Sorry everyone, something came up and I missed yesterday’s update schedule, I’ll be posting on Saturday to catch up.
Li Shu did it on purpose. He was certain that Gu Lin in this world also liked him, but for some reason, he had never expressed those feelings out loud.
His behavior was actually very obvious. People like Xu Yanqiu and Doctor Bai, who interacted with the two of them frequently, could easily see Gu Lin’s thoughts. Gradually, the others in the team started to notice as well. After all, the way Gu Lin treated Li Shu was completely different from how he treated everyone else.
This difference showed in many ways, so clear that it was hard to ignore.
Perhaps only Gu Lin was still deceiving himself, thinking he had hidden his feelings well, not realizing that everyone—those who should know and those who shouldn’t—already knew.
When Li Shu kissed him, Gu Lin’s first reaction was disbelief, followed by confusion. It felt as if he had fallen into a dazzling dream. Although he knew he shouldn’t indulge in it, he couldn’t help but sink deeper.
Their lips touched, but it was only a simple touch. Gu Lin didn’t move, and Li Shu didn’t go deeper. Neither of them closed their eyes—Li Shu did this intentionally, while Gu Lin was still too shocked to react.
Seeing the astonishment in Gu Lin’s eyes, Li Shu suddenly chuckled. He pulled back a little, leaving a small gap between them.
Then he just looked at him like that.
Gu Lin turned his head slightly to avoid Li Shu’s gaze, his expression was somewhat flustered. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
Li Shu smiled. He had a light smile, like a gentle spring breeze stirring ripples across the water. Those ripples spread through Gu Lin’s heart, making everything feel even more unreal.
Everything else had faded away, and he couldn’t remember anything. At this moment, all that remained in his mind was that kiss—the kiss he wasn’t sure was real or not.
He looked at Li Shu, half nervous and half uneasy. He longed for a definite answer, but he also knew it was unrealistic. It was just an accident, he thought with self-mockery.
“Of course I know what I’m doing.”
Just as Gu Lin was falling into self-doubt, he heard Li Shu’s voice.
The soft voice was like thunder breaking through the darkness, driving away all the shadows. A light pierced through the thick fog, and soon, the whole world brightened.
“I’m an adult, and I’ve been in a relationship before. I know what my heart feels. But what about you, Gu Lin? Do you like me? If you don’t, you can treat what happened today as an accident. There’s no need to be troubled. It’s just a failed love, it’s not like I haven’t experienced that before.” Li Shu spoke lightly, but his gaze never left Gu Lin’s face, not missing a single change in his expression.
“I…” ‘Do I like him?’ Gu Lin didn’t know. In his more than twenty years of life, he had never felt such emotions and didn’t realize that his heart had already been moved. His attention to Li Shu and his instinct to protect him from harm were all subconscious reactions. He had been keeping the beast in his heart tightly locked up, afraid to let it out.
But now, at Li Shu’s words, the gate of that cage was opening, and something in the darkness behind it was roaring, struggling to break free.
With Li Shu’s indulgence, Gu Lin could no longer contain the beast.
The door opened.
Gu Lin just let himself sink into it. He heard his own voice, soft and unlike himself: “Shu Shu, I like you. I think… since the first time we met, I liked you. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid you…” wouldn’t like it.
Li Shu placed his index finger on Gu Lin’s lips, stopping him from continuing. “There’s no need to say more. I don’t want to talk about the past.” That was something that happened to the original owner. It was the original owner who fell in love with Lin Xuan, not him.
But Gu Lin misunderstood. He thought that Li Shu was recalling something sad and hurriedly said, “Alright, I won’t bring up the past again.”
He had learned about Li Shu’s past, not because he wanted to pry, but simply because he wanted to know more about him. Li Shu had changed a lot, probably because of a failed relationship. He had heard Xu Yanqiu say that people who have experienced heartbreak tend to feel less secure. He would give Li Shu the greatest sense of security and would never let something like that happen again.
To say he didn’t care would be a lie. He only hated that he hadn’t met Li Shu sooner, giving someone else the chance to hurt him. He knew about Li Shu’s past. The young boy, once surrounded by endless affection, had endured so much suffering for that person. Just thinking about it made Gu Lin feel unbearable pain.
Li Shu deserved the best.
If Li Shu hadn’t ruthlessly left the force he himself had built, he would have always protected him from the shadows. But Li Shu’s decisive departure was unexpected—not just to Gu Lin, but even Xu Yanqiu had said later that he hadn’t expected Li Shu to make such a choice.
Now, he felt immense gratitude for having followed after Li Shu that day out of worry, for insisting on taking Tan Chu away because of the drug. Without those events, Li Shu wouldn’t have chosen to leave.
Taking him under his wing, protecting him—even if he never got a response, even if he had to spend a lifetime just as a friend by his side, he would have been content.
Not really!
Gu Lin couldn’t lie to himself. His desire to possess the young man was etched deep in his bones, into his very marrow. He knew himself well enough to know that while he might endure it for a while, there was no way he could endure it for a lifetime.
The young man could only belong to him.
Now that the young man had spoken those words himself, after the initial shock, Gu Lin was overwhelmed with joy. What could be better than the person you love loving you back?
“Shu Shu, I’m so happy, really!” Gu Lin looked at the young man, his eyes filled with an emotion he no longer tried to hide.
It was a look Li Shu was familiar with.
During this time, Li Shu had only seen such emotion in Gu Lin’s eyes during rare, unguarded moments. And before he could take a closer look, the man would quickly conceal it again.
“Well then, I… ah!”
Just as Li Shu was about to pull away and use his newfound “boyfriend privilege” to coax Gu Lin into absorbing the energy from the crystal core, he was suddenly grabbed by the waist and pulled down by the man.
The distance between them vanished instantly.
Gu Lin’s amused voice came from above. “What’s wrong? We just confirmed our relationship and now you want to run?”
Burying his head in the man’s neck, Li Shu began to act coquettishly. “What? Did we even confirm any relationship? What relationship?”
Before he could say more, his words were cut off. Gu Lin replayed the events in his head and indeed, they hadn’t explicitly confirmed a relationship. He quickly made amends, “Then, Mr. Li Shu, would you like to date me, with marriage as our goal?”
There was no need to worry about anything else for now. He would take this opportunity to secure their relationship first.
Li Shu nodded, his soft hair brushing across Gu Lin’s face. The man lowered his head and kissed him, thinking to himself: Since you’ve agreed, there’s no going back. It was you who agreed and I won’t accept any reason for you to back out.
After being hugged for a while, Li Shu struggled to get up. He hadn’t forgotten that Gu Lin was still injured. It wasn’t good for him to keep lying on top of him.
Gu Lin wanted to hold him a little longer, but Li Shu wouldn’t allow it, so he regretfully let him go.
Li Shu sat back down on the bedside and picked up the crystal core that had been left aside. “Now, can I use my boyfriend privilege a little?”
Gu Lin leaned back against the headboard, indulging him. “Of course you can. As long as it doesn’t hurt you, you can do anything you want.”
Too much control could drive people away. Even though he wanted to hide Li Shu away where only he could see him, where the young man could only talk to him, it was just a thought. If he really did that, the young man would surely resent him. He would restrain himself and give the young man as much freedom as possible.
He was prepared for Li Shu to make various demands, but to his surprise, Li Shu only held the crystal core out in front of him. “Alright then, absorb the energy from this core. I want you to recover quickly.”
Gu Lin’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at the crystal core held out in front of him.
The crystal core was large, just barely fitting in the young man’s hands. The young man’s skin was already fair, and as he moved his hands, due to his movements, a section of his arm was revealed and many scars could be seen, though they did nothing to diminish his beauty. With the shimmering pale green crystal core reflecting off him, it created a breathtaking scene.
At this point, how could Gu Lin not understand? The young man was waiting for him here. The promise had already been made, and there was no turning back.
“I don’t know the real reason you didn’t want to use it, or if it was because of someone else, but it’s in your hands now. If you use it, I don’t think that person would mind.” There was a faint sourness in his words.
How could Gu Lin dare to refuse now? Otherwise, wouldn’t his newly minted, still-warm boyfriend slip away? He immediately took the crystal core from Li Shu’s hands. “I’ll listen to you, just don’t be upset.”
Li Shu smiled again. “Alright, but Gu Lin, you should know by now, I don’t tolerate any grain of sand in my eyes. If you ever start thinking of someone else, I won’t give you another chance.”
“I know. That won’t happen.” Gu Lin touched Li Shu’s head and assured him.
As Gu Lin began absorbing the energy from the crystal core, Li Shu stepped aside.
Watching this scene unfold, 1314 was amazed. It hadn’t expected its host to pull off such a clever move. Being jealous of himself—was that even possible?
As Gu Lin absorbed the energy from the crystal core, a barrier formed around him. On the one hand, it could prevent anyone from harming the owner during this vulnerable time, on the other hand, it could contain all the energy for maximum use, ensuring that no one else would be affected by any energy leakage.
Just as Li Shu had anticipated, during the process of absorbing the crystal core, Gu Lin began to advance. The commotion from his advancement was loud, and it didn’t take long to attract Xu Yanqiu, who arrived with Dr. Bai and the others. They didn’t enter, but stood guard outside in case of any accidents.
Xu Yanqiu had originally intended to pull Li Shu out of the room. After all, an ordinary person being with an evolver who was advancing could easily get injured. However, Gu Lin wouldn’t allow it. Whenever Xu Yanqiu made an attempt to remove Li Shu, he would be attacked. After a few tries, he gave up.
He had figured it out—taking Li Shu away at this time would be like snatching food from a tiger’s mouth.
Seeing his disheveled state, Dr. Bai mocked, “I told you not to go in, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“I was just worried that the boss might hurt Xiao Shu by accident,” Xu Yanqiu didn’t expect the boss’s possessiveness to be this strong even at such a time.
“He’d hurt himself before hurting Xiao Shu, okay?” Dr. Bai gestured for him to look inside.
Sure enough, there was an invisible force surrounding Li Shu. It shielded him from the violent energy being released during Gu Lin’s advancement. Staying there was the safest place he could be.
The advancement process didn’t take long. After all, Gu Lin had been at a bottleneck for a while, and the crystal core contained plenty of energy. The violent power quickly settled down, and the person on the bed opened his eyes.
