绝代双骄 林志颖

His lips were tightly closed, the bloodless lips were pressed into a fragile arc, the long eyelashes drooped, casting a dark and deep shadow in the light, the eyes under the half-opened eyelids were unfocused, and his spine was trembling slightly, like a dead leaf quivering in the cold wind.

The faint trembling spread like ripples.

Zuo Yan frowned, holding the other’s thin shoulders with both hands.

His eyes drooped and his eyes wandered over the young man’s face.

This was the second time that Zuo Yan has inexplicably encountered this little star on his own territory, and he never believed that there could be such a coincidence in this world that one person could fall into his arms twice in a week.

So, was this a desperate seeking favour strategy*? Or was he deliberately approaching with ulterior motives?

*投怀送抱 – lit. throwing yourself into others arms, used in a situation where the person is seeking a favour or trying to seduce the other.

According to his usual habits, he estimated that he’d have already pushed the other away long ago, turned around and left, just like brushing the dust off his sleeves, not paying attention at all.

But, in fact, the moment he entered the bathroom, Zuo Yan saw the trembling young man leaning on the sink.

The youth didn’t seem to have noticed him at the time, he just lowered his head silently, the expression on his face was covered by his bangs, he could only see that straight back was trembling slightly, and the knuckles of his fingers tightly clenching on the sink were white, as if he was enduring something.

Zuo Yan stopped in his tracks as if ghosts and gods were at work.

He he couldn’t make himself leave.

The next second, the other seemed to be unable to support himself any longer, his knees softened, and he fell to the side uncontrollably.

At that moment, the flow of time seemed to have lost its meaning.

Zuo Yan felt his heart shrink slightly, as if an invisible hand gripped fiercely his heart, and his heart rhythm suddenly became out of tune.

His body had already acted one step ahead of consciousness.

When Zuo Yan reacted, he was already supporting the young man who was about to fall to the ground in his arms.

Just like last time.

He didn’t know what had taken hold of his mind, disturbed his thoughts, but he instinctively felt disturbed.

The frown between Zuo Yan’s eyebrows deepened.

He still remembered the other party’s name—”Lu Nan?”

The other party didn’t answer, as if his consciousness had been taken away, his dark eyes were unfocused, but just shivered silently.

This reaction, could it be drugs?

Zuo Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, let the other party lean on his shoulder to free up one hand and took out his mobile phone.

“Drive the car to the door.”

he commanded succinctly.

Zuo Yan paused, and then added: “Call Dr. Zhao.”

He hung up the phone with one hand, lowered his head and glanced down at the other’s profile again. The young man had his head lowered, his soft hair hung down, a few strands soaked with sweat stuck to his cheeks and his pale face was bloodless, making him seem like some sort of fragile, delicate work of art that would melt when exposed to the harsh sunlight or touched.

Zuo Yan raised his hand and swept the other’s hair behind his ear.

His fingertips stayed on the cold and wet side face of the young man for a moment, then slowly slid along the curve of his lower jaw, and only retracted when he was about to touch his lips.

The man’s expression was deep and indistinguishable, and an unfathomable light flashed in the depths of his dark eyes.

——Even if he has ulterior motives.

Since he bumped into him again, don’t even think about running.

·

Dr.Zhao had served as the Zuo’s family doctor for 20 years, and this was not the first time he has been hurriedly called to the Zuo family.

Carrying the medical bag, he skilfully walked into the house.

His employer, Zuo Yan, was already waiting for him.

Dr. Zhao asked: “Are you uncomfortable?”

Zuo Yan shook his head: “It’s not me who’s uncomfortable.”

He pushed open the door of the room behind him, turned around and walked in first, followed by Dr. Zhao.

Dr. Zhao’s eyes fell on the bed.

A young man who seemed to be in a coma was lying there. He was silent and motionless, only the slight movement of his chest proved that he was alive.

Having been a doctor for the powerful family for a long time, Dr. Zhao knew what to ask and what not to ask.

Knowing when to shut up was the most precious virtue.

He walked quickly to the bedside, opened the medical kit and put it aside and began to examine the patient.

The moment Dr. Zhao’s stethoscope touched the other’s chest, he could feel the other’s involuntary trembling in a coma, as if he could still feel pain even at this time.

He paused, then continued in a more gentle way.

Ten minutes later, Dr. Zhao put the inspection equipment back in the medical box, his brows furrowed tightly, as if he was puzzled by something.

Zuo Yan asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

Dr. Zhao hesitated for a while, then slowly shook his head: “This… His body functions are very healthy, and through this simple examination, I don’t know why he is showing such a reaction.”

Zuo Yan frowned.

He walked slowly to the foot of the bed, his knuckled fingers pressed against the guard at the end of the bed, and his eyes fell on the young man who was still in a coma:

“Is it possible that he took any drugs?”

Dr. Zhao shook his head: “His pupils are not abnormal, there is no trace of the drugs he could have taken and there is no sign of an increase in blood pressure and heartbeat. It should not be any stimulant from the market, but his limbs very obviously have a stress response to touch…”

He frowned in confusion: “If you are really worried… I could do a blood test?”

Zuo Yan nodded, his expression unchanged:

“Do one.”

Since he decided to have this person follow him, his innocence must be guaranteed.

.

When Ge Xiu woke up, he didn’t know where he was for a while.

The electric shock had already stopped, and there was a dead silence in his ears, but his body seemed to still remember that terrifying pain, as if the electric current had melted into his blood was still making his body sizzle even now.

Ge Xiu adjusted his breathing, blinked his eyes, and his vision slowly became clear again.

Overall, the shock this time was not a bad thing.

Before this punishment world, the presiding judge had told Ge Xiu that the flow of time inside and outside the world was different, and this was obviously not just for efficiency.

The core of the whole project was Pandora, and the core of Pandora was spiritual power.

Then in order to ensure the implementation of their plan, it was natural to want to ensure that the main body, that is, their spiritual power, was in a state of high-speed operation, as to achieve sufficient strength, and compressing time was the easiest way to do it.

Observing the virtual world in real time would inevitably lead to the inability of the outside world.

But this time was different.

This time the task very clearly pointed in the only direction — they were not only observing, but even externally conducting real-time control.

For some reason, they forced him to follow the plan, even at the expense of efficiency.

—They were in a hurry.

Although it was just a simple act of stopping him and imposing punishment, it could reveal a lot of information.

And one of the most important:

time constraint.

They were in a hurry, and due to the constant deviation from the plan and the original trajectory, they were becoming more and more impatient. More and more attempts to interfere with the virtual world have appeared.

The blurry photo taken from a distance flashed through Ge Xiu’s mind.

In the light blue nutrient solution, the man floated silently, his long black hair billowing, like a flag being blown in a gust of wind.

The end of all these puzzles lies with him.

Ge Xiu propped himself up on the bed and sat up, all the joints in his body were aching, the pain previously hidden in the crevices of his muscles and bones stretched out its tentacles with his movements.

His fingers on his knees were still shaking slightly.

Ge Xiu frowned irritably and pressed down his trembling fingers with his other hand, preventing them from continuing to shiver physiologically.

He seemed to remember something, reached out and took out his phone from his pocket.

Uproar on the internet only intensified with time. It was obvious that Wang Xuejiu had done more than one illegal thing. His previous actions were nothing more than throwing a boulder into dark stagnant waters, causing the rotten and smelly sediment at the bottom of the pool to flow upwards with the waves, resulting in exposing the bones and corpses buried under it to the public eye. More dark transactions and industrial chains were turned upside down, public opinion has turned back in an instant, the local police station has announced a file case, countless media have spoken out—however, the large-scale changes in Xingchen’s company stock market and the change of ownership of the largest shareholder were left unnoticed.

And the name Lu Nan had become withered chrysanthemums, a bone that has been chewed and turned over many times by the public, long tasteless and abandoned without any suspense, completely forgotten in the backs of their minds.

*明日黄花 – lit. chrysanthemums after the Double Ninth Festival, meaning something meaningless and outdated

Ge Xiu checked his mailbox on the dark web.

A new email from his buyer appeared, with the intention to reach closer cooperation.

After thinking about it, he typed two words:

“Yes.”

After all, whether it was investing in films or interfering with the daily operation of entertainment companies required a lot of money, maintaining a long-term cooperative relationship was obviously a good choice — especially since the other party made a generous move and sold the deal at nearly ten times the reserve price.

Zuo Yan received a reply from the vice president on his mobile phone:

XIU agreed.

He glanced at the messages on the screen and replied: “Try to see if we can get closer.”

After replying, Zuo Yan turned off the screen of his mobile phone and raised his hand to open the closed door in front of him.

Sensing the movement at the door, the young man sitting on the bed put down his mobile phone and looked in his direction.

His condition was much better than before, but his complexion was still pale as if it was about to dissipate, almost melting into the sunlight coming in from the window.

For the first time, Zuo Yan saw the other party’s appearance when he was awake.

Not anger nor aggression from first time they met, nor vulnerability and shivering like the second time.

The young man looked over quietly, his dark eyes were bottomless, and there was a strange sense of alienation.

Zuo Yan’s heart moved.

He had seen Lu Nan before — in the photos taken by the media, the young people with bright skins was panicky with evasive attitude, his expressions was confused, his eyes dodgy, and his posture was cowardly.

And very visibly… completely different.

“Awake?”

He stepped into the room, and asked lightly without the slightest emotion in his low voice.

Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes.

The man in front of him was tall and had long legs, a noble temperament and cold eyes.

Perhaps it was because of the spiritual connection between the two of them from the previous world. Although it was only a glance, Ge Xiu immediately recognized who the other party was, as if natural ripples spread in his soul, instinctively and clearly recognising the existence of a person the same as him.

He was Lulai, Elinor, Rowett and Haines.

Or…Pandora?