C94 — [4.7 — The Shelter]

“Oh, Doctor, are you alright?”
The assistant looked at Xi Han’s ugly expression and his fingers wrapped in bandages with horror.

Although the medical service in the base was very good, yesterday’s wounds could be healed today, but it couldn’t withstand this kind of behavior from Xi Han.
After breaking a fountain pen, the bandage on Xi Han’s hand had already turned bright red at a speed visible to the eye, but he didn’t even realize it.
His eyes were still staring at the tablet.

He wasn’t at all like the old Dr. Xi Han, who loved his fingers that he used to better dissect monsters.
Only after hearing the assistant’s inquiry did Xi Han look at him; no emotion was audible in his voice.
“Who is he?”
The assistant looked at the screen on the tablet.

It was a very normal video of the living quarters of the shelter.
Apart from 301, there was only one researcher who was responsible for cleaning the environment of the shelter.

Normally, no one would just enter a shelter facility; after all, the risk factor wasn’t a joke.
However, the previous inmate, No. 199, was a fairly docile inmate, so a researcher in charge of logistics often came in to clean up after him.
Now it’d been changed to No. 301, and it was the same as before.
However, the researchers would also wear additional protective equipment to isolate the influence of 301’s ability.

The assistant didn’t understand why Xi Han was asking about this person’s identity, but he still told him the truth.
“Is that right?”

Xi Han held the tablet and lowered his eyes as he spoke softly, seeming to have no objection to it.

But immediately after, Xi Han’s voice became low.
“Is he better than me?”
The assistant didn’t hear what Xi Han said in that moment.
He looked at Xi Han’s face and didn’t dare to ask more.
He thought he had done something wrong and could only stand on the side as if facing a great enemy.
The good thing was that Xi Han didn’t reprimand; he just asked him to get all the information from this researcher.

“Don’t just let anyone in next time.”
Xi Han’s tone was cold and solemn.
The assistant quickly nodded.
Then, Xi Han returned the tablet to the assistant and gave him a limited period of time.

“After the meeting at noon, send over all his information.”
Xi Han retracted his gaze, his lips pale.

After that, Xi Han didn’t care at all; disregarding the blo*od on the bandage, he retied the bandage to his hand.

Each finger was long and pale.
The meeting would start soon, and the latest time it would end was only two hours away.

The assistant looked worried, but could only agree.
He was a small assistant, so investigating the researcher’s details was still very difficult.
But he didn’t dare to disobey his immediate superior’s request.
After sending Xi Han away, the assistant began to busily manipulate the data, obtaining the information of the researcher on the monitor.
It was found that he was the same as Duan An before him, also a new researcher.
His name was Lu Wen.

Lu Wen was a member of the Monster Protection Organization.
They were a new organization that had just been established in the last two years.
Although it was established late, the number of members continued to expand until it was now over 100,000 in size.

The members were all dedicated to achieving a better society where humans and monsters could live together in harmony.
However, in today’s society, human supremacists still occupy a large proportion, and even if they tried their best, they could not compete with them.

Maybe they could do it later, but right now they couldn’t do it with only a mere hundred thousand or so people; they just appeared to be louder on the internet.
All they could do now was do what they could to protect what they had.

Their first plan is to infiltrate the current largest shelter base, the Third Experimental Base.
The plan had been quite successful so far, and a total of five researchers had managed to enter the base.

Among them, Duan An, who had become a researcher under Xi Han, was the most successful.

It was under Duan An’s recommendation that Lu Wen had successfully entered the base.
At this moment, Lu Wen was taking advantage of the gap between cleaning the clutter in the lab and talking to Duan An in the dead corner of the surveillance.
Duan An was talking about his previous series of initiatives.
He mentioned Xi Han.

Xi Han was one of the twelve supervisors with the highest authority within this base, and his personality was of the usual kind, not particularly vicious but not particularly gentle either.

He had tried to test Xi Han’s tolerance for monsters in the days when he first arrived, and the feedback he received wasn’t good.
When he thought of the smile that was always hanging on Xi Han’s pale face, Duan An only felt it was eerie.
Xi Han was considered a handsome man in the eyes of regular people.
When they initially met, Duan An had some good feelings for this tall, cold, pale male.
He thought he always had a gentle smile and treated people kindly, so he should be better than others.

In the end, he found that this person was more hopeless than the others.
He liked to dissect monsters.

When he was in a bad mood, he would even take out the guts of the monsters with his own hands and happily feed them.
Then, looking at the monsters’ painful expressions, he would laugh extraordinarily happily.

Duan An now remembered the look of Xi Han with a smile at the corner of his mouth, his bony fingers dripping with the monsters’ blo*od.
It was sick to the extreme.

“So, don’t try to convince them for now; it’s better to map out the distribution of the shelters in the base for future liberation operations.”

Duan An looked serious.
He had witnessed a scene of many researchers dissecting humanoid-type monsters without mercy during this recent period of time, making him even more determined to liberate the monsters.

“Many of them are quite innocent.”

“Some have been trapped in the base since birth, unable to escape, having their flesh drawn and cut open day after day, imprisoned in cages so narrow that they can only curl up.”
“There may be some of them that have eaten people, but wouldn’t it be better to just k*ill them? Why do they have to inflict torture so cruelly?”
Lu Wen also frowned and revealed a look of pain.
He had only been in for two or three days, but he had likewise seen many monsters that had died screaming.
It was as if the researchers in this base were born without any sympathy for another species, and their hands were merciless.

“In fact, even though the information about those k*illings came directly from the base, we’re not sure if they’ve actually killed anyone.”
“Forget it; this isn’t the time to discuss this; how’s the shelter area recently?”

Duan An sighed and inquired.
Lu Wen sniffed, and some heartache showed in his eyes. “Indeed, as you said, they are all having a hard time.”
Recently, Lu Wen has been working as a logistician in the holding area, responsible for cleaning.

Therefore, he had seen many of the sheltered creatures that were imprisoned in petri dishes, or cages.
There was also him.
The shelter was named No. 301.

On the first day, when he went to clean the room where No. 301 was located, the other researchers all had solemn expressions as they asked him to wear a full set of protective equipment.
For a moment, Lu Wen thought he was going to meet an extremely vicious shelter.

But upon entering the room, all he heard was the rustling sound of the plush carpet being lightly stepped on in the room.

There was also a figure sitting on the edge of the sofa, shaking his calves in boredom.
The long black hair was tied behind his head, revealing only his small white ears.
His white calves also became increasingly soft and delicate under the light.

Upon noticing that someone had entered, No. 301 turned his face sideways and looked over.

Underneath the dark hair was a porcelain white face and lips as bright red as roses.
Number 301 was a beautiful shelter to the extreme.

Even when there was little expression on his face and he was just looking at him silently, he was so beautiful that people couldn’t take their eyes off him.

Lu Wen felt that he was most likely not a monster, but a human who had been framed to come in.

With the level of brutality of the management of this base, this was something that was extremely likely to happen.
However, during their first meeting, he wasn’t able to speak with No. 301 due to the surveillance.

But he must have acted comically at the time, nearly falling on the soft carpet several times, causing 301 to look at him several times.

After that, Lu Wen left at the urging of his colleagues.

The co-workers seemed to think of #301 only as a scary shelter, discussing the record of k*illings it had committed.

 

 

Although it hadn’t k*illed anyone, it had caused a seasoned supervisor to be sent to a mental hospital, horrible as it was.

So much so that they now had no idea what 301 looked like and were afraid to look at him at all.

That was probably why they didn’t realize that 301 wasn’t far from humans.

These people had simply lost their humanity and were even able to lay their hands on their own kind who looked similar to them.

They didn’t even suspect that #301 might actually be human.

In such an environment where no one could call for help, No. 301 must have lost hope of escaping and despaired.

The more Lu Wen thought about it, the more he mourned.

Although he very much wanted to save No. 301 directly, it wasn’t the time to do it; the time wasn’t ripe yet.

Lu Wen had to hold back.
For the next two days, he found opportunities to go to No. 301’s room to clean it.
Every time, Lu Wen would secretly observe No. 301’s situation.

Every day, he leaned lazily on the sofa, his eyes hanging down without him knowing his thoughts.
The translucent and beautiful pupils were half-narrowed, appearing calm and beautiful.

In fact, no matter from which angle he looked, he was incomparably beautiful.

Lu Wen would stay looking at him for a long time every time and would not leave until he was urged by his colleagues.

And since he had come every day for the past few days, it had led to his colleagues being impatient to accompany him to familiarize themselves with the environment again.

 

They left.

He could be alone with 301.

“I know you’re not a monster; you’re a human, a human like me.”

Lu Wen spoke seriously to No. 301, his face showing his heartache.
No. 301 just quietly looked at Lu Wen and didn’t say anything.
The beautiful almond eyes looked straight at Lu Wen, giving Lu Wen the illusion that No. 301 only had him in his eyes.

Lu Wen’s eyes brightened a bit.

His breathing also became rapid, and he looked happy.

He didn’t care about No. 301’s silence.
Because he knew that in this base, No. 301 must have seen through the ugliness of humans.
He must have suffered a lot to become silent.
But even so, No. 301 was still intoxicatingly beautiful.
All the trials and tribulations he had suffered had only made his aura even more rich and sweet.

Lu Wen looked at No. 301’s melancholic eyes, and his tone grew softer. “Don’t be afraid; I’ll get you out.”

“It’s just a short while away; be sure to hang in there; the future is bright!”
 

Lu Wen hoped that No. 301 could be cheered up by these words and must not lose hope of living.

“……”
No. 301’s almond eyes narrowed slightly, and a smile flowed out of his beautiful pupils.
The corners of his lips also hooked up.

A smile was revealed.
This was the first time Lu Wen had seen him smile.
It was softer and more heartwarming than when he didn’t smile.
Lu Wen realized that 301 had understood his words.

And was willing to leave this base together in the future.
Lu Wen excitedly reached out his hand, wanting to touch No. 301’s palm.

To make a pact with him.

Number 301 had beautiful fingers, thin and white, with rounded, shiny nails and a characteristic masculine elongation that made you want to kiss them.

But 301 avoided it.
Lu Wen was a little lost.
Then he concluded that it must be that humans had hurt No. 301 too deeply, which caused No. 301 to be wary of others.

But it didn’t matter; as long as he could get 301 out of the room, he would definitely regain a good feeling towards his fellow humans.
Afterwards, in order to prevent being suspected if he stayed in the room for too long, Lu Wen left the shelter area and came here to join Duan An.

And he proposed to Duan An that he would free No. 301 afterwards.

“Number 301? It seems to be Xi Han’s new intake.”
 

Duan An heard Lu Wen’s inquiry about the number, and after thinking for a moment, his expression darkened. “I can’t guarantee that he’ll live long enough to be rescued.”

 

“A few days ago, Xi Han went crazy and dissected all the shelters under his name; only this shelter was spared, but it’s likely that it won’t be dissected just for a while.”
“Xi Han is different from the others; he is very easy-going, treats humans gently, and is towards monsters. He can only be described as tyrannical; even if it’s a new shelter that hasn’t been thoroughly researched, he won’t hesitate to dissect it.”

 

Lu Wen became a little uneasy, “Even if he looks exactly like a human?”
Duan An recalled the scene of Xi Han’s dissection earlier—the ghastly white fingertips, the cold scalpel, the wailing shelters, and the smile that curled up at the corners of the man’s mouth—and could only nod sullenly.

Xi Han was by no means a man who would sympathize with monsters.
“No, we have to save 301!” Lu Wen was completely flustered.

Duan An wanted to dissuade him, but when he thought that this shelter would probably die today or tomorrow, he couldn’t bear to continue.

“Duan An, please, isn’t there any other way?”
Lu Wen begged Duan An; he could no longer accept the death of 301.
He thought that he was probably in love with No. 301.
No. 301’s beauty and gentleness had made him fall completely, and if No. 301 had started to respond to him, they might have an even better future.

It must not be dissipated because of these cruel fellows.

“It’s time for a base-wide meeting; not many people are left; I might be able to block out the surveillance.” Duan An replied with some hesitation.

Upon hearing this, Lu Wen revealed a hopeful gaze, kindling hope.

Inside the sheltered area.
Jiu Shu was flipping through the original novel to pass the time.
Recently, people from the Monster Protection Organization have begun to emerge.

That Lu Wen, who wasn’t quite right in the head, should be one of them.

Thinking of that guy who was fully covered in a protective suit and who swore that he was a human and would save himself from going out, Jiu Shu raised his eyebrows slightly.

A meaningful light flashed in his eyes.
In this world, he really wasn’t a human, at least not right now.
He was a monster that had been genetically modified.

It was just that before his arrival, this body was about to die due to the failure of the modification, and now it had gained a compulsion-like ability.

 

Jiu Shu didn’t feel much different from before, though.

He kind of wanted to go out and wander around, and it would be nice if he did.

It was just that it’s still a bit far from the plot point, so he shouldn’t be able to get out for a while.
Boing Boing-

Just as Jiu Shu was lost in thought, he heard a familiar voice from above his head.

It was that very crybaby number, 175.

Raising his head, Jiu Shu watched as the blue body of No. 175 crawled through the ventilation ducts without coming over.
It should have gone in search of food.

After all, it hadn’t been eating for the past few nights and had only been crying.
Jiu Shu remembered the 175 that had crawled over every night on time for the past few days, crying and wetting the carpet.

It couldn’t speak, only making wailing sounds.

Jiu Shu could only look at its translucent, leaky body as it cried every time.

Only when Jiu Shu picked it up would it cry less.

But it still couldn’t stop crying, causing his sleeves to get wet from time to time.
While crying, it also wooed.
Jiu Shu really couldn’t decipher this language and could only reply every time, “Yes.” “Yes.” “I will.”

But the effect wasn’t obvious, and there was even a feeling that the more he spoke, the more it cried.

What was it saying all the time?

Jiu Shu held his cheeks in some curiosity, guessing.

Click-…

The door to the shelter room was opened.

The sound snapped Jiu Shu out of his thoughts. He looked up and once again saw Lu Wen, a member of that monster protection organization.

Looking at Lu Wen with his face covered tightly, Jiu Shu seemed to realize something and glanced faintly at the door.

 

The bright lights from all the surveillance cameras went out.

The surveillance had been cut off.

In fact, a better approach would have been to replace it with a fake video rather than cutting off the surveillance so simply and roughly.
Jiu Shu thought with some regret that he would have done a better job if it were him.

Inside the base conference room, a large meeting was being held.

The crowd sat around the spacious desks, separated from each other by a distance of almost a meter.

But that didn’t stop the arguments or the fiery atmosphere that was almost ready to erupt between the people in any way.

“There have been more voices of sympathy for the shelters on the base lately, and it’s all because you started it! Jack!”

A feisty supervisor raged at Jack’s rotten kindness.

“You don’t think it’s messy enough, do you? There’s been a parade outside all day about disbanding the base; the base has carried the pressure, and now you’re stabbing it internally!”

 

The grumpy supervisor said this, glancing at Xi Han.

Trying to get this supervisor, who was known to loathe monsters, to speak as well, to appear to have more morale on his side,.

 

After all, last time, it was also Xi Han who spoke out and disliked Jack’s speechlessness.

This time, however, Xi Han seemed unusually quiet.

He lowered his head, strands of black hair falling on both sides of his face, revealing his pale skin and the indifference of his face.

It was almost as if he had changed his nature.

The grumpy supervisor had no choice but to turn the tables and encourage the others to join him in protest.

All of them had experienced the w*ar, had a hatred of monsters in their bones, and simply couldn’t stand the idea of people getting along with monsters.

 

Thinking about the situation, they all knew that there would be a big mess.

That decades-long w*ar had already dragged down human development and caused the population to plummet; it couldn’t happen again.

In the w*ar twenty years ago, the young and strong died the most, and the global population plummeted by more than seventy percent, which led to the younger generation now being basically raised by the government, and they simply couldn’t comprehend the older generation’s hatred for monsters.

 

“As long as the government insists on not disbanding the base, it’s useless for the people to protest even if they do; they’re just clowns, and my slight suggestion was just trying to get people to be more sympathetic towards humanoid shelters; it can’t have affected anything, so don’t you dare to put a hat on my head!”

Dr. Jack looked equally angry.
The crowd was bickering in their own way.
Xi Han’s amber-colored eyes reflected the group of grim-faced compatriots, and he suddenly felt very bored.

He lowered his eyes and stopped looking at them.

Fingers touched the tablet on the desktop, hesitating.

The scene he had just seen still irritated Xi Han quite a lot.
He knew that 301 didn’t like him.

It was probably because he had been compelled to fall in love with 301, so he had lost his value.
It seemed that 301 was a shelter that liked the new and disliked the old.

As long as one had already been compelled, it wouldn’t be interested anymore.

That was why he was so indifferent to him and instead was so affectionate towards an unfamiliar researcher.
Obviously, if they went by the standards of society’s judgment of spouses, that guy wasn’t as tall, as strong, or as good-looking as he was.

Even his job wasn’t as good as his.
He wasn’t a match for #301 at all.

But No. 301 just smiled at the guy.
Click– Xi Han’s fingertips accidentally cracked the tablet by pressing on it.
He let go and fell into silence.
The supervisor next to him carefully glanced at Xi Han.
Xi Han was known throughout the base as the smiling one and rarely showed such an outward display of emotion.

His handsome face was expressionless, without the previous smile, and appeared a bit cool and cold.

His temperament also became a little creepy.

Xi Han didn’t pay attention to the gazes of others.

He remembered the nightmares he had been having every night recently.
He kept crying, carefully asking about 301’s attitude towards him.

Did he hate him?
Did he loathe him because of what happened before?

Number 301 wore a smile, but his voice was so cold that it made him tremble.

—I do.
—Is it really impossible to forgive?
In the dream, he humbly begged for forgiveness.

–Yes.
In the dream, all Xi Han could remember was the sound of his hoarse sobs.

It was something that had never existed in reality.
He had never cried before, yet he cried so pathetically in his dream.
Xi Han lowered his eyes, his expression vaguely despondent.

Getting such a reply in a dream could only be described as a daydream.
After all, in the real world, this was the truth.
It was better this way.

Although he was in love with 301, Xi Han still couldn’t give up his loyalty to humans.

He was a human, different from a monster, after all.
Not being able to be together was probably a good thing.

It was just love that came from the monster’s compulsion ability, and there was nothing to be sorry about giving it up.

He would wholeheartedly fight harder for the good of humanity.
Click-
The solid wood desk was grabbed until it cracked.
The supervisor next to him looked at Xi Han’s gloomy appearance with his head hanging down and revealed a horrified gaze.

This Xi Han didn’t say a word; it couldn’t be that he wanted to make a big move and k*ill those supervisors who supported the protection of the monsters.

Fortunately, Xi Han didn’t make any other movements; he just calmly wiped away the wood shavings in his hands.

Picking up the broken tablet, he tapped it and checked something.
That researcher couldn’t meet up with 301 anymore.

It wasn’t jealousy or anything; it was just because humans couldn’t resist 301’s charm.

And by getting rid of him, 301 wouldn’t have the next compulsion target; even if he was already sick of him, he would be the only one left.

“……”
No, no, he just wanted to save his fellow human.

But what if they truly loved each other?

After all, 301 was smiling so sweetly at him.

The thought popped into Xi Han’s head, and then he pushed it down viciously.

That was simply ridiculous; No. 301 wouldn’t fall in love with a human.

Even if he did fall in love with that guy, it would never be possible to date him.
Because as a shelter, he could only be trapped in this base.

With pupils that trembled unknowingly, Xi Han’s found this reason to deny 301’s departure.
His fingers also tapped the tablet.
He wanted to take a look at 301.

Even if it was a look of disgust, it was better than the panicked feeling that left him with nothing to do.

Then, what came into view was an empty room.
Empty of people.
It was like a confirmation of what he had just thought about reality.
301 had fallen in love with someone else.
He was leaving him.
Forever.
“Dr Xi Han, your hand!” The supervisor next to him exclaimed as he looked at Xi Han’s blo*odied palm.
In the next moment, he saw that Xi Han looked at him grimly, and his amber eyes became feral and sinister.

The supervisor instantly lost his voice.
Instead, his face showed some dismay along with fear.
If he hadn’t seen it wrong, were tears swirling in Xi Han’s eyes?
It should be an illusion.

The supervisor wiped his cold sweat and withdrew his gaze.

 

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TN:

I’m bacckkkkk, I took a short break to clear my head, feeling better so lessssgoooo 🤸