Chapter 1: A claw slapped on Dewitt’s face!
The people of the a.s.syrian Empire were devastated. A month ago, their Marshal was infected with the Zerg King’s poison during the war against the Zerg (1). Two days ago, the doctor in charge gave notice of the critical illness. Such a revelation made the whole Empire’s sky seem to turn grey.
The Empire’s forum exploded into an uproar, causing a stir among the people.
[Dream of Water: G.o.d, my Marshal ah ah ah ah! How could I not have been notified of such danger?! What’s the meaning of this? Didn’t the Empire swear an absolute, inexplicable oath against the Zerg? How can this be done? Kneeling to the Marshal, so he doesn’t have an accident, kneeling to the attending doctor not to give up, ah!]
[Fatty Duo: Zerg poisoning is so deadly that no anti-toxin can be found. Even the Marshal will not survive. What does this mean? Is a.s.syria going to be destroyed?]
[Pig Man: I can’t help exploding from the news again. I’ve known about it. My cousin works in the Genetic Survey Center. I heard his elders say he hasn’t returned home for four days. Now the whole Genetic Survey Center is working overtime. Someone said that they were looking at a set of genes for a beast that matches the Marshal’s. They are stepping up the investigation.]
[Devil: What?! Can anyone wake me up? These people are crazy! Although I genuinely feel that the Marshal should get better at any cost, but a contract beast?! What’s the use of those things? Everything is in danger. What do they want? The Marshal to jump out of bed and make a contract?! Didn’t a.s.syria abandon this method eight hundred years ago?]
[Egg: I would rather believe in miracles rather than a.s.sume that the Imperial Summit would come up with such a way to save the Marshal. It must be false! After creating a bond with the beast, they will live and die together. The contracted beasts in ancient times can’t be compared to now at all. What’s the difference between letting the Marshal create a binding contract with a beast and adding another risk to him? What’s more, the spiritual remedy of a bond would be of no use at all. Who on earth came up with such a foolish idea?]
The discussion of the collapse of the Empire on the Star Net made its way to Liberec, the planet where the severely wounded Marshal Dewitt was taken to, and an incredible roar broke the quiet of the morning.
“What a joke!” Mark was at the top of the building when he sneezed fiercely. He was tired from driving for more than seventy hours without stopping. However, he still kept up his spirits for twelve minutes, looked at the cage in his hand, and straightened his back.
He was at a ma.s.sive sanatorium on the planet of Liberec. When the war broke out, this planet had been taken to be used as a transit station for those with the Zerg poisoning. But a month ago, after Dewitt led the pro-army faction to devastate the Zerg, the frontier exploration was temporarily suspended and the sanatorium gradually quieted. Transfer after transfer led to there not being very many patients left.
Now, inside and outside, Dewitt’s troops were on guard. Mark had been heavily checked before entering, and if he hadn’t met Lieutenant General Ca.s.sey, who was personally patrolling, he might not have been able to get in.
After a lot of hard work, Mark finally saw Ca.s.sey, who was past his best days and was very excited. Mark wanted an explanation for the situation without thinking about the time or place.
This had caused a scene just now.
After roaring at Mark, Ca.s.sey seemed to realize that the time and place were wrong. He gave Mark a dark look and took him to a conference room in the sanatorium. He looked at the cage in Mark’s arms with an ugly face and said sharply, “Qi beast? You just said you want the Marshal to sign a contract with a beast at this critical moment?!”
Mark certainly knew Lieutenant General Ca.s.sey’s temper, but he couldn’t back down at this time. Ca.s.sey was wearing his military uniform, which had a unique pin hanging on his tie on the front of his chest.
It was a memorial pin for those who had served in Dewitt’s Legion, forever shining in the sunshine, as stubborn as their master. Mark swallowed his saliva, raised his head and chest, saluted as per standard military etiquette, and looked steadfastly. “That’s the suggestion, Lieutenant General! As a soldier of a.s.syria, after careful consideration, I propose this for the future glory of the Empire.”
Ca.s.sey glared at Mark, but he didn’t say anything for half a day before he scolded and slapped the table at the same time, “Careful consideration my a.s.s!”
Waiting for Ca.s.sey to finish venting, Mark stayed quiet. When he looked up, he found that Ca.s.sey, a fierce soldier who had always been laughed at and scolded in the army for fighting, had red eyes.
Mark knew better than anyone about his ever-rising temper. He didn’t believe that Ca.s.sey would show such an expression due to the Zerg. With his fearless character, there was only one person who could make Ca.s.sey look like this. That person was-
“Lieutenant General, the Marshal, he…” Mark stared at him in astonishment and suddenly became stiff.
The rumors that he had heard before ping-ponged in his brain one by one and he looked at Ca.s.sey’s ugly face. Mark felt that his heart was slowly breaking into pieces as it fell away.
Just then, a clear voice sounded, “Give it a try.”
They didn’t know when the door to the conference room opened, but they came face to face with a man wearing a white military uniform. It’s Archie! Mark’s eyes flashed, and he stood straight again, saluting Archie. “Major General Archie!”
It was Marshal Dewitt’s best friend from childhood. He was also a military doctor who rushed to the front lines of the battlefield during the Zerg War. After Dewitt was seriously injured, he became the doctor in charge and remained on Liberec all the time.
Mark’s eyes lit up when he recalled the four words Archie had just said.
Archie approached him, without scruple of Ca.s.sey’s hesitant eyes, reached out and tapped twice on the all-black surface of the cage and the dark winter’s case began to become transparent. This was a kind of one-way gla.s.s, and it now showed that inside was a small beast.
“Fox?” Archie’s eyes showed a trace of surprise as he looked at the little fellow lying quietly and sleeping with his eyes closed, with apparent wounds on his body. “This kind of beast has not been seen for a long time, and it looks good.”
“… It’s a low-level contract beast. Its genetic a.n.a.lysis is not very good, but there are too few contract beasts that can match the Marshal. I was thinking, in case of a miracle…” Mark seemed choked, or couldn’t help saying, “Ah, Lieutenant General Archie, Marshal, how’s he doing now…”
Archie’s eyes showed a hint of despair. “In two hours, the toxin will enter his heart.” As he spoke, he couldn’t help looking out of the window, where he could see a colorful bird flying around in the sky. It was the contract beast that accompanied Archie for more than twenty years. “The barrier that had been forcibly implanted before has failed. Toxins that infiltrated his viscera will directly creep into the heart, coupled with damaged energy and ability abnormalities, both hidden dangers will erupt at the same time. What else can we do? There’s no other way. The elders have declared that all efforts to preserve the Marshal’s life should be stopped.”
After Archie’s faint voice, there was a brief silence in the conference room, but it was soon broken.
“Stop it? Why stop? Is that all right?” Mark was stunned. He had been depressed for more than a month and, for the first time, he could not help the outburst. Now he forgot his rank, squeezed his fist and got a little irritated. “That’s the Marshal! How can we stop until the last minute? Marshal spent his life fighting for the safety of the Empire, getting poisoned and stubbornly holding on. How can we stop when he did not give up?!”
“Mark!” Ca.s.sey interrupted Mark with a loud voice.
Archie paused for a moment and then looked down at the cage in Mark’s hand with some persistence in his eyes. “I don’t want to give up either.”
Mark, accompanied by Ca.s.sey, was sitting in the observation room arranged by Archie.
The room where Dewitt was in did not allow free entry for those who were not adequately prepared against the poison. Even if they wore antiviral clothes, the time they spent inside the room would be strictly regulated, which led to the existence of this observation room.
Mark began to lose his mind. He didn’t know how Archie persuaded the elders, but he knew that if he could get such a result, Archie must be under considerable pressure.
It was a bit irrational for him to rush in like a chicken when he saw someone saying that the genetic material of the little beast was similar to that of the Marshal. But… during the past month, the Marshal’s severe injuries were hanging over all of them, and they were pessimistic.
People only knew the terrible things about Zerg. Only those who had fought on the battlefield would understand that today’s Zerg were ahead of the Empire in military science and technology. Their poison, in addition to their already terrifying physique, made the Empire feel helpless. Especially for the soldiers who had fought with the Zerg. They would live the rest of their lives with a deep shadow in their hearts.
Before Dewitt took over command of the Zerg battlefield, the Empire suffered repeated losses. They had lost a large number of soldiers, and even the defense line was beginning to be in danger. It was due to Dewitt’s control that made them barely reach a stalemate with the Zerg.
Mark sighed and looked down at the report of the little fox that Archie had personally examined.
He was severely injured, with a reduced ability to heal and very close to death. He should have known that the fox had suffered a lot of injuries when it was sent to the Genetic Survey Center. It was caused by their carelessness when it was captured. At that time, the veterinarian told him that the degree of veterinary skills of the Empire was subpar.
Let a wounded beast rescue a high-level ability whose inner sh.e.l.l was almost destroyed? Mark sat in front of the monitor and felt the absurdity of his ideas for the first time.
The quieter the observation room was, the heavier the atmosphere in the air became. Suddenly Mark looked away from the report and noticed that the little fox on the screen had responded. After five minutes of everyone exiting the room, the beast stood up slowly. It got rid of the gas mask Archie attached to it before he left.
Mark himself felt ridiculous when he brought the beast out of the Genetic Survey Center. This was the first time he saw such a small beast, not much bigger than his palm and it was as severely injured as the doctor said. The unconscious fox had refused to open his eyes and hadn’t even struggled when he was put in the sanatorium room. The beast immediately went to sleep in a comfortable position.
Even more than seventy hours of driving did not make the beast open its eyes.
But as soon as it was put next to Dewitt… it stood up.
Mark couldn’t help but straighten up and stare intently at the screen. When he found out that the little fellow’s feeble steps were heading for Dewitt, his heart seemed to stop.
The little fox on the screen was still moving in Dewitt’s direction, with its soft tail trailing behind it. It looked very pitiful and weak. After standing faintly, the little fox stared at Dewitt with its big wet eyes, as if it were angry. Mark didn’t know why he thought that a low-ranking contract beast was not only not afraid to see a high-ranking ability user, but it was angry? How was that possible? But the little fox’s eyes seemed to be on fire.
Just as Mark looked into the fox’s eyes, he saw the latter suddenly extend his paw. From the direction of the monitor, Mark could even see the soft meaty pads under the white hair of the paw. The next second, the little fox, who was still hobbling, seemed to burst out with high energy in an instant and clawed Dewitt’s face with a violent slash!