Card Room

Yu Hanjiang was obviously 'using official authority for private interests'. Did a guard have to live with the crown prince in order to protect him? The palace was large but there were no guest rooms. Xiao Lou was the crown prince. Even if there were friends or guests who wanted to stay at the palace, there was a separate palace specifically for guests to stay in. Who would sleep in the crown prince's palace?

There was only one bedroom in Xiao Lou's quarters. If Yu Hanjiang wanted to stay overnight, he could only sleep on the same bed as Xiao Lou. This bed was big enough for four adults to lay down side by side and sleeping with Yu Hanjiang wouldn't be crowded at all. But Xiao Lou felt this wasn't a good idea. The crown prince was sleeping with a guard. If this came out, how could he explain it to others?

Xiao Lou met Yu Hanjiang's serious eyes and couldn't help asking, "You mean, you want to stay with me tonight?"

Yu Hanjiang looked calm. "That's right. If someone asks, I will say His Highness is resting in the bedroom while I stand guard outside the bedroom to keep His Highness safe."

Xiao Lou, "……"

Standing guard? He really thought of himself as a guard?!

Xiao Lou definitely couldn't bear to let Yu Hanjiang stand outside all night. He had to compromise and say, "Sleep with me tonight. In addition, I have to see my father this afternoon. Will you accompany me?"

Yu Hanjiang replied solemnly, "I am Your Highness's guard. No matter where Your Highness tells me to go, I will go."

Now he suddenly turned obedient? Xiao Lou recalled the scene where he was just kissed and couldn't help his ears reddening again. He cleared his throat and changed the topic. "It is lunch break and Father should be resting. Let's get familiar with the world's background first." He gave an order to his intelligent mecha. "Spirit Fox, open the galaxy map."

The clear juvenile voice of the mecha answered him at once. "Yes, Master."

A holographic screen with a width of around three meters appeared in front of them. It was dotted with stars. Some planets were marked in blue and there was a simple text description next to them.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang got up and walked to the galaxy map. Xiao Lou said, "The blue marked planets should be where humans are living at the moment."

Yu Hanjiang looked closely. There weren't many blue marks on the galaxy map. It seemed that even though humans had explored many galaxies in the universe, the universe was far wider than humans imagined. Many places were beyond the reach of astronomical telescopes and no one knew what could be out there.

Compared with the vastness of the universe, humans were really small.

Xiao Lou's fingers glided across the galaxy map and then a map of the Stellan Federation appeared on the screen in front of him. This map contained galaxies, planets and cities where humans lived.

Xiao Lou spoke based on the knowledge in his memories. "The Stellan Federation is a human alliance composed of several large and small countries, which are spread over different galaxies. The unified currency is star coins and people can freely enter and exit the different nations. The Locke Empire where we are located is the largest and most populous country in the Stellan Federation. The capital star is located near the center of the Gemini star field."

He pointed to the galaxy next to it. "This is the Aquarius star field and contains the capital star of the Azure Empire, the nation with the best relationship with us. My sister married into this place."

Xiao Lou’s fingers lit up several regions on the galaxy map. “There are also some small countries located in the Libra and Leo star fields. There might be some friction with these countries but the overall relationship is still harmonious.”

Yu Hanjiang looked at the map of the human planets and touched his chin thoughtfully. “In my memories, there hasn’t been any war between human countries in the past 100 years. The human alliance has achieved unprecedented unity. The key for bringing people with such complicated thoughts together should be the threat of alien forces? Earth was destroyed and it wasn’t easy to rebuild their homes.”

Xiao Lou nodded. "Yes. In this vast interstellar space, humans have to form alliances for survival and reproduction."

Yu Hanjiang slid the map back and pointed to the blue areas. "From the galaxy map, the Gemini, Aquarius, Libra and Leo star regions are those developed and settled by humans. Most of the other galaxies in the universe aren't suitable for human survival. In order to expand our territory and supplement resources, human beings have been exploring the unknown universe for several decades."

Xiao Lou thought for a moment before suddenly asking, "What is the situation on Brother Jiu's side? I remember you saying that Brother Jiu and Mr Tang are on their way back?"

"The Arrow Corps led by Brother Jiu is the vanguard army with the strongest combat effectiveness in our empire. Based on my memories, Brother Jiu left the capital star six months ago. The military assigned him a secret mission and I haven't had any contact with him for half a year. I have heard from some generals in the military department that he will be back soon."

Xiao Lou was a bit puzzled. "You are cousins but you haven't had contact with him for half a year?"

Yu Hanjiang explained in a low voice, "The military's communications are all encrypted. It is normal that I can't contact him during his mission. I only remember that we had a meal together before he left. He said he would go to a far away place to perform a secret mission and that he probably wouldn't return to the capital star for a year and a half."

It seemed they would have to wait for Brother Jiu to come back to ask about this matter.

His secret mission might be a clue to this secret room.

Yu Hanjiang asked Xiao Lou, "Since the background is the interstellar age, will there be intelligent alien creatures like the parasitic race we encountered in 8 of Spades?"

Xiao Lou nodded. "It is possible. There are only four star regions on the map that are suitable for human survival and there is still a lot of unknown territory. Perhaps the Q level is hiding dangerous extraterrestrial life. If aliens appear, they will definitely be more difficult to deal with than the bugs of 8 of Spades." Xiao Lou felt numb thinking of those parasites.

He paused and looked at the map of the Stellan Federation. "Still, is it also possible that it is human infighting? A of Hearts has arranged the identity of a prince for me. Will there be attempts to usurp the throne or other drama?"

Yu Hanjiang had a headache and pinched his brow. "We should wait for Brother Jiu to get back. We can't confirm anything now."

***

At the same time, the command room of the Arrow Corps's warship.

Lu Jiuchuan placed both hands on the desktop and stared carefully at the navigation on the holographic screen in front of him. "We are about to pass through the Aquarius star field and then we will make a space leap… what does this mean?"

Tang Ci pushed the wheelchair in front of the screen and explained, "It means leaving the gravitational pull of one galaxy and jumping to another galaxy in an instant."

Lu Jiuchuan smiled and touched his nose. "Yes. After we jump to the Gemini star field, we will soon be able to reach the capital star. Then we will find a way to meet Hanjiang."

Tang Ci suddenly asked, "Don't you think something is wrong?"

Lu Jiuchuan looked at him. "What?"

Tang Ci frowned in a confused manner. "In my memory, I only remember that my legs were injured in a previous battle. However, I can't remember the details of the battle or how they were injured. What about you?"

Lu Jiuchuan's expression gradually became serious. "…Me neither."

"So for what reason did we run all the way to distant outer space?"

Lu Jiuchuan carefully searched his mind but he couldn't think of anything. He got a headache and held his temples. "I only remember returning to the capital star six months ago. I had a meal with my brother and he asked me where I was going for my next expedition. I told him that I was going on a secret mission for the military but I can't remember the details of the mission at all."

Tang Ci was even more puzzled. "Is it because the mission isn't important so the keepers didn't give us the details? Or is it because the mission is too important that we lost key memories to avoid the task being affected?"

There was a fundamental difference between the two possibilities.

If it was an insignificant mission and the keeper was too lazy to set the details for them, there was no need to dig deeply. But what if it was the latter? Then the memories they lost about the 'secret mission' were likely to affect the team's ability to leave this interstellar secret room.

The two people frowned and fell deep in thought. Yet no matter how hard they thought about it, they couldn't remember anything about the mission.

Lu Jiuchuan felt like an electric drill was constantly stirring in his mind. He had a splitting headache. There seemed to be something in his memories but it was blocked by a thick barrier, like a seedling trying to break through the ground only to encounter an iron plate. His face was ugly and he formed fists to hit his head hard.

Tang Ci gently took his arm. "Don't think about it. As long as something important happened, there will definitely be clues. The two of us have no memories but aren't there other people in the corps?"

Lu Jiuchuan's eyes lit up. "Yes, we can ask the others."

He tapped on his communicator and had the officers above the major rank come to the command room.

Soon, five officers in black uniforms walked into the command room with swift steps and saluted Lu Jiuchuan. "Major General!"

Lu Jiuchuan asked, "What special mission did we do this time?"

The five people exchanged looks, their faces blank.

Lu Jiuchuan wondered, "You don't know or you don't remember?"

One of the blond-haired officers called Knox simply said, "Reporting to the major general, I don't remember!"

The others agreed. "What did we do??"

"It seems to be a cruise?"

"We cruised around in the first half of the year."

Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci looked at each other. Something was wrong. If it was really an insignificant task then the keeper didn't need to go through so much trouble. They could just set it as Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci accidentally getting injured while encountering star thieves or an alien attack…

Obviously something serious happened during the past several months, but no one could remember what exactly happened. Were their memories wiped? Why was there a splitting headache every time they tried to think about it?

Lu Jiuchuan took a deep breath and whispered in Tang Ci's ear, "Go back to the capital star and check the military department. Since we received the mission from the military, there will definitely be clues at headquarters."

Tang Ci agreed. After all, they collectively suffered from amnesia and there was no way to inquire from other places.

Rainbow: I will be having minor surgery at the start of August to fix a small airway problem I'm having, which was the cause of my sleeping problems a few months ago. It does mean I have a really busy workload before I take time off from work. Then there's the recovery from the surgery and workload when my leave is finished. So starting from Monday next week, chapters will be released once a week until the end of August.

CG 10K event

Proofreader: Fictional Reality & Paranoid Kitten