Chapter 74: Do you think I’m a monster?
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
A small object attack alert was sent to the Abyss Fleet and the Elam Fleet ministries, and upon receiving it, all members on duty prepared for battle. In a vast universe, small objects attacking human-inhabited planets occur often, and most of the planets in Imperial’s jurisdiction have built planetary defenses to withstand impacts. But not Earth, which had fallen back into barbarism.
These small objects traveled so fast that they were in sight in almost no time at all. The main guns of the starships orbiting Earth began to build up energy and fired their cannons to hit the small objects approaching Earth, blowing them to pieces. The remaining debris, even if it entered Earth, would burn up in the atmosphere and pose no threat.
But the starship’s main guns were inevitably negligent, and a few asteroids managed to get past the fleet’s defenses and were pulled toward the surface by Earth’s gravity, where they burned up in the atmosphere but were not completely consumed.
Ika’s infrared temperature monitor picked up five large explosions on the surface, and he immediately contacted those close to the five locations to report casualties.
Only two of them were near the mission’s landing site and route of travel, and security personnel at both reported panic, but no casualties. And one…. Ika quickly contacted Arnold, “There was a small asteroid, what’s the status of Dr. Lin?”
The map showed a fifth explosion just five kilometers away from where Lin Xu and the others had landed, an asteroid that could have destroyed more than five kilometers in radius.
Arnold looked at the flaming meteorite falling in the distance, the snowy peaks crumbling behind him, Cassandra piloting the lander away from the mountains, the lander being blown around by the air currents as the blast stirred the air.
“No! But we’ve hit an avalanche and a landslide, Dr. Lin and Marshal are investigating the inside of the mountain, please send rescuers ASAP!”
—
The mountain avalanche leaked sky light, but on closer inspection, it was all white light reflected by the snow.
The base structure collapsed in a self-destruct sequence, and the rocks fell in. There was no way the two would have enough time to escape from the base access road, so Heinrich pulled Lin Xu and turned on the power exoskeleton’s enhanced bounce function to climb up the blasted gap in the mountain.
Blizzard and debris poured down from the crevice and almost surrounded the two. Lin Xu and Heinrich braved the snow and ice to tumble out of the base stone wall, only to be covered by a heavy snow cover.
Lin Xu immediately used his fire control powers to melt the snow and ice that was about to fall on them to avoid suffocation, but in the face of the horrific impact of nature, Lin Xu’s telekinesis powers lost enough effectiveness and his space-time powers could not work on others, so he could not escape from the heavy snow layer with Heinrich.
Heinrich held Lin Xu, countless ice and snow debris smashed on his back, he did not say a word until Lin Xu watched a thick ice pick smash down, piercing the exoskeleton and isolation suit defense, stuck into Heinrich’s back.
Heinrich let go of his arm and with a muffled grunt pushed Lin Xu a hair’s breadth away so that the ice pick running through his body would not impale Lin Xu.
“Heinrich!” Lin Xu grabbed onto Heinrich’s arm, the two of them still rolling downward with the downward release of ice and snow debris.
The ice cone was inserted into Heinrich’s lungs, preventing him from breathing properly. Lin Xu immediately melted off the front and back halves of the ice cone, and turned telekinesis powers on to the extreme, propping up the snow layer close behind Heinrich so that the ice cone would not continue to be pushed in.
The blood was being diluted to a light pink color by the snow and was spilling everywhere, but Lin Xu didn’t dare to melt all the ice cones embedded in Heinrich’s lungs for fear that he wouldn’t be able to stop the bleeding. Breathing became more and more difficult, and Heinrich’s face began to turn blue.
Lin Xu knew that Heinrich would only suffocate if he continued like this, so he gritted his teeth and fished out the S-Class zombie’s crystal core and decided to take a chance.
In the midst of the avalanche, the flames melted the snow and ice, and were refrozen into ice by the low temperature, supporting a small space for the two.
When the ice cone was completely melted and removed, the intense pain and hollowness caused Heinrich to close his eyes. Lin Xu immediately crushed the S-Class crystal core and dripped energy into Heinrich’s wound, allowing the energy to prompt rapid healing.
The temperature of the flames spreading through the snow layer caused more snow to melt and condense back into ice, and finally, the torrent of snow and ice almost carried a hollow ball of ice surging over the collapsed mountain peak, gliding all the way to the mid-mountain plateau, the momentum that propelled the ball of ice gradually dissipated.
Lin Xu’s physical condition had recovered somewhat by relying on the reserve food nuclei dug from the mutant vines, but today’s intense use of psychic powers once again depleted the energy stored in his body, relying on his will to support him, and only after confirming that Heinrich’s injuries had slowed down and he was out of danger of losing his life did he pass out.
Heinrich immediately tightened his arms and clung to Lin Xu, who had broken away from the fall.
—
The snow and ice rolled down from the peak like a raging sea swept up by a hurricane, and Ryan spun around in the lander, talking to Arnold with an urgent cry, “Professor Lin, Professor Lin and the others…”
Arnold’s expression stiffened as he patted Ryan’s back, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, the Abyss Fleet has urgently mobilized a rescue team.”
“But, but what’s the point of rescue after the fact? Can they escape the avalanche?”
Arnold didn’t answer the question, pressing Ryan’s shoulder to keep him from wandering around. He didn’t know if Heinrich and Lin Xu would survive the avalanche, and as Ryan feared, the exoskeleton would not allow them to survive the energy release of the avalanche, so he could only hope that Heinrich and Lin Xu would find a solid and safe shelter.
–
Lin Xu’s energy depletion lulled him to sleep, and the rejection reaction came back to haunt him, making him feel aches and pains in his sleep, but the air that touched his skin was terribly cold. The combination of heat and cold and the high level of nervousness made his sleep extremely restless, and he woke up with a start, the glare in his eyes stinging Lin Xu’s eyes and causing his temples to pop.
He half opened his eyes, letting his eyelashes cover most of the light, and adjusted to the brightness for a while before opening his eyes fully and taking stock of his current situation.
Lin Xu was half lying in a hole made of ice. The ice was smooth and transparent on all sides, not the white ice of compacted snow. The sun shone through the ice from the left side, making the ice cave as bright as day, but because the ice was too thick, with the outside still blocked by snow, he could not see beyond the ice.
Looking in, the shadows of the ice had more dark blue light and shadow. Traces of blood were dense and cloudy, frozen into the ice beneath his feet, keeping the same shape as when he rolled down. Lin Xu shifted, remembering everything that had happened during the avalanche. Where was Heinrich?
The ice cave was not high enough for an adult to stand in, so Lin Xu had to climb inside on his knees. Gradually, Lin Xu heard the slow, faint sound of breathing, and he sped up his movements, following the blood trail to the inside of the dark blue ice cave. He had removed his left glove while on the bridge, and now his left hand was exposed, frozen to the bone by the ice.
“Don’t come over.” A hoarse but familiar voice called out to Lin Xu to stop his movements. Turning a small corner in the ice cave, Lin Xu raised his head and looked at the source of the voice.
Heinrich was sitting in an odd position against the ice wall, his exoskeleton disassembled and tossed aside, with bent and torn marks in several places that should have been damaged by debris from the avalanche.
His isolation suit had a large hole torn in the chest, and the newly grown pink scar could be faintly seen inside. It seemed that the energy of the crystal core had cured Heinrich, but there was no way to wash away the dark blood on the black isolation suit that had witnessed everything.
“Heinrich.”
“Don’t come any closer!”
Lin Xu stopped moving forward, he frowned at Heinrich, whose lips were not ashen, but rather rich in blood. Lin Xu’s voice was muffled, “What’s wrong?”
Heinrich held the ice wall, shifted his sitting posture, cold features like a dark cloud, covering the red eyes, as if a beast was surging underneath.
“Besides the lung injury, what else feels wrong?” Lin Xu continued to approach. He still had two A-Class cores in his bag, so if Heinrich had any other injuries, he should be able to use them. Suddenly, Lin Xu felt something solid against his shoulder, making it impossible for him to advance.
Lin Xu, “???” He couldn’t believe Heinrich’s action.
Lin Xu took hold of Heinrich’s ankle and tried to push his leg back, Heinrich started to struggle, and in a trance, he saw a silvery white dragon scale between the ice and the gap between Heinrich’s body exposed by his raised leg.
But it was not the appearance of a few dragon scales that would emerge from Heinrich’s wound when he was injured, but something else covered with dragon scales. Lin Xu retracted his gaze, and after putting Heinrich’s foot back in place slowly, he released the hand that was holding Heinrich’s ankle in a vice grip.
In fact, if Heinrich really wanted Lin Xu to back off completely, he could have kicked Lin Xu back, but he kept his movements restrained, his calf muscles tensed up extra tight, and Lin Xu even felt Heinrich’s foot shaking against him. Lin Xu stopped where he was, didn’t mention what he saw, but asked, “Are you cold?”
“No.” Heinrich kept his words short.
The temperature control of the isolation suit was broken, and the cold almost made him shiver, but there was an irresistible heat surging through his body, and the closer Lin Xu came, the more intense the feeling became.
Lin Xu did not believe Heinrich’s words, he stretched out his frozen left hand, and suddenly, a small burning flame appeared on the flat palm of his hand. Heinrich was baffled by this violation of the laws of physics, and then closed his eyes, wondering if he was still in a dream. Lin Xu raised his eyebrows, “Heinrich, open your eyes, this is not an illusion.”
He cupped the fire in his hand near the ragged front of Heinrich’s isolation suit, warmth cascading down the ragged front and onto the scar. Heinrich jerked his eyes open and went to grab the flame in Lin Xu’s hand.
“Don’t touch it, it’s real fire, you’ll burn if you touch it.” Lin Xu said, “Just get close to it.”
Heinrich suppressed his hand, which was raised in Lin Xu’s direction, and slowly approached the flame, which was indeed warm. But the warmer it was, the less he dared to let his restless blood get close to the flames and Lin Xu, and Heinrich forced himself to close his eyes.
“What is this?”
“My psychic ability, fire control.” Lin Xu replied, and as Heinrich raised his hand, a rich vetiver scent swelled in all directions, scorched by the heat of the flames, wrapping around Lin Xu, who now looked in pain.
“Heinrich, are you in a susceptible period? Is there anything I can do to help you?”
Generally speaking, an omega could use their pheromone to pacify an alpha in susceptible period, but Lin Xu was not an omega, nor did he have pheromone, and the last time Heinrich was in susceptible period, he relied on knocking people out and tying them up in the mecha cockpit, letting Heinrich survive. But in the extremely cold environment, Lin Xu didn’t dare to do it again.
“No… No need.”
Heinrich withdrew his hand, and the cold temperature invaded him again. Lin Xu lowered his eyes coldly.
“What, Heinrich, did you figure out all of a sudden that you think I’m a monster and are sick of me touching you?”
Heinrich froze after hearing this question. But the dragon’s tail that was hidden behind him twitched aggressively and uncomfortably in the ice.
The author has something to say.
Marshal: I’m not, I’m not!
laughs
Even if he says yes, it’s too late now, the story has developed to this point, Professor Lin can not let Marshal go as easily as before.
I’ve already started thinking about extras, the whole bit of live, such as the dragon form of Marshal wears to apocalypse, meets Lin Xu, who has not yet undergone transformation and is carrying a pen and wielding a pen, the dragon is captured as a gift to him, and then he puts the dragon in a cage.
