Era of Light

Three days later, at the headquarters of the largest news media called “Xuezhisheng” in XueLi Star.

In front of the editor-in-chief’s office, a man was pacing back and forth anxiously. He had a press card hanging on his chest and was one of the reporters present when the prince visited the school that day.

Not long after, a tall woman walked briskly over. At first glance, she was a XueLi Star local, naturally tall and burly. This was not a genetic ability, but a result of natural selection to adapt to the climate.

The reporter hurriedly greeted her: “Editor-in-Chief, you are here! Just now the garrison corps and the Ministry of Public Security jointly announced the interrogation results…”

“I’ve seen it.” The tall woman said, “Come in and let’s talk.”

The two entered the editor-in-chief’s office. The woman sat behind the desk, but the man couldn’t sit still, somewhat excitedly saying: “Now it is confirmed that it was the rebels with no doubt. What the Third Prince said that day has been confirmed! Didn’t His Royal Highness ask us to wait for the results of the interrogation that day? Now that there are results, what did the prince say?”

The editor-in-chief responded coldly: “The prince didn’t say much. I contacted the prince’s palace, and the people at the palace said that we should remember the prince’s instructions that day. Can’t you hear what the prince meant that day?”

The reporter’s excited expression froze on his face, and he was discouraged in an instant. After a while, he cautiously spoke again: “But, what about His Highness the Third Prince’s side…”

He turned his head cautiously to confirm that the door was closed, and lowered his voice: “Didn’t the Third Prince secretly contact you two days ago? Didn’t you ask me to prepare the manuscript, saying there was still a chance it could be published?”

“It’s what the Third Prince said, not me.” The editor-in-chief replied, also a little annoyed.

At that time, she thought that the Third Prince was putting pressure on her, and she had euphemistically expressed the intention that they could not act against the Crown Prince’s will. But the Third Prince only said: “I didn’t ask you to publish it now. I’m just reminding you to be fully prepared so that you can seize the opportunity when it comes. You only need to wait for a signal, and whether to publish it or not is your own choice.”

The editor-in-chief at that time asked: “Your Highness, what is the signal?”

“When that signal comes, you will know it naturally.” 

The communication ended like this.

Although this attitude is not tough, it still made the editor-in-chief feel uncomfortable for two days.

She recounted the conversation that day to the chief reporter in front of her. The reporter pondered: “The signal…could it be the interrogation results? This is indeed a powerful proof for the Third Prince. Now the Third Prince wants us to publish it, but the Crown Prince doesn’t. What should we do?”

The editor-in-chief rubbed her forehead with her hand and murmured to herself: “Let me think about it again… This matter must be handled carefully. If we are not careful…”

The reporter made no noise to disturb her. Those who worked in this field were much more sensitive to many things than most civilians.

The current emperor’s reputation among the people is not good. As the three princes had grown up, some things had quietly begun. If they accidentally stood on the wrong side, then…

The hasty knock on the door startedled the two people who were lost in thought inside.

The reporter opened the door and reprimanded dissatisfiedly: “Why knock on the door so hard?!”

The assistant editor outside the door didn’t have time to respond to these words. He shouted even louder than him: “Editor-in-chief! Something happened, editor-in-chief! The three planets on the second cantilever have simultaneously burst out news, saying that they had completed a mission to clean up dirty bombs1 (脏弹: radioactive dispersion device) …”

The editor-in-chief’s brows twitched, and she asked calmly, “What dirty bomb? Where did it come from?”

“There is no detailed report yet, but…it seems to be related to the rebel army two years ago. It is said that after the battle two years ago, the Royal Legion stationed on those three planets and worked secretly for two years. And now they have just finished their mission.”

The reporter’s face was half white and half red. He said tremblingly, “Two years? There is also a Royal Legion stationed here for two years…”

“Rebels…dirty bombs…two years…” the editor-in-chief said quickly and anxiously. “I see. I understand now. This is, this is the signal!”

The assistant editor didn’t understand, so he asked, “Editor-in-Chief, what signal?”

“The signal of a change.” The reporter added, he had already figured it out, and said in a trembling voice, “Editor-in-Chief, shall we publish the article now?”

The editor-in-chief stopped, and the other two didn’t dare disturb her thoughts. They all waited with bated breath.

Two days ago, the Third Prince’s words echoed in the editor-in-chief’s ears again: “I’ve read your resume. With your talents, you really shouldn’t be stuck in a border news agency for your entire life. I know that you are just suffering from lack of promotion channels. It might seem meaningless to you that I am saying this today. After all, even I am still stuck here. It doesn’t matter. Please contact me when you think my words make sense.”

After a few seconds, the editor-in-chief made a decision.

She said sternly: “Publish the article, publish it now! Publish it before anyone else does!”

Without saying anything, the reporter turned around and rushed to his office.

Then she turned to her assistant and said decisively, “Did we record in the museum that day?”

This was something strictly forbidden by the Royal Family. The assistant trembled and whispered: “Yes, basically the whole process was recorded… from the first arrow being strung to the resolution of the incident…”

The editor-in-chief asked: “Where is the video stored?”

“I didn’t dare store it on any internet-connected device, so I bought an old storage disk and saved it there.”

“Give it to me.” The editor-in-chief said decisively.

Within a day, the two pieces of news that broke out on the second cantilever exploded and set off a public outcry.

The rebel army spent years secretly deploying dirty bombs on several planets, and the Third Prince was threatened with detonating dirty bombs three years ago. In order to protect the majority of people in the empire, the small asteroid was reluctantly sacrificed and the remote control center was destroyed at a critical moment. In the following two years, in order to avoid causing public panic, he silently endured the criticism of the whole nation and the frantic pursuit of the rebel army, and personally participated in the follow-up cleanup work. It was rumoured that there was also a military force stationed on XueLi Star for two years under the guise of “training”. 

——This was the conclusion most people reached after the two news stories broke out one after another. 

Whether it was the planet where the cleanup task had already been announced as completed, or the planet where there happened to be a military force that had been stationed there for two years, the public was boiling with emotions. They simply saw the Third Prince as their savior and regarded him as their second parent. 

Even if they are not residents of these planets, most of them cursed the Third Prince two years ago. But now that the truth had been revealed, they felt guilty and the public opinion naturally rebounded in a retaliatory manner.

Not to mention that the next day, a video was also circulated from the XueLi Star. Although the picture quality was very blurry, the image was shaking, and it was almost impossible to see the face clearly, the previous press releases served as commentary and it did not prevent anyone from understanding what had happened.

The members of the royal family had always been abstract symbols in the hearts of ordinary people. And today, it was found out that the more advanced and rare the genetic ability, the more mysterious. This was the first time ordinary people saw a royal family member display the Golden Pupil ability at close range.

The shock brought on by the visual impact was incomparable to anything.

For a long time, people did not remember the noble conduct of the eldest prince, nor the superior academic ability of the Second Prince. Instead, they remembered the tall figure standing on the high platform amidst the chaos, his burning dual pupils, the miraculous arrows of light and the giant bow in his hand. And these images were tightly bound together with the magnificent painting behind him, the Great Emperor holding the bow.

When Austin hurriedly arrived at Alfred’s remote mansion, there was already more than one car parked outside the villa.

He changed direction without revealing himself, bypassed the front door, and quietly climbed in from the back of the villa.

When hearing the breaking news, for a moment, Austin felt a chill running through his body. This chill was not due to the climate on XueLi Star, but came from his heart and crawled all over his spine.

Because he had always thought that XueLi Star was the planet with the fastest mission progress. In the past few days when the Crown Prince landed on XueLi Star, he had been closely monitoring the Legion. Not only did he visit twice in person, but he also kept putting pressure on the media on XueLi Star to ensure that the news would not leak out.

It is precisely because of this that he and Alfred had conspired several times to discuss how to break through the prince’s heavy blockade and smoothly carry out their plan when the mission ended next month.

But just while Austin was pretending to be stupid and trying his best to deal with the prince on behalf of the Legion, public opinion suddenly exploded in advance without warning.

He thought he was the plan maker, but in fact, he was just a chess piece laid down by Alfred when he set up this game.

Perhaps the young prince was more suitable for that position than he thought… Austin couldn’t tell whether the emotions emerged from him were fear or joy, maybe both.

He knocked on a window according to the agreed frequency, and soon, Alfred personally opened the window and let him climb in.

Austin took off his cloak, bowing respectfully: “Your Highness.”

He was a little more reserved than usual. But Alfred seemed not to care, didn’t even ask anything, just sat back on the sofa by the fireplace, saying as usual: “You’re here? Come and sit. Warm up with some wine.

Austin noticed that he had a bottle of FireKiss wine and two glasses in his hand, but there was no celebration on his face.

“Your Highness, are you not happy?” Austin asked, pouring himself a glass. He didn’t mention the matter of being kept inside a drum2 (蒙在鼓里: A metaphor for being deceived and not knowing the truth about a situation.) at all, and said as usual: “The plan went smoothly. Why don’t you even have a smile on your face?”

“I have a feeling lately…that something isn’t quite right,” Alfred said.

He lightly shook the wine glass, and the blood-red FireKiss wine swayed inside. His light brown eyes revealed no emotions.

“Austin, don’t you think we have been too successful these past two years?”