I Can Read Minds But Will Not Be Marked - Chapter 107

This wasn’t the first time Lin Han saw He YunTing angry.

The first time he saw He YunTing get angry was when he was slandered by countless people who didn’t know the truth, and he remained calm when Xu Zhiheng forced his way down the mecha without listening to the advice.

Although now He YunTing’s expression didn’t look very different from the old days, his thin cold lips pursed up and the fingers tightened, revealing the owner’s emotions.

An angry Alpha caused the air around them to become tense, and even more pheromones with fury might leak out.

Lin Han barely felt this horrible atmosphere, the other seemed to realize this, quickly put that oppressive feeling away, looked up atLin Han and said, “Don’t be afraid.”

But he still had anger.

Fortunately, the military deployment of the base accounted for the bulk of the deployment, even if the city defense forces didn’t listen to orders, the Zerg could at most break through the outer communication city defense, the main star should be safe.

But the Zerg attacked, so the intention was clear.

They didn’t know if it was from the influence of V Proton or someone else’s collaboration, but this time, they had completely exposed all their ambitions to the people, and neither side was likely to back off again.

“After the starship is parked, all pass sergeants return to their mecha, and people who have nothing to do with the base are to be arranged to be sent back to the appropriate place. Declaring martial law, wait for my order.” He YunTing’s eyes were cold, but he didn’t hesitate to open the communicator to switch channels, then slowly spoke, “Receive, city, defense, army.”

The leader of the city defense army was Xu An, one of Wen TianYao’s men, who had also participated in the base pilot selection.

At that time, he was deducted all his personal points before the fourth round of practical training because of various details, and wasn’t able to participate in the final practical training, and naturally wasn’t able to join the base.

Fortunately, his physique and pheromones were considered good,so  he turned to the next best thing and joined the city defense army, although he could only drive the lower level and performance of the defense function mecha, he could still move up the ladder based on his skills, furthermore, after Wen TianYao took over the city defense army, he could finally also sit   in a higher position.

Xu An knew that his strength to enter the base was actually more than enough, but his dignity made him feel that the base not wanting him was their loss, and he didn’t want to start over, so he had some feelings about the base.

This emotion was partly tinged with disdain, and the other part had a deep-rooted fear of He YunTing.

Therefore, after the successful connection, even though Xu An reminded himself that he was not the same soldier with nothing now, his voice was still shaking when he saw the communication from the General and connected.

He YunTing’s voice hasn’t changed a bit from back then, and Xu An, knowing that he was at a disadvantage, put up a lot of courage before pretending to speak calmly, “General.”

“What were you doing ten hours ago?”

Xu An was asked this question. It was reasonable to say that when he was in this position, other people would at least respectfully call him by his rank, or even “you”, but only He YunTing ignored everything and questioned him unceremoniously.

Fortunately, there was no video communication, which Xu Anwas thankful for, otherwise at this moment his red face would be exposed again without dignity in the eyes of that emotionless General, like many years ago.

Yesterday, it happened to be his men’s shift, originally in the Empire, no matter what type of military, even if only responsible for civilian areas of the civilian guard, there was 24 hour duty to prevent accidents.

The City Guard, no matter what, was stationed at the edge of the core area, and it was reasonable to say that there could never be a non-response.

“I…” Xu An gritted his teeth and explained, “We didn’t intentionally go AWOL.”

He YunTing didn’t interrupt him and let him continue.

This kind of unanswered silence always made people more flustered, but Xu An stiffened his head and continued, “It was… It was His Majesty the Prince who consented.”

“…”

“It was His Majesty… the prince, he… he personally came to the camp two days ago to console us, saying that the situation’s been stable recently, and also told us to be careful not to tire ourselves out.”

Xu An stumbled over his words, always fearful of He YunTing, but he was a sincere follower of Wen TianYao.

The base’s training for the sergeants was always so tough that it was beyond the imagination of ordinary people, and even though the General’s adjutant looked kind, he was just as bad to talk to as his main general. Xu An had always felt that since his pheromone was better than the average person, he shouldn’t suffer the same painful and heavy training as the average person.

Wen TianYao was different.

He was the prince of the Empire, but never liked He YunTing’s cold face. He would visit the city’s defense forces without any pretensions, speaking with everyone equally and saying that they were all the hope of the Empire and that it was important to take care of themselves.

The other day was the day He YunTing and Xu Zhiheng left Wen Zhaoge, and Wen TianYao came to him again.

He first talked about V Proton and mentioned that he was worried about his only direct city defense force, instructing the soldiers to be sure to pay attention to recent movements, and if they were tired, they shouldn’t push themselves, their health was most important.

His men were used to being scattered, just in time to hear him say so. The previous night when the starship communication took over, he lapsed into sleep, and naturally didn’t strengthen precautions at the base.

It was only now that they woke up with a start that they found the network defenses had been breached and the terrifying giant sandworm had appeared on everyone’s screens.

“General,” Xu An wiped a handful of sweat, wondering why he was still so nervous, but explained, “We’ll hurry to fix the defense system, and the rest…”

“Shut up.” But Xu An didn’t expect that the other didn’t want to hear a word of his explanation and remedy, and simply hung up the communication.

Only Xu An was left alone in a cold sweat in the command room of the city defense department that was flashing with cold light and horrible images.

Lin Han looked at He YunTing’s face and wanted to say something, but felt that the other side understood everything and there was no need.

He saw He YunTing sigh, “I’ll let—”

“No need to call someone to send me back.” Lin Han didn’t need to read his mind to know what He YunTing wanted to say and interrupted him, “Don’t waste any troops for me.”

“Even if Xu An was stupid, he wouldn’t be slacking off now, he must be rushing to rebuild the defense system.” Lin Han helped He YunTing analyze, “I know you definitely don’t have time to go to the Emperor to re-claim your orders now, and he will definitely hand over the command to you. Then where’s the most important place you should go now?”

“The P Zone berth.” He YunTing said, “The border area is too far away and we need to leap, but even if there’s Zerg now, it’s too late. And the other side has dared to be so bold, even if a large force hasn’t landed already, they definitely don’t care about the border area with little population. But the berth must be the first place where the Herald Zerg arrived.”

If he could stop the arriving Herald troops there, he could at least buy more preparation time for the next battle.

He YunTing began to contact Lu AnHe to issue their respective missions, and Lin Han waited quietly in place until the other had arranged the formations and the follow-up supply and recharge logistics had been set in motion before continuing.

“Then I will also go to the berth.”

“I have enough nutrients, so I’ll be in the mecha, right behind you. Isn’t it safer than me going back to the Institute or back to my apartment?”

The corners of He YunTing’s mouth tensed as he looked deeply at him.

Lin Han met his gaze without dodging, “From now on, I’m also at your disposal, I’m also your sergeant.”

He YunTing knew he couldn’t persuade him, and finally lost to Lin Han’s gaze. He strongly held Lin Han in his arms and rubbed his soft hair with one hand.

Lin Han felt the other man’s heartbeat and gradually calmed down his anger, and after a moment, it was replaced by a kind of brief tenderness under such urgent conditions.

“The flying machine responsible for escorting the experts has already left.” He YunTing said.

“I know, General.”

“Everyone will see, or hear, this war. And will also see my mecha.” He YunTing’s voice became lower and lower.

“Lin Han,” the force in his arms increased, “do you know what this decision means?”

“I’m okay with it.” Lin Han curled his eyes and smiled, not deliberately releasing the pheromone, but still strangely soothing the uneasiness in He YunTing’s heart.

His tone was light and soft, “So I’m Mrs. General?”

“Mn.”

He didn’t expect He YunTing to really answer seriously.

【Then after this matter is over, Mr. Lin and I will get married.】

Even though Lin Han was used to hearing He YunTing’s inner thoughts from time to time, he was still stunned at these abrupt words.

After a short period of blankness, Lin Han felt his heartbeat overlap with the other man’s, like the Nebula that stunned the entire universe, and like the star of enlightenment that cracked open the fog and dispelled the darkness.

“Okay.” He said, “I promise.”

—

The first mecha formation led by M2742 was the first to arrive at the berth in the P Zone.

Even at full speed, the communication connecting the berth was broken while they were on their way, and it was clear that it had been hit. Although it was impossible to predict whether the pace of Zerg arrival would be later if the city defense forces had strengthened the outer defenses, at least now, no one across the Empire cared about the ordinary planet that no longer existed, and those who were less courageous had begun to hold their heads and scream at the top of their lungs, and some even began to count their valuable things at home.

Others began to run to the Galactic Exhibition Hall, scrambling to retrieve their most valuable belongings.

This message gave a sense of crisis that was hard to name.

Fortunately, the core area was in order, in this forced breach of the video infestation of the Empire was urgently repaired in less than an hour. Although people on the streets and at home were in shock, the news had begun to broadcast reassuring information, and people were instructed according to the different circumstances of each district.

The first formation had no time for this now.

When they arrived at the mouth of the berth three hours later, the picture before them was already somewhat more than they could have imagined.

“Boss…” Lu AnHe sucked in a breath over the communicator.

They expected that there would be Zerg coming, but they didn’t expect the first batch of pioneer troops to reach this number.

The Zerg naturally had their own transportation, long evolution had made them split into different races, one of them could break the gravity limit, although their attack power wasn’t as good as the others’, but when overlapped in layers, they could be used as Zerg transport and leap “airship”.

The Zerg, called giant black arrow ants, destroyed some of the civilian mecha that had been parked at the berth, and the pioneer steel beetles came out of their hulls.

In front of them was a swarm of giant creatures that had already begun to tear and destroy at the berth.

The roar of the mecha soon drew the attention of these Zerg.

After a brief pause, the leader, a giant eight-legged steel beetle with compound eyes, let out a scream that was indistinguishable from the frequency of the human ear—

The next moment, all the accompanying steel beetles that were still roaming aimlessly reacted and took one step towards their enemy.

“Lu AnHe prepare, the others will retreat one after another.”

“Yes!”

Boom…

As soon as the words fell over the comms, one of the steel beetles hissed and lifted one of the civilian mecha they had destroyed directly with two of its limbs and hurled it viciously at the formation!

The wrecked steel broke through the air, and some small craft were overturned by this shockwave, and the moment it landed, the remaining engines and metal roared violently, exploding in a thousand flames at first, shattering in front of the mecha—

At the same time, Aegis suddenly started its engine, accelerated to the front of everyone, and the next second fell from the sky, unfolding a huge light shield, blocking out the entire shock wave.

“Energy storage is complete! Don’t worry!” Lu AnHe said in the communicator, Aegis raised its mech arms, held both hands in a fist, crossed and raised in front of him, while one leg was bent at the knee in defense. Whether it was the pilot inside or the mech outside, it was as if they were gritting their teeth and holding on for dear life against all damage.

Aegis cut to defensive form when the weapon system wasn’t as complete as the other mecha, but the range was extremely wide.

A few steel beetles seem to have waited for this meaningless to chase defense, suddenly swarmed without any pattern, screaming upward with limbs harder than steel, and kept crashing into the light shield formed by Aegis.

Under the Bang sounds, near the mouth of the berth can no longer withstand such a big impact—

The ground crumbled and broke, and again raised the sky of dust and sand, flooding all sight.

Aegis defended while fighting and retreating, raising his shield, the symbol of the most solid defense, with absolutely calm composure, barring every attack from outside one after the other.  The steel beetle was still approaching, the head of the insect tilted its head, storing up a moment, trying to use its hardest back armor to ram a gaping hole into the shield of light!

Under the tight shield, M2742 rose up in the air and plummeted down again.

The Steel Beetle naturally wouldn’t let go of this opportunity, and all the members of the mecha were so excited to see this as if they were throwing themselves into the net that all their compound eyes were glowing red, and they swarmed on them!

After a loud sound, M2742 curled its knees slightly, fluidly avoiding the bulky attack, leaning back its body, doing a backflip in a smooth manner, and then landing steadily on the ground. In the next second, all the weapon systems around its body were activated, and the particle cannon, which was a hundred times stronger than Aegis, had already finished storing energy, and all the exposed “weak points” became its breakthroughs, which were ruthlessly blown up with the magnetic rail cannon.

The sky erupted with purple brilliant light, the steel beetles were unable to block this attack, and were trying to resist when they were cut off by the lightsaber that M2742 pulled out at some point.

“Boss! Now!”

The other mecha began to move again, targeting the steel beetles that had already been attacked in one wave, while M2742 charged straight at the leader—

The Alpha, momentarily unaware, quickly protected its weaker abdomen and was just about to regain the air, when it yelled out in fear!

M2742 had already rushed in front of it.

Boom!

The close range explosion made even the hardened steel beetle powerless to fight, but at that moment M2742 put away the particle stream and magnetic rail cannon.

The mecha’s left arm reached out and viciously grabbed its throat with its five metal fingers, pinning it to the ground, while his right arm clenched its five fingers into a fist, striking the leader’s head continuously without mercy!

Punch after punch, heavy and dull sound echoed throughout the berth.

The sound of metal breaking wind, sharp fire mixed with the pus and blood of the steel beetle leader by heavy punches, all fell on the cold metal shell.

The sky at the mouth of the berth was dyed scarlet at the moment, with a strong metallic smell.

Defeat the leader, and the rest of the problem becomes less tricky. The steel beetle wasn’t a high level Zerg after all, so after the loss of their leader, they began to resist in panic, but were no match for the formation.

The battle came swiftly and ended crisply.

After half a day, the entire berth was filled with the steel beetle’s broken limbs, pus and white pulpy brains, damaged mecha, and metal fires.

“Take a break and check the mecha for damage.”

The voice of the General came from the communicator.

—

Although there were no casualties, the mecha was still damaged to varying degrees. The pilots stepped down from the mecha and began to observe the damage according to the information fed back from the internal system.

A few sergeants who had been on many expeditions with He YunTing came together and talked about the mecha while talking about the battle they had just fought.

“Do you feel that today M2742 was extraordinarily… different?”

“I can’t say where it’s different, but it just feels different everywhere.”

“It’s too fluid and too…”

Dazzling.

They thought of this word in unison.

After all, M2742 was the General’s mecha, and it was clearly driven by one person but drove with the verve of a double. They couldn’t say anything else but admiration. The two men changed the subject and began discussing the damage to the mecha, with one of them looking at the data on the optical brain, “But there seems to be a problem with the cooling system of my mecha. It probably just overheated and didn’t cool down.”

“Mine too…”

As the two pilots spoke, they unknowingly walked over to M2742.

As they were saying “maybe we should go back and fix it”, they were suddenly interrupted.

“What’s wrong with it? I’ll take a look.”

To everyone’s surprise, there was another voice on M2742.

Everyone froze except Lu AnHe.

How could… there be a second person?

A second pilot?

Everyone tilted their heads and saw a figure with a helmet step out of the second cockpit in the metallic and bloody dusk of the berth. He came against the light in the burning flames, his back straight, his figure lean.

In the next moment, his helmet was removed, revealing a handsome and gentle face.

The youth stood on mecha arm bent eyes, the sunset stained his eyelashes, making his eyes glitter. He smiled lightly and spoke, “Do you need help?”