For the remaining time, Shu Jun was a bit distracted. If it weren’t for Zhu Yanchen pulling him in time, he would have almost crashed into the wreckage of a billboard in front of him. Fortunately, Yu Jin was concentrating on searching for traces of the mutant beast and didn’t notice anything unusual.
The mutant beast wasn’t far from the three of them. When Shu Jun saw it, it was busy gnawing on the corpse of another mutant beast.
The thing was about the size of an elephant with a soft neck collar, making it look like a money bag with four legs. When it sensed someone approaching, it stopped eating and looked around warily.
Shu Jun took the initiative to go to the front of the team.
Yu Jin was a good companion, and Shu Jun didn’t want him to get hurt. On the other hand, he wanted to end this test early—this was probably the hundredth time he had glanced at Zhu Yanchen’s mask.
The facial features of the boy in his memory had a shadow of Zhu Yanchen. If the official information was correct, Zhu Yanchen was one year older than him, and their ages matched up. Seeing him once could be an accident, but now that Shu Jun had remembered it in a sober state, he couldn’t let this clue slip by.
“I’ll take a picture,” Shu Jun said to Yu Jin, who was thinking about tactics.
“No. You heard what those people said. This guy is dangerous. We need to set up a camera fishing rod and mix in some rotten meat…”
“I’ll disguise my scent. I hunted like this with A’Yan before.” Shu Jun didn’t joke around anymore, and his demeanor suddenly became fierce. “I’ll show you. Even if I fail, it won’t implicate you.”
Yu Jin was straightforward and didn’t hesitate at this point. He wiped the mud off his hands and said, “Alright, let’s see it.”
He watched as Shu Jun walked towards the mutant beast with light and agile steps. The mutant beast had its back to Shu Jun, and there was no sign of movement, as if the person behind it was a mass of air.
“Oh, it really can’t detect him?” He turned to Zhu Yanchen. “Your buddy didn’t put on anything that could cover his scent. How is he doing it?”
Zhu Yanchen suspected that the mutant beast was just scared out of its wits. After all, Shu Jun was accompanied by two Erosion Swamps. Even if Shu Jun wasn’t familiar with how to command them, Monday was.
At the moment, he could only make up some nonsense for Shu Jun. “His physique is special, giving him a faint scent.”
He couldn’t bring up the remedy again as it was already exaggerated enough that the two of them had “remedies” against corrosion—drawing too much attention would only cause trouble.
Dozens of steps away, Shu Jun sneaked up behind the mutant beast, snapping away with his camera. The mutant beast remained motionless throughout, not daring to move. Afterwards, Shu Jun made an OK gesture towards the two men, then “carefully” backed away.
Just as he returned to the team, the mutant beast began to move—it coughed wildly for a while, obviously choking on the food in its mouth.
“What a great move.” Yu Jin patted Shu Jun’s back. “Awesome, you can have my camera. After we pass the assessment, I’ll treat you guys to a meal at Longevity.”
Except for the small incident where the woman was cheated, the entire test went exceptionally smoothly. Seeing that the team leader was Yu Jin, the military didn’t raise any doubts and gave the three of them the number display device that represented passing—people in the settlement wore masks most of the time, and even if they didn’t, their appearance may change due to lesions within a few days. Previously, there had been incidents of imposters on a mission, so it was better to seal the deal after the assessment was over.
Shu Jun recognized this device, which was like an NPC’s name tag and would only activate after the mission officially started. He extended his wrist and let the staff fasten the last button. Now he was wearing the specially made monitoring device by Zhu Yanchen on one hand and the official display device on the other, which was symmetrically placed on left and right wrists, like a prisoner who had just escaped from jail.
“Gray Claw, you just need to add a chain and you’ll be all set, just like an old-fashioned shackle.”
Having easily passed the test, Yu Jin was in a great mood. He didn’t go home and directly took the two of them to the Longevity Tavern for dinner, ordering a table full of dishes. “It’s a pity that this time we only needed to take pictures and didn’t get to see Brother Smoke’s skills. What a shame.”
After taking a few bites of meat, Yu Jin downed half a bottle of wine and let out a deep sigh.
“It’s the first time I’ve led such an easy team, and it’s the first time I’ve basked in someone else’s glory. If you two plan to stay here, do you want to hang out… Bah, or want to be friends? Most people here will give me face, so you can get around easily.”
Shu Jun smiled. “We were counting on you to say that. Jin Ge, your name is quite interesting. Does it refer to tulips?”
When he said this, Yu Jin’s movements stopped in their tracks, and his smile faded. “Yeah, my mom likes that kind of flower… It’s strange how I keep thinking about the past today.”
“The past?” Shu Jun asked, leading the conversation.
Zhu Yanchen looked at Shu Jun, and his pace of picking up food slowed down. Shu Jun had his usual half mask, with only his chin visible, and his smile was quite sincere.
“Well, I often take NPC quests. It’s not a big deal, just that I don’t like the system. Today, when that incident with the woman happened and I saw that you guys were ready to take action, I felt like we would get along pretty well… What do you guys think?”
“We were doing odd jobs in the city before, and it was our first time in this line of work, so we were waiting for you to speak,” Shu Jun said with a smile.
“Yes.” Zhu Yanchen also spoke up. “I’m curious about your opinion too.”
Shu Jun looked at him quite unexpectedly.
“Normally, the city folks don’t care much. They only know the general idea and rarely see many players in normal times, so what do they know? Anyway, when the high ups are looking for guides, they tend to select from us, a bunch of vagrants.”
Talking about this topic, Yu Jin’s face darkened.
“Actually, I didn’t care before. I thought it was nothing major. They said it’s a technological product—the most advanced synthetic human, which sounded a lot like ‘the most advanced purifier’. My family was in the city before, and we only knew that the system was running normally, and our friends who were drafted didn’t have to suffer in the erosion zone—after all, if they forced you to go there, it’s not the same as going to the erosion zone to make a living on your own.”
“But you still went,” Shu Jun said.
Zhu Yanchen stopped eating, as if he had a hidden meaning behind his action. To prevent the situation from becoming awkward, Shu Jun picked up a bunch of meat and put it in Zhu Yanchen’s bowl. Zhu Yanchen paused for a moment, then started silently chewing on the stir-fried shredded pork.
“Even in an era of peace, jobs are limited, and people still have to earn a living. So, my family left the city to do business near a stronghold. Once, I got lost and my parents went to ask for help from the people at the stronghold. Usually, ordinary citizens who enter the erosion zone aren’t rescued, but at that time there happened to be a team of players who were practicing, so they made me into a target NPC.”
Yu Jin sounded quite emotional as he spoke.
“Then I thought—how should I put it—the higher-ups say that ‘players’ aren’t really humans. They’re just made to look like humans. But I looked carefully, and I didn’t really see much of a difference… Anyway, the point is, I was saved by synths. Humans aren’t beasts, so at least I should remember their kindness.”
‘No wonder he didn’t take the fixed NPC position,’ Shu Jun thought as he took a sip of his drink. If he became a fixed NPC, the pay would be good, but Yu Jin wouldn’t be able to choose NPC tasks based on his own will and would have to follow the official script.
The incident from back then did happen. That “thank you” from the chubby child seemed genuine now.
Shu Jun felt a little relieved.
“Have you told anyone else?” As the conversation deepened, Shu Jun was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to control his expression, so he grabbed a piece of chili pepper and chewed on it, causing his ears to turn red.
“I’ve definitely told others. I’m telling you two now, aren’t I? The problem is, even if I tell them, it’s useless. I remember someone else making a fuss before, but the higher-ups shut it down with one sentence: ‘Anyone who thinks this is inhumane can take the place of the synths.’ Normal humans can’t handle that kind of work for even a month, so who dares to make a fuss?”
“Moreover, only a few people actually make a fuss. Most people are busy trying to make a living and don’t care whether synthetic people are round or flat, and those are just ordinary folks. What about the higher-ups? They have all the resources in their hands and are focused on pulling votes and promoting development. Ordinary folks don’t care, so who’s going to waste their effort on this thankless task?”
Yu Jin became more and more depressed as he spoke.
“I’m just a small fry. I can’t make a difference. Instead of trying to make a splash, I might as well help them find a safer way. Oh, I was a little rude to you guys at first. Don’t take it to heart. I really value this job.”
“Of course.” Shu Jun raised his glass. “Here’s to a successful mission—cheers!”
After opening up, Yu Jin dragged the two of them to drink until late into the night. Shu Jun had been a veteran soldier for ten years and had plenty of combat topics to discuss. As Yu Jin drank happily, he almost wanted to become sworn brothers with Shu Jun on the spot.
Zhu Yanchen also drank, and through his goggles, his dark eyes were bottomless. Shu Jun could now read the expectation in his gaze, and he didn’t plan to avoid the issue.
As soon as the two of them returned to their hotel room, Shu Jun pulled down his face mask and stood in front of Zhu Yanchen, watching Marshal Zhu take off his mask with burning eyes. Under the influence of alcohol, Zhu Yanchen’s originally pale cheeks became slightly flushed, and the aura that kept people at a distance dissipated somewhat.
“I didn’t expect that the Grand Marshal was quite shy when he was a child.” Shu Jun got straight to the point. “Have we met before?”
Yu Jin provided a lot of information, indirectly confirming his memory. The sudden surge of memories wasn’t an illusion; it had really happened. If that child was indeed Zhu Yanchen, then the dream from that night was also a genuine memory, making things quite interesting.
Zhu Yanchen slowly placed his face mask on the table and didn’t deny it. “How much do you remember?”
“It seems we really know each other.” Shu Jun straightened his collar. “Are you the NPC who rushed out to help Xiao Yu during the mission to find Yu Jin?”
“Mm.”
“And you were the one who got lost in the virtual city in the middle of the night?”
“…Mm.”
“That’s all I remember.”
Zhu Yanchen’s eyes dimmed a bit.
Shu Jun was originally in a good mood after meeting Yu Jin, a normal old friend, who unexpectedly retrieved his memories. However, just as they started chatting, his heart began to sink into his stomach.
It was normal for people to forget the trivial matters of their childhood. However, Zhu Yanchen’s statement of “how much do you remember” was indeed strange. If Zhu Yanchen was absent from his past, the situation would be intriguing.
Shu Jun wiped his face with a damp towel, and the alcohol-induced haze in his mind dissipated somewhat. “It’s interesting. How was our relationship back then?”
“Very good,” Zhu Yanchen said.
As if he was afraid that Shu Jun would misunderstand his politeness, Marshal Shu added very solemnly, “Especially good.”
Shu Jun: “…” It was hard for him to imagine who Zhu Yanchen would have an “excellent relationship” with, let alone what he did when he was a child.
“Your memories can’t be fully restored in theory, but your physical condition has changed somewhat. The situation seems less absolute now. I can’t give you a comprehensive examination now, but this mission is an opportunity. There is a place in the city with relatively complete equipment. When the time comes…”
Zhu Yanchen, who rarely smiled, curled his lips slightly. “…I will introduce Ai Xiaoxiao to you personally.”
This was roughly what he guessed. Shu Jun raised his eyebrows—although he didn’t know how Zhu Yanchen got to “the other side”, based on the results, he, a synthetic human, became friends with the young master of the Zhu family. If the Zhu family found out about this, they were being polite by not getting rid of him.
Taking a step back, since humans could extract the truth from his mind, it wouldn’t be difficult to also extract Zhu Yanchen’s either. Their relationship had improved a lot now, so Zhu Yanchen had no reason to lie about this.
“Sure, I’ll definitely cooperate.” Shu Jun replied sincerely. “I really want to remember, especially how you went from that—”
He gestured to the height of a child in his memory.
“—to this.” He gestured again to Zhu Yanchen’s current height.
Zhu Yanchen: “…” The corners of his mouth returned to normal, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
To be honest, Shu Jun didn’t have much of a real feeling, with only two fragments in his mind. Knowing that Zhu Yanchen was his friend from the past, rather than an enemy or creditor, was enough at this stage. Their situation wouldn’t improve because of this, but compared to the tense reality, this was a good addition.
At least this could explain many things.
Shu Jun thought absent-mindedly as he took off his shirt.
At first, Zhu Yanchen was cold and distant towards him, but he became inexplicably close after his body recovered. Now, there was a reasonable explanation for that.
Since there was a successful case before, Marshal Zhu was afraid that they would become friends again before dying tragically and give unnecessary stimulation to this dangerous person. The subsequent ambiguous behavior was easier to analyze—they were originally friends, and those were probably just habits from their previous interaction.
Going back further, when “Smoke” took the initiative to talk to him, it might also have been an influence from the past.
Shu Jun had solved several daily mysteries, but he found that his emotions were even worse now—
Well, the evidence was conclusive. Zhu Yanchen subconsciously treated him like a brother. All of their previous interactions were just closeness between good friends. In the end, it was all because of that romantic seed that Shu Jun had sown, that he should have uprooted it long ago.
Shu Jun felt a little inexplicably blocked.
‘Don’t think about it,’ he warned himself seriously. He would just deal with Zhu Yanchen appropriately in the future. Maybe when all the dust settled, and he remembered everything, he could joke to this Grand Marshal—”Did you know that when we hadn’t met yet, I had a little crush on you.”
Then they could laugh together. What a nice picture that would be.
…But he felt even more blocked.
Zhu Yanchen’s ex-girlfriend, Miss Xia, was a beautiful and lovely young lady with a naive personality, which most definitely appealed to the straight male taste.
The human heart was strange. The more one tried not to think about something, the more the brain slid in that direction. Shu Jun simply threw his coat off and went into the bathroom. The cold water helped him calm down.
Meanwhile, Zhu Yanchen paced around the tea table in the room, unable to pour cold water over his head.
Shu Jun’s memories gradually began to resurface. From a cooperative perspective as well as a personal expectation, his wishes had been fulfilled. When Shu Jun remembered everything, their trust would become deeper, and their future plans could be implemented more smoothly.
But it’s not enough.
Zhu Yanchen thought blankly.
Not enough. Far from enough.
The author has something to say:
Shu Jun: Oh, so we’re bros. That’s fine. (disappointed)
Marshal Zhu: Aren’t we bros? What’s wrong with me? (disappointed)
They didn’t spend too much time on buying weapons—it was just for show, so they didn’t need to be too picky. The greatsword Monday was uniquely styled, while Marshal Zhu’s weapon was too advanced to be used directly, so they had to make do with something else.
Seeing that they were efficient, Uncle Xiong simply waited outside the store. After shopping, the three of them headed straight to Yu Jin’s residence.
Given how proactive Zhu Yanchen was and knowing the jargon of the settlement, Shu Jun subconsciously assumed that there was some connection between Yu Jin and Zhu Yanchen. But when they met the real person, he wasn’t so sure.
In appearance, Yu Jin and Zhu Yanchen were completely different people.
Yu Jin was slightly shorter than Shu Jun but had an unusually sturdy body, easily one and a half times Shu Jun’s width. His protective suit made of mutant beast skin was covered in bright patterns, and was bulging. Judging from his physique, there weren’t many signs of deformity.
He had a crew cut and his hair was dyed an eye-catching golden color. The skin around his left eye was flat indicating there was no eyeball. It was clear that Yu Jin cared about this defect, as he had tattooed the left half of his eye with patterns to make up for it. Unfortunately, the settlement’s tattooing skills weren’t that great. With the real eye and the fake eye so close together, there was a stiff and terrifying feeling, as if the left half of his face was made of paper.
There were four purifiers in the room and Yu Jin didn’t wear a mask. As the three of them entered, he was using his teeth to tear apart a braised chicken leg.
“Lao Xiong.” He lifted his greasy hand and greeted Uncle Xiong. “And who are these two?”
“Guests of my brother’s. They can outrun a Corpse Parasite. They’re interested in this NPC mission. Your last partner was quite useless. I’m introducing two reliable ones.” Uncle Xiong got straight to the point.
It seemed that both sides were trading favors, but Uncle Xiong didn’t dismiss them during their conversation, which could be considered fair dealing. Shu Jun shifted his gaze from Yu Jin and turned to Zhu Yanchen, who had returned to his usual statue-like state, showing no signs of recognition of an old acquaintance.
“The last guy could also outrun a Corpse Parasite, but when it came to the mission, that coward could do nothing but run. When he saw a dangerous mutant beast, he ran faster than a thief. ” Yu Jin spat out the hard bone and looked the two of them over. “These two are different. At least they have a good physique..”
Uncle Xiong was a master at sales and struck while the iron was hot. “Exactly. Hasn’t Lao Xu just received a large shipment of good skins today? My brother sold them, and these two brothers hunted them.”
Yu Jin finished the chicken leg and smiled wryly. “I don’t like to work with newbies, but since they’re friends of Pan Ge, I’ll give them face. Let me make it clear, those skins better not be stolen—when the time comes and you ruin the mission, I’ll shoot you both first.”
Then he turned to Uncle Xiong without any hesitation. “If they’re really reliable, I’ll give you an introduction fee when we’re done.”
“Hey, you’re really straightforward.” Uncle Xiong smiled widely as everything was settled.
If they were really new recruits, it could be considered finding a big thigh to hug, so it was hard to say anything. But in fact, they weren’t new recruits, which was even better—they had originally planned to pass the test while also disguising themselves. With an experienced teammate to draw attention, it was much easier to deceive.
Shu Jun looked at Yu Jin intentionally, and the vague familiarity grew stronger. But this person’s appearance was too flashy; if he had seen such an NPC before, he wouldn’t fail to have an impression.
How strange.
Until the test officially began, Shu Jun still couldn’t figure out where the familiarity came from.
The testing site was a wasteland right next to the settlement, with the remains of a small town that had been there for hundreds of years. The towering billboards were buried deep in the ground, with only the top edges visible. The electric wires on the poles were tangled together, clinging to the mud, like hair stuck to bathroom tiles. The exposed parts of the buildings were scattered about, with only some dilapidated walls leaning in various directions.
Most of the people were grouped into teams of three, with a few confused individuals wandering alone.
There weren’t many military personnel present, and they had set up a small tent against the wall. The test itself wasn’t complicated. The military released a high-level mutant beast, and each person was given a recording device. The more detailed the footage captured and the less injured they were, the higher the evaluation they would receive.
“Don’t even think about attacking. This test subject is quite brutal.” The invigilator’s expression was serious. “We’ve placed military purifiers nearby, and if necessary, we’ll escape back to base. As for whether you can make it back… You all should have signed a waiver. Since there are other mutant beasts nearby, we have put a fluorescent collar on the test subject’s neck, making it easy to identify. The test will last five hours, and you have to prepare your own weapons—the test starts now!”
People scattered around, but Yu Jin didn’t rush to run. He crouched down and began looking at the footprints on the ground.
“I’ll track it. You two handle the troublesome beasts. Can you do it?”
Shu Jun responded and drew out a makeshift greatsword. Zhu Yanchen looked in the direction of the military tent for a while before taking out his gun a few seconds later. Shu Jun skillfully swung the sword around, but the more he swung, the more he felt that the sword was awkward in his hands. He flipped the sword over and found that there was a large area of severe erosion on the back, which looked new and somewhat familiar.
Shu Jun poked at Monday, who was wrapped tightly in cloth. It was always together with his greatsword which he always carried on his back.
Monday sensed the tapping and lowered its voice, using a hissing sound. “Pfft…!”
Shu Jun: “…” It was clear that this thing was doing it on purpose.
Well, he could still make do with it. Shu Jun kept a straight face and turned the erosion part towards himself. With Yu Jin’s experienced nose, they didn’t encounter many dangerous mutant beasts along the way.
Shu Jun had thought that they could easily pass this small test, but as soon as they entered deep into the small town, things went wrong.
“Give it back to me!” A female voice screamed from not far away. “I took that shot!”
A woman leaned against a rusty billboard, covered in blood. Two men stood in front of her, with one holding a blood-stained recording device. All three were dressed similarly, clearly part of the same team.
“You’re already so injured, so you’re just dragging us down,” the man holding the device sneered. “What could we do?”
“Bullshit! You didn’t offer me any support at all!” The woman coughed up a mouthful of blood, gritting her teeth. “If we had stuck to the plan, I wouldn’t have… cough.” She broke off, clearly in pain. “We agreed on this before we started.”
“Look, you have to understand that if we get injured, our score will go down.” The other man sang with a red face*. “At least we didn’t just leave you to the beast, did we? How about this. If we all make it, we’ll give you 3% of our compensation.”
*One sings with a red face, the other with a white face (一个唱红脸一个唱白脸). Idiom referring to one person acting as the “bad guy” while the other acts as the “good guy” or the mediators (aka good cop, bad cop). || In this context, he’s acting as the “good cop”.
“Don’t waste your breath. Just find someone else to group up with. We just got our hands on one, and we still have to take more pictures.”
“Give it back to me!” The woman grabbed one of the men’s ankles and pulled him back, clearly desperate.
“What the fuck? Are you still not done?”
The man was about to kick her when both Shu Jun and Zhu Yanchen got ready to fight. However, someone else was quicker than them—Yu Jin was closest to the woman and grabbed a large stone, accurately hitting the man’s chest. The man stumbled back two steps and fell into the mud.
“I was just thinking, why are there so many useless NPCs in these missions lately, and now I know why.” Yu Jin snatched the recording device from the man’s hand and tossed it to the still-dazed woman. “To risk your life for a good score—even a pig would laugh at that.”
Then he sneered and kicked the man a couple more times. Seeing Yu Jin approach, the red-faced man had already disappeared without a trace.
“Sorry about that. I can’t stand this kind of bullshit.” Seeing that both Shu Jun and Zhu Yanchen were about to take action, Yu Jin’s attitude softened. “Let’s continue—continue… Gray Claw, what’s wrong?”
Shu Jun stood still. His vague memory gradually became clearer. Along with a slight headache, some images floated up from the depths of his mind.
[Are you Yu Jin? That’s a really interesting name. Does it refer to tulips*?]
*Clarity: Yu Jin’s name is (郁金) which is the first two characters of tulips (郁金香).
Before his eleventh birthday, he had gone on his first field mission. The mission was located near a stronghold, and the content was quite simple.
The mission required them to search for a boy who was lost on the edge of the erosion zone. They quickly found their target—a chubby boy covered in black mud, who only had a right eye. When they came to rescue him, he covered his left eye with his chubby hand, looking very resistant.
And so the above conversation took place.
Children were always innocent. Shu Jun brought the conversation back to the target’s name, and the team members began to chat about this interesting name, ignoring the nonexistent left eye. The chubby boy looked at himself for a moment, stood up obediently, and limped along with them.
This was just the most basic training mission, not even lasting two hours.
However, there was a problem on the return trip.
There was a clever little girl on the team who was a bit younger than the other members—just nine years old. Perhaps because her resistance to erosion was relatively low, her whole face had turned pale so she hurried back to the base. By now, they were quite close to the stronghold, and there would be no more mutant beasts nearby. After thinking for a moment, Shu Jun agreed to let her walk ahead.
Then she was attacked.
The attackers weren’t mutant beasts, but three kids around their own age—two boys and a girl. They were hiding behind a rock and had shot her with a small gun. Then they gathered around her as they fired several more shots, not aiming for her vitals, and let her struggle on the ground as if torturing a kitten.
The little girl was wearing protective gear, so the bullets didn’t penetrate her body. However, the impact was still quite scary, and she struggled in pain and couldn’t get up.
Shu Jun, who was far away, was unaware and didn’t arrive in time. But the girl later clearly recounted what those kids had said.
[You see, this girl is numbered K-786. The number is already up to K! Her ability must not be very good.]
[Are you sure nothing will happen?]
[Well, she’s young, so she won’t waste too many resources. They… Oh, no, I can’t say that. Anyway, if something happens, my family can afford it.]
[Wow, it’s the first time I’ve seen one.]
[You see, it’s not that big a deal up close. Even a girl like you dared to come out yet that loser from the Zhu family was against it. Speaking of which, where did he go? My mom asked me to take care of him for a bit, and if he gets into trouble, I’ll get scolded…]
[Didn’t you snatch his protective mask? He can only stay at the stronghold. Nothing will happen to him.]
[He’s such a wimp. He gets scared even when we’re talking about hunting. No wonder the leader doesn’t like him. I’m telling you. He’s the type of wimp who wouldn’t even step on an ant. Oh, do you want to try hitting its neck? I’ve heard that it might kill it.] The boy handed the gun to another boy.
[Huh? But, but it really looks like…]
[Looks “like” doesn’t mean it “is”. You said you could afford it, so let’s test it out. Then you can tell people about it. How cool is that?]
[Who pushed me?!]
When the sound of gunshots reached him, Shu Jun rushed over and saw the scene from afar—
Three children stood near the struggling girl, and a fourth child staggered towards them, pushing the others aside to help the girl up. He wore a full-face hood that clearly didn’t fit, with the seal not even properly closed, indicating that he had rushed over in a hurry.
The child didn’t have a number, so he should also be a member of the NPC. He awkwardly comforted the little girl, then put her arm on his shoulder, and walked towards the direction where Shu Jun was.
Shu Jun was too far away to hear the child’s voice, but he could hear the angry shouting of the boy with the gun.
[You told my parents? You traitor who tattles! Scumbag! Garbage! Are you even a man?!]
The boy threw the gun to the ground and picked up a stone, then started to hit the back of the hooded boy. The hooded boy was also wearing protective clothing, so these stones couldn’t hurt him, but he had to support the girl while also dealing with the heavy hood, so his balance was unstable. After taking a few hits on his back, the hooded boy fell to the ground.
[This is your own fault!] The boy with the gun yelled, clutching the stone tightly and preparing to throw it again.
Seeing that he was still some distance away, Shu Jun immediately fired his gun. At that time, they were still too young, and they didn’t have customized weapons—only a small self-defense pistol that was uniformly distributed. The bullet had little power, but it was enough to hit the stone accurately and send it flying. The boy with the gun’s hand was shaking with blood, and he screamed and ran away. The other two children followed him, and they ran away together.
The hooded boy was still lying in the mud, unable to get up.
Shu Jun walked over quickly and checked the injuries of the two people. His teammate was hit by the impact of the bullet and had a rib injury, but other than being a little frightened, there was no major harm. The hooded boy twisted his foot and couldn’t stand up.
[Go find a stretcher. She should lie down. I’ll carry this one.] Shu Jun pointed to the boy lying on the ground.
The hooded boy clutched his hood tightly, trying to stand up. But after a few tries, he just cried in pain. As he couldn’t successfully get up, he had to let Shu Jun carry him.
[Write this down in the report when you go back. We are not supposed to encounter random events until we are 13 years old. There was a problem with this mission arrangement.] Shu Jun calmly gave instructions. [You go first and take Xiao Yu back. She isn’t used to being outside.]
Yu Jin blinked his only right eye vigorously and walked to the girl’s stretcher while mumbling incoherently. [We, um, I… I should say thank you… um…]
He stammered for a while, but in the end, he got stuck and watched the stretcher being carried away.
[Does it still hurt?] Shu Jun felt the arm around his neck tighten and turned his head. [If it hurts, just say so.]
[……] The hooded boy suppressed his rapid breathing and remained silent.
It seemed like he wasn’t much of a talker. Shu Jun adjusted his posture so that the person behind him would be more comfortable. [It’s the first time I’ve encountered such an unexpected situation.]
[…But you did a good job.] The boy finally responded in a rather low voice. [I couldn’t even take her a few steps.]
[What are you talking about?] Shu Jun stopped in his tracks. [If you hadn’t bought us time, she would have been more seriously injured.]
[……] The boy remained silent.
[I’m not bragging. I’ve seen a lot of N… people in this world, and you’re the coolest person I’ve ever met!] Shu Jun said seriously. [Much cooler than those crazy guys. Have some confidence, okay?]
[……] The boy continued to remain silent.
They weren’t far from the stronghold and soon reached their destination. Several adult NPCs were waiting at the gate, likely to deal with the sudden incident. As they were about to enter, the boy tugged at Shu Jun’s clothes, indicating for him to put him down.
[Is someone coming to get you?] Shu Jun looked at the beautiful woman rushing over. [If someone is coming, then that’s fine. Be careful. I’ll put you down now.]
When the boy’s feet touched the ground, he let out a gasp. He swayed a bit and then leaned his head against Shu Jun’s body, causing the ill-fitting headgear to fall to the ground.
The boy was about the same age as Shu Jun, with handsome features and slightly long hair. He looked at Shu Jun with a nervous and cautious demeanor, as if not used to looking directly into someone’s eyes.
[Can I…] He glanced at the fallen headgear, struggling to speak. [Can I touch your gun?]
[Huh? Sure, go ahead.] Shu Jun generously took out his gun. The boy touched the gun through his gloves, with a complicated expression.
[Thank you.] He said softly after withdrawing his hand.
Shu Jun blinked. He had wanted to say a few more words, but the boy was immediately taken away by someone.
Compared to the farewells he made to his teammates one by one later on, this was a distant, small event. It was buried deep in his mind, as if it had never existed. However, for the present Shu Jun, it wasn’t just a simple memory.
He recognized that face.
On the day he defeated the Sweet Edge, he had seen that boy in that strange dream.
Luo Dan glanced at the empty vase without answering. Since he found out that Ai Xiaoxiao wasn’t his doctor, he closed his eyes and pretended to rest. Ai Xiaoxiao was too lazy to make fun of him, so she touched the wall a few more times, turned around, and left while humming a little tune.
As expected, just as the door closed, veins seeped out from the wall, and droplets of liquid fell once again.
“I…will…help…you…” Its voice was intermittent, like an old radio with poor reception.
The air became slightly sweet and pungent with pus, but Luo Duan didn’t respond to the invitation. He ignored it as if it were just a phantom. When the droplet saw that he wasn’t responding, it slowly retracted back into the ceiling, and the wall returned to its original state.
It didn’t leave and still lurked behind the wall as Luo Duan could still feel its breath. For the time being, it seemed that the thing didn’t intend to harm him, nor did it want to expose itself to people. Luo Duan decided to ignore it and see what it would do.
There was no such thing as a free lunch*, and even in his despair, he wouldn’t accept the support of a monster.
*Idiom referring to everything has a cost or trade-off, and nothing comes without effort or sacrifice.
Ai Xiaoxiao was unaware of what happened in the room. She left the ward in large strides and casually flipped through Luo Duan’s medical records.
All indicators were abnormal. This person’s body was on the verge of collapse. Some of his organs even showed signs of slight erosion. If Luo Duan failed to die on the battlefield in the next six months, he would only face even longer torment.
Ai Xiaoxiao chewed on her bubblegum and took out a tattered notebook to write down Luo Duan’s name and medical record number. When she arrived at her destination, she stuffed the notebook into her pocket before pushing open the door.
“Miss Ai.” The researcher inside the door nodded at her.
“Let’s get one thing straight, I won’t be here for too long.” Ai Xiaoxiao’s opening remarks were quite blunt. “I have a contract with Zhu Yanchen. When the time is up, I’ll leave… You guys will still be paid on time, right?”
The researcher’s expression twitched. “You don’t have to worry. Marshal Zhu has an account reserved.”
“Oh, good. Then let’s stick to what was agreed in the contract. After Zhu Yanchen’s death, I’ll be responsible for the maintenance of synthetic humans for a year. Even if the leader personally requests it, I won’t extend or shorten my working hours. The pay will be exactly what was agreed upon. You’re welcome to add a bonus to the remuneration, but there’s no way I’ll accept a deduction.”
Ai Xiaoxiao’s tone was quite indifferent. She counted on her fingers as she spoke.
“I won’t participate in your discussions, provide information about synthetic humans outside of my work scope, or accept treatment recommendations from the research institute. During this year, the relevant team must absolutely obey me, and I have the right to make personnel adjustments to my subordinates. That’s all. It’s all written in black and white. To prevent you from reneging, please sign in the ‘I Acknowledge’ section.”
The researcher took a deep breath as he felt a toothache. Despite Zhu Yanchen’s death there was still no peace—Dr. Ai’s greed and arrogance were well-known, yet Marshal Zhu had brought her on and thrust an aunt onto them.
If Zhu Yanchen were still alive, there would be room for negotiation. But with this contract, even Yi Ning couldn’t interfere. Ai Xiaoxiao was highly skilled and well-known in the civilian world. If she were forced out, not only would they offend the people, but the Zhu family wouldn’t let it go for fear of losing face.
Forget it. They had endured Zhu Yanchen for so many years, so enduring Ai Xiaoxiao wouldn’t be a problem.
“It’s not like it’s your money that was spent.” Ai Xiaoxiao saw the researcher hesitating and spoke up again. “Hurry up. I still have to clean up my new room.”
“Miss Ai, I’m a little curious. How did Marshal Zhu persuade you?”
The researcher quickly signed the contract and pushed it back. He couldn’t help but ask this question—Ai Xiaoxiao’s was notorious for her disobedience. The research institute had tried to hire her before, but they never even saw her shadow.
“Persuade?”
Ai Xiaoxiao stuffed the contract into her bag.
“I learned a lot from him, so this is considered a favor. You’ve worked with him for so long, yet you really haven’t noticed anything?… Tsk tsk, it seems that I was right not to join the research institute. I always felt that you guys had poor eyesight, but now it’s even worse than I imagined.”
With that, she left the researcher standing there, stunned, and walked straight out the door.
Researcher: “…”
He had heard that Ai Xiaoxiao was straightforward, but this sounded like she had a grudge against the research institute. Noticed anything about Zhu Yanchen? He thought of Marshal Zhu’s research reports that were off-topic and shook his head hard.
Forget it. Maybe Ai Xiaoxiao just didn’t like them, and her attitude problem wasn’t a big deal.
“Oh, and about your special ward.” Just a few steps out the door, Ai Xiaoxiao twisted back, and the researcher’s half-shaking head froze in mid-air. “It’s best to have someone test the concentration of erosion inside. The air in there doesn’t seem right.”
“We’ve installed military-grade purifiers at the entrance. An Erosion Swamp will never enter. It’s impossible to completely eliminate erosion as there’s a lot of erosion in the players’ bodies…”
“Testing won’t take much time, and I’m sure there’s a problem there.” She gritted her teeth. “If possible, please try to do it today—”
Her tone softened, as she had to use the word “please” for the first time, but unfortunately, the other party didn’t let her finish.
“That may have to wait until you take office and test it yourself. The special ward has an environmental test every month, and that’s the rule.” The researcher pulled out a polite smile. “Currently, you have no right to command us.”
Ai Xiaoxiao coldly shot a few glares and left with a flick of her sleeve.
Picking faults from the start and nitpicking about such trivial matters. He had at least gained a victory, and the researcher heaved a sigh of relief.
Ai Xiaoxiao arrived at her temporary residence and threw her bag onto the table. She had to admit that the quality of the room at the command center was quite good. The television in the room was also on, but unlike the special ward, her television was broadcasting a popular entertainment program.
It was Xia Liang’s tour. Xia Liang, the young miss of the Xia family, dressed elegantly and beautifully with exquisite makeup. She stood on the smoke-filled stage and sang soft, sentimental songs. Her voice was clear and pleasant, but unfortunately, Ai Xiaoxiao felt annoyed. She never liked young misses who were ignorant of the world, and even more so, she despised canaries that sang while treading on corpses*.
*Metaphor referring to someone who behaves in an insensitive or disrespectful manner, especially when it’s done in the context of someone’s misfortune or tragedy. || In this context, she showing her contempt that Xia Liang lives a comfortable life touring while ignorant of all the sacrifices and suffering from the people and “players”.
She turned off the TV aggressively.
Nothing was going smoothly.
Perhaps luck was such that it had its ups and downs. It was a great joy that Zhu Yanchen survived, but from then on—on the day the news of Zhu Yanchen’s death was released—she tried to contact Dong Lao, but he said that he could only meet her in at least a week.
There was no battle right now to command, so what was that old man doing?
As a result, Ai Xiaoxiao had to deal with the research institute first, which wasn’t a pleasant task. She detested it here to the bone and was too lazy to hide her emotions. She would definitely not have a good time here in the future. But…
Ai Xiaoxiao pulled out the contract and silently read the amount on it a few times, finally feeling a bit emotionally balanced.
It was almost time to meet Dong Lao, and she hoped that her luck would improve. After tidying up the room, Ai Xiaoxiao sat down on the bed. She fiddled with the cover of her notebook and began to ponder the possibility of secretly taking some equipment and inspecting the special ward.
Border settlement.
Shu Jun and Zhu Yanchen walked into the Longevity Tavern one after the other. Although it was called a tavern, it sold all kinds of things.
It was now breakfast time, and the tavern was bustling with people. Steaming baskets of buns and crispy fried dough sticks were displayed on wire racks. Small side dishes were neatly arranged on the table, with marinated meat soaked in thick sauce, filling the entire tavern with the fragrance of oil.
After selling the mutant beast skin and having some income, Shu Jun felt more carefree. He happily bought a lot of food and led Zhu Yanchen to a corner. However, they were still particularly eye-catching among the group of people, and the people didn’t even bother to hide their gazes.
One was a military leader and the other was a celebrity player so they had long been accustomed to this kind of scene. As usual, Zhu Yanchen pushed his mask down a bit and calmly drank his porridge. Shu Jun stretched out his claws and happily poked the bun skin.
Most people had a habit. If the person being observed avoided their gaze nervously, the observer’s interest would increase; but if the observed object remained indifferent, the observer’s enjoyment would be greatly reduced. People watched as the gray-haired youth finished a basket of buns and began to crunch on the fried dough sticks. Gradually, their attention returned to their breakfast.
“The fried dough sticks are pretty good.” Shu Jun took a big bite of the fried dough stick, leaving the other half, and gestured it in front of Zhu Yanchen. “These are a bit soft. I plan to go buy some more. Do you want one? Or do you not like things that are too oily—”
Zhu Yanchen naturally grabbed Shu Jun’s wrist and took a small bite of the fried dough sticks.
“It’s indeed a bit oily. No need. Just help me get another bowl of porridge,” he said.
Shu Jun glanced at where Zhu Yanchen had bitten, feeling a bit uncertain. Marshal Zhu’s actions were too straightforward that he couldn’t really tell if this was the practical style of a realist or if it had a hint of intimacy.
…Well, he could’ve just bitten the other end. That way, Shu Jun wouldn’t have to worry about this issue. He stuffed the fried dough stick into his mouth and looked deeply at Zhu Yanchen.
The latter was still drinking his porridge at a steady pace, expressionlessly.
Forget it. They were sleeping in the same bed. What did it matter? Shu Jun shook his head. “How about I get some steamed buns?”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden silence in the tavern. Shu Jun immediately shut his mouth and instinctively lowered his body.
“Listen up, everyone, there’s news! There’s news!” A thin man with shifty eyes slipped into the store. “The Blackbirds is recruiting three NPC guides. They’re leaving in five days. They’re going to the northwest of the ruins of X City. The work is tough so they want experienced hands that can pass three assessments!”
After that, the man swiped electronic money from the tavern owner and quickly ran away.
Shu Jun: “…”
He could understand the first part, but the latter half was complete gibberish. He was completely confused. Zhu Yanchen pointed to the rim of Shu Jun’s bowl with his chopsticks, pulling his attention back.
“Did you understand?” Amidst the clamor of discussion, Shu Jun lowered his voice. “What are the three assessments?”
“Good physical condition, recommended by someone, and willing to undergo a combat assessment for free.” Zhu Yanchen lowered his gaze. “In short, those who are too abnormal are not wanted, those without a local sponsor are not wanted, and those who cannot participate in combat are not wanted. This is the highest standard for recruiting people on the edge of society by the United Government.”
They didn’t have to worry about being abnormal or combat effectiveness, but as for sponsors…
“Oh, you two are here too?” A loud, sturdy voice rang out, and the two were slapped on their backs by a big hand the size of a cattail fan. Zhu Yanchen barely managed to maintain his composure, but Shu Jun almost choked on a bite of his steamed bun.
“Uncle Xiong.” Shu Jun wiped his chin. The other person wore a mask, but the two brown lumps on his head were easy to recognize.
“You call my brother Pan Ge but call me Uncle Xiong? Is that the correct way to address me?” Uncle Xiong grumbled unhappily. “Just call me Xiong Ge—what’s going on with you two? Want to try an NPC task?”
“Thinking about it. What about you, Xiong Ge?”
“Hey, my brother won’t let me go even if he dies. He says he’ll break my legs if I dare to go. This job is really dangerous. You two have to think carefully.” Uncle Xiong rubbed his nose. “But if you really want to go, I can introduce you to someone.”
“What do you mean?” Shu Jun immediately pulled up a chair for Uncle Xiong.
“I know the toughest guy around here. He’s done over a dozen NPC missions, and he’s still alive. Impressive, right? I heard before that they wanted to make him a fixed NPC, but he refused. He’s a real master… Of course, you two are masters too. So I thought, if you really want to go, my brother can vouch for you. Then you can just watch that guy and do whatever he does during the test. You’ll definitely pass.”
“His nickname is ‘One Eye’—his real name is Yu Jin—and he’s a big shot around here. We’re a bit friendly, so I can introduce you to him later.”
Yu Jin—the name sounded familiar to Shu Jun, but he couldn’t remember where he heard it from. He smiled and agreed, intending to continue chatting with Uncle Xiong, but he unintentionally looked over at Zhu Yanchen on the side.
Then Shu Jun forgot what he wanted to say.
Marshal Zhu was looking at him with unusual concentration. His gaze was quite complicated, mixed with restraint, nostalgia, and inexplicable expectation, as sharp as an icicle. Their eyes met head-on, and Zhu Yanchen didn’t look away. After a few seconds, Zhu Yanchen turned to Uncle Xiong and spoke up for the first time.
“Thank you. We’ll go buy weapons later, and please help us set up a meeting time…”
“…If possible, it would be best to meet today.”
The author has something to say:
Marshal Zhu: …The old way of getting along seems to have no effect, what should I do?
Shu Ge: Is he flirting with me, or is he really straightforward? Anyway, let’s focus on the important stuff first. We both have leftover feelings from our confession flags.
After having a satisfying meal, people tend to feel sleepy.
Nowadays, Zhu Yanchen was very healthy, so Shu Jun was no longer polite with him. He circled around the bed and said, “I have terrible sleeping habits so I’ll sleep on the outside.”
Anyway, he didn’t need to hold onto Monday anymore. It was wrapped in a cloth strip and lying on the sofa near the purifier, blowing and sucking air in dissatisfaction into the cloth strip that covered it.
“Call me at six sharp tomorrow morning,” Shu Jun instructed it.
The two had been investigating the erosion zone for more than a week, and Shu Jun had figured out Monday’s temper. Monday didn’t like him, but it had also tasted the sweetness of victory against Sweet Edge. Its brain capacity was limited, and it couldn’t understand too much intelligence, and since the obvious benefits were right in front of it, at least it wouldn’t want to run away anymore.
Shu Jun crawled into the bed and felt the soft mattress behind him. Tears welled up in his eyes.
Zhu Yanchen was more particular and didn’t sleep topless. He used his last shirt as pajamas and lay steadily on the side against the wall. The two had to share a bed, but it was spacious enough that there was more than an arm’s length from each other, and they even had extra space.
Shu Jun murmured “goodnight”, then happily wrapped himself in the blanket and fell asleep almost as fast as fainting.
…Things were still normal at this point.
Around four in the morning, Zhu Yanchen opened his eyes and felt cold all over. He touched his chest and only felt the thin shirt.
Zhu Yanchen: “…”
When they were in the erosion zone before, they had to take turns keeping watch, so Mr. Shu didn’t have a chance to fully display his skills. Now he finally found the opportunity to “steal” the covers—this bad habit of his hadn’t changed in more than ten years.
Marshal Zhu sighed in his heart, turned from lying flat to lying on his side, and prepared to drag back his own blanket. Who knew that the other party hadn’t revealed any flaws—Shu Jun had no cover on him at all, as both blankets were rolled into a ball, with his arms tightly wrapped around it. Moreover, he would occasionally wrinkle his brows, obviously not sleeping soundly.
“…Don’t die…” Shu Jun muttered intermittently.
After a moment of silence in the darkness, Zhu Yanchen quietly reached out and stroked Shu Jun’s wrinkled brow. When he saw the shadow disappear between his eyebrows and his body stretch a bit, Zhu Yanchen grabbed a corner of the quilt, carefully and cautiously pulled it outward.
It was a close call, as Shu Jun rolled over and narrowly stopped at the edge of the bed, with his back facing Zhu Yanchen.
This was quite nostalgic. Zhu Yanchen propped himself up, took a deep breath, and was about to continue, but his arm stiffened in mid-air.
Shu Jun wasn’t wearing a shirt when he slept. Now his entire back was exposed, and his skin shone with a glossy light in the dim light. He had no excess fat on his body, and the contours smoothly glided through the night, tightly wrapped in the fabric that hugged his narrow waist. The lines of his muscles were light and beautiful—not too thin or too heavy—and didn’t give off any sense of clumsiness or bulkiness.
At this moment, his waist and back were slightly arched, like a beautiful wild beast.
Zhu Yanchen’s palm was hovering about one centimeter away from Shu Jun’s shoulder, allowing their body temperatures to mix together. Maintaining that distance, his palm followed Shu Jun’s shoulder down and slowly moved to his wrist. In the end, without touching him, he withdrew his hand.
‘My state is really not right,’ Zhu Yanchen thought to himself. ‘I’ll just not cover myself with the blanket.’
But before he could close his eyes, there was a loud bang as Shu Jun had rolled off the bed. After two or three seconds, there were a few unhappy grunts from under the bed. Shu Jun climbed back onto the bed, facing Zhu Yanchen’s questioning gaze.
“Huh?” Shu Jun’s voice was puzzled as he was used to sleeping alone. He looked at Zhu Yanchen for a moment, then relaxed. “Oh… it’s A’Yan.”
Then he suddenly exclaimed, “Why do you look like a big clump!… Oh, you took a shower… so that’s why…”
Zhu Yanchen touched his still damp hair speechlessly. This person was probably half-asleep, talking nonsense. While Shu Jun was busy climbing onto the bed, he stretched out his arm and salvaged the blanket under the bed for the two of them.
Then he was tackled by Shu Jun.
Shu Jun hugged him recklessly, with a momentum that replaced the pile of blankets with Zhu Yanchen himself. He was no longer as friendly and cheerful as before, and his tone was obviously dissatisfied. “A’Yan, where’s my goodnight?”
Zhu Yanchen froze in place. A mixture of shock and sadness swept over him. The scene from more than ten years ago gradually overlapped with the present. He embraced Shu Jun with some uncertainty and kissed the top of his head.
Shu Jun hummed contentedly and fell asleep again. This time, he slept quite soundly.
Zhu Yanchen didn’t close his eyes; he kept holding onto the other person and stared at the void in the darkness. He was familiar with this side of Shu Jun, which he had thought was a period that had been completely erased. Now it seemed that perhaps things could still be salvaged.
Originally, he just wanted to silently live through this life, but he didn’t expect to really save Shu Jun, and even more unexpectedly, Shu Jun turned around and saved him. Things had developed far beyond his expectations, and now he still wanted more.
Perhaps this was the side effect of being too close. At this moment, Zhu Yanchen, for the first time, understood the feeling of “greed”.
And it felt pretty good.
Zhu Yanchen reached out his hand again and caressed Shu Jun’s cheek. Shu Jun was quite handsome, but his eyebrows and eyes didn’t look sharp. Instead, they gave off a comfortable sense of closeness. His mutated hair color added a touch of wildness to him, but when he closed his eyes, that hint of danger turned into a peaceful trust.
Shu Jun clearly still had impressions of that period of time. Even if only a few fragments of those impressions remained, they could piece together the possibility of recovery.
He had to seize the support of the people and the position of leader through a non-violent outcome. Since that was the case, why not grab everything he wanted… like the memories that had been crushed.
“Goodnight.” He whispered to Shu Jun.
Unfortunately, an hour later, the sound of a thud and the sound of flesh hitting the ground once again echoed through the room, and the warm embrace was gone forever. Zhu Yanchen pulled the covers back onto the bed and rolled Shu Jun into a ball inside them.
At six in the morning, a mournful cry from Monday was heard.
“Get up—”
“From bed—”
Shu Jun had a good sleep, feeling refreshed and clear-headed. The bed was still the same bed, and he hadn’t kicked the covers off during the night. Zhu Yanchen’s side, on the other hand, was rather strange—Marshal Zhu had wrapped himself up like a mummy, lying stiffly on his back and pressing his body against the corners of the bed.
Did he have this habit before? Shu Jun yawned and got out of bed. The mattress shook, and Zhu Yanchen woke up immediately.
“Let’s go, let’s go. To the morning market.” Shu Jun put on his coat, and his tone was light and cheerful after a refreshing sleep.
Zhu Yanchen sat there for a few seconds, then nodded slowly. Shu Jun put on his mask and handed one to Zhu Yanchen, who put it on quickly.
“Are you two awake?” Just as they were leaving, there was a knock on the door, and Uncle Pan’s voice came from the other side.
Shu Jun handed the mask to Zhu Yanchen and quickly put his own on.
Somehow, Uncle Pan had sobered up despite drinking into the early hours of the morning and even managed to take care of the mutant animal skin early this morning. He glanced at the two people wearing masks, puit the electronic wallet that was the size of a lighter on the table, and rubbed his hands.
“You wouldn’t believe it, but early this morning I heard they’re recruiting NPCs. I really don’t know what those big wigs are in a rush for.”
“What kind of work?”
“I heard about it when I went to sell the skins. Someone will be coming tomorrow to recruit people. If you’re interested, you can go to the ‘Longevity’ Tavern later to check it out and avoid being taken advantage of. Brother Gray Claw, listen to me. With your skills, you can make a good living just by selling pelts…”
“Thanks, brother. We’ll go check it out.” Shu Jun smiled. “Did they say which team the mission is for?”
“The Blackbirds.” Uncle Pan pursed his lips. “The strangeness lies here. It’s only been a few days, and they’ve been sent on another mission. I say it must be Yi Ning’s idea to merge teams. Look, Blackbirds is the strongest team, but now the captain and the manager, Zhu Yanchen, are both gone. They’re so eager to make Blackbirds suffer, so they can find a replacement manager later…”
Shu Jun secretly clenched his fists, causing his sharp nails to cut into his palm. He kept his smile behind his mask, so his voice sounded cheerful. “Anyway, it has nothing to do with us. It’s good to have a bigger team. More reliable that way.”
Uncle Pan didn’t notice anything unusual. “Okay, that’s how it is. Oh, about your anti-erosion remedy…”
“We’ll be in the city in a while. We’ll definitely ask for you when we see them.”
“Okay, good.”
The morning for the other captain wasn’t very pleasant either.
Luo Duan knelt on one knee as dark red blood continuously poured out of his wound, almost dripping in a line.
“Stop!” the doctor outside the training room shouted. “He can’t fight anymore and must be treated as soon as possible!”
Luo Duan hung his head, smiling to himself in the shadows. As he had expected, after challenging for more than a week in a row, he finally suffered a serious injury as a matter of course.
The medical team sent him to the treatment room. As the emergency bed slid past the corridor, Luo Duan turned his head and looked towards the road leading to the underground.
All the game-related information explained that the lowest level of a stronghold was always the storage level used by the NPCs. No one had cared about this before. However, the command center was located in the material-rich Y City, yet they specifically constructed a storage level below the training level where dangerous mutant beasts were kept. No matter how one thought about it, this seemed quite unnatural.
He had succeeded in sneaking in and he just needed to be patient.
Luo Duan withdrew his gaze, closed his eyes, and began to silently plan his invasion route.
Until the nurses sent him to the special ward, he remained calm with his eyes closed. To be fair, the layout of the special ward was quite good. It even had vases decorated with brightly artificial flowers.
A TV was hanging on the wall opposite the hospital bed, tuned to the intelligence channel that players often watched, playing the morning news. When he confirmed that everyone had left the ward, Luo Duan lifted his eyelids and glanced at the screen.
“…At 5 this morning, a large Erosion Swamp appeared 300 kilometers northwest of X City. The results of the blurry scan are quite strange, and experts are doing their best to interpret the data…”
“…We have decided to send the strongest team to investigate. The Blackbirds will depart in five days…”
In the past, Luo Duan might have envied the Blackbirds—that was a “special mission” only accessible to the team that won the championship, which allowed the Blackbirds to get a lot of contribution points and unique field experience. Moreover, the task sounded more like a test than actual combat, so their combat power loss wouldn’t be too great.
Now, it seemed that the enemy on the other side may not have been arranged by humans in advance. It was unclear what the Blackbirds, which had lost Shu Jun, would encounter on such a mission.
Luo Duan sneered.
Beside the sickbed, there suddenly came a rustling sound, somewhat like a mouse nibbling on paper. Luo Duan turned his head and was taken aback by the sight before him.
The flowers in the vase were melting.
The colors of the flowers gradually melted away, dripping stickily down the vase. Afterwards, they spread in all directions like fungi, leaving thin veins on the walls. After a while, the color of the veins gradually turned black and gray, contrasting with the pale walls like dead capillaries.
Something was condensing on the ceiling, slowly dripping down into an apple-sized globule hanging in front of Luo Duan.
“Ah…ah…”
The falling object kept wriggling and made a hoarse sound. Its movements were strange and stiff, like a legless spider.
Luo Duan didn’t scream, but his eyes were cold. Everything in front of him was too bizarre. Perhaps his illness was too severe, and he was having hallucinations.
“Ah…”
That thing sighed again.
“I…will help you… I’ll help…you…”
Unexpectedly, the thing could actually speak. Luo Duan was taken aback. Before he could react, the door was roughly pushed open. The globule quickly shrank back into the ceiling, and the veins seeped into the wall as if they had never existed.
“You’re Luo Duan of the Groundwater, right?”
Ai Xiaoxiao walked into the ward and glanced at Luo Duan. “Hmm, your injuries aren’t too bad. You won’t die, so don’t mess around.”
“Are you my doctor?”
“No, just passing by.” Ai Xiaoxiao blew a bubble from her gum and shrugged indifferently. “I heard there was a seriously injured patient here, so I came to take a look.”
Luo Duan: “…”
Ai Xiaoxiao ignored Luo Duan’s complicated expression and frowned, touching the nearest wall. However, the wall was cold and smooth, and there seemed to be nothing unusual.
“If you feel uncomfortable, remember to call the doctor at any time.”
She muttered to herself and wiped her hands.
“Also, why is there an empty vase in the special ward?”
The author has something to say:
Marshal: There’s no need to sleep in separate beds anymore.
They hadn’t even started discussing the plan’s details. He was just bragging a little. As the captain of his team, Shu Jun was used to making such comments to adjust the atmosphere, such as “Let’s make Groundwater cry this battle” or “What a great terrain. We can end the fight in a day”.
Of course, even if they eventually won, Luo Duan wouldn’t really cry, and the Blackbirds had never ended a battle in a day. Zhu Yanchen had been chatting with him for years, and he thought the other party was just casually responding, but he didn’t expect the other person to answer so seriously.
At this point, Shu Jun could still understand if Zhu Yanchen was trying to joke with him, but the later actions didn’t seem like it—
Zhu Yanchen’s fingertips were still on his skin, and the movement was extremely natural.
Whether it was flattering or with ulterior motives, Zhu Yanchen’s movements were too skillful, so much so that Shu Jun almost thought it was some kind of common etiquette. He opened his mouth, and all the jokes that followed got stuck in his throat.
This isn’t right, is it?
When Zhu Yanchen was in trouble, he lost control of his emotions for a while. Looking back now, it wasn’t too exaggerated. Facing real death for the first time after knowing the truth, and Zhu Yanchen was also his friend, his reaction was understandable.
Shu Jun didn’t intend to deny his feelings and interest in Zhu Yanchen, but they didn’t necessarily represent a confirmed love. Even though they had been chatting for years, there was still a big difference between real people and words. Moreover, there were still a lot of urgent matters pressing on them, and normal communication and understanding would suffice.
As a result, when the other party took action, his heart almost skipped a beat. Half of it was due to surprise, and the other half was a feeling he couldn’t figure out.
Zhu Yanchen’s face was also bloody. He had just hunted a group of mutant beasts with him so his clothes were slightly sweaty, sticking to his skin, and his breath was warmer than usual. The two were only a palm’s distance apart, and the atmosphere became a bit strange.
…No, it was probably his own romanticism that hadn’t been snuffed out, and he was thinking too much. A’Yan was originally thoughtful, so maybe he didn’t know how to behave appropriately in reality after being in a high position for a long time.
Watching Shu Jun frown and then retract his chin, Zhu Yanchen: “……”
Shu Jun couldn’t remember the past. For the current Shu Jun, his actions might have been too direct. Zhu Yanchen was about to withdraw his hand, but Shu Jun’s paw had already reached out.
“There’s a little blood on your face. Let me wipe it off for you,” Shu Jun said cheerfully, using the palm of his hand to wipe the blood off Zhu Yanchen’s face. There was nothing wrong with this behavior on its own, but Zhu Yanchen suddenly froze in place, and the two of them ended up touching each other’s faces, making the atmosphere even more awkward.
The two stood like sculptures against the background of the mutant beast’s corpses. Fortunately, there were more than two people present, and someone knew how to break the silence.
After having a full meal, Monday finally had the strength to speak. “Tsk.”
This sound was long and loud, full of disgust, allowing the two to seize the opportunity and quickly withdraw their hands.
“I’ll deal with this pile of things. We can roast and eat them later.” Shu Jun laughed. “We can talk while eating.”
“Mm.” Zhu Yanchen had already started dealing with the mutant beast’s corpse. Whether he was nervous or simply making a mistake, he applied too much force and got sprayed with blood from the beast’s insides.
Shu Jun: “…”
Zhu Yanchen: “…”
Finally, in the midst of Shu Jun’s carefree laughter, the awkward atmosphere completely dissipated.
A week later, at the border settlement.
It was late at night, and Uncle Pan was dozing off in front of the counter as usual. The sound of a mud sled stopping outside the shop woke him up, and he immediately put a smile on his face.
The two young men who came in looked somewhat familiar. Both wore masks that covered their faces and had uncommonly strong and handsome builds. The shorter one had gray-white hair, carried a large sword on his back, and had strange, pointed nails that were easy to recognize.
Seeing Uncle Pan turn his head, the gray-haired young man swung the bag on his back. “Uncle Pan, we’re back—look. How much is the skin of these mutant beasts worth?”
Upon hearing there was money to be made, Uncle Pan’s last bit of sleepiness instantly vanished. He agilely went around the counter and took the bag.
It was packed full of high-level mutant beast fur. If properly handled, these things could be made into excellent protective clothing. Uncle Pan took a deep breath. “Back then, when my brother left you two outside, I scolded him for a bit. He should’ve at least sent you off with a dog. You guys are amazing. How did you manage to deal with the Corpse Parasite?”
“We ran fast enough.” The gray-haired young man laughed. “So, Uncle Pan, will you help us handle this? We’re willing to pay you a ten percent commission, since we’re considered friends.”
“Sure, sure! If you two trust me, just leave the goods here and I’ll write a receipt. If everything goes smoothly, I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”
Since business had come to him, Uncle Pan couldn’t help but sincerely smile. “Hey, after so many years, I’ve also made mistakes. You two don’t look like newcomers. Welcome to our area. Although it’s a bit late to ask, how should I address you both?”
“Gray Claw,” Shu Jun answered very smoothly, then looked towards Zhu Yanchen beside him.
“Smoke.” Zhu Yanchen stubbornly held onto that name.
The settlement wasn’t a clean place, so no one used their real names on a regular basis, thus Uncle Pan was very accepting. “To be honest, this bag of stuff is really valuable. Since we’re now friends, I’ll only take a five percent commission for any services, whether it’s the skin or the goods you dig up. I’ll also discount your rent by half too. How’s that?”
Moved, Shu Jun reached out his hand. “Deal.”
Then he grinned and added, “My brother and I plan to stay here and make a living. Uncle Pan, you’ve cut the rent so much. Don’t regret it later.”
“Many friends, many paths*, right?” Uncle Pan shook hands with him cheerfully. “I’ll go get some wine. Let’s celebrate your return—your room has to be the best, right? I’ll leave the key here for now.”
*(多个朋友多条路嘛) Proverb that implies having more friends can provide one with a wider range of opportunities and options in life.
After speaking, Uncle Pan dragged his bag and bent down to go into the back room behind the counter. When he came out again, the bag in his hand had been replaced with three bottles of dusty wine and a large bag of pancakes.
Although Marshal Zhu didn’t put on airs, he still wasn’t comfortable with extravagant drinking. Zhu Yanchen pushed up his face mask and took a piece of pancake, slowly eating it.
His body was now so full of erosion that even sulfuric acid could be drunk, so a little alcohol was nothing to him. However, Zhu Yanchen had just recovered from a serious illness, and even if he was immune to erosion, he still had a normal human body—after seeing Uncle Pan hand him the bottle of wine, Marshal Zhu’s movements stiffened.
Shu Jun didn’t miss this bit of stiffness. He naturally intercepted the bottle of wine, pushed up his mask, and smiled quietly at Zhu Yanchen.
Then he downed almost half the bottle with his face unchanged. “It’s not that my brother doesn’t give face, but he’s allergic to alcohol. Come on, Uncle Pan… Ah, Pan Ge*. I’ll drink his share. Cheers!”
*(哥) When used with a name, it’s a familiar way to address someone who is male that you’re close to whose usually older or higher rank than you (like jie but for a man). || Note: Moving from calling him Uncle Pan (as a general polite term) to Ge means their “closeness” has increased.
“Cheers! I’m not the kind of person who makes things difficult for others. Brother* Smoke, I’ll go get you some water later.”
*Note: He’s using [Xiong di] (兄弟) which is a general term to refer to a close male friend. You can think of it as “bro” or “brother”.
It was late at night, and they had earned a lot of money. Uncle Pan was in a good mood and closed the store. He turned on the purifier and took off his entire face mask. Naturally, normal humans couldn’t outdrink an Erosion Swamp, so after drinking four or five glasses of strong alcohol, Uncle Pan was about to burst with laughter.
“Brothers, I’m not prying or anything, just asking casually.” After three rounds of drinking, they chatted about a lot of things, and Uncle Pan finally slyly asked the key question. “How do you two keep your bodies so…burp…healthy? It’s not just exercise. You guys are veterans, but your bodies are still so normal. Do you have any secrets or anything?”
This was what they had been waiting for. Shu Jun smiled.
Although Uncle Pan was a bit shrewd, he had a good character and a sharp mind. This kind of person was easy to get along with. Since Uncle Pan could sell information about his surroundings, he could naturally also sell information about them as well. Of course, it wouldn’t be negative information.
“My brother knows reliable people who can get some prescriptions.” Shu Jun lowered his voice mysteriously. “But we can’t get them immediately. If you need it urgently, we can discuss it.”
“That’s loyal of you. Just speaking on their behalf… I can manage myself, but some of my acquaintances are struggling. I can help you make some introductions, and of course there will be compensation…”
“Deal. Speaking of which, I have a little favor to ask of Uncle Pan.”
“What is it? Just say it.”
“Didn’t we have that kind of job before? The top brass here needs a few people to guide the ‘players’ team. I remember that job pays well, and we want to try something different…”
“Oh, NPC work.” Uncle Pan waved his hand, and the smile on his face faded slightly. “Listen, don’t do that kind of work. I heard from someone that you have to sign a bunch of messy confidentiality agreements and you have to be careful with everything you say and do. If this job is supposed to be easy, and the army people would have already taken care of it. Why should we do it? If ten people go, it would be lucky if one or two come back…”
“I don’t necessarily want to go. I just want to see what’s going on.” Shu Jun smiled. “Just let us know if there’s any news, and we’ll think it over.”
“Okay…burp, okay. Oh, I’ve had too much to drink. I need to write it down.”
Uncle Pan bent down and fumbled around under the counter for a while, almost bumping the lump on his head.
“You still have to manage the store tomorrow, so let’s call it a night.” Shu Jun decided to stop while they were ahead and downed the last of his drink.
They were full and drunk, and now all that was left was to rest. After spending a week in the erosion zone without any human contact, Shu Jun couldn’t help feeling a little emotional now that they had returned to normalcy.
Even though neither he nor Zhu Yanchen needed a purifier, he let the one in the room run anyway—it was just an old civilian model that couldn’t affect the alpha-class Erosion Swamp; at most it would feel like a tickle.
“Next, we just have to wait for the intelligence to spread.” Shu Jun took off his old shirt, letting out a bit of alcohol scent. “Your bags are almost empty. Let’s go shopping tomorrow, and remember to remind me to buy some clothes.”
“Nn.” Zhu Yanchen’s reply was a bit dry. After locking the door, he also took off his mask, revealing his expressionless face.
“There are still some pancakes left. I’ll make some fried pancakes later, and we can have them as a snack before bed. Do you want some?”
“Nn.”
Shu Jun paused, sensing that something was off with Zhu Yanchen’s demeanor.
“Do you like Monday?”
“Nn.”
Shu Jun: “……”
As if he had reacted to Shu Jun’s question, Zhu Yanchen quickly snapped out of his daze. “I zoned out just now, sorry.”
“If there’s anything you’re worried about, just tell me. We don’t need to monitor each other anymore… I’ll go wash up and then make the fried pancakes. By the time you finish showering, it’ll be ready.”
Although he felt that the other’s behavior was suspicious, since Zhu Yanchen didn’t want to talk about it, Shu Jun had no intention of delving any further—he knew A’Yan’s character; he wouldn’t hide anything important. After pouring himself a glass of water, Shu Jun wrapped the towel around his neck and happily went to take a shower.
Indeed, Marshal Zhu wasn’t thinking about the plan.
The plan of the two went smoothly, and their physical condition was stable all the way. The reality developed far beyond his initial expectations, and his most cherished person was by his side again. This was the happiest week for Zhu Yanchen’s mood in many years.
However, just now, his comfortable mood suddenly fluctuated.
Shu Jun and Uncle Pan were talking and laughing, having a very enjoyable conversation. Zhu Yanchen wasn’t used to the drinking culture and had to maintain a low profile to hide his identity. In the end, he didn’t even say a word and quietly nibbled on a pancake for two hours.
If it had been before, he would have wanted to reduce unnecessary socializing. However, seeing Shu Jun laughing happily at the small counter, he even had the idea of joining the conversation.
‘A rather strange emotion,’ he thought. It was not anger or dissatisfaction, but rather a peculiar longing.
However, Shu Jun and the Blackbirds held countless gatherings over the years. He would always see him with his teammates, laughing happily every time. He had never felt a similar emotion himself. At that time, he only hoped that Shu Jun could maintain that smile and live longer.
‘Perhaps my body has undergone some changes,’ Zhu Yanchen thought seriously.
When they successfully infiltrated the city later, he would definitely give himself a comprehensive check-up.
To maintain the image of a “gentle ex-girlfriend”, Xia Liang had put on crying makeup with red circles around her eyes. During Elder Zhu’s eulogy, she pretended to be in a state of grief and confusion. Xia Liang’s performance was successful as no one came up to question her.
Her mind wandered eight hundred miles away while her face was sobbing…
Even though she knew that Zhu Yanchen wouldn’t come back, she didn’t feel anything at the moment; only a bit regretful.
According to Ai Xiaoxiao, Zhu Yanchen was terminally ill and had only two months left to live. But if it were up to Xia Liang, she wouldn’t have pushed the plan forward so quickly. At least she would have stayed in the city for another month. The erosion zone had a harsh environment, and even healthy people would find it difficult to endure. Even if Zhu Yanchen wanted to investigate something, he didn’t have to rush to his death.
As a result, although Zhu Yanchen had secretly transferred part of his command to her, his connections were still severed.
Xia Liang sighed. She could guess the topic the reporters were discussing—the Xia and Zhu families had always been friendly. If they dug deeper, Zhu Yanchen’s deceased mother was the adopted daughter of the elder of the Xia family. Even though there was no blood relationship, they were still half-inlaws.
She understood the Zhu family’s affairs better than anyone else.
When Elder Zhu was young, the Zhu family was at the pinnacle of power. Perhaps it was God’s plan to balance things out; Zhu Sheng married twice and had two sons, but now neither of them survived.
Zhu Sheng’s first wife died during childbirth, leaving behind the eldest son. Seven or eight years later, Zhu Sheng remarried and had Zhu Yanchen.
The eldest son was a carbon copy of Zhu Sheng, and Zhu Sheng loved him dearly. Unfortunately, the eldest son hadn’t even become a marshal yet when he died in a very suspicious “accident”. A year after his death, the second wife also passed away due to illness.
If it weren’t for the death of the eldest son, no one would have noticed Zhu Yanchen. The young master of the Zhu family had never had much presence, and he was introverted and quiet with no leadership qualities. When the eldest son died, people thought that Zhu Sheng’s family line would end. Who would have thought that after his mother’s death, Zhu Yanchen would change his nature and follow in his father’s footsteps?
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last.
Xia Liang was lost in thought when the overly sweet smell of coffee wafted into her nose. She turned her gaze and saw Ai Xiaoxiao rushing out of the door. It seemed that the captain of the Fourth Squadron wasn’t as cold-blooded as she had imagined.
She hoped that the following events would go smoothly and reached into her bag to fiddle with the chip that Zhu Yanchen had left behind.
Facing the storm ahead, they still had a lot of things to do.
However, facts proved that even a brilliant strategist like Marshal Zhu couldn’t foresee the real storm. When the press conference ended and everyone in the city had their own thoughts, Shu Jun in the erosion zone woke up again.
He woke up hungry. His body’s weakness was gone, leaving only an indescribable hunger that made him look at Zhu Yanchen with eyes full of green.
“Pack up. We’re going to the ruins in X City.” Zhu Yanchen saw the look in Shu Jun’s eyes and tidied up his collar solemnly. “The mud sled should still be there, with plenty of food on it.”
“Wait, if I eat all that, what about you?”
“Hunt with you.” Zhu Yanchen’s tone was quite natural. “With my current condition, mutant beast meat is edible.”
Thinking of the dried meat and salted butter in the package, Shu Jun couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. He was so hungry that even Monday looked quite appetizing. However, despite being hungry, he wasn’t driven by desire.
“I have something important to tell you.” Shu Jun looked at Zhu Yanchen’s body. “…Something very important.”
Shu Jun told him about Sweet Edge and Zhu Rong, as they just flew to X City. The mud sled was still in its original location. Shu Jun jumped onto the cargo platform eagerly and tore open a pack of butter. He didn’t mind the greasiness and ate it by itself.
Before leaving, Zhu Yanchen retrieved his briefcase and was now rummaging through it on the cargo platform, equipping himself with one weapon after another. Shu Jun ate the jerky slowly and looked at Zhu Yanchen’s attire, unable to help but smile.
Now that he was immune to corrosion, even in this heavily eroded area, Zhu Yanchen was dressed in lightweight clothes that were convenient for movement. He had a close-fitting weapon belt on his thighs, ankles, and waist and was loaded with various types of thermal weapons, but it was organized and not messy.
“You really know everything… What’s next, Grand Marshal? You’re not hanging by a death sentence now.” Shu Jun threw a bag of jerky over, and Zhu Yanchen caught it steadily.
With the jerky in hand, Marshal Zhu politely chewed a strand of meat and said, “Investigate X City. One is to check the alpha’s…Sweet Edge survival situation, and two is to look for clues from that year.”
Shu Jun scoffed, propping up his big sword and leaping to Zhu Yanchen’s side. “That’s not what I’m asking.”
Zhu Yanchen swallowed the food in his mouth and frowned.
“Based on the results, you saved me. I’ve repaid this favor now, so our conditions have stabilized. Why not take the opportunity to talk?” Shu Jun got very close, with a smile on his face, but his eyes were sharp. “…After all, I’m also in a hurry.”
His team was still living in a lie. Fortunately, there weren’t any matches recently. When the rest period ended, his comrades would face the Erosion Swamp again without knowing anything. The thought of this made Shu Jun’s stomach boil.
Previously, Zhu Yanchen had the deadline hanging over him, and he had to rely on stabilizing his physical condition. In a collaboration, there had to be some bargaining chips, so Shu Jun couldn’t act rashly. But now things were different. From the very beginning of telling Shu Jun the truth, to investigating Zhu Rong’s affairs, Zhu Yanchen’s position gradually became clear—Marshal Zhu clearly didn’t like the player system.
Since they both had time and similar goals, it was better to talk early to avoid delaying the opportunity.
“Okay.” Zhu Yanchen looked at Shu Jun seriously and answered quickly without even exhaling a single breath. “But I have a condition.”
Shu Jun raised his eyebrows.
“You haven’t eaten enough, have you?”
“…Ah?” Shu Jun thought the other party was going to say something big and important and was a little confused for a moment.
“I want to talk while hunting.” Zhu Yanchen also approached, using his height advantage that forced Shu Jun to look up irritatingly. “Come with me.”
What kind of condition is this? Shu Jun’s mind was full of question marks. However, a pack of butter really couldn’t fill him up, and he didn’t have any other ideas.
It wasn’t until they really started fighting that Shu Jun realized that this person wasn’t in a hurry to hunt at all. Zhu Yanchen seemed more like he was testing his new body, compensating for a long illness, or doing some kind of demonstration—if he didn’t use his ability and went directly against Zhu Yanchen, he could probably win, but it wouldn’t be easy.
“The player system can’t continue anymore.” When he said this, Zhu Yanchen was using his boots to step on a mutant giant snake—it was originally lurking in the mud, preparing to ambush Marshal Zhu, but was shot in the head.
“What did you plan to do before?”
Shu Jun swung his greatsword and cut a mutant beast beside him into two pieces. Dark purple blood spurted out, most of which was absorbed by Monday.
“If the player system is shut down immediately, all the outer defenses of the entire United Government will be reduced to zero. Even if you have become the leader, this will be your downfall. What’s more, you… uh, are already technically dead.”
Shu Jun desperately wished that the player system could be shut down immediately and all synths could know the truth. However, as a leader of a team, he also knew the consequences of acting rashly and emotionally. He knew that if he did this, the synths would undoubtedly launch a fierce rebellion, and the outcome would be disastrous to both sides that could potentially lead to mutual destruction.
However, things hadn’t reached such a desperate point yet. If Zhu Yanchen could be saved in this situation, Shu Jun hoped that his fellow synths could fight on the premise of “obtaining a better life”.
They had to be prepared.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect the player system to be stopped smoothly in this generation.”
Zhu Yanchen turned around and directly hugged another mutated beast that pounced on him. He slammed it to the ground, then added two more shots. Blood splattered on his pale face, making it even more striking.
“I just wanted to take the first step and prove the possible loopholes in this system. You also saw that humans can only exert a certain level of influence on the Erosion Swamp, like Monday, and they don’t pose too much of a threat. But synths are different. They are ‘designed’ to resonate more with erosion. Relatively speaking, it’s also easier for the Erosion Swamp to obtain information from you.”
“Not to mention you, the exception among exceptions, Sweet Edge survived under the control of the Erosion Swamp because she was strong enough to retain a bit of consciousness and forcibly stay in X City… Shu Jun, if you were the Erosion Swamp and had complete human intelligence, what would you do?”
“Hide.”
As soon as Shu Jun spoke, he felt a chill down his back.
It was simple. If it were him, he would hide far away and let the most ordinary Erosion Swamp collect intelligence on the front lines to deceive humans. Then, when the intelligence was enough, he would strike and wipe out humans and synths in one fell swoop.
“Exactly.” Zhu Yanchen emptied his gun and quickly changed the magazine.
No wonder this person went deep into the erosion zone before he died. Shu Jun glanced at Zhu Yanchen. As long as there was no evidence, these would always be “speculations”, and people wouldn’t give up their safe lives for speculations.
Even if Zhu Yanchen returned with Shu Jun as evidence, his situation was too special. Compared with “Erosion Swamp obtaining a human brain,” he might be judged as “a synth obtaining an Erosion Swamp”, further stimulating the development of the player’s plan.
Behind two hundred years of peace lay the unknown, which could strike at any time. Shu Jun originally thought the situation was bad enough, but now it seemed that in order for his compatriots to survive, the situation was far more complicated than he thought.
Is this an unprecedented battle?
On the other side, the corpses of mutant beasts gradually piled up, enough for them to make a week’s worth of dry food. Zhu Yanchen stopped and wiped the sweat from his forehead; his face showing a bit of liveliness. Seeing that Shu Jun didn’t respond for a long time, he looked at him with some concern but saw a smile on his face.
“Interesting.” Shu Jun shook off the blood on his hand. “Grand Marshal, instead of thinking about the first step or not, let’s just solve it all at once. We’ll cooperate as usual. You help me adjust my body, and I’ll go meet with those hidden Erosion Swamp friends—”
“And you’ll help me take over the leadership position?” Zhu Yanchen took over the conversation.
“…And solve the synth problem at the same time. How about it? Can you do it, Chief Strategist?” Shu Jun bared his sharp canine teeth and reached out his hand.
This wasn’t a very formal declaration. He was originally waiting for a formal handshake or a challenge to this arrogant statement. However, Zhu Yanchen didn’t shake his hand. He leaned closer, extended his thumb, and wiped the bloodstains from Shu Jun’s face with it.
That finger was warm, and as its tip rolled over Shu Jun’s skin it caused him to tense his back.
Shu Jun’s following dreams were chaotic. He even dreamed of a roasted chicken floating in front of him. He happily stretched his head out and took a bite. The taste was slightly warm, but the texture was too tough. Shu Jun opened his eyes, dissatisfied, and saw a person in front of him.
He was biting Zhu Yanchen’s thumb.
There was a refreshing coolness on his face. Zhu Yanchen was holding a damp cloth, probably wiping his sweat. At this moment, Marshal Zhu looked at his bitten hand, then at Shu Jun, with a blank expression.
…Fortunately, he was half asleep and didn’t use much strength in his mouth. Shu Jun awkwardly released his mouth and chuckled twice.
Now he was lying on the ground, with a blanket underneath him that he didn’t know where it came from, and a pillow made of folded clothes behind his head. There was water next to the pillow that he could reach out and grab.
Shu Jun was stunned for a few seconds, as the Grand Marshal’s caregiving skills weren’t bad. Zhu Yanchen’s condition was too normal. If he wasn’t starving and weak all over, Shu Jun would have thought everything previous was all a nightmare.
“Don’t get up too quickly. You need to rest.” Zhu Yanchen wiped his hand. His sharp canine teeth didn’t pierce his skin, but some saliva was left behind. “If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, let me know immediately.”
“Okay,” Shu Jun replied, his voice still hoarse.
The scenes from the dream hadn’t yet dissipated from his mind, and he subconsciously observed the person in front of him.
Zhu Yanchen’s clothes were slightly old-fashioned and probably picked out from the room. The clothes looked like a one-size-fits-all so they seemed loose but when worn on him, the loose shirt and pants now had a slightly fitted feel.
This person had long and strong limbs, just right from exercise. His body wasn’t too thin or too exaggerated, and the fabric couldn’t conceal his smooth muscle lines. As a former “professional player”, Shu Jun also constantly paid attention to maintaining his physique. On the surface, Zhu Yanchen had a similar body shape to his, but considering that the other party had been in a state of heavy erosion, maintaining this state was frightening.
Marshal Zhu’s skin was still pale, but it wasn’t the sickly pale from before. His complexion had visibly improved. He no longer wrapped himself up like a dumpling or wore those cumbersome protective gear. This was the first time Shu Jun had seen Zhu Yanchen dressed so refreshingly.
As if noticing Shu Jun’s gaze, Zhu Yanchen turned his head, and his habitually cold expression softened slightly.
…Shu Jun wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but the awkwardness in Zhu Yanchen’s movements seemed to have disappeared. The other party no longer seemed to deliberately keep his distance. Unfortunately, Marshal Zhu’s temperament was cold, and his sharp eyebrows and eyes had a natural sense of alienation. Even if he softened his attitude, he was still far from the soft limbs of the young master in his dream.
Most likely, Sweet Edge’s intelligence had mixed into his brain, causing him to have strange dreams.
Shu Jun flipped himself over like a pancake, picked up his cup, and took a few sips of water. The cool and clean water slid down his throat, and he couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
“Hungry—” As soon as Shu Jun woke up, Monday’s voice exploded. The sound was earth-shattering and extremely mournful. Shu Jun’s scalp tingled, and he almost choked on the water.
Zhu Yanchen sighed and decisively picked up Monday, putting it next to the purifier.
The screaming stopped abruptly.
Monday was angry. Its logic was quite simple—it couldn’t afford to provoke Shu Jun, this alpha-level Erosion Swamp. But if it couldn’t even deal with a human, what could it do? It instantly wriggled in the sword hilt, trying to tear a piece of meat from this ignorant human’s hand.
Then it found out that it couldn’t do it.
Not to mention eroding the hand, the erosion was busy huddling together, trying to stay away from Zhu Yanchen’s skin. When it bit down, its power wasn’t even as good as Shu Jun’s bite when he was dreaming, and it couldn’t even leave saliva.
Monday’s IQ wasn’t high enough to understand what had happened. It only confirmed one thing—there was no food to eat, and it couldn’t even bite the human. It was really aggrieved.
So Shu Jun watched as his greatsword slurped water and formed a lump next to the purifier, making a pitiful sound.
Zhu Yanchen then moved his fingers, looking unsurprised.
“What’s going on?” Shu Jun really choked this time.
“My equipment is mostly outside, so the test isn’t comprehensive.” Zhu Yanchen pointed to the remaining machinery on the table. There were more than ten test tubes filled with blood next to the machine. Shu Jun was sure that the bright red blood didn’t belong to him.
“But for now, it seems that I am immune to the erosion substance.”
If the water hadn’t gone down, Shu Jun was confident that he would choke for a third time. Monday also wasn’t idle either, letting out a quiet sob cooperatively.
“I think I need to sleep a little longer.” Shu Jun finished the water and slowly laid down. “Well, my brain is having trouble digesting.”
“Sleep then,” Zhu Yanchen said softly. “We have plenty of time.”
“Mm, I like to hear that.” Shu Jun muttered.
“Shu Jun.”
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Shu Jun yawned. “Unless I want to kill you, please don’t die so suddenly next time. It scared me to tears.”
Zhu Yanchen sensibly held back the “likewise” that was about to come out. Unfortunately, by the time he thought of a soft enough response, Shu Jun had fallen asleep. Zhu Yanchen wasn’t sure what he had done, but judging from Shu Jun’s physical condition, it must have been something that consumed a lot of energy—after all, there weren’t many things in this world that could tire an alpha-level Erosion Swamp.
The equipment in Zhu Rong’s room was barely usable. Before Shu Jun woke up, Zhu Yanchen tried his best to analyze his situation, and the results shocked him.
Not long ago, his tissue was eroded to the point that it was comparable to a honeycomb, and it could only be barely suppressed with strong medicine. Now, those eroded cells had changed their state and huddled together, simulating the state of normal cells, even obediently following the rules of the human body’s metabolism. Severely infected abnormal cells were then expelled from the body making the eroded scars disappear completely.
The pain that had accompanied him for more than ten years vanished without a trace, and his body was filled with strength that had never existed before.
Zhu Yanchen then tried to infect his own tissue sample with external eroded cells. The response of the external eroded cells was quite interesting—they first came into contact with his cells happily to obtain simple information, then turned their heads and ran away as if Zhu Yanchen was the source of the infection.
Zhu Yanchen couldn’t laugh or cry.
He had collected a considerable amount of data and could guess the general situation. The eroded cells mimicked normal cells and lived less comfortably than before. However, they were still dominated by Shu Jun’s “suppression” and had to follow their instincts. The eroded cells had no brains and had always run rampant in the human body. Now that they had suffered a huge loss, they would surely spread negative information desperately.
He conducted a series of experiments, and the results were similar—all eroded cells avoided him. Even if a small number of eroded cells couldn’t escape and involuntarily invaded his body, they had to adapt and painfully simulate cells, allowing his internal eroded cells to switch shifts and start metabolizing properly.
Together with the case of Greatsword Monday, the facts were already clear. Just like humans couldn’t control the activities of cells, even the sentient Erosion Swamp couldn’t control the instinctive reactions of the eroded cells.
Unless there was an Erosion Swamp that was smarter, stronger, and had highly similar abilities to Shu Jun, this balance couldn’t be broken.
…In retrospect, he might have been the first human to be immune to erosion in history.
Shu Jun had rewritten his fate once again.
Zhu Yanchen sat down next to the sleeping Shu Jun on the floor and quietly watched him sleep. Since they had met again, this person had constantly disrupted his plans—the plan to enter the erosion zone alone; the plan to face death calmly.
And even earlier, the plan was to protect this person from afar.
He could continue to live, which was a good thing. Without a doubt, the main task still had to be carried out, and the plan still had to be followed. However, the unplanned things… He was never good at personal communication, and the question of “how to naturally distance oneself before one’s own tragic death” hadn’t been resolved, but now it had become “how to friendly communicate after the death deadline disappeared”.
Zhu Yanchen thought seriously for a while and decided to keep the tactics simple. As he thought about it, he picked up the blanket, pushed back the hand that Shu Jun had thrown out, and tucked it back into the covers.
‘Maybe it’s not that difficult,’ he thought. At least in terms of details, this person hadn’t changed at all.
At the same time, in Y City,
Old Marshal Zhu stepped down from the podium with a gloomy face.
In theory, he was about to become the “former leader”. But since the election hadn’t yet ended, Elder Zhu wasn’t considered retired. The old leader’s oppressive presence was too strong, and none of the journalists dared to approach him—after all, the old sending the young to the netherworld was already bad luck, especially since he had just finished reading his son’s eulogy.
“Zhu Yanchen is really dead? The Zhu family is really…” murmured a journalist quietly in the audience.
“I remember those two from the Zhu family, father and son. Their relationship wasn’t good, was it?”
“It’s still his own son. Besides, Zhu Yanchen has a good reputation in tactics, unlike most of his peers, who are useless. Now, the Zhu family is in trouble. If you ask me, Elder Zhu will choose someone from the Xia family to support.”
“Maybe Elder Zhu will do it himself.”
“Shh, don’t joke about that.”
“Either way, they’ll just find a puppet. They can create another ‘genius’—fame is just a matter of propaganda. Zhu Yanchen may not have real skills. Even if Elder Zhu agrees with Yi Ning’s proposal, he won’t let the Tang family power rise. Let’s wait and see… but speaking of this, regardless of who goes up, as long as Elder Zhu makes a move, it’s already decided that the player system will be optimized, right? The previous disagreement between the father and son in the Zhu family seems to have been about this matter. I really don’t know what Zhu Yanchen was thinking. Maybe the young master really doesn’t know the hardships of the common people—”
“He’s dead. Have some respect.”
“Okay, okay, let’s talk about something else. The election is in less than three months, and Y City is going to change. Oh! What are you doing?”
The journalist was interrupted when someone bumped into his shoulder. He frowned halfway, realizing it was a pretty girl, and then he turned back. “Miss, you look familiar. Where—”
Ai Xiaoxiao bit through the bubble of her bubblegum and sneered, pushing her way out of the venue.
She had seen everything she needed to see, and the coffee flavor of the candy in her mouth had faded. Zhu Yanchen had been her nominal boss for years, so attending his funeral was a way of paying her respects.
She wrapped the bubblegum in paper and threw it into the nearby trash can. As she pulled her hand back, the communicator in her pocket vibrated again.
Strange. This was the reminder that only occurred after the arrival of the communication mutant beast. Did Zhu Yanchen really fake his death?
Two hours later, a loud scream and a change in tone followed in Ai’s Clinic.
“This is truly a masterpiece.” Ai Xiaoxiao looked at the message from the mutant beast and slapped the table. “I have to contact Dong Lao… The next three months will be interesting.”
Then she realized something, and the smile on her face slowly faded—was Zhu Yanchen’s immunity a factor that would prevent her from continuing her medical trials?
Forget it, Ai Xiaoxiao shook her head and opened a can of beer.
“To health.” She raised her can in the air.
Author’s note:
Marshal Zhu: Sorry, I didn’t really die, and I’ll be living for a long time.
Erosion in the Marshal: This is an underground sweatshop. Run away.jpg
Kinky Thoughts:
For those confused, basically what happened is that Shu Jun, using his alpha Erosion Swamp, suppressed the erosion inside Zhu Yanchen. Originally, the erosion was eating Zhu Yanchen’s cells alive, eroding everything. Under Shu Jun’s alpha suppression, they now obeyed his orders, and instead of eating Zhu Yanchen’s cell, they became and replaced his cells.
Erosion acts purely on the instinct of survival, and with an alpha around, they follow said alpha’s orders. However, the erosion acts exactly like cells in the sense that it’s not “controllable”. Just like human cells, they just make up the human, but the brain doesn’t direct the cells to do what the brain wants. It’s purely instinctive and designed by nature.
When other eroded cells come into contact with Zhu Yanchen’s cells, Zhu Yanchen’s eroded cells gives them a warning signal telling them to steer clear, which is why new erosion doesn’t erode Zhu Yanchen, and those that does manage to invade just replaces the current erosion cells that’s already obeying Shu Jun’s suppression.
Perhaps the intelligence from Sweet Edge had disturbed him, or perhaps the deep despair truly belonged to himself. Logically, he shouldn’t have collapsed because of losing a “net friend” who was both an enemy and a friend, but Shu Jun didn’t have time to think about these things.
Emotions didn’t lie.
Shu Jun stood still, hugged Zhu Yanchen in confusion while his mind was blank. Intense pain gripped his lungs, making it difficult for him to breathe, and he couldn’t even make a sound.
Not yet. It’s not time to give up. He couldn’t waste a minute now.
He frantically used his power to push himself forward, crossed the passage where the greatsword had swung before, and rushed into the deepest room of the stronghold. The lights in the room were still flickering dimly, and the purifier that Zhu Yanchen had installed earlier was still working.
This was the cleanest place nearby.
There were still some small items that Zhu Yanchen had been tinkering with on the table. Just a few hours ago, that person was fine here. The vivid images in his memory made Shu Jun’s spine tingle. He bit himself hard, and his sharp canine teeth almost pierced through his lips.
The pain and blood made him a little calmer.
Shu Jun picked up Zhu Yanchen and gently placed him on the ground. Zhu Yanchen’s expression was quite calm, even his sleep had never been so peaceful. The wound on his abdomen was still slowly oozing dark blood, and there was no sign of his breath or heartbeat returning.
Shu Jun tore open Zhu Yanchen’s collar and placed his palm on the layers of scars, starting to perform CPR.
Zhu Yanchen had no response, and his skin looked as if it was getting paler. Every passing second felt like a sharp blade, scraping against Shu Jun’s nerves. It wasn’t until his tears wet the other person’s chest that Shu Jun realized he was crying.
He had to come up with another way.
He didn’t have any medicine or equipment on hand, and there were no follow-up medical means. Within these short few minutes, he had to find another way out of nothingness.
Just after the bloody battle, his brain was still a bit sluggish, and he even had the feeling of imminent collapse. But Shu Jun didn’t dare stop moving. He repeatedly kissed those cold lips, and infused air into them.
His own ability was suppression, but even if he suppressed the erosion in Zhu Yanchen’s body, his body was already riddled with holes.
He had to find a way to treat Zhu Yanchen—at least to prevent his wounds from getting worse and get his organs to function normally.
…Speaking of which, how did he survive? It seemed that Zhu Yanchen had let him come into contact with the Erosion Swamp and the swamp in his body learned how to coexist with human bodies and tissues.
But Zhu Yanchen was a normal human being. He couldn’t withstand an entire Erosion Swamp. Before the Erosion Swamp could learn to coexist with human tissues, Zhu Yanchen’s flesh would be eroded to death—at most, leaving some fragments of information for the Erosion Swamp. Monday was a ready-made example.
This way wouldn’t work.
‘If only I could make the erosion in Zhu Yanchen’s body obedient,’ he thought desperately. ‘Let them spontaneously simulate human tissues, just like… just like those bloody creations of Sweet Edge.’
Wait a minute.
He defeated the Erosion Swamp in Sweet Edge and lingered in her mind for a while. Countless pieces of information flooded into his head, but what he could immediately recognize was only the “part that humans could understand”. What if his Erosion Swamp had access to relevant information? Could he already do similar things?
He didn’t need to construct a puppet giant, nor did he need to raise four-legged monsters. He just needed those scattered erosion to obediently stop destroying and instead simulate normal human tissues.
Fragmented erosion wasn’t the same as an Erosion Swamp. Shu Jun didn’t know if this whimsical plan could work. The only person who could answer him was right in front of him, with his body gradually growing colder.
There was no time left, and the only way was to experiment.
Shu Jun decisively raised his hand and fiercely grabbed his neck. His sharp nails broke through his skin, and blood immediately splattered out. This injury wasn’t serious enough to make him too weak to continue rescuing, but it wasn’t light either. If left unattended, he would undoubtedly die from blood loss.
The instinct of the Erosion Swamp was to survive, so now was the time to survive. If that skill really existed inside him, his instincts would force it out.
And he would remember that feeling.
This time, Shu Jun’s intuition wasn’t wrong. His weakened state actually helped him, as a lot of blood loss caused a hot and itchy sensation to gradually emerge on the side of his neck. Shu Jun quickly touched it with his fingertips—in less than half a minute, new flesh had already protruded from the deep wound.
Very good. But it was not enough yet; he wasn’t familiar enough with this feeling.
He raised his hand again, scratching his own neck, then mechanically continued with CPR. A large amount of blood splattered onto Zhu Yanchen’s tattered shirt, turning the white fabric into pure black.
Shu Jun’s vision gradually began to blur. The previous battle and blood loss made him both tired and hungry. He felt dizzy and wanted to fall asleep on the spot.
But he couldn’t fall down yet.
Shu Jun tore open the wound again, this time catching the tail of that inspiration.
One command after another kept looping, and Shu Jun tried to command the erosion in Zhu Yanchen’s body. Suppress, imitate. Suppress, imitate. Suppress again, and then imitate again.
Throughout the process, Shu Jun didn’t dare to breathe while his blood-covered hand always covered Zhu Yanchen’s chest. It was a mystical feeling, like trying to grip a lump of slippery mud and working hard to shape it into a delicate statue. The mud had no consciousness of its own; he could only try again and again.
Finally, the changes quietly appeared.
The blood that had splattered onto Zhu Yanchen’s body slowly disappeared, as if absorbed by his pale skin. The wound on Zhu Yanchen’s abdomen slowly healed at an extremely slow speed, and his exposed internal organs gradually gained blood color.
But it wasn’t enough yet.
When a person became weak to a certain degree, their spirit would seem to detach from their body. Shu Jun could no longer feel the sensation from his fingertips. He just kept repeating the rescue movements, focusing entirely on Zhu Yanchen.
Even if it hadn’t reached the level of forming an Erosion Swamp, the erosion substance had to obey. Shu Jun couldn’t afford to fail—although he didn’t know why, Shu Jun was quite certain that he couldn’t bear the consequences of failure.
Suppress, imitate, and finally dominate.
A slight vibration came from Zhu Yanchen’s dormant chest, and that pale body finally began to breathe again. Although the breath was weak and cold, it was indeed there.
He had brought him back.
Shu Jun stopped the cardiopulmonary resuscitation action, but he didn’t stop the mental command—to rescue until the end. He wasn’t sure if he could successfully return to this special mental state after this.
Zhu Yanchen, who had started breathing again, didn’t wake up, and Shu Jun still kept his hand on his chest. The restored heartbeat was like a shot of adrenaline, and Shu Jun remained motionless, sinking into a kind of almost fanatical state.
Repair it. Everything must be repaired. Shu Jun kept repeating to himself as he battled the erosion substance inside Zhu Yanchen’s body. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Shu Jun could even hear the Erosion Swamp inside his body screaming.
…You absolutely cannot harm this body.
After an unknown amount of time, a new change appeared.
The wound on Zhu Yanchen’s abdomen had long since disappeared, and black erosion gradually oozed out of his skin, connecting into patches, and then pulling into threads, slowly enveloping Zhu Yanchen’s body. Shu Jun’s brain was already unable to process the scene in front of him, he only knew that he seemed unable to touch Zhu Yanchen’s skin anymore.
So he got a little closer.
He opened his arms and hugged the black cocoon in front of him while continuing to repeat those commands.
Shu Jun didn’t know how much time had passed. His lips were cracked, his clothes were stuck to his skin by half-dried sweat, and his body was as heavy as lead. Everything around him became blurry, and he vaguely heard Monday screaming and shouting “hungry”.
Eventually, the cocoon made of erosion substance finally dried up, and the thin shell collapsed inch by inch, revealing the person inside.
Zhu Yanchen’s clothes had long been eroded away by the erosion substance, and so had his scars. Now his skin was smooth and intact, with a healthy flush. His once weak breath became steady and long, and his heartbeat was strong and powerful.
Shu Jun looked up and saw the other person opening his eyes.
It was probably over now. Shu Jun turned his numb brain and did one last thing.
“You…cover up…with this.” Shu Jun’s voice was hoarse and scary. He threw down his blood-soaked jacket and pushed it onto Zhu Yanchen. “Don’t run around naked…”
Zhu Yanchen’s gaze wandered around the room, finally stopping on Shu Jun, looking shocked and confused. “You—”
“Don’t ask, Grand Marshal.” Shu Jun smiled at him with effort. “I’m not doing so well. Anyway… Good morning.”
Before he finished speaking, he fell forward and slammed into Zhu Yanchen, who had just planned to get up, back onto the ground.
Zhu Yanchen: “…”
He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he didn’t move and allowed Shu Jun to rest his head on his chest. After a few minutes, he embraced Shu Jun tightly, lowered his head very carefully, and kissed the other’s forehead.
“Sleep well.” He looked at his own arm, which was stained with erosion, and whispered softly. “I’ll go get some medicine and come back soon.”
However, Zhu Yanchen hadn’t stood up yet and frowned, stopping his movements.
The erosion didn’t spread over his flesh and blood as usual and slowly eroded his body. Instead, this time, it was like mercury, forming a standard sphere on his skin, then rolling off the ground like raindrops splashing on lotus leaves.
Zhu Yanchen followed the rolling erosion with his eyes and finally noticed something strange about his body—the horrific eroded wounds on his hands had disappeared, his skin was extremely healthy, and not even a callus could be found.
This time, he remained silent for a long time.
He stiffened for more than ten minutes before lying down again and holding Shu Jun in his arms, who had fallen asleep.
“You’ve done something amazing again.” He closed his eyes.
“…Something quite amazing.”
Shu Jun had a dream.
Perhaps he had received too much strange information from Sweet Edge, but he dreamed of a scene he had never seen before.
He dreamed of wandering around the city on the “other side” when he was still young. It was late at night, and the stars were shining in the sky. Standing in front of him was another child, with delicate features and not too short hair softly hanging down his collarbone. He was half a head shorter than himself and had the thinness typical of a rich family child.
He—or she—looked a little frightened, shrank his shoulders, and moved awkwardly, like a fledgling bird that had just stepped out of its cage.
He heard himself asking with a smiling face, [It’s so late. Are you lost?]
The child was startled by someone speaking to him and didn’t answer.
[Hey, do you want to come with me?] Shu Jun naturally moved closer and said, [I know this place well. I can take you home…What’s your name?]
[…Yanchen.] The child seemed to have said two words, but his voice was too soft that Shu Jun only heard the last word.
[Smoke*?]
*Clarity: The child says (延辰) but Shu Jun misheard it as (烟尘) which means smoke.
He habitually scratched his hair.
[Then I’ll call you A’Yan.]
The author has something to say:
Yes, they are childhood sweethearts*!
*Bamboo horses (竹马) Term used to refer to childhood friends who have grown up together.
Finally, I wrote it! I’m so happy! Why would I make a mistake and let the protagonist drop offline in the early stages? I wouldn’t—!
——
Shu Jun: I don’t believe it. The gap is too big. Someone must have eaten chemical fertilizer to grow taller!
Marshal: ?
Kinky Thoughts:
Ah, so this is why Zhu Yanchen uses Smoke as his alias. I love childhood sweethearts stories!
With such a threat like Shu Jun jumping up and down, the Erosion Swamp really didn’t bother to pay attention to Zhu Yanchen—he was just a human who was close to exhaustion and at the end of his life, so he wasn’t a threat at all.
However, Zhu Yanchen threw out a grappling hook, taking advantage of when the Erosion Swamp’s face was leaning down, and jumped all the way to its temple. His clothes were covered in blood, but he stood firmly and steadily, without any sense of weakness.
Several canisters slipped from his hands, and a milky white smoke rose up creating an irritating sizzling sound that followed immediately.
Like acid on flesh, the smoke not only didn’t rise with the wind but also burned against the Erosion Swamp. The erosion material on the surface of the head quickly squirmed, trying to fill the gap, but suddenly stopped halfway and hesitated.
A ten-square-meter hole opened up in the temple, and it couldn’t be closed for a while.
The head stared with its muddy eyes. This was far from a fatal injury, and the effect of the smoke was similar to that of a purifier. It purified the erosion within a certain range and forced the Erosion Swamp to change. Compared to a purifier that worked continuously, this smoke was more disposable—as long as there was enough time, the erosion would eventually be repaired.
Provided there was enough time.
Countless soft filaments stretched out, trying to protect the wound. However, the Erosion Swamp was a conglomerate of erosion substance, and when faced with an obvious threat, the material instinctively avoided it. Shu Jun naturally wouldn’t wait for them to finish dawdling. He took advantage of the momentum and thrust the tip of his sword forward, smashing into the wound with his entire body.
Just as the white smoke dissipated from the central area, Shu Jun’s sword touched the Erosion Swamp.
The timing was seamless.
Zhu Yanchen didn’t stay on the surface of Erosion Swamp for long. The grappling hook shot out again, and he swung over to the ruins of the nearby stronghold, climbing all the way to the roof. This time he took off his outermost protective suit, removed the parts on his back, and assembled a small sniper rifle.
Shu Jun focused all his energy on the Erosion Swamp. The erosion substance at the wound stopped wriggling and became gelatinous. The greatsword smoothly cleaved through the Erosion Swamp, revealing the gray-white brain. He reached out his hand, and the sharp claws plunged into the brain tissue—but this Erosion Swamp’s brain was too large for him to take out, so he could only destroy it bit by bit.
The Erosion Swamp slowly rolled over, trying to forcibly cover the wound with the erosion substance piled up below. Shu Jun closed his eyes and took a deep breath—
“Grand—Marshal—Zhu—”
Zhu Yanchen had just assembled the sniper rifle and paused when he heard the sound.
“I’m going to jump again—if you agree, shoot once—”
Zhu Yanchen laughed. The Erosion Swamp probably couldn’t understand, but he could instantly guess Shu Jun’s tactics. Now that he had “suppressed” it, Shu Jun would be fine. And…
And Shu Jun would soon have to fight alone, so he had to familiarize himself with his own physical condition as soon as possible.
Zhu Yanchen raised his gun and fired a shot into the sky. A cold feeling began to spread from his wound in his abdomen. The painkillers were wearing off, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to control his muscles.
Shu Jun heard the gunshot and drew his sword. “Monday, the information you want has arrived.”
At this moment, the sword only trembled in fear. Shu Jun didn’t wait for its agreement and immediately plunged it into the Erosion Swamp’s brain while the tissue was still regenerating.
In the next second, the Erosion Swamp summoned countless bloody creatures. They desperately tried to pull Shu Jun out of the wound, but he had already sunk deep inside.
This was literally sinking into the mind. Shu Jun held his breath and pushed aside the soft white texture. He continued to activate his “suppression” without stopping, squeezing the Erosion Swamp in his body frantically.
The Erosion Swamp’s instincts were simple: survival and evolution. Since Shu Jun’s swamp was theoretically stronger than this head, it would want to give it a try.
In the darkness, countless erosion tissues emerged from his spine and stirred the suppressed brain tissue together with the sword. Shu Jun couldn’t see the readings on the detection device on his wrist.
[Fusion degree: 28%]
[Fusion degree: 32%]
[Fusion degree: 45%]
……
Shu Jun no longer focused on destruction. He passed over Monday and tried his best to suppress the Erosion Swamp. He could feel the activity of the Erosion Swamp in his body. Around him, the erosion tissues froze and solidified layer by layer, with him at the center.
Human brain activity couldn’t stop for too long, and as a “student”, the Erosion Swamp must have inherited this trait.
His previously fluctuating suppression ability gradually became familiar, like limbs growing on his own body. Finally, the breath of the other Erosion Swamp gradually weakened. Like submitting, the fragmented information of the external erosion flowed into his mind.
…However, the process wasn’t pleasant. The information was extremely messy, without any order, and the despair it contained suffocated him.
These were the memories of this ancient player.
Shu Jun saw Zhu Rong again. The Zhu Rong in the “Erosion Swamp’s” memory was quite similar to Zhu Yanchen, but he was abnormally thin.
[You need to rest and not go to the battlefield in the near future.] Zhu Rong said to the owner of the memory. [You’re pushing yourself too hard.]
[I want to finish the test earlier so that everyone can experience this world.] Unlike now, the female voice at that time was clear and cheerful.
[Zhu Rong, why don’t we chat? Today, my cat…]
[Sorry, I have other plans.] Zhu Rong lowered his head.
[Huh? What?]
……
Still in the same room, faint arguing could be heard from outside the door.
[I won’t change the research direction.] Zhu Rong’s voice was easily recognizable.
[Your affection is putting everyone’s lives at risk.] Another male voice was extremely cold. [Now is a special time, and nobody cares about humanity. People are willing to support you because you saved their loved ones and friends. If they knew what you are doing now…]
[I see.] Zhu Rong’s response was particularly difficult. [Captain, I have no intention of stopping the system immediately. It’s just that the technology isn’t perfected, and I have to take all risks into account.]
[Can you guarantee the results? Resources are not for you to burn. The system has been running for five years without any issues. As a matter of family affection, this is my last warning to you. If you still do not start optimizing the system, what happens next will be beyond my control.]
Zhu Rong opened the door and walked into the room; his face gray and defeated.
[What’s wrong?] The female voice asked. [Things are not going well?]
[It’s nothing. Why are you hurt so badly again?]
[I was a little impatient. Sorry. But I believe in Dr. Zhu. No matter how serious it is, you can heal it—] The female voice was still light and happy, full of sunshine. [Although, haa, if there’s anything troubling you, it’s okay to talk about it. Or think about something good…]
The memory of the warrior turned her gaze to the injured players around her.
[So many people believe in you.] She said.
[Uh… Why are you crying? Are you feeling uncomfortable?]
……
[Happy birthday!] The female voice sounded again, and there was other laughter in the background. [Everyone, come and let’s toast to our Dr. Zhu Rong!]
[Happy birthday. You’re my favorite person in ‘this world’.]
It was still a very carefree and innocent voice.
Finally, the image that Shu Jun least wanted to see squeezed into his mind. This player was similar to himself. She also fell into the Erosion Swamp, but when she woke up, she was no longer human-shaped. She repeatedly checked her hands, and the bones in that hand were exposed, and a black erosion substance crawled on them.
She could no longer hold her sword, and her vision was blurred. Perhaps she was crying, Shu Jun thought. Her body kept convulsing as she struggled to crawl towards the stronghold. Shu Jun knew that feeling—in the midst of darkness and agony, one had to rely solely on faith to persevere.
Unfortunately, they were ultimately different.
The assimilated Erosion Swamp didn’t listen. People had never seen such a monster before, and the workers ran away in all directions while players tried to attack, only to be killed one by one by the liquid columns. Yet she still moved forward in a daze, continuing to devour and search aimlessly.
She used food to make up for what was purified by the purifiers, and she also knew how to avoid it with skills. People had only seen an Erosion Swamp attack on instinct, so they were completely powerless to fight back.
Although people had disappeared, the machines inside the stronghold didn’t stop immediately. The broadcast was still working, and intermittent voices crossed the erosion walls, echoing through the corridors.
[…Yesterday, we lost a hero. The top-ranked warrior “Sweet Edge” sacrificed herself in contact with the giant Erosion Swamp in O City… Today, Marshal Zhu announced the optimization of the existing system. Mr. Zhu Rong said he would retreat for research and didn’t attend…]
[I didn’t sacrifice myself. I am still alive.] She stopped in front of the door at the deepest part of the underground, which was exceptionally sturdy. There was a layer of wall between her and the door, so she couldn’t get in. [Dr. Zhu, are you there?]
She could smell the scent of people, mixed with some strange blood. There must be someone inside, and Zhu Rong may be injured, she thought. He would never leave without his soldiers. All she had to do was wait.
[You can heal me. You’ve always been able to heal me.]
[I’m waiting for you here.]
[Please, I want to go home.]
There was still silence inside the door. She continued to wait, from day to night, until she could no longer stand.
In the end, she gave up, dragging her huge body away from the stronghold and turning towards X City, just like what Shu Jun had done, to search for the non-existent “officials.”
……
Finally, the Erosion Swamp’s brain was completely suppressed. The white erosion masses stopped moving one after another and gradually turned black. The black erosion mass that originally formed the head began to flow and slowly turned into the appearance of a common Erosion Swamp.
In the center of the Erosion Swamp laid a human head. It was composed of erosion substance and was incomplete, with a few vertebrae attached below the neck. Shu Jun propped himself up with his sword and walked towards it with difficulty.
He knew it was bait, but…
As expected, several liquid columns suddenly rose and launched their final attack. Before Shu Jun could draw his sword, several gunshots were heard from a distance, and white smoke filled the air once again. The liquid columns collapsed after their last ditched attack and the Erosion Swamp returned to its calm state.
Shu Jun gestured his gratitude to Zhu Yanchen on the rooftop and continued to move forward.
“Sweet Edge,” he called softly. “It’s over.”
“Ah…” Upon hearing that name, the black head let out a sigh. She opened her mouth, sounding a bit dazed. “Is it the officials? You finally came… It feels like it’s been a long time…”
Then, as if suddenly coming to her senses, she widened her eyes and spoke sharply, “Hurry up and kill me, please—wait, who are you? Why can’t I get up…”
Perhaps due to her brain being messed up, she had fallen into complete confusion.
“Zhu Rong notified us.” Shu Jun tried to lower his voice. “It’s over. This is just a…”
He gritted his teeth. “This is just a bug.”
“Mm,” she replied softly, then closed her eyes again. “I don’t know how my cat is doing.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Shu Jun reached out and placed his hand on the head. “…Good night.”
This was the final “suppression”.
The head disintegrated into erosion substance, and the huge Erosion Swamp calmed down. In terms of size, it still counted as an alpha-level, but it was the kind that Shu Jun was familiar with—it only had instinct left and would only slowly move towards food.
It’s over.
Shu Jun had no desire to continue fighting. At present, there were insufficient combat resources, so there was no need to continue fighting it to the death. Zhu Yanchen was seriously injured, and he had to take him out of here quickly. In addition, he had obtained some intelligence, which might be useful for Marshal Zhu’s research.
Not to mention that his own mind was also in chaos, and Sweet Edge’s despair was still pressing on his nerves.
‘We both need a good rest,’ Shu Jun thought.
Zhu Yanchen was waiting for him on the rooftop. He leaned his body against the sniper rifle, and his protective clothing fluttered in the wind, giving off a sharp aura. It was no wonder that since they had been working together, this person had always stood steadily, like a drawn sword.
“You did well,” Zhu Yanchen said.
“Don’t worry about that. Just put on your mask quickly.”
Shu Jun habitually grabbed Zhu Yanchen, but the other party didn’t cooperate.
“Where’s your mask? Is there emergency medicine in your briefcase? Your wound must be treated as soon as possible. I’ll take you back to the gathering area now. I have information to tell you about the fight just now…”
Zhu Yanchen reached out and pressed Shu Jun’s lips, stopping his words. His fingers under the white gloves were as cold as ice.
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s over.”
“What are you talking about?!” Aren’t you still standing here?
“I just transmitted the last data earlier. It seems like I can only go this far.” Zhu Yanchen’s voice was very soft. “Remember my words, go to Y City and find Ai Xiaoxiao.”
“I told you before, if you keep doing this, I’ll…” Shu Jun’s words were cut off.
He saw the wound on Zhu Yanchen’s abdomen. A deformed organ was exposed from the wound; its color was dull gray black. The amount of bleeding was unusually small. Perhaps due to the lighting, the blood also looked black.
This can’t be real.
They had just won a battle in perfect harmony, and there were still many things Shu Jun hadn’t had the chance to say.
“I know. I really meant it when I said I would listen to your advice before. If you hadn’t saved me when the four-legged Erosion Swamp appeared, I wouldn’t have been able to fight with you in this last battle,” Zhu Yanchen’s tone became even gentler, but Shu Jun wished he was still the cold and indifferent person before.
He shouldn’t have listened to him nagging. Even if he had to use force, he had to take Zhu Yanchen away from this dangerous place. Shu Jun took two steps forward, carefully observing the condition of Zhu Yanchen’s wound, ready to take action at any moment.
“…Can I hug you?”
Seeing this, Zhu Yanchen was silent for a moment before he asked this with a voice that was softer than a sigh.
“Don’t talk. Save your strength,” Shu Jun gently held him. Zhu Yanchen was slightly taller than him, so the action was a bit difficult. “You can hug for as long as you want. I’ll take you away now.”
‘Zhu Yanchen will be fine.’ Shu Jun convinced himself with effort. Everything he tried hard to do would always succeed. He wouldn’t lose; he had never lost.
The wind gathered at his feet as the Erosion Swamp still quietly boiled beside them. The night returned to silence, without a single trace of light in the sky and earth.
The heartbeat of the person in his arms disappeared.
Kinky Thoughts:
Ah, I always cry reading Nian Zhong’s work.
For those who like this kind of morality/theme, I suggest reading Happy Doomsday from her (which I also worked on). I don’t want to talk too much about it, so I don’t give away any spoilers.
For a city where no human had set foot in for 200 years, Shu Jun’s speculation was quite simple.
There were no green plants in the erosion zone. At most, some gray-white mutated plants grew sparsely. In the worst case, the city was crowded with mutant beasts. After so many years of fighting, Shu Jun had seen many city ruins on the edge of the erosion zone, and the situation was similar.
But he had never seen the scene in front of him.
It was a good thing that people couldn’t reach here. Even though Shu Jun could fight through the beasts and create a bloody rain, he was still briefly absent-minded for a few seconds when he saw the scene in front of him.
The city was still there, not reduced to ruins, but all the buildings were twisted and deformed, like a child’s playdough creation. There were black threads sticking in the gaps between buildings like dense spider webs that covered most of the sky. The streets were only black, white, and gray, but they were tidy. Four-legged monsters with human organs strolled leisurely on the streets, neither too many nor too few.
That was the relatively normal part.
There was no smog inside the city. Even standing at the entrance of the city, they could clearly see the appearance of the four-legged monsters—there were also soft threads like honey sticking behind them; countless threads swayed and mixed with the buildings, leading to the sky.
Shu Jun could see the end of those threads.
The soft threads led to the center of the city, where a half-hill-sized head laid.
Its skin texture was similar to that of the four-legged monsters, with human skin patterns but had a corroded luster. The head laid quietly on its side in the center of the city, with no obvious separation between the neck and the ground, like a pile of melted ice cream. The erosion seeped in all directions, pulling out countless sticky and soft black threads.
If this place was a weird insect nest, then it was the core of that nest.
The facial features of the head were much more regular than those of the four-legged monsters, but from a human perspective, the face was twisted and terrifying, as if it had been severely burned. Its eyes were slightly open, occasionally blinking, revealing a hint of murky white under the eyelids. Perhaps because the difference in strength was too great that Shu Jun couldn’t feel the breath or emotions coming from that head.
They can’t win.
That was Shu Jun’s first reaction.
Compared to it, whether it was himself, Zhu Yanchen, or the four-legged monsters around them, they were just ants. Even if it lay still and let him attack, he might not be able to destroy its brain with one fell swoop.
Is this a real alpha-level Erosion Swamp?
Zhu Yanchen raised his head and looked at the head from a distance. His face was covered, and Shu Jun couldn’t see his expression. The four-legged monsters around them were still busy and in high spirits. On the other side, the four-legged monsters that were originally in the city deliberately avoided them, and whispers could be heard from the surroundings.
“A’Yan,” Shu Jun reminded, lest the person observe too intently.
To be honest, Shu Jun didn’t know if the concentration of the erosion substance here could be measured. The air had become thick and viscous. Even with protective gear and medication, there were limits to human resistance. When dealing with ordinary storms, the waterproof function of raincoats and umbrellas still worked. But now their situation was more like falling into a pool, with the erosion substance surging from all sides and almost seeping into their bones.
Zhu Yanchen couldn’t hold on for long in this situation.
Fortunately, Marshal Zhu was aware of this too. He fiddled with the instrument in his hand and took the initiative to hug Shu Jun. “Let’s go.”
Shu Jun had already packed the supplies in his hands and was ready to flee at a moment’s notice since the illusion was lifted—they were currently at the door and still had a chance to escape. Once they got close to the head, it would be difficult to say.
He didn’t hold back, and the high concentration of the erosion substance actually helped him. A violent storm swept around, several times stronger than usual, and the four-legged monsters were blown away instantly. Shu Jun let Zhu Yanchen hug him, holding two bags of supplies in his hands, and flew hastily towards the path they came from.
However, things didn’t go so smoothly.
The sticky black silk wrapped around and condensed into a strangely shaped giant that was created out of thin air. It looked like it came out of a child’s crude drawing, with an extremely twisted body structure that completely defied biology—not long after it was created, it couldn’t support its weight. The flesh on the giant’s body burst open in clumps and fell to the ground along with its bones.
But it could still move.
Ignoring its splattering black blood, the giant opened its arms towards Shu Jun, trying to embrace the two escapees. Shu Jun narrowly avoided it, almost being hit head-on. The giant was just too big, with the thickness of its arms comparable to that of a lighthouse. Shu Jun didn’t want to imagine the consequences of being hit by it.
The most troublesome thing was not its size.
The sticky silk was wrapped around the giant’s body, and several strands stuck to Shu Jun. He could feel the freezing hostility that was transmitted through the silk, causing him to shudder as he tried to break free, but the spider-like silk stuck tighter and tighter, making it impossible for him to escape.
The four-legged monsters let out sharp cries, and more and more silk began drifting towards them.
Once caught, it would be over.
The dying giant was still flailing at the city gate. Shu Jun held his breath, flying nimbly in the air, doing his best to prevent more silk from wrapping around him. Zhu Yanchen freed up one hand and continuously fired purification shots at the few strands of silk that stuck to them. However, there was just too much erosion substance in the air, and the purification bullets were consumed near the muzzle before they touched the soft silk.
Shu Jun tried to assist with wind blades, but the effect was still pitiful—they looked like two fools insisting on washing their clothes in a mud pit.
Zhu Yanchen stopped moving and fell into deep thought.
“This is the first time I’m kiting in the literal sense. Any suggestions? I really need some advice now.”
Sweat dripped down Shu Jun’s cheeks as he used all his strength to control the wind. The soft silk threads that wrapped around him were becoming more and more difficult to dodge. On the other side, the giant started self-destructing in a bloody mess as soon as it appeared. Shu Jun didn’t even know where to start. It no longer had a human form and was now just a bloody skeleton, screaming in agony and struggling like a mad dog. Every time it struggled; it was a dangerous attack.
“Suppress your erosion substance,” Zhu Yanchen said. “It’s been tracking you, not me. Your previous guess was correct. Like those four-legged Erosion Swamps, it also identifies things based on their erosion substance.”
Even if those small Erosion Swamps were stupid, the one in the center of the city didn’t seem to be. Shu Jun didn’t think he could get past it with just substitutes created from blood and mud. He couldn’t control the concentration of erosion substance by frantically sucking up and spitting out water like Monday did either.
Shu Jun was at a loss.
“To give an analogy, the higher the concentration of erosion substance, the brighter the ‘light’ that activates. You’re the most noticeable light, and it just needs to follow your light.”
As if sensing Shu Jun’s confusion, Zhu Yanchen further explained. Despite being on such a fierce battlefield, his voice was calm and steady.
“Using a bloody bandage as a substitute is like creating a small bulb with equivalent brightness to impersonate yourself; diluting the erosion substance with water, is like directly reducing the brightness of the bulb. Now I suggest you turn off the light voluntarily.”
“How do I turn it off? By pretending to be dead?” Shu Jun tasted a hint of bitterness, barely dodging a bunch of silk threads aimed at his face.
“Let your erosion substance play dead.”
Here it comes again. Shu Jun felt bitter once again as Marshal Zhu started to assign him another impossible task.
“This is too abstract, Grand Marshal!” Shu Jun let out a cry of despair, barely dodging a cluster of silk threads coming towards his face.
“You’ve done it before.” Zhu Yanchen hugged his arm with some force. “Do you remember a few days ago when you carried me to the inn?”
“I remember.”
“I don’t know what you did, but you made the erosion substance in my body much calmer. Think back to what you were thinking at the time and try to do it more thoroughly.”
His thoughts?
His thoughts at that time were simple—Zhu Yanchen wasn’t feeling well and needed to rest, so he needed to stay as quiet as possible. If the surroundings could be quieter too, then that would be even better.
Could such an ordinary thought really work?
However, Zhu Yanchen was an expert in not wasting time with meaningless talk. Shu Jun didn’t continue to question and closed his eyes. The horrifying city was left behind his eyelids, and only darkness lay in front of him.
Don’t panic. Stay focused.
Everything had to remain quiet.
No, take it a step further. Everything around him must remain completely quiet, preferably without making a sound. The situation was a matter of life and death, and Shu Jun didn’t care where the outside noises were coming from. He didn’t know if this was considered staying focused, but he could confirm one thing—the desire was strong and genuine.
Suddenly, there was a soft snap next to him.
He didn’t know when, but the threads were snapped one by one. They floated aimlessly in the air, like snakes without a target. Shu Jun dared not breathe or make any unnecessary movements. He circled around the giant, still screaming in pain, and flew towards the outskirts of the city at his fastest speed ever.
Shu Jun could feel Zhu Yanchen’s tense body gradually relax as the air cleared.
“Go southwest,” Marshal Zhu whispered hoarsely. “You can’t maintain a suppressive state throughout the journey. There’s an old stronghold in the southwest where we can hide.”
“Okay.” Shu Jun finally breathed a sigh of relief. “What about you? The situation in X city is beyond expectations, and it’s probably a waste of time to investigate there.”
“I’ve taken a lot of pictures, and I need to send the chips out as soon as possible. The erosion here is too severe, and the chips will soon be obsolete. Then… I can help you test some data and stabilize your new skills.”
Zhu Yanchen’s tone was a little vague.
“There will also be some information in the base, and providing some supplementary data would be helpful… The situation in X City is beyond my expectations, and the trip to the seaside may have to be canceled.”
“I hope you mean going home early instead of camping here,” Shu Jun muttered. “Wait, are you talking about that stronghold?”
Flying at an extremely fast speed, it didn’t take long for the horrifying city to disappear from their sight. At first, there were some four-legged monsters wandering in the suburbs, but as they walked farther away, they could only see common mutant beasts wandering around the Erosion Swamps. Although the nearby erosion level was still frighteningly high, at least it was a familiar sight.
In the wilderness, the man-made buildings were particularly eye-catching.
Although it was a stronghold 200 years ago, it didn’t look much different from the present. Shu Jun slowly landed, not sensing any abnormal energy around him—to avoid being deceived by illusions again, he had circled around the stronghold in various patterns for a long time, even asking for Monday’s opinion.
Scared by the situation in X City, Monday’s mood was quite bad. “Get lost!”
“It seems there is no problem.” Shu Jun twisted his greatsword and finally ended his patrol. “I wonder if the rooms here are still usable.”
The answer was no.
The purifiers here had long stopped working. Strange mutant plants emerged from the cracks in the walls, and the bed sheets were covered in round, bulging mold that was black and white, like piles of eyeballs. Cups and jars were scattered all over the floor, covered in thick dust that completely covered the traces of human existence.
Shu Jun and Zhu Yanchen exchanged glances and started to descend underground.
The condition underground was better. The rooms deep underground still maintained their original state, without too many strange invasive creatures.
Shu Jun opened each door one by one and soon discovered the player storage area. Rows of hibernation pods lay quietly, like coffins. Shu Jun hesitated for a moment, then walked in first. The atmosphere between the two was a bit awkward for a moment.
This was the place where the first batch of “players” logged into the “game”.
Shu Jun originally thought he would see a lot of corpses, but when he looked at each hibernation pod, there were no bones or even a speck of dust inside.
Something was off.
As they walked along, they hadn’t seen any corpses. Although the erosion ability of the erosion substance was strong, it shouldn’t have been able to consume bodies to the point where not even bones were left.
“…Was this base shut down before the Erosion Swamp attacked?” Shu Jun searched around but found nothing. 200 years had passed, and even ordinary light bulbs couldn’t function properly, let alone precision instruments.
“This was Zhu Rong’s stronghold, and it must have been in use at the time.” Zhu Yanchen’s tone was a bit solemn. “It shouldn’t be this clean here. Let’s keep looking.”
Shu Jun nodded and searched each room with Zhu Yanchen, collecting dead rats, insect shells, and curled-up spiders. They even stumbled upon a dried-up fish tank, where a gray-white lump of flesh wriggled and filled the tank to the brim. With a numb expression, Shu Jun threw it out the door.
They had seen almost everything on their way down, but conspicuously absent were the skeletal remains of humans.
Until they reached the deepest part underground.
“If there’s still nothing here. Let’s cook dinner and take a break first.” Shu Jun waved the flashlight around. “I’m a bit tired. If we keep looking, I probably won’t be able to suppress the erosion substance anymore.”
“Okay.” Zhu Yanchen held another flashlight. The concentration of erosion substance wasn’t high here, and he seemed to have recovered a bit.
“I haven’t been to the deepest part of a stronghold before.” Seeing the other party’s condition improve, Shu Jun relaxed a little and began to find topics to chat about. “What’s usually in the deepest level?”
Zhu Yanchen was silent for a few seconds. “Synthetic human breeding equipment.”
…Okay, the atmosphere just got even more awkward. Shu Jun took a deep breath and went to push the door in front of him.
The door didn’t budge.
Shu Jun tried to use his erosion to form a hook so he could break the lock from the inside, but the strand of erosion substance flailed around for a while without making any sound of metal cracking. He frowned and swung Monday, but only got a scream from Monday, leaving no scratch on the door.
“Zhu Rong was the top biological expert at that time, and he did quite a bit of research on erosion. This used to be his laboratory, and the anti-erosion ability here shouldn’t be underestimated.” Zhu Yanchen touched the door panel. “As long as the erosion material is completely blocked, another alpha won’t be able to find you. It’s very suitable as a practice field for you to freely use.”
After speaking, he pulled out his gun. “But if there are no bodies even here…we can’t stay here for long unless we find a reason.”
“Don’t you have any guesses?”
“No.” Zhu Yanchen squatted down, took out a set of surgical tools from his briefcase-like bag, and began to pick the lock.
“…You really know everything. Seriously, why does a marshal need to learn how to pick locks?”
Zhu Yanchen didn’t answer. He fiddled with it for five or six minutes, inputted a few electrical currents, and the door slowly opened. A foul and wet smell instantly hit them, and Shu Jun covered his nose as he followed Zhu Yanchen into the room.
There were sluggish, sizzling sounds in the room. Shu Jun only heard a snap, and the large room was instantly lit up.
“There’s the sound of a motor here.” Zhu Yanchen stood in front of the switch. “The lights can still barely work.”
“It seems we don’t have to leave.” Shu Jun answered with a nasal voice.
A dry corpse sat silently in front of the table, with withered flesh tightly attached to the bones, and the white clothes on its body had become a decayed brown color. It had lowered its head slightly, and its hollow eye sockets faced the empty tabletop. There was a gun at the foot of the corpse, and the bloodstain on it wasn’t covered by the accumulated dust.
A name tag was hanging on the corpse’s clothes with the words “Zhu Rong” that was very striking.
“…Zhu Rong committed suicide?” Shu Jun looked at the state of the corpse for a while. “He shot himself in the mouth.”
“Our records here say ‘sacrificed in the disaster in X City’. Many people went missing during the evacuation process in X City at that time, and no one could go back to the erosion zone to search, so they were all declared dead.” Faced with his supposed ancestor, Zhu Yanchen didn’t show any extra emotions.
Shu Jun didn’t answer.
Behind the corpse was a glass observation window, from which he could see the tightly arranged breeding tanks inside. As a device that required a lot of electricity, the power to the breeding tanks had long been cut off, and the liquid inside was so murky that only the outlines of the contents could barely be seen.
They looked like swollen people, but not quite like people—rows of small bodies floated in the breeding tanks like a scene from a nightmare. Zhu Yanchen hesitated for a few seconds before going forward and pulling down the curtain. “…Don’t look.”
Shu Jun lowered his gaze and then quickly closed the still open door. “We’ll eat here and talk it out. <Erosion> barely mentioned anything about Zhu Rong. What’s his story?”
“Over two hundred years ago, purification in the surrounding area could only be done by humans themselves, leading to a large number of severely ill patients with erosion. The hibernation pod was for patients with severe erosion. At that time, medicine couldn’t relieve their pain, so it was better to put their minds into the virtual world—that was Zhu Rong’s original proposal.”
Zhu Yanchen glanced at the corpse.
“Later, some patients began to resist reality, subconsciously regarding ‘over there’ as the real world. It was just self-deception in despair.”
“But Zhu Rong was inspired,” Shu Jun said while crossing his arms.
“Zhu Rong had been researching highly tolerant experimental animals to replace humans in purifying the surrounding area. He started with mice, then dogs. But their intelligence was too low, and their lifespan was too short.”
As Zhu Yanchen spoke, he flipped through the items on the corpse. Shu Jun looked at his back and suspected that he was deliberately avoiding eye contact.
“After being inspired, he started using humans as materials. He fragmented the genes of highly tolerant humans, randomly selected and recombined them, and selectively supplemented them with gene fragments from other species—these hybrids had enough tolerance and intelligence. Except for their short lifespan, they had no other defects.”
So it turned out that they didn’t even have a template. It was just a random product of a jigsaw puzzle. No wonder Zhu Yanchen had said before that “the composite of each synthetic person is different”. Shu Jun snorted.
“As long as the hibernation pod is reasonably modified, allowing the synth to mistake the purification project for a game, they won’t have much resentment. Zhu Rong successfully used synthetic humans to replace ordinary humans, and the human death rate greatly decreased. Over the years, the player system has also been continuously improved, and the result is what you see.”
Shu Jun grunted.
For himself, this person was the originator of all nightmares, but for humanity, Zhu Rong was likely to be hailed as a hero. Thinking about it this way, the situation in front of him seemed even more strange. Could it be he found that synthetic humans had serious problems and committed suicide out of fear of punishment? After so many years, humanity still insisted that the tragedy in X City was a natural disaster and continued to use synthetic humans without any signs of exposing the problem.
“So what’s going on in this scene?”
“I don’t know.” Zhu Yanchen lowered his gaze. “The Zhu family records of Zhu Rong are also scarce. But this person was very clever. Since he chose to commit suicide here, there must be clues he left behind.”
However, it seemed that Marshal Zhu didn’t find anything—he stopped his search and took out a recording chip from the device to install it onto the messenger mutant beast. But before he finished, a device without a memory chip emitted a sound.
[Synthetic human personalities cannot be controlled and should not be mass-produced. We were supposed to produce a minimum to ensure the normal operation of the purification work. The current number of synthetic humans has seriously exceeded the limit… This is a dangerous and uncontrollable project that can only be used as a transitional means. Once humans have escaped the survival crisis, the player system must be abolished immediately.]
[My research on possible vulnerabilities and risks of the player system was forcibly terminated, but I have handed over my interim results to the people I trust.]
[I do not accept any further research on improving the player program, nor do I accept any threats against my parents on this basis. I cannot leave the Zhu family, but I can withdraw from the project in this way.]
[When you find my body, I am probably already decomposing. I do not need any appearance repair. Just let me leave like this.]
[I’m sorry.]
The voice was young and unfamiliar, calm but with suppressed pain. The message continued to repeat without any new information.
Suddenly, Shu Jun realized a problem, and a chill crawled up his spine. He was sure that Zhu Yanchen had also thought of the same thing.
According to the message, Zhu Rong deliberately closed the door and delayed the time for the discovery of the body so that he could leave with the most embarrassing appearance. But the premise of the plan was that people would eventually come to find him when they discovered something was wrong.
This only meant one thing—Zhu Rong had already died before the attack of the Erosion Swamp. People hadn’t had the chance to discover this and were driven out of the city.
Shu Jun thought Zhu Rong’s last words could solve some problems, but it only made the disaster in X City more mysterious. He lost his appetite and said, “Let’s go.”
“What?”
“The practice of suppressing the erosion substance, the sooner I can master it, the sooner we can leave here, right?” Shu Jun couldn’t help but look at the glass window. “The things you saw in the city, my blood sample, plus Zhu Rong’s last words. If you want to prove that the player system has problems, these should be enough, right?”
“…I’ll send out the data from this period first, and then we’ll start when we get back.” Zhu Yanchen stood up. “But there is still some missing data. I promise you that I won’t rashly approach X City until we figure out the current situation.”
“Okay.” Shu Jun watched Zhu Yanchen open the door. “Wait, I’ll take… A’Yan!!!”
It was no longer an empty corridor on the other side of the door, but a murky eye. It squeezed into the entire door frame and looked inside.
Zhu Yanchen reacted quickly. He tried to avoid it as soon as possible and threw the mutant beast and chip in his hand to Shu Jun. However, it was a room with no way out, and he was too close to the door. A strand of filament twisted into a long spear and directly pierced his abdomen.
“Keep it safe!” This was the first time Shu Jun had heard Zhu Yanchen shout so loudly. “Don’t worry, it didn’t try to kill me…urgh.”
Before he finished speaking, the eye retreated and pulled Zhu Yanchen out of the door. Shu Jun grabbed the chip in one hand and the sword in the other, then immediately swung forward. But before his sword could land, the eye disappeared.
What went wrong? Did he not hide his breath well enough?
Why did the alpha-level Erosion Swamp from X City personally chase after them?
Shu Jun didn’t take the stairs; he simply hacked open the concrete floor with his sword and rushed straight up. When he reached the outside, Shu Jun immediately threw the damn chip into the sky and watched the small mutant beast fly away. Then he turned to the giant skull not far away.
That thing was too big. Earlier, it had only stretched its eye like a snail into the corridor and stuffed it in, but now it was retracting it. Zhu Yanchen was strung up next to the eye, but he didn’t give up resistance as the sound of a purification gun was constant in Shu Jun’s ears.
But the opponent was like a mountain.
The eye of the skull retracted, and its terrifying human face took shape again. It didn’t open its mouth, but Shu Jun heard its voice. Unlike those four-legged monsters, the voice entered his brain and was as intense as piercing his heart, twisting his internal organs into a knot.
“Is he your friend?”
It wasn’t a thought that came through, but an actual human voice. The voice belonged to a young woman, and her tone was somewhat strange, as if she hadn’t spoken in a long time.
“He’s your friend, isn’t he?” Seeing that Shu Jun didn’t respond, she began to answer her own question.
Shu Jun’s hand holding the sword became cold. No matter how he looked at it, he was not her opponent.
But he had to rescue Zhu Yanchen. Aside from their cooperative relationship, if Zhu Yanchen had come alone to investigate as a human, he would only need to make a record and wouldn’t be targeted by these chaotic things. Since this thing had asked out loud, the target was obviously him.
“What do you want? Intelligence?” Shu Jun chose to answer directly with words, his eyes constantly searching for a loophole in the direction of Zhu Yanchen. “Let him go, and we can talk.”
The lips of the skull didn’t move, but a string of laughter smashed into his brain.
“I want you to be more serious,” she said. “You clearly have some ability, but as soon as you saw me, you ran away. That won’t do.”
She provocatively extended her soft threads and waved them in front of Zhu Yanchen’s face. Shu Jun drew his sword immediately, and Zhu Yanchen took the opportunity to fire several shots. However, those soft threads quickly swelled and turned into a large mass of pulsing flesh, and both the sword and the bullets felt like they were hitting cotton. Shu Jun watched helplessly as the other party was pulled away again and warm blood was flung onto his face.
It was like a cat playing with two mice.
“If you want information, come and take it. It’s just a little bit of flesh, and I’m not someone who can’t bear pain,” Shu Jun gritted his teeth.
“Show some respect for your elders.” Countless threads surrounded Shu Jun, each one glaring menacingly. “You’re a ‘player’ too—you should know that’s not what I want.”
The erosion matter piled up layer upon layer beside her head, emitting a disgusting, sticky sound.
“If you had asked me a hundred years ago, I would have wanted to go home.”
She said, her voice barely fluctuating.
“Now, I need you to kill me… What’s your ranking before death?”
“First,” Shu Jun dryly answered, and now that “first” was just a joke.
“How coincidental. I was first too.” The laughter in the voice of the erosion swamp grew even stronger. “You better put in your maximum effort—otherwise, I’ll just devour you and turn your friends into a snack.”
…This time, he might have bumped into his true kind.
They had underestimated the Erosion Swamp in X City. As a peak warrior from 200 years ago, she was definitely more familiar with the surrounding terrain than they were. If they fled directly, they would probably be discovered by her, as Zhu Yanchen had guessed. But if they disappeared completely, she might be able to guess where they were going to escape to.
From the moment she had locked onto them, they were destined to be unable to escape.
“Since you want to die so badly, you can work harder on your own. No need to go through all this trouble,” Shu Jun said, while delaying time and quickly thinking about tactics.
“It seems like the Erosion Swamp hasn’t affected you yet.” The laughter in the woman’s voice disappeared slightly. “It’s not that easy to deal with. If you want to live, that’s fine. If you want to die, that’s even better. The latter requires you to find stronger opponents—even if I don’t want to resist, it will take over my brain and fight with all its might. Unfortunately, I have encountered dozens of alpha-level Erosion Swamps, but I still won.”
She slightly widened her eyes, and her cloudy eyes were filled with longing.
“But you’re different. You have a mature brain and interesting abilities. You can even escape from my hands once.”
Yes, that’s it, keep talking. Shu Jun kept his gaze fixed on Zhu Yanchen and continued to consider possible solutions.
There it is.
“You…” Before the next words could come out, Shu Jun gathered the wind under his feet, becoming a blur as he charged towards the silk that trapped Zhu Yanchen.
[Be quiet.] He focused all his energy and stared at the silk that pierced through Zhu Yanchen, then swung his sword down fiercely.
This time the silk didn’t expand and was cleanly cut by the sword.
Without hesitation, Shu Jun grabbed Zhu Yanchen’s arm and immediately ran in the opposite direction. The remaining silks madly attacked, and Shu Jun dodged each one at his fastest speed. But he hadn’t run far when a soft, erosion wall suddenly appeared in front of him.
This time, it was Zhu Yanchen who made the move.
Taking advantage of the distance from the flesh wall, Zhu Yanchen took out two marble-sized objects and threw them out. Immediately, two large holes were blown into the erosion wall, and the explosion almost singed Shu Jun’s hair.
“Lead it to the ground.” Despite being seriously injured, Zhu Yanchen’s voice wasn’t weak or panicked. “That way, I can fight with you.”
“I can fly—”
“You can’t use the same move twice. If I’m not mistaken, we should be trapped under at least three layers of erosion nets. If you turn to deal with those nets, it can take the opportunity to attack you.” Zhu Yanchen took off his gas mask and stuffed a handful of medicine into his mouth.
Then he didn’t put it back on.
“I’ll make sure you’ll live.” Zhu Yanchen’s voice was quite firm. “Shu Jun, first draw its attention to the ground.”
“’Suppressing erosion’… Your ability is really interesting.” The voice sounded in his mind again, with a chilling joy. “I haven’t destroyed an alpha with this kind of ability before. You still have a chance, so please do your best.”
“This is our first on-site tactical cooperation, worth commemorating.” Shu Jun shook his head vigorously and charged towards the ground.
Zhu Yanchen didn’t answer. He took out several canister from his briefcase and put then put it aside carefully.
“We have three advantages. First, it seems to want to fight with you. I won’t ask why. The good thing about fighting between alpha Erosion Swamps is that there won’t be any mutant beasts involved in this level of battle. Your opponent is only it. At most, it can create temporary things.”
“Second, so far, it hasn’t taken me seriously.”
“Third, you’re stronger than it.”
“Are you serious?” Looking at the head the size of a small hill in front of him, Shu Jun couldn’t laugh or cry, and his voice changed a little.
Zhu Yanchen smiled instead, which was the second time Shu Jun had seen him smile. This time, his smile was more natural, with a subtle sense of satisfaction.
“The Erosion Swamp that you merged with is even larger than this. I adjusted your condition every day, and you are very solidly fused with it,” he said softly. “Although there are differences in fusion degree and experience, theoretically, you are stronger than it. Be more confident.”
Shu Jun scratched his gray hair and almost scratched off his scalp. “Forget it. At this point, it has to work—I can’t really drag you down. Even if I lose, I don’t want to lose so miserably.”
The erosion filaments suddenly shook, and the giant Erosion Swamp began to turn towards the ground to attack. Shu Jun and Zhu Yanchen jumped left and right, agilely dodging. Shu Jun couldn’t help but glance at Zhu Yanchen.
This man was clearly seriously injured, but he moved around as if nothing was wrong.
Zhu Yanchen’s movements were standard, but his trajectory was quite interesting. He used the terrain to move through the ruins like a ghost. Many filaments were trapped in the building gaps by him causing the giant head to have a slight deflection. The horrifying face tilted slightly downward.
Shu Jun instantly understood Zhu Yanchen’s intentions.
People couldn’t change their own physiological structural information. This Erosion Swamp retained the appearance of a human head, so the information must also come from a real human head.
There was a high probability that the location of its vulnerability was consistent with the location of the brain.
If he could use “suppression” properly, he might be able to break through that layer of defense and touch its brain. At present, they didn’t have many choices. Although it was unclear whether he could really defeat it after touching it, this was still a tactic worth trying.
Shu Jun immediately soared into the air, cooperating with Zhu Yanchen on the ground. He deliberately circled a few more times, flew high enough, and pretended to be looking for the erosion filament network in the sky, trying to distract the Erosion Swamp’s attention from Zhu Yanchen.
However, as a former warrior, the Erosion Swamp wasn’t easy to deceive. It quickly discovered its posture problem and began to adjust slowly. Shu Jun seized this gap, rushed down from a high altitude, and sprinted towards the temple of the head.
Over-concentrated mental energy made his head throb faintly. He rushed too fast, so the Erosion Swamp didn’t react in time, and it was too late to build up many defenses—
At least that was what it looked like on the surface.
The next second, the annoying laughter appeared again. Just as Shu Jun was about to swing his sword down, a liquid column pierced horizontally, directly piercing his right shoulder. Shu Jun suddenly lost his balance and was heavily impaled onto the nearby ruins, smashing up a large cloud of dust.
“Too direct.” The Erosion Swamp murmured, and more liquid columns followed, with the momentum of piercing Shu Jun into minced meat.
“Really?” Shu Jun propped himself up with his sword, stood up from the ground, and cut off the liquid columns that followed.
Then he slid down one of the liquid columns and once again rushed straight towards the temple.
Kinky Translations 