Defeating Magic Chapter 50: “Luo Futu, do you want me to die?” 

Chapter 50: “Luo Futu, do you want me to die?” 

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Mimosa

Halfway back to the base, the mecha driven by Li Qing suddenly lost its power and was completely paralyzed, thus turning it into a pile of steel that couldn’t move or function. It could only be carried back by Zhou Yan and Gabriel driving the mecha. This was a bit of a problem because in addition to the mecha, they also brought back some people, all civilians from Misty Thorn Mountain, whose homes had been destroyed so there was little point in them staying. Zhou Yan strongly encouraged them to return to the mine together.

Of course, not everyone was willing to follow them, and some of them did not intend to even if they were saved. They thought that the beasts would not come back and thus wanted to stay here. In order to help Luo Futu seize power, they had to enlist as many people as possible. With Zhou Yan’s persuasion, they agreed, but Zhou Yan knew that once there was no one to lead them, these people would probably turn into scattered sand again and sneak away.

So there must be someone to lead them.

Li Qing offered to take the villagers back on foot, but Zhou Yan was worried about the danger in the midway point and didn’t agree. There was still a long distance from the mine to Misty Thorn Mountain, and it was a treacherous mountain road that was impractical to trek by foot. They were also afraid that the Lurians would appear again, which would be dangerous.

They had to stop for a while, hoping to find a way to do both.

“Why did this mecha’s energy suddenly run out…. The mecha that Gabriel and I were piloting was clearly still moving, all three mecha were activated by a uniform current, it shouldn’t be like that.”

While the villagers sat down for a rest, Zhou Yan was not in the mood and stood in front of the mecha driven by Li Qing while looking at it for half a day. He was unable to find the cause, so he felt very worried. He had been prepared for a variety of conditions to arise in the mecha that would require constant debugging, but he had never imagined that it would run out of energy. Li Qing was still sitting in the cockpit, and there was no way the mecha could move.

Luo Futu heard Zhou Yan talking to himself and said thoughtfully, “Is it related to Li Qing? Don’t forget, he is Yong.”

Zhou Yan had also said before that Li Qing had not left a scar on the Lurian, and most likely did not use the true power of the mecha. This was Zhou Yan’s greatest fear of what would happen, he was afraid that what he had made would end up being just an empty shell. What was the point of the weapon’s existence if ordinary people could not use it?

However, Zhou Yan could not deceive himself and others, now that the problem was in front of him, the cause must be found.

“Although I don’t quite want to agree with you, I have to say, it is very possible.” Gabriel also chimed in. He, like Luo Futu, was born with a subtle prejudice against ordinary people as a mystic, they felt that they were the Chosen One so they were prone to such thoughts. Of course, in fact, they were really different.

Zhou Yan eventually looked at Luo Futu and frowned, “I can’t be sure, or you can go to the driver’s seat and try it out. If you can drive….”

–then there was a good chance that their guesses were correct.

Luo Futu nodded at him and was about to walk up to the mecha when Gabriel suddenly blocked Luo Futu’s path and stared at him sharply, “I’d better do it! I have more experience than you!”

Luo Futu maintained that smiling expression as he walked straight to the mecha, as if he didn’t even see Gabriel. He reached out and pulled him away – didn’t he know what this kid was thinking? He was trying to show himself off in front of Zhou Yan in every way possible, chasing people in the same way that school children did decades ago.

Gabriel was ignored, and he felt so angry that he jumped to his feet as he angrily chased after him with his blond hair shining in the sunlight, “Hey!”

Luo Futu was ignoring him, but that didn’t mean he could really ignore him completely. This kid was really annoying, if not for Zhou Yan in front of him, he would definitely take action against this guy. Luo Futu slightly narrowed his eyes, and silently thought about it. There was no way to teach him a lesson openly, and he should find a chance to black hand or can, to make him understand that some people and some things could not compete.

Zhou Yan was so focused on the mecha that he couldn’t feel the darkness between the two, so he went along, “I’ll go with you.”

Gabriel was already angry at being pulled away by Luo Futu, and now when he saw Zhou Yan following him, he refused to show weakness and immediately stuck to him. Li Qing frowned and stared at Gabriel, “Marshal, you’d better not go, the two of them have already had enough.”

“Let go of my arm!”

Li Qing unprecedentedly did not listen to Gabriel’s orders, and he silently looked at Gabriel while clutching his arm as he whispered, “No, I want to protect you. To be honest, I didn’t feel good when I was driving that mecha, and it would be dangerous for you to rush over there.”

Li Qing was an ordinary person, but Gabriel was young, and he had been doing manual labor for years, so he didn’t let go of Gabriel’s hand, and the latter couldn’t break free even if he wanted to. This delayed time, and Luo Futu and Zhou Yan entered the mecha room before they locked the door tightly. Gabriel saw that he was a step too late, and immediately jumped like a thunderstorm before he punched Li Qing directly in the face, “Get out! You’re against me too, you dog!”

Li Qing had never been hit by Gabriel like this before. He was an old man in the mine who was loyal. Gabriel’s life was taken care of by him, so Gabriel’s attitude towards him was also very kind, but he was suddenly beaten today. Not only Li Qing, even Gabriel himself was also shocked. Li Qing just silently lowered his head, as if there was no complaint.

Gabriel stared at him in silence for a long time, then suddenly grunted and turned his face aside, “Asking for pain!”

Li Qing followed Gabriel’s line of sight and saw him staring at the mecha. He couldn’t help but ask softly, “Marshal, do you really like Worker Zhou?”

Gabriel raised his eyebrows arrogantly, “When did you become so nosy, just do well in what you are given to do, and don’t ask questions about what is not your business.”

“Yes, I have overstepped my bounds.” Li Qing obediently responded with a trace of suppressed emotion that crossed his eyes. No one knew what he was thinking.

This was just a hiccup, and it passed quickly, since Li Qing was one of Gabriel’s men who naturally would not be upset with him. The mecha did not just need a simple mechanical operation. When it moved, it seemed to transform into its own extended body from its arm to its legs…. He was able to control the actions of the mecha through his own will. It was as if he himself had become the battery that provided the energy for the mecha, and he was consuming himself to drive the mecha to move.

However, Gabriel wasn’t afraid of this feeling, and he even enjoyed it a little. It was because he felt this connection where he realized what a great invention the weapon in front of him was. Yes, this was the principle of driving a mecha, and it was for this reason that mecha were creatures. In order for the driver to master the technique, and for the mecha to move as he wishes, he must establish a spinal-cord-neuron connection with it.

The driver’s neurons become integrated with the mecha, and the mecha becomes a “creature”, a community of destiny that shares the driver’s fate. This was the reason why Zhou Yan could not understand the sudden loss of energy of the mecha when Li Qing was driving the mecha. Of course, this connection was risky for the driver, but in general, it did not endanger the driver’s life. If the driver was simply the “battery” that outputs energy for the mecha, then the mecha was too much for the driver, and the driver would be drained before long.

The technology on the Dense Cloud Planet had long since solved all bugs, or else Zhou Yan would not have been able to create a mecha. Zhou Yan would not have been able to create such a harmful thing to deal with Lurian.

“I’ve explained all the principles to you, if you want to pilot it, you have to trust it completely…. I think Li Qing might not have established a real neuronal contact with this mecha, so it ran out of energy only halfway through.”

Zhou Yan bit his finger in thought for a moment and looked at Luo Futu, “But this should be quite a strain for you.”

Having known Luo Futu for so long, Zhou Yan already had an initial understanding of the weight of his heart’s defenses. It was impossible for such a person to deliver complete trust to mecha, which meant that the neuron connection between him and the mecha might fail.

Luo Futu looked at him and smiled, lifting his leg and stepping into the pilot’s seat, “Why make such a judgment, something so simple, I can naturally accept.”

“…. Can you?”

— Actually, he wanted to say, he now had an ugly face, and showing this kind of smile made him look particularly horrible. It was better not to smile.

The more Luo Futu said this, the more Zhou Yan did not believe it. Luo Futu’s distrust of the world had become an instinct and he believed he would succeed in one go. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had already established a neuronal connection with another mecha and couldn’t replace it in a short period of time, he wouldn’t have put Luo Futu in it.

So Luo Futu was the only one present who could possibly restart the mecha.

Once Luo Futu’s feet were on the seat, a row of synapses automatically extended from the back of the seat, flashing with blue-green light, and they slowly approached his spine. These synapses would insert themselves into the driver’s spine and establish neuronal connections through electromagnetic and light sensing. This step was the most important, and also Zhou Yan’s greatest concern. He closely watched Luo Futu, afraid that something would go wrong. When Zhou Yan saw that his expression was not right, he hurriedly said, “Relax! Don’t reject it!”

Luo Futu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The synapses were fully attached to his body, and the fine electric light extended backward along the conduit behind him, until the whole mecha was lit up with electric light.

…. Oh? The connection seems to have been established successfully?

Zhou Yan was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Luo Futu, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, suddenly opened his eyes. Zhou Yan saw his pupils turn green, and his amber eyes were completely buried by the horrible green light which burst into a dazzling light.

“Luo Futu!”

However, Luo Futu was completely unable to hear Zhou Yan’s voice. He opened his eyes wide and stared ahead without response. His horrible eyes with this horrible face simply seemed like a demon descending into the world.

‘Shit, it’s a rejection reaction!’

Zhou Yan originally thought that Luo Futu was a powerful mystic and would have no problem navigating the mecha, but he underestimated his psychological defenses and not only did he not trust the mecha at all, he couldn’t even accept a simple neuronal touch, let alone establish a connection. As he looked ahead with horror in his eyes, Zhou Yan followed his line of sight and saw several children chasing and playing outside the mecha’s compartment, seemingly seeing the mecha move and standing below it while pointing at him.

They had no idea that the pilot of the mecha was trying to attack them.

Luo Futu was full of aggression, or more precisely, killing intent, and his mind was completely deaf to the outside world due to his rejection.

…. He couldn’t have understood what he was talking about when he said that the neuron connection meant that the mecha was invading his mind! Although this mecha was completely mechanical, for his mind, foreign neurons were a completely third-party, rash intrusion that would of course would make him uncomfortable!

“Luo Futu! Luo Futu! Wake up!” Zhou Yan grabbed Luo Futu’s shoulders and shook him hard, but the latter still did not respond.

He raised his hands violently, and the mecha underneath him suddenly stood up. The mecha bin shook, almost throwing Zhou Yan out. The mecha was about to step on the two children.

Gabriel and Li Qing, who were waiting outside, felt that something was wrong. Although he was new to the mecha, he could see the attacking posture, “Holy shit, what does he want….”

Li Qing suddenly turned back and shouted, “Marshal! Something’s wrong! Get out of here!”

Gabriel reacted long ago as he quickly climbed into his mecha, and only then did he hear Zhou Yan’s urgent voice in his radio headset, “A1, A1, Gabriel, A2 has gone berserk! Help!”

Gabriel hurriedly sat on the seat and pulled the lever, and his mecha immediately flew out towards the two children. The huge steel upper limbs grabbed the children on the ground and then flew into the sky. At the same time, Luo Futu’s mecha also stepped on them. The earth collapsed. The earth and rocks tumbled, the place that was stepped on sank into a huge crater. The two children rescued by Gabriel were still laughing in the mecha’s hands, but the adults around them saw the danger, and the both childrens’ families almost fainted with fear.

Gabriel’s mecha attracted hatred, and Luo Futu’s mecha flew straight at him, smashing down with a punch. He hurriedly adjusted his stance and dropped his mecha to one knee as he shouted over the radio, “What the hell! This bastard is attacking indiscriminately!”

Zhou Yan, in the mecha bay, was holding onto Luo Futu’s arm, who was completely out of control. His veins bulged out of his forehead as if he would burst a blood vessel at any moment, and he shouted through clenched teeth, “Retreat! I’ll handle this!”

——Blame him for not being cautious, he should take this situation into consideration! Obviously, he already had some worries, so why did he let Luo Futu try it? But this guy…. His heart was too defensive, right?

Zhou Yan held him tightly, his whole body swaying around with the mecha bin as he watched A2 go crazy in place, destroying the surrounding woods and rocks. It was a good thing the mecha wasn’t equipped with a magnetic floating cannon or something like that, or it would have been over. He had to save him, otherwise not only would the people around him be attacked indiscriminately, but Luo Futu would also be harmed in time.

Zhou Yan violently grabbed a synapse and pulled it downward, a lightning bolt directly through Zhou Yan’s body. Zhou Yan’s neurons were invaded by this mecha, and Zhou Yan’s eyes opened wide as his mind was pulled into a strange space. At the same time, Zhou Yan only felt that his brain had been stuffed with a bunch of images, and these images surfaced in his mind like a walking light, at a very rapid speed. His own memories were being pulled by a strong current like a hurricane. He was like a powerless patient, stripped naked and hung out in the sun, with every corner of his memory invaded and swept away by more powerful emotions and memories….

These were Luo Futu’s memories.

“Ah…!!!” Zhou Yan felt his brain about to explode as mecha’s central processor burst into an intense blue-green electric light. He grabbed Luo Futu’s hand and couldn’t help but scream in pain, a pain that stemmed from both the swelling of the invaded neurons and the emotions of those foreign memories…. He was forced to become the protagonist in Luo Futu’s memories, and everything seemed to be happening to him.

They were forced to exchange memories. Zhou Yan’s neurons were connected to Luo Futu’s neurons through this mecha, and his nerves were being viciously violated.

“That’s enough! That’s enough! It’s over…. You wake up! Luo Futu! Do you want me to die?”

Due to the neuronal connection, Zhou Yan’s mind also reached the depths of Luo Futu’s memories, and his roar was finally heard by him.

Zhou Yan fell to the ground in tears – Luo Futu…. How could there be such painful memories….