CH 59.1

The next morning, when Xu Xinghe went downstairs to the restaurant for a buffet breakfast, he always felt that his colleagues around him were a little strange.

He walked to the self-service drink area and wanted to have a cup of iced Americano. As a result, an older colleague kindly asked him to drink less beverages containing caffeine, and it is better to have a cup of hot milk or hot soy milk.

Others came to ask him how he was doing today, and whether he could still climb the snow-capped mountains together.

Even Team Leader Conrad looked at him more kindly than ever.

Xu Xinghe originally thought that when Conrad woke up this morning and saw them discussing the all-night poker conversation in the group chat last night, he would probably be angry.

As a result, not only was the other party not angry, but he looked at him a little bit more… kindly??

Yes, kindness.

It made Xu Xinghe very confused.

After breakfast, on his way back to the house to pack his luggage, he grabbed the well-informed Ajia while no one was around, and asked, “What’s the situation? Did you guys choreographed something in private again?”

“Hey, team leader, first of all, this is not called choreography.” Ajia smiled shyly and moved away a little. “Secondly, I think everyone mainly wants to express their concern for you, there is nothing malicious.”

Xu Xinghe heard the words and raised his eyebrows, and continued the topic, “I’m fine, so why did you guys suddenly start caring about me?”

Ajia tilted her head and looked at him: “Leader, let me ask first, did Marshal Ling video chat with you last night?”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He pretended to cough twice, then looked away: “What’s wrong? When I’m out, the cat at home will miss me, so I need to video chat every night.”

Ajia made a face of ‘who are you lying to’.

Xu Xinghe was a little irritable, and simply admitted: “What if I made a video with him? It’s just a video chat, what rumors started to spread?”

“Actually, it’s nothing, it’s just some old-fashioned content-” Ajia shrank back again, and whispered, “Some people say you’re trying to get pregnant, and some people say you might already be pregnant.”

Xu Xinghe: “???”

He suddenly got angry. After gritting his teeth, he said, “It’s outrageous, how can these two things be connected? Besides, didn’t you just have a snowball fight with me yesterday afternoon? Do you think I didn’t fight hard enough? Do you want to continue to experience what it feels like to be taught to be a human being?”

After a pause, he remembered something, and he was so angry that he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. “Besides, why is even Team Leader Conrad looking at me with that kind of look, as if I’m already pregnant… He believes this too??”

“He probably doesn’t believe that you are pregnant, and neither do we. We just think that since you are already preparing for pregnancy, it is possible at any time…”

Xu Xinghe gritted his teeth, and cut off her words. “Who said I was preparing for pregnancy??”

“Then why did you suddenly quit drinking?” Ajia asked.

“…” A trace of embarrassment flashed in Xu Xinghe’s black eyes, but he still continued stubbornly: “It’s not safe to drink too much alcohol when you go out. Besides, I can quit if I want, so why is there so much nonsense?”

Ajia blinked: “But the team leader, take a step back, even if you are not preparing for pregnancy, you are indeed in a period where you may become pregnant at any time… Don’t look at me like that, it’s not impossible. You and  Marshal Ling have been married for almost three months, and match each other so well. What if one day you suddenly become a father-to-be?”

Xu Xinghe said word by word: “No, What, If!”

Ajia asked curiously, “Why are you so sure? I remember before you got married…”

After saying this, she paused in her tone, and then carefully considered: “Team leader, before you got married, you haven’t not considered the problem of having a child?”

Xu Xinghe was stunned.

The reason why he was sure that he would not get pregnant was because he knew that he and Ling Changfeng had never had sex at all, and naturally it was impossible for him to be pregnant.

But Ajia reminded him a little that he had really thought about having a child.

Because in his original cognition, once A and O go through the estrus period after marriage, they will naturally combine, and it is possible to give birth to a new life after that.

Therefore, after being matched, he had to consider the possibility of this aspect and make plans early.

Fortunately, during his first marriage, his estrus period did not come, so Mu Qingyun never touched him, and there was no way to even create a human being.

But this time was different. Not only did he go through the estrus period, Ling Changfeng also gave him a temporary mark.

Recalling his mood swings after the marking, and his instinctive attachment to the ocean-like pheromone, Xu Xinghe’s face warmed up a bit.

He lowered his eyes silently, and an uncontrollable thought suddenly flashed in his mind.

If the same thing happens again…

If temporary marking continues, the effect will get stronger and the reaction will get bigger.

So whether it’s him or Ling Changfeng, can he really spend this year in peace?

Really… it can’t be that this “what it” happens?

“Team leader? Team leader??”

Ajia’s little hand waving left and right flashed before his eyes, and Xu Xinghe suddenly came back to his senses.

He looked at Ajia’s head and slightly worried eyes, and suddenly smiled.

Why is he so nervous?

Those small-probability events currently only exist in the pantry of the Ark. He doesn’t need to start worrying about it so soon. Why not just take things step by step…

He reached out and patted Ajia’s head: “Go, go back to the room and pack up, let’s go climb the Nanga Snow Mountain.”

At eight o’clock in the morning, the sun in the extreme north had not yet risen, and snow swirled around the city.

The sky was a dim, foggy gray-blue, and everyone from the Science and Technology Department got on the hotel shuttle bus and set off for the foot of the mountain

The reason why Nanga City is named “Nanga” is also because of the Nanga Snow Mountain in the south.

Whenever the sun rises and sets, the gilded sunlight passes through the clouds, and shines on the top of the snow-capped mountains.

This is the scene of the local famous “sunlight golden mountain”.

Everyone came to the foot of the mountain, carrying their own big backpacks, talking and laughing up the mountain.

In the first half of the road, everyone climbed on foot. When they reached the middle of the mountain, finally some people could not continue and chose to take the cable car up.

Xu Xinghe originally wanted to be lazy, but when he saw the caring eyes of his colleagues, he joined the team on foot to the top without looking back.

On one hand, because he was busy working overtime, he lacked exercise during this time. On the other hand, he had to bite the bullet and continue.

Fortunately, the scenery along the way did not disappoint everyone’s hard work.

The sun rose in the east, and the rays of the sun gleamed down.

A group of people walked through the beautiful scenery.

Time passed by in such a fast way that everyone felt like they were swimming in the mountains and water for three days.

The fourth day is a free day.

Xu Xinghe slept in the hotel and woke up naturally. When he woke up, he moved his limbs and found that his muscles were still aching.

He decided to go back and have a good workout with Ling Changfeng. As for today, let’s have a good rest in the hotel.

Just thinking about it, the smartphone on his wrist suddenly rang.

Xu Xinghe glanced at Ryan’s call and clicked to answer.

“Team leader, what are your plans for today?”

“No plans.” Although Team Leader Xu was awake, he was not in a hurry to get out of bed. He got up and leaned on the bedside, and skillfully ordered room service.”

“Do you want to play an escape room?” Ryan said excitedly., “James came to me just now and said that he wanted to play the horror room. Eight-person room, moderate horror, and we’re still missing three people.”

A horror room?

Xu Xinghe moved his aching limbs and refused: “I will agree if it’s a secret reasoning room.”

“What’s the matter, team leader?” The voice on the other end of the phone paused and asked in a low voice, “Are you afraid?”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He pretended to be relaxed and said: “Of course not afraid, but why do you want to come to Nanga to do an escape room? Wouldn’t it be better to go back to Nebula City to play?”

“It’s different, that room is said to have a good reputation. It’s a large-scale real-life escape room. There are few places like Nebula City where there is such a big room, and the price is cheap!”

“…”

“Come on, it’s the last day, we will return to Nebula City tomorrow. Let’s play together, we can’t waste our vacation!”

“Okay.” Xu Xinghe thought about it, and he didn’t refuse. “I’m going to wash and change clothes, what time is the appointment?”

When the group of eight gathered in the hall, Xu Xinghe realized that Gu Nai was actually here.

Ryan leaned over, lowered his voice and said in his ear: “I’m sorry, team leader, I didn’t know he would come too.”

After the forum turmoil, he could feel that the two were avoiding suspicion, intentionally or not. When they went to climb the mountain the day before yesterday, Gu Nai excused himself that he was not feeling well, and didn’t go with them.

As a result, they didn’t communicate about the escape room and things ended up like this.

“It’s alright.” Xu Xinghe himself was very calm, and shook his head. “We’re all colleagues and we can’t not see each other. You can’t just stay away from each other just because of a few rumors.”

“Well, it’s fine if you’re not embarrassed.” Ryan breathed a sigh of relief, and his tone revived: “This room is said to be very scary and exciting! There will be many NPCs pretending to be ghosts to chase you!”

Xu Xinghe: “???”

He looked at Ryan with a haunted expression: “Didn’t you say it’s ‘moderate’ horror level?”

“Huh?” Ryan blinked and said innocently. “Team leader, I said on the phone It’s ‘severe’.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

Sh*t! Is it too late for him to quit now??

Just as he was struggling, another colleague came towards him. When he saw Xu Xinghe, he was stunned: “Why did you call Team Leader Xu here?”

Ryan asked back, “What’s the matter? Our team leader can’t come? “

“It’s not impossible, it’s inappropriate… Didn’t you say that the secret room is scary? Team Leader Xu needs to rest well!”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He looked at his colleague who wanted to help him directly back to the room. Smiling stiffly, he said, “Thank you for your concern, I’m in good health and I don’t need to rest. I can go to the secret room myself.”

Ryan looked at Xu Xinghe’s expression, approached him and asked in a low voice, “Team leader, you’re not really afraid of ghosts, right?”

Xu Xinghe was speechless. He refused to admit that he was afraid of ghosts in front of Ling Changfeng, let alone in front of his team members.

“How is that possible?” Team Leader Xu tried his best to make his voice look contemptuous. “Ghosts are the ones afraid of me!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Nai, who was chatting with a colleague nearby, suddenly turned his head to look at him and smiled lightly.

Xu Xinghe: “…” This person is so annoying!

If last chapter was short, this one is looong.

P.S. Chapter is titled “Escape room”, but the room is more like a secret with some role playing involved.

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