Heroic Death System Chapter 33-34

Shang Ke peeked outside through the small crack between the supply boxes. There were six to seven figures not too far from them, gradually approaching in their search. The surroundings were filled with junk of varying sizes. There were empty boxes, discarded parts, and some disorderly trash.

Although the light was a bit murky at the moment, they would be spotted immediately if they ran out from behind the pile of junk. However, even if they continued to hide, they likely would still be unable to escape the fate of being caught.

Shang Ke needed to make sure that Feng Juan and him would not be caught before the police arrived. Otherwise, that group of people would be completely unmerciful. Although he knew martial arts, he had the body of a child. With his current height, power, speed, and so on, he was unable to contend with an adult. The only strength he could count on was his flexibility.

Watching the people coming closer and closer, Shang Ke whispered to the child in his arms, “Stay here and don’t move. I’ll draw those people away.”

Feng Juan grasped Shang Ke’s hand tightly. Even though he did not speak a single word, it was quite clear that he was refusing.

Shang Ke twisted his hand and easily broke free from Feng Juan’s hold, repeating himself, “Stay here and don’t move!” Then, he bent over and squeezed out of the box to go to the other side and hide. Halfway through, he “very uncarefully” kicked a bottle.

“Over there! Get him!” A deep voice shouted, followed by the sounds of footsteps.

Shang Ke didn’t even look back, and just used his ears to make out the situation behind him.

One, two, three… there was a total of five people chasing him.

Five? Shang Ke’s heart sank. There were seven people searching for them, so if only five of them were following him, then the remaining two… Shang Ke glanced back, and as expected, there were two hovering around the area Feng Juan that was hiding in.

Not good!

Shang Ke took a sharp turn and dodged a man who threw himself at him. He sprinted through the messy junk like a wildcat.

“There’s another one here,” A man said as he crudely picked Feng Juan up.

Feng Juan struggled nonstop, a small beast-like growl pouring from his throat.

“d.a.m.n it, this group of kids are so troublesome,” Another man said as he raised the rod in his hand, striking down at Feng Juan’s head.

Feng Juan’s eyes were wide with fear and despair, along with a faint trace of unwillingness toward his fate.

Right at this moment of crisis, a small figure suddenly dashed out and smashed against the man with all his might, causing the man to stagger from the impact.

After Shang Ke landed, he did not pause before leaping powerfully, aiming straight at the wrist of the man who was holding Feng Juan.

The man released his grip in pain.

Feng Juan fell to the ground, and was seized and pulled up before he could come to his senses. Shang Ke dragged him, evading the traffickers as he ran for the exit.

Feng Juan’s arm was almost pulled out of its socket as he followed in Shang Ke’s crude escape. However, the valiant figure of the small person in front of him left a deep impression in his heart.

“This is the police, don’t move!”

The saviors Shang Ke were waiting for had finally arrived! A large group of policemen quickly rushed over from the side.

“Sh*t!”

Someone cursed behind them, followed by a string of gunshots.

Shang Ke suddenly noticed that a couple bullets were clearly aiming for them, so he immediately dragged Feng Juan down. Unfortunately, he was still a step too slow, and his shoulder and right leg were shot. The bullet that went through his shoulder also hit Feng Juan’s left arm.

The two of them fell to the ground together, their blood mixing.

“Rescue support please come here, there are two children who were hit by the bullets!”

A burst of clamor erupted from the side, and Shang Ke felt someone pick him up. Knowing that they were safe, he relaxed and lost consciousness.

Two days later, Shang Ke woke up to the distinct sterile scent of the hospital. His shoulder and leg were bandaged, while his hand was connected to an IV drip.

Turning his head, he saw Feng Juan lying on the hospital bed next to him. He was asleep deeply and did not appear to be seriously injured. They avoided his legs becoming disabled.

“These children are so pitiful, especially that older one. His body was so full of injuries, he must have been abused for at least four to five months.” At this moment, a female voice could be heard from outside the room. She was speaking in English, which Shang Ke was rather proficient in it. After all, English was an essential language when trying to learn computer languages.

“How are their situations?” another woman asked.

“We still need to observe them for a couple of days, but they are stable for now.”

The door to the sickroom was opened, a few people walking in. When they saw that Shang Ke was awake, they paused for a moment before immediately smiling in a comforting manner, and slowly approached his bed.

“Child, are you alright?” a somewhat older man greeted Shang Ke with a smile. He looked at Shang Ke’s delicate features and clear eyes and secretly praised, He really is such a pretty child.

Shang Ke only stared at them, and did not speak.

The woman next to the man suddenly realized, “Detective Rowan, he isn’t from the UK. He likely can’t understand English.”

“They should be Asian, but we don’t know whether they’re Chinese or j.a.panese.” Rowan paused, before using some shoddy Chinese to say to Shang Ke, “h.e.l.lo.”

Shang Ke nodded toward him.

After finding out his nationality, Rowan immediately had the policewoman beside him go to find someone who knew Chinese.

They had been unable to catch the operation’s mastermind this time, so they wanted to obtain some clues from the two children.

“Detective, they just experienced a disaster. I hope you guys will not frighten them,” the female doctor reminded them.

“Of course,” Rowan guaranteed. He had seen the two children’s injuries with his own eyes, and he also felt quite a bit of sympathy. However, this matter was rather urgent. If they let the mastermind get away now, then it was unknown when they would get another chance to catch them.

After a moment, a middle-aged man in his forties entered the room. After greeting the other people in the room, he walked to Shang Ke’s bed and gently asked him in Chinese, “h.e.l.lo, I am Professor Ramson. What is your name?”

Shang Ke did not reply, but rather, he turned his head to look towards Feng Juan.

“Ah!” Feng Juan’s breathing suddenly quickened in his sleep, and he appeared to be in a lot of pain.

The female doctor hurried over to check on his body’s condition.

Feng Juan struggled for a while before waking up, his face pale and sweaty.

When everyone saw Feng Juan’s reaction, they did not think that it was strange. Rather, looking back at Shang Ke, they now realized his anomaly. Wasn’t this child too calm? From the time he had woken until now, he hadn’t shown any confusion or fear.

Feng Juan looked around fearfully until he saw Shang Ke on the other bed. He relaxed a bit, before struggling to get out of the bed in order to go to Shang Ke.

The female doctor quickly stopped him so that he wouldn’t himself more. She had thought that it would take more effort to stop him, but Feng Juan did not insist her and quickly calmed down. He merely stared vigilantly at them, so intensely that they became a bit fearful.

Rowan and the others were flabbergasted. They felt that the children they saved this time were both rather different from normal.

After confirming that their situation was stable, Professor Ramson began to speak, asking some simple questions. In the end, the result was that one remained silent and did not speak while the other one spoke but did not give details.

The female doctor pointed at Feng Juan and said, “This child’s memory might have some holes due to the fright he received.” Then she looked toward Shang Ke, hesitantly saying, “There is no problem with his ability to speak. It should just be a temporary loss of speech.”

Rowan and the others all looked at each other, a trace of helplessness flas.h.i.+ng through their eyes.

“Looks like we won’t be able to get any clues from them,” the policewoman said with a bitter smile.

Shang Ke looked at them. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell them, but in consideration of his small life, he temporarily could not talk to them about it.

According to the information supplied by the System, this underground organization was very large and powerful. Additionally, they had some moles in the police force. The group of people caught by the police was just some bait they had thrown out. They likely hadn’t caught anyone who had any useful information.

Shang Ke did not know who the mole was, but he knew that the organization had been active for more than ten years until Feng Juan eventually came to power and thoroughly collapsed them.

If he leaked out even a bit of information, what would follow would likely be endless a.s.sa.s.sination attempts on his and Feng Juan’s lives.

When the group had switched routes, they saw the big shot behind the scenes just once. Although it was just a glance, it left a deep impression in the original’s memory. Even the fragments of information that the police could get from them would be enough for the organization to send someone to kill them.

The mission that the System released this time was to protect Feng Juan until he was twenty-two.

Shang Ke had previously thought it was just a normal nanny mission, and felt that he was really too naive…

The police were unable to get any information from the two children, nor were they able to find out their ident.i.ties. As thus, they could only notify the emba.s.sy and have it investigate.

Shang Ke already knew that the final result of the investigation would be fruitless. They simply could not find out their ident.i.ties.

The original Bruno was a child from a mountain village that was so small that even the population wasn’t recorded. He had been mistreated by his father since he was young, and finally ran away from home when he couldn’t take it anymore. He had wandered aimlessly until he was caught by the children traffickers.

On the other hand, Feng Juan was born into into a family with a serious internal power struggle. His older brother had been killed, and he himself had gone missing while being sent elsewhere. The political situation became worse after that, and with the Feng Family’s greatly diminished strength they did not have energy to take care of other matters. They were only able to regroup after five years, but by then, they had completely lost any information on Feng Juan.

During the days that they stayed in the hospital to recover, Shang Ke and Feng Juan were treated well. There was a specialized doctor and psychiatrists, along with all sorts of entertainment for children.

Detective Rowan seemed to really like them, and although he was unable to obtain any clues from them, he still visited them frequently. Even though Feng Juan did not look kindly upon him, and Shang Ke remained silent the entire time, he was not discouraged.

Nothing strange happened during this period of time, so Shang Ke guessed that those people had probably relaxed their guard against them. However, he still did not take the risk to tell Detective Rowan any information, even though he knew that Detective Rowan would be the main person in charge when those people are eliminated in the future. It was a pity that he was too concerned about them and frequently got in contact with them, so it made it harder for Shang Ke to say anything.

After half a month of recovery, Feng Juan’s injury had pretty much completely healed.

However, the injury on Shang Ke’s left leg was somewhat inconvenient, and even after it completely healed, he would still be unable to do any strenuous actions. It just wouldn’t hinder his everyday walking.

“Ke Ke, don’t worry, I will stay by your side forever.” Feng Juan had lost his past memories, so the boy before him was now his only memory.

Shang Ke nodded with a kind smile. His hand held Feng Juan’s right hand, and he softly brushed the mole on the hollow of his palm.

From here on they will know each other, and from now on, they will protect each other.

He hadn’t been able to stay together with this person in his past three worlds. In this life, he did not want to give up again. There was still sixteen years until Feng Juan would be twenty-two. He had to protect him for sixteen years, which to him was a luxury.

By the time their injuries had finally healed, the emba.s.sy was still unable to find information on their ident.i.ties. As such, the local government decided to send them to the social welfare center, and have them live their lives in this foreign country.

When they were finally checking out of the hospital, Detective Rowan personally came by to send them away. He spoke cheerfully the entire way, even though the two of them said nothing.

When they were at the entrance to the social welfare center, Rowan felt a bit reluctant to part with them.

Shang Ke wore the small bookbag he had given him, and suddenly used English to tell him, “Thank you.”

He then turned and entered the social welfare center hand in hand with Feng Juan.

Rowan paused, staring as the two small figures walking away before finally realizing something. Not only could this child speak, he… could also understand English?

As such, his silence all this time had been on purpose?

Chapter 34: Let Me Protect You (II)

The social welfare organization for children that Shang Ke and Feng Juan had entered was located on the southwest coast of the UK. Including them, there were twenty-one orphans. Although the residence’s conditions were normal, it had all the necessary facilities. Not only were there specialized nurses, but there were also psychiatrists and social workers who periodically came to check on the orphans’ living circ.u.mstances.

Shang Ke and Feng Juan’s circ.u.mstances were particularly special as they had been illegally kidnapped abroad and their ident.i.ties were not confirmed. They would not be able to enter the adoption system for a year. In other words, they could only live in the orphanage for a year, and even if someone wanted to adopt them, they could only wait until the next year.

A large portion of the orphans within the orphanage were disabled to some degree. As two healthy and attractive boys, Shang Ke and Feng Juan were like cranes in a flock of chicken.

The dean gave them a small room, with four beds along with sets of sheets . Only two of the beds had their sheets done, while the other two were empty.

“Children, this will be your room. Do you two like it?” the dean said to Shang Ke and Feng Juan with a smile.

Feng Juan held Shang Ke’s hand, his face stiff as he remained mute.

Shang Ke raised his head and smiled at her, saying, “We like it a lot. Thank you dean.”

He had spoken in Chinese, and although the dean didn’t understand his words, she roughly understood his meaning.

After she had them settled in, she spoke a few words before leaving.

Shang Ke pulled Feng Juan into the room and closed the door behind them. He turned around and smiled at him. “We will live here from now on.”

Feng Juan watched as he set his bookbag by the bed, before spreading out on the bed. His relaxed appearance dissipated much of his uneasy mood.

Feng Juan laid down beside Shang Ke, tilting his head to gaze at his smile. He felt that, so long as he accompanied Shang Ke, there was nothing to be afraid of.

“Ke Ke, can I sleep with you at night?” Feng Juan looked at the bed on the opposite side of the room with some loathing.

“Alright.” Shang Ke spread out his arms to check the width of the bed and laughed. “This bed is large enough for the two of us to sleep together.”

A large smile immediately bloomed on Feng Juan’s face.

Shang Ke couldn’t resist the urge and pinched his cheeks, praising, “Not bad. Smile more often, or your face will become stuck.”

With his three worlds of experience, he felt that the reason why this guy became a cold face Yama was because of his facial muscles’ lack of use in his childhood.

Feng Juan gave Shang Ke a glance before turning his head away, no longer paying attention to him.

That night, Feng Juan got into Shang Ke’ bedsheets right after was.h.i.+ng up. The two of them stuck close together, and their first night at the orphanage pa.s.sed smoothly.

Their life at the orphanage wasn’t as dry and dull as they had imagined.

Because of the language barrier, the dean arranged another teacher to teach them English in addition to their regular lessons. This teacher’s name was Rima, a woman of over forty. She wasn’t one of the orphanage’s staff members, but a volunteer.

When she first landed eyes on Shang Ke and Feng Juan, Rima took a liking to them. Originally, she was only in charge of teaching them English, but later on she monopolized all of their courses.

Rima noticed that the two of them had a lot of individuality. One was often silent, but was clever and polite. Once he smiled, it was like feeling a warm wind in spring. The other was cold and serious, and there was always some vigilance in his eyes. However, he was very diligent, and his ability to learn was very strong.

Perhaps it was because of their past experiences, but the two of them held mature airs that children their age did not have.

With Rima’s care, Shang Ke and Feng Juan’s life at the orphanage was simple, yet rich. Unfortunately,  this sort of simplicity was destroyed a month later.

Shang Ke and Feng Juan were helping by cleaning up the lawn’s trash when he suddenly felt two intense gazes aimed at them. His brow jumped a little before he calmly looked around him, without leaking his intentions. He discovered the figure of someone das.h.i.+ng past the outside of the courtyard.

Shang Ke frowned a little, a trace of doubt arising in his heart. Perhaps those people still hadn’t relaxed their guard against them? They were just two children. Did they need to be so guarded?

The following two days, Shang Ke repeatedly saw a suspicious figure, and he could finally confirm his guess.

According to the original developments, the original Bruno was adopted by a family not even a year later, so he did not know whether Feng Juan had been attacked afterwards. The System also did not give such information. But from the looks of it, he had experienced a series of unexpected accidents in his childhood.

If his guess was correct, then they could not continue to stay at the orphanage. This was not just for Feng Juan, but it was also for the other people in the orphanage.

Shang Ke borrowed the dean’s phone and made a call to Detetive Rowan.

“Shang, I didn’t think that you would call me.” Rowan’s tone was very light and spirited as he asked, “Did you miss me?”

Shang Ke only replied with one line, “Detective Rowan, I think we are being monitored by someone.”

That very afternoon, Rowan sent out a couple people in civilian clothing to guard the outside of the orphanage, and they really found a suspicious person. However, when they wanted to follow him, that person managed to escape and did not reappear for several days.

But this did not mean that Shang Ke and Feng Juan were safe. After informing the higher ups, Rowan took the two children away from the orphanage and had them live at his own house.

Rowan did not understand why that organization watched the two children so much and refused to let them go. Even if they knew something, they likely wouldn’t be able to offer much useful information. They were young and wouldn’t remember much, not to mention the language barrier.

Just what were those people worried about?

“Shang, since you can understand English, could you tell us everything you know?” Rowan seriously looked at Shang Ke.

“I don’t know what to tell you guys.” Shang Ke and Feng Juan sat together on one chair, surrounded by five to six adults.

When Rowan and the others heard his fluent english, their eyes twitched.

“Can you talk about where you came from?”

“I am a street urchin.” One line prevented them from digging any deeper into his history.

“Who did you learn your english from?” Rowan asked again.

“A wandering performing artist from the UK,” Shang Ke replied without even a change in his expression. “I lived with him for a period of time.”

“What about Feng Juan?” Rowan moved his sight to Feng Juan.

Feng Juan understood his question and replied, “Besides my name, I don’t remember anything else.”

Professor Ramson translated for them.

Rowan rubbed his brows. If he didn’t know that the two sitting before him were children, he would almost believe that they were lying.

“Shang, how long did you guys stay on the boat? Who did you guys see, or did anything special happen?” Rowan went back to questioning them.

Shang Ke seriously thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“Don’t be impatient.” Rowan crouched by Shan Ke and gently said, “Shang, close your eyes.”

Shang Ke slowly closed his eyes.

“Alright, let’s think back about it.” Rowan’s tone was light as he slowly said, “You and the other children are together on a boat, shut in a room. The surroundings are pitch black…”

Shang Ke was not a real child and naturally knew that Rowan was trying to guide his memory. He searched through the original’s memory for a moment, and then his body went stiff.

A narrow, sealed room, crowded, muggy air, foul smells. The rocking of the s.h.i.+p, someone vomiting, someone losing control of their bladder or bowels, someone groaning in pain… a different boy or girl being taken away every day, and when they returned, they would be injured all over, to the point that they didn’t look human. And, some never returned.

As if he could suddenly feel the original’s despair and fear, he opened his eyes, covered in a layer of mist. He stared at them silently, as if saying, Please, don’t ask again.

He didn’t shed any tears, but it gave everyone the feeling as though he was silently crying.

“Don’t ask anymore!” Feng Juan swiftly got up and coldly said, “We don’t know anything!”

They stared at the children blankly, some awkward, some apologetic, and the questioning naturally did not continue.

After everyone left, Rowan awkwardly asked the two children, “Are you guys hungry? What do you guys want to eat? I can go order something.”

Rowan was a bachelor, discernable with just one look at his messy and trash-filled house. They really wanted to know how his commanding officer allowed him to take the two children back with him. Was he not afraid that he would lead them to their deaths?

Shang Ke calmed his mind for a moment before speaking, “I saw a supermarket close by on the way here. Why don’t we go buy some ingredients and cook ourselves?”

“Ugh, I can’t cook too well.” He didn’t care if he ate the food he makes himself, but if he fed it to the two kids, they would probably have food poisoning for a few days.

“I can.” Shang Ke sincerely expressed, “To thank you for your care, let me take care of the meals in the future.”

“You?” Rowan looked at him with an expression of doubt.

After Shang Ke made a grand dinner, Rowan could only be dumbstruck and happy beyond words as he accepted this “delicious” reality.

Not only that, but Shang Ke also thoroughly cleaned Rowan’s doghouse. In just two hours, it was completely refreshed, and ready for new life.

Rowan felt that he could hear his house crying tears of joy…

“The water’s done. You guys can come in and take a bath,” Rowan called out from the bathroom. All the household duties were taken care of by Shang Ke, so he might as well prepare the bath.

Two children who appeared carved from jade quickly appeared in front of Rowan, and he suddenly thought to himself that raising a couple children like these seemed pretty good.

Feng Juan was cold like always, and took his clothes off without hesitation. He stepped into the bathtub, before sitting on one side and waiting for Shang Ke.

Shang Ke also took off his s.h.i.+rt, revealing his thin body.

Rowan was just about to leave the bathroom when he caught sight of his body from the corner of his eyes, and immediately froze on the spot. On that small body were all sorts of scars. There were those of burns, whips, knives, as well as other unrecognizable scars.

Rowan had already seen the picture of his scars from the hospital, but seeing it in person, he felt more emotional. This child had suffered unimaginable torment before. All of his scars were like an accusation of the world’s cruelty.

“Detective Rowan, what’s wrong?” Shang Ke raised his head to gaze at the frozen Rowan.

Rowan looked into his eyes. They didn’t contain any resentment or timidness, but were pure and beautiful.

“Ke Ke.” Feng Juan placed his hands on the edge of the bathtub and stared relentlessly at Rowan, thinking to himself, Vulgar Uncle, haven’t you seen enough! Hurry up and get out!

Shang Ke heard Feng Juan call for him and did not bother with Rowan anymore. He ran over to bathe with Feng Juan.

The two of them helped each other wash their backs and hair, happily busy.

Rowan faintly smiled at the sight and left the bathroom.

The next day, Rowan arranged for another police officer to protect the two of them, before taking Shang Ke’s delicious breakfast and rus.h.i.+ng to the police department. In the past, he would either not eat breakfast or just randomly eat something to settle his stomach. Now that he had Shang Ke, he suddenly felt that life was wonderful.

Shang Ke obtained Rowan’s consent to freely use the computer in his study. As such, the first thing he did after eating breakfast was to open the computer and check its configuration and internet information.

Shang Ke only had intermediate level hacker skills, and could barely be called an expert. However, he now discovered how superior his skills were, as this world’s technical knowledge was behind his by seven years. Seven years within the field of technology was a difference of heaven and earth.

For example, in Shang Ke’s eyes, the computer’s firewall had hundreds of holes. If he exploited these leaks, then he could easily hack into another person’s computer. Of course, large companies or a division related to the government would be much more difficult to slip into.

Shang Ke did not plan to exploit his ability in order to cause trouble online. He only wanted to create a protective umbrella for him and Feng Juan, gathering all the information he could on their enemies and covering their traces from the internet’s monitoring.