EDEH Chapter 67

The two fell heavily to the ground, sweat soaking their white tank tops.

 

Bo Qing raised his hand to grip Huo Jiangmin’s throat, his long legs pinning down his knees, laughing: “Do you surrender?”

 

“Surrender…” Huo Jiangmin turned around and suddenly kissed those red lips.

 

Bo Qing froze. Huo Jiangmin immediately counterattacked, pressing the person down beneath him with a triumphant smile: “Like hell I surrender.”

 

“…Are you sick? Why are you kissing me? Do you like men?”

 

“Probably not.” Huo Jiangmin kept pressing Bo Qing’s left wrist without releasing it, even caressing it. “But I wanted to kiss you, so I did.”

 

“Idiot.” Bo Qing narrowed his eyes, suddenly reaching up to hook Huo Jiangmin’s nape, pulling his face down and kissing him.

 

This time it was Huo Jiangmin’s turn to freeze, then immediately fight back unyieldingly.

 

They kissed like fighting too—neither willing to yield first, truly achieving a battle of lips and tongues, swords drawn.

 

Finally both stopped panting simultaneously, laughing together: “More tiring than a fight.”

 

Huo Jiangmin said meaningfully: “Not necessarily.”

 

Bo Qing paused, smiling: “Got a reaction, Huo Jiangmin? How useless.”

 

Huo Jiangmin immediately started undressing him: “You don’t feel anything? Let me check—”

 

Bo Qing immediately twisted into a ball, laughing breathlessly: “Stop it, Huo Jiangmin, it tickles! Yanji and Xiao Zhen should be coming soon!”

 

On the outdoor training ground, Bo Qing lay on the ground with Huo Jiangmin kneeling on either side, insisting on checking for any reaction. Sunlight bathed them both. Bo Qing’s skin, fresh from sweating, was translucently white, so ethereal it seemed unreal.

 

Huo Jiangmin slowly stopped, asking: “Bo Qing…”

 

Bo Qing was still laughing: “What?”

 

Huo Jiangmin: “Are you real?”

 

“Is your brain broken?” Bo Qing laughed with squinted eyes, as if he knew everything.

 

After a long while, he said: “You seem to have aged a bit, your eyes aren’t as bright as before…”

 

Huo Jiangmin looked at him quietly: “Yeah, I’m already in my thirties… not young for a deviant anymore, but you’re still the same as before.”

 

Young Bo Qing smiled without speaking, then asked: “What are humans like now? Have they gotten better?”

 

“No, worse.”

 

“What about you, Huo Jiangmin?”

 

“I’m worse too.”

 

Bo Qing still smiled, as if chatting casually, yet also like a reminder: “Huo Jiangmin, the day we confirmed our relationship, we made a promise. Don’t forget.”

 

“Don’t forget.”

 

“Don’t forget…”

 

This phrase kept echoing in his ears, as if taking him back to that eighteenth year, in the deepest stall of the military academy’s big bathhouse, taking advantage of the deep night with no one around, covered in sweat, doing unspeakable things.

 

Huo Jiangmin asked quietly: “When should we tell them about us?”

 

“Let’s not say yet, I’m afraid Yanji will be angry…”

 

“Come on, he doesn’t care who we’re with. Xiao Zhen might be unpredictable though—she’s a total brother complex…”

 

“Damn you! Be gentler!” Bo Qing left scratch marks on Huo Jiangmin’s back.

 

“Can’t be gentle.” Huo Jiangmin laughed, “Do you think they haven’t figured it out? They just don’t say it out loud.”

 

“I’m just, a bit worried.” Bo Qing panted, a flash of concern in his eyes. “We agreed not to force the other to yield, and not to compromise for each other… but if I become a deviant, there’s a fifty percent disorder rate within thirty years. If I die, you…”

 

“What, worried I’ll commit suicide for love?” Huo Jiangmin laughed quietly, “—only dogs commit suicide for love.”

 

“Bastard!” Bo Qing couldn’t help but curse, then after calming down said, “If I really die someday, you need to summon twelve times the spirit to live more seriously.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Who told us to sleep together? Then you’ll have to carry my ideals too, and go see the future—” Bo Qing pressed down Huo Jiangmin’s nape, forcefully kissing him, “This is the payment for services, Huo Jiangmin.”

 

“Knock knock—”

 

Huo Jiangmin jolted awake. He sat up, rubbing his arm, went to open the door, and saw a row of supervisors and military personnel dressed in inspection uniforms outside.

 

He paused: “Inspection Office?”

 

The leading man saluted apologetically: “General, you need to come with us.”

 

…

 

Neither had probably expected they would one day sit face to face in the Inspection Office. Huo Yanji and Huo Jiangmin looked at each other, both silent for a moment.

 

After a while, Huo Jiangmin showed a slight smile: “What’s this about? What crime have I committed?”

 

Huo Yanji said flatly: “Although everyone thinks we don’t get along, as genetic relatives, I still need to avoid suspicion. Someone else will conduct the interrogation investigation later.”

 

Huo Jiangmin was indifferent.

 

The military’s Inspection Office also belonged to the supervisor organization, everything under Huo Yanji’s control. The so-called avoiding suspicion was just for show, without any real meaning.

 

He asked: “Then why are you sitting here now? What do you want to know?”

 

Huo Yanji hadn’t turned on surveillance or recording. He twirled the black pen in his hand: “You’ve been off these past two days.”

 

Huo Jiangmin smiled: “The Governor died, didn’t you know? There won’t be any fun anymore.”

 

Huo Yanji asked: “Just that?”

 

“You really are…” Huo Jiangmin sighed, saying slowly, “Because Bo Qing is gone.”

 

If anyone else heard this, they’d probably think Huo Jiangmin had gone mad. Bo Qing had been gone for years—why would he say this now?

 

But Huo Yanji clearly expected this, asking in a matter-of-fact tone: “You fed his body to humanoid contaminants?”

 

Huo Jiangmin hummed: “Turned out it saw the Governor… you know, humanoid contaminants that consume corpses retain some of the corpse’s obsessions from life.”

 

The originally calm ‘Bo Qing’ became furious upon seeing the Governor, actually breaking through the six-centimeter glass container and killing the Governor.

 

“Couldn’t let ‘him’ hurt my soldiers, so I killed ‘him’.” Huo Jiangmin said with regret, “Though it wasn’t really Bo Qing, I’d raised it for so many years. There were feelings involved, so I’ve been a bit sad these past two days.”

 

Actually, it couldn’t be called killing, since humanoid creatures don’t really die.

 

Huo Jiangmin stood at the cliff edge two thousand meters down the rift, throwing the torn and shredded ‘Bo Qing’ down below.

 

Eleven years ago, Bo Qing’s soul vanished from this world.

 

Eleven years later, his body completely disappeared too.

 

From now on, there would be no more Bo Qing in this world. That mercury-like writhing liquid would re-coalesce and seek new corpses, digest, reorganize, and become something else entirely.

 

Bo Qing was just a speck of dust in collapsed history, not to be remembered. Everyone kept silent about the public trial, unwilling to recall their mad and foolish former selves.

 

The higher-ups wouldn’t admit their sin of manipulating public sentiment to kill with borrowed knives either. All materials about Bo Qing had been wiped clean.

 

When this generation died, future generations wouldn’t remember Bo Qing’s name.

 

They wouldn’t know that once there was a brilliantly talented youth who died young in the endless long night.

 

…

 

Huo Jiangmin’s interrogator was Zhang Min.

 

So this avoidance of suspicion was meaningless.

 

“General Huo, were you home at midnight last night?”

 

“No.”

 

The constant sound of typing recorded their conversation.

 

Zhang Min asked: “Then where did you go and what did you do between eleven PM and one AM?”

 

Huo Jiangmin answered truthfully: “34th Street.”

 

Zhang Min’s expression tightened slightly. 34th Street was near the alley where Norman’s body was found, and exactly where surveillance had captured Huo Jiangmin.

 

Zhang Min continued: “What did you go there for?”

 

Huo Jiangmin said: “To see an old friend.”

 

Zhang Min asked: “Could you tell us their name?”

 

Huo Jiangmin looked down with a smile: “I’m afraid not… she’s someone without a name.”

 

Zhang Min couldn’t force the issue, since Huo Jiangmin wasn’t really a suspect—they could only prove he’d passed through 34th Street.

 

He could only ask indirectly: “You didn’t see Administrator Norman?”

 

“You mean around midnight?” Huo Jiangmin said, “Of course not. He left my residence before nine.”

 

Zhang Min said: “You and Administrator Norman met privately for half an hour. What did you two discuss?”

 

Huo Jiangmin raised an eyebrow: “Do I need to report such things now?”

 

Zhang Min paused: “Didn’t anyone notify you that Administrator Norman is dead?”

 

Huo Jiangmin narrowed his eyes, but his expression didn’t change much, still the same light smile: “Norman is dead?”

 

Though Norman’s death was still confidential, as a general, Huo Jiangmin had his own sources.

 

He glanced at several missed calls on his communicator, saying casually: “I saw an old friend last night, dreamed about some past events, didn’t sleep well, and didn’t answer anyone’s calls.”

 

Zhang Min asked: “Can you tell us now what you discussed with Administrator Norman last night? It might be related to the cause of death.”

 

Huo Jiangmin curved his fingers, lightly tapping the table: “Are you suspecting I killed him?”

 

Zhang Min smiled: “Just routine investigation.”

 

Huo Jiangmin looked at him for a while before saying: “Just talked about old times. He confessed some past wrongdoings to me.”

 

Zhang Min wore a gentle smile, cutting straight to the point: “Could it be that Administrator Norman suspected you of releasing deviant multi-headed fluffy bubble green fungus in District 7, which made you murderous?”

 

Huo Jiangmin suddenly laughed, his chest resonating with vibration. After a long while, he said with apparent regret: “Actually, I’ve always felt you’d be more suited to work under me. General Huo’s subordinates are all like him—terribly boring. Only you are slightly different.”

 

Zhang Min showed little reaction: “It shows the general can make good use of people with various personalities.”

 

Huo Jiangmin didn’t continue the small talk for long: “General Huo should also suspect me of releasing the green fungus. Should I kill him too?”

 

Zhang Min instinctively glanced at the monitoring room behind the one-way glass, his smile gradually disappearing.

 

“This is the Military Inspection Office. Please watch your words, General.”

 

Huo Jiangmin said: “Just speaking hypothetically.”

 

Zhang Min resumed his smile: “You took twenty consecutive days off at the end of October. Were you in the city the entire time?”

 

Huo Jiangmin said: “Of course.”

 

Zhang Min said: “Do you have any proof?”

 

Huo Jiangmin said flatly: “Shouldn’t you be producing evidence that I left the city? Or more directly, evidence that I went to the wastewater research highlands and brought out green fungus colonies to release in District 7.”

 

Zhang Min smiled: “We’re just conducting routine questioning now, haven’t really begun investigation yet. It would naturally be best if you could voluntarily explain, but not speaking is also your freedom.”

 

“Freedom?” Huo Jiangmin murmured, chewing on these two words: “Really want to know?”

 

Zhang Min made a gesture indicating ‘as you wish.’

 

Huo Jiangmin said: “During those twenty days, I was with one of my enemies.”

 

Zhang Min asked again: “Which enemy?”

 

“Walker Matthews. You might be unfamiliar with him, but you should have heard his title—most people call him the Governor.”

 

Zhang Min frowned: “You were in the city for those twenty days but stayed with the Governor, yet he’s a wanted criminal… Did you bring him into the city?”

 

Huo Jiangmin casually nodded.

 

Zhang Min said: “Regardless of reason, this behavior is a serious violation of discipline. Do you acknowledge this?”

 

Huo Jiangmin nodded.

 

“…” This was an unexpected development. Zhang Min tightened his breathing and continued: “In my memory, there’s only one incident that could make the Governor your enemy.”

 

Huo Jiangmin: “That’s probably the one you’re thinking of.”

 

Zhang Min paused, finally asking the most crucial question: “So, for you, all the people who participated in that trial… are enemies?”

 

The interrogation room suddenly fell silent. The recorder’s keyboard typing also stopped as they held their breath waiting for this young general’s answer.

 

Those few seconds felt exceptionally long.

 

Huo Jiangmin finally uttered one word: “Yes.”

 

…

 

Zhang Min hadn’t expected that the things he wanted to ask would have no answers, but charges he hadn’t asked about were casually revealed by Huo Jiangmin in just a few words.

 

Listening to those bone-chilling tortures, even knowing the Governor wasn’t innocent, he still felt his hair standing on end.

 

But compared to charges of releasing green fungus and harboring rebellious intentions, torturing the Governor really wasn’t a big deal.

 

If this was truly the only charge, Huo Jiangmin would at most be suspended for a period with a disciplinary mark—after all, they couldn’t find a stronger deviant to replace him currently, making severe punishment difficult.

 

Zhang Min exhaled lightly, taking out an evidence bag: “Do you recognize this bullet?”

 

“…” The smile finally faded from Huo Jiangmin’s face. Though it was a bullet from over ten years ago, he recognized it immediately: “I do. What about it?”

 

Zhang Min said: “Former Highest Executive Officer Herman Lange committed suicide using this very bullet.”

 

“…”

 

Zhang Min continued: “Recently, you suddenly received military orders to go to Rift No. 2, and brought back several hundred missing planned residents just days before both ‘Dawn’ plans were exposed—yet you insist you didn’t participate in ‘Dawn No. 2’?”

 

Huo Jiangmin stared at the table surface for a while, muttering to himself: “How many charges are you pinning on me…”

 

Zhang Min said: “You just admitted that for you, all those who participated in the trial are your enemies. Administrator Norman was one of them, including the tens of thousands of residents you’ve transferred to District 7 over the years.

 

“I checked the remaining footage from the trial year. The residents you transferred to District 7 were all radical elements from that trial.”

 

Would someone who treated the Governor that way spare these true sources of Bo Qing’s tragedy?

 

Huo Jiangmin scoffed: “I despise them, so I must kill them?”

 

Zhang Min remained silent, staring at him steadily.

 

Huo Jiangmin dropped a bombshell: “Just like you like General Huo Yanji, so you must be with him?”

 

“…………”

 

Zhang Min’s whole body went numb. He didn’t even dare look toward the one-way glass.

 

His breathing became light and prolonged. Zhang Min tried to maintain calm: “What you can see, the general naturally can too. But the general hasn’t transferred me, probably because I can distinguish between private and public matters, and can handle my own feelings properly.”

 

“I’m naturally the same—I can handle my own emotions.”

 

Huo Jiangmin curved his lips, casually saying astounding words: “I not only hate those radical elements and high-level officials who manipulated public opinion, but also all the bystanders who watched like spectators back then, all other high-level officials who acquiesced to the events, and some current humans who are inexplicably immersed in anger all day—

 

“Including myself, I hate them all to the bone.”

 

The recorder typing this conversation had trembling arms and didn’t dare raise their head.

 

Huo Jiangmin smiled and said: “See, I haven’t even killed myself, so how could I kill them?”

 

Zhang Min: “…”

 

Huo Jiangmin added: “If I wanted to kill those people, I have many methods—the simplest would be arranging for them to die accidentally in the wilderness during population transfers, but I didn’t do that.”

 

“Want to ask why I transferred them away?

 

“Because I was afraid that facing these monsters wearing human skin every day, I wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to slaughter them.”

 

Huo Jiangmin concluded with a leisurely smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes: “So I transferred them away—I was protecting them.”

 

“…” Zhang Min was stunned for a long while before finally asking, “Why?”

 

“No reason, why should there be so many reasons?” Huo Jiangmin said flatly, “Nine out of ten things in life don’t go as planned. There are always many things you despise to the bone but have to do, people you have to protect.”

 

…

 

In the monitoring room on the left, Colin, who hadn’t been there long, couldn’t stand the oppressive atmosphere and tried to lighten the mood with a forced laugh: “General Huo said all that jokingly, right?”

 

Huo Yanji kept looking at the one-way glass without speaking.

 

Ling Gen scoffed: “Not necessarily. I think those four words ‘hate to the bone’ might be the only true thing he’s said in years.”

 

Colin: “…”

 

Huo Yanji said coldly: “Call Adjutant Zhang out, he’s been led astray.”

 

Colin: “Yes.”

 

After all that talk, none of the real questions they wanted answered were addressed, and they almost got brainwashed instead.

 

Ling Gen frowned: “But why is Huo Jiangmin saying all this? With words to this extent, does he really not want to be commander anymore?”

 

Huo Yanji looked down: “That’s enough for today.”

 

Ling Gen was somewhat anxious: “Is this okay?”

 

Huo Yanji said flatly: “If General Ling is confident he can get something out of him, feel free to go in and try. If you don’t have that confidence, let’s call it a day and go to the conference room to discuss strategies for dealing with the underground Court.”

 

Ling Gen was somewhat unwilling but knew Huo Jiangmin wasn’t easy to handle.

 

He took a deep look at the interrogation room and followed Huo Yanji’s footsteps out.

 

Zhang Min, who received the communication, stood up and put on his usual gentle smile: “Today’s routine investigation ends here. The General may leave. If we find any other leads in the future, we hope the General will continue to cooperate.”

 

“I’ll do my best.”

 

Adjutant Leon waited outside the inspection office with an umbrella. Seeing Huo Jiangmin emerge, he quickly approached: “Sir.”

 

Rain pounded on the umbrella. Huo Jiangmin stood at the edge of the eaves, gazing at the gray sky.

 

He stood there for a long time before murmuring quietly: “Everyone thinks this should be my doing, but I, who should seek revenge most… have done nothing for you.”

 

Leon was startled, not hearing clearly: “Sir, what did you say?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

…

 

The storm continued for several days. Fortunately, the main city’s underground sewage system was as vast and complex as District 7’s, so all the rainwater flowed into the drains.

 

But the concrete and gravel roads were somewhat uneven and wet.

 

Sang Jue lay on Huo Yanji, asking: “So the lockdown will be lifted tomorrow?”

 

Huo Yanji hummed: “Things will be very busy afterward. I might not come home every night.”

 

Sang Jue pursed his lips: “What if I can’t sleep at night?”

 

Huo Yanji said: “You need to get used to sleeping alone. No friend can accompany you for life.”

 

Sang Jue squeezed his hands: “What about a spouse?”

 

Huo Yanji paused. Sang Jue looked at him seriously, without the complex probing in others’ eyes, as if just asking casually.

 

“No one can make such a guarantee.” Huo Yanji gently stroked Sang Jue’s tail, “Family, friends, spouses—they could all die tomorrow. The only guarantee is yourself.”

 

“…”

 

Huo Yanji said flatly: “And your tail.”

 

Sang Jue snorted quietly. Earlier he’d said he’d be a little slave for life, but human males really were creatures who didn’t keep their word.

 

He bit Huo Yanji’s Adam’s apple, angrily grinding against it.

 

Huo Yanji leaned back: “Sang Jue, I think I really need to tie you up with a belt to sleep.”

 

“No.”

 

Sang Jue’s small fangs came with evil dragon characteristics. When he was a dragon, he needed to grind his teeth periodically, but since hibernating in the aircraft until landing, he hadn’t ground his teeth at all.

 

It was all Ji Ji’s fault for being too poor.

 

Couldn’t even raise a dragon properly.

 

Only poor upbringing.

 

Sang Jue suddenly said: “General Huo moved away.”

 

Huo Yanji: “Mm, he has other residences.”

 

Sang Jue said: “So is the investigation concluded?”

 

Huo Yanji answered: “There’s been some progress.”

 

Sang Jue made a sound: “Before he left, I chatted with him for a while.”

 

Huo Yanji said: “About what?”

 

Sang Jue said: “He said everyone thinks he should do something, but he hasn’t done it, which troubles him greatly.”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyelid twitched: “…How did you respond?”

 

Sang Jue blinked, propping himself up slightly: “I told him, ‘Then maybe you really should go do that thing.'”

 

Huo Yanji: “…”

 

Sang Jue quickly jumped off the bed, but wasn’t faster than Huo Yanji’s arm. Caught back, he could only say pitifully: “You’re pressing on my tail!”

 

Huo Yanji pinched his tail tip: “Don’t pretend to be pitiful. Why did you say that?”

 

Sang Jue knew about recent events—he clearly understood what Huo Jiangmin was referring to.

 

“I thought that, so I said it.” Sang Jue said innocently, “Don’t be angry.”

 

“…” Huo Yanji sensed something and released him, “Go to the bathroom yourself.”

 

Sang Jue’s eyes curved, explaining subtly: “You can’t blame me for this. Spring might be coming.”

 

Huo Yanji said flatly: “After the meteor season, there’s no distinction between spring, summer, autumn, and winter.”

 

“…” Sang Jue crawled back onto Huo Yanji, changing the subject and requesting: “Can’t you help me?”

 

Huo Yanji: “Didn’t I teach you already?”

 

“I want you to help me.” Sang Jue blinked, his tail coiling around Huo Yanji’s leg bend, “Yesterday morning, I had a dream…”

 

Huo Yanji’s eyes suddenly darkened.

 

**

 

 

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