Qu Ze’s ability couldn’t last much longer, but the rats continued flooding into the room in endless streams. Even though his ability was strong, he wasn’t able to defend against the uncontrollable influx of the small zombies. The strain caused the blood in his wounds to ooze out at a higher rate.

As the rats stormed in, Qu Ze’s entire being was drenched in blood. Only when his energy was totally expended did he stumble back onto the ground with a forced smile. He never had imagined that he would die in such a place and in such a manner. But he had managed to successfully send Her Highness away and activated the self-destruction mechanism. The infected creatures wouldn’t be able to escape, and besides, he had already lived a long enough life.

He took in a deep breath, preparing for the inexorable death that was considered as a joke among bloodlings. Perhaps he was really tired, for his vision started to darken as though a huge portal had just swallowed him up.

Wait a minute! It wasn’t an illusion, it was… the opening of a space portal!

And that opening seemed to have come from him! It couldn’t be, he didn’t…

Before he could react, he felt himself lighten, a massive suction force enveloping him as he entered the portal. The next moment, his vision brightened as he fell face down from a height of two meters.

His numb body was abused once more. He lay motionless on the ground, his face soaked with blood which had either flowed from his wounds or was newly inflicted by the prickly grass…

“…” Am I still alive?

“Elder!”

A familiar figure came rushing forward, supporting him up anxiously as worry clouded its gaze. Qu Ze had seen him before; he seemed to be Her Highness’ little assistant. What was he called again?

If he is here, it means…

Qu Ze stilled, his heart sinking. He struggled to turn his head. Indeed, Her Highness’ familiar figure came into view. “Your Highness, you…”

Yao Si ignored him, walking forward to rip his clothes open. “Bai Yi, stop the bleeding.”

“Stop!” Qu Ze was suddenly able to muster some strength and stumbled back. “Don’t touch me, I’m infected by the virus. If you’re not careful…”

“Shut the f*ck up!” Yao Si howled, subconsciously activating her bloodline suppression. If you weren’t injured, I would have already beaten you up! “I’m now going to make two things clear: first, the virus is curable, and second, if you say another word, I’ll disfigure you to the point your mom won’t be able to recognize you anymore.”

Qu Ze froze.

He suddenly realized that… Her Highness could be quite scary at times!

(⊙_⊙)

Besides… he didn’t have a mother?

“How dare you not listen when your ancestor is speaking. Bai Yi, hurry!”

“Oh-oh! Okay.”

(⊙_⊙)

“Alright.” Bai Yi had a delayed reaction before retrieving a first aid kit filled with advanced equipment. But regardless of what he used, Qu Ze still seemed… broken, blood pouring out of him endlessly. “There is no way to stop the bleeding, Your Highness…”

“Tie up all the wounds.” If technology wasn’t able to save him, they could just go back to the prehistoric methods.

“Tie… with what?” Bai Yi asked in confusion.

Yao Si glanced at the first aid kit. F*ck! The Galaxy had deemed ‘bandage’, one of the most basic and essential medical aid items, as unnecessary.

There wasn’t any other choice. She picked up a scalpel and cut Bai Yi’s sleeve off. “Let me borrow your sleeve for a moment!”

Bai Yi stiffened… You can do that?!

Yao Si didn’t waste time explaining. She used the sleeve to tightly wrap Qu Ze’s wounds, but there were far too many of them, his whole body was bitten and scratched by the rats. If he wasn’t a bloodling, he would have been killed by the injuries long ago.

Yao Si didn’t have any medical experience. All she knew was to exert strength and tighten the bandage around the wounds. There was a high standard of living in the Galaxy, so any random clothing was of high quality, similar to the bandage used by doctors.

The field was filled with the sound of cloth being ripped.

Yao Si seemed to be getting better at bandaging as she gradually increased her speed. Initially, Bai Yi felt rather awkward, but as she continued to rip his shirt, he started to… get used to it, even volunteering some cloth himself.

After ripping another strip, Yao Si wrapped another inch of Qu Ze. Then the ripping and wrapping went on…

“Your Highness!” Bai Yi held onto her arm. His face scrunched up as he reminded her weakly, “Stop ripping… It’s all gone.”

“…” Yao Si turned, and the young man’s almost naked form came into her sight. Slowly, she retrieved her hands that were on their way to his boxers. Eh… it was her first time bandaging someone. Without much experience, this was… understandable?

She turned her gaze back to Qu Ze. He was knocked out from the doomsday virus that had started spreading through his body… Thankfully the bleeding had stopped.

The next part of the plan was to wait for dinner time to arrive.

Once it was dinner time, Mu Xuan punctually showed up to get her. He saw his cub drenched in blood as she sat obediently on a grass field waving enthusiastically at him, with a half-naked Bai Yi on one side and a… zombie on the other?

Which brave soul was going to explain what had happened?

He suddenly had an impulse to spank his cub!

–

The next time Qu Ze opened his eyes, Yao Si was glaring at him just like how she always glared whenever he had angered her.

“Your Highness?” He froze, then proceeded to ask a dumb question. “You’re dead too?”

“Pssh!” Yao Si rolled her eyes. “Even you aren’t dead, so how could I be dead?”

“The virus has been removed.” Mu Xuan sent him a chilling glance at him before caressing his cub’s head. “You aren’t dead.”

“Your… Your Majesty!” Qu Ze froze, analyzing the situation. The burning sensation from the virus was gone, and he was really alive! Her Highness hadn’t been lying after all. It hadn’t been a white lie to comfort him; there was indeed a cure to the virus.

“Can you talk now?” Yao Si moved two chairs closer and pulled Mu Xuan over. After taking in a deep breath, she turned toward the patient. “How much do you know about Euphoria? And what exactly was going on at that research base?”

Qu Ze frowned as an unpleasant thought hit him. After half a second, he broke into a smile. “Your Highness, don’t worry. Since I’m still alive, I’ll naturally tell everything to both you and His Majesty. Just that…” He lifted his tightly bound limbs. “Your Highness, could you untie me first? Why did you wrap me up to this extent?”

“Heh…” Should she tell him that she totally forgot to change the bandages after coming back? He’d been wrapped up in that one for probably seven… eight… or was it nine days?

“You haven’t fully recovered. Keep it on!” Mu Xuan commanded seriously when he sensed her hesitation.

“Oh.” Qu Ze nodded obediently, his eyes brightening. It seemed that it was the kind of virus that required the patient to be completely wrapped up!

“…” Yao Si.

He really believed that?! Mu Xuan didn’t have fans, but rather a cult!

Qu Ze struggled to sit straight with his mummified body. After taking in a deep breath, he explained everything he knew.

It was similar to what Yao Si had imagined. Euphoria wasn’t just a large scale organization, but had deeply integrated itself into the Galaxy. Qu Ze said that before the formation of the alliances, there was already a force against the bloodlings.

But he wasn’t able to decipher the source since there were traces of participation from every race. At the start, they were extremely secretive. When he discovered a few of them and had them eliminated, contrary to his expectations, the force seemed to have strengthened. They began to conduct their operations more openly, and he found out that it wasn’t just other races, even bloodlings were a part of that organization.

“I raised this issue to Elders Council many years ago.” He laughed. “At that time, His Majesty was still in hibernation. Even though Elders Council believed me, all of its investigations were unsuccessful, so I decided to take matters into my own hands…”

Yao Si went still as she realized something, and she leveled a suspicious glance at him.

“You… created so much havoc in the Galaxy because of the organization?”

“Your Highness, you’re a genius!” He laughed and said nonchalantly, “In the past, their operations were all carried out in secrecy, but with a lot of effort, I managed to drag them out.”

“…” By angering everyone? This guy is indeed a weird one.

Yao Si didn’t know how to respond. She had initially assumed his hateful ways were just a part of his personality, but now she realized that his actions were all for the bloodlings. The contrast was too drastic; she needed time to wrap her head around it.

“Gradually, I realized that they had infiltrated the Galaxy much deeper than I had predicted. Even the Heavenly Bestowed Yard…”

“Fourth Elder!”

“Yes, initially I was only aware of their research operations which bore an uncanny resemblance to the research being carried out in the Heavenly Bestowed Yard. Thus, they would seek out newly born cubs, but I would have never guessed that it was to come up with a virus that would target bloodlings.”

Yao Si was startled. “Was that why you treated me like that when I just reached the red planet?”

“It’s my fault.” He seemed apologetic. “At that time, His Majesty was still in hibernation, so I assumed that such a sudden appearance of a fifth-generation bloodling had to do with the organization…”

So that’s the reason behind the resistance against me? Yao Si could feel herself stiffening.

“I never expected you to actually be His Majesty’s cub.” He broke into laughter, then swiftly changed the topic. “His Majesty must have detected the organization’s actions to have exiled me to Nirvana! When I realized that they have been collecting Earthling genes, I assumed that their base would be in a planet like Lighting Sylvan whose condition is similar to that of the Blue Planet.”

Yao Si couldn’t help glancing over at Mu Xuan. In a low voice, she asked, “You did that on purpose?”

“…” Mu Xuan. He wanted to ask that as well.

Yao Si silently lit a candle for Qu Ze’s self-delusion regarding his idol’s big heart.

“They have been rather active recently, even successfully coming up with this virus. There might be more frightening things in progress, though. I’m sure they’ll act again.”

Yao Si nodded, expressing her agreement. “Since Fourth Elder entered eternal hibernation, we can’t be sure if there are any other traitors. I think there’s a need to inform the entire race to be on guard.”

“No, not the entire race. Just you, Your Highness!”

“Me?” What do you mean?

“Your Highness, don’t you know?” His eyes went wide. “All the recent operations by Euphoria are against you!”

“…”

What?!

Before she could react, a loud noise came from outside. The ground started to shake as though the whole world was trembling.

What’s happening now?!