Future's First Marriage, Later Love - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

For example, automated cake machines. The primary items on the fourth floor were spaceship components, intelligent robots, microcomputers, planetary intercom devices, and so on.

Mai Hai browsed through the exhibition rooms one by one, marveling at the charm of ancient Egyptian culture on one hand and comparing it with modern-day Egypt on the other. By the time he reached the third floor, he developed a keen interest in the various strange and peculiar inventions and found himself unable to move for a long while.

When Mai Hai finally emerged from the museum, still feeling unsatisfied, he looked at the moon hanging in the deep blue sky like a curtain and felt a bit dazed. The Saqqara Pyramids, the Sphinx, Luxor, the Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings… many things that Mai Hai once felt were far away from him had come before his eyes overnight.

Mai Hai glanced at his timer; it was already 10:00 PM in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth Village. On both sides of the street, the neon lights wrapped around tree branches began to flicker, their various colored lights intertwining to look exceptionally beautiful.

Mai Hai, who was originally planning to walk back to the hotel along the path to sleep, was suddenly blocked by two burly, muscular men wearing vests with incomprehensible tattoos on their arms. Mai Hai initially thought they were unintentional, so he planned to step off the sidewalk to go around them, but the two men blocked his path again.

He looked up at the two men in confusion, wondering what they were up to.

The two men looked at Mai Hai, and one of them spoke: “Kid, leave all your valuables behind, or don’t even think about getting through here!”

Mai Hai shrugged helplessly and said, “I don’t have any money.”

“No money? Are you kidding me?!” The first brute reached out, grabbed Mai Hai by the collar, lifted him off the ground, and roared at him.

Mai Hai looked at him very gently and said, “So you can let go of me now…”

However, the big guy obviously didn’t take his words seriously. He looked at him irritably and said, “I’ll give you two choices now: either obediently hand over the money, or I’ll beat you so hard you won’t even recognize yourself. Choose.”

Mai Hai looked at the brute distressingly, finally thought about it, and said, “I think I’ll choose…”

Before Mai Hai could finish his sentence, the other brute heard the dull thud of his companion falling to the ground. He looked at Mai Hai in shock. Perhaps because he was too nervous, even his voice trembled slightly: “You… what did you do…”

Mai Hai walked a few steps toward the brute with a smile, adjusted his backpack as he walked, and then rubbed his shoulder, saying, “I decided to choose to let you guys practice with me. Although I haven’t moved in a while, it seems my skills haven’t regressed.”

“You…” The brute followed Mai Hai’s gaze to his unconscious partner on the ground and swallowed hard. He secretly compared Mai Hai’s build with his partner’s; the facts were hard for him to accept. He didn’t know how someone with Mai Hai’s thin arms and legs could strike before they could even see clearly.

Mai Hai looked at the man with a grin and said, “It’s okay, it’ll be quick. I’ll be gentle.”

As soon as he finished speaking, accompanied by the sound of the man falling, Mai Hai rubbed his hands and spoke softly to the two unconscious men on the ground: “Sorry about that. Sleep well. In this weather, you shouldn’t catch a cold by tomorrow morning.”

After saying that, Mai Hai stepped over the two men and tried to return to the hotel as if nothing had happened, only to look up and see Kedexin carrying a large bag, staring at him dumbfounded.

Kedexin was a military officer, so his fighting skills went without saying, but after seeing Mai Hai land those few blows, he was also startled. He didn’t expect that Mai Hai, who looked soft and weak, was actually a hidden expert. Once the surprise faded, Kedexin gave Mai Hai a thumbs up: “Nice moves. We definitely have to spar sometime.”

Mai Hai didn’t feel any embarrassment at all; he still nodded with a gentle face: “Mm, okay.”

Kedexin walked a few steps and asked Mai Hai, “Where are you going?”

Mai Hai pointed to the magnificent hotel behind Kedexin and said, “Back to sleep.”

Kedexin turned to look and said excitedly, “We’re actually staying in the same hotel!”

“Haha.” Mai Hai smiled.

Kedexin suddenly asked him, “Do you want to come exploring with me? Since you’re alone anyway.”

Mai Hai declined with a smile: “No thanks. I’m quite timid; it’s better for me to just walk around the tourist areas.”

Kedexin couldn’t see a hint of fear on Mai Hai’s face, but since he put it that way, Kedexin couldn’t keep pestering him. The two chatted for a few more moments and then parted ways.

Mai Hai was originally a bit curious about where Kedexin was going late at night with such a large bag, but later learned that Kedexin was going to deposit his things by the Nile first and look for some travel companions. Mai Hai didn’t expect that after so many years, people would still be exploring Egypt; he thought the secrets of ancient Egypt would have been mostly excavated by now.

Just as he parted from Kedexin and before he even reached the hotel entrance, the unique ringtone of his communication device rang. Taking it out, he saw it was a video call from Polack. Mai Hai answered it, and after a few seconds, Polack’s “poker face” appeared on the other side. Through the communicator, Polack looked at the street behind Mai Hai, frowned, and asked, “Is it dark over there?”

Mai Hai knew Polack wanted to ask: It’s dark already, why are you still wandering aimlessly in the streets alone? But for the sake of his pride, he wouldn’t ask directly. Mai Hai considerately answered the question Polack wanted to ask but didn’t: “Mm, I got too absorbed in the museum just now and forgot the time. I’m at the hotel entrance now, ready to go back to my room to rest.”

“Oh.” Sure enough, after hearing Mai Hai say that, Polack’s expression improved significantly.

Mai Hai smiled. He felt that although Polack had become an officer of Planet Juhua at a young age, his temperament was still similar to kids of the same age—just as easy to fool.

Seeing Mai Hai smile, Polack asked irritably, “What are you laughing at?”

Mai Hai suppressed his smile and said, “Nothing, I just suddenly remembered a joke.”

Polack said, “Then go back and rest early. My communicator will be off for the next few days.”

Mai Hai thought for a moment and still asked out of concern, “Is there some mission?”

Polack nodded and said, “Mm, probably for about ten days.”

Mai Hai asked again, “Is there anything you want me to bring back for you?”

Polack said, “Decide for yourself.”

After closing the communicator, Mai Hai didn’t go back to the hotel immediately. Instead, he sat on a bench in a small park next to the hotel and looked up at the stars. Since he was a child, he loved looking at the stars alone on summer nights, wondering if the aliens living on them had three heads and six arms.

As it turned out, he really did end up living on a “star” and found that the scenery on some planets wasn’t even as good as Earth’s.

“As expected, it’s better to keep some distance with everything,” Mai Hai murmured to himself while looking up.

Suddenly, an enlarged face appeared in front of him, giving him a huge fright. Mai Hai, still shaken, patted his chest and said to Kedexin, “Aren’t you going to observe the travel route? Why did you suddenly appear here to scare people?”

Kedexin sat down beside Mai Hai and said, “After I stored my things and walked back to the hotel, I saw you sitting here in a daze. I called you several times, but you didn’t react…”

“Is that so…” Mai Hai replied to Kedexin while rubbing his cervical spine, which was sore from looking up at the stars for a long time.

Kedexin asked Mai Hai curiously, “What were you thinking about so intently?”

Mai Hai laughed twice and said, “Nothing. I’m a bit sleepy, let’s go back to sleep.”

Then he stood up and walked toward the hotel. Kedexin scratched the back of his head, stood up, and caught up with Mai Hai in a few strides. Even more coincidentally, both of them were staying on the top floor, in two rooms facing each other.

At the door of his room, Mai Hai opened it and said to Kedexin, “Get some rest early. Goodnight.”

Just as he was about to close the door, Kedexin reached out to stop him and said under Mai Hai’s questioning gaze, “Want to come to my room for a drink?”

“Haha, I don’t drink.” After saying this, Mai Hai unceremoniously shut Kedexin out.

Mai Hai wasn’t lying; his current body was indeed allergic to alcohol. Actually, strictly speaking, it wasn’t an allergy; it was just that once he drank, he would do strange things, like kissing whoever he caught… Back on Planet Pandora, there were a bunch of people to hold him back. Now, if he drank recklessly, the consequences would be unimaginable. What if he accidentally did something he shouldn’t? Moreover, Kedexin was a man.

Kedexin, having been rebuffed, shrugged his shoulders and opened his door to go back to his room.

Back in his room, Mai Hai took his bathrobe out of his suitcase, walked into the bathroom, placed the robe in the dedicated clothing area, and filled the bathtub with hot water. He picked a lightly scented bottle from the spices the hotel had already prepared and poured it into the water. After undressing and lying down in the tub, Mai Hai let out a satisfied sigh, preparing to take a comfortable bath to wash away the fatigue of the journey.

However, the doorbell rang at an inopportune moment. The intercom phone in the bathroom, specifically linked to the door, emitted a blue light. Mai Hai reached out and picked it up…