Salted Fish Chapter 69.2: Jailbreak (Part 2)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Meanwhile, underneath Scotland Yard, Duan FeiZhou, Xenophon and Mr. N. crept along the sewers and arrived before a rough staircase. There was no door at the top of the stairs, only a stone wall, the work of some ghostly designer.

“Do you open it with occult magic?” Duan FeiZhou asked.

“Of course not.” Xenophon said absentmindedly, as he stared at the rats that darted around his feet, and took an unparalleled interest in them. “It’s easy to find things made by occult magic. That wall is really just an ordinary door.”

“Isn’t an ordinary door easier to be discovered?”

“A lot of occult practitioners have air in their heads and think that anything that doesn’t have occult magic attached to it, isn’t worth anything. They won’t take the time to investigate every wall in the dungeon.”

Mr. N. looked at the two of them. “Don’t rush in yet. Scout out Boss Z’s location and whether there are any idle people in the dungeon.”

Duan FeiZhou nodded and released his auditory tentacles. He extended one level up, which was the dungeon. The atmosphere there was dark and scary and chaotic. He heard the frantic wailing of many people – the occult practitioners who had been imprisoned there for years. Some of the voices didn’t sound like living people. He tried to distinguish the familiar voices among them.

“Anyone! I am willing to be recruited! I beg you to recruit me! I’ll do anything!”

Duan FeiZhou was tempted to say, ‘Please, please, please, please. The Nightmen wouldn’t recruit him before, and now the Abnormal Case Investigation Unit has been changed, so he has no hope.’

Duan FeiZhou continued to search other places. His auditory tentacles swept through the cells, and eventually he found a familiar pulsation in the cell in the center of the dungeon. Z’s heart was powered by Ether crystals, and the sound of its beating was different from that of a normal human being, and was very recognizable. At that moment Z’s heartbeat was very slow. He didn’t know if he was asleep or…

Duan FeiZhou didn’t dare to think further.

There was another heartbeat in Z’s cell besides his.

Nightmen would never put two prisoners together, so Duan FeiZhou judged that the other person was a guard. “Are you willing to confess today? Where is the Master of the Secret Trading House?”

The voice was delicate and pure, a voice that belonged to a young girl. However, the tone was cold and gloomy, without the innocence and brightness of a young girl. Duan FeiZhou’s heart tightened, and he couldn’t help but clench his fists. That was Madame Boyle’s voice.

“I told you I don’t know.” Z said. His voice was as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing. Duan FeiZhou had never heard him speak in such a weak tone.

“Still tough-mouthed? It’s not enough to remove one hand and one leg, do you want me to remove the rest of you too?” Madame Boyle let out a silvery laugh, obviously she was enjoying the dismantling of his mechanical prosthetics.

“Even if you vivisect me, it’s useless. Not knowing is not knowing. I was going to ask you where he is,” Z said coldly.

“Then I’ll change the question. How do you get into the Secret Trading House?”

“Aren’t you a guest of the Trading House yourself? And you’re asking me?”

“As soon as you were arrested, you ripped up the spell runes from your body,” Madame Boyle said viciously. “That was a rune that could only be used by the Master of the Trading House, wasn’t it? The guest’s runes can only be used by an individual guest, not passed on to others, so you don’t have to worry even if they are seized. However, you tore up that talisman paper. I can only assume that it was for the exclusive use of the Master of the Trading House, and that not only he can use it, but you can too! You were afraid that I would force you to enter the Trading House before you tore up the talisman paper!”

“…Can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Speak! What exactly do you need to do to enter the Trading House? The Master of the Trading House has opened a back door for you! Don’t tell me you don’t know anything about it!”

Z snickered. “You want the Secret Trading House that badly?”

“Who wouldn’t be greedy when it comes to rare treasures?” Madame Boyle resumed her dainty tone. “Anyway, you can just give me an account of the whereabouts of the Master of the Trading House and the way to enter the Trading House, and I will spare you. I advise you not to be stupid.”

Z was silent for a while and said, “Okay. I’ll say. I’ll say both.”

Duan FeiZhou was horrified. Z wouldn’t betray him, right? He didn’t believe that Z would be so heartless. Besides…besides, Z didn’t know the answers to either of those questions! What could he explain?

“He’s gone to Switzerland,” Z said calmly. “The Alpe d’Huez.”

“…Switzerland?”

“Have you read The Last Case? Holmes and Professor Moriarty fell down the Reichenbach Falls together. He likes Holmes, so he’s going to go on a tour of the Holy Land.”

Not only was Madame Boyle frozen, but Duan FeiZhou was also confused. What the hell was going on here?

Z went on to say, “The way to enter the Trading House is also very simple. All you have to do is strip naked, stand in a bucket on a full moon night and fill it with eel eyes–”

“Slap!” A resounding slap in the face.

“I’m not in the mood to joke with you!” Madame Boyle was somewhat exasperated.

“I’m not joking.”

Madame Boyle suddenly laughed lightly. “I heard that the Nightmen have many special methods of torturing prisoners. Enough to challenge the limits of human imagination. How about I try them all out on you?”

“That’s good. I have a poor imagination, so thank you for letting me know.”

“Just keep talking tough. I’ll give you another day to think about it. Tomorrow, I will visit you with the torture devices. Don’t forget, your low sensitivity to pain is because I purposely toned it down when I was transforming you. Immortal soldiers don’t need to feel pain. So I can certainly turn it back up, and even make your pain sensitivity sharper than that of an ordinary human. In time…” Madame Boyle paused, and laughed freely.

The cell door closed, and the sound of the woman’s high heels made their way up and out of the dungeon.

Duan FeiZhou clenched his fist so hard that his bones turned white, and his nails sunk into his palm. They even pierced the skin and made him bleed.

That old demon woman, to treat Z that way!

“Hey, what did you hear?” Xenophon, unsure, poked him.

“I found Z’s location.” Duan FeiZhou gritted his teeth. “Just now Madame Boyle was interrogating him…Now she’s gone.”

“Oh! That’s just fine! I don’t want to take on that woman.” Xenophon thought back to the last fight, and felt the old wounds lurking in his body again.

“Let’s go.” Mr. N took the lead and picked his way up the steps, then pushed aside the stone wall at the top of the steps.

The wall could be rotated, so he turned it around and went to the other side.

Duan FeiZhou and Xenophon hurried to follow.

By rotating the wall mechanism, they entered an empty cell. Like all the cells in the dungeon, its four walls were painted with spells that blocked occult spells. Duan FeiZhou didn’t dare to look in that direction. He always felt that under the rags was a white bone.

The door of the cell was unlocked. Mr. N pushed it open and gave a wink to Duan FeiZhou to lead the way. Duan FeiZhou dared not delay. He immediately rushed into the corridor, and darted towards Z’s cell.

“Wait a minute!” Xenophon called out behind him in an airy voice. “Do you remember our plan?”

“Of course I remember!” Duan FeiZhou replied. “Blow open the cell door, bring Z into the Trading House, and then cover our retreat on the other side.”

“That’s good! I was really afraid you would forget everything when you got excited to see the boss!” Xenophon teased.

He and Mr. N stood side by side in front of Z’s cell door and exchanged an affirmative look.

“Together?” Mr. N asked.

Xenophon smiled, “Together.”

Both men pressed the cell door at the same time. No one read the seconds, but they unleashed an occult attack at the exact same time. There was a loud thunderclap!

The cell door was torn into pieces like a fragile piece of paper. The loud sound immediately alerted the detectives in the office upstairs. There were only a few dozen seconds left for the rescuers.

Xenophon and Mr. N side-stepped out of the way as Duan FeiZhou ran into the cell.

Z had his back turned to them as he lay on his side in the center of the cell. He was wearing only a thin shirt, with one cuff and one pant leg empty; his prosthetic leg removed. Silver hair lay on the floor as if it were a thin layer of white frost. He turned over and faced the three rescuers. The corners of his mouth curved, but his tone was bland, “Too slow.”

Duan FeiZhou could no longer hold back and hugged him.

Z seemed to have lost some weight. The metal spine was more prominent, touching the bar with a palm was painful. His cheeks were sunken, he looked a little weak, but it wasn’t detrimental to his beauty. The already dark eyes were deeper and the facial lines sharper. He struggled to prop up his body, and wrapped his only remaining arm around his lover’s neck.

“I’m sorry we’re late.” Duan FeiZhou rubbed the nape of Z’s neck.

Now was not the time to be warm and fuzzy. When Z was out safely, they could make out for as long as they wanted. Now was the moment to fight for time. He took out the talisman paper from his pocket, wrapped his arms around Z’s body, and dragged him into the Trading House.

As soon as they entered the secret space, two people immediately came running towards them. Miss Acheson and Mrs. Q were standing by in the Trading House.

Duan FeiZhou was curious once upon a time. What would happen if he left a guest in the trading house and then departed? Now he knew. The guests would stay there and couldn’t leave until the Master returned to open the guest passage.

“Boss, you look so miserable.” Mrs. Q lamented.

“Is it our turn to come out?” Miss Acheson asked.

Duan FeiZhou nodded. “We’ve made so much noise, they’ll come over right away.”

Without a moment’s delay, the two women raced to the entrance of the guest passageway. They were about to hit the wall tapestry when Duan FeiZhou set off the golden clock.

The two passed through the wall and returned to the real world. Duan FeiZhou quickly moved the clock back. Z leaned against the wall, while his red eyes stared at him, steadily. Duan FeiZhou almost drowned in his watery gaze.

“I’m going back to help. I’ll be back in a minute,” he said. “It’s safe here.”

“I’ll wait for you.” Z whispered.

Duan FeiZhou looked at him reluctantly, then returned to the real world.

 

Scotland Yard. Abnormal Case Investigation Unit Section office.

The detectives heard the loud boom and immediately realized that the sound came from the dungeon. All the officers swarmed out and headed straight for the underground. Just behind them, in a trash can full of waste paper, two pieces of paper glowed faintly.

On one side of the paper was a letter from an insurance company, and on the other side was a spell, but it was no different from blank paper in the eyes of those who had not made a contract with the Trading House.

Mrs. Q and Miss Acheson walked out of the spell.

“I can’t believe they threw the letter into the trash. Really!” Mrs. Q patted the stains on her body.

Without saying a word, Miss Acheson walked towards the desk that originally belonged to her. This was her territory, her throne, but someone else had taken it over. She had someone else’s fingerprints on her beloved typewriter, with someone else’s papers inserted. It was unforgivable!

She picked up the heavy typewriter. She was clearly a soft clerk, but her arms were incredibly strong.

The typewriter made a “click-click-click” sound, and re-formed in her arms.

The keyboard split, the word carriage contracted, a spindle slowly extended, and other parts around the spindle formed six black holes in a barrel.

–The typewriter became a golden Gatling machine gun. 

“Let’s go,” she said.