Chapter 49

On the third day, Si Nan sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed and said grimly, “Don’t come over.”

Zhou Rong leaned one shoulder against the doorframe, bare-chested and wearing only a pair of camouflage pants, his feet bare. He seemed to want to approach but didn’t quite dare. “You… Comrade Xiao Si, what exactly are you dissatisfied with?”

“Nothing,” Si Nan said coldly. “Everything is fine.”

“But you look very dissatisfied.”

“You’re mistaken.”

“Rong-ge is not mistaken.”

The first round of heat had passed. After being knotted and marked, an Omega would generally become languid, soft, content, and extremely dependent on their Alpha—changes that were part of the so-called honeymoon period. While rapidly deepening the bond between the two, it also prepared them for the arrival of the next round of heat.

Even if there were a few Omegas or Alphas—though almost never an Alpha—who would pull up their pants and refuse to acknowledge the other person, they would at least wait until the entire Heat Period was over, when they no longer had any use for their partner’s ‘tool’.

However, Si Nan was exceptionally gifted.

He didn’t even wait to pull up his pants. The moment Zhou Rong was racking his brain, preparing to spin a few sweet nothings to enhance the mood, he kicked the Alpha right off the bed.

And Si Nan’s kick was a real kick, a completely different matter from a normal Omega’s coquettish antics. If Zhou Rong hadn’t reacted quickly, his ‘thing’ would have been done for. Zhou Rong felt deeply wronged by this and pointed down at himself, asking, “Excuse me, do you have some problem with it, Comrade Xiao Si? Tell me so I can relay the message. I’ll make sure it improves.”

Comrade Xiao Si was expressionless. “Can you make it get reduction surgery?”

“…” Zhou Rong said earnestly, “It said it felt like you quite enjoyed it. Can’t we be a little more tolerant of the hardware? How about we discuss some improvements to the software instead? For the sake of Rong-ge, who is also trying very hard to learn…”

“No,” Si Nan said. “You pile driver.”

Zhou Rong folded one arm and rested his other hand on his forehead, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

Si Nan had a real talent for giving people nicknames. For example, Guo Weixiang’s ‘Big Rooster’, a name that echoed in one’s ears for days, seemed destined to follow him for the rest of his life. What Zhou Rong worried about now was that ‘pile driver’ would also stick with him forever. What if, in the future, when they reached the South Sea Base and met the others from Unit 118...

Si Nan wrapped himself in the blanket, turned his back, and went off to sulk.

Si Xiaonan’s sulking didn’t last long. That afternoon, the second round of heat swept through his consciousness with ferocious intensity.

This time, Zhou Rong was feeling very adventurous. He tried a few positions he’d learned from porn flicks, and discovered that Si Nan got incredibly worked up—whether it was excitement from pleasure or excitement from an explosion of negative emotions was hard to say. In any case, for a moment there, Zhou Rong was certain that if Si Nan had a gun in his hand, he would have blown him away without a second thought.

Si Nan slept intermittently for a few hours, being kissed awake by Zhou Rong every forty-five minutes to groggily drink some salt-and-sugar water or sweet milk to replenish the fluids lost during his Heat Period.

After several rounds of this, he finally woke up from his half-dreaming state. Before he could kick out again, he found himself forcibly pinned flat against the bed.

Zhou Rong had him pinned spread-eagle, locking his limbs firmly in place. He looked down at him and said seriously, “First, you tell me which position you’re more satisfied with?!”

Si Nan: “…”

“I don’t know any more than that. Watching flicks was strictly forbidden in military school. Back in the day, we had to fetch meals for the cyber warfare students next door for four years just to get them to download a few videos from the foreign internet. We almost got the whole department written up for it, it was tragic. I never thought after all these years there’d come a day I could use it. Little porn flicks truly are the cornerstone of human reproduction...”

Si Nan struggled one hand free and commented:

“Pile driver.”

Then with a world-shaking thud, he hooked his arm around Zhou Rong and threw him off the bed.

An Omega’s Heat Period varied in length from person to person—it could be three days, five, or even seven, and was directly related to the concentration of their Pheromones. Because Si Nan had been taking Inhibitors long-term, his Pheromones were very faint, and since winter heats don’t last very long anyway, his only lasted for three days.

By the third day, Zhou Rong, as a form of self-criticism, kissed the semi-conscious Si Xiaonan one hundred and eight times, and dutifully reverted to the normal, conservative positions learned not from bizarrely staged little films, but from an Alpha’s physiological education textbook.

This time, Si Nan was finally satisfied, and even began to like it a little, which made Zhou Rong extremely excited and encouraged.

However, Zhou Rong’s way of expressing excitement and affection was to pin him down in the same position and hammer away for two whole hours, a performance that could be described as having astonishing stamina. Si Nan did not particularly like such astonishing stamina. When he finally came to his senses, Zhou Rong had to hold him down and kiss him another one hundred and eight times to barely quell his blazing fury.

“Do you know about a type of fish called a pufferfish?”

Si Nan said icily, “I don’t eat that kind of weird stuff.”

“No, no, pufferfish is delicious. I’ll make it for you someday.” Zhou Rong said lovingly, “But what I mean is, you look just like a pufferfish right now...”

The heavy snow had stopped. The mountains were majestic, piercing the heavens and rooting into the earth. A crystal-clear river flowed through the valley, heading towards a distant, vast expanse of snowy mist.

The gas in the kitchen was about to run out. Zhou Rong waded through the snow to chop some firewood and returned to start a fire. He toasted bread and grilled luncheon meat, boiled water for vegetable soup, and used soft cushions to build a messy, warm nest in front of the stove, letting Si Nan rest his head on his lap for a nap while they chatted idly.

Zhou Rong was a talkative person by nature. Many ordinary, dull stories from his past became fascinating and delightful when told by him. He talked about a year in his childhood when his hometown was hit by a snow disaster. When the army came for disaster relief, they slept on the floor of the orphanage. He had looked at their military uniforms and firearms with great envy and took the candy he had saved to give to the soldiers. But not only did he fail to give away the candy, he returned with a handful of chocolates in his pocket. Later, after graduating high school, he enlisted in the army. In his first year as a new recruit, he was selected for the special forces because of his outstanding shooting talent, and was even recommended for military school and received a scholarship...

“The scholarship wasn’t used for anything proper either,” Zhou Rong said with regret. “I climbed over the wall and spent it all on grilled skewers.”

Si Nan remembered something and asked, “You went to the international competition in your first year in the special forces?”

“Third year.”

“…How old were you when you graduated high school?”

“Sixteen,” Zhou Rong said. “I skipped two grades in elementary school. It’s embarrassing, but I had to do it to meet the minimum enlistment age of sixteen for Alphas.”

Si Nan rested his head on his thigh, lying on his back on the floor with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed. Zhou Rong gave a modest little bow.

“But thinking back on it now, that Omega I met in the competition was the truly formidable one,” Zhou Rong added. “Fifteen years old, nationally dispatched, tenacious willpower, played the pig to eat the tiger, his acting was completely natural... The Oscars definitely owe him a Little Golden Man. It seems that in corners of the world we don’t know about, there really are unimaginably powerful opponents. There’s always someone better out there.”

Si Nan smiled faintly. “Oh? I think so too. Do you think he’s still alive now?”

Zhou Rong was about to sigh with emotion, but his ears suddenly twitched with alarm. “I don’t know! It’s been eleven years! I don’t want to know at all!”

“What if he misses you a lot and can’t forget you?” Si Nan asked slyly.

Zhou Rong immediately declared, “Impossible! You think I’m stupid? Fall into the same pit twice?”

Si Nan burst out laughing.

“When I was young and reckless, a fall was just a fall. Now I have too many responsibilities to afford to fall,” Zhou Rong said resentfully. “Things are different now. Besides, there’s… there’s you.”

The flames danced, casting a bright light. Si Nan’s smile gradually faded, as if he were enveloped by an unknown and complex emotion.

“What happened later?” After a long moment, Si Nan asked softly, “After the special forces competition, what did you do when you returned to the country?”

“I was recommended for military school. The year I graduated, my superiors came to select people. Out of two thousand candidates, they chose three, and I was one of them,” Zhou Rong said. “They tested our political standing, family background, every kind of score, and psychological fortitude. They even judged our faces and height. At the time, I didn’t know what it was for. I thought they were picking intelligence agents, but later I found out it was to select members for the Central Guard.”

“They prioritize Betas for spies, okay?” Si Nan mocked him. “And then?”

“I did that for a few years, met a lot of leaders. I was even a personal bodyguard when so-and-so went on a state visit abroad.” Zhou Rong mentioned a household name that often appeared on the National News, and smiled. “Later, after distinguishing myself a few times, I was promoted to manage the State Guest Guard. It’s a job that requires a lot of stability and reliability, and I wasn’t very good at it...”

Si Nan studied Zhou Rong’s sharply defined face, silhouetted by the firelight. “But you are that kind of person.”

When Zhou Rong was being unreliable, he was extremely unreliable. But whenever the situation demanded it, he was the most attentive and steady person, capable of holding everything together—a point where he was completely different from Si Nan.

Si Nan was a solo operations expert. He could resolve a dangerous situation single-handedly, but directing a team to protect others would be a tricky matter for him.

“I’m not.” Zhou Rong smiled, a hint of melancholy in his expression.

Si Nan reached up and poked his chin. “How did you get sent down to Unit 118?”

At first, Zhou Rong didn’t want to say, but since there was nothing to do on this long winter day and the room was warm, and with Si Nan lying on his lap, poking him from time to time and making his heart itch, he finally surrendered after a bit of coaxing. “At an event where I was escorting a foreign guest... I made a mistake that was neither big nor small.”

“Did you seduce the president’s daughter?” Si Nan teased.

“No, those of us who are specially trained actually have a very high resistance to Omega Pheromones.” Zhou Rong’s face flushed slightly as he said, “It was one winter, a young man with a special talent for sniping had just joined the team. He was temporarily assigned with me on a… ceremonial reception mission, and he ended up getting three of his fingers frozen to the iron security railing.”

“It was over twenty degrees below zero outside at the time. When I heard the report, I immediately had someone go get warm water to thaw him out. Otherwise, his fingers would be ruined, and his career would be over. But the coordinating party told me to leave it alone. After all, at that time… the foreign media were all in place. If they got a picture of that, it would be bad for our image...”

Zhou Rong shook his head and smiled.

Si Nan was used to being without organization or discipline, so he didn’t think it was a big deal. “You insisted on thawing him out first?”

“They wouldn’t let the warm water be brought in.”

“So you...”

“I dismantled the iron railing with my bare hands,” Zhou Rong admitted helplessly. “I was surrounded and they took a lot of close-ups. It was pretty embarrassing.”

Si Nan imagined the scene, a constant bombardment from long and short camera lenses, and the corner of his mouth curved into a smile.

“That incident got caught up in some political infighting, it kept escalating and became one of the triggers for a round of mutual attacks. Anyway, I was demoted and transferred down in the confusion. It just so happened that Lieutenant General Qian needed people, and I still had some old connections in the special forces, so I joined Unit 118.” Zhou Rong spread his hands and said, “The rest is more or less history. But to be honest, it’s more liberating in Unit 118 than at the Central Command. The pay and benefits aren’t any less, and I often get to travel on the public dime...”

“Mm.” Si Nan casually pinched the corner of Zhou Rong’s mouth, then stood up, picked up his water glass, and smiled faintly. “If you hadn’t joined Unit 118, we would have never met.”

If Zhou Rong hadn’t been sent down to Unit 118, Si Nan wouldn’t have passed by that street on that hot, chaotic afternoon and seen the parking garage besieged by Zombies.

Si Nan wouldn’t have met the special forces squad, wouldn’t have teamed up with another Alpha to fight his way out of T City, and wouldn’t have entered the perilous, dark underground of the B Military Region; they would no longer have had the chance to find the precious Antibody and data, and right now, probably no one would be carrying the information they’d exchanged their lives for, flying in a helicopter towards the distant South Sea.

Fate was a chain of interconnected events, like invisible dominoes, laying the groundwork for everything that was happening now, long before the disaster struck.

Zhou Rong stared at the leaping flames, a faint light glowing in his eyes.

“So we were meant to be together,” he said slowly. “No one can tear us apart. It was predestined.”

The severe cold had become a natural barrier against the virus, and this small concrete building remained isolated from the world, warm as spring.

Si Nan didn’t say it, and Zhou Rong wouldn’t mention it, though they both knew in their hearts that it would be wonderful if days like these could last forever.

—A warm and peaceful paradise, cut off from the world, with only each other for company.

However, that was impossible.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, the deep snow that had sealed the mountains finally melted, and fine cracks appeared on the thick ice of the river. Zhou Rong organized their remaining supplies, chopped several bundles of firewood and piled them in the yard for anyone who might come after, and stood in front of the small concrete building with an arm around Si Nan’s shoulders, kissing his hair.

“We shouldn’t run into any more Zombie hordes head-on if we head south now. We’ll take the national highway, stop at towns for supplies, and figure things out once we reach the coast. Luckily, we didn’t lose the locator. If Yan Hao and Chuncao have already reached the South Sea Base, they’ll definitely report it up the chain of command when they receive the signal.”

Zhou Rong fiddled with the clip-on earring on Si Nan’s earlobe. Si Nan had his arms crossed over his chest, looking down at the layered mountains below. The vast white snow was reflected in his eyes, shimmering with a bright luster.

“If...” Zhou Rong said slowly, then paused.

Si Nan asked him what was wrong with his eyes.

“If you want to stay a couple more days,” Zhou Rong said, each word clearly chosen with care, “we could also linger here for a bit...”

Si Nan patted his shoulder, walked towards the SUV, and said with a laugh, without looking back, “You’re overthinking it.”

Twenty-some days of rest, meticulous care, and a smoothly passed Heat Period had restored Si Nan’s body and spirit to their peak condition, even better than when he had met Zhou Rong and the others in T City.

The burn marks from the electric shocks on his wrists and elbows had faded, along with the unknown, desperate, and dark memories, like the receding tide at dawn, concealing the corners of dark secrets.

“Let’s go!” Si Nan sat in the driver’s seat, started the engine, and propped one hand on the car door. He looked like a handsome, mixed-race punk recklessly driving a luxury car through the streets of New York. He whistled at Zhou Rong and hooked up one side of his beautiful lips. “What are you spacing out for? Get in!”

Zhou Rong burst out laughing, strode forward, pulled Si Nan out of the driver’s seat, hoisted him onto his shoulder, carried him around to the passenger side, and stuffed him inside, pressing down on him unreasonably as he fastened his seatbelt.

“I’m driving, understand?” He lifted Si Nan’s chin with his gun-callused index finger and grinned. “You’re in charge of eating sweet dumplings, sleeping, and giving me a neck rub every ten kilometers to relieve my boredom. The organization’s division of labor is clear. Any objections, Comrade Xiao Si?”

The ice and snow melted, and the mountain road snaked ahead.

Zhou Rong cracked the window open. With one hand on the wheel amidst the whistling cold wind, he rested his other hand on Si Nan’s knee. Si Nan sat cross-legged, eating the “tangyuan” Zhou Rong had made from flour and sugar, feeding him one from time to time as he carefully studied the tattered national road map.

The SUV spewed exhaust as it drove under the vast sky, heading towards the end of the mountains, towards the war-torn, bullet-riddled lands of the south.