Chapter 22: Reject Him

Chapter 22: Rejecting Him

Mu Ye's body had reached its limit, his ability completely spent, his body limp and lifeless, sunk in a deep coma.

The healers traveling with them crowded around him, faces taut with tension, cleaning the wounds on his body.

The trip back went surprisingly smoothly. The zombies along the way were nothing to worry about, and the entire journey was calm and peaceful, without so much as a real obstacle.

But Shu Hanqing couldn't shake his unease.

From the moment they set off, he sat in the vehicle carrying Mu Ye, with Rong Hua tagging along uninvited, keeping silent vigil beside him until the convoy passed through checkpoint after checkpoint and returned to the Third District.

The hospital in the apocalypse was hardly what it used to be—a battered, post-apocalyptic wreck. Still, after reconstruction, the specialized equipment was barely holding up.

The hospital had separate wings for civilians and superpowered individuals.

A clear medicinal solution was slowly injected into Mu Ye's vein, and the nurse tossed the used syringe into a metal tray nearby.

"He overextended his ability and damaged his core. Now we just need to wait for the medicine to take effect. Given his constitution, he'll recover on his own. No need to worry too much."

Lei Zheng walked the nurse out, then came back, his tall frame looming over Shu Hanqing: "He's fine, but what about you? Are you alright? Your complexion is terrible. Want a nutrient shot too?"

Shu Hanqing discreetly stepped back half a pace, refusing Lei Zheng's concern: "I'm fine."

"You're really worried about him?" Lei Zheng raised an eyebrow.

This overstepping question made Shu Hanqing frown deeply, finding the man impossibly tactless and presumptuous.

But before he could speak, Lei Zheng had already stepped closer.

The suffocating pressure of a top-tier powerhouse bore down on him, forcing Shu Hanqing to back away step by step to keep his distance, until his back was almost against the wall.

"You're still not going to tell me," Lei Zheng's voice dropped extremely low, "why you've got traces of my ability on you?"

The man's presence flooded the cramped space, making it hard to breathe.

Shu Hanqing let out a cold laugh: "...How do you know it's definitely yours? Lightning users are all over the base. You're not the only one in the world who's awakened a lightning ability, are you?"

Lei Zheng stared at Shu Hanqing, smiling rather than getting angry: "You seem to really hate me."

Shu Hanqing shot back without hesitation: "Don't you just make yourself unbearable?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Lei Zheng suddenly raised his hand and reached toward Shu Hanqing. But Shu Hanqing, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, twisted his body aside.

His hand grabbed nothing but air. Lei Zheng's eyes darkened, and his right arm swept down, trying to catch his waist.

But Shu Hanqing slipped away again.

Lei Zheng eyed the bristling hedgehog before him with a half-smile, curiosity flickering in his eyes: "If I weren't dead sure I've never seen you before, I'd swear you and I had something going on. You seem to know what I'm going to do before I do it?"

This wasn't precognition on Shu Hanqing's part—it was pure muscle memory, conditioned reflexes etched into his bones.

In his past life, Lei Zheng's favorite move was to grab his jaw with one hand while the other yanked his lower back, slamming their bodies flush together.

It was a position that let Lei Zheng bend down and kiss him whenever he wanted, to control everything about him.

A pose of absolute dominance, one Shu Hanqing hated to the bone.

"...Who ever had anything with you."

Shu Hanqing let out a cold laugh, eyeing the man with a mix of sarcasm and wariness: "Officer Lei, you're a big shot at this base. If word gets out you're sexually harassing the deputy captain of an outside squad like this, that wouldn't look too good, would it?"

Lei Zheng raised an eyebrow at that, stepping back half a pace, but his eyes stayed locked on him: "You and your captain are pretty close, huh."

Shu Hanqing didn't respond.

He met Lei Zheng's gaze, his heart sinking. He knew that look all too well.

The way Lei Zheng was looking at him now—a lazy, appraising interest, like a hunter sizing up new prey.

This was probably the downside of having spent years crawling under Lei Zheng's command and in his bed in his past life.

Even now, having been reborn, Shu Hanqing still retained a habit: subconsciously reading and analyzing every subtle look and twitch on this man's face.

Back then, in the precarious upper echelons of the Central Base, the fact that he—an ability user with no connections—could climb to the top was by no means due to sheer courage alone. He'd never lacked the skill of reading people and reading the room.

But back then, he'd at least had Lei Zheng's indulgence and silent backing.

And now, the interest kindling in Lei Zheng's eyes was so intense it made his skin crawl.

Those eyes were lazily and brazenly roaming over Shu Hanqing's lean waist and long, straight legs.

Shu Hanqing, caught in that lecherous gaze, wished he could wrap himself in more clothes. He cursed viciously under his breath: you old pervert.

Whether Lei Zheng had ever loved him in his past life was a messy, unresolved score that stayed murky to the very end.

But one thing Shu Hanqing was dead certain of, and had learned with his own body, was that Lei Zheng was flat-out obsessed with his body, utterly addicted to the feeling of owning him completely and devouring him whole in bed.

That kind of insatiable, frenzied plundering would push Shu Hanqing to the edge of madness every single time.

His mind drifted for a moment, and he remembered a time when he had suddenly woken in the middle of the night, opening his eyes to find Lei Zheng gripping his hand tightly, staring at him in the darkness, unmoving, his expression unreadable.

The moment Lei Zheng sensed he was awake, he casually looked away.

Shu Hanqing forcibly cut the memory short and tossed out a stiff reply: "...That's none of your business, Officer Lei."

Lei Zheng didn't push it. He shot Shu Hanqing a look, then turned and left the room.

Once the noise of footsteps in the ward faded and the other team members dispersed to rest, the once-crowded medical room went dead silent.

Shu Hanqing walked to the bedside.

It was a plain two-bed ward, the other bed empty. Shu Hanqing sat down beside Mu Ye's bed.

The man in the bed had his eyes shut tight. Even in his deep coma, his handsome brows stayed furrowed, as if even in his dreams he couldn't shake the weight on his shoulders.

Shu Hanqing reached out, trying to smooth away the worry etched there.

After sitting vigil by the bed for a while, Shu Hanqing finally got up and pushed the door open to leave.

The moment he rounded the corner of the corridor, he saw Rong Hua hadn't left at all.

He was just leaning alone against the hospital's mottled, peeling white wall, head down, idly kicking the toe of his shoe against the floor. He must have been waiting a long time—some white dust from who-knows-where was smudged across his face, a little white smudge on the tip of his nose, looking pretty comical.

At the sound of the door, Rong Hua looked up, and upon seeing Shu Hanqing emerge, he hurried over like a kid who'd finally seen his parent come to pick him up.

Shu Hanqing reached out and wiped the white dust off the tip of his nose: "Were you licking the wall? You been waiting long?"

Rong Hua shook his head. He wanted to say something, but after catching the exhaustion Shu Hanqing couldn't hide in his eyes, the words on the tip of his tongue died in his throat.

Rong Hua clung to him affectionately, leaning closer without making a fuss, and murmured softly, "...Let's go back. I'm so tired."

Shu Hanqing replied in a low voice, "Okay."

The moment they stepped down the hospital's front steps, the narrative prompt sounded: "You should go find Yan Shenyun to remove the Thunder Mark from your body. Then you should leave the team."

Shu Hanqing stopped.

Rong Hua beside him immediately noticed his change and turned his head in confusion to look at him.

Rong Hua's voice came out through gritted teeth: "...What's wrong? Do you need to go back and see him again?"

Before Shu Hanqing could answer, Rong Hua quickly lowered his head again, his voice dripping with resentment: "If I'd known this would happen, I should have come to find you earlier. I shouldn't have let you stay with him."

Rong Hua's tone was practically sour with jealousy: "He saved you, so you owe him a favor. Now he can ask anything of you and you'll have to agree."

Shu Hanqing reached out and gave Rong Hua's fluffy head a light pat, saying in a low voice, "What nonsense are you talking about? When did I say I was going back? Come on, let's go."

Rong Hua rubbed his head in grievance and fell into step behind Shu Hanqing.

Back at their residence, the first thing Shu Hanqing did was go into the bathroom to shower.

The warm water washed away the blood, fatigue, and tension from the mission. He stood naked in front of the steam-wreathed mirror, raising a hand to wipe the condensation off the glass.

As his vision cleared, he turned slightly to the side.

In the dim, humid light, he caught sight of his lean, taut waist and abdomen. Besides a mix of fresh and fading, swollen hickeys on his lower belly, on the most delicate skin of his lower abdomen, several thin black-purple lines lay dormant, as if they had a life of their own.

The lines sprawled irregularly below his navel, in that precarious spot just above his pubic bone, contrasting against his skin reddened by the hot water, giving off a sensual, almost decadent allure.

And Rong Hua, who was always full of energy in bed and would push people to their limits, had already noticed that the Thunder Mark had spread.

Shu Hanqing had never been one to play coy in bed. If it felt good, it felt good. He wanted it, and he could handle it. He never denied himself in that department.

When they came back, Rong Hua had gripped his waist, heat at its peak.

Shu Hanqing's entire body was flushed an enticing pink, melting like water, his sweat-slick, burning cheeks pressed into the hollow of Rong Hua's shoulder.

Rong Hua's shoulders were broad and hard, his entire body packed with the explosive muscle of a superhuman.

The pleasure was so overwhelming that even Shu Hanqing's fingertips were spasming uncontrollably.

But suddenly, Rong Hua stopped mid-thrust and lowered him back onto the rumpled sheets.

His hair spread across the pillow, Shu Hanqing's eyes still half-open, the corners of his eyes flushed a seductive red, his face still slack with lingering pleasure and daze.

But before he could catch his breath, Rong Hua's tall frame descended again, his cool, calloused fingertips beginning to rub lightly against his waist.

That area of skin was already sensitive, and at the touch, a jolt of tingling numbness shot through him like an electric current.

Shu Hanqing couldn't help but shift his legs, a muffled, sticky grunt escaping his throat. He propped himself up on his elbows to ask what Rong Hua was suddenly up to, when he heard Rong Hua's deep voice by his ear: "Hanqing... how did your tattoo... end up on your lower abdomen?"

Shu Hanqing followed his gaze and looked down.

Sure enough.

They were so intimate so often that Rong Hua could spot even the slightest change in Shu Hanqing's body more accurately than Shu Hanqing himself.

Those Thunder Marks, like parasitic vines, had already crept perilously close to his navel without him even realizing it.

Rong Hua also realized this wasn't a tattoo at all.

This was exactly the thorniest problem Shu Hanqing was dealing with right now.

He was staring blankly at the vicious black lines in the mirror when suddenly the door was pushed open from outside, and Rong Hua's arm snaked around Shu Hanqing's bare waist from behind without missing a beat.

A cool sensation pressed against Shu Hanqing's lips.

Rong Hua was looking travel-worn, clearly just back from running errands outside. It had been raining recently, and the cold hadn't even left his skin, yet he hungrily and possessively bit down on Shu Hanqing's lip.

Shu Hanqing leaned back slightly, his waist and abdomen pressing against Rong Hua's solid chest behind him. At first it was reluctant, but then he obediently tilted his head, lifted his slender arm to loop it around Rong Hua's broad shoulders, and in the warm steam that filled the room, parted his lips slightly to silently and tenderly kiss back, matching the slight chill of Rong Hua's lips.

The temperature in the room shot up a few degrees.

Mu Ye woke up on the morning of the third day in the hospital.

When she got the news, Yun Ying had been eagerly tugging at Shu Hanqing's sleeve, wanting to drag him along to visit Mu Ye, but Shu Hanqing just said flatly that she should go alone—he was busy.

Yun Ying had been genuinely scared out of her wits that time.

Ever since she escaped death that day, she'd been having nightmares for days straight. Every time she closed her eyes, her dreams were filled with those hideous zombies surging toward her like a tide, their razor-sharp claws nearly shredding her flesh.

If it hadn't been for Shu Hanqing and Mu Ye risking their lives to protect her that day, she would have been a goner.

Yun Ying looked at Shu Hanqing, who was holding a game console in his hands, pressed her lips together and quietly sat down next to him.

She hesitated for a long moment before finally blurting out: "Brother Shu, Brother Mu was really badly hurt this time. I heard Professor Yan say that his condition will take a long time to recover, and he absolutely cannot use his Superpower during this period. Just come with me to see him. If you show your face, he'll be happy to see you."

Shu Hanqing tapped his fingers, his expression somewhat cold. He shook his head, still sending her off alone.

"You two used to be so close... Even if... even if you can't be lovers anymore, at least you can be friends," Yun Ying said anxiously. "I remember when I first joined the team, you and the captain weren't like this at all. What exactly happened between you two?"

But no matter how she tried to persuade him, Shu Hanqing didn't even change his posture.

Yun Ying finally gave up, stood up in disappointment and sadness, and headed out the door with the other team members to the hospital.

After Yun Ying left, Shu Hanqing finally loosened his fingers and tossed the slightly warm game console aside.

These past few days, Rong Hua had been coming and going mysteriously, out early and back late, barely seen all day. Who knew what he was up to outside.

That afternoon, Shu Hanqing lay in bed taking a nap.

He must have slept too long, because when he woke up, his mind was still groggy. But as soon as he opened his eyes, he felt a tall shadow standing abruptly in front of him.

Rong Hua had come back at some point. He'd cut his hair shorter, revealing his originally sharp, clean features. Before, when Shu Hanqing slept, he'd always complain that Rong Hua's hair was too long and kept pressing on him, and he'd scowled and chased him back to his own bed several times, but this clingy pup would always stubbornly refuse to budge.

With the haircut, he looked much more handsome.

He was now fiddling with Shu Hanqing's game console.

"If you dare mess up the clearance setup I worked so hard to achieve, Rong Hua," Shu Hanqing said, just waking up, squinting over at him, "you're dead."

Rong Hua obediently turned around at his words. He was extremely tall, and sitting on the floor looking up, he seemed docile like a tamed fierce hound. He rubbed his head against Shu Hanqing's palm, which was casually resting on the edge of the bed, resting the full weight of his jaw in that hand.

No matter how dissatisfied Shu Hanqing was with this kid's various self-willed and mischievous behaviors, he had to admit that Rong Hua's flawlessly handsome face had saved him from many solid beatings.

Shu Hanqing moved his fingers slightly, helplessly extending his thumb to lightly tap Rong Hua's cool lower lip.

But before he could pull his hand back, Rong Hua suddenly opened his mouth, his tongue curling out, and smoothly drew that slightly warm fingertip into his mouth.

Shu Hanqing frowned slightly, his knuckles shifting subtly, signaling for him to let go at once.

But this little whelp had no intention of releasing him. Instead, his dark, heavy eyes stayed pinned on Shu Hanqing's face, his tongue sliding with a warm, sticky persistence, licking back and forth through the gaps between his fingers.

The deeper he took them in, the more that thick heat climbed up through his fingertips, forcing Shu Hanqing's Adam's apple to bob once before he muttered a low curse: "You little dog, quit being such a slut."

Shu Hanqing put some strength into it and pulled his fingers free, all wet. With a look of mild disgust, he sat up, grabbed a few tissues from the bedside, and scrubbed at them with deliberate force.

Just then, Rong Hua suddenly spoke up: "Hanqing, will you come with me?"

Shu Hanqing paused mid-wipe, lifting his eyes to glance at him. "Go where?"

When he heard that Shu Hanqing hadn't turned him down right away, Rong Hua quickly leaned in closer. "To the inner city of the Central Base. My father's been sending people to look for me—he's got some real standing there. Lei Zheng told me just the other day that ever since my mother and I went missing during the riot, he's never stopped searching. Come with me and leave this place, okay?"

"Those Thunder Marks growing on your back... I can't stop worrying about them. Once we reach the Central Base, I'll take you to see the best Superpower doctors there. And if... if my father doesn't end up liking you, we can just leave right away. I won't let you be wronged."

You'd think Rong Hua was taking his bride home to meet the folks.

Sunlight leaked in through the small window, illuminating the dust floating in the air.

Shu Hanqing just watched him quietly, the young man before him. No matter how much sincerity shone in those eyes, he simply couldn't bring himself to say the word "yes."

He had been to the Central Base in his past life.

That place was no sanctuary—it was a vipers' nest of power plays, a meat grinder that devoured people without blinking, a den of scheming and backstabbing. Being out here, chopping up zombies with abandon, was far cleaner and more honest than that cesspool.

Seeing that he remained silent for so long, Rong Hua felt a knot of panic tighten in his chest. He stretched out his two strong, muscular arms and pulled Shu Hanqing into a tight, crushing hug.

"Hanqing, I swear, I will treat you well for the rest of my life... Come with me, please?"

Wrapped up in that tight, all-encompassing hug, Rong Hua's body heat was almost too warm, yet it carried a strange, rare comfort and security—something nearly impossible to come by in this apocalypse.

Just as Shu Hanqing's mind began to drift, the System's voice rang out, devoid of any human warmth: "...Reject him. You are not suited for the Central Base safe zone."

Shu Hanqing: "...Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to jump into the same fire twice."

In his past life, his death had largely been the result of losing a power struggle.

But with Rong Hua, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to be too harsh.

Shu Hanqing tilted his head slightly, patting the young man's back, his tone betraying little emotion: "...I'll think about it."