IRCDM Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Hidden Dangers – This Marriage Wasn’t a Waste

Liang Huan still didn’t get to eat roast chicken.

Li Yao fell asleep less than five minutes after getting into the hovercar and didn’t wake up until they were downstairs at the dormitory building. Liang Huan couldn’t rouse him at all.

Uncle Yang was startled when he saw Li Yao being carried back: “What’s wrong with him? Injured again?”

“Just tired,” Liang Huan said, scanning his pupils and going along with the man’s words, “Was he always getting injured?”

Uncle Yang said, “He’s much better now. The first year he came, he’d come back from every mission covered in blood. Several times the doctors said he was beyond saving and left him in his room to die, but that kid’s lucky, he always pulled through. Now he’s finally made a name for himself.”

“How many years has he been at the mercenary base?” Liang Huan handed him a pack of cigarettes.

Uncle Yang smilingly accepted it, thought for a moment, and said, “Must be five or six years. When he first came, he ignored everyone. Someone took issue with him and almost got beaten to death. No one dared to mess with him after that. Now that his points are up, the boss has to treat him politely. It’s good.”

“What did he do before?” Liang Huan asked.

“Who knows? Anyone who’s willing to become a mercenary has lost their family and has nothing to hold them back.” Uncle Yang laughed, “But that kid’s ruthless and reliable, not too much nonsense. You’re not at a loss being with him.”

Liang Huan smiled and didn’t continue asking, carrying Li Yao into the elevator.

“Hey, he’s pretty strong,” Uncle Yang muttered to himself, “Marriage really makes a difference, someone to take care of him.”

Liang Huan’s wrist gave out and he unceremoniously dumped the man on the ground.

Li Yao frowned, rolled over, and continued sleeping, his face devoid of color.

Liang Huan rubbed his aching wrist, stared at him with displeasure for a long while, and still picked him up and put him on the bed.

The next morning, Li Yao was woken up by someone tapping him and opened his eyes with difficulty.

Liang Huan pointed to his wrist, “Your chip has been ringing for half an hour.”

Li Yao’s gaze wasn’t focused, he was dazed for a few seconds before abruptly snapping back to reality. There were a dozen missed calls and several alarms that had gone off.

He looked at the numbers and rubbed his face wearily: “I’ll be going out for a while, can you order takeout yourself at home?”

Liang Huan was just thinking about how to get out, and nodded with slight regret, “Okay.”

“…If you’re tired of it, you can try making something yourself.” Li Yao pointed to the spotless kitchen, “There’s a fully automatic cooking machine.”

Liang Huan looked at him and said, “Are you alright?”

Li Yao was clearly not used to this kind of concern, shook his head, hurriedly went in to wash up, and before leaving, unexpectedly met Liang Huan’s gaze, frowned and said, “I’m fine, I’m leaving.”

The door slammed shut.

Liang Huan: “?”

—

Half an hour later, a certain office on the third floor of the Eastern District First Court.

A man in formal attire sat at his desk, staring at the 6.9% mental link rate on the screen for a long time, before pushing up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and saying in a deep voice, “You’re saying that within an hour, your mental link rate with this Liang Huan spiked nearly three percent, and then, with his mental power assistance, you killed a mid-level Heteromorph?”

Li Yao sat on the sofa, flipping through the virtual paper news on his desk: “What do you think?”

Jiang Mufeng calmly and objectively commented: “Congratulations on still being alive and not turning into an idiot.”

Li Yao laughed, one ankle resting on his knee, leaning back comfortably: “This marriage wasn’t a waste.”

Jiang Mufeng pushed up his glasses: “But I still need to remind you that Liang Huan’s identity is abnormal. District One can’t find his identity information at all. Three months ago, his account and Yu Wan Yao’s account had a transfer of twenty million Condensed Coins, then his identity information suddenly appeared in the population matching center, then he purchased a medium-sized residence in District One, bought a lot of luxury goods, and invested the rest of his money in the seventh floor trading center of the Black Market, losing it all in less than a week, including all his assets.”

“I still maintain my previous view, this Liang Huan is approaching you with ulterior motives.”

Li Yao rolled the newspaper into a circle, tapped his forehead, and said lazily, “What’s he after? I’m just a penniless mercenary, a waste with a C-grade mental power level. Even the military has removed the surveillance on me.”

“No matter what he’s here for, keeping him around is always a hidden danger,” Jiang Mufeng said.

Li Yao laughed: “His brain was damaged by the shockwave, he can’t even remember who he is, what can he do?”

Jiang Mufeng frowned: “You deliberately took him to the training ground? This kind of operation violates regulations. Liang Huan is, after all, an ordinary person. Once it’s found out you’ll be—”

“Wasn’t it not found out?” Li Yao crossed his legs and laughed, “After his brain broke, he actually thought he was an emperor, playing role-playing games with me at home every day. It’s quite fun, much more adorable than he was before when he was so shrewd and calculating.”

Jiang Mufeng clearly didn’t agree: “If he ever sues, you could be arrested by the police for intentional injury.”

Li Yao said: “Great, then please be my defense lawyer.”

Jiang Mufeng strongly disliked his carefree attitude: “I suggest you get a divorce now and remarry. Although District One doesn’t have a large population, you can always find someone suitable.”

“No need, I know what I’m doing.” Li Yao slumped on the sofa, “Run another detailed report on his mental power and genes for me. Is a week enough?”

“This is not allowed in principle,” Jiang Mufeng said sternly.

“Then that means it’s possible.” Li Yao threw the newspaper away, “After I’m done with what I need to do, I won’t mistreat him. I’ll give him enough compensation, no matter who he’s working for.”

“You don’t need to be so overconfident,” Jiang Mufeng frowned, “Maybe the other party isn’t so easy to control.”

“He stays at home every day and doesn’t go out, how can he control anything?” Li Yao stretched, “He even leaves me food every day, tsk, it makes me want to raise a real wife.”

Jiang Mufeng: “…”

If he was trembling with fear, then the military’s useless eaters might as well quit.

“I’m leaving.” Li Yao took two steps forward and suddenly turned around, “Don’t call so much in the future, your sister-in-law might misunderstand.”

The veins on Jiang Mufeng’s forehead throbbed, and it took all his self-restraint not to throw the newspaper in his face.

He picked up the newspaper and glanced at it, the page was open to the Yi Yuan trial case on Wednesday, with the words highlighted in red: [Is the Dawn Project really a scam?]

Jiang Mufeng clenched the newspaper. After seven years of preparation, the four major districts and the central district had exhausted all their resources to build a joint fleet of more than 100,000 people, mobilizing 90% of the mechas and spacecraft, but in the end, almost no one survived.

He pressed the secretary’s comm: “Who prepared this information screen?”

“I’m ready!” Ai Xiaoli covered his eyes and turned his back to his friends, loudly saying, “You can’t cheat with chips! And you can’t break the rules!”

A group of children scattered with a bang.

“…Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!” Ai Xiaoli excitedly took his hands off his eyes and eagerly began to catch people. “I am the Supreme Commander of the Dawn Joint Fleet, let me catch you traitorous vanguards first!”

One of his friends was exposed, and Ai Xiaoli quickly chased after him, but accidentally tripped over a wrench scattered on the ground, fell to the ground, and scraped his palm badly. He cried out in pain, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Are you okay?” An adult passed by, half-knelt down and helped him up, patting the dust off his body.

Ai Xiaoli sobbed, wiped away his tears, and saw the person clearly. He sniffled, “Thank you, big brother, you’re so handsome.”

Liang Huan smiled and patted his head, handing him a piece of candy, “There’s too much debris here, find another place to play.”

Ai Xiaoli grabbed the candy and eagerly stuffed it into his mouth.

Whether in the Black Market or elsewhere, candy was a scarce resource. Liang Huan had learned this from his chip and then found a large bag of candy in Li Yao’s bedside table, so he randomly stuffed a few pieces into his pocket, not expecting to use them to coax a child.

The shop door behind him was suddenly opened and a tall man walked out: “Ai Xiaoli, don’t play hide-and-seek in front of my door.”

“I’m sorry, Brother Pei Zhong.” Ai Xiaoli stuck out his tongue and hurriedly ran away.

“And you, don’t block the way in front of my door,” Pei Zhong said without much politeness.

Liang Huan stood up, looked at him with a smile, and extended his hand: “Mr. Pei, hello, my name is Liang Huan, I’m here to pick something up from the store.”

Pei Zhong coldly sized him up, not reaching out: “You’re the one?”

Liang Huan indifferently retracted his hand and said, “Mr. Yu told me to come.”

Pei Zhong’s expression became even colder, turned around and went back inside: “Come in.”

Liang Huan lifted the curtain and followed him into the house, the chip on his wrist suddenly vibrated. It was a picture sent by Li Yao.

Tempting chicken laying in delicate packaging plate, with Li Yao’s rigid text: Waiting, 15 minutes to home, don’t eat yet.

Liang Huan: “…”