Chapter 96
Translator: StaringAtAStar
Lu Xiufan took Shang Ke all over the villa for a tour, the villa and the mansion's styles weren't that different, the surprising fact was that a laboratory was currently under construction at the villa, mainly to research drugs, diseases, medical equipment, and other projects, including the mental virus, which has plagued humanity for hundreds of years. Originally, this project had been put on hold for ages, but Lu Xiufan recently restarted the project.
He'd brought Shang Ke to this villa partially for better recuperation, but also in order to try curing him of the side effects from the surgery.
When Shang Ke saw the laboratory, he suddenly felt that Lu Xiufan was a Godsend.
The System had issued a task for him to study drugs, and Lu Xiufan provides him with ready-made research equipment as well as experts in the field. Although he currently can't directly provide the brain repair serum, he can absolutely seek the help of these professionals.
This world's task seems to have become less difficult with Lu Xiufan's assistance.
Shang Ke stared intently at Lu Xiufan, until the other wrote on an electronic tablet:
【What's the matter?】
He suddenly felt like they might actually be able to live together to a ripe old age.
Shang Ke shook his head, saying nothing.
The distribution center's affairs had already been handed over to an agent hired by Lu Xiufan, Yue Family had already arranged for a new successor, this freed up the time for him to peacefully stay at the villa and conduct scientific experiments.
There were several medicinal gardens near the villa, which were planted with many rare herbs. Shang Ke's room faced these medicinal gardens; if he opened the windows, he could smell the fragrant scent of fresh herbs. The purple flowers in the garden swayed gently, like surging waves.
Shang Ke fell in love with the room at first glance, happily enjoying the view outside his window.
Just then, the housekeeper knocked on the door. Shang Ke turned towards the door and saw him lead a white dog that was almost half as tall as a man into the room. He first gave a salute to Lu Xiufan before bending down to untie the dog's leash.
The big dog tilted his head and slowly wandered to Lu Xiufan's side, first rubbing against his leg before sitting at his side and giving Shang Ke an assessing look.
Shang Ke gazed at the dog's face a moment before holding out his hand.
The big dog shot him a reserved glance before extending his paws, touching Shang Ke in the palm of his hands in acknowledgment.
Lu Xiufan's eyes flashed with a smile as he petted the dog's head with one hand and touched Shang Ke's head with the other; both were good, both were worthy of praise.
Shang Ke and the big dog both looked at Lu Xiufan at the same time with surprisingly similar looks in their eyes.
Lu Xiufan: I suddenly feel as if life is very blissful...
The big dog's name, Snowball, didn't quite match his noble image. Because he was white, without a trace of any other pigment, he could walk across the snow as if he was invisible. When Lu Xiufan left, Snowball's main duty was to stay at Shang Ke's side.
"Where's Xiao Ze?" The rain-soaked Lu Xiufan asked the housekeeper when he returned to the villa and didn't see the man he'd expected to welcome him.
"Young Master Ze is in Laboratory 5," the housekeeper answered as he took Lu Xiufan's coat.
"The laboratory?" Lu Xiufan remembered not long ago Shang Ke had applied to join the lab, saying he wanted to help with research on the mental virus. Lu Xiufan naturally didn't refuse, thinking he only wanted to make up the time he couldn't work when he was injured.
Lu Xiufan took the elevator to the basement, went through the disinfection corridor, and straight into Laboratory 5.
In the lab, Shang Ke sat in front of an instrument, carrying out an observational analysis of a sample.
His head was bowed low, with an attentive expression, his slender fingers adjusting the instrument from time to time; wearing a white labcoat, he exuded the bearing of an academic researcher.
The first time he'd met him, Shang Ke was wearing pajamas, expressionlessly helping aid two wounded men; the first time he'd been chauffeured by him, Shang Ke showed off his amazing driving skills; the first time he'd found him in the kitchen, Shang Ke acted like a kitten stealing food; in the bedroom, he repressed his passion, his softened posture... he was clearly a covenantor but was so colorful, making others couldn't look away.
This is his man, unrivaled by anyone else in the whole world.
Lu Xiufan walked over, and just as Shang Ke looked up, he kissed him on the side of his forehead.
He's back? Shang Ke placed the sample aside properly and then stood up.
"It's time to eat." Lu Xiufan indicates the digital clock on the wall, which showed that it was three minutes until meal time.
Shang Ke nodded before tidying up a little and leaving together with Lu Xiufan to return to the villa.
【Have you made any headway in your research?】Lu Xiufan wrote on the tablet.
Shang Ke replied: 【There's not been much progress.】
The chemicals making up the brain repair serum was so complex that he had analyzed only three so far. Tomorrow, he planned to divide the sample up and ask other researchers to help with the analysis.
Lu Xiufan was just casually asking, he didn't, in fact, think Shang Ke could really discover anything, especially in such a short period of time; after all, this was a problem that had been plaguing the Empire for hundreds of years.
However, Lu Xiufan didn't expect Shang Ke would be so obsessed with the research. Other than eating and sleeping, he spent the rest of his time in the laboratory. If Lu Xiufan wasn't there, he might not even sleep.
Due to this, Lu Xiufan was forced to strictly stipulate that Shang Ke had to sleep at least 10 hours a day.
In the evening, Lu Xiufan asked to check on Shang Ke's recovery from the injury. Having stayed in the villa for over a month under the care of a troop of doctors and nutritionists, Shang Ke had not only recovered well but even gained a couple of pounds.
Removing his top, Shang Ke bared his back to Lu Xiufan; all that was visible on the originally flawless skin was a dozen scars of various lengths, like randomly scattered pieces of white flower petals.
Shang Ke felt Lu Xiufan's fingers slowly glide across his back, stopping at his waist, followed immediately by a fiery hot body pressing against him, imprisoning Shang Ke in his arms.
"I'm going to stay at the villa for the next couple of days." The sound of Lu Xiufan's hoarse voice carried to Shang Ke's still healing ears, causing a slight tremble like the strumming of a string.
Lu Xiufan hadn't touched Shang Ke since he became injured. Shang Ke having recovered at long last, how could Lu Xiufan wait any longer? When night came, he entangled himself with Shang Ke all night. He was very careful to act measured, not as fierce as previously, he instead used a slow and protracted manner of entry, only occasionally advancing heavily, when he would experience an exceptionally special taste of ecstasy. As for their positions, it became more random.
However, Lu Xiufan overestimated his own strength; while he was indeed very gentle, his endurance was excessive, causing Shang Ke to not be able to leave the room for three days. In addition to eating and bathing, as well as ten hours of sleep, the rest of the time was spent in harmonious activities.
Shang Ke laid in bed calculating the delay in research caused by the past couple days, trying to see if he could increase the time spent on research by half an hour once Lu Xiufan left the villa. But it was impossible, Lu Xiufan had stipulated the amount of time he needed to rest; even if Lu Xiufan left, the housekeeper would remind him on time—there's no way he'd be able to sneak in more research time.
Because his previously meticulous calculation of working hours had left such a strong impression on Lu Xiufan, now even if he wanted to change it he couldn't...
Lu Xiufan stayed for three days, and by the time he left, Shang Ke was still lying like a corpse on the bed.
Lu Xiufan reluctantly left the gentle countryside, to quickly deal with the country's major national affairs.
Shang Ke was finally free to see the light again, and emerged from the passion-filled room. After recuperating for half a day, he once again threw himself into research.
This time, he separated the sample's ingredients and asked several researchers to help with the analysis; however, they weren't amicable towards him, only allowing him to set the samples before them before saying they'd get to it if they had time.
This group of research maniacs paid little attention to outside news and didn't know Shang Ke's identity, only that he was Lu Xiufan's kept man. The fact that these two people didn't come out of their room for three days and night due to their "glorious" deeds made the researcher's opinions of Shang Ke sink even lower; they merely regarded him as a royal courtier's eye candy.
How could these experts not grieve now that His Excellency, such a noble and majestic person, had become so addicted to bed sports? So towards this villain that climbed his way to the top through appearances, they had to resist with firmness.
Shang Ke's samples were extremely precious, but he didn't dare give them too little. So if the samples were accidentally lost, he would die a painful death.
There's no helping it, even though they thought he was a villain, the villain would have to force them to see.
Shang Ke called Lu Xiufan to give his report in front of them, completely ignoring those people's sullen faces.
Lu Xiufan immediately sent down an order, asking the researchers to cooperate with Shang Ke's work, promising doubled bonuses.
Upon hearing about the bonuses, several researchers reluctantly took Shang Ke's samples, secretly cursing this villain as a real pain in the ass; why couldn't he just quietly be a house pet? With too much time on his hand, why did he have to waste it on research?
However, once they started analyzing the composition of this sample, they immediately changed their minds! What IS this? The ingredients are so complex, and the creation so precise, the effectiveness was exceptional! Among these, some of the substances were the same!
The researchers acted as if they'd discovered a new continent, their eyes brimmed with fire.
A few days later, a researcher ran to find Shang Ke, asking with enthusiasm: "Young Master Ze, the sample you provided has been scrapped, can you provide another one?"
Shang Ke's face remained expressionless, but his heart was howling with anger: Do you think that this sample can be provided just by asking for it? Can't you use it more sparingly?
But Shang Ke knew that using it up this way was necessary, and could only say that he'd give some to them later.
Sending others away, Shang Ke brought out the bottle of brain repair serum, there was still two-thirds left. If he drank it now, he could probably still cure his own brain damage; however, he probably couldn't complete his task.
This System was really strict, not giving him even a little wiggle room; how he despised it!
Shang Ke cautiously and solemnly removed a tiny drop of brain repair serum from the bottle and placed it in the middle of a dropper.
What Shang Ke didn't know was that although he had isolated the components of the brain repair serum, several researchers were easily able to speculate that this was related to the treatment for mental virus, upon analyzing the information based on their experience and studies.
Shang Ke's brain repair serum was a finished product provided by the System, so whether it was in its composition or its effectiveness, it elicited a feeling of amazement in other professionals. They felt that even if Shang Ke didn't create the final product, he'd still accomplished an amazing achievement.
If Shang Ke were able to work out the result, he might be able to master the key to solving the problem. This meant that he really wasn't just Lu Xiufan's kept man, as they'd originally thought.
Right now, the researcher's opinion of Shang Ke underwent a 180 degrees transformation.