The Emperor’s Runaway Lover

TW: Animal death1

The two of them drank their fill. Fu Yucheng wiped the drops of water from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and sighed in satisfaction. “Ah, I finally feel alive again.”

Bai Mo fiddled with the vending machine for a moment, touching a bottle of a peanut milk drink.2

Fu Yucheng’s spirits went up. “There’s still stuff like that? It can fill your stomach.”

Bai Mo hesitated slightly. “There should be no problems with pure water, but with something like this… can it still be drunk? How many years has it been here?”

Fu Yucheng smiled and said, “It’s okay. The aseptic preservation technology from the 22nd century was very advanced. As long as the packaging is not damaged, there should be no issues.”

While Bai Mo was still hesitant, Fu Yucheng had already reached out and grabbed the bottle of peanut milk. “Alright, I’ll try it first.”

Before the boy had time to stop him, the man unscrewed the bottle cap and took a big gulp.

After swallowing, Fu Yucheng frowned slightly.

Bai Mo couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. “It’s fine, right?”

Fu Yucheng was frowning now and held his throat with one hand, seemingly in pain. “Little Mo, I… I feel a little uncomfortable.”

Bai Mo felt both worry and anger. “I told you not to drink it! Why don’t you ever listen…?!”

He quickly held onto Fu Yucheng and gently patted the man’s back with one hand. “Alright, spit it out, spit it out.”

Fu Yucheng held himself back, but eventually he couldn’t restrain his laughter anymore. “Haha, I was kidding. This stuff tastes pretty good, it’s just like the sweet drinks you like. You should try it too, it’ll replenish your blood sugar.”

Bai Mo stared at him, speechless.

This man… this man had just narrowly avoided death, and he was already back to his old ways?!

Why did he- why did he like to tease people so much?!

Didn’t he know how worried Bai Mo was?!

Seeing the boy’s cold face, Fu Yucheng guessed that this awkward kid was angry again, so he had to apologize honestly. “Okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to tease you.”

Bai Mo couldn’t stop himself from raising his voice. “So you didn’t mean it?!”

“Uh, I really didn’t mean it, I’ve just gotten used to it…” Fu Yucheng pouted discreetly. Why was this brat getting more and more troublesome?

He pondered for a while, then tried to appease him by handing over the bottle of peanut milk. “Little Mo, don’t you like sweet stuff? Try it, it’s really tasty.”

Bai Mo still wanted to say a few things to him, but then he spotted a faint shine of liquid at the mouth of the bottle – the mouth of the bottle that Fu Yucheng had just drank from.

The young man paused, and then, as if possessed, he took the bottle and leaned forward to take a sip.

To be honest, he didn’t even notice what the peanut milk tasted like. He just thought that, since Fu Yucheng and he had used the same bottle, did that count as…

When Fu Yucheng saw him gulp it down without stopping, he said anxiously, “Hey, leave some for me!”

Bai Mo reacted and stopped drinking immediately.

He held the bottle of peanut milk awkwardly, his cheeks a faint pink. Fortunately, the lighting was dim and it wasn’t too visible.

“Telling me not to drink it, but then drinking more than half of it, such a double standard…” Fu Yucheng grumbled, then drank all that was left.

It wasn’t a usual day and these were special circumstances, so Fu Yucheng didn’t think anything of having two people drink from the same bottle.

Bai Mo watched Fu Yucheng carelessly drinking from the bottle he had just drank from, his pale lips covering the mouth of the bottle Bai Mo held a moment ago, and, when he finished it, he stuck out the tip of his pink tongue and lightly licked the rim of the bottle.

The boy didn’t know what exactly he was thinking about, only that his cheeks were hot, and, for a while, even the dark and cold underground air became warm and ambiguous.

He was staring at the other in a daze when Fu Yucheng suddenly raised his brows. “What’s that sound?”

Bai Mo came back to his senses. He strained his ears and listened carefully. From the distance, he could hear the sound of scratching coming at regular intervals and a clamor of squeaks.

Bai Mo frowned and said, “It seems that there is something, a lot of something… coming here, a large group.”

Fu Yucheng was stunned, and then his expression shifted slightly. “We’re done for, I forgot that this is a gathering place for mutant hamsters…! A big group of them hamsters is coming over!”

Seeing his ugly expression, Bai Mo couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled. “Mutant hamsters? They’re not big and they don’t seem to eat people. What’s so bad about them?”

Fu Yucheng took out two bottles of water from the vending machine and said, “They’re not big, but there are thousands of them, and who knows how long it’s been since their last meal. I don’t think they would mind eating some people… really, I would rather run into sandworms right now!”

As the two of them talked, the squeaking sounds drew closer and closer. Fu Yucheng squinted only to see a black mass of hamsters in the distance, approaching like a tidal wave!

“Run!” He grabbed Bai Mo’s wrist, and the two started to run wildly.

They just took a turn into a corridor to their left before they were forced to stop. There was another swarm of hamsters right in front of them.

“Damn it, an ambush from every side!3 Fu Yucheng cursed, then changed directions and kept running.

However, it was impossible to tell how many hamsters there were. They came from every direction from every corridor, leaving them absolutely no way out.

Fu Yucheng cursed a few more words. He turned around abruptly and pulled Bai Mo to jump over the subway checkpoint that was covered with cobwebs. On the tracks, directly in front of them, there was an abandoned subway car.

The two rushed over, opened the subway door using all their strength, then turned and closed the door harshly.

As soon as the subway door closed, there was a torrent of impact noises, and countless hamsters slammed into the subway car and against the glass windows!

Fu Yucheng, as if he had lost all his strength, leaned against the wall of the subway car, panting loudly. “Damn, this is fucking crazy…”

Bai Mo looked at him, somewhat confused. This man had faced a mutant sandworm that was twenty or thirty meters long, and even faced the deviant A-level manipulator, Mo Ziwei, without the slightest fear… Even if this group of hamsters was scary, it wasn’t scary enough for him to act like that, was it?

Realization struck. “Yu-ge, are you… afraid of mice?”

Fu Yucheng was taken aback for a moment, and then he raised his eyebrows angrily and said, “You brat, I’m not afraid! They’re just disgusting, disgusting! Got it?”

Bai Mo looked at the flustered way in which Fu Yucheng tried to cover up his panic, and he couldn’t stop the side of his mouth from going up a bit.

At that moment, they were in an abandoned subway station, buried underneath the desert. Outside the subway car, there was a large number of mutant hamsters swarming in like a tide, and they didn’t know how to get out… But when the boy looked at the other, scared yet trying to act tough, he just felt amused and endeared, and his heart felt as soft as cotton candy, warm and joyful.

He nodded and smiled. “That’s right, Yu-ge, you have always been very courageous. Of course, you wouldn’t be afraid of these little hamsters. You just feel grossed out.”

Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but squint at the other. “Hey, brat, why do I feel like there’s something off with your words?”

Before Bai Mo could answer, he heard a loud bang.

A big, fat mutant hamster rushed forward with its teeth bared and slammed into the glass right behind Fu Yucheng.

It seemingly used too much force, because when this huge hamster hit its head against the wall, its head cracked open and began to bleed, and it slowly slid down the glass, leaving behind a trail of blood.

“What the hell…?” Fu Yucheng glared at the dark red bloodstain and gulped softly, feeling goosebumps rising all over his body.

Fu Yucheng has always been extremely courageous, and it could even be said that he laughed in the face of danger.4 It was strange for him to show such a frightened, helpless appearance. Seeing him like that, Bai Mo just felt pity and love in his heart, and also a small itch.

The young man pursed his lips and tried to gently put his arms around the other’s shoulders. “It’s okay, I’m here.”

At this point, he was practically as tall as the other, so it was easy to hold Fu Yucheng like this. Bai Mo felt his warmth in the crook of his arms, and his heart was beating so hard that it seemed like it wanted to come out of his chest.

Fu Yucheng glanced at him, thinking that this kid had to be dizzy from the bloodloss. Why was he acting so weird?

He broke away from the other’s hold, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “Alright, how old are you? Stop hugging me.”

Bai Mo pulled his arms back in disappointment.

The young man couldn’t help but recall the scene back at the desert, when this man had leaned on his shoulder, half asleep, half awake. He recalled how weak and trusting he looked… If- if he behaved like that normally, relying on Bai Mo helplessly… Bai Mo pursed his lips together, not daring to continue with that train of thought, and he tried his best to chase that weird idea away.

In any case, this man’s safety was the most important thing.

At this point, there were more and more hamsters appearing outside. These fat little animals courageously swarmed forward, and wave after wave covered the car’s windows!

They climbed on the car windows, squeaking and revealing their tiny sharp teeth while desperately hitting the glass with their heads, emitting a loud, creepy banging sound.

With a sharp sound, a thin crack appeared on the glass!

Fu Yucheng looked from left to right, trying to find a way to escape, but all of the glass windows, at their front, back, left and right, were fully covered with densely packed hamsters! These tens of thousands of hamsters had practically wrapped the entire subway car, and there was no way out!

There were several crisp, cracking sounds coming in quick succession, and several glass windows collapsed at the same time.

Thousands of hamsters swarmed in.

Fu Yucheng almost wanted to cry but he had no tears. He held the scimitar in one hand, and subconsciously held Bai Mo’s wrist with the other hand, forcing himself to face this army of hamsters head on.

“Come on!” Bai Mo shielded the man from the other side while shouting in a deep voice.

These fat hamsters were a second away from climbing over their feet.

At that moment, they heard a single high pitched, sharp whistle coming from the distance.

All the hamsters suddenly stopped moving.

These fat mutant hamsters twisted their little heads in confusion, looking at each other in a bewildered manner, wriggling on the ground chaotically, but no longer approaching the two of them.

Then, the large swarm of hamsters squashed outside the subway separated, like Moses parting the Red Sea, and formed a narrow pathway.

A tall and thin man slowly walked out of the darkness.

He walked all the way up to the subway car and his eyes slowly grew wide. “What the fuck?!5 How come there’s people here?! My goodness!”

The visitor was a tall and thin man, with honey-colored, curly hair tied up in a messy ponytail. His face was covered in a short stubble, and he had falcon-like blue-gray eyes. It wasn’t possible to discern his specific ethnicity.

Fu Yucheng and Bai Mo stared at him through the car window.

The man blinked, pushed the car door open and walked in, then smiled apologetically. “Sorry,6 I’m sorry, I just detected a large living creature entering the subway station. I thought it was some kind of sandworm or lizard, and I let these hamsters attack you…”

Fu Yucheng pointed to the chubby hamsters7 on the ground. His expression was indescribably complicated. “These things… you raised them? Do you live here?”

The visitor shrugged. “It can’t be called raising, these little guys are very smart, so they find food on their own. I just domesticated them. By the way, I am Francis Mancini,8 a zoologist, single, Aquarius, and I have been living here for two years.”

He offered his hand to the two of them as he talked.

Bai Mo just looked at him coldly, without making any movements.

Fu Yucheng groaned slightly, stretched out his right hand and shook Francis’. “I am Fu Yucheng. This is my younger brother, Bai Mo.”

Francis was obviously a very enthusiastic person. He squeezed the man’s hand firmly and exclaimed loudly, “Fu, how did you get here? This is simply unbelievable, it’s a miracle!”

Fu Yucheng’s mouth twitched. “I think you living underground all on your own raising an army of fat mice is also unbelievable.”

Francis laughed loudly. “You are right.”

He whistled sharply again, and the densely packed group of hamsters scattered all over the ground immediately, leaving them at once.

Fu Yucheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his left hand let go of his hold around Bai Mo’s wrist. He felt a little embarrassed, but his face remained calm.

Bai Mo just noticed that his wrist felt empty, and, a little lost, he wanted to grab the other’s hand back, but, after a moment, he held back.

Francis stared at the two strangely, as if he had noticed something subtle.

Then, he made a circle with the thumb and index finger of his left hand, inserted the index finger of his right hand in,9 and made an extremely vulgar gesture. “So… you two, what kind of relationship do you have exactly?”

Fu Yucheng almost choked faced with the man’s bluntness. “Ahem, is there something wrong with your brain?! Don’t talk nonsense in front of children! He’s not an adult yet!”

Bai Mo didn’t really understand the vulgar gesture, but Fu Yucheng’s reaction made him suddenly realize what it meant, and his snow-white face involuntarily turned a little red.

What the stranger meant… it was way too much.

In other people’s eyes, did the two of them, did they really seem to have… that sort of relationship?

Seeing that the young man was silent, Fu Yucheng patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t pay attention to this guy, he is talking nonsense.”

Francis curled his lips in disappointment. “Well, I’m sorry, I misunderstood. Ah, I just feel like the air, the atmosphere between you two… is a bit strange.”

Fu Yucheng said quietly, “You think too much.”

“OK.”10 Francis shrugged, and then he gave Bai Mo an onceover. “Tsk tsk, kids at the Twilight Belt look really healthy nowadays, so tall even before they’re fully grown… I thought everyone at the Twilight Belt looked like refugees.”

Listening to him speak, Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but freeze momentarily. “Could it be that you’re not from the Twilight Belt?”

Francis shrugged. “Yeah. I am a resident of the Ninth Imperial Ecoregion. I came here to study Earth’s ecology and mutant creatures. That’s right, you might not know about the Ninth Ecoregion… then, what about the famous White Rose Palace? Have you heard of it?”

 

 

Francis: I call it like I see it.

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Footnotes

Mutant hamsters, not a pet, but better safe than sorry. Ah, should I have added this for the sandworm too?It’s not vegetable milk, it’s cow milk mixed with peanuts, so closer to a milkshake conceptually I’d say.In the raws “an ambush from ten sides”, references the battle of Gaixia. Also the Chinese name of the movie ‘House of flying daggers’, childhood memories…天不怕地不怕 ‘Doesn’t fear heaven or earth’, while self explanatory it seems a bit awkward so I chose a more used idiom.In English in the raws.Also in English in the raws.肥头大耳 fat head and big ears, it means having a fat body and it can refer to something cute as well弗朗西斯.曼奇尼 Those are the names most commonly transcribed by these. I mostly get soccer players when looking these up.?? in case the description isn’t too clear hah.Also in English in the raws.