"Julian is hardworking, at least," Mingmei said.

Mingmei quickly learned through the camera that Julian was coming to the Cold Palace in the rain tonight, especially compared to the reactions of the other players to the rain.

Yuan Fang stared at the rain outside the window and decided to wait. If it continued to rain, he would have to find another opportunity.

Zhen Po slept soundly through the heavy rain.

Zhen Hu was torn between whether to take another look while it was raining. After all, the information he had was secondhand, and he didn't know if it had been distorted. But for now, he was still thinking about it, while the princess beside him was already asleep.

Only Julian had changed his clothes and arranged for a substitute to lie in his bed.

As for Lu Xiaoyao...

Never mind, the less said, the better. Even if she was guarding the door of the palace now, she wouldn't get any food. _(：3」∠)_

That's the difference between being a player.

Mingmei talked about this with Mu Chen, who was lying on her soft couch. Mu Chen smiled and said, "Julian is indeed doing more than the other players, and he's a little smarter. Although there are some flaws in the way he does things, he's passable."

After observing these players for the past few days, Mu Chen finally understood why there were so many places in the escape game where people needed to use their wits.

"Do you know why General Mei Qiu has been lying low for so long?"

Suddenly mentioning her second brother, Mingmei looked at Mu Chen in confusion. "Isn't it because he found the real weakness of the hidden Zerg and wiped them out completely?"

"That's one reason." Mu Chen sighed and said, "Most of the military are a bunch of hot-blooded idiots... well, let's not use such a chuuni term. In general, they don't have as many tricks as those in the council."

"Ah...this game..."

"Yes, it should be to tell these military academy students to exercise well and use their brains, or they will suffer in the future."

"Are you saying that I... General Mei Qiu is being held back by these politicians in the council?"

"Probably. At least, that's what the hidden Zerg think, stirring up the council's dissatisfaction with the military. The people of the Empire value martial prowess. The reputation of military academies must be much higher than that of comprehensive universities. Similarly, the military's rights and status are higher than those of these politicians. This makes some extremist politicians feel that the military is too much of a threat."

Mingmei listened to Mu Chen's侃侃而谈 (kankan er tan, eloquent talk). She sighed at how much Mu Chen knew, and also wondered if she was being too lazy and didn't have enough knowledge in reserve.

"Then Julian..."

"He's from the Federation. In general, the military and government are more balanced over there than in the Empire. And as the president of the Federation, he has more power in his hands. The military and government are all in his hands. Many of the Federation's councilors and officials themselves come from military academies."

"But this also has its drawbacks. If one person has so much power..." Even though Mingmei didn't know the Federation's system, she felt that concentrating power in one person's hands was very risky and not very suitable.

"But fortunately, the presidential election is a vote by all the people of the Federation, and the vote count is statistically intervened by the main brain on three sides, so there is no behind-the-scenes manipulation. In other words, the president with so much power is given to him by all the people of the Federation.

Moreover, during the president's term of office, there will be a national satisfaction vote for the incumbent president every year. If the satisfaction rate falls below 50% for two consecutive years, or if the president's satisfaction rate has been declining for five consecutive years, and the overall decline exceeds 10%, a new election will be launched."

"Wow, what an amazing way to elect someone."

Mingmei had never heard of an election system with no definite term limit and everything completely entrusted to the people's vote.

"The current president of the Federation has been in office for 30 years, and he is still very young, less than 100 years old. He is the longest-serving president in the Federation's less than 200-year history."

After Mu Chen finished speaking, Mingmei was enlightened, but she seemed to remember that they were discussing Julian?

How did they get off track?

Thinking this, Mingmei smiled and mentioned it to Mu Chen, saying that they were off topic.

In the end, Mu Chen said, "Don't forget, Julian is also from the Federation. The military academy education over there should be more balanced than here."

……

Mingmei and Mu Chen were chatting in the room, and Lu Xiaoyao, who was once again locked out, faced the cold rain and leaned against the hard door. She looked back several times, but—

"They didn't do anything tonight? Such a long night, isn't it a waste not to do something between adults?"

With a hint of resentment in her tone, facing the heavy rain in the dark night, Lu Xiaoyao felt that she was like a helpless little cabbage, facing the ravages of the wind and rain.

Her body was hungry and cold, and her spirit had no spiritual food QAQ

The wobbly Lu Xiaoyao leaned against the door, her ear pressed against it. There were people talking inside, but the sound was too small, and the surrounding rain was too noisy, so she couldn't hear anything.

In the end, she decided to hug her poor self and continue to guard the door for the emperor.

She didn't see a black figure flitting across the palace wall in the dark night.

"Lu Xiaoyao?"

Although the heavy rain obscured the vision of Julian, who was wearing night clothes, this Cold Palace, which was usually dark and depressing, actually had a palace with lights on, and even the eaves of the palace were lit.

Just now, if he wasn't mistaken, the person squatting at the door should be Lu Xiaoyao, right?

Thinking of how Lu Xiaoyao left with Emperor Jing An earlier, and now she was squatting alone at the door, the door she was guarding... could Emperor Jing An be inside?!

Julian gasped at this guess.

No wonder there were so many patrols around the Cold Palace when he sneaked in just now. He was wondering if he was unlucky and ran into several patrol teams at once.

Now that he looked at it, it wasn't that patrol teams bumped into each other, it was that there were so many of them here!

Julian bypassed Lu Xiaoyao's line of sight, jumped down from the palace wall, and was about to approach the palace when the palace window facing him was suddenly pushed open. A woman in simple but exquisite clothes stood at the window, staring at him.

Julian: 0.0?!

Eh, it's not Emperor Jing An?

Mingmei looked at the dazed Julian and was about to tell him to come back to his senses when she saw his expression suddenly change when she opened her mouth.

As soon as Julian came back to his senses, he saw the familiar woman in front of him about to speak. Subconsciously, Julian rushed forward, intending to cover her mouth to prevent her from shouting.

Just as Julian splashed mud all over the corridor, he looked up and met the eyes of the person behind the woman in front of the window.

Julian: o.o?!

Emperor Jing An is really here!

……

Just now, Mingmei was chatting with Mu Chen when Gui Gui notified Mingmei in the backstage that there was a change in the live broadcast room. Only then did she realize that Julian had arrived at the Cold Palace.

So, with a little prankishness, Mingmei directly opened the window facing Julian.

"Father..."

Even though he was wearing a mask on his face, Julian was immediately dumbfounded when he saw Mu Chen appear. He couldn't help but shout out the words.

Mingmei: "..."

This fool!

Mu Chen: "..."

Mu Chen felt that he should take back his comment to Mingmei that Julian was a little smarter.

What's the panic?!

At this time, Lu Xiaoyao, who was guarding outside the front door, had no idea what was happening inside the palace, or behind her...