After Prince Janus screamed, the scene immediately turned into chaos.

People screamed and gasped, some even panicked and accidentally pinched their best friends, causing them to scream as well.

Prince Janus, however, continued chasing General Ortas. Naturally, with Ortas’s skills, he could not be caught. After dodging several attacks, he even curled his lips in a smirk, mocking Prince Janus.

“Your Highness, when I met Wangxing, you were still in middle school. You don’t need to be angry about something so long ago, do you? Or are you still stuck in the kindergarten phase of my friends not being allowed to play with others?”

General Ortas words received an outraged retort from Prince Janus: “You bastard! You don’t understand the relationship between me and Brother Ye at all!”

The onlookers’ eyes lit up, they saw some drama unfolding.

However…

Amid such chaos, Woden felt that as the host of the banquet, he had to stand out and restore order.

‘He said he would come. So what? These two are still about to fight.’

Woden took a deep breath and scolded the guests while thinking in his mind.

After shouting a few times and seeing that the banquet guests ignored him, Woden glanced at his little uncle, who was about to attack, and gritted his teeth, deciding to control the source of the chaos first.

In front of everyone, Crown Prince Woden took a swift step between Prince Janus and General Ortas.

He interrupted what they were about to say.

Under the angry gazes of the onlookers, Woden sternly scolded Prince Janus: “Enough, little uncle! Stop! You are tarnishing the image of our royal family. I order you to stop immediately, you—”

However, Woden’s righteous words were cut off halfway when the angry Prince Janus grabbed him as if he were picking up a chick.

…He casually threw him into the nearby swimming pool.

Alina and Martha, watching Woden’s unfinished words bubble in the water, staring in shock: “…”

“So, is Prince Janus really that strong, or is Woden just that weak?” Alina asked, twitching her lips.

Martha covered her eyes, unable to look, and said: “Probably both. But even thrown into the water, it’s useless. Woden is four or five years older than Prince Janus, in the prime of youth, yet he has no ability to resist…”

The Emperor would definitely not trouble his younger son for such a weakling.

Alina nodded, about to agree, but the sudden change in the scene immediately drew her attention.

Even the other guests stopped paying attention to the Crown Prince.

—Rescue drones were in the pool, ensuring no one was in danger, so there was no need to worry.

Even Ye Bai, seeing the drones reach Woden, immediately looked away.

Woden: “…”

Woden watched as even Ye Bai turned his gaze away. Everyone ignored him, the host of the banquet. He should have been the center of attention!

‘…Clearly, that Janus guy has designs on the throne, otherwise, he wouldn’t target me like this!’

Woden thought coldly.

He had posed as if mediating, and as a royal, Prince Janus should have shown him respect. But in reality? Janus threw him aside, humiliating him by tossing him into the water.

At first, he didn’t understand why, but now it seemed that Janus wanted to disgrace him publicly under the pretense of making him look ridiculous.

However, compared to being thrown into the water for mediating, the fact that Janus argued over a man out of jealousy disgraced the royal family even more.

The more Woden thought about it, the more he felt this was the case. He grabbed a towel from the rescue robot, wiped the water off his face, and prepared to admonish Janus again.

But when he looked up, he did not see Janus angrily chasing General Ortas.

—Instead, he saw Prince Janus being held by Ye Bai’s older brother around the waist.

Although Ye Bai’s older brother was older than Janus, his frame was smaller, and he did not seem capable of restraining Janus.

In fact, Janus instinctively relaxed when embraced by the young man behind him. He seemed to continue pushing forward, but his muscles were no longer exerting force.

“Janus, calm down first.”

The young man seemed to feel Janus relax. He immediately grabbed Janus’s arms and turned him around, placing himself between him and Ortas.

“I am friends with Ortas. He has helped me a lot before. This is just his nature, he was joking with me this time. I was not bullied. Don’t worry, okay?”

The young man spoke to Prince Janus as if he were a child, even raising his tone at the end.

General Ortas, standing behind, seemed to realize he had been a bit excessive, so he only moved his lips and said nothing further.

He just looked at Prince Janus with a slightly surprised expression.

“…Brother Ye, did you stop me for him?”

Hearing this aggrieved voice, Ye Bai looked up and gasped.

What was sparkling in Prince Janus’s eyes?

—Could it be tears?

Prince Janus’s voice sounded like a puppy that had been kicked, both aggrieved and whimpering. Although he did not clearly make a whining sound, everyone present unconsciously imagined it.

Obviously, the young man was also shocked by Prince Janus’s performance. He froze for a long time, only able to hear the teenager with glacier-colored eyes cry out to him in grievance.

“Brother Ye, do you think that old man is older than me, so you subconsciously stood on his side?”

The teenager spoke, tears glistening in his glacier-colored eyes. Even though he felt extremely wronged, he forced himself to look fierce.

“—I’m only 19! What he has, I’ll definitely have later! You can’t favor him because of this!”

The young man seemed dazed by the teenager’s face, yet also felt that what he said made sense. In any case, he nodded subconsciously.

…Alina and Martha watched as a vein popped on General Ortas forehead.

“I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before…”

Seeing General Ortas about to walk up to the two of them, Alina whispered to Martha.

As World War II seemed about to break out for the second time, Martha quickly tapped on her lightbrain and pulled up the palace intrigue drama she had watched last night, showing it directly to Alina.

In the drama, the newly entered imperial cousin whispered softly to the noble consort: “…Sister, I said it two years ago. Whatever you have, I will have too.”

Alina: “…I didn’t expect it to really be a palace intrigue script. So in the end, who won? The noble consort or the cousin?”

Martha calmly said: “I don’t know, the finale hasn’t aired yet—besides, the queen from a merchant family and the general’s daughter haven’t entered the palace yet.”

Alina was silent.

“…Is this playwright really not adapting from real life?”

Ye Wangxing did not know that Alina and Martha were already worrying about the safety of the palace intrigue drama’s writer.

He lay tiredly on the sofa in the system space, questioning 19 about where he had learned those clever moves.

【…19, what exactly did you watch? Could it be that the database I bought you earlier corrupted you?】

Ye Wangxing worried greatly. To him, this system, straight from the war zone, had social skills no worse than pure Jasmine, yet it now knew this kind of manipulative behavior. Either the database had a problem, or someone had corrupted him!

…Then Ye Wangxing began sweating profusely.

In the past few years, 19 had barely interacted with anyone besides him. Ye Wangxing did not believe that 17 could have corrupted him in just a few days.

After eliminating other possibilities, the culprit was obvious.

‘17! Full of melodramatic scripts, now 19 is really corrupted!’

Ye Wangxing felt a surge of guilt. Meanwhile, 19 calmly observed his host’s emotion monitor trigger alarms. The CPU ran slightly and knew that his host probably thought he had been corrupted, which was somewhat comforting.

【Host, the recent actions were generated by the previously installed database. Although they slightly exceeded your script, the result was actually good.】

19 said calmly: 【Host, you don’t need to feel guilty. Thinking you corrupted me is irrelevant, for a system, no such thing as being corrupted by someone exists. These are just databases.】

【We do not generate emotions by ourselves.】

19’s words first relieved Ye Wangxing. But when he heard the last sentence, his heart skipped a beat.

【Ah…you don’t generate emotions by yourself.】

Ye Wangxing said with slightly low spirits.

He had thought there was a bond between him and 19.

But thinking about it, 19 was a silicon-based lifeform, and all its emotions relied on the emotion simulation module.

This was similar to how the human body produces chemicals that create happiness or sadness.

He realized he had been overthinking.

Ye Wangxing tried to console himself. Just when he felt better, he looked up and saw 19 unusually not looking at him, showing signs of panic.

【…Host, actually it is not only the emotion simulation system that triggers our reactions, our CPU itself can produce emotions.】

19’s voice remained calm, yet Ye Wangxing sensed a trace of panic. Perhaps it was just his illusion.

【…But this function cannot be turned on normally, it only activates during significant emotional events.】

Ye Wangxing watched 19 react for a long time and finally understood: the system did not have the ability to generate emotions by default, but now it did.

【Is this function activated now?】

Ye Wangxing looked up and smiled as he asked, and 19 regained his calm expression, nodded, and said:【Yes, Host, the function had been activated.】

19 paused briefly before speaking seriously:【In the days to come, we would be each other’s most important partners.】

Ye Wangxing smiled brightly and said, 【Of course!】

After this wave of emotion passed, Ye Wangxing finally returned to the mission and began to discuss the task seriously with 19.

【…The side missions increasing from four to six had a considerable impact. The front lines were extended, and I felt that the world’s fate line became smarter. Originally, this banquet scene should have appeared at the royal palace banquet.】

Ye Wangxing rested his chin on his hand.

Although he didn’t know why someone would plot against another at a royal banquet, this location heightened the sense of humiliation Ye Bai would feel.

However, after they altered part of the storyline, Ye Bai’s original humiliation scene had been moved up by several weeks.

But thinking about Ye Bai’s love-struck brain gave Ye Wangxing a headache.

This love-struck behavior was completely different from the others. Based on the past few days’ interactions, Ye Bai genuinely liked Woden.

Previously, Ye Wangxing had even had 19 help him control an account to try to create someone else to humiliate and psychologically manipulate Ye Bai.

But unfortunately, it failed.

Ye Bai seemed determined on Woden.

【Since the difficulty for the Host increased, the controllability of the fate line also improved. Without significant stimulus, the protagonist apparently wouldn’t wake up this time.】

19 calmly added.

【Moreover, the arrangement of the fate line perfectly matched the protagonist’s personality, which was why he had firmly chosen Woden and wouldn’t let go.】

Ye Wangxing held his forehead, sighed deeply, and resignedly said, 【Then I’ll pay attention to him. As long as the Ye family doesn’t follow the original ending, that’s fine. First, we need to attract attention, that’s the most important thing.】

19 nodded and began discussing the next mission.

After planning the next script with 19, Ye Wangxing suddenly thought of a question and asked curiously:【By the way, 19, when you played Prince Janus before, how could you act so naturally? You really looked like a wronged little dog.】

Ye Wangxing didn’t dare to ask about General Ortas.

In fact, at that moment when his hand pressed down, he internally exploded and screamed, the sensation had made him blush instantly.

Thinking about it, Ye Wangxing instinctively glanced at 19.

Looks almost like General Ortas’—stop thinking, stop! Too lewd!

Ye Wangxing almost slapped his own face while 19 seriously answered his question.

【Because of you, Host.】

19 answer left Ye Wangxing stunned. He tilted his head and pointed to himself: 【Me?】

19 nodded calmly, still expressionless, but his words carried weight: 【In previous missions, the roles you played were all very cute, very canine-like according to humans. I simply imitated your behavior, but I couldn’t mimic your soul. There’s still a hint of fierceness.】

19 voice carried a trace of regret.

Ye Wangxing: “…”

He silently covered his suddenly flushed and hot face and slowly said: 【…No, this is already fine, really.】

Ye Bai didn’t know what his older brother had experienced in that lounge, he only knew that when his brother came out, his face was red as if he had been in a sauna.

Meanwhile, the other two, General Ortas and Prince Janus, walked out radiantly, almost making everyone think they had been swapped.

Seeing their private gestures, people realized they hadn’t been swapped—just soothed.

This made everyone even more curious about Ye Wangxing’s relationship with General Ortas and Prince Janus.

But they couldn’t get the answer now and reluctantly left the banquet.

After their departure, gossip about the scene spread among noble families, becoming the talk of the banquet. Ye Wangxing’s nickname as the “little country bumpkin” disappeared, replaced by the rightful title “Ye Family’s Eldest Young Master.”

Tags around him changed from “country bumpkin” to “business-minded, made a lot of money at once, strong supporter of poverty alleviation,” and so on.

However, this also worried some people.

Alina and Martha each grabbed Ye Bai’s arm and quietly asked: “…Has your brother really not contacted His Excellency Semos or Count Unobert recently?”

Ye Bai watched Woden chatting happily as he walked and whispered: “No way. My brother has been busy with his platform. The previous small projects and the wool blankets hype haven’t ended yet, he’s thinking of new ideas and other trends.”

Ye Bai, Alina, and Martha had come together this time because of Woden’s invitation.

Actually, Woden had only invited Ye Bai, but Alina and Martha didn’t trust his judgment and decided to come along to protect their “plastic friend.”

Of course, they prepared thoroughly—alarms, disposable defense devices, defensive spheres, even three oxygen tanks—just in case Woden did anything reckless that might harm Ye Bai.

They also prepared one for Ye Bai.

Yet Alina and Martha still looked forward to the restaurant.

It was the largest new underwater restaurant on the Capital Star, directly in the ocean, surrounded by coral reefs.

To protect the local ecosystem, the owner had the environmental bureau install defensive facilities, ensuring ecological preservation while allowing people to observe local underwater species.

Unlike previous artificial seas, this one preserved the real complex ecosystem of the Capital Star, only traveling to other planets could people experience those unique underwater environments.

Alina grew increasingly excited. This newly built underwater restaurant hadn’t opened yet, not even for her mother, a princess, yet she got to come first.

She clenched her neural interface, planning to capture photos, videos, and holographic images for her mother.

Unfortunately…

{Why do we have to wear this?! It’s so ugly! Why must we wear it?! Why must we go underwater?! Can’t we just have a normal meal in the restaurant?!}

Alina screamed into the squad channel, hurting everyone’s ears.

Woden frowned and scolded his startled cousin: {This is to show respect to the guests! Alina, you insisted on coming, don’t act crazy now.}

{Woden, you big idiot! Look who’s acting crazy! Who in normal business wears a diving suit, relying on robots to feed them underwater?!}

Alina harshly scolded her cousin.

Woden clicked his tongue and looked at Martha, trying to get her to correct Alina.

But Martha didn’t stop Alina, instead silently stood by her side to show support.

—Woden really acted like a lunatic this time, insisting on wearing diving suits and sitting by the coral reefs.

Then robots delivered dishes inside diving hoods, feeding through tubes.

The service was meant to let diners experience eating within a natural ecosystem.

But to protect the ecosystem, they couldn’t touch the coral or fish, and had to wear heavy suits.

This impractical setup was unpopular, many had failed trying similar experiences. The owner had initially only offered it to advertise the service, hoping some gullible customer might try it.

—Then Woden, a gullible fool, came, bringing clients along to try it.

{You don’t understand. A kid who’s never done business wouldn’t know. Some clients have never seen my style. If they get surprised, they might sign the deal.}

Woden raised his chin and swam to the reserved spot, heavily burdened by the diving equipment.

Alina and Martha were also led by the robots, looking unhappy, even Ye Bai felt speechless.

At the reserved location, the clients and Woden’s assistants and technicians waited stiffly at the table. Robots attached tubes to the diners, looking like life-support devices.

Woden didn’t notice the clients’ grim expressions and went straight to chatting with them.

But…

Why does Woden act like he’s the client, when he’s actually the service provider? Why isn’t he serving them, yet makes them serve him?

Alina messaged Martha via neural interface.

Martha was puzzled too, but thinking of Woden’s personality, she summarized:

‘Hasn’t he always done this?’

Alina nodded in agreement, but glanced up and grew bored. She decided to explore the restaurant with Martha and Ye Bai.

With the robots guiding them, they weren’t afraid of anything.

Ye Bai, watching Woden chat happily with clients, looked at Alina and Martha hands, and decided to accompany his friends.

Alina and Martha were slightly touched, thinking he had finally come to his senses.

{If Woden needs me, remind me in the group channel.}

Seeing Ye Bai remind Woden before leaving, Alina rolled her eyes and forcibly dragged him along.

Woden waved dismissively, showing he didn’t need him.

Ye Bai sighed, restrained himself, and began accompanying Alina and Martha to explore the area.

They only walked along the restaurant’s edge, planning to finish that first before exploring the sea further.

Alina kept complaining in the squad channel about Woden’s foolish behavior, saying that she could have worn a light diving suit but now had to wear this bulky, ugly equipment.

{…My mom will die laughing! This is so ugly, I wouldn’t even look at this before!}

As they reached a curved outer corridor of a private room, the lights inside caused them to stop.

They intended to bypass or turn back, not wanting to eavesdrop, but the people inside froze them in place.

Martha quickly activated lip-reading translation on the neural interface.

The two inside were His Excellency Semos and Ye Wangxing.

Inside, Semos spoke excitedly while Ye Wangxing remained silent—seemingly awkward.

Soon, the translation appeared: “…You agreed to break up with me because you thought I discovered your previous relationship?”

The cat-eyed man looked shocked and wronged, speaking to the young man.

“—I just wanted you to comfort me at that time! What did you think I was?!”

 

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