EM CH24

Chapter 24: Gladiolus

The diary entry ended there, lacking any date annotation. It was clearly unfinished, likely split into two pages.

Eagerly feeding the other spent core into the slot, Yu An retrieved the succeeding page. He lay sideways across his bedroom bed, reading it intently.

…

My tears fell like a torrential downpour, dousing the flames of his wrath until only flickering sparks remained atop charred coals.

Compared to the parts within my ordinary understanding, he preferred using his hands. His fingertips felt alive; when gentle, they made one utterly addicted, yet when harsh, they made me wish I were dead.

I could only cling to him, having nowhere else to go. He bit into the side of my neck, beast-like sharp teeth feeling as though they would tear me to shreds, yet this piercing sting was negligible compared to the ache within my body.

In the past, I had always provoked him on purpose, but he had never been this furious before. Like a girl on her period, his temper turned extraordinarily volatile whenever that specific time arrived.

Previously, I had never empathized with such emotions. When I harmed others, I could not feel their pain. He used comparable pain to teach me subtle emotions, just as he used running water to let me feel gentleness, and fire to let me experience scalding pain.

He finally stopped, pressing me firmly against his chest. My dangling heart finally settled; moments earlier, I had thought he was giving up on me.

Stroking me stroke by stroke, he asked if I knew what I had done wrong.

I thought for a long time, the pain slowing even my train of thought.

“Do you only like me if I obey everything?” I asked him weakly.

I was constantly surrounded by things that irritated me. If someone were willing to listen to me speak, I thought things might be a bit better. If not, I could only digest it myself. My capacity for digestion was limited, and my way of handling things was never endurance, but making the source of irritation vanish from this world.

My question caught him completely off guard. Gathering me up to sit facing him on his lap, he clumsily wiped the corners of my eyes with the back of his hand. Flustered, his face flushed crimson, and he asked softly: “What do you want me to do?”

He was finally willing to drop his airs and admit that this was his first time raising a child, humbly seeking my advice.

I told him with utter earnestness: when I express hatred, curse along with me; do not correct me. Right and wrong do not matter for many things, nor do I ever believe that I am the one who is right. I do not care. I do not live for answers. Some grudges do not strictly have to be avenged; once I know someone stands on my side, I can let them go.

He rested his head against my shoulder, falling silent for a very long time, before finally agreeing in a hoarse voice: “Okay.”

Clearly he had been the one bullying me, yet he wore a wounded expression himself. I wanted so badly to repay everything he had just done to me, clapping his face firmly between my hands so bright red palm prints showed between my fingers. I kissed him. Whenever we kissed, he always kept his eyes squeezed shut, his face burning red, not knowing where to put his hands.

He knows he was wrong. I forgive him.

November 20, Year M017

The doors and windows were barred shut, the room chillingly cold. Yu An lay curled on his pillow with his eyes closed, clutching the half-page diary entry in his hand. Unbeknownst to him, the corners of his eyes grew damp. He huddled deeper into the freezing blanket, his shoulders trembling faintly.

The two little hands that had snuck back with him all the way broke through the backpack zipper, crawling to the head of the bed. After watching Yu An in silence for a long while, they gently lifted a corner of the blanket and slipped inside: the right hand resting against Yu An’s waist, while the left intertwined its fingers with Yu An’s, keeping quiet company by his side with their warm temperature.

At the exact same time, Zhao Ran lay sideways on his bedroom bed. Resting his right hand before his chest, he extended his left arm, looking as though he were cradling a patch of empty air in his embrace, his fingers intertwined with that void. All severed limbs shared tactile perception and consciousness with Zhao Ran; he could feel that Yu An’s skin was icy and his eye sockets were moist.

Suffering a rare bout of insomnia, he reached for the phone by his pillow and dialed a number saved under the contact name “Big Sucker.”

The line rang several times before the other party answered. Approaching midnight, the man’s voice on the line was thick with fatigue and arrogance.

“Speak.” A single-word greeting barely repressing fury.

“Dage, I’m bored. Calling you to chat for a bit.”

The other end remained silent for a long moment: “Finally came around and decided to give up on that kid?”

“Well, not really,” Zhao Ran laughed it off. “Things good at home lately? Health holding up?”

“…”

“Oh, right, ge, do you know how old I am? An’an asked me a couple of days ago, and I couldn’t answer. Nearly blew my cover.”

“Hah. An’an.”

Refusing to give up, Zhao Ran probed further: “Let’s rephrase it simpler: how many years have you known me?”

“I’ve known you ever since you were born anyway.” Nursing a headache, the other party tapped his forehead. “Stop harassing me if there’s no real business.”

“There is business.” Dropping his smile, Zhao Ran turned serious. “Consider it a plea from me: let me swear a new oath. Ge, as long as you promise me, whatever you say goes from now on.”

“Oh… waiting for me here, are you?” The man scoffed. “‘Never recount the past to Yu An’ was the oath you swore. I can only pass fair judgment.”

“You forced me to swear it.”

“It’s all the same. I don’t want to see you wasting time on a lunatic kid again, and don’t come bothering me anymore.”

“Oh?” Twirling a strand of hair with his fingertip, Zhao Ran said lazily, “The grand romantic is lecturing others on life now? Still cradling your ex-boyfriend’s head? Kept it by your pillow yet?”

A crisp clatter of a hard object hitting the floor echoed through the phone: the sound of a human skull being swept off the mattress, rolling across the floorboards.

His composure shattered instantly, the other party hung up the call in a fit of rage.

Unperturbed, Zhao Ran closed the call screen and texted Yu An: “Go to sleep early. Do well on the written test for the assessment meeting tomorrow; I’ll pick you up after you finish.”

Within two seconds, Yu An’s reply popped up.

“Interviewer, can you help me find a few spent cores?”

Zhao Ran paused: “Spent cores?”

Yu An: “Yes, the depleted ones that have run out of energy.”

Zhao Ran: “Spent cores still carry faint radiation. Spent cores from the company’s Aberrant-powered weapons are gathered and destroyed in bulk under strict tallies; having one extra or missing one makes auditing difficult. What do you need spent cores for?”

Yu An: [Pleading emoji]

“…” Staring at the little yellow bean emoji clasping its hands together on the screen, Zhao Ran ruffled his hair in exasperation. Sweeping back his bangs, he replied helplessly: “I’ll look around for you once I get to work tomorrow.”

Yu An: [Joyful hopping emoji]

Zhao Ran buried his face into his pillow, tossing the phone aside. Well past midnight, his mind was still looping images of Yu An hopping around with a dried fish snack in his mouth.

On Monday morning, Yu An woke up and washed up as usual. Slinging his shoulder bag over his back, he tucked his Underground Railway ID into his pocket, grabbed a random ballpoint pen, and headed out for the exam.

It wasn’t that he took the intern assessment meeting lightly; after all, four years ago, he had walked into the national college entrance examinations in the exact same manner.

Yu An boarded at the nearest subway station, transferring to Line 4 at Pizza Manor Station. The written exam commenced at eleven in the morning, but because it was on the way, Zhao Ran had instructed him to disembark at Pizza Manor Station to inspect Guxian Hospital, which had been cordoned off for investigation, confirming that there were no signs of Illusion Chamber formation before leaving.

Since the goat-headed men had caused human casualties at Guxian Hospital, and the hospital sat at the southernmost edge of Hongli City—classified under Underground Railway’s patrol zones as Hongli South District, the very area suffering the heaviest radiation from the breeding base—the probability of an Illusion Chamber forming was far higher than in other sectors.

Stepping out of the subway station, he walked toward Guxian Hospital along the route provided by the map. Passing an abandoned factory cluttered with piles of steel pipes, he suddenly spotted three patrol operatives wearing Underground Railway silver insignias approaching from the front.

Judging by the insignia pattern, these individuals belonged to the Urban Patrol Team, serving under Team Leader Yuan Xiaoying.

However, aside from the three of them, a girl trailed not far behind.

The girl was dressed in cutting-edge, avant-garde style, with a hollow die hanging from each earlobe, spinning rapidly as she walked. Digging a lighter shaped like a playing card from her skirt pocket, a flick struck a blue flame, lighting the cigarette resting between her lips.

Yu An noticed an unusual trait about her: both of her pinkies were entirely silver from the base down to the fingertips.

The lead patrolman was constantly communicating with other colleagues over his walkie-talkie, his expression grave, evidently in the middle of an operation.

A van was parked along the perimeter wall to the left of the abandoned factory. Rustling scraping sounds came continuously from behind the vehicle; from Yu An’s vantage point, silhouettes flickered, faintly revealing several figures loading goods into the rear cargo hold.

At first, Yu An hadn’t linked the two together, but the loaders near the van suddenly realized a stranger had appeared on this deserted side road.

One scarred man cast a vigilant glare at Yu An, slowly slipping his right hand into his coat, seemingly reaching for a gun.

Startled, Yu An hurriedly ducked behind the corner of the brick wall, gesturing toward the oncoming patrol team that people were present.

Spotting an unrelated civilian near the abandoned factory, the patrolmen immediately accelerated their pace, rushing toward Yu An’s position.

The burly men loading cargo into the van were exceptionally sharp. Hearing the rushing footsteps, they split into two groups at once: three drew pistols, shielding the other two inside, while the protected pair frantically hurled crates into the truck for their lives.

“Hurry, the patrol team is here! Get the goods on board!”

“Damn it, some kid was staring at us earlier; he definitely tipped them off. If I catch him, I’ll tear him apart.” The scarred man spat viciously. “Enough, get in the truck! You two come with me to stall the patrol team up front.”

The three patrol team members registered the situation as well, murmuring into their comms: “Suspicious targets spotted at the South District Guxian factory. Initiating apprehension; Squad 2 prepare to intercept.”

The girl who had been trailing at the rear suddenly picked up her pace, darting forward like a gust of wind: “Leave it to me! My internship mission is just missing today’s quota; I have to wrap this up before the noon exam.”

“Ni Lan!” A senior patrolman shouted the girl’s name, warning sternly: “Watch out for civilians near the factory! Do not severely injure bystanders!”

Turning a deaf ear, Ni Lan transformed into a bolt of lightning weaving across the ground, her black-and-white highlighted hair whipping in the wind. As she neared the wall, her right hand grasped her left pinky, drawing outward slowly as if unsheathing a blade, a flash of silver erupting.

“Civilians? Then let’s gamble on whether he gets cut.”

A silver laser blade was drawn from her left pinky. Ni Lan swept her arm upward, the frigid glare slashing diagonally from the base of the perimeter wall. A silver beam sheared cleanly through the brick corner. Two seconds of silence passed before a smooth plane appeared through the masonry, sliding slowly downward along the slant. Bricks crashed to the ground as a corner of the factory structure collapsed with a roar.

Dust billowed outward. Yu An was exposed inside the collapsed wall. Flattened against the masonry in a low crouch, his eyes went wide as he watched the searing laser sweep right over his scalp. Had he ducked even a tenth of a second later, half his cranium would have been sliced clean off on the spot.

Both of the girl’s pinkies were clearly missing, and the silver segments were undeniably embedded Aberrant Cores: dual core slots, and every single one was a silver-grade core.

Did he stand any chance of winning this assessment meeting?