Chapter 25 - Breaking The Cocoon

Perhaps it was the information gotten from Sweet Vanguard’s memories that disturbed him, or perhaps it was a deep despair that truly came from himself. Logically, he shouldn’t collapse because he lost an ‘online buddy’ who was both his friend and his foe. But Shu Jun had no time to think about it right now.

Emotions wouldn’t lie.

Shu Jun stood on the spot, holding Zhu Yanchen tightly with a dazed expression, his mind completely empty. The excruciating pain was clutching onto his lungs, so much so that he couldn’t breathe or even make a sound.

No, it’s not time to give up. Now even a minute can’t be wasted.

He madly pushed himself forward with the wind, crossed the passage that he cut out with his broadsword earlier and entered the deepest room of the stronghold. The lights in the room were still flashing on and off, and the purification equipment Zhu Yanchen had previously installed was still working.

Around here, this was the cleanest place.

The small items that Zhu Yanchen had tossed on the table were still there. Just a few hours ago, this man was still standing here. The vivid images in his memory made Shu Jun’s back shudder. He bit himself hard, his sharp canine teeth almost biting through his lips.

The pain and the taste of blood calmed him a bit.

Shu Jun let go of Zhu Yanchen and placed him gently on the ground. Zhu Yanchen’s expression was very peaceful — he never looked this serene even in his sleep. The wound in his abdomen was still oozing black blood while his breathing and heartbeat showed no signs of returning.

Shu Jun tore off Zhu Yanchen’s collar and pressed his hands on the layers of scars on Zhu Yanchen’s chest, directly initiating CPR.

Zhu Yanchen didn’t respond and his skin remained as pale as ever. Every second that passed felt like a blade that slashed back and forth on Shu Jun’s nerves. Shu Jun didn’t realise that he was crying until his tears wet the other man’s chest.

I must think of another way.

There was no medicine and no equipment at all, so he had absolutely no means to cure Zhu Yanchen’s conditions. In these short minutes, he must figure something — Out of nothingness, he had to find a way to pull back Zhu Yanchen’s life.

After such a bloody battle, his brain was slightly numb and his body felt as though it would crumble any second now. But Shu Jun didn’t dare to stop for a moment. He kissed those cold lips again and again, pouring all the air inside.

His own ability is ‘Suppression’, but even if he could suppress the erosive substance inside Zhu Yanchen’s body, the man’s body was already riddled with holes.

He must find a way to treat Zhu Yanchen, at least to keep his wounds from getting worse and to make his organs function normally.

…Speaking of this, how did I survive? It seemed that Zhu Yanchen intentionally had him come into contact with the marsh at the corpse disposal site in order for the Erosion Marsh inside him to learn the structure of a human body and how to coexist with human tissues.

But Zhu Yanchen was a normal human being and couldn’t stand a whole Erosion Marsh. Before the erosive substance could even learn to coexist with human issues, Zhu Yanchen’s body would likely be entirely eroded away, leaving behind, at most, a fragment of his information to the Erosion Marsh. Monday was a living example.

This method wouldn’t work.

It’ll be great if the Erosion Marsh inside Zhu Yanchen’s body is obedient, Shu Jun thought desperately. Let it imitate human tissues spontaneously, just like… like those bloody creations that Sweet Vanguard summoned.

Wait.

He defeated the eroded Sweet Vanguard and stayed in her mind for a while. Countless pieces of information flooded into his mind, yet the one piece that he could distinguish immediately was ‘the part that humans could understand’. What if the Erosion Marsh inside him could obtain relevant information? Would it be able to do something similar?

There was no need to build a bloody giant or keep any four-legged monsters captive. Shu Jun only needed the erosive substance to earnestly listen to his commands. Rather than trying to destroy human tissues, the Erosion Marsh should simulate them instead.

But since fragments of erosive substance weren’t a full Erosion Marsh, Shu Jun had no idea if such a whimsical plan would work. The only one who could answer him was right in front of him, and that man’s body was getting colder.

There was no time. And there was only one way to carry out this experiment.

Shu Jun decisively raised his hand and stabbed himself on the neck. The sharp nails pierced his skin and flesh, where blood immediately gushed out. The wound wasn’t serious enough to render him unable to continue with the plan, but it wasn’t a light wound either. If left untreated, he would definitely die of blood loss.

An Erosion Marsh’s basic instinct was to survive, and now it was time to survive. If that skill was really hidden in his body, his instinct would force it to come out.

And he had to remember this feeling well.

This time, Shu Jun’s intuition wasn’t wrong. His weakened state was in fact helping him. As his blood flowed out, the side of his neck gradually produced a hot, itchy sensation. Shu Jun hurriedly touched it with his fingertips — Less than half a minute later, new flesh protruded from the deep wound.

Very good. But it wasn’t enough; he wasn’t familiar enough with this feeling.

He raised his hand and scratched his neck again, then with a perfunctory state of mind, he commanded the erosive substance to repair the damage. A terrifying amount of blood splashed on Zhu Yanchen’s torn shirt, soaking the white cloth into pure black.

As Shu Jun’s vision gradually began to blur, the fierce battle earlier and the blood loss made him tired and hungry. Each wave of dizziness crashed onto his head and he just wished he could doze off on the spot.

But he couldn’t fall down yet.

Shu Jun tore open the wound again, and this time he caught a flash of inspiration.

With endless repetition of the commands, Shu Jun poured all his effort onto trying to give orders to the erosive substance inside Zhu Yanchen’s body. Suppress, imitate. Suppress, imitate. Suppress again and imitate again.

During the whole process, Shu Jun didn’t dare to breathe heavily, his bloody hands continuing to cover Zhu Yanchen’s chest. The feeling was very intricate, like grabbing a lump of slippery mud to try to make it into a fine statue. Since mud didn’t have its own consciousness, he could only try again and again.

Finally, the changes quietly appeared.

The blood splashed on Zhu Yanchen slowly disappeared, as if absorbed by his pale skin. The wound on Zhu Yanchen’s abdomen was closing at an extremely slow speed, and the exposed internal organ was sluggishly turning into a crimson shade of real human blood.

Not enough.

When humans reached a certain level of weakness, their soul seemed to drift out of their body. Shu Jun could no longer feel the touch at his fingertips. He just kept repeating what he was doing, every ounce of his energy completely focused on Zhu Yanchen.

Even if it couldn’t reach the level of forming a new Erosion Marsh, the erosive substance had to obey him. He mustn’t fail — Even though he had no idea why, Shu Jun was quite sure that he wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences if he failed.

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Suppression, imitation, and finally, domination.

A small vibration could be felt from Zhu Yanchen’s silent chest, and his horrifyingly pale body began to breathe again. Although his breathing was weak and cold, it did exist.

Shu Jun had really brought him back.

Shu Jun stopped tearing the wound on his neck, but he didn’t stop giving out the commands in his mind — Since he was saving Zhu Yanchen, he had to save him till the very end. He wasn’t sure if he could ever return to this special state of mind after this time.

Although he was breathing, Zhu Yanchen still didn’t wake up, but Shu Jun’s hands remained tight on his chest. His recovered heartbeat felt like an effect after taking a shot of heart booster. Shu Jun stayed motionless, falling into a state of almost fanaticism.

Repair him, everything must be repaired, he couldn’t help repeating the commands to the erosive substance. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Shu Jun could hear the Erosive Marsh inside him scream.

…You must not harm this man’s body.

After a very long time, new changes appeared again.

The wound on Zhu Yanchen’s abdomen had long since disappeared. Gradually, black erosive substance leaked out of his skin and became jointed, then it pulled itself into fine silky threads that slowly enclosed Zhu Yanchen’s whole body. Shu Jun’s brain was no longer able to process the scene in front of him. He only knew that he couldn’t seem to touch Zhu Yanchen’s skin.

Then I just have to stay close to him.

Shu Jun opened his arms and hugged the giant black cocoon in front of him before he continued to repeat those commands.

He had no idea how long it had passed. His lips were chapped, his clothes stuck onto his skin that was drenched in half-dry sweat and his body felt as heavy as lead. As everything around him turned blurry, he faintly heard Monday scream “Hungry”.

The cocoon made of erosive substance finally dried up and the thin shell cracked inch by inch, exposing the person inside.

Zhu Yanchen’s clothes had been totally eroded, and those scars disappeared together with them. Now his skin was perfectly smooth and unscathed, glowing with a healthy rosy shade. His breathing that was so feeble not long ago became steady, and the sound of his heartbeat was incredibly powerful.

Shu Jun raised his gaze and stared straight into the other man’s open eyes.

Looks like it’s over, he budged his mind that had gone numb and did one last thing.

“You… take it… cover yourself.” Speaking with a scarily hoarse voice, Shu Jun took off his blood-soaked coat and threw it on Zhu Yanchen: “Don’t run around naked…”

Zhu Yanchen’s eyes swept one round around the room and finally stopped on Shu Jun. He looked both shocked and confused at the same time:  “You —”

“Don’t ask anything, Marshal.” Shu Jun tried hard to smile at him: “I can’t do it anymore. Anyway, you… Good morning.”

Before he finished speaking, his whole body slumped forward and onto the other man. Zhu Yanchen, who was about to stand up, was pressed back to the ground.

Zhu Yanchen: “…”

He hesitated for a while and finally didn’t move, allowing Shu Jun’s head to rest on his chest. After a few minutes, he hugged Shu Jun tightly, and very carefully, he lowered his head and placed a kiss on Shu Jun’s hair.

“Sleep well.” He glanced at Shu Jun’s eroded arm and whispered softly: “I’ll go get some medicine. I’ll be back soon.”

However, before he stood up fully, Zhu Yanchen’s eyebrows furrowed and his movement came to a pause.

The erosive substance didn’t stick onto his skin and flesh as usual to slowly eat up his body. At this moment, it looked like beads of mercury that lingered on his skin then rolled to the ground, just like raindrops that bounced off a lotus leaf.

Zhu Yanchen’s eyes followed the floating erosive substance to move upward and finally discovered the abnormality of his body — The terrifying eroded wounds on his arms were nowhere to be seen, and his skin was so healthy that he couldn’t even find any remnant piece of the cocoon shell.

This time, he was silent for quite a long while.

After staying stiff for more than ten minutes, Zhu Yanchen lay down and hugged Shu Jun, who had fallen asleep, into his arms.

“You did something amazing again.” He closed his eyes.

“…Quite incredible, in fact.”

Shu Jun had a dream.

Perhaps it was because he received too much strange information from Sweet Vanguard, he dreamt of a scene he had never seen before.

He dreamt of the time when he was young, and he was wandering in the city on ‘the other side’. The night was dark and the stars were shining in the sky. There was another child standing in front of him. The child had beautiful features, with not-too-short hair that fell softly on the collarbone. The child was half a head shorter than Shu Jun and exuded an aura of frailty that usually belonged to children from rich families.

He — or she — seemed a bit scared. His shoulders were stooping down in fear and his movements were a little awkward, like a hatchling that just stepped out of its cage.

Shu Jun heard himself smiling and asking: [It’s so late and you’re still here. You aren’t lost, right?]

Seeing someone speaking to him, the child shuddered and didn’t answer.

[Hey, do you want to come with me?] Quite naturally, Shu Jun approached him: [I know this place very well, I can take you home… What’s your name?]

[……Yanchen.] The child seemed to have said three words, but since his voice was too soft, Shu Jun could only hear the last two.

[Haze?1]

Out of habit, Shu Jun scratched his hair.

[Then I’ll call you A Yan.]

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