Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jie Linyuan's mental fortitude was always strong. Even with Wu Yin openly threatening him, the curve of his smile didn't falter: "I'm sorry, what were you saying?... If you're worried about safety, rest assured, after I leave, Captain Zhao…"

"You know what I mean," Wu Yin interrupted impatiently.

“……”

In their silent standoff, Jie Linyuan finally dropped his smile, staring darkly at Palmer, "I don't understand."

How could there be any misunderstanding? The most obvious evidence was that Zhao, with a light source, could notice the lack of dust in the room at first glance. As a subject of the Mech God Project, Jie Linyuan's reconnaissance skills were only higher, not lower, than an ordinary soldier's. Having checked all the rooms himself and even found two cans, it was impossible for him not to have noticed this detail.

The only reason could be that Jie Linyuan had noticed but deliberately kept it to himself.

Wu Yin even suspected that Jie Linyuan had long noticed suspicious traces in this direction and knew that the building might have been recently accessed by others. By taking the lead and acting as a guide, he was leading them into this trap.

What was his purpose in doing so?

Wu Yin hadn't been sure before, but after hearing the conversation between the bearded man and Zhao, he began to suspect—

Jie Linyuan wanted to enter a contamination-induced chaos period while unlocked as the Mech God.

To this end, he deliberately created a crisis, one that was disastrously impactful and could only be resolved by his intervention, using their perilous situation as bait to force the bearded man into taking a risky violation.

His attempt to demand rescue for the abused and beaten captive teammates also failed, sadly. This leverage was insufficient to sway the bearded man, so it was entirely predictable that his next step would be to continue and adjust his previous plan to: "accidentally" reveal their hideout during the rescue, leveraging the life of a deputy professor to force his superior to break protocol once more.

The war machine, chaotic and contaminated, couldn't be remotely shut down, but there was still the highest command at the shelter, Z1932, which could order its self-destruction, a pyrrhic victory... So, what exactly was he scheming with all his efforts?

Regardless of his ultimate goal or any entanglement with the shelter, he wasn't particularly concerned. His presence here was solely because he wished to avoid any danger to his physical well-being recently.

With this in mind, he raised his hand forward, curling a faint smile: "If you don't understand, let me reiterate. I cherish my life, wish to avoid risks, and certainly do not wish to die. I hope you won't act rashly."

“……”

If not for the ever-watchful electronic eye of surveillance, he wouldn't mind making his point clearer: I've figured out your little schemes, so don't make any hasty moves, or I'll expose your secrets to all.

But he trusted that someone as astute as him would have already grasped the implied message.

The more flawless the facade, the more it signifies the inability to bear the consequences of exposure.

Throughout his speech, his face had turned utterly cold, his eyes bulging with dense nerves, staring out fiercely, as if ready to silence the presumptuous man before him at any moment.

All of this was unbeknownst to him, blind and unable to see his face, nor aware of the myriad of cold, ruthless thoughts that raced through his mind in those few seconds.

He only knew one thing, that after a minute of silence, a warm and firm hand had lifted his fingers from below.

"You are right," his voice remained humble and submissive as he grasped Palmer's hand, securing it tightly within his own, "Your safety is paramount. I was irrational."

He smiled satisfactorily, gripping the calloused hand in return.

He was growing increasingly pleased with this man.

After the parasitism, he would make good use of this body.

……

Unfortunately, his luck seemed to be consistently out, temporarily gaining the upper hand in his conflict of interest with him, just as they reached an agreement, Zhao and Xin Rong suddenly pushed open the door of the second-floor room, pausing upon seeing them on the staircase: "What are you doing here, Z, you didn't leave?"

"What happened?" he casually released Palmer's hand, stepping aside to ascend.

"There are two people coming this way with candles," Xin Rong hurriedly said, but even in her rush, she did not forget to lower her voice...

Wu Yin, hand on the railing, had a bad feeling, which was confirmed the next second when he heard Jie Linyuan's calm analysis: "It's too late to leave now; there's no back exit. If we go down, we'll run straight into those two. You all go back and hide. It's best if they don't find you, but if they do, I'll take care of them immediately to buy us time to escape."

"How could they not notice," Wu Yin thought, given the footprints and bloodstains they left on the living room floor and chairs.

"Okay," Zhao agreed immediately, "Professor, you and Xin Rong go hide. Z, I'll stay and ambush with you."

"Professor Palmer?" Seeing Wu Yin still standing in place, Jie Linyuan's tone was urgent. He quickly returned to Wu Yin's side, one hand on his shoulder and the other grabbing his wrist, half-hugging, half-supporting him upstairs.

"You..." Wu Yin wanted to warn him not to make noise intentionally, drawing attention from outside, but before he could speak, Jie Linyuan firmly covered his mouth with his palm, whispering above his ear, "Shh, Professor, your voice is too loud; it would be bad if someone heard us."

"..." Damn this man, almost unable to suppress a schadenfreude smirk.

Wu Yin, infuriated, tried to free himself, but the disparity in their strength made Jie Linyuan's grip immovable. After all, "Palmer" spent years in labs and brothels, with his only exercise being on the bed, incomparable to Z1932's physical conditioning.

Jie Linyuan didn't take Palmer's resistance seriously. However, just as they were about to reach the room, he sensed something amiss, looked down, and saw dark, thin veins spreading like spiderwebs from Palmer's palm across his arm.

He abruptly released Palmer, throwing him into the room and swiftly closing the door. Looking down again, the exaggerated black veins on his arm had rapidly receded and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"..." Jie Linyuan paused, haunted by the brief glimpse he had caught.

Was it an illusion?

No, it couldn't be...

What exactly is this Palmer?

……

Inside the room, Wu Yin stumbled a few steps from the push. If not for Xin Rong's help, he might have ended up on the floor.

"Palmer, I'm so scared..." For some reason, the woman clung to him again, seeking comfort.

Wu Yin, expressionless, replied that he was even more scared than her, then pulled out a hard chocolate bar from his pocket, breaking it off and stuffing it into his mouth. He had found it in "Palmer's" pocket before the parasitism, planning to steal it sometime, and now it naturally became his emergency ration.

With the curtains drawn, visibility in the room was low. Xin Rong could only see Palmer's silhouette taking something out, eating against the wall without distraction. However, the aroma of the chocolate energy bar soon reached her.

Xin Rong hesitated before boldly asking, "Palmer, you promised you'd take care of me..."

Wu Yin didn't understand, focused on quickly replenishing his energy, the hard, dark brown chocolate bar not tasting much better than dog food, hastily swallowed by Wu Yin.

Xin Rong was in a panic, "Palmer, how can you hog all the food? Can't you share some with me?"

Suddenly, a loud bang interrupted her playful complaint. The sound of the gunshot shook the house, causing a shower of dust and debris to fall from the ceiling. This alarming event scared Xin Rong so much that she instantly forgot about the chocolate and limped to a pointless hiding spot inside the room.

Wu Yin nonchalantly brushed off the chocolate crumbs from his hands, carefully packed up the wrapper, knowing full well that Jie Linyuan would do anything to create a surprise gunshot. If it weren't for being constantly monitored, this man would probably rebel and lead the enemy right into the village.

Hurried footsteps came from downstairs as Jie Linyuan and Captain Zhao entered, one after another, each carrying a wounded person on their back, rushing downstairs.

As they ran out the main door, the glaring brightness of the searchlights exposed the four of them, leaving nowhere to hide.

Wu Yin heard the rapidly approaching shouts, the screeching of tires on the ground, the whoosh of swinging steel rods, gunfire... A cacophony of sounds mingled together, flooding his mind all at once.

"Humans are so troublesome," Wu Yin thought. Once he found what he needed at the shelter, he resolved to find a place far from human settlements, to avoid dealing with these dangerous and complicated beings.

Not knowing what had happened, the noise suddenly seemed far away, and all that was left was the heavy breathing of Jie Linyuan next to him. He was put down, crashing onto a rough pile of hay. Then, the voice of the bearded officer resounded once more below Jie Linyuan's Adam's apple: "Z, stop submitting unlock requests. Your contamination level is already at 96%, and I absolutely will not agree. Just hold on a little longer; we're almost there."

"Officer, it's urgent, I need to unlock. We were discovered by the enemy ten minutes ago, Captain Zhao Zhiyong and Miss Xin Rong have been captured. Now, only Professor Palmer and I are left, hiding in a chicken coop three hundred meters away. They've already found us, I'm afraid we won't last much longer..."

"Z, I will state this one last time," the voice of the bearded officer was exceptionally cold, "No matter the situation, I will not unlock the Mech Warrior system once your contamination value reaches 90%, did you hear me clearly?"

In the face of ironclad rules, life and death are irrelevant.

“……”

Xie Linyuan's voice completely lost its strength, and it took a long while before he could speak again, his tone as if grinding teeth and sucking blood, burying his hatred deep in his marrow: "Understood."