Chapter 18
Half an hour later, under Ruoya’s interrogation, which was a mix of threats and intimidation, Jeqi finally explained his intermittent contact with the Interstellar Empire over the past year.
“…You idiot!” Ruoya took a deep breath, trying hard to control the urge to beat her stupid brother to death.
It was a good thing she had caught him today. Otherwise, sooner or later, he would have sold out the entire Beastman race!
Jeqi peeked his head out, unconvinced. “Sis, I’ve got this under control. I’ve completely got that guy from the Empire wrapped around my finger! Don’t worry, I’m just using him to take down the United Star System. Once we have their energy mines, I’ll turn around and blast the Interstellar Empire to bits!”
The United Star System’s greatest advantage in the galaxy was its abundance of energy mines within its territory. In contrast, the Beastman race’s territory was the most barren.
“Don’t worry, Sis. My performance was flawless. Absolutely no cracks!”
Ruoya: “…”
Is it too late to consider replacing the emperor of the Beastman race?
Never mind. She had to endure it. This was her own brother, her only brother. If she beat him to death, he’d be a dead brother.
“Right now, immediately, give the order to Xuan Mo to return to the Beastman home planet!”
Jeqi: “Can’t we wait a little longer? To scare them a bit, hehe.”
“Think before you speak.”
Jeqi: “Okay, I’ll send the order right away!”
….
Fourth Planet Star Sector
In the Beastman encampment, the logistics unit was diligently directing robots to construct temporary shelters. The messenger responsible for relaying information between the Beastman Emperor and Xuan Mo ran so fast that he was out of breath by the time he entered the tent. He saw his general staring grimly at his photon-computer, his face growing darker by the second.
“What kind of crappy network does the United Star System have! The signal is terrible!”
Xuan Mo grumbled. He turned his head and saw the messenger’s stunned expression, then cleared his throat. “What new orders does His Majesty have?”
So annoying. He probably got eight hundred orders a day, and seven hundred and ninety-nine of them were nonsense, including but not limited to what flavor of nutrient paste the army would be eating today and making all the soldiers recite a different “Ode to His Majesty Jeqi” every day.
That was why, whenever he was on a campaign, Xuan Mo would unilaterally block Jeqi. This had led to the creation of the specialized messenger position to handle communication between the two. Xuan Mo had all but grabbed him by the ear and instructed him to filter out all of His Majesty’s idle, useless orders and only report on official business. Fortunately, this messenger was quite clever, and he had found him very useful.
Xuan Mo put away his photon-computer, hiding the physical United Star System network transmitter behind his back. He had been trying to sneak onto the United Star System’s internal network to see that ridiculously hyped-up livestream. But this crappy transmitter couldn’t even get into the stream; the moment it entered the regional network, it froze into a mess of white dots and static.
“An order just came from His Majesty. We are to return to the Beastman home planet immediately.”
Xuan Mo: ?
“What? Let me see the order,” Xuan Mo demanded.
What kind of crazy fit was that idiot throwing now? He had brought his massive army all this way, and before he could even take a stroll, he was being told to go back? Did he think this was a spring outing?!
The messenger quickly forwarded the message he had just received.
Xuan Mo read it back and forth several times. Finally, suppressing the urge to curse, he said through gritted teeth, “Understood. You go out first and notify everyone to prepare to board the ships and return to the main planet.”
The moment the messenger left, Xuan Mo impatiently opened his photon-computer, unblocked the Beastman Emperor who had been languishing in his blacklist for the past month, and placed a call.
The communication interface beeped twice and connected quickly.
“What are you playing at? Is war a joke to you? If the old Emperor were still alive, he’d have your hide peeled off and your head cut off and hung on a starship! If you scared one enemy to death, at least all the food you’ve eaten over the years wouldn’t have been for nothing!”
After a long tirade, Xuan Mo realized there was no one on the other end, just an empty grand hall.
“Hello? Hello? Stop playing dead! Where are you?”
A head of long, wine-red hair soon appeared on the screen. Ruoya had taken over Jeqi’s communication. The moment Ruoya’s beautiful, delicate face appeared, Xuan Mo’s expression did a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.
“Your Highness, the Princess! What are you doing here? It’s only been a few days, and your beauty is as captivating as ever!”
Ruoya coughed twice. “I’ve already sent Jeqi to solitary confinement. You’ve worked hard on this reckless campaign.”
Xuan Mo: “Not at all! For the Beastman race, for His Majesty the Emperor and the Princess, this is what I ought to do!”
I’m cursing his mother in my head, Xuan Mo thought. How can they be born from the same parents, yet Princess Ruoya is so much more pleasing to the eye than that unlucky bastard? He’s dragging down the entire royal family’s IQ and attractiveness levels.
Ruoya sat down. Having beaten up her stupid brother, she was now in a better mood. “Xuan Mo, lead the soldiers back to the home planet as soon as possible. Also, a strange livestream has appeared in the United Star System. Have you heard about it?”
He hadn’t just heard about it; he had tried to climb over the firewall to watch the drama himself just a moment ago.
Xuan Mo’s expression turned serious again. He nodded and said, “Yes, Your Highness. We are already gathering information about this stream.”
Ruoya was very satisfied. She continued, “Since you are now at the border of the United Star System, you can take this opportunity to investigate further. Do your best before the main army departs.”
“Rest assured, Your Highness. I will complete the mission!”
After hanging up, Xuan Mo savored the memory of the princess’s final smile for a moment before immediately contacting the fleet’s StarNet officer. He demanded immediate access to the United Star System’s internal network to carry out the mission Her Highness had assigned him.
Fortunately, this officer knew his stuff. In no time, he had set up a new station, directly replacing one of the Fourth Planet’s network access points, and got Xuan Mo onto the United Star System’s internal network.
Watching his skillful operation, Xuan Mo stroked his chin. “Such smooth moves. You must do a lot of ‘browsing’ on other people’s networks, don’t you?”
The officer chuckled. “Not recently, General! Since the campaign started, I’ve been strictly following military orders!” He then winked at Xuan Mo. “General, the United Star System’s internal network is quite fun. There’s a…”
“Alright, alright, you can leave now,” Xuan Mo said, not bothering to listen. He quickly shooed the man out.
The officer knew they were returning home and not fighting, so he was also in a relaxed mood. Before leaving, he peeked his head back in through the doorway and joked, “There’s a host in the livestream section who looks a bit like Her Highness the Princess! Her name is… ow!”
Before he could finish, a cup came flying at his head.
The officer ducked his head and quickly fled. That was a cup made of meteorite rock; it would have definitely put a dent in his head.
….
Xia Anran’s livestream was constantly trending on the United Star System’s network, sitting high at the top of the hot list, so Xuan Mo found it without much effort.
The moment he opened the stream, a girl in a white dress with a side ponytail appeared on the screen. Her eyes were round and bright, and her smile was very sweet. Xuan Mo took a snack out of a bag next to his desk and chewed on it, thinking that this host was not bad looking at all, quite easy on the eyes.
Xia Anran had just finished showing the viewers around the courtyard and introducing the various flowers and plants. Now, she was introducing the few books placed on the table.
“These are the Four Great Classical Novels of our Hua nation. They are outstanding literary works that have been passed down for many years,” Xia Anran said, lining up the four books and sweeping her gaze over them. “In order, they are Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Dream of the Red Chamber.”
The editions Xia Anran had prepared were hardcover, with exquisite illustrations on the covers. In the current interstellar era, physical books did not exist. Even the books the United Star System people had brought from Earth were mostly lost, with the remaining ones preserved in top-secret national archives. Therefore, most people in the United Star System had never seen a physical book, let alone the viewers from the Interstellar Empire.
At first, Xuan Mo hadn’t taken the stream seriously. He was lounging in his chair, planning to just extract some key information to report to Ruoya. But the moment the camera swept over the cover of Journey to the West, he shot up from his seat.
“What is that?!”
The cover illustration of this edition of Journey to the West depicted the four main characters on their journey. Tang Sanzang was on a white horse, Sun Wukong was flying ahead with his golden-hooped staff to scout the path, and Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing were following behind. The illustration was by a master of traditional Chinese painting. Sun Wukong, in particular, was drawn vividly, with more emphasis on his monkey attributes—his fur and tail were exquisitely detailed.
So, the moment Xuan Mo saw it, he was stunned.
How could a member of their Beastman race appear in this livestream? Wasn’t this supposed to be a stream from the United Star System’s mother planet from ten thousand years ago?
Xia Anran had never imagined that Sun Wukong’s image would so uncannily match the half-human, half-beast appearance of the interstellar Beastman race—covered in fur but with human-like facial features and limbs. It was a perfect fit.
Xuan Mo leaned closer to the screen, his eyes wide, wanting to get a better look, but Xia Anran had already moved the camera away.
He quickly opened the comment section.
[Little-Little-Hut]: Move the camera back! Now! That’s an order!
But in the blink of an eye, his comment was drowned out. The other viewers had clearly also noticed the character who looked half-human, half-monkey.
[Ah! What is that! A Beastman!]
[How could a Beastman appear on Earth!]
[No way, no way, don’t tell me Beastmen originated from Earth?]
[Host, be careful! Unlike the butterflies, that’s really a Beastman!]
[It looks like an adult from the Fur-tail tribe, ahhhh!]
[But if you look closely, it’s cuter than the Fur-tail tribe.]
[It even has a headband. So cute.]
[And it’s wearing a little skirt! It’s probably not a Beastman, right?]
[Right, right! Beastmen are all ugly. This one is very pretty.]
[Agreed. I heard Beastmen usually don’t wear clothes.]
Xuan Mo, watching silently, was so angry that smoke was practically coming out of his ears. Who was it?! Who was spreading these rumors?! Who said their Beastman race didn’t wear clothes!!!
Xia Anran, seeing the three words “Beastman race” frantically scrolling by, was also a bit confused. She looked at the Monkey King she had been familiar with since childhood and felt lost.
“Wait, are you all saying this looks a lot like a Beastman?” Xia Anran held up the copy of Journey to the West again, focusing on Sun Wukong.
Seeing the affirmative answers in the comments, Xia Anran thought, So this is what the interstellar Beastmen look like. A lot like the demons from our Hua nation’s imagination?
“This character is called Sun Wukong. He is one of the main characters in Journey to the West. He is a fictional character from the novel, and his appearance is also imagined,” she explained.
Imagined?
Xuan Mo was skeptical. His mind immediately started racing. Could it be that the United Star System and Earth are colluding to slander our Beastman race?
“His prototype is a monkey. In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong is a stone monkey born from heaven and earth, from a rock.”
Xia Anran took a tablet from a nearby staff member, which had a photo of a monkey already prepared.
“Look, this is a monkey. It’s a very cute animal. Sun Wukong’s image was created by combining a monkey and a human.”
“There are many characters like this. They are a classic category of immortal and demon figures in our Hua nation’s lore.”
The cup in Xuan Mo’s hand clattered to the floor when he saw the photo of the monkey. What is that?! It looks just like the unevolved, primitive Beastmen from their historical records!