Alpha susceptible period symptoms varied from person to person. With many family members and animals at home, Chi Yao didn’t want them to see Jing Xi’s clingy state during his susceptible period.

Early the next morning, the two left the house in casual clothes carrying backpacks. When Tie Xiong and Xiao Li went to catch them, the room was empty.

Tie Xiong peered under the bed, then ran to check the bathroom, rubbing his chin with a frown: “How could Boss wake up this early?”

Xiao Li stood at the bathroom door with Peanut on his head.

“Because Brother Jing is here?”

Tie Xiong scoffed, giving him a “you understand nothing” look.

“That makes waking up early even less possible. Don’t I know him?”

Xiao Li: “Then where did they go?”

Tie Xiong thought for two seconds, his smile gradually turning perverted.

“Whatever, let’s go steal fruit!”

Seeing him dash off, Xiao Li followed slowly: “I want to steal too.”

Sneaking out to have fun without telling anyone, in less than two hours, the hover car Chi Yao drove flew to the No Man’s Land.

Calling it No Man’s Land wasn’t quite accurate.

Towns left behind by the original inhabitants before they moved out were preserved here, just vacant for years and abandoned.

Now, apart from Extreme Shadow and Flying Dragon, only Star Pirate Groups and some Ghosts needing treatment were on 0520. The population was far from enough to fill a normal city. Even counting generously, less than 1% of the land was used.

Watching Chi Yao land the hover car at the foot of a scenic mountain, Jing Xi unbuckled his safety belt and got out from the passenger seat.

“Nice environment here.”

Seeing the hover car’s auto-charging indicator light up, Chi Yao shouldered his backpack and signaled Jing Xi to follow.

“If the population increases further, we can consider developing this area.”

The air on the mountain was fresh. A stone path leading up the mountain was already covered with vines.

Jing Xi slowed his pace, gazing at the small town not far away.

“Approvals for the school and hospital have passed. The evaluation team will come next month at the latest. The children can receive treatment while attending classes.”

Chi Yao picked a dandelion casually and played with it in his hand.

“Where to recruit teachers and doctors?”

0520’s situation was special. Although Chi Yao never said it, in his view, 0520 was half a prison.

Even with household registration, these anomalies still posed unpredictable dangers and couldn’t integrate into ordinary people’s lives yet.

Jing Xi: “Recruitment notices have been sent out.”

Chi Yao smiled: “Who would be willing to travel all the way to work in this countryside place?”

Jing Xi tilted his head to look at him: “0520 is rich in resources with distinct seasons; it’s a very livable planet.”

Chi Yao met his gaze: “Pity the residents aren’t quite normal.”

“Currently, the number of applicants has exceeded twenty thousand, including over five hundred field experts serving on Capital Star.”

Seeing Chi Yao’s incredulous expression, Jing Xi opened the notice and the application backend to show him.

An ordinary recruitment notice; the benefits didn’t seem particularly good to Chi Yao.

“Do general recruitments get this many people?”

Jing Xi shook his head: “This time is an exception. A few of Grandpa’s students came to my house two days ago. They have served in military academies for many years and said they want to volunteer here to contribute to changing star pirates.”

Chi Yao disagreed: “How would people born with silver spoons understand human suffering? I’m afraid they’ll clamor to leave within two months.”

“I don’t think it’s a whim.”

Jing Xi disagreed, “Besides, conditions here aren’t as bad as you say. In a few years, I want to retreat to the second line and come here to accompany you.”

“You? Forget it.”

Chi Yao laughed out loud. “By then, that old man Pei Zhenyue might run over every day to scold me.”

Jing Xi: “The situation now is different from before. After the great purge in the military, the Marshal’s power is more secure. With Commander Lin assisting and Major General Bo back, seniority wouldn’t reach me anyway.”

Chi Yao rubbed his chin, thinking seriously.

“Put that way, indeed we could drag the old man out to block.”

“Achoo!”

Inside the Marshal’s office, Bo Jin rubbed his nose, looked up, and saw Pei Zhenyue’s expression as if seeing a ghost.

He asked puzzledly: “What’s wrong?”

Pei Zhenyue: “So you sneeze too.”

Bo Jin: “…”

“When does treatment start?” Pei Zhenyue asked.

Bo Jin sat opposite the desk: “I was just about to bring this up with you.”

Although the radiation back then didn’t cause fatal injuries to the Xuanwu members, they still needed regular checkups to this day.

Now that the net had closed, Xuanwu people didn’t need to scatter everywhere to collect intelligence. Follow-up related work had also been handed over to Anbu. It was time for a vacation.

“Jing Xi just applied for a half-month vacation, and now you come too. Discussed it?” Pei Zhenyue joked.

Bo Jin laughed: “I’ve been detached from normal people for too long. If I don’t get treatment, I fear I can’t go back.”

“Treatment is fine, but I’ll only approve a half-year vacation for you.”

Speaking of this, Pei Zhenyue added, “While you’re at it, guide your son nearby. Old Lin gets anxious and angry every day, coming to find me all the time. It’s annoying.”

Bo Jin: “…”

Afraid it’s uncertain who will guide whom by then.

---

In the afternoon, Chi Yao and Jing Xi had already climbed over two hills.

The stone steps were long gone, but traces of artificial modification could be seen in some places.

Jing Xi returned to the stream, threw the firewood in his hand on the ground, and looked around for Chi Yao.

There weren’t many beasts in this area, and those that appeared were mostly low-level mutants of level one or two. The stream water was clear and toxin-free, with some fruit trees on both sides.

Judging by the varieties, this might have been an artificial orchard before.

Splash.

Jing Xi went around a giant rock and saw Chi Yao standing in the stream with rolled-up pant legs, holding a thin bamboo pole, spear fishing.

“Why not use a gun?” Jing Xi asked.

Chi Yao shook the trophy in his hand, tilted his head to look at him and smiled: “It’s fun. Want to try?”

Dazzled by his smile, Jing Xi rolled up his sleeves and walked over.

“Yes.”

Chi Yao walked to the bank and stuck the bamboo pole upside down in a pile of stones.

Just as he picked up a new bamboo pole, a pair of fair feet appeared in his vision, practically glowing white.

Except for the return from the undersea colosseum, he rarely saw Jing Xi dressed casually outside.

Wearing sportswear, with rolled-up pants and sleeves, Jing Xi seemed more approachable.

Jing Xi also picked up a bamboo pole and sharpened one end with a military knife.

Seeing Chi Yao looking at him, he asked puzzledly: “Not sharpened like this?”

Just after asking, he was caught off guard and kissed.

Hot breath sprayed on his face, Chi Yao’s low chuckle in his ear; Jing Xi’s heartbeat went chaotic.

During this year, they barely had time to rest. Although they met often, there was endless official business, rarely enjoying couple time properly.

Abstaining for so long, suddenly smelling meat, how could one not be moved?

Jing Xi tilted his head slightly, about to kiss back, but Chi Yao pulled away satisfied.

Chi Yao signaled him to follow: “Spear fishing is a technical job. You have to tease the fish over first, wait until it drops its guard against you, then—”

Jing Xi tightened his grip on the bamboo spear, entered the water expressionlessly, swept his gaze over the water surface, and struck like lightning at the target.

When he lifted his hand, a lively black fish, already pierced through, was on the bamboo spear.

He looked at Chi Yao, voice cool: “Why tease? Isn’t spearing directly better?”

Under his gaze, Chi Yao looked at the fish, suddenly feeling a chill in his chest.

“…”

Why is this kid angry?

Ten minutes later, over a dozen bamboo poles were stuck by the stream.

Chi Yao looked at Jing Xi carrying bamboo poles ashore, walking with a fierce momentum, inexplicably feeling that what the other party wanted to spear might not be fish, but him.

Seeing Jing Xi take all the bamboo poles back, Chi Yao walked over barefoot and grabbed his wrist.

“Why unhappy?”

Jing Xi: “I’m not unhappy.”

Chi Yao took the bamboo pole from his right hand, naturally held his hand, and smiled: “Think spear fishing is boring?”

The wet hand was icy cold, but the palm was warm.

Jing Xi’s fingertips twitched, curled up, and that bit of unhappiness in his heart instantly vanished.

“Not boring.”

Chi Yao said while walking: “Back in 810, I had to go into the forest for missions every day. Fish was what I ate most because no plucking needed, cooked fast too.”

Hearing him mention the past, Jing Xi’s eyes flashed.

“Mutation level there was high; fish were edible?”

Chi Yao: “Don’t know if others could eat, anyway, I could.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Forgot about that.

To not ruin this lunch, after starting the fire, Jing Xi consciously sat aside, watching Chi Yao bustle about, listening to him talk about the past.

Chi Yao sprinkled spices on the half-cooked fish and mocked himself: “So many years at the base, learned a lot of useless skills.”

“Everyone is a unique individual. Those experiences and acquired skills are important parts that make up who you are.”

Jing Xi’s gaze fell on the smoking fish, saying casually, “As for what you missed, I will use the rest of my life to make up for it.”

A casual sentence made Chi Yao’s heart throb fiercely.

Jing Xi counted the time in his mind. Seeing Chi Yao not moving for a long while, he reminded: “Time to flip?”

But Chi Yao couldn’t care about that.

He held Jing Xi’s hand, expression focused: “Xixi, let’s get married.”

Jing Xi was stunned, completely unexpected that he would bring this up suddenly.

They had both half-jokingly proposed to each other before, but later got busy, plus Chi Yao was in treatment with unstable physical conditions.

Jing Xi knew he strongly rejected being half-human half-beast and was unwilling to enter the next stage of life in that state.

If he didn’t mention marriage, Jing Xi wouldn’t actively bring it up either.

Jing Xi held his hand back: “Why want to marry suddenly?”

Chi Yao: “You are so good. If someone snatches you away, where would I go to cry?”

Jing Xi chuckled low: “I’m already tied to the strongest bandit; who dares to snatch?”

The wife’s smile was simply devastatingly beautiful.

Chi Yao leaned over for a kiss but was blocked by Jing Xi.

Jing Xi lifted his chin toward the fire.

“Lunch is burnt.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Before sunset, they found an abandoned wooden house at the mountain top.

The wooden house was retro style. Entering the stone path, there was a small courtyard. To the right, against the shady side of the mountain, was a whole patch of wildly growing morning glories. To the left was a simple wooden corridor and a row of osmanthus trees.

The outer side of the corridor wasn’t blocked by the mountain, perfect for watching the sunset.

Watching half the sky dyed red, the two decisively sat down.

Coming out this time, Jing Xi specially brought a professional camera to capture moments that many smart cameras couldn’t.

Seeing him fiddling with the camera, Chi Yao took two cans of beer from the backpack: “You didn’t bring the camera to take pictures of me?”

Jing Xi adjusted the lens, pressed the shutter a few times to check the photo quality.

“I want to record our time.”

Chi Yao paused, took a sip of beer, the corners of his lips uncontrollably rising, but teased verbally: “Done for. Ice beauty knows how to flirt now.”

After taking a satisfactory photo, Jing Xi turned the lens to Chi Yao.

“Then do you like it?”

Chi Yao looked at the lens, chuckling: “Like it to death.”

Jing Xi quickly pressed the shutter and checked the photo quality.

Chi Yao leaned over to take a look, activated the camera to sneak a shot, and casually posted it on social media.

【Watching sunset with him. [Photo]】

The young man wearing sportswear and a baseball cap was shrouded in the glow of the sunset, checking photos in the camera. Because it was taken from behind, nothing could be seen except the beautiful jawline and slender hands.

Chi Yao clicked open the photo, admired it seriously for a moment before refreshing to read comments, seeing a bunch of people screaming.

This feeling of secretly showing off affection was a little bit exhilarating.

Comment section—

“Ahhhhhh if you have guts show the face!”

“Same person as the hands in the previous post, identification complete [Cat crying]”

“Let’s make a deal, can we stop cutting piece by piece like this?”

“This skin texture, definitely a beauty at first glance wuwuwu—”

“Major General Jing, Chi Yao is secretly dating someone behind your back! @JingXi”

“CP fans’ house collapsed, destroy it.”

Seeing Jing Xi still selecting photos, Chi Yao replied to the last comment he read.

“No need to be so pessimistic.”

Soon, many more replies appeared under his comment.

“Shocking appearance of the person himself replying! Does it mean the person in the photo isn’t a partner?!”

“Ahhhhh don’t make me guess, adding frost to my already scarce brain capacity.”

“Wuwuwu who is he exactly”

“Chi Yao: I’m just bored and posting someone casually, no need to fuss.”

Jing Xi selected the photo, had Xiao Hong transform into a tripod, set up time-lapse shooting, looked up and saw Chi Yao looking at the screen cheerfully.

“Looking at what?” Jing Xi asked.

Chi Yao swiped his finger, turning the screen to face him.

“They are all guessing who you are.”

Jing Xi picked up the beer by his leg, opened it, and took a sip.

“Face doesn’t matter either; they’ll know sooner or later.”

Chi Yao smiled: “Then isn’t there no suspense at all?”

“Suspense?”

Jing Xi thought of the photo transferred to the terminal and switched to one.

Chi Yao: “If you post this one, the cat’s out of the bag.”

Jing Xi cropped out Chi Yao’s head and most of his body, leaving only the beer can in his hand and the morning glories dyed red by the sunset behind him.

【This patch of morning glories is nice [Photo]】

Seeing him post it, Chi Yao laughed out loud.

“You’re too bad. How are they supposed to guess this?”

The angles they shot from were one on the left, one on the right, two completely non-overlapping sets of scenery.

Jing Xi clinked cans with him and took a sip.

“Clues given are obvious enough.”

Jing Xi rarely posted updates. A large number of netizens tagged him, not expecting a reply, but Jing Xi’s response was unexpectedly swift.

Comment section—

“Holy crap! Only hands again!”

“Isn’t this in the mountains? Both in mountains, rounding up means they are together now!”

“Ow ow ow ow excited heart trembling hands, has CP fans’ spring come?”

“To be honest, the hand holding the beer can is damn beautiful.”

“Why do photos never face the person, so angry!”

“Hahahaha am I the only one thinking this is Major General Jing’s counterattack against Chi Yao?”

Jing Xi scrolled down silently and expressionlessly liked the last comment.

Chi Yao laughed loudly: “You want to play them to death?”

The sky gradually darkened. Jing Xi looked up at the starry sky and smiled: “I just placed a small pebble on their road to finding the truth.”

The two chatted about nonsensical things and drank until midnight.

The night wind was strong, and the abandoned wooden house clearly couldn’t accommodate people.

They opened capsule tents directly in the corridor and lay inside.

In his sleep, Jing Xi woke up from heat, covered in sweat, breathing somewhat difficult.

He checked the time; it was only 3 AM.

Hearing Chi Yao’s steady breathing beside him, Jing Xi felt his heartbeat accelerating.

Perhaps sensing movement, Chi Yao nuzzled his hair and pulled him into his arms.

Xiao Hong: 【Master, your pheromone levels are rising—】

Jing Xi was stunned, instantly understanding.

Susceptible period arrived—