Chapter 56: He smiled and planted a kiss
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Lin Xu had grown fond of staying in Heinrich’s office, and even though he didn’t always ask Heinrich to do anything for him, he liked to drift off to sleep on the office couch.
After scrapping three sofas, Marshal Chu had to replace the sofa with a memory jelly cotton material. The white memory foam sofa was softer and gentler that even if it was scraped by the scales, it quickly recovered itself. And it was waterproof, sticky water stains disappeared after a wipe.
Lin Xu folded the mecha combat uniform that Heinrich wore close to his body into a square as a pillow, and initially used his coat as a quilt, but when Heinrich saw that the military coat could not cover Lin Xu, he brought a blanket from his room to him.
Lin Xu often pulled the blanket over his eyes and covered his face, but a thin blanket could not hide the fact that there was a mermaid in Heinrich’s office.
When a subordinate needed to enter his office to report on his work, Heinrich would turn on the soundproof and anti-peep barrier to block Lin Xu. Although the subordinates were curious, they dared not ask any questions due to Heinrich’s cold and frosty gaze. But Lin Xu was not afraid of his cold face.
When Honda Agana came to report to him on the leapfrog project, Lin Xu woke up from his slumber, and when he realized that there was someone else in the room, he braced himself in an attack stance. Heinrich had a special optical layer in front of his eyes that enabled him to see inside the barrier, and he was alarmed by the dangerous state of Lin Xu’s arched back.
Honda Agana, sensing that Heinrich was in an unusual state, stopped to report back and asked Heinrich if there was anything wrong with what she had just said. Lin Xu recognized Honda Agana, and after confirming that she was not the enemy, he slumped back into the blanket, looking sideways at Heinrich with dazed eyes. The tip of his tail curled and twisted, and water oozed from his scales as they opened and closed. Heinrich averted his gaze like an electric shock, covered his lips and coughed twice to cover his confused breathing for a moment, said nothing, and let Honda Agana continue to report.
When Honda Agana left, Heinrich had to get up with his clothes in order to walk towards Lin Xu. The mermaid, who had just woken up, was often the most demanding and not yet fully stable, with a temper so strong that it always hurt Heinrich’s fingers. He was worried for a moment that Lin Xu would tear open the barrier and come right out.
Lin Xu leaned over Heinrich’s shoulder, nibbled on his earlobe and asked, “You don’t want people to know about our relationship?”
“… No.” Heinrich wiped his scales with a handkerchief, the sweet scent emanating from Lin Xu saturating almost every item in the office as if it would never go away, and Heinrich had to use a lot of inhibitor and pheromone masking agent to suppress the vetiver scent these days.
“I thought you didn’t want them to know you were… You have a fishtail.”
It’s alpha nature to encroach, fight and show off, and Heinrich was no exception. Even if Arnold, who walked into the office, simply saw the blanket Lin Xu had left behind after he left and asked how Heinrich was so busy these days that he slept directly in the office, the temperature on Heinrich’s face would plummet, scaring Arnold into an urgent change of subject.
He wanted to mark Lin Xu so that everyone would know that he was owned by Heinrich Chu. But again, the evil dragon wanted to hide the treasure from anyone who might catch a glimpse of it. Heinrich fished out a handful of brilliant crystals from his coat pocket and placed them in Lin Xu’s hand. This dragon treasure belonged to him. Lin Xu squeezed the crystal and exhaled hot air into Heinrich’s ear, a soft smile in his voice, “I know.”
Lin Xu chewed a crystal and sent half of the energy to Heinrich, his cool palm rubbing Marshal Chu’s silver hair.
—
Lin Xu has been slumbering more frequently lately, even nodding off to sleep as he spoke, and Zhou Pingbo said his body was continuing to weaken, but couldn’t find a reason.
Heinrich froze for a moment when he saw Lin Xu change into a neat white space suit, his long hair slicked back and tied up, and step onto the bridge with long, slender legs he hadn’t seen in a long time. As Lin Xu walked towards Heinrich, the officer’s voice faded as he talked to him, and when Lin Xu reached them, the officer looked at him and stopped reporting.
Lin Xu smiled at him and nodded. Heinrich said, “Just a moment, Dr. Lin and I have something to talk about.”
The officer wisely slipped away, and the people working on the bridge scowled as Heinrich’s gaze swept over them, but they couldn’t help but steal glances at the two men.
The officers working alongside Heinrich knew that there must be something going on between Marshal and Dr. Lin, but they didn’t dare to conclude that until the two said so themselves. So they could only gossip about what Marshal had delivered to Dr. Lin today after work. But from the last time they saw Dr. Lin, how did he lose weight again?
The white uniform was made to fit Lin Xu’s previous figure, and now it looked half airy on his body, but Lin Xu was not small-boned, and his shoulders could still barely hold up the shirt and hide the small belly that was bulging from the gradually developing egg.
“What’s wrong?”
“I ran into Arnold, who was on his way to deliver your file, and I wanted to see you, so I happened to pass it on for him.” Lin Xu handed the encrypted electronic board to Heinrich.
Lin Xu seemed less tired than usual, although his face and lips were still pale, making his eyebrows deeper and his gray eyes like clouds floating on the abyss, but he looked at Heinrich with a slight smile, his stunning face was not hidden by the thinness and sickness, but had a sharper beauty.
“Okay.” Heinrich took the electronic board, he only casually swept a glance and then moved his eyes back to Lin Xu’s face, his long hair was combed up, the polished features were fully revealed, every inch was tugging at Heinrich’s heartstrings, “You…” What do you want to see me for?
Before he could ask the second half of the question, Lin Xu suddenly bullied his way forward, tilting his head to block the rest of the syllables. He dropped a light kiss on Heinrich’s lips, the cool soft lips parting at the first touch, leaving a sweet fragrance around Heinrich’s nose.
Heinrich’s voice was completely stuck in his throat, the strings that had been hooked instantly pulled tight and broke. Lin Xu took a step back, his tied-up ponytail swaying from side to side with his movements, the corners of his water-stained lips curled up, “Marshal Chu, go on with your work, I won’t bother you.”
He turned and jumped down the steps, leaving the bridge briskly, his thin back fading away. Heinrich stood there like a stone statue until Honda Agana, who was close by, cleared her throat and implored the officers and technicians below not to stare at Marshal or Dr. Lin with glowing eyes or to huff and puff as if they were suffocating.
Her voice snapped Heinrich’s mind back, and his quiet eyebrows smoothed down as he swept over the excited crowd, turned his back coldly and stiffly, and said to Honda Agana, “Notify the Nature’s Evolution and the Elam Fleet to continue clearing the leap lanes.”
His voice lowered a few notches when he spoke again, and Honda Agana received the order to continue working, but soon couldn’t resist whispering to remind Heinrich, “Marshal… Collect your pheromone.”
Heinrich, expressionless and very skilled, fished out the pheromone masking agent and injected himself.
–
Lin Xu, on his way back to area H, sent a communication to Arnold saying that the stuff had been delivered.
Arnold quickly and bitterly replied that he had heard about what had happened on the bridge and that the comms were bursting at the seams with gossipy colleagues. He asked Lin Xu how he should reply to these people. Lin Xu smiled and asked him how Marshal Chu would respond to his personal business. Of course he would not reply.
Arnold immediately understood, according to the rules, the ship’s personnel cannot presume to discuss the chief officer, but in reality, as long as the ship’s gossip did not spread too much, Heinrich generally would not interfere with the entertainment of his subordinates during the miserable voyage. Nor would he give a reply.
After ending the communication, Lin Xu stepped out of the elevator and entered the silver-white cold light corridor of area H. His smile faded and he carefully walked with his hands braced against the wall. He wasn’t as relaxed as he had seemed before.
The chaos in his head was getting worse and worse, and his sore and limp hands and feet seemed to be unable to support his body in the next moment. The egg in his stomach was endlessly drawing energy from his body.
The egg was born as a result of Lin Xu’s extreme instinctive reaction to his body’s predicament on the Sand planet, which coincided with Heinrich, mermaid gene’s determination that there was a chance of transmission.
The gene would recklessly draw life force from the current owner’s body to feed the future carrier. Even if the egg was forcibly removed, the next one would still be created. Lin Xu could only wait for it to mature and come out on its own.
As his eyes began to blacken, Lin Xu felt all the crystals in his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing them all up and swallowing them into his stomach, the surge of energy cleared his vision for a while, and he braced himself to walk to his room.
But the egg in his belly also felt the new energy and began to fight with the mother in a new round. Lin Xu’s vision and hearing plunged into darkness and sharp tones, and he fell with a shuddering knee, his consciousness fading as the metal door of room 002 faded into a wave of gray and black in his vision.
—
Ruth’s alert reached Heinrich’s terminal in the first instance, and after confirming the accuracy of the information to Ruth once more, he hurriedly rushed back to area H from the bridge.
Zhou Pingbo was called to him, and when he stepped into 004 he was first shocked by the nest Lin Xu had built with his uniform, but Heinrich’s anxious look made him realize something more urgent. But when he did all the tests, he found nothing wrong with Lin Xu’s health, his blood pressure and blood sugar were all normal, and his long-standing malnutrition had been relieved by the recent operation of injecting supplemental nutrients. Zhou Pingbo was puzzled and could only speculate, “Maybe, maybe it was overexertion.”
Lin Xu’s body was cold, and as Heinrich cradled him in his arms, he almost thought Lin Xu would not make it if he didn’t know he had been hypothermic and was breathing slowly at the moment.
“He can sleep sixteen hours a day.” Heinrich grimaced.
“Sleeping too much can also be mental…” Zhou Pingbo closed his mouth as he said, “Mental depression can make you sleepy, but it doesn’t directly lead to fainting. There’s nothing we can do now, so why don’t we let him sleep for a while, maybe he’ll wake up after sixteen hours.”
“…” Heinrich had no other choice but to agree.
—
But Lin Xu did not wake up after sixteen hours. His heartbeat and breathing returned to normal levels, but he never woke up, and Zhou Pingbo’s repeated checks failed to reveal anything unusual.
Heinrich did not feel comfortable leaving Lin Xu alone in his room and would carry him to his office at work and check on him from time to time. Lin Xu’s breathing was very shallow and his chest did not rise and fall much, so Heinrich had to hang on for a while each time to make sure Lin Xu was still breathing.
On a few occasions, Arnold came in and accidentally saw a sleeping Lin Xu and asked Heinrich why Dr. Lin was here. Heinrich replied that he was too tired. Arnold rubbed his nose and asked no more questions. Heinrich wondered what strange things Arnold was thinking, and he was haunted by irritation, anxiety and fear, and was constantly on edge.
When Zhou Pingbo suggested that Lin Xu be allowed to lie down in the medical bay, Heinrich frowned, deep lines appearing on his brow. He wanted to see Lin Xu whenever and wherever he could.
“The medical pod can monitor his physical condition at all times, and I’ve formulated a special nutrient for him to better maintain his vital signs when the medical pod repair mode is turned on.”
“Vital signs?” Heinrich wanted to say that Lin Xu was alive and well, he just couldn’t wake up. He was convinced that Lin Xu had not come to say goodbye to him on the bridge that day. Zhou Pingbo was helpless, “We always have to be prepared.”
Heinrich was speechless.
The next day, he held Lin Xu in his arms and lowered him into the dark green liquid of the medical bay, the waves of heterochromatic water drowning Lin Xu’s long seaweed-like hair, the translucent liquid blurring Lin Xu’s face. Zhou Pingbo handed him a spare monitor, “Don’t act like I stole your wife, you can see him on the light screen anytime.”
Heinrich’s lips were pursed cold and flat as he stiffly accepted the monitor. Lin Xu sleeping in the dark green nutrient solution looked quieter, the nutrient enriched with oxygen, he didn’t even have to struggle to breathe, and from the looks of it, the signs of being alive were even weaker, only the beating curve on the EKG reassured Heinrich who looked up slightly in between his work.
The author has something to say.
I’m speechless and alone on the West Wing…
It was so close that I cried, I underestimated my level of fine outline diffusion.
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