CH 115

After busying about for an entire day, Yan Yi finally had a bit of free time, resting in the lounge for a while. He eyed his watch, six pm, checked through emails, nothing really urgent, so he took his coat and car keys and prepared to go home.

Just as he pulled the lounge door open, Lu Shangjin was waiting outside, looking like he’d just raised his hand to knock on it. 

Yan Yi hadn’t spoken yet when Lu Shangjin had already fastened the buttons on his collar for him. After all these years, the alpha’s every move became thoroughly infused with gentleness.

“The scent of cigarette smoke.” Lu Shangjin said lightly. With no intention to rebuke him, he naturally rested on his shoulder, “There wasn’t much business today, so I conveniently came to pick you up, my car is downstairs.”

Yan Yi suddenly lowered his head, forehead pressing against his chest.

“What is it?”

“Tired, will be okay in a bit.”

“Hold you?”

“Don’t, outrageous.”

“Let’s go, return home first to eat.” 

He sat in the passenger seat. Lu Shangjin looked in the rearview mirror as he reversed and conveniently began to talk about the interesting things of the day. “Today our family’s baby made a trip back and gave me this thing.”

He brought out a small opaque glass bottle from his pocket, and Yan Yi took it from his hand. “Sunflower explosion catalyst?”

“En.” Lu Shangjin’s tone when speaking carried some pride, “Lu Yan that little guy beamed as he told me about stealing the catalyst from Danlisailles Palace, I said he was still far from how I was that year, which enraged him so much he rolled around on the bed. He came back hurriedly, took some toy plushies, and instructed the driver to take him back to Greenfly Island.”

“Don’t you oppose him doing dangerous things?” Yan Yi held the catalyst in the heart of his palm, “How did you agree to let him return?” 

“It’s not the same now.” Lu Shangjin supported the steering wheel, “Shao Wenjing’s situation, thinking about it really is frightening. You say if someone snatched Lu Yan and had me exchange glands for our son, how can I not swap? Even knowing it’s a living hell waiting I would still have to jump into it.”

“I now regret shielding him from things big and small, we should’ve taught him some abilities long ago while he was still small.” Lu Shangjin sighed, “But it isn’t exactly too late now, taking everything into account he’s sixteen now, how long can we still protect him, so let him go learn.”

“I also watched the year-end examination recording with Bi-ge and Xia Pingtian. We sat together and watched it, ai, Lu Yan’s fighting in the last round really lost face for me. Those two guys, old and young, laughed so much. When he comes back, I’ll personally teach him.”

Lu Shangjin possessed extremely high-level A3 peregrine falcon glands. When he was young, he and Yan Yi were lovers and partners on the battlefield. Yan Yi assumed the role of carrying out sudden attacks, while Lu Shangjin was a sniper. Hundreds and thousands of meters away, his eagle eye ensured bullets never missed their target. He didn’t expect Lu Yan to not inherit even a tiny bit of his sniping ability. 

Yan Yi paid the most attention to Greenfly Island’s Special Operations end-of-year examination. Concerning the IOA organization’s new blood, he would carefully observe all one hundred and two students’ detailed clips one by one before issuing year-end evaluations.

“His team has a little guy named Xiao Xun, did you notice?”

“I’ve watched the tapes. In terms of sniping he’s pretty awesome, and seeing as he hasn’t reached twenty, he has to be cultivated properly.”

“Ktf Xgfstbecv ojwlis’r Wljb Jtjcuzle’r ugjcvrbc ogbw tlr olgra klof.” Tjc Tl rjlv. 

“Yo. Isn’t the rule no taking in kids with backgrounds?” Lu Shangjin asked.

“Dfmjerf tf’r jc bwfuj, tf kjr nlmlberis qertfv bea. P’w cba jrxlcu tlw ab yf nfgs ibsji. P bcis kjca atf Xgfstbecv ojwlis ab rff atf njra bmfjc bo ajifca atfs tjv rcbyylrtis mjra jkjs joafg rb wjcs sfjgr. Ktf bwfuj rtbeiv ajxf gfnfcuf ilxf atlr.” Tjc Tl rjlv.

“Haha.”

“Right, I haven’t seen my second son in so long. Huanshifengfei is about to clear out a chairman position, just in time to have him practice. He can’t just bury his head and continue working like this for you. Working in special ops is the food of the young, and there will always come a day of leaving it behind.” Lu Shangjin hadn’t seen Bai Chunian the entire trip. Every time he went back, the other would come. Xiao Bai would come over and make a round whether or not he had anything to do. 

“He probably won’t have any time in the short term, wait until he returns.” Yan Yi said.

As night fell, Bai Chunian sat on the cover of a streetlight, one leg bent, his wrist resting on his knee.

The dim yellow light elongated Eris’s figure beneath the streetlight. Eris held a bat wrapped with barbed wire, heavily smashing it down onto the stomach of a rogue lying beneath him.

The heavy impact of the blow had that person spitting out a mouthful of filthy scarlet things mixed with crushed internal organs. Eris raised the bat that was covered with blood. He tapped his palm and tilted his neck back and forth. There were five or six corpses of other rogues in terrible shape beside him, piled up criss-crossed. 

A backpack-wearing child trembled in the corner curled tightly on itself, staring at the mess scattered onto the earth.

Within the shroud of encroaching night Eris’s eyes wandered freely, bat resting on his shoulders as he stepped onto the still panting person’s chest, head lowered as he began to laugh, his lips freshly stained red, a sort of garishly gorgeous malevolence as he grinned.

“Do, not, bully, little, children.” Eris stepped on his chest with his head lowered as he educated, “Understood?”

The little hooligan cried as he returned the money he demanded from the child’s pockets. “Here, here….” 

Eris laughed wildly as he broke the other’s sternum stomp after stomp and then slowly walked towards the child curled up shivering in the corner. He wiped his face once and gave him the bloodstained cash, eyes as green as tea blinking harmlessly.

The kid was scared enough to scream. He couldn’t even care enough to snatch up the money, just wanting to flee.

“Hey.” Eris unhurriedly turned, the corner of his mouth drooping down, “You’re not saying thanks?”

He whistled a long note, and the wire-wrapped bat in his hand flew out and slammed into the child’s head. 

Eris used both hands to present two middle fingers to the corpse with an exploded head and said in deadly earnest, “So mannerless.”

He raised his head and raised a middle finger to Bai Chunian too. “Come down, little white cat. You’re not wild enough, you’re not even in my eyes, you’re not better than the little black cat.”

“How come, is looting this type of thing not wild enough?” Bai Chunian hopped down, landing soundlessly, a lollipop stolen from the little kid dangling from his lips, purposefully standing in the center of the surveillance camera’s view.

“Bring me to the good place you mentioned quickly.” Eris didn’t even wipe his fingerprints off before casually tossing the bat into the heap of corpses, “I’m really looking forward to it.” 

Bai Chunian eyed the time. “Only possible a little later. Is there anything you want to do during this period?”

“There is, yes yes yes.” Eris ran over like a gust of wind, pointing to the sign of the subway station, “Do you have a metro card, I’ve never ridden it, I want to.”

Bai Chunian took out a metrocard from his pocket. “Call ge.”

“Thanks da-ge!” Eris put both hands together and received that card, happily running into the station. 

Bai Chunian bit, shattering the candy sphere, and followed.

The passengers inside the station fled shrieking amidst great chaos, alarms erupting. The security check entrance was already a sea of blood, the staff collapsed on the floor. Eris carried a shotgun on his shoulder as he swaggered inwards and earnestly swiped the card at the ticket machine.

The gate opened, Eris pumped his fist and let out a “yeh,” then walked through to ride the metro. He didn’t have a set destination; whichever metro arrived he’d ride it, and Bai Chunian stood to the side waiting with him.

“How long?” Eris sat down, supporting his face as he waited, “How about we play a game.” 

Bai Chunian sat side by side with him. “Play what?”

Eris shot two rounds at the safety doors that blocked access to the metro tracks. The glass shattered in response, leaving behind two holes.

“Take turns pushing a piece of glass off, see whose finger gets cut off by the falling glass.” Eris demonstrated first, pushing off four pieces of glass in one go, the shattered glass’s ability to brace was very small, tottering on the verge of collapse. It was unknown which piece, once pushed, would provoke the ones above.

Bai Chunian boredly accompanied him in playing this glass-pushing gambling game. In the middle, Rimbaud called. He accepted the call as he continued pushing. 

Rimbaud laid on his stomach on the couch at home watching television. It was about time for dinner, and he was calling Bai Chunian to come home to eat.

Bai Chunian wasn’t finished with business, both coaxing and kissing as he ended the call.

Perhaps the glass’s quality was rather good; after trading ten-something rounds, the glass at the highest area still hadn’t managed to fall.

Eris had never lost when playing this type of game and gradually lost his patience now. This kind of dangerous game was more interesting when played with cowards; he could play as he observed the other party’s constant worry at losing a finger to glass and the terrified expression that produced, but Bai Chunian wasn’t afraid at all, making the game thoroughly meaningless. 

So he did a little sabotage.

Bai Chunian scented a pheromone and discerned the faint fluctuations of a J1 ability within it.

Just as Bai Chunian once again pushed the glass inside, his finger extending into the small hole within it, a line of subway cars suddenly hurtled past.

Eris delightedly awaited the sight of him holding the severed finger while rolling around and howling with pain. Bai Chunian slowly retracted his finger, and the tip of his digit lacked any wound. 

The line of subway cars’ outer wall had a thin but deep gorge gouged into it by his transformed metal finger from head to tail.

Eris stuck out his tongue. He was then snatched by the hair by Bai Chunian and violently smashed against the broken glass several times. “What’s wrong with you?”

Bai Chunian’s hand strength was powerful and carried the all-out force of revenge and reeducation.

Eris raised his head from the glass door shattered by the smashing, face full of blood, though the wounds quickly healed. He used his sleeve to mop the blood on his face and smiled knowingly towards Bai Chunian. “Just making a little jest, don’t get angry.” 

He extended his tongue as Bai Chunian extended a hand, introducing himself, “61012, Cursemaker. Just now, that was my J1 ability ‘Misfortune Arrives.’ I like you.”

Hearing this code name, Bai Chunian couldn’t help but regain his spirit. The Red Throated Bird’s boss had purchased him, likely at a very high price.

After hearing of this, the Alliance’s Technology Department sent over data.

Special-type Operations Weapon Serial Number 61012 

Cursemaker

Status: Maturity stage alpha

Outer form: Human

Differentiation ability: J1 ability “Misfortune Arrives.” It is a luck-changing ability that makes its target encounter an instance of bad luck. 

M2 ability “Horror Film,” environmental alteration ability, pulling the target into a horror plot determined by the situation, attacking the target’s consciousness, causing the target to die of fright.

Bai Chunian knew, of all the special type combat experiments, the serial numbers that began with “6” were extremely special; 6 represented that the gland prototype was a lifeless form.

The “10” in the middle represented a pure mimicry type.

The degree of mimicry was determined by contrasting the experimental subject’s initial form to its final form. Bai Chunian was altered from a white lion cub and now maintained a human outer appearance, therefore had the serial number 9100, the middle “10” representing full mimicry evolution. 

But the clown Samuel’s outer appearance was the same as a human, yet his serial code was 408, the middle “0” representing no mimicry, which was to say, the clown Samuel’s original form was just a human embryo, and then continued to be human, so the degree of mimicry was 0.

The octopus Kraken’s serial code 809, middle “0” also represented no mimicry, signifying the Kraken was modified from an octopus; its outer form remained as an octopus without changing.

So now it was possible to understand Eris as a lifeless form that was bestowed with a high-quality cognitive microchip after a gland was transplanted and from then on had the ability to think and feel.

Eris’ serial code’s final two digits “12” represented the main ability as transferring luck, the same as Domino. 

After comparing and analyzing the data from many sides, the Alliance’s Technology Department determined that Eris’s original cultivation model was a voodoo doll.

The two stepped onto the train before the horrified and shocked eyes of the passengers. At this station there couldn’t be said to be many people; there were quite a few empty seats.

Eris lay the shotgun across his legs horizontally, clamping a briefcase he’d snatched from a corpse under his arm. He sat in the seat and raised his head and asked Bai Chunian. “How is it?”

“Not bad.” Bai Chunian stood to his side, hand raised to grab the support bar. 

A small kid sitting opposite had been scared into tears by the blood all over Eris’s body. His mother hurriedly picked him up. Hugging him, she rushed towards another car.

The smile on Eris’s face vanished, and he raised his hand and got rid of that mother in one go. Fresh blood splashed the entire car, and all of the passengers within were so frightened they screamed as they retreated like a tide, while others’ voices trembled as they alerted the police.

The little kid who had fallen on the ground didn’t know what to do, and his face was splashed all over with his mother’s blood. He was too young to comprehend death; he worked hard to push her face, wanting to awaken his mother.

Eris stuck his tongue out at that child. “Hey, what I don’t have you’re not allowed to have either.” 

Bai Chunian stuck one hand in his pocket while the other held the pole, indifferently putting in headphones, and playing a song to listen to.

As long as Eris caused a huge uproar in the city center, the International Prison would naturally catch wind of it and arrive. What Bai Chunian had to do was lead him to cause chaos on the largest scale.

Regarding the necessary sacrifices, Bai Chunian watched his own eyes in the reflection of the compartment’s glass door.

The President actually hadn’t misspoken. From the Cuban special agent who had stabbed him to the countless lion cubs killed in the explosion on the tracks in the valley outside of M Harbor, then to the Golden Silk Spider Shao Wenchi’s bitter fate, he felt disappointment towards humanity. 

Humanity was separated into three types: friends, strangers, enemies. He now only protected the first type.