Chapter Thirteen
The knife wielder was the bus attendant. Not only was the attendant holding a knife against his neck but she had also turned off broadcast in the bus.
The two have been working together on this route for more than a decade. The driver never thought there would be a day when this young lady would point a knife to his neck. Naturally, he hadn’t taken any precautions against this kind of scenario.
The driver exclaimed, “If you have any dissatisfaction with me then I apologize.”
He admitted that out here in the wilderness, away from civilization, he had occasionally verbally taken advantage of the girl. But in his opinion, he had done no more than commit the same mistake every man in the world has made.
But the attendant smiled charmingly. “You misunderstood. I just want you to keep driving. We have so many passengers on board; everyone wants to reach their destination on time.”
The console of each bus is bound with the driver’s information and requires an ID card to operate. And so, only the driver can drive the bus.
The driver stretched out his hand, pretending to activate the control console. But in the next second he suddenly raised his elbow and slammed it against the attendant’s abdomen.
Back then when he was studying in technical school, even if they weren’t Evolutionaries, each driver would receive specialized physical training.
Elbow her first and then do like this and like that. It’s just a measly little girl, how hard would it be to beat her?
But his imagined victory did not come. He had hit an iron plate.
The attendant wasn’t an Evolutionary but she’d undergone some physical modifications as well.
Although the compartment was pitch black, the commotion in the driver’s compartment had attracted the attention of the passengers.
The passenger sitting in the front row got up and said righteously, “What’s going on!?”
As he spoke, he made to step forward.
Si Chen noticed that Cheng Yan, who had been watching the front of the bus, moved.
He pulled out a gun hidden behind a seat. Passengers need to go through security checks but buses do not.
A gunshot rang out followed by a brief burst of light.
A bloody hole appeared between the eyes of the passenger who just stood up. His open eyes appeared dazed as he slowly fell to the ground.
There was a scream from inside the carriage.
“Robbers!”
“Help! Driver! Call the Security Bureau!”
The passengers got up one after another and scrambled to the back of the carriage. Some people got under their seats, like a group of frightened hamsters.
Si Chen’s face turned pale. Imitating the other passengers, he wrapped his arms over his head and got under his seat, curled up into a ball.
Though it was because of stomach pains that he’d gone pale.
In this position, the smell from the suitcase was even stronger. It was so tempting it ought to be criminal.
In the entire carriage, the only person who was still calm was probably Cheng Yan who was holding the gun.
His scan had showed that Si Chen was the only Evolutionary in the bus. That was why he had sat near Si Chen.
But the other’s aura was weak and there was no information on him on the Evolutionary Association’s website. He must just be a new Evolutionary, just barely on the First Step. He probably hasn’t even had time to input any information yet.
Cheng Yan was a poacher.
Civilians weren’t allowed to just grab the resources in a post-Space Fold area. After a Space Fold, the area will be blocked off by the nearby conglomerates together with the government. The lion’s share goes to the higher ups. They then leave everything else, which then becomes leftovers for people to gobble up.
Evolutionaries like them who enter the post Space Fold areas without authority are called “poachers.”
This time, Cheng Yan really had found something good. In his box, there was a juvenile evolutionary species. Looking at the absolutely mad behavior of the mutant moths around them, this evolutionary species must be pretty high-level.
If he could get it home and sell it, he probably won’t have to worry about the rest of his life.
The attendant, like him, was from some organization in the wilderness. Out here in the wilderness, there are many organizations like “Weeds”. Because of the huge profits, an entire industrial chain had formed around it.
The attendant looked indifferent. “You’re the driver so I won’t harm you. I’ll let you go after we arrive at our destination.”
The driver gulped. He turned on the console. The destination was displayed as “Jiangchuan District”.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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As for what the attendant said about letting him go, the driver didn’t believe it.
It was better to believe his boss’ promise of a raise than believe the words of these desperadoes.
The console lit with with a cold white light. A thick layer of green plasma had accumulated outside the window, making it hard to see the way forward.
The bus continued along. The lights in the compartment became the only source of light in the vicinity.
The attendant turned on the loudspeaker with a sweet smile on her face, “Dear passengers, please do not worry. The situation has been brought under control. The bus will be leaving immediately. Please return to your seats in an orderly manner and put on your seat belts.”
Cheng Yan was a biologically transformed Evolutionary on the Second Step.
Compared with the people in the bus, he was more worried about the mutant creatures outside.
The moths were still flying around the edge of the windows though they’ve stopped their suicide dives. But if one were to look outside, they’d see that the entire bus was surrounded by these blood-sucking moths. One could hardly even see beyond them.
It was dead silent in the carriage. The remaining dozen or so passengers didn’t move. Some were weeping softly.
Cheng Yan held the gun in one hand and rested the other on the handle of his luggage.
With an indifferent expression, he pointed to the passengers in the rear compartment. “Go back.”
The person he pointed at trembled, “I, dage, I still have money in my card. Please let me go. I won’t say anything…”
Cheng Yan became impatient and simply pulled the trigger.
There was now one less passenger in the car.
He pointed the gun to the person beside that one. The passenger hurriedly got up, rolling and crawling, trying to return to his original seat.
But a gunshot still rang out. Because he wasn’t dead yet Cheng Yan took another shot to finish him off.
Si Chen watched this person fall in front of him. Blood even spattered onto his face.
A smile appeared on Cheng Yan’s face. He kicked the corpse away and said, “So slow. Next.”
Si Chen understood. He made no move. He knew that though it didn’t seem so, Cheng Yan has been staring at him this entire time.
The prosthetic eye displayed Cheng Yan’s data. Evolutionary, energy fluctuations indicate mid-Second Step. Stronger than him but not impossible to beat. He just had to wait for the right opportunity.
The other party seemed to enjoy having the fate of others in his hands. Facing those eyes filled with fear or hatred, the smile on his face appeared very pleased.
A third raised his hand and stood up.
His legs were shaking like a sieve and he walked past Cheng Yan nervously. The strong smell of blood made him bite down hard on his lip, forcibly suppressing a cry in his throat.
Cheng Yan stared at his wet crotch and frowned.
The male passenger had peed himself out of fear. Even though Cheng Yan hadn’t even done anything to him yet.
He rolled and crawled, hurrying back to his original seat.
The male passenger had just breathed a sigh of relief when a bullet pierced through his head from the back.
The smile of relief still remained on his face.
“Disgusting.” Cheng Yan’s tone was dissatisfied.
The aisle was less than a meter wide, very narrow.
Cheng Yan suddenly turned his gun and pointed it at Si Chen.
He had a polite smile on his face. “You sit down too, the floor’s dirty. I like you quite a lot. There are not many college students nowadays.”
Si Chen has been pretending to be a nervous wreck all this time, like an ordinary college student who has encountered an unexpected disaster.
He stood up slowly. A thin layer of tears covering his eyes, trembling nervously all over.
“Don’t be afraid.” Cheng Yan comforted him instead, “Where are you studying?”
Si Chen timidly replied, “Donglan University.”
“Donglan University? No kidding!” Cheng Yan said with a look of surprise on his face. “That’s actually a pity. What’s your year level?”
“I’m a sophomore. Cheng Yan-ge,” Si Chen bit his lip, “I still want to study, can you…let-let me go?”
Cheng Yan narrowed his eyes slightly. He didn’t want to admit it but he was actually a bit moved by Si Chen’s crying.
In the black market, beautiful men were hard currency just like women were. They were very valuable.
Where there is oppression, there is resistance. A short and fat middle-aged woman stood up instantly. She picked up a hammer from the back of the bus and rushed over, bursting out with sudden courage. “Lao Niang will fight with you!”
Her daughter was only 14 years old and cannot be without her mother.
Si Chen’s body also moved at the same time.
“I knew it.”
The smile on Cheng Yan’s face grew even wider. His shirt tore on his back and a thick arm made to grab Si Chen’s neck.
The arm was entirely grayish black, like a specimen that had soaked in formalin for too long. The arm was a circle larger than that of a normal person’s and its surface was riddled with blue veins. Connecting the third arm to Cheng Yan’s back was a bundle of muscles, looking like a tree root, which was glowing strangely.
A third arm had grown out of Cheng Yan’s back!
But Si Chen wasn’t about to pounce on him.
His target was the hammer in the female passenger’s grasp. In order to reach it, he even took a punch from Cheng Yan.
A normal person’s body would probably have collapsed as a result. Si Chen felt that his internal organs might have suffered some injuries.
Si Chen felt the pain. But his sense of pain had been greatly dulled since being implanted with the Eternal Life Abyss. This sort of injury wouldn’t affect his movements.
He smashed the hammer against the car window. In an instant, countless moths rushed in screaming!
There was also a smile on Si Chen’s face; a smile that said ‘If I’m going down, you’re going down with me’.
If someone wanted him to die, they better not think they’d get away!
…
…
There are a total of 36 Safe Zones in the world and Baidi City was probably the most special one.
Because this is the only “autonomous region”.
Its existence is a bit of an embarrassment for the Alliance, so ordinary people know very little about Baidi City.
Baidi City is located deep inland, surrounded by several restricted areas, like a landlocked isolated island.
The administrator of Baidi City is called White King.
Many years ago, his name was on the Alliance’s most wanted. Later on, it was quietly removed.
Because he’d lived long enough, White King had had many identities — the founder of the Khaos Group, the founder of Weeds, etc.
However, he was now retired.
White King’s previous name had been Song Bai. Later, he cast aside his surname and called himself “White King”.
Among White King’s more recent hobbies was picking up orphans from all over the world and raising them.
When White King picked up a child for the first time, the Families at the top braced themselves for a formidable enemy. They were afraid that White King was out to cultivate an heir. When the time comes, this would be the rebel leader’s successor.
But it turned out that the child’s aptitude was very average. In the end, he became nothing moe than a university professor in Baidi City.
For more than ten years, White King picked up more than a hundred children one after another.
Shen Yanxing was one of the children he picked up.
Nine years ago, White King happened to pass by a prison. The child’s parents were charged with stealing important company secrets and he was an accessory to the crime. Because of the Law on the Protection of Minors, his date of execution was stayed until he reached 25 years of age.
Of course, no one knew the actual specifics. Why would any prison allow White King to “just happen” to pass by? But that’s simply how everything worked out.
Only White King knew what he’d been up to then. He couldn’t save everyone so he chose to save those he saw.
He was indeed dying.
Ji Sicheng was 221 years old this year and White King was 191. The limit of the human body is 149 years old. There was no bright future for either of them.
It was only well into his later years that White King gradually developed many of the hobbies that old people have.
Like playing chess.
For this reason, White King specially imported a chess-playing robot called Alpha Dog. It’s biggest advantage was it’s durability; it’s ability to withstand a beating from White King whenever he got angry after losing a match.
But how could playing chess with a machine be as interesting as playing chess with a human?
That was why White King would occasionally go down to the community center, to their recreation room and play chess with ordinary citizens of the city.
He still appeared very young, with long hair reaching to his waist, tied in a low ponytail. His facial features were smooth, like flowing water and spring mountains. He looked completely out of place among the middle-aged and elderly people in the community center.
“Too little, too late. Checkmate.”
White King’s “Cannon” piece landed on the opponent’s “Commander” piece.
The old man on opposite blew his beard and glared. “Xiao Song ah, look at you! You’re still young but you don’t study or work. Instead you come here to play chess every day!”
There was a happy smile on White King’s face. “I’m a rich second generation. Eating, drinking and waiting to die is in my job description.”
Saying so, there suddenly came a knock on the door of the recreation room.
White King raised his head and looked at the person at the door. He then bid farewell to his opponent. “My student has come to look for me. I’ll come again next time.”
Shen Yanxing had come back from the outside. Or rather, he was brought back.
He left Baidi City three years ago and was one of White King’s more than a hundred adopted sons. Therefore, even though something had gone wrong, the current person in charge of Weeds didn’t dare to take action carelessly.
So he had no choice but to send Shen Yanxing back.
White King’s hand grabbed Shen Yanxing’s arm and in the next second, the two were transported from the busy city into a study.
It was so quiet here.
Shen Yanxing knelt in front of White King. He bowed his head in silence, not saying a word.
White King asked, “What happened?”
“It was an infiltration plan. The team leader wants to replace the heirs of the Song Family’s collateral line. I was in charge of organizing the operation but we unexpectedly met a High Dimensional invasion. The operation failed.”
“Xiao Shen.” White King sighed, “Teacher is not an idiot.”
Shen Yanxing’s body tensed instantly.
But White King just said slowly, “I’m not angry. It’s just a Eternal Life Abyss. It doesn’t matter to me who it’s planted in. Even if we did sacrifice several lives behind the scenes to get it. But the value of one person’s life versus another is inherently different.”
White King turned his head and looked out the window.
This was the highest point of the city. He liked looking over this utopia he’d built with his own hands.
“How does that saying go? A price is always exacted for what fate bestows.”
“Xiao Shen. This is a very expensive Eternal Life Abyss. I too am hoping that there’s someone who can afford this price.”
Light fell from the window, outlining the shadow of White King against the ground.
But this wasn’t the shadow of a human figure. It was more like the shape of a strange, burning flame. In it were countless scarlet eyes in the shadow, quietly watching the world, waiting for the arrival.
Uuh… A-arrival of what, exactly…?
Si Chen is impressive, so decisive in dragging people down with him~
Thank you for the chapter!
arrival of what!! DAMN CLIFFHANGER
We get a hint of the evolutionary (big bad?) White King and, of course, he drops a bombshell…OWWWW! The Arrival… New player and new plot twisty and hold your breath for next release 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Baby is hungry! Let’s feed him… bad guys? Moths? The evolutionary in the bag? Or just let baby choose! Hahahaha! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
Mother prepared lunch for you, baby
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚