Recap
The wound had mostly healed in the past few days, with just a small patch left.
“It’s all healed,” Long Shiyu said. “Totally healed.”
Shen Zhaomu smiled and ruffled his hair. “That’s good. I’m free tomorrow night. Want to go to the night market here?”
“Of course!” Long Shiyu grinned, immediately rubbing his tail against Shen Zhaomu’s wrist. “You’re such a good princess!”
Shen Zhaomu added, “But after this, you’re absolutely not allowed to tie a bow on my bathrobe belt again.”
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“I don’t like it.”
“Ying.”
“…Anyway, no more.”
“Then, can I secretly tie a knot for you later? I’ll be very careful.”
“Sure.”
Early the next morning, Shen Chaomu went out. He didn’t go for long, just went to an old mercenary warehouse to check the situation.
According to past experience, behind the mercenaries is Shen Di, and Augusta is the one who directly commands them – in the past two months, he has also appeared on different planets, and all of these planets have experienced large-scale or small-scale riots of alien beasts.
Augusta is not strong in terms of strength alone, he is just very familiar with the operation of the mercenary market and the underground black market, and arranges everything very well.
The arrogant and belligerent blood of the dragon hunting family was flowing. Not only did he have a special obsession with Long Shiyu, but he also had to go to the scene every time, and personally led his subordinates. He can be called a three-good employee among mercenaries and a moral model among criminals. In Fang Qing’s words, Shen Di “should pay him three times his salary”.
The reason why Augusta dared to do this was nothing more than Shen Di covering him.
A month ago, just like in Tabu, Shen Chaomu forced him to a dead end. Then the shadow under his feet suddenly surged up, Augusta’s face turned pale, his fingertips turned green, and he completely lost his breathing and heartbeat. Then the skin peeled off piece by piece, and underneath was a hollow body.
The power from the alien beast Xuanchan allowed him to escape again.
If they don’t get rid of Shen Di, they won’t be able to get rid of Augusta.
In the warehouse that Shen Chaomu went to, there were some syringes and abandoned terminals that had not been transported away. The chips had been completely destroyed and no information could be read.
There is nothing else besides this.
When he came back, Shen Chaomu bought breakfast for Long Shiyu, three sandwiches and two bottles of calcium milk for children.
Long Shiyu sat at the table and ate happily, and asked, “Where are you going today? I want to go too.”
“It’s just activities in the city. Meistan is the hub city of the interstellar network, and it’s very troublesome that the key base station was destroyed.” Shen Chaomu said, “The core base station is heavily guarded, and it is impossible for mercenaries to destroy it. If it is like Wilpan or Siren, that level is not necessary.”
A week ago, the well-developed surveillance system here captured a person very similar to Shen Di through facial recognition, coupled with the frequent activities of mercenaries, he came here in person.
Meistan is divided into many different parts, the security in the main city is very good, but the slightly remote places are relatively less strict.
Riding the air train all the way, Long Shiyu followed Shen Chaomu to all corners of the city.
The giant billboards outside were colorful, and the buildings flew past them. The air train is the best choice for office workers here. It is faster than the aircraft. After all, during rush hour, the aircraft can be blocked in mid-air, and the mechanical traffic police are busy.
Passengers got off the train along the way, and only a small number of people continued to travel to remote places. Shen Chaomu came out to investigate alone this time, and didn’t want to attract attention, so he dressed in a low-key manner. And Long Shiyu drank orange juice contentedly.
Soon after leaving the main city, the scenery outside the window became wider, and the air train was extremely stable. Only when entering the station, the hanging handrails would sway slightly.
The hour hand points to seven fifty-five.
Some people in the carriage began to feel anxious and looked at their watches frequently, probably because they were going to be late for work. Entering the station again, several people hurried down, and by the way, they swiped their terminals at the station to buy a sandwich and ran with it.
Long Shiyu said: “I used to work at the train station.”
Shen Chaomu was immediately alert: “What did you do?”
“It’s just selling tickets, the salary is not high, the main reason is that the food and lodging are included here.”
“Are they really not losing money by including food?”
“It should be a loss, because I worked very hard every day and didn’t sleep, but they still fired me during the probationary period. The two bosses personally sent me to the taxi and gave me a lot of money, asking me to go to the opponent’s company.”
Shen Chaomu: “…”
The train started again, and the hurrying figures of those office workers, together with the huge elevated platform, all went away.
Long Shiyu said: “So if you don’t become a hunter, what do you want to do?”
Shen Chaomu was stunned for a moment: “I haven’t thought about this question.”
With innate talent and family background, there is no need to consider such things.
“Okay,” Long Shiyu said, “But what would you do if you retired from the association?”
Shen Chaomu smiled: “Why are you suddenly talking about retirement? Everyone calls me ‘young and promising’ now.”
“Just think about it. I can’t help you much with the affairs of the association, so I want to see if other places will work. Although my work experience has been a failure, if you tell me in advance, I can go and learn. For example, if you want to open a bakery, I can learn how to bake. When I worked in a bakery, I would eat unsold tiramisu every day. For example, if you want to plant apple trees, I can see which planet the soil is the most fertile, and which kind of saplings are the best.”
“Will you steal apples?”
“No! How could I steal the princess’s apple?”
“Really?”
“…Maybe, I will eat a few occasionally, just a few.” Long Shiyu suddenly felt guilty.
Shen Chaomu rubbed his head and suddenly smiled: “How long have you been thinking about these things?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes I dream about these things, such as us opening many different shops.”
Shen Chaomu remembered those dreams, Long Shiyu always talked about “princess”, “evil dragon” and other sleep talk every time, and occasionally laughed a few times.
It turned out that he dreamed of such a thing.
Long Shiyu said again: “Anyway, if you tell me in advance, I can learn in advance. No matter how untalented I am, I can learn it in a few decades.”
“It will be a long time later.”
“Okay, it will be a long time later.”
The train drove into the tunnel, the mountain was on the outskirts of the city, and the tunnel was pitch black.
Long Shiyu said: “So have you figured out what you want to do?”
“Not yet, it may take some time.”
“Oh.”
The air train arrived at the terminal station, and all the passengers got off.
Long Shiyu followed Shen Chaomu out of the platform. It was much simpler here than the main city, and even the big screen on the tall building was broken, and no picture could be displayed.
They navigated the labyrinthine alleyways, reaching the city’s outskirts. Like the hidden corners of Star City, this area held secrets. Though the hunters and Star Police had already investigated, Shen Chaomu wanted to be thorough.
Signs of a recent battle were evident, the marks unlike those left by humans, suggesting the involvement of those who had undergone beastization through blood injections.
To the south, a sealed-off underground market had served as a hub for illicit virtual transactions, including the recent trade in strange beast blood. The basement housed rows of outdated servers, easily acquired in Meistan.
They bypassed the seal and entered the stifling space. A small, rusty window offered a glimpse of the alley outside, its view limited to the passing shoes of pedestrians. The atmosphere was oppressive, the long tables cluttered with debris and overflowing trash cans.
The hunters’ reports had mentioned several mercenaries with visible mutations encountered here.
They were a little late when they arrived, and some people here ran away.
Shen Chaomu’s spiritual power carefully caressed every corner of the room, trying to capture the remaining spiritual power.
His spiritual power is strong, and he can capture traces that other people can’t even notice.
Soon, he wrote down those strange, beast-like spiritual powers one by one, and followed the traces to pursue them.
Long Shiyu held the princess’s hand and walked through the streets and alleys, from dark corners to bars on the edge of the city, and all the way to high-rise buildings.
It’s a pity that the trace finally disappeared.
Shen Chaomu reported the whereabouts and the suspected stops of the mercenaries to the association, and then went to the next place.
After spending the whole day like this, when they finished the last place and stood on the street, the setting sun was already hanging in the west.
Shen Chaomu said: “Are you hungry? It’s dinner time.”
They didn’t have time at noon, so they just bought a hand-held pancake on the side of the road.
Long Shiyu’s eyes lit up: “Yeah.”
It would take too long to return to the main city, so Shen Chaomu found a restaurant nearby in a lively place.
Ramen shop.
The char siu is rich and fragrant, and the soft-boiled eggs are just tender.
The bill was long, and when it was time to pay, the boss’s hands were trembling with fright, and he insisted on giving them a discount.
When they came out again, the evening wind was cool.
A building in the distance was brightly lit, and a crowd gathered at the door, preparing to enter. Several huge posters hung down, including a heroine flying through the sky and escaping from the ground, a family of fluffy animals, and a cold-blooded killer holding a pistol.
A movie theater.
Long Shiyu said: “Do you still have time today?”
“Want to watch a movie?”
“Yeah.” Long Shiyu secretly planned another romantic thing with the princess.
This was originally his break time, but due to special circumstances recently, Shen Chaomu confirmed with the association again, and then said: “There is enough time.”
So Long Shiyu happily dragged the princess into the cinema.
Shen Chaomu let Long Shiyu choose the movie, until Long Shiyu’s eyes fell on… on a princess cartoon movie.
The big cartoon font reads “Princess Cindy and her friends!”
Shen Chaomu: “…You’re not going to watch this, are you?”
“It looks good.”
Shen Chaomu: “…Why don’t you watch other movies, if you don’t like horror movies, there is also a “Doomsday Crisis” to watch, or “Cats and Dogs” is better than this.”
Long Shiyu looked at other posters, but still couldn’t forget Princess Cindy.
Shen Chaomu automatically added a “Ying” to his expression in his heart.
Then he resigned himself to buying tickets, and brought back double servings of Coke and popcorn by the way.
The movie started half an hour later, and they were sitting outside the screening room waiting.
The waiting room here is divided according to the screening time. As soon as Shen Chaomu entered, he saw several children jumping up and down, a little girl wearing a pink fairy costume, several mothers chatting together, and several parents chasing after them in a hurry. The runaway bear child.
They seem out of place in it.
What’s even worse, a young mother immediately exclaimed: “Ah! Isn’t this…!”
Everyone’s eyes were focused.
Originally, many people knew Shen Chaomu, not to mention after he became the chief. For a while, everyone was both surprised and… puzzled.
Shen Chaomu was holding the movie ticket in his hand, with a picture of the pink Princess Cindy on it.
Shen Chaomu: “…”
He had a feeling that his reputation would be ruined.
Fortunately, there were not many people watching the movie. After those who wanted autographs and group photos dispersed, they sat quietly in the corner.
But the bear children stopped making trouble.
To be precise, they didn’t dare to cause trouble near Shen Chaomu.
Shen Chaomu knows that he is not very popular with children, probably because blood and fighting have sunk into his temperament, and he really doesn’t look easy to mess with.
Having nothing to do, he casually said to Long Shiyu: “Do you think I look so unapproachable?”
Long Shiyu gasped: “How could you think of yourself like this? Princesses are approachable and have a pure and kind heart. What makes you think this way?”
Shen Chaomu: “…”
The past is unbearable to look back on. When Long Shiyu asked this question, he remembered that Lu Shanhuai wanted him to educate Lu Shanqing, because the little girl went crazy and refused to sleep.
At that time, Lu Shanhuai said: “Brother Shen, please help me this time.”
“I have no idea about children’s education.”
“I believe you can do it! If she doesn’t sleep again, I will die immediately. My mother wants me to take good care of her! That guy Lu Shanyao can’t help if he stays in the laboratory all day long.”
So Shen Chaomu asked Lu Shanhuai to retell a story to his sister at night – he made up a warm and lovely story, the kind that is very educational.
According to Lu Shanhuai, Lu Shanqing was so frightened that she couldn’t sleep.
In the final analysis, the root cause of this educational tragedy is that one dares to write and the other dares to tell the story.
Shen Chaomu coughed and replied to Long Shiyu: “It’s okay.”
The movie started, and the audience went silent after the commercial.
Their seats were in the last row, the cushions were soft, and when they leaned back, they sank comfortably into them. The popcorn was consumed rapidly under Long Shiyu’s hands, and it was gone in the blink of an eye.
Shen Chaomu didn’t really watch what the movie was about.
He never liked watching cartoons when he was a child, and he has only seen a handful of them. When the theme song sounded, Shen Chaomu collapsed even more.
[La la la~ Brave Cindy wants to climb over mountains and seas~~ La la la~ Kind Cindy wants to bring happiness to everyone~~ Who is the most beautiful princess in the world? Oh! It’s our Princess Cindy! ]
The damned Princess Cindy was still jumping up and down holding hands with her friends, her voice was very loud.
But Long Shiyu watched intently, his expression changed from time to time, and when he saw the villain threatening the princess, he almost burst into flames.
A silly dragon.
A silly dragon nervously watching a movie.
Shen Zhaomu found it amusing, so for the rest of the time, while Long Shiyu was watching the movie, Shen Zhaomu was watching Long Shiyu.
The light and shadow on the screen shifted, falling into the young man’s deep, dark eyes, tracing the lines of his profile—from his chin, to his slender neck, and then his collarbone. At times it was bright, at other times dim, like a dream.
The movie had no novel plot—just another adventure story about a princess, good friends, and the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. From the very beginning, one could predict how it would end.
A few times, Shen Zhaomu casually glanced over. He saw the princess in a pink puffed skirt holding a magic wand gifted by her friends, turning stone into gold, riding a unicorn to the castle on the rainbow.
It reminded him of the cartoons he used to watch as a child.
The same old plot, the same repetitive princess. There was no difference.
However, in the next moment, Long Shiyu turned to him and said, “The princess finally found her way home.” His eyes sparkled with pure joy, just as they had when he listened to his bedtime stories.
Shen Zhaomu’s heart stirred.
Suddenly, that Cindy princess seemed much more appealing.
Someone is always growing up. Someone will always cheer and cry for the simple storylines, and someone will always be waiting for the next princess.
And the evil dragon will always try to take the princess away.
Perhaps it was because dragons live long lives, or perhaps it was Long Shiyu’s own obsession. Nine hundred years passed in the blink of an eye, and he still stood at the center of the stage.
The castles and rainbows, the adventures and romance—he plucked flowers for his princess.
That fairy tale would never end.
On the screen, it could go on, but in reality, there would always be a point where things settle.
So, what kind of ending was Long Shiyu waiting for, the dragon who always believed in fairy tales?
When the movie ended, the lights came on.
The sudden brightness pulled them back to reality.
They walked out of the theater. It was very late, and the temperature had dropped. Shen Zhaomu took off his black coat and draped it over Long Shiyu.
As before, his clothes were too long for Long Shiyu.
Long Shiyu swished the long sleeves around. “I told you, I’m not cold. I’m a fire dragon.”
“Wearing the coat will give you some happy beans,” Shen Zhaomu said.
They headed for the sky train station.
Along the way, they passed a few dim alleys and then a pedestrian bridge.
It was late, and the streets were empty. When they reached the bridge, Long Shiyu stopped.
The bridge was lit by bright lights, casting long shadows of the railing and themselves. A large movie poster nearby depicted the male and female leads embracing and kissing under a dim sky, their eyes half-closed, their lips smiling as rainwater streamed down their cheeks.
“End of the World Romance.”
It was a story about a couple struggling to survive.
Long Shiyu turned to Shen Zhaomu and asked, “You mentioned this earlier. Do you want to watch it?”
“Actually, no,” Shen Zhaomu answered.
He simply didn’t want to watch Cindy and her friends.
The catchy, brainwashing theme song was still playing in his mind.
“Okay, if you want to watch it, just tell me. We can go see it together,” Long Shiyu said.
Standing face to face, Shen Zhaomu asked, “Can I kiss you?”
Long Shiyu didn’t expect him to suddenly ask such a question. He froze for a moment, and then his ears turned bright red. He stammered, “Y-You… Why are you asking such a question? Aren’t we talking about the movie? The princess… the princess should know how to be reserved.”
“I’m not a reserved person.”
“But didn’t I say… didn’t I say I have a secret? If you know it, you’ll definitely get mad. Very mad, even.”
“Secrets are bound to be discovered eventually. When you asked me what I wanted to do today, didn’t you think about your secret?”
Long Shiyu muttered softly, “I just thought about it…”
Shen Zhaomu took a step closer. “So, are you rejecting me, or agreeing?”
Their faces were very close now. Long Shiyu’s ears were even redder. He said, “I already told you, I still have a secret…”
“No rejection means agreement,” Shen Zhaomu said, pulling Long Shiyu close and kisses him.
___
Author’s Note:
Daily “ying” (1/1) (The princess’s imagination).
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