Julien was still saying something onstage, but Wen Yuzhi could no longer listen.
When he thought of the guess in his heart, the conflicted emotions in his eyes nearly spilled over.
Just as the cub’s expression grew more and more solemn, and his brows were about to furrow, a broad, warm palm landed on his hair with a familiar strength and presence.
Wen Yuzhi raised his head. What entered his eyes was Mansendis’s face.
“Dad...”
“Mm.”
The silver-haired sovereign answered. Because the cub was still wearing a crown on his head, Mansendis deliberately avoided that spot and instead covered the back of the cub’s neck with his palm.
Wen Yuzhi’s hair had already grown quite a bit longer. The strands scattered behind him were like smooth, soft brocade.
Only, this movement made the livestream viewers unable to help seeing things...
[It feels like a huge beast like a lion or tiger carrying its own cub...]
As the cub being carried, Wen Yuzhi also opened his round eyes and wanted to mewl to his father to “complain”...
No, that was not right. He wanted to remind his father about the suspicious points concerning Dan.
But Mansendis seemed to have already guessed what the cub wanted to say.
He soothed his cub and told him, “Don’t worry.”
As he spoke, Mansendis paused, then added, “Selet is already investigating this matter.”
Anything that had been done would always leave traces. Dan’s methods in doing these things could not be considered especially brilliant either. As long as they patiently investigated afterward, suspicious traces would eventually be discovered.
It was just that the Alliance was too anxious to reverse public opinion.
It was not that they had failed to see the many suspicious points in this incident. They simply did not care.
After all, Dan was already dead.
He had been killed by Mansendis in front of countless people in the livestream room.
No matter what intentions Dan had, no matter what he wanted to do, he was already dead now.
People often did not spend too much energy on someone who was already dead.
The Alliance only wanted to get this matter over with as soon as possible.
But Mansendis was more cautious.
After realizing Dan was very likely the person who had been secretly targeting the Saint Clan all along, Mansendis had Selet investigate his situation.
The materials on Dan that the Alliance had obtained back then—Mansendis had known their contents even earlier than they had.
And the information the Saint Clan had learned was even more detailed.
It mentioned that the biological soldiers of the Soldier Ant Project were an experimental project led by Kegso, while Dan himself had been researching another project.
However, Dan had almost complete control over this experimental project. He was also the only researcher in the entire project, and he had activated the highest level of confidentiality mechanism. Therefore, no one knew exactly what he was researching.
All they knew was that the code name of this experimental project was Ouroboros.
Wen Yuzhi had once learned from King of Spades that Ouroboros had been regarded as a symbol of immortality in ancient civilization.
So... he boldly speculated that the experimental project Dan had been researching might have something to do with immortality.
Wen Yuzhi was still thinking when Mansendis rubbed his hair and said, “You don’t need to worry about these things. We’re here.”
Those schemes and conspiracies were not things a cub of Wen Yuzhi’s age should be considering.
What he needed to do was study well and grow up happy and healthy.
As for everything else, adults like them would naturally keep all wind and rain outside for the cub.
Seeing that the cub still looked full of doubt, Mansendis simply said, “After we go back, ZhiZhi will write me a report about this conference.”
Wen Yuzhi had just transformed into Wen Sherlock Zhi, sorting through the clues, but as soon as he heard that he would have homework to do after going back, all his messy thoughts instantly vanished.
His bright, sparkling eyes seemed to lose their highlights in an instant.
Almost visibly, the cub wilted all over.
The livestream viewers also felt deeply sympathetic when they heard this.
Homework or whatever...
It really was terrifying, okay?!
For most people, compared with those stories about Mansendis killing other royal-bloods and ascending the throne, this one word—“homework”—had a far greater impact.
They had not personally seen the former, but they could completely empathize with the latter.
#What Kind Of Happy And Joyful Experience Is It To Have A Dad Who Cares Very Much About Your Studies#
While Wen Yuzhi was worrying over the homework to come, the question-and-answer session onstage and below had already ended.
In the face of questions from representatives of various races, Julien’s attitude remained gentle from beginning to end, and his answers were flawless.
He emphasized what the Alliance had done and also admitted the Alliance’s failures.
To a certain extent, Julien’s conduct had indeed somewhat calmed the anger in the representatives’ hearts.
Originally, because their people had died in the incident, they had been dissatisfied with the safety preparations on Blue Luster Star.
But Julien promised to compensate the victims and repeatedly guaranteed that such an incident would never happen again.
And the sincere attitude shown by the Alliance gradually made the representatives of every race calm down.
Before anyone realized it, the rhythm of the entire conference had once again been taken under the Alliance’s control.
Julien stood onstage. Seeing that the atmosphere was more or less ready, he finally proceeded to the last part of the conference.
This was also the most crucial content of this conference.
“Thank you all for coming here. We are holding this conference to discuss the future development of the interstellar world.”
Julien spoke slowly.
“Many things have happened in the major star regions recently. Countless wars and disasters have brought us too much pain. As everyone knows, the original purpose of establishing the Alliance was to maintain peace between star regions and preserve order in the interstellar world...”
At this point, Julien’s gaze swept across the audience below.
His tone was sincere and firm.
“So here, I would like to propose that all interstellar races once again sign a new peace treaty, so that we may help one another and work together.”
Julien had laid so much groundwork. When he said this final sentence, some representatives below instantly realized that this was the Alliance’s true purpose.
Gathering everyone together for a meeting, apologizing, and announcing the investigation results were all merely to lead to their ultimate goal—the peace treaty Julien had mentioned at the end.
The last time the interstellar world signed a peace treaty had been several hundred years ago.
The Alliance had also been established at that time.
Because the peace treaty existed, the Alliance, as the bond connecting the races, possessing the ability to mediate disputes and being responsible for supervising whether each race violated the treaty, could be said to have had its power expand to an unprecedented degree back then.
They did not belong to any race, yet they possessed their own army and territory. Their position stood directly above every race, making them the highest authority in both name and reality throughout the entire interstellar world.
Julien’s proposal to sign a new peace treaty was an attempt to recreate the Alliance’s former glory.
Who benefited most from the signing of a treaty?
Of course, the Alliance, which held supervisory and enforcement authority.
But for the other races, especially some powerful races, the Alliance holding too much power was not a good thing.
After all, no one wanted an emperor above their heads pressing down on them.
The Alliance’s power had been continuously shrinking in recent years, and there had been no lack of certain races pushing this along from behind the scenes.
However, they could not directly reveal any intention to oppose it.
Especially now, when the conference was being livestreamed, and this livestream was facing the people of every race in the entire interstellar world.
Before Julien raised this proposal, he had also pulled up a grand and righteous banner—peace.
He first spoke of the wars and disasters that had appeared in the interstellar world, heavily emphasizing the destruction these wars and disasters had brought everyone. After mobilizing everyone’s emotions, he then spoke of peace and signing a treaty, making everything seem natural and logical.
Julien had skillfully drawn an equal sign between the two.
At this moment, even if everyone did not particularly want to sign this peace treaty, no one dared reveal opposition in front of the livestream.
After all, opposing the signing of the treaty would be equivalent to opposing peace, would it not?
And opposing peace at a critical moment like this would undoubtedly draw the anger of the people of every interstellar race.
They were not the Saint Clan. They could not bear the infamy of being a public enemy of the universe.
Speaking of the Saint Clan...
These people could not help looking toward where the Saint Clan was seated.
Everyone was very curious.
How did the Saint Clan view this peace treaty?
The last peace treaty had been signed by almost every race. Only the Saint Clan had not participated.
Aside from the Saint Clan ignoring the outside world, there had also been the fact that every other race had intentionally or unintentionally excluded the Saint Clan.
No one had expected that the current situation would be completely reversed.
The Saint Clan, once excluded, had now become the center of attention.
All the other races were curious about the Saint Clan’s attitude.
Seeing this, Julien knew very clearly that he could not allow everyone’s attention to remain on the Saint Clan.
So he gave Raymond An a look.
Raymond An nodded and hurriedly issued an order to his subordinates.
Very soon, some races in the hall that had long since attached themselves to the Alliance stood up to speak.
“I think Lord Julien’s proposal is excellent. If the interstellar world wants to develop, peace is most important. Once everyone signs the treaty, we can mutually benefit, help one another, and progress together. Isn’t that good?”
“The previous treaty is clearly somewhat outdated. Redrafting a new treaty is also to adapt to the current situation.”
“We, the Sake race, support signing a new treaty.”
“We, the Miller race, support it as well...”
These races stood up one after another to express their stance. If one observed carefully, one would discover that they were all races that were usually very close to the Alliance.
With them continuously coming out in support, the other races also clearly began to waver.
To be honest, as the interstellar organization everyone was most familiar with, the Alliance’s authority still existed.
For some medium and small races, they had also long since grown used to having an Alliance pressing above their heads in addition to their own governments.
Therefore, they were the easiest to sway.
On the human side, the princes and princesses of the Hoffmann royal family were also discussing fiercely with the ministers.
And the decision they made leaned toward agreeing to sign.
“Idiots.”
The official sitting beside Xi Heyan remained silent for a while, but in the end, he still could not help cursing in a low voice.
Anyone with eyes could see the Alliance’s hidden ambition in this matter.
A peace treaty could be signed, but the problem was that it could not be signed with the Alliance.
It was undeniable that when the Alliance was first established, its purpose had indeed been for everyone to coexist peacefully and develop together.
But times had changed. After so many years, under the erosion of power, the current Alliance was no longer the Alliance from the beginning.
From a sword representing justice and authority, they had gradually become a mountain pressing down on the heads of every race.
Whoever had a good relationship with the Alliance and sent enough offerings would receive tilted resource distribution.
This was already an unspoken understanding in the interstellar world.
Conversely, if the Alliance disliked you, they could pin a charge of violating the treaty on you and send their army into your territory and country with perfect justification.
And what made the official feel sorrowful was that as children of the royal family, they could not even see this point.
They were even rushing to curry favor with the Alliance.
Thinking that the imperial royal family currently leading the human race was actually such a group of fools, then thinking that they too had once had a glorious past...
The official sighed and said, “If only your parents were still alive...”
Xi Heyan lowered his eyes and said, “As long as the emperor is still this emperor, and the royal family is still this royal family, my parents absolutely could not have lived until now...”
So this assumption did not exist.
With Bernard’s nature, he absolutely would not have let the Xi family go.
The official clearly knew this as well, and he was somewhat speechless because of it.
Instead, Xi Heyan took the initiative to speak, lightly brushing this topic aside.
“Uncle Allen, do you think the Alliance can get what they want?”
This “Uncle Allen” nearly made the official’s eyes redden.
The Damian family had always owed this young master quite a bit.
In the turmoil back then, Damian had lost both a family head and an heir. They had resented the Xi family, believing they had been implicated by them.
It was only after Bernard continued suppressing Damian’s forces afterward that these people awakened to the truth. Even without the Xi family, the Damian family would have suffered this calamity sooner or later.
Their power had developed too greatly and had long since become a threat to the royal family.
What was more, the Damian family was different from other nobles. They also had the same golden hair as the royal family, and royal blood flowed in their bodies as well.
Only, by the time they realized this, it was already too late. They had long since missed the best opportunity to bring Young Master Izeer back to their side, and the Damian family had no choice but to go into hiding under a series of suppressions.
Therefore, Xi Heyan’s attitude toward them could not be considered intimate either. At the very least, he could not trust them and speak with them the way he did with Uncle Chong and the others.
Now that Xi Heyan could call him uncle, Allen could not describe how moved he was.
Princes and princesses or whatever—he directly threw those people to the back of his mind and turned to analyze the situation for Xi Heyan.
“It will probably still be very difficult for the Alliance to achieve its goal.”
“Look. The ones standing up now are all races without much influence. The truly powerful races still haven’t stood up to speak.”
The powerful races represented by the merfolk and elves were all still sitting steadily in their seats.
Someone tried to learn the merfolk side’s attitude.
Haisena directly replied, “Among the races present, in terms of strength, the Saint Clan ranks first. If you want to ask me, my answer is that if the Saint Clan signs, we merfolk will sign.”
These merfolk clearly looked as if they intended to take the Saint Clan as their leader.
Haisena had contacted the Saint Clan adjutant named Alvin quite a lot over the past two days.
They had already reached a deal in private.
The Saint Clan would sell energy ores to the merfolk, and the merfolk would select a batch of the highest-quality pearls and gemstones each year to send over.
It was said that the Saint Clan planned to use these pearls and gemstones to make accessories for their little highness.
Of course, aside from this, Haisena had also learned from the Pat race that Mansendis wanted to use star cores to inlay his beloved son’s crown. She immediately very perceptively offered several beautiful planets.
And the Saint Clan was clearly an extremely wealthy and generous thigh. What they gave the merfolk in return was three destruction-class warships.
This value was much higher than a few pearl planets.
It made Haisena exclaim that she had truly hugged the right thigh.
With both sides very satisfied with their transaction, Haisena naturally could not possibly lose her mind and go against the Saint Clan.
So she told those people to ask the Saint Clan’s opinion.
As for the Saint Clan...
Mansendis said, “The Saint Clan refuses to sign the treaty.”
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