Chapter 28

Worst of all, though He Zisen said the envelope stank, he looked quite interested in its contents. Before Su Lin could stop him, he tore it open, shook out the letter, and began to read.

"Senior He, there's nothing worth looking at. It's just some really boring-"

Su Lin had just steeled himself to speak up and take the letter back when he heard a raspy, breathy voice coming from the envelope. The "letter" inside used a one-time holographic recording technology that activated as soon as the envelope was opened. What came out, however, was not the confession Su Lin had grown familiar with, but an overly explicit expression from the unknown boy.

["...The moment I saw you, I knew you must get really wet..."]

["How about I lick you clean? Every last drop, I'll lick it all clean, hehehe."]

The sender didn't show his face, but he showed everything else, whether he should have or not. In particular, as he spoke those filthy words, he brazenly gave a close-up of a certain part of his body.

Su Lin stared at the rather awful image, slightly taken aback.

He couldn't quite understand why the sender had gone out of his way to film it when it was so small. After all, even in close-up, it was clearly tiny.

But on second thought, the sender probably knew that too, which was why he'd deliberately kept his face hidden.

"Pfft-"

Then he couldn't hold back his laughter.

An icy gaze fell on him. Su Lin jolted, only then remembering that He Zisen's eyes and ears had been sullied this time too.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect-"

Now Su Lin was genuinely nervous.

All right, he had to admit that He Zisen, as the boss, was aloof, pretentious, and difficult to deal with. But on the other hand, after spending a long time with him, Su Lin felt that in some respects He Zisen was actually quite... quite pure?

He also knew that if anyone else at school found out about this little thought of his, they'd probably laugh their teeth out. He, Su Lin, actually wanted to protect the "purity" of someone like He Zisen?

But when he realized He Zisen had seen that pervert's "letter" too, Su Lin couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable.

To put it one way, he himself was no more than a stray dog scavenging on a garbage heap. If he got hungry enough, it was only natural for him to eat sludge and rotten food. But He Zisen really was different. He was a big diamond that belonged in a beautiful display case, carefully tended, beautiful, sparkling, and icy cold. He shouldn't have even a speck of sludge on him.

In any case, Su Lin really didn't want an exalted figure like He Zisen to see something so filthy and disgusting.

At the thought, Su Lin scrambled to take the letter back from He Zisen, but in that brief moment, the thin "letter" had already crumbled to dust between He Zisen's fingers.

The voice and image of the pervert who didn't dare show his face abruptly vanished. Su Lin, meanwhile, lost his balance as he reached for the letter and fell straight into He Zisen's arms.

Su Lin instinctively clutched He Zisen's lapel. With the two of them pressed together, he naturally couldn't miss the way He Zisen's muscles suddenly tensed at that moment.

"So disgusting."

Then he heard his boss whisper, his voice full of disgust.

Those words from He Zisen had made the chest of the young, innocent Su Lin tighten subtly for a moment many years ago.

Many years later, Su Lin abruptly opened his eyes beneath the pale, cold lighting of the cabin.

"Mm..."

He slowly sat up and instinctively touched the side of his neck with one hand.

The side of his neck, where Medises had left a vicious bite mark, was now smooth and unblemished. It had clearly been healed long ago. Only the faint soreness and weakness lingering deep in Su Lin's body reminded the unfortunate human that high-ranking male Zerg pheromone fluid was still inside him.

Su Lin warily surveyed his surroundings. He was in a spacious, brightly lit spherical room. The walls and floor were clearly not made of metal, but something more like a special hardened biological material. Through the translucent surface, he could faintly see twisted, winding circular patterns underneath. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but the whole room felt especially cold and desolate to him... For some reason, it gave Su Lin the impression that Senior He wasn't having a very good life among the Zerg either.

Several pale white circular membranes were spread across the walls, apparently "doors" leading to other areas, but Su Lin wasn't curious enough to explore the cabin.

He sat for a while where he had woken up, then noticed that there was something new on his wrists and ankles.

They were metal rings.

Strictly speaking, the metal rings were quite pretty. The tiny indicator lights adorning them looked like gems of different colors-but sorry, he couldn't keep that up. No matter how he looked at them, they were shackles.

Su Lin looked at the shackles on his wrists and ankles, his expression turning a little grim.

...Things don't look good.

He thought.

If he cared at all about our old relationship, he wouldn't have put me straight in shackles, would he?

Su Lin racked his brains. Before he'd passed out, Senior He hadn't seemed particularly, extraordinarily furious, had he? He'd even swallowed his pride and called him "master." He hadn't been particularly defiant in any way, had he?

Su Lin thought uneasily.

Then he heard a sound behind him.

Su Lin hurriedly turned his head and found himself looking straight into the pale blue eyes of the man entering the room.

"Senior H... Master!"

Su Lin had almost blurted out "Senior" again. Fortunately, at the crucial moment, he remembered the man's earlier order and promptly changed how he addressed him. He only hoped that the "backer" he had reunited with after so many years would feel a little better, so that things might be a little easier for him.