For a month, he had tried countless times to contact A Ji, but there had been no reply. Sabuna furiously threw the communicator in his hand.
A deafening crash echoed from the office as the communicator shattered. Sabuna slammed his fist onto the desk, slumping into his chair, almost completely drained of strength.
At that moment, the entire office plunged into darkness. Sabuna was startled. For the past half-month, he had been living with a near-panic response to the insectoid army.
He scrambled off the chair, his lips trembling, his face contorted in a grimace. "Who is it! The insectoids? I'm not afraid of you! Come on!" he stammered, questioning incessantly.
The transparent screen in front of him suddenly lit up, casting a glow on Sabuna's face, making his rapidly emaciated features resemble a ghost.
A face slowly materialized on the screen – a face Sabuna had cursed countless times in his heart: A Ji.
A Ji wore a mocking, malicious smile, his lips curled slightly. "Well, well, well, isn't this our ambitious Federal Chairman? How is it that you look so pathetic today?"
Sabuna's eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead. He looked as if he wanted nothing more than to crawl through the screen and strangle A Ji.
But in reality, he could do nothing. His hand passed through the screen, leaving no trace.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to maintain the demeanor of the Federal Chairman, sitting upright in his chair. He let out an angry laugh, "Heh, what, you remember me now? You despicable scoundrel! How dare you betray me!"
A Ji's eyes narrowed. "Despicable scoundrel? That's a title I should be returning to you."
Compared to Sabuna's forced composure, A Ji's expression was remarkably relaxed, tinged with a condescending mockery. "I heard the insectoid army is still stationed outside Federal space. How are things going for Chairman Sabuna these days, not too well?"
Sabuna sneered. "If you can appear here, you must know everything already. Are you here specifically to mock me?"
A Ji sighed. "Yes, I've had enough of watching your pathetic state, which is why I had someone hack into your system. I'm not dead, but you are the one who's in trouble. Does it hurt? Are you angry?"
Sabuna's eyes widened in fury. "You..."
A Ji sneered, a hint of madness in his eyes. "You deserve it! Have you forgotten who I am, and who my mother was?"
Sabuna's eyes flickered unnaturally. "Your mother, she..."
A Ji looked up towards the ceiling, his voice drifting as if from the deepest reaches of space. "Yes, she fell in love with an insectoid, and thus became the shame of the entire Federation."
He looked at Sabuna, his eyes like a bottomless, frigid pool. "But was it their fault?
Because she fell in love with someone who wasn't a Federal citizen, because she ignored your warnings and insisted on being with that insectoid, she could be humiliated at your will?"
Sabuna said coldly, "Don't you know what kind of people insectoids are? Your mother, falling in love with an insectoid, what good end could there be? Look at the outcome!
In the end, wasn't your mother abandoned? You survived on a planet that was practically a wasteland, all thanks to your mother.
You don't stand with the Federation, but with the insectoids? Are you worthy of your mother?"
A Ji's eyes blazed with madness. "Yes, so you all deserve to die! Be it the Federation or the insectoids, you all deserve to die!"
Sabuna's eyes were burned by the intense hatred that erupted from A Ji in that moment, and he instinctively dodged. "But, compared to the Federation, aren't the insectoids more hateful? Why did you target us first?"
A Ji suddenly laughed, as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world, and threw his head back in laughter. His sharp, piercing laughter echoed in the dim room. Sabuna felt a chill run down his spine. "...What are you laughing at?"
A Ji stopped laughing and spoke, "You still don't understand where you went wrong.
Yes, I resent the insectoids, I resent my father for being cowardly and incompetent. As an insectoid, he lacked even a shred of insectoid spirit, unable to even protect my mother.
But you said one thing wrong. The reason I survived was not only because of my mother, but also my father. He desperately searched for food, and in the end,
he died on a garbage planet."
"Tell me, who should I hate?"
Sabuna began to tremble all over. So A Ji had such a reason for doing this!
When A Ji first found him, he knew he was that woman's child, because they looked so alike.
Thinking back carefully, A Ji had been lurking in the Federation for so many years, seemingly attentive to everything, yet the Federation had not only made no progress but had regressed repeatedly, now being inferior to even ordinary powers in the galaxy.
Could it be that from the very day A Ji returned, he had been plotting for this day?
A Ji chuckled, his voice hoarse from the wild laughter. "Thinking of something? With a fool like you in the Federation, it's much easier to deal with than I imagined."
Sabuna was momentarily unsure whether to be angry or to laugh. When A Ji returned, he was just a teenager, and yet he could plan to this extent?
But now, a greater fear crept into Sabuna's heart. A Ji could effortlessly hack into the Federation's systems and appear before him while the insectoids were watching menacingly.
After A Ji told him all this today, could he still survive?
He looked up at A Ji. A Ji seemed to be able to easily retract his overly intense emotions, returning to the calm A Ji of moments ago in just a few seconds.
He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, as if tapping on Sabuna's heart.
Circumstances were beyond his control. Sabuna's eyes darted around, and he put on a fawning smile.
"I know I was wrong, I truly know I was wrong. I've learned my lesson. Please spare me, alright?"
He thought for a moment and said obsequiously, "You... oh no, *you*, don't you value your mother the most? How about I bring her back to the Federation? Let her return to her roots, let her rest in peace after death, alright?"
A Ji looked at the ugly face with disdain and sneered, "If you're begging for mercy, shouldn't you show some attitude?"
Sabuna quickly nodded and fell to his knees with a thud. Even though he hated him to death, he still lowered his head slightly and said softly, "I truly know I was wrong. I beg for your forgiveness."
After a long silence without a reply, Sabuna slightly raised his head, his expression suddenly freezing.
A few seconds later, a head rolled away.