Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor- Koneko, Proofreader-adjective
Upon hearing Ji Xiao’niao’s promise, Ren Jianmo felt a slight prick in his heart, as if a fine needle had gently pierced it, causing a tingling sensation.
He looked into Ji Dong’s eyes and saw an unwavering determination.
“To be honest, I know that my current level is far behind yours…”
Ji Dong gently rested his forehead on Ren Jianmo’s shoulder and whispered,
“But I will try my best… Not to catch up to you, but at least to not cause you trouble…”
As he spoke, he lifted the blanket from his shoulder and covered half of Ren Jianmo’s legs, as if he wanted to share his body heat with him.
“I will help you out, so…”
Ji Xiao’niao smiled at his beloved Ren Jianmo and hooked his fingers around his fingertips under the blanket.
“We’ve always been together, haven’t we?”
Ren Jianmo curled his fingers and held Ji Xiaoniao’s hand in his palm.
“Listen to me, Xiao Niao…”
Ren Jianmo lowered his head and leaned closer to his lover in his arms. Their noses touched, and they could almost smell each other’s breath. Then, in a soft and slow whisper, he spoke three words:
“I am sorry…”
Ji Dong was taken aback, his eyes widening.
He never expected that his heartfelt confession would be met with these three words, and he immediately wanted to explain himself.
But, what he met was Ren Jianmo’s suddenly dilated pupils.
[Listen to me.]
The early morning forest was dark and quiet, with only a faint light from the computer screen and the dim glow of a nearby night lamp.
Even though they were just looking at each other in the dim light, neither of them saying a word, Ji Dong could hear a voice in his mind, belonging to the other person.
[I can’t tell you some things right now.]
Ren Jianmo said to Ji Dong using his ability.
[But in the future…]
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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Furthermore, even without any substantial evidence, Ren Jianmo could guess that he was under close surveillance in the [Peach Blossom Spring] and he, along with his team, were receiving a lot of “special attention.”
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If it weren’t for him, these four people would have accumulated experience in each [Film] according to the difficulty they should have faced, gradually growing stronger, instead of facing challenges far beyond the capabilities of an ordinary person as beginners who knew nothing, being pushed to the brink of life and death time and time again.
Originally, Ren Jianmo could have chosen to leave the team and return to playing alone.
But he didn’t do that.
Until now, besides not being able to let go of Ji Dong, this kid, the most important thing was that he already considered himself as a member of the team, wanting to stay with them, wanting to survive together…
——And…
Ren Jianmo tightened his grip on Ji Dong’s hand, exerting a little more force.
——And even if he were to leave, what difference would it make?
The [Peach Blossom Spring] had been paying attention to them.
Ren Jianmo knew that even if he were to leave Ji Dong and his team now, the [Peach Blossom Spring] might not show them any mercy.
Moreover, even if they hadn’t met from the beginning, the kid, like the other participants, would have started from the F-level difficulty, spending years of a long time, gradually becoming stronger, and maybe lucky enough to climb to the top of the pyramid among the handful of highest-ranked strong individuals… But what difference would it make?
Ji Dong would still end up like everyone else, risking his life month after month in various high-difficulty [Films], until the day he died in a place he didn’t even know…
With this thought, Ren Jianmo felt a sudden intensification of the faint stinging sensation in his heart, and even his right eye, with its black iris, turned to a pale, almost platinum color amid this emotional change.
His other ability, at this moment, unexpectedly experienced a brief loss of control.
Though it lasted only half a second, Ren Jianmo still caught a glimpse of a blurry figure on Ji Dong’s face.
Suddenly, he reached out and pulled the blanket over both of them.
In the darkness, Ren Jianmo tightly embraced his precious one in his arms, then captured Ji Dong’s lips with his own, pressing down forcefully.
Ji Dong was originally waiting for Ren Jianmo to finish the second half of his unfinished sentence, but suddenly, his lips were firmly sealed by the other person, and they shared a solid kiss. He was a bit stunned for a moment.
However, he quickly stopped dwelling on these thoughts.
Ji Xiao’niao reached out and wrapped his arms around his beloved Ren Jianmo, and the two squeezed together under a thin blanket, exchanging passionate and lingering kisses…
……………….
“Tsk!”
Lying at the foot of the wall, Mo Tiangen turned over and curled up his sturdy waist, facing the wall.
——Even if you’re wrapped in a blanket, can that thing block out sound?
With such a small room and the surrounding so quiet that one could hear a pin drop, Mr. Dagen felt that unless he was deaf, even if he plugged his ears, he couldn’t help but hear those rustling sounds.
——Damn, what’s so great about being in love!
Mo Tiangen thought angrily.
——One day, I will also find a partner and blind you all!
————————————
The next day, just as the sky was getting light, the five of them got up early. After freshening up, they borrowed an off-road vehicle from the research group and immediately prepared to set off.
Mo Tiangen was in charge of driving.
Based on the information in the laptop brought back by Ren Jianmo, they quickly contacted Site 9.
After confirming the identities of the five people, the contact person on the other side expressed the hope that they would arrive at Site 9 as soon as possible and even mentioned that someone could meet them at a certain location.
So Ji Dong, Ren Jianmo, Mo Tiangen, and the Fan siblings spent a whole day and a half, taking three different modes of transportation, before finally arriving at the designated Site 9 on May 17th at noon.
This [Film’s] SCP Foundation may not be incredibly wealthy or powerful, but its scale and influence were quite significant.
Based on the knowledge they crammed that day, Ji Dong and the others discovered that the SCP items in this [Film] had already been numbered to over a thousand. Except for special items or phenomena that couldn’t be contained for various reasons, most of them were housed in over fifty stations worldwide.
Site 7 and Site 9 were the two largest central institutions in Xia Country, where they were currently located.
After the catastrophic containment incident at Site 7, most of the fortunate staff who managed to escape chose to go to Site 9, which was relatively close to Site 7. They had been arriving one after another over the past couple of days and had been unifiedly received by Site 9.
Ji Dong and the rest of the four people blended in with these escapees, so they didn’t stand out.
However, as soon as they arrived at Site 9, a group of people came up and took them away, separating them for a thorough search and individual isolation and inspection.
During the time Ji Dong and the others were heading to Site 9, they had already come up with a story about how they escaped Site 7 through the [Door of Wonder] and arrived at the Redwood Lake Mountain Forest Nature Reserve.
In addition, all of them had legitimate and reliable identities in this [Film], so the agents at the Site 9 didn’t give them a hard time. The next day, the inspection ended, and they were released and provided accommodations at the station.
On the evening of May 18th, just as Ji Dong and the others regained their freedom, they quickly met with each other in the cafeteria while having dinner.
They had been scattered throughout different areas of Site 9, and their accommodations were a bit far apart. Over the past few days, they had only been able to communicate through [Anytime, Anywhere Network Conference]. When they finally managed to meet, they couldn’t stay together for too long, afraid of drawing attention from others.
“Ah, this mission is troublesome, isn’t it?”
While waiting in line for food, Mo Tiangen stood behind Fan Hemian and complained in a lowered voice.
“It’s already the fourth day, and we haven’t even completed the second task yet!”
Although they arrived at Site 9, they didn’t even see a single hair of the “Group B participants.” The task still showed as unfinished in red.
Moreover, you would know even if you thought with the heel of your foot, they know that the difficulty level of the A-level [Film] wouldn’t be as simple as just letting the two teams meet. There must be even crazier things waiting for them!
Fan Hemian heard Mo Tiangen’s muttering and glanced back at him.
“That’s because you haven’t experienced much yet.”
She frowned and whispered, “The longest time I and Xiaolu spent together in a [Film] was a whole ten days.”
Fan Hemian thought for a moment and added,
“I’ve also heard that there’s a team doing an S-level mission, and they got delayed for a whole month in one [Film]…”
Mo Tiangen felt a chill run down his spine as he listened.
Indeed, this was only the fifth [Film] that Teacher Dagen had experienced.
Although the first four times were full of dangers, the longest time spent was only three days in [Strange Tales at 24:00]. It was truly unprecedented to not even catch a glimpse of the “opponents” until the fourth day.
According to Fan Hemian, as the difficulty progresses, they will encounter even more troublesome and time-consuming [Films] in the future…
Teacher Dagen anxiously scratched his head, feeling more and more frustrated.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait for long.
On May 19th, Ji Dong, Ren Jianmo, Mo Tiangen, and the Fan siblings arrived on the fifth day of this [Film].
At nine o’clock in the morning, Site 9 notified the five of them to attend a meeting.
Ji Dong’s assigned accommodation was a bit far, so when he arrived at the meeting point, the others were already there.
He walked into the meeting room and immediately saw his four companions, as well as five unfamiliar men sitting face to face with them.
“Please have a seat.”
A middle-aged woman wearing a black suit dress smiled gently at Ji Dong, gesturing for him to sit in the only available seat in the room.
She was one of the deputy supervisors of Site 9, and she was also in charge of receiving and accommodating the survivors from Site 7 this time.
Ji Dong and the others had dealings with this middle-aged woman and knew her as Dr. Roland.
“Now that everyone is here, let’s get straight to the point,” Dr. Roland said, looking around at the group.
“The reason I’ve gathered you all here is because I hope you can form a special task force to re-enter Site 7.”
