The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 709

Chapter 709: Ambush

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the war-torn city, a small team of mercenaries and a “civilian” weaved through the streets under the cover of surrounding buildings. They avoided the hot zone where sporadic gunshots were occasionally heard. Their route seemed to be safe, at least for the time being.

Nolan glanced over her shoulder at the “civilian”, who had been carrying the dead blonde girl on his back for quite a distance on foot. He did not fall behind at all. She wondered what fuelled his tenacity. Was it his physical strength, or determination? Or was she to blame it on this troubled world?

“I thought he wouldn’t even make it through one kilometer,” a mercenary recruit who reclaimed weapons from the dead soldiers whispered to his companion. “Tsk, I lost. I owe you.”

His companion muttered, “Speaking of the girl, she looks like a second-generation Evolved. This is the first time I have seen a Natural having a relationship with a second-generation Evolved.”

Nolan gave the two men a reproving stare. “Shut up and hurry up,” she chided.

Meanwhile, Hao Ren, who appeared silent, was actually talking with his MDT. The MDT was giving his two cents about the gossip. “This isn’t the first time you’ve gotten involved in gossip. Remember the pot in your house, and what Hessiana thought about you? You still think you’re so innocent?”

The MDT was such an annoyance. Hao Ren did not want to argue with it. “Cut the cackle, would you? You better go and figure out what’s wrong with you.”

“I’ve tried. Nothing’s come up,” the MDT was rather frank. “I’m a logical machine, built to run quantifiable data. For intuitive stuff, you should look for Lily—she has an imaginative mind at least.”

Hao Ren sighed internally. “It’s either you’ve met with some interference and turned into this image while entering the Plane of Dreams, or you’re having a walk-in where your thoughts possessed another person here. Looks like the latter is more probable.”

Before the discovery of the Tannagost rift, they had to enter the Plane of Dreams through dreams. They had conducted many studies on this. When a spiritual body entered the Plane of Dreams, the physical body remained in the Surface World; it would create a phenomenon similar to an avatar, which was what seemed to be happening to the MDT. The image of an avatar was usually dependent on self-cognition. So, a schizophrenic person who entered the Plane of Dreams through dreaming may not recognize himself or herself. But Hao Ren did not think that an MDT was capable of schizophrenia. Even if it could, there was no way the MDT could turn up as a blonde, not to mention a dead one.

Judging from all the above, the chances of a “walk-in” was more probable. Perhaps the moment the MDT entered the world, the blonde happened to have just died and there happened to be some kind of resonance between the two… Was it not written in the book?

The MDT thought for a moment and said, “It’s all speculation. There’s no data to back that up. I don’t work in a subjective way. All I know is that something’s wrong; I’m still unable to perceive things and move. This body is useless…”

“Nonsense. Putting Windows into your brain, yet you expect it to run properly? You should already e grateful you can still bicker with me.” Hao Ren apparently had more to grumble about than the MDT. “Don’t even let me begin with the weight that I have to carry on my back! It’s not like I can simply shove you in my front pocket or the Dimensional Pocket in front of so many people…”

No one realized he was talking with the MDT telepathically. Ulyanov turned his head and looked curiously at the man who had been “quiet” along the way. “You were planning to go through the Lawless District into Ground Zero, or Black Street?”

Hao Ren had no idea what those places were. But he also could not appear too ignorant, so he asked back, “What’s the situation in the two places?”

“They’re not places that you would want to go,” another mercenary chimed in. “Ground Zero is a little better, and someone’s managing the city. Right now, the Evolved are in charge, but the Naturals can still survive. However, getting in is a problem. Unless you have money or skills, they’ll find fault with you. But if you can fight, you can join their city guards. Black Street is laxer than Ground Zero; anyone can enter but how long you can survive depends on your luck. The Naturals and the Evolved have little difference; their lives are cheap in there.”

Then Ulyanov added, sounding sullen, “By the way, we ‘grey foxes’ are doing business in Black Street.”

“I suggest you go to Zero City,” Nolan said in front without looking back. “You won’t survive more than three days in Black Street; your gold will cost you your life. But you can hand over all your property to the city management committee in Zero City and in return, you should be able to get the right to live for three years. In three years, you should be able to find a way out by then.”

Hao Ren tried to digest what he had heard. In his mind, he outlined the map of the power distribution in the nearby area and the status quo of that world. But in Ulyanov’s eyes, Hao Ren’s silence meant another thing. The soldier patted Hao Ren on the shoulder. “Get a grasp of reality. After crossing the Grey River, you have to play by the rules.”

Nolan suddenly stopped in front. She signaled the mercenaries behind her to be on guard. They quickly hid behind a partly collapsed concrete wall. From behind the ruins, Hao Ren saw distorted air in the open space not far ahead. He focused his eyes and could now tell that the distorted air was actually a layer of optical disguise.

Nolan half crawled in the shadow, her hand pressing the comm in her ear as if she was talking to someone. A moment later, she motioned everyone to relax as she stepped out of the shadow and waved in the direction of the open space before her.

The optical camouflage above the open space disappeared like a ring of water curtains falling to the ground. A large armored truck then appeared in front of everyone’s eyes. Hao Ren quickly noticed that the front of the truck had the same insignia as the one on Nolan’s uniform. It looked like this was the extraction team.

“Follow me.” Nolan gestured with her hand while she moved out in front. Right when Hao Ren was about to get out, his battle-hardened intuition suddenly sounded an alarm!

“Ambush!” He and Nolan almost shouted in unison. As soon as their shouts trailed off, gunshots were heard!

Bullets flew in from all directions from nearby buildings without warning. The intense gunfire sounded like torrential rain. The mercenaries quickly came to their senses and scrambled for cover. Nolan was far too out in the open. There was no way she could make it back. She clenched her teeth and quickly ran towards the armored truck. It seemed like she wanted to use the truck as cover.

Hao Ren had put down the “corpse” on his back and was waiting for an opportunity to fight back. At that moment, he suddenly saw the truck door opened from the corner of his eyes. An arm stuck out, and it was pointing a gun at Nolan.

In a split second, Hao Ren took out a hard object from the Dimensional Pocket and threw in the truck’s direction, knocking off the pistol. Nolan fired a shot and killed the enemy instantly before she jumped into the truck like an agile monkey. Ear-shattering gunfire and explosions pierced through the air. Judging from the situation, Hao Ren decided to tuck away his psionic gun and plasma spear because they were too eye-catching for the occasion. Soon after, he snuck out towards a nearby building. Ulyanov shouted from the back, “What are you doing?”

Hao Ren did not reply. He half crept, then disappeared in the shadow of a building.

A moment later, there was a scream before an enemy sniper was thrown off the top of a building, and died instantly.

Hao Ren poked his head out from the edge of the roof as he beckoned to the mercenaries, wondering if it was within the limit of what a human should be able to perform…

Ulyanov looked in horror and could not believe that Hao Ren was actually a civilian. At the same time, a sound was heard coming from the open space. The roof of the truck rose up slowly as a weapon rose from below. Nolan was standing behind a heavy quad-barrelled gun and pointing it at the nearby buildings.

Nolan’s face lacked emotion as she pressed her finger on the “fire” button, emptying all the bullets in the quad-barrelled gun into the surrounding buildings.

Chapter 710: A War-Ravaged Land

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The short but brutal battle that ensued from the ambush finally ended. Realizing that they could not gain an upper hand, some of the enemy members retreated. Hao Ren returned to the mercenary group and saw Nolan jumping down from the truck, which was mounted with the heavy machine gun. The girl, who was seemingly just a teenager was still expressionless as if everything that just happened was just make-believe. She never once showed signs of panic or anger.

“Khiton’s a turncoat. He’s defected to the rangers,” Nolan informed her teammates about what unfolded on the truck. “It was my oversight.”

Hao Ren remembered the scene where she fired back with the rotary machine gun on the truck amid heavy enemy fire. She was brave but reckless, and she could have been killed by exposing herself in the rain of bullets. As an outsider, Hao Ren did not want to comment, so he just nodded with a wry smile. “You’re impressive.”

“Our leader is fearless on the battlefield. But she can always come out of it alive. It’s the luck of the grey fox,” Ulyanov said in a sullen voice.

Nolan shook her head. “There have been times when I wasn’t that lucky. You guys just don’t remember… Well, let’s not talk about this. Are you really a civilian?”

Nolan was, of course, talking to Hao Ren. As her voice trailed off, the mercenaries cast their suspicious eyes on Hao Ren. Though Hao Ren had not performed any superhuman maneuvers, to be able to sneak under the enemy’s nose and singlehandedly take out several armed soldiers was surreal enough. Ulyanov nodded at Nolan. “He knows how to fight, he knows how to advance using cover, and his movements are all very professional. He’s no rookie on the battlefield.”

“You really want me to explain… I can make a few excuses,” Hao Ren put his cards on the table, thinking that if worse came to worst, he could go alone anytime. “I don’t know how to tell you anyway.”

“Forget it. I’m not interested in your skills.” Nolan looked at Hao Ren for a while. She shook her head as she handed something to him. “Thank you for helping us. Take it. It’s your gold. You deserve it.”

Hao Ren openly took the gold. Then Nolan took out another god bar. “And this is the gold that you threw out… I’m curious about how rich you really are. Do you usually use gold bars as weapons?”

Hao Ren finally knew what kind of concealed weapon he had taken out from the Dimensional Pocket…

The mercenaries looked at Hao Ren like he was an extra-terrestrial creature. Unarmed and loitering in Lawless District without regard for his own safety, he was carrying around a quarter pound of gold, using them as currency and as weapons. Everyone thought that he was a money bag with no brain, but he took out several professional soldiers with his bare hands… Where did this freaking oddball come from? What was actually wrong with his brain?

Hao Ren knew that the more he explained the more trouble it would cause. Hence, he had better not say anything and just put on an innocent smile. He then bent over and picked up the blonde girl—the MDT’s temporary body. “Let’s get out of here quickly. It’s not safe here.”

“You’re still taking her with you?” Ulyanov asked, astonished.

Hao Ren nodded with a forced smile. “Of course. If I leave this fellow behind, it will annoy me to death.”

Nolan was wide-eyed, holding back the words “she’s dead”, which were already on the edge of her lips. Others also exchanged looks, probably with speculations on their minds like this man had probably gone mad.

The mercenaries took the truck and left the place with Nolan at the wheel. The truck was a modified armored carrier. As the heavy machine gun had risen to the roof, the cabin became very spacious. Hao Ren saw a body lying in the cabin, his brain splattered. It had to be Khiton, the traitor Nolan mentioned. Khiton was supposed to meet and extract them, but for some unknown reason, he hooked up with the enemy.

It seemed that the situation in Lawless District was more chaotic than imagined.

“The two recruits are dead,” Nolan’s voice came from the driver’s seat. “Khiton is also dead. We’ve suffered huge losses in other teams too. We have to find ways to get more recruits.”

“Tsk, I still like those two new recruits,” the only female mercenary in the team except Nolan said as she spat on the ground. “They were both good men… What a waste; I was thinking of getting laid with them tonight.”

Hao Ren choked, coughing uncontrollably. It seemed that this woman was quite open-minded.

Other than Nolan, who drove in front, there were only four mercenaries in the carriage. The two young recruits tasked with weapon retrieval from the battlefield were dead. Large-caliber firepower from the enemy hit them directly; the condition of their bodies was so bad that they were totally irrecoverable. The only thing recovered were their dog tags. The mercenaries talked about their dead comrades, other than a little forlorn and sad feeling, there was nothing much. To these people, death was commonplace especially on the battlefield of the chaotic Lawless District.

Hao Ren looked at Nolan through the bulletproof window, which separated the carriage and the driver. Something suddenly crossed his mind. He kicked Khiton’s body with his leg. “Why didn’t this traitor shoot us using the heavy machine gun on board? We would be dead if he did.”

Nolan lifted one hand, pulled her hair up from behind her head, and said without looking back. “All the heavy weapons in this vehicle require my physical connection to be operational.”

As she pulled up her long, gray hair, Hao Ren saw that the back of Nolan’s neck was inlaid with a mirror-like plate. There was a groove on the edge of the plate, suggesting that the p.

He remembered learning something about this world. So, he hesitantly asked, “Are you a second generation Evolved?”

“Don’t the schools of extremist Naturals teach this anymore?” Nolan’s voice sounded helpless. “Only the first generation of Evolved have such visible modification, the second generation of Evolved have the electronic parts implanted in their body as soon as they are born; it’s not visible from the outside.”

Ulyanov pointed at the dead body of the blonde girl beside Hao Ren. “Isn’t your girlfriend a second generation? Didn’t she tell you about it?”

“She’s not my girlfriend…” Hao Ren forced a smile on his face. “In fact… Well, think whatever you like. I’m confused too.”

The vehicle gradually left the ravaged city and entered the suburbs, which was even more battered. Through the narrow bulletproof side window, Hao Ren could see the deserted land; there were barely any plants left. The ground was full of pits and signs of corrosion, as though the place had once been bathed in thick acid. Looking at the destruction, he wondered how far the war had spread in the world. If words leaked by the mercenaries were anything to go by, he may not be able to find a single inch of land that war had not ravaged. Even the “peaceful city-states” where the common people lived in, only served as food-producing bases for a certain legion, surviving under the protection of the army.

Hao Ren felt something weighing down on his shoulders. He turned around to see that the blonde girl’s body had fallen on him, apparently due to the bumpy ride. He used his hands to hold the stranger whom others mistook as his lover. He felt a little emotional as he began to wonder about the girl whom the MDT was “parasitizing” of; what kind of person was she? Where did she come from? Why did she appear in this chaotic battlefield and how did she eventually die?

These were the only thoughts in his cranky mind.

“How long have we been ‘dreaming’?” Hao Ren telepathically asked in a casual manner. “Does the family know what’s going on here?”

“It’s been over four hours. Vivian just tried to wake you up, but I stopped her,” the MDT replied, sounding listless. It was probably bored being trapped in a stranger body. “You better stay a little longer to explore this place a little more. To be honest, you don’t want to disappear suddenly in front of these people, do you?”

The MDT still retained control of its own body in the Surface World when it entered the Plane of Dreams. Hence, it could also serve as parrot between both worlds.

“What’s your future plan?” Ulyanov’s voice suddenly interrupted Hao Ren’s thoughts.

Chapter 711: The Base

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Future plan?” Hao Ren turned to look at Ulyanov or more accurately, the helmet that covered his face. “I haven’t really thought about it. I’ll just take things as they come. Maybe I’ll find a place to settle down after all of this is over.”

Ulyanov cleared his throat and asked in a whisper, “Where did you learn your fighting skills?”

He thought that Hao Ren was just a wealthy, retarded civilian who lacked a sense of survival in the wasteland. But after witnessing his fighting skills, he began to have a keen interest in Hao Ren’s background. Without biochemical re-engineering and electronic aids, it was rare to gain combat strength more powerful than that of regular soldiers, even in Lawless District. Feeling Ulyanov’s curious eyes behind the full-face mask, Hao Ren tilted his head slightly. “I used to fight on the battlefield, but don’t ask why.”

“Mercenary?” Ulyanov sized him up. “You don’t smell like the regular forces.”

“Sort of,” Hao Ren said quietly, pretending to comb the girl’s blonde hair. He wanted to end the conversation. “I don’t want to talk about the past.”

Sitting across the carriage, the reticent Carl suddenly spoke in a gruff manner, “Ulyanov, you talk too much.”

The armored vehicle moved along the deserted and vast wilderness. Man-made structures finally appeared ahead. Hao Ren peeked through the side window and saw the cemented ground on both sides of the road. Half-fallen streetlights and electricity poles zoomed past the windows from time to time. He felt like he had returned to civilization. A screen at the front of the carriage suddenly lighted up, displaying the scene of the road ahead. Rows of factory-like buildings and huge puffs of smoke began to appear. Sandwiched between the tall buildings were a large number of simple, Lego-like houses.

Haze had engulfed the entire building complex, and smoke rose from the top of the town to the sky above, which was just as hazy. It seemed as if the polluting smoke from the factories had spread to the entire world. Ulyanov saw the situation outside and coughed instinctively. “It makes me sick just by looking at it.”

“You can still feel the haze in your throat?” His female teammate laughed. “I thought it’s just a prosthetic?”

“Vainesa, no one would take you as a dummy if you keep your mouth shut.” Ulyanov snorted, glaring at her behind the mask. He then turned to Hao Ren. “The area right ahead is part of Black Street, which basically relies on these factories. The factories provide electricity and products to Zero City, and Black Street’s laborers get food and medication in return. To tell you the truth, this place isn’t suitable for the rich like you. You better go to Zero City. After all, what you have is money.”

“You’ll quickly lose your money and life if you stay in Black Street,” the arrogant mercenary, Vainesa mocked Hao Ren. “The ‘rules’ of Black Street will get to you no matter how skillful you are. The lowlifes here have 10,000 tricks up their sleeves to set a simple-minded chap like you up.”

Hao Ren shrugged. It looked like he was just a typical stupid moneybag in the woman’s eyes, yet he did not try to explain himself. He just gazed out at the buildings coming up ahead. “Black Street… Isn’t it a street?”

“Of course not.” Ulyanov shook his head. “It can’t be helped that people who come here for the first time always mistake it for a street. Black Street is a relatively large town, about the size of a city. However, it was originally just a street. People here call it Black Street, but before the war, it was called New Bay… Now, not many people still remember the old name.”

“Only the old boys remember such things.” Vainesa spread out her arms and leaned back in her seat as she looked up at the roof. “New Bay, Broken Valley, Brightpearl City… New Ancar now exist only in history books. Probably even the history books will soon go extinct. But who cares?”

“Zero City isn’t far away from Black Street,” Ulyanov said to Hao Ren. “Our base is at the edge of Black Street. We can take you to the vicinity of Zero City, then you’re on your own.”

Hao Ren did not reply. He was pondering the matter in his mind. Nolan’s voice traveled from the front all of a sudden. “If you have no place to go, you can come to our place if you want.”

“Huh?” Hao Ren looked up at Nolan’s back in the cab. “You’ll let me in?”

“Although Zero City’s safer, it may not necessarily be suitable for you,” said Nolan. “They’ll take away all your property in exchange for just a few years of ‘civil rights’, and you’ll have to work like a dog for the city council in order to survive. The place is safe, but there’s nothing more other than that. I think… you don’t like that kind of life, do you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have fled the city of the Naturals.”

After discovering that Hao Ren could fight, the mercenary leader was eager to recruit him. This was a normal reaction given that her team was urgently in need of new blood. Even though Hao Ren wanted to investigate the situation in that world, he did not want to get himself on a leash by joining any groups, so he politely declined, “Never mind. I’m not interested in being a soldier.”

“Oh, is that so?” Nolan said casually, After that, she said no more.

“But I really have no place to go right now,” Hao Ren said, thinking he should find a place to stay. “Can I stay at your place temporarily? Of course, I’ll pay for it.”

He did not expect the mercenaries to welcome him, but Nolan’s reply surprised him. “You can stay for a few days, and I don’t need your money. You saved my life; treat it as an act of reciprocation.”

Hao Ren was a little surprised. “Isn’t your place a military garrison? Don’t you need to conduct background checks on outside visitors?”

Nolan waved her hand in front of the carriage window. “Do you want to live here?”

“Of course.”

“Do you want to kill me?”

“Why should I?”

“Then the background check is over.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

“How do you think I should investigate?” Nolan’s voice was still flat, but this time there was some slight sarcasm. “Ask you to fill up a questionnaire? Check your credentials? Check if you have any criminal history in the civil registry? Oh, come on! Forget that sh*t. This is Lawless District; most people just want to survive here. No one cares what you used to do as long as you don’t stab me in the back—even if it’s just temporary.”

Hao Ren was stunned, surprised that he had just found a place to stay in this world so quickly. It was a bit surreal.

Nolan did not speak again but continued to drive at ease. Soon, the armored truck arrived at the checkpoint in Black Street. After passing through several sentries, they finally arrived in front of an old barracks.

Hao Ren lifted the MDT (the corpse) and jumped out of the truck after the mercenaries. The filthy air around him choked him as soon as he was outside. The air quality in the place was even worse than the previous city ruins. It seemed that permanent haze shrouded the entire of Black Street. He coughed, licked his lips, and found that the air there was strangely “chewy” in a way.

A few soldiers were walking around the area between the barracks. Some buildings had the grey fox insignia painted on their outer walls with cheap paint. This was where Nolan’s small team was stationed. Although there were sentry posts around the base, there was no sign of the usual serious security measures, which a military base should have had. It was more like an armed refugee camp.

Here, fighting was not a remote matter; it was everyday life, hence the scene before him.

Two mercenaries, who looked like commanding officers, stepped forward to greet Nolan. Nolan casually talked to them, citing the ambushes and losses suffered that day. Then she ordered for Khiton’s body to be dragged out. “Dry him and hang the body outside at the intersection. Spray a grey fox mark on it and make it more visible. I don’t want any of the new recruits being bought over by the Rangers again. There’s nothing stupider than defecting to other mercenary groups or the Rangers.

The two officers immediately ordered the soldiers to carry out the task. Before Khiton’s body was taken away, Nolan bent down and regretfully said to the traitor whose face had almost been completely blown off, “What a pity. You used to be a poet, but now, you’ve become a…”

Hao Ren, who was shocked by young Nolan’s ruthlessness a moment ago, was now surprised. “Are there still poets in this era?”

Ulyanov sulkily said, “Sometimes, our boss may say some baffling things—Khiton grew up in a slum. How could he have learned poetry?”

Hao Ren sighed. Nolan turned around and said, “All right, people. Go back and get some rest. You… Hao Ren, right? You follow Ulyanov. There’s a room next to his. It used to be Khiton’s room. Now you can use it.”

Hao Ren nodded and turned to leave. However, Ulyanov could not help but say, “I don’t mind a person in the next room, but the body…”

Hao Ren was at a loss for words.

He looked down at the body in his arms. The MDT-turned-corpse was still as lifeless as before. It appeared there was little sign of revival.

Of course, from a biological perspective, it was impossible for “her” to move again.

Chapter 712: My PDA Turned Into a Dead Girl and I’m Panicking

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hao Ren looked down at the blonde girl in his arms. Her body was cold and unresponsive. He shook her gently, and the latter’s arm hung down lifelessly. Hao Ren sighed. “…She’s not moving.”

Even Nolan, who had always maintained a stone face seemed unable to bear with the scene. She went over to him, lowered her head and said in a low voice, “I understand how you feel, but she’s really dead, and we must bury her. This is for both of your sakes. You’ll drive yourself crazy if you don’t let go.”

Hao Ren was in a state of panic, almost tearful. But he could not cry, lest all hell broke loose. He could not tell the others “because my tablet’s possessing this girl, I have to hold on to her like I’m a necrophile”. In a worst-case scenario, he would have to accept being mistaken as someone going insane due to grief. He had no choice but to say, “Stop persuading me. I really can’t put her down…”

The MDT was still being b*tchy though. “This is what you get for throwing me like a brick. Talk about karma!”

As far as the misunderstanding was concerned, Hao Ren could have done nothing to let them think otherwise. Nolan looked at him sympathetically, her eyes full of compassion. “You… Well, Ulyanov, please bear with it for now. I’ll ask the ‘doctor’ to go over, at least to do something about this… girl.”

Hao Ren guessed that they were talking about embalming the corpse. However, he found the subject too strange, so he said nothing. He followed the dejected Ulyanov and left. While he was still not far away, he heard another mercenary talking to Nolan. The mercenary apparently did not understand Nolan’s decision. “Boss, are you really letting him stay among us with a corpse?”

Nolan’s voice was listless. “It won’t be long. I can tell that he’ll leave.”

The mercenary still did not give up. “But… Boss, you may not like it but I’d still like to say, I haven’t seen anything so strange in my life—”

“That’s enough,” said Nolan, interrupting her subordinate. “You haven’t seen such things before but I have. I’ve seen far crazier things. He’s already come to this state; let him stay in denial for a moment. In times like this, being able to dream is also kind of a blessing.”

Hao Ren carried the MDT as he staggered along, tears rolling down in his heart. He knew exactly what kind of image he had in the eyes of the outsiders—an insane, paranoid, schizophrenic man and a necrophile in a tragic love story…

He could not help but salute Ulyanov. “Sincerely, you are a man.”

The act of accepting a dead body lying next door was not for the faint-hearted. The helmet-man had to be extremely gracious.

But little did Hao Ren expect Ulyanov to nod back at him in admiration. “No. You are. I never thought this world could still have a man like you. You are a real man… She must have been happy when she was alive.”

Hao Ren’s face began to twist like a stir-fry. He ground his teeth and said to Ulyanov, “Let me tell you a story…”

“I’m all ears.”

“I have a tablet computer; it’s cocky, b*tchy, and annoying like no other. One day it suddenly got its wires crossed and it ‘walked-in’ a blonde girl whom I’ve never met. Now I’m running around with this dead girl, being seen as mad, paranoid, schizophrenic, and necrophilous. But actually… Oh, please don’t go away!”

It turned out that no amount of explanation could clear the air.

Ulyanov led Hao Ren to the room assigned to him. It was a small, metal-cast room, which was silver-gray in color. Almost all buildings in the barracks consisted of these prefab “iron boxes”—monotonous and stress-inducing but much better than the makeshift iron-sheet slums in Black Street. The small room was plainly furnished with only a simple bed that was foldable into the wall, and a table as well as a chair that were also foldable into the floor. On the table were some personal effects of the previous occupant, and in the corner of the room was a small box. Other than that, there was nothing else.

It seemed that the furniture in the entire room could be folded into the four walls. It was something like a refugee camp or an alien cabin, unlikely designed for ground forces. For ordinary usage, the foldable design seemed unnecessary.

Ulyanov noticed Hao Ren’s curiosity. He sighed. “These ‘grey boxes’ were all dug out from the space base in Old Alto. They should have been launched into Torm to become the first extra-terrestrial colonial city of humankind. But after the war, everything was destroyed, including the space base and the naive scientists… Now, only these grey boxes are left, occupied by those poor guys who’ll never get to see the stars again.”

Scratching his shiny black visor, Ulyanov waved his hand and said, “Let’s get inside. I’ll be next door.”

After Ulyanov left, and Hao Ren dropped the MDT-turned-girl (the dead version) on the bed. He checked the room to make sure there was nothing suspicious. Khiton, who once lived there, seemed to be a very tidy person. The room was spotless, and everything was neatly arranged. It was hard to imagine that an underbred mercenary once stayed there. Hao Ren came to the metal folding table and saw an old diary on it. He picked it up.

Nolan did not seem to be worried that an outsider would steal the secrets of the mercenary forces, or that there would be confidential information in Khiton’s room. Either way, she did not send people to clean up his personal effects in advance. Hao Ren could now peek at what the mutinous mercenary left behind.

Unfortunately, the diary was filled with some boring content of the monotonous and routine life of a mercenary. The records of the diary were also intermittent, and the ugly handwriting gave the impression that the author hated writing the diary but forced himself to do so. Hao Ren could not help thinking of what Ulyanov had said: Khiton grew up in the slums and he did not get much education.

The MDT sensed what Hao Ren was doing through their mental connection, and it was puzzled. “What does a mutinous mercenary like him have that would interest you?”

“I’m just bored.” Hao Ren flipped through the diary quickly, and came to the first few pages. “I just want to know about this world…”

It was mentioned at the beginning of the diary that Nolan had recommended the author to develop the habit of writing a diary so that he could leave behind a memory of his existence in the world.

“Khiton seemed to be a loyal man a long time ago,” Hao Ren said, frowning. “He started this diary on Nolan’s suggestion. He was an unrefined man who had never been to school. He didn’t like it but because of Nolan, he insisted on writing a journal for a year.”

“But in the end, he turned,” the MDT muttered in his mind. “Carbon-based creatures are fickle.”

Hao Ren did not say anything but quickly flipped the diary to the last few pages. He discovered that the author had displayed nonsensical behavior in the last few pages of his diary. Khiton mentioned mad dreams, endless pain, and living a lie. He appeared to believe that he was stuck in a huge fraud, and at the center of the fraud was Nolan, the leader of the “Grey Fox”. These parts of the text were confusing to read, even the grammar was upside down, to the point of being barely legible.

In the last few paragraphs of the diary, Khiton wrote in a lunatic tone.

“…It’s all a scam. All fake. The entire world, most of my life, all fake! This world is certainly not this. There is a problem somewhere… I wake myself up like I wake up from bed but I want to look for a way… Perhaps Nolan is the key. She seems to know the real situation of the world, so she is key! I don’t have much time…”

This was the last piece of information that the mercenary Khiton left behind before the mutiny.

Hao Ren was puzzled. He thought of the First Born or brain monster’s mental interference in humans, yet Khiton’s situation did not seem to be the same. If the guardian had made Khiton mentally deranged and caused him to defect, then he should not have been the only one affected. His partners who were with him would also not be spared.

He shook his head and threw the diary aside before he turned to look at the other thing on the table.

It looked like a personal computer or another electronic device. It did not matter what it was, it just seemed like something he could use to search for information.

“MDT, help me hack into it…” By habit, Hao Ren wanted to let the MDT hack the database in the device. However, he quickly saw the young girl’s body lying on the bed and he instantly lost heart. “Dang it! Things always get botched up at the critical moment… I’ll do it myself.”