Warlord – Chapter 26
Kacha~ The hard shell shattered. A shadow shot out from the shell. It had a strange green light emitting from itself. It flew and hit the wall and dropped down.
The shadow bounced few times and rolled to stop by Zero's feet.
Zero stared at it.
It was a round body. It's belly was exposed and was white like snow. It had four small paws close to its belly. The creature couldn't roll around as its four claws moved in the air. It's body was light yellow. It's head and body were attached to each other. The creature looked like a rounded small ball. It had a pair of very large eyes.
It was looking at Zero with a 'watery' look.
Zero had heard that some creature accept the first living being they see as their mother. Zero didn't want to be a milk daddy. However it seemed that he wasn't the one making the choice. There were pair of strange ears in a shape of letter 'Z' at its head. He decided that they were ears but he didn't know exactly what they were.
The 'ears' twitched and thin wings popped up. Because of high-frequency vibration the animal flew up. It flew up to Zero's eye level. There was a green diamond shape on the creatures forehead.
“La~ la~” The beast called out as it flew into Zero's chest to rub itself.
It seemed to be attached to Zero as it shook its body non-stop at Zero's chest.
Zero picked it up with his hand and threw towards the other side of the cave. His own survival was problem in this turbulent era. Zero couldn't spare any extra effort to have a strange creature as a pet! The creature hit the wall and bounced back to the ground. It issued a scream and then once again flew to Zero's arms.
The creature was very sticky and Zero found it annoying. Its body was very soft. Zero pressed it and the small creature turned flat.
“La~ La~” It screamed as yellow liquid spewed out of its mouth.
The hard rocky wall was hit by the yellow liquid. The hard rock began to corrode at a speed visible to eye.
Zero looked at sight as he thought that the jing worm had evolved into a new life form. Jing worms could eat up and consume metals. The new life form was able to corrode even the rocks!
An idea popped up in his mind.
Zero took the small creature as he walked back.
…
…
Hans opened his eyes to see that his body was restoring. The recovery rate was much slower as the energy in his body was depleted. Hans stood up from the ground as the bones in his body had healed.
Zero was away from him but just looking at him was stimulating Hans's sense. He was hungry and angry.
In addition, Hans saw something in Zero's hands. It was a round ball shaped creature with a pair of large eyes. It didn't look like a weapon.
Naturally, Hans couldn't judge the purpose of the creature. Moreover he didn't care whether Zero had a weapon or creature in his hand as he didn't put anything in his eyes.
Hans grinned as he began to walk towards Zero.
Zero had a blank look as he stared at Hans. He lifted both his hands and pressed them together. The small creature issued a 'la~ la~' sound and spewed yellow liquid from its mouth.
Hans was surprised as the yellow liquid fell onto his body. However he couldn't determine the reason why Zero acted so.
The next moment he saw that the yellow liquid that was sprayed onto his body began to corrode his organs. He was like a snow under the sun.
Hans didn't understand what was happening but Zero was continuously squeezing the small creature. The creature was like an acidic machine gun.
Muscles, bones, blood vessels and tendons on Hans's body began to disappear as soon as the yellow liquid touched his body. Finally, Hans began to panic. He found that the recovery rate wasn't as fast as usual. The energy in his body was depleted and he hadn't consumed anything in the last three days. As a result his body's regeneration couldn't keep up with the decomposition strength of the acid.
Hans roared in despair as he tried to rush at Zero. However his legs were already rotten so his upper body fell down. His legs had turned into 'mud'. Hans was like a ceramic doll as his body smashed into pieces.
Zero stopped squeezing the small creature. In addition, the creature seemed to be disgusted by the sight as it looked at Hans's body. It flew out of Zero's hands and floated in the air like a puppy.
Zero wiped the cold sweat on his face as he looked at Hans. Hans was a monster with almost infinite regenerative ability. However he was lucky that the newly evolved jing worm was able to kill it. Zero was relieved as he finally could complete Old Jack's wish.
Nevertheless, Zero didn't notice that bloodstains left from Hans were absorbed by the tiny pores in his body. A powerful electronic microscope had to be used to observe this situation. Zero just wanted to go back to the base and take a bath.
It's been three harsh and difficult days.
Zero felt that his agility enhancement showed signs of breakthrough to second-order. The abilities could be maximized with the medicine but the best, direct and most convenient way was stimulating them through life and death battles!
“La~ la~” The small creature flied over and pitifully looked at Zero when it saw Zero move.
Zero frowned as he turned to look at Hans's body. He sighed: "Well, I owe you one."
He didn't know if the creature understood him. The creature flied over and sat on Zero's shoulder.
Zero helplessly shook his head. He hoped that this little fella wasn't eating as much as its predecessors.
His feet were moving but his heart felt a bit stressful. There was some kind of unspeakable feeling passing all over his body. Zero couldn't control his body as he fell straight down to ground. Small creature was frightened as it saw Zero lie on the ground. It flew down and tried to arch Zero up by pressing him up.
The creature shrank back the next moment when it tried to touch Zero's body.
He was emitting an unnaturally high fever.
Zero woke up two days later. He felt very strong and thought that his body had never been in such a state. He had doubts in his heart as it was the second time he had fainted. The first time happened two years ago when he killed the butcher.
Zero felt that fainting after a fierce battle wasn't a good sign.
However it was not the appropriate time to think about the problem. He didn't know what was happening in the base as he hadn't been there for the last five days. Zero went back as the small creature sat on his shoulder.
Zero arrived at the Z7 base after two hours. The mine was surprisingly quiet. The production and mining weren't processing because of the destruction caused by Hans. It meant that Parker conglomerate had yet to re-take over the base.
Fortunately, the power supply of the base was fixed. Zero pressed the button and the mine's gates opened up.
He faced a strange scene as soon as he entered the base.
The corpses of the dead were cleaned out. The entrance was clean and tidy. However dozens of surviving miners were grouped together. Jerry who he had met earlier was saying something.
The most important thing was that Leah stood in the middle of crowd. However everyone, including Jerry, stood afar from her as if she was a terrifying monster. Leah's head was down. Zero felt that the scene was similar to which Hans faced two years ago.
The miners' attention was attracted by Zero's appearance. All eyes fell on him as he walked. Only Leah was still motionless as her head was looking down.
“What’s the matter?” Zero asked.
Jerry's eyes fell on Zero's body then at two M500 revolvers on his waist. He whispered: "Sire, we… we have to expel miss Leah…"
“Why?”
“She is infected! Virus infection!” Jerry continued: “Sire, look at her face. To ensure the safety of our people we have to expel her!"
Zero approached Leah. Her head was down and her golden hair covered her left cheek.
He stretched out his hand and gently pulled her hair. The original white skin had turned into strange dark red color. There were black lines over her dark skin as if they were the blood vessels of a monster. Leah's left eye had mutated too. The white parts of her eyes were the same. However her golden pupil had become pure black.
Zero sighed as he took back his hand.
“You have seen it too sire. She has to leave.” Jerry stressed once more.
Zero nodded: “Yes, she has to leave.”
Leah felt more depressed after Zero's words.
“But I will go with her.” Zero added.
Leah was stunned as she looked at Zero. He grabbed her hand: "Don't worry. I'll find a cure. I promise!"
Zero's eyes were calm and firm. Half of her face was reflected in his golden eye.
It was like the time when they had met.
Leah found that there was no hesitation in Zero's eyes.
“Yeah.” Leah replied. She had decided to put her own fate in the hands of the man in front of her!