Chapter 33: Can You Dress Properly in Front of Me

Chapter 33: Can You Please Dress Properly in Front of Me?

In his past life, when Lei Zheng came to him humbling himself and speaking in a low, pleading tone, he would only agree to his requests once or twice out of every ten times.

It wasn't that he was being deliberately coy or reserved. It was simply because Lei Zheng was utterly ruthless in how he handled things—rough and reckless, with zero consideration for him, and he never kept his word.

Shu Hanqing propped himself up on a crumpled, soft pillow.

Strange black patterns crept across his shoulders, shifting faintly over his pale skin with each quick, shallow breath, like a lively little fish darting into the water. His eyes were lowered, thick lashes veiling the scattered light in them. From above, he looked incredibly docile, almost innocent.

Mu Ye looked down at him from above, taking in that focused and submissive expression. The heat in his chest surged, flooding him with a suffocating tenderness.

He wanted to take that pretty little fish into his mouth whole, and at the same time, tear it apart and devour it.

Mu Ye raised his hand and slowly rubbed Shu Hanqing's burning earlobe. His words were soft and warm, his voice full of encouragement: "Hanqing, baby, you're doing so well."

Shu Hanqing couldn't stand the syrupy praise. His head instinctively tilted back, and he met Mu Ye's panting breath.

Back when he'd done this for Rong Hua, that man had been far more brutal—his big hand clamped down on the back of Shu Hanqing's head. Even when Shu Hanqing was gagging, his face red and tears streaming, Rong Hua never let him resist or pull away, not even a little.

It had been way too rough.

It was only when he compared Mu Ye to Rong Hua and Lei Zheng that Shu Hanqing realized how restrained Mu Ye really was.

The restraint beneath that gentle mask became a kind of torture, stirring up a hidden mischievous streak in Shu Hanqing. He suddenly wanted to see Mu Ye lose control with his own eyes.

＊＊

Without even catching his breath, Mu Ye grabbed a tissue and wiped Shu Hanqing's lips: "Sorry, I couldn't help it. Be good and spit it out."

Shu Hanqing was dazed for a second, but at those words, he just lifted his eyelids. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he deliberately opened his mouth—still wet and flushed—so Mu Ye could see clearly: "Senior, look, I swallowed every bit of it."

But the moment those words left his mouth, Shu Hanqing's vision went dark.

Mu Ye's warm, broad fingers covered his eyes without warning, pressing down hard to block his sight completely.

Then, beside his ear, Mu Ye let out a deeply helpless yet faintly fierce sigh, as his straight, handsome nose nuzzled against Shu Hanqing's sweat-dampened cheek—affectionate and punishing at once.

Mu Ye gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse as hell: "Baby, you asked for this."

Outside, fine snow kept falling silently. The room's windows and doors had been sealed shut long ago.

The dim lamp on the nightstand barely cast a small, hazy halo of light. The dark quilt was bunched up in a mess, one big corner hanging pitifully off the bed. The sheets were wrinkled with countless deep folds.

The neatly folded clothes were now tossed in a heap at the foot of the bed. There was no heating in the room, but the temperature kept climbing in the dark, hot enough to choke.

In those first days after arriving in the inner city, everything felt strange.

For those few days, Shu Hanqing had been a nervous wreck.

Every morning when he opened his eyes, the first thing he did was grab Mu Ye's sleeve and ask if he still remembered what happened yesterday, if his data had been wiped.

Mu Ye didn't know what Shu Hanqing was so afraid of. Two days later, Mu Ye secretly went to the underground city without telling him, and came back with a new tattoo on his chest.

He'd carved Shu Hanqing's name right into his chest.

When he first saw that blue-black tattoo, Shu Hanqing was genuinely shocked, but he also felt a faint warmth in his chest.

In the dark, Shu Hanqing's trembling fingertips traced the tattoo, and he pressed a kiss to that spot.

Mu Ye's big hand on his body tightened inch by inch, his voice low against his ear: "Baby, just hold on a little longer."

The next morning, when Shu Hanqing got up and looked in the mirror, he found a bunch of red and purple marks behind his ears and down his neck.

Mu Ye apologized over and over, looking full of regret for losing control the night before.

Shu Hanqing wasn't really angry. He knew Mu Ye hadn't done it on purpose.

In his mind, only immature kids like Rong Hua would do something so childish—marking someone up like stamps to claim territory.

He snapped out of his thoughts and arrived at the research institute on time.

Shu Hanqing lay down in the massive machine with practiced ease.

As the hatch slowly closed, hours of mental power training began, pulling him into a silent void.

By the time he finally got out of the machine, several hours had passed.

The air at the research institute always smelled of disinfectant—cold and dry.

Shu Hanqing took a shower in Yan Shenyun's lounge. Today he'd deliberately brought an extra set of clean clothes, planning to walk out looking as proper as possible. But just as he finished fixing his clothes and stepped out, he ran straight into Yan Shenyun, who was pushing the door open to come in.

The midday break was a habit Yan Shenyun had kept for years without fail. So his showing up at this exact time wasn't surprising.

Shu Hanqing lowered his eyes and instinctively yanked his collar up, trying to hide the marks behind his ears.

But in covering one thing, he exposed another—as he raised his hand, a strip of taut, smooth waist that had been covered slipped into view, pale and almost blinding.

Shu Hanqing wasn't used to being alone with Yan Shenyun. He meant to just nod and sidestep past him.

But just as they passed each other, Yan Shenyun suddenly spoke up.

"I'll admit, you are very alluring."

"But don't think you can use your looks to test a man's self-control."

Shu Hanqing: "???"

Shu Hanqing froze. "Professor Yan, what do you mean?"

Yan Shenyun was naturally blessed with striking looks—fair skin, handsome features, and an aristocratic air in everything he did.

But right now, his eyes were dark and heavy, as if something dark was churning violently inside him. The elegance and aloofness usually carved into his bones had been stripped away, revealing an unusual restlessness and anger.

"Can you please keep your clothes on when you're around me?"

Shu Hanqing: "Uh..."

Thinking back, every time he'd been around Yan Shenyun, he really had been half-dressed.

Shu Hanqing felt insulted. With anyone else, he would've snapped back already, but he needed something from this man—Yan Shenyun had what he wanted, so he couldn't afford to lose his temper.

Biting back his frustration, Shu Hanqing tugged his shirt hem down. "Is this good enough?"

His waist was covered, but the collar tilted to one side, revealing a patch of skin from behind his ear down to his neck.

The marks were still fresh, and Shu Hanqing had no idea—he didn't realize that the sight of him like this was enough to make anyone imagine exactly what kind of wild night he'd had.

The usually ascetic Professor Yan's brows knit tightly on the spot.

Shu Hanqing genuinely hated wearing anything high-collared or restrictive. The moment fabric rubbed against his neck, it would make him uncomfortable for an entire day, even making it hard for him to breathe. So his usual style was loose V-necks, and even when wearing a shirt, he would never button it all the way up.

He'd been this free-spirited and unrestrained since he was a kid, but he never expected that this little habit would be interpreted by Yan Shenyun as deliberate seduction.

Getting slapped with such a heavy accusation out of nowhere, Shu Hanqing just felt wronged: "...This is just my style."

Yan Shenyun leaned back, sinking into the black massage chair. He stopped looking at Shu Hanqing and simply closed his eyes: "In my lab, my rule is nobody shows up looking sloppy."

Shu Hanqing stood not far away, watching a faint flush creep across Yan Shenyun's usually pale, indifferent face.

That proud, sharp, slightly bad-tempered look was a far cry from the Yan Shenyun he usually saw.

Shu Hanqing wondered—could Yan Shenyun be asexual? Not to sound full of himself, but guys and girls alike were into him, and if Yan Shenyun was this desperate to avoid him, there was probably something wrong with him down there.

He headed to the cafeteria by himself to grab lunch.

He'd barely walked a few steps out of the cafeteria when he ran into Yi Ran.

The girl was holding a fancy lunchbox steady in her hands, one specially prepared for Yan Shenyun.

In this apocalypse where resources were so scarce that even a full stomach was a luxury, Yan Shenyun, being the prized gem he was, naturally got treatment that was worlds apart from the rest of them.

Fresh green vegetables and rosy fruits, all in abundance.

Yan Shenyun lived like a precision clock wound up tight. His work hours and rest hours were carved into fixed schedules, down to the second.

A guy like that was rigid and conservative to the bone, which explained all those weird, baffling rules he came up with.

Yi Ran spotted him and spoke up: "Brother Shu, could you take this lunch up to the professor for me? Something urgent just came up on my side."

Shu Hanqing hadn't been at the lab long, but he and Yi Ran had already gotten pretty close.

Compared to Yun Ying, that loud, bouncing-off-the-walls little thing, Yi Ran was infinitely quieter and more level-headed.

Besides, at her age, she'd already locked down the spot as Yan Shenyun's chief assistant. She was sharp and talented, and Shu Hanqing genuinely admired her.

"Sure, leave it to me. I'll take it up for you." Shu Hanqing took the box, his tone gentle. "Go handle your business."

Yi Ran let out a relieved breath, but her gaze lingered on his collar with slight confusion: "But Brother Shu, the lab's heating is always cranked way up. Why are you so bundled up today?"

Shu Hanqing casually tugged at the high collar that practically hit his chin, silently grumbling to himself: All because of that inexplicably picky, impossible-to-please Professor Yan.

But out loud, he just smiled and made up an excuse: "Nothing much, just feeling a bit cold. Old habit. I'll head up now."

Yi Ran nodded in acknowledgment, but then, as if remembering something critically important, quickly called out after him: "Brother Shu, wait a few minutes at the door before knocking. The professor should be taking his nap right now. If anyone's clueless enough to mess with his schedule, he'll be in a sour mood all day, and nobody's going to have a good time."

Shu Hanqing agreed, though not exactly thrilled about it.

Shu Hanqing actually had the key to Yan Shenyun's room.

According to Yi Ran back then, Shu Hanqing would need to use the bathroom in there often for his tests, so it made the most sense for him to keep the key.

Shu Hanqing stood in the hallway, watching the hands on his wristwatch crawl along at a sluggish pace.

Yan Shenyun's nap time wasn't quite over, and Shu Hanqing really didn't want to bring on another round of cold sarcasm by messing with the great scientist's sacred schedule.

After all, erasing the superpower from his body was a slow, painstaking process, and in the days ahead, he hoped to keep things peaceful with this particular piece of work.

When the time came, Shu Hanqing gently turned the key and pushed open the restroom door right on the dot.

The moment he stepped in, he saw Yan Shenyun, who'd been lying in the massage chair with his eyes closed, slowly sit up.

Shu Hanqing clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking this guy must be a reincarnated hundred-year-old clock.

Even Mu Ye, the most disciplined person he'd ever known, at least had a moment of hesitation when getting up or lying down.

And back when he was with Rong Hua, that little lazybones would insist on cuddling and dawdling in bed for a good half hour before finally letting go.

But this Professor Yan was disciplined to an almost terrifying degree. No wonder every base and safe zone fought tooth and nail to get their hands on this talent.

"Professor Yan, your meal." Shu Hanqing set the lunchbox on the table beside him, not sparing an extra glance, his tone as proper as could be. "I'll leave it here for you."

After setting it down, he turned to leave.

Shu Hanqing glanced back as he closed the door and saw Yan Shenyun staring at him with a cold expression.

In that instant, Shu Hanqing could've sworn he read a hint of resentment in that look.

What had he done to upset him this time?

A chill ran down Shu Hanqing's spine for no reason, and his footsteps suddenly sped up like he was fleeing. He bolted.

Yan Shenyun, probably furious beyond words, let out a cold laugh.

He couldn't sleep. A full half hour. Thirty minutes. One thousand eight hundred seconds.

Every time he closed his eyes, his mind uncontrollably replayed, over and over, the image of Shu Hanqing tugging at his collar earlier that day, accidentally flashing that sliver of lean, supple waistline.

The image seemed maliciously slowed down under some high-powered microscope, leaving him wide awake.

Shu Hanqing, completely unaware of the great professor's psychological storm, packed up and left on schedule when the time came.

Sensing some subtle tension, he made a point over the next several days of not setting foot in Yan Shenyun's private restroom again.

Every time he crawled out of the machine, he changed clothes and braved the cold to shower back at his own place.

The weather had turned bitterly cold, and with Mu Ye gone, lacking someone to warm his bed, a pang of longing stirred in Shu Hanqing's chest.

Progress at the institute was smooth. Yan Shenyun once again helped him completely strip away the lightning ability that had taken root in his body.

After that tearing agony came the lightness of the power growing clear and pure, making victory feel within reach.

The only thing that puzzled him was the plot guide in his mind, which had been playing dead lately. No matter how much Shu Hanqing called out to it or probed his consciousness, it gave no response.

Since the plot wasn't coming to him, he figured he might as well enjoy the peace.

In just a few short days, with his easygoing yet keen instincts, Shu Hanqing quickly became fast friends with the researchers who spent their days buried in data.

Shu Hanqing was no ignoramus. In the gaps between tedious numbers, he'd flipped through many of their research reports, and the ideas about rebuilding order on the ruins of the apocalypse genuinely struck him as meaningful.

One day at lunch, Yi Ran sat with them, tray in hand, and as they chatted, she brought up a new drug the lab was secretly developing—a special treatment designed to further enhance the abilities of advanced superpowered individuals.

The other researchers' eyes lit up at the mention. Shu Hanqing slowly swallowed a mouthful of rice beside them, knowing better than anyone what was really going on.

Of course he knew the truth about that drug. After all, he was currently the lab rat who'd volunteered himself for the trial.

"I heard about it too. They say it's made specifically for genius-level ability users."

The young man at the next table immediately lowered his voice, leaning in with a mysterious air: "How genius do you have to be?"

"I saw one in the confidential archives just a couple of days ago—barely past eighteen, and his plant-type ability had already hit the terrifying blue tier."

Yi Ran exclaimed in admiration, "He came to the lab for testing a while back, and his talent was simply off the charts. I heard he's some big shot's son in the inner city."

A collective gasp rippled through the surroundings, mingling with envious murmurs.

Shu Hanqing tried to recall the identity of Rong Hua's father, a man who had serious clout around the base. The medals and authority that man carried placed him squarely at the very pinnacle of the inner city's hierarchy.

It finally clicked for Shu Hanqing after all this time—so he'd actually been involved with a real prince.