Chapter 140

Chapter 140

A mysterious Mechanical War God, whose highest command isn't recorded?

Jie Linyuan didn't buy the nonsense of the North Camp crowd. There were only so many high-ranking Z series, and by process of elimination, it was easy to trace back to him. Moreover, the chaos at Wolf Smoke Shelter wasn't an ethnic extinction; a simple phone call could reveal that Z1932 had escaped, making it impossible to hide his origins.

The purpose of inviting Jie Linyuan was twofold: one, to verify whether the government forces were falsely using the identity of Z1932 to bluff; two, if it was indeed the real Z1932, to ascertain the current state of this half-contaminated Mechanical War God and whether he was bluffing.

Coincidentally, after Jie Linyuan fired that startling shot from the clock tower, the government forces also promptly visited Xue Hongyi's temporary base, indirectly probing the real identity and physical condition of this mysterious man with silver hair and red eyes.

This greatly frustrated the mutants. They had traveled a long distance only to exhaust themselves upon arrival, scampering around non-stop. For two days, they swept through like a plague of locusts, eliminating at least fifty aberrations and artificial mutants, yet their intimidating effect was less impressive than someone merely climbing a bell tower for a sniping position.

The guy who had called them here, Wu Yin, had vanished without a trace, leaving them with a male infant as a so-called reward, offering them a free 'hit'.

Gui You remained silent.

Gerei, who had always detested children and was a firm childfree advocate before the apocalypse, hadn't even waited for Sister Bai to take the infant from Jie Lin Yuan before declaring that no baby should come within three meters of him. Then, he noticed something was off, as Ah Cheng, who also disliked children, suddenly became overly maternal, rushing towards the baby to smother him with affection, while the other two mutants, Xiao Hei and Ah Lan, joyfully huddled around the infant, inhaling deeply without end.

A person capable of having such an effect on them...

"Is this Wu Xiao Hu's brother?" Gerei asked Jie Lin Yuan.

"Close enough," Jie Linyuan found it difficult to admit that he was actually Wu Yin's brother, "Gui Xiaoji."

"..." Grey was astounded by the naming prowess of this beastly family.

Lu Ba was the only one who viewed Jie Linyuan's influence in the Northern Camp positively, proudly lauding him as the last glory of their Z series mechanical war gods. He lamented how the Northern Camp had trapped itself, for when the puppet under control breaks free, it is time for the abuser, deaf to cries and pleas, to reap the bitter fruits of their actions.

Then, unexpectedly, Lu Ba received a mission to disguise himself as Z1932 and attend a peace talk in the Northern Camp the following day.

He instantly felt social anxiety.

"Me?" Lu Ba pointed at himself in disbelief. "And what about you? Weren't you the one who vigorously pushed for this talk? And now you're not going?"

"I am going, but not as Z1932," Jie Linyuan said. "I'll attend in disguise as a mutant."

"So, I pretend to be you, and you pretend to be a mutant?" Even the usually easy-going Lu Ba cursed, "This brain-dead action of unnecessary complication, Jie Linyuan, are you out of your mind?... They'll definitely realize I'm a fake!"

Just setting foot in the Northern Camp had already drained all of Lu Ba's courage, and now he was expected to stand up in front of the camp's officers, possibly even his former superiors. Just the thought made it hard for him to breathe.

Wu Yin sternly told him there were no difficult jobs, only brave mechanical war gods.

Lu Ba: "..."

"The point is for them to find out you're a fake," Jie Linyuan said.

In simple terms, it meant he could avoid detection in public, but he did not want to face the consequences of appearing rashly. So, the plan was to let the Northern Camp discover Z1932 was a fake to prevent further harassment.

Lu Ba had no desire to clean up after his irresponsible junior, anxiously sitting aside and tapping his foot.

A green ivy sprouted from Jie Linyuan's wrist, tentatively touched the water in the enamel cup on the table, found it warm and pleasant, then submerged all its roots into it, with the rest of its foliage lazily resting on the rim, like a burly man soaking in a hot spring.

As for His Highness and Geng Wu, they stayed with Professor Jie as assistants, transferred by Xue Hongyi's people to a small research center under the Southern Camp.

Reportedly, before the apocalypse, this place was occupied by a group of idle researchers studying how to resurrect pterosaurs.

Initially eager to join the front lines and cause chaos in the Northern Camp with the mutants, His Highness learned that the Southern Camp, highly valuing the information on parasitic experiments relayed back by Xue Hongyi, offered to sponsor Professor Jie's research, albeit with certain conditions:

They would send some personnel to participate in the entire process of creating a calamity pollution vaccine. Of course, the Southern Camp assured Professor Jie that the researchers they provided were among the top talents of the time.

Then, His Highness saw the name of Princess Mom on the list of researchers.

His Highness, a pup who had been separated from his parents since childhood, immediately decided to stay put, determined to wait for his mother here.

The mutant pothos disdained the three-and-a-half-meter-tall mama's boy dog, grumbling as it climbed from Jie Linyuan's thigh to his wrist, becoming a quiet, natural bracelet.

……

Although Lu Ba did not agree to help, the bullying Jie Linyuan and the rascal Wu Yin took it for granted that he would, then went on to study the list of attendees for the rebels' meeting tomorrow.

Still six slots, but with a complete overhaul of the personnel. One was a person Jie Linyuan knew, with whom he had a harmonious relationship for a while and was said to be a decent person; another was a mechanical war god from the Z series, number 810, whom Jie Linyuan vaguely remembered as a roommate during the initial selection training.

The remaining four were all immunes, with titles before their names that sounded as important as close ministers to the emperor.

The last person, Paul Quint, an immune without a title, could not be found in Jie Linyuan's Northern Camp database.

Having no title yet qualified to attend the meeting, Wu Yin immediately suspected Paul was problematic, likely affiliated with the sailor, and decided to prioritize him as a potential host for parasitism.

Expanding the search, Jie Linyuan sifted through the personnel database for this Paul, while casually teasing Wu Yin: "But a second ago, you were so sure about going after the one with the highest position for parasitism."

"It's just that the name Paul sounds familiar," Wu Yin thought to him.

At that moment, Jie Linyuan's left eye's multiple windows paused abruptly. He seemed to recall something, cleared all records, and entered a precise description, slowly saying, "You reminded me, we do know an immune named Paul, the security captain at a hospital near the Orc Nation, who became cynical after his wife's death and caused a hospital tragedy."

Wu Yin had some recollection of the man but didn't remember his name, "Are you sure?"

"Certain," Jie Linyuan said calmly, "Also, do you remember the two aberrations in the hospital? One even consciously hid in an underground bunker, concealing its whereabouts until people locked themselves in, then it emerged to feast."

"We found it strange at the time, thinking this aberration was either intelligent or the security team made a considerable effort to lure it in. But what if Paul was already in contact with the sailor then?

"Perhaps the tragedy wasn't solely caused by Director Liu's drunken indiscretion and Paul's impulsive revenge but also the sailor's instigation. Like the zoo tragedy, it was an on-site experiment in controlling aberrations..."

Various keywords were methodically arranged, and Ji Lin Yuan managed to identify the one man who met all the criteria, projecting his photo onto the wall.

Wu Yin observed the blond-haired, blue-eyed man in the photo, which was clearly taken a long time ago, where he was seen happily embracing his wife. After a moment of silent contemplation, Wu Yin mused, "If Paul is indeed attending tomorrow, then we'll parasitize him. He'll be at the northern campsite, definitely involved with the boatman."

……

So far, everything had progressed smoothly. With the main matters temporarily concluded, Wu Yin relaxed and lazily instructed Ji Lin Yuan to take him for some high-calorie food, preferably carrying a large box of chocolate for emergencies.

"Eating high carbs so early might lead to indigestion, right?" Ji Lin Yuan said with a smile, turning around only to catch a glimpse of Lu Ba standing alone in a corner with his greyish-silver hair reaching his shoulders, his left eye covered by an eyepatch. Approaching for a closer look, Ji Lin Yuan noticed Lu Ba's distracted gaze and his unconscious nail-biting, his expression filled with anxiety.

"Lu Ti?" Ji Lin Yuan called out his name.

Lu Ba looked up as if waking from a dream, only then noticing his odd behavior. He turned away, hiding his hands behind him in embarrassment, attempting to sound calm, "What's up?"

Wu Yin's gaze dropped to Lu Ba's uneven nails, suddenly speaking up before Ji Lin Yuan could respond, "If you really don't want to go, then don't. We can just declare that Z1932 refuses to attend; the effect would be the same."

"...?" Lu Ba, who had never expected 'Ji Lin Yuan' to say such a thing, looked up in surprise, then relaxed slightly, a small smile appearing, "Ji Lin Yuan, you seem... different? Is it because you've been spending more time with Wu Xiao Hu?"

Ji Lin Yuan frowned in confusion, "Me showing concern makes you think I've changed? What exactly was I like in your eyes before?"

"Kind to everyone, but it was all superficial kindness," Lu Ba turned to face him, tapping Ji Lin Yuan's chest, "You have to admit, your kindness is highly purposeful. You decide who deserves your kindness. However, a gentleman is judged by his actions, not his intentions. Besides, influenced by Wu Xiao Hu, you're becoming more personable."

"..." Ji Lin Yuan genuinely thought Lu Ba had lost his mind.

What does it mean that he's becoming more personable under Wu Yin's influence? Should you listen to yourself? Are you the one going crazy, or is it me?

Lu Ba closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "Don't worry, I can do this."

"I just thought of something, an experiment I've wanted to try for a while now, and it's perfectly suited to our current predicament," Wu Yin stated. This time, he spoke out loud rather than just in Ji Lin Yuan's mind. "Is that okay?"

Lu Ba thought the remark was directed at him and looked at Ji Lin Yuan with confusion, but Ji Lin Yuan knew it was Wu Yin speaking to him, a foreboding sense of unease spreading through him. After all, given Wu Yin's independent streak, when would he ever seek Ji Lin Yuan's opinion before taking action?

Ji Lin Yuan whispered to himself, trying to stop him, "Stay calm, Wu Yin, whatever you're thinking of doing... stay calm..."

No response came from Wu Yin in his mind, and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ji Lin Yuan looked up only to see Lu Ba's expression harden gradually into one of terror and panic, his eyes staring fixedly at Ji Lin Yuan as he pointed tremblingly at his own head.

After experiencing self-destruction, Lu Ba had become exceptionally solemn, composed, and even somewhat gloomy and overly cautious. It was rare to see such vivid and lively expressions from him at this moment.

"...What on earth are you doing, Wu Yin?" Ji Lin Yuan covered his face in agony.

'Lu Ba' opened his mouth, "The feeling of symbiosis is indeed different from parasitism."

Lu Ba covered his mouth in disbelief, then saw his hand relax uncontrollably as his mouth moved on its own, "All of us who use [Nuclear] abilities should be expending a lot of energy, me, Geng Wu, Gui You, all of us. But my symbiosis isn't like that..."

Wu Yin, who was accustomed to gaming, thought of what he believed to be an apt description, "It's not like having dual skills, but more like it's my passive... really strange, can't figure it out."

The feeling of not being in control of his own body was too terrifying, and seeing his friend show no concern for his abnormal state, as if in collusion, Lu Ba could no longer bear the psychological pressure and let out a roar, "Ah—!!"

"Don't yell." Wu Yin said, "It's me, Wu Xiao Hu."

"Ah!!" Lu Ba yelled even louder.

"I'll attend for you tomorrow, Lu Ti, no need to feel pressured," Wu Yin arranged calmly, "This way, Ji Lin Yuan, you won't have to pretend to attend either, avoiding any slip-ups, perfect."

Perfect my foot!