Translator: ThatLazyPotato
Translation Checker: 7qqy
Editor: yuki_shuichi
The elevator outside the apartment made small noises as it moved. Bai Chunian, who was lying on the table playing with his tail looking bored, immediately pricked up his ears. His hearing was sensitive and he could clearly identify Rimbaud’s gait and breathing. Before Rimbaud’s key had been inserted into the keyhole, Bai Chunian became overjoyed, leaning on the cage door while entirely in chains.
Rimbaud opened the door, changed out of his shoes, and hooked the cap on the hanger. He went to the living room to pour himself a cup of water, gulped it down, then went to the bedroom.
When he had just walked to the bed, Xiao Bai pounced on him, and they fell heavily on the bed, making the bed creak.
Bai Chunian had melted the cage door, dragging the chains on him and hugging Rimbaud. He rubbed the tip of his nose against Rimbaud’s neck, breathing in his scent. “You’re finally home, it’s so boring being home alone.”
Bai Chunian pecked his cheek, then turned over and laid next to him. They looked at the ceiling side by side. “How’d it go? You finished the matter I asked you to do, right?”
“En.” Rimbaud was lost in thought while looking up. Bai Chunian leaned over and kissed his earlobe and cheek. “Did you bring back the stuff? What’s the matter with you?”
Rimbaud gave him a sideway glance, then raised his hand and rubbed Bai Chunian’s neck.
Bai Chunian defenselessly let him touch, purring comfortably, but he gradually felt Rimbaud’s fingers tightening. He slowly became unable to breathe, and the color of his face turned from pale to red.
“Rimbaud…too tight…haa…”
“If I kill you now, I don’t need to worry about anything anymore.” Rimbaud propped himself up, looking down at him. His ocean-blue eyes were bottomless. “In any case, no matter how I save you, you’ll still leave me 100 years later. By then, everyone won’t be here anymore, nor will you either, only I’ll be left. After one hundred years, one thousand years, ten thousand years, one hundred thousand years… there will only be me left.”
Rimbaud was very strong. Instinct drove Bai Chunian to hold his veined hand with his own hands, and he opened his mouth to gasp.
He was in extreme pain from the feeling of suffocation, but Bai Chunian saw something even more painful in Rimbaud’s eyes, and he became trapped in it, falling into the abyss within his eyes.
“So…rry…I can’t…accompany you…and even cause…trouble for you…” An off-key voice squeezed out from between Bai Chunian’s teeth. He released his hand and let Rimbaud do as he pleased. His very existence was a disaster, if he could completely die in Rimbaud’s hands and accompany him to spend a thousand years of suffering at the bottom of the sea, that would be fine. Then he wouldn’t be an inconvenience to anybody.
Rimbaud suddenly let go, frightened. Bai Chunian lost support and fell. He held the bed with one hand and the other held his throat and he coughed violently.
Rimbaud looked at his own hands in a daze, then looked at Xiao Bai, who was almost killed by him, as if awakened. After finally becoming clear-headed, he threw off his clothes and slippers in silence. He merged his legs into a tail, curled into a ball, rolled to the fish tank from the bed, and dropped into it with a plop.
Bai Chunian got over his coughing fit. He looked over the fish tank while rubbing his red neck. Rimbaud was already curled into a ball at the bottom of the tank, not moving at all, and looking aggrieved.
“What’s going on? You’ve been acting strange since you came back. Were you bullied out there?” Bai Chunian climbed onto the bed, laid down next to the fish tank, and reached in to fish out Rimbaud. “What’s the matter with you? Don’t sink to the bottom, it’s so pitiful.”
The fish ball rolled to the opposite end, far from Bai Chunian, not wanting to talk to him.
Bai Chunian rolled up his sleeves and stirred the water in the fish tank with his arms. He stirred the water into a whirlpool, and the fish ball floated up and spun. Finally, it spun to the surface of the water and was fished away by Bai Chunian.
Bai Chunian stood up holding the fish ball, went to get a clean towel, and wiped the wet surface of it, then sat on the carpet, placed the fish ball between his legs, and held it, gently scratching the tip of his tail that peeked out.
Rimbaud slowly softened, stretched out his body, and sat between the alpha’s legs sullenly.
Bai Chunian hugged him and put his forehead against his cheek to coax him. “You smell like the sea breeze. Did you go to the beach? Two deduction messages popped up on my phone screen. Did you get off the bus on the way? There are three stations on Line 3 that are closest to the sea. If you had gone to the pedestrian area of the shopping district at the time, you would have smelled of the outlet bakery. If you had gone to Rongyin Temple, the distance is too far, and you couldn’t have made it back at this time. So you went to the church? Satan said something you didn’t like?”
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.
Rimbaud nodded blankly. “En.”
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Rimbaud’s eyes slowly filled with trembling water, and he nodded sadly. “En.”
Bai Chunian kissed off his tears. “What did he make you do?”
“He had me draw cards, saying that I could draw an angel card. I kept drawing but wasn’t able to get it, so I got angry.” Rimbaud got angrier as he spoke, his tail turning increasingly red with anger, shining as bright as a red light.
“Ohh… Don’t be upset, it’s just drawing cards. Who told him to put so little angel cards? It’s his fault you couldn’t draw them.” Bai Chunian lifted Rimbaud, sat him on his lap, and rubbed his back in comfort. “How can that little goat-head bastard bully my wife? Did he say some other bad things?”
“En.” Rimbaud bowed his head, muttering, “He said I’m being unfair, which is why I’m going through this. He chided me for giving you favoritism, but I’m still partial to you.”
When Bai Chunian heard this, he got the gist of what happened. He held Rimbaud while walking back and forth. The tip of Rinbaud’s tail curled slightly around his ankle.
“It’s not your fault. He has a grudge against you, so he made you angry on purpose. Don’t listen to him.”
It was a rare chance that Rimbaud would let him hold him obediently, resting his head on the alpha’s shoulder. However, when he thought about it again, he got angry, and his tail would flash between blue and red.
“I know my wife is not wrong.” Bai Chunian would lower his head and kiss the top of Rimbaud’s head from time to time. “You never cared about how others thought about you before. You just did whatever you wanted, weren’t you happy like that?”
Rimbaud pursed his lips tightly and didn’t answer.
He suddenly began to imagine what it would be like when he stepped down from the throne and fell into the deepest part of the trench alone. His immortal body would forever be silenced in the quiet darkness. The best outcome would be to sink down with Xiao Bai’s skull in his arms. But Xiao Bai wouldn’t be able to hug and kiss him again. After a few years, the skull he held on tightly in his arms would also break away and disappear, leaving no trace of his existence.
Thinking like this, Rimbaud couldn’t help it all of a sudden. His eyelashes trembled, and black pearls fell down with a clatter and rolled all over the ground. Bai Chunian stepped on it and tripped.
Finally, he fell onto the carpet along with the fish in his arms. Bai Chunian cushioned him, holding Rimbaud in his arms, hugged him with both hands, and hooked his legs up. The lion’s tail and the tip of the merman’s tail were entangled together. His entire being was like a piece of spring roll wrapped around a fish filling.
Rimbaud’s tears turned into laughter. A snot bubble accidentally popped out of his nose and turned into a pearl.
“Fuck, I can’t believe it can turn out like this too, haha, hahaha.” Bai Chunian picked up the uniquely-shaped pearl and scrutinized it. “I get it, I know where baroque pearls come from now.”
“Throw it away already.” Rimbaud raised a hand to hit him, and Bai Chunian dodged. “We’re already an old married couple, I have already seen all of your blunders. You’ve eaten the faucet and takeout boxes and soaked in the washing machine before. Not to mention you can produce snot pearls. I’ll donate it to the museum tomorrow for them to exhibit.”
“Nalaei mo!” Rimbaud felt ashamed yet also wanted to smile. Throwing the matter of the church to the back of his head.
Bai Chunian let go of Rimbaud, injected a dissociative agent, and returned to the drawing table in the weapons depot in the secret room. Rimbaud took out the drawings and annotations he brought back from Crawler and Domino from his bag and spread them on the drawing table.
“Domino is good at designing routes as expected. No wonder there were still some clues left in the Triangular Pyramid Cabin to remind us.” Bai Chunian flipped through the documents that were given to him. “He’s right, even Aileen herself won’t be able to find an eleventh feasible route to break in.”
“The first nine routes had been divined and they’re all dead routes.” Rimbaud took out one of the documents. “Only this one is left.”
The documents pertained to breaking in through the laboratory, reaching the pharmaceutical storage room, and finally getting out of the Research Institute.
Bai Chunian took it and read through it. “I also thought about it—breaking in from the laboratory has a slightly higher chance of success. The monitoring in the laboratory is different from other locations. Give me the map, let me study it according to his route and the notes.”
The 109 Research Institute Headquarters was recognized by agents as the Top 1 most difficult building to infiltrate. It was ten times harder compared to infiltrating the IOA Headquarters. Bai Chunian must get it together, there couldn’t be even a bit of a mistake.
The horizontal desk lamp illuminated the drawing table. Rimbaud was sitting on the round stool next to him with his head propped on his hand, quietly looking at Bai Chunian’s profile. The alpha was biting the cap of his pen, focused on thinking about ways to deal with and escape from every possible location. The light illuminated his slightly pale cheeks, but the complicated drawing was reflected in his eyes.
He wanted to live very much—Rimbaud could vaguely read his desire. At that moment, Rimbaud thought that even if God’s favoritism would make him be punished, he would be willing to pay the price to keep Xiao Bai alive. It was only a punishment, he could atone for his sins with thousands of years of loneliness.
Now that he thought about it, when he went to Greenfly Island, he didn’t just see Invisible Stalker, he also went to see the instructors.
Since they didn’t have the IOA’s written permission, Bai Chunian couldn’t get help from the other divisions. The only ones who could help them were the retired agents on Greenfly Island.
Instructor K produced a password decoder based on the institute’s most advanced anti-cracking technology. Instructor Hong Xie brought out the tactical plan against the 109 Research Institute that he had been coming up with for many years. These instructors didn’t continue to question him once he brought them Xiao Bai’s request letter.
When he left, Rimbaud squeezed out two words with difficulty, “Thanks…”
He very very rarely showed gratitude to humans. In fact, he had not once given anyone a word of thanks. It could be his interaction with people these past few years that caused this change, or maybe it was the fact that he started asking for help from others.
Hong Xie saw through his predicament and helped him out. “No need for thanks. Darling, after this mission is done, you want to go on a date with me behind Bai Chunian’s back?”
Rimbaud finally showed a relaxed smile and answered, “I can’t, but I can summon the most beautiful crab omega from the ocean to go on a blind date with you.”
At that moment, Rimbaud didn’t feel humiliated that a human had talked to him as an equal. Instead, he felt extremely comfortable, as carefree as a whale breaking through the water and kissing the sky separated by the ocean.
¤¤¤
A few more pages were torn off the calendar.
Bai Chunian and Rimbaud started checking their firearms and ammunition, as well as some personal equipment parts. They couldn’t carry too many things, only choosing the most lightweight and useful items on them.
“Get a few more communicators. We suffered a loss at the Greyhound family last time. These things break easily in high temps.”
“En, got them already.”
After packing the equipment, Bai Chunian lowered his head and adjusted his watch. “Let’s check the time.”
“En.”
“Wife, can you read a watch? What time is this?”
“3:24 p.m.” Rimbaud raised a brow. “Don’t treat me as a fool.”
“Ok.”
The sound of the elevator moving up could be heard outside the door. Bai Chunian pricked up his ears to listen while taking off his watch, threw the things altogether into the secret room arsenal, and closed the bedroom wall.
As a result, the elevator stopped on their floor, and several people came out of it, ringing their doorbell.
Bai Chunian slowly walked to open the door.
“Surprise!”
Colorful confetti popped out and slowly landed on Bai Chunian’s head. Lu Yan blew the party blower, which popped out on Bai Chunian’s chest.
Bai Chunian was in a daze. “What are you doing?”
Xiao Xun silently raised a whipped cream bottle and sprayed whipped cream on Bai Chunian’s face.
Bai Chunian wore a whipped cream Santa beard. “…”
Bi Lanxing entered the house carrying a cake and placed it on the table. “Lu Yan said it’s Chu-ge‘s birthday today.”
Rimbaud went beside Bai Chunian and wiped off the cream on his face, licking his fingers. “What does birthday mean?”
Bai Chunian sat on the sofa, thinking of the birthday he spent at the president and Uncle Jin’s house. It was set on the day Uncle Jin brought him back home because he did not know when he was born. It happened to be the fifth year today. He had always been too busy in between, going to various places for missions, so the last time he actually celebrated his birthday was five years ago.
Although Bai Chunian didn’t explain, Rimbaud could tell from his expression that he really liked this day. Rimbaud went to look at the calendar—August 14th. He silently memorized the date, using a fingernail to engrave it on his arm so he wouldn’t forget it.
“One, two, three…nineteen, twenty, oh, just the right amount.” Lu Yan stuck the candles in, then suddenly realized he didn’t bring a lighter, and his rabbit ears twitched in embarrassment.
“You couldn’t have just bought one with the number on it…it’s too full now.” Bai Chunian was irritated yet found it laughable. He took out a lighter from his pocket to light the candles.
The candles were lit, and Lu Yan urged him to make a wish. Bai Chunian took out his phone unhurriedly and took a selfie. “Don’t rush, let me take a photo to send to my friend’s circle.”
He took a few group photos and muttered, “You guys should’ve told me earlier. I’ll also call Han-ge, Duan Yang, and Lao He over… Nevermind, I’ll let it be for today. If there’s a chance next time… if there’s a chance next time, I’ll invite you all.”
Lu Yan pressed him to make a wish again. Bai Chunian thought about it before saying, “I wish that I would still be able to celebrate my next birthday.”
Lu Yan blurted, “Hey, it won’t come true if you say it out loud—” Bai Chunian grabbed his rabbit ears and scolded, “Can’t you speak well? Don’t say stuff like it won’t come true!”
The few people were noisy all afternoon, and they also finished eating the cake. Lu Yan sleepily laid on Xiao Xun’s thighs. Bi Lanxing went to the bathroom.
When he came out of the bathroom, he bumped into Bai Chunian. Bai Chunian was leaning on the corridor wall. “What are you trying to find?”
Bi Lanxing shook his head calmly. “What do you mean?”
Bai Chunian put his hands in his pockets, walked in front of him, and said softly, “Homework check time. Two things are out of place in my house, have you found them yet?”
Bi Lanxing glanced at the watch on Rimbaud’s wrist. Rimbaud rarely wore a watch, not even when he was on an operation with a six-person team.
There was also a bit of gunpowder left in the crack in the floorboard.
“Very good.” Bai Chunian straightened himself. “This was the second to last analytical skill I taught you.”
Bi Lanxing froze. “Then the last one is…”
“As you focus on watching for clues, be alert to whether others are watching you, too.” Bai Chunian raised a hand, pressing a button in his palm. He loosened his hand and sleeping gas was released on all four sides of the house.
Bi Lanxing didn’t get the chance to say anything before dropping to the floor.
Bai Chunian took the equipment from the secret arsenal room and threw Rimbaud’s stuff to him.
Rimbaud caught the backpack and put it on, the gills in his cheek shook.
Bai Chunian dragged Bi Lanxing beside the two people sleeping on the sofa. He kneeled, dipped his hand into the leftover cream in the cake box, and smeared a small dollop of it on each of their cheeks, then rubbed the little rabbit’s ears.
Rimbaud sat on the table, silently watching him bid them farewell.
“Let’s go.” Bai Chunian waved a hand at Rimbaud and walked out with a gust of wind.
The apartment door closed, and an empty syringe that once contained a synthesis booster fell to the ground with a soft clang.
¤¤¤
After they left, the house became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Lu Yan had his head buried in Xiao Xun’s embrace and he slept soundly. However, Bi Lanxing, who was lying on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes.
“Yes, you indeed taught me that. I had it written down on page 49, 3rd line in my notebook.”
Thank You for the new chapter ٩(*ゝڡ◕๑)۶♥
Rimbaud is a sea god—? He was unfair (towards humans) because he played favorites (which is BCN? [He loved this mere kitt– mortal?]) And BOI BE DEMN BLX getting hotter each day