CH 84

Ge Xiu came to the door of Haines’ residence with a sullen face.

The robot on the side floated over, the blue light swept across his face, an electronically synthesised sweet and gentle voice sounded: “Identity confirmed. Welcome, Mr. Drost.”

The dark door slowly opened in front of him.

Ge Xiu: “…”

So when did this guy collect his face information?

He took a deep breath and walked into the building following the memory of his last visit.

The lights in the long corridors were lit up one by one, the metal door sensed a person coming and opened to two sides.

The training ground was still as huge as the last time. The lights above his head fell on the cold metal ground and countless firearms for training glinting with silver light. It gave a deserted feeling.

Ge Xiu looked around—the entire training ground was empty.

A low male voice came from above his head:

“Looks like you have found a way in by yourself.”

Ge Xiu raised his head and looked in the direction of the voice.

He saw Haines standing in the observation deck on the second floor of the training ground, leaning against the railing in a relaxed posture, holding a white porcelain coffee cup in his hand, looking down at him with a smile.

He was wearing a light gray cashmere sweater and black trousers. It was a more loose-fitting and casual style, which softened the ruthless bloodthirsty killing aura on his body to the greatest extent, and further highlighted his height, long legs and superior figure.

“Of course.” Ge Xiu said blankly: “After all, the door opened as soon as I stood in front of it.”

Haines walked down the stairs and stood in front of him.

He calmly took a sip of coffee from the cup: “I thought you would like to be able to come in and practice anytime.”

Ge Xiu thought about the possibility for two seconds.

Well, he did like this thought a little.

Okay then.

So, Ge Xiu with reluctance decided not to continue to entangle on this topic, but directly threw his communicator in Haines’ hands.

Haines caught the communicator thrown by Ge Xiu.

He put the cup of coffee on the table beside him, raised his eyebrows with interest, and then lowered his head to carefully examine the lit up interface of the communicator in his hand.

“This art is very good, and the expression of the characters is well captured, but the pose is a bit difficult and it may be difficult for normal humans do it.”

He commented very eloquently.

Ge Xiu: “…”

Haines seemed to have noticed Ge Xiu’s murderous expression and put down the communicator in his hand. He raised his head and asked with concern:

“What’s wrong?”

Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes dangerously: “I don’t think I need to answer this question.”

“Do you mean about the previous post?” Haines’ lips curled slightly, and the expression on his face did not seem to be fake: “I know you don’t like being treated as a possession, so I didn’t mention our engagement, just described the state of our relationship…after all, I’m really pursuing you right now, aren’t I?”

Seems like it…

wait…it doesn’t seem right?

Ge Xiu blinked slowly, staring at him a little dazed, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

Haines picked up the cup of coffee, took a sip and then suggested very seriously:

“Of course, if you don’t like it, I can explain with another post…”

Ge Xiu waved his hands in frustration and interrupted him disinterested:

“…Forget it.”

It’s been too long, and all kinds of gossip has already fermented. Any clarifying post right now would only add fuel to the fire, trying to cover it up couldn’t anything but backfire.

Ge Xiu didn’t want to add any new material to the repeatedly twisted story* and to the overly affectionate** fan art.

*百转千回 – story told thousands times over from mouth to mouth and getting twisted more and more every time

**情真意切 – true affection, true emotions

——He has seen enough of that detestable dog blood story.

Really did.

Haines’ thin lips hidden under the cup secretly slightly lifted.

At this time, Ge Xiu finally remembered the real purpose of his trip.

He dumped the contents of his backpack on the table, then opened his personal terminal on the side, and a blue virtual model appeared in mid-air, spinning clockwise at a slow speed.

Ge Xiu spread out the drawings and said:

“After talking to you last time, I had a new idea about the improving mecha…”

Haines’ expression became serious and he approached Ge Xiu. Squinting his eyes, he carefully looked at the drawings and models in front of him.

There was a hint of exclamation in his eyes:

“Very interesting…”

Ge Xiu nodded without changing his face, and accepted the other’s compliments without any humility:

“Of course.”

He raised his hand and rotated the picture hovering in the air to an angle letting Haines see more clearly, then frowned slightly and continued: “But in the practical application of these theories, I actually have some points that I’m not sure about, especially when it comes to applying it in reality and mental power transformation… do you have an opinion?”

Haines frowned:

“The technology in this area is a federal secret, and it is difficult for me to fully grasp it. The required drawings and materials may require at least half a months of analysis and sorting out to collect it all.”

He put his palms on the table and carefully examined the virtual model in front of him.

“But…” The man’s slender fingertips crossed the virtual projection: “What if you fine-tune the energy conversion ratio first without considering the spiritual link?”

Ge Xiu tilted his head and thought about the feasibility of this plan:

“Theoretically, it could be implemented, but the final result may not be too ideal… However, it is worth a try.”

There was a glimmer of light in his eyes.

They started working almost immediately.

The passage of time seemed to speed up.

The drawings on the table are getting more and more complicated, and the virtual projection was getting more and more mature with each change. The table is messy. The coffee cup was pressed on a corner of the drawing. A few colourful candy wrappers were scattered at one end.

The sun gradually hid behind the horizon, finally being engulfed by the darkness.

The lights in the training base were as bright as day.

Haines finished revising one of the details, and when he looked up at Ge Xiu, he couldn’t help being slightly taken aback.

The teenager fell asleep at some point.

He was lying on the scattered drawings on the table, his slender and thin shoulders seemed very fragile as if they could be easily broken, the clear outline of his shoulder blades was revealed from under the thin clothes, the scattered black hair hung down, covering his fair neck and profile.

Haines’ eyes softened unconsciously.

He stretched out his hand as carefully as he could, and gently brushed the black hair that fell on the boy’s cheek, his icy fingertips brushed past other’s soft and smooth skin, and slowly tucked the loose hair behind his ear.

The boy’s long eyelashes drooped quietly, the light was shining down from the top of his head, imprinting the shadow of the eyelashes deeply on his cheeks—even as he fell asleep, his brows were still slightly furrowed.

It was as if the burden on him could not be lifted even in sleep.

Haines saw that there was a deep blue and black shade under his eyes.

——To sort out such a complete and advanced improvement plan in such a short period of time, he didn’t even have to think about it, he knew that he must not have been getting enough sleep these days.

Compared to when he saw him last time on Marauder, the boy’s cheeks were a little chubbier, no longer so thin and sunken, and when he touched them, he could clearly feel the vigorous vitality hidden under the soft skin.

The man stroked his cheek with his fingertips.

Slipped little by little along his cheek to the contour of his jawline.

Haines’ eyes drooped slightly, and his dark and deep eyes flashed with a faint blue metallic glint. He fixedly stared at the sleeping boy in front of him. The gentleness and affinity that he used to disguise himself with faded away, leaving only the deep and difficult to comprehend emotions hidden at the bottom of his eyes.

He leaned closer.

——As the distance shortened, he could almost see the delicate golden hair on the boy’s pale cheeks.

He could feel the thin breath sprayed from the other’s nose with his fingertips.

Smooth and gentle, brushing regularly over his knuckles, like a feather without the slightest weight, moist and warm, bringing a tingling itch.

Haines’ eyes darkened.

Like a predator who has found its prey, the alpha’s instinctive desire for exclusive possession and aggression flashed in the depths of his pupils.

Finally—

a soft kiss fell on the boy’s jet-black hair.

Haines raised his body, stared at the young man who was still sleeping and gave a low laugh:

“…I can afford to wait.”

He bent down, carefully embraced the boy in his arms, and then walked holding him to the wall on one side of the training room—the sensor detected the incoming person and the wall slowly opened. Inside there was a huge rest room for people to take a break after training and recover their strength.

The lights were on.

Haines laid the boy flat on the bed, carefully straightened his chest, and turned back to walk out.

The footsteps faded away, and the lights in the room went dark.

The door closed softly.

In the darkness, Ge Xiu opened his eyes.

His eyes looked clear and sober, as if he hadn’t slept at all, and he stared thoughtfully at the ceiling in the dark, frowning slightly, as if he was thinking about some profound philosophical question.

After a long silence, he raised his hand and lightly touched the hair on top of his head that had just been kissed.

.

After Haines left the lounge, the door closed behind him.

The training ground was empty, and only the cold light shone from above.

He opened his personal terminal and connected to his personal communication line.

A few seconds later, his subordinate’s voice came from the other side:

“Captain, what are your orders?”

Haines narrowed his eyes slightly and asked casually: “How is the project?”

“It’s under construction and will take about a month to complete.”

“It’s too slow, speed it up, shorten it to half a month, don’t worry about resource investment.” Haines raised his hand to call for the cleaning robot, and poured the cold coffee into it: “Also, during this time, collect information about the spiritual link technology, and at the same time, the research room will dismantle and refine the core technology.”

He pulled out the chair and sat down, his two long legs overlapping lazily:

“Find someone to deal with the rumours and control them within the range that does not affect person’s normal life.”

After all the instructions were said, Haines was about to hang up the communicator, but it seemed as if he had suddenly thought of something. He opened his mouth and added:

“By the way, collect the fanarts and fan pictures with us on Starnet, package them all and send them to me.”

Subordinate: “…”

After a few seconds of strange silence, subordinate answered dryly:

“Yes, Captain.”

————————————————————————

The author has something to say:

The highest realm of knocking* cp—

*shipping

He licked fanart about his own ship

x amount of time later:

Ge Xiu held his terminal, and slowly raised his head with a sullen face (killing intent): “What.   is.   this?”

Haines: “…”

[Danger]