hunting stars

In the spring of 136 Imperial Calendar, a small black manned floating boat parked outside the outer monitoring room of the Crown Prince's Mansion. The silver hatch opened from bottom to top, and a slender figure in silver and black military uniform hurried out of the ship.

This is a young man in his early 20s, with black eyes and black hair, handsome and tall, with a tall and well-proportioned figure. Wearing the military uniform of the empire on him does not make people feel boring and monotonous, but brings a sense of sassy and fresh.

After checking his fingerprints, voiceprint and pupils, he walked quickly into the monitoring room.

The first thing that catches the eye is a huge screen wall. Five rows of 20-inch screens are neatly distributed on the approximately [-]-meter-long wall. Eight young men in military uniforms are staring at the monitor screen in front of them, or holding Black tea, or holding coffee, although focused, but also appear tired by coincidence.

This is an extremely ordinary security monitoring room of the Crown Prince's Mansion.

In order to protect the sole heir of the empire, there are 120 similar monitoring rooms just outside the mansion, and each monitoring room is assigned 24 people. They work in groups of eight and guard the crown prince's mansion three shifts a day. Safety.

It's eight o'clock in the morning, which is the time for the first shift change of the day.After a night of hard work, all the night shift staff were a little tired.

"Heh - Levi, you are the earliest today!" A yawning soldier covered his mouth and found the young man who had just arrived.

"Well." The young man named Levi didn't answer, but walked quickly to his seat, and quickly started his day's work after a simple handover with this colleague.

Due to the lack of cleaning overnight, empty food packages and cigarette butts can be seen everywhere on the monitoring table and under the table, and the soldiers have already ripped off the strict collars of their coats.In such a messy environment, the young man who didn't even have a wrinkle in his shirt looked very different.

"It's really lucky for me to be taken over by you so actively every day." The colleague who just left the post yawned again and muttered something unclear, "But now there is no instructor review, even if you perform well. No one will see the excellence.”

His whining words ignited the impetuous atmosphere around him like a flame.

"It's not just Livi, we are all the same." Another soldier holding black tea yawned again and again as if infected.

"I really don't know why you worked so hard in the military academy?"

"The result of our hard work is sitting here every day, hehe..."

The non-commissioned officers' arguments were not unreasonable. Although the soldiers who could enter the Crown Prince's mansion were only responsible for defensive tasks, they were all selected from the best of the empire's various military academies, and after going through family background, DNA testing, etc. Screening is no less cumbersome than the selection of concubines by emperors in the earth age.The officers who can pass the elimination rate of "selecting 24 out of a million military cadets" to come here are undoubtedly the best among the best, but they have been here for three months, and they are engaged in watching monitors every day. Unskilled work, the anxiety inevitably pervades the young non-commissioned officers.

However, there is another important reason for this manic depression.

"It's been three months, and I haven't seen His Highness the Crown Prince once..." A non-commissioned officer who was about to get off duty muttered to himself while staring at the pleasant scenery of the Crown Prince's Mansion on the screen.

"Yes, Your Highness never goes out?"

"Is His Highness's appearance really the same as those holograms? I really want to confirm with my own eyes."

In this era of extremely developed communication, there are very few people in the empire, including the alliance, who have not seen the image of Crown Prince Roger Hill.As the only son of the current Emperor Dylan II, he has received great attention from the entire galaxy since he was born.From his infancy to his current teenage years, countless photos and videos about him have been wildly disseminated by various media, including official ones and unofficial candid ones.Although there are hundreds of millions of such image data, more than half of the people suspect that these data have been processed before they are made public.

Such unbelief is not without reason.

Crown Prince Roger Hill is indeed too beautiful.

Although countless photographers swear by it, it is really hard for ordinary people to imagine that the appearance of a real person can be so beautiful. No matter how poor the camera is and how tricky the camera is, there are no dead ends. It is really incredible.

These non-commissioned officers working in the monitoring room are only five or six years older than the 17-year-old crown prince. They are at the age when curiosity is still strong, and they can see the crown prince himself from the real-recorded monitor. It will be very worth showing off in the future Capital.

This wish, which was thought to be not extravagant, still could not be realized after three months of anticipation. Naturally, the non-commissioned officers were slightly disappointed.

"I said Levi, are you not curious about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? I remember that he is an honorary student of your military academy." The colleague who packed up his things and was about to leave knocked on the table, trying to talk to the young man.

Levi comes from the Imperial Military Academy, which is a prestigious family in the Imperial Military Academy.

"Yes, but His Royal Highness Roger Hill has been under strict protection and has not studied with ordinary school students." Levi replied sternly, maintaining basic politeness, but never took his eyes off the screen used for work.

"Sure enough..." The colleague scratched his head meaninglessly and sighed, "The Crown Prince, he..."

He still wanted to ask something more, but the words he hadn't spoken were immediately drowned in the sound of great surprise.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince...it is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Suddenly someone cheered from the monitoring platform on the right.

In the early morning, no one expected that luck would come without warning. After a brief silence for two or three seconds, the room was full of noise.Several people kicked over the chairs one after another, and then everyone quickly gathered near the person who made the sound.Pushing and hustling, few people could see the image clearly, but it didn't take long for someone with quick response to transmit the screen image to the holographic projector.

When a silent image four or five times larger than a real person appeared in the center of the room, everyone held their breath in unison.

This is a scene that cannot be described with "beauty", because you will only stop thinking and cannot think at the first sight.

Thanks to the astonishing beauty of the first emperor, almost all members of the imperial family have extraordinary looks.The third emperor, Alexander II, out of fanatical worship of his ancestors, even asked doctors to modify his genetic genes, so as to ensure that each generation of direct members of the royal family has the same luxurious blond hair and ice blue eyes as the founding emperor. .

In this regard, Roger Hill is no exception. He has inherited the royal family's iconic hair color and eye color without any deviation, and has brought the beauty of the two colors to the extreme.

Because he was still a teenager, his diamond-shaped eyes were big and bright, as if two clear aquamarines were inlaid on his snow-jade face.The shape of the lips is full and pleasant, and the natural rosy color has a fresh and innocent allure.In other outlines, Roger Hill obviously inherited his father, Dylan II, with a straight nose bridge, slender eyebrows, and a beautifully curved chin.There is no blemish on this face.

Influenced by the military style of the founding emperor, all male members of the imperial family of the empire wore military uniforms in public.Although Roger Hill was only 17 years old, he had already obtained the rank of major general. At this time, he seemed to have just returned to the mansion. The silver and black major general uniform was covered with a snow-white cloak.The slightly tight military uniform of the empire was ironed on him. Whether it was the straight back, the tough waist, or the slender legs, every detail showed the youth and beauty of the boy's figure.

The morning breeze blew up his waist-length golden hair, and he casually brushed the mischievous hair behind his ears, while his eyes casually glanced at the electronic monitoring eyes.

This meaningless action to him caused a great shock to the people who were watching the holographic image.Just being glanced at by those icy blue eyes has a feeling of being pierced in the heart.The enlarged image magnified this perception several times, until the figure of the crown prince completely disappeared from the screen, and the sound of people exhaling slowly appeared in the dead silent room.A few minutes later, someone began to speak.

"His Royal Highness really..."

No one will take on the endless words, because everyone has the same idea in their hearts: the illusory beauty of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is actually real, or in other words, it is really real.

Everyone seemed to be out of their minds for the rest of the day, the error rate at work was significantly higher than usual, and some people almost poked a fork in the eye while eating macaroni at noon.But because he understood the reason, the officer on duty was considerate and did not express any criticisms. He just directed the most normal-looking Levi to clean up the water glasses that were knocked over from time to time.

By the time the daytime shift ended, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

The non-commissioned officers who had been on duty for eight hours left one after another, and Levi followed everyone back to the dormitory.

Since they are serving the royal family, the various logistical support provided by the army is in place.All officers have independent dormitories with one bedroom and one living room, and the soldiers who are about to go back to rest greet each other and make appointments for evening activities.

"Levi, you should come here too. In the evening, some girls from our military academy will come to visit, but they are all beautiful girls."

"Thank you, no need, I have something to do later." The young officer politely refused, but his indifferent face was obviously indifferent to others.

When he saw him enter the room, the person who had just sent out the invitation was immediately complained by his companion, "What did you ask him to do?"

"It's just a quick talk..."

"That guy looks down on people just because he came from Emperor Lin. It's not a day or two. He just wants to behave well in front of the officer."

"Okay, okay, I won't be so stupid next time."

"And next time?!"

"..."

The noise came faintly through the door panel.

He had just gotten along with his newly promoted colleagues for three months but already showed signs of being squeezed out. Faced with such a situation, Levi did not show any wavering expression on his face.

Familiarity means that they will explore each other, and other people will enter their own independent space. This is the situation that he is most taboo at present.

He put down the briefcase in his hand, took off his coat, put on indoor slippers, made himself a simple cup of coffee, washed the cup after drinking, tidied up the slightly messy living room in an orderly manner, and then opened the The bedroom door was completely locked after entering.

An oval full-length mirror hangs behind the bedroom door.

Levi took off the tungsten steel ring on his little finger, and pressed the small gemstone on the ring to the full-length mirror. The mirror that originally projected his face became dark and then gradually brightened, reflecting a slightly evil face .

"I'm not used to seeing you wearing the imperial uniform. Oh, you're already a second lieutenant in the empire." Looking at Levi's epaulettes representing the rank of second lieutenant, the man in the mirror sighed with emotion.He is about 28 and nine years old, with slender eyebrows, and a pair of dark blue slanted eyes that set off a thinner and more three-dimensional face. Although he is handsome and full of charm, he can't help but remind people of foxes or wolves.

This is a very famous face in both the empire and the alliance military—Issos, the youngest brigadier general of the alliance and the deputy chief of the intelligence department.

Compared with the empire's military uniforms known for their elegance and beauty, the military uniforms of the Alliance put more emphasis on heroism and crispness, but Issos tore off the collar and pulled the collar patch, and he insisted on wearing straight and casual.His tone was also very lazy, "The hero who has infiltrated the imperial prince's mansion for three months, is there any new progress in this month's routine report?"

Levi first gave a military salute, and then stood up and said, "Report sir, Roger Hill has returned to the mansion."

"After three months, are you finally willing to come back from the palace?" Issos raised his eyebrows disinterestedly, "What else?"

"Report sir, no more."

"No more?" Your Excellency the Brigadier General frowned slightly, he was silent for a moment, and a smile appeared on the corner of his lips, "Second Lieutenant, when you received special training, your grades were No. 1 among all the espionage elites participating in the training. The defense of the Crown Prince's Mansion is surprisingly strict."

Facing the pointed words, Levi remained calm, "I will try to speed up the search for information."

"I have no doubts about your ability." Issos ended the call with a smile, "The alliance and family are waiting for you to return from your mission as soon as possible."

Seeing the secret communication equipment restored to a mirror, Levi did not move for a long time.

He was born in a family of high-ranking military officers in the alliance. His father was the captain of the front-line fleet, and he was the only son in the family. It could be said that he carried the honor of the entire family.Aesos's words obviously had a hint of urging, but...

Levi turned around and looked towards his bedroom.

The only window in this dormitory was covered by a thick velvet curtain, even in the bright spring, the sun could not shine through, and the whole room was filled with gloom and depression.Except where you can see in the mirror, there are large and small photos on the walls, ceiling, and curtains.

Smiling, calm, melancholy, happy... all kinds of expressions, all kinds of movements, each one is different, but each one is the same person—the crown prince of the empire Your Royal Highness Roger Hill.

Levi took off his shoes and lay on his back on the bed.

On the ceiling facing his eyes is a high-definition picture the same size as the bed.In the photo, Roger Hill is slightly younger than the current one or two years old. He is rarely wearing casual clothes. The lace shirt with a vertical collar surrounds his snow-white and slender neck. His long golden hair is braided into a bundle, revealing the milky skin on his cheeks. .As if there was something very happy, he was smiling unpreparedly, his original diamond-shaped eyes were bent into crescents, and the brows were full of sweetness and happiness, as if he could hear his clear laughter in the next moment.

Looking at the young man laughing heartily in the painting, Levi silently put his hand into his underwear, where he was half erect.

Recalling the scene I saw this morning, the semi-rigid organs in my hands quickly became congested and fully erected.He controlled the movements of his hands, while deeply disgusted by his actions, while trembling because of the pleasure.Today's desire was unexpectedly ferocious and compelling, and it only took him a normal amount of time to vent it out in his own hands.

If someone broke in suddenly at this time, they would probably not recognize Levi at all when they saw the current Levi.

A layer of ambiguous blush was cast on the previously upright appearance, and the always bright and sharp eyes became hazy, and the thin waist and slender thighs were revealed from the lifted clothes.In terms of appearance alone, Levi is not particularly outstanding, but at this moment he seems to be an ascetic saint who has fallen into the abyss of desire, making people want to tear him up completely to explore his bottom line.

After the panting gradually subsided, the body that was originally filled with lust immediately became empty, and Levi had to face a strong sense of self-loathing again.

The beauty of the crown prince of the empire may be really hard to find in the world, but there is probably only one person who is so infatuated with him like himself.

Yes, it's all about Roger Hill.

From the first time the alliance lifted the news blockade, and saw the prince who was only 13 years old at the time on the universe network, Li Wei, who had turned [-] but had never been in love, fell into a fiery and blind first love.At that time, he had just graduated from the Junior Military Academy with honors. Just to get more information about Roger Hill, he resolutely chose to study military intelligence in spite of his family's strong opposition.

After a year of study, he was spotted by Isos because of his outstanding performance, changed his name to Levi, and was sent to infiltrate the empire, and entered the empire's number one military school--Emperor Royal Military Academy.Three months ago, he even stood out from many competitors and was able to enter the Crown Prince's residence.

In four years, he was getting closer and closer to the person he had a crush on, but what followed was an increasingly heavy self-loathing

──At that time, the other party was obviously only such a young child. Could it be that he harbored hidden pedophilia?

──I fell in love just because I saw the photos. Is it true that you are such a person who pays attention to appearance?

──Just looking at the real person from a distance will make you very excited. Maybe I am really a voyeur and a psychopath.

But everything can't stop.

If the alliance knew that their hard work was to achieve such a goal and had no intention of detecting intelligence, they would probably not hesitate to send themselves to a military court and then be sent to a mental hospital.

This is the true face of the top students, hardworking, and ascetics in the eyes of everyone. In front of the god of the universe who knows everything in the world, this is an ironic scene.

Levi thought to himself mockingly as he entered the bathroom and began to take a shower, erasing all evidence of crime.

A new day came quickly, and Levi was called into the chief's office shortly after the shift was handed over.

The officer in charge of the outer security of the Crown Prince's Mansion was named Lieutenant Colonel Fate, who was Levi's immediate boss in the empire. He was a middle-aged man in his early forties, with a square face, a wide forehead, and a slightly fatter figure.

"I called you here today because there is a temporary task that needs to be assigned." Although he said that he wanted to assign a task, Lieutenant Colonel Fart didn't look serious like usual, but instead smiled, his eyes full of appreciation.

"Yes, Second Lieutenant Levi is here to stand by." The young man gave a military salute, without showing any expression of exploration.

"Very good." Seeing the second lieutenant's cautious reaction, Fate couldn't help but nodded, but he was not in a hurry to explain, "This mission is glorious but difficult. The candidate we selected originally had a problem with the DNA test, so we need to temporarily replace the manpower. You have not been here for a long time, and you are still lacking in qualifications, but I believe that only you can complete the task satisfactorily."

Levi bowed slightly, "Thank you sir, I will do my best."

"Then let's go." Without stopping for a moment, Fate stood up with a smile, "Remember to seize this opportunity, Second Lieutenant, for the sake of the empire and yourself."

Following Fate's footsteps, Levi quickly boarded the special traffic suspension vehicle.

Probably because of the important secret mission, the compartment of the suspension vehicle was completely enclosed, and the window glass blocked all the light, making it impossible for people to see the outside scene clearly, let alone know the end of the trip.

There were only Fat and Levi in ​​the back seat. If they were ordinary people, they would definitely take the opportunity to flirt with the chief, but Levi just kept silent. He was more worried about the content of this task than pleased with being appreciated by his superiors.

I just hope you don't leave the Crown Prince's Mansion!

Worryingly, he recited it silently in his heart countless times, and his whole heart seemed to be aching at the thought of staying away from the person who had never been close to him.

It turned out that he had really reached the point of no cure.

Levi resisted the idea of ​​burying his face in his hands and sat stiffly. On the way, Fate answered a phone call.Because the other party's voice was very low, and Fate hardly spoke, Levi was completely unable to guess the content of the conversation between the two parties, and could only see the lieutenant colonel's originally relaxed expression suddenly became dignified.

After hanging up the phone, Fate pondered for a moment before slowly opening his mouth: "Second Lieutenant, you are from Dilin, right?"

"Yes."

"I remember that fighting is one of Emperor's Landing's key courses."

"Yes."

"How about your fighting skills?"

"I haven't had a chance to practice for the past three months."

The conversation suddenly fell silent, because anyone who has studied boxing knows how important relentless practice is to this sport.

Due to the rapid development of science and technology, infantry is no longer useful in contemporary warfare, and pure hand-to-hand combat has long been abandoned by people in the post-earth era, replaced by almost harsh requirements for fighter integration and response sensitivity.

Today's ships are highly intelligent. In order to improve strike accuracy and reduce operating time, the command system of a fighter plane or warship will be directly connected to the driver's brain to achieve the purpose of directly controlling the ship through thinking.But this driving method puts a huge burden on the human brain. In the history of human space warfare, there have been many times when soldiers and even fleet commanders suddenly became mentally split during battles and randomly killed their own troops.In order to prevent the recurrence of this tragic situation, both the empire and the alliance began to test the newborn baby's ability to withstand the control of fighter planes when they were one year old.This control ability was quantified by the alliance military scientist Edfer???? Todd as a value from 0 to 100, which will be called "Adelfer value" in the future.If the "Adelfin value" cannot meet the standard, you cannot enter the army, and the level of "Adelfern value" will directly "affect" the future combat results of the cadets.

The reason why we say "influence" instead of "decision" is that the success in battle depends on another extremely important factor besides the fusion of fighter planes—response sensitivity, and in close combat, Response sensitivity is even more important.

Unlike the innate "Adelfin value", a person's sensitivity cannot be quantified, it can be improved through training, and it will also be weakened due to slack.Therefore, all military academies set up various courses besides teaching strategy and tactics to improve the sensitivity of students.

And the Emperor Lin Royal Military Academy adopted the fighting project.

The origin of fighting is the fencing sport in medieval Europe in the earth age. However, what the competitors hold in their hands today is not a foil sword, but a "flickering electric shock device" that only looks like a foil sword, commonly known as "flash sword".Its front end is equipped with a touch-sensitive electric shock probe, which can send out a high-voltage current of 0.0001 million volts at a maximum of 900 microseconds, which can paralyze people to the ground almost instantly.The strength of the current it sends out changes with the different positions on the human body.Specifically, the more fatal the position, the stronger the electric shock, and the more irrelevant the position, the weaker the electric shock, so as to emphasize that the opponent should be fatally struck with one blow.

Because of this setting, fighting requires extremely high physical flexibility, coordination, reaction sensitivity, and concentration of the participants, and the repetition of victory and defeat in the game is also great. The three-month window period is enough to make an original fighter Become the defeat of others.

"Okay then, Lieutenant." After hearing Levi's answer, Fate turned on the detector he carried with him, and said after confirming that there was no eavesdropping device, "I checked your personal file, you were born in an ordinary From a civilian family, your parents died in an accident when you were five years old. Since you had no other relatives, you were admitted to an orphanage in the imperial capital. Then you were admitted to the Royal Military Academy of Imperial Landing with your own talents. As we all know, your record is perfect , there is no problem with the DNA test. I started to observe and pay attention to you after you entered my command. Will be like tonight, sitting in the same car with me, going to the same place. Although the time is tight, I believe in your ability, but now the situation has suddenly changed... Next, please You remember every word I said to you."

The resume mentioned by Fart is obviously the identity background arranged for him by the alliance, and it seems that his disguise has not been seen through, but the serious expression of the lieutenant colonel seems to fill the surrounding air with pressure, and Levi can't help but sit up straight .

After another period of silence, Farth seemed to have made up his mind: "A month ago, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was assassinated."

──What? !

Although he only saw the intact Roger Hill yesterday, Levi still couldn't control the frightened expression on his face.

His reaction obviously won Fater's more trust. The lieutenant colonel showed him comforting eyes, "The Crown Prince is the hope of the entire empire. Don't worry, His Highness is fine. He just returned to his mansion yesterday. His Highness will leave early next year." It’s almost full, and this time I’m going to the palace to prepare for next year’s coming-of-age ceremony. However, His Majesty the Emperor lives in the Grand Duke Ofe’s residence all year round, and the palace’s security is relatively lax, so he was assassinated there.”

"Then Your Highness...are you injured?" Even though I kept telling myself not to ask too many questions, I still couldn't help but ask.

"The battle was quite fierce at that time. His Highness was slightly injured, which delayed the return time. Moreover, a guard officer beside His Highness died in the battle, so now..." Fate paused slightly, "You need to get a request from the emperor. One of the garrison personnel of the Prince's Mansion will be elected as the guard officer of His Highness."

"..."

"Second Lieutenant, as one of the 24 candidates, won't you express your determination to me?"

"..."

Knowing that he should thank his boss in the most sincere tone now, or that he wanted to hug him and cheer, Levi couldn't say a word for a long time.

There seemed to be something bulging in my heart, stuffing my throat.

But fortunately, his expression said everything. The middle-aged lieutenant colonel patted the young man on the shoulder and finally smiled, "It's exactly the same as when I learned that I can directly serve His Majesty. But back then His Majesty the Crown Prince is not as good as the current His Royal Highness Roger Hill. Oh, this is disrespectful, but fortunately no one else heard it, Second Lieutenant, you will help me keep the secret."

"...Of course." Feeling sincerely comforted, Levi finally found his voice, "Excuse me... who is going to assassinate His Highness?"

"It's still under investigation. Lieutenant, don't you care about the serious situation you're about to face?"

"I'm going to ask you for advice." Although Levi wanted to know where the crown prince was being threatened from more than himself, it was obviously not the time to ask.

"Although the 24 people including you were selected temporarily, all of them are excellent, but I believe you will be the best. According to the original schedule, I have 24% certainty that you will be selected. , but now because of the intervention of His Majesty the Emperor, he is required to select someone who can protect His Majesty at close range, to prevent the recurrence of the last incident, and decided to temporarily cancel the 'Edelphin Value' test and other content, and only conduct fighting competitions. And what I just got According to the news, among the [-] people is Vincent, the last empire's fighting champion."

"Vincent... is really strong." Levi used a declarative tone.

Vincent also graduated from Dilin, and is a senior of Levy. Although the two know each other but don't have much contact with each other, they are often compared and discussed because of their outstanding grades.

In Levi's impression, he has deep red eyes, dark brown skin, short silver-gray hair, quick agility, and cold eyes. Even in the cold winter nights, he never wears a cumbersome coat or cloak outside the military uniform. A very dangerous looking man.

"Then are you ready for the powerful enemy on the other side? Lieutenant." Fate smiled deeply.

"I will do my best."