Chapter 31: I Want You to Like Me
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Dong Du’s actions startled Li Sheng. He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly burst into tears. “You, you… Last time, when the General returned, Chief Officer was seriously injured, and many injured soldiers were brought back. But I didn’t see you, and I didn’t know anyone in the tower. I asked Qin Yi to inquire, but no one knew. I thought…”
“Don’t cry. I won’t die so easily.” Dong Du had originally intended to give Li Sheng a surprise, but he didn’t expect to make him cry. He pushed Li Sheng’s wheelchair to a corner. “Why are you alone?”
Li Sheng sniffed and wiped his tears. Dong Du gently patted his back to comfort him. After crying, Li Sheng became happy again. In the Black Gold Fortress, Dong Du was his only friend, and he was glad that Dong Du was fine.
“I don’t have friends at school, and Qin Yu dropped out. Of course, I’m alone.” Li Sheng hummed, “You came back just in time. If you were a little later, you would have missed my wedding.”
“Are you really going to marry Qin Yi?” Dong Du widened his eyes, glancing at Li Sheng’s wheelchair. When he looked at him again, it seemed like he was looking at a masochist.
“It’s not bad.” Li Sheng sighed, “You don’t understand my family. In fact, I was practically sold to Qin Yi by my family. At first, I resisted and wanted to run away. So Qin Yi locked me up, and even if I didn’t want to run, he wouldn’t trust me.”
“You two are acting out a melodramatic script of abusive love.” Dong Du nodded knowingly, having learned about it from the survivor base.
Li Sheng gave him an eye roll and said, “Your imagination is quite rich, hoping for some drama in my life, huh?”
Dong Du pushed Li Sheng back, saying, “Can you still make me bread after getting married?”
“Of course,” Li Sheng raised an eyebrow, “once I’m married, Qin Yi’s dog will mark me, and then I won’t need a wheelchair. I can come to play with you.”
As they chatted, Dong Du directly took Li Sheng home, leaving Meng Ruan, who had been following them all the way, in a state of confusion.
Why is it like this? It’s different from what Xia En said. They followed to prevent the little prince from causing trouble in the Black Gold Fortress. But instead of forcibly entering the prison, he even sent someone home.
Is this little prince fake?
He opened his smart bracelet and saw that Xia En had replied, inquiring about Dong Du’s visit to the prison. Unfortunately, he didn’t know the details either. If he claimed ignorance, it might damage his own image. So he described how he went to the prison with Dong Du.
Xia En checked the Star Network for information about Dong Du, saw the clarification about destroying the Gneville gland on the official platform, and lightly bit his lip.
That person is really stupid. Even though the incident happened so long ago, he still got caught. But what he cared more about was how Dong Du managed to reach the Black Gold Fortress alive.
***
After Clos and Yars formed an alliance, the second meeting quickly began. Before the meeting, someone from Xi Yuan’s side came to inform Dong Du that the leader of Yars hoped he would attend.
The alpha who informed him looked disdainful, as if making him go was just a joke. However, Dong Du didn’t want to bother with him at the moment and walked past him to the meeting room.
“Huh, just relying on his status. Useless trash.” Completely ignored, the alpha angrily cursed.
Walking ahead, Dong Du suddenly turned around. It’s unclear whether he heard the swearing or not, but he smiled at the person.
The person was momentarily stunned, cursing inwardly, “Is he crazy?”
As Dong Du entered the meeting room, most of the attendees were already present. He sat next to Zhu Di, facing Brovill, with Novisane’s seat opposite Zhu Di.
Brovill had arrived, but Novisane was nowhere to be seen, and the main seat, Xi Yuan, hadn’t arrived either.
Dong Du felt a bit uneasy in his heart. That guy, Novisane, wouldn’t be having a private conversation with Xi Yuan, would he? He was afraid Novisane might bring up the matter of proposing with ten small asteroids.
Before Dong Du could think more deeply, Novisane and Xi Yuan came in together. He immediately noticed the agitated Dong Du sitting in his seat, twirling a lollipop in his mouth and smiling at him.
Dong Du hummed a few words in his heart and ignored his flirtatious glances.
Zhu Di put down his eyelids and glanced at Dong Du, tightening his fingers clasped on the table. “Your Majesty, everyone is here. Let’s start the meeting.”
Xi Yuan nodded, gesturing to the prime minister on the side. The minister understood and handed out a stack of documents to everyone present. “This is our preliminary defense plan. Please read it carefully, and we will discuss the details later.”
When Dong Du opened the document, he initially felt annoyed, thinking he wouldn’t understand it. However, when he heard it was a defense plan, he immediately closed the document. “Why do we need to defend? Those guys reproduce through parasitism. If we wait for them to land on our territory, it will be too late. How many innocent civilians will be killed for this?”
The prime minister, Jiang Pai, frowned. “You don’t understand. If we don’t defend, do we have to launch an attack? What if they drift in space forever? Initiating an attack might provoke a war.”
“The first time we explored the Wandering City, it was a dead city.” Zhu Di’s gaze swept over Jiang Pai, finally stopping on Xi Yuan. “But the second time we explored, the city had come to life. The insect race on top had awakened. Your Majesty, the Wandering City was originally a human civilization city, but now it has become a nest of insects.”
“Indeed, although the Wandering City has formed an atmosphere, there are no living resources for the insect race on top. They will definitely seek resources. As for where they will find them, no need for me to explain to everyone, right?” Novisane bit into his lollipop, hands resting on the table as he looked at Dong Du. “Little Highness is truly clever, understanding this point well.”
Facing the sincere praise from the opposite person, Dong Du, however, only felt the urge to punch someone. The reason he obediently attended this meeting was not to compete with Novisane. He had already endured enough hardships from zombies in one world and had no intention of enduring the sufferings of those bugs in this world. So, he genuinely wanted to solve the problem.
Consecutive objections from three individuals, one of whom was the prince scorned by everyone, left Jiang Pai’s face alternating between pale and flush. But Xi Yuan remained silent, and he dared not utter any angry words.
After flipping through some documents, Xi Yuan fell silent for a while. “What the Prime Minister said makes sense. Jiang Pai, revise the plan.”
“When planning, please communicate more with Dr. Xu Yiling from the research institute,” Zhu Di tidied up his pens and notebook in front of him.
“Let’s adjourn for today. Once the new plan is ready, we can discuss further.” Xi Yuan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dong Du, stay behind.”
The person called by name glared at Novisane.
Novisane seemed to be in a good mood and swiftly left the meeting room after everyone else. Only then did Xi Yuan turn to Dong Du. “Did you meet Xia En at the research institute last time?”
“Yes,” Dong Du played with his fingers out of boredom. “What about it?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Xi Yuan got angry, scoffing. “Don’t you know how fragile he is? When you saw him in the research institute, you didn’t even look at him. Do you know he twisted his foot there and kept insisting it wasn’t your fault? When will you be half as kind as Xia En? At least then you’d have some value in a royal marriage!”
“So, where did I go wrong?” Dong Du looked at him curiously, seemingly smiling.
Xi Yuan hesitated for a moment and then said, “If you had kept an eye on him, could he have twisted his foot?”
“Not my problem, really. The research institute is a flat place; it’s quite unusual for someone to twist their foot there.” Dong Du stood up from the chair. “If I had known you were going to talk this nonsense, I wouldn’t have bothered with you.”
No one knows how this guy got to be the emperor. This is probably the ultimate achievement of leveraging family connections.
Xi Yuan pounded the table in anger. “Stop!”
But Dong Du ignored him, directly opened the meeting room door, and walked out without looking back. In the cannon fodder’s mind, there was only the name Xia En; what else could he say?
Xia En, oh right, Xia En still has an old friend.
Dong Du opened his smart device, found a contact that had long been forgotten in a corner, edited a message, and then sent it.
After sending the message, in a pleasant mood, he walked through the corridor and was suddenly dragged into a corner by a pair of hands.
Dong Du was not flustered at all; he let the person cover his mouth and drag him into a utility room filled with cleaning robots.
He didn’t struggle, but the other party showed no intention of letting go. His nose rubbed against Dong Du’s neck, and he whispered softly, “Little peach, let me smell your pheromones.”
“D*mn pervert.” Dong Du kicked backward without hesitation, making Novisane grunt.
He let go, shifted positions, and faced Dong Du. “I’m serious; I want to smell it.”
Dong Du snorted and, after surveying the entire utility room and not finding a suitable weapon, leaned back. In a casual tone, he said, “Go ahead, tell me what you like about me.”
Novisane chuckled, “What do you think I like about you?”
“I asked first, you answer first.” Dong Du was irritated, and his small curls on top of his head bounced up and down.
“If I answer, you have to tell me what you like about me,” Novisan said, “If you agree, I’ll answer.”
“Fine, don’t speak, I don’t agree.” Dong Du turned and walked out. Today, he was destined not to say that classic line, “Can I change it if you tell me what you like about me?”
Blame it on the girl from the survivor base who always talked to him about this and that.
Dong Du took a deep breath, preparing to open the utility room door. However, Novisane seemed to suddenly realize something, came over, and pressed the door. The room was very dark, and Dong Du couldn’t see his expression clearly, but his tone was different from before.
There was no laughter or teasing; he spoke earnestly and seriously, “Dong Du, I want you to like me.”
It felt like a fire had ignited in Dong Du’s ears. He immediately pushed Novisane away and rushed out of the room.
Why is this guy like this? He clearly said he doesn’t date guys!
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