Chapter 40: Saving Unpermitted Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Nightmare

Zhu Yanchen couldn’t tell what he was feeling.

Shu Jun’s ability to control emotions was better than he thought. Facing his ex-teammates, Shu Jun kept his cool rather well, but as for Zhu Yanchen, the word ‘honeymoon’ uttered by Hu Yan really had him dazed for a few seconds.

If Shu Jun really had a lover, he never mentioned it to his text-friend ‘Haze’.

In a blink, countless tastes gathered at his lips, but Zhu Yanchen couldn’t quite tell whether it was bitter or salty. But now that he thought about it, between Shu Jun and him, there had always been a huge distance. Their text communication was the result of hefty efforts — The virtual city was protected by many security layers, and he had to struggle quite a bit in order to quietly create an opening without alarming the technicians.

There were two main motives behind their text exchange.

For the greater good, it was because Shu Jun liked to share tactics with other captains, thus knowledge could be transferred through him. In this way, Zhu Yanchen could quietly relay safety tactics that allowed the players to stay alive longer.

But for Zhu Yanchen’s own good, it was because he had been walking all alone. It had come to a point when he needed someone to lean on.

He had spent all his life trying to fully understand the problems surrounding Erosion Marsh, determined to leave behind a legacy that was enough to start a conflagration upon his death. Even if he had to consider their very first promise, Zhu Yanchen’s death still somewhat fulfilled it. Both of them didn’t have much longer to live, and as such, Zhu Yanchen hoped that he would head to the Yellow Spring1 first, then waited for Shu Jun to join him with open arms.

He knew that Shu Jun couldn’t remember what happened back then, and he also knew that he was incapable of dealing with the shock that would happen to Shu Jun’s brain. He had no way to save this man who was once his friend. 

Then, at least, in the last few years of his life, he wanted to have a few conversations with this person.

However, Shu Jun was more enthusiastic than he thought. At first, the two of them mainly spoke about game strategies, but later, this person went on to share about whatever interesting things that he encountered in life. Affected by Shu Jun’s contagious zeal, Zhu Yanchen inevitably opened his shell a little and, from time to time, chatted along with Shu Jun.

After all, this was the moment when Zhu Yanchen could be least worried. In the very last stage of his illness, this was his little solace.

Now that he had survived, Zhu Yanchen couldn’t help but hope that he would be more special, at least not a mere acquaintance who couldn’t even touch Shu Jun. 

Yet now, it seemed even Hu Yan knew that Shu Jun had a lover.

But then, before Zhu Yanchen came back to his senses, Hu Yan blew up another bomb: “Sister-in-law’s game ID is ‘Haze’.”

Zhu Yanchen: “……”

He reacted extremely quickly and instantly guessed that all this was an effect of the system’s arrangement. Even so, he still felt a sense of inexplicable joy. Seeing Shu Jun scratching his cheeks in embarrassment outside the tent, for once, Marshal Zhu took the initiative to relieve the tension.

But he didn’t expect that when he finished his explanation, Shu Jun’s emotions actually sank. 

That night, Zhu Yanchen turned over to find the sleeping bag next to him empty and icy cold. There was only the sound of Yu Jin snoring in his ears.

Monday, which should’ve laid sideways next to him, was gone.

Zhu Yanchen sat up at once, hastily put on his protective clothing and got out of the tent.

He was a little worried — Shu Jun had always surpassed his expectations. After knowing the truth, he didn’t jump to recklessly save other players, nor did he vent out his hatred on Zhu Yanchen, Ai Xiaoxiao, Yu Jin or any other human beings. These past few days, the two had been running around to solve the issue of synthesised humans and got along fairly happily.

But even if things were gradually resolved, his hatred was there after all.

Shu Jun didn’t go far. In order to guard against strong winds, the Blackbird team camped on the edge of a low cliff. Shu Jun was sitting on the cliff at the moment, with no one else around. He simply pushed the gas mask to the side of his head, his grey eyes gleaming in the night.

The first to spot Zhu Yanchen was Monday, and it exhaled energetically: “Zhu! Zhu —” 

“It’s okay.” Shu Jun pressed his hand on the hilt of the sword. Without looking back, he shifted his body to the side to make some space for Zhu Yanchen.

“Don’t worry, I won’t lose my mind and simply run away with Hu Yan and the others.” As Zhu Yanchen sat down, Shu Jun turned his face to the side, his expression a tad complicated: “After all, you’re such a reliable partner. There’ll be no civilian presence after this village, I won’t have the guts to act rashly.”

“I’m not worried about this.” 

“No?” Shu Jun smiled and moved slightly once more. The two got close enough, and on such a cold night, the warmth of a human body felt particularly pronounced.

Zhu Yanchen remained silent for a few seconds. Figuring that he didn’t know how to continue, he could only nod.

“A Yan, two days ago, you said that I could talk with you like before.” Shu Jun’s voice was clear and full of vigour: “Then shall I talk? I had a nightmare just now, one that was especially sinister.”

That was indeed the sort of topic that they used to discuss via texts before.

“I dreamt of myself, but it was the normal me of before — ‘that thing’ was eroded all over, its bones were exposed and its face was eaten away. It stood in front of me, constantly throwing words at me. In short, it wanted me to kill you, kill Yu Jin and directly bring the Blackbird team to build a few strongholds, then seek revenge from humans.”

Zhu Yanchen: “……” He really didn’t know how to respond to this.

“I think that was quite interesting. I dreamt of it last night, and it came again tonight. I rarely dream. It’s certainly not a coincidence.” Shu Jun yawned and stroked Monday’s side. “As soon as I slept, it began to mumble, as promptly as one clocking in for his job.”

At this point, Zhu Yanchen heard the insinuation. He held his breath and looked at Shu Jun.

“I did say that I harbour hatred for humans. Y City is really lively. Groups after groups of people step on our corpses to survive. They are innocent because they’re clueless? I won’t accept that. But from what I see, at least such a crime doesn’t deserve death — The people I want to kill are those who know the truth and insist on implementing the Player system.”

Shu Jun lifted his hand and casually pointed one of his fingers, where his sharp claw had grown, upward.

“But before that, I’ll do everything possible to ensure that my comrades will survive. No matter how the situation changes, this is definitely the first priority… So I think ‘the thing’ that keeps talking in my dreams shouldn’t be my subconscious mind.”

“When did this dream start?” Zhu Yanchen asked sternly.

“Only in the past two days. The biggest event that happened recently probably should be us sneaking into the Headquarters to steal the brain tissues. Let me ask you, great Marshal —”

Shu Jun propped his hand on the ground and tilted his body to the side, his face leaning in very close. Feeling the heat from radiation, Zhu Yanchen pursed his lips.

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“— Your Headquarters, is there really nothing wrong with it?”

“It’s hard to say.” As he opened his mouth again, Zhu Yanchen found that his own voice was a little dry. “The Headquarters’ defense against contamination is rather thorough, so it’s definitely impossible for a fully-grown Erosion Marsh to enter. But in order to ensure the entry and exit of the synthesised humans, the erosive substance won’t be completely eliminated.”

“Hmm…” Shu Jun made a long hiss through his nose, his brows creasing.

“There are also loopholes.” Zhu Yanchen continued: “They trust the purifier system too much and will only carry out checks according to the regulations. Even if something is found to be wrong, the application process will take a certain amount of time.”

A thought ran through his subconscious mind, but as he tried to study it carefully, it disappeared.

“Okay, it seems that I need to have a few more dreams to see what ‘that thing’’s motive is.” Shu Jun smiled again and reached towards the coat on Zhu Yanchen’s shoulders. “I dreamt of something uncomfortable and just wanted to relax a bit. Let’s head back, your body is still a human’s, be careful to not catch a cold.”

While no vegetation grew in the erosion zone, the erosive substance really liked water, so the whole place looked like a barren swamp. The sky above had always been gloomy. Even if Shu Jun stopped the wind around him, the air remained eerily damp and cold, making it feel as if every step he took, he was walking through a ghost.

“If you can’t bear those negative emotions…” Zhu Yanchen stood up.

He actually wanted to say “you can also talk to me”, but as one of the humans himself, such a sentence seemed rather mocking. He threw away the first half of the sentence, and the second half was left festering in his chest.

Shu Jun stopped smiling. He stared at Zhu Yanchen for a while, and finally said vaguely: “The way you see things is interesting. You must’ve been alone for a long time and had a rich experience.” 

These words didn’t seem to be sarcastic, rather, three parts of them carried his anger and seven parts were drenched in dissatisfaction. Before he finished speaking, Shu Jun stretched out his hands to fasten Zhu Yanchen’s coat button, almost emanating an intent of wanting to strangle the person.

“Let’s head back, quickly.” After fastening the button, Shu Jun raised his claws intimidatingly. “If I can’t stand it, I will not not say anything. I must scream in front of you for three days and three nights. I’m not like a certain someone who pretends to be an eighty-year-old man and intends to vanish off this Earth in complete silence.”

“……”

“Don’t give me that look. I understand your reason, you have limited choices, but does it have anything to do with my frustration?”

Zhu Yanchen was dumbfounded, for it was the first time he met such an unreasonable partner. Although there was nothing to refute, a sense of pain surged from his heart.

“Let’s go back, we need to get up early tomorrow.” After being tortured by Shu Jun’s eyes for two or three minutes, he finally said dryly. “Regarding the Headquarters, I’ll contact Ai Xiaoxiao.”

“What else?”

“You… no, we can talk about emotional issues. It works both ways.”

“Now that sounds somewhat acceptable.” 

In Y City, Ai Xiaoxiao wasn’t sleeping either.

Since getting that flask of brain tissues, she had studied more happily than anyone else. Unlike Zhu Yanchen, who researched Erosion Marsh in depth, she was better at treating later stages of body erosion. As far as medicine was concerned, she had confidence.

While waiting for the analysis result from the machine, she chewed on the fifth caffeine lollipop.

There were no guests this late at night. This moment when time seemed to stand still was the best time to do research. If anything was imperfect, it was that there had been quite a number of invited guests invading her life as of late — Zhu Yanchen had cheated death, hence the original arrangement no longer sufficed. On the other hand, Lao Dong had been running here a lot in order to take care of Zhu Yanchen’s instructions, and he always specially selected the quiet hours of the night.

Today, Lao Dong was here once again.

If it were not for this old man having a tendency to look for cats in isolated corners and not treating this clinic as his own home, Ai Xiaoxiao would definitely have tossed him out. To be asked to open and close the door when inspiration was peaking in her head was the very limit that she would put up with.

Ai Xiaoxiao rolled his eyes, picked up the treatment solution on her side and began to carefully drip the new drug onto it. As soon as she reached the third drop, the detector on the workbench screamed. Ai Xiaoxiao’s hand shook, which meant that the entire tube would have to be discarded.

“F**k!” She squeezed a swear word through her teeth.

Today, she was determined to not show any respect to this old man. I definitely have to beat this messy old man up. Ai Xiaoxiao fiercely grabbed the keychain on the hook and walked through the corridor, rushing into another underground passage.

But as she arrived at her destination, Lao Dong’s expression was even unsightlier than her.

“Explain.” His voice was hoarse.

“Explain your head, you are making a mess in my house and want me to explain?”

“The detector has picked up an abnormal signal, so I must make sure that no one has intruded or is eavesdropping on us.”

“But would you f**king explain first? Are you trying to open the door yourself?”

“How would I have the nerve to? If I really disturb you during your experiment, you can pull out my bones and mold them into a broom, then use it to wipe the remnants of your patients’ urology test.” Lao Dong also didn’t hold back. “Now, explain. A very complicated hybrid lock is used here. No one should be able to get in except you.”

Lao Dong stood in front of the old door. The door was metal, heavy and covered with mottled rust. Many types of locks were scattered on it. From the old-style physical locks to the latest electronic locks, all sorts were present.

Ai Xiaoxiao sneered. She had seen the bulge under Lao Dong’s sleeve; it was very likely a gun.

“If it hadn’t been for you to work under Zhu Yanchen, you would’ve been dead by now.” Behind the large keychain, a scalpel shone coldly. “It’s none of your business. Have you heard of Bluebeard’s room?”

“Have you heard of Bluebeard’s ending?”

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask Zhu Yanchen.”

“But I’ll have to wait a while, right? I won’t give you time to prepare, and I’m not interested in your personal affairs. If our interests are the same, you can let me take a look. Regardless of whether it’s the Devil or anything else, as long as the abnormal signal doesn’t mean any danger, I won’t say even half a word.”

For a moment, Ai Xiaoxiao stabbed Lao Dong with her gaze.

“Well, let’s say I’m doing this out of respect for Zhu Yanchen.” She said: “In exchange, if you say even half a word, I’ll definitely skin you alive — Literally, I will do what I say.”

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