Note: despite how everything has been described as ‘ancient’, they’re actually in a modern day setting (to us). They come from the future where intergalactic invasions are a thing, so our little era is ‘ancient’ to them lol

• • •

This young helmsman of the Xie Corporation had always been magnanimous, especially so when breaking up.

A car worth millions, a house worth millions, and a heavy sum of cash - such a ma.s.sive work of ‘art’ like this was enough for a normal person to live their lives out as they pleased.

Lu Li had also heard of this rumour, and his friend had reminded him of it too a week after he had met Xie Jianwei, but Lu Li hadn’t taken it seriously.

At that time he believed that he wouldn’t fall in love with Xie Jianwei; and later on, after he had fallen for him, he believed that he would be an exception.

Being allowed to stay last night, alongside the ambiguous interactions of the morning, had convinced Lu LI that he was different.

Although Xian Jianwei was fickle, perhaps his heart had been moved by him.

But now…

The taste of plummeting from the soft clouds high above, landing headfirst into a th.o.r.n.y h.e.l.l, was truly unpleasant.

Lu Li’s face was expressionless.

Xie Jianwei only needed a glance to understand what was going on.

A break-up fee?

Although Xie Jianwei had expected that the dreamscape wouldn’t be simple, he hadn’t thought that it would be so f.u.c.ked up.

Looking at these circ.u.mstances, it probably wasn’t ‘his’ first time to do this sort of thing. Truly, he didn’t even consider such a possible sc.u.m-like character setting.

Xie Jianwei took a deep breath, smoothing down his emotions: “Take…”

He had only said a single word, and yet Yan Ke’s warnings abruptly flashed past his mind: “Milord, you have to co-operate, co-operate, you understand?”

f.u.c.k! No matter how much self-possessed he was, military advisor Xie wanted to curse at someone now too.

Did he really have to act as a two-faced, ruthless, giving-money-once-you-got-off-the-bed, sc.u.m of a man?

Xie Jianwei raised his head and looked at Lu Li, really, seriously looked at him.

Lu Li hid his emotions very deeply, but Xie Jianwei could still clearly make them out: this big b.a.s.t.a.r.d was truly convinced that this was the break-up fee.

If he was convinced, then the act must continue.

Or else he’ll be chased out of the dreamscape. If he was just being kicked out then whatever, but the important thing was that he feared that this big b.a.s.t.a.r.d will split again into multiple little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…

Imagining a den full of Lu-b.a.s.t.a.r.ds all trying to kill each other off, Xie Jianwei compromised.

Treating his disorder was the most important, other things can come after.

Xie Jianwei checked his emotions, carelessly sweeping his gaze across Lu Li: “Take it. The car is in your favourite colour.”

Lu Li’s eyes were ma.s.ses of inky blackness, his thin lips tightly pursed, his voice ambiguously abstruse: “What’s the meaning of this?”

Xie Jianwei lightly laughed, supporting his chin whilst looking at him: “Lu Li, you’re a smart person.”

Lu Li wilfully stared at him: “I don’t understand.”

Xie Jianwei walked close to him. When the distance between the two had nearly disappeared, he abruptly raised his hands, hauling his collar with a grasp. The height difference between the two disappeared instantly, and Xie Jianwei stared at him, those cold lips slightly raised, as he laughed in ridicule: “We’re both adults, let’s not tangle restlessly with each other, and part without hard fee…”

He hadn’t finished speaking before Lu LI rudely kissed him.

Rather than saying it was a kiss, calling it torture between the lips would’ve been more accurate, the spreading scent of iron unable to obscure the intense agony blanketing his entire heart.

Xie Jianwei’s will started to waver again, but thinking of Yan Ke’s words, he hardened his heart, and mercilessly slapped his hand across Lu Li’s face: “Enough!”

The harsh shout stunned Lu Li’s entire figure, yet the men in suits behind Xie Jianwei had already speedily rushed forward, weapons drawn: “Mr. Lu, please have some self-respect!”

Xie Jianwei’s face was like frost.

Lu Li still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

Xie Jianwei thought for a moment, slowly uttering: “Don’t irritate me.”

Forget about affection - only rejection and disdain filled his pretty eyes.

Lu Li acted as if startled from a dream; the condensed love that had overflowed from his chest, had, at that moment fermented and rotted, and under the corrosion of pain and despair, slowly turned into hatred, carving deep into his bones.

Xie Jianwei had no heart.

Last night’s affection was the final supper before the execution.

The past three months, to him, was merely a round of games.

He wasn’t his exception, only a dispensible bed partner.

He’ll come when beckoned, and he’ll go when waved off, without a single shred of reluctance to part.

The immense pain exploded inside his mind - Lu Li fixedly stared at Xie Jianwei, the thickened hatred infiltrating his voice, and he spoke, pausing between each word: “Xie Jianwei, you will regret this.”

Xie JIanwei: “…”

Even though his heart quivered with pain, he wouldn’t regret it, truly - the very fact that he still hadn’t been kicked out of the dreamscape by Lu Li meant that he had ‘co-operated’ pretty well.

Despite never having done anything so sc.u.mmy before, our strategist Xie wasn’t your average person - whatever he did, he did it like a pro; even his act of a dreg shou was deep.

Lu Li, of course, wouldn’t accept the ‘break-up fee’; leaving with his hatred, he was obviously going to make a comeback, to take revenge on Xie Jianwei.

Xie Jianwei was scared that he wouldn’t take revenge at himself, and so also got someone to specially deliver the ‘break-up fee’ to him, to stimulate him a bit more.

People of high intelligence were all like this - super good at catching on and making their own inferences.

Finished with the act, Xie JIanwei started gathering data. Looking at the information in his hands, he didn’t know whether to cry or laugh over it.

Indeed, Lu Li  wouldn’t mistreat him, giving him an ident.i.ty that set him high above the ma.s.ses even in his dreams - he was the helmsman to a large financial group, born into a lap of luxury, and with outstanding capabilities; so young, and yet he had already inherited the family business, and had developed it even further, making them one of the world’s most prominent households, capable of shaking a country.

Perhaps it was that his family background was too amazing, and everything was extremely easy to obtain for him, so ‘XIe Jianwei’ was both cold and capricious, valuing only wealth and power, having not a single thread of faith in emotions.

But as a bachelor with such a background, the ‘orioles’ and ‘swallows’ [1] surrounding Xie Jianwei truly weren’t few in number, and President Xie wasn’t one to treat himself shabbily either - as long as they’d caught his eye, he took them in, and if he took them in he’d ‘raise’ them, and if he got sick of them they’d part; like so, his reputation for being capricious was spread even further.

However, these bedside partners were all women - Lu Li was the only man.

Xie Jianwei and Lu Li’s meeting was quite romantic too.

Three months ago, President Xie had walked out of his office late at night. Prior to that, he had irritably shooed his a.s.sistants and driver away - and now that he had had his fill with playing around, he was just about to contact his driver, when Lu Li had stopped his car, rolled down the window, and asked him: “Can I give you a lift?”

The night was hazy, and Xie Jianwei had drunk quite a bit, so he didn’t think much, and got in his car.

Lu Li asked him: “Where’s your house?”

Xie Jianwei casually named a place.

Lu Li, surprised, said: “We live in the same housing area.”

Xie Jianwei owned many properties; the place that he named wasn’t his actual home, of course - it was just that it was closer.

Lu Li didn’t know that though, he even thought that they were pretty fated to meet.

The car drove into the parking lot, and Lu Li spoke again to Xie Jianwei: “I’ll walk you up.”

Xie Jianwei nodded, saying: “Building 2, floor 27.”

Lu Li grew even more surprised: “We’re even neighbours.”

There was a total of 28 floors to the building, and the top floor held a combination of apartments - number 27 and 28 were connected, so floor 27 was the highest.

Because the area it took up was pretty big, so the building had one unit per floor, and each unit had two apartments.

Xie Jianwei was pretty surprised too: “That’s really coincidental.”

He was tipsy - his feet wavered as he stepped out of the elevators, and Lu Li stretched out a hand to steady him.

Xie Jianwei smiled at him: “Thank you so much for tonight.”

Lu Li’s heart quivered from his smile.

Using his fingerprint, Xie Jianwei unlocked his door and headed inside. Although Lu Li felt little regret at seeing him go, he also thought that he shouldn’t push it, since he could tell that Xie Jianwei was a straight man.

If things had just ended like so, then how did their ill-fated relations.h.i.+p afterwards come to be?

Although Xie Jianwei was the owner of this apartment, he hadn’t lived in it often. Even though someone was sent to take care of the place periodically, it was probable that they thought President Xie had forgotten about the place, and so wouldn’t come here, and hence slacked off - neglecting to pay the water and electricity bills on time.

And so, halfway through Xie Jianwei’s cold shower, there was no more water or electricity.

With his whole body covered in foam, he dialled his a.s.sistant’s number and cursed at him, after which the a.s.sistant rushed over.

But no matter how fast his a.s.sistant was, it would still take some time - Xie Jianwei thought about it for a moment, and actually put on a nightgown, and went to press the doorbell of next door.

When Lu Li saw him after opening the door, he exhaled sharply.

Xie Jianwei was already very much his type, and now that this beauty had just gotten out of a shower, the image of water droplets clinging to his skin almost tempted him into pus.h.i.+ng him down.

Xie Jianwei spoke: “Can I borrow your bathroom?”

Lu Li thought inwardly: Don’t mention borrowing the bathroom - I can even lend my whole person to you.

Of course, on the surface, he was still a face of seriousness: “Come in, then.”

Xie JIanwei took a warm shower, a little more clear headed when he came out.

Lu Li poured him some tea for sobering up.

After Xie Jianwei took a sip, he suddenly raised his head: “You like men?”

Lu Li froze a bit.

Xie JIanwei’s lips hooked up into a smile: “On the car, you were looking at me the whole time.”

Lu LI’s Adam’s apple bobbed a little: “Knowing that I like men, you still come into my room looking like that?”

Xie Jianwei walked closer to him, raising his hands and hooking them around his neck, his eyes curved into a smile: “Does it feel good, making love to a man?”

Lu Li didn’t speak, merely holding his waist, and pressed a kiss onto the flawlessly white nape of his neck.

Apparently, it did feel good, or else President Xie wouldn’t let him f.u.c.k him for over three months.

Xie Jianwei looked at the data, the corner of his lips lightly raised, laughing at how alike this situation was, to events that had happened in the past.

In reality, he and Lu Li’s meeting had been similar to this.

Although they weren’t neighbours, they were the only two humans on that waste planet.

When Lu Li had been bathing together with him, he had gotten excited.

Xie Jianwei had asked a similar question, and they had done similar things.

Of course, in reality, Xie Jianwei had liked Lu Li, seducing him because of that.

But it appeared that within Lu Li’s subconscious, his actions seemed quite frivolous? And so only because of that, there existed the cold, capricious, sc.u.m of sc.u.ms president Xie?

The raised corners of Xie Jianwei’s lips fell, as he rubbed this ancient paper, appearing deep in thought.

(T/N: remember that XJW and LL actually come from the future, so paper in general is ancient to them - they’re currently in a modern day setting!)

A few days had pa.s.sed, and Xie Jianwei had already familiarised himself with this dreamscape.

This place was sort of similar to this brand of a virtual reality game that had been popular a while back, set in an epoch of earth from a few thousand years before. At that time, humans had yet to step out of the solar system, utterly ignorant with regards to universal inter-planetary expansion, completely limited to this tiny mother planet.

He and Lu Li had also gone into the game and experienced it once before, observing the lifestyle and customs of people from a few thousand years ago

Lu Li probably had a pretty good impression of the place, and so had constructed this type of dream.

Xie Jianwei had gathered a large amount of information within a short period of time, to the extent where he understood the Xie corporation’s operations and projects like the back of his hand. [2]

In a single glance, he easily saw through their shenaigans.

Xie corporation appeared grand, but it was actually rotted inside. It would topple with the slightest bit of carelessness.

Naturally, Xie Jianwei had the ability to make it as solid as rock.

But there was no need.

Xie Jianwei mused for a moment, deciding to make the Xie corporation fall a bit faster.

This way Lu Li could also take his revenge on him earlier.

Thinking to this stage, Xie Jianwei couldn’t help losing his smile: what an awful mess this was…

But apparently he had still underestimated his big pervert Lu.

On the seventh day of the pair’s separation, Xie Jianwei’s whole body felt irritably hot and dry, and that place that couldn’t be said was so uncomfortable it almost drove him insane.

What on earth was up with this body?!

• • •

The translator has something to say: I suffer a lot from author’s notes.

What she probably means:

‘The author has something to say: A reminder to the little angels (readers): while reading the great me’s long and self-indulgent ‘big work’, don’t bring in your common sense and your moral values please, otherwise, you’ll be hurt badly (laughing/crying emoji????)

Also, about the novel’s big battles and exciting bits, don’t worry, there will be some later on, (*¯¯3¯¯)／

What’s more: if you feel uncomfortable or unhappy reading it, just click the ‘cross’. If you’re unsuited to (have no fate with) this book, we’ll see you in the next one, (lots of kisses)!

Thanks to salty fish for throwing down 1 mine (the exploding kind), noname for throwing down 1 mine, narrow-eyed capital mumbling meal star person for throwing down 1 mine.’

The last bit is her thanking her sponsors or readers or whatever the h.e.l.l they are. I’m a.s.suming exploding mines are meant to be a contribution of some sort:

• • •

[1] Orioles and swallows - a metaphor for people seeking his romantic attentions.When he ‘raises’ them it means he becomes their sugar daddy ufufufu

[2] I’m using ‘the back of his hand’ here cause it’s a more familiar phrase to english readers. The OG mentions his chest instead.