The arrival of the Planetary Governor to Kedo Planet was a major event, as it always is, across any spacetime continuum. Especially during this critical period, since the continued construction of the Kedo Academy still depended on government funding. When the god of wealth comes calling, a proper reception is mandatory.

The day the acting Planetary Governor arrived at the Academy, classes were suspended for half a day to hold a grand welcoming ceremony for the visiting Governor.

Accompanied by the Principal and more than a dozen student representatives, the Governor toured several areas of the Kedo Academy, finally arriving at the newly completed Memorial Hall to pay respects to the students who perished in the recent riot.

After sharing a dinner with the students in the canteen, the Governor spent the night in the newly constructed faculty dormitory.

That night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Security around the faculty dormitory was extremely tight. These guards, responsible for the Governor’s safety, were all elite special agents, possessing immense experience and formidable unique skills. They secured the entire faculty building like an impenetrable fortress. No suspicious individual could possibly get close.

As time crept toward midnight, the Governor had already retired for the night, while the guards maintained heightened vigilance, knowing that this was the most likely time for an attack. During this extraordinary time, they dared not be careless. They were tasked with protecting the supreme leader of the planet.

The Governor’s room was quiet. Although the room was well soundproofed, everyone voluntarily maintained absolute silence. The soldiers on guard stood ramrod straight, as solemn and unmoving as statues.

Suddenly, the lights throughout the entire building went dark. Two sentry soldiers reacted instantly, dropping into a crouch, their hands already gripping their high-powered ion rifles. They donned their night-vision goggles, scanning the darkness ahead with intense caution. Any slight movement would be met with immediate, uncompromising fire.

With a sharp click, the door behind them opened, and the Governor's voice cut through the tension. "What is happening?"

The two soldiers sprang up like coiled springs, positioning themselves to shield him, blocking every conceivable firing angle. One of them quickly ushered him back inside and firmly closed the door again.

"Sir, a minor issue has arisen. We will handle it. Please remain in your room," the soldier stated gravely.

Chang Benhou knew he must heed the advice of professionals. Despite wielding absolute authority over the entire planet now, in this specific domain, he understood less than the professional bodyguards.

He never interfered rashly in areas outside his expertise. This was precisely why he had risen to become the third most important figure in the Kedong family, and subsequently appointed Planetary Governor after the previous head’s demise.

He had woken up moments ago after hearing strange sounds in his sleep. Upon finding the room’s energy supply cut off, rendering all daily utilities useless, he had opened the door to inquire.

It turned out something had indeed occurred.

Seeing him safely back inside, the guard quietly slipped out of the room without making a sound.

A few minutes later, the door opened again, and the guard re-entered. "Sir, there was a temporary fault in the energy conduit; it has now been resolved." With that, the guard turned and left.

Chang Benhou didn't dwell on it; the faculty dormitory had only been completed a few days prior, so minor glitches were expected.

Lately, he had been utterly exhausted. He had endless matters demanding his attention daily, averaging no more than two hours of sleep over the past month. Even his Level Eighteen martial arts prowess was struggling to keep up.

This inspection tour was supposed to be a chance to set aside all official duties and rest properly. He had specifically instructed that he was not to receive any visitors that day—unless the situation was dire—to prevent anyone from disturbing him.

Relaxing his mind and body, he quickly slipped into deep sleep.

The room was silent, save for the steady, measured breathing of the sleeping Chang Benhou in the bed.

After an indeterminate amount of time, a faint wisp of purple energy drifted into the darkened room, entering his body with each breath he took.

In his sleep, Chang Benhou’s internal alarm suddenly flared, and he snapped his eyes open. A loud shout emerged, but it was already weak and powerless. "Who—" He felt his entire body turn soft and limp, utterly unable to muster any internal qi.

Just as terror threatened to overwhelm him, his vision went black, and his consciousness plunged into darkness, rendering him unconscious.

In a hazy state, a voice that seemed to echo from the horizon sounded near his ear, yet no matter how hard he strained, he couldn't discern what the voice was saying.

He felt a presence standing before him. He desperately wanted to open his eyes and see who it was, but his eyelids felt weighted down by tons of lead, refusing to lift. This sensation, akin to sleep paralysis—the inability to control one's own body—was profoundly agonizing.

"Ah—" He finally jolted awake, sitting bolt upright in bed, drenched in sweat, gasping for air. He looked around warily; the room was empty. He tried to summon his internal energy, but his body showed no abnormalities.

Finally, he lay back down. It was just a nightmare, perhaps brought on by the extreme tension of the preceding period.

Tap-tap-tap sounded at the door.

"Come in," Chang Benhou said, rising from the bed. He tidied his appearance, instantly transforming back into the confident Planetary Governor.

The Governor’s schedule was tight; he was set to depart the school early the next morning after breakfast with the students.

During the meal, Chang Benhou suddenly noticed a male student sitting not far from him who looked vaguely familiar. After a moment of thought, he recalled this was one of the student representatives assigned to accompany him, whose name...

He beckoned his nearby secretary over and learned the student was named Zhong Yun. Zhong Yun looked entirely ordinary, but his innate talent was astonishing; he already possessed the skill level of an engineer at such a young age, marking him as a renowned prodigy of the Kedo Academy.

Chang Benhou had seen many young prodigies in his time; he paid it little mind. As the Governor, burdened with myriad state affairs, he naturally would not focus on one or two talents. He instantly cast the matter aside.

"Finally leaving," Odin sighed in relief as he saw off the Governor’s entourage.

Zhong Yun, standing beside him, nodded, his gaze fixed on the distant silhouette of the aircraft carrying the Governor and his retinue. His eyes flickered, lost in some unknown thought.

"I didn't expect Wen Zhu to not come to see him off," Odin hadn't noticed Zhong Yun’s expression; even if he had, he likely wouldn't have thought anything of it.

"Wen Zhu?" Upon hearing the name, Zhong Yun turned his head. "Why would she come?"

"You don't know? Wen Zhu is related to Chang Benhou—"

"Ah?" Zhong Yun was genuinely surprised. He hadn't realized Wen Zhu held such a significant connection. With Chang Benhou becoming Planetary Governor, if nothing unforeseen happened, his status within the Kedong family would surely rival that of the Family Head. One could only imagine the future standing of Wen Xiu.

"You seem preoccupied," Odin finally observed Zhong Yun's strange behavior on their walk back to the dormitory.

"It's nothing," Zhong Yun shook his head. "Just feeling a bit unwell."

"Are you alright?" Odin frowned. Practitioners of martial arts rarely fell ill, and when they did, it was usually serious.

"It’s nothing. Maybe I just haven't been sleeping well these last few days. A good night's sleep should fix it." Zhong Yun answered verbally, but his thoughts had already drifted far away.

Seeing his expression, Odin knew Zhong Yun was troubled, but since he refused to elaborate, Odin didn't press, merely escorting him back to the dormitory before taking his leave.

Lying in bed, Zhong Yun's brow was tightly furrowed, as if wrestling with an insoluble dilemma. After a long moment, he finally let out a long breath and murmured to himself, "Even Chang Benhou doesn't know. Could those Primordial Stones really have been sold already?"

The person who had infiltrated Chang Benhou’s quarters last night was him. After gathering intelligence from Wen Zhu, he had begun setting his plan in motion. He deployed 'Swarm Bee No. 1' inside the newly constructed faculty dormitory to pinpoint Chang Benhou’s location.

He initiated his action last night, strolling confidently into the heavily guarded faculty dormitory wearing his invisibility cloak, moving as if unseen. He reached Chang Benhou's room.

He had previously tampered with the energy transmission lines, causing a deliberate power failure, and simultaneously created an anomalous noise within Chang Benhou’s room. When the Governor came out to investigate, Zhong Yun slipped into the room, unnoticed and unheard.

The power was then restored, the alert lifted, and Zhong Yun waited patiently for several hours until Chang Benhou fell into a deep sleep, his alertness at its lowest ebb. Only then did he employ the advanced hypnosis technique learned from Xiao Ling, successfully putting Chang Benhou under.

Despite a minor hitch, he ultimately succeeded in fully hypnotizing Chang Benhou and extracted a wealth of classified information regarding the Kedong family from him.

What shocked Zhong Yun the most was the revelation that out of the Kedong family’s original thirteen ruling council members, only he and the current Defense Commander remained alive; everyone else had perished in the unrest.

Zhong Yun was unaware that these deaths were largely his own doing. After his initial shock subsided, a grave concern set in: Chang Benhou claimed he knew nothing about any Primordial Stones belonging to the Kedong family.

However, Chang Benhou did confirm that the Kedong family possessed a secret treasury left behind from two thousand years ago—bequeathed by the founder of the Kedong lineage, the discoverer of Kedo Planet. The founder had left a final instruction: the treasury was only to be accessed in the family's most perilous hour.

Furthermore, the location and unlocking method of this treasury had always been known only to the Family Head.

Zhong Yun felt a powerful urge to curse. The clue he had finally uncovered had just broken off. If those Primordial Stones still existed, they were highly likely to be in this so-called treasury.

But someone who previously held a lower rank than Chang Benhou in the Kedong family would certainly not know the location.

Should he just give up? Zhong Yun hesitated.

No, he could not abandon this now. With new leads appearing, how could he so easily concede defeat?

If that treasury was so vital to the Kedong family, it was impossible that only the Family Head knew of it. Otherwise, if the Head died unexpectedly without passing on the secret, the entire treasury would be lost forever?

The Kedong ancestor must have anticipated such a scenario.

The more Zhong Yun thought about it, the more logical it seemed. He didn't need to do anything for now; he just needed to wait for the Kedong family to elect a new Head and then seek him out.

P: Only one chapter today.