Night Watchers

When the first ray of morning sunlight slipped through the hole in the roof and fell across Xu Le's face, it looked like dappled shadows of flowers, beautiful to behold.

Especially after the terrifying darkness he had endured.

Bright sunlight like this felt all the more precious.

After getting enough rest, with his tension and exhaustion gone,

Xu Le had to admit that his current face was rather handsome. It had some of the charm he'd possessed in his previous life. Compared with the likes of Daniel Wu and Edison Chen, they were all about on par.

"Le? When are we leaving? Le, Le!"

"Old Zhou!"

Old Zhou's calls jolted Xu Le awake. Ignoring the pain and stiffness in his neck, he grabbed the bed frame and hurriedly looked around.

"It's morning already."

Xu Le felt for the medal in his pocket. Only after confirming it was still there did he breathe a sigh of relief.

But he immediately rose to his feet in alarm. Out of the corner of his eye, he had noticed that the figure at the doorway was no longer Golden Toad, but a man dressed in black.

If the two had anything in common, it was that they both smoked!

"The toad turned into a person?"

The man standing in the doorway immediately furrowed his brow at Xu Le's words.

"What do you mean, a toad turned into a person? Has Guyinduo Pollution already driven this kid out of his mind?"

The man said nothing more. He merely took several hard, noisy drags, quickly finishing the cigarette in his hand.

He dropped the butt, ground it out beneath his foot, then turned to look at Xu Le.

"You're awake?"

Isn't that obvious? Xu Le thought, but he didn't dare say it.

Especially since the man's clothing, weapons, and the emblem on his chest all pointed to a particular organization in the original owner's memories.

The Lighthouse's unconventional forces, walkers who roamed the darkness: the Lighthouse Night Watchers.

The Night Watchers' rank structure had never been explained to the public in detail.

Still, Xu Le knew from the original owner's memories that some of them were responsible for safeguarding the Lighthouse.

Other Night Watchers had to venture out to explore dangerous regions, eliminate threats, and establish safe zones.

Public opinion of the Night Watchers varied greatly.

Some people believed they were the Lighthouse's protectors and deserved their support.

Others, however, found them far too mysterious. Could people who roamed the darkness still be considered human?

With sentiments like that, resistance toward the Night Watchers naturally followed.

"Are you a Night Watcher?"

Hearing Xu Le identify him, the man gave a cold chuckle.

"Heh."

But instead of answering Xu Le's question, he turned toward the doorway, seemingly waiting for something.

Xu Le followed his gaze. Before long, several others wearing the same black-and-gray combat uniforms approached.

Three men and three women. Counting the man at the door, the squad had seven members in total.

The man at the door nodded to them and made a hand signal Xu Le didn't recognize.

Then he asked,

"Boss, how do we handle this?"

Handle this? Although Xu Le didn't know what they had communicated in secret, he had a strong feeling.

Whatever they meant by "handle this," it definitely wasn't taking him safely back to the Lighthouse and keeping him well fed along the way.

Kill me? Abandon me in the wilderness? Or turn me into a specimen and take me back?

If they try to kill me, what should I do? Use another Guyinduo Fruit to summon Golden Toad?

The thought left Xu Le unsettled.

A woman's voice answered the man.

"Is this him?"

"Yeah, found him just now. His companion had already mutated. There were some signs of a fight, but not many. As a lone Night Dweller, he had nothing but a campfire, yet he slept here without dying. Pretty strange. Probably contaminated."

Contaminated? That word was anything but simple in this world.

Generally speaking, Polluters were people who had been corrupted by the power of Guyinduo.

Some of them mutated into Oddities, while others simply died.

The woman nodded slightly.

"Let me take a look first. Once we're certain, there'll still be time to deal with him."

Xu Le heard their conversation perfectly clearly. By "deal with him," they probably meant killing him, then tossing a real flame onto his corpse to burn it.

That was the quickest and easiest way to deal with a Polluter.

Xu Le's mind raced. If he wanted to survive these humans, brute force alone might not work.

For one thing, he didn't even know whether Golden Toad was a match for these Night Watchers.

Even if Golden Toad could kill them all, Xu Le would still have to pass the Lighthouse's security checks if he wanted to return.

Things wouldn't be so easy then. Golden Toad couldn't possibly stand against the entire Lighthouse.

Golden Toad might not even be a match for the squad in front of him.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Le began sorting out his thoughts.

He had probably slept safely until dawn because the toad had protected him as promised.

But what should I tell these Night Watchers now?

Confess for leniency and spend the rest of my life behind bars?

Or resist for a harsher sentence and still make it home for New Year?

If I make up a story, how can I get them to believe me?

It was a question that required careful thought.

While Xu Le was thinking, the woman they called Boss had already walked up to him.

She looked to be in her late thirties, with time having left a few marks on her face.

Her looks were above average. Ten years younger, she probably would have been quite striking.

Before Xu Le could try to stand, the woman came straight over, grabbed his arm, and hoisted him up like a chick, examining him from one side and then the other.

She handled him roughly, without the slightest concern for how Xu Le felt.

Nor did she seem inclined to ask Xu Le's opinion.

It was as though she were holding a chicken rather than a human being.

Her gaze was cold. It paused briefly only when it reached the firearm wound on Xu Le's chest; everywhere else, it merely swept past.

Once she finished looking him over, she released her grip and dropped Xu Le onto the ground.

Rather than pass judgment on Xu Le, she turned to another squad member behind her.

"Wang Shu, take a look."

"Yes."

Wang Shu walked up to Xu Le and nodded at him.

"Sorry about this."

"Huh?"

Before Xu Le could react, Wang Shu had already put on a pair of white cotton gloves and begun examining his body.

His touch was much gentler than the woman's. It didn't hurt nearly as much when he pressed along Xu Le's bones.

As he examined him, he began reporting his findings.

"Based on his skeletal structure, approximately eighteen to twenty-two years old. Male. Roughly one hundred eighty centimeters tall, sixty kilograms.

Firearm blast wound on the chest. No burn marks. Not fired at close range.

Considerable blood on his body, both human and Oddity.

Preliminary assessment of the Oddities encountered: Ghost Form, Living Corpse, others unknown.

Clearly detectable traces of Ancient Yin Duo Energy on his body.

Risk assessment: high. Suspected contamination.

Boss, what do we do now?"

The middle-aged woman nodded in satisfaction at Wang Shu's findings.

"You're getting better at your job pretty quickly, young Wang Shu. Yes, that's about right. As for how we deal with this kid, what do you all think?"

As soon as she asked, another squad member spoke up.

"If he were part of a normal two-person team, it wouldn't be a problem. But he's alone now, and his companion is dead. He's definitely a lone Night Dweller. Bringing someone like that back is too risky. Finish him off here."

"Exactly. A lone Night Dweller is far too likely to be contaminated. Deal with him here."

"Agreed."

Xu Le listened silently as they talked. Every word pointed to the same conclusion: he had been contaminated by an Oddity.

That other squad member had stated it bluntly: they should finish him off right here.

What did "finish him off" mean? Xu Le didn't need to think to know.

His will to survive instantly brought Xu Le's thoughts into focus.

To stay alive, he needed to accomplish two things.

First, he had to prove that he wasn't contaminated.

Then, he had to demonstrate his value.

Because merely proving he wasn't contaminated wouldn't necessarily keep him alive in this rather dark world.

Human hearts weren't necessarily wicked, but they weren't necessarily kind, either.

People who served no purpose could, in certain circumstances, simply be abandoned, especially out in the dangerous wilderness.

He needed to show that he had value.

And he had to do it step by step, demonstrating his worth in multiple ways.

He took a deep breath, letting that scorching heat fill his entire body.

Only after the figures before him began to distort did Xu Le slowly speak.

"I, Xu Le, am not contaminated."