Chapter 29: Professor Yan, You Just Lost Your Composure

Chapter 29: Professor Yan, Just Lost His Composure

The end-times sunlight fell on people, offering no warmth, only a burning sting.

Shu Hanqing sat quietly on the steps.

Earlier, Rong Hua had sat right here, waiting for him for a long time with all his heart.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over him, blocking out the sun completely.

Shu Hanqing looked up at the person.

Mu Ye stood before him, a band of medical gauze wrapped around his forehead, with traces of dried blood faintly visible at the edges. Not only that, but his handsome, upright face was also crisscrossed with fading bruises.

What stood out most was his neck, branded with a ring of vicious black-and-purple strangulation marks. Under Rong Hua's maddened jealousy, he had genuinely been trying to kill Mu Ye.

"Hanqing," Mu Ye bent down slightly, his dark eyes brimming with deep affection. He extended his right hand and gently touched Shu Hanqing's cheek with his knuckles. "Are you hungry? Let me take you to get something to eat."

Shu Hanqing didn't dodge, but listlessly turned his head away.

Mu Ye felt that Shu Hanqing looked utterly pitiful at this moment, like a child who had been forcibly stripped of a cherished pet.

Mu Ye lowered his head, pressing his forehead against Shu Hanqing's. Their breaths intertwined. "Stop thinking about him, alright?"

The meal tasted like chewing wax.

After the meal, Shu Hanqing said he was going back to rest. Mu Ye was considerate and didn't press further, but before leaving, he leaned in almost reluctantly and placed a gentle kiss on Shu Hanqing's lips, whispering goodnight.

Back in his room, which felt somewhat empty, Shu Hanqing leaned against the headboard with a hint of self-mockery. He didn't know what he and Mu Ye even were anymore.

Lovers? Or just mutual comfort to fill a need? He realized he didn't have the energy to dwell on it anymore. When Mu Ye had leaned in to kiss him earlier, he couldn't even be bothered to raise a hand to push him away.

His original intention in being reborn into this life was simply to quietly avoid the tragic and desperate quagmire of his past life, to stop living a life where he was toyed with at others' whims.

But in the end, he felt fate was like an endless absurdist play, still shoving him forward from behind.

Shu Hanqing hated being kept in the dark like this.

The Plot System prompted him: "Please move quickly. Follow Yan Shenyun to leave this area."

Shu Hanqing felt numb inside. "I know."

"...Can you tell me what exactly you did to Rong Hua?"

"That's classified. Minor deviations in the plot are normal. The current anomaly has been successfully corrected, and the world line has returned to normal."

"What do you mean, 'returned to normal'?" Shu Hanqing was displeased. "Not loving me anymore, treating me like a stranger—that's what you call normal? If Mu Ye also obstructed your plans, would you wipe his data like you did Rong Hua's?"

The Plot System repeated: "This question is beyond the host's current clearance. Please complete the map transition as soon as possible."

"So that means you wouldn't..."

After going back and forth with this damned Plot System for so long, Shu Hanqing had long since figured out the holes in its logic. Whenever it was a question it could answer head-on, this machine would always give a straight yes.

But when it encountered something it couldn't answer or that touched on core secrets, it would do exactly what it was doing now—dodge the question, or just stall.

"Please complete the map transition as soon as possible."

Shu Hanqing looked around the room. In that instant, he felt like the walls, the furniture, even every speck of dust in the air were eyes watching him, watching and judging him.

"...Fine."

How ridiculous, Shu Hanqing thought to himself.

In his past life, he had been completely alone. In this life, reborn, he had actually genuinely opened his heart to this machine hidden in his mind that only spat out orders.

The next day, Mu Ye came to find him.

Shu Hanqing told Mu Ye he planned to leave with Yan Shenyun.

"I want him to remove my ability. Mu Ye, you can sense how depleted my mental strength is and how far my ability has regressed. I know you can."

Mu Ye said, "Hanqing, I'm not comfortable letting you go alone."

Shu Hanqing replied, "Mu Ye, this is my own business."

Mu Ye's expression darkened, but he continued, "The research institute Yan Shenyun is heading to is too close to the Central Base. If Lei Zheng gives you trouble there, can you handle him? I can tell you hate Lei Zheng, and he's very interested in you."

It was more than just interest, though. The look Lei Zheng had given Shu Hanqing before leaving was practically oozing possessiveness and predatory desire.

"Can't I just avoid him?" Shu Hanqing said.

Sure, Lei Zheng was a bastard, but he wouldn't do something as blatant as forcing someone in broad daylight.

And he wouldn't dare act up on Yan Shenyun's turf either.

Mu Ye said nothing more, his dark eyes heavy as he stared at Shu Hanqing without blinking, barely contained restraint churning inside them.

Shu Hanqing felt uneasy under that gaze and guiltily looked away.

In truth, he had already planned it out. Once the Thunder Mark was removed from his body and his ability fully recovered, he would immediately find a chance to get the hell out of this place.

Who knows whose data this system might wipe next.

But looking into Mu Ye's eyes, Shu Hanqing somehow couldn't bring himself to say those cold, bridge-burning words.

The next day, Shu Hanqing went alone to Yan Shenyun's temporary residence.

It was a standalone building in the heart of the Third Safe District. Just as he reached the steps, two armed guards in military uniforms raised their arms to block him, their faces expressionless. They were the personal guards Lei Zheng had assigned to Yan Shenyun, and they all looked down their noses at everyone.

Shu Hanqing didn't get annoyed. He waited until word came from inside, and only then did someone open the door and let him in.

A faint smell of ink filled the study on the second floor.

Yan Shenyun was sitting there reading a book. Hearing the noise, he slowly took off his gold-rimmed glasses and set them casually on the desk. He stretched out one long leg, leaned back casually, and folded his hands over his stomach.

From the moment Shu Hanqing pushed the door open, those eyes had been quietly fixed on him.

"What do you need?" Yan Shenyun spoke first.

Shu Hanqing shut the door behind him and walked straight over. "I came to see what Professor Yan can do. It's acting up again."

Since he'd agreed to be a test subject for Yan Shenyun's research institute, he had to be upfront.

In this apocalypse, he was a true one-in-a-million pure water ability user. If not for Lei Zheng's primal power suppressing him, he would never have ended up in such a helpless, at-others'-mercy state.

But he had his doubts, too. He didn't know Yan Shenyun well. Who knew if this so-called Chief Scientist was just all talk? What if he actually lay down on that cold experimental table, only to find out Yan Shenyun was just a pretty shell with nothing inside?

Yan Shenyun raised an eyebrow slightly and asked in a measured tone, "...What do you mean by that?"

Shu Hanqing didn't mince words.

Turning his back to the man, he undid the buttons of his white shirt, sliding the thin fabric down his shoulders to his elbows, exposing the broad, bare expanse of his back.

It was truly a breathtaking body—a feast for the eyes.

Perfectly proportioned, with long, graceful lines, every bone seemed like a meticulously crafted work of art. A thin layer of muscle stretched over his frame, hinting at the fluid strength unique to a Water Ability User.

Yet, marring that delicate skin was a sprawling mass of dark purple Thunder Marks, writhing like living things, ceaselessly devouring Shu Hanqing's flesh.

The chair behind him let out a soft creak as Yan Shenyun slowly rose to his feet.

Shu Hanqing tilted his head slightly, half of his delicate profile hidden in shadow.

"Then pardon me."

Shu Hanqing thought Yan Shenyun was being quite polite: "Go ahead."

Yan Shenyun said flatly, his long, icy palm, which felt barely half-alive, pressing firmly against the vulnerable nape of Shu Hanqing's neck.

In that instant, Shu Hanqing felt as if a thunderclap had exploded deep within his mind.

An incredibly terrifying and formidable spiritual force ruthlessly plunged into the depths of his sea of consciousness.

Yan Shenyun's spiritual power was nothing like his calm, measured exterior.

An overwhelming sense of invasion swept through him. Shu Hanqing's legs suddenly gave way, and he lost all support, collapsing awkwardly to the ground.

The feeling was almost beyond description.

The expected fall never came. A pair of strong arms shot out, catching him securely and hauling him into an embrace.

Shu Hanqing slumped weakly, pressing his forehead against Yan Shenyun's solid shoulder, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for breath, cold sweat instantly beading on his brow.

In his perception, the Lightning Ability that had been tightly coiled around the very root of his spiritual power was like a maddened snake clamping onto a branch, being forcibly peeled and ripped from his spiritual power by Yan Shenyun, inch by inch.

That Lightning Ability had been with him for so long, almost as if it had grown into him. It fought back fiercely, thrashing wildly within Shu Hanqing's spiritual power.

The pain, as if his skin were being flayed and his bones scraped raw, forced Shu Hanqing to let out a few stifled, pained gasps.

But within moments, the suffocating pressure abruptly lifted. The Lightning Ability that Lei Zheng had left inside him had been partially extracted by Yan Shenyun.

When it was over, only Shu Hanqing's heavy breathing filled the study.

Yan Shenyun's expression remained unchanged, though his gaze had grown darker. He casually picked up the white shirt that had slipped halfway off Shu Hanqing and draped it back over his sweat-soaked shoulders. As his fingers moved down the collar to fasten the second button, his fingertips inadvertently brushed against the damp, warm skin of Shu Hanqing's neck.

Yan Shenyun's movements halted abruptly. Then, as if nothing had happened, he shifted his gaze aside, released his hand, and spoke with a faint hoarseness that others might not notice: "Do it yourself."

Shu Hanqing thought weakly to himself that Yan Shenyun really did have that aloof, unapproachable temper.

But his legs were trembling like a sieve now, and he could barely stand: "Professor Yan, give me a hand."

Still, this ordeal had put his mind at ease—this Professor Yan truly had real skill.

Yan Shenyun said nothing more. He reached out, supporting Shu Hanqing under his arms, and helped him up, settling him steadily into a nearby soft chair.

Shu Hanqing's white shirt hung wide open, the buttons not yet fastened, revealing a stretch of his rising and falling abdomen, radiating an air of decadent dishevelment.

He closed his eyes in self-deprecation, and after a long pause, spoke hoarsely: "...Sorry, Professor Yan, I lost my composure just now."

Yan Shenyun looked down at him from above, his phoenix eyes dark as ink. After a long moment, he replied coolly: "...It's fine."