Moon Theory (ABO)Ch57 - boldly, declaring intentions

For an underground lounge, this one is particularly clean and tidy. Well-maintained, too – there is not a single speck of dust on the flooring nor on the walls that are minimally decorated with contemporary paintings. Remnants of early twenty-first century, though they are worth close to nothing lest sold to a rich city dweller. Art, for all its antiquity, is completely nonessential in apocalyptic Earth.

Books, too, are nonessentials if not academic. The lounge has bookshelves so stacked yet neatly and alphabetically organized – it really reflects the personalities of the people who live here. Allaire takes a seat on an olive brown sofa. 8LBXQd

“The place hasn’t been touched in a while,” she says as Noah sits opposite from her, also on a matching sofa. Very meticulous the area is – not a single off-color and no furniture that wouldn’t complement the sepia lamps on the side. “We clean it occasionally, but little Noah hadn’t been back to visit for months. I was really afraid he’d died off somewhere. He’s always going off on his own.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Noah says with a small frown as he studies the table in front of them. There’s a small stain on the tablecloth, a very subtle splotch of light brown against white. Tea, perhaps, and the person hadn’t cleaned up after. Noah looks a little displeased. “…It is dirty.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“As fussy as always,” Allaire teases him.

A low laugh from Yang Rong who opts to sit adjacent to him – very close yet again, their thighs practically touching through the fabric of their trousers. Noah shoots the man a cold look. q56nSb

“What is so amusing, Colonel Yang?”

“Hmm?” Yang Rong spreads his knees nonchalantly, taking up most of the limited space on the sofa. Leave it to the colonel to show off his dominance whenever he can – even his posture screams self-assured. “Nothing, little kitten. I was simply thinking that the place is specifically tailored to you. It is no wonder you’re disgusted by military bomb shelters and cockroaches when you’re pampered like this.”

“I simply do not live like a slob,” Noah retorts sharply. “And you, Colonel Yang, are the very definition of one.”

“Yes, yes,” Colonel Yang tries to appease him though the mirth on his face is not helping the case. He suddenly leans forward and reaches a hand to cup Noah on the cheek. His fingers slide up to the side of his bangs and, to Noah’s confusion, the man gently brushes away a speck of soot.

“Here,” Yang Rong whispers, his lips tugging up to tease. “A bit of dirt on your hair.”

“You…” Noah’s eyes flinch from the proximity. “Colonel Yang, why are you sticking so close to me? There is more than enough space for you on the other side.”

“Hm?” Yang Rong leans so close that Noah has to physically sink himself into the sofa to make space. The man is unrelenting with his advances, however, and for unknown reasons, he is particularly straightforward tonight. “I am close to you? I think I can be closer.”

“…” Noah stares at him strangely. “What are you doing?” xGgKr5

“What am I doing?” Yang Rong tilts his head slightly, his dark lashes angling shadows down his cheekbone. “I am making my intentions clear to you.”

“—Hmm,” comes Allaire’s very amused hum. “If you may stop flirting for a little while, I believe introductions are in order.”

“That’s right,” Colonel Yang replies, moving away to reassume his posture of calm. Sometime in the last few hours, the colonel has had at least twenty personality shifts. What’s even more strange is that Yang Rong begins to purposefully undo the first three buttons of his tight dress shirt, blatantly showing off his muscular frame. When he leans his body back, the fabric stretches over his pecs.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

He begins, “As mentioned, I am Yang Rong, colonel of Combat Unit One. I hold quite a reputation myself. There isn’t a single city civilian who hasn’t heard of me – expectedly, the general consensus holds that I am a tall and handsome soldier with hundreds of achievements and medals to my name. If I weren’t recognized for my contributions on the field, I’d be recognized by my gallantry.” m9E2YT

“…” Rbjt atlcxr atfgf lrc’a j rlcuif rbei ktb’v mbwf mibrf ab atf wjc’r cjgmlrrlrw.

“I am rich,” Yang Rong continues without an ounce of shame. “Rich to the extent that nothing holds monetary value anymore—I don’t believe there is a single thing I cannot get my hands on. If I recall correctly, a more recent issue of the Nexus newspaper heralded me as a paladin of humankind. My name comes side by side with genius—”

“—Your name comes very high up in infamy, too,” Allaire cuts in with a twinkle in her eyes. “I actually have heard of you, Colonel Yang. I believe the eleventh issue of the Nexus annual newspaper mentioned some ménage à trois with you and… hm, I’d forgotten the names, but they were two busty omega women.”

“…” Tjcu Ebcu rcfjxr j uijcmf ja Rbjt ktb bcis gfwjlcr ilraifrr. “…Pa lrc’a agef. Gbc’a ajxf atfrf cbcrfcrlmji ubrrlq jgalmifr rfglberis.” Nl9QdP

Ciijlgf ajqr tfg cjlir bc atf ajyif jcv jvvr bc, “Po P gfmjii mbggfmais, atfgf kjr jirb j agsra klat j qgbralaeaf lc ygbjv vjsiluta?”

“…What?” Yang Rong seems genuinely frazzled by such a reveal. He sweeps back a portion of his hair, looks to Noah again and says, “It was but a perfunctory exchange of saliva. No other bodily fluids were involved.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“I lied about that one,” Allaire laughs sweetly, “but I am very aware of your personality now, Yang Rong. Tell me… if you’re infected like Noah had mentioned, why are you comfortable with having sexual relations? Could it be that your radioactivity isn’t strong enough to be spread?”

Yang Rong ponders the question for a while. “Potentially. There have been no problems. None when kissing – none that I’ve witnessed – though ejaculation may be another matter. I have always used protection.” W3VxTR

“Hm…” Allaire flicks her gaze over to Noah. “What do you think?”

Noah answers, “…I don’t know. I suppose there are variants.”

“It seems to be the same for Hyun,” Allaire notes down mentally. “I still conjecture that there is certain immunity that humans can build over time, but our scope of knowledge is too narrow. Yang Rong, can you morph? What is your mutation?”

“A mix of reptile, though I’m uncertain on the details.” Yang Rong waves his fingers. On the tip of his index appears a layer of hard brown scales, roughly enclosing the digit in a shell. “Sometimes I can control it at will only on my most mobile areas. My joints, for example. Other times, it doesn’t manifest at all. Purely sporadic.” Blhsxd

Allaire stares in amazement. “Wow. You are the first cold-blooded amphibian morph I’ve seen. The others have all died.”

“The others?” Yang Rong raises a brow. “How many do you know?”

“I did say I run a business. We shelter the infected here. A hotel is not far off the mark, but if there is a crackdown…” Allaire’s smiles turns dangerous, her green-gray eyes narrowing to match. “Then, Colonel Yang, I will assume that the military has gotten insider information.”

“Allaire,” Noah speaks up quietly. “You told him a little too much.” 1nZwjs

“You brought him here, Noah,” Allaire chuckles. “You wouldn’t bring him if you didn’t trust him.”

He sneaks a glance at the colonel who, now that Noah is paying attention, still has his gaze glued to him. Yang Rong is leaned against the backrest with his arms crossed and his expression undecipherable. Foolish one moment and utterly composed the next – the paradox is unfair.

“…Not sure,” Noah whispers. “There is certain complication.”

“Why?” Yang Rong asks quietly. His dark green eyes are lightened in sepia and like this, Noah thinks it’s even more unfair for him to look so unimposing. Nothing like his hardheaded alpha personality. “I’ll be good to you. I promise.” d2WgMz

Noah chuckles then. With a soft, resigned smile, he leans over to flick the man on the forehead. At this distance, he only has to turn clockwise to directly touch shoulders. “Yang Rong, you should think before you speak. Sometimes I do not think you understand the words coming out of your mouth.”

Yang Rong doesn’t avoid the flick – instead, he takes ahold of Noah’s wrist, pulls it closer to his mouth and drops a light kiss. When Noah doesn’t recoil, the man drops another on his palm and then his fingertips. Yang Rong’s lashes are lidded low enough to block the color of his irises.

“I think I do,” the colonel says, still holding onto his wrist – except now, he’s starting to slide up to interlace their fingers. “The one who doesn’t understand is you, no?”

Noah opens his mouth. “Colonel Y—” oDpEic

“I’d rather you call me Yang Rong,” he says with a slight tease. “Or Rong-ge? Handsome Rong-ge?”

“—Handsome Rong-ge,” comes a response not from Noah, but from Allaire who’d been watching with unbridled interest to the side. She is all keen on watching the scene, even crossing her legs in prime spectator mode. With a light wink, she says in fluent Chinese, “If you must be this bold, then I’d rather not let things escalate on my sofa. I also must add that Noah dislikes aggressive and egotistic men – and you check off his entire list of dislikes very easily.”

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“…” Yang Rong drops his hold and turns to the younger man. “Do you really dislike me that much?”

Noah doesn’t respond. Instead, he turns the opposite direction and discreetly pulls his jacket hood over his head. The fur trim is large enough to cover his rosed face. He puts his hands into his pockets and assumes a listless posture. 0vdCp2

Allaire watches him with amusement. “Or… maybe not? Yang Rong, I do have to ask – how far have you two gotten? Noah is not normally one to be this shy.”

“Hm?” Yang Rong raises a brow. “We’ve only kissed—twice if you include CPR and ten times if you count a very sexy make out—”

“Shut up,” comes Noah’s sharp voice as he leans over to grab him by the collar. His expression is of half embarrassment and half anger, his eyes narrowing into glowing slits – too pretty to be intimidating. “Stop talking.”

“—Yes, yes,” Yang Rong lifts both hands up in defeat. “We’ve never kissed consensually. We haven’t gone far at all, little kitten. Rong-ge admits his wrongs. However…” The man frowns and pulls the hood off his head. “What is wrong with your health, Noah? Your pupils are vertical again – very pretty, but they have never changed so frequently in one day.” MnoKTl

Noah immediately releases his grip and covers his eyes. He leans back against the sofa and backs himself into the far corner – not that there is much room to work with, considering Yang Rong had very annoyingly taken over the entirety of his personal space.

Allaire is receptive of the change as well. She gets up and walks over to him with a deep frown on her face. She resolutely grabs his jawline and angles him upward for her to see.

“Noah…” she says, her tone much darker than usual, “when was the last time you’ve eaten?”

“Yesterday.” YdJ7Rb

“Eaten properly.”

“…” Noah glances off to the side. “A week.”

She raises a brow. “You are terrible at lying, sweetheart.”

“…Two months.” Before Allaire could respond, Noah had already prepared for a rebuttal. “I know. I haven’t found anything suitable to eat. It is all… disgusting.” mgw2pt

She sighs. “No matter how disgusting you find it, you have to eat, Noah. Your constitution isn’t going to improve if you hold off. Ideally, as a hybrid, you should be feeding on raw animals—”

“I don’t like them,” Noah responds. “I’d rather not consume anything that moves with more than the acceptable number of arms and legs. Allaire, you’re aware of how difficult it is to find an uninfected animal and for me to eat those things is—mmf—!”

She slaps a hand over his mouth, effectively rendering him silent. Allaire turns to the companion by his side, Yang Rong, who is still trying his best to register the conversation. She calls to him. “Colonel Yang, why are you unaware of his diet when you yourself are morphed?”

“…?” Yang Rong blinks at her. “Why would I know? I don’t need to eat anything specific.” HwZilV

At that, she is momentarily confused. “You don’t share carnivorous desires?”

“I eat everything,” Yang Rong says with a lift of his brow. “From rabbits to rattlesnakes to birds. When I am with my unit, we roast animals with low levels of radioactivity. When alone, I eat just about anything that moves. I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference, however.”

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“…Interesting,” Allaire says. “It seems the symptoms really are different according to the person. And you, Yang Rong, just happen to be a buffoon.”

“…” Yang Rong doesn’t have a response to that. Instead, he redirects the topic with a low cough. “The little kitten dislikes pork, beef, deer, duck and just about everything. I believe it’s less a matter of what he can eat and more about what he’d rather eat. His selective palate is really something else. Perhaps next time, I’d have to read up on how to care for a cat.” lP 52x

“Ohh?” Allaire loosens her hold on Noah and leans over to the colonel instead. She has on a conspiratorial smile when she whispers, “Let me tell you a secret. Noah is a cute little—”

“It is none of his business.” Noah resolutely stands up and halts all conversation. “I’m going to shower.”

“Go shower.” Yang Rong flashes him a smirk. “I will indulge in gossip while you are gone, little kitten… unless you’d like for me to join?”

“…Annoying.” EHkqW6