Title In Progress

Chapter 19: Do you really like touching? I don’t believe it, unless you…


As usual, Yan Chenli woke up very early. Even though he’d only gone to sleep at two in the morning the previous night, he only slept until five o’clock and got up to go for a morning run.

Fearing he would wake the still-sleeping Shao Dongmi up with noise, he first went to shower in his previous neighbouring room.

Yan Chenli absent-mindedly wiped his hair dry and casually put on a black short-sleeved shirt. Shen Lu waited until there was a moment to ask, “Yan, do you really like touching people’s heads?”

Yan Chenli held his toothbrush in his mouth and thought about it, “I guess so. You also know I’m the oldest in my family, I have a lot of younger brothers and sisters and all the little brats love hugging and being friendly, so I must have unconsciously made it a habit.”

No wonder he seemed used to people squeezing into his arms while they slept. Shen Lu thought.

Yan Chenli grabbed his toiletries and put them back in their place, then wiped off the year’s worth of dust that had accumulated on the sink in passing as he muttered, “Anyu was over thirty years old the last time we saw each other, but was still very happy to be patted on the head by me. Didn’t grow up at all, huh.”

So middle-aged people also have a chance. Shen Lu thought.

Yan Chenli easily cleaned the dust off his room in preparation of emptying it out and giving it to Shao Dongmi, “I seem to have brought this habit into work later? But I still keep my distance from the opposite sex.”

I’m not a woman either. Shen Lu thought.

This is a fan translation posted to title-in-progress.dreamwidth.org. Support the author if you can.

The alarm clock rang incessantly at seven o’clock, and Shao Dongmi glanced around to realise that he was the only one left inside the room. How come the other two didn’t need sleep? It seemed like his mortal flesh was so fragile.

Shao Dongmi looked sleepily at his cellphone and discovered he’d received a message saying there would be a meeting at eight. He’d totally not slept long enough, but he still had to struggle out of bed.

He couldn’t sleep, and he was actually starving.

The torture-like dinner had simply not been enough to fill his stomach, and now he had to go and confront breakfast again. Just thinking about the Tribunal’s cafeteria put on a mask of suffering on the start of his brand-new day.

Shao Dongmi went to the cafeteria after washing up and changing his clothes, there was only some waxy yellow toast on display, and everyone struggled to eat with warped expressions.

He saw Mu Lin in the crowd and immediately snatched two pieces of toast before enthusiastically calling out, “Hey, Senior Mu Lin~~ Good morning~~”

Mu Lin was about to run away when he saw Shao Dongmi, but Shao Dongmi hurriedly held him down, “Why did you slip away so fast yesterday? I wasn’t done talking to you.”

Mu Lin was only four or five centimetres shorter than Shao Dongmi, but had a small and shriveled body from smoking and drinking all day long, while Shao Dongmi’s physique was one that had received specialised training for running to the front line of battle, the disparity between them was huge, so he was firmly held down and nervously asked, “What, what are you doing?! I asked for leave yesterday, uh, I wasn’t being lazy.”

“Hey, who said that? I was thinking about that paradise you spoke of.” Shao Dongmi warmly drew Mu Lin closer and sat down, stuffing a piece of bread in his mouth and biting at it while feeling like his teeth were about to fall off. Despite the lousy bread, his face remained smiling.

Mu Lin looked at him in suspicion, “Really? Weren’t you sent by Yan Chenli to entrap me?”

“?” Shao Dongmi also stared at him filled with suspicion, “You weren’t doing anything shameful, right Senior?”

“No, I wasn’t! No no no! I just went for a bit to pass time after work! It was all above board, absolutely compliant with regulations!!” Mu Lin frantically shook his head.

“Then it’s fine!! Bring me there after work when you have time.” Shao Dongmi drew Mu Lin in and fiercely patted him on the shoulder.

“O—okay!” Mu Lin replied sceptically. He nibbled on the bread a bit, but didn’t move, grimly staring down at the brick-like bread, “Ah, I’ve really had enough, how could this thing be edible?!”

Shao Dongmi also rolled up his sleeves and prepared to go to battle against the bread. He felt like he was biting down on a piece of an old, mottled brick wall, with the grit and particles of the wall falling into his mouth like snow, all carrying that odd sour taste.

Shao Dongmi spoke bitterly: “That’s right, even the tree bark in my hometown is tastier than this.”

Mu Lin continued his verbal attack, “Yeah! If you leave out the cafeteria, working at the Tribunal is actually not bad, we can just watch from the sidelines as the Executioners do the fighting, it’s much easier than before. It’s wisest to try and find something fun to do to pass the time, muddle along and then just hurry back when the action is over.”

“Easier? Pass the time? Muddle…?” Shao Dongmi looked at him with a complicated mood. Could those words actually be applied to the work he did?

Mu Lin leaned back against the back of his chair, “You don’t really think you came here to uphold justice and create peace, right?”

Shao Dongmi didn’t reply. He never once doubted this from the beginning, but after experiencing all that on his first day, he realised that the situation was far more challenging than he had imagined.

Mu Lin shook his head disdainfully, “Don’t be stupid, this operation in the Tribunal is either a chance for someone with vested interests to show off or the impulsive decision of an idealist lunatic, either way it doesn’t change the facts: this so-called peacekeeping operation is just a casual, reckless adventure, just like— let me think, oh, like a game. Pick the players and the stage, formulate whatever rules you want, come and go as you please, cause havoc if you want to, and leave a mess behind after turning everything upside down, there’s no need to be accountable to anyone. Do you understand what I mean?”

Mu Lin patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t think of those guys you hacked to death as human lives. They’re just your accumulated achievements, that’s right, that way you can take it easy.”

Shao Dongmi looked at the bread in his hands, even though he’d used a tremendous amount of strength, all he’d left behind were shallow tooth marks, and his head felt a little choked up.

“How many people here think the way you do?” He asked.

“Look at that, what, have your heroic dreams been broken and you can’t accept it? Listen to me, I know what I’m saying, you just have to pretend when we’re running around doing field work, this operation probably won’t last too long, it should be over in two days. Plus, our so-called opponents are just a bunch of hooligans, they’re simply no match against our excellently-equipped, well-trained selves.”

Mu Lin pushed Shao Dongmi, but seeing that he didn’t respond, he once again advised him enthusiastically, “Hey, you’ll figure it out in two days, as your Senior, I’ve been there, I get it! Wait for me to take you to that great place to have fun twice and you’ll know exactly what it is to enjoy yourself so much you forget about everything else¹! We don’t have to pick another day, today is——”

“What about today?” A relaxed, smiling male voice came from right behind them, and Mu Lin turned his head as if struck by thunder, “Good—good morning! Chief Adjudicator Yan! Today is a great day to uphold justice! I can’t wait to go out and defend peace in this place!! I—I’ll leave first!!”

Mu Lin had already disappeared without a trace as soon as his voice fell.


Shao Dongmi turned his head and looked at Yan Chenli, he seemed to be in good spirits, bursting with energy and with no trace of fatigue just as before. Yan Chenli had changed into a long grey trench coat uniform that was almost like a windbreaker, similar to that of Zhang Jing and Mu Lin, but with an extra weaved silver cordon like that in a military uniform, and with golden star-shaped epaulettes on his shoulders. It looked to be a very formal attire, which was much more dignified when compared to his usual sloppy style of leisurely dressing with the cuffs of his shirts always rolled up.

Shao Dongmi had originally been a little listless, but seeing that Yan Chenli had somehow regained a bit of energy, he lifted his head and greeted, “Hey, morning, Captain.”

From time to time, people coming and going would greet Yan Chenli, and Yan Chenli would acknowledge them one by one with a smile, but he still found an opportunity to look Shao Dongmi up and down, “Are you still sleepy? I was going to ask you to help me check the condition of the meeting room. If you’re still tired, go lay back down for a bit, I’ll go call you before eight.”

Shao Dongmi found that Shen Lu wasn’t following closely behind Yan Chenli as he had a few days ago, but had stayed behind outside the door and was waiting there instead. He was probably concerned about being an Executioner and drawing too much attention if he went into the cafeteria now. That being said, there were still many people around who whispered as they looked at Yan Chenli and Shen Lu.

Shao Dongmi swallowed the brittle, crunchy bread brick, “I’m fine, I’ll come. What do you want to check?"

“Just that the projector and sound are working, that the tables and chairs are set up, and whether there are other people using the room. I still have other things to do, so I’ll trouble you.”


Shao Dongmi accepted the order and went to find the meeting room. Although the definition of the TV screen and the projector were far from comparable to those in Yinjiang, the equipment could be used as normal.

He tidied the chairs and tables up a bit, and when he got to the last row, he discovered a person laying down on several chairs put together, fast asleep.

“Hey, bro, wake up!” Shao Dongmi shook the person’s shoulders lightly.

Seeing as he couldn’t shake him awake, Shao Dongmi crouched down, grabbed the man’s face, and pulled at it, “Bro, get up, there’s going to be a meeting here, find another place to sleep.”

The other person was not wearing the Adjudicator’s grey uniform, he was only wearing a wide white shirt and a black windbreaker he was using as a blanket. He was finally woken up, and he crawled up agonisingly slowly as he rubbed the messy hair on his head, still drowsy and bleary-eyed, “Ah… there’s going to be a meeting? Thank you, it would be troublesome if Jin Sen caught me lazing off here… Are you the newcomer who came to report in this time?”

Shao Dongmi nodded and waited for him to get up to before putting the tables and chairs in their place, “Yeah, I see you’re not wearing a uniform, are you new too?”

“Ah, no, I was here before. My main responsibilities now are logistics and other odd jobs, such as buying food ingredients and tea leaves and things like that… but I still haven’t found a place that sells them.” The man was very thin, he stood beside Shao Dongmi in a bit of a daze, as if still asleep, watching him arrange the table.

Shao Dongmi immediately turned to look at him, “Are you the one working at the cafeteria?”

The man wrapped himself up in that wrinkled windbreaker and nodded, “Ah, that’s me.”

“……” Although he understood that the circumstances were dire, Shao Dongmi found it truly hard to not shift his anger on him, “Are you that carb demon? I won’t demand that you have cooking skills, but is it really so hard to get a few radishes and green vegetables?”

“It’s really hard.” The man nodded earnestly and seriously, “Both storing and transporting vegetables is too expensive. We can eat for a month with one batch of rice and noodles, but we don’t have the technology to transport refrigerated and fresh produce, so vegetables will go bad before even making it to the Tribunal. One truck of vegetables costs several dozen times as much as one truck of rice and noodles. I can only transport food with a relatively long shelf life… Things like potato chips, we actually have an endless supply of.”

If I was only ten years old, I would probably be crazy excited to hear that there is an endless supply of potato chips. But I’m already a grown adult, I just want to eat a single radish. Shao Dongmi tearfully thought.

“My apologies. I know everyone is unhappy with the food, but we don’t have the money to start a transport chain or a research and development line.” The man spoke sadly.

Shao Dongmi also sighed heavily, “Of course, I’ve already completely experience the wretched poverty of the Tribunal for myself.”

“It’s really hard, isn’t it? Under these conditions. Do you think, that this operation… no. That this territory, do you think there’s still hope here?” He asked.

Shao Dongmi nodded repeatedly without a second thought, “Definitely.”

“Why?” The man asked.

“Well…” Shao Dongmi scratched his head, “As long as people work hard, things will always get better and better.”

“But the facts don’t say so. History has never been a process of steady progress, people always see modern science as a symbol of wisdom and progress, but as far as many people are concerned——like for example, the indigenous people of the Americas——what the science and technology revolution brought for them was a calamity which wiped them out. The living conditions of some people in third-world countries now is not as prosperous as it was thousands of years ago during the hunter-gatherer era.” The man still had doubts, “If we can’t be sure that development will happen over time, how can we be certain that Augustus still has hope?”

“Well… we can’t count on that, right? I think there is still hope in any place…”

“So, tell me why?” The man looked at him seriously, waiting for his answer, “Or is it that you think that this place can be saved just because you have an optimistic personality?”

“…I can’t really tell.” Shao Dongmi simply gave up after quickly thinking about it, but his intuition made him think it shouldn’t be like that. He scratched his head, “Could this be considered as philosophy? If you want to hear a sermon, you can go find Captain Yan, he’ll explain it…”

Yan Chenli, who’d just been named, just so happened to poke his head through the door, “Did I hear someone secretly complimenting me behind my back?”

“Ah! Captain!” Shao Dongmi’s eyes lit up. He was just about to go grab Yan Chenli to come make a speech, but saw Yan Chenli already standing next to the sleepy-faced man, “Beixiang! Jin Sen is looking everywhere for you. The meeting’s about to begin, please hurry up and go prepare.”

Shao Dongmi turned his head with a swoosh: Crap, is this the Tribunal’s top boss? He’d actually just grabbed his boss’ face! And even dissed his cooking! Although, why was the boss in charge of cooking? Was the new unit really that poor?

“Oh, okay… I’ll go wash my face first.” Chuan Beixiang rubbed his sleepy eyes and waved at Shao Dongmi, “I’ll see you in a moment then, Mr Adjudicator.”

This is a fan translation posted to title-in-progress.dreamwidth.org. Support the author if you can.

Yan Chenli immediately left again after checking the equipment, so Shao Dongmi couldn’t grab him. He decided to write down this topic in a small notebook for the time being, later he would copy Yan Chenli’s philosophy assignment and go find Chuan Beixiang and preach to him.

As the meeting time approached, a crowd of people came pouring into the room one after another. The inside of the room was filled with the continuous sounds of the scraping of chairs and tables as people took their seats.

The seating arrangement was based on seniority, and only Jin Sen, Yan Chenli, and four other people were seated on the first row, all wearing the same uniform with the epaulettes and cordon. Shao Dongmi was quite young, so his seat was in the very back.

Not long after Shao Dongmi was seated, Shen Lu walked through over half the meeting room towards him, then leaned over and asked, “Adjudicator, may I sit next to you²?”

Shen Lu had also changed into the Tribunal’s uniform, it was the same dark grey colour, but it was shorter and seemed to be a style that had specifically been altered for the Executioner’s ease of movement. The metal accessories and straps perfectly outlined the shape of his muscles, contrasting against his aura and making it seem sharper than usual, giving him the chilling cold air and feeling of danger that was unique to human weapons.

The people around them noticed Shen Lu’s metal spine and the blinking numbers on his collar, and were already staring at him in astonishment.

Shao Dongmi quickly moved and indicated for him to sit down, “Lu-ge, you’re being too formal, just call me by my name like you do with the Captain.”

“That would be too impolite towards you. Thank you.” Shen Lu replied formally, then bowed solemnly as he expressed his gratitude. After he sat down, he explained, “An Executioner can’t show up on the first row, but moving about by myself would really be too conspicuous.”

“There’s nothing impolite about it, you’re the Captain’s friend and my senior³ as far as I’m concerned. If you really insist on using honorifics and formalities, then it should be me who has to be formal towards you.” Shao Dongmi grabbed a notebook and spread it out flat, pressing it down with some force.

Shen Lu seemed to have heard something surprising, so he slowly repeated, “Yan and I are friends?”

Seeing Shao Dongmi nodding his head without hesitation, Shen Lu seriously sunk into deep thought.

“What’s there to think about?” Shao Dongmi confidently guaranteed him, “Even if you were to go ask that bear of yours, Captain Yan would definitely acknowledge the bear as his friend.”

Shen Lu nodded in understanding: “That makes sense.”


Yan Chenli, who had originally been worried about Shen Lu going to look for a seat by his lonesome, caught sight of Shen Lu and Shao Dongmi engrossed in conversation, and saw the number on his collar falling from [12] to [11].

Yan Chenli: ?

You’re pretty good at chatting, huh, Shao?