CH 23

The Zerg continued pouring in one after another. Bai Zhi held his breath, lifted his blade, and slashed, venting his anger on the Zergs. He forcibly carved a path of blood, shocking the Zerg soldier in front of him into backing up a few steps. 

Bai Zhi couldn’t find a well-matched opponent and looked around, panting heavily. Just when he planned to help Wen Zhuzhi out, a sharp alarm suddenly rang out in his mind: “Class A Warning! The villain’s life is in danger! Requesting the host to commence rescue immediately!” 

Bai Zhi held up his knife to block an attack before quickly turning around. A Zerg clearly larger than the others had somehow sneaked up behind Wen Zhuzhi, its antenna lifted high in the air, prepared to attack. Bai Zhi’s heart lurched, and he lunged forward without even thinking, taking the blow in his place.

“Shao Luo!!” 

In an instant, a sharp tentacle pierced a hole in Bai Zhi’s stomach. He pushed down his cry of pain, quickly grabbing the tentacle and cutting it off. The Zerg howled before leaping away several steps.

The other Zerg immediately rushed forward. Wen Zhuzhi dashed in front of Bai Zhi and shot the Zerg wanting to take advantage of his injury. Bai Zhi’s strength left him, his vision darkening, and he was unable to lift his blade to keep fighting. Wen Zhuzhi temporarily settled the Zerg before pulling Bai Zhi into his arms, blocking him from attacks with his own body. 

Wen Zhuzhi slaughtered enemies while carefully protecting Bai Zhi, his steps slowing. Bai Zhi watched anxiously, but he was unable to resist the tentacle’s venom. After coughing up a mouthful of blood, he could no longer stand up straight, and he slowly tipped over in Wen Zhuzhi’s embrace. 

“System, when will the rescue team you mentioned arrive?” 

The system was turning on Recovery Mode for Bai Zhi, forehead full of sweat, his voice tinged with grief: “Probably – probably in a few hours…”

Bai Zhi forced his eyes open to meet Wen Zhuzhi’s fearful eyes and faintly shook his head: “In a few hours, huh…. Then switch Recovery Mode over to Wen Zhuzhi.” 

After that, he closed his eyes and sunk into a coma. 

“Nephew! Nephew, hold on for just a bit longer!”

This was the first time the system faced this kind of situation. In this urgent and fearful moment, he thought of the words Bai Zhi said before he passed out. He forced down his body’s messy electric currents, calmed down as best as he could, and shakily reached out his hand: “Nephew, I can’t just watch you suffer. Let’s instead-”

The system was cut off mid-sentence when the main processor space suddenly turned black. Even the system that had been anxiously pressing random buttons in the space quieted as if the power was cut. 

—– Outside the system space. —–

Wen Zhuzhi supported the unconscious Bai Zhi, his eyes stormy. His back had been cut numerous times, blood pouring out from each wound, but it was as if he couldn’t feel anything at all. He looped one arm under Bai Zhi’s neck and the other under the crook of his knees, carrying him in his arms. 

Wen Zhuzhi’s knife and gun were both tossed aside, leaving him seemingly without any method of resistance. 

The Zerg that had lost its tentacle earlier roared a command, and the other Zerg soldiers charged. 

Wen Zhuzhi lifted his head.

………………………. 

Bai Zhi was forcibly woken by pain. 

He covered his head with his claws and ducked under the covers, sucking in breaths of cold air: “Ow, ow, ow! Uncle, how is Wen Zhuzhi?” 

System: “Alive.” 

“Alive? Is he injured?” 

“He’s a bit injured, but compared to you, it’s not worth mentioning.” 

Bai Zhi finally let go of his worries, repeatedly whining in his mind: “Uncle, it hurts…”

“Of course it hurts!” The system immediately raged: “It wasn’t me who saved you. You were brought to the imperial physicians; they crudely stuck you into the restoration pod. It would be weird if it didn’t hurt!” 

“Oh, so it was like this.” Bai Zhi realized: “You gave Recovery Mode to Wen Zhuzhi, right?” 

“As if1!” The system got angrier and angrier: “I’ve lived for so long, yet this was the first time my power was cut! If I ever find out which bastard did it, I’ll kill him!” 

Bai Zhi didn’t understand: “What does that mean? Someone acted against you?”

“That’s right! Bastard!” The system was steaming, kicking a pillow away: “Nephew, you have to avenge me! I’ve been operating for so long, and I’ve never faced such dishonor!” 

“Okay, okay, okay,” Bai Zhi nodded. “Uncle’s enemies are my enemies. I’ll definitely help you beat him up!”

The system finally calmed down and sat his butt on the bed: “But at least those stupid doctors saved you; I guess they’re not completely useless.”

“Mn, mn.” Bai Zhi popped his head out of the blankets, staring at his uncle with big eyes: “But…”

“But what?” 

“Recovery Mode wasn’t given to Wen Zhuzhi, and he only sustained light injuries. Did the rescue team arrive so quickly?”

“I don’t know,” the system straightforwardly answered. “By the time I recharged my processor and started it back up, you were already laid here.” 

“Although, before you passed out, the information I found clearly said that rescue team was still hours away; reasonably, that information should have been correct.” 

“Forget it,” Bai Zhi wrinkled his brows, too lazy to keep thinking about it. “In any case, everyone is safe. It’s fine as long as we’re all fine, right?”

The system was about to nod when he suddenly remembered something else: “Right, I wanted to tell that Wen Zhuzhi seems to be getting engaged soon.” 

Bai Zhi was dumbfounded for a while before he slowly sat up, pointing a finger at himself: “To me?” 

“You think too much,” the system struck him heartlessly. “When you were unconscious earlier, I saw that the emperor seemed to be planning to bestow him a marriage.”

“What!” Bai Zhi became anxious: “If it isn’t me, then who does he want to be with!” 

“Calm down, calm down,” the system held him down. “These were the original novel’s settings. Don’t panic.” 

“Original novel?” Bai Zhi stared blankly for a moment: “You mean Shao Mu?” 

“Bingo!” The system rubbed Bai Zhi’s head: “It’s none other than your older sister.”

Bai Zhi wrinkled his brow. In the storyline, Wen Zhuzhi was, indeed, bestowed a marriage. 

In the original plot, though, it occurred much later, on the eve of Wen Zhuzhi’s rebellion. The emperor had already sensed Wen Zhuzhi’s ambition, so he gave a final effort to tie him down by granting him the Second Princess. Unfortunately, Wen Zhuzhi agreed during the day but launched the rebellion that night. Naturally, the marriage never went through. 

“I recall that the story had already developed to the later stages when the emperor discovered Wen Zhuzhi’s plans to revolt by the time the marriage was arranged,” Bai Zhu said. “But the current time is clearly wrong. Was Wen Zhuzhi exposed early?” 

“He shouldn’t have been.” The system thought a bit: “He just visited you. If he’d already been exposed, would the emperor have allowed him to visit your comatose self?” 

“He visited me just now?” Bai Zhi immediately shifted his attention. “Then he-”

“I only came out after he left.” 

“I see,” Bai Zhi drooped his head, shaking his head a little disappointedly. “This won’t do, I have to go find him.”

After talking, he lifted the blankets and flipped out of the bed as the system chattered by his side: “Ancestor2, hey, could you please obediently lie in bed? Your head hurts, so what are you running around for?”

“I can’t let my man get engaged to someone else. Everything is first-come-first-served, isn’t it?” 

Bai Zhi walked out of the room in an instant, and the system quickly hid its body. The little maid by the room saw that Bai Zhi was awake and immediately ran over. Seeing this, Bai Zhi ordered, “Quickly prepare the car – I want to see Wen Zhuzhi.” 

“Your Highness, you just woke up, what are you hurrying out of the palace for?” Shao Luo’s maids were usually right by his side, so they directly voiced their thoughts. 

Bai Zhi waved a hand: “You guys don’t understand. If I don’t hurry, my man will be swindled away by my sister.” 

“Huh?” 

“Don’t ‘huh, huh, huh,’” Bai Zhi lifted his head. “You two prepare the car, you two inform the emperor and empress that Wen Zhuzhi is my man and that they can’t pair him up with anyone else.” 

“Huh?” 

“‘Huh,’ what ‘huh’?” Bai Zhi stomped hurriedly. “Go quickly!”

“Oh, oh oh,” the maids saw the little prince grow impatient and that they couldn’t get him under control and scattered. 

Bai Zhi stood in place for a bit, gloomily pacing a few circles. Although the maids weren’t good at adapting to the situation, their efficiency was commendable. Not long after, Bai Zhi was seated in the aircraft cabin, valiantly setting off to find Wen Zhuzhi. 

The driver robot sent Bai Zhi all the way to the residence’s front door before stopping. He dismissed the robot with a wave and climbed through the window, too impatient to go through the door. 

He wandered blindly through the halls until he rounded a corner, bumping straight into someone. 

Wen Zhuzhi looked at the little prince, astonished: “Prince Shao Luo?” 

Bai Zhi was about to bow in apology, but when he saw that the person he walked into was Wen Zhuzhi, his embarrassment immediately flew to cloud nine. He instinctively reached out and hugged Wen Zhuzhi tightly.

“You’re not allowed to agree to the engagement.”

“What?” 

Bai Zhi’s tone carried hints of grievance: “You’re obviously mine.”

The little prince was like a young beast declaring its territory, childishly clinging to Wen Zhuzhi as if it would prevent him from being stolen away. Wen Zhuzhi originally wanted to tease him for his barbaric actions, but his direction changed once the words left his mouth: “I’m not qualified to take the princess as my wife.” 

“You’re qualified to take the prince as your wife,” Bai Zhi immediately replied. “Or as a husband, as long as you’re happy.” 

Wen Zhuzhi: “…”

Bai Zhi became a bit panicky, slowly loosening his arms. He was about to keep talking when Wen Zhuzhi stepped forward first, asking: “Are your injuries better, running around like this?”

“I…” Bai Zhi thought about it, and, for the first time, started playing little tricks: “If you accept, my injuries will recover. If you don’t accept-”

“Then you’ll never recover?” Wen Zhuzhi couldn’t help chuckling at the childish threat. He pulled him towards the master bedroom: “Alright, my little ancestor, rest obediently, okay?” 

Bai Zhi still didn’t stop when he was seated on the bed, tugging on Wen Zhuzhi and refusing to let go: “You have to remember what I just said.”

“What did you just say?” Wen Zhuzhi teased.

“It was…” Bai Zhi bit his lip. After a moment’s thought, he suddenly stood up. Taking advantage of Wen Zhuzhi’s inattention, he fiercely kissed him on the cheek.

“It was that. Understand?”

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Translated by shakytofu. Edited by Oceana.

tofu notes: hello! i picked this novel up!! yayyy :^) i’ll be hopefully maintaining a weekly update schedule (maybe more!). occasionally there are chapters more than doubled in length… ( ╯□╰ ; ), but otherwise weekly/biweekly updates should be doable.

i was also originally thinking of stocking up on chapters and making an option to donate on kofi in exchange for the immediate release of a full chapter (for everyone), but i wanted to get this chapter out first. i hope to keep posting weekly, so i dont know if i’ll ever get that chapter stock LOL 〒▽〒 (so rn if u donate to kofi i won’t post an extra chapter. i’ll write a t/n when it becomes available ^_^)

for my translator’s notes, click on the in-chapter subscript to jump to the T/N, and then on the T/N superscript to jump back to where you left off in the chapter. happy reading!

this is my first time translating, so let me know if the website has any issues or if my translations themselves have any issues. for reference, though, my editor and i are both chinese-american.

oh yeah, my laptop fan is malfunctioning so i have to send my baby in for repair soon sob… that’ll delay translations for a bit but i’ll see if i can continue working on another device.

*edit: AHHH i forgot to add a comment section earlier im sowwie ┌( ´_ゝ` )┐ehmm i really am technologically challenged… hehe i wont forget it next chapter !! probably!

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1.“给个屁！” – Basically 屁 is somewhat of a universal curse word. I couldn’t include any swears without making it sound too aggressive or mean (considering their uncle/nephew relationship), so I went with the closest there was. Sorry about that!

2.“祖宗” – Lit. means “ancestor.” In China your family’s ancestors are highly respected. To my understanding, calling someone this is generally a lighthearted reference, usually with implications that they are impulsive, spoiled, finicky, or just require a lot of fussing over. It’s a bit similar to jokingly calling someone “Young Master” or “Your Highness.”