Ch138.2 - Raising a Big Cat in the Apocalypse (17.2)

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

In the middle of the night, not far from the team’s campground, a bird perched on a dead tree was startled into flight.

A leopard paced anxiously, flattening the surrounding vegetation before coming back to the edge of the tree. The figure of the leopard covered in glossy, healthy fur gradually shifted.

A young man in a white shirt and black pants appeared beside the dead tree in the wilderness. He supported himself against the tree with one elbow and panted slightly.

... This animal instinct that had spanned thousands of years was really too powerful.

It hadn’t been easy to wait until it got dark, and he was about to go crazy with the numbing itchiness spreading across his body. Even before the gray-blue color faded from his eyes, 061 couldn’t bear it anymore and placed his hand on the belt around his waist.

He was a very calm and neat person. Even if he’d incarnated into a beast, he’d tried his best to keep himself elegant and noble. Last time, when he’d lost his leg, he’d still tried to maintain his calm as much as possible in front of his friends.

This time, however, it was a little difficult to bear this assault that continued wave after wave.

Hot air was exhaled from his mouth and nose, and the rhythm of his breathing was completely disordered.

His hair, which he had always kept neat, was thoroughly a mess now. A drop of sweat traveled along the hair over his forehead and hung suspended like a drop of dew on a blade of grass. Following his movements, it quivered a few times before finally splashing to the ground.

061 gritted his teeth so hard they ached and finally couldn’t bear it anymore. He groaned low and called out softly, tentatively, “Xiaochi......”

As soon as this call came out, 061 exhaled abruptly, his forehead sweating heavily. He bent down even more impatiently.

“Xiaochi....... Xiaochi.”

His voice was unusually low, a gentle and cautious whisper, and the arm propped against the tree trembled with excitement.

“...... Xiaochi.”

After a long time, 061 lightly inhaled a breath of cold air. He leaned his shoulders back against the tree, his clothes damp with sweat and sticking to his skin. The undulating ups and downs of the beautiful muscles at his waist and abdomen were quite pleasing to the eye.

He buried his face in his arms and smiled helplessly, shaking his head slightly as he said to himself, “Chi Xiaochi, oh you.”

... You’re so smart. When on earth will you be able to see that I’m the person you’re looking for?

After they set up camp, everyone took turns on watch as usual. Chi Xiaochi kept watch in the middle of the night, from 1AM to 3AM. He looked into the distance from time to time and calculated when his Boss would come home.

As he lowered his head to poke at the campfire, a young man in a white shirt and black trousers approached him step by step.

His feet were light and silent as they touched the ground, and he didn’t catch Chi Xiaochi’s attention at all.

It wasn’t until a pair of claws hugged him and soft, warm fur rubbed against his neck that Chi Xiaochi grew happy again. He turned over and placed his arms around the black leopard’s thin belly, holding the back of its head with one hand and kissing it on the forehead.

Chi Xiaochi: “I was worried to death.”

The black leopard licked gently at his ears and neck, each movement giving him the illusion of being lightly scratched. Goosebumps rose as the wind gusted by, and this kind of heart-palpitating attachment made Chi Xiaochi unable to help himself from shuddering, both happy and excited.

One person and one leopard were intimate for a while, and then Chi Xiaochi asked about proper matters, “You found a female leopard, right?”

Boss Coal: “Ao.”

Chi Xiaochi touched its stomach. He could feel that the heat had gone down, and there were no more little delicate movements. He was relieved in his heart. “Why didn’t you bring it back for me to have a look?”

Boss Coal crouched down in front of Chi Xiaochi and kissed Chi Xiaochi’s abdomen gently.

Chi Xiaochi felt hot from its teasing, and the skin of his back heated and tensed. He pushed its head back. “Stop messing around, stop messing around... Ah, according to this, are you planning to run away after a one night stand and not be responsible for another woman?”

Boss tilted its head and stared at him.

Chi Xiaochi continued to tease it, “Am I right? Or did you fail to find a partner and dealt with it against a tree instead.”

061：“........................”

Chi Xiaochi was talking nonsense, and the way he turned proper discussions indecent was too irritating. Boss Coal simply clamped its legs around his waist.

Chi Xiaochi was caught off guard, falling backwards and landing on his back at the edge of the fire, dislodging two pieces of firewood. A fiery red spark splashed out and landed on his face, and the hem of his clothing was pushed up, revealing his waist.

He was unaware of the danger, laughing happily and turning sideways to climb back up.

Boss stopped acting vaguely. It aimed accurately at his exposed waist and licked.

Chi Xiaochi’s waist was the most sensitive part of his entire body, but he never knew that Ding Qiuyun’s waist also had such a weakness. This unexpected lick made his scalp go numb, and he hissed and sucked in a breath of cold air. His waist softened directly, and he fell back to the ground, his feet unconsciously pedaling several times and leaving clear traces in the soil.

By the time he recovered, Chi Xiaochi was both angered and amused to find that he’d actually been aroused by this action.

He was slightly uncomfortable as he got up, one hand pressing against the bottom of his abdomen as he quietly coaxed Boss Coal, “Be good, don’t mess around anymore. Let me up.”

Boss Coal was still pressing down on his body, its gray-blue eyes like two water soaked gemstones in light of the fire.

Chi Xiaochi simply released the hand that was covering his abdomen and hooked it around Boss Coal’s neck, half complaining and half ordering, “You don’t have it easy, so you don’t want me to have it easy either, right? Get up, get up, I’m suffering.”

Boss Coal could feel the change in Chi Xiaochi’s body. After a slight pause, it released its grip on Chi Xiaochi and walked slowly to the side, settling down and looking at him.

Chi Xiaochi turned over and sat up, complaining, “Liu-laoshi, it bullied me.”

061’s expression didn’t change at all. “Mm, it’s really bad.”

Chi Xiaochi sat down in front of the fire and didn’t seem to have any intention of moving his hand and starting.

061 was a little surprised. “You... aren’t going to deal with it?”

Chi Xiaochi picked a comfortable position to sit down, huffed out a breath, and said, “This is someone else’s body. I’ll just bear with it.”

061 had originally meant it as a small punishment for Chi Xiaochi, but hadn’t meant for him to be so uncomfortable. Instead, this move now made him feel distressed.

He made the black leopard stand up and circle around the bonfire to come back to Chi Xiaochi’s side. It could be considered a sign of showing weakness, and it signaled the end of the awkward scene just now.

Chi Xiaochi put his arm around its waist, pressing his face against its abdomen, and listened quietly to its heartbeat.

061 naturally liked this kind of Chi Xiaochi who relied on him like this, but his excessive attachment and concern to Boss inevitably also made him worried.

He took the initiative to say to Chi Xiaochi, “Xiaochi, I can digitalize Boss and take it with us after the task is completed.”

To his surprise, Chi Xiaochi closed his eyes and said, “No need.”

061: “... But even if you leave it to Ding Qiuyun, it may not acknowledge him.”

“But it still belongs to this world.” Chi Xiaochi said, “It’s not mine.”

From a long time ago, Lou Ying had taught Chi Xiaochi one thing with his life. Nothing in this world belonged to him.

People would die, animals would die, and he himself would also die.

All he could do was remember what was most important to him before death, so that their lives could be preserved in his memory.

After the fire in his body disappeared naturally, Chi Xiaochi opened his eyes again and looked up at the stars in the sky. He smiled lightly and thought about the star that 061 had given him not long ago in one of the worlds.

He thought, even until he died, he would probably remember this precious gift that once belonged to him.

The thing that 061 found most unbearable was Chi Xiaochi’s terrible pragmatism.

061 really wanted to say: Boss belonged to you from beginning to end, just like me.

However, he couldn’t say anything. He could only quietly keep Chi Xiaochi company and act as a warm and reassuring pillow.

While Chi Xiaochi was still immersed in his thoughts, 061 quietly took out a portion of Naman metal from the storehouse.

This something he’d gotten from the star he’d picked up for Chi Xiaochi. He’d given most of it to Chi Xiaochi, but he’d kept a portion of it hidden away in a corner of the storehouse.

He manipulated the data and transformed the metal into various forms and shapes.

A little flower, a star, a baby leopard sculpture...

Soon, when it was time to switch shifts, Sun Yan yawned and got up, exchanging duties with Chi Xiaochi.

Chi Xiaochi went and lay down in the tent.

It had been a turbulent day. Adding on the tiredness from keeping watch and the little ‘accident’ that had happened just now, all of Chi Xiaochi’s energy had been overdrawn. He curled up and fell asleep as soon as he got into the sleeping bag without pulling it over himself properly.

Shortly after he lost consciousness, the black leopard who’d been sleeping with him stood up and became the young man dressed in black and white once again.

He gazed quietly at Chi Xiaochi’s sleeping face for a long time, then reached into his pocket and took out the pale silver Naman metal.

He gently grasped Chi Xiaochi’s wrist, pulling his arm out of the sleeping bag, then attached the ball of Naman metal floating suspended between his own fingers to the ring finger of Chi Xiaochi’s right hand.

When the Naman metal touched the skin of his ring finger, it automatically gathered and formed into the shape of a ring.

A ring made with Naman metal was 100 times harder than diamonds.

And this ring was worn on his spiritual body, which meant it couldn’t be seen from the outside.

He held Chi Xiaochi’s hand like a treasure and kissed it lightly.

Don’t worry. Some people will always be yours.

After daybreak, everyone got up. They stamped out the bonfire and headed for a town not far away.

This time, they hadn’t come out only to search for supplies.

Amongst the new group of old humans they’d rescued were some who’d said that there was an old human slave area about 600 kilometers away.

The new humans claimed that since they had abilities that surpassed common humans, then they should enjoy the privileges of surpassing ordinary people.

So, they’d set up a transit station to hold the old humans who’d been caught from all over the place but weren’t needed by the new humans who’d caught them. They could be sold or traded in exchange for goods or more desirable slaves.

This time, Chi Xiaochi and the others had come here for these slaves.