Yun Xunlan was momentarily stunned.
… Yu Chen’s pet is like himself?
Then does he raise a person?
But can a person be a pet to another person?
If it’s not a person, Yun Xunlan couldn’t think of any pet that could resemble him.
“Broaden your perspective a bit,” the system encouraged Yun Xunlan, “Look at your betta fish; its color and temperament are so much like Yu Chen’s! So if Yu Chen were to raise a noble white-furred golden-eyed dog or a white-furred golden-eyed cat, wouldn’t that be quite similar to you?”
“Exactly, the color is secondary; the temperament is really similar.” Yun Xunlan recalled how Yu Chen scolded people online, “Both the fish and Yu are quite fierce.”
So, cradling the blue betta fish, he replied to Yu Chen, “I think my fish resembles you a lot.”
He didn’t specify why he thought so; he was afraid that if he did, it might jeopardize their good brotherly bond. Therefore, Yun Xunlan cleverly chose only sweet words to say to Yu Chen: “The shopkeeper told me that a betta fish’s lifespan is only about three to five years, but I hope it can stay by my side a bit longer, just like you, Yu Chen.”
The purpose of Yun Xunlan saying these sweet nothings was to hint and remind Yu Chen not to forget his previous promise; it was also to feed Yu Chen some sugar-coated bullets, making him infatuated and unable to let go. This was similar to when he previously said he never thought Yu Chen’s pheromones smelled bad; after all, “not thinking it smells bad” doesn’t equal “thinking it smells good,” right? He wasn’t lying.
As Yu Chen listened to these words, he indeed felt that Yun Xunlan was hinting at him, and he understood this hint as a subtle confession from the prince. He wasn’t the type to be timid; once he made up his mind, he would charge ahead without hesitation.
So, after Yun Xunlan finished speaking, he saw a spark ignite in Yu Chen’s eyes. That faint warmth was like a proton beam igniting nuclear fusion, instantly releasing the world’s most uncontrollable intense emotions.
At that moment, his eyes were warmer than a sunset.
The deep blue ice sea melted completely, shimmering with varying depths of light, gentle enough to overflow. His voice, still hoarse and off, was sweet like honey, and he even stuttered like Fu Yanxi, seriously and respectfully calling out to Yun Xunlan: “Your Highness, I… I hope for that too. I even wish that the time I can stay by your side is…”
Once, Yun Xunlan thought he was the one always feeding Yu Chen with sweet nothings.
However, today, in Yu Chen’s gentle gaze and his low, hoarse voice, he suddenly felt that the one being enchanted was himself. Or perhaps the emotions hidden in those deep-sea-like eyes were too intense, crashing over him like a tsunami, pulling Yun Xunlan down to the depths, momentarily drowning him.
He stared blankly into Yu Chen’s eyes, not knowing why, but inexplicably hoping that the alpha would say that time limit, preferably the two words “forever.”
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as he wished; he only saw Yu Chen part his lips to say “yes,” and the warmth in his eyes seemed to vanish like a receding tide, his pupils suddenly dilating.
In the next second, Yun Xunlan was enveloped in Yu Chen’s arms.
The alpha unbuckled his seatbelt and rushed over, wrapping his entire body in his embrace, shielding the easily injured parts of Yun Xunlan with his body, even holding the back of his head with his palm.
The man’s black wolf tail brushed against Yun Xunlan’s forehead, but he didn’t feel any ticklish sensation; all his thoughts were scattered by the massive shockwave that followed— their vehicle had been flipped over by a supersonic missile.
However, the vehicle Yun Xunlan was in looked unremarkable on the outside, but its alloy body was as hard as a mech’s heavy armor, and even with such a massive explosion, not a single piece of glass shattered.
Once the car stopped rolling and Ni Chun regained his senses, his first reaction was to turn and check on Yun Xunlan in the back seat: “Your Highness! Are you okay?!”
Yun Xunlan actually didn’t feel any pain because Yu Chen had protected him well. Instead, it was Yu Chen—his head had hit the car glass hard through Yu Chen’s fingers, but he didn’t make a sound; Yun Xunlan only heard his breathing become heavier for a moment.
So, after shaking off the dizziness from the rapid flipping, Yun Xunlan opened his eyes, wanting to see how Yu Chen was doing, while also replying to Ni Chun: “I’m fine… ah!”
The young man’s originally normal voice turned into a painful cry at the end.
Yun Xunlan covered his eyes with his hand, instantly drenched in cold sweat. He curled up his limbs in pain, gritting his teeth and randomly making up an excuse, trembling as he said, “I have a concussion… I can’t see clearly…”
A concussion?
Yu Chen, who was checking Yun Xunlan for injuries, paused his movements, doubting whether he hadn’t protected Yun Xunlan’s head well enough.
At that moment, Yun Xunlan’s light brain wristband emitted a sharp alarm: “Internal bleeding detected; a doctor has been called for you. Please inject M20 painkillers immediately!”
“Please inject M20 painkillers immediately!”
…
The light brain wristband repeatedly emphasized this phrase. Even though Yu Chen’s heart was racing, his fingers were steady as he took out the M20 painkillers he always carried. But just as he was about to inject Yun Xunlan, his body swayed, and his vision blurred for a few seconds.
The reason wasn’t worry for Yun Xunlan, nor fear or tension, but the pressure shock from the pheromone riot—coming from Yun Xunlan’s pheromones.
The once sweet floral scent was now as intense as gunpowder, wildly overflowing and burning Yu Chen’s respiratory tract. The immense, heavy sense of oppression trampled on his spine, and even the best at pressure resistance training, Yu Chen, was nearly immobilized by this sudden wave of pressure.
He took a deep breath, held it, steadied the syringe, and injected the M20 painkiller into Yun Xunlan’s body.
At the moment the syringe was emptied, the young man’s body visibly relaxed, but Yu Chen remained tense, his muscles engorged and bulging, veins popping in his neck, throbbing vigorously. He straightened up from Yun Xunlan, a drop of hot sweat trickling down his chin, landing on the young man’s collarbone, mingling with the tiny beads of sweat that had emerged from Yun Xunlan due to pain.
Meanwhile, Ni Chun raised a silver handgun, aiming at Yun Xunlan: “Your Highness, the pheromone riot is happening; get out of the way!”
Yu Chen sidestepped to avoid him.
“Bang bang bang…”
Ni Chun pulled the trigger, showing no signs of stopping until the magazine was empty.
As the slender syringe bullets hit Yun Xunlan one after another, the pheromone concentration in the car was gradually filtered out by the circulating air conditioning, reaching a level that could be ignored. Yu Chen couldn’t help but say, “That’s enough, it’s okay now.”
“You’re okay, but the others aren’t.” Ni Chun didn’t stop, “In this state, Your Highness opening the car door is like a pheromone bomb.”
Yu Chen’s satellite communicator rang, and Fu Yanxi’s anxious voice came through: “Yu Chen, how’s it going over there? Is the prince injured? We received a warning from the light brain!”
Yun Xunlan actively pressed the communicator at his ear bone to respond: “I’m fine.”
“Your Highness, the patrol micro-starship will arrive in five minutes, and the security team is on the way. The missile launch site cannot be located for now.” Lu You calmly reported, “But a high-speed moving group has been detected three kilometers ahead; it could be B-class hyena-type light mechs.”
Yu Chen said directly, “Retreat.”
Although the hyena-type light mechs weren’t very high in level, there were many attackers, and they had no mechs to counter them, so retreating was the best choice.
Yun Xunlan also said, “Retreat.”
Ni Chun pressed the car’s upright button, and then the black car they were in extended several mechanical arms to support the ground, righting the overturned vehicle. Ni Chun slammed the accelerator, turning the steering wheel sharply to drive backward.
Yu Chen then flipped to the back of the car, opened the sniper cannon box, and within half a minute, quickly completed the assembly of the components.
Next, he put on the exoskeleton power suit, moved from the car window to the roof, knelt on one knee, and aimed at the sea.
The cold wind blew through his bangs, but Yu Chen’s arm holding the sniper cannon didn’t shake at all. He resembled a fierce lone wolf waiting for prey, his gaze cold and indifferent, just waiting for the first B-class hyena-type light mech to pop its head out of the sea.
“Click—”
A pale golden light, accompanied by an almost inaudible sound of the trigger being pulled, sliced through the blue sky, hitting the hyena mech’s head, exploding into a crimson flame, causing it to sink back into the sea.
More and more hyenas sprang out of the sea, and the blue-eyed man seemed like a bloodthirsty hunter, using the superior eyesight of a top alpha to track the mechs’ movements, calmly and elegantly pulling the trigger again, accurately taking down three more.
But the hyena mech group soon released a large number of interference grenades. Yu Chen could still hit the hyena mechs, but he could no longer accurately hit the cockpit or the core power source of the mechs, rendering them completely immobile.
A minute later, the blue-eyed alpha’s handsome face still showed little expression, but his mouth was filthy with curses: “Fu Yanxi, Gui Yan, what the hell! Did you two go kiss during shooting class? What kind of shooting is this?!”
“Besides the air, have you hit anything? Can you aim for the head? The core source? I’m really fed up.”
Fu Yanxi and Gui Yan had actually destroyed a few mechs, but their combined numbers couldn’t compare to Yu Chen’s.
Gui Yan helplessly said, “No, there are too many interference grenades; it’s very hard to hit them now.”
Lu You said, “They haven’t released high lethality weapons.”
“Because they want to capture me alive.” Yun Xunlan panted slightly, his voice trembling, but his tone was very firm, “Stop the car.”
Fu Yanxi immediately panicked: “Your Highness, we can’t stop! Yu Chen, you cover the prince’s escape; Lu You, Gui Yan, we’ll hold them off for you!”
Lu You also said, “Hold on for another 128 seconds, and the prayer aircraft will arrive!”
But Yun Xunlan said, “But they only need 50 seconds to catch us. So—”
“Stop the car.”
These two words were spoken with such authority that they seemed to carry a weighty pressure, heavily descending upon everyone’s heads.
Yu Chen thought that Yun Xunlan must have opened his eyes to see the hyena mech group and the distance between them shrinking; otherwise, how could he have calculated the specific value of “50 seconds”?
Yet, when he leaned down to look inside the car, he still saw the young man with his eyes closed, his face as pale as paper, his silver hair damp with cold sweat, hanging in strands by the side of his face.
Ni Chun had already stepped on the brakes, abruptly stopping the car, and Lu You quickly followed suit.
Yun Xunlan turned his face, closing his eyes and facing the direction of the approaching hyena mechs, continuing with an unyielding attitude: “Next, when I say which mech to shoot at, Yu Chen, you just listen to me and shoot at that mech; the other mechs will be handled by Fu Yanxi and Gui Yan.”
“Don’t question a single word I say.”