This explosive news almost made Li Yixing grind his teeth into pieces.
What was going on?!
How could a pregnancy be detected? Was it possible that the thirty-year-old medical pod had malfunctioned due to lack of maintenance?
Yet, upon second thought, retching, dizziness, and low-grade fever were precisely the early pregnancy symptoms the researchers had introduced to him back at the Academy of Life Sciences!
But how could he be pregnant? He had clearly injected the medication into the gestational sac. He had checked the solution many times; it was definitely not expired and was a fully effective formula. How could it be useless?!
Unless… Li Yixing grasped the crux of the problem. Unless the operator had made a mistake!
Li Yixing could not help recalling the tearful little researcher who had stammered, “I can, I can do a little… but I’ve only been here for less than two days! I’m just a trainee…”
Most researchers at the Alliance Academy of Life Sciences were top graduates from Boya Medical College, having performed countless experiments. In Li Yixing’s impression, their fingers holding surgical scalpels were even steadier than his hands holding a gun.
So who would have thought that when this trainee researcher at the Alliance Academy of Life Sciences said he could do a little, it really meant he could only do a tiny bit.
At this moment, Li Yixing wished he could fly back to the Alliance and lock this little trainee in solitary confinement for three days, forcing him to watch the gestational sac puncture surgery a thousand times and practice it three hundred times!
He should have just performed the puncture himself instead!
Unfortunately, this could only be a wonderful fantasy. Li Yixing could no longer return to the Alliance. The most urgent priority was to deal with what was about to happen.
The person in charge of Mandala must have been struck by some bizarre whim today, because he was currently shouting and gathering all the attendants, sending them up to the top floor in batches. Li Yixing stood expressionless in the middle of the crowd, watching more and more attendants gather here.
There was bare human flesh everywhere. Li Yixing took a deep breath, feeling even more dizzy.
He found a wall to lean against, directly facing a wall covered with three-meter-high mirrors.
The mirror reflected Li Yixing’s current appearance. He was wearing a black swimsuit, and the thin shoulder straps and deep V-cut made his two collarbones appear exceptionally long. The ends of his collarbones protruded slightly, as if they wanted to pierce through his skin.
The minimal fabric of the upper body was only enough to cover a tiny fraction of his pectoral muscles, leaving his waist and abdomen completely exposed. Three moles formed a line extending from his left mermaid line diagonally downward toward his lower body.
The black swimsuit was a bit small, stretched tight by his firm, full, and powerful muscles, making it look somewhat restrictive. Li Yixing adjusted the shoulder straps at his collarbones and silently concealed an extremely lightweight folding knife inside his swimsuit.
The attendants around him were whispering with their heads lowered, discussing this sudden turn of events.
“Why are we suddenly being called to gather upstairs?”
“It seems the person up top wants to see us.”
“The person up top? Who is that?”
“Seems to be the newly arrived East District deputy.”
“See us? Why would he see us? I’m not going to fight in any wars.”
“Who knows? Maybe it’s a beauty pageant,” someone boldly guessed, “looking for pretty and handsome guys to drink and sleep with him.”
“I have a feeling that’s it…”
Hearing this, Li Yixing felt a chill run through him and almost threw up again.
This scandalous, completely immoral new interstellar pirate leader’s deputy!
The first batch of people was sent up, and once they came down from upstairs, it was Li Yixing’s group’s turn to go up.
Inside the huge private suite on the top floor, after everyone had entered, Feng Zhao turned the lights up to their brightest. The faces of more than a hundred people in the room were clearly revealed under the glare of the piercing white light. He made everyone stand close together to save space while making it convenient for him to scan across them all at a glance.
Only, he hadn’t expected today’s theme to be a beach party. Seeing a group of people standing in front of him wearing swimsuits, he genuinely froze for a solid moment.
Feng Zhao: “…”
What kind of tacky aesthetic and taste did Wang Shengxiang have!
The first batch of people all walked out of the private suite doors after thirty seconds. Meanwhile, the managers of Mandala rushed frantically to the warehouse, fished out over a hundred clean white bathrobes, and instructed the second batch of people to put them on. Once dressed, the second batch rushed straight upstairs.
Li Yixing was sandwiched at the tail end of the line, slowly following the crowd inside.
Truth be told, these white bathrobes served no real purpose. A bar’s bathrobe was far from being a proper bathrobe; the fabric was missing a large chunk compared to a regular one, carrying an unspeakable implication, and wearing it only gave off an effect of clumsy concealment.
The top-floor suite was lit as bright as day. Feng Zhao lowered his head and took a sip of alcohol, the spicy liquid rolling straight down his throat. When he raised his head, everyone had already entered.
More than a hundred people stood in six rows. Feng Zhao stood up and scanned their faces.
First row, none.
Second row, none.
Li Yixing stood in the last row. His hand quietly retrieved the folding knife, hiding it inside the sleeve of his bathrobe. Then, maintaining a completely calm expression, he stared straight ahead at the back of the attendant’s head in front of him.
Soon, Feng Zhao reached the back row.
His gaze swept quickly across the dense crowd of faces, and then suddenly paused.
That familiar black hair, fair complexion, and sharp profile line… This is…
It’s Li Yixing!
He just knew Li Yixing wouldn’t die so easily!
Calamities outlive thousands of years, Major General Feng evaluated inwardly. Judging by Li Yixing’s level of being a calamity, living for ten thousand years would be no problem at all!
The fact that Li Yixing was still alive filled Feng Zhao with overwhelming joy. But for better or worse, he also hatched a bit of a mischievous urge. Taking advantage of the fact that Li Yixing hadn’t noticed him yet, he nimbly circled around to the back of the last row, preparing to tap Li Yixing on the shoulder.
On the other side, listening to the footsteps approaching closer and closer behind him, Li Yixing’s expression gradually turned icy, and his grip on the folding knife tightened.
The moment a hand landed on his shoulder, Li Yixing exerted sudden force and, with a crisp snap, dislocated Feng Zhao’s wrist bone!
Feng Zhao couldn’t help letting out a muffled groan.
The sound of a bone dislocating rang out distinctly in the silent private suite! The attendant next to Li Yixing burst into a shriek of terror: “Ah, someone is trying to kill the deputy!”
The scene instantly plunged into chaos. The attendants panicked and fled wildly. In the scramble, someone accidentally hit the light switch. The moment the light went dark, Li Yixing smoothly delivered an over-the-shoulder throw to the person behind him. The heavy thud of a body hitting the floor echoed loudly, followed instantly by the snap of the folding knife unfolding in Li Yixing’s hand, a flash of cold light gleaming in the gloom.
Feng Zhao firmly pressed down on his wrist bone to reset it, and the next second, Li Yixing’s knife stabbed toward his waist!
He executed a kip-up to get back on his feet and spun around to disarm Li Yixing. The latter nimbly dodged the strike and lashed out with a kick straight at Feng Zhao’s chest!
Feng Zhao sidestepped to avoid it while grabbing Li Yixing’s shoulder with one hand. Alas, the fabric was too minimal and too slippery. Half of Feng Zhao’s hand only managed to graze Li Yixing’s flesh and bone. The slick, icy skin gave Feng Zhao goosebumps all over. With a startle of his hand and Li Yixing’s struggle, the fragile fabric ripped with a tear under the force, tearing away completely on one side!
Feng Zhao: “…”
Oh no.
Clutching the half-torn bathrobe and swimsuit top in his hand, he felt he truly wasn’t far from death this time.
Sure enough, a fierce gust of blade wind arrived right in front of him. Feng Zhao retreated rapidly, lifting his gun to deflect the sharp tip of the blade sideways, and simultaneously swept his leg low to target Li Yixing’s lower stance. He hadn’t expected Li Yixing to execute a feint and kick him squarely in the chest instead.
That kick didn’t hurt much. The moment he was kicked, Feng Zhao realized: Li Yixing recognized him.
The vast majority of their combat class assessments during their youth had been sparring against each other. The mutual desire to beat the other half to death had made them as familiar with each other’s moves and stances as eating and drinking.
Thus, Feng Zhao stopped fighting back and fell straight backward onto the sofa.
The next moment, he caught that familiar, undefinable scent again. Li Yixing stepped onto his chest, his back arched, looking down at him from above.
In the darkness, they couldn’t see each other’s faces clearly, with only their ragged breaths tangling together.
The icy flat of the blade patted against Feng Zhao’s face, and Li Yixing’s freezing voice rang out, laden with gritted-teeth intent.
“Major General Feng, so you aren’t dead after all.”