Chapter 43: The Admiral, Despised?

Lucas froze, and Luo Ran also froze.

The people below boiled.

Lillia, who’d been pushed off the platform by Lucas and now had to see this, ran away in tears.
It seemed that she was hit hard.

Then…

Then the people and ministers who came to join the fun began to shout.

“Not getting married is unreasonable!”

“Not getting married is unreasonable!!”

“Get married! Get married!!”

Lucas still stood as upright as ever, with only his bright red ears betraying anything amiss.

Meanwhile, Luo Ran couldn’t wait to find a hole to crawl into.

As the shouting got louder, Luo Ran jumped down from the platform and used his fastest speed to… run away.

Lucas paused a beat, then also strode away.

The two boarded a hovercar amidst deafening roars.

* * *

Then, there was silence.

An eerie silence.

An awkward silence.

Maybe… an anxious silence.

The hovercar took off and smoothly drove back to the company.

Along the way, it was so quiet that even the sound of Luo Ran flipping through his documents was piercing to the ear.

With Lucas stiffly sitting beside him with his arms crossed, Luo Ran felt that this sound was too incompatible, so he turned on his terminal.

[The whole world celebrates! The admiral and the secretary are official!!!]

XXX: AAAAAAAAH Hooray! Hooray! My CP is real!

XXX: Oh my gods, it’s too incredible for an alpha and a beta to have a fit like this!! I didn’t expect the system to actually go up to 200? I thought a full score was 100! As expected of my CP!

XXX: AAAAAA!!!!! It’s said that it was Luobing’s princess who dragged the admiral to the compatibility scanner and pulled him around, then Secretary Luo was so jealous that he stepped forward and pulled her away so he could test with the admiral, and proved his official status with a 200%!! Heavens, a jealous Secretary Luo is too cute!

XXX: AAAAAA!!!!! so this is an official announcement, right?! Are they going to get married! Then then then, then what do we call the future heir of the Imperial Army!

Luo Ran: “…”

He calmly closed the terminal.

The two of them sat face to face, and as if sitting on pins and needles, neither of them said a word until they reached their destination.

“Admiral, we’re here.” Luo Ran stood.

“Oh, yeah.” Lucas got up as well.

Maybe they were in too much of a hurry to exit, so they happened to bump into each other.

Luo Ran immediately took a big step back in fright.

Lucas: “…”

Luo Ran smiled, though he clutched at his documents.
“Please go first, Admiral.”

Lucas touched his nose and also stepped back.
“You, get off.”

“…”

Luo Ran was a little hesitant to go out.
He probably hesitated for too long, because when he took a step forward, Lucas also thought he didn’t plan to go and moved as well.

The two collided again, and this time, Luo Ran slammed into Lucas’ chest.

“…!”

“I-I’ll go now.” Luo Ran quickly put some distance between them and jumped down.

He really never thought that although he and Lucas had been together for so many years, there would be a day when he’d be so embarrassed.

Lucas followed behind him.
When they took the elevator, they could feel everyone’s curious gazes, which weren’t hidden in the least.

After all, everyone’s terminals had received the notification.

When they finally reached the top floor, they saw Rong Duo sitting obediently at her desk with shining eyes and clenched fists.

“Se-Secretary Luo!! Does the secretary’s office need to prepare PR!”

Wuwuwuwu my CP is real!!

Rong Duo had composed several symphonies in her heart, and cried enough to fill a lake.
She’d also already planned out how to write the official announcement.

“Yes,” Luo Ran said, then took a deep breath.
“Prepare public relations to clarify the truth, don’t let everyone continue to misunderstand.”

“Yeah… Huh?” Rong Duo thought she’d heard it wrong.

Luo Ran was incomparably calm.
“I’ll write the manuscript myself, then you get all the official accounts to reblog it, so that we can clarify the false scandal between me and the admiral.”

Rong Duo was stunned.

Rong Duo was confused.

Rong Duo subconsciously looked at Lucas.

Lucas looked gloomy and expressionless, as if he would eat a child in the next second.

“Do as he says!” Lucas turned around, strode into his office, and slammed the door shut.

“Admiral, he…” Rong Duo gulped.

“Of course he’s angry…” Luo Ran lowered his eyes and said helplessly, “It should be because of the scandal, he’s always hated these things.
It’s okay, we just have to clarify it as soon as possible.”

Rong Duo: “…”

W-Was it like this?!

Why did it seem like something was wrong…

Rong Duo blankly turned on the computer while recalling Lucas’ expression.

And in the office, Lucas was so angry that he guzzled down half a bottle of water.

Bastard!

This little bastard!

Lucas sat at his desk with a heavy face.

The little bastard clearly liked him so much, why was he so resistant to the official announcement?

Could it be that he despised him for being dirty?

Or was he worried that the interstellar pirates weren’t solved, so he might die on the battlefield at any time?

Or did he not like his personality?

Zhou Mingkai once told him that everyone thought he was too fierce and too difficult to get along with.
Did Luo Ran also think like that?

So he only flirted and refused to be responsible?

Fuck, what a playboy.

This word that Zhou Mingkai mentioned was too suitable!

When he flirted, he let himself go and did whatever, but now that the time came, he refused to be responsible.

Scumbag!

Lucas angrily gulped down the rest of the water.

Outside, Luo Ran was also drinking water — to suppress his shock.

As he wrote the clarification, he also kept an eye on his terminal.

Xia Zhi and others who knew him all hurriedly messaged him to ask if he really got together with Lucas, and Luo Ran had to explain to them one by one.

He wanted to cry but had no tears.

Don’t mention the marshal and his wife who excitedly asked if they could arrange the wedding, even Luo Cheng and Wang Zitong had sent him messages to call him home for the weekend because they had something to discuss.

Their tone was especially, especially serious.

Luo Ran helplessly agreed, then posted the clarification.

@Luo Ran the Secretary: I sincerely apologise regarding today’s events.
I should not have accidentally stood on the compatibility scanner and undergone matching with the admiral, which caused misunderstandings and consumed starnet resources.
The relationship between the admiral and I is not one that requires testing with the compatibility scanner.
The system showing 200% when its perfect score is 100% should be an error, and this will be investigated.
Once again, I apologise for causing trouble for the admiral and contributing to false rumours.

I swear to be more attentive in the future, and hope that my friendship with the admiral will last.

Luo Ran sent a post, and everyone once again flocked to it to like and comment.

XXX: Okay okay okay!! The admiral and the secretary will always be friends!! Always!

XXX: AAAAH!!! Secretary Luo, you’re so beautiful and clever, I like you so much! You and the admiral will always be friends!

XXX: Always friends! 999999!*

Luo Ran felt a little relief at everyone’s reactions.

Then he noticed that the CP group he joined had posted a general announcement at some point.

[Notice] Secretary Luo posted! Everyone can go comment and support, restrain your emotions, and politely wish the secretary and the admiral a long friendship! Don’t scare Secretary Luo, he’s shy! Let’s wait until the official announcement!

Luo Ran: “…”

What… What kind of human suffering was this?

But after all the excitement, Luo Ran still had to return to the days when he didn’t even have time to be troubled.
He also didn’t forget to ask the research institute to check how a 200% result came about.

The wedding, the UNK, and the imprisoned pirates… There was also the normal workload from the company and military HQ.
When it was all added together with the backlog from his and Lucas’ absence, Luo Ran became so busy that he couldn’t even bother to eat dinner.

A few days later, Luo Ran visited the newly built UNK Special Research Centre.

He didn’t have the authority to go in himself, so one of the managers had to lead him through the many layers of defences and corridors until they reached the research centre’s laboratory.

“Ranran’s here,” Xia Zhi, wearing a white lab coat, greeted him with a smile and a file in his hand.
“It’s more annoying the first time you come, next time you can use my ID, you won’t have to go through the checks again.” Xia Zhi shook his head.
“It was the same my first time as well.”

As one of the project leaders, Xia Zhi’s ID would be very convenient to use.*

Luo Ran took it and thanked him with a smile.

Today, Luo Ran was here as a representative for Lucas and the military to follow up on the research centre’s progress and to confirm its security.

After all, the Empire’s ores and UNK had always been under the charge of Lucas’ company and army.

“Secretary Luo.” Shen Xiluo also stepped forward to say hello.
“It just so happens that we have a test this afternoon, would you like to watch?”

“A test?”

“Studying the effects of UNK on the human body,” Xia Zhi replied.

So half an hour later, Luo Ran followed them to another lab.

Through a pane of glass, he saw several uniformed men inject something into two lightly-dressed men.
Some machines were placed to the side.

Then the uniformed men all retreated behind the instruments and let the two men wrap sensors around their wrists and begin to fight.

Since it was just for an experiment, the two men didn’t go too far.

The uniformed staff inside began to record data, and Xia Zhi and Shen Xiluo were also observing the instruments from outside.

Shen Xiluo explained to Luo Ran, “According to our current research, after a small amount of UNK is injected into the human body, our brains will be stimulated and become clearer.
Not only that, but strength, speed, and agility all improve as well.”

Luo Ran glanced at Xia Zhi in surprise.

Their previous conjecture was confirmed.

This UNK could act as a stimulant, similar to some banned drugs.

As a result, the immediate priority was to make sure that there were no side effects.

“Abusing it is a danger, but drug abuse is possible no matter which drug, not to mention something like this which can increase physical ability.” Xia Zhi shook his head.
“However, the Council and the royal family were obviously very excited when they found out.
They can’t wait to seize development rights and use it on all our Imperial soldiers.”

Luo Ran frowned slightly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll do our best to stop them,” Xia Zhi said, shaking his head again.
“Me and old Shen were both under General Alton for a while, we won’t use soldiers’ bodies as tools.”

Luo Ran looked at the two men inside the room, who should be guards of the research centre.

As they sparred, Luo Ran could see that they moved extremely quickly, and that although they looked relaxed and obviously didn’t exert all their strength against each other, their punches held shocking force, and several holes had appeared in the floor.

“Hoo…” Xia Zhi lightly sighed.
“If you injected someone like the admiral who’s already heaven-defyingly strong, that would really be a human-shaped machine gun…”

“No way.” Luo Ran’s face darkened.

“Huh…?” Xia Zhi jumped.

Noticing that he was a little rude, Luo Ran quickly smiled.
“Sorry, it’s just that the admiral is mentally unstable… he can’t be injected with this.
SSS alpha are inherently prone to going berserk, they can’t do it.”

“Hey…! You misunderstood, how would it be possible!” Xia Zhi swiftly explained himself.
“I didn’t mean that.”

“It’s okay, I’m sorry.” Luo Ran also felt a little embarrassed.

After the test was over, Luo Ran left in a hurry.
He still had many documents to read, and his time was very tight.

“Secretary Luo loves the admiral very much.” Shen Xiluo pushed up his glasses and hinted bluntly, “I’m slightly envious.”

“…” Xia Zhi internally rolled his eyes.
“That’s because my family’s Ranran is a stupid kid.
As long as you treat him well, he’ll return it ten times over.
Before, the admiral was good to him, so of course Ranran is devoted to him.
It’s not necessarily love.”

Shen Xiluo frowned, seemingly puzzled.

“For some reason, Ranran was bullied while in school, that’s why he has claustrophobia — when he was young, he’d been locked in a school cupboard for a long time.
After graduation, he had a sudden change in the family, and after he started to work he was inevitably bullied again, then the admiral was the first person to protect him.”

“Why?” Shen Xiluo always wanted to get to the bottom of things.

“Just…” Xia Zhi frowned deeply.
“At the time, a pervert kept chasing him.
They seemed to be the child of some noble family with money and connections, so everyone listened to him.
Plus Ranran at the time was both good-looking and had good grades, and with his rare silver hair, he attracted jealousy everywhere.”

Shen Xiluo thought about it and felt that he had a faint impression.
He seemed to have heard Lucas talk about it when Luo Ran first took office.
“That pervert… was he the son of the viscount family?”

“Exactly,” Xia Zhi said.
“The pervert still pestered Ranran even after they graduated.
Later, when Ranran became a secretary, he was too scared to go home and kept sleeping at the company until the admiral chased him away.
This isn’t a secret, if you want to know more you can ask him yourself, he won’t mind.”

Shen Xiluo nodded.

“So, don’t show those fucking videos to the admiral, how embarrassing,” Xia Zhi snarled angrily.
“Ranran told me everything.
Why the hell would you share those videos, are you crazy! It’s not like you’ve learnt anything, with such crappy skills, even a massage stick would feel better.
Watching them was a waste of your time.”

Shen Xiluo: “…”

Shen Xiluo’s whole face alternated between white and blue, his entire body petrified, and his originally rational appearance was completely shattered.

“I…” Shen Xiluo was about to defend himself when Xia Zhi simply strode away.

Shen Xiluo: “…”

O-Oh…

Translator:
My life’s getting unfortunately hectic, so this novel will update every 2 weeks until further notice.
On the bright side, Shen Xiluo is a laugh as always.

Footnotes:

999999: in netizen slang, 9 represents 久 (meaning ‘a long time’) because they sound similar (jiǔ) Don’t do this, it’s irresponsible (and may go very very badly for you, depending on lab protocol) to hand your access card to other people and you WILL get yelled at by your supervisor.