Wu Kang stayed hidden inside of a shadow of the lightless hallway that would lead him towards lieutnant Liu Chen's room. There was no one walking around nearby anymore because of the late hour of the day, but he still pressed himself deeper into the corner to await the right moment to strike.
The lights inside of the target's room were already long turned off and the shuffling of feet on the wooden floor stopped a few hours ago as well. Still, Wu Kang waited untill the clock showed shortly after midnight before he felt safe enough to step out of his hiding spot.
A soft but luckily quiet noise reverberated in the eery hallway when he tiptoed across the smooth stone beneeth his feet. At his grilfriend's behest, he left his shoes behind in his own room, so that he wouldn't be too noisy and leave any evidence behind. That's at least what she saied and because there was no need to mistrust her word, he just did as she told him. Now, he was relieved that he did.
Wu Kang's blood rushed loudly inside of his brain and his hands began to sweat a little when he reached the wooden door that acted as the last barrier between him and his target. There was a second of hesitation in his actions before he threw any hint of fear far away from him and started pulling out some thin wire.
It was also thanks to his lovely girlfriend, that he was carrying something like that with him. Zhou Feng had guessed that the door would be locked and they would be required to break in by force. There would have been some other methods he would have prefered to use of course, but his girl rejected any of his own idea because they would make too much noise. So here he was now, acting like a petty thief who needed a wire to break into a house.
Even though Wu Kang didn't have much time to practice using such primitive tools, the lock of the door still gave in after a little bit of time. It felt somewhat like a tiny triumph in this dangerous setting. At least untill the hinge of the door moaned noisily when the door was pushed open, making the blood in his vains freeze for a short while and his breath to stagger.
A short moment Wu Kang feared that everything would be over. That Liu Chen heard him and would sentence him to death because of treason. That his girlfriend would be inflicted by this as well and come to harm. That his father would be disapointed in him and that he would fall from grace. That everything that he fought for would be gone. His heart was pounding heavily inside of his chest, however, even after a few minutes of anxiously waiting for something to happen, the inside of the room stayed dark and silent.
Wu Kang's brows furrowed in confusion, but he was too thankful that he was safe that he didn't care for how puzzling this was. Instead, he continued in the direction of his target's bed, even more carefull now than he was before.
There was still more than one moment, where he almost bumped into a table or chair because he could barely see the outlines of them. So it was a deep relieve when he finally crossed the entirety of the sitting room and passed through another entrance that led to Liu Chen's bedroom.
The shadowy shape of a human could be seen lying on the big bed that Wu Kang stood in front of. The blanket covered almost the entire body, except for the mess of hair that was peaking out at the top. There was no movements from the Lieutnant at all as far as Wu Kang could detect, so it was safe to asume that the guy was dead to the world. A heavy sleeper it seemed. He liked those people the most at the moment. Makes things easier.
Wu Kang grabbed the dagger that was smugly sitting in the hollow of his spine and raised it up above his head to get enough momentum to cut through muscles and arteries. An ominous silver glimmer shone inside of the darkness of the room because of the weak monlight coming in through the window. It was a sign of oncoming death.
Wu Kang sucked in another breath of air to calm down the trembling of his fingers and stabbed the dagger towards the sleeping person's heart. At least where he assumed the heart was. It was a bit difficult to aim correctly in this darkness.
The weapon pierced through the fabric of the blanket and plunged into the matress below. A tearing kind of noise travelled through the room, but the sound of breaking flesh didn't.
Suddenly, a glaring light burst in front of Wu Kang's eyes, making him close them in agony. A stinging sensation travelled from his painfully constricted pupils towards the middle of his brain and he shield himself from the blindness automatically.
The dagger was still sticking deeply inside of the Lieutnants bed, completely forgotten.
"Look who we got here. The dog crawled out of his masters arms, it would seem."
Wu Kang spun around when he heard that familiar taunting voice from behind him and even before he completely turned around to face the youth, he already knew who would stand there.
"Yang Quan. What....?"
"Cat got your tongue? Is it that surprising to see me here?"
"You are arrested for the attempted murder on Lieutnant Liu Chen. What ever excuses you come up with will not help your cause."
Wu Kang had been way too focused on the youth standing right in front of him, that he didn't notice more people entering through the entrance of the room until he heard that cold and husky voice. It was a voice everyone in this base would recognize immediatele and he wasn't any different. He knew that person.
Wu Kang turned a shade paler, because right behind Yang Quan stood the General of the third army, looking as imposing as always even without his sword hung on his hips. The Man's eyes shone dark and unfeeling in the glimmer of the light and his right arm was waving at one of the other people standing next to him.
"Take him away."
The soldier saluted towards the General and the Lieutnant, who was watching everything unfold from the other side of the Captain, before grabing the convict's elbow and his shoulder and roughly shoving him out of the room and in the direction of the prison.
Wu Kang let himself be manhandled through the metalic door of the prison and sank to his knees once he was left alone inside. It was hopeless to attempt any sort of jailbreaking, so he just scooted close to the next wall and leaned his back against the cold stone.
He stayed seated like that for a little while, before he started shivering from the freezing temperature and needed to stand up again to move around. Walking around didn't warm him up much either but at least it gave him something to do in this dull, gray room.
Wu Kang didn't know how much time he already spend inside of prisonn, when hurried footsteps moved towards his cell. A cursing voice echoed through the silence of the basement and seconds later the metalic door swung open to reveal the body of someone he deffinitely knew.
"Zhou Feng? God, Zhou Feng. I'm glad to see you."
"Keep your voice down you imbecile, or do you want someone to hear us? Come along now, we don't have much time left."
"You mean escape? But where should I go? They would never leave me go."
"Don't worry about that for now. I will think of something. Just follow me out of here for now."
Wu Kang nodded in understanding and followed right behind his girlfriend, when she turned around and hurried off. He trusted Zhou Feng with everything he got, so he didn't question her while they ran through hallways, ducked inside of dark corners and changed clothes on multiple ocasions. And really, they made it past all the soldiers and exited the base through the front door without being stopped even once.
"Wu Kang. Leave this place. A friend of mine will take you to the hiding spot. Don't get into trouble again, or I won't help you out anymore."
"I'm sorry for this. I really am. What will you do now? You won't come with me, right?"
"No, I still have things I need to take care of. Go now."
Zhou Feng pushed at Wu Kang's back to get him moving, then turned around again and dissapeared through the door of the enormous military building.
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"Now. That takes care of that."
Shu Ning watched as Wu Kang got dragged out of the bedroom and sighed in relief of a job well done. Not that there had been any danger of something going wrong, but it was always advisable to stay wary nonetheless.
"You really were right about this, Yang Quan. He really did try to murder me. Thank you for that."
"No problem, really. I have been paying attention to Wu Kang and Zhou An for a while now and knew they needed to be stopped."
Shu Ning smiled bashfully and scratched absenly at his cheek before going serious again and looking in the direction of the ruined bed. The dagger was still sticking out from the torn matress and a bunch of smal, white feathers oozed out of the crack in the pillow, that they had covered with the blancket instead of a human body.
"You will need a new matress, I suppose. And the dagger should be secured. It's evidence after all."
"Don't worry. My men will take care of that."
The General stepped up next to Shu Ning and laied a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The hard lines of the jaw, that the Man had clenched in anger before, softened visibly and the fierce glow in his eyes gave away to something different. Something incomprehensibly deep that made Shu Ning shiver a little.
For a moment, it felt like only the two of them existed inside of this room, as they lost themselves in the others eyes. A prickling sensation started in the center of Shu Ning's soul again and worked itself through his bloodstream and towards his heart. However, before the strange tingling could reach it's goal, the surprised yelp of Liu Chen shattered the magic moment.
"What?"
The Lieutnant started sweating a little, when two pairs of eyes landed on him. He had been keeping himself in the background the entire time the other two had stared at each other. But as soon, as he noticed the fond look on his bosse's face, he couldn't help but voice his shock. Still, he regretted not keeping his mouth shut, because the Captain's face looked very unhappy and scary right now.
"S-Sorry, Captain. It is nothing."
Shu Ning lowered his head in thought and blocked out any kind of sound from around him. He wondered what would have happened, if Liu Chen didn't interupt whatever was going on just now. Would that strange feeling encase his entire body? Would he finally realize, what was going on? Would the familiarity appear again? There were so many questions, that he couldn't answer at the moment, but before he could contemplate any of them further, another voice yelled for his attention. This time, inside of his conciousness.
System: "Host. The Protagonist just entered the prison."
Shu Ning: "What is she doing?"
System: "She knocked out the guards and stolen their keys. Now she is opening up the Male Lead's cell and running of with him. Host, what should we do? They are escaping."
Shu Ning: "Yeah. I hear ya. I figured something like that could happen. Eventhough I thought Zhou Feng was a bit too coldhearted to save her dog from execution.
System: "What should we do then?"
Shu Ning: "For now, nothing. We will leave Wu Kang to the higher ups and instead focus on the Protagonist. She should be frustrated by now and act more bold. Let's just wait for her to make a mistake."
"It's very late already and I didn't get much sleep the last few days, so I will take my leave now. There shouldn't be any danger anymore and I believe you two will take care of everything else."
Shu Ning smiled brightly at the two men and waved a hand at them before making his way out of the room without giving any of them a chance to say something to stop him.
Shu Ning: "Where is Zhou Feng now?"
System: "She just went into the base again. What do you think she is planing?"
Shu Ning: "You'll see."
Alpha's glowing body trembled a little at it's Host's gleeful tone, but no matter how much it wracked it's brain, it just couldn't figure out what was going to happen. It wasn't untill they were only a few more steps away from their own room, that the System finally understood.
"Yang Quan. I have been waiting for you."
Shu Ning squinted his eyes at the darkness in front of him and concentrated his sight on the spot right next to the door, because that was where he assumed the voice came from. The shadow there moved slightly and an all to familiar body peeled itself off of the wall.
"Zhou Feng. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Yang Quan. There is something i would like to discuss with you. Could we speak in your room for a bit? Please?"
The Protagonist tried her best imitation of puppy dog eyes but the effect was totally lost on Shu Ning. It looked more like she would loose her eyeballs any moment now, with how far she opened her eyes, and the salvia that glistered on the females pouting lips made him shiver in nausea.
"Of course Zhou Feng. Come in."
Once the lights inside of the room were turned on and the two of them found a comfortable place to sit in the restricted space they got, Zhou Feng pulled her hands out from behind her back and placed two cups of coffe onto the table beside them.
"I'm sorry that I came by so late. As compensation I brought you some coffe."
Shu Ning raised his eyebrow in contemplation, but still pulled the hot drink in front of him as if he was planing to drink it.
"Good. Umm. Yang Quan. I know that our relationship took a turn to the worsed after I met Wu Kang and I wanted to appologize that I didn't notice earlier that you were unhappy how I neglected you. I hope you can forgive me for being so mean towards you."
While speaking, Zhou Feng let loose a few crocodile tears and placed her slender hand on Shu Ning's knee. She rubbed her fingers along the lines of his inner thight a little before pushing her upper body against his shoulders. The woman's tiny bressed pressed unmovable against his arm and Shu Ning had to fight his base instinct to not push the vile body away from him.
"Zhou Feng. You are quite presumptuous. What is it you really came here for."
Zhou Feng opened her eyes even wider and looked at Shu Ning with obvious fake innocent. Her hands were still gently rubbing over his knees and the faint smell of perfume sunk into his nose, making him almost gag in disgust.
"Yang Quan. Don't be like this. I already appologized. I even brought you coffe. How about you just drink and relax. "
"I'm not thirsty at the moment. And I do still want to get some sleep tonight."
"Don't worry. There is not much coffein inside of the coffe, so it is safe to drink. Go on. Try it."
Without waiting for Shu Ning to reject her again, the Protagonist lifted her hand off of his knee and guided the cup towards his lips. A few drops were already touching his mouth and almost scalded his skin.
Shu Ning: "Check the drink for me. She must have done something to it, if she is trying to force me to drink it."
System: "Am on it. What do you think she is up to then?"
Shu Ning: "That's what I am trying to find out. Otherwise, I would have thrown her out by now. My skin is already crawling in repulse."
System: "I finished analyzing. There seems to be a dangerous substance mixed inside. Poison, probably."
Shu Ning sighed internaly and gently pushed the cup farther away from his lips. The female startled slightly at the sudden touch but masked it again with a whiny pout. Her eyes teared up even more and she stuck out her bottom lip.
"Yang Quan. I brought it here extra for you. Won't you just take a sip? It would mean so much for me."
Before Shu Ning could think up an excuse to turn her down again, an urgent knock sounded from the doorway. It repeated again a few times while the two occupants of the room stayed silent in hope, that the person would leave again.
But they were out of luck it seems, because whoever it was that disturbed them, actually possessed a key to the door and didn't hesitate to make use of it. In lightning speed the lock was opened and the tall frame of the General entered the room.
The Man's expression looked stormy and his fists were clenched where he held them at his side. His jaw and body were tense as his eyes drilled through Zhou Feng's body and Shu Ning didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but he thought that the General's appearance turned even more fierce when he saw the female's breast pressed tightly against his arm.
"ZHOU FENG! It is way too late for you to be out of bed. Your misconduct will have consequenzes. You will be demoted by one rank tomorrow morning and you training will be intensified. it seems you aren't tired out enough to be wandering through the base this late at night. Now SCRAM!"
The Protagonist was at least intelligent enough not to antogonize the Man further and made a speedy escape through the open door. Shu Ning would have been quite amazed with how fast the woman could run, if the clenched jaw of the General didn't scare him so much right now.
"General... W-What are you doing here?"
"It's Sun Zhilong. Say it."
"Ahh??"
Shu Ning stared at the other in confusion for a moment before he understood what the Man had saied. He hesitated to go through with it though because it could be seen as disrespectful to call a superior so familiar. It wasn't untill he saw the General's worsening expression that he made up his mind.
"Sun Zhilong."
The eyes of the Man darkened a little, which was a bit unnerving, but at least the tight muscles relaxed by a lot. Shu Ning sighed in relieve at the reseeding storm and stood up from the chair, so that the other wouldn't look so menancing, standing above him.
"Sun Zhilong. What is it that I can ... umpffff ...."
Shu Ning wasn't even able to finish the sentence before the face of the General suddenly filled out the entirety of his vision and a rough pair of lips covered his own. The kiss was gentle and innocent, even though it was obvious that the other was restraining himself quite a bit and it was way too soon that the Man pulled back again. A warm and tingling feeling spread inside Shu Ning's soul again. This time it didn't dissipate so fast anymore, but gave way to the same comfortable and familiar sensation that reminded him of the Male Lead of the first world.
"Yang Quan. I want you to be mine. I promise never to hurt you and to always treat you fairly and kindly. What ever is mine will also be yours and whenever you need me, I will be there for you. Please, give me a chance."
Shu Ning could do nothing but stare at the General's ernest eyes and hope that his expression didn't look too folish right now. He was still too preocupied with the feeling a simple kiss could give him to think of an eligible answer, but that only seemed to amuze the Man, who stretched out his hand and softly traced the lines of Shu Ning's neck.
"Yang Quan. think about it, all right? I can see that you aren't totally indifferent to me, so I hope for a positive answer. Give it some thought and then come see me soon. I will be waiting."
Slowly, the General leaned down to steal a kiss again and waved his goodby, as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Shu Ning meanwhile stayed rooted on the spot and unconciously touched his still tingling lips.
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A/N: If someone wants to know the reason why Sun Zhilong barged into Shu Ning's room like that, it is because he got notified that Wu Kang got help escaping from prison and he thought that Wu Kang, or whoever helped him out, would try to hurt Shu Ning next. Sun Zhilong hadn't expected to come across the scene of Zhou Feng and Shu Ning though. Poor guy, must be immensely jealouse.