CH 38.1

Fourth Floor (16)

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

“The Moment Doctor Made His Move, Everything Was Over”

“Jian Si. Talk to me.” Ye Wang plonks himself down onto the chair. He’s clearly not in the best of moods.

Magician, meanwhile, slumps lazily into the chair behind him. After watching Ye Wang’s back for a couple of seconds, he moves his bored eyes over to Jian Si.

He knows exactly what Ye Wang is feeling——A sense of frustration from reversal of roles, a powerlessness at clearly superior foes, and… a fear born therein. Without a suitable outlet for these emotions, he is clearly on edge now. He could easily be pushed over it, too.

Still, it’s a good thing to be young. You are afforded the opportunity to throw a tantrum still.

After some idle thoughts, Magician quickly casts them aside to observe Jian Si.

The ‘Bunny’ that unexpectedly threw everyone’s plans into disarray.

Truly, there is no nickname more unfitting for him right now.

Jian Si has a chain across his wrists, connected straight to the back of the chair, forcing him to arch forward against the table.

It is definitely not a comfortable posture to be. Any average person would be squirming for relief in half an hour or so, yet Bunny, who was just another average person – or even less so – a few days ago, has not shown any remarkable reaction to it for almost an hour now.

Jian Si is quiet. He has kept his silence since he was apprehended at Black Glove’s scene of death. He confessed to killing Black Glove, and then said no more.

Magician tilts his head at Bunny a little. It seems the innocent rabbit has adapted to Stargaol once and for all.

“Speak.” Ye Wang slams the desk, annoyed, “don’t act dead on me. You confessed to the killing, so spill out everything already.”

Jian Si moves his gaze onto Ye Wang. He is cold and silent, rendering his normally innocent appearance sharper in turn, like a blade that threatens to slice at a mere touch. Those that shine best under death and blood.

“How did you kill Black Glove? Why did you kill Black Glove?” Ye Wang couldn’t care less what Jian Si looks like. He is focused on one thing only, “was it Doctor?”

Jian Si’s face finally changes. He blinks, like someone suddenly coming to life, adding a tinge of agility to the sharp blade, becoming ever more alluring to those who see.

He murmurs to himself, “Doctor?”

A reaction. Ye Wang quickly springs to action, “yes. Did he order you to do this?”

“You were talking to him alone previously. Did he…” Ye Wang couldn’t finish his question.

As Jian Si interrupts him after snapping out of his slow trance, “where is he?”

Ye Wang furrows his brow at Jian Si. While Jian Si was calm as oceans frozen over, then now, the underwater volcano has erupted, shattering the ice with countless emotions. Suddenly, there is both fear and fearlessness.

One commonality is shared by both these states, though – they both do not seem like normal mental states to be.

Ye Wang straightens himself and knocks on the table, “you don’t seem to understand what’s going on here.”

“You killed a prisoner.” Ye Wang stresses, “this will only severely penalise your evaluation, sending you to the fifth floor. Do you know what kind of place the fifth floor is?”

Jian Si’s only reply is, “where is the Doctor?”

“It is Hell. Truly, Hell on Earth. Someone like you there would only disappear overnight without even allowing us to recover a body.”

“Where is the Doctor?”

He repeatedly asks, as if he couldn’t hear Ye Wang at all.

Ye Wang is already on edge, and Jian Si blatantly taking him for a fool simply snaps his taut nerves. He lifts his baton above Jian Si.

“Ye Wang.” Magician calls out.

The baton stops just inches above Jian Si’s head.

Jian Si blinks, his eyes pausing on the baton for a few seconds, before looking away in disinterest. This whole time, the chain tying him didn’t make a single clink.

“Magician. You aren’t going to tell me to cool it?” Ye Wang is holding his baton steady while speaking, “I thought the fifth floor wasn’t the floor of keeping to the rules completely?”

“Not really.” Magician reminds him from the chair, “but we do not employ such means, that’s true.”

Ye Wang lifts a brow.

Even though he is sitting behind Ye Wang, it is like he sees exactly what Ye Wang’s look is. He continues with a hint of amusement, “because it’s a sure-fire way to die.”

Ye Wang looks closely at Jian Si. Sure-fire way to die?

“The fifth-floor prison officers are not the ones in charge, you see.” Magician says with a dramatically troubled tone, “resorting to violence against the prisoners means you’ll be dead before you knew what happened.”

“Don’t simply see the little Bunny for a little harmless bunny.” Magician props his chin on his arm, “what if Doctor learns of this?”

Ye Wang puts his baton away while looking back at Magician, “let’s say he does. Then what?”

“Don’t you already know the answer?” Magician is looking at the baton placed nearby.

Ye Wang looks back at Jian Si, then heads outside.

Magician gives Jian Si a smile before following.

The door to the interrogation room is shut. Ye Wang walks into the room next door, and looks at Magician with a troubled look on his face.

Magician still looks as flashy as ever, “well? What can I do for you?”

“When you came to the fourth floor, we agreed that you are only to observe Doctor. Why are you intervening?” Ye Wang puts it bluntly, “what, you have thoughts on the fourth floor Coordinator position?”

Magician pushes down his non-existent cap, while quite dramatically refutes, “you are misunderstanding. I am definitely not disputing your authority as a Coordinator.”

Ye Wang raises his brow, “you’ve been far too talkative thus far.”

Magician explains, “because, you have been courting death again and again for a while now.”

“I am simply doing my job.” Magician sighs, “since you do know what I am here for.”

Ye Wang really wants to refute his account of him ‘courting death,’ but after thinking for a few seconds, he realises he has nothing to say——Anything having to do with the Doctor is terribly dangerous. There is no question about it.

Any misstep may cost him his life——In that sense, he was certainly courting death.

Even so, he cannot simply bring himself to accept Doctor’s provocations and disrespect.

Openly breaking his promise, defying the Coordinator of the fourth floor, killing Black Glove, completely ruining all the plans in place. What gives Jiang Yiyi the courage to do so?

His open defiance only serves to instigate a retaliatory response – to ‘test his waters,’ if you will.

How strong could he be? What can he truly achieve? Is he really undefeatable?

Magician sees Ye Wang the same way one would be impressed by the hubris of youth.