CNS | Chapter 20

Chapter 20, Infiltration

Am I dead.

That was Shen Run’s first thought when he woke up.

Headache, so painful.

When he had burned through the brains of hundreds of Pioneers with black light, he had also been enduring the enormous amount of data input by that terrifying thing.

His neural synapses had almost caught fire.

As for what happened after that, he had no memory of it at all.

How did I drive the Ark back, and how did I get home safely?

Wait a moment.

Besides the brain that had almost been charred, why did somewhere else also hurt?

He struggled to sit up from the bed, lifted the blanket, and was surprised to find that he wasn’t wearing anything.

“I bought… was I safely back…”

Shen Run suspected that he might have been robbed.

He casually put on a pair of pants, rubbed his throbbing forehead, walked out of the bedroom, and then gaped.

Who smashed the glass door on my balcony?

Not only had the glass door inexplicably shattered, Shen Run also found that something in the house was missing.

“Shen Ze, Shen Ze?”

He called his younger brother several times, but there was no response.

“Where did that brat go?”

He wasn’t still mad, was he?

The image of that kid getting off the Damocles and storming away appeared before his eyes.

Shen Run sighed, and prepared to go out to figure out a way to look for Shen Ze.

He came to the storeroom door at the end of the hallway, wanting to go in and take a suppression inhibitor to ease the headache.

Just as he put his hand on the doorknob, Shen Run sensed that something was wrong, the storeroom door seemed to bear traces of having been violently damaged.

“?”

The door was specially made, the kind that even small bombs couldn’t blow open, and there were no traces of an explosion on the surrounding walls either.

So how had it been opened?

He walked in. The furnishings and placement inside had not changed at all, but Shen Run could still tell that someone had come here.

“What exactly happened while I was unconscious?”

Covering his right eye, which felt swollen as if it were about to explode, he took out a silver-white portable freezer from under the long table with the computer on it.

In the center of the suitcase was a blue-glowing emblem, formed by two triangles stacked one upright and one inverted.

This was an emblem that had disappeared from the world many years ago. Now, when people mentioned the creations under its banner, they often used one word.

“Legacy.”

Shen Run opened the case with a key, and a wave of cold air rushed toward him.

The inside of the suitcase was full of cooling devices, and in the very center was a rectangular recess.

This was the container Ark Research Institute used to hold the “Prometheus” chip.

The recess should originally have held that chip everyone had been drooling over, but now it was empty.

He pulled out the data cable beneath his hand and connected it to the interface inside the suitcase, calling up the suitcase’s opening records.

Just as Shen Run had expected, before this visit of his, there had already been one fresh record.

Someone had taken advantage of his unconsciousness, smashed through the balcony glass and broken into his house, damaged the lock on the storeroom door, and opened the freezer that was theoretically supposed to contain the Prometheus chip.

Who could it have been?

He had to find this person, then kill him.

Just as he was thinking that, the entryway sounded with the noise of a lock opening. Shen Run hurriedly closed the freezer, pushed it back under the table, and hid it away.

He hastily shut the storeroom door and ran into the living room. It was Shen Ze who had come back.

“Older Brother, you woke up.”

Shen Ze wore a black leather jacket, and there was water on his hair and coat.

After changing into his slippers, he looked up at Shen Run, and his brows furrowed without him noticing.

“Why aren’t you wearing clothes?”

Following his gaze, Shen Run looked down and discovered that he still had no shirt on, and the suit pants he had casually put on were not buckled or belted.

“I forgot.”

“You’ve been like this all along?” Shen Ze asked.

He hadn’t thought much of it at first, but with him saying it like that, Shen Run felt his face starting to burn.

He hurried back to the bedroom, took a short-sleeved shirt, and put it on over his head while walking out.

When he returned to the living room, Shen Ze’s expression had already returned to normal, and he was smiling as he greeted Shen Run.

“Older Brother, do you know, I was almost scared to death.”

“What?”

Shen Run was still half-dressed, and he made a puzzled sound.

Shen Ze’s tone was calm. “You’ve already been unconscious for three days.”

“??!”

“Three days?!”

Shen Run’s eyes widened, and he quickly activated his net access pod. Dense missed calls and messages surged up like a tide.

He rubbed his brow, almost falling onto the sofa, and prepared to start handling the mountain of unread messages.

So troublesome, it would be better to stay unconscious all the time.

“Your coworkers came looking for you, but I sent them away.”

Shen Ze placed the plastic bags in his hands on the living room coffee table. “I told them you had a fever, maybe because you were too tired from work, and needed rest.”

Shen Run blinked, vaguely remembering that he seemed to have indeed explained things to Shen Ze.

“Right, right, you’re right, I really was tired…”

He sprawled on the sofa, and his waist slipped down, exposing the smooth lines of his abs.

“Older Brother, you know, that day your temperature was frighteningly high. I didn’t dare give you medicine, so I could only find some ice and figure out a way to bring your temperature down.”

Shen Run looked at his younger brother, thinking that it was fortunate the one by his side was Shen Ze, who knew his physical condition very well.

His constitution was somewhat special, and he could not tolerate many medicinal ingredients. This time he had fainted because his implant had overheated, and taking medicine would instead make him sick.

“Kitchen,” it seemed, “porridge.”

“There isn’t even a kitchen at home, and the fridge only has beer. Older Brother, how have you managed all these years?”

There was a faint note of reproach in Shen Ze’s tone. He walked to the sofa, reached out and pulled Shen Run up, then helped him pull down the short-sleeved shirt he had only half put on.

“Since you’re wearing clothes, wear them properly. Who are you trying to seduce like this?”

Cough cough cough….

Shen Run was caught off guard and choked on his own saliva.

This brat, why was he even lecturing his older brother?

He reached out and smacked the top of Shen Ze’s head. “How are you talking to your ge?”

Shen Ze stuck out his tongue. “I was wrong.”

That adorable look hit him right in the heart. Shen Run smiled and pinched Shen Ze’s cheek. “Not angry anymore?”

“I’m not angry anymore.” He nodded. “Who told me I like you that much?”

Shen Run’s smile froze on his face, then returned to normal.

Hahaha, Shen Ze said he liked him.

It was fine, this was normal. He also liked Shen Ze.

Like, liking was just liking. It was like liking a flower, liking a blade of grass, liking Dad, liking Mom.

The definition of liking had many kinds. It could include appreciation, admiration, respect, and so on…

It was fine, really fine.

Shen Run’s face went white, then red, constantly changing, extremely vivid, as if in the next second his brain and neural interface were going to overload again.

The “culprit” looked perfectly normal. He picked up the porridge on the coffee table, which was still steaming. “Eat. If you don’t eat, it’ll get cold.”

He blew on the spoonful of porridge, then handed it to Shen Run’s mouth, like a dutiful son.

“Hey, I’m not crippled.”

Shen Run was a little uncomfortable. He almost snatched the bowl from Shen Ze’s hand. “I’ll do it myself.”

The porridge was warm, with no taste at all, but it was still much tastier than those nutrition bars.

He usually chewed on salty, nauseating nutrition bars with Jiede, and it had already been many years since he had eaten anything hot that could be called food.

“Older Brother, you have to finish it. I ran a very long distance to buy this.”

He pouted in dissatisfaction. “Nearby there’s only a convenience store, and everything they sell is pre-made half-finished food.”

“Got it alrea—dy.”

Shen Run dragged out the syllables, answering the suddenly talkative younger brother one word at a time.

This porridge was absurdly bland, and he had no appetite, but he couldn’t bear to waste Shen Ze’s kindness.

“And also, remember to mix it. I put sugar in it. It’s all at the bottom of the bowl.”

“Got it, got it.”

Without meaning to, Shen Run glanced at the medical arm guards and bandages scattered on the coffee table.

He widened his eyes. “You, you took these apart?”

Shen Run, you really did burn your brain.

He blamed himself in his heart.

How could he possibly have forgotten that Shen Ze was still injured?

“It’s already fine.” Shen Ze shrugged, his face unconcerned.

“How could it be fine?”

Shen Run put the bowl in his hand on the table with a crisp slap. “Have you ever heard a saying, injured muscles and bones take a hundred days.”

“I didn’t break any bones. It was just a sprain.”

“A sprain is still an injury!” Shen Run frowned. “Take off your clothes, I’ll wrap it back up for you.”

“No!” Shen Ze hugged his arms tightly.

“Tch, you brat.” Shen Run turned around to face Shen Ze. “Hurry up, don’t make me worry about you.”

Seeing Shen Ze’s unwilling expression, he gave in first and added, “Then at least let me take a look, okay?”

“No!” Shen Ze was firm.

Shen Run thought of something and raised a brow. “You’re not shy, are you?”

“It’s not like I haven’t seen it before, what’s there to be embarrassed about?”

Shen Ze said nothing. He turned around and lay across the sofa armrest, tightly clutching his coat, his face full of stubbornness.

That movement also roused Shen Run’s interest. He smiled. “You’re not listening to your ge anymore, are you?”

He hugged Shen Ze from behind and pressed down on his back. “Then you can’t regret it.”

Shen Run had bad intentions in his heart. He quietly reached out a hand, and beside Shen Ze’s ear he said in a small voice, “I’ll ask you one last time. Will you let me look or not?”

“No.” Shen Ze turned his head away.

“Not letting me?”

Shen Run used four fingers and scratched hard a few times at the area below his younger brother’s ribs.

Shen Ze was especially ticklish, and this place was especially sensitive.

Ever since he discovered this secret of his, every time he refused to listen to Shen Run, Shen Run, who at the time was still much taller than him, would hold him from behind like this and launch a tickling attack with his fingers.

And Shen Ze would very quickly laugh until he could not breathe, crying and laughing as he begged him to let go.

“Will you let me now?”

Shen Run waited for his younger brother to obediently let go of the coat he was gripping so tightly because of the ticklishness, but who knew that the young man under him had no reaction at all.

Shen Ze’s blue-glowing eyes watched Shen Run calmly, and there was no change in expression on his sculpted face.

Shen Run opened and closed his mouth. “Y-you’re not ticklish anymore?”

Also, why did Shen Ze’s stomach feel hard when he touched it?

“I’m not a child anymore.”

He grabbed Shen Run’s hand at his waist. “Also, ge, did you forget something?”

Hearing a hint of something wrong in his younger brother’s tone, Shen Run’s heart gave a jolt, and he sensed danger.

“You also seem to be very ticklish, don’t you?”

Before he even finished speaking, the positions of the two people changed.

Shen Run was pressed onto the sofa by the tall young man, and the young man’s silver-white mechanical hand reached under the hem of his short-sleeved shirt.

He pinched Shen Run’s side waist, and moved his fingers with malicious intent.

“Hey, hey, hey, you brat, you brat!”

The ticklish sensation came back to his brain like a current from his waist, and goosebumps rose all over Shen Run. He could not help laughing.

“Brat, brat, I’m not looking anymore, I’m not looking anymore!”

“Too late.” Shen Ze’s other hand also reached in.

Under the stimulation from both places, tears came out of Shen Run’s eyes. “Please, let go of me, it’s so uncomfortable, really, please!”

Shen Ze had a bad smile on his face. He licked his upper lip. “Say something I like hearing and I’ll let you go.”

Shen Run was already almost laughing himself limp. He hurriedly begged for mercy. “Baby! Good baby! I admit defeat, hurry up and let me go.”

The hand under the short-sleeved shirt withdrew, and Shen Run’s expression changed at once.

He gritted his teeth and glared at Shen Ze. “Bad kid!”

Shen Ze raised a brow and tilted his head.

Shen Run was startled by that movement, and hurriedly jumped off the sofa, away from this terrifying place of trouble.

And his movement, along with the expression on his face, successfully made Shen Ze laugh. The tall young man stood up, walked over to his brother, and touched his face with a hand.

“Older Brother, why are you so cute?”

The redness on his face spread to his neck and the tips of his ears. Shen Run slapped away that bad kid’s hand with a crack, glaring at him.

“I’m not playing with you anymore. Clean this place up, and come out with me.”

“So late, where are we going?” Shen Ze looked confused.

Shen Run pointed at the shattered balcony glass door. “This apartment can’t be lived in anymore. Older Brother will take you somewhere else.”