Resurrection Empire

Chapter 1456: Chapter 549: A Man Should Travel Far—Returning Still as a Youth (Part 3)

"Not really. It seems like you can’t quite let go, Brother Ren Zhong?" Marvill asked, increasingly puzzled.

Ren Zhong nodded without hesitation, "It’s not about reluctance. To me, marriage is one of the most sacred contractual relationships. They stayed by my side when I was poor and weak, and they helped me so much throughout my growth. Now they haven’t done anything to betray me, so why would I get divorced for no reason?"

Ren Zhong continued to look at Marvill with a puzzled expression.

Marvell Louis found himself somewhat perplexed as well.

He knew that, so far, Ren Zhong didn’t have any descendants.

In his view, Ren Zhong was doing this deliberately, as a strategic move.

Ren Zhong didn’t have children with his two lower-class colonial wives so that he could create an opportunity for an advantageous marriage in the future.

This seemed logical and reasonable.

In the Mechanical Empire, while marriage alliances aren’t the most reliable type of alliance, they hold significant meaning and are very popular among the high nobility.

Marvill had waited until now to broach the subject as part of his second mission for this trip.

Unexpectedly, he discovered the situation was not as he had anticipated.

So Marvill felt a bit embarrassed and even scratched his head to cover it up.

Then he tentatively asked again, "What about downgrading Ju Qingmeng and Ma Xiaoling from lawful wives to concubines?"

Ren Zhong decisively shook his head again, "Not appropriate, I’m not that kind of person."

"Uh... this..." Marvill was completely at a loss for words.

Just then, Marvill’s wrist watch communicated directly with his brainwave, emitting an electronically synthesized voice.

"No need to discuss this matter with him anymore. Your primary task this time was to study Ren Zhong’s character through face-to-face interaction, which is basically completed. I actually feel that his sense of loyalty and righteousness is more aligned with my expectations. Perhaps there is no need to carry out this plan to achieve our goals. Proceed as usual."

"Understood." Marvill replied inwardly, then instinctively turned his head to look at the far-reaching ship crew’s cabin side, quickly retracting his gaze, and smiled at Ren Zhong, "Seems I was presumptuous, sorry. This really isn’t something I should have asked about."

Ren Zhong shrugged it off, "No worries, these are minor details. Besides, even on the same planet, people from different regions have varied lifestyles and perceptions. It’s completely normal for us to have differing views on these matters. In fact, I appreciate your understanding, Brother Marvill."

"Haha, indeed, indeed. Please."

"Alright, see you." After a final farewell, Ren Zhong hopped onto his single spacecraft, watched Marvill leave the docking chamber, waited for a near-vacuum outside, and then piloted his ship back to his warship.

"Things don’t seem too promising," Ren Zhong murmured to himself while entering the navigational parameters provided by Marvill’s exploration ship pilot into his own warship.

He might have appeared naive and clueless in front of others, but in solitude, he found himself a bit troubled.

He suspected that Marquis Zhenjiang intended to marry off his daughter or perhaps even a granddaughter.

This was turning into something out of a cheesy drama.

Although he knew that the Mechanical Empire was vast, with various peculiar cultural environments, he wasn’t willing to change his own values to accommodate others.

As a result, he might find himself in conflict with some influential figures over this issue in the future.

Ren Zhong pondered for a long time but couldn’t come up with a solution, so he decided to set it aside and focus on sorting through the extensive ship knowledge he had acquired on the exploration ship.

Three hours later, in a flash of intense white light, Ren Zhong’s intelligent warship vanished into the depths of the Star Gate.

Five minutes before the intelligent warship disappeared, Ren Zhong sent out a timely technical report.

He hadn’t used cryo-sleep for a long time, but at the moment of entering the ultra-long-distance Star Gate, his sensation mirrored that of using cryo-sleep.

Still lying in the pilot’s seat, he remained conscious one moment, then suddenly felt weightless and lost consciousness, slipping into a blurry state where colorful hallucinations danced in his mind.

He lingered in this hallucination for what seemed like less than five minutes by his perception, but when he awoke, the first thing he did was check the standard and spacecraft coordinate system.

In terms of time, three months had passed.

In terms of distance, he had crossed over five hundred light years, arriving at the hub region of the Far Border Star Domain—the Boundary Star Cluster.

Ren Zhong instinctively looked back in the direction of the Nanxiang Star Cluster, feeling a complex mix of emotions.

Three months of absolute time, five minutes of subjective time, and yet he’d traversed over five hundred light years—how incredible.

This was his first encounter with technology that completely surpassed the scientific imagination he had developed in the 21st century.

The vast distance evoked a subtle illusion of never being able to return, along with an indescribable sense of loneliness.

Of course, Ren Zhong understood that this was just an "illusion."

He took a deep breath and silently recited in his mind.

No worries, a man must journey afar, returning still in youthful guise.

It’s just a trip; no need to overreact.

Then, the exploration ship and intelligent warship continued onward, and within two days, they entered the Fold Jump Subspace Channel, set to arrive in ten days at the administrative main star of the Far Border Star Domain, also the birthplace of Marquis Zhenjiang—the Wangjiang Star.