Chapter 121.2: No War in Cliff City Part 2
With the enemy dead, Mr. Zhang glanced around. After confirming there were no threats remaining, he patted Ji Jue on the shoulder.
“Not bad. I was just about to step in and help, but you actually handled it yourself.” He sighed, impressed. “Though you did jump the gun a little...”
Looking at the outrageous scene before him, he couldn’t help but pat his bald head.
The destructive power of young people really couldn’t be underestimated. He had only looked away for a moment, and things had escalated to this extent. Was this what they called the new generation surpassing the old?
Back when he was young, risking his life only ever meant smashing a few walls at most, but the new Chosen Ones were starting to look like demolition crews. Wen Wen was already rough enough when she acted, but now even Ji Jue was showing signs of surpassing her.
Mr. Zhang bared his teeth slightly and once again mourned the funds of North Mount District. Things were probably not going to be easy from here on out.
“Mr. Zhang, how long have you been watching?” Ji Jue asked, snapping back to his senses.
Mr. Zhang waved his palm-leaf fan, dodging the question. “I just arrived! Ah, the Wasteland Assembly assassins really are troublesome. They’re a pain in the ass.”
Ji Jue thought, Pain in the ass? More like pain in the hand[1]!
“Hey, I just wanted to see how you kids would perform. How can you grow without going through some challenges?”
Grow? Me? You sure about that?
Ji Jue’s face twitched. Numbly, he replied, “Based on my experience, people who go through too many storms usually don’t grow. They just get washed away by the waves.”
As his spirit matter recovered slightly, Ji Jue pushed himself up. He jumped down from the vehicle, grabbed his toolbox, and ran in small, hurried steps straight toward the remains of the dead.
Bodies, bodies! I have to get to the bodies immediately!!!
Once a person died, their spirit matter dispersed and their blessing collapsed in on itself. Who knew how much could still be salvaged. Judging from how insane that guy was, his blessing was probably one of those high-grade ones that had undergone multiple qualitative evolutions.
Besides, even if the body burned to ashes, it could still be taken back and used as crafting material. There were plenty of uses for it, and every second counted.
Without Mr. Ball by his side, he could only use mercury for emergency preservation first, hoping the blessing wouldn’t dissipate too quickly.
“Wait, wait, wait—”
Tong Hua moved even faster than Ji Jue. Forcing down her nausea and discomfort, she pinched her nose, mentally steeled herself, and extended her hand toward the corpse.
Though a bit silly, a bit clumsy, a bit low on intelligence, a bit stubborn, and generally not great at thinking, she had grown up in the Tong family, a place full of Aether busybodies[2], and had developed a sharp instinct for noticing when something was off.
It was like how an experienced reader, when the author suddenly shifted focus away from the main plot at a critical moment, would frown slightly and suspect, Is this guy about to start padding the story?
She activated her Aether Eye and locked onto the bodies, gazing at them intently. She then unleashed Time Rewind.
The moment Tong Hua’s finger touched the severed limb of a corpse, she scowled. “Bad news!”
Mr. Zhang immediately frowned. “What is it?”
“There’s a problem. A definite problem.” Tong Hua retrieved her hand and said decisively, “This person’s corruption was artificially accelerated! Based on the physiological change records, if we trace back a month, he had been in a controllable, stable condition. He should have been under treatment via suppressants. The quality wasn’t great, and the corruption couldn’t be fully stopped, but it was still in a stable phase. As long as injections were administered regularly, the condition could be maintained.
“But today, the corruption suddenly accelerated. He went from a stable phase to an acute phase in just half a day! That medication was definitely compromised. Before we arrived, there were abnormal interference signals and tampering in his aether records. There’s a very obvious discontinuity in his consciousness, and a large amount of scrambled memory data that can’t be traced back yet was forcibly inserted.
“It’s the Heart Core! A blessing from the Heart Core Path interfered with his consciousness, triggering his shell shock[3]. That pushed him into a stress response state, directly accelerating the corruption process!”
Nobody replied. An Ran still seemed a little confused. Ji Jue’s experience was too limited, and he hadn’t fully reacted yet. But Mr. Zhang’s brows were tightly furrowed, his expression gradually turning dark.
A Swarm Chosen One in the corruption stage, kept stable with problematic medication and already on the brink of psychological collapse... and he just happened to be here right now? In Cliff City? And get involved in the internal conflict within the Wasteland Assembly?
It was like a high-risk mental patient deliberately released from a psychiatric hospital into a public space. All it would take was a slight trigger, like a word, a laugh, a loud noise, a signal, and the final dam would collapse. The moment the corrupted Chosen One entered Cliff City, he had already become a ticking time bomb!
Even worse...
Suddenly, Ji Jue turned back in disbelief.
“You mean someone deliberately sent him to An—”
“Ji Jue,” Mr. Zhang interrupted him before he could finish.
Ji Jue immediately shut his mouth, realizing what Mr. Zhang was doing.
After a brief moment of pondering, Mr. Zhang slowly said, “You’ve misunderstood. This matter isn’t that complicated. We just happened to run into a gang fight. We’ll classify it as a dispute over spoils. After a difficult pursuit, we eliminated a fleeing group of Swarm mercenaries who attempted to go rogue and cause further damage. There were no survivors.
“Don’t include anything unnecessary in the report. Due to severe structural collapse and destruction at the scene, most of the bodies couldn’t be recovered. Just bring back a couple of blades and some weapons as evidence for sealing and storage, that’s enough. As for the ‘other’ things, if I remember correctly, they might be useful to those on the Ember Path too.”
He glanced at Ji Jue, trying to give him a hint. “Do me a favor. Take them back with you. Handle them however you want, just get it done quickly.”
Mr. Zhang clearly knew very well how someone of the Ember Path would handle corpses. Once the material went through two or three rounds of processing, no matter how powerful the aether reading ability was, it would no longer be able to recover its original information. That made things naturally safe.
At this point, with so many anomalies and suspicious details emerging, anyone who thought a little more deeply would realize that the internal struggle among the White Deer Chosen Ones was no longer a simple conflict. Or rather, from the very beginning, it hadn’t been an accident.
A faint trace of something hiding behind the scenes was slowly emerging, but this had nothing to do with the Security Bureau. They could not dig any deeper. They had to cut their losses in time. What did a bunch of scumbags killing each other have to do with them? If the Wasteland Assembly blew up tomorrow, would the Security Bureau even shed a single tear?
The priority now was to cleanly extract North Mount District from this damn mess, wipe it completely clean, and make sure not even a trace of those filthy things stuck to it. They could not allow it to become a fuse. Not even a single spark could be left behind. Otherwise, if anything else happened later, someone would inevitably use North Mount District as leverage against the Security Bureau.
The more complicated and serious things became, the more people would want something else to share the blame and draw attention away. Whether it was someone with hidden motives or people eager to resolve the issue quickly, no one would hold back when the time came.
At worst, Mr. Zhang could retire and go back to running his massage shop. But for Wen Wen, Tong Hua, An Ran, and even Ji Jue who had come to help, the aftermath would be endless trouble.
After briefly exchanging a glance with Mr. Zhang, Ji Jue nodded. “I understand. Then it works out. I don’t have much else to do, anyway. I’ll help you retrieve the surveillance footage.”
Mr. Zhang nodded and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Understanding the meaning of the old man’s words, Tong Hua and Ji Jue immediately got to work, collecting physical evidence, preparing records, and wrapping up the scene.
It was just a routine mission. During an investigation of a violent crime in North Mount District, they had tracked down a group of roaming criminals and eliminated them all. It was just like their usual work; there was nothing unusual about it. Everything was normal. The camera records and aether residues at the scene all confirmed it. There was only a slightly excessive level of destruction, leaving things a bit incomplete, but still within normal bounds. There was nothing objectionable.
As for the extra box on Horsey’s back, no one paid any attention to it.
After communicating with the police who arrived late, directing them to set up cordon lines, and providing North Mount District’s contact information to the insurance companies of the affected parties, Mr. Zhang’s work was temporarily finished. He unscrewed his oversized water bottle, tilted his head back and gulped it down. He even chewed the tea leaves along with the water he had been soaking all afternoon. Staring at the neon lights in the night, he let out a long sigh.
“It’s an eventful era indeed.” He reached out and ruffled An Ran’s hair. “Go home once you’re done.”
An Ran nodded. “Okay.”
Under the same night sky, on the other side of Cliff City, unrest was just beginning to unfold.
***
Half an hour later...
The Lunar Tower of the Orchid District in Cliff City was bustling with activity. The streets on both sides were decorated with lanterns and streamers, looking festive and lively.
“Mr. Hu, long time no see. Please come in, please come in. Mr. Liu, we’re old friends. No need to be so polite. Come on in.”
Lei Yaoxing stood at the entrance, greeting the guests as they arrived with a warm, friendly smile. Along both sides of the street stood rows of expressionless, cold men, their icy gazes sweeping over anyone who dared to approach without invitation.
After personally escorting the chief inspector of the Orchid District police bureau inside, someone hurried over to Lei Yaoxing’s side and whispered, “There seems to be some trouble over in North Mount District.”
Lei Yaoxing listened quietly, nodded, and simply waved his hand. “Don’t make a fuss. We’ll deal with it after tonight.”
Then he put on his smiling face again and went to greet another guest.
The sultry Eleventh Sister pushed aside the person blocking her path and stepped up the stairs. “Sir, this really doesn’t seem like you. You actually took the initiative to negotiate? So you’ve already settled our uncles and got them to back you up so quickly?”
Lei Yaoxing patted her hand. “Dad’s still in the hospital, he’s in critical condition. Go visit him when you have time. We grew up together. We’re family. What hurdle can’t we get past?”
The Eleventh Sister sneered. “So you’re really taking me for granted?”
“Taking you for granted? Have I ever treated you badly, even when we were kids?” Lei Yaoxing sighed, speaking earnestly. “At the end of the day, we’re all family. Harmony brings prosperity. Tonight is important to me. Do me a favor. Even if you want to fight to the death with the Fourth or the Seventh, you don’t have to do it tonight. No matter how ugly things get, I still can’t bear to see you upset. That old house in South Ridge District... I’ve never touched it, have I?”
The Eleventh Sister’s expression stiffened slightly. Her eyes turned pitch-black, as if something within was ready to devour everything, but Lei Yaoxing simply patted her shoulder.
“It’s getting late. Go inside and sit down. We’ll talk after dinner... Ah, Mr. Li, welcome, welcome.”
He took the initiative to walk toward another guest, shaking hands in greeting, warmly ushering them inside.
Inside the banquet hall, the atmosphere was already lively and noisy. People who knew each other well sat together holding teacups, smiling at one another, but whenever their eyes met, there was always something unspoken hidden beneath the surface. More often than not, their gazes would drift, almost unconsciously, toward the entrance.
A black sedan pulled up at the door. A middle-aged man with a round face and nerdy glasses stepped outside. He was slightly overweight, almost like an enlarged version of Chen Yubo, except his skin was noticeably darker. He smiled gently and waved to the people around him.
It was hard to imagine that this was the mastermind of Wasteland Assembly, indirectly responsible for both the White Deer internal war and the turmoil in Cliff City.
After four consecutive days of conflict, Chen Xingzhou had finally appeared in public. He looked up toward the steps. For a brief moment, his gaze met Lei Yaoxing’s. There was no anger, no hostility, not even darkness. Even their smiles remained unchanged. Yet that brief exchange of eye contact made everyone instinctively hold their breath.
Only when Lei Yaoxing personally walked down the steps to meet tonight’s most important guest did the tension break. The two walked together, smiling. Their hands met in a gentle, steady handshake, like old partners who had long been in sync.
“I didn’t expect you to actually have the guts to come,” Lei Yaoxing said with a sigh. “I underestimated you.”
“The uncles said we should talk things out, and you wanted negotiations. How could I not come? I couldn’t just sit and wait for death,” Chen Xingzhou replied calmly. “So, have you decided how to deal with me today?”
“Guests are guests. I don’t have the habit of making a move on guests,” Lei Yaoxing said. “Even if we can’t come to an agreement, whatever happens, we’ll talk after tonight.”
He gestured forward invitingly. Chen Xingzhou waved a hand, stopping Mr. Lin from following behind him. He walked arm in arm with the host, the two of them appearing almost inseparably close.
When everyone finally began to relax, there was a dull sound. Chen Xingzhou’s steps stopped in place. He lowered his head in confusion.
A faint trace of red was seeping out from his chest. He looked up in bewilderment toward Lei Yaoxing beside him. Instinctively, he reached out to grab him, opening his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out.
His expression changed from one of shock, to blankness, confusion, and then realization. Amid the chaos around him, his hand slowly lost strength and slipped away, leaving only a streak of crimson blood on the pure white suit.
Then he fell backward, and a panicked scream rang out. It sounded just like the belated wails rising from pools of blood that never truly stopped, continuing on from the darkness, echoing through the endless struggle between wolves and deer.
From beginning to end, White Deer bore witness to everything. And so, the bloodstained curtain was drawn open.
1. The line is playing on a double meaning.
Mr. Zhang says “棘手,” which normally means “tricky” or “hard to deal with.” But literally, the word also means “pricks hand.”I think it’s referring to the earlier chapter where they attacked Mr. Zhang’s hand. Given the context that his hand was just attacked, the reply twists that meaning on purpose. “是字面意义上的扎手是吧?!” basically means, “Oh, so you mean ‘pricked your hand’ in the literal sense, huh?!”
It wouldn’t make much sense for me to translate this literally, so I changed it to “pain in the hand”. ☜
2. “乐子人” is an internet slang term for people who treat online drama as entertainment. They watch, stir things up, or chase excitement just for their own amusement.
They tend to be detached, sometimes even indifferent, taking a “watch the fire from across the river” attitude toward trending topics or arguments. They’re mainly there for the fun, not for taking sides or caring about what’s right or wrong. ☜
3. Shell shock is a World War I term for psychological trauma and combat stress reaction, caused by prolonged exposure to intense battle, bombardment, and fear. It produced symptoms like paralysis, nightmares, tremors, and confusion, and was initially thought to be a physical nervous system injury but later recognized as a psychological, PTSD-like condition.
Here is a link to a video about shell shock for your reference. ☜
Comments