Chapter 424: An Earful
Keres quietly muttered, "Seriously, if you can’t take someone talking fondly about your omega like that, why not take him away already. All this nonsense for nothing."
Ethan heard it too, but he didn’t care. He seemed to be mixing some liquids on the side. It made Keres wonder where he got those from.
Keres shrugged and did his own thing as he continued his rant.
"But think about it for a little bit, he knew all of Lilianna’s stupid moves, but still went along with it. What was he up to, though? Catch me or catch Lilianna?"
Ethan didn’t answer his question and said, as if to end the conversation, "Can’t you just shut up?"
Keres wasn’t actually expecting an answer to the question either. However, he didn’t let Ethan off the hook since this was the perfect time to rant as much as he wanted to someone who owed him something.
"I think Salia is busted, Ethan," Keres said as if reminding Ethan of his duties before turning back to his pile.
"If you went up there and managed to sneak into the mecha simulation room, go get her. Salia is probably just waiting for your next dose of injection to fully take over Lilianna’s body."
He noted a few things missing and went up to get another batch.
"From what I remember, Salia’s patience wasn’t that high either."
As if he recalled something dreadful, Keres complained.
"I even had to sneak a dose on her earlier. If she were angered against, Salia would probably forcibly take over Lilianna’s body any minute now."
Ethan was already losing his patience and about to tell Keres to shut up for the last time.
But then Keres just had to say this, "Just a tip, Neville is in sleep mode in the virtual pod. If you want to take him away, now is the time."
Ethan snorted and laughed under his breath. "Thanks, but no thanks."
"I’m just saying, man. It’s up to you what you do with these kinds of opportunities." Keres muttered, smirking as he assessed the piled-up weapons, checking for what was missing.
It seemed that Ethan was already finished with what he was doing. He looked at the pile that Keres had stacked and sorted into the table and raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you even piling up their weapons? You’ll kill them all later anyway." He asked.
Keres rolled her eyes and gave a long-suffering glare.
"If I didn’t do this, they would’ve figured it out in a heartbeat and killed me right where I stood."
He explained, biting each word down to size.
"They wouldn’t even bother to check whether their precious Helena was still alive inside this body or not."
Keres tapped two fingers against his temple.
"I have no ability to read Helena’s memory. I can only get her body on this long journey. It took a lot of effort from my side just to adjust to Helena’s personality."
He complained, but also felt smug for his achievements.
"The grueling days of learning how to hack had finally shown into the light. But even then, I needed a lot of time and effort to do that."
Keres grumbled as he told Ethan something that he wouldn’t experience.
"I had to watch long hours of Helena’s monitoring videos to check her mannerisms. Not to mention, I had to fake kill my own kind in the borders, all because this body was a General."
Ethan said, "I know, I know. Just get to the point."
However, Keres did not stop lecturing Ethan.
"That’s why, if I let myself get caught on something as stupid as tampering with the weapons and supplies, that’s too humiliating a death."
He continued, "Not to mention, I’d be burned down with this body before the harvest is even finished."
Ethan’s eyes quickly narrowed down and asked, "You haven’t completely taken over it?"
Keres frowned and said, "As much as I like a powerful body, this one is really a tough one to fight control of."
Ethan reached out to check Helena’s body. He looked it up and down, the pulse, the eyes, and the secondary gland.
"Nothing seemed to be off." He concluded. "I’ll check it out later."
"Great," Keres said as he continued to sort out the pile. "I don’t want to waste this body that the master generously bestowed on me."
As Keres stacked the last rifle, Ethan reached into his inner pocket. He took out a small, soft pouch no larger than his palm.
Keres thought when he saw it, first, there were all sorts of vials and liquids. Now a weird pouch? Where the hell is he hiding these things?
"This is for the rapid mutation," he said, "You know how to use it, right?"
Keres nodded absentmindedly.
Before he could take it, Ethan pulled the pouch back a little.
"Make sure not to drop any of it inside the barrier," he said, warning him. "Or you’ll be killed in an instant. As you just said."
Keres blatantly made a face in front of Ethan and held it flat in his hand.
He didn’t even want to touch it with the tips of his fingers. Because he could feel the cloth was greasy, but it wasn’t because of sweat, oil, or fat from meat.
It was slime grease.
However disgusting its texture was, Keres only had one question in his mind.
If it was that dangerous, why is there some powder sticking to the grease on the outside of the pouch?
"What a horrible packaging," Keres muttered, turning it over and sniffing at the seam.
Ethan quickly stopped him.
Keres looked at Ethan and asked, "What?"
Ethan pursed his lips and said, "You might sniff out some of the powder and spread it inside."
"Ugh, then package it more carefully!"
Keres complained and continued.
"Hey, did you wrap this yourself? With what, surgical gauze and spit? You didn’t even bother to vacuum-seal the inner membrane."
Then a concern was raised, and Keres bombarded Ethan with a lot of questions.
"Also, tell me, what would it do to Helena’s body if I really sniffed it out like earlier? Would my real body surface and tear the human skin? Would it mutate the tissue around the entry, making a second zerg body for me? Also, how am I supposed to know if I spread too many in one place?"
"Do you think I’m stupid?"
