Chapter 61

Deep in the night, Shen Yuan lay on the small couch, legs hanging down the armrest on one end, as he gazed out the window. The full moon was up in the sky, hauntingly clear and bright that it felt like it could turn blue at any moment and grant the world its last wish.

He consumed the tenth specter of the night and sighed in satisfaction. Fuzzy warmth encapsulated his body, his nerves in their most relaxed state, and his mind free of any useless thoughts.

It was like being in a continuous state of mellow pleasure. This must be what drug addicts kept returning for.

The specters didn't come to attack him in the chemical lab that day. They wanted to enter his body because of his impatience and Huo Yan's eagerness, but he wasn't prepared yet. As a result, the shock brought him down.

Didn't think he was that fragile. How embarrassing.

A small tongue lapped against his jaw, bringing him out of his thoughts. He tilted his head to Huo Yan, lying comfortably by his shoulder, and pecked his nose.

Huo Yan licked the tip of Shen Yuan's nose in return. His eyes narrowed, seemingly dissatisfied.

Shen Yuan chuckled. "Regretting it? You can't kiss me as a cat."

A low purr reverberated from Huo Yan's throat and he bumped his mouth onto Shen Yuan's lips, earning an amused laughter.

"Is this your actual body?" Shen Yuan trailed his fingers down Huo Yan's tail. "Well, even if it's not, you can't change right now. It'll bring all sorts of trouble."

"Mreow."

Thinking of something, Shen Yuan frowned. "If these specters are a part of you, what about the damned and special types of undead? Does killing them affect you?"

Huo Yan shook his head.

"That's good." Shen Yuan reached out a hand and took another specter. Now that he was used to it, devouring one only took him a couple of seconds, like taking a drag of smoke. He sighed as he soaked in the pleasure and continued, "We need a place where Zhou Yi can't reach us. Somewhere he can't control."

Huo Yan brandished his claws and ripped a hole in the cushion, spilling out the lumps of cotton inside. He patted on it and looked at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Meow~"

"Alright. I trust you."

***

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bai Feng watched with incredulity behind Shen Yuan. He stepped forward to take a closer look and indeed his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

All three bullets shot straight to the center of the target. Not only that, when he inspected the target directly, he found the deviation from each trajectory was so small that it looked like only one bullet hit the target from afar.

"You…" Bai Feng looked at Shen Yuan in doubt.

Shen Yuan shrugged. "I have very good eyesight. I practiced archery once."

He initially planned to take things slow and show gradual improvement, but the next exploration could come up at any time. According to Wang Liyan, Zhou Yi and his team usually went out once every 2 weeks. Bai Feng also told him that they were in the middle of planning their next trip.

If he showed a high skill level, he could also 'volunteer' to help if another crevice popped up before that.

Bai Feng didn't believe Shen Yuan's words completely, but he didn't pursue it further. Having a skilled shooter was advantageous to them. He only needed to keep an eye on him.

"No need to be so suspicious. Have I done anything that warrants such treatment?" Shen Yuan returned the gun to Bai Feng. "The only thing I'm plotting is how to run away from your boss. I didn't want to come here in the first place anyway."

"Do you two truly not know each other before this?" Bai Feng took the gun. "I've worked under him for years and I've never seen him…well, act like how he does towards you."

"We both didn't even know each other's name when we met that day, in front of the mall. You should be asking your boss. He must be mistaking me for someone else and it's a pain in the ass. Do I resemble his dead lover or something?"

"He never has one."

"Honestly, that explains a lot of things."

"…I'm going to refrain myself from commenting on that."

Shen Yuan sensed a pair of eyes on him and turned his head to catch a young man amidst the small audience watching an ongoing spar. Rather than on the thrilling exchange between his two colleagues, his sight was locked in on him instead. The other quickly looked away after getting caught.

Those were eyes of malice.

He didn't have any recollection of him, let alone any particular event that could earn him such enmity.

"That guy. With the curly hair." Shen Yuan threw his thumb over his shoulder. "What's his problem?"

Bai Feng looked towards the crowd and stopped his eyes at the man matching Shen Yuan's description. "Liu Zhen? What's wrong with him?"

"He's been staring daggers at me. Not the kind your boss gives, mind you."

"He's our latest and youngest recruit. Boss didn't want to accept him because of his age at first, but since he insisted, I let him lend extra hands on guard duty. Of course, he doesn't have his own gun and won't join us in our mission any time soon. Perhaps he's jealous of you."

"Young…huh?" Shen Yuan mused.

There was one possible cause he could think of.

The ground suddenly trembled below them. Birds fled from trees and everyone around them stilled in place, those in the middle of their spar pausing mid-motion.

When it didn't stop after a minute, Bai Feng turned grim and signaled everyone with a nod. They didn't need further instructions and tacitly dropped all their activities to get prepared.

"It's a big one and should be quite far, but we can't let our guard down." Once the quake ended, Bai Feng handed the gun back to Shen Yuan but didn't immediately let go. "I won't question your ability. But are you willing to disregard your personal feelings and follow orders? That's what it means to work as a team."

"You guys are the experts. As long as it's for the mission, I'm just another footman."

Static resounded from Bai Feng's radio and Zhou Yi spoke from the other side, "Units on duty, remain in your post. All other units, prepare to set out. All squad leaders, gather in the teachers' office for briefing in 5 minutes. I repeat…"

Bai Feng nodded at Shen Yuan. "Let's go. You're going to need to hear this."

Shen Yuan tucked the gun into his belt and followed Bai Feng to the building, his smirk hidden out of sight.

Perfect.

People paced and shuffled in urgency throughout the shelter. Active members who were set to deploy prepared their gears and weapons while regular members helped prepare the supplies they needed.

They reached the teachers' office where Zhou Yi had long been waiting inside. Bai Feng gave him a short report and finished just in time as the 4 squad leaders arrived. Zhou Yi let Shen Yuan stay to listen and started the briefing.

Bai Feng spread open the city map on the teachers' joint desks. Cross marks spread across the expanse and Zhou Yi pointed at a scarcely marked area at the far west.

"Based on Old Qiang's device, the source came from around this area. It's certain that this one is bigger than usual, but we don't know how big it is yet. From earlier earthquake, it's possible to be twice bigger. So except for those currently on duty, we're bringing the entire team."

"Are we going to deal with it as usual, boss? Won't it be too risky without knowing the scale?" Wei Nian, a bearded middle-aged man with bushy eyebrows and a coarse complexion, asked. "It's in the green zone. Standing by within the yellow zone and eliminating whatever comes our way should be enough."

"That is, if the wave hasn't breached the yellow zone by the time we get there," Yan Li, a 30-ish woman with a pixie haircut and a flame tattoo on the side of her neck, chimed in. "I say we send the scouts ahead and we prepare barricades at the entrance of the orange zone."

"I can agree with that suggestion but setting it up at orange zone is too risky. Perhaps the middle of the yellow zone will be appropriate," Bai Feng suggested.

Zhou Yi turned to another leader, a man wearing a black cotton mask with his fringes covering his eyes, making it difficult to discern his age. "Birdie, send in a unit."

The man affirmed with a silent nod and left the room.

"What do you think, newbie?" Wei Nian looked at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan wasn't flustered by the sudden cue and asked, "How long does a crevice usually stay open?"

"Completely random." Yan Li spread her arms. "Can be as short as a couple of hours, can be as long as a week."

"Since this crevice is bigger than usual, we have to be prepared in case it stays open for two weeks. It'll be bad if we lose firepower from exhaustion." Shen Yuan rubbed his chin. "Is there no way to close it prematurely?"

"If there is, we would've done it a long time ago." Zhen An, a tanned-skinned man with a muscular body and hawk-like eyes, crossed his arms with an impatient huff. "Let's just use our usual protocol. Lure, direct, leave."

Zhou Yi listened in silence as Bai Feng and the three leaders exchanged suggestions. When the leader of the scouts returned, he finally voiced his decision.

"If we can avoid confrontation and lessen the chance of our men dying, then we'll do just that. We'll stick to protocol and direct the wave away from our shelter as much as possible. My squad will take care of that as usual. The rest of you will set up a barricade at the entrance of the orange zone and take care of the remaining portion." Zhou Yi looked at Bai Feng. "The previous crevice is in the red zone, much closer to us, and we managed to handle it. We need time to prepare. This distance will give that to us."

Bai Feng nodded in understanding.

"As for the risk of exhaustion, I will leave the distribution of tasks within your squad to your own discretion. We'll set out at 3 PM sharp. Meeting dismissed."