The Ultimate Evolution

Some functions of the cyborg’s brain would be locked or digitalised. It would be programmed with various functions such as absolute obedience to the people in authority and so on, before it regained its freedom. This also made it difficult for the cyborg to carry out scientific research, pilot spaceships and perform other actions which required high-level brain activity.

Simply put, if Sheyan chose to bring the three cyborgs, it would be equivalent to gaining three servants, slaves, cannon fodders, scouts, sentries, etc…. To have three such assistants in that horrible, unexplored jungle environment would definitely be of great benefit — provided, of course, that they could land safely.

Sheyan had already grouped up with Aldaris. After all, the trust between them was much stronger than with the others there. Sheyan was still hesitating on what to bring with the remaining space, but Aldaris just casually selected the three cyborgs on the option list, then threw the pen aside.

He told Sheyan impatiently, “I know why you’re hesitating, but didn’t you see that most of them had chosen the crushing extractor in order to make money?”

Sheyan narrowed his eyes and grinned.

“You mean, maybe we can borrow from them?”

Aldaris raised his eyebrows and said coolly, “Of course. It’ll be their honour.”

So, Sheyan also requested for the three cyborgs. The cyborg’s entire body could be folded up like a folding chair, except for its head, thus saving lots of space. It could also endure this for a long time without any physiological reaction. It must be noted that these cyborgs and devices could not be loaded into a contestant’s personal storage space.

It did not take long for Sheyan’s spacecraft to be fully loaded with all the “goods”. As Sheyan looked at the two military policemen and six ground crews who were about to leave, a cold glint suddenly flashed across his eyes.

“Halt!”

The six ground crews looked up in astonishment, but one dared not look him the eyes. The two military policemen spared a glance at Sheyan, then arrogantly continued on their way.

Sheyan stepped forward to block their path. One of the military policemen gave him a fierce stare and immediately pulled out a gun. Sheyan waited for him to finish pulling out the gun and aiming it before he kicked the military police’s chest hard!

The unfortunate man was not protected by any armour. A mixture of gastric juice, blood, body fluid and other things immediately burst out of his mouth. He flipped five or six times in the air before he hit a nearby Wasp spacecraft head-first, and knocked the spacecraft down! The man himself was evidently dead!

This immediately caused the alarm to go off. All kinds of automatic laser weapons and particle weapons appeared from everywhere, aiming at Sheyan.

The other contestants who were making preparations nearby naturally noticed this. They all had slightly delighted expressions on their faces. Curry licked his lips and grinned sinisterly. He seemed to be excited by the smell of blood.

“F*ck, this guy’s got balls! Makes me want to join in too.”

Azsa leaned her head to one side and had her hands on her hips as she muttered coldly, “So violent, but I like it.”

It was not surprising for the contestants to have such reactions. To be honest, the whole base were silently on guard against them the whole time they were here. Not only were there watchful eyes on them even when they were just leisurely drinking coffee, there were also subtle, complicated gazes thrown in their directions all the time, as if they were freaks!

It was like a smart but evil stepmother’s treatment of her non-biological children, so piercing but so gentle that one could not pick out any faults at all!

“What the f*ck are you doing! Explain yourself, right now!” General Mungo’s roar instantly burst through the loudspeaker like a hairdryer at maximum power. It was so loud that they could almost feel the hot air and saliva on their faces.

“Are you crazy, or are you a sadistic bastard?! You’ll pay for this!!! Don’t even think of moving one step. Your military rank won’t save you from being shot full of holes!”

Sheyan smiled.

“I know exactly what I’m doing, General. In the last few days, I had the privilege of reading the sacred Constitution of the Empire drafted by the great Imperial Prime Minister Ritzf. Article 164 clearly states that any military personnel who attempts to attack their senior officer with a weapon will be sentenced to capital punishment, and the attacked party is free to perform a counter-attack of any degree. Therefore, I’m innocent. Thank you for your concern, General.”

General Mungo’s mouth was immediately shut. He could see that the corpse of the military policeman was still holding onto a gun, and the safety pin had even been removed. More importantly, this official Lieutenant Colonel Sheyan was a bona-fide senior officer! It did not even matter who took the initiative or started the provocation — this was the privilege of the superior!

“These goddamn arrogant military police. Why do they forget every time that this fellow isn’t a reserve-duty officer?” General Mungo’s head started to ache.

“Emergency alert….deactivate,” The always-fierce General Mungo was displaying rare signs of fatigue, “That’s the end of this matter.”

However, Sheyan was unwilling to let the matter rest.

“General, I assure you this is just the beginning. I have to speak with you in private. If you can evacuate all these people, this should be the best place to talk. Don’t refuse me, otherwise, the mess you have to face will probably become much worse.”

General Mungo glared at Sheyan with eyes that could kill, but he still succumbed in the end. He told Sheyan viciously, “You better have a reasonable explanation for this. Or else, boy, I’ll give you the maximum deduction of achievement points within my authority!”

***

Three minutes later, the area hundreds of square meters around Sheyan was covered in a secure electronic barrier. Even the contestants would not be able to find out what went on inside. Within the barrier were Sheyan, Sheyan’s spacecraft, General Mungo, the military police under him, as well as the surviving military policeman and six ground crews.

Sheyan spoke while looking straight at General Mungo, “I request to exercise my privilege as a Lieutenant Colonel to conduct a detailed inspection of this spacecraft, as well as the cargo and the three robotic personnel inside.”

General Mungo did not object, because he had started to realise that it was getting harder to restrain this clever contestant, who was savvy in the laws and regulations of the Empire, with the authority on his hands. Worst of all, this contestant had even achieved considerable status!

An expert soon reported back.

“The spacecraft and the cargo are both normal, but a deep-layer command has been encrypted into the brain of one of the cyborgs, which is now being deciphered. Based on my analysis, it should be a command related to destruction.”

The result caused one of the ground crews to tremble and collapse to the floor, while the surviving military police simply fell down with black blood flowing out of his mouth — he appeared to have poisoned himself to death.

“That’s the reason I killed.” Sheyan spread his hands as he told General Mungo earnestly, “I’m not actually a bloodthirsty murderer.”

General Mungo asked coldly, “And I presume you know why this happened?”

“The Dark General asked me to choose Wasp No. 55, but as you can see, I chose Wasp No. 3,” Sheyan had no intention of hiding this fact.

General Mungo’s expression turned darker. He was about to say something, but Sheyan spoke before he could, “I know that taking on this job is a high-risk, high-reward opportunity for everyone involved. If you do a good job, you may be promoted from a Major General to a Lieutenant General, but if you mess up or if a scandal breaks out before we even depart… Based on the great Imperial Constitution, you’ll probably be demoted three ranks.”

General Mungo’s face twitched several times, but he still did not say a word. His sharp eyes looked straight at Sheyan, waiting for Sheyan’s next move with the patience of a wolf stalking its prey.

“I believe you know that us contestants have always had some strange abilities. I’ve used one such ability to record the whole incident. If I die in this mission, the recording will come to light. If I come back alive, the incident never happened. But of course, you have to give me some benefit to calm my frightened soul. What say you?”

With a wave of General Mungo’s hand, the military policemen next to him suddenly raised their guns and shot at all six ground crew members! Corpses instantly strewed the floor!

General Mungo remarked chillingly, “I’m not the cause of this problem, so I have to discuss this with someone.”

“Discuss?” Sheyan smiled brilliantly when he heard that word. “Please do. But don’t forget, my schedule is tight.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not good at bargaining. It won’t take long.” General Mungo’s voice remained cold.

***

According to rumours, General Mungo reportedly greeted the Dark General’s office door with his foot, and then roared in the Dark General’s face like a hairdryer, which he was good at. Although all the people in the vicinity had smartly withdrawn 50 meters away, they were still shaken by the rude abuse which escaped from within.

Such one-sided warfare often started very quickly and ended just as fast, so less than twelve minutes later, Sheyan was summoned to another corridor in the base. General Mungo motioned at Sheyan to follow behind him, and the two men walked in silence.

After passing through four steel doors where their identities had to be verified, all the military policemen following behind General Mungo were filtered out… In the end, Sheyan arrived in front of a Wasp spacecraft parked on a square apron.