Chapter 24
Showing off your love extravagantly can have consequences, as Little Flower now realized.
The news of “Lin Ling taking his boyfriend on a romantic trip down memory lane” spread throughout the Seventh Base, instantly making them the center of gossip.
Whenever Little Flower walked down the street, people would subtly inquire about their wedding plans and remind him not to forget to invite them, making Little Flower reluctant to even leave the house.
Looking at all the humans expectantly watching him, Lin Ling couldn’t bring himself to say “we’re keeping it simple.”
Of course, if he had the Abyss with him, the situation was much better. One cold glare from the Abyss, and everyone would instinctively back off. Few dared to provoke him.
Lin Ling watched as Shi Changyuan’s expression turned cold, his aura instantly making everyone within ten steps scatter. For the first time, he envied such an ability.
If only he could do that too. Little Flower ran to the bathroom mirror, rubbed his face, and tried to make his eyes and mouth droop to create the illusion of “I’m fierce” and “I’m not to be trifled with.”
But no matter how hard Little Flower tried, he couldn’t replicate the Abyss’s effect.
“So annoying,” Little Flower flopped back onto the beanbag chair, resting his head on the Abyss’s lap.
Little Flower never thought that as a non-human, even with a partner, he would one day be pressured about marriage.
Although this pressure was about the wedding itself.
“It’s not annoying, we can go back to the Abyss to avoid them,” Shi Changyuan suggested, immediately gaining Lin Ling’s approval.
He suddenly felt that a secluded living environment was quite nice. Less social interaction meant fewer social anxieties.
Thinking of this, Lin Ling punched the beanbag chair angrily.
Damn, even little flowers had to learn social skills these days!
It was his fault for being too attached to the hustle and bustle of the human world. Now that the marriage pressure was on him, Little Flower suddenly felt he didn’t need so much hustle and bustle.
—No, they had to run!
As soon as Lin Ling left, Lu Jiajia came looking for him.
“Lin Ling has completely run away, probably back to the Abyss to hide.”
Lu Jiajia, holding the wedding plan they had discussed together, originally wanted to ask Little Flower for his opinion, but seeing the empty villa, she calmly turned around and went back to continue refining the wedding plan.
Oh well, Little Flower originally had a little say in this wedding, but now, the minority had to obey the majority.
In Lu Jiajia’s plan, the banquet was for all the residents of the Seventh Base, but the Seventh Base higher-ups felt they couldn’t just think about themselves. The nine human bases should all send representatives.
After all, the Abyss was a world-class Abyss, and they, the Seventh Base, had managed to establish relations with it and resolve a world-class crisis. Shouldn’t the other bases show some courtesy?
This was such a big deal that even Little Flower heard about it in the Abyss.
He was surprised. Why could this wedding still go on without the couple? The couple had run away!
Shi Changyuan chuckled and explained, “Actually, humans just want an excuse to celebrate. We’re not important.”
“As for the base, they probably want to collect wedding gifts,” the Abyss guessed. “They’ll give half to Little Flower, don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried about that.” Little Flower just felt a headache. He thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, “How about we elope!”
“We’ll elope and travel the world! We won’t play with those humans anymore!”
Little Flower looked at the Abyss, waiting for his reply.
Shi Changyuan smiled and kissed Little Flower’s eyes. “With you looking at me like that, how could I disagree?”
“Call Mo Cheng now, and we’ll leave immediately.”
So Mo Cheng, who was in a meeting finalizing the invitations, received a call from Little Flower.
“Hello, hello? Sister Mo, I’m telling you, I’m eloping! I’m going to travel the world! We’ll probably just find a random place to hold the wedding during our travels, so everyone doesn’t need to worry so much.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll send you pictures of beautiful scenery!”
After saying that, Little Flower hung up.
Mo Cheng’s device was on speakerphone, so everyone in the meeting room heard the news. They were silent for a few seconds, then expertly changed the meeting title.
“Inform the logistics department that they can prepare fewer cakes. As for the other nine bases, we’ll still invite them, trick them into coming first. If they ask, just say the newlyweds are on their honeymoon.”
“Oh, right, we’ll use cardboard cutouts of Little Flower and the Abyss. We can’t have people coming from so far away without even knowing what the newlyweds look like.”
“Marriage certificate? We still need that. Although the marriage system has collapsed, it’s a memento. We can give everyone a copy.”
While the devious base was busy preparing the wedding for two cardboard cutouts, Mo Cheng and Lu Jiajia occasionally received photos of scenery from Lin Ling and Shi Changyuan.
After the apocalypse, human activity had drastically decreased, and many areas remained unexplored, such as the once-dangerous rainforests, deserts, and perilous oceans.
The appearance of mutated creatures had turned these places into forbidden zones.
Well, now they had become tourist attractions for Little Flower and the Abyss.
But unfortunately, Lu Jiajia and Mo Cheng only received copies of the photos. The originals were sent directly to the human laboratory.
Apparently, the photos might carry traces of various microorganisms, which were of great research value. This would be a huge milestone for humanity’s return to the top of the food chain.
The representatives of the nine bases who came to attend the wedding but only saw cardboard cutouts: …Well, they forgave the Seventh Base for their actions.
After all, this couple’s relationship was truly beneficial to humanity! They sincerely wished the newlyweds a long and happy life on behalf of all mankind.
They also wanted to award Little Flower and the Abyss a Human Contribution Award.
…
“Hahahaha, they’re so ridiculous.”
Little Flower received a text message from Lu Jiajia complaining about the situation. When he saw the two cardboard cutouts, he laughed so hard that he fell out of the tree and into the Abyss’s arms.
“Careful.”
Shi Changyuan was a bit helpless. They were about to leave the forest when Little Flower suddenly wanted to experience sleeping and basking in the sun on a tree branch. The Abyss wouldn’t refuse Little Flower; he would only ever be ready to catch him if he fell.
As soon as Lin Ling fell into Shi Changyuan’s arms, he was held tightly.
“We agreed, no more climbing trees if you fall.”
Lin Ling kissed the tip of Shi Changyuan’s nose. “Okay, okay, I’m a flower of my word.”
“Let’s go to the next stop.”
They had been traveling in one direction, so the further they went, the colder the weather became. Little Flower had to put on a thick down jacket, which made him look a bit bulky.
“Hee hee, Little White Flower has become a Snow Fluffy Flower!”
Lin Ling happily raised his hands towards Shi Changyuan, showing off his puffy outfit, and asked, “Do I look like one?”
The Abyss chuckled, picked up Lin Ling, and answered a different question, “Mm, cute.”
“Hmph.”
Little Flower looked at the Abyss in front of him, still wearing a long wool coat and looking incredibly handsome, feeling extremely unbalanced. Why wasn’t the Abyss afraid of the cold or the heat?
He was jealous.
“I’ll wear one with Ling Ling.” Shi Changyuan took out a matching down jacket from the Abyss space and put it on, then wrapped a scarf around Little Flower.
As they continued further, most of the area was covered in ice and snow. Little Flower and the Abyss, prioritizing fun, went wherever their whims took them, not knowing where they were.
This place was too remote, with no signs of human activity for hundreds of miles.
Perhaps this area was mostly ocean, with fragmented continents. It seemed like there had been intense tectonic activity.
“Eh, there’s a building up ahead, is it a human base?”
Little Flower saw a large human structure from afar. The Abyss carried Little Flower and teleported there, only to discover it was just ruins.
It looked like a church, only partially collapsed.
“A church, we can have our wedding here,” Little Flower rubbed his hands together.
It was a ruin, but almost no weeds grew there. Covered in ice and snow, it looked desolate, only the huge stained-glass window adding a touch of color to the area.
It looked out of place, yet strangely beautiful.
“Does Little Flower want to have the wedding here?” the Abyss asked.
They had encountered other church ruins and other buildings along the way, but Little Flower hadn’t been satisfied.
He said they lacked a certain something that belonged to them.
More accurately, they lacked something that belonged to the Abyss. It was easy to find things that represented Little Flower: sunlight, grasslands, flower fields, all carrying Little Flower’s warmth.
But Lin Ling said that the places they had lived in before were all decorated according to Little Flower’s taste, such as the villa prepared by the humans, and the Abyss, which he had been allowed to decorate freely.
Now, he wanted a wedding with the Abyss.
Shi Changyuan didn’t know what kind of atmosphere that would be, but he would listen to everything Little Flower said.
Hearing the Abyss’s question, Lin Ling looked up at the sky, his eyes curving mysteriously. “We’ll have to see.”
After a while, the sky darkened. Since Lin Ling didn’t plan to find a human base, they would spend the night in this church.
As Shi Changyuan set up a warm tent, Little Flower was outside, mysteriously plotting something.
Then he heard Little Flower exclaim outside.
Shi Changyuan immediately teleported to Lin Ling’s side. The next second, he froze.
A brilliant, flowing band of light appeared in the dark, inky sky, stretching across the starry expanse, magnificent and dreamlike.
Ancient, mysterious, dangerous, yet dazzlingly beautiful.
The aurora borealis.
And his Little Flower stood before him, humming the wedding march. With every step he took towards Shi Changyuan, small white flowers bloomed on the ground, as if injecting life and vitality into the icy wilderness.
Shi Changyuan suddenly understood the kind of feeling his Little Flower was seeking.
Lin Ling walked up to him, bowed like a gentleman, then blinked and reminded him,
“It’s time for the newlyweds to enter.”
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