Chapter 320: The Mysterious Person from Back Then
"My father?"
Ye Ming frowned. He’d never heard about this before. As far as he could remember, his father had been the Monarch ever since he was born. Besides, with his 3S Spiritual Power, it made no sense that he couldn’t have dodged that kind of bullet.
"Yeah, that’s all I know. Anyway, I heard the wound was really bad. The bullet was stuck inside."
"Oh, right. Eldest Prince, what about my uncle’s wound? Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
Ye Ming was pulled from his thoughts by Jiang Xia’s question.
Mu Tangfeng also nodded, equally puzzled. "What are you getting at, Eldest Prince?"
Yan Huoshui explained for him directly. "Most interstellar firearms are legally mandated to cause minimal harm to Beastmen, usually just delivering electric shocks to stun them. Under no circumstances could they cause a scar that severe. But special military firearms are different. There’s one model that can easily be fatal if it hits a vital spot. It’s called the C36."
"The C36?"
Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng said in unison. They’d heard of the gun before, but they were young and had never joined the military. Having spent all their time on the Capital Star, they weren’t yet eligible to be issued one, even if their status met the requirements.
From what they recalled, the C36 was seemingly the only firearm highly lethal to Beastmen. Of course, a Beastman with high spiritual power had a good chance of dodging it. For a 3S Beastman, the threat of this gun was probably less than the Spiritual Poison from the Insect Clan.
That was why Ye Ming found it so baffling that his father, a 3S Beastman, would actually need someone to take a bullet for him.
But that wasn’t the main point. What was important was that the mysterious person who killed Fang Yuan had used a C36.
Ye Ming briefly recounted the details of Fang Yuan’s attack to the other two. They had been with Shi Lan on Yaoxing when it happened and had missed the whole affair.
Ye Ming had checked the C36 firearm issuance records. Wen Sen did, in fact, have one. However, when he’d sent someone to check on it, they found that none of his bullets were missing. If he was the mysterious person behind the ambush, he should have only had five bullets left, but he still had six.
But assuming what Jiang Xia said was true, if Wen Sen had a C36 bullet lodged in him from taking that shot, it couldn’t be ruled out that he’d retrieved it. That would mean even after using one to kill Fang Yuan, he would still have six bullets.
It was highly likely that Wen Sen was the mysterious person who killed Fang Yuan.
After hearing Ye Ming’s analysis, Jiang Xia was stunned for a long moment. "No way. You said the mysterious person had golden eyes, but my uncle is a Wolf Beastman. His eyes are grayish-green; they don’t match. And he hasn’t awakened a Talent Skill."
Yan Huoshui narrowed his eyes and said nonchalantly, "That mysterious person was extremely cautious, completely covered from head to toe. We can’t rule out that he disguised his eyes. Besides, your uncle has S Spiritual Power, right?"
As a 2S Beastman, he could sense the spiritual power fluctuations coming from Wen Sen at close range, and someone with S Spiritual Power had a chance of awakening a Talent Skill.
Jiang Xia nodded. "He does. But I’ve never heard of him having any Talent Skill. At least, I’ve never seen him use one in all these years."
Although Jiang Xia wasn’t as close to his uncle as he used to be, he was still emotionally unwilling to believe his uncle was the one who had killed Fang Yuan.
’Because the implications are enormous. If it was him, that meant he’d also had a hand in sending Fang Yuan to harm us.’
’His own uncle might have even wanted to kill him.’
’And looking further back... to the others involved before Fang Yuan and Lanlan... could he have left his mark there, too?’
’But Uncle has always been so good to me, and so has my big brother... Why would he want to hurt me?’
The more he thought about it, the more a cold sweat broke out on his back. Jiang Xia’s golden eyes darkened, his expression still full of disbelief.
Noticing his distress, Ye Ming said calmly, "For now, it’s just speculation on my part. The last investigation didn’t turn up anything unusual. It was only after seeing your uncle’s wound today that I felt something was off."
"Maybe we’re wrong. At the very least, I still can’t figure out a motive for why your uncle would want to target us."
"Regardless, remember not to breathe a word of this to anyone. We don’t want to tip our hand."
"For now, let’s just observe him carefully. We’ll know for sure once we confirm whether he has awakened the Instant Teleportation Talent Skill."
"Okay," Jiang Xia nodded, still in a daze.
After their discussion, Ye Ming returned to the palace to deal with some miscellaneous matters that had piled up.
Yan Huoshui looked at the other two, his tone pointedly trying to shoo them away. "Your places aren’t done with renovations yet. Aren’t you going back to your own homes?"
Jiang Xia immediately snapped out of it and shook his head. "No, I’m going to sleep with Lanlan."
Mu Tangfeng shot him a glare and said sourly, "I’m not leaving either."
Yan Huoshui ground his teeth. "Lanlan is pregnant. What kind of depraved thoughts are going through your heads?"
"What are you talking about? I meant I’ll stay with her in my beast form."
"Me too. I think *you’re* the one with the dirty mind, aren’t you?"
For once, the two of them were united. Yan Huoshui knew he couldn’t get rid of these two persistent pests. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to have Lanlan’s bed all to himself tonight. In the end, he could only hurry back to the room, transform into his beast form, and lie down on the side Shi Lan was facing, claiming a prime spot first.
"Damn it, you have no beastly honor!"
"Shameless!"
Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng cursed under their breath, immediately transforming into their beast forms and clambering onto Shi Lan’s bed as well.
Luckily, Shi Lan’s bed was huge, and their beast forms were of a relatively common size. In the end, the three of them each took a corner.
The Nine-tailed Fox’s nine tails stretched wantonly toward Shi Lan’s chest.
Shi Lan slept in a neat posture, her hands folded over her chest. Perhaps still savoring the pre-sleep fluffiness in her dreams, she naturally and familiarly gathered the nine tails into a tight embrace. The tips brushed against her warm chin, and she gave them a comfortable nuzzle before sinking contentedly back into a deep sleep.
On her other side was Mu Tangfeng. He had his paws tucked in, his long tail feathers draped over the edge of the bed. His soft, beautiful wings slid quietly under the covers to wrap around Shi Lan’s waist. He squinted his black eyes in contentment, revealing delicate, orange-red eyelids.
Jiang Xia, with his short legs, was a bit too slow. He failed to claim the spot behind Shi Lan’s back and could only curl up by her exposed ankles. He covered them with his fluffy tail to block out the chill, his two fuzzy hind paws pressing against the soles of her feet.
The three occupied their own corners, not disturbing one another, each finding their own way to get closer and cuddle with their partner.
——
The sweet days passed in a flash. After becoming pregnant, Shi Lan’s communication schedule with He Hanshi grew more consistent. Every night at ten o’clock, no matter what else was going on, He Hanshi would call her.
But she could still sense that he was getting busier and busier with work. Several of their calls had ended in a hurry.
「Another week passed.」
Shi Lan heard the director of her institute say, "There’s been a major Insect Clan outbreak on the Border Defense Star recently. A lot of people have enlisted, but medical resources are also getting scarce. I plan on sending a five-person team over to provide support."
In the director’s plan, there was no way a pregnant Shi Lan would be sent to such a dangerous place. But she volunteered herself. "Director, let me go. Admiral He is my Beast Husband, and he’s a 3S Level Beastman. With the situation like this, I’m worried about him."