Afterwards, Klindall carried Britta to the bathroom to wash up. Britta, whose throat was dry, was too embarrassed to mention crying anymore. She buried her head in Klindall's chest and fell asleep not long after they got back.
As dawn broke, Klindall pulled him closer, tracing his handsome features with his eyes. The sleeping boy's face was gentle and docile. He carefully lowered his head and gently caressed his lips.
Bretta finally woke up in the afternoon. He rubbed his eyes and came out, where he saw Klindall cooking in the kitchen.
They delivered specially cultivated plants from the base, as well as meat and even seafood.
Bryta, who had never seen anything like it before, sniffed the air and stood there looking on, asking, "What are these?"
Klindall turned around: "I'll tell you after I try it."
For the first time in his short life, Bretta tasted food with a truly unique flavor. He was amazed, munching away with great relish. Previously, he had only ever thought of food as something to be grilled or boiled; he had no idea there were so many ways to prepare it in such a variety of ways.
After the meal, Klindall contacted Xiang You, his brow furrowed the whole time. Bretta only heard him say, "Okay, that's settled. I'll go myself."
"What's wrong?" Bleta asked hesitantly, eating the braised prawns in his mouth. "Where are you going?" He became a little nervous and suddenly stood up. "I'll go with you...is that alright?"
Klindall hung up the call, looked up at him, and nodded: "Okay, together."
In order not to waste food, when Klindall turned around to prepare, Britta opened her mouth and swallowed all the food on the table in one gulp.
Klindall put on his officer's cap, turned around, saw the spotless plates on the table, raised an eyebrow, then looked at the boy with his hands behind his back, looking obviously a little guilty and a bit arrogant, and said nothing.
Klindall put the gun that Bryta had given him into the holster on his leg, and after he had changed into his own clothes, he said to him, "Let's go."
Bryta stared at the little white dog dozing in the vase on the table and asked, "When are we coming back?"
Klindall glanced around the deserted room and said, "I don't know, maybe a long time, maybe I'll never come back."
"ah?"
Upon hearing this, the little white creature in the vase immediately woke up from its lazy sleeping mode. It swiftly stretched out its vines and flew over to wrap around Blaita's shoulder. Having drunk water all night, it was clearly in much better spirits, with dewdrops still trembling on its petals.
Klindall glanced down at it, opened the door, and left with Bryta.
Cheng Cheng picked them up in a mecha vehicle. After they got in, Cheng Cheng asked, "Colonel, I request to accompany you to Mix as your bodyguard."
Go to Mix?
Bryta was taken aback. The vaccine hadn't even been developed yet, and they were already going to hold that Lighthouse Conference in Mix?
Klindall noticed Cheng Cheng's gaze reflected in the rearview mirror, lingering on his neck, where a scar was still visible after emergency repairs in the intensive care unit.
He looked away and said, "No need. You stay in the Asia Alliance. There are still many things that need your attention here."
Cheng Cheng panicked upon hearing this: "But..."
Klingdale: "This is a military order."
"...Yes, Colonel."
The armored vehicle drove towards the military region, with Britta and Cheng Cheng remaining in the vehicle. Klindall got out alone to meet and report on his actions over the past year since his "sacrifice" during the last mission.
Bryta didn't understand these rigorous and complex human procedures. He stayed in the car and, seeing that Cheng Cheng was also in low spirits, tried to comfort him: "It's okay, we'll be back soon..."
Cheng Cheng, a tall man over 1.8 meters, was now looking dejected with drooping ears: "After the announcement of the colonel's powerful mutant status, many mutants have come to the Asia Alliance to join him. The people who can escort him to Mix will definitely be mutants first."
He reached up and touched his neck, where there was still a hideous scar. He smiled bitterly and said, "Tata, actually, Xiang You and I didn't tell you everything before. Although we were healed and restored to some extent through your stomach, we didn't completely eliminate all the foreign substances. The residue in my body cannot be completely eliminated."
"So, it might mutate again at any time... Speaking of which, I felt like I almost won against the consciousness of that snow wolf mutant, hahaha... The consciousness of the other person in that snow wolf was also quite strong. I heard that Wei Tang and the others captured him and brought him back. His name was... Apa."
Bretta vaguely remembered the name, but couldn't quite recall the taciturn man's face. Suddenly remembering something, he asked, "Then... what about Donovan?"
“Donovan Klein?” Cheng Cheng’s face darkened when he heard the name. “I don’t know. After Qiao Song brought us back, he had someone check the scene. It is said that… his body was not found. Only the pilot’s body was found in the crashed helicopter.”
Bretta was stunned. Did that mean the man named Wiz who pointed a gun at him was also gone? Was he still alive? Did he take Donovan away?
Given Donovan's condition, he couldn't have survived.
Unless he... undergoes a mutation and gains a second life.
Klindall's meeting was very long and arduous, and Cheng Cheng eventually took him back to the research institute. Xiang You also failed to return from that meeting.
After waiting until late at night at the research institute, Bretta vaguely smelled a familiar scent. Before even opening her eyes, she mumbled, "Mr. Lin Dao..."
Klindall was taken aback. He had only meant to cover him with a blanket, but he had woken him up. However, he frowned and, seeing that he had fallen asleep again, simply lowered his head and kissed his lips.
Tomorrow, he will depart for Mix Base to attend the Lighthouse Conference. The situation is turbulent; the son of the Imperial Marshal, Donovan, died at his hands. Whether it will be a trap or a trap, no one knows.
Considering the relationship between Bryta and Donovan, he didn't want him to take the risk.
After a while, the Sub-Alliance, upon learning that the serum originated from Blaita, determined that he was extremely important and absolutely could not leave the Sub-Alliance territory.
He stood up to leave, when a hand suddenly grabbed his sleeve. He froze, turning back. In the dim light, Bryta's eyes, still hazy from just waking, held a hint of surprise: "You're back!"
Klingdale nodded, his eyes filled with mixed emotions. "Mm."
“You can rest here for the night. Continue to cooperate with the research institute. I… I’ll be very busy. I’ll come see you when I’m done,” Klindall said carefully.
Bretta was taken aback. His eyes gradually cleared, and after a long while, he nodded and said softly, "Okay, then I'll wait for you here." In fact, the research institute had already completed most of the sampling work, and only occasionally needed to collect fresh blood from him.
Klingdale nodded and stood up to leave. Britta quickly handed him his military overcoat, saying, "Here you go. I don't need it."
Klingdale paused, then slowly reached out to take it. Bretta instinctively tightened her grip, then suddenly smiled and asked, "By the way, I gave you a white mouse before, do you... still have it?"
Klindall paused, recalling that the mechanical white mouse that had been with him for months had been lost during the chaotic battle at the Arctic Snow Fortress. He pursed his lips: "...It's still here."
Bretta's innocent smile faltered for a moment, then she nodded. "That's good. It's made in my likeness. You... can look at it when you miss me."
"Hmm," Klindall replied in a strained voice, tightening his grip on the coat before Bretta reluctantly released it.
He sat there, watching the man put on his coat, walk a few steps outside, and then turn back to look at him one last time.
Bryta craned her neck expectantly, but the other person said nothing and turned away.
After that, Bretta stayed at the research institute to cooperate with the work. The next morning, Xiang You returned and instructed him to stay at the institute and cooperate with the research, and not to go anywhere else. Cheng Cheng, on the other hand, followed him everywhere.
Meanwhile, Klindall and the diplomatically astute Xiang You had already set off for Mix Base.
A few days later, Cheng Cheng stared at Bretta, the boy who was eating and sleeping as usual and hadn't asked a single question since Colonel Klindall left. He was now sleeping under the covers and wondered to himself: Didn't he even ask where the colonel went?
He turned around and walked to the facial recognition device at the door to open it and leave. In that instant, a vine climbed over the dark ground, and a small white mouse emerged from the bulging quilt. It nimbly darted along the vine and quickly slipped into Cheng Cheng's shirt pocket. The vine quickly retracted, as if nothing had happened.
The commotion was small, but enough to make Cheng Cheng, a soldier, react quickly. He stiffened, carrying the infrared monitor inside the room, and pretended to casually reach into his pocket to touch it. He was pricked by a rose thorn. Just as he was about to pull his hand away, he restrained himself, slowly reached out, scanned his face to open the door, and walked out.
With straight backs, they walked away, passing through door after door.
In places unseen by the surveillance cameras, he secretly pinched the finger that had been pricked by a rose thorn, thinking, "Rose thorns... I shouldn't get infected, right? No way? Secondary infection, turning into a rose mutant?" The thought of a tall man over six feet with roses growing on his body made him shudder.
"Cheng Cheng, don't worry, you won't get infected. It's just a tiny drop of my blood on your skin. I can hear the voice in your heart." The little white mouse in the pocket suddenly spoke.
"Huh?" Cheng Cheng had just opened his mouth when he was startled by his own voice. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand and looked around. The guards at the other gate in the distance looked up when they heard him.
Cheng Cheng realized what was happening, let go of her hand, coughed twice, walked over, used facial recognition to open the last door, and came out.
Once they were out of sight, he leaned forward, looking down and bombarding him with questions, growing more excited with each one: "Tata? Is that you? What's going on? What are you doing? Are you going to find Colonel Klindall?! I might reluctantly let you take me there..."
Bretta reached out a paw from his pocket, grabbed it, and poked out a small white head, saying, "It's me. I'm not afraid of Klindall. I want to go find him... As for coercion? Why coercion? You don't have to go if you don't want to." The little white mouse tilted its head and asked in confusion.
“Uh…” Cheng Cheng.
"You idiot, he means he wants to go!" Xiaobai suddenly blurted out.
Cheng Cheng was startled when he first heard the voice. "Who? Who is speaking?"
Xiao Bai: "...It's me." As she spoke, she slowly stretched out a flower vine from his pocket and held it up to his face. "Xiang You was right, you really are a dog."
Cheng Cheng: "???"
A few seconds later, he exclaimed angrily, "You really said that about me?!"
Seeing that they were about to start arguing, Blaita quickly interrupted, "Cheng Cheng, I want to go to the Mix Base to see Mr. Lin Dao. I'm sorry if this gets you involved..."
“I won’t implicate them!” Cheng Cheng immediately said, turning around and opening the mecha vehicle he had parked by the roadside. “I was already worried about them anyway.”
After Bu got into the car, Britta popped out of his pocket, instantly transformed into human form, and sat in the passenger seat.
Cheng Cheng was still a little unaccustomed to his sudden change, and even a little envious, thinking: I wish I could change like that too, how cool would that be.
“Hmm?” Bleta responded to his questioning gaze.
“Ah, I meant to say—” His eyes suddenly changed, and he became nervous. “No, how did you know the colonel went to Mix Base? Didn’t he tell you…” He suddenly felt a chill. This seemingly innocent boy in front of him had far too many secrets that they could not know.
Seeing his expression, Bleta pursed her lips and said, "Actually... I can hear the thoughts of any life that has absorbed my blood, so..."
When Klindall was about to make up his mind to go to Mix alone, he knew his predicament was unavoidable.
Cheng Cheng's eyes widened, and after a long while, he said, "That...that's fucking cool!"
"So Little White is like that too?" Seeing him nod, he said excitedly, "Then if I have some more, can I transform into a mutant?!" He looked at Blaita with shining eyes, and all that was missing was a big tail wagging behind him.
Bleta thought about it with some difficulty, and based on his research at the institute, it seemed that it was indeed possible.
He nodded: "Yes."
Cheng Cheng was so excited that he wanted to pounce on him and kiss him twice, but he managed to hold back. His heart was pounding with excitement, yet he restrained himself. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "That's great! Come on, let me transform!"
Bryta: "..."
Xiaobai: "..." Should we really take him?
Author's Note: Xiaobai: This person seems to have a serious illness.
Cheng, a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) youth, with husky-like traits, and sincerity.
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-02-23 21:36:32 and 2022-02-24 23:10:54!
Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Luo Chuanchuan and Yu Daren (5 bottles each); Liu A Liu A Liu (1 bottle each);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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