Becoming The White Moonlight’s Human Weapon After My Death - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Shen Lus Death Far Exceeded His Own Expectations.

Shen Lus death far exceeded his own expectations.

The moment his body was struck by the bullet, his first feeling was not that of pain. The life-threatening injury caused his adrenaline to shoot up, his pulse to quicken, and his senses to sharpen, then the violent burning sensation and heart-rending pain that had not come until that moment slowly arrived.

He saw blood gushing out of his own shoulders and chest, and it was only then that he realised what had happened, and his first reaction was to immediately connect to the radio and report the situation to the man in charge of the operation, Yan Chenli.

Adrenaline sharpened ones reaction speed. Shen Lu never thought he could actually speak to Yan Chenli so calmly and quickly, without having to stumble and deliberate over every single one of his words.

This turn for the worse would have almost declared the entire siege operation a failure due to it already having a shortage of manpower, however, on the other side of the line Yan Chenli was only silent for a few seconds, immediately readjusting the assignments in his field of view and transmitting completely new orders to every Adjudicator taking part in the operation.

As his strength and life were drained from him, Shen Lu struggled to climb up the mottled concrete wall, but his body still slumped down disappointingly. As usual, Shen Lu waited for Captain Yan to issue orders, waited for that person to call his name.

Yan Chenlis voice on the other end of the earpiece was neat and pure, his tone firm and logical, making people feel magically at ease whenever they heard it, even a moment like this in which death was imminent was not an exception.

It was only until after Yan Chenli hung up the radio and he still had not mentioned his name that Shen Lu came to the realisation that his part in the mission was already overor perhaps had been declared a failureand he was not going to get any new orders.

The sole reason Shen Lu was able to get in touch with Yan Chenli was no longer valid.

Shen Lu loosened his hands, finally falling into the swirling dust.

A few minutes later, Yan Chenli rushed to the scene, but he simply shot a hurried glance to the blood-soaked Shen Lu, not stopping for more than a second and immediately taking over his sniper rifle and lookout duty.

Yan Chenli kept staring at the area on the alert, but he stretched out a hand and drew Shen Lu into his arms, then pressed the bleeding wound above his abdomen. The bullet was still inside, where the lungs were located.

Shen Lu struggled to use a blood-soaked hand to pull off his earpiece, then turned his head to the side with great effort as he looked towards Yan Chenlis face, which was almost within reach. There was such a small distance between them that he could even hear the sound of Yan Chenlis heartbeat.

Steady, rhythmic, composed. Yan Chenli steadily held the sniper rifle, completely focused on staring through the scope, calm as ever, the same as he always was.

He never got Yan Chenlis sight.

But he got one hand.

Yan Chenli alone had to guard an area that exceeded that of the others by several times, so his attention was very limited. This siege operation had a limited number of people, so there was no extra manpower in charge of support and medical treatment, and there was no time to bandage and treat the wounded. Yan Chenli could only spare a hand to help him press down on his wound, that was all Yan Chenli could do for him.

This moment was the closest Shen Lu had been to Yan Chenli since they met 25 years ago.

Even though it had been so long ago, Shen Lu could still clearly remember the first time he saw Yan Chenli.

At that time Shen Lu was 17 years old, and he had both expectedly and unbelievably become the target of bullying in his school.

The expectedly was because Shen Lu had a dull temperament, he didnt fit in, and he had no friends. In addition, he had an irritating strangeness that made people apprehensive, and was unpleasant enough to occupy a place in the gossip of the three neighbouring classes. As he grew older, his grades also fell from the ordinary middle to the very bottom, which caused headaches for his teachers and family.

And the unbelievably was because Shen Lu had a strong physique and was very tall, almost 1.8m when he started senior high school, and furthermore he was quite strong, enough to score in the upper levels of every physical fitness test. No matter how one looked at it, he shouldnt have been reduced to being bullied by classmates who where a head shorter than him.

But the fact was that he had been cornered in an alley at the back of the park by a group of little demons, half of which he knew and half of which he didnt, who were beating him together. He couldnt even escape this calamity during summer break when he didnt have to go to school.

As if hed honed the experience with his body, the props those little demons used to beat him up were books and plastic cups at first, then evolved into rocks and wooden sticks, until finally, now convinced Shen Lu was very resistant, rising to steel bars.

Shen Lu curled up with his arms over his head, and looking through the gaps in his clothes he saw pieces of rubble, weeds sprouting from cracks in the bricks, the asphalt floor filled with potholes and, in the distance, a dead cat emitting a rotten stench. He endured the little demons savage acts without uttering a word, that dead cat was the only thing in his sight.

So disgusting Hes still looking at it! Beat him up, beat him!

Beat him to death!! Hes a dead pervert that kills small animals!!

More malicious abuse followed, and Shen Lu turned a deaf ear as he stared at that dead cat. Its limbs were twisted and deformed, with dried black bloodstains, and a crowd of scavenger insects that travelled back and forth in its rotted out eyes. Those ugly remains seemed to be his destination, the answers to his long-standing confusion, his guilt at being different from others, both his karma and his prison.

Their torment escalated indefinitely, which seemed to mean that only by beating him to death would everything stop. Or perhaps, just for today.

Even though things had reached this stage, Shen Lu had never fought back. This caused him to be labelled cowardly and weak, in addition to disgusting and sick.

Shen Lu still couldnt understand, what did I do wrong? Why do I have to suffer like this? Why am I different from the others?

Some people attacked him, and some laughed and instigated him to stand up and fight back and crack those little demons skulls open.

Was he the weak one just because he couldnt fit in and didnt like violence?

He hated this world.

Everything was so strict, full of invisible rules and taboos, and try as he might he would never be able to please others. The adults spoke hypocritical, pretty words, and his peers openly displayed their indifference and even malice.

The world was harsh, cruel, and noisy, and to keep on living was the same with nothing worth looking forward to. He could only grin and bear it as he waited for his life to end, and waited for that rusty steel bar to land.

But before that steel bar split open his skull, the suddenly appearing Yan Chenli stopped it.

At that time, Yan Chenli was only 12 years old, and he was different from those unruly little demons. He was wearing a wine-red shirt, and a small, smoothly-ironed fitted suit with the sleeves rolled up. His eyelashes were long and delicate, and his pretty face made him look like a little girl. But he deftly blocked those astonishingly powerful clubs one by one, seizing all of them and asking them why they were grouping up and bullying people.

Half of those little demons knew him, and unwillingly argued: It was this disgusting person who did bad things!! We are on the side of justice!!

We just watched him kill a kitty!!

And theres been many more times!! Before we constantly saw him kill puppies and little birds and stuff, hes too evil!!

A burst of pain from his wounds made Shen Lu instinctively curl up into his arms, after which he felt the warmth of a coat that was a little smaller than himself cover his body. The new, neat suit jacket became filthy with dust and blood, immediately turning as messy and unbearable as he was.

Yan Chenli lifted his eyes and looked at the nearby dead cat, asking, That one? I also noticed it just now.

Everything repeated itself, there was nothing new in this boring world.

Once in a while there would be an accidental passerby who would cast him a disturbed glance, but after hearing everything, their sympathy would be replaced by surprise and loathing. In the best case scenario, the other person would say bad luck as they turned around and left, in the worst case scenario, they would join in on the punishment.

This kind of situation had repeated thousands of times, Shen Lu had long since stopped hoping someone would help him.

He was different, he was a disgusting madman, even he himself couldnt think of anyone who would speak up for a disgusting, abnormal person like him.

Yan Chenli crouched in front of the dead cat and examined it, then turned his head back and confidently spoke, But this cat wasnt killed by him.

Shen Lu, who had his head buried into the crook of his arms, slightly opened his eyes, somewhat stunned.

The other kids cried out, Ah?! What are you talking about? Didnt you just get here??

Havent you guys carefully looked at the kittens body up close? Yan Chenli held his chin and looked at that tiny corpse. Hearing what he said, the other children shuddered all over and recoiled a step farther away.

We saw him messing with the dead cat with our own eyes!!

Who wants to look at it up close?!! Its disgusting and filled with maggots!! No no, only a pervert would look at it, normal people would get goosebumps from just glancing at it

So you saw the little bugs, right? Yan Chenli stood up and brushed the dust off of his knees, then turned and said, These are housefly larvae, the eggs are only laid on a corpse after it is dead. These little bugs need 7 or 8 hours to begin hatching, so this cat mustve already been dead for a day or more.

Shen Lu faintly loosened his hands, turning his head to look towards the sudden, unexpected guest.

What The kids werent really convinced, and they kept arguing, Then, then you cant be certain it wasnt him! He might have tried to kill the kitty so it could mess with its corpse the day after!

Whoa, thats even more disgusting The speakers expression became even more disgusted.

I think the real cause of death was getting run over by a car. Look, there are bloody tire tracks on the ground. Yan Chenli showed them as he spoke.

The kids were unwilling to give up, making a last-ditch effort: Then, what if it was killed by him and then got run over by a car?

Thats not possible. Yan Chenli shook his head firmly, Isnt this a bloodstain? If it had happened after its death, the blood would have stopped flowing and coagulated, and there wouldnt be any more blood when it was ran over.

The kids looked at each other in dismay, not too certain, Hey Is that true or false?

Dont believe me? Thats fine. Yan Chenli nodded and grabbed two people by the shoulders, looking at them with a passionate and excited gaze, I can take you to go look at the materials now, there are many books explaining this. I wont ask too much from you, but at least read two hundred thousand words, okay? I wont let you go before you read everything thoroughly and believe me.

The crowd of young guys who would doze off reading illustrated books loudly howled Why this againthen we wont!! as they lay down their weapons and surrendered one by one. Afterwards, Yan Chenli grabbed them by the face and told them these were just arbitrary and impulsive savage acts, that they couldnt use them to fly the banner of justice, and forced them to apologise. The guys did as they were told one after the other.

That was the first time Shen Lu had received an apology in his life.

Humiliation and curses were always expected, but Shen Lu never thought that he had actually not done anything wrong.

The little demons scattered after they apologised, leaving only Shen Lu and Yan Chenli behind. Yan Chenli helped him up a little worried, wanting to send him to the hospital, but Shen Lu shook his head and refused. The two pushed and pulled for a brief moment, before finally agreeing to let Yan Chenli help him simply treat his wounds.

Shen Lu looked at the little guy next to him in confusion. He had striking wine-red hair, which was a little long at the tips and stuck out brazenly and vividly, and was a head shorter than him. He must have been a lot younger than himself, maybe in junior high? But he was astonishingly strong, easily able to hold him up. He was wearing such fine clothes he seemed to be the young master of some rich family, but at this moment he was readily sitting next to him on the dusty stone slabs of the street, reading a dense, mixed Chinese-English manual and saying, Wait a moment, Ill confirm with the manual.

Shen Lu stared at him in a daze, feeling even more confused.

Clearly this guy was also weird, right? Even weirder than himself. He must have been the one that didnt fit in, he didnt avoid those rotting corpses like they were abominations, and he didnt cater to the crowd by joining in the attack. He also stood out from the crowd, but why was his situation so completely different from his own?

Yan Chenli checked with the manual, then he disinfected, applied medicine to, and bandaged the wound, appeasing him with each step of the treatment, Im actually not very skilled, Im not hurting you, right? It will take a while for the medicine to take effect, so bear with it for a little. It might be better to put an ice cube on it later to make it feel better, do you want to go to my house?

Shen Lu simply stared at him without saying a word.

It felt like a life that had been procedurally declared finished had been forcefully extended, but he had no idea what to do keep everything working. It was like those old wounds, if they were healed only to be split open over and over again, he didnt understand why he had to do more than was necessary.

Yan Chenli put away the bandages and scissors, and looked at the silent Shen Lu as he suddenly asked, They said you constantly mess with the corpses of little animals, is that true?

Yan Chenlis tone wasnt hateful, nor was it incredulous, it only had a gentle and pure curiosity as he continued speaking, Can you tell me why?

Shen Lu had been asked this question many times.

But those times had been entirely different from now. His mother would demand an explanation from him Why do you insist on touching those filthy things? Why cant you just listen to me?? Why did I give birth to such a gloomy thing, do you know how disgusting you are??

The head teacher had also said, Why do you always argue with people? Cant you find your own reasons?

The classmates next door pointed at him and said he was a psychopath, and even his own neighbour friend had told him with an awkward expression, Shen Lu, dont come look for me any more, youll cause me to be pointed at and made fun of by others too.

Shen Lu had tried to look for help, tried to analyse and communicate, but all he got in return was ridicule and hatred. Death was just death, every day, there was no heaven, no hell, no reincarnation, no netherworld, no souls, no spirits. There was nothing, and there was no reason why.

Dead bodies were frightening, unlucky, and filthy, they carried countless unknown viruses, they shouldnt be touched, and they shouldnt be talked about by anyone.

Shen Lu couldnt understand what it was that they called frightening or disgusting, but at least he was deeply aware of his own abnormality, and he was aware of how stupid his questions were.

Shen Lu wanted to cower instinctively, he was preparing to stay silent or say a few vague words to answer, but he was quickly choked off.

Because he discovered that Yan Chenli was staring at him.

Yan Chenli held his knee with one hand and propped his chin up with the other, tilting his head slightly as he looked at Shen Lu sincerely and attentively, with an incomparably patient and tolerant smile.

I can wait until youre willing to talk. He said.

I think it must be hard to get your trust, since you would rather be misunderstood by people without trying to explain. Yan Chenli smiled calmly, the curving corners of his eyes filled with bright and soft light, I would be very honoured if I could obtain your trust.

Twenty-five years had passed, and Shen Lu still clearly remembered Yan Chenlis gaze from back then.

He had been so sincere that it was hard to ignore.

Shen Lu couldnt help but believe him, he was really waiting for my answer, he really cared about my answer.

And perhaps.

He was my answer.