After Picking Up the Rival Boss, It Smells Really Good - Chapter 12

“This small mechanized gun with a diameter no more than 20cm can hold up to five bullets at most. Exactly the number you just fired.” Lu Lian spoke unhurriedly. The cascading water curtain had drenched him completely, droplets falling from his gray hair tips, diluting the bloodstains on his cheek before disappearing into the black bite inhibitor. The soaked lab coat faintly revealed the contours of his muscles, yet even in such circumstances he didn’t appear disheveled, instead inexplicably captivating.

“Good.” Qin Gou finally holstered his gun properly. “You called me by name and counted all the bullets I fired. Seems you’re truly lucid now.”

Lu Lian tilted his head slightly.

Qin Gou glanced at the bite inhibitor he was wearing and asked impulsively: “If you hadn’t been wearing this earlier, would you have actually tried to bite me?”

Lu Lian barely bothered to respond, merely raising his bandage-wrapped hand again: “Who would be biting whom?”

“Hah…” Qin Gou laughed for a moment, his gaze drifting to the back of Lu Lian’s neck. Beads of water still clung to the pale skin, wet gray hair tips drooping against his nape, creating a striking contrast.

Qin Gou reached toward the back of Lu Lian’s neck.

Lu Lian stiffened instinctively again, but quickly restrained himself from reacting, allowing Qin Gou to clearly see the tension in his muscles.

Click – the buckle of the bite inhibitor came undone, the black steel device falling to the ground.

Qin Gou’s hand caught the lingering droplets on Lu Lian’s neck, becoming slightly damp. He rubbed his fingers together and the moisture vanished.

“Where’s Blaise?” Qin Gou asked.

Lu Lian shook his head. Several minutes earlier, Blaise – injured by Lu Lian’s Mental Sea – had desperately activated all the Experiment Pod buttons in the factory, releasing numerous Restricted-nucleus animals to attack Lu Lian while making his own escape. The abnormal Mental Seas of the numerous Restricted-nucleus animals had disrupted Lu Lian’s Mental Sea, causing him to lose control.

“Find him first.” Qin Gou said without hesitation. “He won’t give up. Your Mental Sea condition is poor – delaying will work against us.”

Qin Gou and Lu Lian separated again this time, moving along the long Laboratory corridor.

Squeak~ A large swarm of bats flew straight toward the two men in the corridor, simultaneously emitting eerie red sound waves. Lu Lian frowned while Qin Gou stepped forward directly, throwing a wide-arced punch.

The bats scattered from the impact. Qin Gou pulled Lu Lian close, shielding him as they rushed through the bat swarm. The dark mass swept past them, Qin Gou swinging his head to knock more away.

Fortunately, the bat swarm soon flew past. The two reached a clearing where Qin Gou finally relaxed.

Lu Lian looked down at the hand Qin Gou was holding.

Qin Gou followed his gaze downward, then released his grip with composure.

“You don’t think it’s dangerous anymore?” Lu Lian reminded him.

Qin Gou shrugged: “You losing control again would be the greatest danger.”

Before their words faded, they heard the bats’ squeaking once more. Turning simultaneously, they saw the previously departed bat swarm returning, appearing suddenly much more agitated as they collectively dove toward the two men.

The two immediately distanced themselves, but the swarm of bats flew swiftly. Just as the dark mass was about to descend upon them, a hand abruptly emerged from the bat swarm, accompanied by a surge of intense red spiritual sea, attempting to seize Lu Lian by the collar.

Without even a flicker of hesitation, Qin Gou struck the hand hard with the butt of his pistol. Simultaneously, Lu Lian erupted with a gray spiritual sea, precisely targeting the bat swarm.

The dense swarm was completely scattered, and Blaise stepped out from among the bats. He appeared disheveled and frenzied, covered in bloodstains, with a gaping hole in his chest revealing a glaring red Core Inhibitor.

He had actually injected himself with an Artificial Forbidden Core!

What an experimental madman. Qin Gou frowned. Blaise’s spiritual sea pressure was only around B-rank, so by all accounts, he should be no match for Lu Lian. However, although Lu Lian’s spiritual sea strike remained precise and restrained, there was a noticeable tremor, reminding Qin Gou that Lu Lian was not in optimal condition.

Blaise’s face was marked with dried bloodstains, which, combined with his deranged expression, created an eerie sight. “How does it feel to have your spiritual sea in chaos? Become my experimental subject! I will make everything calm down!”

Lu Lian’s expression remained unchanged as ever, his movements still precise and ruthless. The gray spiritual sea clashed directly with the red spiritual sea, swiftly shattering it like a collapsing wall.

The nearby bat swarm quickly regrouped and charged at Lu Lian while the two were locked in confrontation.

Qin Gou tried to block them, but the bats were simply too numerous, like an endless tide of ants. Waves of red sonic vibrations overlapped, their agitated noise penetrating Lu Lian’s mind.

Lu Lian’s expression remained unaltered, but his gray spiritual sea showed clear signs of dissipation and loss of control. Seizing the opportunity, Blaise manipulated his red spiritual sea to counterattack.

Qin Gou glanced sideways. Lu Lian was still drenched, and a drop whether sweat or water trickled down from his temple along a cut on his cheek.

The red spiritual sea surged forward like a damp, greedy serpent.

With a “bang,” the Helium Energy Gun fired a bullet, its powerful shockwave crushing the red spiritual sea and piercing through Blaise’s chest. As he collapsed stiffly, his expression remained frozen in wide-eyed terror.

A wisp of smoke curled from the barrel of Qin Gou’s Helium Energy Gun. “Taking advantage of someone’s weakness. I’m quite adept at that too.”

Qin Gou holstered the gun and faced the aftermath alongside Lu Lian. “The PK-5997 Helium Energy Gun my proudest masterpiece from university. Range: 500m. Attack diameter: 5cm. Ignores spiritual sea interception. Nuclear-loaded bullets six rounds.”

Lu Lian’s gray spiritual sea gradually dissipated. He seemed largely unaffected by the spiritual sea turmoil, and at Qin Gou’s words, he raised an eyebrow in rare surprise.

Qin Gou added, “So, Young Master Lu, it’d be best not to lose control again. Otherwise, next time, I can’t guarantee where this bullet might end up.”

“Indeed, it’s better not to lose control,” Lu Lian nodded, then shifted the topic. “Only when my consciousness is unclear would your bullet have a chance to hit me.”

Qin Gou tossed the gun, letting it spin elegantly in the air before catching it again. “So, this is a rare opportunity, then?”

Lu Lian tilted her head to glance at him but didn’t respond, instead walking directly toward Blaise’s corpse. She bent down and reached toward his chest.

The smile on Qin Gou’s face faded as he witnessed this. He gently turned his head away. Though he knew retrieving Blaise’s Core Inhibitor was necessary, he still deeply detested this method.

Wearing lab gloves, Lu Lian extracted Blaise’s Core Inhibitor without any psychological hesitation.

The dark red crystal emitted a faint glow.

“You seem quite practiced,” Qin Gou said with implied meaning, “as if you’ve done this many times before, without any psychological barriers.”

Lu Lian looked up, her lab gloves stained with blood. She neatly removed them and tossed them to the ground, appearing to seriously answer Qin Gou: “With gloves, it’s not dirty.”

Qin Gou rubbed his brow – apparently his only psychological barrier was his fastidiousness acting up.

Watching Lu Lian standing there calmly, Qin Gou’s heart inexplicably became like a tranquil lake, yet gently brushed by a faint breeze.

Both were thoroughly drenched by the rain. After bathing, Qin Gou cut several slices of ginger in the kitchen and tossed them into a heating pot, watching bubbles gurgle up.

“Ginger tea?” Qin Gou called toward the living room.

Lu Lian had just finished showering and entered the living room. She neatly returned her hair-drying towel to its place and happened to catch the pungent scent of old ginger. She frowned: “Ginger.”

“You don’t mean you don’t eat ginger either.” Qin Gou sighed, “No wonder you dislike garlic, and now ginger too. You definitely don’t have ancient Chinese ancestry.”

Even as he said this, Qin Gou took out a carton of milk from the refrigerator and warmed it on the stove.

“Beep ” Qin Gou’s Communicator sounded. He casually glanced over but froze mid-motion.

It was a long string of unregistered numbers, yet Qin Gou had long memorized them by heart.

He remained standing without moving, his expression unreadable. Only when the “beep” sounded for the fifth time did he answer.

“Brother A Gou,” a soft voice came through, carrying a hint of grievance and coquettishness, as Ye Wan said, “I’m injured, it hurts so much.”

Qin Gou’s brows slowly furrowed. Hearing this, Lu Lian looked over but remained silent. The milk boiled over, yet no one attended to it.

“Yes, it’s me,” Qin Gou replied.

The milk boiled over, flowing down the stove walls and extinguishing the flame below. The milk in the pot darkened in color, acquiring a burnt smell.

A perfectly warmed pot of milk went to waste.