Skin - Chapter 72

Chapter 72 – A Beam Of Light

　　When they walked out of the cemetery, it was already dark.

　　Meng Zhao drove here. When he walked to the driver’s seat, he was about to open the door when Lu Shichen raised his hand and covered his hand: “Let me do it.”

　　”Your arm…” Meng Zhao looked at Lu Shichen’s left arm.

　　”It’s almost healed.” Lu Shichen opened the car door, “Go over there.”

　　Seeing that Lu Shichen had already sat in the driver’s seat without saying anything, Meng Zhao had no choice but to walk around the front of the car and sit in the passenger seat.

　　Lu Shichen started the car and turned to look at Meng Zhao: “Let’s go to eat?”

　　”Let’s go home and order takeout. There’ll be too many people in the restaurant.” Meng Zhao leaned back in his chair, “I’ll take a nap.”

　　”Um.”

　　When he closed his eyes, Meng Zhao suddenly thought that he just said going home, but he didn’t say whose home to go back to. Where would Lu Shichen be driving to?

　　But it didn’t matter where they went, just let him drive.

　　Meng Zhao closed his eyes, but he was not sleepy at all. He could feel the car stop at the traffic light, and Lu Shichen turned his head to look at him again, his eyes lingering on his face for a long time.

　　‘What is Lu Shichen looking at?’ Meng Zhao couldn’t help but think that he probably wouldn’t be looking very good at the moment.

　　Thinking of this, he turned his face towards the car window.

　　”We’re here.” Ten minutes later, Lu Shichen stopped the car.

　　Meng Zhao opened his eyes and saw that the car had stopped at the underground parking lot where he lived.

　　”Do you feel sleepy?” Lu Shichen asked.

　　”I’m not too sleepy.” Meng Zhao pushed the door and got out of the car, then walked towards the elevator with Lu Shichen.

　　Pushing the door open, Meng Zhao changed his shoes, went to the bedroom to find a set of clean pajamas, and walked to the bathroom: “You can sit anywhere. I’ve been hanging out all day long. I’m going to take a shower first.”

　　”Yeah.” Lu Shichen sat on the sofa.

　　Closing the bathroom door, Meng Zhao looked at himself in the mirror.

　　He had been working non-stop since the Zhou Yan case, and he didn’t sleep much the previous night. At this moment, the skin under his eyes had turned dark and his face looked a little bad. He didn’t know what Lu Shichen was thinking when he was looking at Meng Zhou on the way just now…

　　Meng Zhao turned on the shower valve and the warm water poured over his head. The feeling of being wrapped in the hot water was very comfortable, so he stood there for a while longer.

　　When he pushed the door open and left the bathroom, the takeaway had already been delivered.

　　Lu Shichen took the takeaway, closed the door, walked to the dining table, took out the lunch boxes one by one and put them on the table. Meng Zhao walked over and unpacked all the lunch boxes.

　　Lu Shichen ordered porridge and a few cold dishes. The restaurant gave him disposable bowls, so he filled a bowl and placed it in front of Meng Zhao, then filled another bowl for himself.

　　The two sat down and began to eat face to face.

　　When eating with others, Meng Zhao always ate at a normal speed, but when eating with Lu Shichen, he was always the fastest eater. The bowl of porridge in front of him was almost empty, and he was almost full. Lu Shichen across from him ate slowly no matter how he ate, and there was still half of the porridge left in his bowl.

　　Meng Zhao couldn’t help but savor the porridge carefully, then he looked up and complained to Lu Shichen, “You, can’t you be like a normal person when you eat? No matter how delicious the porridge is, you shouldn’t chew it so slowly.”

　　Lu Shichen swallowed a mouthful of porridge and said calmly: “It’s just to fill the stomach. It doesn’t matter whether I eat more or less.”

　　”Well said,” Meng Zhao nodded in agreement, “You are indeed a fairy who grew up drinking dew.”

　　Hearing this, Lu Shichen choked on his porridge.

　　Meng Zhao laughed out loud.

　　Lu Shichen coughed twice, wiped the corner of his mouth with a tissue, and looked at Meng Zhao: “Don’t be so impulsive in the future.”

　　Meng Zhao knew he was talking about what happened in the Dark Cage that day, and said, “I got it, Consultant Lu. I will listen to you from now on.”

　　”What are your plans next?” Lu Shichen asked again.

　　”I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it that much for now. I asked Director Xu when I could resume my job, and he told me to wait for further notification. This incident has caused such a big stir, the higher-ups should have sent someone to investigate me, so I’ll just wait for notification.” Meng Zhao threw the used disposable dishes and chopsticks into the trash can under the table, then stood up. “I’ll treat this period of time as a vacation, and we’ll take it one step at a time.”

　　As he spoke, he walked to the TV, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out a game console. He raised his hand and turned the machine towards Lu Shichen: “Have you played it before?”

　　”What is this?” Lu Shichen looked at what he held in his hand.

　　”It’s easy to understand why Fairy Lu wouldn’t play with such mundane things. Today I’ll let you experience the fun of us mortals.” Meng Zhao squatted down, lowered the projection screen, connected the game console to the projector, then he stood up and turned off the main lights in the living room, leaving only a small light in the dining room.

　　The light in the room suddenly dimmed. Meng Zhao sat back on the sofa with the console in his hand and started playing a racing game on the projector.

　　The projection made a sound of accelerating and turning sharply, and occasionally the system prompt sounded. Lu Shichen looked up and saw Meng Zhao sitting cross-legged on the sofa with his shoulders slightly hunched. He was staring at the projection screen intently, his fingers pressing the game controller flexibly, and he had already entered the gaming state.

　　He rolled up the sleeves of his T-shirt to his shoulders, and looked inexplicably youthful, which was inconsistent with his age.

　　After a round of the game, Meng Zhao used the console to switch modes: “You’re not even done with your business and you’re back. Does the company have any objections? Do you need to go out again?”

　　”Not for now.” Lu Shichen also finished his meal. After cleaning the table, he stood up and said, “Can I borrow your bathroom?”

　　”Go ahead and find a set of clean clothes in my bedroom,” Meng Zhao’s eyes moved from the projection screen to Lu Shichen, “You’re not much taller than me, you should be able to wear my clothes.”

　　”Yeah.” Lu Shichen walked to Meng Zhao’s bedroom and took out a set of clothes.

　　Meng Zhao started a new game, but this time, because he remembered what happened in the bathroom of Lu Shichen’s house that night, he played poorly. As soon as the car drove out, it hit the railing and overturned.

　　When Lu Shichen came out of the bathroom, Meng Zhao was still playing the game. He took a glass of water and sat over, drinking while watching Meng Zhao play.

　　After finishing a game, Meng Zhao handed the console to Lu Shichen: “Do you want to try it?”

　　He thought Lu Shichen would not be interested, but he didn’t expect him to actually take it and pressed a few buttons on the controller towards the projection, just like Meng Zhao had just done, and started a new game for himself.

　　”You are stealing my skills…” Meng Zhao looked at the screen, holding Lu Shichen’s wrist with one hand and pressing down slightly, “When you turn, you have to control the range so that you don’t overturn easily. Brake, brake… speed up, be careful of obstacles ahead…”

　　After the game was over, Meng Zhao praised: “You learn very quickly.”

　　”I can already surpass you in such a simple thing.” Lu Shichen said.

　　”Hey, don’t be too arrogant as an apprentice.” Meng Zhao said with a smile, then he stood up from the sofa and took out a box of beer from somewhere, “Do you dare to compete with me? If you lose, you will drink a can of beer.”

　　He opened the box, took out a can and threw it to Lu Shichen, who reached out to catch it: “Come on.”

　　The two competed for more than ten rounds. At the beginning, Lu Shichen was slightly behind Meng Zhao because he was not familiar with the operation. After a few rounds, the gap became smaller and smaller, and Meng Zhao began to be punished with drinking.

　　There were more and more bottles and cans on the table, and a box of beer was about to be finished. On the screen, Lu Shichen’s car suddenly rushed out of the field. Meng Zhao turned around and saw that Lu Shichen was drunk and leaned back on the sofa.

　　Meng Zhao threw the console in his hand, and the car on the screen sped off the field.

　　He and Lu Shichen leaned back on the sofa in the same position and looked at the ceiling: “You know, I haven’t been so free like this in a long time. Since I joined the police station, I have been working non-stop on cases. I always thought that I must drink, watch movies, and have fun when I have a day off. Now this wish has really come true, but why do I feel… empty inside?”

　　Seeing that Lu Shichen didn’t say anything, he looked over and said, “What’s wrong? Is this not working?”

　　Lu Shichen then asked in a deep voice: “If you don’t want to go on like this, what do you want to do?

　　Meng Zhao sighed slightly: “I don’t know…”

　　Lu Shichen closed his eyes and said after a long while: “You told me before I left on my business trip not to worry. You said you would definitely solve this case.”

　　”Yeah.” Meng Zhao also closed his eyes.

　　He had originally planned to pretend to be relaxed and get through this period of time, but he suddenly found that as soon as he stopped for a moment, the feeling of loss from being suspended spread throughout his body again.

　　Perhaps it was the effect of alcohol, he even felt confused. How long would this suspension last? Would he be able to continue to take over this case after reinstatement? What decision would the higher-ups make? Would they transfer him away from his position as a frontline criminal police officer? If that was the case, how would he cope with it?

　　Once he started thinking about these things, the thoughts in his mind expanded rapidly like a snowball, and the sense of loss and confusion expanded rapidly like an explosion.

　　”Do you know why I helped you in high school?” After a while, Lu Shichen spoke again, “Because you were just like that wild dog, struggling desperately even on the verge of death. I often wonder what it feels like to live like you.”

　　The image of the puppy run over by a car in the middle of the road with its limbs struggling emerged in Meng Zhao’s mind. He suddenly realized why Lu Shichen had repeatedly used the word “wild dog” to irritate him.

　　This was the second time Lu Shichen got drunk in his life. An empty and deep tunnel seemed to appear in his mind: “My life is different from yours. A life without emotions is like walking forever in a white fog. I don’t have the kind of yearning you mentioned, and I don’t know where I’m going and what my destination is. This may be the so-called despair. At that time, even if my life ended immediately, I would not have any nostalgia.”

　　”What happened next?” Meng Zhao slowly opened his eyes and turned to look at him.

　　”Later, it seemed as if a beam of light appeared faintly in front of me. Didn’t you say that people live on longing? This beam of light… should be the longing you mentioned.”

　　‘That beam of light… is it me?’ Meng Zhao opened his mouth and asked tentatively: “Who are you missing?”

　　Because it had not been operated for a long time, the interface on the screen entered a dormant state and the light in the room became dimmer.

　　In the dim light, Meng Zhao couldn’t see Lu Shichen clearly, but he was very sure that Lu Shichen had emotions at this moment.

　　A few seconds later, he saw Lu Shichen’s eyelashes move slightly and he opened his eyes. Then Lu Shichen approached him, getting closer and closer.

　　Until he could feel the other person’s breath lightly blowing on his face, in that instant, all thoughts in Meng Zhao’s mind stopped.

　　Then the warm breath and the kiss fell together, very light and soft.