Part 3
“Just a minor injury.” Xie Ren didn’t care. “Old Chen insisted on a cast. With my recovery ability, what’s the point of a cast?”
Yu Shi couldn’t help asking, “What mission required entering a nuclear radiation zone?”
Xie Ren paused. Touching on a sensitive topic, he lost some of his nonchalance and said lightly, “There was a nuclear leak in that area. We were sent for emergency rescue.”
Yu Shi looked thoughtful. Zone 9 was a boundless desert, and the surrounding countries all set up nuclear labs there.
Even if something really happened, they wouldn’t need the Falcon Regiment for rescue. He was obviously brushing him off.
Xie Ren glanced at him and changed the subject. “I’ve always been curious. Are you mixed race?”
Yu Shi had delicate features and looked like a Sundial native on the surface. Only those eyes had an unclear pupil color.
Xie Ren had contacted many Olo people, some living and some dead, and couldn’t shake the memory of that gray-blue color.
He probed subtly, but Yu Shi answered readily. “Sort of. My ancestors lived in Zone 3. Maybe I have blood from neighboring countries.”
“Zone 3, Desai’s territory.” Xie Ren stared at him. “Is your prescription strong? Do you have to wear glasses even to eat?”
Yu Shi took his time. “Did Dr. Chen ask you to ask this too? Besides caring about my pheromones, he seems to care a lot about my eyes.”
Xie Ren looked sheepish. “No, I just asked casually.”
The two buried their heads in their food, the atmosphere much quieter than before.
At this moment, the communicator placed on the table lit up, a notification popping up at the top: [ Pink Cannonball has sent you a message. ]
They looked over simultaneously. Yu Shi’s eyelid twitched.
The pop-ups began to alert continuously:
[ Pink Cannonball has sent you a message. ]
[ Pink Cannonball has sent you a message. ]
Yu Shi: “…”
Xie Ren raised an eyebrow. “Pink Cannonball?”
Yu Shi flipped the communicator over and said expressionlessly, “A matchmaking app. It’s popular among young people recently. Haven’t you heard of it?”
“Pfft, Instructor Yu must be joking. I’ve never been on a blind date, so how would I know?” Xie Ren said meaningfully. “The other party seems to pick their timing well, messaging right at mealtime. Is it the Alpha you’re planning to meet?”
Yu Shi gave him a cold sidelong glance. “I only asked one question, and you were evasive and dishonest. Instead, you asked me three questions. Do you think that’s appropriate?”
Xie Ren looked embarrassed, pouting, “My questions didn’t involve confidential nature.”
“Personal privacy also falls under the scope of confidentiality. It’s even written into the Civil Code. Hope you know that.”
“Tsk, dragging laws into it is a bit serious, isn’t it?”
“Confidentiality regulations are also laws. You dragged them in first.”
The two were at a stalemate. Xie Ren had to compromise. “Fine, today doesn’t seem like a good time to talk. We don’t have to argue about this.”
“Then eat quickly. Take the trash with you when you finish.” Yu Shi said coldly, “I’ll pay you a cleaning fee at double the cleaner’s hourly rate, even though you packed things up so messily I can’t find anything.”
“…?” Xie Ren looked at him in disbelief.
The cleaner ate a bellyful of frustration. After returning to the dormitory, he received a transfer of two hundred yuan on StarChat. He slapped the communicator onto the desk backhand and lay down flat on his back.
Xie Ren had never been this stifled in his life. Not just at NDU, even in Congress, no one dared to make him eat crow.
Yu Shi knew how to piss people off. Especially that transfer—it simply made one’s blood boil.
The communicator rang recklessly. Too lazy to get up and answer, he turned on the smart answer and roared impatiently, “Speak.”
An old voice sounded from the speaker. “Scared me to death. Who provoked you again, little tyrant?”
Xie Ren immediately sat up, grabbed the communicator, and shouted, “Grandpa.”
“Hehe.” Xie Junyan laughed twice. “Having a good Summer Training? Hmm, judging by your tone, not so good. Subordinates not listening? Made you angry?”
Xie Ren sighed. “It’s not about training… Forget it, let’s not mention it.”
He said, “I was just wanting to look for you. The director called the day before yesterday saying you sneaked out in the middle of the night again. Don’t do that next time! I know the nursing home is boring. I’ll go keep you company when Summer Training is over. How are the recent checkups? Is your health okay?”
There was rustling on the other end, unknown activity.
Xie Ren was puzzled. “Grandpa?”
“Ah? Oh, I’m fine. No need for you to worry,” Xie Junyan said. “By the way, remember the blind date thing I told you about? You didn’t have signal in Zone 9 at the time, so I asked for that researcher’s contact info for you.”
“…Stop it. I’m really not interested.”
“I don’t have time to joke with you. He was screened properly through the system. Compatibility with you is as high as 99%. Officially certified excellent genes.”
Xie Ren rubbed his forehead. “Watch fewer StarChat videos. Do you know what the concept of 99% compatibility is? Such high genetic adaptation doesn’t exist in nature unless his chromosomes are exactly the same as mine. Do I have a twin brother lost out there?”
Xie Junyan scolded, “Stop being cheeky. He’s older than you. I’m giving you his contact info. Be polite when you meet, have some emotional intelligence when speaking, and rein in that donkey temper of yours. Don’t scare him away.”
“Don’t push him to me.” Xie Ren refused decisively. “Push him to Li Zheng. He’s still single in the desert.”
Xie Junyan: “Absurd! You two partners in misery, one doing worse than the other. Why is that kid still in the desert?”
Xie Ren said, “His ex married his dad. He plans to stay there until he dies.”
Xie Junyan was silent for a moment. “I don’t care about your messy affairs. Anyway, you must settle this marriage. If I don’t find someone to tie you down, I’m really worried that one day you’ll suddenly… Sigh, if anything happens to you, how will I answer to your mother?”
Before Xie Ren could speak, he continued, “Here, download that dating platform first. He’s in the contact list. The platform is called Pink Cannonball. We’ll talk about other things later…”
Xie Ren froze. “Called what?”
Suddenly, a nurse’s scream came from the other end: “Old Chief, why are you secretly drinking again! Heavens, your blood pressure is going to explode again! Someone come quick—”
Sounds of frantic activity came through the communicator. Xie Junyan hurriedly said, “Shh, shh! Don’t yell! I’m on the phone!”
The nurse raised her voice: “You’ve already escaped three times this month! Not only running out at 2 AM to eat pot chicken but also breaking the ECG monitor to scare the doctors! Even we thirty-year-olds don’t dare to live so wildly every day! Do you think this is appropriate yourself?!”
Xie Ren: “…Grandpa?”
Beep beep beep, the call was cut off.
He took a breath in collapse and immediately contacted the director to communicate. The other side was probably dealing with Xie Junyan’s wine, replying only twenty minutes later.
[ Director: Little Xie, don’t worry. The Old Master’s health is fine. ]
[ Director: But he’s rather playful. A while ago, he ran off to attend a cruise birthday banquet and ate three plates of birthday cake alone. ]
[ Director: I really can’t persuade him. You’d better talk to Marshal Xie about him. ]
Xie Ren had a splitting headache: [ Sorry to trouble you, Director. I’ll go back to watch him as soon as possible. ]
[ Director: By the way, the Old Master asked me to remind you to download Pink Cannonball. What is that thing? ]
[ Director: He said just log in with your phone number. That person is first in the contact list. ]
[ Director: He’s been obsessed with Golden Spatula recently, playing until his vision blurs. We will control his phone time. We’ll talk more when you have time to come over. ]
Xie Ren: [ …Thank you for your hard work. Thanks. ]
Pink Cannonball again.
Seems this platform is indeed very popular.
Gritting his teeth and harboring a mood of getting to the bottom of things, Xie Ren downloaded that pinkish app.
Sure enough, the first contact in the list: Little Yu Doesn’t Eat Fish.
Seeing this name, his heart skipped a beat. After clicking into the chat history, his face turned black as the bottom of a pot.
Yesterday 23:15
[ Thank You Whole Family: Still online this late? Hehe. ]
[ Little Yu Doesn’t Eat Fish: Just finished an experiment /smiling eyes/ ]
[ Thank You Whole Family: Working so hard. Isn’t today a legal holiday? ]
[ Little Yu Doesn’t Eat Fish: Ah, right. Almost forgot. Well, I’m working overtime /crying/ ]
Working overtime on a legal holiday—is the Research Institute so competitive now?
Every three sentences include an emoji; he looks like a clueless idiot.
Xie Ren endured for a long time but couldn’t hold it back. He DM’d him: [ Can you change your nickname? ]
Who allowed you to have “Yu” in your nickname?
Two hours later, Yu Songwei logged into the app to check in, his face full of confusion upon seeing the message.
Weren’t we chatting fine last night? Why suddenly ask me to change my nickname?
Liu Yin shouted, “Are you ready yet? We’re going out to see Old Xie. Hurry up!”
“Coming, wifey.”
Yu Songwei clocked in and liked posts in one smooth motion, huffing and puffing to finish farming intimacy points, before getting up to leave.
Recommended Reads
![[ABO] After Accidental Marking, I Became Everyone’s Darling](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ABO-225x300.jpeg)
