"I'm done soaking."
Mu Yi climbed out of the hot spring and released another burst of high-temperature electricity, giving himself a full-body quick-dry treatment.
Zhong Xuezhi watched with a hint of envy. "That ability of yours is pretty handy."
Fire and electricity were both essential sources of energy humans used constantly in everyday life, and Mu Yi had both all to himself.
Mu Yi ruffled his hair a couple of times and turned around with a grin, about to ask whether Zhong Xuezhi wanted a little zap too.
Instead, he caught Zhong Xuezhi standing up in the hot spring, all bare skin, with even the towel around his waist removed.
Mu Yi: "..."
He immediately felt as though he was going to get a stye. He spun around, ready to stride away.
But then he thought that leaving would somehow put him a notch below the other man, so he stayed where he was, merely keeping his back to Zhong Xuezhi.
Zhong Xuezhi wiped the droplets off his waist and abdomen, looking amused. "Come on, I'm not hiding. What are you hiding for?"
Mu Yi replied irritably, "You think everyone's as shameless as you?"
"I'm shameless? You're the one who suddenly turned around. By your logic, you're the one sexually harassing me."
While reasoning with him, Zhong Xuezhi quickly wiped himself dry and hastily pulled on his clothes.
Really, it was just a glimpse. What was the big deal? Mu Yi's attitude left him rather baffled.
At their Mutant training camp, meals and showers were timed down to the second. Showers in particular were so short there wasn't even enough time to take a piss.
So every time they showered, everyone crowded together stark naked, racing against the clock. Who had time to hide?
Even now that they had left the training camp, the teammates still saw plenty of one another in the buff. They didn't cover up around Wenren Jin, either.
In all these years, Mu Yi was the first person of the same sex he had met who was this conservative.
By the time he finished thinking about it, he was fully dressed. He picked up his things and strode ahead. "Let's go!"
Mu Yi followed with a pout, grumbling inwardly too.
In all these years, he had never met anyone of the opposite sex as uninhibited as Zhong Xuezhi.
Five minutes later, the two ambled back to the Resting Place, each occupied with his own thoughts.
Zhong Xuezhi gathered some firewood left over from that morning, lit it in a few quick motions, and began drying his fur and freshly washed clothes by the fire.
At the same time, he dug out the little snacks he had unearthed earlier and tossed them into the fire one by one.
Sitting beside him, Mu Yi noticed and asked, "Those little snacks you mentioned were bamboo shoots?"
Zhong Xuezhi nodded. "Yep."
Looking skeptical, Mu Yi continued, "Can something cooked in such a back-to-basics way really taste good?"
Zhong Xuezhi gave him a look that said, That's what you don't understand.
Then he said, "The shoots are plump and tender this time of year. Roasting them straight after digging them up is the best way to eat them."
Mu Yi shifted his crossed legs. "The way you're acting reminds me of a sworn enemy of mine. He's pretty particular about food too."
Zhong Xuezhi glanced at him and echoed his phrasing. "The way you're acting doesn't look like you're remembering a sworn enemy. More like someone you particularly admire."
"Ha!" Mu Yi burst out laughing. "I admire him? Don't put me off my food."
Seeing through his stubborn denial, Zhong Xuezhi chose not to call him out and simply held his tail up to the fire in silence.
Mu Yi watched quietly too, but after a few minutes, he couldn't help eagerly asking, "Hey, need a drying service?"
He had never dried a big cat's fur before and desperately wanted to try it, petting the big cat's tail along the way.
Zhong Xuezhi readily agreed. "Sure do!"
But a second later, Zhong Xuezhi held out the combat uniform he had changed out of and smiled ingratiatingly. "Sorry for the trouble."
Mu Yi's eyebrows shot up. He swatted the clothes aside and reached toward him again. "I meant your ears and tail!"
Zhong Xuezhi paused, then asked in bewilderment, "You shy away from looking, but you're awfully eager to touch. Where's the logic in that?"
He was always trying to touch his tail. Was a tail something you could just let anyone touch?
What he didn't know was that Mu Yi had very little logic where snow leopards were concerned.
Of course, Mu Yi didn't want to show just how much he wanted it, either, so he withdrew his hand and folded his arms across his chest.
"Fine, forget it."
Zhong Xuezhi pushed the wet clothes toward him again and said shamelessly, "The clothes still need drying."
If I don't get to touch your tail, why would I dry your clothes? Mu Yi kept his arms folded, unwilling to take them.
But then it occurred to him that he was rather interested in the slits at the back of Zhong Xuezhi's clothes, so he reluctantly relented. "Hand them over."
He took the wet clothes, grabbed two branches, propped the clothes up and spread them flat. Finally, he opened his palm and made a show of sweeping it back and forth over them.
Zhong Xuezhi watched for a moment, then asked, "Didn't you dry yourself with one zap earlier?"
Mu Yi made up an excuse offhand. "That uses a lot of energy."
"Oh, true." As the king of energy misers himself, Zhong Xuezhi immediately nodded in understanding.
Mu Yi curled his lips into a smile and lowered his head to study the clothes in his hands.
The wing slits were on either side, and the tail slit was near the lower back. All perfectly conventional, nothing novel.
What was novel was the special adhering material at the openings and their layered safety design.
Breaking through from the inside was effortless, but pushing in from the outside took a little work. It was very ingenious.
They really were practically seamless.
After looking them over a few more times, Mu Yi lost interest. He stopped dawdling and quietly increased the "power" of his electric flame, intending to dry them quickly.
Just then, Zhong Xuezhi's teammates gathered around.
An Beize said, "Captain, 403 and the others are urging us to hurry over and meet up with them."
Zhong Xuezhi considered it, then replied, "Then once Wanderer wakes up, let's pick up the pace."
"Captain..." Du Jing sounded disgruntled. "Are we really just going along with those bastards?"
Zhong Xuezhi rolled his neck and spat out, "Like hell."
"The peach blossoms and magnolias in my yard are about to bloom. I'm hurrying back to see them!"
"Oh..." They had forgotten their captain was a connoisseur of living who loved pursuing the seasonal beauty of all things.
Hearing about peach blossoms and magnolias, Mu Yi recalled February Violet and March Jasmine from earlier and couldn't help asking, "What's today's date?"
Zhong Xuezhi was no longer at all surprised by his constant, extremely basic questions. He simply tapped the Identity Bracelet on his wrist, brought up the calendar screen, and held it out in front of him.
No matter how many times Mu Yi saw that black bracelet-like thing, he always found it fascinating.
It had so many functions. Who knew what incredible high-tech invention it was?
Still puzzling over it, he looked at the date displayed in the projection, then froze.
Crystal Era 4020 - March 3 (Mid-spring - Insects stirring).
Crystal Era...?
He had never seen this calendar designation or dating format before.
On closer inspection, he discovered another line of small text beneath the date: Year 108 after the Crystal Era nuclear explosion catastrophe.
What did that mean?
As Mu Yi pondered it, he heard Zhong Xuezhi cry out with some urgency, "Hey! My clothes!"
He hurriedly looked down and immediately cut off the electric flame in his hand, but it was too late. He had burned a hole in the cuff.
"..."
Everyone stared at one another in silence for a few seconds. Mu Yi was the first to react and tried to salvage the situation. "It's fine! I can sew!"
Zhong Xuezhi's gaze was skeptical, his face plainly saying, Like hell I believe you.
"What's with that look?" Mu Yi straightened his back and declared confidently, "Not only can I sew, I can even stitch flowers onto it. Believe me?"
[Note: In ABO, each designation is considered a different sex from the others.]
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