IRCDM Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Heteromorph, You’re My Brother

The mercenary training base is diagonally behind the main mercenary residential building, and directly behind the mercenary residential building is the experiment building. Behind the experiment building is the Zombie/Heteromorph Breeding Base No. 2.

The first day, Liang Huan was tied face-up in the back seat and couldn’t see clearly. This time, he finally got a clear view.

“The experiment building is an institution dedicated to researching zombies and heteromorphs. The breeding base is where humans raise zombies and heteromorphs.” Li Yao, hearing his question, answered laconically, “The training base’s zombies and heteromorphs are all purchased from the breeding base.”

Liang Huan was puzzled, “Aren’t you guys eliminating zombies and heteromorphs in the outer districts? Why specifically breed them?”

Li Yao was looking down at his chip. Hearing this, he chuckled, “Because zombie crystal cores and heteromorph brains are needed as raw materials for power fuel. Most mecha fuel now comes from these two things. They’re more durable than traditional fuel. After humans started domesticating zombies, research found that their crystal cores can regenerate as long as they aren’t completely removed. Low-level heteromorphs can continuously split into sub-bodies in special environments. Now, each district has dedicated breeding bases and experiment buildings.”

“Aren’t there any in the outer districts?” Liang Huan asked.

“The radiation levels in the outer districts are far higher than in the base. The zombies and heteromorphs there have undergone round after round of mutation and have long become uncontrollable. Now, it may take the military to deploy mecha and special forces to successfully eliminate a single level-one heteromorph.” Li Yao raised his head, his gaze darkening, “This is the reason why human bases are expanding outward so slowly these years.”

“Since that’s the case, why don’t humans mutate?” Liang Huan said.

Li Yao looked at him with some surprise, “You’re quite suited to being a mad scientist.”

Liang Huan leaned back, “I have always been cautious and conservative and am not suitable.”

The fully automatic hovercar slowly landed at the back gate of the training base.

Liang Huan followed Li Yao out of the car. During the power-saving period, even the streetlights were off, and the surroundings were pitch black. Only the radiation protection shield of the entire East District base above their heads emitted a faint blue light, with occasional flashes of electricity blocking the night sky.

Liang Huan looked up, “Can’t you see the stars here?”

“Can’t see them. Even in the outer districts without protection shields, the times you can see the stars are pitifully few.” Li Yao stood in front of the base gate and took out his chip, “You can see a lot when you’re on a spaceship in space, some of them are very beautiful, but it’s different from seeing the stars on the ground.”

Liang Huan felt a bit lost, but he didn’t know if this feeling was because he couldn’t see the stars or because he couldn’t return to Northern Liang for the time being.

“What are you thinking about? Get up here.” Li Yao called to him.

Liang Huan looked over and saw him clinging to the metal gate, which had almost no foothold, reaching out a hand to him.

“Aren’t we opening the door and going in?” Liang Huan frowned.

“No power, and I’m just an ordinary mercenary. Where would I get the authority to enter the training ground in the middle of the night without approval?” Li Yao grabbed his wrist and dragged him up, grabbing his ankles and making him step on his thigh, sticking two small items into his palm, “Quickly climb up, the patrol robot will be here in five minutes.”

Liang Huan stepped on his thigh and easily climbed over the gate.

Li Yao winced as he was stepped on, nimbly climbed over the gate, and vigorously rubbed his thigh, “You’re deliberately retaliating.”

Liang Huan was puzzled, “Retaliating for what?”

He had already retaliated for Li Yao stepping on his face on the spot.

“…Forget it.” Li Yao didn’t hold grudges. He stuck an infrared shield on the back of his neck, “Stay close to me.”

Li Yao moved very quickly, but not at full speed, obviously afraid that Liang Huan behind him wouldn’t be able to keep up. In fact, that was indeed the case. Liang Huan’s mental power was too high, and the electromagnetic waves in the training ground were interfering with him, making him a little dizzy, and he almost lost track of him several times.

“Are you alright?” Li Yao raised his chin to help him breathe smoothly, frowned, and vigorously rubbed his neck, then sprayed him with a bottle of spray, “Liang Huan?”

“I’m fine.” Liang Huan used his internal energy again to suppress this dizziness and nausea, “What did you spray?”

“Anti-radiation suppressant.” Li Yao tried the temperature behind his ear with his hand, “Without a protective shield, the radiation level in the training ground is on average two points higher than in the residential area. Ordinary people will feel dizzy and vomit when they come in, and in more serious cases, they will faint. The first time you came in, you had convulsions and lost consciousness. This time, there’s been improvement.”

Liang Huan grabbed the hand that wanted to spray again, “You just need to tell me what I should do.”

“Endure it, you’ll get used to it.” Li Yao led him around the patrolling robot and familiarly entered his own rest room, grabbed a protective belt, lowered his head to buckle it on him, and pressed the start button.

A layer of pale blue protective shield instantly conformed to Liang Huan’s body, firmly protecting him inside.

“This thing can shield 60% of the heteromorph’s mental power impact.” Li Yao touched his temple, and a virtual screen the size of a lens instantly popped up in front of Liang Huan’s left eye, “The analyzer can monitor your heartbeat, breathing, and blood oxygen in real time, and provide radiation and infection levels in the surrounding environment, and quickly determine the level of heteromorphs and zombies. This thing isn’t very accurate in the outer districts, but it’s enough in the training ground. Can you adapt?”

Liang Huan closed his eyes, “Acceptable.”

Li Yao touched his temple again, carefully staring into his eyes, and after confirming that he didn’t have any rejection reaction, he said seriously, “Mental power links are usually used in two-person mecha operations, which requires both parties to completely trust each other and cooperate tacitly. Teammates usually train together from a very young age. The highest link can reach 83.4%, but few people can do this. Now, my mental power is C and yours is S. We don’t need to pursue the link rate. As long as we can reach the minimum standard of 15.6% for operating the mecha, that’s enough. Understand?”

Liang Huan listened as if he understood, but he couldn’t even feel what mental power was, but he still nodded seriously, “Understand.”

Li Yao breathed a sigh of relief and patted him on the shoulder with rare gentleness, “Don’t worry, with your mental power level, there won’t be any major problems.”

The inner gate of the training ground opened, and the zombies, smelling the scent, surged towards them in the darkness. The heteromorphs let out bursts of ultra-high decibel howls. Liang Huan didn’t use his internal energy and only felt as if he had been punched in the temple, making his movements slower than ever before. The scorching wind in the desert swept over, staggering him backwards.

“Liang Huan! What are you doing?!” Li Yao’s agitated voice came from the wind, “Use your mental power!”

He raised his gun and bent his back, and a volley of shots pierced through the heads of more than a dozen zombies. In the instant he turned his head, a five-meter-tall heteromorph had already forced itself in front of Liang Huan. Without even turning his head, he elbowed the head of the zombie next to him, took a few quick steps, stepped directly on the heteromorph’s tentacles, skillfully switched the gun form to reload, and fired a shot directly when the heteromorph turned its head and opened its hideous mouth without even blinking his eyes, and then he unloaded the terrifying recoil with a sideways step. Before the heteromorph’s brain exploded, he stepped on its head and leaped down, hugging the still dazed Liang Huan and protecting him under his body, quickly pressing the protective light sphere.

Bang—

The heteromorph’s huge body exploded above them, and the sharp mental waves stirred up a sand wall several meters high. Incredibly fast zombies swarmed over to devour the heteromorph’s corpse, and even faster than their devouring speed was the heteromorph’s healing ability. The other party was reassembling its fragmented body in a twisted posture.

An indescribable stench instantly permeated the air.

“Liang Huan? Liang Huan!” Li Yao slapped his face hard, his hand suddenly grabbed.

Liang Huan slowly raised his head, blood trickling from his nose and ears. He coughed. Li Yao’s pupils instantly shrank, grabbing his chin and forcing him to raise his head, tearing open his clothes and directly injecting a tranquilizer into his heart—

He knew that Liang Huan’s physical fitness level was poor, but he never expected it to be this bad!

Fortunately, he brought a therapeutic device. He switched the device’s form and put it directly on Liang Huan like a vest, his voice tense, “Relax, don’t be nervous, adjust your breathing, don’t resist.”

Liang Huan’s forehead rested on his shoulder, mobilizing his internal energy to suppress the bloody taste in his throat, and he quickly felt the effects of the tranquilizer and therapeutic device. His viscera, which seemed to have been shattered, were being repaired at an incredible speed.

Li Yao half-knelt on the ground, supporting him, roughly wiping the blood off his face, and said through gritted teeth, “This is what you meant by ‘acceptable’?”

Liang Huan’s face hurt from the calluses on his hand. He closed his eyes and smiled, “How would I know if I didn’t try?”

Li Yao cursed inwardly, “Let’s go back first.”

“No.” Liang Huan grabbed his arm, opened his eyes and said, “Now that we’re here, teach me how to use mental power first.”

Li Yao’s pupils trembled slightly, “You don’t know?!”

Liang Huan said slowly, “Can’t remember.”

“You dared to come into the training ground with me before you even remembered it? Are you crazy!” Li Yao was furious, “If you want to die, I can shoot you! No need to be so troublesome!”

Liang Huan’s head cocked to the side from being yelled at, and he said leisurely, “I was just curious.”

He just wanted to see the extent to which humans could resist heteromorphs without mental power and internal energy. Besides, he had mobilized his internal energy at a critical moment and wouldn’t lose his life anyway. The therapeutic device could handle it.

Li Yao’s eyes were bloodshot, his body tense like a sharp sword. He seemed to be trying his best to suppress his anger, “Go back.”

“Li Yao, I can do it.” Liang Huan adjusted his breathing and stared steadily at him, “As long as you dare to teach me, I can learn.”

Li Yao’s jaw was tight, and Liang Huan didn’t back down at all.

The two confronted each other for a long time. In the midst of the zombies’ roars and the heteromorphs’ mental waves, Li Yao lowered his eyes first. He lowered his head, adjusted the chip, and pressed his wrist against Liang Huan’s temple.

A subtle current stimulated his brain, and Li Yao’s voice rang out in his ear in a low voice, “Concentrate your attention on the center of your eyebrows.”

Liang Huan did as he was told, and immediately he felt a slight fluctuation in the air. It was difficult for him to describe what kind of feeling it was, but when the other party tried to attack him, he resisted almost instinctively. When the two mental powers collided, he only heard a piercing clang, like swords colliding, but far sharper than the sound of metal. He even felt that the other party’s mental power had a struggling sense of powerlessness, but it was far thicker than his own. In the increasingly shrill clang, the other party withdrew his mental power first.

Li Yao half-knelt on the ground, covering his stomach and coughing frantically.

Liang Huan suddenly came back to his senses and grabbed him, “Li Yao.”

“I’m fine.” Li Yao casually wiped the blood off his chin, took out two dark blue pills from somewhere and swallowed them. He stared at Liang Huan with a deep gaze, “Are you sure your mental power is only S?”

Liang Huan came to his senses, “Was that your—”

“Whose mental power doesn’t matter.” Li Yao interrupted him, “If this is your level, then the corresponding physical fitness level is too low. You can still move freely?”

Liang Huan’s gaze paused slightly, and he clenched his sleeve to wipe off the blood stains remaining on the corner of his mouth, “How to kill heteromorphs?”

Li Yao froze for a moment because of his actions, instinctively avoiding it, and then chuckled after hearing his question, “You? Kill heteromorphs?”

“It’s us.” Liang Huan said, “These low-level heteromorphs in the training ground can be killed with mental power alone, right?”

Li Yao fell silent.

“Your mental power can’t do it, and my physical fitness can’t do it either, but maybe the two of us can.” Liang Huan said, “Want to try?”

Li Yao ultimately did not refuse.

Liang Huan was quick to pick things up. After Li Yao taught him how to shoot, he was basically able to hit the heads of zombies even without Li Yao’s help. With the mental power shield and heteromorph analyzer activated at the same time, Li Yao forcibly bound the two people’s mental powers through the mental power authority granted by the chip. It showed that the current mental power link rate between the two people was only 4% – but even 4% was very high between strangers who had not undergone any training, after all, the gene analysis of the population matching center was not just for show.

Li Yao quickly selected a target heteromorph. The other party was not large, but it was agile, and its mental power rating was level three, which was considered medium level. After discovering them, the heteromorph tried to launch a mental attack on Li Yao. Li Yao endured it without firing his gun, while trying to get his mental power to the same frequency as Liang Huan’s.

Mental power links are usually performed by two parties of the same level. After all, for low mental power, forcibly linking to a high frequency is a very torturous thing.

Liang Huan could feel the depletion of his mental power, like the arid desert under his feet. At the same time, Liang Huan also clearly felt that his physical fitness was gradually being exhausted. The excessive mental power began to make his muscles spasm all over his body, uncontrollably falling from the heteromorph. Just as the heteromorph was about to devour him, Li Yao suddenly appeared, grabbed his arm, and dragged him behind the heteromorph.

There were giant thorns more than a meter long in front of the heteromorph. As they rolled, those giant thorns directly stabbed towards them, and the mental fluctuations in the air suddenly increased. Li Yao’s consciousness blurred for a moment, but Liang Huan reacted quickly, dragging him to avoid the attack of those giant thorns.

The previously faint mental wave reappeared, forcibly and frantically plundering his mental power. Liang Huan watched the mental power link rate of the two people on the analyzer increase rapidly, eventually stopping at 6.9%. The returning heteromorph screeched and forced itself in front of them at an incredible speed, opening its hideous mouth towards the two of them.

Buzz—

Liang Huan’s brain went blank for a moment, and his consciousness was concentrated to an incredible degree. He couldn’t remember who he was, nor could he remember what they were doing, but a tyrannical force took his consciousness at a strange speed in a flowing source full of refractive light. Until the end, it penetrated those noisy consciousnesses. In some crisp sound, the flowing solid glass-like thing shattered into countless fragments, condensed into countless pale blue light spots, and then disappeared like brilliant fireworks.

The heteromorph, only a few inches away from them, froze in place, maintaining its attacking posture. After a few seconds, it crashed to the ground and was completely silent.

Liang Huan slowly blinked his eyes and turned to look at Li Yao.

Li Yao’s face was pale, but his eyes were shockingly sharp. He stared at the heteromorph that had been completely eliminated in front of him. It took him a long time to regain his consciousness. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had touched the heteromorph’s spiritual source, thinking that he had forgotten how to kill the other party the fastest. But all the actions just now seemed like instinct, deeply engraved in his bones and blood. The blood in his whole body was boiling. He bit his teeth hard, trying to force himself to calm down.

“…Li Yao?” Liang Huan raised his hand and waved it in front of his eyes, unexpectedly being grabbed by his arm and pulled into his arms.

Liang Huan’s back stiffened, and he subconsciously wanted to resist, but his physical strength after killing the heteromorph had long been exhausted. Li Yao was so strong that he almost wanted to knead him into his bones and blood and consciousness. He almost couldn’t breathe. At first, he thought he was shaking, but after a while, he realized that it was Li Yao who was shaking.

“I…” Li Yao’s voice was hoarse, as if it contained blood, “Just killed a heteromorph with mental power.”

Liang Huan grabbed his belt in suffocation and said with difficulty, “Release me… first.”

“With mental power.” Li Yao hugged him tightly, murmuring unconsciously, “I can still use mental power, I can still drive a mecha, I can do it for them—”

Liang Huan urged his internal energy and pulled him back hard, finally breathing in fresh air. The look in his eyes at Li Yao became somewhat angry, “I was almost suffocated by you.”

Li Yao seemed unable to hear what he was saying, staring at him with burning eyes, “6.9%, in just one hour, our mental power link rate has increased by almost 3%. Liang Huan, do you know what this means?”

Having known Li Yao for these few days, although this person seemed normal, Liang Huan always felt that he rarely had emotional fluctuations. His smiles, scolds, and curses were all superficial. It was the first time he had seen Li Yao’s emotions fluctuate so much, but he didn’t feel anything. Liang Huan frowned and brushed away the corpses and sand from his body, and said coldly, “I want to take a bath.”

“This means that our mental power can be highly matched, maybe it can be matched to 80%. In that case, I can fully independently operate the mecha, and you just need to give me mental power assistance from the side.” Li Yao hugged him again, and then quickly released him, suppressing his excitement and punching his shoulder hard, “We will become the best partners! From now on, you are my brother!”

Liang Huan raised his eyes to look at him, “Brother?”

The way Li Yao looked at him now was pleasing in every way. He put his arm around his neck and patted his chest with fond appreciation, laughing heartily, “Baby, I’ll treat you to roast chicken when we get back!”