“Ugh…”
“Ugh…”
By the time Lu Xihe let out his third sigh of the morning, Yu Yicheng finally couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked:
“You can combine abilities now, and you even cheated your way to a successful synthesis in half an hour, what more do you have to sigh about?”
“Ugh…” Lu Xihe wore a look of utter dejection, head tilted back as he stared blankly at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, then let out another listless sigh. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Yu Yicheng pursed his lips in exasperation, tapped his bracelet lightly with his fingertip, and the Fluffy Beast immediately expanded, floating gently down onto the carpet. He flopped straight back onto it. “Yeah, yeah, I wouldn’t understand. Go ahead and keep showing off.”
Lu Xihe shot upright, indignant. “Cheng Yuchuan won’t let me sleep, and he won’t let me go out to play. Don’t you think that’s over the top?”
“Why?” Yu Yicheng yawned lazily and asked offhandedly.
“He wants me to sleep with him at night.” Lu Xihe said, dissatisfied.
Hearing just that one sentence, there didn’t seem to be any problem, sleeping with your partner is only natural. But the more Lu Xihe thought about it, the more wronged he felt, and the more wronged he felt, the angrier he got.
“But I’m just sleepy during the day! Can’t a person sleep when they’re tired? If I sleep during the day, then I’m wide awake at night and don’t want to sleep. If I’m not sleeping, lying there doing nothing is so boring, so what’s wrong with me going out to have some fun?”
“…” Yu Yicheng rolled his eyes so hard they nearly got stuck, threw a few phantom punches at Lu Xihe, and said irritably, “Couple dog, I shouldn’t have even asked.”
“Ahhhh, this is so annoying, I really want to sleep!!!” Lu Xihe howled with his mouth, but his body dutifully did exercises to wake himself up.
He flailed through a sloppy set of military boxing in the living room, then gave up claiming he was tired before he’d even gotten anywhere. He plopped down and squeezed his way next to Yu Yicheng, curling comfortably into the Fluffy Beast sofa to watch the show with him.
“How is it this guy again? You’ve been watching him this whole time and you’re not sick of it yet?” Lu Xihe exclaimed in amazement. It had to be nearly half a month since they’d returned to A City, and every time he saw Yu Yicheng, he was watching this man’s shows.
This time Yu Yicheng actually punched him, retorting without mercy, “You’re with the big shot every single day, are you sick of him?”
“How is that the same?” Lu Xihe rubbed his sore arm, puzzled.
“It just is!” Yu Yicheng stubbornly argued back with a straight face. “Besides, it’s not like I’m watching the same show over and over again, how could I get bored?”
And with that face and that body, even if it were the same show on repeat, he felt like he’d never get tired of it.
“Fine.” Lu Xihe didn’t understand but respected it. After watching for a while, he said, “But I’ve got to say, he’s pretty impressive, he’s made so many shows, and the themes are all completely different.”
“Right, right, that’s what I think too. If it weren’t for this damn apocalypse, he probably could’ve made even more. What a shame.” Yu Yicheng sighed regretfully, a faint bitterness welling up in his chest. “Only 25, in the prime of his life. I guess heaven is jealous of geniuses, and beauty has a short life.”
“So tragic. What a handsome guy. If he were still alive, with our current resources, no matter which safe zone he was in, we’d just step on the gas, bring a couple of spirit stones, and go. Who knows, maybe you two would hit it off and even date, right?” Lu Xihe teased him jokingly.
“Hehe…” Yu Yicheng’s heart raced just imagining the scene. After a moment, he snapped back to reality and saw Lu Xihe grinning at him with that smug look, and quickly straightened up. “Shut up, you’re so annoying.”
“Come on, let’s watch together.”
The two sat in the living room watching shows all afternoon. When mealtime came, Ning Wanli and Sheng Shuyue brought the two little ones downstairs. Cheng Yuchuan and the other two wouldn’t be back so soon, so during this period, it was just the group of them eating together.
Yu Yicheng had become a pro at ordering through the system. In less than two minutes, steaming dishes appeared on the table, a balanced mix of meat and vegetables, plus drinks and dessert.
“The flavor feels a bit bland.” Lu Xihe said after taking a bite of the braised pork bone.
The moment he finished speaking, a packet of salt was tossed directly beside his bowl. Yu Yicheng didn’t even look up, still devouring his food, and only replied in between bites: “Add it yourself.”
Lu Xihe tore open the salt packet and carefully sprinkled it in, when suddenly the villa door burst open with a bang. A dark shadow darted in and appeared beside Ning Wanli in an instant, startling Lu Xihe so much that his hand twitched and half the packet of salt dumped into his bowl.
“Don’t eat so much salt. It’s bad for your health.” Cheng Yuchuan’s voice came from behind him. As he approached, Lu Xihe could feel the chill radiating off him.
He instinctively reached out to take Cheng Yuchuan’s hand to warm him up, but the moment his fingertips touched that icy coldness, it jolted him awake to certain memories that weren’t all that distant.
Warm him up? Let him freeze to death, serves him right.
Lu Xihe decisively pulled his hand back, and when he opened his mouth, it was like he’d been loaded with gunpowder, blasting away: “I didn’t mean to dump that much. I’m not stupid. He scared me and I accidentally spilled it, didn’t you see that?”
The tone startled everyone into looking over. In all the time they’d known him, they’d never seen Lu Xihe angry, and by the looks of it, it seemed to be a lovers’ quarrel.
Caught off guard by the sudden gossip, no one dared to say anything without knowing the full story. The air fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.
“Didn’t you sprinkle it yourself?” Cheng Yuchuan teased deliberately, pulling out a chair to sit beside Lu Xihe.
“You’re the one who’s stupid!” Lu Xihe fumed. The moment Cheng Yuchuan’s food arrived, Lu Xihe, with lightning-fast hands, dumped the remaining half packet of salt onto it.
Cheng Yuchuan watched his childish act of revenge, shook his head helplessly, and said sternly, “Don’t waste food.”
Lu Xihe glared at him indignantly, let out a huff, turned his head away in a sulk, and scooted his chair closer to Yu Yicheng.
Always lecturing, he was still pissed about last night.
Even after completing the ability fusion and becoming a true Level 5 ability master, he still wasn’t allowed to go out and stretch his legs. All day it was “no, no, no”, can’t do this, can’t do that. But when he actually told him to stop something, he’d play deaf. What a jerk!
He wasn’t forgiving him today!
Cheng Yuchuan tried to say something, but Lu Xihe raised his hand to cover his left ear, cutting him off and turning to ask Qi Jin instead: “What’s wrong, Brother Qi?”
Such an abrupt subject change, the tension between the two was confirmed.
As Lu Xihe leaned toward his side, Cheng Yuchuan’s burning gaze followed closely, landing on him. Yu Yicheng, caught in the middle, was at a loss for how to react.
Seeing Lu Xihe ask about Qi Jin, he quickly chimed in with concern: “Are your eyes bothering you? Overexerted? Want me to treat them?”
Qi Jin kept his back to them, silent, but Ning Wanli poked her head out with a gentle smile and declined: “No need, A-Jin is just being clingy.”
“Wanli!” Exposed, Qi Jin’s ears turned bright red in an instant. He was both embarrassed and annoyed, but meeting Ning Wanli’s eyes, soft as spring water, he couldn’t muster any anger.
The piece of meat at his mouth plopped back into the bowl. Yu Yicheng’s eyes went wide, staring blankly in Ning Wanli’s direction, exclaiming in near-horrified shock: “That’s a first, the ice cube face actually acts clingy.”
“Agreed.” Sheng Shuyue nodded in agreement, thoroughly enjoying the drama.
This sparked a burst of laughter. Qi Jin remained frozen with his back to everyone; no one but Ning Wanli could see his expression at that moment.
Yu Yicheng tried to sneak around for a peek, but the moment he scooted his chair out, S102 suddenly popped up, sobbing hysterically:
[Stop it, stop it, please just leave him alone, his inner voice is about to make my head explode.]
The moment S102’s voice rang out, Qi Jin moved. He grabbed S102 and hurled it out the window, moving so fast he left afterimages.
After nearly a month of hard work, he’d finally gotten his break. Overcome with excitement, he’d spotted Ning Wanli at the door and rushed straight in, completely missing that so many people were here. If he’d known, he never would’ve done that.
Qi Jin was already regretting his rash move, wishing he could turn back time and do it over.
Feeling Qi Jin’s scorching gaze on her, Sheng Shuyue shot up and raised her right hand high, but before she could volunteer, Qi Jin turned his head away the next second.
It was a silent refusal.
Sheng Shuyue sat back down, a little disappointed. She was a time-attribute ability user with time-reversal powers, but she could only rewind one minute, something the whole team knew.
Rewinding just one minute… The event of him rushing in to hug Ning Wanli and being called clingy had already happened. Wouldn’t redoing it just make him die of embarrassment all over again?
Better not.
If they kept teasing, Qi Jin would really fall apart. Ning Wanli cut her losses and said, “Alright, wash your hands and come eat. You’ve worked hard all day, you must be starving.”
Qi Jin nodded obediently and headed to the kitchen to wash up. When he came back, no one brought up what had just happened.
Yu Yicheng got fresh meals for Cheng Yuchuan and Lu Xihe. The previous two bowls, when returned to the system, would automatically revert to data, and the next order would be a brand-new meal, so nothing was wasted.
Midway through, the conversation turned to Qi Jin’s work over the past few days, mainly monitoring the movements of the Aberrant King. Lu Xihe suddenly perked up with interest: “What does the Aberrant King usually do?”
Qi Jin thought for a moment, then summarized simply: “Doesn’t go out during the day. Occasionally takes a walk at night.”
Aberrants feared sunlight, staying indoors during the day and coming out at night, pretty much matching what Lu Xihe already knew about their habits.
“Every time a high-tier Aberrant shows up, it triggers a wave of Aberrants. Wouldn’t his outings be even grander?” Lu Xihe asked again.
“Not really. The Aberrant King is low-key. He usually only goes out with his wife and kids, no other Aberrants.”
“The Aberrant King has a wife and kids? Aberrants can marry and have children?” Lu Xihe was even more shocked.
Aberrants clearly had no consciousness, how could they marry and reproduce? That was beyond anything he’d expected.
“They’re probably his wife and kids from before he became an Aberrant. Based on current experiments, Aberrants have no vital signs and no reproductive ability. The only explanation is that they’re his family from before the transformation.”
Hearing this, Lu Xihe couldn’t help but feel envious, then fell into a quiet melancholy.
I wonder how Mom, Dad, my older brother, and sister are doing. Actually, as long as the whole family is together, even turning into an Aberrant creature isn’t that scary.
Someone gently rubbed his head twice, perfectly soothing the sadness in his heart. When he realized whose hand it was, Lu Xihe immediately shot a dagger-like glare over.
Cheng Yuchuan awkwardly withdrew his hand, then after a moment, scooted his chair to the left, leaning close to Lu Xihe and coaxing him softly: “I’ll take you out to play tonight.”
That caught Lu Xihe by surprise. He glanced at Cheng Yuchuan, suppressing the delight in his eyes, and pretended not to care: “Does the busy man not need to go build his safe zone?”
“The preliminary work is already prepared. I’ll rest for a while before heading to Spirit Stone Mountain. These few days I can accompany you to adjust your sleep schedule.” Cheng Yuchuan said.
He wasn’t happy for even three seconds, the words “adjust your sleep schedule” immediately brought him back to reality, and Lu Xihe’s face instantly fell.
“I can take you out to play,” Cheng Yuchuan quickly corrected himself.
Lu Xihe glared at Cheng Yuchuan gloomily, and only when he saw that the other’s attitude was sincere enough did he magnanimously let him off the hook.
“That’s more like it.” Lu Xihe snorted coldly, then picked the best piece of pork knuckle from Cheng Yuchuan’s bowl and stuffed it into his mouth in one bite.
So satisfying.
Pork knuckle is so delicious~
For the next half month, Cheng Yuchuan stayed at the villa with Lu Xihe. Occasionally, when something came up, he’d bring Lu Xihe along, and after finishing work, they’d go play somewhere nearby.
All the enhanced defense measures for the various safe zones had been fully implemented. The Spirit Stone rescue team, safe zone expansion, and construction of the Spirit Stone watchtower were all proceeding in an orderly manner. With the aid of the Spirit Stone stones, human society was gradually restoring order from before the apocalypse.
Everything was moving in a good direction. At this pace, the Aberrant apocalypse would probably be over within half a year.
Looking at it now, everything in this life was developing smoothly and satisfactorily. Although having the experience and groundwork from the previous life, plus the cheats of various abilities and systems, standing on the shoulders of giants did make success a bit easier, Cheng Yuchuan still felt a vague unease in his heart.
In the unseen, it seemed something was silently changing.
And indeed, things turned out just as Cheng Yuchuan had suspected.
The night before they were set to depart for Spirit Stone Mountain to build the new safe zone, Qi Jin rushed back to the villa in a panic, carrying Ning Wanli, who had lost an arm and was covered in blood, shouting anxiously: “Yicheng, Xihe, save her!”
At the same time, Li Qing also brought bad news: “Three safe zones have been overrun by the Aberrant creatures and have already lost contact.”