A New Body Every Day

[The neighboring story, "The Guide’s Vulgar Deal", opens on January 31. Please add it to your favorites, everyone. It means a lot to me qwq. Also coming soon: "A Guide to Raising Humans for Monsters", a series of stories about nonhuman characters.]

This story: post-apocalyptic.

Z1932 was the last test subject in the Mechanical God of War Project. Human shelters traded him around as a mindless weapon, making him endure endless abuse and exploitation.

Wu Yin first met him during a mission to escort a researcher. With his cold red eyes and overwhelming combat strength, his arrival alone decided the battle.

The next time they met, his arms were shackled and held up by thick iron chains. Unable to straighten his body, he could only kneel on the ground with his eyes closed. Wu Yin, whose skills were “still a work in progress,” had pierced three of his blood vessels, sending blood spraying everywhere. Yet he apologized sincerely: “Sorry, I got your clothes dirty.”

Don’t talk to Z1932. This mutant is cruel and cold-blooded, with none of the empathy normal humans should have.

Looking at the bloodstains on his hem, Wu Yin seriously doubted that warning was true. After all, what threat could someone in such a miserable state possibly pose?

Wu Yin decided to rescue this “poor little thing” and make Z1932 his servant, looking after his meals, clothes, and daily needs, working like an ox and a horse for him, and even sleeping with him.

…

Z1932 knew the man who couldn’t even hit a blood vessel with a needle was no real researcher. To escape the shelter, he put all his eggs in one basket and surrendered to him, agreeing to countless unfair terms. Of course, the moment he gained his freedom, he planned to break every one of them.

But the next morning, he saw the fake researcher’s corpse in a gruesome state. The contaminators outside the base had sucked out his brains.

Z1932: …

Z1932: What a useless piece of trash.

More or less, they travel from place to place, fighting monsters and falling in love along the way. The gong has absurdly powerful abilities but needs two hours of charging for one minute of use, so the shou has no choice but to shoulder the responsibility of supporting the family…

The gong has “solar-powered” eyes. At night, he can’t see a thing, and turning on the lights doesn’t help. Don’t ask how it works. If you insist, I’ll make something up depending on the situation.

They have special abilities, but not the kind that can instantly dominate the world.

No pocket dimension, no magical spring, no stockpiling, no metal, wood, water, fire, or earth powers. They eat whatever they can find along the way, and the neighbors’ homes are my pantry.

A gong who’s happy only when he’s made everyone else miserable, Wu Yin x a shou whose already offbeat world has been pushed even further off track, Xie Linyuan/Z1932

Theme: Cherish life. Never give up, no matter how difficult things get. A glimmer of hope is waiting just beyond your next moment of perseverance.