Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 200

If it weren’t for Duan Yang’s constant reminders about the dangerous period, Lin Chen would have felt like he was on a cruise on vacation.

After all, his journey to Dana was due to being kidnapped.

He was riding a helicopter that was about to fall apart with a high fever, so he didn’t have time to appreciate the vast primeval forest.

Although many places in the Dana Forest had been destroyed to some extent, as the light ferry boat went deeper, he was still amazed by the magical power of nature.

At that time, the words that Mrs. Jiang had told him would always come to mind from time to time. However, the reality was much more exaggerated than what she said. As a person who had never seen the world, he saw real trees and blue waves. In short, he had experienced all the beautiful words used to describe the forest.

Of course, the most amazing thing in this process was still a Dana python.

It was by chance.

The reason was that the light ferry he was on would rely on fishing to obtain food supplements during their escape. The Dana python crashed into the net while it was lowered. Although ordinary fishing nets couldn’t catch such a big thing, the python that crashed into the net couldn’t get out. The net and python became entangled, and the python tumbled around, arousing crazy water sounds.

Lin Chen was half-lying in the cabin, and Xing Conglian was sitting by his bedside, peeling a banana.

Although Lin Chen didn’t know why Xing Conglian insisted on doing such a simple task as peeling bananas, Lin Chen wasn’t the stubborn type, and it felt good watching Xing Conglian do these things for him.

Suddenly, he heard the excited and terrified shouts of the Gaomeng people from the side of the ship, followed by the voices of Wang Chao and Xing Conglian’s subordinates calling “Boss”.

There was the sound of rapid pattering footsteps, followed by the hatch slamming open. Wang Chao poked his head in and said excitedly, “Boss, Boss, there are really giant pythons in the Dana River!”

This was the first time he had seen Wang Chao since he woke up from his coma. After Wang Chao opened the door, he blinked at him, looking extremely alert.

Lin Chen didn’t quite understand why Xing Conglian excluded everyone from the cabin. Except for Dr. Duan Yang, even Wang Chao wasn’t allowed in. Xing Conglian’s reason was that too many people would affect his rest. After hearing this reason, Lin Chen probably had a little personal experience of what Wang Chao called “controlling desire.” In fact, he could probably guess why Xing Conglian did this. As long as he lay in this cabin, on this hospital bed, everything outside the room had nothing to do with them.

They didn’t need to pay attention to how many people Zaratul sent to hunt them down, nor did they need to worry about what was behind all this. Even the aftermath didn’t concern them, and of course, it wasn’t his job to worry about it in the first place.

Before Xing Conglian could react, Wang Chao had already snuck to his bedside and taken his hand nervously; his eyes were red.

“Get out!” Xing Conglian glared at Wang Chao as he spoke coldly.

“Boss, if you do this, my A’Chen Gege will get sick!”

“First of all, correction. He is mine. And secondly, he will only get sick when he sees you!”

Wang Chao’s face suddenly flushed. “Boss, aren’t you shameless?!”

“How?” Xing Conglian took a bite of the peeled banana, then handed it to Lin Chen.

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian’s burning gaze as if he were trying to force him to show affection or something. He had no choice but to bite the spot where Xing Conglian had just bitten.

Wang Chao was stunned again. Before the teenager could yell out any astonishing remarks, Lin Chen asked, “What happened outside?”

Wang Chao was easily distracted. He said excitedly, “Python! Python! Python! A’Chen Gege, do you want to come see the python?! It’s a python!”

Xing Conglian glared at him again. “Do you think my A’Chen’s body is suitable for going out to get some fresh air?”

Wang Chao dug into his ear as if he hadn’t heard clearly what his boss had just spat out. “You—what did you just say?”

Xing Conglian crossed his legs and shook them, as if he had finally found an advantageous position in their usual bickering. He happily said, “Let me deepen your impression of my A’Chen!”

Wang Chao blushed. Lin Chen had no choice but to interrupt the two of them again and ask Wang Chao, “Is the python big?”

“It’s really big. Its body is quite thick. Did you feel our boat shaking as if it were being dragged?”

“Stop exaggerating. It depends on your own perspective. Now, get out!”

Wang Chao sat down on the side of the bed and said, “But the Gaomeng’s elder—whether he’s a high priest or a fake—with terrifying big earlobes said it was a thousand-year-old golden python with special spirituality. You can make a wish in front of it, and it will come true. A’Chen Gege should do it since he’s sick.”

“Can wishing make water flood the mountain with gold? How old are you? Do you believe in this kind of African stuff?” Xing Conglian said incredulously.

At this time, Duan Yang, probably seeing that the cabin door was open, also walked in. The doctor was probably going to give him an IV. Now, looking at the appearance of Xing Conglian, Duan Yang said, “It’s okay to get some air. It’s been stuffy in the ward, which isn’t conducive to recovery.”

“He hasn’t been bored for three days!” Xing Conglian said dissatisfied.

Duan Yang looked at Xing Conglian and just crossed his arms without speaking.

Lin Chen reluctantly opened the thin blanket and stepped out of the bed with one foot. “Just endure it, and it’ll be fine. I want to go and have a look since it’s a rare opportunity.”

“What’s so rare about this!”

“You have to buy a ticket if you go to the safari park,” Lin Chen said.

“And the safari park isn’t as big!” Wang Chao added.

Just before Lin Chen got off the bed, Xing Conglian gave Wang Chao a smack in dissatisfaction.

Then he turned his head and said to Lin Chen, “Do you need me to hug you?”

Seeing the two of them in the sickroom crossing their arms and watching, Lin Chen could only grab Xing Conglian’s shirt collar and whisper softly in his ear, “Not now. I’ll hold you tonight.”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian nodded contentedly and waved his hand. “Then let’s go!”

In fact, Wang Chao’s words weren’t exaggerated. Lin Chen did feel the slight shaking of the ship during the short distance from the medical room to the second deck.

Looking down, Lin Chen saw many dark-skinned, scantily-clad Gaomeng people gathered on the first level to watch the golden python. Most of them were already kneeling on the ground and beginning to recite prayers about similar things. This was also the first time he had truly seen these Gaomeng people who had been saved by Dr. Duan since he regained consciousness.

Actually, he had only been able to read about these primitive tribes in travel magazines before and didn’t have a very tangible feeling about them, but now that these living people appeared in front of him, he suddenly had a deeper appreciation for the diversity of human life forms. This appreciation was something that he couldn’t experience when sitting at home flipping through a magazine.

Of course, this small emotion only lasted for a short period of time. Xing Conglian pressed his neck with his hand and gently turned his head toward the river further away. “Look at the python, not the people.”

Lin Chen didn’t refute. He leaned on the railing and looked over. The giant python on the water’s surface was still churning, splashing waves several meters high. The captain directed the men, who were probably Xing Conglian’s subordinates, to try to loosen the fishing net, but because the python struggled so fiercely, it became more entangled in the net.

The Gaomeng people let out exclamations as the boat was pulled further, slightly tilting it.

Xing Conglian grew tired of watching and shouted downstairs. “Kang An, cut the fishing net.”

“Boss, I was just about to catch it to show it to you, and now I have to let it go!” The young man below, who was pulling the fishing net, turned his head and responded.

Lin Chen looked down and nodded to the young man, but the moment the other party saw him, he was stunned and stopped talking.

At that moment, a foot wearing black leather boots suddenly stretched from behind Kang An and violently kicked him in the calf.

“Zhang Long, are you crazy?!” Kang An turned his head and scolded angrily.

“Keep looking, and I’ll pluck your eyeballs out to feed to the crocodiles,” a rather arrogant voice responded.

Lin Chen saw another black-clothed man with a slightly cool hairstyle come out from behind. He took off his sunglasses, bent over, and bowed in their direction, showing great courtesy.

“Your friend?” Lin Chen asked Xing Conglian with a smile.

Before he finished speaking, as if playing some kind of whack-a-mole game, another young Chinese man emerged from behind and looked up at them, then waved.

At that time, Xing Conglian’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot, even darker than the night sky, to the point where it couldn’t get any darker.

“How interesting,” Lin Chen said.

Finally, looking at him and then at the few people below who were curious to the extreme, Xing Cong Lian said, “Cut the rope and come up.”

……

Lin Chen received these individual “friends” in his ward.

He leaned on the hospital bed while Xing Conglian sat at the head of the bed with legs crossed, remaining silent. Wang Chao squatted on the ground at the end of the bed.

A group of six people stood in a row beside the bed. This was the first time he saw Xing Conglian’s former subordinates. Regarding the team that had taken down Zaratul’s drug factory in front of him, other than being low-key and restrained, he couldn’t think of better adjectives to describe them.

He glanced at the grumpy man next to him and introduced himself to the people standing in front of his bed. “Lin Chen. I’m currently a consultant majoring in psychology.”

As if counting, as soon as his voice fell, the six people in front of the hospital bed shouted in turn.

“Kang An!”

“Ye Zhu!”

“Xiao Wu!”

“Xiao Liu!”

“Zhang Long!”

“Zhao Hu!”

As each of them reported their name, Lin Chen found it more amusing. Finally, the teenager weakly said from the end of his bed.

“Wang Chao!”

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian helplessly. “What kind of sadistic humor is this?”

“Hey, hey. It’s not my business.” Xing Conglian kicked Wang Chao. “Explained to A’Chen Gege. Your father’s surname is Wang.”

“A’Chen Gege, my father’s surname is Wang!”

Lin Chen raised his brows and glanced at Xing Conglian.

“Seniority is determined by Wang Chao,” Xing Conglian said. “Seriously.”

After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he hurriedly shouted to the six people standing in rows in front of him. “Okay, enough. You can get out now!”

At this time, to Lin Chen’s great surprise, Kang An, who was standing at the front of the team, suddenly knelt down and said to him loudly, “Consultant Lin, I’m sorry!”

Lin Chen was taken aback.

Kang An’s face was full of sorrow. “I… I really didn’t know it would be like this…. If I had known that the Boss leaving would put you in danger of being kidnapped and almost killed, I… I wouldn’t have invited the Boss in the first place!”

“Get out. Do you hear me?!” Xing Conglian said coldly.

Xiao Wu pressed on Kang An’s shoulder and knelt down.

Lin Chen roughly knew the story, but quietly watching them kneel side by side in front of him, he couldn’t help but say, “Is this some feudal patriarchal system? Why are you kneeling at every turn?”

“They’re not good in the head. Just ignore them.”

Lin Chen nodded, turned to look at the two people kneeling on the ground, and said lightly, “If you kneel like this, it’s just making things embarrassing.”

A look of bewilderment flashed across Kang An’s and Xiao Wu’s faces. They wanted to stand up, but they didn’t know what to do.

“The reason why I’m embarrassed is because, by doing this, you have turned me into the type of person who needs protection and can only cling to others,” Lin Chen said slowly. “But in terms of my self-awareness, I don’t seem to be so useless yet.”

“I… I didn’t mean that, Consultant Lin.”

“Since that’s not what you meant, then your logic just now isn’t valid. For example, if you had invited your boss to leave, it wouldn’t have caused me to be kidnapped and almost killed. His departure was just an accident, and my kidnapping was also an accident. It was a matter of bad luck, and the real culprit has already paid the price. So it’s inappropriate for you to blame yourselves for it.”

“But… But I still think I was too selfish,” Kang An replied as he scratched his head. “I… I can’t explain it well. It’s my fault for not handling this matter properly!”

“It’s me who’s useless,” the thin young man named Xiao Wu said solemnly.

“That’s right,” Lin Chen said softly.

As he spoke, he felt Xiao Wu look up at him. There was no resentment in his gaze, only a strong sense of self-reproach.

Lin Chen felt Xing Conglian put his hand on his wrist. He looked at him, then said, “This is the meaning of his existence.”

Upon hearing this, Xing Conglian leaned over to his ear and whispered softly, “I’ve said the same thing before. Pretty cool, huh?”

Lin Chen couldn’t help but laugh, then he turned to the two people on the ground and said, “I’ve also encountered the kind of situation that you both encountered, which is completely impossible to solve. Fortunately, we have your boss to lend a helping hand, which makes many impossible things possible. That’s probably the meaning of his existence. At least with him around, we know that even if the sky falls, there will always be someone taller to hold it up, and even the most difficult things give people a glimmer of hope.”

Xiao Wu’s tears were about to flow.

After experiencing too many life-and-death situations, Lin Chen felt that his ability to inspire people had improved. “Therefore, I hope that you will not be afraid of things that you think are right, no matter how difficult or impossible they may seem. If all else fails, there will always be someone to support you. And if that person is not there, then strive to become that person.”

Kang An was so straightforward that he immediately nodded hard and said, “I will really try my best to handle it myself next time!”

“Then please, get up, you two,” Lin Chen said.

Kang An and Xiao Wu quickly stood up, and as if unable to hold back any longer, Xing Conglian chased them away like shooing flies. “I knew you guys were up to something. Get out of here. You’re annoying the hell out of laozi!”

The two were immediately expelled from the room. Xing Conglian looked at the four people still standing at the bedside and said, “What are you staring at? Are you waiting for me to invite you to dinner?”

“Not you, Boss. I think what Consultant Lin said was really good. Consultant Lin, you’re so professional. Can you take a look at me?” Mr. Zhang Long, very arrogantly, approached the hospital bed and said to him, “They keep saying that I have bipolar disorder*. Do you think I’m really sick? Should I take some medication?”

*A mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with psychosis, it is called mania; if it is less severe, it is called hypomania.

At this point, Xing Conglian picked up the medicine bottle from the bedside and was about to throw it. “Scram!”

Zhang Long hurriedly rushed to the door. “I may not be the only one with mania!” Zhang Long said while scowling at them. “I’ll come and visit you again!”

Probably seeing that Xing Conglian’s face had reached its patience limit, the group of people left in a hurry. In the end, Xing Conglian threw his slipper at Wang Chao’s ass. The teenager left with a look of being exposed and embarrassed, scurrying out the door.

The hatch finally closed again, and everything calmed down.

“What’s the matter? They were just saying a few words…”

Before Lin Chen could finish, he was pressed by the back of his neck and pressed down as Xing Conglian kissed him hard.

Xing Conglian’s movements were slightly impatient, and Lin Chen didn’t react for a while. He couldn’t breathe after being kissed.

He gently stroked the man’s back, but he couldn’t stop Xing Conglian from making further aggressive movements.

Xing Conglian stuck close to him, sucking his lips hard while prying open his teeth without hesitation and teasing his tongue.

After the kiss, Lin Chen found that his hospital gown was almost completely unbuttoned, and most of his skin was exposed. He gasped and looked at Xing Conglian, trying to calm himself down.

“Consultant Lin.”

“Hm?”

“Why are you so good…”

Lin Chen touched Xing Conglian’s ear and felt that the atmosphere was good, so he didn’t respond.

Xing Conglian lightly nibbled on his collarbone and finally looked up and said, “You need to get better soon. I’m getting older, and my endurance may not be as good as it used to be.”

“As long as your endurance is good,” Lin Chen kissed his forehead and said with a smile.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 199

When Lin Chen opened his eyes, it was very dark.

The first time he woke up, he couldn’t feel the existence of time and space.

There was a pattering sound in his ear, like rain or clouds passing by.

When his consciousness became a little clearer, he knew he should be floating somewhere. It could be in the clouds or perhaps on water.

But if he had such consciousness, he knew that he shouldn’t be dead.

Slowly, everything around had a vague outline.

At first it was a halo of light, but gradually it condensed into the shapes of walls, cabinets, and people.

Lin Chen saw Xing Conglian.

At that time, Xing Conglian was bending over and wiping Lin Chen’s dry and peeling lips with honey water.

He felt Lin Chen’s lip quiver, and his eyelids slowly opened, looking as if he were in a daze, before quickly waking up.

The moment Lin Chen’s eyes opened, it was a beautiful sight, like an unpolluted night sky. Although this metaphor was cheesy, Xing Conglian truly felt like it was at that moment.

There was nothing more beautiful than this.

“Good evening.” Lin Chen smiled and blinked gently at him.

On the bedside table was a lamp with Dana characteristics. The warm light spilled over Lin Chen’s face, softening the contour of his jagged face caused by illness.

Xing Conglian didn’t speak. He still held the bowl in his hand while approaching Lin Chen, and he lightly licked his honey-sweet lips.

However, Lin Chen didn’t kiss him back. His eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he stared blankly at him, a little dazed, as if he didn’t have a clear understanding of their relationship.

Xing Conglian was wondering whether sepsis would cause memory rewind or something. He put down the bowl and lifted his head slightly away from Lin Chen’s lips. He looked at the weak person on the sickbed and said gently, “Open your mouth.”

Lin Chen was obedient. He opened his mouth according to instructions, and Xing Conglian lowered his head and kissed him without hesitation.

Probably because the high fever hadn’t subsided, Lin Chen had a bitter taste of medicine in his mouth, but he still felt good.

Xing Conglian obviously saw Lin Chen’s pupils dilate, and then the other party finally reacted. Lin Chen hooked one hand around Xing Conglian’s neck and began to try hard to respond to him.

The kiss lasted a long time, and no one spoke.

Finally, Xing Conglian saw Lin Chen’s flushed face and watery eyes. He walked around him slightly, raised his head, and left his lips, but he couldn’t bear to take his gaze away from Lin Chen’s face.

“Your technique isn’t very good.” He kissed Lin Chen’s forehead as he commented.

“Teach me a few more times, and it’ll be fine,” Lin Chen said seriously.

“How many times do you want to learn?” Xing Conglian asked with a straight face.

Lin Chen looked at him with a serious expression. Xing Conglian leaned over and kissed him again. Finally, he raised his head and looked at him. “You’ll never learn, so you have to get lessons every day.”

Lin Chen laughed and nodded, “Okay, Teacher Xing.”

In short, this was probably what it felt like to be in love. If Duan Yang hadn’t knocked on the door and come in, Xing Conglian would probably press Lin Chen down on the bed and kiss him endlessly, but of course this was impossible in reality.

He wiped Lin Chen’s lips, which had turned from red to purple, with his fingers and sat down.

Duan Yang looked at them coldly as he checked Lin Chen’s heartbeat and blood pressure, then said, “You haven’t passed the dangerous period yet. Pay attention to rest.”

“I’ll be fine, Dr. Duan.” When he said this, Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian, who then reluctantly got up from his chair and sat on the hospital bed to let Duan Yan sit down on the small square stool at the head of the bed.

Lin Chen looked calm. He noticed Duan Yang’s stubble-covered face and asked, “What about you?”

“Captain Xing has already talked to me,” Duan Yang said.

The atmosphere became tense for a while. Lin Chen seemed to have guessed something and said to Duan Yang, “He’s not as good at talking as I am. If you need it, you can still come to me. After all, I am a professional.”

Duan Yang glanced at Xing Conglian and calmly said, “Captain Xing said you like to worry. At first, I didn’t believe it. Don’t ask me about the case. He said that none of us are allowed to discuss it until you’re feeling better.”

Xing Conglian’s eyelids twitched, and he glared at Duan Yang. “Are you tattling now?”

Before Xing Conglian could finish speaking, he felt Lin Chen put his hand with needle marks and gently rest it on his own. Lin Chen said to Duan Yang, “Nn, we’ll do as he says.”

Xing Conglian felt like he’d hit the jackpot with this relationship. Hearing Lin Chen’s softened voice due to his high fever, he felt a gentle warmth spreading through his body, like soaking in a hot bath.

“Then let’s talk about my condition. When will my illness get better?” Lin Chen spoke again.

“The medicine that Captain Xing had someone bring has been used on you, so you’re not in danger for the time being. As for when you’ll recover, it’s not up to me to decide. It all depends on your own recovery. Captain Xing said that the entire journey still has two more days, and then you’ll return home immediately. The specifics depend on the assessment of the doctors in China.”

“Returning to China right away?” Lin Chen asked.

“Do you still want to get sicker in the rainforest?” Xing Conglian asked sarcastically.

Lin Chen’s eyes flickered slightly, obviously thinking about how he could talk about the case without talking about it.

Xing Conglian hurriedly interrupted the other party’s thinking. “Take a good rest and use less of your brain.”

“Where are the Gaomeng people on board?” Lin Chen suddenly asked. “How are they arranged? Since Zaratul was able to kidnap us from China, the Gaomeng people won’t be too safe anywhere.”

“There will be a cruise ship at the port. Captain Xing said he would arrange a job for everyone on the cruise ship. He’ll keep it floating at sea for 365 days a year, and it won’t return here. Unless Zaratul joins forces with pirates, it’ll be impossible to meet them,” Duan Yang said.

“Can’t you think about something better?” Xing Conglian was speechless.

Suddenly, Lin Chen glanced at his fingers. As if thinking of something, he asked, “Where is the ring on my hand?”

Xing Conglian glared at him with a cold face. “The topic keeps turning abruptly. Your acting skills are quite poor. Do you know what it means to wear a ring on the ring finger of your left hand?”

Lin Chen smiled slightly and said to Duan Yang, “Dr. Duan, I’m very tired. Can I rest first?”

Duan Yang understood and immediately walked out of the cabin.

Lin Chen lay down a little bit more outside the hospital bed, looked at the empty space beside the bed, and then glanced at Xing Conglian, saying, “Captain Xing, can you turn off the lights?”

Xing Conglian felt that Lin Chen was simply amazing. He turned off the desk lamp and took off his shoes, then got into bed, using his hand as a pillow. Lin Chen still had one hand hanging on the drip, so he had to struggle to turn over and snuggle up to Xing Conglian, kissing his chin as he said, “Don’t be angry. I’ll buy you one next time.”

“Don’t change the subject. What’s up with you accepting someone’s ring and wearing it on your ring finger?”

Lin Chen didn’t answer his question.

“I’ll buy a big diamond ring for you,” Lin Chen said instead.

“How big?”

“As big as it needs to be,” Lin Chen said with certainty.

Xing Conglian suddenly turned around and kissed Lin Chen hard.

But Lin Chen was still a patient. Xing Conglian turned on the desk lamp and got up. He turned over and got out of bed in a somewhat disheveled manner.

Lin Chen’s eyes brimmed on the bed, and his chest rose and fell gently.

“Consultant Lin, this is a bit too much.” Xing Conglian checked the needle in Lin Chen’s hand. Luckily, it didn’t break the skin. He had to warn him in a low voice.

“I’m also a man. I can’t help it when you’re by my side.” Lin Chen held Xing Conglian’s hand persistently as he softly said, “I thought before that I would always be your colleague and friend for the rest of my life. Even though I like you, I don’t want to disturb your private life.”

Outside the window was the faint sound of the ship’s engine and water. Xing Conglian thought for a while, then said to him, “I’m sorry. I should have known earlier.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. After all, my acting skills were good enough. If I don’t want you to know, you’ll never know, even for the rest of your life.” Lin Chen laughed.

“Why don’t you want me to know? Why don’t you give me a choice?” Xing Conglian frowned.

“Perhaps, deep down in my heart, I always thought that you would always be by my side. But when Song Shengsheng died and Meijing committed suicide in front of my eyes—when the communicator failed, and I couldn’t contact you—I suddenly felt that maybe my life was too comfortable. I thought you would always be by my side, but that was just my delusion. In reality, it wasn’t like that.” Lin Chen gasped lightly and continued, “You will leave too. You may get married and have children, and although we’ll still be good friends and colleagues, you’ll really leave me. When I think about that moment, I suddenly realize I couldn’t accept it. So, I’m sorry. I can’t bear it anymore. Not even for a minute longer.”

Lin Chen had been speaking very slowly, with weakness from being seriously ill, but his tone remained gentle and firm.

Xing Conglian lowered his head and kissed the back of Lin Chen’s hand as he listened to Lin Chen continue.

“What’s more, I thought it through very clearly. I’m really good, and I’ll be good to you. I will treat you better than any lover you will ever meet in your life. I love you dearly, and I want you to experience such a beautiful love in this world. Please believe me.”

Xing Conglian looked into Lin Chen’s serious eyes. Although he had heard countless confessions in his life, and many had better voices and rhetoric than Lin Chen’s, none of them were as affectionate. Such a sense of cherishing even made Xing Conglian feel a great shock. He lowered his head again and kissed the place where Lin Chen had worn someone else’s ring.

“Consultant Lin.”

“Hm?”

“I’ll buy the ring.”

Lin Chen thought for a while and said, “Then shall we buy a pair for each person?”

“Here’s my salary card.”

“Why do I need this?”

“And my bank card is also yours.”

“What do I need your money for?”

“Because my mother told me that in Chinese culture, handing in a bank card is the sincerest confession.”

“Then there’s actually no need to exchange diamond rings. Let’s just exchange bank cards?”

“No need. Just consider it as me paying tuition.” Xing Conglian kissed the corner of Lin Chen’s mouth. “Actually, I’m quite good a sweet-talking.”

“I know.”

“But when I met you, I became speechless.”

“So from now on, just listen to me.”

“That doesn’t seem right. You have to teach me more, so you have to go to class every day.” Xing Conglian kissed him earnestly.

“Then you’ll never learn, so you can attend class every day,” Lin Chen said between kisses with a smile.

“I understand, Teacher Lin.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Yes. Gimme all this dog food after almost 200 grueling chapters of pain and suffering.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 198

After getting off the bed, Xing Conglian called the doctor in and told him that treatment could begin. Then he leaned against the low cabinet next to the hospital bed.

Dr. Duan Yang checked Lin Chen’s heart and lungs with a stethoscope, then skillfully opened an injection and injected a small but potentially life-taking dose of medication into Lin Chen’s body. The process was very quick.

According to Duan Yang, the next allergic shock would kill Lin Chen in a short time, so the medication injected into Lin Chen’s body this time was essentially no different from a highly toxic drug. Unlike the situation in movies, where the patient would always be in a coma for a few days and nights, Lin Chen was awake the entire time through the short but long treatment process. Although he was weak, he insisted on not going to sleep.

So much so that Xing Conglian asked Lin Chen, “Why aren’t you dizzy?”

“Seeing you, I can’t bear to faint.” Lin Chen opened his dry and chapped lips and answered him with a smile.

Lin Chen seemed to want to say all the love words of his life, not sparing any of his feelings, to the point where, for the first time, Xing Conglian realized that he seemed to be losing to Lin Chen in some aspect.

But whether it was due to physical exhaustion or the effects of the medication, after he finished saying this, Lin Chen gently closed his eyes.

Xing Conglian became nervous for an instant and suddenly checked Lin Chen’s pulse. Fortunately, although the beating under his fingers was weak, it still existed, and Lin Chen just fell asleep.

He leaned against the bedside table again. Whenever such moments came, people always began to reminisce about the past. But strangely enough, with Lin Chen breathing evenly, he felt very calm inside.

He felt that his life had been smooth sailing, which was probably related to the many fortune tellers who had calculated his destiny when he was born. He didn’t understand those complex metaphysical systems at all, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying the benefits that good fortune brought him.

For example, when he was very young and drew lots, he knew to choose the gun instead of other things like the abacus. This allowed him to escape from certain systemic training in his family that he wasn’t interested in and embark on a relatively free career. Another example was that he often had strange near-death experiences, such as leaving a building a few minutes early because he felt the air was bad, and then the building exploded. Such things that made him break out in a cold sweat afterwards always happened.

And on the bottom floor of that dim building, the moment Lin Chen kissed him, he did feel the benefits of good fortune again. Although at first he was just shocked and at a loss—there weren’t many things that could make him at a loss these days—but soon he became happy. Anyone who was adored by someone they highly admired would have the urge to show it off to the world.

In any case, he never felt any sense of rejection towards Lin Chen during this process. The only thing that took him some time to think about was how to continue to interact with Lin Chen. Whether to be friends or to date, he had passed the age where he could follow his heart without thinking, and he needed to think more and plan for the future in order to ensure control over it. At that time, he even thought that it wasn’t a bad thing for Kang An to take him away on purpose—at least that was how he felt then—giving everyone space to think things through and then interact well. This was also acceptable.

Then he discovered there was nothing he could control, and the things that happened in this world would never make sense.

When he left Lin Chen, he began to miss him. When he saw Lin Chen being kissed by Huang Ze, he was furious. He couldn’t help but think of being with Lin Chen all the time. These emotions were completely natural and uncontrollable. Not to mention, when Duan Wanshan insisted on telling him the story that now he considered to be purely coincidental, he was immersed in a thick feeling of anxiety, and all things from that moment on slid into an abyss that was fundamentally out of his control.

The joke of fate was incredible to say, but he still felt that his fate wasn’t too bad. At least Lin Chen was sent to his side after being kidnapped instead of any hellish corner in the world. Since he was able to find Lin Chen at the last moment, this was a sign that, although the situation was difficult, Lin Chen could always survive.

When people were in despair, they usually needed to find some faith to move forward, telling themselves that everything would be alright.

Around him were recitations coming from the lower decks of the ship, composed of the very tongue-twisting Gaomeng language, which were eulogies that roughly meant sentences like “may your soul enter the world of bliss.” Xing Conglian listened carefully for a while and suddenly realized that it should be the Gaomeng people mourning for Duan Wanshan.

He couldn’t help but move his gaze to Duan Yang. The doctor was looking at the clock carefully, calculating the time and amount of medicine with a calm expression, as if he weren’t affected in any way.

Listening to the Gaomeng’s buzzing eulogy, Xing Conglian watched the last shot of antibiotics injected into Lin Chen’s body, then asked Duan Yang, “What are you going to do with your teacher’s body?”

When he heard the word “teacher”, Duan Yang’s hand showed an obvious tremble. The young man pursed his lips into a thin line, threw all the disposable needles into the trash can, and looked at him with dark eyes. “Cremate as soon as possible.”

……

In the course of their escape, it wasn’t particularly wise for them to stop the ship to cremate a body, but Xing Conglian still ordered it to be done.

There were many reasons. One, because Lin Chen’s savior made this request, and two, because in a place like the Dana Rainforest, a corpse started to smell after three hours. He himself didn’t want Duan Wanshan’s body to rot and turn into a terrible appearance.

After Lin Chen’s situation temporarily stabilized, the boat stopped, and most of the Gaomeng people were ordered to stay onboard. They carried Duan Wanshan’s body off the boat. At that time, Xiao Wu wanted to climb a tree and pick some fresh green leaves to lay under Duan Wanshan’s body, while the Gaomeng people also wanted to dress him up with many ivory and gold ornaments, but were stopped by Duan Yang.

“We’re doctors. We don’t care about the things that we can’t bring with us when we’re born or take with us when we die.”

That was what the young man said.

In fact, not many people present knew about Duan Yang’s and Duan Wanshan’s relationship, but probably because of his indifferent and fearless temperament, even the Gaomeng people who didn’t speak his language didn’t dare to speak out against it. They looked at the young man’s expression, and everyone naturally stopped talking.

Duan Wanshan laid on a thin blanket. His eyes were tightly closed, and he had a calm expression of neither pain nor concern.

He was sprinkled with some ingredients made of white phosphorus, and a gasoline barrel was placed on the ground, but no one had the heart to take it. At this moment, Duan Yang went straight over, opened it without hesitation, and splashed it on his teacher with extremely gentle movements.

Duan Wanshan’s shirt became almost transparent when he was doused with gasoline, making it look as if his body was melting.

Duan Yang took out a lighter and said to everyone, “Stand back.”

The moment the flame ignited, it almost soared into the sky. The Gaomeng people kneeled on the ground, and their prayers became louder. Xing Conglian even had the illusion that his soul was about to be shattered.

Gasoline kept pouring as he continued to watch the flames devour the doctor’s body, bit by bit.

He remembered the first time he heard this name, when the young doctor at the medical station introduced him to Duan Wanshan. So, seeing this scene, he always felt that this kind of cremation shouldn’t be the ending that someone like Duan Wanshan deserved. He should have had a large family or grown old with his silly student, enjoying the blessings that Mr. Duan Wanshan, who had done so much, deserved.

But seeing Duan Wanshan gradually turning into bones and then dust in the skyrocketing fire, he felt that the true nature of life and death was just like this.

Death could come suddenly one day, like a huge wave crashing down, making it impossible to resist. When it came, it didn’t take your life into account and make a choice based on it; it was never like this.

Too many people think that there was always time in the future, and he used to be one of them, but the truth was often much more brutal, and he realized this very clearly and deeply today.

The flames gradually extinguished, and most of the people were driven back to the boat. Xing Conglian thought that Duan Yang might need time alone, and he was also ready to leave.

At this moment, there was a soft click of a lighter behind him.

Xing Conglian was startled. He suddenly turned his head, only to find that Duan Yang had just lit a cigarette.

“I won’t be a martyr. Please rest assured,” Duan Yang said as if he knew what Xing Conglian was thinking.

Xing Conglian raised his brows as Duan Yang threw the lighter and cigarette pack at him. For the sake of the sad young man in front of him, he took out a cigarette and smoked one with the other party.

Duan Yang’s smoking posture this time was different from his previous appearance, where he almost choked to death. He looked like an experienced smoker, taking a drag, holding it in his mouth for a moment, and then exhaling. Seeing this, Xing Conglian couldn’t help but have a newfound respect for the young man’s ability to learn.

Duan Yang held the cigarette in his mouth and began to clean up Duan Wanshan’s ashes.

He was holding an urn he brought off the ship. To be precise, it wasn’t an urn but a relatively large candy box made of iron, square-shaped, and originally filled with mixed flavors of Eclairs candy. Now it still smelled like a sweet kiss of toffee.

The young man was holding such an urn and carefully picking up the ashes of his teacher. Looking at his back, Xing Conglian spoke slowly. “I thought you would say that as doctors and materialists, we don’t have the habit of preserving ashes. After all, the person has truly passed away.”

“It’s just a thought, but it’s really not important,” Duan Yang said, shaking his cigarette to the side as he replied. “And if Teacher didn’t die of sepsis, then he should be very happy to donate his body for science. He once said this.”

“This is indeed like what Duan Wanshan would say,” Xing Conglian said. “Quite persistent, but also chic.”

Duan Yang still had his back to him and was doing things silently. Xing Conglian watched the young man’s back and spoke slowly. “Although Lin Chen is more suitable to say some things than I am, given his physical condition, I think it’s okay for me to take his place. There are some things you should know.”

“Please tell me.”

“Your teacher actually likes you…” Xing Conglian wanted to continue telling the story he had heard from Duan Wanshan, but was interrupted by Duan Yang.

“I know.”

“How?”

Duan Yang looked at him with a resolute but gentle expression. “There are some things that will be very clear when you reach the end and look back. This I know.”

“So, what are you going to do next?”

When he asked this, he was ready to hear the young man say, “Please avenge Teacher for me” but to his surprise, Duan Yang just said, “I want to stay here, find out what happened, and seek justice for all the dead to comfort Teacher’s spirit in heaven.”

In similar words, Xing Conglian seemed to have heard Lin Chen say this a long time ago, when he wanted to seek justice for Xu Ran.

But of course, Lin Chen and Duan Yang were different. He frowned and looked at Duan Yang. “To try to stop a speeding car with just your arms is foolish. You should be thankful to still be alive and standing here. Seeking justice? There’s no justice to be found in this world.”

Duan Yang looked at him solemnly. “If Consultant Lin didn’t survive in the end, what would you do?”

Although Duan Yang’s tone was gentle, Xing Conglian had the illusion of being pointed at his nose and scolded. “Of course go and kill Zaratul.”

“Can’t I do the same?”

“Do you have this ability?”

Duan Yang laughed. “Not yet. I’m a doctor, so I can’t kill people.”

“What kind of logic is this?”

“Don’t worry. I’m different from you.” Duan Yang closed the lid of the urn and stood up. “To put it simply, each of us can only do what we are capable of doing within our own limitations. For example, even if I now know that my teacher’s death and the displacement of the Gaomeng Tribe were all caused by illegal human experiments conducted by Zhourui Pharmaceutical using Zaratul’s influence in the rainforest, I am indeed powerless to do anything about it. My personal strength cannot kill Zaratul, nor can I provide enough evidence to make this multinational corporation bankrupt. Therefore, all I can do is stay here and wait for an opportunity to arise that will allow me to bring down these two giants.”

“Zhourui Pharmaceutical?” Xing Conglian interrupted Duan Yang.

“Do you want to hear it?” Duan Yang hugged the urn and stepped back onto the boat with Xing Conglian, looking like he would hold the listener responsible for everything they heard.

“I really don’t want to, but if it involves a Chinese company breaking the law, it is indeed my duty,” Xing Conglian said.

Duan Yang turned around and stared at the urn in his hand. After a while, he slowly said, “Thank you.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 197

In the face of illness, any attempt to hold on was like a praying mantis trying to stop a moving car*.

*(螳臂当车) Idiom referring to a futile attempt to stop something much stronger or more powerful than oneself, akin to an insect trying to stop a vehicle.

Lin Chen no longer struggled. His breathing gradually stabilized, and the soft-packed saline water was injected into his body drop by drop. He seemed to have passed the most severe shock period, but Xing Conglian knew that the matter was far from over.

He brushed the wet locks of black hair on Lin Chen’s forehead with his hand, but Lin Chen didn’t even have the strength to react.

Duan Yang patted him on the shoulder and said calmly, “Captain Xing, please come out.”

Xing Conglian didn’t know whether this was a necessary ceremony that every patient’s family member had to go through. They could clearly speak in the ward, and, given Lin Chen’s condition, he wouldn’t even hear them. Yet, he must be called out by the doctor and, through a thin door panel, make decisions that would determine the life and death of the patient.

He and Duan Yang walked out the door numbly. Every step he took was like stepping into a winter’s night that only got colder.

The hatch closed gently.

The people waiting at the door also looked concerned. He had seen those familiar faces one by one, whether it was Wang Chao or Xiao Wu, Zhang Long or Kang An… Those subordinates and friends who had fought side by side with him now seemed meaningless to him, making him unable to feel any sense of affection.

Wang Chao cautiously called out to him. The expression on his face seemed to hope that he would bring some good news. Xing Conglian turned his gaze to Duan Yang, and the doctor shook his head.

Zhao Hu handed over a pack of cigarettes. “They have been notified, but Zaratul is crazy. The entire area west of the Xazi Mountains is blocked. Those who deliver medicine can only come from the seaside, and the fastest way is to go against the current. It will take a day and a night.”

Xing Conglian looked at the warning “Smoking is harmful to your health” on the cigarette pack and didn’t pick it up. He stretched out his other hand and cut the cigarette in advance. He saw Duan Yang’s calm and lifeless face.

The young doctor looked at the stern of the boat and then walked over to him.

Duan Yang had obviously never smoked a cigarette before, so when he walked to the stern of the boat with the cigarette, he only stood there awkwardly. Xing Conglian took out a lighter and threw it over.

The hot and humid wind blew across the young man’s face. Duan Yang trembled with both hands as he lit the cigarette. After taking only a puff, he choked and coughed violently. Xing Conglian didn’t care about him. He just stood there against the stern guardrail, letting Duan Yang kneel on the ground, coughing desperately as if he were crying.

Xing Conglian turned his head and looked at the constant green trees on both sides of the river. He suddenly realized that they were actually beasts cornered by this terrifying greenery, struggling to find a slim way out.

Duan Yang was quiet. Although he trembled all over, he covered his face from beginning to end, and not a single tear flowed. He was just immersed in deep pain and helpless confusion, and Xing Conglian knew this feeling very well, because he was now almost only one foot away from falling into the same abyss as Duan Yang.

Now, he really needed someone who could tell him clearly that Lin Chen could survive through this.

Even if someone opened a horoscope and told him that Lin Chen would be in danger today, he would definitely turn misfortune into good luck. He would take it as a lifeline, but it was a pity that there was no such thing. They could only get through it by themselves, and no one would help.

Half of the cigarette in Duan Yang’s hand burned, and the wind was strong, speeding up the burning of the second half.

Xing Conglian squatted down, took out a cigarette, and flicked it into the dirty river.

Duan Yang took his time to glance at him with only dead silence in his eyes.

“Duan Yang.” Xing Conglian spoke slowly, calling the young man’s name for the first time. “No matter what you want to say next, I can only say that I don’t want to give up yet, and neither does Lin Chen. Therefore, I won’t accept any verdict-like words. Can we still think of a solution…doctor?”

Duan Yang clung to the railing tightly. When he heard the word “doctor”, Duan Yang suddenly looked up at Xing Conglian. After calming his emotions, Duan Yang sobered up and spoke with extreme difficulty. “Consultant Lin’s allergic reaction is too serious. Using penicillin again will inevitably lead to a more serious acute shock than just now, and he will die immediately.”

“So now what?” Xing Conglian asked quietly.

“Now, I still have a small amount of erythromycin* available.” When Duan Yang said these words, he didn’t bring any hope, but a deep sense of despair.

*Antibiotic used for treatment of a number of bacterial infections. This includes respiratory tract infections, skin infections, chlamydia infections, pelvic inflammatory disease, and syphilis.

“Sounds pretty deadly,” Xing Conglian sneered then laughed.

“First of all, penicillin is almost always the best choice for sepsis. Erythromycin is generally only used as an adjuvant medicine, and the dose I have now is too small to reach the amount required for treatment. This is why I didn’t choose erythromycin in the first place.”

“Continue,” Xing Conglian said.

“Now, Consultant Lin’s immune response has been triggered. Almost all literature guidance will say that the medication should be stopped immediately and similar drugs should be avoided to prevent further serious immune chain reactions. And his case clearly states that he’s also allergic to erythromycin, which means that if I try to use the desensitization method I just mentioned to treat him with erythromycin, there is a high probability he will immediately go into acute shock and die…” Duan Yang paused and looked at him solemnly. “I’ve just used up the last dose of epinephrine. If he goes into acute shock again, I will definitely not be able to save him.”

Xing Conglian quietly listened to Duan Yang’s narration. The doctor told him the cruelest facts in the simplest and most understandable terms. He thought for a while and asked, “What if we don’t use antibiotics?”

“He’s already had the incision on his hand, and I’ll do a drainage procedure on it later. Without antibiotics, he might not make it through the day, unless a miracle happens. Of course, if your people can bring the medicine earlier…”

“There will be no miracles, right?” Xing Conglian asked as he looked at Duan Yang’s bloodshot eyes.

“Do you think I will still believe in such a thing?” Duan Yang asked rhetorically.

Xing Conglian couldn’t answer. He thought the decision was difficult before, but it turned out to be just the beginning. Now the question of choice had become: should he let Lin Chen die immediately, or watch him slowly die in front of him?

Seeing that he didn’t answer for a while, Duan Yang said, “I’ll ask Consultant Lin. I also need to respect the patient’s opinion…”

“No need,” Xing Conglian interrupted. “The choice is in my hands. Let’s try again.”

Duan Yang looked at him with deep shock. They all knew that whoever made the choice would have to take responsibility for the death and live with the heart-wrenching regret that may come in the future.

……

When Lin Chen regained some consciousness from his severe allergy, he felt that there was a lot of crowding around him.

It was strange that in the short period of time when he was in a coma or fell asleep just now, he didn’t dream and there were no chaotic visions of dead people. He seemed to just be a traveler after a long journey. He saw a very comfortable and soft bed at the end of the desert, so he laid down and took a nap for a while.

It wasn’t too hot or too cold around; just a little crowded.

He opened his eyes slightly and looked around him. He saw someone lying on the other side of his narrow hospital bed with his head resting on his hand. Naturally, it was Xing Conglian.

He glanced at the hanging IV bag. The remaining amount in the pack and the sky outside the window told him that the scene he had imagined of sleeping and waking up cured of his illness had not happened and that only a short amount of time had passed.

“When can you stop being so smart?” The low, hoarse voice of Xing Conglian came from his left. “I was even thinking of tricking you into thinking you were better just now.”

Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian, who was still lying carelessly, while he could only express his dissatisfaction with a very slight and almost imperceptible voice: “I am a patient…”

“I know.”

“You’re sleeping here…and I sleep…where?”

“In my arms.”

Before he could react, Xing Conglian turned around, gently grabbed his waist, and dragged him into his arms with an attitude that couldn’t be rejected.

Lin Chen subconsciously wanted to struggle, but Xing Conglian clung to him tightly. He leaned behind his ear and said only two words in an extremely cold tone, “Don’t move.”

Lin Chen shuddered and calmed down in Xing Conglian’s arms.

Xing Conglian really did what he said.

He still had his cold lips pressed behind Lin Chen’s ear, trying to talk to him. “Where did you pick up such a kid?”

Lin Chen thought for a while and asked him, “Duan Yang?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a long story…”

“I don’t really want to hear it either.”

The strange jealousy in his tone was quite cute. Lin Chen shrank into Xing Conglian’s arms a little more, recalling the things they experienced together, and said to Xing Conglian, “He’s very good, but… just unlucky.”

“His brain isn’t very good either.” Xing Conglian’s tone was obviously poor.

“Do you need me… to intercede for him?” Lin Chen asked tentatively.

“No.” Xing Conglian’s voice was extremely cold. “Consultant Lin, I think we really need to deepen our understanding. Please believe that no matter how good a person is, if you put the lives of others before your own safety next time, I’ll definitely lock you up in chains, and you’ll never have to think about walking out the door again.”

Lin Chen didn’t know why the topic had shifted back here again, but if there was really another time, that would be really nice, so he said, “Well… be sure to lock me up.”

“You can only be by my side.”

“Okay.”

He felt that if he were physically allowed, they would probably talk together for a long time like they used to, as if it would never end.

When Xing Conglian was talking, he kept kissing Lin Chen’s ear. When Lin Chen said “no”, he lightly bit his earlobe. Lin Chen felt his ears were hot and his whole body was numb, so that he couldn’t move any longer.

He blinked, but Xing Conglian’s embrace was too warm, making him want to sleep again.

At this moment, Xing Conglian spoke slowly, and Lin Chen knew the most critical part was coming.

But there was no seriousness in Xing Conglian’s voice. He just said lightly, “Duan Yang said that penicillin can no longer be used, so we have to try again. But the next drug may provoke a more serious immune response. Once the desensitization fails, you will die immediately. However, you have no choice. I will let him come in for the medicine later.”

Lin Chen was stunned for an instant. He didn’t know where Xing Conglian had the courage to make such a decision on his behalf. It was too difficult. His lips trembled, and he could hardly speak.

Xing Conglian’s hands around his waist were tight. He turned around with difficulty, trying to reach out to hug Xing Conglian, but the moment he raised his head, Xing Conglian’s kiss fell.

The back of his neck was gently hugged, and the man smelled of mint tobacco. His lips and teeth were clean and chilly, like the coldness of the forest.

However, the kiss was soft and warm, like feathers brushing across the water or grass soaking in the sun. Lin Chen thought of the daisies and geraniums on their balcony and the scene when the petals slowly unfolded when the sun rose.

Xing Conglian sucked his lips gently, without making any further aggressive movements. Because they were so close, their breaths entangled, and even their heartbeats were almost audible.

Finally, Xing Conglian let him go.

“Lin Chen, come with me.”

Xing Conglian’s voice was so calm and indifferent, as if he were just asking him what they were going to have for dinner tonight.

Stay with me, live with me, and die together.

Lin Chen looked at him quietly without shedding any tears.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 196

The stubborn figure stood still at the door, hesitant to take a step over the threshold.

Xing Conglian moved his gaze upward. The young man at the door had a numb, shocked expression on his face, and time seemed as if it were frozen with his speechless movements.

It wasn’t until his arm was heavy that Xing Conglian recovered from an unspeakable emotion. He looked down and saw that Lin Chen had fallen into his arms and lost consciousness.

“Come in,” he said coldly to the person at the door while standing with Lin Chen in his arms. He made room and gave him the chair.

However, to his surprise, the young man who walked in slowly wasn’t as upset as he expected. Although the young man kept staring at the middle-aged doctor on the bed, he gradually recovered from the shock. As if guessing something, the young man’s face showed a bitter smile at what was going on.

Xing Conglian wanted to explain; at least he felt that if Lin Chen was sober, he would try to say something to this young man, but at this moment, any words seemed superfluous.

The young man named Duan Yang knelt down in front of the hospital bed and took his teacher’s thin hand. Although Xing Conglian obviously saw the frightening redness in Duan Yang’s eyes, he was surprised not to see a single tear fall.

Duan Yang first subconsciously and procedurally checked Duan Wanshan’s heartbeat and pulse, and then he gently closed his eyes.

He lowered his head and kissed Duan Wanshan’s fingertips carefully and cautiously, as if any more little movement would cause the dream in front of him to shatter.

Xing Conglian felt unbearable watching this scene. He hugged Lin Chen and turned around, trying to give space to the two in front of him. However, at this moment, he suddenly heard a very calm voice from behind him. “Please wait a minute.”

Xing Conglian turned his head and saw Duan Yang standing up with difficulty but decisively. Duan Yang couldn’t even bear to look away from Duan Wanshan as he said calmly, “Is there a medical room on board? Consultant Lin must receive treatment immediately.”

Xing Conglian was taken aback and saw Duan Yang leaned down. Like a dragonfly, he kissed the forehead of the middle-aged man on the bed, then resolutely got up and walked towards him.

At that moment, Xing Conglian only felt that this was truly a fucking student of Duan Wanshan.

Duan Yang didn’t even look at him. Xing Conglian obviously saw him holding back his grief as his lips pursed into a line like he didn’t want to leave if he looked back again, but even so, Duan Yang still checked Lin Chen’s heartbeat with calm and stable hands.

It was only then that Xing Conglian realized that the person in front of him was a doctor; the only person on this ship who could save Lin Chen. In fact, before Duan Yang told him about Lin Chen’s condition, Xing Conglian had no idea that his condition was not much better than the Duan Wanshan he saw 24 hours ago. He thought it was just a lack of nutrition or some random illness that made him weak, and not sepsis. In the rainforest, where medical conditions were lacking, severe sepsis undoubtedly meant death. He suddenly looked at Lin Chen’s swollen hand. He remembered very clearly that when he first met Huang Ze, the latter clearly told him that Lin Chen was allergic to antibiotics.

Now, when Duan Yang explained everything, Xing Conglian could obviously feel Lin Chen’s life gradually passing in his hands; something that even he couldn’t save.

Wang Chao, who was standing at the door, was already flustered and at a loss. Xing Conglian kicked the teenager. “Where’s the medical room? Lead the way.”

Wang Chao bit the back of his hand hard and then desperately ran to the other side of the cabin.

“Tell me what you need,” Xing Conglian said to the young doctor who hurried out of the cabin beside him.

Duan Yang’s face was frozen, trying to keep himself from being affected by the pain. “I need a hospital with complete facilities and medicines. Do you have one?”

As he looked at the person in his arms who had completely lost consciousness, Xing Conglian thought to himself that it was fucking ironic that he had the best hospitals at his disposal, but now he had nothing! What was even more ironic was that just because he had recently blown up Zaratul’s territory, he now knew without any detection tools that the air defense level of the Dana Rainforest must have been raised to the highest level. Any helicopter that dared to take off would be seen as a provocation by Zaratul and had a high probability of being shot down. Therefore, he had no way to send Lin Chen to a hospital in such a short time. He suddenly realized that he had nothing and could only ask the doctor, like all powerless relatives of patients, “How much time does he have left?”

As he spoke, Wang Chao, who was running in front, had already pushed open the door of the medical room. It was a relief that this light-duty ferry was equipped with a medical room, but there was no need to expect any remarkable medical conditions.

Xing Conglian put Lin Chen down on the hospital bed, only to hear Duan Yang say to him, “Get out of the way.”

The next moment, Duan Yang began to examine Lin Chen’s hand wounds, eyelids, and the ends of his limbs. He looked at the rash and bleeding spots on Lin Chen’s hands and told him, “It doesn’t make sense for you to ask me how much time he has. If he doesn’t receive treatment now, he will die.”

This was really a cruel diagnosis.

While speaking, Duan Yang had already regained his senses and began searching through the entire medical room. The doctor opened a cabinet and dug through a large pile of medicines used for preventing and treating snake and insect bites. From there, he found a large number of antibiotics. Xing Conglian took a quick glance and saw that almost all of them were penicillin, with a small amount of azithromycin and some other medication that he couldn’t even name.

“He’s allergic to many antibiotics.”

“I know,” Duan Yang said coldly. “I also want to avoid broad-spectrum antibiotics and give him other medicines if that damn bridge hadn’t collapsed!” Duan Yang checked all the medicines, stood up quickly, and asked him solemnly, “Are you a family member of the patient?”

Xing Conglian was once again stumped by the question. He couldn’t even spare a thought about the issue of the bridge because he never imagined that he would not only experience the most brutal thing in just one day but also be asked the world’s cruelest question.

“I am,” he replied.

There was obviously an incredulous look on the doctor’s face.

“If you insist on complying with some damn medical regulations, I can tell you that we are now in the Dana Region, which means that there’s no marriage law here. I can unilaterally declare my marriage with Lin Chen is established. Do you have any more questions?” Xing Conglian retorted.

Duan Yang’s calming emotions flared up again. Xing Conglian saw the doctor rubbing his eyes, then forcefully held back his grief and said, “Family, do you have the case of Consultant Lin?”

“Wang Chao!” Xing Conglian shouted.

Before his voice fell, the young man seemed to have checked everything and had already pushed the laptop over in advance. “Here it is.”

Xing Conglian felt that this quiet moment was simply maddening.

Finally, Duan Yang looked up and asked him calmly, “I have two questions. First, how soon can you get a large dose of other types of antibiotics?”

“And the second?” Xing Conglian asked.

“Answer the first question first.”

“Wang Chao!” Xing Conglian shouted again.

The teenager was already crying, but he still took out his laptop and retrieved the large medical sites before telling him. “Boss, we are now heading towards the most deserted part of the rainforest. Through the rainforest and then to the port, counting the speed of the boat trip, unless there’s a helicopter to deliver medicine…”

“No helicopters,” Xing Conglian said coldly.

Wang Chao choked back a sob, unable to answer the question at all.

“Speak!” Xing Conglian looked at the teenager.

“It will take more than six hours to mobilize manpower as soon as possible.”

“Did you hear that?” Xing Conglian looked at Duan Yang.

“That’ll be too late. His condition is deteriorating too quickly. So here’s the second question. Right now, there’s enough penicillin to meet the therapeutic dose, and the remaining drug therapeutic dose isn’t enough. The only treatment plan I can give is to take a risk and perform a 3-hour penicillin desensitization treatment on Consultant Lin, gradually increasing the penicillin dose every half hour, starting from the smallest dose of penicillin until the therapeutic dose is used. If successful, it may save his life, but it may also cause acute shock followed by the patient’s death.”

Duan Yang’s tone made Xing Conglian unable to even say “Are you kidding me”. This kind of plot only happened in the bloodiest movies. He was forced to face the moment of deciding the life of his lover, but unlike a movie plot where one knew the result by dragging the progress bar, no one could give him the correct answer. He suddenly felt that no matter how many things he had done and how many things he possessed in life; he couldn’t match this moment when he had no choice. He really failed to the extreme.

Xing Conglian looked at the person on the hospital bed who had been hugging him just a few minutes ago and telling him how he missed him. He bent down and took off the black ring on Lin Chen’s hand, then turned around and said to the doctor, “Let’s get started.”

“Have you considered it clearly?” Duan Yang asked him.

“With me around, he’s not willing to die,” Xing Conglian said lightly.

There was no sterile operating room, no large number of medical staff, no oxygen machine, no monitor, and no reliable technological means. The detection of Lin Chen’s life could only be relied on the most primitive stethoscope.

After almost all preparations were made, Duan Yang’s movements stopped.

“What’s the matter?”

“Without epinephrine*, if there’s an allergic reaction, he’ll have to tough it out with his willpower, but there’s almost no chance he can endure it.”

*Also known as Adrenaline, it is a hormone and medication. It plays an essential role in the fight-or-flight response by increasing blood flow to muscles, heart output by acting on the SA node, pupil dilation response, and blood sugar level. As a medication, it is used to treat several conditions, including allergic reaction anaphylaxis.

The doctor’s mind turned. He looked at the camouflage uniforms on them and said, “If you’re on a mission, you should carry an emergency medical kit with you. Take a look.”

Soon, all his life-saving kits were unfolded in front of the doctor. Xing Conglian knew exactly what was inside. After Duan Yang checked carefully, he took out some of the medicines and nodded at him.

Afterwards, Duan Yang opened the penicillin, and Xing Conglian watched as Duan Yang sucked up the medicine that might take Lin Chen’s life into the needle tube. “If he has an allergic reaction, it may be serious and painful. You have to be mentally prepared.”

Xing Conglian nodded and watched as Duan Yang sterilized Lin Chen’s skin with iodine and then plunged the needle in extremely cruelly.

The liquid was quickly injected into Lin Chen’s body.

Living a day like a year* probably felt like this. Lin Chen lay there calmly for a minute, five minutes, ten minutes… He wasn’t awake, but he didn’t have any adverse reactions. Xing Conglian felt a little happy.

*(度日如年) Idiom referring to a long, tedious, and agonizing wait.

Nearly half an hour later, Duan Yang began to prepare the second penicillin dose, then the third and fourth…

For the first two hours of the three hours, Lin Chen was just lying there quietly, but probably all bad things would only come suddenly. When the fifth injection was injected into Lin Chen’s body, Xing Conglian soon witnessed for himself how serious the so-called allergic reaction really was.

First, a large bright red rash spread over Lin Chen’s white limbs like paper. It seemed like some kind of monstrous creature was gnawing away at his life, and the itching sensation even caused Lin Chen, who had already fallen into a coma, to suddenly open his eyes.

Xing Conglian’s heart suddenly sank. Duan Yang immediately injected the epinephrine used for first aid into Lin Chen’s body.

Lin Chen’s eyes were full of confusion and pain. He opened his mouth wide to yell, but only some slight whimpers came out.

Xing Conglian could only hold Lin Chen’s limbs down to prevent him from scratching his skin. Lin Chen had really lost too much weight, as if there were only bones under his skin.

However, as time slowly moved forward, Lin Chen’s reaction became more serious. He opened his eyes wide, and the skin reaction caused by the suffocation and allergies made him want to scratch every inch of his body.

Xing Conglian pressed him tightly on the bed. He stared at Lin Chen’s dark eyes and saw his cold face.

“Do you love me?” He leaned into Lin Chen’s ear and asked word by word.

“I love you.” Lin Chen turned his head with great difficulty. His lips moved, insistently trying to answer this question with all his strength, as if it were something extremely important.

“Then hang in there.”

At that moment, some tears overflowed in Lin Chen’s calm and dark eyes, as if accusing him of cruelty but also more like helpless tolerance. It was only now that Xing Conglian knew that there was really a gentle and affectionate gaze that could pierce a person’s heart like a sharp blade.

As time passed, Lin Chen’s body trembled violently due to the pain and allergic reaction. Gradually, Lin Chen even lost his last bit of strength and stopped shaking. Xing Cong watched as Lin Chen’s eyes were about to gently close, as if in the next second that faint spark of life would truly slip away from his hands.

“Do you want to hear me say I love you?” Xing Conglian leaned close to Lin Chen’s ear and shouted, waking him up once again.

Lin Chen opened his eyes slightly with a smile at the corner of his mouth and then blinked slowly.

Xing Conglian’s heart was filled with extreme bitterness. It was the first time he knew what it meant to be unable to return someone’s deep love and affection. But the only thing he could do now to repay Lin Chen was to use his extremely crude means.

“Hang on. If you die, you’ll never hear it.”

He pressed against Lin Chen’s nose as he said it blankly.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 195

Xing Conglian’s body was full of the smell of gunpowder, coming from firearms and from the explosives that blew up the entire mine. This was probably the closest moment in Lin Chen’s life to the iron-blooded truth that was inherent in Xing Conglian. However, now, saying anything or asking any questions seemed redundant. Xing Conglian’s breathing gradually slowed down in Lin Chen’s ears, like hot milk soaked in honey, making him drowsy.

Lin Chen’s fingers gradually loosened, but when he was about to fall into a deep sleep, there seemed to be something in his heart reminding him. He shook his injured hand vigorously, and the pain made him suddenly awake. “Where’s Duan Yang? Is he still alive?”

He suddenly opened his eyes and asked.

Lin Chen’s subtle movements couldn’t escape Xing Conglian’s perception. Xing Conglian released his embrace and sat up on the edge of the bed, lifting Lin Chen’s swollen and almost rotten hand. His face immediately turned cold, but it wasn’t just because of the irritating metal ring on Lin Chen’s left finger. At least, that was what Xing Conglian told himself.

Lin Chen curled his fingers slightly. Although his movements were still nervous, he looked at Xing Conglian tenderly. “Don’t be angry. Wait for me to explain.”

Yes, damn love. Xing Conglian felt that Lin Chen’s skills were simply self-taught. In short, when Lin Chen looked at him with such a calm but affectionate gaze, he could only obediently pick up the headset he had just thrown on the ground to find out the latest progress.

At this moment, a violent pounding sounded on the door.

Although it was very clear that Wang Chao must’ve been eavesdropping outside, now that the teenager dared to pound on the door desperately, it meant there was an emergency.

“Boss, Boss, open the door!” Wang Chao’s weak voice came through the door.

Lin Chen also supported himself on the bed and wanted to sit up. Xing Conglian glared at the person on the bed, giving him a warning look, and went to open the door. Before he could speak, Wang Chao said, “Boss, Doctor Duan is dying.”

Xing Conglian took a deep breath. Although he knew that death might be a relief for Duan Wanshan, at this moment, he still felt that death was too fucking cruel that it let no one escape.

Suddenly, Lin Chen’s weak voice came from behind. “Doctor Duan… Which Duan?”

Xing Conglian turned around, only to see that Lin Chen’s face was two degrees paler than before. Even the blood in his lips had drained and looked no different than a sheet of paper.

He saw fear again in Lin Chen’s eyes—”Duan Wanshan?”

Lin Chen asked.

When hearing this name come from Lin Chen’s mouth, Xing Conglian also had a creepy feeling. After all, it was Lin Chen, and he had already guessed the answer just by looking at his expression.

“Take me there.” Lin Chen finally sat up with difficulty.

Wang Chao ran to the ground beside Lin Chen’s bed and squatted down in an instant, looking at a loss. “A’Chen Gege, why are you so badly injured? What are you going to do?”

Of course, Xing Conglian was unwilling to take Lin Chen to see Duan Wanshan. Lin Chen’s current situation was obviously not suitable for experiencing any kind of sad parting.

“Take me there.” Lin Chen insisted again. “If Duan Yang is still alive, please tell me to come back soon. Hurry up…”

Lin Chen’s voice trembled, but he forced himself to be calm. Obviously, he would stay wide-eyed and conscious even if someone held a gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. Xing Conglian’s expression darkened again. He walked to the head of Lin Chen’s bed and asked, “What if I say no?”

Lin Chen didn’t respond. He just grabbed Xing Conglian’s cuffs. Because he held it extremely hard, the blood mixed with pus flowed out of his palm.

Kang An’s voice came out of the headset. Xing Conglian listened for a moment and looked at Lin Chen, then said to the person at the other end of the headset, “Dr. Duan is dying. Under the premise of ensuring safety, take Duan Yang and withdraw as soon as possible.”

Before he finished speaking, Lin Chen spoke again. “For the time being, don’t tell Duan Yang that Dr. Duan is about to die.” Lin Chen spoke in a calm yet angry tone. “I’m afraid he will go crazy on the way, and it will be unsafe. Let them just withdraw as soon as possible.”

After Lin Chen finished speaking, he began to cough violently as he pulled himself up to get off the bed.

“Don’t tell Dr. Duan Yang the news about this. Just retreat as soon as possible.” Xing Conglian ordered according to Lin Chen’s request. Although he wanted to knock Lin Chen out immediately, he could only bend down, pick up the person, and rush out the door.

……

Duan Yang felt that something was happening.

He couldn’t quite describe the feeling, as if someone had hit him hard on the top of his head with a sledgehammer. Just a few minutes ago, the masked man who had kidnapped him all the way to Dana was neatly and cleanly killed by a stray bullet.

When Lu Jia died, he was lying on his back with his eyes wide open and had an unwilling expression. But the bullet took effect quickly, and he died before he could even say any last words. Without Lu Jia, Duan Yang was obviously unable to board the helicopter. At that moment, he looked up at the sky, completely bewildered. He had no idea what all this was for. The blast from the factory explosion knocked him to the ground. He lay there among the rubble, looking up at the indescribable sky, too lazy to even move a finger.

Now it seemed that Lin Chen’s death was meaningless, and he would perish as well.

Then, he heard a distant voice. Someone was calling his name.

He felt it was an auditory hallucination. He even thought it was his teacher calling him. The smoke in the sky seemed to converge into a face that was always serious and handsome at that moment. His teacher was wearing a formal, smoky gray suit and checkered cashmere scarf. He put his hand on his hand and corrected his less standardized stitching movements.

It was at this time that Duan Yang felt as if he had been hit hard by a hammer. He struggled to sit up from the ground. Because of the explosion, everything around him was quiet, leaving only the sound of the wall rumbling and collapsing. The next moment, he was pulled up by someone.

A face mixed with colorful paint appeared in front of him. The man showed a mouthful of snow-white teeth and asked him, “Are you Duan Yang?”

Duan Yang opened his mouth and found that he couldn’t speak, so he could only nod his head reluctantly.

“All right, come with me.” While talking, the man grabbed him and started running away. Duan Yang wanted to ask such questions as “Who are you” and “Why are you rescuing me”, but when there was a glimmer of hope, such bullshit questions weren’t important. He used all his strength to roar, “I still have a friend in that building. Can…”

“Are you stupid?!” The other party turned around. “Consultant Lin, right? Of course it’s him who asked me to save you!”

While running wildly, Duan Yang said excitedly, “Is Consultant Lin okay? He’s not in good health. Be careful not to let him get hurt again…”

Duan Yang rambled all the way, but as soon as he ran to the collapsed factory building, he obviously saw the person who led him to escape pause. The man gave him a deep look with strange eyes, and Duan Yang once again had a bad premonition in his heart. When the man was about to say something, he suddenly shut up and just said, “Hurry up. The boat is about to leave.”

……

When Lin Chen saw the dying patient on the bed in the room, he didn’t know how things had become like this. Someone must be playing a huge joke on him somewhere. Other than that, there was no explanation.

Wang Chao quickly dragged a backrest chair, and Xing Conglian laid him onto it. In fact, he really didn’t have any energy to maintain the sitting position at this time. Xing Conglian had no choice but to wrap his hands around Lin Chen again so that he could barely maintain his sitting posture.

At the beginning of everything, he had already heard their detailed description of Dr. Duan from Mrs. Jiang and Duan Yang. Lin Chen always felt that it should be a handsome doctor, gentle and polite, and maybe even the type that would make female patients blush when he looked at them. The person on the bed was really far from such descriptions in his memory.

Although he could barely see the handsome facial contours under the thin skin of the other person’s face, the teacher that Duan Yang dreamed of obviously shouldn’t be like this.

He bent down slightly and held Duan Wanshan’s withered fingers.

Duan Wanshan seemed to sense something. He forced his eyes to open and looked at Lin Chen with a gentle and calm look.

Although Duan Wanshan probably didn’t have the strength to speak, Lin Chen had the illusion of being looked into the depths of his soul with just his gaze at that moment.

He was so sad in his heart that he didn’t even know if he should tell Duan Wanshan about Duan Yang. This was a really difficult situation to deal with. If Duan Wanshan didn’t know about it, wouldn’t it be fine?

He looked at Xing Conglian helplessly, and Xing Conglian nodded at him.

Lin Chen turned his head and said to Duan Wanshan, “Duan Yang has been with me these days. We were kidnapped here by mistake, so… please hold on for a while longer. He will be here soon.”

The man on the snow-white sheet blinked, showing a wise and calm gaze. Lin Chen clearly saw the joy in his eyes for a moment, but the joy was replaced by despair and helplessness. “Oh, that’s really… unfortunate.”

Lin Chen didn’t know what to say. He could only hold Duan Wanshan’s hand and say, “He loves you dearly. Along the way, we were kidnapped… I have been using a book to trick him into having more faith. I told him that when a person’s faith is strong enough, he can do anything. And then he really believed it and kept talking and urging me to think of someone and to keep on living, repeating this topic over and over again.” Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian and said, “I think he did this because he thought it was effective. Whenever he thought of you, he was filled with the determination to survive.”

Duan Wanshan blinked, as if he understood everything. He looked at them with a smile. “Your pseudoscience…in my case…won’t work.”

Lin Chen found it difficult to breathe. “I know. Life and death are bound by fate, but please see him one last time.”

At this time, Xing Conglian stuffed the headset into his ear. The sounds of running and heavy breathing came clearly through the headset. Kang An was reporting their specific location at the other end.

At this moment, Lin Chen heard Duan Wanshan slowly say, in an extremely helpless tone, “Don’t you think…meeting like this…is too difficult…for…for…a dying person like me?”

Of course Lin Chen understood the difficulties Duan Wanshan was referring to. When he mentioned Duan Yang, the look in Duan Wanshan’s eyes already said everything.

He didn’t know what kind of twists and turns had led to this point, but when two people who were in love were forced to face separation and experience death without having the chance to express their feelings, any talk of “seeing each other for one last time” was meaningless and nothing but regret, so how could they not regret it?

Duan Wanshan seemed to see what he was thinking. He squeezed Lin Chen’s hand gently and said, “I won’t regret it. My life was very meaningful. Even if it’s Duan Yang, I believe I have taught him well.” Duan Wanshan looked at them and said, “Mr. Xing knows.”

Xing Conglian said coldly, “I know shit.”

“Then…Then…what about my requests?” Duan Wanshan asked with a smile.

“Why are you threatening me before you die?”

Lin Chen frowned and coughed in a low voice.

For some reason, Xing Conglian immediately said, “Okay, I promise you. Do you want to see your student for one last time?”

Duan Wanshan didn’t answer his question. He retracted his gaze and looked up at the ceiling. His thoughts seemed to float far away. Some very slight words overflowed from his mouth. After Lin Chen carefully identified them, he realized it should be a psalm.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

On one side were the sighs of Duan Wanshan, on the verge of death. On the other side were the sounds of bullets, running, and rapid breathing. Lin Chen felt like he was being torn apart.

He once again tightly held Duan Wanshan’s hand, but it seemed like no matter what he said, he couldn’t stop Duan Wanshan’s eyes from gradually closing.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

“Second floor, 204.” Lin Chen looked at Duan Wanshan’s face and informed the people on the other end of the headset.

The people at the end had already rushed into the cabin and were desperately pushing aside all the people in their way.

Duan Wanshan’s voice was getting lighter and lighter…

Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

The sound of frantic footsteps was finally getting closer. Duan Wanshan’s voice was fading into nothingness.

The door opened wide, and Lin Chen felt a lightness in his hands.

He turned his head towards the door and looked. Duan Yang’s face was blurred in his vision…

---

Kinky Thoughts:

The psalm that Duan Wanshan was quoting is Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. You can read the full sonnet by going to the Wikipedia.

The sonnet is ultimately about how beauty will eventually fade, as in nature, everything beautiful will decline due to nature’s course because it’s always changing. However, that beauty will be immortalized in the lines of the poem, as long as they are read.

I will leave it up to you how to interpret the poem in this chapter. My interpretation of it is that what Duan Wanshan is trying to convey is that, though he will die, Duan Yang won’t forget him as long as he remembers and thinks about him, just as when your loved ones die, they are not gone forever as long as they remain in your thoughts.

So don’t be too sad because of the parting.

Still, this chapter made me cry, nonetheless. Lin Chen and us readers really can’t catch a break, can we?

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 194

Lin Chen felt that he should have fainted because that would be in line with the logic of the movie.

But he was always sober; whether it was the appearance of Xing Conglian, the movement of hugging him, or even the sentence “it’s me”; he clearly experienced it.

Because he had to stay awake so that his dreamlike reunion wouldn’t be fleeting. He clung to the collar of the rough combat uniform of Xing Conglian tightly, watching the blood flow out from the other party’s shoulder. His ears were extremely quiet, filled with the background noise of various gunfire and explosions. All these details seemed to be stretched infinitely.

Xing Conglian hugged him tightly and jumped down the stairs. They flashed around the corner, dodging a bullet, and then continued to run. From beginning to end, Xing Conglian’s face was as stable as his arms. The bitter wind, broken bricks, and dust blew across his cheeks. They rushed out of the factory building as smoke and dust filled the sky. He didn’t remember how far they ran, but for a moment, the entire space trembled, as if someone had pressed the pause button and all substances were backlogged, then suddenly released.

Xing Conglian seemed to perceive this, or perhaps the countdown in his earpiece had reached its final moments.

He held onto Lin Chen tightly and then suddenly rushed behind a pile of bricks, completely shielding Lin Chen underneath his body. He even used his arm as a cushion for Lin Chen’s head and neck to prevent him from being injured.

Facing Xing Conglian, Lin Chen only heard him say in a gentle tone, “Don’t be afraid.”

Then came a deafening explosion. It was only at this moment that Lin Chen realized that when he was so close to the explosion site, the sound could be this loud; as if everything in the world was collapsing and the shockwave seemed to shatter all his flesh and blood. Lin Chen held onto Xing Conglian’s back tightly, feeling the force of the shockwave knocking over the pile of bricks that fell onto Xing Conglian. This only made him cling to him even tighter.

At no time did he believe more than at this moment that they could survive.

……

When the factory exploded, Kang An was performing his cover mission in the designated area.

The countdown sound in the headset kept ringing, and he wished he could sprout wings and rush over to catch the man who was running fast, but he could only stay where he was, constantly pulling the trigger.

The time was getting shorter, but the distance wasn’t too close. The countdown sound finally stopped. After a loud explosion, the factory building collapsed, and most of the floors were blown into the sky. The shockwave and smoke forced him to fall to the ground. It took a long time before he could gradually hear the anxious voices in the headset.

“I see no one. Kang An, quickly report!”

“Where’s the Boss?! Have you seen the Boss?!”

“Are they safe? Kang An, you dumbass, talk to me!”

The sharp voice of Wang Chao was about to pierce his eardrums. Kang An vomited blood and barely propped up his body as he looked at the misty ruins.

The brown-gray smoke and dust made him almost unable to open his eyes. He could only narrow his eyes into a squint. One minute passed, then two, then five…

There was dead silence in front of him, and even the anxious voice in the headset channel became silent. Kang An covered the blood flowing between his lips and teeth, shouted, and rushed forward frantically.

At this moment, he saw a tall figure in a daze, slowly penetrating out of the layers of smoke and dust, walking out of the restricted area of death.

After seeing the figure clearly, Kang An took two steps back and almost fell on his ass.

Xing Conglian looked at his subordinate, who had almost rushed in front of him, and said to everyone in the channel in a calm tone, “Okay, laozi is still alive. Continue your work.”

“Boss!”

“Boss, it’s fine if you’re okay, but is my A’Chen Gege okay too? Is it really A’Chen Gege?” Wang Chao’s voice of concern came through.

Xing Conglian lowered his head while Lin Chen’s face was covered in gray dust, but he still gazed at him with dark eyes. Xing Conglian held onto his collar tightly, as if he were afraid Lin Chen would disappear if he let go.

Xing Conglian answered Wang Chao at the end of the channel, “It’s him.”

However, his answer seemed to make Lin Chen guess something. He obviously saw Lin Chen frowning and asked him, in a hoarse voice that seemed to have not drank water for days, “Is Wang Chao here too?”

After darting behind a wall, Xing Conglian took a breath and realized that Lin Chen was clearly worried about Wang Chao’s safety. Xing Conglian didn’t know what to say, so he weighed the person in his arms, who was almost weightless. He spoke coldly. “Stop worrying about others. Everyone is better than you.”

But if it were Lin Chen, as long as he was alive, he would think about these things all the time. Next, he heard Lin Chen nervously say, “Did the helicopter take off yet?”

“No.”

“Can I trouble you to save someone else?”

This sentence made Xing Conglian extremely dissatisfied. First, Lin Chen’s tone was too polite, and second, he immediately thought that the person Lin Chen wanted him to save must be that young man he had just forced away.

Probably because Xing Conglian didn’t answer and he felt that he was asking too much at this time, Lin Chen’s eyes flickered as he added, “Please.”

At this time, a sniper bullet passed them and hit an ambush point in the right rear.

The bullet hit the wall and made a tooth-aching sound. Lin Chen closed his eyes abruptly. Xing Conglian put him down, put one arm around his shoulder, took out a light gun, and began to use the brick wall as a bunker to fight back. After a few gunshots, there was no sound of bullets any longer. Xing Conglian turned his head, and for some reason, he saw the black ring on Lin Chen’s left ring finger at first glance.

Xing Conglian felt that the most glaring scene he had ever seen in his life, apart from Huang Ze’s stupid forced kiss on Lin Chen, was the black ring on Lin Chen’s ring finger.

“Who gave it to you?” After he asked this, he said to the channel, “Kang An, go and save someone.” After he spoke, he took off the headset and stuffed it into Lin Chen’s ear as he picked him up and continued to retreat.

Lin Chen was obviously taken aback.

“Tell them who you want to save.” Xing Conglian’s gaze fell to the ring that Lin Chen was wearing as he heard Lin Chen say to the person on the other end of the headset in an extremely calm tone, “Chinese. Name is Duan Yang. About 185 cm, big eyes, short hair. He just went toward the helicopter landing pad. It hasn’t taken off yet. Something might have happened. Please confirm whether Duan Yang is alive or dead.”

It was really Lin Chen. He was always sober, no matter what the situation was. Xing Conglian continued to retreat with Lin Chen in his arms. The path ahead had been cleared. Except for the sporadic bullets, they didn’t encounter too many obstacles along the way.

The smoke and dust were still heavy. Xing Conglian held his breath, but he heard Lin Chen say a few words into the headset. It was nothing more than soothing sentences such as “I’m fine” and “I’ll be there soon”. It must be Wang Chao he was talking to.

Xing Conglian looked at the person in his arms with dissatisfaction. Finally, Lin Chen seemed to notice his dissatisfaction. Suddenly, he put his hands around his neck, leaned on his shoulders, and said weakly, “What did you say?”

Xing Conglian pursed his lips, as if concentrating on running, without saying a word.

Soon, the sound of water was clearly audible. The ferry was within reach. He could even see the uncontrollable excitement on Wang Chao’s face.

“I’m sorry.” Just before boarding the boat, he suddenly heard Lin Chen continue to speak softly on the side of his neck.

Xing Conglian’s expression condensed as he stepped into the cabin with Lin Chen in his arms.

The first floor of the ferry had long been occupied by the terrified Gaomeng people. Wang Chao had already rushed forward, as if he had thousands of words to say to them. Xing Conglian shot a deathly glare at the teenager before going straight to the second floor. He kicked open the captain’s quarters and slammed the door shut, locking the chattering teenager outside.

He took off the headset from Lin Chen’s ear and threw it out, then put him down on the bed. With just such a simple action, he could clearly see the painful expression on Lin Chen’s face.

Lin Chen was so weak that he could hardly speak. Xing Conglian leaned down and got close to Lin Chen. He could feel the other party’s hot breath falling on his face. Xing Conglian felt that this was too much like a line that would be said in a third-rate TV series, but he couldn’t help asking, “Do you know what you did wrong?”

Lin Chen barely opened his eyes, and after thinking about it, he replied in a serious tone, “It’s too dangerous. I shouldn’t have let your men risk their lives to save my friend, but…”

“Lin Chen.” Xing Conglian called the other party’s name solemnly. He did his best to suppress all his emotions of fear, worry, tension, and heartache from the past ten minutes. He looked at the sky obscured by smoke and then down at the person on the bed who had become so thin and deformed in just a few days. He reached from Lin Chen’s waist to his shoulder blade with one hand, carefully but tightly embracing him, and said, “These are all small things. First, don’t talk to me in a pleading tone. I would do anything for you. You should take it for granted. Second…” He took a deep breath and said calmly, “When you pushed that something—Duan Yang—out of the door and locked yourself in to wait for death, did you ever think about what I would do?”

Lin Chen choked for a moment. His eyes were red, and the tears that had stopped flowing flowed from the corner of his eyes to his hair. He looked at Xing Conglian blankly and finally said, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

As Xing Conglian looked at Lin Chen’s pale and bloodless face, the bloodstains caused by the abrasions on his face, and the tears rolling down Lin Chen’s soot-covered cheek, leaving a clear trail, he felt everything around him suddenly become quiet. All the smoke and gunshots seemed to freeze as Lin Chen hugged him tightly with both arms.

“Please think about one thing before you want to give up your life next time…” Xing Conglian kissed the hot skin on the side of his ear and said slowly, “What should I do if you die?”

Lin Chen instantly panicked. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know…”

Xing Conglian just hugged Lin Chen tightly, trying to make his heart beat slower to a less deadly speed. Neither of them spoke.

“Why did you lose so much weight?” he asked softly.

“Because I miss you.”

“Lin Chen.”

“Hmm?

“You’re really thin.”

“Well, it’s because I really missed you.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 193

There was a mess of noise coming from the headset. Xing Conglian didn’t have time to worry about whether it was a communication failure or something else. His brain was completely occupied by Lin Chen’s appearance, filled with countless possibilities that seemed like they would explode.

And one of the most terrifying possibilities was: If he couldn’t save Lin Chen, if Lin Chen had already sliced his neck with that blade, what should he do?

At that moment, Xing Conglian felt a fear he had never experienced in his life. He was as nervous as when he held a gun for the first time and killed someone. However, reality didn’t allow him to think about emotions or possibilities because he suddenly heard news from the headset.

“Boss, that’s a C4 explosive that detonates at a fixed time. It can’t be stopped.” In the headset, Ye Zhu’s voice held an imperceptible tremor.

“I understand.” Xing Conglian instantly regained his senses. He immediately put away his gun, ran downstairs, and said to the person on the other end of the headset in an extremely calm tone, “Zhao Hu, I’m going to T2 floor. Cover me.”

In the attic, the man who had just finished killing was folding his silk scarf. When he heard this, he almost tore the lilac silk scarf in his hand. “Boss, what’s the situation? Don’t take risks! Can you escape now if you rush over there?”

The same sound was transmitted simultaneously to several places where others were carrying out their missions.

Wang Chao was already sitting in the cabin, but Xing Conglian’s words made him stand up abruptly in shock.

There was a light screen in front of him, and there were changes in the 7 dots representing each person’s position. The red dot representing Xing Conglian really began to rapidly move towards the most dangerous area that was about to detonate. “Boss, calm down. What the hell happened? It’s over!”

The primeval forest, alarmed by the explosion and gunfire, began to tremble uneasily. Dark, cloud-like birds rushed to the sky, covering the sky.

Wang Chao looked at the factory area covered by a sky of smoke and dust in the distance. In his earphones, he heard the sound of wind, bricks, occasional gunshots, and the stable voice of Xing Conglian. “Lin Chen is in that building.”

In an instant, Wang Chao also experienced the feeling of having his heart stop after being electrified. After a moment of shock, he suddenly shouted, “How is this possible? This can’t be happening. Boss, don’t be impulsive!”

“He’s inside.”

The deep voice of Xing Conglian sounded like a cello playing in the darkness of night. Wang Chao instantly sobered up. He gripped the edge of the table tightly and tried to calm himself down, but how could he calm down? His muscles were tense and trembling all over. Why did this kind of thing happen?!

“Wang Chao, find someone to assist me. The others retreat according to the original plan.” Xing Conglian’s voice sounded again. Wang Chao didn’t know how his boss could still speak in such a firm tone in this situation. He took a deep breath and looked at the screen, saying word by word, “Kang An, maintain your current position. Move to T4 in 3 minutes and assist the Boss.”

……

The race against time was more exhausting than imagined.

A burst of gunfire sounded from the back of his head. Xing Conglian slammed down and rolled over a piece of rubble. The bullet caused a series of smoke and dust behind him, and a broken shrapnel slammed into his calf. In the case of extreme chaos, any small detail was enough to kill, but any attention to detail would slow him down.

“Zhao Hu!” Xing Conglian jumped up and continued to run.

“I’m sorry, Boss.” The gunman lying on the high-rise building pulled the trigger at an unprecedented speed. He didn’t even calculate the ballistics anymore and purely used instinct to kill all men in the space who dared to block the man running for life and death.

“Four minutes left.” Ye Zhu’s voice sounded again.

More and more Gaomeng people crowded into the ferry, causing the light ship to shake.

Wang Chao was still holding the corner of the table tightly. He was motionless, staring at the red dot on the light screen that was rushing towards the factory building that was about to explode without any tactical cover, wishing that time would slow down just a little, but he had long known that such physical phenomena in this world could never be shifted by human will. He could only watch and wait for the result.

After countless brushes with death, Xing Conglian finally came downstairs in the building. He was too calm to be calm any longer because he realized that it was also a good choice to die with Lin Chen. All the previous burning emotions were completely suppressed.

The entire factory area turned into cold, inorganic lines in his eyes. He knew very well the function of the factory that Lin Chen was in, which was the reason why he chose to blow it up in the end. Buried downstairs was enough explosives to blow up the factory building and kill all soldiers who tried to rescue it.

Sure enough, a small group of heavily armed Zaratul soldiers were trying to rush into the building.

Two of them had sharply turned their guns, but before they could pull the trigger, their foreheads had been pierced with blood holes.

Xing Conglian pulled the trigger. The gun fired bullets like whips, and the sound of flesh piercing suddenly sounded. At the same time, he was also hit on the shoulder by a bullet.

The intense secretion of adrenaline made him feel no pain. He finally reached the front of the building. Facing the corpses all over the floor, he looked up at the building with broken windows and rushed in without hesitation.

The floor plan of the factory building in the mining area quickly unfolded in his mind. He jumped to the last floor and found the laboratory at the end of the corridor, among the continuously extending lines.

“3 minutes.”

The countdown was broadcast again on the communication channel. No one spoke after.

Xing Conglian kicked the door open, and all he could see was darkness. With the faintly visible glass sliding door across his eyes, he raised his gun. Not giving a damn whether it was bulletproof or not, he pulled the trigger as he swept the muzzle from left to right.

The glass suddenly shattered, making a tooth grinding noise.

He rushed through the glass rain curtain, seeing an erratic mess of tables and chairs and collapsed experimental equipment. He calculated Lin Chen’s final position and kicked open a door.

Sunlight suddenly poured in. The group of monkeys roared, but the sounds and lights all disappeared. All he could see was the door at the end; the pure white wooden door with broken glass in its upper half.

……

Lin Chen was lying on the ground. The floor of the laboratory was a bit cold. Although the air conditioning had stopped, it was still cold.

He couldn’t help but curl up, thinking for a moment that he might be dead, but the feeling of being alive and dead was still different. At least it seemed like he could still think.

Of course, his thinking stopped completely as soon as he drove Duan Yang away. Now it had turned into a puddle of mud, everything about Xing Conglian once again filled all the corners of his mind.

Sometimes it was Xing Conglian who was smoking, sometimes it was Xing Conglian who was cleaning the room, and more often, it was Xing Conglian who was looking at him with his handsome face. His eyes were deep and calm, but he didn’t say a word. Those pictures glowed with some light; each frame was so clear that he could touch it, which made his fingers tremble slightly.

He always felt as if he were saying something to Xing Conglian. Maybe it was “I’m sorry” or “I love you”.

And until now, he had no time to think about whether Xing Conglian would accept his question when he came back.

It should still be possible.

He spent probably the most precious 30 seconds at the end of his life thinking about this question carefully and gave himself an answer as a form of self-comfort, thinking it was quite good.

But when he answered this question, the remaining questions followed.

—After Xing Conglian comes back, what will happen when he finds out about all this?

Although it was the best result to make Xing Conglian think he was missing and would never be found, given Xing Conglian’s personality, it was really possible he would follow all the clues to this abandoned mining area.

—So what if Xing Conglian finds his body?

For a moment, Lin Chen hoped that the ruins of this factory building would completely bury his body, so that the corrosion rate of the rainforest would quickly turn him into a pile of bones that no one would recognize. After Xing Conglian or Wang Chao found this place, he might not be found. Even if he were found, it wouldn’t be too sad.

He felt that he couldn’t imagine Xing Conglian being heartbroken. After all, in his concept, people like Xing Conglian shouldn’t be heartbroken, and he shouldn’t be the one who makes the other party heartbroken.

Lin Chen suddenly began to regret why he confessed his love at that time. If he hadn’t exposed these things, it might not have caused the person he loved so much pain.

Time couldn’t be turned back, and the decision made couldn’t be changed. Since he was a man, how could he be so irresponsible?

Although he was about to die, he suddenly discovered that he really didn’t want to die. He wanted to live.

If this world was really as <The Secret> said, then he wanted to live.

He braced himself against the ground, trying to stand up.

……

This was what Xing Conglian saw when he opened the pure white wooden door.

Although before that, he was even afraid of what would happen if Lin Chen wasn’t behind the door.

But the moment he saw the laboratory floor, all the scenes flooded in like a tide.

Lin Chen was curled up on the ground. His cheeks were slightly sunken, but his eyes were frighteningly large. His face, elbows, and all his exposed skin had abrasions of varying degrees, and shocking amounts of blood were dripping on the ground, but it wasn’t these wounds that worried Xing Conglian the most.

After seeing him, Lin Chen turned his head slightly and squinted his eyes. His out-of-focus eyes were full of doubts. He then let out a laugh. Xing Conglian clearly saw Lin Chen’s self-deprecating smile in his eyes, and his heart seemed to be tightly clenched by some external force.

He walked over step by step and squatted down, at a loss of how to pick Lin Chen up for a moment.

Suddenly, Lin Chen stretched out his hand and put it on his wrist. The temperature of the palm of his hand made him shudder. Xing Conglian slowly lowered his head and looked at the pale fingers resting on his wrist, like a struggling soul unwilling to enter hell, grasping its only lifeline.

The urging sound in the headset finally poured back into his ears.

“Boss, is it really A’Chen Gege?” Wang Chao asked.

“There are two minutes and thirty seconds left. Hurry up, Boss!” Ye Zhu let out a rare roar.

However, Xing Conglian’s movements were still slow. He held the back of Lin Chen’s neck with one hand while the other hand plunged into Lin Chen’s knee socket, holding the person in his arms with force. It was only at the moment he picked up Lin Chen that he felt the hot temperature of a soldering iron. How could a normal person have such a high body temperature?

At this moment, Lin Chen’s dark eyes, which had been staring at him, flickered slightly.

He heard Lin Chen ask in a hoarse voice, “Although it’s too much like a movie, am I dreaming?”

“It’s me.” Xing Conglian stood up while holding Lin Chen.

With just two words, he clearly saw Lin Chen’s eyes flushed and tears overflowed. As if to hide his sudden, fragile emotions, Lin Chen plunged his head into his chest. Xing Conglian couldn’t even tell whether the heat in his chest came from his emotions or Lin Chen’s tears.

He lowered his head and kissed the top of Lin Chen’s head. The smell of blood, dirt, salty sweat, and the clean and cold breath of Lin Chen’s mixed together, as if to soak into his soul.

He hugged Lin Chen tightly, turned around, kicked the monkey cage under his feet, and began to run out.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

This chapter is everything.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 192

In the Hummer, Zhang Long was driving the vehicle at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour on the potholed road in the Dana Rainforest. The primeval forests on both sides regressed, and even the chimpanzees with cubs came out to make trouble. Of course, he didn’t know that he thought there was a slight flaw in his very arrogant and perfect action, but he couldn’t be blamed for this incident.

Comrade Ye Zhu was sitting next to him. He had just crawled out of the chassis and was dozing off at the moment, with no intention of helping him be vigilant.

Except for the intimidating name, Ye Zhu* looked like an ordinary college student next door who was cultured and harmless. Only a few people knew his true nature. Zhang Long dared to have Zaratul’s subordinates call him “dad”, but he didn’t dare wake up the person sitting next to him.

*His name translated is Wild Boar.

At this moment, the communicator sounded.

Ye Zhu opened his eyes gently with a clear expression as if he had never fallen asleep. “Boss.”

“Ship?”

“There are still 50 minutes until it docks.”

“Where are the goods?”

Ye Zhu glanced at the towering forest in front of him and said solemnly, “It’ll be delivered soon.”

He didn’t know what Xing Conglian said at the other end, but Ye Zhu looked like usual, and at the end he said, “Roger that.”

Zhang Long said nervously, “How did Zaratul anger the Boss? This is simply a dragon’s wrath!”

Ye Zhu only said two words, “Shut up.”

……

Xing Conglian released the fingers pressing the headset and stood on the highest point of the whole building with a stiff waist.

In the alleyway of the dilapidated factory building outside the window, Zaratul’s soldiers started a new day of aimless vigilance. The soldiers behind the bunker began to smoke habitually. The curling smoke rose with the wind, mixed with the laughter and discussion about the dead woman yesterday.

Bullets could fall from the sky at any moment and hit their foreheads, but these soldiers didn’t seem aware of it at all. This was also normal. In the area controlled by Zaratul, no one would dare to snipe.

Xing Conglian’s cold gaze swept across the main warehouse, and finally landed on the power plant of the mine.

Behind him, Zhao Hu was installing a military sniper rifle with a gentle touch that felt like he was caressing a woman. The sniper took out a 12x scope from his backpack and carefully wiped the gun barrel with a lavender-embroidered silk scarf from his pocket before quickly installing the scope with a decisive hand. Then he continued to wipe the gun barrel with the same silk scarf.

Xing Conglian frowned but didn’t say much.

In the underground space under the mine, where he couldn’t even see his fingers, Kang An, with a bruised nose and a swollen face, was sneaking towards the designated location carrying C4 plastic explosives “smuggled” in by Comrade Zhao Hu. How to escort hundreds of people to migrate with a 7-member team may be a headache for ordinary commanders, but similar actions weren’t unfamiliar to him. In the depths of the rainforest, where there was little interference from external armed forces, directly destroying the target force was obviously the most straightforward way.

He bit the flashlight, unscrewed the screws at the mouth of the lower pipe with a light technique, quickly climbed out, took out a hand-drawn sketch from his pocket, and installed it on the marked load-bearing wall according to the instructions of the explosives expert who was currently on the way.

At this moment, there was a slight commotion in the communication channel.

……

The sniper was still wiping the body of the gun as Xing Conglian held down the headset. He heard Xiao Wu’s voice coming from it, and the background sound was filled with the low-pitched yells of the Gaomeng people.

“Boss, I think the people of the rainforest haven’t seen the sun all year round, so their brains are really muddled.” The sniper looked up at him.

Xing Conglian retracted his gaze, turned around, and left.

In the factory space covered with colorful clothes, Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu, who were distributing weapons, had a dispute with the Gaomeng people.

The sturdy and muscular rainforest warriors glared at them, trying to ask Xiao Wu for an M16 rifle with a C-MORE light shotgun system. Comrade Xiao Wu, who had established friendship with the rainforest people, didn’t know how to solve this problem.

After seeing Xing Conglian’s figure appear, Xiao Wu snatched the gun and aimed it at the muscular man who had taken the gun. Behind that man stood seven or eight of the most combat-effective Gaomeng people; tall rainforest warriors standing in a row like stout trees.

“They killed our people!”

“We are going to take revenge!”

“Please let us charge in!”

The Gaomeng people were all talking at once, and because they had been exposed to the wind and rain for several days, their voices weren’t as loud as they had shouted.

Xing Conglian’s calm gaze swept across the faces of those who were carried away by hatred.

“Oh, here,” Xing Conglian said.

“Boss!”

“The M16 rifle without the shotgun system is worth $5,000 USD. Counting the complete set of accessories, you’ll be charged $30,000 USD, which is a cheap price. Do you have the money?” Xing Conglian asked lightly.

“We can repay with our lives!” the Gaomeng people said.

Xing Conglian thought it was funny, so he laughed. His thin lips curled a little. “Is your rotten life worth so much money?”

The Gaomeng people became enraged again. They clenched their fists as if they were going to fight their opponents with their bare hands.

The next moment, a Gaomeng man with an ivory pendant that was covered in blood fell to his knees. He raised his head and said to Xing Conglian, “My wife was raped and killed by them downstairs in this building yesterday. Please allow me to avenge my wife.”

Another Gaomeng man raised his pendant to his chest, revealing the photo of a little boy embedded in the pendant. “My child too. Please allow me to avenge him.”

Xing Conglian’s gaze was still cold and hard. He glanced at the riled-up Gaomeng people and said, “After walking out of this building, it will be a combat zone. If you don’t listen to my command, you will be killed.” Speaking in Gaomengnese, Xing Conglian said to the rainforest warriors, “I don’t think there’s any point in reasoning with you. If you believe that killing a few Zaratul people is more important than protecting your own people and leaving safely, then I respect your choice.”

……

The long, gentle wind blew through the primeval forest, causing the tips of every leaf to tremble.

The commotion started suddenly without warning. The shockwave caused by the explosion made the entire land tremble.

At that time, Duan Yang was pretending to pack up the laboratory while the masked man—ah, no—the Chinese named Lu Jia had just transferred a helicopter through security to send them off. Through Lu Jia’s example, Duan Yang deeply understood the importance of eloquence and acting skills.

He inserted the last test tube into the test tube holder and looked at the laboratory floor worriedly.

Lin Chen was curled up in the most sheltered corner of the entire laboratory. The turquoise blood vessels under his neck were vaguely visible. He was so weak that it seemed he could be crushed by just a pinch of snow.

Earlier, Lin Chen suddenly fell to the ground. After Duan Yang checked, he found that the high fever had finally put Lin Chen in a semi-comatose state. He was burning up like a soldering iron. Given Lin Chen’s situation, Duan Yang forced Lu Jia to change to a vehicle that could leave as soon as possible and demanded that Lu Jia find a helicopter. For this, they waited another forty minutes. While Lu Jia made a phone call in Gaomengnese that they didn’t understand, Duan Yang couldn’t help but admire Lin Chen’s meticulous thinking. If they hadn’t grasped Lu Jia’s weakness, just a simple phone call in Gaomengnese might have pushed them into hell.

However, just after Lu Jia hung up the phone, an explosion sounded. Duan Yang squatted down and pushed Lin Chen into the space under the experimental table. Just as he followed in, an incandescent lamp brushed past his back and crashed into the floor. The broken lamp tubes and powder made the floor a mess.

Not far away, the masked man hid under the table in distress.

In a short period of two or three seconds, there was only the stern roars of the rhesus monkeys in the entire space.

……

The people in the laboratory weren’t the only ones who were at a loss due to the explosion.

The Zaratul army, which was guarding the gate of the mining area from afar, was also subconsciously looking for a bunker to hide in. Then they started looking for the source of the explosion. When they turned on the communication channel, there was a chaotic buzzing sound, making it impossible for them to contact each other.

Even though Zaratul’s subordinates fought against primitive tribes in the rainforest year-round, it took a while to realize the problem of electromagnetic interference. In the area visible to the naked eye, the power plant building of the mine had been razed to the ground, and the broken bricks and soot rising into the sky had created a perfect smoke bomb. Beside the power plant building, two unprepared barracks were also riddled with holes.

Soldiers with blood on their faces crawled out of the barracks while more people were buried in them.

At this moment, a plume of smoke and dust also appeared on the road facing the door. The soldiers on the watchtower had just been stunned. Before they could accurately report the target, they were hit precisely by eight sniper bullets. The silver bullets made a beautiful arc mixed with red and white plasma as the soldier fell straight down while pulling the tarpaulin covering the machine gun down with him.

At a certain window on the upper floor, the sniper took out a lilac silk scarf from his pocket and kissed the scarf, signifying the successful completion of his first kill.

The modified Hummer crashed straight into the gate of the mines. Zaratul’s subordinates raised their rifles and began to fire back. No one expected that the driver of the Hummer wouldn’t slow down but would blatantly slam against the gate, moving at a fearless speed.

The iron gate suddenly opened, and at the same time the roof of the Hummer opened as well. A most primitive and reliable M2 machine gun poked out its life-harvesting head.

The man who manipulated the machine gun wasn’t one of those beefy machine gunners but a slim, svelte young man. His face was pale and wooden, but he didn’t hesitate to pull the heavy trigger of the M2 machine gun. As a classic weapon used for robbery during World War I, the M2 machine gun was commonly used to attack lightly armored targets and low-altitude air defense, and its killing power was evident.

Accompanied by deafening gunfire, a long steel whip quickly swept out from the muzzle of the machine gun, and flames and bullets hit all the surrounding moving targets. The M16 rifle was utterly useless under such heavy firepower suppression, and even the dilapidated factory building that was swept by the machine gun’s tail was instantly missing a corner and had a tendency to collapse.

Soon, the soldiers at the gate were cleaned up. The remaining soldiers hiding in the bunker looked up at the sky and prayed that the follow-up force wouldn’t be too terrifying.

No one expected that there would only be two men in a Hummer that brazenly challenged the Zaratul drug factory.

What was even more unexpected was that a light ferry with an Angodo Republic tourist company license plate and a capacity of 1,000 people quietly entered the mining area like a ghost.

On the light screen that displayed the location, the ferry entered the designated area. Ye Zhu released the trigger and, taking advantage of the gap, whispered into the communicator, “Area A1 cleared.”

……

The Gaomeng tribe, which had been besieged for many days, finally stepped out of the crumbling machine repair factory.

The rainforest warriors, armed with shotguns, rushed to the front. Zaratul’s subordinates hiding behind the sandbag bunker never dreamed that those Gaomeng people, whom they had been teasing like mice for many days, really dared to rush out of the factory and fight them to the death.

The fierce firepower collided with each other. Two rainforest warriors instantly fell. At the same time, ghostly sniper bullets shot from the sky again, and two Zaratul machine gunners with heavy weapons were instantly killed.

The Hummer had already rushed to the gate of the factory. The suppressed firepower of the M2 made Zaratul soldiers behind the sandbag bunker extremely suffocated. What was even more unexpected was that the bullets of the M2 machine gun easily penetrated the fragile bunker. Flowers of blood splashed on the sandbag.

More Gaomeng people poured out of the factory building. In the chaos, someone picked up an ivory pendant on the ground and gently closed the eyes of a dead warrior.

……

A second explosion sounded, and the earliest gravel factory in the mine fell, instantly blocking the remnants of Zaratul’s troops who wanted to pursue the Gaomeng people.

In the laboratory, where the power supply had been cut off, the successive explosions and deafening bullets caused everyone to fall into an extreme panic.

Duan Yang hid under the laboratory table and shivered slightly. He couldn’t see Lin Chen’s face clearly, but a hot hand kept holding his wrist tightly, as if relieved, causing Duan Yang to calm down.

This area wasn’t within the range of the electromagnetic interference. In the dark space, suddenly there was the passionate sound of a phone beeping. Lu Jia hurriedly connected the phone. On the other end of the line, a helicopter operator was roaring. The saying “where there’s a will, there’s a way” probably referred to such a situation. The C4 explosives installed by Kang An were gradually leveling the entire mining area, but miraculously, the helicopter landing site was preserved and intact.

What was even more fortunate was that Xing Conglian didn’t immediately order the launch of two smart bombs to destroy it since he saw through his binoculars that it wasn’t equipped with any ammunition compartment.

The light ferry docked at the pier.

Most of the soldiers stationed at the pier had already rushed to the front line to provide support, and the remaining sporadic soldiers who tried to attack the ferry with rocket launchers were mysteriously killed by a machine gun out of nowhere.

The heavy-firepower Hummer had cleared the way ahead, and the first batch of Gaomeng people ran frantically, arriving at the pier.

The captain of the ferry, named Bao Feng, had a full beard. He gently tidied up his suit and bowtie and walked politely to the deck to greet his guests.

The hatch opened.

……

In the laboratory, Lu Jia hung up the phone. The ceramic mask on his face had at some point fallen off. He hid under the laboratory table and shouted, “The helicopter is coming! Let’s go!”

The tooth-aching sound of bullets outside the window finally stopped temporarily.

Lin Chen’s slightly calm voice sounded. “Duan Yang, will I still have 12 hours if there’s no medicine?”

The young doctor looked stiff and said angrily, “What are you worrying about? Of course you do. Am I the doctor or you?”

“I understand.” Lin Chen smiled slightly, nodded, and released his hand from his wrist. “Go and assess the situation first.”

Duan Yang nodded. He plucked up the courage, crawled out from under the experiment table, and cautiously opened the door to the monkey room. The monkey cages had collapsed everywhere, and the screams of the rhesus monkeys almost pierced his eardrums.

Duan Yang stumbled and used a little glimmer of light from behind the curtains to figure out a way to the outside. His hands were constantly scratched by the monkeys’ sharp claws that were sticking out of the cages, but he didn’t make any cries of pain.

……

In the alleyway, a small group of Zaratul soldiers cut in from the rear, and bursts of machine gun fire quickly hit them at the end.

“Go ahead and leave me alone.”

Xing Conglian stood at the end of the migrating crowd. He said something briefly into the communicator, left the end of the team, and flashed into the factory building.

The police captain, armed with a gun, quickly climbed up to the fourth floor. Looking through a scope, a large number of Gaomeng people were still gritting their teeth as they ran hard. The depression in the middle of the group came from a pair of pure white stretchers. On the stretcher, Duan Wanshan’s eyes were closed, completely unaware of his surroundings.

Xing Conglian retracted the muzzle of the gun and pointed it at the Zaratul soldiers, who were gradually approaching the large group.

……

Duan Yang pulled down the curtains hanging horizontally on the wall of the monkey room letting the sunlight spill in, causing him to cover his eyes.

He looked back at the laboratory. Lu Jia had already followed him out of the innermost room, but Lin Chen’s figure didn’t appear.

Duan Yang rushed back again.

The sunlight from the monkey room caused a faint light to appear in the innermost part of the lab. Lin Chen was leaning against an experimental bench as the dim light cast a layer of blue-gray on his face.

Duan Yang tried to pull him up, but Lin Chen put his hand on his wrist and shook his head.

Although Lin Chen didn’t say a word, Duan Yang instantly understood what the consultant meant.

“No. Impossible!”

Lin Chen’s gaze was still clear and firm. There was a trace of tenderness in his eyes that made him immediately relax, as if agreeing to his request.

Duan Yang stopped talking nonsense. He carried Lin Chen on his back and was about to run outside.

Lin Chen suddenly said, “Are you asking me to be a target on your back?”

Duan Yang stood in place, panicking, as Lin Chen slipped off him.

Mr. Consultant supported himself on a lab bench and couldn’t even stand, but still said, “Help me walk out.”

Regarding Lin Chen’s sudden and willful request, Duan Yang didn’t doubt him. He could only hug Lin Chen’s armpit and drag him out.

When he was about to step through the door, Lin Chen suddenly coughed violently, bending his body. He said in pain, “Wait a minute. You pressed my wound.”

Duan Yang hurriedly let go. At the moment he let go of his hand, Lin Chen somehow mustered up enough strength to push him outside and quickly slammed the wooden door of the lab as quick as lightning.

Duan Yang fell heavily to the ground as the rhesus monkey near him screamed.

He climbed up desperately. He didn’t know what was wrong with Lin Chen, but he clenched his fist without hesitation, trying to punch and shatter the glass upper part of the wooden door.

Lin Chen’s weak figure was crumbling at the door. Looking at the calm face of this young man who wasn’t even a few years older than him, Duan Yang couldn’t help shouting, “Motherfucker. Don’t say you’ll drag me down. Let’s go together!”

Lin Chen had already calculated Duan Yang’s thoughts. He stood with difficulty, holding the wooden door. In his other hand, a cold glint from a scalpel appeared at some point. He easily pressed the scalpel to his neck.

“What are you doing?!”

Duan Yang’s tears flowed instantly.

With a second punch, the glass suddenly shattered. Lin Chen took a half step back and fell to the ground, but still held the scalpel firmly in place. He calmly said, “First, if you take me with you, you won’t reach the helicopter smoothly under the hail of bullets.”

“Second, I just discovered that the sound of the explosion from the factory is gradually coming towards the building we’re in. I briefly estimated the detonation time, and the building where we are will be blown up in about five minutes. With me, you’ll never be able to escape the explosion range in such a short period of time. There’s even a greater possibility you’ll be killed by someone. Be mature. Live and avenge me.” He blinked as he said solemnly, “I’ll count to three. Get out, now.”

……

Xing Conglian, who was in charge of covering the retreat, stood tall on the fourth floor of the factory building. He killed the last soldier in sight and prepared to evacuate.

He pulled the wooden table away and used the scope to lightly draw an arc, trying to confirm that all the targets had been cleared. It was this tiny arc that made his heart beat to its highest speed in an instant. All his blood rushed to his heart in such a short time that his limbs fell into extreme cold numbness, which made him feel as if his soul had popped out of his body.

He saw Lin Chen. Why the hell did he see Lin Chen?

Lin Chen was bent over and coughing. He had pushed away the man next to him and was leaning against the wooden door as he held a blade at his neck, as if he were talking to the person outside the door…

Xing Conglian thought it was an illusion after thinking about him day and night, so he bit the tip of his tongue hard to wake himself up. Lin Chen’s figure was gone. The young man gritted his teeth, turned his head, and left with tears streaming down his face, leaving only broken glass behind.

Xing Conglian felt that he was trembling all over. He pulled his collar and pointed the microphone at him as he tremblingly said, “Stop the detonation. Stop all the detonations. Stop the fucking detonation. Do you hear me!!!”

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 191

Wang Chao thought it was a good thing his boss suddenly realized and took the initiative to see his A’Chen Gege.

In line with the principle of respecting the privacy of adults, Comrade Xiao Wang turned on the 360-degree surveillance cameras in their home without any blind spots, and he even thoughtfully chose a location near the bathroom. He thought he understood this very well.

Unfortunately, when the picture appeared, he thought the surveillance at home was broken, because no matter how he adjusted the timeline, no one had ever entered or left the bathroom. What was more terrifying was that the corridor light in front of the bathroom was never turned on. He swallowed, turned his head cautiously, and said, “Boss, it may be that something big happened. Either A’Chen Gege is living at the police station or he doesn’t like to shower!”

God knew how he came up with such a reason as not liking showering, but Xing Conglian’s face turned ugly.

He instantly pulled up the shot of the foyer on the screen. No one, no one, no one…

As the timeline rewound, the final scene captured by the hallway surveillance camera was actually the footage of A’Chen Gege leaving the house on the night when that dumbass Huang Ze came to their home.

Thinking back to the passionate scene he witnessed that day, Wang Chao’s mind was in turmoil. He hoped that Huang Ze, that idiot, wouldn’t play any tricks like “if I can’t have you, no one can,” and after running through countless scenarios of imprisonment in his mind, Wang Chao’s body was electrified.

Xing Conglian still didn’t speak. When Wang Chao looked back, his boss’ face was so cold that it could freeze the entire rainforest.

He trembled and said, “Boss, take a deep breath first. Things may not be what you think!”

Xing Conglian stretched out his hand and pointed to Lin Chen’s hand on the screen. “Zoom in here.”

Wang Chao followed his orders. There were almost no clues from the picture, but it was faintly visible that the gauze on Lin Chen’s palm seemed to be bleeding.

“What’s the matter, Boss?”

“He went out to bandage his wound.”

“And then didn’t come back?”

When Wang Chao said this, he regretted it. When he mentioned the words “didn’t come back”, he felt like he had fallen into a freezer. If he knew that A’Chen Gege would disappear, then the Dana Rainforest was nothing. His boss would probably tie A’Chen Gege to his belt even if he went to Mars.

“Do you need me to check the surveillance at the entrance of the alley that day?” he asked worriedly.

“No need.” There was no discernible emotion in Xing Conglian’s tone. “Just check the missing persons record.”

Wang Chao’s heart trembled as it overflowed with a bad premonition that he couldn’t press the keyboard. “Boss…”

“If you’re asked to check, then check it.”

Wang Chao nodded and opened the database. He entered the name and pressed the Enter key tremblingly. The progress bar quickly ended. In the list of missing persons, Lin Chen’s name suddenly appeared. His photo was still the same as when he joined the police force. In a white shirt with a blue background, his face was calm, as if it were just yesterday.

Wang Chao choked so much that he couldn’t speak.

“Huang Ze, Meijing, and Xiang Ye; he has offended so many people. It’s my fault for being too careless,” Xing Conglian said indifferently.

Although there wasn’t much emotion in his boss’ tone, Wang Chao had been with Xing Conglian for so many years that he instantly sensed a deep regret in the tone. In short, his boss had always been in control of the overall situation, so regret seemed like the kind of thing that was impossible for him.

Wang Chao turned around, but he didn’t know how to comfort him.

However, to his surprise, his boss took out his phone and called the police station.

On the other end of the line.

Comrade Zhang Xiaolong hadn’t closed her eyes for three days and nights. With Wang Chao absent, they lacked the main force for checking electronic materials, so even she was dragged to watch videos. However, no matter how hard they tried, the minivan disappeared on an unmonitored path like a ghost. So many days had passed that Consultant Lin could be tied up in any corner of the world. According to the on-site investigation, the kidnapper’s methods were so professional that Zhang Xiaolong couldn’t help but think of a bad outcome.

Therefore, when her phone vibrated and the caller ID flashed, she thought she was seeing things that were caused by a few days of sleeplessness.

She picked up the phone tremblingly and heard Captain Xing’s low, hoarse voice coming from the other end.

“Lin Chen is missing?” Was the first thing that Xing Conglian said.

“Xing… Captain…” The police officer shuddered and instantly raised her voice. “Where have you been?!” As she said this, tears flowed out involuntarily.

“On some other official duties. Tell me what happened and send the relevant materials to Wang Chao.” The voice on the other end of the phone was so calm and crisp that she thought she was talking to some robot. But it was probably because the voice on the other end of the line was emotionless that it allowed her to gradually calm down. She talked intermittently for a while, mentioning the weird appointment letter and the staff at the pet hospital who disappeared together with Lin Chen, and finally, there was only the sound of even breathing coming from the other end of the line.

“That’s probably it,” she said.

“I see. Thank you, and I’m sorry.”

Xing Conglian hung up the phone.

Wang Chao had received the relevant materials from the police officer. The police in Hongjing had launched a search force that spanned two provinces, but to no avail. They were far away in Dana, so how could they find clues so quickly?

Xing Conglian was so anxious that he watched the surveillance video outside the pet shop over and over again, but he could only watch Lin Chen’s bound hands in the dark night and the moment he was pushed into the rain curtain. The heavy rain was pouring as Lin Chen’s thin figure disappeared at the end of the alley.

Wang Chao’s eyes were red. He turned his head and saw that his boss had been staring at the screen with a cold expression. His dark green eyes were solemn, but he couldn’t perceive any emotions at all.

“Boss, what shall we do?” Wang Chao rubbed his nose as he asked.

“Let Zhang Long bring twice as many bombs and have him show up before 9 tomorrow. Tell him don’t come if he’s late.”

After he finished speaking, Xing Conglian turned and walked into Dr. Duan’s cabin.

At that time, Kang An and Xiao Wu were walking in from outside. Wang Chao rubbed his eyes and tried to hide his emotions.

“Xiao Wang Chao, why are you crying? Where’s the boss?” Kang An asked carelessly.

Wang Chao looked up and saw the obliviously happy and relaxed face of Kang An, and punched it.

……

Xing Conglian was standing in the hut.

The moon was still clear and cold. Duan Wanshan was asleep on the haystack. Probably because the runned-down room in this dilapidated factory was too quiet, he always felt like the words he had just said to Duan Wanshan seemed to be floating in his ears.

All that “I’ve met someone with determination and perseverance, who even dares to pursue their love” speech now seemed like boastful words coming from a fool.

Xing Conglian clenched his fists and punched the wall.

Powder puffed out, and the noise outside the cabin rose. Xing Conglian was standing by the window. Not far away was the afterimage of the yellow searchlight column sweeping across Zaratul’s camp, and farther away was the eternal night in the rainforest.

Like some slow silent movie, Lin Chen’s thin figure was finally pushed into the rain curtain. He was blindfolded, but he still raised his head and looked around blankly, as if looking for someone.

Xing Conglian unclasped his fists. Originally, he thought that a lifetime was ample time, but now it seemed that things were quite tense.

He was thinking that if the “sorry” he had said to Lin Chen in the square at that time would be the last thing he said to Lin Chen in this life, then how should he live his life in the future?

Thinking about it, he couldn’t imagine that scenario. With no Lin Chen at home on the balcony drinking tea, no Lin Chen in the police station in front of the desk reading documents, and no Lin Chen to go out together to eat breakfast, there was no one to lead the way, which made life dark and meaningless.

He finally understood why Duan Wanshan was so indifferent to death… because there was no point in living.

Xing Conglian glanced at the calm face of Duan Wanshan, who was lying on the haystack after letting go of everything, and walked out.

Wang Chao was pressing on Kang An’s body as he beat him fiercely, while Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu only dared to stand by and watch.

Naturally, with Kang An’s strength, he could easily control Wang Chao, but he only dared to cover his head, afraid that Wang Chao would punch the ground and injure himself even if he dodged.

Looking at the two people on the ground, Xing Conglian said lightly, “Get up.”

Wang Chao’s eyes weren’t the only thing that became red due to excitement and anger; his whole face turned red.

“Boss.” The young teenager lowered his head slightly, and a tear hung on his lower eyelashes. Xing Conglian stretched out his hand, patted him on the head, and said calmly, “After tomorrow, we’ll go back.”

“Is something wrong, Boss?” Xiao Wu asked anxiously.

“It has nothing to do with you,” Xing Conglian said.

……

7 a.m.

Lin Chen slept soundly, but Xing Conglian stayed up all night. The Gaomeng people who were preparing for the great escape were already making final preparations. Wooden boards secured the broken bones of the wounded, and everyone had divided all the remaining food.

Xing Conglian and his former subordinates had their own independent space.

The police captain’s side face was chiseled and covered with growing stubble. His gaze was cold enough to drop ice chips. While everyone in the room was still asleep, he folded up the mine terrain map and the communicator’s red light flashed.

At the same time, a ghostly figure appeared on the banks of the Dana River.

Because the dense branches and leaves blocked most of the light, it was almost impossible to see the face of the person. Only a lean figure could be seen quickly taking off their coat, revealing the matte custom wetsuit inside.

The figure squatted down but didn’t go into the water. Instead, they carefully folded the clothes that had just fallen on the soil and even their socks meticulously. Finally, they carefully stuffed all their clothes into a waterproof bag, looked excitedly at the humid and dark sky of the rainforest, then jumped into the dark Dana River.

……

Langli Bay was located on a tributary of the Dana River. A reinforced concrete and steel bridge built by the French in 1912 spanned the river. The bridge was primarily built to facilitate the transportation of precious wood species and rare metals from the depths of the rainforest. However, control over Langli Bay changed hands several times. Eventually, the rising rainforest overlord, King Zaratul, managed to gain control over Langli Bay Bridge, thus controlling the transportation hub leading deeper into the rainforest.

10 minutes past 7.

The air was filled with the fishy smell unique to the rainforest. Even the rough river water under the bridge couldn’t blow away the stagnant smell.

The soldiers on bridge guard duty began to wait for the shift change as usual. To be honest, although the rainforest was remote, the equipment of the Zaratul Tribe wasn’t too bad. At least in the Dana Region, where second-hand Polish AKs had become standard, the weapons owned by King Zaratul, who acted as a proxy for a great power and had not rusted, were enough to make him dominate this area.

15 minutes past 7.

There was still a quarter of an hour before it was time to change shifts. The soldiers, who had been standing for three hours, had reached their most sleepy moment. One was physical hardship, while the other was psychological slack. After all, in the Dana Region, no one had dared rush into King Zaratul’s military facilities for many years.

The people waiting to cross the bridge had already formed a short queue, when a modified military Hummer attracted the attention of the soldiers guarding the bridge.

There was a cocky young man wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses sitting in the driver’s seat. The seasoned soldier recognized the watch on the young man’s hand as a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, which was extremely valuable and the most important hard currency. Several soldiers guarding the bridge looked at each other and quickly let the refugees blocked in front of them pass through the bridge and onto the iron fence before stopping the Hummer.

The young man driving the car was still cocky. His short hair was fixed upright with hairspray. Facing a dozen AKs, he didn’t lift his head. The first thing he said turned out to be foul-mouthed. “Fuck!”

The soldiers guarding the bridge were scolded in a daze. How could anyone come to Dana dare be so arrogant?

The arrogant young man wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses in the driver’s seat was very casual when faced with the cold barrel of a gun. He lifted his sunglasses over his head and pulled out a pass from the partition, along with some US dollar bills that were also tucked in the partition, which scattered on the ground. The young man impatiently waved away the bills in front of the car and spoke in broken Dana language, “Idiot, have you heard of Anda Mining? Your boss wants to ask my dad to buy biomineral mining technology. Get the hell out of laozi’s way.”

The words “Anda Mining” and “biological mining technology” were like a foreign language to ordinary bridge guards, but it seemed that this was a prince of a certain company that had business dealings with Zaratul. Someone took the pass and immediately reported it to check the identity.

The quick-eye soldier had already opened the car door and retrieved two shiny guns from the trunk. The streamlined gun god and the black, cool gun body made the soldier holding the gun handle cheer happily.

“Poor bastards. Never seen a gun before?” The young man cursed.

The soldier in charge of verification quickly returned, and the excitement of catching a fat sheep was no longer there. He returned the pass and then saluted in an informal manner.

The young man flipped his middle finger to all the black guards guarding the bridge and honked the horn to signal them to open the iron gate.

As the young man stepped on the gas, just before the modified Hummer passed the checkpoint, for some unknown reason, the arrogant prince in the car had a thought, and he grabbed the stack of US bills on the dashboard and threw them out of the window.

“Kneel and call me Dad!” the young man shouted in Chinese.

The picture finally ended with the arrogant laughter of the young man and the smoke and dust rushing out of the exhaust pipe.

So much so that no one noticed that, while all the soldiers were scrambling for the money, a small and inconspicuous directional mine flew out from under the Hummer’s chassis, as if remotely controlled, skimmed across the bridge deck, and closely stuck to the pier.

……

When Xing Conglian saw his neatly dressed subordinate, he was sitting next to Duan Wanshan.

A few minutes ago, the Gaomeng people on night watch reported the news that Duan Wanshan refused to evacuate together.

Sitting next to the doctor, Xing Conglian was no longer as irritable as before and was extremely arrogant and cold. He stopped talking nonsense, took out a pistol from his pocket, loaded it, and pointed at the Gaomeng man in front of him as he said to the doctor, who was more concerned with the Gaomeng peoples safety than helping them, “I know you have many reasons not to want to be a burden to us, but I also have a reason to try to get you out alive. Cooperate well. Otherwise, none of the Gaomeng people here will leave alive.”

Perhaps it was because Xing Conglian’s attitude was so resolute that it was like hardened steel. Even Duan Wanshan, who was about to die, was also aroused with a trace of bloodlust. “I understand.” The doctor nodded hard.

Comrade Zhao Hu had pushed open the door and entered the room in this situation. He saw his boss holding a gun, his eyes full of murderous intent. The first thing he said was, “Boss, whoever you want us to take care of, we’ll take care of them!”

Xing Conglian put down his gun and looked at the equipment on Zhao Hu’s back and said lightly, “I didn’t ask you to come here to talk. Follow me.”

……

Duan Yang got up early. At 5 in the morning, he had already gotten up. The lights weren’t turned on in the lab, so it was still dim. He washed his face with cold water. After checking Lin Chen’s condition, he began the final preparations before their kidnapping operation.

Inside the dissecting room, he turned his back to the surveillance and took out plasma extracted from the body of the rhesus monkey he killed yesterday. Just like the chicken and duck blood cubes in the market, he added sodium chloride to the plasma, which made the blood of the rhesus monkey coagulated into clots. Duan Yang carefully crushed it with force, turning it into a disgusting semi-solid state. He drew a tube of it with a syringe, attached the needle, and remained calm, as if he were conducting the most ordinary scientific experiment.

After doing all this, he began to pretend to be busy. When it was five minutes short of eight, the outermost door opened, and a thin white figure slowly passed through the dense monkey cage. The unlucky monkeys were frightened, causing them to yell.

When the last door opened, Lin Chen groaned in pain before waking up.

The weirdo wearing the porcelain-white mask stood in front of them.

After Lin Chen’s analysis yesterday, Duan Yang suddenly felt that the weirdo, who looked like he could eat human blood raw, was just an unorthodox cheat.

“How’s the progress?” the inorganic electronic voice rang out.

“Because you haven’t seen a real psychopath, the truly terrifying people are always those who seem harmless.”

Duan Yang meditated on what Lin Chen had said to him. According to the original plan, he said to the masked man, “I need to see a paper to study a new purification method.”

He pointed his finger at the computer in the corner of the lab and asked, “Can I use the computer?”

Although he couldn’t see the masked man’s expression clearly, he still sensed that the other party was looking at him up and down with hesitant eyes.

“This is important. No researcher’s work should be conducted without consulting relevant literature,” Duan Yang emphasized.

Finally, the masked man nodded and walked to the computer desk in the corner. “Tell me what you want me to check.”

Duan Yang hung his hand to his side, followed the masked man, and stood with his back to the surveillance.

“Close your eyes!” The masked man sitting in front of the computer said coldly.

Duan Yang turned around as he spoke, and after hearing six simple keyboard tapping sounds, Duan Yang turned his head and put his hand on the masked man lightly.

The masked man trembled suddenly, and a chill ran down his spine to the back of his head. Just as he wanted to move, he felt a needle about to pierce his skin.

The idiot young man, whom he didn’t even want to look at before, was now speaking to him in a very cold and heartless tone. “Don’t move. In fact, the coldness you feel on your back is from a needle.”

The young man paused, then continued to calmly say, “The needle is a disposable product in the lab, but the contents inside are quite special. I guarantee that as soon as you show any reaction to being kidnapped or shout for help, the contents of the needle will be injected into your body within one-tenth of a second. Of course, you’re probably asking, what’s so terrible inside? I can only say, Mr. Masked Weirdo, have you ever heard of Ebola*?”

*A viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infection. The first symptoms are usually fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches. These are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash and decreased liver and kidney function, at which point some people begin to bleed both internally and externally. It kills between 25% and 90% of those infected – about 50% on average. The virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, such as blood from infected humans or animals.

The masked man thought, ‘I’ve been in the rainforest for so long. Of course I have heard of Ebola. How the hell haven’t I heard of this deadly virus that has ravaged Africa and killed tens of thousands of people?’ But in order to maintain the advantage, he still asked in an extremely calm tone, “Do you think I’m that stupid? This laboratory is completely under my control. Where did you get the Ebola virus from? If you want to make up a story, at least make it more believable.”

“According to your request, when I checked the monkeys yesterday, I found a group of strange sick monkeys. Those monkeys had congested eyes and were dying. Based on some experience, I performed a dissection on one of the monkeys. Of course, your dissection room can’t achieve the level of a Level 4 biochemical protection, so when I found that the monkey’s blood was almost coagulated after it was cut open, it was too late, and I was exposed to the virus. You should know that the blood of the deceased is semi-coagulated, which is a typical feature of the Ebola virus.” There was a faint resentment in the young man’s tone. “I don’t know if I have been infected with the virus, but if I get it, I will drag you down with me, understand?”

The trembling and anger in the young man’s voice made the masked man terrified. He raised his head and subconsciously looked at the dissection room. The door was closed, but through the glass, he could see the horrible monkey corpse lying on the dissection table. As the man said, the rhesus monkey’s blood showed a coagulated dark red color, which was disgusting.

“Calm down!” he said reluctantly. “It may not be Ebola. It can’t be just a coincidence.”

“Cut the crap.” The young man raised his voice and leaned closer to the masked man’s ear. “Of course, you don’t have to believe it, but in any case, we’ll die together!”

The masked man swallowed, and his voice became cautious. “What do you want?”

“I want to make a deal.”

“Do you think you can get out of here alive by killing me with a virus?”

“If we can’t get out of here, you’ll immediately be injected with a needle full of Ebola. The astronomical number of viruses in it will completely swallow you within a week. You’ll bleed and die miserably. Even the shit and urine flowing out of your body will carry coagulated plasma. You can certainly take a gamble,” the young man responded.

There was an imperceptible tremor in the electronic sound. The masked man took a deep breath. “Don’t be impulsive. Everything can be discussed.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” the young man said simply. “Answer my question. Who do you serve? Don’t try to lie.”

“Zara…tul.”

“The armed militants of the Dana Region?”

“Yes…yes.”

“Find the official website of this armed organization online and show it to me,” Duan Yang said.

The masked man trembled violently and opened the NoFacebooK homepage of the Zaratul Tribe.

Duan Yang compared the patterns of the python and jaguar above and nodded.

“Next, take out your phone and record a video.”

“Why?”

“In order to cooperate happily, we must have the appropriate bargaining chips,” Duan Yang said coldly. “Please admit in English that you slept with Zaratul’s wife.”

The masked man felt incredulous. “What did you say?”

At that moment, a weak but rather calm voice sounded from his side. Lin Chen at some point had stood up and was leaning against a table as he explained, “He means that because we don’t speak the same language in the Dana Region and are very afraid of being easily betrayed in the process of being taken out with you, we have to find some leverage on you. I’ll store it in a timed email that, if not resolved within 24 hours, will reveal a video of you and Mrs. Zaratul having an affair with the organization’s official email and message board. If we can successfully escape from this place under your protection, I’ll fulfill my promise to cancel the scheduled email.”

Although the black-haired young man in front of him looked extremely weak and seemed about to collapse, the threat in his calm tone was even more threatening than the one who was holding him hostage with the needle.

“The countdown is three seconds,” the black-haired young man said. “Three…”

“I’ll record it. I’ll record it!” The masked man replied hastily.

With the press of the Enter key, an email that might take his life lay quietly in the mailbox, waiting to be sent out.

The cold needle was finally withdrawn from his back.

“Where is the medicine I asked you to find? Did you bring it?” The doctor holding the deadly virus asked.

“I was just about to say that the Langli Bridge was blown up so the car delivering the medicine… couldn’t get in,” the masked man said in horror.

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