Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 15

“Ibb, like me, had never seen a cat before,” Joshua said as they walked into the elevator. “He loves small animals. He once had a goldfish, but he overfed it, and it died.”

The elevator doors slowly closed. “Since when did you get so close to him?” Alois said with jealousy.

The assassin raised an eyebrow but was interrupted before he could speak. “Alright, alright, you can be friends with whoever you want. It’s none of my business.”

Joshua couldn’t help but laugh. He reached out and ruffled Alois’s hair. “Are you angry again?”

“No!”

“Ibb knows a lot about firearms, so we talked for a long time.”

Both of them stared straight ahead, not looking at each other. The elevator shook slightly as it descended.

“You…” Alois stole a glance at the assassin. “You don’t have to explain to me. We’re…”

Snap!

The elevator made a grating sound and stopped. The lights above flickered a few times before going out. The small space was plunged into darkness, with only an emergency light emitting a faint glow.

“Hey, hey, no way! It’s broken?” Alois furiously pressed the emergency alarm button, but there was no response. “Leo? Leo, can you hear me?” He shouted at the wall, but there was no reply. It seemed the elevator’s circuitry had malfunctioned, cutting off the AI’s connection. “We’re screwed. We have to wait for Leo’s self-check system to detect the problem.” Alois crossed his arms and impatiently knocked on the metal wall.

The breathing behind him suddenly became heavier.

Alois turned around to see Joshua hunched in the corner, one hand tightly gripping the other, as if trying to stop himself from doing something uncontrollable.

“Joshua? What’s wrong?” The young man took a step forward.

“Don’t come near me!” the assassin growled.

“Are you alright?”

“Don’t come near…” The voice grew softer. Joshua’s breathing became more rapid. He looked around in terror, as if there were enemies hiding in the small elevator. In fact, it was something like that. Darkness was his enemy.

Alois was completely confused. Joshua seemed to be in bad shape. His face was pale, looking as if he might collapse at any moment. Was this what they called… “Claustrophobia?”

“Now that you know, stop bothering me!” Joshua glared at him fiercely, though without much intimidation. “Talk about something to distract me. Anything!”

Alois scratched his head, searching his mind for recent stories he had heard. “Uh… The captain has Leo take Pavlov for a run every day, from the bow to the stern, to help the dog lose weight.”

“Keep going!”

“Leo found a box of plastic pellets in the cargo hold. They can be used as litter for Schrödinger. When we get to Neo Venice, we can buy better ones.”

“What else?”

“And… Joshua,” Alois cautiously took a small step forward, “if you’re scared, you can lean on me.” The assassin said nothing, so the young man boldly took his hand. Joshua’s hand was cold and sweaty, showing how frightened he really was.

Being so scared like this. Alois couldn’t help but smile. Like a child.

But his satisfaction didn’t last long. Joshua suddenly pressed him against the wall, gripping his chin tightly and kissing him fiercely.

“…Mmph!”

It wasn’t a gentle kiss at all. The assassin forcefully pried open his teeth, wildly exploring every inch of his mouth, suppressing his tongue, swirling around, and capturing every breath. It wasn’t until Alois was almost suffocating that the hold loosened slightly. He took a breath, only to be hit by another stormy kiss.

Joshua had found a perfect way to distract himself. Kissing Alois allowed him to temporarily abandon all worries, discard the darkness of the past and the haunting memories. The deeper the kiss, the clearer his mind became. The idea that a killer could be afraid of the dark sounded like a joke, but it was true. Throughout his long career, Joshua had faced the darkness more than once. In that oppressive fear, he forced himself to complete tasks as quickly as possible (which made his clients very happy). Whenever he was in a confined space, thoughts of bloodshed and slaughter surfaced, and his targets became his objects of destruction. After bouts of frantic and precise killing, Joshua often felt like he had walked through hell and climbed out of a grave.

Mourner. Sometimes he wasn’t sure whose death he was mourning.

But now, he had to restrain his destructive impulses. This wasn’t a slaughterhouse, and the person next to him wasn’t a target. He couldn’t hurt Alois or alleviate his inner turmoil through inflicting pain.

He chose to kiss. Perhaps a bit roughly, but with good intentions. After the initial frenzy, Joshua slowed down, no longer forceful, instead kissing gently. Alois even responded a few times, which eased Joshua’s guilt. At least Alois didn’t resist or hate him.

So when the diligent mechanic Ibb Descartes pried open the elevator door with a wrench, he saw this scene: Joshua pressing Alois against the wall, kissing him passionately. Alois was blushing, unable to move, allowing the assassin to do as he pleased.

Clang. The wrench fell to the ground. Ibb stepped back, stammering, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

The two didn’t separate. Joshua turned slightly, throwing a cold glare, the golden rings around his black pupils burning like flames. Ibb finally understood what the “Abyssal Flame” described: terrifying eyes. He picked up the wrench and stumbled away.

Alois pushed Joshua away, finally breathing in fresh air. The feeling of suffocation was terrible. Well, not the worst. “Ibb saw… He saw everything…” He felt the need to explain to the mechanic to avoid any misunderstandings. Wait, what misunderstandings? Misunderstandings were good! He wished everyone on the ship thought he and Joshua were a couple!

“I’ll go explain to him,” Joshua said.

“No, no, no!” Alois hurriedly stopped him. “Don’t. The more you explain, the worse it gets. Explaining is just covering up, covering up means it’s true. So it’s best not to explain anything!” He lied without a hitch.

“Hmm…” The assassin pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Alois sighed in relief.

Later, neither of them went to explain to Ibb, even though their reasons were quite different, the result was the same.

As for Ibb Descartes, the witness, he had a completely different perspective.

“You know, I always thought there was something off about Alois and Joshua’s relationship,” Ibb said one day in the maintenance bay, worriedly speaking to Leo. “I saw them kissing in the elevator, but Alois seemed very unwilling. It was clear Joshua was forcing him. I know life on the ship is boring, but that doesn’t justify sexual violence against a companion, right?”

“…” Even the wise AI Leo didn’t know how to respond to such a deep and complex issue.

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