Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 141: The Pirates’ Home

As if knowing what Yuka was thinking, Nori continued, "I’ve seen your memories, there’s something called Spiritual Awareness, but I think it’s different from psychic power. Spiritual awareness is obviously more advanced, and we knew nothing about it so far."

Nori suddenly emphasized, "After Kenji was injected with the Queen’s cells, his psychic power grew with age, and now he has a powerful psychic power that can contend with the Queen. Think about it, the Queen has a massive body, then look at Kenji’s physique. His body can’t support such strong psychic power, that’s why he’s in pain. Without control, he will eventually burst and die."

"By my estimation, if he comes into close contact with the Queen’s extract twice more, you can prepare an urn for him." Nori stated the facts mercilessly.

Yuka’s face changed color.

"There’s only one thing that might save him," Nori told Yuka, "and that’s the Queen’s brain marrow. If you can get the Queen’s brain marrow, I might be able to extract some substance from it to treat Kenji’s illness. But I can’t guarantee you that it will certainly work. The medicine I research might turn Kenji completely into an insectoid, or it might kill him. The chance of cure is no more than 5%. Think about it carefully."

Before Yuka could speak, Kenji, lying on the bed, refused with a hoarse voice, "I disagree."

He had just woken up and heard Nori’s words. Struggling to sit up from the bed, he thanked Nori, then, facing Yuka’s worried eyes, said firmly, "You can’t risk yourself for my illness."

Nori snorted coldly, turned to Yuka, and said, "There are only two bottles of the pain relief medicine. Even if I could make a third, his body has developed resistance and it won’t work anymore. If not treated, he’s certain to die."

Yuka gripped Kenji’s hand tightly and firmly told Nori and Kenji, "I’m going to find the Queen’s brain marrow."

Kenji wanted to stop her, but Yuka said, "Anyway, I have to kill the Queen eventually. Getting the brain marrow is just an extra step, don’t worry."

Seeing Kenji still pressing his lips together, unwilling to relent, Nori laughed coldly again, hands in pockets, and said to Kenji, "Fine, if you want to die, die. Anyway, Yuka is so young and beautiful, she definitely doesn’t lack suitors. Her family is wealthy, there are plenty of men who would marry into her family, some are more handsome than you, have better family backgrounds, and there are many who are more considerate and charming. After you die, in two or three years, let’s see if she can still remember someone like you."

Yuka: ...

Kenji: ...

Each of Nori’s words was like a knife, stabbing straight into Kenji’s heart. He was unusually flustered, holding Yuka’s hand back, extremely conflicted.

Yuka patted his hand and said, "So, if I go get the Queen’s brain marrow, and you don’t die, none of those things will happen."

"Did you really think about finding someone else?" Kenji suddenly asked her, feeling hurt.

Yuka replied, "...I didn’t, really."

"Alright, stop beating around the bush," Nori interrupted, clearly annoyed. "Are you two going to get all lovey-dovey or what? If you want to kiss, go outside. Don’t do that in my lab."

Yuka turned her head, giving Nori a fierce glare.

Nori shrugged and took a small glass bottle from a table behind him, handing it to Yuka. "The bottle has a sealed wooden stopper," he explained to Yuka. "When you get the Queen’s brain marrow, put it in here, seal it well, and bring it back. Make sure it’s sealed tight, got it?"

Yuka nodded. "Understood."

Nori pulled out a yellow potion from another pocket and placed it beside Kenji’s bed. He told Yuka and Kenji, "This potion, mixed with the previous blue one I gave you, will allow Kenji to have psychic power nearly equal to the Queen’s without pain or sickness, but only for six hours."

"In these six hours, you must find the Queen’s brain marrow and bring it back to me, and leave me at least half an hour to make an antidote." Nori looked at them, "Can you do it?"

Yuka and Kenji exchanged glances.

If Kenji had psychic power nearly equal to the Queen’s, maybe he could fight for control over the insectoids, reducing their battle pressure and danger significantly.

But...

"We still don’t know the Queen’s location," Kenji told Nori.

Nori raised an eyebrow, "Why are you looking at me? I don’t know either."

"Isn’t Oniyon a symbiotic creature of the insectoids?" Nori said. "Just go towards where there’s a lot of Oniyon. The Queen, in its growth stage, can’t move and will be fixed in one place to lay eggs. The more insectoids it produces, the more Oniyon there will be. Didn’t you think of that?"

Following Nori’s logic, Yuka almost immediately thought of the planet with the Grand Coliseum, where she, Ayoi, and Alex had been briefly held captive by space pirates.

The planet had already been thoroughly searched by the Alliance Army, with no trace of the Queen found. Moreover, Humphrey had mentioned that he attempted to grow two Queens into adults, suggesting one of the Queen’s experimental locations was on the Grand Coliseum planet, but it failed, and the real Queen was hidden elsewhere.

Something flickered in Yuka’s mind. She frowned, replaying Nori’s words in her head, then her eyes widened in realization.

Ayoi!

Her parents had once found a place abundant with Oniyon and were silenced by space pirates. What if the pirates killed them not because they discovered Oniyon, but because they found the Queen’s hiding spot?

Yuka immediately took out her opticomputer and messaged Ayoi, asking about the Oniyon location her parents had mentioned. Though puzzled by Yuka’s sudden inquiry, Ayoi, trusting her completely, revealed the location of the hidden Oniyon – Planet K32.

Recognizing the familiar name of the planet, Yuka nearly crushed her opticomputer in shock. After quickly thanking Ayoi, she pulled up a recovered Kenji, bid farewell to Nori, and prepared to lead the Stellar Corps to Planet K32 immediately.

Nori called out to them, "I’ve completed the Pneyon modifications and sent the samples back to the academy. By tonight, you’ll be able to wear the new Pneyon mechas resistant to sonic waves in battle. You’re welcome."

Yuka waved goodbye to Nori, pulling Kenji quickly out of the lab. She told her subordinate waiting outside, "Hurry, back to the front line!"