Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 10: The Man Who Stole the Erosion Swamp

Shu Jun had never heard of “The Village of the Ruined” before.

Seeing Zhu Yanchen start to wash up methodically, Shu Jun didn’t plan on forcing an explanation from him. Aside from the injection he had just received, this morning felt refreshing, and Shu Jun didn’t want to think about the sticky matters related to erosion for the time being.

Now that the situation was stable, he could ask about the village’s condition later. In any case, with handcuffs on, he couldn’t run away, and Zhu Yanchen couldn’t hide from him. Compared to those tedious theoretical settings, he had more pressing questions at the moment.

Zhu Yanchen extended the chain between the handcuffs, giving Shu Jun a little more freedom of movement. He rinsed his mouth and leisurely nibbled on dry food, saying, “I’m an unexpected variable… According to this logic, even if I hadn’t shown up, were you planning on sneaking out of your base anyway?”

Leaving a good marshal position behind and venturing alone into the erosion zone? Even if he wanted to investigate this place discreetly, arranging for some backup would be wise. Shu Jun always felt that this person had other motives.

This matter was related to his personal safety—if Zhu Yanchen finished his investigation and brought in the reserve army, they would see a walking, talking Erosion Swamp by the marshal’s side, which would be troublesome for him. On the other hand, assuming Zhu Yanchen could handle everything well and his subordinates wouldn’t harm him, Shu Jun still didn’t want more people to know about his condition.

He knew better than anyone about the government’s and players’ attitudes toward Erosion Swamps.

“If it wasn’t for you, another mutant beast would have attacked me according to the plan, and I would have been ‘kidnapped’ as usual.”

Zhu Yanchen finished packing his own briefcase, closed the lid, and seemed to see through his thoughts. “Don’t worry, your situation won’t be leaked. As long as we stay outside for a few more days, the government will change my status from ‘missing’ to ‘dead’.”

“Oh, you’re just going to tell me straight up? Only you know that I’m hanging out with an Erosion Swamp. Aren’t you afraid…”

That I might change my mind and kill you to keep you quiet?

“I’m not afraid.” Zhu Yanchen paused for a moment before continuing, “And with your current physical condition, even if you killed me, you wouldn’t live for more than a few days. The Erosion Swamp is still mixing with your body, and if no one helps control it, it will soon devour you.”

The dry food in Shu Jun’s mouth suddenly became tasteless.

Even a business partner might turn against him, so no one would want to offend their own doctor.

“Why fake your death for no reason?” Shu Jun quickly ended the dangerous topic.

Zhu Yanchen, for once, didn’t answer immediately. After a moment of silence, he maintained his position with his back facing Shu Jun. “There are many reasons, none of which you need to concern yourself with. You are safe, and that’s all you need to know.”

Shu Jun made a deep, meaningful “oh”.

Of course, he was concerned—now more than ever.

“Give me your hand.” Zhu Yanchen cleaned himself up and took out a wide bracelet-like gadget from his pocket—wide bracelet was a nicer way of saying it. Shu Jun always thought it was more like vintage-like shackles.

“One handcuff is enough, really.” Shu Jun hid his other hand behind his back. “A’Yan, we don’t have to go this far—”

“It’s not a handcuff.” Zhu Yanchen approached mercilessly. “This is a device that can detect your physical condition. I calibrated it last night. There’s no harm in wearing it.”

Shu Jun was taken aback. Come to think of it, this guy hadn’t rested since they met. Was this why he tinkered with his flesh and blood?

He sighed and extended his wrist obediently.

The iron-gray bracelet automatically snapped on, causing a slight stinging sensation. It probably had a soft probe attached to it, and it was much lighter than he had imagined; at least it wouldn’t affect his movement. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a character data display device from a “game.” On the smooth metal surface, light-colored characters slowly appeared, completely unobtrusive, and at first glance, they looked like a pattern carved on the metal surface.

[Fusion rate: 19%; Vital signs stable.]

After confirming the reading, Zhu Yanchen nodded satisfactorily and said, “Let’s go.”

Marshal Zhu stood very close, and even though he was already wearing a mask, Shu Jun could still see the sleepless dark circles under his eyes. If Zhu Yanchen wanted to completely control him, he could frequently take blood samples and secretly keep the data in his own hands.

But he didn’t do that.

Shu Jun sighed and shook his wrist, saying, “Thanks.”

A few seconds later, he added, “If something goes wrong later, I’ll protect you. Don’t be too tense.”

As someone who never liked to owe anyone favors, Shu Jun felt a bit uneasy after saying that. For another high-ranking official, this statement might be considered crossing the line.

He was prepared for a distant and polite response, but to his surprise, Zhu Yanchen stopped at the door and replied with utmost seriousness, “I know.”

“……” What’s wrong with this person?

After dawn, this place became more and more ghostly. Deformed people walked slowly in the abandoned corridors, and the mottled walls were sprayed with all kinds of words and sentences, with strokes that were so scribbled they couldn’t be recognized.

Some people still wore gas masks, while others simply didn’t, and their faces were so deformed that they couldn’t make out their exposed facial features. Some of the lesions were particularly terrifying, causing the entire body to be distorted, so they had to walk on all fours.

They passed by slowly, as quiet as ghosts, and no one stopped to observe the two strangers. Compared to these people, the symptoms of the corpse handler last night were mild.

Everyone’s constitution was different, and a small percentage of people were particularly intolerant of erosion. Even if they took purification medicine as a regular meal, they couldn’t hold on for too long. These people would have more terrifying symptoms and would often be difficult to save. Based on Shu Jun’s previous knowledge, these people should have lived in the city and received end-of-life care.

Shu Jun took a deep breath, and even the air here seemed to carry a chill.

“You guys are here. I was about to call you for breakfast.” The woman from last night hurriedly came up. She wore her mask properly, and even had a pink hair clip on her hair net. She carefully glanced at Shu Jun, then her eyes landed on the handcuffs of the two, and she shrank back slightly.

With these severely ill people around and being feared by others, Shu Jun’s mood was complicated.

“We already ate,” Zhu Yancheng said in a flat tone.

“Oh, okay.” The woman responded, somewhat surprised. “The person in charge here is still having breakfast. Let me take you there first.”

Leaving the abandoned stronghold building, they arrived at a row of bungalows. The woman led the two of them to stop in front of one of the bungalows and called out, “Lao Wei, Lao Wei, I’ve brought some people here!”

Several hoarse coughs answered from inside the bungalow.

After the door opened, Shu Jun restrained his surprised expression politely.

There was an old man sitting on a chair—that was the simplest way to put it. In reality, he saw someone who was almost melting, lying on the chair like a candle that was about to burn out. The layers of flesh seemed like dripping candle tears, hanging limply on the gray-white wood.

The entire room was filled with decaying cabinets, with a thin bowl of porridge on the table in front of the old man and a urinal just a few steps away. The whole room had an indescribable smell. The woman made a clumsy gesture of respect to them and then stepped out of the room first.

Facing the scene in front of him, Zhu Yanchen didn’t react much.

“How did you two know about this place?” The old man opened his melting mouth making it look like a black hole. “Our village is a small place. There isn’t anything valuable here if you want to catch rare mutant beasts.”

Zhu Yanchen didn’t answer and just looked at him.

“I’ve heard about Xiao Xi’s matter from her. She’s been running to the corpse processing department recently, trying to steal parts from the pile of machines. Anyway, I’ll apologize to you… Our purifiers are almost broken down here. You’ve seen it too.”

‘That makes sense,’ Shu Jun thought. This village in the ruins looked poor, and the villagers didn’t seem to have much combat power. What did Zhu Yanchen want to investigate in this village full of dying people?

“She didn’t go to steal parts.” Zhu Yanchen finally spoke. “She can’t even start the purifiers, let alone dismantle parts without leaving any trace. Not to mention, the corpse processing department isn’t that easy to get into. Someone here has specially cleared the way for her.”

The old man didn’t answer and made wheezing sounds in his throat.

“Your people violated the corpse processing rules and caused the deaths of three soldiers. According to regulations, this village needs to be thoroughly investigated,” Zhu Yanchen added.

Whether it was last night or now, Marshal Zhu was quite articulate when threatening others, but unfortunately, he became a wooden fish when it came to himself. Shu Jun almost lost focus on what the two of them were playing charades with.

“What do you want?” The old man finally spoke.

“To see the Erosion Swamp you’ve been raising.” Zhu Yanchen’s tone became even colder and more rigid. “If you cooperate well, that woman will only be responsible for her violation. The Erosion Swamp here will only be monitored by the military, and things won’t get too ugly. Otherwise, we’ll follow the standard process: the Erosion Swamp will be destroyed, and the people will be taken back to the city.”

“That sounds good.” Lao Wei chuckled. “Unfortunately, the people here won’t agree.”

“Well, that’s a pity.” Zhu Yanchen’s voice showed no sign of regret. “In any case, I cannot allow you to continue stealing erosion from the corpse processing area.”

Stealing the erosion? That woman went to the corpse processing area to steal erosion?

For the purpose of raising an Erosion Swamp?

Shu Jun was about to express his doubts, but a faint howling sound came again. This time, the howling of the Erosion Swamp wasn’t as intense as last time. If the last time was a clear call, this time it was more like talking to oneself.

There was an Erosion Swamp nearby, not large in size, but quite active. From the change in the howling sound, it seemed to be moving, and there were faint footsteps outside the room.

“The village. Let’s go, let’s go.” Lao Wei laughed. “We can’t give you what you want. Your eavesdropping skills yesterday were pretty good, so I thought this matter wasn’t simple. Young man, although I don’t know who you are… unfortunately, you can only die here.”

Zhu Yanchen raised his hand and fired a shot, but the target wasn’t the old man, but above the two of them. Almost at the same time, Shu Jun also took action. His target was behind the two of them—a mutant beast whose head was blown off by Zhu Yanchen’s shot, and another whose throat was torn open by Shu Jun, with black blood splattered all over the ground.

However, Lao Wei still looked confident. More mutant beasts emerged from the cabinet, avoiding Lao Wei in the flying dust, and pounced towards Zhu Yanchen.

“Young people are always so restless.” Lao Wei laughed. “But when you’re done, our Erosion Swamp will be gone too. Young man, how about we all calm down? If you give up your goal and put down your gun, we can still have a good talk—”

“Shu Jun,” Zhu Yanchen ignored him while firing a few more shots that took down several more mutant beasts’ heads.

“Hmm?”

“Make these mutant beasts behave.”

“?”

“And make that Erosion Swamp trying to escape stop running.”

“???”

Isn’t this request a bit much?

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