Becoming The White Moonlight’s Human Weapon After My Death

Chapter 15: A Friendly Meeting With New Colleagues


Shao Dongmi, who was holding back a bellyful of fire and about to explode, was completely blind-sided by this answer.

“Huh??”

“You needed a reason to come here, otherwise, you wouldn’t have a way to explain the source of your information to your superiors. I don’t wish to see Mr Shao being suspected by the people of the Tribunal…”

The man on the other side slowly dragged out his words, speaking word by word, “In particular, that Yan Chenli.”

Shao Dongmi immediately had a bad premonition, and got a little annoyed, “What the hell are you talking about? Don’t speak in riddles, can we just get to the point?”

“You’ll see my sincerity very quickly, Mr Shao. I’ll need you to keep the contents of the envelope confidential, in case you don’t want my carefully prepared gift to go to waste, and also…” The other side stopped for a moment, then spoke in a slow tone and a meaningful, unsettling smile,

“Because I don’t want to see you becoming another one of Yan Chenli’s numerous expendable victims.”


The last sentence had a clear and pointed meaning, and Shao Dongmi was stunned to hear it. But he didn’t have time to react before the other party hung up the call.

Shao Dongmi turned his head to scan the room, but didn’t see any paper and pen letters or anything of the sort, the only things spread out over the area were food, daily necessities, and a few weapons and ammunition.

Shao Dongmi searched the body of them man who was closing his mouth pretending to be dead, and found some banknotes, coins, cigarettes and the like, and a few ammunition clips, but he didn’t find any identification documents, so he had to drop it, “Let’s take this guy into custody first and go back to investigate.”

“Who was that on the phone?” Venus easily lifted up that 200-catty1 middle-aged man.

Shao Dongmi was filled with admiration for his formidable figure for a second, and even felt a trace of yearning.

The two walked downstairs together, and Shao Dongmi pondered for a while, “The trap itself and the other party’s remarks had a lot of typically provocative traits, so we can see that it was a conceited and arrogant person. It’s unlikely that someone would choose to provoke the police for their first offence, so he must have a previous criminal record and gradually escalated and built up his confidence in the course of his crimes. He had an unaffected personal cadence of someone used to having influence, so his social position shouldn’t be too low. Every step in his trap was meticulously planned out, and the time was accurate to the minute, so he must be methodical and take pleasure in controlling others.

“To sum up: a megalomaniac who likes to pose as intelligent, is outstanding and sociable, eager to display his power, and has an abnormal desire for control.” Shao Donmgi added in a bad mood, “Oh, it’s possible that he’s not posing, but that he’s actually really intelligent, damn. In short, I predict he’ll be quite a troublesome guy.”

“…Wow…” Venus was stunned when he finished listening, his eyes gleaming as he looked at him, “That’s so cool, Mimi…”

Shao Dongmi’s face blushed from being stared at, so he quickly waved his hands, “It’s just basic criminal profiling. I was actually not that good at this class when I was in school, it was Captain Yan who helped me make up for it later, if Captain Yan was here, he would definitely be able to…” As the two stepped out into the corridor, an appalling ocean of blood and carnage met them head-on, and Shao Dongmi’s face stiffened, “…I’m done for, how am I going to explain this to the Captain when I get back?”

Venus seemed to have no problem with it, he just stared at him and blinked indifferently. He’d practically been dyed in blood, his fair cheeks were covered in terrifying bloodstains, but his expression was calm and innocent. He seemed to not be affected at all by having taken so many human lives.

Shao Dongmi’s heart suddenly felt very complicated.


Children were generally very naughty, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to crush bugs or step on ants, but Chen Xing never messed with the little bugs when he was a kid. Other kids thoughtlessly squandered their childhood, but he was already counting down to his death, so it was inevitable that he would treasure life a little more.

But the Venus in front of him clearly didn’t care at all.

Shao Dongmi was suddenly a little suspicious. How should he determine if the Chen Xing in front of him was the Chen Xing he once knew?


“Mimi, are you sad?” Venus suddenly asked, lifting his hand to rub the space between Shao Dongmi’s eyebrows.

Shao Dongmi didn’t respond, he just helped him wipe some of the blood from his cheeks and said, “I’ll help you clean up when we go back.”


The two escorted the man to the car, and Shao Dongmi immediately discovered that the handcuffed Liu Hao had disappeared.

Half of the handcuffs had been left behind on the metal pole under the seat, but the chain was broken.

“Crap, how did he get help? It’s so unfair!”

Then, he looked again, and saw that an envelope had appeared on the passenger seat. The envelope was entirely pitch-black, made out of thick card paper, and printed with beautiful dark retro patterns. It clearly felt heavier than normal paper, there seemed to be something heavy and metal inside.

The envelope was sealed with a crimson wax seal, the seal was an inverted pentagram made up of a goat’s head, and there seemed to be a thin metal piece inside.

It turned out the envelope mentioned on the phone call was waiting for him here.

Shao Dongmi looked at the outside of the envelope over and over again, “Tsk, he shouldn’t have bothered. In all my years in the police, I’d call that Kevin Lomax the most pretentious person.”

He put on gloves and tore open the envelope. There was nothing written down inside, but a brand new key slipped out, with a small square medallion handing from the key ring. There was gold stamped on the black background, which was also very beautiful. It had text printed on top:

[Free of Eden Trustee Savings Bank F-1812]

The name was unheard of, but it seemed to be a bank safe service.

Shao Dongmi cursed silently from the bottom of his heart: So there’s actually another segment, it’s such a bother!!


Venus had been active for two full hours, and his mental pressure had risen by 10 points after being let out for such a short while, so Shao Dongmi felt very worried.

“Time’s almost up, go back to rest for a bit first, okay?”

Venus nodded, “Oh-kay.”

Shao Dongmi hesitated a bit, “I heard the hibernation process is really painful. If you’re not willing to do it, I’ll think of a way later…”

“Don’t, it’s not that painful. It’s kind of like dreaming…” Venus had a faint smile on his young face, “It’s just a slightly lonely dream. I’m already used to it, so it doesn’t matter.”

The glass of the hibernation cabin rose, and Venus sat on the mechanical chair. His frail body was captured by the large machine and secured by a metal ring, making him look even smaller.

“I’m really happy to be able to see you again. When I was a kid, I said that I wanted to be a policeman when I grew up, but I never expected it would happen this way.” Layer upon layer of metal loops automatically deployed, fastening on Venus’ limbs and waist, a tube was also attached to his neck, and a solution was injected with a gurgling sound. Finally, he smiled gently, “Then see you next time, Mimi.”

The glass door of the cabin closed, and numbers popped up on the display screen. The orange solution immediately inundated the young man’s body, and the innocent and warm smile on his face quickly disappeared along with his pulse.

In the end, what was left behind in front of Shao Dongmi was a perfect weapon, cold, stiff, and without warmth.

Shao Dongmi stared at him and sighed, then shook his head and went back to start driving.


He returned to the Tribunal according to the route on the map, and had no other mishaps.

After entering the courtyard, there was still no response for the operations panel in the armoured car, but Shao Dongmi looked at his phone before getting down and discovered that he had finally regained signal.


Shao Dongmi had just jumped down from the car when news of his return had already reached Command Centre. A boy of about his age ran from the building to verify, “Mr Shao, is that you? I’m so glad you’re safe!! We suddenly lost contact with you, it was really worrying…”

His black hair was in a buzz cut, he looked very young but clearly very experienced, and he wore a long dark grey uniform and a white shirt, with the abbreviation VIE engraved on his chest. Shao Dongmi recognised him as soon as he spoke, it was his Command Centre liason, Zhang Jing.

“Stop, I’m a little sensitive to the being called ‘Mr Shao’ right now. You can just call me by my name.” Shao Dongmi firmly stopped him.

“Uh, isn’t it too impolite to call you directly by your name?” Zhang Jing’s tone was timid, “Chief Adjudicator Yan organised some people to go look for you, I’ll notify them to regroup.”

Zhang Jing was about to leave after verifying his identity, but Shao Dongmi hurriedly stopped him, “Did you find that Liu Hao?”

“Yes.” Zhang Jing nodded, his expression glum, “They found his body on Area 8. All three missing persons were murdered, the search and rescue operation has already ended.”

Sure enough, that person had been a liar. Shao Dongmi nodded, “I see, thanks. Hurry and go.”


Zhang Jing replied and ran off in an instant. Shao Dongmi had accumulated a large pile of questions, but he could do nothing now other than wait for Yan Chenli to come back and ask him. So, after making sure the armoured vehicle was locked up, he went for a stroll in the courtyard of the Tribunal. Since this was going to be his new base in the future, he should familiarise himself with it.


Altogether, the building was just three floors. There was a simple map hung up on the hall, which indicated that the third floor was the dormitory, the second floor was the work area, and the first floor had an assortment of other things. There was no one in the whole building, only about a dozen people were working in the Command Centre of the second floor. The security room was empty, the cafeteria was deserted, and the armoury and data room were locked.

The entire building was filled with a destitute and dejected air.


Shao Dongmi turned to the place labelled “Activity Area”, but there were only a few worn-out, dusty couches of unknown origin arranged about the place. The place that should have been a liquor cabinet was completely empty, and a guestbook had been left behind on the bar counter. Aside from these things, there was nothing else.

Aside from the people of the Command Centre, Shao Dongmi finally spotted the first living person he’d seen in these ruins. It was a tired-looking man with dark green, short hair that stuck out messily like dishevelled seaweed. He lay crookedly on the sofa, holding a cigarette in his mouth and listlessly playing with some cards by himself.

He was wearing a long dark grey uniform similar to Zhang Jing's, with the Tribunal logo on the chest.

Shao Dongmi was just looking at him when the other party raised his chin at him first, “I’ve never seen you before, you new here?”

Shao Dongmi went to sit next to him confidently, but felt a puff of dust fly out in front of his face, “I’m… shit, cough—cough, cough—why don’t you guys sweep this place!!”

“Haha, is the young master still not used to his first day on the countryside?” The dark green-haired man laughed, drawing a puff of his cigarette, and spread out his cards in a line. He spaced every card out at the same distance, forming a perfect arc, his movements extremely skilled.

“Brought any money? You any good?” He tapped the table with his finger.

“?”

Shao Dongmi raised his head in shock. What? Did I hear right? My colleague wants to gamble during work hours, inside the office building??

Don’t tell me that this is what the free world is like without Gong Xiaolu’s oversight??

But he still had some resistance, so Shao Dongmi dimly said: “But I can’t.”

“Tsk, haha.” The other party was amused, he stretched and leaned back, “All right, don’t pretend. You’re lazing off here while everyone else was taken away on a compulsory mission, we’re both well aware of what’s going on here, right? Don’t say nonsense, come on, we can play for a little, how about five hundred?”

He took out his wallet as he spoke, the bulging leather wallet was filled with cash.

“How’s that a little? That’s not a little at all.” Shao Dongmi protested, “Fifty cents, no more.”

“So little? Brother, how are you so stingy?? What’s the point of playing for so little? One hundred for one hand, alright?”

“No, that’s too much, I don’t have any money, I’m leaving” Shao Dongmi got up to leave.

“Fine fine fine fine fine, hey, we’ll do the amount you said!! Really, damn…” The other person rolled his eyes at him and hurriedly dragged him back, muttering, “What I do to feed my addiction, sigh, I’ve been having such an unlucky day…”

The man pulled out a few bills and used a black metal lighter to hold them down. He spat out a puff of smoke, and the acrid cigarette smell hit him square in the face as the man shuffled the cards and asked, “I’m Mu Lin, you?”

But Shao Dongmi was staring fixedly at his lighter.


It was an entirely black lighter made of extremely fine metal. The golden pattern of an ouroboros and an apple was engraved on top, the gold inlay seemed to be made of real gold, and it looked very expensive. But the most significant thing was the words [Free of Eden] written on its surface.

The same name as the medallion on the key left behind by Kevin Lomax.


Mu Lin had put the lighter down on the table casually, so the thing didn’t seem to be any sort of secret. Shao Dongmi carefully sized Mu Lin up again, taking out a card as he answered, “Shao Dongmi. You can just call me by my name.”

“Quite hard to remember huh. Look at my name, five letters2 and you’re done, much easier to remember.” Mu Lin teased him with the cigarette still in his mouth.

The two played a few games. Mu Lin was terribly unlucky, losing four or five hands, but he stayed happy and exuberant, “Hey~ That’s luck, isn’t it? Ten years in the East river, then ten years in the West, if you stumble in the small game, it means you’ll be able to win in the big one. No loss, no loss. Again!!”

Shao Dongmi sensed that the timing felt natural, so he pretended to casually ask, “Your lighter is very pretty. Where’d you buy it?”

“It was a gift at a dinner, I’ve got a ton. I’ll give it to you if you like it, as thanks for playing a few games with me.” Mu Lin took the lighter and pushed it in front of Shao Dongmi.

“Ah… That’s not what I mean, I was just curious.” Shao Dongmi pushed it back, “What kind of luxurious restaurant gives such nice freebies? Can you tell me the address?”

“You’ve got pretty good vision! Nice, very nice~! Let me tell you, it’s a really good place. Augustus is a rotten place, but luckily there’s still such a paradise,” Mu Ling gave him a considerable compliment, leaning over him in a friendly manner and hooking an arm around Shao Dongmi’s shoulders, “Big brother will bring you out to play tomorrow, you’ll really gain experience, I’m telling you, brother——uh, what was your name again? Shao, Shao something… Eh, wait? Shao Dongmi??”

Mu Ling suddenly lifted his head, his smile gradually disappearing, “Are you that missing newbie Shao Dongmi we were just ordered to search for?”

Shao Dongmi looked at him innocently.

“You’re the only newcomer Yan Chenli brought here… right?” Mu Ling’s expression stiffened, already trembling by the time he finished speaking.

 

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1 About 120 kilos. ⤴

2 Actual line is “Three ‘mu’ [characters]”. His name, 木林 Mu Lin, is made up of three ‘木 mu (tree)’ characters, with ‘林 lin (forest)’ being made up of two ‘木 mu’ (tree+tree=forest). ⤴