Chapter 99: Lu Jun
Z Research Base, Laboratory No. 109.
Person in charge: Yu Jiqing.
Since November 7th last year, he had been working on the preliminary tests for the time-machine project.
It wasn’t voluntary. He’d been forced into it.
The key word was forced.
When Yu Jiqing was twenty, young and full of pride, he once published a paper about the concept of a time machine.
That paper merely outlined an idea, without describing in detail whether a time machine was even feasible.
At the time, everyone acknowledged that Yu Jiqing was a genius, and naturally assumed he could actually build one.
Some powers went insane over it, desperate to obtain this technology.
Yu Jiqing was hounded day and night until he was sick of it. Only then did he realize just how explosive an idea he had proposed.
But was it good or bad for the world? That was a question worth pondering.
Yu Jiqing wasn’t one of those mad scientists obsessed with shocking the world. He never intended to truly create a time machine.
After numerous discussions with his team, he made a firm decision: the time machine should never see the light of day, at least not from his hands.
Within a week of that blunt declaration, the young genius Dr. Yu was suddenly abducted.
The people who kidnapped him claimed to be acting for the nation’s good, forcing him to continue his research.
At first, Yu Jiqing truly believed he was being detained by his own government. Only later did he learn the truth. The man behind the project really was a high-ranking official, but he was exploiting his authority for personal gain under the guise of “serving the country.”
By that point, the time-machine project had supposedly reached its final stage, the so-called “stability-testing phase.” Yeah, right.
Yu Jiqing hadn’t created a time machine at all, and he didn’t intend to. He used the excuse of “stability tests” to stall for time and to find reliable people he could use, killing two birds with one stone.
What he hadn’t expected was that the organization would silence every single tester afterward.
That was why Yu Jiqing later made sure every tester could live an entire lifetime inside the simulated worlds before dying. At least they would experience a full, satisfying life in virtual form.
At the same time, he could observe what an ordinary person would do once granted unlimited life and resources.
The results were deeply disappointing.
80% of them couldn’t resist the pull of desire, money, or power.
They didn’t know when to stop. In those virtual worlds, they looted, indulged, and consumed without restraint.
Test Subject No. 1 might have been an exception.
When Yu Jiqing first received data from the initial batch of testers, he used his latest technology to read their memories, twelve in total.
No. 1 came first on the list, a retired soldier.
Over the past few years, there had been both open and covert wars along the borders, and countless soldiers died every year.
No. 1 was just one of them. In his memories, his childhood was lonely, with no parents and enlisted when he grew up.
No. 1 was a soldier with a casual personality who wasn’t particularly diligent.
His first battle terrified him that he almost wet himself.
After surviving a few hellish missions, he gradually grew calm, though the battlefield was never where he wanted to be. His dream was to become a cook.
Impossible. The army wasn’t about to let a burly man like him work in the kitchen.
Even though he didn’t want to fight, he fought every battle without fail. One by one, his comrades died around him, scenes that became his most painful memories.
Until one day, a secret mission came down from above. They picked several men from his squad.
All of them died. The mission itself was never officially acknowledged, so their deaths weren’t even recorded as heroic sacrifices.
Their families got a pitiful compensation payment, how could they possibly live on that?
After being persuaded to retire, No. 1 gave all his money to the families of his fallen comrades.
He wanted more money, so he signed a contract that was practically a death sentence, for five million yuan.
That was his story.
A martyr who dies for his country deserves respect. A veteran who sacrifices himself for his comrades’ families deserves it too.
At that time, Yu Jiqing didn’t yet know the testers would be disposed of. He temporarily implanted No. 1 into a virtual world, letting him forget his pain and enjoy life.
In the first world, Tester No. 7 died because he was too greedy.
Yu Jiqing loathed that kind of moral rot. He immediately eliminated No. 7 from all further testing.
Only later did he learn No. 7 had never climbed out of his pod but had been silenced by the organization.
Yu Jiqing then panicked, regretting ever suggesting the “testing phase.”
But without that phase, he had no excuse left to stall for time, nor anyone trustworthy enough to help him escape.
So he could only apologize in his heart to those sacrificed testers.
And that was how it happened. Yu Jiqing continued to watch every tester’s every move in the virtual worlds, hoping to find that one reliable person.
As for No. 1 constantly going around falling in love with every protagonist… he never expected that. But honestly, it was useful, since he could closely observe whether No. 1 would make a suitable partner.
After all, every “protagonist shou” was modeled on certain aspects of Yu Jiqing himself. The fact that No. 1 went for all of them without exception was frankly terrifying.
Thus, the once-brilliant young doctor spent his days “hard at work” while secretly binge-watching.
Whenever No. 1 kissed a male lead, it felt like being kissed himself. Whenever No. 1 pinned the male lead down, it burned like pain in his own body. Honestly, the drama was a lot.
The unbearable days of captivity suddenly became a little more vibrant thanks to that one man.
May 4 was No. 1’s birthday.
Yu Jiqing chose that as the day for his “rebellion.” Before everything was ready, he sent No. 1 into the next world with a cunning grin.
“Baby, you have ten more days. Enjoy yourself to the fullest.”
Because ten days later, in the real world, No. 1 would wake up and face reality with him.
“Mm…” After the familiar disorientation of emotional calibration, Li Dong woke up to find himself in a dark restroom. What on earth was he doing?
If he’d come to take a leak, why hadn’t he turned on the light?
From outside came the sound of cars, meaning the road wasn’t far. …Wait. Which book started like this again?
Li Dong rubbed his temples, pacing as he tried to recall, then his face went pale. “F*ck…”
He finally remembered which story this was.
The one where the protagonist shou was a killer, and his current role was the third male lead.
The unlucky supporting character ordered by the scummy gong to be hunted down and killed.
This filthy restroom wasn’t a safe place to hide. Li Dong pulled his fine-textured suit jacket tighter around himself and strode out, polished leather shoes clicking against the pavement.
He walked quickly down the street, scanning his surroundings.
It was around ten p.m., in the capital of a small Eastern European country.
The third male lead, Pei Ruozhen, had just left a bar after parting with a friend. In a foul mood, he’d gone for a walk.
Passing a public restroom, he’d thought to take a leak but found the conditions unacceptable. The privileged Young Master Pei wrinkled his nose and walked away, straight into a dark alley where he met the armed protagonist shou, Lu Jun.
As Li Dong hurried along the dim but not deserted street, he recalled the original plot.
In the novel, the protagonist shou Lu Jun was a bounty killer, wild, unpredictable, and straddling the line between good and evil.
But he did have one consistent code: Kill the ones you hate most, drink the strongest liquor, and sleep with the wildest men.
That “wildest man” was none other than the scummy gong himself, Li Tingyi. And yes, he was wild and handsome indeed, though not easy to bed.
At the start of the book, Li Tingyi, who usually couldn’t care less about Lu Jun, solemnly assigned him a job: kill a certain man.
That man was the third male lead, Pei Ruozhen.
Li Tingyi had told Lu Jun that if he succeeded, he’d let Lu Jun sleep with him for one night.
The free-spirited Lu Jun was actually a little shou. He didn’t want to sleep with Li Tingyi; he wanted to be slept with by him.
It was a wish that had lived in his heart ever since he’d met Li Tingyi at 17.
Now 21, Lu Jun was ready to risk his life to finally get that man.
To him, the mission was simple: hunt down his prey, Pei Ruozhen.
“Where are you…” The handsome, wicked-eyed youth roamed the near-empty streets.
He wore a black trench coat, pale jeans outlining his long legs, and a silver pistol tucked into the belt at his back.
A hand white and slender yet calloused from years of handling guns drew a color photograph from his pocket again.
“Tsk, tsk.” Lu Jun whistled softly. The man in the photo was refined and elegant, the kind women adored.
Too bad he wasn’t his type. Lu Jun preferred men who were rough and fierce.
Looking at someone as refined-looking as Pei Ruozhen, he seriously doubted the guy’s ability to satisfy any woman in bed.
Meanwhile, Li Dong didn’t dare return to his hotel.
He just needed a temporary place to hide.
Across the street, he spotted a modest inn.
Unfortunately, fate was against him tonight; traffic was heavy, cars streaming by nonstop.
He stood on the curb, shivering in the chilly night wind that stung his eyes.
“Pei Ruozhen, found you.”
Lu Jun stood by a phone booth, raising his gun and flicking off the safety.
Just before pulling the trigger, his phone buzzed insistently in his pocket.
Annoyed, he lowered the gun and answered. “Who?”
“It’s me,” came Li Tingyi’s voice over the line. “Lu Jun, I want you to bring Pei Ruozhen back alive.”
“What?” Alive?
Lu Jun froze. “Are you kidding me? Do you know how hard it is to smuggle a live person out of Eastern Europe?”
“But you can’t kill him,” Li Tingyi replied calmly, then offered a tempting condition: “If you can do it, I’ll be your lover.”
Not a one-night stand, but a lover.
Lu Jun swallowed hard. That temptation was enough to make any man commit crimes… or sheer stupidity.
Getting someone out of Eastern Europe alive? Only an idiot would take that on.
“You sure you’re not messing with me?” Lu Jun warned himself not to fall for it, but his restless little shou heart was already pounding.
21 and still a virgin, if he kept holding back, even his chrysanthemum would wilt from neglect.
Besides, the deadline was this year. Lu Jun thought grimly, If I don’t sleep with Li Tingyi by then, I might as well quit and sell pancakes.
“How could I mess with you?” Li Tingyi remembered how Lu Jun used to look at him with those burning eyes and chuckled softly. “It’s settled then, all right?”
Lu Jun cursed himself for being so weak. Just hearing that man’s voice made his knees go soft. “Tch. You said you’d be my lover; one day or two, it’s still your word that decides how long it lasts.”
Li Tingyi’s voice dropped, seductive. “How about a year? Or maybe we’ll fit so well we won’t want to part. I wouldn’t mind staying together forever.”
“Deal.” Lu Jun agreed instantly. “I’ll bring him back alive. You make sure you’re washed and waiting for me at home.”
He hung up in a hurry, because his “prey” had just crossed the street, clearly sensing danger.
But what good would that do?
None.
Lu Jun frowned, quickly giving chase, though irritation simmered in his chest.
Alive capture, my ass.
Author’s Note:
【So Lu Jun sees a wild man and immediately wants to sleep with him. Our Dong-ge wild enough for him? Let him find out.】
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