Chapter 36: Isn’t it just using Heinrich Chu?
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Heinrich didn’t know how to answer Zhou Pingbo’s questions, and Zhou Pingbo was unlikely to press him. He put aside these questions for the time being and prepared to go back to his room to change out of his blood-stained uniform, then went to check on the interrogation of Haven’s passengers on the Nature’s Evolution.
But just as he reached the door, he saw the white rabbit-cat scratching at the door of his room, wailing pitifully and banging its head against the door. Even its long ears hanging down on either side of its head in dismay.
Lin Xu did not have the habit of cutting the rabbit-cat’s nails, and Snowy’s paws made an ear-splitting sound on the door. Finally, he sat down on Heinrich’s shoulder and continued his miserable wooing.
Heinrich did not understand cat language, did not know why he was crying and could only hold Snowy with his hand to keep him from falling down. He continued to open the door to his room and prepared to do his own thing.
At that moment, a black shadow quickly leapt out of the door, hugging Heinrich’s leg and climbing up, all the way to Heinrich’s vacated other shoulder.
It was Blackie.
The two rabbit-cats were on the verge of cuddling on Heinrich’s shoulder, one black and one white, with their short, fur-ball-like tails squeezed around Heinrich’s chin, sweeping around and around, giving Heinrich a headache with their wooing sounds.
Heinrich tried to get the two rabbit-cats off his shoulders, but the claws were so tight that he didn’t dare to continue after a few attempts for fear of hurting the two fragile and soft rabbit-cats.
He turned his head to meet Blackie’s round, sobbing green eyes, and after a moment of stalemate, Heinrich turned around and knocked on Lin Xu’s door next to his.
Room 003, where Lin Xu lived, was facing Heinrich’s room 002, but now, looking in from 003, it was still a charred ruin, with room 004 next door to room 002.
“Lin Xu, it’s me, Heinrich Chu.”
When Lin Xu opened the door, Heinrich was still standing outside, waiting, two fluffy rabbit-cats on his shoulders, crying with teary eyes.
Heinrich, in his military uniform, had always been a sculpture with no wrinkles in his uniform, which was as black as the universe.
But now, this sculpture wore a shirt with cuffs cut open, with a military dress jacket draped over the shoulders, to facilitate the operation, Zhou Pingbo cut off a section of the inner shirt sleeves, Heinrich’s forearms were now exposed, with distinctly firm muscles. It was the wound that was sewn crookedly by Zhou Pingbo.
The furry, round rabbit-cat buttocks squeezed into the sides of his cheeks made Heinrich’s only remaining serious expression strange and cute.
“Blackie and Snowy were scratching the door relative to each other and I didn’t know what was going on and thought come on… Are you okay?”
Lin Xu’s state looked a little off. The hair around his forehead was moistened with sweat, his eyes were misty, and his cheekbones were dense with pink, as if his whole body was steaming and smelling sweet again.
Lin Xu’s gaze went back and forth in confusion over the two hairy dumplings, pursing his lips without answering.
Not knowing if it was because the rabbit-cat’s short tail kept rubbing against Heinrich’s cheek, Heinrich felt a wave of heat roll into his head, but Lin Xu was in the wrong state, he shouldn’t be thinking about something at this time.
“Lin Xu, are you sick?”
“I… Cough cough cough!”
Lin Xu opened his mouth slightly and coughed violently. Heinrich stepped forward to help him, but was stopped by a gesture from Lin Xu. He pressed his throat as if he were trying to cough his lungs out, hunched his shoulders against the door frame, barely holding himself up.
By the time Lin Xu had managed to get the fragment of dragon scale stuck in his throat into his esophagus, letting the energy soak into his muscles along the way, his eyes had become red and watery from the exertion of floating a layer of blood.
Blackie and Snowy were frightened by their master’s coughing and stopped wooing, turning their heads to look at Lin Xu with two pairs of worried blue and green eyes, the same as Heinrich’s golden ones. Lin Xu calmed his breathing for a moment, “I’m fine.”
He looked at the two rabbit-cats huddled close to each other on Heinrich’s broad shoulders, “They’re fine too, they just haven’t played together for too long and are worried about each other being in danger. Here, give them to me.”
Lin Xu reached out to hug Blackie first, but Blackie’s paws had a death grip on Heinrich’s uniform, and when Lin Xu tried to pick him up, it was Heinrich who ended up being pulled forward.
The smell of blood and vetiver pheromone mixed with the light medicinal smell of repair gel filled Lin Xu’s nose, his eyelashes fluttered and he gradually frowned. Heinrich saw the change in Lin Xu’s expression and automatically took a step back. Lin Xu seemed to relax a bit, but the frown still didn’t unravel.
“Why don’t I take them back to my room tonight? Maybe they’ll calm down after a while.”
“No.” Lin Xu interrupted and raised his hand to the ball of fur on Blackie’s butt, pulling it with his fingers, the originally short tail stretched to the length of his hand, and it was only then that Heinrich realized that the rabbit-cat’s tail was rolled into a bouncy little ball by itself.
Blackie’s tail was suddenly stretched out and he was so shocked that he let go of his paws and was successfully held by Lin Xu. He did the same thing and transferred Snowy from Heinrich’s shoulder to his arms as well.
The two rabbit-cats quieted down after returning to the familiar embrace of their master, and arched around twice in Lin Xu’s arms, finding a comfortable position to lie down. The pressure on his shoulders suddenly became less, empty. Lin Xu asked, “Marshal, is there anything else?”
The person who asked the question had a bland expression, no real doubt in his mind, but the golden pupils of the person being asked showed faint confusion and gloom, and a point of guilt was pressed under the cold, sharp brow bones.
Heinrich looked at the rabbit-cat in Lin Xu’s arms, “… No, I won’t disturb your rest.”
“Yeah.” Lin Xu nodded and closed the door, and after one night, the two of them suddenly returned to the point where they only exchanged a few words when talking about business matters. Heinrich stood in front of Lin Xu’s door for half a minute and then left in a hurry.
–
Blackie and Snowy bounced nimbly on the soft bed, nibbling on each other’s tails to find a comfortable position and curling up together. They coincidentally chose Lin Xu’s pillow.
Lin Xu lay down next to the rabbit-cats, crossed his arms in front of his belly, and stared at the ceiling. Ruth thought he was ready to sleep and turned down the light for him, so that only a thin layer of shadow could be seen in the room.
Ruth asked, “Mr. Lin, do you need to close the porthole?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Okay, have a good dream.”
Lin Xu did not correct her, lying on the pillow, and could hear the rabbit-cat purring along the artificial fiber.
Lin Xu was a man who rarely regretted the decisions he made; he always knew what he was doing, what purpose the actions he was taking had, and what consequences they would bring, and had the absolute courage to take responsibility for the decisions.
But now, he was not planning resources for the hundreds of thousands of survivors of the apocalypse base, nor was he negotiating terms of mutual aid with the head of another human base. He was communicating with individuals about emotional things.
Group behavior was regular and controllable, and no matter how much the apocalypse survivors berated Lin Xu for his extreme infection control measures, Lin Xu didn’t care because he was sure he could control the situation with his strength. But individuals were unpredictable and uncontrollable. Lin Xu regretted his previous actions towards Heinrich.
Riding the mecha together, the unintentional physical contact, and the Blackie that Lin Xu sent to Heinrich. It was all just sophisticated planning when the intention was taken. It was also an unconscious reaction in Lin Xu’s personality. And Heinrich didn’t like to be controlled and calculated.
As soon as he saw the “evidence of scheming” sent back by Heinrich, Lin Xu instantly realized that he was just taking advantage of Heinrich’s affection for a certain part of his personality, and he almost felt annoyed with himself. Well, now that Heinrich was out of his way, the rabbit-cats were back.
Lin Xu closed his eyes as the lights in the room turned off completely, plunging the entire room into silent darkness, with only the galaxy outside the window emitting a dull light. He and Heinrich were left with only the partnership they had to maintain.
…
Lin Xu tried to fall asleep, without success. His dazed mind was suddenly awakened by a fluttering thought, and he sat up with a start, waking up the two rabbit-cats that were cuddled together in their sleep for no apparent reason, calling to lick the sweat from Lin Xu’s hands and rubbing the back of his hands with their half-standing ears.
Lin Xu rolled out of bed and started to get dressed and wash up. Isn’t it just using Heinrich Chu? No one has been harmed so far, so what is he obsessing about? This was not the only person who had been used by Lin Xu in the past decades. He was a soft bookish man who could live from the beginning of the apocalypse until now because he knew how to seize the moment and use all the resources at hand.
Lin Xu put on the space uniform, outside draped a jacket, and mirror combed his half-length hair, trying to make himself look more formal. Finally, he adjusted his facial muscles in the clear, bright mirror, maintaining his expression in a somber, solemn, stranger-but-firm state.
Once ready, Lin Xu made his way unhindered into the Victoria’s standby craft parking area. Heinrich gave Lin Xu A-Class access to the Abyss Fleet, second only to Marshal Deputy Arnold and equal to Victoria’s Captain Honda Agana.
The clearance did not allow access to weapons, but allows you to call in the craft when the starship berths in port. That’s why the flight attendant got up in surprise when he saw Lin Xu, but after Lin Xu explained his needs and showed proof of access, he opened a flight for him and let him pass.
Garier was held at the airfield military compound. Lin Xu tampered with the flight’s settings using a program modifier Ika had written earlier, and manned the flight himself to the map’s restricted location area. Carl Hill had already ordered a lockdown, and the lights on the airfield ground were now much dimmer than when the Abyss Fleet had just arrived.
When Lin Xu first ripped through time and space to leave, he was thinking of going to a place where humans would exist in the future, wherever that might be. His powers ended up dropping him on the edge of the Marion Empire’s Dionysus Region. The chaotic situation on the edge was perfect for Lin Xu, an apocalypse visitor with no identity and no language skills, and he spent some time hungrily learning about the interstellar era, including piloting a flying machine.
However, the technology of the border area’s looted aircraft lagged too much behind the military model of the Abyss Fleet, and Lin Xu studied it for a while under Ika’s guidance before finally confirming that he could fly it safely.
The aircraft landed smoothly at the entrance of the Silver Fortress, the sentry came up to him and asked for his identity. The sentry hesitated for a moment, and Lin Xu repeated the cooperation agreement between Carl Hill and Heinrich Chu in a cold tone, and was finally released.
After crossing the most difficult fortress sentry post, Lin Xu was relieved to ask serious questions about directions while calculating the possible design of the Silver Fortress interior, and finally reached the place where Garier’s medical bay was located.
Two officers in Abyss Fleet black uniforms reached out to stop Lin Xu in front of the ward, Lin Xu showed his authority and explained his purpose, they looked at each other, “Dr. Lin, the prisoner Garier has not fully recovered his consciousness. When he is conscious, Marshal Chu will come to interrogate him personally. Do you want to wait a little longer? “
Lin Xu raised his chin, his body upright as a snowy peak stands, “I know, I want to see him now.”
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