After all, Yun Xingze had treated him so well before. Even when he was ambiguous with Su Zinan, Yun Xingze never spoke ill of him, instead dutifully doing his laundry and cleaning every day.
How could Chi Yu bear to let go of such a virtuous Omega, who had now become a legendary figure in NCLM?
“I hope you’ll think carefully,” Yu Wan frowned. “You and Yun Xingze won’t be happy together.”
Chi Yin sighed, he hadn’t expected the negotiations to fail so badly.
The reason he chose to ally with the Yun family was precisely because they had little influence in the capital star. Not only could they provide mechas, but more importantly, they were easy to control.
Chi Yin looked up at his son and said, “If you change your mind now, you can still choose the Liu family.”
Chi Yu swallowed hard.
Clenching his fists, he slowly said, “I only want to be engaged to Xingze.”
Yun Changsheng and Qin Shuang finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Beside them, Yun Wu looked utterly confused: “But didn’t my brother say he doesn’t like you.”
Qin Shuang shoved a fruit into his mouth and pushed him away forcefully. “Get back to your room.”
As Yun Wu was driven out, his heart filled with sympathy for Yun Xingze. Why were these people’s thought processes so bizarre?
“Then let’s proceed with the engagement,” Chi Yin curled his lips, turning to the Yun family. “No time like the present. You can send out invitations tonight, and we’ll hold the engagement banquet tomorrow evening.”
Yun Changsheng exclaimed in delight, “So soon?!”
Qin Shuang was equally surprised. “Shouldn’t we prepare for the engagement a bit longer? Besides, Xingze hasn’t come around yet. We need time to persuade him. ”
“What’s there to persuade?” Yun Changsheng cut her off. “It’s just marriage, it’s not like he’s losing out!”
Although Qin Shuang also hoped for Yun Xingze to marry Chi Yu and had been pressuring him to reconsider, she didn’t want to force the engagement while he was still opposed.
Pursing her lips, she continued, “I’ll talk to him, but since he disagrees, maybe we should postpone the engagement.”
“You said the same thing when I asked you to take Xingze’s information to the Matching Bureau to rebind his pheromones with Chi Yu’s.” Yun Changsheng frowned at Qin Shuang, his voice cold. “Qin Shuang, have you forgotten who makes the decisions in this family?!”
Qin Shuang took a deep breath, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
Years ago, her family had wanted to marry her off to an unfamiliar Alpha. Despite her strong objections, it was useless until Yun Changsheng, then just a friend, rescued her. Moved by his actions, she married him and devoted herself entirely to the Yun family.
Even as a strong, independent woman, she was willing to humble herself before Yun Changsheng, adopting a worldly demeanor.
Though she was prepared to sacrifice herself for the Yun family’s interests and agreed that Yun Xingze’s best future lay in marrying Chi Yu, she couldn’t bear to see him forced into it.
At this moment, it was as if she was seeing her younger self reflected in him.
Qin Shuang opened her mouth, wanting to say so much, but under Yun Changsheng’s piercing gaze, all she could manage was, “I… I’ll talk to him again.”
Yun Changsheng gave her a baffled look, suppressing his irritation as he snapped, “Have you lost your mind? Weren’t you always in favor of this marriage? What’s there to talk about?! Opportunities like this don’t come twice!”
“No need for persuasion.” Chi Yin stood up, a faint smirk playing on his lips as he glanced at the two of them. “Tomorrow, a new policy will be announced. The Empire’s Marriage Law will enforce the clause requiring ‘highly compatible Alphas and Omegas to bond,’ effective nationwide.”
Both Qin Shuang and Yun Changsheng froze in shock.
Chi Yu’s fingers trembled slightly at that moment.
He knew that at tomorrow’s engagement banquet, Yun Xingze would be furious, heartbroken, and lash out at him.
But once their legal bond was confirmed, feelings could be nurtured over time.
Yun Xingze would eventually become his Omega.
After all, if the law itself demanded they be together, what choice did Yun Xingze have?
A possessive obsession for Yun Xingze took root in Chi Yu’s heart, and in the end, even the faintest trace of guilt he felt for forcing the engagement vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile.
Inside the Imperial Palace, in the royal reception hall.
An expensive conference table was set with delicate pastries and tea.
“Meeting you here feels too formal, too distant,” the Queen said, seated across from Luo Wenchuan. She wore an understated yet elegant gown, her expression gentle and warm. “But before confirming the heir, I wanted to speak with you alone.”
“Is this about what happened back then?” Luo Wenchuan met her gaze, his tone calm but icy.
“Your father acted rashly when he exiled you from the capital planet,” the Queen murmured, a trace of remorse in her voice. “But you must understand monarchs are inherently wary.”
Luo Wenchuan hadn’t grown up on a barren planet. It was only after a royal interstellar hunt when he was seven that the King suddenly banished him from the capital.
Publicly, the King claimed it was to temper his son.
But Luo Wenchuan could see the disgust in his father’s eyes.
The reason was simple. During his first hunt, Luo Wenchuan had taken down a starbeast hundreds of meters away with a single shot from a small particle cannon. A minister had remarked, “The Second Prince resembles Your Majesty in his prime.”
Luo Wenchuan had stared at his prey, his eyes brimming with untamed ambition.
From that moment on, the King’s gaze toward him had been laced with revulsion.
It was the repulsion of one predator recognizing another.
After all, the King had seized the throne by staging a coup and forcing the old King’s death.
Fearing Luo Wenchuan might do the same, he had cast him out to a barren planet, leaving him to fend for himself.
“That was a long time ago. Can you not let it go?” The Queen studied Luo Wenchuan, her lips pressed together in a gentle frown. “Though it was unfair to you, I’m relieved you didn’t lose yourself on that planet. Instead, you’ve grown even stronger than your brother.”
“Is it really that important to let go?” Luo Wenchuan asked calmly.
The Queen stared at Luo Wenchuan for a moment before suddenly asking, “What is important to you?”
An image of someone flashed through Luo Wenchuan’s mind.
After a brief pause, he replied, “I don’t need to tell you.”
“It’s that mecha engineer, isn’t it?” The Queen voiced Luo Wenchuan’s thoughts directly.
“What, are you going to oppose it?” Luo Wenchuan looked at the Queen warily.
“That’s not what I meant.” The Queen hesitated for a moment, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. “However, the matching database currently doesn’t contain any pheromones compatible with yours, so you should still consider this carefully.”
The implication was clear. Yun Xingze and Luo Wenchuan’s compatibility wasn’t high enough, and the Queen was advising Luo Wenchuan not to be reckless.
“Do I have to find someone with high compatibility?” Luo Wenchuan frowned. “The most important thing between partners is mutual affection. What does pheromone compatibility have to do with it?”
The Queen sighed softly. “But our family has a throne to inherit.”
Without hesitation, Luo Wenchuan said, “No matter what my compatibility with Yun Xingze is, he’s the only one I love.”
“But what if someone with high compatibility appears in the database in the future?” The Queen frowned slightly and spoke gently. “Are you so sure you won’t regret it?”
“I won’t,” Luo Wenchuan stated resolutely.
His eyes shone with unwavering determination; a diamond-like glimmer that had been present since childhood.
It had never changed.
The Queen was momentarily stunned. Then, instead of continuing to persuade him, she said, “Many things are predestined. Let nature take its course.”
Luo Wenchuan sensed deeper meaning in the Queen’s words, but he couldn’t quite grasp it.
“Tomorrow evening, the royal family will hold a press conference,” the Queen told Luo Wenchuan. “Whether the King chooses you or the Crown Prince as the heir, I hope both of you will be healthy and happy.”
Yet, Luo Wenchuan detected a faint trace of worry in her tone.
“Don’t worry,” Luo Wenchuan stood up, his voice calm. “For me, I’ve already found something more important than power or the crown. I won’t let this matter trouble me.”
With that, he turned and left.
The Queen’s gaze followed his retreating figure until the door closed.
Late at night.
Yun Xingze sent Luo Wenchuan a few messages, but it seemed he wasn’t available to respond at the moment.
Then, unexpectedly, Yun Xingze received a call from the Research Institute.
It was Cheng Yuan himself.
When he answered, Yun Xingze was startled. Almost all the core members of the institute were on the other end of the screen.
After Jin Xuan discovered the discarded drafts, he conducted further research, and the results shocked all the researchers.
Soon, Cheng Yuan rushed back to the institute in the middle of the night.
“Xingze, you have to tell us. What exactly is this?!” Jin Xuan waved the papers frantically. “When did you figure this out?!”
Yun Xingze immediately realized they had found his discarded drafts.
“Those aren’t useful,” Yun Xingze said calmly. “They don’t help much with amplifying the coefficient.”
“Not useful?!” Ming Xiao exclaimed in disbelief. “Do you have an even better method then?”
Everyone’s gaze was fixed intently on Yun Xingze, including Cheng Yuan’s.
Under the collective scrutiny, Yun Xingze slowly nodded:
“Yes. There’s a lower coefficient connector in the cabinet next to the shelf in my lab. You can try that one.”
Everyone froze in place.
While the entire research institute had been bustling about with little progress, Yun Xingze had already developed a neural connector?!
Cheng Yuan stammered, “Is… is this the kind that can amplify psychic power? a neural connector?!”
“Obviously?” Yun Xingze raised an eyebrow. “As thanks for lending me the lab, you can take a free look.”
The crowd immediately swarmed into Yun Xingze’s laboratory. Thanks to his familiarity with the lab, You Jin quickly located the black-box connector.
“This is it?” You Jin stared blankly at the device. “I… I thought this was just some useless box.”
“You Jin, you’ve been with Yun Xingze this whole time and didn’t notice?” Jin Xuan scolded him reproachfully. “I should’ve been his assistant instead!”
With that, Jin Xuan snatched the connector from You Jin’s hands.
You Jin was on the verge of tears. Good heavens, how could Professor Jin Xuan take it out on him? Without an instruction manual, no one could possibly understand Yun Xingze’s creations!
Who would have thought this seemingly ordinary military academy student had mastered technology that was at least a decade ahead of the Mecha Research Institute?!
When Cheng Yuan, Jin Xuan, and others conducted small-scale tests with the connector, they were once again shocked speechless.
“The… the amplification coefficient,” Ming Xiao rubbed his eyes hard, feeling like he’d forgotten basic arithmetic, “Two… two…”
“2.61,” Yun Xingze knew the number without looking at the screen. “Right?”
Jin Xuan turned mechanically toward Yun Xingze, her voice trembling uncontrollably: “Th-th-this thing… you just casually left it in a cabinet?!”
You Jin broke out in a cold sweat beside them.
So Yun Xingze had developed a neural connector with an amplification coefficient of 2.61, and he, as the assistant, had completely missed this historic moment?!
“Good heavens, 2.61.” Cheng Yuan gazed at the black box as if beholding a priceless treasure. “I thought I might die before seeing an amplification coefficient above 2.5.”
Everyone’s expressions turned solemn.
Jin Xuan’s hands shook as she held the connector. Swallowing hard, she asked Yun Xingze, “How… how should we store this… uh… this super connector?”
She’d even given it a name: The Super Connector.
“Store it?” Yun Xingze blinked. “Just anywhere.”
“We can’t just store it anywhere!” Cheng Yuan’s eyes widened. “Xingze, if this gets out, the entire galaxy would go crazy! The Federation might send warships to capture you!”
“What I mean is,” Yun Xingze scratched his head, “no one but me can open this black box.”
After carefully examining the box, Ming Xiao said, “He’s right. The technology in this black box… probably exceeds our institute’s capabilities too.”
The crowd looked at Yun Xingze as if he were a deity.
“Regardless, you’re incredibly bold to leave something so precious lying around.” Jin Xuan, still unable to calm down, carefully placed the connector in a safe. “We’ll guard it with our lives until you return.”
“Really, there’s no need.” Yun Xingze facepalmed, slightly embarrassed by Jin Xuan’s actions. “A coefficient of 2.61 is nothing, it’s just a prototype.”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the research institute fell into silence once more.
Their eyes turned in unison toward the young man on the screen, their faces dazed.
Their expressions seemed to say:
“Am I even worthy of hearing such words?”
After a long silence.
Eugene looked at Yun Xingze, barely containing his excitement: “Boss, please come back soon. Let us witness more advanced connectors. I’m begging you even if it’s just opening this black box.”
“Xingze, if you return, I’ll secure you a position at the institute,” Cheng Yuan said, maintaining some composure, though the fervor in his eyes betrayed his inner elation. “Whatever you need, we’ll provide it. How about I convert my office into your personal lounge to lift your spirits?”
Yun Xingze was taken aback. “That won’t be necessary. ”
“Xingze, you’re now the Empire’s top-tier talent,” Jin Xuan said with a frown. “We’ll keep this confidential. Once you’ve settled your affairs tomorrow, we’ll dispatch the highest-class starship to bring you back to Noah Star immediately.”
Yun Xingze nodded. “Understood.”
“If I may ask, what exactly do you need to handle back there?” Cheng Yuan inquired, barely able to contain his eagerness to meet Yun Xingze in person.
Yun Xingze sighed. “My family is forcing me into marriage. I’m here to reject it.”
Cheng Yuan looked stunned. “A genius like you, being forced into marriage?”
Jin Xuan also frowned. “Have your parents lost their minds?”
The researchers were floored. The esteemed owner of Changsheng Mecha Corporation was actually pressuring his prodigious son into an arranged marriage!
Eugene’s face was a picture of bewilderment and shock:
“Honestly, even a tabloid editor would be stunned by this.”
“I’ve already refused. I should be able to return tomorrow,” Yun Xingze said calmly. He thought to himself that once Luo Wenchuan’s matter was settled, they could return to Noah Star together.
“That’s a relief,” Cheng Yuan exhaled. “If I had a son like you, I’d break the legs of anyone who dared propose.”
The others nodded in agreement with Cheng Yuan’s blunt statement.
After all, they understood better than anyone Yun Xingze’s value not just to the institute, but to the Empire and the entire star system.
Only the Yun family remained oblivious.
