Smiling Gas XX

Translated by xiaohei

Edited by xiaohei

“Deconstruction beginning.”

All of a sudden, a bright golden light bloomed from the image in the fog, emerging as a luminescent string in the darkness.

The threads of light enveloped the gray concentration camp, then, Yu Feichen saw the image tremble and disintegrate, turning into a flowing golden aura as the threads moved across it as if it were being dissolved by the light.

The dissolution began from all sides, the speed differing from one point to another as if following some mysterious law.

However, when only the barracks they were in were left behind, it stopped.

A notification announced, “Deconstruction progress: 86%.”

86 percent? Yu Feichen frowned. It was not a high number.

However, in the next moment, an indescribable and huge force suddenly shook through the space that seemed to be able to shake one’s soul directly, and the barracks formed out of the remaining fog instantly shattered into a sky full of stars.

The system’s cool voice announced, “Deconstruction complete.”

The gray fog had completely disappeared, and little sparks were dancing in the space just like meteors in the night sky. It was hard to describe the feeling that one felt just from seeing the lights. It was soft yet brilliantly radiant.

Yu Feichen’s eyes widened. He watched some of the lights fly into the distance before disappearing without a trace, but some of them flowed to him instead, disappearing into his body.

After the final glimmer faded away, the space turned empty again.

Yu Feichen stood in place. he needed some time to sort out what just happened.

Was that a presentation of the Gate of Eternal Night’s rules just now? First of all, without thinking about what the meaning of “deconstruction” was, did “deconstruction success” mean that he had completed his task?

According to the process that he was familiar with, once the task was finished, then he will be transported back to Paradise after that. However, the countdown did not sound in this place.

What were those golden lights that entered his body? Was that the reward?

For a moment, countless guesses flitted past his mind. However, in the next second, just like its sudden appearance a few minutes ago, the space disappeared just as abruptly.

A chilling wind cut through the wind to his face. Yu Feichen found himself outside of the gate of the concentration camp again, and the second hand on his watch had just passed twelve.

The space that appeared a moment ago was in a separate time. In fact, nothing had happened.

No.. it did happen.

Yu Feichen discovered that all of the strength he exerted previously had returned to him.

Looking up at the concentration camp, the shadows of the buildings in the darkness were clear—It should be known that the body of the barrister he occupied suffered from some minor short-sightedness.

Not only that, his sense of hearing and smell seemed much sharper than before, and his muscles were stronger than they had been, as if his entire body had been strengthened.

It was a thought-provoking experience, but the tremble he felt on his shoulder pulled him back from his thoughts.

Anfield was coughing again.

Yu Feichen was at a loss at first, but then he patted his back to offer him a symbolic form of comfort.

As he did so, he frowned.

This time, his cough was different.

Sure enough, when Anfield finally stopped coughing and removed the handkerchief, the white fabric was stained red with blood, and a considerable amount of it at that.

Anfield’s lashes drooped slightly, but he remained calm as he folded the handkerchief and covered his mouth again, coughing softly into it twice more.

He acted unconcerned, but the girl saw it. She had been jumpy with panic this whole time after being saved from the rubble, and she was so shocked that she could not speak when the fire mysteriously disappeared in the blink of an eye. Now that the person who saw her was looking weak and coughing up blood, she burst into tears.

Anfield was coughing up blood and the girl was wailing, both things that Yu Feichen could not handle. He had never felt as troubled as he was today.

Weighing the severity between the two, he decided to ignore the crying one and turned to Anfield instead. “Do you have medicine?”

Anfield nodded. Then, he pulled a small white vial from his pocket. Since there was no water here, he gulped it down with just his blood alone.

Yu Feichen helped him up. “Let’s find a place to spend the night for now.”

Right now, it was imperative that they find the captain some warmth.

Even though they had “escaped successfully”, he still preferred not to go back into the concentration camp before daylight.

Looking around, he decided to set up camp in the logging train for the night.

The unconscious sentry and guard have already woken up and run away at some point in time. The corpse of the large man was still inside, which he dragged out before cleaning the inside of the wagon and bringing Anfield and the girl in. After some coaxing from the captain, the girl’s crying eased up slightly, which was a great relief for his throbbing headache.

The next step was to drive the train to a sheltered spot in the mountains. They couldn’t start a fire in the wagon, so Yu Feichen left the door ajar and gathered the firewood into a pile before lighting it with the lighter he had on hand, leaving it to burn next to the door. That way, the air inside the wagon would be kept fresh while the heat from the fire would come through.

Considering Anfrield’s sickly condition, he added a handful of extra firewood to the fire—wood that he had chopped himself during the day.

That said, the firewood was meant to keep Captain Anfield warm, and now it was fulfilling its purpose.

After the fire was started, there was no need for them to worry about wild beasts approaching them from the mountain. Even if there were, then Anfield had his gun with him, and his aim was more than acceptable. With that assurance, Yu Feichen could go further away from the railway and pick a few ripe acorns they could eat. There was no other reason for him doing this other than just an excuse to avoid hearing the girl cry. At the very least, the kid should be more well-behaved with something to eat.

The campfire illuminated the snowfield, the wagon’s interior, and the surrounding oak trees. He followed the light back to the train.

When he arrived at the wagon, Anfield was holding the girl and patting her gently. The girl’s hair was golden blonde, a deeper hue than Anfield’s, but their hair color seemed almost indistinguishable under the firelight.

They must have heard him returning as the two turned to look in his direction. Anfield had a calm and gentle look in his eyes, whereas the girl’s were still glistening faintly with her tears.

Without saying anything, Yu Feichen stuffed the acorns into the hands of the girl and sat down against the wagon wall, positioned to their right where the door was, acting as a shield against the wind. After his physique was enhanced, he was now in peak condition.

The girl looked exhausted and on the brink of falling asleep. It did not take long before she shut her eyes while holding the acorns. Anfield’s condition seemed to have improved as well. He patted the girl’s body gently with his hand, lulling her to sleep.

Yu Feichen was silent, merely watching on. He wasn’t trying to learn any childcare techniques from Anfield, but Anfield had glanced at him a few times today, so he was just repaying the favor.

Even though Anfield looked skillful at what he was doing, the shock that the girl had to endure was far too great, thus she would jolt awake every time she tried to fall asleep. Her face was pale, and after going through that several times, she looked to be suffering.

On the fourth panic attack, Yu Feichen saw Anfield stroke the girl’s hair. A look of sadness appeared in his green, downcast eyes.

After that, Anfield’s pale lips moved faintly.

a very soft and slow tune drifted through the wagon illuminated by the campfire, just like snow-covered pine leaves.

It was a lullaby, perhaps something else, but the melody seemed ethereal, there at times, gone the others. Yu Feichen could not tell what language it was. Perhaps it was just a simple melody.

Under the lull of his song, the girl’s breathing gradually calmed down.

Even Yu Feichen’s own breathing slowed down, he discovered, growing long and deep as Anfield’s lullaby. In a split moment, he seemed to be pulled into a dreamlike slumber himself. He saw an ethereal white temple. The large building stretched on for hundreds of miles with many inscriptions on the walls. White doves were flying around and flowers were in full bloom.

He could see the girl’s furrowed brows gradually relaxing along with the tune of the lullaby, and her long, relaxed breaths were proof that she had fallen into a deep slumber. There was a sweet smile on her lips. Perhaps she saw what he had just seen as well.

Vaguely, the lullaby faded away and the song disappeared as if it never existed. In the silence of the night, the only sound left was the crackling wood in the fire.

Even the snow stopped. Looking past the firelight and through the oak trees, far away over the endless, sloping mounds of snow, the wreckage past the south gate was still visible.

Anfield asked, “Did you do all that?”

Yu Feichen knew what he was referring to, and he did not feel the need to hide it.

He answered, “Yes.”

Anfield continued staring in that direction, but it was not known what he was thinking about.

The moonlight grew slightly brighter when the train snaked across the valley.

Yu Feichen said, “I heard they’re prisoners from the Highlands Concentration Camp.”

“I know,” Anfield answered. “They were going to transfer a batch of prisoners to other concentration camps for execution. I knew that you were planning an escape, so I had them transferred to Oakvale.”

As expected, the captain wouldn’t give him a hard time, Yu Feichen thought.

“What else did you do besides that?” He sat with his hand on his cheek, looking at Anfield. “Are you just sitting around and watching the chaos unfold?”

He was referring to the documents that disappeared from the senior colonel’s office.

Anfield looked askance at him, his eyes not tinged with the usual coldness but was rather much gentler.

“There’s a coup happening within Syn tonight.” Seemingly afraid of disturbing the girl’s rest, his voice was soft, almost a whisper.

“I came to Oakvale to check on the status of the camp and to gather some necessary information for the department I belong to.” He went on, “If it succeeds, many things will change, including how prisoners are treated.”

“Looks like I was wrong about you.” Yu Feichen asked casually, “So, how did things turn out?”

Anfield answered, “I’m afraid I can’t say.”

Expecting his meticulousness, Yu Feichen changed the subject.

“What exactly was the future we saw in the camp?” He asked, “What do you think, Captain?”

“That’s already in the past,” Anfield answered, “Are you still thinking about it?”

Yu Feichen was frank. “I am.”

According to the system notice he heard in that strange space, he had only completed 86 percent of the camp’s deconstruction. It was just as unbearable as scoring 86 out of 100 in an exam. He had never encountered such a thing before and found it difficult to accept to the point where he was haunted by it.

“Perhaps what is presented every night is the everchanging future that we are meant to see.” Anfield’s voice was faint. “But there are always those who move beyond the expectations of time, so the future can only keep on changing.”

Yu Feichen could tell.

A moment ago, he had been slightly snarky with Anfield, and now it was Anfield’s turn to point his finger at him subliminally.

Forget it, he wasn’t going to get at him for that.

He leaned against the wagon wall. “Still, it’s strange.

“It feels split.”

Somewhere in the mundane world, something had gone wrong and the timeline was broken. He had never seen anything like it.

Anfield answered with a somewhat philosophical line.

“In many parts of the world, that’s what normal is.”

“Hm..” Yu Feichen wondered. “Are all young Syvians erudite like you?”

Not only was he knowledgeable, he was calm and collected as if he had seen such freakish occurrences countless times before.

This time, Anfield didn’t say, “Mind your own business”.

“Just like the Koroshan lawyers have to train in marksmanship and combat before they join the bar?” His articulation was both elegant and polite.

“No, actually,” Yu Feichen answered, unperturbed. “I trained at the air force academy for two years before switching to law.”

That was all Anfield said to him. Yu Feichen looked at him and found that the captain was looking at himself too, a vague play of amusement in his eyes.

Feeling confronted, he shifted his gaze downwards, where he noticed that light tear mole under his eyes again. Though, maybe it couldn’t be called that since it was so close to his eye, hanging right by the base of his lashes. Unless examined closely, it only seemed like his lower lashes were slightly denser.

But then again, it was indeed where a teardrop would first land as soon as it left the eye.

It added an unearthly calm and sorrow to Anfield’s otherwise expressionless, cold, and proud face.

Yu Feichen had no idea how to describe what he felt when he saw that look of sorrow on his face. He wanted to brush the mark away, but he also thought it was beautiful.

At that moment, the girl in Anfield’s arm stirred. While he looked down at her, Yu Feichen turned his gaze to the mountains and the forest outside of the wagon.

The silvery moonlight spilled over the snow-covered valley. Occasionally, a starling would perch on the trees, causing the snow to shake off the branches of the oak trees.

He stared for a long time, not out of some leisurely interest or the like, but the night felt so vastly empty that it was inevitably stirring.

When his eyes returned to the side, the girl in Anfield’s arms also fell back asleep.

At around the age of 6 or 7, the child was thin, but she couldn’t be that light.

Sighing, he eventually pulled the girl out from Anfield’s cloak and rested her against his own body.