“When you were drawing that picture, you initially covered it up so I wouldn’t see it. When I first saw it, I really didn’t expect you to draw a star beast,” Levy said. “I was quite shocked at the time.”
These words were within Qin Chu's expectations, but he still instantly composed himself, feeling somewhat sullen.
But Levy added, "I'm not shocked by what you painted, but rather amazed that someone could paint me like that and not be angry?"
Qin Chu was taken aback.
"I used to have a hard time accepting that I was a hybrid of a human and a star beast. I had a miserable time when I was in beast form. Later, I burned all the relevant materials, and I even plucked out the hair of the recorder who took the photos and hung him upside down for several days."
This was the first time Levy had mentioned his past "achievements".
Qin Chu listened intently.
“But seeing what you drew, I only have one feeling: you’ve really seen everything about it.” Levi smiled and leaned closer to Qin Chu. “You drew very seriously, and I can tell you really like the star beast you drew.”
"It's appreciation," Qin Chu corrected.
"Okay, um, I appreciate it. But you know how it feels, right? This is the first time someone has appreciated another side of me. I thought to myself, this image is pretty good too. It's a bit of a shame to burn all my files back then. I should have kept a photo for you to see, since I'm so handsome."
As he spoke, he started to ramble on again.
Qin Chu initially wanted to kick him, but after thinking about it, she nodded and said, "Yeah, he is quite handsome."
Levy couldn't help but start laughing.
He slowly leaned close to Qin Chu's ear: "But you're not asking this very rational question, General Qin. Who would look at something they don't like so many times every day?"
Qin Chu raised one eyebrow.
Levy then asked, "Since you care so much about my opinion, are you in love with me?"
"Your face is quite big." Qin Chu reached out and pushed his face away.
“You touched me, and all that calm you down for nothing,” Levy said.
Just as the two were about to start arguing, there was a sudden knock on the studio door.
Qin Chu glanced at Levi. Usually, Levi would open the door, but to avoid embarrassing the guy, Qin Chu put down his paintbrush and walked to the door.
Outside the door are Omega and military academy student models in the adjacent painting studio.
As soon as the door to Qin Chu's studio opened, two completely different yet equally powerful pheromones emerged.
Omega was startled and quickly took a few steps back.
His alpha even froze for a moment, and then the young couple both showed an awkward expression on their faces, as if they had interrupted something.
Qin Chu was also in an awkward position.
He hadn't felt anything while he was in the studio, but now that he was outside, he realized that the pheromone concentration inside was abnormally high, as if he and Levi were doing something illicit.
"Ahem, what is it?" Qin Chu asked.
The two men exchanged a glance, then handed Qin Chu an invitation.
Omega laughed and said, "Our wedding is the day after we submit the manuscript. You and Levi must come!"
Qin Chu was taken aback by the invitation. Even as he walked back to his studio with the invitation in his hand, he was still somewhat surprised, not expecting the marriage to happen so quickly.
In the studio, Levy also overheard their conversation.
He glanced at the invitation in Qin Chu's hand, and a sour feeling emanated from his body.
"They're married now..."
Author's Note:
Once, after someone's heat cycle was over, you two would just grab each other's wrists.
Now that they're married, you two still can't even hold hands properly.
Chapter 106, Fifth Story (25)
Qin Chu entered the studio. He intended to leave the door open to let out the strong pheromone scent, but after glancing at Levi, he closed the door again.
"They're getting married already." Qin Chu was still a little surprised as he looked at the invitation in his hand.
Levi had already looked away and casually leaned against the wall: "They're all marked. If we don't get married soon, we'll probably be holding kids by now."
"..." Qin Chu was stunned. His understanding of the Omega gender had finally progressed from the heat cycle to childbirth.
Seeing that he didn't react in any other way, Levy laughed and said, "I thought you would be scared when you heard about childbirth."
Qin Chu glanced at him indifferently: "Don't even think about it, you alpha can't have children."
Levi was stunned for a few seconds before he understood what he meant, cursed, and then laughed for a long time.
Qin Chu placed the invitation on the cabinet beside her and turned to ask him, "Are you going?"
“I’m not going.” Levy was adamant. “What would I do there? Watch other people get married? I have no interest.”
“Oh, I want to go,” Qin Chu said, “because there will be a lot of people.”
“…Watching other people get married is quite interesting.” Levi immediately changed his tune.
The deadline for the manuscript was in a few days, and time was a bit tight. Qin Chu worked overtime again that night, and only left the studio with Levy after it was completely dark.
It's past dinner time, but there are still quite a few people wandering around the base, mostly around the stadium.
There were people playing basketball on the court, and quite a few people were watching. However, because the teams were now paired up, the crowd wasn't as enthusiastic as when Levy had left the court.
Qin Chu and Levi stopped to watch for a while. The military academy students playing inside greeted Levi, saying, "Come down and play a game."
"No thanks." Levi waved his hand listlessly, leaned forward, and rested his chin on Qin Chu's shoulder.
Upon seeing this, the alphas on the court immediately laughed: "What's the point of him coming down to play? He doesn't have time to play basketball right now. He even needs to take suppressants to get through his sensitive period before he comes out."
Feeling helpless after being teased, Qin Chu pulled Levi along as they continued walking.
The news of the AO couple getting married in the studio next door has already spread, and people on the street talk about it from time to time.
"Are they going to invite all their acquaintances from the base over?" Qin Chu said.
"I guess so," Levi replied casually, his attention focused on the people passing by. He would stare at each person who passed by for a while.
"...What are you looking at?" Qin Chu asked.
“Let’s learn from them,” Levy said. “Look, they’re all holding hands.”
"..." Qin Chu then realized that the events of the morning were not over yet.
"Let's try again, this time it should work." Levi confidently extended his hand.
Qin Chu looked at him for two seconds: "Are you sure? We only held hands for a few seconds this morning, who was raising the flag all afternoon?"
"Probably not?" Levi was determined to hold hands, so he pulled Qin Chu's hand over and held it in his palm.
After a few tries, they got used to each other, and now the way they held hands no longer looked like kindergarten kids.
Qin Chu felt nothing more than want to laugh.
The two walked hand in hand for a while, completely immersing themselves in the path filled with couples.
But after a short while, Levy moved slightly and sighed.
Qin Chu turned his head to look at him.
But this time, Levi was particularly capable; instead of letting go, he took out his optical computer with his other hand and lit up the 3D screen.
"What are you doing?" Qin Chu asked.
"Hmm...how about we shift our focus?" Levy said.
"..."
With such a lack of ambition, even holding hands requires distraction.
Levi swiped his personal terminal for a while, then let out a soft "Huh?"
"What's wrong?" Qin Chu asked.
Levy frowned: "It's only been a few days, and the military academy is open again?"
He shared the screen with Qin Chu, and Qin Chu also saw the announcement on the screen: the military academy will hold a memorial service for martyrs, and only the relatives of all the fallen soldiers will be invited to attend.
Qin Chu's brows furrowed slowly.
“It’s too obvious,” he said.
Levi chuckled: "I guess they didn't expect you to have no reaction after reading the file. They're determined to lure you in."
This is clearly aimed at Qin Chu.
Qin Fei and Chu He were both martyrs. Holding a memorial service for martyrs after Qin Chu learned that the cause of his parents' death was suspicious was simply killing him and destroying his spirit.
Before Qin Chu could react much, Levy was already unhappy.
"Should we go take a look?" Levy asked.
Qin Chu shook his head instead: "There's no need. Chasing information can be addictive; if you do it too much, you'll really get hooked."
Qin Chu was pondering why the mainframe had targeted him.
If it were just three photos and a file from the Hall of Fame, one could say that the AI was aware of his presence and was interfering with his emotions to prevent his mission from succeeding.
But the fact that they kept doing this again and again makes it seem like they had been targeting him all along.
At first, Qin Chu thought that his parents' files were just a tool for the main computer to interfere with him, but now he has changed his mind.
The mainframe's recent appearances have all revolved around the sacrifices of Qin Fei and Chu He, which may be related to the mainframe's motive for imprisoning human consciousness.
Qin Chu was indeed interested, but he didn't want to follow the bait laid out by the mastermind; that would be too passive.
He frowned as he pondered these things, forgetting that he was still holding hands with Levi.
Levi smiled, offered no advice, and simply followed Qin Chu forward.
Qin Chu was used to multitasking, so he went into the restaurant to order food while thinking.
After finding a seat, he got up to get his cutlery when he felt his hand being pulled suddenly, and realized that he and Levi were still stuck together.
勒维晃了晃胳膊，笑得很欠揍：“啧，那么爱我吗？这都舍不得松开？”
"..." Qin Chu gave him a light kick, then let go of his hand to get something.