Chapter Ch104.1 - R-Code

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Even before Wu Jin could get excited, his attention had immediately been caught by the wound on the youth’s arm.

Wu Jin’s eyebrows and heart both jumped.

The other party’s body was covered in cyan, purple, and blue bruises, from his bare calves to his knees covered by the half-length grey training pants, and even his cheek was scratched. The most conspicuous wound was the red, swollen gash that ran across his right arm that seemed to be a scratch from a sharp tool that had broken through the cloth.

Wu Jin jumped up and ran towards the iron gate, his heart incredibly sad.

He had never seen such a big boss.

The Wei Shi 10 years in the future was worshipped by thousands of people, but 10 years ago, he was injured and sat alone on the mottled steps at the gate of the R-Code base.

Inside the iron gate, the youth looked at Wu Jin, then down at his hand, then back at Wu Jin. His gaze was alert.

Wu Jin, who’d just been about to speak, paused for a moment.

It was obvious that the big boss from over 10 years ago didn’t recognize him.

Wu Jin’s stomach was still churning from the subconscious synchronization. The harsh sound of an electric current came in from another world far away––

“Have him trust you. We will guide you from outside…”

Wu Jin covered his cold forehead and finally managed to grasp how to use the erratic communication current in his mind, “Researcher––”

Inside the laboratory, the anxious Researcher Song spoke, “It’s connected! How are you doing there?”

Mao Dongqing looked solemn. He listened as the researcher repeated the word, “15 or 16 years old, wounded, grey training clothing, picked up a stick as a weapon––”

Mao Dongqing: “It’s after Brother Wei’s first transformation. Little Witch, try to have him let you in, then follow him.”

Outside the iron gate, Wu Jin temporarily cut off the connection.

He looked blankly at the Wei Shi inside the door and stuck his arm through the rusty iron fence. His thinking had been suppressed by the big boss’s subconscious, and even thinking had become extremely difficult.

Wei Shi looked on expressionlessly.

The little shortie outside the door was wearing clothing that was obviously one size too big. His skin was a pale porcelain white and carried a milky fragrance. The small round face was pasted against the hollow iron door, and it was unknown if he’d be able to peel it off or not. His eyes were wet and carried a layer of mist––

It seemed as though it would burst into aggrieved tears as soon as he was bullied.

Wei Shi finally stood up from the steps.

He opened the door coldly, “Who tossed you out?”

Also, when did R-Code base take in such a fool?

Wu Jin’s eyes brightened, and he immediately peeled his head off the iron door, trotting to keep up.

Wei Shi glanced at him. There were many fierce animal genes in genetically modified human bodies, such as the goshawk, lion, and komodo lizard. The shortie nearby was probably a mixture of a rabbit and hamster, and he couldn’t figure out what the gene designer had been thinking.

Wu Jin tried to adapt to the world in the big boss’s consciousness as he followed Wei Shi and was finally able to recover a bit of his thinking and judgement ability.

The youth in front of him didn’t walk quickly. Instead of being affected by the bruises on his legs, he was looking at where he was going very carefully, and his eyes were narrowed slightly. It wasn’t that he couldn’t see, but more like––

Memories rolled in. The dark night, the Triassic period, the Pterosaur circling around the crater.

––“Tetrachromatic vision is an artificial genetic modification, but the fourth cone cell stopped differentiating colors, and vision degraded.”

Now was during the time when the first transformation was over, when the big boss’s vision was degrading.

Wu Jin’s heart thudded slightly, and he subconsciously reached out to take the youth’s hand to lead him.

Wei Shi’s reaction speed was very fast. He swiftly pulled his hand back.

He was inexplicably angry. This little animal he’d just picked up didn’t know how to behave! He was so intimate with strangers, it looked like he’d already been domesticated!

Wei Shi looked back coldly, and it was like he’d written three words on his head: Don’t lead me.

Wu Jin could only stumble along with him because he wasn’t fully in sync with this world and had the same unbalanced gait.

“You… what’s your name?” Wu Jin leaned over and tried to get close to him.

“I’m called Wu Jin.” Wu Jin introduced himself, “What happened to your hand?”

The shortie kept talking and chattering. Wei Shi only glanced at him a few times before no longer looking his way.

He was too weak. His eyes and cheeks were round, and his entire person was soft. Wei Shi could probably poke out a red mark with a single finger. He’d really picked up a discarded and abandoned modified product and brought it back––he’d been standing foolishly outside the door. If it hadn’t been for his own good intentions, the shortie probably wouldn’t have lasted until tomorrow. Nobody wanted him except himself!

At this time, the harsh assembly bell rang out.

The choking black smoke was disturbed by the bell as people ran in from near and far. Wei Shi’s hand tightened around the stick in his hand.

Amidst the black smoke, some people were weeping, some were laughing, and some were talking to the air. Some had their limbs twisted on the ground, crawling along slowly like insects.

Wu Jin looked up in shock.

Wei Shi looked at this little shortie who’d never seen the world.

It had only been two weeks since the last series of modifications. There were many lunatics in the R-Code base who hadn’t adapted to their new genes. His enemies weren’t them––

Wei Shi held the wooden stick and joined in at the back of the crowd, slowly walking towards the low factory in the dark fog.

Wu Jin immediately followed after him.

This place seemed more like a ‘classroom’ than a factory building. The projection in the front was used to teach the most basic reading and writing skills to the modified humans, and two instructors were speaking in low voices on the podium.

Wu Jin followed Wei Shi to the second row.

Several youths of varying heights looked over at the two almost immediately. They were about the same age as Wei Shi, and they spoke loudly on purpose, “How dare he come in? After class, I’ll let him see what’s what––”, “Damn, I didn’t break his hand this morning. I’ll have to break both later.”, “He was so wild even before his transformation, does he think he’s Brother Shao?! After transforming, he still doesn’t acknowledge his place and acts like a person with his tail in his hands…”

Wu Jin frowned and finally understood the curses and shouts from these people.

Two weeks ago had been the big boss’s first transformation––the cone cell transformation had failed, and his genetic rating had dropped from his original S rating to B. There were many petty people who wanted to kick others while they were down, and the bruises Wei Shi had were also from them.

At the front of the two rows of desk and chairs, the instructors turned a blind eye to the conflict between the students.

Wu Jin watched on in silence, his hands clenched tight.

The enclosed R-Code base was like a distorted world where the modified humans fought against each other while the creators looked on coldly.

The bell rang again, and papers were handed out from front to back.

The instructors weren’t interested in the courses and the tests. The two of them even had time to discuss small household affairs as they taught, and it was obvious that they hadn’t discovered Wu Jin.

Beneath the podium, Wei Shi’s right hand was injured, so he had to awkwardly hold his pen in his left.

Wu Jin suddenly plucked out Wei Shi’s paper.

The youth looked guardedly back at him.

Wu Jin didn’t say a word as he picked up the pen and gestured to the big boss that he would help him write.

One part of the test paper was multiple choice. Wu Jin gently wrote out a fat D, and the next one was a chubby B… for the next question, he found his hand pressed down by Wei Shi’s elbow.

Wu Jin blinked and looked up.

His amber pupils were a little bright, and the pale colored small curls almost brushed against Wei Shi.

The youth’s eyes paused on the small curls for a long time before he finally moved his elbow.

Wu Jin let out a sigh of relief, picked up the big boss’s pen again and began to scribble. He didn’t notice the youth’s deep gaze, and Wei Shi had already shifted his eyes away by the time he looked up again.

Wu Jin returned the finished test paper back to him, and Wei Shi gave a reluctant grunt, but didn’t reject it.

One hour later, the test papers were handed in, and the bell rang.

The instructors had just stepped out when the group of teenagers from earlier gathered around, “Hey, blind man.”

They were ridiculing Wei Shi’s degrading vision.

Wei Shi hefted the stick in his hand twice and finally stood up, “Go outside.”

Only now did Wu Jin realize that the ‘go outside’ was spoken to him.

Of course Wu Jin didn’t go out. He headed closer to Wei Shi instead.

Wei Shi looked at him coldly, “I told you to leave.”

The bullies finally noticed Wu Jin’s existence. After the classroom cleared out, one of the leader’s cronies blocked the door.

The leader was surprised when he noticed Wu Jin, and his gaze was very interested, “Who is this? Come here.”

Wu Jin turned to look at him.

The soft and small round face had a baby-like fierceness, and it was unknown where Wei Shi had picked him up, but he was very interesting and beautiful––in the R-Code Base where 80% of the modified humans were male, being beautiful wasn’t a good thing.

The few of them exchanged comments in low voices, then started laughing loudly as they came over, wanting to catch Wu Jin and sneering at Wei Shi, “We’ll take him and leave you with one hand in return––”

The silent Wei Shi suddenly made his move, his wooden stick landing on flesh.

“F*ck me!” One of these bullies was unable to avoid the stick and was hit on the right shoulder. His mouth twisted in pain, and he cursed as he tried to fight back, kicking out with a foot.

Five of the six gathered around Wei Shi, and the remaining one was just about to start in on Wu Jin when he suddenly raised up a chair and swung it at him.

There was a bang.

The man felt a chill on his head, and then he reacted with a roar, pulling a knife out from his pocket.