681: If You Want More

If You Want More

Lu Yizhou's chest rose marginally as he took his first breath. His silver eyes were blank and unfocused as if he could not remember who he was and what he was doing here. However, for Zeke, there was no sight more fascinating than seeing life returning to those eyes again. He was akin to a drowning man who had just been granted liberation. One second, he thought that he would surely die from the surge of chilling water down his throat and lungs, then in the next second, he found himself being dragged offshore, ravenously taking in huge gulps of air to make up for what he had lost.2

The oxygen that entered his system finally did not feel as painful anymore. He could breathe. He could finally breathe again…

Zeke's heartbeat subconsciously matched Lu Yizhou's pulse that was displayed on the screen, as though both of their hearts were beating as one. In that moment, all of the gripping fear, despair and agony he had been desperately holding back within him seemed to tip over and spilled out of him in the form of unending tears. Zeke was not even certain if he had shed this much tears inside the simulator. But now, he just could not bring himself to stop.

Shaking off Dr. Feng's grip on his collar, he forced his limp body to crawl to the back seat, almost dragging his useless half-paralyzed legs. He couldn't care less that there were people who witnessed how graceless and humiliating his posture was. His eyes, mind and attention, everything was solely focused on Lu Yizhou alone and no one else.

"Zac—" Dr. Xiao had just opened her mouth to shake Zeke out from whatever stupor he was in when she caught sight of the signal Dr. Feng gave her. The head administrator had shaken his head and gestured for her to leave them alone.

For Zeke, it was not exaggerating to say that he had just been granted a second life. After all, Dr. Feng had just seen how resolute he was in taking his own life. It was ridiculous. He could not understand how someone could be so obsessed with another person to the point of following them even in the path to the underworld, but it was exactly because he could not understand that he'd better keep his mouth shut. There was a voice inside telling him that… Zachary needed this. To make sure that Lu Yizhou was still breathing. To make sure that… this was indeed his reality.

"How is his condition?" he whispered as softly as possible toward Dr. Xiao, who was now moving to the shotgun seat to yield her place for Zeke.

"For now, it is stable." Dr. Xiao wiped the sweat on her forehead. Nobody realized it but in that short few minutes, the one who was most nervous was her. She could not even begin to imagine the consequences if she were to fail to bring Lu Yizhou back. Fortunately… everything worked in their favor. "But the wounds on his body are still very worrying. We'd better hurry up so we can put him in the medical cabin," she urged Dr. Feng anxiously.

Dr. Feng glanced at the back seat and saw Zeke kneeling beside Lu Yizhou, his hand outstretched midair in obvious hesitation as though fearing that one touch would immediately shatter the injured man to pieces. "Okay," he heaved out a long sigh and swiftly restarted the hover car, flooring the accelerator to the maximum and cooking up another tempest of snow behind their trail.

Despite running at an unimaginable speed, the hover car remained very stable and the passengers inside could hardly sense any turbulence. 

Zeke crawled his way to Lu Yizhou with much difficulty and his heart, which had just been floating due to extreme delight, crashed back down again when he saw the state Lu Yizhou was in.

"Oh…" he made a choked sound deep in his throat as if someone had punched him right in the gut. Just now, he had been too focused on Lu Yizhou's weak heartbeat to comprehend the extent of injuries on his body. It was not until now that he could clearly discern how severe it was.

He reached out a hand, yet he did not know whether it would be okay to touch him. Lu Yizhou's body was covered in various degrees of burns that it was hard to make out an intact patch of skin. It was like he had just walked through the flame of Hell back to the mortal world, only short of burning his flesh into crisp. Blood welled out of the blisters, painting a grotesque sight to the otherwise perfect body. 

Tiny pieces of dark fabric were still stuck to the open wound as Dr. Xiao did not have the time to remove them yet. His wounds were so severe, and this was even on the account that he still had one layer of clothing over his body! Apparels sold in the Capital Planet were made of durable material that was not easily combustible. Due to their everyday life which was deeply integrated with machines, accidents involving fire and explosion were increasing by years and hence, this kind of innovation was created. If not for the protection of clothes, then the crystal ball would have scraped a layer of flesh from Lu Yizhou's body!

Zeke numbly dragged his gaze to the most severe wound on Lu Yizhou's right leg. He must have crashed onto something when the crystal ball exploded, breaking the bone from within. It was a very delicate wound as the flesh was still completely intact, yet only the insides which had swelled to a hideous size. Just one glance, Zeke could already tell how painful it was. Yet he recalled how Lu Yizhou had walked with such ease, never showing any signs of discomfort on his face…

And what he could see were only the superficial wounds. They would not know for certain how damaged his inner organs were until they could get hold of the medical cabin!

When he thought of how Lu Yizhou had climbed up to the rooftop through the ladder, cradled him in a warm embrace to soothe his agitated emotions, then set off the cannon against the former Crown Prince… Zeke was filled with utter disbelief. How could Lu Yizhou still move when he was surely feeling a whole lot of agony, even acting as if nothing was wrong with his body at all?!

Just the mere thought of it wrenched his heart in pain, sending a renewed surge of tears out of his eyes.

Lu Yizhou's blank gaze slowly regained focus and landed on Zeke's face in time to see the latter crying so piteously without a sound. A frown appeared between his brows. His fingers twitched and he mustered every drop of strength to lift his stiff hand and shakily wipe the tears from Zeke's cheeks. His voice came out almost inaudible. "Don't cry…"

His attempt to soothe his lover completely backfired. Instead of stopping, Zeke cried even harder to the point where he could hardly take a breath. His slender figure curled up beside Lu Yizhou, as his tears fell on the seat of the car in pitter patter. He firmly kept his hands to himself despite the gnawing need to hold Lu Yizhou close to him. And the willpower it took to do that had his whole body shaking like a sieve. "Don't leave me…" he whispered amidst the sobs. "I–I beg you… Don't leave me, okay?"

Lu Yizhou's eyes reddened. Unable to move his body, he could only stretch his neck to nuzzle close to Zeke's face, humming. "Silly, how can I leave you all by yourself?"

Zeke suddenly became angry when he heard that. "You still dare to say that?! Your heart has completely stopped beating for a few minutes!"

Lu Yizhou froze in surprise. He did not know that. All this while, he only felt as if his soul was floating amidst a blank nothingness, and it was not until he heard Zeke's voice calling out for him that he desperately sought a way out. No wonder… No wonder his lover was reacting like this…

"I'm sorry…" his voice was hoarse with remorse. He had severely overestimated himself. He thought that he would be able to hold on against this kind of injury. After all, it was not the first time he had suffered like this and every single time, he could endure them all fine. That's why he also assumed that he would be able to do it this time, at least until he got rid of the troublesome enemies. Yet in the end, he ended up scaring his lover to tears. How pathetic! "Oh sweetheart, I am very so–"

Before he could utter the last word, Zeke suddenly tilted his head and closed the distance between them.

Lu Yizhou's heart skipped a beat when a gentle touch landed on his lips.

It was so soft, the touch grazing against his lips akin as if a feather was gently landing on it. Before Lu Yizhou could truly savor it, Zeke had pulled away, his misty eyes and tear-streaked face made him look especially pitiful. He sniffled. "You kept your promise this time. You have returned to me so… consider it as a reward." Color subtly returned to Zeke's cheeks as he murmured under his breath, "If you want more, then you have to get up yourself to get it…"

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A/N: you can now get Christmas limited edition artwork of Lu Yizhou and Zeke in my discord server! If you haven't joined, just go to bit(dot)ly(slash)delanadiscord and you will be able to gain access to it! ^^

Once again, Merry Christmas <3<3

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