This “jackpot” was stopped mid-starfield by a bunch who didn’t know any better.
Just as Jiang Chao’s henchman expected.
The other side was no more than a plain, ordinary civilian vessel. As soon as they powered up the cannons, those aboard immediately started begging to pay for mercy—not bad, right?
He thought, following the target’s path right after Holy Cas patrols had moved off, acting cautiously, thinking it was safe.
He really was too clever!
Jiang Chao’s lackey was already imagining his bright future: promotions and fat bonuses.
He immediately requested that a docking bridge be set up between the ships. They’d send men to take over the civilian craft.
On the Holy Cas ship, though, there was a moment of silence.
Chu Zao’s amber eyes were wide, his little body pressed close to Amos. His halo and wings were hidden, but after months with Amos, he’d gotten round and cute—never seen anything like this before, and was understandably nervous.
“Your Majesty—”
A tall Holy Cas soldier who’d been nearby moved closer.
This was the Ninth Army Group’s Colonel He Yue.
Their usual commander, Yemeng, wasn’t with Amos today.
“Though you and young highness are disguised, just to be safe in case they recognize you, please move to the back. Let us handle what comes next.”
This wasn’t just a matter of dealing with these thugs.
They needed to find the main base, to rescue missing Holy Cas citizens. Until then, better not cause a scene—and though Boel was far and unfamiliar, there was still risk of being recognized.
But even so, no one expected the enemy to pull such a big move.
With only a bit of travel left, Amos and the cub switched to the ship’s best viewing spot.
Now, they moved back, blending into the crowd.
Chu Zao, anxiously rubbing his small hands, whispered, “Are we really letting them successfully kidnap Zao Zao and Baba?”
Amos: “This is infiltration, not being kidnapped—”
His Majesty had to correct him.
The cub was quick to adapt, wrapping his arms around Amos’s face, still clutching his prank photo box, wanting to take it back as a souvenir, and looking as obedient as ever: “Mhm, successfully let Zao Zao and Baba infiltrate.”
Nearby soldiers couldn’t help but crack a smile.
Too cute, the young highness—and technically correct.
Amos carried the cub to the back.
Just then, the supposedly well-trained group of hijackers—about a dozen, light weapons in hand—charged in. He Yue met them, only to have a cocky gunman shove a weapon in his face.
He Yue’s hands twitched but he stifled the urge to respond, negotiating further.
This only made the hijacker more convinced he had read them right.
“Cut the talk! Watch over them! Follow the set course, faster!”
Jiang Chao’s man barked orders, his team quickly controlling the cockpit, barely glancing at the passengers who gathered, trembling in “fear”—genuine enough that he felt satisfied, no need to check them one by one.
Time was tight, and God knew when a Holy Cas ship would sweep by again. The labs were low on specimens; if the boss got mad, he’d be next on the table—he had no time for details.
“I’m going to report and lead the way—gotta tell the boss—we’ve hijacked a starship, everything under control.”
As soon as he was gone, the Holy Cas soldiers in the front crumpled, shivering not just in fake terror but in excitement.
Their Emperor and young highness were watching.
Brothers, now’s the time to make history—let’s wallop them!
They were raring to go.
Especially when they heard the cockpit: the enemy was binding over the coordinates.
Someone edged closer.
They already had the location; honestly, the captors wouldn’t be useful for much longer—maybe just…
“Hey, do you remember the return code?”
The guards had relaxed, seeing how easy this went.
“Of course! Memorized it perfectly.”
Damn, they really had a code.
One soldier faltered, hand almost raised—then dropped.
To attack, or not to attack.jpg
The enemy sensed something—looked over, just as a “passenger” collapsed, legs weak. “Where are you taking us? I have family, a partner waiting for me—”
Everyone shot looks at He Yue—Sir, your performance is a bit much.
This panic was so real to the thugs.
The enemy’s suspicions were instantly soothed.
“Quiet, all of you. You’ll find out soon enough.”
*
Meanwhile, an urgent alert was going out to all Holy Cas teams.
—A civilian starship carrying His Majesty the Emperor, the Crown Clan’s strongest, Amos, had been hijacked.
On her own civilian ship, Feiman: …?
What?
What did this mean?
Amos, with the cub, got hijacked?
“They… want to get totally wiped out or what?”
Feiman’s adjutant muttered.
They’d prayed to every ancestor and picked one ship—turned out they’d kidnapped the “ancestor” himself.
Even kidnapping Amos’s alone wasn’t so drastic—but with Chu Zao…
Not that Chu Zao was a force himself, more that with him present, Amos was always in full-on Dad mode—creating a hair-trigger Emperor whose rage would be unparalleled if provoked.
Even Feiman couldn’t keep a straight face.
Elsewhere—
Feeney hadn’t reached the Boel border yet.
Still blazing a trail through enemy outposts, that guiding starship a memory, Feeney’s uncanny luck had just landed him in a bizarre lab—twisted experiments, dead test subjects, research notes proving the Hymn Organization’s theories.
Because Feeney arrived suddenly, these files hadn’t all been destroyed.
The annihilation of other long-lived races would enable the “god” to be reborn, redistribute power, bring about “fairness.”
With twisted “faith” like this, the Hymn Organization was cruel, near impossible to infiltrate, never lingering long in one place, always sowing chaos before vanishing.
Feeney didn’t know exactly what these things were, but looking at the bodies, his smile faded, that doll’s face shadowed. Only his scarlet eyes still bright, standing amid ruin, like a specter from a nightmare.
“Seal this place. Send all files back.”
“Yes!”
His aide, at least, was reliable—and then an emergency alert came.
Feeney’s eyes snapped up. “What is it?”
“It’s—it’s—”
His aide fumbled with the comm, shouting aloud—
“His Majesty’s starship has been hijacked, being taken to unknown territory, priority one combat alert…”
God, the Emperor’s been hijacked!! Protect the Emperor, for Holy Cas, the Crown Clan, to the death—
—Huh? His Majesty was… hijacked?
Feeney: …?
Huh?
Hijacked?
Who…?
Are they crazy?
Who’s more reckless than me?
“If you said Second Brother went running into a hazardous zone, I might believe you…”
He muttered.
And at that moment, in the hazardous zone where Morlo was found—
With Chu Zao, the Crown Clan dared explore high-risk areas. With upgraded ships and their obsession with finding the “angelic realm,” they pressed forward. Shortly after Morlo was saved, a dedicated team formed, exploring steadily under the Tenth Army’s protection, trying to find out if, beyond the pollution-wreathed border, normal starfields still survived. Or, as the Emperor had ordered, whether the angelic realm existed.
They’d been painstaking, many failures.
Waves of pollution and monsters had forced them back, multiple attempts. Each time, they forged further, choosing new paths.
This time, again, a violent pulse of pollution drove them and a horde of monsters back.
“Quick, retreat! No good, this route’s no good either—”
“Truth is, we’ve covered a lot of ground. The farther we go, the harder it gets—I honestly suspect it’s all pollution in here.”
“Not necessarily, don’t give up. We used to think no one could enter at all. Especially in those ancient books, the despair was palpable—but now we’re challenging it.”
“You’re right—wait, no, hurry, can’t hold out! Prepare jump point, get out! Jump in five, four, three—”
Their battered ship pieced together a jump, inching forward only as far as it could safely escape.
The Tenth Army’s ships waited at the edge, ready to cut down any monsters breaking out.
But this time was different—
“What’s that sound—?”
In the moment before jumping, they heard a low, deep roar, vibrating the whole ship—not like any regular mutant’s cry, but something… alive?
“One—Jump now!”
Bursting out, Tenth Army intercepted the chasing beasts.
Now outside, the explorers glanced at each other, realizing that sound was no illusion.
“No idea what that was, but better report it—let His Majesty and princes decide.”
The leader looked into the dark—“Maybe the pollution only split the starfields; maybe somewhere beyond, more than just monsters survive.”
*
Boel border region.
After confirming a complex code, huge doors on a barren planetoid opened, revealing a base hidden underground.
Two starships landed in succession.
The moment they touched down, Holy Cas soldiers, pent-up all the way, finally let loose on their captors.
Jiang Chao’s underling was busy reporting to the boss, arranging handover, when he found the link to the starship dead.
Moments later—clunk, clunk, clunk.
Confused, he stepped out to see Holy Cas troops, grim-faced, literally sawing the lab doors off their hinges.
Jiang Chao’s lackey: ????
His colleague, also security here, hearing nothing from their end, radioed in. Jiang Chao’s henchman didn’t even have time to answer—he was tackled instantly.
Holy Cas soldiers were well-trained.
By the time Amos and Chu Zao stepped off, all the attackers were tied up tight.
The formerly cringing Colonel He Yue now stood proud, saluting Amos and Chu Zao.
“We’ve swept the area—huge place, endless corridors, like an anthill. Unknown personnel, unknown projects. Splitting up might be risky; they won’t talk.”
Amos set the cub down, surveyed the area.
Jiang Chao’s minion was still blustering—“What do you think you’ve got? Once you’re in here, you’ll never get out—know whose side you’re on and things might go easier—”
Amos shot him a cool glance—a look that froze the man as if struck.
“Baba—”
In this strange place, the little cub shrank behind Amos, cheeks puffed at the villain’s words.
“He’s a bad guy.”
Amos confirmed, “Mm, a bad guy.”
That childish voice brightened the grim room a little.
The next moment, Holy Cas soldiers pressed down, demanding to know if they’d hijacked a Holy Cas ship.
The man stiffened, shifty-eyed—“So you’re from Holy Cas? I’m not telling you. You’re all dead—if I don’t say, the boss’ll rescue me and I’ll get promoted. If I talk, I’m doomed anyway.”
Obviously, panic meant he wasn’t recognizing Amos at all.
“Cut it—talk,”
He Yue pressed his shoulder, squeezing until—crack—a howl and an instant dislocation.
The cub, still hiding behind Amos, had been ready the moment Amos called him a bad guy—his bow in hand.
A few minutes later, Chu Zao softly asked Amos,
“Baba, can Zao Zao shoot him?”
He raised his little bow.
Amos, spiritual sense already searching through shielded rooms for clues, knew if this didn’t work, they’d have to manually seek each “signal.”
Just then, the cub spoke up.
The interrogating soldiers: …?
They knew all about “Love and Peace.”
Some had even experienced it firsthand—
Young highness, wait, what are you going to do?!
Your Majesty, Your Majesty!
No need to trouble the young highness!
Holy Cas soldiers appeared outwardly calm but tensed up—serving in Amos’s guard, they all remembered…some not-so-pleasant memories.
They moved rougher, faster.
Bastards, talk now!
Amos, though, was indulgent of his cub, answering,
“Stay close to Baba.”
The cub nodded solemnly, finally stepping out, toddling forward in his little coffee coat, hat on, bow aloft.
Jiang Chao’s crony, already battered, looked up, eyes widening.
Behind, the cub’s wings fluttered out, hat lifting with the rise of his little coronet, which shook and tipped the hat off entirely.
Jiang Chao’s man: “—that sign…”
No time even to panic—his mouth opened but the arrow hit him right away.
He Yue, still holding him, heard the little cub’s voice—“Uncle, ask him again.”
Ask again?
He Yue realized—he looked down, met the blank-eyed gaze.
Jiang Chao’s man: …
He Yue: …
Jiang Chao’s man: “How could you make me…fall so hard—”
He Yue: …
“No, you don’t need to hold me like this; I love you. Let’s just make peace, I’ve always dreamed of a warm home. Seeing you, my dreams all came true… Everything I have I’ll give to you, my account number is 688****, password is **…”
Warm home…with who?
The other soldiers stole glances at the muscular He Yue.
Colonel He Yue?
Ha…hahahaha… Can’t hold it in.
He Yue: …
Aaaah, save me!
He pinched his nose, barely containing himself.
“I don’t want that—just tell me, did you hijack a Holy Cas ship? Where are the captured?”
“Of course! I only suffered here for the chance of finding a true love…”
He gazed at He Yue, the two men locking eyes in a spirit attack that left even Amos faltering.
He kept going: “We took a Holy Cas starship, a research group was onboard. Most of their files were destroyed. The boss is ‘converting’ them—not just lab rats—they’re in B Block, Hall Two. Oh, your chest is so sexy; I want to spend my whol—life?…”
Only now did the man snap out of it, eyes rounding.
What… did I just say?
“I can’t—I feel like there are bugs crawling all over me—”
“Colonel, say something! Colonel—”
“Success! It’s a love confession.”
Colonel, you’re done for.
He Yue’s face twisted as he put the man out with a knife.
Chu Zao scampered back to Amos, wide-eyed, wings trembling in excitement, his voice soft but eager for praise: “Baba, it really works!”
“Zao Zao is getting more and more amazing.”
This kind of compliment came easily to Amos now.
Watching the cub spin with joy, coronet nearly scattering gold petals, Amos thought—
Look, “Love and Peace” can be used for this too.
Every case, a new ‘casualty’—this time, a colonel.
He Yue, off to the side, feeling very unclean.
Chu Zao wasn’t scared at all.
His Crown Clan qualities were emerging—he was excited.
This proved…he was growing.
Amos had never intended for the cub to take part. But now, the ruling Crown Clan lowered his head to watch his little child.
Indeed—the cub needed more in life to grow.
At that moment, the main doors opened, more enemies entering.
“What’s happening here?”
With one look, Holy Cas soldiers took them down.
Further back, some realized things had gone wrong, retreated, grabbed weapons.
Amos stayed put, as Chu Zao spun, drew his little bow, wings unfurling as if by instinct—just as he’d done before.
A golden arrow shot out; the man paused, dazed, turned to his teammate—“Love you, a thousand million times…”
Teammate: ?
The soldiers, pausing with surprise, finished the takedown, then looked back at Chu Zao, eyes wide in amazement.
But the commotion triggered an alarm.
More men charged in: “Revolt? So you’re the trouble—”
Didn’t finish—thud, thud, thud, thud, several arrows.
No need to dodge. With Amos’s mental force blasting through the walls, and Chu Zao’s covering fire, the scattered enemies were mopped up fast.
As they froze, He Yue growled, “So we’re rebelling, so what?” (rushing forward)
Knives flashed, guns fired.
Their efficiency was stunningly high, their action swift.
The soldiers, having worried they’d need to protect a weak young prince as well as Amos—
Were mistaken…
What an “assist Baba!”
[Holy Cas soldiers: 🙏 Doors of Love!]
Jiang Chao’s sector.
He heard the alarm, frowned, asked what was happening.
An aide, running to check, knew little; all surveillance was down.
“Seems the kidnapped cargo is rebelling, boss—but I’ll fix it in no time, everything’s under control!”
And then, the entire underground lab shook violently.
In the next room, the captured Holy Cas group began to stir.
Jiang Chao steadied himself, confused, looked around.
He wasn’t at all sure—everything was under control.
…Was it?
We preach ‘Love and Peace’ in this kingdom 🙏🙏