The colonel"s place looked like no one had ever lived it in. It was almost the same as his lounge in the outer city"s defense station. As for why An Zhe knew what the colonel"s room looked like, it was because he felt the surroundings were too cold when the elevator door opened.

An Zhe turned his head and met Lu Feng"s eyes. The colonel leaned his arm against the door frame. "Come back.”

An Zhe"s mouth flattened.

In fact, he and Seraing weren"t familiar with each other. He had thought about it when he pressed the elevator door. If Seraing wasn"t at home or refused his request, he could only awkwardly turn to Colin for help.

He glanced back at Lu Feng and suddenly felt a bit sad and aggrieved. This man knew he had no friends at the base. Lu Feng saw his wronged expression and asked, "What"s wrong?"

An Zhe lowered his eyes and didn"t know what to say. He actually wanted to ask to stay in Lu Feng"s place but he was afraid of being rejected by the colonel.

Then he heard Lu Feng laugh softly.

"I was teasing you." Lu Feng came over and pulled him away from the elevator. "First eat dinner and then sleep with me at night.”

Dinner was eaten in the public canteen. The food wasn"t delicious and Lu Feng opposite him had actually ordered mushroom soup.

However, if it was sleeping with Lu Feng… it was naturally better than sleeping with Seraing and far better than sleeping with Colin. An Zhe attributed this to the fact that he was only familiar with Lu Feng. After all, he had a sleeping relations.h.i.+p with this man twice before.

After taking a shower in the colonel"s bathroom, he dried himself and quickly went to the bed wrapped in a large white towel. He sat on the edge of the bed. He had no pyjamas.

The colonel"s room seemed to be much better than his room. This might be special treatment given by the military. However, no matter how special the treatment, there wasn"t an extra quilt or an extra pillow. He consciously moved the pillow in the middle of the bed to the outside.

Then his eyes were drawn to the cl.u.s.ter of red at the head of the bed. There was a simple gla.s.s bottle with three bright flowers in it. There were a th.o.r.n.y stem and dark green leaves. Two were already in full bloom while the other one was a bud.

This was the first time An Zhe had seen plants in a human base. This steel-made city didn"t seem to allow anything other than humans to exist. The fragrance of the flower floated in the air. Lu Feng had been in the living room listening to his subordinates" reports. At this moment, he ended the call and returned to the bedroom.

Lu Feng noticed him looking at the bouquet.

"It is my mother"s." He explained.

"Mrs Lu?"

Lu Feng spoke lightly. "Yes."

His eyes were on the three flowers. Then after a long time, he looked outside. The sky was dark outside the window. The buildings cast dark shadows and the hexagonal Eden stood far away from the artificial magnetic pole.

An Zhe followed his gaze. Eden truly did look like a hive. His thoughts suddenly moved and he glanced back at the three bright red flowers beside the bed. The colour and shape were a bit familiar to him. It was from a long time ago, when An Ze read a book about when human civilization was still prosperous and it was a common plant.

"Rose…" He murmured.

"It is a rose." Lu Feng"s voice was light.

When the children in his cla.s.s had free time, they would play house games and stimulate planting flowers, using different coloured paper as flowers. However, there seemed to be real roses in the Garden of Eden.

"Does the Garden of Eden grow roses?"

Lu Feng"s answer was short. "No."

Just as An Zhe thought his answer was over, Lu Feng spoke again.

"She likes plants but the base doesn"t." His voice was calm. "I trained in the wilderness since I was 16 and collected some seeds. The Lighthouse gave them to her after determining it was safe."

"Then the madam planted it?" An Zhe asked.

"En."

An Zhe suddenly remembered the sealed plant seeds in Lu Feng"s office cabinet a month ago. He thought that Lu Feng must pay great attention to his mother. Today at the Lighthouse, Mrs Lu was going to submit some reports and looked like a researcher. Thus, he wondered, "Is Mrs Lu a scientist?"

Lu Feng was silent for a while before replying. "Yes."

Then Lu Feng suddenly stated, "You know the girl from the Garden of Eden."

An Zhe nodded. Lu Feng had seen Lily and An Zhe had nothing to hide.

"How much do you know?"

An Zhe guessed that the colonel was asking him how much he knew about Eden. He recalled Lily"s words and replied, "I know the Rose Declaration."

He saw Lu Feng looking out the window like he was recalling the past. Lu Feng opened his mouth. "It was said that when she was 12 years old, due to her intellectual talent, the base believed her involvement in scientific research would make a greater contribution to humanity than giving birth and she was sent to the Lighthouse to study."

"That"s great."

He was always curious about people with superior IQs.

"Then she applied to be transferred back to the Garden of Eden, to take on reproductive responsibilities while studying improved techniques for the cultivation of embryos."

"And then?"

"No then. She is still doing so."

An Zhe recalled the appearance of Mrs Lu. Even though she was wearing a mask and only her eyes could be seen, she left a deep impression on him. He exclaimed, "She is very beautiful."

"Thank you."

An Zhe looked back on today and wondered, "Do you have a good relations.h.i.+p with her?"

"No."

An Zhe blinked. "Why?"

He felt that Lu Feng was very concerned about his mother.

"She always thought I would go to the Central United Front but in the end, I chose to go to the Trial Court." Lu Feng"s tone was dull. "Maybe I killed too many people."

"She can"t accept it?"

"It is me who doesn"t want to maintain her feelings anymore." Lu Feng picked up a pillow and threw it over.

An Zhe caught the pillow and stared at Lu Feng. Strangely, he understood what this person was talking about. In order to always be correct, always awake and always indifferent, the Judge must exile himself completely. Exile—this was the word that abruptly appeared in An Zhe"s mind.

"The Garden of Eden and the Trial Court are doing opposite things. Is it because you can"t be shaken?" An Zhe asked.

"Shut up." Lu Feng leaned over, pulled the pillow out of An Zhe"s arms, raised An Zhe up and placed the pillow under his head. "You can"t open your eyes."

An Zhe lay on the soft pillow and his consciousness gradually blurred. He was really sleepy and had been struggling for energy tonight.

Before he completely fell asleep, he saw Lu Feng picking up a silvery-white box. This was something a staff member had given to Lu Feng when they left the Lighthouse. An Zhe didn"t know what it was and didn"t think he needed to know. The colonel always had his reasons for doing things.

***

An Zhe"s folded clothes were placed to the side and some grey dust fell from the collar. It wasn"t dust that belonged to either the training ground or the Lighthouse. However, Lu Feng knew there was a problem with the monitoring of Eden during that time and the confusion made it impossible to trace An Zhe"s whereabouts.

Lu Feng"s gaze s.h.i.+fted and his finger pressed the b.u.t.ton of the box. The silver box opened and cold, white air escaped. Below the frozen layer was a slender needle filled with something turquoise.

His gun was placed next to the box. His eyes paused on these two items and he turned to An Zhe, fingers clasped around the handle of the gun.

Just then—

An Zhe rolled over and leaned gently against him.

He fell asleep. He was like a small animal under the quilt. His milky white neck and shoulders were exposed, his eyebrows stretched out and his eyelashes slightly curled. His breathing was even and calm.

His fingers exposed under the quilt were slightly curled up but very relaxed. There was no sign of tense nerves. He slept here without any vigilance like he was sleeping in a… safe place he trusted with all his heart. He believed that no one would hurt him here.

Lu Feng suddenly remembered the day two months ago.

The day they met for the first time, An Zhe had stared into his eyes and told him, "He really isn"t injured."

Arguments, questioning and anger were things he encountered countless times a day.

However, it was the first time he saw such eyes. They weren"t questioning or puzzled, they were just sad. There was a naive calm in the sorrow, as if as long as Lu Feng gave a reason, this person would accept everything and forgive everything.

Up to then, Lu Feng had ignored everyone"s plea but on that day, he picked up the white cloth covering the body to reveal the man"s wound.

The wavering of a person started with the first soft heart.