Chapter 26
Lu Wanqing’s gaze was too sharp, causing Shu Ci’s heart to beat rapidly, completely unaware that their proximity caused mutual pheromone repulsion.
He frowned and took two steps back, feeling more comfortable.
“Yes, I’ll watch.” Shu Ci blinked. “Do you have any equipment that can record this?”
Since it was a rare meteor shower, it would be a shame not to capture some empty shots.
Lu Wanqing looked at him deeply.
“Sorry, forget I asked.” Shu Ci cleared his throat, took out his phone – which had no signal – from his pocket, turned on the camera, and adjusted the settings. “Almost forgot you’re on a mission, not a location shoot.”
Like all islands, Longji Island was higher in the center and lower on the outskirts.
The highest elevation of the island was in the northeast. Shu Ci followed behind Lu Wanqing, walking towards higher ground.
Lu Wanqing’s men seemed to have thoroughly explored Longji Island; areas with restrictions or those where they couldn’t act freely were surrounded by warning lines and red signs. Lu Wanqing weaved through them, leading him to a flat, wide observation deck halfway up the mountain.
Protective railings lined the edge, several cute but dust-covered long wooden benches spaced apart. However, whether it was for sea views or meteor watching, these locations offered excellent views and beautiful compositions.
Shu Ci, being a meticulous and hands-on director, could fuss over the details of on-site set design hundreds of times. Therefore, he knew very well that the island they were on was carefully constructed.
“So it’s not a deserted island,” he murmured.
But why did Gu Lanzhu tell the original protagonist it was a “deserted island” in the original book?
“Familiar?”
Lu Wanqing carried cleaning supplies; he cleaned the central bench thoroughly and placed his uniform jacket on it before gesturing for Shu Ci to sit down.
Shu Ci had exhausted himself today; after losing consciousness and then climbing the island’s hillside upon waking, he was at his wit’s end. He didn’t stand on ceremony with Lu Wanqing; he went straight to the bench and sat down, leaning softly against the back.
“Why would I be familiar?” He raised his phone, aiming it at the sky in night mode.
“Because you might have lived here as a child,” Lu Wanqing said.
“…”
He didn’t hold the phone steady and it landed on his leg.
Careless! So Lu Wanqing was testing him?
He nervously swallowed, his eyes darting about. “I guess I was too young then; I don’t have any memory of it.”
He awkwardly chuckled, pretending to tap on his phone.
But his mind kept mumbling—
No way, the original protagonist never mentioned living on the island as a child in the book. If he knew that this familiar island was so close to Jiaoyuan Island, would he have desperately tried to escape five times?
Lu Wanqing sat down beside him, and Shu Ci immediately felt a sense of pressure.
He couldn’t help holding his breath.
“Don’t be nervous,” Lu Wanqing pointed to the sky. “Here they come.”
Shu Ci looked in the direction of his finger.
After the clouds and rain dissipated, the sea and the night sky seemed to merge as one; a bright star with a long tail streaked across the sky in the distance.
One, two… countless stars fell in an elegant manner.
“Wow—” Shu Ci looked up at the starry sky, forgetting to take pictures.
The meteor shower cascaded across the inky night sky; he could even hear the alternating screams of the alphas setting up camp in the distance.
The extraordinary spectacle was a gift from nature.
Ordinary and insignificant humans couldn’t help but exclaim and marvel.
Neither he nor Lu Wanqing were easily excited people. During this grand meteor shower, he listened to gossip about Shu Changze’s “premarital pregnancy” and the story of Lu Wanqing submitting his application to land on the island before the mission.
Lu Wanqing’s voice was calm, but it kept him from falling asleep.
At the end of the story, the last falling star was reflected in his gray-blue eyes.
“So… so you mean, this island is now my Omega father’s personal property, and I’m the designated heir, and he might have had me on this island?”
Shu Ci was shocked as he processed this information in his mind; he felt at a loss.
How was he supposed to digest the amount of information that the 5000 chapters of the original book never mentioned?
The original protagonist was always just a bird in Gu Lanzhu’s hands. Even when Gu Lanzhu took his father’s inheritance from the Shu family, no one mentioned that he had an island to inherit.
“Once you start the inheritance process, you can profit from Longji Island. You can use the money to continue investing, and you will earn more than you would keeping the assets your father left in the Shu family.” Lu Wanqing suggested earnestly.
Seeing Shu Ci’s furrowed brow, he added a few more investment projects with promising trends.
“If you trust me, I can also introduce you to some excellent managers.”
Lu Wanqing always did what he had promised, going above and beyond. After all, not being economically dependent on anyone was one of Shu Ci’s wishes, and he also hoped he could soon live a life of counting money while lying down.
Shu Ci turned to him, looking incredulous at his investment manager-like tone.
—He hadn’t recovered from the shock of suddenly having a private island.
After a long while, he squeezed out a sentence from his throat; “That, the island, is it considered marital property or premarital property?”
Lu Wanqing chuckled.
He looked away, at the stars in the sky: “Rest assured, it’s all yours. Even if we divorce, you can take half of mine. Yours is still yours; I won’t take a cent.”
Shu Ci was slightly stunned: “Did Shu Changhai make you sign such a prenuptial agreement?”
Common property should normally be split 50/50. In this world where Alphas are clearly dominant, it is always the Omegas who lose out in divorce. Why did Lu Wanqing agree to such a humiliating unequal agreement? It was too unfair to him.
“No.”
“Then why did you suddenly bring up the division of assets in a divorce?”
“?”
Didn’t you want a divorce?
This time, it was Lu Wanqing’s turn to be bewildered.
He couldn’t see anything from Shu Ci’s expression, but Shu Ci continued to stare at him motionlessly, as if wanting an explanation from him. He sighed softly.
“We only met once before we got our marriage certificate; we didn’t know each other. I guess you agreed to marry for some reason, which I don’t mind. But our match rate is only 1%, after all. If it was a moment of impulse that led you into a marriage that will cause you a lifetime of pain, then I can give you a way out.”
Shu Ci knew that Lu Wanqing’s “way out” meant divorce.
These words referred to the story between him and the original protagonist. Perhaps Lu Wanqing didn’t know that the original protagonist had been forced into marriage by his uncle, but he had given it careful thought; he knew this marriage would inevitably not make the original protagonist happy, so from the moment they got their marriage certificate, he had prepared for divorce.
He looked at Lu Wanqing’s face, slightly lost in thought.
Perhaps it was because he was a “golden shield,” but even without speaking, just sitting there gave him a sense of security. He had such a sense of responsibility towards someone he had only met once; what about someone he loved?
Seeing that he still didn’t speak, Lu Wanqing couldn’t figure out his thoughts, and added two more sentences: “My attitude won’t change. You can tell me anytime you want a divorce; I’ll cooperate. No one understands your pain better than I do. You deserve someone better than me, a measly 1% match.”
Hearing this, Shu Ci narrowed his eyes.
“I deserve better? Who? Gu Lanzhu?” A spark ignited in his eyes; he glared at Lu Wanqing and sneered, “You Alphas don’t need to tell me what ‘better’ is. But you, someone so capable, why did you agree to marry me and Shu Changhai?”
This was a question he had been thinking about since he saw Lu Wanqing in front of Shen Ti’s house.
What did he want?
After hearing this question, Lu Wanqing was stunned for the first time, and Shu Ci quietly watched him with his arms folded.
His sky-blue eyes, like shattered gems, flickered twice, then suddenly dimmed.
Shu Ci’s heart trembled for a moment under his gaze.
After a long while, he heard Lu Wanqing’s voice with a hint of self-deprecation: “Should I say it’s fate? I had no choice.”
Shu Ci was slightly stunned: “What… does that mean?”
Lu Wanqing turned his head, lowering his eyes. “One moment I’m refusing, the next moment I’m taking photos at the civil affairs bureau. Should I say I had no control over myself?”
Shu Ci was stunned.
Something in his heart seemed to be collapsing, like a mountain torrent accompanied by a mudslide, devastatingly sweeping across the earth, carrying rocks and trees and falling into the valley of his heart.
What was Lu Wanqing saying?
From his description, it seemed as if… he was controlled by the plot?
Was this reasonable?
Reasonable; this was the world of the book, after all.
But if it was the world of the book, time should pass like this, day after day, year after year. Why did Lu Wanqing have such a stiff, disjointed feeling?
Was it because the author didn’t write about those details about Lu Wanqing?
No, there were many things the author didn’t write about, but the world of the book was still functioning normally. His afternoon tea with Shu Cui, him getting his ID at the service hall… everything that wasn’t written happened reasonably.
Shu Ci couldn’t figure it out, but a possibility surfaced in his mind.
Lu Wanqing had scrutinized him when he denied his birthday, and saw that he had no reaction to things from his childhood. He didn’t expose him.
His throat tightened; he felt his fingertips trembling.
Perhaps because of his chaotic thoughts, his cheeks unconsciously became extremely hot, his head dizzy. He felt as if he was in a state of anxiety and panic, wanting… to be hugged, wanting to find a sense of security.
He raised his hand with difficulty, pointed at himself, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath: “So, you know I’m not him, right?”
His eyes became hazy as he searched for Lu Wanqing in the blur.
When he met his blue eyes, the honeysuckle scent exploded in the air.
His pupils constricted; this time, it wasn’t that he hadn’t controlled himself well!
It was the pheromones that had broken through his confinement; his glands burned intensely at that moment.
…
In Longji Island’s tent camp, Yu Xingxing and his comrades huddled together, lavishly describing General Lu’s heroic appearance as monitored by X squadron today.
“I’ll tell you, I was just about to report, and then I saw the General and his spouse go to the viewing platform together!”
“I guess they were going to watch the meteor shower!”
“Wow, I didn’t expect our General to have such a romantic side!”
Yu Xingxing cut a big watermelon and passed it to his comrades one by one: “Try this, I specifically asked the cooks to bring two onto the ship. It’s really sweet, as sweet as our General and his spouse!”
As he was gossiping, the communication device rang.
Yu Xingxing suppressed his smile and answered: “Ahem, General Lu!”
Damn it, did they talk too loudly and get caught?
“Get my personal vessel out and park it at position B1. Hurry up.”
“Is it an emergency mission?”
“…A personal request.”
Lu Wanqing rushed down the mountain with Shu Ci in his arms. Before the violent honeysuckle pheromones reached the camp, he quickly released his own pheromones to envelop himself and Shu Ci.
A stinging pain spread throughout his body; Lu Wanqing twitched the corner of his eye.
The omega in his arms was burning hot; tears streamed down his cheeks from the pain. He was struggling to escape Lu Wanqing’s embrace due to the physiological repulsion, yet because of the inherent anxiety during this period, he clung tightly to his neck, seeking reliance.
The omega’s heat cycle had arrived, explosively.
Omgggggg