Chapter 66 Just Partners 11
Time was of the essence, so Ren Yi explained as he walked.
Zhou Kai followed directly after him. He wasn't worried that his sudden disappearance would cause any commotion. Based on the situation these past few days, people would only think that he was the unlucky guy who would be dealt with first.
Ren Yi's investigation on Rodeix Star over the past few days has indeed yielded some results. Interference signals misled these mercenaries into thinking they had landed on a desolate planet, causing them to lower their guard. On the other hand, that group of people did indeed have methods to control alien species, or more accurately, to "lure" them.
The struggle between humans and the alien species has lasted for many years. The Alliance has continuously upgraded its weapons, while the alien species have also been constantly evolving.
However, for a relatively short period, the Alliance held a decisive advantage. During that time, the Alliance's Central Research Institute synthesized an attractant similar to the pheromones emitted during the reproduction of alien species. This attractant was used to concentrate the aliens in one place, which were then eliminated with heavy-duty weapons.
Initially, things progressed very smoothly, and humans even mistakenly believed that the alien species would disappear into the annals of history like all previous natural enemies that threatened human survival. However, the alien species evolved much faster than humans had anticipated, and individuals sensitive to pheromones were quickly eliminated. The remaining alien species reverted to their previous state, and this tactic soon became ineffective.
Although the research institute continuously adjusted the formulation of the attractant, and changed from simply using a drug to induce live host infection, the situation, just like before, improved slightly only to immediately become ineffective due to the extremely rapid evolution of the alien species. Despite continued funding for related projects to this day, the results have been minimal. Today, the vast majority of alien species have become desensitized to pheromones.
However, the variants of Roderick Star are different.
Ren Yi didn't have any professional testing tools at hand, but fortunately, the system helped him. He quickly discovered that most of these mutants were individuals who were extremely sensitive to pheromones, and the rest also reacted to pheromones.
This explains Ren Yi's previous doubts about "how exactly they control the alien species".
Finding new methods to control alien species is difficult, but it is easy to learn from existing methods. They only need to find alien parent species that are sensitive to pheromones, cultivate them, and release them in large numbers on the planets they want to control. They can quickly turn a habitable planet into a sealed-off planet.
At first, Zhou Kai felt a chill run down his spine, but that fear quickly turned into anger. How many people die each year in the Alliance from the monsters?! There are soldiers who die on the front lines fighting against the monsters, and ordinary people who are attacked by them. Generations of people have built a line of defense with their blood and flesh, yet some people are raising monsters for their own profit?!
Ren Yi, on the contrary, remained very calm. He had seen similar things in every world.
Some people are willing to give their lives to protect others, but others will not hesitate to push their fellow human beings to their deaths for their own benefit. The more you see, the calmer you become, and you will understand that it is not worth wasting your emotions on a group of scum and degenerates.
Influenced by Ren Yi's attitude, Zhou Kai also regained some of his rationality.
He already had a guess in his mind, but he still asked, "What about us..."
Ren Yi gave a straightforward answer: "It's bait."
After the initial attractant failed, the research institute quickly discovered that the alien species had the ability to determine whether the pheromone source was a living being. Therefore, the later attractants were all carried by living beings. In the past, "living beings" referred to alien species that had been specially marked. However, alien species were not as useful and easy to control as humans.
Zhou Kai's face darkened, but he didn't ask the stupid question, "How did they inject the lure?" There were plenty of opportunities for nutrient solutions, water, and even the air they breathed on the way to Rhodes. Even the starship they left behind was probably a deliberately chosen type with insufficient passenger capacity, used to incite internal strife and buy time; the starship itself was probably also broken.
Zhou Kai recalled what Ren Yi had just said and had to change his wording from "probably" to "definitely"—that starship must be bad.
To take it even further, once inside, lock the interior from the inside out, turning the people inside the starship into living bait in a "cage." Until the ship's materials are destroyed, the people inside can only live in constant fear of being surrounded by aliens. Under that kind of pressure, they would either die or go insane.
Zhou Kai “…!”
Thinking about this, he finally couldn't help but swear.
It didn't take long to explain the situation, but it took Zhou Kai a long time to calm himself down before he finally remembered to ask, "Where are we going?"
Ren Yi: "..."
Good heavens, she doesn't even know where they're going, yet she dares to follow him.
Ren Yi later realized that this person had trusted him too much.
Even Ren Yi, after noticing Luo Daixing's situation, couldn't help but confirm it several times. As a result, Zhou Kai didn't even have a single doubt about such sensational news and just believed it.
Ren Yi couldn't help but glance at the person next to him with an indescribable expression, noticing their excessively tall stature and well-developed limbs.
While most alien species lack intelligence, humans cannot! At least they shouldn't!!
Furthermore, Ren Yi had to wonder if there was some serious problem within the alliance that had led to this person being sent undercover to gather intelligence. Or perhaps he had offended someone and was deliberately thrown into this situation?
While Ren Yi was deeply worried about the state of the alliance, on the other hand, at their destination, some people were also sighing and lamenting.
Lando sighed.
Another sigh, even louder than before, reached his ears. Riesle gripped the stylus in his hand, his brow twitching involuntarily. He seriously considered whether to change rooms to continue working, but quickly dismissed the tempting idea—if this bastard beside him were so easy to get rid of, he wouldn't be Lando.
After a brief internal struggle, Risel finally looked up from his documents and asked with great difficulty, "What's wrong?"
The perfunctory tone was so strong that it practically screamed "Say what you have to say and get out of here!"
Lando, seemingly oblivious to the impatience on the other end, sighed again before slowly saying, "While 'persistence' is a good quality, I still prefer a more pragmatic little guy."
Risle knew who he was referring to.
He hadn't forgotten the interested boy Lando had met in Agab. He was the one Lando had ever shown the most patience and indulgence towards, and Lando had confidently declared that the boy would come after him.
Risel didn't doubt Lando's judgment, but at this moment he spoke with unusual coldness and ruthlessness, "He might already be dead."
They both knew the situation on Roderick better than anyone. Based on that fleeting glimpse they'd seen in Agab, Risel didn't think the boy could survive the next day.
“You underestimate him.” Lando, however, didn’t seem to care at all, appearing even more confident than Ren Yi himself. “He’s the kind of guy who can get me excited.”
Risel paused for a moment and said nothing.
He didn't doubt Lando's judgment, but judging from his expression, it seemed more like he thought this "younger brother" would eventually do something stupid.
Lando said that because he had left his contact information with Ren Yi.
With the system in place, Ren Yi's quantum computer was basically just for show, because he hardly ever used it. He didn't even notice when it was hacked, and when he did, he simply destroyed it physically.
As things stand, Ren Yi's situation is not too bad. The two of them managed to escape the encirclement of the alien species and are taking a break for now.
At this moment, Zhou Kai's angry and frustrated expression had completely vanished. He was full of excitement, showing no trace of the fatigue he had felt after piloting his mech out of the alien encirclement for several hours on high alert.
He stared intently at Ren Yi, impatiently asking, "Are you an observer? How did you do that just now?... No! That doesn't matter!! Do you have a regular partner? If not, what do you think of me?"
The standard configuration of the Alliance-type mechs is two-person control: a primary pilot who is responsible for operating the mech, and a co-pilot, who is responsible for observing the surrounding environment, analyzing the situation, and issuing action instructions.
Zhou Kai is a rare mech pilot capable of soloing both observation and control, and he does it quite well. Although, according to his captain, his instincts are more like those of a wild animal than "observation" (was Zhou Kai complimenting him?). He has worked with other observers before, but there's always an awkward feeling. The most common situation is that the data his partner provides conflicts with his intuitive judgment. Rationally, Zhou Kai knows he should trust his partner, but his body instinctively acts on his own, and he has to forcefully correct himself midway. The final result is naturally disastrous, successfully completing the "1+1 is less than 0.5" inequality, making it impossible to waste resources on him.
But the person next to me is different!
To be honest, Zhou Kai didn't think much about it at first. After all, he couldn't just throw the person out of the mecha and let them walk through the alien encirclement on their own. That would be forcing the person to die. Of course, he had to get the person onto the mecha.
These mercenary mechs didn't have the observation pods specially designed by the Alliance (it's easy to imagine how difficult it is to gain the complete trust of these desperate men; they don't have any comrades-in-arms to share life and death with). When Zhou Kai called the man up, he simply made room for him at the edge of his cockpit so that the man could stay put.
When Ren Yi first gave him a reminder, Zhou Kai didn't think much of it and even thanked him. But as the "reminders" became more and more frequent, the sentences shorter and the wording more concise and professional, Zhou Kai finally realized that this guy was just an observer!
But this temporary partner was completely different from before. Zhou Kai had never experienced such smooth and seamless cooperation. He eventually gave up thinking altogether, simply doing whatever the other person said. This even boosted his reaction speed to a new level—the "brainless joy" is beyond your imagination!
Because the coordination was so smooth, Zhou Kai still felt a sense of unreality even after escaping the encirclement of the aliens. "That's it? We're out already?"
After hearing Ren Yi's explanation, Zhou Kai, though he didn't say it, felt that he probably wouldn't be able to get out.
That was an encirclement by alien species, and he was the only combatant on this side (at that time, he hadn't included Ren Yi in his calculations, only thinking that he was a weak intelligence agent), and that's how he got out.
While a large part of the reason was that the alien species were attracted by the lure and had no intention of wasting time fighting, that didn't stop them from grabbing some easy snacks along the way. In any case, this thrilling escape experience was enough for him to brag about for a long time when he got back.
However, at this moment, Zhou Kai's mind was not on how to embellish (the excitement of his experience today was already quite thrilling without any embellishment) to boast about his day. Right now, only three words were on his mind.
—Observer!
Judging from how smoothly they coordinated today, this person is practically his destined observer.
They are a fixed pair who can share a "wife" (bhi)!!
Ren Yi, who was resting with a pale face next to him, turned his head and met a pair of eyes that were so bright they seemed to glow green. The other person stared straight at him without even blinking.
Ren Yi: "..."
He vaguely felt like he was a bone being eyed by a dog, with more meat than bone, and a bite would be delicious.
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