Qin Zhi gradually realized something and covered Su Duan's cheek with his palm, gently caressing it.

The originally warm and bright sunlight quickly became dim. Layers of flowing clouds drifted in from somewhere, gradually covering the sun's big face.

Qin Zhi knelt by the bed. Suddenly, he closed his black eyes that contained disbelief, bewilderment and pain. He stayed there quietly for a long time. When he opened them again, his expression was surprisingly calm, as if he had become a different person.

He withdrew his hand and stood up. He didn't cry or shout. His black eyes even seemed a bit indifferent. He stood there silently, looking at his beloved surrounded by flowers on the bed.

As the sunlight faded, his shadow on the ground also became dim and blurred. In an instant before it completely disappeared, it suddenly distorted and expanded, vaguely revealing the shape of a giant beast. But before it could be seen clearly, it quickly vanished along with the sunlight.

Within just two minutes, the weather on this island went from sunny to gloomy.

If someone encountered such a sudden change in weather, they would definitely worry about whether a storm was coming and become panicked.

Once heavy rain arrives, all boats at sea could face life-threatening danger. If a tornado is encountered, even small islands like this one that are not particularly prominent could also be destroyed.

But Qin Zhi seemed to have no such worries at all. He looked out the window with a cold expression, as if he had expected it long ago.

The surging wind on the deep blue sea quietly stopped. The island was silent. The security guards who should have come out to take emergency protective measures were nowhere to be seen. Time seemed to have been paused.

Qin Zhi moved his gaze back to Su Duan's face. This time, his expression finally changed. Various complex emotions flashed in his eyes - there was passion and coldness, love and doubt... finally settling on an inextricable stubbornness and greed.

His emotions seemed very fickle. Not long ago, he was indifferent as if he didn't care whether Su Duan lived or died at all. But now he began to pace around the room anxiously, like a dragon that discovered it had lost its most precious treasure, trying to find an opportunity to snatch back what belonged to him.

He climbed onto the bed and pushed aside some of the obstructing flower branches. He carefully gathered the person into his arms with his chin lightly resting on top of his head, letting their chests and backs fit seamlessly together, wrapping the person entirely in his embrace. His body heat was also transmitted over.

This was his. No one could take him away from his side.

Thinking this, Qin Zhi slowly closed his eyes. His face instantly turned a bit pale.

......

After an unknown amount of time, the stagnant wind on the sea began to surge again. The security guards on the island discovered the unusual weather and all came out to prepare to reinforce the equipment.

But they had only walked halfway when the thick clouds that looked like heavy rain was about to fall suddenly dispersed in an instant, so fast that it seemed like the previous gloominess was just their illusion.

"This weather is really strange. How can it turn overcast and then sunny in just a few minutes? Even face-changing isn't like this."

"Yeah, I've been on this island for so many years and have never seen such a strange situation."

"Who knows..."

......

Su Duan, who was sleeping soundly with no consciousness, seemed to be oppressed by the heavy pressure on his body. He drowsily opened his eyes.

The next second, he was shocked by the scene before his eyes. His sleepiness flew away and his eyes widened—

How come the entire bed was filled with all kinds of reproductive organs of the same species?!

And it was emitting such a strong fragrance... Su Duan felt that he inhaled countless pollen with each breath. The entire herb was frightened and wanted to hit someone with its leaves.

"Cough cough—" Su Duan choked on his own saliva and coughed pitifully.

Noticing his movement, the force pressing on his back finally lessened a bit. Then came a low, hoarse voice: "...Baby is finally awake. What's wrong?"

As he spoke, he gently patted Su Duan's back to help him catch his breath.

Su Duan finally managed to breathe smoothly. He swallowed and turned his head slightly, asking: "What's with all these flowers?"

Although he tried hard to raise his little head to look at Qin Zhi, Qin Zhi had his chin resting on top of his head, so no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see him.

Qin Zhi continued to pat his back and said by his ear: "While you were sleeping in, I got up and picked them, little lazy pig."

Su Duan: "..." Wuwu.

He picked so many reproductive organs of the same species to surround him and still scolded him as a pig. When did Qin Zhi become so bad?

Qin Zhi nibbled his ear and asked: "Do you like them?"

Su Duan forcibly swallowed the word "no" and said with difficulty: "...Like them."

Qin Zhi laughed against his ear. Su Duan felt a cool breath brush past his earlobe, numbing him and making him shiver.

Su Duan felt that something was a bit strange. Qin Zhi's body temperature was higher than his, and his exhaled breath had always been scorching hot. How come today it felt... not as hot anymore?

Thinking of this, he suddenly realized that he no longer felt that warm and cozy feeling on his body. Before, when he woke up in Qin Zhi's arms, he always felt like he had been roasted by a furnace all night. Now it was completely gone, replaced by the feeling of him sleeping alone.

Su Duan froze for a moment and called out: "Zhi Zhi." As he spoke, he began to wriggle in Qin Zhi's arms.

Qin Zhi slightly loosened the arm around his waist. Su Duan flipped over in his arms to face his chest.

Qin Zhi lowered his eyes, his black pupils staring fixedly at him. Because the light was behind him, his hair was dyed with a hint of warm yellow glow. But that bit of warmth did not extend to his brows and eyes, making them appear unusually cold and desolate.

Su Duan felt all over his body and even used his little head to rub against Qin Zhi's. Finally, he frowned and confirmed: "Zhi Zhi, your body is so cool. Are you sick?"

Qin Zhi kissed his forehead and said casually: "No."

In the end, at Su Duan's strong insistence, Qin Zhi still found a thermometer to take his temperature. It was 36.4 degrees Celsius. Although it was indeed a bit low, it was still within the normal range. Moreover, Qin Zhi didn't seem to have any discomfort. Su Duan could only reluctantly believe that he wasn't sick.

Su Duan was still not at ease, and would touch Qin Zhi from time to time to look for signs of discomfort, making the meal quite a hassle.

Perhaps irritated by his fussing, when Su Duan reached out to him again, Qin Zhi put down his bowl and chopsticks, grabbed his thin wrist that seemed like it would snap with a twist, and leaned over to kiss him.

Su Duan's eyes widened: "Mmm--"

Although Qin Zhi had kissed him forcefully yesterday, this kiss seemed especially greedy, as if he couldn't hold back from wanting to devour him. Su Duan touched his swollen lips and cautiously shrank back.

-- Then Qin Zhi dragged him back and kissed him again.

"Zhi Zhi, you're so fierce today." Su Duan buried his face in Qin Zhi's embrace, curling up into a ball, afraid of being caught and kissed endlessly.

Qin Zhi slid his fingers into Su Duan's soft black hair and said softly, "Really? My little pig slept so soundly last night and didn't even let me kiss him on our wedding night."

Hearing him say it so bluntly, Su Duan blushed for a while, then solemnly refuted, "When have I ever not let you kiss me? You kissed me for a long time yesterday, I remember."

Although Qin Zhi didn't give him pollen last night because he was too tired, Su Duan still had an impression of Qin Zhi kissing him in the bathroom and helping him release pollen.

Qin Zhi patted his little bottom and laughed, "Not enough kisses."

Su Duan said softly, "No more kissing, my mouth hurts."

Qin Zhi dug him out of his embrace and touched his lips, "Does it hurt a lot?"

Su Duan said, "Not a lot, um, but don't bully it either."

This time Qin Zhi readily agreed, nodding, "Okay, I won't bully it for now."

If he doesn't bully this one, there's another one to bully.

Qin Zhi released him from his arms and asked, "Are you full?"

Seeing Su Duan nod, Qin Zhi pulled back his chair and led him away from the dining table with an arm around his shoulders.

Su Duan was a bit dazed, "Eh? Zhi Zhi, aren't you going to eat? I saw you barely ate a few bites."

"I already ate before you woke up."

"Oh, hiccup..." Seeming to have eaten too much, Su Duan started hiccuping again.

"Zhi Zhi, aren't we going for a walk? Why are we heading upstairs, hiccup..."

"We won't walk today, we'll use another method to help you digest."

Su Duan: "..." Looking at the approaching bedroom door, he wanted to slip away.

But Qin Zhi's palm was like a branding iron, firmly gripping his shoulder. Su Duan could only be carried into the bedroom like a little quail.

The bed of flowers had been cleaned up, replaced with clean new sheets and bedding. The windows were also open, with a slightly salty sea breeze blowing in, making the light-colored curtains by the floor-to-ceiling windows billow slightly.

Qin Zhi raised his arm to close the windows, the smooth lines of muscle on his forearms faintly visible under the thin white cotton shirt.

With a rustle, the curtains were drawn tightly, and the seabirds outside could no longer see what was happening inside.

Spring is a season of blooming flowers, and also a season of pollination.

Due to the size difference between different types of flowers, when the relatively large pollen grains travel down the style into the ovary, they may get stuck in the middle of the slender style for a long time. Fortunately, the style is elastic. Although the pollen was stuck at the narrowest part for a long time, it eventually successfully entered deeper.

......

Su Duan, who had all his pollen exploited but was compensated with pollen from someone else, was staring at the ceiling in a daze.

His mind was in a mess, thinking:

Qin Zhi actually, actually ate all his pollen, but he had secretly tasted a bit of Qin Zhi's, and the flavor was really strange, making people frown.

Is Qin Zhi's sense of taste broken? He didn't know if this condition could be cured.

The system said, "Kaji, um, this system doesn't know either, kaji..."

Su Duan curiously asked, "System, what's wrong with you? Why are you making such strange sounds?"

The system said, "It seems there's a small bug, because, kaji, the system is a first-generation system, ka... so having bugs is quite normal, ji, when this mission is over and the system re-ka-ji-connects with the research institute's mainframe, it can be repaired."

Su Duan said, "Mm, so you're okay like this for now?"

The system said, "No problem, kaji."

Su Duan said, "Okay, you rest for a bit."

Pollination didn't seem to hurt as much as he imagined... Su Duan rubbed his cheek against the pillow, thinking.

Qin Zhi flipped over the turtle-posed Su Duan, holding him in the crook of his arm. He turned slightly sideways and covered Su Duan's face with his palm, tracing the delicate contours of his features.

Su Duan felt itchy on his face and opened his mouth to nibble on Qin Zhi's fingers.

Qin Zhi moved his palm down and lightly gripped Su Duan's neck, his slightly rough fingertips rubbing against the soft flesh under his chin.

Gripping the neck is a gesture of complete control. As one of the most vital parts of the body, once the neck is broken, life will quickly end within minutes.

But Su Duan obviously had no such awareness, or rather, he didn't think at all that Qin Zhi would hurt him. He only felt that the ticklish flesh under his chin was being rubbed uncomfortably. His slender fingers gripped Qin Zhi's wrist and pushed it away, "Itchy, don't tease me, I'm sleepy and want to nap."

Qin Zhi made an affirmative sound, moved his hand away from Su Duan's neck, and kissed his little chin, "Go to sleep, I'll call you for dinner in the evening."

......

The two of them wandered abroad for over two months before returning to China.

Su Duan didn't return to the Su family home, but went with Qin Zhi to the new house that had been prepared long ago. They had decorated it before going abroad, and after being vacant for nearly half a year, it was ready to move in.

The new home was also a small villa with a garden similar to the Su residence, but the area was not as spacious as the Su residence, and the layout was also smaller, but it had a bit more warmth than the Su residence.

Su Duan was very curious to explore the new home, even peeking at the servants tending the flowers and plants.

Qin Zhi, who had just gotten off work, patted his little head and pulled him up from the ground, saying, "Next month, we'll have someone dig up all the flowers and replace them with trees. In a few days, you can pick some out."

"Ah?" Su Duan was stunned for a moment, "Why dig them up?"

Qin Zhi asked, "Do you like these flowers?"

Su Duan paused for a moment, blinked, and said, "I like them."

Actually, he didn't like them, but he didn't dislike them either.

The concept of flowers being reproductive organs only exists in the plant world. For humans, flowers are mostly just ornamental, used to express love and affection.

Qin Zhi gave him flowers, and he was quite happy about it.

Qin Zhi smiled, a smile mixed with an indescribable emotion, whether helplessness or something else: "Okay, as long as you like it, then keep growing them."

However, although Qin Zhi agreed, afterwards, even though flowers bloomed in their garden all year round, it seemed as if Qin Zhi had forgotten about this matter. Fresh flower branches never appeared in their bedroom again.

......

When they had been married for exactly seven years, Su Duan quietly fell asleep again.

This time, he truly could not be awakened.

Qin Zhi quietly held him for a while, then suddenly seemed to remember something. He covered Su Duan with a soft thin quilt, got in the car and left the villa.

It was very quiet. The villa was very quiet. The roads that should have been bustling with traffic were also very quiet. Except for the silver SUV Qin Zhi was driving, there was not a shadow of another car on the road.

Qin Zhi waited alone at a red light, passed through, and finally stopped at the entrance of an ordinary residential area.

He entered one of the units and opened an unremarkable door. In a corner of the storage room, he picked up a coat that had been stained with old yellowness and countless dust by time.

After Qin Zhi left, the owner of the room, who was still sound asleep, changed his sleeping position.

Perhaps even he himself had forgotten that seven years ago, on a clear morning when he was still working as a waiter in a high-end club, he had once picked up a coat that had been left behind in the club. Because he really couldn't find the owner's contact information and was reluctant to casually throw away this coat that the original owner cherished so much, he put it in a corner of the storage room at home and never remembered it again.

Now, the owner of the coat had come to retrieve this forgotten piece of time himself.

Qin Zhi brought the coat back home. He got out of the car, draped the coat over his arm, and slowly walked into the quiet villa.

As he walked, the time the coat had experienced seemed to flow backwards. By the time Qin Zhi unfolded it and covered it over Su Duan, it had already turned into the brand new appearance it had when it was first bought.

Qin Zhi climbed onto the bed, held Su Duan in his arms, interlocked their fingers, kissed his forehead, and said softly, "Goodbye, baby."

The seven years he had stolen from time had finally come to an end.

But it was okay. In the next space and time, they would meet again.

......

At the same time, Su Zheng, who had finally escaped single life in his thirties, was at home discussing the matter of future children with his newlywed wife.

His wife asked, "Do you want a boy or a girl?"

Su Zheng originally wanted to answer that of course he wanted a boy, preferably as well-behaved and cute as his younger brother. But when the words reached his mouth, he suddenly felt dazed for a moment, as if he had lost something in an instant, leaving an empty space in his heart.

He composed himself and said hesitantly, "Let's have a boy."

His wife jokingly complained, "Mr. Su, I didn't expect you to value boys over girls. You don't like girls?"

Su Zheng said, "No, don't wrong me. I just suddenly thought that when my parents were still alive, they wanted to have another son, preferably completely different from me. Looks like my mother, well-behaved, ten centimeters shorter than me, knows how to act cute, with little stars in his eyes when he smiles."

When he said it out loud, even he himself was stunned for a moment. These words were too specific, as if he really had a younger brother.

"Look, there are even little stars. How long have you been thinking about this? No younger brother, so you're pinning your hopes on a son?" His wife laughed merrily. "You're so childish, Mr. Su."

Su Zheng nodded, showing a slightly helpless and doting expression in response to his wife's joke.

......

When Su Duan opened his eyes again, there was a clamor in his ears.

Obviously, he was no longer in his and Qin Zhi's home, not even in the original world.

The surroundings were full of technologically advanced buildings. This seemed to be some kind of market. The passersby were basically all Western-looking with blond hair and blue eyes. Some people cast strange looks at him, some mixed with disgusting greed.

He was currently in a cage made of some unknown metal, with someone guarding beside him, like a commodity waiting to be sold. There were shackles on his hands and feet. If he moved casually, a faint electric current would pass through, making him not dare to move again.

His wrists and ankles seemed to be rubbed raw, aching with fine pain.

However, he was not in a hurry to worry about his situation. Instead, he said to the system in his heart, "System, I just slept for a while."

The system said, "Yes, host."

Su Duan said, "It seems your bug has been fixed." He no longer heard the strange crunching sounds.

The system said, "Yes. When mission one ended, I connected to the main computer of the research institute. The main computer's self-repair system has fixed that little bug for me."

Su Duan said, "Congratulations."

The system said, "Thank you, host. By the way, host, your mission rating in the previous world was A, and you earned a total of 3,000 experience points. Very, very impressive. The system store has been activated, and you can now choose to purchase items. Would you like to take a look, host? (≧ω≦)/"

Su Duan said, "Not now."

After Su Duan finished speaking, tears pattered down, transparent tears crashing onto the silver metal bars and sliding down.

He knew he couldn't go back to the place he had left, but the sadness in his heart was unstoppable.

Immersed in the sadness of losing his partner, Su Duan did not notice the black clothing hem that had stopped in front of his cage.

It was the system that reminded him, "Host, your mission target in this world has appeared. The mission target is less than five meters away from you!"

Su Duan was stunned for a moment. With tears covering his face, he raised his head and looked at the man who had stopped in front of him.

It was a tall adult man, wearing a black cloak, cold and hard military boots, with slightly curly, light golden, medium-length hair tied neatly behind his head, only a few strands falling at his temples. His features were deep and handsome, a pair of eyes like the finest sapphires set in deep eye sockets, flashing with indifferent light.

His expression was very cold. When he looked at Su Duan, it was as if he was looking at an inanimate object.

The system introduced: "This is the host's healing target for this time, the Marshal and Prince of the Delaire Empire, Audrose Felton. He suffers from emotional deficiency disorder. The 50 healing value benefit for the novice world is no longer available, and the difficulty will be higher than the previous world. The healing target's current healing value is 0, so please be mentally prepared, host."

Su Duan didn't respond to the system's words. He looked into Audrose's eyes, and the sadness in his heart inexplicably faded a little.

Although this face and these eyes were unfamiliar to him, they strangely gave him an indescribable sense of familiarity.

Su Duan and his healing target stared at each other.

Suddenly, Su Duan felt a much stronger electric current than before coming from the shackles binding his limbs. He let out a hurried gasp, and the tears that had quietly stopped began to flow uncontrollably again under the stimulation of the electric current.

"Is the Marshal someone you can look directly at?" A grumbling voice came from beside his ear, and Su Duan felt something like a stick poking painfully at his waist.

Looking at the miserable little black-haired slave crying in front of him, Audrose frowned, a hint of imperceptible irritation flashing in his eyes.

Without taking the time to think too much, he lifted his foot and heavily kicked the guard who had taken it upon himself to punish the slave to curry favor with him, not even willing to spend a few seconds finding the switch. He roughly destroyed the power supply system of the cage with his mental power.

Amidst the not yet completely stopped electric current, the slightly germaphobic Marshal Audrose extended his right hand, clad in a white glove, through the gaps of the cage and hesitantly covered the little slave's soft, wet cheek.