Discussing The Correct Posture To Enjoy Dog Food

Translated by Hua Li ^_~

Like any die-hard fan of power-fantasy novels, Ju Bei knew the golden rule: "If it involves a ring, blood must be dripped, and where there's blood, there's a space."

Just like Gou Liang, Ju Bei, who was also a non-native soul, couldn't absorb the soul energy from beast blood and beast cores. However, Jia Nanzhu had once gifted his gold-digging lover a ring, and Ju Bei's so-called spatial ability came from it.

Although it wasn't the legendary "life space" and wasn't big enough to store a single beast, Ju Bei still treasured it like a prized possession.

The ring, now tied around his neck, was not only considered by him as a symbol of his relationship with the protagonist but also proof of his status as the lead character from another world.

Gou Liang stated, "I stand by my judgment."

Shi Buyu smiled reassuringly and tapped Ju Bei's name on the list before handing the inventory back to Yu Lin.

"Have Jiuzhu base keep an eye on him and Jia Nanzhu-especially this lover of his. I suspect there's more going on than just his lack of energy flow despite having an ability."

Jia Nanzhu could never have guessed that his standing at Jiuzhu Base had already been settled with a single sentence.

"Yes, Major General!"

Yu Lin responded seriously and, before exiting, helpfully added, "I'll go inform them. You and Teacher Tang, feel free to take your time~."

With that, he quickly closed the door behind him.

Shi Buyu cursed under his breath, then tugged his pants as he sat down across from Gou Liang. He grabbed Gou Liang's wheelchair and pulled him closer.

"Teacher Tang, I think it's time we have a serious discussion about this pillow situation."

Shi Buyu had always been the type to act as soon as he made a decision. Once he realized his desire to keep Gou Liang for himself wasn't just a fleeting impulse, he had no reason to hesitate any longer.

Love, for people like him who were bound to dedicate their lives to the nation, was a luxury. He had always assumed that, as his specialist had told him, he was born emotionally detached, and thus never considered romantic matters.

But now, he realized-emotional detachment, my ass!

Meeting this person had flicked some kind of switch in his brain, and the sensation of being in love was something he didn't need to learn.

Resting his hands on the armrests of Gou Liang's wheelchair, Shi Buyu, unintentionally revealing a bit of his domineering nature, gazed at him with an intensity that was both sincere and tender.

"So, what exactly was this... 'pillow' of yours before? Were you this... close with it too?"

The usually straightforward Major General stumbled over his words, finding himself inexplicably irritated.

Gou Llang, ever honest, nodded.

Shi Buyu's smile froze, and Gou Liang, unable to suppress his amusement, said, "It was named 'Single.' A little dog I raised. It loved fruit-flavored dog food... quite cute."

Though still a bit dissatisfied, Shi Buyu stopped dwelling on the matter once he confirmed the "ex-pillow" had gloriously passed away. He solemnly declared, "Teacher Tang, I am a respectable person. The scope of your pillow's duties and its associated privileges have seriously violated the principles of fairness under labor law. I must decline."

"Are you going back on your word?"

Gou Liang, now anxious, straightened up.

Shi Buyu stood, hands still resting on the wheelchair's armrests, leaned in closer, and lowered his voice, letting his magnetic tone work its magic. "I can certainly continue being your pillow. Labor law may not allow it, but the marriage law is far more lenient. Let's follow the rules, okay?"

Gou Liang's mouth dropped slightly in surprise, and after adjusting his glasses twice, he blushed and asked, "Are you... confessing to me?"

"Yes." Shi Buyu lifted one hand to pinch his wonderfully soft cheek. "Will you accept?"

"As long as it's with marriage in mind?"

"Of course."

"Alright!"

He barely hesitated.

[Ding! Target's affection level updated. Current affection level: +80!]

Gou Liang's smile deepened, and seeing this, Shi Buyu couldn't help but smile back, raising an eyebrow in satisfaction. "You agreed so quickly-were you already interested in me?"

"Mhm."

Gou Liang's straightforward answer left Shi Buyu barely any time to bask in pride before he added, "You're handsome and the most comfortable to hold~."

Shi Buyu's smile faltered, and he leaned in closer, increasing the pressure. His expression now unreadable, he asked, "Anything else?"

Sensing the tension, Gou Liang quickly stopped teasing and adjusted his glasses. "I also like you."

Shi Buyu froze for a moment, then smiled, planting a kiss on him. "Good boy."

The soft touch of their lips was brief but intimate, and Gou Liang, who had 'severe skin hunger', felt his heartbeat quicken. He blurted out, "More."

Shi Buyu chuckled, and their laughter, mixed with Gou Liang's contented sighs, sparked a tender warmth between them.

Shi Buyu kissed him again, pressing his lips against Gou Liang's soft mouth. As Gou Liang let out little pleased noises, Shi Buyu whispered against his lips, "I know a better way to quench that thirst. Want to try it?"

"Shi Xiaoyu, I'm not sick... and I like you too."

Shi Buyu took a moment to process his words, realizing Gou Liang was telling him that his affection was unrelated to the skin hunger. Overjoyed, he cupped Gou Liang's face and rubbed it affectionately, like giving a reward, before planting another kiss on him. The tender sensation drew him in, and he instinctively deepened the kiss, venturing further to offer Gou Liang a more profound "treatment."

Gou Liang clearly enjoyed this "treatment," responding eagerly and grasping Shi Buyu's neck with his hands, seeking more skin-to-skin contact.

The banana-scented soul energy grew richer and sweeter, driven by Gou Liang's honest need and enthusiasm.

As Shi Buyu's initially tentative kiss turned bold under Gou Liang's encouragement, he abandoned any pretense of restraint, opting for a more passionate exchange, claiming Gou Liang's breath as his own.

[Ding! Mission progress updated. Current progress: 1%!]

Gou Liang's breath grew hotter and more rapid, and just as he was nearing his limit, Shi Buyu, realizing this, began to pull back. However, Gou Liang clung to him, unwilling to let go.

Shi Buyu passed air into him, extending their kiss.

The intimate treatment went on for who knows how long until the car suddenly jolted.

"OW!"

Their teeth knocked together, causing Gou Liang to yelp in pain.

Shi Buyu immediately licked his minor wound, his saliva's healing properties soothing the discomfort.

Reluctantly pulling away, Shi Buyu pinched Gou Liang's chubby cheek, examining him from side to side before chuckling. "No wonder they say I have an odd taste. Turns out they were right."

They say love is blind, and for Shi Buyu, love's filter was especially thick.

Otherwise, how could he be so enamored with this round figure, whose features were barely discernible beneath all that softness?

Gou Liang shot him a glare, though with his almost invisible eyes, it was far from intimidating, which only amused Shi Buyu further.

Stifling his laughter, he said, "Alright, I like you just the way you are, Teacher Tang. No need to feel insecure."

"So," Gou Liang adjusted his glasses, "do you like me because I'm fat?"

Shi Buyu's laughter abruptly stopped. Rubbing his nose, he couldn't bring himself to nod and lie, so he cleverly dodged the sharp question, "Teacher Tang, I'd like you no matter what you look like."

Gou Liang, understanding, nodded, his smile growing more evident.

Shi Buyu, touching his mouth, felt something was missing, but didn't dwell on it. Teasingly, he added, "Still, we need to trim some of this 'precious meat.' If you get carried off by a beast to be its winter feast, who am I going to cry to?"

Gou Liang: "..."

Why speak such harsh truths?!

***

Shi Buyu and the others rested overnight with the survivors at the now-empty weapons depot. The next morning, five transport planes and a rescue plane from Jiuzhu Base arrived to collect the beast meat, right on schedule.

The head of the research department accompanied them, meeting with Gou Liang for a brief conversation. Before leaving, the elderly man repeatedly invited Gou Liang to return to Jiuzhu Base.

After being declined, the old man trembled as he grabbed Shi Buyu's hand. "At all costs, ensure Teacher Tang's safety. The hope of humanity rests in your hands!"

Shi Buyu agreed, but the old man, seemingly afflicted with short-term memory loss, kept reminding him.

After the third reminder, Shi Buyu, perhaps out of exasperation, pulled Gou Liang close and planted a kiss on his soft cheek. "Don't worry. Even if I have to risk my life, I won't let anything happen to him."

The old researcher stood frozen, mouth agape, finally closing it after a long pause.

Now, he was truly reassured.

With the prepared beast meat loaded, the survivors donned protective suits and nervously boarded the plane, taking off into the sky.

The skies had long become the domain of beasts, and even from the ground, one could see the ominous dark clouds of creatures. As the survivors watched the plane enter the beast swarm, their hearts raced.

But to their surprise, and immense relief, the plane passed through the swarm unscathed. The beasts, rather than attacking, fled as if faced with a dire threat.

Ju Bel's eyes widened in disbelief.

This god-tier cheat never existed in 'Apocalypse Chronicles!' Could the author of that never-ending pit have updated after he'd transmigrated?

Regardless, he was sure of one thing: that fat guy was behind this!

Ju Bei clenched his teeth.

Gou Liang's presence was a direct threat to Ju Bei's status as the main character. Gou Liang clearly knew more about this world and its plot, and his intelligence far surpassed Ju Bei's, leaving him feeling deeply unsettled.

Stewing over these thoughts, Ju Bei casually inquired about Gou Liang. "Tang Tang and Mr. Shi aren't coming to Jiuzhu with us? It's dangerous outside, and Tang Tang... well, he doesn't move around so easily. Why aren't they joining us?"

The rescue soldier he asked gave him a sharp look, his tone stiff. "No comment."

-This guy is definitely suspicious!

Sure of Shi Buyu's earlier suspicions, the rescue soldier mentally added another label to Ju Bei: "Potential threat to National Treasure Tang."

As for Jia Nanzhu and the others, they were safely delivered to Jiuzhu Base without further incident.

Meanwhile, after sending off the survivors and freeing up space by getting rid of the beast meat, Gou Liang and the team proceeded with their next steps.

The rescue team had left behind Jiuzhu's latest sonic repellents and protective suits, but Shi Buyu's team didn't plan on using them.

Avoiding conflict was never the solution, and what they lacked most was battle experience and control over their abilities.

Thus, Shi Buyu devised a rigorous training plan.

During the day, they hunted beasts, honing their abilities while simultaneously expanding Gou Liang's database. At night, they traveled in shifts.

As for the beasts they killed, they simply sent the coordinates of the stored meat to Jiuzhu. Someone would come to collect it within forty-eight hours-aside from the beast cores, the creatures showed no interest in their dead, even when left in the open.

In this continuous cycle of training and marching, five days later, Gou Liang succeeded in quantifying energy bodies and developing a detection program.

Since he couldn't see the upper limit of Shi Buyu's soul capacity-and he suspected Shi Buyu's soul capacity might be limitless-he wasn't the best test subject.

Therefore, the program's first test subjects were Yu Sen and the others.

The infrared scanner swept up and down Yu Sen's body, and soon a 3D map of his blood vessels appeared on the display. Beside it, several data points fluctuated before stabilizing after a minute.

Once the other four's data were scanned, Gou Liang displayed them side by side, allowing for a direct comparison.

Using a red arrow on his pointer, Gou Liang highlighted their energy flow patterns.

"When you use your abilities, energy flows from the heart through the main arteries, circulating throughout the body and into the brain before returning to the heart. That completes one cycle of ability use. The beasts operate the same way, except they lack a heart. Their beast core functions as one."

After a brief pause, Gou Liang adjusted his glasses with the pointer and said, "In other words, a beast's heart is your main course."

"...Teacher Tang, we don't need these kinds of details."

Yu Lin laughed awkwardly.

Gou Liang, unbothered, continued, "When you consumed your first beast core, you unlocked your abilities."

"So, using the energy contained in a beast core as a base measurement, I discovered a shared pattern regarding your energy capacity. Your body's maximum capacity is the ninth power of that base measurement. Note, this isn't nine times, but nine to the power of nine. It's a significant figure."

The group was thrilled-this meant they had immense potential for growth!

"Don't get too excited just yet."

Gou Liang warned, "I've defined the energy released from a single beast core as a level-one ability. I predict that with every increase in energy by a factor of ten, your abilities will undergo a qualitative transformation. This is something we'll need to test, but judging by how few beast cores are required to reach level two, we should be able to conduct the next phase of experiments soon."

"However, this only applies to beast cores."

"When it comes to beast blood, the situation isn't as fortunate."

Gou Liang explained, "Most people don't have the potential to unlock abilities from beast blood. The strength and speed improvements they experience are simply their bodies' latent potential being activated."

"That's not true ability growth."

"Based on my calculations, the total energy in a beast's blood amounts to only one-thousandth of what's contained in its core. Yet, the impurities present are overwhelming. My model suggests that if a human's internal energy is lower than what's contained in a hundred milliliters of beast blood, those impurities become fatal."

"If we could give every survivor a beast core, drinking beast blood wouldn't be fatal. But that's clearly unrealistic."

"I'll send this model to Jiuzhu. They'll be able to determine whether survivors are capable of tolerating beast blood. I trust they'll manage to minimize fatalities."

With that, Gou Liang took the hot water Shi Buyu handed him, drank a sip, and continued, "For now, I'll monitor your conditions in real-time. Our focus should be on extracting beast cores as quickly as possible to level up and move on to phase two of the research."

The group eagerly agreed.

After further refining the energy detection program to suit Yu Sen and the others, Gou Liang sent the updates to Jiuzhu Base.

When the transmission was confirmed, Gou Liang clapped his hands and stretched. "Shi Xiaoyu, fetch me a piece of beast meat. I'm craving some spicy barbecue skewers."

"It's sleep time."

Shi Buyu heartlessly denied his request.

Gou Liang rubbed his round belly, giving it a firm pat, the layers of fat producing a hollow *thump*.

He gazed at Shi Buyu pitifully. "I'm hungry."

Shi Buyu, half-amused, half-exasperated, thought, *Of course it sounds loud with how hard you're slapping it.*

But he couldn't bear to let Gou Liang's stomach suffer, so he abandoned the task of adjusting the training plan, stood, and headed toward the beast meat storage at the back of the vehicle.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

""Alert!"

He rushed to Gou Liang's side.

The others, resting up for their next shift, immediately entered combat mode, startled. "What's going on, Boss?"

There were no alarms, no satellite warnings-what could have Shi Buyu so on edge?

"Something's coming."

Shi Buyu said, and soon they all saw it too.

A strange beast burst from the ground, roaring as it flipped their vehicle over.

With one arm holding Gou Liang and the other tearing through the metal of the car door, Shi Buyu led the team out, Qin Bei coordinating with his wind ability to catch the others as they tumbled from the wreckage.

"My database!"

Seeing the vehicle about to crash into the ground, Gou Liang cried out.

Yu Sen immediately used his wood ability to catch the flying vehicle and pull it back.

As the beast fully emerged from the earth, rocks and dust scattered in every direction. Its roars echoed as its true form was revealed.

It was a three-headed serpent beast they had never seen before!