Comment by Barbieja337 on andrewsleftballsacksdriedcumhair

Scene 1, part 1: The muzzle of the gun suddenly trembled. "… Please stay tuned." The final sound of the broadcast played. Everything went silent. The fire of the wreckage went out, and the sound of the communicator stopped. All communications had been cut off. Here, there was no trace of human existence, only open country all around and unbroken desert that connected directly to the night sky. Just like humankind had never existed. No humans, no human culture, and no human base. All of the—all of the exhausting entanglements and all of the painful struggles disappeared along with the signal, suddenly dissipating like ashes and smoke. Upon this ancient desert, only the two of them remained. With a muffled thump, the gun fell to the ground. Lu Feng closed his eyes and held An Zhe tightly in his arms.

Scene 1, part 2: The moment Lu Feng wrapped his arms around him, An Zhe began to tremble violently. Slumped against Lu Feng, An Zhe's forehead was pressed to his shoulder. He was completely unable to describe his emotional state in that moment, only feeling like a hand had curled around his heart and tightened its grip. Fierce pain inundated him, and fat droplets of a warm liquid gushed from his eyes. He knew that he was crying and that those were tears, something that only humans had, but this was his first time experiencing this sort of feeling—the feeling that his heart was being torn to pieces. Why did things become like this? He thought, if Lu Feng hadn't spared him two months ago, had his identity as a xenogenic been revealed and had Lu Feng taken him out, then he wouldn't feel so sad about betraying Lu Feng's trust. If he and Lu Feng had not established something akin to friendship over these past several days, then when facing the muzzle of Lu Feng's gun, perhaps he would not have been so afraid. And if, supposing Lu Feng hadn't held him in the end, perhaps he would not have felt… so hurt. Why Lu Feng put down the gun, he did not know. He had never before experienced such intense emotions that he was even unable to take care of other matters. He understood nothing at all, but just like that, he cried for a very long time. Even when no more tears came out, he was still sniffling sporadically.

Scene 2, part 1: Lu Feng stuffed him underneath the quilt. "Many things can't be seen." "Oh," An Zhe said. It was a little warm under the quilt, so he uncovered his arms and shoulders. Lu Feng looked at the collar of his soft white T-shirt, where a blue bruise was showing. Then he reached out and pulled the collar down. Beneath the collar, upon the skin that was originally a smooth and flawless milky white, blue-purple bruises were everywhere and evenly spaced out, so evenly that one could not find which particular bruise was the source. Saying nothing, An Zhe pried Lu Feng's hand off and silently pulled his collar back into place. Lu Feng's gaze still lingered there. Of course he recognized this kind of mark. When the base approached serious criminals whom they needed to extort confessions from via torture, they would use high-intensity electrocution. Nobody could get through it without confessing. The sequelae left by electrocution were varied, ranging from physical to psychological. Marks on the skin were but one of them, and still more people would never be able to cast off this painful nightmare in their entire lives. But after An Zhe wrapped himself tightly in the quilt, he only dropped his eyelashes a little and said quietly, "It doesn't hurt anymore." Looking at his peaceful expression, Lu Feng sometimes wanted very much to bully him and sometimes wanted to treat him well. Then he saw An Zhe wriggle toward the inner side of the bed, making room for him to lie down.

Scene 2, part 2: The bed was not big. After Lu Feng lay down on his side, they were very close to each other. An Zhe also spotted a wound on his arm that seemed like it had come from being struck by a blunt instrument, but that wasn't all, for there were faintly visible bruises and scratches on his shoulder as well. He reached out to touch the longest one, but halfway there, afraid of hurting the Colonel, he retracted his hand and docilely shrank back into the quilt. The expression in the Colonel's eyes seemed gentle. "Sleep." "Mm," An Zhe said, then closed his eyes. His eyelashes cast faint shadows in the light, giving his expression a softer and quieter cast. He was also completely relaxed, something Lu Feng was very easily able to recognize. This little xenogenic seemed certain that Lu Feng would not hurt him—even after his body was covered with electrocution marks. This was not the first time Lu Feng felt puzzled by his actions. When they had just met, on that disorderly night when he had left the city gates and had nowhere to go, An Zhe had also said to him, unguarded, "you can stay with me." At that time, he had thought either that this boy had hidden motives or that he was as pure as his exterior, as though he didn't know people did not often invite strangers to stay overnight. Having had these thoughts, he voiced them as well. "… You aren't afraid of me?" At that question, An Zhe slowly opened his eyes. Beneath the dim glow of the gas lamp, his eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of soft, beautiful mist.

Scene 2, part 3: In this brief span, he seemed to have almost fallen asleep. Voice muffled, he asked, "Why would I be?" Lu Feng said nothing. He lifted his upper body and looked down at An Zhe, gaze heavy, while his other hand picked up the gun that had been placed next to the pillow. Its ice-cold muzzle briefly touched An Zhe's cheek. An Zhe gave him a clear-eyed look and frowned slightly. Seemingly angry again, he pushed aside the barrel of the gun, then rolled over to face the other way, yanking the quilt away with that movement. Lu Feng looked at his slender neck along with his thin shoulders and back that rose and fell slightly in time with his breathing. A person like this seemed both very easy to hurt and very easy to protect. After a long while, he turned off the light and lay back down. A slight weight settled over Lu Feng as An Zhe pulled back over him the part of the quilt he had yanked away earlier. Like a dragonfly's tail tapping the calm surface of a lake on a summer night. What the ripples disturbed was not only the previously calm water. In the silence, it was unclear if Lu Feng was driven by some emotion or it was just a subconscious action when he hugged An Zhe from behind. Lu Feng's arm pressed down against An Zhe's, and An Zhe stirred. He had planned to move his arm downward but there was nowhere he could put it, so he moved it back up a little and rested his fingers on Lu Feng's forearm, just like how he used to curl his hyphae around nearby rocks or tree trunks. Lu Feng felt his movement. Very softly, An Zhe asked, "Aren't you afraid I'll infect you?”

Scene 2, part 4: Lu Feng did not answer An Zhe, just as An Zhe did not answer him earlier. Between an Arbiter trusting a xenogenic or a xenogenic trusting an Arbiter, it was hard to say which was more absurd—no matter what reason they had. Perhaps the day they met was the beginning of the world's most absurd story. But in the darkness, neither of them could clearly see the other's face. In this place that was isolated from the world, in this moment that nobody knew of, it seemed as though regardless of what one did, it would not matter. Everything would be forgotten, and everything would be tacitly agreed to. While listening to An Zhe's soft breathing, Lu Feng closed his eyes.

Scene 3: The quartz clock hanging on the wall had ticked to nine o'clock. There was nobody next to him, and he was securely wrapped in the quilt. But the feeling of being held in Lu Feng's arms seemed to still remain. The heat lingered on his skin, burning him bit by bit. Lu Feng had originally been holding him around the upper body, somewhere below his shoulders. In the middle of the night, though, An Zhe had started feeling discomfort in his arms from the weight and pulled them out. The man's arm had thus shifted downward a bit and settled on his waist, his palm just happening to lie flat against An Zhe's abdomen. When he was being held in Lu Feng's arms, it was like he could isolate himself from all the dangers outside. He felt very safe, but this man himself was also the greatest danger. An Zhe could no longer remember what kind of mood he was in before he fell back asleep.

Scene 4: More often, they stayed in the cave with nothing to do. An Zhe had finished reading all of the books, and at the Colonel's request, he read out loud to him a romance novel and an entire weapons handbook—the man could not be bothered to flip through them himself. Finally, they began to play board games with small stones. They were all very simple games such as five-in-a-row or airplane chess. Lu Feng first taught him, and then they played together. An Zhe lost more often than he won, and he secretly suspected that those few wins were from the Colonel secretly throwing the game because every time he won, a hint of a smile would appear in Lu Feng's eyes. When they were eating, Xi Bei said, "You two have a great relationship. There used to be people who would fall in love in the caves as well, and Grandfather would be the witness for their marriages,” he sighed softly, putting down his chopsticks. "I also want to fall in love, but there are no other people left here." Lu Feng said nothing. An Zhe comforted Xi Bei, saying, "There are people at the base."

Scene 5, part 1: The silence lasted three seconds. "The happy things in her life were very few, but I destroyed all of them," Lu Feng said. "Just like everyone else in the base, she hated me." While looking at him, An Zhe opened his mouth. In the end, he finally knew what he wished to say. "I don't hate you," he said. A long silence. "Why?" Lu Feng's slightly raspy voice suddenly sounded in his ear. "What… do you mean, why?" he asked. "Why can you…"—Lu Feng looked at him—"always forgive me?" An Zhe looked up at him, but what he saw this time was not that frosty Lu Feng. The Colonel's voice trembled imperceptibly as he asked again, "Why?" An Zhe wanted to say it, but he couldn't. He didn't have as high of an intellect as humans, nor did he know that many of their words. He thought for a very long time. "I understand you," he said. "You aren't even human." Lu Feng's fingers clamped down on his shoulder. The look in his eyes was still as cold as before, but in his voice, something seemed to fall apart, and he asked almost shakily, "What do you understand about me?" He still wanted to ask. But An Zhe could say nothing more. He desperately shook his head. An Zhe could only be driven into a corner one step at a time by Lu Feng. He wanted to cry again. He did not know why this man would be so evil. Today, this man did not hesitate to cut open all of him. He himself was like a court justice who wished to acquit the criminal, but the criminal below the bench kept making declarations aggravating his own misconduct.