Chapter 36: I’m Still Pretty Good at Fighting

Chapter 36: I'm Pretty Good at Fighting Too

Shu Hanqing was the first one back in the dorm.

He'd worked up a sweat from exercising, his damp black hair sticking to his forehead. He thought to himself, this was all that psycho Lei Zheng's fault.

Shu Hanqing just changed his clothes. The dim light from the side instantly outlined his bare torso, carving it out with the smooth, sculpted look of a statue.

Shu Hanqing's muscles were well-proportioned—his shoulders were straight and strong without being too broad, tapering into a lean, tight waist and abs with zero spare fat.

One look was enough to see the exposed skin had clearly tanned a shade or two darker.

Shu Hanqing naturally had fair, porcelain skin. Maybe it was that whole "the grass is always greener" thing—he used to think being so pale made him look too soft, and he was always trying to figure out how to get a rougher, more manly vibe.

A few days ago, he'd deliberately lifted his shirt in the sun, trying to even out his pale stomach with the tan on his arms.

But Yan Shenyun happened to walk by just then, looked down at him coolly, and flatly said, "Keep it down." Shu Hanqing had no choice but to sheepishly pull his shirt down and drop the whole idea.

When Rong Hua pushed the door open and came in, he walked right into that exact scene—Shu Hanqing was hunched over, pulling a black tee over his head.

As the shirt came down, from Rong Hua's angle, he could just make out the slight bob of Shu Hanqing's Adam's apple.

Shu Hanqing also heard someone come in. He freed his face from the collar and looked up.

It was Rong Hua.

Shu Hanqing felt a little awkward under his stare and was about to grab his dirty clothes to wash them when Rong Hua's low voice suddenly called out to stop him.

"Why do you keep hanging out with that big guy?" Rong Hua's tone was loaded with bad intentions. "You like him?"

Shu Hanqing: "...No, we're just friends. And Shi Lei is a really nice person—he even praised you, said you're impressive and well-mannered."

That was a subtle jab. Rong Hua raised an eyebrow. "Then why were you feeling him up that day?"

Shu Hanqing was confused.

Rong Hua stared him down. "That first day, I saw you with my own eyes—you were practically all over him."

"He's got a great body, so I just gave him a quick feel. You're exaggerating way too much." Shu Hanqing remembered and found it amusing. "I was just admiring some legit muscle, that's all."

Rong Hua didn't say another word. The next second, before Shu Hanqing could react, he grabbed his wrist hard and shoved his hand up under his own shirt, pressing it against his stomach.

Under his palm, Shu Hanqing felt Rong Hua's hard, tight abs, which rose and fell against his hand with every breath the man took. "Is my body good?"

Shu Hanqing blinked.

Rong Hua's body was definitely more than just good—it was a beast of a physique, packed with explosive power and flexibility.

*

Shu Hanqing's eyelid started twitching like crazy.

He quickly threw up his other hand, bracing it against Rong Hua's solid chest, palm pressed right over his pounding heart, and snapped in frustration: "Rong Hua, stop right now!"

Too bad the guy in front of him had never been the obedient type.

Seeing Shu Hanqing resist, Rong Hua pressed down harder on the back of his hand, not giving him any room to argue. He dragged Shu Hanqing's wrist down in one rough motion while closing in, slamming his whole body against the wall.

The second his back hit the hard wall, Shu Hanqing froze up. He had no idea what Rong Hua was trying to do.

*

Even through the fabric, it was almost enough to burn Shu Hanqing's fingertips.

Rong Hua let out a barely audible sharp breath, his Adam's apple bobbing as he looked down at Shu Hanqing's flustered eyes through lowered lashes. "Don't you like guys with good bodies? Now one's right here for you to feel up all you want—so why are you running?"

Shu Hanqing thought, Did I ask for this? Hell no!

"Are you even being reasonable right now?"

Damn it!

Shu Hanqing cursed viciously in his head. Rong Hua's moves and his game were way too much to handle.

Shu Hanqing gritted his teeth and tried to yank his hand free, but Rong Hua's grip might as well have been welded to his. Not only couldn't he pull it out, Rong Hua even deliberately pushed his fingers deeper.

"...I... let me go first..." Shu Hanqing's ears were burning. "I don't want to touch right now..."

Rong Hua had only meant to mess with him, but who could've guessed—

Shu Hanqing: "...Don't you hate me?"

Rong Hua smirked. "Yeah, Shu Hanqing, I hate your guts."

Shu Hanqing looked at their position and remembered Rong Hua's fight with Qin Shenzhen a couple days ago. His powers had been suppressed for a long time, and before, he could only briefly take control by absorbing crystal core energy.

Now that he was about eighty percent recovered, he couldn't control it perfectly yet, so he'd been slowly testing his limits in training. But those messy results had put him dead last in the rankings, and people had laughed at him for it.

Shu Hanqing honestly didn't care—it wasn't like it was a real fight. He just hadn't expected the regular soldiers to take it so seriously, so he'd ended up lagging behind.

Rong Hua had always had a short fuse, but he'd never just picked a fight with someone out of nowhere before. Shu Hanqing couldn't help but flatter himself that it was because of him.

He said he hated him, but then he went and stood up for him—Shu Hanqing didn't know what to say.

Shu Hanqing had always felt guilty about Rong Hua's data being wiped by the Plot Lord: "...Don't be so good to me from now on..."

Shu Hanqing still couldn't figure out what role the Plot Lord really played, so he had to be cautious.

Rong Hua said, "Who's being good to you?" Then he grabbed the back of Shu Hanqing's neck, yanked it down, and bit hard on his Adam's apple.

Rong Hua clamped down on that patch of skin, sucking and gnawing at it.

Shu Hanqing's whole body trembled. Before he could even protest, Rong Hua grabbed his chin and lifted it, planting a heavy kiss on his lips.

Shu Hanqing was left dazed by the kiss, unable to get out a single complete sentence.

He instinctively raised his hand to push against Rong Hua's mountain-like shoulder, but the next second, his waist was seized by Rong Hua's iron arm and yanked forward with brutal force.

Their already-close bodies collided together in an instant with no gap left between them.

The aggressively overwhelming scent of young masculinity crashed down like a tidal wave, instantly enveloping his entire being.

Then Shu Hanqing's resisting hand was also seized and pinned back, locked together with his other hand above his head by Rong Hua's single grip, nailed firmly against the wall.

Rong Hua looked like he wanted to rip him apart and swallow him whole.

The lack of oxygen made his head fall back, gasping for any sliver of air, but the moment he pulled back even slightly, Rong Hua was on him like a shadow, refusing to let him retreat another inch.

It was fierce, wild, and completely unreasonable.

In the chaos, as if picking up on the violent spike in its master's mental energy, a spiritual vine wound up from around Shu Hanqing's calf at some point, happily and skillfully slithering up his pant leg. The cold touch instantly gave him goosebumps.

"Rong Hua!!"

Lei Zheng's roar, full of fury and disbelief, exploded from the doorway.

That voice cut through the thick, stifling air of the room.

Rong Hua's long lashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes at the shout.

He didn't pull back right away, keeping that aggressively possessive stance, chest heaving violently as he took a deep breath, his gaze greedily raking over Shu Hanqing's red, swollen, kissed lips.

After a long moment, he finally let go of Shu Hanqing, clearly reluctant.

Rong Hua stepped back half a step, his face immediately showing his annoyance at being interrupted.

Shu Hanqing was completely speechless.

Rong Hua was even stronger than before.

His cheeks and ears were bright red from lack of air, his mouth slightly open, chest heaving uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Rong Hua roughly but quickly yanked down the black T-shirt that had been bunched up to Shu Hanqing's chest, covering his slim waist.

Shu Hanqing's whole tongue felt sore and weak, and even the inside of his mouth was tingling.

Lei Zheng's heavy gaze cut through Rong Hua like a knife. When he saw Shu Hanqing with his head tilted to the side, those red, swollen lips still glistening with a wet, unmistakable sheen, and his eyes—usually cold and clear—now glazed with tears from lack of air, looking breathtakingly, dangerously alluring, Lei Zheng's gaze darkened.

"What were you just doing?" Lei Zheng turned his head to stare at Rong Hua, his voice devoid of any warmth. "When you came in, I told you this isn't a place for you to mess around. Get out now!"

Rong Hua: "I... Bro, don't blame him. I forced him."

Lei Zheng was so mad the veins on his forehead were popping: "You've got that much energy, huh? Then go run thirty laps on the field right now. I'll have someone watch you. Otherwise, get the hell out of this camp."

The two stared each other down in the cramped dorm for a few seconds before Rong Hua finally let out a very reluctant "Fine."

Shu Hanqing, still trying to catch his breath, turned to look at Lei Zheng, looking like he wanted to say something but held back.

But he couldn't even catch his breath, let alone explain anything for anyone in this tense standoff.

Rong Hua took a few steps toward the door, and just as he was about to step out, Lei Zheng's voice rang out again from behind: "Get rid of those disgusting vines of yours."

Only then did the spiritual vines that had been happily coiled around Shu Hanqing's calf and waist retreat, as if startled, slowly pulling away.

Rong Hua's skin was flushed deep red, from his neck all the way to behind his ears.

That was Rong Hua's tell when he was embarrassed.

Once Rong Hua was gone.

Shu Hanqing didn't want to deal with Lei Zheng at all. He turned to head back to the washroom to finish his laundry.

Lei Zheng watched him blatantly ignore him with a blank expression, then suddenly spoke, his voice low and heavy: "Do you have absolutely no will to fight back?"

The accusation and mockery in his tone made no sense.

Shu Hanqing simply let the words go in one ear and out the other.

Lei Zheng reached out and grabbed Shu Hanqing's wrist: "Shu Hanqing, are you treating me like air?"

A dull, crushing pain shot through his wrist, and Shu Hanqing's brows furrowed, irritation finally flashing in his eyes.

He looked up at Lei Zheng coldly, about to snap at him to let go.

But before he could get the words out, Lei Zheng suddenly swung a steel-hard arm around, brutally grabbing his waist, and without any warning, pressed down on him, crushing his lips against Shu Hanqing's.

Shu Hanqing's pupils blew wide in an instant.

"Slap!"

A sharp slap echoed through the dormitory.

The force was so hard it knocked Lei Zheng's face to the side.

After that slap, Shu Hanqing felt satisfied, but also felt it lacked impact—he should've just punched this bastard's nose in instead.

"Lei Zheng, are you insane?!" Shu Hanqing sneered coldly at him.

Lei Zheng slowly turned his head back. He didn't look angry or embarrassed, just stared at Shu Hanqing. The terrifying aura of a top-tier powerhouse grew even more oppressive, the pressure nearly sucking all the air out of the room.

And deep in those wolf-like eyes, a raw, violent desire was churning.

"Shu Hanqing." Lei Zheng wiped his stinging cheek, staring at him with a cold laugh. "So you do know how to fight back, huh?"

Their gazes collided fiercely in midair.

Lei Zheng's hound-like eyes bore into him relentlessly, the aggression in his gaze almost solidifying into substance.

Shu Hanqing, pinned by that scorching stare, felt his heart skip a beat and instinctively stepped back.

Of course he knew how to resist—if it was something he didn't want, Shu Hanqing would fight to the death to resist it.

Like now.

He had also done the most intimate, unreserved things with Lei Zheng in countless intoxicating, passion-filled nights. He understood all too well what the desire churning in those eyes right now meant.

He took a step back, and Lei Zheng advanced a step forward with a grim expression.

"Shu Hanqing, when Rong Hua kisses you, you just stand there obediently and let him. When Mu Ye touches you, you're like you have no spine, never resisting."

Lei Zheng gritted his teeth: "But when it comes to me, the moment you're within a meter of me, you treat me like some kind of flood or beast, right?"

Shu Hanqing stared at him without blinking.

Based on the bitter experience he'd accumulated from dealing with Lei Zheng in his past life, continuing to talk back to a man already pushed to the edge of losing control would absolutely not end well.

Shu Hanqing suppressed the resistance in his bones, trying his best to make his tone sound less provocative and aggressive.

"Officer Lei, can you leave first?"

"No."

Lei Zheng still tried to reach out and touch Shu Hanqing's face, only to humiliate himself further, but before his fingertips could even make contact, Shu Hanqing had already turned his head away in disgust.

Lei Zheng's hand froze awkwardly in midair.

Shu Hanqing gritted his teeth, putting on a brave front, and spat out a hollow threat: "Lei Zheng, if you dare touch me, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

"Then tell me, why is it only me you treat this way?" Lei Zheng, as if finally provoked by his evasive move, demanded. "You can toss a smile at a stray dog begging for food on the street, but not me? Rong Hua can, Mu Ye can, and you're even respectful to Yan Shenyun—so why can't you even give me a decent look? If you're with me, is there anything I couldn't give you?"

"I'm stronger than every single one of them!"

As this roaring accusation crashed down, Shu Hanqing suddenly spaced out, thinking back to his past life.

Back then, after cutting ties with Mu Ye, he was alone and helpless. Without telling anyone, he'd run off to Central Base. He had been childish then, wanting to make Mu Ye regret his decision.

He didn't have a single spare thing on him and nearly ended up homeless on the streets.

Because he had no one to vouch for him, he got stonewalled at Central Base. The people there, because of his superpower, told him to leave an address and said they'd get back to him later.

Shu Hanqing said never mind, and as he was leaving, he bumped into Lei Zheng.

That day, a relentless downpour soaked Central Base.

Shu Hanqing was taking shelter from the rain, staring blankly at the puddles splashing on the ground, feeling utterly lost and broken.

Since the day the apocalypse descended, his world had only ever contained Mu Ye. He'd never been alone in such a strange, rigidly hierarchical place before.

He wondered if he should go back—maybe Mu Ye had just said that in anger and wouldn't actually disband their team.

Until a pair of black military boots caked with mud stopped right in front of him.

Shu Hanqing, his eyes red as a rabbit's, looked up from those boots.

Lei Zheng stood before him holding a pitch-black umbrella. The man wore a crisp military uniform, his expression cold and devoid of any warmth, yet his face was undeniably striking.

Back then, Shu Hanqing had only seen Lei Zheng a handful of times during joint missions with the military, and usually Mu Ye did all the talking. As the vice-captain, Shu Hanqing had never even exchanged a few proper words with him.

Lei Zheng looked down at him slightly and asked why he was here alone.

Shu Hanqing couldn't say a word at that moment.

Lei Zheng wasn't the type to pry into other people's business. Seeing that he didn't answer, he suddenly stepped forward and pressed the handle of the umbrella into Shu Hanqing's palm.

In that instant, Shu Hanqing was perhaps captivated by the sharp yet faintly tender look in Lei Zheng's eyes.

Just as Lei Zheng turned his back to leave, Shu Hanqing grabbed him like a drowning man clutching at a lifeline.

He seized Lei Zheng's hand, a desperate self-recommendation.

"Officer Lei, I have nowhere to go right now. Can you take me in?" Shu Hanqing said. "I'm still pretty good at fighting."

Lei Zheng paused mid-step, turned back to look at him, and uttered two faint words from his thin lips: "Come on."