"Pauli said that when you cast off your fundamental form as a mushroom, you also obtained new properties. Perhaps you fused with the properties of other simple creatures, obtaining a new form of life. As an existence similar to sporocysts, the spore became a spare life to be used after your body decayed. Therefore, you viewed it as more important than your own life because it truly was your life. Through this method, you may have achieved immortality," Lu Feng said.
An Zhe's eyes widened slightly.
"Also," Lu Feng said, "the first time I met Pauli, he was suffering greatly. At that time, the spore landed on Pauli of its own accord. I figured that only you would know him."
An Zhe nodded, for he did indeed have a vague recollection of approaching the grieving Pauli. Similarly, he also had many memories of approaching Lu Feng.
It was simply that he was not aware of what he was doing at the time.
He perceived his intact body.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled to Lu Feng.
If this were indeed the case, then he truly was wrong about Lu Feng—he had assumed the worst of this man. Lu Feng truly had not gone against the wish he left behind and raised the spore to adulthood.
"It's okay." Lu Feng leaned closer to him. Within those perpetually indifferent cold green eyes, indescribable waves seemed to surge. He lowered his voice, saying, "… You're alive."
Indeed, he was alive.
He was still alive.
Golden sunlight shone down on the verdant grass, and sparkling dust gently floated on the breeze. It was like a dream.
An Zhe lightly grabbed the edge of Lu Feng's sleeve.
Then he thought of something else—the thing he had held a grudge over for a long time already. On that long-ago day, he had opened the laboratory door and seen the spore. He had assumed the spore belonged to him and would float in his direction, but it had floated to where Lu Feng was.
He said it.
Lu Feng murmured, "It was you wishing to be at my side."
An Zhe slowly lowered his gaze.
"I didn't know," he said. "At that time…"
At that time, he and Lu Feng did not exactly have a good relationship.
At that thought, he then wondered if the relationship between himself and Lu Feng could now be considered good.
He gradually tightened his grip on Lu Feng's sleeve, but these unformed and chaotic thoughts vanished like mist the moment he looked up and met Lu Feng's eyes.
Today was February 14th. On this day four years ago, he and Lu Feng met in the wilderness of the Abyss.
Later, they spent a brief amount of time together. Then he slept for three years, and Lu Feng raised the spore for three years.
They might not have known each other for too long, nor did they have much experience interacting with each other, so compared to the relationships between other people, theirs really did not count for much.
However, for the two of them, for a xenogenic and an Arbiter, there was nobody else who could be like the other party.
In the wind, he and Lu Feng silently locked eyes.
After a long time, he heard Lu Feng murmur, "Thank you."
He asked, "For what?"
"A lot of things." Lu Feng's tone of voice was neutral, but his eyes never left An Zhe. He reached up and gently rested his hand on the side of An Zhe's face, his voice slightly raspy as he said, "Mostly for waiting for me all night on Judgment Day."
An Zhe smiled, clearly very happy, but then he felt a little bitter. With his voice also slightly raspy, he said, "Then I also thank you for always sparing me."
The Colonel's pale, thin lips curled up, and then he lowered his head to kiss the corners of An Zhe's eyes, every touch fleeting. In his cold green eyes was An Zhe's reflection. An Zhe suddenly felt that this color was very gentle.
Lu Feng looked at him in that manner, and An Zhe was pressed into the grass. He initially felt that this man's gaze was very gentle, but then a feeling of danger slowly arose, as though he were being watched from the jungle by some man-eating beast that was ready to pounce.
When Lu Feng leaned down, dropping all his weight on An Zhe, and buried his head in An Zhe's neck, the feeling reached its peak.
They were so close that there wasn't the slightest gap, pressed directly against each other. Lu Feng's breathing and heartbeat were right in his ear and on his body.
An Zhe hesitantly put his arms around Lu Feng's shoulders and used his limited knowledge to analyze the current situation.
Then he asked in a small voice, "Do you wish to bed me?"
He heard Lu Feng let out a soft laugh, the sound slightly hoarse and breathy.
Then Lu Feng asked, "Who taught you that?"
"Mr. Shaw said it once," An Zhe replied.
"Shaw Scott." Lu Feng accurately pronounced Mr. Shaw's name. "What else did he say?"
An Zhe said, "It was all more or less the same."
In short, Mr. Shaw's language always revolved around these words.
Lu Feng asked, "If I did, what would you think?"
An Zhe thought hard.
"That…" he said, "that Mr. Shaw truly was very incredible."
He used to think that Mr. Shaw's words were completely unfounded, but now it appeared that they were correct about even the Arbiter himself.
He truthfully shared his thoughts with Lu Feng.
Buried in his neck, Lu Feng began to laugh. It unexpectedly sounded like he was quite happy.
After he finished laughing, he rolled over and lay side by side with An Zhe on the grass. An Zhe turned to look at him and saw that this man was indeed relaxed. He had never even dared to dream that this Arbiter who lived in constant night would wear such an expression.
Lu Feng asked, "Who else wished to bed you?"
"Hosen, I suppose, when I came to the base in their vehicle." An Zhe thought back as he spoke. "I think there was Josh as well, and on the third floor, there were some mercenaries."
"What about you?"
"I didn't like them much." An Zhe thought about their gazes.
He saw that Lu Feng was looking at him as well, the cold arches of his eyebrows relaxing. It was a clear expression, similar to the mountain breeze currently blowing through the wilderness.
An Zhe became a bit lost in thought. If time repeated itself, if Lu Feng were not the Arbiter, if he were an invincible, ambitious, and powerful young military officer, perhaps his expression would often have been like this.
"Then," Lu Feng said, "I'm different from them."
An Zhe questioned him with a puzzled gaze.
The Colonel only smiled. It was very good-looking, like the season's snowpack in the initial stages of thaw.
"Let's go." He got up from the grass. Facing the morning sunlight, he held out a hand to An Zhe. "I'll take you to search for An Ze."
An Zhe also held out his hand, got pulled upright, and then followed.
"What's different?" he asked.
"Everything's different."
An Zhe looked at him with suspicion.
"Really?" he asked.
This time, the Colonel did not reply.