Chapter 44: 44.1: Saving Unpermitted Chapter 44.1

Chapter 44.1: Long Time No See (Part 1)

Right on his spot, Hu Yan was shaken to the core: “Is this even permitted?”

Although the situation was dangerous, he was still thinking about the game — NPCs had never participated in battle before, and it was uncommon for an NPC to be willing to offer assistance like One Eye. Besides, once the others looked at their mission’s score, there might be suspicion of cheating.

Yu Jin was even more frightened than him: “Indeed, is this permitted?!” Since when was it permitted that a player can become an NPC? 

After the two men voiced out in melodious succession, they each cast a rather sympathetic glance at each other.

Seeing that his request was about to be turned down, Shu Jun’s anger almost burst: “……Just consider me a special guest of yours. Open the way first, thank you.”

That was a particularly clever response, for Hu Yan and Yu Jin would interpret his words based on their own questions. Under such an urgent situation, Hu Yan decided to talk no further. The rocks before them bloomed like petals, immediately creating an opening that headed upwards.

There was only darkness above their heads. The sky bestowed absolutely no light, making the way out look like a dry well that hung upside down.

Shu Jun blew up the wind around him but didn’t immediately fly away. He nodded to Zhu Yanchen, then tilted his head in the direction of the Blackbird team.

After many years of exchanging strategies, Zhu Yanchen instantly understood what Shu Jun meant — as a ‘player’, he wanted to attract all of the Mirror Erosion Marsh’s attention to himself. If anything went wrong, the marsh might still attack other Blackbird players. He wanted Zhu Yanchen to help protect the team.

Zhu Yanchen nodded quietly. After receiving Zhu Yanchen’s acknowledgement, Shu Jun let himself be lifted up by the wind, and his feet flew off the ground: “Should I get you a flask of brain tissues?”

Back when they confronted Sweet Vanguard, Zhu Yanchen was at the verge of death, so he certainly had no mind to think about his research. But now, his research subject had been brought to his doorstep. Needless to say, this would make a perfect opportunity.

“No.” Zhu Yanchen said softly: “Stay safe.”

“If it’s because of safety issues…”

“No, even if you dig out a flask of brain tissues, they’ll quickly turn back to normal erosive substance.” Zhu Yanchen explained helplessly. “In short, just be careful…”

“I know, I know.” Marshal Zhu had always put on an icy cold appearance before, but now, knowing that his death was no longer around the corner, he actually grew a tendency to be overprotective. “Don’t worry, I’m good at running away.”

Saying all that, Shu Jun actually knew very well that they had no other choice.

It was impossible for him to leave the missing Blackbird members behind, nor could he escalate a battle between two Alpha-level marshes — before even talking about how he would explain that to the Blackbird frontline team later, if the Mirror Erosion Marsh leant that he was a humanoid marsh that was trying to evoke a fight, this matter might be seen as a dispute between two marshes. The Mirror Erosion Marsh might decide to wipe out its opponent entirely, which would end up with the frontline team bearing all the damages.

Let’s take a step back. Say, if he directly fled, the Mirror Erosion Marsh wouldn’t let go of the frontline team either. A dispute was inevitable.

He could only confront it as a powerful player first and try to leverage on any moment that the marsh didn’t pay attention to play tricks on it.

“Let’s head to the cave entrance.” After Shu Jun flew away, Zhu Yanchen naturally took over the command. “Ground Pepper1This is a slip of the tongue on Zhu Yanchen’s part. He accidentally addressed Hu Yao by his game ID (nickname), probably because he heard Shu Jun called this nickname before. This nickname is written as 胡椒粉 [hu jiao fen], which actually means ‘ground pepper’.…… Captain Hu, the three of us will head to the top of the mountain. There’s a better view there, and it’s also convenient for you to use your ability”

This person who had the same game ID as his sister-in-law had a very pleasant voice, like ice water that flowed down his throat on a scorching day. Hu Yan had a reaction for a split second, feeling that his ID sounded painfully spicy to the ears, so he didn’t respond to Zhu Yanchen’s voice for a moment.

This voice was more suitable to call Luo Duan’s elegant ID, but thinking of Shu Jun’s original ‘See You Tomorrow’ ID, Hu Yan felt his mind steadied again: “View? It’s dark outside…”

Only when these words left his lips that Hu Yan finally realised — clearly, he was the captain of Blackbird, yet he was easily swayed by another man’s aura. 

“I know a way.” Zhu Yanchen said concisely, and he turned to Yu Jin. “Are you coming? If you don’t want to come, you can go back to the Blackbird team and wait.”    

“I’m coming.” Yu Jin said in a daze. “It’s only a few steps away anyway.”

“Let’s go.” Zhu Yanchen pulled out his gun.

The rocks under the three men’s feet were lifted, sliding smoothly and swiftly towards the cave entrance. The distance was neither too short nor too long, just enough for Hu Yan to ask a question: “What is the relationship between you and Shu…… erm, Grey Claw?”

Hearing the key words, Yu Jin squinted his eyes, obviously also curious about the answer.

Marshal Zhu would obviously not be flustered by this situation. Not raising his head, he fiddled with the gun in his hand: “Family.” 

This one word was simple yet powerful, even carrying with it an icy hint of “if you ask more, I won’t answer.”

Hu Yan: “……” As expected, he was a relative of his sister-in-law.

Yu Jin: “……” He had known for a long time that they were a pair. Thinking about it now, is Haze also a player?

In that moment of silence, the rocks moved out of the cave entrance. They squeezed through the boulders on the mountain floor, heading towards the top of the mountain.

“Captain Hu, get ready.” Zhu Yanchen took out a billiard-sized sphere from his backpack and threw it into the air. Instead of falling to the ground, the sphere slowly rose up, glowing with an intense light, like a flash bullet that could press on the flow of time and make it stop.

For a moment, the Blackbird team under the mountain could vaguely be seen, and the entire ruins of the rocky mountains were illuminated, while the liquid pillar in the middle was gleaming with a sticky-looking light.

The view was indeed clear enough, but it was a pity that Shu Jun had disappeared long ago.

Supported by the wind, Shu Jun quickly rushed upwards, but he abruptly came to a halt in the middle of his ascent — Countless guys and girls of the exact same appearance were crowding around the liquid pillar, covering the surface of the marsh like aphids. As soon as Shu Jun appeared, these human skin balloons turned their heads and looked at him in unison.

Being stared at so intently that a chill ran down his spine, Shu Jun gripped Monday tightly.

In order to make it easier for the impending battle, the strip of cloth that entangled Monday’s brain and mouth had already been removed on the way. Monday didn’t harbour any complicated thoughts, simply thinking that it was quite refreshing to catch the wind with its mouth. The moment Shu Jun stopped in his tracks, the refreshing wind was gone, so Monday began to scream in dissatisfaction.

Hearing Monday, the human skin balloons seemed to be awakened and started calling for help. Their densely intertwined cries truly could make one’s hair stand on end. Perhaps not expecting that so many voices would sing along with it, Monday choked and obediently shut up.

If these balloons were still wandering down there, the Mirror Erosion Marsh could launch a full-blown attack on their group of four. Shu Jun swept a glance at the densely packed human skin balloons and blew another wind, trying to find any living humans among them.

Zhu Yanchen never planned to retreat, and coupled with his previous explanation about how this Mirror Erosion Marsh needed a ‘prototype’, it seemed that his team members should still be alive. But as to where those two living humans were hidden and where this marsh’s brain lay, Shu Jun had no idea yet.

The Mirror Erosion Marsh wasn’t stupid, and there was no way Shu Jun’s trick might work twice. The human skin balloons were firmly stuck to the liquid pillar due to the erosive substance and couldn’t be blown away by the wind. Shu Jun didn’t dare to make the wind too strong, fearing that he might shake off the real humans. Clenching his teeth, he continued to fly upwards. Along this liquid pillar that almost seemed like it could pierce the sky, Shu Jun could feel the temperature drop significantly. The light from below also couldn’t reach here. Shu Jun took a deep breath and let the air slowly rotate around him.

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Based on the faint resistive force in the air, Shu Jun could roughly tell how the top of this thing looked like. This Mirror Erosion Marsh didn’t actually have the head of a garden eel. Its head was more like a hydra that split into six or seven tentacles, which were waving back and forth in mid-air.

Comparing this with Sweet Vanguard, the latter now seemed like a very friendly opponent.

Shu Jun licked his dry lips. This thing had pulled itself too thin, running from one end of the land and the sky to the other, and its brain might be at any part. Even if he used his ability to suppress it, he wouldn’t be able to suppress such a large area. If he were to use Monday to cut it, he would have to chop it up like chopping green onions — provided that this thing wouldn’t resist and let him freely chop it.

He pondered for a while, and, raising the corner of his lips, Shu Jun rushed to the top of the liquid pillar.

As expected, this Erosion Marsh reacted like a hungry hydra, entangling several of its tentacles together. Shu Jun put up a hesitant look and tried to cut off those tentacles ‘with much difficulty’, struggling extremely hard.

Those tentacles quickly got him under control, and the erosive substance pushed Shu Jun’s protective suit, shoving him into a hollow pit on the liquid pillar. Shu Jun patiently suppressed his and Monday’s aura, allowing the tentacles to tie him up.

He had to coax this marsh into believing that he was also an excellent prototype for a human skin balloon. The Erosion Marsh wanted to continuously create more human skin balloons while ensuring that the original prototype remained alive. Considering that this marsh’s structure wasn’t steady, it shouldn’t have the leisure time to take care of different prototypes separately. And even if Shu Jun guessed wrongly, there would still be a way to get out.

Luckily, Shu Jun didn’t guess wrongly.

Inside the pit was a thin net of erosive substance shaped like a ghostly lantern, where the two Blackbird team members were kept inside. Due to the high concentration of erosive substance, they were struggling hard. The hair-thin threads of erosive substance had penetrated their protective suits, covering their entire bodies. These threads were likely trying to copy the information from the prototypes.

Shu Jun took a deep breath and stopped his suppression on Monday’s aura.

At first, Monday was peeking around happily, wondering if he could eat the erosive substance of this marsh. As soon as Shu Jun’s suppression was withdrawn and Monday’s aura was completely exposed, the entirety of this Mirror Erosion Marsh’s attention was almost immediately focused on Monday.

Monday: “……Help.” With a sense of oppression squeezing in from all directions, it didn’t even dare to scream out loud.

Shu Jun remained silent, while Monday’s voice was so rough that the two Blackbirds thought it was Shu Jun. Although out of breath, the girl among the two forced her mouth open: “It’s useless to call for help, hurry…… turn on your purifier…… any additional second is precious.” 

After discovering Monday’s presence, the Erosion Marsh started to fluctuate rhythmically, rushing towards the middle.

In order to neatly rescue the players, Shu Jun did bring a purifier. He dexterously activated it to disperse the threads of erosive substance on their bodies, then he stroked the hooks on the safety ropes that those two carried with them and hung them up.

“Time to eat.” He whispered to Monday.

Compared to the time it battled against Sweet Vanguard, Monday had improved a bit. This time, it wasn’t simply dumbstruck, rather, it froze into a piece of plank throughout the whole fight. As the sword edge swept across the Erosion Marsh’s net that wrapped around three of them, with a little hesitance, Monday absorbed the severed erosive substance, allowing the three of them to break free.

But thereafter, Shu Jun didn’t use his trump card ‘suppression’. Instead, he focused and adjusted the distribution of the air — with a scream, the wall of the incredibly thick liquid pillar was torn apart by his wind blade. Shu Jun controlled the surrounding air, ramming it into the pillar like a drill.

“You……” This wind-handling ability user seems very familiar. But since the whole person was so tightly covered, the Blackbird players could only have doubts in their hearts.

Their captain had retired, and the frontline team was entirely made up of members they were familiar with. Beside that, there were only NPCs with no abilities with them here. Where did this person come from?

Of course Shu Jun didn’t wait for them to finish their question. With a wave of his hand, he crudely scraped away the human skin balloons that had been glued to the liquid pillar with erosive substance. Knowing that the erosive substance threads would instinctively tangle around the other two members, he loosened the hooks of their safety ropes —

“Ahhhh —” Completely caught off guard, the two members fell from a high altitude, with two human skin balloons that looked exactly like them hanging on their backs.

Obviously, Shu Jun wouldn’t let his teammates be thrown to death. His wind skill instantly rose, and borrowing the resistive force from the human skin balloons, the two members’ descent wasn’t too fast. It was just that the visual effect was rather exaggerated.

The Erosion Marsh bent its liquid pillar, planning to use tentacles at the top to pull the two of them back, but Shu Jun blocked them all with his sword.

The two quickly plunged into the illuminated area at the bottom of the liquid pillar.

Catching the sight, the Blackbird members almost unanimously swallowed a lump in their throats. Seeing their comrades-in-arms — or more specifically, a lot of their comrades-in-arms — screamed while falling down, they felt as though their minds had been scarred a little.

Unlike Hu Yan, who was absolutely horrified, Zhu Yanchen remained quite calm: “Build a rock pole to buffer the impact, then turn two purifiers to their highest power. Remove the erosive substance threads from their bodies first.” 

Hu Yan simply gave the commanding authority to Zhu Yanchen. Beside the two large human skin balloons that were connected to the two members’ backs, some scattered balloons were dropping down from time to time. The whole scene looked like a nightmare, to the extent that his brain couldn’t process it for a while.

Zhu Yanchen complied with Hu Yan’s kindness and directly gave his instructions: “Stay away from the things that are falling down and check those two’s injuries. If they have no penetrating injuries, there’s still enough time for thorough cleaning.”

“Captain Hu, let’s transform the rock pole into a rock shield.” After giving the commands to the Blackbird members, Marshal Zhu turned to Hu Yan. “There’ll be an attack from above, let me estimate the position. I’ll control the light source to give you detailed instructions. You must ensure that the rock shield is above the light source.”

“Oh, okay…… Okay.”

“One Eye, pay attention to Captain Hu’s feet, don’t let him make any misstep.”

“Okay, okay.”

Zhu Yanchen summoned a screen and stared at the sky full of human skin balloons and the liquid pillar that was oscillating from time to time, his eyes not even blinking. He controlled the light source, while Hu Yan controlled the rock shield. Many hard-to-dodge human skin balloons were blocked, leaving a relatively peaceful place for the Blackbird team to carry out their rescue.

After emergency treatment for those two was over, they might consider retreating. The most ideal situation was that, if Shu Jun hadn’t revealed his identity to the Mirror Erosion Marsh, they should be able to temporarily disable its ability.

Everything now depended on what Shu Jun was planning.

Shu Jun himself was counting the seconds. Seeing that the light source below was mostly blocked by the rock shield, the two players probably had landed on the ground. Emergency treatment would take about 15 minutes. After those 15 minutes, the Blackbird’s frontline team would be able to return to a good state to make a move.

Now was time to confront the marsh one-on-one.

Having its prototypes snatched away by Shu Jun, the mirror Erosion Marsh was clearly in a bad mood. It shook its tentacles and tried to sweep up from the ground, but even if it could break through Shu Jun’s defence with its size advantage, its attacks would always be blocked by the rock shield below. Monday, who apparently was dead set on ‘total surrender’, now became its focus. Monday growled with a fearful tone, making a soft “ouch” every time it blocked an attack.

The two sides spent five minutes fighting back and forth, and the Erosion Marsh came to the realisation — if it couldn’t easily get hold of its targets, it might as well focus on taking down the leader.

The liquid pillar no longer flicked around randomly. Once again, it tried to attack Shu Jun with all its might.

Due to the massive size of this Mirror Erosion Marsh, the air was disrupted into a messy flow. For a moment, Shu Jun couldn’t grasp all of its movements, let alone infer the position of its brain. He could only passively stay on defence.

This won’t work.

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