Chapter 37: I’ll Take Responsibility for You

Chapter 37: I'll Take Responsibility for You

After that, Shu Hanqing was naturally placed under Lei Zheng's command.

Not long after, a thorny assignment came down from above—they were tasked with cleaning up an abandoned commercial building that had been completely overrun by a zombie horde.

It was the first major mission he'd led solo since joining Lei Zheng's ranks.

In the ruins thick with a sickening stench of blood, Shu Hanqing proved his value to everyone by slicing open rotting heads with his Water Blade.

He wasn't some deadweight clinging to the strong to survive—he was a blade that could carve out a bloody path through this man-eat-man apocalypse.

With the situation settled, Shu Hanqing personally led a squad of blood-soaked team members back.

He intended to report the details of the cleanup to Lei Zheng face-to-face, but when he pushed open the door, the seat behind the desk was empty.

To complete this mission, Shu Hanqing hadn't closed his eyes for a full day and night. His temples throbbed with needle-like pain, and the moment his taut nerves finally relaxed, a tidal wave of exhaustion swallowed him whole.

He'd planned to wait on the leather sofa nearby, but the moment he touched it, he sank straight into a deep, sweet sleep.

He should have been on guard, but here at Lei Zheng's place, he'd inexplicably felt relaxed.

When he sluggishly regained consciousness, his whole body went stiff.

He found himself pillowed on Lei Zheng's muscular thigh.

His nose was filled with Lei Zheng's cool, masculine scent. A large hand with long, well-defined fingers rested gently on his wrist, while Lei Zheng's other hand was raised slightly, slowly stroking his back, over and over.

Shu Hanqing kept his eyes shut, not daring to open them and shatter this strange stillness.

It wasn't until a long while later that Lei Zheng's usual arrogant, self-assured voice sounded from above: "Shu Hanqing, I know you're awake."

"How about you stick with me from now on?"

At that moment, Shu Hanqing's mind was total mush, too muddled to even understand what "sticking with" meant—whether it was a subordinate's loyalty to their commander, or some other shady, unspeakable relationship.

But Lei Zheng didn't give him room to think.

The hand on his back suddenly slid up, provocatively landing on his collarbone, then Lei Zheng leaned down and pressed a kiss to the spot behind his ear.

Lei Zheng's voice crashed into his ear: "...When you were with that little squad leader surnamed Mu, were you just playing at innocent house?"

That day, Shu Hanqing fled that office in a near panic.

But later... later, things gradually spiraled out of control.

Hearts are all made of flesh. Through countless battles fought side by side and nights of addictive entanglement with each other, perhaps a genuine illusion of love born from time spent together had taken root. At times, Shu Hanqing even thought that spending his whole life with Lei Zheng wouldn't be such a bad outcome.

But that was his past life.

Right now, the moment he got close to Lei Zheng, the residual Lightning Ability in his reincarnated body would instinctively surge and crackle wildly.

That crackling, tingly sensation was far from pleasant—it reminded Shu Hanqing of exactly how much it had hurt when lightning had pierced straight through his chest and killed him in his past life.

"They... aren't like you."

Hearing this, Lei Zheng abruptly released the hand that had been death-gripping Shu Hanqing's wrist, laughing in disbelief and fury: "Fine, so I'm the only one who's not qualified, huh?"

Lei Zheng stepped closer, his eyes filled with the brutality and humiliation of being rejected: "If I'm not qualified to bring it up, then what right do you have to bring up Rong Hua?"

"You dumped him for Mu Ye back then, and he was truly foolish—he nearly stood out in the rain all night by himself. If I hadn't brought him back that night, who knows what irreversible stupid thing he might have done!"

"If you truly care about him, stay away from him."

Shu Hanqing: "I..."

Lei Zheng: "Right now you're just playing with him like a little dog, finding him fresh and fun. When you get bored one day, you'll just pat your ass and kick him to the curb. He's no match for you."

Shu Hanqing slowly lowered his gaze, his expression turning extremely sour. He thought to himself that wasn't how he felt at all—he had never treated Rong Hua as some toy to be summoned and dismissed at will. But faced with Lei Zheng's almost vicious interrogation, he didn't say a single word in his own defense.

There was nothing worth saying between the two of them anyway.

Lei Zheng's gaze swept over him: "Your Lightning Ability—Yan Shenyun got rid of it for you, didn't he?"

Shu Hanqing met his eyes calmly: "Yes."

Lei Zheng: "That bastard Yan Shenyun... he used his mental Superpower to help you?"

"Yes, and I would never come to you." Shu Hanqing looked at his nearly murderous expression. "No matter what Yan Shenyun is, at least he's more human than you."

Lei Zheng couldn't hold back and cursed out loud: "Damn it!"

He lunged forward again in a rage, grabbing Shu Hanqing's shoulders with a force that threatened to crush the bones beneath.

Staring at Shu Hanqing's icy eyes, he growled through gritted teeth: "You actually think of him as some savior, some righteous gentleman?! Would a proper person casually ask to invade someone's mental sea like that? You're not a mental-type ability user, but he is, isn't he?"

A dull pain shot through his shoulders. A flicker of extreme discomfort and shame crossed Shu Hanqing's eyes, but he stubbornly turned his face away: "That's none of your business."

"Do you know what it means when someone forcibly invades your mental power? It means from now on, that person's mental connection will be permanently branded into your mental sea!"

Lei Zheng: "It's exactly the same as an animal marking its territory! He used the excuse of removing abilities to push my Lightning Ability out of your body, then moved right in himself! It's just that he's purely mental-type, so he won't cause ability rejection with your body on a regular basis!"

Shu Hanqing was completely stunned.

So after all that circling around, his body now contained the entanglement of three different abilities?

But the Plot System hadn't told him this?

What did it mean that Yan Shenyun's method was to push out the Lightning Ability and replace it with mental-type ability?

"Shu Hanqing, have you lost your damn mind? Having your mental power invaded so openly—you're like a puppet on strings now, controlled into doing things without any say of your own."

"I've... I've thrown away all my dignity coming to you again and again. What ill intentions could I possibly have?! I just wanted you to lower your head and soften up in front of me! Is it really that hard?! You'd rather rush to let that bastard Yan invade you and take advantage, than have any connection with me at all, is that it?! Do you hate me that much? Did I dig up your ancestors' graves in my past life, or do I owe you a life?!"

This furious roar nearly blew the roof off. Lei Zheng had poured out all his resentment, jealousy, and humiliation without reservation.

Lei Zheng stared hard at that still-cold face, and finally, as if wounded by the indifference in those eyes, he turned and strode away without looking back, radiating pure violence.

"Bang!"

With a deafening crash, the door to the dorm was kicked so hard by his furious parting blow that it slammed against the wall, shaking violently, nearly flying off its hinges.

After Lei Zheng left, Shu Hanqing frantically called out to the Plot System.

The Plot System was as dead as a doornail.

Shu Hanqing took a deep breath: "...Fine, keep playing dead. I'll never trust your words again."

At the evening training session, Shu Hanqing was distracted the entire time because of all the messy entanglements from earlier that day.

During the climbing training, his foot suddenly slipped, and he fell straight off the two-meter-high obstacle platform.

A burst of exclamations erupted around him.

Rong Hua was the first to run over, practically falling over himself to get to the bottom of the platform.

Fortunately, a thick layer of military shock-absorbing sandbags had been laid beneath the obstacles all year round.

Aside from his head spinning and his vision going dark for a moment upon landing, Shu Hanqing didn't suffer any external injuries.

But Rong Hua refused to listen to his explanations, grabbing him and hauling him, half-carrying and half-dragging him all the way into the infirmary, shoving him down onto the bed and yelling at the on-duty doctor to run a full workup on him.

Shu Hanqing couldn't stand all this drama, and immediately felt a headache coming on.

He watched, exasperated, as Rong Hua went back and forth with the doctor.

"I saw it with my own eyes—he landed smack on his head! There's no way he's fine! Did you even look him over properly? Give him another good look!"

The on-duty doctor, put on the spot by the young man's shouting, shot back defensively.

"So what if he's superpowered? He's still flesh and blood, isn't he? What, they can't get hurt or die? They don't need doctors?" Rong Hua slammed his palm on the desk. "Do you even have a shred of medical ethics? What if his brain's fried?"

"It's his brain! It's nothing but nerves! If something happens to him tonight, can you live with that? Can you take the blame?"

The doctor, no match for this dangerous young hothead, grudgingly grabbed his tools again and ran a full second exam on Shu Hanqing, just to keep the peace.

Finally, the doctor sighed, put away the flashlight, and grumbled that he'd have to stay for two hours of observation.

Rong Hua, stone-faced, silently dragged a stool over and plopped himself down beside Shu Hanqing's bed.

Arms crossed tight over his chest, he turned his head to stare out the window, not even throwing a glance at the bed, plainly in a huff.

Shu Hanqing broke the silence first: "Rong Hua, I really think I'm fine. You really don't need to hang around here."

Rong Hua didn't even blink, just giving him the cold shoulder, staring off with a hard profile.

Shu Hanqing sighed, sank back into the pillow, and said gently, "Alright, go back first. You're all sweaty from training—go take a shower and hit the sack."

Rong Hua remained seated, neither leaving nor speaking, like a volcano about to blow.

The room was dead quiet.

As time ticked by, Shu Hanqing couldn't take the suffocating, awkward cold war anymore. His eyes drifted to Rong Hua's freshly cut black hair, so short it looked prickly.

"So, this hair... your dad make you cut it?"

Shu Hanqing was just trying to make conversation.

Rong Hua used to keep a long, rebellious hairstyle with two flashy red streaks in the front. He used to think it looked childish.

But over time, those red streaks fluttering in the wind, set against Rong Hua's bold face, had grown on him—kind of cute and uniquely his own.

In contrast, this neat, by-the-book crew cut just felt weirdly off to him.

The moment Rong Hua heard the word "hair," his brows knit tight, and his face flushed with obvious indignation and embarrassment, like he'd hit a sore spot.

Yet even so, he still refused to even look at Shu Hanqing.

Shu Hanqing blinked, then suddenly gasped, clutching his forehead and letting out a muffled groan: "...Ugh, my head suddenly hurts a bit. Rong Hua, quick, check if I scraped the back of my head and it's bleeding."

Rong Hua, who had been as still as a stone statue, shot up off the stool like his ass was on fire the instant he heard that.

He bent down, cradling Shu Hanqing's head: "I told you! I knew you banged your head! Don't panic, don't move—I'm going to drag that quack back here right now!"

But before he could turn around, Shu Hanqing's hand, which had been covering his forehead, suddenly grabbed him: "Don't go get him."

Shu Hanqing tilted his head up slightly, his eyes sparkling with triumphant mischief: "Weren't you just dead set on ignoring me? Why so worked up now?"

Rong Hua realized he'd been played and was about to blow his top.

"You faked it! Shu Hanqing, you actually used that to trick me! You—!"

Rong Hua was beside himself, yanking his hand back awkwardly, unable to even finish a threat before he turned and stormed out.

Lying there, Shu Hanqing tilted his head, helpless. He licked his dry lips, watching that furious figure disappear, and let out a sigh that was half amused, half exasperated, murmuring softly, "Why's his temper... still this bad?"

He tried to get up from the bed when the door swung open, slow and unhurried, from outside.

Yan Shenyun walked in.

This guy was always treated like some precious national treasure, never without an entourage trailing behind him, but today, for once, he didn't even have an assistant with him.

The moment he walked in, his eyes landed on Shu Hanqing, who was just about to get up.

Yan Shenyun walked over to the bed and pressed his hand to Shu Hanqing's forehead.

"I heard you fell—are you hurt anywhere? Didn't I tell you before, anything happens at the base, you can come to me anytime?"

The cool touch on his forehead made Shu Hanqing pull back, trying to put some distance between them.

Yan Shenyun caught the flinch but casually pulled his hand back, grabbing the stool Rong Hua had just been sitting on and taking a seat.

"I saw Rong Hua on my way in." Yan Shenyun looked at him, his tone gentle, like he was scolding a wayward kid. "He's young and doesn't know his limits. If he gives you any trouble, you can come to me anytime."

Shu Hanqing stared at Yan Shenyun's polished face, unable to stop himself from thinking back to what Lei Zheng had said before he left.

Lei Zheng had said that forcibly invading someone's psychic sea was another kind of hidden, boundary-crossing intimacy.

That kind of psychic entanglement was just as intense as physical intimacy.

As for the cruder things Lei Zheng had said about letting someone take advantage, Shu Hanqing found them too vulgar and embarrassing to repeat in front of this man.

But that prickling unease still crept up his spine.

In the brief silence, Yan Shenyun caught the change in his expression and raised an eyebrow: "...What are you thinking about?"

Shu Hanqing looked the man straight in the eye: "Professor Yan, do I have your psychic power inside me right now?"

To his surprise, a flicker of awkwardness—an incongruous blush—crossed Yan Shenyun's usually cold, indifferent face, that seemed utterly indifferent to everything.

"This is my first time too." Yan Shenyun adjusted his glasses. "But you haven't felt any discomfort these past few days, right? If you really think this crossed a line and you can't accept it..."

Yan Shenyun then said, dead serious, "I'll take responsibility."

Shu Hanqing felt like he'd been hit by lightning.