Chapter 167 - Bullet
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Floating City.
The last day of the Autumn Festival was full of noise and excitement. Looking down Floating Tower from on high, flowers, the smell of food and incense, and small fireworks that let out white plumes of smoke swirled through the fog.
Wu Jin waited obediently inside the clinic and took some time to look through his terminal.
Zoe received a reply from him and was finally relieved after Wu Jin had disappeared and couldn’t be contacted for three days.
Wen Lin had sent Wu Jin quite a few articles from the Star Blog.
, , , ,
Wu Jin: “Thank-thank you, Brother Wen Lin…”
Wen Lin was also relieved. He quickly pulled Wu Jin and Secretary Qu into the same group chat to show that Little Witch was still alive and bouncing around.
Caesar didn’t seem to have noticed that Wu Jin had been missing.
Based on the previous chats, Caesar would only contact Wu Jin when it was time to eat.
Caesar: h
Caesar: hhhhhhh
Caesar: aiad
Wu Jin quickly ordered a family bucket for Caesar and paid for it to be sent over.
It was at this moment that the inner door to the clinic creaked open.
The psychologist Zhou Nan smiled and looked at Wu Jin, then handed him the brain wave report, “There aren’t any major problems. Rest well for the next two weeks and let Red carry you for a win in the next round of the compet.i.tion. When you come back, you can re-enter the treatment cabin for a checkup.”
Wu Jin made a surprised noise and happily accepted it.
The entire clinic room was filled with a sweet strawberry fragrance. Zhou Nan carefully poured a cup of strawberry juice for Wu Jin, then quietly stroked the small curls while Wu Jin was off duty.
Wu Jin alertly looked up.
Zhou Nan quickly pulled his hand back and sighed emotionally. Little Witch used to be so cute in the past. He could sing and dance, and his silly curls could be stroked at will. How come he was so much more alert now that his memories were back!
Zhou Nan looked at his watch and spoke mildly, “Brother Wei will come soon. Also,” the doctor said with a solemn expression, “Thank you.”
Wu Jin grinned and shook his head.
Last night, Wei Shi had kept watch over Wu Jin until 4AM when it was confirmed that all of Wu Jin’s vital signs were normal before falling into a shallow sleep.
At this time, the door to the clinic opened up. Wei Shi stood there with his back straight like a sharp weapon as he waited outside.
Wu Jin swished over and stood beside him.
The man bowed his head and spoke a few sentences with Wu Jin, and his shoulders obviously relaxed a little. Zhou Nan looked out from inside the clinic, and his heart filled with wonder. Brother Wei was really too tense
If Brother Wei was a big grey wolf, and Little Witch was a little white rabbit, then Brother Wei would simply wish to take the rabbit with him everywhere 24 hours a day.
Wu Jin went out, and Wei Shi stepped inside.
Zhou Nan had already prepared Wei Shi’s emotional lock diagnosis and treatment situation. He turned to the latest page, “Brother Wei, let’s talk about it.”
“I’ve already asked Little Witch about it. You can tell me about any memory fragment that you saw in his consciousness.”
Outside the window, the cold wind prior to the start of winter swept over, carrying a barely noticeable trace of warmth with it.
There was a large stretch of sunlit gra.s.s at the base of Floating Tower. Wu Jin was now drying out the rabbit on the lawn. The pet rabbit couldn’t be bathed, but exposure to sunlight would help kill any bacteria.
Nearby, a plump flamingo was preening its feathers.
During the short narrative process, Wei Shi’s eyes never left the figure of Wu Jin that could be seen outside the window.
Zhou Nan finally stopped making notes with his pen.
“There was someone who looked similar to Red in the program group, and someone in the instructors team who looked similar to Professor Alfaso. There was also a trainee as quiet as Wei Yan…” Zhou Nan nodded, unsurprised, “Dreams are a reflection of reality. Little Witch saw many people and many things from the genetic reproduction room, which were then projected into the subconscious and evolved into a carrier to complete the ‘virtual memories’.”
Zhou Nan suddenly mentioned something, “R-Code didn’t only manage to create a single scabbard. The claustrophobic environment, the h.o.m.ogenous compet.i.tion amongst the same type of genetically modified people, and the cold-eyed researchers. At that time, Little Witch’s life probably wasn’t very good. You’ve also experienced the infighting between the genetically modified. That segment of ‘s.n.a.t.c.hing Little Witch’s ch.o.r.eography’ in his memory should also have been pulled from his real experiences.”
Wei Shi’s eyes flashed slightly.
Zhou Nan laughed briefly, “Isn’t Little Witch bouncing and jumping around now? It’s very likely that he also obtained a victory in that memory. So many scabbards failed, yet he survived. There’s only one explanation for it.”
“Little Witch definitely isn’t weak. He isn’t weak now, and he wasn’t weak before.”
With that, Zhou Nan closed the case files and said thoughtfully, “In the 21st century world of his consciousness, Little Witch dreamt of almost everyone in the R-Case Base, but didn’t include you, Brother Wei. Even when he was sick to the soul, he dreamt of idle people but not the monarch, sigh…”
Outside the window, Wu Jin finished sunning the rabbit and was now ready to catch the little Pterosaur and give it a bath.
Zhou Nan sent Wei Shi outside. Arjun was hanging around waiting for him.
“Ah, Brother Wei!” Arjun quickly headed towards Wei Shi, “You were in the treatment cabin for nearly eight hours. Researcher Song asked me to come ask you what the aftereffects are? Can you play in the next elimination match? If not, we can give the program team some money…”
Wei Shi’s face was cold, “No need.”
Arjun probed, “The rules are to form teams of two. How about having Wei Yan carry you to win? About this, Red has already taken the initiative and offered to carry Little Witch…”
Wei Shi’s eyebrows drew together, and the air pressure around him chilled.
Arjun quickly changed the direction of his words and flattered him, “Ah, alright, then you’re still teamed up with Little Witch. I support the Scarf CP, go Scarf CP!”
Zhou Nan, who was nearby, spoke discreetly, “Brother Wei, if you and Little Witch team up, one of you is suffering from aftereffects, while the other is still recovering. You’ve basically taken over all the categories for the old, sick, and disabled, are you really not going to consider––” When he met Wei Shi’s gaze, Zhou Nan quickly raised up his hands in surrender, “Fine then, you should tell Little Witch about your aftereffects soon and give him some warning.”
Arjun was curious, “So, what exactly are these aftereffects…”
Zhou Nan raised his eyebrows and kept his mouth shut.
Zhou Nan sent Wei Shi all the way to the base of Floating Tower.
When Wu Jin was out of Wei Shi’s sight, Wei Shi’s shoulders would start to tense up, like a battle weapon that was ready to launch.
Zhou Nan suddenly spoke up, “Brother Wei, don’t regret not bringing out Little Witch with you when you rebelled against the R-Code Base. At the time, you held a gun and pointed it at the drillmaster who was in charge of supplies, took the hostages with you, and jumped onto the artillery vehicle. The photon gun fired two heavy rounds, and after that, hundreds of genetically modified people roared and followed you––”
“Little Witch saw you from the genetic reproduction room and regarded you a hero from legend.”
Zhou Nan smiled slightly, “It was Little Witch himself who told me that.”
The main door to Floating Tower opened.
The bright sun shone down and finally dispelled all the haze.
Wei Shi gave orders to investigate a person, and his subordinates were also curious, “Mr. Wu also asked us to look up this woman this morning. She moved out of the Federal National Laboratory’s family dormitories about six years ago…”
On the lawn, Researcher Song was overjoyed to hear that Wu Jin had recovered his memory and was able to write down some sequences for the emotional locks he’d seen in the laboratory. He clung to Wu Jin and thanked him again and again.
The half-washed little Pterosaur kept dripping water while hovering in mid air.
When Wu Jin proposed to help the other genetically modified unlock their emotional locks, Researcher Song wanted to apply for him to be given Floating City’s Special Merit Medal on the spot so that he could put it on Wu Jin’s head, “This medal is very rare! In the past 20 years, only one person has gotten it…”
‘Scabbards’ were born knowing how to adjust the genetically modified people’s emotions.
The risk for actively unlocking the locks had been greatly reduced compared to one month ago.
The chance of being able to completely crack the emotional lock was still very low.
But, it was still the most hopeful day they’d had in six years.
Researcher Song spoke a very familiar sentence, “Some genetically modified were unable to wait for hope to arrive their whole life, so those who are still alive are waiting in their stead.”
Wei Shi walked up to the two of them.
He skillfully took over the little Pterosaur and continued to wash it.
He dried it after washing it.
Researcher Song finally left cheerfully.
Sunset spread out through the fog. There were only two people left on the empty lawn, along with a Peteinosaurus, a rabbit ball, and a flamingo.
Wei Shi released the Pterosaur.
Wu Jin looked up.
Their lips connected. The two people’s teeth and lips intermingled crazily, and Wei Shi hugged Wu Jin tightly, as though he wanted to sink into his very blood and bones.
Wu Jin’s eyes closed slightly.
Wei Shi’s rough thumb stroked across the youth’s eye. His voice was hoa.r.s.e, “What.”
Wu Jin opened his eyes and looked at him for a long time before grinning suddenly, “Wei Shi.”
Wei Shi: “Mm.”
Wu Jin: “Wei Shi!”
Wei Shi: “… Mm.”
Wu Jin was excited and happy, “Wei Shi! Wei Shi! Wei Shi!”
A few minutes later, Wu Jin followed the big boss into the car delightedly.
At this time, it was nearing twilight. The last rays of sunlight for the Autumn Festival carried a sweet fragrance with it, and the city outside Floating Base was filled with revelry.
Wu Jin fastened his seat belt and took the opportunity to continue replying to messages on his terminal.
The Crosson Show program producer was strongly calling on players to interact more, stirring up hot searches and working together to stabilize their popularity. Wu Jin’s official support forums had made an official release for the as well as the activity.
The front page for the support station was very colorful and fancy.
Wei Shi swept a glance over it and commented coolly, “The colors are messy.”
Wu Jin was awed by Station Support Brother Wei.
The suspension car drove through the crowded commercial streets, the dark blue natural lake, the scattered manors and villas by the lake, and finally came to a stop outside a huge building.
The building was brightly lit, and the thick steel and t.i.tanium composite material insulated all visitors from the outside world. Before getting out of the car, Wei Shi helped Wu Jin put on a pure white mask. His own mask was a silvery blue.
Wu Jin’s breath caught.
The silver blue mask only represented one thing in Floating City.
The crown, the throne, the king.
Wei Shi opened the door of the building for Wu Jin.
The guard at the door was stunned, then stood up at attention and saluted solemnly. The flush on his face almost seemed to overflow his cheeks.
Wu Jin could clearly understand that the entire Floating City wasn’t just submitting to the King’s power; it was more like an admiration for the strong. At this time, his mind was still full of scenes of the big boss leaving the R-Code Base, hijacking a star ship, and leading hundreds of genetically modified humans to slaughter their way into Floating City––
The two of them walked all the way to the ground floor, and the interior door of the building opened.
Wu Jin was stunned on the spot.
The interior was ablaze with lights.
Densely packed weaponry, bullets, drugs, and unknown equipment were all arranged together. A tall machine gun stood against the strong background light. Countless shelves stretched all the way across his field of vision, displaying a wide range of firearms. They ranged from weaponry that existed at the beginning of the 20th century to all across an entire millennium. There were blunderbusses, handguns, hand cannons, light nuclear weaponry, laser blades––
Wei Shi looked back.
Beneath the light and shadow, surrounded by firearms and his lover’s gaze, all of it made his heartbeat speed up.
This was actually a military armory.
The ground was covered with scarlet carpeting.
Wei Shi reached out a hand.
Their palms clasped.
As the two of them walked past the first few rows of display shelves, their field of vision suddenly opened up. Battle tank units were stacked up on the landing platforms, and it was clear that there was an entire military armory buried underground. The calibration and maintenance robots flashed with green lights as they went up and down in the elevators. The elevator displayed floor numbers ranging from B147 to 29 above the ground; it was endlessly deep.
Wei Shi led Wu Jin deeper underground.
The man’s palm was slightly damp. Wu Jin stealthily rubbed against it quickly. It must be that he himself was nervous! It definitely couldn’t be the big boss––
From B120 were piles of ammunition casings.
Wei Shi bound a bullet and tossed it to Wu Jin, “Prefabricated shrapnel with effective killing force. Its peak use period was in the 20th-22nd century. After that, it was used by retired police and military.”
Wu Jin inspected the bullet. After high-speed impact, the shrapnel that exploded from the bullet was enough to destroy the human body.
Wei Shi spoke slowly, “The first bullet I got from the R-Code Base. Take it.”
Wu Jin quickly put it away solemnly, holding it in his hand.
Wei Shi handed over a second bullet. It was about the size of a thermos bottle, “Tank piercing bullet. Its explosion ignites a high-energy metal spike that penetrates through armor and causes a secondary strike. It can destroy the operator inside the tank.”
Wu Jin’s eyes opened wide. His heart beat faster as he touched this killing weapon.
Wei Shi: “On the day of the R-Code defection, a tank piercing bullet penetrated the supplies vehicle I had hijacked.”
Wu Jin stilled.
Wei Shi described the situation calmly, “I climbed out of the car, broke two ribs, and sniped down the cannon operator.”
Without waiting for Wu Jin to come back to his senses, Wei Shi had already tossed over a third bullet, “Photon gun bullet. Self guiding, used for eliminating nuclear magnetic interference environments. There’s no way to defend against it in a medium-range snipe. Six years ago, I used it to break through the last Federal border line before reaching the Azure Cosmos.”
The fourth bullet.
“A handheld lightweight armor-piercing round. a.s.sault cannon bullet.”
“a.s.saulted and captured this city.”
“Floating City.”
Beneath the strong lights, the man looked straight at the dazed Wu Jin.
“Where we’re standing, 147 floors in total, isn’t just an underground warehouse.”
The sound of machinery boomed out!
The ceiling above them separated. Moving up––each floor split apart one after another, the part.i.tion boards retracting. Wu Jin was astonished to discover that the middle of the entire armory was an endless patio that surrounded a shock-absorbing platform, backup power devices, and an anti-pressure protective shielding network.
This couldn’t possibly be just a sky light.
Wu Jin quickly did the calculations, the entire ‘patio’s resistance was 200 mPa upwards––
Wu Jin suddenly opened his mouth, “A guided missile launching channel?!”
Wei Shi nodded.
“The last bullet.”
“Four years ago, the interstellar cruise missile was launched. To protect the city.”
Wu Jin looked up.
Countless robotic arms were a.s.sembling two more backup guided missiles.
Above them was the skylight that extended out to the vast sky. The five bullets represented the start, the turning points, the ups and downs of Wei Shi’s life. They represented the brave and glorious achievements that Wu Jin had never seen before.
From holding a gun for the first time, to mutiny, to becoming a real leader, to taking over Floating City.
Wu Jin looked at Wei Shi. His blood followed along the trajectory of his 26 years of life and boiled with pa.s.sion.
The legend that he’d missed while he was locked away and separated behind a wall in the R-Code Base.
Two pairs of eyes met and collided together fiercely.
Like the tempered barrel of a gun.
Wei Shi looked deeply at Wu Jin, and his pupils were almost dark enough to swallow up all the light around them, “All of my battle achievements are here.”
“Are you willing to accept them, and let all my glory belong to you?”
Wu Jin’s heart seemed to want to jump out of his chest.
Tens of thousands of stars hung high in the sky. There were countless missed opportunities that eventually became a fateful encounter.
He moved his lips.
His response was like an oath.
“I’m willing.”
Juurensha: !!!! Such a cool proposal! It fits them so well!
xiin: absolutely the best novel proposal EVER. and it’s so tailored for the two of them… i love it i love it i love it i love it~ no cliches at all!