Chapter 22: Boy, you are very arrogant
The isolation room temporarily assigned to Yu Yan was the most spacious one available, but after placing a three-layer isolation box inside, the space became quite cramped.
The decision to place 012’s isolation box in Yu Yan’s room was suggested by Zhou Sheqing.
After seeing 012’s condition, although her expression was grim, she coldly suggested before leaving, “Since 012 needs to see his condition to stabilize, why not just put them in the same room?”
Yu Yan felt that Ms. Zhou did not seem like a proper “rival in love.”
When she was whispering warnings to Su He about the two-faced, scheming rich guy, Yu Yan felt she resembled a friend who judges bad men.
When facing 012 and being unable to get a response, Yu Yan felt she was like a mother-in-law who couldn’t control a rebellious son and could only criticize the daughter-in-law.
It was particularly unfair, as none of these roles truly fit him.
After being placed in the same isolation room and seeing Yu Yan through the glass, 012 indeed did not cause any more disturbances. He became as quiet as he used to be in the feeding area.
After Yu Yan and Su He concluded their discussion, Yu Yan’s gaze shifted to the corner, where he saw 012 curled up and asleep in the corner of the isolation box.
Yu Yan lowered his voice involuntarily.
Su He was scribbling something in her notebook, dissatisfied. “What are you saying? Your voice is so low, speak up.”
Originally, with a mask covering his face, it was hard to hear him, and he was mumbling even more.
Yu Yan weakly responded, “Ah, I don’t have the energy to speak anymore.”
Su He took his apparent laziness as a sign and, closing her notebook, checked the data on the nearby monitor.
“Since you’ve taken that medication, the situation is temporarily stable. I need to step out for a while. Will you be okay alone?”
Having been busy for so long, she had exceeded her expected time, and she still needed to care for a silver wolf on the other side.
“It’s fine, you go ahead. You’ve already been a great help today.” Yu Yan genuinely felt a bit sorry and decided to give a big gift to his weary benefactor once he had the energy in a few days.
“Alright.” Su He said no more, moving a large pile of medications and syringes to the bedside.
“You know the situation, use the medication yourself if you feel unwell.”
Yu Yan recalled the times he had been sick in the hospital, with nurses busy tossing him medications and making him administer injections himself. Even when he was ill and getting injections, because his colleagues were too busy, he had to push the IV stand around to give injections to others.
Once Su He left, only Yu Yan and the resting 012 remained.
Having slept so long before, Yu Yan’s temples now ached, making it hard for him to fall asleep. He propped himself up and leaned against the bed, pulling up virus data to review.
His eyes were also affected by the virus, and after looking for a while, the text on the screen became blurred and jumped around.
Yu Yan lifted his hand to press his brow and the bridge of his nose.
The red marks on his palm, wrist, and arm immediately caught his eye.
Yu Yan: “…”
His sharp mind quickly replayed certain images like a film reel.
A tongue slightly longer than a human’s, with a slender tip, had brushed over his fingers.
There were even barbs on it. Though they were soft, they easily left marks if brushed back and forth.
It seemed that 012 really liked his hands. At that time, Yu Yan wasn’t quite clear-headed and remembered that the kid had lingered for quite a while.
He had felt a vague stinging pain and thought he might have been bitten. Now, he saw that it wasn’t a bite but just a few small red spots that hadn’t faded.
Yu Yan studied the small red spots on his palm and arm for a while, thinking that 012 had pretty good control.
If 012 had really lost control and bitten him, his condition might have been more serious.
There were also small red marks from teeth on several finger joints.
Yu Yan lifted his hand to touch his own neck, knowing what it looked like without needing a mirror. The area at the back of his neck, resting on the pillow, was especially painful.
Feeling uncomfortable, he changed to a side-lying position.
012, who had been sleeping earlier, now stared at him with open eyes.
Meeting his gaze, Yu Yan suddenly felt a bit awkward. He lowered his hand from his neck and raised an eyebrow. “What are you looking at? Go to sleep.”
012’s eyes remained motionless, like glowing glass beads. Yu Yan turned around, presenting the back of his head to him, but he could still feel that intangible yet pricking gaze on his aching neck.
Yu Yan glanced back, and indeed, 012 was still watching. He had no choice but to sit up on the bed.
He rummaged through the syringes and gave himself an injection. Then, shaking the sharp syringe at 012, he said, “If you can’t sleep, should I give you a shot too? Are you scared?”
“If you want to give me a shot, go ahead,” 012 replied.
012 often heard Yu Yan speaking to him in a deliberately frightening tone, as if in his eyes, he was a pitiful child who was afraid of needles and had never experienced or tasted anything.
He clearly knew that, as an experimental subject, he had undergone countless brutal and bloody experiments.
“Oh, you’re very brave, huh? I’ll ask you again—are you really not afraid of anything?” Yu Yan asked.
012 remained silent, but his indifferent attitude silently despised everything.
Yu Yan nodded, opened the terminal, and played an audio recording.
“Third brother.”
“Brother.”
“Cheep, cheep, cheep.”
The soft chirping sound echoed through the isolation room, as if a flock of small birds were calling.
Listening to his own delirious courtship calls, 012 showed no outward reaction, but his wings began to tremble.
Soon, his wings covered his head.
Kid, you were so stubborn earlier, and now you’re too embarrassed to face anyone, huh?
Yu Yan, feeling merciful, turned off the torturous audio and, mischievously, set the chirping sound as the terminal’s notification alert.
Now, 012 was really quiet for a long time. Yu Yan checked several times, only to see him hiding his head in his wings.
The room fell silent, and Yu Yan slowly drifted off to sleep, though not comfortably due to the pain in his body.
012’s wings quietly shifted. He wasn’t sleeping; instead, he remained alert, like a guarding beast, vigilantly observing the surroundings and unconsciously focusing most of his attention on his resting partner.
This was an instinct awakened with the mating period.
His instincts, ahead of his brain, had identified the partner.
Forced to separate from his partner before the nesting period ended, many of his physical behaviors became uncontrollable.
He made various noises just to see the other.
Even though he was right next to him, unable to hold his partner under his wings, he still endured torment and couldn’t sleep peacefully.
But 012 knew that this human would never understand.
This was the only person who treated him as a “human.”
More often, 012 felt as if this person viewed him as a patient who couldn’t leave the ward, coming regularly to chat and provide treatment.
Compared to researchers, this human seemed more like a doctor.
Even his refusal to communicate was seen as some treatable illness.
Unlike other humans, who viewed him as a dangerous yet valuable experimental subject, a pitiful and strange living dead thing, this human’s ultimate goal wasn’t just to study him.
But even so, 012 still didn’t believe that this human could truly understand him.
Humans often fail to understand their own kind, let alone an anomaly like him.
As the sky outside gradually brightened, 012, who had been watching Yu Yan for a long time, lifted his wings to cover his head upon noticing the man’s changing breathing patterns.
Yu Yan was awakened by the pain, wanting to moan but, upon seeing the isolation box in the corner, gritted his teeth and held back.
Don’t get the wrong idea; it wasn’t out of fear of disturbing his sleeping roommate—it was simply because he didn’t want to lose face.
Moreover, his roommate was not actually asleep.
Yu Yan remembered seeing 012’s state before falling asleep—awake. Now, 012 was still awake, and his fatigue hadn’t faded.
Had he been awake the entire time?
And what was he so vigilant about?
In the stillness of dawn, Yu Yan got out of bed and slowly moved to the front of the isolation box, knocking twice.
“Stop pretending to sleep. I know you’re awake.”
“……”
“Let’s chat. Why can’t you sleep?”
“……”
“Is it because it’s your first time doing this and you’re not used to it? Do you feel pain in strange places on your body?”
“……”
“Or is it because you hate humans and can’t stand having any relationship with one, so you’re frustrated?” Yu Yan deliberately provoked him. “Ah, regretting it now, huh? If you had known, you would have tried to control yourself yesterday. Is that the mood?”
012’s wings shifted, revealing his awake eyes. He replied calmly, “Regret? If you let me out now, I’d take you to the nest and f.uck you again.”
This time, it was Yu Yan’s turn to be speechless: “……”
After a while, he gave a thumbs-up. “Boy, you are very arrogant.”
Not wanting to let this guy be so arrogant, Yu Yan searched around for a while and found a blackout cloth, covering the isolation box completely.
“Cool off in the small dark room and reflect on your inappropriate comments.”
Also, the nest in the feeding area needed to be disinfected immediately. He needed to find someone to take care of it.
As for that nest, you better not think about building any more nests. I’ll have all the branches trimmed.
Yu Yan reluctantly put on a coat, intending to finish the analysis Su He hadn’t completed before leaving, hoping to save her some time. But after sitting for a while, he felt dizzy and had to lie back down.
In his semi-conscious state, the chirping sound suddenly rang in his ears. He jolted awake, initially thinking 012 had escaped the isolation box and was calling at his ear, only to remember that it was the terminal notification sound he had set.