FT DR Chapter 92: Together as One Heart

Chapter 92: Together as One Heart

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

Wu Chenghe’s vacation was only three days long, and it was Jin Zhe who had applied for it on the pretext of discussing official business with him. But three days were truly too short. For them, who had been separated for nearly half a year, it felt like the blink of an eye, and before they knew it, it was over.

On the evening of the third day, Wu Chenghe had to beg Jin Zhe to find a way to let him stay at the presidential residence, at least until Jin Xuan’s consciousness fully recovered.

Jin Xuan’s condition was not optimistic. Physical depletion was secondary since Sentinels had strong self-healing abilities; they could quickly recover their physical strength as long as they replenished energy. But the trauma to his consciousness was extremely difficult to heal, especially for someone like him who had already been marked. Except for his own Guide, no medicine or therapy would work.

Wu Chenghe could hardly leave Jin Xuan’s sight. Even eating and sleeping had to be done together. Jin Xuan was like a suspicious child; as soon as Wu Chenghe left the room, even just to get something or talk to Jin Zhe for a moment, he would immediately send his Barbary lion to find him.

They slept in the same bed, yet Jin Xuan still couldn’t rest easy. He had to hold onto Wu Chenghe at least while sleeping, or he would have nightmares all night long. His consciousness flashed and thundered like a storm, restless throughout the night.

Similarly, Wu Chenghe was unwilling to leave Jin Xuan. After this separation, he was deeply afraid. He often stood trembling in the sunlight. He feared loneliness, feared losing Jin Xuan’s protection. Even when sleeping next to Jin Xuan, he would have nightmares, dreaming of the Barbary lion lying lifeless in a corner, like a pile of discarded trash.

Logic told him he should follow Jin Zhe’s arrangements and return to work with the study group. But emotionally, he couldn’t bear to leave Jin Xuan again.

After considering for a while, Jin Zhe agreed to Wu Chenghe’s request. He knew it wasn’t rational and could raise suspicions about Jin Xuan. But he couldn’t bring himself to separate them. These two children were too miserable, too frail. If they were separated, both of them might collapse.

So that night, Jin Zhe personally contacted Hans, the head of the Tungusic Base study group, and extended Wu Chenghe’s vacation by two weeks, citing complications from childbirth surgery as the reason. This wasn’t entirely an excuse; Wu Chenghe’s health was indeed poor. Five days after the surgery, he underwent interstellar travel, causing inflammation due to internal pressure, and he often had unexplained low-grade fevers. The resident physician at the presidential residence also believed he needed at least two weeks of bed rest.

Therefore, Wu Chenghe got a fourteen-day vacation, which was indeed too short compared to what he had hoped for in his lifetime, but given the current situation with the laws not yet amended, it was a stroke of great luck.

Under Wu Chenghe’s care, Jin Xuan gradually improved day by day. After stopping the balancing agent, his consciousness became much clearer. He gradually accepted Wu Chenghe’s temporary absence from his sight, starting from ten minutes and extending to an hour after a week. Once, when Wu Chenghe went to the study to deal with the materials sent by the study group – although he was on vacation, he still had to keep up with the learning progress – and was away for three whole hours, Jin Xuan only came to check on him once in the meantime.

But all of this was on the condition that Wu Chenghe couldn’t be too far from him. He had to be within the range of Jin Xuan’s consciousness. If Jin Xuan couldn’t sense Wu Chenghe’s presence, he would immediately become irritable and uncontrollable, even Jin Zhe couldn’t do anything about him.

“You have to try to make him tolerate your absence, at least for a day,” Jin Zhe had to remind Wu Chenghe after ten days. “In a few days, you have to return to the study group to work. If you continue to indulge him like this, once you leave, he’ll go crazy again.”

Wu Chenghe was in great pain. He knew Jin Zhe had seen through his problem – indeed, Jin Xuan couldn’t be without him, needing his comfort. But he also needed Jin Xuan’s need for him. This was the instinct of a Guide, eager to heal others, almost greedy. By indulging Jin Xuan’s possessiveness towards him, he was also indulging his own dependency on Jin Xuan.

“Or we could apply for exile…” Wu Chenghe began to waver, trying to negotiate with Jin Zhe. “The ‘severance’ clause has been abolished. We can legally be together, even if the environment is a bit worse. I think we can endure it.”

Jin Zhe remained silent, looking at him with a hint of disappointment in his eyes. After a long while, he suddenly said, “During the genocide era, many Sentinel and Guide pairs were forcibly separated. Guides died painfully within the Tungusic Base, and Sentinels perished with them. At that time, Guides weren’t called Guides; they were called mutants, believed to be evil omens, the cancer of humanity.”

Wu Chenghe was momentarily puzzled, not understanding why Jin Zhe suddenly brought this up. Jin Zhe continued, “There was a mutant who became quite famous, Madame Roger. She was a ship’s doctor and had been married to the captain for over a decade, hiding her identity all along. Later, when her husband was injured, she had to reveal her abilities to comfort him, and as a result, she was sent to Tungusic. Everyone thought she wouldn’t survive more than a few years, like all mutants who left Sentinels, but miraculously, she lived on until nearly sixty.”

“Yes, I know her,” Wu Chenghe also knew Madame Roger. She had left a significant mark on the history of the Dunkirk Federation because she was the first to propose that mutants weren’t the enemies of Sentinels but their only redemption.

“Madame Roger can be said to be the founder of the ‘Guide’ theory. Now all research on Guides is based on the ‘complementary’ theory she proposed over a hundred years ago,” Jin Zhe paused for a moment, then continued, “I can’t expect everyone to follow Madame Roger’s lead, nor can I hijack your morality with some noble ideals, Wu Chenghe. Everyone has their own aspirations. If you feel that complying with the current laws and being exiled together with Jin Xuan can satisfy you, can make you happy, then I respect your decision.”

Wu Chenghe seemed to grasp something. Various thoughts were fiercely battling in his mind, trying to articulate something but unable to form coherent words. Jin Zhe continued, “I just want to tell you that I’ve always thought you were different, not just because you’re an Icarus butterfly guide or because you’re Jin Xuan’s boyfriend. I see something in you that’s similar to me. Let’s call it a sense of ‘responsibility’ or ‘spirit of sacrifice.’ I feel I haven’t been mistaken; you’re the kind of person who is willing to make sacrifices to save others. This spirit has nothing to do with the healing power of a guide; it’s a belief deep in human nature.”

Perhaps… Wu Chenghe silently contemplated. He was inherently a bit of a “savior complex,” brainwashed by various ideologies in his previous life in the military, and now carrying the halo of a savior in this life. Indeed, he was more enlightened than the average person.

In fact, Jin Zhe had already made his intentions clear through all these words. Or rather, Wu Chenghe had understood Jin Zhe’s intentions since Jin Zhe’s first visit to the Tungusic Base. Jin Zhe hoped to completely reform the “Guide Protection Act,” improve the situation of guides, or even further, to utilize the power of guides to reform the federal military, develop a completely different combat theory to counter the mighty Voyager Army.

From Jin Zhe’s perspective, Wu Chenghe completely understood his actions and even admired him. If it weren’t for the bond of marking, he would be willing to help Jin Zhe achieve all this.

But resisting his own instincts was too painful. Wu Chenghe had already resisted once, almost causing Jin Xuan and himself to perish. He didn’t want to continue trying.

“I…” Wu Chenghe hesitated, wanting to say something for himself, but Jin Zhe interrupted him, “I’ve always hoped you could do something for all guides, Wu Chenghe. Perhaps you now feel that exile is already good enough for you and Jin Xuan, that you’re happy with it. But have you ever thought, you still have sons, and there may be more descendants in the future? What if they are also guides like you? What are you going to do with them? Send them to guide schools, or hide them away? If everyone is content with the status quo, the ‘Guide Protection Act’ will never be reformed, and all the hardships you’re avoiding will eventually fall on the next generation.”

These words struck a chord in Wu Chenghe’s heart. Neither of his two children had been detected as guides during the embryo stage, and they appeared to be safe for now. However, he himself was an invisible guide, awakening only in his teens. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that his children might turn out like him in the future.

According to federal law, if a child is discovered to be a guide, he can be sent to a guide school, and in return, he and Jin Xuan could be pardoned. But Jin Zhe was right, what about the future? What would happen to his children? Should they stay in guide schools, like those who grew up in Tungusic, becoming clipped birds and neutered cats, relegated to second-class citizens, and then marry Sentinels?

Perhaps the situation would improve slightly; the president was already in the process of reform, the education department was researching new educational models. Maybe everything would be better when his children grew up… But if everyone had the same mindset as him, could these reforms ever be realized?

“Take some more time to think about it, don’t rush to conclusions, after all, this decision will affect most of your lives,” Jin Zhe sensed his dilemma, patted his shoulder, and spoke earnestly, “I raised Jin Xuan for twenty-six years, instilling in him pride, confidence, and an indomitable character, grooming him to be the finest warrior in the federation. Now it’s time for you to take over. You are his guide and his mate. I hope you can give him maturity, rationality, and a sense of responsibility, to make him an outstanding man. His later life belongs to you. His future, and the future of the children, are all in your hands.”

With that, Jin Zhe left the study, leaving the quiet space to Wu Chenghe alone.

“Their future is in your hands.” This sentence struck Wu Chenghe like a thunderbolt. For the first time, he realized that he bore not only his own fate but also the fate of Jin Xuan’s children, the fate of their entire family. Yes, family. He was already a man with a family. He was no longer the unruly young man he used to be, able to act recklessly. He had to protect his sentinel and his children.

Jin Xuan was a genius, earning double doctorates at the age of twenty-five, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel, and NTU was soon to promote him to colonel out of sequence. He was only twenty-six years old, with a long second half of life ahead of him. He shouldn’t be buried on some barren planet, becoming an anonymous grain of sand.

His children shouldn’t be like him, hiding from the clutches of guide schools like mice, or lifelong dependence on some dominant sentinel. They should have independent futures, independent ideals.

That day, Wu Chenghe sat in the study until dusk. Jin Xuan’s Barbary lion came to find him, squatting beside him for several hours before he followed it back to Jin Xuan’s room.

“What did Jin Zhe say to you? Why were you gone for so long?” Jin Xuan had just finished bathing, with a towel wrapped around his waist. There was a faint hint of impatience between his brows, but it quickly dissipated when he saw Wu Chenghe.

“We talked about work.” Wu Chenghe made him sit on the chair and handed him a towel to dry his hair. Due to malnutrition, Jin Xuan’s hair was somewhat dry, so he found a pair of scissors and cut off the dry ends. Jin Xuan obediently sat there for him to cut, occasionally using telepathic communication to summon his butterfly, playing with it on his fingertips.

“It’s ticklish. Stop teasing it all the time. It won’t dare to annoy you, but it will have a cold war with me,” Wu Chenghe trimmed his waist-length hair to shoulder-length, tied it up with a satin ribbon after drying it. After ten days of recuperation, Jin Xuan’s muscles had recovered a lot. His deltoids showed distinct contours, and his latissimus dorsi was strong and powerful. Jin Zhe was right; he was a natural-born warrior who, even after enduring hardships, could quickly return to his optimal state.

He couldn’t stifle his future.

“I’ll be returning to the study group for work in four days,” Wu Chenghe turned to face him, gripping his shoulders with both hands, trying to speak to him in a gentle tone, “You need to stay home and rest well, preparing for next month’s commendation ceremony.”

“You’re leaving me?!” Jin Xuan’s face immediately changed, his pitch-black eyes revealing a fierce glare, “Jin Zhe asked you to leave me? Mrs. Balon is forcing you? You agreed with them?”

“Shh… it was my own decision,” Wu Chenghe sensed a flicker of light in his consciousness, the precursor to a manic episode, so he immediately extended mental tendrils to soothe his emotions, while staring into his eyes, giving him subtle suggestions, “Calm down, Jin Xuan. I won’t leave you. I’ll come back to see you every other day. Your consciousness hasn’t fully recovered yet, and I need to completely heal you before you return to the NTU.”

Jin Xuan’s consciousness was still weak, unable to resist his suggestions. His pupils contracted and dilated, his fierce expression gradually calming down as he muttered, “No, no, you can’t leave. You can’t go back to Tungusic. I’ll kill them…”

“Listen, Jin Xuan,” Wu Chenghe increased the intensity of his suggestions, “I’m just going to work. I won’t go back to Tungusic. I’ll never leave you again in the future. Stay at home and rest well. Don’t make me worry, okay?”

Staring into his eyes, Jin Xuan’s gaze became confused. After a while, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he erupted in anger, “You’re manipulating me!”

“No, no,” Wu Chenghe immediately withdrew the suggestion. Jin Xuan was too sensitive, too aware of him. He shouldn’t have been so careless, “Don’t get upset, Jin Xuan. I was just afraid you’d lose control…”

“I’m perfectly rational! You’re lying, Wu Chenghe. What did Jin Zhe say to you? You dared to manipulate me!” Jin Xuan angrily stood up, gripping his chin fiercely as he stared into his eyes, “Listen, never use suggestions on me again. Never leave me!”

He was using compulsion… Wu Chenghe’s heart raced, unable to resist his command. He could only obediently repeat his request, “I, I won’t use suggestions on you. I’ll never leave you.”

Jin Xuan stared at him, his gaze gradually softening. He lightly kissed the corner of his lips and pulled him into his arms, saying, “I’m sorry, I was too scared. I shouldn’t have commanded you.”

Wu Chenghe hugged him back, feeling the compulsion gradually fading away, his heartbeat returning to normal. He sighed deeply and said, “Jin Xuan, listen to me. I promised the president to help him advance the reform of the guide education system, not just to leave Tungusic, but for myself, and for all guides. I don’t want to leave you, but I have to fulfill my promise to him. This is also my ideal. Our children are likely to be guides too. I don’t want them to suffer the same pain as us in the future.”

Jin Xuan couldn’t bear to hear the word “leave”. His breath became heavy again, and his arms tightened around Wu Chenghe’s, his consciousness surging like a hurricane, with the possibility of mania at any moment. Wu Chenghe wanted to calm him down immediately with his consciousness, but ultimately resisted, just gently patting his back and stroking his hair, waiting for him to control his own emotions.

After a while, Jin Xuan held his breath, and his arms relaxed slightly. Wu Chenghe breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I once thought about being exiled with you, but I think our lives shouldn’t be like this, and our children shouldn’t bear the fate of exiles. In case they are invisible guides like me in the future, they will also have to endure the pain we are experiencing now. Reform is difficult, but someone has to do it. You are Jin Xuan, the president’s brother, a soldier of the federation. Both publicly and privately, you should support the President and help him achieve his political ideals.” After a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice, “Jin Xuan, I’ve made up my mind. I’m your guide. I can’t monopolize your future because I’m afraid of losing you. I hope that no matter what hardships we experience, you’ll still be the same proud, arrogant King.”

Jin Xuan remained silent, his consciousness still churning like a storm, but he finally managed to control himself and didn’t go crazy as usual. He just hugged Wu Chenghe tightly, as if he wanted to embed him into his chest.

Wu Chenghe buried his head in his shoulder and whispered softly, “In the past six months, I know you’ve endured a lot, and I have too, but that’s life. We’ll encounter countless obstacles. If we blindly evade, giving up ideals and principles for temporary tranquility, what’s the difference between us and those captive guides?”

“Stop talking,” Jin Xuan interrupted him hoarsely, releasing him from his embrace and stroking his slightly haggard cheeks with his large hands. His eyes were as dark as the night, deeply gazing into his eyes, “Remember to call me every night. No matter how late you are, I’ll wait for you.”

Jin Xuan’s eyes were pained yet tender, ultimately overcoming his bestial instincts with humanity. Wu Chenghe nodded solemnly, saying, “I understand. I’ll leave the erasure to you. We can’t expose our relationship for now.”

“Don’t worry,” Jin Xuan lowered his eyes, his lips trembling slightly as he spoke softly, “I was harsh on you earlier, not because I was angry that you used your powers to control me, I just… I just couldn’t forgive myself for not being able to protect you. It’s a painful feeling, more painful than losing myself.”

“I understand,” Wu Chenghe said gently, “I also hate my own incompetence, for not being able to protect your consciousness cloud. Jin Xuan, maybe we both need to change. Instead of being overly concerned about protecting each other, we should try to understand each other’s decisions and trust each other’s abilities. Individually, we are both relatively strong types among sentinels and guides. If we encounter disagreements again, can we set aside disputes and communicate calmly?”

“Of course,” Jin Xuan smiled, saying, “I won’t use compulsion to suppress you again. I’m sorry for earlier.”

“It was my fault first,” Wu Chenghe said, feeling a little guilty, “I shouldn’t have used suggestions on you.”

“Alright, let’s settle it like this, try to resolve disputes on a humane level,” Jin Xuan said calmly, extending his fist, “I won’t use my powers unless absolutely necessary.”

Wu Chenghe bumped his fist and said, “Okay.”

They smiled at each other, embracing once again. Outside the window, the sky darkened, and twilight enveloped the surroundings. In front of the window, Jin Xuan’s Barbary lion lay docilely on the carpet, with Wu Chenghe’s Morpho butterfly perched on its head. The little rebellious one, having suffered from Jin Xuan’s playful teasing, was now sulking with the lion, occasionally using its antennae to tug at the tufts of fur on its ears and fanning its wings into its ears. The lion, with a good temper, indulged it, only issuing a warning growl when its ears became too itchy to bear.

Unfortunately, the little troublemaker remained unfazed…

Four days later, Wu Chenghe’s sick leave expired, and he prepared to return to the study group. After half a month of careful recuperation, his wounds had healed very well. Jin Zhe’s personal doctor conducted a comprehensive examination and declared that his body had basically recovered, including his reproductive system. In other words, theoretically, he could get pregnant again.

Wu Chenghe had a slight psychological barrier to having children. He had been careless the first time, so this time he decided to take precautions. Upon the doctor’s advice, he took a harmless hormone regulator that would ensure he wouldn’t get pregnant for the next two to three years.

Jin Xuan had some objections to this. Sentinels naturally liked to have as many offspring with their guides as possible. But considering Wu Chenghe’s young age and fragile body, he reluctantly accepted this cruel reality.

“Let’s wait until the situation improves,” Jin Xuan said on the day he accompanied Wu Chenghe to report to the Ministry of Education, “Let’s wait until the revolution succeeds, and then we’ll try again.”

Wu Chenghe still couldn’t bear to leave him, but he felt relieved to see Jin Xuan regain his fighting spirit. As the spacecraft took off, he watched Jin Xuan’s slim yet incredibly handsome face gradually blur outside the porthole, feeling a new sense of strength.

After many trials and tribulations, they finally had a common ideal.

This feeling, it’s truly wonderful.

 

 

 

 

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