Ruan Xian rarely truly lost his sense of time. Even in a dangerous battlefield or a quiet midnight, his perception of the passage of time wouldn’t fluctuate much.
But this time he completely forgot about time. The reality of this moment was like an overly vivid dream. If his nerves that fully opened his perception could be disturbed by water droplets from a mist, then he was currently facing a tsunami.
The first time he touched a person’s skin, the first time he was truly embraced, the first time he was kissed. Including the joy of his first, all memories related to temperature were tied to this dangerous creature in front of him.
“You like me, right? I like you too.” He heard Tang Yibu say. “…I don’t want to let go yet.”
The android’s tone was straightforward, but he looked more confused than ever. Tang Yibu’s movements didn’t stop. The world was shaking frantically, and the other party’s sweat kept falling, mixed with blood dripping on Ruan Xian’s cheeks.
In the huge vortex of sensory impact, he firmly maintained his crumbling sanity, hooked Tang Yibu’s neck with his bound hands, and kissed him on the ear.
“Correct.” He affirmed the other party’s statement. Although he didn’t have much fear of death, Ruan Xian didn’t really want to say goodbye.
He thought of the starlight in the Sea of Ruins again.
Maybe there was a description that he had not yet fully understood but, unexpectedly, was appropriate. Ruan Xian struggled to adjust his breathing so that the words weren’t interrupted by his own laborious panting.
“…You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
Ruan Xian hadn’t much desire to be loved. Before, he simply just lived, like moss nestling in a dark cave, or germs dormant in ice.
If it weren’t for his own belief that God didn’t exist, he would have thought that fate was just some cruel joke from the Gods—a rare disease that set a strict limit on the length of his life that he was destined not to live long, but it seemed he couldn’t die early either.
His mother made the most illogical choice and didn’t send him to a humane execution before he was five years old, and he survived. After that, the beating and abandonment that followed didn’t really kill him, and every return home went incredibly well. After he was weaned off his medication, despite the rapid deterioration because of his disease, he was still hanging on for dear life.
Even the desperate situation forged by his mother didn’t take away his life.
Now he remembered it very clearly. Ruan Xian hugged Tang Yibu tightly and looked at the clear night sky, suddenly feeling relieved.
His mother set the most logical choice for him, trying to prove his abnormality to the world. But he, who was abandoned in that secret room, didn’t move his mother’s body, allowing it to rot slowly.
Ruan Xian, who was still young, wasn’t afraid or desperate but felt a certain cold sense of emptiness.
He got the last bit of water from the bathroom and kitchen that hadn’t dried out, chose the corner where he felt most at ease, and slowly waited for death—The automatic air conditioner stopped, and the house was so airtight that he felt like he had been put into a hot, putrid steamer. A physically weak child who didn’t hydrate and replenish his energy in time simply couldn’t live too long.
However, after drinking a little bit of water, Ruan Xian still didn’t eat the corpse until the moment his vision was blurred.
Ruan Xian didn’t know what he wanted to prove. The “abnormal” incident hadn’t had time to cause him trouble, and he didn’t think he had such a deep love for his mother… He was just a little sad.
At that time, Ruan Xian couldn’t analyze that feeling. It couldn’t make him cry, but it could make him sit stubbornly in place, watching the body gradually swell.
The air was hot and humid, but he only felt cold.
When he woke up again, he was in the hospital. A small coincidence saved him. The air processor installed by the resident next door just broke down, and the stench of a rotting corpse floated into their room. After several days of patience to no avail, the grumpy residents called the police.
He broke away from the established results time and again, and he survived. The coincidences were so frequent that Ruan Xian almost started to believe his mother’s statement about him being a demon.
If his memory was true, Fan Linsong’s first shot failed to kill him. And now, facing an almost doomed situation, Tang Yibu was also…
Obviously, he had calculated everything possible, but there was always a more absurd response in reality.
Ruan Xian simply stopped controlling the smile on his face.
The android’s physical strength seemed inexhaustible. He seemed to want to practice all the relevant information he had gathered. Ruan Xian tried his best to warn him before his nerves were completely melted.
“If you don’t plan to kill me… Um…” He bit Tang Yibu’s lower lip lightly. “This… It’s not safe here. We still have time…”
“I have calculated it.” Tang Yibu licked the blood from the corner of Ruan Xian’s mouth with the tip of his tongue. “We still have fifteen minutes and eight seconds.”
“Not bad.” Ruan Xian guided this action into another seductive kiss. “…But you have to leave time for negotiation.”
He tugged at Tang Yibu’s sweaty black hair at the back of his head. “Our negotiation time.”
“I have thought about this issue.” Tang Yibu rubbed his face against his hand. His fingertips slid from the corners of his eyes to the corners of his lips and then his chin. “We can talk now.”
“I need a while to analyze my feelings for you,” Tang Yibu said in a low voice, breathing a little short. “And… Although it is unlikely, have you done anything to that earring?”
“Do you want to interrogate me?” Ruan Xian adjusted his posture. His wrists that were tied up started to become sore.
“Yeah, after all, according to you—” Tang Yibu lowered his head and kissed deeply again, while increasing his movement. Ruan Xian muttered vaguely. “…From all physiological indicators, it is difficult for you to disguise your emotions now. Even a cybernetic brain will accept this kind of stimulation, I understand.”
He hugged Ruan Xian tightly. “Just answer yes or no, have or haven’t.”
“No.” After panting for a few seconds, Ruan Xian managed to find his voice. “I haven’t touched it… Um…”
“Since you are really human.” Tang Yibu himself wasn’t much better. His voice was intermittent. “Are you a human who obeys MUL-01?”
“No. “
“Has anyone from MUL-01 contacted you privately?”
“…No…” He had to say that Tang Yibu had found a good way. Ruan Xian only felt that his brain was about to melt. Under this impact, it was indeed difficult for him to disguise himself perfectly.
Ruan Xian found that he didn’t have much strength to make a sound, so he replaced a “yes” with a nod.
Tang Yibu kissed the corner of his lip, and there was a slight murmur in his throat. “Very good… At least not the enemy…”
The android didn’t speak again next. Ruan Xian guessed that he had completed the last wave of practice. A few more minutes passed as Ruan Xian lazily slumped on the lawn and watched Tang Yibu get dressed slowly and then untie the shackles on his wrists.
“Mr. Ruan, before I sort out my problem, you’d better not act out of the ordinary.” Tang Yibu tried his best to straighten his face, but he still couldn’t hide the softness behind him. “I’ll let π follow you… Ah.”
“Ah.” Ruan Xian also remembered. The iron bead still hung around in the bushes not far away. “You can explain later, Yibu.”
“…” Tang Yibu wiped his face.
“But there is another problem.”
Ruan Xian shook his sore wrist and began to wipe his body with a blood-stained cloth. The power of the S-type Prototype allowed him to regain his strength quickly, leaving only a little fatigue after excessive exercise.
“Look, now you know who I am, but I still don’t know anything about you.”
After a simple clean-up, Ruan Xian threw the fabric aside and decided to strike the iron while it was hot.
“The S-type Prototype is in the hands of a human. If this news spreads, it will be equally fatal to me… If we have to cooperate in the future, I hope I can get information of the same value.”
Humans wouldn’t expect anything from a member of another race if he was truly an android. But if he was a human, this information itself would become some kind of inspiration, and MUL-01 would destroy him and show the world as quickly as possible.
Tang Yibu wouldn’t have missed this.
He supported himself on the trees around him, stood up, and generously gathered the shredded restraint clothes together. “After all, my understanding of you is limited to the point of an ‘android who does not obey the Mainbrain and is involved with other forces behind him’. In this place, you can’t make an earring that restricts pure humans in a short time, right?”
Ruan Xian straightened his sweaty hair, walked to Tang Yibu a little unsteadily, and put his arms around his waist. “You have also seen my abilities. If I make up my mind to run, a little surveillance can’t stop me.”
“But we like each other.” Tang Yibu seemed a little dazed.
“I will miss you from afar.” Ruan Xian squinted comfortably as he felt the other party’s body heat. “In addition, this doesn’t conflict with our vigilance against each other. A little bit of information is exchanged for me to stay by your side honestly during this period of time. I personally think it’s a very good deal.”
Tang Yibu remained silent about this.
‘Such a difficult guy,’ Ruan Xian sighed in his heart. At this point, he had a better way to deal with it.
Almost all of Tang Yibu’s previous questions were testing his position, and he could see that the android and the Mainbrain were definitely not the same. Since his own human identity had been exposed and his memories were likely to be falsified, it wasn’t impossible to simply provide part of the information to the other party.
“If you give me enough valuable information, I can add more weight.” Ruan Xian leaned his face closer.
Tang Yibu took a step back, as if he was lost in thought. He glanced at Ruan Xian a few times. As if he thought that staring at the other party would make his state worse, he turned around solemnly.
Too cute. Ruan Xian laughed out loud.
“I can tell you ‘in my memory’, my relationship with Ruan Xian.” Ruan Xian increased the temptation bit by bit. “But I can’t guarantee the originality of my memory. This has to be said upfront.”
Tang Yibu turned back again, looking more serious.
“…I will not deceive you.” Ruan Xian spread out his hands. “Of course, if you want to use the ‘interrogation’ method just now, I have no opinion at all.”
“Okay.” Tang Yibu seemed to have reached a conclusion. “I will provide you with a little information about myself. But after that, there are only two possibilities left between us: to cooperate with each other, or I will kill you.”
“Mm-hmm.” Ruan Xian made a welcoming gesture.
Tang Yibu took a few steps closer, holding Ruan Xian’s face with both hands, and pressed his forehead against Ruan Xian’s. His lips opened and closed without making a sound.
“This body of mine is integrated with an A-type Prototype,” Tang Yibu said silently. “Considering that we will cooperate for a long time, and you have strong observation power… This information should be considered just right. As for how I got it, I may tell you later depending on the situation. For now, you—“
Ruan Xian was a little surprised, but only a little.
Lacking doomsday-related memories, he didn’t have a strong impression of the A-type Prototype being destroyed. Judging from Tang Yibu’s rather abnormal combat effectiveness and inexplicable confidence in certain situations, Tang Yibu’s deduction was correct—It was really only a matter of time before he found out about him and making it public in advance would instead be more conducive for Tang Yibu to unfold his hand and better threaten him.
As a mutual containment intelligence, Ruan Xian couldn’t think of a more appropriate one.
…Truly a cunning guy.
“Good information.” Ruan Xian maintained a posture with his forehead against the other. “Then I can also give mine.”
Tang Yibu blinked.
Ruan Xian raised the corner of his mouth and wiped the remaining blood stains on the other party’s face.