The problem Wen Yuzhi had shown in this incident was that his awareness of his own safety was still not strong enough.

So the poor little rabbit—ah no, Wen Yuzhi—was made to sit properly at a desk and chair and attend a special safety lesson that Mond had prepared exclusively for him.

During the lesson, Mond very seriously explained to Wen Yuzhi how a cub should protect himself.

The very first rule was not to let yourself fall into a dangerous situation.

And the entire lesson basically revolved around that first rule.

First of all, Mond told Wen Yuzhi that as a cub who still needed protection, he absolutely could not casually shake off all the protective forces around him.

This was probably a common failing shared by many young masters and young ladies born into wealth and status.

These pampered young masters and ladies who lived in greenhouses always liked so-called freedom and disliked being watched over and restrained by a whole crowd of people all day long.

The most common plot in dramas was these young masters and ladies growing sick of the rules and restraints at home and, in pursuit of something fresh and exciting, deliberately ditching their bodyguards and running off to the slums to have fun.

And in those stories, without exception, those young masters and ladies would definitely meet the love of their life in the slums.

Either a down-and-out true destiny who was only temporarily trapped in the shallows, a dragon biding his time, not to be mocked for his poverty in youth—

Or a wild rose growing recklessly in the slums, bold in temperament, overflowing with vitality, and carrying a completely different air from the noble young ladies.

No matter which kind it was, those young masters and ladies would be deeply drawn to them and end up with a romantic love story.

But in reality, what happened far more often was that once they no longer had bodyguards at their side, what those young masters and ladies encountered after entering the slums was not some romantic love story at all, but one scam and trap after another.

If they were lucky, they might still survive after being kidnapped. If their luck was worse, they might just die outright.

After receiving Mansendis’s order, Mond had taken this matter very seriously. He had specially collected relevant cases from the various races across the interstellar world, then combined them with the Saint Clan’s actual circumstances before finally putting together this safety lesson just for little Zhizhi.

Of course, little Zhizhi himself felt that he had already grown up, so sitting through this kind of safety lesson meant for cubs felt embarrassing no matter how he looked at it.

But faced with Mond’s earnest instructions, Wen Yuzhi still nodded obediently and said, “I’ll remember it from now on.”

Never drive away all his personal guards again, never go alone to an unfamiliar place, never make contact with Saint Clan outside, never get mixed up with some random poor boy...

Hm? Wait, something weird seemed to have gotten mixed in there.

Only then did Mond realize that among those case studies, aside from ditching protective personnel, the other races also emphasized another situation that required special caution.

That was that those young masters and ladies who had always followed the rules from childhood were especially easy to fool emotionally by poor boys from outside, and there were even quite a few examples of them eloping with them.

Perhaps it was because he had not been paying attention, but when Mond was organizing the material, he had accidentally included that part too.

But...

Mond looked at those rebellious young masters and ladies from the other races in the case studies, then looked at Wen Yuzhi sitting upright in front of him, listening carefully to his explanation.

Compared side by side, no! There was simply no comparison at all!

In the eyes of this old chief affairs officer, their little highness was the cutest cub in the whole world, without equal.

And how could such a well-behaved little highness possibly be bewitched by some poor boy from outside like the people in those examples?

Besides, the little highness was still so young. Puppy love was bad.

Even if he was going to date, he would at least have to be an adult... no, no, no! Even adulthood was still too early. Better wait another few decades, or a hundred years...

Thinking that, Mond deleted that section without another word.

Wen Yuzhi knew nothing about any of this. He listened carefully to the whole safety lesson, then obediently wrote a full page of reflections afterward and handed it to Mansendis.

As he watched the silver-haired sovereign pick up that sheet of reflections, Wen Yuzhi stood off to the side feeling a little nervous inside.

Strictly speaking, this should count as his first “homework assignment,” and this one even needed a parent to personally look it over. Mond had already read it just now, so now all that remained was Mansendis’s side.

Second by second, time passed.

Every so often, Wen Yuzhi would raise his head and sneak a look at Mansendis.

Unfortunately, the silver-haired sovereign’s expression was indifferent. From his face, Wen Yuzhi could not tell whether he was satisfied or not.

He could only wait eagerly.

Mansendis had actually already finished reading it long ago.

The reason he was not saying anything was mainly because the cub’s curious yet afraid-to-disturb-him expression was simply too adorable.

Like a little cat—obviously so curious it could barely stand it, yet still forcing itself to stay patient, able only to look over with those watery eyes.

Ever since the cub’s molting period had ended, perhaps because he felt he had already grown up, Wen Yuzhi had become much more restrained in words and expression.

The baby fat had faded from his face. With his lips pressed tight and his face deliberately set, the boy had grown strikingly beautiful, while his expression had also become calmer and steadier.

At a glance, he already somewhat looked like an adult.

And yet right now, because of his curiosity, Wen Yuzhi did not even notice that when he kept glancing over at Mansendis, he was no longer maintaining that previous composed bearing.

Instead, the way he kept blinking and peeking at Mansendis completely exposed the childishness underneath.

Although in Mansendis’s eyes, there was nothing about his child that was not good—Even when he put on a stern face and pretended to be grown up, the contrast was still irresistibly adorable...

Compared to that, though, he still preferred Wen Yuzhi like this now—more childish.

A cub ought to look like a cub. What was the point of going around with a stiff face all day?

Still, Mansendis had a sense of measure. He knew teasing a child once in a while was fine, but if he dragged it out too long, the cub might end up being teased to tears.

Thinking that, Mansendis set down the homework in his hand. Under Wen Yuzhi’s eager gaze, the silver-haired sovereign gently placed his palm atop his head.

“Very good. Zhizhi summed it up very well.”

Mansendis rarely gave the evaluation “very good.” Even when faced with important state affairs that could affect the Saint Clan, he usually only responded with an “Mm.”

The Saint Clan below him had long since gotten used to the silver-haired sovereign’s cold attitude whenever they came to make reports.

And yet now, Mansendis had said “very good” to a child’s homework assignment.

Hearing Daddy’s praise, Wen Yuzhi naturally became so happy he could hardly bear it. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The expression on his face showed it clearly—the boy’s eyes shone brightly, a flush of excitement spread across his fair cheeks, and he even leaned his head closer, rubbing affectionately against Mansendis’s palm.

But after praising him, Mansendis still did not forget to remind the delighted cub that all the contents of the safety lesson had to be remembered.

If it had been any other royal-blood, there naturally would have been no need for such repeated instruction.

In the past, Mond had never given any of those royal-blood highnesses a safety lesson at all.

After all, who in this world would dare kidnap a Saint Clan royal-blood?

How was that any different from pulling teeth out of a tiger’s mouth?

It was just asking to die.

Not only did they not need the protection of personal guards, even all the personal guards combined might not be able to beat a single royal-blood.

But Wen Yuzhi was different.

He was too special.

In Mu Luo’s words, the skill points of all other Saint Clan, without exception, had been allocated to strength, whereas Wen Yuzhi’s skill points seemed to have gone crooked and all been put into cuteness... ahem, rather, into mental power.

A classic fragile support type with combat power worth only half a cent.

Given the huge gap in physical constitution, the educational methods used for royal-bloods in the past were clearly not suitable for Wen Yuzhi.

Mansendis could only start from external factors. The personal guard, the military, the fleet, and so on—without exaggeration, the armed force Wen Yuzhi now possessed was comparable to that of any country or race in the interstellar world.

The military and fleet that, in other races and nations, could serve as the protective force of an entire nation or species were, in Mansendis’s hands, merely the basic “bodyguards” protecting his child.

Beyond that, given that the cub’s mental power was far stronger than his physical capabilities, Mansendis also planned to teach him personally, so that Wen Yuzhi would learn to use his mental power as a weapon to protect himself.

But there was no rush on that for the moment.

Right now, there was something else even more important.

“...I’m going to be Daddy’s assistant?!”

Wen Yuzhi froze.

He had thought that after attending the safety lesson and writing the homework, his “punishment” was already over.

Unexpectedly, Mansendis told him those things had not been the “punishment” at all. The real “punishment” was only beginning now.

Starting today, Wen Yuzhi had to stay by Mansendis’s side at all times, and his task was to take over the work Mond and Alvin usually handled, from the most basic things like serving tea and passing water all the way to helping sort government affairs.

Other people had capable, efficient secretaries at their side.

And by Mansendis’s side... there was Assistant Zhizhi.

Mansendis’s orders allowed no argument.

That very day, a smaller desk was placed beside Mansendis’s large desk.

And Wen Yuzhi was changed into clothes more convenient for moving around. Sitting behind the smaller desk and looking at the piles and piles of government affairs in front of him, he only felt that Daddy did not seem to love him anymore.

Just yesterday when he had come back, Daddy had been so emotional, and had felt so distressed for him. All the Saint Clan had treated him with utmost care, watching over him like he was a fragile porcelain doll.

And yet after only one day—no, to be more precise, only half a day—he was now sitting here working.

Could this... be the trouble of growing up?

Even though Wen Yuzhi had long since mentally prepared himself for the responsibilities he would bear after growing up, now that he was truly facing such a sudden change, he was still a little wilted.

But there was nothing to be done. Assistant Zhizhi still had to work.

He took a deep breath and lowered his head, forcing himself to sink into this ocean of documents.

Seeing the cub work so seriously, Mansendis showed nothing on his face, but inwardly he was satisfied and proud.

Actually, at the beginning, when he set this “punishment,” he had only wanted an excuse to keep the child by his side.

What happened this time had made Mansendis realize that if that Saint Clan member suspected to be royal-blood truly possessed some kind of spatial ability, then nowhere in this world could be considered safe anymore.

Only by keeping the cub where he could see him with his own eyes could Mansendis feel at ease.

And at moments like this, Mansendis could also understand the feelings of the silver giant beast in his mental sea. No place was safe enough for the most important treasure. Only by holding it in his mouth and hiding it away could one feel at ease.

It was just...

A child could not remain that small forever.

He would grow up in the end. He would want to go out and see the world beyond.

All Mansendis could do was accompany his child as he grew, clearing away every obstacle for the cub.

............

Just as Wen Yuzhi was working hard to learn how to ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ be Daddy’s little assistant, the Saint Clan warships finally arrived near Blackrock Star.

To avoid trouble and prevent panic, Selet did not act the same way as last time, when they had directly and overbearingly surrounded the capital planet of the human empire.

The few warships heading to Blackrock Star had all activated stealth mode.

Unless there existed something even more advanced than Saint Clan warships, no monitoring system would be able to detect a Saint Clan warship’s signal.

Selet and the others had arrived at Blackrock Star almost without a sound.

And they found the location of the laboratory as well.

Mainly because the explosion had blown the place into a field of ruins. A simple sweep from the air by the warship was enough to reveal the situation there.

And perhaps by some coincidence, before Selet and the others arrived, Chong Fengshuang had been leading people in a search through the ruins for traces of Wen Yuzhi the whole time.

They did not know Wen Yuzhi had already been taken away and thought that, like everyone else, he had been buried beneath the explosion.

The people from the base searched for a very, very long time. They turned over every corner and still could not find him.

This was not good news.

If they could find neither a body nor a person, then together with the earlier explosion, it was all too easy to think that perhaps he had already died in the blast, leaving not even a corpse behind.

Chong Fengshuang was unwilling to accept such a result, but because they lacked water and were even more desperately short on food, and the people who had stayed behind were all already reaching their limits, as the leader, even unwillingly, he could only accept the outcome.

In the end, for everyone’s sake, Chong Fengshuang had no choice but to decide to abandon the search.

At the edge of the ruins, they held a crude mourning ceremony.

After that, the group mounted the wolves and headed in the direction Chong Fengxue and the others had left.

And not long after they left, the Saint Clan arrived at the ruins.

The sulfurous smell left by the explosion had done an excellent job masking Chong Fengshuang and the others’ scent, so the Saint Clan did not notice that they had stayed there before.

Selet looked at the laboratory that had become a wasteland of ruins.

He frowned and kicked aside a cracked metal plate at his feet.

And on it was engraved an ouroboros symbol.

The cold serpent bit its own tail, while its scarlet eyes stared straight at whoever looked at it.

There was something indescribably eerie about the sight.

But Selet’s expression remained just as cold. The black military boot stepped down on it, instantly crushing the metal plate that had withstood the explosion into fragments. The ouroboros on it was ground into powder along with it and scattered away by the wind.

Selet paid no mind to a mere symbol. He had the Saint Clan soldiers search the ruins for the people the little highness had been worried about.

At the same time, Selet himself searched for the laboratory’s documents and data.

However, the explosion had destroyed this laboratory extremely thoroughly. All the data and records inside had been reduced to ashes in the blast, and not a single experimental subject remained alive either.

When this laboratory had been built, its designer seemed to have already considered how to destroy the “evidence.”

The other side was obviously decisive—and ruthless enough to carry it through.

Selet was not surprised by that.

What surprised him more was that they had not found the people the little highness wanted in the ruins.

He had the Saint Clan soldiers spread out to search the surrounding area, and also ordered the warship to scan from above for any signs of life that might exist.

And yet two days later, the Saint Clan still had nothing.

The warship had also failed to detect any trace of a single human on Blackrock Star.

What Selet did not know was that Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang had long since led their people into the snowfields. The land there was covered in bitterly cold ice and snow, while the base they were heading for was located several thousand meters underground beneath the snowfields.

The thick snow and the gate coated with a special protective layer shut out all prying from the outside world.

It was not that the Saint Clan had not gone to search the snowfields.

But the snowfields were simply too vast, and inside them there was only silence. Not the slightest sign of life could be seen.

After staying on Blackrock Star for several days, the Saint Clan still had not found a single living person.

Selet could only report the situation there back to Mansendis.

And when that news came in, Wen Yuzhi was sitting beside Mansendis, sorting that great stack of government affairs waiting to be handled.

When he heard that there were no signs of human life on Blackrock Star, the file he had just picked up slipped from Wen Yuzhi’s hand.

But Wen Yuzhi paid it no mind.