CH 106

For a moment, the sergeants even wondered if there really was a second pilot on M2742.

But for so many years He YunTing had been a one-man pilot, not to mention a second pilot, even if someone was really so bold to sit in that position behind He YunTing, it was also impossible to connect to the spiritual center.

He YunTing’s mental power level was SSS, not to mention, who dared to climb into the General’s mecha?

The sergeant who had this thought immediately erased it from his mind.

— 

After the roar of M2742 whistled, silence returned to the surroundings. The mecha from Qi JiaMu had a communication light come on.

The voice that came in was Xu Zhiheng’s.

“General, Central City… Is the search over?”

He YunTing didn’t answer immediately, and soon the communication lights from other places also came on.

Probably everyone knew that this was the last hope, even if they saw the scene in front of them, they weren’t willing to give up.

“General, please resume the search for signs of life in Central City.”

“Pleading to search for remaining humans!”

“General!”

One by one, the voices overlapped, like the last reluctance coming from the formation. After all, it was the last city, and He YunTing couldn’t prevent it falling in the end.

The sergeants began to spontaneously send out their own mecha, searching with all their seriousness and energy in this otherwise modest city, probing for even a single life that might exist.

Unfortunately, half a day later, when they returned, they still found nothing.

After all, M2742 had cleaned up once before, and now all that was left for them were bloodstained walls, torn clothing, and the sound of the sluggish wind.

Even the bodies were disposed of cleanly.

Nothing was left of the city in the end.

Their location wasn’t far from the original administration hall of the central city, and they could still see the corner of the building that had been damaged by mecha when they looked up.

If they looked closely, they could still find the instruments that were used by the imperial official media when they took the material some time ago. But now even those who came from the Empire had disappeared.

The last time the formation arrived in Central City, it was clearly the only city where no one had been infected. These people, although wary of the formation, showed not a trace of malice.

Later, after discovering the presence of the serum, the sergeants were regarded as life-savers. After all, they were the embodiment of honor and hope of the distant Empire.

Now there was no life at all, there were a few limbs scattered on the ground that were ripped off at some point, and the torn flag, a symbol of freedom and equality on V Proton, the flagpole was also broken, contaminated with bits of dirt, telling those who saw it knew what had happened here.

—

M2742 stood in front of the crowd. Because the serum had failed, to ensure the safety nobody could not directly leave their mecha, and basically had to rely on the communication between the various channels to connect.

But M2742 had a transparent, pop-up capsule that allowed communication with the NCOs face-to-face without touching the ground.

He YunTing took off his helmet and stood up to walk toward the second cockpit.

“Will you wait for me here?” He said as he looked at the Omega in front of him.

Lin Han sat in the driver’s seat, his forehead still seeping with sweat, still looking a little tired, but his eyes were a little brighter than usual, “Yes.”

Neither of them spoke much, a look could explain all.

He YunTing nodded, was going to go over and open the capsule, thought about it, but still couldn’t resist, reached out and rubbed his thumb over Omega’s somewhat sweaty face, “Are you tired?”

“Yes.” Lin Han curved his eyes to show him a smile, “There’s General in front to lead, so I just need to assist.”

That said, Lin Han’s spiritual power could be directly connected to the center, but still needed He YunTing to share a lot of pressure. And he studied mecha thoroughly, compared to the general mechanic, but with more detailed control.

“Wasn’t that move I just made quite handsome?” Lin Han asked in a rare and childish manner. He was referring to the action of the sword.

He had to operate the mecha, like a real warrior, and sheathe the blood-stained blade to complete the whole ritual. After all, what he once couldn’t do no matter how hard he tried, he now could finally achieve with the assistance of another person, and he didn’t want to waste any moment.

“Mn.” He YunTing gave an unstinting affirmation. He YunTing looked down at him, still with some very faint guilt in his eyes, “Then, I’m going out.”

After all, the reason Lu AnHe called the Institute was because the starship was deployed and the number of mecha was large, so a professional mecha division was needed to assist with the trip, and as a result, the expert who should have stayed on the starship on standby at the moment quietly climbed into the main general’s mecha, and also followed along as a mechanic.

“The Institute put you over when it was estimated that you couldn’t think of the current situation.” He YunTing seemed to be still guilty of not being able to disclose Lin Han’s identity.

“It makes no difference.” Lin Han reassured, “I’m not only accompanying you now.”

He reached out and pushed He YunTing’s shoulder, “Okay, I won’t bother you anymore, you go ahead.”

He YunTing nodded, but finally leaned over and kissed the other man’s lips very lightly, as Lin Han had done countless times with his eyes expectantly on his parting kiss.

“It won’t be long.” He said.

【Mr. Lin cannot be wronged.】

—

When He YunTing stepped out inside the capsule, the mecha formations in front of him had been rearranged by number, and no one spoke, quietly looking at the cold face of the main general in the capsule.

“Report the status of the cities.”

They had re-experienced three days that were even more upsetting than the last massacre.

The cities they passed through were completely lifeless, and instead of watching these unhinged aliens kill each other, the roar of various advanced weapons inside the mecha seemed to be their final anthem.

“No survivors, no signs of life in Chris Port.”

“No survivors, no signs of life in McZerrai.”

“Nosha State, no survivors, no signs of life.”

“Fort Minza, no survivors, no signs of life.”

… 

When everyone had finished reporting, the message in the communicator already represented the end of the moment.

He YunTing’s blue eyes were icy cold as he spoke.

“Central City, no survivors, no signs of life.”

All mecha fell into silence.

No one added anything to the report, and no more scholars who didn’t see the situation reappeared, saying that the planet could still be saved and would want to make an attempt regardless of their own safety.

The sky and the earth were quiet, but it was as if they were filled with sobs that humans couldn’t capture.

Everyone’s heart was silently thinking.

Will V Proton still exist?

Will anyone remember?

This tiny, insignificant planet where only Betas lived. It wasn’t technologically advanced, even the mecha were only equal in size, and couldn’t have been in any of the interstellar battles. Its people didn’t seem to have many planets to go to, and only wanted their own little planet to live on. They haven’t traveled much farther than their own cities, and may spend their entire lives spinning their wheels.

But it was more moderate and egalitarian than on a wide variety of countries and planets.

A small mecha was enough to keep order on V Proton, and they didn’t have great experts or scholars, but they felt good about it.

The people weren’t rich but stable, living in peace, not fighting or fighting, slow but leisurely. But now it has completely disappeared because of an untimely disaster.

The formation had begun to return to the starship in order, just waiting for the inventory to be completed, then return to the Empire.

The gray and decrepit administrative buildings of Central City were their parting set, and the gloomy and bloody sky was bidding them farewell.

They came and went in a hurry.

Back to their developed and upwardly mobile prosperous planet. At that moment the public communication channel lit up.

The voice of their master general came over it, “It will exist. And there will be people who remember.”

But how will it exist, and who will remember?

No one could answer that.

—

By the time all the mecha had returned to their stations, the capsule pod of M2742 had been stowed. The starship began to set sail, and when they had left the blood-heavy air, the crowd was finally able to step out of the mecha and back onto the starship.

They saw their Lord General exchanging something with his adjutant, while not far away on one side sat a youth.

The young man was quiet, recording something with his light brain, his face was handsome and soft, his black hair was soft and gentle, and he should’ve been out of place on a starship with steel sergeants coming and going, but those who saw him didn’t feel he was out of place.

Some of the sergeants had an impression of him, as if he had come here to ensure that the mecha was running, but no one expected V Proton to be in this condition, so none of them had the opportunity to use it.

Everyone speculated that it seemed to be alone on the starship for three days.

But the youth seemed to have been very calm, without any complaints, occasionally looking up to say a word or two to Lu AnHe, with gentle and decent movements and manners.

Xu Zhiheng, on the other hand, had been silent since he got on the starship.

At first he would grab Qi JiaMu and keep asking him about his brother’s situation, afraid that the ending would be the same as these people now.

But Qi JiaZe’s situation kept getting better and there was no sign of rebound, which made him quiet again, and then stopped talking.

They came in a big way, and the big starship seemed to be too big for its own good. After all, it was only a “clean up”, the scene originally imagined wouldn’t happen at all.

The research had no clue, the antigen that worked on the Omega was completely ineffective, and even if Xu Zhiheng had come back from V Proton for the first time and redone the new research, it wouldn’t have prevented what was happening now.

Who was responsible for the demise of a planet?

One could imagine the disappointment and shock of the entire Empire’s people upon arrival at the core, and even the panic of a certain gender, but now that the original thought master messenger has been buried here together, was it a problem within the country, or had something quietly changed?

As the starship moved forward, the surroundings gradually sank into darkness.

Only when most of the sergeants had gone back to rest did He YunTing feel a rattling from the door of the command room, and Lin Han pushed the door in.

He YunTing was still staring at the split screen and communication monitoring, and only when he saw him coming did his eyebrows soften a bit.

“Why don’t you go to sleep?”

Lin Han closed the door of the command room and came over, “You didn’t sleep either.”

He YunTing said “Mr. Lin and I are different”, but after meeting Lin Han’s eyes, he sighed in his heart and didn’t say anything more, but simply reached out and took him into his arms.

“Aren’t you tired.” The starship also had a complete lifestyle system, and He YunTing smelled a bit of very refreshing vapor on Lin Han.

“You already asked me today.” Lin Han lifted his head in his arms, “General is really talking more and more.”

“…” He YunTing was interrupted by Lin Han before he had a chance to speak.

“But it’s nice.”

Lin Han reached out and pushed He YunTing into a chair, sitting himself face to face on his lap, wrapping his arms around his neck and resting his head on his shoulder, giving He YunTing a rare bit of warmth.

He picked up some worry and unease.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Han asked.

“Something’s not quite right.” He YunTing said very briefly.

“It’s because of the public opinion of going back, I guess.”

No matter what, a planet that suddenly died out in a non-war situation, there was no one who wouldn’t be shocked.

“Yes, and no.” He YunTing looked at the porthole, “This is different from the public opinion of the last two times. Everyone’s eyes will be on V Proton, and coincidentally, what caused its demise happened to be the genes of the Zerg race. There was a hint of it in the last practical training, Xi Yuan must have done something, but this won’t be the last time.” He YunTing voice cooled down, Lin Han sensed the change in his mood, but remained silent, and just patted his back slowly, and put out a little more soothing pheromone.

“Since you’ve thought of this place, you must know what to do.” Lin Han saw that He YunTing had cut the communication channel back to the imperial base and began to issue instructions in a concise manner.

All active duty sergeants at the base made wartime preparations, upgraded the mecha defense system, and opened the defense barriers in each district.

But due to the time difference, some of the city defense forces that weren’t under the jurisdiction of the base didn’t respond immediately.

The city defense force was considered the Emperor’s troops assigned to Wen Tianyao for training, so He Yunting wouldn’t interfere, because in recent years the bulk of the military rule was in the hands of He Yunting, and that small part of the guards handed to Wen Tianyao was considered harmless. But he didn’t expect the city defense army to be so negligent that even the communication couldn’t be connected immediately.

He YunTing left a message with instructions, and also ordered other base personnel to re-notify the city defense forces to reinforce the magnetic signal of the leap point.

When he finished everything, he found that the person who was lying on his shoulder and said he wasn’t tired at all was asleep.

Lin Han’s sleeping appearance was very good, even his breathing was very light. His hands still maintain the position of holding He YunTing, and his whole body and mind subconsciously wanted to be close and dependent.

He didn’t know if Lin Han could read his worries in his dream, such as how the late response of the city defense army was now and whether they would listen to orders seriously.

But He YunTing still couldn’t move for fear of waking up his Omega. He maintained this position and hugged him quietly all night long.

—

A day later, the starship was about to arrive.

Not only the Empire, but the whole surrounding galaxy was shocked by the news that the failed gene fusion had destroyed a small planet that should have survived peacefully, or a planet under the Empire’s jurisdiction, not to mention the fact that it was to no avail after the Empire had sent formations twice.

The source of the genes couldn’t be found, it wasn’t clear when the experiments began, and even the Parliament brought the matter to the surface, and the insinuation was debated all day. The main peace faction was outraged that this was a conspiracy of the main war faction, while the main war faction of Roche sneered and said that the other side couldn’t get the evidence and blindly spouted blood.

The news all day long, in addition to reporting on the parliamentary debate was a variety of analysis of V Proton, discussing whether such a disaster will be replicated, and whether it would affect other unrelated planets.

Since it wasn’t really a war, the starship would also dock directly, not going through Central Park as it did last time, but directly back to base.

Lin Han woke up to the roar of the impending landing and found himself still being held by He YunTing.

He was a little embarrassed that he had fallen asleep without listening to He YunTing’s words yesterday, and had just rubbed his eyes to get off him, “Last night I…”

Lin Han couldn’t finish the sentence completely.

A sharp and shrill alarm suddenly cut through everyone’s eardrums!

After the first alarm sounded, the red alarm lights in all areas of the starship suddenly lit up, the long and sharp sound hovered in the air, Lin Han stood up sharply, looking around in shock, and turned his head to see He YunTing’s cold and unsurprised expression, “This is—”

He suddenly remembered what He YunTing had told him last night.

In the flashing red light and the overwhelming sound of the alarm, all the screens on the starship flashed silently at the same time.

At the same time, together with the flashing, the city defense force’s network defense line was suddenly breached, the TV news, the light brain browser, and the light screen on the craft, the big screen in the civilian area.

They were still immersed in the news of V Proton’s destruction, not knowing what had happened.

Until a giant sandworm suddenly appeared on all the screens.

The scream and hiss of the sandworm sounded at the same time, its greenish skin oozed pus, its tentacles and sharp mouthparts looked horrible due to excessive enlargement, and the cold and eerie light spread over its limbs, chilling.

The next second, the growth of hard black spikes of horrible limbs viciously swung towards people, as if it could cross the signal, viciously broke the light screen, piercing all the people who saw this frame!

What V Proton? What out-of-reach planet of Betas?

——This was their near and inescapable disaster.