WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ A Gacha Addict's Life in Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 36: A Fixer for Off-the-Books Jobs (3)
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1.
Inside the rattling car, I drove Yiming's car to H Sector.
Was it okay to drive after drinking?
Yeah, it was fine.
In Necropolis, drunk driving did not even count as a minor crime.
What if I hit someone?
Yeah, that was fine too.
Incense Master Xuan Yiming would take care of the insurance.
“Rowan.”
“Yes, Big Brother.”
The car glided through the darkness.
Yiming, reeking of alcohol and unusually sentimental today, let out a deep sigh from the backseat.
“Did you know every Mage is insane?”
“Is that so? Looking at you, Big Brother, it doesn't seem that way...”
“No. Ah, yeah... I must be crazy in some way too. Heh.”
This bastard was at it again.
Whenever Yiming drank, he got completely emotional and started rambling about things nobody asked him about.
Usually, he was less wallowing in self-pity than getting drunk on the idea of himself proudly living as the Incense Master of the Xuan Family despite bearing such sorrow.
Still, I had even humiliated myself doing dick shots with him.
Listening to some rambling to raise our affinity was no big deal.
I could even learn a little about this world's lore.
“You know ordinary humans can't become Mages, right?”
“Yes. Isn't it because their Mind, Skill, and Body are non-magical?”
“No, the problem starts before that. Ordinary people compromise with reality. Magic is the great feat of denying the world.
“You need an overwhelming ego that affirms ‘my world’ instead of the reality before your eyes.”
“Isn't that Mind, Big Brother?”
“No, it's different from Mind. Every Mage has a flaw that ordinary humans cannot possess.
“It may be a deficiency so terrible it hurts, a yearning beyond the limits of normal people, or a desire twisted without end. A flaw that supports a bloated ego. We Mages gave that flaw a name.”
Yiming put a cigarette between his lips, struck an absurdly cool pose, and spoke in a low voice.
“The Mandate of Heaven.”[1]
This bastard was a fucking terrible explainer.
I suddenly missed Mama Ceres and her gentle, beginner-friendly lessons.
“That Mandate lets us cross the wall ordinary people cannot. Anyone who has not swallowed their Mandate cannot become a Mage. That's why every Mage is mentally ill.”
Hmm. So Ceres and Ines were a mother-daughter pair of mental cases.
And Arbel was a mental-case bunny girl.
Then was this bastard Yiming's fetish his Mandate?
Wasn't he just dressing up a kink to sound grand?
As I sat there with that uncomfortable question, we arrived at H Sector, where Yiming had directed me.
H Sector was a landfill.
It was where Aden buried its garbage.
Trash piled up like mountains, nearly filling the wide gap of a valley.
Even then, scavengers had already taken anything useful, so it was an abandoned sector containing only the truly worthless trash.
“We're here, Big Brother. Is this the right place? There's nothing around here.”
“You came to the right place. Follow me.”
Creepy.
“This way.”
Yiming tapped a steel hatch in the middle of the garbage heap with his foot.
Clunk!
The hatch opened wide with a heavy sound.
Inside, stairs leading underground stretched into endless darkness.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
As we went down the stairs, we found an intricate locking mechanism and three thick steel doors like something out of an air-raid shelter.
“Ooh...”
“Excited?”
“Yes, sir!”
I was getting a little excited.
Air-raid shelter, hideout, bunker. Every one of those words made a man's heart race.
If I had an air-raid shelter like this, could I become a famous figure in Viva Apocalypse too?
Click.
When Yiming opened the final steel door, his hideout finally revealed itself.
I had expected a bunker.
It wasn't one.
The room looked like the lounge of an upscale hotel I had stayed at in Macau.
A tiger-skin rug covered the floor, along with velvet sofas and an ebony table.
You could call it an exquisite blend of East and West.
Cedric was a little disappointed.
I was eating cockroach cubes in the slums, while this place had obscene amounts of money plastered all over it.
“You are the first person I've brought here, Rowan.”
“Really? I'm honored!”
“Wait here for a moment. Until I tell you to come in.”
“Yes, sir!”
I waited before the thick wooden door.
What did he want to show me that required all this buildup?
I had a rough idea.
It had to be Project Z.
Whether he gave the secret documents to Gisela or informed Overnus.
This had to be a major turning point for Yiming too.
Only five days remained before Project Z began, so it was time for him to make a decision.
Of course he would want advice from a little brother he trusted.
A moment later, Yiming spoke to me from beyond the door.
“Rowan.”
“Yes, Big Brother. I'm listening.”
“I believe a relationship's worth lies in its depth, not its length. Our relationship has been short, but I want it to continue for a long time.”
“You mean...”
“You're not just a lackey. You're my right-hand man.”
“Big Brother!”
That was not really necessary...
Just show me the documents already and ask how you should handle this.
I was ready to become a human bidet and persuade him into making the big decision.
Still, when I thought about it, this wasn't bad.
It meant I would have someone as reliable as Yiming backing me in this shitty city.
Of course, I would have to make sure he didn't find out about my trysts with Ceres.
“But before that, do you remember the Mandate of Heaven I told you about?”
“Yes, Big Brother.”
“I assume you've heard rumors about me too, Rowan.”
“Yes, I have.”
“Necrophilia. Corpse-fucker. Things like that, right?”
“Big Brother, don't worry. Even if everyone points fingers at your Mandate, your little brother Rowan can accept it.”
A faint laugh came from the other side of the door.
“Yes. I knew my right-hand man would say that. But those are all misunderstandings.”
“Misunderstandings?”
“I'll show you. My true Mandate of Heaven.”
Creeeak!
The door opened.
I squinted at the blinding light, then opened my eyes again.
Before me was a grotesque room that looked like a dollhouse brought to life.
A doll smiled as it held a teacup at a luxurious tea table, its makeup perfect.
A doll in a kimono sat on a velvet sofa and read a book.
A doll in a princess-style dress stood leaning beneath a golden candlestick, half its face hidden behind a fan.
Every one had been painstakingly made up, intricate glass eyes gleaming from their sockets.
Dozens of dolls decorated the room.
Of course, these were not meticulously crafted dolls.
Nor was this room a dollhouse recreating the ballroom of a girl's dreams.
It was an exhibition room full of perfectly embalmed corpses.
“The slander going around is an insult to my art.”
The artist stood in the center of that exhibition.
Xuan Yiming wore a beautiful dress and full makeup over his tattoo-covered, muscular body.
“...I am merely a lonely artist pursuing beauty in its most extreme form. This is my Mandate of Heaven.”
He blended into his collection in the most fucking unnatural way possible.
No, fuck.
What the hell was I looking at?
“I believe beauty must be eternal. I believe eternal beauty exists in death. And I too wish to become one with them. Even if others see me as ugly.”
Goddammit! You fucking bastard!
Don't talk such bullshit! How was this a Mandate of Heaven?!
It was just your preference! Stop dressing it up to sound cool!
“What do you think? Can you still... call me Big Brother like this?”
Even Cedric, of all people, could not keep his face straight before Yiming, who wore makeup and a wig as he gave a bitter, self-mocking smile.
I could accept the dolls.
But seeing Yiming dressed as a woman made my stomach turn.
I wanted to duplicate the Wondrous Dharma Insect-Sound Sutra with the Lost Receipt and carve him up.
Fuck, I didn't know anymore.
Flattery and shallow lies wouldn't mean anything here. He had probably already seen the answer on my face.
“Big Brother, honestly... I don't understand. I don't understand why this is art, or why you're dressed like that.”
“Yes. I thought so.”
Regret, disappointment, self-mockery, resignation.
Complex feelings passed over Yiming's face.
“But that doesn't matter. You trusted me and showed everything to this little brother of yours.”
“...!”
“That alone is enough to make my heart burn.”
“...Rowan, you...”
Flutter!
I threw off my clothes.
“Give me a dress too, Big Brother! I will climb the hill you wish to climb with you!”
“Rowan!”
The first thing I learned from dressing as a woman for the first time in my life was this.
Stockings gave you an unexpected sense of psychological security.
...I didn't particularly want to know that.
2.
After prettily dressing myself in drag before the mirror and listening to Yiming explain various things with a beaming smile, I learned several facts that even Ceres had not told me.
“The documents call it ‘Awakening Serum Reagent Z,’ but I believe that biochemical weapon is liquid made by diluting the blood of a True Progenitor.”
“The purpose of this experiment is likely a clinical trial to control the True Progenitor.”
“Securing resources is just a pretext.”
Yiming might look stupid, but he was still a Rank 2 Mage and the Incense Master of the Xuan Family.
If I hadn't bewitched him with stockings, recruiting him might have been impossible.
But as expected, Yiming felt an enormous burden just from possessing the Project Z documents.
He had perfectly backstabbed Ceres during negotiations and stolen the documents.
But he doubted whether giving them to Gisela would truly get him Ceres's corpse.
“If Overnus Pharmaceuticals finds out I concealed documents this important, that will be a problem too. That's why I want your opinion.”
“What do I know, Big Brother?”
“Still, Rowan, you have an incredible knack for reading people. I can't count the times you've impressed me.”
Naturally, what I had to say here was, “I don't think this is the right move, Big Brother.”
“Why not lie low and bide your time for the greater good?”
“Hmm, but... I really want to add Ceres to my collection...”
“Even so, you gain too little from this. And there is the risk that you must feed Ceres Formless Poison.”
“Still...”
“If you really can't bear it... I'll get you Director Ceres's anklet.”
“An anklet... her ankle bracelet?”
“Yes, the silver ankle bracelet Director Ceres always wears.”
“...Really?”
From that day on, I followed Yiming around for three days and nights, persuading him.
Yiming agonized over it, but in the end, he made a copy without a watermark and handed it to Overnus Pharmaceuticals.
After that, things moved smoothly.
Once Overnus Pharmaceuticals learned about Project Z, it sent the strongest possible letter of protest and gathered forces centered around the Red Dragon Family.
Even Twilight Resource Development tucked its tail before Overnus's stance that it would risk even civil war if Twilight Resource Development continued the project.
Gisela, the director who had pushed Project Z most aggressively among the eleven directors, resigned and accepted full responsibility.
It was obvious that Ceres had a hand in that process.
Then came the long-awaited fifteenth day.
“You really are incredible... Wait a moment! I'm talking!”
“Let's talk after, after we're done?”
Ten seconds, nine seconds.
I counted like it was a year-end countdown as I looked out the window.
Any moment now.
Any moment.
3
2
1
0
The ear-ringing siren did not sound.
Neither did the street announcements warning of a riot.
In other words, Project Z had been stopped.
Kyaaa! Cleared it!
The thrill of being rewarded all at once for every miserable hardship I had endured!
The relief of knowing I wouldn't die now!
And even Mama Ceres's reward!
My head spun with dopamine.
I buried myself in Mama Ceres's soft embrace, damp with sweat.
Ahh, I felt like I was getting sucked in...
“Man... I lived... That was fucking hard...”
Wow... Those two weeks had been brutal.
Seriously, I had wondered how the hell I was supposed to clear this.
I wanted to do nothing but rest for a week.
So happy I could barely contain it, I pressed my nose into the symbol of motherhood and sobbed.
“I lived! I'm alive! Fuck! I lived!”
Ceres paused for a moment, then patted my back.
“Haah... I told you, did I not? There was no need to worry so much...”
“Lady Ceres...!”
She was so kind!
Was I only imagining that her attitude was especially different this iteration? Or was she treating me well because I had brought her tangible benefits?
Either way, it was a kindness I could never have imagined at our first meeting.
Yiming said there was an abyss hidden inside Mama Ceres too?
I couldn't believe it.
That bastard must have lied because he was embarrassed by himself.
Anyway.
After countless failures and twists, Project Z had been stopped.
I had established a good relationship with Xuan Yiming.
With Mama Ceres, I had established a casual relationship that was also a master-disciple relationship, with the possibility it might develop into mother-daughter donburi.
And that meant I would never have to see that bitch Kisara again.
Seeing her always pissed me off, so good riddance.
In other words, it was time for the final tally.
“Lady Ceres, should we wash up first?”
“I want to rest a little longer, so you go first.”
“Come on, don't be like that. I'll wash you. The body wash I gave you is incredible, isn't it?”
“Haah... You really do yap every single time.”
Personally, this was an event I had been looking forward to.
I had long wondered what kind of lewd Commandment Mama Ceres was hiding.
Footnotes:
[1] Mandate of Heaven: A traditional Chinese idea that Heaven grants legitimacy to a ruler, recast here as the defining flaw that enables a Mage's power.
“Mother-daughter donburi” is risqué Japanese slang for a sexual pairing involving both a mother and daughter.
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