Strangeness

Chi Li opened his eyes. The outlines of the furniture were blurred beneath the veil of moonlight.

He stared at the ceiling for a while. His heaving chest gradually calmed, and he raised an arm to cover his eyes, letting out a faint sigh.

That dream again.

Ever since returning, he had frequently dreamed the same dream—the same voice, the same touch, the same painfully real palpitations.

The dream's events could even continue from where they had left off. Chi Li got up, walked to the refrigerator, and took out a bottle of ice water. The freezing liquid rushing down his throat instantly cleared his mind.

Ever since learning Si Jinyan's identity, strange things around him had followed one after another.

Chi Li's gaze unconsciously settled on his own abdomen. He froze for a moment before coming back to himself, then irritably tossed the empty bottle into the trash and headed for the bedroom.

"How could that be possible?" Chi Li frowned slightly and muttered, "This is insane."

Chi Li had barely opened the news when, thanks to big data, news related to the Empire appeared before him first.

He frowned, about to skip it, when he saw the words "Marshal" on the screen.

His movements paused.

The article roughly stated that Si Jinyan, the Empire's Marshal, had unexpectedly been absent from the most recent major election conference. Even the subordinate who had always attended meetings in his place had not appeared. There had previously been rumors that another supreme commander of the military might be appointed...

Chi Li read through the article twice.

Chi Li could clearly sense that Si Jinyan in the cave had lost control badly.

And before that, Si Jinyan had never intended to let him leave.

His identity had been exposed. Yao Di had learned who he was. There had been an arrest, he had been shot, the guards had said Si Jinyan could not arrive in time, and in the end, Si Jinyan had appeared before him in an altered form...

As Chi Li connected these clues, his heart suddenly began to pound with unease.

He arranged another meeting with Qi Yan.

At the time, however, the intelligence department was anything but peaceful. An unusual calm before the storm permeated every corner.

Qi Yan was the deputy director of the intelligence department. Director Xu Zhong repeatedly checked several files on his optical computer, then suddenly said to Qi Yan, "You know about what happened more than twenty years ago, right?"

Qi Yan knew the director was referring to the "Humanoid Weapon" project from more than twenty years ago. They suspected that Si Jinyan was a product of that project.

But that was only the surface of it. Very few people knew the true details. The older ones had already passed away, while some of those still alive had been silenced.

Hearing this, Qi Yan respectfully said, "I know a little."

Xu Zhong lit another cigarette. He always smoked out of habit when thinking through a problem. "I suspect..."

He paused, then changed his words. "What happened twenty years ago has not truly ended."

The curling smoke magnified the worry on Xu Zhong's face. Though Qi Yan did not know what was about to happen, his heart tightened as well.

Qi Yan opened his mouth and reassured him, "It'll all be resolved."

Xu Zhong stubbed out the cigarette. "Let's go. It's time to report our situation to the Emperor."

The palace of Loran's Emperor.

After listening to Xu Zhong's report, Emperor Luo Yu said, "It can't be him."

Going back twenty years, that was the year the "Humanoid Weapon" project had caused an enormous uproar. Loran had lost an "experimental subject." More precisely, he could not be called an experimental subject—he was the only son left behind by Luo Jing, the late omega younger brother of the current Emperor.

Xu Zhong suspected that Si Jinyan was Luo Jing's only child.

Luo Yu repeated himself. "It can't be him."

Luo Yu said, "You found that child's body back then. He was already dead."

After Xu Zhong left, Luo Yu's expression grew somewhat dazed. He unconsciously tightened his grip around the cup in his hand. In truth, when he had heard Xu Zhong's analysis, he had wavered for a moment as well.

He had failed to protect Luo Jing. Had he also failed to protect Luo Jing's child?