CH 105

He YunTing turned off the communicator, and looked back at Lin Han who had quietly climbed into the mecha.

He also saw Xi Yuan’s corpse on the ground and his expression was still calm, he even returned a gaze that He Yunting didn’t have to worry about him.

The last time the formation left in a hurry, not to mention that at that time the base already had little contact with Wen TianYao, and was directly on the mecha team, Xi Yuan naturally could not go along.

And it would be very difficult for ordinary people from the Empire to come to V Proton by themselves, contacting a ship that might pass by at the berth itself, it requires formalities and identity verification.

Now it seemed that the “job transfer” that Wen TianYao himself said was probably an excuse for Xi Yuan to use his identity to go to V Proton again.

It was just possible that there was an accident, and he himself wasn’t spared in the end.

He didn’t appear to have been dead for too long, his clothes were torn and tattered, his limbs, especially his ten fingers were bloody, like he was scratching himself, even his nails were worn out.

And there was more than one body lying around him.

Under He YunTing’s orders, the small mecha turned over another corpse with its face buried in the ground.

If Xi Yuan was still only partially recognized, this time a face was revealed that almost everyone has seen.

It was the teenager with the cake.

His death was similar to Xi Yuan’s, unknown what had happened to them while they were still alive.

But the key thing was… The city he was in at the time was cleaned up, and it wasn’t the current Chris Port.

The “living man” that appeared in the news not long ago, had now become this.

After all, this was the turning point of Xu Zhiheng’s discovery of the serum anyway.

Although everyone was now talking through the communicator, it wasn’t difficult to imagine the mood of shock or confusion at this scene.

Lin Han was also a bit surprised. He stood up to see He YunTing’s reaction, but he could only see his partner’s broad back.

After a moment of hesitation, Lin Han still couldn’t resist, took off his helmet, pushed open the door of the second cockpit, walked in and grabbed He YunTing’s hand.

He knew He YunTing would be the calmest one among all, but he still wanted to hug him.

He YunTing’s palm was dry, and when he saw Lin Han coming, he very gently turned his face sideways and leaned down to rub the tip of Lin Han’s nose.

He YunTing didn’t hesitate to turn his public communicator to a private channel and contacted Xu Zhiheng, “Professor Xu. Xi Yuan was once your student, do you remember his second gender?”

Xu Zhiheng immediately answered, “It’s Beta.”

“I see.” He YunTing asked no more questions and cut off the communication.

He glanced down at Lin Han.

The other party’s expression had been calm, obviously only brought him out once, and he had never been anywhere else earlier, but it seemed like there was no hint of fear or panic in the face of the devastating scenery at the moment. Even if the person lying on the ground at this moment, once inhumanely wanted to use him as an experiment.

Lin Han learned of He YunTing’s emotions and took the initiative to speak, “I have nothing to fear. It’s just that Xi Yuan…”

If the mastermind of the previous incident was related to him, he naturally knew the danger of this gene to Beta, and if he had other intentions to come here, no matter what, there couldn’t be no precaution at all.

Instead, he was now lying here coldly.

There was a moment of silence between the two men.

“The starship left Chris Port and docked towards Central City as well.” He YunTing cut back to the public communication, “After the starship docked, all mecha with the ability to move are to scatter to all cities of V Proton Star except Center City from now on and explore the current situation in as much detail as possible without mecha. Explain any new developments directly to Lieutenant Colonel Lu.”

“For Central City, I’ll go alone.”

Soon Xu Zhiheng’s private channel lit up, He YunTing thought about it and clicked on it, hearing the other party’s slightly anxious voice, “General, I request to go to Central City with you.” Xu Zhiheng said, “You also know that the supply system of Central City is separate from the other cities, and from the previous situation, even if the situation in other cities is serious, Central City is the only place that may not be affected. If that’s the case, then there’s still hope for survival…”

“But Professor Xu,” He YunTing stated calmly, “after we left last time, the place has been gradually recovering, and can you be sure that no resurgent genes have invaded it?”

“The last time you forced your way down the mecha was already an accident, this time, although you made a promise before, I still have to defend you in principle and not let the Empire lose a professional scholar like you.”

There was no sound from Xu Zhiheng.

He YunTing paused for a moment and ordered the number of the mecha Qi JiaMu was on, “You will continue to be responsible for Professor Xu’s safety.”

“Yes!” The other party answered dryly.

No one had any further objections, and some of the mecha had already dispersed with their orders, and the starship reignited and headed for Central City.

And He YunTing clicked on the communicator, switched to a new frequency and reconnected.

—

From the time the starship arrived at Central City and the people scattered, Lu AnHe was responsible for collecting the information obtained, and then reporting it to He YunTing through collation.

“There’s nothing else unusual in Chris Port except for the discovery of Xi Yuan and the Beta’s body.” Lu AnHe said, “Most likely, Xi Yuan came to V Proton Star privately in the first place, perhaps to find this child. Probably thought that Professor Xu’s antigen took effect, and then brought him to Chris Port to prepare for transport to another place when he himself was affected, the final result is what we saw earlier.”

He YunTing responded, “What about the other cities?”

“The three cities that were cleared before have no signs of life at the moment, but the surrounding cities that were originally thought to be saved and healed…”

Lu AnHe’s voice choked for a moment.

“…I didn’t expect the situation to be this serious.”

It was only a week from when the gossip spread, to when there was tangible evidence of this gene rekindling on V Proton, to when the Empire resent starships to V Proton.

Progress had never been so rapid even once this situation started to appear on V Proton. The mecha in each city responsible for the mission transmitted real-time footage as if it were a purgatory even worse than when it was infected before.

The southernmost state of V Proton, Nosha, was originally the most lively place on the entire planet, and was once the most popular after the outbreak of the genetic virus because it was far from the city in question and the number of infected people was small, and the only few sick people were quickly cured after obtaining the antigen aerosol.

But when mecha came here, the lively old scene was not broken yet, the mall was still lit, the Ferris wheel in the playground was still running, and music could still be heard from somewhere on the street… 

But none of these were soaked in blood.

These aliens no longer even had the characteristic of distinguishing between their own kind, and wouldn’t see themselves as Zerg again unitedly clumped together to attack those who do not smell like them — because it seemed that in their eyes, anyone but themselves was an alien.

The chance of an outbreak a hundred times faster than the first genetic invasion, after accumulating a certain number of deviants, changed completely overnight.

The sergeants could only speculate in their minds, through the dried blood splattered on the walls, with the stumps and unrecognizable bodies scattered on the floor, what had been experienced here.

They were completely different from the last time, only hissing in an unintelligible voice, biting and attacking all life indiscriminately, until they or others fell.

There was no end to it.

The mecha formations occasionally encountered a few surviving aliens, the remaining winners of the struggle, but in the end, they were still monsters with human bodies. They were no longer sane, and when they saw the mecha coming, they didn’t flinch in the slightest, using their tattered limbs to hit it without feeling pain, leaving a trail of blood on the cold metal.

Qi JiaMu’s group was responsible for the farthest away from Central City, the city of McZerrai, where the land was vast and the people were sparse, and in the beginning, like the state of Nosha, was considered a relatively lightly affected city.

Now it was no different from Nosha.

And all the images from the formations on missions elsewhere were the same.

There was no need for any rescue team.

Because there was no one to rescue.

Were these inhumane aliens?

He YunTing got through to Qi JiaMu’s team, “Is Professor Xu here?” His eyes reflected a chilling scene passed over, his tone low, “In your opinion, in this situation, is there still a need or possibility to save them?”

Xu Zhiheng didn’t make a sound for a long time through the communicator, only restrained with a sad gasp.

“I don’t mean to blame you.” He YunTing said, “All attempts have risks, if you didn’t do so at that time, the results wouldn’t change much. Don’t take it personally.”

“…No need.” Xu Zhiheng changed his breath several times and uttered three words with a shudder.

He YunTing waited quietly for him to finish.

“There is no need.” Xu Zhiheng said each word with great effort, like a self-deprecation of his own antigen, “What I did didn’t help at all. Omega and Beta have different physiological characteristics, what I originally thought to be effective was just an illusion. What serum? Only an ineffective medicine to delay the onset. These people can’t be saved at all, they’ve…”

Xu Zhiheng choked for two seconds before continuing.

“I couldn’t make any difference this time I came.” He said, “General, give the order. Order to clean… Clean it up.”

“I know.” He YunTing replied, “I’ve already given the order.”

Xu Zhiheng was no longer as excited as when he first came to V Proton, but just murmured, “So this planet, is it…”

Because of this strange gene, it was almost extinct.

“Yes.” He YunTing’s voice remained calm at this moment and gave Xu Zhiheng a definite answer.

There was no leeway left at all.

Seeing Xu Zhiheng fall back into silence, He YunTing seemed unwilling to wait much longer and was ready to cut off the communication, “Then Professor Xu will continue to proceed in this manner without any other insight.”

“But Central City…!” Xu Zhiheng’s voice raised, “Central City didn’t have a single case of genetic infection at that time, if Central City was properly protected… if Central City was properly protected—”

“There’s a possibility of survival!”

“Central City…” He YunTing slowed down his speech, slowly repeating those three words.

“What’s the situation in Center City? After the formation clears out the rest, Professor Xu will come and see for himself.”

He YunTing didn’t say it explicitly, just indifferently commented.

— 

After all the mecha executed their orders, they reapproached the starships in Central City again.

Central City seemed to be the last hope for the entire V Proton Star, and although no one asked questions anymore, everyone was eager for an accident to occur, such as seeing a Central City that wasn’t yet genetically disturbed after being stained with dust and blood.

They saw the starship parked on the outskirts of Central City, standing in silence.

And the image they expected didn’t appear.

The sky was gray, and the buildings of Central City were mostly damaged, smoking with desperate smoke and depressingly overwhelming.

The administrative flag of the central building fell, the government tarmac became eastward, the small mecha was damaged, and the surroundings were quiet and dreary.

There were no living people and no aliens.

Reality faltered and the picture tipped like the end of days.

On top of this, a two-person mecha broke into the air.

It was shrouded in a low dusk, cold metal wrapped in a heavy blood color, and it moved sharply and crisply, lightsaber standing in the air, while the mecha’s right arm was raised high, and in the next second, the lightsaber was “sheathed”.

A loud roar came closer and closer, and finally stopped in front of everyone.

It wasn’t the first time He YunTing flew M2742 in front of the sergeant, but those who had been on the base for a long time were surprised to find that M2742 seemed different this time.

It went without saying that when he used the lightsaber in the past, he didn’t have the action of “sheathing the sword”.

Not to mention the more fluid operation than in the past—

Could it be that there was… More than one person driving?