Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: KarateChopMonkey
The two of them discussed in the cabin room for a while before going out. Lan Yu beckoned a handyman on his left and gave a few instructions in a low voice, then the handyman nodded his head and left the meeting room under the eyes of everyone. Lan Yu waited for him to go out, held the injection in front of him, and showed it to the crowd.
“This is called… KH5,” he said. “KH5 is a special injection developed by the military against the Lontan people. No matter which host he is hiding in, as long as you inject them with this, it will die soon. Of course, if you get it wrong, you won’t survive either.”
His gaze swept over everyone’s face, like a blade hardened by ice, even if his line of sight didn’t fall on them, the people in the room could feel the sharp chill. “I can’t guarantee that I will hit the Lontan person, I can only guarantee that if I hit the wrong person, I will say sorry to the corpse.” He paused, and said slowly, “I believe some of you have heard of me, so you better not gain my interest.”
The people in the room held their breath.
K was a lunatic, he wasn’t afraid to accept military justice, so who dared bet their lives on it?
Lan Yu, with one hand in his loose-fitting prison trouser pocket, and the other waving the needle near his ear, paced through the small door to the eight men.
Four of the eight were wearing Star Warship soldier uniforms, and stood there in a disciplined manner, allowing Lan Yu, who was dressed in a prison uniform, to look at them from head to toe, a scene that was, by all accounts, comical, but none of them dared to react.
“You eight, later take turns to go to that small room, where I will do a careful examination of you to uncover the Lontan person.” Lan Yu looked at them steadily and slowly spat out a few words, “Inject him with HR5 and… kill him.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone in the room could hear him, and the air seemed to freeze briefly at those words.
No one noticed that it was KH5 one moment and HR5 the next, they only felt fear.
Fear was all around.
Lu RanKong came over and also held up an injection for all to see, and introduced it like a competent narrator, “Don’t worry, Colonel K and I each have an injection, and when the Lontan person is identified, whether he tries to break away from the original host, or tries to enter K’s and my mental domain, it won’t work.”
Someone had the courage to ask, “But are you sure that Tron… Lon…”
“Lontan person…” Someone next to him corrected in a low voice.
“Yes, Lontan person. Are you sure that a Lontan person is among us? And, if he is here, do you have a way to identify him, so that Colonel K doesn’t get it wrong? I can’t trust him anyway, although I’ve never seen him before, I’ve heard of him.” The more the man said, the bolder he became, and the people around him nodded in agreement.
Lu RanKong nodded and said, “Your concerns are valid, but don’t worry, K is just saying what he says. He’s in fact the most cautious and careful, proper and meticulous, and very generous person.”
When the man saw that the captain didn’t say anything to stop him, he had to continue indignantly, when Lu RanKong turned his head and waved his head at Lan Yu, “K, show him kindness.”
Lan Yu hung his head slightly and slowly opened the corners of his mouth to the man, breaking into a smile and showing a small row of white teeth.
The man was silent for an instant.
The closed door of the meeting room was suddenly pushed open, and the man who had left after Lan Yu’s whispered instructions came back with a black ball in his hand.
Lan Yu walked over, picked up one end and shook his arm.
A long leather whip was hanging on the ground. The body of the whip was black, and from one look they could tell that it was made from special military materials, solid and flexible. With a crisp whip sound, when the tail end of the whip was pulled in the air, and then was smacked to the ground, a white mark immediately appeared on the hard metal floor.
“Not bad…” Lan Yu hooked the corner of his lips.
Lu RanKong continued, “The Lontan person was already injured before he came aboard, having been hit by a bullet on his left leg. Although he found a new body with no injuries on the surface, he was actually holding back the pain. If you use a whip on the left leg, as long as the strength is appropriate, the pain of a normal person is only less than four levels, and is within tolerable range, not leaving a scar. But if it was the Lontan person, when the whip hit the bullet hole in his calf, 0.15 seconds later, his pain would have reached level 10 at that instant.”
Lu RanKong paused and said unhurriedly, “The pain would come so quickly and violently that there would be no room for relief, and he wouldn’t be able to control his expression or his body’s natural reaction.”
All eyes in the room fell on the whip in Lan Yu’s hand, and the room was so quiet that one could even hear a pin drop.
Lan Yu didn’t say anything, turned around and went into the cabin room, and Lu RanKong said to the medical officer and the eight people in front of him, “Please…”
The medical officer shivered and followed Lu RanKong into the cabin room, and the door was slammed shut.
Lan Yu leaned against a standing cabinet, and Lu RanKong stood in the doorway, neither of them speaking, only looking at him.
“K, Colonel K, go easy on him, go easy on him.” The medical officer tugged at his tie and pushed down the glasses on the bridge of his nose, his face as white as paper.
“I will not be light or heavy handed, I’m not the one making it painful, it depends on whether you’re the Lontan person with the injured leg,” Lan Yu finished expressionlessly and raised the leather whip in his hand.
“Ah!” The medical officer let out a miserable scream, closed his eyes and began to shrink his left foot and then his right foot, taking turns to be independent in the same place, both hands kept blocking.
“Ah, gently, ah, pain pain pain…”
The medical officer screamed in a haphazard manner, but the expected pain was delayed, he screamed a few more times before realizing something was wrong and opened his eyes holding his leg.
Lan Yu had withdrawn the whip and was still leaning against the stand in the same position, Lu RanKong was frowning and holding a hand over his ear.
The medical officer slowly stood up straight and asked blankly, “Still… still not hitting?”
Instead of being tormented like this, it was better to hurry up and get out.
“Is this room door soundproof?” Lu RanKong suddenly asked an irrelevant question.
The medical officer froze for a moment and replied, “Yes, it’s soundproof, we use soundproof doors in every room on the Star Warship.”
“You can’t hear anything outside?”
“Not a sound.”
Lu RanKong nodded, turned sideways to let the door open and said, “Okay, then you can go out.”
The medical officer opened his mouth slightly and after a few seconds asked, “Aren’t you going to hit my leg?”
“No need to fight…”
“No need to fight? Are you going to stick me with a needle?” The medical officer tensed up and his voice began to shake, “I’m not a Lontan person! Hit me, hit me! I’ll never make a sound again! Come on, hit my leg—”
“Calm down, calm down.” Lu RanKong took two steps forward to hold his shoulders and said slowly but clearly, “We’re not sticking you with needles and we’re not beating you, so you can go out now. You’re ruled out as a Lontan person for now.”
The medical officer reacted for a few seconds and then let out a long sigh.
“Didn’t you say you were going to hit us? Why do you know I’m not it without even beating me?” He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The coffee pot next to him started boiling. Lu RanKong didn’t answer him, walked to the counter, lifted the coffee pot and filled each of the two cups. He gave Lan Yu a cup first, then took a sip himself and said, “This coffee is too inferior. Is this the kind of stuff you drink on board?”
Lan Yu thought of the plain water that this man drank in prison, and now he was still picky, he couldn’t help but say lightly, “Just have something to drink.”
The medical officer was waiting for Lu RanKong to answer his question, and when he saw that they were suddenly talking about coffee, it took a few moments for his brain to turn around and say, “This is the kind of coffee we drink.”
“Would you like a cup? We can finish it before we go out.”
The medical officer shook his head, “No, thank you.”
Lu RanKong put the coffee cup down and said with his arms around his chest, “It’s probably because you’re jumping around with your left and right feet.”
“Huh?” The medical officer asked, bewildered by the conversation that was going on between the left and right shots.
“Think about it when you get back.”
Lu RanKong said again, “But when you go out, you can’t tell others what just happened, and you are not allowed to say anything. You’re not completely rid of suspicion, only temporarily ruled out, maybe later you’re back in the line, understand?”
“Understood, understood, after going out I will keep my mouth shut and not say a word.” The medical officer was busy nodding his head.
“You stay in your original position when you go out.”
“Okay…”
Lu RanKong opened the door and made a gesture to him to go out, and he flew out of the cabin room.
“Dr. Lin, how is it? How was it?” People in the secure area were asking curiously.
The medical officer didn’t even look up, as if he didn’t hear, and stood back where he started.
“Next…” Lu RanKong stood at the entrance of the cabin room and pointed to the Star Warship soldier at the back of the line.
This Star Warship soldier was one of those who had been guarding the Star Warship door at the beginning. When he heard his name, a hint of unease passed over his face, but he entered the cabin room at a steady pace.
Lu RanKong closed the door again, just as he had done earlier, and Lan Yu watched him in silence.
The Star Warship soldier stood straight in the middle of the cabin room, knowing that he would be whipped when he came in because Lu RanKong had told them in advance, and unlike the medical officer’s nervousness and panic, he looked calm.
Only his eyes darted a few times to the whip in Lan Yu’s hand.
“Colonel Lu has already said, if you are an ordinary person, it will not hurt too much and it’s completely safe. But if you are a Lontan person, it will make your pain worse than death, the special force of the leather whip will make that wound more painful than a knife drill.” Lan Yu gently moved his right hand, dragging the whip on the ground followed by sliding, emitting a giggling sound.
The Star Warship soldier swallowed his saliva as he replied, “I understand…”
Lan Yu stopped talking and lifted the whip in his hand.
The Star Warship soldier looked straight ahead, still standing straight.
The whip was drawn in a half-arc in the air, bringing a gust of wind and landing on the Star Warship soldier’s leg.
It was slightly off to the right.
The motionless Star Warship soldier moved his right foot unnoticeably in that instant and stood straight again.
His muscles were tense, ready to take this whip. Although Lan Yu kept saying that it didn’t hurt, he knew that the whip was a weapon placed in the tactical room, made from the dachshund’s skin from Pulok Planet, and that even the lightest force would be too much to bear if it landed on him.
The whip hit his right calf as expected, but the force was very light, as if it had been rubbed by something from the trouser leg, not even touching the flesh.
The Star Warship soldier froze a little and exhaled with relief. When he found that Lan Yu and Lu RanKong were still looking at him, he hurriedly stood up straight again.
“Soldier, get out.” Lan Yu said.
Seeing that the Star Warship soldier was still standing still, Lu RanKong waved his hand at him, “Go out, go out.”
The Star Warship soldier turned around and walked out woodenly, and turned around again when he reached the door, “May I ask, why did you confirm that I am not that Lontan person without even fighting?” He added, “Of course, I’m not the Lontan person.”
Lu RanKong rubbed his chin and said, “No confirmation, just a temporary exclusion, probably because you were worried about whether the whip would hurt if it landed on your body, not just your left leg.”
The Star Warship soldier looked like he understood, and then looked like he didn’t, nodding indistinctly and shaking his head in bewilderment.
Lu RanKong, “Go out, go out, and don’t reveal a word when you get out.”
“Yes…”
This Star Warship soldier went out and also stood in place without a word, allowing those on the right to ask as many questions as they wanted, and were the same as the medical officer with their mouths closed as tight as clamshells, not giving a word or a look, only looking intently at the floor in front of them.
Although the others didn’t know what they had been through, in the end, they received a few lashes, but seemed to be in good condition, except for the medical officer’s face being a little whiter than usual.
Everyone was getting curious and stopped mingling, just staring intently at the small door to the cabin room, watching the rest of the men go in one by one with apprehension and come out with their mouths tightly shut. Even the captain began to pace back and forth, his face complicated and difficult to understand.
Now there were only two people left who hadn’t been inside yet: an engine operator and a Star Warship soldier.
The communication soldier was now in the cabin room, and couldn’t hear half of the movement inside, and also didn’t know whether the so-called Lontan person was him.
The time passed and seemed particularly long.
With a soft click, the cabin room door opened, the crowd stood up straight, holding their breath to stare at the cavernous doorway.
The communication soldier came out, and just like the first few people, no one could see anything unusual and he didn’t speak, but stood back to his position. But half of his shirt hanging outside has been all tucked into the pants, neatly dressed.
“It’s your turn, come in.” Lu RanKong said to the Star Warship soldier.
Lan Yu knew that these were the last two of the eight left, and if he couldn’t find the Lontan person this time, he would have to think of another way.
This Lontan person was obviously very good at disguise. After being Officer Wang for so long, he didn’t show a single flaw, it will be a very difficult thing to find him again among the group outside.
“Colonel K, Colonel Lu.” The voice of the Star Warship soldier greeting woke him up from his contemplation.
Lan Yu looked over and recognized that this was the soldier who stayed at the door of Star Warship to close the hatch, and followed him and Lu RanKong up to the second floor together.
He was very familiar with the Star Warship, not like a Lontan person.
But Officer Wang used to hand over prisoners or supplies to the Star Warship, so it wasn’t impossible for him to be familiar with the Star Warship’s internal structure.
He thought of this, and then he got up again and quickly entered his role.
Lu RanKong, still leaning against the doorway, smiled at the Star Warship soldier and said, “You know that, don’t you? A normal person without injuries, especially a trained Star Warship soldier, can’t take much damage from this whip, and the pain is completely bearable. But if it were a wounded Lontan person, he wouldn’t be able to bear it. The second floor, where you started following me and Colonel K, is the least suspicious, but it’s better to be cautious, don’t you think?”
“I know and understand, please Colonel K. No need to show mercy.” The Star Warship soldier stood straight, his face calm and his eyes steadfast.
Lu RanKong nodded and said to Lan Yu, “Let’s begin…”
Lan Yu moved his wrist and slowly turned his neck, but his eyes were locked on the Star Warship soldier.
The Star Warship soldier kept looking ahead and didn’t make eye contact with him, nor did he peek at the whip he was holding. Only after waiting a few moments for the whip to be raised did he look at him suspiciously.
In the moment when the two pairs of eyes met, Lan Yu swiftly raised his hand and the whip with it. With a windy sound, the whip swiftly swung at the Star Warship soldier’s left leg.
“Snap!” The crisp sound of the whip resounded throughout the room.
It instantly returned to silence.
Lan Yu was still holding the whip in his hand, his eyes still had no temperature and no content, he just looked at the Star Warship soldier indifferently.
The Star Warship soldier also stood firmly in place with only a slight frown, and then returned to his original expression. Like Lu RanKong said, if it was a normal person, he would only feel a little pain and be able to bear it completely.
“How is it? Does it feel okay?” Lu RanKong asked, standing in the doorway.
The Star Warship soldier turned his head and smiled and said, “It hurts a little, but it’s okay.”
“Look, see if there are any whip marks on your leg, and if it’s bleeding, go apply some medicine.” Lu RanKong said.
“It’s not a problem, let’s look at it later when we get back.” The Star Warship soldier touched the back of his head nervously, “Isn’t there another person outside? Wait until we finish interrogating him. It’s important to catch that Lontan person.”
“Let’s take a look…” Lu RanKong moved a step to the side, blocking the door handle.
“Okay…” Star Warship soldier finished, then bent down and began to pull up the left pant leg, pulling it up in a circle to reveal the entire calf.
There was indeed only a red whip mark, slightly protruding from the surface of the skin, but there was no broken skin, and it didn’t look too serious. Even if he didn’t rub any medicine on it, it would recover in a couple of days.
“You worked hard. Let the captain make you some delicious treats tonight.” Lu RanKong smiled as he walked over and reached out to pat his shoulder.
The Star Warship soldier said sincerely, “It really doesn’t matter, we often unload cargo too…”
The sentence was cut off in his mouth because Lu RanKong’s hand, which was holding his shoulder, had somehow added a shiny needle to his neck.
Puff!
The needle pierced into the skin with a slight sound that couldn’t be heard without paying attention.
But the Star Warship soldier pupils instantly dilated, as if he heard the most terrible sound in the world, and his breath also froze.
Lu RanKong stuck the needle into his neck, pressed his thumb on the push bar, and asked softly, word by word, “How should I greet you? Officer Wang’?”
The Star Warship soldier seemed to struggle, and he barked briefly, “Don’t move, or I can’t guarantee that I won’t push the drug into your neck.”
The Star Warship soldier immediately stopped struggling.
Lan Yu also placed the whip on the table beside him, and the delicate injection was casually held at his fingertips and gently shaken.
“What do you guys mean? Are you saying I’m that Lontan person?” The Star Warship soldier seemed to have recovered his senses, looking nervous without losing his confusion, and sounding very innocent.
Lan Yu said, “That’s what I mean.”
“But… but where do I look like a Lontan person? You can’t just plant it on my head when you can’t catch someone. Even if I am good-tempered, I will not let you plant evidence to frame me.” The Star Warship soldier though dared not move, his breathing gradually ragged up, “I want to see the captain! You can’t just do this nonsense! I want to see the captain!”
Lu RanKong squeezed his shoulder with one hand and held the syringe that had pierced his skin with the other, maintaining his original position without moving.
“I noticed your perversity after you came in. A normal person in this situation would be nervous and uneasy, even if they were always stressed that the whip wouldn’t hurt when it fell on them. Especially since everyone on Star Warship knew about the whip, and knew what material it was made of, and knew that even the lightest force would hurt when it landed on you.” He paused, “And especially since the person who did it was K.”
Lan Yu glanced at him.
Lu RanKong continued, “The sound and effect of the whip will make people subconsciously dodge or cover up, even if they have a good psychological construction, they will be exposed at some point, because this is instinct. Even your Lieutenant Wu, when K raised the whip, his breathing rate was much faster.”
Lan Yu went on to say, “But you were different, from start to finish you didn’t dodge or cover up, and you didn’t act nervous at all.”
He tapped his hand on the side of his thigh, looked down in contemplation and added, “It was a deliberate performance. Deliberately allowing yourself to ignore your instincts, deliberately allowing yourself to appear fearless, like… a perfect performance.”
“But I don’t feel pain or panic in the first place, and if I have to act like I’m in pain, that’s a performance.” The Star Warship soldier said in exasperation.
Lan Yu suddenly smiled, different from the gloomy smile after he came on board, but from his heart with pleasure, as if he had heard something funny, his eyebrows and mouth curved up, but his eyes had a hint of cunning.
He said, “Because the leopard – Colonel Lu has been emphasizing that the whip will feel ten levels of pain when it lands on the Lontan person’s wounded leg, while a normal person will not feel pain.”
The Star Warship soldier seemed to sense what was wrong, eyes swept a trace of panic, and immediately calmed down.
“But you don’t know, I didn’t whip the legs of those before at all, only you, because you are too suspicious. And this whip I used with force, because of the special nature of this whip, the surface of your calf indeed has no marks, when in fact, the bones inside have been broken. You think you are just suffering from a gunshot wound, but in fact also endured the pain of broken bones. Can normal people who have had their bones broken still smile and say it doesn’t hurt and eat?”
Lan Yu gathered up the smile on his face and said word by word, “Have you forgotten who I am? I am K. If I can identify the real Lontan person, what’s breaking a person’s leg?”
The Star Warship soldier didn’t say anything, but his breath slightly sharpened.
Lu RanKong narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “Let’s see, you should have been inside Officer Wang’s body and not come out, lying on the ground outside Star Warship, giving us the illusion that you had already boarded the ship. Waiting for the moment when this Star Warship soldier finally went to close the hatch, then you broke out of Officer Wang’s body and burrowed into his mental domain. At first we looked at the surveillance and only saw me and K come on board and then stop. If we continue to watch further now, maybe we can see something interesting.”
Lan Yu smiled, “Officer Wang, your performance was brilliant, perfect, almost flawless. Congratulations, your scene is now over.”