Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 48 Red Label
Zhuang Fan reached out and extracted all the eerie mist from Jetta's body.

Jetta felt a sudden lightness in its body, and the suffocating feeling that had made it difficult to breathe for years disappeared.

"My lord..." its voice was full of gratitude.

"From now on, you will be my one-way contact."

Zhuang Fan withdrew his hand, his voice icy: "Remember, what I can give you, I can also take back at any time."

"Yes! Jetta would never dare to have any disloyalty!" It pressed its head firmly to the ground, its voice trembling slightly with excitement.

Zhuang Fan ignored him.

He walked to the entrance of the tomb, and a wisp of black mist condensed at his fingertips, covering the entrance.

"Stay here until I return and prevent anyone from approaching."

"Yes, my lord!"

As Jetta gazed at the deep black mist, his awe for this Demon General deepened.

Zhuang Fan passed through the tunnel and walked along the abandoned sewage pipe for a hundred meters until he reached the end.

The iron fence was rusty. He pushed it open and climbed out of the well using the ladder.

The noise from the outside world rushed in instantly.

The smell of cheap alcohol, the dull drumbeats of electronic music, the incoherent shouts of a drunkard in the distance, and the flickering of an old neon sign.

After confirming that no one was around, he quickly climbed out and put the manhole cover back on.

This is a secluded alley in the refugee district, right next to a bar called "Iron Heart".

The alleyway was piled with garbage and reeked of a terrible stench.

He had just steadied himself when he heard a dull thud coming from the corner of the alley.

Zhuang Fan, hidden in the shadows, cast his gaze in that direction.

Three well-dressed men were surrounding a homeless person who had collapsed on the ground.

The smart rings on their fingers signified their status as third-class citizens.

"Damn it, you dare steal my wine?"

A burly man cursed as he stomped heavily on the chest of a refugee.

"Click."

With his bones broken, the refugee let out a painful groan.

"Pepa, don't kill her yet, we'll have to drag her to feed the dogs later."

The tall, thin man next to him was laughing drunkenly, still holding a half-empty bottle of wine in his hand.

"George, you don't know anything. This kind of trash is better off dead."

Pepa kicked the refugee on the ground a few more times until he stopped moving, then spat impatiently.

"Damn, this is really heavy. Come and give me a hand."

Pepper glanced behind him and frowned: "Danny, what the hell have you been standing there for, just watching?"

The third man, Danny, remained leaning against the wall, a morbid excitement on his face.

Hearing his companion urging him, he stepped forward and kicked the corpse with his toe.

"It's boring, it can't even bark anymore."

He turned his head, his gaze meeting the shadows deep in the alley.

“Hey, Pepa, there’s another fly over there.”

Pepa and George followed his gaze and saw the figure shrouded in a black cloak.

"unlucky."

Pepa frowned. "Get rid of it quickly, don't leave any witnesses."

George grinned maliciously and swaggered over, drawing a dagger from his waist.

"Kid, you're out of luck."

He brandished the dagger and stabbed Zhuang Fan in the chest.

But his movements became slightly stiff, and his eyes became vacant.

Zhuang Fan's right hand shot out like lightning, delivering a powerful elbow strike that landed precisely on his temple.

"Crack!"

With a dull cracking sound, George's body slumped to the ground like a broken log.

One hit kill.

"you……"

Pepa and Danny instantly sobered up.

Danny instinctively drew his pistol, but he was too slow.

A cold hand gripped his neck.

"Click."

With a soft crack, his head tilted to one side at an odd angle.

Pepa was completely terrified by what she saw.

He turned to run, but a foot had already stepped on his back, pinning him to the ground.

"Don't...don't kill me..."

His voice trembled, and he felt a warm sensation in his crotch.

Zhuang Fan ignored him, stomped his foot, and his spine snapped instantly.

The battle is over.

He looked up and around. There were no surveillance cameras or anyone else. The blind spot that the three of them had chosen was truly ingenious.

He removed the smart rings from the three corpses and wiped away the blood.

Then, he opened the nano-skin briefcase.

A soft blue light emanated from the box, scanning the faces and irises of the three corpses in turn.

[Data included: Pepa]

[Data included: George]

[Data included: Danny] He closed the box, dragged the three bodies back to the manhole cover one by one, lifted it, and threw them all in.

Jetta remained loyal to the abandoned shelter, and paused for a moment when he saw three corpses thrown out of the black mist.

"My lord, what are your orders?"

"Clean it up, leave no trace." Zhuang Fan pointed to the three corpses on the ground.

"Yes, my lord."

Jetta moved swiftly, and together with the other two ratmen, it dragged away the corpse.

"Please rest assured, the Jetta will dissolve completely, leaving not a single bone behind."

"very good."

Zhuang Fan disappeared into the black mist once again.

Border defense zone, automated service hall.

There are no human staff here, only a few bionic administrators sitting behind metal counters.

A third-class citizen named "Danny" walked in.

"To process your business."

Zhuang Fan's voice, simulated through nano-skin vocal cords, is indistinguishable from Danny's own.

"Please show me your smart ring." The synthesized electronic voice was completely flat.

He brought Danny's ring close to the scanner.

"drop--"

A soft light swept across, and Danny's personal information popped up on the light screen in front of him.

"Business type".

"Redeem yourself."

"Please enter the name and number of the person being redeemed."

"Watson, 86-7749".

The bionic administrator's eyes flickered, then it emitted a notification sound.

"No such person found."

Zhuang Fan frowned almost imperceptibly.

He was quite certain he hadn't misremembered; he had seen Watson's number on the other man's collar no less than ten times.

"Re-search, 86th Battalion, Hua Sheng."

"Searching... Match failed."

The bionic administrator's tone was rigid: "There is no information about this criminal in the database's redeemable list."

Zhuang Fan was silent for a moment, then continued to try: "Check his personal file."

"Permissions confirmed. Searching in progress. Search complete."

The information on the screen refreshed, and Watson's file appeared.

At the very top of the file, there is a bright red mark, like a brand.

"Watson, ID 86-7749, red-labeled personnel, bad record: arguing with the administrator, participating in the incinerator riot incident."

"Procedure: The redemption process has been frozen and requires manual review by a battalion commander."

Zhuang Fan looked at the line of electronic text and his heart sank.

Things are getting tricky.

The path to rescuing Watson through normal means has been completely blocked.

If you want to break the rules, you can't follow them.

Nine o'clock in the evening, Charlie's Sugar Factory.

Hua Sheng dragged his weary body out of the factory gate.

He saw the old foreman standing not far away, his back to the setting sun, his shadow stretched long.

The old foreman didn't greet him or offer him a cheap cigarette as he usually did.

He just stood there silently, the wrinkles on his face appearing particularly deep.

"foreman?"

Watson stepped forward, feeling a sense of unease.

The old foreman turned his head, his voice hoarse.

"problem occurs."

"what's up?"

The foreman didn't answer directly.

He pulled a crumpled cigarette case out of his pocket, took out a cigarette, and handed it to him.

Watson took it but didn't light it.

"You've been flagged as a 'red label'." The old foreman's voice was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.

The weariness on Watson's face froze instantly.

"What... a red label?"

"The system updated the list this morning."

He paused, lowering his voice even further.

"The system remembers everything about Nissen and the riot at the incinerator, Red Label, you should understand."

Watson's mind went blank.

After entering the sugar factory, he certainly knew what the "red label" meant.

That was a death countdown.

He will be put into that centrifuge, either tomorrow or forty-eight hours at the latest.

"I……"

He tried to say something, but found his throat blocked and couldn't squeeze out a single word.

(End of this chapter)