IRCDM Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Good Luck, But Don’t Be Too Arrogant

Liang Huan arrived at the meeting room to find that Xun Zan and the others had already received the news that Li Yao hadn’t escaped and had left ahead of him. The large meeting room was brightly lit, with only Commanders Qi Mingjing and Wei Luotong still sitting in their original seats.

Mao Ming followed behind Liang Huan, whispering, “Commander Xun wasn’t in a good mood just now. Yi Yuan and several other commanders went with him—as soon as they heard about the mecha incident at the training grounds, Commander Xun almost blew his top.”

Liang Huan sat down in a seat not too close to or too far from Wei Luotong.

Mao Ming said, “Commander Wei, Commander Qi, the military has conducted a thorough investigation and found nothing amiss. The mechas in Departments I, II, and III are all intact, and the central control room is functioning normally. The only damage was to the window of Li Yao’s bathroom on the nineteenth floor. Li Yao himself admitted that he jumped out of the window to escape, smoked two cigarettes in the temporary equipment storage room on the tenth floor after leaving, and then returned to his room.”

Qi Mingjing sighed helplessly.

Wei Luotong, suppressing his anger, said, “The room he was confined to has the military’s latest monitoring system, and the outer walls are equipped with anti-escape devices. How did he get out?”

Mao Ming said, “Due to Li Yao’s sudden post-traumatic stress disorder yesterday, the monitoring system was in a semi-closed state according to the military’s humanitarian regulations, and the anti-escape devices on the outer walls didn’t detect his escape.”

“What are you people doing! So many people couldn’t keep an eye on one person!” Wei Luotong roared.

“Commander.” Liang Huan raised his hand, signaling Mao Ming to leave. He looked up at Wei Luotong, his tone calm, “Take it easy.”

Wei Luotong glared at him, “Lin Chen, you’re responsible for this. If anything happens to Commander Xun, I’ll hold you accountable.”

Liang Huan said, “Yes, this was my oversight. However, if Yi Yuan hadn’t interrogated Li Yao in violation of regulations, causing his traumatic stress and drug side effects to flare up simultaneously, Li Yao wouldn’t have wanted to run in the first place. I think Vice Commander Yi should also give me an explanation.”

“You—you… ah.” Wei Luotong looked at him with a headache, then turned to Qi Mingjing beside him, “Commander Qi, look at him. He doesn’t act like a subordinate at all. You’d think he was the commander.”

Qi Mingjing watched the two of them sing different tunes and laughed, “Young people are bound to be more aggressive in their actions. Commander Wei doesn’t need to be too harsh on Minister Lin.”

Minister Lin Chen, who was being criticized, said, “Li Yao’s room on the nineteenth floor is being upgraded. For safety reasons, we’ve temporarily detained him in Department I on the ninth floor. Commander Qi, since Li Yao’s mental state is currently very unstable, the interrogation will probably have to be postponed for a few days.”

Qi Mingjing looked at him, “Minister Lin, I’m afraid that’s not appropriate.”

“If Department II wants to detain Li Yao, I’ll send him over right now.” Liang Huan smiled slightly.

“…” Qi Mingjing cleared his throat and stood up, “No need. I believe the nineteenth floor will be repaired very soon.”

He’d had enough of living to want to be foolish enough to get Li Yao into Department II.

After Qi Mingjing left, Wei Luotong said in a deep voice, “This time, we’ve fallen out with Yi Yuan. Now everyone knows about his interrogation of Li Yao in violation of regulations. Commander Xun was angry just now, largely at him. You don’t know how awful his face looked at the time.”

“It should have happened sooner. Yi Yuan is not someone to befriend. Cooperating with him is too risky,” Liang Huan said. “Since he dares to be so unscrupulous, he should have expected this day.”

Wei Luotong stared at him and smiled, “Lin Chen, I think you deliberately made this a big deal to protect Dawn Stars, didn’t you?”

Others might not know, but he knew that Liang Huan had found Li Yao immediately. But the news of finding Li Yao was late only after Xun Zan had indirectly criticized Yi Yuan.

Liang Huan smiled, “Commander Wei, Li Yao is, after all, my ex-husband.”

Wei Luotong hissed, with three parts shock, three parts incomprehension, three parts suspicion, and one part disapproval, “You’re not really interested in Dawn Stars?”

Liang Huan calmly met his gaze, “Commander, are you also having a mental breakdown from being so frightened?”

Wei Luotong thought about it and felt that this guess was too outrageous. He shook his head and got up to leave. As he went out, he couldn’t help but yawn. The sixty or seventy-year-old man had been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for a meeting, scolded, and made to use his brain. He was visibly exhausted.

Liang Huan also planned to go back to catch up on some sleep—he and Li Yao had forcibly engaged in mental power confrontation a few days ago, and his mind had been unclear. He had not only done foolish things but had even accidentally missed a silver needle, showing how severely he had been affected.

He returned to the ninth floor and sensed something was wrong the moment he opened the door, “Who’s there?”

The transparent heteromorph clinging to the ceiling slowly revealed its form, its semi-transparent tentacles dangling messily, sticking to the valuable antique ornaments and famous paintings in the living room.

Liang Huan was silent for a moment, “Mu Bo, if you’ve had enough of living, you can just say so.”

The transparent heteromorph quietly retracted its tentacles, turned into a human form, and stood obediently in front of the sofa, quietly straightening the overturned vase next to it.

“How did you find this place?” Liang Huan sat down opposite him.

Mu Bo hesitated for two seconds, couldn’t find a place to sit, and sat directly on the carpet. He put his arm on the coffee table, his posture upright, and said, “I followed the First here.”

Liang Huan was puzzled, “The First?”

“I secretly built my and Lu Lian’s future love nest next to the underground armory in the administration building, and recently I’ve been living there, adding bricks and tiles to our love,” the transparent heteromorph said, using a theatrical tone, seemingly after reading some literature recently. “As a result, when I was half-asleep, I heard a slight noise. An alarm went off in my mind instantly, and I poked my head out cautiously and discovered that Li Yao’s off-road vehicle was speeding away from in front of me, so I followed it stealthily, holding my breath the whole way. With my unremitting efforts, I followed it to this glorious and bright building, and I couldn’t help but feel excited—”

“Hold on.” Liang Huan said with a blank face.

Mu Bo looked at him in confusion.

“Speak properly.” Liang Huan pinched his aching forehead.

“I’m done.” Mu Bo said, “Then I smelled you and Li Yao’s scent. The military building suddenly sounded an alarm, and there were humans everywhere. I originally wanted to find Lu Lian, but I was more worried about you. I was afraid that showing up rashly would cause you trouble, so I hid in your house.”

The First was the heavy-duty off-road vehicle that Li Yao modified for doing missions in the outer districts. Why did he have the First come over? Did he really want to escape? Or perhaps—

Liang Huan looked expressionlessly as Mu Bo raised his hand, lowered his eyes and tilted his head, reaching out to tuck the long hair beside his cheek behind his ear. His temples were throbbing, “What are you doing?”

Mu Bo raised his eyes with a melancholic expression, and said softly, “I think I’m more suitable to be a star than Shuang Ta. Lu Lian will definitely be fascinated by me then, and then I can launch human and heteromorph mating and reproduction for the heteromorphs.”

Liang Huan said coldly, “That’s why you weren’t chosen.”

Mu Bo sighed dejectedly, propping his head up elegantly and poking the golden toad tea pet on the tea tray, “I found that there are many people in the military building like Lu Lian, especially on the floor you live on, which gave me the warmth of home. If Lu Lian refuses to agree to mate and reproduce with me, I want to stay here and carefully pick a new mate. Can I?”

Liang Huan pointed to the window.

Mu Bo pretended not to see it and persisted, “You and Li Yao have been mating but haven’t been able to conceive. I suspect that it’s because Li Yao goes to the outer districts too often and is exposed to too much radiation. I also smelled that his mental power was very disordered and weak just now. Do you want to find a human doctor to help you regulate your bodies?”

Liang Huan was eerily silent for a moment, “His body is weak because he was polluted by radiation in space—what is he doing now?”

“Sleeping.” Mu Bo twitched his nose, and a glimmer of hope burst out in his eyes, “Liang Huan, let me stay. I can help you monitor him.”

Letting Mu Bo stay in the military building was no different from putting a mouse in a rice jar. After confirming Li Yao’s condition, Liang Huan ruthlessly drove away the transparent heteromorph.

——

The door of the storage room was opened again.

Liang Huan walked straight to the small mecha and the second robot assistant. The two machines in hibernation stood quietly in place, meeting Liang Huan’s gaze.

A faint smell of machine oil attracted Liang Huan’s attention. He followed the smell to the location where the military off-road vehicles and armored vehicles were placed, and stopped in front of a military off-road vehicle.

The fuel tank seemed to have some poor contact, which was probably why the vehicle was placed in the storage room waiting for repair.

Liang Huan casually covered the fuel tank, and the car window slowly lowered, revealing a handsome face.

“Hey, officer.” Li Yao raised his chin at him, “Don’t touch other people’s fuel tanks. I’m reporting you for harassment.”

Liang Huan said coldly, “Driving a private vehicle into the military building. If the military sues, you will face at least three months of imprisonment.”

“No one will know if you don’t say anything.” Li Yao put one hand on the car door, “Get in.”

Liang Huan sat in the passenger seat, and the First, disguised as a military off-road vehicle, roared its engine and ostentatiously opened the exit channel of the storage room.

“How did you get it in here?” Liang Huan asked.

“It climbed in by itself.” Li Yao stretched out two fingers, figuratively climbing from Liang Huan’s arm all the way to his shoulder, and arrogantly tapped his shoulder badge. When Liang Huan turned his head, he put his hand back on the steering wheel as if nothing had happened, and remarked with emotion, “Your military’s monitoring system is pure trash. If you serve me well, I can help you upgrade it.”

Liang Huan looked forward with a blank expression, “Thank you, no need.”

Li Yao raised an eyebrow, “Officer Lin, have you always talked like this?”

Liang Huan frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Nothing, my wife—” Li Yao paused, turned his head, and looked at him playfully, “You know, the person you call Liang Huan when you’re having a mental breakdown. He likes to talk to me like this, and I like to tease him. It’s so much fun.”

“…” The air pressure around Liang Huan visibly decreased.

Li Yao laughed, “He’s much more interesting than you. He loves to wash my clothes, cook my meals, and warm my bed at home. When I come back from a mission, I lean into his arms and call him ‘husband’ with the most gentle and virtuous voice. You’re nothing like that.”

A layer of frost covered Liang Huan’s eyes, and then he heard the person next to him say unhappily, “No, no, no, you have to smile more to look more like him.”

“Li Yao,” he warned the other party in a deep voice, “There’s no need to provoke me. Even if you say more, I won’t remember the memories from when I was having a mental breakdown.”

Li Yao had a malicious smile on his lips, and sincerely suggested to him, “I’m giving you a new idea. You pretend to be Liang Huan and seduce me. If I’m moved, I might directly give you the black box, Officer Lin. Why don’t you endure it for the sake of the military?”

Liang Huan directly ignored his words and said coldly, “Before the alarm was issued, the central control room on the top floor of the military building had three seconds of abnormal fluctuations. The commotion you caused today was not just to vent your anger.”

Especially the dangerous act of sitting on the window. He didn’t think much of it at the time, but Liang Huan now realized that the other party’s attempt to cover it up was very obvious.

“You went to great lengths to keep me from discovering that the next to you was a holographic image of a small mecha,” Liang Huan said unhappily.

Li Yao said lazily, “I don’t understand what you mean, officer. You have to have evidence to speak. Does having a high rank mean you can slander people at will?”

“No need to rush. Evidence will be found sooner or later,” Liang Huan said coldly, “I’ll personally send you back to the First Prison.”

“I’ll personally send you back to the First Prison,” Li Yao mimicked his tone and tsked twice.

Liang Huan: “…”

Li Yao stepped on the brake, took out a protective mask, and fastened it on his face. A soldier guarding the checkpoint walked over, “Officers, please show your access chip and vehicle pass.”

Liang Huan clicked on the chip and the forged vehicle pass, “Secret mission of Department I.”

After the soldier checked the documents, he saluted them and opened the gate.

After bypassing the streets of the military building, the First quickly switched back to its original form and played the theme song from a prison break movie for itself. In the midst of the excited and restless music, Li Yao drove while tapping on the steering wheel, as if the ground streets of the East District were so unfamiliar, staring intently ahead.

An awkward and inexplicable atmosphere spread in the car.

Liang Huan glanced at Li Yao out of the corner of his eye and said, “We must return before noon. I have a meeting to attend at noon.”

Li Yao ignored him.

Liang Huan turned to look at him, slightly dissatisfied, “I’m talking to you.”

“Huh?” Li Yao tilted his head, took off his earpiece, looked at the road ahead, and turned his body towards him, “What did you say just now?”

Liang Huan was a little unaccustomed to being so close to people, and his voice became even colder, “Return before noon.”

“Okay.” Li Yao nodded and straightened his body, “If those old fogies knew we snuck out, they’d be mad enough to kill a row of them.”

He said it so naturally, as if they were just an ordinary couple who had secretly sneaked out of the military building, going out to do some harmless “bad things,” rather than the Mecha Minister assisting the imprisoned Dawn Star in escaping.

Liang Huan scoffed lightly.

“Rare, it’s the first time I’ve seen you smile.” Li Yao said curiously.

Liang Huan slowly flattened the corners of his mouth, “Promising to go to the Dawn Laboratory with you was just for the black box.”

“What else?” Li Yao glanced at him a little strangely.

Liang Huan said expressionlessly, “Drive your car.”

Li Yao was in a good mood, stepped on the gas pedal to the floor, and directly raced the car on the empty ground streets.

Mu Bo, who was following their car from a distance, was stunned, turned his head to look at the hovercar rental company next to him, pushed the door open, and handed the other party a card, “Hello, I want to rent a hovercar.”

The employee took the card, glanced at it, and returned it to him, “Sir, I’m very sorry, but this is a bank card from the East Third District, and it can’t be used in the First District.”

Mu Bo was stunned in place, “But I have a lot of Condensed Coins stored in it.”

The employee said kindly, “Sorry, perhaps you can go to the Dawn Bank across the street to have a look.”

Mu Bo was afraid of losing them, quickened his pace, walked into the Dawn Bank, but accidentally bumped into someone. The other person subconsciously supported his arm, “Careful.”

Mu Bo raised his head, met Lu Lian’s handsome face, and his eyes instantly lit up, “Lu Lian?”

Lu Lian suddenly withdrew his hand and looked warily at this “domesticated” heteromorph, “Why are you here?”

“I’m here to—” Mu Bo’s eyes suddenly turned red, and he tightly grabbed his cuff, “I’m here to find my brother, but I can’t withdraw money to give him. Lu Lian, can you help me?”

Lu Lian said warily, “Your brother?”

“Ah, yes, he’s also a domesticated heteromorph, who has been locked up in the rich district, but the human who has been raising him has gone bankrupt, and he’s about to be sold into the breeding base slaughterhouse to be used as fuel for mechas.” Mu Bo lowered his eyes, a tear hitting the back of Lu Lian’s hand, turned his head to try to hold back the tears, and let go of Lu Lian’s sleeve, “I want to withdraw some money to save him.”

Lu Lian said, “Oh.”

Then he walked towards the door without the slightest sympathy or pity.

Mu Bo: “?”

“Sir, do you need help?” A group of humans instantly gathered around, trying to offer him help enthusiastically.

Mu Bo disappeared into the pile of humans, watching Lu Lian leave longingly.

Not long after Lu Lian left the bank, he sent a communication to his subordinate, “A ‘domesticated heteromorph’ from the East Third District has appeared near the Dawn Bank in the First District. Surrounding personnel, pay attention to strengthening vigilance. The other party is of a higher level, closely monitor, and if there is any abnormality, kill immediately.”

He turned his head to look at the door of the Dawn Bank, and a hint of doubt appeared in his eyes.

Why would Liang Huan’s heteromorph appear here?

Could it be related to Li Yao?

Thinking of this, he directly called Xu Hong, “Minister Xu, I’m outside now. There’s something I’d like to trouble you to go to Department I for…”

——

East Fifth District, Dawn Laboratory Building.

The sealed building has tape on the outside, through various operations, the united defense team of the East Third, East Sixth, and East Seventh Districts has currently taken over the blockade of this building, and some members of the God Sealing Team have been arranged to come over, directly led by Captain Yue Hang.

After receiving Liang Huan’s message, Yue Hang and his people waited in front of the building early.

Liang Huan and Li Yao got out of the off-road vehicle, Yue Hang was a little surprised, but still calmly greeted them first, “Vice District Chief, Mr. Li, you’ve come.”

Liang Huan’s demeanor was already subtly different from when he was in the military building, Li Yao watched in amazement, but when he saw that more familiar Liang Huan, he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

Liang Huan noticed his gaze, turned his head, and gave him a faint smile.

For a moment, Li Yao thought the other party was having another mental breakdown, but when he saw the coldness and malice in the other party’s eyes clearly, he understood that this was just a method Liang Huan used to counter him.

Killing someone by hurting their heart, Li Yao thought, was probably because he had been provoked on the transport vehicle before, exposing his excessive concern for Liang Huan.

Tsk.

He followed suit, smilingly putting his arm on Liang Huan’s shoulder. The two of them were now about the same height, so it was easier to put it on: “Captain Yue, we haven’t been in the East Third District for this time. Thank you for all the hard work.”

Yue Hang said, “It’s our job.”

Liang Huan turned to look at Li Yao, and Li Yao smiled in his ear: “Vice District Chief Liang, hide your little fox tail well. If they knew now that their ‘Brother Liang’ was the military’s Lin Chen, would the East Third District still be as stable as it is now?”

Liang Huan allowed him to lean on him, walking forward with the people, “Since you didn’t tell the military, then you wouldn’t tell the East Third District either—if you want to win me over, show some sincerity, don’t always threaten me.”

Li Yao smiled, “Not only will I keep your secret, but I didn’t really escape. You were pretending to try to get close to me by using my wife’s identity, and I tried to cooperate, almost recognizing you as my dear wife, isn’t that sincere enough?”

“Are you sure you’re cooperating, not giving me identity induction?” Liang Huan and him walked into the door of the laboratory, “Obviously, it’s more beneficial for you to have me accept the identity of ‘Liang Huan’. Officer Li’s performance is vivid and real, I’m ashamed of myself.”

“Tsk.” Li Yao raised his eyebrows, “Don’t joke around, baby, admit it, you obviously like me.”

Liang Huan turned to look at him, Li Yao smiled at him rampantly, the two of them were so close, either one could kiss the other if they were just a little more proactive.

Unfortunately, neither of them moved.

“Even if you can fool everyone, you will definitely show flaws.” Liang Huan turned his head and looked ahead, “Li Yao, don’t be too arrogant.”

“Vice District Chief, the Dawn Laboratory is above, according to regulations, our defense team can’t go up.” Yue Hang stopped, turned to look at the two, “If there is anything, contact me at any time.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Li Yao holding Liang Huan’s hand, the two hands interlocking: “Of course not, I’m always cautious.”

Liang Huan raised his head, looking at the dark passageway with no lights, and Li Yao’s slightly cold voice slowly rang in his ear:

“Good luck to yourself, Liang Huan.”