The young man's breath suddenly became heavy, and he almost couldn't help but cry out.
Li Yao hurried to pinch Li Jialing's neck, in case both of them were exposed to the terrifying "white-haired witch".
Li Linghai's whole attention seemed to have been focused on Li Lingfeng, or rather, Li Lingfeng's mouth. In a trance, her flawless, delicate face seemed to have truly cracked, from which regret, hatred, reluctance, and persistence for power leaked out. She did not notice the anomaly of Li Yao and Li Jialing at all.
However, after only several seconds, those feelings were all frozen, as if the invisible mask had been glued together again.
Her heart was frozen, and there was not the slightest flaw left.
"It seems that from the moment you personally gave the order to blow up the unmanned exploration starship, my good sister has turned into the people she used to hate and despise, such as me, a monster that feeds on power."
Li Lingfeng smiled. "Yes, the fetus was just a product of your impulse. Or rather, it was the last remnant of the weak, sentimental Li Linghai in the past. After the explosion of the unmanned exploration starship, the fetus was destroyed, and the Li Linghai in the past was completely dead. From the deformed body, a brand-new person was born. She was the scheming, ambitious queen of the Imperium!
"Such a queen of the Imperium will do whatever it takes to achieve her purpose. She will not care about anybody, including her own children.
"Therefore, when she learned that the wretched fetus, her only weakness and greatest flaw, was not obliterated and was even raised into an adult, she did not hesitate for half a second before she prepared to destroy the fetus for a second time and kill her son in person, the 'stumbling block' that hindered her ultimate purpose. This time, you are here specifically for that. You are here to kill, not to save, aren't you?"
Li Linghai was silent for such a long time that Li Yao and Li Jialing both thought that she might deny it or at least find some excuse.
But in the end, the queen of the Imperium, whose hair was pale and whose eyes were almost transparent, smiled and said, "What went wrong exactly? Was it the unmanned exploration starship?"
"Yes."
Seeing Li Linghai's acquiescence, Li Lingfeng knew that Li Yao and Li Jialing must've heard the cruel answer. He smiled even more brilliantly. "Long before that, I had already been keeping an eye on you behind the family's back. My original intention was to learn some intelligence about the royal palace in advance through you so that I could seek greater interests in the family.
"At that time, your wings were not fully developed yet, and your wisdom was not perfect yet. How could you have obtained an unmanned exploration starship without alarming anyone and performed such weird modifications on it without alarming anyone?
"You should thank your brother properly, because I helped you kill two people back then to prevent the secret of this unmanned exploration starship from leaking out. Otherwise, this matter would've been known to the whole city a long time ago. It wouldn't be like this right now, where only you and I know!"
"So that's the case. In the past, I was indeed too naive, too childish, and too impulsive."
With one hand behind his back, Li Linghai rubbed his temples with the other hand, as if he were lamenting his foolishness in the past. His cold eyes leaked out through his fingers. "So, what do you want exactly by raising my child after decades of hard work?"
"He is not just your biological son but also my biological nephew. Since you do not care about your own flesh and blood, it is perfectly reasonable for his uncle to raise him!"
Li Lingfeng said with a smile. Then, his face suddenly changed, and he raised his voice. "I should be the one asking you that question, sister, Your Grace, Li Linghai! Over the past decades, you have been recruiting, raising subordinates, and establishing a secret fleet in secret. Recently, you seem to have also been in touch with the young and bottom-level officers in the fleets of the Imperium while the fleets of various Sectors are united and fighting on the same side when the Imperium is marching toward the Holy League on a large scale. What do you want exactly?
"Hehe. However great the misunderstanding between you and me is, we are compatriots after all, and you will always be surnamed Li! It doesn't matter if you are bold and reckless, but if you get burned one day, your reputation will be ruined, and you will be a burden to me, your brother, and your entire family!
"Therefore, whatever your plans and purposes are, you might as well speak frankly and communicate with each other in case you ruin yourself, me, your family, and even the entire Imperium in the end because of your reckless actions!"
"Ruin the Imperium?"
Li Linghai chuckled. With brilliance that was hard to tell whether it was firmness or madness beaming out of his eyes, he shook his head and said, "No. I am saving the Imperium."
"Saving the Imperium?"
Amused, Li Lingfeng waved his arms and said, "The Imperium of True Human Beings today includes the most prosperous Sectors in the sea of stars. There are too many experts, too many tough generals, and more than a million starships. The 'Holy League', our old enemy, has just suffered a crushing defeat on the battlefield. This is the most prosperous time in the past five hundred years, no, a thousand years. Why are you talking about 'saving'?"
"Are you speaking from your heart, or are you just saying the brainwashing propaganda out of habit?"
Looking at Li Lingfeng in the eyes, Li Linghai said casually, "Cut the crap. You and I both know that the Imperium today is no longer the Imperium a thousand years ago, and the Immortal Cultivators today are no longer the real Immortal Cultivators a thousand years ago, either!
"A thousand years ago, when Blackstar the Great founded the Imperium of True Human Beings, how vigorous, ambitious, and prosperous it was!
"At that time, everybody was full of ambitions. The hominoids were the fuel, and the Immortal Cultivators were the power units and the battle units of the iron tank. Everybody was united, allowing the civilization of mankind to march forward unstoppably in the boundless sea of stars, expanding, expanding, and expanding again, evolving, evolving, and evolving until the limits of the universe, the limits of civilization, and the life limits of mankind as the strongest fighting species in the universe. That was the loftiest dream of the Immortal Cultivators and the people of the Imperium a thousand years ago!
"However, after a thousand years, has such a magnificent and boundless dream been realized?
"Hehe. Let's not talk about 'bravely exploring the unforeseen lands and surpassing the limits of all the intelligent lives in history'. We haven't even discovered or conquered the largest territory of the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago. In many fields, we are not even as good as the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago. Those were the ancient people ten thousand years ago!
"What have we achieved after sacrificing the lives of billions of hominoids as fuel? Isn't our so-called dream the greatest joke?"
Blushing, Li Lingfeng could not help but retort, "Sister, don't push him too hard. You know that the Star Ocean Imperium inherited the enormous heritage of the Demon Beast Dynasty that lasted thirty thousand years and was directly enlightened by the primeval civilization, or the so-called 'Book of Revelation', which enabled the civilization of mankind to develop rapidly.
"Ever since the Mad Armageddon's betrayal and the collapse of the Imperium and the dark war that lasted almost ten thousand years, many worlds have fallen apart, cut off from each other, and developed on their own. The Imperium of True Human Beings has only been reorganized for a thousand years, and it is now faced with the threat of the weird enemy that is the Holy League. It can't be helped that the glory ten thousand years ago cannot be restored. Have you wavered the ideology of the Immortal Cultivators because of that?"
"Wrong. I have not wavered the ideology of the Immortal Cultivators. I have always been the most loyal believer of Blackstar the Great. However, the selfish, greedy, and corrupted guys like you have long betrayed Blackstar the Great and the lofty belief that the real Immortal Cultivators can sacrifice everything for the civilization of mankind. You have been reduced to slaves of your selfish desires. You are fake Immortal Cultivators!"
Li Linghai bulged his eyes and sneered. "It will be understandable if the dreams and vows from a thousand years ago cannot be realized because of temporary difficulties. But look at the foul Imperium today. Look at the corrupted nobles, dukes, and rentiers. Look at the worms who are clinging to their territory and interests and fighting for the cake with no regard for the overall interests of the Imperium and the civilization of mankind. Can those people really be compared to the pure, real Immortal Cultivators a thousand years ago? Do they really deserve such a glorious title as' Immortal Cultivators'?
"The simplest example is the war between the Imperium and the Holy League.
"The war this time is the desperate counterattack of the Imperium after hundreds of years of preparation. The expedition army includes the most elite fleets and experts of hundreds of Sectors. They have indeed conquered dozens of Sectors unstoppably on their way. Dozens of prosperous, prosperous, and strategically important Sectors!
"Right now, the Holy League has been heavily wounded and is struggling on the verge of death. As long as all the nobles and fleet commanders are united, fearless of sacrifice, and selflessness, there is absolutely a chance for us to march into the heartland of the Holy League and eliminate the great problem!
"Even if we cannot crush the Holy League, I believe that we can at least deal a fatal blow to the enemy, making it impossible for the enemy to recover in the next three to five hundred years. It will be impossible for the enemy to compete with the Imperium in the sea of stars!
"I can think of such a simple logic, but you can't? Can the noble lords in the court not think of it? Can the family leaders, the leaders, the dignitaries, and the fleet commanders not think of it?
"However, hehe. Nobody is willing to make sacrifices and risk entering the heartland of the Holy League for an arduous battle of annihilation.
"Nobody is willing to face the desperate counterattack of the Holy League.
"Everybody is keeping an eye on other people. It will be best if the fleets of other lords perish together with the fleets of the Holy League, and they will be able to reap the benefits.
"Furthermore, even though the war is not over yet, all the lords and warlords have already set their eyes on the dozens of prosperous Sectors that have just been conquered. The hot cake is not out of the oven yet, and countless claws can't wait to reach it!
"Therefore, although the situation in the frontline is going well right now, the war cannot be fought anymore.
"The military theorists raised by the nobles and the lords have proposed countless reasons why we should not attack recklessly. They have even declared that the Holy League has been crippled and that it will not be a problem for the Imperium in the next hundred years because the Imperium has secured the most glorious victory in the past thousand years. Perhaps the idiotic hominoids will believe the bulls * it, but you and I both know that we are missing the best opportunity, aren't we?
"This is the current situation of the Imperium.
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