Chapter 49: The Secretary and the Explosion

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“Luo Ran!”

Lucas was still chasing him, just as fiercely as before.

Luo Ran covered his ears as he ran. Two grown men — one an admiral of the Empire, the other one of the best secretaries of the empire — ran downstairs one after the other, making all the guards shocked stupid.

Soon, Luo Ran boarded his hovercar and successfully escaped.

All in all, although Luo Ran thoroughly lost this battle, now he at least knew that the messes his previous dates turned into… really were done by Lucas.

But even if Lucas wanted to make things difficult, he would at most blacklist them.

However, Yu Han’s mother was originally in contact with Luo Ran’s parents, yet now even Yu Han’s family members refused to get close.

It shouldn’t be… right?

Although Lucas was stubborn, his personality wasn’t that barbaric.

Luo Ran felt as if he was missing something, but romance wasn’t a priority for him, so he let it go.

…Lucas was the bigger problem right now.

Their relationship seemed to be gradually getting out of control, and now…

Luo Ran covered his face and burrowed into the hovercar’s sofa.

Oh dear.

But in just two days, neither of them had the time to talk about this.

–Something happened at the UNK Special Research Centre.

An alpha who was injected with UNK suddenly went berserk and his spiritual power collapsed, injuring two beta researchers and an omega refiner. The two beta only had superficial wounds, but the omega’s spiritual power was damaged and they fell into a coma.

Not everyone could be as lucky as Luo Ran. Most omega who suffered damage to their spirit had issues ranging from mental illness to becoming a vegetable for the rest of their lives.

Omega going through spiritual power collapse would experience hallucinations, severe migraines, muscle weakness, and so on, while alpha were the opposite — they would lose their rationality and self-control, and attack everyone around them as if they’d gone crazy.

The alpha who went berserk, a researcher at the centre who volunteered to become a research subject, had already been subdued and was now undergoing treatment.

And the injured A-level omega was the youngest child of Major General Mokka. Major General Mokka’s family had no intention of letting this pass and had already brought a lawsuit against the research centre, intending to fight with the government until the end.

Lucas was the head of the military, so the big leaders all listened to him.

And he wouldn’t be just a bystander once something like this happened.

As Lucas’ representative, Luo Ran was currently speaking for him at a conference.

“This person is Ann Mokka,” Luo Ran said, gesturing to a photo projected behind him. “As everyone knows, the Empire’s laws are biased towards protecting the weaker omega, so if the government doesn’t give an adequate explanation for this incident to the Mokka family, I fear it will chill the hearts of everyone in the military.”

Director of the Research Institute Shi Xiuqi, a slightly chubby middle-aged man, frowned. “Just arrest the alpha who went berserk and charge him according to the law, let him make reparations.”

That alpha was an ordinary civilian, he had no worries about dealing with him.

After a pause, Luo Ran’s brows furrowed as well. “It isn’t entirely the alpha’s fault, it was only because he was injected with UNK that he lost all rationality and judgement — to lay all blame at the feet of the alpha because they are innately stronger would also be an injustice. In the researchers’ opinion, this event is the fault of the experiment, and UNK should not be used by humans.”

Next, he presented the alpha’s psychoanalysis report, which showed that the incident wasn’t intentional.

The alpha also stated that he was willing to pay compensation to Ann Mokka, whether through monetary means or pheromone soothing — in summary, he would do his best to cooperate with all of the Mokka family’s requests.

“So the problem isn’t the person, but the things involved.” Luo Ran then presented reports from the project manager, Xia Zhi, and the representative of the medical department, Shen Xiluo.

“Doctor Xia is in charge of the project’s security, and Doctor Shen is in charge of the staff’s safety. Now, they’ve both made it clear that this project is not suitable for further research.”

The data in the report was very clear. Xia Zhi and everyone had worked through the night to produce it.

It stated that UNK could provide six times as much energy as a normal ore, but at the same time, the radiation it emitted could destroy an alpha or omega’s spirit.

And since it couldn’t be refined by machines, this meant that they could no longer use UNK in the future.

“This…” Shi Xiuqi glanced at the eldest prince Zhou Mingyu, frowned, then said, “This was just an accident, a unique event, it doesn’t mean everyone would be affected by the UNK radiation.”

“Please read this section of the report,” Luo Ran said as he pointed to the projection screen, “Doctor Shen has conducted numerous tests on both the immediate damage and long term consequences of UNK radiation on the human body.

“It is an indisputable fact that chronic exposure to UNK leads to spiritual collapse and even death for alpha and omega. There is currently no cure, but this does not exclude the possibility that there will be one in the future.”

“Yes, there are side effects,” Shi Xiuqi acknowledged, “but it isn’t as if you don’t know the great benefits of UNK either. We can’t stop just because of a single accident. I’m younger than Doctor Shen and Doctor Xia — if they don’t dare to continue, I dare.”

The second prince, Zhou Mingjing, frowned. “Our energy was sufficient even before we had UNK.”

“That’s true, but we do have UNK now. Are we going to give up technological progress?” Shi Xiuqi asked. “Since we can be better, why stop here?”

Two factions soon emerged due to the UNK issue —

One party insisted on continuing to develop the UNK, led by the eldest prince. This group also included Shi Xiuqi and Lucas’ brother Cyril.

The other party advocated giving up the UNK and keep using the previous ores in order to protect the spirits of alpha and omega, led by the second prince.

The Empire was already somewhat divided due to the issue of imperial succession, but now, this became much more obvious.

Luo Ran was also a little surprised that the second prince, who was once part of the military and had a tough and unyielding personality, would choose to protect people at this time.

Or perhaps it was as Lucas said — that it was precisely because he experienced battle that he treasured lives more.

However, Lucas only observed from the sidelines without getting involved, and Luo Ran only explained the situation as objectively as possible.

Even if they did have any thoughts, they wouldn’t choose a side, because once they did, it wouldn’t be regarding the UNK but regarding the throne.

The second prince glanced at the eldest prince and sneered, “People are more important than energy — the Empire only exists because of the people, and energy is only a tool of the people. I hope my big brother and the director won’t put the cart before the horse.”

The eldest prince shook his head. “Second brother, you’re too short-sighted. In fact, it’s the people who only exist because of the Empire. Only when the Empire is strong can we protect our citizens. And although progress requires some sacrifice, if we don’t do it, the Empire can only be crushed by other planets.”

“Brother, who doesn’t know that you’d gain a lot from UNK?” the second prince retorted sternly. “This accident was a wake-up call, I hope you can at least recognise that. UNK isn’t an energy source, it’s a poison. Yes, it can make people stronger, but the side effects are also significant, enough to cause death. In other words, if the Empire is greedy for the power of UNK, we’ll suffer a backlash sooner or later!”

The dispute between them became fiercer and fiercer, the smell of gunpowder within the room became more and more intense; the situation could explode at any moment.

Shi Xiuqi interjected: “Second Highness, you’re incorrect. It isn’t just an energy source, it’s also something that can make the Empire invincible! We cannot fear it just because of its capabilities, we have to conquer it! If we can control this power and give it to our soldiers, it would be a piece of cake to solve the pirates! We would be the strongest existence in the universe!”

Bang–!

The previously silent Lucas smacked the table with such force that everyone jumped.

“Let’s see who dares to use UNK on my soldiers,” he stated with a cold face.

The eldest prince slowly frowned, while the second prince said in a soothing tone, “Yes, neither soldiers nor citizens are mere tools or weapons to be used.”

They have now confirmed that UNK would cause damage to an alpha or omega’s spiritual power, and long term use would cause physical weakness, spiritual collapse, and even death.

“Admiral, please calm down.” The eldest prince gave Shi Xiuqi a glance, then continued evenly, “Our main goal is still to refine UNK to use it as a source of energy. As for the problems regarding spiritual power, I think we need to continue researching in order to find a solution. Both we and the Empire must rise to the occasion.”

“Continue researching?” the second prince snorted. “Do you mean choosing a few unlucky alpha or omega and injecting them with UNK, that kind of research? Use them until the end, then find a new one?”

Zhou Mingyu frowned. “Brother, you’ve crossed the line.”

“Lucas, you have to know what would happen if pirates got their hands on UNK,” Cyril said with a glance at Lucas. “Even if our imperial soldiers don’t use it, pirates will! How will we fight with them then?”

“Che!”

Lucas let out a loud snort, then folded his arms across his chest and crossed his legs. “Don’t say nonsense if you haven’t been to war! Do you think the soldiers are all cowards like you? As long as we have a single sword, my people can go toe to toe with pirates even if they become immortals! We’re not afraid!

“My warriors aren’t weapons, and they aren’t tools! Don’t talk to me about using drugs, I’ll bring victory to the Empire, but I won’t exchange their lives for it.”

Although Lucas was only sitting there, his aura still made Cyril breathless, and his bearing was such that no one in the room dared to refute him.

After a while, it was the eldest prince who broke the tense atmosphere. He smiled widely and said, “Admiral, I can understand your feelings, but it would truly be very troublesome if UNK lands in the hands of the pirates. I received an urgent report this morning — I think you knew this earlier than me, Admiral — that a new mine was discovered on M4 in the outer system, but it and the planetside garrison have already been captured by pirates.”

Of course Lucas knew, the military headquarters received the distress signal very early that morning.

“I know,” Lucas said without any ups or downs. “We’re setting off tomorrow, I’m personally bringing people to clean up M4. The military department is already preparing for it.”

“We can’t keep going like this,” one of the eldest prince’s supporters said, “we now know that these bitter-cold mines aren’t exclusive to Luobing, they might show up on any sufficiently cold planet.”

The second prince raised an eyebrow. “So you want to fight fire with fire? The enemy are devils, so we should turn our own soldiers into devils?”

The two sides continued to argue, while those from Lucas’ faction continued to watch.

But from the few times Lucas spoke up, one could already see his opinion. And when the second prince spoke, he always intentionally or unintentionally counted Lucas among his own camp.

They argued for half a day without end, getting more agitated as time went on until they even brought up the imperial power struggle, so they could only suspend the meeting for now.

After Lucas and Luo Ran left the conference room, Shi Xiuqi and a duke* from the second prince’s faction ran over to chat.

“My daughter Nina especially likes to read stories about you and your secretary recently, Admiral, she likes you a lot,” the duke grinned.

Shi Xiuqi smiled a not-smile. “It’s just children making a fuss online, Duke doesn’t need to care.”

Lucas felt so annoyed that he simply turned around and left.

Luo Ran smiled. “Yes, I sometimes also take a look at the holonet when I have free time.”

In conclusion, a single incident caused countless waves, but no matter how chaotic the capital was, the most important thing for Lucas was to deal with the pirates on M4.

As soon as the meeting ended, Luo Ran and Lucas went to the military headquarters. 

There wasn’t much time to prepare, Lucas was going to depart tomorrow.

Luo Ran went back to the office and took thick cotton gloves and coats out from storage, then placed countless warming cushions in the mecha.

Lucas was surprised when he saw this just before his departure.

“There’s no need,” he said as he rolled his eyes, “It’s just a little colder, I only need to endure it a bit, it’s not a big deal.”

Luo Ran only chuckled.

It was currently early morning with a grey sky hanging overhead. Lion 01 had been transported into the warship and Lucas now stood next to the warship’s door. He looked at Luo Ran and said, “I’m leaving.”

“Yeah.” Luo Ran nodded.

This scene had happened too many times, seeing Lucas off had happened too many times. Luo Ran had already gotten used to it.

From their youth until now.

He was forever watching Lucas step into a warship and leave in the dark, chaotic early mornings, and then watching Lucas return triumphantly amid sunshine and fireworks.

“Luo Ran.”

“Hm?”

“After I deal with M4, I have something to say to you,” Lucas said, pursing his lips. “You wait for me.”

“What…? Can’t you say it now? Or use your terminal…” Luo Ran said.

“Shush.” Lucas patted Luo Ran’s head. “I still need to think about it.”

“I…”

“The ceremony.” He spread out his hands. “I’m leaving.”

Luo Ran hesitated, then leaned close and hugged him, whispering, “I wish Admiral a smooth journey.”

This was a very frank hug in the past, but now Luo Ran’s face was a little red. 

Especially because he could hear Lucas’ heartbeat in this posture.

“Okay, luck charging complete.” Lucas let go of him. “See you.”

Lucas turned and went into the warship.

Luo Ran watched Lucas’ back disappear into the warship’s gaping maw, then its solid steel doors closed.

Following this, innumerable warships, aircraft, and mechas lifted off.

* * *

In the following few days, Luo Ran had very little time to rest.

The vast majority of his time was spent taking care of matters related to UNK, not to mention how Lucas, the one who was in charge of the overall situation, wasn’t there.

“Secretary Luo!”

Rong Duo handed a report to Luo Ran. “From the research institute.”

“Thank you.”

The newest batch of UNK from Luobing would arrive today. This was the last batch Luobing was sending before the UNK transports were suspended.

And Xia Zhi’s suggestion was to let Luo Ran take a team to protect this batch elsewhere until the people above made a decision, otherwise another storm would be set off in the research institute if it’s sent there.

Luo Ran got up. “I’m going to the port, Xiao Duo, can you tidy up the documents we’re using today?”

“Okay!”

The spaceport was close to the military camp on the outskirts of the city, and as a transit point for military cargo, it was guarded heavily.

Now that Luobing’s transport ship had landed, a large group of people were very carefully unloading packages from it to transfer on to the Empire’s cargo ships.

The packages were all filled with UNK.

“Ranran, you’re here!” Xia Zhi was there with a checklist. “You’re right on time.”

He randomly picked one of the packages to inspect.

Luo Ran handed him a pair of scissors.

“Wait,” Luo Ran ordered, seeing something.

“What…?” Xia Zhi also saw the red light coming from within the package and stiffened.

“Xiaxia–!”

Bang———

A red cloud exploded into existence, its shockwaves shaking even the nearby trees.

* * *

“Admiral…”

Lucas, who was spacing out on the main deck, turned to see Wang Qiuyang’s terrible expression. “What? M4 was sucked into a black hole?” he raised an eyebrow.

“No… It’s Secretary Luo… something happened.”

Lucas froze.

“But he’s fine! He’s okay!” Wang Qiuyang hurriedly added. “He’s not hurt.”

With a face even darker than Wang Qiuyang’s, Lucas ordered in a low voice, “Speak.”

“Luobing installed a lot of bombs in the latest shipment. When Secretary Luo and Doctor Xia went to inspect a package, the mechanism inside activated and explosives went off at the port. Fortunately, Secretary Luo and Doctor Shen were standing on a high platform, Secretary Luo reacted quickly and jumped off with Doctor Shen, so they don’t have any serious injuries, just some superficial flesh wounds.”

“Bombs?” Lucas shouted. “Are the sensors at customs and the hyperlane broken?! They don’t have any detectors left? The inspectors are all dead? What do you mean superficial flesh wounds!”

Lucas immediately pulled out his terminal to call Luo Ran, only to remember that he probably wouldn’t be able to pick up. He was a little anxious as he held the terminal, and his expression was so stormy that he seemed as if he were going to devour people.

“We’re still investigating… It should be a problem on Luobing’s side, their plans were interrupted by our people’s actions. The government has also started an investigation into the details,” Wang Qiuyang reported. “You don’t need to worry  about their injuries, Admiral… We have a different problem.

“For some reason,” Wang Qiuyang said with a bitter face, “after the explosion, Secretary Luo could melt and refine the UNK with his bare hands.”

Lucas completely froze in place. “What did you say?”

“Um… Melt UNK with his bare hands,” Wang Qiuyang repeated, still feeling surreal. “The capital is in complete chaos…”

---

Author:
One of his identities is about to be revealed, light a candle for Secretary Luo

Translator:
The cost/benefit of UNK research has happened over and over in our history too whenever any new substance pops up — the most obvious parallel is probably polonium, which eventually killed Marie Curie from radiation, leading to uranium etc. Despite the pro-research side being the antagonists here, neither side is strictly wrong. Thoughts? And Happy New Year!

Footnotes:
1. Duke [公爵]: unsure if this is a name (Gong Jue) or a ducal title

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