Jiang Lijin had placed the bouquet of star-crest flowers from last night in a hydroponic dish by her bed. Their faint blue glow illuminated the room all night, keeping the doubts churning in her mind until the early hours of the morning.
When she went downstairs, the scene in the living room was nothing short of a feast for the eyes.
Chiron sat at the far end of the dining table. A pair of translucent holographic glasses rested on the bridge of his nose. His slender fingers swiped rapidly across a virtual screen as he browsed the morning news, a white porcelain coffee cup resting close at hand.
Xiao Bai stood dutifully beside the table. Its height was just a bit taller than the tabletop. Its robotic arm held a thermostatic coffee pot; every time Chiron took a sip, it would pour a little more to refill his cup.
Baal sat in a single sofa by the window, methodically cutting the bacon and fried eggs on his plate. His brow was relaxed, showing that he was quite satisfied with the chef's skills.
As for Tinia, he was standing at the entryway with a cold expression, giving instructions to the male butler.
"Morning, Sister!" Tinia was always the first to catch the sound of her footsteps.
His expression shifted instantly. Leaving the butler behind, he walked over, naturally wrapped an arm around her shoulders to guide her to the dining table, and pulled out a chair for her.
"I just had the kitchen prepare a special nutritious meal. The temperature is perfect, hurry up and try it!"
Chiron took off his holographic glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. His gaze swept over, and he gave Jiang Lijin a gentle smile without saying a word.
Baal, on the other hand, put down his knife and fork, his golden slit pupils staring fixedly at the hand Tinia had resting on Jiang Lijin's shoulder.
Tinia noticed Baal's gaze but didn't care in the slightest.
...
After breakfast, the three of them headed straight to the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
There were two main items on today's itinerary: Baal's toxicology analysis and Jiang Lijin's routine mental sea checkup.
Baal's examination could be handled in the regular disciplinary building at the front of the Academy.
Jiang Lijin's case was different. As the only currently known 3S-grade female, her mental sea data was classified as top secret. Just like the first time he brought her here, Chiron led her through numerous security checkpoints, walking all the way until they reached the deepest core laboratory.
This place was extremely close to the physical carrier of the Main Brain.
Jiang Lijin lay down in the testing pod and closed her eyes.
She knocked on Xiao Yi in her mind: [Hey, we've arrived. Weren't you going to use the Main Brain for practice? Come out and show me what you've got.]
Dead silence.
Jiang Lijin sneered silently. This useless little thing was bragging again, as expected.
Half an hour later, the examination was over.
Chiron sat in his private office holding two reports, his expression looking rather grim.
"Ms. Jiang's results are the same as her last checkup; her mental sea has expanded. Everything else is normal, no problems at all." He handed the first report to Jiang Lijin, then flicked the other thin sheet of paper in his hand, looking at Baal who was leaning by the door. "But your report has a massive problem."
Baal stood up straight. "Has the toxin spread?"
"No, it's that we couldn't detect anything at all." Chiron slapped the report onto the desk. "All your indicators are absolutely perfect. Even the toxicology experts out front privately asked me if the military's Commander-in-Chief had too much free time on his hands, coming to the Academy for a physical. And the blood sample cultures I sent back earlier yielded the exact same result."
Baal frowned.
Jiang Lijin also felt that something was very wrong. She had seen Baal's berserk state with her own eyes, and she had even sensed a level of mania that was different from usual when she purified him.
"Where exactly did the poison come from?" Chiron tapped the desk, an unusually ugly expression appearing on his normally gentle face.
Baal stayed silent for a few seconds. "Kieran poisoned me. But the source is highly likely to be the Zerg."
As soon as these words were spoken, the temperature in the office instantly dropped a few degrees.
The interstellar beastmen and the Zerg had been fighting for hundreds of years. The Academy's database contained all known Zerg toxins. Now, a new type of toxin had emerged that could evade all instrument detection and directly erode a male's mental sea. What did this mean?
Had the Zerg evolved?
This was no longer just about the safety of a single military officer; it was a sword hanging over the head of the entire beastman race!
"This matter must be reported immediately." Chiron made a prompt decision and reached for his communicator. "I need to contact the Imperial Royal Family and the Federal Parliament to convene a joint consultation with all the top experts."
A hand clamped down on his wrist. It was Baal.
"No!"
Chiron shook off his hand. "Are you crazy? This is a new Zerg weapon! If we don't report it, are we just going to wait until they attack the capital star?"
"And after reporting it, then what?" Baal retorted. "Lock me up in an isolation room? Draw my blood for testing every day and study me like a lab rat?"
"It's to find an antidote!"
"Before that happens, the military will strip me of my command." Baal stared straight into Chiron's eyes, refusing to yield an inch. "What is the situation on the frontlines right now? Dean Chiron, you came back from the front with me, so you can't be unaware, right? The Zerg have been restless at the border recently. If I'm suspended, who will take my place?"
"The Parliament will naturally send someone."
"Those politicians who only know how to sit in their offices and drink tea?" Baal sneered coldly. "If they go to the frontlines, what can they do besides getting themselves killed? By the time they finish bickering and reach a decision, the border defense line will have long been torn to shreds by the Zerg."
Chiron was left speechless. He couldn't refute it, but feeling that the matter was of grave importance, he continued to persuade him.
"Baal, your current condition is completely unsuited for the frontlines. You can't control your mania; forcing yourself onto the battlefield will only result in mutual destruction!"
The two top-tier males refused to give way. In the cramped office, two powerful bursts of mental energy began to leak out unconsciously, making the air feel thick and heavy.
"Alright, both of you shut up." Jiang Lijin raised her hand and knocked on the table, and the two streams of mental energy were instantly retracted without a trace.
Her gaze swept back and forth between their faces before finally settling on Chiron. "Give him a few more days. He's staying at our house for the next few days anyway. If he really goes crazy, I'm there."
Chiron's brows knitted into a tight knot, but when he spoke to Jiang Lijin, his tone returned to its usual gentleness. "Even if I don't report it, given Baal's current condition, the higher-ups will notice sooner or later."
"We'll stall for as many days as we can." Jiang Lijin rubbed her aching temples, feeling like troublesome matters were piling up one after another. "Investigate the source first. We'll deal with it when we can truly hide it no longer."
Chiron looked at her and finally let out a sigh of compromise. "Alright, I'll listen to you."
Seeing that Jiang Lijin had spoken, Baal restrained his imposing aura and found a stool to sit on. Chiron sighed and pulled up Baal's data again to start comparing it.
Just then, a burst of intermittent static sounded in Jiang Lijin's mind.
[Zzz... Zzzt... Host... Can you hear me...]
Jiang Lijin teased inwardly: [Oh, you haven't crashed yet? Not bad.]
Xiao Yi gave a guilty, dry laugh: [Hehe... That Main Brain's firewall is too freakish. With my current access level, I can't break in at all. I need a few more upgrades. However, now that we're a bit further from the core zone, the signal has finally recovered.]
It paused for a moment, its tone becoming slightly odd: [Host, there's something puzzling. Although I didn't breach the Main Brain just now, I brushed against its data stream on the periphery. The logic and operation of that underlying code... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before... It's very familiar.]
Jiang Lijin raised an eyebrow: [You are just a baby system fresh out of the factory. Aside from this trashy novel, where else have you been? Where would you have seen so many high-level data streams?]
Xiao Yi was also puzzled: [Exactly, I find it strange too. There are clearly no relevant records in my storage, but that sense of familiarity just will not go away. It is almost as if... I used to be a part of it.]
This speculation was a bit too bold. Jiang Lijin did not reply, choosing instead to suppress this doubt in the bottom of her heart for now.
In the afternoon, the examinations came to a close. The three of them left the Academy of Sciences and took Chiron's hovercar back to the villa.
The hovercar glided smoothly along the skyway. Chiron set the vehicle to auto-cruise from the driver's seat, while Baal sat in the back, resting with his eyes closed.
Jiang Lijin leaned back in the passenger seat, holding a secret little meeting with Xiao Yi in her mind.
[Xiao Yi, can you scan the poison in Baal's body?]
Xiao Yi immediately entered work mode: [Scanning... Beep. Host, even with my current database, I cannot provide the exact composition of the toxin. However, it definitely carries the unique biological signatures of the Zerg.]
[Which means it is highly likely to be a Zerg poison,] Jiang Lijin analyzed. [But if even the Academy of Sciences cannot identify it, there are only two possibilities. Either the Zerg have undergone a leap in evolution, or someone is behind the scenes helping them develop this new type of poison.]
Xiao Yi agreed: [If it is the second option, that would be terrifying. The Zerg themselves lack high-level intelligence. Aside from the Broodmother and high-tier Zerg who possess some cognitive abilities, the rest rely purely on killing instincts. If someone is colluding with them...]
Jiang Lijin could not help but complain: [I have to say, these interstellar beastmen are quite ridiculous. With such advanced technology and mechas flying everywhere, they have been fighting a bunch of brainless giant bugs for hundreds of years and still have not finished them off? Are they just farming for experience points?]
Xiao Yi quickly explained: [Host, you are underestimating the Zerg. The Broodmother builds her nest in highly polluted radiation zones deep within the universe. The beastmen would probably be driven into a fatal rampage by the pollution before they even got close to the central area.]
[Moreover,] Xiao Yi's voice turned serious, [as long as the Broodmother does not die, she can hatch tens of thousands of worker and soldier bugs a day. This is a war of attrition!]
Hearing this, Jiang Lijin fell deep into thought.
Highly polluted zones, rampages, reproductive capabilities.
How did Kieran, a beastman, manage to get his hands on this new type of Zerg poison?
