EDEH Chapter 95

The little evil dragon had a dream.

 

He was pressed down by an extremely large, thick tail like a snake, and this tail tip kept drilling into his body. He couldn’t take it anymore, but it kept drilling.

 

It was too much bullying of dragons.

 

Sang Jue couldn’t resist, and through a layer of water mist, he vaguely saw the face of the owner of that snake-like tail, who looked exactly like his wife.

 

The mountain range in early morning still carried a restless air, with flames reaching the sky in the distance. After confirming once again that Evelyn hadn’t been found, Lu Lan took a deep breath and turned back to ask: “Is the general up?”

 

“Seems like it, the general just had someone bring in a basin of hot water.”

 

In the distant tent, Huo Yanji took the basin of hot water and turned around: “Get up.”

 

The person delivering the hot water didn’t see anything. The view inside the tent was completely blocked by Huo Yanji’s upright figure, and they only heard a soft, light mumbling: “You’re a bad person.”

 

Really knows how to act spoiled… no wonder he can handle the general.

 

But actually, Sang Jue didn’t mean to act spoiled at all. He was just expressing from a non-human perspective—that Huo Yanji was a thoroughly bad human.

 

Thanks to his strong healing ability, the marks on his body had already disappeared, his voice had returned to normal, with only a bit of bruising on his inner thighs remaining.

 

His tail was still somewhat sticky, covered with a thin layer of green sore that smelled astringent and bitter.

 

Don’t ask the dragon how his tail got covered in green sore—ask that human who did despicable things but acted as if nothing happened!

 

Huo Yanji asked flatly: “Can’t get up?”

 

Sang Jue protested: “My legs aren’t broken, I can get up.”

 

Huo Yanji asked: “Then why are you still lying in bed?”

 

“…” Sang Jue slowly lifted the covers and asked puzzledly: “So when you said you wanted to eat me before, you meant what happened last night?”

 

“What else?”

 

Though the marks on his body had disappeared, Sang Jue’s cheeks were still flushed as he analyzed seriously: “Then it should have been me eating you, not you eating me.”

 

Huo Yanji said lightly: “You ate quite enthusiastically.”

 

Sang Jue: “…”

 

The ugly human nature was fully exposed during the mating process.

 

Huo Yanji said: “Turn around, let me wipe your tail.”

 

Sang Jue instantly wanted to burrow back under the covers, almost developing a conditioned reflex because of Huo Yanji.

 

When the torment ended, it was already past three o’clock. Everyone was resting at that time, and it would have been somewhat impolite to wake someone up to heat water in the middle of the night, so his tail had remained uncleaned, sleeping sticky until morning.

 

In summary, Sang Jue had spent one night experiencing the consequences of provoking a ‘old’ man who was functionally normal but had been celibate for over thirty years.

 

He hesitated for a second, tentatively taking a step forward.

 

Huo Yanji chuckled softly: “I won’t touch you this morning.”

 

“…” Sang Jue walked over, turned around, and said sullenly: “I don’t want to sleep with you tonight.”

 

When Huo Yanji picked up his tail, it trembled, clearly still remembering last night’s events. He asked flatly: “Then where are you going to sleep?”

 

Sang Jue huffed quietly: “With someone who doesn’t stuff my tail into my body…”

 

Before he could say the last word “sleep,” Sang Jue’s voice stopped abruptly, unable to suppress a soft hum—his tail tip had been pinched.

 

Huo Yanji said: “Sleep with whom?”

 

“Answers obtained through threats are insincere, not heartfelt, and won’t have good results—” The base of his tail was also grasped. Sang Jue pursed his lips, his downcast eyes looking very aggrieved as he fiercely shouted: “With you!”

 

Huo Yanji laughed.

 

He used a towel dampened with hot water to gently wipe the tail, removing the remaining green sore bit by bit. The little evil dragon became clean again, no longer in a state of being corrupted by humans.

 

“If you’re tired, sleep some more after breakfast.”

 

“Will you sleep too?”

 

Huo Yanji declined the invitation: “I still have many things to handle.”

 

After his tail was cleaned, Sang Jue retracted it and naturally reached for Huo Yanji’s shirt to put on: “Then I won’t sleep either.”

 

As a non-human, he didn’t need that much sleep, but Ji Ji did.

 

Humans were really amazing—torturing dragons until three in the morning, then getting up energetically at six or seven to work.

 

Why was that?

 

Humans must have absorbed the dragon’s energy.

 

Although Sang Jue’s recovery ability was strong, he still felt soreness when lifting his leg to put on pants, and walking a few more steps felt unnatural.

 

Huo Yanji extended his hand: “Come here.”

 

The little evil dragon wasn’t vindictive enough, instantly forgetting about last night’s events and pouncing over to hug that lean but powerful waist, taking a deep breath.

 

“When are we going back to the main city?”

 

“Why are you in such a hurry to go back?”

 

Sang Jue hummed: “I lost my backpack in the fallen area. It had Ivan’s notebook, Old Karl’s gaming device… and your belt.”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyes darkened: “If you like it so much, I should have given you one to use last night.”

 

Sang Jue was oblivious to the meaning of this statement: “You only have one. If I bite it and break it, you won’t have one to wear.”

 

Huo Yanji said: “Wouldn’t it be fine if you bit more gently?”

 

Sang Jue said: “That’s not my fault. You were too forceful, making me unable to control myself.”

 

“…”

 

This mouth really made one want to bully him thoroughly.

 

Huo Yanji changed the subject: “I’ll have someone keep an eye out for your backpack, but we need to stay in the underground city for a while longer. There are many troubles to handle here… and some classified documents to investigate, to figure some things out.”

 

Sang Jue was sensitive to human emotions and noticed Huo Yanji’s pause before the last sentence.

 

What classified documents?

 

Outside the firefighting camp, most people were already up and busy at their respective posts. The mountain fire isolation barrier was currently only two-thirds complete, not yet finished. The mountain range was too large, making it a long project.

 

Although they couldn’t extinguish the mountain fire, if they didn’t want it to affect the solar base station or nearby towers, they had to speed up progress.

 

The ash in the air was becoming denser, and everyone had even put on dust masks.

 

Huo Yanji fastened Sang Jue’s mask securely and gave him a new communicator: “You can walk around the area, but don’t go too far.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Huo Yanji lifted the tent flap. The sky was overcast with dark clouds, silver-white ash dancing in the air. Not far away, flames connected to the sky with thick smoke rising—like the end of the world.

 

Humans had always been in the apocalypse; it just seemed like they were now approaching the final ending.

 

Lu Lan approached: “General.”

 

Huo Yanji nodded and apologized: “Thank you for your hard work these past days.”

 

Initially, Lu Lan was Huo Yanji’s superior. Later, when Huo Yanji became Supreme Executive, he became Lu Lan’s superior. Now they no longer belonged to the same department—from a positional standpoint they were equal, but in terms of actual power, Huo Yanji still held more.

 

But this wasn’t the reason for Huo Yanji’s apology.

 

The reason was probably only understood by himself—in a situation where he could have been rescued quickly, he had instead caused others to work hard searching for days because of personal matters.

 

“It wasn’t hard work,” Lu Lan said. “Lieutenant Colonel Saiya and Engineer Hao have already gone to confirm the basic situation at the solar base station and are on their way back.”

 

Huo Yanji asked: “Saiya went to the solar base station voluntarily?”

 

Lu Lan said: “Yes, your soldier is very dutiful. Believing you would definitely return safely, he wanted to continue the unfinished mission before that happened.”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyes flickered slightly.

 

He took out a compass, looked at it for a while, and turned his wrist following the direction of the swaying needle: “There’s an effect here too.”

 

“That’s right.” Lu Lan took a deep breath. “The magnetic field’s area of influence is much broader than we imagined, but it hasn’t affected underground communications yet.

 

“After Lieutenant Colonel Saiya and Engineer Hao set out, it wasn’t until this morning when they were on their return journey that we made contact, but the process was torturous—intermittent.”

 

This was also why Huo Yanji had initially driven into the mountains with Hao Hui. If they had taken a helicopter directly, attacks from flying monsters would be minor compared to the fear of the chaotic magnetic field causing a crash.

 

Lu Lan continued: “According to the inspection, the radiation around the solar base station is very strong, with magnetic fields so chaotic that no electronic equipment can function. The radiation’s effect on adults is also significant—one cannot approach without protective suits. It’s classified as level-one radiation.”

 

Huo Yanji had expected this: “The council should have discovered this long ago but concealed the results.”

 

Lu Lan said heavily: “Yes… Over these years, radiation has penetrated the dome, directly affecting the underground city. Newborns have been greatly affected, but adults show no abnormalities in their bodies after testing.”

 

On the first day Huo Yanji arrived at the underground city and worked with the Supervisory Office to control the council, he couldn’t rest easy about what Julien had said before jumping off the building. He spent sleepless hours checking all reports the underground city had submitted over recent years, personally visiting all departments to examine data files, and quickly discovered the problem.

 

In recent years, not only had women in the underground city been excessively oppressed, but newborn data showed no significant increase—it had even decreased compared to seven or eight years ago.

 

This indicated that large numbers of newborns were dying in their cradles for unknown reasons. If it wasn’t problems with the mothers, malicious persecution, or damaged infant care equipment…

 

After eliminating all possibilities, whatever remained, however incredible, had to be the correct answer.

 

There was a problem with the underground city’s overall environment.

 

Now it almost confirmed Huo Yanji’s speculation. Radiation had penetrated the dome, and artificial sunlight brought deadly harm to newborns. The mortality rate had risen from ten percent in the year the solar storm first appeared seven years ago to the current 41.3 percent.

 

And looking at this trend, it would increase every year… This was inevitably despairing. Could the underground city really still serve as humanity’s backup?

 

Was it really still suitable for human habitation, for nurturing humanity’s seeds?

 

Lu Lan said: “It’s my problem. I should have discovered this earlier.”

 

“Whose problem it is will be determined after the investigation is complete,” Huo Yanji said flatly. “If you’re still trying to bear responsibility for her at this time, it can only be said to be unfair.”

 

“…”

 

Though no names were mentioned, both understood they were talking about Evelyn.

 

The Supervisory Office’s work mainly targeted the council, while Evelyn was the one who truly controlled and managed reproductive resources. Yet she had ignored hundreds of complaint letters from residents each year and tacitly allowed the council to conceal the underground city crisis and oppress female residents to meet newborn survival rate standards.

 

“I…” Lu Lan smiled bitterly. “I once strongly believed in genetic theory, so I never thought she would become completely different from her mother.”

 

Just like Lu Lan’s former impression, it was difficult for Huo Yanji to develop emotions toward individuals.

 

He had no interest in exploring why Evelyn had become what she was now, saying coldly: “The mountain fire situation may continue to trouble you. I need to go down again.”

 

“Alright.” Lu Lan paused, looking at Sang Jue in the distance who was crouching and doing something unknown. “Is he your lover?”

 

Huo Yanji paused slightly, seemingly very unfamiliar with the term “lover.”

 

He looked back. Even with his shirt completely tucked into the waistband, it was still too large for Sang Jue, loose and baggy. Sang Jue had to reach back and tug at it from time to time.

 

After a long while—so long that Lu Lan thought Huo Yanji wouldn’t answer—she heard a faint “Yes.”

 

A trace of worry flashed in Lu Lan’s eyes. After a moment, she said: “I think I’ve seen him… in a photograph.”

 

…

 

The vehicle jolted. Sang Jue sat beside Huo Yanji and asked: “Can I also go to the underground city?”

 

“The underground city only prohibits deviants and anything with contamination from entering.”

 

Sang Jue hummed, understanding.

 

A certain human had already proven through action that he had no contamination—after all, Huo Yanji was still fine, showing no signs of losing control or being infected.

 

The underground city wasn’t entirely underground. There was also a small safe zone above ground that served as a resource operation hub.

 

This safe zone looked small, only about the size of one district in the main city, but the building colors were much more vibrant.

 

Skyscrapers were rare, but they had a very technological feel. The distant tilted building that looked like an inverted staircase further indicated this wasn’t a safe zone that current technology could build.

 

—This was a relic completely preserved from a hundred years ago.

 

Huo Yanji said: “Over a hundred years ago, our predecessors predicted the meteor season early but had no effective countermeasures except hiding underground.”

 

After countless virtual calculations and deductions, they roughly determined the trajectory of the meteor swarm. The area within ten thousand miles around the underground city would not be hit by the meteor swarm, so humanity’s only backup was built here.

 

Compared to the gray, dilapidated safe zones, this place seemed like an alien high-tech city. Stepping into it immediately created a strong sense of disconnection.

 

The city gates were wide open, with soldiers saluting the dust-covered armored vehicles.

 

Huo Yanji was the first to get out of the car, extending his hand to Sang Jue inside.

 

Sang Jue gripped the large palm tightly. He slowly stepped down from the vehicle, gazing at this small city and saying quietly: “It’s like my home planet.”

 

Huo Yanji asked: “Familiar?”

 

Sang Jue shook his head: “Not familiar.”

 

Sang Jue was certain he had never been here before. What seemed familiar was only the technological level that could be analyzed with the naked eye.

 

He thought—perhaps the technological level of this planet before its collapse was not much different from his home planet.

 

**

---