AWB Chapter 472 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (83)
Chapter 472 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (83)
It was a bit chilly tonight; a coldness seeped into her skin, and when Lu Liruan stepped outside, goosebumps rose on her arms.
After returning to her room and grabbing a coat, Lu Liruan reached out and touched Liao Tingyuan's arm; his body temperature was as low as ever.
"Don't you usually feel cold?" Lu Liruan asked curiously.
"Hmm, I don't seem to have a strong sense of temperature, and I don't need to wear many layers in winter." Liao Tingyuan shook his head.
"Does this have anything to do with you?" Lu Liruan felt that there was some connection. In fact, even now, Lu Liruan still didn't understand what impact surviving in the space had on Liao Tingyuan.
Although Liao Tingyuan said that it did have an impact on him, he was always vague and he couldn't get any answers no matter how much Lu Liruan asked. But the more he did that, the more curious Lu Liruan became.
More than being curious about surviving, Lu Liruan was curious about Liao Tingyuan; she wanted to know everything about him.
Knowing everything... allows me to better understand him and better protect him, right? Lu Liruan would tell herself this when she had this thought.
Over time, Lu Liruan came to believe with a clear conscience that this was indeed the case.
"I'm not quite sure," Liao Tingyuan said, shrugging sincerely.
"How could you not know? Isn't it your own body? Teacher Liao, are you just trying to fool me again?" Lu Liruan asked suspiciously.
Liao Tingyuan felt a little helpless.
“I really wasn’t just giving you the runaround, Ruan Ruan…” A conciliatory smile appeared on his handsome face: “Do I look like I was just giving you the runaround?”
He bent down, meeting Lu Liruan's fierce gaze as she looked him over, letting her scrutinize him.
Lu Liruan thought to herself: You look honest, but you're actually a cunning old fox... How can I possibly see through your facade?
But she still stared at Liao Tingyuan's face for a few seconds, then sighed: "Never mind, you're just very sincere in your beauty."
"Huh?" Liao Tingyuan couldn't figure out the logic behind it.
He wasn't dissatisfied with his appearance, but he didn't feel anything else either. Lu Liruan always praised him for being handsome. After hearing this from Lu Liruan so many times, Liao Tingyuan felt a slight flutter in his heart.
"I said I can't tell if you're lying to me when I look at your face."
"When I looked at Ruan Ruan, she could tell the difference quite clearly..." Liao Tingyuan suddenly felt like teasing her and whispered.
His voice was just within Lu Liruan's hearing range, and Lu Liruan's eyes slid over: "Teacher Liao, what do you mean?"
“When Ruan Ruan is happy, when she is unhappy, or when she feels guilty, it’s all very obvious…” Liao Tingyuan said, mimicking her words.
"Me! When did I feel guilty!" Lu Liruan touched her face, then blinked, her gaze briefly sweeping over Liao Tingyuan.
"Huh? Really?" Liao Tingyuan held her hand, not looking at her, his voice indifferent.
This time, they were definitely just going through the motions...
Lu Liruan detected a hint of amusement in his voice, the implication being: See, you're feeling guilty now~
Lu Liruan pouted and decided to temporarily abandon this topic.
The stairs felt unusually smooth to walk on today; no monsters pounced on me, and there was no disgusting or foul smell.
Lu Liruan held Liao Tingyuan's hand, her attention completely focused on him, watching his back... as if they could walk on endlessly.
“Teacher Liao, when this space ends and we go downstairs again, I might feel uncomfortable,” Lu Liruan suddenly blurted out.
"What? You think your floor isn't high enough?" Liao Tingyuan casually replied.
"……Um."
Actually, we can no longer continue like this, the two of us walking together.
Lu Liruan didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe it was because she suddenly started receiving messages from the outside world through her space today. She felt like this space was really about to end.
How strange... Lu Liruan used to really look forward to it ending every day, but now she has a strange, empty feeling that is slowly spreading in her heart.
By the time Lu Liruan realized it, she already felt somewhat lost and confused.
Shaking her head, Lu Liruan comforted herself. Even though the space was over, she could still rely on Liao Tingyuan to cook for her every day! Teacher Liao was so gentle, he definitely wouldn't refuse to feed her!
"Teacher Liao..." Lu Liruan couldn't keep anything to herself.
"Ok?"
"Will you keep cooking for me from now on?" Lu Liruan asked without thinking.
Liao Tingyuan: ?
Lu Liruan blinked: "Really?"
"...Probably." Liao Tingyuan nodded.
"Oh." Lu Liruan felt a warmth in her heart: "Teacher Liao, you're so kind!"
"Yeah."
Liao Tingyuan didn't know where Lu Liruan's train of thought had gone, but he always felt that constantly cooking for each other... was a very strange relationship.
Oh well, whatever, if the girl likes it.
When Lu Liruan got downstairs, she stood at the entrance of the building and felt that something was wrong...
Something's not right.
Lu Liruan tried hard to think.
"Shhh-"
Suddenly, she realized that the leaves were making a soft rustling sound in the wind, and the garbage bag on the ground was brushing past her feet.
"Huh? Why is there a breeze?" Lu Liruan asked in surprise.
Originally, when entering the space time at night, everything seemed to be paused, with only Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan active in it. The strange, completely different sense of oppression was easily distinguishable from the normal time through physical sensation.
But at this moment, the space began to flow.
Lu Liruan felt that there was not much difference from the daytime, which was why she felt strange for a moment just now.
Liao Tingyuan nodded, and the two stood there, feeling the night wind blowing their hair and Lu Liruan's loose outer garment billowing in the wind.
"It seems it's really coming to an end. I'm just waiting for them to find the source of the infection." Lu Liruan looked around.
"Why do I feel... that this space is no longer aggressive?" Lu Liruan said softly. This was her own feeling. For a while, every night in the space, Lu Liruan would feel a malevolent aura. It was a very subtle feeling, where emotions were directly transmitted to her heart. Most of the fear that Lu Liruan experienced at the beginning stemmed from this.
Lu Liruan believed that Liao Tingyuan must feel the same way she did.
However, as the journey through the space unfolds, Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan gradually piece together the clues, understand the meaning behind the space, and learn what happened in the past.
The malevolent aura in the space gradually dissipated. This wasn't a new feeling for Lu Liruan. At the time, Lu Liruan wondered if her perception had become dulled from staying here for so long, and she had started to adapt.
But after careful consideration, Lu Liruan felt that it wasn't true.
It seems that once the space had expressed what it wanted to express, things gradually calmed down.
"Where are you going?" Liao Tingyuan looked at her stunned expression and reached out to tuck her wind-blown hair behind her ear.
"Let's take a spin first." Lu Liruan lifted her leg, and the night breeze brushed against her leg, giving her a smooth and cool feeling.
The moon in the sky was dim and long, casting long shadows. It seemed like Lu Liruan was experiencing a summer night for the first time this year.
“Teacher Liao, summer is almost over…” Lu Liruan calculated the date.
"This summer isn't as hot." Liao Tingyuan nodded.
"Ah... this summer must be the most unforgettable summer ever."
There was no one on the path. The leaves hanging down on both sides were lush and green. Lu Liruan grabbed a branch and shook it, and the branch bounced back to Liao Tingyuan.
Liao Tingyuan touched the leaves that Lu Liruan had just touched, and then let the branches droop back to their original positions.
I slowly walked to the place I had visited in the afternoon.
From afar, Lu Liruan saw a wooden structure on the lawn...
Upon closer inspection, it is a wooden hut that can provide shelter from the wind and rain for stray animals.
There were a few soft cushions inside, and they looked dirty.
"Hey?"
Lu Liruan ran over, squatted down, and observed carefully.
"This... can I touch it?" Lu Liruan wasn't sure when this thing appeared. There was nothing here when she came in the afternoon. According to the laws of space, this thing was likely here before, but Lu Liruan didn't know exactly when.
Liao Tingyuan walked over and squatted down beside her.
The two people stared at each other, as if they were looking at building blocks.
Liao Tingyuan placed his hand gently on the top of the wooden structure before Lu Liruan could...
Nothing happened.
"Could it be that someone left it here after we left this afternoon?" Lu Liruan was unsure. Could this actually exist in reality?
Liao Tingyuan touched the dirty, small muddy footprint on it, and could clearly see the tiny paw print... it was the mark left by the kitten.
“No…” Liao Tingyuan pointed to the footprints: “They’re very old. It didn’t rain this afternoon, and the lawn and ground are dry.”
Lu Liruan leaned closer to take a closer look.
Then he reached out and tapped on the little footprint.
The moment Lu Liruan's fingers touched the grass, a gust of wind blew by, and a "rustling" sound came from deep within the grass.
It sounded like the rustling of grass blades, or perhaps the sound of some animal running by.
"Hey?"
Lu Liruan let go of her hand, and the gust of wind passed.
The moment Lu Liruan touched it again, a sound came from deep within the grass:
"Meow--"
It was faint and weak, but in the quiet environment, it could be heard clearly.
Lu Liruan was taken aback.
Why are there cats meowing here?
Apart from the very beginning, and the night it urged us to go into the house where the male owner was hiding, we haven't found any trace of the kitten in the yard since.
"Meow meow--"
Then a few more sounds came from another direction.
Lu Liruan stood up, crouched down, and followed the sound of the cat's meow, stepping on the lawn, searching with uneven steps.
The grass was filled with bushes. Lu Liruan walked to the edge of the bushes and could not go any further. She could only stand on the edge of the bushes, tiptoe, turn on her phone's flashlight, and try to find the kitten's figure in the gaps in the bushes.
But there was nothing there; the shadows of branches and leaves were everywhere, but there wasn't even a trace of a kitten...
"Meow meow meow—" Lu Liruan also let out a cat-like meow.
Then she heard Liao Tingyuan's very faint laughter behind her.
"Teacher Liao, what are you laughing at?" Lu Liruan turned around abruptly and caught Liao Tingyuan's smile still lingering on his face, with the corners of his mouth still turned up.
"It's nothing," Liao Tingyuan coughed lightly.
"Hmm?" Lu Liruan narrowed her eyes.
Liao Tingyuan suddenly remembered that night when Lu Liruan, out of fear and worry, made a sound on the stairs that was even more mournful and sorrowful than a cat's.
When he first heard it, he didn't even recognize that it was Lu Liruan calling him.
Later, when he realized what was going on, he thought Lu Liruan had encountered some trouble and was using this method to send him a coded message, asking for his help...
When they ran up, they saw Lu Liruan curled up in a small ball, meowing sadly at the outside.
Liao Tingyuan was too worried at the time to feel much else, but looking back, he found it all funny and cute.
"It's really nothing... just call me whatever you want." Liao Tingyuan pursed his lips, but his eyes betrayed him.
At this moment, Lu Liruan also thought of... how she looked that day.
She was immediately embarrassed and annoyed.
"You should call them too!" Lu Liruan said to Liao Tingyuan, hands on her hips, making an unreasonable demand.
"Huh?" Liao Tingyuan hadn't reacted yet when Lu Liruan grabbed his arm and pulled him up.
“You should learn too!” Lu Liruan raised an eyebrow, pointed to the bushes, and indicated that Liao Tingyuan could start eating.
"I……"
"Come on, come on!" Lu Liruan looked at him hopefully.
Liao Tingyuan was at a loss, but seeing Lu Liruan's expectant look that she was waiting for him to make a fool of himself, and that she wouldn't let it go until he did as she asked, he was at her wit's end.
Sighed.
Face turned toward the darkness...
"Meow……"
Lu Liruan's eyes lit up!
Liao Tingyuan's voice is very pleasant; when he meows like a cat, it's soft and gentle, like a wronged cat. It makes your heart itch.
"Meow one more time~"
Lu Liruan sidled up to him, insisting on peeking at Liao Tingyuan's face.
Fortunately, it was in the dark, and Liao Tingyuan rarely felt his face getting hot.
He was already thirty years old... and now he was meowing like a cat in front of a young girl. Liao Tingyuan felt inexplicably amused and ashamed.
The key point is that the little girl seemed very interested, as if watching him meow was something that made her happy and excited.
"Meow again~ It's so cute, Teacher Liao~" Lu Liruan coaxed softly.
He casually reached out and stroked Liao Tingyuan's back like he was petting a cat.
Liao Tingyuan resignedly tilted his head: "Meow~"
"Hahahaha!" Lu Liruan couldn't stop laughing.
"Teacher Liao, you're so big, are you a Maine Coon cat?"
"Then what is Ruan Ruan? A short-legged cat?" Liao Tingyuan asked quietly.
Lu Liruan: ? ?
Why did they suddenly start attacking me?
Lu. She looked like a short-legged cat. Li Ruan watched as Liao Tingyuan only showed her his back before returning to the wooden house to slowly savor the moment.
Teacher Liao is blushing~ She's even cuter now, I don't know why...
Lu Liruan felt a tickle in her heart, but wasn't angry at all: "Mmm, I'm a short-legged cat~"