IRCDM Chapter 8

by BLReads

Chapter 8: Crystal Nucleus, Good Husband

Although he thought that way, Li Yao still pushed the man away and devoured his dinner sitting on the floor.

Extremely cold-blooded.

Liang Huan didn’t mind and continued watching his movie. He was immersed in the plot when his wrist was suddenly grabbed. He instinctively flipped his wrist, wanting to seize the other person’s vital point, but hesitated for a moment, missing the opportunity. Li Yao followed his arm, pressed down on his shoulder, and placed his elbow against the back of his neck, saying in a deep voice, “Behave yourself.”

Seeing this, Liang Huan stopped resisting: “What are you doing?”

“You were pretty good that day, why can’t you do it now?” Li Yao asked him.

“Maybe I was just unlocking my potential under extreme fear.” Liang Huan was pinned to the rocking chair, which wasn’t comfortable. He suppressed the urge to push the person away and patiently said, “Don’t resort to violence at every turn. My physical fitness is only rated D, what if you break me?”

Li Yao got up, but didn’t release his wrist. Instead, he grabbed his hand, opened the chip in his wrist, directly registered his fingerprint, and began operating his chip.

Realizing what was happening, Liang Huan was very dissatisfied: “You are invading my privacy.”

“I’m your husband, you have no privacy with me.” Li Yao said matter-of-factly, directly binding his chip to his own, shaking his wrist, “I can receive real-time updates on your location, if you dare to run around again, you’re dead.”

Liang Huan didn’t refute: “Then can I see where you are?”

“Of course not.” Li Yao sneered, “I’m executing classified missions.”

“Understood.” Liang Huan lowered his head and fiddled with his chip. Suddenly, Li Yao received a message.

He opened it in confusion, and a crisp text message tone rang out: [Dear Mr. Li Yao, you have successfully repaid Mr. Liang Huan’s loan at Dawn Bank on March 4, 137, at 17:21, totaling 30036 Condensed Coins. Your current account balance is 21.1 Condensed Coins.]

Li Yao suddenly raised his head: “You dare use my money?”

“You’re my husband, this is what you should do.” Liang Huan said unhurriedly, “I didn’t force you to bind our chips.”

Li Yao was so angry he laughed: “You—”

[Dear Mr. Li Yao, Mr. Liang Huan transferred 500 Condensed Coins to you on March 4, 137, at 17:25. Your current account balance is 521.1 Condensed Coins.]

“This is your living expenses for two days.” Liang Huan said without changing his expression, “Consider this thirty thousand as your advance deposit, how about it?”

Li Yao’s face was dark.

“Li Yao, I’m already being very kind to you. If I didn’t see you were in such a difficult situation, not a single cent less than one million for the deposit.” Liang Huan rubbed his wrist, which was aching from being grabbed, and said earnestly, “If I can’t recover my memory in the future, I’ll return the money to you in its entirety. This is a very worthwhile deal.”

Li Yao decisively restricted the binding permissions between the two chips: “Dream on.”

Liang Huan looked at him with slight regret: “Don’t worry, I won’t run around.”

Li Yao sneered and was about to go to bed when Liang Huan grabbed his wrist: “Your bed is here.”

He touched the reclining chair next to him, and the chair instantly extended into a single bed with a mattress and pillow. It looked a bit simple, but Liang Huan said with a straight face: “The sales robot said this type is good for mercenaries’ backs. You work hard every day on missions, you should rest well.”

Li Yao almost believed him: “Then you sleep yourself.”

“If I sleep comfortably, perhaps I can remember faster.” Liang Huan sat on the edge of the bed looking at him, “Sooner rather than later I can assist you in piloting a mecha.”

Half an hour later, Li Yao was lying in bed, the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. It was none of his business whether Liang Huan slept comfortably or not. If he couldn’t remember, he should just get lost. But in the end, Liang Huan took his money, slept in his bed, and even the prepared food and cigarettes were bought with his own money—he actually even thought Liang Huan was a good person?!

He sat up, his face full of displeasure, and looked at the person next to him. Liang Huan was already asleep in his bed, covered with his blanket, his hands folded on his chest, breathing steadily. That face was nestled in the soft, fluffy bright yellow pillow, looking especially handsome and clean.

Forget it, it’s just thirty thousand Condensed Coins.

Besides, this folding bed, although hard, at least… is good for the back.

Li Yao lay down, using his arm as a pillow, and quickly fell asleep.

Liang Huan slowly opened his eyes, turned to look at the sleeping person. Li Yao didn’t seem to be afraid of the cold, and could fall asleep with his upper body bare, using his arm as a pillow, but he didn’t sleep peacefully, his brow furrowed. He didn’t know what mission he had executed, but he had many wounds on his body, but he didn’t seem to care at all, without any treatment. He could still smell a faint scent of blood in the air.

This person had a fierce mouth, but his heart was unexpectedly good.

If he let Li Yao eat “Mental Relaxant” and then found a way to get the “Black Box,” he might be able to quickly gain “Mr.”’s trust, and it would be much easier to take action. At the very least, he had to get the “medicine” to find out what it was all about. If he kept Li Yao, the other party’s strength and restrictions on his freedom made him dislike it, and it was hard to guarantee that it wouldn’t become a threat in the future, and if Li Yao died—

“What are you looking at me for?” Li Yao’s cold voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

Liang Huan didn’t expect him to be so sensitive and smiled at him in the darkness: “Can’t sleep, I feel at ease looking at you.”

Li Yao was speechless for a few seconds before saying angrily, “You’re sick in the head.”

He seemed to find Li Yao’s appearance very interesting, and the smile in his eyes didn’t diminish: “I thought about it, why don’t we go to the training ground now, how about it?”

“Now?” Li Yao was simply baffled, “Now the protective facilities in the training ground are all powered off, are you trying to die?”

“Didn’t you say you would protect me?” Liang Huan grabbed his wrist, pulling him up from the bed, “I want to go now.”

Li Yao frowned: “I ran for sixteen hours in the outer district today, and my mental power is almost exhausted. I can’t take another person.”

“Li Yao.” Liang Huan bent down, grabbed the back of his neck, and encouraged him with a serious expression, “I believe you can do it. Don’t you want to pilot a mecha again?”

“Of course, I want to—” Li Yao rubbed his face, his voice suddenly paused, “What do you mean?”

Liang Huan looked at him innocently: “Hmm?”

“What do you mean by ‘I pilot a mecha again’?” Li Yao said in a deep voice, “Have you met me before?”

Liang Huan asked in confusion: “Of course not, you want me to assist you, don’t you already know how to pilot one?”

Li Yao stared at him for a long time before realizing that they were standing too close, and slapped his hand away: “Don’t touch me casually.”

Liang Huan lowered his head and glanced at the back of his hand, which had been slapped red, and sighed quietly.

Li Yao was annoyed by his sigh and grabbed his clothes to put them on, gritting his teeth: “Let’s go.”

Liang Huan smiled: “Li—”

“If you dare to call my name again, I’ll feed you to the zombies.” Li Yao pushed the door open, then suddenly turned his head and looked at him with a grim expression.

The smile on Liang Huan’s lips deepened: “Okay, husband.”

Li Yao staggered and almost tripped over the threshold.

——

For the next two days, Liang Huan had been clocking in and out of work on time, strictly enforcing a six-hour work schedule.

“Brother Liang, what’s wrong with your wrist?” Cheng Xiaolei couldn’t help but look at the wristband he was wearing, “Are you injured?”

“It’s okay.” Liang Huan smiled, “My husband won’t let me take the chip out, so I took it out.”

Cheng Xiaolei asked suspiciously: “How did you take it out? This thing is implanted in the skin, you have to go to the hospital for surgery to get it out.”

“It doesn’t matter, there’s a razor blade at home.” Liang Huan said, “It’s very simple.”

Cheng Xiaolei’s face went blank for a moment: “Ra-razor blade?”

Liang Huan said helplessly: “He’s reluctant to spend money at the hospital.”

Cheng Xiaolei’s shock turned to anger: “Brother Liang, those mercenaries aren’t good people to begin with, what good life can you have with him, why are you unwilling to divorce him?”

Liang Huan lowered his eyes, packing quickly, and said with a bitter smile: “It’s not that easy.”

“Xiaolei, don’t say that.” Mao Ming sighed, “Every family has its own problems, but Liang Huan, it’s too much for him to use a knife to take out the chip, you can’t endure it like this.”

“Thank you, Uncle Mao, I know.” Liang Huan nodded.

After he left the workshop, everyone sighed with regret and sadness.

Returning to the dormitory, Liang Huan put the food in the freezer, and pulled out his chip from the housekeeper robot’s storage room. He took off the wristband that was soaked with blood, and without changing his expression, he stuffed the chip back in, then picked up the treatment device next to him. The hideous everted wound quickly returned to its original state.

Li Yao seemed to be very busy these days, usually returning in the middle of the night, eating and falling asleep, and leaving before dawn, not noticing at all that his chip was repeatedly taken out.

Li Yao still came back very late today. Liang Huan had the housekeeper robot store the water in advance. After quickly taking a shower, he sat on the ground and began to gobble down his dinner, looking extremely hungry.

Liang Huan frowned slightly as he watched: “Eat slower.”

“I haven’t eaten anything all day.” Li Yao didn’t even raise his head, “When I saw zombies on the road, I felt like going up and biting them, pour me a glass of water.”

Liang Huan was displeased, but seeing that his back was covered with wounds, he mercifully got up and poured him a glass of warm water.

“You’re going to the training ground with me tomorrow.” Li Yao said suddenly.

Liang Huan’s movements paused: “To do what?”

“It’s not a solution for you to keep not remembering, maybe another stimulation will do the trick.” Li Yao scraped the last bite of rice, drank the water in the cup, raised his head, and looked at him, “What are you looking at? Want to get beaten?”

Liang Huan put the treatment device on his back, the dense current almost made him explode. Just as he was about to move, Liang Huan slapped him on the head.

“Do we have to go?” Liang Huan asked.

Tomorrow was the day he was supposed to go to the Black Market to get the equipment and reagents, he didn’t expect it to be so coincidental.

“Small injuries don’t need this thing.” Li Yao slapped away the hand on his head, wanting to pull off the treatment device, “This thing has a limited lifespan, it’ll be scrap after using it a few more times.”

“Is it expensive?” Liang Huan asked.

“Six million Condensed Coins.” Li Yao looked displeased, “Let go.”

“The scar on your nose is because you were reluctant to use it?” Liang Huan asked.

Li Yao suddenly stood up, staring at him with fierce eyes. Liang Huan even felt a hint of killing intent, but in the end, Li Yao didn’t do anything, just rudely yanked the treatment device off and threw it aside.

“You’re annoying.” Li Yao suppressed his anger, “Go to sleep.”

Liang Huan sat opposite him and said, “Li Yao, I don’t want to go to the training ground.”

“Why don’t you want to go?” Li Yao looked at him with a headache, “We can only cooperate if we establish a mental power link, what happened last time was an accident, I will protect you.”

“Why do you have to pilot a mecha? Do you want to participate in the mecha competition?” Liang Huan asked.

Li Yao sighed: “Why do you have so many whys?”

“Because I want to understand you better.” Liang Huan said earnestly, “You are very important to me.”

“…Tsk.” Li Yao leaned back slightly, moving a little further away from him, scratching his hair irritably, “Shut up, don’t want to go then don’t go, wait a few more days when I’m free—I warn you, don’t think about playing any tricks.”

Liang Huan stared into his eyes and said, “I mean what I say.”

Li Yao lay down on the bed, grabbed the blanket and covered himself, “Sleep!”

Liang Huan turned off the lights with some disappointment.

Li Yao’s vigilance was too high, and his mouth was tight, he basically couldn’t pry out any useful information. It was a pity he couldn’t use torture on him.

He could only wait until tomorrow to go to the Black Market to get the medicine and then make other plans.

Just as he was thinking this, something was suddenly thrown into his arms. He quickly grabbed it. It was cold and hard to the touch, emitting a weak pale yellow glow in the darkness.

“What is this?” He looked at Li Yao.

Li Yao didn’t even open his eyes: “A Level 1 Zombie Crystal Nucleus, using it can improve your physique.”

Level 1 Zombies were very rare, and ordinary mercenaries basically had no way to kill them alone. The Crystal Nucleus was also very useful. Usually, the resources obtained from the outer districts had to be handed over to the mercenary base, and personal hoarding was strictly prohibited. Mercenaries would usually exchange them for high commissions. Liang Huan knew a little about the mercenary’s job, this thing was likely secretly brought back by Li Yao.

Liang Huan observed the Crystal Nucleus carefully for a long time, smiled, and then placed it under his pillow.

“Li Yao.” He called out.

Li Yao didn’t respond, turning over and facing away from him to refuse communication.

After a long time, there was no movement, and Li Yao didn’t hear any breathing. He opened his eyes in confusion, and unexpectedly met Liang Huan’s dark gaze, his scalp almost exploded.

Liang Huan sat cross-legged on the carpet, propping his head up, looking at him with a smile: “So you weren’t asleep.”

“Are you sick?” Li Yao said after a good while.