C99 —- [4.12 – The Shelter]

Recently, Xi Han’s mental energy was showing signs of growth.

Even when Xi Han himself wasn’t aware of it, he could possess some of the shelters.

Thus, it could show emotions that weren’t revealed by him.
This was the case with No. 175 in Jiu Shu’s hand.

Its original blue gel-like appearance had turned into a translucent amber color, and it was dripping wet.

During this period of time, whenever Xi Han left the room, it wouldn’t take much time for No. 175 to crawl out of the ventilation ducts.

Jiu Shu guessed that it was probably because Xi Han subconsciously wanted to see him after he left, which caused No. 175 to arrive frequently.

Moreover, No. 175’s mood basically changed according to Xi Han’s mood on that day.
Xi Han’s mood was quite good recently.
No. 175 seldom shed tears and cried and usually looked silly and happy.
As soon as it entered the room, it only knew how to crawl towards him.
It also seemed to represent some sort of unspeakable desire for closeness within Xi Han’s heart.
“Is it really alright?”
Jiu Shu lowered his eyes, looked at the huffing and puffing 175 in his hands, and once again inquired.

“……”

“Nothing; I just miss you a little.”

After a few moments of silence, Xi Han’s slightly distorted voice rang out from the computer.

It was still gentle and showed the steady and reliable characteristic of an adult.
Jiu Shu blinked and watched as No. 175 reached out a tiny tentacle from his gelatinous body and grasped Jiu Shu’s thumb.
Then he gently pressed his thumb against the wet and cool surface.

He could see that he really missed him.

“…… Also, when I was checking the data today, I suddenly discovered that a small shelter with a cute appearance and good camouflage ability had escaped from the shelter area earlier, and it seems to be near your room.”

“If you see it, be careful! Don’t approach it easily; you’ll get hurt.”
Jiu Shu looked at the “cute and well-disguised” small shelter 175 in his hand and smiled, “Yes, I will.”
That being said, Jiu Shu still held onto No. 175 and didn’t let go of it.
Xi Han stared at the monitor for a long time without seeing Jiu Shu let go.

As he expected, he didn’t throw this little monster, who only knew how to act pitiful, to the side.

So he was really in love with it.
Even for this reason, he could ignore him.

“……”

Tick-tock-tick-tock-
The room became more and more humid.
The clothes on Jiu Shu’s body were already soaked.

He glanced at the monitor and then at 175, who had swollen into a round ball of water balloon in his hands in aggravation.

He decided not to tease Xi Han anymore.

If he continued to tease him, he was afraid that he would really cry with anger.
“I just called you this time to say that I want to keep a pet, can I?”

“…… pet?”
No. 175 stopped swelling, and while sobbing, it cautiously went close to him, as if wanting to listen carefully to the following words of Jiu Shu.

“I picked up a very cute pet; every time I look at it, I think of you.”

“Every time you’re not in the room, I miss you, and now that I have it, I won’t be so sad when I think of you.”
Jiu Shu’s voice was soft enough to melt one’s soul.
Jiu Shu was missing him too.
The eyes of Xi Han in front of the screen widened.
After realizing that Jiu Shu shared the same mood of missing him, his heart, which had felt sour just a moment ago, was filled with joy in an instant.

During this recent period of time, Jiu Shu would always show gentleness towards him but didn’t show the slightest sign of resistance when he left.
It was as if he didn’t care at all.

It was very different from those love books where two people were in love with each other and had possessive feelings for each other.
Xi Han was always uneasy because of this.
He never thought that Jiu Shu would feel lonely and miss him as much as he did.

Just like the love guide book said, they were in love with each other.

Snap-
No. 175 happily pressed into Jiu Shu’s palm and spread its entire body over Jiu Shu’s arm.
Jiu Shu’s sleeve was thoroughly wrapped in this translucent mass, and when it was fished out a few moments later, it was cleaner than a washing machine.

But it finally stopped seeping downward.
No. 175 was back to its usual goofiness.
Sticking to Jiu Shu and squirming, cold as a squirming piece of jelly.

His emotions were just too easy to understand.

Jiu Shu lost his smile and arched an eyebrow at #175.
Then he looked out of the room.

It was as if he could see through the door of the room to the other holding areas outside, where the many shelters were being held.

Jiu Shu guessed that within the confines of the base, No. 175 shouldn’t be the only shelter possessed by Xi Han.

But it should be the only one that could freely reach him now.
Thinking of the many Xi Han’s consciousness bodies that he might face when he went out in the future, Jiu Shu couldn’t help feeling a little troubled.
Right now, he could still use the excuse of a pet to muddle through.
Afterwards, if a humanoid-type spirit body appeared, what should be done?

It couldn’t all be dissected by Xi Han, like number 275.
Although No. 275 had eaten many people, so there was no problem with it dying.

But that didn’t mean that all the other humanoid shelters deserved to die.
At the very least, he couldn’t let Xi Han ki*ll every one of the them on sight.
Jiu Shu pondered for a moment but gave up.
Xi Han was actually a very easy person to coax, and a little placating would do the trick.

It wasn’t too late to wait for this issue to be handled later.
After all, humanoid-type shelters weren’t much at the moment.

At least when he was led away by Lu Wen before, he hadn’t seen too many humanoid monsters.

It seemed that the human experiments in the original plot hadn’t been carried out to the point of final madness yet.

Or maybe the monsters hadn’t evolved to the point where most of them were humanoid, like in the second part of the original plot.
Thinking like this, after the call with Xi Han ended, Jiu Shu turned on his computer.
After operating on it for a while, he looked at the magnetic field fluctuation shown above the picture and pondered.

This was the data chart he got after hacking into those base institutes that were researching 001.
It showed the situation of 001, who had been sleeping underground for the last month.
Compared to the magnetic field data that had been silent without any movement in the past, the magnetic field fluctuations of 001 have clearly become a lot stronger now.
Especially the top few times of obvious magnetic field fluctuations, Jiu Shu looked at it, and it coincided with the few times when Xi Han was in a stronger mood.

Now that Xi Han’s mental energy was growing, the odds were that it had nothing to do with 001.
It seemed that Xi Han, who was 001’s body of consciousness, was resonating with the main body.
If it continued to develop at this rate, there might not be a need to undergo any experiments before Xi Han’s ability could grow to the point of manipulating millions of monsters.
Jiu Shu pondered for a moment, wondering whether such a change would be good or bad.

Such a high-speed change might have some side effects, such as him becoming more and more like a monster.

After all, the human body was still too fragile to be able to withstand the high-speed increase in mental energy.

It was possible that a collapse would occur.
The change in Dr. Xi Han’s expression was extreme.

The assistant who hid outside the door and quietly peeked at Xi Han’s situation watched as Xi Han’s expression changed from initial obscurity and darkness to an unconcealable joy.
It was almost as if he had been seduced by 301.
He kept staring at the screen, and every now and then he would show a smile, with the look of someone who had completely fallen in love and lost the ability to think.

When he managed to regain his senses, he began to fold the roses again in earnest.

The movements were so careful that they were even more careful than when he treated the most precious of shelters.

Watching all of this, the assistant knew that his words were in vain.

 

However, he hadn’t held out much hope in the first place but only wished to give the doctor a precautionary shot.

Now, for example, just as he thought, the base side was starting to prepare to talk to Xi Han.

Perhaps it was to try to take 301 away from him.
“An emergency meeting?”

The assistant saw Dr. Xi Han’s pale fingers stop moving.

The contrast between the bright red rose petals and the tone of his bony fingers was obvious.
The rose looked even more delicate.
“Got it.”

The doctor didn’t even raise his eyelids, but his assistant felt a gust of coldness.
Obviously, Xi Han was very unhappy with this sudden meeting.

It was probably because he felt that the meeting delayed him from continuing to fold paper roses.

“Dr…. that, before you go over there, it would be best to go online and, well, search.”

The assistant remembered how gentle Xi Han had been in the past and still couldn’t bear to see Xi Han go over to meet the final judgment just like that, defenseless.

But he couldn’t say it explicitly, so he could only suggest that Xi Han search the news on the internet.

Surely he would see Duan An, who had been hanging on the hot search recently.

Click-
The scalpel cut across the paper, cutting the red paper into a suitably sized piece.

Xi Han listened to his assistant’s words, still concentrating on folding the roses, and nodded perfunctorily.

His black hair covered his handsome eyebrows, and he didn’t have the time to smooth it to the side.

He was busy right now.

One hundred roses had to be folded before he went to see his lover in the evening.

It was only ninety now, and each of the remaining ones needed to be crafted more carefully.

The assistant, seeing this, could only walk away timidly.

It was decided that today he would go outside and hide in the lab for the time being.

Lest he run into the scene of Xi Han’s fury.

The assistant knew very well about Dr. Xi Han’s temperament.

Coupled with the extent of his obsession with 301 over this period of time, he knew that Dr. Xi Han would definitely have an irreconcilable conflict with the upper echelons of the base.

He could only pray that the conflict wouldn’t be too intense; otherwise, it would be bad if he couldn’t keep his job.

Xi Han waited until he had folded the rose in his hand before raising his head and looking at the time.

He frowned slightly, although he really didn’t want to go to the meeting, but looking at the phone calls that kept coming in on his communicator, he also understood that there should be something more important.

He was still one of the supervisors of the base after all, so he still had to make a trip.

Putting away the roses on the desktop one by one, Xi Han’s eyes softened.

Tonight, it would be possible to give the roses to Jiu Shu.

He would definitely be very happy.

Although he had missed the opportunity to get close to his beloved Jiu Shu some time ago due to his excessive reserve, now  Xi Han had done his homework.

The sweet words written in relationship books had long been learned by heart.

His relationship with Jiu Shu was also more cordial than it had been in previous days.

Maybe they could get a little more intimate after the gift tonight.

Cuddling together and lying in the same bed until he woke up early the next morning and looked at Jiu Shu’s sleepy, adorable face.

It was something that could very well happen.

As long as he was considerate and gentle enough, showing the calmness and reliability that a mate should have.

Jiu Shu would definitely like him even more.
In the future, they would live happily ever after.
“……”
Thinking of this, Xi Han paused in his movements and suddenly remembered what his assistant had said earlier.
Though his beloved Jiu Shu stated that he was his favored lover…

Monsters only stayed with monsters, a conclusion recognized by many.

Referring not only to the racial aesthetic aspect but also the longevity aspect.

Monsters usually had stronger bodies than humans and longer lifespans, and except for the fact that most of them weren’t very intelligent, they were beings that were completely beyond the human race.
He remembered that when the Great Cataclysm first happened, there were people who regarded monsters as a superior race, believing that humans were an existence abandoned by the gods and had no value for existence.

Afterwards, the human camp defeated the monsters, and the so-called higher races became shelters trapped in the base.

However, it was undeniable that they still had advantages that humans couldn’t possess.

Even though Jiu Shu was transformed into a monster, he probably possessed a long lifespan like a monster.
And he was just an ordinary human.

It was simply impossible to live with Jiu Shu for such a long time.

Drip-drip-drip-

The communicator that kept ringing interrupted Xi Han’s thoughts.

His obscured eyes looked towards the communicator.

Only after a long time did he reach out his hand and switch off the constantly vibrating and ringing communicator.

 

Getting up, Xi Han headed to the conference room.

Perhaps because of his assistant’s advice, Xi Han glanced at the latest news on his tablet before heading to the conference room.

What caught his eye was Duan An’s name.

There was also a video of that speech of his.
 

“Dr. Xi Han, you’ve finally arrived!”

Inside the conference room, someone spoke sarcastically in a conspiratorial manner.

In the next moment, he was looked at by Xi Han’s cold and unperturbed eyes, and his heart jumped.

If eyes could ki*ll, Xi Han’s gaze would be able to slaughter the entire conference room.
 

It was a far cry from the gentle Xi Han in everyone’s memories.

Facing the obviously bad mood of Xi Han, the people who were still showing dissatisfaction lost their voices, and all of them looked at the supervisor who was in the lead.

The supervisor then rounded off the scene, soothingly allowing Xi Han to sit down first.

A meeting recorder sitting next to the supervisor looked at Xi Han.
 

He was one of the undercover agents of the Monster Protection Organization who had infiltrated the base.

Today was the first time he had met Xi Han face-to-face.
As expected, he was a gloomy and terrifying man, as Duan An had said.

Pale and handsome face and amber-colored cold pupils.

At a glance, he was a mad scientist with an extremely twisted psyche.

Aside from the fact that the fake smile that was pretending to be gentle was absent, compared to the videos, everything was the same as in those videos Duan An showed them.

301 must have suffered inhuman torture at his hands.

He thought of his eyes that curled up when Xi Han looked down at the shelter on the operating table in the video.

An invisible fear then sent chills down the recorder’s heart, and the fingers holding the pen tightened.

From the bottom of his heart, he sympathized with the extremely beautiful shelter #301 in that photo.

It was a good thing that the organization’s side had made preparations to get him out in a little while.

It was only hoped that the recent public opinion would make this madman, Xi Han, throw in the towel and not dare to continue hurting No. 301.

The meeting started soon after Xi Han’s arrival.

The main purpose of this meeting was to quell the public’s anger as soon as possible.

An ultimatum had been given from above.

“This time, 301 must be sent away to be contained in a higher base.”

This was the only way to keep the third experimental base away from the vortex of public opinion.
However, such an approach was clearly a submission to the Monster Protection Organization, and it really didn’t sound good to talk about it.

The many supervisors all had their own opinions.
Some agreed to send it to the higher base, while others wanted No. 301 to remain at the base.

After all, it was precious research material.

It was rare to find a shelter that completely maintained its human form.
 

What was more, the purpose of the Monster Protection Organization was clearly more than just No. 301, so if they backed down now, would they continue to do so in the future?

 

The discussion in the conference room was heated for a while.

However, as the holder of shelter No. 301, Xi Han’s opinion was still important.

The crowd began to ask for Xi Han’s opinion when they couldn’t come up with a solution to the discussion.
 

However, Xi Han just curled up his eyes with a hypocritical smile and refused any thoughts of sending away No. 301.

 

Firm and hard.

Inside the conference room were mostly supervisors of equal status; no one could do anything about it.

In the face of Xi Han’s refusal, they could only sigh.
 

They didn’t know what to do.

Now that the outside world’s public opinion form was very grim, sending away No. 301 seemed like the only thing to do.

 

However, Xi Han still dared to reject all offers regardless.
 

The recorder thought to himself that it was true.

 

This guy was a madman, and as Duan An had said, there was no way he would let 301 go.
 

Then the plan needed to go on as usual.

Anyway, their organization’s original plan wasn’t to force the base to give in, but to take advantage of the base’s time of anxiety to break into the base and let go of all the born-free shelters.

 

Hopefully, the plan will work.
 

The recorder thought so as he looked at the base-related coded messages that had long been sent out on his computer.

The meeting ended with a sigh of relief.

Xi Han also walked out of the conference room.

The recorder who came out right after him could only see Xi Han’s back as he turned around and left.

The slim-fit uniform showed a miserable white color, and the leather boots under his feet made a snapping sound with every step.

It looked particularly eerie in this long corridor.
 

Like this depressing and gloomy base of disinfectant mixed with the smell of bloo*d, everywhere was darkness that the sunlight could not touch.

 

The twisted and morbid scientists like Xi Han were the tip of the iceberg of this base’s deformity.

In this era where public opinion was paramount, it should not exist.

Xi Han didn’t pay attention to the gazes behind him; he continued to look at the various news stories on the tablet.

After only two or three days of inattention, the internet was filled with Duan An’s information.

Thinking back to what he had searched for before going to the conference room.
 

Those images were released in Duan An’s speech, as was the photo of Jiu Shu.

Xi Han’s eyes went cold.

Sliding the content on the tablet, his eyes swept over the lines of text that abused him.

 

It eventually stopped at Duan An’s social account.

Because of that sensational speech, Duan An’s fan base on social platforms skyrocketed.

Within the account, which had not been registered long ago, every daily message posted would have countless comments.

One of them was him answering a question that many netizens were curious about.

Is 301 a human being or not?

[In my heart, he is human.]
Then, is it possible for him to fall in love with a human?
[Of course, we’ve been in contact with each other, and I saw how friendly and close he was to others. I think that he will.]
 

Duan An spoke as if he had some kind of intimate relationship with Jiu Shu that wasn’t known to outsiders.
 

That was why he was so sure that Jiu Shu would fall in love with a human.
 

Looking at these brazen remarks, Xi Han’s pupils reflected the bright light emanating from the screen, unable to shed any emotions.

Only the corners of his mouth pulled down slightly, revealing a smile that exuded the smell of bloo*d.

The shelters in the base inexplicably became a little restless, as if they were feeling angry.

The researchers were surprised.

However, these agitations were fleeting and soon gone, leaving people puzzled.
 

Xi Han returned to his office, where he continued to fold paper roses in earnest.

It was as if the meeting and everything on the internet just now hadn’t affected him in the slightest.
 

He was Jiu Shu’s mature and stable lover; how could his mood be affected by some jumped-up clowns, affecting the evening date with his lover?

 

Inside the empty office, there was only the rustling sound of paper pages being folded.

Until the evening, one hundred paper roses were finally folded.

Xi Han wrapped all the paper roses in carefully prepared wrapping paper and looked at them with downcast eyes, revealing a smile.
 

No one could break up him and Jiu Shu.

 

Because they truly loved each other.

There was no way that Jiu Shu would have a crush on someone like Duan An.

He also didn’t care at all about the ridiculous comments on those social media platforms.

On the other side of the shelter room.
Jiu Shu looked at the wilting 175 in his hand and raised an eyebrow.
After a while, there was a knock at the door.
It was Xi Han.
Jiu Shu watched as Xi Han entered the room with a large bouquet of roses in his hands.
His beautiful pupils lingered on Xi Han’s face for a moment before revealing a gentle smile.

“What beautiful roses! I like them a lot.”
 

The dark color in Xi Han’s eyes finally dissipated completely as he looked at the smile on Jiu Shu’s face.
 

He placed the flowers into Jiu Shu’s hands.

Then he hesitated, wondering if he should kiss Jiu Shu like the book said.
 

Would it be too munificent?

 

But in the gap between his hesitations, there was a warm, soft touch on his cheek.

It was Jiu Shu who kissed him.

“Thanks.” Jiu Shu wrapped his arms around Xi Han’s neck and leaned into his embrace.

The tips of Xi Han’s ears quickly turned red, and his eyes lit up.
“You’re welcome.”

A smile hung on Xi Han’s face for a long time.

“Is that the pet?”
 

“It looks kind of stupid.”

Xi Han was full of happiness as he wrapped his arms around Jiu Shu, and his eyes suddenly caught sight of No. 175 in the glass case next to the bed.

 

At this moment, 175 still had a translucent amber color and was blearily clinging to the glass case, almost spreading out into a big pie.
 

“Yeah? I think it’s cute.”
 

“Well, just a little.”

As long as Jiu Shu thought it was cute, Xi Han would think it was cute.
 

It was still stupid, though.
 

Looking at the glass case away from this translucent little monster, Xi Han was still a little disgusted.

He wasn’t a fan of any existence that could take away his lover’s attention.
 

Especially when this 175 was so stupid from head to toe.

Watching it squirm to get closer to Jiu Shu was especially stupid.
 

“…” Jiu Shu suddenly laughed.

He thought that #175 was exactly the same as Xi Han, who was now clinging to him.
Xi Han was unsure, but followed with a smile.

As long as he looked at Jiu Shu, he would feel incredibly happy.
 

Therefore, he would definitely not let those who coveted Jiu Shu take away his love.
 

“Did something happen today? It feels like you’re not in a good mood.” Jiu Shu inquired.
 

Xi Han looked into Jiu Shu’s clear eyes and wondered if he should let him know about those dirty things.
 

Duan An had stolen pictures of him, and the base wanted to send him out.
 

“It’s nothing.”
 

“I just don’t want you to stay in this cramped place anymore; let’s leave here in three days, okay?”

Xi Han seriously asked for Jiu Shu’s opinion.
 

He was prepared to go and take out the locator on the back of Jiu Shu’s neck tomorrow.
 

As the supervisor of the base, it wasn’t difficult to fake the death of a shelter and thus send it out of the base.
 

Xi Han had been making preparations before, and it was just time to implement them now.
 

Only when they were far away from this base could they truly live happily ever after.

There was no need to pay attention to those who wanted to take Jiu Shu away from him, and there was no need to condemn Jiu Shu to stay in this place where he didn’t see the light of day.

Jiu Shu deserved the best of everything.
 

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter where we go as long as I’m with you.”
 

 

 

Jiu Shu readily agreed.

This was in the plans; the plot node was just a few days away.

People from the Monster Protection Organization would break into the base at any time.

When the plot node passed, this base would be irrelevant.
 

Looking at Xi Han’s eyes, which became brighter and brighter, Jiu Shu continued to ask, “Other than that? It feels like there are still things you haven’t said.”

No. 175, in the glass case, shrank a little.
 

Xi Han avoided Jiu Shu’s gaze and naturally replied, “Other than that, it’s just some boring trivia that you wouldn’t want to know, Jiu Shu.”

A mature lover learned to carry his or her own hardships and not burden the love interest.

 

This was something that was emphatically stated in relationship books.

“Okay, is it something about Duan An?”
 

“Jealous?”
 

Jiu Shu said speculatively.
 

Xi Han was somewhat silent.

No. 175 in the glass case had wilted, plopped down, and started to ooze.

 

A mature lover shouldn’t be randomly jealous.

Xi Han felt that it was very uncontrollable for him to eat this kind of unprovoked jealousy and say it out loud.

Because that guy, Duan An, was obviously talking nonsense.

So he smiled; not a trace of gloom could be seen on his handsome face. He happily said,  “How come? I just think he’s ridiculous.”

 

“So you saw him say that the relationship between us is ambiguous?”

“……”

No. 175 dropped off the glass case wall to the bottom of the case as if somewhat startled.

“But it’s true; I had contact with him.” Jiu Shu recalled his previous experience of disengaging from the shelter.

 

“It doesn’t matter; we won’t have contact with him again.” Xi Han’s voice was calm.

So don’t fall for Duan An.
 

Don’t be with him.
 

No. 175 slumped over the glass case in aggravation as droplets of water began to snap and slide down the case.

 

 

“……” Jiu Shu held back a bit.

Xi Han looked at Jiu Shu’s smirk and felt a little uneasy.

He thought that Jiu Shu had a crush on Duan An; after all, he had helped him escape from the base before.

So he took out his tablet and wanted to show Duan An’s ugly face to Jiu Shu.

 

It was often said in relationship guides that in the face of a love rival, sometimes it was more effective to directly present evidence than to use words to discredit them.

Xi Han remembered every single entry in the relationship guide but forgot to delete the search history on the tablet.

 

“How do I vocalize my throat to appear more composed?”

“How to be a partner that fascinates your lover?”

“How do I kiss in the most steady and unobtrusive way?”
 

“How do I not get jealous?”

“What should I do after learning not to be jealous in order to show it so that my lover will praise me?”

Looking at the previous search records, it seemed that Xi Han had already learned not to be jealous.

But immediately below were a series of new search records.
 

“Will my lover fall in love with someone else?”

“Will my lover fall in love with a pet?”

“Will my lover not want me?”

“How many teeth to show when smiling at my lover?”

“How do I give a gift to my lover?”
Jiu Shu looked at the tablet and burst out laughing.
“!!!”

 

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TN:

Lol (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)