"Don't go." Bai Xiao grabbed Yuan Fang's arm, her voice carrying an undeniable strength, "You're not going anywhere in your current state!"

"Xiao Xiao is right, you can't go anywhere!"

As the two argued, Yuan Fang's maternal grandfather appeared before them in his wheelchair, his expression as stern as it had been since their arrival.

Ever since Yuan Fang and Bai Xiao had been placed under protection, Elder Yuan's expression had remained perpetually grave.

"Grandfather!"

Yuan Fang's voice grew louder, but he was only met with the same profound gaze from Elder Bai.

Elder Bai repeated, "You are not allowed to go anywhere…"

"Why?"

Yuan Fang felt increasingly stifled. With everyone opposing him, his emotions grew more volatile.

"You are the only treasure my daughter left me."

Yuan Fang's expression faltered. He looked up at Elder Yuan, seeing the nostalgic look in his eyes as he said, "You look just like your mother did when she insisted on saving your father."

"Grandfather."

Yuan Fang realized that his behavior had reminded Elder Bai of painful memories.

"But I…"

Yuan Fang wanted to argue, but seeing the sorrow in Elder Bai's eyes, he stopped himself.

"I shouldn't have stopped you from going to the palace. However, I think you need to understand something."

Elder Yuan didn't want to shatter Sai Luosi's image in his grandson's eyes. After all, he was Yuan Fang's uncle, and he had raised him since he was very young.

His love for Yuan Fang was undeniable.

It was just that the emotions within that love were too complex.

"You must understand one thing: your uncle is first and foremost the emperor of the empire. Only then is he your uncle. In what capacity are you going to see him? And in what capacity will you ask the questions you want to ask?"

"But… but Uncle Emperor's reaction to Qilan Star and Hua Lan Star this time is truly intriguing."

Yuan Fang couldn't understand why, even though Elder Yuan had told him many times that it wasn't just about saving people.

There were many implications involved.

But Yuan Fang felt that these were lives, these were entire planets. What reason could his uncle have for hesitating to issue a rescue order?

Even when he eventually mobilized people to rescue them, he still sensed Sai Luosi's lack of concern.

"Perhaps… the royal family has something to hide?"

Elder Yuan suddenly dropped this bombshell, startling the two inexperienced youngsters.

"Sigh, these are just the ramblings of a strange old man after his daughter's death."

Seeing the two young ones frightened out of their wits, Elder Yuan chuckled and changed the subject, saying that he was just joking.

But the more he acted like this, the more Yuan Fang and Bai Xiao felt that something was amiss, and the more they wanted to know the truth.

"Grandfather, can you tell us what's going on?"

Elder Bai's words didn't sound like a simple joke. Had he really discovered something that led him to say that?

"Is His Majesty hiding something from us?"

Before Yuan Fang could ask, Bai Xiao couldn't help but blurt out the question.

Elder Yuan turned his wheelchair around, saying, "Let's go back and talk about it slowly."

As he spoke, he turned and left, sighing as he did.

Hearing his sigh, Bai Xiao and Yuan Fang exchanged glances, unsure of what to say…

Meanwhile, Ming Mei's video call with her brother had the viewers in the live broadcast in a state of shock.

They had been happy that Qilan Star was temporarily out of danger, but who knew that in the blink of an eye, the situation would become what it was now?

After learning the news from Guigui, Ming Mei spoke much quieter to her brother.

Seeing Ming Mei's voice getting softer and softer, Mei Qiu said, "Why aren't you talking?"

This only earned him a glare from Ming Mei.

Was her brother pretending to be ignorant?

"It's nothing, brother. You should be careful on your end. The Queen Insect is over there."

Ming Mei refused her brother's concern, instead worrying about his current state.

"Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about yourselves. Do you know what state you're in right now? A turtle in a jar, you know? I don't need to explain what that means, do I?"

Ming Mei didn't need an explanation, but the netizens in the live broadcast did.

[Hey, what does "turtle in a jar" mean? Can someone explain it to me?]

[I don't know either. What exactly is a turtle?]

[Hey, don't worry about what kind of turtle it is. Just know that a jar is a container, which means putting something in it. For them, it means something that's easily obtained and manipulated!]

The comments were all over the place, and the topic was about to go astray, but fortunately, it was quickly brought back on track.

Some people in the comments were crying, some were crying for Mei Qiu's side, and others were crying for Ming Mei and Qilan Star.

In short, both sides were in a terrible situation, and they felt like they could see the final outcome.

In any case, Ming Mei didn't want the outcome they imagined.

Silently hanging up the video call with her brother, Ming Mei took a breath. She set the aircraft to slow automatic flight, then looked up at the sky.

Ming Mei stared at the dark sky, which didn't let through a single ray of light. The once brilliant and beautiful aurora night sky now only showed the "colorful" eyes of the insectoids.

Ming Mei couldn't help but sneer in her heart.

"Guigui, let's just call for hostages now, shall we?"

[Host, why do you think so?]

Ming Mei wasn't sure if her brother had contacted her on a whim or if he had been deliberately reminded by "someone."

But looking at the scene before her, Ming Mei felt that it was probably the Queen Insect's instruction.

Otherwise, with the combat abilities of that Firefly Insect General, Ming Mei's side would have been in chaos long ago, and the scene would have been even more terrifying than before.

Although they had suffered significant losses in the current situation, Ming Mei had also seen the strength of the Firefly Insect General from the side. If the other party hadn't held back, their losses would have been far greater.

Therefore, Ming Mei believed that the Firefly Insect General was here not to destroy them immediately, but to prevent the insectoids from failing to destroy this place.

Its powerful strength was suppressing them here, waiting for new messages from afar.

"Do the insectoids have any special long-distance communication methods?"

[Host, why are you asking that?]

"I suspect that the insectoids here are waiting for the Queen Insect's instructions. How do you think they receive the Queen Insect's messages?"

As Ming Mei expected, her guess was once again confirmed in Mei Qiu's live broadcast.

Because this time, the insectoid Queen Insect was finally not just speaking to Mei Qiu alone.

Instead, she used something to spread her voice around, reaching everyone's ears: "If you don't hand over the things, I dare say that more than just Qilan Star will be buried with Hua Lan Star.

However, we can also let them be the first, the very first planet to be sacrificed because of you."