The Eleventh Year of Making Hate with My Lover - Chapter 23

Wu Que propped his hands against Shen Wang’s shoulders, using the leverage to push himself up. Once standing steadily, he meticulously buttoned his collar all the way to the top, completely concealing the ambiguous, flushed marks on his skin. Only then did he speak slowly, his voice slightly raspy. “…I don’t blame you. I was the one who pulled you in to look at it.”

He just hadn’t anticipated, that Shen Wang would be so profoundly affected by his true form.

And himself, for that matter. He was long past being an impulsive teenager, so why did a few simple kisses still leave his face burning, his heart racing, and his breath entirely unsteadied?

Shen Wang still didn’t dare meet his gaze, his mind a chaotic, tangled mess. Even if it was an action committed while his consciousness was heavily compromised, the fact remained that he had blatantly taken liberties with the man. For a moment, he genuinely had no idea how to face him.

Fortunately, Lang Xi’s knock on the door broke the heavy silence inside the room. Upon receiving permission, Lang Xi walked in, cradling Yiyi in his arms. “Is there a pet shop nearby? Shouldn’t we buy this little guy some food?”

As he spoke, he cast a bizarre, questioning look at the two individuals one standing, one sitting. Putting aside the oddly tense atmosphere stretching between them, why was Boss Shen’s shirt half-undone? And why was Inspector General Wu’s lip visibly split?

Wu Que looked at Yiyi in Lang Xi’s arms, instantly recognizing the spiritual instrument he had personally gifted to Li Lan. To think she would actually choose the form of a cat, he mused.

He extended his hands toward the feline, and Yiyi, seemingly taking an immediate liking to him, leapt directly into his embrace.

“I’ll go buy it,” Shen Wang suddenly spoke up, breaking his prolonged silence. He pulled up the zipper down the back of his dress, readjusting his attire as he stood up.

Wu Que gently stroked the cat’s fur, looking up at the sound of his voice. “Let’s go together.”

“It’s just buying cat food, I can easily manage on my own…” Heaven knew that right now, Shen Wang desperately wanted to get away from Wu Que to clear his head in solitude.

“I need to go find that object,” Wu Que said, his eyelids fluttering upward to look at him. Shen Wang instantly understood his meaning. The word “Lantern” could not be spoken aloud within the confines of the Cocoon Domain due to its restrictive laws. After Celine had picked it up this morning, she seemed to have handed it over to a servant to post a lost-and-found notice.

“Alright,” Shen Wang nodded. “I’ll go ask around.”

Returning to the living room, Lang Xi subtly nudged He Shu, who was quietly sipping her tea. “Sister He Shu… the Boss and the Inspector General… it looks like they were just fighting in there.”

“?” He Shu cast a highly skeptical look at the two men walking out one after the other.

Disheveled clothing, ragged breathing, flushed corners of the eyes, and visibly swollen lips.

He Shu let out a cold, mocking sneer. “And by ‘fighting,’ do you mean they were clashing with their mouths?”

The utterly pure and innocent youth, Lang Xi, froze blankly. “?”

Upon returning to the Si family estate, Celine was nowhere to be found, likely glued to the side of her unfortunate fiancé. After questioning the servants, they learned that the brass lantern had been sent to the Lost and Found Bureau in the Fourth District.

The two of them continued to walk one behind the other. Wu Que originally paused to wait for him, but seeing Shen Wang’s brows tightly knitted together in deep thought, he knew the man was still obsessing over what had transpired earlier.

With a soft, amused huff, Wu Que teased, “Just how long are you going to agonizingly dwell on this? You’re acting as if I was the one who took unfair advantage of you.”

Shen Wang was currently racking his brain trying to think of a way to make amends, but how on earth did one compensate for something like that? He could only silently endure the other man’s verbal jabs.

“We’ve been married for years; what position haven’t we tried?” Wu Que tilted his head, giving him a wry look. “To think that losing your memories would actually make your skin this thin.”

“……” Shen Wang was left completely speechless. But on second thought, if the other party didn’t mind, what was he getting so worked up for? It wasn’t as if they had actually slept together.

Yiyi let out a soft meow from Wu Que’s arms as they finally arrived at the Lost and Found Bureau.

It was a relatively small storefront, decorated in a vintage pawnshop style reminiscent of the century before last. The gridded display cabinets were lined with a vast assortment of miscellaneous items.

“What are you two looking to buy?” the shopkeeper asked, dressed in attire as archaic as his shop. He stood with his hands tucked into his sleeves, his eyes narrowed in a pleasant grin.

He used the word buy, rather than asking what the two of them had lost.

On the surface, it was labeled a lost-and-found station, but everyone knew the unwritten rule: there was rarely any concrete proof to verify who the original owner of an item was. Most of the objects in the shop were acquired through private trades. The items brought here were entirely inanimate not like lost cats or dogs that could be easily identified making them practically unrecoverable for their true owners. The shopkeeper routinely sold them off under the table, subsequently telling the good samaritans who brought them in that the owner had been successfully located.

Wu Que pointed toward a lantern resting on the furthest display grid. “Could we take a look at that one, please?”

The shopkeeper smilingly handed it over. In order to drive up the price, he immediately began spinning a grand backstory, claiming it was an antique left behind by high-ranking royalty from an ancient era.

Wu Que couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle. Shen Wang, meanwhile, glanced down at the price tag.

Aside from its classical design, the lantern appeared entirely unremarkable. Wu Que scanned the wick through the transparent glass shade, his eyes carrying a discerning glint before he promptly set it back down.

“It’s not that one?” Shen Wang asked once they stepped back out of the shop.

“The object itself is correct,” Wu Que replied, his eyes downcast as he weighed his thoughts. After a brief pause, he sighed softly. “But unfortunately, it is the version that exists in the year 3085.”

In other words, it was an item that could only be picked up and utilized by the people who encountered it in that specific era, continuing its lineage to the present day. Even though this Cocoon Domain perfectly replicated the past, the copied objects lacked any inherent, supernatural capabilities.

In reality, the true version of this lantern was currently held in the grasp of a Specter; they could only wait until its true form manifested itself.

I already suspected as much, but I still wanted to come try my luck, Wu Que thought with a tinge of disappointment.

Although the explanation was only halfway articulated, Shen Wang perfectly caught his drift. “Then we’ll just have to keep moving forward with the historical narrative.”

Time inside a Cocoon Domain flowed vastly differently compared to the outside world. For instance, during the days Wu Que had been missing, he had actually walked through this exact stretch of history already.

On their way back, a sudden torrential downpour erupted without warning, accompanied by an unnaturally fierce, howling wind. Left with no alternative, they were forced to take temporary shelter inside a nearby luxury jewelry boutique.

The shop was quite crowded, filled mostly with wealthy socialites browsing the displays. Shen Wang glanced at the jewelry housed within the glass showcases; fortunately, these items weren’t obscured by digital mosaic distortions. Every single piece was exquisitely crafted. It seemed the little Specter sister had thoroughly enjoyed frequenting this boutique during her life, remembering it with absolute clarity.

Wu Que intentionally leaned in to needle him. “Mrs. Si, care to pick something out to wear? I think that necklace over there would match your dress beautifully.”

Shen Wang let out a flat, dry laugh. “If these items turn out to be real gold and silver once we escape this place, then I wouldn’t mind letting you buy it for me.” He then pointed toward a bracelet inlaid with delicate, shimmering pink diamonds. “This one suits you much better.”

He wasn’t merely teasing Wu Que. Not long ago, he had held the man’s wrist; Wu Que’s wrists were slender and pale. This particular bracelet was designed from a unique black abyssal stone, polished and wrapped meticulously with fine silver threads and dark silk filaments, with tiny pink diamonds meticulously dotted along the surface. The style was minimalist yet profoundly elegant it would complement him perfectly.

As Wu Que’s gaze followed the direction of his finger, a sudden, deafening crack of gunfire shattered the air from the entrance.

In an instant, frantic screams and chaotic gunshots bled together, plunging the store into absolute bedlam.

“Don’t move!”

The boutique doors were slammed shut and locked from the inside as several armed robbers stormed into the premises, rapidly herding the terrified crowd into a single area. As they were driven into a corner, Shen Wang’s eyes widened slightly as he spotted his “younger sister” the little Specter and Mr. D, who was currently occupying the role of He Di, standing right in the midst of the hostages.

Is this supposed to be some kind of cursed historical event? Shen Wang’s eyelid twitched violently.

“Sister!” Celine called out in a hushed, trembling voice. Shen Wang sharply signaled her with his eyes to remain silent. In his mind, however, a pragmatic question arose: If the robbers shoot her dead right here, will the Cocoon Domain instantly collapse?

He immediately dismissed the notion. This was merely a replicated Cocoon Domain designed to recreate history, not a time-travel anomaly where his presence could fundamentally alter the course of events. Even if one truly returned to the past, history would never rewrite its trajectory for the sake of a single individual.

He leaned in close to Wu Que’s ear, whispering beneath the noise, “If I happen to get shot to death here, do I actually die, or do I just get ejected from the domain?”

Wu Que looked at him, his gaze entirely tranquil. “You won’t die.”

“But what if?” Shen Wang countered. “As long as the overarching plot remains intact, if I die, the domain might just substitute a new person to act as the elder Si sibling.”

Wu Que seriously considered the possibility. “It’s hard to say. However, if those who are lost inside a domain genuinely believe they have died, their consciousness will remain trapped here forever.” He directed a subtle glance toward He Di or rather, Mr. D who was standing rigidly beside Celine.

“What are you two whispering about over there?! Believe it or not, I’ll blow your brains out right now!” The robber guarding the hostages hoisted his firearm, aiming the dark barrel directly at the crowd. “Keep your mouths shut!”

Terrified by the weapon, a young child among the hostages broke into a loud, frantic wail. Irritated by the noise, the robber instantly fired a fatal round. The people standing closest were instantly splattered with crimson, completely paralyzed with horror. The crowd fell deathly silent, the wealthy socialites reduced to stifled, quiet sobbing.

Shen Wang looked at the mangled, bloody mass on the floor, his brow furrowing deeply. Even knowing this was an unchangeable event that had already happened in history, witnessing it firsthand still provoked a deep, visceral revulsion.

Beside Celine, He Di’s face remained ice-cold. He smoothly drew a concealed firearm from his waist. Another gunshot rang out, and the robber guarding them dropped instantly to the floor. Seeing his comrade fall, another bandit immediately raised his weapon to return fire. He Di, possessing the seasoned instincts of a military officer, reacted in a fraction of a second leaving another corpse on the floor.

Hearing the commotion, the remaining robbers who had been bagging jewelry at the front counters rushed toward the back. A single man could hardly withstand an entire group, let alone against such heavily armed numbers; it appeared He Di was about to bleed out on the spot.

Left with no choice, Shen Wang had to step forward to shield him. It was no joking matter if the mission target died here, given his real-world identity and the sheer panic of the base’s top brass, the structural aftermath would be an absolute nightmare to clean up. Furthermore, Mr. D was currently entirely lost within the Cocoon Domain, fully believing himself to be the Specter’s fiancé, He Di. If his cognition accepted death, he might truly cease to exist.

Wu Que quickly swept through the chaos, retrieving a firearm dropped by one of the dead robbers. He fired several rounds in rapid succession, precisely intercepting the incoming bullets aimed at them. However, the next bullet a robber fired toward Mr. He inexplicably twisted its trajectory mid-air, defying all physics to strike Wu Que squarely in the chest!

“Wu…” As Wu Que collapsed to the ground, the final thing he saw was Shen Wang’s face, frozen in absolute, shattered disbelief.

Inside the sterile hospital room, Shen Wang’s voice was chillingly cold as he questioned the man resting on the bed. “You knew you were going to get shot today, didn’t you?”

Due to severe blood loss, Wu Que could only offer a faint, barely audible whispered affirmation. “…Yes.”

“…Then why on earth did you still come out with me?”

Despite his condition, Wu Que still found the energy to offer a faint, teasing smile. “I had no choice; it’s the natural progression of the plot. Even if I had avoided it today, who’s to say I wouldn’t have taken a random bullet while walking down the street on another day?”

“Lying in a hospital bed for a few days is unavoidable. We should honestly be glad that the real version of him didn’t die on this day in history; otherwise, the Wu family might not even exist today.”

Shen Wang remained silent, his fingers steadily and quietly peeling an apple. He had almost completely forgotten that Wu Que’s historical role inside this domain was the second-generation head of the Wu family… he wasn’t someone who could be easily erased by history.

Yet, looking at the man’s agonizingly pale face, Shen Wang’s brows remained tightly knitted. Maintaining his frosty demeanor, he silently sliced the fruit into neat pieces and handed them over.

On their second day at the hospital, personnel from the Research Institute arrived to take him back. Given Wu Que’s status as a core asset of the Polar Abyss Project, the higher-ups absolutely could not afford even a single misstep. The unexpected incident at the jewelry boutique had incited immense fury from the top brass, resulting in the immediate, ruthless elimination of the robbers and the criminal syndicate backing them.

The Institute intended to transport Wu Que directly back to the secure Polar Hospital, and all personnel attached to the Polar Project were ordered to advance their departure schedules.

Standing before the window on the hospital’s second floor, Shen Wang watched silently as Wu Que was carefully lifted onto a military transport aircraft.

“Sister, you’re deeply worried about Brother-in-law, aren’t you…?” Celine murmured softly, stepping up to stand beside him. “I miss Ah He terribly too. Now that he’s gone to the Polar Project, I have no idea when he’ll be able to return.”

She leaned closer to Shen Wang’s ear, her voice dropping to an enticing, conspiratorial whisper. “Let’s sneak in after them. We leave tonight.”