Chapter 10 - The Marsh Thieves

Shu Jun had never heard of this ‘Village of The Impaired’.

Seeing that Zhu Yanchen was about to wash his face, Shu Jun didn’t intend to force the guy to explain. If he ignored the fact that he was injected just now, the early morning made him feel very refreshing, and Shu Jun didn’t want to think about things that were as unpleasant as the sticky erosive substance for the time being.

His condition had stabilised a bit now, so let’s have a look at the village first before asking more questions. Anyway, with the handcuffs still on, he couldn’t run away, and Zhu Yanchen couldn’t hide from him either. Apart from those uninspiring theories that he had heard from Zhu Yanchen, he still had tons of other questions.

Zhu Yanchen extended a chain between the handcuffs, allowing Shu Jun to move more freely. Shu Jun rinsed his mouth and chewed on the rations comfortably: “I’m an unexpected variable in your plan… Based on this statement, even without me, you actually planned to slip out of your base since the very beginning?” 

So you don’t want to be a marshal living a cosy life, instead, you want to crawl into this heavily eroded zone all alone. Even if he wanted to quietly investigate this village, it wouldn’t hurt to arrange some backup to go with him. Shu Jun felt that this guy must have other purposes.

This matter was directly related to Shu Jun’s safety — What happened when Zhu Yanchen finished investigating and the army caught up? Once they found out that Marshal Zhu was being followed by Shu Jun, a walking Erosion Marsh, he would get into trouble. Let’s take a step back: Assuming that Zhu Yanchen had arranged everything well and the army wouldn’t hurt Shu Jun, Shu Jun also didn’t want more people to know about his condition.

He was well aware of the attitude of the coalition government and the players towards Erosion Marsh.

“Even if you weren’t there, another mutated monster had actually been planned to attack me, and I would still end up being ‘kidnapped’.”

Taking good care of his briefcase as always, Zhu Yanchen closed the lid, then he said as if he could see through Shu Jun’s mind: “Don’t worry. Your condition won’t be revealed. If we stay outside for a few more days, the coalition government will change my status from ‘Missing’ to ‘Dead’.”

“Oh, you can just tell me directly like this? You’re the only person who knows that there’s an Erosion Marsh inside me. Aren’t you afraid that…”

Aren’t you afraid that I may change my mind and decide to silence you?

“I’m not afraid.” Zhu Yanchen’s movements paused for a second: “And looking at your current condition, if you kill me, you won’t be able to live for more than a few days. The marsh is still mixing with your body. If no one helps you to control it, it’ll soon swallow you up entirely.”

The emergency ration in Shu Jun’s mouth suddenly felt tasteless.

Betraying his partner might be possible, but no one would dare to betray his own caretaker.

“Good point, but why are you faking your own death?” Shu Jun hurriedly ended this dangerous topic.

Zhu Yanchen didn’t immediately answer, and after a quiet moment, he said with his back still turned towards Shu Jun: “…Due to many reasons that you don’t need to care about. You only need to know that for now, you’re safe.”

Shu Jun let out a soft “Uhm”, as though he fully understood.

Being told that he didn’t need to care actually made him care even more.

“Give me your hand.” After Zhu Yanchen tidied up his stuff, from his pocket, he took out a gadget that looked like a large-sized bracelet — Calling it a bracelet was actually euphemism. Shu Jun thought this thing looked more like a retro-style dog leash.

“One hand being handcuffed is enough, really.” Shu Jun hid his unhandcuffed hand behind his back: “A Yan, you really don’t need to go this far —” 

“It’s not to restrain you.” Zhu Yanchen moved closer with a blank expression: “This can help monitor your physical condition. I adjusted it last night. It doesn’t hurt to put it on.”

Shu Jun was stunned. Now that he thought about it carefully, this person had never rested since the two of them met. Earlier, did he study Shu Jun’s flesh for this?

Shu Jun sighed and earnestly stretched out his wrist.

The bracelet of rusty iron colour snapped automatically, causing a slight tingling at his wrist. This thing was mostly made of soft metal and was much lighter than he thought. At least, it wouldn’t affect his movements. Taking a closer look, it kind of resembled the device that displayed the character stats inside the game. On the smooth metal surface, bright-coloured yet inconspicuous letters slowly emerged, looking like patterns carved on the surface at first glance.

[Harmony: 19%; Resonance level: 7; Vital signs are stable.] 

After ascertaining that the stats were displayed correctly, Zhu Yanchen nodded with satisfaction: “Let’s go.”

As Marshal Zhu was standing very close, even if he had already put on his face mask, Shu Jun could still see the lack of sleep under his eyes. If Zhu Yanchen wanted to completely control Shu Jun, he could have taken Shu Jun’s blood more frequently and sneakily kept the stats all to himself.

But he didn’t do it.

Letting out a long sigh, Shu Jun shook his wrist: “Thanks.” 

A few seconds later, he added: “If the situation turns bad, I’ll protect you. You… don’t be so hard on yourself.”

He needed to put a clear line between the favours he owed and the skepticism that he still had towards Zhu Yanchen. Shu Jun had never liked owing anyone a favour. It was only after those words were said that Shu Jun realised he might have said something wrong. To someone far superior than him in ranks, this sentence might have crossed the line.

He was ready to receive a nonchalant response merely out of courtersy, but Zhu Yanchen stopped at the door and answered with a very solemn expression: “I know.”

“…” What’s happened to him?

After daybreak, this place became even ghostlier. People whose faces had been deformed were walking slowly in the abandoned corridors, and the blotchy walls were sprayed with various words and sentences, their writing too messy to be readable.

Some people were wearing gas masks yet some simply were not, and their faces were so deformed that even their facial features couldn’t be recognised anymore. Some of the cysts looked extremely horrifying and even deformed the whole body, making a few of them walk on all fours.

They all passed by as quietly as ghosts, no one stopping to look at the two strangers. Compared with these people, the symptoms of the corpse handler last night were mild.

The composition of each person was different and a very small number of individuals were dangerously intolerant to the erosive substance, so much so that even purifying medicine wouldn’t be able to help them last too long. Such people would develop more severe cysts and likely couldn’t be saved. Based on Shu Jun’s existing knowledge, these people should be living in the city and receiving appropriate care while waiting for death.

Shu Jun slowly breathed in. Even the air here felt frosty.

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“So you’re here, I was about to call you over for breakfast.” The woman from last night quickly walked towards them with her face mask properly in place, even having a pink clip on her hair. She squinted at Shu Jun in caution, then her eyes fell on the handcuffs between the two of them, her whole body slightly shrinking back.

Thinking about how this woman was so scared of him even though she lived among severely deformed people, Shu Jun felt a bit complicated.

“We’ve eaten.” Zhu Yanchen replied with a relaxed tone.

“Oh, oh.” The woman said with a bit of surprise: “We’re still having breakfast, I’ll take you there first.”

Leaving the run-down stronghold, they moved to a place with rows of single-floor houses. She led the two of them to stand in front of one such house: “Lao Wei, Lao Wei, they’re here!”

A few coarse coughs came from the house as an answer.

As the door opened, out of courtesy, Shu Jun pressed down the surprise on his face.

There was an old man sitting in the chair — This was, in fact, a very generic description. In details, what he saw was an almost half-melted person covering the chair, like a candle that was about to be entirely burnt. His body looked like layers of melted wax hanging loosely on the grey wooden chair.

The whole room was filled with decaying cabinets, with a bowl of porridge on the table in front of the old man and a urinal merely a few steps away from him. The place gave off an indescribable smell. The woman bowed to them awkwardly and took her leave first.

Facing the scene before his eyes, Zhu Yanchen didn’t have much reaction.

“How did you two know about this place?” The old man spoke, his half-melted mouth forming a black hole. “Our village is just a small place. If you want to catch rare mutated monsters, there’s nothing valuable here.”

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

“I’ve heard from Xiao Xi. She recently ran to the corpse disposal site just to steal parts from the machines. Whatever the case is, I’m here to apologise to you… You must have seen that our purifiers are all broken.”

This makes sense, Shu Jun thought. This village looked shabby, and the villagers didn’t seem to have much combat power. In such a village full of dying people, what exactly did Zhu Yanchen want to investigate?

“She wasn’t there to steal the machine parts.” Zhu Yanchen finally spoke. “She couldn’t even start the purifying machines, so it’s unlikely that she can remove the machine parts without leaving any trace. She probably will trigger a security breach signal on the first day, yet she manages to stay there for more than a month. It’s also not so easy to blend into the team of corpse handlers. Someone here must have a connection.”

The old man didn’t answer, and a light gasp escaped his throat.

“She has violated the corpse disposal rules, resulting in the death of three soldiers. According to the regulations, this village must be investigated carefully.” Zhu Yanchen said again.

Whether it was last night or now, Marshal Zhu could speak so much when he threatened others, but when it came to talking with Shu Jun, he was like a wooden fish1 that only made a sound when knocked on. Shu Jun zoned out a bit, not quite understanding what sort of mysterious catch-and-run game that the two of them were playing with each other.

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

“I want to see the Erosion Marsh you’re raising.” Zhu Yanchen’s tone became colder: “If you cooperate nicely, we’ll only penalise that woman for violating the rules of corpse disposal (T/N: Here, Zhu Yanchen means that they won’t prosecute her for unintentionally causing the death of three soldiers). The Erosion Marsh here will only be monitored by the military, so things won’t become too ugly. Otherwise, we will follow the standard procedure and bury the marsh, then take you all back to the city.”

“It sounds great.” Lao Wei laughed: “But it’s a pity that the people here won’t agree with that.”

“Then it’s indeed a pity.” Zhu Yanchen’s voice didn’t sound like he actually felt any pity: “No matter what, I can’t allow you to continue stealing Erosional Marsh from the corpse disposal site.”

Stealing Erosion Marsh? That woman went to the corpse disposal site to steal the marsh?

What was the point of raising an Erosion Marsh?

Just when Shu Jun was about to express his doubts, a faint howl came to them. This time, the howl of Erosion Marsh wasn’t as strong as last time. If last time, it sounded like it was calling out to Shu Jun with a clear intention, then this time, it sounded like it was just muttering to itself.

There was an Erosion Marsh around here, which was likely small but rather active. Based on the changes of the howling sound, the marsh seemed to be moving, and there was also a rustling sound of shoe soles rubbing against the ground outside the room.

“The village is awake.” Lao Wei smiled: “We can’t give you what you want. Yesterday, your eavesdropping skill was so good that I thought you were no simple person. Boy, although I don’t know what your purpose is… I regret to say that you must die here.”

Zhu Yanchen raised his hand and fired the gun, however, his target wasn’t the old man, but a spot above the two of them. Shu Jun made his move at almost the same time. His target was behind them — Instantly, one mutated monster had its head blasted off while another was torn open by Shu Jun, their black blood splashing all over the ground.

However, Lao Wei still looked confident. More mutated monsters jumped out from the cabinets, ran past Lao Wei in a flash and rushed towards Zhu Yanchen.

“Young people truly like to struggle hard.” Lao Wei smiled: “But by the time you’re done, our Erosion Marsh will have run away. Boy, how about we both calm down first? Your goal is gone, you put your gun down first, we can still talk about it —”

“Shu Jun.” Zhu Yanchen ignored him and blew off the heads of several other mutated monsters.

“Huh?”

“Let’s make these monsters a bit more obedient.”

“?”

“Then make the Erosion Marsh stop and not run away.”

“???”

This request is a bit too difficult, no?

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