immediately and repair the communicator. He had to report the situation to the highest security command as quickly as possible.

But just as he’d decided this, a member of the spaceship’s crew came over and nervously apologised to the security officer. They told him that their spacecraft’s signal had crashed, causing all their electronic equipment to fail and the doors of the spacecraft to lock shut, but they were doing their best to open them.

So…his communicator signal had been interrupted because of this? 

Although the security officer was still wary of the situation, his suspicions mostly disappeared. He nodded slightly to the crew member, indicating he would wait.

Ji Ning immediately noticed that the inspectors from the Mo Ling Empire had stopped checking passenger’s identities, but he didn’t know why.

He had sat inside a four seated area with Fu Ji and Ark. Sitting across from Ji Ning and next to Fu Ji was an unfamiliar man. The young man suddenly spoke up.

“Those inspectors have you listed as a target Ningning. Have you done something bad in the Mo Ling Empire?”

“…” Ji Ning was taken aback, surprised both by the man’s abruptness, and his familiar way of speaking. He soon came to his senses and asked the young man tentatively, “…Huo Wuling?”

“Yes sir.”

The young man possessed by Huo Wuling smiled at Ji Ning, and said, “You should know what I can do.”

He glanced carelessly at Ark as he said this. Fu Ji looked back at him with wide, terrified eyes. Huo Wuling snorted at his reaction. 

“Don’t make a fuss. I’ve blocked the hearing of nearby passengers, so one around us will be able to hear our conversation, but if our movements are too big, we will still attract their attention.”

Despite Huo Wuling’s words, Fu Ji couldn’t control the expression on his face. How could he not make a fuss? He had never seen such a terrifying situation before, he’d been possessed by a ghost, a real ghost!

“What do you mean?” Ark asked, unaffected by the situation.

“I had a bad premonition just now, so I followed after an inspector and heard one of the security officers say that Ningning was a first level target and his whereabouts should be reported to their Emperor Ozer.” 

Still manipulating the stranger’s body, Huo Wuling continued, “I blocked the spacecraft’s signal so the message couldn’t be sent and locked the doors. They’ll have to wait here until the spacecraft is fully repaired.”

“I’ve also given him a slight psychic suggestion, to make him think this was just a coincidence, but it won’t last for long. We need to find a solution to the problem before then.”

Having said this, he tilted his head and propped up his chin to look at the group of security officers.

“Killing them would be the easiest solution, but we’re still inside the Empire. If we kill these people, we’ll be hunted down by the whole country and that wouldn’t be an easy thing to escape from.” 

“They also seem to have various abilities and strong spiritual powers. I can kill them but I can’t possess all of them at the same time…um, it’s really a bit tricky.”

After analysing the situation, he looked at Ji Ning with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, “You were listed as a key target for them. If I’m guessing correctly, it’s because of that man in the wheelchair from last time?”

Ji Ning felt a little lost for words, but he nodded his head and admitted dryly, “Yes.”

A man in a wheelchair? Wasn’t that the Mo Ling Empire’s Emperor, Ozer? Why were they talking as if they knew Ozer? 

Fu Ji was frightened to death hearing these words. He had originally thought that even if he was arrested by the Mo Ling Empire, the most they could charge him with was forgery. He had never killed an imperial citizen before, so he couldn’t be held accountable for other crimes.

But now, standing with these people, he wasn’t so sure. It seemed that this little fish had done something terrible…

He licked his dry lips and carefully confirmed, “So you’re saying the little fish is being monitored by the Mo Ling Empire and is on the verge of being discovered? Why is this?”

“…” Ji Ning was silent for a few seconds before saying, “I used to… it’s a little difficult with Ozer.” 

“Another lover?”

Huo Wuling didn’t know whether to laugh or not. Although he was asking the question, he felt he already knew the answer.

He had actually offended the Emperor of Mo Ling in a romantic scandal?

Could it be that he was the little lover who dumped Ozer and left with another man? 

Fu Ji felt like he could barely breathe. The possibility of this was truly terrifying, thousands of times more terrifying than Huo Wuling’s ghost possession just now.

This was one of the few super Empires in the universe, and the person Ji Ning had offended was their honourable Emperor…

Speaking of this, what kind of background did this little fish have? If he would even dump a man like Ozer, what kind of man could he want?

Fu Ji’s normally calm mind felt shocked and confused. 

Huo Wuling curled the corners of his lips. Obviously the situation was very serious, but he still asked calmly, “Then what now? It seems as if this won’t end well. Although-”

He turned to look at Ark, “There is another solution. That is, you kill all the investigators here and take the blame in the Mo Ling Empire so Ningning will be safe. If you like him so much, you’ll definitely do this for him, right?”

“Then why can’t you just casually possess someone as a scapegoat, kill everyone and get us out of this mess?” Fu Ji shot back.

“P’w j ubbv qfgrbc, P vbc’a kjca yibbv bc ws tjcvr.” Leb Qeilcu ilfv. 

Ktf gfv tjlgfv wjc mbeivc’a yfjg la jcs ibcufg, “C ubbv qfgrbc? Lbk mbeiv j ubbv qfgrbc mbwf eq klat remt j nlmlber qijc?”

“Qtfatfg tf vbfr la bg cba vfqfcvr bc tbk wemt tf ilxfr Rlcuclcu.” rjlv Leb Qeilcu lcvloofgfcais.

Ark was silent, staring at him for a while, then he turned to Ji Ning. His thin lips pursed slightly and he made to stand up. Ji Ning’s heart nearly gave out and he grabbed the angel’s hand to pull him back down, “Don’t go!”

“He’s willing to sacrifice himself for you, why should you stop him?” said Huo Wuling lazily, “Not only would it keep you safe, it would make him feel better. It’s the best thing for both of you.” 

Ji Ning gave Huo Wuling a stern look. This guy liked nothing more than causing trouble, he was certain Huo Wuling had another solution, he just didn’t want to say it.

At this point, Ji Ning couldn’t help but sigh. He didn’t expect that the apocalyptic world and the interstellar world would be so completely integrated. If he had known they would pass the Mo Ling Empire on the way, he would have disguised himself.

It would be very difficult to change his appearance without his abilities, but even if he couldn’t do anything about his features, that didn’t mean he had no way to solve his problems.

“If you release Herinos, the two of you can influence these people’s memories.” 

Ji Ning looked at Huo Wuling blankly. He was certain that Huo Wuling was aware of Herinos’ powers, but was just unwilling to free him.

Sure enough, Huo Wuling didn’t appear surprised. He just laughed and said, “But what if I don’t want to?”

“Then it’s not like I’m helpless.” Ji Ning said slowly, “If we don’t have any other options, I’ll kill myself.”

Huo Wuling was aware that he had other bodies and had even seen them before, but if this body died, Huo Wuling too would disappear. 

He didn’t need to say the second half of the sentence, Huo Wuling would understand. However, he was only bluffing. He knew he would never be able to do it. He couldn’t watch Huo Wuling die.

Ark didn’t understand what he really meant and hearing his words, his eyes flashed with anxiety. He tried to stand up again but Ji Ning held him down firmly and told him it was only a joke.

“You’re always so indifferent towards me.”

Huo Wuling smiled. He was aware that Ji Ning was bluffing but also understood that he was serious about this. He spread his hands and finally gave in to Ji Ning, “If that’s what you want.” 

As he spoke, a transparent bottle appeared in his hand. Inside it was a small, trapped bat. Its wings were neatly folded together and it seemed to be asleep.

Huo Wuling uncorked the bottle and the little bat inside slowly woke up. It opened its wet black eyes and the first thing it saw was Ji Ning. Its wings trembled in excitement and it squeezed its body out of the bottle, throwing itself into Ji Ning’s arms.

Although the little bat couldn’t speak, Ji Ning could feel the joy in its heart through the connection of the blood pact.

The little bat was only half the size of his palm and extremely delicate. When Ji Ning saw him wake up, he was so happy he couldn’t help but stroke his furry head with his fingers. 

“There’s no need to act so intimately, otherwise it would be better to lock him back up.”

Huo Wuling narrowed his dark pupils, his eyes a little cold as he looked at Herinos in his bat form. When Herinos looked up at the stranger, he seemed to immediately perceive that Huo Wuling was inside the body and quickly took a hostile stance, accumulating power inside his body.

“Your enemy is not me.”

Seeing Herinos’s reaction, Huo Wuling’s usual smile faded. It was obvious that the two people still held a grudge from their heavy casualty battle inside Ji Ning’s villa that day. 

But there were more important things happening at the moment. Huo Wuling glanced at Herinos, then pointed in the direction of the security officer, “It’s time for you to help, we will have to cooperate in order to erase the memories of those people.”

The little bat stubbornly ignored Huo Wuling, so Ji Ning explained the current situation to Herinos, praying that he would decide to help.

Ji Ning knew that according to the current state of affairs, it would be obvious to Herinos that he hadn’t actually lost his memories, but he couldn’t manage it by himself anymore. In any case, the last thing he wanted was to be captured by Ozer.

“…” 

The little bat listened to what he said, considered for a bit, then flapped its wings and flew towards the security officers. Huo Wuling released the person he was possessing and followed him in his shadow form.

Soon after, the curious expression on the security officer who was studying the communicator faded, and he announced the end of the identity check to the other security officers and guards.

Despite this unusual situation, no one looked the slightest bit suspicious and it was announced that as soon as the spacecraft door was fixed, the security search personnel would exit.

Huo Wuling commanded a few spirits to follow behind the security officer and his party. After confirming that they had been psychically influenced, Ji Ning could finally breathe a sigh of relief and begin to calm down. 

In the future, he couldn’t be so careless. At least in this area, he had to find a way to hide his appearance.

As the new passengers at the Mo Ling transfer station boarded the spacecraft, Ji Ning touched his face, thinking about how to change his appearance once he got off of the spacecraft.

The passengers from Mo Ling entered the spacecraft one after another, looking for their seats and settling down. A female passenger moved to an innermost seat with a child in her arms. It seemed to be the child’s first trip as he looked around curiously, glancing at each passenger.

“…” 

Huo Wuling leaned casually against the young man he’d previously possessed and made eye contact with the boy. The child seemed startled by him and immediately retreated back into his mother’s arms.

“What are you looking at?” asked Ji Ning, seeing that Huo Wuling appeared a little distracted.

Huo Wuling quietly released a spirit to monitor the mother and son for a while. Once the spacecraft took off again, there appeared to be nothing abnormal about the two, so he removed the spirit and answered.

“It’s nothing.” 

The mother hugged the child and both of them closed their eyes, appearing to be asleep. However, inside the mother’s head, she used her spiritual power to relay every image the boy had seen, until she found Ji Ning’s face amongst the other passengers.

She spoke a special code inside her head and, more than a dozen planets away, inside the highest security command of the Mo Ling Empire, a line of messages appeared on a transmitter used solely for spiritual reports.

【A2XT7 route, coordinates 21023, 6454, the first level target ‘Ji Ning’ has been found. Please alert his majesty, Ozer, promptly.】

Upon receiving this news, the high security department acted immediately, notifying Emperor Ozer. Under Ozer’s instruction, they covertly directed the spacecraft to divert from its original route. Its final destination was no longer the republic of Anmoya, but the capital star of the Mo Ling Empire. 

When Ozer ordered the strongest powers of the Empire to search for Ji Ning, someone whose spiritual power specialised in clairvoyance predicted potential planets and interstellar routes that Ji Ning might travel through. Investigations were concentrated in these areas and carried out with a two pronged approach.

Firstly, there would be overt investigations led by a top security officer from the security transfer station. Secondly, there would be a skilled, undercover agent disguised as a passenger. One was in the open, the other in the dark. In a short period of time, they carried out a covert but large scale search and finally today, they had found a trace of Ji Ning.

When the spacecraft finally landed on the capital star of the Mo Ling Empire, the passengers were still unaware of the change in destination. Until the window of the craft opened, they still believed they had reached the republic of Anmoya and no one noticed the unfamiliar airport or scenery.

Surrounded by heavily armed troops and secret police, the cold winter wind was icy to the bone. Within this frozen and solemn atmosphere, the young monarch had arrived in person. Sat inside his wheelchair, the blond Emperor wore a white military uniform and fur lined cloak, watching the exit of the spacecraft intently. 

He crossed his fingers inside his white gloves, clasping them tightly together. His normally lake green pupils had darkened, as if covered by a thick frost.

Yet despite his hostile exterior, his heart swelled with heated obsession as his body trembled all the way down to his fingertips.

Since he had seen Ji Ning that day, Ozer’s mental state had worsened to the point he had to suspend his government affairs. He was terrified his spiritual power would collapse and he would become the first Emperor of Mo Ling to go insane.

The love and longing he had sealed away for so many years had burst out in a single moment. That brief glance of the boy had given him both untold happiness and overwhelming agony. 

At the last second, he believed that the figure he saw was real. His spiritual power wasn’t capable of creating an image he hadn’t seen before. Both the restaurant and the older version of Ji Ning couldn’t simply be phantoms he’d imagined.

Even though his logic was telling him this was true, he was so desperate to see Ji Ning again that this almost painful emotion made him dare not believe it. He wondered again and again if it was simply a convincing dream he had mistaken for reality.

In this way, his thoughts alternated countless times between self-admission and denial, yet he couldn’t stop himself from urging all the forces at his disposal to search for that ethereal shadow.

But the universe was too vast. He didn’t dare have high expectations, because hope was always a breeding ground for despair. He tried his best to remain patient and restrained, but when he had been given Ji Ning’s whereabouts, he had rushed over to the airport. Ozer tried to appear calm on the surface but inside, his feelings were chaotic. 

Until he could personally confirm Ji Ning’s existence with his own eyes, he wanted to remain unaffected. He repeatedly reminded himself that whether Ji Ning appeared or not, he couldn’t get too excited, otherwise he might lose control again.

The passengers of the spacecraft were still unaware of the situation, so when they saw the security surrounding them, they obediently left the spacecraft in silence.

Ozer’s eyes swept across every passenger, using his spiritual power to confirm whether they had disguised themselves. Each passenger was subjected to a range of physical tests in order to confirm their identities.

But, no. 

Although all the passengers had left the spacecraft, Ozer still hadn’t seen the person he was looking for.

None of them were Ji Ning.

There was no expression on Ozer’s face but the female agent who reported Ji Ning’s whereabouts couldn’t stop her body from shaking. She knelt at his feet in a cold sweat, his eyes closed, not daring to even beg for mercy.

The guards carefully searched the spacecraft once again and checked near the airport across a twenty mile radius, but couldn’t find Ji Ning, nor the passengers around him that the female agent had reported who were suspected to be his friends. 

It all seemed to have been her fantasy.

“This error was my own negligence, please punish me Your Majesty…”

Ozer didn’t say a word, but the female agent felt his tyrannical spiritual force oppress her to the point of vomiting blood. Even the guards surrounding them were affected, suffering headaches or nausea to varying degrees.

Ozer could barely focus, a heart piercing pain frantically tormenting him. Even though he had repeatedly warned himself of this happening, when his hopes vanished his remaining rationality seemed to be wiped out alongside it, nearly causing him to fall into a frenzy. 

Ji Ning wasn’t here.

He wasn’t on this ship.

Ozer was once again hit with a sense of loss.

The blond monarch clenched his hand against the armrest, gouging deep finger marks. When he raised his head again, his eyes were faintly reddened, a violent storm brewing in his dark eyes, on the cusp of madness. 

“You said he was here.”

“But now he’s not.”

“Then where did he go?”

“I’m asking you, where is he?” 

The spatial distortion was finally over…

He had returned to the world of ‘Rebirth of the Interstellar Actor’ and was inside his villa. The exhaustion of travelling into another world quickly caught up with him and his body softened, falling onto the sofa, where he was unwilling to get up again.

Just as the spaceship was descending to land, Future informed him that the space distortion had been smoothed out and as long as Ji Ning could open a physical door, he could reenter the original world at his own leisure.

Although the crisis of the Mo Ling Empire had been overcome, Ji Ning naturally wished to return out of instinctual vigilance. 

However, when he stood up from the lounge, Ark’s hand covered the back of his, holding onto his fingers tightly. Weakened to the angel for a moment, Ji Ning spoke without thinking.

“Ark, would you like to leave here with me?”

Which resulted in-

“Wow, so the little fish is the young master of a rich family.” 

Gaping at the bright and luxurious furnishings inside the villa, Fu Ji whistled. He gave Ji Ning a side eye and wondered to himself how many different identities the boy had…

Huo Wuling remained as a ghost. Sitting on the sofa in a casual manner, he looked more like a young master than Ji Ning. He glanced at both the white haired angel and the little bat perched on Ji Ning’s shoulder, the corner of his lips twitching.

“Now that it’s safe, some people should be leaving.”

Herinos, who was still in his bat form, moved to Ji Ning’s finger and gave it a small bite. After drinking a few drops of blood, he spoke. 

“You must be referring to yourself?”

“I’m talking about non-humans with wings.” replied Herinos.

The little bat flapped its wings, while Ark touched his snowy feathers softly. After thinking in silence for a few seconds, a dazzling light rose from his fingertips and he said, “Let’s go outside and fight. Whoever wins can stay here.”

Fu Ji felt bitter at his words, “You must love your little fish, huh? When you fought him inside my precious aircraft, did you give me any consideration?!” 

“Why, do you really think you could beat me?” Taunted Huo Wuling, murderous intent flashing through his eyes.

Ark turned to look at Herinos, “Cooperation?”

“Although I’m not interested in joining forces with people,” said Herinos, “If I can destroy him completely, I’ll be happy to accompany you.”

“Enough! You can all stay here.” 

Ji Ning abruptly stood up from the sofa and walked out the door with a blank face, “I’ll just leave myself.”

“Your majesty, I swear upon the lives of my entire family. The person you are searching for really exists. Although I don’t know how he escaped, I can sense where he is…

The female agent had a lot of blood on her lips and was lightheaded from spiritual strain, but still dutifully reported to Ozer.

“I specialise in long distance spiritual power transmission. I can place a spiritual energy trace and track it from another galaxy, with its coordinates being transmitted to my head.” 

“You went to the Federation some time ago to have a meeting with the head of the Federation. I was fortunate enough to follow as a member of the guard and left a spiritual trace along the border of the Federation.”

“I also left a trace on the person you are searching for and felt it cross the trace on the Federation border.”

“Your Majesty, the person you are looking for must be inside the Federation. I implore you to send me to the Federation to find him.”

“…” 

After a long pause, the female agent felt the spiritual energy that had been crushing her abruptly retreat. She sank into the ground, knowing she had barely escaped from death, and breathed a sigh of relief.

She had undergone various specialist training resulting in strong spiritual powers and psychological qualities, but every time she was in front of His Majesty Ozer, she felt as weak as any ordinary person, without any capability to fight back.

“I hope this time, you are right.”

Ozer slowly closed his eyes and spoke in a hoarse voice. 

“I will go to the Federation in person.”

Three protagonists at once…this villa was hell. Ji Ning quickly decided he should return to Ying Qianqiu’s world to calm down, otherwise he would really go crazy if he stayed here.

After asking Future to transfer his soul to the other world, Ji Ning slowly opened his eyes. When he left last time, he was lying on the bed. This time, when he woke up, the first thing he saw was Qin Ruwang, who was protecting him.

The young monarch’s eyes were deep and dark as he silently stared at him. Ji Ning smiled back at the man, and was about to exchange a few words with him, when Qin Ruwang grabbed his wrist and spoke to him in a low voice. 

“God son.”

Instead of calling him ‘master’, he called him ‘God son’.

This was the title Qin Ruwang called him when he was the prince of Xia.

Ji Ning’s eyes widened, as if he had been struck by lightning, whereas Qin Ruwang didn’t so much as blink. He looked cold, without a hint of emotion in his face. 

Had he recovered his memory?

After so long, Herinos is back…as a sad little bat