translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

In the warehouse to the west, a new batch of ‘slaves’ were sent in.

The receiving process was the same as usual. The new human overseers were rarely on guard against bound slaves, let alone when they were old humans whose physiques were several times weaker than that of the new humans.

They took out a special knife and made a small cut on everyone’s arms. When the wounds didn’t heal on their own, it confirmed their old human identity. After that, they pulled out Ding Qiuyun and Gu Xinzhi to the front, moving them to the higher level Warehouse A while the rest of them were sent to Warehouse B.

While dragging the heavy chains all the way to the warehouse, Ding Qiuyun said, “If Vice-captain Gu had agreed to surrender to the new humans earlier, you wouldn’t have fallen to this point.”

Gu Xinzhi shot Ding Qiuyun a look, “You’re saying this now?”

Ding Qiuyun laughed provocatively. “Ha.”

Gu Xinzhi asked, “What are you laughing about.”

Ding Qiuyun said, “Laughing over the way Leader Gu became a captive.”

Gu Xinzhi asked him in return, “Is that what Captain Ding wants?”

Ding Qiuyun shook the shackles on his wrists. “Pretty much.”

Gu Xinzhi hid the smile hovering at the corner of his mouth. “That’s good.”

One of the new humans who was in charge of escorting them loved watching captives complain and fight amongst themselves once they were caught. He even enjoyed limiting the amount of food in their prisons so that he could watch these well-dressed old humans fight over a small amount of stuff.

These two men’s painless and easy conversation clearly failed to satisfy his desires. So, he kicked the back of Ding Qiuyun’s waist.

Ding Qiuyun dropped to his knees, pulling the newly healed injury on his chest. His eyebrows twisted slightly with pain.

Gu Xinzhi, who was shackled with him on the same chain, also bent forward in order to avoid pulling on Ding Qiuyun and causing him more pain. He moved just in time to see the flash of pain in his expression.

The new human didn’t understand how close he was to death and laughed. “Fight, continue fighting. … You, stand up.”

He smacked the back of Gu Xinzhi’s head with a slap, then lifted his foot to step on Ding Qiuyun’s shoulder. He said to Ding Qiuyun, “Since you have so much to say, we’ll just have someone take you crawling to prison. … Crawl quickly.”

The second new human escort felt a little disgusted with this. “Stop playing around. Toss them in earlier, and we’ll be done earlier. It’ll be time to change shifts in 20 minutes.”

New Human A said, “Watching a dog walk another dog is a happy occasion.”

New Human B was disapproving as he walked over to Ding Qiuyun, wanting to pull him up, “Don’t play dead. You…”

Right then, Ding Qiuyun and Gu Xinzhi moved at the same time.

Ding Qiuyun hit B in the belly. While B was unbalanced, Ding Qiuyun quickly hooked the tip of his left foot into the back of the slanted gun belt. The leather gun belt broke in response, and B fell to the ground due to the backlash.

Ding Qiuyun stepped on the gun and stomped on the ground with his right foot. A sharp blade popped out from the front toe of his boot, and he pointed the dagger directly at his throat.

Gu Xinzhi directly wrapped the iron chain hanging off his hands around A’s neck.

Something warm splashed on the side of Ding Qiuyun’s face.

He didn’t turn his head back as he shrugged his shoulder to wipe the blood off his cheek.

Gu Xinzhi’s face was also covered in blood as he kicked the rolling head to one side before walking over to New Human B, who was already so frightened that he couldn’t call out for help. Gu Xinzhi tilted his head and looked him over, as though thinking about how he should die.

Ding Qiuyun spat out a hairpin from his mouth and said vaguely, “Don’t kill him. Keep him.”

When hearing this, Gu Xinzhi really set aside the killing intention in his eyes, only making a move to dislocate the new human’s jaw and cut off the other party’s ability to seek help.

Ding Qiuyun stooped down, holding the hairpin with his mouth, and gently moved it around in the keyhole of the lock.

They’d practiced many times on the car before arriving here. The chain they were using here was still made in the most old-fashioned style. Not to mention Ding Qiuyun, who was the one who’d taught them how to pry open locks, even Sun Bin had mastered the ability to pick such locks skillfully after practicing several times.

Ding Qiuyun’s hands were covered with the blood that flowed from New Human A’s neck, making them a little slippery and directly affecting the unlocking progress. It wasn’t easy to clean, and it seemed that he could only rub it off after it froze into ice.

Ding Qiuyun complained, “You made my hands dirty.”

… The subtext was, don’t attack like this in front of me or my team in the future.

Gu Xinzhi thought for a moment. “I’ll pay attention next time.”

… His answer was acceptable.

Ding Qiuyun relied on a hairpin to undo the shackles on both hands, before picking up the dagger that had been attached to the tip of his foot as well as the gun that’d fallen to the ground. Then, he signalled for Gu Xinzhi to lift up New Human B, who was already as weak and limp as mud.

He patted down New Human A’s body, searching for anything of value, while Gu Xinzhi interrogated New Human B, “Is there anyone else keeping watch in the warehouse?”

After receiving a negative answer, he asked again, “When opening the door, does it rely on facial recognition, iris recognition, or is the door opened directly with a key?”

Because the new human couldn’t close his mouth, there was a string of saliva that dripped down from the new human’s mouth.

In the midst of great fear, he quivered and trembled and used his hand to make a ‘three’ gesture.

… There was no cumbersome procedure; they just had to open the door with a key.

While they were speaking, Ding Qiuyun had also found the key on New Human A’s body. He gestured silently to Gu Xinzhi, then walked over to New Human B and smiled softly. “Thank you very much.”

He covered B’s mouth and pulled out a syringe from the side of his boot, directly stabbing it into B’s carotid artery.

This drug had been made by the new human, Sister Lu, and the drug was strong enough to knock out a cow, but when it came to new humans, it would only cause them to pass out for eight or nine minutes.

After making sure that B was completely asleep, Gu Xinzhi consciously picked the new human up and tossed him over his own back.

Ding Qiuyun didn’t say anything else to him. He looked at the monitor to the side of the wall where the red light signal was off, then casually brushed off the footprint on his shoulder.

Starting from when they’d entered the slave warehouse, Sun Bin had already blocked the signal from the warehouse monitoring systems.

He calculated the time and determined that Sun Yan and the others should’ve already started making their move.

Before they separated, Ding Qiuyun’s only requirement for them was to solve any problems they encountered without causing a disturbance and without the use of guns.

Gu Xinzhi spoke while walking with Ding Qiuyun towards Warehouse A, “You’re really not worried about them.”

Ding Qiuyun: “They can do it.”

“I’ve seen their abilities many times. It’s just so-so.” Gu Xinzhi glanced at Ding Qiuyun from the side, his tone determined. “I’m the only one who can cooperate seamlessly with you. Is there anyone in your team who can do what I can do?”

Ding Qiuyun was very straight forward. “I believe in your ability to kill people. But I don’t believe you as a person.”

Gu Xinzhi felt like his heart was being stabbed by these straightforward words. His heart seemed like it was breaking out in cold sweat, an anxiety so painful that simply felt terrible. The fervor in his voice had also cooled. “You…”

However, Ding Qiuyun completely ignored his feelings. He didn’t even look at him and only used a small thermal locator to calculate how far they were from their destination.

The anger that rose up in Gu Xinzhi disappeared bit by bit, finally leaving only a faint sliver of pain in his chest.

He heard himself call out calmly, “Qingyun.”

Ding Qiuyun answered him very emotionlessly, “Yes.”

Gu Xinzhi said, “You have to admit that I’m a good gun.”

Ding Qiuyun replied, “Yes, you are.”

“I’m very useful.”

“Yes, you’re not bad.”

Gu Xinzhi looked at Ding Qiuyun in determination. “So, take care of me before I break down.”

Ding Qiuyun lifted his eyes and looked at him, then nodded slightly, “Okay. I’ve always looked after my weapons. But I don’t like weapons that fire on their own.”

Gu Xinzhi smiled lightly and stopped talking.

As long as you still think that I’m useful, it’s alright.

…… Before you’re willing to acknowledge me, I will be your best and most unique weapon.

061 was observing Gu Xinzhi’s expression and couldn’t help worrying. “Is it really fine to stimulate him like this?”

Chi Xiaochi’s expression didn’t change. “He wants to be a special existence to Ding Qiuyun, and he wants to be unique. In that case, I’ll let him be this unique and special existence.”

In the past, he was a unique lover, and now, he was a unique weapon.

Chi Xiaochi knew that the thoughts of a person like Gu Xinzhi were difficult to sense. If they weren’t dealt with properly, they might cuase a backlash that would harm others. So, Chi Xiaochi guided his thoughts and gave him a hollow yet boundless hope.

As he remained alert to their surroundings, he continued chatting with 061, “Ding Qiuyun used to treat him like a person, but he didn’t want to act like one; now, he wants to be a person, but things are no longer so simple.”

After using the key to open up the warehouse door, the sudden light that streamed in made all the people who’d been locked inside with long chains shrink instinctively into the dark, making the chains clatter harshly.

Gu Xinzhi tossed the unconscious new human down the steps.

Many people recognized the new human who’d been tossed to the ground via the light streaming in and whispered amongst themselves when he landed.

Gu Xinzhi frowned slightly.

He didn’t know how to explain their intentions in this situation. He wasn’t used to playing the identity of a savior, so he could only look to Ding Qiuyun for help.

Ding Qiuyun pointed to the person on the ground. His face didn’t reveal much as he simply and concisely stated his identity, “We are also old humans. If you want to leave, then stand up. Those who don’t want to leave, cover your face and stay where you are. We respect everyone’s opinions and will only take away people who are willing to leave.”

Very soon, there was a group of people who trembled as they stood up, while another group remained crouched where they were, hiding their faces.

When Gu Xinzhi saw this situation, he pursed his lips and hummed lightly.

No matter what time period it was, there would always be people who felt that the pleasure of slavery was more advantageous than the freedom of wandering around.

Ding Qiuyun had a certain level of respect for these people’s choices and only glanced at Gu Xinzhi. “Unlock their chains.”

The chains they took off the first man they rescued were then fastened to new human B’s wrist.

Gu Xinzhi learned faster than ordinary people. After several attempts, his lockpicking speed had even caught up to Ding Qiuyun’s. Ding Qiuyun simply slowed his own progress and began to classify the slaves in a simple manner.

Those who had combat experience and were healthy and hale were classified into one group. Those who had combat experience and minor injuries were assigned to a different group, who were then made responsible for protecting and looking after the people with serious injuries or those without any combat experience at all.

After a brief introduction and sorting everyone, Ding Qiuyun took off the new human’s work uniform and put it on himself. At the same time, he turned his head and said, “They’re within shooting range.”

Gu Xinzhi freed another person from their shackles, “Hm?”

“It’s been nearly twenty minutes.”

If it was someone else, they might have been left stunned for a moment before understanding what Ding Qiuyun meant. But Gu Xinzhi only nodded and then strode outside.

Ding Qiuyun called out after him, “Vice-captain Gu, do a good job of it.”

Gu Xinzhi kept the corners of his lips from rising. “Yes, Captain Ding.”

xiin: guys… Gu Xinzhi’s growing on me D: