The child cried himself to sleep on Wang Lei’s lap and he slowly stood up from the roof, Nera and Nakai had gone looking for anyone else that may have hidden away from the mass killing, so far they had found no one else and returned to the bottom of the apartment when they saw Wang Lei climbing down the ladder. When they met up, Nera took the child from Wang Lei since he was pressing on his wounds and causing Wang Lei pain. Nakai looked at the palace standing in the distance, he could only see it because of the few lanterns lighting the exterior but aside from that, it was dark like the city.

 

“A small group of troops are meeting us closer to the palace while the others are going to surround the palace and wait for my orders.”

 

Wang Lei hummed before looking up and down the street they were standing on. Nera already saw the look in his eye and quietly talked to him.

 

“Nakai and I looked already, we couldn’t find anyone else.”

 

“You don’t know that. Did you expect to find him?”

 

Nera sighed and rubbed Wang Lei’s shoulder with one of his hands. Even if they did decide to continue searching the city, they didn’t have time and the three of them all knew it. Before any arguments could start, they all moved away from the apartment and made their way to the palace, they ran along the streets quietly but not as fast as before in case there were other people that needed their help. Once they were two streets away, they slowed down and waited for the back up. Wang Lei looked around, he had never seen his home in such a state before.

 

“I feel like we’ve stepped into a ghost town, even at night the palace was never this quiet or dark.”

 

Not too far away, they could hear slow footsteps followed by a small group of other people walking, they weren’t concerned since they knew these were Nakai’s men but Nakai was unsure about the snail among them. Once the group rounded the corner, Wang Lei saw a familiar silhouette. Before he could get a good look, the person called out to him, his voice aged but warm.

 

“I’m glad to see you are well my King.”

 

“Old Liu?”

 

The old man laughed heartily and quickened his slow steps while holding his arms open. Wang Lei practically collapsed onto Old Liu and hugged him as hard as his torso allowed him, when Old Liu felt Wang Lei wince, he pulled away and looked Wang Lei up and down.

 

“Maybe not as well as I thought, what happened?”

 

:”Oh, just Wang Xei again.”

 

Old Liu made a sour face before getting back to the task at hand.

 

“I had to go into hiding once Prince Bao had left and I’ve been keeping tabs on Queen Mother, why don’t we go inside and chat about it.”

 

Nakai pointed at the palace.

 

“You mean in there.’

 

“Of course, there are only servants in there now, Queen Mother and Wang Xei left with my Brother and Prince Bao almost four days ago now. There is word of Queen Mother coming back soon so I think it’s best if the palace is on our side rather than hers.”

 

Old Liu patted Wang Lei forward and everyone walked through the unguarded gates of the palace, although it was the darkest hour of the night, they could see changes had been made to the grounds. Queen Mother had always had a section of land to grow her flowers while the rest was designed by the late King but now the whole courtyard area and walkways were overgrown with plants, the thick scent was hard to take in, making it difficult to breathe. Nera scrunched his nose while he leaned in close to Wang Lei.

 

“I can see why you forbid plants with a scent back home. You had to live in this place?”

 

“It wasn’t like this before.”

 

Wang Lei walked up the small steps before pushing on the doors, they opened easily and behind them he could see a few familiar faces. The large room that was reserved for court was dark but there were a few dim lights around the edges. Although the servants couldn't see Wang Lei’s face they recognised his voice and their bodies froze once they heard his first order.

 

“Turn the lights on.”

 

Nobody moved for a couple seconds before there were rushed steps and the room burst with light. The servants were all standing in a line with their heads bowed. The servant that had run to turn the lights on, rushed back to where the other servants were. Wang Lei walked forward with silent steps and watched as the servants trembled. He stood in front of the first servant who was the head servant and held his hand out.

 

“Your communicator.”

 

The small device was handed over and Wang Lei pressed a button before speaking into it.

 

“All workers are to report to the royal court room immediately. If any workers try to run you will be shot on sight.”

 

Wang Lei wasn’t holding any punches now and he wasn’t in a great mood either, behind him the troops all took their positions around the outside windows to watch out for strays while Nakai, Nera and Old Liu all followed Wang Lei to sit at the front of the room, once they were seated, Old Liu started explaining everything he had found while in hiding.

 

“T City has been turned into the port for sending off Queen Mother’s troops. She has already sent out two groups to attack small countries that the late King helped build. They surrendered after two days of attack and are now fully under her reign now, or your reign I should say. Until recently she has been using your name as the face of her destruction. I say recently since she has spread news of you being on your deathbed.”

 

Wang Lei leaned forward and rubbed his face with his hands while sighing heavily.

 

“How far have her troops gotten?”

 

“She hasn’t had anymore takeovers yet since the Giant King and Queen have sent their own people to act as guards over small countries. I heard that the Giants were angry so I first went there to help cool them off, especially since they were mostly angry about their son running off again without telling them beforehand.”

 

Old Liu looked at Nakai who was sitting beside him with the face of a disappointed uncle before carrying on explaining to Wang Lei.

 

“The Giant's weren’t the only one to step in as well. The Sea People also announced last month that the queen was actually not dead and was in fact in hiding, their cities had been searched and all spies executed publicly, one of them was your head maid my King. After this, she announced that she knows the King would never send spies into her land and challenged Queen Mother to prove to her the King was behind everything.”

 

Nakai interjected quickly.

 

“Is her son okay?”

 

Old Liu was about to carry on talking when Nakai interrupted him and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before fully registering what was asked of him.

 

“Yes, yes. The child is fine. You should watch the broadcast yourself actually, he had a message for you at the very end.”

 

Before Old Liu could start talking, he was cut off by the large doors being thrown open. The loud voice of a woman along with a man echoed off the walls while Nakai’s troops tried to hold them back, threatening them with their guns.

 

“Try and shoot me you bastards! I would love to see how Nakai would react.”

 

Nakai stood up as soon as he heard Ala and walked down the middle of the room, servants had already filed in through various doors but were made to stand along the walls and not say a word. Nakai pulled Ala in for a hug as soon as he was close enough but scolded her as well.

 

“You’re supposed to report to either me or your brother. He was worried you had dropped off the face of the earth.”

 

“Yeah~, we had to ditch our phones because we were being chased but we have news, Nakai, It’s not good.”

 

Nakai led Ala and Rana to where he had been sitting before and they quickly shared their information. Rana started first.

 

“The Queen Mother sent out people to Sea country, her numbers are larger than anyone had imagined and they’re not just humans, they are from all different races and have bowed down to Queen Mother. It’s believed they will land in two days, we already sent word out to Lani and Pou. What we also know is that Wang Bao was taken as bait for Wang Lei and Nakai. She knows about their relationship after her men saw them in Werebeast Continent. She thinks that if she can take down the two of you, then it will give her an advantage over the Giant’s and the countries they are protecting.”

 

Wang Lei and Nakai glanced over at one another before Nakai asked the real question that needed to be answered.

 

“Do you know where Wang Bao is now?”

 

Ala shook her head sadly.

 

“All I know is that they left the palace in the dead of night and set off decoy vehicles along the way. There was no way we could follow all of them with just us two. We were going to find a way to get in touch when I saw the troops running through the palace gates.”

 

“Eh ehm, if I may interrupt. I know where Prince Bao is.”

 

Old Liu had been waiting for Ala and Rana to finish up so he could continue but he felt they might start bouncing ideas around and end up further behind than they already were. Nakai narrowed his eyes at the old man and his voice was cold.

 

“You should spit it out first then, what’s with all this beating around the bush?”

 

Old Liu ignored him and turned to Wang Lei who was rubbing his temples impatiently.

 

“Wang Xei was taken to Queen Mother’s parents farm after his second failed attempt at murder, like myself and my Brother, Queen Mother frequinted the farm whenver she got too carried away with punishing Prince Bao. Other than that land, she has nowhere else to go.”

 

Wang Lei perked up with a plan in mind and pointed to the servants that were all standing around the walls of the large room.

 

“Troops will take you individually for interrogation, all workers found guilty of harming Prince Bao in the past will be punished. Those still in cahoots with Queen Mother will also be punished. Once the interrogation is done workers will be escorted back to their quarters where they will stay until further commands.”

 

Wang Lei then looked back at his group.

 

“Everyone follow me.”

 

Wang Lei was in King mode now, he strode past everyone and through a door, heading to his study. Nera liked seeing Wang Lei like this and as he held the child he couldn’t stop from smiling stupidly. Once in his study, Wang Lei sat behind his desk then waited for the others to stand in front of him.

 

“Nakai, Nera. I need you two to take however many troops you need and take them to Sea country. If we can word them off or stop them long enough to capture Queen Mother, then we can prevent a lot of harm coming to millions of people. Ala, man I don’t know and Old Liu, you’ll escort me to the farm and I’ll deal with my Mother.”

 

Rana looked pissed at what he had been called but didn’t speak out, everyone was in agreeance apart from Nakai and Nera. Both felt their troops could deal well enough on their own and Nakai was the first to speak up when disagreeing.

 

“You think I don’t have plans for that Mother of yours? My troops are some of the best trained soldiers, they can make do without me. I’m going to that farm.”

 

Wang Lei stood up and slammed his palms onto his desk, his face was pale from over exerting himself the past week but his eyes were alert.

 

“Nakai this is no time to argue. You above all people put innocent people before a single person, don’t throw that away just for some vengeance.”

 

Nakai stepped forward to say more to Wang Lei but Nera quickly caught his shoulder and pulled him back. The child stirred in his arms so he lowered his voice to calm the tension between them.

 

“Bao will be fine no matter if it’s you or his Brother finding him. As for this Queen Mother, Lei can keep her in a cell for you. Let’s just deal with her mess first before striking the head of the beast.”

 

Wang Lei could see Nakai didn’t want to back down but he was relieved when he saw the Giant take a few steps back. The room was silent for a few seconds before Wang Lei started talking again.

 

“Okay, we leave tonight. Once I have Mother and Bao, we’ll make our way back here. I hope her followers aren’t too loyal to her and stop once I make a broadcast of the truth and everything that has happened.”

 

Old Liu nodded before stepping out of the room to inform the troops of the new plans as well as get vehicles ready for the different journeys. Back in the study, Nakai was brooding but would rather not say anything about it and threw his phone at Ala.

 

“Call your brother, he almost bit my head off when I said I wouldn’t wait with him at the small island.”

 

“Such a dummy. He always worries when there’s no need.”

 

Ala stepped out of the room and Rana was about to follow behind her when Nakai whispered to him.

 

“Shouldn't you be thanking me?”

 

“Don’t be so proud of yourself.”

 

Rana looked Nakai up and down before stepping out with Ala, all that were left in the room were Wang Lei, Nakai, Nera and the sleeping child. Wang Lei looked over at the small face. Now that they were in an area with proper lighting he could see the hild mustn’t have bathed since the genocide. His body was also small as if he was underfed, the sight made Wang Lei think of Wang Bao and he sighed.

 

“Let’s go to the kitchen, he should eat something before we go.”

 

With that said, the trio left the study and Nakai cooked a small meal for the four of them. The boy refused to wake up once he had fallen asleep and Wang Lei boxed up a whole bag of food for when he woke up since the child would be going with him. When it came to them finally departing, Nakai left for his car silently after quietly saying something to Wang Lei.

 

“By the time I get back, I want Wang Bao healthy. If I come back and he’s in worse condition than when he was taken, I’ll take it out on you, not your Mother.”

 

While Nakai was walking away, Wang Lei couldn’t help but shake his head, a hard to read look on his face. Wang Lei’s group was already waiting for him and he didn’t like intimate goodbyes so he simply pulled the child out of Nera’s arms then bumped his arm with his.

 

“Don’t get too roughed up, the garden back home still needs finishing.”

 

Nera rolled his eyes before stealing a quick kiss, liking intimate goodbyes very much.

 

“Can’t you just say I love you, come back safely, like a normal lover?”

 

Wang Lei scrunched his nose then walked away, however as he was closing his door he couldn’t help but stop to watch Nera walk to where Nakai was waiting outside their car. Wang Lei’s body was tired and weak yet he wanted to be the one instead of Nakai going to fight beside Nera. In the end he knew it was impossible, both because of his condition and he had a few things to say to his Mother that he knew wouldn't be said if Nakai were to find her first. With one last look at Nera, Wang Lei closed the door and his car sped out of the palace.