Chapter 53: Meeting, Section 2

“Your Majesty… you…” The guard turned deathly pale with fear and was unable to speak.
Yet Emperor Moore did not explode in anger as expected. Instead, he quietly picked up a napkin from the table and began wiping his palms. The bright red wine stains on the snow-white napkin stood out sharply.
“Who is the commander in charge of that area?”
“Admiral Reck,” the guard replied respectfully.
“Oh.” Emperor Moore nodded expressionlessly and threw the napkin back on the table. “Today’s breakfast has ruined my appetite. I won’t eat anymore…”
With that, the handsome Emperor Moore slowly stood up and headed toward the back hall. Behind him, the guard stood in confusion. Just as Emperor Moore was about to enter, he suddenly stopped and said as if nothing had happened, “That Reck must be quite old, right?”
“Three hundred seventy-six years old, Your Majesty,” the guard replied hastily, feeling a badpremonition arise in his heart.
Sure enough, upon hearing his answer, Moore waved his hand lightly. “Hmm, three hundred seventy-six years old—still in his prime. What a pity…” Turning back, he gave the guard a emotionless glance, his voice as calm as still water. “Go tell Reck that, considering all the hard work he’s done for the empire, I can’t punish him too harshly for this mistake. Let him decide for himself. It’s said his younger son is capable; let him take over Reck’s position.”
“But Your Majesty…” The guard mustered the courage to speak up. “His son is only two hundred forty-six years old. Will he be able to serve as fleet commander…”
“Hmm?” Emperor Moore frowned. “Are you questioning my decision?”
“I would never dare!” The guard was terrified and knelt on the ground immediately.
Glancing at the kneeling guard, Emperor Moore had no mood to continue. He turned away. “Then go. Oh, and when Reck’s younger son takes over as commander, tell him who defeated his father.”
“I understand,” the guard replied respectfully before leaving the room without looking up.
In the luxurious dining room, only Emperor Moore’s figure remained. He stood there silently, lost in thought, for a long time before finally letting out a deep sigh.

“Sigh… Black Hair, you really came after all. I never expected that after so many years, your methods would still be so ruthless. You struck at my lifeline right away. The Moor Empire has come to an end in your hands. But…”
As he spoke to himself, a faint smile suddenly appeared on the Moor Emperor’s face. “But even if I give you this empire, what does it matter? From start to finish, it was just a game… Hehe… Hehehehe…”
A nervous laugh suddenly burst from the Moor Emperor’s mouth. At that moment, he couldn’t control his body anymore, trembling incessantly. And with his laughter, a voice suddenly appeared in the palace.
A melodious female voice.
“Your Majesty, you’re too excited. Are you really happy now? The empire’s lifeline has been struck by him. Perhaps in a few days, he’ll cut off your last source of support. By then, I hope you can still laugh.”
“Isn’t that also what you desire?” Hearing this sudden voice, the Moor Emperor wasn’t surprised at all, as if he had known it all along. He raised his head, looking at the dome above the palace, with a smile still in his eyes.
“Tia. You’ve long awaited this day, right? You should be the happiest now. What does it matter if I laugh? Only if you laugh is it truly joyful for me. For this purpose, it doesn’t matter even if I give up this empire.”
“Your Majesty, are you trying to express your feelings again? You’ve played this trick many times. Why don’t you learn from your mistakes?” The melodious voice paused, seemingly dissatisfied.
“Give up your illusions, Your Majesty. You’ll never be accepted by me. In this world, your existence and mine shouldn’t exist at all. Just like this fake empire of yours, it will soon perish. Back where it came from.”
“That’s true. I’m prepared for that too.” Despite being rejected by the melodious voice, the Moor Emperor’s expression remained unchanged. “But before that, it still has value. When that person arrives before us, I’ll surely put on a wonderful show for you. Don’t you think it’s the most wonderful thing in the world to see the one you love so close yet unable to recognize them?”
“It is indeed fascinating,” the melodious voice replied calmly. “But that requires my cooperation too. Do you think I’ll agree?”
“Well…” The Moor Emperor smiled, a sly look in his eyes. “It’s hard to say… The goddess of the empire, faced with an enemy who invades her empire—she must at least appear, right? Otherwise, her vast subjects will be disappointed.”

“Then let them all be chilled to death…” a melodious female voice said casually. Then there was no sound again.
In the now-empty restaurant, Emperor Moore’s smile remained unchanged at all… Facing the empty air, this handsome blond young man wore a mocking expression.
“Chilled to death? Goddess of the Empire, if your subjects heard those words, some of them might indeed die from the chill. But in this world, nothing is impossible. My Tia, you’ll understand.”
With that, the handsome emperor left the room…
Meanwhile, in another corner of the universe, Kurokami was trying to unlock the last memory seal.
To date, he had already lifted nearly a dozen memory seals this month. Though each one was more difficult than the last and the process was extremely arduous, Kurokami persevered. Moreover, as he unlocked more memories, he became more skilled, clearly feeling a significant improvement in his mental strength—going from sweating profusely at first to handling things with ease now.
But with this final memory seal, Kurokami faced a real challenge.
The reason was simple: this memory seal was incredibly strong. Initially, in the Archduke Tarot’s memories, Kurokami hadn’t noticed this seal at all. But as other seals were lifted, this one suddenly appeared in his mind. Only then did Kurokami realize it must be the Archduke Tarot’s hidden memory—perhaps even the archduke himself wasn’t aware of it. It was likely stored in his mind by someone using a special method at some point in the past. In Kurokami’s view, it was similar to hypnosis.
But anyone capable of doing such a thing must be an extraordinary individual—able to do it without the subject’s knowledge and hide it so well, which Kurokami found utterly incredible. After all, the human brain is a precise instrument, and any abnormal method could cause it to collapse—especially for a shrewd old fox like the Archduke Tarot. Clearly, this person’s skills surpassed ordinary human comprehension. Even a cunning old fox like the Archduke Tarot couldn’t escape their tactics.
But then another question arose: Who could it be, and why would they leave such a secret in the Archduke Tarot’s mind?
Kurokami couldn’t figure it out. But he didn’t need to. Once he broke this seal, everything would become clear. Kurokami didn’t think a hypnosis master of such skill would go to such lengths just to find a human memory storage device.

So, in the following days, Kurokami made every effort to lift the blockade at that point. For this purpose, he even wore Yazi in his cabin, using Yazi’s energy to control his powers. Half a month passed, and just when everyone thought Kurokami would fail this time, one afternoon he finally stepped out of his room. Drenched in sweat, he rushed to the command cabin. As soon as he entered, he saw Monkey’s stunned face. “No need for further words. Order the fleet to set sail immediately. I’ll give you the coordinates right now,” Kurokami said, waving his hand to signal that Monkey shouldn’t ask more, speaking urgently. “Ah… okay, boss,” Monkey replied, startled by Kurokami’s urgency, and promptly passed on the orders. Only after the warship began to move did he turn back and ask, puzzled, “Boss, what exactly happened? Why are you so nervous? This isn’t like you at all.” “Stop talking. We’re in big trouble this time,” Kurokami said reproachfully, glancing at Monkey before taking a towel from a crew member to wipe his face. Only then did he slowly exhale. “I lifted the last memory blockade. But do you know what I saw?” “What?” Monkey asked eagerly. They had all known why Kurokami had been busy lately, so how could they not be interested now that he had made a discovery? “I saw a sentence. A sentence written in Moorish script.” “A sentence!?” Monkey was stunned. “That’s right. Just one sentence,” Kurokami nodded firmly. “I know who you are, and I know where you come from. So, as a reward for your hard work these past days, I’ll tell you the coordinates of the last location. If you can destroy it, the Moor Empire will inevitably collapse.” “Along with that sentence, I also got a coordinate,” Kurokami swallowed hard, his expression grim. “Our actions these past days have long been anticipated by someone else. That’s why they left a clue. It might also be a trap.” “Then who is it?” Monkey was terrified, his face turning ashen. “I don’t know,” Kurokami shook his head, his gaze slowly drifting outside the window. At that moment, his mood was extremely bad, as if everything about him was being controlled by an invisible hand. The feeling of being trapped made him so sad he almost vomited blood. That’s why he couldn’t wait to go to that coordinate. He believed that since someone had left it there, it must have some extraordinary meaning. Whether it was a trap or not…