This was the fourth time that he had gone to the Abyss with Lu Feng.

Once An Zhe muttered for the third time, the colonel offered a solution. He was expressionless as he leaned back against the bed. “You do it yourself.”

His tone seemed like he was back at the genetic testing station at the city’s gate, next to the testing equipment as he said, “You come on your own.”

An Zhe faced him. After hesitating for a moment, a few mycelium crept toward the colonel. Then he leaned over to kiss the colonel’s throat. He kissed the side of the colonel’s neck while pondering on the next step.

Then he realized that while he was wearing loose white pyjamas, the colonel was still neatly dressed. Thus, An Zhe started to fight with the shirt buttons.

He was familiar with this shirt. After all, he was a heartless washing machine. However, this shirt didn’t open despite the relationship between them. It became even more difficult to undo the buttons thanks to the angle.

After finally undoing the first one, he told Lu Feng, “You do it yourself.”

It was just like Lu Feng sometimes spoke to him. Colonel Lu was unmoved. The mycelium climbed up a bit more. The colonel eventually condescended to undo the second button himself. Meanwhile, An Zhe continued to think.

“A person who comes out of the third underground floor—” he heard Lu Feng’s voice that was filled with a slight laugh and a bit of hoarseness. “—should be more skilled.”

An Zhe, “……”

He whispered, “I didn’t learn anything.”

He couldn’t go back and study again.

“I can see.” Lu Feng said.  There was a distinct magnetic field in his voice when he lowered it. This set off a stimulus in An Zhe from his ears to the bottom of his spine.

Thus, he remembered the events of that year. The first time he met, he had said that he worked on the third underground floor. Then the colonel had replied with an ‘oh.’ An Zhe was curious about the colonel’s impression of him at that time.

The colonel seemed to read his meaning and said, “At that time, it wasn’t clear that you are a mushroom. I thought that if you weren’t doing those things on the third floor, you wouldn’t be able to live at the base.”

He casually glanced at An Zhe and continued, “It seems that even now, you can’t support yourself.”

There were a few more mycelium.

The colonel stopped talking. An Zhe’s biggest wish was for the colonel to be unable to speak, just like his doll.

An Zhe’s thin white fingers were resting on Lu Feng’s chest. He wanted to hold Lu Feng’s hand after the buttons were undone. Then he saw the colonel looking there as if thinking about something. It was an expression he only had when thinking about business.