In the Chaotic Vortex Star Ring, on a remote mining planet, there was a base—one of Yan Mu’s secret bases.
After the Yanlan Star Bandit Group evacuated with Yan Mu from the CON base, they fled all the way here and temporarily settled down.
Thanks to her godson Yan Qiongyu and some omegas who betrayed the Utopia, Yan Mu’s sphere of influence had sharply contracted over the past few months. Now, only a few small bases used as escape routes remained for her to hide in.
The two leaders of the Yanlan Star Bandit Group were extremely anxious and furious about the current situation, cursing Yan Qiongyu day after day, yet Yan Mu, who had lost many of her followers, showed little reaction.
She regained consciousness while on the run, directing Yan Yan and Yan Lan through secret routes to reach this planet.
This planet was desolate and barren, with no trace of green to be seen. Looking out from the base’s window, only gray stone from mines of various sizes lay exposed, and sand and dust would rise from the ground from time to time.
Yan Lan came to deliver nutrient solution to the godmother. Her body had long been unable to eat normally and could only survive on nutrient solution. After knocking and entering, he saw her sitting by the bed again, wearing that monocle, quietly gazing out the window.
“Godmother, this is today’s nutrient solution. Your body is still very weak, wouldn’t it be better to lie down and rest?” Yan Lan didn’t know what she was looking at. Outside there was only endless flying sand and scattered rocks; there was nothing worth holding one’s gaze for long.
Yan Mu turned her head and smiled. “It’s all right. I won’t die for now.”
Yan Lan walked to her side and knelt on one knee. “Godmother, our Utopia has been largely destroyed by Yan Qiongyu, and he’s even harmed you to this extent. Why don’t I go kill him myself!”
Yan Mu said gently, “It’s not time yet.”
Yan Lan had guessed that the godmother would not agree to taking action against Yan Qiongyu, but hearing her say it herself still left him unwilling to accept it. “Godmother, then do we just watch him be so arrogant? How long do we have to wait? Doesn’t Yan Qiongyu have an alpha he cares about? Why not send people again to capture that person?”
Yan Mu sighed. “…No need.”
She had not expected that Yan Qiongyu, who detested the Empire, would cooperate with an imperial legion. Her earlier arrangements had failed, and now there was no great necessity for them anymore.
What was more, Yan Qiongyu had likely discovered that they had already found where the person was, so he simply stopped concealing it, openly displaying the person he had hidden before for her to see, as if certain that she could not kill that alpha.
Yan Lan withdrew. Yan Mu remained seated by the window, looking at the scenery outside. She always sat like this by the window, gazing outward—no matter what kind of view lay beyond, she liked to sit there for long periods.
In the past, she would look at different scenes through a cat’s eyes. Perhaps some omegas of the Utopia thought those were her spies, fearing that their secrets would be discovered by her cats. But in truth, she merely wanted to see the world through another pair of eyes.
What kind of world would be seen through eyes that bore no hatred for it?
Cats chasing food, walking along rooftops, catching small insects—those were her rare moments of calm.
That black cat was one of her “eyes.” She could only see the scenery the cat saw; she could not control where it went. Yet this black cat seemed to like observing her godson in secret, often wandering around him, the two regarding each other with mutual dislike.
She had thought that the black cat left behind at the CON base would be destroyed, but unexpectedly, Yan Qiongyu brought it to that alpha’s side.
Thus, through that eye, Yan Mu saw many familiar things.
That alpha named Wang Luan wore clothing similar to a military uniform. Yan Mu’s former lover, Shan He, had come from a legion clerical background and also liked to wear such standardized attire.
Shan He liked growing flowers, especially the easy-to-keep Jinyun flowers. They used to plant large expanses of Jinyun flowers in front of their house.
Through the black cat’s eyes, Yan Mu saw Wang Luan skillfully watering, fertilizing, and pruning the Jinyun flowers on the balcony.
Inside that house there was a wedding photograph of Yan Qiongyu and Wang Luan. It flashed past within the black cat’s field of vision, yet it plunged Yan Mu into a long silence and recollection.
She also had such a wedding photograph.
At a collective wedding held on L99 Star, Shan He was not someone who liked to compete aggressively, yet that time he defeated his comrades, exerted all his strength to take first place, winning for her the Flame Flower of Victory, lifted her onto the platform, and took that photograph.
That’s right—there was also the Haishi Zither.
She had once owned a Haishi Zither as well—it was bought for her by Shan He. When she played the zither, he would sit beside her and clap along with her melody. To be honest, he had absolutely no musical aptitude; applause that never matched the beat was just noise. But she never said so—she always praised him gently, saying he kept time very well.
Seeing all of this, Yan Mu understood what Yan Qiongyu wanted to do.
Just as she disliked this unanticipated child, Yan Qiongyu also detested her as a mother, detested everything that resembled her.
But this time, he had deliberately created so many coincidences and laid them out before her, using that face so similar to hers to draw her into memories.
The gaze he cast at her through the cat’s pupils was plainly asking her: “We are so alike—even the people we like are so alike. Do you really want to torment this alpha? Just like those people you hate tormented the one you loved?”
If she killed Wang Luan, it would be like killing the Shan He of the past.
Worthy indeed of being the child she bore during her most painful days—he knew exactly how to inflict pain upon her.
When she uncontrollably recalled the tortures Shan He had suffered because of her, and the bloodless, pallid face he wore at death, she truly did develop some resistance and hesitation toward the idea of capturing Wang Luan for experiments.
But what truly made her abandon that thought completely was a communication from Yan Qiongyu.
The video he sent carried a startling sense of familiarity. Yan Qiongyu, stroking that black cat, looked at her—his expression seemed a replica of hers from more than ten years ago.
Only, the once wretched and weak child had already become a young man. Just like the promise she had once made offhandedly, he also made a promise with her.
“I will shatter your ‘Utopia’ within two years and infiltrate the Empire. These omegas carrying mutated pheromone genes will spread this ‘pheromone failure’ virus to every corner of the Empire. Mother, you wanted to overthrow the Empire, but failed to do so. I can.”
“What you want, what you wish to see—I can present it to you before you die. You only need to watch quietly.”
“The Utopia does not exist here. The true Utopia lies in the future.”
The Utopia does not exist here? Indeed—there exist various ‘Utopias’ in different people’s minds, yet none of them are her Utopia.
ততততততততততত
In the rebuilt CON base experimental building, Yan Qiongyu stepped into the apparatus. As it activated, viscous culture fluid submerged him.
Because we substance had never been successfully cultivated outside his body, he had no choice but to extract it from himself. Long-term experiments involving excessive stimulation of hormone production had already pushed his body to the brink of collapse. He knew he could not continue like this. This time, he had devised a new experimental method.
He would use himself as a vessel to cultivate we substance, while simultaneously rapidly repairing his body and accelerating the progress of the experiments.
The research team members he selected carried out various experiments day and night under his instructions. Yan Qiongyu only emerged from the cultivation apparatus once every three days.
The assistant waiting outside kept track of the time. After he rose from the apparatus, the assistant handed him a towel, draped clean clothes over him, and reported recent experimental results and various developments.
“All experimental subjects who previously escaped during the chaos have all been brought back by Captain Fu Qi. The resisting omegas captured from the various Utopias have already been sent in batches to several experimental zones. The alpha experimental division has also been established… And the godmother’s—Yan Mu’s—pharmaceutical research assistant you specifically asked about last time has also been captured. Would you like to see him?”
“Bring him in.” Yan Qiongyu changed clothes in the private lounge. When he came out, he saw a middle-aged omega outside, emotionally agitated and shouting loudly.
“Pheromones are something alphas and omegas are born with. If normal pheromones are lost, the entire world will fall into chaos. What we should be doing is improving inhibitors—controlling alphas—not completely mutating pheromones until they lose all effect. You’re turning everyone into disabled people! I will absolutely not recognize your experiments, and I will absolutely not cooperate!”
Seeing Yan Qiongyu come out, the middle-aged man grew even more agitated. “You madman! You destroyed the Utopia the godmother created for us omegas, you betrayed us!”
He tried to get up, only to be pressed back into the chair, unable to move. His face flushed red with agitation as he glared fiercely at Yan Qiongyu.
“Betrayal?” Yan Qiongyu sat down casually. “When I went to the Utopia, the Empire also denounced my betrayal.”
If he had once been loyal to the Empire, then killing people and fleeing would be betrayal. If he were loyal to the Utopia, then destroying it would be betrayal. But for someone who had never been accepted, acknowledged, or protected by their environment—what betrayal was there to speak of?
There was only one person who would accept, acknowledge, and protect him, and so he was loyal to only one person.
“It was because of your past achievements that I wanted to show you some leniency and specially invited you to help me—but unfortunately, you seem quite unwilling?” Yan Qiongyu said with regret and gentleness. His foot kicked out heavily, knocking the middle-aged man to the ground, the tip of his shoe stepping on the man’s face.
“If you have no value to me, you know what kind of ending awaits you, don’t you?”
Fear showed in the middle-aged man’s eyes, yet he still panted heavily as he said, “You—you really know what you’re doing? You will overturn the entire world!”
“No one knows more clearly than I do.” Yan Qiongyu smiled as he looked down at him, wiping the dust from his face. “Don’t worry—once everyone grows accustomed to the new world, what is abnormal will become normal.”
“You are a smart person. You should know that if you resist the tide of change, then that tide will be the first to drown you.”
What he was doing now might lead to decades of chaos, but within the chaos, a true Utopia would sprout.
Aside from him and Yan Mu, even the most unhinged researchers would reveal hesitation and fear after hearing about the drugs and experiments he intended to create. People ruled by pheromones were unable to imagine an aberrant world in which pheromones were useless.
He had once asked Miss Wang Luan, “If the alphas of this world could no longer influence omegas with pheromones, and omegas no longer needed alphas’ pheromones—if everyone lost pheromones—what do you think?”
Miss Wang Luan replied, “For me, a normal world is one without pheromones.”
Because he had glimpsed her world, Yan Qiongyu came to have this mad idea. And by chance, he had found the key that could realize this possibility—then this new world was destined to descend through his hands.
The Empire was his prison, Yan Mu was the shadow over his head, and the shadow over Yan Mu’s head was the rules of this world. He could shatter the prison, tear open the shadow, and change the rules.
