In front of a huge tree, petals fluttered down from its branches, carpeting the ground in a layer of pale pink.
"This is truly my fault," Lin Hao cried, standing on Huahua and looking up at the man before him.
He shouldn't have been reborn. He should have paid for his mistakes in endless darkness. No one in this world had ever wished for his birth, or even expected him.
"So weak, you couldn't possibly be my Zhao Jianye's son."
"Someone like you, so thick-skinned, haven't you seen that Qin Mohan doesn't want to bother with you?"
"Stay away from me," Qin Mohan said.
Past memories, like a bursting river, flooded Lin Hao's mind. The more he tried not to think about them, the clearer they became.
Lin Hao's vision darkened, and he squatted down, burying his head in his hands as he sobbed. He curled himself into a ball, hoping to be left alone, to not hear their words.
"Such low mental power, why don't you just die?" a voice finally echoed in Lin Hao's mind.
Right. Why didn't he just die?
Such a coward, he shouldn't exist in this world.
"No," a clear, cool voice reached Lin Hao's ears. Elfa looked at him with heartache in his eyes, kneeling down to pull Lin Hao, who was hiding in his corner, out. He forcefully lifted Lin Hao's head with his hand.
"No," Elfa repeated, looking at the slightly reddened eyes of the crying Lin Hao.
Lin Hao was forced to look up into Elfa's blue eyes. There was no doubt in them. The darkness in his heart felt as if it had been pierced by a beam of light, warm and blazing.
So, he was still expected by someone.
Even if this expectation wasn't his.
But he still clung to it.
Tears involuntarily streamed down Lin Hao's face again. He nodded with a smile, "Mm."
Elfa gently wiped the tears from Lin Hao's face, his movements as if he were tending to a world's treasure. He softly said, "You are our hope." So please don't be sad.
Huahua could also feel its King's emotions. All it could do now was walk properly and wait for the administrator to appease the leader. It wasn't that it didn't want to appease, it just couldn't. It couldn't speak.
The other bugs instinctively moved away from them, afraid they might be "recycled" for seeing their King cry.
Above the planet Lekhan, inside the Thunderbolt Warship, all the bugs became unusually restless, filled with a desire to kill. It was as if only red could calm their inner turmoil.
"Silence." A powerful mental force swept through the entire warship, suppressing the bugs' restlessness and leaving not a sound.
"Tap, tap, tap." The sound of high heels echoed in the warship as Xier entered the conference room, looking at the disheveled bugs.
"Go back," a cold voice entered every bug's ears, like a final judgment.
Go back home.
At this moment, a bug quickly knelt on the ground and said to Xier, "Commander, I want to see the King."
Go back? Impossible. They would never go back. They would die by the King's side.
"Discipline," Xier said, looking at Huang Dong kneeling before her.
"Commander, it's because the King cried that we bugs acted like that. You know what we were like before," Huang Dong maintained his kneeling posture, looking at his Commander.
Silence fell, and all the bugs knelt before Xier, wanting the Commander to retract her words.
At this moment, Ruila came to Xier's side and also spoke up for Huang Dong, "They are just concerned about the King. They will be careful in the future."
The bugs kneeling on the ground looked at Ruila as if she were a benefactor. All their eyes could read two words: 'Good person.' They looked at Ruila with starry eyes, then turned to Xier with pleading expressions.
They truly wanted to see the King. Only by staying by the King's side would he not be so despondent.
Xier looked at the bugs before her and said, "This is the last time," and turned to leave.
Walking down the corridor, Xier was conflicted. Should she contact the King? She wanted to use her mental power to ask why he was so sad earlier, but then she thought she would see him tomorrow, so she didn't ask.
King, you shouldn't be sad after seeing those two 'foods', right?
In a room on the other side of the Thunderbolt, Li Huan suddenly sneezed. Rubbing his head and his waist, he said to Bai Chen, "Do you think that bug is crazy? Suddenly releasing mental energy, my back!" He had been pushed down by the mental energy for not sitting properly earlier.
Bai Chen was also holding onto the wall, his face a little pale. He had been suddenly enveloped by a powerful mental force and couldn't hold on for a moment, almost falling to his knees. Fortunately, the mental force only lasted for a short time.
"Something must have happened," Bai Chen finally sat on the ground weakly, looking at his childhood friend.
Li Huan also lay on the ground powerlessly, spread out like a starfish, looking up at Bai Chen and saying, "I hope in my next life, I'm born before you." He blurted out nonsensically.
Bai Chen adjusted his mental energy. After being attacked by mental energy, if he didn't recover properly, he could easily suffer a mental breakdown.
Turning around, he heard Li Huan say such a thing. A certain spot in his heart was touched, feeling sore and a little full.
Does he want to be older than me to protect me?
Bai Chen's ears turned slightly red. He coughed a few times and said, "Why do you think that?"
"Because," Li Huan turned over, lying on the ground, looking at Bai Chen, and smiling, "then I can openly be your father."
Damn it.
Bai Chen felt like the earlier感动 had been fed to a dog. He couldn't suppress his anger and glared at Li Huan before closing his eyes to continue organizing his mental energy. Out of sight, out of mind.
Li Huan saw his childhood friend glare at him. For a moment, he was confused. After reacting, he started laughing and hitting the wall.
Lin Hao followed them back to the cave, took a bite of the eggshell, and carefully felt the process of his mental power going from depleted to abundant.
He entered his sea of consciousness. It was still a milky white expanse. Reaching out, he grasped something red, different from white. Gently stroking the red, he whispered, "You're still here."
So, the mental vow wasn't just a rumor. It truly followed the soul.
But he didn't plan to see them now. Not Hu Tu, nor Qin Mohan.
He wondered how they had grown in ten years. His son should have become even more like a monkey by now, thin and scrawny. And Qin Mohan, he should have become the heir to the empire.
Lin Hao wanted to imagine their faces, but he was too sleepy and gradually drifted off to sleep.
Elfa quietly watched the King, who had fallen asleep inside the egg, from beside him.
He slept soundly, without dreams.
Lin Hao rubbed his eyes and said to them, "Morning."
"Morning," Elfa replied.
The bugs beside him gently swayed their antennae in response to Lin Hao.
"Let's go to the tree from yesterday," Lin Hao said to Elfa, climbing out of the egg.
He was too bored in the cave. It was more fun outside, even if there wasn't much to do. At least it was better than this dark cave.
"Okay."
As Lin Hao approached Huahua and was about to sit on it, he suddenly felt many resentful gazes fixed on him.
Unable to withstand the stares, he finally switched to a black bug.
The black bug smugly said to them, "Black is always in style."
"Beat this little slut to death."
"Too much."
"Yes, beat him to death."
"Damn it, it's so infuriating!"
Their group walked to the base of the tree in a few steps, asking it to put him up on the tree.
Lin Hao looked at the Yao tree, which he hadn't had time to admire yesterday. It was indeed beautiful, and it emitted a faint, delicate fragrance.
"King, I'm here," a female voice reached Lin Hao's ears.
Lin Hao turned his head and saw an extremely beautiful girl. Her pair of foxy eyes, though cold, couldn't hide her allure. Her ice-blue eyes added a touch of mystery. Her fiery red long hair created a powerful visual impact against her eye color. She wore a simple white military uniform, but it couldn't conceal her curvaceous figure.
The pink petals of the Yao tree fluttered in the wind.
"Xier, welcome home," Lin Hao said, standing on the tree and smiling as he extended his hand to Xier.
Xier would never forget the scene years ago: amidst the trees, with petals flying everywhere, a black-haired youth smiling and extending his hand to her.