Translator: ThatLazyPotato
Editor: DragonFae
The phone on the table vibrated. Bai Chunian was dozing off on the table with his hand propping his head, but was suddenly awoken by the call. He rubbed his eyes and answered the call.
It was a call from Yan Yi.
“Boss? Oh, oh, how’s the situation on your side? Are you and Uncle Jin okay?” Bai Chunian tried to be energetic and make his voice sound less tired.
This past week, he would force himself to deploy an action plan whenever he was awake. He was reluctant to inject the synthesis booster and waste the precious millimeter of agent, so he still used the dissociative agent to hang in there. As a result, he doesn’t spend a lot of time awake, and could only make an action plan taking full advantage of his rest time.
But Yan Yi could still tell. “How many cigs have you smoked for your voice to be this hoarse?”
“I…” Bai Chunian glanced at the ashtray beside his hand, which was full, so he simply put a trash can near his feet. Last week, while he was still clear-headed, he bid farewell to Han Xingqian’s villa and moved out, and returned to his own small apartment. Han-ge‘s villa was too quiet. The elevator going up and down in the apartment building, and the neighbors going out to walk their dogs from time to time—listening to these noises were what made him feel at ease.
“Your Uncle Jin already quit smoking, so you should also not go overboard.” Yan Yi told him off lightly.
“Hehe, okay, okay.” Bai Chunian picked up a waterproof pen on the table and spun it with his fingers, his feet stepped on the chair, and he squatted and attentively listened to the call. The corner of his lips couldn’t help but curl up.
“Is Rimbaud here?”
“He went out to help me with some errands. I’m not in good health right now…and it’s inconvenient for me to go out.”
“You didn’t inject the synthesis booster?”
“Yes, I did.” Bai Chunian lied, his face remained the same, and his heart was beating calmly.
Only then was Yan Yi relieved. “Alright. Help me pass a message to Rimbaud. He ordered the merfolks to land from the strait to help clean up the summoned rampaging undeads, which was a huge help. The prime minister also wants to thank him in person.”
“He doesn’t care about these things.”
Yan Yi had just finished taking care of the mess over there and was a bit tired. He spoke a few more words of comfort to Xiao Bai. The two chatted for a while. When it was time to end the call, Bai Chunian hesitantly called out “President.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.” Bai Chunian said while smiling.
Yan Yi froze, then lightly chuckled. “Silly boy. I’m going to wash up and change. Let’s talk later.”
“Mm.”
Once the call ended, Bai Chunian held the phone lost in thought for a while. He then gave He Suowei a call.
It was training time for the PBB Forces in the morning. He Suowei took the time to answer the phone, yet it turned out that Bai Chunian was just taking up his training time to make small talk. After being scolded, he hung up the phone with a smile. He then called the instructors and kids at Greenfly Island. It wasn’t anything big, he was just bored and wanted to give them a lesson.
It wasn’t until the other party hung up the phone and the phone returned from the call screen to the home screen, that Bai Chunian put the phone back on the table in a good mood. He leaned on the table to send a message to Rimbaud.
He was sitting in front of the drawing table in the secret weapons arsenal in the bedroom of his apartment, with the Dead Sea Heart Rock chains on his wrists, ankles and neck. The tabletop was completely covered with a Dead Sea Heart Rock beast cage, locking him tightly in this small area.
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Rimbaud had just arrived at the IOA Alliance Building and got off the elevator, wearing Bai Chunian’s clothes—a loose basketball vest and shorts. He wore a peaked cap backward, with messy blond hair curling against his neck, and a backpack slung across his body. He looked out of place walking in the solemn and busy Alliance Building. Of course, his beautiful face was also out of place among the ordinary appearances.
Rimbaud’s phone vibrated, and he slowed down his pace. He glanced at the text message.
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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Invisible Stalker had copied a tube of red agent with the same color as the synthesis booster for him out of thin air. However, after testing it, only the color was the same, the ingredients were pretty much unrelated.
Xia Xiaochong helplessly shook his head. “I can only copy things whose molecular structures are known. Do you have the ingredient instructions for this?”
If they did, the Medical Association could successfully imitate it, and they wouldn’t need to specially go all the way over to Greenfly Island to request his help.
Returning from Greenfly Island without success, Rimbaud went to the IOA Alliance headquarters. When he arrived at the meet-up location, there were already two people waiting for him inside the room.
Lin Deng and Domino had been staying here. Although they received the IOA’s protection, could freely move around in the headquarters building, and could leave the building if they apply for leave, they don’t do so often.
When Rimbaud entered the room, Domino enthusiastically greeted him with sweet coffee and newly baked cookies. The butterfly antenna on his head shook in happiness.
“King, sit, please sit.” Domino swept aside the notebook with his outline, pen, and half-written manuscript on the table, making space for Rimbaud.
Ever since the attack on Shaojin Mansion, Domino was seriously injured. Although his life was saved thanks to the Medical Association’s effort, his butterfly wings, which served as an extension of his gland cells, were torn, and his glands were severely damaged.
The butterfly gland’s inherent ability was fantasy. Most butterfly gland owners were engaged in artistic creation and freelance work. What they were best at and most passionate about was creating all beautiful things. The destruction of his glands was more unacceptable to Domino than being disabled and paralyzed for life. When he was lying on the hospital bed in despair, it was Rimbaud who repaired his wings.
Domino hugged Rimbaud’s arm affectionately, and laid out the snacks he specially prepared on the table. He then took out a stack of densely written paper from a locked drawer and placed it in front of Rimbaud.
“Actually, Bai Chunian mentioned to us a long time ago about the situation at the 109 Research Institute’s headquarters, so I went to investigate early on.” Domino opened the stacks of papers that were stapled separately. “This week, I sorted out ten routes to sneak into the Institute’s headquarters according to the action plan formulated by Bai Chunian. I guarantee that even Aileen herself will never be able to find an eleventh feasible route.”
Domino’s J1 ability was Chain Reaction. Just doing something would completely change the direction of something, and at the same time, it was also possible to arrange the actions in the order that best corresponds to the good result.
Rimbaud still couldn’t understand. However, these days, he has learned more words than he did in the last 270 years. He had never been so eager to learn something, and had never so much as blamed himself for his own lack of logic and big-picture thinking.
When he was flipping through the documents given by Domino, the door was lightly kicked open. Crawler was holding a box of rolled up engineering drawings. The drawings were very big, making Crawler look even smaller. The thing that caught his eyes was not only his small stature, but also the dazzling fluorescent yellow sweatshirt with a black worm logo design on it.
“The map has been printed.” Crawler placed the box on the ground. He put his hands in his pocket and sat on the sofa, his feet stepped on the upper edge of the box. “I stayed up for several nights.”
Crawler’s M2 ability, Earth Parallel Plane, could convert target entities into replica data, then perform text conversion to obtain detailed analysis of the target. All objectively existing inanimate objects could be pulled from the inventory to view its details.
He pulled out the interior structure diagram of the 109 Research Institute headquarters building, as well as the top view of the interior layout. But that was it; he couldn’t tell what each area and room was used for.
Fortunately, Lin Deng worked at the 109 Research Institute headquarters for quite some time. Even if the Research Institute’s decoration and furnishings were constantly being changed over the years, the basic structure had not changed. Lin Deng relied on his memory to annotate the map with a total of 30,000 characters.
This operation of sneaking into the 108 Research Institute’s headquarters to steal the synthesis booster wouldn’t receive written approval from the IOA, which meant that they wouldn’t have assistance nor equipment. All preparations and actions would have to be done by themself.
Rimbaud put Domino’s documents and Crawler’s map into his backpack, taking them back for Xiao Bai to look at.
Domino stuck to Rimbaud, reluctant to let him go. He packed the cookie he baked in a bag to give to him.
When Rimbaud was leaving, Crawler called out to him. “Over the years, there are countless experimental subjects who have escaped from the Institute and been bought and sold. It’s not that there aren’t any who want to return for revenge, rather, they all failed. The difficulty of breaking into the Institute is unimaginable.”
Rimbaud glanced back at him. “That’s because I haven’t gone yet.”
Crawler placed his hands in his pocket, and because of his height, he had to raise his head slightly. “You’re not that confident either, right?”
Rimbaud gripped the backpack strap. It was true, he didn’t have much confidence.
“How about going to Satan for a divination?” Crawler said, “At least it can be a psychological comfort.”
“Divination?” Rimbaud scoffed. He had always been able to turn his hand up to gather clouds, and flip his hand down to create rain, so why would he place his hope on such a metaphysical thing?
When he left headquarters, he happened to bump into Lanxing who had just returned from delivering documents. Bi Lanxing looked him up and down before recognizing him. “Rimbaud? What are you doing here? Did Chu-ge come back too?”
“I only came to get something. Mind your business, kiddo.” Rimbaud lowered the brim of his cap, bowed his head, and hurriedly left.
Bai Chunian didn’t want the kids to know about his plan. He didn’t mention it to anybody, only Han Xingqian knows of their plan.
Bi Lanxing watched Rimbaud’s hurried back with some doubt. He lowered his head and sent a text to Lu Yan and Xiao Xun.
Rimbaud took the subway home as usual. When he passed by a church, he originally wasn’t going to get off, but when the door was about to close, he strangely got off.
No one got off this stop and the station was empty. Rimbaud thought for a while and then walked toward the church.
He could see the seaside park from this path. He saw an area under construction in the park, and in the center of it was a mermaid statue. The statue was surrounded by a cistern that had yet to be bricked up; it looked like it was going to be made into a wishing fountain.
Rimbaud gave the statue a quick look. The tail had a thin pointed end, and from the looks of it, the statue was of himself.
A lot of people crowded around the unfinished fountain. They took out a coin from their pants pocket, and threw them into the fountain that had no water yet. They put their hands together, closed their eyes, and mouthed something sincerely.
Rimbaud was too far from them so he couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he knew in his heart what humans like to ask for. Seeing their pretentious faces, Rimbaud was extremely bored.
However, he suddenly felt a sense of warmth in his chest. He hooked his hand on his collar to look inside, discovering that the wound on his chest from being stabbed by the Dead Sea heart knife was healing faster.
If God injures their believers, he would suffer backlash by ten folds. Likewise, the believers’ prayers would heal the wounds of God.
Rimbaud held his injury, watching the stupid-looking humans, a little surprised.
The Greenfly City’s church was not built in a bustling area; the surroundings were quiet, and it wasn’t far from the seaside. The solemn and serene organ music came from inside.
Due to Eris’ previous attack, one of the walls of the church was damaged, so it was simply renovated. When you walked in, the sunlight was projected on the ground through the stained glass windows, and the crystal colors flowed on the ground, making it look translucent.
There was basically nobody in the church at this time. Satan sat alone in the middle of the empty church, his finger lightly caressed the organ keys.
Rimbaud’s footsteps resounded in the church, which shouldn’t be ignored, yet Satan did not get up to greet him.
Rimbaud found a seat and sat down. He scanned the surrounding statues, and the gods on the dome oil painting. Due to their equal status, he did not show much shock.
A hundred cards with black background and gold foil spread out on the table.
The music ceased, and Satan finally spoke.
“If Bai Chunian is not here, I cannot deduce the development of different paths for you. I can only predict the life and death of each route for you. Bai Chunian won’t be coming from the looks of it, so you make a choice.”
Rimbaud raised a brow. “You know what I’m here to do?”
Satan did not waste his words, not bothering to explain an insignificant question.
Rimbaud thought for a while, then took out the documents Domino gave him, and placed it on the table. “Then help me predict the life and death of these ten routes.”
Satan said, “There are a hundred cards in front of you, choose a card while reciting each route. If you draw the angel card, it means there is hope for survival; if you draw the devil card, it means only death awaits. Each selection can have three draws.”
Rimbaud understood the rules, and picked up the first document. He recited, “Break in from the Research Institute’s main entrance,” then picked one card among the hundred.
The card flipped on its own—a smiling face of a goat head devil appeared on the table, giving people the creeps.
Rimbaud drew three times in a row, they were all devil cards.
It looked like going through the front entrance was a no-go.
Rimbaud drew an X over the first document as a pass for the first route. He picked up the second document, reciting “Break in from the underground of the Research Institute.” His hand hesitated in the air for a moment before picking a card.
The card turned over on its own, it was the devil card.
He drew three times in a row, they were all devil cards.
The second route was also a pass.
Rimbaud picked up the third document. He refused to believe that his luck would be that bad, flipping over all three cards at once.
They were all devils.
Rimbaud felt that he was being played with. He raised his head and glared at Satan. “How many angel and devil cards are there in here?”
Satan replied, “I don’t know. This set of tarot cards changes depending on the event being asked.”
Rimbaud took a deep breath, and patiently divined one route at a time.
9 routes had been divined, yet Rimbaud didn’t draw even one angel card. Even though he used Koi Blessing in the process of drawing the cards, he still couldn’t change the result.
The flipped over smiling devil cards stared at him sinisterly, making Rimbaud go crazy from the bottom of his heart.
There was only one route left—breaking in from the testing room.
Rimbaud took a while to calm down, then finally plucked up the courage to draw. He recited the last route. His trembling finger hesitantly hovered in the air. He extended his hand and withdrew it a few times.
The first card was the devil card.
Rimbaud’s heart also trembled. He retracted his hand, closed his eyes, and took a few deep breaths. He quickly flipped over the second card.
Devil.
The abhorrent goat face made Rimbaud almost breathless.
Satan silently took a step back.
Rimbaud was burning with rage. A burst of anger emerged from within. He suddenly got up, turned over the table full of cards, and shouted, “You dare play me! There are no angel cards to begin with!” He had never been so out of control.
The overturned table flew up and crashed into the spot where Satan had just stood, creating a huge hole on the floor. The tarot cards floated in the air, floating in an orderly manner and surrounded Rimbaud.
Ninety-nine devil cards with creepy smiles screamed eerily. The sole angel card wrapped itself with white wings.
Satan tightly held the Bible, and said lightly, “I didn’t trick you, this is your calamity and punishment.”
Rimbaud sneered. He gripped the documents in his hand tightly. “Who has the right to punish me?”
Satan answered, “No one can punish you, great king. Since you’re born a god, you should be fair. You are just atoning for the selfishness you once had when you despised all living beings and indulged in love.”
Thank You for the new chapter ♡╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯♡
So Rimbaud is hidding something. I mean this is normal for him to experience love since he’s 200 years old but it seemed to have been something severe. I just hope this won’t break XiaoBai’s heart. I stars to be anguish about the following of the story. Hope BaiChunian will be safe…😓
Rimbaud solo ha amado a bai chunian está dispuesto a cambiar la vida de muchos si eso le asegura que bai estará asalvo lo del castigo se refiere al hecho de que debido a que el prefiere a bai más que a todos no está siendo justo por perderá a la persona que ama