Wang Tao froze when he noticed that the cake was missing. He was confused and frantically searched for the cake. He had left the cake alone because not only was it covered but the kitchen was private and only available to three people. They were Zhou Jian, Chen Xiang and himself. Knowing this, he had a guess as to who stole it and frowned a bit. By now he was really upset.
Quickly, he hurried over to Zhou Jian's office and noticed that the door was slightly open. Peeking through the gap, he noticed Chen Xiang approaching his lover while holding a cake. Just as he was about to enter, Wang Tao paused.
[Maybe I should wait...]
Zhou Jian looked up and noticed his lover. Seeing the cake in his hands, a great joy overwhelmed him and he smiled gently. His adorable lover smiled cutely as he placed down the cake on the desk. Giving him a kiss on the cheek, Chen Xiang exclaimed,
"Happy Birthday Jian Ge! I baked you a cake!"
"Thank you so much Xiang er."
The older man pulled back his lover as he retreated and gave him a kiss on the lips. Picking up the knife on the plate, he moved to cut it but suddenly stopped and slightly clenched his other hand.
"What flavor is it?"
"You'll have to find out…"
The boy mysteriously answered and gave a little wink. Realizing that the boy wouldn't tell, Zhou Jian cut a piece and tasted.
"Vanilla?"
"Mmm."
The boy nodded in confirmation and smiled brightly.
"I'd love to stay but I have to head back to work. Enjoy the cake and don't eat too much okay."
Getting a nod from the general, he gave his lover another kiss and left the room. Chen Xiang glanced at Wang Tao as he passed by, a bit worried that he overheard but dispelled his doubts when the lieutenant gave him a curt nod.
Walking into the room, Wang Tao studied Zhou Jian as he sat down. The dark haired male supported his head with his elbow as he stared at the cake in front of him. He didn't seem very happy and had not eaten any more since that bite. Before he could question him, the man suddenly spoke,
"Thank you."
"Huh, why?"
Zhou Jian looked up at Wang Tao and raised his eyebrow.
"What do you mean why? Aren't you the one who made the cake? I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong."
Wang Tao was a bit surprised but quickly shook his head.
"Yes it was me but that's not what I meant. I was asking why you doubted Chen Xiang. Doubting him to the point that you asked that question. The cake's chocolate, not vanilla and you knew that."
"...That's…That's because I remembered how little care he'd shown for me till now. I was hopeful that this was just his first step to changing that but...reality proved that it wasn't so with the fact that he didn't even know the flavor."
Zhou Jian frowned and rubbed his forehead. It was painful to know that the one you loved was just using you. Or at least faking their affections for you, he wasn't completely confident in either guess. The boy had declared many times that he loved Zhou Jian but the man had to smile knowing it was a most likely a lie. Sometimes he wondered if it was stupid of him to enter a relationship again but he just couldn't give up, not when he wasn't 100% sure.
[ Although I say that as if knowing would change my decision...Could I really give up even if I knew for sure?]
Shaking his head, Zhou Jian continued, unknowingly sulking.
"Even if he said that he bought it instead, not only would that make no sense as no one's selling cake these days but he should still know the flavor."
Wang Tao looked upon the distressed man and felt his heart ache. He wondered whether the man would allow him to give the other a hug but quickly scrapped the idea. Stretching out his hand, he lightly tapped Zhou Jian's arm in comfort.
Zhou Jian looked at the hand on his arm and then up at his friend. He smiled lightly and tried to forget about it, not wanting to dwell on it further.
"Do you want some? You like cake right?"
Zhou Jian gestured at the cake before using the knife to cut up the cake. Wang Tao hesitated for a moment, unsure, but the man himself had proposed it so he reached out and took a slice. The two ate the delicious cake in silence. Once they had there fill, no one spoke and they simply relaxed, listening to the hum of rain coming from outside.
Meanwhile, back in his room, Chen Xiang took a bath and lounged on the soft white couch. He was in a great mood, proud of himself for once again deepening the man's feeling's for himself. The innocent system floated around him and couldn't help asking,
[ Host, why did you lie? You just found the cake on the counter. Also what about the person who made it? ]
[ I needed to do something to ensure that the man continues to love me and who cares where I found it? As long as Zhou Jian doesn't find out it's fine. ]
[ But what if the person exposes you? ]
[ They won't be able to. Didn't you see when I used the hypnosis technique? I made sure that they would forget everything about the cake. ]
[ You mean Wang Tao? ]
[Yeah, the cake was definitely from him. After all, he's the only other person close enough to Zhou Jian to do that.]
[Oh…]
The system tried to ask something else but his host ignored him as headed back to the lab. The antidote was nearing completion and he had to supervise everything. He was dying to finish this last mission and leave this world.
.
A few days later, Zhou Jian, Wang Tao and Chen Xiang were out on a mission with three other ability users. Chen Xiang had told them that he needed one more thing to complete the antidote, a rare plant. In reality, it was something he already had secretly but lied in an attempt to get Zhou Jian to bring him out of the base.
The man had been very protective and had often used the excuse of Chen Xiang being humanity's last hope so they couldn't put him in danger. This time however, what was needed was something that only someone experienced in medicine or plants would pick up.
Thanks to this, after a lot of convincing, Zhou Jian reluctantly brought his lover out of the base but only after Chen Xiang had repeatedly assured him that he'd be fine since he himself had strong abilities. During his time at the base, the general would often bring high grade water and wind energy crystals for him (CX) from his (ZJ) share.
The antidote was basically completed and even if Chen Xiang died on the mission, as long as they got that plant the other scientists would be able to do it on their own. Even then, Zhou Jian would rather they didn't get it then have his lover die but he kept this thought to himself.
At the moment, the group were walking through a dense forest as they searched for the plant. It was a pinkish blue flower named xytom which looked very similar to a flower named dendum. The two were incredibly hard to tell apart but the xytom was a flower often used in the medical field so Chen Xiang knew the slight differences.
An hour passed before he spotted it, and after they collected a bunch, the group headed back to S base. On the way, they took note that the sky was darkening so the small group set up camp for the night. Just as everyone was going to sleep, the lookout noticed a horde of zombies heading towards them. Immediately, everyone prepared for battle and engaged the horde in an all out fight.
The group was very skilled and zombies fell left and right. Flashes of lightning could be seen and spikes of ice were all around. Rocks were flying and slices of wind cut through the air cutting the zombies in half.
The silver haired male stomped his foot and ice spread from his black boots to the zombies in front, encasing them in ice before slices of wind cut the frozen zombies in half. A distance away, zombies were set aflame while another group was swept away by a water tornado. The fighting continued for a few hours and the group was growing tired.
Every time they defeated a horde another came right after, almost as if they had a strategy It was a preposterous thought as there were currently no zombies with that level of intelligence according to their I tel. However, the notion that the zombies were being commanded didn't seem to far fetched once their movements were observed.
[ Whether they're controlled or not, if this keeps happening, I'll be forced to show my hand if I don't want even one of us to die...This continuous assault is wearing the other soldiers down. They won't last much longer. ]
The phoenix eyes scanned the area as he calculated his next move. As he came to a decision, Wang Tao glanced over at the occupied Zhou Jian, hoping to communicate, but instead his heart did a triple flip in fright. In what only seemed to be a millisecond, a ridiculously agile zombie charged forward and swung its sharpened nails with momentum, aiming for Zhou Jian's heart. Before Wang Tao could make a sound, blood splattered onto the ground.