The moment the man opened his eyes, the raging and violent power completely disappeared. The man’s aura became more condensed, and the feeling he exuded became even more intimidating.
After breaking through the bottleneck and entering a new stage, Gu Lin gave off an entirely different feeling. This change was even more apparent to the evolvers outside.
They felt an invisible pressure, the kind of intimidation that high-level evolved beings exerted on lower-level ones.
Gu Lin quickly withdrew the leaking power, and only then did the people outside feel they could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They knew their boss was strong, but he had always been careful to control his power. This was the first time they had so clearly felt the intimidation belonging to a high-level evolver.
After absorbing the energy from the giant tree’s crystal core, the energy that had prevented Gu Lin’s wounds from healing disappeared. Without that foreign power causing trouble, with his self-healing ability as a high level evolver, those wounds would heal in no time.
Gu Lin didn’t care about his injuries. The first thing he did after waking up was to check on Li Shu, to see if he was hurt.
He got out of bed and walked toward Li Shu.
Li Shu remained in the same spot without moving. The protective energy around him slowly dissipated, eventually fading into the air just as Gu Lin arrived.
Their eyes met.
Outside, Xu Yanqiu pulled away Dr. Bai, who was eager to rush in and give Gu Lin a detailed examination. He also took the others who were standing guard outside. Now was obviously not a good time to disturb the boss, and it was best for them to show a bit of tact.
Dr. Bai, who was being dragged away, was very unhappy. “Xu Yanqiu, what are you doing?”
“Dr. Bai, I’m just saying, let’s leave this time to the boss. When he calls for us, we’ll go in.” Xu Yanqiu sighed. Sometimes, Dr. Bai could be unbelievably slow.
As Xu Yanqiu left, he thoughtfully closed the door to the ward. The two people in the room were still looking at each other. Given that they were both young men who had just expressed their feelings, the atmosphere suddenly changed.
Gu Lin stared at the young man in front of him without blinking, unwilling to let his gaze shift even a little. During his advancement, he seemed to have seen some images. The images were all of the young man, the young man at different times, at different ages. The young man was smiling, smiling at a man whose figure Gu Lin couldn’t quite make out.
Many of the images flashed by quickly, not giving him the chance to examine them in detail, but the young man’s appearance was so clear. Li Shu at various ages, wearing clothes from different eras, but the feeling Li Shu gave him remained unchanged.
Even though there were slight changes in his appearance, it didn’t matter. Inexplicably, he could still easily recognize from those different appearances that this person was Li Shu.
After becoming an evolver, a person’s memory continues to strengthen. Gu Lin was certain that he had never had contact with the young man before, and he had no memory of the young man dressed in clothes from different eras. What was going on with all of this?
Was it merely an illusion produced during the advancement? No, he didn’t think so. He had an inexplicable confidence that the events in those images had truly happened. Not only that, but the blurry figure that occasionally appeared in the images was himself.
The images had emerged during this advancement, so would they also appear in the next one? Would they accumulate, layer by layer, allowing him to eventually decipher the true meaning behind these visions?
His mind raced with thoughts, though only a moment had passed. Along with the visions came a surging emotion toward the young man. It seemed that he had fallen in love with someone a long, long time ago, and now that he had finally met this person, all the hardships he had endured in the past no longer mattered.
The young man was also looking at him, with emotions that felt both familiar and unfamiliar. He thought, if all the suffering of the first half of his life had been for the sake of meeting this young man, then he should be grateful for it.
All the betrayal, resentment, and injustice had faded away. Gu Lin thought, as long as Li Shu was with him, what did betrayal matter? As long as Li Shu stayed by his side, he could even thank those who had betrayed him and wanted him dead.
If those things hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t have left the capital. Then, would he have had the chance to meet the young man? The road to the capital was so long, and the challenges along the way were countless. Would the young man who had no ability to protect himself, have made it to the capital safely in his previous team?
If he hadn’t appeared, where would the young man have gone after leaving his original team? Would there have been someone else to protect him all the way to the capital? Perhaps, but Gu Lin was sure no one would have done so as wholeheartedly as he.
The emotions in Gu Lin’s eyes were so intense. It was a feeling Li Shu was familiar with, and it seemed as though time and space overlapped, and countless people converged at this moment. He became momentarily lost.
When he snapped back to reality, his chin had already been lifted, and his lips were burning hot.
It was no longer just a simple touch, no longer just a tentative taste. The intense emotions had found an outlet. At this moment, nothing else mattered but the person in front of him and the heat of the body within his reach.
His body was lifted into the air, and the man gently held him as easily as a child. Li Shu sat on the man’s forearm, letting out a small “ah”.
The man’s voice was low, a laugh rumbling from his chest. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t drop you.”
In this world, the original owner’s body was only about 1.7 meters tall, looking completely like a frail young master. But the man stood well over 1.9 meters, towering over Li Shu by at least a head.
Holding the young man in his arms like this didn’t feel awkward. Li Shu curled up into a small bundle in Gu Lin’s embrace, completely at the man’s mercy. Wherever he decided to go, that’s where the young man would go. If he wanted to do anything, the young man would have to go through him first. At this moment, he felt as though the young man was wholly dependent on him. No matter what happened in the outside world, the young man only had to hide in his arms, and didn’t have to worry about anything.
The feeling was wonderful. If possible, Gu Lin wanted to hold him like this forever. Of course, that wasn’t realistic, so he took this opportunity to hold him a little longer.
From this spot to the bed wasn’t far, and with the man’s long legs, it only took a few steps to reach it. However, Gu Lin didn’t rush to put him down, instead holding him for a moment longer before gently laying him on the bed.
Then, he leaned over.
Supporting himself on his arms to avoid pressing his full weight onto the young man, Gu Lin completely enveloped him. At that moment, it felt like the young man was entirely under his control — his eyes, his heart, and his body,m were all focused only on him.
This feeling was so intoxicating, it almost made Gu Lin fall into the fantasy.
The young man was just an ordinary person. In this perilous post-apocalyptic world, he needed someone to rely on. He could easily keep the young man in a place where only he could reach him. Of course it had to be somewhere safe, where the young man would need only him.
Dark thoughts surged in his mind uncontrollably, and his eyes reflected that same emotion.
Li Shu looked into the man’s eyes and naturally saw the darkness swirling within. He knew this man had a strong possessive desire toward him. If he weren’t afraid of upsetting him, the man would absolutely do something like lock him in a small dark room.
Such a strong sense of possession stemmed from fear and equally strong love. His restraint also came from love. Because he cared too much, he didn’t dare act on those thoughts, for fear of hurting the person he loved, for fear of making him unhappy, so he chose to restrain himself.
When love reaches its extreme, one would rather endure the pain oneself than see a frown on the face of the person they loved.
Suppressing the dark thoughts in his mind, Gu Lin felt a sense of shame under Li Shu’s clear gaze. Perhaps it was the influence of the images from his advancement, he momentarily lost control of himself. Would the young man be afraid of him?
That part of him he had kept hidden was his true self. Would the young man dislike such a dark version of him? His heart was completely controlled by Li Shu, and his emotions were tied to one person. This was a strange but beautiful feeling.
Gu Lin reached out and gently caressed the young man’s cheek, his eyes filled with intense emotions. He leaned in closer, whispering by the young man’s ear, “You are mine, and you can only be mine. How I want to hide you, somewhere only I can find…”
Li Shu felt that wasn’t right with Gu Lin, it was as though some floodgate had been opened. He shouldn’t have such an expression. What had happened? Li Shu frowned. It was not a good feeling that the situation was out of his control.
Gu Lin murmured his feelings in a low voice, as though he wanted to pour out everything in his heart at once. At the same time, he didn’t forget to watch the young man’s reactions. When he saw Li Shu frown slightly, Gu Lin panicked, thinking that he was frightened by the dark emotions he revealed.
It was as if he had suddenly snapped out of some state, he wanted to explain, “Shu Shu, I…”
He wanted to ask if he had scared him. He wanted to say that he would never do such a thing. He had so much he wanted to say, but at this moment, he couldn’t say anything at all.
He couldn’t deny those dark thoughts. The young man had seen this side of him — would he regret his decision? Would he regret choosing to be with him? Just thinking about this possibility made Gu Lin feel like he was losing control.
If the young man regretted… if he regretted…
Even if the young man feared him, even if the young man hated him, he would never let the boy go!
[Host, the male protagonist’s blackening value has reached sixty! Please take immediate action to lower the male protagonist’s blackening value.] 1314’s reminder sounded in his mind. In fact, Li Shu had already sensed that something was wrong with Gu Lin, and he could more or less guess the reason.
“Are you afraid, Gu Lin?” Li Shu nuzzled against the man’s cheek. “You should get up a bit, you’re pressing down on me, it’s a little heavy.”
Of course, Gu Lin was a tall man, standing over 1.9 meters. He had momentarily lost control of his strength and pressed down on Li Shu. Hearing Li Shu’s words, he quickly lifted himself slightly, inwardly cursing at himself for not controlling his strength.
“I didn’t notice, I’m sorry.”
“Gu Lin,” Li Shu wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, “we’re lovers. You don’t need to apologize to me for things like this. And, since I’ve chosen to be with you, I won’t leave you because of some… reasons. If there’s something on your mind, you can talk to me. Don’t bottle it up. I’m not as fragile as you think.”
“Shu Shu, you’re not afraid?” Gu Lin studied the young man’s expression, and only when he confirmed that Li Shu truly wasn’t afraid did he finally relax. At this moment, a certain other unmistakable sensation made itself known.
“Afraid of what?” Li Shu asked deliberately.
“Of this…” Gu Lin pressed his body down slightly, and Li Shu immediately felt something with a kpresent against him.
The man’s voice was hoarse: “Is it okay?”
