Are You Addicted? Volume 2 Chapter 93

"Target, cannot be located."

After more than two hours of searching via satellite navigation positioning, the officer in the control department fell back on his seat like a pool of soft mud, with eyes that looked as though they were infected by some sort of disease— even his eyes could not turn properly.

Gu Hai's heart fell into an abyss in mere seconds.

Liu Chong stood at the side, wearing a deeply anxious expression. "How is it possible to not be able to locate the target? Could he have flown into the Bermuda Triangle?"

Just as he said that, his collar was forcefully pulled up.

"If you say anymore nonsense, believe it or not, I am going to have you exiled to that place as punishment right now."

"Don't be like that!" Liu Chong took it seriously, "I don't want to be taken away by aliens."

With a gloomy face, Gu Hai dragged him out. "Let's go, take a plane and go find him with me."

Thereafter, Gu Hai sat in a helicopter that Liu Chong piloted as they began searching for Bai Luo Yin's silhouette in the dark and vast boundless sky.

During the search, Liu Chong couldn't help but to give Gu Hai a glance and asked, "Why didn't Bai Tuzhang say anything to you before he left?"

Gu Hai responded with a murky look, "What does it have to do with you?"

"Even if you don't say it, I know anyway," Liu Chong said with an understanding expression, as if he was well aware of the situation.

At those words, Gu Hai shot him a glare. "What do you know?"

"You must have definitely done something wrong to Bai Tuzhang, and he found out."

"Just navigate the plane properly!" Gu Hai was quite vexed, "Matters that require you to use your brain really don't suit you."

"I may be a bit slow-witted, but I can see that Bai Tuzhang really likes you. Ever since Bai Tuzhang entered the army, I rarely saw him smile, but for nearly half the year after you came into the picture, he would smile at us from time to time. I feel that Bai Tuzhang is a very dedicated and persistent person who does not fall for someone easily. However, once he does, it will be difficult to sway his unwavering feelings."

Although Liu Chong's words were simple and honest, each word stabbed Gu Hai's vitals very precisely.

Seeing that Gu Hai did not disapprove of his words for some time, Liu Chong continued to speak. "So, I think that it's not necessary for you to painstakingly search for him. Since he has decided to be together with you, he will definitely come back to find you."

Of course, Gu Hai understood that logic. He wanted to find Bai Luo Yin not because he might meet with any great mishaps, he just wanted to immediately comfort him. He did not want Bai Luo Yin to always be alone when he was upset. Whenever he thought of Bai Luo Yin hiding away somewhere all alone, he could feel his own heart aching excruciatingly, almost as if he was being stabbed to death himself.

After a night of search without any results, Gu Hai returned to the base in the wee hours.

As expected, Bai Luo Yin had not returned. Then, after inquiring from Zhou Ling Yun, he found out that Bai Luo Yin had asked for three days of leave.

Three days… where can he go?

Ever since Gu Hai and Bai Luo Yin swindled him out of a huge amount of money, Gu Yang's constitution had been severely undermined, and his pocket greatly burnt.[1] After months of working strenuously day in and day out, his financial situation finally returned to the level that it was before the damage. For the last few days, Gu Yang had been thinking about going on a holiday somewhere to rest and nourish his body.

Just as the water for the coffee started boiling, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

Gu Yang sandwiched his cellphone between his ear and shoulder as he filtered out the coffee grounds.

The person on the other end of the line spoke after some time, "Is Yin Zi over at your place?"

When Gu Yang heard Gu Hai's voice, his movements immediately paused. Then he held the phone and walked to the balcony.

"Did you just ask me if Bai Luo Yin was at my place?" Gu Yang confirmed.

Gu Hai let out a 'yeah'.

"What? He decided not to be with you anymore? Did he run away?"

Beep beep beep…

The moment Gu Yang put down the phone, he found the situation rather unadaptable as it was the first time someone hung up on him.

He went back to pour the filtered coffee into a cup, then carefully took a sip. As expected, the taste was truly stronger than usual.

In the afternoon, Gu Yang caught a plane and arrived in Beijing.

When Gu Hai's office door was pushed open, only Tong Zhe was there— sitting directly in front of him without fear. Facing Gu Yang's visit, Tong Zhe was surprised at first, but his expression quickly went back to normal.

"Long time no see." Tong Zhe waved handsomely.

Gu Yang's ice-cold gaze swept over him with a hint of mockery at the corner of his eyes.

"Gu Hai must have treated you well! It has only been a few days and you are already taking on an active behavior, acting like you are the boss instead of an employee?"[2]

Tong Zhe's willful eyes skipped over, "Just so so, it is a bit better than when I was with you."

Gu Yang went to sit next to him and rested his hand on Tong Zhe's shoulder before attentively scrutinising him. After a long while, an ambiguous smile emerged on his face.

"The better you are here, the happier I am." Those were Gu Yang's heartfelt words.

Tong Zhe smiled indifferently and then looked at him and asked, "Bai Luo Yin is missing, did you know?"

"I know, I am here for that exact reason."

"Then, why don't you hurry up and take the opportunity to go find him? Maybe, if you find him, he could be yours."

Gu Yang's finger slid down Tong Zhe's handsome face. "Don't tell me that this is the opportunity that you have created for me? I am very easily moved…"

"You think too much," Tong Zhe sneered coldly as he grasped Gu Yang's wrist. "The opportunity was given by your dear uncle. You should take two boxes of melatonin[3] and pay him a visit instead! I believe that he has been under a lot of pressure recently. Sometimes, I really admire Bai Luo Yin. He specifically picked your Gu family to lay his hand on, so bold and daring."

Gu Yang narrowed his eyes, his gaze changed along with Tong Zhe's expression.

"Did my uncle find out the truth?"

Tong Zhe let out a sigh, "As soon as the old man heard that the two wanted to get married, he exploded instantly."

Not to mention Gu Wei Ting, even when Gu Yang heard the word 'get married', he also exploded in a not so calm manner.

"Get married? Who is getting married to whom?"

Tong Zhe snorted, "If I said that I am getting married to him, would you believe it?"

Just as Gu Yang's heart had only started to flare up, it cooled down immediately after. Initially, he had thought that the reason Bai Luo Yin left was because of Tong Zhe. Who could have imagined that this bastard actually came here to be a bystander.[4] And he had even said the words 'getting married' while using a tone as if he was an outsider.For Gu Yang, that was an enormous shock!

Fuck, it's only been three months!! It's only been three months since I haven't shown up and they have progressed to a stage where they are talking about marriage?

Just as he was in the midst of thoughts, the beautiful Yan Ya Jing pushed open the door and walked in.

Gu Yang glanced at her. She opened her mouth and was about to say something, but after carefully looking at him, she realised that he was not Gu Hai. She swallowed back the words that were hanging at the tip of her tongue and turned to Tong Zhe instead.

"You, come out of there!" Yan Ya Jing forcefully pulled Tong Zhe's arm.

Tong Zhe replied indifferently, "Violent woman!"

"So, what if I am a violent woman? Come out of there, come out…"

Tong Zhe was actually dragged out by Yan Ya Jing.

At that point, Gu Yang could sense a hint of flirtatious banter between Tong Zhe and Yan Ya Jing from their 'confrontation'. What kind of fucking bullshit is this? I endured the pain and reluctantly placed you here, with the intention of letting you be a love rival, not to let you help them destroy the love rival!!![5]

Bai Luo Yin piloted the helicopter all the way to the south and unknowingly reached Hong Kong.

If Gu Yang had been notified ahead of time, perhaps Bai Luo Yin could have been intercepted. Unfortunately, that fool had not anticipated this and had actually ran over to Beijing in order to watch the amusement.

In the end, not only did he not see the amusement, he even messed out on this golden opportunity.

Just like that, Bai Luo Yin continued on aimlessly and cut off all air and ground communication with the control department back on base. Ever since he decided to leave, he had no intention to let anyone find him.

He suddenly wanted to be free and unrestrained for once— to taste the feeling of being selfish and see exactly how much joy could overtake him.

After nine years, he really needed to find a place to take a rest.

He wanted to find a place where he did not need to think about those so-called responsibilities, worry about getting punished for any disciplinary offense and instead, somewhere where he could be absolutely unrestrained and reckless without worrying that there would be a pair of eyes watching him in the dark…

How did he change from being a frivolous youngster who never feared anyone's judgement to an old soldier who endured all humiliations and suffered in silence? How did he change from a tarrying gifted genius who had no desire for power or wealth to a man who chased after fame and fortune? How did he change from a filial son that had always placed his family above all to a rebellious bastard that deserted his friends and family?…

All of those changes were… merely to protect a relationship.

Bai Luo Yin searched for the route that he had used to save Gu Hai that time as he flew southward. Finally, he descended on the empty ground from back then, and surprisingly, that little donkey was still lying there— at that same spot, unsure of how many times it had been kicked and trampled by people as it had already been covered in mud. Bai Luo Yin picked up the little donkey and after he patted off the dirt, the elegant demeanor from before was still faintly visible.

Bai Luo Yin took the son back again.

When he set off, he went westward this time.

Everything back at home had exploded long ago. Everyone was looking for Bai Luo Yin; all the leaders in the military, the soldiers, Bai Luo Yin's family, even all of Gu Hai's family was looking for him…

Ever since Bai Luo Yin left, Gu Wei Ting had not had a decent night of sleep. When he closed his eyes every night, all he could see was Bai Luo Yin's hopeless face. Initially, he had persuaded himself to believe that Bai Luo Yin only did that to make him give in and have him condemned by everyone. But then, those type of thoughts became more and more groundless and he started to worry about Bai Luo Yin.

He recalled five years ago when Bai Luo Yin had gone to look for him at the base. He had stood before him and begged in a low voice.

"Uncle, can you please let me stay in the tunnel for a while? Just a little while."

On that night, the faint sound of weeping thrummed constantly in Gu Wei Ting's ears until daylight emerged.

Translator's Note:

[1] 元气大伤lit: Vitality was greatly harmed. This actually implies if your health is greatly harmed. But given the context, CJD was talking about that time when GH and BLY stole a large sum of money from GY, so we changed it to "his pocket was greatly burnt". It can also be written as 大伤元气.

[2] 反客为主Lit: To turn from a guest to a master. Gu Yang is implying that Tong Zhe was acting like he was the boss since he was sitting in Gu Hai's seat in his office.

[3] melatonin – a hormone made by the pineal gland. That's a pesized gland found just above the middle of your brain. It helps your body know when it's time to sleep and wake up. Normally, your body makes more melatonin at night. Levels usually start to go up in the evening once the sun sets. They drop in the morning when the sun goes up. The amount of light you get each day — plus your own body clock — sets how much your body makes. You can also buy melatonin supplements. They come in pills, liquids, and chewables. You might find them in natural or synthetic forms. The natural forms are made from the pineal gland in animals.

[4] be a bystander ( 打酱油) – lit. to buy soy sauce; fig. 'It's none of my business' (I'm just here to buy some soy sauce).

[5] GY wanted TZ to be a love rival between GH and BLY, not to help them get rid of YYJ (the other love rival).

Nancy: I wanted this chapter just for these two sentences. My heart broke! – ("Uncle, can you please let me stay in the tunnel for a while? Just a little while." On that night, the faint sound of weeping thrummed constantly in Gu Wei Ting's ears until daylight emerged. )

Sae: T.T oh, how I want to take the six katanas I have and stab a b*

Chapter end