8.9

The King couldn't be rescued and was overcome by the shock. The doctor exited the room and announced that resuscitation attempts had all failed, he pronounced the King as dead that very hour.

All the people who were summoned today waited outside as the medical aid was given. They all heard the doctor's words first hand. Therefore, even if the Queen wanted to suppress news of the King's death, her hands were tied. It was nearly impossible for her to silence so many people. Furthermore, the King's death was called, so those present went in to pay their last respects. They all saw it with their very own eyes.

The Queen and Farley were in a deep dilemma once the King passed away. The Queen wanted to select a child from the royal family for Farley to adopt. She needed a child who wasn't too young, but wasn't too old either. Another factor the Queen had was that the child needed to be easily controlled.

However, everything from Jovin's sudden poisoning to the divorce to a new bride candidate and finally to the King's death. Everything all happened too quickly. The Queen was caught off guard and had not time to prepare or arrange anything at all, since she had to focus her time on those matters..

There was supposed to be a succession ceremony for the throne after the King's funeral. Unfortunately for the Queen, the sole heir to the throne, Farley, was barren. Those who all had ambitions for the throne were all united in opposing Farley's candidacy. They all knew that their only chance to ascend the throne would only be viable if Farley no longer had claim to the throne.

Farley's two uncles were the ones who objected Farley's claim to the throne the most. They felt that they should be next in line since Farley was unable to fulfill the need for bearing the next generation. They maintained their reasoning as 'the royal bloodline should remain as pure as possible'.

There were also some officials who believed that the successor to the throne should have been Tang Ao's father. Farley's grandfather never fulfilled his promise to return the throne to the rightful heirs. They believed that this was the time to finally fulfill the promise. Tang Ao was their choice for the rightful heir to the throne.

Because of this division, the officials and nobles of the capital planet argued endlessly. There was no one who didn't support someone. However, there was also no single candidate that they all united under.

—-

"Hnng~ Ah, ahhn." Qiao Chen moaned. His back faced Tang Ao as he sat straddled on Tang Ao's dick. This position made him feel a little embarrassed, so his body was even more sensitive than normal. His voice was even trembling from the sensations.

Tang Ao wrapped his hand around Qiao Chen's waist and thrust upwards. Both his hands and his mouth were busy as he melted Qiao Chen into a puddle.

….

Once they finished their exercise, Qiao Chen lay in Tang Ao's arms in the same position as he was in earlier. After a few moments, Qiao Chen turned around and gave Tang Ao a sweet lover's kiss.

Tang Ao hugged Qiao Chen. His fingers tiptoed and caressed Qiao Chen from his chest down to his abdomen.

"How is it going for that person that you prepared?" Qiao Chen asked.

"It's nearly complete and should be done in a day or two." Tang Ao replied as he lay butterfly kisses on Qiao Chen's neck. "I think you are way better than the prophecy. Why should I even bother with getting the prophesy when I already have you?"

"That's not the same. I don't have the power to convince the entire nation even if you think I'm better than the prophecy- well, I can't convince the entire nation as quickly as the prophesy can."

The supposed prophesy book wasn't actually a real book. As a matter of fact, it was a precise computing device. Not only was it able to predict changes or future crises in the universe, but it was also able to find locations of special minerals to the specific planet throughout the universe with an accurate probability rate. However, to use this device, a special energy source was required to even be able to turn it on.

The Queen forced Farley and Qiao Chen to marry in hopes that their children would have that energy to activate the prophesy. This would further cement Farley's claim to the throne as well as give her the ability obtain more minerals to refill the coffers of the already squandered treasury.

Qiao Chen was actually able to calculate the things the device could with the help of his system as well. However, it would cause unnecessary trouble if other people found out about it, so he had to keep it a secret.

Qiao Chen remembered from his past life's memories that a magnetic storm would soon approach the empire. In the last life, the nation was caught unawares, so there were no defenses mounted up. No one was able to evacuate in time either. The storm had severe disasterous effects on six of the nation's galaxies. It also affected ten other galaxies to varying degrees and caused countless casualties.

The nation suffered a heavy set back because of the magnetic storm's devastating effects. The nation's treasury had already been near empty for a long time now, so the government wasn't able to buy enough food or supplies to assist the ravaged galaxies.

It was Tang Ao who was able to mobilize for food and supplies from the southern border later on. His galaxy also took in a lot of refugees and gave them a home. This won him a large part of the people's hearts.

However, this was a different life now. Qiao Chen wanted to help Tang Ao both win the hearts of the people as well as help him help the nation in avoiding the magnetic storm's devastating consequences. Therefore, Qiao Chen warned Tang Ao that there was a magnetic storm approaching. Tang Ao sent someone from the southern border to investigate this, and it was just as Qiao Chen had claimed. The dangerous magnetic storm was approaching.

Qiao Chen also told Tang Ao about possible solutions they could use to deal with the storm courtesy of his system. Tang Ao was very shocked and confused about how Jovin would even know that a magnetic storm was approaching. Jovin's knowledge on how to deal with it shocked surprised him even more. Tang Ao asked more about Qiao Chen's near omniscient knowledge, but noticed that Jovin didn't want to speak further on the issue, so he refrained from asking any more questions.

Their plans had moved quite smoothly. The plan progressed so much compared to when they had discussed the fake marriage first. They easily figured out how to force the King to take his last breath. Now, they needed to deal with this magnetic storm. Even though they knew how to deal with the magnetic storm, they couldn't just take action out of nowhere. They needed to use the prophesy device to help them 'figure out the solution' and then continue with the rest of their plans. People would quickly question Jovin's capability. Furthermore, they'd quickly become suspicious of how he was able to obtain such knowledge. Luckily, everything so far was proceeding as planned.

The magnetic storm was detected from several of the nation's galaxies while people on the capital planet continued to fight for the throne. Their machines recorded that the storm's range and intensity were immensely large. Furthermore, through further investigations, they also confirmed that several galaxies would be hit by the storm. Everyone in those particular galaxies were up in arms.

Magnetic storms were the most destructive natural disaster in the universe. They were also notoriously known as the hardest disaster to defend against. In all of the empire's history so far, there was no possible method for them to completely defend themselves against it. They would be at the storm's mercy.

The members of the royal family had no time to concern themselves over the next in line for the throne. The entire nation was currently anxious over the upcoming disaster. The common people were at a loss. They didn't know what to do, so they pushed for the royal family and the officials to come up with a solution.

If it was just one or two galaxies that would be affected by the storm, then they would be able to do a mass evacuation. The other neighboring galaxies would be able to send in assistance as necessary. However, there were over 6 galaxies that would be ravaged by the storm. Even if everyone attempted to evacuate, it would take a long time to even begin the process. They needed to figure out how to evacuate such a large amount of people as well as temporary housing for every single household. Furthermore, the evacuation didn't solve the problem that such a large section of the nation, such as land, the houses, and even equipment, would be basically destroyed by the storm. These would cause severe economic losses to the already poor nation.

The nation was in a panic. Both the royal family and the officials couldn't come up with a proper solution. Soon, some officials proposed to turn on the prophesy book as they saw the storm get closer and closer. Something had to be done even if it was a last ditch effort.

Everyone knew that the device needed someone who had that Emperor's Yang Energy gene. However, there wasn't anyone who even knew what that energy gene thing was. They began to wonder if there was a way to substitute it for something else. There wasn't much of anything they had on hand that could expend enough energy to activate the device. What made things even more difficult was that the prophesy book was a sacred relic of the royal family, no one dared to attempt experimenting with it.

This was still a nation in crisis. All options needed to be exhausted to find a solution. Some officials began to suggest that Tang Ao, who had the royal lineage, and Jovin, who had the physique and constitution as required by the book, needed to come together and attempt to activate the prophesy book.

The palace and temple were still under the Queen's power since the new King had yet to ascend the throne. She loathed to give Tang Ao and Jovin the chance to make that last ditch attempt, but was forced to due to public opinion.

All the members of the royal family and officials all gathered outside the temple. The temple doors opened, and only the royal family and high-ranked nobles entered the hall where the prophesy book was kept. They all waited with baited breath to see whether or not the prophesy book would activate.

The people inside and outside the hall all had their own thoughts and aspirations. Most of them actually hoped that the prophesy book would activate. The lives and futures of six to ten galaxies were on the line after all. It was terrifying to even think about how so many planets and homes would be crippled by the magnetic storm.

However, there were also people who feared that their statuses would be threatened by Tang Ao and Jovin activating the device. Some of these people happen to be the Queen and Farley. The two currently stood in the hall alongside Farley's two uncles. They truly believed that the throne was far more important the insignificant lives and things on those planets and galaxies. They knew that public opinion would definitely fall in complete favor of Tang Ao and Jovin if they were able to activate the prophesy book. This would be absolutely detrimental to them and their plans for the throne.

The prophesy book was placed on the main hall's highest platform. The was a rectangular wooden box on this platform. It was about the same size as three or four people. From the outside, the wooden box had intricate carvings etched into its walls. It looked like a book from a distance, but the wood was just the outer shell. The device within the wooden case was what needed to be activated.

There were some things that looked like medical instruments next to the prophesy book. These instruments were supposed to extract Tang Ao and Qiao Chen's energy from their bodies and then transmit it to the device.

The Queen stared at the prophesy book and instruments beside it. She sneered inwardly, 'How could this approach succeed? Once this foolish ploy ends, I need to make sure that this Tang Ao and Jovin are charged with defiling the sacred royal relics.'

Tang Ao held Qiao Chen's hand. The two entered the hall together. The Queen and Farley fiercely glared at the two as they passed by them. Tang Ao and Qiao Chen continued without pause and walked up to the platform.

Tang Ao opened the wooden device. Then he affixed the instruments to the various parts to his body. Finally, he secretly took out a black looking plate from his clothes and inserted it into an inconspicuous slot on the wooden device. No one in the hall was able to see this action except for the Qiao Chen standing beside him.

The rock that Tang Ao inserted was Jovin's father's relic. It was a black gold energy board. Black gold was the rarest substance in the entire universe. It was harder to find black gold than it was to find a grain of rice tossed into the desert. This kind of energy board would be able to emit enough energy for an entire galaxy to use for ten years. Therefore, Tang Ao believed that it should be enough for the prophesy device to activate if he used the energy plate.

Jovin's father came across the energy plate by accident. He was afraid that if people knew of this a powerful device, then trouble would only follow. That was why he hid it. No one else was given knowledge of the plate's existence not even Jovin's grandfather. Jovin's father didn't even realize that the energy board was capable of turning on the prophesy book. He just knew that it was far too powerful for a mere person to hold.

There weren't many people who believed that Tang Ao and Jovin would be successful. Even though they had these doubts in their hearts, they couldn't help but stand up once they saw Tang Ao and Qiao Chen covered in wires. This was their last hope for saving their nation. They all held their breaths as Tang Ao and Qiao Chen placed their hands on the crystal screen in the wooden case.

Qiao Chen and Tang Ao both felt a slight tremor from the screen under their palms. The instrument had already turned on. Then, the crystal screen emitted a bright light white. Everyone stood below the platform were stunned once they saw the prophesy book turn on. Over ten beams of light immediately shot out and projected several images from the screen. There were countless numbers and formulas that swirled in the air. Then it expanded and pushed out until it stretch around the platform and revolved.

"Impossible…"The Queen uttered as she stared in wide-eyed disbelief. The shock made her forget the time and the place. She began to cry in disbelief, "This is impossible! Impossible, I say!"

The Queen's voice reverberated throughout the hall. It brought the people who were shocked into a stupor back to reality. However, her cries echoed loud enough that the people outside of the hall to heard it as well.