UAAG CH55

The two returned to Zhuo Huan’s room.

In the room, all the lights were off except for the one in the study. Two laptops were on the desk, and another one sat on the coffee table opposite. Power cords and data cables were connected everywhere. After returning to the room, Zhuo Huan didn’t speak to Fu Cheng again. He sat in the swivel chair, typed a few times on the keyboard, looked at the laptop’s built-in webcam, and spoke: “I’m back.”

He spoke in English, and not long after, a voice came from the computer speakers.

“Patrick, the images of the aircraft wreckage found 200 nautical miles east of Old Harbor in the Gulf of Alaska this morning have been sent to you. According to our preliminary identification, it should belong to the left wing of an aircraft, but we cannot confirm if it is the McFly F485.”

Zhuo Huan: “There aren’t many large aircraft that have crashed in Canadian and US waters. Since the last century, only Rogue 318 remains unfound.” As he spoke, he looked up at Fu Cheng and said, “The photos have been sent to that computer. Receive and process them; I need to see the high-definition images.”

Fu Cheng nodded, sat on the sofa, and began operating the laptop on the coffee table.

Three minutes later, Zhuo Huan carefully examined the photos Fu Cheng had sent. A few seconds later, he looked up, his gaze solemn. “It is the left wing of the McFly F485.”

Hearing this sentence, the salvage company staff and Professor Robert Gatsby in the video conference all became serious.

Robert said, “I’ve notified Gal. He’ll be at the lab soon and should be able to join the video call immediately.”

Ten minutes later, a middle-aged man with reddish-brown hair and glasses joined the video conference. He was Gal Fortes, Australia’s renowned ocean dynamics expert. As soon as he connected, Professor Gal said with a dark expression, “Time is tight, so I’ll keep it short. The North Pacific Current flows from east to west. After hitting the US West Coast, it splits into two branches. The warm current dispersing northward is the Alaska Current. It is now April, and the frequency of the Alaska Current is approximately 25-60%, with a flow velocity…”

In the spacious and bright study, there was silence.

Fu Cheng raised his head and looked at the man sitting behind the desk.

At some point, Zhuo Huan had put on his glasses, and he had casually tied his long hair behind his head. His brows were tightly knitted. He didn’t look at the laptop running the video conference; instead, while listening to the person speaking in the video, his fingers typed rapidly on the other computer.

Professor Gal: “I’ve asked my students to organize the ocean current movement charts of the Gulf of Alaska for the last ten days. They can be sent to you in half an hour.”

Professor Robert: “I have already contacted the US National Weather Service and asked for the recent meteorological reports and specific wind direction and speed data.”

Zhuo Huan gave a soft “Hmm,” his fingers still tapping rapidly on the computer. Without lifting his head, he suddenly said, “Fu Cheng, plot this page of data into a curve chart for me. It’s been sent to your email.”

Fu Cheng: “Okay.”

Another three minutes passed. Zhuo Huan stopped his movements and looked at the salvage company director, Professor Gal, and Professor Robert in the video.

Zhuo Huan: “I hope the salvage range can be narrowed down to 50 square kilometers within three days.”

Lawrence, the head of the salvage company, frowned and shook his head. “Too big. That range.”

Professor Gal said, “50 square kilometers is very difficult. More importantly, to conduct a carpet salvage operation over a 50 square kilometer area will take at least a month. By then, it will be the summer monsoon season. The Oyashio Current will be gentler, but the Pacific tropical monsoons and storms will be coming.”

Professor Robert said, “It’s unrealistic. Even a supercomputer can’t calculate such a massive amount of data within three days. And to be honest, Reid, bad news—the supercomputer is currently being requisitioned.”

Zhuo Huan frowned. “What is it being used for?”

“I can’t tell you that. I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement.”

“Shit!”

With Professor Robert putting it that way, the other three in the video conference understood that the supercomputer at the University of California was nine out of ten being requisitioned by the US government.

Irritably grabbing his hair, Zhuo Huan stood up and paced back and forth. Finally, he stopped, leaning his hands on the desk. “It’s finally a chance. I don’t want to miss it a third time.”

Hearing this, Fu Cheng looked up.

In the video conference, everyone was silent for a moment.

“Reid/Patrick, we don’t want to miss it a third time either.”

For the entire night, from 11 PM to 4 AM, Zhuo Huan’s eyes never left the laptop screen. The video conference remained connected, but everyone was busy with their own work. Occasionally, someone would finish a part of their task, then everyone would summarize together before continuing their individual work.

In the crystal ashtray on the desk, cigarette butts piled up.

Fu Cheng walked to the western-style kitchen, poured a cup of coffee, and when he returned to the study, his gaze fell on the man lying on the sofa. His steps paused, and when he moved again, he softened every movement. Tiptoeing to the desk, Fu Cheng gently set down the coffee cup. Looking up, he realized the video conference had ended at some point.

The table was covered with scattered white papers. Many had drifted to the floor, and even more were crumpled into balls and thrown into various corners of the room.

Fu Cheng picked up the uncrumpled papers and placed them on the table. He picked one up to look; he recognized the formula on it.

The Navier-Stokes equations.

The equations of motion for viscous fluids in differential form.

However, looking further down, it was mixed with various other physics equations. Having no connection to aerodynamics, he couldn’t understand most of them.

He picked them up one by one and placed them on the table.

Fu Cheng walked to the sofa, his gaze pausing on the man’s peaceful sleeping face for a few seconds. Then, he picked up the blanket that had been thrown on the floor, intending to cover him.

“You’re awake.”

Fu Cheng’s hand holding the blanket stopped. He looked up and saw that Zhuo Huan had opened his eyes at some point and was looking down at him. His eyes were extremely exhausted. His head rested on a cushion, tilted slightly as he watched him.

Fu Cheng: “Teacher Zhuo, when did you wake up?”

Zhuo Huan: ” The moment you walked in the door.”

“…So early?” He had intentionally moved softly, making almost no sound.

Zhuo Huan propped himself up with one hand on the sofa, sitting half-upright, while the other hand rubbed his temple. “I have neurasthenia. The instant anyone enters the room, I wake up.”

Fu Cheng picked the blanket up from the floor and placed it on the single sofa nearby. Suddenly, as if recalling something, he looked up and asked, “But last time I came to your room to wake you up, I called you several times.”

The motion of rubbing his temple stopped abruptly. Zhuo Huan dropped his hand, leaned back against the sofa, looked up at Fu Cheng, and smiled.

“Oh, I woke up early then, too. I just didn’t want to acknowledge you. I thought you were so noisy at the time.”

“…”

Fu Cheng: “What is the situation with Rogue 318?”

Zhuo Huan reached out his hand. “Get me a cigarette. On the table.”

Fu Cheng: “Smoking isn’t good. You’ve been smoking all night.”

“Smoking keeps me awake. I’m sleepy.”

Fu Cheng walked over, picked up the coffee from the desk, and handed it to him.

Zhuo Huan didn’t take it; he just looked up at him.

The handsome and beautiful young man lowered his head. The dim light came from behind him, hazy and beautiful.

Fu Cheng: “Then drink coffee.”

Zhuo Huan stared at him. After a while, he took the coffee cup.

Fu Cheng sat on the single sofa to the side. “The third time—what does that mean?”

Zhuo Huan leaned against the cushion, lounging lazily on the sofa, turning his head to look at him. “Didn’t you hear?”

Fu Cheng was silent for a moment.

Fu Cheng: “Does it mean that the wreckage of Rogue 318 has been found twice before, and this is the third time?”

Zhuo Huan took a sip of coffee. “To be precise, wreckage has been found three times since the official salvage operation ended a year ago. As for how many times wreckage was found by the officials before the search was called off… don’t you know?”

The man looked at him with a faint smile. Fu Cheng paused, then stated a number: “6 times.”

Yes, since Rogue 318 went missing five years ago, officials had found its wreckage a total of six times.

On the sixth day after the plane disappeared, a battered suitcase floated ashore on the Canadian coast, later confirmed to belong to Rogue 318 Airlines. On the 17th day, a Rogue 318 drinking water bottle washed up on the Alaskan coastline…

Within three months, its wreckage appeared a total of five times!

And even a year after the crash, its wreckage appeared yet again.

However, each time, no one could find the plane.

A salvage range of 500 square kilometers, an ocean as large as half of China—Rogue 318 was like a drop of water merging into the sea, silently sinking to the bottom.

Zhuo Huan drank his coffee and said indifferently, “The work we are currently doing is to calculate the approximate location of the plane based on the found wreckage to narrow down the salvage range. So, as you heard just now, this is the third time wreckage has been found.”

Fu Cheng: “What about the first two times?”

Zhuo Huan’s gaze was calm, looking at him without a ripple of emotion. His tone was casual, even carrying a hint of a smile. “We didn’t find it.”

Fu Cheng paused for a long time before finally asking, “What about this time?”

Zhuo Huan looked at him and smiled. “I don’t know.” He shook the empty coffee cup in his hand. “Fu Cheng, it’s empty.”

Fu Cheng remained silent for a moment, then stood up to take the cup from Zhuo Huan’s hand and went to the western kitchen again. When he returned, the lights and computers in the study were still on, but no one was there. Fu Cheng froze. He subconsciously wanted to turn and check the bedroom, but his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

The coffee cup suddenly hit the floor. Brown liquid soaked into the expensive Italian wool carpet, spreading quickly.

Zhuo Huan leaned against the wall by the door, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, one hand gripping Fu Cheng’s hand.

Looking at the cigarette in his mouth, Fu Cheng pursed his lips slightly. Just as he was about to speak, the man chuckled, grabbed his wrist, turned him around, and pressed him against the wall. Holding the cigarette in his right hand and Fu Cheng’s hand in his left, Zhuo Huan lowered his head and kissed him on the lips.

The heavy smell of smoke permeated their joined mouths. Fu Cheng was startled for a moment, but at such close range, the man’s eyes were slightly closed, his thick, long eyelashes almost brushing against Fu Cheng’s nose bridge. It was an ambiguous and lingering kiss, low, soft, and rich. Fu Cheng slowly closed his eyes. Somehow, for the first time, he involuntarily reached out, wrapped his arms around the man’s waist, tilted his head up, and gently kissed him back.

The temperature gradually rose. The biting and sucking between their lips and tongues slowly spiraled out of control.

“Fuck!”

Zhuo Huan cursed in a low voice and directly tossed away the cigarette in his right hand. The still-burning butt landed on the wool carpet, instantly burning a small black hole. Then, evil could not triumph over good, and the expensive wool carpet, worth a thousand pieces of gold, extinguished the spark.

Then, he lowered his head and kissed him again.

Zhuo Huan held the young man’s lean waist with one hand while the other caressed his cheek, the pads of his fingers gently rubbing the sensitive corners of his eyes. The caress of his fingers gradually moved downward, and both hands naturally embraced the young man’s waist.

Pajamas are always so easy to take off, or perhaps they were designed—whether for men or women—solely for the purpose of being taken off.

Fu Cheng felt his senses being wildly and recklessly devoured by that heavy smell of smoke. Bitter and cold, yet it didn’t seem like smoke; it was an overwhelming presence that belonged entirely to Zhuo Huan.

It was Zhuo Huan.

He tilted his head back, returning the man’s kiss. However, suddenly, his pajamas were lifted, and his sensitive skin encountered direct touch. His whole body trembled, shrinking back. Reason returned instantly, his heart trembling violently. Fu Cheng instinctively turned his head to the side, dodging the man’s aggressive, dense kisses.

Zhuo Huan stopped his movements.

In the narrow space, the two looked at each other.

Their gasps were almost entangled, making it impossible to distinguish whose breath was whose.

Zhuo Huan stared at him fixedly, his clear eyes filled with intense color. This gaze was naked and direct; Fu Cheng avoided his eyes.

Zhuo Huan suddenly laughed. He held Fu Cheng’s waist, pressed him against the wall, and spoke softly, “What is the meaning of this?”

A few seconds later.

Fu Cheng lowered his eyes and suddenly said, “The carpet is ruined.”

Zhuo Huan had no interest in glancing at the imported Italian carpet beneath his feet. His voice was gritty. “Fu Cheng, how long do you want me to wait for you?”

Fu Cheng was silent for a long time, then he raised his head and gently kissed him on the lips.

“It’s almost five o’clock. Go take a shower, Teacher Zhuo.”

Zhuo Huan remained motionless, just looking at him, holding his waist.

Fu Cheng looked at him quietly. “We have to go to the investigation headquarters later, at six, for the experiment with Professor Tsuna… Are you not going?”

After a long time, Zhuo Huan finally answered, “I’m going.”

Fu Cheng: “Taking a shower?”

Watching the young man’s seemingly emotionless expression, Zhuo Huan’s fingers danced on Fu Cheng’s waist through the pajamas. But this person just didn’t have any reaction. He was always like this—ardent and devout when kissing, returning the kiss passionately. But once it was over, he was the quickest to disengage.

Zhuo Huan: “The Patrick-Stowe Equation, do you know it?”

Fu Cheng: “Yes.”

Zhuo Huan raised an eyebrow. “Pilots have to study high-energy physics in addition to aerodynamics and fluid mechanics now?”

Fu Cheng paused, then gave him the answer. “Because it is an equation named after you, I know it.”

Zhuo Huan was stunned for a moment, then he laughed, seemingly in a much better mood. “Oh. Well, solving that took me a full seven months back then.”

Fu Cheng looked up at him.

Zhuo Huan let out a light chuckle through his nose. He lowered his head and kissed the young man on the lips. However, it was just a light, superficial kiss; Zhuo Huan didn’t continue. He stared dead at the young man in front of him, laughing as he swore, “Fu Cheng, you are harder than the fucking Patrick-Stowe Equation!”

After speaking, he released the hands holding Fu Cheng, walked out of the study, and randomly grabbed a set of clothes from the suitcase by the living room wall.

Zhuo Huan strode into the bathroom and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Fu Cheng leaned against the wall. Only when the sound of splashing water came from the bathroom did he cover his face, looking through the gaps in his fingers at the spot on the floor wet with coffee and burned by the cigarette butt.

After a long time, he lowered his hands and calmly buttoned the two buttons of his pajamas that had been undone.

Zhuo Huan needed to shower and change, and now that it was five o’clock, he also had to go back and change out of his pajamas.

Fu Cheng didn’t leave immediately. He tidied up the messy study a bit. At the same time, in the trash can full of paper balls, he found a Vacheron Constantin watch that had fallen in at some point. As he placed the watch back on the desk, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.

Fu Cheng paused and answered the phone.

The next moment, a gentle female voice came from the receiver: “Bonjour, Reid. Are you awake? I’m waking you up first because I know you like to sleep a little longer. But it’s five o’clock; if you don’t get up now, you won’t make it for Professor Tsuna’s experiment.”

His body stiffened abruptly. Fu Cheng’s hand holding the receiver was so rigid he couldn’t move. His eyes went wide, not daring to say a single word.

Lina waited a while on the other end, feeling it was a bit strange, and laughed again. “Reid, why aren’t you talking?”

After a long while, Fu Cheng stammered out a single word: “Mm…”

On the other end of the line, Lina suddenly fell silent.

A few seconds later, she laughed again. “I specifically checked the time; it’s 5:03 AM. Where is Reid? Why are you in…”

“Got it, bye!”

A hand covered in water droplets snatched the receiver from Fu Cheng’s hand at lightning speed. Zhuo Huan quickly dropped a sentence, then ruthlessly hung up on Lina. Fu Cheng looked up and saw that Zhuo Huan had casually wrapped a towel around his waist and had walked out barefoot at some point.

Fu Cheng: “…Teacher Zhuo, you finished showering?”

Zhuo Huan raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, washed, but haven’t dried yet.”

Fu Cheng could see that, but he didn’t understand why this man had suddenly run out before drying himself off.

As if hearing Fu Cheng’s inner thoughts, Zhuo Huan laughed grumpily. “You looked like you couldn’t even fucking speak just now.”

Fu Cheng’s lips parted slightly, looking at the man in front of him in astonishment.

Zhuo Huan: “Your face was written all over with words begging me to come save you!”

Dropping this sentence, Zhuo Huan ignored him, turned around, and went back into the bathroom.

The hotel room was cleaned every day, but walking out dripping wet and barefoot was still extremely disgusting to Zhuo Huan. He cursed irritably and turned on the shower to wash again.

Fu Cheng stood in the study for a while. Then he straightened the phone that had been pulled askew by Zhuo Huan, opened the door with a calm expression, left the room, and returned to his own.

Not long after returning to his room, the landline rang.

After picking up, Lina’s familiar voice came through. She laughed and said, “Bonjour. Waking you up last, Fu, but I think you must be up already.”

Fu Cheng didn’t know if Lina had guessed that the person answering the phone in Zhuo Huan’s room just now was him. Or perhaps she had heard it at first, but later, when Zhuo Huan came out and spoke, she might have negated her own guess?

Fu Cheng: “Yes, I’m already up.”

Lina: “Then, see you downstairs in forty minutes?”

“Okay, see you downstairs.”

Forty minutes later, Fu Cheng arrived downstairs. A stretch Rolls-Royce had been waiting at the hotel entrance for some time.

Opening the door, he found that Lina, Su Fei, and Old Joseph had already arrived. Even Zhuo Huan was there. Everyone was waiting for Fu Cheng alone.

Fu Cheng paused for a moment, then got in the car and sat in the only empty seat—beside Zhuo Huan.

“Sorry, I’m a bit late.”

Su Fei yawned. “Old Joseph and I just got here too!”

Lina smiled. “Have you had breakfast, Fu?”

Fu Cheng nodded. “Yes, I have.”

Zhuo Huan rested with his eyes closed, not participating in the conversation.

However, since it was really too early, Su Fei lost his energy after saying a few words. Everyone was dozily napping in the car. Only Lina kept her head down, typing on her phone, seemingly contacting someone. Sensing Fu Cheng’s gaze, she looked up and whispered, “I’m contacting Professor Tsuna’s lab to confirm the time.”

Fu Cheng: “…Mm.”

Lina curled her lips into a smile.

When they got out of the car, Master Zhuo, who had slept the whole way, was the first to wake up. With his long legs, he stepped past Fu Cheng, hands in his pockets, and was the first to exit the vehicle. Next were Su Fei and Old Joseph.

Fu Cheng was the last to get off.

Lina looked at the watch on her wrist. “5:45. Perfect timing, enough for the connection preparations before the experiment.”

Fu Cheng: “Hard work.”

Lina turned back to look at him, smiling. “I just like to do my job well. By the way, Fu, what were you doing in Reid’s room this morning?”

His steps suddenly stopped. Fu Cheng turned around and looked at Lina.

Lina smiled slightly. “It was you. I know. Shh, I won’t tell the others. Do you know what Reid would have done if he had really answered that call?”

Fu Cheng: “I don’t know.”

Lina shrugged. “He would have sneered and hung up directly. Hmm… that’s not quite accurate. He wouldn’t have hung up; he would have put the receiver aside so I couldn’t call in again.”

After a moment, Fu Cheng smiled helplessly. “Yes, that indeed fits Teacher Zhuo’s habits. I didn’t think of that.”

Lina blinked at him. “It’s not just you; Reid didn’t think of it either. He’s completely different from usual, isn’t he?”

Fu Cheng froze abruptly. He looked at Lina, but she just gave him a meaningful smile and turned to walk into the GCAA gates.

Ten minutes later, spanning nearly half the globe, the Tsuna Laboratory at the University of Tokyo and the GCAA Investigation Headquarters in Dubai were officially connected.

The projection screen was divided into three parts.

One was Teichi Tsunai’s laboratory, one was the GCAA investigation headquarters, and the other was an Emirates warehouse next to Dubai International Airport, which contained a Boeing 777.

Teichi Tsunai instructed his students to prepare every detail of the experiment. Finishing all this, it was exactly 6 AM Dubai time. He walked to the camera and said, “Zhuo-kun.”

Having not slept all night, Zhuo Huan appeared as if nothing had happened. He stood in front of the camera and said, “Tsuna.”

Teichi Tsunai: “Is your side ready?”

Zhuo Huan: “OK.”

Teichi Tsunai nodded and said, “Then I will officially begin.” He turned his head and said to his students, “High-strength titanium alloy, ultra-hard aluminum material, explosive yield limit test. First experiment, start.”

Author’s Note:
Zhuo ‘Rest In Peace’: Getting a fucking Nobel Prize would probably be easier than getting into Fu Cheng’s pants

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