While Li Jun was happily hiking with a spring in his step, things weren’t going so well for the people of Aurelia. Helion, whose demands were not met, launched full-scale attacks on them. They not only orchestrated attacks in several major cities.

Some of their attacks were foiled, but others slipped through the cracks, resulting in lots of casualties. Their army had descended upon Elora, the closest planet to their territory, and started a war.

Xiu Ying and the prime minister of defense couldn’t agree on their defense strategy, resulting in a delayed response. This meant that hundreds of civilians in Elora lost their lives in the first week.

By the time the first line of defense was deployed in the city, half of it was in ruins. StarNet was set ablaze, and the citizens were enraged. It was common knowledge that Li Mingze had high-end defense shields on all the planets. These were installed after the war.

At the time, people opposed Li Mingze, stating that it was a waste of money. There were a lot of things that required funding, and defense shields weren’t one of them. They had to rebuild the cities that had been attacked during the war.

The hospitals were packed with injured citizens, and the medical facilities were strained. There were a lot of people starving and children who had been orphaned. All these were valid complaints, but Li Mingze ignored them and installed these defense shields on all planets, starting with Elora.

Now that Elora had been attacked and the defense shield non existent, people wanted to know what the hell happened to it. A small news publication company that had been revealing the truth of Aurelia’s politics for years suddenly went viral.

That’s because they had revealed the details of the defense shields years ago. They had written an article on it and posted all the documents related to this issue, but no one had paid attention. It was as though they were being suppressed, so all this information, despite being available, didn’t reach the right audience.

Li Mingze did ignore the imperial court on the defense shields, but what people didn’t know was that he funded them with personal funds. His mother’s side of the family was extremely wealthy, so he exhausted his inheritance funding these defense shields.

The rest of the budget went towards the rebuilding of Aurelia and such. The defense shields were maintained by the funds from the treasury for years until Li Mingze’s death. The Imperial court didn’t approve the budget for the maintenance, thus these defense shields were left to rot.

Not only that, but after Li Mingze funded the defense shields, the funds meant for the people didn’t reach the ones who needed them the most. This was why all these years people believed that Li Mingze used the money for rebuilding the cities and the medical facilities on the defense shields.

It turns out some imperial court officials were corrupt and stole millions in StarCoins. The list of those executed at the time included those who robbed Aurelia blind. Li Mingze didn’t explain himself. He just cut them down and got back what was stolen. He still allowed their families not to be condemned for their family member’s wrongdoing.

This revelation exploded on StarNet. They didn’t think that there was such a story behind those shields. All those years of them hating Li Mingze, it turned out he had their best interest at heart. He just had unconventional methods to go about things.

People were outraged and began to attack Xiu Ying and the imperial court. The defense shields were there, but these assholes didn’t maintain them, and now Elora was paying for it. Xiu Ying, on the other hand, was under so much pressure. She was trying to deal with the Helion’s army, but she also wanted to find Li Jun.

To do that, she had to find Yu Wen. When she reviewed the footage from the attack on Drevon, she realized that the target was a young man near Lu Anu. From that information, she realized that Li Jun had to be near this pair of mother and son. She needed a way in to find Li Jun.

Since Red Valkyrie had been on the sidelines ever since this war started, she had an excuse to communicate with him. She called Yu Wen twice, but the man didn’t answer. Frustrated, she sent him a video transmission requesting a call, as it was a matter of state emergency.

Yu Wen only called her back the next day, and it was a video call. When Xiu Ying saw that he was in a medical bay looking like a recovering patient, she realized her error. She was so focused on Li Jun that she overlooked that Yu Wen was injured that day.

Xiu Ying said, "General Yu."

His expression stern and his eyes cold, he answered, "Your Majesty, how may I be of service?" Those words left a bitter taste in his mouth. If it weren’t because he vowed to the people of Aurelia, he would have preferred to stay out of this.

"I heard that you were injured recently. How are you feeling?" she asked half-heartedly. She was more interested in his surroundings. She wanted to see the person that he saved that day. The person he put himself in the line of fire to save. That had to be Li Jun’s new identity, but there was no one around him.

"I am recovering well. I just need one more week of bed rest," he said before unwrapping the sour candy Li Jun bought for him.

Xiu Ying said, "That’s good because the people of Elora are in dire straits. General Fyris is inexperienced, and he could use some help from someone as skilled and qualified as you. The military is also under strain. They have to protect the other planets, and we are working on repairing the defense shield-"

Yu Wen cut her off and said, "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

She was a little surprised that he was willing to follow her orders despite everything that had happened. She thought it would take a lot of convincing, and as a last resort, she would have to threaten him like she threatened Blue Sapphire. Turns out he was still loyal to the throne.