After he dealt with Carol, Ye Zhizhou finally set his eyes on Audrey.
Audrey's request to visit the Empire came within two hours after the preliminary investigation data was sent to the Federation. Ye Zhizhou was very satisfied with this speed. A week later, Audrey secretly arrived at the Empire's military headquarters, and privately talked with Clay for two hours, before returning to the Federation.
[The probability of Audrey and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 50%, may the host persist in his efforts.]
Ye Zhizhou apathetically glanced at the notification and then sighed in his heart. He shouldn't have run to Professor Bell to amuse himself because he felt bored. He really shouldn't have started talking about genetic modification with the other, and he really, really shouldn't have mentioned that he discovered the matter of Zerg parasitism.
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"There's no time for you to sit around being dazed." Professor Bell leaned over while holding a specimen and tapped on the giant block of a book in Ye Zhizhou's hands. They solemnly said, "Your fundamental knowledge reserve is too weak, so hurry up and learn! We don't have much time."
Where did the 'we' come from? He clearly hadn't been allowed to join the project of breaking through the Zerg parasitism... Ye Zhizhou silently swallowed his refuting words, bowed his head, and began to earnestly read the book. Shortly after, he decided to multitask and also wildly flipped through the system data.
Professor Bell and their team were indeed putting in all their efforts, but it wasn't enough. There was no way to trace the Zerg parasites. It was still unknown exactly how many people in the Empire had already been infested by the Zerg parasites. At this moment, they still hadn't found a way to quickly identify the people that had already been parasitized by the Zergs. At present, the only known clues were that the person hosting a Zerg parasite couldn't be born as an alpha, the host would be judged as an alpha based on pheromones, and that the host's spiritual strength and constitution ranks would suddenly increase in a short amount of time. These clues seemed both useful and not useful at the same time. If they didn't find a quick and effective way to screen out the Zergs as soon as possible, the future of the Empire and the Federation looked bleak.
Ye Zhizhou had gone through the entire plot more than ten times, but he didn't give up. He was willing to go through it 20 or even 30 more times.
The small mirror suddenly vibrated in his pocket and a weak light beam delivered an Anshen pill to him.
"Comforting me?" He took the pill and swallowed it. Afterwards, he put his pocket and pat the small mirror. "I'm truly not blaming you. Cheer up. We're good partners, aren't we?"
The little mirror lightly flip-flopped under his fingers, as if it was trying to rub against him.
"You're very useful, don't blame yourself. Although there are holes within the plot information, it's still very useful. You're my big golden finger. Cheer up." Ye Zhizhou said this as he gently touched the mirror while laughing. "And, Ned's flag was pulled out because of your help, right? Thanks to the pills you gave out, otherwise, we... Right, the pills!" He sprung up excitedly, pulled the small mirror out of his pocket, and kissed it hard. "Tongtian, you're my savior! Pills! Aren't Zergs so hard to deal with because their shells are hard, bulky, and poisonous? As long as they're Zergs, they must have poison on them! The people who have been parasitized by the Zerg will definitely have some traces of poison as well... Let's grind up a batch of Universal Qingwan pills! I don't believe that those Zerg parasites can hide their poison after eating those pills! Even if the Universal Qingwan pill can't expose them, there's still the Jiedu pill! The Beautiful Flowers Poison pill! Let's try our best, we can definitely find a pill that'll force the Zerg parasites living within the humans to expose themselves!"
The little mirror was so excited by Ye Zhizhou's kiss that it bounced around. Then, several beams of light popped out of it, each one containing a pill!
"Love you!" Ye Zhizhou smothered it with kisses once again, gathered the pills, and then excitedly ran towards Clay's office.
Professor Bell had come back from handling the specimens, glanced at the books on the ground, and then at the empty desk. They were furious. "Young people nowadays don't want to learn even if they're given the opportunity. Simply preposterous! Want to double major in genetic research? Fat chance! Completely no chance!"
In the monitoring room, a strong-looking bearded man stupidly smacked his mouth as he continued to bury himself in knitting... Just now, the imperial consort acted so crazily. He almost couldn't stop himself from notifying His Highness and the medical team... Good, good, the imperial consort was just driven mad by his studies. Aiyo, students these days were so pitiful... He had better just keep knitting.
The results of the physical examinations of all the military department members, along with some high ranking officials of the Empire had been reported, and there were no suspicious results. Clay frowned and leaned back on his chair, calmly analyzing the current clues as his hand unconsciously drummed on the chair's armrest.
"Clay!"
The office's door was suddenly pushed open, and then a familiar figure pounced on Clay. "I have good news to tell you!"
Clay's serious mood suddenly relaxed, his expression unconsciously softened, and he stretched out his arms to embrace the person that pounced on him. He let out a satisfied sigh. "You coming to my side is the best news." Without this person, he may have never awakened his spiritual power. Without this person, the Empire might've already been in danger. Without this person... How dull and uninteresting his life would've been.
"I'm talking about serious matters. Let go, let go." Clay's shoulder was patted and then his arm was pushed away, the body in his arms painstakingly trying to squirm out. Ye Zhizhou raised his head to look at Clay, with a hint of indulgence in his eyes. "It's useless saying these sweet words. You said that we can't sleep together, so we can't sleep together. You were the one who said that we should wait until I'm 20."
Clay looked into Ye Zhizhous eyes and couldn't help lifting his hand to gently poke at eyelids. "What's the good news? Say it." Others had always depended on him, but now, he was the one being indulged and spoiled by someone... How nice.
"Watch this." Ye Zhizhou fished a pill out of his pocket, crushed it, and then let Clay smell it. He excitedly said, "The reason why Zergs can change the pheromones and aptitude of their host body must definitely be because they injected something into their host's body... Anyway, I think that all the things from the Zergs are poisonous, so the thing they injected into the host body is definitely poisonous as well! This is a detoxification pill. We can make batches of it and give it to everyone. Using this, can't we determine if there's a Zerg parasite in their body? Isn't this good news?"
Clay stretched out his arms to pull Ye Zhizhou back into his embrace and tilted his head to rub against his ear. "This is really good news. Thank you, Xiao Zhou."
Ye Zhizhou hugged him back. He raised his hand to pat Clay's hair, which felt and looked amazing. He said with a smile, "The little piece of metal that I threw to Ned has some Zerg genes on it. I'll go to study that later and then figure out the applicable antidote pill. Don't worry too much, things will be solved soon. Trust me." After catching those Zergs, he'll invent the X2 type genetic modification fluid that was suitable for this world. This will allow the entire nation's constitution to increase. Fighting against the Zerg would be a trivial matter.
Clay felt the gentle caress at the back of his head and closed his eyes, smiling. Only this person, he'll never let go.
At last, the research had a direction to make a breakthrough. Professor Bell generously forgave Ye Zhizhou for running away from studying. After discussing the antidote pills with him, they gave him more learning tasks. Ye Zhizhou painfully but happily accepted the brick books he was given, and conscientiously dived into the ocean of knowledge. By studying the Zerg gene on the metal piece, he determined that the most suitable pill was still the Universal Qingwan Pill. Now that the pill had been determined, the recipe was written down. Next was the arduous task of finding ingredients with similar effects in this world.
After enduring for half a month, with dark circles under his eyes, he gathered all the necessary medicinal ingredients. He first tried to make a batch of pills by himself to ensure that the pill had an effect on the Zerg gene lingering on the metal piece. Subsequently, he localized the production method to something this world could do, before handing the pill creation method over to Clay.
"The detailed methods on how to make the pill is on this. Some of the medicinal ingredients are compounds. When making them, pay attention to the dosage. The person making it absolutely can't be careless about it." He hung onto Clay very weakly with drooping eyelids that were trying to close. "Remember to do a small-scale test first. If you find a suspected Zerg parasite within a body, please make sure to bring lots of samples back. I suspect that there's more than one kind of Zerg parasite... I'll make a less effective, universal version after. I hope we can uncover more Zergs with this... You need to also be careful. If you accidentally get poisoned by Zergs, you can take this pill..."
"Go to sleep." Clay lowered his head to block Ye Zhizhou's mouth, gently rubbing him. Then, he stroked his back soothingly. "You're too tired. Leave the rest to me."
Ye Zhizhou shifted a bit and finally closed his eyes, falling dead asleep.
Clay securely held him, softly nuzzling his chin against the top of Ye Zhizhou's head. "Xiao Zhou, I love you."
... Ye Zhizhou let out a quiet snore.
In the monitoring room, the bearded man's hands trembled, and he knocked over the basket of wool on the table. H-he seemed to have just seen His Highness smile; an extremely gentle smile at that. What the fuck! He suddenly also wanted to fall in love. What could he do?!
Summarized mini T/N note: It get's intense from here
After another two weeks, Ye Zhizhou returned to school. He immediately got knocked down by a pair of excited twins.
"Guys, calm down. The ground is so cold. Hurry and let me up!"
Chigita sat on top of Ye Zhizhou's legs and vigorously shook his head. "Not getting up! Quickly explain, where have you been for these past months? Your communicator wasn't on either. Both Anuot and I were worried to death!"
Anuot also sat on the ground, holding Ye Zhizhou's arm down, not refuting Chigita's words.
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These two people... Ye Zhizhou found it both moving and ridiculous. He jokingly waved and kicked them away before pulling out some gifts. "How could I open up my communicator when I went away to recuperate... Don't say that I didn't think about you guys. This here is a special edition mecha armor model from the military department. It's limited and can't even be bought. And here are specialty snacks. Of course, I haven't forgotten about Chigita's gaming console. How about it? You're moved, right?"
Anuot had already taken the mecha model and quickly entered his engrossed state; Chigita took the snacks and game console to the sofa and devoted himself to the game.
"......" Taking gifts and then ignoring the person, no decency!
After expressing his feelings of missing Ye Zhizhou, Chigita brought up some important business. "The school kept a make-up entry exam for your genetics research major. I'll also give you the notes that I took for the mecha manufacturing courses, remember to look at them later. Oh yes, we're going to have a new roommate. It's a sophomore who had to take a year off because they were ill. After returning at this time, there wasn't any space for them in the sophomore dorms, so they were assigned to our dorm."
"Ah, I see. That's good. Our dorm will become lively again." Of course, Ye Zhizhou had already known about this matter of the new roommate. In fact, he was the one who asked Clay to bring Inez to his side. The Zerg was too dangerous; he needed to keep a close watch on it.
"It doesn't matter whether it's lively or not. I just hope that this person is easy to get along with." Chigita said. His expression dimmed and he lowered his head to press on the gaming console a few times. "To be honest, as long as they have a good heart, it doesn't matter if their character is a bit eccentric. After all, it was fate that brought everyone to live together."
Anout, who was dismantling the model, lifted his head to look at Chigita and then patted him comfortingly.
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"I'm fine." Chigita shook off Anuot's hand and quickly cheered up. "Soon, it'll be the cross-grade training. I heard that this year, the matching method was appointed rather than random. I wonder what kind of opponent we'll get matched up with... Pansy, do you want to train with me? I can teach you how to fight!"
Ye Zhizhou was deeply touched by his offer but refused, "Don't bother, I'm already prepared to get abused." His matched opponent was 100% going to be his lover, so... haha.
Chigita wanted to continue to persuade him, but he was pulled back by Anuot. "Someone's unlocking the door."
Ye Zhizhou heard this and turned to look at the door.
The fair and delicate looking Inez pushed the door open, giving a natural and kind smile towards the three people looking at him from the inside. "Hello juniors, I'm your new roommate, Inez Gasken. Please take care of me."
Chigita rushed over cheerfully and enthusiastically. Anuot also got up to welcome him, seemingly having a good first impression of the new roommate. Ye Zhizhou smiled as he followed their actions and also got up to greet him. He took the initiative to extend his hand over to Inez, who was looking at him. "Hello, welcome to the dorm."
Inez's smile deepened. He shook Ye Zhizhou's hand but then his tone suddenly became strange. "It's an honor to be your roommate, Pansy."
For this new roommate, Chigita showed over 120% enthusiasm, but Inez seemed a little cold in return. He simply shut himself into his room as soon as he entered the dorm.
"you can't force friendship if they don't wanna be friends. As long as there are no problems, it's fine." Ye Zhizhou comforted the dressed-looking Chigita while sprinkling the snacks with some of the crushed Jiedu pill. "It's also better to not invest too many emotions right now. What if this roommate also ended up being a bad one?"
"Pei pei pei." Chigita put down his console and came over to pinch Ye Zhizhou. "You're not allowed to say such inauspicious remarks, or I won't give you the notes."
Ye Zhizhou remained unmoved. "You don't want to eat the snacks I make anymore?"
Chigita immediately retracted his hand.
[The probability of Carol and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 0%. The sixth soul flag has been pulled out. Congratulations to the host, may the host persist in his efforts.]
The next second, his communicator rang and a message popped up—Carol: I got his application.
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Ye Zhizhou's mood instantly rose by ten percent. He stuffed all the snacks into Chigita's arms and made a waving motion with his hand. "You eat them, I'm going to review now. Professor Bell asked me to take the make-up exam tomorrow."
"Such a crammer... How come I don't see you reading those mecha manufacturing books?" Chigita angrily bit into the snacks. "Just wait until you fail the course at the end of the term ba! You can cry to death when you have to retake the course!"
A few days later, Inez's application to transfer to a different major was approved, and he began to become more mysterious and concealed.
Ye Zhizhou held Professor Bell's assigned homework in his arms and rubbed his chin. It was about time for the military department to start...
[The probability of Audrey and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 10%, may the host persist in his efforts.]
Ah? Why did Audrey's probability also go down?
When the special ringtone sounded, he hurriedly answered the call and then revealed a big smile at the call screen that popped up. "You finally think of me. Have you finished working?"
"Yes, I've finished." Clay's originally cold and stiff expression relaxed. After a few words of concern, he began to talk about the main matter. "Audrey's side has reported the result of the antidote use. Three parasites have been found. One of them was different from the known parasite. The sample is already on its way here. I'll give the sample to Professor Bell after it arrives, remember to take a look at it."
So it turned out that Audrey's side was used as the lab rat. No wonder the love probability had decreased... Ye Zhizhou praised his lover's cunning actions in his heart and nodded happily. "Okay, I'll take a look at it. When is the military department preparing to use the medicine?"
When he mentioned this, Clay's expression became serious again. "This week. The army is currently on their way here to keep guard. Pay attention to your own safety. That Inez can be directly obliterated if necessary."
"Understood!"
On Saturday, three days later, the completely unsuspecting Inez arrived at the mecha manufacturing plant, walking into the workshop full of "workers".
The assembly line moved slowly, on top of it were freshly made parts that came out one by one. Inez's eyes brightened as he picked a part up and carefully looked at it. He smiled; he really got lucky, already being able to run into this problematic piece right as he arrived. The plan could be carried out faster.
"Manager." He called out to the big bearded manager who was patrolling the factory and hesitantly said, "There seems to be something wrong with this part... This corner area shouldn't be processed like this, it'll cause abrasions."
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
The big bearded manager impatiently waved his hand. "What kind of irresponsible things are you saying, Newbie?! This is master Jennifer's work, how could there be any problems? Stop talking nonsense and get back to work."
"But, there's truly something wrong with this part!" Inez continued to strongly argue his point, "If this part is put into use with a mecha, it'll definitely cause excessive wear and tear to the mecha! I request that an inspection is done!"
The big bearded manager scornfully looked at him and turned to leave.
"If you're not going to be concerned about it, I'll go to the factory headquarters to complain about you! I'm a Royal Military Academy student, and I'm certain that those at headquarters will listen to my complaint." Inez used his trump card, showing an earnest expression of 'fighting for justice'.
The big bearded manager stopped, turned his head around, and glared at Inez angrily. He didn't directly contradict him this time though. He twitchingly barked out, "Come here! Let's talk about it in the office. Don't delay the others in their job of inspecting the parts."
Inez's heart was very pleased and he hurried to follow.
In the manufacturing plant's neighboring lobby, Dale pushed up their glasses and said, "Those people in the monitoring room, who've watched too many dramas, are sure good at acting."
Ye Zhizhou silently tossed a glance towards Dale and pulled at Clay's sleeve, saying, "Don't accidentally hurt Big Beard."
"I won't." Clay held Ye Zhizhou's hand while his eyes were fixed on the monitoring screen. After the big bearded manager left the office, under the pretext of calling for a superior, Clay commanded in a deep voice, "Put down the isolation door and release the antidote!"
The soldiers crouching outside the office immediately took action and firmly surrounded the office.
When the sound of metal colliding rang out, Inez was shocked. He quickly looked back and saw the door that used to be behind him had become a metal wall. The light at the topmost corner of the room turned around, clicked open, and then sprayed him with a liquid.
"What's going on? You guys... Ah!"
The sudden howl that emerged penetrated Ye Zhizhou's eardrums and made them ache. Clay's eye's sharpened. "The Zerg has appeared."
They saw the originally human-looking Inez suddenly fall to the ground. A long and slender Zerg leg pierced his clothing and stretched out from his back. After a while of drilling, a fist-sized black Zerg burst out of Inez's body and began to wildly roll on top of his body. A few seconds later, the Zerg suddenly burrowed back into Inez's body, and Inez's body began to shrivel at a rate visible to the naked eye until the body became just a soft skin sack. After a disgusting swallowing sound, the Zerg, which was many times larger than before, emerged again, crawling around the room at a high speed. It seemed like it was no longer afraid of the antidote being sprayed down.
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Ye Zhizhou couldn't help clutching at his stomach.
[The probability of Dale and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 0%. The seventh soul flag has been pulled out. Congratulations to the host, may the host persist in his efforts.]
"Get a different type of antidote and keep spraying," Clay commanded again.
The soldiers quickly carried out the order. The Zerg that was being sprayed down in the office with a different antidote type quickly stopped moving. Then, it exploded into a disgusting pool of mucus and limbs.
[Fluctuation of the protagonist's soul has been detected... Soul fluctuation ended. The seventh flag that had been pulled out has been restored. Asking host to please pay attention! Asking Host to please pay attention!]
What?!
Ye Zhizhou was so startled that he directly stood up. He looked at the system notices with an incredulous expression and asked crazily in his heart, "What's going on?! That Zerg is clearly dead! Why wasn't the last flag just pulled out? Instead, the flag got restored?! And, who is this Dan Gotte?!"
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
[Plot change has been detected. Asking Host to accept the new plot.]
[Currently scanning the protagonist's status... No abnormalities. In a weak condition.]
[Retrieving Dan Gotte's identity information... Dan Gotte, leader of the Freedom Alliance. Gender: Alpha. Spiritual Power Rank: SS. Constitution Rank: SS.]
"What's wrong?" Clay turned Ye Zhizhou around and blocked him from looking at the disgusting images on the monitoring screen. He asked with concern, "Scared?"
"No." He wiped his face and asked dispiritedly, "I just want to ask, what kind of thing is the Freedom Alliance...?"
"Freedom Alliance?" Dale's eyes turned cold hearing Ye Zhizhou's words. They sneered. "It's just a group of crazy people under the guise of 'freedom' and 'anti-war'. They also advocate for peaceful coexistence with Zergs. Heh, a group of ignorant trash."
So it was actually just braindead Zerg fans... But... Why was the protagonist still alive...?
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Divi: I was highly distressed that we have gotten yet another name, Dan Gotte? Why are they an alpha? WHAT? 2 ½ more chapters till this arc is done and it still feels like we are missing a bunch of answers.
Mina: How many of you guys expected that kind of plot twist LOL. Hopefully things get explained properly soon