Chapter 97
Shu Ci gazed into Lu Wanqing’s deep eyes, the scene of their meeting playing in his mind like a movie reel.
He had waited in the dew-heavy night for the start of yet another plot loop. He should have become numb and indifferent after countless restarts, yet in the end, he still opened his arms, full of chill, to him.
The person held in his arms was scorching hot, his eyes were fervent, but his soul was incredibly heavy.
Trapped alone in this world, repeating a finite life over and over again, struggling on a road with no end in sight—how lonely must that be?
“You…”
Shu Ci’s lips trembled. Before he could finish his sentence, Lu Wanqing pressed down on him, swallowing his words like a storm. He slowly held Shu Ci’s hand, guiding it upwards until it rested over his heart.
Shu Ci’s eyelashes fluttered. After a moment of daze, clarity suddenly returned.
Reflected in his pupils was a jagged scar—a scar that was neither skillful nor fierce, something almost impossible to find on a top-tier Alpha.
Shu Ci responded to his kiss helplessly, nervousness and panic rising in his eyes.
“I did it myself.” Only when he had kissed Shu Ci until he could barely breathe did Lu Wanqing slowly stop, saying hoarsely, “I thought about ending it all. I didn’t want to continue anymore, but… it was useless.”
A mocking sound spilled from the corner of Lu Wanqing’s mouth. His arms braced on either side of Shu Ci, his kisses falling little by little from the corner of his mouth, rolling with heat over every spot, like a person in a desperate desert crawling before a pool of water, unwilling to miss a single drop.
That was his worst, most painful loop.
Repeating it over and over would drive a person into a state of bewilderment. He had experienced the wealth of financial freedom, possessed the judgment power of a Yamaraja, yet no matter what, he would never be remembered. Starting over, he was still just a wisp of smoke that caught no one’s eye.
Lu Wanqing knew clearly that he was walking on the edge of collapse; every inch of depth was filled with despair.
But he didn’t get his wish to end it.
Opening his eyes again, he didn’t stand at the start of the story, but returned to his boyhood. The scar was brought along too; the wound was healed, the scar remained, but the piercing pain continued to attack him.
The muddy Juqing Road, the pain inflicted on him by those bullies, couldn’t compare to the dull ache in his heart. Just when he was about to faint from the pain, Lu Wei reached out a hand to him.
Lu Wanqing knew he had always hoped to be seen, to be needed, searching for a sense of “existence” in the void of the world.
More accurately, on the verge of his limit, he just needed a reason to support him to keep living.
After Lu Wei trained his pheromones, she left quietly. It wasn’t until he saw her appear in the Seventh District footage on the TV news that the fog before Lu Wanqing’s eyes seemed to clear a little.
If he was destined to be unable to change anything, destined to be unseen, then he might as well actively become someone needed by others, yet who didn’t need to be remembered. After Lu Wei died, he almost erased all colors belonging to him personally, completely merging himself into the “Golden Shield.”
“I knew you weren’t him. You were the first person to look at me like that.”
Lu Wanqing closed his eyes, masking the glisten in them, the tips of his teeth gently touching Shu Ci’s burning gland.
He knew at first glance that this wasn’t the person with hollow eyes manipulated by fate. The blood that had long gone numb seemed to flow again in that moment, burning in his veins.
His nearly desperate, aging heart, buried by him in time, began to beat. He tasted the sourness and sweetness of love, unable to extricate himself.
But fate was still punishing him.
The pheromone match was a knife hanging over his head, making him restrain and suppress all emotions.
Suppressing the desire to completely possess his heart.
“Lu Wanqing…”
Shu Ci’s own gland was burning, yet Lu Wanqing’s eyes seemed even hotter, looking at him more fervently.
He could vaguely sense that Lu Wanqing liked it when he called him by his full name like this, but before today, he never knew what this truly meant to Lu Wanqing.
Lu Wanqing’s entire meaning, through his repeated calls, was confirmed again and again. Just like when he held him tight in the sea, asking hoarsely for him to hurt him—it was all proof that he was still striving to live up to this moment.
The air was filled with the scent of jasmine essential oil, almost covering his cassia fragrance.
Lu Wanqing’s teeth rubbed back and forth on the edge of his nape. The untaught teasing, under the effect of that bottle of essential oil scent, made his arms tighten unconsciously, his waist unconsciously seeking the Alpha’s eight-pack abs.
He turned his face slightly, presenting the slender side of his neck to Lu Wanqing, pressing hot and soft against his lips.
“I will always look at you,” Shu Ci said softly.
The second the words fell, the Alpha’s sharp teeth sank into the gland, and Shu Ci’s pupils trembled.
The abs that were beyond reach also responded to his expectations at the same time.
The jasmine scent in the air seemed to gather into a monstrous wave, drowning the two in a rich and serene sea of flowers.
…
Waking up in the scent of the flower sea, Shu Ci looked at the mess on the floor with a pounding heart. He closed his eyes with mixed feelings, his hand resting weakly over his eyes, unwilling to recall.
A pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind. The fully marked Alpha still had his eyes closed, but instinctively pulled him into his arms.
At this moment, they possessed the tightest connection in the world, sharing emotions and states, holding all of each other’s vulnerabilities.
Lu Wanqing felt Shu Ci’s complex emotions at this moment. Not joy, nor love. Did he regret being marked by him? Regret being completely possessed by him?
He suppressed the panic in his heart, tightly encircling Shu Ci.
“Stop biting.”
Shu Ci spoke wearily. His throat was so hoarse he could barely speak; those two words seemed to use up all his strength.
“You’re unhappy.” Lu Wanqing’s lips stopped on the back of his neck, poised as if to kiss.
His throat moved, and his indigo-blue eyes were written full of nervousness and unease.
“No.” Shu Ci moved his hand away, crashing into Lu Wanqing’s brilliant eyes. Thinking of how these eyes had seen all of him last night, his whole body trembled. “I just suddenly thought of when I was scolded by people before.”
Lu Wanqing kissed him. “Who scolded you, and for what?”
Shu Ci fell silent.
Back then, he had filmed an art film with a slightly large scale. He thought the lighting, atmosphere, soundtrack, and shots portrayed the entanglement and emotions of the two protagonists to the extreme, and he had studied a lot for the shoot.
In the end, netizens scolded him— A virgin director pretending to be experienced.
“…It’s nothing.” He looked away. Thinking about it now, they scolded quite accurately, hah.
Lu Wanqing had truly shown him what the f*ck “scale” really meant!
His heat period was stimulated to arrive early. While crying loudly in Lu Wanqing’s arms, he endured his long-suppressed urgency.
“Have breakfast before we continue?” Lu Wanqing suddenly propped himself up and asked.
“Are you human? Can’t you rest for a while?” Shu Ci glared at him.
Lu Wanqing’s gaze moved down, landing on the leg Shu Ci had restlessly draped over him: “…”
He couldn’t reason with an Omega in a special period; clearly, what he wanted was him.
Of course, he wanted it too.
Compared to only fighting with pheromones on the boat, a real couple who no longer needed to care about match ratings could play many more tricks. Compared to the suffering of those seven days before, these seven days were exceptionally satisfying.
But, they were equally long.
It wasn’t until Shu Ci had the strength to push Lu Wanqing away, run into the bathroom alone, and lock the door that this stretch of time finally ended.
“Don’t think I don’t know you’re using your materialized pheromones to pry the lock.”
Shu Ci lay in the bathtub, playing with the essential oil bottle that was already empty to the bottom, and threw it at the pheromones by the door frame.
“…You’ve been in there for an hour. I was worried you fainted,” Lu Wanqing’s voice sounded from outside the door. But he could sense his husband’s vague dissatisfaction from inside the bathroom, so he obediently withdrew the pheromones.
Then he sat down leaning against the bathroom door.
Shu Ci dried his hair, changed his clothes, and pulled open the door only to see his husband sitting outside like a door god, elbows on his knees. Hearing him come out, he turned and picked him up, nuzzling the tip of his nose against his collarbone, burying deeply into the side of his neck to take a deep breath.
“It’s only been an hour. I only left your side for an hour. General Lu, do you have separation anxiety?” Shu Ci said grumpily.
“Maybe,” Lu Wanqing walked steadily. “I’ll ask my junior sister to check me another day.”
Just like that, he was carried into the dining room and sat in front of the steaming fish soup. Shu Ci took two sips, then rested his chin in his hand and looked at him. “Didn’t you notice my pheromones changed again?”
He had roughly figured out the conditions for his pheromone disorder.
At a certain peak of his emotional fluctuation, his gland would heat up, and then a certain scent he was in contact with at that moment would become the smell of his new pheromones.
The first time was in the self-service medical room.
Lu Wanqing had placed a honeysuckle flower in his palm and said to him, “Use me.”
The second time was in Wen Yuan’s office.
Suddenly entering the original plot aroused his extreme fear, and the plum blossom scent on Wen Yuan’s desk enveloped him.
The last time was on Dragon Spine Island. They kissed amidst the scent of fermented rice wine and osmanthus balls. He completely let down all his guards and uneasiness, accepting his full affection.
And this time, it was at the peak of excitement during the complete marking.
“Mn, it changed to jasmine,” Lu Wanqing answered while placing deboned fish meat into his bowl. “Do you not like it?”
This was the scent from when he first came to this world. That night, it was this scent that barged into his life.
From Lu Wanqing’s own perspective, he liked it very much. But he wasn’t sure if this would remind Shu Ci of the fear of escaping the hotel.
Shu Ci shook his head. “It’s alright. I just don’t know why, but I feel like controlling it is easier than before. I plan to talk to Ah Shui later. I heard she recently split the work with Li Yi and started researching the materials regarding disorder syndrome.”
The two chatted about some nutritious topics. After the meal, they went out for the first time in a long while.
The pheromone concentration at home was nearing overload. Since they couldn’t just open the windows for ventilation, they had to turn on the whole-house air purification system for circulation.
Seeing the silver-clad Seventh District under the sunlight again, Shu Ci felt refreshed.
Because of rolling around with Lu Wanqing for days, his Vlog hadn’t been updated for a long time. He filmed everywhere with great interest, while Lu Wanqing interlaced his fingers tightly with his, really looking like a pet with severe separation anxiety.
This anxiety didn’t last long; it was forcefully interrupted by a phone call.
Lu Wanqing put down the phone. “I have to go to the Seventh District Base. The Marshal is convening an emergency meeting. Do you want to go home or look around a bit longer?”
Shu Ci looked at the ice sculpture attraction close at hand, his heart moved. “I’ll shoot some more footage.”
Lu Wanqing glanced at his camera lens, lowered his head to enter the frame, and kissed Shu Ci’s eyes. “Before I go, call me like you did last night, okay?”
The tips of Shu Ci’s ears turned red, and he reached out to turn off his camera.
Lu Wanqing held down his wrist, not letting him turn it off.
Shu Ci closed his eyes, trying to imagine he was acting like before. But this time, he couldn’t get into character at all; his mind was full of unbroadcastable X-rated scenes.
After a long while, he opened his eyes with difficulty: “…Husband.”
Clearly, he had shouted it shamelessly many times, but now it was exceptionally difficult.
Just one sound could pull him back to those nights of drunken dreams.
Lu Wanqing responded in a low voice, leaning over to bite lightly on his ear. “I’ll come pick you up when it’s over. Don’t miss me too much, my dear Sir.”
“…”
Shu Ci looked at the footage recorded by the camera, fell silent for a moment, and thought: It’s not me who has separation anxiety, what are you being so cocky about?
When the marriage leave was over, he would send Lu Wanqing voice messages calling him that every day, making him crave the meat he couldn’t eat!
He huffed lightly, turned around, and stepped into the ice sculpture park.
Seeing the usually high-and-mighty Shu Ci blush was rare. Lu Wanqing drove all the way to the base with the corners of his mouth hooked up. He took off his coat, and while changing into his uniform, connected to He Lian’s conference room.
“Marshal.” His tone was a bit higher, momentarily unable to mask the overflowing happiness in his voice.
“Tsk, this marriage leave of yours, satisfied?” He Lian understood instantly, clicking his tongue in disdain.
Lu Wanqing ignored his superior’s teasing, anxious to get off work and go home to his wife. “What is the emergency meeting about?”
He Lian’s voice instantly turned serious. “Just now, an earthquake occurred at the Northern Suburbs Prison. Looking at the report sent by Director Zhou, it’s suspected that mutant creatures have appeared. The data has just been sent to you.”
The moment Lu Wanqing received it, he opened the on-site photos on the screen.
Three deep, long fissures had appeared on the circular ground in the middle of the prison, separating the three buildings of the “Iron Chopsticks.” The buildings had collapsed, and the ruins were covered with some kind of silver-white object. There was almost no sign of survivors.
“Also, Gu Lanzhu seems to have broken out of prison.”
Translator’s Note: Hey everyone! A bit of a heavy backstory revealed here for General Lu. The concept of him looping through time really adds a layer of tragedy to his stoicism, doesn’t it? And finally, the marking! It feels like we’ve been waiting ages for these two to fully connect. Also, “Iron Chopsticks” refers to the prison’s unique architectural shape mentioned way back. Looks like the calm domestic bliss is about to be interrupted by the main plot again. Gu Lanzhu just won’t quit, will he? Happy reading!
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