KyokaSuigetsu
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Chapter 30: The Hunting Game
🕑 Added 2025-04-21 07:23:40 +0000 UTC[You were highly satisfied with Salan's performance that night and promptly promoted her from the lowest-ranking slave girl to a handmaiden.]
[Though you are an emperor, your rule follows the doctrine of divine kingship—a theocratic system where no mortal stands equal to you, least of all women.]
[Thus, your harem has no titles like "empress" or "concubine." Instead, there are slave girls, maids, and handmaidens, with the latter being the highest rank a woman can attain, even surpassing female officials with court positions.]
[This alone speaks volumes about your "favor" toward Salan.]
[As for the other soft and delicate fox girl, Ningli, she was also elevated to the same rank.]
Watching the simulation unfold, Solon couldn't help but feel envious of his alternate self living the dream he had always yearned for.
A decadent harem life—truly the ultimate fantasy for most men.
When it came down to it, wasn't the pursuit of wealth and power just a means to rise above others?
Unfortunately, to indulge in such extravagance like his simulated counterpart, he would need at least the same level of strength.
That version of himself was the strongest Emanator, second only to an Aeon.
Thankfully, he had the system. As long as he could accumulate the same—or even better—traits as in the simulation, reaching that level wasn't an impossible dream.
[The fox girls who survived in the harem were all cunning. Seeing how favored the two were, they rushed to curry favor.]
[Yet, they were met with resistance from both.]
[Ningli, having undergone professional training, handled them with effortless grace. Those who tried to take advantage of her found themselves subtly rebuffed—a soft rejection.]
[When they turned to Salan, however, they ran headfirst into a steel wall. She outright threw them out.]
[Salan considered that night—when you ravaged her into unconsciousness—a humiliating disgrace. For these women to flatter her over such a thing was like dancing on her last nerve. The fact that she didn't tear them apart on the spot was only out of mercy for their shared fox-kin heritage.]
[In the entire harem, Salan was only close to Ningli.]
[Under normal circumstances, the two most favored women would fight tooth and nail to become the sole object of the emperor's affection, staging an intricate drama of harem politics.]
[Yet here, Salan and Ningli were as close as sisters born of different parents.]
[This left many fox girls, who had been waiting for the two to turn on each other so they could rise in the chaos, utterly baffled.]
[As the master of the harem, you paid little attention to these trivialities. The infighting among the fox girls was nothing more than entertainment to you—as long as it didn't cross the line and destabilize the harem, you turned a blind eye, unlike the ruthless schemes of certain palace dramas.]
[As for those foolish enough to overstep… well, let it not be forgotten that you were no lenient ruler. The number of your own kin who had died by your hand was close to ten billion.]
[Days passed, and you frequently visited Salan and Ningli for your pleasures—often both at the same time.]
[You adored the way Salan glared at you defiantly before being played into submission, just as much as you enjoyed Ningli's eager cooperation, experimenting with every position imaginable.]
[Perhaps it was the camaraderie born of "pushing each other's hips," but the bond between the two grew stronger.]
[And then, disaster struck.]
[Salan actually fled the harem—with Ningli in tow!]
[It was a reckless move, yet it piqued your interest. This was the first time someone had willingly escaped after being elevated in status.]
[Given how favored Salan was, her position was practically equivalent to an empress or high consort in a traditional harem.]
[You had never heard of a beloved queen or concubine simply running away from the palace.]
[Salan had no experience in fleeing, and with Ningli as a burden, they were quickly captured.]
[By the rules, Salan should have been executed on the spot, and Ningli demoted to the lowest rank of slave girl, never to rise again.]
[But rules were meant to be broken—especially when you were the one who made them.]
[You punished Salan severely, whipping her so hard she couldn't leave her bed for three days. Ningli received a similar punishment by association.]
[Yet beyond that, nothing else happened. No execution, no demotion.]
[Only then did the other fox girls realize just how favored these two were—far beyond their wildest imaginations.]
[In your heart, however, you saw this farce as a hunting game between you and Salan: she runs, you chase, and when you catch her—well, heh heh~]
[A small but thrilling diversion in your otherwise monotonous life.]
What could Solon say? His simulated self really knew how to have fun.
Playing hard-to-get with Feixiao? Next, would it be some domineering CEO trope like "She flees, he pursues, she can't escape even with wings"?
[Salan, of course, had other ideas. Before long, she plotted a second escape.]
[This time, she was smarter—she chose to flee while you were away on a campaign in another star system.]
[By the time you received the news and returned, she and Ningli had already boarded a bestial starship and left the capital planet of the Canglang Empire.]
[Rather than panic, you were exhilarated—the second round of the "hunting game" had begun.]
[Thanks to your relentless investment in scientific research, the technology of the Borisin had nearly caught up to the Xianzhou Alliance. The speed and agility of the empire's small bestial starships were now incomparable to their past versions.]
[Their velocity, maneuverability, and operational range had all been drastically improved.]
[If you were limited to traveling by starship, they might have actually escaped this time.]
[But you were the strongest Emanator of Abundance, capable of crossing the cosmos with your bare flesh.]
[Soon, you caught up to them at the edge of the Qingqiu star system.]
[As per the usual rules, you punished Salan and Ningli—three days bedridden.]
[Salan, ever the restless one, began planning a third escape not long after recovering.]
[Her terrible social skills in the harem and lack of professional expertise made it easy for others to spot her schemes.]
[One fox girl, hoping to win your favor, secretly reported Salan's movements to you in advance.]
[But by now, you were utterly engrossed in this "hunting game." To ensure Salan's successful escape, you snapped the informant's neck without hesitation.]
[And so, under your eager anticipation, Salan embarked on her third escape.]
[Who knew where she got the idea, but this time, she hired dozens of fox girls to disguise themselves as her and Ningli. The group split up, each taking different routes to flee.]
[Now, things were getting even more interesting. You set off alone, without even bringing guards, fully immersed in the hunt.]
[With your abilities, you could have instantly pinpointed their real location—but where was the fun in cheating?]
[So you chose the dumbest method: flipping a coin and checking each trail one by one.]
