Noisy bullets and laser guns closed in on them step by step. With a loud crash, a door fell down, a laser gun brushing a spread of black on Hydrophis"s lower back.
Hydrophis had the bird youth in one hand, the other holding on to the emergency aisle"s railing. He threw himself off, jumping down without hesitation. But it was not over yet, as another wave of pursuers had caught up to them. The one in the lead raised his muzzle up, pointing it straight at his chest. Hydrophis violently threw the metal bedpost he kept with him. At the same time, he rolled over unceremoniously, the bird youth in his arms.
The smell of rubber, metal, gunpowder, blood......they all circled around his nostrils, his not yet recovered body seemingly at the end of its vigor.
Right then, the bird youth suddenly struggled out of his hold and abruptly rammed into a wall on one side.
An oil painting was hung there. It depicted a young lady with quite a bit of cla.s.sical beauty. The young woman had her ruby red lips slightly parted, smiling. The bird youth"s reckless. .h.i.t made the lady in the painting had a dent that stretched from her lower lip to her chest —— a pit-black secret pa.s.sage revealed itself on the wall!
The beautiful, young woman, having her lower lip lost for no reason, had her expression seem extra shaken, as if she was going to stand up from the painting any second and start cursing.
The bird youth poked his head out and screeched once at Hydrophis. From his voice, he almost resembled a thrush.
Hydrophis froze for a second, but then ducked in without thinking.
On the other side, Primalien, who had been monitoring them for the entire way, had his expression twist hard.
The pirates chasing the two, none of which knew that this heavy mech had such a secret pa.s.sage, looked at one another confusedly. Just as they were about to start chasing again, they suddenly heard Primalien"s icy voice.
"That"s enough," their leader said coldly, "Have you hit your heads? If you kill them, who"s gonna lead the way for us? f.u.c.k off!"
The bird youth pulled Jingheng Lin for the entire way, stumbling down the secret pa.s.sage as quick as he could. They quickly reached the end, the dark corridor before their eyes familiar. Jingheng Lin looked down, then tore off a piece of fabric from his shirt. He hastily tied it around his wound a few times, stopping it from being rubbed by his clothes repeatedly. He then realized that this was the secret lab recorded in the video.
In the stark white light, neither human nor monstrous creatures lived in rows and rows of nutritional cabins. Some of them were still awake, numbly looking at the two uninvited guests through the clear gla.s.s as if they were devoid of souls. Jingheng Lin"s gaze wandered about here and there a few times. Then the bird youth immediately stretched out his arms and stood on his tiptoes, trying to use his deformed hands to cover his eyes, pulling at his clothes desperately forward at the same time,
Jingheng Lin glanced at him, a tinge of amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes.
Primalien longed to exhibit the perverted side of him. It was not to be questioned - every pervert was proud of their crimes. If they couldn"t show it off to other people, then the pleasure in their acts would decrease by at least half.
But due to his fear of Prince Cayley, Primalien did not dare to publicly exhibit his private pets, or he wouldn"t be terrified when Jingheng Lin pointed out that he bought a snake beauty at the black market. Yet this almost bird-like youth was different. Except for being unable to speak and having weirdly shaped bones, he was too human-like, could live without relying on any medical equipment, and would not give rise to any speculations about "transplanted humans". Even if they witnessed his abnormalities, they would only probably think that he was some kind of deformed child caused by radiation.
So this was why this bird youth would be led out to be "raised in free range".
Jingheng Lin wasn"t a biochemical expert, and Zhanlu wasn"t at his side, which meant he couldn"t search for information, that he couldn"t know how this seamless transplant on this bird youth was achieved.
But he knew that exposing Primalien"s secret pa.s.sage in front of everyone was definitely not approved by Primalien.
So whose subordinate was he? What was his goal?
The bird youth easily led Jingheng Lin through the inhumane laboratory. They turned around for who knows how many times and opened a secluded and tiny, slim door. In it were clumps of piping, which should have been the lab"s exhaust pipes. The bird youth leaped -- showing his close to "flying" skills again -- and glided weightlessly in the air for more than three meters. He agilely climbed up a pipe as if he had strapped an invisible wire on him.
He had already flown up there when he remembered that he had someone following him that did not have wings. He quickly looked over his shoulder, but instead saw that person climb up the pipe with his bare hands in the blink of an eye.
As they climbed higher, their surroundings got darker. None of them had a light source, and when they got halfway through, they had to start climbing in absolute darkness. The bird youth was worried. He himself could easily find the way, but he was afraid that the one behind him would fall behind, and he chirped once.
"Hydrophis" spoke behind him, "Keep going, I can hear the sounds you"re making, I can track that."
Maybe it was the terror the darkness was making, maybe it was that Commodore Lin"s lines were too s.h.i.tty. The bird youth, in a situation where he could nee nothing, upon hearing this voice, felt that an unexplainable chill climbed up his spine, causing him to form an unspeakable fear against the man behind him.
He quickly tried hard to calm his nerves, keeping on climbing up, making light scuffles. But it kept silent behind him. The bird youth doubted multiple times that the guy had been lost behind, and couldn"t help but make noises to ask. Every time, "Hydrophis" would answer him within three or four meters of where he was.
Like a snake in the dark, following him wherever he went.
The thought popping up in his mind, the bird youth shuddered lightly. His palms were covered with sweat, and he nearly slipped down the tube. Until when he saw a bit of light glowing ahead did he glance back with the dim lighting. When he saw Hydrophis"s still pale and fair face, which did not change into some other monster, was when he finally let out a relieved sigh, like a heavy burden had been let off his chest.
The bird youth pointed at the top of his head. The soft light"s source was a tiny slit, probably one on the ground. It was hidden by a few containers set on top of it. The slit was very narrow, and a grown man could not easily pa.s.s through. Jingheng Lin gauged it with his eyes. Ignoring the fact that he was basically all skin and bones right now, even if he peeled off his skin and left only a set of bones, he would still be stuck.
The bird boy chirped, "Tweet."
"That"s impossible," Jingheng Lin shook his head, "Is this crack your work? How long did you work on it, did you want to escape?"
The bird youth answered in a series of chirps. It was flowery and beautiful, but Jingheng Lin did not understand a single word, "Forget it. You go up there first and try to push those boxes aside."
The bird youth stayed silent for a while, indescribable sadness flashing through his large round eyes, because from this one-sided conversation, he realized how inhuman he was.
He stopped the useless conversation, shrunk in his shoulders, his tiny body squeezing through the tiny opening. He turned back and started to push the boxes.
Right at this moment, Jingheng Lin suddenly felt trembling from above. He instantly pulled out his laser gun and pushed the bird youth"s leg aside with the muzzle. "Step aside."
The bird youth fell down as he was. .h.i.t by the barrel of the gun. Immediately, the laser gun brushed past him and killed in a single shot a pirate that had caught up behind him without him noticing. But that was not the end. Jingheng Lin opened fire six more times under complete blindness, every shot a kill. None of his shots missed their target.
Crawling and rolling, the bird youth pressed himself flat on the ground and managed to use his head to b.u.t.t the boxes in the way aside. He reached out to pull Jingheng Lin, but before he could touch the man"s wrist, the laser gun in the c.h.i.n.k on the ground opened fire again. The bird youth was startled, leaning back instinctively. Steaming, smelly b.l.o.o.d.y rain poured down on him, covering his face and the top of his head. Instantly after, a pirate"s body thumped down beside him.
The bird youth froze with fear, but Jingheng Lin had already forcibly squeezed himself out of where the boxes were put a while ago while he was still dazed. His shirt was torn open at the shoulders, and his long collarbones had nearly snapped in there.
After he climbed up, he immediately scooped up the stunned bird youth. At the same time, bullets flew towards them in a fan-like formation. The shots seemed to have p.i.s.sed off the pirates, and a brutal rain of bullets almost blasted them apart at the waist.
Jingheng Lin"s gaze scanned over. He realized that this was where heavy mechs picked up spare mechs. Six of Prince Cayley"s medium mechs were parked beside the rail, shining an eerie green light. Every mech had a pirate guarding below it. And the amount of people gathered here was only increasing, every direction seeming like a dead end.
An icy finger touched the back of Jingheng Lin"s hand. He looked down only to see the bird youth point at the mech closest to them. Jingheng Lin"s gaze followed the direction he pointed at, but he did not see anything special about the mech. Just as he furrowed his brows confusedly, the bird youth abruptly thrust his feet against the ground, about to go airborne -- he was planning to sacrifice himself for his companion. He was going to use himself to lead the pirates" muzzles away to give Jingheng Lin a chance to take over the mech.
Jingheng Lin reacted quickly. Before the bird youth"s feet could leave the ground, his neck was grabbed from the behind. Jingheng Lin directly dumped the less than twenty five kilogram bird youth on the ground, thinking, "Is he stupid?"
Of course, Primalien wouldn"t leave him with only a dead end, and had already prepared a mech that could be remotely controlled for him. The second Jingheng Lin grabbed the bird youth, he had already felt the familiar magnetic field.
The next second, a mech suddenly moved. The pirates around that was guarding it were shocked, and before they could look up, they were already blasted out by particle cannons. Strong smoke rose up, the mech chased towards them wildly. At the same time, the pirates far away from them had begun to open fire continuously. The bird youth"s eyes widened. The next second, he was tossed out by someone, and just as he was about to hit the mech"s tightly shut cabin door, the doors suddenly slid toward opposite sides. The feral mental network leapt towards him, but then somehow brushed past him, curling onto the man behind him like a river flowing into the sea.
The bird youth"s eyes widened out of surprise. The second the mental network was connected, something inexplicably huge that it was almost aggressive surged out of the man, yet the next second, it instantly disappeared into thin air, the mech"s feedback giving the compatibility results -- 65%, a success. The mech"s shield was immediately started up. It dashed forwards on the rail, roaring, directly using its own power to lift off without properly accelerating on the rail!
An entire ma.s.s of pirates was thrown into the air by the strong gust that the mech"s acceleration curled up. The next second, the mech wrenched free of its heavy mech carrier, slid into the middle of the pirates" fleet, and before any more could react, it immediately initiated an emergency transfer!
It disappeared.
The giant pressure the emergency transfer brought smashed the bird youth"s skull on the inside. Blood came out from his ears and nostrils. He pa.s.sed out, keeping this posture.
Jingheng Lin glanced at him, his eyes full of complicated comments. He grabbed his collar, planning to toss him into the medical cabin.
But he quickly discovered that there wasn"t a medical cabin on this mech -- not only was the mech lacking a medical cabin, but all of the medical equipment, medicine, and supplies were also unloaded. Even drinking water was gone.
Primalien had installed a remote control port for him on this mech, and forced him to choose this one to flee as he was surrounded by pirates. But twenty-something hours later, when the Rainbow virus started to attack his body, he would find himself having no way to save his own life and surrounded in immense fear.
On the heavy mech, the mech garage"s gates gaped open. Primalien walked forward leisurely, looking down at his useless underlings.
A pirate immediately ran up to him. "Boss, they"ve escaped."
"You"re wrong," Primalien patted that guy"s head, "Our guide has departed early with a bug."
As he spoke, he opened his personal terminal, and a giant interstellar pa.s.sage map jumped out. A tiny dot of light appeared on it -- the signal came from the bird youth"s tiny heart, marking their location unstoppingly. At the same time, it obediently sent back all the sounds they made and the words they exchanged.
"Oh, so there"s an unknown illegal transfer point there," Primalien grinned, satisfied, "Mark that."
The pirates, with everything under control, did not notice that the tiny mech they captured had an empty wine cooler on it. Floating on the cooler was a few empty gla.s.s petri dishes with fluorescent gra.s.s planted in them -- there was a rack under the bottles of liquor, which was shaped in the form of an intricate mechanical arm.
When the bird youth woke up with a face full of blood, he found that he was on an unfamiliar mech. He was under extreme discomfort, his bones feeling as if they had been dissected apart once. He shyly squawked once at Hydrophis.
Hydrophis had his back to him, seeming to be checking the interstellar route map. "Sorry, there"s no medical equipment on here, you"ll have to settle with wiping your face on your own."
The bird youth cleaned himself obediently. Then he picked up a clean towel and walked to him, pointing at the array of big and small scratches and bloodstains on Hydrophis. From what he saw, Hydrophis"s complexion looked terrible. He was even paler than he was on the heavy mech. Cold sweat dripped off him layer by layer, his shirt already soaked through by them, exposing his gaunt shoulder blades.
The bird youth tentatively tried to put his hand on Hydrophis"s arm and was freaked out by the horrifying heat, starting to squawk incoherently.
Adults" body temperatures rarely raised above 40 degrees celsius. The G.o.dd.a.m.ned Rainbow Virus made Jingheng Lin feel like even his breath was boiling hot -- the good thing was that he was always more on the camel side when it came to enduring. As long as it wasn"t deadly, it wasn"t really a problem.
"It"s fine," he spoke deliberately, "we"ve at least temporarily thrown them off our path now. It"s just that we don"t have any supplies, and we have to find a way to fix that......No need to search, there"s no drinking water on this mech."
The bird youth stared at his soaked shirt, showing anxiety on his face.
Jingheng Lin sat down slowly, trying to calm down his breathing as well as he could to keep his energy. "I"m thinking......we"ll circle around once, and when we"re sure that we"ve completely thrown them off our tracks, we"ll immediately go back to the base."
A faked struggling expression showed on his face, well enough to fool anyone. He stayed quiet for a while, and then said, "Fighting amongst ourselves is its own thing. No matter what, I can"t watch Cow and the others die on someone else"s hands, I have to alert them to transfer to a new location as soon as possible."
The bird youth let out a light "chirp".
Hydrophis looked up. In his high fever, his always cold gray eyes were softened a decent amount due to the moisture. He asked, "What special abilities do you actually have, you can fly, right?"
The youth stood there, not knowing what he should do. After a while, he rolled up his sleeves, showing his arms. The arms were longer than those of a regular person"s, its bones flat, a mixture of a human"s and a bird"s. There was even a clump of thin fluff on his shoulder blades. And when he was relaxed and wasn"t trying to pretend to be in a human"s posture anymore, his jutted out breastbone and curved spine was fully in view. He stood there like a weird bird that had been wrongly stuck with a human head.
Jingheng Lin asked, "Were those born on you?"
The bird youth shook his head silently.
"Then it"s modified," Jingheng Lin asked softly, "Are they...they can"t be transplanted?"
The bird youth shrunk his head back like he was ashamed. As if to dodge his gaze.
"They really are transplanted?" Jingheng Lin asked, finding it hard to believe. "How is that possible? It"s impossible for this technology to exist, don"t you need a nutrition tank?"
The bird youth stopped replying, wringing the corners of his clothes nervously.
Jingheng Lin asked, "Did you become like this because of those pirates?"
Another shake -- unsurprisingly, Primalien"s slaughterhouse-like labs couldn"t produce such a high-end transplanted human.
Jingheng Lin asked again, "Then they bought you from the black market, who made you become like this?"
The bird youth still shook his head. He gestured with his hand at a low place, indicating that he was already like this when he was young, and couldn"t remember.
Jingheng Lin"s eyes narrowed slightly, blinking off the sweat stuck on his eyelashes. He suddenly asked, "You know Cow, right?"
The bird youth froze for a second and glanced once at him like he was shocked, and didn"t know how to answer him right away.
But to Jingheng Lin, this expression itself was enough --
First, this bird youth was bought by Primalien on the black market. And before he was bought, he possibly knew Cow through some way, and had used some way all these years to keep in contact with Cow.
No wonder why Cow knew the pirates" invasion beforehand.
No wonder why the bird youth decided to save him without hesitation once he heard that he was from Cow"s base.
"Fine," Jingheng Lin wobbled when he stood up, and had to grab the sofa"s armrest to steady himself, "I owe him one, I"ll take you to him."
This conversation was entirely received by Primalien. A pirate walked up and pointed at the direction the tiny bright dot on the map was headed towards, saying to him, "Boss, this direction is about the same as the one on the map we got from his mech."
"Follow him!"
The terrifying team of mechs all turned in the opposite direction, chasing towards the direction Jingheng Lin had deliberately pointed out for them, brushing past the base"s internal network.
The highly energized particle stream surged over like tidewater, but then left the base, and headed towards farther extraterrestrial places.
The base, knowing nothing about the greater danger, peacefully pa.s.sed this tiny danger.
The pilots that came down from the sky were welcomed as heroes. The giant multimedia display had a stirring song on, and the usually empty mech port was filled with people pulling an all nighter to celebrate. Big Sister had carried out several crates of beer for them to drink for free. Sat.u.r.day was praised lavishly by his goons, who had been beaten to submission. He looked down from high above to discover that Bixing Lu was gone.
"Wait, wait, wait a minute." Sat.u.r.day wrenched himself from the pa.s.sionate crowd using all his limbs. He grabbed Rickhead, who was on the side and couldn"t keep his mouth shut, yelling into his ear, "Where"s Mr. Lu?"
Rickhead: "The communication station!"
Sat.u.r.day: "I f.u.c.king knew it!"
He stumbled and squeezed out of the crowd, walking towards the communication station.
There wasn"t a bit of rejoicing on Bixing Lu"s face. His personal terminal was tethered to the communication station, his fingers flying, entering lines and lines of commands. The map on the screen kept spinning, tracing the places the Beijing mech had been to. Soon, a rough route had appeared -- Beijing, which had been performing an exploration task, professionally visited the internal network range"s surrounding environment. Then it disappeared and went to someplace farther away. The day it replied the left message, it was just on the edges of the signal"s range. Then it traveled back very slowly on the pa.s.sage, and then......
It suddenly disappeared within detectable range.
"An emergency transfer," Bixing Lu said in a low voice, almost to himself, "He traveled for so many days, so the power supply can"t be too full, or when he received the message for him to return immediately, he wouldn"t be so slow on his way back. And emergency transfers are incredibly energy-consuming -- why?"
Sat.u.r.day cut in. "How would I know?"
Bixing Lu thought about it, staying where he was. He suddenly stood up and turned around, about to leave, "I"m going to find him, tell my dad after I"ve left."
"Isn"t he that......that commodore something? He beat up the entire Self-Defense Force on his own, what are you worrying about?" Sat.u.r.day asked, extending his neck, "Hurrying over to confess your feelings?"
"Bulls.h.i.t, it"s impossible for someone in this world to be able to do everything, just as it"s impossible for anyone to be useless......plus, don"t talk about that nonsense, he"s my friend."
Sat.u.r.day spread his hands. "Oh, friends. Fine -- but what if your "friend" gets too emotional, and confesses his feelings for you?"
Bixing Lu"s footsteps halted. "I"d consider it seriously."
Sat.u.r.day hadn"t heard such a serious vision of love in several lifetimes. In his shock, he exclaimed, "You...what the f.u.c.k?"
"Tell him that I"d consider it seriously," Bixing Lu resumed walking into the mech port, not turning back once, "He"s someone that makes people have to treat him seriously."