269: For a double hope

Miao Miao, Ao Ao, and Little Fish were entrusted by Tu Nan to their respective fathers, who took them in different directions across the Empire's territory.

Little Bird, who was left behind, appeared incredibly lonely and anxious.

The child didn't know whether he wanted to be picked up or not.

"Why hasn't that stinky bird come to pick me up yet?" he said. His tone was laced with disdain, yet he was unconsciously nervous.

Everyone else's fathers seemed so proactive; why was it that when it came to him, no one cared?

Tu Nan wanted to know, too.

But the peacock had blocked her...

How should she put it? It was just like him.

She would wait one more month. If he still refused to contact her... then she couldn't be blamed for using her new authority to force him to appear.

That's right; Tu Nan now possessed the same right as The Emperor to forcibly push a Video Call to anyone's communication terminal.

Not only that, she was also handling many government affairs that should have been managed by The Emperor.

The Emperor had completely washed his hands of everything.

When Tu Nan questioned him, he argued with perfect justification.

"Government affairs? I only agreed to be The Emperor for a bit, not to manage this rubbish. Anyway, I never managed them before, so don't worry, nothing will happen."

He was even frequently absent from the palace. Without his older brother to keep him in check, he would occasionally change his appearance and run outside the palace.

That was because Your Majesty had woken up and was working overtime to handle everything!

Tu Nan glared at him, helpless.

Tempt him with ambition? He had already become The Emperor but didn't feel happy about it. Power? He stood at the pinnacle of this world. Responsibility? Tu Nan suspected that this was already the time he was most responsible.

She finally understood what kind of feat it was for Your Majesty to have kept this person obediently on the throne.

But the person who could control everything was now submerged in the deep water like a Sleeping Beauty.

This difficult problem now belonged to her.

Tu Nan rubbed her brow and cast her gaze to the other end of the bedchamber—that was where the large bed used to be.

But now, the entire layout of the bedchamber had been completely changed by her.

Where the bed used to be, there was now a Treatment Pod, and she had set up a small bed in the adjacent suite to live in.

The Emperor had actually gone to live in the basement, saying that the bedchamber was too large and he had never been able to get used to living there.

As for the study, it had become a laboratory, with Lance and James almost stationed inside.

Steward Yuan Zhe had helped arrange everything.

"Please rest assured, all the guards and maids who are allowed to appear in the bedchamber have been screened countless times and are trustworthy."

Indeed, he was also a true confidant of The Emperor and was well aware of everything.

Setting aside the never-ending government affairs, Tu Nan went to harass Lance.

"How is it going?" she asked the two who were huddled together, arguing incessantly without even lifting their heads.

"It's not going anywhere, go away, stop rushing us!"

Once Lance got absorbed in his research, his irritability would escalate directly; he didn't care if she was some Empress.

James had a much more stable temper; having spent most of his life in the palace, he had long since been polished to be tactful.

"There have been some findings. The ideas Lance provided are very innovative, and the direction of tracing the origin is correct. The only problem is... High-Grade Star Worms don't seem to have any gene chain pollution issues."

He pondered his wording, "But they and High-Grade Male Beasts are, after all, on different evolutionary chains. Trying to crack their genes to find a solution might take too long..."

Tu Nan understood his implication—Your Majesty might not be able to wait that long.

"System, you said that the Talent of High-Grade Male Beasts originates from the Four Divine Beasts, while Star Worms are a viral species that mutated after stealing the Divine Beast genes? If that's the case... does that mean the Children's genes have reverted to the ancient state? Are they the most stable?"

Without waiting for the System to answer, she immediately shared this idea with James.

But it only earned her his weary smile.

"We certainly thought of this. As the Children are S-rank, we have taken samples from all of them, but overall, there has been no Breakthrough. Finding a suitable gene chain... is like looking for a unique meteorite in the vast sea of stars—it might exist, or it might be buried in the unknown forever."

As a researcher, James had been prepared for all this long ago, and Your Majesty... was too.

But Tu Nan didn't seem ready to accept all of this.

He deliberated before comforting her: "We will definitely do our best, it's just that we might need a little extra luck. Let us look forward to that miracle happening together."

"How could this be..."

Tu Nan felt profound disappointment, yet she also felt it should be expected. James had been studying Your Majesty's gene collapse syndrome for nearly thirty years, and he had long since studied all the S-rank male insects. Perhaps the Children had genes closer to those of male insects?

It seemed only natural that they couldn't achieve a Breakthrough in this direction?

As for his comfort? Such words didn't make her feel at ease.

Waiting, helpless waiting. Could she really only do this? Could Your Majesty only do this?

Tu Nan bit her lip, her gaze fixed on the lamp under the ceiling. The lustrous light emitted by its ancient design seemed so glaring—for a moment, she felt a stinging pain in her eyes.

"Sigh, of course it is."

The System spent a bit of energy receiving the conversation information around Tu Nan; it hadn't expected that Tu Nan actually hadn't figured this out.

"They only awakened their Talent, they didn't have a genetic mutation... There is still a difference."

Tu Nan bit her lip. Then what should she do?

"Tu Nan, have you forgotten? You brought the Children back to me to help me confirm my authority," the System reminded her.

"You mean?" Tu Nan's eyes lit up. "You have samples of the Four Divine Beasts?"

"No. If I had physical specimens, I would have long been unable to withstand the Star Worms' gnawing," the System replied, speechless.

"Data? You have the raw data from that experiment!" Tu Nan became excited.

"I suspect so."

The System's data voice became lively, "Although I don't know what happened to them, believe me, archiving experimental data is a hobby of all experimenters."

Yes, that was it. Tu Nan was willing to believe that.

"I need to... as soon as possible," she told the System, and also told herself.

Taking the Children to the laboratory was not only about the future of this world, but also for Your Majesty himself.

She left the study without a word, and with a little excitement, walked to the Treatment Pod. She lightly tapped on the pod wall with her index finger and asked him with a smile.

"Your Majesty, look, in the end, you still have to rely on me to save you, hmm?"

She pouted and complained to him: "That brother of yours is very outrageous; he doesn't want to do the job properly at all. If you don't wake up soon..."

Tilting her head, Tu Nan threatened him: "Then I'll just kick him off the throne and take it myself."

Someone behind her was clapping slowly and unhurriedly.

"Brilliant. Why don't you try it right now?" The Emperor walked silently to her side.

Tu Nan couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him.

"Hey."

The Emperor looked with her at the person who was rarely able to take such a long vacation, revealing a strange look of envy.

"I'm tired," he said to no one in particular.

"The outside world doesn't seem as interesting as I thought it would be," his arrogant words carried a trace of loneliness, "He always warned me that destruction wouldn't make me happy, saying that if I reached out once, I was destined to regret it."

He rested his chin on the top of Tu Nan's head and sighed: "But living isn't that interesting either."

"Don't you think it would be better if I lay inside and let him come out instead?"

He asked Tu Nan this.

Tu Nan was surprised that The Emperor would actually have such a thought. She wanted to look up to see his expression, but his arms held her tightly.