Chapter 96: Covenantor (XIX)

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Chapter 96: Covenantor (XIX)

Lu Xiufan showed Shang Ke around the villa. Its style was not much different from the mansion, but astonishingly, an entire laboratory had been built beneath it. The facility mainly conducted research into pharmaceuticals, diseases, medical equipment, and other related fields, including the Mental Virus that had plagued humanity for centuries. That particular project had been shelved for a long time, but Lu Xiufan had recently restarted it.

Lu Xiufan had brought Shang Ke to this villa for two reasons: first, to give him a better place to recuperate, and second, to treat the lingering damage left behind by the Mental Virus removal surgery.

The moment Shang Ke saw the laboratory, he felt that Lu Xiufan was practically a heaven-sent assist!

The System had only just assigned him a mission to develop a drug, and Lu Xiufan had immediately provided him with ready-made research equipment and specialists in the relevant fields. Although Shang Ke could not simply take out the brain tonic and hand it over to them, he could certainly seek these experts’ assistance.

With Lu Xiufan helping him, the missions in this world suddenly did not seem quite so difficult.

Shang Ke stared fixedly at Lu Xiufan until the latter wrote on the digital screen: 【What is it?】

He had simply, all of a sudden, begun to feel that perhaps in this lifetime, the two of them really could grow old together.

Shang Ke shook his head and said nothing.

The affairs of the Covenantor Placement Center had already been handed over to an agent appointed by Lu Xiufan, and a new heir had also been arranged for the Yue Family. With those matters settled, Shang Ke could spend the rest of his time peacefully at the villa doing research.

There were several medicinal herb fields near the villa, planted with many rare varieties. Shang Ke’s room happened to overlook one of them. Whenever the window was opened, a fresh herbal fragrance drifted inside. Purple blossoms swayed across the field like rolling waves.

Shang Ke fell in love with the room almost at first sight and contentedly admired the scenery outside the window.

Just then, the butler knocked and entered. Shang Ke turned to see him leading in a large white dog that stood nearly half a person tall. The butler first bowed to Lu Xiufan, then bent down and unclipped the leash.

The large dog held its head high and leisurely padded over to Lu Xiufan, rubbed against his leg, then sat upright beside him and gave Shang Ke an appraising look.

Shang Ke met its gaze for a moment before holding out one hand.

The dog gave him a reserved glance, then extended a paw and tapped Shang Ke’s palm, apparently deciding that counted as an introduction.

A hint of amusement flashed through Lu Xiufan’s eyes. He patted the dog’s head with one hand and Shang Ke’s with the other. Both were very well behaved. Both deserved praise.

Shang Ke and the dog simultaneously turned to look at Lu Xiufan, the expressions in their eyes astonishingly similar.

Lu Xiufan: Life suddenly feels incredibly complete…

The large dog had a name completely at odds with its dignified appearance—Snowball. Its fur was pure white without a single stray patch of color, making it nearly invisible against snow. Whenever Lu Xiufan was away, Snowball was the one who usually kept Shang Ke company.

“Where’s Little Ze?” Lu Xiufan asked when he returned to the villa with rainwater still clinging to him and failed to see the person who normally came to greet him.

“Young Master Ze is in Laboratory No. 5,” the butler replied as he took Lu Xiufan’s coat.

“The laboratory?” Lu Xiufan remembered that Shang Ke had asked for a laboratory not long ago, saying he wanted to participate in the Mental Virus research. Naturally, Lu Xiufan had not refused. He had merely assumed Shang Ke wanted to make up for the work time he had lost while injured.

Lu Xiufan took the elevator underground, passed through the sterilization corridor, and went directly into Laboratory No. 5.

Inside the laboratory, Shang Ke sat before an instrument, observing and analyzing a sample.

His head was lowered in concentration, slender fingers occasionally adjusting the instrument. Dressed in a white lab coat, he exuded the scholarly air of a researcher.

The first time Lu Xiufan had seen him, Shang Ke had been dressed in pajamas, calmly treating two wounded men without changing expression. The first time he acted as Lu Xiufan’s driver, he had displayed astonishing driving skills. The first time Lu Xiufan found him in the kitchen, he had looked like a little cat caught stealing food. And in bed, there was that restrained passion and supple body… He was clearly a Covenantor, yet he was so vivid and multifaceted that Lu Xiufan could never look away.

This man belonged to him—unique in the entire world.

Lu Xiufan walked over and, just as Shang Ke looked up, leaned down and kissed his forehead.

You’re back? Shang Ke carefully set the sample aside, then stood.

“It’s time to eat.” Lu Xiufan pointed at the virtual clock on the wall. Only three minutes remained before their scheduled mealtime.

Shang Ke nodded, quickly tidied his work area, and returned to the villa with Lu Xiufan.

【Any progress with the research?】 Lu Xiufan wrote on the tablet.

Shang Ke replied: 【Not much.】

The brain tonic was extraordinarily complex. So far, Shang Ke had identified only three of its components. Tomorrow, he planned to divide the sample into several portions and ask the other researchers to help analyze them.

Lu Xiufan had only asked casually. He did not really expect Shang Ke to produce meaningful results—at least not anytime soon. After all, this was a problem that had baffled the Empire for centuries.

What Lu Xiufan had not expected was Shang Ke’s obsession with the research. Apart from eating and sleeping, he spent practically every moment in the laboratory. When Lu Xiufan was away, Shang Ke was even capable of skipping sleep entirely.

Eventually, Lu Xiufan had no choice but to impose a strict rule requiring Shang Ke to sleep a full ten hours every day.

That evening, Lu Xiufan insisted on checking Shang Ke’s recovery. He had already been living at the villa for more than a month, and under the care of a team of doctors and nutritionists, his body had not only recovered well but had even gained a few pounds.

Shang Ke removed his shirt and exposed his back to Lu Xiufan. The once-smooth skin was now marked by dozens of scars of varying sizes, scattered across it like pale flower petals.

Shang Ke felt Lu Xiufan’s fingers slowly trace across his back before stopping at his waist. A hot body pressed against him from behind, trapping him securely in an embrace.

“I’ll be staying at the villa for the next few days.” Lu Xiufan’s hoarse voice reached Shang Ke’s not-yet-fully-recovered ears, the sound vibrating faintly like a plucked string.

Lu Xiufan had not touched Shang Ke once since his injury. Now that Shang Ke had finally recovered, how could he possibly keep holding himself back? That night, he pulled Shang Ke into bed and made love to him through the night. He was careful with him and nowhere near as rough as before, choosing slow, prolonged penetration instead. Every so often, after holding back for a long while, he would suddenly thrust hard and deep into him, producing an entirely different kind of pleasure. As for positions, those changed rather freely throughout the night.

Unfortunately, Lu Xiufan had overestimated his self-control. He was indeed gentle, but he lasted far too long. Shang Ke did not manage to leave the room for three entire days. Apart from eating, bathing, and his mandatory ten hours of sleep, practically all of his remaining time was spent having sex.

Shang Ke lay on his stomach in bed, recording how much research time he had lost over the past few days. He planned to add thirty extra minutes each day once Lu Xiufan was no longer staying at the villa. Unfortunately, Lu Xiufan had already fixed his mandatory rest schedule, and even in his absence the butler would remind Shang Ke on time. There was no way to secretly squeeze out extra hours.

Shang Ke’s earlier obsession with meticulously calculating work hours had left far too deep an impression on Lu Xiufan. Now that Shang Ke wanted to bend the rules, it was already too late…

Lu Xiufan stayed for three days. When he finally left, Shang Ke was still sprawled motionless on the bed like a corpse.

Lu Xiufan reluctantly tore himself away from his little den of pleasure and hurried off to deal with affairs of state again.

Shang Ke finally saw daylight again and escaped the passion-soaked bedroom. After resting for half a day, he threw himself back into his research.

This time, Shang Ke separated portions of the sample and asked several researchers to help analyze them. Unfortunately, they were not particularly friendly toward him. They merely told him to leave the samples there and said they would take a look when they had time.

These research fanatics rarely paid attention to outside news and had no idea who Shang Ke really was. They simply assumed he was Lu Xiufan’s bed partner. The pair’s “glorious achievement” of barely leaving their room for three days and nights only made the researchers dislike Shang Ke even more. In their eyes, he was practically some seductive favorite leading his lord astray.

His Excellency was such a dignified and imposing man, yet this person had somehow turned him into a sex-obsessed libertine. How could the experts not be deeply distressed? Naturally, they were determined to resist this shameless little man who had supposedly climbed upward using nothing but his looks.

Shang Ke’s samples were far too precious to let these people treat them carelessly. If even a little was accidentally lost, it would hurt him terribly.

There was no helping it. Since they already considered him a villain, he might as well show them what a villain looked like.

Right in front of them, Shang Ke shamelessly tattled to Lu Xiufan, completely ignoring their aggrieved expressions.

Lu Xiufan immediately issued an order: the researchers were to cooperate with Shang Ke’s work as much as possible, and their bonuses would be doubled.

For the sake of the bonus, several researchers reluctantly accepted Shang Ke’s samples while privately cursing him for having far too much time on his hands. Why couldn’t he just behave himself and be His Excellency’s pretty pet? Why did he have to come meddle in research?

However, the moment they analyzed the composition of the samples, their attitudes changed completely. What on earth was this? The ingredients were incredibly complex, the formulation astonishingly precise, and its effects highly unusual. Some of the substances should even have been mutually antagonistic!

The researchers looked as though they had discovered a new continent, their eyes practically bursting into flames with excitement.

Several days later, one of the researchers hurried over to find Shang Ke and said excitedly, “Young Master Ze, the sample you gave us has already been used up. Could you provide another one?”

Shang Ke’s face remained expressionless, but inwardly he was roaring: Do you think I can just produce more whenever you ask?! Could you people possibly use it a little more sparingly?!

Still, Shang Ke knew this kind of consumption was unavoidable during research, so he could only tell them he would bring another sample later.

After sending the researcher away, Shang Ke took out the bottle of brain tonic. About two-thirds remained. If he drank it now, it would probably be enough to repair the damage to his own brain—but if he did that, he would most likely be unable to complete his mission.

The System had calculated everything far too precisely, leaving him absolutely no room to maneuver. Shang Ke despised it!

Shang Ke carefully extracted another tiny amount of brain tonic from the bottle and placed it into a sample well.

What Shang Ke did not know was that even though he had separated the components of the brain tonic before giving out the samples, several researchers had still managed to extract useful information from them. With their experience, combined with the subject Shang Ke was currently researching, it was easy to infer that the substances were connected to treatment for the Mental Virus.

The brain tonic in Shang Ke’s possession was a finished product supplied directly by the System. Both its combination of ingredients and its demonstrated effects astonished the specialists. They concluded that even if Shang Ke did not actually possess a finished drug, he must already have achieved remarkable research results.

If Shang Ke had developed these results himself, then he very likely possessed the key to solving a problem that had resisted researchers for centuries. And that meant he was far more than merely Lu Xiufan’s bed partner, as they had initially assumed.

In an instant, the researchers’ opinion of Shang Ke underwent a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree reversal.

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