Chapter 149: Returning to Guixu

Chapter 149: Returning to Guixu

Zhou Yun used some experimental equipment at the military hospital to process the samples of mutated plants and animals he had collected along the way, then returned to the guesthouse.

Guan Yuanfeng had already unpacked their luggage from the car, preparing to fly back the next day. He also personally arranged the suite at the guesthouse, replacing the bed and sheets with the ones Zhou Yun had brought.

He must have just bathed Comet as well, using a hairdryer to dry its long fur.

Comet lazily wagged its tail and let out a single bark as Zhou Yun walked in.

Zhou Yun grinned and gave it a pat on the head, noticing that Guan Yuanfeng, despite the cold weather, was only wearing a camouflage short-sleeve shirt, his strong arms exposed, and he carried the scent of shower gel. Zhou Yun asked with a smile, "Did you just shower?"

Guan Yuanfeng replied, "Yes, you should go shower too. We have to board the plane early tomorrow morning. How did your experiments go? Everything complete? Do we need to stay an extra day or two?"

Zhou Yun said with a smile, "I conducted an experiment that hasn't seen progress in a long time." He had previously only attempted grafting shadow hemp crystal cores on animals.

Guan Yuanfeng, influenced by his cheerful demeanor, asked, "Was the progress significant?"

Zhou Yun replied, "Very significant. If successful, it could be highly valuable for the future medical direction of psychics."

Guan Yuanfeng asked, "For example?"

Zhou Yun patiently explained, "When psychics are healthy, their meridians are stable, and their crystal core energy is steady. When psychics and their crystal cores are well-matched, that's the ideal situation. The mental state of psychics is closely related to their abilities."

"However, some psychics, due to aging, serious illness, significant mental trauma, or improper cultivation methods, may develop psychic disorders."

Guan Yuanfeng was surprised, "How so? I haven't heard of such conditions among the psychic team I led."

Zhou Yun said, "Because these are new phenomena, abnormalities might not have been noticed. To draw an analogy, you've heard of 'qi deviation,' right? Psychic ability overload or disorder is somewhat similar." As future research on psychics expands and communication enhances, these conditions will gradually be discovered.

If I'm not mistaken, the Psychic Association will soon publish information on these psychic-related disorders.

"Simply put, psychic disorders include psychic ability exhaustion, psychic disorder, psychic ability overload, psychic ability stress, psychic ability degeneration, and psychic ability rejection." If shadow hemp crystal cores can be successfully applied in the human body, they could have some effect on issues like psychic disorder, overload, and stress.

However, if a healthy psychic grafts a shadow hemp crystal core, the original crystal core energy will be continuously offset by the shadow hemp crystal core. From animal experiments, since the body is not shadow-affinitive, it will repel the shadow hemp crystal core. The shadow hemp crystal core I chose is very small, newly cultivated in the lab—such a tiny core will only cause continuous discomfort and gradual psychic decline. Since the body cannot absorb shadow energy to replenish it, it will eventually lead to crystal core energy disorder and imbalance, resulting in uncontrollable psychic use, fragile meridians, and crystal core rupture.

Thanks to experimental subject No. 001, Ye Shiqing, karma has come full circle.

Zhou Yun thought to himself, then suddenly reached out and touched Guan Yuanfeng's leg. Guan Yuanfeng, who had just put down the hairdryer, looked up in surprise, thinking Zhou Yun was giving some signal, but Zhou Yun had already turned and entered the bathroom, saying, "I'm going to shower."

Zhou Yun leisurely showered and emerged, only to be immediately grabbed by Guan Yuanfeng and pressed onto the bed.

Zhou Yun chuckled and pressed his hand against Guan Yuanfeng's waist, whispering, "What's gotten into you tonight? I didn't see you eat any bull's treasure?"

Guan Yuanfeng gazed down at Zhou Yun, his dark hair and luminous eyes nestled into the soft pillow, the corners of his eyes tinged with a seductive smile. He leaned down and kissed him directly.

They remained intimate until the stroke of midnight. Guan Yuanfeng got up to drink some water and noticed Zhou Yun was still awake, his eyes fixed on him. Thinking Zhou Yun might also want water, he poured a glass and brought it to his lips.

Zhou Yun sipped slowly, his hand tenderly tracing the crisscrossing red marks on Guan Yuanfeng's legs.

Guan Yuanfeng noticed that Zhou Yun's expression wasn't one of lingering desire but rather pure admiration and affection. However, such gentle caresses over the marks left by the vines during their earlier passion reignited his excitement, coupled with Zhou Yun's intense, loving gaze, it was too much for him.

With a helpless sigh, he set the cup aside, lay down next to Zhou Yun, and pulled him close.

Zhou Yun snuggled closer, his hand once more finding its place on Guan Yuanfeng's abdomen, thinking to himself that in his previous life, it must have been the Ye family patriarch who wanted his water-wood crystal core. It was clear that Guan Yuanfeng, Wei Anguo, and other military personnel were initially used as experimental materials. So, in his previous life, had Guan Yuanfeng used those gene drugs?

He must quickly get Ye Yuqing back to the Lin Dong base.

Guan Yuanfeng asked, "...Not sleeping?"

Zhou Yun seemed lost in thought: "Go ahead and sleep, don’t worry about me."

Guan Yuanfeng: "..."

He touched Zhou Yun's still damp hair: "Sleep, what are you thinking about? Are you upset about saving Ye Shiqing?" It’s not the right time to take action against him. After all, Guixu City is still in its infancy, and the post-apocalyptic peace is too fragile. They can only maintain a surface-level peace and can’t freely mete out justice. Having spent years in the military, he’s seen plenty of these second and third-generation elites. But Zhou Yun, a doctor entirely focused on research, lives in a sheltered world and likely finds such things intolerable.

Zhou Yun: "No." He quickly pulled his hand back and shut his eyes: "I'm going to sleep, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Guan Yuanfeng: "..." He held Zhou Yun's hand and placed it back under the blanket, pulling the blanket up: "Sleep. As for the Ye family, Ye Yuqing will handle things once he’s sent back. I'll go back and talk to the Tianlang team, arrange for them to escort Ye Yuqing." The Lin Dong base is too critical to let slip out of control.

Zhou Yun was exhausted and soon drifted into a deep, even sleep. Guan Yuanfeng smiled, drew him close, kissed his forehead softly, and drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning, they boarded the plane back and soon returned to Guixu.

After being gone for over half a month, they returned to Guixu in full spring bloom. The city’s crape myrtles, peach, and plum trees were in full bloom, the streets awash with flowers like clouds of smoke—stunningly beautiful.

Coming back from the frozen north, Zhou Yun was a little surprised: "Although it is indeed March, last year it was snowing and frozen until May when the snow melted and spring returned. Why did the snow melt so early this year?"

Qin Mu, who came to pick them up, said: "Not just melted—it’s like we’ve skipped straight to summer. Zhu Zhuan’s busy with spring plowing, and meteorologists say this isn’t a good sign. The cold spell was too brief, and we could be dealing with pests and rodents this year."

Zhou Yun said: "Breed more shadow ducks and shadow birds. How is everyone?"

Qin Mu said: "Ye Yuqing’s limbs have regrown."

Guan Yuanfeng was somewhat surprised: "So fast?" Right, he remembered that he also woke up one day to find his legs suddenly healed.

Qin Sheng, who was driving, laughed: "He was shocked too, but Ling Dingxiu’s emotional outburst made him seem calm by comparison. Yao Lao was thrilled, examining him repeatedly and confirming all his functions were normal. Yao Lao kept saying, times have changed, humanity’s evolving—it’s a miracle."

Zhou Yun smiled: "His eyes are still not better, right?"

Qin Sheng said: "Not yet, Dr. Zhou. You’re still the best."

Zhou Yun nodded: "Eyes are too intricate; regeneration takes time." If Ye Shiqing could reach the fifth level, he might regain his appearance, but my shadow crystal core has blocked his way.

Jiang Rongqian said: "Then there’s Du Zonghan, the new guy—quite pushy. He just arrived the day before yesterday and immediately demanded to see General Guan and the Lord of Dongjun. We gave him a vague response."

Zhou Yun asked: "What is his psychic ability?"

Jiang Rongqian said: "Also wood abilities." He asked Guan Yuanfeng: "Should we arrange a meeting?"

Zhou Yun said: "No hurry, let him cool his heels."

Guan Yuanfeng didn't speak, Jiang Rongqian knew this was tacit approval.

Qin Mu interjected: "Currently, he is still staying in a hotel, his office is arranged at the city hall, but he proposed that his residence should be arranged in Yunding Shanyuan, and secondly, the order of meetings and document issuance, he should be before Zhu Zhuan and me. Because the officially recognized city lord by the alliance is Dongjun, Zhu Zhuan and I are appointed by the city lord, while he is appointed by the alliance, so his order should be second only to the city lord."

Zhou Yun: "..."

Qin Sheng was indignant: "Hua Rou notified him of the spring plowing deployment meeting, he arrived at the meeting site and scolded Hua Rou who was setting up the table cards at the venue until she cried. Shen Lan directly said there was a public security case in the city and took leave first, taking Hua Rou away. Later, the meeting was not held, and no one paid attention to him, everyone left. He wanted to scold people but couldn't find anyone to scold, everyone is busy with spring plowing."

Zhou Yun rubbed his forehead: "Just say I'm sick, don't let me see him, Zhu Zhuan is the chief executive officer, say I said, if he's not satisfied he can look elsewhere." Such a terrifying official air, he absolutely does not want to see these bureaucrats again.

Guan Yuanfeng couldn't help but laugh: "I'll deal with him, you don't need to bother."

As soon as they returned to Guixu City, a myriad of complicated affairs came rushing at them.

Zhou Yun directly became a hands-off boss, only returning to the medical center to inventory his gains from this trip, and after researching with Yao Huan and Qi Shuhong, divided them into different projects, distributing the samples one by one, and various research teams immediately started up. He also arranged for people to go to the Xining base, responsible for the research of volcanic algae and volcanic spiders.

Yao Huan was very pleased: "These are all good projects, fortunately the experts from Zhongzhou will arrive soon, Duoduo's grandfather said he will arrive tomorrow, just in time to enjoy the flowers. These projects will immediately have people to take over."

The airlifted volcano rabbit breeding project was arranged by Guan Yuanfeng to be managed by fire psychics and special operations team members. For now, it’s temporarily managed by the Nanshan Herb Garden.

After accompanying Yao Huan to see the volcano rabbits, Zhou Yun took the opportunity to visit Ye Yuqing.

Indeed, Ye Yuqing's limbs were fully intact, and although his eyes were still bandaged, his overall complexion and spirit had improved significantly. When he heard Zhou Yun had arrived, he got up to greet him personally: "Dr. Zhou, you're back from your trip?"

Zhou Yun smiled: "Yes, General Ye, glad to see you’ve recovered."

Ye Yuqing replied: "Yes, I’m planning to say goodbye to you and General Guan soon, as I intend to return to the Lindong Base in the near future."

Zhou Yun asked: "Why not rest a few more days? Are you sure about this? General Guan mentioned that he would have the Tianlang Team escort you back."

Ye Yuqing said: "Thanks to General Guan for thinking of that."

Zhou Yun expressed some concern: "If they still plan to detain you when you get back, can you handle it?"

Ye Yuqing smiled confidently: "I have privately contacted Zhongzhou and obtained the specific itinerary of the Deputy Governor who is being dispatched to the Lindong Base."

He smiled confidently, like he had it all figured out: "During my external inspection, I will 'accidentally' meet the Deputy Governor who is about to take office at the Lindong Base, and then I will be delighted to accompany the Deputy Governor back to the Lindong Base."