Extra: IF Route Nightmare.

Lenon opened his eyes in a daze, not knowing what year it was.

He and Lin You had fooled around a bit too late yesterday, and now his entire body ached. Even getting up was a struggle.

When it came to intimacy, the little Majesty was quite reserved at first. Even if Lenon hinted that they could do something more, he would just brush it off and make some trivial requests. However, under Lenon's deliberate indulgence and hints, Lin You began to show the skills expected of a veteran otaku.

They adapted to each other more and more, becoming increasingly intimate. So, after waking up, Lenon subconsciously reached out, wanting to scoop the little Majesty into his arms and ask for a good morning kiss.

But he grabbed nothing but air.

His fingertips failed to touch the warm skin of his beloved, instead brushing against a piece of cold metal.

Metal?

Apart from that gaming pod, there were no large surfaces of metal in Lin You's bedroom.

Lenon frowned, completely waking up.

"..."

He was not in the bedroom.

Before him was an iron-gray desk, with a solid black fountain pen resting on the pen stand. The walls here were painted snow-white, featuring a heavy metal door. A row of recessed downlights was embedded in the ceiling, and even the cast light was a cold white—solemn, austere, and utterly devoid of human warmth.

This was a lounge in the military department.

The sound of military boots stepping on the ground approached. Devon opened the door and looked at him in surprise, "Major General, why are you still here? The Third Prince is about to visit the Third Legion. Aren't you going to prepare?"

Lenon's brow twitched as his gaze fell on the desk calendar. Instantly, his eyebrows knitted tightly together.

The date was wrong. It seemed he had returned to five years ago, back to when he first met Lin You.

At that time, the little Majesty was still just the Little Highness. He came to the Third Legion for a routine visit, crushed Lenon's rose underfoot, yet took away his iris.

Back then, Lenon only treated it as a minor episode, never expecting it to be the beginning of everything.

Devon placed two vials of injectables on the desk and sighed, "Do you want to inject some? Once the Third Highness arrives, I'm afraid it will be very tough for you."

Lenon was still in the sensitive period of his first marking back then.

Lenon shook his head to decline, wanting to say it wasn't necessary, that Lin You wouldn't deliberately torment him. But as the words reached his lips, his heart suddenly tightened. An ominous premonition arose, as if something terrible was about to happen.

Lenon paused for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll inject it."

He rolled up his sleeve and injected the cold liquid into his forearm. As the medicine flowed through his muscles, it provoked a burning, dull pain.

Synthesized pheromones could not compare to natural ones and had some side effects. Almost the instant the liquid entered his body, Lenon felt dizzy. His temples throbbed with pain, and his joints grew weak. After steadying himself against the edge of the desk, he smiled in self-deprecation and thought, 'I really have been spoiled quite a bit.'

The Major General of the past could suppress all suffering without a change in expression, but staying by Lin You's side, he hadn't tasted this kind of feeling for many years.

Devon said, "Get ready. It's estimated that the Third Prince will land in twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes later, Lenon stood in the square holding a rose.

An aircraft painted with the Royal Family insignia slowly landed. The cabin doors slid open to both sides, and the Third Prince stepped out briskly, taking his place on the speaking platform.

Lenon watched from afar, his brow twitching again.

Although their appearances were similar, this was not his Little Highness.

His Little Highness had a gentle temperament. Even when trying his best to feign cruelty under the First Prince's surveillance, his eyes were always clear and bright. However, the person standing on the platform had a gloomy face, and the brutality in his eyes could not be hidden.

"..."

Lenon's grip on the rose tightened.

After the Third Highness finished speaking, he paced over to him, sizing him up critically. His expression faintly revealed disdain. Then, he snatched the rose from Lenon's hand, threw it on the ground, and crushed it under his shoe. Bright red juice splattered out, and the petals were mangled like mud.

Afterwards, without so much as a glance at Lenon, he walked away arrogantly.

Lenon followed behind him expressionlessly.

In a place where no one noticed, his fingers brushed over his chest, landing on the Iris Medal.

His Third Highness had thrown away the rose but taken the medal, even saying with a smile, "Compared to roses, I prefer irises."

Now, Lenon still wore this medal. Thorns and irises intertwined on the openwork pattern, scattering a silvery-white satin sheen, but the person who had taken the medal was no longer here.

The Third Highness before him was arrogant and rude. He toured the exhibition hall with his chin raised the entire time. When his gaze swept over the bloody recording footage, he showed disgust and covered his nose and mouth. "Blood is truly disgusting."

"..."

Lenon calmly maintained his disguise, entertaining the Third Prince with impeccable aristocratic etiquette. It was only when he finally saw off the Third Prince and walked back into his office that cracks appeared in his flawless smile.

He locked the bathroom door, filled the sink, and scooped up cold water to splash over his face.

During this, Lenon inadvertently looked up, only to find that his reflection in the mirror above the sink looked extremely wretched. Drops of water rolled down his hair, soaking a patch of his military uniform collar.

...Where was his Little Highness?

This person was not his Little Highness. Where had his Little Highness gone?

Over the next few weeks, Lenon used all his power to search for the whereabouts of the person in his memories. Yet, no matter how he inquired or investigated, he found absolutely nothing.

His subordinates told him that the Third Highness had always been cruel and arrogant. It was said that on the very first day he moved into the prince's mansion after coming of age, he activated the basement to whip and discipline any Female Zerg who displeased him.

According to descriptions from the mansion's servants, screams rang out incessantly. When those Female Zergs were dragged out of the basement, their wings were often whipped to shreds, their backs dripping with blood, left with barely a breath.

Lenon clenched the investigation results in his hands, his grip so tight he almost crushed the paper.

His Little Highness would never do these things. Although Lin You also had a special fondness for wings, he preferred soothing kisses. He would leave kiss after kiss on the wings and playfully pry at the sensitive wing crevices. He cherished this pair of wings even more than Lenon did and would never harm him in the slightest.

Devon noticed something was wrong with Lenon and repeatedly beat around the bush, asking what had happened. But Lenon merely shook his head and said nothing.

How could he describe it? That the lover who had been by his side for years and whom he treasured like a jewel; the intelligent and decisive Majesty he swore to protect; the Male Zerg who exchanged good morning kisses with him every morning and good night kisses every night, intimately entwined and the most important person in his life... had disappeared?

Lenon thought his heart was as hard as iron. After the Zone 35 Expulsion Battle, nothing could shake his resolve anymore. But now, it felt as if a piece of his heart had been hollowed out, leaving behind only an empty, dead silence.

Days passed like flowing water.

Lenon deliberately avoided meeting the Third Prince, filling his empty time with an overloaded work schedule. Anyway, what the Third Prince valued was the Colette Family's wealth. Lenon was merely an insignificant add-on, so it wouldn't affect much.

During this period, he constantly heard scandals about the Third Prince—perhaps publicly toying with a Female Zerg at an aristocratic banquet, or speaking disrespectfully to seniors in the military department... In short, aside from his identity as the Third Prince, he shared no similarities with the person in Lenon's memories.

As time went by, Lenon even began to doubt whether the gentle and beautiful Little Highness in his memories was just a dream he had hallucinated.

Soon, it was time for the Third Prince's coming-of-age ceremony. He sent an invitation to Lenon, inviting him to attend.

The invitation was sent directly to the Third Legion, received on his behalf by Devon, and handed over to Lenon. At the time, Devon sighed deeply and said, "I'm afraid it will be very hard for you to avoid this disaster."

For a prince's coming-of-age ceremony to deliberately invite an unmarried Female Zerg—and one he had publicly humiliated at that—it went without saying what he intended to do.

Lenon remained expressionless.

He resisted it from the bottom of his heart, but he had to go. As a person bearing guilt, he could deliberately avoid the Third Prince, but he could not turn a blind eye to his invitation.

Everything at the coming-of-age ceremony was similar to his past life, but unfortunately, when White humiliated him this time, no one spoke up for him.

Lenon lowered his eyes, listening as White pinned the charges on him one by one. He quietly accepted all the blame, neither defending nor refuting. However, in the silence, some hidden wound within his chest tore wider and wider, eventually surging like a prairie fire, transforming into an agonizing pain that pierced through his chest.

He really, really missed Lin You.

At the banquet, the First Prince once again brought out that bottle of Addictive Pheromone, and the Third Prince took him to the back room, sliding a glass of wine toward him.

Cherry blossom pink liquid in a tall glass, looking like a beverage an aristocrat would have with an afternoon meal. But Lenon knew exactly how malicious that substance was.

He lowered his eyes and reached out to hook his fingers around the glass.

This time, there was no one to stop him either.

This was the first time in both lifetimes that Lenon tasted the Addictive Pheromone. It wasn't crisp with a sweet aftertaste like white peach sweet wine; this drink was spicy and pungent. Gulping it down felt like pouring sulfuric acid into his esophagus. His throat burned with stinging pain, and his stomach cramped along with it.

Lenon couldn't help but fall to his knees and vomit. The potency of the Addictive Pheromone was far more than just that. An unfamiliar burning heat surged through his body; he began to feel delirious, his limbs going soft, until finally, he couldn't even throw up bile anymore.

Yet, under the extreme physical discomfort, he uncontrollably revealed a mocking smile.

...Was this how it was originally supposed to be?

In Lenon's initial expectations, it should have been like this.

The Third Highness was supposed to be brutal and ruthless, with vicious methods. He himself was supposed to have his dignity swept away, wagging his tail and begging for mercy. This was something he had prepared himself for long ago; he shouldn't have felt sad over it.

—If he hadn't met Lin You, that is.

If he had never experienced kindness, never felt gentleness, perhaps everything that happened today wouldn't have been so unbearable.

Lenon gripped the corner of the table. Under the effect of the liquid medicine, his vision and hearing blurred. Everything before his eyes turned upside down, dizzy to the extreme. But suddenly, someone touched him, calling softly, "Lenon? Lenon?"

That voice was very clear, seeming both far away on the horizon and right in front of him. In a daze, Lenon seemed to smell the scent of citrus, crisp and sweet-and-sour, like dew clinging to the branches on a summer morning, soaking into the most plump piece of fruit.

This scent, he missed it to the point of madness.

The Third Prince in front of him did not have such fresh pheromones; his were spicy and putrid. And this citrus scent belonged only to his Little Highness.

In the Emperor's bedroom, Lin You was worried sick.

He had played a bit too hard with Lenon yesterday. Lenon never called to stop and instead encouraged him to do even more excessive things. Lin You couldn't hold back in the moment, causing the Major General to get a little injured.

The injury was in a hidden place. He fetched ointment to apply on Lenon and righteously refused the Major General's request to continue, then lay down, leaning against the Major General, and fell asleep.

But when he woke up in the middle of the night, he found that Lenon was running a fever.

Not knowing if the wound hadn't been treated properly or for some other reason, the Major General was groggy, his cold white skin flushed with a cooked pink hue. He seemed to be having a bad dream; his eyes were squeezed shut tightly, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and cold sweat kept seeping from his forehead.

Lin You reached out and found that the Major General's clothes were also soaked in cold sweat.

He tried to wake Lenon, but Lenon seemed to be trapped in a nightmare. No matter how he called, he wouldn't wake up. At his wit's end, Lin You could only get out of bed to call for a doctor.

But before he could roll off the bed, he was grabbed.

At some point, Lenon had reached out and gripped his wrist. His fingertips squeezed with extreme force, as if clutching onto something he was about to lose. Upon closer inspection, he was even trembling faintly.

So, Lin You sat back on the bed.

The Major General opened his eyes and blinked in confusion, his eyes still harboring unshed moisture he hadn't had time to hide.

His gaze struggled to focus, first sweeping over the room's furnishings—above him was the warm yellow concealed main light, and all around were ivory white curtains. It was the bedroom he was familiar with.

Then, his gaze fell back onto Lin You. His Majesty the Emperor was clearly in a bit of pain from being gripped so tightly, but he good-naturedly didn't push him away. He simply leaned over, brushed aside the stray hair on Lenon's forehead, and reached out to test his temperature before asking softly, "Lenon? Did you have a nightmare?"

"..."

The person in front of him had a worried expression, asking in a gentle tone. The heat of his skin transmitted from where they touched, and the fresh scent of citrus lingered in the bedroom—although the little Majesty didn't know what had happened, he still released his soothing pheromones.

Lenon couldn't control himself. He raised his hand, pulled Lin You over, and hugged him tightly.

His chin was pressed hard against Lin You's shoulder, wishing he could bury his entire face into it. His hugging posture was overly forceful, as if wanting to meld the other person into his flesh and blood. It was as though only by doing this could he counteract the unease from the dream.

Lin You raised his arms and hugged him back.

It felt like he was hugging some large, furry animal, an animal that was still trembling. Lin You spoke softly, "What exactly happened?"

Lenon said hoarsely, "I just had a dream."

At this moment, he finally realized his voice had gone hoarse.

Lin You patted him. "What dream? Can you tell me about it?"

The Emperor's bedroom maintained the optimal temperature and humidity at all times, and the lighting was soft. Lenon relaxed in this warm embrace and belatedly felt a sense of embarrassment.

He took Lin You's hand and saw the fresh red marks on it. "...I'll go get you some medicine."

...A general of the Third Legion was startled awake by a nightmare in the middle of the night, dragged His Majesty the Emperor up, hugged him refusing to let go, and even choked with sobs while seeking comfort. Lenon racked his brains but couldn't figure out how he could act so idiotically. If word of this got out and people found out, his reputation would be utterly ruined.

Lin You: "It's fine. It'll go away after half an hour. First, tell me what happened to you?"

Lenon: "It's not really a big deal."

Lin You patted him. "It's alright, I want to hear it."

The description of the dream was jumbled. Lenon nestled comfortably beside Lin You, hiding unnecessary details and only giving a rough outline, but Lin You still understood.

He was all too familiar with this plot.

If he hadn't transmigrated over, if the system hadn't chosen him to do the task, then the Major General before him would have met this exact ending.

"..."

Lin You sighed very lightly, then said, "Actually, just now, I also had a dream."

"In my dream, I was a streamer playing a game called StarCraft. I was chosen by a system calling itself the 'Abused Protagonist Novel NPC Roleplay System No. 55', and transmigrated into a dark revenge novel..."

Lenon listened quietly.

This was an equally bizarre and absurd dream, like a novel made up on the spot—rambling and lacking logic. But when Lenon heard the system promise that he could return to his world upon completing the roleplay, his heart still clenched.

He stared into Lin You's eyes, asking stubbornly, "Then will you leave?"

Lin You shook his head and held his hand. "I can't leave anymore, Lenon."

"Many years ago, I already said goodbye to the system. I told him that I would voluntarily give up the chance to travel across worlds to stay in the novel's world forever, together with the person I love."

When he said this, his expression was focused and serious. Lenon couldn't control himself and affectionately kissed him again.

The Major General complained, half-jokingly, "It's the middle of the night. You don't know how captivating you are when you say things like that. If this keeps up, I won't be able to go to work tomorrow."

Lin You: "Then don't go to work."

Anyway, whether it was Admiral Lenon or His Majesty the Emperor, both of them still had unused annual leave.

After a long, lingering kiss, the last bit of Lenon's unease was erased. He asked softly, "Then in that dream of yours, where would the departing system go?"

"System 55, huh." Lin You looked up towards the window. Outside was the starry sky of the Zerg, and above the Zerg planet was the vast sea of stars and the boundless universe.

"As for it, it's probably binding to the next host and doing the next task."

Saying that, Lin You clasped his hands together, showing a look of compassion. "I heard that both the previous host and I scored at the bottom, and it's going to fail its phase evaluation... All I can say is, I wish it good luck."