Chapter 95 Falling Flowers and Spring Gone 01

"I... I won't." Fu Luoyin's eyes reddened further as he interrupted in a hoarse voice, "I won't. That was in the morning, Shuicheng. I don't believe it, and I won't agree."

Lin Shuicheng looked at him, still with that gentle and soothing gaze, "I don't want to continue this kind of life either. I'll contact General He and ask her to release Elder General Fu in exchange for me. She should agree to such a condition."

"It's impossible," Fu Luoyin replied firmly, but a hint of panic had begun to surface beneath his usual composed facade, "Don't talk nonsense, Lin Shuicheng. I don't..."

Lin Shuicheng spoke softly, "You don't want to break up now because you've invested too much into me – time, energy, emotions, reputation... You can't let go of these things right now, but you will gradually over time."

Fu Luoyin still insisted, "I don't..." He stared wide-eyed at Lin Shuicheng, repeating like he was possessed, "I won't break up, it's impossible."

Lin Shuicheng lowered his head, burying his face into the blankets, his voice soft and gentle, "Get some rest early."

He turned away from Fu Luoyin, not wanting to see him.

Time seemed to freeze in that instant, the air heavy and sour, leaving no room for any reaction.

Fu Luoyin didn't leave. He didn't move either, simply sitting by the bed in silence.

The person under the covers breathed softly, their gentle and sweet aura torturing him like a slow and painful execution.

Fu Luoyin's voice had completely turned hoarse. "You can still sleep."

Lin Shuicheng didn't respond.

How could he forget?

— Lin Shuicheng didn't have a heart at all. He was perpetually calm and composed, as if nothing in the world mattered to him, and he could always handle everything with ease.

He pitied him, bestowed upon him, accompanied him, and cared for him, but he would never love him.

He wouldn't get angry or sad because he simply didn't care. Even now, he still treated him like a child begging for candy, summoning him at will and dismissing him just as easily. After giving him the candy, he'd promptly forget, while Fu Luoyin held onto that sweet tightly until it melted.

"Speak, Lin Shuicheng," Fu Luoyin insisted stubbornly, calling out his name. "I'll give you... I'll give you one last chance. Just tell me you were only pretending to be angry and deceiving me, and I'll make up with you."

"I'm sorry for hurting you that night and making you fall ill. I was too jealous." He suppressed his emotions, trying to keep his voice from wavering too much. "I was jealous of my brother. Growing up, I had nothing, while he had everything. But there was one thing I didn't envy him for. I only envied him for having you."

"Speak, say that you were pretending to be angry and lying to me." Fu Luoyin's voice was so low and raspy it was on the verge of cracking, revealing a faint hint of hysterical despair. "Speak..."

Lin Shuicheng's tranquility was like a gloomy sky, gathering bit by bit over time, threatening to overwhelm him.

This was a silent judgment, a final ultimatum to their relationship.

After an indeterminate period, Fu Luoyin finally rose and left.

The faint scent of mint dissipated in the darkness, yet the atmosphere remained oppressive.

Lin Shuicheng shifted beneath the covers, retrieving his phone.

The screen illuminated his face with a soft white glow. Lin Shuicheng wore no expression as he curled up tightly, sending messages with deliberate care using the tip of his finger.

He had communicated with He Muya before and thus possessed her contact information.

Message by message, he typed them out.

"I am Lin Shuicheng."

"I know you want me, and I agree to come, but there's a condition: first, drop the charges against General Fu Kai, and second, increase security for the two people around me—Fu Luoyin and Lin Deng. I won't tolerate any harm coming to them. RANDOM has already taken several from my life; I cannot afford to lose my loved ones and family anymore."

"I hold the key to deciphering the INNERSECT organization. I'm of great significance to them."

"If you find my demands excessive, I can also refresh the entire Alliance's memory about the conversation that took place in that glasshouse. General He wouldn't want our discussion to become public knowledge, I assume. You have no grounds to accuse Fu's Military Technology of their genetic program, whereas I have valid reasons to suspect that you intend to steal and monopolize all achievements related to genetics and ethics."

"That concludes what I have to say. I hope you will consider it."

Typing out these words seemed to drain all of Lin Shuicheng's energy. After hitting send, within less than a minute, a call came in from the other end, accompanied by a message: "Is it convenient for you to confirm if this is actually you?"

Lin Shuicheng pressed the answer button.

"Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. Little Lin?" A young man's voice came from the other end of the line, sounding cheerful and bright. Lin Shuicheng remembered his name; he was He Muya's bodyguard, Xu Hang.

"It's me," Lin Shuicheng replied.

"Regarding the situation you mentioned in your text, General He is aware of it, and she has expressed her intention to convene a meeting for further investigation. We need to clarify a few issues now, if you don't mind." Xu Hang paused before asking, "Are you currently free to act as you wish? Is the content you sent to us your own decision?"

Lin Shuicheng's voice was hoarse as he answered, "I know what you want to ask. Fu Luoyin wouldn't force me. I take responsibility for all my actions."

Xu Hang gave a wry smile. "Of course we believe you can take responsibility, but Deputy Director Fu... let me put it this way, we're aware of your presence in the Fu Military Science Park. From the day you moved in, Deputy Director Fu turned the place into a military fortress. If, and I emphasize if, we were to enter and take you away in Deputy Director Fu's eyes, our safety might not be guaranteed. A single deployable nanobomb could cause severe losses for us."

Lin Shuicheng said, "This is also one of the reasons why I'm asking you to release General Fu Kai. If you send General Fu over, I'll go with you."

"..." The person on the other end was momentarily stunned before responding, "Alright, please wait for our reply."

"Hang Xu, by the way, I heard your voice is a bit hoarse. I hope you take care of yourself. If you come, we won't treat you as an ordinary suspect. Please rest assured about that," Xu Hang added.

Lin Shuicheng hung up the phone.

The deep of night fell silent once more, and the boundless darkness and stillness rushed back immediately. The exhaustion of reality almost suffocated him.

He remained motionless under the covers, staring blankly into space with his bloodshot eyes.

It took him a long time before he finally fell asleep.

In his dream, he saw a young Fu Luoyin, walking alone through the campus with his schoolbag, radiating both arrogance and solitude.

He dreamed of himself writing competition questions at Uncle Guard's desk on a Saturday afternoon, with a thermos sent by his grandfather, trembling as he carried it across almost the entire campus, placed beside him.

As Fu Luoyin passed by his window, he tilted his head and asked, "Good student, why aren't you going home?"

He was usually quiet and well-behaved, not engaging with others much. However, something inexplicably prompted him to lift the competition question in his hand and respond softly, "I'm participating."

"Oh," Fu Luoyin said. He took a deep sniff and murmured, "Uncle dorm supervisor is cooking again? What smells so delicious?"

For some reason, Lin Shuicheng felt that he hadn't eaten. There was no reason for it, but he just did. Most of the other students had gone home or were chatting with their parents on campus about the week's events. Only model students with family delivering meals and rebellious teens without anyone to send them food or an open cafeteria would return to their dorms.

He glanced at him again, hesitated for a moment, then whispered gently, "Come eat with me."

...

In the early hours of the morning, Lin Shuicheng was awakened by a cat stepping on him.

A fluffy tail brushed across his cheek, stirring the damp, cool residue from the corner of his eye. A warm, rough cat tongue licked his fingertips.

"Meow."

Opening his eyes, Lin Shuicheng saw a calico cat sprawled on his chest, its green eyes staring at him.

"...Commander?"

Lin Shuicheng was puzzled as to why this cat had appeared here. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up in bed and stroked its fur.

The Chief rubbed against him desperately, wagging its tail and mewing, seemingly expressing its longing.

Gently patting its little head, Lin Shuicheng asked, "Where's your little sidekick?"

No sooner had he asked the question than the end of the bed sank, and a small gray cat leaped onto it, nudging for Lin Shuicheng's attention.

Fu Luoyin had returned both cats.

Upon seeing the gray kitten, Lin Shuicheng instinctively reached for its tail tip but found nothing there.

He cuddled and stroked both felines before checking his phone to find that it was already seven in the morning.

Throwing on a robe, he got up and softly pushed the door open.

The room was empty, and Fu Luoyin was not in the living room. However, there was a change in the dining area connected to it – the table was now piled high with an array of chemical reagents and samples, mostly conical flasks, the kind that Lin Shuicheng often used.

Upon closer inspection, camphor, potassium nitrate, ammonium chloride, and copper sulfate were scattered everywhere. A mixture of translucent and blue powders adhered to the tabletop, emitting a slightly pungent odor.

These items were all too familiar to Lin Shuicheng – copper sulfate, potassium nitrate, ammonium chloride, ethanol, and camphor blended together. The solution would precipitate crystals when the temperature changed.

They were also known as storm glasses.

Lin Shuicheng was momentarily stunned. It wasn't until the gray kitten and the leader emerged from the room, crouching by his feet and gazing up at him that he snapped back to reality.

He walked over to the fridge, reached out, and opened it, intending to feed the two cats with some leftover frozen chicken from the previous night. But upon opening the fridge, he froze once again.

It had been emptied, now filled to the brim with storm glasses.

A uniform blue solution; such a romantic trinket seemed somewhat comical when squeezed in such numbers.

It was winter, so there wouldn't be much temperature difference indoors. Clearly, someone had attempted to store the storm glasses in the fridge, hoping that they would crystallize overnight.

Lin Shuicheng lowered his gaze to inspect them.

There were over twenty bottles on the upper shelf, and more than thirty in the lower freezer – all frozen solid. Not a single one had precipitated crystals. The closest attempt was a bottle with excess potassium nitrate that hadn't fully dissolved, leaving behind sparkling rhombic crystals settled at the bottom.

He could almost picture the scene: a tall, aloof man sitting earnestly at the dining table, meticulously following the recipe to prepare the storm glasses, searching for information and frowning as he worked, doing this all through the night, only to have most of them fail.

Lin Shuicheng eventually discovered everything that had been displaced from the refrigerator, including the unused half of a frozen chicken, within the intelligent waste bin.

The bin was filled with crumpled pieces of paper. Upon unfolding one randomly, a scribbled message could be seen: "Can we not break up? I'll replace your cat and the storm glass. Please don't be sad."

Picking up another, it read: "Don't break up."

And another: Only his name, "Lin Shuicheng," was left legible.

The rest were indecipherable; perhaps they once contained something, but were ruthlessly blacked out with a ballpoint pen before being crumpled and tossed into the trash.