Chapter 716: Aliens

Six days have passed since Mo Long returned.

For these six days, Li Qi had been busy modifying the Patrol Officer mecha he brought back and attempting to teach the rescued individuals how to wear and fight in mechas.

However, after two days of effort—or rather, two wasted days—Li Qi discovered that being a combat pilot truly required talent.

Li Qi believed his teaching was simple and profound; after all, even in the world, few were qualified to receive his personal instruction.

But alas, these women were truly uncarvable rotten wood, and Li Qi could only reluctantly give up in the end.

Thus, he began to improve these mechas, preparing to turn them into drones.

It must be said that Li Qi's practical ability within the Advancement Alliance was truly too strong; he alone was a research team plus a precision lathe, and even without any magical power or cultivation, he could still achieve unbelievable feats.

Unfortunately, without sufficient scientific research capabilities, one couldn't discern Li Qi's prowess; even Mo Long merely thought Li Qi's handiwork was impressive.

They completely failed to realize how absurd Li Qi's industrial design capabilities were; this was wisdom that transcended the entire civilization of the Advancement Alliance.

However, Li Qi was too lazy to explain; his current purpose in doing these things was to integrate himself into the life of a Mortal, thereby dispelling his current gradually empty and indifferent state of mind, not to show off how powerful he was.

If he truly wanted to show off, he could crush the entire world right now; why would he bother actively Sealing his cultivation as he was now?

However, Li Qi was serious this time; his Seal was extremely strong, not something he could simply undo himself. It had to wait until he died to be released.

After he died, he would not enter the underworld but would be resurrected on the spot, and his cultivation would be unsealed, but only limited to death.

It was just that this was indeed a bit dangerous, because if someone didn't want him to die... then Li Qi would suffer greatly.

Physical torture or other insults were effective on him now. Although Li Qi's mind was very firm, he truly had no ability to resist.

However, since he had decided to do it, he had to see it through. This was to be a complete Mortal perspective, a complete life of a Mortal, especially when encountering such an extraterrestrial civilization war.

While thinking about these things, Li Qi wasn't idle; he was changing Mo Long's dressing.

"Hey..." Mo Long made a weak sound.

Li Qi didn't turn his head and said, "What, great hero, are you thinking again? Last time you got out of bed without permission, it extended your lying-down time by at least two days."

"No, I've learned my lesson. I just want to ask you... What kind of metaphysical technique are these threads on my body now? When did you start believing in such unscientific things?" Mo Long asked in a half-dead voice.

"Unscientific? You were almost scared to death, and your missile's kinetic energy was plundered, and your engine's internal energy also vanished. Do you think that's scientific?" Li Qi said.

"You have a point, but this is just the technology of aliens; it's just that their path is different from ours," Mo Long said.

"That's right. Some things cannot be explained by the Advancement Alliance's known knowledge," Li Qi said with a smile.

"Uh-huh, so you admit it? You're also an alien," Mo Long said.

Li Qi paused slightly, then smiled: "I won't deny that possibility."

"I should have thought of it earlier. No one is so omnipotent. Besides not being able to fight, you can do almost everything. You can perform surgery, you're a top repairman, you can even do industrial design yourself, and now you can even pull out such bizarre healing methods. It's just that you and those invading insectoids aren't from the same civilization, are you?" Mo Long struggled to prop himself up, asking breathlessly.

"No," Li Qi answered this point very clearly.

"...I understand. You don't lie, but you evade questions." Mo Long said this, then seemed to relax again and lay back down on the bed.

"I never lie, so you can trust anything I say," Li Qi smiled. "Judging by your expression, you've had this suspicion for a while, haven't you? After all, you weren't surprised when I said it."

"Hmm, originally I always thought you were some rich Young Master, but these past few days, with nothing to do, I recalled and organized all my experiences with you, and found some things weren't right. Now that I think about it, it's getting more and more wrong, so I asked you," Mo Long said casually, lying on the bed.

"Very good, good mindset. Maintain this mindset, and you'll recover very quickly." As Li Qi spoke, he finally prepared the medicine, then poured it into the infusion equipment, which would automatically inject it into Mo Long's body shortly.

"By the way, what kind of alien are you? What's your purpose in being here?" Mo Long asked again.

"Where I come from is quite far, hard to explain clearly, very difficult for you to understand. But as for the purpose, you don't have to worry about me having ill intentions. My purpose was made very clear from the beginning: I want to integrate into society." Li Qi sat down by the bed and said so.

"Integrate into society... Why is that so important to you? Is the society of the Advancement Alliance very important to you? Why do you insist on integrating?" Mo Long was puzzled.

"It's not that I must integrate; in fact, whether I integrate or not is fine. But my temporary goal is this; it helps me space out less. Haven't you noticed? Since the war broke out, the number of times I space out has significantly decreased. I think the therapeutic effect is quite good," Li Qi said with a smile.

"Therapeutic effect... So, your spacing out is something you don't want to do, right? You came here because you think this place can cure you?" Mo Long guessed.

"More or less, pretty close," Li Qi nodded.

"Then I promise to help you with your illness. Can you continue to help me afterward? Right now... I need your help. I want to save more people," Mo Long stared at Li Qi and asked.

"Alright," Li Qi readily agreed.

Hearing this, Mo Long breathed a sigh of relief, then completely relaxed, no longer speaking, but closing his eyes to rest.

As Li Qi said, what he needed most now was rest and recovery.

All subsequent matters had to be built upon this.

Another seven days passed.

During these seven days, Mo Long got along very well with the people he rescued. They all liked Mo Long, this kind-hearted young handsome man, but kept a respectful distance from Li Qi, the gloomy and strange man.

However, it was only a respectful distance, not rejection. On the contrary, they were all very polite, because everyone knew that Li Qi was the one in charge of this shelter.

He was the one distributing supplies, maintaining the shelter, repairing equipment, making parts, and he even made small cakes for others. Although they weren't very tasty, being able to make desserts in this environment... everyone would consciously stop thinking about where he conjured up the sweeteners.

Anyway, it was sweet, and as for why, it was best not to dwell on it.

But Li Qi didn't care much; he was currently trying to survive the apocalypse, and honestly, it was quite enjoyable.

Whether it was electrolyzing Impurities from sewer pipes to get lead sugar, or collecting and distributing food and water like playing a survival game, it was all very fun. After all, the current food was only enough for these less than ten people for about half a month.

All in all, Li Qi was having a pretty good time, but he still couldn't quite integrate with those Mortals. Even though he actively wore the Patrol Officer mecha and opened several extra rooms underground, and modified the wiring, it was still difficult for others to truly accept and integrate him.

After all, he was too strange; his occasional spacing out, his whimsical way of doing things, and the occasional indifference he showed, none of it made him seem like someone easy to get along with.

While he was doing these things, Mo Long finally recovered his combat effectiveness.

Li Qi had already repaired his mecha.

Mo Long put on his mecha again. He already knew that, at least in his city... the organization no longer existed. All overt collective armed forces had been destroyed.

He had to rely on himself and Li Qi's strength to persevere in this city, to hold on until the day someone came to support them in the future, and then join the wave of resistance.

Or... he felt that there should be clever people who survived in other shelters, and he could also gather these people.

All in all, he had to work hard.

After all, Li Qi was an alien, and someone like himself, who had such a miraculous encounter, must not be simple!

Mo Long said this with a hint of self-comfort.

After that, he once again bid farewell to the others, preparing to go out and collect supplies.

Returning to the outside, he had been lying in bed for nearly ten days, used up most of his medicine, and his food reserves were also insufficient.

He needed to gather supplies, and if possible, find some more survivors. Their shelter could still accommodate at least five more people, not to mention that there were many shelters throughout the city that hadn't been utilized yet.

The mecha entered optical camouflage mode. The corpses piled outside had already dried up; because they were in an underground parking lot, the bodies appeared in a mummified state.

He sighed, then piled the bodies on the cover and continued searching the city.

This time, he didn't actively seek death but honestly collected food, going back and forth between supermarkets seven times in one day, filling up the extra rooms Li Qi had excavated.

The food collection went smoothly; the streets were empty, with almost no one visible. The thousands-of-meters-long giant battleship that had been floating in the sky before had also disappeared.

Those insectoids seemed to have withdrawn from this world, leaving behind a ruin, and those gang members had also vanished without a trace.

But Mo Long dared not let his guard down, still treating everything with the utmost caution.

After the seventh round trip, the food reserves were completely sufficient. After all, the Advancement Alliance's dietary habits favored highly processed foods, which are characterized by high calories and high nutritional density, so they didn't eat much.

If one didn't pursue taste, a few small synthetic nutrient blocks a day were enough.

"There are still many reserves in the supermarket, leave some for others, hmm... then go to the pharmacy to look for medicine reserves," Mo Long thought to himself, then prepared to leave the supermarket.

But before leaving the supermarket, he still carefully checked it again to see if there were any traces of others rummaging through it.

If there were, it would prove that there were other survivors.

To his surprise, there were!

And the other party was very smart, having cleaned up after themselves, sweeping away any possible traces, making it very difficult for Mo Long to track them. In fact, even discovering that these foods had been moved required some observational skills. Mo Long had cracked the supermarket's automated operating System, and by querying the warehouse data, he found that the items on the shelves didn't match the warehouse records, which led him to infer that someone had moved food here.

Mo Long was very happy; this indicated that the other party had enough experience and wisdom to survive.

Although this also meant Mo Long couldn't find this person, those insectoids might not be able to find them either.

That's good. Go find the other fools.

If a fool could be found by him, then they could also be found by the insectoids, so finding them in advance was good for them and could help them survive.

Thinking this, Mo Long returned to the shelter and told Li Qi his thoughts.

"So, as an alien, do you have your own thoughts? How should we find survivors? Do you have any special techniques?" Mo Long closed the door and said to Li Qi in the operating room.

"Hmm, I wouldn't say no, but you can't use it, and I can't use it either, you understand?" Li Qi gestured, pointing to Mo Long's equipment.

Mo Long smiled wryly and nodded, indicating that he understood.

The technique existed, but without the equipment, even an immortal couldn't do anything.

"Then what do you think is a good idea? I've been lying down for too long and missed the best timing," Mo Long asked Li Qi for advice.

"Hmm... my method is, you tell me, are those insectoids still here or not?" Li Qi suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question.

Mo Long was stunned, then thought for a moment, and replied, "At least what I've seen now is that they're gone. The street patrols, those who rounded people up in the concentration camps before, and those sky-darkening single-person spacecraft, including the large warship that served as their base, have all disappeared."

"It's just that they haven't completely left; the world mothership in the sky is still there, so I still don't dare to make too much noise," Mo Long said.

"In other words, they might have withdrawn some forces from this city. This might be because they have finished what they needed to do here, after all... so many concentration camps, right?" Li Qi said.

The topic here became a little somber, and Mo Long's expression also became somewhat grim.

Li Qi's single sentence evoked everything he had seen on the streets.

Bodies strewn everywhere, decaying bones everywhere. It was clear that during his recovery period, many, many things had happened in the concentration camps...

"So, instead of slowly searching for rescuers, why don't we do it in one go? You and I go out together, and we go find those insectoid concentration camps to confirm their specific situation. What do you think?" Li Qi said.

Mo Long thought for a while, then he clapped his hands together: "Okay, let's do as you say. We'll go explore these concentration camps."

"Good, then let's set off," Li Qi nodded.

He was also a little curious, what was the situation outside like? (End of this chapter)