Chapter 77: Choose One

Chapter 77: Pick One

The small room went quiet again.

After listening to what the man before him had said, Chu Lanting's expression first showed a moment of surprise, then he lowered his head, his pale fingers lightly tapping against the side of the cup, as if lost in thought.

At the sight of this, Pei Du's throat went dry. When he reached for the water glass beside him to take a drink, he realized it had long been empty.

His strikingly handsome face was expressionless, but upon closer inspection, one could still catch a hint of embarrassment flickering across his brow.

He rose and made his way to the kitchen to pour himself some water. Just as he grabbed the kettle, a faint voice came from behind him.

"I'll pass."

The kettle wasn't heavy—lighter than a laser gun, even.

His lips pressed into a thin line. Frowning, he set down the kettle and turned around, only to see Chu Lanting still sitting in the same position as before.

"I'm doing pretty well here. I'm surrounded by familiar faces, and Xiaoyi and the others haven't finished their training yet. I can't just abandon them."

"You and I are different. You..."

He just couldn't bring himself to say the words "you need to protect humanity."

When Chu Lanting heard footsteps approaching and finally stopping beside him, he instinctively looked up and saw a glint in the man's dark eyes that he couldn't quite read.

It was deep and oppressive—the kind of look you wouldn't dare meet twice.

"I'm what? Go on, finish your sentence."

Now it was Chu Lanting's throat that tightened.

He swallowed hard, and it took him a long moment before he spoke again: "You don't belong to 207, but I do."

"I don't know who you really are. Uncle He told me that anyone who can travel by airship must have an extraordinary identity, and Uncle Tian also said your amnesia might be related to psychic abilities."

"People here don't use words like that. You must be someone remarkable. The gap between us... is too big."

Chu Lanting didn't even know how he managed to say all of that without breaking down.

After Pei Du had left the house earlier, he'd done a lot of thinking.

He thought about all the days and moments he'd spent with A Du, about how he didn't really belong in this world, about the gap between himself and Pei Du...

Too many tangled thoughts kept crashing into his mind, one after another, before he could even process the first.

When he saw Pei Du's figure reappear in the doorway, he nearly fainted right in front of him.

Thankfully, he didn't—otherwise he wouldn't be sitting here saying all this to Pei Du.

He grabbed his cup and took a sip of water. The cool liquid slid down his throat and helped him hold back the urge to cry again.

He looked away from the man beside him and glanced at the wildflowers in the ceramic vase.

The flowers looked fresh—clearly picked with care.

He didn't dare ask if A Du had picked them for him, or if A Du had come back.

Because the moment he saw Pei Du standing at the door, he already knew the truth: A Du might never return.

"Don't worry. I'll keep everything about my time in 207 a secret. I won't tell anyone."

"No matter where you go from now on, as long as I'm alive, the secret of your time in 207 will never get out."

Chu Lanting always seemed to be like this—whether it was his appearance, his temperament, or his handwriting, everything about him reflected his cool, aloof nature.

If Pei Du didn't still remember how passionately he'd responded to "him" when they were in love, he might have been fooled by the man's current demeanor.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides. Even Pei Du himself didn't notice how ferocious his expression had become, or how pathetic he felt inside.

Major General Pei—a man of steady temperament, rarely swayed by external factors—now wished he could grind his back teeth to dust just to calm the storm raging within him.

He took a deep breath, and only after a long moment did he say in a low voice: "I'm not leaving my partner here alone."

That caught Chu Lanting off guard.

His tea-brown eyes, which had been full of weariness, now showed a hint of surprise.

His fingers gripping the cup tightened, and even his pink fingertips went white.

Seeing the emotion in Pei Du's eyes, Chu Lanting gave a strained smile.

"You don't have to worry about that either. The name signed on our marriage certificate wasn't yours, but..."

"But 'A Du,'" Pei Du cut in, his voice low. "But there's something you haven't thought about."

"What?" Chu Lanting looked puzzled.

"My name is Pei Du. How did you know that?"

Chu Lanting: ...

He dug his thumb into his other thumbnail, feeling no pain—only the growing chaos of his already tangled thoughts.

What was he supposed to say?

Admit that he wasn't a resident of 207, but a soul from another world?

Or tell him that this world was nothing but an illusion, something that existed in a novel, and that his own character was nothing more than a throwaway role—that in the future, the man before him would meet his one true love?

Or perhaps play dumb?

But Pei Du probably wouldn't believe him. With that sharp gaze of his, he could see right through any lie.

And if he were exposed, things would only get worse for him.

Fortunately, Pei Du didn't press the issue. He even gave him time to think it over.

A partner, or a star-pirate spy who'd stolen intel from a major general of the main star—those were his two options if he wanted to return to the main star with him.

Honestly, Chu Lanting didn't want to pick either one.

But every time he opened his mouth to speak, he could see Pei Du's gaze fixed on him.

As if choosing a bad identity, or refusing both, would have serious consequences.

His lips parted, and he was about to say something more when he saw Pei Du turn and head back into the kitchen.

After all that commotion, time slipped through their fingers unnoticed, and before they knew it, dinner time was approaching. Only then did Chu Lanting suddenly realize something.

He rose abruptly from the dining chair and reached for the lesson plans on the table.

"I'll go teach the children first. You go ahead and eat. I... don't need any dinner saved for me."

With those words, his slender figure was already at the front door: "...What you said, I'll think it over carefully."

"But I hope you can give me a little more time. The children still need to be taken care of—I don't want them to be abandoned."

Just as he himself had been 'abandoned' in a different way by his parents and grandmother years ago.

Having said that, without waiting for a response from the person inside, Chu Lanting quickly left the courtyard and hurried toward the classroom.

This left Pei Du alone in the kitchen, his back to the door, lost in thought.