A Star Reborn: The Queen's Return

The old man stood straight and still and dared not do or say anything. This boss of his was temperamental. Although he’d been serving him for so many years, he still did not want to make mistakes at a time like this. A long time later, Wei Lingnan asked, “Is there anything?”

Only then did the old man speak. “We’re running low on resources in the base—the red alert has been activated.”

Wei Lingnan asked, “How much left?”

“13.4%.”

Wei Lingnan calmly said, “Turn off everything that isn’t needed.” A lot of resources were needed to run this massive base, but after years of refinement, the base was actually already self-sustaining. However, now that Xia Yingluo was expecting the World Tree which required a lot of energy, a good amount of resources from the base had been converted into energy for her.

And she didn’t even know about this.

The old man said sadly, “We acted according to your instructions and turned off everything that we could afford to. We even dismissed a good number of employees. All that’s left in the base now are absolute necessities, we can’t cut down on our resources any further.”

Wei Lingnan did not hesitate much. “Close down the laboratory no.4.”

“Mister?!” The old man looked at him in shock. “How could you do this? Laboratory no.4 is used for inventing new treatment drugs, we need it to heal your leg! If you close it down, your leg...”

“Do as I say.” He left no room for argument.

The old man knew that he never changed his mind once he made it up, but this was a serious issue and he couldn’t help but speak up. “This can’t do! You once said that even someone as strong as you would suffer from permanent injuries if they aren’t treated well! Your leg might become deformed!”

“My leg’s fine.” Wei Lingnan’s expression was as cold as ice. He stood up, signaling the end of this topic. “Old Zhou, don’t be too nosy.” With that, he left his loyal subordinate behind and headed deeper into the base.

Further down in the darkness was a synthetic purple planet, gleaming brighter, then dimmer, like it was breathing with life.

This replica of the Skatana Planet was his usual rest area. He walked in and immersed himself in a pool of purple mist. Soon, his left leg was distorted, transforming into a strange creature-like limb. This was a part of the original Skatana species, except that his leg was grey and looking a little odd as if it was dead.

He dragged his hind leg and received treatment in the purple fog. The purple fog turned ash grey quickly and dispersed in the air.

But his back leg was still in the same condition.

He tried to prop his leg onto the wall. The claws looked sharp and dangerous but barely left a mark on the surface at all—besides serving the basic function of walking, this leg was basically wasted.

In fact, even walking was difficult and painful.

His expression was cold as he used his hands and legs to struggle and get himself out of the fog pool—an action so easily achievable before. From tonight onwards, this pool was going to be deactivated as well. It would not serve the purpose of healing his leg anymore and his leg... would simply be left to its demise.

This injury was sustained when he saved her in the laboratory during the earthquake.

He had been holding her hand tightly, preventing her from slipping into the gaps. This leg had been subjected to great impact, causing irreversible damage. If he had enough energy, this injury could recover fully, but at this point, every ounce of energy was precious and he couldn’t afford such luxury. In any case, he’d still be able to walk if he remained cautious.

Though every step was excruciating.

All he hoped was that she’d be able to gather enough energy to remain safe and healthy.

When Xia Yingluo got home, she told her parents about having Wei Lingnan as the male lead of “Star Wars Era 2”. Her parents weren’t too happy about it, especially Li Lei. “What right has that lad to decide anything for Skyart?” Although Wei Lingnan was millions of years older than Li Lei, Li Lei could be considered an elder, since he was chasing his daughter. As such, calling him a “lad” wasn’t all too inappropriate.

Xia Yingluo shrugged. “I don’t wish for this either, Dad. If you could change the male lead, I’d be grateful.”

Li Lei was even more unhappy now. “You little one, all you do is go against Dad.” He was very clear that since Xia Yingluo herself had agreed to Wei Lingnan’s request, it meant that there was no other way around it. Even if he stepped forward, things would be the same.

Meanwhile, Xia Ling held onto her husband. “Alright, alright, why get unhappy with our daughter? Let Wei Lingnan come. Once he’s at our film set, he’ll be thumbed down by us. Hmph.”

Xia Yingluo felt a chill down her spine as she looked at her mom’s devious expression.

Her mom was right, though. Once he was in their film set, her parents could get back at him however they wanted. All they needed to do was to hint at the director, and the director could make him do a few more takes of a difficult scene.

But she wasn’t worried about this. On one hand, she was still angry with Wei Lingnan, and on the other, she knew that he wasn’t one who succumbed to setbacks easily. “Oh, right.” She suddenly recalled something and reminded her parents. “Keep this replacement of actor a secret first. Jiang Yu has been in some trouble lately, announcing this now would make things worse for him.”

“But of course.” Li Lei ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Look at how long your dad has been managing Skyart. How could I possibly disadvantage an artiste under me, just because of this lad? Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to Jiang Yu.”

With these words, Xia Yingluo could finally rest at ease, knowing that this setback wouldn’t cause long-term problems for Jiang Yu and that Li Lei might even help him go further in his career. She smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

Li Lei ruffled her hair again and then narrowed his eyes as he plotted against Wei Lingnan.

There was still some time before the filming for “Star Wars Era 2” started, and Xia Yingluo remembered one more important thing she’d yet to do—back at the banquet, Du Zheng had handed her a pretty little hair clip for her to pass it on to Jin Ling’er. She looked into the bag that she’d brought to the banquet, retrieved the hair clip and headed to Jin Ling’er’s place.

Jin Ling’er was so happy to see her and excitedly wrapped her arms around her neck. “Yingluo! Where’ve you come from, it’s been so long!”

Ever since Gu Jinxiu and Wei Lingnan’s wedding, Xia Yingluo had had countless things to attend to. Meanwhile, Jin Ling’er had been busy too, and it had, in fact, been a long while since they last met. Xia Yingluo smiled at her. “Someone got me to pass something to you.”