Abyss Solo

The scene shifts. Edwan leaves the Imperial Palace and boards a Sherman Empire ship.

He sits in front of Princess Luna and rejects the contract she hands over;

He turns to leave, a line of maids appears ahead, continually bumping into him, piercing his skin with fine spikes.

Edwan's body trembles and slowly collapses, the maids bow their heads and disappear in the corridor of the ship.

He supports himself against the wall, inching forward, but the background sound of the scene turns into his conversation with Yang Ming.

"What's on your mind, Edwan? I'm on my way to Gudun Mah."

"It's useless, Ming. We must avoid the Empire's hunt now. We don't have enough time, and the Empire will never allow us to escape their control. Our economic growth is just a piece of meat to them. What solution do you have?"

"Edwan! Don't be too idealistic! What they're about to do now is exactly what they did to your father back then!"

"That is our opportunity, Ming."

"Are you stupid? Do you know what they did to your father?"

"Replacement, intelligent machine replacement, and you have the means to restrain this machine, just like influencing my father back then, don't you, Ming?"

Yang Ming remains silent.

"This is the opportunity, the only chance for Wind, otherwise, no matter who's the Emperor, the Sherman family can control Wind by the same means."

"But, Edwan, this is irrational."

"There's no rational or irrational in politics. We've come all this way, only two steps away from success."

Edwan's walking body can no longer sustain itself.

The sound of arguing fades into the distance.

Edwan's voice continues to shout.

"If you respect me, follow my thoughts! I am the Emperor..."

"Promise me, the future throne will go to Emilia, I believe Emilia will be more outstanding than me, she will perfectly replace my role and carry on our cause. Also, also..."

Edwan leans against the cabin wall, his body slowly sliding down, he sits there, looking at the light source of the ship.

"Promise me, the Wind Alliance must adhere to the three principles we've set, the people of Wind will usher in a new era of democracy, freedom, legality, fairness, and independence..."

"Promise me, Ming."

"Revolution inevitably requires sacrifice, and the first to be sacrificed should be the Emperor of this country."

Yang Ming's voice is hoarse: "I promise."

"Thank you."

His organs deteriorate rapidly, vision slowly blurs.

Edwan suddenly smiles.

He closes his eyes, powerless, sitting in the cabin, a strand of hair slowly falls away.

The background sound turns into a somewhat piercing 'ding', the scene gradually sinks into darkness.

"Tell her for me... never mind, I'm unworthy of loving her."

The video ends.

The entire Wind Empire, the entire territory of the Wind Alliance, wherever there's a screen, people stand there dazedly, sitting there, staring at the darkened scene before them.

Ilando Star becomes so quiet;

The deep starry sky seems to have only background noise remaining;

Human civilization in the Milky Way spreads this story.

Wind Empire Imperial Palace, in the corner of the sleeping quarters.

Emilia kneels on the ground, unable to suppress her wails despite the comforting of several female ministers.

Yang Ming walks to Emilia's side, and says softly: "Five minutes to adjust your emotions."

Emilia seems as if she hasn't heard, still buried in her sobbing.

Yang Ming sighs silently to himself.

He shouldn't be here, showing this video edited by Lyu to the ministers, generals, and Emilia.

Yang Ming tidies his military uniform and raises a hand, gesturing.

The door to the sleeping quarters opens, two rows of formally dressed guards simultaneously line up, two sets of floating spheres appear behind the desk.

The full-channel broadcast throughout the Wind Alliance officially begins.

The image that appears on the broadcast is this empty desk, surrounded by standing ministers.

There's absolute silence in the room.

The sound of footsteps arises, Yang Ming, dressed in his Wind military uniform with Vice Admiral insignia on his shoulder, emerges in the center of the screen, standing by the desk.

He remains silent, just staring at the camera.

And this silence seems to envelop all the people of the Wind Alliance who are watching the live broadcast.

"Yes! We've known for a long time about the evil plan executed by the Sherman Empire."

Yang Ming stands straight, his voice like a roar:

"Edwan's father's rule was controlled by the Sherman Empire using intelligent machinery for nearly ten years!"

"During these ten years, the Wind Empire was deeply exploited by the Sherman Empire! Our annual silver payments continuously increased! Our painstakingly built industry chains were easily taken by the Empire, all technologies had to use Empire patents, and social wealth severely flowed out, causing extreme poverty on the Fifth Administrative Star of the Wind Empire! We even had the absurd event of poor people starving to death!"

"The first time I arrived in Wind, the images I saw were incredibly shocking!"

"Is this the interstellar era? Is this the so-called most blissful protectorate of the Sherman Empire in the Milky Way?"

"This is the evil result of the Sherman Empire's Emperor replacement plan!"

He lightly sighs, his expression gradually growing serious:

"When I first met His Majesty Edwan, he was just a marginalized Second Prince; why marginalized? Because he tried to rebel and was abandoned by the former Emperor not yet replaced."

"The former Emperor, before being replaced, also thought about how to shake off Sherman Empire's control, how to feed the mere tens of billions of citizens, but in the end, he was powerless to change anything, merely abandoning a son who so mirrored his younger self.