The media of the Sintez Empire exploded!
Once news spreads on the Starnet, it can never remain a secret again.
That someone dared to block a live broadcast signal right under the noses of hundreds of billions of people, bringing modified ZD41 battle robots to attempt the kidnapping of an intelligent life form - this extremely arrogant and lawless attitude thoroughly enraged public opinion!
Have criminals become so brazen these days?
And in the Imperial Capital on the Imperial Star, no less. It was simply unbelievable.
Media professionals quickly calculated that with a bit of expansion on this topic, they wouldn't have to worry about headlines for at least a week.
The public on the Starnet was even more incensed. After the media released high-definition holographic projections of the four people Yue An had knocked unconscious, it took less than an hour for their entire backgrounds to be thoroughly exposed.
Combined with evidence provided by someone that the damaged insignia on the ZD41 battle robot's forelimb weapons indeed belonged to the Research Department, it immediately stirred up a hornet's nest.
Humans have always yearned for scientific progress. In the era of the grand universe, every step forward in human science proves that humanity has taken another great stride on the difficult path of survival.
The vast majority of people held an attitude of reverence and faith towards those geniuses standing at the pinnacle of intelligence, contributing to humanity. But when such beliefs suddenly collapsed, the damage it brought to those who once trusted and revered them was incredibly painful.
Four veteran members of the Research Department, brazenly cutting off communication signals under the watchful eyes of hundreds of billions, attempting to capture an intelligent being with highly lethal robots!
The only intelligent being left from Ancient Earth!
This was absolutely not something that should be done by those they revered and believed in!
The public watched all this unfold, furious but powerless to stop it.
The Starnet was in an uproar. People organized themselves and petitioned on Marshal Ji Xiuyun's only public page, hoping that when the Marshal couldn't accompany Yue An, he would allow Yue An to maintain some contact with the outside world. If Yue An went missing or something happened, it could be detected immediately.
The remnant life form from Ancient Earth wasn't just valuable for scientific research, it was also a spiritual symbol!
This was a trace of humanity's original mother planet, the very origin of humankind!
It was a matter of faith.
Even those not from the Sintez Empire didn't want anything to happen to the cat preserved from Ancient Earth.
Ji Xiuyun was equally concerned about Yue An's safety.
But Yue An, well, he started livestreams at will. Sometimes when he was tired of playing, he'd start a stream before sleeping and broadcast for over ten hours straight.
Other times, he'd stream while eating a meal and end it right after.
After getting money, Yue An became quite willful. According to Marshal Kevin's friendly reminder, he had encountered this white ball of fur in various corners of the residential area at different times of the day.
Adding to that Yue An's behavior of going out to eat today, Marshal Ji could deduce with his toes that the little furball probably had a wild heart and wanted to roam outside.
This kind of thinking, Ji Xiuyun could completely understand.
But the Marshal also had an inexplicable confidence that no matter how wild Yue An's heart became, he would definitely come back to find him.
Because even though Yue An had roamed the entire military residential area, he would still return home to wait for Ji Xiuyun before the Marshal came back every day.
The Marshal looked at the petitions under his social media page and left the decision to Yue An, who was currently lying on his lap, yawning.
Because he sensed Ji Xiuyun's low mood today, on the way home from the restaurant, Yue An recalled how he used to cheer up his first owner when she was unhappy. He behaved very clingy all the way, constantly nuzzling into the Marshal's arms.
Now, tired from all the nuzzling, he was rolling around on the Marshal's lap, yawning.
Yue An looked at the interface Ji Xiuyun brought before his eyes, swishing his tail and blinking sleepily. He only saw the words "livestream" appearing quite frequently on the screen.
He casually extended his paw to click on the livestream button at the top, gave a perfunctory "meow" to the miniature camera that flew out of the Marshal's light computer, then flopped down in the crook of the Marshal's leg and fell into a contented sleep.
Ji Xiuyun: "..."
You're just going to fall asleep like that??
The Marshal looked at the livestream screen and the comments popping up, not knowing what to do for a moment.
Yue An was sleeping sweetly with all four paws in the air, exposing his little belly, leaving Marshal Ji looking down coldly at the camera his cat had turned on, unsure whether to close it or not.
The audience waiting in the livestream room was startled when they saw Ji Xiuyun's face, only coming back to their senses after the Marshal set Yue An as the sole protagonist of the camera.
[Scared to death when I saw the Marshal.]
[Ah, seeing that little Yue An is not frightened, I feel relieved... Here's my wallet to soothe him.]
[He's so carefree he fell asleep. I saw in the news holograms, Marshal Ji was really furious, dragging the Research Department Director by the collar, his hand veins popping out in anger.]
[Little Yue An was brought back by the Marshal after all...]
[That's right, and it was after that attack. Little Yue An must have accompanied the Marshal through a very difficult time.]
[Maybe little Yue An even saved Marshal Ji!]
Ji Xiuyun silently read these comments, his hand absently squeezing Yue An's little paw pads.
He indeed survived because of Yue An.
With injuries that severe, even if he had landed in the most advanced hospital room on the Imperial Star at that time, it wasn't certain he could have been saved.
To this day, Ji Xiuyun still didn't know how Yue An had saved him.
When he opened his eyes, Yue An was already squatting on his belly, looking at him - small, white, cute, and soft.
There are intelligent species in the universe with special talents, but none as diverse, rich, and astonishing as Yue An's.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Yue An's talents were too terrifying, and too tempting.
Setting aside his extremely strong offensive and unpredictable nature, just the ability to pull someone back from the brink of death when severely injured and dying, even eliminating old ailments from the body to make one feel reborn - if this were made known, even the Emperor couldn't keep Yue An.
The cold-faced soldier gently kneaded the small creature lying in the crook of his leg, silently sighing in a place where no one could see.
So it couldn't be said.
It would be best if no one even knew. There were too many ways to pry open a person's mind, and Marshal Ji couldn't be sure whether those lunatics in the Research Department had developed some kind of insane technology.
[Ahhhhh I'm going to die of anger! Those idiots in the virtual community, they even have reasons for stealing cats?!]
[They're saying capturing Yue An is justified, this 'if it's not our kind, its heart must be different' argument is really disgusting. Can't others be kind and pure?]
[...He wasn't captured anyway, why get so angry?]
[If it weren't for little Yue An's overwhelming strength, he'd be lying on an experiment table by now, okay?]
[What else could the Research Department do with a stolen cat? Pet him???]
[Experiments, using intelligent life for experiments, why don't you just fly to the sky!]
[That's right, today they dare to use cats, tomorrow will they dare to use humans?]
[Don't you know that the Imperial Research Department has always been using death row inmates to test drug effects? Where do you think all those special drugs come from? They've always been experimenting on humans, what's wrong with that? If humans can be used, why not cats?]
[Experiments on innocent intelligent life are not allowed! Innocent! Go back and re-read the basic law 300 times! Stupid idiot!]
[To be honest, the Marshal has always disliked the Research Department. Connecting this with the fact that Marshal Ji is currently the only SS-grade gene body, I find it terrifying when I think about it.]
[...Holy crap??]
[Wait, don't do this???]
[Speaking on behalf of my classmate in the Research Department, they don't know about any special situation. Suddenly the entire department's operations were halted for inspection, and all the ordinary members were sent home. He just got back and went on the Starnet, and was scared stupid.]
[Poor innocent little genius.]
[No, the more I think about it, the more I feel Marshal Ji's attitude towards the Imperial Research Department is fishy. We haven't seen him reject other private research institutes.]
[I used to work as an external logistics staff in the military. If I remember correctly, when the Marshal was still a Lieutenant General, he was already running between the military and various private research institutes. He even refused things like the military officer's general physical examination contracted to the Imperial Research Department. At that time, he was still under Marshal Kevin, who gave him the green light for this behavior.]
[...Damn, I smell something incredible coming.]
Marshal Ji's eyebrow twitched as he read these comments.
If he let them continue guessing like this, there was an eight or nine out of ten chance that something big would happen. But Ji Xiuyun found it very enjoyable and had no intention of stopping them from letting their imaginations run wild.
This Yue An incident must teach the Research Department Director a lesson. If public opinion could overwhelmingly favor Yue An, that would be the best outcome.
Back then, those people didn't treat him as a human. Now, it was time to let them taste what it feels like to not be treated as human by others.
[Can someone involved in human research projects explain what an SS-grade gene body means to people like you?]
[It means a treasure trove waiting to be explored. The senior researchers in our institute dream every day about when Marshal Ji will die, and pray that he doesn't die outside so that his body can be properly recovered.]
[The veterans in our research institute are the same, always pondering when they could get some blood samples from Marshal Ji to study.]
[My God... you're simply horrifying.]
[Thoughts are just thoughts, who would dare to actually do it...]
[Yeah, thoughts are just thoughts, so the Marshal has never had such a big issue with private research institutes that just "have thoughts," right? But if someone actually took action, then the attitude would be different, like with the Imperial Research Department.]
[Stop talking!!]
[Don't forget, Marshal Ji is still in court with the Research Department Director today, because of the case where his former deputy accused the Research Department of instigating him to steal Marshal Ji's blood samples.]
[...Terrifying.]
[Don't, don't, don't let your imagination run wild, the Marshal is still watching, you know??]
[...Ah, Marshal?]
[Marshal Ji? Are our guesses right or wrong? Can you give us an answer?]
[Don't put the Marshal in a difficult position. He's been giving the Research Department the cold shoulder for so long without them falling, obviously someone higher up is protecting the Research Department!]
[Doesn't silence usually mean consent? For this kind of thing, if it were really just a smear, wouldn't the Marshal come out to deny it based on the most basic moral standards?]
[I hope it's not really consent, if it is, things could get ugly.]
[I just beg you not to condemn the entire Research Department. Those who are truly qualified to access an SS-grade gene body are absolutely only the top few people. Resources are limited, small fries don't have the qualifications to touch this kind of experimental operation. Even the cell tissues cultured from recovered corpses aren't qualified to touch!]
[Wow, when you put it that way, doesn't that mean we can even narrow down the range of the criminal group? The upper echelons of the Research Department?]
Ji Xiuyun wasn't surprised at all that people coveted his corpse. Rather, he was somewhat amazed at how quickly the masses could expand their thinking in this direction.
How could these people's minds be so agile?
They were so agile that Ji Xiuyun felt that if the Research Department didn't take a fall this time, it would be a disservice to the wisdom of the masses.
After all, his decision to drag the Research Department Director to find Yue An this time was judged by the military court as leaving the court without permission and was considered as withdrawing the lawsuit.
He had suffered such a great loss, how could those people from the Research Department get away without losing some skin?
As he had anticipated, on the fifth day of the public uproar, under the pressure of public opinion, the authorities finally announced that three senior executives from the human science experiment group of the Imperial Research Department were suspended for investigation, and the Director of the Research Department resigned to take responsibility.
This was the empire's way of appeasing public opinion, and also a show of sincerity to Ji Xiuyun.
The implication was clear: we've taken down these four people, we've given you face, now you, Ji Xiuyun, hurry up and clarify the rumors about the Research Department, and make those troublesome civilians stop making a fuss.
For the empire, any top scientist was an extremely valuable asset that they couldn't afford to lose.
But they also couldn't afford to lose an excellent general capable of conquering an entire star system.
After all, it had taken two thousand years to produce someone like Ji Xiuyun. Even if they were unwilling, they had to grit their teeth and bear it.
Marshal Ji glanced at the accumulated emails in his inbox and picked out the letter from the Emperor's secretary.
After scanning it, he replied with three questions: Three? Suspended for investigation? Resigned to take responsibility?
The implication was very simple.
Only three, I'm not satisfied.
Just suspended for investigation, I'm not satisfied.
Just resigned to take responsibility, I'm not satisfied.
In short, I'm not satisfied. You figure it out.
After sending the email, the Marshal put on his military thought-sensing helmet and entered the virtual training ground with his cat.
Yue An had been acting strange these past few days. Not only had he suddenly become very enthusiastic about training, but he also kept experimenting with various special talents with the Marshal.
It seemed he was intentionally training his control, at least the Marshal could clearly perceive Yue An's progress through the pain he had experienced these past few days.
Yue An was indeed working hard to practice his control over spiritual energy and spells. As for who was the most resilient person in the entire military, there was no need to even think about it.
He was training his control in order to better practice the spells he wanted to use.
Such as enlarging, shrinking, levitation, invisibility, and dimensional pockets.
The Marshal had already gone through several days of the terrifying experience of turning his head to find his cat suddenly shrunk or suddenly enlarged.
During these days, he often felt strange movements in the middle of the night. Opening his eyes, he would see his cat floating in mid-air like a lazy fish, enough to scare the wits out of anyone.
And the five hundred or so energy crystals stored in the house were flowing into Yue An's little belly like water.
Later on, when Ji Xiuyun saw parts of Yue An suddenly becoming transparent, he could maintain his heartbeat without change, simply getting up to fetch various detection instruments to see what new trick Yue An was up to.
Although he was happy that Yue An had started to train his talents, the Marshal felt that working continuously for months on the battlefield wasn't as tiring as dealing with Yue An recently.
Exhausted, the Marshal flopped onto the bed, reaching out his large hand to pet the little furball, but grasped only air.
He must have turned invisible and hidden somewhere again, the Marshal thought.
"Yue An?" Ji Xiuyun called out in the empty room.
The little furball that usually bounced out at the first call was completely silent this time.
The Marshal's heart tightened. He sat up and called out twice more.
Still no answer.
Ji Xiuyun lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then opened his light computer and entered the browsing page of the auxiliary light computer, scanning Yue An's recent search history.
Location of the Imperial Research Department.
Query on security equipment of the Imperial Research Department's research institute.
Opening hours of the peripheral museum of the Imperial Research Department.
Imperial Research Department...
Now it was clear even to his toes what Yue An had been practicing those strange talents for!
The Marshal swiftly opened the surveillance footage of the garage, saw that the driver's seat of the bright red car was now empty, and his face immediately darkened.