Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Xie Linyuan wrapped his arms around him from behind, interlocking their fingers across Wu Yin's abdomen. A long sigh reached his ears, and, somewhat surprised, Xie Linyuan turned his head, his silver hair brushing against Wu Yin's cheek. He reached out to wipe a speck of dust from the corner of Wu Yin's eye, "...What's wrong?"

Wu Yin removed his work gloves, covering Xie Linyuan's warm backhand with his palm, and closed his eyes wearily, "Nothing... just a bit, tired."

Xie Linyuan had never seen Wu Yin like this before. The tall white walls and green tiles blocked the warm, golden sunset, leaving only the cold, icy blue light casting on Wu Yin's already pale face, making him appear even more fragile, like a piece of exquisite porcelain covered in mud.

The man, usually arrogant and seemingly omnipotent, now dropped his guard, his eyes closed, lying submissively in his embrace, openly showing his vulnerable side and entrusting him with all his trust.

Xie Linyuan watched Wu Yin's long black eyelashes, feeling a mix of emotions - affection, excitement, pity, and a desire to destroy, all at once, causing his heart to beat uncontrollably.

With his eyes closed and a relaxed expression, Wu Yin caressed Xie Linyuan's hand, found his fingers, and gently squeezed along the joints before interlocking their fingers. His Adam's apple moved lightly, "Make your heart quiet down a bit, it's disturbing me."

"Isn't that a bit too much to ask?" Xie Linyuan chuckled softly, his chest against Wu Yin's back, the laughter causing vibrations to transfer to the other, "I can't do that."

"If you can't, I'll dig it out for you," Wu Yin threatened him.

Far from being scared, Xie Linyuan even leisurely freed one hand to press it against Wu Yin's chest, teasingly saying, "Heart rate 69... Wu Yin, what's this about? Do I not attract you at all? Why doesn't your heartbeat accelerate when you're this close to me?"

As he spoke, he deliberately teased Wu Yin further, the hand on his chest acting indecently. Only when Wu Yin's heartbeat surpassed 100 did Xie Linyuan finally let go of him with satisfaction, turning his head to look at the prince, who had been acting as a third wheel for a while, "What's happened, Your Highness, to upset your master so?"

The golden retriever panted with its tongue out cluelessly, and the collie did the same, but somehow seemed smarter than the retriever. It stood up, moving slightly aside to reveal the rotten, split-open corpse behind it.

Xie Linyuan raised an eyebrow, "He's alive?"

Wu Yin remained silent, but the prince's two heads nodded vigorously in unison, making it clear to Xie Linyuan, "He has something he wants to tell only you, is that it? Pretending to be dead for so many days because you were always with me, he couldn't find the chance."

"Yes."

"I can understand his wariness of me, but why didn't he contact Geng Wu or Jia Chen?" Xie Linyuan wondered, "Does he only trust you? Why?"

"I don't know," Wu Yin murmured, sighing.

Jie Linyuan didn't press further, nor did he inquire about the specifics the corpse shared with Wu Yin. Instead, he tightened his embrace and spoke in a soft, soothing voice, "It seems his words have upset you."

Wu Yin pondered silently for a moment before deciding to share the most troubling information with Jie Linyuan: "…He said my core was once defective. Defective cores are to be destroyed. Yet, I was exceptionally spared due to certain special reasons. Then, at some point he's unaware of, I mysteriously awakened, becoming what I am now."

"Hmm," Jie Linyuan seemed unfazed, "Isn't that good?"

"No, I don't feel it's good at all," Wu Yin frowned, "How can there be so many coincidences? Why would a defective core suddenly awaken? Jie Linyuan, when he told me I was once defective, it felt like I vaguely remembered something... Someone was crying in front of me, someone was questioning me loudly, someone was earnestly instructing me—"

His heartbeat suddenly spiked to 140. Jie Linyuan quickly patted his chest to calm him, "Take it easy, Wu Yin. It's all in the past, and it might well just be your imagination."

Wu Yin's gaze became empty, and with half-open lips, he muttered, "…What you anticipate, what you desire, what you dream of, what you await, all will come true."

Jie Linyuan paused, the phrase somewhat familiar, as if he had heard it before. After a careful recollection, he remembered it was from their early days of acquaintance, when Wu Yin, impersonating the blonde researcher Palmer at the Wolfsbane Shelter, uttered these poetic words of farewell before a mission, under the guise of flirting to probe him.

Wu Yin blinked, his emerald eyes refocusing, landing on Jie Linyuan's crimson pupils, "Do you think it's possible that someone paid a severe price, even their life, to enable my awakening?"

"Why would you think that?" Jie Linyuan asked, given all the information he had, it was impossible to draw such a conclusion.

"…I don't know," Wu Yin clicked his tongue impatiently, "Perhaps because the person who spoke those words to me has yet to appear."

Jie Linyuan felt slightly annoyed, recognizing the significant impact this person had on Wu Yin.

—For someone as heartless and devoid of normal human emotions as Wu Yin, to still be influenced by this individual despite his amnesia...

Although the timing wasn't right, Jie Linyuan couldn't help feeling uneasy about this person's existence. Yet, he knew it would be foolish to get jealous over this, so all he did was nibble on Wu Yin's earlobe and kiss his cheeks and lips, trying to divert his attention, "Stop overthinking."

He pointed towards the corpse on the ground, "Speaking of which, since this person knew even about your being a defective core, he must know quite a bit more, right? Why didn't you ask him other things?"

Wu Yin was almost comically resentful, "He said the body he's inhabiting has been dead too long, couldn't speak, and typing was super slow. Told me to find him a fresh body to inhabit."

Jie Linyuan: "…"

Jie Linyuan pondered, "That shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"It must be as intact as possible, and definitely not a zombie."

"That's a bit difficult," Xie Linyuan licked the corner of his lips, then voiced an idea as outrageous as Wu Yin's initial one: "If not, should I kill one for him now?"

……

The next day, Lu Ba got up early as usual to leave breakfast for the mutants and went out to work.

He had thought that Xie Linyuan spending the whole day with him was just a fleeting moment, a sensitive old friend noticing his loneliness and taking rare time out to accompany him. What he didn't expect was, the moment he opened the door, there stood Xie Linyuan and Wu Yin leaning against the wall outside, as if they had been waiting for him for a long time.

Terrifyingly, Lu Ba's premonition came true.

"You two..." he asked, steeling himself, "what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," Wu Yin stepped forward, emerging from behind the wall with a loop of green ivy around his ear.

"...Ah?"

From Xie Linyuan, Wu Yin learned that after Lu Ba destroyed his own future and left the northern camp, he taught himself medicine along the way and now was a barefoot doctor famous far and wide in the zoo.

Yesterday, Xie Linyuan acted as a handsome male nurse for him, easing Lu Ba's psychological burdens while also holding down patients struggling through anesthesia-free surgeries, nearly dislocating his arm in the process.

Wu Yin thought such terrifying medical skills would sooner or later kill someone, conveniently providing a fresh, intact host for Gui You, so he eagerly decided to follow Lu Ba, waiting for him to produce a new corpse.

Unaware of their sinister intentions, Lu Ba thought his old friends were still worried about him and hurriedly reassured them there was no need for such measures.

Wu Yin couldn't be bothered to explain, set on following Lu Ba. Seeing their "sincere" intentions, Lu Ba had no choice but to let them tag along.

But frustratingly, whether it was bad luck or not, they encountered many patients throughout the day, all with chronic conditions that weren't fatal; and some seemed close to death, but despite Wu Yin's intense scrutiny, they just wouldn't die.

The last patient Lu Ba saw was suffering from a severe illness, both legs swollen and rotting, emitting a foul smell, alone in a dark, cramped hut with nothing but a bed and a damp, moldy blanket, essentially waiting to die, watching his body slowly decay.

This was a complete dead end, yet he still desperately begged a neighbor to find a doctor for him. Unable to offer any reward and knowing that no one in the zoo could save him given the current level of medical care, he still instinctively clung to the hope for help, unwilling to give up even knowing it was a dead end.

Lu Ba didn't prescribe any medicine; he just aired out the blanket, cleaned the dirty, smelly filth from the bed, then sat down to chat with him, listening to his pre-apocalyptic experiences, and before leaving, provided him with some food.

Wu Yin stood quietly by the whole time, observing, listening, his gaze intently on the man on the bed, sick beyond recognition.

Xie Linyuan was curious about what Wu Yin could possibly be thinking at this moment. Despite Wu Yin becoming more human in their interactions, Xie Linyuan's subconscious still labeled him as someone devoid of humanity.

If Wu Yin were to question why not simply choose suicide given the dire circumstances, Xie Linyuan wouldn't be surprised at all.

But Wu Yin didn't. When Xie Linyuan asked if he had such thoughts, Wu Yin instead questioned with confusion, "Isn't the will to survive instinctual? People always try their hardest to keep living."

"But there are also people who choose suicide," Xie Linyuan said. "To seek release, or to protect something more important than life itself, they willingly give up their lives."

Wu Yin was silent for a moment, then shook his head, "I don't understand."

"It's right that you don't understand," Xie Linyuan smiled, taking his hand, "If you did, I'd wonder who had taken over you."

Indeed, it was the familiar little parasite he knew, possessing humanity, but not much of it.

……

As the trio was about to head back, A'Cheng suddenly appeared from nowhere, her eyes bulging and murky, lightly landing on the three-meter-high wall, her face covered in black, intricate veins, "Lu Ba, the person you asked me to watch for, I've seen them."

After finishing her statement, she noticed Wu Yin and Xie Linyuan were there too, quickly jumped down from the wall to her normal appearance, tidied her hair and clothes, and waved her hands to greet them, "Xiao Hu, San Er, you're here too?"

Lu Ba's expression turned serious, and he rushed to A'Cheng, "Where are they now?"

"They arrived at the zoo an hour ago, five men and one woman, all injured," A'Cheng said. "Two of them have the same white hair and red eyes as you and San Er, does this characteristic mean they are the Mechanical War Gods from the northern camp, as you mentioned?"

She looked at Xie Linyuan, raising her left hand to gesture, "The white-haired man is missing half of his left hand, constantly sparking with electricity, and the white-haired woman's left arm can transform, but it seems only into a blade."

The female subject who could only transform into knives... Jie Linyuan began searching the database for her identification number.

A'Cheng muttered, "They're so stupid, getting charged double the room rate as soon as they walked in. I kindly warned them, and they told me to mind my own business, super rude."

"Must be rich," Wu Yin said. "Since they're so wealthy, let's 'ask' them for a bit later. They probably won't mind."