The Silly Prince Successfully Cancels the Engagement, But the Fiancée is His Childhood Sweetheart - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Apollo and Artemis

Xiang Zhuo reported to the Central Army that same night.

He had circulated through all five major military districts when he was young, so he was acquainted with these people.

General Ye Hong of the Central Army personally greeted Xiang Zhuo.

Ye Hong was a towering, serious-looking middle-aged Alpha. Standing at the door of the reception room, he resembled a mountain.

Ye Hong looked at the promising young man and smiled: “It seems His Highness’s spirits are quite good.”

Xiang Zhuo dared not be presumptuous in front of Ye Hong and humbly replied: “Uncle Ye, you’re the one in good spirits. Is there any good news?”

Ye Hong shook his head and sighed with emotion: “Just old bones here. You young people are the future. His Majesty specifically instructed me not to go easy on you.”

Xiang Zhuo laughed: “How does Uncle Ye plan to train me?”

Ye Hong then became serious, solemnly handing Xiang Zhuo a fiery red card.

Xiang Zhuo was startled.

“Tame it,” Ye Hong’s eyes glinted with sharp intensity. “Apollo is yours.”

Xiang Zhuo looked up. Upon seeing the dormant, fiery red behemoth, a massive excitement and thrill surged from his cerebral cortex and the depths of his soul.

That tingling sensation, accompanied by a tense, drumming heartbeat, overwhelmed all his senses.

Silent, unlit, only that colossal figure remained.

Tame it.

The Sun God will bow to you.

…

Bai Qing briefly took a nap. Early in the morning, Cheng Hanshuang led him down to the tenth basement level.

Bai Qing asked no questions, merely followed quietly a step behind Cheng Hanshuang.

Cheng Hanshuang, however, seemed a little uneasy. In the elevator, he smiled and asked: “Why don’t you ask where we are going?”

Bai Qing’s lake-blue eyes were like a still, deep pool: “You wouldn’t throw me out anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t matter where we go.”

Cheng Hanshuang was genuinely amused by Bai Qing: “You tell jokes?”

Bai Qing’s expression was serious: “I am not very good at it.”

The elevator stopped steadily at the tenth basement level. Before the doors opened, Bai Qing and Cheng Hanshuang heard a voice filled with hostility from outside:

“You can’t even handle this small task. Does Cheng Hanshuang have a hobby of breeding useless people?”

“If you can’t do the job, get out early!”

The corners of Cheng Hanshuang’s mouth were still fixed in a stiff smile, which couldn’t help but twitch twice the moment the elevator doors opened.

“What’s with the bad temper?”

Outside the elevator, the scene was a mess. The entire room was frighteningly desolate and vast, making it hard to adjust. In the center of the room, there was a humanoid colossal object covered with a gray dust sheet. Scattered around it were various instruments and equipment, clearly not yet operational.

The person lecturing was a female Alpha. Her tone was intensely aggressive, and paired with her fiery red hair, one wouldn’t doubt that she was about to breathe fire.

Bai Qing subtly focused his attention, feeling a strange familiarity with the figure.

The red-haired female Alpha turned around, launching an indiscriminate attack: “Why is the discipline in your Southwest Army so lax? The equipment arrived last night, and it hasn’t been debugged yet. What kind of mess is this? Don’t tell me the Former Empire will attack now, and I’ll have to carry a rifle and disassemble their mecha by hand?”

Bai Qing kept his eyes down and inward, trying his best to minimize his presence.

This was an old acquaintance: they had met at the Mecha Combat Tournament.

He Jie…

Cheng Hanshuang was helpless: “This is a light starship. It wasn’t designed with a mecha docking bay. Many things had to be temporarily unloaded. Moreover, the law requires that even a temporary mecha docking bay on the front line needs at least 36 hours before it can be used, even without eating, sleeping, or resting. It hasn’t even been 12 hours. Not even a god could build it.”

Hearing Cheng Hanshuang’s words, He Jie burst into fresh anger: “There you go again, talking about the law! Everyone knows those 36 hours are for perfecting the system and checking for bugs. Does building the frame take 36 hours? It’s because you’re usually too lax! The extreme time to build the docking bay is 6 hours, and to connect the auxiliary equipment is 8 hours! And you’re still defending them? The place is on fire, and you’re still talking about the law.”

Cheng Hanshuang rubbed his forehead, nursing a headache: “You all, listen up! I’m giving you two more hours, tops, to get the mecha docking bay built. Whatever difficulties you encounter, solve them! That’s an order!”

The busy military personnel took a moment to salute Cheng Hanshuang and He Jie, offering no rebuttal.

He Jie finally calmed down, but in an instant, she seemed like a mouse catching the scent of meat. Her eyes lit up with mischief: “Oh, isn’t this the little beauty? I didn’t expect to see you again.”

Cheng Hanshuang was a little surprised: “Do you two know each other?”

He Jie rolled her eyes at him, then flashed a radiant smile: “More than just acquainted, we had an in-depth exchange, didn’t we, little beauty?”

Bai Qing chose to ignore He Jie. He silently looked up, asking in a low voice: “What is that?”

Failing to get a response from Bai Qing, He Jie pouted with dissatisfaction: “I signed a military order with His Majesty the King to deliver this big guy to you, completely unharmed. I traveled thousands of miles from the Central Army. You won’t even console me? My heart aches, little beauty. What is it? Why don’t you guess?”

Bai Qing gazed at the mecha, feeling a strange sense of tranquility in his heart. This feeling had lingered, refusing to dissipate.

He was too familiar with it.

“Artemis.”

…

Although Artemis was a newborn, its combat power could likely rival a fully activated Apollo.

Bai Qing’s fingertip caressed the silver-blue gradient card, his eyes sparkling.

He had previously piloted only test models, which were not complete. The shock it brought him was far less than what this one in front of him did.

Besides, the test model of Artemis in his home was recalled after he returned from the wilderness drill.

Artemis was silently resting with its eyes closed, in slumber. Its limbs were graceful and long, the extremities slowly transitioning from a serene blue to silver.

Not long after, someone came to inform Bai Qing that all the equipment had been debugged. They needed to proceed with the mental power synchronization and debugging as soon as possible to identify any issues in time.

Bai Qing checked the time. The departure for Shade Star was scheduled for six hours later.

There is enough time.

Six hours later, all equipment would enter standby mode, and everyone would be forced into a state of hibernation. The light starship would carry a forward operating team led by Cheng Hanshuang, moving at full speed to land first on Shade Star.

Although the Former Empire forces’ bombardment of the Military Academy exposed their own location, these remnants were too cunning. Within the exposed coordinates, there were five suspicious strongholds.

This advance team played an indispensable role. Although the team only consisted of five people, everyone’s mental power level was SS or above. Not to mention the SSS-level mental power of leader Cheng Hanshuang and the terrifying SSS+ level of Bai Qing.

The purpose of this team was to find the precise coordinates of the Former Empire remnants’ true stronghold without alerting them.

The main forces of the Southwest Army were hidden on the outskirts of Shade Star. As soon as the advance team transmitted the precise coordinates to the Southwest Army, their mission would be largely complete.

The rest was simply holding out until the main army’s rescue, after which they would retire with honor.

The mission sounded simple, but in execution, many unforeseen issues were likely to arise.

If they chose the wrong stronghold, they would immediately be exposed. On Shade Star, everyone carried firearms, and within the sphere of influence of the Former Empire remnants, the five of them would be eaten alive, bones and all.

Therefore, they had no room for failure.

The reason why all five team members had mental power above SS was the constant need to release mental power to sense abnormal fluctuations.

Whether in the Former Empire or the Eternal Empire, strongholds employed numerous anti-localization and anti-reconnaissance methods. However, none of these could block mental power detection.

It was like a secret building constructed in a certain location: while no technological means could detect it, the human eye could physically see the structure.

The principle of mental power detection was similar to the human eye, but more precise and covert. Furthermore, if the mental power level was high enough and the mental power strong enough, one could trace the transmission coordinates from even a faint signal and thus pinpoint the location.

Under the cover of night, a light starship parked stealthily and quietly in an uninhabited area. This parking spot had been carefully selected by Cheng Hanshuang. This barren land was originally occupied by a group of intergalactic pirates. Coincidentally, after the story of Xiang Zhuo single-handedly capturing an entire pirate crew spread, this pirate group took the hint and left the area.

More accurately, they left the jurisdiction of the Northwest Army.

Since this group of intergalactic pirates and the Former Empire remnants generally kept to themselves, the Former Empire remnants would not extend their influence here and certainly wouldn’t investigate what was happening.

This loophole allowed Cheng Hanshuang to sneak in.

Sitting in Artemis’s cockpit, Bai Qing felt a strange sense of calm.

As soon as the starship landed, Bai Qing immediately released his mental power. The SSS+ mental power stretched out like a snake crawling in the dark night, silently probing the distance.

…

Hero Star and Shade Star had a time difference of about three hours. It was 3 a.m. on Shade Star, and just after midnight on Hero Star.

Xiang Zhuo finally completed a full day of devil training. Apollo lived up to its reputation as the most difficult mecha in the War God’s Bloodline series to pilot. Although its power was immense, when Xiang Zhuo first established a mental connection with Apollo, the overall compatibility score was only 52.

It hadn’t even reached the passing mark. This discovery was a huge setback for the Crown Prince of the Eternal Empire, who had never known failure.

Xiang Zhuo seemed to have boundless energy. From 6 a.m., excluding meal times, until now, Xiang Zhuo had trained for eighteen hours, and only managed to raise the overall score to 58.

It was still a long way from being capable of normal combat.

Xiang Zhuo was expressionless. Leaning against the headboard, he skillfully opened his chat interface with Bai Qing. He silently clicked on Bai Qing’s avatar and glanced at the little gray cypress tree—the person was offline.

He then scrolled to the weather interface and searched for a long time before finding Shade Star.

Shade Star, clear weather.