Chapter 8 - Happy Cooperating!

“…Is there an Erosion Marsh hidden inside me?”

“Uhm, and it’s still not very obedient.” Zhu Yanchen’s tone didn’t even flinch. He clenched the gun, still looking around vigilantly.

The corpse handler wasn’t trying to activate the purifier anymore, rather, she was nested in the gap between the machines, her whole body stiff. The room was filled with a blood-red shade of alert lights, and the siren was still ringing loudly.

“Could it be that you brought me here today so that I could communicate with this mini Erosion Marsh?” Shu Jun stood at a spot outside of Zhu Yanchen’s protection range, decisively not coming to a stop with his endless questioning.

This is just the logic of the game. We are just discussing the game settings.

Shu Jun tried to make a joke to save the increasingly problematic situation — In a sense, Zhu Yanchen was right. Shu Jun did ‘understand everything’, but understanding everything was one thing, accepting it was another.

“This marsh is artificially grown. It has only swallowed human corpses, and its erosive substance is very compatible with human tissues.” Zhu Yanchen seriously responded to his joke: “As long as there’s contact between different marshes, there’ll be a simple exchange of information. The erosive substance inside you can learn from the experience of its own kin, and it won’t immediately fight your body till both of you are destroyed.”

Shu Jun: “…”

As an aggregate of microorganisms, Erosion Marsh had no brain and no real intelligence. To make an analogy, they were more like creatures such as ants and bees. They could resonate and exchange simple information with each other, but that was all they could do.

Shu Jun had known for a long time that Erosion Marsh could exchange information necessary for their survival, but this required a prerequisite, which was that both sides must be a real marsh.

Now, it seemed more like ‘there was an Erosion Marsh in him’ rather than ‘there was an Erosion Marsh hidden inside him’.

Why can’t this friend just go offline, huh? 

It must be because I’ve accidentally blended too well with this Erosion Marsh; both of us have become so tangled that it was hard to separate, and there’s no way the marsh could be filtered out with filter paper. Shu Jun thought bitterly and his lips trembled. Things had gotten this serious and felt all too unreal, so much so that he had learnt to maintain his composure, keeping his mind totally intact by the shock.

There would always be a way out, somehow… So there was no point freaking out now.

The Corpse Parasite still hadn’t made any move. This creature had always been a cautious type, so it wouldn’t fight back so quickly after being suddenly attacked like just now. As Zhu Yanchen lowered the muzzle, Shu Jun glanced at the guy’s damaged protective suit and felt a little frustrated: “Then I’ve finished communicating with this marsh. Let’s go back?”

“We can’t go back.” Zhu Yanchen shook his head and walked towards the corpse handler: “Back there, you’ve lost control once. The military has the means to detect the presence of Erosion Marsh, so our previous location has been exposed.”

Thinking of the thing that had caused him to lose control, Shu Jun’s thousands of question marks returned. But before he could organise his mind, Zhu Yanchen had already approached the corpse handler.

“You’re not a staff member here, right?”

The woman shrinking in the corner raised her head, her whole body frozen like a wooden sculpture.

“How to turn on the purifier in time is the first lesson for any corpse handler. No matter what happens, this step can’t go wrong.” Zhu Yanchen didn’t sound like he was in a good mood: “And each corpse handler needs to rotate every month. Have you been here for more than a month?” 

The woman inconsistently nodded and shook her head, her eyes fixed on the gun at Marshal Zhu’s waist.

“The rotation rule is put in place to ensure that there won’t be too much erosive residue in your body after you process the corpses, so Corpse Parasite won’t use you to search for Erosion Marsh. It’s a very cautious creature, so it won’t come knocking on your door unless it’s been observing you for a long time… In short, it was you who attracted it.”

Zhu Yanchen’s tone became colder.

“If it weren’t for us to be here, not only would you die, but the marsh would also leak out. Now the alerts have been sent out and someone will be here soon. Have you thought about how to explain it?”

The woman looked at the three corpses not far away, hugged her knees and tightened her gas mask.

Zhu Yanchen pondered for a moment: “You can’t get into this kind of organisation alone. Take us to your stronghold. People can’t come back from the dead, but you can still at least make up for your sins.”

He shifted his eyes to Shu Jun. Seeing Shu Jun also staring at him, Zhu Yanchen quickly withdrew his gaze.

Shu Jun continued to look at Zhu Yanchen’s back.

He suddenly understood the strangeness he had been feeling about this ‘Haze’ — Just like how A Yan treated him, as long as he asked, Zhu Yanchen would definitely give an answer, but it was only a brief answer with no other details at all. Compared to A Yan who was always willing to discuss strategies together, the ‘Haze’ in front of him was subconsciously keeping a distance.

At least, whenever Shu Jun was conscious.

Shu Jun could understand why Zhu Yanchen didn’t want to discuss the plan with him, or actively try to explain the reason for his behaviour. There were so many things in his mind that he needed time to digest them slowly before he could pursue those details. That said, if in front of him was the A Yan that he always knew, everything should already be laid out on the table and explained clearly by now.

But with the Zhu Yanchen he was looking at right now, Shu Jun had to wonder how they could get along.

A Yan indeed never talked much, but he also wasn’t the type to become nervous about this kind of thing. Shu Jun always felt that there must be a deeper reason for all of Zhu Yanchen’s behaviour up till this point, but his mind right now really couldn’t figure out anything.

To be honest, Shu Jun didn’t want to passively accept all that information, and he didn’t like the awkward atmosphere between the two of them either. Combined with all the problems he had already been caught inside, there was only one solution.

Although it was an absurd idea, he must first determine whether this world was really the ‘reality’. Thanks to the event that was happening right now, he thought of a method.

“A Yan, my body is fine this time.” Shu Jun made his tone especially relaxed.

“There should be no issue for the time being.” A soft response came from a distance.

The fraud corpse handler was trembling as she said something to Zhu Yanchen. After thinking for a few seconds, Shu Jun decided to stride forward. Seeing the ‘erosive’ man just now approaching nearer, the corpse handler wanted to shrink further into the gap between the machines. Zhu Yanchen was a little surprised by Shu Jun walking over, and he thought that Shu Jun was going to ask him another question. But as he turned around —

“Since you’ve been here for more than a month, tell me the coordinates here.” Shu Jun deliberately stood behind Zhu Yanchen, putting on a fierce look.

Shu Jun knew he could be confident about his appearance, but with his grey hair and monster-like vertical pupils, being gentle likely wouldn’t work.

Zhu Yanchen wanted to stop this conversation from continuing, but Shu Jun put one arm in front of him and covered his mouth. The red alert light gleaming brightly in his grey eyes coupled with Shu Jun’s behaviour that felt exactly like a kidnapper’s made the woman desperately gasp for air and immediately inform him of this place’s coordinates, her whole body trembling in fear.

“Thank you.” Despite the situation, Shu Jun still knew it was important to be polite.

Thereafter, Shu Jun didn’t let Zhu Yanchen go but continued to hold on to him, then he picked up the woman who was still shaking and directly called upon the wind.

He knew the coordinates of the players’ stronghold. And now that he knew this place’s coordinates too, Shu Jun could figure out the way back.

Zhu Yanchen didn’t say a word on the whole journey. He’s probably angry, Shu Jun thought.

The buildings in the stronghold were familiar enough to make him feel at ease. Shu Jun stopped on the roof, put the two other persons down and got ready to climb into the building. He was almost stretching out his hands when he found that one of his wrists was caught by something.

Seemingly from nowhere, Zhu Yanchen pulled out a pair of handcuffs and directly handcuffed himself to Shu Jun. The handcuffs used an electronic lock, so Shu Jun couldn’t even snatch the key.

…Looking at this tactic, Shu Jun could finally feel a sense of familiarity. This was truly the doing of ‘Haze’.

“You just wait here, we’ll be back.” Judging from the tone Zhu Yanchen used to talk to the corpse handler, his emotion seemed as though it had frozen.

Shu Jun had to take Zhu Yanchen with him again, and the two sneaked into the building from the window — It was midnight and not many people were still awake in the stronghold. Even with one more person next to him, Shu Jun still smoothly slipped underground.

It was just that knocking out the guards was a bit more troublesome than usual.

The room where they usually used to go into the game remained the same, where the familiar hibernation pods were neatly arranged in rows. Shu Jun quickly found the one that belonged to him, but after opening the lid, he couldn’t help frowning.

There was a young man he didn’t know.

Zhu Yanchen sighed and remained silent.

Shu Jun walked around and finally found an empty pod in the corner. He pressed his palm on the control screen and began to verify his identity. After his fingerprints were input, the familiar game prompt didn’t appear, instead, a cold warning popped up.

[Identification error. The authority of synthesised body S-001 ‘Shu Jun’ has been cancelled. Please enter the correct data.]

Shu Jun took a deep breath and once again pressed his hand on the screen.

[Identification error. The authority of synthesised body S-001 ‘Shu Jun’ has been cancelled. Please enter the correct data.]

He changed to another pod and the same warning came out. Shu Jun decided to lay down in the hibernation pod, trying to operate on the screen inside the machine.

[Identification error. The authority of synthesised body S-001 ‘Shu Jun’ has been cancelled. Please enter the correct data.]

Shu Jun clenched his fists, his face twisting into a disturbed expression, his movements becoming even faster.

“After this, you’ll realise that this world is indeed ‘reality’.” After being pulled around for a while, Zhu Yanchen finally spoke.

“Then you’ll think of your teammates who are also being used like you. You won’t give up on them.”

“Finally, you’ll realise that as a person originally from this world, I knew everything from the beginning.”

Shu Jun turned around and cut short the distance between the two of them. He pulled Zhu Yanchen closer, so close that they could feel each other’s breathing. Then, Zhu Yanchen made a strange move. He seemed to want to grab the grip of the gun, but he didn’t do it eventually. He sighed again, his eyes fixed on Shu Jun, as if waiting for something.

Their hands were still connected by the handcuffs, and the air froze for a moment.

For ten minutes, Shu Jun was completely silent.

“You aren’t wrong.” He said, but there wasn’t much anger in his voice like Zhu Yanchen had expected.

“But I won’t be so stupid to ignore the only peron who’s willing to tell me the truth and just recklessly go berserk here.”

“I’ll definitely want to save my team members, and I’ll definitely save them.”

“And you’re a person from this world, with a high level of authority, and able to stabilise my physical condition. You’re an excellent partner for cooperation.”

For the first time, Zhu Yanchen showed an expression of slight surprise.

“As for the rest… Since you’ve decided to tell me all this now, there must be a reason for you trying to hide the truth previously.” Shu Jun stretched out the hand that wasn’t handcuffed and grabbed Zhu Yanchen’s handcuffed hand. “This is a handshake.”

Zhu Yanchen was still staring at him, seemingly quite astounded at his attitude. Shu Jun stood up on the spot, himself surrounded by rows of hibernation pods. He calmly looked at Zhu Yanchen and smiled again.

“I haven’t lost before, and I won’t lose this time.”