Sharing a single-person cockpit between two people left very little movable space.
Rong Zhiting could not help feeling grateful that both he and Bai Jinqiu were quite slim, and since he had not undergone differentiation yet, his build was a size smaller than in his past life, or else he definitely would have pressed against the injuries on Brother Bai’s body.
The increasingly rich smell of blood inside the cockpit urged him to constantly accelerate his pace.
Bai Jinqiu’s body temperature was very low; he had lost too much blood.
Rong Zhiting laboriously controlled the mecha with one hand while wrapping his other arm around Bai Jinqiu’s waist to let him lean against his own body, trying to transfer his own body temperature over.
However, just like the end of his life in the past, the cold armor could not transmit any warmth. Only the person critically wounded and dying had changed from him to Bai Jinqiu.
Rong Zhiting could hardly control his trembling.
He knew all too well the feeling of life gradually fading away along with the loss of blood.
Only at this moment could he truly understand just how despairing it must have been when Brother Bai held him and shed tears in his past life.
Although he understood in his heart that his brother would not face life-threatening danger, the cold touch in his arms still made him uncontrollably feel fear.
Upon returning to his residence, he settled Bai Jinqiu on the bed, fed him plenty of nutrient solutions to replenish his physical strength, and then reached out to touch the back of his neck, twisting the transformation button of the advanced armor.
The pitch-black armor rapidly deformed and shrank, changing from covering the entire body down to a two-finger-wide neck ring on Bai Jinqiu’s slender neck.
After removing the armor, the injuries on that person’s body became even more shocking, with countless large and small wounds.
Bai Jinqiu was not wearing a combat uniform underneath, which Rong Zhiting guessed was because he had originally been executing an infiltration mission. His clothes had lost their original color and style, entirely dyed dark red with blood. His right arm and left leg were obviously fractured, but these were still not the most severe injuries on his body.
Aside from the penetrating wound on his chest, the most severe injury on Bai Jinqiu was an unhealed old wound on his abdomen. The wound had torn open, and the blood flowing out was actually dark, foul blood.
Rong Zhiting drew a sharp breath, thinking to himself that this was bad; this was probably not an injury he could handle.
He first performed emergency treatment on Bai Jinqiu, and before heading to the black market, he had not forgotten to take a hurried shower.
His body was covered in Bai Jinqiu’s blood.
The blood of Alphas and Omegas contained trace amounts of pheromones. The higher the bloodline rank of the AO, the higher the pheromone concentration in their blood, whereas the pheromones in the blood of lower-ranked AOs were almost imperceptible without instruments.
Pheromones naturally radiating from such blood did not possess an attracting effect, but they did serve a marking function.
The pheromone marking significance in S-rank AO blood was particularly intense, usually representing that there was an injured, irritable, and powerful Alpha here and not to provoke them easily, or that there was a fragile and precious Omega here who was injured and urgently needed help.
However, this marking effect appeared quite troublesome at times like this.
Bai Jinqiu’s pheromones were very special, being the extremely rare cedar scent among Omegas. It did not have the sweet fragrance common to ordinary Omega pheromones; instead, it was the crisp, slightly bitter scent of mountain pine and cypress, completely devoid of softness or sweetness, carrying instead an independent and unassailable territorial consciousness.
This was typically a characteristic of Alpha pheromones, and Bai Jinqiu was also one of the rare Omegas who had undergone special training and could control his pheromones so they did not produce alluring or soothing effects. Therefore, many of the subordinates under Bai Jinqiu in his past life secretly suspected that he was an Alpha disguised as an Omega.
AO pheromones were unique entities in the world, let alone Bai Jinqiu’s highly individualized pheromones. If he brought that scent into the underground city, it might expose Bai Jinqiu’s whereabouts.
Rong Zhiting had not undergone differentiation yet and could not smell pheromones, but after all, he was an Alpha in his past life, and he was familiar with the characteristics of AO pheromones.
When it concerned the safety of his beloved, he had to be cautious to the utmost degree.
Bai Jinqiu woke up from unconsciousness on the evening two days later.
The acid rain that had fallen continuously for two days showed no sign of stopping, and the dark, heavy thunderclouds in the sky never dispersed. No lights were turned on indoors; under the dim lighting, accompanied by the pattering sound of rain, the person lying on the bed slowly opened his eyes.
Before him lay a patchwork of mottled grey and black patches, making it impossible to see clear, specific images.
Bai Jinqiu felt extremely dizzy. After closing his eyes to rest for a few seconds and opening them again, his vision remained blurry.
What had happened to him?
He remembered receiving a mission and infiltrating that factory, and then what?
The dull, heavy pain in his body quickly made him realize the fact that he was injured.
The weakness brought by heavy injuries made his thinking somewhat sluggish. He tried hard to ponder his current predicament, only to find that a large segment of his memory was missing.
What he encountered in that factory, how the mission went, why he was injured, and how he left that factory. Throughout the entire process, he could not remember a single thing.
His eyes were unable to see, but based on his perception of pain, he quickly judged the current state of his body.
The bones of his right arm and left leg were damaged, but they had been properly set and immobilized. There were two extremely severe puncture wounds on his chest and abdomen, which had also been treated with medicine and bandaged, and the technique was very professional. Other flesh wounds could be temporarily ignored.
The air was filled with the bitter smell of disinfectant and medicine, but at the same time, there was also an unshakeable, damp earthy smell.
This was not a hospital, nor even a standard urban residential area.
What kind of place was this? Who had saved him?
Using his still-functional left arm to prop his body up into a sitting position, every injured part of his body was instantly pulled, especially his chest and abdomen. A sharp pain struck, making him unable to resist a slight tremble, his breathing hitching slightly as his brows furrowed imperceptibly.
Bai Jinqiu quickly deduced that this movement was already his current limit.
The injuries were too heavy; in the short term, he would not be able to resume free movement.
What was frustrating was that he simply could not remember how he got injured.
A click of the door opening came from the entrance, and the howling wind and rain outside suddenly grew stronger. Simultaneously, the air purifier emitted a string of warning beeps, followed by the door quickly shutting to isolate the sound of rain outside.
Someone had come in.
Bai Jinqiu narrowed his eyes. The surge of vigilance caused his brain to quickly resume functioning, determining the reaction he should have next based on the current situation within a single second.
The wind brought in the instant the door opened allowed him to smell a strange scent in the air pouring in from outside.
His damaged lungs protested, and Bai Jinqiu could not help coughing lightly, but the violent pain in his chest that followed immediately forced him to abruptly suppress the cough.
This slight cough caught the attention of the newcomer.
“Bai, you are awake?”
A young man’s voice sounded, followed by a series of hurried footsteps.
“Why did you sit up? Your injuries are too severe, you cannot move around randomly!” The nervous tone in that person’s voice carried a hint of dissatisfaction at his lack of self-care, faintly revealing a trace of familiarity.
Yet Bai Jinqiu did not capture this familiarity for the moment. He was certain that this was his first time hearing this unfamiliar voice.
Bai Jinqiu’s unfocused eyes stared blankly in the direction the voice came from, asking softly:
“Who are you?”
His warm tone revealed a hint of cautious unease.
Rong Zhiting had nearly blurted out a “Brother Bai” just a moment ago, barely managing to brake in time. Stunned by that gaze, his breathing paused, a beat was missed in his heartbeat, and his earlobes flushed with a hint of red.
He had always known that his Brother Bai looked good, but that warm, flawless face paired with such a blank, innocent look, plus the fragile posture of being injured and wrapped in bandages, was simply a lethal weapon!
“I, cough, my name is Rong Zhiting.” For a moment, he did not quite know how to introduce himself, so he just awkwardly stated his name.
However, he quickly realized that this person was acting.
Are you kidding? What kind of relationship did they have in the past life? The other person’s truest self was already far too familiar, so how could he not tell?
Rong Zhiting dared to say that if the other person had not lost his mobility, he probably would have already had a blade pressed against his throat the moment he walked in.
Still, being able to see such a Brother Bai was extremely rare, practically a treat for him. Rong Zhiting was very happy to see this and, in a place where Bai Jinqiu could not see, smiled like a cat that had stolen some cream.
“Rong Zhiting.”
Bai Jinqiu slowly recited the name, subconsciously feeling that it carried an indescribable familiarity that actually made his heart ache and soften.
The vigilance that had remained hidden all along cracked open an opening, just like that.
It was as if this name had long been deeply buried in the bottom of his heart. On countless nights, he had recited it a thousand or ten thousand times in his mind, hiding deep yearning, yet never daring to touch it even once, suppressing bitter grief and not daring to speak it aloud.
Rong Zhiting’s ears went numb from being called by that name, and he almost forgot how to speak.
In Bai Jinqiu’s mouth, the name seemed to have circled around a hundred times on the tip of his tongue, slowly crushed and savored.
It inexplicably made one’s face flush and heart beat fast.
If Rong Zhiting had not been reborn, he surely would have thought this person was doing it on purpose, deliberately pronouncing his name so ambiguously just to tease him!
Pity that the present Bai Jinqiu genuinely did not know him.
“Mr. Rong, did you save me? Do you know what happened to me? What is wrong with my eyes?”
The first half addressing him as Mr. Rong almost choked Rong Zhiting to death, while the second half left him stunned.
Was he faking it? Or had this person truly forgotten some things?
Pondering for a moment, he sighed softly in his heart, sat down by the bedside, and said:
“You can just call my name, or you can call me Zhiting.”
“I am a scavenger. I found you in the battlefield ruins two days ago, and you were covered in injuries at the time. As for what happened to you, I do not know either.”
“I checked your eyes with a diagnostic scanner; they seem to have been burned by a blinding weapon. I gave you some medicine, though I do not know if they will get better.”
In fact, Bai Jinqiu’s eyes were far less serious than his other two injuries. Rong Zhiting knew that given this person’s self-healing ability, his eyes should heal faster than those two frightening large holes on his body.
After finishing, Rong Zhiting asked as a matter of routine: “You asked my name, so what about you? What is your name?”
Bai Jinqiu paused and said, “My name is Bai Jinqiu.”
In fact, he used another name more often nowadays; he rarely used the name Bai Jinqiu.
Yet for some reason, he felt that he ought to use this name in front of this person.
Besides, he did not want to tell him a fake name.
“Then I will call you Brother Bai from now on.” Rong Zhiting curved his eyes, his voice softening.
“Brother Bai.”
Recalling this title that exclusively belonged to him in the previous life, the lingering anxiety and suppression regarding the future that Rong Zhiting had carried since his rebirth seemed to dissipate entirely at this moment, filling him with a sense of relief.
After all, all his uncertainties about the future stemmed from this person.