by Hao Yang
“It was self-defense, right?” Orizy asked seriously.
“No, I just wanted to set an example so that no one tries again.” Jason said coldly.
“If I was in that situation, I will do the same thing or maybe even more.” Lucis said proudly.
Idi and Orizy was shocked at Lucis’s words. Others smiled politely.
“If you were there, you might end up like Dreon.” Sayillin chuckled.
“Come on, man. I can fight!” Lucis shouted unhappily.
“Yes, one on one. But one on four. I will just beg for my life.” Sayilin said sincerely.
“Yea, me too.” Erikon nodded.
“Jason, I can fight, right?” Lucis asked seriously.
“Ah, I need to go to restroom.” Jason said as he headed to the restroom.
Others broke into laughter.
Just at this moment, robots carried their armor suits into the room and set them on the floor.
Lucis looked at his suit and glanced over at Jason’s suit. He could clearly see the team leader mark on the right shoulder. He activated his own suit and Jason’s suit at the same time. Others were busy with checking their own suits. Before they noticed, Lucis jumped into Jason’s suit.
“Hey, Lucis, are you drunk? You are wearing the wrong suit. Isn’t it too big for you?” Orizy said loudly.
Others laughed at Lucis.
Lucis walked several steps in the suit and then stepped out. He flash a reluctant smile and said, “Yea, that was stupid.”
“I love to wear that, too.” Erikon said to Lucis.
“It is just a suit.” Lucis said coldly.
Jason walked out of the restroom and headed to his armor suit.
Right at this moment, a Zontean emerged from the doorway, followed by an Oepttese.
Jason knew this Zontean. His name was Eoie, the team leader of the opponent team in the upcoming final. He had a tall and thin figure, dark skin, a long head with four eyes and a large mouth. The Oepttese’s name was Heoton. He had a large build with four arms.
“Jason, how are you doing?” Eoie asked politely and nodded at others in the room.
“Alright. Youself?’
“Pretty good.”
“How can I help?” Jason said coldly.
“Always straight to business, huh?” Eoie chuckled.
“You always struck me as a Zontean who doesn’t want to waste his time.” Jason smiled.
“Jason, I was surprised at your speed and strength, especially recently. I feel that you had some kind of biological enhancement.” Eoie said seriously.
Jason knew exactly what he talked about. He also felt the change on his body, which he couldn’t explain why. But he didn’t want to talk about it with Eoie. He laughed and said, “You worried I took some kind of enhancement drugs?”
“No. I doubt you have the money to get them.”
“Thank you. What else?” Jason said carelessly.
“Well, good luck to you and your team. I will see you in several days.” Eoie said coldly and headed out.
“So they came here to check whether you are on juice?” Idi asked.
“I don’t know and I don’t care.” Jason said easily.
“You know, he actually had a point. You are much stronger than before.” Sayilin said cautiously as he looked around at others.
Lucis, Erikon and Titainein nodded their heads. Idi and Orizy looked confused.
“I can feel the change as well. I don’t know what happened to me. It seems that when I am getting excited, something is coming out of my bones and fuel my energy and strength.” Jason said honestly.
“Since when you had this kind of feeling?” Titainein asked caringly.
“Since I was on Sylareon.”
“Glycan did something to you?” Erikon asked.
“Except trying to kill me. Nothing really.” Jason joked.
“Maybe something on Etitaeg?” Titainein said.
“I don’t know.”
“You should check with doctors.” Idi said.
“I kind of like it, actually.” Jason grinned.
“Everything comes with a price.” Sayilin said sincerely.
“Alright, let’s get ready for this training.” Jason said easily. He knew his friends cared about him, but he didn’t want to see doctors. He was afraid they would take away that power.
Chapter 57
Mark spent most of his days guarding different checkpoints in the slum. Right now, he was standing near a steel door and watching the factory, a big basement the size of a basketball field. Different kinds of rusty machines and equipment took most of the room. All types of buckets, bowls and bottles covered the rest of the room. Workers in the factory were mostly men.
Pennington walked to Mark and asked, “How is everything?”
“Same old.” Mark said easily.
“I kind of like it this way.”
“Me, too. I guess we all get old.” Mark smiled reluctantly.
“Yea, that is truth.” Pennington chuckled.
“Hey, Mark, it’s your turn to dump the shit.” A gunman shouted at Mark.
“Pennington, can you take my position for like two minutes. I need to do this.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Mark left the room and headed to the so called restroom. Since Mark was a new guy, he became the chosen one to dump body wastes. After about 10 minutes, he put the buckets on the edge of a big well the size of a small swimming pool. When he emptied the buckets, he noticed a skeleton that was half buried in the hole. It was not a surprise to see dead bodies. But Mark could tell this skeleton belonged to a Glycan. There was also something on the skull. It was a string of number and it read “734.” Mark was shocked and he was quite sure this Glycan was not a real Glycan. Later Mark found another two Glycan bodies and they all had numbers on their skulls. Mark couldn’t understand what he saw. He went back to Pennington and said, “There were Glycan skulls in the sewer.”
“Yea, I know.” Pennington said casually.
“But those are not real Glycans.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well, they have numbers on their skulls. Glycans wouldn’t mark themselves with our number system.”
“I see. I didn’t notice that.” Pennington said easily.
“There is something going on here, right?” Mark said carefully.
“You are right about that. But I am not sure what is going on. I can show it to you tonight.”
Mark and Pennington waited until midnight and sneaked out of the room. They reached the lowest level of the underground structure and climbed down a 200 meter long steel ladder. Then they walked along another tunnel. After spending about an hour in tunnels, they crawled out through a small vent and stood on a cliff. It was a huge cave, several kilometers in diameters, to say the least. Beams of light shooting from the bottom illuminated the cave. Mark looked down. It was very deep.
“Something. Huh?” Pennington kept his voice as low as possible.
“Yea.” Mark marveled at the construction. He knew digging a cave like this required a lot of work.
“This mine site was abandoned at least 500 years ago. So here is the question.”
“Who is digging right now?” Mark said.
“Exactly.”
“You went down there before?” Mark asked.
“Only one time. It was a very very long way down.”
“Does colonel know anything about this?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t tell him.”
“You said you went down there. Who was there?” Mark asked.
“I didn’t see anyone that time.” Pennington said quietly.
“You think that has something to do with those Glycan skulls?”
“I don’t know.”
Mark had so many questions and he knew going down there could bring up more questions than answers.
“You want to go down there?” Pennington asked.
“No, not today.” Mark felt he had had enough for one
day.
They left the mine site and headed back to their room.
Chapter 58
The final match had a different game ground. It was a rectangular field with trenches, bunkers, barricades and high ground platforms scattering everywhere. In the center, there was a mine field around the ball with a radius of five meters and a pressure sensitive bomb was right under the ball. There was no robot in the final game.
Jason’s teammates were getting ready for the game, but Jason was hiding in the restroom and checking the game field blueprint sent by Gloria. Nothing really stood out except a huge water pipe buried under the field.
Jason knew better than anyone that the opposing team was stronger than his team. The team leader Eoie was a sniper. They had two Oepttese who had four arms, which meant they had more firepower. They also had a Jynese, a Tizuee, a Ptueit and a Btienen. Ptueit was a species having four eyes on the back of their heads. Brienen was the fastest among second class species. He told his teammates there was no need to have a plan, because he didn’t have a plan. He was playing tough, because he knew morale sometimes was more important than what they actually had.
Jason walked out of the restroom and joined others.
“You know, I learn that the odds is four to one.” Sayilin said uneasily.
“We are four?” Orizy asked.
“No.” Sayilin said sadly.
“Did you bet?” Titainein asked curiously.
“I am thinking, actually.” Orizy smiled in a shy way.
“I bet on our team!” Erikon said proudly.
“What? What did you bet? Your food?” Sayilined joked.
“No. I can’t risk that.” Erikon said seriously.
Everyone laughed.
“You think we will win?” Orizy asked Jason.
“I don’t think questions like that.” Jason smiled.
“That is a real comfort.” Sayilin said ironically.
“We have gone this far, so we really have nothing to lose.” Titainein said happily.
“Actually, we have. Nobody cares about who is the second. If we lost, all our previous effort are gone. Also think about if we win, we will build our reputation and everyone knows us.” Lucis said seriously.
“They know us, because you have to do some research before you bet.” Jason said carelessly.
“I don’t really care about that. I just hope no one gets hurt.” Idi said.
“No pain, no gain. Remember?” Lucis said loudly.
“Next time, you should replace Jason to give the motivational talk.” Sayilin chuckled.
Everyone smiled.
The red light was flashing. Jason and his teammates quickly got into their armor suits. Then the gate slowly slid open from the middle.
“Let’s go!” Jason shouted. They ran into the game field in a triangle formation, heading to the center zone. Jason was taking the lead.
“Idi, Orizy take the platform on the left. Lucis, Titainein take the bunker next to the center zone. Sayilin, Erikon…”
“Bang!” A bullet hit Jason on his shoulder. It came from the bunker across the center zone.
Jason, Sayilin and Erikon rolled into a trench about 10 meters away from the center zone.
“That was quick. Are you alright?” Sayilin asked.
“Yea.” Jason said as he peeked over the trench.
“That must be the Btienen. The fast guy.” Erikon said.
Idi and Orizy were shooting at the bunker. At the same time, the two Oepttese were pressing them. Eoie’s team was pushing close to the center zone in two groups.
Lucis and Titainein made to the bunker and blasted their rifles like crazy. Two teams were exchanging fire over the center zone. Electric charges, lasers, bullets were flying all over the place.
“Idi is down. Idi is down!” Orizy shouted as he rolled down the high ground platform.
“Take cover. Orizy!” Jason shouted.
But it was too late. Eoie shot Orizy on the helmet. A medical drone picked up Orizy and Idi and took them off the field.
Now two Oepttese were focusing their fires on the bunker where Lucis and Titainein were holding.
Jason, Sayilin and Erikon were trying to push back Eoie’s advance, but Eoie’s team was slowly gaining the ground. The fast guy Btienen had moved to the very edge of the mine field.
“Don’t worry. As soon as that Btienen sets foot on the mine field, he is done.” Sayilin said as he changed another magazine.
“I don’t think they are that stupid!” Jason said uneasily.
Just at this moment, Eoie shot at the ball. It bounced away and the pressure sensitive bomb exploded, triggering a series of explosions.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” It lasted for about 10 seconds, leaving a huge hole on the ground.
Dust was stilling cycling in the air. Jason ran out of the trench, heading to the center zone and searching for the ball. After several seconds, dust started to settle down. Jason took cover behind a barricade on the verge of the hole. He could see the water pipe at the bottom of the hole.
“Find the ball!” Jason shouted.
“It was on our side. Near the gate!” Erikon shouted.
“I will get it!” Sayilin shouted. He jumped out of the trench and ran to the gate.
“Cover fire!”Jason said as he blasted his rifle.
While Sayilin was running back to grab the ball, the Brienen was also heading to it on Jason’s far right. He was so fast that Jason was not able to take him down.
“Watch your left. Sayilin. Watch your left.” Jason said nervously.
“I got it.” Sayilin said excitedly as he was just about to pick up the ball.
Right at this moment, Btienen showed up at Sayilin’s left and shot him on the helmet. Sayilin’s armor suit was down. Btienen picked up the ball and ran away.
“Sorry, guys.” Sayilin sighed. A medic drone took him off the field.
“Damn it!” Erikon shouted angrily. He stood up behind the trench blasted his electric charge rifle blindly.
“Get down. Erikon!” Lucis shouted.
Dozens of bullets hit Erikon at the same time, his armor suit riddled with holes. Erikon felt pain everywhere, but he was still firing his rifle. Then Eoie shot him on the helmet. Erikon froze there and dropped his rifle on the ground.
“Erikon!” Jason shouted.
“Jason, we can’t hold it anymore.” Titainein said calmly.
Eoie’s team was surrounding them. The two Oepttese were keeping Jason under the barricade. Eoie and three other guys were encircling the bunker. The Btienen was holding the ball and hiding at the back.
“Get out of there before they box you in.” Jason said as he checked his watch.
There was still 17 minutes left.
Lucis and Titainein rushed out of the bunker. Eoie shot Lucis on the back where the suit battery was located.
“I am running out of fuel!” Lucis said sadly.
“Lucis, it’s OK. Take it easy.” Jason said calmly. He saw what just happened and he knew Lucis couldn’t make it.
“Damn.” Lucis said unhappily. Soon Lucis’s armor ran out of energy.
“Lucis, you have done well.” Titainein said.
A medical drone took Lucis off the field. Now three opponent players were approaching Titainein. Eoie and another three was coming at Jason.
“Titainein, you see the camera drones?” Jason said.
“Yes. Why?” Titainein said as she looked at those low flying drones.
“Get on the platform, wait my word, then grab one of them.” Jason said calmly. Then he suddenly rolled into the enormous hole and slipped to the very bottom, landing on the water pipe. He fired his rifle at the huge water pipe.
“Boom!” The water pipe broke. Water busted out of the pipe, flooding the field within seconds. Titainein climbed onto a platform in chaos.
When the emergency shutdown finally kicked in, the whole game field was covered in one and half meter deep water. Everyone was standing in the water except Titai
nein.
Jason swam under the water, found Erikon’s electric charge rifle and removed the magazine. He stayed under the water the whole time.
“Titainein, ready?”
“Yes.” Titainein said and aimed at one camera drone.
“Now!” Jason shouted as he fired at the magazine. Titainein jumped off the platform and grabbed a camera drone.
The magazine exploded and released gigantic amount of electricity, electrifying everyone in the water and paralyzing their armor suits. No one could make a move, not even a step.
Titainein now understood why Jason asked her to grab a camera drone. If she was on the ground, she would end up the same.
After several seconds, the electric pulse was gone. Titainein jumped into the water and swam to Btienen who was still suffering the electrification. She took the ball from him, held it with both hands and lifted it in the air. There was still 15 minutes left for the game. Eoie’s team only held the ball for seven minutes and now none of them could even move.
Chapter 59
There was a debate regarding the winner of the final. Half of the judges supported the decision that Jason violated the rule and his team should be disqualified from the game. However, the other half didn’t compromise and they couldn’t reach a consensus. As a result, first class species officers stepped in and decided that Jason’s team won the championship.
Jason wasn’t aware any of these, because he was in hospital for several days. Right now, Jason was sitting on the bed and eating his dinner. A nurse walked in and asked, “How do you feel?”
“Much better.” Jason said easily.
“By the way, your friends are here. They have been checking on you since the day you were hospitalized.”
“Let them in. let them in!” Jason said hastily.
Within a second, Lucis, Erikon and Sayilin rushed in the room, followed by Titainein, Orizy and Idi. Each of them gave Jason a big hug.
“Man, let’s not do it again.” Titainein smiled.
“You didn’t get hurt, right?” Jason asked.
“She was hanging on the camera drone. Of course not.” Sayilin said happily.
“Man, you just don’t give up, do you?” Erikon said emotionally.
“Jason, Idi cried as if you were dead when she saw you lying in the water.” Sayilin said.