Wen Yu quietly carried Lansi away.
Fortunately, Wen Yu had driven there. Even so, the two of them were still trembling with nerves when they got into the car and left.
After finally returning to the dormitory, another problem immediately appeared.
While Wen Yu was carrying Lansi upstairs, they accidentally ran into another instructor.
One mermaid: "..."
When enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave wins.
To keep anyone from seeing his fishtail, Lansi's lower body had been wrapped tightly in a tablecloth and covered with Wen Yu's coat. From the outside, nothing seemed unusual.
But Lansi's upper body was far less concealed. With just one glance, the instructor could tell Wen Yu was carrying him.
The moment the instructor froze in front of them, Lansi felt that since the man was already shocked, he might as well shock him a little harder.
Go big or go home.
So Lansi directly leaned forward and kissed Wen Yu on the cheek right in front of the instructor.
Then he raised his head and looked at him calmly.
As expected, the instructor was instantly stunned beyond belief.
His eyes widened so much they looked ready to fall out of their sockets. Eighty percent of his soul seemed to have left his body, leaving him standing there stiff as stone, as if a single poke would make him crumble into dust.
Wen Yu had originally been considering how to smooth things over, but before he could react, he suddenly felt something soft and warm brush against his face.
Lansi had kissed him?
Wen Yu's thoughts jammed instantly. He stared at Lansi in shock before instinctively turning toward the instructor—
Sure enough, the poor man's brain had completely stopped functioning.
Wen Yu no longer knew whether he should praise Lansi or silence the witness forever.
After several seconds of thought, he could only keep a blank expression as he carried Lansi past the petrified instructor.
He already knew tomorrow there would definitely be rumors spreading everywhere.
On the way back to the dormitory, Wen Yu looked down at the Lansi in his arms and couldn't help thinking—
His little fish had always been so shy before. Back in the sea, just kissing him once had made Lansi blush for ages.
Was he being this proactive now because he was trying to flirt with him?
After entering Wen Yu's dormitory, both of them finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Lansi loosened his tail from around Wen Yu's waist. Before Wen Yu could speak, Lansi asked first:
"How did you know I was there?"
The turtle was taken out by Lansi and placed on the sofa.
It slowly scratched at the fabric with its claws, crawled toward the middle of the sofa, then settled down comfortably while looking around with narrowed eyes.
"Instinct."
Wen Yu frowned slightly before asking,
"Who did you meet there?"
"You don't know who he is?"
Lansi looked genuinely surprised.
He had originally assumed that since Will knew about Wen Yu, Wen Yu must also know about Will. But apparently, that wasn't the case.
[I—know—him—I—saw—]
The turtle tried hard to interrupt.
"You answer my question first."
Lansi immediately cut the turtle off. No one paid attention to the slow-talking turtle.
"I already said it. Instinct."
Wen Yu repeated himself, sounding slightly displeased.
[That—special—]
The turtle stubbornly continued.
"Hm?"
Wen Yu thought the turtle was calling him and subconsciously responded.
Then silence fell for a long moment.
"That special?"
Lansi dragged out the words slowly as he crossed his arms.
"You are that special."
What should have been a question somehow became a statement coming from Lansi's mouth.
At that instant, the always composed Colonel Wen Yu—praised countless times for his calmness and restraint—felt cold sweat break out across his back.
He had imagined being exposed by Lansi someday, but he hadn't expected it to happen this quickly.
Wen Yu instinctively tried to shift the topic. The best way to blur the focus was always to redirect attention.
"Who exactly did you see?"
"Aren't you that special? Can't you sense it yourself?"
Lansi let out a strange snort.
"Or are you pretending? What exactly is your relationship with Winsor?"
Sure enough, his instincts had been right from the very beginning.
The moment he first met Wen Yu, he had already felt that Wen Yu was somehow connected to Winsor.
Faced with Lansi's questioning once again, Wen Yu lowered his head silently. His eyes remained downcast, and he said nothing.
After a long while, Wen Yu finally lifted his head, but he still avoided looking at Lansi. Instead, his gaze drifted past him to the wall behind him.
"It doesn't matter."
One look was enough to tell he was guilty.
Lansi: "..."
They had already reached this point, and he was still hiding things!
Why was he being so stubborn? What a boring act.
Lansi turned around angrily and stomped toward the bathroom.
"You can sleep alone tonight!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he slammed the bathroom door shut with a loud bang.
Tonight, Lansi planned to sleep in the bathtub again.
Wen Yu stared at the closed bathroom door. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to explain something, but in the end, he remained silent.
[Young—people—ah—]
After watching the entire drama unfold, the turtle let out a slow sigh. Its tiny bean-like eyes looked at Wen Yu with deep sympathy.
Wen Yu noticed the turtle's gaze and lowered his eyes to stare back at the turtle lying on the sofa.
After a moment, the corner of his mouth twitched.
"You've only lived a few hundred years."
He was that special. Even if sea turtles lived for centuries, their lifespan was still only a tiny fraction of his own.
[I—every—year—look—for—mother—turtle—lay—eggs—]
The turtle shook its head slowly.
[You—even—tail—haven't—crossed—yet—]
Wen Yu: "..."
[Between—companions—you—must—not—hide—things—]
Like an elder lecturing the younger generation, the turtle solemnly tried to educate Wen Yu.
"Enough. Just tell me what happened in the restaurant."
Wen Yu had no interest in hearing a sea turtle's romantic history, so he interrupted directly.
[This—is—a—very—long—story—]
The turtle immediately became excited. Its little eyes sparkled brightly as it faced Wen Yu.
There was no helping it. After growing old, sea turtles especially loved reminiscing about their experiences.
Now Wen Yu had completely opened its chatterbox.
The only problem was that the turtle spoke painfully slowly.
…
Early the next morning, when Lansi came out of the bathroom, he was surprised to discover that Wen Yu was still sitting on the sofa in the living room.
Lansi fell silent.
What made him even more speechless was that Wen Yu was obviously still wearing yesterday's clothes.
Which meant that Wen Yu had sat there the entire night without sleeping.
Was he regretting it?
Lansi didn't believe Wen Yu was the type to regret things. With how stubborn he was about his identity being exposed, regret seemed impossible.
Lansi walked over and asked:
"You didn't sleep all night?"
Wen Yu looked up at him. His gaze flickered slightly before he coldly snorted.
"That's none of your business."
Lansi froze for a second before immediately putting his hands on his hips in anger.
"You still refuse to explain things clearly?!"
"There's nothing to explain."
Wen Yu answered quickly.
"I think I've done nothing wrong. On the contrary, Lansi, you secretly went to meet that…"
At that point, Wen Yu abruptly stopped.
Because he didn't even know the other party's name, he suddenly didn't know how to continue.
[What—this—that—divorced—couple—behavior—]
The turtle could not hold back anymore and sighed deeply.
At this point, even the turtle could tell everything that needed to be said.
But the moment Lansi remembered the turtle's painfully slow speaking speed, he suddenly understood why Wen Yu had stayed awake the entire night.
Maybe Wen Yu had stubbornly forced himself to stay awake just to listen to the turtle finish talking.
See? Wen Yu was definitely starting to develop PTSD from the turtle's speaking speed. Without realizing it, he was already talking twice as fast as before.
Lansi almost burst out laughing internally.
Still, he kept a straight face. He coughed lightly and said to Wen Yu seriously:
"We'll talk after you've thought everything through. Right now, I'm going to assembly."
After speaking, Lansi turned and left without any intention of saying another word to Wen Yu.
Wen Yu watched Lansi's retreating figure, feeling extremely wronged. Finally, he turned back toward the turtle and asked:
"Tell me honestly—whose fault do you think this is?"
He had only used another identity so he could stay by Lansi's side more easily. Yet Lansi had secretly met with a dangerous person behind his back and still refused to tell him who that person was.
The more Wen Yu thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt.
[No—comment—I'm—not—involved—]
The turtle silently withdrew into its shell, refusing to get involved.
[No—wonder—you've—been—single—for—so—many—years—]
Wen Yu: "..."
On the way to the assembly point, Lansi deliberately took a detour past the small restaurant from last night, only to find that everything looked completely normal.
The only unusual thing was the owner standing outside cursing loudly, complaining that one of his tablecloths had mysteriously gone missing.
Lansi silently lowered his helmet and left.
As he walked, he kept thinking about Will's attack from the previous night.
To Lansi, it felt less like a physical attack and more like a form of mental contamination.
But one thing still puzzled him. Judging from Will's behavior, Will didn't seem willing to confront Wen Yu head-on. In fact, he had even retreated afterward.
Why?
Was it because Will was too weak? Or because the two of them simply couldn't appear together?
After all, hadn't the little octopus only shown up when Wen Yu was absent?
Lansi remained distracted by these thoughts the entire way. Even after getting into the transport vehicle, he was still absent-minded until someone patted his shoulder.
Startled, Lansi looked up and saw the captain staring at him with a complicated expression.
"Stay strong, brother."
In the captain's eyes, Lansi's gloomy appearance was obviously silent mourning for the teammates who had died during the hermit crab incident.
Lansi finally came back to his senses. Looking around, he noticed the entire group of reserve soldiers had boarded the vehicle, and it seemed they were heading somewhere else.
"…Where are we going?"
"You weren't listening to the instructor?"
The captain looked surprised.
"He said this morning that because of our excellent performance, we're being transferred to District 25."
"District 25?"
Lansi nearly exploded on the spot.
"Why are we going to District 25?!"
His fake identity was there.
"Why are you reacting so strongly?"
The captain blinked, startled by his reaction.
"The instructor used a computer lottery right in front of everyone this morning. It's not something he could control. It was completely fair."
Lansi frowned.
Was this really just coincidence?
Of course not.
Inside the dormitory of the Life Technology Company in District 25, Michael's fingers tapped lightly against the keyboard.
Ever since meeting Wen Yu several days ago, Michael had been following the company team, patrolling branch facilities and granaries throughout the Lower City District.
Only after being assigned to District 25 today had he finally begun putting his plan into motion.
A moment later, Michael let out a long sigh.
He had finally finished the rest of the work ahead of schedule.
Just as he was about to shut down the computer, a small video window suddenly popped up on the screen.
Inside it was a green-haired punk dressed in full bohemian-killer style.
"Yo, brother. Everyone's already back in District 25. Why haven't you come see your dear brother yet?"
Michael's face remained cold.
"The three hundred thousand has already been transferred to your account."
"Don't be so shallow."
The punk gave an exaggerated sigh.
"Brother, I genuinely missed you."
He deliberately dragged out his voice.
"My dear little brother… Lansi."
"My name is Michael now."
Michael gritted his teeth and emphasized every word.
"And stop asking me for money in the future."
"Tsk tsk tsk. So this is what they mean when they say a man forgets his family after getting a lover. For the sake of a boyfriend, you don't even care about your own blood-related brother anymore."
The punk clutched his chest dramatically, looking heartbroken.
"If you have something to say, then say it."
Michael had no interest in wasting more time with him.
"Tsk. I saw your little lover in District 25—Li Si."
The punk lazily lifted his eyelids, revealing a pair of green eyes nearly identical to Michael's.
"What do you think he's doing here? Think he's cheating on you?"
Michael's expression instantly turned pale.
"One hundred thousand. Stay away from him."
"That little?"
The punk clicked his tongue.
"So Li Si's only worth a hundred thousand in your heart? That kind of explosive gossip should be worth more."
"Two hundred thousand. Get lost."
The punk smacked his lips dramatically.
"Alright, alright. I'm terrified."
The next second, the screen went dark.
After confirming that the other party was offline, Michael turned his swivel chair around, facing away from the computer screen, and fell into a long silence.
Why was Li Si here?
District 25, despite its number, was not a prosperous area. In fact, its location was poor—it sat near the outermost high wall of the alliance.
Because of its remoteness and lack of industry, District 25 had poor security and was widely known as one of the slum districts in the entire alliance.
Michael and Matt, along with his brother Wright, were all born in District 25.
From childhood, they had been orphaned.
To survive, the two brothers had done everything—stealing, fighting, even things worse than petty crime.
Later, Michael relied on his talent in programming and hacking to escape District 25, leaving only his brother behind.
Because he had assumed a false identity, Wright had never managed to track him down or expose him over the years. Instead, he would occasionally show up just to demand money.
Michael endured it for a long time.
This time, however, he deliberately hacked into the alliance database and arranged for Lansi to be assigned to District 25.
He wanted Lansi to clash with his brother.
As for who would win in the end, Michael didn't particularly care.
In his view, no matter the outcome, he would not be the one at a disadvantage.