Chapter 23: Deal

Chapter 23: The Deal Is Struck

Rong Hua genuinely wanted Shu Hanqing to leave with him.

But Shu Hanqing wouldn't give him that kind of commitment.

Wasn't it said that men were at their most agreeable in bed? So every time passion peaked, Rong Hua would ask, "Can we be together?" And Shu Hanqing, even if he'd been hazy moments before, would snap back to his senses.

He propped himself up on an elbow, looking at the face before him—handsome, sweat-drenched, and bursting with youthful energy. Half amused and half languid, he gave Rong Hua's cheek a light pat. "Rong Hua, it's not like we're going to get married. Why are you being so cute?"

His voice was still thick with lingering sensuality. "This is the apocalypse. In this world, how many people can even be sure they'll live through tomorrow? Don't think too far ahead."

Live for today, enjoy the moment.

That was the one unspoken rule every survivor of this damned apocalypse had faithfully followed from the start.

Since this fucked-up catastrophe hit, humanity had already lost too much—order, dignity, loved ones, even the future—until all that was left was this pitiful scrap of carnal pleasure and fleeting joy—drinking today because tomorrow might never come.

To Rong Hua's young, fiery way of thinking, this kind of clear-headedness only came across as Shu Hanqing looking down on his immaturity.

So Rong Hua pursed his lips and stopped bringing it up.

Shu Hanqing was a lot like water.

Water, by its very nature, takes many forms.

When it yielded to someone, it could be infinitely soft, winding through your fingers—warm and viscous, as if it could be cupped and held in the palm at any moment.

But the moment the environment turned hostile and the temperature around it plummeted, that same water would instantly freeze into bone-chilling ice—impenetrable to blades, unbreakable by force.

It couldn't be forced. It couldn't be easily touched.

Shu Hanqing mentally spoke to the Plot Guide, saying that the reclusive Yan Shenyun probably wouldn't agree to help him remove the Thunder Mark.

But fate seemed determined to mess with him. That day at the abandoned church, he ran into the man completely by chance.

Shu Hanqing held half a small bag of candy, patiently handing them out one by one to the cluster of children gathered around him.

If not for this damned apocalypse, these kids would never have ended up homeless and orphaned. They should have been treasures held in their parents' hands, raised with love.

But when the global catastrophe struck, life lost its value in an instant. In a brutal world where even adults could barely keep their heads above water, no one had the capacity to care for such fragile, defenseless lives from the very start.

Shu Hanqing believed deep down that asking for favors was beneath his dignity.

So he holed up in his room, stalling with the Plot Guide for a full two days.

Staying in the room meant Rong Hua was hovering around him all day, every so often fixing him with those pitch-black eyes—like a wronged wolf cub—staring at him with pitiful intensity.

The Plot Guide in his head gave him no peace either, droning on about how the Central Base was a vipers' den that wasn't right for him, and going there would be walking straight into death.

Caught between the two forces, Shu Hanqing's head was splitting. Finally, unable to take it anymore, he flung off the blanket with a cold expression and went out alone to clear his head.

The points accumulated from Sheng Su's major mission were substantial, and the processing was a hassle. By regulation, they had to wait for Captain Mu Ye to be officially discharged and sign off before the whole team could go to the points hall to verify and claim them.

Shu Hanqing had just finished handing out candy. A little girl kissed him on the cheek, and behind him, Yan Shenyun's cool, clear voice cut through the air: "Vice Captain, what a coincidence."

Shu Hanqing turned to look at Yan Shenyun.

Yeah, what a coincidence.

"You seem very familiar with this place. Could you show me around?"

Shu Hanqing studied the man before him with a puzzled look.

A top-tier scientific national treasure like Yan Shenyun was rarer than a panda before the apocalypse. Everywhere he went, he was usually surrounded by heavily armed superpowered special forces, tucked safely in the center of a ring of security.

So why was he alone today, wandering around without any protection?

Shu Hanqing thought to himself, hesitantly glancing around before replying in a perfunctory tone: "…This place is barely big enough to get lost in. It's not complicated."

Just as he was reluctantly figuring out how to brush the man off, the Plot Guide chimed in right on cue: "…Don't you want to get rid of the Thunder Mark anymore?"

Shu Hanqing rolled his eyes internally and shot back flatly: "Didn't I just forget about it for a second?"

In a split second, the cold expression on Shu Hanqing's face was replaced by a perfectly warm, practiced smile.

He stepped aside and made a gentlemanly gesture of invitation. "Professor Yan, this way. Let me introduce you—that over there is the famous statue of the Virgin Mary in District Three."

Yan Shenyun followed the direction of his finger, slowly lifting his head to look at the statue—the largest and most intact Madonna in the entire church, standing tall in the wind and sand.

The stone carving's expression, weathered by war and time, still radiated an unshakeable solemnity and compassion.

Even after years of brutal devastation in the apocalypse, with half her skirt blown away by high-explosive shells, she still stood firm in the center.

In the early days of the catastrophe, this place had served as one of the first official refugee shelters, harboring countless wailing souls—as if it truly fulfilled the scripture carved into its doctrine: God loves the world.

Yan Shenyun stared at the statue for a long moment, then turned his head. Behind his glasses, those dark eyes lingered meaningfully on Shu Hanqing's face. He asked calmly: "You come here often. Is it because you've converted?"

Shu Hanqing's face contorted into an expression of "what the hell are you talking about." "No. I come here regularly to bring food and supplies for the kids. A portion of our team's points goes to this place."

Yan Shenyun tucked both hands into his pockets and said in a slow, measured tone: "Then keep me company for a walk."

With the man having put it like that, Shu Hanqing had no choice but to grit his teeth and oblige.

Before this, he'd heard rumors about this Professor Yan at the base—mostly about him being eccentric, cold, and antisocial. He'd assumed the man would be the type to spend years shut away in a lab, clueless about social graces and barely speaking.

But to his surprise, barely a few steps into their walk over the broken bricks, Yan Shenyun asked casually: "You've been in this squad for quite a few years now, haven't you, Vice Captain?"

Shu Hanqing answered honestly: "Four years, almost five."

Yan Shenyun looked at him. "Have you never considered a different life? To be honest, staying cooped up in this squad is a complete waste of your talent."

The words "waste of talent" coming from the chief professor's mouth caught Shu Hanqing off guard, giving him a subtle, flattered surprise.

Who said he hadn't thought about it? Wasn't he right now being forced to think about his next move?

Yan Shenyun stood before a badly eroded section of ruined wall, his gaze lingering on Shu Hanqing's slightly startled face for a moment before he extended an olive branch that was worth its weight in gold: "Vice Captain, why not consider coming to work for me?"

Shu Hanqing had always had bad luck.

Since childhood, bad luck had followed him around like a shadow.

Like waiting in line at the school cafeteria—the dish he wanted would always run out just as it got to him. Or taking a number—he'd always be half a minute too late for some inexplicable reason, watching helplessly as the counter flipped to the next number.

Things like that happened all the time.

Which was exactly why, even before the apocalypse broke out, he'd never once bought a lottery ticket.

Shu Hanqing's first reaction to such an absurd windfall dropping out of nowhere was not gratitude, but wariness.

He stood frozen, maintaining that polite fake smile on his face while silently complaining to the plot in his head: "...He couldn't possibly be interested in me, could he? I don't want to get screwed over like that again in this life."

The plot: "..."

To be fair, this wasn't Shu Hanqing being full of himself. With his strikingly eye-catching face and a lean, toned body that was just right, he was a hot commodity in the apocalypse.

Back when he hadn't yet awakened his Superpower, his looks nearly got him snatched up during a riot to be some guy's forced bride. It was only because Mu Ye stepped in that the thug almost got crippled on the spot.

Later, when Shu Hanqing awakened his own high-level ability, few could easily get close to him anymore. Even so, there were still plenty of men and women lining up to throw themselves at him for a night—enough to stretch from downtown all the way past the city limits.

In his previous life, Shu Hanqing genuinely believed for a long time that he was keeping his virginity for Mu Ye's sake.

It wasn't until later, when he and Lei Zheng finally rolled around in bed together, that in the middle of those mind-blowing orgasms and losing himself completely, he finally realized, way too late, how damn good it felt.

Afterward, he even felt a bit regretful, wondering what the hell had been wrong with him, staying a virgin for all those years for a phony monk like Mu Ye.

Yan Shenyun met Shu Hanqing's suspicious gaze and adjusted his glasses: "...My lab is currently short one high-level Water Ability user. In many current virus and antibody studies, water abilities are much gentler than flashy offensive powers, which makes them better for our observation and testing."

Water—it embraces all things, and it nourishes all things.

At the mention of experiments, Shu Hanqing's eyes narrowed a little, the worry about being taken advantage of fading away as he probed: "So you want me to be your lab rat test subject?"

Yan Shenyun: "...If you don't—"

"Deal!"

Before the guy could even finish his pitch, Shu Hanqing agreed.

A fair exchange—Shu Hanqing loved nothing more than a fair, clearly priced deal. He didn't take favors for free, nor would he be anyone's lab rat without compensation.

Shu Hanqing stepped forward slightly, closing the distance between them, meeting the Chief Scientist's cool gaze: "However, Professor Yan, I'm not gonna be your lab rat for free either. But first, you gotta do me a little favor, deal?"

Yan Shenyun stared at Shu Hanqing's lips, thinking they must be soft—his expression was so serious it didn't come off as creepy at all: "...Fine."