Although Xiahou Shaoxuan felt sorry for Lian Qiguang, he could not bear to disappoint him either, so he had no choice but to accompany him to see the two little ones.
Outside, Lian Qiguang had both hands pressed against the glass, staring at the two little balls of flesh inside the nutrient chamber. His eyes were filled with wonder.
“Were they really taken out of my stomach?”
Lian Qiguang turned his head toward Xiahou Shaoxuan behind him. One hand pointed at the two little ones while the other gestured back and forth over his stomach.
Xiahou Shaoxuan pressed his lips together, a faint smile hidden in his eyes, and nodded slightly.
“Yes.”
“They’re so small.” Lian Qiguang poked the reflection on the glass with one finger in astonishment. “I could crush them to death with one finger.”
“……”
Xiahou Shaoxuan stepped forward and embraced Lian Qiguang from behind, his face full of helplessness.
“These are our children, not zombies from outside.”
Lian Qiguang frowned and tilted his head as he looked at the two little ones, showing a hint of disdain.
“They’re really ugly! They don’t look like me at all. They don’t look like you either. You’re very impressive.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan burst out laughing. He reached out and tapped Lian Qiguang lightly on the forehead.
“They’re still little. Once they grow up, they’ll be as good-looking as my wife.”
Perhaps they had heard Lian Qiguang making fun of them. The two little ones kicked their tiny legs, their little mouths opening and closing as if they were protesting.
Lian Qiguang lay against the glass, lightly tapping it with one hand, producing a crisp sound. Every time he tapped the glass, the two little ones inside the nutrient chamber would kick their feet.
Lian Qiguang’s eyes brightened, as though he had discovered something interesting. He rhythmically tapped the glass with one hand, thoroughly enjoying himself as he watched the two little ones flail their limbs.
Xiahou Shaoxuan helplessly grabbed Lian Qiguang’s hand.
“Stop messing around. It’ll be bad if they cry.”
After Xiahou Shaoxuan stopped him, Lian Qiguang pursed his lips unhappily, then seemed to remember something.
“Should we give them names?”
“Sure. You name them.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan stroked Lian Qiguang’s soft hair. A faint warmth appeared on his cold, resolute face.
Lian Qiguang stared expressionlessly at the two little ones, obvious distress in his eyes. Xiahou Shaoxuan did not interrupt him and simply watched Lian Qiguang think with a smile in his eyes.
“How about…” Lian Qiguang raised his head and looked tentatively at Xiahou Shaoxuan. “How about calling them Tuanzi and Baozi?”
“Okay.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan nodded without the slightest objection.
“!!!”
The moment Xiahou Shaoxuan nodded, the two little ones, who had been perfectly quiet, suddenly opened their mouths and began wailing loudly.
Lian Qiguang stared blankly at the two little ones and mechanically poked the glass with his finger.
“They… seem to dislike it.”
Xiahou Tuanzi, Xiahou Baozi…
“No, they’re very nice names. Very… meaningful.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan pressed his lips together to suppress his laughter. His trembling shoulders clearly showed how hard he was trying not to laugh.
“My wife.” In the end, unable to bear watching his own children be tormented any further, Xiahou Shaoxuan shook his head with a helpless smile. “Tuanzi and Baozi can be their nicknames. We can give them proper names too.”
“Proper names?”
Lian Qiguang looked somewhat confused, clearly bewildered by such a “difficult” question.
Seeing how hard Lian Qiguang was struggling to think, Xiahou Shaoxuan pondered for a moment before saying, “Wife, what is your surname? If you really can’t think of anything, we can combine our two surnames. They’re just names; there’s no need to make them overly formal or grand.”
“I don’t have a surname.”
Lian Qiguang shook his head troubledly.
“That woman gave birth to me in the refugee district. Give her a piece of biscuit, and I could have been given any surname.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan fell silent. His heart was filled with regret for not thinking things through. With Lian Qiguang’s origins, anyone who thought about it even slightly would understand that this question simply had no answer.
“Jingchen!”
Lian Qiguang had not paid much attention to Xiahou Shaoxuan’s question at all. After thinking for a long while, he suddenly grabbed Xiahou Shaoxuan’s arm and exclaimed, “That man was called Jingchen, and the woman was called Jinghe.”
Caught by Lian Qiguang so suddenly, Xiahou Shaoxuan did not react for a moment. Once he understood what Lian Qiguang meant, he immediately felt a headache coming on.
Man? Woman??
“Wife.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan rubbed the corner of his brow and sighed softly as he put an arm around Lian Qiguang’s shoulders.
“You can’t call them a man and a woman. They’re a boy and a girl.”
“I’m a man, and so are you!”
“They’re still little. They’re different from us. Right now, you should call them a boy and a girl. Once they grow up and become like me, only then can you call them a man and a woman.”
Lian Qiguang frowned, clearly indicating that he did not understand.
Xiahou Shaoxuan knew that explaining further would probably only make things more confusing, so he simply skipped the topic.
“Xiahou Jingchen, Xiahou Jinghe. They sound very nice.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan thought about it, then nodded in agreement.
“That’s what we’ll call them.”
“These were names I used when I went to other bases to carry out missions and disguised myself. I’m giving them to them now.”
Lian Qiguang nodded, looking as though he had made a perfectly reasonable decision.
Xiahou Shaoxuan was stunned at first. But when he saw Lian Qiguang’s little expression of “generosity,” he secretly laughed again.
Lian Qiguang raised his head and looked seriously at Xiahou Shaoxuan.
“They have my names. In the future, they will definitely become powerful experts just like me, and they’ll be very lucky too!”
Looking at Lian Qiguang’s serious, shining eyes, Xiahou Shaoxuan froze slightly.
Lian Qiguang curved his lips upward. Paired with his expressionless face, he looked as dazed and clueless as ever, making the sight especially amusing.
“I survived so many years of the apocalypse without dying. Then, after I died, I met you, Shaoxuan. I’m really very lucky.”
The slight curve at the corners of Lian Qiguang’s eyes stirred something inside Xiahou Shaoxuan. He gently pulled Lian Qiguang into his arms.
“I’m lucky too. Meeting you is the greatest fortune of my life.”
“Hey!”
While being held by Xiahou Shaoxuan, Lian Qiguang suddenly pushed him away and leaned against the thick glass again.
“Look! They stopped crying.”
The atmosphere, which had finally become warm and tender, was interrupted. Xiahou Shaoxuan looked at Lian Qiguang’s back with both amusement and exasperation.
He stepped forward and stood beside Lian Qiguang, then bent down just as Lian Qiguang had, placing one hand against the glass as he looked at the two little ones inside the nutrient chamber.
“Looks like they like the name too.”
Lian Qiguang turned his head and looked at Xiahou Shaoxuan’s smiling profile.
After remaining silent for a long time, he slowly took one of Xiahou Shaoxuan’s hands.
Xiahou Shaoxuan froze slightly and looked back at Lian Qiguang, a trace of surprise flashing through his eyes.
Lian Qiguang lowered his eyes. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, apparently not knowing how to express himself.
“I… I actually don’t want to leave you, but…”
Seeing Lian Qiguang stammering and speaking incoherently, Xiahou Shaoxuan straightened up. His other hand tightly gripped Lian Qiguang’s shoulder, his expression solemn.
“This is the first time, and I’ll make sure it is the last.”
“……”
Lian Qiguang.
Xiahou Shaoxuan smoothed the disheveled hair on Lian Qiguang’s forehead, his gaze gloomy and cold as he stared at their reflections in the glass.
“Wife, at that moment, I hated you.”
Lian Qiguang lowered his head and remained silent.
“I didn’t dare imagine the possibility that you might never come back. Every time I thought about that possibility, I hated you so much that I nearly went mad.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan turned his head, his eyes burning as he stared intently into Lian Qiguang’s eyes.
“Wife, during these years we’ve been together, I’ve spoiled you, cherished you, and loved you with everything I had. I always thought I had already become a bond you could never sever in your lifetime.”
“That’s precisely why I want you to live.”
Lian Qiguang calmly looked back at Xiahou Shaoxuan.
“I want you to live well.”
“How the hell am I supposed to live well without you?!”
Xiahou Shaoxuan tightened his grip on Lian Qiguang’s shoulders and roared in a low voice. His eyes practically blazed with fire.
This little bastard!!
He had spoiled him for so many years, so how had he never thought of filling that brain of his with a little more sense?!
How could he still not understand something this simple?!
Lian Qiguang expressionlessly watched Xiahou Shaoxuan’s fury, then mechanically pointed at the two little ones inside the nutrient chamber.
“Are you trying to abuse me?”
“……”
Xiahou Shaoxuan.
Lian Qiguang pushed Xiahou Shaoxuan away and silently rubbed his shoulder, which had been squeezed painfully by Xiahou Shaoxuan.
Xiahou Shaoxuan watched him with a cold expression for a long while. In the end, he still could not bring himself to continue being stubborn.
He stepped forward, took hold of Lian Qiguang’s shoulder, and carefully massaged it.
“Does it hurt?”
Lian Qiguang gave the still dark-faced, awkward-looking Xiahou Shaoxuan a sideways glance, then slowly removed his hand.
“It doesn’t hurt as much as it did on the spaceship!”
“……”
Xiahou Shaoxuan.
After standing stiffly for a long moment, seeing that Lian Qiguang had firmly decided to ignore him, the coldness on Xiahou Shaoxuan’s face disappeared completely.
He stepped forward, embraced Lian Qiguang, and softly comforted him.
“I’m just too angry. Wife, you’ve never understood how important you are to me. Without you, my world really would collapse.”
“I know.”
Lian Qiguang expressionlessly turned his face away, the tips of his ears slightly red.
“Otherwise, when you were so fierce to me on the spaceship, I would have carried out humanitarian destruction on you long ago.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan’s lips curved upward. Although he really wanted to tell Lian Qiguang that he was no match for him, it was rare to see Lian Qiguang embarrassed, so Xiahou Shaoxuan’s mood immediately improved.
“Good boy. I’ll be gentler next time.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan lowered his head and lightly kissed the corner of Lian Qiguang’s lips.
“Don’t even think about there being a next time!! You’re not allowed to kiss me anymore! You’re not allowed to hug me anymore, and you’re not allowed to do those strange things to me again!!”
Lian Qiguang gave a soft snort, turned around, and presented Xiahou Shaoxuan with his large back.
Xiahou Shaoxuan’s face immediately darkened again. He scratched his head somewhat troubledly.
These three “not allowed” rules… It seemed like he couldn’t accomplish even a single one of them… right?
Is he really angry?
How am I supposed to coax him…
Just as Xiahou Shaoxuan was considering whether he should request outside assistance, he failed to notice that Lian Qiguang, who had his back turned toward him, had the faintest upward curve at the corners of his lips.
Inside an abandoned building, the crystal core in his hand had lost its original radiance and was slowly dimming until it turned into a pile of powder.
Zhelang withdrew his ability and stood up, looking toward Wu Ma Yan, who was standing with his back to him by the window. He opened his mouth, wanting to speak but hesitating.
Wu Ma Yan glanced sideways and spoke coldly.
“Speak!”
Zhelang looked at the small figure lying on the crude bed, covered in blood, and shook his head with a sigh.
“His injuries are too severe. Even using the power of a crystal core, I can only barely keep him alive. And I don’t know why, but his wounds have a very strong rejection toward the power of crystal cores, so they’ve been unable to heal.”
“So?”
Wu Ma Yan turned around, his gaze cold and sinister as he looked at Zhelang.
Zhelang calmly met his gaze.
“He won’t last much longer.”
The hands hidden inside Wu Ma Yan’s sleeves suddenly clenched tightly. His sharp nails pierced into his palms, bringing a faint sting of pain.
After remaining silent for a long time, Wu Ma Yan nodded toward Zhelang.
“Go out.”
“Yes!”
Zhelang nodded and turned to leave the room.
Under the scarlet moonlight outside the window, Wu Ma Yan looked at the child curled up tightly on the bed. A strange feeling had lingered in his heart, refusing to disperse.
When he had seen this child rush over and block the attack in front of him, scarlet blood staining his clothes and hair, watching as the child’s breathing gradually weakened and his body slowly grew cold—
There was no denying it.
He had panicked.
Apart from his teacher, this was the first—and only—existence that had ever left him so flustered and helpless.
Wu Ma Yan remained silent for a long time before walking to the bedside.
Looking at the tiny figure on the bed, he slowly bent down and pulled Qiu Limao into his cold embrace, pinning him within his arms as both hands supported him against the bed.
Listening to that barely perceptible breathing, as though it might disappear in the next second, Wu Ma Yan clearly felt a sharp ache in his chest.
When had it happened?
When had this child already become so important to him?
“I won’t let you die.”
Wu Ma Yan’s lips gently brushed across Qiu Limao’s features, lingering over his cold lips before finally stopping at his slender neck.
“A-Li, your life belongs to me. I won’t let you die. No matter how painful it is, you have to live for me.”
Under the moonlight, Wu Ma Yan’s red lips curved upward, carrying a strange, demonic beauty through the haze.
Wu Ma Yan slowly opened his mouth, his scarlet tongue moving back and forth over Qiu Limao’s neck.
“I originally didn’t want you to go to hell. The despair, pain, and loneliness in hell are not things a child like you should have to endure. But…”
The red in Wu Ma Yan’s eyes grew deeper and deeper. One slender, pale hand slowly undid Qiu Limao’s clothes. The shocking traces of blood caused a trace of heat to appear in Wu Ma Yan’s cold, crimson eyes.
Wu Ma Yan’s scarlet tongue stopped at one spot on Qiu Limao’s neck. One hand restrained Qiu Limao’s shoulder as his red lips slowly lowered.
“Come accompany me, A-Li.”
Wu Ma Yan suddenly exerted force, his sinister teeth sinking deeply into the flesh of Qiu Limao’s neck. A faint, sweet metallic taste instantly filled his mouth.
As if sensing the pain, Qiu Limao let out a soft whimper, his brows tightly furrowing.
“A-Li, since I cannot keep you alive, then come down to hell with me.”
“Without my permission, no one is allowed to abandon me.”
“…Otherwise.”
Otherwise…