Xiao Lou still had many questions in his mind. For example, did his sister know about the one-year-old prince whom His Majesty had mentioned to him, and the invisible man who sneaked into Gemini Palace on the day of the birthday banquet?
Just as he was about to ask, he heard Professor Edwin and Prince Herman talking outside the door.
Hermann's voice sounded somewhat anxious: "How much longer will the examination take?"
Edwin said, "The princess wants to have a full medical check-up. She just said she felt tightness in her chest, so I arranged for a cardiologist to examine her heart carefully. She also needs to have her blood tested for hormones... Don't worry, the doctors are all specialists I contacted in advance. Nurse just took the princess to have her blood drawn, and she will return to the ultrasound room after that."
Hermann paused at the door for a moment, then turned and said, "Okay, call me when the time comes."
The doctor left with Prince Herman. Xiao Lou knew time was of the essence, so she kept it brief: "Sister, I have a few more questions I'd like to ask you."
Xiao Rou nodded: "Okay, go ahead and ask."
Xiao Lou said, "My father told me that I once had an older brother who was assassinated before he was even a year old. My father experienced the pain of losing a son. Is this true?"
Xiao Rou's face paled slightly: "There was indeed a prince before you, who died before he was a year old. Your mother was greatly affected by this. At the time, she was pregnant and spent more than half a year in the hospital to recover before giving birth to you. As for whether he was assassinated, I don't know. My father announced to the public that he died of illness."
It seems His Majesty did not lie to him about this.
Xiao Lou then asked, "You were born less than two years after Father and Mother got married. Why didn't they have any more children for the next thirteen years? Was it a problem with their relationship, or a problem with their genes?"
Xiao Rou thought for a moment and said, "I remember when I was five years old, my mother was pregnant with twins. Unfortunately, the twins were miscarried before three months. I don't know the specific reason for the miscarriage. My mother cried very sadly. That miscarriage was very damaging to my mother's body, and she spent the next few years recuperating. The main reason they didn't have any children during those years was probably because my mother's body was relatively weak. My father loved her very much and never thought of remarrying."
Xiao Lou quickly asked, " Was the invisible man who infiltrated Gemini Palace on my birthday sent by my sister?"
Xiao Rou was stunned: "An invisible man?"
Xiao Lou said, "Yes, you can't see the physical form; it's like it's transparent."
Xiao Rou shook her head decisively and said, "It wasn't me. I married into the Azure Empire when I was 20, and it's difficult for me to leave the palace. I don't trust more than five people here, so I can't possibly send someone to look for you..." She paused, as if she had thought of something, and suddenly said, "By the way, I have heard some legends about invisible people."
"What legend?"
" Azure Planet is a human-inhabited planet, but it's not entirely inhabited by humans; nearly 50% of it is ocean. I've heard there's a magical creature in the ocean that humans can't see; people call it the 'invisible man.'"
"Since they are transparent and cannot be seen at all, how can we prove that they exist?" Xiao Lou asked in confusion.
"Legend has it that fishermen by the sea sometimes hear strange singing at night, but they can't see who is making the sound. After I married into the Azure Empire, many elders would scare children by saying, 'The invisible man singing at midnight will eat them.' Of course, these are just rumors. No one has ever seen the so-called 'invisible man.' I only thought of this because you mentioned invisible people. Could it be related to the people you've encountered?" Xiao Rou said nervously.
"..." Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, and at the same time saw a hint of surprise in each other's eyes—the strange singing voice, didn't it match the mysterious person who saved Ninth Brother?
Xiao Lou asked, "Which specific area of the sea is the beach you're referring to, sister? Is there a particular place you're referring to?"
Xiao Rou said, "They are all just rumors, like myths; no one witnessed it with their own eyes."
Prince Herman's footsteps sounded outside again.
Their private meeting had already lasted more than 10 minutes. If it dragged on any longer, and Prince Herman became suspicious and barged into the examination room, it would be difficult to explain why two interns were conducting a prenatal examination on the Duchess.
Xiao Lou walked up to Xiao Rou, gently pressed her shoulder, and said softly, "Sister, take care of yourself and your child. I'll come to see you again after I've sorted things out."
Xiao Rou's eyes instantly reddened, and she choked out, "I'm doing very well. But you... I wonder how many of those princes who look exactly like you are still alive? What if they try to pass themselves off as real princes? If needed, I can testify for you and prove that you are the real prince."
Xiao Lou smiled slightly: "Is there a difference between real and fake?"
Xiao Rou was stunned: "You mean?"
Xiao Lou calmly said, "To Father, we are all his descendants, whether we are clones or the real thing. We are all called Xiao Lou, we are all his sons, and we all have similar genes."
Xiao Rou stared wide-eyed in disbelief: "How could he do this? Your mother carried you for ten months and went through so much hardship to give birth to you, and he actually used your blood to make more than a hundred copies! If your mother knew, she would be furious!"
Xiao Lou said helplessly, "His mother has passed away, and no one can take care of him..."
Xiao Rou's face was full of disappointment: "Then what are you going to do?"
Xiao Lou said, "Don't worry, sister, I will live well. Take care of yourself."
Xiao Rou quickly said, "Take care too! Although I can't be of much help, if one day you need to prove your identity, I will definitely stand up for you without hesitation!"
Xiao Lou nodded to her and winked at Yu Hanjiang. Yu Hanjiang sent a signal to Ninth Brother through his earpiece, and Lu Jiuchuan immediately activated Peach Blossom Spring Teleportation.
Seeing Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang disappear from sight in an instant, Xiao Rou's eyes filled with deep reluctance and worry.
Just then, Prince Herman pushed open the door and walked in. He looked at the empty room and frowned, saying, "The inspection has been going on for so long?"
Xiao Rou pressed her temples, feigning weakness: "I just had my heart checked, and Nurse took me to have a vial of blood drawn... Where's Professor Edwin? Let him take me for an ultrasound."
Herman squinted as he scanned the room, finding nothing suspicious, then helped Xiao Rou turn and leave.
**
Inside Peach Blossom Spring, Xiao Lou and his six friends gathered together.
Tang Ci stepped forward and asked, "How was it? Did you gain anything from meeting the Princess?"
Xiao Lou briefly recounted what her sister knew to her teammates.
After hearing this, Lu Jiuchuan couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, what is this emperor up to? Copying a hundred sons? This is practically mass production on an assembly line!"
Xiao Lou said seriously, "We previously speculated that His Majesty duplicated the princes because the Queen could no longer have children, and the death of the eldest prince at the age of one caused him great pain. He was worried that if something happened to the princes, there would be no one to inherit the throne, so he simply duplicated a few more, which can be considered as having more security."
Lu Jiuchuan stroked his chin: "Worried about no one inheriting the throne? Two or three copies should be enough. A hundred? Won't that cause chaos?" He looked at Tang Ci: " Xiao Tang, you wouldn't copy that many when backing up data, would you?"
Tang Ci said expressionlessly, "Even when data engineers back up the most critical data, they will only make two or three copies at most. No one would be bored enough to copy 100 USB drives. Fundamentally, data backup is for security reasons; if the original data is damaged, a backup can be used as a substitute. But if there are too many backups, it will back up the opposite of what you want."
Lu Jiuchuan agreed: "That makes sense. For example, I copy important data on my computer twice for security, but if I copy it 100 times, wouldn't it be easier to lose it or have it stolen?"
Ye Qi scratched his head and said, "That's right. If His Majesty clones 100 princes, what if some of them are used by someone with ulterior motives? Wouldn't that just cause trouble for himself? Also, what if those clones develop self-awareness and start vying for the throne? This is even more outrageous than the Nine Princes' Succession Struggle during the Kangxi era in history. A hundred princes vying for the throne, and 100 princes who look exactly alike? Even movies wouldn't dare to portray it like that!"
Everyone: "..."
Xiao Ye's description was both laughable and pathetic.
The struggle for the throne among 100 princes is not as simple as bloodshed, especially since all 100 of them look alike.
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "What we can think of, His Majesty will certainly think of as well. Don't forget, Xiao Lou's father has been sitting firmly on the throne of the Luoke Empire for decades. He wouldn't be foolish enough to create 100 princes to cause himself trouble."
Xiao Lou said, "The 100 princes were what my sister saw, not what we are seeing now."
Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed slightly.
Shao Qingge, who had been silent until now, narrowed his eyes and said, "You mean, most of the princes are probably already dead?"
Xiao Lou said, "Yes. Hanjiang is right. His Majesty must have thought of everything we could think of long ago. He didn't create 100 princes to raise them all and cause himself trouble. 100 princes vying for the throne would make the whole palace a mess. How could he do something that would harm others and himself? Perhaps he planned all of this from the beginning. He created so many princes to select the most outstanding one to raise."
Ye Qi stared blankly at Xiao Lou and blurted out, "It's like planting potatoes. You plant a whole patch first, then pick out the best ones and throw the rest away?"
Xiao Lou closed his eyes, finding it hard to imagine that lives exactly like his own were being copied and then killed one by one.
But his inner suspicions told him that it was true.
That's how cold-blooded and brutal the cloning program is.
When Xiao Lou opened his eyes, his face had returned to calm. He said, "Survival of the fittest—mass production first, selecting the best to keep, and destroying all defective products. Isn't this the principle of many companies producing high-end goods?"
Yu Hanjiang also thought of this: "In the palace, including Xiao Lou, there should be three clones. The other two are probably elites selected from the Noahs Ark Project."
Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci exchanged a glance. For some reason, they suddenly recalled the scenes of Zerg fusion they had seen on Zerg Planet, where lower-level Zerg fused into higher-level ones, eventually becoming queens.
Lu Jiuchuan's face darkened: "This plan sounds a lot like..."
Xiao Lou whispered, "Raising Gu."
Ye Qi gasped: "Could this also be inspired by the Zerg?"
Xiao Lou nodded, his face pale: "The scene of low-level Zerg merging into high-level Zerg was witnessed by the military officers who went to Zerg Planet. It's very similar to raising Gu. And many people have probably heard the legend of the Gu King. To create a Gu King, you first put many poisonous insects in the same container and let them kill each other. The weak ones will be killed and eaten, and the one that survives to the end is the extremely poisonous Gu King."
Yu Hanjiang's voice was low and deep: "On the day of the birthday banquet, the invisible man who infiltrated Gemini Palace said something to Xiao Lou that I never understood. Now it seems that his words..."
This statement implies that the cloning project is actually a program to raise and control insects.
He said, "The one who survives to the end is the winner."
******