I said, "Mmm, doing it this way is actually quite good. The Earth Federation will need at least a hundred years to truly stabilize. The reason those nations don't dare rebel now is because of our presence. If we truly wash our hands of it, the likelihood of trouble erupting will be very high; I overlooked that point earlier."

Fang Yanmeng chimed in, "Oh right, Brother Zhao Qian, we came to tell you something, and it seems to be related to the An family from just now."

"What?" I was momentarily stunned. Since returning to Earth, it felt like there was never a shortage of matters concerning the An family.

Fang Yanmeng pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. "Look at this yourself. It’s an invitation from the Federal Tourism Bureau. It seems Sister Xu Jing has one too."

Xiao Chuchu and Li Qi also placed identical pieces of paper on the table. When I picked mine up, I saw it was for the Gemini Tour, initiated by the Federal Tourism Bureau. Of the ten VIPs listed, at least five of them were my wives! What was An Ming trying to pull? Could he possibly think of using the status of these five women to promote the Federation’s interstellar tourism?

Li Qi remarked, "Originally, if you hadn't brought up the An family matter, we would have just assumed this was an ordinary tourist invitation. But now that An Ming's genetics show a variable, we need to be careful about whether there’s another meaning behind this."

My wives are all exceptionally smart; no common trick could escape their notice. Before I mentioned An Ming's 'wolfing out,' they might not have paid much attention to the Gemini invitation, but now that I suspect ill intent from the An family, they naturally take the tourism proposal very seriously.

I said, "There's no rush on this. Let's figure out the An family's background first. Besides the regular flights to Mars, any other civilian interstellar vessel requires Qi Qi's personal written authorization to enter or exit the spaceport. Without Qi Qi’s signature, no tour ship can traverse the wormhole, so they can’t just run off."

Li Qi agreed, "That's true. The various nations under the Federation cannot compare technologically with the Federation itself. They lack the ability to manufacture their own interstellar ships or warships. As long as the Federal government doesn't approve, no one can leave the Earth-Moon system."

I inquired, "How much do the people on Earth know about our strength in space?"

Yi Xiaorou answered, "Other than the spaceport established in Earth's outer orbit, the public only knows that the Federation possesses space transport and long-distance voyage capabilities. The warships are continuously produced inside the Moon and at the Mars underground base. Aside from our immediate family, even high-ranking federal officials are unaware of this."

I nodded. "That's good. I was afraid the An family planned to wipe us all out and crown themselves emperor. If they don't know our real strength, they're effectively blind and will never succeed."

Li Qi laughed, "Don't always think the worst of things. The An family is an old family friend of mine; even my grandfather had some acquaintance with Old Man An."

I chuckled, "Acquaintance is acquaintance, but when faced with vested interests, anything can be discarded. In this world, only my feelings for you are eternal."

"You're being so mushy," the ladies laughed, dodging my embrace.

The next day at noon, I received the An family’s file delivered by Xia Huren at Federation Headquarters, and the DNA samples were sent to Hua Qingqing for testing. Coincidentally, Li Qi, Xu Jing, Fang Yanmeng, and the others finished their work and came to call me for dinner. Everyone gathered in the lounge to eat while reviewing the An family's situation.

Xia Huren’s expression was rather strange. He said to me, "Old Qian, this An family seems a bit twisted."

"Oh?" I put down the steamed bun in my hand and picked up Xia Huren’s investigation report. "How twisted? I love studying twisted things; I’ll take a good look."

Fang Yanmeng stepped on my foot under the table. We are all adults now; even the wild girl Fang Yanmeng wouldn't tolerate me pulling the same old stunts we used to. Xia Huren said, "Take a look. The An family's appearance on Earth is rather inexplicable. Around two hundred years ago, it’s as if they crawled out of the mud. And since that time, no one in the An family has married a non-An woman."

I was startled when I looked. I expected 'non-An women' to be from prestigious noble families, but I never imagined these women were all blood relatives of the An family themselves! This was textbook **. Although I knew such things existed on Gemini, and even in prehistory six thousand years ago there was such a tradition—the Dragon Girl almost married her brother—I never expected to find this happening right under our noses.

Seeing me dumbfounded, Li Qi and the others took the file and looked through it. Fang Yanmeng exclaimed, "That’s seriously twisted. Brother marrying sister, uncle marrying niece—what kind of nonsense is the An family pulling?"

I said, "Marrying relatives to maintain blood purity isn't a huge deal in itself. I think the primary reason the An family deliberately avoids intermarriage with outsiders is due to this aspect. Until An Jie's grandfather's generation, the family remained obscure. But starting from An Jie's father and An Jie's generation, they became widely famous on Earth. Moreover, the sudden interest An Jie and An Ming have in women outside their lineage suggests there might indeed be a serious problem here."

Xu Jing passed me some food. "Brother Zhao, as far as I know, the An family has been extremely active socially around the world in the last two years. Do you think they have some ulterior motive? We should take precautions and try to uncover their scheme."

I laughed, "Since it's a secret, it naturally won't be easily discovered by us. Qingqing said the results won't be out until tonight. Let's wait a bit longer; we’ll decide the next step after looking at the DNA test."

The afternoon passed quickly. By evening, without anyone initiating it, everyone gathered together to await Hua Qingqing’s test results. After all, there hadn't been any major events on Earth for a long time, and now this inexplicable An family suddenly appeared, making everyone eager to know what was going on.

Hua Qingqing entered the house and paused. "Who are you waiting for? Honey, you're home."

Su Xue stepped forward. "We're waiting for you, Sister Qingqing! Hurry and tell us the test results. I heard the details from everyone when I got home, and I'm getting impatient."

Hua Qingqing sat in the seat the ladies made for her. "The result is simple: the genes of all the An family members, young and old, are incredibly pure, completely matching the report from An Ming's test. I asked Xiao Hui to help verify with the Federal Mainframe; this genetic sequence is definitely not from any species currently known to us. Even the Federal Government from a million years in the future won't have this data."

I said, "Because Little Raindrop's time machine disrupted Earth's original developmental path, the Federal Government a million years from now certainly won't be what it is now, so the cultural data from that era is of little reference to us. Looking at Tiger's investigation report, the An family appeared very suddenly on Earth; their family records from two hundred years ago are a complete blank. Furthermore, the An family only became famous on Earth in recent years. There must be some objective. I’ve sent Peach to probe their neural information; she should be back soon."

With Peach dispatched, the ladies were naturally reassured. After a brief discussion, Peach’s report came back, but the results were deeply disappointing. Just like Little Raindrop’s brainwave detection on Simugu, Peach also couldn't comprehend the An family members' neural signals; she couldn't even decipher their everyday behavior. This added another thick layer to the An family's already mysterious veil.

The situation stalled for a moment. However, the An family had definitely drawn our attention, and routine surveillance was initiated. Apart from An Jie occasionally bothering Li Qi, An Ming’s actions toward Liu Xue seemed to intensify. Perhaps An Jie was still wary of my presence; whenever I was around, he would leave without making a sound. As for his younger brother An Ming, we had little contact because Liu Xue was too high-profile a public figure for me to escort her every day.

Three days later, Xia Huren investigated a piece of intelligence: the An family had secretly supported the M Nation's Space Agency many years ago. It seemed that some of M Nation's satellites and interstellar exploration vessels had a subtle connection with the An family. Then, a week later, Xiao Hui reported to me that someone attempted to hack the Federal Mainframe system; the target she locked onto showed a significant correlation with the An family. A few days after that, one night, our surveillance satellite received a bizarre signal. This signal was indecipherable, and its transmission origin was a newly scanned galaxy, H32.

The situation grew complicated. We initially thought this was merely a rivalry between lovers, but who knew that An Jie and his family had so many undisclosed secrets behind the scenes? This commanded our utmost attention. Every night, the ladies would gather around me to discuss the progress.

"I think we should just arrest them directly and stop living in constant fear," said Su Xue, who preferred swift action.

However, the elder figures like Li Qi, Yi Xiaoguo, and Zhao Fen disagreed. "Startling the snake in the grass is unwise. Any clear-eyed person knows that with the An family’s capability, they are no match for the Federal Government. No matter how capable they are, they can't surpass the strength of the former US and Russia. But now they are taking risks and stirring things up behind the scenes; it’s impossible that there aren’t secrets involved."

Fang Yanmeng suggested, "Why don't we put pressure on the An family from various angles and let them know the consequences? If they behave and back off, fine. Otherwise, we should eliminate this hidden danger early on."

I was puzzled. "Why is An Ming so keen on the Gemini interstellar tour? Logically speaking, we’ve already developed the Mars tour; there’s no need to make such a huge fuss over developing Gemini."

Li Qi asked, "Are you saying there’s a conspiracy behind this Gemini tour?"

I nodded. "Otherwise, why has he been contacting you all so frequently lately? I say, let him play his game. We'll go to Gemini for a few days of vacation and see what tricks he can pull."

Li Qi agreed, "Fine. But we should hide the warships over at Gemini. After all, the An family doesn't know about those assets, and the Earthlings don't know about our war with the U-Star people either. Retaining some strength will always be advantageous for us."

I agreed, "Are you also suspecting the An family isn't normal Earthlings?"

Li Qi smiled, "I don't have the authority to say on that matter. You should hear what Little Raindrop, Xiao Hui, and Dragon Girl have to say."

Dragon Girl stated, "We haven't fully ascertained the internal situation of the H32 galaxy yet. We can't confirm whether there is intelligent life there right now. As for why the An family sent secret signals to that galaxy, we can't figure that out yet. However, judging by their genetics, the possibility that they are alien spies is very high."

Xiao Hui interjected, "Brother, I’ve found out the purpose of the person who tried to invade the Federal Mainframe that day. They seemed to be searching for information regarding the Energy Stones. They retreated as soon as I discovered them because time was too short."

I concluded, "It seems those four stones really are extraordinary. Perhaps the Dragon Girl’s ancestors bringing them back from distant Mercury destined us for so much trouble. Since fate has brought this upon us, we will accommodate it. We’ll accompany the An family to Gemini and see what tricks they can pull."