Chapter 19 - Dead City

Since Zhu Rong perfected the Players’ system, the Zhu family’s status had been completely stabilised. After nearly 300 years of humanity’s restoration, it could be estimated that the Zhu family had established ten generations. In the generation of the previous Marshal Zhu, several large families were caught up in conflicts and troubles, which only pushed the Zhu family’s power to its peak.

Thanks to this family background, Zhu Yanchen had become accustomed to all sorts of humans since childhood.

Shu Jun was smart but wasn’t sly. The moment Zhu Yanchen saw that Shu Jun quickly changed the topic, he knew that Shu Jun didn’t want to elaborate further. Considering their respective styles, he could roughly guess what Shu Jun meant when he gave the villagers ‘a usual threat’.

There was no need to go into details right now.

“Go to the east.” Zhu Yanchen let the topic be changed smoothly. “You should know X City.” 

Shu Jun thought for a moment: “I do remember. Is it the one that was destroyed 200 years ago?”

“Uhm. There’s a border settlement in the southeast. We should replenish some supplies, then go to X City.”

Zhu Yanchen was a little tired. Since his body had reached its limit, he was getting tired more and more easily. Shu Jun was right; perhaps he really needed some rest.

“Go back to the cave first.” He said: “I’ll sleep, you can train with your sword…”

Shu Jun openly frowned: “Your voice sounds a bit weak. Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m just a little tired.”

“Go back to what cave, I’ll take you there directly. It’s just missing half a day of training, I can’t die from that.” 

Shu Jun walked around Zhu Yanchen. Since the moment he knew that this man had two months left to live, he didn’t want to just casually drag Zhu Yanchen around: “Forget it, I’ll carry you on my back. I’ll try to be steady…… Wait, don’t climb up first, give me a mask. I think I look a bit too eye-catching.”

It took Shu Jun some time to get used to carrying a full-grown man on his back. At the same time, he felt the coldness and stiffness coming from behind — With a living person even a little taller than himself on his back, shouldn’t it at least feel warm…? 

Zhu Yanchen was really not in good shape. Shu Jun didn’t say another word, hung the broadsword in front and rose with the wind.

Neither of them talked throughout the whole journey.

Marshal Zhu also had some guts; against the strong wind, he calmly fell asleep on Shu Jun’s back. Shu Jun didn’t want to disturb a sick person. Spotting some lights below his feet, he gently lowered them to the ground and walked towards the center of the settlement with Zhu Yanchen still on his back.

Border settlements were much simpler than urban areas. They were a tad larger than military strongholds and usually frequented by desperadoes who wanted to earn some fortune from the erosion zones. In any case, people here wouldn’t show their faces unless there was a really good reason to. Since they just came to roughly purify the place, dig up some gold then burn their money right here, the surroundings were nothing to be wowed about. But the  accommodations weren’t bad and the markets were lively, which made quite a good spot for resting.

Back when he was a ‘player’, Shu Jun rarely came into contact with settlements and had only heard a little about them. Now that he thought about it, the coalition government was afraid that these desperadoes would recklessly open their mouths and throw information around, causing unnecessary trouble.

This was the first time he had entered a settlement.

Since it was a type of stronghold managed by the people themselves, the structure was easy to figure out. The best facilities must be in the central area. However, Shu Jun decided to keep themselves low-key and didn’t choose the best hotel. He walked half the road, slipped to one side and specifically picked one that looked neither too good nor too gross. Behind the counter was a big man with his head neatly shaved and a mask on his face. He had two fist-sized black lumps on both sides of his head, which looked like panda ears at first glance.

Shu Jun: “……” It was hard to not stare at those lumps.

The big man obviously noticed his gaze: “A newcomer?”

“Yes, yes. Please lower your voice a bit.” Shu Jun said hurriedly. “My friend is tired, he’s sleeping. We’re looking for a place to rest. You are…?”

“I’m the owner of this place. You can call Uncle Pan.” The big man stood up and patted his greasy apron. “How many rooms?”

“One room.” By this, Shu Jun was simply thinking that Zhu Yanchen and he would take care of each other.

“Oh, one room to save money, or one room to have fun?”

“Say again?”

“The room that saves money is the dorm. One room is packed with six people, very cheap. But as for how many people actually stay in it, it depends on your luck.” Uncle Pan licked his gum. “As for the room to have fun, of course, it’s the best. It’s suitable for relaxation. The price is slightly more expensive —”

“The room to have fun.” Shu Jun couldn’t bother to care about those ambiguous meanings; he just wanted one that helped with their needs.

In any case, Marshal Zhu must have prepared himself well. It was impossible for him to not carry enough money.

“Ai, all right.” Uncle Pan took the key from the drawer and lightly put it on the iron counter. “I don’t provide food here. I can help you buy food for a fee, or you can buy it yourself. Two streets from this place is the market. Anyway, there’s no difference between day and night here. There are people there all day long, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to get something…”

“Thank you. I won’t bother you much. When my friend wakes up, we’ll discuss what to do next.” This place was pretty much an erosion zone, so the food might not be very clean. He might still be able to consume them, but he wasn’t so sure about Zhu Yanchen, especially considering his state right now.

But the room wasn’t bad at all.

There was a pocket purifier that was making a clicking sound and the air was acceptable. The floor was clean and the sheets didn’t smell strange. Shu Jun locked the door and carefully put Zhu Yanchen down, then he put Monday next to the purifier, letting it tremble along with the movement of the machine.

When Shu Jun shifted his posture slightly, Zhu Yanchen woke up at once. Marshal Zhu looked at the wall of the room, seemingly at a loss for a moment.

“You can continue to sleep, now is not even 3 o’clock in the morning. You’ve only slept for more than an hour. If you’re worried, you can lock me up with the handcuffs.” Shu Jun took off his mask and heaved a sigh of relief.

Zhu Yanchen looked at him, a bit of confusion casting over his face. Shu Jun didn’t waste any time and neatly took off Marshal Zhu’s mask, loosened his collar then took off his coat — These things would only make it difficult to breathe.

“Take off your shoes.”

Shu Jun muttered while taking off his own shoes: “It’s good to not be awake, we can go to bed early and finish our things early. Later I’ll go quarrel with Monday.” 

Zhu Yanchen let out a soft “uhm”, making it rather obvious that he was deep asleep just now and hadn’t yet fully come back to his senses. He raised his head and smiled at Shu Jun.

It wasn’t a dazzling smile. It was clear that Marshal Zhu hadn’t smiled for a long time, such that his smile was slightly stiff even when he was half awake. But to see a smile actually appear on Zhu Yanchen’s face had Shu Jun so taken aback that he almost threw the coat aside.

Perhaps aware of his action, Zhu Yanchen’s smile vanished in the next second. He murmured his thanks, climbed onto the bed and lay down, not even putting his shoes in order.

…Compared with the guys in Shu Jun’s team, Marshal Zhu wasn’t so high-maintenance, rather, he was easy to take care of. Shu Jun was very used to taking care of others, so this scene had him a bit emotional for a moment. But being shaken by that smile, his slightly emotional sentiment had somehow erupted into joy.

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Zhu Yanchen didn’t handcuff him. At this moment, it was convenient to have no handcuffs. Shu Jun directly went to take a shower, picked up the shivering Monday next to the purifier and sat down on the other side of the room.

Originally, he thought about training with Monday, but now that he had this free time, he lost the mood to train. Zhu Yanchen’s smile was lingering in his mind — It was a beautiful smile, but that wasn’t the main point.

Shu Jun’s instinct began to dance on his nerves again. He always felt that something wasn’t quite right.

Marshal Zhu… no, A Yan, was obviously not a person who would just smile out of courtesy, even if the two of them had been friends for several years. The citizens of this world must have known A Yan for a longer time. However, whether it was from watching the promotional videos, listening to the discussions of those who admired Marshal Zhu or seeing it with his own eyes, this man felt like a person whose face was covered with air-dried rubber sheet. He usually only had one expression.

That smile just now was a relaxed smile, as if Shu Jun and he were really friends who could talk about everything.

Zhu Yanchen had sat in the marshal’s position for a long time and commanded countless battles. He couldn’t be so naive that he would expose himself just after those few years of text chats… Of all the things that A Yan used to hide from Shu Jun, were they really just ‘the truth about this world’ and his ‘deadline’?

The more Shu Jun thought about it, the more confused he got. He softly let out a few growls and decided to go out for a few minutes to breathe.

Luckily, he could control a little bit of the erosive substance now. Shu Jun pulled out a small piece of erosive substance from Monday and twisted it into a rope, then he hung the sword behind the door. Just in case, he put a ‘Do not disturb’ sign outside their room.

“Going out? Where’s your friend?” Uncle Pan was still sitting at the counter while leisurely listening to the radio.

“He’s resting in the room. I’ll buy something to eat and be back in a few minutes.” Shu Jun greeted him. Although it seemed safe here, he didn’t want to leave Zhu Yanchen alone for too long.

“Oh, I just bought some pancakes for another room. I bought a little too much. Would you like some?” Uncle Pan didn’t miss this opportunity to upsell. “Lao Zhang’s pancakes are a must-try, I bought the last batch. It’s not expensive, just give me 10% of the errand fee.” 

As he said, he took out one, pulled off his mask slightly and started chewing on the spot. The room was instantly filled with the fragrance of pancakes.

Shu Jun gave in: “Are these pancakes clean?”

“It’s clean. If you’re really scared, take them back and bake them a bit more on the purifier — Don’t waste the purifier in your room.” Uncle Pan smoothly finished one pancake and put back his mask again.

These days, Shu Jun hadn’t seen Zhu Yanchen eat anything proper. It should be fine to buy him some pancakes. Shu Jun asked for six and subconsciously hugged them in his arms to keep their warmth.

Uncle Pan said: “Aren’t you quite good at taking care of others? Actually, I still have some soy sauce to dip these pancakes…” 

All the words after that just flew past Shu Jun’s ears.

Indeed, he was very good at taking care of people, from his injured teammates to even their children. So many people had told him this before and he had long been used to it, so he didn’t take it to heart.

But now that he thought about it, the life he was accustomed to had been completely turned around, and all those details had to be reconsidered — From when he was 8 till when he started working, he had been living all alone. So when did he get used to ‘taking care of others’?

A ridiculous idea came to Shu Jun’s mind. Could it be that Marshal Zhu and he had known each other a long time, but his memory was pressed deep in his mind? But as he thought about it again, he had been working together with the Blackbird team since entering [Erosion]. If there was ever a point when he had personal contact with Zhu Yanchen, the time just didn’t seem to match.

Besides, he seemed to know how to take care of people even before entering [Erosion].

…Forget it, maybe this was just one of his talents.

 “Some soy sauce, too.” Shu Jun took out a pancake, pushed the mask a little to the side and started eating mechanically.

“Where are you heading to?” Uncle Pan threw over a packet of sauce, which was wrapped in a thin plastic bag like a little heart.

“The east.” Shu Jun said vaguely.

“That’s a heavily eroded zone. You don’t look like you’re short of money, why bother going there?” Uncle Pan gasped. “Didn’t something just happen there a while ago? There are fewer ships going there now, and the road isn’t easy to go.” 

“Something happened there a while ago?” Shu Jun’s ears stood up at the sound of some fresh news. Everything he knew about X City belonged to 200 years ago.

“Haven’t you heard? Didn’t the upper call for a ‘match’ there a while ago and set a giant Erosion Marsh as the target? The captain of the Blackbird team perished inside it.” 

The captain of the Blackbird team himself: “……”

“That’s still not the most sinister thing.” Uncle Pan’s accent gradually morphed into that of a storyteller: “I tell you, such a big marsh, but it’s just gone, right before the eyes of thousands of people! Do you know? It seeps directly into the ground like water in a bathtub going down the drain. Who has even seen such a match like that? Everybody said that something went wrong in the east, and there must be some problem with the Erosion Marsh over there.”

“Then have they found it?” Shu Jun faintly played along with his story. Actually, the marsh is resting inside me.

“No one has time to find it, for right after that, Marshal Zhu ran away with a mutated monster. The upper went all crazy. It’s said that the previous Marshal completely blew a fuse.”

…And actually, Marshal Zhu is resting at your hotel. Shu Jun almost choked himself on the pancake: “Let’s talk about this Erosion Marsh. After all, we two want to go find some gold out there, so the marsh is the most important issue.”

“Oh.” Uncle Pan touched the black lump on his head. “The next piece of information will need money. Little brother, what do you think —?”

Shu Jun was getting used to this man’s routine: “You… just tell me.” 

“It’s nice to deal with sensible people.” Uncle Pan rubbed his hands and let out a few laughs.

“You two are also heading east. Some time ago, some people went to the edge of Dead City.”

“Dead City?”

 “X City!” Uncle Pan said: “Of course they didn’t go in. They just walked outside, dug up some rare items and brought them back to sell. Guess what? They got the corpse of a monster that had never been discovered before. It’s said that the monster has the appearance of three or four men.”

Shu Jun stopped chewing: “What then?” 

“Then they were cursed by that monster corpse.” Uncle Pan lowered his voice: “Every one of them is now dead, and they all suffered a horrible death. This is what the others read from their diaries.”

“Young man, you can head east, but be sure to stay away from Dead City. That place is evil.”

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