Chapter 107

Chapter 107

Wu Yin: "..."

As thoughts flew wildly for a long moment, I realized the owner of the clothes in my hand was standing right behind me. And me, the mechanical war god Z1932, capable of sensing the airflow from a dragonfly's wings ten meters away, was completely oblivious to this fact: "..."

"Let me explain." Jie Linyuan pressed the clothes into the foamy water, steeling himself to salvage some dignity.

"Fine, explain." Wu Yin said, "I'm listening."

“……”

“？”

“……”

After more than a minute, Wu Yin grew impatient: "Well? Explain."

Jie Linyuan shook off the water from his hands, resigned to his fate: "What's there to explain? I saw the weather was nice and decided to wash our clothes. In the process, I ended up washing yours and started fantasizing about these damned fabrics touching your skin directly. Is that not allowed?"

"Of course, it's allowed," Wu Yin, with his scant sense of shame, nodded and replied indifferently: "...But, had I not shown up, were you planning to sniff them next? Maybe even build a nest or something."

Jie Linyuan furrowed his brows tightly, baffled: "Sniff? How could you think of something so perverted? And what do you mean by building a nest? I'm not a bird; why would I build a nest."

Realizing there were things Jie Linyuan didn't understand, Wu Yin earnestly educated him on the ABO and related novel settings, including pheromones, nesting, and heat periods, leaving Jie Linyuan stunned and marveling at the authors' wild imaginations and the lengths they'd go for unspeakable purposes.

Then, he boldly claimed that if genders really were divided into ABO in this world, he'd definitely be an Alpha.

Wu Yin hadn't thought about this before, but since Jie Linyuan was an Alpha, "...then I'm an Enigma."

"...What's an Enigma?"

"A rarer gender, you could say the A among As."

"Why is there an A above A? Is this never-ending matryoshka? And next, is there an E among Es? ...For someone who doesn’t even know how to say 'watermelon' in English, it turns out your vocabulary has all been spent here?"

"...," Wu Yin decided to steer the derailed conversation back on track, suddenly asking seriously, "So, would you? Would you smell it?"

"I would," Jie Lin Yuan said straightforwardly, "but I definitely won't do anything else."

This finally shocked Wu Yin: "What? What else could there be?"

"...," Jie Lin Yuan was pleasantly surprised to find that in terms of being perverse, he still had the upper hand.

However, Wu Yin quickly proved that his future potential in related areas was not to be underestimated. Not only did he rapidly accept Jie Lin Yuan's 'something else,' but he also crouched beside him, curiously tilting his head and asking, "Besides wanting to take a sniff, what else were you thinking about my clothes just now?"

"...," Jie Lin Yuan averted his gaze, "You wouldn't want to know."

"Is it that hard to say?"

"What else?" Jie Lin Yuan said, "After all, these are thoughts that exist only in my mind, naturally, they're unspeakable."

Wu Yin became even more curious, "Why not talk about it?"

"...I already said it's unspeakable," Jie Lin Yuan rolled the sleeve that had slipped down his elbow back up, revealing his well-defined forearm, "I refuse to say."

"Don't you want to realize them?" Wu Yin seemed to instinctively know how to provoke others. Despite his expressionless face and monotone voice, there was an indescribable allure, "Speak up, maybe they coincide with my tastes, then we could... give it a try?"

This is too much, Jie Lin Yuan thought, once this person gets a clue, he really knows how to play it... both pretending to understand and yet not, resulting in a lack of shame, daring to say anything, right.

Truly both innocent and desirous.

He closed his eyes, first stating, "You brought this upon yourself," then leaned close to Wu Yin's ear, voicing all his thoughts with a bite on his back teeth.

As Wu Yin listened, his eyes narrowed, "Sounds like nothing decent." The romance novels he read were obviously all about pure love, and Jie Lin Yuan's words were way beyond his reading scope; he could hardly understand.

"...You'll like it," Jie Lin Yuan said with an ambiguous smile.

Wu Yin looked skeptically into Jie Lin Yuan's eyes, meeting a gaze that was both innocent and sincere.

"I'll trust you this once," he said, "Don't disappoint me."

"Guaranteed to exceed your expectations."

……

Whether Wu Yin's expectations were exceeded is debatable, but Jie Lin Yuan certainly did exceed them.

Though Wu Yin doesn't understand these things now and won't mock him for it, eventually he will, and looking back on today then will be like recalling a scene from hell.

Indeed, Wu Yin didn't quite understand; he only knew that Jie Lin Yuan hadn't lied, and it was indeed very good, living up to his daytime expectations, so he was in a good mood to fulfill his promise.

Just as Jie Lin Yuan was about to express some random thoughts, facilitating future deceits of Wu Yin, the door of the room next to them was suddenly and slowly pushed open. The sound was soft, the movement slight, but it was quite startling in the dead silence of the night.

Wu Yin instantly became alert, propping himself up, while Jie Lin Yuan stopped what he was doing, twisted off his left pinky, transforming it into a small spherical surveillance device that rolled out through the door gap.

In the surveillance footage from his left eye, Hui Lan was tiptoeing along the corridor, sneaking around with his large tail tucked in, a backpack over his shoulder bulging with evidently many items inside.

Jie Lin Yuan couldn't help but laugh silently, leaning to Wu Yin's ear, whispering, "It's Hui Lan."

"He locked himself in his room all day, skipped lunch, finally figured out what he wants to do?"

"Probably decided on his intention long ago," Jie Lin Yuan kissed Wu Yin's earlobe, "but feared your mockery, so he deliberately waited until night, when all you 'blind men' were asleep, to go out."

"Mockery? Why would I mock him?"

"Guess whether he chose your option one or option two in the end?"

Wu Yin also smiled, "My guess is he chose neither, opting instead for a selfless donation to Putao."

"Smart choice," Jie Linyuan kissed him again, this time on the mole beside his Adam's apple, a spot that thrilled him to no end, sending shivers down his spine with just a gentle caress.

……

Hui Lan didn't seek Jia Chen's help. He had a stockpile of medicine from deals made with a hospital near the Beast Kingdom by the wolves. In these times, medicines were scarce and valuable, sold by the piece. Unbeknownst to others, Hui Lan, though unassuming in appearance, was actually the wealthiest among them.

Despite Wu Yin laying out the most profitable strategies for him, Hui Lan chose to leave with all his belongings to help Putao without expecting anything in return, even taking care of Tan Mao on the sickbed so Putao could rest after being awake for more than two days.

The next day, Hui Lan returned with dark circles under his eyes and an empty backpack. Wu Yin, who had earlier questioned why he would mock him, couldn't help but smile meaningfully, his derision palpable, causing Hui Lan's fur to bristle instantly.

"I know you think I'm foolish," Hui Lan preempted Wu Yin's comment, "And I am, truly a fool for giving so unilaterally, like a clown. But I have no regrets. I love her and want her to be happy. Happiness doesn't mean she has to be with me. If she's happier with someone else, I willingly step back. But if Tan Mao ever lets her down and makes her sad, I won't let him off easily!"

Geng Wu and Jia Chen hadn't left their rooms yet and were instantly drawn to Hui Lan's impassioned speech, both exclaiming in surprise and urging Hui Lan to elaborate.

Hui Lan briefly recounted his tale of unrequited love, slightly embellishing the details, with Wu Yin and Jie Linyuan tacitly choosing not to expose the embellishments.

Wu Zhe and Geng Wu were moved by Hui Lan's simple view of love, seeing him as a true man of courage and passion.

Jie Linyuan also praised Hui Lan's actions, noting the genuine goodness in his deed.

Jia Chen, sipping water, suddenly asked, "Did Putao marry someone else because she thought you were dead?"

"Yes," Hui Lan responded magnanimously, "It's quite normal."

"...I see," Jia Chen mused, then turned to Wu Yin, "What do you think, Wu Yin? How would you evaluate Hui Lan's actions?"

"My thoughts?" Wu Yin pondered, then slowly said, "I've read more than once in books something like 'Liking is possessing, but love is letting go.' You just said the same, Hui Lan. You love Putao, so you let her go instead of insisting on possessing her... But honestly, I don't quite understand. If that saying is true... then maybe I don't love anyone."

His statement made everyone turn their gaze to Jie Linyuan, whose eyes were intently fixed on Wu Yin, silencing the room instantly.

After a moment, Jie Linyuan ran his fingers through Wu Yin's hair and whispered, "That saying doesn't apply to everyone, just like you, and like me... Wu Yin, I understand you. If one day I change, and you still pine for me, you'll do everything in your power to bring me back, until you lose interest... It's okay, Wu Yin, I don't mind."

"But likewise, don't take it to heart when I do the same under similar circumstances."

Jie Linyuan's eyes curved, "We're cut from the same cloth, so let's not despise each other, okay?"

Wu Yin looked up into Jie Linyuan's red pupils, and at the gemstone earring on his earlobe that matched the color of his eyes.

After half a minute, he slowly nodded, "Alright."

Although their conversation was in hushed tones, Hui Lan's excellent hearing as a werewolf allowed him to catch every word. He felt a genuine shiver down his spine, musing that indeed God is fair, endowing everyone with their own strengths and weaknesses. Just like the two incredibly handsome and powerful men before him, who were paired with utterly twisted personalities.

Fortunately, they kept it between themselves, or else who could stand it.