Chapter 107 - Lock
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
There were two seconds where Wei Shi stared at Wu Jin and felt like he’d been stabbed by his paper-pale, thin cheeks––
In the next moment, his heart felt like it had stopped.
The youth didn’t dare to believe it. He held Wu Jin’s arm to give him support, a growl sounding from his throat.
How was it possible, how could it be? It should be him that entered the emotional lock––
The black bracelet absorbed the blood, and the color turned pale.
The instructor nodded. “Two were successful. The crazy one will be dealt with tomorrow.” The instructor came over and looked down to check Wei Shi’s bracelet.
Wei Shi suddenly came back to his senses and tried his best not to look at Wu Jin. His eyes were red, and he had his head bowed in a way that was similar to the other student who’d entered the emotional lock at the same time. His wrist muscles twitched from the tension of trying not to show any sign of what had just happened.
The other hand that held Wu Jin was shaking even more.
The little shortie’s breath seemed to almost have disappeared, just like a constantly melting piece of ice.
The bracelet beeped twice. The instructor looked at Wei Shi in satisfaction.
“This one’s fine. The lock is in.”
The instructor removed his bracelet and turned to look at Wu Jin.
Wei Shi suddenly thrust himself in front of Wu Jin. His bloodshot eyes gave the instructor a start; Wei Shi was like a monster whose genetic transformation had failed and seemed more like a terrifying beast than a human being. He growled, “Get lost...”
The instructor cursed angrily and swallowed hard, then turned and thought of the aftereffects of the emotional lock and secretly whispered to himself, “Little brat, you deserve to be locked... do you really think of yourself as a human being?”
The instructor shook his head and swaggered back, and the other R-Code Base workers comforted him, “What’s the point of getting angry at them? You’re lowering your status by interacting with them!”
The voices of the conversation faded away as they disappeared into the gloomy night.
Wei Shi turned around abruptly, ignoring the blood on his arms as he hurriedly hugged Wu Jin anxiously.
The little shortie’s breath was almost down to nothing. His lips were first pale, then darkened to an almost abnormal bruised color. His entire person seemed to have no strength, and he toppled against Wei Shi. The only sign that he was still alive was the trembling––
Wu Jin had constantly been trembling.
Wei Shi anxiously pressed him into his arms, and the hand he placed at Wu Jin’s neck was only able to find a weak, fleeting pulse.
The little shortie’s chin rested lightly against his shoulder, and Wei Shi suddenly froze.
His shoulder was wet with tears.
Wu Jin was crying.
Wei Shi felt like he’d just taken a critical attack. He felt for Wu Jin’s hand and saw the scratch left by the knife on the inside of his wrist.
When the toxin of the emotional lock encountered blood, it would dissolve and spread out instantly until it invaded the central nervous system. When that happened, it would give an ‘activated’ signal back to the instructor. Before the bracelet had activated, the little shortie had stood with his back to the instructor and reached out suddenly to hold his hand––at that time, warm liquid had flowed into his wound.
The one who’d absorbed the toxin wasn’t him but Wu Jin. It was also Wu Jin whose central nervous system was invaded by the emotional lock.
Lightning split the sky in the dark night.
Thunder roared.
Wei Shi hugged the Wu Jin who’d just entered a nightmare and helped him pull on a training suit jacket. His voice was frightened and almost pleading, “Little shortie&#k2026; you, you have to be okay, I’m begging you&#k2013;&#k2013;”
Tears once again fell onto his shoulder, and they felt like boulders pounding at Wei Shi’s heart.
His arms trembled as he wrapped them around Wu Jin and rushed out into the rain, running through the R-Code Base that occasionally flashed white with lightning.
The dormitory room slammed open with a bang.
The shabby yellow ceiling lamp was turned on. Most of Wei Shi was wet. Wu Jin, who he’d been very careful to protect in his arms, hadn’t been hit by a single drop of rain, but his temperature was still very low.
The youth took off his coat and left his wet clothing at the door. He tried his best to keep Wu Jin warm, pulling the thick quilt out of the cupboard and tucking him in from head to foot. He even burned something inside the dorm––a tongue of fire flickered unsteadily in a small, simple basin. Wei Shi moved the basin to the bed and watched Wu Jin nervously.
Wu Jin was still shivering, and his thick lashes covered his sunken eyes.
Wei Shi tried to keep himself from thinking about the genetically modified who’d fallen into a state of emotional collapse. The little shortie wasn’t howling or screaming––but he was too quiet as he struggled to deal with all the emotions without a single word or sound.
Like an angel nailed to the sacrificial altar.
One that could melt away at any time.
Wei Shi watched on helplessly. He clenched his fists so hard his nails pierced the palms of his hands, but he felt nothing.
He remained thus until the wound that had been cut by the bracelet hovered near the fire basin and a drop of blood fell into the fire. He looked coldly at his own wound––even the clotting blood seemed to insult his eyes. Why wasn’t it him who had been locked, but Wu Jin? It was supposed to be him. Why did the little shortie act like such a fool and take it in his place? It wasn’t worth it at all––
On the bed, Wu Jin finally made a faint, weak noise.
Wei Shi swished up to his feet and heard Wu Jin saying faintly, “Cold.”
All the quilts in the dormitory were piled up on top of Wu Jin. Heating equipment was only available in the instructor residences, so Wei Shi gritted his teeth and pushed the quilts away. The youth’s body couldn’t be considered strong, but it could still emanate heat; Wei Shi instantly covered Wu Jin. He carefully pulled Wu Jin into his arms until the soft curls were pressed against his chin and his chest where his temperature was the highest was right up against Wu Jin.
The youth who didn’t have anything practically wanted to dig out his own heart to give Wu Jin some heat.
There were still tears in the little shortie’s eyes.
Wei Shi clumsily repeated the comforting phrase, “Don’t cry,” and was shocked when he heard the little shortie cry softly once again.
“Wei Shi.”
Wei Shi’s eyes stung. He almost wanted to press Wu Jin all the way into his bones, but he was also afraid of hurting him. He replied fiercely, “I’m here, don’t be scared...”
Wu Jin called out again in a whisper, “Wei Shi...”
Wei Shi: “I’m here!” He paused for a moment. It seemed like the soft little shortie in his arms had finally woken up from his nightmare and was trying his best to come back to him.
Wei Shi was both surprised and happy and he responded anxiously, wishing that he could charge into the nightmare and protect the little shortie. And Wu Jin started crying again with a wail.
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong!” Wei Shi quickly held up his face.
The damp eyelashes quivered, and Wu Jin finally opened his eyes in the dim light of the fire––
His back was sweaty from the nightmares.
Negative emotions covered the earth and blotted out the sky, overwhelming him.
He couldn’t even tell which of his memories were the big boss’s, and which ones really belonged to him. His memories seemed chaotic and confused.
First there were the low bungalows and concrete ground from a thousand years ago that carried a strange stale air and dense coldness. The young policewoman crouched down and lifted him up, “...How could you get lost...”
Inside the cold laboratory where the experimental subjects moved in a silent line like walking corpses. His arm felt too heavy to lift, and a sharp probe suddenly penetrated his skin as a commotion suddenly erupted in the crowd.
Wu Jin looked up in a daze, “I’m not... lost.”
His memories distorted again. A grey-brown door closed, and the only sounds other than the mechanical background sound was the sound of wailing and crying as deformed test subjects were removed from the operating table and dragged out in the next second––
“60,000! You f*cking gave him to someone else for 60,000?! Didn’t you guys know that the applicant had a criminal record of sexual assault?” The policewoman was enraged, “Let me tell you...”
The policewoman touched Wu Jin’s head, “He’s smart and knows that he...” She suddenly stopped talking. Wu Jin raised up his soft little hands and went up on tiptoes to wipe her tears.
The grey-brown door opened again, and the researcher in the white lab coat placed him on the operating table. “First transformation. Directly put in the highest dose.”
“What?”
“The higher ups said so. They only want an S-level adaptation, and they only need one. In the future, that’s how we’ll do it. They don’t want defective products. It’s his honor if it’s successful... Shao Yu is the Federation’s first sword... he is the scabbard...”
The heavy smell of medicine filled his nose. Wu Jin was still in the company’s training room one second, and then sitting silently on the bed in the next, watching the light stream in from a gap in the grey-brown door.
He wanted to go out.
Outside the window, where the black fog billowed, he seemed to see someone striding through in the distance.
Wu Jin suddenly darted out of bed barefoot and banged desperately on the door, “Wei Shi!”
The big boss seemed not to have heard.
Wu Jin despaired, “Wei Shi! Wei Shi!”
The big boss disappeared out of his field of vision. Wu Jin turned back and pushed the door with all his strength, until the gap grew larger and larger––
The angry researchers appeared, and his vision plunged into an endless abyss.
Thunder roared.
R-Code Base dormitory.
He was tucked into a thick quilt, and the big boss’s eyes were red as he held his head.
Wu Jin slowly looked up, physiological tears streaming down his cheeks one by one.
The youth was panicked, regretful, and worried. He subconsciously lowered his head to kiss away Wu Jin’s tears by the light of the fire.
“I’m sorry...”
Wei Shi’s voice was hoarse as he repeated, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”
This was the first time that Wu Jin had ever seen the big boss crying.
The fire light was warm. The youth quickly wiped away any trace of dampness from the corner of his own eyes and continued to cover Wu Jin up.
The glass of water at the head of the bed steamed gently from the heat.
“If you don’t want to have nightmares, don’t sleep.” Wei Shi whispered nervously, “Talk for a while, or I’ll talk, and you listen.”
Wu Jin’s reactions were a little delayed, and he slowly shook his head.
Half of the nightmares were from his own memories, and half were from Wei Shi. The two sets of memories had been separate at first, but they slowly merged together, mixing up and crowding his mind. At the very end––Wu Jin could even feel very clearly that he was the one sitting there inside the room in the R-Code base, staring at the youth outside the window.
“I... saw you on the other side of the door and kept shouting for you.” Wu Jin murmured.
“And then?” Wei Shi asked anxiously.
Wu Jin: “You didn’t hear me and left.”
Wei Shi was distressed, “That’s a nightmare. It’s impossible, it would never happen.”
He slowly hugged the little shortie tight, and the youth’s hot breath blew across Wu Jin’s listless small curls. “In the future, I’ll go look for you no matter where you go. Look, we’re living together!”
“... Even if we’re not living together, I’ll still sneak over to accompany you in the middle of the night.”
Wu Jin stilled for a moment.
A memory from the first audition for the Crosson Show suddenly rose up in his mind––the big boss who held a gun, his words icy cold, but every time he appeared, it would be in the middle of the night.
He gave a light sound of acknowledgement.
Wei Shi only wished he would make another sound, or agree twice, and turn back into the little shortie that jumped and bounced around. His heart felt like it had been sliced open by a knife.
The first hurdle between life and death had passed, but the aftereffects from the emotional lock wouldn’t disappear for a long time.
He was going to make all the preparations for everything the little shortie needed.
“I’m sorry.” A long time later, the youth spoke again in a hoarse voice, “I-I’m too useless now. You... wait for me.”
Wei Shi took a long, long time to gather up his courage and said quietly, “I want to take care of you for a lifetime.”
“Really.”
The little shortie who was a little warmer now inside the quilt shifted slightly. Wei Shi’s expression was solemn, but his heart was pounding out of control. He waited for a long time for the little shortie to respond, then gently bowed his head to find that Wu Jin had fallen asleep again.
The youth watched him quietly for a long time.
The sound of rain from outside the window was getting louder, and Wei Shi fed the fire in the basin a little.
A while later, he was uneasy once again. He picked up the little shortie’s hand and quietly counted his pulse. After tracking it again and again, Wei Shi ultimately had no more reason to keep tracking it, but he was still reluctant to let go.
The quilt shifted gently, and Wei Shi placed the little chubby hand on his own heart.
Carefully keeping it warm.
xiin: *waiting by the door with a box of tissues*
Juurensha: *takes pile of tissues to blow nose* Nooooo it’s so sad...although now I’m curious, what’s going on with Little Witch’s memories?
(xiin: you’ll find out later~)
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)