EDEH Chapter 79

[007 Diary Twenty-Six]

 

[The human situation is now dire. The underground city is the foundation of humanity. If something happens to it, it means all escape routes are cut off, and destruction is just a matter of time… The doctor truly had foresight.]

 

·

 

“What is this? Suicide out of guilt?”

 

The scene was horrifying, quickly cordoned off by patrol battalions.

 

Patrol Officer Liao Te was a strange man, strange in every direction—strange looks, strange appearance.

 

He was the only low-level deviant in high position, with half his face flowing like liquid. Fortunately, his features were still in their original positions, though one eyeball always uncontrollably looked to the side, and his left intact cheek had two rough long scars.

 

He looked extremely terrifying.

 

Liao Te had always been reclusive, not participating in any meetings, not involved in politics, not leaving the city, deaf to outside affairs. Even when the Dawn Plan was exposed—such a major event—as the most representative low-level deviant victim, he had never appeared or made any statements.

 

“Clean up quickly.”

 

“Yes!”

 

Huo Yanji in military uniform walked out of the building. Liao Te’s gray eyeball slightly turned, and he strode over.

 

The surrounding voices were noisy, but Sang Jue still accurately captured their conversation.

 

“General.” Liao Te called out stiffly, then said, “He’s completely dead, brains and blood everywhere. Even in death, he causes trouble for people.”

 

The trouble referred to cleaning up the corpse. Falling from such a height directly onto the huge statue was like a watermelon falling from a high place—about the same sensation.

 

Fortunately, Julian wasn’t a deviant, otherwise a hundred-meter radius would need decontamination.

 

007 suddenly said in his mind: [Liao Te is the only low-level deviant among the 42 observation subjects, Number 005.]

 

Sang Jue hummed.

 

007 had told him about the 42 observation subjects some time ago. Huo Yanji was Number 002, and Colin was later listed as Number 042.

 

But unfortunately, because of knowledge of the Dawn Plan, all deviants became unstable factors, removed from the observation subjects. The ‘prince’ candidates could only be selected from the remaining ordinary people, now fewer than fifteen.

 

After chatting for a while, Huo Yanji’s gaze looked far across the crowd toward Sang Jue.

 

Sang Jue was holding a bucket of potato strips, showing an obedient smile.

 

The blood and brain matter on the ground didn’t affect his appetite at all—he even dipped into the red sauce beside him.

 

The chill on Huo Yanji’s face eased, though there were more serious matters to handle now.

 

He and Liao Te returned to the building one after another, with patrol soldiers cleaning up the corpse remains behind them.

 

Liao Te’s voice was also strange, with an indescribable hoarseness, as if burned by fire, very rough.

 

“The patrol battalion is getting overwhelmed.”

 

Huo Yanji entered the elevator and pressed the floor button: “The new law enforcement department is expected to be established within seven days. We’re still screening personnel and lack a leader.”

 

Liao Te stood to one side, like a monster walking out of a painting: “You know I don’t like being in public.”

 

Huo Yanji said: “You have the right to choose freely.”

 

“May I ask why this is so urgent—” Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a hand suddenly shot out to stop them. Liao Te’s voice caught, then he completed the sentence: “…?”

 

Huo Yanji looked at Sang Jue, who had walked obediently to the front and was looking up at him. He paused, then answered Liao Te’s question: “Something might have happened to the underground city. I need to go there, and the city can’t be left unmanaged.”

 

“Understood. I’ll temporarily take the position of new department leader, but please find someone else after you return,” Liao Te said hoarsely. “—No one could do better than you once did.”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t respond to this, pressing down on Sang Jue’s shoulder and hitting the close button again: “How dare you stick your hand out? What if it got caught?”

 

Sang Jue stood obediently to the side: “Then would you blow on it for me?”

 

Huo Yanji held his hand, tone flat: “I’d just cut it off.”

 

Sang Jue: “Then when you’re about to explode, I won’t have hands to help you—mmph.”

 

Sang Jue, whose mouth was directly covered, tilted his head innocently, blinking his eyes as if not understanding what the problem was.

 

Liao Te stood to the side, eyes on nose, nose on heart, looking down as if he hadn’t heard anything.

 

Soon, other high-ranking officials arrived, gathering in Julian’s room.

 

Ling Gen looked at the line of words on the desk, feeling like he’d punched cotton—a deep sense of frustration.

 

He laughed coldly: “So what, playing the jumping game to make himself look so righteous, making us look like we’re being unreasonable?!”

 

Since the surface collapse, there had always been two schools of thought.

 

One was that to continue the flame of civilization, any sacrifice was worth it, while the other believed that since they couldn’t even protect current survivors, what meaning would there be for future generations?

 

Both sides seemed right from their respective perspectives, both had their reasons.

 

But no matter from which historical period you looked at people, they were all beneficiaries of their predecessors’ struggles and sacrifices.

 

If you only thought about the present, it would be too selfish.

 

Ling Gen was caught in the tug-of-war between these two emotions, the melancholy in his heart growing heavier, as if he was about to be torn apart.

 

Especially seeing the line Julian left after his suicide, he angrily smashed the table, making a loud “bang.”

 

Huo Yanji stood by the window: “If you have anger in your heart, let it out. Don’t hold it in here.”

 

Ling Gen took a deep breath and walked over to sit on the sofa beside him.

 

Huo Yanji turned around, saying coldly: “What we really need to face now is the underground city problem.”

 

Ling Gen said irritably: “What’s wrong with the underground city? Didn’t you plan it all out?”

 

Huo Yanji roughly repeated what Julian had said, saying coldly: “The council is very likely hiding something from us. The underground city should have serious problems.”

 

Huo Jiangmian and Fu Xi also arrived, the latter frowning: “What problems could the underground city have?”

 

The underground city’s location was far from all rifts. Due to its special geographical position, the surrounding rock layers were solid as gold and stone. Even if underground contaminants rioted, they couldn’t reach the underground city, and surface disasters and radiation were even less relevant to the underground city.

 

Huo Jiangmian saw through Huo Yanji’s thoughts at a glance: “You want to go there personally?”

 

Huo Yanji said: “The underground city has always been exit-only, no entry. We’ve never confirmed the underground city’s current state.”

 

Indeed, once people who came to the surface became deviants, they could never return to the underground city for life. Only retired ordinary people had the possibility of returning for care in old age.

 

Thinking about it this way, deviants had indeed suffered too much unfair treatment while making sacrifices.

 

Ling Gen instead gradually calmed down: “If something happened to the underground city… it would really be over.”

 

Relying solely on natural birth rates, humanity would be finished within a century.

 

Huo Yanji said calmly: “So I need to go there. During the coming period, the city’s chaotic situation will depend on everyone.”

 

Huo Yanji was the only ordinary person in high position who also controlled military power, making him the only suitable candidate to return to the underground city to check the situation.

 

If nothing had happened, then all would be well – it would just be a ‘routine return visit’ from the surface. After the council’s downfall, the underground city would eventually have to get used to this and couldn’t remain independent forever.

 

But if something really had happened… things would be serious.

 

…

 

Military training ground.

 

Since many deviants didn’t train their physical strength much, relying more on their deviant characteristics, the training ground was basically all ordinary people.

 

However, two special cases came today – one was Ling Gen, one was Huo Jiangmian.

 

The former was acting crazy, throwing punch after punch at the sandbag, venting his anger.

 

Huo Jiangmian was watching from the side. He hadn’t been to the training ground for many years. Before… better not mention it.

 

He withdrew his gaze, pulling himself out of memories, and smiled: “General Ling, want to fight?”

 

…

 

Next door, Sang Jue listened to the sandbags being pounded while grabbing Huo Yanji’s forearm, trying to flip him to the ground.

 

They’d been fighting for a while, always in a fifty-fifty win-lose situation.

 

Without weapons and only considering individual strength, Sang Jue was indeed slightly stronger, but he lacked experience and always lost in various unexpected ways.

 

This time he succeeded.

 

Before Sang Jue could be happy, he saw the fallen Huo Yanji hook his waist, and they both fell together. The only difference was that Huo Yanji fell on the sand while Sang Jue had a ‘meat’ cushion.

 

The little evil dragon knelt on Huo Yanji’s waist without care, huffing: “You lost.”

 

Huo Yanji hummed: “I lost.”

 

The reason was that Huo Yanji was going to the underground city, but wouldn’t take Sang Jue.

 

He lay on Huo Yanji, trying to bite his Adam’s apple, but was blocked by a palm: “I’m sweaty, very dirty.”

 

Sang Jue huffed and rubbed against him for a long time before saying: “Really can’t take me?”

 

Huo Yanji held Sang Jue’s waist, saying slowly: “This is a military operation… can’t bring family members.”

 

Sang Jue could understand, but was still a bit unhappy.

 

He whispered: “I don’t insist on going with you, I’m just afraid you’ll die.”

 

Huo Yanji paused: “Sang Jue, I can’t guarantee I’ll always be alive.”

 

Sang Jue: “…”

 

Before the dragon got angry, Huo Yanji continued: “The current environment is like this. No one can guarantee they’ll definitely see tomorrow’s sun, but I promise I’ll give my all.”

 

Sang Jue pressed: “Give your all for what?”

 

Huo Yanji caressed Sang Jue’s nape, his expression light but his tone rarely warm: “Give my all to return to see the person waiting for me in the city.”

 

Sang Jue persisted: “Who’s the person waiting for you?”

 

He wasn’t human anyway.

 

Huo Yanji curved his lips slightly: “A little monster whose true form I haven’t seen yet, with a disobedient tail, doesn’t like reading, doesn’t like eating cilantro paste, and says he wants to build me a golden house.”

 

“…” Sang Jue mumbled: “When you come back, I’ll go mining.”

 

Huo Yanji said flatly: “No need to mine. When things settle down, I’ll take you to my private mining area – it’s all yours.”

 

His courting target was impressive.

 

Giving mines himself for the evil dragon to build a golden house.

 

Sang Jue was reluctantly satisfied.

 

They were both wearing little at the moment. Huo Yanji had only a white tank top on top and military green work pants below, very cool.

 

This was the first time Sang Jue had seen Huo Yanji dressed so lightly… Though they had helped each other, Huo Yanji was always impeccably dressed elsewhere.

 

Without the military uniform’s constraint, Huo Yanji’s muscle lines were particularly obvious, the veins on his arms floating on the surface, looking very good for injections.

 

As a male, Huo Yanji was excellent in all aspects – he had a beautiful, fit body and sufficient food resources. In the animal kingdom, he would definitely be very popular.

 

Now this excellent human belonged to the evil dragon.

 

Sang Jue touched Huo Yanji’s face, staring at those thin lips that were flushed from intense exercise.

 

Huo Yanji warned: “Sang Jue—”

 

Sang Jue ignored him and leaned up, like a cat acting cute, not sticking out his tongue, just lightly rubbing against the lips.

 

For the little evil dragon, this probably wasn’t much – he wasn’t human and had no concept of kissing.

 

For the human beneath him, his heart skipped several beats in an instant, surging heavily and rapidly toward his chest.

 

That broad palm that tried to pull away, torn between reason and emotion, finally just settled on the slender waist.

 

After a long while, Sang Jue threatened sullenly: “If you don’t come back… I’ll kill all the humans I don’t like.”

 

**

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