Chapter 206:
Side Story 1 – Love (Part 1)
It all began one summer day with an early morning run.
When Xing Nuo was born, he was incredibly frail. He spent the first six months of his life in the hospital before Shen Wen finally brought him home.
Shen Wen said it was probably due to the difference between monsters and humans; Xing Nuo was tiny and wrinkled, like a little red monkey that hadn’t shed its fur yet.
His two dads took turns caring for him at the hospital, never giving up hope, even when his breathing became shallow and the doctors issued a critical condition notice.
But Xing Nuo, tiny as he was, grew steadily, like a sapling reaching for the sky.
When he was seven or eight, his health having improved, he started taking martial arts classes.
He had been training for nine years now.
Now, he was healthier than most kids his age, no longer the frail, sickly child he once was.
After his run, his forehead damp with sweat, a towel around his neck, he strolled home.
A gentle breeze rustled the leaves in the trees lining the street, dappled sunlight dancing on the ground.
A figure stood under a tree.
He had dark hair and eyes, his face stiff, his jawline sharp, his appearance almost robotic.
Seeing Xing Nuo approach, Lu Qi looked up and smiled, his expression still slightly mechanical.
“Xing Nuo.”
Xing Nuo nodded, smiling back, and walked over, tilting his head.
“Waiting for me?”
Lu Qi, never one for subtlety, his affection for Xing Nuo evident in his every action, his eyes crinkling at the corners, hummed in agreement.
“Wanted to see you. Been a while.”
Since their unexpected encounter in the exam room dungeon, Lu Qi had been seeking Xing Nuo out.
He would appear on Xing Nuo’s way to martial arts class, at the supermarket, even during his morning runs.
But Xing Nuo didn’t mind. He enjoyed the attention, the unwavering focus of Lu Qi’s gaze.
This is what love should be like, he thought. Seeing only each other, always together.
Loyal and dependable.
“Not working on your…experiments anymore?”
Lu Qi shook his head, his gaze fixed on Xing Nuo.
“Wanted to see you. Not interested in experiments.”
He currently worked at a national laboratory.
He had woken up with amnesia, not knowing who he was or what he was supposed to be doing, and had been taken to an orphanage.
He had shown exceptional intelligence, skipping several grades, entering university at seventeen.
He had participated in various research projects, solving complex problems, and had been recruited by the national laboratory before even graduating.
Working on a prosthetics project, after losing his left arm in a car accident, he had used his own research to create a replacement.
Yes, Lu Qi’s left arm was a silver-white, metallic prosthetic.
But he always wore long sleeves and gloves, concealing it.
Xing Nuo, curious, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Lu Qi’s arm, asked:
“Can I see your arm?”
Lu Qi, from the moment he first saw Xing Nuo, had known his purpose in this world.
He was here for Xing Nuo.
And he would never refuse Xing Nuo’s request.
He took off his glove, revealing his five, silver-white, mechanical fingers.
He made a fist, the mechanical joints moving smoothly, as if he had been born with a metal arm.
“So cool!”
Xing Nuo also held out his hand, comparing it to Lu Qi’s, and chuckled.
“Your hand…looks stronger than mine.”
The cold, heavy metal, the faint whirring of the mechanical joints, it looked like it could punch through a wall.
Lu Qi, after a moment of thought, said:
“I tried. Can crush internal organs.”
Xing Nuo’s eyes widened in surprise, a flicker of disbelief in his usually bright, cat-like eyes.
“You fight people?”
Lu Qi seemed so cold and detached, his face and even his gaze stiff and robotic, despite his handsome features.
Would someone like him, so mechanical, get into fights?
Lu Qi nodded, recounting a previous incident:
“I just joined the lab…my supervisor assigned me to a core project…someone didn’t like me…bumped into me on purpose.”
He hadn’t been able to control his strength. One punch, and the man was unconscious.
Xing Nuo, tilting his head, asked:
“Then what? He get revenge?”
Lu Qi shook his head. “No. The research lead thought he was useless…kicked him out.”
Lu Qi’s intelligence was remarkable. He could grasp the most complex concepts and calculations with ease, finding solutions to seemingly impossible problems.
Like a walking supercomputer.
To keep such a valuable asset, the research lead had, of course, gotten rid of the troublemaker.
Xing Nuo smiled, his eyes crinkling, and, taking out his phone, said:
“Serves him right. We’ve run into each other so many times…let’s exchange numbers.”
Their encounters had all been coincidental. They didn’t even have each other’s contact information.
Lu Qi’s heart pounded, his mind filled with a joy that almost short-circuited his usually precise calculations.
“Okay.”
His ears turning red, he took out his phone and clumsily added Xing Nuo’s contact information.
Watching Xing Nuo wave goodbye, his smile bright and warm, Lu Qi’s heart swelled with happiness.
Progress! We’re friends now!
He returned to the lab, his face stiff, trying to hide his excitement.
The lab had almost sent out a search party for him.
“Lu-shen! Where were you?!”
“Good heavens, we thought you had been kidnapped! We were about to call the police!”
A group of older scientists surrounded him, their concern evident despite his silence and aloofness.
“You were in a car accident last time, remember? Don’t go out alone anymore!”
Lu Qi, ignoring them, returned to his small room, closed the door, and mumbled:
“I’m fine. Waiting for a message. You can leave now.”
He sat on his bed and started composing his first message to Xing Nuo.
He frowned, his brow furrowed in concentration, typing and deleting, the message still unsent as night fell.
Then, a message from Xing Nuo:
“Is your phone lagging? It says you’re typing…”
Lu Qi almost threw his phone at the wall, then, seeing the message he had been agonizing over had somehow been sent, his face burning with embarrassment,
[Hello, I’m Lu Qi. Nice to meet you.]
So stupid!
He wanted to disappear.
Meanwhile.
Xing Nuo, his hair covered in shampoo, brushing his teeth, mumbled to his brother:
“I can wash my own hair!”
Shen Baizhou, not trusting him, leaning against the doorframe, his phone in hand, read him a news report:
“Today, a man, while washing his hair, got soap in his eyes, slipped, and hit his head on the toilet, resulting in severe blood loss…”
Xing Nuo, rolling his eyes, annoyed by his brother’s constant nagging, turned and rubbed the shampoo foam on Shen Baizhou’s shirt.
Shen Baizhou, now covered in sweet-smelling foam, almost fainted from the fragrance.
Xing Nuo, seeing his brother finally silenced, smiled, although his own face and arms were also covered in foam.
He looked in the mirror, seeing their reflections, both covered in foam, and chuckled.
“See? Now you don’t have to wash my hair. You can take your own shower.”
Shen Baizhou, his monolid lifting, glared at his mischievous little brother, then, rolling up his sleeves, rubbed the foam back onto Xing Nuo.
A foam fight ensued.
It ended only when Shen Yan entered, grabbing them both by the scruffs of their necks and sending them to their rooms.
Xing Nuo, huffing, a towel wrapped around his wet hair, sent a message to Lu Qi:
[My brother is so mean! Let me tell you…]
After a long rant, he added:
[Did I say too much? Am I bothering you?]
Lu Qi, who had been meticulously analyzing every word of Xing Nuo’s message, startled, almost short-circuited.
[No! You’ll never bother me!]
Xing Nuo, reading the message, repeated it softly, his cheeks flushing.
He smiled, thinking about his reply, when he turned and saw his brother’s knowing grin.
“Who are you texting? You look happy.”
Xing Nuo, quickly putting his phone away, his guilt evident, his eyes darting around, mumbled:
“No one. Just a classmate.”
“I don’t believe you.” Shen Baizhou, a guidance counselor for years, although mostly a lazy one, knew the signs of a budding romance.
He leaned closer, his eyes narrowed.
“Are you in love?!”
Xing Nuo’s face turned crimson.
“No!”
But he couldn’t help but think of Lu Qi, a warmth spreading through him.
Maybe…with Lu Qi…it wouldn’t be so bad?
