Exclusive Possession – CH 012

Chapter 12. My Huayao

I stood in the corner furthest from the body, my back against the cold wall, gripped by a deep sense of panic.

It was quiet around me, but my mind was racing like a stampede of horses. An overwhelming wave of guilt threatened to engulf me, because I had killed a living person and destroyed a life.

Then, I felt incredulous, even angry. How could he die? He was a prince, and he had spiritual power. How could he die from just one poke? So useless! It was all Mu Xian’s fault for giving me such a powerful weapon.

But then I thought it was going too far. Guilt rekindled, and I even considered letting them in to arrest me. Otherwise, I’d never had peace of mind.

But this open and courageous thought vanished almost instantly—I was not that kind and noble. I did not want to die, and who would bear to?

My emotions gradually calmed down.

My right hand, stained with a bit of Kenya’s blood, was still trembling unconsciously. I slapped myself twice hard; the burning pain brought me back to my senses, and I began to think.

The area outside was full of Kenyan’s people; it was impossible to get out of here.

Then only outsiders could come in.

Mu Xian must not know my whereabouts. Otherwise, if he could launch a full-scale armed assault on the entire capital, surely he could take this place?

If I could find a way to let him know my location, that would be great.

Thinking of this, I subconsciously glanced at the communicator. It was a square, thin metal box, slightly larger than a telephone, covered with densely packed buttons. But since Kenya could not contact Mu Xian, I was even more helpless.

Beside the communicator was a delicate lighter and a box of slender cigarettes. I thought of setting a fire to warn others but immediately realized how foolish the idea was—in a closed metal room, I would only burn myself to death.

There was also a cylindrical metal water glass on the table, heavy as a brick. I thought this might be useful—if someone broke in later, I could knock myself unconscious; they would not understand the situation and would not kill me immediately.

Books, chips, screens, control panels…

My gaze lingered on the control panel.

It was a light blue, semi-transparent panel, about five centimeters thick, perched above the table. Kenya had just issued commands through this system. Thin white borders divided the panel into several sections, labeled “Engine Control,” “Fleet Deployment,” “Ground Scanning,” and so on. Each section was filled with buttons, all labeled with symbols and numbers that I could not understand at all.

Suddenly, I noticed an area in the bottom right corner.

Missile control zone.

There were forty buttons neatly arranged inside, and the buttons were covered with text that I could understand.

The first button was labeled “5-System Air-to-Ground Laser Missile.” I hesitated before pressing it, and the screen in front of me suddenly lit up, displaying a dialog box asking me to confirm the missile type.

I confirmed it.

Could this panel be used to launch missiles? I had a faint sense of hope.

A smaller dialog box popped up on the right, displaying the message “Confirm attack location coordinates.” Suddenly, horizontal and vertical rulers appeared on the map of the capital city on the left. My hand touched the map, and I immediately understood—when my finger touched a point, the corresponding coordinates would appear on the right; I did not need to manually input the coordinates, I just needed to confirm.

I selected a mountain forest north of the capital and clicked confirm. A prompt appeared on the right, asking me to insert the “start key” to launch the missile.

Where did the key come from?

I glanced at the table; nothing there. Then I looked at Kenya on the ground—could it be on him?

He remained in the same position, lying on his back on the ground, motionless.

I mustered up my courage and walked up to him.

Upon closer inspection, his once tanned skin was shockingly pale. His deep-set eyes were tightly closed, his lips were bloodless, tinged with a dark black, and the bloodstains on his chest had spread to the size of a bowl.

I took a deep breath, clasped my hands together, and bowed to him: “I am sorry; I did not mean to kill you.”

Then, trembling, I reached for his pocket. I accidentally touched the back of his hand; it was icy cold, and I recoiled as if electrocuted. After gathering my courage for a moment, I gently lifted his hand and placed it aside, then slipped it into my pocket.

My right pocket was empty, so I turned to my left and actually found a key. I breathed a sigh of relief.

There was a keyhole in the lower right corner of the control panel. The key turned three times before stopping.

Then the screen displayed another message: “Last confirmed launch. The missile will launch automatically in ten frames. Countdown 10, 9, 8…” Frames were the timing method of Stanstar, which was roughly equivalent to one and a half seconds.

I quickly pressed cancel, then pulled out the key, panting heavily.

Great, I could use this to bombard any place on Stan.

I suddenly felt more confident.

Then what?

My first thought was to bomb my current location so that if anyone broke in later, I could threaten them to let me go.

But then I immediately realized that would not work—I could not stand in front of the panel forever. Besides, they could send snipers to hide in a corner and snipe me; this method would not work.

No! I would not blow up this building. I would drop bombs around it. Maybe that would lure Mu Xian here! The more I thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, and my spirits lifted.

I nervously started setting the parameters and selected a flashbang that seemed harmless—my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would jump out of my chest the moment the key was inserted into the hole.

Missiles launched! One, two, three, four… I watched the screen nervously. After a while, on the satellite cloud image, I saw tiny bright spots appear in the four directions—east, west, south, and north—of my location. The four missiles formed two perpendicular lines, and the intersection point was my location.

This was the best solution I could think of; I hope Mu Xian would notice it.

But then I felt it was not right; would it not be too conspicuous? So I chose a few sparsely populated places around the capital and randomly threw a few seeds.

As I dropped bombs eastward towards the capital, I unexpectedly discovered a unit about 100 kilometers to the east, rapidly approaching in high-speed armored vehicles along a military hovercraft. I immediately remembered that Kenya had previously ordered a unit to reinforce the capital. It seemed to be them.

Wait a minute…

Since they were reinforcements from Kenya.

Without further ado, I started setting up missiles again. This time, I chose the impressive-sounding “Heavy Flame Bomb.”

Of course, even if I had a hundred times the courage, I would not dare to throw grenades at the army.

I dropped the bomb on the maglev railway ahead of their march.

Soon, the troops stopped moving.

By this point, I was no longer nervous or scared; instead, I felt incredibly excited. I had stopped an entire alien army! Morin always said my combat power was close to zero. If he knew what I did today, his expression would be even more exaggerated, and he’d probably mutter, “Oh God, I have to reassess your destructive power!”

Just as I was feeling a bit smug, the communicator on the table suddenly rang. I jumped in fright, and Xiangli Sheng’s voice came through: “Your Highness, we just noticed that you activated the missile system, dropping most of them in uninhabited areas, one of which destroyed the reinforcements’ railway. Is there any special purpose behind this?”

Wow!

I wanted to grab the communicator and smash it over my head—I was so focused on helping Mu Xian that I exposed myself!

“Your Highness, please answer! What has happened, Your Highness?” Xiangli Sheng asked urgently. “If you do not speak, we will have no choice but to break in. Guards, go open the door.”

I had absolutely no idea what to do, when I heard another voice on the communicator say, “His Highness just instructed us not to disturb him—the door is locked from the inside.”

“Go get the spare key immediately.”

“Yes!”

Oh no!

I jumped off the chair, trying to push the table over to block the door, but it would not budge. I tried to pull out the bone blade to defend myself, but pulling a murder weapon out of a dead body was just too difficult.

Finally, I had no choice but to hold up the metal water glass on the table and point it at my head.

I was terrified, yet also conflicted. Should I hurt myself again? The scars from last time had not even healed yet! Oh well, practice made perfect. Better to live a miserable life than die. I would have done it when they burst in.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. I stared nervously ahead, thinking that the signal was so obvious, if Mu Xian did not notice it, he’d be a fool; but then I felt pessimistic, thinking that the capital might be in chaos, and who would notice a few flashbangs?

Just as I was feeling extremely anxious, the ground suddenly shook.

I stared at the dark gray floor beneath my feet with a puzzled expression.

I’ve experienced minor earthquakes before, and what I just felt was similar—like being nudged by a wild beast from underground. The whole room shook, but it immediately calmed down.

Was there an earthquake?

It was not an earthquake. A calm, mechanical voice came through the communicator: “Attention all personnel! Attention all personnel! Command center under air attack! Command center under air attack! High alert activated! Ground structures expected to be destroyed in two minutes! Evacuate! Evacuate!”

Air raid?

A surge of intense joy welled up inside me—Mu Xian had arrived! So quickly?!

I had never longed for Mu Xian to appear before me as much as I had at this moment. I knew that the command center I was in was located underground, so damage to the surface buildings would not pose a threat to this place.

To my dismay, I saw the doorknob turn and someone opening the door from the outside.

It was too late.

With a soft “thump,” the door was pushed open a crack.

My heart was in my throat.

“Boom–“

Just then, a deafening roar, like the earth splitting open, came from all directions. My head buzzed, as if I’d been struck hard by a sledgehammer, and then I saw the ceiling, walls, door, and even the metal water glass in my hand begin to shake violently. The door I’d just opened was flung open with tremendous force, and I saw a dark mass of soldiers standing outside, each with a gun pointed at me. But I also saw the expressions of surprise on their faces, and many of them were looking up.

Then everything went black, and I lost consciousness.

**

I did not know how much time had passed when I heard someone whispering in my ear, “Hua Yao, Hua Yao…”

The voice was deep and somewhat familiar; I could even feel his warm breath entering my ear. My head felt heavy and nauseous, and I did not want to open my eyes at all. Where was I? Was I not on Mu Xian’s spaceship?

No, that was not right. I was kidnapped by Kenya. And then I killed him…

A sudden realization dawned on me, and I broke out in a cold sweat. I opened my eyes abruptly.

The first thing I saw was a gun, its muzzle pressed against my heart. An arm, clad in a pristine white military uniform, gripped the gun tightly.

The last bit of confusion in my mind vanished in fright at this scene.

“Awake?” a weak and cold voice whispered in my ear.

I froze—Kenya?! He really was not dead!

A strange sense of relief and a distinct sense of fear washed over me simultaneously, leaving me speechless. Only then did I realize that I was sitting on the ground, or more precisely, nestled in Kenya’s lap with no space between me and his body. His broad chest pressed against my back, and I sat between his legs. His left arm was tightly wrapped around my waist, his entire weight resting on me. His right hand, from behind, encircled me, aiming a gun at my chest.

I was completely unable to move.

“You were ruthless…” he said breathlessly, his voice quite hoarse.

“I am sorry… I only meant to knock you out.”

He scoffed and asked, “Are all the people outside dead?”

“I do not know… I suddenly felt a jolt, and then I fainted,” I answered honestly.

“It seems he used a kinetic pulse grenade because he was afraid you’d get hurt.” He paused, his tone growing colder. “He is here.”

I looked up in surprise, but it was quiet outside; I could not hear anything, and a dark mass of people lay on the ground. Suddenly, Kenya rested his chin on my shoulder, and I felt a chill run down my spine. I heard him say, “If you want to live, cooperate with me properly in a bit.”

Of course I nodded. He did not say anything more, his heavy breathing hitting my ear; he seemed badly injured. But my earlier sneak attack had only worked because he thought his mental energy was binding me, leaving him completely unprepared. Now, although he was badly injured, with a gun pointed at me, I did not dare to act recklessly at all.

Just then, faint footsteps finally sounded outside.

My heart was beating faster and faster.

The footsteps grew louder and more urgent. I could hear them more and more clearly. Then I saw a dark gray military uniform flash by through the half-open doorway.

“Bang—” The door was suddenly pushed open from the outside. Two squads of armed soldiers, their backs hunched, nimbly slipped in. They were startled to see Kenya and me, then surrounded us from both directions. One of them raised his wrist and whispered, “Target spotted, side hall of the central command room.”

“Heh…” Kenya let out a slightly mocking laugh in my ear, and I became even more uneasy.

A short while later, hurried and clear footsteps sounded, and a tall figure rushed in.

“Commander!” all the soldiers called out respectfully. He turned his head and saw us. He immediately stopped and stood silently.

I stared at him blankly, my mind completely empty.

His dark gray military uniform was as crisp and tall as ever, and his cool and handsome face looked as if he had just stepped out of a painting. His whole person seemed to be shrouded in an invisible dark light, making him so vivid and eye-catching.

His fair face was framed by thin, tightly pressed lips. When his dark, clear eyes looked at me, they seemed to tighten suddenly, their sharp gaze startling me.

I had never seen his eyes like that before. In that usually silent darkness, it was as if a powerful undercurrent was surging. And I had never felt his emotions so clearly just from his gaze. Joy, guilt, anger, and pain were all intertwined in those beautiful eyes.

His gaze slowly moved down, landing on the pistol at my chest, his eyes instantly turning cold and ruthless. Although I could not see Kenya’s expression, I knew he must be looking at Mu Xian with the same indifferent gaze.

After a brief silence and staring, Mu Xian spoke, his voice as deep and gentle as ever, a gentleness that was somewhat sinister and eerie.

“Get out, everyone.”

The soldiers hesitated: “But Commander…”

“Go out.”

The soldiers had no choice but to put away their weapons and leave. I heard Kenya chuckle softly.

Only the three of us remained inside.

Mu Xian’s expression had clearly returned to calm. He stared directly at us, his dark eyes icy cold.

“Release my Hua Yao.”