Vol 14 Chapter 17-2

Xuan sat in front of a large screen. His expression was so apathetic which made him seem more like a soldier than that blonde young man. The fact was he lived with the standards of a soldier before coming to this realm. The impression he gave to the troopers was much better than Neos’s.

“According to Arachnid biologist Rose’s report, parasite bugs possess strong intelligence. They could even stir up conflicts within ourselves, to make us enter a civil war. This is the danger of parasite bugs. Their intelligence can even allow them to discover vulnerabilities within our society.”

“Dr. Rose’s report noted that these bugs usually sneak into our society then kill important figures to decrease our morale or cause chaos and civil war. It is difficult to distinguish this type of bugs. However, we aren’t totally out of means. The most important method is to observe their reaction. Because our report mentions that the most important method these bugs use to communicate is through their minds.”

Neos immediately felt things were bad when Xuan appeared on the screens throughout the fleet. He was in one of the information network starships that were responsible for transmitting signals among the fleet and from Earth. Which should mean that as long as this ship wasn’t overtaken, he was the only one who could send any signals out. How did Xuan’s signal go through to the fleet? The most shocking thing was Xuan’s image also appeared in Aya’s starship!

When Xuan got to communication through the mind, Neos’s heart beat violently. He realized the piece that was missing in his calculation. No, if he missed this piece, then he didn’t know how much more before that were completely wrong. Even though he only heard up to this point, Neos’s heart had fell into despair. If he guessed it right, the next words from Xuan were going to condemn their team with death. Furthermore, they wouldn’t even stand any chance resisting.

“Zheng Zha headed to Dr. Rose in person when we recognized the danger of these bugs to ask for more details on the dangers and habits of them. On the way there, he discovered a suspicious high ranking officer loitering around Dr. Rose. This is that officer’s image.”

After Xuan’s words, that middle age man appeared on the screen. It showed him walking pass Zheng. Both of them seemed normal but when the man returned to the ship Neos was in, his lips moved without uttering any words. Sometimes his lips didn’t move but his expression looked like he was communicating with someone. The surveillance video stopped after he returned to his room.

“This is the first high ranking officer we suspected of being parasitized. I tracked their traces afterward. In these few days, I discovered that they can understand each other without actually talking. This is only limited to these six people. The following videos show their suspiciousness.”

“So I advised the squad leaders on duty in the flagship to take precautions at all times to protect the incoming military officers. Finally, right as the officers arrived today, two of these six people had already moved close to them. The incoming officers also showed signs of abnormality. They attempted to capture troopers who were in Klendathu without going through any process of suspicion and obtaining permissions. The ten squad leaders I advised had been this disarmed as of right now. The following are videos of two of these people who just made the announcement to capture us.”

His fingers pressed the keys then two small screens appeared on the big screen. The screens showed Neos and Aya respectively. They were both saying the words that Neos said. However, the timestamp on the screen showed that they said every single word at the same time, the same words without any manuscripts on hand. It was like two sides of the same person saying the same words, at the same time, with the same tone, and doing the same movements. This was the sign of Soul Link!

The troopers watching the screens erupted. They talk about the two nearly identical screens. Doubts filled their faces. When a dozen disarmed troopers appeared on the screen with the officers and the two suspected officers on their sides, the troopers went into an uproar.

“Based on this series of evidence, especially the trait of communication through the minds, I have reason to believe these six people have been parasitized by the bugs. Furthermore, the squad leaders I advised to protect the officers had been disarmed. We also have reason to believe these bugs are attempting to annihilate us. We killed our way out of that sea of bugs. Is there anyone that still is willing to follow our lead? Let us kill our way out of the bugs’ scheme again!”

Neos sat on the floor on his knees. He almost fainted when he heard Xuan’s words, then he coughed up a mouthful of blood. But he bit his lips and held on. He didn’t faint from the fury at the end.

Neos grabbed a chocolate bar from his pocket with his shaking hand. He put the chocolate along with his blood in the mouth, then he just sat there in silence. He was going over the gaps of his plan and everything he still couldn’t get in his head.

Blood was still flowing out of his mouth as he ate the chocolate with a bitter smile. When the chocolate bar was finished, the focus on his pupils slowly dissipated. The packaging paper slid off his fingers and fell to the ground. Neos died by his seat.

At the same time of Neos’s death, Zheng was already riding the shuttle to the flagship. When the shuttle entered the ship, two other starships suddenly opened fire at two of the starships that came with the military higher ups. These two starships immediately evaded. One evaded in time and dodged the missile by a hair. The other wasn’t so lucky. The missile hit its left wing and blasted a large opening. It was unknown how many died in that explosion.

“All starships send your signal to surrender unconditionally. Any starship that doesn’t send its signal will be suspected of parasitized by the bugs. All visiting officers in the flagship will be isolated for investigation. Our highest priority is to guarantee Earth’s safety in the face of these terrifying, dangerous, and destructive bugs! We can not let any starship escape our vision. We can not let them return to Earth!” Xuan crossed his arms and said emotionlessly through the screen.