In theory, a single head should not be capable of all that much.
But Prince Arthur’s head was a little different.
The dense proliferating flesh buds around the severed neck had continued growing and evolving in the sealed heat of the suitcase, developing into an increasingly bizarre and unbelievable state.
A small portion of the flesh buds had fused and compressed tightly together, forming a ball-like lump of flesh for a torso. Faintly translucent blood vessels twisted and tangled across it, making it resemble an incompletely developed premature infant.
The remaining two-thirds had evolved into a set of rounded, soft limbs, with hands and feet about the size of a preschool child’s, supple and elastic. The kneecaps and wrists were not fully developed, but they were more than enough to support the weight of a single head.
In other words… the bizarre creature that had crawled out of the suitcase on its own possessed an adult man’s head, a semitransparent torso the size of a six-month fetus, and child-sized arms and legs covered in proliferating filaments.
The Testing Center fell deathly silent. “Prince Arthur” gave everyone a gentle, friendly smile, but the damaged skin on his face made the expression look twisted and ferocious. Barefoot, he tentatively took a few steps forward, swaying as he went and scraping a slick sound across the floor that set everyone’s teeth on edge. He nearly lost his balance and fell outright.
Realizing that his fragile torso could not support him standing for long, the prince gave up on walking upright. He dropped onto all fours and began crawling forward slowly but steadily, inching step by step toward the spherical instrument.
The researcher fainted from fright. His mental sea could not withstand such a terrifying sight and pressure, and the stress sent it into a convulsive, disordered state. His mental power lashed out indiscriminately at everyone around him as his eyes rolled back and his body seized violently.
Song Zang was standing right beside the researcher and watched helplessly as the man crashed to the floor as though suffering an epileptic seizure, arms curled in as he lay there shaking wildly beyond his control.
The researcher’s rampaging mental power was forcefully crushed by Yin Chen. Song Zang reacted just as quickly, tearing the shoulder insignia from his coat and roughly stuffing it into the researcher’s mouth so he would not accidentally bite off his own tongue.
Song Zang lifted the man’s eyelid to examine his eye and judged from past experience, “His mental power isn’t strong enough to resist contamination. When he encounters something bizarre beyond his understanding, he’s easily injured very quickly, causing acute swelling in the brain. That’s why his limbs are out of control and convulsing. He needs professional treatment immediately.”
He was saying that for the guards at the Testing Center.
Their suspicious, wary gazes had already locked onto the two of them, and the highly destructive charged electromagnetic guns in their hands were primed to fire.
If the guards had not been terrified of that monstrous head and too afraid to approach… Song Zang and Yin Chen would absolutely have been treated to the thrilling experience of being sprayed with gunfire.
A medical robot hurried over. After an initial scan and diagnosis, it confirmed that every word Song Zang had said was correct. The little robot was especially friendly and even dispensed a small pink flower to Song Zang as a reward.
If the pink flower was rubbed between the palms for a moment, it turned into a dollop of no-rinse medical hand sanitizer. It smelled lovely, releasing a soothing milk-and-cherry-blossom fragrance.
Meanwhile, Prince Arthur had already crawled into the sphere by himself. Smiling, he dragged his soft little feet behind him and copied what Song Zang had done earlier, concentrating his mind and attacking the blooming rose.
A gentle mental-power field rolled out like waves across a sea of roses, and a proper, elegant, aristocratic rose fragrance suddenly filled the spherical instrument. This was Prince Arthur’s pheromone, intoxicating and impossibly romantic.
【Congratulations, Mr. Arthur Rose. Your mental-power rank is: S! You have surpassed 90% of the Empire’s population!】
Everyone who witnessed it could barely believe their own eyes or noses. Resurrection from the dead? A reanimated severed head? A demon returning for revenge?
The staff who had rushed over to help began dropping one after another with dull thuds. Even the guards who had first raised their weapons could no longer withstand such a shocking sight; their legs went weak and they began convulsing too.
The round, adorable medical robot spun frantically from person to person like a helpless little top. It was extremely cute.
Song Zang disinfected both hands with the pink flower and breathed in the comforting cherry-blossom fragrance, suddenly seized by the urge to rob the place and take the robot home. Unfortunately, it was private property belonging to the Testing Center.
Maybe his approaching susceptible period had destabilized his emotions. The moment he thought about how he could not take this adorable little baby home, he wanted to cry.
Yin Chen noticed the reddish haze gathering around Song Zang’s eyes and hurriedly reread the susceptible-period information. He strode over, wrapped Song Zang in his arms, and coaxed him gently, “We have medical robots at home too, exactly like this one. They have all the hand sanitizer you like. Baby, we can play with them when we get home.”
“But… but it’s so pitiful…” Tears shimmered in Song Zang’s red eyes.
Human bodies were sprawled all over the floor, convulsing violently. The medical robot had smoke rising from its head as it dodged the patients’ mental-power attacks and was nearly running into overload.
Prince Arthur, on the other hand, remained calm. After confirming that his mental power had not fallen, he skillfully manipulated the proliferated flesh-bud legs, turned around, and smiled. “Mr. Song, Commander, please listen to me.”
Yin Chen swept him with an icy glance and said ominously, “The consequence of acting without permission is that you made him cry, and now everyone here is convulsing and suffering brain swelling because of you… Prince Arthur, you’d better make sure what you’re about to say is worth hearing. Stop carelessly provoking Song Zang’s emotions.”
Prince Arthur froze. Looking apologetic, he said with considerable sincerity, “I’m very sorry. My brain has been much more active today, and I became a little excited. Here’s what happened. During the last year I was alive, Zone A experienced a sudden series of epileptic seizures and convulsive episodes.
“There was no reason and no particular setting. Countless perfectly healthy citizens of Zone A suddenly fell into epileptic states without warning, yet afterward no cause for the attacks could be found. These clustered convulsive symptoms caused a small degree of public panic.
“I was very concerned about it at the time, so I specifically investigated medical records from the major hospitals throughout Zone A. That included epilepsy and a whole range of physical illnesses caused by brain abnormalities, the number of patients forcibly admitted to psychiatric wards, and cases of mental-power rampages triggered by different causes… all of the data was wrong. The figures were several times higher than they had been a few years earlier.
“So I arranged a meeting with the chairman of the Alliance for Rare and Difficult Diseases and formally discussed it with him, asking them to study the abnormal data in depth. Unfortunately, I died before any research results came out.”
Song Zang listened so intently that he even forgot he had been inexplicably emotional just moments ago.
Leaning against Yin Chen, he tilted his head and asked, “How exactly did you die?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t know either.” Prince Arthur gave a bitter smile, faint sorrow appearing in his rose-gold double pupils. “I knew very well that my eldest sister disliked me somewhat, but I never intended to compete with her for power… After I was admitted to Imperial University, I chose biomedical science as my major. Was that still not enough for her to understand what I wanted?”
“Stop trying to make us pity you. First explain why you crawled out of the suitcase on your own. What exactly are you trying to do?” Yin Chen asked expressionlessly.
“To avenge myself, to pave the way toward a brighter future for the Rose Empire, and to protect innocent Imperial citizens who have been victimized…” Arthur answered with complete sincerity. “My head appeared on a livestream. That should stir up plenty of speculation and cause my eldest sister quite a shock, shouldn’t it?
“She has a rather extreme personality. Once she learns I’m still alive, she’ll send people to assassinate me by any means necessary. That will make it more likely for her to expose a weakness. Please don’t concern yourselves with my safety. Treat me as a chess piece for bringing down the Eldest Princess. I’m completely willing.”
Song Zang blinked. “So after you bring her down, what then? You want to seize the throne?”
“My second sister is better suited to that position. In my current state, I don’t deserve to call myself a descendant of the imperial family. I’m a malformed monster. If I’m fortunate enough to survive… being able to hide in the darkness and accomplish something useful for the people would be enough.”
Arthur tugged the damaged corners of his mouth upward, his smile bitter and humble. “With the Second Princess around, perhaps I can rely on our old affection, on those bonds between siblings that don’t truly belong to me, and find a way to continue studying biomedical science.”
He had emphasized several times that the identity of Prince Arthur did not belong to him. Even though he was Arthur’s brain, he possessed every memory and experience the prince who had died young once had, and in fact remembered them even more clearly than Arthur himself had.
Because this brain had been wrapped in regenerative mucus, the number and depth of its cortical folds had increased dramatically, developing far beyond normal. It had been a blessing in disguise… not only had the brain avoided pathological swelling, it might now be extraordinarily intelligent.
His self-awareness was painfully clear. He knew with absolute certainty that he was not Arthur, yet he could not escape those memories and could not completely become an entirely new self.
The collision between reason and emotion created a contradiction too profound to ignore. Song Zang happened to have unusually strong empathy at the moment, and he could feel it… this strange, twisted head looked like a monster, but endless pain flowed through the tiny semitransparent heart inside it.
Damn it. Song Zang realized his eyes were turning red again. He grabbed Yin Chen’s arm and kneaded it anxiously, unable to stop feeling sad.
“Arthur, what nonsense are you saying?”
At that moment, a familiar voice came from outside the Testing Center. High heels struck the smooth floor with crisp, aggressive clicks.
Song Zang froze. His wildly fluctuating mood instantly became bright and cheerful again. “Sister Chi Yan!”
Compared with Song Zang’s impoverished starting point, Chi Yan’s entrance could only be described as extravagantly luxurious.
More than a dozen handsome and beautiful attendants surrounded her like stars around the moon, following respectfully with lowered eyes and personally holding up the magnificent train of her gown.
An almost transparent anti-tracking ballistic barrier surrounded Chi Yan like the perfect dreamlike filter, quietly giving off a faint glow.
Her jet-black hair cascaded to her waist like a waterfall. Every strand had been meticulously groomed, full, silky, and luminous.
A magnificent little crown of rose blossoms and star diamonds rested on her head, sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight.
The Empire’s Second Princess, mental-power rank A, known as an idle wastrel and a spoiled aristocratic playgirl. Her hobbies were admiring handsome men and beautiful women, raising pretty fluffy animals, and playing thrilling interplanetary cross-country racing games.
Because she had inherited powerful ancient atavistic genes, giving her black hair and pale skin, the Second Princess was likewise deeply favored by the emperor.
According to the setting, Chi Yan was actually the most normal member of the entire imperial family.
Her mental-power rank was comfortably upper-tier. She scraped through Imperial University with low grades and graduated successfully, which still made her somewhat more accomplished than children from ordinary households.
Despite being a princess born at the very top of society, she had no particular ambition and no illegal or depraved hobbies. She was simply an unapologetic face-con. That was why Imperial citizens generally viewed her rather favorably, yet nobody had ever imagined… that she might compete for the throne.
Prince Arthur fell silent for a moment. He wriggled his hands and feet, which were covered in proliferating flesh buds, awkwardly hiding his body behind his head as he greeted her softly, “Sister Yanyan…”
It was a private nickname used only between the siblings.
Chi Yan cooperated completely and immediately started acting too. Her eyes reddened in an instant, and she snapped fiercely, “You little brat! You still remember how to come home?!”
“I-I already died.” Arthur pressed his lips together and tilted his head, hiding the more badly scarred half of his face in shadow.
“Bullshit!”
Chi Yan scooped up his head with both hands and hugged it against herself, rubbing him vigorously. His once neat, soft blond hair was forcibly turned into an exploded bird’s nest.
Arthur stared in disbelief and let her do as she pleased. He carefully tucked in his hands and feet, terrified Chi Yan might find him disgusting, and his cheeks turned faintly red. “Sis, strictly speaking, I’m not really your biological little brother anymore…”
“I say you are, so you are.” Chi Yan glared at him, then turned toward Yin Chen with a radiant smile. “Thank you both for rescuing Arthur. As thanks, how about this princess treats you to a grand meal?”
“Of course.” Yin Chen’s lips curved slightly as he nodded.
Song Zang suddenly interjected, “What about all these people lying on the floor? Someone has to explain what happened. And that medical robot is so busy… it’s pitiful. The little rose trapped inside the sphere is pitiful too…”
Chi Yan paused, finally noticing the subtle abnormality in Song Zang’s emotional state. She arched a brow and waved grandly. “Leave everything at the Testing Center to my people. This princess has the finest gardeners in the entire Empire at home. And as for that round little robot, I’ll fill it with the highest-grade lubricant and replace its parts with the newest top-quality radiant-iron components. Satisfied?”
“Sister Chi Yan, thank you. You’re so kind~”
Song Zang was deeply moved. His slightly tearful voice was exceptionally soft and sweet, almost like the deliberately pinched, cutesy tone people put on.
Chi Yan’s mouth twitched. While Song Zang was still distracted by the little robot, she turned toward Yin Chen and lowered her voice. “What’s wrong with him? Control your wife! Is he suddenly possessed?”
“His susceptible period is approaching. He can’t control his emotions very well. He’s very fragile right now.” Yin Chen’s expression did not change. His arm tightened around Song Zang’s waist in an unmistakably protective gesture.
“My god, does that mean I could become like this too… This princess refuses!”
Only a few days of royal life had already made Chi Yan frighteningly committed to the role. She frowned imperiously as she spoke, then hurriedly turned away to look up educational material.
Arthur’s head, tucked in her arms, curved its lips in amusement. When he realized the smile grotesquely exposed his stark white gums, he immediately flattened his mouth again, afraid Chi Yan might see.
Nobody noticed that tiny movement except Song Zang.
So that was it. Prince Arthur really did have a sister complex…
Song Zang thought about it but said nothing, boarding the princess’s pearl-white aircraft.
They brought Hot Dog with them to Chi Yan’s private residence just outside the imperial palace. The garden alone covered about one-sixth of an acre, and dozens of landing pads held sleek single-person aircraft of different models.
The Second Princess really had personality.
More importantly, this was not the imperial palace, so there were no confidentiality clauses or filming restrictions. Song Zang started another livestream.
The title was: 【Click to Watch: The Rose Empire’s Second Princess Insists on Treating Me to a Luxury Afternoon Tea?!】
The moment the stream opened, the audience flooded in. Plenty of people demanded answers about the bizarre severed head, but Song Zang pretended not to see them and fixed the camera onto the shell-bed-shaped dining table.
Prince Arthur was positioned in the camera’s blind spot and joined everyone for delicate pastries and tea.
During the livestream, Chi Yan and Yin Chen chatted casually, with most of the conversation revolving around her daily life as a princess.
She liked extreme sports and had anonymously won an interstellar cross-country championship. She kept a whole collection of glossy, well-fed cats, dogs, and snow-fleece rabbits, and the most famous veterinary hospital in the capital was registered under her name.
Because she was such an incorrigible face-con, she had sponsored many impoverished children from Zone C since she was young, helping them attend university and escape the chaotic, lawless places where they had once lived.
Countless children who made it to university chose to enlist in the military, while a few became attendants to the Second Princess, willingly putting their beautiful faces to use in repayment for her earlier support.
Private details of the Second Princess’s life that had never before been revealed to the public were laid out one by one that day.
They also chatted at length about Imperial history. It began when someone asked how Chi Yan maintained her raven-black hair so silky. Chi Yan curled her lips confidently. “Natural. The genes for strong black hair flow through the blood of every member of the Rose imperial family.”
In the interstellar age, humanity had only one nation. Under the Alpha, Beta, and Omega classification system, people rarely used skin or hair color to distinguish race anymore.
But the study of dominant human genes had never fallen behind. The founders of the Rose Empire, for example, had been an extraordinarily powerful Alpha-Omega married couple: a black-haired, black-eyed Alpha and a blond, blue-eyed Omega. Together, they had made some of the greatest contributions to humanity’s exploration of a new home in the universe.
Naturally, the hair colors of their descendants bounced back and forth between blond and black. As successive royals married consorts of different ethnic backgrounds, aristocratic appearances also became increasingly diverse.
When choosing an heir, however, the old-fashioned Rose Empire still retained a certain obsession. The more closely an imperial descendant resembled that founding couple, the more likely they were to receive the support of the people of the Rose Empire.
Chi Yan was not under much pressure in that regard, because pale coloring was actually the rarer genetic expression.
With a blond, blue-eyed Eldest Princess already setting a dazzling standard, and excelling in practically every respect, the Second Princess who came afterward did not seem like much by comparison. Nobody had ever thought of letting her inherit the throne.
Her life was easy, and after deliberately pretending to have been spoiled useless, she became even freer. She even founded the 【Rescue Miserable Beauties Initiative】 herself, determined to save every beautiful person suffering misfortune and to fund the lives and education of their entire families.
A carefree princess with no apparent interest in the throne, flamboyant, striking, and fiercely individualistic. Not only had she never used her position to bully men or women, she had created better futures for countless people.
More thought-provoking still was Song Zang, an SSS-rank Alpha prodigy trapped by poverty in Zone C. On his very first day in Zone A, he had not gone to meet the Eldest Princess. Instead, he had voluntarily visited Chi Yan’s private residence and shared afternoon tea with her…
Did that mean the Second Princess had also played a part in Song Zang’s successful escape from Zone C?
Lieutenant Colonel Hall, who had proactively reported Song Zang’s identity, was naturally hailed as an Imperial hero after the results of Song Zang’s mental-power test became known.
In that case, Second Princess Chi Yan should perhaps be considered an Imperial hero too.
Of course, all of those conclusions came entirely from online speculation. From beginning to end, Chi Yan herself never said a single thing intended to steer people toward them.
She continued playing the carefree Second Princess, chatting pleasantly with two beautiful Alpha men and enjoying an elegant, leisurely afternoon tea, allowing a richer and more three-dimensional image of the princess to unfold slowly through other people’s guesses.
The “public-opinion index” calculated in real time by artificial intelligence suddenly skyrocketed without warning.
Their preliminary objective had been achieved.
There was naturally no reason to keep the insincere livestream going.
Once the camera was off, Chi Yan’s demeanor immediately became even more relaxed. She excitedly tied up her hair and announced that she would mix everyone a cocktail to make up for the disappointment before the game began.
Prince Arthur had no idea what she meant, but Song Zang was full of anticipation. Chi Yan mixed cocktails before every dungeon, and there was no chance she did it because she possessed some sort of compulsive service personality.
That fixed ritual had to be connected to her own 【Special Ability】. Based on past experience, Song Zang guessed that Chi Yan might possess some extremely powerful group-buff skill.
Although Yin Chen normally neither smoked nor drank, and apart from enjoying cutting people up his lifestyle habits were impeccable, Song Zang still wanted him to try it. Maybe it would be good for his body.
With that thought, he turned solemnly toward Yin Chen. “Baby, you have to drink it. If you refuse, I’m lying on the floor and crying right now.”
Yin Chen, who had never intended to refuse in the first place: …
Yin Chen nodded and silently reopened the susceptible-period information, continuing to study it seriously.
While they waited for Chi Yan to mix the drinks, Little Star AI popped out.
It eagerly and enthusiastically began calculating Song Zang’s steadily rising popularity and highlighted several key moments from the livestream when his follower count had exploded.
The SSS-rank mental-power result was unquestionably the greatest highlight of the stream.
Beyond that, the supernatural sight of a head rolling out of a suitcase also generated enormous attention and discussion. Several later peaks were connected to Chi Yan, with trending topics such as 【Princess Yanyan Grew Up】 and 【What’s Wrong with Being a Face-Con?】 climbing the rankings at the same time.
The luxurious, romantic royal afternoon tea became a new trend for people to imitate, and even the little dachshund that had merely been brought along to make up the numbers and provoke the Eldest Princess attracted quite a bit of attention.
By now, Hot Dog had become extremely obedient under Song Zang’s training and had learned to conceal its appearance. Its grotesquely deformed white teeth were tightly wrapped beneath its thick lips without leaving the slightest gap, hiding every flaw. Instead, it looked like a soft, adorable little dog whose muzzle had swollen after being stung by a bee… a steamed-bun puppy.
The dense branching patterns inside its pitch-black eyes looked hazy beneath the dreamy camera filter, almost exactly like ancient, ornate atavistic double pupils.
Song Zang handed complete control over the ever-growing flood of discussion on StarNet to his new AI.
That’s right. He was married, had made a fortune, and finally had enough money to buy the highest-tier internet package!
Little Star AI protested. It even began acting aggrieved and coquettish in that manipulative, sugary way of its. Song Zang expressionlessly hit block with one tap and never opened the floating screen again.
The cocktails Chi Yan mixed for the three of them were all different.
Yin Chen received one with an interesting name: El Diablo.
It was made with lightly aged tequila, ginger beer, and lime juice, packed with ice and a splash of blackcurrant liqueur, with a sour lemon slice hanging from the rim.
The flavor was unusual and hit hard. Compared with Song Zang’s smooth, sweet, milky-white piña colada, the two drinks could not have felt more different. Yin Chen’s mouth twitched as he secretly complained to Song Zang, “Is she deliberately insulting me?”
“It isn’t very nice to talk about people behind their backs, but… probably,” Song Zang answered seriously.
Chi Yan never said it aloud, but she treated him, Ning Yan, and Ning Ran like children she had personally raised and never hesitated to spend money on them. Naturally, she disliked the “wild man” from outside who had gradually stolen away one of her children’s hearts.
Expressing that subtle displeasure this way was already Chi Yan’s attempt to preserve proper civility out of respect for Yin Chen’s abilities.
Song Zang had no intention of deliberately tearing through that layer of politeness. He pressed his head against Yin Chen’s, and the two sampled each other’s drinks while whispering together… Meanwhile, Chi Yan’s attention remained entirely on Arthur.
Prince Arthur received the freshest, most classic mojito, and he was delighted.
He held the glass with both underdeveloped little hands and sucked hard.
The clear sparkling water ran down through his skull from the straw, passed quickly through his transparent body, then spilled out with a splashing rush from the private area behind him.
He had become incontinent.
The atmosphere instantly froze into deathly silence. Arthur’s lips moved. He clutched the glass with trembling hands, his newly formed, delicate vocal cords fluttering several times, yet he could not force out a single word.
Chi Yan stroked his soft blond hair. “Little brother, how about I have the robot butler take you for a bath? Bring your glass with you. Soak in a nice hot bath and drink while you relax. My bathroom has holographic brain-computer games and the complete collection of this year’s newest movies. You can play for as long as you want.”
“…Okay.”
Arthur obediently allowed the robot butler to carry him away, never once letting go of that perfectly ordinary mojito.
Chi Yan sighed. “He’s pitiful too. It’s all that lunatic Fiona’s fault. Oppressing me was one thing, but she just had to go after Arthur too, a little brat who had no interest in the throne. She’s completely deranged!”
“You were oppressed by her too?” Yin Chen narrowed his eyes.
“When I was little, yes, but now…” Chi Yan thought for a moment, then suddenly frowned. “No. I haven’t seen her in person for a very long time. Since arriving in this world, I’ve tried every possible way to find her, but not once have I located Fiona herself.”
Viewers had also asked about the Eldest Princess’s specific whereabouts in the livestream comments, and Chi Yan had given much the same answer then.
Only now did she abruptly realize that this was an extremely important point of suspicion.
Yes, Princess Fiona remained active in online meetings, active in video calls, and active in private communications.
Sometimes she appeared in dazzling formal gowns to give speeches on newly developed planets; sometimes she posted the latest progress from charitable projects; at other times, she catered to Imperial citizens who loved retro fashions by sharing elegant footage of herself riding sidesaddle or sinking a hole-in-one at golf.
But in the past two years, no ordinary passerby had ever happened to encounter the princess in person again.
Catherine Percy, meanwhile, was an extremely impulsive person, because she possessed enough combat power to cut down the entire world.
After saying goodbye to the Commander-in-Chief, she secretly searched the military intranet and located the Eldest Princess’s exact position.
Without telling anyone, Catherine traveled alone to a secluded private grassland in the capital, and then… disappeared.
Just like the Eldest Princess, she vanished without a trace.