“The Alexander of the Milky Way has cut his Gordian Knot.”
The Gazer spoke softly, his voice echoing through the dark void, majestic and grand.
“Do you think our Federation will be his Macedonia?” a blurry fountain pen asked.
“Perhaps it will, perhaps not,” the Gazer replied. “I do not know how the branches of the future will eventually be pruned. I only know that, at least for now, the man we are watching... might not become the kind of person neither of us wishes to see.”
“I know you want to say ‘lone despot,’ but I told you already—he is a good boy. That is the judgment of an educator.”
The Recorder chuckled. He floated within a crimson restoration solution, his dorsal tentacles stirring waves that looked like liquid red crystal.
“Just watch. the Solar Star will do it.” The Principal’s tone held a hint of pride, the pride of a teacher watching a young student grow. “He will be the one to end this war. And the future he brings will surely be a better one!”
“Yes!” a voice shouted. “The Solar Star will definitely do it!”
“...”
The Recorder was startled by the outburst, which was louder than his own voice. He looked toward the source: Shaun, who was currently calibrating and maintaining the filtration equipment for the restoration solution.
“This system is fully adjusted now. There won’t be another filtration failure like the ‘last time’ I mentioned,” Shaun said, shrugging in his casual clothes. “You can keep watch over the Academy for a few more years. But please, don’t overwork yourself.”
“Thank you, Shaun,” the Recorder said, offering his sincere gratitude. “How should I repay you?”
“I want a person,” Shaun said with a smile. “His name is Cen Yan. He’s a former medical researcher, currently a member of an execution squad under the Solar Star’s command. His captain is Lucas Kong.”
“Is this your wish, or someone else’s?” the Recorder asked.
“Mine, of course. Is there a problem?” Shaun spread his hands. “You only care about the collective concept of humanity and the specific safety of this school... don’t you?”
“...”
The Recorder suddenly laughed. “Quite right, child... as long as you fulfill your promise. I will send the man to you, but you must provide a candidate to fill the vacancy. Cen Yan is an excellent point man, and young Lucas is not easily fooled. If he complains directly to the Solar Star, it will be difficult for me to handle.”
“Understood. I will provide an even better candidate for the point man position,” Shaun nodded.
After their discussion, Shaun didn’t linger for small talk. He left the unique ‘Principal’s Office’ immediately.
Truthfully, he wanted the man for the Resistance. He had already established contact with them, but he hadn’t earned their trust yet and couldn’t return to their glorious ranks.
*But it doesn’t matter,* Shaun thought. *My current identity is more valuable than a single Resistance esper.*
He remembered clearly that in his previous life, around this time, the main force of the Resistance began to leave their long-held bases. Using several planets as outposts, they gradually revealed their existence to the interstellar public while secretly scouting for desperate talents among humanity.
But an incident occurred back then that Solo Morgan, the leader of the Resistance, would always regret. After they contacted a former medical scientist named Cen Yan, some of their supposedly secret operations were discovered by his captain, Lucas Kong.
In the ensuing pursuit led by Lucas himself, Cen Yan—who had disconnected from the controller network and defected—was shot dead on the spot. Lucas, in turn, was nearly wiped out by other high-level espers from the Resistance.
If Evenheiler Kong hadn’t appeared at the critical moment to stop them and persuade Lucas to retreat, the conflict would likely have escalated into a regional war, which would have been disastrous for the Resistance’s subsequent development.
Even so, other tragedies followed. Upon returning to the Federation, the Kong family and Kong Pharmaceuticals were accused of treason for various reasons. This incident was cited as key evidence.
Subsequently, on the eve of his scheduled wedding, Lucas Kong and his father, Essengard, were executed. The entire trial and sentencing took less than seven days.
Throughout the process, Lucas didn’t even resist.
Some speculated it was because his childhood idol, his uncle, had become an enemy. But Shaun knew better. Evenheiler had told him that it was because, until the very end, Lucas firmly believed the Solar Star would come to save him.
Unfortunately, just like years before, the Solar Star—who was outside Federation space—never received a single piece of information regarding the trial or the execution.
The man carrying the weight of the world lost another friend... a rare and precious old friend.
And amidst these repeated schemes, the loss of everything he held dear was considered one of the fuses for the later ‘Bloody Internal Control’ incident.
An administrative planet within the Federation was personally purged by the Solar Star. Not even a fragment of the planet remained.
According to the timeline, that was a major turning point in interstellar history. Its significance lay primarily in the fact that this was when the Solar Star began his descent down a path of no return. That alone triggered catastrophic consequences that the galaxy simply could not bear.
*So, since I have the fortune of living again... I cannot let that future play out once more!!*
But this absurd, dark future was something Shaun didn’t know how to explain to anyone, even as he forced himself to recall it.
He could only do his best to perform his duties. Despite having his heart healed by his comrades in the Resistance in his past life, Shaun remained a man better at fighting than socializing.
In the botanical garden beneath the Academy’s central air circulation system, the blonde youth closed his eyes slightly, his expression grim.
To stop the future from spiraling into despair, the Solar Star was the key.
Even if it was perhaps just a dark dream that only he remembered, he had to do what needed to be done. Even if this wasn't the same space-time he had lived through, even if he had simply inherited the memories of a parallel self...
...He had to fight to the end.
And the first step was to prevent the Solar Star from destroying habitable planets and administrative capitals, from every possible angle!
***
“Aside from those that had already awakened and were intercepted by me in deep space, the number of planets I’ve directly destroyed over the years does not exceed two hundred. Most were uninhabited; no one cared about them.” Imperial Blade shrugged. “As for the inhabited ones...”
In the starry void where only the two of them remained, he turned to stare at Raytin’s visor.
“...It is a natural moral trap, Solar Star. It was painful for me to cross it as well. Back then, I believed that the seeds of injustice could not grow a tree of justice—”
“What did you do later?” Raytin asked.
“I accepted that I am unjust,” Imperial Blade said softly. “Killing, destroying, participating in invasions... I am a villain in the eyes of my enemies anyway. Why trouble myself with self-reflection?”
Indeed, Imperial Blade was not a good man.
In fact, from the perspective of the alien races surrounding the Tane people, Imperial Blade’s crimes were beyond redemption. From the Human Union’s perspective, even if he hadn't caused major losses at the border back then, he had certainly killed Orion soldiers.
But... Imperial Blade could act this way now because he had already endured too much. All the pain and choices had happened centuries ago.
Raytin, however, could not. He was only in his twenties, though many often forgot his age.
...But he really was only in his twenties.
In an interstellar society where the average lifespan had drastically increased, ninety percent of the users on the Star Net were older than him. Theoretically, if a technical talent like him weren't a soldier, he would still be in school—and that schooling might last until he was sixty before he could be considered a "fresh graduate."
So, even knowing that some things had to be done, and even though he had already made his choice, the moral struggle still existed.
After all, he was a young man—a young man who was inherently kind and could even be called righteous. Although many now considered this so-called kindness a fragile joke, he still dreamed of traveling on a plantation ship with Evenheiler.
If he crossed that line...
...How would the people of the Federation see him? How would Evenheiler see him? How would his past self see him?
For the first time in his life, Raytin felt a flicker of concern regarding the gaze of others, because the weight of this reality was too heavy. It could not be measured on the scales of normal logic.
However, no matter how much he hesitated, he knew—
—Some things simply had to be done by someone.
Raytin glanced at Imperial Blade. He knew the other man was telling the truth, or at least the truth as perceived from his perspective. In their previous mental exchange, Raytin had performed an analysis and deconstruction on Imperial Blade that would have utterly crushed a broken soul like Evenheiler’s.
The result of that deconstruction wasn't surprising: compared to fighting, holding power, or diplomacy, Imperial Blade truly preferred farming and shaping planets. Just as Raytin himself, compared to fighting, power, and diplomacy, preferred a low-pressure ordinary life... and occasionally doing some handicrafts.
Furthermore, for a race like the Tane—a race so powerful and full of fighting spirit—why would they simply abandon their true home planet and migrate as a whole to a world where it rained boiling water every day?
—Because, in every sense of the word, their home planet was long gone.
And looking at humanity—a race so powerful, aggressive, and ambitious—why would they simply abandon their true home and gamble their entire race on a future possibility?
—Because if they stayed home, everyone would die.
In a sense, the two of them were kindred spirits.
Raytin accepted Imperial Blade’s request and received a wealth of knowledge from him on how to distinguish whether a planet was actually a large-scale Abyssal Demon in disguise.
He didn't ask why the man had performed such a thankless task for so many years despite knowing it would lead to his death.
Nor did he point out that when that day came, the man actually wanted a heart-pounding final battle. But by comparison, ensuring he was completely dead before his corruption was finalized was the more important task. Thus, the request he prioritized was for Raytin to leave him with no power to fight back.
“The young sun takes on a new responsibility because responsibility found him,” the Recorder murmured. “He caught the last person who fell into the abyss laden with sin. But, Gazer, do you think he has ever wondered... if one day he must fall like that, who in this world will be there to catch him?”
“In the nearly ten thousand major branches of parallel worlds we have observed, there is no future where the Solar Star is corrupted,” the Gazer said. “The ‘Immovable’ is an eternal bulwark. It cannot be breached...”
“No, you misunderstand, Gazer.” The Recorder let out a long sigh. “This is merely an elder’s concern for a child... can you understand that?”
“But you are also part of the responsibility that found him,” the Gazer said.
“...”
The blurry fountain pen of the Recorder swayed slightly for a moment, then suddenly let out a soft laugh.
“You see,” he said, “I really am a hypocrite, and quite skilled at self-deception, aren’t I?”
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
哥丹结 | Gordian Knot | A metaphor for an intractable problem solved by a bold stroke.
独夫 | Lone Despot | A term for a tyrant or autocrat who is isolated from the people.
岑砚 | Cen Yan | A former medical researcher and member of Lucas Kong's squad.
卢卡斯·康 | Lucas Kong | A squad leader and friend of Raytin.
埃森迦尔 | Essengard | Lucas Kong's father.
索罗·摩根 | Solo Morgan | Leader of the Resistance.
异魔 | Abyssal Demon | Cosmic horrors or entities that can disguise themselves as planets.
不动 | Immovable | Raytin's core trait or power, signifying absolute stability.
血腥内控 | Bloody Internal Control | A tragic historical event in a previous timeline.
