RotA – Chapter 6

From the moment she returned to the Base, Chai Yuening had been by Chu Ci’s side, running around to handle her identity registration and see her back to her residence.

By the time everything was done and she was on the train back to the Sixth District, she realized she hadn’t even had time to eat all day.

When the train arrived, the electronic clock at the station exit displayed the current time: 22:31.

To save energy, the Base would cut residential power to the ten outer districts every night from 23:30 to 5:30 the next morning. As a result, most shops on the street, big and small, would close around ten-thirty.

The still-bright street no longer had any food for sale.

Of course, even if there were, she didn’t have a single cent on her.

Chai Yuening quickened her pace, hoping to get home before the power went out to cook something simple to fill her stomach.

As she walked, the small speakers, ubiquitous on the ceilings along the road, began to play a bedtime broadcast that Chai Yuening had practically memorized, just as they always did.

“The time is now twenty-three hundred hours. There are thirty minutes remaining until the power outage. Please arrange your electricity usage accordingly.”

“Sleeping early and waking early is beneficial to your health.”

“May you embrace sweet dreams tonight.”

As the gentle female voice faded, a soothing piano melody began to play.

Chai Yuening finally arrived at the foot of her apartment building.

She took out her key card in advance while in the elevator, mentally calculating what would be quickest to cook at this hour, when she spotted a pink thermos in a plastic bag at her door.

Chai Yuening swiped her door open, bent down to pick up the bag, and her eyes fell upon a small note.

“Yuening Jie, Du Xia gave me the watch. Thank you for getting it back for me. In the thermos is some vegetable and mushroom soup I stewed. I added a bit of ham that Lao Xiang had secretly stashed away. I brought it over this afternoon, so it should still be warm before nine. If it’s cold, be sure to heat it for a few minutes.”

Chai Yuening folded the note, closed the door, and carried the thermos into the kitchen.

The nights in the Base were quiet. Aside from the constantly running ventilation vents in every household, there were generally no other sounds.

Well-fed and well-rested, she slept peacefully through the night, waking to a brand new day.

Early the next morning, Chai Yuening washed the thermos until it was sparkling clean and took it with her to the team’s base.

It was not yet seven in the morning, but the team base was already lit.

The rolling shutter door was halfway open, and Chai Yuening ducked to enter.

By the small square table to the right, a girl in glasses sat in a wheelchair, a pen in one hand and a calculator in the other, diligently calculating the team’s expenses.

Chai Yuening walked straight over to the girl. Seeing the old, stopped watch already on the girl’s wrist, she couldn’t help but smile warmly as she placed the thermos on the table.

“I got back late last night, it was almost time for the power to go out. I was just worrying about what to eat. Thanks.”

“I should be the one thanking you, for getting my mother’s keepsake back… After so many years, I thought I’d never see it again.”

“What’s all this talk for? I just can’t stand seeing some bastard use something they found to blackmail people.” As Chai Yuening spoke, she was about to turn to other matters when she heard the person beside her speak in a low voice.

“Next time you go out, you have to take everyone with you. Don’t go alone again,” Ren Dong said. “Staying alive is more important than anything.”

Chai Yuening smiled upon hearing this. “There won’t be a next time, I promise you.”

At this, she suddenly remembered something. She turned back, leaned over to glance at the ledger on the table, and asked, “By the way, Ren Dong, did that batch of carapaces we took to the black market sell?”

“Boss You only gave me half the money the day before yesterday.” Ren Dong looked up, her expression serious. “She said… Luo Kun has been causing trouble lately, making the goods especially hard to sell.”

“Half is fine. Give me my share first,” Chai Yuening said, and as if afraid of being questioned further, she immediately changed the subject. “Next time you see You Lan, you can tell her Luo Kun is dead. He won’t be going to her place to cause trouble anymore.”

“Okay!” Ren Dong nodded. “As for the money, I just got it, so I need to log it in the accounts first.”

“No rush, you go ahead and calculate,” Chai Yuening said, turning to walk to the rolling shutter door. She gave it a hard push upward, opening it wide.

The light from outside spilled in. She raised her hands over her head, closed her eyes, and gave a big stretch.

It was as if she were greeting the morning light from the surface, not the streetlights of the Base.

Finally, she took down the wooden “Accepting Commissions” sign from outside the shutter door and tossed it into a corner of the modified garage.

Ren Dong looked back. “We’re not taking missions for a while?”

Chai Yuening grunted in affirmation. “Let’s rest for a bit. We’ll talk about things after the signal tower is retaken.”

In the Base, ordinary mercenary teams took jobs from civilians or went out to gather supplies to sell.

Elite mercenary teams were different; most of the time, they accepted commissions from the military and could receive a certain degree of military support during missions.

Although the rewards for such missions were much more handsome, the danger level was also much higher.

The surface had been too dangerous recently. What’s more, with the signal tower not yet retaken, the communicators only worked intermittently inside the Base and received no signal at all outside.

If something really happened, there would be no way to call the military for help.

Ren Dong was right. Staying alive was more important than anything.

“I’m heading out,” Chai Yuening said, walking to the door. She turned back with a smile. “When the others get here later, help me tell them they don’t need to be on standby for a while. They can go wherever they want.”

“Okay.”

With Ren Dong’s reply, Chai Yuening left the team base.

Perhaps it was because she had just been through a life-and-death trial that she suddenly felt a strong urge to give everyone a short break.

But she never would have imagined that she hadn’t even had a full half-month of these leisurely days—which, aside from scheduled training, consisted only of eating, drinking, and listening to the broadcast—before someone came to cause trouble for her.

It all started on the afternoon of the thirteenth day of their break.

In her small, Base-allocated apartment, Chai Yuening was lounging in a secondhand wooden rocking chair she had bought cheap from the black market. Like a retired old man, she listened to the Base broadcast with her eyes closed.

“The spring rains have been relentless recently, and the area covered by the Black Vines on the surface continues to expand. The fog brought by the Black Vines has allowed mutated beasts to move freely near the Base, repeatedly thwarting the plan to retake the signal tower. The estimated time for its recovery will be delayed by one week.”

“The construction and improvement of the main city’s simulated ecological zone has always been one of the Base’s highest priority projects.”

“With the optimization of the simulated ecological zone’s environment, the harvest of all types of crops in the Base this year has increased compared to previous years. The head of the Logistics Department has stated that once the technology stabilizes, the Base will expand the simulated ecological zone, striving to allow residents of the outer districts to also participate in animal husbandry and farming within ten years, achieving a path to collective prosperity through food diversification.”

“Thanks to the dedicated research of Dr. Ge Heguang, the Base’s infection detector has been upgraded once again, with higher calculation precision, faster detection speed, and a lower error rate.”

“The doctor stated that the Base must not only detect infections but also, in the near future, research and extract a serum capable of preventing infectious mutation. To this end, the doctor hopes the military can provide the research department with more ecological samples from the surface…”

Bzzzt—

With a burst of static, the communicator’s call signal rang out.

Chai Yuening stretched out her arm and picked up the communicator that had been sitting on the radio for the better part of a month.

“Captain…” Ren Dong’s voice came from the other end. “Are you free right now?”

“What’s wrong?”

“If you’re free, could you come to the detention center in the Seventh District?”

“Hmm?”

“Lu Qi… he’s in there…”

“…”

Ren Dong said that Lu Qi had gotten into a fight and was now being held by the security officers of the Seventh District.

This sort of situation wasn’t exactly a crime; usually, they’d be let out after ten days to half a month. But Lu Qi was terrified his brother-in-law would find out and was crying and screaming to be let out early.

For those locked in the detention center, you either got out when your time was up, or your family paid a fine and signed a letter of guarantee to get you out.

Ren Dong and Lao Xiang had pleaded with the security officer for a long time. The guy had even taken their money but still refused to release him, insisting that a family member had to come and sign the guarantee.

“Captain, Lao Xiang and I talked until our mouths were dry, but he just won’t give us any face. He said… he said if he’s really going to make an exception, you have to be the one to sign the guarantee. He said you’re on good terms with the military, so if the other party intentionally makes a fuss, it’ll be easier to resolve.”

“Got it,” Chai Yuening replied with a sigh. She threw on a jacket and hurried toward the Seventh District.

The Base’s Seventh District was the most lawless of the ten outer districts.

The so-called black market was located on two streets in the northern part of the Seventh District. Luo Kun, who had died half a month ago, had been the local kingpin of this area.

The black market was a chaotic mix of people and goods, with all sorts of things being bought and sold. Fights broke out every few days, and the security officers only dared to turn a blind eye.

But turning a blind eye didn’t mean they did nothing at all.

In the outer districts of the Base, everyone knew that the chief security officer of the Seventh District was a “reasonable and effective” official—when honest people made mistakes, they were arrested all the same.

Seventh District, inside the detention center.

Chai Yuening sat on a long bench in the corridor, her face a mask of displeasure.

Lu Qi, who had just been bailed out, stood before her with a bruised and swollen face, his arms bearing scratch marks.

He held his hands behind his back, his gaze wandering, clearly a little on edge.

“You have the guts to get into a fight, but not the guts to let your family know?”

“…”

“Who started it?”

“Me…”

“Why did you start it? Who did you hit?”

“I hit Luo Kun’s dogs!” Lu Qi’s eyes were full of defiance. “I wasn’t wrong! They said you were the one who got Luo Kun killed! They also said that two days before we set out, you argued with Luo Kun over something, and later Luo Kun asked for your help with a job, and as a result, a whole vehicle of his brothers died, but you came back just fine… They called you a murderer!”

Chai Yuening took a deep breath. The words of reprimand that had been on the tip of her tongue were suddenly stuck, unable to come out or be swallowed.

She was silent for a long time before patting Lu Qi on the shoulder.

“Let them talk. What does it matter if they say a few words?”

“But…”

“They only dare to run their mouths and throw punches at their own kind within the city districts, pulling the same old bullying crap,” Chai Yuening said. “Do you want to be like them?”

“I…”

“Let’s go. Time to go back,” Chai Yuening said, standing up.

She walked behind Ren Dong and pushed her wheelchair a few steps toward the detention center’s main entrance.

Looking back, she saw Lu Qi still standing in the same spot, looking as if he wanted to say something but was hesitating. She couldn’t help but stop as well.

She asked, “Is there something else?”

“Um, Captain… Inside, I saw a familiar face.”

“Hmm?”

“How about… you do me a favor and bail her out too?”

“You think our team has too much money, is that it?”

Chai Yuening rolled her eyes. She was no great Samaritan, spreading love everywhere she went.

Was she supposed to bail out every offender she came across?

…

Ten minutes later.

Ban Xiangming: “Captain Chai, this young lady is quite something. She’s someone Boss You ‘sent’ in. If you do this, it’ll be hard for me to answer to Boss You.”

Chai Yuening: “I know You Lan well. If she asks, just tell her to find me.”

“With your word, Captain Chai, I can rest easy,” Ban Xiangming replied, grinning as he gave his adjutant a look. “Take Captain Chai over in a bit.”

“Much appreciated.” Chai Yuening put down the pen and pushed the second letter of guarantee she had handled that day toward Ban Xiangming, the security officer across the desk.

Ban Xiangming: “Captain Chai, you really are a great philanthropist.”

Chai Yuening: “…”

Chai Yuening got up and walked out of Ban Xiangming’s office, following his young adjutant all the way to the door of the center’s collective detention cell.

The moment the door opened, she subconsciously glanced around inside.

But before she could find anyone, she felt an almost scorching gaze directed at her from somewhere within the cell.

She quickly looked in that direction.

There, in a corner, a small figure was curled up.

The light in the detention cell was too dim for her to see the person’s face clearly, but she immediately recognized those eyes—somewhat clouded, yet exceptionally beautiful.

“Chu Ci, come on out. Someone signed a letter of guarantee for you.”

The moment those words were heard, those clouded eyes seemed to light up in an instant.

---

Author’s Notes:

Question: What’s it like to bail your wife out of a detention center?

A certain Ms. Chai Yuening, who wishes to remain anonymous, stated: Thanks for the invite. This wife is a bit expensive; every meeting costs a fortune.