"Even shutting down his brain." Heine concisely finishes Ervel"s sentence.
"Yes, though, strictly speaking...his brain isn"t completely shut down, he is just not displaying any readings of significance."
"So remove this suffix."
"Heine! You were a student of the Academy! You understand what we are dealing with! Once it enters his body...it becomes a part of him. No matter the reason for the virus, the one who made it surely has a an antiviral on hand. Only this will wake Xiao Yan up. Right now the situation is not critical but that could change rapidly. We have no idea what kind of damage is acc.u.mulating due to this. You must find the person who created this virus as soon as possible."
"Jane Wallace."
Ervel"s forehead fell to his hands. "I heart the report from Admiral Sharif and Xia. Wallace left the Surge with Casey. They are now on the run from the organization. It seems that Jane Wallace was the replacement body for the Surge"s leader Valentin. It will not be easy to locate Jane Wallace."
Heine suddenly turned around and left the room.
"Where are you going? Heine!"
"Torture Forces."
Since Xiao Yan had lost consciousness, Xia had been continuously going over that day. He desperately tries to figure out what went wrong that could have caused such an outcome.
He still remembers Xiao"s memories. He remembers him touching the ocean for the first time, teasing his tiny hermit crab and even how he looked and stored his memory of wildflowers. His thoughts have a unique charm to them; no one looks at the world quite like Xiao Yan. Everything that most neglect as background is magnified in his eyes, it all becomes a wonderful and interesting thing.
He sincerely hopes that the young ensign will wake up.
Suddenly, several of the soldiers outside of his office were ruthless slammed to the floor by his feet.
He looked at their crumpled bodies, he didn"t need to glance up to figure out who the culprit is.
"Colonel Burton."
The soldiers climb to their feet and attempt to guard the General.
"I need Jane Wallace"s location." Xia sighs, understanding instantly what Heine is demanding.
"You want to interrogate the witch, Claire. The problem is, after the last time you tortured her, her brain sustained heavy damage. I don"t think she has the ability to withstand another go."
"I am not interrogating her, you are."
Xia continues to run his finger along the lip of his coffee cup.
"If you get the answer from her, will you be able to wake up Xiao Yan?"
"Yes."
Xia couldn"t refuse. They headed down to Claire"s cell.
"Increase the lighting, it"s too dark. This is not good for her mental integrity."
Xia gracefully sat down in front of Claire.
This is not the first time he has interrogated Claire. Each time he approaches her mind, the woman immediately and violently kills him and he is forced to withdraw. Xia can only hope that the few neurons that have not been damaged in Claire contain the information they need.
Claire raises her gaze, her eyes are filled with disgust and impatience. Although Xia did not tear through her mind like Heine Burton, he had still been able to extract some useful information from her.
The difference between torture and inquiry is the approach. Torture creates a series of hallucinations in the mind of the subject to draw the information out. An inquiry is just a simple question and answer procedure. The inquirer makes a judgement based on the memory presented to the question, inquiry requires full cooperation from the subject.
"I know that you hate me. I don"t like you very much either. Your brain is not a lovely place to be. The more you cooperate, the faster I can leave your brain."
A stabilizer is injected into Claire and her vitals are monitored.
Their neurons are docked and calibrated. Xia spends half of the day at the outer edge of her thoughts. He eventually wears down her resistance and entered her troposphere without too much resistance.
Xia does his best to be patient and not damage her neurons further before pulling out the information they need.
As Xia burrows deeper into her mind, Clair begins to resist with more force. Suddenly Valentin"s image appears.
"Do you know, my child... you made too many mistakes."
"father......"
Suddenly Claire"s consciousness stalls at this memory and Xia begins to move into her subconscious.
It is full of blood and darkness. Her a.s.sa.s.sin training revolves through here. It is clear that she did not grow up in a normal environment. What she cherishes is her companions, a bond forged by the h.e.l.l hey have all endured. She continues on for their sake.
Just as Claire"s subconscious pushes against Xia, Jane Wallace"s image emerges.
Claire instinctively thinks the image is an illusion, as she finds herself in Jane"s room.
Jane lies in bed, an open book obscures his face.
"I like these antiques. The feeling of holding a book is better than connecting to the terminal."
Claire stepped forward and sat down next to Jane.
"Even when I am here..."
"So this is why you came to my room." Jane lazily turned toward her.
"That"s better... Now I can see you." Claire slid down tiredly next to Jane.
"Oh, forget to tell you, Valentin is preparing to take my body."
"......what should we do?"
"Well...Me, Casey and Jerry are ready to leave here. What do you want to do?"
"Of course I will go with you! You are my family."
"But where are we going? We can"t let Valentin find it, there will be trouble."
"There is a place called Tahiti..." Claire closed her eyes and relaxed. "I heard that the pearls there are beautiful..."
"Ah, you can have a bunch of jewelry and dress yourself like an ordinary woman."
As Claire"s subconscious mind gradually sinks, Xia knows that he can"t continue, or her consciousness will collapse.
Fortunately the information he got from Xiao Yan allowed him to set up this particular trap to get what he needed from Claire.
When he left the interrogation room, he saw Heine leaning against the wall.
"Tahiti. You can try to find Jane Wallace there."
Heine immediately left the Shire in an aircraft waiting for him at the torture force"s HQ.
In addition to Mark and Liv, he followed Ling"s troops.
"Look after Xiao Yan for me." Heine pulled up Maya "s collar.
Maya nodded. "Rest a.s.sured, he is my brother."
The Shire"s medical force was on alert all night and Admiral Sharif personally visited Xiao Yan"s room. Outside, Maya stood with a stern expression. Ervel looked quite distressed.
"Sir!" When Ervel stood up, Admiral Sharif had already walked to the isolator.
He leaned over slightly and looked at Xiao Yan.
"It is this young man who has made Heine so out of control?"
Ervel was nervous, he didn"t know what Sharif"s words meant. He had heard that Heine had led the special forces out of the Shire. That news had surely reached the Admiral. Only the most upper level of the military was aware that Heine Burton is the only son of Admiral Sharif. Heine"s military strength has placed him at General level, but he has refused the promotion every time.
"...but I am grateful to him. He has made Heine...act like an ordinary person. For the first time, I feel that Heine may go in the direction I so badly want for him."
"Sir..." Ervel was relieved.
"I remember that there are three important research projects filed under the name of this young man."
"Yes, the first is for the study of the Surge chemical weapons. That project was completed. The second is the study of the marker viruses. Although the project is not finished, according to the report of General Xia Yan, this virus played a very important role in Xiao Yan"s escape from the Surge. The third is x-2. For a single individual, Xiao Yan has made tremendous strides and successes s. The problem now is how to carry out the universal synthesis of this virus. Once successful, the special mission force will be greatly expanded, which is crucial to the zombie clean-up and the pursuit of the Surge organization."
"So ironic he has such a low rank."
"We just wanted to protect him."
"Now there is no need, almost the entire military knows that there is a genius in the Central Academy of Sciences. You are right, we need hope, whether it is for the special task force, that treats each day as their last, or the Central Academy of Sciences. If he wakes up, he will be appointed as a major. He deserves the respect of everyone."
"Sir......"
"Do you think the rank of the major is too low? But I don"t want this child to fly into the sun. If he climbs too fast, it will be easy to forget who he is."
Sharif smiled then got up and left.
Ervel looked at Sharif"s back and let out a deep sigh.
"Are you worried? Casey is now with Jane Wallace. Heine will go against Jane, and it is likely to put him in conflict with Casey." Major General Gordon suddenly spoke behind Ervel.
"At this moment, I still believe in Casey. This child always wants to prove something in front of me...especially my trust in him." Ervel slowly turned around and leaned against the wall. He closely examined Gordon. "So what about you, Gordon? Are you still as confident about Jane Wallis as you were? You a.s.signed him to Xiao Yan, but the result now shows that he has betrayed more than 90% of your trust in him."
"I have never had 100% trust in Jane Wallace, not even 60%. I only trusted him a little. What I trust is that he wants to subvert the Surge more than I do."
"Then we will wait and see what his explanation is for the virus in Xiao Yan."
An hour later, the aircraft of the Special Mission Force arrived over the South Pacific Ocean.
"We have arrived at Tahiti."
Underneath the craft the islands gleam like sea pearls.
Major Ling Xiao ordered a scan of the area and found an underground building. Ling Xiao led his team members upon landing.
"Hey you think Jane Wallace is really inside the underground Base? Is Casey with him? What if they release chemical weapons..." Mark rambled on about the risks as he looked over the calm island.
"You and Liv will wait in the air."
Heine reached for the hatch.
"Boss!" Liv grabbed Heine. "I don"t trust Major Ling Xiao! After all, he used to be Jane Wallace"s subordinate!"
"He pa.s.sed Xia"s interrogation."
Heine stepped from the cabin and fell straight down. When the rope reached its limit, he softly landed on the beach.
"Did the Boss choose the wrong landing point?" Mark watched as Heine walked determinedly along the beach. There was no hesitation in his steady stride.
"He never misses."
At this time, Major Ling Xiao and his team blew open the entrance of the underground base. Upon entering, they found that it was empty.
"Jane Wallace! Come out here - Jane Wallace!"
It was at this time that something was projected upon the dark wall.
A projection of Jane Wallace"s lazy expression was plastered along the flat surface.
"Let me guess." Jane taps a fingertip against his mouth. "It wouldn"t be Colonel Burton that would burst in...not with his temperament...Perhaps the old man...or..."
Ling Xiao looked up and squinted, he noticed there was a machine running opposite the wall that emitted the light stretched across to form the image.
"I love antiques like this. 200y ago people called this a projector. Pretty neat huh Ling? I know that you have been through the torture force and that has probably hurt your position in the military. You feel that you have lost a measure of dignity due to me. If not for my actions perhaps you never would have the experience of being tortured in this life. It is a unique experience."
"Jane Wallace looked straight on. "You have me to thank."
Ling angrily gnashes his teeth and raises his blade toward the projector.
"Hey! That is an antique! Don"t destroy it."
Clearly Jane antic.i.p.ated Ling"s response. This infuriates Ling and he swipes at the projector with his blade. One slice and the broken equipment falls from its perch onto the floor.
At this time, Heine is walking along the beach. He reaches out to feel the intensity of the sun, no expression lines his face and his hand extends a shadow over the gravel.
In the distance a man lay under the palm trees facing the sea.
It is Jane Wallace.
"I never understood why Xiao Yan liked to lie on the beach all day. I can"t be so lazy."
Jane"s drawling voice melded with the sound of the waves.
"Give me the antiviral agent."
A coldness filled Heine"s eyes, the low temperature seemed to collide against the warmth on the island, forming the illusion of two different worlds.
"You know every time he would come back inside I would be so worried. He always burned himself...His arms... his legs. I would have to carefully rub the salve onto his skin. If not, he wouldn"t say anything, he would just frown and bear the pain quietly."
Jane propped up his upper body and patted the gravel under the palm tree.
"I don"t want to hear your nonsense."
"Ah. Don"t be like this Colonel Burton. We used to talk back when we were in the same unit. So many people viewed me as your successor. Of course since you accepted the x-2..."
"It was all a trap. Your goal was not Xiao Yan. It was the Surge."
"Hah...it seems that Gordon told you everything. I did try my best to take Xiao away from the Shire. I needed to borrow his brain speed to deal with Valentin. I didn"t think that the x-virus I gave him had already been altered by Valentin."
"If you don"t have the antiviral agent on hand then tell me where Valentin is."
Jane ignored his question and instead looked at Heine and spoke in his typical lazy manner.
"Why did you know I would be at the beach and not in the base?"
He stepped forward, moving from the expanse of shade and into the brilliant beam of the sun.
His casual nature contrasts with Heine"s unshakable coldness. Two extremes face off, their natures forming a sharp divide.
"Because Xiao Yan liked it here. Also, the Shire is underground, after being stuck there for so long, you want to be in the sunlight."
"You really know me."
Jane chuckled lightly and Heine suddenly closed the distance between them. The sharp edge of his blade split the sun and slid along his neck. Jane smiled and cleverly avoided Heine"s attack. His movements were incredible, he pulled out his ankle dagger and moved faster than the eye could track. Suddenly, he stood behind Heine with the knife to the back of his neck. Heine turned around abruptly and slammed his blade against his dagger, blocking the attack.
"Ah. The x-2 has made you even better than before." Jane thoughtfully touched his chin. "It is Xiao Yan"s masterpiece."
A large shadow covered them. Heine didn"t need to look upward to know that Casey had perfected a silent engine aircraft and was hovering above them. Seems Casey had finished his masterpiece as well.
"You don"t want him to sleep forever." Heine"s voice was so cold that it dropped the air temperature in the scorching sun.
"I don"t. I also don"t need you to pay too much for the antidote. I just have one request-- your blood."
Jane threw a blood sample container toward him and Heine easily caught it.
"Xiao Yan is quite stubborn. He would not disclose his research to anyone, even his best friend. We need the x-2. To do that, Casey needs to study your blood. Rest a.s.sured, we have no plans to bring trouble to the Shire."
Heine blade slices down his palm and his blood flows into the container. He threw it back at Jane.
"Thank you for your contribution. I hope to work with you in the future."
With a simple finger press, his rope retracted rushed the sky and he connected with the aircraft. As he lifted into the air where Heine could not reach, a gla.s.s bottle fell down.
"I miss him very much." Jane paused and the wind pulled at his hair. "Protect him. Don"t make me regret returning him to the Shire."
Heine reached a hand out and without moving a half a step, easily grabbed the gla.s.s bottle.
As Jane"s aircraft was about to leave, Ling"s troops chased it up.
There was a violent bombing over the sea and several missiles were launched.
Heine walked stone faced back to the c.o.c.kpit.
"Boss! Aren"t we going after Jane Wallace as well?" Mark asked through clenched teeth. Seeing Jane Wallace has Mark"s blood boiling and he wanted nothing more than to throw an atomic bomb at his craft.
"Cover Major Ling."
Although Mark did not understand Heine orders, he followed them without question.
They tailed the three aircraft of Major Ling.
Sure enough, when Jane"s aircraft made a rapid maneuver it finally fired a missile.
As the missile sped through the air it suddenly broke into smaller rapidly moving missiles. They scattered in all directions, but all headed toward the three craft.
At the same time, Heine"s craft suddenly flew over and shot row after row of missiles at the craft in front of Ling. Each discharge was staggeringly accurate as they burned through the smaller missiles deployed by Casey"s craft.
"Hey--" Casey let out a surprised cry.
"Keep looking at Colonel Burton and you will suffer." Jane smiled and ruffled Casey"s hair.
Casey instantly increased their power and flew at twice the top speed of a regular craft. The air moved around them and pushed the other craft back.
They quickly exited the strike zone and flew far out of reach.
"f.u.c.k!" Ling"s fist slammed over the hatch with such force it almost knocked it open.
"Return." Heine gave the order.
"Colonel Burton, we may not have the chance to lock Jane Wallace in the future." The voice in the contact was extremely disappointed.
"You still have a long time to catch him in the future."
Heine"s statement has a deeper meaning. In addition to Heine Ling has also received the x-2 virus.
At this time, Jane rested his chin on one hand as he looked at the blue sea outside the window.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I want Xiao Yan." There were no jovial lines or casual slack to Jane"s face as he spoke. His expression fell and his eyes looked lonely.
Casey gave him a blank look.
"I don"t understand how you like him?"
"Isn"t this all your fault?"
"My fault? Who you like? What does that have to do with me?"
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On my last upload, I had wanted to publish a larger chunk as a thank you for the donation. I felt really bad that I only had one chapter done, so I tried to finish this up quickly so at least the cliffhanger was a bit resolved....well sorta resolved. So, again I thank you and I am sorry it wasn"t a larger bundle. You deserved a bigger thank you, but this is all I have.
Also.....
So a while back a reader had informed me that another site had used this translation. I thought it was a site that linked back here, but it turned out it was another that not only didn"t credit my work but has some chapters that looks as if my work has been altered slightly. It is so bizarre...
I don"t know why I am ranting about it. I suppose it isn"t really a big deal...but Iwas more perturbed than I thought I would be. Btw...thank you to that reader forgiving me a heads up. I do appreciate it.