188: Imperial Expedition, Last Hope

Ah, this…

Lin Ye’s heart skipped a beat, then he walked up to her and gently pulled her into his embrace.

“I said I would compensate you, and I won’t go back on my word.”

Su Wanting now held a scroll in her hand.

“Isn’t this too precious? Sisters…”

Lin Ye interrupted, “What’s given to you is yours. Don’t overthink it. Just use it first, be obedient!”

Knowing his tone had become strict,

Su Wanting no longer refused. She used the scroll, then displayed her talent.

“Goddess of Night”

Agility and Intelligence +800%

All Ice and Dark-type skill levels +30

You can merge into the night, shielding your physical presence.

Under the night, projectile quantity doubles.

Under the night, projectiles can shield their physical presence just like you.

Under the night, you can focus on one point, increasing total damage dealt to the target by 800%.

Under the night, the number of Phantoms you can possess doubles.

Under the night, all damage you receive is reduced by (10% x number of class advancements).

You can actively expand the night.

.......

“Is it that strong?”

Every time Lin Ye saw her entries, he felt they should belong to him.

I’m the archer!

Why can’t this projectile doubling and Phantom doubling be mine?

What a pity.

You really can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Lin Ye wanted too much; it was impossible to have everything.

But since his own person got it, he felt a bit more at ease.

“Actively expand the night, try it?”

Lin Ye glanced out the window; the morning sun was shining brightly.

“Mm~”

Su Wanting nodded in agreement, then tried to use her talent.

In an instant,

all the light in the room was absorbed by her.

The sunlight from outside the window seemed to encounter a black hole; it all vanished as soon as it entered.

However, the room wasn’t completely dark.

Even if the sun in the sky wasn’t powerful, there was still another blazing sun present here.

It was also the first time Lin Ye realized he could glow.

Though only a little bit.

But under this absolute night, his light was like the only one in the whole world.

“It’s not working; it can only support a range as large as this room at most,” Su Wanting said, frowning.

“What about the duration?” Lin Ye asked.

“It’s… quite long. Half of every day is fine,” Su Wanting confirmed.

“Good, then let’s keep it off.”

Keep it off?

Su Wanting was slightly stunned. Before she could react, the blazing sun in front of her had already removed her shoes.

“Why wear shoes in the room?”

As soon as Lin Ye finished speaking, he realized something was wrong.

And white stockings?

Under the faint light of the blazing sun, those jade-like legs were almost like cream.

“No~”

Su Wanting exclaimed, her mind shaking wildly.

......

The goddess under the night,

ultimately couldn’t resist the might of the blazing sun and gradually melted.

......

Lin Ye had a lot of time today.

In the game,

he was originally going to farm materials. Hanging a Phantom to farm was almost as efficient as going himself.

Forgotten Land.

He found Tu Xiusi, and Villox happened to be there too.

“How is it? Is the warship ready?”

In front of them,

was a massive Star Devouring Beast over ten thousand meters long.

“It’s difficult…”

Tu Xiusi scratched his head.

“Your Highness, I’m not saying it’s difficult to build, but it’s difficult to use.”

“The Star Devouring Beast’s corpse is very complete. It’s the best material for building a warship. Its heart, with a little modification, would be the strongest power source.”

“Whether for offense or defense, this would be an invincible warship.”

“But… without its brain core, no one can control this invincible warship.”

Villox looked a bit regretful.

“If we had such an invincible warship back then, perhaps we would have had a few more chances of success.”

Lin Ye was puzzled.

“The Empire’s craftsmanship should be far superior to what it is now. Your warships wouldn’t be worse than this, right?”

Villox shook his head and said, “The Empire was powerful, but too many expeditionary forces set out at once. Except for the flagship, the rest were basically not equipped with Saint-level warships.”

“Moreover, this Star Devouring Beast is one of the overlords of the star sea. Its performance in the star sea is better than those built by Imperial mechanics. The key is that it’s easy to repair and can sail for longer.”

“The expedition…”

“It was a voyage whose destination no one knew.”

“When we were in the void, protected by the warship, we had no concept of time. We only knew to sail! Sail! Sail to the distant reaches of the star sea! That was the only way to save the Empire!”

Lin Ye was a bit confused: “Speaking of which, what exactly was the strategic goal of the expedition, and what was the meaning of sailing into the star sea?”

Speaking of which,

there was too much Lin Ye didn’t understand: “Also, how exactly was the Empire destroyed? And who was the enemy?”

Villox was slightly stunned, then apologized:

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, my status is low, and I really can’t answer so many of your questions.”

“I don’t know who the Empire’s enemy was, only that even the great Emperor seemed helpless.”

“I don’t know what the strategic objective of the expedition was, only that we had to protect the Empire’s last hope and sail to the furthest reaches of the star sea.”

Hmm, that’s some information at least.

Lin Ye said directly, “It’s good to have a mission. Since it’s about protection, where is the hope you were protecting? Was it lost?”

Thump!

Villox was stunned: “Oh right! Where’s our box?!”

“People can die, but the mission cannot fail!”

“Even if ninety-nine percent of the boxes protected by countless expeditionary forces were meant to confuse the enemy, and only a few were real, the hope of the Empire, no one knew where the real hope was, so our box…”

Tu Xiusi immediately showed a pained expression: “Captain, our hope was fake…”

As he spoke,

Tu Xiusi dropped to his knees before Lin Ye with a thud, pounding his chest remorsefully:

“Your Highness, please forgive my lies and selfishness!”

“What’s wrong?” Lin Ye didn’t understand what he was doing.

Tu Xiusi looked pained, almost in a tone of confession: “I’m sorry, Your Highness. At first, I really didn’t know you were His Highness, which is why I didn’t tell you all the secrets.”

Villox was suddenly startled, instantly enraged, and grabbed Tu Xiusi by the collar with a snap: “Bastard! Are you… are you going to… to the Empire’s last hope…”

Tsk?

Lin Ye placed a hand on Villox: “Don’t worry, the Empire isn’t going to be destroyed today, and certainly not because of him.”

“Your Highness, please punish me!”

Tu Xiusi said, in great pain:

“These past few days, I’ve been blaming myself. I didn’t dare to speak, I was afraid…”

Lin Ye: “Afraid of what?”

Tu Xiusi, an incredibly strong man who had defended the Forgotten Land alone for countless years, was now crying like a child.

“I’m afraid of losing Doudou, I’m afraid of losing all the good things I have now…”

Villox couldn’t hold back anymore: “Your Highness asked you about the Empire’s hope. What are you talking about, Doudou? Who is Doudou?!”

Tu Xiusi looked down, his expression dim:

“In the most desperate days, I truly thought everything was over, everyone was dead, and only I was left…”

“I called out to the Emperor countless times, called out to the Star Tower…”

“There was no reply.”

“I thought of dying, and I thought of giving up, but… I couldn’t die with the last hope…”

“So… so I violated the oath I once made to the Emperor, that even unto death, I would protect the Empire’s last hope with my life, never letting anyone open it…”

“You… you opened that box?”

Villox’s face was filled with astonishment, followed by towering rage, even drawing his sword on the spot: “Are you mad! Tell me! Who gave you the guts! How dare you betray the Emperor!”

If Lin Ye hadn’t held him back, Villox would have truly cut him down with a sword.

“The problem now is, what’s inside the box?”

“Is the Empire’s last hope there?”

Tu Xiusi shook his head frantically.

“No, in the box, there is no hope for the Empire, only… only my last hope…”

“Inside the box, there’s only a little girl. She… she is Doudou…”

Lin Ye instantly found a bug.

“That’s not right. You said you opened the box when you were most desperate. If it was Doudou, how would she know everyone else?”

Villox was completely furious.

“Your Highness, you don’t need to listen to this traitor’s lies anymore.”

“That box is the Empire’s last hope, the hope that can fulfill all wishes!”

“No one is worthy of opening it!”

“And the person who is truly worthy of opening it can receive a wish that will definitely be fulfilled!”

“Him?”

“A selfish traitor, a traitor who abandoned the Emperor and insulted the entire Empire. How could his wish be to save the Emperor, to save the Empire?!”

Upon hearing this, Tu Xiusi burst into tears.

“Yes, I am selfish. I am not worthy of being a member of the Empire, and I am even more ashamed of the many comrades who sacrificed themselves along the way… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m truly sorry…”

Ha~

Lin Ye, on the contrary, smiled: “I’m not even in a hurry. I haven’t said anything yet, so why are you two in such a rush?”

“Now, everyone, sit down.”

“This is an order!”

Upon hearing this, Tu Xiusi and Villox, no matter how unwilling, could only obediently sit down.

“First bug: If the box can fulfill all wishes, why didn’t the Emperor use it? Why didn’t you open it?”

Villox said directly:

“This is the prophecy of the stars. No one dares to violate the prophecy of the stars. It is an absolutely accurate prophecy, a prophecy of fate!”

Stars?

Isolde?

Lin Ye wasn’t sure.

Even Isolde’s first reincarnation was too long ago from the date of the Empire’s destruction.

But it couldn’t be ruled out that it was an earlier Isolde.

That…

the true, complete version of ‘Isolde’ who controlled fate and prophecy.

Lin Ye didn’t intend to dwell on the box.

“Tu Xiusi, what was your wish?”