Chapter 39: Saving Unpermitted Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Effect of The Mission

Since the transportation of supplies was the coalition government’s responsibility, Yu Jin didn’t have to worry about carrying any big or small bags later. As such, Yu Jin went shopping to his heart’s content, then he rented a trailer and pushed it slowly to Ai’s Clinic while humming a folk song.

It was still too soon for this world to recover. Except for those who were too free and didn’t need to worry about making ends meet, most people have no opinion about same-sex relationships. To put it bluntly, in such a miserable world, wouldn’t it be good to indulge in some happiness? If that person neither stole, robbed nor cheated anyone, who cared about how he had his joy?

As a person who lived in the border area, Yu Jin was more open-minded than any ordinary man. Thinking that those two were still in the hospital and had no time to do their own shopping, he even specially bought them a gift.

“Only these?” Seeing the two’s luggage, Yu Jin clicked his tongue. “The coalition government will provide us with some basic supplies, but if you want to do your job comfortably, you must bring something else. You two, like this…”

The bags that Grey Claw and Haze carried weren’t big, just two dirty duffel bags whose dust hadn’t even been wiped off. One corner of the zipper was broken, revealing the nutritional supplement packages and medicine boxes full of creases stuffed inside.

As though they were simply heading out for a New Year vacation…

Never mind. No matter how smart The Old Fourth’s members were, they still lacked experience. At such a time, a veteran like Yu Jin still had to play his role.

“Here, for you both.” Yu Jin generously threw a box over.

Shu Jun dazedly received it: “Thank you.”

Half an hour ago, the two of them quickly ran back to Ai’s Clinic after obtaining the brain tissue sample, but they were unable to get past the clinic’s door. Ai Xiaoxiao had actually helped them prepare their luggage and thrown it out like trash. Considering that between the two of them, one was immune to erosion and the other was basically an Erosion Marsh himself, Ai Xiaoxiao couldn’t even bother hiding how sloppy she was with their luggage — In any case, even if they were tossed directly into the erosion zone, they would survive just as well.

As a by-product, Monday was also thrown out. Seeing Shu Jun, it immediately wailed like a dog whose foot had been stepped on, strugglingly climbed onto Shu Jun’s back and completely refused to let go.

At first, Shu Jun thought that if he wasn’t by Monday’s side, it might try a sneak attack on Ai Xiaoxiao. But looking at its reaction now, it seemed that it was brutally bullied instead.

Zhu Yanchen obviously understood his subordinate’s personality. He took out the brain sample and solemnly handed it to Ai Xiaoxiao. The latter nodded at him, and the disdain on her face faded quite a bit. After pondering for a moment, she decided to put a few more candies into their luggage. 

“Thanks, I will study it as soon as possible.” Without any arrogance or ridicule on her face, Ai Xiaoxiao leaned against the door, her tone sounding somewhat like a soldier.

As soon as she returned to her clinic, Yu Jin arrived.

From when they entered the city till the moment they left, the two of them had been moving around for around 12 hours without resting at all. With drowsiness crashing his head, Shu Jun opened Yu Jin’s gift almost by instinct, and immediately, he became wide-awake.

Yu Jin bought them a bottle of lubricant. [T/N: Immediately, the translator also became wide-awake. Σ░(꒪◊꒪ )]

Seeing Shu Jun freeze on the spot, Yu Jin quickly explained: “In any case, you can just use it, the anti-erosion effect is quite good. Doesn’t brother Haze use guns? We all use this brand to maintain the parts, it helps slow down our weapons’ wearing… Also, inside the erosion zone, you have to put on old, heavy equipment, so your skin tears down easily. This lubricant will be very effective. It’s indeed a bit expensive, but everyone who engages in this business usually carries a bottle with them.”

He laughed mischievously: “I guess you two probably brought your own too, but the brand may not be correct. So just in case, I’ll give you this bottle.”

Shu Jun let out a few hiccups and quickly stuffed the bottle into his bag. Zhu Yanchen didn’t look over, probably thinking about the issue at hand.

Luckily Marshal Zhu is in a daze. Shu Jun breathed a sigh of relief, then reprimanded himself in his heart — When he joked around with his gang before, he never cared about how lewd the jokes might get. If standing next to him was Hu Yan, vice-captain of the Blackbird team, the two of them would roll on the floor laughing for 30 seconds straight, then use this to naughtily incite each other.

It should be nothing like now. Zhu Yanchen still didn’t say a word, yet Shu Jun was feeling his heart shudder like crazy, as though he had travelled all the way back to puberty.

He hoped that when this mission was over, the weird atmosphere between them would get better.

Speaking of Hu Yan, the man turned up at once.

As the ‘NPCs’ who would lead the way, the three of them got to spend most of the day in Y City, which was considered welfare granted to them by the higher-ups. After dozens of non-disclosure agreements were signed and all the procedures were completed, they were taken to the gate of Y City, where they met with the core team of Blackbird.

Hu Yan was promoted from vice-captain to the captain, but he wasn’t very happy, looking as dejected as a deflated balloon.

Shu Jun thought he could control his emotions, but it turned out that as soon as he saw those familiar player numbers, he still clenched his fists quietly, bitterness lumping in his throat. Zhu Yanchen reached out one hand and gently pressed on the back of Shu Jun’s hand.

The two didn’t move, but Yu Jin only thought this was their first mission, so they were rather unsure of what to do. He cleared his throat, said his greetings calmly and shook hands with Hu Yan.

Hu Yan swept a glance at the three ‘NPCs’, and the second his gaze landed on them, he withdrew it.

Shu Jun could guess what Hu Yan was thinking — When he was still a player, Shu Jun only had the missions in his mind. Even when the NPC guides came, most of them wouldn’t say anything, nor would they eat and live with the combatants. They acted more like day-tour guides who delivered the service exactly according to what they were paid for. There was never any need to specifically communicate with them.

But this time, with Hu Yan here, Shu Jun must talk.

Although their old captain wasn’t with them, the Blackbird team was still in a good mood because they just won the competition. Investigation missions had never been difficult for them, so there wasn’t much pressure on the team. On the first day, they didn’t leave the safe zone and Shu Jun kept to a compliant facade. On the evening of the second day, Yu Jin went out to lead the team to put up their camp, so Shu Jun finally found a chance to make his move.

Zhu Yanchen was better than him when it came to theoretical research on Erosion Marsh, yet not as good as Ai Xiaoxiao in terms of treatment, so he naturally could only follow Shu Jun. Ai Xiaoxiao had just gotten the brain sample from them, hence the immunosuppressant hadn’t yet been made. Right now, they could only try to deal with Hu Yan with their own mouths.

When they walked past the door, Hu Yan was turning the indoor purifier to its maximum capacity, clad in his pyjamas while drinking some soup. Seeing that two NPCs got in by themselves and pulled up the zipper of his tent, he followed their movements with suspicious eyes and almost got burnt by the hot soup.

“Lao Hu.” Shu Jun took off his mask directly, not planning to give his vice-captain any time to breathe.

At this moment, the hot soup just barely touched Hu Yan’s tongue, yet the thermos flask lid full of soup dropped to the ground. 

As the soup splashed onto his socks, Hu Yan let out a scream and a drop of tear almost leaked out from the corner of his eyes. Shu Jun casually waved his hand, summoning a soft breeze to wrap twice around Hu Yan’s wet socks. Finally, Hu Yan stopped screaming, instead, he started gasping for air with a loud hiss.

With the smell of soup mixed with the smell of wet socks, the aroma inside the tent was rather difficult to describe.

“Captain Shu?!” After taking in some cold breaths, Hu Yan finally spoke slowly: “Didn’t you go on your honeymoon with sister-in-law?”

Shu Jun was stupefied for a moment. Being completely stunned by such a bolt out of the blue, his manner of speaking now sounded almost like Monday’s: “Ah? What?”

“No? Didn’t you just send a sweet photo of yours to all brothers in the team? I guessed it right, didn’t I? Sister-in-law is such a beautiful lady. Why did you leave her behind and just enter the game like this?” 

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Zhu Yanchen had to hide his identity and didn’t take off his mask, but Shu Jun could still feel the man’s gaze on him.

“Erm……”

“Aiya, all brothers were jealous of you for a while. You see, in order to let you have fun out there with peace of mind, we didn’t dare to bother you two for a while. Aren’t you supposed to be having a good holiday, how did you become an NPC?”

Swallowing Hu Yan’s continuous interrogation, Shu Jun finally realised.

In order to tease him, Hu Yan always liked to call Haze ‘sister-in-law’. At this very moment, the genuine Haze was actually standing right behind Shu Jun, which meant, the one in the ‘real world’ must be a fake one. Now that he thought about it, this wasn’t surprising at all. If Haze’s identity in the ‘real world’ wasn’t in line with the Blackbird team’s imagination, the artificial-intelligence ​​Shu Jun who pretended to be him would certainly be bombarded left and right with calls from the other team members, because, well, they would likely want to comfort him.

Therefore, the best move was to create a happy, enviable couple, which would essentially kill two birds with one stone — this would not only reduce the contact between the players and the fake Shu Jun, but also show the players the sort of bright future they could enjoy after retirement.

“I had a fight with your sister-in-law, so the atmosphere got a little awkward.” Shu Jun decisively played along. “It just so happened that an official from [Erosion] found me and we discussed putting up this mission. Anyway, I now work as a part-time NPC, and according to the rules, I can only tell you that — If everyone knows, the mission will lose its effect.”

Seeing his old captain return, Hu Yan suddenly felt happy: “That’s great then.”

“This mission is actually quite difficult. You need to be mentally prepared. Your sister-in-law and I… cough… I mean to say, my friend here and I will work together to come up with a strategy. One Eye is a real NPC, don’t disturb him.” Shu Jun almost stumbled.

“Can you keep playing like this in the future?” Hu Yan looked at Shu Jun eagerly. “To tell the truth, captain Shu, without you, I really don’t want to lead this team.” 

This was exactly the effect that Shu Jun wanted.

“Of course. When [Erosion] asked me to come back as an NPC, it was under the instruction of someone higher. Do you still keep the contact information of other captains? Remember to help me pass this message.”

“Hey, old habits die hard.” Hu Yan chided him with bemusement, and slowly, the tension in his emotions also eased out.

Even when the battle was fierce, Shu Jun was never the type to actively push his opponent to the corner. In fact, he did the opposite — he was rather willing to keep in touch with the captains and even gave them tactical advice. To him, the game didn’t have a PVP setting anyway, so instead of stealthily tripping people, Shu Jun actually hoped that his rivals would maintain their strength and become as strong as possible. This would make him feel better if he won against them.

The entire Blackbird team knew about this habit of his. It wasn’t like no one opposed the idea, but after many fruitless attempts to sway his mind, the team gradually gave up. off. 

Hu Yan’s age wasn’t as big, and he lost to Shu Jun from time to time, but he was an upright young man, one who made questionable moves behind his team’s back. Since Shu Jun really liked Hu Yan’s frankness and integrity from the beginning, he tried to push Hu Yan all the way to the position of vice-captain.

Hu Yan’s usual temper finally came back now. Seeing his comrade-in-arms who fought by his side for several years, Shu Jun’s mouth uttered a lie, but his heart was swirling with a sense of bitterness.

Before Ai Xiaoxiao successfully produced the immunosuppressant, Zhu Yanchen and he had no way to relieve the shock that happened to a player’s brain if the truth was exposed to him. Since the two couldn’t just bluntly expose the truth, they could only resort to this desperate method. The fewer sacrifices they made, the better.

Seeing Hu Yan smile happily, Shu Jun resisted the surge of emotion that felt as though his heart was pricked by a needle. He couldn’t help but speak again: “Lao Hu, be serious, don’t take it lightly —”

“On that topic,” Hu Yan interrupted without the slightest hint of hesitation, and he shifted his eyes to Zhu Yanchen, who had remained completely silent till this point: “This person’s nickname is also ‘Haze’? Why? Did my sister-in-law summon someone to supervise you?”

“Also?” Zhu Yanchen asked politely.

Shu Jun: “……” 

The secret feeling he had been harbouring in his heart was smashed into pieces by Hu Yan before it even had a chance to completely bloom…

“Ah, don’t you know? My sister-in-law’s game ID is called ‘Haze’. Captain Shu is quite —” 

“There’s an unanticipated notice! We’ll head out first.” Shu Jun grabbed Hu Yan’s chin and fiercely jumped at his throat.” Remember what I said, do not take this lightly. I’ll stare intently at you on the whole journey. If our Blackbird team loses so much as one member, I’ll screw your head off.”

Hu Yan let out a few long hisses: “I’ll do my job, don’t worry.”

Shu Jun put his mask back, pulled Zhu Yanchen out of the tent and took a few deep breaths at the entrance of the tent.

Before the mission started, he even had the heart to hope that the atmosphere between the two would become less awkward. Now not only that stiffness didn’t get better, but it also turned into amber, clotting him from inside.

“I used to encrypt our conversations very carefully.” Zhu Yanchen opened his mouth thoughtfully, breaking the silence. “Under the system’s restriction, other players could only see the encrypted content. I made an NPC out there just to play the role of ‘Haze’. As for the profile of that NPC…”

“I can guess, it was to stop the other members of Blackbird from talking too much.” Shu Jun spoke towards the air in front of him, not daring to look back. “How did you make the conversations between us appear to be?”

“From the system’s point of view, the main topic of our talks was planting. Discussing game strategies was just the icing on the cake.”

Shu Jun had nothing to say; he did grow two pots of Platycodon flowers on his balcony. This narrowly fit into the story that Zhu Yanchen built.

A moment later, he asked: “On the other side, people who stay in the city can’t be players. Were you also prepared to meet up with me while putting on the disguise of that NPC?”

In the ‘real world’ that the players lived, the NPCs were actual NPCs.

“I was.” Zhu Yanchen answered earnestly. “As an eighty-year-old man.”

How should he put it…? In this regard, we seem to indeed have some strange tacit understanding between us. Shu Jun laughed dryly.

Zhu Yanchen’s purpose was quite obvious. If he hadn’t engaged in the suicidal operation and the two of them had really met, the relationship would have been kept to only text communication. Because obviously, Shu Jun couldn’t always drag an eighty-year-old man out to eat and drink together.

And if Shu Jun hadn’t appeared out of nowhere, Zhu Yanchen would have investigated the erosion area by himself while slowly waiting for his death.

Marshal Zhu did calculate really well ​​— If he died quietly, Shu Jun wouldn’t be too surprised by the death of an ‘old friend’ in that virtual city.

Thinking of this, Shu Jun’s stomach suddenly twisted into a ball.

……When this mission is over, we should probably talk about this seriously.

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