CH 107

Chapter 107: Coming clean

Fresh, scarlet blood drips continuously onto the floor, singed clothes and black streaks decorating his visible skin makes the egotistical man appear bruised and battered. Expression twisting, the scar on his face scrunches together, painting an even more malevolent look on this face.

"Huo Zaiyuan…you better remember this. You snatched everything from me. One day, I will make sure you repay all you owe! No matter where to flee to, I will make you stay alive while wishing for death! Let's go!!"

With a final departing holler filled with rage, they left in the same way they arrived. The trucks and Hummer speed away from the school campus, leaving marks on the ground and a few injured people behind at the scene of the short battle. Gradually, everything falls silent once more.

Remaining where he is, Huo Zaiyuan doesn't move for a long time. Expression depressed, two glaring red lines of blood on his cheeks, rips and tears on his clothes and shoes, this is the first time he appears so beaten.

On the ground, a several tens of kilo sledgehammer lays broken, its head crumbled to pieces, surrounded by a pool of blood. Besides his rumpled clothes due to entering the fight, Long Zhanye possesses no visible injuries. The moment those thugs left, the number one concern in his heart is Huo Zaiyuan. In a few quick steps, the soldier appears by his side.

"Little Yuan."

"I'm fine." Huo Zaiyuan answers flatly, gaze dull.

"I don't see how you are completely fine." Long Zhanye says lightly, embracing him before making a few gestures to Zhou Xingfeng and Qin Jun.

Being rather perceptive, the two men understood what they had to do right away. This place is no longer safe. Now, their priority is to finish transporting their supplies and leave promptly.

Leading Huo Zaiyuan to a relatively isolated place within the school, he stops and checks on the person in his arms again. Still expressionless and staring blankly ahead. Long Zhanye frowns.

"Don't let it weigh down your heart. Tell me, okay?" His tone is extremely gentle, afraid of scaring his beloved.

Ever since the two met and become companions, besides that one time this child openly sobbed, he (HZY) has met every kind of situation with calm and indifference, every action logical and reliable. Even though he was occupied during the fight before and had no way to reach Huo Zaiyuan, he was well aware of the other party's every move and condition. The conversation between him and the crippled man, Long Zhanye heard it all.

Hearing Long Zhanye's words, Huo Zaiyuan finally moves, placing his hands on the older man's waist and leaning his forehead on that sturdy chest. A smile full of irony surfaces.

"Heheh…it's really ridiculous. He said I stole everything from him, but three days after my mother passed away, my father brought him and his mother into our house. From the moment they entered the door, my father acted as if I was invisible. Besides giving me a monthly allowance, it is as though he never had this son. No one from the Huo family cared when I left home and stayed alone. No one bothered when I fell ill. They were the ones who stole my family from me. Stole my father's affections when mother passed. As for the inheritance left after father's death…I only took what I deserved. He said I took everything from him. What exactly did I take from him?!"

Listening to Huo Zaiyuan's light laughter as he recounts everything, Long Zhanye's heart is shaken. On behalf of his repressed emotions and everything he suffered in his past, Long Zhanye can only hug him closer.

"From now onwards, you will always have me by your side. I will absolutely not allow anyone to steal anything belonging to you. I have said before I will never let you weep. But if you really cannot help it, then hide in my embrace and let it all out…"

"As if. I'm not a child…my heart just feels a little stifled." Pushing Long Zhanye away, he leaves the man's arms and turns his face away.

"Then do you still feel stifled after airing it out?" Now that the shadows on the youth's face have dispersed and his usual attitude returns, Long Zhanye knows that he truly is fine. The anxiety in his heart gradually eases and a smile pulls at his lips.

"Un, I'm fine now. Let's go back." Saying this, he prepares to turn and leave.

"Since everything is all right now, then you should be good and answer my questions." Reaching out, he drags Huo Zaiyuan back into his hold. Leaning down, Long Zhanye whispers into his ear. "I heard that person called you…Huo. Zai. Yuan. Beloved, when did you change your name? Why didn't I know that?"

A spark of anger initially emerged after realising the other has lied to him and concealed his true identity before it vanished in the face of worry, but still, Long Zhanye decides to make this his first question.

Sure enough, he (LZY) really overheard the conversation.

"I didn't hide it from you deliberately…" Turning around to look at the soldier, Huo Zaiyuan feels wronged. This expression is one he rarely displays and only seem to surface around Long Zhanye.

Since it has been exposed, he sees no need to hide anymore. Especially when there are more chances of running into people who will recognise him in the future. To prevent more lies piling up, he will explain everything clearly. On top of that, seeing no traces of anger on Long Zhanye's face, he inwardly thinks this might not be so difficult after all.

Seeing the adorably wronged expression on Huo Zaiyuan's face, Long Zhanye smirks and can't resist planting a kiss on his lips. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect the person he is currently hugging is the exact same Huo Zaiyuan he spent so long searching for. This truly makes him feel both astonished and joyous ah.

"If it wasn't for that military arrest warrant, I wouldn't have lied. Don't know which damned bastard framed me. When I first met you and saw you were a soldier, I was wary. But you didn't recognise me, so I gave a fake name…"

Hearing Huo Zaiyuan spit out the word "bastard", Long Zhanye blinks, before a soft, rueful chuckle slips out.

"Little Yuan, I actually have something to tell you. Don't be angry after I say it…" Right now, his heart feels like it has just hit a brick wall.

Look at the consequence of his foolish actions ah. It is solely his fault that his little Yuan was forced to conceal his identity, and serves him right for not being able to find his fated one before the apocalypse began.

"What is it?" Huo Zaiyuan inquires absently, irritation smothering in his heart whenever he thinks about the warrant and the mysterious person behind it.

"To be honest, the "damned bastard" you cursed at is none other than me. I was the one who issued the arrest warrant and had it posted on the military website…" Long Zhanye's voice got smaller and smaller until he trails off, gaze fixed anticipatingly on Huo Zaiyuan's startled expression.

In all the years of his life, the formidable and fearless senior officer Long has never cringed like he is doing now as he waits for the inevitable explosion to occur. If his poor traumatised and oppressed subordinates back in A City saw their demon Captain like this, their lower jaws would touch the ground in disbelief.

"You - you - you…" Huo Zaiyuan's body trembles, from shock or anger is anyone's guess.

"I also didn't do it deliberately. I can explain." Afraid that Huo Zaiyuan will stomp off in anger and refuse to acknowledge him anymore, Long Zhanye tightens his grip on his beloved. How the tables have turned. Now it is Long Zhanye who wears a wronged expression.

"I'm listening." Harrumphing softly, Huo Zaiyuan turns his head away.

"I told you before, right? I came to Z City because my grandfather forced me to find my 'fated one'. The person's name is 'Huo Zaiyuan'." Upon hearing Long Zhanye's words, Huo Zaiyuan who is originally still fuming pauses, clearly not expecting an answer like this. He remains silent, and the older man continues. "Regarding this matter, I was originally reluctant. In addition, you are really good at evading. So grandfather ordered me to search for you, which led to me deciding to post a warrant for you on the military website. However, after the apocalypse arrived, I gave up…after that, I fell for you. When I was communicating with my grandfather in X City's military district, I told him, I don't need a 'fated person'. As long as I am together with you, I don't care even if I were to die. I'm sorry…"

The rage in Huo Zaiyuan's heart gradually dissipates the longer he listens to Long Zhanye. When the other finishes speaking and even apologised for his actions, Huo Zaiyuan stretches his arms and tightens them around Long Zhanye's body.

"I don't want you to die…"

"That's right, in the end, I still found you. So it means I have broken the old Taoist priest's prediction. I'm not going to die. I want to be together with little Yuan forever." A gentle smile lights up Long Zhanye's face as he continues hugging Huo Zaiyuan, kissing his hair softly. "I'm so stupid. The person I've been searching for has always been next to me, but I still didn't realise…"

"It serves you right. If you hadn't issued that arrest warrant, I wouldn't have been scared and ran. You made me hide here and there and was even worried about what will happen between us once you found out I am Huo Zaiyuan…" Recalling all the trouble he went through just because of one lousy warrant fills him with displeasure.

"It wasn't an 'arrest warrant' but a 'pursue warrant'." Long Zhanye corrects as he lifts the youth's chin and claims that soft, tempting mouth.

"Whatever it is, that thing caused me so much trouble…"

"In the future, you will be Mrs Senior officer Long. Whoever dares to trouble you, I'll kill them." Long Zhanye's rascal-side rises again.

Being addressed as Mrs Senior officer Long doesn't sit well with Huo Zaiyuan. Glaring at the shameless man, he retorts. "It wouldn't be "Senior officer Long's wife". It will be "Senior officer Long's husband"."

"Yes, yes, beloved. "Senior officer Long's husband" it is." Long Zhanye agrees without a fuss. If a subordinate had witnessed this scene, they will no doubt cry out in alarm and yell "the gold stars on his epaulettes have blinded you! This imposter is most definitely not the demon king!"

With every matter between them laid out in the open, Huo Zaiyuan's heart feels unburdened and relieved. After conversing enough with Long Zhanye, he links their hands together and pulls him along to find Zhou Xingfeng and the others.

It is not safe to stay in S City any longer.

(Translator’s notes: So…the big identity reveal…what do you readers think about it? To be honest, I was a little disappointed because I was expecting…well, more. But I suppose this author’s all ‘fluff and no major dramas between the couple’.)