APUTFFZG Chapter 25.1

Translator: Deyonna

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Ye Er stood up to give 015 room to work. He casually righted the bottle of shower gel that had been knocked askew and turned on the bathroom dryer.

"Where should we put him?"

015's voice came from outside the door while Ye Er was still lost in thought.

Turning his head, he saw 015 supporting the female zerg in the middle of the room. They both turned to look at him, the scene indescribably harmonious.

"Then..." Ye Er paused a little and, for some reason, blurted out, "Go to my bed."

Wait a minute.

He quickly realized his mistake, slapped his forehead in annoyance, and closed his eyes.

Did my brain get waterlogged from being in the bathroom too long? How could I have said that?!

For Ye Er, the bed was a very private place.

He had slept in a separate room from the adults since he was very young. From childhood to adulthood, he had never allowed anyone to touch his bed, let alone rest or sleep on it.

There was no time to lay down a waterproof sheet now, and if he did it in front of the female zerg, he would definitely think he was rejecting him, which would make things even harder to deal with.

Ye Er walked out, feeling conflicted. He then saw the female zerg sitting reservedly on the bed, bending over to wipe his hair, careful that no water droplets fell onto the sheets.

"Male Lord."

Hearing the footsteps, Xi Ze moved the towel away from his face and turned toward the male zerg. The corners of his lips, which had been pressed together, curved upward almost uncontrollably, and he said softly, "Tonight…"

Ye Er hummed absentmindedly in response and reached out to ruffle the female zerg's messy hair. "Is it already dry? Be careful not to catch a cold."

He was still thinking about the bed.

He shouldn't have... he was quite sensitive about the word "bed." What he said just now was inexplicable, but he truly did give his permission.

Were we the kind of intimate relationship that could share a bed?

For the first time, Ye Er confronted the question, his brow furrowing as he fell into contemplation.

It's true we've done some things that crossed boundaries, but each time it was out of necessity, forced on us, not driven by natural, developing feelings.

Xi Ze probably wasn't willing either. He was simply used to this way of life because of societal conditioning.

Apart from our accidental male lord and female slave relationship, we should count as... friends, right?

Or, to take it a step further, our relationship is rather special, since we've been through some things together. So could we be considered good friends?

Ye Er muttered to himself for a moment and found the definition fairly accurate.

But after a moment of hesitation, he still said, "If you feel a bit better, you can…" Go back to sleep outside.

But then the soft, damp hair tangled around his fingers. The female zerg pursed his lips and obediently pressed his full head of hair against Ye Er's palm, letting his fingers rub and tousle it like a fluffy puppy.

Especially those golden eyes, raised as if trying to look in his direction, the moist corners drooping slightly... They made him look even more like a puppy.

Ye Er's breath hitched, and the rest of the words stuck in his throat, making it impossible to say more.

After a moment of struggle, he sighed in resignation.

...The weather outside is so bad, and the sofa is really uncomfortable to sleep on. I'll make an exception this time.

"Let 015 help you change into some clothes and get ready for bed."

Remembering the tools scattered outside that he hadn't put away, Ye Er walked into the living room, only to be caught off guard by a blast of cold wind that made him shiver.

The balcony door had somehow been pushed open a crack, and a gust of wind carrying ice and snow billowed the curtains, revealing a corner of the deep, dark, brooding night outside.

The storm raged on, showing no sign of letting up.

He walked over and closed the door, but for some reason his heart skipped a beat, and a vague sense of unease spread through him.

"Is there something outside?"

015's voice suddenly rang out, startling Ye Er.

He pulled the curtains shut with a "whoosh," leaving no gap, then turned around. "Nothing. Already done?"

"Yes. I'll take care of cleaning up these things on the floor. You can go rest."

"Alright. Remember not to go into sleep mode tonight. Keep an eye on your surroundings, just in case something else happens."

Ye Er closed the bedroom door behind him.

Xi Ze had changed into clean clothes and was half-lying on the outer side of the bed, covered with a quilt. He opened his eyes and looked over at the noise.

His body, with its soft, undulating contours, looked strong and plump, radiating a scorching heat and the scent of shower gel. It seemed like a nest or a warm bed you could pounce on, bury yourself in, and indulge in recklessly.

The atmosphere right now... was truly strange.

Ye Er took a deep breath and forced himself to look away. Then he took a new set of pajamas from the closet and headed toward the bathroom.

"I'm going to take another shower. You can go to sleep first. You don't have to wait for me."

"Okay," Xi Ze said softly, sliding further down into the covers.

Half an hour later, Ye Er emerged from the bathroom. The female zerg was lying on the bed with his back to him, his undulating form hidden under the soft quilt. His breathing was smooth, steady, long and even.

He quietly let out a breath of relief and tiptoed over to turn off the light.

"Click."

The room finally sank into silent darkness, broken only by the monotonous howling of the north wind and the rustling of snow outside the window.

Ye Er carefully stepped onto the bed, crossed over the female zerg's waist, and gently lifted the covers to lie down.

The bedding should have been cold, but the female zerg's body temperature was slightly higher, radiating warmth through the covers and wrapping him in a comforting heat.

The other's breathing was clearly audible, even more distinct than the wind and snow outside. It lingered in his ear, impossible to ignore.

...Too close.

He stared blankly at the blurry floral pattern on the curtains, forcing himself to close his eyes and ignore the presence behind him.

He even tried counting sheep, but—

He couldn't sleep at all!

A few short but agonizingly long minutes passed. Just as Ye Er was about to get up and take a sleeping pill, a sudden rustling came from behind him.

He thought it was the female zerg turning over, but the next second a warm breeze brushed his back, and the quilt, radiating scorching heat, suddenly wrapped snugly around him.

Ye Er's breathing stayed steady. The movements behind him, adjusting the quilt, were careful and gentle. The warmth spreading through the quilt gradually melted the chill from his fingertips.

Compared to the cold outside the quilt, the thought of getting out of bed to take medicine grew gradually less appealing.

...Forget it. I'll just sleep like this.

With the warmth enveloping him, a light, thin drowsiness finally came over him.

The scorching heat source behind him wasn't far, and he could faintly feel the hot breath against his nape. But the slight distance still let a draft slip through the blanket, keeping him from burying himself completely in the warmth.

Ye Er frowned, a little uncomfortable, and burrowed deeper into the quilt.

The male zerg's breathing grew long and even, as if he had already fallen asleep, but Xi Ze remained wide awake.

He had, in fact, deceived the male zerg. Reconstructing the mental landscape wasn't as simple or quick as he had made it seem.

At least after the most turbulent, dangerous stage had passed, those jumbled memories and emotions hadn't receded but had grown even more chaotic and intense.

Twisted, distorted faces, belonging to people he couldn't make out, flickered in and out of view. A piercing ring in his ears nearly split his temple. His senses were upside down and chaotic, waves of tearing pain radiating from every part of his body, but he couldn't distinguish illusion from reality.

He silently held his breath, swallowing any sound, and carefully turned over, facing away from Ye Er so as not to wake him.

But right after, a hand reached out from beside him, a cool palm pressing against his forehead as if checking his temperature.

The male zerg's voice came, tinged with worry. "What's wrong? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?"

Xi Ze's Adam's apple bobbed as he reached up to touch the hand on his forehead and squeezed it tightly. "...Nothing. Just a bit of insomnia."

"I'll go get you some medicine."

Ye Er drew back his hand, about to lift the covers and get out of bed, but the female zerg stopped him with a hoarse voice.

"I don't want to take medicine... How about we talk for a bit? We'll get sleepy naturally later."

It didn't seem like a bad idea. Ye Er pondered for a moment, then burrowed back under the covers. "What should we talk about?"

Xi Ze endured a wave of pain, pretending to think wearily. "Let me think…"

He wanted to say something, but as he sifted through his memories, he realized his past life had been incredibly mundane. It was nothing but war, and more war, with the occasional dull power struggle. Talking about it would only add to his discomfort.

After thinking for a long time, he picked something relatively simple and not too unpleasant, deciding to tell it to the male zerg as a bedtime story.

"Once, on the return journey, I found that the jump point was broken. We could only take the long way back, but because of that, I saw a lot of beautiful scenery."

"There was a nebula that shimmered with the vibrant red of a rose, shaped like a heart. It pulsed and contracted rhythmically as if it were alive."

"I'd never seen a nebula like that, so I casually turned on my recorder and filmed it. After I got back, the recording was handed over to a special department for analysis and review."

"But I never expected this seemingly insignificant little incident to cause such a stir."

Xi Ze chuckled softly, still able to recall the incredulous expressions of those astronomers.

Their faces had flushed red as a baboon's rear, and they had shouted, "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! Someone must have faked this to mess with us!"

"They always claimed the universe held no secrets and that there wouldn't be any new discoveries for a hundred years. But their view was only a year old when it was shattered by a casual recording during a routine return trip. It's quite... humorous, isn't it?"

When one loses one's sense of awe, one is blinded by arrogance. Naturally, one can't see anything new and can only stay stuck where one is.

Ye Er listened intently, holding his breath, then chuckled a few times. "What happened next? Is that nebula still unnamed?"

"It was later named 'Heart of Vera,' meaning the heart of the gods."

The female zerg's voice was low and gentle, with a hint of amusement he didn't even realize was there.

The sharp, needle-like pain in his head gradually subsided, as if telling that story had sorted out his shambolic memories. The frenzied mental power in his mental landscape slowly calmed down.

After a moment's thought, Ye Er coughed softly.

"In return, I'll tell one too. If anything doesn't conform to common sense, just ignore it. It's not important."

"It's not particularly interesting... I told you before that I had a puppy, right?"

"I found it on the street, a stray. I won't go into the details, but I named it Tangyuan.* I had it for almost a year. One day, when I got home from school, the door was unexpectedly open, and there was no trace of Tangyuan."

*Like the name of the traditional Chinese dessert of glutinous rice balls.

"I searched anxiously for a long time and finally found it three days later, near the dumpster where I'd found it. It was so miserable and hungry, and it pounced on me as soon as it saw me…"

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