TLCBITAR Chapter 271

Chapter 271: R Particle Outbreak

Inside the Main Star’s highest-level conference hall, the murmuring crowd suddenly felt a strong, baleful aura emanating from the high platform. They immediately closed their mouths, looking in unison towards Supreme General Pei, whose face was dark.

Pei Yanlie’s thin lips were pressed into a cold, straight line, his eyes as dark as could be. His hand on the table was clenched into a fist, and those nearby could clearly see the veins popping on the back of his hand.

Everyone held their breath, not daring to even breathe loudly, afraid that the eyes brewing a terrifying storm would land on them.

Pei Yanlie closed his optical brain. His neatly ironed black military uniform encased his upright figure. He stood up, looking down at the flustered crowd. His gaze settled on the man in the center of the front row.

“Yuan Heng, take a team to the Federation Club to meet Liu Yan. You must activate the Main Star’s Level One defense system within three hours.”

Pei Yanlie’s calm and decisive voice was tinged with hoarseness. Without waiting for a reply, he turned his gaze to the white-haired old man next to Yuan Heng. “Director Dong, can the R particle elimination devices be mass-produced in a short amount of time?”

Director Dong was the chief person in charge of the latest research institute, 176 years old, and the oldest person in the conference hall.

He was also the retired dean of the Federal University and had once taught Pei Yanlie.

“The elimination devices require a large amount of pure crystal source bodies. Even if we emptied the Main Star’s reserves, we couldn’t mass-produce them in a short amount of time. We can only try to keep the devices on the front lines to slow the further spread of R particles.” The serious voice lacked the weakness and vicissitudes expected of an elderly person, instead, it was thick and powerful.

As soon as he spoke, the conference hall once again fell into dead silence. No one had predicted that disaster would suddenly descend.

Pei Yanlie was worried about Zhou Zhou, but he had to arrange his work. Facing a catastrophic problem for all of humanity, he could only force himself to calm down and clear the distracting thoughts from his mind.

“Chief Chen, the task of acquiring crystal source bodies is assigned to you.”

“Yes!” Chief Chen stood up and saluted.

“Yang Xu, immediately go to the communications room and notify the highest responsible person near the Delan planet to evacuate residents and withdraw from their settlements as soon as possible.”

“Yes!”

“Hu Feng, transmit orders to the front lines. The safety of residents is the top priority…”

“Captain Xiao…”

…

Ten minutes later, Pei Yanlie quickly left the conference hall, boarded his private high-speed spacecraft, and in a short time, left the Main Star, flying to the planet where Zhou Zhou was located.

Inside the isolation room in Area C of the branch of the Marginal Planet Research Institute, Zhou Zhou lay alone on the cold experimental bed, his hands and feet bound by restraints.

The high temperature in his body had broken through the highest human tolerance point, and his internal organs felt as if they were being burned by fierce flames, causing him excruciating pain.

“Ah… Dad… Mom… where are you?!”

“I can’t take it anymore, it hurts so much… kill me… someone kill me… uh…”

“Pei… Pei Yanlie, it hurts so much…”

His roar was filled with pain and despair. Zhou’s mother, standing at the door, was already a crying mess, her hands hitting the glass door forcefully.

“Xiao Zhou… Mom is here.” Zhou’s mother turned to look at Zhou’s father, who was silently shedding tears behind her, and then to the staff member in protective clothing next to her. “I beg you, open the door. He can’t take it anymore. Let me in… I beg you to let me in!”

Zhou’s mother threw herself in front of him, begging frantically and helplessly.

Zhou’s father wiped away tears, pulled her into his arms, and said in a hoarse voice, “My son is being subjected to inhuman torment inside. As parents, we can only watch helplessly, which is no different from having our flesh cut with knives. Please open the door and let us in.”

The staff member took off his protective mask, sighed, and refused, “The R particles in his body are in the midst of an outbreak, and the content far exceeds the safe value by twenty times. Rashly breaking in will cause a leak of the source of pollution. Now we can only wait for notification from the Main Star Research Institute headquarters. There’s nothing we can do about it. He’s the first person to experience this situation.”

“Da da da,” heavy, slightly panicked footsteps approached quickly. The group looked up and saw Supreme General Pei, whose face was extremely bad.

Zhou’s mother pounced on him as if grabbing a lifeline, clutching his sleeve tightly and saying intermittently, “Yanlie, save Xiao Zhou, you let him open the door, Xiao Zhou can’t take it anymore… you…”

Pei Yanlie’s throat was dry and painful. He responded with difficulty and walked to the glass door in two steps, his eyes fixed on Zhou Zhou.

The boy, whose body was red to an unbelievable extent, had stopped screaming in pain. His entire face was wet with tears, and his pupils were unconsciously looking in his direction, motionless, as if he had lost his vitality.

A huge wave of panic swept over him. Pei Yanlie’s pupils contracted sharply, and he felt as if he had fallen into an abyss. He turned around, grabbed the staff member’s collar, and roared, “Quickly, open the door!”

The staff member didn’t dare to disobey the Supreme General’s orders and nodded quickly in agreement.

Pei Yanlie let go of him, took a deep breath, barely managed to calm himself down, and turned his head to look at Zhou’s parents. “Auntie, Uncle, please stay here. I’ll go in and be with him.”

“No… I want to go too, I…”

Zhou’s mother was teary-eyed, and before she could finish speaking, she was stopped by Pei Yanlie’s eyes filled with pain.

At this critical moment, the person Xiao Zhou wanted to see most was probably this man.

Zhou’s father pulled her into his arms, letting her tears flow onto his chest, soaking his clothes.

“Supreme General, for your safety, please put on a protective suit.” The staff member said weakly.

But Pei Yanlie seemed not to have heard, striding into the isolation room and closing the door behind him.

The scene was familiar, reminding Pei Yanlie of the day Zhou Zhou entered the emergency room in the world of the book.

The panic in his heart rose to the extreme. Pei Yanlie’s eyes were bloodshot, and he desperately suppressed the urge to cry. He undid the restraints and pulled Zhou Zhou tightly into his arms.

The scorching skin burned Pei Yanlie’s heart, causing him heartache. He tightened his arms, and his trembling thin lips pressed against Zhou Zhou’s wet ear, whispering hoarsely, “Xiao Zhou, I’m here.”

Zhou Zhou’s pupils shrank slightly, and his weak fingers groped up Pei Yanlie’s tense back, moved along his neck to his face, and after touching Pei Yanlie’s tightly pressed lips, he whimpered, and tears burst out again.

His body was numb from pain. He seemed to have smelled the burnt smell of his internal organs. At this time, he could neither hear nor see, and could only recognize that this person was the man he deeply loved based on familiarity.

“Pei Yanlie… why is it so difficult to be with you… I can’t see anymore… am I going to leave again…”

Rough fingertips wiped his face. Zhou Zhou bit his lower lip tightly, sobbing silently.

The first time Pei Yanlie cried was when Zhou Zhou left. Now it was the second time, but Zhou Zhou couldn’t see either time.

He reached out and touched the warm, wet tears on the man’s face, and only felt the numb heart ache again with a fine, dense pain.

[If fate dictates that we cannot be together, then we will…]

The thoughts in his mind were interrupted instantly. His lips were blocked heavily, followed by Pei Yanlie’s familiar breath.

The tip of his tongue was bitten lightly, as if accusing something.

His mind suddenly tore apart with pain. Zhou Zhou howled and convulsed violently, his wide eyes losing focus.

His body suddenly relaxed, the pain and numbness disappeared. He leaned softly in Pei Yanlie’s arms, his peripheral vision looked towards the direction of the isolation room door, his pupils were as dark as could be, clear and bright, and his vision was clearer than ever before.

He could see the endless tears on Zhou’s mother’s face, even the tiny pores on her skin and the small eyelashes clinging to the inside of her eyes.

Even more shockingly, he could even hear the staff member’s inner complaints.

[God, the Supreme General is actually kissing him, isn’t he really afraid of death?]