Chapter 103: Replication Experiment 27
Yi Ke’s self-healing ability was rated as S++, the same level as the stability of Zhuang Ningyu’s willpower. Although his overall evolution level hadn’t yet gone through the official evaluation process, his basic data had reached all S’s, leaving him just a piece of paper away from official certification. However, he was in no mood to celebrate at the moment; he only wanted to stay home, flipping through cookbooks to cook balanced meals of meat and vegetables.
Both sets of parents thought they should hire a nanny for them, or that they should just move back to either of their parents’ homes to enjoy full care from the elders. But Yi Ke refused them all. He saw absolutely no issue with the fact that one day he was lying half-dead in the ICU and the next he was standing by the stove pan-searing Alaskan silver cod. My wife loves to eat it!
Zhuang Ningyu held a band-aid, helping Yi Ke treat a small injury on his hand by the window. While searing the fish just now, a drop of oil had accidentally splashed, burning a glistening blister onto his skin. Yi Ke’s S++ self-healing ability wasn’t a 360-degree, dead-angle-free shield. The report issued by the Management Center explained it as: “Following severe tissue damage, there is often a significantly accelerated repair phenomenon, whereas the healing speed of minor superficial injuries is relatively sluggish.” The specific analysis spanned a full five pages, filled with terms like growth hormones, cell migration, remodeling factors, activation signals, and a series of technical codes. Yi Ke had merely skimmed it and considered it read, roughly summarizing it as: the heavier the injury, the faster the healing. Zhuang Ningyu, on the other hand, wanted to analyze every word, but Yi Ke refused to give him the report: “Reading too much will give you a headache again.”
Zhuang Ningyu’s neuralgia didn’t actually appear too frequently. As long as he didn’t get agitated, it would only strike three or four times a day, mainly concentrated inside the skull and around the eye sockets, which was considered a relatively mild side effect. The more severe ones, besides aphasia, included what the doctor termed “significant aggressive emotions and hypervigilance.” Specifically, this manifested as needing to see Yi Ke at all times, or at least being certain that they were both within the same safe space.
“Ding-dong!” That evening, the doorbell suddenly rang. It was a property management staff member coming to repair the access control system. Just as Yi Ke opened the door for him and turned around, he glimpsed a figure flashing past on the stairs out of the corner of his eye. The next moment, Zhuang Ningyu appeared in the shadows, his pajamas disheveled and his face still showing lingering fatigue—clearly, he had just been woken by the doorbell. seeing it was just a property management staff member, he didn’t come downstairs, nor did he return to the bedroom. Instead, he sat on the stairs, continuing to watch the two of them quietly.
Yi Ke asked the repairman, “How long will it take to fix it completely?”
“About half an hour. I need to disassemble the panel to check first; it’s likely a wiring connection issue.”
Half an hour, objectively speaking, wasn’t long. But the measurement of time depended not only on clocks but also on psychology and emotions. The current Yi Ke didn’t want to wait even five minutes. So, he quickly packed up the repairman’s toolbox, stuffed two bills into his hand as a tip, and pushed him by the shoulder to see him out. Sorry, Master Zhang, I suddenly have something to do and need to go out. Let’s not fix this thing for now; we’ll reschedule for another day.
Something to do and need to go out? Upon hearing these words, Zhuang Ningyu on the stairs immediately became alert. He wanted to ask where the other was going, but opened his mouth without producing a sound. So, he simply stood up and ran downstairs. Yi Ke closed the front door with a backhand, rushed up the stairs in a few steps, scooped his wife up, and carried him back to the bedroom. Zhuang Ningyu was bewilderingly pressed onto the bed by him, persistently mouthing through the sharp neuralgia: “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.” Yi Ke used his thumb to massage the bulging blue veins at Zhuang’s temples, lowering his head to kiss him. “Sitting on the stairs is too cold. Next time, after you wake up, I’ll have the master come to fix the access control.”
Zhuang Ningyu gripped his arm, his fingernails turning white from the force. He frowned and didn’t speak, as if trying to discern the meaning behind the other’s words through the piercing nerve pain. Yi Ke leaned down to hug him tightly, his palm covering the hair whorl dampened by cold sweat. Only when he felt the stiff body in his arms begin to slowly relax did he slightly ease his strength.
Zhuang Ningyu patted his back. After the intense pain in his brain passed, his thinking became clearer. Just as Yi Ke wanted to help him sit up, his hand felt a thick stack of hard paper under the pillow. Filled with suspicion, he was about to pull it out to see what it was, but Zhuang Ningyu acted first. With a swift movement, he scooted over and sat his butt squarely on the pillow.
Yi Ke: “?”
Yi Ke: “Wifey, you look like a Pallas’s cat right now.”
Zhuang Ningyu had no interest in whether he was a cat or not. He waved his hand imperiously like an emperor, signaling that the other party could withdraw and that he wanted to continue sleeping. But Yi Ke wasn’t about to be fooled. He pounced forward and, with immense strength, hoisted the person over his shoulder! Zhuang Ningyu lay on his shoulder, his limbs dangling in the air, watching helplessly as the object pressed under the pillow was pulled out: “…”
Yi Ke flipped through the printed document in his hand, rather surprised. Not surprised that his wife would peek at his evolution report, but surprised that he could open the safe—which claimed to have a “high-strength alloy frame, futuristic encrypted chip, fearless against any physical and electronic impact, locking absolute value into absolute safety,” cost six figures, was national treasury grade, and supposedly alarmed at high decibels upon detecting risk—without him noticing at all. What kind of formidable secret agent technique is this? Can I use my wife’s lock-picking video to apply for a refund due to product quality issues?
Zhuang Ningyu struggled down from him and looked for his electronic writing tablet on the bedside table—even his smartphone capable of work had been confiscated. Yi Ke had only given him an antique-like senior citizen phone with buttons and a 5cm x 5cm black-and-white screen to answer calls, on which the most advanced games were Pinball and Snake.
He tapped rapidly on the writing tablet with a stylus: “Give it back.”
Yi Ke flipped through the evolution report a couple more times and found that Zhuang Ningyu had read it very carefully. He had marked every key data point with pens of different colors, and question marks were noted where he didn’t understand. He was probably saving up questions to consult the expert next time they went to the hospital.
Zhuang Ningyu continued to tap on the writing tablet. After tapping twice, he felt it was unfair for his hand to get so sore, so he switched to poking Yi Ke’s arm with the stylus. Yi Ke pulled him closer. On one hand, he thought, How can my wife love me so much? On the other hand, he felt that this behavior of prying open his husband’s safe should be slightly punished. So he said rather strictly, “No Duck Blood Curd tomorrow.”
Zhuang Ningyu nestled in his arms, still hugging his writing tablet: “Then what do we eat?”
Yi Ke was instantly knocked out by the cuteness. Who understands? When my wife wrote that last dot, the stylus tipped up like a little tail with a wavy line. No one in this world can disobey my wife, no one!
“How about Lemon Juice Crispy Scampi? Hubby just learned it. Also Wagyu Tenderloin with Roasted Mushrooms and Roasted Pumpkin, and I’ll make you an Almond Sauce Braised Vegetable Bubbly Dessert, want it?”
Zhuang Ningyu nodded, then taking advantage of the other’s inattention, snatched the evolution report back with a whoosh. Yi Ke didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s not that I won’t let you read it; I’m afraid you’ll get a headache again if you do.”
Zhuang Ningyu waved his hand, signaling it didn’t matter. He had already summed up his experience: apart from the fixed three or four times of neuralgia every day, he was fine the rest of the time as long as he didn’t get stressed. And Yi Ke’s evolution report showed good data in every aspect; going from A to S was something worth celebrating, so there was nothing to be nervous about.
He couldn’t be bothered to type such a long paragraph to explain, but fortunately, Yi Ke didn’t confiscate the report again. When resting at night, the two leaned against the headboard reading a book together. Yi Ke turned two pages, then suddenly lowered his head to ask the person in his arms, “Then did you see the set of jewelry in the safe?”
Zhuang Ningyu responded with a slap.
Yi Ke leaned back to dodge, caught his wrist, and kissed it.
The night was deep, and the bedroom was filled with the warm, soft scent of roses.
Zhuang Ningyu stayed home doing nothing for two days. Although he slept for long periods every day due to drug side effects, he inevitably felt bored. He couldn’t muster the energy to read books, often staring out the window contemplating life while sitting on the ladder by the high bookshelves after flipping only a few pages. Finally, Yi Ke agreed to give him a computer—a computer without internet, with only a few carefully selected single-player mini-games downloaded on it.
—Exciting Secret Room! High-Intensity Gunfight! Tomb Ghost Shadows! Multiple Maps! “Gun Era” Shocking Arrival!
Looked pretty good. Zhuang Ningyu stood by the side and pointed: I want this.
“No.” Yi Ke refused flatly. This is too intense; there are guns, monsters, and secret rooms. You definitely can’t handle it.
Former First Task Operative of the Order Maintenance Department, Zhuang Ningyu: “…”
Gunfight games were out, adventure games were out, and horror games were definitely out. Yi Ke leaned over the computer screen to check them one by one. Finally, he picked out a few cute dress-up mini-games. Gentle, colorful, and fun. He said, “Wifey, play this first. If you get bored, we’ll download a Match-3 game.”
Zhuang Ningyu was cooperative this time. He sat by the computer, chin propped on one hand, clicking the mouse with his fingertips. Yi Ke patted his head, looking at the crystal lady on the screen wearing a purple skirt, yellow high heels, and carrying a bamboo-green Hermès bag, lamenting, My wife’s aesthetic is truly astounding. “Then I’ll go run in the gym for a while. Take your time playing.”
“Go ahead,” Zhuang Ningyu mouthed gently. Then, within five minutes of Yi Ke leaving the study, he broke through all blockades and familiarly logged into the Order Maintenance Department’s work system.
Huo Ting was a bit puzzled seeing him online and sent a message: Body okay now?
Zhuang Ningyu replied: Okay.
He clicked open the notification bar and found there was a meeting right now related to Fu Han—this person was still trapped in that wretched Rule Zone and hadn’t come out. Furthermore, Zhuang Ningyu discovered his own name was on the list of attendees for this meeting. With an easy click, he entered.
The attendee list was set by the capital. Although Huo Ting had explained Zhuang Ningyu’s absence before the meeting, he hadn’t revoked his permissions. Indeed, no one expected him to suddenly pop up. Seeing him smoothly enter the conference room now, it wouldn’t be right to kick him out, so Huo Ting just gave a rough introduction.
Zhuang Ningyu pointed to his throat, then typed on the screen: “Sorry, can’t speak.”
He was still wearing soft loungewear, looking exceptionally pale and frail. coupled with the fact that his heroic deeds from a few days ago had already spread… to crawl up and work remotely even in this state… The attendees applauded him one after another. Hard work, hard work. Truly worthy of being one of the pillars of the Jincheng Order Maintenance Department!
Zhuang Ningyu smiled appropriately, signaling everyone to continue, while he scrolled through the meeting minutes from earlier.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Yi Ke was “whirring” away juicing fruit, preparing to bring it to his precious wifey who was addicted to dress-up mini-games in a little while.
