NOVEL NEXT Chapter 40—You cannot live here!
Chapter 40—You cannot live here!
by Bocchan13
The rest of the gang also felt that familiar presence and looked up to see Lan Zhou’s small figure on the veranda.
“Old Lan! You’re awake!” Yu Ci’s bellowing voice carried out, echoing through the vast space. The birds stopped chirping, the bees stopped buzzing, and the only sound was the continuous stream of water in the nearby lake.
Lu Jingxiu smacked the back of Yu Ci’s head.
“Idiot! Just because we are staying here, doesn’t mean that zombies can’t find this place!” Yu Ci rubbed his head, embarrassment flushing his face.
“Lan Zhou’s awake. Let’s head back and see how he’s doing.” Song Yu and the trio hurriedly finished their work and headed back to the villa. Squinty ran outside and barked happily at Song Yu.
“Aren’t you supposed be somewhere else?”
“Bark, bark, bark!”
“The duckies are there!”
Song Yu rolled his eyes but un-hesitantly rubbed Squinty’s head. Wang Cheng looked at Squinty, his eyes growing bigger in happiness.
“Ah! It’s that dog! The one that thinks I’m stupid!”
Squinty panted happily as he pranced around Wang Cheng.
“Baark, bark!”
“Ah! It’s the stupid human who doesn’t know how to close his mouth!”
Wang Cheng pointed to him, his expression hurtful.
“You see! You see! I know he’s saying shit about me!”
Song Yu wanted to laugh, but kept it down. Squinty eyes had only been a small puppy when he was brought in, and had not seen humans in a long time. The first two nights he had been the basement guard, but on the third night, he unexpectedly arrived at Song Yu’s door, holding onto Yu Ci’s backpack.
Song Yu couldn’t comprehend why, until he saw Squinty disappear through the walls.
Holy shit, my dog can bend space.
Song Yu was ecstatic that Squinty had conjured an ability, he was now 10x safer.
“Put it back, and apologize tomorrow.”
Cut to now, Squinty eyes was twirling around Wang Cheng and barking erratically.
“I’m sorry for taking your ugly cloth. I thought it should have gone into the trash because of the smell. Next time, I’ll just take the nice smelling stuff!”
Song Yu…
Squinty that’s the wrong guy…and that’s not even an apology!
In the villa, Xiao Zi had just opened the doors to Lan Zhou’s suite. His ribs were still extremely sore, the bruising still a shade of dark purple and raspberries. He could move around the villa and help around the house, but was still unable to help with the gardening and farming outside. He spent the last few days cleaning and helping Song Yu, and picking the zombified mushrooms in the dark room. This morning, he woke up from his midday nap to see Lan Zhou awake and on the veranda.
Lan Zhou’s face was still pale from blood loss and the fever, but he was still otherwise imposing.
“What happened?”
Xiao Zi helplessly shrugged.
“You were so stupid that you didn’t even know you had a cut on your leg. Luckily, Song Yu figured it out, or else you would have been an amputee.”
“And you? Are you okay?”
Xiao Zi puffed up his chest,
“Of course! Just some bruises here and there. My healing ability is slowly trying to help my body heal before it can heal others. Huh, 20 something years in the apocalypse and I still have something new to learn.
“That’s because you were always in the lab and never on the front lines like us. Your healing ability probably only works if you yourself are healthy, so others can’t take advantage of your abilities. It’s most likely a passive skill.”
Xiao Zi rubbed his chin.
“Specialty skills like you and Song Yu are indeed a rarity. I wonder if a variant ability is stronger.” Lan Zhou turned to Xiao Zi.
“You know about Song Yu’s ability?”
“Isn’t it a space ability? He put his things inside his space back in the cave, and made a space blade using the distortion of the fabric of space and air molecules. It must have taken a while to get it to such a degree that he can literally rip into a new dimension. Quite scary.”
Lan Zhou wanted to boast that that was his boyfriend, but he saw the group coming in from the fields.
“Go downstairs and inform them. I can’t go down cause of my legs. Song Yu especially. I haven’t said thank you yet.”
“Yeah…about that…we sorta…gave Song Yu your spirit stone.”
Eh?
Lan Zhou blinked once. Again.
Ehhh??
Lan Zhou wanted to crawl into a dark room and kill himself!!
He shuffled around anxiously, trying his best to calm down. But he can’t calm down!
Unbeknownst to Song Yu who never left Paradise Base in his last life; Spirit stones were not just only a manifestation of spiritual powers. You couldn’t make a spirit stone unless you had a certain feeling. Anger, greed, hatred…those types of emotions could create different effects…but the one spirit stone that was the strongest was…love and affection.
Spirit stones using these emotions were given to spouses for safety. The purer the emotion, the stronger the spirit stone. Lan Zhou had been forming this particular spirit stone for close to a year. His desperation, fear and overall encompassing passion to find Song Yu was embedded in every facet of the spirit stone.
This way of thinking though, would not be made up until eight years in the apocalypse, dubbed by a powerful water ability user in D Country. So what Song Yu thought was just a particularly strong spirit stone, it was the accumulation of Lan Zhou’s deep feelings for him.
He knocked his head against a wall in shame!
“L-lan Zhou? Are you okay?” Xiao Zi patted his shoulder.
“Leave me to die! The spirit stone wasn’t ready yet! It still needed refining! How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends!”
“You were going to give it to him anyways! You can still take it back for refining after you settle your relationship.”
“Hmmph!”
Xiao Zi rolled his eyes and helped Lan Zhou sit down on the sofa, lifting his leg onto a small foot stool and arranging a small blanket on his bare body. Hearing the sound of the door opening downstairs, Xiao Zi went to the top of the stairs, seeing the gang taking off their mud-laden boots.
“Lan Zhou’s awake. His leg is still hurting, so he can’t come down. Song Yu, he wants to talk to you!”
Song Yu took a deep breath before going up, the rest going to take a shower in their rooms. Hesitantly opening the door, his eyes met with Lan Zhou’s. Even sitting down on the sofa, he exuded such masculine ferocity, his penetrating gaze roving over his sweat ridden body.
Wiping his neck nervously, he walked to Lan Zhou.
“Your wound…does it hurt?”
Lan Zhou’s heart melted. How was Song Yu so cute? He restrained his smile and nodded perfunctory.
“It hurts a bit, but I’ve had worse. Don’t worry.”
Song Yu awkwardly laughed. “That’s good. That’s really good. When your wounds heal and Xiao Zi gets better, I can help you go back to your base. Yu Ci told me that your original base was in B Country, so the best I can do is help you is out of the mountains.”
Lan Zhou nodded, taking the words in. Song Yu was still denying him.
Baby steps. Everything needed baby steps.
“I understand. Thank you for hosting us. I know it was very hard for you to do that.” Song Yu felt guilty as well, but pushed that lump from his throat.
“No problem. You really worried everyone. It’s the least I can do.”
There was another awkward pause. Lan Zhou shifted a little bit, letting the blanket drop a little lower. Song Yu gulped down saliva when he saw the gorgeous pecs and abs. 2 years ago, Lan Zhou was the kind of slender strong, but now the muscles have blossomed into a strong body.
The white skin had turned a few shades darker, but it didn’t deter the beauty that was his body. Multiple wounds crisscrossed from his arms, legs and body. This must have been because Xiao Zi hadn’t upgraded his abilities at the time, leaving small scars everywhere.
Lan Zhou subconsciously flexed his muscles, showing off his best features. Song Yu didn’t notice, but continued his small observation. The blanket settle nicely over Lan Zhou’s…crotch area, disguising the most intimate part of himself.
“Uhhh…I’m gonna…I’m gonna make lunch.” Lan Zhou smiled nicely.
“Yes, please.”
Song Yu turned around, ready to leave but heard Lan Zhou call him.
“Song Yu, is this your room?”
Blinking, Song Yu’s cheek blossomed red.
“No…I’m next door.” Lan Zhou’s let out a small laugh.
“Okay.”
Song Yu left the room in a daze and went to make lunch.
Lan Zhou quickly got up, not caring for his disabled leg and edged to the door that led next door. It was locked. Not to be deterred, he hobbled out of the veranda and saw another door leading next door. Patting the door handle, it wasn’t locked. Lan Zhou chuckled lightly and opened the doors.
Peeking in, he saw a similar bed, with a white canopy, but the room looked more lived in. The bed was unmade, pillows galore, a pile of clothes in a corner, and a snack tray with various nuts and fruits. Lan Zhou knew what he was doing wasn’t right, but he was a man on a mission.
Looking in various spots, he tried finding the spirit stone to no avail. He was worried if he tried calling it, Song Yu would notice him in here.
It was an unfinished, unpolished spirit stone! He would have to nurture that stone for a while longer before he could give it to Song Yu. If he knew where its hiding place was, he could secretly do that, so when Song Yu kept it, it would be like Lan Zhou was with him.
Fiddling around the closet, he stumbled around a box that looked like it had important stuff inside. Opening the box, he found a blue…vibrator. A deep blush stained his cheeks when he realized what it was. Not only that, he found various sizes, lube and…it was too embarrassing!! Covering his face in shame, he closed the box and set it back where he found it.
Running out of the closet, he tripped and landed on the bed. Before he could get up, the door opened and Song Yu, who was supposed to be downstairs, came in.
Lan Zhou bit his lip as more embarrassment reddened his face.
In Song Yu’s perspective, Lan Zhou who only sported black underwear was laying conspicuously on his bed in a devastatingly seductive manner. Silence pervaded the room as both of them reddened like cooked lobsters.
“Y-y-y-you…what are you doing here???” Song Yu covered (but not covered) his eyes, large peepholes between his fingers
Lan Zhou didn’t have a good comeback as the fall pained his wounded leg.
“I….uh…I wanted to live with you here.” An arrow shot right through Song Yu’s heart at those words. Lan Zhou wants to sleep in my room. He wants to live with him. What was he gonna do to him in this room???
“You…You cannot live here!”