Chapter 28 - Mood Swings

Shu Jun froze.

They hadn’t even started discussing the details of the plan. He was simply throwing a few words to kickstart things. As the leader of a team, Shu Jun was used to making similar remarks to adjust the atmosphere. For example, “Let’s go and make the Groundwater team cry” or “This is a good terrain, we can end the battle in one day.”

Of course, even if they eventually won, Luo Duan wouldn’t really cry, and the Blackbird team had never ended any battle within one day. After talking to Zhu Yanchen all these years, he thought that the man would just casually tag along with the conversation, but he totally didn’t expect Zhu Yanchen to reply so seriously.

At this point, Shu Jun thought that Zhu Yanchen might be trying to joke along with him, but the following action didn’t carry the same intent —

Zhu Yanchen’s fingertips were still on his skin, and he made this move extremely naturally.

Even if he was trying to get close to Shu Jun or had some hidden motives, Zhu Yanchen’s move was way too smooth, so smooth that Shu Jun thought it was a common etiquette. His jaw dropped and all the jokes that were supposed to follow got stuck in his throat.

Doesn’t this feel kinda wrong?

When Zhu Yanchen’s heart stopped beating, Shu Jun lost control of his emotions. Thinking about it afterwards, it wasn’t too exaggerated a feeling — After learning the facts and facing a true death, Shu Jun actually considered Zhu Yanchen his friend, so his reaction could be explained.

Shu Jun didn’t intend to deny his favour and interest towards Zhu Yanchen, but they never represented any definite admiration. Even after chatting back and forth all these years, there was still a huge gap between exchanging mere texts and facing the real person. Not to mention, a bunch of urgent matters were still pressing on them, so just normal communication would suffice.

But when Zhu Yanchen made this move, Shu Jun’s heart almost missed a beat. Half of his emotion was now shock, and the other half was a mess he couldn’t quite define.

Zhu Yanchen also had blood on his face. After hunting down these mutated monsters, his clothes were slightly drenched in sweat and sticking to his skin, and his breathing was much warmer than usual. With the distance between the two of them being no more than a palm’s size, the atmosphere became a tiny bit weird.

……No, it’s likely just because I haven’t killed those romantic feelings I’ve kept hidden at the bottom of my heart. I’m thinking too much. A Yan had always been a careful man. Perhaps he had stayed in a high position for too long and didn’t know how to behave appropriately in reality.

Seeing Shu Jun withdraw his chin and his expression twitch slightly, Zhu Yanchen: “……” 

It’s not possible that Shu Jun remembers so much about the past. Facing the current Shu Jun, his actions might be a tad too direct. But just as Zhu Yanchen was about to withdraw his hand, Shu Jun’s claws went up.

“You also have a little blood on your face, I’ll wipe it for you.” Shu Jun said heartily as he rubbed the blood on Zhu Yanchen’s face with his palm. There was nothing wrong with this move alone, but as soon as Zhu Yanchen came to a pause, it became a scene where the two of them were touching each other’s face. The atmosphere was getting even more embarrassing.

The two people stood like two statues with mutated monster corpses as the background. Luckily, there were more than just two of them here, and a certain someone knew how to break the silence.

After eating a full meal, Monday had the strength to speak again: “Cheh.”

The sound it made was long, loud and full of revulsion. The two men both seized the opportunity to withdraw their hands.

“I’ll take care of this pile. We can have a barbecue later.” Shu Jun laughed crisply: “Let’s eat and discuss.” 

“Uhm.” Zhu Yanchen had already started to process the monster corpses. No one knew if he was nervous or it was simply a flawed move, but he exerted too much force and a large lump of blood spurted out from the monster’s chest, splashing everywhere on his face.

Shu Jun: “……”

Zhu Yanchen: “……”

Eventually, amid Shu Jun’s hearty laugh, the embarrassing air that neither of them could quite explain completely vanished.

A week later, at the border settlement.

It was at night and Uncle Pan was taking a nap behind the counter as usual. There was a sound of a mud sled stopping at the door of his hotel. Uncle Pan immediately became alert, his face full of smiling intent.

The two young men who walked in looked a bit familiar.

Both of them were wearing masks so he couldn’t see their faces, but their bodies were unusually sturdy and beautiful. The shorter one had grey hair with a broadsword on his back and strangely sharp nails. Uncle Pan could easily recognise him.

Seeing Uncle Pan turn his head, the grey-haired young man flung the sack behind his back: “Uncle Pan, we’re back — Look, how much could we get for these mutated monsters’ skins?”

Upon hearing that he could earn some profits, the last trace of sleepiness on Uncle Pan’s face instantly evaporated. He swiftly walked around the counter and took the sack.

It was full to the brim with skins and furs from high-level mutated monsters. As long as they were handled properly, these things could be made into excellent protective clothing. Uncle Pan gasped: “When my younger brother threw you two out there, I even scolded him. I told him that he should at least give you a dog before leaving — Cool bro, how did you deal with the Corpse Parasite?”

“We escaped fast enough.” The grey-haired young man laughed: “How about it, Uncle Pan? If you want to help us sell these furs, we’re willing to pay a 10 percent referral fee, as a gesture of friendship.”

“Good, good! If you two can trust me, just leave the goods here, and I’ll write you a receipt. If it goes well, I can handle this tomorrow.” 

Since this profitable business was delivered to his doorstep, Uncle Pan’s smile was extremely sincere: “Hey, even after so many years, I still can make wrong judgments. You two don’t seem to be newcomers. Welcome to this tiny land. Although it’s a bit late to ask, how do I call you?”

“Grey Claw.” Shu Jun answered fairly smoothly, then looked at Zhu Yanchen beside him.

“Haze.” Zhu Yanchen held on to the name quite stubbornly.

A settlement was never meant to be a ‘clean’ place, and no one used his real name here. Uncle Pan accepted this all too well: “To be honest, these goods are really valuable. Since we’re friends, from now on, I’ll charge you only 5 percent. Regardless where they’re furs or any random items you dig up, I can help you sell them. Your rental is also halved, how about it?” 

Shu Jun stretched out his hand: “Deal.”

Then he added with a grin: “He and I are going to earn our living in this place often. Uncle Pan, you’ve given us a huge discount on the rental, don’t regret it later.”

“The more friends, the merrier.” Uncle Pan happily shook Shu Jun’s hand: “Since we’ve come to this, let me get some wine. We shall celebrate the triumphant return of you two — Your room should be the best type, right? I’ll put the key here first.”

After that, Uncle Pan dragged the sack into the room behind the counter. When he came out again, the bag had been replaced with three bottles of grey wine, plus a large bag of pancakes.

Although Marshal Zhu never put himself on a pedestal and acted high-and-above, he still couldn’t adapt to the common men’s drinking culture. Zhu Yanchen pushed up his mask a little bit, took a pancake and ate slowly.

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Now that his body was full of erosive substance, Shu Jun could drink even sulfuric acid, so how could a little alcohol be any big deal? However, Zhu Yanchen had only recovered from a serious illness. Even if he was immune to erosion, he still carried a normal human body.

Seeing Uncle Pan cork the wine bottle, Marshal Zhu’s movements went stiff.

Shu Jun totally didn’t miss that hint of stiffness. He naturally received the bottle of wine, pushed his mask up and smiled quietly at Zhu Yanchen.

Then he firmly poured out half the bottle, his expression unflinching: “It’s not that my partner doesn’t respect you, he’s allergic to alcohol. Come, Uncle Pan… No, Pan ge, I’ll drink for his sake, to you!”

“Great! This ge won’t make it difficult for my brother Haze here. I’ll get you a glass of water later.” 

It was getting late and he won a great business today, so Uncle Pan drank delightfully. He directly shut the door, turned on the purifier and simply took off his mask. Normal humans obviously couldn’t compete with an Erosion Marsh when it came to drinking. After four or five cups, Uncle Pan already laughed so much that he could burst any time now.

“Brother, it’s not that I want to spy on you, I’m just asking casually.” After drinking for three rounds and piling up a whole basket of gossip, Uncle Pan finally sneakily got to the main point: “How did you two keep your bodies… Hiccup… I don’t mean your exercises. You two are veterans around here, yet your bodies still look so normal, do you have a secret recipe or something?…”

That’s exactly what we’ve been waiting for, Shu Jun smiled.

Although Uncle Pan was a bit sly, he had a good character and a brain. This kind of person could survive anywhere. Since Uncle Pan could sell the information around him, of course he could sell his information to others too. Obviously, he wouldn’t sell underhanded information.

“My partner knows some trustworthy men, so he’s able to get his hands on some remedies.” Shu Jun mysteriously lowered his voice: “But we can’t get it right away. If you need it urgently, we can discuss with them.”

“What a chivalrous man. Deal. Help me talk to them… I‘m fine myself, but a few acquaintances of mine suffer horribly. If you can help, you’ll definitely earn your referral fee —”

“Deal. Speaking of this, I also want to ask Uncle Pan for something.”

“What’s the matter? Just say it.” 

“Isn’t there used to be that kind of work here? Those from above often look for some people from here to lead the teams of ‘players’. I remember that kind of work is very lucrative, and we’ve been wanting to try something new…”

“Oh oh oh, an NPC’s work.” Uncle Pan waved his hand, the smile on his face fading a little: “Listen to ge, don’t do that kind of work. I’ve heard people say that beside having to sign a lot of messy confidentiality agreements, you have to be extremely careful when you talk and do things. If this sort of work is so easy, they would let the army snatch it already, how can it even come to us? It’s considered not too bad if, out of ten, one or two of them come back alive after taking on that work…”

“We may not actually go for it, we just want to have a look.” Shu Jun smiled: “Just let us know if you’ve any news. We’ll think very carefully about it.”

“Okay… Hiccup, okay. Ouch, I’ve drunk too much. I have to write it down on paper.”

Uncle Pan arched his waist and fumbled under the counter for a long time, almost hitting the lumps on his head against the counter.

“You have to take care of the hotel tomorrow. Let’s stop here today.” Shu Jun knew what he shouldn’t overdo this and gulped down the last cup.

It was late into night, so all that was left was to rest. After spending a week in an erosion zone without coming into contact with normal people and now returning to the laymen’s environment, Shu Jun was a little sentimental.

Even though neither he nor Zhu Yanchen needed the purifier, he still let the machine in the room do its work — It was just an old model for civilian use, which couldn’t affect an Alpha-level marsh at all. At most, it could barely scratch Monday.

“Next, let’s wait for the news to spread.” Shu Jun took off the old clothes on his upper body and the smell of alcohol fanned out: “Isn’t your bag almost empty? Let’s head to the street to replenish some supplies tomorrow. Remind me to buy some clothes.”

“Uhm.” Zhu Yanchen’s reply sounded a bit dull. After locking the door, he also took off his mask and once again revealed his expressionless face.

“There are still some pancakes left. Later I’ll heat them up again to stuff my stomach before going to bed. Do you want some?”

“Uhm.”

Shu Jun’s movements paused. This person seemed not quite right.

“Is Monday lovely?”

“Uhm.”     

Shu Jun: “……” 

As if responding to Shu Jun’s question, Zhu Yanchen quickly got out of the state where half of his mind wasn’t here: “I was a bit dazed, I’m sorry.”

“If you have any concerns, just say it. In any case, now the two of us don’t have to keep staring at each other… I’ll wash up first, and I’ll heat up the pancakes after that. You can have your dinner after you shower.”

Although he thought the man’s state seemed a bit suspicious, since Zhu Yanchen was reluctant to say it, Shu Jun didn’t intend to dive into the details — The A Yan he knew surely wouldn’t keep any secrets when dealing with important matters. After filling himself with a glass of water, Shu Jun wrapped the towel around his neck and gleefully took a shower.

Marshal Zhu was indeed not thinking about their plan.

Their plan had been carried out smoothly, and his physical condition had stabilised rather neatly. The actual development far exceeded his expectations, and the person he cherished the most was next to him again. This had been Zhu Yanchen’s most pleasant week after so many years.

But just now, his pleasant mood suddenly swung.

Shu Jun and Uncle Pan chatted happily and had a very good time together. Zhu Yanchen wasn’t used to the drinking culture, so he kept a low profile, which was also useful to cover up his identity. In the end, he didn’t say a word and ate the pancakes silently for two hours.

If it was before, he would like to minimise any unnecessary communication. However, at that small counter, seeing Shu Jun smiled so contentedly, he even felt the urge to join the conversation.

Quite a strange emotion, he thought. It was neither anger nor dissatisfaction, rather, it was closer to some sort of peculiar desire.

However, for ten years, Shu Jun had held so many gatherings with his Blackbird team.  The man and his teammates hugged each other’s shoulders and laughed cheerfully every time. Zhu Yanchen had been watching them from a distance, yet he had never encountered a similar feeling. At that time, he only hoped that this person could keep on smiling and live longer.

Perhaps my body is still going through some changes, Zhu Yanchen thought seriously.

When the two of them successfully infiltrated into the city, he definitely had to do a thorough inspection of himself.

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