translator: loop
proofreader: roki
The terrain inside Fort Barney was complex, and there were many hidden obstacles. The wanderers could rush over in their aircraft, but couldn’t continue like this in Fort Barney. If they wanted to salvage some usable materials or equipment, or if they needed Fort Barney for something, they first had to get off their aircraft.
Once they got off their aircraft, the wanderers would be easy to handle.
Chu Si’s plan was for everyone to scatter as they approached Fort Barney, avoid the wanderers, and follow them into the fort. They would take a few laps around the terrain, spread out those 137 wanderers, and get rid of them one by one.
Although this would take some time, given their limited amount of weapons, it was indeed the most suitable attack method.
Hum—
The wanderers’ aircraft had come closer again. Due to the loud and unceasing noise coming from them, it felt like they were right on their heels.
The wind they raised howled incessantly, bending the withered trees behind them.
The entire primitive wild forest was crushed into waves.
“Fuck, my heels can’t even reach the ground, I’m about to be lifted up—” The sound of Tang swearing came from the side, cut into pieces by the wind and the sound of humming.
“Hurry—” Le Pen shouted, “I remember the downhill slope ahead, there’s a crevice underneath, Joel had fallen in before—”
Although the strong wind really was annoying, it still gave them a huge push to some extent.
The aircraft were getting closer, and with them came various chaotic electronic voices—
“Scanning network found no collectible items.”
“Adjusting firepower system.”
Countless red lights swept past them, almost hitting the calf of Joel, who was closest to the aircraft.
Fortunately, Guy reacted in time and pulled Joel over. As a result, the two collided and stumbled, unable to keep their balance. Half a step later, they fell onto the ground.
“Fuck!” The two cursed together. They crawled forwards as fast as they could, but still weren’t as fast as the red light.
Just as the red light was about to sweep over them, a half-a-person-tall little figure came over and gave them a fierce push—
“Ouch ouch ouch ouch—” Joel shouted repeatedly as he rolled down the slope ahead with Guy.
As he rolled down, he struggled to open one eye, realizing the one who pushed him was the silent little mop.
This chicken-like little brat could push two grown men down?!
Joel rolled away with a stunned expression.
After the little mop pushed the two of them, she was about to run out of the range of the red light. However, an arm suddenly reached over and clamped around her waist.
As soon as she looked up, she saw Chu Si’s thin jawline.
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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However, the moment he moved, he felt his arm being clamped and dragged in a certain direction.
It wasn’t until he was already lying in the crevice that he realized the people who pulled him should’ve been Joel and Guy, who had first rolled down.
This crevice was a fault in the soil layer beneath the slope. Because a large layer of rock supported the soil above, this crevice, which they could temporarily hide in, was formed.
The crevice wasn’t small, but its height was really limited. Even if you laid on the ground like they did, if you just slightly moved your shoulder, your shoulder would be able to touch the rocks above.
It could only barely fit so many people, and it was difficult to find any extra space.
“Who’s that, the sole of your shoe is stepping on my face, move it aside, thank you.” Tang poked Le Pen’s shoe.
Le Pen tried to move but only succeeded in crushing Tang’s face twice again. “There’s only so much space to move…”
Tang’s face was smushed to the point of helplessness: “Forget it, don’t move anymore.”
“Guy, my fingers are turning numb under your stomach,” Joel whispered.
Guy took a deep breath and tried to suck in his stomach. He held his breath and squeezed out a sentence: “Try pulling your hand out.”
Joel moved his fingers and just happened to touch Guy’s ribs. Guy suddenly let out his air.
In fact, the person who wanted to say something the most at this time was Chu Si, because when he was dragged in, his body was completely out of his control, and where he ended up really was terrible— squeezed together with Sa’e Yang.
They were, quite literally… face to face.
“Why couldn’t you be in the same direction as the others…” Chu Si could only turn his head at an uncomfortable angle. He faced into the crevice, against someone’s black bag, leaving only the back of his head for Sa’e.
“If I were in the same direction as the others, Executive, my ankle would be pressing against your beautiful face right now.” Sa’e Yang’s voice seemed to press against the back of Chu Si’s head, and a hint of his breath even fell upon the back of his neck.
Chu Si moved his shoulders.
“Then why don’t you turn your head in another direction?” His voice was suppressed very low, and after he spoke, he furrowed his brow again.
“Forgive me, but I can’t fulfill your unreasonable demand.” Every time Sa’e Yang spoke, it gave Chu Si goosebumps. “If I could, I would’ve turned a long time ago. After all, your hair makes my nose itch, and I really want to sneeze.”
Chu Si: “Endure, don’t you dare sneeze on me.”
Sa’e Yang sighed. “My dear, when you say that, my nose feels even itchier.”
Chu Si: “…”
A large number of aircraft roared over their heads, heading towards Fort Barney.
“Everything seems to have quieted down.” Tang strained his ears and listened for a while, saying: “They’ve probably all passed, can we crawl out now?”
Le Pen: “Shh— wait a little longer, to be safe.”
“En, wait a little longer.” Chu Si spoke at a volume everyone could hear.
Chu Si attempted to take a glance at his holographic screen to determine the specifics of the aircraft, how many had already passed, and how many had fallen behind.
However, it just so happened that the holographic screen was clamped to his left sleeve, pressed against Sa’e. If he wanted to see it, he would have to turn his head.
Chu Si moved with difficulty, and slowly turned his head…
How great, face to face with Sa’e Yang.
He gave a glance, then without hesitation chose to turn back and face the black bag.
“Is my face really so ugly?” Sa’e Yang snorted.
Chu Si: “…don’t take your anger out on me.”
Sa’e Yang: “You’re starting to be unreasonable again, Executive.”
Chu Si ignored him, and after a moment, moved his right finger and shook it several times within his limited range.
Sa’e Yang: “Generally speaking, I get annoyed when I see something shaking in front of my eyes. However, since I can’t sweep it away with my hands right now, I’ll have to use my mouth.”
“…” Chu Si confirmed he had noticed, and put down his finger. “Open the holographic screen on my sleeve.”
“With my teeth?” Sa’e Yang asked lazily.
Chu Si: “…with whatever you want! Hurry up!”
Of course, in the end, Sa’e Yang didn’t really use his teeth. Chu Si evaluated that he would never do something so visually unappealing.
He could feel that Sa’e Yang had moved his hand and pressed it against his wrist, bending a finger and flicking a button on the side of the disc clamped on his sleeve.
Perhaps it was for the convenience of turning it off in the future, but Sa’e didn’t bother to move his hand somewhere else afterward.
“Most of them have already arrived at Fort Barney.” Sa’e looked at it for a while, and said, “Most aircraft have stopped, but there are still about a dozen trailing behind, coming from where we’d stopped earlier.”
Sure enough, after the humming overhead had stopped for about ten minutes, another wave rang out.
If they had ventured out just now, they probably would’ve been caught between the two waves.
Everyone continued to lie down, but this time, there weren’t many aircraft and their humming sounds weren’t loud, so they didn’t speak again.
The one lying closest to the opening of the crevice was Jin.
Through the opening, he could see the red light swept by the wanderers, just happening to angle along the slope and miss where they were hiding.
“How’s the situation?” Le Pen tried to poke Jin’s arm with her finger. “I can’t lift my head to look outside.”
Sa’e Yang was still staring at the holographic screen, which showed the last two aircraft flying above their heads.
The humming noises moved towards Fort Barney, getting further and further away from the crevice.
Jin was about to say “they’re far away now” when he noticed the last two aircraft suddenly coming to a stop, red light aimed at them, sweeping layer by layer.
Every time they swept, their edges would barely enter the crevice.
“Go further in, further in.” Jin panicked and shrank into the crevice. Although it was easy for him to move, the people inside were quite unlucky—
Every one of them was squeezed fiercely. Le Pen squeezed into Joel, and Joel, along with Sa’e’s upper body…
Chu Si: “…”
There was no way he would make it through today.
The last two aircraft seemed to have noticed something unusual and stopped for about five minutes. Jin was scared out of his mind, afraid that if the red light went an inch further into the crevice, it would sweep him.
As the aircraft flew back a little, Jin didn’t even dare to breathe. Squeezing harder into the crevice, he folded his outer arm directly behind him, scraping a bloody mark against the rock.
Ten seconds later, the two aircraft gave up on searching and followed the rest of the group away.
A moment later, Sa’e Yang stared at the holographic screen and said, “All of them have entered Fort Barney. They should’ve all disembarked from their aircraft by now.”
Chu Si said, “Alright, alright, let’s get out first.”
No one among them was willing to stay in the cramped crevice for even an extra second, so upon hearing his words, they immediately started to move.
Standing outside the crevice, everyone took advantage of their perspective and saw the flashing lights of aircraft in Fort Barney from a distance.
“What should we do, Executive? Go over now?” Tang bounced in place twice and shook his hands and feet.
“Wait a little longer, after they disperse into various areas of Fort Barney, we’ll sneak in.” Chu Si rolled his shoulders and looked at the holographic screen on his sleeve. “In a moment—”
Before he could finish speaking, Sa’e Yang suddenly thrust out his hand and tapped twice on the holographic screen.
Before Chu Si could react, he reached out again and touched Chu Si’s ear.
The sensation of a finger touching his ear made Chu Si’s eyebrows jump, and he turned his head away. But Sa’e had already removed the earplugs from his ears and stuffed them into his own.
“What are you up to again?!” Chu Si asked.
Sa’e pressed down an earplug with one hand, turned his head, and flashed Chu Si a sudden smile: “Reporting, I want to play a big prank.”
t/n
the crecive scene also is like coffin scene lol. thank you for translating !
i’ve been waiting for this novel for so long now that you’re translating, i keep checking it everyday. glad the update is almost daily
haha yes, the tgcf coffin scene… now I’m suddenly reminded of the svsss coffin scene as well lmao
also, is your pfp Luo xiaohei? I have a whole dang sticker set of him on WeChat 🥹
Oh oh? Who is Luo Xiaohei? From another novel or manhua? 👀
he’s the mc of the donghua 罗小黑战记 (the legend of Luo Xiaohei). He was originally a cat demon w/ a human form, but got injured and got stuck as an actual cat…
I see, I see, that’s going on my watch list!!
yes it’s him !!!! he’s my little baby im actually so obsessed with tlolxh that i almost watch it montly
Xiao Hei!! We all have good taste here it seems
Too bad the one bed scene didn’t play out the way I imagined 😔 A shame really
I wish we had the crevice scene and “only one bed” scene from Sae’s POV, Chu Si doesn’t seem “aware” of him that much, and I’m DYING to see what Sae was thinking, with little things like leaving his hand on Chu Si’s wrist 🥺