After the Alluring Beauty Transmigrated as the Passionate Second Male Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 128
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- After the Alluring Beauty Transmigrated as the Passionate Second Male Lead [Quick Transmigration]
- Chapter 128 - Extra 1: Their past.
hello, i'm Cups! i'll be going along on Nan Du's journey with you guys. it's my first full translation, so if you catch any mistakes, please do let me know in the comments. updates release every monday, wednesday, friday and sunday!
“Boss, the elevator in the basement has been cracked. Go right along to Area B. The floor’s been pressed for you. Just go up the elevator to the 13th floor, Brother Shen’s waiting for you there.”
“Copy that.”
Nan Du checked the weapons on his body and raised his hand to push the night vision goggles onto the bridge of his nose.
However, as soon as he took a step forward, a mechanical alarm beeped in his ears, and a red dot automatically appeared on his infrared glasses. As the zoom on his night-vision glasses continued to advance, half of a stern face appeared in Nan Du’s sight.
Nan Du felt a sense of crisis almost instantly.
The man put a hand with long and strong fingers on a car door. He turned his head sharply the second he heard Nan Du’s footsteps, and then his falcon-like eyes narrowed slightly.
Nan Du stood between the shadows of the pillars divided by the lights. He was wearing a pure white suit, looking like a noble man who had just come out of the banquet. His long hair was tied lazily down to his waist, and there was a red rose on his chest.
Sensing his gaze, the peach blossom eyes hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses slightly bent, and he smiled politely.
Lu Xingye felt his heart beating almost instantly.
It was so strange that his heart, which had never been disturbed in his first twenty years of life, seemed to come alive in this instant.
At the same time that Nan Du was walking towards him, Lu Xingye also strode towards Nan Du.
Nan Du’s fingers rested on his waistline, and just as he touched his gun, Lu Xingye suddenly stretched out his hand towards him in a handshake.
It was difficult for Nan Du to describe his feelings at that moment. It was like he was watching a big dog welcoming his master home after many years. Lu Xingye stretched out his paws harmlessly toward him. No dagger or pistol, just an empty hand with white fingers and calluses.
Moreover, this person’s language wasn’t very polite. While meeting for the first time, instead of saying hello, he said an informal, “Nice to meet you.”
Nan Du took his hand out of his pocket and accepted the handshake. “Nice to meet you.”
“The meeting isn’t over yet, are you lost?” Lu Xingye glanced at him and said, “What’s your profession? I’ll tell you the way.”
The Alliance’s Research Exchange, which gathered different experts from various fields, had different professions distributed on different floors. For example, Nan Du’s assassination target for today was on the 13th floor, which was occupied by the special occupations.
Before he found time to let Shen Ning give him the permissions necessary to get to the other floors, Nan Du had paused and smelled the fragrance of roses while making his way through the party, so he said, “Botanist.”
“I just wanted to take a look at the garden on the first floor, so I came around here.” Nan Du asked, “What about you?”
Lu Xingye wanted to speak, but when he pulled his hand back, a bunch of keys clattered. They were the ones he’d just requested from the technical office in order to open the car door and acquire intel, so he changed his voice and said, “Car mechanic.”
“Oh.” Nan Du smiled, his eyes lingering on Lu Xingye’s clean and neat clothes for a moment. “What a coincidence.”
As soon as he smiled, Lu Xingye looked away slightly. “The special occupation meeting is on the 13th floor. Turn right and go up the elevator, and then…” He heard that there were several gangs mixed in tonight. After thinking about it, he still felt that it wasn’t safe, so he added, “How about I give you…”
“Since we were destined to meet…” Before Lu Xingye could continue, Nan Du reached out and pulled out the red rose on his chest. He rubbed the petals with his fingertips, and then handed it to Lu Xingye. “I’ll give you a gift.”
“Since you’re doing such hard work at such a young age.”
Nan Du took a step forward and put the red rose in Lu Xingye’s breast pocket. His long hair brushed against his neck, and his fingertips swept across his chest through the thin shirt. The corners of his lips were slightly curved. “Take this and exchange it for something tasty, okay?”
Lu Xingye trembled all over and heard him say in his ear, “Goodbye.”
Turning around and entering the elevator door, Nan Du’s face immediately turned cold.
In this era, car insurance had way more options than health insurance. Even if someone crashed and lost the front of their car, a maintenance robot would help them tow the car away at any intersection within five minutes. There’s basically no need for a car mechanic anymore.
So Nan Du didn’t believe it from the beginning.
He got on the elevator and pressed his headset. “There’s a suspected member of other gangs in area C of the underground garage on the first floor. Ask the response team to change the route.”
“What?!” Shen Ning shouted at the other end, “Did you meet him, leader? Is everything okay? Did he start a fight?”
“No.” Nan Du recalled, “He didn’t seem… to want to cause trouble.”
“But I put a magnetic tracker in the flower and gave it to him. If he comes close, an alarm will ring.”
Nan Du seemed to have thought of something, gently twirled his fingertips, and smiled. “I hope he won’t lose it.”
~
Just like car mechanics have long since been eliminated, in this land full of acid rain and lack of light, artificial flowers were more realistic and beautiful than real flowers. No company needed a botanist to work on flowers anymore.
However… Lu Xingye put the flower to the tip of his nose and sniffed it gently.
He sensed an unidentified odor caused by the decomposition of some glycosides.
Lu Xingye used to be puzzled by anything that didn’t have practical value, including flowers and paintings.
But in this flower alone… He seemed to suddenly understand what people were talking about when they mentioned fragrances.
Nonetheless, it didn’t seem right. Clearly, he and Nan Du only met this one time.
Lu Xingye lowered his eyes and looked at the fingers that had held Nan Du’s hand.
“Captain! Captain!” Someone called from the communicator, “Have you uploaded the target’s driving records? We haven’t received it yet.”
“Sorry.” Lu Xingye leaned back against the pillar behind him. “The communication channel seemed to have been disconnected just now. I’ll upload it now.”
After uploading the information, he warned, “Remember to be more cautious when evacuating people later. Ensure the safety of the citizens.”
“Isn’t that what we should always do?” Qu Xiao laughed. “Captain, are you and the CEOs trying to get the team to memorize all the initiation pledges?”
Lu Xingye ignored him and emphasized, “Especially the special occupations on the 13th floor. If you go up there in person, make sure no one gets hurt.”
“Why would I ever go to the special occupation meeting?” Qu Xiao said, “It can’t be…”
When he said this, Lu Xingye did not immediately refute, so Qu Xiao immediately became interested. “No wonder! I was wondering why you’re so abnormal today. Are they beautiful, Captain? Why don’t you describe them to me? Then, while I’m checking the people there, I can go ahead and help you ask if they’re single!”
“No need…” Lu Xingye was halfway through denying when he suddenly changed his words. “Male, white suit, long hair, tall…..”
“Woohoo!” Qu Xiao patted the head of Xiao Yu who was next to him. “Why are you so stunned? Remember, be polite when you find him later. Maybe he’ll be the captain’s wife from now on.”
Xiao Yu was from the first batch of students that Lu Xingye had taken out of the military academy, and he was basically considered his disciple. His eyes immediately widened when he heard that. “No way, I’ve never seen the captain…”
“Would he let you see it?” Qu Xiao said, “Captain, when did you and the other guy meet? How come you went to pry open a car door and ended up meeting this person? Is it a reunion or… love at first sight?”
“Shut up.” The Intelligence Department had analyzed the results. Lu Xingye finally stood up and carefully put the rose back into his pocket. “No need to ask, and don’t disturb Xiao Yu.”
Lu Xingye said softly, “After you find him, protect him and send someone to follow him and take him home.”
~
But Nan Du heard the alarm ring the next night.
The magnetic tracker was very well hidden and had no network positioning function, so it was difficult to be discovered by ordinary inspection machines. Not to mention the fact that Lu Xingye had no intention of inspecting the flower in any way.
This chip only had one function – when another chip carrier appeared within a certain radius, the host chip would send out an alarm signal.
But it had already been a day. Why hadn’t Lu Xingye thrown that thing away yet?
Nan Du frowned. The target they assassinated last night was just a lookalike, so they came here to get the real person’s biochip. This order was too big. They could not fail.
Before the door they sneaked in through closed, Nan Du threw the box containing the chip into Shen Si’s hands. “You go first!”
Then, he turned around and kicked a man who was holding a gun, making the bullet he shot miss by a split second. The man stood up unsteadily. Nan Du touched the dagger at his waist and was about to take action, when——
Boom!
Nan Du was pulled into someone’s arms. Lu Xingye put down the gun in his hand. “Are you okay?”
His long windbreaker practically enveloped Nan Du, like a steady and safe embrace. Lu Xingye protected him with one hand, while his other hand raised a gun and scanned the surrounding area.
After scanning the deceased person’s appearance, he glanced at the location of the biochip and saw that it was taken away. His eyes darkened.
“You…” Things had come to this point. Someone died in the villa, the chip was taken away, and Nan Du happened to appear in the crime scene. Nan Du himself felt that there was no doubt about how suspicious he was. He hid the dagger in his grip in order to make the other party lower his guard and deliberately pretended to be shocked. “Why are you here?”
Lu Xingye lowered his head and saw Nan Du’s clear and frightened eyes.
His pupils dimmed for a moment, and he had an inexplicable urge to press the other person into his arms.
“Don’t be afraid.” Lu Xingye put away the gun, stretched out his hand, and patted Nan Du’s back awkwardly and comfortingly.
Nan Du: ?
“This person’s car seems to have broken down. I couldn’t contact him when I arrived in the garage, so I came to check it out.” At this time, Lu Xingye still puzzlingly maintained his identity as a car mechanic, and asked Nan Du again, “Are you OK?”
Nan Du shook his head, loosened his grip on the dagger, and withdrew from his arms. “I’m okay.”
When he stepped back, Lu Xingye’s windbreaker moved. Nan Du caught a glimpse of yesterday’s rose in his inner pocket, close to his chest and close to his heart.
“It’s okay.” Lu Xingye texted the situation to Qu Xiao and turned to remind him, “It’s not safe on this island. Don’t go so far alone next time.”
“I didn’t know, I’m sorry. Thank you so much for today.”
Since he had no intention of mentioning the elephant in the room, Nan Du would not take the initiative. He turned around and was about to leave, but as soon as he opened the door, a gust of cold wind blew and a burst of rain flew in.
Before the heavy rain could fall on him, a black umbrella stood in front of him.
“It’s raining heavily outside. Thankfully, I took this broken umbrella with me when I was repairing the car.” Lu Xingye held the umbrella open. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take you home.”
One of the alliance’s special operations weapons, the TK20 Qianji, was made of a specially tempered material. The handle was a longsword. Meanwhile, each fan bone could be transformed into a flying knife during a battle.
Now, it’s become a broken umbrella that the executive officer gives away and uses to take someone home.
“Okay.” Nan Du smiled and nodded.
With Lu Xingye gone, he could have someone clean up the traces that shouldn’t be there.
Nan Du took a step forward and stood side by side with him under the umbrella. Lu Xingye raised his hand to hold the umbrella, tilting it towards Nan Du. It was raining heavily outside, and they were very close. Lu Xingye felt the rose on his chest and the shoulder that was touching Nan Du burn at the same time.
He didn’t know how it happened, but his always calm and self-controlled core began to shut down continuously whenever he met Nan Du, as if his instruction codes were constantly shrinking, and all the 0s and 1s were only enough to spell out four words, “Stay close to him.”
“Be careful.”
There was a patch of mud in the garden outside the villa. Lu Xingye handed the umbrella to Nan Du, stepped on it first, put a stone on it, and then stretched out his hand towards Nan Du. “Come here.”
Nan Du’s fingers paused slightly.
This man’s attitude was as if he were some kind of delicate treasure who couldn’t touch the dust. He wouldn’t even let him step on mud.
Over the years, there was only one person who would cherish and protect him like a porcelain doll…
Nan Du’s eyes darkened, and he put their hands together, interlacing their fingers as if they were holding hands. Lu Xingye took the initiative to pick up the topic. “Yesterday… After the show, I went to look for you.”
He jumped from the 13th floor window yesterday. Nan Du smiled. “There’s a secret door in the garden. After I saw it, I left directly. What happened?”
“It’s nothing. Something happened at the banquet, so I was afraid you wouldn’t be safe.” Lu Xingye said, “Why are you here today?”
He only asked about Nan Du’s appearance here now, as if it was only a tool to keep up casual conversation.
“I came to this island to find a flower. I heard someone say it was here, so I came over to take a look.”
His words were full of loopholes. Nan Du paid attention to Lu Xingye’s reaction, but found that he had no reaction at all.
He never seemed to doubt anything Nan Du said, even when it was such a clumsy lie. While raising his hand to protect Nan Du while crossing a tight threshold, he asked cooperatively, “What flower?”
The raindrops soaked one of his shoulders. Nan Du looked past him and saw the roses swaying in the rain behind him. He stopped and raised his chin. “Are they beautiful?”
He was asking about the roses, but Lu Xingye’s eyes were fixed on him. Nan Du’s long hair was not tied today and hung loosely around his waist. The heavy rain cast a layer of mist on his face, and even his peach blossom eyes seemed to be filled with clear dew.
“Very beautiful.”
Nan Du smiled, and the dew in his eyes shattered into stars. He raised his hand to pick a rose, hooked his fingers into Lu Xingye’s windbreaker, and took out the old rose. “Throw it away since it’s withering. I’ll give you a new one.”
“It’s good that it’s beautiful.” Nan Du inserted the rain-stained rose into Lu Xingye’s pocket. “I’m looking for a black rose.”
He said, “If you see it, remember to give it to me.”
When Nan Du said this, he wasn’t even sure whether there were black roses here.
Anyway, there were too many mutated animals and plants in this world. No one knew what every one of them looked like.
But Lu Xingye nodded solemnly, as if he was making a promise. “Okay. I will definitely find it for you.”
Nan Du didn’t believe in promises. Everything in this world that was promised to be certain would be full of variables. However, he smiled and said, “Okay, then I’ll remember it.”
“Brother…” Nan Du asked, “What’s your name?”
An executive officer shouldn’t give his real name to someone he had met only two times, but he still said, “Lu Xingye.”
“From the verses ‘The stars hang over the plains and the fields are vast’. What a good name.”
“What about you?”
“Nan Du.” He paused, as if he was remembering something. “From the verse ‘The people have no ferry to cross the river.”
But before he could hear Lu Xingye’s reaction, Nan Du caught a glimpse of a man holding a gun at a flower shop’s porch. This was the fish that slipped through the net yesterday.
Nan Du’s pupils shrank, and before he could move, Lu Xingye quickly pushed him into his arms. “Don’t move!”
Lu Xingye interrupted the man’s attack with a bullet. Holding onto Nan Du’s belt, he hid behind a pillar, and his broad back blocked Nan Du tightly.
Nan Du was fully protected in his arms. When he raised his eyes, he only saw Lu Xingye’s handsome jaw. The Alliance’s hand cannon was stuffed into Nan Du’s hand. As if he was afraid that he wouldn’t know how to use it, Lu Xingye casually disabled the safety. “Take this, don’t come out!”
After saying this, Lu Xingye pulled out the dagger from his waist, rolled on the spot to avoid the attack, and stabbed at the man.
Even though the Alliance’s gun was in Nan Du’s hand, Lu Xingye didn’t even look back, as if he wasn’t worried that Nan Du would suddenly shoot him in the back.
A bullet grazed the side of Lu Xingye’s ear, but the black figure was like a blade facing the wind. Lu Xingye quickly ran up to the man, but his knife turned in a different direction and only scratched the man’s arm. “We’re just passing by, we don’t want to kill anyone. Let’s talk it out, Brother. Why don’t you put the gun away first?”
Lu Xingye’s reaction speed was much faster than ordinary people’s, and the gun clearly had a military logo.
Although Lu Xingye obviously didn’t want to kill him, this man had already been seen, and he could not fall into the hands of the police.
Nan Du narrowed his eyes slightly. He took a step away from the pillar, raised the gun in his hand, and pointed it at the man’s head.
The man was startled. Thinking that the two of them were working together, he quickly raised his gun and shot at Nan Du.
“Nan Du!”
Lu Xingye’s pupils shrank. He turned around suddenly, took Nan Du into his arms and pressed him to the ground. Then, he grabbed Nan Du’s hand and pressed the finger he had on the trigger——
Boom!
Before the man could fire another shot, Lu Xingye shot him through the heart.
There should be only one person left alive at the scene, but his body seemed to automatically respond to Nan Du’s signal the moment he could be in danger. Lu Xingye felt the heat in his arms and his fingers tensed, and then suddenly, he smelled an inexplicable fragrance of flowers.
The aroma seemed to come from behind them. It was rich and warm. Lu Xingye felt his throat dry, and his nails dug into his palms. He tried his best to restrain himself from offending Nan Du.
Damn it. Nan Du’s eyes turned red at the ends as he gazed at the white mist-like powder that rose from the corpse.
He actually brought all the goods with him!
As long as one or two grams of this drug was mixed into wine, a full-blooded adult man could immediately become a beast dominated by desire, let alone such a large quantity.
Their physiques were stronger than ordinary people and prevented them from exploding directly, but they could not stop the restlessness in their bodies. Nan Du bit his lower lip. The hand he had wrapped around Lu Xingye’s back rubbed it gently, and a troubled moan escaped his mouth.
No one knew who took the initiative in the end, because Nan Du’s last bit of consciousness was focused on Lu Xingye opening his reddened eyes and biting his lips.
The door of the flower shop was closed, and the small space prevented the rain and gas from reaching them. Nan Du’s long hair hung down the rose bushes like a waterfall. His clothes were torn, and both of their weapons fell to the ground like thunderbolts.
However, neither of them paid attention to that. The dagger fell at his feet, so Lu Xingye embedded it into the wooden wall next to him. The pistol was used to caress along the knot of his throat, and the handcuffs were unlocked. One half was closed around Nan Du’s wrist, while the other half closed around Lu Xingye’s.
The roses wept with dewdrops, but were still drenched by the sudden rain. The stamen was like an umbrella that was opened repeatedly, and soon the entire flower shop became dilapidated.
But when Lu Xingye woke up the next day, he was the only one left inside.
One half of the handcuffs was still fastened to his wrist, but the other half was empty except for a fresh rose that seemed to have just been picked, still with dew on it.
~
“Boss?” Shen Ning called again, “Boss?”
“Ahem…” Nan Du came back to his senses, and took a sip of water. “You continue.”
Shen Ning raised his eyebrows, bent over, and glanced at Nan Du’s neck hesitantly. “Boss, were you bitten by some poisonous insect yesterday?”
“There’s so many mutant species on this island!” Shen Ning said, “You have to be careful. Maybe you should find a doctor to see if you got rabies or…”
“Shen Ning!”
Clearly, Shen Si brought him up by sheltering him. After Nan Du quickly fixed his clothes, Shen Ning continued his report. “Our guys tried to test the port today, but they were stopped.”
“The chip needs to be stored under special conditions. It can’t be kept around for too long. We have to find a way to get it delivered as soon as possible.”
Shen Ning immediately became excited when this was mentioned. “You don’t even know, boss!”
“Momo and the others were almost thrown into jail today! A group of uniformed officers came to the port, and each one was stricter than the last. One was quite handsome, but his nose was just like a dog’s. He was trying to pry open people’s skulls like he was a mortician! How abominable!”
“It’s the Alliance Supervision Office.” Shen Si added. “They probably came to St. Elipe Island to find evidence of Li Sheng’s crime. Now that we’ve killed Li Sheng, I’m afraid it’ll be difficult to resolve the issue peacefully.”
“There are many officers from the Supervision Office, and their captain’s the famous Smiling Devil, General Lu’s only son. If he’s here, the local police station will definitely obey him. If there’s a forced attack, I’m afraid…”
Nan Du tightened his fingers on the table and suddenly came up with an outrageous guess. “What did you say his last name was?”
Then… He saw that person again in a photo taken by Shen Ning.
Lu Xingye was standing at the port in a white uniform, with a windbreaker draped over his shoulders.
The windbreaker was buttoned up all the way to his collar, and he wore a pair of black leather gloves that covered even his wrist bones. He stared closely at everyone passing by the port, like a hunting dog.
Of course, Nan Du knew why he was so built up.
He stood up, slowly pulled down his long-sleeved shirt to cover the red marks on his wrists, and said to Shen Ning, “Tell Old Guo to make some noise at Wuyou Bar tomorrow night. The bigger, the better. It’s best if they manage to get the Supervision Office there.”
“Boss, do you want to cause a distraction?” Shen Ning scratched his head. “But the island’s access port is closed at night. It only opens at eight in the morning.”
“Don’t worry. The executive officer won’t be able to get up by eight.”
Shen Ning didn’t understand why, and Nan Du had no intention of explaining. He already stood up, so Shen Ning followed him. “Boss, what are we doing today?”
“Do whatever you want.” Nan Du said in a not-so-good tone, reaching out to touch the place where he was bitten. “I’ll get a rabies vaccine.”
Maybe it was an illusion, but Shen Ning felt that Nan Du’s usually steady steps looked a little staggered.
~
“Captain, surveillance shows that the two lunatics went to a nearby bar street.”
“There are many people over there. Zhao Li, take Xiao Yu and keep an eye on them. Qu Xiao, come with me!”
“Damn it.” Qu Xiao cursed as he walked away. “What’s the police department looking for us for? If it wasn’t for the fact that I happened to be in the neighborhood for a late night snack, I wouldn’t be doing them this favor.”
“Yu Xi, check with Tech. Is it this one?”
“Captain…” Before Qu Xiao could finish complaining, he watched Lu Xingye step in.
“It’s over here! Lieutenant Qu!” Xiao Yu asked, “What are you looking at?”
Male… Long hair… Qu Xiao followed Lu Xingye’s steps and looked into the open door, suddenly showing a deep smile. “Look, it’s Captain’s wife.”
At the bar, the red and purple lights intertwined and fell onto Nan Du’s face. He was wearing a navy blue leather coat, with his long legs crossed as he held up a glass with his slender white fingers. His gold-rimmed glasses were placed on the bridge of his nose, and his hair hung down on his waist, like a cold and beautiful painting.
Most importantly, there were still a few plum blossom-like hickeys on Nan Du’s exposed neck.
Qu Xiao had seen the exact same marks on Lu Xingye the day before yesterday.
The bartender seemed to have said something. Nan Du raised his head slightly and raised his chin. He raised the corners of his lips and matched the bartender’s leaning action, as if they were about to kiss.
But before the two of them could touch, the glass in Nan Du’s hand was taken away.
Lu Xingye stretched out his long arms, took the wine bottle that the bartender had intended to serve to Nan Du, and smashed it into the face of the cyber lunatic who rushed out.
The lunatic was stunned. He was holding a grenade and was about to pull the safety button, but Lu Xingye suddenly raised his hand, jumped up with both feet, and kicked the grenade away. He hit the side of the madman’s neck with his elbow in the next second. Then, he grabbed his arm with one hand, went around behind him while in the air, clamped the man’s head with his feet, and pulled down hard.
Nan Du’s pupils shrank.
This set of moves was extremely difficult to execute. It was too fancy to be useful, so the military academies didn’t teach it.
However, it was written in 60’s combat codes.
But the scan results of his infrared glasses clearly showed that Lu Xingye was a human being, and he was even the executive officer for the Alliance.
The Alliance would never allow an AI to be their executive officer.
Nan Du raised his hand and lit a cigarette. After a long while, he laughed softly again.
He leaned against the bar and watched Lu Xingye walk towards him after finishing his work. He put his hands on the table to circle Nan Du, and said in a deep voice, “I’ve been looking for you for two days, Nan Du.”
“Shhhh…” Nan Du stretched out a finger to his mouth. When the smoke dispersed, Lu Xingye saw that his cheeks were flushed due to being slightly drunk, and his beautiful peach blossom eyes were intoxicated and blurred. Nan Du’s hand hooked onto Lu Xingye’s neck, and it seemed to take some effort to recognize him clearly.
Then… He leaned against Lu Xingye’s ear and whispered, “You should call me Gege, Xiao Ye.”
Storyteller Cupsidate's Words
so, Nan He got Nan Du's name from a pretty depressing poem, where a man insists on trying to cross a turbulent river no matter what, even if his wife and many others tried to stop him and tell him it's impossible. in the end, the man drowns without succeeding. however, i like to think that the fact that Nan Du managed to succeed and be happy in the end despite the unreasonable obstacles in his way is, in a sense, honoring and re-imagining the ending of the man in the poem.
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