SZAR Chapter 33

“If I told you I never once thought about marrying a female attendant, would you believe me?”

When Chu Ci said this, his expression was very serious. He stared steadily at Nuo Wei, wanting to take in every subtle change in his face.

But Nuo Wei turned his head away instead of looking at him. His pale cyan eyes were hidden beneath long lashes. He pressed his lips together, pulling slightly at the muscle there, and let a very faint smile bloom. “Mm. I believe you.”

For a moment, Chu Ci didn’t speak.

He had received a positive answer, yet his gaze darkened little by little. Expressionless, he studied Nuo Wei’s face for a few seconds. Then he let go of the hand resting on Nuo Wei’s shoulder, stood up, and also curved his lips into a smile. “It’s good that you believe.”

Chu Ci’s voice was gentle and calm, no different from usual. Nuo Wei gave a soft “Mm” and repeated, “Whatever you say, I believe.”

Chu Ci lifted his eyelids and glanced at him.

Nuo Wei truly wasn’t good at acting. He could hide every emotion behind a cold mask, but he couldn’t pretend the opposite against his own heart. Like now, he said he believed, yet kept his eyes lowered, refusing to look at Chu Ci. Even his fingertips were ice-cold.

But obviously Chu Ci couldn’t expose it. If Nuo Wei said he believed, then he believed. If he didn’t, then he didn’t. To tear it open now would only make things ugly between them, with no benefit at all.

So Chu Ci patted his knees and stood up. Looking around at the mess all over the aircraft, he said, “Let’s go. We’ll switch to another aircraft.”

The air was thick with musk, carrying a faint metallic tang. The cockpit hid all kinds of messy little mechanisms, things like hanging rings and other odd devices. After their earlier struggle, quite a few had been knocked loose. Now they were scattered everywhere, strutting about arrogantly, baring fangs and claws to make their presence known.

Just now, when his blood had rushed to his head, Chu Ci hadn’t noticed. Only when he looked at it now did the embarrassment slowly sink in. He kicked the small spring device in the cockpit, making it retract the thing that had popped out for who-knows-what purpose, and said, “Tell San San to clean this up. Then drag it to the 4S shop. Ask if there’s any discount for a trade-in, and see whether any parts can be taken apart and reused.”

Nuo Wei looked at him with slight surprise. Male Zerg rarely thought about things like discounts or promotions. Their money came easily. As long as they kept marrying female attendants, that was enough, so they never really treasured it. But Chu Ci still followed the rules of his previous life out of habit.

Nuo Wei nodded. “Mm, alright.”

Chu Ci had wanted to change aircraft for a long time. He had been talking about it for half a month, but for one reason or another, it had never happened. Today, however, he finally had the perfect excuse to indulge himself.

Seriously, he had been drugged, and then angered half to death by his female monarch. His heart had suffered serious damage. Why couldn’t he change to a new aircraft?

Chu Ci had already chosen the model. He wanted the 《Galaxy S925PRO,》 the upgraded advanced version of the one his female monarch owned. Earlier today he had even seen the real vehicle at Yi Xi’s place. The silver-white body, seven fully openable windows, paired with a streamlined curved tail fin, it was even more beautiful than the projection on a light-brain. It was simply the dream car of every man.

Nuo Wei had no objection. He didn’t care about such things. If Chu Ci wanted it, then he would take his male lord there. So he carried Chu Ci to the 4S shop.

《Galaxy 》 was one of the most expensive aircraft brands, comparable to the human Bugatti Veyron. The staff in the shop were seasoned veterans; normally, there would be a steady flow of vehicles coming and going. Yet strangely, the entire showroom was quiet today. Chu Ci had already reached the entrance, and there wasn’t even a single staff member there to greet him.

He walked in arm-in-arm with Nuo Wei. The sensor door beeped and slid open automatically to both sides. Inside, a female zerg sitting cross-legged on the sofa lifted his eyes, looking slightly surprised.

He quickly got off the sofa and nudged his colleague. The two of them flashed Chu Ci their professional smiles. “Sir, are you here to look at cars? Which model would you like to see?”

Chu Ci felt something was off. The huge showroom felt strangely deserted. In this several-hundred-square-meter domed hall, there were only the four of them, making the place seem even more silent. He politely greeted the staff. “I’d like to see the Galaxy S925PRO.”

The staff member couldn’t hide his surprise.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Uh, Sir, due to some technical issues, that model has been temporarily taken off the market. Would you like to look at other models instead?”

Chu Ci froze. “Taken off the market?”

This was the best-selling model in the entire series, and it had been pulled?

He asked, “What kind of technical issue?”

The two staff members spoke vaguely, unable to explain clearly. They simply led Chu Ci over to another model.

“How about this one? The S915. Last year’s model. It’s just as good as the 925. In fact, this year a lot of customers skipped the 925 and specifically asked for the 915.”

The 915 was his female monarch’s car. Chu Ci was extremely familiar with it. He didn’t even need to relearn the controls. Besides, driving a matching couple’s model with Nuo Wei wasn’t a bad idea either. So Chu Ci nodded and boarded the aircraft with Nuo Wei.

The 915 had a transparent mode. From the outside, the windows looked closed, but air could flow freely, and you could also hear sounds from outside. While test-driving the aircraft, Chu Ci casually turned on the transparent mode.

The two employees were indeed outside, standing one on the left and one on the right, chatting.

One of them said, “The 925 was the best seller, more than ten units a day. If it had gone on for just a few more days, I would’ve hit my performance target for the year. Who knew something like this would happen.”

The other sighed. “Disaster can strike without warning. The 925 has the highest safety rating. The auto-driving system was tested countless times. How could it suddenly lose control like that?”

“And of all the things, it just had to hit a male. That one’s probably finished, right?”

“That one’s S-rank. If the one who got hit were B-rank or C-rank, maybe it could be settled. But if the male he hit is A-rank or S-rank, then he’s as good as dead.”

Inside the aircraft, the more Chu Ci listened, the more familiar the script sounded. He tapped open his light-brain and clicked into QuQi’s trending searches. The first thing that filled his vision was a glaring row of bright red ‘Explosive’ tags.

⟦ Head of Stellar Group, Yi Xi, loses control of aircraft and injures male ⟧

⟦ Male Zerg knocked unconscious, admitted to hospital ⟧

⟦ A storm is brewing! If Stellar’s CEO is held accountable, what will become of the group? ⟧

There was also a photo of Yi Xi attached. This refined and gentle-looking tycoon was surrounded by the press. His silver-gray suit had been wrinkled and distorted by the crowding. Standing on the hospital steps, one hand covering the back of his neck, the back of his hand bruised purple and stained with blood, he wore an unusually strained smile.

Chu Ci hadn’t expected that the person who had just been laughing and talking freely at the banquet table would fall into such a situation in the blink of an eye. He opened his light-brain, intending to search for the rank of the male who had been hit, but found nothing.

Information about male zerg was classified at the highest level. Even Chu Ci, being a male himself, couldn’t find anything through a search.

He could only hope Yi Xi wasn’t that unlucky, just happening to crash into a high-ranking male. Otherwise, given the brutality of male zerg, Yi Xi would at the very least lose a layer of skin.

Not to mention that Yi Xi was already ill. If a male wanted to torment him, there would be no need to lift a whip. Simply stopping his monthly dose of medicine would be enough to make a female’s life worse than death.

Seeing Chu Ci press a hand to his forehead, Nuo Wei asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” Chu Ci rubbed his brow. “Our company just secured his investment. He even gave me a separate, special fund. Looks like the project will have to be put on hold for now.”

Nuo Wei looked at him steadily. There was a faint shadow beneath the male’s eyes, and he seemed slightly tired.

He knew the male had been working overtime lately. He also knew how much the male cared about this career. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “Do you want to invest in it yourself?”

Chu Ci was still immersed in thoughts about the unpredictability of life and couldn’t help lifting his eyes to look at Nuo Wei. “Hm?”

Nuo Wei repeated, “Do you want to invest in it yourself?”

He said, “My salary card is with you. If you really need it, you can transfer a sum from it.”

Chu Ci shook his head. “No.”

He lacked neither food nor clothing. He made games out of interest. What he wanted was recognition more than money. He simply liked seeing players get tortured to the brink of life and death, raising their middle fingers to curse the producer, muttering things like “Miyazaki Hidetaka, you old thief!” and “Hideo Kojima can go eat shit!”, yet still rolling up their sleeves and diving back into the game, losing again and again but continuing to fight, unable to stop themselves.

If he invested in the game himself, then it wouldn’t be the market recognizing him. It would just be Nuo Wei spending money to make him happy. That would be cheating his way to success. Chu Ci didn’t want that kind of achievement.

“Oh, right.”

When Nuo Wei said that, Chu Ci suddenly remembered something. He pulled up a line of encrypted keys on his light-brain, gestured for Nuo Wei to hold out his hand, then lightly tapped it against Nuo Wei’s device. “You’d better keep this yourself.”

Nuo Wei froze. That line of keys was his electronic card, the salary card he had handed over on the day of their marriage. After twist and turns, it had now been returned to him by Chu Ci.

He wanted to speak, but Chu Ci cut him off first. “If I’m giving it to you, then just take it.”

Chu Ci fiddled with the aircraft’s display screen. “I’m not as good at spending money as you think. Besides, isn’t your military department short on funds lately? If you want to donate, I have no objections at all.”

Nuo Wei opened his mouth, his voice slightly tight. “How did you know…?”

“I read your forums.” Chu Ci continued adjusting the display, speaking lightly, as if he had long planned to do this and didn’t care at all how much Nuo Wei might spend. And in truth, he didn’t care. After all, it was money his female monarch earned. It was only natural for him to spend it.

“I saw some rumors on QuQi. They said your expedition is tight on funds this time, that you didn’t even manage to buy enough necessary inhibitors. The posts were deleted quickly, but it can’t have come out of nowhere,  right?”

Nuo Wei lowered his eyes to look at the encrypted line on his light-brain. The key wasn’t long, just a few bits in size, yet it stored the entire fortune he had accumulated since joining the army as a major general—enough for a male to live a comfortable, even luxurious life.

“Alright!” Chu Ci finally finished the adjustments, setting all the aircraft’s configurations to his liking. Then he tapped the acceleration button. The aircraft sped along the test track, the acceleration smooth and steady, the balance perfect, just to Chu Ci’s taste. He made the decision on the spot. “This is the one.”

He jumped down from the aircraft and had the staff prepare the purchase order. When they brought over the scanning device to scan Chu Ci’s light-brain, Chu Ci pulled Nuo Wei over instead. “Scan his.”

Nuo Wei was a little dazed but still cooperated and raised his hand. The staff were also stunned. With a male present and the documents showing that the two were married, in this kind of situation, the female was actually carrying enough money on him to pay for the aircraft?

Chu Ci could afford it himself. He had never treated himself poorly, and he had even set aside family savings. The money from the few aircraft he had sold, along with his salary and signing bonus from his job, were all on his card. Buying one aircraft was more than affordable.

He reached out and rested his hand on his female monarch’s arm, tilting his head with a smile. “You promised to get me a new aircraft. So this time, you’re paying, right?”