EDEH Chapter 44

Colin was completely confused.

 

For a moment, he didn’t know which shock was greater—whether it was the general’s unrequited love or Sang Jue wanting to find a female.

 

Seeing him not answering, Sang Jue became even more displeased: “Can’t you tell me? Aren’t we friends?”

 

“You, you let me process this for a moment.” Colin organized the information for three minutes. “First, aren’t you the commander’s male… partner?”

 

“Of course not.” Although Sang Jue already knew that human males could be with human males, he and humans had species isolation.

 

Facing Sang Jue’s pure gaze, Colin fell completely silent.

 

So it had really been a misunderstanding all this time? Had they been talking at cross-purposes for so long?

 

Sang Jue understood Colin’s logic: “You thought I was the commander’s male? No, he hasn’t made a beautiful house for me.”

 

“…Could you not tell the general about this?”

 

“About you mistaking me and him for partners?” Sang Jue said, “I’ll consider it.”

 

“…” Damn. Colin felt like dying, “I’m begging you, please don’t say anything.”

 

“Why are you so afraid of him?”

 

“Who isn’t afraid of their superior, especially such a serious superior?”

 

Sang Jue had no superior, so he couldn’t relate to this feeling.

 

He decided to ask about the question Huo Yanji hadn’t answered: “How exactly do men and men mate?”

 

“…”

 

Deathly silence.

 

Colin hesitated for a long time, then said vaguely: “Isn’t there a hole in the back?”

 

The evil dragon was shocked: “That’s not what humans use for excretion…”

 

Having said it, Colin resigned himself to death: “It’s cleaned beforehand.”

 

The evil dragon seemed to have flown into the gates of a new world. He fell into contemplation: “But men can’t reproduce.”

 

“Many people don’t want to reproduce offspring…” Colin’s smile faded a bit, and he sighed, “And with environmental limitations, our current society is completely different from the natural reproduction methods of hundreds of years ago.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Colin probed: “Do you want offspring?”

 

Sang Jue shook his head: “No.”

 

He wasn’t a normal life form in nature and didn’t have the reproductive instinct carved into his genes. It was just that he liked to think of the evil dragon as his true form, and when thinking about things, he would consider them from the dragon’s perspective.

 

Colin hesitated. To be honest, when he learned that Sang Jue and the general weren’t that kind of relationship, he was relieved. After all, Sang Jue was a deviant, and the general’s identity was special—

 

The highest executive officer of the supervisors taking the lead in violating the Supervision Code—wouldn’t that be a huge joke?

 

If the general were an ordinary person, he could still live quietly with Sang Jue in secret, as long as they weren’t discovered.

 

But thinking about the misunderstanding for so long, Colin felt somewhat unwilling.

 

He asked hesitantly: “Sang Jue, what do you think of the general?”

 

“What?”

 

“As a partner, how is he?”

 

Sang Jue frowned again: “Don’t you like Wei Lan anymore? Don’t get any ideas about him.”

 

Colin nearly fainted: “Don’t talk nonsense, I absolutely haven’t!!”

 

Sang Jue looked at him strangely.

 

Colin asked carefully: “When you interact with the general, don’t you have any special feelings? Like when he touches you?”

 

Sang Jue thought carefully, not knowing what counted as special feelings. Moreover, he only allowed Huo Yanji to touch him—patting his head, petting his tail, holding hands.

 

Without comparison, he didn’t know what counted as special.

 

He told the truth.

 

Colin rubbed his hands together: “You could try with other people—”

 

“No.”

 

“Colin.”

 

Sang Jue’s refusal and Wei Lan’s call sounded simultaneously.

 

The two were standing outside the vehicle chatting, and Wei Lan inside wasn’t deaf—she heard everything clearly.

 

She lifted the military green curtain and said coldly: “Don’t teach things you shouldn’t teach.”

 

Colin naturally understood, but he was really curious.

 

The matter was almost handled, and Huo Yanji was walking in this direction.

 

Colin found himself in a subtle situation. Although he wasn’t with Wei Lan yet, the general was worse off—not only unrequited love, but the person he liked was oblivious!

 

Even someone as excellent as the general had such troubles—why should he be anxious?

 

But building happiness on his superior’s pain might not be quite right?

 

Tsk.

 

As Colin got in the car, he took advantage of Huo Yanji not yet arriving to ask quietly: “Why don’t you want to try with other people?”

 

Sang Jue answered: “I don’t like others.”

 

For him, the word “like” didn’t carry deeper meaning.

 

Huo Yanji stepped into the car, his long leg appearing first.

 

“Fasten your seatbelts, we’re leaving.”

 

“Okay.”

 

After discovering these two weren’t that kind of relationship, Colin couldn’t help but observe.

 

He found that Huo Yanji rarely personally helped Sang Jue with anything, including fastening seatbelts—he would remind Sang Jue but wouldn’t help.

 

Unlike him, who would love to fasten Wei Lan’s seatbelt every day, but had no opportunity.

 

Had he misunderstood? Did the general actually like Sang Jue or not?

 

Wei Lan glanced at Colin several times, but with the general present, she couldn’t remind him of anything.

 

So the car fell into a strange situation—Colin secretly observing how the other two interacted, Wei Lan occasionally glancing over like looking at an idiot.

 

And Sang Jue across from them kept staring directly at Huo Yanji’s profile, while Huo Yanji rested with his eyes closed, seemingly unaware of anything.

 

Huo Yanji suddenly said: “Close your eyes.”

 

Sang Jue: “Hm?”

 

“Sit straight, close your eyes, sleep.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Petty Ji Ji.

 

Not even letting him look.

 

After a bumpy ride, Sang Jue was getting used to it.

 

He drowsily swayed with the vehicle, his head bobbing back and forth. Feeling he could lean on something to the right, and sensing a familiar scent, he simply leaned over completely.

 

 

Huo Yanji opened his eyes: “…”

 

Colin, who was pretending to sleep, opened a crack of his eye and saw in his blurred vision that the general was supporting Sang Jue’s face, changing positions to let him lean comfortably, probably afraid the person would wake up with a twisted neck.

 

Although his expression remained cold, Colin just felt a toothache.

 

Sure enough, it was unrequited love, hehe.

 

This progress was even worse than his own before.

 

This time the journey was smooth, and by the time they reached the city gate, it was evening. The sunset was being swallowed by dense buildings, and the tall city gate slowly opened.

 

According to regulations, they also had to test contamination levels when entering the city.

 

Huo Yanji woke the person at his shoulder: “We’re getting off.”

 

“Okay…”

 

The convoy was driven through the main gate by the drivers, while they had to walk through the military passage on the side. Of course, this “they” didn’t include Sang Jue.

 

This was his second time at this city gate. Unlike the last time with heavy rain, this time the gate entrance was very clean, with no refugee camps or wet soil, only warm sunset light.

 

Solemn soldiers stood on the tall watchtowers, meticulously watching the distance.

 

Sang Jue asked: “Were the refugees here also sent to District 7?”

 

Huo Yanji hummed: “You need to go to the civilian passage.”

 

Sang Jue hesitated: “But my ID card…”

 

Previously, when kidnapped by the governor’s people in District 7, the ID card had been on him, but was lost on the way to the ruins.

 

Huo Yanji said flatly: “It’s fine, just give your name and card number, they’ll check.”

 

Sang Jue: “Okay.”

 

The civilian passage line was much longer than theirs. Sang Jue walked over, looking back every three steps.

 

Huo Yanji watched him, and after two seconds said: “Go on, I’ll wait for you in the city.”

 

“Okay!”

 

With the promise, Sang Jue immediately became happy and ran toward the end of the line without looking back.

 

A big man directly bumped into him, trying to grab him: “Kid, what are you pushing for!”

 

So annoying, why were there so many hateful people.

 

Sang Jue felt annoyed for two seconds. Just before the other person could grab his arm, he fiercely twisted the man’s thick finger upward, his leg not idle either, kicking toward the man’s fat ankle with a “bang!”

 

The man lost his footing and fell face-first to the ground, stirring up dust.

 

He lifted his head in embarrassment, feeling both shocked and humiliated.

 

He spat: “Damn!”

 

Anyone who could go outside basically wasn’t alone. Several teammates surrounded him, blocking the light ahead. They were the kind of people who looked and smelled unreasonable.

 

Colin had just passed the checkpoint and turned around to see this scene, hesitating: “Sir, over there…”

 

Huo Yanji looked away: “Are you idle?”

 

“No, sir.” Colin saluted and quickly left.

 

Having suddenly become a deviant after going out, he had many things to handle. Identity changes, genetic sequence stability testing, military records also needed to be transferred.

 

With this whole process, he would be busy.

 

Huo Yanji watched from afar, showing no intention of helping.

 

In fact, Sang Jue didn’t need help.

 

Those tall figures seemed to engulf Sang Jue, but in less than a minute, several were lying on the ground, crying and howling.

 

Sang Jue looked urgent. After beating up several people, he continued queuing, occasionally standing on tiptoes to see how long the line was.

 

When he discovered Huo Yanji was still there, he smiled from afar, looking incredibly well-behaved.

 

Huo Yanji subtly curved his lips.

 

Sang Jue thought beating people up would solve everything, but the next second, patrol team members surrounded him.

 

“What’s going on!?”

 

Just as Sang Jue was about to explain, he heard the first fat man who had been thrown to the ground familiarly shout: “Ken, this kid is causing trouble.”

 

Sang Jue frowned: “You were the ones trying to cut in line.”

 

The fat man sneered: “I was here first, understand?”

 

“Understand you, understand you…” Sang Jue wanted to curse but no one had taught him how, so after holding back for a long time, he managed: “Stinky thing.”

 

“Who are you calling stinky, kid? With a face like that, you should honestly serve others in the city. What are you doing out here?”

 

Everyone around burst into laughter.

 

Including the patrol captain named Ken.

 

Sang Jue got angry.

 

Two seconds later, another “bang!”

 

This mocking captain also enjoyed his friend’s treatment, falling face-first with his butt up, his chin hitting the ground hard, upper and lower teeth clashing together, drawing blood.

 

After a while, he stiffly climbed up, his face unable to maintain composure, looking ugly as he said to someone nearby: “This resident attacked a patrol soldier, why aren’t you arresting him?”

 

“Who are you arresting?”

 

“Damn it, can’t you understand? Arrest this kid for me!”

 

Silence fell around them.

 

Including the mercenaries who had started the trouble.

 

Only then did Ken belatedly realize that the questioner didn’t seem to be one of his subordinate soldiers. He turned around awkwardly and saw a face he least wanted to face.

 

He trembled and called: “Ex-executor…”

 

This was the first time Sang Jue heard someone address Huo Yanji this way. It was probably because Huo Yanji’s subordinates were all military personnel before, so they only called him general.

 

Huo Yanji said coldly: “What are you doing?”

 

“Main-maintaining…”

 

Ken’s jaw began to tremble. He couldn’t say the words “maintaining order” no matter what. Huo Yanji’s appearance here meant he had seen the whole scene.

 

Hadn’t they said Huo Yanji had encountered an explosion and gone missing on the road? How could he appear here unharmed?

 

“Full name?”

 

“Ken Burton…”

 

“Ken Burton, you are under arrest for unprovoked provocation of residents and will be sent to the supervisory court soon.” Huo Yanji’s tone was indifferent. “You retain the right to counter-sue that resident for excessive harm caused to you.”

 

Subordinates put cold handcuffs on Ken Burton. He never imagined how such a common minor dispute could escalate to this serious level.

 

But in front of Huo Yanji, he had no chance to argue, nor did he dare to.

 

Huo Yanji glanced at Sang Jue and said: “Go queue up.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Sang Jue moved forward a few steps. The several people behind him who had provoked him were also arrested one by one, their legs still trembling as they were dragged away.

 

There were many people at the front of the queue who didn’t know what had happened and began quietly speaking ill of Huo Yanji. Despite not knowing the situation at all, they said Huo Yanji was being autocratic again, relying on his power to act recklessly and do whatever he wanted.

 

Sang Jue pursed his lips. What Huo Jiangmin had said was quite reasonable—some humans were really hateful and not worth it.

 

The queue ahead was long, everyone’s faces tense. They walked toward the testing station one by one, waiting for the contamination index results.

 

The testing device was a long reagent that required squeezing a drop of blood from the fingertip into a blood slot, but the supervisor conducting the test wouldn’t show you the results.

 

Whether the result was infected, contamination index too high, or normal, the supervisor would wordlessly and expressionlessly let you enter.

 

But if it was either of the first two cases, as soon as you passed the security checkpoint, you would instantly be hit by an anesthetic dart from a supervisor waiting in the distance, lose the ability to resist, and be dragged to a place where other ordinary residents couldn’t see, then executed en masse.

 

This was to prevent excessive resistance from infected individuals causing unnecessary casualties, and also to give them a death process that wasn’t tormented or painful.

 

In the earliest days when order was chaotic, treatment of those on the verge of losing order wasn’t so ‘humane’—they were usually just forcibly dragged away for execution, and countless supervisors died daily from violent resistance by deviants or infected individuals.

 

Only in the year Huo Yanji became the highest executive officer did he draft the “Anesthesia Guidelines for Returning Infected Individuals.”

 

But no one would appreciate this gesture. Everyone thought Huo Yanji had only established this regulation to avoid too many deaths among his subordinates.

 

No one knew that this guideline originally contained only ten characters: “Grant the sacrificed relative dignity.”

 

At that time, Huo Yanji believed that everyone was a sacrifice—soldiers who died in battle were, and residents who died from infection were too.

 

They were all martyrs before dawn.

 

A year later, Huo Yanji encountered that riot led by the families of ‘sacrificed’ individuals, with a bullet hitting his shoulder and leaving a permanent circular scar.

 

…

 

The person in front of Sang Jue had just walked in when he was knocked down by a dart and dragged away.

 

The supervisor asked: “Name?”

 

Sang Jue withdrew his gaze: “Sang Jue.”

 

He painfully squeezed out a drop of blood and let it drip into the reagent.

 

After a while, the supervisor who had verified his identity said: “Go in.”

 

Sang Jue was a bit nervous. He was almost developing a psychological shadow around needles. Humans always had so many strange and peculiar things—when they couldn’t win by force, they played dirty.

 

Hateful.

 

Huo Yanji hadn’t broken his word. By the time Sang Jue had passed through layers of security checks and reached the outer ring of the main city, he was already waiting at the exit.

 

The sky had completely darkened. Just queuing for city entry testing had taken two hours.

 

A cold broadcast echoed through the streets, unheard for a long time: “Please note: citywide curfew will begin in two hours. Please arrange your departure and return times accordingly. During curfew hours, any idle individuals found wandering outside will be arrested.”

 

Sang Jue caught up with Huo Yanji’s steps: “They fear you and curse you. Does that make you sad?”

 

Huo Yanji asked flatly in return: “Why should I be sad?”

 

Sang Jue didn’t know either. He was just following human logic, thinking it should make someone sad.

 

“Your heart must be very hard,” Sang Jue stated.

 

Many people had said similar things, but only Sang Jue wasn’t accusing—he was seriously praising.

 

“From now on, don’t listen to their evaluations. Just listen to mine.”

 

“Oh?” Huo Yanji asked flatly, “How do you evaluate me?”

 

“Um… good-looking, very fragrant, has many gemstones—” the little evil dragon said seriously, “and is very good to Sang Jue, very gentle.”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyebrows raised slightly: “Gentle?”

 

Sang Jue said earnestly: “Yes! May I ask, super super good Executive Officer Huo, can I stay at your house tonight?”

 

He stopped walking, tugged at Huo Yanji’s clothes, and looked up at him with wide eyes.

 

There were only two hours left before curfew—probably not enough time to go to the street management office to rent a room.

 

**

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