Chapter 3: The Nation’s Male God (3)
Translator: deathbutlowkey from dummytranslations
Editor: Mimishijie ☺

“It’s been confirmed that contact with Princess Olivia has been lost for twenty-one hours - there are no clues as to her whereabouts. We’ve tracked down her last known location to this coffee shop on Sangpu street, but from the video surveillance tapes, we can see that she may not have left the cafe at all.”
　　
“According to Miss Adeline, who went with the princess at that time, this was originally only a practical joke by the princess because of her recent intense conflict with His Majesty…...cough, General, as you know, the princess decided to run away and rebel and so this coffee shop underwent a change of decor hoping that they could keep out of the way of the following guards. However, they hadn’t expected that, an hour later, the princess had truly lost all contact with the outside world.”

After listening to the retelling, Yan Shuo nodded silently, the index finger of his left hand lightly tapping on the table twice. In actuality, he wasn’t obligated to be here, but since Olivia was still his fiancee in name - not to mention her honourable status - her disappearance was a major disturbance to the empire.
　　
The young subordinate was evidently very indignant and aggrieved regarding this situation.

“I really don’t know what kind of magic potion that pretty boy gave Princess Olivia; considering his family background, he absolutely can’t even compete with our General, this is simply……”

Yan Shuo’s gaze swept over him and the young subordinate knew that he’d had a slip of the tongue. He respectfully withdrew, but before he did, he didn’t forget to give the esteemed General an encouraging glance.
　　
“Don’t worry, General, we will always be with you!”

Yan Shuo: “......”

Princess Olivia’s infatuation with Shen Zhifan was painfully obvious and everyone knew about it, which caused the royal family to almost completely lose face. It made the whole world feel that Yan Shuo, as her fiance, should currently be very brokenhearted.

What a pity this wasn’t the case - in fact, it was possible his feelings were the exact opposite.

The corner of Yan Shuo’s mouth hooked up. He picked up the tepid coffee next to his hand and took a sip.

Olivia’s taste wasn’t bad, this shop certainly had a rich, authentic flavour.

It wouldn’t be long before this matter implicated Shen Zhifan, after all, he was the source of the Princess running amok.
　　
The pretty youth that lived next to him had always had a pair of melancholic and enchanting eyes as well as an extremely skillful pair of hands when operating mechs. In the Mecha Sports League, he was the rising talent with the strongest momentum. Even though it had only been a year since his debut, he had already seized the throne of popularity.
　　
However, that was only the mech league - between the standards of these contestants and that of true, front-line military personnel, there was definitely still a disparity. The former were more inclined to operating flamboyantly, while on a real battlefield, every second was a duel between life and death.
　　
The operation of mechs and innate skill were closely entwined; some people had plenty of talent regarding mechs, while others, even when they had reached the ages of seventeen or eighteen, were hopeless. Talent was hard to spot when they were young so it was hard to develop a specialised mech team. The army would occasionally select the best well-known figure from the Mecha Sports League to enlist; they were treated extremely well, in addition to receiving imperial protection.
　　
Thus, the mech league had several schools where the military could select the best young talents from.
　　
Speaking from a certain perspective, although Shen Zhifan was currently only a celebrity in the mech league, his future prospects were bound to be limitless.

Considering his outstanding, handsome appearance, future with boundless prospects, and obviously high level of popularity - receiving the Princess’s favour wasn’t really surprising.
　　
However, Yan Shuo didn’t think this way. Oliva was an utterly typical princess. Nowadays, in the overall peaceful modern era, the duty of the princess of the royal family was only to act as a mascot, meant to look pretty and nothing more.

Olivia was perfect for the persona of a mascot since she was both beautiful and haughty. Yan Shuo knew, though, that other than these two things Olivia also possessed intelligence that did not match with her beauty.
　　
Only, Olivia’s intelligence was not revealed on the surface. Shen Zhifan indeed had a charm that made young girls fall head over heels for him, but Olivia wasn’t an ordinary young girl. Yan Shuo didn’t believe that Olivia would really discard her brain so easily for this kind of handsome youth.
　　
About the matter of losing contact, he always felt like there was definitely some obscure secret that onlookers were ignorant of.
　　
Even more strange was that…some situation had definitely occurred on Shen Zhifan’s side as well.
　　
Yan Shuo’s finger lightly stroked the slightly warm coffee cup, thinking about Shen Zhifan’s expressions and mood just then. Speaking from his years of experience, it didn’t seem like a pretence.
　　
Something must have happened to Shen Zhifan. When Yan Shuo had talked to him yesterday he’d seemed very normal, despite the two parting on bad terms.
　　　　
However, today, Shen Zhifan had expressed that he didn’t recognise him, not to mention his strange words and actions.

Thinking up to here, he frowned.
　　
This wasn’t an act based on a fit of anger - something had happened to him.

…

Shen Zhirou strived to widen her narrow eyes.

“It’s true,” Shen Zhifan sighed, looking at her somewhat helplessly, “I really don’t remember anything, my memories from yesterday stopped on the day you cheated on your test and got dragged back home to make a scene.”
　　
“I - when did I ever cheat on a test, go home, and even make a scene?” Shen Zhirou, with a guilty conscience, twisted the words[1].
　　
“Seven years ago, in short.” Shen Zhifan massaged his temples. After the initial shock of this inconceivable situation, he was finally starting to face up to reality. “I’ve lost seven years worth of memories. My memory only goes back to when I was sixteen – not twenty-three – and we were living on N-192, the imperial planet of the supreme galaxy A1. Also, in my memories, you’re only twelve.”
　　
Shen Zhirou’s mouth gaped open, speechless.
　　
“I…” Shen Zhifan, at a loss, collapsed onto the soft sofa. Looking at everything unfamiliar around him, he took the warm pillow and clutched it to his chest like a security blanket, “But I don’t feel like I have the symptoms of amnesia, I…Does this sound that absurd?”

Shen Zhirou dazedly nodded, then shook her head at lightning speed. Finally, she hastily comforted him.

“Don’t - don’t worry brother, ever since you were young your brain hasn’t really worked well, let’s think slowly,” Shen Zhirou was almost scared to tears. At first, her originally unsightly face had looked frightening but now, despite speaking of such unlucky things, Shen Zhifan could only feel unexpectedly comforted - after all, this was his little sister’s earnest concern, “Has the mech league recently been giving you too much pressure? I...Do we need to get a doctor?”
　　
Shen Zhifan thought about it, nodded, then shook his head, “We’ll have to look for one, but let’s wait a bit first. I haven’t felt unwell at all, recently…Did I get into any accidents?”
　　
“N-no,” Shen Zhirou bit her lip and tried to recall - in the end, she dropped her head, disheartened. Tears fell and pitter-pattered down. “You haven’t spoken to me for a long time now, so I’m not clear on your current situation. I’m sorry brother…I didn’t think that something like this would happen to you.”
　　
“I haven’t spoken to you?” Shen Zhifan stared blankly.

Even if he thought Shen Zhirou was pretty annoying, their relationship had always been very good.
　　
Shen Zhirou, sobbing and sniffling, nodded.
　　
Shen Zhifan sighed: “You definitely did something bad, right? Be honest.”
　　
Shen Zhirou blanked, then resolutely shook her head. Finally, after falling silent for a while, she bit her lip and said: “I didn’t…it’s only because the mech league is really tiring, so you were always exhausted and didn’t have time to bother with me.”
　　
“Mech league…” Shen Zhifan, who had heard these words mentioned a lot, was a little unconvinced. “What’s the mech league?”
　　
To the inhabitants of planet N-192 living outside the interstellar world, "mech" was a foreign concept, something that only existed in books and pictures. Shen Zhifan had only ever seen an imitation of an actual mech. This imitation was supposedly made by his ancestral father when he was younger, and resembled a metal monster. Although it did not look anything like an actual mech, apparently, it was usable. Therefore, it could be considered as sort of a mech.
　　
Shen Zhirou, after hearing this sentence, began crying again.
　　
“Brother, even if you’ve become dumb, I will raise you for a lifetime!”
　　
Shen Zhifan: “...”
　　
Even if it was touching, he really hadn’t reached that degree of ‘dumb’ just yet.
　　
“The mech league is currently the most popular sporting competition amongst young people. It’s divided into virtual contests and mech contests, and newcomers aren’t allowed to come into contact with real mechs. Only once your score and rank have risen, can you access the mecha showdowns,” Shen Zhirou explained briefly, then she couldn’t help but sob and sniffle again, “Brother, you’re now the number one most popular contestant in the mech league, with boundless prospects.”

“I figured that out.” Shen Zhifan glanced at his residence and compared it to the house they used to live in back on N-192. Every time a storm came, they had to move houses.

It had to be said that Shen Zhifan was still confused and unable to wrap his mind around his current situation. Yesterday, he was a youth in the recesses of the interstellar galaxies but today, in the blink of an eye, he had become the planet’s hottest rookie mech contestant.

To say nothing of mechs…they were the dream that practically every youth had held in their hearts.

Shen Zhifan looked at his own palm for a moment, feeling like he should slowly think these things over. He thought for a bit, then suddenly realised that this house was lacking something.
　　
“By the way, where’s mum and dad? I should tell them about this.”
　　
Shen Zhirou blanked, her complexion suddenly paling.
　　
Shen Zhifan stared at her, subconsciously feeling like there was some bad news.

“Brother—” Shen Zhirou dragged out the word, her head drooping down. Her voice trembled slightly. “Right now…we don’t have mum and dad anymore.”

Shen Zhifan’s face also paled abruptly.
　　
“That’s right, it was also seven years ago…” Shen Zhirou seemed to have thought of something. One hand clutched at her hair; it was obvious that her recollection of these events was very painful, “Seven years ago, there was a critical explosion on N-192, almost everyone died…the fact that we’d been able to survive and then leave was already fortunate - the whole planet was practically destroyed.”

End Of Chapter 3

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The author has something to say:

A little play that a new reader probably won’t understand (I never thought that I’d write two parts for a small play, can’t do anything about it, I love Laurent too much) :

Once upon a time, there was a Miss Aini, who played a lot of cannon fodder roles.
Today, she finally received a role that wasn’t too cannon fodder-ish.
However, this character was actually an ugly bitch.
Every time Aini played this role, she had to paint on ten layers of makeup beforehand. There was simply nothing left to live for.
That's right; the name of this character was Shen Zhirou.
Aini decided to find Laurent to complain to since he and the director were quarrelling about breaking up.
But as soon as she opened Weibo, she saw a Christmas photo of Laurent and the director, posted yesterday.
The Aini who was trying really hard:

——Sent from iPhone 19
“Hehe, didn't we agree to let me play the role of a beauty? They’re all fucking liars, still the same old director, still the same old dog couple.”

T/N: You’ll...kinda understand the author’s notes as we go along...probably...


Footnotes:

[1] 强词夺理 - to twist words and force logic.
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