Chapter 138

Chapter 138

Hearing Wu Zhe's words, the infant in the shell waved its little paws, "I think so too."

"I've told you, it's because Jie Linyuan's body structure is special," Wu Yin turned around to explain to them, "He is a cyborg, a large part of his organs have been mechanically modified. Even parasites that spread like disaster pollution cancer cells can't affect him..."

At this point, Wu Yin suddenly had a realization, "Speaking of which, Lu Ba's infection also resulted in a semi-polluted state. Jie Linyuan, did you deliberately get infected because you knew that subjects of the Z series became like this after pollution? So, you were sure you wouldn't become a polluter."

"You just realized?" Jie Linyuan controlled his own mouth, "I thought you knew already."

"Then, wouldn't this be a method to combat disaster pollution?" Wu Yin said, "As long as one undergoes mechanical modification, after being attacked by a polluter, at most, they would only fall into a semi-polluted state."

"That's a great idea, really, compared to you, disaster pollution seems minor..." Jie Linyuan almost outright called Wu Yin a fool, "Do you think cyborg modification is as common as cabbage? Just modify whenever? Out of two thousand subjects, only two hundred survived, a ten percent success rate. There aren't enough people left on Earth for your experiments."

Wu Yin: "..."

Wu Yin raised his right hand to hit his left hand, while Jie Linyuan raised his left hand to defend his right hand.

Gui You watched Jie Linyuan fighting himself, his little face scrunched up like an old lady: "I've said it, it has nothing to do with whether his physique is special or not. Your ability is to parasitize. If you can't parasitize a 'nucleus,' it will be expelled from the body. How can you be both a parasite and a host?"

He had raised this question before, puzzled and eventually set it aside, but now with Geng Wu present, Wu Zhe immediately responded, "Brother Geng Wu agrees with Brother Gui You. He seriously suspects there's something wrong with Brother Wu Yin!"

'Jie Linyuan' stopped his self-fighting, and two cold glares uniformly targeted Wu Zhe... and Geng Wu inside the shell.

Geng Wu: "..."

"Ah! I shouldn't have said that about Brother Geng Wu!" Wu Zhe, with a guilty expression for having done something wrong, covered his mouth tightly with both hands, mumbling, "I'm sorry."

Inside his mind, Geng Wu was rarely so annoyed and angry, "After all this time with me, don't you know what you can and cannot say? You little rascal, you're just biased towards Wu Yin."

Wu Zhe hummed to himself and went to have breakfast beside His Highness.

Xue Hongyi: "..."

Xue Hongyi felt as if he hadn't arrived at the den of a mysterious and unfathomable creature but had instead come to a comedy show.

These parasites, named after the sexagenary cycle, obviously didn't consider him an outsider, or perhaps didn't even regard him as a person. Their casual exchange, every letter spilled, was loaded with massive information, leaving him utterly bewildered.

Perhaps because they felt that even if he knew something, it would pose no threat whatsoever.

Or perhaps because, in the near future, these unheard-of and unbelievable secrets would no longer be secrets...

Adjusting his mindset, Xue Hongyi asked 'Wu Yin', "You're currently in Z's body, so what about your original body?"

"I've properly preserved it," Jie Linyuan smiled, his tone very polite but brief, "No trouble needed, Captain Xue."

"Enough chatter, you two, let's set off," Wu Yin said. "Xue Hongyi, where did you park the Golden-winged Bird? It's my first time seeing a mutant animal that ignores me."

As he spoke, he tossed the leftover sweet potato skin behind him. The eagerly awaiting Border Collie opened its wide mouth and swallowed it down, while the Golden Retriever, being slower, stamped its feet in frustration beside him.

Jie Linyuan smiled and reached out to rub the Golden Retriever's head, "This proves that the Golden-winged Bird truly loves Captain Xue, loyally following him with all its heart."

Hearing its name, the mutant Golden-winged Bird poked its head in from outside the door, its black eyes rolling around, then saw its owner getting very irritated: "Who exactly is talking to me? Can you guys decide on one spokesperson?"

“……”

After an internal discussion, Jie Linyuan and Wu Yin decided that Jie Linyuan, who was better at diplomatic appearances, would speak on their behalf.

Xue Hongyi thought it was a terribly bad idea. He glared at Jie Linyuan resentfully, arriving with joy and leaving with rolling eyes. On the way back to the northern camp, he maintained a cold demeanor, not speaking a word to Jie Linyuan.

Of course, Jie Linyuan had no time to pay him any mind either, as he received updates from the zoo. Ever since Wu Yin had Z429 and 1305 keep a close watch on Jia Chen, these two meticulous creatures began to report every detail of Jia Chen's daily activities to Jie Linyuan, including how often he went to the bathroom.

Three days passed, and 429 finally reported something of value: Jia Chen was sick.

Additionally, they provided a rather unimportant piece of news: several of Jia Chen's suitors took turns visiting him, with the peacock and Yan Guangyu leading the pack in an overly dramatic fashion, as if Jia Chen's days were numbered. The peacock offered a reward for medicine, and Yan Guangyu even planned to personally go to the western base to procure medicine for Jia Chen.

Jie Linyuan found it utterly ridiculous, thinking the world had gone mad, being played by a vanity-loving parasite.

"Are you okay?" Wu Yin's voice suddenly appeared in Jie Linyuan's mind, pulling him back to reality. "Yeah, why do you ask?" Jie Linyuan replied.

"I was worried you might be scared," Wu Yin said. "After all, we're about to head to the northern camp."

"...Do you think I'm Wu Zhe?" Jie Linyuan wanted to laugh. "Have you ever seen me afraid?"

"True."

After saying that, Wu Yin fell silent. However, a few seconds later, he spoke again lightly, "Even though you say you're not afraid, I still want to tell you, don't worry, I'm here."

“……”

Suddenly, Jie Linyuan thought, considering Jia Chen bears Wu Yin's face—a face that intrigued him at first glance—and with Geng Wu also leaving with them, leaving no one to watch over Jia Chen, the guy might completely let loose, indiscriminately flirting with every male to prove his charm. No matter how crazy the actions of those seduced by him, it wasn't incomprehensible.

After all, just like Jie Linyuan himself, who had willingly walked into a trap at the northern camp for Wu Yin, and then felt his heart race from just a few comforting words from him, it was absurd yet made perfect sense.

Questioning—Understanding—Becoming—

After ensuring Xie Linyuan was emotionally stable, Wuyin completely immersed himself in the thrill and joy of riding on the back of a Golden-winged Bird. While Xie Linyuan continued to type messages to 429 and 1305, Wuyin caressed the bird's wing roots with his right palm, tempting it, "You're pretty good. Stop following Xue Hongyi; come with me instead."

Xue Hongyi's eyes widened in disbelief behind his wind goggles, shocked that Wuyin dared to poach his bird right in front of him. Fortunately, the mutated Golden-winged Bird was very loyal, steadfastly indicating it would only follow Xue Hongyi, dismissing the notion of joining Wuyin, whom it deemed unworthy of shared adversities and riches.

"Boring." Wuyin, always destructive when denied, viciously plucked several feathers from the Golden-winged Bird.

……

Representatives from both parties attending the peace talks numbered five each. Sitting in Xue Hongyi's temporary base, Xie Linyuan reviewed the list provided to him while searching his database for corresponding identity information.

He tucked his silver hair under a hat, put on sunglasses, and pulled out a sketch from his pocket to show to the representative from the Northern Camp's government forces, asking, "Will this person attend?"

The sketch was a portrait of a boatman, drawn based on descriptions provided by Gui You.

The representative shook his head, having never seen the person.

"If you're referring to the mysterious criminal who provides aberration manipulation technology and collaborates with the rebel forces, then he definitely won't attend," he confidently stated. "This person is extremely cautious, never showing himself easily, even the rebel forces find it hard to meet him in person."

Xie Linyuan actually hoped Wuyin could parasitize the boatman to solve the problem once and for all, since the parasitism skill had a cooldown, and consecutive uses could exhaust Wuyin to the point of needing rest. But knowing the boatman was aware of the parasitism secret, he would surely be extra vigilant, making it difficult to approach him.

With no shortcuts available, Xie Linyuan had no choice but to continue sifting through the five individuals from the rebel forces to select a suitable candidate. After much consideration and a painstaking twenty minutes of comparison without making a decision, the meeting was about to start.

Wuyin, however, had a much simpler criterion: "Just pick the one with the highest rank; can't go wrong."

Xie Linyuan couldn't argue with that.

After reviewing the list, Wuyin noticed that even the highest-ranking individuals seemed lackluster: "Is this peace meeting being taken too lightly? Every name seems to be followed by two words, 'cannon fodder,' suggesting a lack of sincerity."

"Of course, there's no sincerity," Xue Hongyi commented. "The government forces are no match for the rebels, and the battlefield is completely one-sided. Thus, only the government forces are earnestly pushing for peace talks, while the rebels are merely participating under public pressure, sending a few insignificant representatives to the talks. The previous meeting was filled with nonsensical arguments by the rebel representatives, who then claimed that it wasn't that they didn't want to negotiate; they just couldn't reach an agreement."

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall with a smirk, "This time will likely end the same way."

"Then why am I even going?" Wuyin complained. "If I parasitize these cannon fodders, will I even qualify to meet the boatman next year?"

With the government army representative from the North Camp having left the office, his tone became much more casual, boldly ordering Xue Hongyi, "Put some pressure on them, force them to send higher-ranking officials to negotiate."

Xue Hongyi was exasperated, "What do you take me for, the father of mutants? You think I can just summon pressure out of thin air?"

Jie Linyuan immediately seized the opportunity to tease him, "Isn't Captain Xue a noble mutant? Don't you have the ability to do even this?"

Not one to take it lying down, Xue Hongyi retorted, "Aren't you the esteemed mechanical war god? Why don't you show us how it's done?"

"All useless," Wu Yin criticized, treating them both equally.

Jie Linyuan, Xue Hongyi: "......"

After a moment of thought, Wu Yin inquired, "When is the next peace conference?"

Xue Hongyi, exasperated: "This meeting hasn't even started yet, and you're already thinking about the next one?"

"This meeting is meaningless, but the next one might not be," Wu Yin said with a smile. "Let's do this, I'll decide, and we'll set it for seven days from now."