CNS | Chapter 14

Chapter 14, Quarrel and Kiss

“Give me a kiss from you, and it won’t hurt anymore.”

Shen Ze said it very casually, looking at him with eyes full of expectation.

The memory from last night and that icy touch surged back into Shen Run’s mind again. His face instantly went red, and even his speech began to stammer.

“T-th-th, how can that be okay?”

“Isn’t it okay?” Shen Ze’s expression immediately turned disappointed, and those glass bead-like eyes dimmed a little.

“I, I, you, don’t…”

Shen Run’s language system seemed to have glitched. It took him quite a while to organize his words. “…Don’t look at your older brother with that kind of expression.”

Shen Ze ignored him completely, still glaring at Shen Run with a grievance-filled look.

Shen Ze was wearing a hospital gown, his face was deathly pale, and with that expression, he looked incomparably pitiful.

Shen Run’s heart instantly softened.

Seeing that brat was going to use the same old crying and making a fuss tactic again, he sighed and said in resignation, “Fine, fine, I’m helpless against you…”

He closed his eyes and gently pressed a kiss between Shen Ze’s brows.

Shen Ze’s face was soft. Their too-close distance let him hear the young man’s breathing, that sound coming one breath after another, like little claws scratching at his heart.

Shen Run somehow got goosebumps all over. He hurriedly pulled his lips away from Shen Ze’s brow and lightly patted his burning cheeks with both hands.

“How is it? Does it still hurt?”

“Just this?”

Shen Ze’s expression did not change, and there was even a hint more dissatisfaction in it. “Brother, you clearly know this isn’t what I want.”

“Brat, don’t get ahead of yourself.” Shen Run covered his right eye, his heart pounding wildly.

“I don’t care!”

Shen Ze was like a child throwing a tantrum. He turned his head away, leaving only a sulky side profile. “Brother, you don’t care about me at all. I really hurt, but you can’t even satisfy this tiny little wish of mine…”

Before he even finished speaking, a hand with well-defined knuckles grabbed his chin and forcibly turned his head back.

Shen Ze had not yet reacted to what had happened when, in the next second, Shen Run’s brows and eyes enlarged before him, and something soft and warm pressed against his lips.

It took Shen Ze a long time to come back to his senses. This was his brother’s kiss.

“Is this enough now?”

Shen Run looked away to the side after moving his face back, his eyes a little flustered, his heart pounding like crazy.

What the hell am I doing.

He touched the black stud on his earlobe, his brain running hot, as if it were overloaded, and he even felt that white smoke should be coming out of the top of his head right now.

Shen Ze stared fixedly at the person in front of him. Brother’s eyes were very beautiful, the downward angle at the corners of his eyes perfectly overlapping with the shadows cast by his lashes. There were two flushed patches under his eyes, and he was unconsciously biting his lower lip, his whole face full of embarrassment.

“Brother, you’re too cute.” Shen Ze’s gaze deepened.

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“What?”

Shen Run did not understand what these two things had to do with each other. Why was Shen Ze praising him for being cute, and why did he suddenly apologize? He did not understand either of those things.

He only knew that Shen Ze let go of the hand that had been on his waist, used just enough force to press the back of his head, and their lips, which had just separated not long ago, met again.

“Hey! You…”

The words after that vanished between their lips and teeth. Shen Ze stuck out the tip of his tongue, and the hot tongue slipped in like a little snake.

“…!”

How could he do this?

It was as if a string in his mind snapped with a crack. Shen Run widened his eyes, with only one thought left.

“No… no…”

He turned his head, his voice becoming broken by Shen Ze’s actions.

The hand on the back of his head increased its strength, turning his face back into place, and the long kiss continued.

He instinctively raised both hands to push Shen Ze away, but when he saw his left arm hanging in a sling, he remembered that he was injured. Shen Run did not dare touch him recklessly, afraid of hurting him, and his hands froze in midair.

All that remained by his ear was the ambiguous sound of lips and teeth tangled together. Shen Ze’s scorching breath brushed against Shen Run’s face, and the sweet orange scent almost drowned him, like a faintly sweet sea breeze.

“…!”

A faint, low laugh spilled out between his teeth, like the sound of wind. “Don’t move… Brother, don’t move…”

That military prosthetic fitted with the most advanced force-feedback regulator seeped with overwhelming power. No matter how Shen Run struggled, the tightly pressed lips of the two of them never parted.

Forget it, do whatever you want.

It’s just a kiss, it’s not like I’ll lose a piece of flesh.

Shen Run thought this and closed his eyes.

Hurry up and end. Hurry up.

He gave up resisting completely, and his whole body went soft.

Something was very wrong. Ever since they reunited, everything seemed to have become wrong.

An inexplicable irritation rose in Shen Run’s chest. He did not understand why Shen Ze was doing this, and he also did not understand why he had given up resisting so easily.

He and Shen Ze had been close before too. The two of them often squeezed onto one sofa to watch TV, and even after Shen Ze entered middle school, they often slept in the same bed at night.

But those things were completely different from the situation now. This was not something he should be doing with Shen Ze. It was wrong.

After a long while, when Shen Run was almost out of breath, Shen Ze finally let go of the mechanical hand locked around the back of his head.

Shen Run, driven by his irritated mood, had just been about to rub his forehead and lean back when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Jiede had somehow entered the ward not far behind him and was now holding up a phone expressionlessly, aiming it at the two of them.

“I know calling each other brother and younger brother is just your little bit of fun between you two, but seeing it with my own eyes still feels very exciting.”

She looked at the phone screen, apparently recording, “I’m going to tag your kissing video with i.n.c.e.s.t and upload it to YouTube. The views will definitely be very high.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a strange black light suddenly flashed around the phone. The machine began to smoke, and the smell of a burnt battery spread through the ward.

“Hey! This is a phone I’ve used for over twenty years!”

Jiede looked angrily at the “culprit,” and Shen Run shrugged. “Who still uses a phone these days? Other than the video from just now, I already backed up the rest of the data for you, don’t mention it.”

Jiede glared at him and coldly spat out a few words, “The thing you’re looking for has already been found by Chi Yu.”

So fast?

The furrow in Shen Run’s brow relaxed slightly. “Got it.”

He waved at Jiede, signaling for her to hurry up and leave.

“My car can only carry one person. I have to send this brat home first.”

Jiede rolled her eyes, tossed out, “I’ll go prepare first,” and turned to leave without looking back.

“Brother, are you going out?” Shen Ze looked at him with concern.

Shen Run did not answer his question. He only asked, “Can you walk by yourself? Do you need me to support you?”

Shen Ze keenly detected the change in his brother’s tone. He frowned. “Brother, are you angry?”

“No.” Shen Run said without thinking. “Xiaoze, I don’t want to talk about this for now. There are some urgent matters at work that I need to handle. Let’s go, I’ll send you home first.”

Shen Ze’s expression darkened, and he said nothing. He stood up from the side of the hospital bed and walked straight toward the door.

Shen Run watched his back, opened his mouth, and didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only stay silent and follow behind him.

From the ward to the underground garage, and into that silver-gray Damocles, neither of them said a word the entire time.

Shen Ze’s dominant hand was his left hand, and because it was sprained and unable to move, the seat belt in the car was positioned too far back, so he could not get his arm around it for the moment.

“I’ll help you.”

Shen Run leaned his upper body over from the driver’s seat. As he raised his arm, the distance between them closed once again.

A rich woody scent rushed over. Shen Ze’s face grew even darker. His features were already soft, and the way he looked when he pulled his face down fit the phrase “femme fatale” very well.

Shouldn’t I be the one getting angry?

Bitterness crept into Shen Run’s irritated mood. After helping his younger brother fasten his seat belt, he started the Damocles and slammed on the accelerator. The sports car shot out of the parking lot.

The rain in Saint Grange showed no sign of stopping. If anything, it was growing heavier.

There was a cross-sea bridge between the other districts and Emerald Bay District, and even the bridge was lined with floating, light-polluting billboards.

It was already close to ten at night. There were no other cars on the bridge, and in the rain there was only the roar of the modified Damocles’s engine.

Shen Ze tilted his head toward the car window. Outside, the lights and shadows shifted, and his face flickered bright and dark. At times he looked like a pure angel, at times like a pale vampire.

The silent Shen Ze suddenly spoke. “Brother, this is dangerous.”

He said it was dangerous, but his expression did not change.

Shen Run did not answer him, and the Damocles did not slow down either.

Shen Ze said nothing more. The atmosphere in the car dropped to near freezing, leaving only the patter of raindrops hitting the windshield.

After they left the bridge, a row of glaringly bright barrier posts appeared ahead. The roadsides were lined with soldiers from the Phoenix, all wearing black heavy mechanical armor. The totem of the flaming phoenix was projected onto the giant sign behind them, where two red words were also flashing.

Emerald Bay, Phoenix.

When the Phoenix soldiers holding kinetic rifles saw the one-of-a-kind Damocles speeding toward them from afar, they controlled the barrier posts to slowly lower. As the sports car passed through the checkpoint, the soldiers moved in perfect unison and gave a standard military salute.

After entering the district, Shen Run still did not slow down. The apartment building soon came into view.

“You go up first.”

Once the car had stopped steadily in the apartment parking lot, Shen Run took out the access card and handed it to Shen Ze.

Shen Ze turned to look at him. “Aren’t you coming with me?”

“I still have something to do.”

“Then what you promised me this afternoon doesn’t count anymore?”

Shen Run choked for a moment, only then remembering the promise he had made before leaving the house, to take Shen Ze for caramel pudding.

How had he forgotten it completely?

“I…”

He opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

He couldn’t even wait for one night. Tonight, he was going to make those drifters who had hurt Shen Ze pay the price.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go out for a while right now. I’m sorry…” He looked at his younger brother with eyes full of guilt.

“It’s fine.” Shen Ze coldly cut him off. “It’s always like this, I’ve long since gotten used to it.”

After saying that, he awkwardly used his right hand to open the car door and walked into the elevator hall beside it.

Shen Run stared in the direction his younger brother had left, his gaze blank.

How could he not understand what Shen Ze meant?

His job was special, and he often had urgent missions to carry out. Because of this, he often could not fulfill the promises he made, leaving Shen Ze alone at home.

Fortunately, Shen Ze was very understanding. He would cry and make a fuss, but as long as Shen Run coaxed him for a little while, he would forgive his failure to keep his word.

The last time was the graduation trip they had agreed on. Shen Run had broken his promise once again, but this time he did not even get the chance to apologize, and all Shen Ze received was news of his death.

In Shen Ze’s eyes, I was probably a bad older brother who never kept his word.

A moment later, Shen Run’s clenched fist slammed hard into the steering wheel.

He could not feel pain, only bitterness.

Sigh.

Today really was an unlucky day.