It was unbearably hot.
Berk reached up and unbuttoned a few more buttons on his uniform, wishing he could just open it up to his stomach.
The once heavily guarded Roy Palace now only had him standing at the gate.
Berk was unhappy with this assignment, and his attitude toward work was far from positive. Right now, there weren't many active people left in the entire empire. Even the robbers were stuck in their nutrient chambers, drunken and half-dead, with no energy to rob palaces.
Waving his uniform hat to create some air, Berk thought about taking a nap. But when he leaned against the metal wall in front of the palace gate, the heat instantly jolted him awake, and all his drowsiness vanished.
Damn it, when will it rain?
Berk cursed the climate of Imperial Capital Star again.
Earlier, the intelligent weather system had been running, and it was quite pleasant. Now, with the main control system completely shut down, all that was left was the planet's miserable atmosphere trying to hold on.
The rays of the sun hit the ground with almost no barrier. If one were to fall, it would probably sizzle like meat on a grill.
Berk pinched the fat on his belly and thought to himself that roasted fatty pork belly would probably smell nice.
In any case, Berk believed that even if there were any living people around, they wouldn't be out in this heat.
Unless they were crazy.
Not long after, Berk felt like he was about to faint from the sun.
A black dot appeared in his field of vision, slowly approaching.
Berk squinted his eyes. He could tell it was a person walking toward him.
This person seemed determined to die from heat. Not only was he out in this weather, but he was wearing a black outfit, with his hood pulled down tightly. Just watching him made Berk feel like passing out from the heat.
He bet the guy would collapse from heat exhaustion in no more than ten steps.
But unfortunately, that didn't happen. The person walked steadily and came right up to Berk.
Only then did Berk realize that this crazy guy wasn't wearing black clothes, but a black robe.
"You're still alive?" Berk exclaimed, then after a moment, his mind registered something, and he asked again, "What are you doing here again?"
The man in the black robe was unfazed by Berk's blunt question. He lifted his head and said, "I want to see Levi."
His voice was cold, as if forged from ice, and in this heat, it sounded eerily sharp.
His hood was pulled so low that Berk couldn't see his face. Any normal person wearing this robe would probably be unable to see the road, let alone their own face.
This kind of robe was an artifact from a long-lost civilization in the galaxy. It didn't provide insulation or warmth, and its only function was to block mental probes. However, it was extremely expensive. By now, it had been mostly phased out, and was only available in the black markets, sold to wealthy but gullible buyers.
The man in the black robe wasn't very tall, barely reaching Berk's chest even when standing upright. People of such height were usually either young boys or hunched old men.
But from the pale chin that showed under the hood, and the way he walked, it was clear he was the former.
Berk had seen the man in the black robe once before.
It had been about a week ago, right after Berk had been reassigned to guard the gate. The man had stood far outside the Roy Palace gates at that time.
Berk remembered it clearly.
The sky was dark, with distant thunder rumbling through the clouds. The iron pine forest outside Roy Palace was poorly maintained, and the ground was covered with yellowing pine needles. The young man in the black robe had stood on the needles and asked him a question.
It had been an unusually overcast day, so Berk hadn't been too surprised by the robe.
Although he hadn't seen the man's face clearly at the time, there weren't many people wearing such a rare and antique robe, so it was probably the same person.
Berk had a strong impression of him, not only because there were so few living people around at that time but also because the man in the black robe had asked him two questions.
The first question was, "Has Levi woken up?"
Berk, who had just been assigned to guard the gate, answered impatiently, "Woken up my ass, he's still asleep in the nutrient chamber!"
The fact that the man knew the name of the suddenly popular prince, Levi, was no small thing. Even though Berk had been annoyed, he still lied slightly, knowing it was important to keep Levi's awakening a secret for the time being.
Unexpectedly, the man in the black robe didn't press the matter. He simply nodded and turned to leave.
Before leaving, he turned to look back once more.
Berk had a feeling that the black-robed man wasn't looking at Roy Palace, but at him.
The black-robed man uttered a single word: "You..."
That was the second question. Before the subject could even finish, the man closed his mouth, said nothing else, and quickly disappeared into the gloomy sky.
Now that the man had appeared again with the same goal—Prince Levi—Berk immediately grew wary.
"Levi waking up so soon? Most of the empire's people are still asleep. Kid, you should go home and cool off," he joked, though his hand subtly rested on the energy gun at his waist.
Hearing Berk's words, the black-robed man seemed to glance at him.
He didn't respond verbally, nor did he leave swiftly like last time. Instead, he raised his hand.
Only then did Berk notice that the overly large sleeves of the robe were concealing a piece of paper.
It was an official classical-style paper notice, printed with the elaborate patterns representing the imperial royal family. In elegant cursive, it read: "To celebrate the awakening of His Royal Highness the Prince, Roy Palace sincerely invites entertainers who have now awoken to perform..."
The lie was immediately exposed, but thanks to Berk's thick skin, he didn't feel uncomfortable.
"You know about it and you're still asking me? It doesn't matter if he's awake or not. Our prince doesn't meet outsiders."
The black-robed man still didn't speak much, but Berk noticed that when he said "kid," the man seemed to glance at him again.
Berk found it strange. Just as he was about to try harder to drive the man away, footsteps sounded from behind him.
A person, with graying hair and holding a tray with both hands, came out from the corridor.
It was the old butler of Roy Palace, who, in a society where people commonly lived to be over 200 years old, was already 160 years old. According to imperial law, he should have retired by now.
And indeed, he had. But during the rebellion of the mainframe, most of the palace staff had been trapped in the virtual world. The current butler and most of the servants were still stuck in the simulation, while this elderly man, who had retired to tend to his garden, was still awake.
Now that some servants had begun to awaken, Roy Palace still had vacant positions, and the old butler had been forced to return to work.
"General Berk, it's so hot. I've brought you some tea."
Before the butler could finish speaking, Berk had already grabbed the teapot with one hand. He didn't even bother with a teacup and simply began drinking directly from the pot.
Halfway through, Berk put the teapot down and looked at the butler, his expression unreadable: "In this heat, you brought me hot water?"
The butler, whose bones were steeped in court etiquette, clearly wasn't used to Berk's rough drinking style, so he could only give a polite fake smile: "I thought you at least knew how to pour the water into a cup."
After mockingly addressing Berk, the butler noticed the black-robed man standing under the sun as well and asked, "Who is this gentleman?"
Berk leaned against the wall and nodded toward him: "Look at what he's holding."
The butler looked at the notice and fell into thought.
Inviting people for a performance wasn't really to celebrate the prince's awakening.
In these special times, it was better to keep things as simple as possible when it came to personnel movement in Roy Palace. But the prince himself was causing trouble...
Just yesterday, the prince, after having a good meal, suddenly threw out the word "bored."
It was a very ordinary remark, but the cabinet officials present at the time seemed to have thought of something, and cold sweat poured down their faces.
After the official returned, the cabinet apparently discussed it, and by this morning, the notice had been posted.
Given the current state of the empire, even if the notice were posted all over Imperial Capital Star, it's likely no one would come. Even if someone did come, they would have to go through layers of screening.
But such a screening process, in a time of dwindling population, was already a waste of resources.
Letting them in wasn't an option.
The butler looked at the young man in the black robe gently and said, "Kid, no need for the performance. Give me the notice, and I'll arrange for some living resources for you. It should be enough to support you for a while."
Now that people were gradually waking up from the virtual world, they found that the entire empire had changed. Their relatives and friends were gone, and even the most basic living supplies were in short supply.
Some residents had already come to Roy Palace for help, and it seemed the butler thought the black-robed man was one of them.
The black-robed man glanced at the butler, then at Berk.
He didn't hand over the paper notice but instead rolled it up and put it away.
Then Berk and the butler heard a mocking sound from under the heavy black robe.
The black-robed man chuckled, his voice still cold: "You're refusing to fulfill his request without consulting him first. Is that okay?"
Hearing this, and thinking about the "he" the black-robed man referred to, both Berk and the butler turned pale.
Berk, with a resolute and loyal demeanor, said, "I can't leave my post. Why don't you go in and ask the prince if he knows this kid?"
The butler smiled at Berk: "Respect for the elderly and love for the young is the empire's traditional virtue."
The two exchanged a few glances and ultimately decided to let the black-robed man face the difficult prince himself.
"Come here for a check." Berk pulled out an old-fashioned detector and gestured for the black-robed man to step forward.
This device was very difficult to use. Berk had spent some time learning how to use it properly. But now, with the entire empire's star network cut off, it was the only usable device left.
Berk scanned the black-robed man with the detector.
The robe didn't block the detection of weapons, but it did block the measurement of facial features and mental waves.
While the mental waves, which were like fingerprints, were impossible to measure, facial recognition wasn't reliable in this era anymore. Berk couldn't help but wonder what the man's face looked like to make him go to such lengths to cover it with this robe.
"Let's also register your identity." Berk pulled out an electronic recorder.
At this moment, the black-robed man, who had been cooperating up to this point, didn't step forward but instead raised his head to look at Berk.
He seemed very uncomfortable with the gesture of looking up at someone, and his mood soured as he spoke: "If I were willing to register, would I be wearing this thing?"
He tugged at his robe, his tone cold and mocking, making it easy for the listener to deeply question their own intelligence.
Berk felt a sense of familiarity from the black-robed man again, but after thinking for a moment, he realized he didn't know this little guy. He quickly pushed the feeling out of his mind.
Shrugging, Berk said, "It's just a formality. The system is down, and the registration department has no live personnel. Even if you fill it out, no one will have the time to check."
This time, the black-robed man didn't refuse. He took the recorder and, out of habit, wrote a short dash. But then he quickly realized and erased it, replacing it with a string of numeric codes.
The string of numbers looked very much like an identity ID from some remote planet. While Berk was studying the numbers, the old butler had already led the black-robed man inside.
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Author's Note:
This story won't have everyone in the same world together. It's not a tragic love story like a BE (Bad Ending); each world is like a separate chapter, and the love line progresses gradually in each one. It's not a loop in every world, but the overall plot is linear.
If you don't like it, please don't enter.
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