EDEH Chapter 97

Trying to hold back, Huo Yanji still couldn’t resist. He caressed Sang Jue’s chin with a flat tone: “With such good recovery ability, it would be a pity not to make full use of it.”

 

“…” The little evil dragon’s mind went fuzzy for a moment, then he reacted and jumped back alertly: “We can’t do it every day—mmph.”

 

Quite a few people around were looking their way. Fortunately, Huo Yanji covered his mouth in time. He rubbed it before letting go, his voice low: “Some things aren’t appropriate to say in public, remember?”

 

“…I remember.”

 

“Daring to do but not admit…” Sang Jue bumped into Huo Yanji’s embrace, mumbling and groaning sullenly.

 

He hadn’t felt uncomfortable before, but once Huo Yanji pointed out the fever, he felt dizzy and just wanted to cling to his fragrant human.

 

The car receiving Huo Yanji was parked by the roadside. Unlike the uniformly heavy and crude armored vehicles on the surface, the cars here were more like leisure automobiles from hundreds of years ago, full of elegant technological aesthetics.

 

A soldier waited by the car door as Huo Yanji supported Sang Jue’s back and let him get in first.

 

Once in the car, Sang Jue rested his head on Huo Yanji’s shoulder, looking at the city scenery outside the window.

 

The underground city’s beauty lay in its angular, layered technological aesthetics. One could see how much thought had been put into leaving humanity a way out.

 

Especially the seemingly ordinary blue ‘sky’ overhead—that was a technological height that current people couldn’t reach even with two hundred more years of development.

 

It looked the same as the outside world, but was actually just a curved dome simulating the sun’s temperature and light, creating the illusion of day and night alternation in the dark underground world.

 

Perhaps because evil dragons were too sensitive, he preferred the outside world.

 

The outside world was more vast, the air fresher, while underground felt inexplicably oppressive.

 

The colorful streets were mainly populated by women and children, with many women showing slightly protruding bellies. They bore humanity’s most important reproductive task yet remained nameless.

 

Huo Yanji turned to look at Sang Jue’s expression: “Very uncomfortable?”

 

Sang Jue shook his head slightly, then turned to bury his face completely in Huo Yanji’s shoulder: “Can you retire early? I want to go home.”

 

This “home” clearly wasn’t the small apartment in the main city, but the place where Sang Jue had lived for eighteen years.

 

Huo Yanji touched Sang Jue’s forehead and deflected: “How would you go back? Take that aircraft still behind the District Seven research facility?”

 

Sang Jue: “Mm…”

 

Huo Yanji said: “It carried you drifting through space for many years. Does it still have enough energy to return?”

 

The little evil dragon was stunned—this was an angle he’d never considered.

 

But he didn’t think much about it: “Definitely enough. The doctor wouldn’t leave me stranded on a strange planet.”

 

Huo Yanji said nothing more, just lightly hugged Sang Jue’s waist to make him more comfortable.

 

The hypothesis that fever was caused by too much being shot inside was ridiculous. With Sang Jue’s recovery ability, such a possibility didn’t exist.

 

This left only two possibilities: either Sang Jue was infected by Huo Yanji through making love, or he was infected by an unknown plant that scratched his thigh when flying to find Huo Yanji.

 

Huo Yanji asked: “Can’t remember at all what plant it was?”

 

Sang Jue recalled carefully: “There were branches and trunks at the treetops, some intertwined vines, and flowers… I don’t know what scratched me. I was too anxious then.”

 

Huo Yanji turned to kiss his head and hummed: “Tell me if you feel uncomfortable.”

 

Sang Jue was carried back to their residence by Huo Yanji—a high-rise building overlooking the entire underground city. In this safe environment, they could finally relax and wash up properly.

 

The room was large, a suite with a bathtub in the bathroom.

 

The little evil dragon soaked in the water, unconsciously lifting his legs: “Not sore anymore.”

 

Huo Yanji raised an eyebrow: “So we can continue?”

 

Sang Jue immediately retracted his legs, saying quietly: “Doing it every day, you’ll die from exhaustion.”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t continue teasing him, standing neatly dressed by the sink fiddling with a thermometer: “Thirty-nine degrees, lower than the previous two times.”

 

Sang Jue lay against the bathtub edge, accusing: “You definitely contaminated me.”

 

Huo Yanji looked back at him.

 

Sang Jue reasoned logically: “If it was that plant, I should have had a fever two days ago.”

 

The little evil dragon was just acting spoiled, but Huo Yanji thought more deeply.

 

He’d previously assumed Sang Jue could copy other creatures’ genes because those creatures were contaminating.

 

Just like when monsters infected humans, human genomes would also twist toward that monster’s direction. It was just that the two genes were in mutual conflict and struggle, neither compromising, so humans couldn’t become ‘perfect’ monsters nor maintain human form.

 

But if Sang Jue was truly contaminated by a human, the concept was completely different.

 

Huo Yanji was an ordinary human without contaminating properties himself. Why could Sang Jue be infected by him?

 

Like Sang Jue’s human form, which was also obtained after ‘eating’ a human infant’s corpse.

 

Sang Jue seemed completely opposite to those monsters. Monsters could only contaminate other creatures, while Sang Jue could only be contaminated by other creatures without the ability to contaminate others.

 

After several turns of thought, Huo Yanji asked: “If you were contaminated by me, could you become me?”

 

“Probably not.” Sang Jue licked his fangs: “I’d probably need to eat you completely.”

 

Slender fingers touched his collar, methodically unbuttoning it. Huo Yanji watched Sang Jue with a flat tone: “Seems last night’s ‘eating’ wasn’t complete enough.”

 

Sang Jue’s face was covered with a light blush as he explained to Huo Yanji with his limited knowledge: “Human birth requires male sperm and female eggs to combine. Single sperm isn’t life—I can’t become it, nor can I become you.”

 

Becoming human was because his essence had completely devoured that child’s corpse. He could become lingzhi mushroom because he was infected by spores—spores were equivalent to juvenile mushroom bodies. Green fungi was the same—just a tiny bit of the parent could reproduce infinitely.

 

Huo Yanji subtly curved his lips.

 

Listening to Sang Jue talk was always interesting and relaxing—provided they were alone. Once there were onlookers, Sang Jue’s way of speaking wasn’t “cute” but fatal.

 

Sang Jue stared at the hands removing clothes, his gaze following directly wherever the clothes were being taken off, while saying something completely opposite to the physical actions: “I’m not in heat anymore, you can’t do me tonight.”

 

Huo Yanji removed his pants that were only hanging at his waist, bending down close to Sang Jue: “But I still want to, what should I do?”

 

Sang Jue’s gaze moved downward, glanced, then looked back up to meet Huo Yanji’s eyes, saying sincerely: “Just endure it.”

 

Huo Yanji’s expression didn’t change, a laughing breath escaping through his nose.

 

After putting all the clothes in the laundry basket, he stepped into the bathtub. The little evil dragon very consciously moved over, leaning into his embrace.

 

Huo Yanji pulled him closer and asked flatly: “Not letting me do anything but still seducing me?”

 

Sang Jue huffed quietly: “Whatever I do, you say I’m seducing you.”

 

Huo Yanji: “Fact.”

 

Sang Jue protested: “It’s not…”

 

The two chatted back and forth until the water grew cool, then Huo Yanji carried the sleeping Sang Jue out with a splash of water.

 

Sang Jue would wake at the slightest touch—the difference was only whether he wanted to wake up.

 

From initially opening his eyes at Huo Yanji’s slightest movement when they first started sleeping together, to now keeping his eyes closed and continuing to sleep no matter what Huo Yanji did to him—it had only been about a month.

 

After drying off, Huo Yanji tucked Sang Jue into bed and sat watching him for quite a while.

 

Still too trusting of others.

 

“Knock knock—”

 

Knocking sounded. Huo Yanji didn’t respond, went to the sofa to dress properly, and just as he reached the door to open it, he heard Sang Jue poke half his head out from the bed, opening his eyes to look at him: “Where are you going?”

 

Huo Yanji turned back to the bedside: “I have many things to handle.”

 

Whether it was the fever or some other reason, Sang Jue asked a question he wouldn’t have asked before: “Handle what?”

 

Seeing the bulge under the covers, Huo Yanji reached under the blanket to touch Sang Jue’s tail, answering flatly: “Need to discuss post-disaster reconstruction with the main city, draft a report on this underground city incident, assess severity levels, distribute to various safe zones, and quickly discuss solutions—and pick up something Inspector Lu Lan is giving you.”

 

Sang Jue was puzzled: “Giving me?”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyes darkened slightly as he hummed: “For you, but it’ll be a while before I can give it to you.”

 

The little evil dragon didn’t understand.

 

Though he’d met Lu Lan twice, they weren’t friends—they couldn’t even be called acquaintances. They’d been strangers before and probably wouldn’t have much interaction in the future.

 

Why would she give him something? What was it?

 

After touching his tail a few times, Huo Yanji got up: “I’ll be back before eleven.”

 

Sang Jue’s attention had already been drawn away by whatever Lu Lan was giving him, showing no reluctance: “Okay, goodbye.”

 

“…”

 

The temporary communication point was set up next door. When Huo Yanji entered, he had already resumed his usual cold composure. He took the earpiece and heard Wei Lan’s greeting from the other side.

 

“General.”

 

Originally Wei Lan had been preparing to lead a team to the underground city, but after learning Huo Yanji was safe, she temporarily stayed in the main city waiting for instructions.

 

Huo Yanji hummed: “How’s the situation in the main city?”

 

Wei Lan slowly reported: “Current total casualties are 174,800 people, of which 172,000 died.”

 

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, in current wars against contaminants, there was usually only the concept of ‘death’—surviving wounded were very few.

 

This was a heavy number. Despite minimizing casualties as much as possible and most residents safely hiding in shelters, it still weighed on the hearts of survivors accustomed to death.

 

In this world where no one knew if there would be a tomorrow.

 

With the Dawn Plan made public, the path of “evolution” had temporarily stopped—they didn’t even know if deviants would continue to exist.

 

The underground city could no longer serve as humanity’s backup, continuation of the bloodline couldn’t be guaranteed, and the 210,000 dead might not be replaceable even in twenty years.

 

Everything seemed to be developing in the worst direction, with humanity step by step walking toward a dead end.

 

Wei Lan paused: “General, the main city is currently assembling teams to support District Five. What are your plans?”

 

The main city had just finished a battle and was also in a difficult stage. Allocating more personnel for support was problematic, but not supporting would be worse.

 

After all, they were survivor safe zones—not the mutually non-interfering nations of prehistoric civilization, but a community of shared destiny.

 

Huo Yanji said: “Who’s the lead general?”

 

Wei Lan said: “Major General Isaac volunteered.”

 

Huo Yanji frowned: “Weren’t his troop losses in this battle large enough already?”

 

The mainly fallen areas were two-thirds under Isaac’s responsibility. His soldiers should have suffered the most severe casualties.

 

Wei Lan said: “‘The casualties are already like this, so it’s better to preserve the integrity of other district armies as much as possible. My soldiers personally witnessed so many comrades’ death scenes—they probably can’t participate in post-disaster reconstruction with peaceful emotions. Going to support other safe zones could also be a way to vent emotions’—these were Major General Isaac’s exact words.”

 

After a pause, Huo Yanji said: “Have Colin lead a team with Major General Isaac to District Five. You proceed to the underground city as originally planned.”

 

Wei Lan said without hesitation: “Yes.”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t need to discuss with Wei Lan who he was sending for support, but he did anyway. Wei Lan understood his intention—the support team had to depart at dawn, so he was giving them time for a farewell.

 

Wei Lan asked directly: “Sir, are there any emergencies in the underground city?”

 

Under the previous circumstances where Huo Yanji was missing and likely met with misfortune, Wei Lan’s mission was to stabilize the situation and continue what Huo Yanji hadn’t finished—

 

Wei Lan’s position was perfectly suitable. After the main city battle, she still met the standards for military promotion, but due to the chaotic situation and Huo Yanji’s absence, the promotion ceremony hadn’t been held yet.

 

Plus, being Huo Yanji’s subordinate, she could also investigate her superior’s disappearance wholeheartedly and conduct full search and rescue efforts.

 

“There are no emergencies for now, and it’s not much different from the expected results.” But after a second’s pause, Huo Yanji still said gravely: “Split your forces into two groups when you come—one small team takes the direct route, the main force takes a detour and comes quietly.”

 

Wei Lan: “Yes.”

 

Huo Yanji paused slightly: “I have no evidence to prove something will go wrong, it’s just intuition—but the team taking the direct route will be in a very dangerous situation. Remember to be extremely careful.”

 

Wei Lan said: “Understood.”

 

If something really did happen, the team taking the direct route would be walking into death.

 

Huo Yanji wasn’t completely certain, but ever since witnessing the soldiers’ deaths in the forest two days ago, he’d had a lingering sense of crisis.

 

From a certain perspective, Evelyn and Huo Jiangmian were the same type of people. They seemed smooth and scheming, but were actually clear about love and hate, always wearing a mask that made it hard to fathom what they really wanted to do.

 

Huo Jiangmian did nothing, so what about Evelyn?

 

The four of them had once known Evelyn fairly well, after all they were all children born in the same batch.

 

Later, when they turned twelve, the four came to the surface while Evelyn stayed underground, completely cutting off contact.

 

Staying underground wasn’t Evelyn’s choice. Her staying, like Huo Jiangmian and Huo Yanji having to leave as Huo Feng’s children, were all results without choice.

 

Initially, women in the underground city had no freedom of choice. For humanity’s future, they were forcibly confined underground, existing as a kind of ‘resource,’ until a woman named Lydia appeared. She awakened from the numbness, led residents in three years of resistance and struggle, finally achieving the “Women’s Freedom of Choice” agreement.

 

Lydia understood that under the apocalypse, reproduction was a necessity with no alternative.

 

She wasn’t seeking freedom for everyone, just hoping women could have the right to choose freely.

 

That three-year historical event caused an uproar in surface safe zones. For the first time, people began to pay attention to the women confined underground without any sense of existence.

 

Lydia was decisive and bold. Not only did she gain support from female residents, she even secretly obtained control of the underground city passages behind the Supreme Council’s back, gaining negotiating leverage and finally reaching a situation both sides were satisfied with. It had been over thirty years since then.

 

Most admirably, during that year, Lydia was still pregnant from sperm allocation.

 

Later the child was born and named Evelyn.

 

After the agreement was reached, the Supreme Council remained very wary of Lydia, fearing she might incite unrest again. So a hidden premise of the agreement should have been Lydia’s ‘disappearance’—no longer appearing before underground city residents to ensure women’s emotional stability.

 

—This was teenage Ji Zhen’s speculation, but without evidence.

 

But after the freedom agreement was reached and Lydia gave birth to Evelyn, she did indeed disappear, never showing her face again.

 

And the Council with absolute control—or rather the men with absolute control—felt out of control for the first time because of Lydia, their wariness of her carved into their bones.

 

Therefore, even though she had disappeared, others still feared her child might cause waves, keeping Evelyn firmly confined in their grasp, unwilling to let her go.

 

…

 

Evelyn stood in the forest, breathing the free air. After a long while, under the soldier’s incredulous gaze, she pulled out the long dagger inserted in his chest.

 

Blood immediately spurted out, splashing across Evelyn’s face.

 

She didn’t mind, straightened his collar, slowly stood up, and looked down: “Do you know why you’re the last one?”

 

The soldier’s eyes slowly lost color: “Heh…”

 

Evelyn said softly to herself: “Because that day I heard you tell others, ‘I think Madam is quite pitiful, wanting to break free from restraints her whole life but never being able to’—

 

“I indeed can’t break free… so you don’t know how long we’ve been preparing for today. You did nothing wrong, but in this situation, staying alive is the cruelest thing. Dying quietly early is probably also a gift from fate.”

 

·

 

Wei Lan finally said to Huo Yanji: “Sir, there’s one last thing. The old general seems to have doubts about Sang Jue’s identity.”

 

This was quite diplomatically phrased. Learning that Sang Jue was still alive, Ling Gen’s first reaction was disbelief.

 

How did Sang Jue, who fell into an antlion trap in full view of everyone, manage to escape alive and safely reach the underground city alone?

 

This was nothing short of miraculous.

 

After reporting everything that had happened recently to Huo Yanji, Wei Lan ended the communication.

 

Wei Lan began handling official business, following Huo Yanji’s instructions to split into two groups. It wasn’t until late at night that she checked the time, paused for a long while, then got up and headed to the city gate.

 

Colin had changed from his usual casual attitude, standing solemnly in front of the troops for once, but you could tell he was very nervous, his gaze constantly scanning the distance as if waiting for something.

 

Long ago, people had commented that Colin had limited talent. Even when he reached colonel rank, some said he was riding on his partner’s achievements—

 

As a supervisor, Colin rarely led missions alone in the past, mostly partnering with deviants.

 

Even now that he had become a deviant himself, he still seemed unable to adapt to the role of being solely responsible.

 

Wei Lan walked forward with confident steps, her slender figure bound by the military uniform, smart and upright.

 

Compared to Colin’s surprise, she appeared calm and composed. Under everyone’s gaze, she smoothed the wrinkles on Colin’s collar, thought for a moment, then said slowly: “If we can both come back, let’s get married—if you’re willing.”

 

**

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