The Silly Prince Successfully Cancels the Engagement, But the Fiancée is His Childhood Sweetheart - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Artemis

As the Mecha Combat Tournament drew nearer, a palpable tension could be felt throughout the National Defense Military Academy.

Xiang Zhuo also seemed to have become busier and didn’t ask Bai Qing every day to train with him at the Underground Arena.

The only two times he did ask, Bai Qing refused. This was because he had very strict control over his training schedule, and he had happened to allocate a massive amount of time to physical training, making it impossible to spare time for sparring at the Underground Arena.

Until today. Tonight, he had planned a mecha practical training session, and a public class was about to start. Because of his previous rejections, he wanted to show more sincerity this time by asking in person.

Bai Qing still sat in the front row as usual. It wasn’t until just before class started that Bai Qing saw the late arrival, Xiang Zhuo.

Coincidentally, the only empty seat was directly behind Bai Qing. Although reluctant, Xiang Zhuo had no choice but to sit down.

After Xiang Zhuo was seated, Bai Qing slowly turned his head towards him, ignoring Ye Sheng’s strange gaze.

“Are you free tonight?”

Xiang Zhuo frowned and looked up: “Why, is something going on?”

Bai Qing: “I have a mecha practical training session tonight and haven’t found a sparring partner yet. Would you…”

Before Bai Qing could finish, Xiang Zhuo propped his chin up and shook his head: “Sorry, I also have training scheduled and don’t have time to spar with you. Besides, I’m your opponent. Is it really appropriate for you to ask me to train with you?”

Bai Qing: “…”

Xiang Zhuo ignored Bai Qing’s silence and continued: “We are opponents. Too much contact before the match isn’t good.”

Bai Qing: “…”

Bai Qing squeezed out two words: “As you wish.”

Xiang Zhuo didn’t spare Bai Qing another glance. Sparring with a competitor before the match? That’s definitely not right. How could I agree?

Ye Sheng saw Bai Qing turn around. Just as he was about to speak, he noticed that Bai Qing’s mood was off.

In all these years, he had never seen Bai Qing exhibit significant emotional fluctuations, but this time was clearly different.

An Alpha’s nose is sharper than a dog’s. He could smell the extremely faint pheromones Bai Qing was unconsciously releasing. Even though Bai Qing was trying hard to restrain them, they were leaking out.

Bai Qing’s pheromones were originally the cool, green scent of sandalwood, but now, it was like a great fire had consumed the forest. The refreshing scent had become dry and scorching hot, the high temperature baking the wood, crackling, and emitting a scent of burnt char.

Bai Qing lowered his eyes and flipped through his textbook without a word. Although he didn’t show anything, Ye Sheng didn’t dare to speak to him, timidly shrinking to the side. Only when Bai Qing flipped a page did he dare to flip his own.

Halfway through the class, as Ye Sheng was starting to drift off, he suddenly heard Bai Qing speaking as if to himself: “There are quite a lot of maniacs in this world.”

Ye Sheng immediately snapped awake: “Who is it?”

For the first time, Bai Qing wasn’t listening intently in class. He quietly turned his head, his lake-blue eyes filled with deep contemplation: “He is near you, and yet far away.”

Ye Sheng looked at him sincerely: “My dear friend, I don’t understand.”

Bai Qing looked at him silently: “Keep minimal contact with Xiang Zhuo in the future.”

Ye Sheng: “Okay, copy that.”

…

Bai Qing was in a bad mood today, but upon returning home, he saw his grandfather sitting on the sofa waiting for him, and the vexation instantly vanished.

Bai Changsong looked at Bai Qing and said affectionately: “Qingqing is back. How have things been at the Academy lately? Are you used to it?”

Bai Qing quietly sat beside Bai Changsong: “Everything is fine. Ye Sheng is with me, and I haven’t encountered any difficulties.”

Bai Changsong didn’t dare to blink, carefully observing every micro-expression on Bai Qing’s face.

Bai Qing had shown extraordinary intelligence and mecha piloting talent since childhood, but he always maintained a straight face, rarely smiling. For a time, this worried the old man a great deal, making him regret allowing Bai Qing to encounter mecha. The old man would rather Bai Qing be a little simpleton than see him frown and be unhappy every day. But as time went on, Bai Changsong realized that Bai Qing wasn’t unhappy; he was fully enjoying himself. It was just his personality that made him dislike showing emotions outwardly.

Having discovered this, Bai Changsong finally relaxed.

After all, as his cherished treasure, the only thing he feared was Bai Qing being unhappy.

Only after confirming that Bai Qing was not stressed at all did Bai Changsong smile: “That’s good, that’s good. If anyone at the Academy dares to bully you, just tell Grandpa, and I’ll back you up.”

Bai Qing unexpectedly showed a faint smile: “Don’t worry, Grandpa. Even if someone tries to bully me, they can’t beat me.”

Bai Changsong was amused: “That’s right. If there really are some tactless people, don’t hold back. Grandpa will clean up the mess for you.”

Bai Changsong winked at Bai Qing: “I brought you something good this time…”

Bai Jingfeng placed a plate of crispy fried spare ribs on the dining table, untied his apron, and interrupted the grandfather and grandson’s conversation: “Dad, stop corrupting Qingqing. Wash your hands, everyone, and let’s eat.”

Bai Jingfeng was an excellent cook. It was rumored that in his youth, he won over Bai Qing’s mother’s heart with his great cooking skills, making the goddess who was famous throughout the National Defense Military Academy crave his food daily and unable to resist.

Back then, when Bai Qing’s mother was studying at the Etiquette Academy, all the Alphas at the National Defense Military Academy next door would crane their necks, yearningly looking towards the Etiquette Academy.

Yu Xin propped up her chin, smiling gently at the grandfather and grandson on the sofa: “The Mecha Combat Tournament is approaching, right? How is Qingqing’s practice going?”

Bai Qing and Bai Changsong exchanged a look: “It’s alright.”

Yu Xin naturally placed a piece of spare rib on Bai Qing’s plate: “Are you really planning to make His Majesty the King agree to dissolve your engagement? It seems a shame to waste this opportunity.”

Bai Jingfeng silently placed a split-back shrimp on Yu Xin’s plate, clearly showing that his wife’s word was law.

Yu Xin continued to advise: “How could that brat be worthy of our Qingqing? If Qingqing doesn’t like it, us elders can decide to call off the engagement. Why waste such a great opportunity to make the old King suffer?”

Bai Jingfeng couldn’t help but chuckle and lightly coughed. Bai Qing looked up and shook his head: “It’s fine. Because the genetic matching degree is too high and involves Imperial law, it is safer to approach it through His Majesty the King.”

Hearing his son’s words, Yu Xin was somewhat relieved, only muttering softly: “Such a little stick-in-the-mud, just like your father.”

The “old stick-in-the-mud,” Bai Jingfeng: “…”

…

Bai Qing’s mind was still preoccupied with the gift from Bai Changsong. After dinner, he chatted with his grandparents and parents for a while, then headed straight to the underground training room.

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, he was still stunned by the mecha before him, which was infused with ultimate beauty and power.

This was the newest type of mecha recently developed by the National Mecha Research Center.

The pinnacle of the God of War Bloodline series—Artemis.

The silver-blue mecha resembled the arc light of the moon. Every component and every joint was meticulously spliced and interlocked. The thin outer shell was like tender skin. The mecha stood quietly, like a beautiful goddess in deep slumber.

This Artemis was only a test machine, with many details yet to be perfected. Once the truly unique Artemis was launched, this test machine would be destroyed.

Bai Changsong had informed Bai Qing of this recently. Bai Qing immediately submitted an application and successfully secured the precious qualification to test and debug this test machine.

Bai Changsong then conveniently moved the test machine home.

Moreover, to maximize the combat capability of Artemis during the calibration phase, the fighting data of all mecha pilots up to this point had been written into this test machine.

This data was available for the test debuggers to call upon and use for simulated combat.

In other words, Bai Qing could use this opportunity to fight against virtually every mecha pilot in the entire Empire.

Looking across the Eternal Empire, there was no one more suited to pilot Artemis than Bai Qing.

To put it another way, only Bai Qing could maximize Artemis’s power.

Bai Qing stood on the ground, quietly admiring the mecha. He wondered if it was his illusion, but for a moment, he thought he saw a blood-red light flicker in Artemis’s dim eyes.

Bai Qing quietly changed into his battle uniform. Before entering the cockpit, he turned to look at Artemis one last time. His lake-blue eyes were filled with an intense obsession with battle.