Chapter 14
The person that Yin Mingzheng didn’t want Shi Qing to interact with most in the base was Le Youyuan.
Le Youyuan could be considered the most powerful second generation in the base.
His father was a rare authority figure who wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty fighting the Insects, and he was often away outside. When the Insects first came, Le Youyuan was in his rebellious phase. After so many years, he was still in his rebellious phase. He lived to party, and more than half of the entertainment establishments in the base were built by him.
His confidence wasn’t just because of his father’s reputation, but also due to him being an ability user, something rarely seen among the second generations. It wasn’t one of those wimpy powers either. He had the high-level ability to control fire.
Plus Le Youyuan was skilled at making money. When the base was first built, he immediately sectioned off a giant portion of land. When construction began on the inner and outer dwellings, he made a killing. It was only when star coins started coming into circulation and he exchanged his money that the higher-ups of the base discovered he was even richer than some of them.
He had money, influence, ability and even the support of his father. Le Youyuan’s life was quite leisurely.
He played around with a group of second generations everyday. Even if the Insects invaded, to people like them, it just meant that they couldn’t go wherever they wanted. The base was big enough to satisfy them.
The continued existence of several types of game consoles was also due to these second generations.
Yin Mingzheng was Le Youyuan’s enemy from the beginning.
Of course, only Le Youyuan thought of it this way.
At the start, the reason for his hatred of Yin Mingzheng was simple. He could barely see his dad once a month, and all he did was criticize him for playing around. Then Yin Mingzheng popped out and did missions with his dad all the time. His dad even praised him compared the two of them relentlessly. Who wouldn’t hate Yin Mingzheng in this situation?
He was the ‘other family’s kid’, although he was too old now or then to be called a child.
When they first met, Yin Mingzheng was focused on raising his abilities to defend against the Insect race. He didn’t have the time to feud with a chuunibyou.
It was exactly because of his holier-than-thou att.i.tude that Le Youyuan despised Yin Mingzheng more than ever.
If Yin Mingzheng was happy, he wasn’t. If Yin Mingzheng was not, then he was.
When he heard that Yin Mingzheng foolishly sacrificed himself, Le Youyuan held a celebration that went on for three days. If his dad didn’t catch him in the act when he got back, he could go on until the day Yin Mingzheng returned.
Even though Yin Mingzheng wasn’t afraid of this kind of stalwart enemy before, he was worried now that they might bully Shi Qing while he was away.
He was careful to always have his subordinates guarding Shi Qing wherever he went. In the end, Le Youyuan still got a hold of an opening.
The man was still standing in front of the red car holding that broken video game console. His face was dark. He ignored the smug Le Youyuan and stared straight at Shi Qing. He said quietly: “Shi Qing, get off.”
“Oh okay.”
The youth who was wearing clothes clearly not bought by Yin Mingzheng didn’t feel like anything was wrong. He obediently went to unlock his seat belt.
“Don’t ah.”
Le Youyuan laughed as he held onto Shi Qing’s hand. His handsome face was looking challengingly at Yin Mingzheng: “Little Shi Qing and I already agreed to go bungee jumping today. Even if General Yin is little Shi Qing’s brother, you can’t make him break his promises, right?”
He especially emphasized the word brother.
His smile grew wider as Yin Mingzheng’s face grew more twisted: “It’s almost time for our appointment. We’ll be going, General Yin.”
He waved and slammed on the accelerator. Within moments he was far away. The wind blew Le Youyuan’s dyed red hair everywhere. Yin Mingzheng wanted to beat him up more and more.
The alien youth was still bad at reading the mood. He naively listened to Le Youyuan and stayed in the car. He even turned around to wave at Yin Mingzheng like Le Youyuan did.
Le Youyuan who was currently driving was amused by Shi Qing copying him. “Don’t provoke him anymore darling, or else Yin Mingzheng might just go……”
–BANG!!!
In the blink of an eye, the man that was behind them arrived in front of the car.
The loud noise was due to his hand pressing down hard on the hood to forcefully bring the car to a stop.
The red sports car was silently spewing out white smoke.
Yin Mingzheng looked on darkly as Shi Qing, who seemed to be frightened, clung to Le Youyuan’s elbow.
His expression was normal though, and his tone was even and could even be described as soft:
“Shi Qing, get off.”
Shi Qing stared blankly at the man. It was like he didn’t understand what was going on.
That was to be expected. After all, this was the first time the hero of humanity displayed his strength in front of him.
Le Youyuan was also scared out of his wits
Yin Mingzheng had never bothered to respond to his many provocations before out of consideration for his dad.
It was only now that he discovered just how frightening Yin Mingzheng’s anger could be.
Although his back was covered by cold sweat, he felt pity after glancing at Shi Qing who was huddling against him. He quickly recovered his devil may care att.i.tude and leaned back: “General Yin, Shi Qing and I already had an agreement. He’s not a little kid anymore, so don’t you think you’re being too overbearing?”
He even turned to ask the stunned little prince:
“Right, little Shi Qing?”
Yin Mingzheng didn’t say anything more.
He stared with frost-covered eyes at Le Youyuan and slightly increased the pressure on the hood. Everyone saw how the vehicle that was still valuable even now had a giant hole melted in its hood.
Le Youyuan swallowed nervously as he stared at that hole.
This was a threat!
This has to be a threat!
Would he be afraid of Yin Mingzheng’s threats?
He arrogantly raised his chin: “My feelings towards little Shi Qing are genuine. There’s nothing you can do to stop me from pursuing him.”
The word ‘pursuing’ seemed to open the gates of h.e.l.l. The man’s face suddenly became outright demonic. Without any movement from him, another loud crash sounded out.
The front end of the car had been completely vapourized.
Shi Qing was better off because he was wearing his seatbelt. He just tilted forward with the vehicle, but his b.u.t.t was still firmly on the seat.
The same could not be said for Le Youyuan.
He lived life on the edge, so why would he wear seatbelts? As part of the car disappeared, he fell out onto the ground. He was still holding a steering wheel in his hands.
Li Youyuan tumbled several times with the steering wheel before he managed to get up. He saw the man wearing a black windbreaker walk in front of the seat and unlock the youth’s seatbelt. With that, the youth fell into his arms.
Yin Mingzheng easily caught his little prince.
The man frowned when he smelt the fragrance coming from Shi Qing.
He never used perfume, and so Shi Qing didn’t either.
It was clear who sprayed this on Shi Qing.
Le Youyuan, whether it was before or now, enjoyed an above-average quality of life. He obviously did not use cheap perfume that offended the nose. The products he gave Shi Qing were all expensive name brands that he had picked out with care.
But this light and fresh perfume made the hero of humanity uncomfortable from the bottom of his heart.
It was like a male lion found out that other animals had marked its territory.
A real lion would go to great lengths to tear the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that dared to sully his possessions to shreds.
Yin Mingzheng wasn’t an animal. He was a human. He could control himself.
So he only encircled his little prince and glared at Le Youyuan who was kicking up a storm.
“Yin Mingzheng!! You actually trashed my car!! Don’t think that I, Le Youyuan, am afraid of you! You’ll only take little Shi Qing away today over my dead body!”
He was scared after Yin Mingzheng’s eyes bore into him without any emotion, but he puffed out his chest in the next second: “What? You think if you glare at me enough I’ll let him go? I know all about the unsavoury business you’ve been getting into, little Shi Qing being a model example. What did you say to him? You said that he was like a brother to you, right? What kind of brother treats their siblings like that?”
“I’ve been silent until now because little Shi Qing was just too pitiful to explain this to, but since you’re here I’ll make it clear. Little Shi Qing, the things that Yin Mingzheng did to you……”
The man suddenly raised his hand.
Le Youyuan shut his mouth.
His eyes almost bugged out of his head as he froze while glancing at his lower body.
The entire base knew that Yin Mingzheng’s ability manifested as a cloud of black smoke. Anything it touches, whether it be humans or Insects, would disintegrate into ash in a matter of minutes.
And now, the most important part of his anatomy as a male was surrounded by a thin layer of black fog. It seemed to waver and move around, as if it could touch his clothes in the next second.
One move could cause a lifetime of regret.
Le Youyuan didn’t dare to move a muscle, he even took shallow breaths. This was a matter concerning his happiness for the rest of his life.
The perpetrator of his dilemma was staring him down with icy eyes. He held Shi Qing tightly in his arms as he warned:
“There will be no next time.”
Maybe it was referring to Le Youyuan seducing Shi Qing.
Or his attempts to expose Yin Mingzheng’s lies.
The man didn’t clarify.
He just strode away with the youth obediently tucked against his chest.
No one there made a sound, including Le Youyuan himself.
He stiffly watched as the black fog dispersed after Yin Mingzheng’s departure. By the time he looked up, he could only see a corner of the black windbreaker that was caught by the wind.
Yin Mingzheng remained silent the entire way back. The little fellow in his arms seemed to realise he was angry, so he didn’t start to babble about what he had been doing the past few days.
It was only when the man quietly opened the door and placed him on the bed that he hugged his neck and asked: “Le Youyuan said that you lied to me. Is that true?”
Yin Mingzheng was about to take off his shoes for him, but he paused upon hearing those words.
“He said that you told Cheng Jun that I was your brother because you didn’t want to acknowledge our relationship. Is that true?”
He sensed something from the man’s silence. The usually cheerful little bird became sullen.
Yin Mingzheng had his head down this whole time, so he didn’t see the expression on his face. It was only when a tear droplet fell onto the back of his hand that he discovered that Shi Qing was crying.
“Shi Qing……”
The man raised his head and looked helplessly at the person before him. He wanted to embrace him, but he didn’t know if he still had the right to do so.
“You don’t want to be my companion at all.”
The corners of the alien youth’s eyes had turned red. His tears continued to fall on Yin Mingzheng’s hands. They burned his heart like magma.
It hurt. It was bitter.
It didn’t let him speak.
He wanted to say it wasn’t like that, but he found that he couldn’t justify his actions.
His heart ached like a giant hand was squeezing it.
Yin Mingzheng had never felt like this before.
He wasn’t dumb.
When he discovered that he was willing to give anything to stop Shi Qing’s tears, Yin Mingzheng understood what had happened.
He really fell in love with Shi Qing.
When that thought crossed his mind, the hero of humanity felt an unparalleled sense of joy in his heart.
Everything became clear.
He didn’t need to worry about the details or the future.
It would all be fine if he was with Shi Qing.
“Shi Qing……”
The man reached out a slightly trembling hand to wipe away his tears. He looked into those red-rimmed eyes and said: “I was wrong.”
“But I’ve thought it through. I like……”
“So you were lying to me!”
The sobbing youth quickly stood up and pinned the unprepared Yin Mingzheng on the bed with his adjustable weight.
“Wu–”
Yin Mingzheng could hardly breath as he was crushed under a weight even heavier than before. “Shi Qing, listen to me……”
“No! You’re just a liar!”
Shi Qing’s white face was twisted with rage. He hit Yin Mingzheng with a pillow. “Liar! Liar!”
Yin Mingzheng was completely suppressed and could not retaliate. He could only try to recover in between the blows: “Listen to me, calm down first……Oof! Calm down.”
“You calm down!”
The youth threw the pillow at his face. “If you don’t want me, I’ll find someone else to be my companion!”
He made sure to squish Yin Mingzheng one last time before hopping off the man with a huff and leaving.
Yin Mingzheng managed to push the pillow away with great effort. “No, Shi Qing wait……”
–Bang!!
The door was slammed shut from the outside.
The man’s chest hurt from being compressed as he got up. He held his aching chest, but it was like he was also holding his newly discovered feelings.
He felt empty and helpless inside. What was he to do?
Author’s Note
Big Yin: It hasn’t even been a minute since I realized I like little Shi Qing and he’s already run away from home.