Chapter 91

After the jump completes, Pan continued piloting the spaceship, tension knotting his posture for another dozen thousand kilometers. Completely unaware, he fails to notice the drastically changed surroundings. No matter how the others call to him, he gives no response; ultimately, YaoJin has to knock him unconscious and carry him off the pilot’s seat.

After turning on autopilot, Jiu rushed to the middle cabin to check on Enfei. Not only were there five crimson fingerprints on the young duke’s wrist, but his abdomen was bruised and swollen to a terrifying level, and he had two broken ribs. Fortunately, the Zerg’s internal organs were strangely positioned and resilient; there are no signs of any rupture.

In the next cabin, the moment Cen Zhen collapsed unconscious, Lian Yu had already considered several ways to take down ShouHe using himself. He put his arm around Cen Zhen’s shoulders and pulled him into his arms, his heart pounding more violently than ever.

Even in the most critical moments of his previous life, Lian Yu had never felt as panicked, heart-pounding, and terrified as he did today. The moment he embraced Cen Zhen felt like an illusion, the pain so clear and unmistakable that he forgot to breathe.

Careless, a word that almost never occurred to Lian Yu, now appeared. It had directly led to an outcome he least wanted. Previously, he had simply asked Cen Zhen if he could do it, without considering the potential harm it might cause him.

Perhaps he had placed too much trust in his Guide, his judgment, his control, his constant calm and composure, his self-preservation instincts, which mirrored his own.​

If it had been Pan or YaoJin who had done this today, Lian Yu would have undoubtedly considered whether these two would risk their lives to save others.

In reality, Lian Yu knew Cen Zhen would be fine. His Guide had simply overdrawn his mental energy, temporarily experiencing a brain collapse and falling into a coma. With proper recuperation over the next few days, there would be no aftereffects

But he was deeply sad, so so deeply.

Without leaving a single word, Lian Yu picked up Cen Zhen and silently walked into the room they had previously shared. He remained silent for a day and a night.

Cen Zhen, however, was oblivious to all this.

He vaguely felt a chill on his face, as if something cold was dripping down his cheek. Cen Zhen’s first reaction was to fear that Lian Yu had started crying again, so he frantically and with great effort cracked open his eyes. But all he saw was a single, pure white snowflake, drifting down on his cheek with the wind.

He heard the sound of something panting beside him, rapid and inhuman, more like some kind of animal. Warm breaths hit his forehead, and Cen Zhen felt something grabbing his clothes at the shoulder. The animal was clutching him, inching forward, leaving a trail of claw marks and a long, dragging mark in the snow.

It must be his snow leopard……

Whatever. As long as Lian Yu isn’t crying, anything else will do…

As he thought so, Cen Zhen closed his eyes again.

*

When he woke back up, he didn’t know how much time had passed. In a daze, Cen Zhen heard the crackling of a fire not far from him. The direction the sound came from was warm, and in his half-asleep state, he couldn’t help but want to turn over and face the warmth.

Unfortunately, the action was too difficult for him. After trying for a long time, he could only tilt his head slightly.

His movement immediately attracted the sound of soft footsteps. Cen Zhen felt as if someone walked up to him, squatted down, and then there was no movement.

He dozed off for a while longer before quietly opening his eyes. He saw a strand of light golden hair, delicate and smooth, with slightly curled ends. Cen Zhen wanted to touch it, but found that he didn’t even have the strength to lift his hand after waking up.

“Are you awake?” Lian Yu brushed Cen Zhen’s face with his fingers to distract him from staring at his hair. Cen Zhen rolled his eyes, and it took a moment for them to settle on Lian Yu’s face.

“Lian Yu.”

“Yes, I’m here.” Lian Yu half-knelt on the ground, leaned over, took Cen Zhen’s hand, and placed his palm against his cheek.

“Where is this?”

“Your spiritual space. It’s a vast expanse of snow, blanketing the mountains and rivers in silver. Everything is a sea of white, so misty and boundless that anyone who enters here will get lost.” Lian Yu glared at the snow leopard playing with the lion in the corner. “Your silly buddy took you to a cave to avoid the snow, and then forgot where you were. And worst of all, it didn’t leave any marks along the way, making it so hard for me to find you.”

“I had no choice but to ask the lion to come out and help, but it was afraid of the cold. It sniffed twice and then refused to help, determined to get back into my spiritual space.”

Cen Zhen couldn’t help but smile. “Then, how did you find me?”

“……” Lian Yu didn’t reply immediately. He stared at Cen Zhen intently. After a long moment, he closed his eyes, rubbed Cen Zhen’s palm, and whispered, “I can find you anywhere.”

Cen Zhen couldn’t stand the romantic bubble. He let Lian Yu rub and lick, let his tongue weave between his fingers, let him bite his fingers with his teeth, then gently kiss the pain-free areas.

When Lian Yu had finally done playing with his fingers and palm and started nibbling on the protruding bone on his wrist, Cen Zhen finally gathered enough strength and sat up.

He then saw that they were in a bright cave, a fire burning in the center. Heavy snow fell outside the opening. He lay on a pile of grass, with soft white fur cushioning his body.

He wondered how the snow leopard managed to shed so much fur.

“Have you been guarding me here this whole time?” Cen Zhen asked. “How long have I been sleeping?”

“No, I saw you slept all day without waking up, so I wanted to come in and look for you. But it’s so hard to enter your spiritual space,” Lian Yu complained. “It’s hard already for a Sentinel to enter the Guide’s realm without guidance. I spent ages looking for the entrance, then another half-day waiting for the snow leopard to regain consciousness and open the door, then another half-day searching for you, and then another half-day guarding you… You only slept for two days and one night, I guess.”

Cen Zhen calculated and realized that the half-day Lian Yu mentioned was actually a real half-day. All in all, it was exactly two days and one night.

“…it’s been that long?”

“Will you please stop scaring me?” Lian Yu sat down next to Cen Zhen, raised his legs to press against his thighs, then hooked them around his shoulders and neck, snuggling into his arms like a big cat.

Cen Zhen slipped his arm around Lian Yu’s waist. The soft touch prompted him to squeeze with his fingers. “I’ll be fine, you should know that.”

“I do know that, so what?” Lian Yu was inexplicably irritated by Cen Zhen’s words. “So you felt fine to overdraw your mental energy and pass out right in front of me?”

“……” Cen Zhen thought for a moment, then apologized honestly: “I’m sorry.”

Usually, apologies that don’t include a “I won’t do it again” have a hidden meaning: I’ll do it again. Lian Yu understood this principle well, with himself being a pro at utilizing this strategy.

So, he suddenly became even angrier: “Why didn’t you tell me you might lose consciousness? At least you should have warned me beforehand, so I could be prepared.”

Cen Zhen couldn’t say he thought Lian Yu wouldn’t take such a small matter too seriously. After all, for them, the price of everyone escaping ShouHe unscathed was just two days of him being unconscious, are not even a price to mention.

“…The situation was critical; there was no time to explain.”

“You’re lying!” Lian Yu persisted, pinching Cen Zhen’s chin and forcing the sick patient to look at him intently. “There’s no point in lying between Sentinels and Guides. I can guess what you’re thinking.”

Then why are you asking……

“Of course I have to ask!” Lian Yu directly addressed Cen Zhen’s unspoken criticism, demonstrating their close rapport. He was determined to capitalize on Cen Zhen’s moment of wrongdoing and wreak havoc.​

He’d had enough of these two days of waiting.

Poor Cen Zhen, still a patient, barely waking from a coma to be hounded and nagged by the persistent Sentinel. He glanced at the white leopard and golden lion licking each other’s fur in the corner.

The snow leopard, realizing something, looked up at its owner. Then, abruptly, it stood up, its long, thick, furry tail swaying wildly behind it. The lion, after all, is a feline, and when it sees something dangling before its eyes, it can’t help but try to grab it. The next second, the snow leopard stepped on it and pinned it to the ground.

The usually majestic lion was now acting like the most docile cat in a pet store. The snow leopard stepped on it, and it lay obediently on the ground, its golden eyes raised, furtively observing the snow leopard’s intentions.

Soon, its round, round eyes widened to the limit, and it even roared in disbelief.

“Cen Zhen, Anatoly Yezhiya.” Aside from their first encounter, Lian Yu hadn’t been treated so silently by Cen Zhen in ages. He angrily called out both of Cen Zhen’s names. “Stop pretending to be sick. As long as you wake up, mental exhaustion isn’t a problem at all. You—”

The annoying noise was finally silenced by Cen Zhen’s kiss. Cen Zhen’s eyes closed, her dark lashes brushing against Lian Yu’s cheek, bringing a tingling sensation. Lian Yu, however, kept his eyes open, his gaze filled with the thought: “How dare you go to such lengths just to disobey me? Even go as far as selling your charm and kissing me.”

But Lian Yu had to admit, he enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, while enjoying it, he also deeply understood this man’s asexual nature and wouldn’t do anything else.

In between kisses, Lian Yu felt a hand rip open his shirt from behind his waist, and cool fingertips tentatively entered. Lian Yu moved his waist, signaling for him to move downward, though he knew the hand would only touch his back at best.

Cen Zhen’s fingers slid down along the beautiful curve of his skin. Lian Yu froze for a moment, his upper body suddenly pulling away from Cen Zhen. His soft, red tongue, which had been sticking out, slowly withdrew, licking the saliva from the corner of his lips before regaining the ability to speak. He exclaimed in surprise, “You…”

“Could it be—”

Cen Zhen said nothing, simply holding Lian Yu’s waist and letting him sit on his lap.

*

An hour later, Lian Yu, who should have been depressed by his Guide’s coma, awoke from his mental space with a beaming smile, every cell in his body radiating joy and satisfaction. Soon, Cen Zhen opened his eyes, and Lian Yu immediately extended his wrist to touch the terminal he had already installed for Cen Zhen.

“Your compatibility with the other party is 89.01%.”

Translator’s Note:

I’m officially the biggest liar ever… Starting to doubt if I can keep up with one chapter a week >< All things aside though, did you notice the hinted spice towards the end?