Ye Zhizhou accepted the new plot information with an 'about to fall apart' mood and rapidly read through it.
In the new plot, all traces of Eddie disappeared and the protagonist's name was now Inez Gasken… He wildly poked the system and asked, "Tongtian! How did the protagonist change to someone else?! I didn't receive any prompts about the protagonist's soul fluctuating!"
[The system has given all the information.]
He silently rubbed his face and went back to his room under the pretense of resting——this new plot was too intense. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to refrain from screaming in front of the twins.
Inez Gasken was an omega pretending to be a beta. Their spiritual power and constitution were both S-rank. They were a sophomore majoring in mecha manufacturing but due to their unstable spiritual power caused by their parents' deaths, Inez took a year off from school. After coming back, they transferred to the command department and became classmates with Chris, the second prince. Afterwards, Inez joined the student union through Chris' recommendation; with their excellent management ability, they also gained Dale's appreciation and became the backup candidate for the next student union president.
After the death of their parents, Inez's life became very difficult. With the military academy's approval, Inez began working at a mecha component factory on the weekends. There, Inez coincidentally met Carol, the heir of the mecha company that they were working at. Later on, Master Brenda noticed Inez at their part-time job at the school and took a liking to them. Inez was accepted as a disciple and thus picked up mecha manufacturing again… They took part in the junior mecha exam and met the interstellar pirate Egbert… While helping Egbert bandage his wounds, the Federation's general Audrey broke in…
Ye Zhizhou turned off the plot information and felt as if a stone was wedged in his heart—it was a difficult pain to bear. This was a really simple and crude way of changing things, but why was it possible for this world's protagonist to be replaced?!
[Scanning protagonist status… No abnormalities. Scanning soul flags state… No abnormalities.]
"…" Nothing was unusual, so Eddie turned into Inez after being expelled from the military academy?! Both of them had intact life histories and information records. No matter how you looked at it, they couldn't be the same person. It was not as if they were a shapeshifter and could become whoever they wanted to be… What the fuck! A shapeshifter! He leaped straight off his chair in horror by the sudden speculation in his mind.
The protagonist’s soul didn’t fluctuate, and the soul flags didn't change targets. It should've been Eddie's harem but now it had become Inez's harem… The more he thought about it, the more horrified he became. He couldn't endure it and ran to the bed, covering himself with the blankets. He trembled as he jabbed opened both Eddie's and Inez's information.
Eddie was an orphan and a beta. When he was first tested as a child, his spiritual power was A-rank and his constitution was S-rank. When he was five years old, he entered a school arranged by the government. He had excellent grades and also a dull personality. At 18 years old, his spiritual power and constitution suddenly increased ranks, and thus, he was admitted to the Royal Military Academy. Before his spiritual power and constitution ranks increased, he had accompanied the orphanage's vice-president to another part of the country to receive a batch of donation materials.
Inez, on the contrary, was a beta who grew up in a normal family. When their aptitude was first tested as a child, they had both A-rank spiritual power and A-rank constitution. Inez had average grades and a lively personality. At 18 years old, they were accepted into the Royal Military Academy with barely passing grades and joined the mecha manufacturing department. A year later, Inez’s parents unexpectedly died in an accident, resulting in them suffering a huge blow. Inez’s spiritual power sea nearly collapsed, and as a result, they had to withdraw from the school to be admitted into the hospital to recover… The chances of Inez’s recovery weren’t ideal at the time. On the day that Eddie left the Royal Military Academy, Inez’s spiritual power and constitution rank both increased, and their condition rapidly improved. Afterwards, Inez eagerly applied to return to school. After returning to the school, Inez used their outstanding grades to transfer to the command department.
This overlapping timing, the sudden increase in spiritual power and constitution rank, the change in personality, Inez's grades becoming excellent… and the fact that the two people who were both betas were written as being omegas in the original plot… Ye Zhizhou couldn't help looking at the little mirror. "What exactly is this world's protagonist…?"
The little mirror vibrated. [The system has given all the information.]
That was not a phrase he wanted to see at all! He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He took out the original plot information and read through it again. Previously, he couldn't figure out why the destruction of the world involved the protagonist creating a harem, until now… If what was hiding under Eddie's skin was a Zerg's soul, then the deaths of the alpha leads and the rapid destruction of the world could all be explained.
The identities of the eight alpha leads included: the son of a marshal, a prince, a Federation general, an interstellar pirate leader with a strong firepower reserve, two future mecha manufacturing masters, the heir of a mecha manufacturing company, and a military academy instructor who seemed to be ordinary, but was actually the right-hand person of the Empire’s eldest prince, who was the leader of the Empire’s secret forces—all of them were important figures; if even one of these figures died, it would be disastrous. And unexpectedly, all of them died in a month.
Turning to the last page of the plot information, Ye Zhizhou couldn't help letting out a sigh. There were problems with regards to alpha leads' deaths, there were problems with the mechas suddenly breaking down in the middle of the battle, and there was definitely a problem with Master Brenda committing suicide to 'take responsibility'! The first wave of Zergs was just to allow the protagonist to fully win the people's love and to gain the alpha leads' trust. The second wave of Zergs was the real attack… The plot really didn't deceive him. The world really was destroyed by NP. It was the alpha leads who allowed the protagonist to influence the military department's decisions. It was also the alpha leads who allowed the protagonist to quickly gain the trust of the high-leveled people of the Empire and the Federation. What was more was that the alpha leads were the ones who boosted the protagonist to the position of a savior, letting the people believe in the protagonist's mecha. Without the harem, the Zerg protagonist's plan to kill humans wouldn't have gone so smoothly!
Ye Zhizhou turned off the plot information and sat up after being dazed for a moment. He picked up his communicator to send Clay a message, but ultimately, he got a notice that the number didn't exist. Half a minute later, Ned's message arrived: His Highness is currently on a secret mission so communication is temporarily unavailable. If the imperial consort needs anything, you can come to find me directly.
What's with this address of 'Imperial Consort'… Ye Zhizhou thought about the top-grade Ningshen pill that he had mixed in with the Anshen pill and then went silent for a bit. He replied with a message: It's nothing. Just continue taking your medicine.
Ned: ?
Pansy: Finish eating and go back to helping Clay with his work.
Ned: … Yes.
After dealing with Ned, he thought about it and then called Chris' communicator.
"Sister-in-law!" The call was quickly connected, and Chris' gentle smiling face appeared on the screen. "I heard that Eddie left the school today? Don't feel bad, Sister-in-law. The Empire won't show any concern for someone with such a rotten heart! I'll send someone to watch over the trial for the physical labor. I'll make sure that Eddie won't dare to do anything bad in the future!"
"I didn't call you about that matter." Ye Zhizhou didn't expect that Chris would pay attention to Eddie's business. After a brief thanks, he went straight to the main point. "Can you investigate a student from the mecha manufacturing department named Inez Gasken? Did he withdraw from the school last year because his spiritual power became chaotic?"
Chris' gaze turned away from the call and looked towards the side. His fingers moved and he seemed to be checking something. After ten seconds, he looked back at the screen and said, "I can only tell you that there's such a student in the school. I'm sorry, I can't disclose any specific information. The military academy has a privacy protection policy for student information. Sister-in-law, why did you suddenly ask about this student? Are they your friend?"
Ye Zhizhou shooked his head and looked down as he thought about it, before deciding to tell the truth, "What I'm going to say next is just my speculation, but what my roommate said was right—now that I have suspicions, it's better to get concrete evidence." If this world's protagonist really had some kind of "shapeshifting" ability, then, if he wanted to complete this task, just pulling out the soul flags wasn't enough. If he got rid of the protagonist, another one could appear. If he pulled out a soul flag, it could be restored. This world would definitely be destroyed if things continued to develop until the end. So for the task this time, he had to get to the root of the problem.
Chris looked at him puzzledly. "What's wrong? Was there another problem with Eddie's case that still hadn't been resolved?"
"Chris." Ye Zhizhou earnestly looked at him and said, "I suspect that there's a Zerg parasite within Eddie's body. After he leaves the school, the Zerg parasite will most likely switch to Inez's body and use their identity to return to the military academy. Also, I need to have a direct conversation with your brother. Have him contact me as soon as possible." In this world, only his lover would unconditionally trust him while not asking too many questions about how Ye Zhizhou knew about these things; he would even provide cover for him. In short, his lover's big thigh came at the right time, otherwise, he would've never dared to directly tell others about just a hypothesis.
"A Zerg parasite?!" The incredulity on Chris' face was replaced with astonishment, but then it quickly became a grave and serious expression. "Wait a moment, Sister-in-law. I'll go to the military department and use their encrypted communication channel to contact my brother right now."
[The probability of Chris and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 0%. The fourth soul flag has been pulled out. Congratulations to the host, may the host persist in his efforts.]
The flag was actually pulled out… Ye Zhizhou blinked at the spot where the call screen had been and couldn't help but throw some little red flowers at Chris in his heart——His lover's little brother was seriously impressive!
Half an hour later, Clay called and Ye Zhizhou promptly picked up. He was shocked speechless by the image of scattered Zerg limbs and remains completely covering the ground behind the other.
“The rest of your training will be canceled. Dale will be by in a moment to pick you up and bring you out of the school. Ned will be there to protect you until I get back." Clay was dressed in combat attire. His hair was a bit disheveled, his clothes were covered in dust, his expression was cold and serious, and he still had a lingering murderous aura. "Also, write a detailed report of your findings for Ned. He'll send it to me through an encrypted channel."
Ye Zhizhou looked at him dimwittedly and then vigorously nodded his head——His lover looked so handsome when he was working hard!
A smile flashed in Clay's eyes as he noticed Ye Zhizhou's infatuated gaze and his expression became softer. "The butterfly disappeared yesterday… Wait for me, I'll come back to you soon. Don't be afraid."
Ye Zhizhou continued to energetically nod his head and couldn't help raising his hand to touch his lover's face on the communication screen.
“Pansy.” Clay also lifted his hand and pressed on the screen, matching it to where Ye Zhizhou's palm was. "The call has to be hung up now… I miss you, Xiao Zhou."
The indicator light on the communicator flashed and the call screen disappeared with a click. Ye Zhizhou's outstretched hand towards the sky couldn't help clenching into a fist; he quickly suppressed the exclamation that was about to come out of his mouth. What did his lover just call him? Xiao Zhou?! His lover… he had some memories?
15 minutes later, Dale arrived at the dormitory building lobby. Ye Zhizhou casually packed up his things and used the excuse that his spiritual power sea suddenly became unstable, so he needed to leave the school to recuperate, to handle the twins' questioning before rushing downstairs.
“Where are we going?”
"Going to His Highness' office in the military headquarters; it's the safest place." Dale pushed up their glasses and set the hovercar to autopilot before handing Ye Zhizhou a document. "Sign this and then swear an oath."
Ye Zhizhou accepted the document. He flipped through it, saw that it was a confidentiality agreement, and immediately understood what Dale had meant. Ye Zhizhou signed the document without hesitation, and then, in accordance with the Empire's military enlistment tradition, made a fist and swore an oath—expressing his loyalty to the Empire.
“Welcome to the team.” Dale saluted him. After carefully storing Ye Zhizhou's confidentiality agreement, they pulled out a few more documents and quickly said, "The Zerg-Human parasitism situation that you reported was very important. Three months ago, when His Highness recovered a planet that had been occupied by Zerg, he found a secret underground research institute. Don't look at me with such surprise; the Zergs aren't just useless things that only know how to plunder. Some of their branches are actually very smart, but their intelligence is always destroyed by their predator instincts and thus doesn't usually emerge."
Ye Zhizhou quickly adjusted his expression and attentively listened.
"Most of that research institute had been destroyed by some cunning Zergs, but the small amount of information that was left was enough for us to surmise that the Zerg were doing human experiments." Dale opened one of the documents and pointed at it. "His Highness attached great importance to this discovery and began to deeply investigate it, however, it seemed like that group of Zerg realized something. They suddenly concealed themselves and also learned to spread false data to misdirect His Highness to think in the wrong direction. I believe we would've been misled if you hadn't brought up the idea of parasitism."
Ye Zhizhou's train of thought looped through his mind and he asked, "Are you suspecting that the Zerg's human experiments are related to the parasitism?"
"The suspicion has already been confirmed." Dale pulled out a document from the bottom of the pile, opened it, and said with a solemn face, "Half an hour ago, we received a traffic accident report. Eddie died in a car accident after leaving the academy. Shortly after Eddie's death, Inez Gasken's spiritual power and constitution rank suddenly increased, and their unstable condition quickly improved. The most important point though, was that, before Eddie's died, he visited the sanatorium that Inez resided at."
"Died?" Ye Zhizhou couldn't help showing a shocked expression again.
"The scene of the accident was extremely gruesome, Eddie died on the spot." Dale showed Ye Zhizhou a picture of the bloody and mutilated body. "Not to mention, Eddie's body was a little strange. It was too badly mutilated; it didn't seem like it was hit by a car. We're still waiting for the detailed autopsy report."
Ye Zhizhou quickly glanced at the picture and then looked away. He asked, "What are you guys going to do about Inez?"
"It's not optimal to startle the enemy at this time. We'll mainly just observe Inez and keep them under surveillance." Dale took the picture back and gave Ye Zhizhou a profound look. "Pansy, you've done the Empire a great service this time."
Please don’t say those words with such meaningful eyes…
"I believe in His Highness' judgment so I decided to trust you." Dale looked at the military headquarters building's faint outline and said with a serious expression, "Pansy, please don't betray His Highness' trust."
Ye Zhizhou turned to look at Dale with an earnest expression and resolutely said, "I won't. I love Clay."
[The probability of Dale and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 0%. The fifth soul flag has been pulled out. Congratulations to the host, may the host persist in his efforts.]
The hovercar slowly landed in front of the military headquarters building's door. Before they got off, Dale suddenly stretched out a hand to Ye Zhizhou and repeated, "Welcome to the team."
Ye Zhizhou paused, grasped Dale's offered hand, and firmly shook it. He sincerely smiled at Dale. "Thank you."
The author has something to say:
Thank you Arriving in Dark Clouds and Junshi for the mine! I love you guys so much =3=
PS: Some of the little angel’s plot guessing skills are at maxed level QvQ
PS: Today's second update has been postponed to 10 o’clock. Everyone come read it a little later =3=
How wild was the plot twist, most of you guys already guessed it tho LOL…but there’s more ehehehe…