Are You Addicted?

Gu Hai only took Yan Ya Jing with him on this business trip. By the time they got off the plane, the night had already fallen into darkness. When arriving at the hotel after being dropped off by the pick-up personnel, they discovered that they had been arranged to stay in a couples" luxury suite.

One could hardly blame other people for misinterpreting things since no matter where they went, they would always look like an attractive couple. After years of working closely together, this type of misunderstanding had happened countless times. The unspoken rule in upper cla.s.s society is that, the best marry the best. Even though the engagement banquet had been ruined, in the eyes of outsiders—the possibility of the two getting married was an undebatable truth.

The best way to break a rumour is by turning the rumour into reality. Unfortunately, this equation would never add up for Yan Ya Jing. This simply because Gu Hai"s heart was already completely filled by Bai Luo Yin. There was only the tiniest s.p.a.ce left to spare, and that he had given to the donkey sitting in his bag.

Yes, he had brought his "son" to Shenzhen.

Yan Ya Jing felt somewhat speechless every time she saw that donkey.

It was already quite late when they had checked in and unpacked their belongings, so they settled for having their dinner at the hotel.

Sitting across from Gu Hai, Yan Ya Jing had a good view over him and immediately spotted the red mark on his neck. This was the mark left by Bai Luo Yin before Gu Hai left for the business trip.

"Your girlfriend is quite possessive, right?" Yan Ya Jing suddenly asked.

For a moment, Gu Hai looked blankly at her. "Girlfriend?"

Yan Ya Jing pointed at Gu Hai"s neck, "Don"t tell me the mark on your neck was made by an insect?"

A slight trace of a smile immediately emerged on his face as soon as this topic was mentioned.

Yan Ya Jing snorted, "It seems that it really bothers her[1] that you went on this business trip with me!"

Gu Hai responded indifferently, "I never told him[2] whom I was going with."

"Then she is definitely using this tactic to prevent other women from hitting on you." Yan Ya Jing said with great certainty.

Gu Hai retained a clueless expression.

Seeing the look on Gu Hai"s face, Yan Ya Jing helplessly reminded him, "The mark she left on your neck— isn"t it to warn the woman who accompanied you on this trip that you are taken?! And that she shouldn"t even think about trying anything?"

A light finally dawned on Gu Hai and his heart secretly rejoiced.

So, it turns out, even Bai Luo Yin has these kinds of little thoughts.

Yan Ya Jing was speechless and felt deeply emotional. She couldn"t understand how Gu Hai could be so sharp within the business field while being so slow-witted when it came to relationship issues. Back in the days, it was his intelligence that she had admired dearly. She had thought that she didn"t need to spell her feelings out to him and that he would be able to understand how she felt. In the end, it turned out that she had been completely wrong. If she had comprehended this earlier and made a move sooner, then perhaps he would not have been s.n.a.t.c.hed away by someone else?

Gu Hai tried to call Bai Luo Yin, but there was no answer.

"Are you calling her?" Yan Ya Jing asked.

Gu Hai nodded and said, "I couldn"t get through. I reckon he is still mad at me."

"Mad at you?" Yan Ya Jing"s beautiful eyes twinkled as she continued, "Why?"

"I slapped him twice this afternoon." Gu Hai"s gazes suddenly became very gentle.

Yan Ya Jing expressed in astonishment, "You even hit her?"

Gu Hai smiled indulgently, "He didn"t listen, so I had to hit him."

Of course, Yan Ya Ying knew Gu Hai had not actually struck "her".

She couldn’t even imagine that someone with a personality such as Gu Hai’s, could ever treat his girlfriend in that kind of way. In her mind, if Gu Hai would be in a relationship, he would have the kind of love that placed reason above feelings. He would certainly not dote on his lover. But now that she had seen the look in his eyes, she began to doubt her own judgement.

What kind of a woman is she? What type of magical power does she possess to have Gu Hai hiding her away safely? Whenever she is mentioned, she always seems to easily trigger and stir Gu Hai"s emotions.

On one hand, Yan Ya Jing was jealous of her. On the other hand, she was strongly curious.

"Is she the kind that is timid and lovable like a little bird in the care of her man?"[3]

Just by hearing these words, Gu Hai almost spat out the soup he just tried to drink. "Little bird? His bird is not small at all."

"…then, is she very innocent and simple minded?" Yan Ya Jing continued to probe.

"Innocent and simple minded?" Another inexplicable laughter escaped Gu Hai"s mouth. "His mind is more wicked than anyone"s."

Yan Ya Jing supported her chin with one hand and looked at Gu Hai with narrowed eyes. "Then is she really gentle?"

"Gentle?" Gu Hai rejected it again, "This word doesn"t describe him at all."

"Is she hardworking?"

"He is lazier than anyone!"

From the initial state of curiosity, Yan Ya Jing"s expression had gradually darkened and by now, she was at a lack for words. "But you must be attracted to her in some way or another? How can it be that she doesn"t have any good qualities?

"Who said he doesn"t have any good qualities?" Gu Hai didn"t like what he had just heard.

Yan Ya Jing choked. "Then tell me, what are the good qualities?"

"Everything I mentioned above, aren"t they all good qualities?" Gu Hai responded in a very serious manner.

Yan Ya Jing "…"

It was past 11 o"clock and Bai Luo Yin"s cell phone was still unreachable. By then, Gu Hai had realized that something was wrong. Therefore, he called a few officers in the military and asked for their a.s.sistance to find out Bai Luo Yin"s circ.u.mstances.

"Their division is currently engaged in training."

"It"s already this late and they are still training?" Gu Hai"s brows knitted tightly.

The officer on the other side of the line laughed helplessly. "Wasn"t Zhou Ling Yun transferred to their division? He"s been busy reorganizing the division these last couple of days! You would probably have heard about this tough character? He has brought countless men down. It seems he didn"t waste any time… the night he arrived at the base, he a.s.sembled thousands of men and hounded them all night. He even called Bai Luo Yin out and criticized him."

Gu Hai"s face immediately changed colour. "Why did he criticize Bai Luo Yin?"

"It was said that Lao Zhou got all the soldiers—even the officers—to urinate collectively on the training ground. It was only Bai Luo Yin who didn"t pull his pants down. As a result, Lao Zhou commanded him to take them off in front of thousands of men."

"Did he do it?" Gu Hai asked with a darkened face.

"Of course he took them off!" The officer responded. Not realizing danger was in the air, he continued to cheerfully ridicule, "Would he have dared not to? If he hadn"t pulled them down, Lao Zhou would have directly gone and ripped them off! Hahaha…"

In the past, the sound of sirens had merely represented different types of commands to the air force soldiers. But now, it had truly become the sound of terror. Although it was clear that some of the soldiers were sleep deprived to the point that their heads hung in dejection, they would still toss and turn in their beds, unable to completely fall asleep. The slightest sound or movement would instantly make their whole bodies break out in cold sweats.

Not that Zhou Ling Yun would have allowed them to have a decent sleep anyway.

After hearing countless sirens blaring in their hallucinations, the legitimate siren finally went off.

Countless of the men had not even had the chance to shut their eyes during the past 24 hours, but were still able to a.s.semble in the training ground within the given time.

"I just went around the dorms and I realized a lot of men seemed to have insomnia. Since you all appear to have trouble falling asleep, then let"s not waste time in bed. We have already warmed up and right now I am burning with eagerness to train. Perhaps you would want to conduct a battle with real ammunition?"

When these words were uttered by Zhou Ling Yun, silence prevailed over the entire training ground.

"Are you all excited to the point of speechlessness?" Zhou Ling Yun smiled in satisfaction. "Let us officially begin then!"

With just one command, a magnificent army of thousands rushed northwest, toward the great Gobi desert.[4]

The soldiers, that had not gotten any rest whatsoever during the past day and night, now had to reach their a.s.signed destination overnight. Meanwhile, they had to ensure that all obstructions, pursuit and interception were eliminated and broken through.

Zhou Ling Yun had set up his ambush long ago. He wanted to see exactly how capable these arrogant air force soldiers really were, as they dared to display unwillingness on their faces upon his command.

At first, the officers and soldiers were all fatigued and drowsy, but facing this lethal combat, they had no choice but to gather up their spirit. The obstacles became harder and harder to break through, the opponents became more and more powerful. The slightest lapse of concentration could make them end up crashing their fighter jets into the desolated and uninhabited desert.

No one dared to play with their lives as if it was a joke. No one dared to disregard the glory of their squadron.

The morale of the soldiers soared when the enemies consecutively went into retreat.

Right at this moment, apart from obeying to commands, they wanted to show Zhou Ling Yun: We are far from the cowards you regard us to be.

Every fighter jet has a double c.o.c.kpit with two pilots teaming up—one person is responsible for navigation while the other is responsible for instructions and command.

Bai Luo Yin"s fighter jet was no exception. Unfortunately, his teammate was Zhou Ling Yun. This meant he was alone in combat since Zhou Ling Yun, who was beside him, snored contently from the moment he got into the aircraft.

Bai Luo Yin truly wanted to kick him out of the window.

Zhou Ling Yun let out a laugh in his sleep, as if he had guessed Bai Luo Yin"s thoughts.

About seven to eight hours later, just as the fierce air combat entered into the hinterland of the Gobi Desert, they suddenly encountered a powerful electromagnetic interference. That, combined with a lack of concentration caused by extreme fatigue, considerably lessened the accuracy of their counterattacks.

Numerous top performing soldiers, who under normal circ.u.mstances were able to hit the target on every shot—all repeatedly failed at this crucial moment. Just a while ago, the formation of Warhawk aircrafts had been united and the morale of the pilots exalted.[5] But in mere minutes, they all were completely defeated in a hideous mess.

With no other choice, all the fighter jets had to prepare for forced landing.

Failure, unwillingness, fatigue, grievances… Every possible negative emotion invaded their hearts. The moment when the instructors got out of the fighter jets, many of their faces were covered in tears.

A huge force of cold air swallowed Bai Luo Yin as he got out of the fighter jet, he even had difficulties to breathe. The location was at over four thousand meters above sea level and the temperature crept below minus 30 degree Celsius. And he was only wearing a single layer, a woolen sweater, underneath his pilot uniform.

–

Translator"s Notes:

[1] 她 she/her

[2] 他 he/him

This is just a refresher as it was already explained in previous chapter by Sae. Both words have the same p.r.o.nunciation in Chinese. "Ta".

So, it"s impossible to know what gender a person is referring to just by hearing it. Yan Ya Jing thinks, Gu Hai was talking about a "girl" since he never mentioned BLY"s name.

[3] 小鳥依人 - Idiom: A little bird relying on people. Describes a girl who is cute, innocent, timid, and lovable who rely on and listen to her man.

"鳥" - Bird, is also a slang for p.e.n.i.s in Chinese.

[4] Gobi Desert – is a vast, arid region in northern China and southern Mongolia. It’s known for its dunes, mountains and rare animals such as snow leopards and Bactrian camels. The Gobi Desert is the 5th largest desert in the world by area.

[5] 戰鷹編隊: Warhawk planes in formation

**credit to owner of featured image, please tell me if you know who it belongs to, thank you!