Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 15: High Quality Materials
“See that? You can’t control it.” From afar, seeing Shu Jun struggling with the Erosion Swamp, even though Zhu Yanchen was pointing a gun at him, Lao Wei smiled, particularly pleased.
He craned his neck and looked into the distance, causing the twisted flesh on his face to squeeze together. “Kid, people with some status won’t come here. Why struggle so hard? Why not just surrender your weapons and talk things over?”
Zhu Yanchen stood like a statue, not responding to Lao Wei or showing any signs of putting away his gun.
Most people had gathered around Shu Jun, but there was also a small group of villagers with knives and guns who surrounded Zhu Yanchen. Even if they were sick, their numbers couldn’t be underestimated.
Compared to Shu Jun, who looked less human, Zhu Yanchen seemed like an easier target to control. At first, when Lao Wei saw the Erosion Swamp being caught by the net, he became a bit panicked, but now he had regained his composure. Seeing that things weren’t going well for Shu Jun, Lao Wei turned his head and looked at Zhu Yanchen, who was standing behind him.
Suddenly, he couldn’t help but shiver.
To be honest, Lao Wei hadn’t paid much attention to this person before. Shu Jun’s appearance was striking, and his looks were quite pleasing; coupled with his leadership qualities, it easily diverted other people’s attention. In contrast, this young man, with his tightly wrapped face, seemed a bit dull.
Apart from giving some technical explanations, this young man didn’t say much. Lao Wei had paid special attention to the fact that this person’s communication with Shu Jun was quite ordinary, and he didn’t seem like a person of any great status. Shu Jun was probably brought in by some big shot from the city, and this person was just a technician who had undergone some combat training.
That being said, these days, even a cook who dared to come to the erosion zone couldn’t be underestimated. Although this person’s combat power was astonishing, it wasn’t worth making a fuss over. As long as they took care of Shu Jun first, they could deal with this person as they pleased.
Now seeing the eyes behind the goggles, Lao Wei suddenly realized the problem. He had made a terrible mistake—this person was definitely not a technician.
Those eyes weren’t cold or murderous, nor did they show any pity or disgust. There was only a gray, lifeless feeling. Even though the three of them had been together earlier, this person’s gaze was quite normal at the time.
…Which wasn’t normal. Ordinary people would be afraid now, and those who had some courage would be cautious. In any case, he should be showing some emotion.
Lao Wei had a strange feeling—although this statement might be strange—that he was being stared at by a dead person.
“You’ve been feeding it corpses and erosion substance all along, and now it’s almost fully grown,” Zhu Yanchen said calmly. “If you don’t deal with it, it will eat all of you. It’s not too late to stop your people now.”
His voice was neither too loud nor too soft—just enough for the villagers crowded around him to hear.
“I—I…” Lao Wei stuttered, intimidated by Zhu Yanchen’s gaze. “I don’t believe you… Don’t listen to him! Can you prove it? You have no evidence. You just want to trick us and take away the Erosion Swamp…”
The villagers murmured for a moment, but no one put down their weapons.
“Evidence!”
“Yeah, where’s the evidence?”
“The people who were restored by the Erosion Swamp—have they said anything other than what you call it? Have they appeared any other time than when you ‘feed’ it?”
“But that doesn’t prove anything. This is our research!” Lao Wei shouted. “We’ve been working on this for years without any problems. You’re just spouting off and we have to just believe you?”
Lao Wei didn’t want to think about what those sentences meant. He had to believe in his own guess. He could only believe in his own guess.
“Kill him!” Lao Wei added. “The one over there, we’ll deal with him separately—”
“But you said before—”
“They don’t seem to know each other well. Listen to me! Don’t worry about me. Just throw my body into that Erosion Swamp—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence this time. Amidst the suspicion and anger, Lao Wei heard a sigh.
Zhu Yanchen fired his gun. He didn’t kill Lao Wei, but aimed at a spot that would cause extreme pain but not death. Lao Wei let out a scream, fell to the ground, and his blood slowly seeped into the mud.
“I’ve explained what I need to explain,” Zhu Yanchen said in a hard tone, not stopping his movements. When Lao Wei screamed and fell to the ground, the villagers instinctively went to check on him. Those who had knives were fine, but those who had guns all had their hands shot by Zhu Yanchen.
The villagers’ encirclement tightened, and blood splattered from the shots. The sick villagers weren’t as well-trained as the army and instantly began howling and everything delved into chaos. Some of the nimble ones still didn’t give up and tried to continue attacking Zhu Yanchen, but he didn’t hold back and didn’t hesitate to shoot.
People quickly discovered the pattern. Except for Lao Wei, who was lying on the ground screaming, everyone else was first hit in the hand, then shot in the same arm, and finally shot in the shoulder. There was not even a hair’s breadth difference in the location.
After three bloody warnings, no one wanted to know where the fourth one would hit. It was as if this person had eyes on the back of his head, and they couldn’t find any blind spots.
Smelling blood, more than ten mutant beasts that crowded forward gradually became excited. Perhaps because the Erosion Swamp was busy dealing with Shu Jun, they began to bare their fangs to the villagers around them—the one they surrounded wasn’t going to take their lives, but these creatures wouldn’t hesitate. Many villagers had to shift their targets, and the scene became chaotic.
Zhu Yanchen shot a few mutant beasts, picked up his briefcase, squeezed into the chaotic crowd, and swiftly headed in Shu Jun’s direction.
The situation on the other side didn’t look good. Zhu Yanchen tightened his grip on his gun. If necessary, no matter how high the concentration of erosion was, he had to intervene.
On the other side, Shu Jun’s situation didn’t look good at all.
He was surrounded by layers of people who gathered around the Erosion Swamp. He seemed unsure of what to do and could only mechanically pull or swing away the people on the outer circle, not being able to reach the inner circle where the Erosion Swamp was hiding. During the process of close contact, his left arm was also slashed a few times, and blood dripped into a small puddle nearby, turning the water from gray to black.
He seemed to be losing his will to fight. His movements became slower, and his breathing became heavier. Sensing his slowing movements, a black arm quietly stretched out from between the people and reached towards the tempting pool of blood.
With enough water, scattered tempting erosion substances, and a weak opponent, the Erosion Swamp was hooked.
Shu Jun cocked his mouth and suddenly accelerated his movements.
He snatched a knife from a villager beside him, and a strong gust of wind suddenly blew him like a cannonball towards that hand. The hand had not had time to retract and was grabbed by Shu Jun.
Then he twisted his body in midair, stepped on the outermost layer of the human wall with all his strength, and pushed hard.
Perhaps because she was surrounded by the human wall, the mother holding the child didn’t hold on as tightly as before. Shu Jun’s movements were too fast, and his strength was too strong, so she didn’t have time to react, and the childlike Erosion Swamp was pulled out by Shu Jun.
Amid the woman’s screams, Shu Jun swung his knife, trying to chop off the Erosion Swamp while taking advantage of the momentum. In this state, as long as he found the part with the brain, he could weaken the Erosion Swamp greatly by throwing the other half far away and preventing it from re-forming into a human shape.
The plan was beautiful, but reality was cruel.
The part of the Erosion Swamp about to be chopped off wriggled for a moment and suddenly squeezed out a large amount of water. Shu Jun swung his knife with all his might, and the blade made a clanging sound before it broke into two pieces, which continued to emit a sizzling sound of being eroded. Shu Jun clicked his tongue, and, while it had not completely squeezed out the water, his hand reached into the soft area behind it.
If the previous times were like stirring cement, this time he felt like he had put his hand into a pile of sand, and it was quite difficult to move. Fortunately, he remembered the location of the brain, and the Erosion Swamp was so viscous that the brain itself couldn’t move too fast.
The Erosion Swamp’s brain was located at the ends of several soft tendons, about the size of an egg, and was soft and flabby.
As soon as he grabbed the brain, the Erosion Swamp lost its human form and became a piece of charcoal-like thing, hanging stiffly on Shu Jun’s hand. This thing was now pretending to be dead, and Shu Jun found it funny.
As long as he squeezed it, he could destroy the brain of this thing. However…
Shu Jun shook off the weight on his hand, and a slightly crazy idea popped into his head. Instead of fighting, he turned around and ran, leaving the frenzied villagers behind.
Then he almost ran into Zhu Yanchen, who was coming towards him.
“A’Yan?” With the heavy object in his hand, Shu Jun found it a bit hard to brake.
Zhu Yanchen glanced at the Erosion Swamp hanging from Shu Jun’s arm, then looked at him. The deadness in his eyes was gone, replaced by a hint of confusion. However, before he could finish sizing up Shu Jun, Shu Jun had wrapped his arm around his waist and lifted him up into the air.
“Let’s run first.” Shu Jun chuckled. “I have an interesting idea.”
“Your last idea for the championship was also interesting. Please remember the outcome.” Zhu Yanchen’s tone was unusually gloomy. He noticed Shu Jun’s left arm was still bleeding.
“…That’s different. It’s just a flesh wound. Besides, you gave me the inspiration for this idea. How’s your arm?”
“Please don’t change the subject. You didn’t follow the plan at all. Why did you spare it?”
“It’s just a sample to study.”
“I’m not joking with you.” Zhu Yanchen’s voice sounded helpless.
“To be honest, I want to talk to you more formally about this, as it involves the issue of trust between us, if there is such a thing.”
Zhu Yanchen remained silent.
Seeing the other person fall into silence, Shu Jun smiled and continued on his own, “I’ve never seen any other Erosion Swamp spray water concentrate like this before. It’s because it has a little bit of brains that it has this ability, right?”
“Yes, but there are also special circumstances. For example, you have a brain, but you can’t do it.”
“…Sometimes you don’t have to be so serious.” Shu Jun thought for a few seconds, not sure if the other person was being sarcastic or not, so he simply gave up. “Anyway, I have an idea because of this, and I need your help.”
“……”
“I don’t think you have any plans to return to the city anytime soon. If you’re going to keep wandering around the erosion zone, for the sake of our safety, I need a weapon.”
Shu Jun glanced at the Erosion Swamp that was stiff and dead in his hand.
“I need a sword. A sword that can cut through other Erosion Swamps.”
Author’s note:
Shu Jun: Waste utilization.jpg
The Marshal is really tired (?
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