Lover? Beloved? Boyfriend? Wife?

After the two men carried the buckets away, Xia Yu walked to the spring, took off his backpack, and stripped off his shirt without a care. Bare-chested, he stepped into the water and submerged himself for nearly a minute before resurfacing. He swept his bangs back, droplets sliding down his refined, coolly handsome face and dripping onto his fair chest—utterly seductive.

[Holy shit!!! My nosebleed!!! Is this really something I'm allowed to see?!!]

[I'm done for! Does anyone understand?! I was just talking with my bestie about wanting to see an aloof, abstinent god tainted by worldly desire, and now I'm seeing it! I've balanced meat and veggies for over twenty years, this is exactly what I deserve to see!]

[Xia Yu's abs are perfect!!! I can't take it, husband!!! I'm flying to the island overnight to warm my husband's bed!]

[Does anyone understand? Xia Yu calls Chu Lan "big brother" every day, so I thought he was a soft, delicate pretty boy like Xia Wanqing. But after taking off his clothes, he's even bigger than Chu Lan! Can Chu Lan really pin him down?!]

[Bigger where? Bigger where?! We didn't see anything at all! Husband, take off your pants too! Wet pants are uncomfortable! Take them off! Don't make me kneel and beg!]

[Husband husband husband!!!]

"Fuck!" In front of the screen, Chi Yan crushed his wineglass with his bare hand. His face darkened as he said, "Shut down the livestream!"

Chi Yi stood far away, not daring to approach. "We didn't bring any technical staff..."

"Shut it down!!!"

"Judging by Black Snake's location, they should have found the young master. I'll contact them right away and have them shoot down the camera..."

He glared darkly at the bare-chested figure standing in the spring, grinding his molars. "You dared to go naked into a mountain waterhole? Aren't you afraid leeches will latch onto you? Just wait until you get out. I'll deal with you then!"

Xia Yu had not been thinking much of it. He had simply felt uncomfortable after sweating and needed to rinse off.

Having washed away the heat from his body, he was about to head ashore when he suddenly heard movement in the bushes. His eyes narrowed, and the drone camera above his head was shot down the next second.

Two men in black outdoor jackets emerged, staring straight ahead and not daring to let their gazes fall on him. "Young Master."

Xia Yu glanced at them. "Why are you here?"

"Sir sent us to take you out."

Xia Yu stepped out of the water, pulled clean clothes from his backpack, and draped them over himself. "My affairs are none of his concern. Leave."

Black Snake offered him a phone. "Sir wants to speak with you."

Xia Yu did not refuse. He took it, but said nothing.

"Xia Yu." Chi Yan's deep voice came through, his tone distinctly displeased.

"..."

"Speak."

"There's nothing to say."

"Come out with Black Snake and the others right now. I'm waiting outside."

"I'm not leaving."

His anger flared, and his voice turned several degrees colder. "Behave. Stop making trouble. Come out—I have something to say to you."

"..." Chi Yi, standing nearby, wanted to cover his face. What was Sir doing? He had come to coax him, yet he sounded as though he were scolding him. The young master had always responded to gentleness, not force. How could this possibly work?

The irritation Xia Yu had just washed away rose again. He directly ended the call and tossed the phone back. "Get lost."

Black Snake held the phone, deeply conflicted. Whom was he supposed to listen to?

White Wolf caught sight of the bandage on Xia Yu's left hand and asked softly, "Young Master, may I take a look at your injury?"

Xia Yu untied the soggy bandage and casually tossed it aside. "It's already healed."

"Oh..."

Hearing the busy tone on the phone, Chi Yan stood up with a cold expression. "We're going onto the island!"

"Sir, calm down, calm down!" Chi Yi hurried forward and braced himself to offer advice. "I think you need to consider what tone you should use with the young master. Otherwise, he won't come out with you either..."

Chi Yan was seething. "What's wrong with my tone?!"

"It's just... being too harsh with... with that person will only make the distance between you two grow greater..."

"What person? Speak clearly."

Chi Yi carefully studied his expression. "Lover? Beloved? Boyfriend? Wife?"

Those forms of address seemed to have some effect. Chi Yan's anger visibly subsided somewhat. He pressed his lips together. "Was I that harsh just now?"

"Actually, not really. But the young master may still be angry and hurt, so he'll be more emotionally sensitive. It might have sounded a little..."

Chi Yan rubbed the blackened phone screen, a flicker of regret crossing his brows.

"Why don't you calm down and think about it?" Seeing his slight confusion, Chi Yi softly prompted, "Black Snake and the others are watching over him. They won't let the young master come to any harm. You could think about how couples usually get along and comfort each other..."

Chi Yan sat back down on the sofa, his sharp brows tightly furrowed.

Kissing, hugging, giving gifts?

"How about I ask Chi Er for you? That guy gets along quite well with his girlfriend."

Chi Yan shot him a frigid look.

Chi Yi instantly did not dare say another word.

"Ask."

"Huh? Oh, okay!" He hurriedly pulled out his phone and messaged Chi Er, who was at the training camp in the United States.

Chi Er replied almost instantly, sending over a Word document. It was the relationship handbook his girlfriend had trained into him over the past two years. Relying entirely on it, he had gone from a dense, straight man to the only exemplary boyfriend among the bodyguards. His girlfriend kept a close eye on him, terrified someone might steal him away.

Chi Yan studied the document Chi Yi forwarded with greater care than he ever gave contracts worth tens of billions.

After ending the call, Xia Yu picked up his backpack and headed toward the base.

Black Snake and White Wolf did not dare forcibly take him away, nor had they received instructions from their boss. They could only conceal themselves nearby and secretly protect him.

The netizens who had been happily watching the handsome man bathe were frightened limp by the sudden black screen and furiously typed out curses.

[What happened?! Where's my husband?! I haven't seen enough yet!]

[Is the production crew sick?! Why did they cut off my husband's livestream?! He was willing to let us watch, so what right do you have to stop us?!]

[Director, come out and die! I still haven't seen my husband step out of the bath!!!]

[My husband's pants got wet. He'll definitely change into clean ones after getting out! I still haven't seen whether he really is bigger than Chu Lan!]

[You say that like you've seen Chu Lan's...]

Having suddenly lost Xia Yu's feed, Zhang Jin panicked as well. Afraid something had happened to him, he quickly had the nearby bodyguards confirm his safety and sent a new drone camera over.

Fortunately, not long after Xia Yu left the camera's view, he appeared beneath the camera at Base No. 2, safe and sound.

"Xia Yu, you're finally back. Why did you take so long?" Zhang Wen looked deeply troubled. "Qi Ning came alone to ambush us. Not only did he eliminate Sister Yue and Xueli, he also took more than half our supplies. We suffered heavy losses."

Xia Yu was not in a good mood. He merely gave a faint response before entering the crude bathroom to change his pants.

After he came out, Chu Lan frowned as he arranged their next move. "We need to keep looking for supplies, especially Revival Cards."

Zhang Wen sighed. "Let's search. We still need to find two more. Tsk, Qi Ning was really out of line. The game had only been underway for half a day, and he already took out two girls. That guy has no idea how to treat women with tenderness."

"The confrontation began long ago. We were the ones who took things too lightly."

"That's true. There's no point saying anything now. Let's go search for supplies. Should we split up or stay together?"

Chu Lan glanced at the person who seemed low-spirited. "I'd prefer splitting up. We'll have a better chance of finding Revival Cards. Xia Yu, can you manage on your own?"

"Whatever."

"Then it's decided. We'll split into three groups and meet back here before sunset. Whether we find Revival Cards or not, everyone has to return. It isn't safe to be alone in the mountains after dark."

"Okay." Zhang Wen held up the map in his hand. "But there's only one map. Captain, you can remember the routes, so you don't need it. Xia Yu and I..."

Xia Yu placed his backpack back inside the small wooden cabin and said flatly, "I don't need one either."

After thinking for a moment, Chu Lan handed one of the walkie-talkies to him. "Brother Zhang will take the map. You take a walkie-talkie. Call me if anything happens."

"Mm."