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nThank you Smh136 and an anonymous reader for the Ko-fis!

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nEditor: Sahloknir

nThe doctor soon arrived.

nThe tall man sat on the side with a nervous look on his face, watching the doctor use his healing powers to examine Song Xiabing’s body.

nWhen the doctor withdrew his hand, he asked, “How is he Doc? He’s not going to die, is he?”

nThe doctor seemed rather confused. “He doesn’t have any wounds on his body…”

nSong Xiabing sat up with a pained expression. “But I’m in a lot of pain. I have this constant urge to cough and my head hurts too. Why don’t you examine me for internal injuries?”

nThe doctor: “…I’m only a level four healer. Internal injuries require a level seven, and there aren’t any at this base, ah.”

nShi Qing was furious. “Then Laozi will give you all the crystal nuclei you need. Level up already.”

nThe doctor: “…”

n“Boss, I won’t reach level seven even if I absorb a thousand crystal nuclei. I just don’t have that much potential.”

nSong Xiabing weakly coughed a few times.

n“Cough, cough, cough. Forget it Boss. I’ve been quite sickly all my life. The shock of what happened just now as well as the few days I spent in the water prison must’ve caught up with me…”

nThe doctor was afraid that Shi Qing would actually force him to level up. He quickly agreed with Song Xiabing being sickly even though his results indicated no such thing. “Yes, yes, yes. Boss, he’s been like this all his life. We healers can only treat internal and external injuries. I’ve never heard of anyone who could improve the condition of someone’s body.”

nShi Qing’s expression flashed through a multitude of emotions before settling on a dark grimace. He grimly asked, “Is he going to die?”

nThe doctor quickly shook his head. “No, no. He’s not going to die.”

nOnly then did the man sigh with relief. He patted Song Xiabing on the shoulder. “That’s good.”

nAlthough a faint smile appeared on Song Xiabing’s face, the look in his eyes was complicated.

nHe didn’t understand.

nShi Qing was clearly a homophobe who hated him to the bone before.

nWhy was he being so nice to him now?

nThe doctor left.

nThe man sat by his bedside. He immediately took the blanket and covered Song Xiabing up.

nSong Xiabing was caught off guard by the blanket that suddenly covered him from head to toe. He uncovered his head and directed a lost look at Shi Qing blankly

n“Boss, what’s this for?”

n“Sleeping, of course.”

nShi Qing fished out another cigarette from who knew where. He put it in his mouth with an impatient expression before throwing the blanket back over Song Xiabing’s face.

nSo Song Xiabing could only listen to his mumblings from within the blanket. “Aren’t you sickly and dizzy? You should get a good night’s sleep and recuperate.”

nIn the darkness, Song Xiabing clenched his fists slightly.

nHe didn’t understand.

nWhy?

nAfter spending three days with him, Song Xiabing came to understand that Shi Qing was straight to the bone in both personality and orientation.

nYou had to be direct when communicating with him.

nHe carefully removed the blanket and blinked his good-looking eyes innocently. While showing he was harmless to make Shi Qing relax his guard, he asked softly, “Boss, why are you so worried for me?”

nThe man stiffened before guilt appeared in his eyes. He muttered, “When has Laozi ever been worried about you?”

nSeeing that Song Xiabing was still staring at him unblinkingly, Shi Qing impatiently took the cigarette out of his mouth.

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n“Fine, fine. It’s because you’re one of mine now. I’m a person that cares for my own a lot.”

nSong Xiabing didn’t believe that.

nAny normal person in his shoes probably wouldn’t either.

nShi Qing had wanted to kill him before. Then he suddenly released Song Xiabing after locking him up in the water prison for three days. Even though his tone was still as temperamental as ever, the man was very protective of him.

nEven someone with multiple personalities couldn’t do something like this.

nSong Xiabing asked again in a very white lotus tone, “But you raised a hand to your subordinates for my sake today. Won’t they have a problem with that?”

n“Who said that Laozi did it for you?” Shi Qing answered very hastily this time.

nSeeing Song Xiabing looking at him with watery eyes like the purest little puppy, the man furrowed his brows and muttered in frustration, “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll tell you. My ma was in that line of business too.”

nSong Xiabing’s surprise made him bristle with discomfort. “That old hag didn’t treat me all that well and whooped my ass plenty of times growing up, but she sold her body to raise me.”

n“That’s why Laozi can’t stand anyone disrespecting prostitutes. No one gets into that line of work unless they have no other options.”

nThe man’s handsome face was filled with indignation. “If only my ma was still alive. Then Laozi could give her the life she deserved.”

nOnly then did Song Xiabing suddenly understand why Shi Qing reacted so explosively before.

nBoth he and Shi Qing had their mothers as their bottom line.

nSong Xiabing: “But Boss, you really were worried about me just now.”

n“The ** you mean by worried? You’re my little brother, my personal property? So what if I’m worried about my property getting damaged?”

nShi Qing continued to curse, “Shut your goddamn mouth, ah. You’re troublesome enough as it is.”

nSong Xiabing’s intuition told him there was something more going on here.

nBut Shi Qing’s demeanour told him that this was all he would get for now.

nHe could only be quiet and let the man put the blanket over his head again.

nShi Qing spoke to him in a tone that could be considered caring for him outside, “Just stay here and rest today, okay?”

nYep. Very caring.

nEven though he had a stomach full of doubts, hatred and bewilderment, Shi Qing’s behaviour still almost made Song Xiabing laugh.

nSo in the end, he laid down on Shi Qing’s leopard print bed with a sheet over his head like he was dead and closed his eyes.

nSomething rustled outside. Shi Qing seemed to have brought another blanket over and laid down beside him.

nAfter an unknown amount of time, Song Xiabing slowly lifted the blanket on him. He propped himself up to a sitting position and turned to look at the man lying next to him.

nShi Qing was sleeping peacefully.

nHe was usually very ostentatious when awake. The black wife beater he had on was tight over his firm muscles. His honey-coloured skin rose and settled with every breath.

nHe was sleeping so soundly, like he wasn’t afraid of Song Xiabing taking advantage of this to do something to him.

nThe corners of Song Xiabing’s lips suddenly curled up at the thought.

nIt really wasn’t that surprising. Shi Qing had already entrusted his biggest weakness to Song Xiabing. In a way, the man had entrusted him with his life.

nThe youth’s gaze gradually traced over the man’s handsome, chiseled features.

nHe couldn’t shake the feeling that some secret was hidden beneath this ostentatious exterior.

nWas Shi Qing treating him like this because he believed Song Xiabing was just trash that wouldn’t have the guts to do anything?

nOr…did he trust him?

nFrom that day on, it seemed like the Boss of the Blazing Thunder Company suddenly realized what a fragile young master his new little brother Song Xiabing was.

nHe no longer let Song Xiabing go out to work, nor did he let him fight zombies. He took Song Xiabing everywhere with him in the base. And when he went out to fight zombies or scavenge supplies, he locked Song Xiabing in his room like he was hiding treasure.

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nBefore, Song Xiabing would’ve thought Shi Qing was taking precautions because he was wary.

nHowever, he eventually arrived at a very different conclusion.

nAfter noticing how Shi Qing treated him differently, Song Xiabing began to test the limits of the man’s tolerance.

nOne day he said he was dizzy and wanted to eat rabbit meat.

nThe next day he said he felt weak and wanted a mutated healing plant.

nThe day after, he said his clothes were uncomfortable and asked for xxx brand clothes specifically.

nThe requests would just be a bit excessive in normal times, but they were in a post-apocalyptic world, ah!

nIn these times, rabbit meat didn’t come from small bunnies that you could pick up by the ears. Mutated rabbits were now larger than people and possibly armed with supernatural abilities.

nNot to mention the plants now. Mutated plants were each more difficult to take down than the last.

nClothes might not seem like a big requirement at first, but keep in mind that everywhere was overrun by zombies now. If you wanted clothes, you had to to go to a clothing shop, which meant clearing out a new route.

nThese requests were clearly too much.

nYet Shi Qing had fulfilled them all.

nThe man who had previously locked him in the water prison with an expression of hatred was now basically treating him like some doll that would break at the slightest touch. As long as Song Xiabing pretended to be dizzy or ill, Shi Qing would carefully ask what he needed and give it to him.

nShi Qing was a person with a hair trigger temper who said whatever was on his mind.

nBut because of this, when he wanted to be kind to someone, he was more akin to molten fire than the warmth of spring.

nSong Xiabing had to admit that his hatred for Shi Qing has subsided by more than half.

nEspecially when the man who had such a presence in front of everyone else came trotting obediently over to him every day, flicking that big tail that no one else could see in front of him and letting him touch it as much as he wanted.

nThen the man would lean on him with a flushed face and misty eyes.

nSong Xiabing had fallen.

nHe even felt like he wouldn’t mind being around Shi Qing forever like this.

nOf course, him falling was contingent on successfully obtaining crystal nuclei as one of his various requests over the past few days.

nSong Xiabing hadn’t tested what level his ability was at, but he was certain that he could overpower Shi Qing now.

nThere was no need for him to scheme anymore when he could easily crush someone, and someone so submissive to him at that.

nHe could just relax and enjoy being a caged canary.

nOf course, he hadn’t forgotten about getting his revenge on the Song family.

nHe couldn’t stay inside and hide under Shi Qing’s protection forever.

nThe thought made a hint of joy flash across the youth’s eyes.

nProtection~

nHe savoured the sensation of the word on his tongue.

nInexplicably, Song Xiabing was in a better mood now.

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