Chapter Eighty-Six: One Heart

“Yuan, you’re being too hasty. This isn’t a place to linger. How many energy blocks are left? I need to resupply as well. And do any of your students know how to operate exoskeleton armor? Okamoto Ichiki’s suit is ugly, but it would be a shame to throw it away. I still need to go retrieve my own armor, so let’s talk later. Also, can you decode those energy guns outside? I lost mine, and the dozen or so out there are no small force. I just don’t know whether your students know how to use them.”

Li Daoran did not answer Yuan Muye’s question.

Yuan Muye nodded. He knew he had indeed been too anxious; for now, it would be better to settle some practical matters first. Glancing at Li Daoran, he said, “Decoding those energy guns shouldn’t be a problem, but it will take some time.”

“How long?” Li Daoran asked. He had assumed that for a figure of Yuan Muye’s stature, cracking an identification system would be child’s play, but from the sound of it, things were not that simple.

“About four hours per gun. If they were weapons from our White Deer Republic, brute-forcing them would take at least that long. I’m not very familiar with the Feili Empire’s weapons, but they should be about the same. Some things can’t be rushed.” Yuan Muye said.

“So long?” Li Daoran was a little surprised.

Yuan Muye frowned. He found it odd that Li Daoran could ask such a foolish question. This man was strange in every respect. Yet considering the situation, he could only explain helplessly, “Firearms are among the most tightly controlled things in any country. From the moment a gun is made, it is assigned a unique code, and that code is the gun’s final command password. It usually consists of more than a thousand digits. Unique means exactly that: generally, one gun has only one owner.”

“All right, I get it. You mean it’s already impressive that you can brute-force it. Then carry on with your work; I’m going to get my armor.” Li Daoran waved a hand and said.

A thousand-digit code alone was beyond David’s imagination. Even if all the computing power on Bluewater Star were gathered together, it would still be difficult to crack such a password. Yet Yuan Muye could decipher the correct code in four hours. Li Daoran did not understand the depth of it, but David was stunned beyond measure, so awestruck he was nearly ready to cry out in worship.

Li Daoran opened the door, startling Tian Ye, who was crouched on the ground. Her trembling body stilled, and she looked up at him.

Li Daoran even caught a hint of vulnerability in her expression, and his heart softened. But he did not know what to say to comfort her. The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Tian Ye stood up, straightened her clothes, smoothed her bangs, then shot Li Daoran a hard glare before opening the door and slamming it shut with a bang.

Li Daoran shrugged. Hah. Women. Impossible to understand. Why had she suddenly gotten angry?

Touching his nose, he walked outside and saw several young men gathered around the exoskeleton armor, looking it over from every angle. When they saw Li Daoran come out, they instantly grew flustered and did not know how to react.

The earlier events had turned ugly, and for these young people, who had experienced little of the world, it was hard to tell whether they should be grateful or keep their distance.

In the end, it was one of the few middle-aged survivors who stepped forward and said, “They’re just curious about the armor. They mean no harm.”

Li Daoran smiled and replied, “It’s fine. I can’t use it anyway. If anyone likes it and can wear it, take it. I’m going to retrieve my own armor. We’ll leave together in a bit.”

“I’m Kejin. Thank you for saving us.” Kejin finally let out a breath. He had heard that soldiers were extremely averse to others touching their armor, even more so than to someone looking at their wives.

“Hello. No need to be so formal. I’m actually very easy to get along with. We’re all from White Deer. My name is Li Daoran—I think I introduced myself just now, though that’s not important. Pick up the guns first and go find Yuan inside. We’re taking these guns with us.” Li Daoran climbed into the armor and said.

“Are we leaving?” Kejin finally caught the point. It was the first time Li Daoran had said they would go with him, and he had not reacted in time.

“Yes, we’re leaving. It’s no longer safe here.” Li Daoran curled up inside the armor and closed it.

The battlefield did not seem far away, but in fact it was more than ten kilometers off. If he did not use the armor, he would need twenty minutes just to run there. Wearing the exoskeleton was far more convenient and less troublesome.

In the blink of an eye, before Kejin could say anything else, Li Daoran had already run off into the distance.

Kejin looked at the students, still somewhat bewildered, and at his colleagues, whose faces were filled with fear. Only a dozen or so of them remained now. The vast research institute, which had once held nearly several hundred people...

Where, then, would the future take them?

With a sigh, Kejin began to follow Li Daoran’s instructions and picked up the energy guns from the ground.

“I’m not going. If you want to leave, go with him.” The young man who had first clashed with Li Daoran suddenly stood up and said.

“How long are you going to keep making a scene, Kang Chao!” Kejin angrily threw the gun in his hand to the ground, turned around, and glared at Kang Chao. “Just when are you going to grow up?”

Kang Chao stiffened his neck, his face flushed red, the veins on it bulging. “I’m not leaving. Qing’er died here. I’m staying. You can all go. Do you really think you can escape just by following him? What will you eat out there, what will you drink? And when the enemy comes—he can run, but what about you? Won’t he just use you as bait, just like he waited until most of us were dead before showing up? I don’t trust him.”

Kejin slapped Kang Chao across the face.

“Good hit.” Yuan Muye appeared at the doorway. Kang Chao had just been gathering the courage to strike back, but it was shattered at once. Yuan Muye’s authority among them was unassailable. Even though he was just an old man, none of them dared show him the slightest disrespect, because within the ivory tower there were rules of the ivory tower. Li Daoran could ignore Yuan Muye’s authority, but they could not.

“What’s this, Kang Chao? Think you’ve become something special? Are you a man or not? If you were a man, you’d already be dead. You’d still be alive now, standing here and barking? If you had even a shred of backbone, if you truly loved that Qing’er of yours as much as you claim, you would have long since fought the Feili Empire’s trash to the death. And now what is this? Taking it out on your own people? Bah. Useless.” Yuan Muye showed him no mercy at all, and scolded him fiercely.

Who was Yuan Muye? How could he not see through Kang Chao’s little schemes? In the present situation, he knew that morale could not be allowed to collapse. If he spoke too gently, there might really be some who failed to see the truth and were swayed by Kang Chao’s words.

Kang Chao had dared to argue back at Kejin with red face and bulging neck veins, yet under Yuan Muye’s rebuke, his face turned green and white in turns. Tears nearly fell, but he still did not dare say a word.

“Everyone here who survived owes it to this young brother, Li Daoran. Our lives were saved by him. In life, you must know what’s what; do not let rage cloud your judgment, throw you off balance, and muddle your mind. Know who your enemy is. What good is all this internal strife? Surely the rest of us who made it out are not all fools without backbone.

“We rise and fall together now. If we cannot unite, we might as well have died already.

“Li Daoran avenged us. He is our benefactor, and a great one at that. Forget about asking us to be bait—even if he asked us to charge into battle, that would be only right.

“So long as we can kill a few more Feili dogs, what matters if I stake my old life on it? Or do you all intend to hide in this research institute and wait to surrender? If that is your plan, I’ll be the first one to refuse to forgive it.”

Yuan Muye’s tone shifted between sharp and measured, and in the end he even cast Kang Chao a sidelong glance. His meaning was clear enough without words.