IMAO Chapter 100.1

The title could be for ‘equality’ or ‘fairness’, but I’m using ‘justice’ because I find the two don’t roll off the tongue smoothly as a battle cry. Let me know what you prefer.

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“Does this kind of thing happen often here?” Jiang Yuan asked quietly, looking at the two crying children.

Envy bit his lip and wiped the tears from his face. “Yes. Actually, it wasn’t just our family and Uncle Aka living here before. Uncle Aka’s brother also disappeared the same way.”

“No way… Did they never find him after he went missing?” a timid man muttered, swallowing hard.

Envy shook his head. “No, we searched for my father for a long time but never found him…”

Nina stood beside him, continuously wiping her tears.

Aina patted the little girl’s head. “Okay, enough! Can’t you see the poor girl’s crying her eyes out? Why do you keep asking questions? How annoying!”

“Exactly! Just shut up!” Seeing little Nina cry, several Omegas instinctively felt maternal and glared at those who had asked questions, including Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan ignored the daggers they were shooting at him and carefully considered Envy’s words.

“Envy, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. So here you are.” Alice hurried over and let out a sigh of relief upon seeing her two children. “Why is your sister crying?”

Alice frowned, quickly walking over in a few strides. She crouched down and hugged the little girl. “What’s wrong? Did your brother bully you?”

Nina, with her hair in two small braids, shook her head and rubbed her eyes. “I… I miss Daddy…”

Hearing this, Alice wordlessly embraced Nina, gently patting her back. “Don’t cry. Mom’s here. I made your favorite cake. It’s in the kitchen.”

As expected of a mother, she knew exactly what her daughter liked. Distracted by the mention of food, little Nina’s tears gradually subsided. She asked hopefully, “Is it chocolate?”

“Yes, it is.”

Nina: “I want to eat it now…”

Alice smiled and lightly tapped Nina’s forehead. “Go on then, little greedy cat.”

The two children ran out one after another. Alice watched them go with a smile.

“Careful!” Jiang Yuan called out, catching the woman who nearly fell to the ground.

Alice rubbed her forehead and stepped back apologetically. “Thank you…”

“Are you alright?” everyone asked with concern.

“I’m fine…” Alice shook her head and continued, “I just felt a bit uncomfortable earlier, and my mind went blank for a moment. Sorry to worry everyone.”

“Phew, that’s good,” Aina, who also had children and had lost her husband, felt a connection with Alice and couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. “You must take care of yourself. Your children are still so young!”

Alice gave a tired smile. “Thank you, I will.”

“You all continue resting. I won’t disturb you anymore. I still have something to do,” Alice said softly, looking at everyone.

After saying that, the woman left.

Aina watched Alice’s retreating figure and suddenly froze, then muttered to herself, “So that’s why… no wonder she’s in such poor health…”

The three, including Jiang Yuan, instinctively looked at Aina and asked, “You know why she’s in poor health?”

They all knew about Alice’s poor health since the woman always appeared sickly and was clearly not well.

Aina sighed and said, “It’s normal that you haven’t heard about it since you’re not from North Mali. I only know because my father mentioned it…

“There are quite a few Alphas and Omegas here, but as you can see from the conditions, suppressants at 1000 credits per dose are astronomical for them. Some Omegas who can’t find Alpha mates end up removing their glands.

“I don’t need to tell you about the effects of gland removal.”

Omegas who had their glands removed were much weaker than others, and their lifespans were shorter than typical Omegas.

Removed glands?

It wasn’t surprising. If there was no Alpha around and they wanted to avoid rape or tragedies caused by uncontrolled pheromones, removal was the only option…

No wonder Envy’s mother looked so sickly…

So this is what happens after gland removal…

Jiang Yuan unconsciously touched the back of his neck and swallowed. Thankfully he hadn’t been neurotic enough to remove his gland.

Ji Rong, who had been watching Jiang Yuan, naturally noticed his movement and instinctively followed it to the gland location on Jiang Yuan’s neck.

His heartbeat skipped a beat.

In the kitchen.

Nina sat on her chair. She just finished her small cake and was contentedly licking her spoon. Only after making sure there was truly no cake left did she put down her plate.

“BOOM—”

A massive explosion.

From yesterday until today, explosions could be heard at any time. People in the slums had become numb to the sound, from being scared at first to now.

But this explosion still drew many people out of their houses to stand on the highest rooftops and observe the direction of North Rio where the explosion occurred.

This sound was louder than previous explosions. It could be heard clearly even from here!

“Ship ship— Daddy look ship falling down—” said a toddler who could barely speak clearly, pointing at the distant sky.

“It is falling…” said the man holding the child, watching the falling warship with concern.

Aka was among the crowd. He looked over, and his face suddenly turned deathly pale. He turned and ran toward the factory behind them like a madman!

“Alice, Alice!”

Aka rushed in from outside frantically, roughly pushing aside others in the courtyard, shouting Alice’s name at the top of his lungs!

“What’s wrong?” The pushed man was steadied by his companion nearby. He looked bewildered but wasn’t angry at Aka’s rough behavior. Instead, he looked worriedly toward the distance. Had the war spread to the civilian area?

“Aka?” Alice leaned out from the kitchen, looking at Aka. “What happened? You…”

Seeing Aka’s bloodshot eyes, Alice had a bad feeling. Without finishing her sentence, she quickly dropped what she was holding and said to others in the factory, “Please help me look after Envy and Nina!”

Alice’s gaze finally landed on Jiang Yuan and his companions. Meeting her gaze, Jiang Yuan hesitated before nodding. Alice gave him a grateful nod before leaving with Aka.

“What exactly happened?” Alice asked urgently as she hurried with Aka toward the back of the factory.

Aka’s expression was grim. “The main warship was destroyed! We need to contact them quickly! Hopefully, the Lady is safe! No… she must be safe! The Lady is our only hope!”

The Lady’s warship was destroyed?

Hearing this news, Alice drew in a sharp breath, her body trembling uncontrollably.

No, no, everything must be fine!

After her initial panic, Alice ran straight to her room and took out a special communication device. If Jiang Yuan and his companions were here, they would recognize it immediately as a special transmitter-receiver!

…

“Calling! Calling main warship!” Milu shouted into the communicator while piloting his mecha. In his view, explosion debris was falling. Before the warship exploded, some small ships and mechas had separated from the main body, but had the Lady really gotten out?

“Calling, calling! Please respond! Please respond!” Milu’s eyes were red, tears welling up.

Everyone on the communication line was frantically asking the same questions.

Finally, amid the anxious calls, a voice came through, “The Lady evacuated by ship before the explosion. Please be assured, the Lady is safe.

“Continue executing orders!”

“Where is the Lady?!” someone asked urgently over the comm. “We’ll go find her!”

“I order you to continue your missions according to the previous deployment,” the speaker commanded without wasting time. “I will join the Lady soon! For now, follow Achilles’ commands!

“An unfair world can only be cleansed with blood! Victory!”

“Victory!!”

“Victory!!”

“Victory!!”

The soldiers shouted with fervor.

Achilles, his eyes bloodshot, issued commands to his squad over the communication line.

Near the slums of North Rio.

The falling warship crashed to the ground, creating a deep crater. Not far from the fallen warship, on a mecha that had been deeply sliced in half, sat a man. His temples were white, his white hair stained red with blood, and he was speaking.

“Achilles…”

Achilles, who was in the midst of battle, suddenly heard a voice: the familiar voice of his commander.

“Commander Fars, your voice sounds…” Achilles wanted to say it didn’t sound good, but since he hadn’t turned off the comm link with other squad members, he didn’t say it directly.

“Temporarily close your communications. I have confidential matters to discuss with you alone.”

Achilles immediately shut off his sound system. “It’s closed now, sir. You may speak.”

Fars: “I’m dying.”

Achilles felt his breath stop. “Sir…”

“Don’t speak. Listen to me…

“During the explosion, Selena and I each took a mecha to escape the warship, but debris from the explosion pierced through my mecha.” Fars covered his ceaselessly bleeding abdomen. A large piece of metal had impaled his stomach, nearly cutting his body in half. This was why he said he was dying.

“Selena’s mecha,” Fars took a deep breath. He desperately hoped her mech hadn’t been hit, but he had seen it while in the air, “her mecha was also hit.

“I don’t know… if she’s still alive. If she is, she’ll definitely find a way to return and command the battle. I’m almost done. You must take over command now! You’ve seen the deployment plans, you know what to do next. Even if she doesn’t return, please don’t give up. Remember our faith!

“We fight for justice!”

Achilles’ voice choked. “Commander Fars, where are you? Please…”

Fars: “Enough, kid, don’t cry. Everyone dies eventually. I’m just one among ordinary people. It’s time for me to meet Selena’s father and brothers…”

Then only beeping sounds came through the comm as the connection was cut.

With tears in his eyes, Achilles opened communications and issued command orders, “All mechas form V-formation and attack! For justice!”

“For justice! Victory!”

“For justice! Victory!”

The shouts rose as mecha after mecha changed formation, launching wave after wave of attacks!

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