Huo Yuhao Enters Sun Moon Camp, Dong'er's Worry Can No Longer Be Hidden

Sun Moon Camp was quieter than Huo Yuhao had imagined. It was not that there was no one there, but that everyone had lowered their voices to the barest whisper. Soul tool cannon arrays lay silently on both sides of the woodland like steel behemoths watching with cold eyes. Silver-blue pathways of light stretched all the way to the main tent, and every soul engineer along the way bowed their heads in salute.

They were saluting Orange—the Crown Princess and the future Empress of the empire.

Watching her back as she walked ahead of him, Huo Yuhao suddenly found her somewhat unfamiliar. The senior student who had once seriously studied recipes in the kitchen and handed him hot soup had become someone who could make an entire military camp fall silent.

Orange turned around, as though she had sensed his gaze.

"What is it?"

Huo Yuhao said, "You've changed a lot."

Orange smiled. "So have you."

Ye Guyi had been staring at the black soul tool tower to the right of the main tent. The Holy Spirit Cult's aura on the tower was faint, so faint that ordinary people would barely notice it, yet her holy sword had already begun to heat up.

"There."

Huo Yuhao nodded. He had noticed it long ago. The Return Flow Core Fragment slowly turned within his spiritual sea, stripping away the outer disguise of the soul tool tower. Deep beneath its base was a ring of strange patterns, as if someone had forcibly woven Sun Moon Beast Command, auspicious beast Return Flow, and some higher light that had fallen from above into a single vessel.

Orange led them into the main tent. A long table stood inside, holding no wine or tea—only three secret orders, seven soul tool chips, and a small box sealed with golden chains.

Orange removed her outer military coat, revealing the straighter line of her shoulders beneath her fitted formal attire. Her movements were unhurried, yet impossible to look away from. It was not deliberate seduction, but the composure she had honed from living at the center of power for so long. She knew she was beautiful, and she knew beauty could be a weapon.

"Sit."

Huo Yuhao did not sit. Ye Guyi stood near the tent entrance, her holy sword hanging at her side.

Orange glanced at them and sighed softly. "At this rate, the people outside will think our negotiations fell apart."

Huo Yuhao said, "Talk business first."

Orange pointed to the first secret order.

"The Sun Moon Imperial Family believes that the Beast Command Core Fragment leaked from the Star Dou Great Forest can change the future combat methods of soul tool legions. Simply put, they want to create a military core capable of suppressing Soul Beasts, directing beast tides, and escorting soul tool legions deep into the outer regions of the Star Dou."

Ye Guyi said coldly, "Using Qiu'er as military equipment."

"Yes." Orange did not try to dress it up.

"That is why the Holy Spirit Cult intervened. They provided methods for Blood Baleful Intent contamination, Sun Moon provided the soul tool vessel, and the samples leaked from the Star Dou Great Forest gave them exactly the entry point they needed to deduce the Return Flow reaction."

Huo Yuhao looked toward the small box. "What's inside?"

"The Sampling Core." Orange pushed the key toward him. "It can record the reaction triggered in the auspicious beast's Return Flow when you, Wang Dong'er, and Wang Qiu'er appear together."

Huo Yuhao's eyes darkened. "You've been watching us for a long time."

"Not me." Orange's voice remained gentle, though a trace of exhaustion entered it. "But I have no right to claim I was completely uninvolved. After learning of this, I did not destroy it immediately. I sent you the information first, then kept it until now."

Huo Yuhao looked at her. "Why?"

Orange raised her eyes, without any attempt to evade him. "Because destroying one Sampling Core would be useless. I needed to know who was behind it."

"And?"

Orange fell quiet for a moment. Wind brushed past the military banners outside the tent. At last, she smiled faintly. "And I needed it to protect my position in Sun Moon."

A thin line of light flared from Ye Guyi's holy sword. "So you're using him too."

"Yes." Orange admitted it far too quickly. "I can scheme against the Sun Moon Imperial Family, and I am scheming against the Holy Spirit Cult. Of course, I also need to use Yuhao."

She looked at Huo Yuhao. "But every letter I sent was meant to give you a little more safety, a little better chance of winning."

Huo Yuhao said nothing. He was not afraid of enemies who lied. What he feared were people like Orange—people who placed both their truest truths and greatest lies in their palms for you to see, then made you decide which half to believe.

The soul tool box opened, its golden chains loosening coil by coil. Within lay a transparent crystal core filled with hair-thin patterns of light. Huo Yuhao extended his spiritual power into it, and the next moment, he saw a sealed recording.

Inside a vast, empty palace, Xu Tianran sat in a wheelchair, his fingers tapping lightly against the armrest. A deep voice emerged from the recording.

"If Huo Yuhao cannot be used by me, take his spiritual algorithms and Return Flow reaction samples. Keep Wang Dong'er and Wang Qiu'er alive. If necessary, the Crown Princess may make contact personally."

The recording cut off there. Ye Guyi's face was as cold as a sword edge, but Huo Yuhao noticed something else. When Xu Tianran mentioned "the Crown Princess may make contact personally," the looks in the eyes of several senior ministers beside him were abnormal. That was not respect for the Crown Princess. They regarded her as a tool as well.

Orange stood beside the table, her face showing little expression.

Huo Yuhao asked quietly, "What did they want you to contact me for?"

Orange lowered her eyes as she arranged the chips. "To make you lower your guard."

"Not just that."

Her fingers stopped.

Ye Guyi looked at Orange as well. Orange was silent for a long while before softly saying, "Yuhao, some things are not suitable to say right now."

Huo Yuhao said, "There is nothing unsuitable to say now. If you still consider me a friend, it would be better to speak plainly."

The main tent fell silent. Orange lifted her gaze. Her eyes still held gentleness, but no longer fully concealed the darkness within.

"In their eyes, I am the Crown Princess, the future Empress, and also a chess piece they can arrange as they please. I am a blade they can use, charging ahead for them, doing every vile deed for them, while they sit safely and securely behind me." She paused. "Xu Tianran gave me a position, but he could not give me the future a woman should have."

Everyone in the tent understood. Ye Guyi's expression shifted slightly, and something seemed to weigh upon Huo Yuhao's chest. He suddenly understood why Orange could blend tenderness and calculation so deeply. She stood in the most splendid position in the empire, yet perhaps understood better than anyone that she had never been loved.

Orange smiled. "Don't look at me like that. Yuhao, I don't need pity."

Huo Yuhao said, "I don't pity you."

"You do."

She stepped forward, close enough for Huo Yuhao to smell the faint medicinal herb fragrance on her sleeves—a scent deeply familiar from the old days.

Ye Guyi's holy sword stretched horizontally between them.

"Your Highness." Her voice was cold. "We have not finished discussing official business. Please conduct yourself with dignity."

Orange stopped and gave a soft laugh.

"Don't worry. I won't touch him."

She withdrew her gaze and put her military coat back on.

"You will stay in the eastern guest tent tonight. Miss Ye may investigate the soul tool tower, but only the first floor. As for Wang Dong'er and Wang Qiu'er, I will have the outer camp barrier opened by a sliver so you can communicate with them, but they may not enter the camp."

Huo Yuhao's voice lowered. "What are your conditions?"

"No conditions, Yuhao. These are merely the bottom line I can secure for you." Orange looked at him. "Sun Moon Camp is not my private residence. You must remind them that they absolutely cannot try to sneak in. The military will immediately classify this cooperation as an infiltration by the Shrek Squad, and I will be charged with treason and collusion with the enemy."

Huo Yuhao clenched the Soul Tool Fragment. After a moment, he closed his eyes. "But I need to confirm that they are safe."

Orange nodded. "You can."

Outside the main tent, silver-blue lights flickered. The distant Star Dou Forest sank into darkness. Huo Yuhao picked up the Sampling Core as the Soul Tool Fragment spun rapidly in his spiritual sea. Within the patterns of light, the character "Dance" flashed once more. This time, beside it was an additional dark-gold seal of the Sun Moon Imperial Family.

Huo Yuhao's heart sank. The Sun Moon Empire was not a bystander. They had already included that third name, still not yet returned, in their calculations.

Outside the camp, Wang Dong'er watched the lights of the main tent from afar. She did not know what was being said inside, but when she saw Orange draw close to Huo Yuhao, her chest still tightened painfully. That discomfort was not mere jealousy. She realized that every woman beside Huo Yuhao had a reason he could not refuse—Qiu'er was fate, while Orange was the tender affection of their youth. And what was she?

She clenched her fists. Of course, she had been the first to walk this road with him. But being first did not mean she would never lose him.