"Han?" Sovereign Irene's brows furrowed as she saw the flickering green light on her necklace.
After losing her son, she thought her heart died. But a little boy brought joy into her life.
Initially, she thought it was because he resembled little Vicky. But overtime, she realizes this grandson of hers was a solace to her.
Perhaps, the heavens gave her a second chance.
'You couldn't protect your son. So, protect your grandson.'
And protect she did. The locket she gave him would allow him to teleport to a marked point should he be in danger.
She brought safe houses in each plant and every cluster city. Whereever he might be, he'd be safely teleported out of danger.
Of course, she didn't tell him this. After all, such a treasure was too rare. Even in her long life, she hadn't seen a second one like this.
'Grandma, your life is more important than mine. You should use it!' He'd surely insist if he knew.
So, she only told him of a single function.
'If you are in an emergency, you can contact me.'
She sincerely hoped that such a situation to never arise. But unexpectedly, it did and right before a crucial moment.
She bit her lip and looked at the asteroid ring, then back at her flickering necklace. Finally, she used her gravity power and tapped it lightly.
'Grandma!'
His voice directly sounded in her head. It was filled with tension, too much tension. Han Nial was a calm young man. But now, he sounded like someone on the verge of a breakdown.
Irene Nial's eyes turned cold. Whatever the other party did to him, she'd make them payback thousandfold.
But for now, he needed some support. Her eyes softened and she communicated with her thoughts.
'Han…don't worry, who was it? I swear they'll beg for—'
'Grandma! Sequoias fake! Cities real target! About to bomb!' He said quickly, panting so heavily as if he just ran across Uranus.
'What are you talking about?'
'I-Sequoias are fake! They're about to bom—' As he tried to explain, a deep and magnetic voice cut him off.
'Excuse me for intruding, Sovereign Irene.' The man said.
Irene furrowed her brows. The locket would only allow those Han allowed to communicate with her.
'Yes, who are you?'
'Dreamer.'
That simple name caused her eyes to widen.
'Did you kidnap him?' She asked coldly.
'Yes. I had to. I have solid evidence that Sequoia army is fake. The real goal is to bomb the cluster cities. I need your help to arrest the bombers, they're high ranking military officials.' His tone was anxious and worried.
Irene was baffled by his words, but one sentence really caught her off guard.
'Sequoia army is fake?' She gawked and her gravity sense felt the aura coming from the asteroid ring. Most of them were level 8, but three or four were unstable and were about to reach level 9.
'I can feel a field full of level 8 and a few are about to advance to level 9. You think this is fake?' She said coldly.
Did Dreamer discover she was about to destroy the Sequoia and was trying to defend them?
'What?!' He sounded genuinely shocked and then he suddenly asked. 'You…you shut down your comm and went to a secret place to destroy those level 8 Sequoia?'
Irene Nial paused for a moment before admitting. 'Yes. If you think you can fool me into stopping. It's too late. I'm just a step away.'
'Wait, just hear me out first. Hundreds of millions of lives, no the entire Uranus is at stake.' His voice was grave.
Uranus?
Irene Nial stiffened and clenched her fists. 'Speak.'
'They have no army, that I can prove. But only you found out about their level 8s! This is a trap they designed for you!
I don't know what they did, but there's a good chance they're planning to kill you. And once they do that, cluster cities will blow up. Planetoids are next. Then Uranus. And then Neptune. Son of a bitch! They're really, really insidious!' He cursed at the end, apparently surprised by his own realization.
Irene's face was gloomy. His speculations were…devastating to put it lightly. But killing her wasn't an easy task.
However, she had to agree with him on one thing. This whole set up was like a trap.
'Think about it, did you encounter enough Sequoias so far to call them an army or did you only a find a couple of them here and there so that you justified yourself that you only found a few of them?' His words caused her to narrow her eyes.
'Maybe they're using formations, poison, or anything. I just ask you one thing, can you scan every inch of the area you're about to step in?'
Irene Nial's breath turned ragged. She pushed her gravity sense outward and penetrated the asteroid ring.
She passed through the illusion formation and saw the Sequoia plants. And then she began to sweep the area with her gravity sense.
And was stuck.
There were some areas. Very remote, and very small areas, she couldn't sense no matter what.
If she normally entered the place, they'd have been ignored as some other formations kept for the Sequoia plants.
But now…
'You don't even have to trust me. You don't have to stay away from that place, just wait for 10 minutes. You can keep an eye on the Sequoias all you like.' His words finally convinced her.
'What do you want me to do?' She asked.
'You said you were just a step away right? Chances are, they're monitoring you. You already stood still for a minute, they'd be suspicious. Sovereign Irene, for a legitimate excuse, please cough out blood and return to your space shuttle.'
'….'
"Cough. Cough. Cough." Irene Nial coughed out blood and her face turned pale. She didn't know if someone was really watching her, but she clutched her chest and muttered.
"Injuries from last time…I need to recuperate."
In the asteroid ring, Despair Queen was watching Irene from one of the hidden spots.
Initially, she was suspicious why the woman suddenly paused and showed various reactions on her face.
When she finally coughed out blood, she understood.
"Fuck! Her old injuries relapsed! Why now of all times?!" Despair Queen yelled in despair.