Chapter 10: Hidden Dangers – This Marriage Wasn’t a Waste
Liang Huan still didn’t get to eat roasted chicken.
Li Yao fell asleep less than five minutes after getting into the hovercar and didn’t wake up until they were downstairs at the dormitory. Liang Huan couldn’t rouse him at all.
Uncle Yang was startled when he saw Li Yao being carried back. “What happened to him? Is he injured again?”
“He’s just tired,” Liang Huan said, scanning his pupils to enter, following his words, “Was he often injured before?”
Uncle Yang said, “He’s much better now. The first year he came, he’d come back covered in blood from every mission. A few times the doctor said he couldn’t be saved, and they left him in his room to die. But this kid’s got a tough life, heh, he always managed to pull through. Now he’s finally made it.”
“How many years has he been at the mercenary base?” Liang Huan handed him a pack of cigarettes.
Uncle Yang smiled and took it, thought for a while and said, “Must be five or six years. When he first came, he didn’t talk to anyone. Some people didn’t like him and tried to pick a fight with him, almost got beaten to death by him. Since then, no one dared to mess with him. Now that his points are up, the boss has to speak to him politely. Pretty good.”
“What did he do before?” Liang Huan asked.
“I don’t know about that. Those who can throw it all away and become mercenaries, which one of them isn’t ruined, with no ties?” Uncle Yang laughed, “But this kid is ruthless and reliable. Not so much nonsense. You’re not at a loss with him.”
Liang Huan smiled and didn’t continue to ask, carrying Li Yao into the elevator.
“Hey, pretty strong,” Uncle Yang muttered to himself. “It’s different after getting married. Someone to take care of you.”
Liang Huan’s wrist gave out, and he dropped the man directly onto the floor.
Li Yao frowned, turned over, and continued to sleep, his face devoid of color.
Liang Huan rubbed his aching wrist, staring at him with a displeased expression for a long time, then picked him up and put him on the bed.
The next morning, Li Yao was shaken awake and opened his eyes with difficulty.
Liang Huan pointed to his wrist. “Your chip has been ringing for half an hour.”
Li Yao’s gaze was unfocused, and it took him a few seconds to snap back to reality. There were a dozen missed calls and several alarms that had gone off.
He looked at the numbers and rubbed his face with a headache. “I’ll be out for a while. Can you eat takeout at home?”
Liang Huan was thinking about how to go out anyway, and nodded with slight regret, “Okay.”
“…If you’re tired of it, you can try cooking yourself.” Li Yao pointed to the spotless kitchen. “There’s a fully automatic cooking machine.”
Liang Huan looked at him and said, “Are you okay?”
Li Yao was obviously not used to this kind of concern. He shook his head, hurriedly went in to wash up, and before going out, unexpectedly met Liang Huan’s eyes, and frowned, “I’m fine, I’m leaving.”
The door slammed shut.
Liang Huan: “?”
—
Half an hour later, an office on the third floor of the East District First Court.
A man in a suit was sitting at his desk, staring at the 6.9% mental link rate on the screen for a long time before pushing up his glasses and saying in a deep voice, “You’re saying that within an hour, your mental link rate with this Liang Huan jumped nearly 3%, and then with his mental assistance, you killed a mid-level Variant?”
Li Yao sat on the sofa, flipping through the virtual paper news on his desk. “What do you think?”
Jiang Mufeng calmly and objectively commented, “Congratulations on still being alive and not turning into an idiot.”
Li Yao laughed, crossing one ankle over his knee, relaxing and leaning back. “This marriage wasn’t a waste.”
Jiang Mufeng pushed up his glasses. “But I still need to remind you, Liang Huan’s identity is abnormal. The First District can’t find any of his identity information. Three months ago, his account and Yu Wan Yao’s account had a two million Concentrated Coin transfer. Then his identity information suddenly appeared in the Population Matching Center, then he bought a mid-range house in the First District, bought a lot of luxury goods, and the rest of the money was invested in the Black Market’s Seventh Floor trading center, and he lost it all in less than a week, including all his assets.”
“I still stand by my previous view, this Liang Huan is approaching you with ulterior motives.”
Li Yao rolled up the newspaper, knocked on his forehead, and said lazily, “What’s he after? I’m just a broke mercenary, a useless person with a C-level mental strength, even the military has withdrawn my surveillance.”
“No matter what he’s for, keeping him around is always a hidden danger,” Jiang Mufeng said.
Li Yao laughed, “His brain was damaged by the shockwave, he can’t even remember who he is, what can he do?”
Jiang Mufeng frowned. “You deliberately took him to the training ground? This kind of operation violates the rules. Liang Huan is, after all, an ordinary person. Once it’s found out, you’ll be—”
“Isn’t it not found out yet?” Li Yao crossed his legs and laughed. “After his brain broke, he actually thought he was an emperor, and plays role-playing with me at home every day. It’s quite fun, much more adorable than that shrewd and calculating look before.”
Jiang Mufeng obviously disagreed. “If he investigates, you could be arrested by the police for intentional assault.”
Li Yao said, “Okay, then please be my defense lawyer.”
Jiang Mufeng really couldn’t stand his grinning face. “I suggest you get a divorce now and remarry. Although the East District doesn’t have a large population, you can always find someone suitable.”
“No need, I know what I’m doing.” Li Yao slumped on the sofa. “You do another detailed report of his mental strength and genes for me, is a week enough?”
“This is not allowed in principle,” Jiang Mufeng said with a cold expression.
“Then it’s possible.” Li Yao threw the newspaper away. “When I’m done, I won’t treat him badly. I’ll give him enough reward, no matter who he’s working for.”
“You don’t have to be so conceited.” Jiang Mufeng frowned. “Maybe the other party isn’t that easy to control.”
“He stays at home every day and doesn’t go out, how can he control anything?” Li Yao stretched. “He even leaves me food every day, tsk, makes me want to raise a real wife.”
“Even if it’s a spouse, you have to respect the other party’s right to work and personal freedom,” Jiang Mufeng said mechanically. “This kind of situation, if it goes to court, it’s an invalid marriage, it will be canceled—”
A call interrupted him.
He answered, and You Zhao Chen’s voice came from the virtual screen, “Mufeng, where are you? I’m off today, I’ll pick you up for a drink tonight?”
Jiang Mufeng glanced at Li Yao across from him. Li Yao raised his hand expressionlessly and gave him a throat-cutting gesture.
“Okay, 6:13, I’ll wait for you at the courthouse,” Jiang Mufeng said.
“Okay,” You Zhao Chen laughed. “It’s cold, remember to dress warmly.”
“Okay.” Jiang Mufeng hung up the call and looked at Li Yao. “It’s not a good way for you two to always be so stiff. After all, you’re brothers, wouldn’t it be better to clear up any misunderstandings?”
“There’s no misunderstanding, I’m just annoyed by him.” Li Yao smoothed out the newspaper on the table. “What was the name of that restaurant you said was especially delicious last time? Which district is it in?”
“Romantic Rose Garden, District Five. Their chicken is pretty good,” Jiang Mufeng said. “You want to eat?”
“Don’t like that stuff,” Li Yao laughed. “Buying it back to coax someone. This ancestor is my only hope right now. If he doesn’t eat well, he’ll really be furious. I’m scared and tremble every time.”
Jiang Mufeng: “…”
If he was scared and trembled, then the military’s good-for-nothings could all quit.
“I’m leaving.” Li Yao took two steps forward and suddenly turned back. “Don’t call so much in the future, your sister-in-law is easily misunderstood.”
The veins on Jiang Mufeng’s forehead were throbbing. It took all his self-cultivation not to throw the newspaper in his face.
He picked up the newspaper and glanced at it. It was stuck on the page for Wednesday’s Yi Yuan trial, and a few large words were marked in red: [Is the Dawn Project really a scam?]
Jiang Mufeng clenched the newspaper. It took seven years of preparation, and the four major districts and the central district exhausted all resources to create a joint fleet of more than 100,000 people, dispatching 90% of the mecha and spaceships, but in the end, almost no one survived.
He pressed the secretary’s call button. “Who prepared this information screen?”
“I’m ready!” Ai Xiaoli covered his eyes and turned his back to his friends, shouting, “You can’t cheat with chips! And you can’t break the rules!”
A group of children scattered with a burst of laughter.
“…Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!” Ai Xiaoli excitedly took his hands away from his eyes, impatiently starting to catch people. “I’m the Supreme Commander of the Dawn United Fleet, let me catch you traitors of the vanguard team first!”
A friend was exposed, and Ai Xiaoli quickly chased after him, but accidentally tripped over a wrench scattered on the ground, fell to the ground, a large piece of his palm was broken, and he cried out in tears instantly.
“Are you okay?” An adult passed by, half-knelt on the ground, helped him up, and patted the dust off his body.
Ai Xiaoli sobbed, wiped away his tears, and saw the person’s appearance clearly, sniffed, “Thank you, brother, you’re so good-looking.”
Liang Huan smiled and touched his head, handing him a piece of candy. “There’s too much debris here, let’s play somewhere else.”
Ai Xiaoli grabbed the candy and couldn’t wait to stuff it into his mouth.
Whether in the Black Market or elsewhere, candy is a scarce resource. Liang Huan learned this from the chip, and then found a large bag of candy in Li Yao’s bedside table, so he casually stuffed a few in his pocket. He didn’t expect to use them to coax a child.
The door of the shop behind him was suddenly opened, and a tall man came out. “Ai Xiaoli, don’t play hide-and-seek in front of my door.”
“Sorry, Pei Zhong Brother.” Ai Xiaoli stuck out his tongue and ran away busily.
“And you, don’t block my door.” Pei Zhong wasn’t very polite.
Liang Huan stood up, looked at him with a smile, and extended his hand. “Mr. Pei, hello, my name is Liang Huan, I’m here to pick up something from the shop.”
Pei Zhong coldly looked him up and down, without reaching out his hand. “You’re the one?”
Liang Huan didn’t care much and withdrew his hand, and said, “The gentleman told me to come.”
Pei Zhong’s expression turned even colder, turned around and went back into the house. “Come in.”
Liang Huan lifted the curtain and followed him into the house. The chip on his wrist suddenly vibrated. It was a picture sent by Li Yao.
Tempting chicken was lying in a delicately packaged plate, accompanied by Li Yao’s stiff text: Waiting, fifteen minutes to home, don’t eat yet.
Liang Huan: “…”
