Conscience

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Upon seeing how readily Jiang Cheng agreed, the Fatty was stunned. "Doctor," he stammered, "The second option is...?"

"We stay here and wait a bit longer," Jiang Cheng said.

"Ha—" The Fatty sighed in relief, thinking Jiang Cheng was trying to trick him again.

"Once those creatures from Blackstone Town show up tonight, you go and meet them, try to get some information out of them," Jiang Cheng looked out the window, full of encouragement. "Since the mission is almost over, I think there will be many abnormalities that could help us. Go for a stroll around the town and come back to tell me what you find there."

The Fatty stood there in a daze, then suddenly exclaimed, "Am I to go by myself?"

"Of course," Jiang Cheng said. "It's already so dangerous, and you still want to drag me into this? Do you have any conscience?"

With that, the two of them lit their torches, grabbed a few spare ones, and prepared to head downstairs. This time, they avoided using the previous white oil.

At first, the Fatty hoped that Blackstone Town would not appear again after dark, but reality quickly slapped him in the face. Not only did the brightly lit town reappear, but it also mobilized in full force.

Countless torches, like a tidal wave, began moving toward them.

Roughly estimating, there were likely hundreds of them.

The whole of Blackstone Town was in turmoil.

It seemed their guess was correct. Those non-human, fish-like creatures could indeed sense what was happening on their side, though it was unclear how they knew of their situation—whether it was through the stone slab or the old woman beside them.

"Doctor," the Fatty said with a mournful face, "It's not that I'm a coward, but if we go down to meet those things, we're probably gonna be dead. We might as well just deal with this old woman."

"You want to deal with the old woman?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Doctor, you know I can't do it, please don't force me," the Fatty nearly cried. On one side, the tide of monstrous creatures in human skin was fast approaching, on the other side, was the monster itself.

This was a tough choice for him.

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath, looking at the torches on the dark sea surface, and slowly said, "Trust me for the last time. Come with me, I have something to confirm."

"Doctor, this is different from before. If we're wrong this time, it really will be the last time."

"I know."

Seeing that Jiang Cheng was insistent, the Fatty didn't argue anymore. If things were as Jiang Cheng said and he easily dealt with Chen Ran, with Jiang Cheng's combat abilities, he might even be able to hold his own against the smaller fish-like creatures.

Thinking like this, the Fatty oddly felt reassured.

"Doctor," just before they left, the Fatty gestured to the old woman who was hiding in the corner, grinning at them. "Are we really leaving her here?"

Upon noticing the old woman staring at him, the Fatty quickly withdrew his hand, as though afraid of being bitten.

Jiang Cheng thought for a moment, then said, "Tie her up."

After securely binding the old woman and stuffing her into a basket meant for firewood, the two of them left together.

While helping the doctor, the Fatty accidentally touched the old woman's abdomen and found it swollen. He immediately pulled his hand back, his face changing.

Carrying torches, they descended the stairs, and the Fatty took the opportunity to ask Jiang Cheng many questions, like what he thought of Blackstone Town.

The doctor's answer was that Blackstone Town did indeed exist, but not on the sea surface—rather, it was beneath the sea. It only eerily surfaced at night, and the flooding around the stone plate was due to the submerged town.

Those grotesque creatures used Blackstone Town as their base and attacked passing ships. Because of their brutal methods, almost no one survived, which was why their secret had been kept until now.

Of course, some large organizations might know about it, but only to the extent of knowing something strange happens here, and ships often disappear nearby.

"So that means, in their eyes, we must have looked like monsters?" the Fatty asked.

"Probably."

"Then why did they look like..."

"Humans?" Jiang Cheng glanced at him.

"Yes."

"Like I said, the rules restrict us. We can't see through their identities, otherwise, how could they confuse us?" Jiang Cheng said casually, holding the torch.

"But... isn't that unfair to us?" the Fatty frowned. "The advantage is entirely on their side. We were chosen to be part of this world as witnesses, yet we have almost no advantages. Even if we get the life-saving white paper or the clue-filled newspapers, we still have to exert a lot of energy. And we have to make sure we survive the first mission."

"Two points," Jiang Cheng's tone suddenly became a little harsh. "Fatty, why don't you understand this simple fact? The rules aren't just for us, but for everything in this mission, even the grass and trees must follow those rules."

He paused, then turned to look at the Fatty, lowering his torch such that his face became blurry.

For a moment, the Fatty felt strangely unfamiliar with the doctor.

"If there were no rules, do you think we could defeat those strange creatures?" Jiang Cheng asked calmly.

This seemingly insignificant question struck the Fatty at his weakest point.

In the first mission, there was a family who took pleasure in torturing prisoners; in the second, there was a girl whose jaw was twisted in the campus; and now, in this mission, there were those flesh-eating creatures, the massive monster that attached itself to humans.

Without the rules, these creatures would have been totally unbeatable.

No matter how smart or cunning you were, you couldn't fight them.

Their existence itself was a challenge to human knowledge and theoretical foundations.

"So..." the Fatty widened his eyes, his breathing becoming uncontrollably fast. "The rules... are actually set up to protect us?!"

Jiang Cheng turned and continued down the stairs.

(End of the Chapter)

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