He Holds a Rose from the Abyss

Chi Lang felt that the efficiency of doing things was too low recently.

He was still thinking about entering the Magic Research Society, and after observing, he decided to make a low-end version of the bicycle.

一 The wooden, extremely simple, and not very balanced vintage version of the bicycle, no chain, the tires are not rubber, and need to pedal forward.

In Chi Lang’s estimation, it wouldn’t take much time to do it, and he also found a place to do it – in Luth’s basement.

So, one night, he told Sheffield about his plan with great anticipation: “…that is, there are two wheels, and you can move forward if you push on the ground…”

Sheffield looked at him: “Can I go see?”

Chi Lang was sitting on the bed and replied, “Okay, but can we convince Luth to let you in the basement?”

Sheffield lifted his chin, leaned down, and kissed him, smiling, “I can tell him we want to be together.”

“That’s not good.”

*

When they arrived at the lab the next day, Luth was still buried in a pile of documents.

Sheffield leaned in and whispered something to Luth.

Luth raised his head almost in a jerk, looked at Sheffield, and then at Chi Lang, with an expression of disbelief on his face.

“…The basement, if you want to go there…” Luth opened his mouth as if with great difficulty.

When Chi Lang walked down the stairs, he couldn’t help but ask, “You didn’t really tell him that we wanted to go to the basement together because we were in love, did you?… I think Luth’s worldview would have been impacted.”

“Yes, he was shocked, but still expressed understanding.”

Chi Lang was also shocked. He thought about Luth’s pedantic appearance, and felt that it was a little difficult for him.

“This reason is good, we are justified.” Chi Lang shook Sheffield’s arm.

Sheffield took his hand, kissed him on the palm, raised his eyebrows, and said, “I lied to you, what I told him was that because of the Necromancer, I had to come and watch you – all the time.”

“Thank you,” Chi Lang rubbed Sheffield’s face, “if it wasn’t for you, I would have died easily. But I will work hard in the future, and one day I can protect you.”

“You’ve already protected me.” In the opera house that night.

“Ah, although I don’t quite understand your level of magic, with your usual style of doing things, you acted so obviously that night, even if the identity was discovered, you would definitely be able to get out.”

Chi Lang thought for a while: “Actually, I was selfish, and looking back now, I felt that if you were exposed like that, you would definitely admit your identity without hesitation… then leave in a dashing manner, and then probably never see me again…”

Sheffield’s eyes changed, and he said, “Chi Lang…”

“Stop talking about this… If you have to leave for any reason in the future, can you take me with you?

“Whether you go to the abyss or somewhere else, I will try my best to become stronger and not hold you back.”

This section of the basement was obviously dark, but Sheffield felt for a moment as if he were in the sun.

He used to speak very proudly and disdainfully about his dislike of the sun, but in the end, he still stuck to the edge of the cliff like a bedbug, hoping for the sunlight to reach him.

Chi Lang took two steps down and found that Sheffield hadn’t followed. He ran back again: “No, I’m just saying, don’t really go ah.”

Chi Lang began to shake Sheffield’s hand again: “Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, just stay, I’ll be nice to you, like me a little bit, okay?”

Sheffield held Chi Lang’s wrist, pressed his wrist against the wall, and kissed Chi Lang’s mouth.

It was a very aggressive kiss.

Chi Lang could feel Sheffield’s slightly cool tongue licking the inside of his mouth bit by bit.

It was as if he was floating on a cloud, and only the touch on his lips was real.

When Sheffield finally ended the kiss, Chi Lang was still panting softly.

The atmosphere between them was silent and ambiguous.

Sheffield’s eyes were extremely oppressive, he reached out and slowly unbuttoned a button on Chi Lang’s magic robe.

Chi Lang held Sheffield’s hand: “I haven’t done business yet…”

The gloom in Sheffield’s eyes faded a little, he first smiled: “Sorry.” Then he buttoned Chi Lang’s buttons, adjusted the placket for him, and then pointed to his wrist and asked Chi Lang, “Is there any pain? Does it hurt when you hit the wall?”

“It doesn’t feel anything, it doesn’t hurt…” Chi Lang tentatively took two steps forward, “Come on, don’t you want to see me make that thing?”

Chi Lang had brought the tools and materials over the night before, and also moved two chairs from the laboratory.

He put everything in order: “You just sit here and read, and I’ll finish this thing quickly.”

“Okay.” Sheffield agreed readily.

Chi Lang had drawn a few drawings before, so he started to do it according to the drawings. At first, he would glance at Sheffield from time to time, and their eyes would meet briefly.

At first, it was just a matter of looking at each other and getting along quite well. But later, he stopped moving and wanted to take a break to watch Sheffield and became fascinated.

Sheffield simply put down the book, came over, leaned him on the chair, and exchanged a kiss with him.

Chi Lang was a little embarrassed: “Did I disturb you?”

Sheffield gave him another kiss on the forehead. “It’s okay.”

Next, as soon as Chi Lang looked up, Sheffield would kiss him.

Chi Lang was confused by the kiss, but Sheffield was still whispering in his ear: “How do you prefer to be kissed? Is it a constant peck or… although I think you seem to like it very much.”

There was a smile in Sheffield’s tone.

“Stop, stop,” Chi Lang finally got rid of the state of confusion for a while, he shook Sheffield’s shoulder sadly, “We can’t do this anymore, look at the time, a morning is almost over, I just did what, ah.”

The corners of Sheffield’s mouth rose slightly and moved closer.

Chi Lang stopped Sheffield’s actions: “You have to read books, study hard, and improve your efficiency. You can’t waste time like this, understand?”

Sheffield straightened up, tapped his fingers on the back of the chair twice, and smiled softly: “Okay.”

Chi Lang was still a little surprised why he gave up so easily, and tentatively said, “Don’t kiss like this for the next few days, let’s make a rule that we can only kiss two… three times a day.”

He held out three fingers.

Sheffield took out the book: “Okay… what if you still want to kiss after those three times?”

Chi Lang: “Whoever kisses first is a dog.”

Sheffield laughed, even showing his teeth, obviously delighted, but agreed quickly: “Okay.”

Chi Lang: “Then we can’t kiss today.”

Sheffield ignored him.

Alright.

Chi Lang started to do this bike.

But he still looked up at Sheffield from time to time.

Sheffield sat in his chair, flipping through his book, his expression focused and cold.

Chi Lang looked at Sheffield’s fingers turning the book, then saw his neat cuffs, and then moved his eyes up, and saw the side of Sheffield’s face again.

Sheffield smiled at him and continued to read very seriously.

Chi Lang felt a little uncomfortable.

With Chi Lang’s method of forcibly improving his concentration, and with the help of “mechanical time”, he quickly completed this low-end model of bike and handed it over to Luth.

Luth said with a look of disdain: “This is useless, it can’t even float…”

Then the next day, Chi Lang saw Luth in the academy riding this bicycle and pedaling happily.

Chi Lang: …

Luth’s expression was still very disdainful: “I was trying to see if your thing is dangerous, so as not to hand over a dangerous object.”

About three days later, Chi Lang received an invitation letter from the Magic Research Association.

This invitation letter was very simple. It read “Welcome, Your Excellency, to the Magic Research Society” on a piece of white paper, and there were no other decorations.

But on the back, there were two rows of the crest of the magic family, the first one was a sunflower, but the background was bloody.

When Chi Lang received the invitation, he went to the Magic Research Association.

The Magic Research Association was not far from the academy, occupying two buildings, which seemed like two ordinary residential buildings on the outside.

Chi Lang knocked twice on the door, no one answered, but he could hear a faint noise inside.

He pushed the door open.

The first thing he saw upon entering the door were two high stacks of paper. In front of each stack stood a man with his head buried in writing something on the paper.

There were a lot of people around, joking: “There are so many pieces of draft paper now, who can give up first, it has already been calculated from Hines magic to recent magic.”

“It’s still Lord Hal who is better, right?”

Chi Lang took a detour and avoided the crowd, trying to find where he should report.

Just as he took a step in, a potbellied magician patted him on the shoulder: “Don’t walk around, it’s not good to step on the magic circle.”

Chi Lang lowered his head and carefully observed the ground. Magic circles were chaotically arranged on the floor. Some were only half-painted, and some were too blurry to see.

“Sometimes when I come up with a magic circle, I can’t find a place to draw it, so I just draw it on the ground. I always feel uncomfortable when I want to reduce the scale when drawing on paper.”

All right. Chi Lang nodded and tiptoed to avoid these magic circles.

He walked carefully, and suddenly two cats ran past his feet, followed by two seven or eight-year-old children, shouting and running after it.

“Ah, wrong summon again.”

“You two, you messed up my magic circle again. I thought for a long time to come up with it!”

Chi Lang looked back and walked forward again with caution.

He finally found a temporary place to stay, recognized the house number, and knocked on a door.

“Please come in.”

Chi Lang opened the door again, but was met with a starry sky.

The ceiling and walls were dark blue and strewn with stars, and a magician with a long beard sat among the stars.

“Hello, I’m new here.”

The long-bearded man turned his head, took out a magnifying glass, and looked at Chi Lang through it: “Oh! You’re the one named Chi Lang, right?”

“Yes, can I come in?” Chi Lang was afraid that he would accidentally step on something.

Longbeard chanted a long series of incantations, the starry sky slowly disappeared, and the room took on its original appearance.

Only then did Chi Lang realize that the long-bearded man was sitting on the ground with a roast duck beside him.

Longbeard took a bite of the roast duck and said vaguely, “You should be from the Mechanical Department. I’ll take you there.”

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve carelessly, burped, and led Chi Lang out.

As soon as he went out, two bats flew into the air and hit him in the face, and Longbeard began to shout, “Ah, you two, you have summoned something strange again!”

The two children stood on the stairs and said angrily, “We followed the spell, but you, again, are stealing some food behind our backs.”

Longbeard snorted twice, and walked out with his hands on his back: “Outside is a free activity area, so it’s a bit rowdy, you should not be deceived by appearances, in fact, our magic research club is not so chaotic.”

Chi Lang smiled and nodded to his words.

He said and opened a door: “The Mechanical Department should be here.”

As soon as the door opened, there was a couple inside holding hands, looking like they were about to kiss.

Longbeard: “What are you doing?! What time is it? How can you do such a thing?! Fines, fines, no money for this month!”

Longbeard closed the door angrily, and said angrily, “This is an example, an example.”

He opened another door, and a scent came from inside, a sweet smell like baked bread.

Longbeard was even angrier: “You actually use fire magic without authorization? In such a sacred place, you bake bread and eat. Moreover, you didn’t send me some, you will be fined, fined! No more bonuses.”

Chi Lang watched as Longbeard closed the door again.

Longbeard squeezed a smile at him and pushed open another door, this time it was finally the door of the mechanical department.

The mechanical department was as messy as the free activity area. The floor was full of scattered parts, a lot of firearms were placed on the shelves against the wall, and strange clocks were hung on the wall.

And a little further in, there were two artillery pieces on the ground.

Longbeard just leaned against the door and didn’t go inside, but Chi Lang took a step inside.

A bullet came towards him, and Chi Lang seemed to be in a state of “mechanical time” again. He could see how the bullet came, but he couldn’t move.

As if locked.

The bullet flew past his face and hit the free activity area outside.

A loud noise came from behind him, followed by thick black smoke.

Longbeard was a little helpless: “Berg, please be gentle with your new partner.”

The boy who Chi Lang once saw in the church was holding a gun in his hand, and the muzzle was still facing this side.

He raised his chin: “Sorry, my hand slipped, but… how did you dodge it?”

一一一一一一

**TN

Chi Lang’s vintage bike probably looks like this.