In the story that belonged to Chen Wei, Chen Nian saw the Emperor, saw his subordinates, and saw the Sea Emperors who had battled life and death with him more than once.

But when it came to his other half, the Marshal’s wife, there was only a short mention of her dying during a difficult childbirth.

As expected, Chen Nian noticed it right away.

“I couldn’t find any more information about the Marshal’s wife,” Shavri paused and said, “Photos, family background, not even a name—there’s nothing. Either she never existed, or someone deliberately wiped her existence clean.”

“But considering you and Chen Ci didn’t just pop out of a crack in the rock, I’m leaning more toward the second possibility.”

“Hm…”

Chen Nian pondered, leaning back on his arms, tilting his head toward the ceiling. After a while, he suddenly looked at Shavri and asked, “Was my father really an Alpha?”

“Yes, he was a very powerful Alpha,” Shavri answered with certainty. “Why do you ask?”

“My thinking’s a bit different from yours,” Chen Nian said slowly. “Don’t get mad after you hear it, okay?”

Shavri suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Say it.”

Watching his expression carefully, Chen Nian spoke cautiously, “Is there a possibility—just a possibility, okay—that the Marshal was actually an Omega, and he’s been pretending to be an Alpha this whole time? He graduated from military academy and became a general under that disguise.”

“I mean, what if Chen Ci and I were actually born by him?”

“And our other father could be the Emperor, who invited the Marshal to stay at the palace several times, even overnight.”

“Or maybe… one of his other subordinates?”

Shavri: “………………”

Shavri immediately grabbed his wine glass and downed a large gulp. No matter how good the wine was, drinking like that made his throat burn all the way down to his stomach.

But it did nothing to ease the sudden headache and stomachache.

Trying to calm his breathing, Shavri finally couldn’t hold it in. He raised his hand and gave Chen Nian a solid flick on the forehead.

Chen Nian: “Ow!”

He raised his hand to cover his aching forehead and widened his eyes. “What was that for?! That’s how novels write it! I was just making a reasonable guess!”

Shavri: “Did your ‘reasonable guess’ ever consider that if it were true, then Chen Ci and I would be half-brothers who got engaged?!”

Chen Nian blinked and shrunk his neck back. “…You’re right.”

Thanks to Chen Nian’s little outburst, Shavri completely forgot what he had been meaning to say earlier.

Chen Nian, realizing he was in the wrong, sat down quietly and obediently, going back to look through the information.

A few minutes later, Shavri finally remembered. “I’ll keep investigating the Marshal’s wife. As long as she was a real person, there’s no way she left behind nothing.”

Seeing how seriously Shavri wanted to help him find his mother, Chen Nian was honestly touched.

There was a lot more information, and Chen Nian read through it all, including the part about the Chen family’s housekeeper, Jiang Dai.

Chen Nian was very curious about Uncle Jiang’s past. He quietly read the whole thing and couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

It made him even more determined to get Jiang Dai’s eyes treated and healed.

Now that Chen Nian was at the top level, he could join Shavri in searching for the truth from the past.

As for Chen Ci—after struggling for eighteen long years, she finally had the chance to go out and see the world. She should take that chance and enjoy it.

The two of them talked about their own thoughts, and ever since they’d come clean about their identities, their communication had become a lot smoother.

Shavri had quickly adapted to Chen Nian’s wild way of thinking. On the top floor, Chen Nian could only be his truest self in front of him. If even Shavri couldn’t handle it, then Chen Nian would have no one to be honest with—and that would definitely be hard on him.

While they chatted, Chen Nian unknowingly finished off the cocktail Shavri had made. He set the glass down, still wanting more.

Chen Nian quite liked this skill of the crown prince. Every drink he mixed was right up his alley.

He glanced at the time—more than an hour had passed already.

Stretching lazily, Chen Nian stood up. His legs were a bit numb from sitting too long.

“Got stuff to do?” he asked.

Shavri: “What do you want to do?”

Chen Nian: “Go check on the prince.”

Shavri froze for a second before realizing Chen Nian wasn’t referring to him, but to the big-headed goose that had bitten his butt and been treated like a pet by Chen Nian.

The white goose had bitten Aphro’s little duck, a pretty serious offense, so it was captured and put in isolation.

Until its goosey thug behavior was properly corrected, it wasn’t allowed out again.

It was, after all, Chen Nian’s first proper pet besides Jin Jili, so he felt it still had a shot at redemption.

“Let’s go.” Shavri closed the virtual screen on his terminal and got to his feet as well. “I’ll go change first.”

Chen Nian needed to change too—they were both still in loungewear. Even though the entire palace was technically the home of Shavri and the Princess Consort, it wasn’t that late yet, so it was better to wear something more proper.

Chen Nian went back to the room next door, grabbed a casual uniform from the wardrobe, and changed quickly.

When he stepped out, Shavri was already waiting in the corridor.

From the housekeeper, they learned that Prince Goose had been locked up in the courtyard. The crown prince himself led Chen Nian over.

There was no such thing as an un-luxurious place in the palace—and that included the goose’s “jail cell.”

It had an activity area nearly a hundred square meters large, a pond dug right in the middle, and a stone trough by the wall filled with freshly cut grass. In today’s world where land was so scarce it couldn’t get any scarcer, this was practically indulgent.

Back in the Underground City, Chen Nian had to count every coin just to buy a few taels of vegetables!

The goose waddled around, shaking its butt leisurely. Little fish swam in the pond, and whenever it felt like meat, it could just stretch its neck and catch one.

There was even a staff member in charge of cleaning up after it and arranging its meals.

Chen Nian’s temper flared up the moment he saw all this.

The only reason Prince Goose got such VIP treatment was because it was raised by the Princess Consort.

Chen Nian felt this was absolutely unfair.

He opened the gate to the pen and stepped inside.

“Be careful,” Shavri reminded him. Though after seeing Chen Nian catch that goose with his bare hands, he didn’t really think Prince Goose could hurt him.

Prince clearly remembered Chen Nian. It instantly spread its wings, assuming a defensive stance.

“Hey.” Chen Nian stopped three meters away and pointed at Shavri outside. “Do you know what you did to him?”

Goose: “Honk honk.”

Chen Nian raised an eyebrow. “Still not admitting you were wrong?”

He put on a stern face and turned to the servant in charge of caring for Prince Goose. “Don’t give it food from now on. I’ll come and feed it myself every day.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Chen Nian turned back to the goose. “Got it now?”

The goose stared at him warily: “Honk.”

Though he knew Chen Nian was just messing around, Shavri still sighed silently and stepped through the gate as well, coming to stand beside him.

“It’d be a miracle if it actually understood you.”

“You’re so boring,” Chen Nian pouted. “I just wanted to kill some time. Why’d you have to ruin it for me?”

“You could spend your time doing something meaningful,” Shavri replied.

“Like what? Sitting in your room gaming all night like you?”

“Like going to the night market.”

Shavri didn’t miss the flicker of excitement in Chen Nian’s eyes. He smiled slightly and said, “Let’s go.”

Chen Nian immediately followed, completely abandoning his whole “goose-discipline” mission.

He realized that ever since his identity was exposed, Shavri seemed to have changed quite a bit. The normally quiet and homebody Alpha was actually taking the initiative to bring him outside.

That was definitely a good thing.

There were still so many parts of the top floor Chen Nian hadn’t seen. Shavri didn’t know how long this bizarre body swap—or rather, identity swap—could last before someone figured it out. But at least for now, he wanted to show Chen Nian as much as he could.

As for why… Shavri couldn’t quite explain.

He had always carried guilt toward Chen Ci. After learning about Chen Nian’s background, he felt even more that the twins had suffered far more than they ever should have.

But strangely, while he felt sorry for Chen Ci, he didn’t pity Chen Nian at all.

This boy who had lived his entire life in the Underground City was open and confident, with a fiery spirit that didn’t let him take crap from anyone. Whether they were Omega or Alpha, no one could get the upper hand with him.

He was like wild grass in the wind—fire couldn’t burn him down, and the wind couldn’t blow him over.

Even when he put on his innocent act and let that sharp tongue fly, it was hard to get mad at him, even knowing full well it was all part of some scheme. Heck, even the wild soap-opera logic swirling in his head came across as sort of… charming.

If Chen Nian ever found out someone pitied him, he’d probably scoff and spit: “You’re the one who needs pity. Your whole family needs pity.”

He really was nothing like Chen Ci. Just went to show how much a person’s environment shaped their personality.

If Chen Ci had grown up in a more normal setting, would she have turned out a bit more lively, too?

Shavri took Chen Nian straight to his garage.

As the door opened, Chen Nian was nearly blinded by the row of luxury cars inside. There was even a private aircraft!

One of those super-advanced models that could zip between beacons in no time.

Damn it. Damn those filthy rich feudal nobles.

“Which one do you like?” Shavri asked.

Chen Nian looked around carefully, and for the first time ever, he had a hard time choosing. In the end, he just shut his eyes and pointed randomly.

It landed on a silver sports car.

“Alright,” Shavri agreed.

And so, the crown prince personally played chauffeur, taking the Princess Consort—well, technically the Princess Consort’s younger brother—to the night market.

The night market was quite a distance from the palace. As they gradually left the palace area behind, more and more pedestrians appeared along the road.

Chen Nian sat in the passenger seat, amber eyes reflecting the street scenes flashing past the window. All of a sudden, he asked, “Why are people on the top floor able to live here in the first place?”

“Most of them inherited the privilege from their ancestors,” Shavri replied. “When the beacons were completed, most of the land on the surface had already been flooded. The number of survivors wasn’t as high as people imagine, so they were all relocated to the beacons.”

“People were divided into roles based on their skills. Most mental laborers were placed near the upper-middle zones to support labs, water purification systems, and production plants.”

“At first, no one could really adapt to the altitude on the top floor. The strong UV radiation and thin oxygen scared people off from trying to develop that area.”

“But then the gel-layer was successfully developed. It could effectively block the excessive UV rays, making the rooftop under this sky suitable for human habitation.”

“The top floor got better and better, more engineers and researchers moved up.”

“And what happened after that, I think you already know. Ideological clashes led to civil war, and with productivity not keeping pace, society regressed. That made room for nobles, royalty, and imperial candidates to reappear in the world. The divide between the top floor and the Underground City became more obvious than ever.”

As the highest-ranking noble, Shavri’s voice remained especially calm as he recounted the hundred-year history of the beacons.

Chen Nian listened seriously. Of course he’d been to school—maybe this had been covered in class before, but either he’d forgotten or slept through it.

“Will it always be like this?” Chen Nian asked. “People in the Underground City stuck down there generation after generation, and those on the top floor always staying on top?”

“No,” Shavri replied softly. “No one gets to enjoy the best resources forever. When someone can no longer contribute what’s needed, the day will come when they return to where they truly belong.”