Picked out, handcuffed and within range.

For two years, Gu Xinzhi had had a lump of cotton wool in his chest. Because it had been clogged for so long, it smelled of blood, so much so that he sometimes felt a suffocating sweetness at the bottom of his throat.

Ding Qiuyun's words were like throwing a match into the cotton wool, his whole chest burst into flames, burning him with pain and despair at the same time.

Just now, he spent several more months in a three-minute dream that ended with Ding Qiuyun's death.

When he woke up and realized that he was not in the supermarket warehouse where he usually woke up, he froze for about a quarter of an hour and recalled with difficulty that he had been driven to the town by a truck "a few months ago".

The ...... truck contains Ding Qiuyun.

In his ecstasy, he broke out of the room, pulled up Sun Bin, who was sleeping on the sofa, and asked Ding Qiuyun where he was.

Sun Bin was sleeping soundly, and was so frightened when he was picked up from the warmth of the blanket that he opened his mouth and called out, "Brother! Brother!"

Sun Bin's screaming was so severe that Sun Yan first thought it was his own chickens crowing, but when he heard something wrong, he came out to check, and Sun Bin's face had turned white with fear, and he jumped straight into his arms.

Having easily figured out what Gu Xinzhi was up to, Sun Yan, bewildered and uneasy, drove him to the dormitory where Ding Qiuyun was staying.

But when he actually sat down in front of Ding Qiuyun, the fire in Gu Xinzhi's heart got colder and colder.

Ding Qiuyun didn't even look at him, put on his sweater and jacket, and put on his leather gloves, looking like he was planning to go out.

"Qiuyun ...... "Reminding himself that this is not a dream, but something that will really happen, Gu Xinzhi dares not be as aggressive as he was in the dream, weighing a sentence in his mind a hundred times before he dares to say it out loud, "Let's Let's talk."

"Talk?"

Ding Qiuyun turned his back to him, a bit of sarcasm in his words, "Talking about your visit this time, when do you plan to strike?"

If Gu Xinzhi hadn't suffered from the nightmare for two years, he wouldn't have been able to understand what Ding Qiuyun meant.

During the two years, he often wondered what he was doing because he had the same dream two years in a row.

If it was just a dream, why did it go on for two years with the same plot?

The only explanation is that this is not a dream, but a punishment that borders on the metaphysical.

Gu Xinzhi has always believed that the dream is some kind of mystical foreshadowing of what will happen in the future.

But after meeting Ding Qiuyun and seeing his attitude, Gu Xinzhi had a very bad feeling:

...... What if, what if, everything he dreamed was something that had already happened?

If he can have the same dream for two whole years, why can't Ding Qiuyun live again with the memories of his dream?

He tried his best to suppress his frantic heartbeat, and found a bench closest to the door to sit down, both as a gesture of weakness and to make sure that he could pull Ding Qiuyun in time when he left in anger: "Do you still ...... remember?"

Ding Qiuyun took the thermos cup from the bedside and slowly drank the hot water, "Do you expect me to forget?"

"I've been trying to find a companion who, like me, remembers what happened before." As Gu Xinzhi's mouth was dumbfounded, Ding Qiuyun put down his glass of water, "Only I didn't realize that this companion would be you."

Gu Xinzhi only felt breathless, "Then why did you come to the supermarket? You obviously know I'm at ......"

"We have old humans passing through or landing in this town every day." Ding Qiuyun turned half of his face, his eyes were smilingly cold, "If I don't go looking for you, I'm only afraid you'll find me on your own."

Gu Xinzhi's heart, which had always been cold and hard, was cut to ribbons by one sentence.

The old Ding Qiuyun would never treat him like this ......

He gritted his teeth, "This time I have nothing to do with those Neo-humans."

Ding Qiuyun seemed to have heard a funny joke: "Ha. 'This time.'"

Gu Xinzhi was getting worse: "Don't you talk to me like that."

Even if he had done this before, he knew nothing about it in this life, and he couldn't tolerate Ding Qiuyun being so harsh on him for something that had never happened.

Isn't it a good thing that all those people obviously came back to life?

Ding Qiuyun looked at him and suddenly smiled.

"I just said it casually, I didn't think it would hurt you so badly, I'm sorry." Ding Qiuyun said, "I'll keep a good grip in the future."

These words were repeated nearly four hundred times in Gu Xinzhi's dreams.

In the past, it was Gu Xinzhi who said this, but this time it was Ding Qiuyun.

Gu Xinzhi was struck by lightning, his headache was splitting, bent down and just trembled, could not say a word.

Any word that had come to him in a dream became a demon that he simply couldn't listen to.

He was afraid that the next moment Ding Qiuyun would fall from the heights again, shattering his bones and announcing with deathly determination that he was done with himself.

"Don't you say this ......" Gu Xinzhi said weakly through his teeth, "Please."

Ding Qiuyun put down his glass of water and walked over to Gu Xinzhi, reaching out and squeezing the back of his neck, forcing him to look up at himself.

Leather gloves squeak delicately between the folds as Ding Qiuyun condescendingly scrutinizes Gu Xinzhi's eyes, his pale, uncolored lips slightly parted, "That's not a very solicitous attitude you have."

While Gu Xinzhi was stunned, his heart, which had easily calmed down, once again beat wildly.

He had never seen Ding Qiuyun like this before, completely different from the person in his dream, but with an unusually moving and unfamiliar charm.

Gu Xinzhi tried his best to suppress his emotions and asked, "How do you want me to beg for How ...... can I make it up to you? I can give you whatever you want."

Ding Qiuyun laughed and said, "No. I'm afraid of biting my hand when I take something from you."

With that, he spread his hands and lightly pressed his chest, frowning a little breathlessly and giving Gu Xinzhi a slightly reproachful look, as if it was Gu Xinzhi who had made him uncomfortable.

Gu Xinzhi tries to grab Ding Qiuyun's hand, but Ding Qiuyun seems to have anticipated this, and with a gentle downward pressure on his wrist and a tug, he jacks off the entire glove.

Beneath the dark gloves were fingertips frozen white in contrasting colors.

Ding Qiuyun obediently shoved his hand into his coat pocket, which contained the bulge of a pocket pistol, a Browning by model.

Ding Qiuyun looked down and fiddled with the pistol in his pocket for a moment, and simply stated his purpose outright: "I'm looking for you because I can't rest assured that you're out of my sight."

Ding Qiuyun tipped the pistol in his pocket outwards, "This pistol has a range of 50 meters. You can choose, either be killed by me now, or stay within my range at all times in the future."

Gu Xinzhi only froze for a moment before a light of surprise flashed in his eyes.

...... He's willing to let himself stay?

Noticing the change in his expression, Ding Qiuyun, as if he had guessed that he had chosen the latter, pushed open the door and walked out.

Before Gu Xinzhi could take his foot off the gas and chase him out, Ding Qiuyun's explanation to Sun Yan came from outside.

His voice was actually as warm and fuzzy as he remembered, without the slightest sense of coldness that he had when talking to himself: ''It's fine, don't worry. When I first left the team I had some misunderstandings with Vice Team Gu. ...... Well, my injury is also all right, boss, first go downstairs to wait in the car, well don't rub ......"

Gu Xinzhi's face changed slightly, and malice couldn't help but rise from his heart.

But just as he stepped out to meet Sun Yan, before he could make any special gesture, Ding Qiuyun, who had already taken six or seven steps away, turned back and raised his eyebrows in a commanding manner, with a slight turn of his eyes, his hand in his coat pocket once again pressed against the pistol, and with the muzzle of the pistol, he gestured the same angle and arc as he had raised his eyebrows.

...... to follow. Within range.

Gu Xinzhi's heart tingled at his cold eyes, both excited and sour, and suppressing his own nasty thoughts, he left Sun Yan behind and crossed the street to catch up with Ding Qiuyun's back.

Ding Qiuyun did not wait for him, and raised his feet and walked downstairs.

...... Gu Xinzhi's remorse value, after a long period of cold knots finally broke the ice, and the results are gratifying, from 0 straight up to 17.

Glancing at the datapad, Chi Xiaochi let out an imperceptible breath.

061 asked, "Really want to keep him?"

Chi Xiaochi said, "Save it for something useful."

For someone like Gu Xinzhi, his remorse value is not easy to gauge and cannot be trusted.

Even though Chi Xiaochi knew in his heart that by Gu Xinzhi's character, he would never be able to ally himself with the Neo-humans again after nearly four hundred nightmares, his presence was always a nuisance, and if it wasn't for the mission, Chi Xiaochi might have left him idle until he died.

Hearing Chi Xiaochi's answer, 061 was still a bit uneasy: "It's fine if you want to stay, but aren't you being a bit too tough on him?"

Chi Xiaochi asks rhetorically, "Is it possible for a person like Gu Xinzhi to understand why I hate him if I put on the appearance of a victim and condemn him?"

061 Thinking about it, he thought so.

Chi Xiaochi did choose a good way to fight fire with fire.

The best way to deal with a crazy person whose thoughts are hard to fathom is to be a little crazier than he is. This is the legendary messy punch.

As for Chi Xiaochi himself, he has a clear plan for the future.

He will keep the town safe while he takes Gu Xinzhi's remorse value, watch his every move closely, and kill Gu Xinzhi as soon as something goes wrong.

The bottom line of his tolerance for Gu Xinzhi is that he must not hurt anyone in the town.

As for what to do after you leave, let the real Ding Qiuyun decide.

What Chi Xiaochi can do is to take more initiative for Ding Qiuyun.

After he returns his body to Ding Qiuyun, whether he intends to kill Gu Xinzhi to eliminate the danger, keep him as an available member of the team, drive him away, or even get back together with him, it is all to Ding Qiuyun's liking.

Sun Yan drove Chi Xiaochi and Gu Xinzhi back to the Ding family.

Gu Xinzhi had been paying attention to Ding Qiuyun on the other side of the carriage, but Ding Qiuyun did not bother to give him a look, and occasionally glimpsed him without intentionally avoiding him, as if he did not care about him at all, and treated him as a piece of merchandise, concentrating on brushing his boss's hair with a small comb.

Taking care of the boss's appearance every day has become one of Chi Xiaochi's habits.

Panther quietly lying on his side at his feet, let him comb his own hair, combing often static electricity, the panther is not restless, tame with the tail plate hooked to his arm, and from time to time to take the mouth gently touch the kiss on the ring finger of his left hand scar, itchy Chi Xiaochi gently inhale.

He buried his face between the soft fur on the panther's belly, folded his hands lightly around its streamlined loin muscles, and inhaled deeply.

The panther then lay obediently on its back, letting him play with itself, its gray-blue eyes focused on Chi Xiaochi.

Gu Xinzhi looked at them enviously and tried to talk to Chi Xiaochi, "What's its name?"

Before Chi Xiaochi could say anything, Sun Yan in the driver's seat jumped in, "Boss."

Chi Xiaochi corrects, "Coal owner."

Sun Yan cried and laughed, "Team Ding, you really don't think this name is corny?"

Chi Xiaochi cupped his boss's belly and rubbed it as if scratching, "It suits him."

Throughout the whole process, Chi Xiaochi did not have any direct conversation with Gu Xinzhi.

As the truck lurched and shook, Gu Xinzhi gradually came to his senses.

In the past two years, each of his dreams had been months long, adding up to the fact that he had been in them for a hundred years.

In the dream, Ding Qiuyun always keeps a heart to himself, trusting, honest, never doubting, always actively trying to bring him into conversation with everyone, not letting him seem too self-absorbed, too lonely.

But he didn't dare to see Ding Qiuyun like that anymore.

On the contrary, Ding Qiuyun, who was now very different from the dream, was able to put him at ease, yet he couldn't stop his heart from aching.

Noticing Gu Xinzhi's meaningfully complicated, even a little aggrieved look, 061 gradually understood.

Chi Xiaochi put in two long years with nearly four hundred dream-making cards to outwit a psychological battle with a pervert.

So far, Chi Xiaochi is winning big.

Chi Xiaochi returned to the Ding family with Gu Xinzhi.

When I entered the house, Ding's mother was watering a camellia plant that Chi Xiaochi had brought back from 300 kilometers away. Chi Xiaochi used a card that shielded her from pain, tiptoed up, and wrapped her arms around Mother Ding's neck, "Sister Ding, watering the flowers. Where's Old Ding?"

"Back? He went out for a walk early in the morning." Mother Ding turned around before she saw Gu Xinzhi, and immediately punched Chi Xiaochi's arm angrily, "How old are you, still hugging around. This is ......"

"My former comrade-in-arms, Gu Xinzhi," Chi Xiaochi introduced calmly, "I ran into him on this mission."

Gu Xinzhi nodded at Ding's mother, somewhat at a loss for words.

More than once he had envisioned a future with Ding Qiuyun, but it was all about him and Ding Qiuyun, never a third party, not even a dog or cat could occupy the space between the two of them.

So he was never prepared to deal with the Dinges' parents.

Ding mother is more lenient, at a glance I know he is an introverted child, immediately enthusiastically opened up: "Have you eaten yet? In the pot there is also a bit of skin egg and thin meat congee ......"

Chi Xiaochi walked to Gu Xinzhi's side and tugged on his arm without saying a word: "He's not well and he's quite introverted, so I'll send him to the guest room to rest, and I'll bring him food later."

Ding's mother has always known her son as a person, and since he is his comrade in arms, he will definitely take good care of him, so she turned around and went to the kitchen to heat up the congee and rice.

Gu Xinzhi was dragged upstairs by Chi Xiaochi and taken into the guest room.

Once inside, Chi Xiaochi let go of his hand.

He was now wounded and had no intention of serving Gu Xinzhi, instructing him to take the bedding out of the cupboard and leaning against the door again, watching him make up the bedding.

Both were from the military, and making a bed quickly was a basic skill.

Gu Xinzhi laid out the bedding and said, "Pillow."

Chi Xiaochi: "In the closet."

Gu Xinzhi: "No."

Chi Xiaochi then went to the cabinet to look at it.

As soon as he pulled open the cabinet, he realized something was wrong when he saw a pair of pillows lying quietly in a corner of the cabinet.

Gu Xinzhi wrapped his arms around him from behind and tried to kiss the back of his neck.

Chi Xiaochi reacted instantly, twisting his arm and taking several steps backward, falling with him onto the soft mattress.

Gu Xinzhi and Ding Qiuyun have been lovers for a hundred years in the dream, he just wants to feel the reality of the embrace and kiss, who would like to think that he has not moved, will feel a cold right wrist, fixed eyes to see, but found that it is a handcuffs handcuffed to his wrist.

As he stared in disbelief, Chi Xiaochi rolled over and quickly attached the other handcuff to the head rail of the bed.

Gu Xinzhi: "......"

Chi Xiaochi rolled over and sat up, nursing the back of his neck, moved his neck a bit, turned back over, cupped Gu Xinzhi's thin, slightly downward-sunken cheeks with one hand, and in a calm tone of voice repeated what he had just introduced to Ding's mother, "You're not in good health, and you're more introverted. Don't just run around, rest more in bed."

With that, he took a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his fingers, and headed out the door.

"...... Qiuyun."

Gu Xinzhi called him from behind.

Chi Xiaochi stops dead in his tracks.

Gu Xinzhi looked at his back with fascination, "Thank you for being alive. Thank you for being willing to find me."

Chi Xiaochi ignored him and went straight out of the room.

Gu Xinzhi was handcuffed by Chi Xiaochi for a week, during which time he was brought food and water to his bedside by Chi Xiaochi. He did not seem to resent the detention, and even when Chi Xiaochi released him from his handcuffs and allowed him to attend to his personal hygiene, he did not make any further advances towards Chi Xiaochi.

A week later, their group was leaving again for new supplies.

Chi Xiaochi's chest wound had healed considerably, and he informed Ding's father and mother of the time he was going out, but not Gu Xinzhi.

It was not until the morning of Chi Xiaochi's departure that Gu Xinzhi learned from Ding's mother, who had brought him food from his room, that Ding Qiuyun had already left home and was preparing to go searching for supplies, that the official departure time was 9:00 a.m., and that the meeting place was the parking lot at the east end of town.

He carefully concealed the handcuffs with the quilt, thanked Mother Ding tamely, and did not lift the quilt until he had sent her away, casting his eyes on the handcuffs, which glittered silver in the early morning sun.

At the east end of town, heavy trucks carrying a convoy of people had slowly pulled out of the parking lot.

Yan Lanlan was telling jokes to Sun Bin, while Chi Xiaochi was resting on his boss's stomach, thinking.

061 asked, "Wouldn't that be a little too risky?"

Chi Xiaochi tossed an apple up and caught it in her hand again, "I want to see what he would do if he had his own space to move around."

Before he left, he put the key to the handcuffs in the first drawer of the bedside table, along with the books Gu Xinzhi used to read, so that Gu Xinzhi could reach for them.

Chi Xiaochi couldn't possibly believe his side of the story, and it was still unknown whether he had made a deal with the Neo-humans or not.

He may stay put or he may try to investigate the town in the meantime.

If it was the former, fine, but if it was the latter, then Chi Xiaochi would try to dispose of Gu Xinzhi rather than let the mission fail.

As they were talking, there was a sudden muffled thud from the outside of the truck car against the right side, as if someone had jumped on the outside stirrups.

It was not yet out of town, and Yan Lanlan, thinking it was some young man messing with them, pulled the pin from inside and was about to shoo the person away, but when she saw the face, she didn't know what to say.

Gu Xinzhi stood in the outer stirrups, carrying his bag over one shoulder, his hair slightly damp, and took a gasping step into the carriage.

Chi Xiaochi, also a little surprised, sat up and looked at him.

Chi Xiaochi thought he had found the key, but when he looked down, he saw Gu Xinzhi's slightly red and swollen right thumb and was momentarily speechless.

...... learned in the army that you can break your thumbs out of their sockets to break free of handcuffs.

Looks like he didn't even waste his time looking for the key.

Gu Xinzhi sat down beside him, put down his backpack, and said, "You said it. Within range."