Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the vehicle that was camouflaged as a chiller truck, Huai Shi looked around him nervously. It felt like those guys sitting next to him looked rather familiar.
In the end, he finally realized what it was. Pointing at the man opposite him, he said, “Hey, aren’t you the guy who plunged a needle into my neck last time?”
The man opposite him raised his head and gave Huai Shi a glance, but he did not seem at all interested in Huai Shi. In fact, he could not even be bothered to respond.
The atmosphere in the truck was extremely cold and solemn, as though they were escorting death row prisoners. It made Huai Shi quite uneasy.
“Report! I wanna use the toilet…”
The soldier opposite him stretched out a hand and pointed at a bucket in a corner of the truck.
“It’s number two!”
The soldier opposite him kept his hand up, pointing at that bucket resolutely. Both numbers went in there.
Huai Shi’s expression twitched slightly in the swaying truck, and he forced himself to lean backward, putting more space between him and that bucket… all the while praying that its contents did not splash out!
Before long, he realized something. “Wait! Those b*stards saw our faces before! How can we scout them out? We’ll be like lambs walking to the slaughter!”
Next to him, Liu Dongli pulled two things that looked like facial masks out of his pocket and threw one of them at Huai Shi.
“That’s a macromolecular plastic mask.”
Ding!
Huai Shi added the sound effects in his head: Obtained legendary tool, Human Face Mask x1.
He examined the thing he was holding curiously, and a question immediately occurred to him. It was one thing that they sent him over here, but why was Liu Dongli coming with him?
“Because it’ll reduce my sentence.” Liu Dongli crossed his legs and smoked a cigarette. “After this mission, I’ll be scot-free, kiddo. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want.”
In the silence that ensued, Huai Shi gave him a look of pity. “…You do know that whoever says that line in a movie is sure to die in the final mission, right?”
“…”
“You’ve had your fun, so you can die with no regrets, but I’ve barely started living yet. I’m still a virgin, that’s one, but I can’t even dream about leaving the poverty line. Isn’t that a bit too much?”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.”
Liu Dongli patted his shoulder and held his cigarette between his fingers as he gestured. “The mission’s very simple. We sneak in and get some information. If we can, it’s best if we can also infiltrate the scene of the mass and arrest that b*stard red-handed with the dirty money. If anything feels wrong, just sound the alarm and more than a hundred buff beefcakes will storm the place, guns blazing, to save you. So what the heck are you afraid of?!”
“…” Huai Shi looked at the beefcakes around him and felt slightly more secure. “Do they have experience rescuing hostages? Or do they have any professional negotiators around?”
“Aha, don’t worry about it.”
Liu Dongli chuckled twice. “The Ascenders assault team from the Special Affairs Bureau never negotiates. They just kill the criminal and the hostages at the same time. On that note, have you picked out a box yet? I recommend the one with a crane on it, it looks magnanimous…”
Huai Shi rolled his eyes.
It was utterly hopeless now.
At half-past four in the afternoon, the car stopped at the back door of a butcher in Old Pond Town. As the owner barked orders, the two men disguised as movers walked out of the hidden room in the track, carrying two slabs of pork into the shop.
The meat was real, the shop was real, and even the truck was real. If you searched it up on the transportation company’s site, you could even find the serial number.
It was only temporarily here in place of the truck that was supposed to send the supplies.
After they carted in the cargo, the driver claimed that he wanted to eat, so he parked the truck right there. He led Huai Shi and Liu Dongli a short distance away before going into a restaurant and looking at the menu, waving casually at the two of them in the distance to do as they pleased.
“What should we do now?”
Huai Shi looked around him, perplexed. Just then, Liu Dongli nonchalantly patted his shoulder and said, “Just wait here and don’t move. I’ll go buy you an orange tree.”
With that, he flipped his hair and walked to the street, stopping an old lady and chatting her up.
Perhaps it was because the gigolo’s wiles were simply too strong, or because he was just such a charmer. Either way, he and the old lady were soon addressing each other like siblings, and she was all smiles, leading this young man to goodness knows where.
Only Huai Shi was left standing in the same place, his face going ??? like the Nick Young meme.
His three questions of life filled his mind, and he had no idea what he should do.
‘You’re telling me to infiltrate the place, but you should at least tell me how to do it. How could you just toss me here and forget about me?’
Huai Shi covered his face, only to hear the flapping of wings. A crow landed on a wall next to him.
Before he could even cry out in surprise, he heard the crow’s voice in his head. “Don’t speak. You’re bugged.”
What the heck?
Huai Shi’s eyes widened.
“Silly little brother, you’re being watched.” The crow sighed. “I don’t blame you, I guess. That young girl’s instincts are crazy accurate. To be honest, they kinda suspect your identity too. If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have asked you to work with the Astronomical Association. After all, I’m still on the run even now…”
What the heck was this?!
Huai Shi’s eyes widened.
“I’m on the run, so?” The crow looked at him, confused. “Ah, I’m a fugitive wanted by the Astronomical Association, and I’m pretty high up in the wanted list too. Didn’t I tell you that?”
‘Like hell you did!
‘Great, now there’s me, an idiot; you, a wanted criminal; and that bunch of mumbo-jumbo con artist lunatics. We’re all gathered in the same place now.
‘Later, I’ll be sent to jail, you’ll be shot to death, and all of them will be charged too. We all have such bright futures.’
“Don’t get your pants in a knot. She can’t be sure yet, can she? That’s why she sent you out here to try and lure you into slipping up. Listen to your Big Sis. You’ll get out of this just fine.”
Huai Shi rolled his eyes. He had no expectations for these hopeless teammates of his anymore.
‘I’m begging you guys, let me solo this.’
He sighed and decided to ignore this stupid black-hearted bird. Instead, he stood up and wandered down the street. Everything he saw was perfectly normal and average…
…despite the fact that this place was slowly dying.
Only the elderly walked the streets, and he could barely see any young people at all. All of them had gone somewhere else to work, right?
It was understandable. After all, the economy in New Ocean was not doing great right now. It was last considered a metropolis seventy or eighty years ago, so it was practically a miracle that the city was still on the map at all. It had been dying for a long time now.
Any young people with any ambition would have probably gone to Yanjing, Jinling, or Yangzhou to work. The latest news even said that the cabinet was planning to boost the economy of coastal cities, so no matter what, those places would do better than this inland town, right?
Well, it had already come to this anyway, so Huai Shi just threw his infiltration mission to the back of his mind and started strolling down the streets with his hands behind his back.
The afternoon sun shone down on the ground, warming up his body.
In his slight daze, Huai Shi seemed to see the entire town swaying like a reflection in the water. Countless black shadows appeared in the sky… but before long, the strange illusion vanished, and everything returned to normal.
Leaving behind only a cold sweat and terrible shudders.
There was something wrong with this place after all, huh?
…
“The target has begun to move.”
With that report from the surveillance team, everyone in the temporary command center inside the giant truck outside the town perked up. They put on their headphones and looked at the screen.
Aside from the camera feeds from all the different parts of the town, the largest screen at the very center showed Huai Shi, wandering around the town aimlessly.
In the long silence, everyone watched as Huai Shi walked here and poked there, like a homeless man with nothing better to do.
No matter how they looked at it, he did not look like a spy infiltrating the enemy base. He even shuddered, as though he had bumped into a ghost.
In comparison, Liu Dongli was right in his element, having entered the local fellowship of old ladies. On the other hand, Huai Shi was basically drifting about. He did not even look the slightest bit suspicious.
Just as everyone was slowly growing exasperated, there came another report from the front. “The target is appro…”
The sentence cut off abruptly.
On the screen, they saw Huai Shi run into a small store and use his spy’s salary to buy a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. He even splurged a little and bought a five-yuan ice-cream.
After that, he crouched on a step under the sun and indulged in his little pleasures.
His useless hoboness was over nine thousand…
This guy was completely hopeless, huh?
Ai Qing’s calm expression twitched involuntarily as well, and she began to seriously reconsider her decisions. Was she wrong to suspect that this hopeless hobo was hiding something from her?
How did that passionate and excitable boy from back then become this living zombie over a mere handful of years?
The chainsaw of time sure was relentless, huh?
Huai Shi seemed intent to waste his limited time on unlimited lounging, and the officers in the command center did not even know what to say anymore. Someone even looked at Ai Qing, wanting to ask if they should hasten him. However, Ai Qing did not say a thing the entire time.
Forget it. He was just one guy, and his presence did not mean much either way.
There was a lot of work they had to sort out now. Not only did they have to investigate the social relations in Old Pond Town within a few short hours, they had to bring up past footage from the cameras and look through it for clues.
Their depth detectors were here and being installed at breakneck speed. They had no time to waste on layabouts.
While they were busying about, though, there was a distant shout coming from the bug they had planted on Huai Shi. “Kid! Yeah, you! Come here.”
On the screen, Huai Shi looked perplexed as a bunch of old men with pushcarts called him over.
“Yeah, I mean you! Whose kid are you? C’mere and help out!”
Huai Shi stared blankly for a long while and ate his ice-cream until only the stick was left. Finally, he seemed to remember he was here as a spy, and he reluctantly helped the old men push their carts and unload their cargo. It took forever, but he finally pushed the cart into a house at the edge of town. They even ordered him to unload some old drums, cymbals, and colorful costumes, making him sort them out.
There seemed to be some sort of association based in this house. Some dark-skinned old men sat on the ground, excitedly discussing something, while there were others playing cards on the table next to them.
There was even water boiling in the corner. If there were a few more tables, this would practically be a free-flow party.
Was that food to eat?
Huai Shi’s eyes lit up.
However, he pulled back the foot that was about to step forth.
He was never going to be a spy, not in this lifetime. Instead, he was better off eating for free in there, safe and sound. He did not wish for a luxury like meat, but he would be glad enough if he had his fill of rice.
While Huai Shi was waiting and waiting to no avail for the food to be served, he saw the seven or eight old men sitting on the floor pick up their cymbals, pipa, and suona. They began to play a jig for the errenzhuan dance.
When he noticed that there was a stranger watching the show, the old man playing the suona trumpet at the center of the band put even more effort into his playing. After an especially long string of notes, he waved the instrument in his hand at Huai Shi cockily. He seemed to be saying, ‘Ain’t I cool? C’mon, envy me…’
Huai Shi was completely unperturbed. He patted his hands noncommittally and even had the urge to laugh.
If it were not for the fact that he had not brought his money-maker with him, Huai Shi would show that old man just what an ABRSM grade-eight could do… Besides, after he started incorporating his meditation into it, his cello-playing was ridiculously infectious right now. If he put a little more effort into it, he could probably make the old man’s cow cry…
To his surprise, his response fired those old men up even more. They played one tune after another at Huai Shi, and the spittle from the suona flew several meters away. The trumpeter even used some black technology to unleash a string of supersonic booms that nearly shattered Huai Shi’s molars.
Once they were done, the old man even raised his chin at Huai Shi, as though challenging him.
“Want to try, kiddo?”
“Sure, I’ll give you a showcase, old sir.”
Huai Shi pouted. It seemed like reality no longer allowed him to keep a low profile.
He randomly searched through the pile of old instruments and pulled out a usable erhu. Crossing his legs, he threw his low-profile spying plan to the winds and immediately played a remix of Horse Racing, the Moon Mirrored in the Pool, Bach’s Cello Suite, Above the Moon, and Pomp and Circumstance.
The limitation of his instrument meant that he went horribly off-key in many places, so Huai Shi had to try and emulate that monster Paganini by playing an entire song on a single string. To his surprise, after he completed his little remix and opened his eyes, he saw a ton of people gathered in front of him.
The elderly who had been playing cards, chatting, smoking, and playing their instruments had all gathered together without him noticing, and now they were pointing at him as they whispered, their expressions solemn and stern.
It was all over.
Huai Shi’s heart leaped into his throat. Had he been discovered?
The old folk was whispering to each other, and the one in the center looked at Huai Shi carefully, sounding confused. “Where’d you come from, kiddo? How come I ain’t ever seen you before?”
“I… I came here… to work!”
Huai Shi instinctively turned to run. “I’ll leave now, right now…”
“Don’t be in such a hurry.”
The old man grabbed Huai Shi by the shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. He looked just like someone who was offered toilet paper after they got stuck in the stall. “That b*stard Third Old Man Li has the runs, so he can’t make it. We just happen to need an erhu player in the team today, so why don’t you come with us for the performance at the church tonight? We’ll give you forty bucks and dinner, how’s that sound?”
The church?
A performance?
Wait, how did he worm his way inside so easily?
Huai Shi was stunned.
He instinctively wanted to decline the offer, but then he remembered that he was still under surveillance, so he clenched his teeth and nodded.
“Sure!”
He paused and stated his condition. “But I want to eat first!”
It felt as though the cold sensation on the back of his head grew ever more intense. Huai Shi could practically imagine the embodiment of Death himself grinning behind his back.
However, what did that have to do with the fact that he was a heartless negativity producing machine?
At least let him fill his stomach before thinking about dying!