Chapter 97
This was the first sunny day after a month of continuous rain. The snake people poked their heads out of their caves and began to repair the houses and land damaged in the great war.
Xiao Shengyun was awakened by the sunlight filtering through the cracks in the wooden planks. Outside, he could hear the rustling of snake tails scraping the ground and the clanging of goods being moved. The snake people were going back and forth, rebuilding their homes with their own hands, and the breath of life was sprouting anew from this land.
The other side of the bed was empty. Where was Zhou Zhiren?
Xiao Shengyun's heart skipped a beat. Although the opponent wasn't entirely without fighting ability, this world riddled with pollutants was still far too dangerous for humanity. The opponent's two previous deaths had left a deep impression on him, making him inevitably anxious and uncertain.
Just as Xiao Shengyun reached the door, it opened from the other side, and Zhou Zhi pushed it open and entered. He was carrying something in his hands: several plump, orange-yellow fruits that looked delicious.
"Where did you go? Why didn't you call me?" Xiao Shengyun asked, his tone carrying a hint of inexplicable anger.
“Go hunting with them, it’s nearby, and I can detect any large pollutants, so don’t worry,” Zhou Zhi explained slowly, then changed the subject, “This is the food recommended by those snake people, try it.”
Xiao Shengyun casually picked up a fruit; it was sweet and sour, very common in the human world, but a precious food here.
"Chief Mori said there's a party tonight and asked if you wanted to attend so he could prepare in advance," Zhou Zhi said.
What kind of party?
"It's like a bonfire party, where you eat and drink together. I just don't know if they have the ability to brew wine. He didn't dare tell you, so he asked me to pass it on."
"Am I some kind of monster? Why wouldn't I dare?" Xiao Shengyun was speechless. This month, he had also enjoyed the treatment of a god. Every time he went out, a bunch of people knelt down and greeted him, almost like seeing some rare animal.
On the contrary, Zhou Zhi was doing very well among the snake people. He used his past knowledge and way of thinking to classify various pollutants, drew them into picture books and distributed them to the snake people. They were classified as aggressive, poisonous, and edible, in a simple and clear way. Even though the snake people couldn't read, they could recognize them from the pictures.
Zhou Zhi also tried to teach them to write and to study pollutants, but the gap between the two was like that between a PhD and a kindergarten student. Most of the time, he would write and draw alone, or silently look into the distance.
Throwing a person from modern society back into a primitive tribe would eventually break even the strongest will.
Xiao Shengyun always felt that the other party was partly responsible for being trapped in the inner world. He had been searching for a way back for the past month, but with little success.
"Take me with you next time you go out," he said, munching on a piece of fruit.
"good."
The party that evening was very lively; everyone was excited to have survived the ordeal. Xiao Shengyun, worried that the others might feel uncomfortable, deliberately sat in a relatively secluded corner, with only Zhou Zhi and Moli beside him.
"My Lord, please enjoy this. This is a lake sheep that was specially caught this morning."
Beside the fire lay a creature resembling a sheep, lying horizontally on the ground; it was likely their morning prey. Morley cut a large piece of dark brown meat from the sheep and presented it to Xiao Shengyun.
Snake people eat meat raw, and they are not afraid of parasites, so roasting it over a fire is unnecessary.
"No need, you guys eat."
Looking at the black, still wriggling mass of flesh, Xiao Shengyun felt inexplicably nauseous.
Morley awkwardly withdrew his hand, not daring to say anything more, and silently walked into the crowd not far away.
"Feeling down?" Zhou Zhi poked at the campfire. He hadn't seen a fire in a long time. The flames danced in front of him, radiating warmth.
"I'm just thinking about how to get back." Xiao Shengyun sighed, feeling like a stone was weighing on his shoulders.
The material inconveniences are secondary; the most important thing is that they cannot feed on pollutants in their next life and can only communicate with these snake people whose minds are only focused on hunting and reproduction.
Xiao Shengyun felt a vague sense of guilt towards Zhou Zhi. The other party had done everything, even losing his life twice. He had saved so many people and shouldn't be trapped here for the rest of his life.
He was afraid he wouldn't understand Zhou Zhi's feelings, and even more afraid that the other person would silently endure all of this because of him.
“Do your best, even if you have to stay here for the rest of your life,” Zhou Zhi heard the bitterness in his tone. “I heard there’s a sea of flowers not far from here, we can go see it in a few days.”
The party lasted until late into the night, and the two returned to the cabin early.
"It's so boring, I really can't go back. Could you set up a channel to send a cell phone over there? I can't stay awake all night counting stars."
Xiao Shengyun doesn't necessarily sleep at night, so he simply starts bothering his bedmate. Zhou Zhi is drawing on a wooden board with a charcoal pencil. There's only a rough outline on it, which should be the pollutant they encountered today.
As he was writing and drawing, a snake's tail quietly wrapped around his wrist.
Zhou Zhi stopped writing and found that the culprit was pretending to be asleep with his eyes closed, his eyelashes trembling slightly.
He leaned over, and the snake's tail immediately wrapped tightly around his body. He used the force to kiss someone who was pretending to be asleep.
The painting was no longer possible. The wooden board and pen were casually tossed on the floor by the owner. The two people on the bed hugged each other, from being cautious at the beginning to being inseparable, as if they were merging the other into their own bodies.
"This is strange."
Xiao Shengyun felt unwell, a tingling sensation spreading through his heart. He looked into Zhou Zhiqing's clear eyes, as if he were sinking into a vast ocean.
This human being is so wonderful; he is like a majestic mountain, never showing any weakness, so much so that no one else can get into his heart.
"I'm not lying to you. It's okay if we can't go back. I can stay with you in this world until the very end."
Zhou Zhi said softly that he was all alone, and if he hadn't met Xiao Shengyun, he would probably have died from contamination or worked himself to death in the laboratory.
In that other world, there was no one he couldn't bear to miss, and no one he absolutely had to do.
"But I'm always afraid you'll be sad." Xiao Shengyun's fingers stroked the other's chest, where there used to be a huge wound, but now it was completely healed.
He was afraid of losing this person again, and he was also afraid of the occasional loneliness in his eyes.
Is this what human love is?
They responded to each other carefully, never having been so close, both physically and emotionally.
Xiao Shengyun looked at Zhou Zhi's neck and suddenly remembered that when they first met, he only regarded the other party as food, but now he was holding back his power, afraid of hurting the other party.
"If I'm sad, I'll definitely tell you," Zhou Zhi said firmly, making it a promise.
It was also his first time loving someone, so he wasn't very adept at it and instead tried hard to find answers to various questions.
"I believe you," Xiao Shengyun said softly, stroking the other's back.
...
The flower field wasn't far from where I was staying, but it wasn't close either. Every inch of this world is polluted, and the journey wasn't safe.
Xiao Shengyun cleaned up the pollutants on the road, and the two treated it as a picnic.
Those flowers were also low-level pollutants. Their root systems stretched for miles, and as if sensing the presence of predators, all the pollutants shrank into the soil, leaving only some camouflage branches and leaves.
So when the two arrived, all they saw was barren land.
"So, what did you ask me to come here for?" Xiao Shengyun asked with a smile. Of course, he knew the reason, but he just wanted to tease his boyfriend.
"It's clearly because of you." The scientist chose to be truthful, then added, "It was indeed my oversight; it seems we won't be able to see the beautiful scenery this time."
"Not necessarily."
Xiao Shengyun took out a piece of green crystal, which was the energy of the Tree of Life. The entire land began to tremble instantly. These pollutants with little intelligence emerged from the ground, their branches surging as they tried to compete for this power.
Suddenly, all sorts of flowers bloomed, and both of them were covered in pollen flying in the air.
"Cough! Cough!"
The plants had eaten and then quieted down, with large, blooming flowers covering the ground. If it weren't for the commotion earlier, this place would have been a scenic spot.
"This place is so beautiful." Xiao Shengyun found an open space to sit down, and then looked down to meet the gaze of a red rose with eyes.
He felt his heart gradually becoming stronger.
The two lay side by side on the ground, enjoying a rare moment of peace.
The sky is no longer as gray as it was years ago; it now displays a color that blends purple and blue.
“We can pick some and bring them back to the room. I wonder if they’ll wither like ordinary flowers,” Zhou Zhi suggested.
"Forget it, it's not safe." Xiao Shengyun thought about the scene and was afraid that he would be strangled by these cute little things in the vases in the middle of the night.
He's not afraid, but his boyfriend might not be safe.
“I’ll take some wood back with me later. We’re still missing some things at home, like building a new table.”
That little house was really simple. Since we couldn't go back there anytime soon, we might as well decorate it properly.
The house needs repairs, or we can build a bigger one and then have a new set of furniture made.
They will live well in this unfamiliar world, have loved ones and a real home.
As Xiao Shengyun thought this, his worries of the past few days gradually disappeared. Looking at the brighter sky, he began to look forward to what home would be like.
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