Ji Zhiqing’s eyes widened in anger, opening far more than usual. She was a smart woman—Chen Xing’s actions were more than enough to make her understand that she had only ever been a pawn in his game.
Anger. Unwillingness.
Those intense emotions tangled together, forming something so fierce it felt like her eyes might split apart.
No ambitious person would want something like this to happen right when they were about to succeed, and no one enjoys being betrayed.
Pain kept spreading from her chest. She grabbed tightly onto the hand Chen Xing had driven into her chest, her neatly trimmed nails leaving harsh red marks on that pale skin.
Her blood kept draining away, and the feeling of life slipping through her fingers stirred up a desperate will to survive. But no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break free from Chen Xing’s grip. His hand was like iron—completely unmovable.
“You… got close to me on purpose.”
Chen Xing didn’t answer. Instead, ignoring her weak resistance, he pushed the short blade even deeper into her body by another inch or two. Blood gushed out in large amounts, and even the corner of Ji Zhiqing’s lips began to overflow with blood—tinged with an unnatural black.
The blade was poisoned!
Ji Zhiqing stared at Chen Xing without blinking. She ignored the poison and continued, “All of this, cough, cough…”
As she spoke, another mouthful of blood burst out. The motion forced the dagger in even deeper, but she still managed to finish her sentence, “…was too smooth.”
Chen Xing smiled. With his other hand, he gently wiped the blood from her lips. His movements were careful and soft, like a polite gentleman—if not for the fact that he was the one who had stabbed her.
“Your Highness, what are you trying to say?”
Ji Zhiqing narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at him with a complicated expression. “How long have you been lying in wait by my side?”
They weren’t alone. There were many of her trusted aides nearby. Yet those people who had once loyally supported her now acted as if they hadn’t seen the assassination at all, showing a completely unnatural indifference. It was too strange—almost as if they had all been controlled.
“Second Princess, from the very beginning I knew you wouldn’t be the one I’d support. The ruler I want must be decisive and ruthless, but also upright and open. He can have a few flaws—after all, I have plenty of time to slowly shape him into someone I like.”
The look in Ji Zhiqing’s eyes grew more and more strange. “If I remember correctly, you are… the leader of a dark faction.”
“Ah, yes. Isn’t it interesting for the leader of a dark faction to become the Imperial Tutor and help a new emperor seize the throne?”
“I could have been… a suitable ally.”
“Yes, Second Princess, you perfectly fit my need for decisiveness and ruthlessness. After I helped you, it would’ve been your turn to kill me off once I’d outlived my use. Unfortunately, you were only ever a stepping stone to me. And as a stepping stone, it’s about time you disappeared.”
Between the two of them, who had ever truly trusted the other? Chen Xing had simply struck first.
“Hah? Hahahahaha…” After a mocking chuckle, Ji Zhiqing burst into loud laughter. Thick streams of dark red blood poured from her mouth. “The winner takes all… I was just not skilled enough. But do you really think… if I die, you’ll… walk away unscathed?”
“That won’t be something Your Highness needs to worry about.”
After Ji Zhiqing collapsed, Chen Xing wiped his hands with visible disgust, rubbing them over and over again. A small flying device hovered beside him, reporting in a flat mechanical voice that the Third Leader had been found on the underground floor of the control center.
With both his right-hand and left-hand men dead one after another, there wasn’t a trace of sorrow in Chen Xing’s eyes. After carefully cleaning his hands, he spoke softly toward the distance:
“Now that the irrelevant people have mostly been cleared out, there’s no need for Your Highness to keep hiding.”
“Irrelevant people? Second Sister would be heartbroken to hear that.” Ji Chenxi hadn’t expected to stay hidden forever. Now that he’d been pointed out, he simply stepped out openly.
Chen Xing let out a light laugh. “Are you satisfied with the gift I prepared for you?”
“You killed her now, which means everything is no longer justified. Or is it that you want to take that position yourself, Chen Xing?”
“Maybe I’m paving the way for you.”
Ji Chenxi shook his head, rejecting the idea. “If you were paving the way for me, you wouldn’t have tried to kill me again and again. If you were paving the way for me, you wouldn’t be standing against me right now. Just admit it—what you want is a puppet that listens to you. You want that puppet to be ‘perfect’ as you define it, yet you don’t want it to show even the slightest defiance. That just proves how arrogant you are. From the very start, what you wanted wasn’t a perfect successor, but a perfect marionette—one that could spread through the entire empire and let you become the true power behind it.”
Chen Xing’s gaze at Ji Chenxi first showed a hint of surprise, then he smiled. “If you were just a little more obedient, this would’ve been a perfect plan. Haven’t we gotten along quite well?”
Gotten along well?
Ji Chenxi let out a cold laugh, but he had something more important to figure out.
“The banned drug used at Chi Zhuo’s banquet—you had a hand in that too, didn’t you?”
“Oh?”
“Pretending not to know is pointless. After all, besides being the one behind Cocoon, you’re also a famous researcher. As a researcher, how could you not know about ‘Miracle’? Back then, you reacted so strongly—was it because you thought me being with an alpha was a stain, or because you thought I had defiled your ‘Miracle’?”
Just knowing Chi Zhuo’s level and reading the logs labeled “Miracle” had already made Ji Chenxi suspect that Chi Zhuo was a descendant of the experimental subject “Miracle.” So would the people who had actually handled the experiment really never find that descendant?
At some point, Chen Xing must have learned Chi Zhuo’s true identity. And since Chi Zhuo had always claimed to be S-rank, what happened at the banquet had definitely been a test—a probe, and also a way to push Bai Anran forward. Ji Chenxi didn’t know all the details, but it wasn’t hard to guess. What else could two high-level AOs do when brought together? The answer was obvious—reproduction. The offspring of two high-level, well-matched AOs had a chance of surpassing their parents.
The drug at the banquet, the strange man encountered on that small planet, that human experiment lab, Chen Xing’s bait at the auction—all those blurry threads suddenly connected in that moment.
“Ah, ‘Miracle’!” Chen Xing chuckled softly. “That was actually information I left behind on purpose.”
“I actually prefer to call him Ares. Ares wasn’t as perfect as we imagined, but over all these years, we still haven’t managed to create a second one like him. He’s one of a kind. That omega who carried Ares’s bloodline shouldn’t have lived long. I have no idea what method she used—not only did she escape, but she even slowed the child’s growth. An illegitimate child of the Chi family? Not a bad identity. Though it really did make him hard to find.”
That was also why Ji Chenxi had initially rejected the idea that Chi Zhuo was the experimental subject. His features looked far too similar to the previous head of the Chi family. And genetic modification was not only illegal, but also extremely difficult to hide completely in a living person.
“I originally planned to use that log to have Your Highness help us investigate. Didn’t expect you to have no curiosity about it at all.” Thinking back on it, Chen Xing sounded a bit regretful.
If everything had been one step leading to the next, then what exactly was Ji Chenxi facing now?
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
