EDMLSFM Chapter 54: You’re not dead

Translated by JayQue of Exiled Rebels Scanlations 

Editor: Kris

 

The soldiers who were guarding the basement entrance under orders had also felt these loud trembles.

“What happened?!” Many people yelled in surprise; the loud noise sounded like it was from somewhere not far from them. Some soldiers looked at each other, their hearts drumming nervously.

But they were still soldiers personally cultivated by Heinz. After the initial shock, they didn’t get flustered but rather gazed at the colonel standing at the front of the team. The colonel had a pair of eagle eyes, not saying anything or making any unnecessary movements, and not even looking back for a glance. The soldiers saw him like this and gradually calmed down.

At this moment, a person suddenly ran out of the cave and howled at them from afar, “Quick! Come down quickly! Save General Abraham!”

The intense vibrations had just stopped. With that shout, the leaderless soldiers of Abraham standing at the side suddenly panicked, immediately rushing out with restless anxiety after the whole troop heard the shout.

Some of them still had their rationality and turned to try and call Heinz’ direct soldiers to go down together, “You guys, we should go down together!”

That was right. When Abraham came here, his soldiers might not have known what was going on, but they had always seen how Heinz was unfriendly towards their general. Heinz was the one who had arrived at the underground basement earlier; who knows if he had tampered with anything down there! Of course, they’d have more assurance if his direct soldiers came down as well.

Thinking about it, many of Abraham’s men had also run over here, firmly insisting them to go down together.

The colonel who received an order from Heinz had a calm gaze, not moving no matter how much the people around kept pestering him and only saying a few sentences from the start until now, “We are here under the Marshal’s order to guard this place. It’s to guard, not advance nor retreat. Unless the Marshal orders, we will not move half a step otherwise!”

The colonel’s booming voice was heard clearly by everyone in this area. Compared to the ugly expressions Abraham’s men were sporting, those standing behind him all straightened their backs, and their gazes were filled with determination.

The General’s people shared a few looks and could only advance down the underground basement with clenched teeth. At the same time, a small group of people blended into General Abraham’s troops in the dark, swiftly entering the underground basement.

Their movements were very careful, but it still did not escape the notice of the colonel, who had observed them closely since just now. The latter narrowed his eyes.

In the next second, this information was reported to Heinz.

And at the same time, the group of suspicious people who had entered the basement now stood in front of Abraham. Behind Abraham stood his soldiers that were commanded to block the end of the long hallway after they had come down, so they couldn’t see the situation clearly.

Only the small group that had blended in walked in front of Abraham.

There were three people in total. One was Abraham’s vice general, another was a Berkeley special agent, and the last one was Dr. Einbergen with his head covered.

Abraham waved at them, and the special agent nodded. Quickly, the mask covering Dr. Einbergen’s head was removed.

Having been pulled and stumbling all the way here, the doctor was low on energy. Now that no one was pulling him, his body lost its support and fell to the ground immediately. He cut a sorry figure as he raised his head to glance at Abraham.

Abraham shot him an easy smile, “Doctor, apologies for the neglect.”

Dr. Einbergen was silent for a while. He trembled as he stood up, glancing at the other coolly, not saying anything.

Abraham didn’t mind. He turned his head, gazing deeply at a door, and said slowly, “Professor Ramon left me a difficult problem to solve… Not just the answer, even the problem is so troublesome. After searching for so many years, I’d finally found it, but then I discovered that I still couldn’t solve this problem. That’s why I’d like to borrow Dr. Einbergen’s power. Both of you were at the peak of the empire at that time, though Professor Ramon was slightly unlucky. I believe both of you still had a friendship, and that’s why I’m asking the Doctor here for a small favor. You probably… won’t decline, right?”

When Ramon’s name came out of Abraham’s mouth, a flash of hatred appeared in Dr. Einbergen’s gaze. This was the first time Abraham saw any emotion flash in the eyes of the aloof doctor.

Thinking it interesting, he would have been very willing to have a long talk with the doctor if it weren’t for them being pressed for time.

“Even I might not be able to control Ramon’s things.” After a long while, Dr. Einbergen said lightly, “While our capabilities were not far from each other, our research directions were always completely different, and our masteries were in different areas.”

When he said this, his gaze landed on the metal door. After a short while, he closed his eyes.

“Impossible.” Abraham furrowed his brow, “When this thing was formed, you had a part in it. Did you forget? This is what you both researched together in the beginning…”

“I didn’t forget!” As though he was poked where it hurt, Dr. Einbergen suddenly interrupted sharply, “I didn’t forget. This experiment was started unintentionally by us, but it was Ramon who continued it. I only understand very little at most. Regarding its in-depth research… I don’t even have one ten thousandth of Ramon’s knowledge.”

Abraham narrowed his eyes, as though trying to determine the truth in Einbergen’s words. After a long while, he suddenly chuckled softly, “But you don’t have a choice, isn’t that right?”

“Open this metal door and investigate the situation inside. No matter what happens, it is your only choice.” Abraham shrugged, “If you succeed, I will take it away as soon as possible. If you fail… then nobody will be able to take it.”

Dr. Einbergen glanced at the metal door as well, “If I fail, your plan will also be ruined, right?”

Abraham raised an eyebrow, seemingly noncommittal and unconcerned, “Speaking of, you seemed unsurprised by the fact that I’m the one in control of Berkeley.”

“Go hide.” Dr. Einbergen seemed like he didn’t want to argue too much with him and waved his hand. “I had never had any hopes for you, and to find out that you’re the one in control of Berkeley… there’s nothing to talk about.”

His mood and movements carried hints of tiredness. When he gazed at the metal door, the heavy emotions in his eyes could make people’s hearts tremble.

“…Oh?” Abraham paused. Before he could say anything, a strong wind blew past his ear, and in the next second, Dr. Einbergen, who had been standing in front of him, was suddenly pulled back to somewhere five meters away by a silhouette.

Abraham widened his eyes, about to make a move before he found that rows of soldiers were surrounding him from behind. The discrepancy and surprise then turned into question—how could someone suddenly break in?

But when he saw Heinz in front of him, the surprise he felt was put down.

At the same time, the sounds of weapons clashing against each other made Abraham’s gaze turn even darker, and he immediately growled to the lieutenant beside him, “How is he here? What about the people outside!”

Putting Dr. Einbergen to the side, Heinz looked at Abraham, “Dr. Einbergen was kidnapped by Berkeley, and now he was brought here by the general’s men. How do you explain this?”

Abraham’s expression darkened.

“Oh, if you’re asking about the group of men you left outside… Kureya had already handled them.” His words half finished, Heinz suddenly shot him a sly smile.

Just as his voice died down, Abraham’s body froze on the spot.

“I don’t really want to fight you; it’s not very moral to bully old people, no matter how you look at it… why don’t you go back with me, confess everything you have ever done, and we can save the energy from this fight. What do you say?” As Heinz said this, he shot a smile at Abraham, with an ‘I’m already very courteous’ expression on his face.

After a long while, the lieutenant said something to Abraham nervously before the latter stared at Heinz with an ugly expression, “Are you really that naïve to think that I’m only left with this one hand?”

Heinz raised an eyebrow. Not waiting for him to speak, a clear voice sounded from behind Abraham, “I should be the one saying that. Are you really that naïve to think that everything you’ve arranged would be completely perfect?”

This simple sentence seemed to strike Abraham like lightning. It was a long while before he slowly turned his head around to look at Chen Bai walking out of the darkness.

In Abraham’s eyes, that beautiful face was like some evil monster.

Chen Bai walked slowly until he was behind him. After he stopped, he tilted his head, the corner of his lips lifted into a small curve.

“General, the political rulers have changed.”

.

Ever since Xiao Hao’s camera feed had been cut off in the Teacher’s Competition, everyone was anxious on the forums outside, attracting many people’s attention.

In that instant, almost the whole Alliance knew of the organization called Berkeley, and how it was suspected of collaboration with Aldia Academy to take away students.

Of course, there are those who raised questions, thinking that they shouldn’t just trust Xiao Hao’s words. These questions had also garnered the support of many people, and when the online discussions, questions and analysis posts had been thrown all around, Aldia’s principal, Tan JingShu stepped up.

He actively confessed that in the past twenty years, the old principal had led a group of people and provided thirty students to Berkeley, putting the entire story out to the public. He hid nothing as he confessed all of the mistakes and vowed to cooperate with the military to clear out all the teachers related to it, as well as report all information of Berkeley to the Alliance.

This one interview had crumbled the hopes of those who didn’t want to believe Xiao Hao’s statement.

[Wah, what the heck, it’s actually true? Then what are this Berkeley’s goals? Transferring students, kidnapping the doctor and the President, what’s going on QAQ]

[Heavens, what’s happening to the Alliance that we rely on? It couldn’t be that it’s like the Gars all over again?]

[What kind of organization is Berkeley? They still hadn’t said what they did to the students that were taken away… So scary, doesn’t the Alliance have some response policy for something as big as this? At least say something!]

[Didn’t anyone think that perhaps many people in the Alliance are also in the dark… Everyone was busy thinking how to rebuild and revive the Alliance after the big war, and this organization knew how to take the chance to benefit from others’ misfortune. Ahhhh how heinous!]

[QAQ Heavens, then everything Xiao Hao said was true. So worried about her and Chen YiBai… didn’t the last shot show that Chen YiBai had taken out the lieutenant general QAQ Hope he’s okay!]

[Speaking of Chen YiBai!! It’s my fault for speaking badly about him QAQ He’s so awesome at such a key moment, hopefully Teacher Xiao Hao is fine, hoping he could save Teacher Xiao Hao and them all QAQ She mustered so much courage to say all of this…]

[The one speaking about Chen YiBai! Here’s a little tidbit, my cousin manages the import and exporting platform, and they said that the marshal had brought his men to X-5. Don’t be too hasty when saving your wife QWQ Hoping they’re well right now, really feeling that Chen YiBai is someone with very deep characteristics after the whole Teacher’s Competition…]

[You cursed him so much in the beginning and now you’re easily swayed; don’t you feel any shame? Am I the only one who’s curious about Chen YiBai’s identity? To have a special pass into Aldia Academy, his skills more competent than the headquarters’ lieutenant general, and voluntarily leave Mundi’s group one day before everything happened. He was also on the scene when Teacher Xiao Hao turned on the camera to confess everything, feels like there’s a complicated relationship here… does he know any inside information!]

[The one who says he has inside information!! As a Marshal fan, I firmly do not believe that the marshal is part of Berkeley, husbands united enough to break even gold is the best QAQ!]

[My friend is an Aldia Academy graduate who’s retired from the special forces. He said Chen YiBai’s movements were very similar to those special forces soldiers that were highly trained, exceptionally decisive, and that in his fight with the lieutenant general it was obvious that he didn’t go all out. His moves were really nimble, and thinking back to the speed he used to eliminate the first elite… feels like he’s not a simple character…]

[I I I, I have a mind-blowing thought! Could he be a spy sent to the marshal by Berkeley and rebelled LOL just joking, no matter what it’s still full of love… now we really can’t deprecate him, his students said that his mental strength is tremendous and I mocked it everywhere, now my face hurts…]

[The Alliance is facing a big disaster now, are the people above right in the head gushing about their Adonis CP? Don’t you know to look at the big picture.]

[I was quite scared initially, but somehow I was suddenly not scared when seeing the comments above. LOL shut up about looking at the big picture, our Alliance soldiers are so good. If they can protect us during the Century War, then it’s the same now, I believe in them!]

[Believe in them+1! I also believe in the marshal! After hearing the allegation post that he went to X-5 I somehow feel less scared~ Don’t say I’m blind, if the soldiers aren’t protecting us, we’d probably all be dead now. I believe in Marshal and the Alliance soldiers, here’s a heart for all of you! All we can do is ruin Berkeley!]

The opinion of the Doctor was already high and, adding in Mani guiding the discussion, Berkeley was completely put into the category of a dangerous organization now, ruining Berkeley’s last step of brandishing the people’s support for them after exposing the military’s weakness that had led to the war with the Gars.

However, at this moment, Mani wasn’t feeling great at all.

Because a few minutes ago, a video was sent to his light screen. Ever since he had reconnected with Black Shark, this was the first time Black Shark sent something to him. Just opening one or two videos from the file made Mani feel stifled and uncomfortable.

Inside all those videos were processes of human experimentation, images of people’s skulls being cut open to take out the pieces while they were conscious… The cruel methods were accompanied by all kinds of explanations while the video was filmed, and the agony and despair in the eyes of those who were experimented on made Mani vomit helplessly into the toilet bowl for half a day after just watching a short segment of it.

These were all videos Alan took during his infiltration. With these, Berkeley could never turn over no matter what happens.

Mani thought.

.

“You’re not dead.” Abraham looked at Chen Bai. After looking for a long while, his expression calmed, and he said it like a statement.

The turbulent emotions in his gaze seemed to be able to swallow Chen Bai, but in reality, only he knew the overwhelming fear inside himself when this face appeared in front of him again.

This was Berkeley’s best knife that he had cultivated. And now, it was held against his throat.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Chen Bai’s smile slowly faded, “Winner takes all. Why doesn’t the General accept the Marshal’s advice and save us all the effort?”

“Accept?” Abraham looked at Chen Bai, as though he heard some ridiculous joke, “You’re making me accept? Who do you think I am! You think because of the few missions you had in the past means that you can climb on top of my head? You think that I’ll lose when you choose a side? Chen Bai, you’re too arrogant!”

“The videos are already sent out. You don’t have support in the Alliance, and those who followed you are no fools, so you don’t have any manpower. Why are you still struggling now?” Heinz pushed Dr. Einbergen behind himself and asked while taking a step forward.

Abraham paused, looking at Heinz in front of him, then at Chen Bai behind him, his eyes widening, “You… you… when did you…”

Confusion flashed in his gaze for a moment. A split second later, Abraham glared at Chen Bai and snarled, “Chen YiBai!”

“Thanks for remembering my name; it should be my honor.” Chen Bai said as he took out a dagger from behind. “Since you remember me, then you should know that you are not my or the Marshal’s opponent, not to mention facing the both of us at the same time…”

“You really think I only had one trick left? You think that I don’t have another way after you took out all those good-for-nothings outside?”  Abraham suddenly waved his hand, snarling angrily, “I have other ways. You want to do something to me with just the two of you? I’m Abraham! Chen Bai! You used to call me father…”

Before Abraham could finish his sentence, Heinz suddenly rushed forward, swiping at the bend of his leg. Abraham instantly fell down to the ground. He turned his head immediately, pulling out a small stone from his pocket. In the next second, Heinz’ movements paused. A booming sound rumbled in his brain region, and he couldn’t help but take two steps back, pain written across his face.

On the other side, Abraham’s vice general and the Berkeley special agent rushed towards Chen Bai at the same time.

The agent used the curve of his arm to lock onto Chen Bai’s neck. When the vice general was about to pounce on the Doctor, Chen Bai suddenly hooked the arm of the person behind and flipped him onto the ground. He then rushed to press the vice general’s throat and reached out his mental energy to wrap around Heinz at the same time.

Ever since they had formed the contract, the way their mental energies melded together became more and more effortless. In a few moments, Heinz’ brain region overcame the stimulation of the magnetite, and he rushed forwards to punch the shoulder of Abraham, who was about to open the metal door.

The latter collapsed onto his knees on the floor in pain.

Eyes red with fury, he turned to yell at the deputy general behind him, “Where’s the second team?! Why isn’t the second team here yet!”

And at the same time, in the outermost area of X-5, Kureya finished cleaning up the obstacles around X-5 after her mission of following Dr. Einbergen had been changed on Heinz’ orders. She then connected with Abraham’s communication message.

The latter seemed as though he had grasped onto a life-saving straw and immediately barked after connecting, “Second team, move immediately! I repeat, move immediately! Activate all the bombs, explode this planet into—”

“Can’t do that, General.” Kureya’s voice sounded from the communicator, “Everyone in the second team has your documentary. They could clearly see both the normal citizens as well as their own sickly comrades being dissected by you, and now they don’t seem like they want to explode the planet anymore.”

“General…” The vice general who was held down firmly by Chen Bai yelled in panic.

Right after, the special agent also said with a pale face, “Sir, the general headquarters is already a mess… the internal special agents and… and the experiments in storage all lost control, and some people have already, already been taken away by Alliance soldiers…”

Abraham ground his teeth, something fierce flashing in his gaze. He looked down at his own two hands, those already old-looking hands, and his breath hitched as though he was finally forced to see reality.

The past played inside Abraham’s mind scene by scene. When he looked at Chen Bai again, it looked as if he wanted nothing more than to tear him apart.

Chen Bai furrowed his brow slightly and had a bad premonition, like something was wrong.

A second later, he saw Abraham’s hand reaching suspiciously into his pocket.

Before anyone knew it, Chen Bai only heard someone roaring “Run!” He subconsciously looked at Heinz in an instant and was immediately bodily dragged away by a silhouette rushing from that direction.

Booming sounds collided in his ears one after another, and Heinz’ enraged roar filled the entire underground basement. But Chen Bai couldn’t hear anything apart from the vibrations. He saw the soldiers in front of him running outside in a hurry, saw Heinz carrying the doctor with one hand behind him, and reached out to tug at him without a second thought.

He had already suffered from a serious brain region injury earlier. The sounds of explosions now caused much more harm to him than in the past, and he couldn’t withstand it at all. He felt as if he was sapped of energy, and his brain region was ringing.

He instinctively reached out to push Heinz away, like how he’d done many times before.

Whether it was when he was seventeen and forced to participate in the Silver Competition by Abraham, when he chose to wipe his memories so the other didn’t continue investigating, or even after coming back to his side, he still didn’t want to use the other’s power.

Chen Bai reacted instinctively in that instant, just like all the times before, he subconsciously wanted to protect Heinz’ safety in the face of danger. Yet he hadn’t imagined that when he reached out to tug at Heinz, his hand was firmly grabbed by him. In the next second, Chen Bai felt as if he was swept up by a gale of wind.

Beside his ear was Heinz’ steady heartbeat, as well as his unusually calm voice.

“In your dreams.”

.

Many years later, the people of the Alliance still remembered the small civil war that had occured after the Century War with the Gars. Under Heinz’ control and Chen Bai’s help, it hadn’t turned into a large-scale and uncontrollable war.

Thus, it didn’t form the large shadow of a civil war looming in the Alliance’s heart. Instead Chen Bai insisted on exposing Berkeley’s human experimentation and revealed some of the victims’ names with the consent of their families as a memorial and a warning.

Aldia expressed complete support for Chen Bai over this matter, and even set it as Aldia’s memorial day, requiring everyone from the headmaster to the students to conduct a public memorial service on this day every year.

So, compared to the war, the conflict that the people remembered more was those human experiments.

And Chen Bai was also protected by Heinz, making sure that the Alliance government would not look into his past, even agreeing to the possibility of him joining the army, though Chen Bai expressed that he preferred the life of a hack teacher over joining the army. He could only feel the dust of his past slowly washing away when faced with children full of youth.

As for his change in appearance… It was safe to say that most people in the Alliance were shocked and slack-jawed. At the same time, the story of how a little special agent had risked his life to save his country and met the big marshal was also spreading within the Alliance.

“Wah… really, it’s been a month. Why am I still not used to… Teacher Chen being so good-looking ah?” In the break between classes, Ling Ling sat at her seat, cradling her chin with both her hands, and said with a face full of hearts.

“Hahaha My cousin used to loathe him, and now she has become his fan, recently coming here every day to take me home.” Her desk-mate Mark said proudly, “Teacher Chen always keeps a low-profile, and only we as his students are lucky enough to see him often.”

“Yeah,” Ling Ling nodded. “Teacher Chen is not in charge of a class, and usually Marshal will come get him after class. Ah, speaking of which, I really look forward to their babies…”

“Yes yes, me too! With Teacher Chen and the marshal’s attractive faces, their baby will be so beautiful! Heavens, they might be the type that blinds you when you see them!” A student from Class 3-1 came over and said delightedly.

And at the same time, Chen Bai had just finished his classes and walked through the school to the back door with a low-profile. When he was about to leisurely go look for some books at the bookstore, a small floating car stopped in front of him steadily.

In the next second, a frivolous voice sounded from inside.

“The weather is nice; does this teacher want to go home with me?”