Li Yuheng was momentarily stunned by this sudden initiative and straightforward request.
“Wow,” he chuckled, “Sparse White Sentinel, are you… inviting me?”
Shu Bai's fingers were still clutching Li Yuheng's collar, and she could feel the warmth and strong heartbeat coming from his chest.
In the darkness, he heard his own voice, almost in a desperate attempt to defy all hope: "Li Yuheng, stop pretending. Just tell me, do you want to or not?"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
All of Li Yuheng's playfulness and cynicism vanished instantly upon hearing that blunt question.
He looked down at the person beneath him.
Shu Bai's eyes shone brightly in the darkness, devoid of their usual coldness, wariness, and anxiety, replaced by an almost open invitation.
His Adam's apple bobbed.
"think."
One word: deep, hoarse, without any hesitation or joke.
He leaned down and kissed Shubai again.
...
...
Li Yuheng looked at Shu Bai, who had fallen into a deep sleep beside him, with a satisfied expression. Shu Bai was breathing evenly, and there was a rare sense of complete relaxation between his brows, even with a hint of tired satisfaction.
The messy bed and the lingering, alluring atmosphere in the air silently testified to how intense the "battle" had just taken place.
Li Yuheng gently brushed aside the sweat-dampened black hair on his sparse white forehead and placed a soft kiss on his smooth forehead.
Then, he curled the corners of his mouth into a smile and silently snapped his fingers.
A wisp of extremely fine ghostly power swept across the bed like a gentle breeze, instantly smoothing out the wrinkled sheets and restoring the fabric, which had been stained with ambiguous marks, to its clean and dry state.
Li Yuheng pulled the soft, thin blanket over Shu Bai's shoulders.
After doing all this, he quietly turned over and stretched out his arm to reach the two monitoring wristwatches lying side by side on the bedside table.
But the moment his fingertips touched the cool metal strap, a very soft nasal sound came from behind him.
"Hmm..."
Li Yuheng paused, immediately withdrew his hand, quickly lay down, closed his eyes, and pretended that he had never woken up.
A warm hand groped and placed itself on his waist, its soft, sleepy strength pulling him back slightly.
Her pale cheeks unconsciously rubbed against his bare back, finding a comfortable position, and her breathing became long and steady again.
Li Yuheng silently grinned, feeling the warm, even breath of Shu Bai on his back, tickling him all the way to the very core of his being.
He immediately started gloating in his mind: "0090, see? My wife can't leave me even when she's asleep, she's clinging to me, oh my, this clinginess... it's such a sweet burden!"
[Your Highness, I saw it! Mr. Shubai is incredibly dependent on you! He loves you so much!]
0090 has started his unprincipled and ungrateful flattery again.
Li Yuheng felt completely comfortable being filmed, and only he knew the delicious flavors of the food.
Then, he turned around very slowly, held his breath, and finally retrieved both watches.
Li Yuheng first looked at the one that belonged to Shu Bai.
With a light touch of the fingertip, the watch face silently lights up.
really!
The pointer, which had previously seemed welded to the yellow-green boundary, was now steadily pointing to the very center of the green zone, which represented safety.
The values are stable, and the fluctuation curve is as smooth as a tranquil river.
He shook his head smugly and picked up his wristwatch again.
Perfect!
Li Yuheng carefully took Shu Bai's left hand.
The morning light shone through the gap in the curtains, falling precisely on that hand with its distinct knuckles.
Her pale skin was tinged with a warm gold, and faint blue veins were faintly visible beneath her thin skin. The knuckles still bore the faint red of last night's passion.
He gently snapped the monitoring watch back onto his wrist.
When the metal watch strap touched her skin, Shu Bai unconsciously curled her fingers, her fingertips brushing against Li Yuheng's palm like a feather scratching her heart.
Click.
The soft click of the clasp closing was exceptionally clear in the silence.
Li Yuheng did not let go of her hand.
He remained in that position, gazing down.
Her sparse white nails were neatly trimmed, with a healthy pale pink hue at the tips.
There were thin calluses on the tiger's mouth from years of holding a gun, and the fingertips had a rough feel from training.
You could say this is the hand of a warrior.
But now, the hand lay relaxed in his palm, incredibly docile.
The morning light filtering through the curtains streamed across the clearly defined finger bones and slightly protruding wrist bones, casting delicate shadows.
Even the fine lines on the skin are clearly visible, like a silent invitation.
Li Yuheng's Adam's apple bobbed.
He remembered how this hand had gripped his back so tightly last night, how it had pressed against his chest to try and push him away when he went too far, but ultimately slipped away powerlessly, its fingertips sinking into the sheets and creating messy creases.
As if possessed, he lowered his head and gently touched the back of Shu Bai's hand with his lips.
It feels warm to the touch.
Her sparse white eyelashes trembled, seemingly startled by the subtle touch, but she did not wake up. She only let out a muffled nasal sound before falling back into a deep sleep.
Li Yuheng chuckled softly, murmuring in a breathy voice, "Sleeping so soundly..."
He stroked the warm skin of that hand with his thumb, slowly moving from the wrist bone to the fingertips, over and over again, reluctant to let go.
The light outside the window grew brighter and brighter, making that beautiful hand almost transparent.
Li Yuheng stared at it for a long time before finally tucking the hand back into the warm quilt, completely satisfied.
…
Li Yuheng got up quietly, dressed herself, glanced back at Shu Bai who was still fast asleep on the bed, and then left the dormitory without making a sound.
He didn't go far; he was standing in the corridor outside the dormitory, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, seemingly waiting leisurely.
Not long after, a series of hurried and rhythmic footsteps approached from afar.
Zhao Rui arrived almost running with two assistants, his face a mixture of nervousness and unbelievable excitement.
"Stand up!" Zhao Rui's voice trembled with urgency. He raised his terminal screen, which displayed sparse real-time monitoring data. The pointer was steadily hovering in the green zone. "The data... the data has been stable for over ten hours! This... this is simply a miracle!"
Li Yuheng lazily raised his eyelids, as if it were just a trivial matter: "Okay, I know. Sentinel Shubai is still resting, don't disturb him."
"Yes, yes, yes! Understood!" Zhao Rui nodded repeatedly, his eyes filled with awe as he looked at Li Yuheng. "Headquarters has received the data and the order has been issued! Once the situation stabilizes for more than 72 hours, you and Sentinel Shubai will immediately depart for the First War Zone!"
"Alright, just wait and see." Li Yuheng waved his hand, dismissing the excited Zhao Rui.
…
As night deepened, only the soft glow of the emergency light strips remained in the corridor.
Li Yuheng leaned against the door frame of the Shubai dormitory, one hand lazily resting on the door panel, blocking most of the entrance.
With his other hand in his pocket, head tilted, and a roguish smile that was gradually becoming familiar to Shu Bai on his face.
"Shubai Sentinel, look, tomorrow is the crucial moment. Once the 72-hour stabilization period is over, we'll be going to the front lines to fight the bugs with real weapons."
Shu Bai stood inside the doorway, his face expressionless as he looked at Li Yuheng blocking the entrance, his tone flat: "So?"
"so?"
Li Yuheng seemed to have heard a question he didn't understand, so he leaned closer to the door and his tone became serious. "So, to ensure that nothing goes wrong, I think... it's very necessary for us to conduct another in-depth, thorough, and responsible 'pre-battle check' and 'consolidation of understanding'."
His gaze drifted meaningfully into the dormitory. "In other words... in-depth intervention. I think it's absolutely necessary. It concerns the success or failure of the mission, even personal safety, so we must be careful, don't you agree?"
Shu Bai's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
For three consecutive days.
This guy used various pretexts such as "consolidating the therapeutic effect," "ensuring stability," and "preparing for battle" to drag him into three days of intensive "deep counseling."
Although the effects were indeed remarkable, his mental state stabilized to his own surprise, and his body also... gradually adapted and even developed a taste for it.
But he was leaving tomorrow, and all he wanted to do was get a good night's sleep and recharge, rather than be kept up until midnight by this seemingly inexhaustible guide.
"No need." Shu Bai refused decisively, reaching out to close the door. "It's been three days in a row. The effect is very stable. I have important business to attend to tomorrow."
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