Chapter 30: Hubby^^ (Includes 1.6w Nutrient Solution Bonus)

Chapter 30: Hubby^^ (Includes 16,000 Nutrient Solution Bonus)

Killing Yan Baiyue and being wanted by the main star was expected by both Yan Wanqiu and Xie Chi, so when the guard came in to report, neither of them was particularly surprised.

Yan Wanqiu nonchalantly opened the "Main Star Issues Class-A Wanted Order" notification that had just popped up on his smart device: "What's the rush? Didn't we already draft a wanted order contingency plan before?"

The guard gasped for breath: "No, it's not that. In the wanted order issued by the main star, the primary target is Captain Xie, and Your Highness is listed as an accomplice. It's different from our original plan."

Xie Chi: "?"

Xie Chi was stunned: "Me?"

No matter how he looked at it, he was just following orders—and besides, the final shot that killed Yan Baiyue was actually fired by Yan Wanqiu himself. How did he end up taking the fall again??

Yan Wanqiu's expression soured upon hearing this.

He looked at the contents of the wanted order.

"Class-A Wanted Order"

Proclaimed throughout all star territories:

A class-A wanted order is hereby issued for the following two felons. Force is authorized for apprehension; lethal force is authorized if they resist.

Wanted Person No. 1: Xie Chi

Identity: Former Captain of the Royal Personal Guard Action Team

Charges: Murder of royal bloodline member Yan Baiyue, unauthorized deployment of Personal Guard forces, defiance of Central Main Star decrees—evidence is conclusive.

Wanted Person No. 2: Yan Wanqiu

Identity: Second Prince of the Royal Family (currently exiled)

Charges: Participation in the assassination of royal bloodline member Yan Baiyue as co-conspirator and mastermind, condoning his subordinates' rebellion, attempting to disrupt the line of succession, and suspected of secretly colluding with foreign powers.

Bounty Terms: For the live capture of both individuals and delivery to the Main Star Royal Tribunal, thirty billion interstellar credits each; for killing on the spot, upon identity verification, one billion credits each. The lockdown order takes effect immediately. No one may shelter, harbor, or aid the escape of either individual—violators will be treated as accomplices and prosecuted accordingly.

Issued by the Supreme Council of the Royal Family of the Main Star

The accompanying image was a blurry video screenshot showing what appeared to be a dark figure holding a white figure captive, with a photo of Xie Chi confronting Yan Huishi in front of the mine attached alongside, various similar details highlighted in color to prove they were the same person.

Xie Chi stood beside Yan Wanqiu and also saw the full contents of the wanted order, feeling even more frustrated.

He was completely done in by his hair color.

Yan Wanqiu's expression turned icy as he sneered: "Yan Huishi can't find anything on me, so he's going after the people around me instead, fabricating a charge against me."

"Continue with the original plan—strengthen the defenses around Xie Chi's residence beyond what's already in place."

"Yes." The guard acknowledged the order and bowed out.

Once he was gone, Xie Chi asked quietly: "Will this cause people to try to assassinate me?"

Yan Wanqiu didn't deny it: "It's possible. Blizzard City hasn't been pacified yet, the cities of the North Domain star are eyeing us hungrily, and many people don't know your true identity. There's no shortage of factions willing to risk it all for the bounty, thermal ore, or to curry favor with the main star."

"Especially You Fuzhu, the lord of Glacier City. During this operation, while we were off guard, he absorbed all the soldiers and weapons Yan Baiyue had left at the border between the two cities, then staged the scene to frame us and reported it up the chain. That's also why the main star is willing to put such a huge bounty on our heads."

After all, in just two short months, Yan Wanqiu—exiled with just three hundred people—had annihilated three thousand elite soldiers armed with next-gen weapons. That would be a shocking feat anywhere.

Yan Wanqiu's gaze turned deep.

This kind of money wasn't something a mere Crown Prince like Yan Huishi could come up with on his own. His father must have felt threatened by this too.

Originally, in his contingency plan, the wanted order should have been targeting him entirely, but he hadn't expected that in his effort to destroy the decisive evidence, he'd ended up dragging Xie Chi down with him.

"What do you think of these wanted orders?" Yan Wanqiu chose his words carefully, wanting to offer Xie Chi some compensation to soothe him.

Xie Chi's expression remained largely unchanged. Upon hearing this, he said: "If I kill the people who come to kill me, can I claim the bounty from you? Or if you want them alive, that works too."

Yan Wanqiu: "..."

Does this guy have anything else in his head?!

Xie Chi gave the silent Yan Wanqiu a strange look and ventured tentatively: "Or if you want me to kill Yan Huishi, that's not out of the question either—it's just a bit tricky, so it might cost a lot more."

Yan Wanqiu perked up a little at this: "How much more do you want?"

Xie Chi answered without hesitation: "Real power over half the United Kingdom."

After all, this was history's victor. Having him kill Yan Huishi would mean rewriting history to back Yan Wanqiu instead. Unless Yan Wanqiu threatened him with Ji Chou or handed him the power of half an empire so he'd have the authority to protect Ji Chou, Xie Chi wasn't about to ask for trouble.

Yan Wanqiu laughed at his words: "I haven't even taken Blizzard City yet, and you dare ask me for all that already?"

Xie Chi was resolute: "You definitely won't be limited to Blizzard City. Even if you never go back to the main star, with your abilities, you could crown yourself king."

Yan Wanqiu paused.

He didn't have a god's-eye view and didn't have complete certainty about the future. Hearing Xie Chi say this, he was surprised and couldn't help but feel moved by being trusted.

He gave Xie Chi a long, hard look: "Yan Huishi is far away on the main star—don't think that far ahead for now. As for the people who come to assassinate you, depending on the strength of the force behind them, I'll start at one million for live captures and five hundred thousand for corpses, with no cap."

Xie Chi was surprised.

That generous?

Where he'd previously found the constant harassment a bit annoying, now in Xie Chi's eyes, each person who came to bother him became an assassination target delivering cash to his door.

His gloomy mood vanished in an instant, and he even felt a bit grateful to Yan Huishi for issuing the wanted order. He said cheerfully: "Thank you, Your Highness. Is there anything else, Your Highness? If not, I'll head back to tidy up my place and get ready to receive my wife."

Yan Wanqiu paused, then said meaningfully: "Go ahead. If you need to repair weapons in the future, you can use the camp's official funds—just let me know."

Xie Chi's smile faded slightly, and he said seriously: "Understood."

He said no more, bowed to Yan Wanqiu and took his leave, then walked down the steps and left the palace.

.

Yan Wanqiu was hinting that he could produce other weapons.

But Xie Chi had no intention of bringing out any weapon other than the quantum gun.

The quantum gun alone was enough to outclass most weapons of this era. Unless Yan Wanqiu gave him half an empire, Xie Chi wasn't going to pick a fight with the Mechanical Civilization. The remaining weapons were his private trump cards for eloping with his wife later—if he handed them all over to Yan Wanqiu, how would he ever run away?

Xie Chi thought that Wood wasn't the only one lacking loyalty. At his core, he wasn't all that different from Wood either.

It was also fortunate that Yan Wanqiu, due to his suspicions, had always been wary and hostile toward him—which let Xie Chi plan his elopement without guilt.

Still, he'd need to be more careful about his actions going forward, so as not to end up in a dead end with Yan Wanqiu like at the mine.

Back at his quarters, Xie Chi had just finished cleaning the entire place when Yan Wanqiu sent someone over with sixty crates stuffed full of cash, totaling sixty million credits.

The part about cashing out for the house was just straight-up crossed out by Yan Wanqiu.

Xie Chi was caught off guard, then remembered he'd been the one wanted in Yan Wanqiu's place, and it clicked.

This was probably Yan Wanqiu's compensation.

Killing a prince was the way to go—princes were worth way more than Boss Ye, and it made him rich overnight.

Xie Chi was in a good mood. He had someone haul a crate of quantum guns back to Yan Wanqiu, then split the cash—half for his wife that night, half tucked into his spatial ring.

Then he got right to work, firing up both his terminal and his AI core at once, pulling and sorting intel on the whole Northern Domain Star from the future database and the current StarNet—gotta be ready for the assassinations coming his way.

First, the map of the Northern Domain Star, then the faction breakdown. It mostly lined up with what Yan Wanqiu had said—except in the history books, it was Yan Wanqiu who got hunted after killing Yan Baiyue, and the one they went after was him, badly wounded.

The cities couldn't just sit back. The three biggest—Shuofeng, Hanbing, and Xiansong—all sent killers to test the waters. They didn't manage to kill Yan Wanqiu, but they kept him stuck in his disorder for ages, and he got more and more vicious.

It wasn't until Shi Peijue showed up, the black market went to hell, and Yan Wanqiu's camp got their hands on knockoff electromagnetic guns and grabbed most of Blizzard City that the cities finally backed off.

But Hanbing City had the main star backing it. Once they caught wind of the knockoff electromagnetic guns, they doubled down, and Yan Wanqiu had no choice but to march on Hanbing City in the second month of the ice-sealed period, straight into a blizzard.

That war was brutal. Yan Wanqiu's camp lost people left and right, and it only ended when he, barely hanging on, fought his way into the city lord's mansion and killed You Fuzhu with his own hands.

The Night Owl Syndicate in Blizzard City got wiped out along with Hanbing City's fall.

Boss Ye was dead, Blizzard City was his, Hanbing City was absorbed, and Yan Wanqiu merged the two and crowned himself king.

That battle put Yan Wanqiu's name on the map across the Northern Domain Star. Even with a sky-high bounty on his head and all those juicy thermal ore mines up for grabs, no city lord ever dared mess with that reckless lunatic again.

After he took the throne, Yan Wanqiu's condition got even more unpredictable. He'd be out of it for half a month at a stretch, so he grabbed every clear moment to plan. With Nie Huaiyi's help, he turned his disorder episodes into campaigns of conquest and slaughter, keeping his city fed on war.

City after city fell. With a strategy that was basically burning through his own life, Yan Wanqiu's days were numbered—and he became the main star's biggest headache.

Xie Chi felt a knot in his chest reading all that.

On one hand, Yan Wanqiu's rise was a tragedy; on the other, Xie Chi knew this desperate, all-or-nothing road only led to one end: death.

At this point, Yan Wanqiu had no clue the Mechanical Civilization even existed. He figured the electromagnetic cannons were just new weapons Yan Huishi's people had cooked up—rare and pricey. Every time he captured some, he'd have Shi Peijue reverse-engineer them, trying to keep pace.

But he didn't realize these were just the most basic, bare-bones weapons the Mechanical Civilization had brought. Later, when he went to war with the main star and they were losing, Yan Huishi traded for a ton of weapons and flipped the whole thing in a heartbeat.

To Yan Huishi, all of Yan Wanqiu's efforts probably looked like a joke—a laughable overreach.

Xie Chi let out a quiet sigh.

He wasn't exactly fond of Yan Wanqiu, but at this point Yan Wanqiu wasn't just cold text in a history book—he was a real, breathing person standing right there.

And the guy who'd just paid him sixty million.

Everyone's got a heart. Reading about Yan Wanqiu's tragedy in the records, Xie Chi couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.

But sad was sad—he couldn't actually bet his wife's life on a man with an incurable illness. Xie Chi didn't like Yan Huishi, and he didn't want to gamble on Yan Wanqiu either. He just wanted Ji Chou to live a stable, comfortable life.

Shaking off the moment, Xie Chi got back to sorting the files.

The bandages were a pain, so he ripped them off again. Skipped eating, just cracked open another nutrient pack.

As he went through the files, Xie Chi let out a little "Huh?"

He'd come across a familiar name.

Wood.

This alpha—the one he'd figured "didn't have much loyalty"—had died in the battle against Hanbing City.

He'd made it into the history books because he was a squad leader. Cornered in a mountain hollow on the border by enemies with electromagnetic cannons, he fought for days until he was the last one standing.

He strapped explosives to himself and charged in, taking out eighty percent of the cannons—an indelible contribution to Yan Wanqiu's win.

Xie Chi went quiet, frozen for a long moment.

.

Night.

A cold snap was coming at midnight, and after that the whole Northern Domain Star would lock into the ice-sealed period. That's why Yan Wanqiu had set the meeting for eight—so he wouldn't get stuck by the cold front.

Yan Wanqiu put his mask back on, grabbed the food container, and headed to Xie Chi's dorm, clearly annoyed.

He'd planned to use tonight to lay down the law about how far things could go in bed, and he hadn't planned on bringing food for that pushy brat.

But Nie Huaiyi said Xie Chi hadn't been to the mess hall all day.

What the hell was that guy doing? Did he even remember he was still hurt?

Arm in a sling, and he still went that hard last night—wasn't he scared of messing himself up for good?

The more Yan Wanqiu thought, the angrier he got. His steps got heavier, and before he knew it, all the awkwardness was gone—just a burning need to give Xie Chi a piece of his mind.

Maybe because he was making so much noise, Xie Chi had the door open with a creak the second he got there.

"Wife!" The black-haired kid stood there in his pajamas, round eyes brightening at the sight of him, two little dimples popping out.

Yan Wanqiu's rising anger froze mid-surge.

"Mhm."

Xie Chi grabbed Yan Wanqiu's hand and pulled him in, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, I was busy this afternoon. Wanted to go out and get you something, but I couldn't. Here's five million in cash—take it when you go, just in case."

Yan Wanqiu stared at the dozens of boxes of cash on the floor—the exact ones he'd sent over himself—and even though he'd seen it coming, he still couldn't stop his mouth from twitching.

He couldn't bring himself to kill Xie Chi's mood. "Alright, thanks."

After a beat, Yan Wanqiu thought it over. Xie Chi handing him back his own money over and over wasn't gonna work, so he added, "The money you gave me—I haven't touched a cent. I've kept it all for you. If you're ever in a real bind, come to me."

Xie Chi was floored. "How can you not spend it?"

Yan Wanqiu: "...I don't really have anything to buy. My salary's enough."

Xie Chi clearly got the wrong idea, looking all touched. "Wife, you're so good at saving. I've got money—I can make a ton. Don't hold back on my account."

"Oh! And we might get a three-bedroom soon. Yan Wanqiu was super easy to work with after this mission, and I turned in some extra stuff. Soon we'll be able to meet once a week, and the chat app cap'll be gone too..."

Xie Chi kept chattering, running through everything he'd gotten from the mission.

Yan Wanqiu, meanwhile, was staring at Xie Chi's right arm—definitely not bandaged.

He'd called in the medic after seeing Xie Chi earlier. The medic had laid it out plain: Xie Chi's right arm had been stripped to the bone. Even with repair fluid, their tech couldn't fix the bone perfectly. Using it now would sting like hell and risk it healing crooked—he needed at least a week of rest.

The medic said he'd warned Xie Chi over and over, and Xie Chi had acted totally cooperative in front of him. No idea the guy was just paying lip service.

Xie Chi, you idiot. You're always smart in exactly the wrong places.

"Ah—wife, you even brought me food! Thanks, wife!"

Xie Chi pulled Yan Wanqiu over to sit at the dining table, and upon spotting the food container in Yan Wanqiu's hand, grew even more delighted, reaching out as usual to take it.

Yan Wanqiu lifted the food container, dodging Xie Chi's hand.

Xie Chi looked at him puzzled, keenly sensing the shift in his mood, and asked uneasily, "Wife?"

"Isn't this for me? I didn't mean to snatch it..."

"Xie Chi." Yan Wanqiu squinted at him, enunciating each word, "Where's the bandage on your arm?"

Xie Chi froze for a moment before remembering about the bandage, explaining, "It was getting in the way, so I took it off. I'm not that delicate; this little injury will heal up in a few days. Even if it heals crooked, it's fine—worst case, I'll just break it and set it again..."

Xie Chi started off confidently, but seeing Yan Wanqiu's darkened face that even the half-mask couldn't hide, his voice trailed off into silence.

For some reason, Xie Chi felt like he must have done something wrong, hanging his head guiltily, only daring to steal glances at Yan Wanqiu from the corner of his eye.

"SLAM—"

Yan Wanqiu slammed the food container heavily onto the table, scoffing, "When you were crying in pain in my arms, where was all that bravado then?"

Xie Chi flinched.

His wife, who was usually gentle and forward, was being fierce for the first time.

He didn't know why Yan Wanqiu was angry, but since his wife was angry, it had to be his fault, so he lowered his head and apologized, "I'm sorry..."

Yan Wanqiu was so furious he nearly choked: "Who asked you to apologize?!?"

Xie Chi was even more lost.

He opened his mouth, wanting to comfort Yan Wanqiu, but since he had no idea what was going on, he was so confused he couldn't string a sentence together—all he felt was fear.

He felt like he'd done something terribly wrong.

What could he do to fix it? What would it take to make Yan Wanqiu stop being angry?

"I..." Xie Chi could hear his own voice trembling.

"Shut up." Yan Wanqiu snapped, "Where are the bandage and splint?"

Xie Chi was already scared stiff, automatically answering obediently, "In the medical kit, and the medical kit is under the bedside table."

Yan Wanqiu didn't say anything more, got up, and headed straight for the bedroom.

The room went quiet, leaving only the sound of him rummaging around angrily.

Xie Chi sat on the chair, biting his lower lip, blankly picking at the edge of the table, restless as if sitting on pins and needles.

Everything happening right now was completely beyond his understanding.

Before, Yan Wanqiu had gotten angry because Xie Chi had gotten him into trouble; then Yan Wanqiu forgave him because Xie Chi made up for it; and then Yan Wanqiu was happy because Xie Chi bought him lots of stuff and made lots of money for his wife.

Ever since he was born, all his common sense and logic had been taught by the Star Network AI, and after he started working, he'd been plugged into it too. Xie Chi could only understand that kind of logic—his entire worldview was built on it.

Now Yan Wanqiu was reacting in a way he couldn't understand, and he didn't know how to deal with it. But he was too scared of Yan Wanqiu hating him, and in his panic, Xie Chi's throat tightened.

Earlier, Yan Wanqiu had said that what he was doing didn't even count as dating.

Maybe he should've asked someone who was married at the camp a long time ago.

Now he'd let the problem drag on this long, and even his wife was mad at him.

Yan Wanqiu found the medical kit and came back with the bandage, only to see Xie Chi sitting there with his head down, body trembling slightly.

He frowned, automatically assuming Xie Chi was in pain: "What's wrong? Do you need painkillers?"

Xie Chi's eyes were already blurry with tears; hearing Yan Wanqiu's voice, he instinctively looked up at him.

"I..."

He opened his mouth, but a choked sob cut him off. He paused, then tried again.

"I don't know..."

He really didn't know—why Yan Wanqiu was angry, or why his chest felt so tight and ached so dully.

And he really didn't know why, the second he opened his mouth, his stupid tears just fell on their own.

How embarrassing.

Xie Chi tried hard to stop the tears, but they wouldn't stop no matter what.

Yan Wanqiu hadn't expected Xie Chi to actually cry from being yelled at either.

Last time it had been too dark to see, but this time Yan Wanqiu finally got a good look at Xie Chi's tear-streaked face.

The young alpha was handsome and clean-cut, but now with red-rimmed eyes and tears clinging to his lashes, dripping down in big drops, he looked pathetic and messy—and yet somehow still had this delicate, rain-soaked beauty.

Pity and a dark, possessive urge rose in him at almost the same time.

Yan Wanqiu had imagined riding Xie Chi until he cried many times—he'd probably look so pathetic and pretty—but he never thought it would actually happen like this.

"What are you crying for." Yan Wanqiu's tone softened as he sat down and expertly wrapped Xie Chi's right arm, "I'm not even scolding you anymore."

So fragile, and yet he had the nerve to talk big in front of him.

Xie Chi gradually stopped crying, though his voice was still a little choked up: "I... don't know either..."

Yan Wanqiu raised an eyebrow, looking a little confused: "Don't know?"

He finished wrapping Xie Chi's arm in no time, then wiped Xie Chi's face with a hot towel. Once Xie Chi had calmed down, he asked, "Why don't you know? What were you thinking about just now?"

Xie Chi kept his head down and answered obediently, "I just don't know—I don't know why you got mad, I don't know how to make you stop being mad, I don't know what I did wrong. This is the first time I've seen you this angry... I'm afraid you'll hate me forever."

As Xie Chi spoke, his eyes got a little wet again, but this time he managed to hold it in.

Yan Wanqiu was silent for a moment.

He stared at the cowlick on Xie Chi's head and suddenly remembered what Xie Chi had said to him in the thermal ore mine.

At the time, he'd thought Xie Chi's way of thinking was weird, ridiculous, and kind of funny, but now Yan Wanqiu finally caught a glimpse of the real reason behind it.

"You..." Yan Wanqiu struggled to find the right words, "Growing up, have you ever had any close relationships?"

Xie Chi didn't really get it, so he asked hesitantly, "What counts as close? Does wife count?"

Yan Wanqiu sighed helplessly, "I mean, aside from me, is there anyone you can actually talk to on a regular basis?"

Xie Chi answered immediately: "Coworkers."

Yan Wanqiu asked: "And?"

Xie Chi shook his head truthfully: "No one else."

Mechanical Civilization, as the earliest civilization to cooperate with foreign races and join the era of interstellar integration, inherited most of the ABO Empire's legacy shortly after Yan Huishi's death. Thanks to its head start, it held the top spot even after the establishment of the Interstellar Federation in later generations.

Mechanical Civilization controlled the entire StarNet AI. Bottom-tier physical labor was taken over by robots, and carbon-based lifeforms competing with robots for jobs were at the very bottom of the social ladder—forget seeing another living person, even getting enough to eat was a struggle.

And Xie Chi, as an orphan at the very bottom, did the most shady jobs. He'd never met anyone besides his coworkers and his marks.

He knew his targets inside out, but they were all dead, so they hardly counted as people he could talk to.

Yan Wanqiu was quiet for a beat.

Xie Chi was indeed the shadow guard he had brought out from the main planet, but the main planet didn't pick shadow guards in such a heartless way. Moreover, back then, Xie Chi, as the captain of the guard, had not only been tight with his brothers but had even actively chased after Yan Baiyue—he was a perfectly normal, well-rounded guy.

Now that he thought about it, he could barely remember what that "Xie Chi" from the main planet even looked like anymore.

He'd already suspected Xie Chi's identity because of his sudden change, and as Xie Chi kept showing more and more strange traits, Yan Wanqiu had started to suspect that "Xie Chi" had been swapped out without anyone noticing.

It probably happened around the time he was caught contacting Yan Baiyue.

Xie Chi's words now only confirmed what Yan Wanqiu had already suspected.

Yan Wanqiu sighed softly.

He knew what the real issue was now.

He raised his hand and gently ruffled Xie Chi's hair, his voice going gentle: "I wasn't mad because you did something wrong—I was mad because you didn't take care of yourself. You don't care about your own body, and that worries me—and it breaks my heart."

Xie Chi stared at Yan Wanqiu in a daze, struggling to process what he'd just said.

"Worried about my health?" he repeated in confusion.

"Worried about you," Yan Wanqiu corrected. "Xie Chi, didn't you think of me as your wife? In a relationship like ours, it's not just one person giving—I care about you just as much."

Seeing that Xie Chi still seemed confused, Yan Wanqiu gave another example: "Last time you saw me get hurt, how did you feel?"

Xie Chi said in a muffled voice: "It hurt. I hated you, Yan Wanqiu."

Yan Wanqiu: "..."

Yan Wanqiu ignored the last part of what Xie Chi said and continued to explain: "So, when I see you injured, I feel the same as when you see me injured. If you heard me say something like 'whatever, my arm can break, no big deal,' wouldn't you be pissed?"

Xie Chi nodded hard: "I'd be mad! You can't say stuff like that!"

Yan Wanqiu's gaze, visible through his mask, landed on him with what seemed like a faint smile: "Exactly. So you can't do that either. Got it?"

Xie Chi got it, but he still couldn't help defending himself: "I'm an assassin—that's just how we are..."

Yan Wanqiu stopped ruffling his hair and flicked him on the forehead instead: "No matter who you are, you're my husband first, and everything else second. As far as I'm concerned, your safety is the top priority. Got it?"

Xie Chi's heart suddenly started pounding, and his cheeks went bright red.

Hus—husband?

Ji Chou said he was his husband?

If the earlier terms had been a bit condescending and teasing, this time Ji Chou was genuinely owning up to their relationship.

Xie Chi was so excited he couldn't even speak. His face was burning, and he'd completely forgotten his earlier fear. He looked up at the man in the half-mask, eyes full of hope.

"Can you call me that again?"

Yan Wanqiu was amused by this guy who clearly missed the point.

He pinched Xie Chi's burning cheeks and chuckled: "You just made me mad, and you still have the nerve to ask for a reward?"

Xie Chi's face fell.

But then he heard the man's voice, tinged with amusement.

"But since you look so pathetic, I'll let you have a hug. Want it?"