Chapter 77
Lu Anhe seemed very nervous about the fact that he had said the wrong date. He quickly repeated the date, looking embarrassed, and apologized: "Boss, that's not what I meant."
He Yunting didn't care much about it. After all, Lu Anhe was not wrong about the date. He just didn't say the specific date right away.
Moreover, Lu Anhe is indeed different from himself. As a person who treats the mecha as his wife, even though he has been with it for too long and it has become a habit, he still retains his own lifestyle.
He always recorded important events in his diary, including the annual inspection of Zeus, so he forgot for a moment that he was talking to himself, so it was not surprising that he blurted out the words.
Therefore, at least one thing can be proved, which makes Lu Anhe remember this day. Something must have happened on that day.
Lu Anhe knew too well what He Yunting was thinking, so he simply admitted it openly: "Boss, I was distracted just now, so..."
"Is there anything you can't say?" He Yunting asked calmly. He was not a person who would interfere too much in the private lives of his subordinates. If the other party had something difficult to say, he would not pry into it.
Lu Anhe naturally understood his thoughts. He gritted his teeth, glanced at He Yunting, and said apologetically, "Yes."
Since he had already said it clearly, He Yunting did not ask any more questions. He just nodded and said, "I understand."
He Yunting thought about that day again.
He seemed to have never cared about birthdays, so Lu Anhe hadn't reminded him on purpose in recent years. It was normal for him to forget them after a long time.
Lu Anhe knew the priorities. If something he didn't want to mention really had an impact on the Proton Star at the moment, there was absolutely no way he would hide it.
So it might really be about something else.
He Yunting didn't say anything else, nor was he angry. He turned the topic back to the previous one: "Then tell me, Xi Yuan and Xu Zhiheng gave an academic report together that day. What was the content?"
"The content is very ordinary, nothing special. It is Professor Xu's routine lecture at the Imperial Army University." Lu Anhe reported, "I have read it over and over again, and there is no problem."
"good."
During the conversation, the supreme ruler of Proton Star finally showed up.
Because it has surrendered to the jurisdiction of the Empire, even if it is a relatively relaxed self-government, it still has to follow the Empire in terms of the political system. The original prime minister was Chang Lin, who was conferred the title of earl after the political structure changed. As the supreme leader, he handles all government affairs of Proton Star.
He Yunting had met him once before. At that time, Chang Lin had just taken office. He was a gentle and kind leader, and his every move was elegant.
But now his suit didn't look so smooth, and there was an obvious blue-gray circle under his eyes, which showed that he had hardly had a good rest since the accident.
Chang Lin saluted them according to the imperial etiquette, and his smile was a little forced: "Admiral, you are finally here."
Lu Anhe went up to shake his hand and explained, "After coming from the mooring port, I couldn't find the contact person I contacted before, so I rushed here directly and arrived a little late."
Thinking of the location where the mecha first landed, Chang Lin sighed deeply, his eyes were bloodshot, and there was a hint of hope in his tone when he asked: "Then the port..."
"I'm sorry, we cleared it out because we couldn't see any normal humans." Lu Anhe said in a low voice.
"...I understand." Chang Lin's lips trembled. He expected this answer, but he still couldn't hide his despair after hearing it in person.
He calmed down his emotions and controlled his loss of composure. Looking at the imperial soldiers who came to support him, he said, "Let me explain in detail... what exactly happened."
-
Chang Lin spoke slowly and there were several times when he almost couldn't continue. After a long time, he finally presented the whole story to them from beginning to end.
After Proton Star came under the jurisdiction of the Empire, social welfare improved slightly. In addition, since the people are all betas, there is basically no problem of gender discrimination. Therefore, even though the level of development is not high, the atmosphere among the people is much better than that of the Empire.
They have a special medical system, and the first person to come for treatment was a college student who looked a little frail.
The student had a very regular daily routine. One day, he suddenly felt some discomfort in his neck, which manifested as intermittent itching. He didn't pay much attention to it and thought he was stung by something unknown.
But gradually, problems started not only in his neck, but soon he began to have symptoms all over his body.
The student suffered from shaking limbs, nystagmus, dizziness, and constant thirst, which could not be relieved by drinking water. So he went to the school hospital for treatment. The doctor also found it strange, but the test results showed no abnormalities and could only provide symptomatic supportive treatment according to the student's condition.
But after a while, not only did the student's condition not improve, but he seemed to have emotional and psychological problems. He was unwilling to cooperate with subsequent treatment, became manic and irritable, and was full of destructive desire towards anyone and anything.
He seemed to have lost his sense of pain, and began to speak in words that people could not understand. He then ferociously attacked everyone who tried to stop him.
At the same time, vertical pupils as a symbol appeared among the people of Proton Star for the first time.
Later, no one cared about this student anymore - because before they knew it, other people in the university also developed similar symptoms, and probably because of the different stages of the disease, they were also extremely aggressive towards each other at the beginning, and would not stop fighting even if they were bleeding.
Only when they detect the same kind of scent on the other party will they reach a consensus on a certain frequency, shake their arms or legs that may have been bitten off in half, stop fighting to the death, and change their targets - those they have identified as "not of the same kind".
The school began to fall, and "people" who were classified as the same kind began to share a common hatred of the enemy. They did not care about various professions and classes. As long as the frequency was right, they were even more united than normal people.
Ordinary soldiers, police, weapons and equipment are completely useless. They seem to have no fear in their bones and will attack everything they face.
What's more, Proton Star's weapons and defenses are not strong, and there are basically no tall mechas like the Empire's.
Even if a normal life-size mecha had weapons, it would still be no match for so many creatures that were insensitive to pain and fatigue, and had the advantage in numbers, after a few rounds.
But it is strange that the pattern of change is not like that of general infectious diseases. Some students took advantage of the situation and returned home, and their parents did not show any symptoms of infection.
This gene spreads in a regional manner, starting with the school, then the residents near the school, the surrounding areas where the school is located, and finally the city.
The government did think of ways to solve the problem, but among the supporters sent from the central city, not a single one returned safely in the end.
So, that city was located on the edge of the proton star. As the current situation was out of control, it was eventually abandoned by the central city. It was supplied with living resources normally, but its network and communications were cut off, and it would not provide more support.
But things were not that simple. Not long after, the same situation occurred in another city very close to that city. They tried to ask for help from the center, but this time they did not receive any support and their communications were also cut off.
The government finally panicked and began to ask the empire for help.
Soon, the surrounding cities fell one after another, and people's range of activities became smaller and smaller. Only people around the central city were still struggling to avoid being infected.
"Without finding out the source, we even suspected what that 'frequency' was." Chang Lin said, "Things developed too quickly. After sending out the distress signal, we rejected all suspicious external communications. Even if we have to close down the central city, at least everyone here is normal now."
"If they can recover on their own, or if there is any turnaround, the supplies in those cities will actually be sufficient. But before that, they are just dead cities with closed gates."
"But..." Lu Anhe frowned, "Before we set off, we contacted you once. As long as we mark it, the communication here will not be marked as a strange signal by you."
Chang Lin himself was also skeptical about this matter: "I thought you were trapped somewhere. We also tried to send a communication, but we were unable to connect at the original frequency."
Otherwise, how could they not come out to greet them? They didn't know until He Yunting drove the mecha to the central city.
Lu Anhe understood what He Yunting wanted to ask and immediately said, "I checked before coming here, and there is no problem with our communication frequency."
If there is no problem on both sides, then the communication failure may be caused by some magnetic field interference.
Chang Lin's face turned terribly pale and he was speechless for a long time.
But at least the formation coming to support has arrived at the central area safely. Chang Lin calmed himself and immediately arranged a place for everyone to stay. The armaments of Proton Star were too poor. For safety reasons, they had to vacate the apron of the government building and give it to the mecha formation, right next to themselves who were protected by the military and police - this was the safest place on the entire Proton Star, although after they arrived, the local army was completely insignificant.
After continuing to follow up and understand the situation, everyone finally saw on the map that the entire planet was surrounded.
The planet is not big to begin with, and the rainforest terrain means that its cities are not closely connected to each other. The current situation is that the five areas surrounding the central city are relatively safe, with no residents showing corresponding symptoms. However, the outer cities have all been forcibly blocked, and without the Internet and communications, they can almost be regarded as having been completely wiped out.
"We are really desperate. We have really studied this situation, but we can't find a solution, so we... give up on them temporarily." Chang Lin said. Because the Zerg have been the target of direct military deployments from the Empire for many years, the understanding and research of the Zerg on this small planet remains at a relatively superficial stage. The experts who were sent out have not returned, and the experts in the central city are unable to make correct judgments due to a lack of samples.
So the solution is critical.
If we really have to abandon those people, then the focus of our work will be on how to protect the remaining cities from being invaded.
The status of scientists in the empire is not as high as that of soldiers, and after hearing about the situation on Proton Star, their first reaction was to find He Yunting to quell the rebellion. If Xu Zhiheng had not insisted on coming, there might not even be a scientist accompanying them.
But now the central city refuses all requests for help from surrounding cities. Like a prisoner in a confinement prison, it can only passively take various self-protection measures and pray that the terrible gene will not spread to itself.
They are busy taking care of themselves, so how can they worry about others?
If you want to know the situation in other cities, you can only go there in person, and there is no guarantee that you can survive.
"Our primary demand is..." Chang Lin said, "to protect the existing people and prevent new people from being affected."
"As for the cities that have been closed..."
He Yunting coldly replied, "Use all-round force to suppress it?"
It’s not difficult.
Anyway, those creatures still look like humans. Even if they are treated as Zerg, we only need to attack their brains.
For the mecha that symbolizes the empire's strongest military force, it is relatively easy.
Xu Zhiheng finally spoke in silence: "...No."
"Are we just going to give up on all these people rashly just because we can't find the source and the method?" He closed his eyes. The scene of He Yunting giving orders before was still in his mind. The humans whose faces could not be seen clearly due to the bombing by weapons in the empty and strange city when he came here seemed to pass by him one by one at this moment.
He Yunting was unmoved: "Then it's up to Professor Xu."
"I've said before, I will try my best to be careful. Give me a chance to contact them. Maybe, maybe I can..." He paused, thinking of something, and continued in a voice that only He Yunting and Lu Anhe could hear, "Isn't the omega in my lab now barely stable?"
He was talking about Qi Jiaze.
Indeed, after bringing him back to the laboratory, Xu Zhiheng used his own method to make him no longer hostile to humans. Although his consciousness was still not very clear, there was at least some improvement.
Qi Jiaze has vertical pupils, and so do these people.
Qi Jiaze is an omega and these people are betas.
The former was the result of Xu Zhiheng's accidental discovery, but the research had been terminated long ago due to humanitarian ethical issues and was only recently stolen; the latter was an idea that his students had once conceived, which had obviously never been put into practice, but appeared in this way on a small planet a few years later.
It was as if... the other party was very anxious. He did not take into account the problem of beta physique, but was eager to merge this concept with the genes of the so-called Zerg.
So, these two studies that seemed to have nothing to do with each other turned out to be related in such a strange way.
"Let's draw up a rough implementation plan and combat deployment today." He Yunting did not draw any conclusions on this inference. "Regarding Professor Xu's proposal, we must also consider it after ensuring safety."
"Please have a good rest first."
After saying that, he ignored Xu Zhiheng and went to the temporary combat command room with Lu Anhe without looking back.
-
It was already late when the formation arrived here, and they needed to keep abreast of the current developments on Proton Star and make more than one plan. By the time they had made plans for various possible situations, it was already late at night.
The operations room was in the headquarters building. It was late at night, and the soldiers who did not need to participate in the battle had returned to the base to rest. Xu Zhiheng was an omega after all, and his physical condition was not very good. After discovering that He Yunting could not be persuaded at all, he left temporarily.
Lu Anhe and He Yunting re-compared various plans and stood up only after confirming that they were correct.
He Yunting glanced at him and said, "You should go back and have a rest as well. Wait for my notification to assemble."
After all, I had been running all the way here and had almost no time to rest, and now he is staying up with me until late at night.
"Okay." Lu Anhe nodded, "Then you, Boss..."
"I'll be there soon." He Yunting said calmly.
Lu Anhe stopped talking, bowed and turned to leave.
He Yunting was the only one left in the operations room.
He looked at the densely packed information in front of him, pinched his brows, relaxed a little, and leaned back in his chair.
There will be more demanding tasks tomorrow, and the few short hours now are the most rest time he can reserve for himself.
He Yunting lowered his eyes and looked at the quiet communicator, lost in thought for a moment, but finally picked it up, selected the contact, and answered.
It should be afternoon in the Empire now, so they shouldn't be able to quarrel with each other.
As he thought this, the green light symbolizing a successful connection flashed, and soon a clear voice came: "Hello?"
He Yunting suddenly felt that all the fatigue of the whole day was relieved in an instant. He began to respond in a gentle tone that he didn't even realize was there, "Yeah."
Lin Han seemed to be outside, maybe he had just gotten off work, or maybe he was shopping for something. The background sounded a bit noisy, but he seemed to be in a good mood: "I'm heading to the public aircraft. I can go back earlier today."
"Yeah." It was still a brief response. No need to say more, this was enough.
"Qi Jiamu went to the base for training today. I had nothing to do, so I didn't contact him." Lin Han reported obediently.
He was just saying it casually, but He Yunting's eyebrows suddenly jumped and he thought of something.
"Lin Han." He asked, "Are you free now?"
Lin Han didn't know what He Yunting wanted to do. Even though he couldn't see it, he still nodded: "What's wrong?"
"Maybe, you need to help me find something." He Yunting said, "Do you know where I live?"
-
This is Lin Han’s first visit to He Yunting’s manor.
He doesn't look like a man who enjoys life at all, and he often stays on base and is not at home for more than half of the year.
But after all, it is a manor that symbolizes status. Even if he is not there, there will be someone to take good care of it. Therefore, Lin Han was still amazed when he knocked on the door.
He entered from another door, using the key given by He Yunting, and following his instructions, he walked to his study without looking around.
"I came in," he said. "Looking for something?"
He Yunting leaned back in his chair, his expression not relaxed.
"I keep a record of my training every year to ensure it is true and objective. I write down what I did every day and when I went to the training ground," He Yunting said. "It was the same three years ago."
"It has nothing to do with the Proton Star incident this time, but you..." He Yunting mentioned a date, "Help me find the records of the training that day."
Lin Han was naturally familiar with that day. The other party invited him to dance on the same day three years later, and he wished He Yunting happy birthday.
Even though neither of them knows how to do it.
Thinking of this, he smiled a little, and followed He Yunting's instructions to search one by one: "Wait a moment."
"Yeah." He Yunting responded in a deep voice.
It's not that he didn't believe Lu Anhe. What's more, the other party admitted openly that something did happen, but he just didn't want to tell him.
There was an inexplicable sense of weirdness hanging over his head. Even though this was clearly an ordinary day in his memory, he still felt uneasy.
He Yunting knew that now was not the time to think about this. He knew his adjutant too well. They lived and died together and trusted each other absolutely. They were people who would always back each other up on the battlefield.
Lu Anhe couldn't possibly lie to him. If there was something he really didn't want to say, it was either because it had nothing to do with him or he didn't want to tell him the reason, as that would be beneficial to him.
He just suddenly didn't believe in himself.
"Found it." Lin Han suddenly spoke.
"In the morning, the clock-in record at the training ground." Lin Han read it to He Yunting, stating the time and serial number of the training that year one by one. He Yunting silently compared them in his mind and found that they were all correct in his memory.
After talking about the morning, He Yunting did not answer. He wanted to wait for Lin Han to continue, but the other party did not speak for a long time.
He was puzzled and asked, "Why did it stop?"
According to the training rules in recent years, in order to fully understand the trainee pilots, mecha shooting training should be conducted in the afternoon.
"Ah?" But Lin Han's tone was also confused, and he said, "I've finished reading it."
He Yunting felt a strange feeling in his heart: "Where is the training record for this afternoon?"
"No."
Lin Han didn't know why He Yunting asked this, so he told the truth.
"It shows... that day three years ago, you were not at the base for the entire afternoon."
The author has something to say: Xiao Lu is a good boy!
Here I am. I am extremely unconfident about the plot, so it is very laggy and the pretty girl is in tears.
(Then kneels down gently to the reader)
Don’t hit me, I can write it clearly qaq! Some cute people have guessed it, but they didn't say who it was.
Send 50 red envelopes
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