CH 31

Lu RanKong heard his words, wanted to say that there was no difference between gray and pure white, but saw his eyes from behind the raised socks looking askance, seeming to be waiting for him to retort, and held back.

The guard blew the whistle, and it was already time to lock up, so Lan Yu picked up the basin and headed back. Lu RanKong naturally took the basin from him and went to the place where the inmates hung their clothes to dry before returning to their cells together.

Back in the room, Lan Yu put the soap and bleach back in the cabinet, closed the door and opened it again, taking out a face mask. He took the mask to the bathroom and put it on in front of the mirror.

The mask was black, and when he came out and saw everyone staring at him, he said as if nothing had happened, “Bored, just sticking it on for fun.”

“Oooooohhh…” Everyone else hurriedly nodded their heads and turned their eyes away.

Lan Yu walked to the bed and was about to climb up, when he stopped.

Lu RanKong was already half lying on the top bunk, and when he saw him, he lifted the corner of the quilt, inviting him in, “Come in, it’s cool here at night, but it’s warm under the blanket.”

Lan Yu looked at the bottom bunk. The only thing left on it was the bare bed board, apparently in the time it took him to put on the mask, Lu RanKong had already moved the bedding back up.

This person was quite fast.

Seeing that he was standing still, Lu RanKong urged, “Hurry up, the temperature difference between day and night is big. Don’t let all the heat under the blanket dissipate.”

Lan Yu didn’t want to sleep on a hard bed, but this person was too unsophisticated in his sleep, plus, Lan Yu was only an Alpha in name, and was actually an Omega. Last night was too much, and to sleep again in such a crowded way, how could he sleep?

“I’ll sleep alone, so go back to your bed. It’s just a little hard, I’ll adapt after a few nights and will be fine.” He said.

“What are you doing? Do you want to eat the electric baton or go into the confinement cell?” A guard yelled a rebuke.

A prisoner replied, “Officer, it’s raining and windy outside, it’s cold, and we’re still covered with thin blankets. We’re afraid we won’t be able to sleep.”

“The prison has gone to purchase supplies and there should be thick quilts in that batch. Hold on for a few more nights, when the Star Warship returns.” The prison guard said impatiently.

“What can we do in these few nights?”

“You can’t freeze to death, so just bear with it.”

The two men, one half lying on the bed, the other standing on the edge, looked at each other in silence.

Lu RanKong looked at the uncovered quilt again and gestured for him to come in.

Lan Yu no longer insisted and stepped on the iron bars to get on the bed. But as he climbed inside, he lowered his voice and said, “If you hold that thing against my back again in the morning, I’ll break it off for you.”

Lu RanKong laughed as he replied, “Isn’t that normal?”

“What’s normal? You Alpha guys don’t have anything decent in your heads.”

“Aren’t you an Alpha too?”

Lan Yu said, “But I don’t hold that thing against people, pressing it more and more onto them.”

“Sleepy, tonight I’ll turn outside and let you hold me, okay? 1 I don’t mind…” Lu RanKong took the small carving knife and stone in his hand and moved it towards the side, leaving the inside half empty, “You still sleep inside, I’ll sleep outside, so I can work on some treasures.”

The room was quiet, each person was doing their own thing in silence, whispering a few words from time to time.

Lin Lin said something and Qiao Fei was laughing loudly, causing the bed with Wang Jin to issue disgruntled complaints. Qiu Dao hurriedly whispered to appease him. Liu Junjie took a pillow and smashed it down, but it was smashed back by Qiao Fei and fell on the bed of Chen Zheng in the lower bunk.

The pillow was about to be plucked away by his hand, when Liu Junjie hurriedly said, “Don’t throw it, don’t throw it! Beware of it falling on the floor and getting dirty.”

Chen Zheng hesitated, then picked up the pillow and handed it up.

Lan Yu leaned over the bed to look at them, and felt that everyone was so real and vivid, and simply couldn’t be associated with the Lontan people. He sighed; this Lontan person was hidden deep enough, and he didn’t know when he would be revealed.

Lu RanKong heard him sigh, looked sideways and said in a voice that only two people could hear, “Don’t be anxious, let’s go and investigate that small hole when we dig tomorrow. The Lontan person was injured there, so there should be something for us to find.”

“Why can’t I be anxious? I want to go back quickly.” Lan Yu squeezed the corner of the quilt with his hand and murmured in a depressed mood.

After a moment of silence, Lu RanKong suddenly asked, “Do you want to go back and see your GooGoo quickly?”

Lan Yu corrected, “It’s not GooGoo, it’s Gu Gu.”

The two continued to be silent as Lu RanKong carved the stone in his hand, and after a moment put the carving knife and the stone down on the small table under the bed and said, “Sleep…”

“You’re not going to make a trinket?”

“I’m sleepy, you should go to bed early too.” Lu RanKong said as he gathered the covers.

“I’ll wait a little longer…” Lan Yu didn’t say he had to throw the mask away later and leaned against the bed to close his eyes.

Lu RanKong suddenly eeked and turned his head to ask him, “Are you going to sleep with your clothes on?”

“Aren’t you also wearing clothes?” Lan Yu returned with his eyes closed.

“I’m in a tank top and shorts, but you didn’t even take off your prison jacket.”

Lan Yu lazily replied, “What’s the difference? It’s all clothes. Besides, I just changed, it’s clean.”

Lu RanKong rolled over and sat up, saying, “Since you’re wearing long clothes and pants, I’ll sleep naked.”

“Oh… What?” Lan Yu’s sleepiness suddenly flew away, “You want to sleep naked?”

Lu RanKong raised the hem of his undershirt with both hands, “Yes, I thought you were wearing an undershirt and shorts, so I could only wear them so that the flesh wouldn’t touch the flesh, right? It turns out you’re so tightly wrapped, that I can take it all off.”

“You can’t…” Lan Yu held his hand down and gritted his teeth, “If you dare to strip naked, I will kick you down right now.”

“Not fully naked, I will leave a pair of underpants on.” Lu RanKong explained.

Lan Yu said viciously, “Not even if you wear ten pairs of underpants!”

After saying this, he slowly stretched out his hand, his index finger and thumb stopped at Lu RanKong’s waist, making a gesture of twisting.

Lu RanKong put down his raised arm and said, “Okay, okay, okay. Not taking it off, sleep.”

“And your hairy legs, watch out for yourself, don’t make me pull out the hairs for you.”

“How can you call these hairy legs? There isn’t much leg hair at all.” Lu RanKong defended,  but then asked with a trace of curiosity on his face, “How come you don’t have a single leg hair?”

“I shaved…” Lan Yu explained calmly.

“Does it bother you? Besides, you’re wearing long pants.” Lu RanKong asked, puzzled.

Lan Yu didn’t move his head, only rolled his eyes to look at him from the mask hole and said, “What’s the point of all that nonsense? I like it like that…”

“You look a little creepy…” Lu RanKong looked at him and after a few seconds of silence said, “Aren’t there any other colors to put on your face?”

“Yes, I saw a green one.”

Lu RanKong laughed and whispered, “Then it’s better to have this one, so I won’t be able to resist sticking needles in you.”

Lan Yu got out of bed, removed the mask and threw it in the trash, then got into bed and got under the covers. The wind was howling and the rain was pouring outside, but the blanket was soft and warm. The two of them fell asleep back to back, and he couldn’t help but feel sleepy, yawned and fell asleep after a while.

The next morning, Lan Yu woke up to the sound of the guard’s whistle and found himself in the arms of Lu RanKong again, leaving him no room to move. He tried to sit up, but the man behind him tightened his grip, and a hard object touched him.

Lan Yu began to struggle from side to side, so Lu RanKong simply wrapped his feet around him and wrapped around him tightly, mumbling, “Don’t move, sleep a little longer.”

His voice was lazy and hoarse, with a strong sense of sleepiness; he was obviously not yet awake.

Lan Yu was afraid of being discovered by others, so he didn’t dare to struggle vigorously, but barely moved his wrists and reached back with difficulty to twist the flesh on the other’s belly.

Lu RanKong’s abdomen was very tight, and felt like a layer of warm velvet satin with soft muscle, so when he twisted it with two fingers, he couldn’t hold it for long. Then his hand went down and touched the leg that didn’t belong to him on his thigh, grabbed the hair on it and yanked it hard.

“Hiss…” The man behind him jerked backwards and grabbed his hand. Lu RanKong closed his eyes and frowned, showing an expression filled with pain, and said, “Don’t pull…”

In the time it took for this short sentence, Lan Yu felt the thing on his back increase in size and hardness, and seemed to twitch.

“I pulled and you’re happier, huh? You pervert…” His face burned to the point of smoking, and his head twisted back as he growled in a low voice through clenched teeth.

Lu RanKong came to his senses and slowly turned around after meeting the angry eyes of the person in his arms. He explained, “I got lost in my sleep, I didn’t mean to.” 

Lan Yu got free and immediately rolled over and sat up, kicking him with his foot, saying, “Get down and get up.”

Lu RanKong lazily lifted the covers and jumped out of bed to put on his slippers. He had already experienced it yesterday morning, so he didn’t try to hide it today, and just stretched his tent high, walking openly to the bathroom.

Lan Yu heard Liu Junjie exclaim with his toothbrush in his mouth, “Brother Bao, it’s spectacular! What do you eat to grow like this?”

Lin Lin was also saying, “In the entire prison, Brother Bao is the biggest.”

“How do you know the size of everyone in the prison? Where do you look at others?” Qiao Fei asked.

Lin Lin replied, “Bathroom ah…”

“You went to the bathhouse and watched others?” Qiao Fei said in surprise.

Liu Junjie asked rhetorically, “Don’t you look? Alphas compare with each other, right?”

“Then let’s compare.”

Lan Yu sat on the bed, listening to their conversation, just wanting to finish the mission quickly and go back, as far away from this prison as possible.

After washing up and eating, everyone gathered again in the courtyard outside the canteen, ready to go to the mine. The sky was already clear and blue with only the loose dirt by the steps and the dripping eaves to show that there had been a rainstorm last night.

Parading to the outside of the prison, the inmates boarded open-topped construction tracked vehicles and marched through the crater exit to their respective mines.

“How did you sleep last night when it cooled down?” Officer Liu, sitting on the passenger side of the tracked vehicle, turns his head and asks Lan Yu, who was behind him.

“Not too bad, not too cold.” Lan Yu replied politely but sparingly.

Officer Liu said to the others, “The thick bedding will be here soon, so hang in there for two more days and be careful not to get cold in the next two days.”

He was the kindest of the guards, and the inmates weren’t afraid of him, and occasionally they would joke around with him. When they heard these words, they said they could still hold on and thanked Officer Liu for his concern.

Because of a rainstorm, the road to Pelican Lake was muddy, and when they encountered a high hill, the tracked vehicles started to skid, and everyone had to get out of the vehicles and walk a lot.

Some prisoners began to complain, “Officer Liu, at this rate, I’m afraid it’ll be too late to reach the mine today. I still have to dig 10 carloads of ore before I can finish work, and I don’t know how long that will take until lunch.”

“You honestly work on the line, why are you saying so much nonsense?” Officer Wang wanted to pull out the electric baton again.

Officer Liu hurriedly said, “Sorry, sorry. I’ll tell you what, we’ll dig only five cars of ore today, ten cars are indeed too much, and it will be afternoon when we get back.” Seeing Officer Wang frowning, he added, “I will explain to the captain as soon as we return.”

“Okay…” Seeing him speak like this, Officer Wang agreed.

The inmates in the car burst into cheers and relayed them loudly to the car behind them, and the car behind followed suit.

Lu RanKong, sitting next to Lan Yu, then whispered in his ear, “Only five carloads of ore will be dug, so let’s just go to that hole.”

Lan Yu nodded imperceptibly.

The slope was steep, and the tracked car was climbing upwards with full power, but it was still slowly sliding downwards in the mud.

“Get off, get off all of you. Walk over the ridge.” Officer Wang took the lead and jumped off, followed by others.

Lan Yu stretched out his feet when he realized that this section of the road was even worse than the beginning, full of mud as far as the eye could see. He looked at his clean shoes and thought, I can’t help it, I’ll wait until I get back from work and wash them.

He was about to step into the mud when he saw Lu RanKong coming around the front of the car. He turned his back and stood in front of Lan Yu, as he offered, “I know you love cleanliness, so let me carry you.” 

Lan Yu saw that everyone was moving forward on their own, so he tried to say no, but Lu RanKong turned his head sideways and said, “Come on, get up. Don’t say you’re like those soft Omegas that need people to half crouch down before they can climb on their backs.”

Soft Omega… Lan Yu’s heart suddenly deflated and he no longer hesitated. He leapt over landing heavily on his back.

Lu RanKong swayed, grabbed a hold of the car,  while his feet sank an inch, and the mud spilled from the side of his feet onto the surface of his shoes.

“Can’t even stand up here? And you still want to carry people, you soft Alpha,” Lan Yu said with his arms around his neck.

“Cough, cough. Loosen your hand a little.” Lu RanKong said as he coughed.

Lan Yu grunted and relaxed his hands, resting them on his shoulders.

Lu RanKong propped him upward and walked forward along the road, saying, “I told you, as long as you don’t go crazy, I’ll serve you well. How’s that? Aren’t I good?”

Lan Yu said coolly as he wrapped his arms around his neck again, “But I want to go crazy right now.”

“No, we still have to go faster. Look, they are all ahead.” Lu RanKong said as he quickened his pace.

The road was thick with yellow mud, and Lu RanKong sank into it with each step, making a gurgling sound and bringing up a big ball of mud. The slope was steep and slippery, and with a man on his back, he didn’t have an easy time walking.

Lan Yu crouched on his broad shoulders, looked at his shoes, which were no longer visible, and said, “I’ll clean them for you when we get back.”

Lu RanKong looked down at the road and said, “Okay…” 

Lan Yu turned his eyes and his gaze fell to the back of his neck.

The light brown skin was covered with a thin layer of sweat that shimmered in the warm sunlight. There was a glandular patch right in the middle of the back of his neck, covering his Alpha gland underneath. Lu RanKong’s body had a faint smell of sweat, not smoky, very nice, so he couldn’t help but come closer and sniff gently.

Then he reacted and felt ashamed of his action, hurriedly turning his head in a panic.

When he turned around, he saw a prisoner next to him, giving him a meaningful smile, and winking.

“Do your eyes itch? Do you want me to dig them out for you?” Lan Yu instantly stiffened his face and said grimly, “Get lost…”

The prisoner hurriedly flew and ran, and fell twice in the mud.

They finally climbed up the mountain, and everyone got back in the car. After that, they didn’t encounter such a steep slope again and reached the Pelican Lake mine without any problems.

When Liu Junjie and the others in the back of the car also arrived, cell 11 grouped together in one place and took the railroad car into the mine in order.

The mine car banged all the way, the wind glided on the tracks at a breakneck pace. Lan Yu has already ridden in it once, so he wasn’t worried that he would throw up while turning corners, so he calmly sat in the seat.

After ten minutes, the mine car slowly slowed down and stopped at the cave Alpha where they were working.

The hole maintained the same appearance as when they left, each according to the division of labor, continuing their previous work. The workload was reduced by half as they only had to dig five carloads of ore today, and everyone was motivated to finish quickly and rest.

Lu RanKong and Lan Yu were ready to go to the hidden cave they found yesterday, so they worked hard for a little while longer. Today’s efficiency was very high, it took them less than half the time to transport five carts of ore out, but all of them were also tired enough to throw the cart away, and find a random place to sit down and rest.

Lin Lin, Qiao Fei and Liu Junjie sat together, leaning against the cave wall behind them, in a rare moment of silence. Qiu Dao and Wang Jin sat on the other side, arguing in a low voice. Chen Zheng sat alone, leaning against a cart, hands on his knees, eyes closed.

Lan Yu sat on a piece of ore, next to Lu RanKong.

After a few minutes of rest, Lu RanKong suddenly reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders, saying in an intimate tone, “SiSi, come on, let’s go smoke.”

Liu Junjie heard this and said thoughtfully, “Brother Bao, Brother Qiao, you guys go smoke. Smoke as long as you want, we’ll rest here.” Then asked Qiu Dao, “Brother Qiu, will you guys go too?”

“Going…” Qiu Dao said.

Lan Yu was about to get up when he heard Wang Jin suddenly yell out, “Smoke your mother!” Then, he flipped Qiu Dao, who was sitting next to him, to the ground and pounced on him. The two rolled around on the ground, choking each other and fighting.