Chapter 84: 48.2

The second chapter of the arc depicts what happened to the demi. He is trapped inside a temporary shelter camp the insectoid army has set up, with communications heavily restricted.

The first half of the chapter would show the war through the eyes of the demi, as he reminisces his days with his xiongzhu in between.

As the war stretches into the second year, he wonders how his xiongzhu is doing, and can’t help but wonder… if he is still his xiongzhu.

His xiongzhu could legally file for unilateral divorce, given that he’s become ‘missing’ on an active battlefield for two years. If the young male thought he’d died and had a divorce go through, he might already have a new cijun by the time he’s home.

Even so, he still wants to go home. To see for himself.

Finally, one day, a shemale soldier he befriended excitedly tells him that the war is coming to an end.

The war is going to end, and finally, the civilian quarantine can be lifted, and they can return.

Unable to wait a second longer, the demi is among the first to leave alongside the army when the lockdowns are lifted.

A few days later, the male brought dinner home. He hasn’t left their home much since he and demi left on the trip all those months ago. He knows it isn’t healthy, his only contact with the wider insectoid society only being the time when he buys meals outside.

“The quarantine has been lifted. Ashes and belongings of the deceased will be here soon. They’ll probably be hard to recognise, but you can try identifying from the scraps remaining,” a male informs and reminds him of such. This male is his older brother.

Well, in all honesty, the older brother also would rather see the demi alive. It will, at least, improve his younger brother’s mental state. However, rumours say the casualties of those trapped when the war suddenly began were astronomical. Who could dare guarantee that the demi would be among the lucky ones?

The male ignores his older brother. When he’s home, he locks his older brother out entirely. He is not going to go. Even if the demi isn’t back, he might not be dead. He is elsewhere. He knows the demi always loved to travel places.

What if he really went to that damned centre or whatever to check the bodies and saw his demi’s ashes? What should he do, when there is not even a sliver of hope left?

The male puts the meal, spreading it evenly in two.

He starts eating. Bite after bite. Yet, oddly enough, his hands are quicker than his mouth, stuffing, stuffing, stuffing his heart full of fear. He feels like his food is stuck at the throat. It hurts. Tears roll out of the males’ eyes, as his chopsticks continue to tremblingly gather food to his mouth.

The food continues disappearing, the tears continue rolling, the hand continues moving.

Eventually, some critical threshold is broken. He finally puts his chopsticks down. There are scraps of food still around his mouth on his face, mixed with all the tears. He looks terrible.

Finally, with a choking sound, he is audibly crying.

That is when there is a noise at the door. Someone is opening the door. The male just looks on ahead, blankly, with food still mechanically chewing in his mouth. He ends up face-to-face with the entirely unannounced, heaving demi.

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Here, Cheng Zhaoci adds a flashback to the moment when the two of them first met. The male was quite flustered with his deliveries scattered on the ground. He was not good at asking for help, or doing any social interaction. He simply bit his lips, wanting to disappear from embarrassment.

Now, the male has grown. He’s matured. He’s become more capable than the vast majority of males. Yet, at heart, he is still flustered. Drenched in tears, drowning in scraps of food. It feels like he never did ever look good in front of the demi. Only, in front of the demi.

Having grown into a proper, perhaps dull and materialistic, adult, the male simply stares at the demi. The demi stares back. Neither speaks, while the male quickly chews and gulps down what food remains. He has so many questions.

How has the demi been? Was he hurt? Why didn’t he call? Did the military not let him? Why is he all drenched in sweat? Did he run all this way?

But all the words run into and jam each other at the tip of his tongue. In the end, he only manages a, “welcome home?”

The demi smiles, but his smile looks worse than if he would simply cry, “uh, yeah. I’m back.”

That’s the end of the comic. Everything else would be left to the readers’ imagination.

Lu Yao read the ending, staying on the last page for quite a while, before muttering, “ah, it sure is nice,” which makes it the second time he’s given it similar praise. Then, with a distant look in his eyes, he leaves, trudging along, carrying his beloved warm bottle of drink in his hands.

Finally, Cheng Zhaoci sends the draft of the comic over to the Zhou brothers, telling them this is the plot to follow. The last arc still contains three chapters. They can read about it first.

Feedback comes in the form of the letter ‘a’ repeated ad nauseum that they send to him in a message.

Zhou Xiaobao’s passions seem reignited in particular. He feels like going to the broadcast towers again, to try his luck with demis.

“You know, the fact that you were exposed isn’t entirely my fault,” Jin Yue shrugs at Sun Wushe’s rather ugly expression, “you were going to be exposed eventually, weren’t you?”

“It wouldn’t have been this early if you were more sensible and didn’t go check out Mr Cheng Zhaoci repeatedly!” Sun Wushe is once again entertaining the idea of giving Jin Yue an open-skull surgery just to check out what’s going on inside that head of his.

Jin Yue knows he’s at fault, and shrinks a little, saying, “you know I’m fucked in the head! I’ve got the papers from the doc right here! You knew that.”

“Then go get unfucked! Or is even advanced insectoid technology not a match for your royally fucked ass?” Sun Wushe slams the desk, irate, “all my fucking years spent undercover to be undone by your shitty big-brain moment! Whose side are you cunts even fucking on?!”

“You should’ve known your cover wouldn’t have stayed on long after agreeing to cooperate,” Jin Yue ruffles the golden wig he’s got on his head, “so did you see the little ugly thing when you leave?”

“So what if I did or not?” Sun Wushe sits back down, “the moment we made our decision, there is no turning back. He should stay out of all this.”

“Oh? And that older half-brother of yours?” Jin Yue asks in a tease.

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