After the Zerg General Was Accidentally Marked - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Intersection

Zero!

Everett failed.

The countdown hit zero, and he still hadn’t pressed the emergency stop. The deck would detach with the female, becoming a piece of junk in the universe.

He was going to kill his Solas!!!

No—!!!!!!!!!

Accompanied by immense despair and pain, mental power surged wildly from the high-rank’s body like a tide, quickly enveloping the entire ship!

Then, everything came to a dead halt—

The spaceship froze at a tilt; Bigu, who was jumping up in anxiety, was suspended in mid-air; the warning lights stopped flashing and their piercing shriek vanished. Even the drifting smoke solidified like a sculpture.

The entire universe stood still, silent, as if a movie being watched had suddenly been paused.

What… was happening?!

Everett had no time to think. Following instinct, he pressed the emergency stop button with all his might!

Emergency detachment sequence terminated! Bridge hatch forced open! Warning! Ship integrity compromised! Restarting emergency detachment sequence. Deck and cargo hold successfully detached. Initiating automatic landing protocol, re-planning your flight path.

Everett watched the hatch open and the female enter, then take over the ship, detaching the burning deck and cargo hold and re-planning the route.

“Great job, thank you!” the female said to him.

The ship gradually stabilized, and the planets outside the porthole were now close at hand.

But Everett maintained a sense of unreality. It was as if the world was separated by a layer of blurry glass, and the sounds in his ears felt like they were muffled with cotton.

He looked down at his hands. He just now… Hadn’t he failed?

Why was Solas still alive? That moment of frozen time—was it an illusion or…

“Ah!” A needle-like sting suddenly shot through his mind. It was similar to his previous ailment of mental power depletion, but it hurt much more.

Everett clutched his head and knelt on the floor.

“Everett?” Bigu came to his side and patted his back.

“Are you okay?” The female, focused on piloting the ship, glanced at him.

In the next second, the little high-rank spat out a mouthful of blood.

This gave Sears a fright. He immediately switched the ship to autopilot and came over to check the little high-rank’s condition.

The moment he was held in the female’s arms, the world finally regained its sense of reality. But he was in so much pain, so tired, and wanted to sleep so badly…

“Mental power… overused…” Everett explained.

“It’s okay, you’re already very impressive.” The female gently stroked his back. “You saved my life.”

“Rest for a while if you’re tired.”

But he couldn’t sleep; he still wanted… he hadn’t had time…

So he grabbed the female’s hand and pleaded: “After we land, promise me, don’t leave directly… okay?”

The female held his hand back, remained silent for a while, and said: “Okay, I promise you.”

Everett let out a laugh, and more blood surged from the corner of his mouth.

He knew the female was lying to him.

Big. Liar.

But he no longer had the strength to do more. He didn’t have the skill or the ability to keep his female.

Everett fell into a deep sleep amidst his reluctance.

“Will he die?” Bigu looked sadly at the unconscious little high-rank.

Sears checked the little high-rank’s condition again; he had a fever. But logically, mental power issues shouldn’t have serious consequences for a high-rank.

“He won’t,” Sears said to Bigu, and to himself. “I won’t let him die.”

Sears left the little high-rank in Bigu’s care for the time being and focused on piloting the ship. He successfully made an emergency landing in the shortest time possible, stopping in an empty clearing about fifty kilometers from the spaceport.

Sears sent out a distress signal with their location, then hid in the shadows, watching with his own eyes as the rescue team found the unconscious little high-rank and took him away safely.

Sears knew the military female leading the team—Colonel Walter of the Third Legion. Although he had an unpleasant personality, he was serious and responsible in his work. Everett would be fine in his hands.

Next, the little high-rank would receive professional medical treatment. Whether he stayed here or returned to the capital would be his choice.

A high-rank, after all, would not be mistreated anywhere.

And it was time for him to handle his own affairs.

Just as Sears turned to leave, Bigu tugged his hand and looked up, asking: “Are we not looking after the little high-rank anymore?”

“Do you want to look after him?” Sears asked. “Is it because you think he’s a good insect?”

“Hmm…” Bigu thought while biting his finger. “I think he’s a stupid insect!”

“He said before that he wanted to possess you. But he refused to just do it. What is he if not a stupid insect?”

Sears paused in his tracks.

“Bigu, let’s follow the rescue team that took the little high-rank and see which hospital he gets admitted to, okay?”

“Okay, okay!” The tail hook behind Bigu wagged gently.

Sears knew this meant Bigu liked Everett.

So, this was being done for Bigu’s sake.

They spent a few more hours following the rescue team to find the hospital where Everett was staying. Only then did they leave together.

The Corvus Stars is a collective name for a dozen star systems located at the junction of Sector A and Sector B. Among them, several large planets around the star Corvus-3 were fitted with planetary engines and pushed into suitable orbits, transformed into massive habitable transit ports.

Planet Corvus-3H, where they landed, was the largest among them. It was also known as the AB Transit Star.

As an important transportation hub between the two sectors, this place used to be one of the stations for the First Legion.

Sears had stayed on Planet 3H for a period of time, so he had left a safe house there.

The first thing the large and small insects did upon arriving at the safe house was to wash themselves clean. Then they changed clothes and filled their stomachs.

While helping Bigu get dressed, Sears warned: “Don’t let your tail hook show from now on.”

“Oh, so annoying!” the little cub muttered while wrapping the tail hook around his belly.

“If other insects ask, tell them you’re only five years old.”

Bigu made a face and ran off.

Sears gave the cub some snacks, then went to the bathroom and took off the bite-guard again.

The wounds on his face were recovering well; the ulcerated parts were visibly smaller than before. But it could still be described as hideous.

The injuries in his throat had recovered a lot. He could basically speak normally now, though his voice was exceptionally raspy and unpleasant, a far cry from his previous deep, magnetic tone.

It was, at least, convenient for a disguise.

His mental sea was recovering well. Even at a distance, as they were still on the same planet, he could feel the little high-rank’s mental power slowly helping him repair.

If the mental sea could recover, the external injuries would follow suit. Perhaps it wouldn’t even leave a scar. If that happened, he would have to wear the bite-guard all the time.

Sears thought about these random things as he reapplied medicine to the wounds on his face.

Next was the through-and-through gunshot wound on his shoulder. The bullet hadn’t stayed inside; simple treatment was enough. It would probably be fine in a couple of days.

Then, he turned around and looked at the wing sheath entrance on his back. It was still seeping blood.

If it hadn’t been absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t have dismantled the wing-locking device by force. The damage to these wings was severe, almost irreversible.

He might never be able to fly in combat again.

For a military female, this was a massive regret.

Sears expressionlessly put on his shirt, donned the bite-guard, and headed out.

In today’s world, where the optical-link system occupies over 95% of social information channels, print media has been squeezed to the point of having almost no survival space. However, along the way, he still saw many newspapers and wanted posters regarding the “defection” of Admiral Sears.

As expected.

The only unexpected impact was that the First Legion, originally stationed here, had been withdrawn due to the so-called defection and replaced by the Third Legion.

Judging by military rank, it was quite possible that Walter was the highest-ranking military female here.

And Sears did not trust him.

He had to find another way to contact the First Legion.

The priority was still to resolve the female slave collar. Although he believed Everett wouldn’t do anything to him, the Female Slave Exchange also possessed authority and could use the collar to kill him in certain situations.

He didn’t like the feeling of his life being held in the hands of other insects. Not the Exchange. Not even Everett.

Sears knew a genius electronic mechanic named Ned who could easily dismantle a female slave collar of this level. But he wasn’t here to find him this time.

Sears went to the vicinity of Ned’s residence and followed a hidden blue electronic mechanic symbol—forward, left turn, then right turn. Finally, he stopped in front of a red mechanical door.

He knocked on the door.

After a moment, the mechanical eye on the door began to rotate, and the intercom beside it asked: “Who are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for Carlos.”

“I don’t know you.”

“Ned sent me.”

The mechanical eye stopped rotating, and a small hole opened in the door, revealing a pair of brown eyes. “Ned? Where is he?”

“He…” Sears paused for a moment. “He’s dead.”

“He told me to find you. He also said that a mechanical doll shouldn’t have only one heart. I don’t know what that means?”

Before he finished speaking, the door opened.

Inside was a tall, thin female insect wearing a strange helmet-like hat with something that looked like a monocular telescope on it.

“That was the first thing he said to me when we first met.”

“No matter who you are, you must be very important to Ned.”

“Please come in.”

Once the military female entered, Carlos flipped down his inspection lens and looked the tall, strong military female over. “You’re hurt pretty badly…”

“But I’m not a doctor; I’m only responsible for the electronic mechanical parts. I guess your problem is the collar on your neck.”

“Please, sit!” Carlos patted a worn leather chair in the middle of the room; yellowed foam could be seen at the corners.

Sears sat down. Carlos used the foot pedals to adjust the chair’s height and posture, then leaned down to inspect the collar.

“Hmm… yours is the latest model. I haven’t dismantled many of these.”

“In terms of dismantling these things, Ned was better than me.”

Carlos dragged over a metal tray filled with various shapes of probes and took out a long, thin one with a hook at the end. “Actually, with this model of slave collar, my success rate is 50%. Either it’s successfully removed, or the self-destruct device is triggered by mistake, blowing your head off.”

“So, do you want to gamble?”

Sears looked at the other party. “Ned trusted you.”

Carlos was stunned, then smiled, took off his hat, and donned a blast-proof helmet. “Fine!”

“When Ned was still around, we always argued, competing for the title of Corvus’s number one electronic mechanic.”

“Now that he’s gone…” Carlos carefully dismantled the collar’s casing, revealing the wires inside. “I actually kind of miss him.”

Carlos connected to the collar and spent half an hour tinkering with the light screen, then suddenly let out a “Huh?”

“What’s wrong?” Sears’ heart tightened.

“This collar of yours… the permissions have already been deactivated.”

“That’s impossible. I just arrived at Corvus.” The little high-rank was still lying in the hospital; he didn’t even know if he was awake.

“Let me see…” Carlos logged into the collar’s system log. “The deactivation time was… Star Calendar Year 693, November 1st. One month ago.”

One month ago—the night he took the opportunity to leave the little high-rank.

At that time, Everett had already deactivated his permissions? Why? To do such a thing right after being betrayed, how stupid was he?

“The reason was… reporting the death of the female slave. It looks like the high-rank did it himself.”

Carlos took off the helmet. “This collar is useless now. It’s just an ornament. You can take it off or put it on yourself at any time.”

“In most public places, they won’t recognize if the collar is still functional. But in military settings and some high-rank exclusive venues, they can still check if the collar is deactivated. It’s best to avoid those.”

“Why would the little high-rank do that?” Sears was completely baffled.

“How would I know?” Carlos shrugged. “But congratulations, you’re free.”

He was free.

Sears took off the female slave collar.

Up to this point, all the shackles since his rebirth had been completely removed.

But for some reason, he didn’t feel as relieved as he had expected.

“How much?” Before leaving, Sears asked.

Carlos shook his head. “I’m not charging you this time. But I want an answer.”

“Ned—how exactly did he die?”

The weather was very good today; the sunlight was warm but not dazzling. Along the way, Sears even bought two boxes of Basa fish porridge. Both the little high-rank and the cub liked eating fish.

He carried the steaming food, standing at the intersection. Left to the hospital, right to the safe house.

He was free. He should go back to the safe house and make plans. Either leave or contact the adjutant of the First Legion to return to the military life he was more familiar with as soon as possible.

Instead of returning to the hospital, returning to the side of that stupid little high-rank who lightly trusted him.

He had already made up his mind long ago.

Sears stood in place for a long time, suddenly thinking that the little high-rank in the hospital might be on an IV drip.

He couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Then he lifted his leg and took a step in a certain direction.

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