Trigger Warnings
Derealisation, Violence
“A new day welcomes you.”
As the hatch of the sleep pod opened, Lian Chuan heard the familiar system greeting.
He let out a yawn. This voice was identical to what he remembered hearing for the first time—unchangingly female, with an equally unchanging tone and pace.
As Lian Chuan walked out of the sleep pod, he pondered the significance of this greeting phrase as a form of welcome.
The forever unchanging early morning. He woke up, heard the voice, the hatch opened, and he stepped forward with his left leg.
Was it really a new day? Not the previous one? Or maybe someday far into the future?
But his contemplation held no significance. Each day and every day, there probably wasn’t much difference; everyday was just today.
The only thing that could help him to discern them were his occasional splitting headaches.
His head had been hurting all day by the time he went to sleep. By the time he woke up, the headache was gone. So, it was indeed a new day.
He glanced at the watch on his wrist and saw a green 0 number on the display.
Today was a day off.
He took two cubes from the breakfast box, one white and one brown. The letters on the transparent packaging indicated that the white one was chicken egg and the brown one was beef.
Indeed, it was a new day. The previous breakfast had green and white cubes. However, he didn’t eat it; just looking at the colours killed his appetite.
There was a brief noise from the communicator on the desk. Lian Chuan picked it up and heard Li Liang’s voice.
“First Central School,” His voice was short of breath, “get here ASAP.”
“Redundants?” Lian Chuan turned to the wardrobe, but he already knew that couldn’t be the case. Summoning squad members on stand-down was never necessary for a redundant population cleanup.
“It might be a mutative ability, but we couldn’t separate it,” Li Liang said, “It’s already stuck…”
Lian Chuan heard their captain, Lei Yu, shout, “Retreat!”
Then came a series of explosions.
.o0o.
Li Liang lay on the ground, his ears ringing from the blast. All he could hear was a continuous buzzing, and his vision was filled with smoke and dust. The only things he could see were the black fragments swirling in the air.
He didn’t know whose remains those fragments belonged to among his squad members.
He coughed a few times and looked around, trying to find his remaining squad members.
“All the students have been evacuated.” He finally heard a voice from the communicator. Then, he heard the captain’s orders, “Disperse the troops, push forward. Units three and four, come around from behind the building and force him out to the open space!”
“Aren’t we waiting for Lian Chuan?” Li Liang got up, leaning against a nearby iron that had been sent flying from who knows where. He glanced into the building ahead, but saw no sign of a single human being.
“We have four units here! How can single Lian Chuan help us!?” Shouted a hoarse voice laced with impatience and anger, “What is he, our Saviour?! If you have such little confidence in yourself and your comrades, then what the fuck are you even doing here!”
Li Liang didn’t respond. When the unit in front started moving, he maintained a few metres of distance and pressed forward toward the left side of the building.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” Lei Yu whispered, “There will be a flash of red light first before he attacks.”
The red light appeared just for a very brief moment. Even if they knew the target’s exact location, once the red light flashed, it would be so short that most of their squad members wouldn’t have time to react. As long as someone was within the attack range, they would be killed instantly.
However, Lei Yu still needed to tighten the encirclement. There was a school nearby, and a hospital as well.
They had to bring the target under control before Lian Chuan arrived. Everyone knew that Lian Chuan was the only one who could react in time between the red flash and the attack, including the infuriated Long Biao.
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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“We received an order from the Suspect Judgement to handle the retrieval,” Li Liang said, “He attacked us out of a sudden.”
“Method of attack?” Lian Chuan asked.
“Explosions,” Lei Yu replied. “We can’t see their trajectories clearly, and there’s no time to adjust the equipment. You must ensure a one-hit kill.”
“Understood.” Lian Chuan didn’t say anything else.
As Lei Yu tried to confirm his position again, a red light flashed inside the building. A few metres away, the area was momentarily enveloped in smoke, followed by a deafening explosion that reached his ears. Then, a black fragment swept before his eyes.
It was his squad member that had just been hit. A newcomer on his first retrieval mission. Or more precisely, a piece of him.
His face.
Lei Yu could still see the traces of bewilderment on what remained of it.
After this attack, a shadow flashed by in the right-most window on the third floor.
“He’s coming out!” Lei Yu shouted, extending his arm from behind the cover. The gun attached to his exoskeleton struck the window at the same time.
“Follow me!” Long Biao rushed toward the building, keeping low and taking temporary cover behind a broken pillar. The pillar was useless as a cover, but Lei Yu didn’t stop him. After a brief pause, Long Biao stood up again, quickly advancing inside the building with three unit members following closely behind.
“On the second floor!” Li Liang’s urgent voice came through the communicator.
No one saw how the target got from the third floor to the second one, and there was no time to dwell on it. Long Biao and his unit were about to engage the target directly.
According to the mission briefing, the target was a teacher, 21 years old. However, the target they saw appeared much younger than 21—he looked more like a teenager.
Nevertheless, he didn’t hesitate to raise his hand, and the weapon on his arm emitted a dark-blue light, resembling a tiny bolt of lightning.
A target is a target, no matter their age or identity, and a mission is a mission, it must be completed.
But he saw a red light.
And a slender shadow streaking across within it.
He knew that he probably wouldn’t have another chance to once again reach the trigger mechanism on his weapon. He also knew that he wouldn’t die.
A loud noise came from his left, and shattered rocks, enveloped in thick dust and accompanied by a shockwave, hurtled towards him and sent him flying sideways over a metre.
However, he remained uninjured—the target’s attack missed. That shadow knocked the target several metres away, kicking off the wall and spinning mid-air before landing, finally stopping in front of the target.
Brownish-red fur, upright black ears, slender yet powerful hind legs, and an astonishing leap… It was Lian Chuan’s caracal.
The target had already fallen to the ground, but before anyone could discern his attack pattern, the red light appeared again. Then, it vanished.
This time, the attack didn’t succeed.
His body had already been pierced. A hole went through his abdomen, black soot forming around its edges, gently rising and falling with each of his breaths.
The only person capable of seizing such a high-speed advantage and launching an attack was Lian Chuan.
Long Biao wiped his face, stood up, and glanced at his squad members—no one was hurt.
“The target has lost the ability to attack,” Lian Chuan said, looking down at the motionless figure by his leg.
“Retrieve.” Lei Yu’s voice came through the communicator.
Lian Chuan removed the retrieving unit from his back. This small cannon-like equipment was so familiar to him that it felt like an extension of his body. The barrel slid out of his palm, aiming at the target on the ground.
“I don’t want to disappear.” The target looked at him, his face devoid of pain one would expect after getting injured, appearing oddly calm.
Lian Chuan remained silent and pressed the retrieval button. The body on the ground immediately began to contort and split apart, transforming into small black fragments, much like the squad member who had been killed in the explosion earlier. The fragments spun as if caught in the wind, then were finally all fully sucked into the retrieving unit’s barrel.
The mission was complete, but everyone was feeling a bit disheartened. This kind of routine retrieval mission, one a single unit should have easily completed, ended up requiring four units and resulted in the loss of three squad members. It was truly unexpected.
The remaining squad members were currently cleaning up the scene. Every trace would be eliminated, whether it was left by the target or by them.
Lei Yu personally retrieved the remains of the deceased three members and approached Lian Chuan. “Have you had breakfast?”
“No.” Lian Chuan said.
“Then come eat with me at headquarters,” Lei Yu glanced at his watch, and a few lines of small text flashed on the screen, “Then, let’s pay a visit to the City Affairs Bureau. The administrators want to see you sometime this week. There’s no specific time set, so let’s just do it today.”
“Mn.” Lian Chuan responded and turned to leave.
The caracal that had been by his side all along jumped onto the railings, then leaped onto the roof by the roadside, vanishing behind a chimney.
Lei Yu looked at the roof and asked, “Has the cat had breakfast?”
“He isn’t a cat.” Lian Chuan replied, turning his head to give him a look.
“Has Boss had breakfast?” Lei Yu asked again.
“I don’t know,” Lian Chuan said, “Probably yes. He went somewhere in the evening, I only came across him when I was almost here.”
“Seems more carefree than us,” Lei Yu stopped by the car parked at the edge of the security cordon and opened the door, then looked at the remaining squad members, “Unit One and Two, proceed with your original cleanup duty. Units Three and Four, focus on the school as the centre and conduct patrols within a five-kilometres radius of the area. If you notice anything unusual, report first before taking action.”
Lian Chuan followed Lei Yu into the car, and the automatic pilot set was set for the Internal Defense Building, which also served as the headquarters for the cleanup squad.
Although it was their headquarters, he hadn’t been there in a long time. The cleanup squad had its own base, and Captain Lei Yu was the only person who frequented the headquarters often.
“When will he come back to eat?” Lei Yu asked.
“When he’s hungry,” Lian Chuan looked outside the window.
The school was in the New District of the Main City—the most bustling and secure district of the city, where pedestrians wore smiles and walked with ease. But if they drove a bit further, in no time, they would reach an entirely different world. Lian Chuan’s missions were mostly conducted there.
He always found the New District’s safety zone a bit alien every time he returned.
“Auntie Chun misses you.” Lei Yu said.
“I also miss her.” Lian Chuan replied. Aunt Chun was Lei Yu’s wife, Chun San, and in Lian Chuan’s memories, she was basically like his mother.
“Listening to this tone, it doesn’t sound like it.” Lei Yu chuckled.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” Lian Chuan withdrew his gaze from outside of the window and turned his head, “I will go back for a meal.”
Lei Yu smiled and patted his shoulder.
.o0o.
“You might need to explain the specific details of the target to Secretary Chen in a while,” Lei Yu instructed after they left the cleanup squad’s base, “You had direct contact with the target.”
“Mn.” Lian Chuan nodded.
“Lian Chuan.” Lei Yu looked at him.
Lian Chuan also turned his head to look at Lei Yu.
“Is there any abnormality you need to report to me first?” Lei Yu said.
Lian Chuan didn’t speak, thinking silently for a moment before replying, “I’m sure there’s nothing.”
“Good,” Lei Yu nodded.
“It was just the simplest form of attack,” Lian Chuan said, “The only advantage was speed. Apart from that, there wasn’t anything special. Even the range wasn’t really that big, unlike with… them.”
“Mn,” Lei Yu nodded again, “I didn’t doubt you.”
“I know.” Lian Chuan said.
When they entered the Internal Defense Building, Lei Yu paused and looked around. “The cat can’t enter…”
“He’s not a cat.” Lian Chuan corrected.
“He can’t enter.” Lei Yu repeated.
“And he really doesn’t want to.” Lian Chuan nodded.
The Internal Defense Building was just as bustling as he remembered, with people coming and going, all wearing serious expressions. Guards stationed no more than five metres apart added an additional layer of tension to this already busy and serious atmosphere.
In reality, aside from the upcoming Festival Day, nothing particularly unusual was happening. Tension and seriousness were the norm at the headquarters, which was also one of the reasons why Lian Chuan didn’t enjoy coming here.
Secretary Chen’s office was located underground, but Lian Chuan didn’t know on which floor. He tried to count them once when he was bored, but he could only determine that there were three turns on the way there.
“Is that all?” Secretary Chen, seated behind his work desk, asked after listening to Lian Chuan’s report, “So, there’s no… connection with the previous failed retrievals, right? Except for the failed separation?”
“Based on my personal experience, that’s how it is.” Lian Chuan said.
Secretary Chen exchanged a glance with Lei Yu, and Lei Yu remained silent.
“Your personal experience is sufficient,” Secretary Chen interlaced his fingers and looked at Lian Chuan with a faint smile, “Are you ready to meet the Administrators?”
“Anytime,” Lian Chuan replied.
Although the title ‘Administrators’ may sound a bit off-handed, just like City Affairs Bureau, or Internal Defense Building… However, the three Administrators of the Main City were the core of this enormous city’s operations. Aside from daily activities, all significant strategic decisions were made together by those three Administrators.
Very few people had the privilege of speaking directly to them. For someone like Lian Chuan, who held the status of an ordinary cleanup squad member, such an opportunity should never come in his lifetime. However, this was Lian Chuan’s second time venturing into the deepest levels of the City Affairs Bureau’s underground to see the Administrators.
Maybe it wasn’t even twice, he may have come here three, four times already. Who knows—memories are only images in a person’s mind with no proof to support them.
Much like the Internal Defense Building, nobody really knew how deep the underground of the City Affair Office extended or how vast was its area. People only knew that all the confidential departments of the Main City were hidden deep underground, never to see the light above.
Lian Chuan stood alone inside the transportation carriage. Beyond the meaningless window, darkness stretched endlessly. Inside the carriage, there was only one lamp filling the space with its feeble light, but it could barely illuminate less than a metre around it, so the only thing he could see was still just a dense blackness.
The carriage continued to descend, and he could sense a continuous rightward rotation—however, this rotation was so extensive that it was barely noticeable.
As the carriage came to a gentle stop with slight vibrations, Lian Chuan shifted his gaze away from the carriage door, observing it only through his peripheral vision. When the door in front of him opened, a powerful white light blazed forth, instantly flooding his vision.
Last time when those doors opened, he had nearly been blinded by this light. In case of any sudden emergencies, he would have to rely solely on his hearing for at least three seconds—too vulnerable.
He walked out of the carriage, traversed the corridor illuminated so brightly that it cast no shadows, and passed through the automatically opened door leading him to the Administrators’ meeting room.
The first time Lian Chuan entered, he was so nervous that his heart was racing and his breath quickened.
This time, he wasn’t. It wasn’t because he had gotten used to it, but because…
He glanced at the three empty chairs behind the semicircular desk in the meeting room.
There wasn’t a single living person here.
Lucilla: Welcome to Melting City! ↜(` ∀´ )Ψ It’s a bit of a puzzle, so my main goal when picking it up was to try and piece it together again at a comfortable speed. Just heads-up, English isn’t my first language, so consider it a translation practice that I just wanted to share with the public along the way. While I’ll do my best to provide an accurate translation, please remember that it’s still a learning process for me ;;; (I guarantee that I don’t use MTL though)
The themes of violence, death and derealisation, which are recurring throughout the story, won’t get tagged with the trigger warnings in the future chapters. However, I’ll try my best to list the remaining trigger warnings that might be needed in specific chapters. If you feel like a particular chapter should have trigger warnings, please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments.
We’ve kicked it off with a triple upload, and starting next week, I’ll be uploading one chapter per week each Saturday. Enjoy!
P.S.: If you guys have any theories about the characters and setting, I would love to read them in the comments! (ʘ∇ʘ)
P.P.S.: The support for the original novel on JJWXC isn’t required, but it would be much appreciated! If you enjoy my translation, please show some love to Wuzhe <33 Here’s a handy guide on how to make a JJWXC account and purchase a novel! The link to RAWs is on the main page of this translation ✨
Very interesting!
Thank you for translating 💛
Not a friendly world… Thanks for the translation 🤣❤️🤣❤️
Thx for the translation!! Interested to see where this will go 😄😊
Woo a completely new world! Let’s go world builddddddd :]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
Wow! Absolutely loving this, is just my jam! Thank you so much for sharing!❤️❤️❤️