APUTFFZG Chapter 25.2

Translator: Deyonna

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Thinking back to that scene, Ye Er was both angry and amused.

Xi Ze smiled, then asked curiously, "Why did it suddenly run off?"

"The neighbor across the street was making braised pork, and the delicious aroma made Tangyuan greedy. It wanted to beg for a piece, but it has a terrible sense of direction, and it ended up completely lost after wandering in circles for a long time. While it wandered, it nearly got caught and sterilized again."

But after complaining, Ye Er fell into a daze, then spoke softly after a while.

"It's been adopted by a friend now. I don't know if it's still as gluttonous as before. Fortunately..."

He had wanted to say that, fortunately, he had entrusted Tangyuan to a friend. Otherwise, after his sudden death, Tangyuan would surely have become a stray again, forced to rummage miserably through garbage bins for food.

But a surge of intense longing welled up inside him, warming the rims of his eyes and stinging his nose.

Noticing the male zerg's low mood, Xi Ze reached out uncertainly and patted his shoulder through the quilt, trying to comfort him, somewhat clumsily. "You can go see it whenever you want later. Or should we bring it back to raise?"

"It's okay. This is good enough."

Ye Er blinked, pushing down his emotions, then suddenly asked, "Speaking of later, what do you plan to do next?"

They both tacitly understood what this "later" referred to, but they had been deliberately avoiding the topic. Now that it had come up, there was no harm in discussing it.

Xi Ze fell silent for a moment.

"There are indeed some things I need to do..."

Countless considerations circled in his mind. Finally, he lowered his gaze and said, seemingly casually, "Maybe I can start by finding the culprit who made me suffer so much?"

"Then you'd better get well soon."

Ye Er's tone was as natural as if he were asking what was for dinner. "Then kill all those guys."

Xi Ze was probably shocked by such ruthless words. He stayed silent for a while before saying in disbelief, "I thought you'd tell me to forget about it or forgive them. After all..."

The male zerg was an amiable, gentle zerg who seemed able to understand and forgive every hardship and every sorrow, unwilling to witness war and bloodshed.

"Do you have some misconceptions about me?"

Ye Er frowned. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Do you think I'm some kind of saint*?"

*Holy Father

Repay harm with a sharp blade, and repay love with tenderness. That was his code of conduct.

Xi Ze nearly sighed as he said, "You're right."

After a long silence, he whispered, "Okay. I'll kill them all, and then I'll bring Male Lord to the Main Planet to live. Okay?"

It felt like something strange was spreading.

Ye Er refused at once. "No. You kill them. That's your freedom. I'll stay here. I'm not going anywhere."

He said it decisively, leaving no room for the female zerg to probe further.

After that, neither of them spoke. The night, stirred awake, settled back down, deep and warm.

Ye Er turned over and buried his face in the quilt, ending their abrupt, indescribable nighttime chat.

"All right, it's very late. Let's get some rest."

Half an hour later.

Ye Er lifted the quilt, tousled his messy hair, and glanced at the female zerg beside him. He was just as awake, his face silent.

"There's no point wasting time like this. I'm going to get some medicine."

He propped himself up, turned on the bedside lamp, threw back the covers, and got out of bed. Then he pulled open the drawer beside it.

The small drawer was crammed with all kinds of medicine. Ye Er crouched there for a minute, finally steeling himself to pull out the sleeping pills.

He had always had trouble sleeping. As a child, he had been woken and beaten in his sleep, which left him increasingly sensitive and tense. One day, he suddenly realized he could no longer sleep at all.

Even after escaping that high-pressure environment, peaceful sleep never returned. He had to steel himself every time he took a sleeping pill, and after more than a decade, it had become a habit.

He stood up again and poured two cups of hot water, then handed one to the female zerg along with his medication.

"It's almost dawn. Thank goodness it's the weekend. I don't have to go to work."

Then, remembering something, Ye Er creased his brow. "But we have an appointment at a new hospital tomorrow afternoon, so we need to get enough sleep."

"Can you..." Xi Ze swallowed the pill, his expression hesitant. He pursed his lips and swallowed the rest of his words.

"What?" Ye Er looked up at him, about to get into bed. "Say it."

Xi Ze rubbed his nose, as if he found the request unreasonable himself. In a lowered, uncertain voice, he said, "Can you... hug me?"

The air suddenly went quiet, as if time itself had frozen. Ye Er unconsciously breathed shallowly.

The erratic beating of his heart threw off his sense of time. It could have been minutes, or only a few seconds.

"If you can't..."

"Okay."

Ye Er thought for a moment, then readily agreed.

He didn't know why the female zerg had made this request, but after enduring such intense pain, perhaps a hug really was what he needed to fall asleep peacefully.

Those golden eyes, which had been lowered, suddenly lit up at his answer, like a dog eagerly waiting for a pat.

He was obviously a merciless, cold-blooded beast, like a snow leopard, but somehow he had reined in his deep aggression. By the time Ye Er came to his senses, only silent tameness and gentleness remained.

He reached out and sank his hand into the female zerg's fluffy white hair, stroking it from time to time. The pads of his fingers occasionally brushed the soft corners of his eyes, leaving a faint pink mark.

Perhaps even Xi Ze himself didn't realize that whenever he was treated like this, a subtle mix of fear and longing flickered across his face. It wasn't particularly obvious, but Ye Er could always tell.

A shallow cut near the female zerg's ear, barely noticeable until now, had started to bleed. Ye Er pressed his fingertip against it. "Does it hurt?"

Xi Ze looked at him blankly, then unconsciously rubbed his head against Ye Er's palm, letting out a muffled purr like a cheetah being petted contentedly.

Ye Er smiled softly, but his gaze drifted involuntarily to the female zerg's neck, where a cold metal ring clasped tightly around his delicate, sensitive throat.

This thing...

After that argument, they had never brought it up again. But the female zerg couldn't have simply forgotten about it. Even if he had softened his sharpness, he couldn't possibly be content with breaking his own spine and bowing down to become some bullshit "female slave."

How on earth could he get rid of this thing? Ye Er furrowed his brow, but he was lost in thought only for a moment.

The priority now was to appease the female zerg.

He blinked, looking a bit lost, as he spread his arms and shifted through several positions. None of them felt quite right. "Um... how do I hold you?"

Ye Er felt like the mother hen in a game of Eagle Catches Chicks,* except that what faced him instead of chicks was a mighty eagle that could swallow him whole in a few bites.

*A children's game in which the children line up holding hands, with one child as the "mother hen" at the front and another as the "eagle" trying to catch the "chicks" at the back.

He managed to amuse himself quite successfully.

But a hand with prominent knuckles grabbed his wrist, and then a powerful force pulled—

Ye Er was caught off guard and toppled forward, his knee landing in the female zerg's open □□*, his face sinking into a soft, plump expanse.

*redacted 

He unconsciously took a deep breath, filling his lungs at once with the familiar, delicate, sweet scent.

So... so bouncy, so soft.

Two strong arms encircled his waist, a searing warmth radiating against his front. The female zerg held him so tightly that he was completely confined in the embrace, unable to break free.

Ye Er blinked slowly as he felt Xi Ze bury his face in his neck and draw a deep breath, almost a sigh.

The body in his arms wasn't delicate but supple and lean, like a vibrant, tenacious Red Jade Vine that could release life-giving sap with a single bend.

But Xi Ze kept loosening his grip, unwilling to hurt him.

Soft silver hair brushed against his cheek, and the heat of another living being radiated through the thin gauze and fabric, burning against his skin. Meanwhile, the snow-covered wasteland silently began to melt.

Sensing the sincerity and solemnity of this embrace, Ye Er hesitated for a moment before reaching out to caress the female zerg's shoulder.

His fingertips brushed the soft, thin fabric of the pajamas. The skin beneath was divided up by gauze, yet it couldn't hide the soft, thick, beautiful contours of the muscle or the clear, slightly protruding ridge of the spine.

His fingers slid down bit by bit to the shallow hollows of his waist, where his palm settled before closing naturally around that lean waist.

It's truly similar to humans.

Ye Er suddenly thought.

His gaze drifted unconsciously to the female zerg's back, where he could faintly make out the gorgeous zerg patterns through the loosened neckline.

Deeper still, within the shoulder blades, lay the soft wing sheaths that held the wings.

Ye Er reached out and touched it. The wing sheath felt very unusual, a thin, soft layer that was both fragile and sensitive.

Xi Ze nearly trembled all over, yet he didn't pull away. Instead, he let Ye Er's fingertips brush back and forth, even sweep across the tiny, densely packed nerve endings.

The female zerg's bone wings had been uprooted, so there was nothing inside. They wouldn't suddenly unfurl and flap, and unless stimulated, he wouldn't transform into his semi-original zerg form and scare Ye Er.

This cruel truth unexpectedly brought him an unprecedented sense of relief. A string that had been taut inside him finally loosened.

Ye Er closed his eyes, adjusted his arms, and completely embraced the female zerg.

Hugging before bed really was a mystical but effective method. Or maybe the sleeping pills had taken effect. By the time Ye Er lay back under the quilt, he was too drowsy to keep his eyes open.

The storm outside seemed to have gradually subsided and no longer pounded against the glass with crackles and rattles. In the complete darkness and warmth, a thick drowsiness billowed and surged, like a gentle tide slowly swallowing him.

Ye Er's breathing grew long and even.

In his half-conscious state, he seemed to hear a soft, slightly hoarse voice above his head.

"I haven't figured out how to open up about those things yet... Give me some time, okay?"

Disturbed in his dreams, he furrowed his brow and unconsciously turned over to close the gap completely.

His arms suddenly full, Xi Ze stiffened from head to foot. After a long while, he carefully reached out and pulled the blanket up a little.

Ye Er then sighed contentedly.

This position wrapped him completely in warmth. The breath that had first covered his nape now rested against his ear, mingling with the muffled heartbeat in front of him, an intimacy that stepped right up to the borderline.

His nose was filled with the faint smell of blood on Xi Ze, along with a slight, barely perceptible sweetness. That scent, blending with the cold, harsh scent of snow and wind, was unexpectedly pleasant.

He let out a soft hum, burying his slightly chilled face deeper into the soft, fluffy hair and sinking completely into the warmth.

The scorching warmth was incredibly snug, though it felt a little stiff, so he couldn't help nuzzling against it and mumbling something indistinct.

☰