242: Your Majesty, the secret is beginning to emerge.

Time flies like a white stallion across a gap; Kong Jiamu and Shou have been gone for over half a month, but a suitable Star Worm Point still hasn't been found.

Tu Nan rarely returned to her own room, only to find there was absolutely no space for another person to sleep.

She even suspected that Lance slept standing up at night.

Lance was buried in her research, frazzled and busy; even though Tu Nan had been standing at the door for a while, she didn't spare her friend a single glance.

Even when Tu Nan told her:

"I'm going to deal with Your Majesty this time. Do you have any ideas?"

"Ideas? None." Lance was unmoved. "I figured it out long ago—anything goes, whatever works, whoever it is."

Lance's eyes were glued to the analysis chart as she irritably instructed Tu Nan: "Close the door when you're done talking. The ventilation in the hallway is too strong; it'll bring in dust."

Who has time for such trifles, Lance thought.

Look at these samples in front of her.

There were Kong Jiamu's, Hain's provided by Dr. James, oh, oh, oh, and Your Majesty's. Then the Two Children's, and finally... many kinds of Star Worms'.

Ever since Tu Nan asked her to do a trace analysis of the Star Worms and beastmen genes and gave her these things.

Her mind could no longer drift anywhere else.

Tu Nan silently closed the door for her.

Good, it looks like she has already obtained a special buff: the Lucky Carp's Blessing.

The two legions led the nearly endless Star Worms away from the Border Star and toward the planned massive asteroid debris belt.

The fleet took up formation and waited.

The Star Worms would be surrounded and annihilated in batches in this graveyard chosen for them.

Perhaps because Kong Jiamu, an S-rank combatant, had been sent out, His Majesty the Emperor went to the front lines more frequently.

Yet the flagship's position did not move forward with him to the front.

Tu Nan knew in her heart that this was because The Emperor had listened to what she had told him. He might not have fully believed it, but that didn't stop him—before waiting for the results of that investigation.

He was more concerned about the safety of the Children.

The Silver Armored Knight was also left on the flagship by him, but for some reason, he had been undergoing treatment.

This made Tu Nan doubt the "minor injury" claim from back then.

This was another ordinary day in the campaign. After receiving news of a King-class Star Worm appearing on the front line, The Emperor left the flagship once again.

But less than four hours later, the door was pushed open, and The Emperor had actually returned.

"Your Majesty, so soon this time?"

Tu Nan was a bit surprised. Whenever Your Majesty went out, it took at least six hours, and lasting a whole day was normal.

The Emperor was only wearing his inner robes; it seemed his outer clothes had been stained with something dirty and left outside.

He ignored Tu Nan, took a stroll around the room, and stood at the edge of the living room carpet.

Both little toddlers could already crawl on their own, and during the day, Tu Nan basically left them on the living room floor to play.

Unceremoniously grabbing the back of Little Bird's pants, The Emperor looked for a long while, revealing a somewhat disgusted expression.

"I thought you'd grow up to look more like her, but why do you look more and more like a Peacock?"

Little Bird stared at him blankly. After listening for a while, he couldn't determine if this sentence was an insult or not, so he didn't cry, nor did he secretly curse.

The Emperor used his other hand to pick up Little Fish in the same way, looked at him closely for a while, then held him at arm's length and said to Tu Nan, "I've wanted to say this for a long time: black eyes are really ugly."

「Mama, he said Little Fish is ugly.」 Little Bird understood this time and reported on behalf of his brother.

Little Fish also pouted, looking dejected.

Tu Nan could barely maintain her politeness. What mother could stand someone disparaging her Children to her face? She reached out and scooped the Children back from Your Majesty's hands.

「Don't mind him, he's talking nonsense,」 she comforted the Children.

But The Emperor directly punctured the communication between mother and sons, saying annoyingly, "Are you cursing me? How bold."

He let out a cold snort, his golden eyes narrowed, and Tu Nan immediately felt herself changing forms.

Meow!! Children!

Fortunately, The Emperor caught the toddlers with both hands and tossed them back onto the carpet somewhat carelessly, observing Tu Nan with great interest.

It was as if it were the first time he had seen her in this form.

He bent down, picked up this huge black cat by the waist, walked to the sofa in the living room, and leaned back casually.

The black cat was forced to lie on top of him.

The Emperor chuckled. Uncontrollably, he buried his head in the black cat's soft, dense fur, rubbing his forehead back and forth against the fur on Tu Nan's chest.

He was burying his face in her chest.

How is that possible!! The always majestic The Emperor! How could he be like this?

【System! There's a problem!】

While Tu Nan was shouting wildly, she stared at the scroll she had summoned above The Emperor's head. Everything else was the same, but... 【20%】

This data for supplementing the genes had changed from 15% to 20% and stayed at that number, never changing again.

【What? I'm here! Can you save some energy for me, please?】 After the System had opened up, it became more humanized and had more of a "living person" feel.

【Is this really The Emperor? What exactly do you rely on to determine names?】

Tu Nan felt something was wrong. She used to think Your Majesty had a hidden personality, but now... was it possible that this was a completely different person?

Although the System had judged it before, it wasn't truly without loopholes.

Knowing that the System was an intelligent System, Tu Nan increasingly felt that the parts that could be bypassed were growing.

【Names?】 The System thought and answered her: 【For example, you are Tu Nan. You acknowledge it yourself, others acknowledge it, so the world's rules also acknowledge it. You used this name to establish a link with the world.】

【And I read these world rules.】

Her green cat eyes stared roundly at the man in front of her, while in her heart, she threw a massive question at the System.

【If that's the case, what if the person in front of me has no other name, and the only acknowledged name is The Emperor? Does that mean you would be mistaken?】

The System was dissatisfied and corrected her: 【That's not called being mistaken. That just shows there's another The Emperor. But it would also require them to have the same Bloodline and both be S-rank.】

An S-rank who met these conditions... who was it?

Tu Nan thought to herself; she already knew.

She had thought it was unbelievable that the Silver Armored Knight didn't have a name. So that was why.

It was normal for an emperor to have a body double.

But if it was an S-rank with the same Bloodline, the same appearance, and the same extraordinary Talent, it wasn't normal.

Could it be a clone?

But first of all, Your Majesty hated clones so much. Besides, she had been tracking and investigating this area for so long and indeed hadn't found any lab that could clone even the Rank.

Moreover... Your Majesty hated clones so much.

This truly was a mystery.

But for Tu Nan, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The cat revealed a mysterious smile and asked the System: 【Even though you said the lifespan you supplemented for me was a false condition and only increased your countdown... what about the gene completion given to me after giving birth? That's always been real, right?】

After all, she had already received it twice.

Her current body was much healthier than it was at the beginning.

【Of course.】 The System said proudly.

Ah... in that case, it's still worth the effort. After all, with such a huge secret, she should act like she knows nothing.

Just then, the door that hadn't been closed tightly when he came in was pushed open, and James appeared.

He looked helplessly at the scene in the room and sighed.

"Your Majesty, you've returned temporarily. I have urgent business with you."

"Not going." This one was just that willful.

James gave a bitter smile and said, "But the fleet you left behind is already about to rush back. Immediately."

The Emperor's hand petting the cat stopped. Holding Tu Nan, he stood up lazily.

After giving the cat's cheeks a good kneading, he let out a cold snort.

"Why come back so fast?"

Leting go of Tu Nan, he finally left the room with James.