Chapter 86

for this type of support mission, it’s only necessary to reach the [black eye outpost]. once there, relevant information can be obtained in advance from the stationed personnel, without wasting time within the city.before departing, yi chen returned briefly to the academy to report his contact with gethsemane and the details of the mission to his primary mentor, professor chamberson. upon learning that instructor bailey was in charge of this matter, chamberson didn’t say much but offered one reminder: “tasks associated with gethsemane often come with extensive bloodshed. here, i don’t have an orchard, nor do i have the time for you, william, to suppress your inner malice through planting. but i trust that you won’t become enslaved by the slaughter, and that you’ll find a balance.” after bidding farewell to professor chamberson, yi chen immediately headed to the depths of the teaching building's prison to relay bailey’s message to teacher zed. upon hearing this name, zed’s body slightly trembled, and his words lost their usual sharpness, sounding almost… "normal." “bailey… she’s probably doing quite well now, isn’t she? her skills in ‘the art of killing’ were the best among our group, though she was overly concerned with unnecessary details. otherwise, she’d likely surpass even me.” “yes, she’s now serving as an instructor in gethsemane.” “training executioners, is she? that’s quite fitting for her.” for a moment, zed seemed to recall some past events, but he quickly suppressed them and began teaching his favored student with renewed focus. “didn’t expect you’d be tackling an executioner’s task so soon. when the time comes, a great deal of bloodshed will be inevitable. don’t shy away from torn entrails or splattering blood—they’re merely another form of bodily expression. you’re simply helping those degenerate fools reveal their ‘inner beauty.’ they often feel immense gratitude toward you after witnessing their true elegance. observe this process, enjoy this process, savor this process. gradually transform killing into an internal insight, and eventually, you’ll reflect on yourself. this will help you better understand your own body. once, i gained a slight increase in my physical stats simply by studying the structure of corpses. with your talent, i’m certain you’ll reap some benefits. forget about that nonsense theory of ‘sinking into slaughter.’ don’t even think about it—just do what you believe is right.” “understood.” “go on, and make sure to kill a few more. don’t disgrace me, your former !” ... yi chen spent half a day preparing supplies and potions. he tied his hair neatly, adjusted his collar, secured his sleeve bands and tie, adjusted his waistband, polished his leather shoes, hung the crow oil lamp on his waist, and grabbed a black briefcase marked with the forge seal. then, he headed to the carriage depot near zion’s city gate. gethsemane’s missions didn’t include any logistical support, so he had to find his own way to the mission site. jin had already arranged for a special carriage and was waiting impatiently. “you’re so slow…” “sorry, i got delayed a bit at the academy. jin, this carriage you rented must’ve been expensive, right?” yi chen was surprised by the luxurious carriage before him. it featured intricate dark metal embellishments, a natural aura of concealment, and was drawn by three enhanced black horses. the central lead horse even displayed feather-like muscle patterns, as if it could take off at any moment. moreover, the carriage’s interior was significantly larger than the one they had taken to the twilight clinic. opening the door, he saw two soft beds neatly arranged inside. at the top, there hung an adjustable kerosene lamp carved in a clover pattern, providing illumination for the carriage. “it’s a bit expensive, but the organization will reimburse part of the cost. as for the rest, as long as we complete the mission properly, the silver coins from the rewards will be more than enough. living in a world like this, we should enjoy life. we could die at any moment, so worrying about money would just be pointless. come on up~ the destination is a bit far, and even if we leave now, we won’t arrive until tomorrow morning.” “alright.” the luxurious carriage quickly exited zion’s city gates, carrying the two passengers toward the [black eye outpost] in jose valley. the carriage was made with a special isolating material and equipped with top-tier shock absorbers. even when the wheels rolled over steep cliffs, there was barely any vibration, and the interior was remarkably quiet. yi chen sat properly by the window, as he usually did when traveling. jin, however, had already taken off his leather shoes and coat, lying casually on the bed. he even unbuckled his belt, pulled off his entire pair of trousers, and hung them along with his coat on the carriage's built-in clothing rack. two long, slender legs with perfect proportions—though not particularly pale—immediately entered yi chen’s view, and he tried his best to avert his eyes. there was something rather strange. even though jin acted so nonchalantly, treating the carriage like his personal bedroom, he still wore his multicolored mask without any intention of taking it off. perhaps, like zed, he had some facial feature permanently damaged. or maybe there was some other unique reason. naturally, yi chen didn’t ask further about such matters. just then, jin, who had been lying down, suddenly sat up cross-legged. “i think i slept too much yesterday, and now i can’t fall asleep at all… hey~ william, why don’t you tell me about your last mission or some intriguing stories from your time at the academy?” yi chen initially wanted to refuse, but considering the cost of the luxurious carriage, he eventually agreed to jin’s request and recounted the process of recovering a secret medicine. of course, he carefully avoided revealing the clinic’s secrets. “wow! so, you killed a severely afflicted gentleman? those edmund fellows seem pretty impressive! next time, introduce me to them—i bet we could become great friends. and then? did it end there?” s~eaʀᴄh the ηovёlfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. when yi chen mentioned that everything had been orchestrated by moonscar behind the scenes and that he had met moonscar in person, jin, who had been sitting on his bed, immediately jumped over upon hearing the term “moonscar.” in an instant, he pinned yi chen’s limbs down on the bed, holding him in place. the mask pressed against him, sniffing incessantly, as if trying to detect the scent of moonscar. “a mission from the gentleman’s hall actually led you to encounter a open-source patient? how thrilling is that!” “it was just a small probability event that happened to me.” jin seemed to catch a unique scent and waved his finger in front of yi chen’s face. “not necessarily~ for others, it might be a small chance, but you, william, definitely give off a special scent. i can’t quite describe what this ‘scent’ is, but you can think of it as the subtle feeling you get when meeting someone for the first time. it’s precisely this scent that made me interested in you the first time we met—unlike all those boring people out there. maybe that moonscar open-source patient also caught a whiff of this scent, which is why they revealed themselves to you… if that’s the case, using your unique scent might be the key to quickly drawing out the powerful figure hidden behind the scenes.” [tl:- hey just for those curious on why jin is pronounced as 'he' while in previous chapter bailey was saying 'she'. the chinese pronouns are inherently ambiguous in spoken form. the characters 他 (male) and 她 (female) are both pronounced "tā" identically, making gender determination challenging without written context. and previously it was 她 (female) while in this chapter it is now 他 (male). so even i don't know if jin is male or female, guess we just gotta wait and see ;) ]