Chapter 32 The Apocalypse 31
The next morning, Luo Mingchuan prepared to go out to pick wild vegetables. After washing up, he opened the door and found Lu Xuejin standing at the door.
It was not yet seven o'clock, and the sky was just beginning to lighten, yet he was radiant. His eyes, which always carried a hint of a smile, were now strikingly bright as he opened his palms towards Luo Mingchuan.
Luo Mingchuan: "?"
"Marriage certificate. One of them is mine." Lu Xuejin said. He had scoffed at it yesterday, but for some reason, he had become interested in the two thin red booklets today and came to block the door early in the morning. "I'll keep the other one myself."
Is this his reason for getting up early, which is unprecedented for him?
According to Lu Xuejin's usual habits, even if he woke up, he would stay in bed until after nine o'clock before getting up.
Seeing the surprise on Luo Mingchuan's face, Lu Xuejin raised her chin slightly and explained, "How can I keep my own documents with you all this time?"
Luo Mingchuan said nothing, turned and went back into the house. He dragged a wooden box from the deepest part of the wardrobe, and then pulled out a small key from somewhere. Opening the box, two thin, red certificates lay quietly inside. He took one out and held it in his palm; it was lighter than a feather.
Lu Xuejin carefully put away the marriage certificate and said with emotion, "Your father used to have mental health issues and wanted someone to take care of you, so he said we were engaged since childhood. But there was no engagement at all. I never thought that this joke to comfort your father would come true one day."
His red lips curved slightly, and his eyes swept over Luo Mingchuan with a hint of mockery: "It's just a pity that the only place that acknowledges our relationship is probably one we can never go back to."
Luo Mingchuan replied, "It doesn't need human recognition."
His tone was calm and natural, as if distinguishing himself from the category of "human beings" was the most normal thing in the world.
Lu Xuejin raised an eyebrow, her tone teasing: "Have you lost your humanity?"
She then asked Luo Mingchuan when he would take the special medicine: "That stuff seems to have an expiration date. Once it expires, the medicine will lose its effectiveness and become useless. I went through so much trouble to bring it back, I can't let it go to waste."
"And..." He changed the subject, his gaze fixed on Luo Mingchuan's cold and stern face. His eyes softened instantly, like a spring breeze, and the concern in his eyes was incredibly sincere and touching. "Mingchuan, I still hope you can become human again. Being human is so wonderful. You can taste delicious food, drink fine wine, experience real joys and sorrows, and go through the entire cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death."
Luo Mingchuan remained silent.
He wanted to ask, "Wasn't it you who started all of this?" But the words caught in his throat, and he swallowed them back silently.
Luo Mingchuan knew this was still just one part of the "game." The infection was the appetizer, the arduous journey to the base to steal the special medicine was the thrilling main course, and the concern and warmth at this moment were the dessert's aftertaste.
Lu Xuejin enjoys infusing her true feelings into the bittersweet experiences of life, meticulously preparing a grand feast, and she is fascinated by all the chemical reactions within it. As for Luo Mingchuan's emotional fluctuations, perhaps they are related, perhaps they are not.
Therefore, he doesn't need to react.
As expected, Lu Xuejin left gracefully before he could even speak.
Luo Mingchuan followed behind him, watching as he returned to the bedroom and solemnly placed the marriage certificate into a locked drawer. For Lu Xuejin, this was already considered an extremely cautious and meticulous method of preservation.
A sweet feeling welled up uncontrollably in his heart, not strong, but faint, mixed with a little sourness, like a glass of sweet and sour sparkling water in the middle of summer, bubbling and stirring his heart.
On this day, Lu Xuejin seemed to have completely forgotten about the people and things in the base, focusing only on the present moment, this small town, this villa, and the life he shared with Luo Mingchuan.
He surveyed the small garden outside the door. Although Luo Mingchuan had tidied it up beforehand, he was clearly not skilled in this art and had no aesthetic sense whatsoever. He had simply removed the weeds, haphazardly scattered various seeds into the soil, and watered it regularly. The plants that had grown were sparse, and many looked wilted and lacked vitality.
"Pull these out and replace them with something else." Lu Xuejin used a wooden stick to clear away the leaves. The soil was quite fertile, and he planned very practically, "Plant some scallions, romaine lettuce, rosemary, and other vegetables. When the temperature rises later, we'll plant some fruit. We'll plant things we need to eat; it's too wasteful to just plant flowers."
"Do these seed shops have them?" Lu Xuejin wondered.
Luo Mingchuan paused for a moment, then replied, "...Yes, I have both."
[Dedication Points +1]
[Congratulations, baby! Your contribution points are maxed out!]
A simulated firework effect appeared in mid-air. After the routine announcement, Dongyao asked incredulously, "What happened? Why did it suddenly reach full capacity?"
Yesterday it was comforting its host, saying that good things come to those who wait, and the higher the dedication value, the harder it is to obtain, but it will eventually reach its maximum. Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, its host baby didn't do anything, just made a series of requests, and the dedication value was already maxed out!
This male lead...
Dong Yao felt that Luo Mingchuan probably had some kind of peculiar fetish.
Lu Xuejin smiled without saying a word, hummed a song, and turned to go back into the villa.
[The first soul fragment has been successfully saved! We can now leave this world at any time. When do you plan to leave, baby?]
"No rush. Let's play for a few more days." Lu Xuejin rested her chin on her hand, laughing heartily.
For the next few days, Luo Mingchuan buried himself in the garden, working non-stop from the moment he opened his eyes, almost to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep. The seed shop had planting techniques for common fruits and vegetables, and these poor seeds finally escaped their fate of being trampled and tormented.
Lu Xuejin stayed in the study on the third floor. He said he was reading, but he didn't actually read a single book. He just opened the books and stared blankly at himself.
Beside the open pages of the book lay a pistol—originally casually placed on the entryway cabinet by Luo Mingchuan, but quietly taken up there by Lu Xuejin at some point.
Slender, pale fingers tapped the cold gun barrel intermittently.
Seeing this scene, if Dongyao were human, its eyelids would be twitching wildly. It tried to find some topics to distract Lu Xuejin.
Little did anyone know that Lu Xuejin would discard the system after using it, as if she hadn't heard its voice at all, and completely ignored it.
"Baby, we should go now. You've been in this little world for so long, you should rest." It coaxed and reminded him, "The sooner we leave, the sooner I can stop the little world from operating, so your husband's soul won't be accidentally damaged during this time."
Lu Xue suddenly stood up, gripped her pistol, and walked to the window.
[…Baby? Baby!]
[...Lu Xuejin!]
Lu Xuejin ignored him completely. He opened the window, leaned lazily against the windowsill, and looked down. Luo Mingchuan's round head was sticking out, and even though he was wearing a loose sweatshirt, it couldn't hide the smooth and agile muscle lines as he moved.
Even just a glimpse of his back exudes a sense of power poised to be unleashed.
"Mingchuan," Lu Xuejin called out loudly, "I have a gift for you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he laughed lightly, a laugh that sounded especially pleasant in the pure morning light.
Luo Mingchuan turned around at the sound and saw him bathed in sunlight, his eyes slightly lowered, his porcelain-white skin almost transparent. His gaze was so clean and focused, gentle and sacred, just like the angel worshipped by the base's high-ranking officials.
Lu Xuejin's smile can't be anything good.
What tricks are they playing now?
Luo Mingchuan brushed the dirt off his hands and frowned in confusion.
Then, the cold muzzle of a gun was pointed at him.
Without hesitation, the angel pulled the trigger.
The bullet pierced through the hoodie and plunged into Luo Mingchuan's chest, the immense impact causing him to stagger back a step.
Before the tinnitus and dizziness had subsided, another gunshot rang out!
Bullets rained down like a storm, forcing him to retreat continuously. His chest was quickly torn open, becoming tattered and mangled in the blink of an eye.
Luo Mingchuan's body was that of a zombie, so the hole in his chest wasn't a big deal, just not very aesthetically pleasing.
But Lu Xuejin's sudden and merciless shooting still made his internal organs feel like they were on fire. After the immense disbelief, intense anger and a kind of betrayal sting enveloped him.
That heart, which had long since stopped beating, seemed to shatter completely at that moment, the pain etched into my very soul.
My head is throbbing slightly.
【What have you done?!】 This was the first time Dongyao had lost control of its emotions like this; Lu Xuejin's actions had clearly crossed its bottom line.
Lu Xuejin lowered her gun and smiled, her smile as pure as ever: "Do you know, when Shen Mo and I first met, he also pointed his gun at me in a similar posture."
"But I only shot him a few times, he's not dead yet, how come your little world is having problems?" Lu Xuejin asked innocently.
Dong Yao: [……]
The high-hanging sun swayed violently, cracks appeared in the sky, and the whole world trembled. Luo Mingchuan clutched his chest, his vision blurring.
This world...
He strained to lift his head, imprinting Lu Xuejin's angelic smile behind the window frame deep into his mind.
...
The small world suddenly collapsed, and Lu Xuejin was forcibly kicked out by the angry Dong Yao.
In the real world, he had just returned from a silent funeral and was recuperating alone at home. The Shen family, mindful of his grief after losing his husband, dared not disturb him. The news media, eager to spread the word, and the wolves and vultures coveting the Shen family's power, were also firmly kept out by Silent's subordinates.
He died in silence, but his wings still sheltered Lu Xuejin from the wind and rain.
Lu Xuejin woke up on the sofa, with the collection of poems that Momo often read before his death beside him. He sat up and looked around his familiar yet slightly unfamiliar home, feeling for a moment of disorientation as if he didn't know where he was.
"Baby—why did you shoot the male lead?!" Dong Yao questioned. "I finally reached the maximum dedication value, and you—you—"
Lu Xuejin casually brushed a stray hair from her shoulder and said matter-of-factly, "Isn't my contribution value already full? Besides, I didn't kill him. Guns can't kill zombies. I was just playing a little game with him. Why are you so agitated?"
Before, you kept calling me "baby" all the time, why did you suddenly change your tune?
Dong Yao kept urging him on, and he hadn't had enough fun yet. What's wrong with making a little joke with Luo Mingchuan before leaving?
Lu Xuejin blinked and said meaningfully, "Xiao Yao, it seems like you care about my husband more than I do."
Dongyao was silent for a moment, then said, "...I was afraid you'd be sad, baby."
My silent soul is shattered, and I'm afraid these actions will cause adverse reactions. Baby, you love your husband so much, I don't want you to regret it later… Don't take such risks again. My silent soul is fragile and can't withstand any more stimulation.
"Alright, alright," Lu Xuejin sighed softly, seemingly helpless. "It won't happen again next time."
He tilted his head, his gaze drifting to the window, a hint of unfathomable emotion in his eyes. "I just suddenly feel a little disgusted with him..." His voice trailed off. "He is indeed silent, yet not silent. Sometimes, seeing him standing so vividly before me, while silence can only sleep in a cold coffin, I just can't accept it."
Why are you fussing over such trivial details?
Dong Yao thought with a headache: The emotions of a widow who has just lost her husband are really sensitive and unpredictable. She may say a lot of nice things, but she may not have much real feeling.
The host claims to love silence, but judging from his actions in the small world, that love is probably less than genuine...
After the argument, Lu Xuejin scrolled through the mountain of messages on her phone, but didn't reply to a single one.
His gaze lingered briefly on a message board labeled "Yuncheng" before he clicked on it.
The message from Shen Yuncheng was somewhat vague, only saying that Lu Xuejin should call him back after seeing it.
Lu Xuejin hated phone calls and lazily pondered how to reply when the doorbell rang abruptly.
Lu Xuejin quickly reverted to her dazed, grief-stricken, and confused state after losing her husband, and went to open the door.
The man at the door looked at him and said, "Mr. Lu, good afternoon. I hope I haven't disturbed your rest."
He flashed his electronic investigation badge and said in a businesslike tone, "Please come with me. We suspect you of murdering your husband."
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