translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

When Sun Yan and the others arrived after cautiously feeling their way over, leading a group of slaves with them, they were smacked in the face with a wave of blood scented air so strong that it made them stumble.

Gu Xinzhi had lit up a few sticks of incense and even turned on the fan. He himself was seated in front of the computer at the closed front desk of the hotel, his blood covered right hand holding a cigarette that sent out curls of smoke. His left hand pressed randomly at the keyboard, leaving behind streaks of blood that had not yet dried. Two military daggers were crossed and inserted into the sheepskin sheaths at his back, hanging around his waist.

Looking at the scene, it seemed that a fierce, armed struggle had taken place, but there was no blood or no bodies on the ground. Instead, there were traces that a wet cloth had been dragged over the ground.

The smell choked them. Sun Yan suppressed his surging nausea and first, in order to help him cover up the smell, stuffed his silly brother’s mouth with a piece of mint candy he’d gotten off the guard he’d knocked unconscious, then asked, “Where’s Captain Ding?”

Gu Xinzhi was too lazy to even look at him, “He’s almost here.”

Sun Yan pressed on the communicator at his waist and asked Uncle Luo, who was waiting outside, to bring the truck over to the front door to meet with them. He pushed at his younger brother lightly, and ordered them to head out first. “Vice-captain Gu, what are you doing?”

Gu Xinzhi replied, “Looking through their data. We might be able to use it.”

Sun Yan still had confidence in Gu Xinzhi’s abilities and nodded. Looking up, he saw that Uncle Luo’s truck had already parked at the main entrance, so he then arranged for the slaves to board the vehicle.

Watching as they boarded the vehicle one after another like beads on a string, Gu Xinzhi took a drag of his cigarette and thought to himself, they were like a flock of lambs.

At the front desk, the small door that led to the tool room was closed tight.

As long as anyone opened the door, they would find that there were ten new human bodies piled up in that small space with their heads separated from their bodies – a scene so horrible that one could barely stand to look at it. Placed on top of the pile of bodies was the mop he’d used to clean up the scene.

Only after all the others left did Gu Xinzhi unscrew the thermos beside him, using the goji berry water inside to wash his face and hands via the reflection from the computer screen, trying to disguise himself as a member of the flock of lambs.

While they were waiting, Uncle Luo and the others continued to follow the original plan. They spoke with a new human who was also transporting slaves, then knocked them unconscious and temporarily locked them up in a cell before driving their car away.

Sun Yan drove the new vehicle they’d obtained, loading it up with the slaves from the West warehouse who couldn’t fight. They put the slaves into cartons with air holes that they’d already prepared, sealing them in from the outside to make it appear like they were goods that were waiting to be transported, and attempted to leave from the town’s west exit.

Ding Qiuyun watched the vehicle’s progress closely from the back window of their truck.

The car was stopped at the west exit of the town as part of the normal procedures.

They opened up the back of the truck and found Sun Bin, who trembled and shivered like a small chick.

No matter how the world changed, the matter of stretching rules and exchanging favors would never change. The guards smiled as they accepted Sun Yan’s cigarettes and let him go without further examining the so-called ‘goods’.

Ding Qiuyun relaxed as he watched the truck drift away further and further into the distance.

One of the team members asked, “Captain Ding, what are we doing next?”

Ding Qiuyun looked in the direction of the market that was gradually filling up, rubbed at the icy blood that had already frozen in the palm of his hand, and said, “Rest. Wait for tonight’s carnival.”

At around 6:30 in the evening, a group of people came to pick up slaves from the west warehouse. They wanted a total of 60.

Ding Qiuyun, who was now playing the role of the front desk reception, acted as a newly recruited manager and welcomed them enthusiastically, inviting them to rest in the hall before ordering staff to bring out ten ‘A products’ and 50 ‘B products’, all of whom were old humans that they’d just rescued, who had both fighting experience and ability. Their own team members were also mixed into those groups.

Before being brought out to meet people, the slaves had all been taken to wash up. The hot baths and scrubbing caused their skin to flush. Afterwards, they’d been dressed in uniform white clothing that made them appear very presentable. It made the leader of the group who’d come to ‘pick up the goods’ very satisfied.

The leader noticed the most prominent Gu Xinzhi in the group of ‘A products’ with a glance.

These days, Gu Xinzhi had been recovering in the Ding family home and had gained some weight, which returned his body back to its normal state. He had a clean and cold demeanor, looking both beautiful and distant. His slightly longer hair was tied up into a ponytail with a blue hair tie, and he stood there with his chin slightly raised, giving off a kind of eye-catching stillness.

The leader took a few steps and walked around him, then nodded his head in satisfaction. “This type is the most sought after.”

Ding Qiuyun smiled lightly. “Is that so?”

Gu Xinzhi’s expression wasn’t very good.

He was unhappy that Ding Qiuyun treated these new humans better than he treated him.

Even if it was an act.

But Ding Qiuyun wouldn’t concern himself with his mood. He bowed politely, and after sending away these new humans, he walked to the door and exchanged glances with Uncle Luo, who was smoking in the truck. He locked the front door to the west warehouse with his own lock, then changed into another set of clothing that made him appear thinner before retrieving his motorcycle. He drove on his own to the market that was picking up in activity.

Amidst the dazzling artificial lights he slowly walked around and found seven or eight of the slaves he’d just sent out.

They were placed in a special cage on the display platform. When they saw Ding Qiuyun, they nodded slightly, then continued to wait for the ‘opportunity’ that Ding Qiuyun had promised them.

The original residents of this slave town had basically all left. Only the families who had evolved into new humans had chosen to stay here and make a living through slavery and trafficking of their own kind.

There was incense lit up everywhere on the street, and the scent of the incense also carried with it the smell of corpses.

Ding Qiuyun went around the town. After pulling clear of the town center, he stopped his motorcycle by the side of the street and took in this gorgeous yet sorrowful apocalypse streetscape, using a pencil stub to draw out the scene on a cigarette case.

He heard a young new human’s milky and tender voice asking her mother, “Mama, why did they lock that big sister up?”

“We’re different from them.” The mother laughed and replied.

“We’re clearly the same.” The little girl pointed at herself, “Our nose and our eyes are all the same.”

“It’s not the same.”

“What’s different?”

The mother found herself unable to convey their superiority to her daughter accurately and shook her head, laughing as she used the stalling tactic that parents often used when teaching their children. “You’ll understand when you grow up.”

The man on the motorcycle smiled and shook his head gently when he heard this.

What kind of world these children would see when they grew up wasn’t determined by words from a single person.

By the time it was 9PM, there was some fog on the street, and the people who’d brought their children out to participate in the bustle were also tired. They slowly returned to their hotels and prepared to rest.

According to the information Ding Qiuyun and the others had obtained, 9PM was a key moment.

Before 9PM was the ‘show’ and ‘talent performance’ part of the program. The organizers would make old humans dance in their cages, fight, or battle with animals who had limited lethal power, like dogs. These kinds of scenes were more suitable for women and children to watch.

The real ‘goods’ would be sold after 9PM.

Ding Qiuyun hadn’t forgotten to observe the town while he drew.

He looked up several times and found that there was a person with a whip on the stage in the role of a lower level supervisor. The man had his head bowed and went around and around on the stage, but he was dressed very thickly, and his breath would fog up as it came out of his mouth. One look was enough to see that he was an old human.

This man ran around the stage, and was very sensitive to any movement from the slaves, even if they were just raising up a hand to scratch themselves. He would knock against the cage with a steel whip several times, telling them to behave well and not move.

… Using old humans to enslave other old humans. This setup was very poisonous.

Ding Qiuyun ignored this man who was pretending to be powerful. After taking out his watch and confirming the time, he lowered his head and continued to move his pencil. He pressed on the ‘eraser’ at the tip of the pencil and opened his mouth to speak, “Lanlan.”

About three kilometers away from him, Yan Lanlan’s eyebrows raised up, and she pretended to adjust her headphone cables while reaching up to the headset.

Ding Qiuyun spoke, “Pay attention to the fireworks.”

The fireworks announced the start of the evening market and would be set off at 9PM.

It was also the time that they’d agreed on to make their move.

Yan Lanlan turned back to look at the man in charge of guarding the sculpture.

He’d already eaten dinner and was listening to a radio station that broadcasted old reviews, dozing off with his hand supporting his chin.

Yan Lanlan stood up quietly, taking a packet of gum from her bag. She took out the top piece and stuffed it into her mouth to chew on, but the rest of the packet was filled with miniature bombs. She quietly pasted them onto the positions she’d carefully calculated on paper several times, then crept over to the sleepy guard, covering his mouth as she inserted a needle into his neck.

Captain Ding had asked them to practice chest compressions on a dummy countless times in the hospital, but Yan Lanlan was still a little nervous about performing it on a real person. Even so, her hands were stable and accurate.

The man struggled for a while, but the drug soon kicked in, making it impossible for him to move.

Yan Lanlan put him into a natural sleeping position and selected a hiding place close to the statue where she could observe the situation after the explosion. She chewed on her gum while watching the needle approach ‘12’.