Chapter Six: Unexpected
Old Sun thought too much.
After boarding the train, School Belle Sun had no chance to stay with Chen Nuo.
A few girls dragged School Belle Sun into a hard sleeper carriage.
And Chen · Volunteer · Nuo stayed in another carriage with Worker Liu.
In those days, there were no high-speed trains, only the green-skinned express trains.
Though they were called express, they were not fast at all.
Traveling from Jinling to Yanbian took a full day and night.
Luckily, the education company sponsoring the event provided a decent budget to create a good impression, so everyone had a hard sleeper ticket instead of enduring hard seats.
After all, the event was conducted under the banner of quality education exchange. Making a bunch of adolescents endure a day and night in hard seats would have been tantamount to abuse.
Moreover, there were leaders from the education bureau among the group.
Their image had to be maintained.
Of course, the leaders were, naturally, in soft sleeper compartments.
"Hey, Chen, go fetch some water, and tidy up the luggage in the corridor. My bag has a camera in it; be careful with it when you move it. You absolutely must not drop it!" Worker Liu lay down on the hard sleeper and started giving orders to Chen Nuo.
Turning his head to look, he saw the guy already lying on another hard sleeper, pulling out a novel from his backpack to flip through.
"Hey? I'm talking to you."
Chen Nuo put down the book, looked at Worker Liu with a smile, and said, "Teacher Liu, I'm here to travel, not to work as a coolie. Might there be some confusion here?"
"..." Worker Liu was taken aback. "You?! You're a volunteer, and the meaning of a volunteer is..."
"Teacher Liu, I've paid you the group travel fee. If you're not satisfied, could you give me a receipt? Or... perhaps you can talk to the team leader and have me kicked out of the exchange group at the next station? I'll get off there and head back to school on my own?"
"... You're pretty ruthless, kid!"
Kicking someone out was out of the question.
A student's publicly-funded trip meant that no matter how mischievous or troublesome they were, the school and teachers had to either endure or manage... under no circumstances could they abandon a child in an unfamiliar place and make them go home alone.
Let alone Worker Liu, even if his boss were here, they wouldn't dare to do so, not even the principal.
Not to mention that there was a leader from the education bureau with the group. To dare to do such an outrageous act would mean the end of the restructuring process. To mistreat a student like that would result in the immediate revocation of the school's accreditation!
Watching Worker Liu struggle to find words, Chen Nuo smiled amiably. "Don't be angry, Teacher Liu. We're all away from home. I paid money to travel. You would think the same way if it were you. Let's all get along, shall we?"
While speaking, Chen Nuo took a pack of Yuxi cigarettes from his pocket and threw it to Worker Liu.
Worker Liu's mood improved slightly as he fumbled for a cigarette and lit up (don't be surprised, in those early days, you could sneak a smoke in the Green Train carriages by opening a window).
He had hardly taken a puff when the acrid, throat-burning taste shattered Worker Liu's composure!
WOC!
Offering money and a smile when asking for a favor was one thing. But to turn hostile once on board!
That was bad enough!
But the damn cigarette he was given to smoke turned out to be a fake!!
Are you even human!!
Of course, Chen Nuo wouldn't be so lacking in emotional intelligence; he was just testing Worker Liu's limits, laying the groundwork for the days to come.
There wasn't much to say about a day and night on a train, and it was impossible for anything romantic to occur with School Belle Sun...
The entire group, consisting of dozens of students and seven or eight teachers, was crammed into one carriage, jabbering away. There wasn't much room for romance.
When they arrived at Yanbian, it was deep into the night. School Belle Sun had probably never taken such a long train journey, and she felt a bit wobbly getting off. What was I thinking, joining this group... was it just for that boy? But he probably doesn't even know...
Just as she had this thought, Chen Nuo had already swiftly picked up the luggage case next to School Belle Sun, and before she could react, a can of coke was stuffed into her hand.
Looking up, Chen Nuo had already strode ahead.
The bitterness vanished! Instantly gone!
Watching Chen Nuo's retreating figure, a smile touched the corners of School Belle Sun's lips. She opened the can and took a sip.
Mm, sweet!
Worker Liu watched everything from start to finish and suddenly had an epiphany! What the hell kind of publicly funded travel group is this? This kid came here to pick up girls, didn't he?!!
Then, two hours later, he realized he was wrong again!
"What!! You want to split from the group?!!" Worker Liu exclaimed in shock.
This was a double room, which Worker Liu and Chen Nuo shared.
The guesthouse near the school was a bit shabby, but it was still clean and safe.
"Yes, come up with a way to cover for me. It's just four days, after all."
"Four days!!!" Worker Liu's pitch rose by two octaves! He glared fiercely at Chen Nuo. "Impossible! Don't even think about it! Leave the group? For four days? If anything happens, how can I possibly take that kind of responsibility! You want to get me killed, don't you!!"
Chen Nuo looked steadily at Worker Liu and then silently pulled out a phone. An Alcatel.
This was a second-hand phone that Chen Nuo had bought for two hundred yuan from the mobile phone market. Don't doubt it; it was that cheap. In those days, Alcatel was also considered a well-known phone brand, and they weren't expensive. During promotions, a new one was just over six hundred yuan and even came with a hundred yuan's worth of credit.
Chen Nuo played a recording. A voice, his own, said:
"Teacher Liu, I gave you the group payment. If you're not satisfied, could you give me an invoice? Or… talk to the team leader and have them kick me out of the travel group at the next stop? I can get off there and go back to the school myself?"
"... Kid, you're pretty ruthless!"
After the playback ended, Worker Liu's face changed!
"You little bastard, you're setting me up!!"
Chen Nuo smiled.
"Kid, you think just because you record some crap, I'll..."
Chen Nuo smiled.
"I'm not easily scared! Believe it or not, I'll report you for trying to leave the group right now!"
Chen Nuo smiled.
"Don't mess around! This kind of thing is mutually destructive. It's bad for both of us..."
Chen Nuo smiled.
…
"Student Chen, it wasn't easy for me to get this job. Please don't get me into trouble, alright?"
"If you really want to go out and have fun, just go out and stroll around. In the evening, walk around the nearby streets, snack on some street food. How about that?" Worker Liu gritted his teeth and pulled out two hundred-yuan bills from his wallet. "Whatever you want to eat, my treat. Don't cause trouble, Student Chen."
Chen Nuo took the money and put it into his own pocket.
Then… he continued smiling.
"You really won't yield to persuasion or pressure, huh!! If the gentle approach doesn't work, you're forcing me to use harsh methods, is that it!!"
Chen Nuo let out a sigh.
A minute later, Worker Liu, his head pressed to the ground, pleaded, "I was wrong, Student Chen, please let me go, I beg you!"
Chen Nuo retracted his foot, helped Worker Liu to his feet, kindly patted the dust off his clothes, and helped him sit down.
"Old Liu, why bother?" Chen Nuo said with a smile. "I'm not discussing it with you; I'm just informing you that I'm leaving the group. As for covering things up, I believe you can handle it. There are always more solutions than difficulties! My presence in the group isn't strong. From the time we set off, I've intentionally stayed in the same carriage with you and haven't talked with classmates. It's no exaggeration to say that many students and teachers in the group probably haven't even noticed I'm here."
"But, but that's still not okay! We have to take attendance every day."
"Just make up an excuse. After all, you're the one responsible for the headcount. If someone asks about me, just make an excuse and say you sent me out to buy something." Chen Nuo gently patted Worker Liu's shoulder and smiled. "Alright, I'm off now. The rest is up to you."
"What?? You're leaving now?!" Worker Liu jumped up.
Then he watched, wide-eyed, as Chen Nuo pulled open the door and left.
"Good luck, worker."
"..."
THUMP. Worker Liu collapsed onto the sofa.
Chen Nuo, when it comes to acting like a decent human being, you don't do a single thing, do you!
While going downstairs, Chen Nuo ran into School Belle Sun and a few other girls.
"Where are you going? The teacher said we have to stay in the guesthouse during breaks and are not allowed to go out," School Belle Sun said, lifting her chin slightly.
"I'm going out to use the bathroom."
"Huh? Isn't there a bathroom in your room?"
"Teacher Liu has diarrhea and is occupying it. I'm going out to find a public restroom."
After speaking, Chen Nuo quickly waved his hand and went downstairs.
A question caught in School Belle Sun's throat, but before she could voice it, his figure was already out of sight.
Forget it. I was going to ask if he wanted to come see our rehearsal tomorrow. Oh well, I'll ask tomorrow.
School Belle Sun thought naively.
「Thirty-six hours later.」
At a certain location along the border between North Goryeo and South Korea.
After the sweep of the searchlights, a figure quickly crawled across the ground before stopping and silently waiting.
After the next sweep of the searchlights, the figure sprang up. Following a series of serpentine movements and tactical actions, after a sprint of several dozen meters, he made a final leap, landing in front of a row of barbed wire.
Chen Nuo exhaled, lying on the ground motionless, quietly counting in his mind.
After counting to thirty, he confirmed that nothing in the vicinity had been disturbed.
That had been a close call.
Despite being as careful as possible, he had almost run into a hidden sentry post.
After neutralizing the hidden sentry, Chen Nuo casually pocketed their pistol and disassembled their rifle into parts.
Chen Nuo was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his current body's physical condition.
After all, he was a seventeen-year-old teenager, untrained, unhardened, and not fully developed. His strength and stamina, flexibility, and agility were all lacking considerably.
He felt like an old desktop computer trying to run a AAA game with all graphic effects set to maximum.
It just couldn't handle it.
When he had dealt with that hidden sentry post earlier, there had been two soldiers. For a moment, his body couldn't keep up with his consciousness; his strike was off by a fraction, almost leading to a fatal mistake.
He took out a pair of wire cutters from his backpack and started to snip the barbed wires one by one.
During this process, his hands were exceptionally steady, his movements unhurried yet highly efficient.
If anyone saw this scene right now, they would find it utterly absurd!
Layers of barbed wire marked the border between two nations, locked in military opposition for decades. Beneath this wire, a kid in a blue and white school uniform was cutting an opening. He worked with a cold, swift technique, his eyes constantly on the sweeping searchlights.
After cutting an opening in the barbed wire, Chen Nuo exhaled and remained still, lying in place for a full minute, before slowly crawling out.
"Six o'clock direction, the last minefield." Chen Nuo's breathing grew slightly heavier.
He was quite weary.
He fumbled a piece of chocolate out of his backpack, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed vigorously before swallowing.
He needed to replenish some energy and calories.
The layout of the minefields along the North Goryeo-South Korea border was etched in Chen Nuo's mind.
There was no doubt about that.
In his past life, he was known as Lord Yanluo. Hailed by the entire Western world as the "Enemy of Civilization," he had executed missions more than once in this globally contested strategic area between North Goryeo and South Korea.
The minefield map had long been deeply imprinted in his memory.
It could even be said that, in the year 2000, the difficulty was lower for him. After all, technology was not as advanced as it would be twenty years later, and many drones and remote sensing devices had not yet been deployed here.
But the minefields remained the same.
These minefields wouldn't be completely cleared even by 2018.
Yet, within the minefields, there were always narrow paths; some were public, and some were secret.
The secret paths served as battlegrounds for spies from both countries conducting infiltration missions.
Chen Nuo chose one of the most confidential "paths" documented in the intelligence he possessed from his previous life.
He had used this path twice before.
The January night had fallen, and the temperature hovered in the negative teens Celsius.
And it was growing steadily colder.
With each breath, Chen Nuo felt the icy air stab into his lungs, causing a faint pain.
His fingers were raw from crawling on the frozen ground for so long. The cotton gloves he'd bought were already in tatters.
His body clung to the ground as closely as possible; he advanced slowly, twisting like a gecko.
The so-called "minefield path" was not truly completely devoid of mines.
It was an irregularly shaped clear zone, though some mines always remained, uncleared and scattered sporadically.
Chen Nuo crawled for about forty minutes, resting twice. His mind remained sharp, constantly calculating distances and bearings.
If all went well, another thirty meters would see him out of the minefield.
However... speaking of "nothing unexpected"...
CLANG!
Chen Nuo heard a faint metallic collision near his ear.
His body immediately tensed up! He froze, maintaining his posture without moving a muscle!
He tried to steady his breathing as much as possible. Gradually, he felt everything around him quieten.
So quiet, he could hear his own heart pounding!
Chen Nuo began to slowly feel every part of his body in contact with the ground.
Eventually, he confirmed that there was a very slight protuberance in the ground beneath his knee.
Chen Nuo's expression turned grim.
He knew he had pressed down on a mine.
At this moment, he felt an unprecedented calm!
[PS: Don't ask how he crossed the Yalu River. If I dared to write it, this book would be taken down (404'd). This is due to factors beyond my control, so please use your imagination. Anyway, he made it across! *Hmph!*]
[Thank you to Mr. Li of Sanqi Interactive Entertainment for the Silver Alliance Hierarch. Thank you to Han Leye, Fei Siwen, Wandering Tingting, Big B, Pig-Riding Tiger Master, and Reader 130323100202462 for the Alliance Hierarch!]
[Thank you to all the patrons for your support!]