Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland (Gillian and Merrick) novel Chapter 9

"Grandma, I have something on them. We can't let our guard down just because we're in Wasteland City. The Grayson family won't leave me alone," Gillian explained.

She hid nothing from Mabel and told her everything. Her conflict with the Graysons was a death feud, and Mabel needed to understand how dangerous it was.

Mabel realized Gillian had burned all her bridges. Unless they left the Outer Planet, they would always have to watch for the Graysons' beastmen.

She patted Gillian's arm. "Whatever happens, I'm here. Don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid," Gillian said, her resolve harder than ever. If she could save the 9th Legion, the Grayson family would be nothing. "We've got money now. Let's buy as much as we want—a whole basket of carrots!"

Reassured, Mabel happily focused on picking ingredients for Gillian's favorite dishes. Nothing in the world mattered more than cooking for her granddaughter.

Once Mabel was occupied, Gillian went into her sleep pod to examine the newly delivered nanotreatment bands.

The devices were cleverly built. Any forced disassembly would trigger self-destruction.

Gillian carefully channeled her psionic power, gently peeling away the outer nanometal filaments until she reached the core.

By the time she finished taking it apart, her forehead was covered in sweat.

This work was exhausting. Even as a level 2 cleric, she was worn out. If any of the 9th Legion's beastmen had tried to open it, the device would have destroyed itself completely—leaving no evidence behind.

*****

Gillian stared at the results of her half-hour of painstaking work. The core had three intricately designed parts. Whoever had invented this was highly skilled.

At the center lay a blackstone the size of a fingernail, next to a white stone fragment holding residual psionic power.

Gillian recalled her previous life. When her eldest son Elias died, his exploding psionic power had fused with the companion stone in a blackstone vein. It looked just like this white stone.

These two stones weren't the real problem.

The danger was in the third part. A thin layer of isolation soil covered it, supposedly to protect the core drive.

But when Gillian scanned it closely with her psionic power, she sucked in a breath. Hidden inside were hair-thin needles drenched in a terrifying concentration of taint.

This is the problem!

Gillian figured out how it worked. First, psionic power flowed through the transfer mechanism, supposedly to purge the taint.

Next, the blackstone healed the wound. Finally, the tiny needles injected traces of taint deep into the injury, letting it slowly rot the body from the inside out.

Something this vicious was being used on the soldiers of the 9th Legion.

Gillian hurried to check the other device. The new nanotreatment band had the exact same setup.

This was a deliberate plot against the 9th Legion. It seemed the legion's annihilation in her past life was closely tied to this.

Gillian always recorded everything with her wrist terminal. She had documented the entire process.

She sent the findings to George at once. She attached a set of full-angle photos.

"George, I've examined and compared two nanotreatment bands. Someone deliberately placed tainted micro-needles inside."

From there, it was George's call.

George was in an emergency meeting when he checked her message. He hadn't expected Gillian to finish analyzing the nanometal so quickly.

His fury exploded instantly. How dare they! They're rubbing our faces in it! I won't put up with this!

His round face flushed red with rage as he enlarged the photos of his wound before and after Gillian's treatment.

"Commander, this is an open insult! I'll turn this shuttle around right now and grind the Grayson family into dust!"

A cold, sharp voice came over his wrist terminal. "Wait. Ask Ms. Sterling if this batch of nanotreatment metal can be salvaged."

"Yes, sir!"

The signal was terrible wherever the speaker was; the transmission kept breaking up.

After a few seconds, the video froze on a side profile of the man. He wore a gray mud mask to block the taint as he moved through a desolate wasteland.

His hair was thick and cropped short. Everything around him was pitch black, like he was trapped in hell. Only his sharp, defined jawline stood out as a faint contrast.

That dull, lifeless shade almost made it look like the terminal was broken. But everyone in the 9th Legion knew their commander had penetrated the core taint zone—the most dangerous place in all Wasteland City.

With their commander's signal unstable, George quickly messaged Gillian, "Ms. Sterling, do you think the nanotreatment metal can be fixed and reused?"

"George, I'll do my best," Gillian replied.

Did I really send a letter to the legion eight years ago?

They're trying to kill my men in just thirty minutes. How dare they!

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