NOVEL NEXT 32
**Chapter 32: About the Other Lu Xi**
“Splash—”
“Splash—”
His whole body was enveloped in liquid, even his lungs were filled with it. What was happening…
Lu Xi opened his eyes to a gentle watery glow, shadows flickering.
He slowly blinked and finally remembered everything.
He had fallen into the sea.
Deep-sea fishing was almost the only truly lucrative industry on the garbage star. Staying on the ship for a year could, with luck, earn more than what most people could make in a lifetime.
It sounded good, but the money was essentially blood money. Crew members had to sign life-and-death contracts and leave a will.
Lu Xi thought for a long time, and in the end, his will contained only one sentence.
“After my death, all my assets go to Luo Zhao.”
After surviving a year, Lu Xi had finally set aside some of his worries. He had even started planning how to find Luo Zhao.
He had even pre-booked an assistant online for this purpose.
The assistant’s name was Xia Baiyuan, and he seemed to be a man of few words. Lu Xi had contacted him several times, and the other never spoke more than five words in a sentence.
Despite still feeling a bit uneasy, Lu Xi couldn’t find a cheaper assistant than him.
Unfortunately, the assistant he had gone to such lengths to book would now be useless.
He was about to die.
Lu Xi closed his eyes in relaxation. Perhaps it was his imagination, but the seawater felt unexpectedly warm, making his whole body feel very relaxed.
Returning to the embrace of the zerg god this way wasn’t such a bad choice.
…
But wasn’t it taking too long, even for a final delusion before death?
Lu Xi could even feel that although he wasn’t breathing, fresh air continuously flowed into his body from the warm liquid.
After counting a few more seconds in his mind, Lu Xi opened his eyes again.
He definitely wasn’t in the sea anymore.
Looking around, he found himself lying in a transparent container filled with a viscous liquid that obscured his vision, making it difficult to see the outside clearly.
He could barely make out the general outline of the room.
What was going on?
Panic surged within Lu Xi. The container he was lying in resembled a medical capsule he had seen in hospitals, but compared to that bulky metal capsule, this small glass container seemed much lighter and more advanced.
He had heard that staying in a medical capsule for a day cost tens of thousands; this one would surely be even more expensive.
How long had he been lying here? Did he have enough money to cover the medical expenses?
As panic set in, the instruments monitoring his condition started emitting sharp beeps.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
Lu Xi’s eyes widened in terror, staring fixedly at the door.
In a matter of one or two minutes, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a tall figure entered. Lu Xi couldn’t see clearly.
The person pressed a button, and with a slight hiss, the murky viscous liquid was drained away. Lu Xi coughed, finally seeing the person’s face.
Slightly curly black hair and a pair of dark green eyes. Lu Xi couldn’t help but shiver.
The person was a male zerg.
He had never seen a male zerg with such an intense presence, like a black hole. Instead of feeling joy, his first instinct was to shrink back.
“S-sorry.”
Instinctively, he began to apologize.
The male zerg raised an eyebrow. “Sorry?”
Lu Xi, nervous and unsure of what to do, knelt in the medical capsule, looking uneasily at the other.
There were no male zergs on the garbage star, but Lu Xi knew they were dangerous. Any slight misstep could provoke their wrath and bring trouble.
The male zerg took a step forward, approaching the medical capsule. His tall figure blocked the sunlight, casting a shadow over Lu Xi.
Then he raised his hand.
—He’s going to hit me.
Lu Xi tightly closed his eyes, not daring to move, bracing for the impending pain.
But just as he tensed up, a warm hand fell on his forehead.
“Lu Xi, what trouble have you caused this time? You’d better confess before your female father gets back.”
“……”
Lu Xi’s eyes widened in surprise, staring blankly at Lu Mo.
He was already an adult, but before adulthood, he had endured an extremely difficult childhood on the garbage star.
Always alone, always lonely, life was always tough.
So when he encountered the even weaker Luo Zhao, a strange thought emerged in Lu Xi’s heart.
He wanted to protect Luo Zhao.
What he once lacked, yearned for, and longed for, he wanted to give to Luo Zhao.
As if this could somehow make up for his own past.
But the things he had yearned for in the past were now unexpectedly being given to him.
The hand on his forehead was warm and broad. It was just a hand, but it felt like an unbreakable umbrella, firmly shielding him.
Just like… a male father.
……
Seeing his youngest son with a dumbfounded expression, Lu Mo’s mouth twitched.
“Did you mess up the system dumpling again? It’s been acting weird for days.”
“Or did your mental power go out of control again? Ling’s training room is already wrecked enough—he’s barely enough trouble on his own.”
Lu Mo took a deep breath and forced a smile. “You didn’t switch bodies with someone, did you?”
Lu Xi: “……”
He timidly raised his head and whispered, “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand a word you’re saying.”
Lu Mo: “……”
Lu Mo: =口=
Oh no, the kid’s brain finally broke!
He turned his head and shouted, “Ling!!!”
——————
After a chaotic afternoon, Lu Xi finally had a rough idea of the situation.
The handsome male zerg with black hair and green eyes was named Lu Mo, and he was the male father of [Lu Xi].
The beautiful female zerg with silver hair and red eyes was Ling, whom Lu Mo had mentioned. He was the female father of [Lu Xi].
Besides Lu Xi, they had three other children, but none of them were home at the moment, which brought Lu Xi some relief.
Handling five people would have been too much.
The expressionless male zerg wore an exquisite robe, every crease meticulously arranged, exuding the grace and arrogance of a noble.
Despite his lingering yearning for a ” male father,” Lu Xi instinctively felt like retreating.
Compared to him, Ling seemed much more approachable. He often wore a smile and left his military uniform collar open, looking quite casual.
Lu Mo sighed, reached out to button his collar, and muttered, “My dear wife, how many times have I told you—your manners also represent the Lu family’s reputation. We shouldn’t let others laugh at us.”
Ling shrugged and cheerfully raised his chin. “I only undo it when I get home.”
Despite his words, he let Lu Mo arrange his collar neatly and used a red ribbon to tie Ling’s long hair.
Lu Xi couldn’t help but be entranced by the scene.
Noticing his gaze, Lu Mo put his hands back in his pockets and said, “Why do you still look so dumbfounded?”
Lu Xi blurted out, “I’ve never seen zergs who love each other as you do.”
Even in the novels he read on forums, he had never come across such descriptions.
“Ah—ah—”
Lu Mo let out an enormous cough, his face turning red. Under Lu Xi’s bewildered gaze, Lu Mo’s eyes flickered. “Love? No, that’s not it, what are you talking about?”
“Of course, it’s that my deep affection for you lasted through countless trials, and out of your kind and generous heart, you reluctantly accepted me,” Ling said with a wink at Lu Mo, mischievously. “Truly, it’s been hard on you.”
Lu Mo’s face turned even redder. “Yes, that’s exactly how it is.”
Lu Xi: “……”
No, not believable at all.
Mr. Lu Mo, your eyes are shining when you look at your mate.
What Lu Xi didn’t realize was that his emotions had unconsciously relaxed.
“You’ve just woken up from hibernation, it’s better for you to rest a bit more—you’ve been up all afternoon,” Ling said, and Lu Xi quietly nodded. Lu Mo seemed to want to say something more, but he left with Ling.
Once they were gone, Lu Xi got out of bed and walked over to the bookshelf.
This room had an owner, filled with the traces left by that person.
Lu Xi didn’t know why he was here, nor did he understand why those zergs treated him the way they did.
But clearly, he hadn’t been rescued from the sea by someone. On the contrary—
He had come to an entirely new world.
And the proof was…
Lu Xi looked up, standing barefoot on the floor, facing an entire wall.
The setting sun slanted in through the window lattice, bathing the whole wall in golden-red light.
On this wall was a silver-haired zerg warrior.
He looked down at Lu Xi quietly, like an angel draped in colorful clouds.
Just by looking at this painting, Lu Xi could feel the intense emotions that the painter had poured into it, almost as if they were about to burst forth.
He was deeply captivated the moment he saw it.
And if he remembered correctly, Lu Mo had joked at the time, “If the war god wasn’t from three thousand years ago, I’d think you were in love with him.”
The war god from three thousand years ago.
But Lu Xi clearly recognized that face.
He had contacted the owner of that face not long ago, the zerg who never said more than five words at a time.
—Xia Baiyuan.
Lu Xi had a bold thought.
Perhaps the owner of this room was another [Lu Xi].
…
Leaning against the bookshelf, Lu Xi pondered as he looked at an open book.
It was an art book, its pages worn from frequent reading. The owner of this book must have loved painting very much.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to create such a heart-stirring mural.
He flipped through the book casually, curious about the world three thousand years into the future.
What kind of world was it now?
But his spirit was somewhat weak. After just a few pages, his vision blurred, the text doubled and distorted, leaving strange afterimages on his retinas.
Rubbing his eyes, he opened them again to find the text no longer warped.
Unfortunately, he realized that the characters of three thousand years in the future had changed significantly from those of his time, making it very difficult for him to read, almost deciphering word by word.
[This is a legendary master of art, who single-handedly changed the direction of the entire art world. But few people know that he almost gave up his talent, in an era where no one could understand his greatness…]
Lu Xi glanced curiously at the accompanying illustration.
Hmm, as expected, he couldn’t understand it.
Art… such a mysterious thing.
Lu Xi looked up, glancing around the room again.
Tall redwood bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling, while one wall had a row of glass display cases holding various exotic minerals, and closer inspection revealed several award certificates.
He could almost imagine that the owner of this room must have been an elegant, knowledgeable, wise, and rational zerg.
——————
“Are you an idiot?”
Gu Qing looked at Lu Xi in shock, “It’s ten degrees below zero right now!”
It was an ordinary morning, like any other, except for the biting cold.
On such a morning, the only hardship was getting out of a warm bed.
For a hot-blooded female like Gu Qing, it was no problem—most of the females in the school could get through winter in short sleeves, but could Lu Xi?
Earlier, Gu Qing had seen Lu Xi trembling, pressing his hands against his thighs. He thought it was some special meditation technique. Lu Xi had looked at him weakly and said, “My hands are frozen stiff.”
And now what did Gu Qing see? Lu Xi was also wearing short sleeves! Wasn’t he a sub-female? Could sub-females handle this?
If Gu Qing had been wearing a coat, he would have immediately taken it off and wrapped it around Lu Xi, fearing he might catch a cold.
But Gu Qing wasn’t wearing a coat, so he couldn’t.
“What if you freeze to death?” Gu Qing asked.
“I won’t! Because—” Lu Xi’s eyes were determined, his smile bright, “I’m burning with passion, Gu Qing!”
Xia Baiyuan confessed to me, do you understand?!
Xia Baiyuan!! Confessed to me!!
Lu Xi felt heat radiating from his entire body, as if he could be dropped onto a frozen river, and he would burn a hole through the ice, fall into the water, and boil the entire river!
Having not slept the whole night, Lu Xi felt surprisingly energetic.
Gu Qing: “…”
He turned silently to glance at Luo Zhao, his expression conveying: [Someone, please stop this foolish child.]
But to his despair, Luo Zhao was just watching Lu Xi with eyes curved like crescent moons in a smile.
Ah, how adorable this zerg is—not that this is the time to say that—Lu Xi, oh Lu Xi—
Luo Zhao: “What did Xia Baiyuan say to you?”
Lu Xi: “How did you know it was Xia Baiyuan?”
Gu Qing sighed; anyone could see it, okay?
If Lu Xi’s usual happy smile raised his mouth by one degree, mentioning Xia Baiyuan brought it to a whopping five degrees!
Extrapolating from this, if Lu Xi was smiling like a normal person now, Xia Baiyuan must have said something significant.
Maybe they even slept together, Gu Qing thought nonchalantly.
“Hmm…” Lu Xi thought for a moment and decided to keep the truth to himself. Revealing it might accidentally expose Xia Baiyuan’s secret, and he didn’t want to ruin things by getting carried away.
So he simply said, “Xia Baiyuan agreed to go shopping with me this weekend.”
“That’s great!” Luo Zhao’s eyes lit up, “Xia Baiyuan is always busy. If he agreed to go shopping with you, you must be very important to him.”
Lu Xi grabbed his sleeve excitedly and shook it: “Right, right!”
“Exactly!”
Gu Qing: “…”
He slapped his face with a smack, feeling like he was dealing with two children.
Oh well, they were quite cute.
He asked, “When are you going?”
Lu Xi frowned in distress: “We haven’t set a time yet, and I don’t know where to go.”
The military academy was surrounded by wasteland, so to go shopping, they had to go to the city. But Lu Xi, being a complete homebody, had no idea where to go.
“In that case, I have a recommendation,” Gu Qing said, rubbing his chin. “There’s an art exhibition in the city tomorrow night by a famous artist. You’re an art major, right? This should be perfect for you two.”
Crowded places would force Lu Xi and Xia Baiyuan to stay close together.
Lu Xi, being knowledgeable, wouldn’t run out of things to say, preventing awkward silences and allowing him to impress Xia Baiyuan.
With this back-and-forth, their feelings would naturally deepen, right?
The more Gu Qing thought about it, the more he was convinced this idea was a stroke of genius, wanting to applaud himself.
“An art exhibition?”
Lu Xi considered it and realized it was indeed a good idea.
The plan was set.
After a day of classes, Lu Xi attended only the first half. For the second half, which consisted of less important classes, he followed his usual routine and went to the secluded, abandoned school building to make bullets.
Over time, his mastery over his mental power had grown, significantly increasing his production speed.
As the sun moved from its zenith to the west, Lu Xi finally left.
Half an hour later, two staff members responsible for handling transfers entered the lab.
They seemed quite relaxed, chatting as they walked.
“More and more students are coming to ask me about it lately, especially Di Yan. Last time, he cornered me in an alley, insisting on finding out who made these bullets—I don’t know either!”
“…You got cornered by him too?”
“Too?”
“…”
“…”
The two exchanged glances and sighed in unison, “He’s so—annoying—!”
“He’s always the one who wants the most, and he even tries to get extra by whining. So annoying.”
“His eyes turn green, and he’s always begging: Bullets! Please! Give me some! Come on! So annoying.”
“I wonder how many we’ll get this time.”
“Six boxes, maybe. Last time it was five and a half, but each time it’s half a box more.”
“Makes sense.”
The two staff members opened the door and were stunned by the sight before them.
Huge boxes were piled up, filling the entire room, making it look like an armory, causing them to gasp.
It took a while for them to slowly exhale.
“Is he on drugs? What kind of stimulant is he on to be this productive?”
“I’m telling you, just the two of us, how many trips will it take to move all this?”
“…Haha.”
(T/N: For the first time reading this novel i giggled like a fool at Lu Xi and Luo Zhao’s interaction…(／。＼) )