The Eleventh Year of Making Hate with My Lover - Chapter 16

Shen Wang slept straight through until the afternoon. Pulling back the duvet to sit up, he discovered the wounds across his body had long been systematically cleansed. A neat expanse of fresh bandages was wrapped securely around his abdomen, executed with evidently highly practiced technique.

The abysmal emotional fog that had plagued him the previous night had essentially dissipated.

Stepping out toward the bathroom, Shen Wang noticed a bowl of porridge resting on the dining table as he passed. The surface of the container bore a prominent storefront logo one he vaguely recalled Wu Que mentioning as a highly celebrated local establishment that required enduring a substantial queue early in the morning just to secure an order.

And here I assumed I’d be left abandoned directly on the floorboards to fend for myself.

Squeezing out a dollop of toothpaste, Shen Wang shoved the toothbrush into his mouth. The reflection in the mirror displayed a youth with dark purple shadows pulling beneath his eyes, his sharp gaze casting slightly downward, looking thoroughly drained of vitality. Right on cue, his equally half-dead system suddenly chimed to life within his consciousness.

【Congratulations on completing the hidden mission. Congratulations on completing the hidden mission.】

【Settlement Reward: Wu Que’s Personal Profile File.】

What on earth is this garbage?

Expressionless, Shen Wang spat the foam into the sink: 【You call this a reward?】

【Just a little joke! It is actually a specialized Identity Analysis Code Bundle package, oh!】

Shen Wang rinsed his mouth out with water, muttering indistinctly: 【Are you a tube of toothpaste?】 Always requiring a hard squeeze just to yield a single sentence.

The system manifested a teasing emoji face right inside his mind: 【The data bundle stores data on all currently documented high-tier supernatural abilities available for direct query. Additionally, should you encounter an unclassified Evoker or supernatural anomaly, the system can automatically deduce their precise capability metrics within a twenty-meter radius.】

Now that actually sounds remotely functional.

【Look up Wu Que for me.】 Though he harbored zero inherent desire to delve into the man’s personal history, he was distinctly curious about the temporal mechanism Wu Que had deployed to restore Li Li a few days back.

【Weren’t you just projecting unvarnished disdain a second ago? Yet he’s the absolute first person you choose to audit, oh.】 The system’s tone brimmed with mockery, yet it promptly delivered the documentation regardless.

Several sheets of paper materialized out of thin air atop the vanity. Wiping his hands dry, Shen Wang picked up the parsed pages.

Name: Wu Que Classification: S-rank Evoker. Successor to the Wu Family (one of the Three Great Aristocratic Lineages), Chief Inspector of the Tianshu Base. Primary Achievements…

Shen Wang systematically skipped past several pages of historical praise, flipping directly to the technical breakdown of his abilities.

S-Rank Ability: 【Meridian Authority】 Within a designated perimeter of an identical spatial domain, the user can systematically overlay a target’s specific past or future evolutionary states onto their current present timeline. Under strictly defined limiting parameters, the ability can also enforce localized temporal stagnation.

Ah… Shen Wang nodded to himself in understanding. In other words, his highly publicized “resurrection” capability was actually a mechanism of state-overlaying. He had extracted Li Li’s normal, uncorrupted baseline from before her mutation and forced it onto her present timeline to serve as an absolute cure.

As for the temporal stagnation parameter, he had yet to witness it live.

Conversely, if deployed offensively, Wu Que could theoretically force a debilitating past or future debuff state onto an active adversary during combat.

S-Rank Ability: 【Boundless】 Provides an uninterrupted, infinite reservoir of mental energy to sustain the user’s primary systems.

Other S-Rank Abilities: Unclassified / Unknown.

In a baseline era where Evokers were fundamentally limited to commanding a single innate ability, this man not only wielded two separate S-rank disciplines, but also harbored hidden ones that remained entirely unrecorded. Furthermore, while the execution of such complex laws typically depended heavily on the user’s mental capacity, the core issue was that Wu Que’s secondary ability granted him a literally bottomless fountain of psychic fuel.

This is a literal exploit code.

The corner of Shen Wang’s mouth twitched imperceptibly. Looking at it from this perspective, if his past iteration had truly been executed by Wu Que, it seemed he hadn’t died an unfair death after all.

A tiny, faint line of text traced the absolute bottom of the final page:

Please note: This character is classified as S-rank purely because S represents the absolute ceiling of the established grading matrix.

Purely because S represents the absolute ceiling…

For a fraction of a second, Shen Wang felt a distinct urge to crumple the document into a ball and hurl it directly into the wastebin. What did that even mean? It meant S-rank wasn’t Wu Que’s personal limitation; rather, it was the structural limitation of every other Evoker in existence.

“……” This was no longer a matter of wielding an unfair advantage; the man was a certified anomaly.

The moment he finished digesting the data, the sheets of paper spontaneously ignited within his grip, dissolving into drifting ash within a second. Having audited a few additional high-profile profiles, the crushing sensation of hunger finally became impossible to ignore. Changing into a fresh set of clothes, Shen Wang made his way downstairs.

Down in the living area, Wu Que was sprawled comfortably across the sofa watching a film. Registering the approaching footsteps, his head popped up from behind the backrest: “You’re awake?”

Shen Wang offered a low affirmation: “Thank you for dressing my wounds.” He paused, his lips twitching slightly: “Though it would have been vastly preferable if you hadn’t tied them into half a dozen decorative bows.”

“Devoid of aesthetic taste,” Wu Que retorted, the smile instantly vanishing from his face as he turned his attention back to the screen. He was playing an old sci-fi flick; a mutated monstrosity on screen was actively devouring a human casualty.

Though the visuals were distinctly grotesque, the crisp, crunching audio track of the entity chewing sounded remarkably like someone snapping through cartilage. Having gone without food the entire morning, Shen Wang’s stomach was practically hollow, prompting him to open his device to order a delivery.

Yet, the moment the application initialized and his coordinates locked, the interface indicated zero available couriers for his sector. His brow twitched: “Not a single delivery service accepts orders to your address?”

“Is that not entirely standard operating procedure?” Wu Que draped his arm lazily over the sofa backrest, resting his chin against his forearm. “After all, is my residence not celebrated as City A’s premier haunted house? Check the refrigerator; there should still be supplies inside.”

Shen Wang found himself thoroughly choked, completely unable to formulate a counterargument. Turning on his heel, he rifled through the refrigerator compartments, unearthing a few raw ingredients left over from their previous supermarket excursion.

He hadn’t once seen Wu Que fire up the stove since purchasing them, though the Servant Proxy had managed to cook two basic meals during the preceding days.

Shen Wang extracted three potatoes, two tomatoes, and a block of tofu, alongside a portion of protein from the freezer compartment that looked as though it had been frozen for an indeterminate epoch. The condiments lining the kitchen counter were ninety percent pristine, though thankfully the inventory was comprehensive.

Donning an apron, Shen Wang prepared to whip up a basic meal. The kitchen held two options: one featuring a cartoon chick pattern, and another executed in a white, cat-paw design complete with ruffled lace trim and a semi-transparent chest panel. Both styles clashed violently with his natural disposition, yet the cat-paw variation carried a highly distinct aura of intimate roleplay practically begging for a matching set of ears and a tail to complete the aesthetic…

Shen Wang shook his head aggressively, expelling the bizarre intrusive thoughts from his brain.

Wu Que drifted over, tracking the sight of him securely fastened into the cartoon chick apron. He let out a low whistle: “Oh, it suits you remarkably well. You should wear it more frequently.”

Shen Wang promptly escorted the human distraction out of the kitchen domain. As he pulled the sliding glass door shut, his gaze drifted downward.

“Put on your shoes,” Shen Wang reminded him.

Wu Que was padding around completely barefoot against the floorboards. Due to his slender build, faint blue veins traced the porcelain skin of his instep, the structure of his toes exceptionally elegant, with the tips and heels flushing a natural, delicate pink.

Wu Que cast a cursory glance down at his feet, pulling them back with total nonchalance as he stepped onto the plush, high-pile rug anchoring the coffee table, curling back into the depths of the sofa with the weightless grace of a cat.

He hit the resume button on the remote control. On screen, the dashing protagonist summarily executed the monster with a single gunshot, rescuing the heroine who lay collapsed in absolute despair. This wasn’t his first time consuming this specific piece of media; it was an incredibly ancient film featuring a thoroughly formulaic conclusion the hero triumphs over the monster, rescues the beauty, and they proceed to live a seamless, unbothered existence together.

Wu Que didn’t particularly care for it, finding the entire progression distinctly artificial. The preceding journey was always so harrowing and fractured by displacement, yet the final resolution was painted with far too much of a fairy-tale brush.

Regardless, he would still occasionally unearth it from the archives, utilizing it as a mindless instrument to pass the time when boredom struck.

As the onscreen protagonists locked into a dramatic embrace and shared a kiss, Wu Que sat cross-legged, hugging a throw pillow tight against his chest. His detached gaze unthinkingly drifted toward the busy silhouette visible behind the glass partition of the kitchen.

This time… it isn’t an artificial illusion.

Mapo tofu, tomato meat sauce, braised pork with potatoes…

Though the spreadsheet consisted entirely of standard home-cooked fare, Shen Wang surveyed his handiwork with immense satisfaction, even going so far as to plate a specialized portion of creamed mashed potatoes on the side.

Wu Que scooped up a spoonful of the mashed potatoes, placing it into his mouth—only to instantly freeze mid-motion. Shen Wang watched him with total bewilderment.

Why on earth does he look like he’s about to weep…

Could he truly be so profoundly moved by his ex-husband cooking a single meal that it reduced him to tears? That seems entirely excessive, doesn’t it?

Wu Que’s eyes rimmed with red as he choked out: “So… unpalatable…”

It tastes awful.

“……”

Shen Wang admitted he was pulled into a state of being thoroughly amused by the sheer audacity.

He made a physical attempt to confiscate the small dessert portion from Wu Que’s grasp: “Give it back to me.”

Wu Que ducked his head backward to evade the reach, snatching a pair of clean chopsticks from the table and using the tips to firmly pinch Shen Wang’s cheek.

“……” This man’s hands truly cannot remain still for a single second.

Emerging from the kitchen after clearing the dishes, Shen Wang found Wu Que seated directly on the rug, systematically organizing a collection of small artifacts into a storage crate. The mechanical doll rested immediately to his left. Following the recovery of the Servant Puppet’s corrupted nucleus fragment, the binding contract imposed upon its frame had been definitively severed, leaving the core spiritual tool body in a state of absolute seal.

“Why have you unboxed that entity again?” Shen Wang’s brow hitched slightly. Though the tool no longer commanded any offensive capacity, he had been thoroughly tormented by the anomaly’s machinations, leaving a minor lingering trauma in his psyche.

“I’m mailing it back to the Base.” Wu Que held the mechanical doll up, manipulating its tiny hands into two brief gestures. “Leaving it here will yield nothing but an accumulation of dust. It’s far more functional to let the Base configure a fresh identity matrix for it.”

“Fair enough.” Hearing this, Shen Wang understood clear as day that Wu Que harbored zero intention of returning to the headquarters himself. Still, he couldn’t resist probing: “You don’t intend to return at all?”

“Is remaining here not perfectly fine?” Wu Que lifted his eyelids, countering with a direct question. “If I return, I will be assigned an endless rotation of high-risk operations, forced to neutralize an uncomputable number of anomalies and domains, all while being expected to manage batch after batch of raw, incoming recruits.”

“Remaining here with me… where we don’t have to concern ourselves with how catastrophic the external world becomes, and where we don’t have to care about the survival metrics of a single soul—is that not vastly preferable?” As the words left his lips, Wu Que’s gaze remained locked unblinkingly onto his eyes.

That expanse of icy blue held zero discernible emotion, while that faint trace of pink sat buried at the absolute bedrock of his pupils.

From a purely selfish standpoint, Wu Que did not want this man interacting with any individuals or incidents tied to their shared history. Remembering too much would bring nothing but excruciating agony, and he was terrified of watching him repeat the exact same tragic cycle.

If it were within the realm of possibility, perhaps I should simply lock him away… Even if Shen Wang no longer harbors affection for me, and even if doing so causes him to hate me for the rest of his days.

“It is not preferable.” If I stay, I will literally die. Shen Wang delivered a decisive refusal. Though whether this world flourished or imploded held zero functional relevance to him, he still chose to speak against his own conscience: “Given that we have been ordained as Evokers and bestowed with supernatural abilities, we are bound to shoulder the mandate. We must spend our lifespans executing our duties, shielding the civilian population, and maintaining the structural order of this world.”

That’s exactly how the Base’s introductory manual phrased it, right? I didn’t misquote a single line, did I?

He spent two silent seconds completely loathing himself inside his mind, thoroughly disgusted by his own performance.

He couldn’t exactly declare outright that his consciousness was being held hostage by a psychotic system that was systematically blackmailing him into delivering Wu Que back to headquarters, nor could he reveal that failure to complete this absurd mission would result in the absolute erasure of his mental matrix.

Though this world was already profoundly magical, detailing such a scenario would make him sound like a certified lunatic.

Activating Plan B remains the most tactically sound approach…

Upon hearing his declaration, Wu Que lapsed into a protracted, heavy silence, a flash of profound bewilderment surfacing within his eyes for a fraction of a second as though he was seriously evaluating whether the damage to Shen Wang’s brain extended far beyond mere amnesia.

So, when humans suffer from amnesia, do they automatically revert into hot-blooded, idealistic youths?

“It is a true rarity to hear such vocabulary exit your mouth,” Wu Que let out a low chuckle. “The last individual who uttered those exact words stood right before the gates of the Base and summarily executed a newly inducted comrade from the same discipline.”

“Then that is a massive tragedy,” Shen Wang shrugged his shoulders. “When you engage in this line of work for too long, a certain degree of psychological distortion is bound to manifest.”

After all, the psychological pollution generated by supernatural anomalies inflicted immense decay on an individual’s mental stability.

“Perhaps,” Wu Que murmured, lowering his head to resume his organizing. Seated on the sofa, Shen Wang opened the official network portal of the Base.

The status tracking his previously submitted anonymous report indicated it had successfully cleared the evaluation threshold, and processing was actively underway.

The remaining countdown timer held less than twenty-four hours. In other words, if tomorrow arrived and he still hadn’t engineered Wu Que’s return to the facility, the system would execute its forced self-destruct sequence—culminating in total mental erasure.

The system appeared exponentially more frantic than him, its emergency alarms chiming incessantly inside his brain by the time the following afternoon rolled around: 【Are you truly not going to devise a solution?!】

【I’m perfectly fine. Deactivate your alarm utility, it’s far too noisy.】

He lowered his chin to consult his watch. According to his calculations, the designated window was precisely now… it was close enough.

Shen Wang leaned against the window frame, casting his gaze toward the distant skyline.

Approximately ten minutes later, the distinct, rhythmic thrumming of helicopter rotor blades began to echo faintly from the clouds. A surge of satisfaction rippled through his chest.

Finally… they’ve arrived.