CNS | Chapter 6

Chapter 6, First Kiss

“Long time no see…?”

Saying something like that meant he must be very familiar with him, it could not possibly be just an acquaintance who only exchanged nods.

And the person he was probably familiar with was “Shen Run”, not Heimdall’s “Sleeve Blade”.

Who was it? Who could it be?

Shen Run thought to himself that this City Ranger could jump from the fifth floor and come away unharmed, so he must have been equipped with powerful leg cybernetic prostheses, to put it bluntly, military cyberware.

And he could also easily break through the ICE he had edited, which meant that the City Ranger also had considerable ability on the neural network.

No, if it was really as Chi Yu said, if he could infiltrate Chi Yu’s access pod without warning, then he absolutely counted among the very best hackers across all of Yalan.

Being acquainted with Shen Run, possessing military cyberware, and having top-tier hacking skills, there were very few people who fit those conditions.

Could it be……

“Gege? Gege?”

Shen Ze’s gentle voice interrupted his thoughts.

“What is it?”

Shen Ze’s ice-blue eyes gazed at him, filled with concern, “Since you came back, you’ve been distracted the whole time…”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.”

He reached out and rubbed his temples, why was his head getting more and more painful.

“Too many things happened today, I think I need to sleep……”

Shen Run looked up at the ceiling and muttered to himself in his mother tongue.

Shen Run was used to living alone, and without realizing it, he had developed the habit of talking to himself.

Shen Run’s father was a Hualian immigrant, and before elementary school, father and son had always communicated in Jiuzhou language. Jiuzhou language was said to be the hardest language in the world to master, and almost no one in Saint Grange could understand it, so he never worried about accidentally saying something he shouldn’t have said.

He had just forgotten that Shen Ze, whom he had personally raised, was equally fluent in this language.

“Gege, you’re tired, right?” Shen Ze’s tone was concerned. “It’s already one in the morning, go rest.”

Hearing Shen Ze’s words, he only then noticed the time.

Eden’s business hours were from five in the afternoon to five in the morning, and Jiede not only loved dressing up as a corpse, her schedule was just as hellish. She slept only two hours a day, and Shen Run sometimes even suspected that she had already turned into a wandering ghost.

“Yeah, it is time to rest.” Shen Run looked at his younger brother, “Xiaoze, where are you living now, do you want me to send you back?”

Without warning, Shen Ze’s face darkened, his handsome brows furrowing together, the light in his eyes dimming by several degrees.

Shen Run’s heart tightened, not understanding why he would show such a change in expression.

Did I say something wrong?

Just as he was thinking that, Shen Ze leaned closer to him, his eyes drooping, “Can’t I go home with Gege?”

This… yes, by rights, he should be inviting Shen Ze to live with him now.

But considering the awkward atmosphere between them, which had not yet thawed, Shen Run was somewhat afraid of being alone with Shen Ze.

Besides, his place was full of bottles and cigarette butts, and it was not suitable to bring someone back. Perhaps out of a brother’s pride, he did not want Shen Ze to know how down and out he had lived over the years.

But he also did not know how to politely refuse. If he accidentally said the wrong thing, the atmosphere that had just eased up would freeze again.

After thinking for a long time, he finally squeezed out one sentence, “No, it’s not that, my place just isn’t very convenient.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Shen Run immediately regretted them, wishing he could slap himself.

Sure enough, the next second he heard Shen Ze say, “What, does Gege have a woman hidden at home?”

Hey! You brat, you clearly know I like men!

Shen Run’s sexual orientation had never been a secret, and his former boyfriend had even secretly come to his house to cook for Shen Ze.

Although later Shen Ze threw both the man and the pot out…….

Shen Ze realized this and changed his words, “I said that wrong, I forgot Gege doesn’t like women.”

“Then, does Gege have a man hidden at home?”

“No! No!”

Shen Run hurriedly denied it, his voice a little agitated, drawing a glance from the “corpse” at the bar.

“If there isn’t, why won’t you let me go?”

Shen Ze wore a wronged expression, “Actually, Gege doesn’t want me at all, right?”

Shen Run’s expression froze, “How could that be? Of course I want you very much.”

“If you want me, then why won’t you let me stay at your house?”

As he spoke, a layer of moisture had already gathered in his eyes, tears as big as beans spinning in the corners, looking like they were about to fall any second.

“Gege actually hates me, right? ‘Clearly I dumped that brat, but he still clung back on.’ You’re thinking that, right?”

Shen Run’s head hurt.

They had been apart for too long, how had he forgotten that this brat also had such a skill.

When they were little, whenever Shen Run refused Shen Ze’s requests, he would launch a tear attack, and Shen Run just happened to fall for that trick, so this move always worked on him.

The result this time was the same.

“All right, come to my place! Come to my place!”

All the extraneous thoughts in his head were instantly reduced to ashes. Seeing the tears rolling down Shen Ze’s cheeks, a scorching sense of guilt surged up from all directions.

He was Shen Ze!

He was not a stranger, he was Shen Ze, the one who had lived with you for more than ten years, like a younger brother!

Why did he have to keep such a distance from him?

Shen Run blamed himself inwardly as he took the initiative to wipe the tears from Shen Ze’s face.

“Don’t cry, Xiaoze, your eyes will look swollen and then you won’t look good.”

Shen Ze immediately stopped crying, revealing a slightly sly smile, like a child whose scheme had succeeded.

“Really? Can I? Can I go?”

This little brat…

Shen Run realized that he had been tricked by his black-hearted younger brother, this kid had clearly done it on purpose.

However, after all this fuss, the awkwardness of their long-awaited reunion had been diluted quite a bit, and he smiled helplessly, “Really, let’s go, come home with Gege.”

Scene 8

People always go madly to gods and Buddhas in helpless moments, praying for divine blessings to help them fulfill their wishes.

Shen Run was currently in this kind of devout state, the difference being that what he was praying to was not some immortal or Buddha, but the hobgoblin maiden who cleans houses.

I’m begging you, please help me tidy up my place……

Unfortunately, that kind-hearted maiden ultimately could not hear his inner voice, and no miracle happened. The moment he opened the apartment door, a smell of mixed smoke and alcohol hit him full in the face.

“The place is a bit messy, Xiaoze, don’t laugh at Gege…” He opened the door guiltily, and entered with Shen Ze one after the other.

Fortunately, aside from there being a bit too many bottles, it was not as messy as he remembered.

Shen Run stood in the entryway and let out a small breath of relief, but when he reached the living room, the heart he had just put down rose up again.

On the black glass coffee table in the living room were empty cigarette boxes, a half-finished bottle of alcohol, and even Heimdall’s confidential documents scattered across the table.

Besides that, there was also a Seraph on the coffee table, and an M9 with a 9-millimeter caliber.

Shen Run expressionlessly pushed Shen Ze into the bathroom on the left as soon as they entered, stopping him from seeing those two prohibited firearms.

“I’ll tidy up the room, you go shower first.”

“Oh.” Shen Ze nodded obediently, “Clothes to change into, Gege.”

“Got it.”

Shen Run closed the bathroom door and pulled out two sets of long-sleeved tops and long pants from the wardrobe, each one a size larger than his own.

For the current weather, they might be a little hot, but he really had no other clothes that the suddenly steroid-swollen Shen Ze could wear.

“Just turn the air-conditioning up a bit…” he muttered softly, and lightly knocked twice on the bathroom glass door.

The door opened a small crack from inside, Shen Ze伸出了一只银白色的机械手. After he grabbed the clothes Shen Run handed over, he quickly closed the bathroom door again, and the sound of running water resumed.

“You brat, now you’re shy too, it’s not like I haven’t seen it before.”

Shen Run laughed as he cursed, and began tidying up the room that looked like it had been bombed by an anti-tank rocket launcher.

This apartment was not large, with only two bedrooms, and one of them had been transformed by Shen Run into a small storeroom for network consoles, deep dive equipment, and firearms.

Looking at the heavy weapons hanging all over the walls of the storeroom, his head felt twice as big.

If Shen Ze saw these, he would probably think I was some arms dealer who killed without hesitation……

For the child’s physical and mental health, he locked the storeroom door, certain that no one except himself could crack the lock’s key.

Looking back at the floor full of “evidence of decadence,” he was glad that Shen Ze had a head of nearly waist-length hair, and that showering took him twice as long as it took him.

Shen Run had once complained about this to Shen Ze, but he had not expected it to become a blessing now.

By the time Shen Ze came out of the bathroom, Shen Run had already cleaned the room until it was spotless, as if it were a completely different room from when they first came in.

Shen Run stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his head sticking out the window as he smoked, eyes looking out toward the distant Emerald Bay. Hearing the movement behind him, he turned around.

The clothes, which were too large for him, fit Shen Ze just right. He was a natural clothes hanger, and even the simplest white hoodie looked on him like a luxury item hanging in a store window.

He was wiping his jet-black long hair with a towel, but his eyes were still fixed on Shen Run.

Shen Run felt his heart struck, and waved to him, “Come here.”

Shen Ze obediently walked toward his brother.

Shen Run took the towel and naturally began drying his hair for him. Shen Ze’s hair was layered, with the short hair on top curling up, like a wet little dog.

The hand holding the towel paused, and an inexplicable thought surfaced in his mind. Shen Run stared at the young man’s handsome face, feeling that this scene seemed to have repeated many times.

In the bathroom, on the sofa, on the bed in the bedroom, Shen Run was not someone who was very patient when doing things, but he could always hold his temper and focus on drying Shen Ze’s long hair, just like now.

Perhaps the present scene was too peaceful and warm, and an ill-timed thought arose in Shen Run’s mind.

Was this really not a dream?

He could not help pinching Shen Ze’s not-very-fleshy cheek, soft.

“This is too unreal……” he murmured.

“How is it unreal?” Shen Ze asked him.

“I dreamed of you this afternoon, and at night you showed up.”

His hand rested on Shen Ze’s cheek, feeling Shen Ze’s icy-cold body temperature, “Too fake, like I’m still in the dream, I didn’t wake up, and you didn’t appear either.”

Shen Ze grabbed his hand, his gaze burning, “It’s real, Gege, I’m right in front of you now.”

Shen Run did not rush to pull away, and instead thought of the scene in his dream.

He raised the other hand holding the cigarette and pointed at the wrist Shen Ze was holding, speaking in a joking tone.

“Do you remember? Here, you said there was a thread here.”

“Of course I remember.”

Shen Ze tightened the hand holding his wrist even more, “Because with that thread there, I always knew you were still alive.”

Shen Ze’s words caught him off guard, and the smile on his face froze, not knowing how to react.

“Gege, seven years ago, weren’t you already dead?”

The question came without warning, and just when he had let down his guard, Shen Run felt someone viciously grab at his heart, and there was a ringing in his ears.

“From the time we met at the music shop, had you been waiting for me to ask this question?”

Shen Ze’s face held no expression at all. The neon lights outside the window reflected on his face, and he looked like a flower coated in deadly poison.

The room was dead silent, and Shen Run could even hear his own heartbeat.

“Xiaoze, I…”

Shen Run was just about to speak when he was interrupted by Shen Ze’s next movement.

He extended his long arm and wrapped Shen Run completely in his embrace, his wet hair sticking to Shen Run’s cheek.

He leaned close to Shen Run’s ear and said softly, “Gege, I don’t want to know why you disappeared without a word seven years ago, and I also don’t want to know why they clearly said you were dead, yet I met you here.”

Shen Ze’s voice was low and gentle, like waves, striking Shen Run’s heart one beat at a time.

“I only know that you are here, that you have appeared in front of me again, and that everything happening now is not a dream. That is enough, that is enough.”

The gentle words entered his ears syllable by syllable, Shen Run’s nose stung, and his originally bitter mood gained a little sweetness, like glimpsing a ray of dawn through dark clouds.

The strangeness of long separation vanished at this moment, and Shen Run finally had a clear realization that the person in front of him was the beautiful child who had lived with him for fourteen years. After more than two thousand days and nights, he had returned to his life.

Shen Run lowered his head and pressed tightly against him.

“Xiaoze, I miss you very much.”

A low laugh came from his ear, and Shen Run felt a little embarrassed.

“Really, I really miss you, stop laughing. Don’t you miss Gege?”

Shen Ze stopped laughing, loosened the arms that had been wrapped around Shen Run, and looked at Shen Run.

The light outside the window dimmed, and Shen Ze’s face merged with the shadows in the room, making it impossible to see the expression on his face, only those deep blue eyes glowing with light were visible.

So beautiful, those eyes.

Shen Run stared blankly at those aquamarine-like eyes, and in the next second, he felt two icy things press against his lips.

Wha… what?

Shen Run widened his eyes, not understanding what had happened.

His mind went blank, there was buzzing in his ears, and for a moment, even his soul seemed to have left his body.

What was Shen Ze doing?

He, had he kissed me?

“Xiaoze, y, you… what are you doing?” He forcefully pushed away Shen Ze, who was pressed against him, and even his speech stuttered.

Shen Ze licked his lips, curved the corners of his mouth, and answered his brother’s question in a low, hoarse voice.

“Didn’t Gege ask whether I missed you?” he said.

“This is the way I express missing you.”