731: It's Because...

It's Because...

2Dr. Feng remained in a daze for a moment, unable to react as he watched the unexpected scene happening right in front of his eyes. 

Never in his wildest dream would he imagine that… the system and the virtual character he created with his own hands would develop such an… such an intimate relationship! He had naively thought that they were close brothers, but in the end, they turned out to be lovers?!

The shock was too much, he felt as if his three views were rapidly being destroyed and rebuilt in the span of seconds. 

After creating the virtual character 'Cyrus', Dr. Feng had only given it a mission to guide Zachary and Lu Yizhou inside the simulator. As for the level of authority it had, he had not applied too many restrictions because he assumed that the system would issue a warning once Cyrus acted out of line. He had foolishly trusted that there was no need for him to supervise their actions at all.

In the end, look at what his carelessness had led to…

Dr. Feng pursed his lips and adjusted his crooked glasses, his expression turning complicated. He glanced at Cyrus and Luan who were still entangled with each other and hastily averted his gaze away. Inexplicably flustered, he climbed up from the ground and turned off the hologram screen. After settling down on his seat again, he sank into deep thoughts. 

He could not actually put into words what he was feeling right now. How to describe it? The thing he had always viewed as nothing but a series of codes and inanimate machinery suddenly behaved so much like a human being, they could even fall in love behind his backs…

If Dr. Feng had to search for a suitable metaphor, then it was still the feeling of an old father who had always seen his son as a child. But before he knew it, his son had suddenly brought a girlfriend – no, a boyfriend – no, it was even worse than that. His son had not brought his boyfriend home, but it was him, this old father, who had caught his son acting like a hoodlum outside!

Dr. Feng gnashed his teeth angrily and finally understood why Luan had always avoided the topic of Luan. As it turned out, he was only afraid that his illicit relationship would be discovered! 

Good… very good, you have really grown up, huh?!

No matter how open-minded Dr. Feng was, he would still feel a tad uncomfortable and needed time to adjust after the collapsing of his beliefs.

And hence, when Luan returned after his reunion with Cyrus, what he found was Dr. Feng who was giving him cold shoulders. Well, rather than cold shoulders, it was more like Dr. Feng did not notice his presence at all and was furiously typing something into his hologram keyboard. His expression was mildly murderous as if the other side had owed him a million dollars.

When Luan saw him again, he became a bit restless due to the guilty conscience. He knew it was his fault to seek the Head Administrator's shadow in Cyrus, but he just could not resist the fatal temptation of this forbidden fruit. But now that the deed had been done, there was nothing he could do to salvage it anymore. 

Cyrus might only be a virtual character, but his intelligence and keen senses far surpassed others because of Dr. Feng's meticulous skill. He had already sensed something amiss with Luan recently. And because the man had suddenly gone missing, he finally appeared outside the simulator to demand an explanation from him.

Due to his guilty conscience, Luan could not bring himself to look Cyrus in the eye and he could not bring himself to kiss Cyrus as he had always done either. There was a saying that you could easily sense the shift in someone's feelings once you are being intimate, and that was what happened to them.

"Luan, tell me…" Cyrus' eyes were rimmed red with tears as he asked in a trembling voice, "What's wrong? Why do you suddenly change?"

Luan pursed his lips tightly and stayed silent. He had no idea how to break the news in a way that would not hurt Cyrus. He loved this man very much. He really did. But the main reason for that was because he was the virtual character created by Dr. Feng…

Harshly speaking, Luan had only treated Cyrus as a replacement for his white moonlight. "I'm sorry…" was all he could utter in the end.

Hearing that, Cyrus suddenly let go of him and retreated, his smile bleak and desolate. "I suddenly realized that I don't know you anymore, Luan…" After leaving that sentence, Cyrus' virtual body had instantly vanished from the room. Luan could actually locate him because the whole system was literally under his control, yet he didn't. Simply because he had no idea how to face Cyrus after the heinous thing he had done.

Dr. Feng noticed that Luan was standing lost in thought on the doorway and finally could not resist the itch in his heart anymore. He gave a smile that was not quite the smile. "How is the prototype? Does it suit your taste?"

Luan snapped back to his senses and raised his head to find Dr. Feng smiling at him. For some reason, he felt as if Dr. Feng could see through all the dilemma in his heart and he abruptly dropped his gaze again, his heartbeat racing like a drum. He was actually too distracted by Cyrus' sudden appearance that he had even forgotten to test the prototype. But under Dr. Feng's expectant gaze, he could only murmur vaguely, "It's fine…"

Dr. Feng replied with a simple 'oh' before returning his attention to the document in front of him. Inwardly, he could not help but sneer. Hide ah, let's see how long you can hide from me!

Luan subconsciously felt that something was off with Dr. Feng's reaction. Going by how perfectionist he was, he would not be satisfied with Luan's perfunctory answer and would definitely pester him until he gave a comprehensive review of the prototype. Only then could he send the feedback to the manufacturer for adjustment. But in the end… he only replied with an 'oh'? Luan had no idea whether this was his guilty conscience speaking, but for the very first time ever, he felt as if he was standing on pins and needles in Dr. Feng's office.

Dr. Feng cast him a cursory glance and sneered quietly, "What's wrong? Do you have anything else to say?"

Luan's heart thumped in his chest. What did he mean by that…? Had he… 

Raising his head, he carefully inspected Dr. Feng's appearance and finally noticed that the man seemed to be in a bad mood. Luan asked tentatively, "Are you… angry?"

It was fine if he had not brought it up, but once he did, Dr. Feng could not hold back the stifling anger in his chest anymore. He finally swept away the work document with a flick of his hand and faced Luan with his arms crossed. He raised a provoking brow. "Why are you asking that?" He inquired with a fake smile. "Or… have you done something to make me angry?"

Upon hearing this snide question, Luan's heart abruptly sank to the pit of his stomach. Dr. Feng's behavior this time was too unusual, and he could only think of one reason behind it. "You… already knew?" Luan clenched his fists, his throat bobbing. 

Anxiety and fear rapidly crawled up his spine and overwhelmed his senses. He was so afraid of seeing Dr. Feng's reaction that he could only train his gaze on the floor. He had been dreading the arrival of this day, but now that the moment had really come, there was an unprecedented sense of relief as if he could finally put an end to this guilt which had been tormenting him…

Dr. Feng shot up standing and slammed his palms on the table, enraged. "You still dare to ask me this question? Tell me, if I had not found out by accident, how long are you going to hide this matter from me?!"

How long, he asked… 

To be completely honest, Luan had not been thinking of the future at all. Because the 'future' he wished for had always been out of his reach. He was fully aware of that. He was simply content by staying invisible and watching this person immersed in his work. If not for Dr. Feng's plan to dissect Cyrus in order to find him, perhaps he wouldn't have even shown himself at all. 

Yet now…

Now that he knew how it felt to have this person's gaze on him, how it felt to be smiled at, to interact with him daily as if they were a pair of equals, he was starting to get greedy and wished for more and more.

"Answer me!" Dr. Feng was fuming after seeing Luan's silence. "Just why the hell do you hide your relationship with Cyrus from me? Do you think that I'm going to oppose it like an evil mother-in-law?! You and Cyrus are—"

"No…!" Luan forced out through gritted teeth. He did not want to hear this. He did not want to hear Dr. Feng sincerely approving the relationship between the two of them. But in the end, what he feared the most had still happened. Taking a deep breath, he finally bit the bullet and admitted with all honesty, fully accepting the bleak reality that would welcome him soon after. 

"You're asking me why I am hiding my relationship with Cyrus?" He stared at Dr. Feng's angry eyes and smiled, albeit his heart was shattering to pieces right now. "Simple. It's because the person I love is you…"

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