IRCDM Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Past Events (Revised) Are You An Adult?

“Why do you ask that?” Liang Huan felt the pulse beating under his fingertip. “Are you eager to have a relationship with (zhen, ‘I’ – the emperor’s self-reference)?”

“You went to great lengths to marry me, brazenly intercepted my files, and even when escaping from the laboratory, you had to take the chip used for my surgery.” Li Yao suddenly realized, “You’re so infatuated with me that you’ve gone to this extent.”

Liang Huan narrowed his eyes.

“Otherwise, you’re a psychological freak.” Li Yao stated definitively.

Liang Huan calmly said, “Initially,I (zhen, ‘I’ – the emperor’s self-reference) simply wanted to bring you under my command. You are exceptionally talented.”

“Great, not only are you infatuated with me, but you’re also a psychological freak.” Li Yao pinched his chin and shook it, unable to resist leaning in and giving him a peck.

Liang Huan was slow to react and couldn’t completely dodge it. He didn’t know how Li Yao reached that conclusion, so he held down his restless hand. “If you say so, then so be it.”

“So how did you do it?” Li Yao couldn’t figure it out. He was very sure that getting those two black dragon tattoos was his own decision. Liang Huan’s experimental physique couldn’t be so heaven-defying that he could hypnotize him to change his mind.

Liang Huan stared at him meaningfully, “You really don’t remember anything at all?”

“Remember what?” Li Yao asked, puzzled, moving his brain, which was somewhat impaired by soaking in the potion. Finally, he sifted through his complex memories and found a few clues. “The tattoos… I got them after my first external district mission after joining the mercenary base. At that time, I hadn’t adapted to the sudden drop in physical and mental strength. I was having disorder periods seven or eight times a day, and I was blacking out from taking too many pills—hiss (hiss).”

He looked at Liang Huan in disbelief, “We wouldn’t have actually met in the external district, would we?”

“…” A hint of displeasure appeared in Liang Huan’s eyes. “You don’t remember.”

December 9, New Era 132.

Nine months had passed since Liang Huan successfully escaped from Chuan Wu’s laboratory with Mu Bo. During these nine months, Liang Huan obtained legal resident status in the Eastern District, learned to pilot mecha, and became famous in the Mecha Grand Prix through Black Emperor. He “accidentally” interfered with a military exercise, successfully attracting the attention of Huan Zan, thereby smoothly entering the military and being assigned to Wei Luotong, who was then a deputy commander, quickly rising to the rank of Colonel.

Mu Bo, who had his brain heavily injured, lived a sedentary life in his assigned apartment for nine months, eating and drinking. His injuries were slow to heal. If Mu Bo hadn’t saved his life during the escape, Liang Huan would never have tolerated such a lazy bum staying by his side.

Finally, he took the time to load this transparent heteromorph, whose brain was mostly blown away, into a military mecha, and under the guise of a mission, he came to the external district.

“Find a place to sleep and heal.” He turned off the pre-apocalypse documentary about animal reproduction that Mu Bo was playing.

Mu Bo looked at him blankly, “But they haven’t had babies yet. They won’t have them until episode sixteen. So many! Their nest xue (animal den) is almost built, strong males, having babies, expanding territory… I didn’t finish watching it.”

“You’ve watched it thirty times.” Liang Huan patiently said, “Once you wake up from a nap, you can find a strong male to have babies for you.”

Mu Bo’s eyes lit up, “Re-really?”

Liang Huan smiled, “Of course.”

“What about you?” Mu Bo’s language system was sometimes good and sometimes bad. “Can you find a male and have him give, give you lots and lots of babies?”

Liang Huan continued to smile, “Of course.”

Mu Bo reluctantly handed over the chip, dug a hole in the mountain, hid himself in it, and sneakily, thinking he was being stealthy, covered Liang Huan with dust.

Liang Huan was too lazy to argue with this brain-damaged heteromorph, reminding him, “Don’t run around, and don’t eat people casually. Once you release your mental waves, you will be captured by the Chuan Wu laboratory.”

Mu Bo stuck out a huge head, “Will you be able to find a mate being so fierce?”

Liang Huan raised his hand and pressed him back into the hole.

Liang Huan’s trip was not only to settle this transparent heteromorph but also to take on a difficult task from the military. His promotion speed in the military was too fast, which had already caused dissatisfaction among many people, and Huan Zan allowed it to develop, obviously intending to test him.

But the mission was not smooth. At that time, he could not fully control the drastically fluctuating mental power of his body and suffered extremely serious injuries.

He had no choice but to hide in a nearby abandoned laboratory. To stay awake, he swallowed an entire bottle of mental power enhancers, trying to find a hiding place in the night.

Although he had lived in this era for almost three years, he still couldn’t adapt to this dark night sky like a coffin.

As soon as he entered the hall, a burst of noisy footsteps came from behind. He quickly hid, and the beam of light flashed past his back, followed by a lazy voice: “This is the Yin City Laboratory?”

“Li Yao, be alert! What kind of attitude is that?!” A scolding voice rang out.

Hearing this name, Liang Huan looked through the cracks. The young man in mercenary uniform was tall and straight, with a flashlight in his mouth, lazily pulling out a submachine gun from behind.

“I really don’t know why we have to bring him along on missions. If this trash dies, we’ll have to clean up his corpse.”

“I heard he has a relationship with You Zhao Chen, keep your voice down.”

“Tch, his mental power is so low, what’s the use…”

The people in the team seemed to have a lot of opinions about Li Yao. Liang Huan, using the shaking light, could see Li Yao’s expression clearly. The young man was completely different from the stern appearance in his memory, drooping his eyes in boredom. Not knowing if dust got into his nose, he frowned while biting the flashlight and sneezed dully.

“Keep your voice down!” Someone turned around and warned him fiercely, the butt of the gun hitting his shoulder and shoving him backward, “If you attract zombies, will you take responsibility?!”

Li Yao staggered back, sighing weakly.

That person was furious, and others hurriedly stopped him. The team leader impatiently ordered Li Yao, “You stay at the door and be alert. We’ll go down.”

Li Yao nodded listlessly with the flashlight in his mouth.

Liang Huan frowned, watching the other party dissatisfied in the dark.

In the laboratory, he had personally seen how fierce the seriously injured Li Yao was. In the military’s files, he had also seen how high-spirited the powerful Dawn Star was. But the person in front of him was like a clumsy imitation, which made him lose interest.

Li Yao spat out the flashlight, randomly shining it around the hall for a while. Finally, the light stayed on the black mecha model in the center. He looked up at it for a long time, and when his neck was sore, he lowered his head wearily, found a place to sit down in the hall.

Li Yao’s position was very close to where he was hiding. Liang Huan did not act rashly, scrutinizing his every move through the cracks.

Li Yao was listless, spacing out with the gun in his arms. He took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, but he choked and coughed. He frowned, threw the cigarette away in disgust, and his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

He grabbed his hair a little frustratedly, took out a bottle of medicine, stared at the medicine bottle reluctantly for a long time, then poured a pill into his mouth, thought about it, and poured two more pills, struggling for a long time before swallowing them.

As a result, his hands trembled even more violently.

He frowned, clenched his fists, and then dejectedly slammed his hands on the ground, reaching out for a cigarette to light again.

The burning smoke showed a translucent texture under the dim light. From Liang Huan’s perspective, Li Yao’s unconsciously straightened back made him look like a statue in the night. His posture of smoking was very clumsy, always choking on the smoke, so he choked and coughed, his eyes turning red. With the shaking light, under the moist eyelashes, those eyes reminded Liang Huan of the stars in the Northern Liang night sky.

Soon, Li Yao mastered the trick of smoking, frowning and continuously smoking half a pack of cigarettes. His hand finally stopped shaking, but he started retching.

After joining the military, Liang Huan tried to get Li Yao’s file. This person’s current mental power rating is only C, and his physical fitness is barely S, but according to comprehensive data, these data are very watered down.

A burst of chaotic gunfire broke the silence, and then a cry for help came from Li Yao’s communication device.

Li Yao suddenly stood up, poured most of the bottle of medicine into his mouth, and rushed into the underground where the zombies were roaring.

Liang Huan walked out of his hiding place, picked up the almost empty medicine bottle from the cigarette butts, and looked at the dark entrance under his feet.

The sound of gunfire and explosions continued to come, winding down the stairs, all the way were zombies with precisely pierced crystal nuclei, and the walls were full of heteromorphic flesh and blood. The military’s internal network had many combat research videos of Dawn Star, and the click rate was far ahead of many learning sections. Liang Huan could even imagine Li Yao’s neat fighting posture and cold eyes.

But it may be slightly different from reality.

Three people were crammed into the valuable protective light sphere. Li Yao climbed out of the explosion vent covered in blood and pulled out his severely injured companion, who Liang Huan recognized as the mercenary who had previously attacked Li Yao.

Stuffing three people into a double protective light sphere was already packed, at most one more person could go in. Li Yao grabbed the other’s arm, his voice hoarse: “You first—”

That person turned his head and glanced at the swarm of zombies pouring out of the hole, pushed Li Yao back, and squeezed into the only protective light sphere, locking the safety lock tightly.

The zombie swarm behind him was blasted into a cloud of blood by the set traps. Li Yao was pushed backward by him, and was caught off guard, splashed with zombie blood on his face. He quickly pulled up his clothes to wipe his face, but his eyes and nasal cavity still felt severe pain. He poured a bottle of inhibitors in frustration and slid down against the wall.

Liang Huan waited for a long time but did not see him attack the mercenary, disappointed, turned around and prepared to leave.

“Who?”

The question and the sound of gunfire rang out at the same time, the bullet flying past Liang Huan’s ear and embedding into the mottled wall.

“Come out.” Li Yao’s hand holding the gun was very steady, “The wall can’t stop a thermal melting bullet.”

Wall dust and debris rustled down. Liang Huan stopped, turned around, walked down the stairs and came out of the corner.

“The gun in your hand is not a thermal melting bullet.” Liang Huan calmly watched the other party’s embarrassed appearance, although he was not much better.

“A kid?” Li Yao (ze) said.

Liang Huan’s face darkened slightly: “I’m an adult.”

Although this body was only seventeen years old, it did not look dignified enough.

Li Yao raised his chin: “Even if it’s not a thermal melting bullet, it can still kill you.”

His tone was arrogant and obnoxious. Liang Huan was about to reach for his gun, but was caught off guard and attacked. He subconsciously raised his hand to block, and several emergency medical patches fell at his feet.

“You…” Li Yao shook the gun. Just as Liang Huan was trying to understand his intention, the person fell face down on the rubble.

Liang Huan was silent for a moment.

Between shooting and leaving, he hesitated for two seconds, then stepped forward and grabbed one of Li Yao’s ankles, dragging him out of the rubble.

Li Yao was seriously injured, especially the zombie blood splashed on his face, corroding some of his skin. Although he took the inhibitor in time, he still hurt his eyes and nasal cavity. Liang Huan could only give him simple treatment.

The burning firewood crackled. Li Yao struggled to turn over, opened his eyes, but could only see blurry spots of light. He blinked sluggishly, staring at the dancing light in a daze.

Liang Huan observed him, without saying a word.

After a long while, Li Yao came back to his senses, raised his hand to remove the therapy instrument on his arm and threw it to the opposite person. His voice was hoarse: “You’re more seriously injured, thanks.”

Liang Huan grabbed the therapy instrument he threw over, and said lightly: “I don’t need it.”

“Are you from the military?” Li Yao asked.

Liang Huan didn’t say anything, looking at his dim eyes full of red blood vessels.

“The coding of the military’s therapy instrument feels different to the touch.” Li Yao fumbled twice, then leaned against the tree behind him weakly.

“You knew from the beginning?” Liang Huan glanced at his tattered protective suit.

“Otherwise, how could I be so relieved to pass out?” Li Yao took out a flattened cigarette and put it in his mouth, touching around for a lighter, sighing, “Brother, lend me a light.”

Liang Huan said: “I don’t smoke.”

Li Yao laughed. His face was covered with uncleaned blood stains, and the black stubble on his chin made him look a bit vicissitude. The whole person was filled with a sense of despair that he would die if he didn’t survive: “Firewood is also okay.”

Liang Huan lit a cigarette for him. Li Yao said with a cigarette in his mouth: “The military is bothering, always trying to put spies around me, do you get overtime pay?”

Liang Huan frowned: “You don’t recognize me?”

“Huh?” Li Yao blinked, but unfortunately he couldn’t see clearly, only remembering that the other person was very good-looking.

“Two years ago, Chuan Wu’s laboratory.” Liang Huan said coldly, “You almost killed me.”

Li Yao looked at the cigarette blankly, motionless for a long time. The firelight illuminated his face, making the scars on the bridge of his nose particularly conspicuous.

Liang Huan patiently waited for him to remember, using a branch to poke the fire.

Crack.

The opposite person suddenly came back to his senses: “Sorry, what did you just say?”

“…” Liang Huan glanced at him unhappily.

This person seemed to be a bit brain-damaged, but the other party was Dawn Star, this possibility did not exist, so it could only be that Li Yao was deliberately changing the subject and didn’t want to answer.

“I’m not a spy sent by the military, saving you was just a coincidence.” Liang Huan’s patience ran out, put the therapy instrument on the spot and got up, “Take care of yourself.”

After saying that, he left without looking back.