Yun pulled the uniform jacket over the cub’s head. Taking advantage of the fact that the worm wasn’t fully awake, he easily picked him up and leaped off the flying vehicle which was hovering half a meter off the ground before the driver could even react.
The female worm in the driver’s seat was terrified. Male cubs were naturally timid by nature. He couldn’t help but worry; his young master had always been reckless. How could he jump while carrying a little male? What if he scared him?
He couldn’t help but advise: “You could have at least waited for me to stabilize!”
His only response was a retreating back moving even faster.
He hurriedly opened the hatch and climbed out, unable to hide his concern: “You’re still holding the little male worm! Walk steadily, don’t trip!”
The instructions from behind came one after another.
Yun felt incredibly helpless. He gave the cub, who was sliding slightly, a little bounce to push him back up, and without looking back, jogged with him toward a quiet, secluded path.
He perfunctorily muttered: “Got it.”
The female worm: “…”
Then slow down, would you?
Hearing the footsteps behind him getting closer, Yun’s thoughts shifted. He turned around, blinked, and said, “The little male cub said he missed me very much since we haven’t seen each other all day, so we need to go bond. Uncle, don’t follow us.”
The female worm froze.
“It’ll disturb us…” Yun widened his eyes innocently.
After he said that, the female worm indeed stopped chasing and stood there in a daze. On the flying vehicle, he had only heard the young master ask “did you miss me,” but from start to finish, he hadn’t heard the little male answer.
He didn’t even know if the little male had woken up yet…
“Goodbye, Uncle, we’re off,” Yun said with a smile, waving goodbye.
Li Xi had just awakened from his spiritual sea, and his consciousness and body were currently in a state of separation, needing time to fuse.
After bumping around for ten minutes, he was set down. The ground was freezing cold, and the sound of bubbling water echoed all around.
He tried to move his arms. As soon as he left his original position, he touched a patch of dampness.
After waiting for a moment, he slowly dragged the clothing off his head.
He saw the light again.
All around was a deep green lake; occasionally, one could see brightly colored fish flicking their tails. Li Xi had been placed on a protruding rock a meter away from the shore. Whenever the wind blew, the water would lap at the edges of the rock, soaking his clothes.
Li Xi thought, if the wind got any stronger, he might be taking a cold shower tonight.
He sat up slowly, clutching the child’s uniform jacket. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the child standing in water just above his knees, busily tossing fish food, feeding the fish in high spirits.
Seeing the cub sit up, Yun stopped feeding the fish and hopped over to Li Xi.
He looked at his own soaked pants, pondered for a moment, and then plop. He sat cross-legged opposite the cub, a very fake-looking smile plastered on his face.
Li Xi: “…?”
Yun didn’t dare sit too close, fearing the water on him would stain the cub. After all, he was “delicate and frail.”
The orange-red sunset spread silently across the horizon, and he asked the question from the flying vehicle again: “It’s been a day, did you miss me?”
“…?” Li Xi’s brain was in a state of complete confusion. Why would “missing” or “not missing” be a question just because they hadn’t seen each other for one day?
A day and a night passed in a flash for him; he didn’t have a strong sense of the passage of time.
So, he shook his head twice.
“No!” Yun stopped him firmly, pointed at the lake water all around, and laughed menacingly. “See the water?”
Li Xi couldn’t keep up with the erratic topic.
The fake smile grew wider, and Yun threatened, enunciating every word: “If you don’t want to take a cold bath, please say you missed me.”
He bit down hard on those last two words.
Li Xi: “???”
He’d had his head covered the moment he woke up, brought to this strange place, and this kid was acting completely abnormally.
Tuanzi had been active all day, and his hard-earned energy was exhausted; he was currently curled up in the safety zone he’d partitioned off for himself, deep in sleep. Therefore, Li Xi knew absolutely nothing about what had happened during the day.
As for the confusion and inquiry in the cub’s eyes, Yun treated it as if he didn’t see it at all. He ignored it completely.
Immediately after, the smile on his face faded until it vanished entirely. He clutched his chest, pretending to be heartbroken, and muttered to himself in a low voice: “You don’t miss me? Do you know how much I missed you today?”
“My longing is like the lake, bottomless. I missed you so much I couldn’t even eat lunch.”
He recited lyrically: “Oh, and breakfast, too. And dinner later, possibly…”
The child rolled back and forth on the rock surface. One moment he was calm and expressionless, the next he was covering his face and sobbing, vividly portraying a tragic scene of heartbreak.
The rock wasn’t large; it wasn’t nearly enough for the child to roll around recklessly. Several times he nearly fell into the water completely, only to twist himself back nimbly, continuing to act insane in front of the cub.
Once more, just as he was about to roll off the rock and into the water, Li Xi couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up decisively, clutching his clothes, intending to go find a doctor. This kid was clearly mentally unstable.
He had only slept for one day. How could the person he met again seem like they’d suffered such major trauma that they’d completely changed?
Splash—
Water sprayed everywhere.
Just as Li Xi’s body rose halfway, a damp, warm sensation covered his wrist. The force dragged him back to his original position, and the mournful tone in his ear turned into a sinister interrogation: “Where do you think you’re running to?!”
Li Xi tried to pull his hand away, but it was met with increased force; he was nearly dragged into the water. He glanced down. When he stood up, the child had completely lost his footing and rolled into the cool lake water.
Now, the other party was half-submerged, soaked from head to toe. The luster of his purple eyes was gone, half-hidden behind water-dripping golden hair, staring unblinkingly at Li Xi like a little water ghost that had just crawled out of the lake.
Li Xi backed away and said, “Finding a doctor.”
Yun was confused: “Find a doctor for what?”
Li Xi: “To see you.”
“See?” Yun suddenly reacted, narrowing his eyes. “You mean, you want to find a doctor for me?”
Li Xi nodded.
Yun’s voice rose an octave: “Between the two of us, who needs a doctor more?!”
Li Xi answered: “You.”
If it had been any other cub, given the child’s neurotic behavior, they would have already been scared into crying.
Slow-to-react Li Xi realized something was wrong with the kid.
…Could this kid actually have a problem?
Yun suddenly grinned and stayed silent for a long moment.
He had been holding it in all day, restraining himself for a whole day while facing that stranger-no-longer-strange, impossibly lively male cub!
So, what if he acted crazy?! So what!
His father clearly didn’t want to say much about this situation, and he wasn’t familiar with the daytime cub, so he didn’t dare to ask rashly.
By the time he finished digesting the series of bizarre events and wanted to ask, he realized the guy was incredibly popular, surrounded by female classmates, and he couldn’t find an opportunity at all.
Just as his patience was about to run out, he had finally waited for the worm.
He originally wanted to force an answer out of him, but figured it was better not to. What if I scare him?
—Must cherish male cubs. Smile [jpg]
His madness wasn’t over yet.
“Little brother…”
Yun replayed the soft, sweet tone from the daytime in his mind, imitating it as he called out, and then, under Li Xi’s confused gaze, dragged out the long vowel, “Little brother…”
“…”
Goosebumps rose on Li Xi’s arms. He didn’t know if it was from the cold or fright. He was never good with words, and now he was even more at a loss for what to say.
“You were calling me ‘little brother’ every other sentence during the day,” Yun continued to act affected, continuing to act crazy, “Say it to me again~”
Not knowing what he was thinking, the purple eyes brightened. He was looking forward to what tone the cub in front of him would use to call him “Brother.”
Would it be cold? Flat? Or with a hint of softness?
He felt more excited the more he thought about it!
The voice disguised by pinching his throat was as eerie as could be. To protect his ears, Li Xi tried to explain the cause, hoping the child would stop the neurotic behavior: “…It wasn’t me.”
“Mm-hmm!” Yun was clearly distracted, looking forward to and waiting for something.
“…” Li Xi became even more certain that the kid needed a doctor.
Yun shuffled closer to Li Xi: “Oh, it wasn’t little bro… Urgh—”
Splash.
At dusk, the water temperature had dropped. As he climbed up, perhaps because he was covered in water, his foot slipped. Without paying attention, he accidentally submerged himself in the water again. The sudden chill made his mind clear up instantly.
The messy thoughts ran away without a trace.
He soaked in the water for a while before fumbling to stand up. Embarrassed, he shook the water droplets off his head and stood with his back to the cub for a long time.
Moment of silence for the image I’ve completely destroyed.
Li Xi didn’t notice anything unusual. At this moment, he was rejoicing that the kid had let go of his wrist before slipping; otherwise, he would have been dragged in with him. With the frailty of this body, he would have likely gotten sick.
“What do you mean ‘not you’? My father said it was all you.” Yun pulled himself together, his voice returning to normal.
Li Xi looked up: “…”
Another difficult problem trapped him. This was hard to explain. Should he explain that he and Tuanzi were two different consciousnesses?
Should he say that Tuanzi was the original consciousness of this body, and he was an outsider who accidentally entered the Zerg race?
That might add another entry to his medical records—Delusional Disorder.
Yun wasn’t in a hurry. They had spent the whole summer together; he knew the other party was gentle and slow, but he could definitely get an explanation by the end of the night.
He watched the cub, eyes full of poise, standing in the water with a smile, warning him enunciating every word: “Do. Not. Lie. To. Me.”
Seeing this stance, Li Xi knew he couldn’t escape, so he explained: “I have an illness.”
Yun wasn’t happy. He subconsciously waved his hand, creating a transparent column of water that splashed accurately at Li Xi’s feet. His displeasure was obvious as he pointed at himself in disbelief: “You! You cursed me!?”
Which one of us is sick!?
He had been a bit crazy just now, but was it worth calling him sick?!
Li Xi was innocent. Whether in the Zerg race or the apocalypse, he was used to being a lone wolf, generally responding to social interactions with silence. It was only from the moment the child entered his life that he started living like a normal person.
Sometimes, when his laziness took over, he would habitually skip one or two less-than-important words. He had never thought this was a problem, but now…
“You should really be glad you’re a male cub.” Yun no longer had his usual playful grin; a rare serious expression appeared on his face.
Li Xi: “…?”
Yun walked straight toward Li Xi, dripping with water, and explained slowly: “Because, if you were a female worm, you wouldn’t be sitting so properly on a clean rock. I’d have likely thrown you into the water to feed the fish!”
The child said he wouldn’t throw him into the water, but his aggressive approach and the growing anger in his eyes all said that the fish weren’t full and he wouldn’t be getting out of the water.
Li Xi didn’t want to touch the cold water, he would get sick. He also didn’t want to use his consciousness to bewitch the child; after all, it wasn’t his own body, and mobilizing it was too troublesome. Before the kid could grab him, he re-explained thoroughly: “I am sick.”
Yun didn’t stop his steps: “Please don’t curse yourself.”
Li Xi: “…………”
“There are medical records.”
Yun’s hands were already on the edge of the rock, intending to use it to pull himself up, but he paused at these words: “What?”
Li Xi repeated: “Sick. Have medical records.”
Yun stayed blank for a while, facing the sunset, his purple pupils tinged with a light blush. He paused in the water, seemingly thinking about something. A moment later, the confusion in his eyes turned to realization. He nodded: “Ah… I see.”
He recalled that when his female father saw the personality-switched Li He in the morning, he seemed to have only been shocked for a moment before recovering, and even instructed him to take extra care, as if all of this were perfectly normal.
Only now did he react. It was also that I wasn’t smart enough.
Yun easily climbed up and lay on the edge of the rock, the waves gently lapping at his already-soaked clothes.
He looked at the sky crisscrossed with glass tracks and suddenly blurted out a sentimental remark: “My female father says I haven’t been very smart since I was little.”
Li Xi wanted to respond, but the next sentence made him directly choose to ignore that apparently sad statement.
“Don’t you think we’re quite alike?”
Alike in what way?
Equally not smart?