This Festival Day was just like every single one before—grand and chaotic. Despite never being able to catch a glimpse of the true faces of the Administrators, nobody was disappointed. All the delicacies they weren’t normally able to taste, all the fine alcohol they usually wouldn’t dream of drinking, the lifting of the night curfew they could never break; all of it left people satisfied.
And there were also fireworks.
Just those two daylight fireworks shows during those two days were enough to make Lian Chuan wonder how many people the safety district could actually accommodate, and where those people usually hid. In the morning, the wall of one of the old buildings cracked open from the collective cheering, leaving behind a crack the width of a palm.
None of the departments in the entire Defense Building could take holiday on that day, and the cleanup squad was no exception. The cleanup squad wasn’t responsible for maintaining public security or order; their job was pretty much the same as usual—making people disappear.
The only difference was that they had more tasks to handle.
Although all the entrances to the Main City were tightly sealed, allowing only those from the districts all the way to District D, including those who usually had no right to enter the safety district, to participate in the Festival, there would always be some Bugs appearing. Someone would find a way to sneak in, watch the festivities, steal some survival supplies, experience the Main City’s sunlight and nighttime revelry.
Sometimes it was even just to walk a few steps on flat ground.
During those times, the system became a real chatterbox, constantly reporting the coordinates, unauthorised individuals, redundant individuals, unidentified life forms… All eight units of the cleanup squad were deployed.
Lian Chuan stood on a rooftop of a building in District B with his vehicle hovering nearby, while Boss crouched in the shadows behind him.
Today Lu Qian stopped riding with him. Li Liang from Unit One was recently transferred to Unit Six after losing his partner, so he got paired with Lu Qian. Li Liang was a trustworthy and cautious man, and patient as well, so he was very suitable for bringing along dumbasses like Lu Qian.
Everyone had to have a partner during a mission. The Main City wasn’t much safer than the outside world, so even if Lian Chuan was that Lian Chuan from the legends, he still wouldn’t act alone—he had Boss as his partner.
Among everyone in the squad, only Long Biao was very displeased with this arrangement. After all, except for him, Li Liang had the most experience in Unit One, and he was the only one who could put up with Long Biao’s short temper.
A faint sound came from behind—the sound of Boss’s claws lightly touching the ground.
“My head hurts.” Lian Chuan said. Boss walked over and sat beside him, tilting its head to sniff his face.
Lian Chuan had been experiencing these headaches for many years already. Since he discovered that his memories would get reset, the headaches had been the side effects of each incomplete resetting, and every time it was excruciating.
So aside from Boss, no one else knew about this.
The countless injuries he suffered from childhood to adulthood throughout his training, even the pain of his thighs getting ripped apart—none of it was even close to every single one of his headaches.
But there was not a single person who knew. Lian Chuan could endure this agony and participate in training of any intensity, and even during the Betelgeuse training he wouldn’t reveal a single flaw.
“You don’t live by your body,” Lei Yu said, “You’ve always lived by your willpower alone.”
That wasn’t entirely true. He also lived by his will to survive.
The head of Betelgeuse’s only Synergiser always hurt. This definitely called for an examination—a comprehensive, thorough, and dissective examination.
Once those unusual examinations were set in motion, his faulty hard disc could…
Boss growled deep from within his throat, leaped up, and quickly disappeared behind the building. Lian Chuan looked down at the crowded street below, where people gathered from all around the city. Their numbers grew with each moment, and their ruckus masked the barely perceivable gradual decay of the Main City.
Perhaps that was the reason why the City Affairs Bureau insisted on preserving this celebration. The crowded streets below, the smell of alcohol in the air. These were Lian Chuan’s unchanging memories of the Festival Day.
“To each unit leader,” The communicator transmitted Lei Yu’s voice, “Patrol the designated areas.”
“Patrol?” Long Biao sounded puzzled.
“Patrol,” Lei Yu repeated.
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.
“Unit Six, copy that.” Lian Chuan didn’t inquire further; Boss suddenly ran away before exactly because he discovered something was amiss.
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The coordinates displayed on the visor were encrypted, only visible to Lian Chuan and Long Biao. Moreover, the yellow coordinates were different from the usual green, indicating an imprecise location. At the same time, they could also see that the target confidentiality level was I2.
It was a runaway irregular entity.
“What’s the required disposal method?” Long Biao asked.
“Self-destruction,” Lei Yu replied, “Clear the path and ensure there are no witnesses.”
The City Affairs Bureau had a long-standing project called ‘Irregularity Project’, its primary research focus was on irregular entities. This was a publicly acknowledged project of the City Affairs Bureau, and irregular entities referred to individuals who didn’t go through the application process, were not counted in the population, and were considered part of the officially… legally non-compliant population.
The aim of this research was very straightforward: to enhance human capabilities and adaptability in the face of the increasingly hostile environment, and to combat the lurking demons from outside the city. The reason for initiating this research was equally straightforward.
The Main City had to abandon the Black Iron Wasteland, which had once been a land of plenty.
And sooner or later, the Main City would also succumb to decay and become but an extension of it. Once that day arrived, there might not be a chance for those people to survive…
And that day had already come countless times before.
Yet, no one knew how it would all begin or how it would end, and nobody knew what scenes they would witness, whether you would remain yourself, whether I would remain myself—who would become who.
However, despite this project sounding reasonable and essential to survival, it faced continuous resistance from the Main City’s largest civilian organisation, which referred to it as the ‘Anti-human Enhancement Program’. It was plain and straight to the point, much like the name they had chosen for their organisation—’Let Nature Take Its Course’.
There was also a faction within it called ‘Tell the Administrators’. Lian Chuan wasn’t really sure what they actually wanted to tell the Administrators—if the Administrators didn’t know something, then nobody else could possibly know about it.
In any case, they believed that everything in this world had deviated from the natural order. They aimed to dismantle all the human-made constructs and return the world to its original shape, following its natural course, whether it led to survival or extinction.
Lian Chuan had no particular opinion about their opinion. He just hoped that if they ever staged a rebellion, they would keep the human-made sunlight. If the sunlight was gone and the members of Let the Nature Take its Course had to conduct their meetings while groping around in the dark with light flasks in their hands, the Bats and Travellers would probably die laughing at the sight.
After all, the Main City not having to ‘let nature take its course’ was the core reason why it remained coveted by the inhabitants of Black Iron Wasteland and the Ghost City. And that’s also why Lian Chuan couldn’t quite fathom why those people continued to protest for so long when their demands could be easily met by them simply leaving the Main City.
The Black Iron Wasteland welcomes you, and if you wish to travel a bit further, there’s always the Ghost City.
“Patrol parallel to Avenue E in the direction of District D.” Lian Chuan issued the command to his unit.
He never questioned Lei Yu’s orders, nor did he ever doubt him. Irregular entities escaping wasn’t a common occurrence, but accidents would always happen. Members of the cleanup squad had encountered them a few times. Their forms weren’t entirely like those of normal humans, but Lian Chuan couldn’t be sure if anyone really remembered the specific details, as his own memory was blurry. In such situations, remaining silent and following orders was always his best choice.
His muddled memories had long since taught him to remain calm in any situation.
“The firework display will be held at Light Spike Park. Please avoid crowding, queue up for entry, and follow the instructions of the staff. When entering, please show your Main City resident ID. To ensure safety, your identity may be inspected at any time. Those unable to verify their identity will get retrieved by the personnel. Cherish and enjoy your good lives…”
This broadcast repeated the instructions and warnings on every street of the Main City through the mechanical, emotionless male voice. Lian Chuan’s vehicle soared over the crowd, both for the sake of speed, and to avoid inciting unnecessary panic.
Or insults.
Boss appeared on the rooftop to his right, keeping pace with his vehicle. Lian Chuan glanced at the coordinates gestured at Boss, and made a turn towards the east at the intersection while Boss continued moving forward.
The system didn’t display the target or the target’s status near the coordinates, leaving him unable to make predictions or coordinate his unit members. The only option left was to follow the established protocol, and flank it from both sides with Boss. While Long Biao and his partner were also there, judging from his strained relationship with Long Biao, he couldn’t really count on them.
Lei Yu mentioned the disposal method was ‘self-destruction’. Irregular entities all had self-destruction mechanisms, which meant that their task was to confirm the completion of the target’s self-destruction procedure and ensure that there were no witnesses before it happened.
Despite being a relatively straightforward mission, the requirement of ‘no witnesses’ made it much more challenging. After all, this wasn’t an ordinary night, but a festive night of Festival Day revelry with no curfew in effect. People were everywhere, and even the small, dilapidated streets that one could usually walk thrice back and forth without bumping into anyone were now filled with cheers and laughter.
Lian Chuan had to find a concealed location to stop his vehicle, since A01 was too conspicuous.
“Get over here.” Long Biao’s voice came through the communicator.
This message was directed to Lian Chuan, and the meaning behind it was left to be interpreted by Lian Chuan himself. Based on Lian Chuan’s years-long experience of working with him, it meant that Long Biao had spotted the target and couldn’t finish the task alone. He needed to swallow his pride and request support from Lian Chuan, his most hated fake Saviour.
“Copy,” Lian Chuan took a look at Long Biao’s coordinates on the visor. There was some distance between them, and without a vehicle , Boss would likely arrive there first.
Lian Chuan pressed the radio transmitter on the side of his leg three times and Boss soon appeared quietly on a nearby rooftop. With the assistance of his exoskeleton Lian Chuan climbed up and gestured at him.
Boss quickly headed in Long Biao’s direction. Lian Chuan followed suit, leaping into the air and sprinting above the streets.
As he moved from one rooftop to another, the wind whistled in his ears, accompanied by the faint sounds of his exoskeleton in motion. He could hear a multitude of sounds—the sighs below as he leapt over the streets, the whispers in the houses as he jumped through the skylights on the roofs of the buildings.
The humming of the old pipes, the clink of a bar patron’s glass hitting the ground in the back alley, the bouncing of small balls in a pachinko machine, the flow of water in the sewer, the clattering of shoes tumbling down the stairs…
The heavy and laboured breathing.
It wasn’t ordinary breathing.
Lian Chuan abruptly stopped by the window of the clocktower at the intersection, lowering himself. There was no irregular entity in his field of vision, and the visor also couldn’t scan any data—but he could hear it.
This place was the edge between District D and C, and there were few revellers here. But there happened to be two pedestrians at the street corner below.
“It’s about to come out.” Long Biao whispered through the communicator.
“You saw it?” Lian Chuan asked.
“…I saw a shadow,” Long Biao said, “But I can’t see it anymore.”
“It stopped.” Lian Chuan reported.
“Did you see it?” Long Biao asked, “Coordinates.”
“I heard it.” Lian Chuan replied.
“You can just say that you scanned it with your brain waves,” Long Biao snarled, “The God of Internal Security Department.”
Lian Chuan remained silent and sent his coordinates.
“He just headed in that direction,” Long Biao said, “Your cat should be right to the south of him.”
Lian Chuan still didn’t speak and cancelled his coordinates, then jumped down from the clocktower’s edge, swiftly crossing the intersection.
“Are you going?” Long Biao asked, “Why did you cancel the coordinates!”
Lian Chuan stayed silent, leaped again, and landed at the top of the abandoned movie theatre at the opposite side of the intersection.
Boss was not a cat.
“Lian Chuan,” Another voice came through the communicator. It was Long Biao’s partner, Cui Ping, “Is Boss already ahead?”
“Yes.” Lian Chuan replied.
“We can push forward and corner it at Astrolabe Street,” Cui Ping suggested, “There’s no one there.”
The order to allow no witnesses already implied ‘disposing of any witness’. However, in general, the cleanup squad wouldn’t act recklessly despite such authorisation, even though they already had the reputation of bloodthirsty hyenas.
The reason why Astrolabe Street was named as such had been lost to history—after all, stars were also merely a legend. In the past, the Main City used to adorn the black fog above with a couple of sparse spots of lights resembling stars every night after the sunlight dimmed. But this practice got denounced for wasting the resources, and so those stars-like lights never illuminated the night sky of the city again.
The last trace of such a past in the Main City was this bewilderingly named Astrolabe Street.
With its criss-crossing, chaotic layout, there wasn’t a single straight street or alley in this district, making it the most unique of the Main City districts.
And the most treacherous one.
You couldn’t anticipate all the unknown byways and gaps, couldn’t predict which collapsed beam concealed an infiltrating Bat, or discern which abandoned sewer harboured a Bug attempting to escape the city.
Astrolabe Street was eerily quiet. All that remained in Lian Chuan’s ears from the myriad of sounds was the rustling of the wind. After venturing deeper into the street, he heard Boss making a short, guttural sound. It was a warning; Boss had already spotted the target.
The sound was close to Lian Chuan. He swiftly jumped onto the rooftop of a nearby building. With a few agile strides, he launched himself into the air, soaring over the street, and landed on the adjacent rooftop corner.
Boss was on the partially collapsed metal ladder on the diagonal wall, head down, tail up, his entire body on high-alert. And at the same time, Lian Chuan spotted a white creature crouching in the middle of the street below.
“We locked onto the target.” Lian Chuan pushed on his shoulder, starting a scan of whatever the creature before him was.
The data was quickly sent to Long Biao and Cui Ping, and there was a hint of doubt in Cui Ping’s voice as he asked, “Is this the irregular?”
Lian Chuan didn’t respond.
Of course this was an irregular entity—and it appeared to be a failed one. The scan revealed its quadrupedal form.
They’d better take a closer look for as long as they have a chance. After all, after they see such a thing, there’s no telling how long they can retain this memory for.
But Lian Chuan could piece together some things from his fragmented memories. No matter how one looked at it, the form of this irregular entity didn’t resemble the so-called ‘enhancements’ in the public project.
It had almost completely deviated from the boundaries of humanity.
Lian Chuan had never seen a thing like this before, or if he had, he couldn’t remember it.
He couldn’t see it clearly, as if there was a mist obscuring his vision. Although he knew that the mist came from the target itself, it was challenging to make out what was inside it.
He could only discern a rough outline.
It had a tall and slender body with segmented limbs, and skin covered with small scales. It had prominent eye sockets and its torso appeared damaged, kind of resembling…
“Why does it look a bit like K29?” Long Biao’s voice came through the communicator. He and Cui Ping were already crouched on the edge of a nearby roof.
That’s right, it was a K29.
Why they were called this was unknown, and whether there were any K28 or K30 remained a mystery. But they did have a piece of memory related to them.
It was a codename for the Aborigines of the Ghost City.
Lian Chuan is such a cruel captain😟 Thanks for the translation!❤
Oooh so interesting! Thx for the translation! 😚
Oh oh ! Could the aborigens be just failed enhancements??
Thanks for the chap ❤️❤️❤️