Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 253: Rainforest Expedition
Ruan Xian gripped the knife tightly and cut off the vines that were in the way.
Once, he thought he’d never be able to visit a place like this. The sounds of chirping birds and insects filled his ears, and the air was hot and sticky. The smell of decaying plants lingered at the tip of his nose. All he could see was green, and then more green, and darker green.
They were heading deep into an uninhabited rainforest.
Tang Yibu walked a step or two ahead of Ruan Xian, his head tilted from side to side, his whole body filled with excitement. He would occasionally suddenly stop, concentrating on studying the strange insects that had suddenly appeared, like an elementary school student visiting a museum for the first time. Ruan Xian tried to act more mature, but his gaze was constantly drawn to the spectacular scenery around him.
Even through this place called “Green Hell”, it was an extremely beautiful hell.
Well, Tang Yibu wanted to explore the rainforest alone, and life in this rainforest was no small matter. Even if he could identify all edible plants and animals, and he could defeat the most dangerous beasts here, Tang Yibu still had no way to deal with infections and toxins.
Ruan Xian was the opposite. He didn’t care about the wound infection of snake bites. But if a wild animal ate him whole, things would be difficult.
So they had to walk together, one after the other, to ensure that the other was always within their sight.
The two had come to the rainforest specifically to investigate, partly to reduce these restrictions they had. Here, they could capture mechanical life forms and find inspiration for their own upgrades.
“Look at this!”
Tang Yibu picked up a colorful caterpillar and said, ‘This isn’t in the existing biological database… Ouch!”
Before he could finish his words, he turned his wrist, his face twisted. A black leech found its way into the gap between Tang Yibu’s glove and sleeve. It had slid in to suck his blood.
Tang Yibu glared at the audacious leech with disgust on his face. Just as he got rid of the leech, the colorful caterpillar suddenly jumped up again and landed on Tang Yibu’s exposed wrist.
Suddenly, the smooth skin swelled up, and tiny blisters appeared near the wound, and it looked like it was about to start festering.
Tang Yibu’s face slowly froze and he turned to look at Ruan Xian helplessly.
Ruan Xian couldn’t help but shake his head. He held up Tang Yibu’s wrist, wiped the skin with a disinfectant cloth, and decisively applied a seal. The healing effect was immediate—the blisters that had appeared just as quickly disappeared, and the swelling of the skin abruptly subsided.
Tang Yibu finally breathed a sigh of relief and carefully put his gloves on. “Thank you, Mr. Ruan.”
As for the beautiful caterpillar, it had long since disappeared. Tang Yibu felt a bit dejected, and his pace slowed down considerably. However, he had only been rubbing his hands against the ground for a dozen seconds when Ruan Xian scooped him back and slapped him into his arms.
“Shh.” Ruan Xian rubbed his palm against Tang Yibu’s lips and the two stood there quietly.
Mr. Ruan must’ve discovered something. Tang Yibu’s golden eye scanned the surroundings. Soon, his gaze locked onto a ray of silver light.
A strange-looking creature crawled across the grass. Its body was pentagonal, like a flaked football skin, emitting a dull metallic hue. In the center of the five sides, extremely slender yellow-white armor legs protruded, exuding an artificial aura that was incompatible with other creatures.
A wild mechanical life!
Before Ruan Xian could even open his mouth, Tang Yibu dashed out. A few seconds later, he returned to Ruan Xian, proudly clutching the thing. Unlike last time, Tang Yibu covered it with an extra-tight grip, preventing the leech from getting a good stab.
Tang Yibu had learned his lesson this time. He placed the ferocious mechanical life into a box and then showed it to Ruan Xian. But the second he handed over the box, Tang Yibu hesitated and tilted his head.
“I think I was stung by it just now. It’s a little itchy here.” Tang Yibu poked the right side of his neck.
Ruan Xian took a half step closer. The skin didn’t look like it had any issue, but the problem was Tang Yibu’s heartbeat was a little faster and he seemed nervous.
“Just in case.” Ruan Xian smiled. He hugged Tang Yibu’s neck and gently sucked the skin at where he was pointing.
After the kiss, Tang Yibu happily carried the specimen box on his back, no longer showing any sign of disappointment.
The investigation continued in an orderly manner. As night was about to fall, the number of mechanical life in the box kept increasing. During the investigation—
“Mr. Ruan, my ear was bitten by an insect, and it hurts.”
“Mr. Ruan, my face was scratched. It might be infected.”
“Mr. Ruan, my eyelids hurt a little. Can you see if it’s swollen?”
……
Tang Yibu repeatedly brought his prey closer, declaring he had sustained a variety of superficial injuries—some of which were genuine. As for the rest, he could only say that even the world’s top doctors couldn’t find any abnormalities.
But some things didn’t need to be made clear. As long as Tang Yibu pointed out the “wounds” with a serious face, Ruan Xian would cooperate and kiss them one by one, while trying to suppress his smile.
At the last moment before sunset, Tang Yibu caught another rat-shaped mechanical life. “Mr. Ruan, the bridge of my nose…”
Here we go again. This time, Ruan Xian wasn’t going to accommodate this little brat.
Under Tang Yibu’s expectant gaze, Ruan Xian skipped over his injured nose and directly kissed Tang Yibu on the lips. It was a relentless and powerful deep kiss. Tang Yibu hummed with satisfaction and quietly pressed the back of Ruan Xian’s neck, turning the deep kiss into a longer one.
“I feel much better,” after they separated, Tang Yibu said seriously. It was a pity he couldn’t hide the pride in his eyes.
……
The rainforest was inconvenient to explore at night, so the two returned to their accommodation on the outskirts of the rainforest. Ruan Xian had prepared a trailer nearby, fully stocked with research equipment. With the doors closed and the air conditioning on, the heat and humidity, as well as the mosquitoes, were completely kept out.
Tang Yibu collapsed on the bed and picked up his tablet to calculate data. His gaze would occasionally pass over the edge of the tablet, looking at Ruan Xian’s back.
Ruan Xian was concentrating on designing the “Upgrade Potion”. With his lips slightly pursed and his posture straight, he looked quite handsome. Most importantly, compared to the Ruan Xian Tang Yibu had seen in the Institute’s video recordings, the Mr. Ruan in front of him looked incredibly healthy—his hair was glossy, his skin was warm and radiant, and his muscles were the right thickness.
Just looking at the other person, Tang Yibu suddenly felt the comfort of soaking in warm water.
“…Mr. Ruan.”
“Hm?”
“I don’t think the project needs to be push forward so quickly,” Tang Yibu said. “We can always work on it together, right?”
“Just in case. We’ve discussed this before,” Ruan Xian answered. Tang Yibu needed to improve his recovery, which will improve his combat capabilities. This was the upgrade goal they had set from the beginning.
“Mm. Then leave me a weakness, just one. Only you and I will know it, okay?”
Tang Yibu had no doubts in Ruan Xian’s abilities. Given time, he would undoubtedly possess a resilience comparable to Ruan Xian’s. This idea sounded great, and indeed, it was quite appealing to him—after all, it meant absolute safety.
But it would bring him another sense of insecurity.
“Why do you want to leave a weakness on purpose?” Ruan Xian asked calmly, his tone not sounding at all surprised.
“I really like the feeling of you supporting me,” Tang Yibu admitted honestly.
If he truly became invulnerable, there would be no need for his Mr. Ruan to accompany him all the time. Just imagining the scene of acting alone made Tang Yibu uncomfortable.
“I understand.” Ruan Xian nodded and used tweezers to pick out the mechanical life he had captured during the day.
Tang Yibu was speechless. “You’re not going to delve further?”
“I kind of know the reasoning.”
Ruan Xian didn’t turn around so Tang Yibu couldn’t see the expression on his face, but he was sure that there was a hint of a smile in Ruan Xian’s tone.
Wait, Tang Yibu suddenly realized a problem—
With Ruan Xian’s ability, improving individual combat power was much easier than improving healing power. However, over the years, Ruan Xian hadn’t been very interested in external weapons or increasing his own abilities. As a result, the progress of their upgrade plans was almost the same.
Ruan Xian was a cautious person. He wasn’t kind or harmless, but he definitely wasn’t a pacifist. Logically, Mr. Ruan should be keen on strengthening himself. Unless…
Unless Ruan Xian also wanted to have a “harmless” weakness.
The corners of Tang Yibu’s mouth curled up. He rolled happily on the bed, then walked to Ruan Xian’s table.
“I know why,” Tang Yibu said, trying to put on a serious expression. “We still have a long, long time. As long as we don’t encounter any weapons of mass destruction, we won’t be at risk for the time being…”
Ruan Xian gave him a sideways glance, the corner of his mouth twitching.
“Even if we face a weapon of mass destruction, we have a comprehensive contingency plan, including emergency shields and bunkers…”
Tang Yibu bent down and watched Ruan Xian fix the pentagonal mechanical life and analyze its genetic data.
“So there’s no need to rush the upgrade research. After all, it’s for personal use, so a steady and cautious approach is more reasonable. It’s not because I want to be with your forever, nor is it because you want me to stay by your side forever.”
Tang Yibu narrowed his golden eyes and moved closer. While Ruan Xian was putting the mechanical life back into the specimen box, he kissed Ruan Xian on the cheek.
“Am I right, Mr. Ruan?”
“Wrong answer.”
Ruan Xian pushed open the specimen box and ruffled Tang Yibus’s hair. “If you really have nothing to do, you can write an analysis report and look for other directions.”
“Then let’s change the subject,” Tang Yibu said happily. “Should I analyze how much I like you, or how much you like me?”
“Fine.” Ruan Xian smiled. “You’re going in the right direction this time.”
“Then I’ll analyze them all!”
The author has something to say:
Happy (belated) Qixi Festival, everyone! See you again on Valentine’s Day next year—!
Analysis report ×
Love letter show-off √
Kinky Thoughts:
It seems the extras (besides the mini extras) will continue for all of Nian Zhong series! These are “Benefits” chapters, longer than her mini extras, that are exclusive only to the JJ app and will be updated periodically.
I can’t complain, since I love me more Happy Doomsday.
In my R-rated version, Tang Yibu would be like “Mr. Ruan, my **** kind of hurts. Will you…”, but alas…
Happy reading.
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