Chapter 75: Du Xun Building a Nest
“I met Du Xun when we were fourteen. It was right when the Type-3 Zergs broke out and the Western Border fell.”
Chu Baixian crossed his arms, tilting his chin slightly as he looked at Du Xun on the hospital bed.
“We were the first batch of special task force members with no age restrictions. All S4 and above in the Empire, totaling six people.”
“By the time the border defense campaign ended, only the two of us survived.”
Chu Baixian chuckled, his memories drifting back to those years as he spoke. “At seventeen, Du Xun was already the captain of the special task force. From joining to retiring, he participated in no fewer than two hundred battles.”
“The most severe injury he ever sustained was a penetrating wound to the abdomen.”
Chu Baixian spoke slowly, his tone carrying the calmness of someone who had experienced too much, every word imbued with a sense of story.
“I went to see him, and he told me he had a lover.”
Chu Baixian looked at Shen Zhuo. “He said if he died, I must protect his lover no matter what.”
Shen Zhuo lowered his gaze, staring at Du Xun’s hand connected to the IV drip, his heart trembling.
It felt as if thorns were wrapping around his heart, the dense, piercing pain making it hard to breathe.
Du Xun had never told him these things.
Whenever they chatted before, he never mentioned being injured.
“I thought after all these years, he’d have forgotten.” Chu Baixian raised an eyebrow, stepping forward to kick Du Xun’s bed again.
“Didn’t expect him to actually marry them.”
Chu Baixian huffed. “I’m so jealous.”
Shen Zhuo tightened his grip on the white hospital blanket. He sensed Chu Baixian wanted to say more than just this.
“Brother Baixian, what is it that Du Xun is hiding from me?”
Chu Baixian paused, the smile slowly fading from his face.
It took two minutes for him to prepare himself.
With an expression that even Shen Zhuo found painful to watch, and a tone Shen Zhuo couldn’t fully understand yet, he said:
“Du Xun has severe self-destructive tendencies.”
Shen Zhuo’s breath hitched.
That wasn’t a term easily accepted.
Especially when associated with Du Xun.
“He’s always the first to take on anything dangerous.”
“It’s like he’s expecting death to fall upon him, yet is forced to shoulder those responsibilities.”
For so many years, Chu Baixian had stood behind Du Xun as his only friend and comrade.
Chu Baixian was astute.
He had long seen that Du Xun wasn’t driven by strong or overly noble virtues—
Du Xun was simply waiting for death.
Naturally, on the battlefield, in the line of duty.
But Chu Baixian knew that as just a friend, he could do nothing.
The string guiding the kite wasn’t in his hands.
Listening, Shen Zhuo gave a soft response.
He didn’t even hear clearly what he said.
Only a raspy, choked sound mixed with a cough.
A Du Xun without Shen Zhuo in his life would surely die young.
This was something Chu Baixian had thought countless times.
“However…”
At this point, Chu Baixian fell silent for a long time.
Long enough that Shen Zhuo thought he had finished speaking.
The man composed himself before speaking again, closing his eyes and exhaling deeply.
“You are the only one who can pull him back.”
Chu Baixian enunciated every word clearly, seemingly pleading.
“From a hierarchical standpoint, the Empire cannot do without Du Xun. As a friend, I don’t want to lose such a brother.”
Chu Baixian stared earnestly into Shen Zhuo’s eyes.
“I don’t know how deep your feelings for each other are, I only ask you to please believe in him. He only has you.”
With that, Chu Baixian straightened up.
The military’s top talent, who had fought alongside Du Xun for years, bowed his head to Shen Zhuo in the most solemn military posture.
“Pull him back, at least until the dust settles.”
Shen Zhuo didn’t know what had happened to that special task force in the past.
But having received such a solemn request, he would certainly fulfill it.
“I promise you, no matter what method I use, I will ensure Du Xun lives well,” the young man replied seriously.
Since growing up, Shen Zhuo never made promises lightly.
Thus, he would do everything in his power to fulfill any promise he made.
.
The anesthetic’s effect lasted three hours.
After confirming Du Xun’s vital signs were stable, Shen Zhuo had An, who had hurried over, take them all home.
Three hours later, what Shen Zhuo faced was not a normalized Du Xun.
The three-day susceptibility period was not yet over.
When Du Xun woke up, his mind wasn’t fully clear.
He didn’t remember what had just happened either.
He only felt pain and itching deep within his body, like maggots attached to bone, thousands of ants gnawing at his flesh.
He blindly got out of bed, sniffing around the room.
The room had the scent he wanted.
After much effort, he finally found many clothes with the scent of epiphyllum, arranging them one by one around himself.
When Shen Zhuo returned from eating something, he saw a large pile of his clothes on the bed.
They had already formed a small mountain.
And the alpha sat in the middle of the mound, holding his pajamas.
His entire face was buried in them, inhaling deeply.
Sensing the young man’s approach, Du Xun lifted his face, blinking blankly.
“Wife…”
Shen Zhuo was about to step closer when he saw the small wardrobe door on the side of the bedroom had been forcibly torn off.
Shen Zhuo’s eyelid twitched twice, then he heard the alpha put down the clothes and hurriedly get up to move towards him.
An alpha in their susceptibility period, no matter how high their rank, is fragile and sensitive.
Once that hard line of defense is shattered, the unprotected alpha becomes extremely dependent and desperate for their omega.
No longer strong.
No longer calm.
No longer steady.
Now, Du Xun was more like an insecure child.
After the hard shell was broken, only a fragile softness remained inside, ready to break at a touch.
Shen Zhuo immediately released soothing pheromones as he approached.
“Don’t move, I’m coming over.”
The wound on Du Xun’s arm had just been bandaged.
If he went berserk like at the military headquarters again, the consequences would be unthinkable.
The marked alpha, upon receiving the soothing pheromones, acted like a large dog whose fur had been smoothed.
No more rioting, only the anxiety of not being able to hug his wife.
His brows were tightly knit.
He inhaled the pheromones in the air forcefully, again and again.
The alpha hurriedly tried to walk out of the nest.
But he tripped over the circle of clothes piled around him.
The Commander-in-Chief who could single-handedly wipe out a Zerg nest on ordinary days couldn’t even get out of a pile of clothes now.
“Wife…”
Du Xun reached out to push the pile of clothes aside, but then couldn’t bear to part with the nest he made.
He took a step out, then sat back down to restack the clothes one by one.
He even patted and smoothed the top.
Then he turned around, his voice raspy and dependent, inexplicably pitiful.
“Wife… hug…”
The usual Du Xun was always disciplined and restrained.
Such an address was rarely heard.
Countable on one hand.
When all defenses and dignity were lost due to the susceptibility period, Du Xun’s fervent, scorching love became thick and unbalanced.
Like fire, igniting the pheromones in the air.
Scalding, burning the tip of the young man’s heart.
Shen Zhuo immediately knelt on the bed, pulling Du Xun into his arms, stroking his hair stroke by stroke.
“I’m here.”
Shen Zhuo said softly, “I’m here.”
Du Xun knelt on the bed, hugging the young man’s waist.
His restless heart gradually calmed down under the young man’s soothing.
This was the first time Shen Zhuo looked at Du Xun from this angle.
Slender white fingers threaded through the man’s hair, warmth radiating from his fingertips.
Du Xun lifted his head slightly, nuzzling against the young man, sniffing hard.
Feeling the scent on the clothes was too faint, he tugged at him in dissatisfaction.
Shen Zhuo pushed him away slightly, sitting down to cup the man’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
Du Xun’s eyelashes were long but not curled.
They pressed down thickly, covered with a cold sharpness like ice and snow.
But when he looked up, that coldness was diluted, leaving only dependence.
Pitiful.
Especially when those eyes were covered with a thin layer of mist.
Shen Zhuo’s heart was melting.
“Kiss… once…” Du Xun said hoarsely, nuzzling bit by bit with his nose at the opening of the young man’s collar.
Shen Zhuo bent down to be at the same height as Du Xun.
He pressed a kiss on the man’s lips.
“Okay, kissing you.”
The man was dizzy, only caring about hugging the young man’s waist, rambling: “It’s two times… too few.”
Shen Zhuo smiled.
A susceptibility period Du Xun, besides being clingy, was also a bit shameless.
So Shen Zhuo kissed him again.
“Alright, can you be good now?”
Du Xun relentlessly pecked at the young man’s lips:
“It’s five times…”
Du Xun held him, kissing him while carrying him towards the nest circled by clothes.
Until Shen Zhuo was sitting on Du Xun’s lap, the surrounding clothes piled up to their chests.
Du Xun held the slender waist, kissing overwhelmingly.
This kiss was soft yet deep and fierce.
Swallowing saliva, sucking the tongue root numb.
Shen Zhuo’s eyes misty with red, deeply entranced.
Fingertips gripping the man’s collar, turning white again and again.
But just when he thought it would proceed naturally, Du Xun went crazy again.
He pushed the young man away.
“No…”
Although Du Xun pushed Shen Zhuo away, his body reacted honestly, making him grip Shen Zhuo’s hand tightly.
Reason split, thoughts severed, Du Xun’s expression suddenly turned painful.
Like being forcefully split into two people.
His head hurt as if it were about to explode.
“Get out…”
Away from the warm, comforting pheromones, Du Xun became manic again, but seeing Shen Zhuo’s pained expression, he instantly retracted his strength.
“Be good, listen to me.” Shen Zhuo had to use more force to hold Du Xun’s hand back. “Tell me, why won’t you?”
The alpha pursed his lips tightly, looking dazed.
Shen Zhuo could only say: “Or your wife won’t like you anymore.”
The man indeed said sharply: “No… no!”
In a short time, Du Xun’s eyes were already bloodshot.
Nestled in the made nest, grabbing clothes to put under his nose, he finally answered obediently: “Can’t do it…”
“…Medicine… useless…”
“Will… get pregnant…”
Du Xun spoke intermittently, like a stuttering machine, his voice carrying an extremely restrained rasp:
“Baby he… doesn’t want to get pregnant…”
“I can’t do… things that make him unhappy…”
“I can’t…”
Shen Zhuo froze.
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