Zhao Chen first had the Panther-Girl go out, so he could collect himself in the room.
As the Panther-Girl went out she cast him a somewhat worried look, but closed the door all the same.
Zhao Chen went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.
His feelings just now were very tangled.
Fainting all of a sudden, dreaming of the scenes before his crossing.
And the figure and the voice that had appeared at the last.
"Do you wish to know the truth… Then come and find me…"
Zhao Chen clutched his head; on hearing that voice he had felt, without thinking, a bone-piercing chill.
He shivered without being cold.
Yet he had another feeling too,
that a great secret lay before him.
That this fainting of his was by no means a simple thing.
And that the lifelike dream was surely not false, at least, not so simple as a mere dream.
As for what lay behind all this,
it likely had some tangled connection to the voice he had dreamed of.
But… the voice had told him to come and find it.
The trouble was, you haven't even left me an address.
Where am I supposed to go looking for you?
Zhao Chen took a deep breath, bent his head, and washed his face with clear water from the basin to wake himself up a little.
"If this is no coincidence, then it will surely happen again. Let's wait and see," Zhao Chen said to comfort himself.
Then he called the Panther-Girl in from outside the door again.
"Your Majesty." The Panther-Girl came in and looked at the Emperor before her.
"Panther-Girl, from now on, if I faint again, don't panic; follow the same procedure as this time and keep the effects as small as you can. And don't notify Lilith and Charlotte at once; they're both very busy now, no need to worry them. Unless… unless I have fainted and not woken for more than half an hour," Zhao Chen said.
To guard against this happening again, he needed someone at his side who was ready.
Hearing this, the Panther-Girl looked at the Emperor with some worry. "Your Majesty, has something gone wrong with your health? If so, I suggest you return to the Owl Dragon Star System now. And there undergo a full…"
Zhao Chen cut the Panther-Girl short. "What this condition of mine is, I know best. You need not worry; at least it won't threaten my life. You need only do as I have told you. Any problem?"
Zhao Chen said the last words with his eyes fixed on the Panther-Girl.
The Panther-Girl was silent a moment, then said, "Understood."
"Then let's go back to the bridge." Zhao Chen straightened his clothes and walked out of the captain's quarters.
The several guards outside the captain's quarters, seeing the Emperor walk out safe and sound, were greatly moved.
What had happened just before had given them quite a fright.
After that, the party went back to the bridge.
The air on the bridge just now was very peculiar.
Tao Beibei seemed to be going about her work, but every so often her eyes went toward the throne.
After all, she was only a commander, a captain.
There was a great deal she could not hide.
"Captain, you're looking over there far too often." One guard could bear it no longer, came to Tao Beibei's side and reminded her quietly.
"Oh… ah… sorry." Tao Beibei came to herself at once and went on with her work.
She forced herself not to look that way.
But the more you try not to look at a thing like that, the more you want to.
The Emperor had fainted on the bridge of her starship; Tao Beibei's mind was in turmoil.
She had even thought of the very worst possibility.
If it had truly come to that, then she would truly have been a criminal before the whole Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
Suddenly came the sound of the bridge door opening.
It must be understood that after Captain Panther-Girl had led Zhao Chen and the others away, the bridge had been under a kind of lockdown.
No one was to leave the bridge without permission.
Of course this rule had been enforced quietly.
For the bridge door to open now, there was only one possibility.
Tao Beibei turned her head almost in an instant, just in time to see His Majesty the Emperor coming back with the Panther-Girl and the others!
In that instant the weight on Tao Beibei's shoulders was gone.
Her nose stung, and she rushed straight at Zhao Chen.
But Captain Panther-Girl, without the least ceremony, stepped squarely in front of Zhao Chen.
Only that checked Tao Beibei's rush at Zhao Chen.
"Your Majesty… are you… are you all right?" Tao Beibei looked Zhao Chen up and down in excitement, and more than once almost reached out to touch him.
She was afraid this might be a holographic image Captain Panther-Girl had made to keep order.
Zhao Chen looked at this lass, plainly frightened out of her wits.
With a laugh he raised his hand and patted Tao Beibei on the shoulder. "I'm all right. What happened just now was purely an accident; don't take it to heart. Everyone, back to normal."
The feel of the pat on her shoulder set Tao Beibei wholly at ease.
Suddenly she went limp, sank to the floor, and burst into tears. "You scared me to death. Your Majesty… I… I thought you… I was truly scared out of my mind; I thought I, Tao Beibei, was going to die young… Waaah…"
It is not that every fine captain or commander has great strength of nerve.
Perhaps they are only good at commanding in battle.
And when they meet with other things, they will still cry and laugh.
Just like Tao Beibei now.
Above all, what had happened just now had truly been too frightening.
"There, there, it's all right now. You're the captain of a T6 interstellar warship, after all. Sniveling here, mind people don't laugh at you," Zhao Chen teased.
Tao Beibei sniffled, but held back her crying all the same.
Zhao Chen went back to his throne and looked at the holographic projection of himself sitting on it.
He grinned, then switched off the button-like device,
and sat on the throne himself again.
Then Captain Panther-Girl had all the bridge crew and petty officers released who had been isolated and held for the time being after seeing Zhao Chen faint and fall.
And brought them to Zhao Chen's side, so that Zhao Chen could explain in person.
Otherwise, if they mistook the Zhao Chen of now for a fake too and caused some blunder, that would not be good.
With that, the matter could be said to be over, at least on the surface.
The most important thing after that was, naturally, the great decisive battle against the two Hive Nests.
……
Somewhere.
In the pitch-dark, several drifting, wavering balls of light appeared.
"A signal has appeared."
"After how many years, it still appears? I thought this plan had already failed."
"And if it has appeared, what of it? This plan we once thought the most effective, how many have appeared by now? And has every one of them not failed all the same? Who knows whether this one will follow in the footsteps of those before it."
"Whatever else, at least this is our hope. After all, the time left to us is short."