Cat and Rose - Cat & Rose - Chapter 61 - When Dawn Breaks (5)

Chapter 61 – When Dawn Breaks (5)

Ling Yi was very dissatisfied with how Lin Si was distracted while looking at his rose, but since Lin Si was distracted by himself, he decided he would forgive him for the time being.

“I actually saw several Rosette Nebulas, but this was the best-looking one.” Ling Yi zoomed in on the photo. The composition of the nebula was very ethereal and beautiful, with mists that intertwined, rose and fell. When it was zoomed in to the maximum, the entire screen looked like a sea of roses, twinkling with stars. .

“When we pass through there again, I’ll take you to see it…it’s a shame there aren’t any real roses.” Ling Yi squinted his eyes, as if he was imagining the scene at that time, with an expression like a cat satiated by sunbathing. His look made one want to rub his fur.

“Okay.” Lin Si pondered, and because he brought up the topic of roses, he added, “Area 2 stores many kinds of plant seeds. I can apply for some so you can plant and play when you’re bored in the laboratory.”

Ling Yi’s eyes gleamed.

Life in the laboratory was very boring, and because there was truly nothing to do, he became addicted to the little minesweeper game that was a default application on his bracelet.

—Moreover, he had suffered a huge blow from it as well. He painstakingly worked hard in his calculations, but would still always blow up because of the factors of luck, while Lin Si only needed to glance at the screen once in order to figure out where those landmines were. It was almost as if there was a CPU installed in his brain.

If Tang Ning was the one who grew up beside Lin Si, the two of them would definitely share a common language, directly transcend their fleshly bodies and use electromagnetic waves to communicate.

Bah, the jealousy.

Lin Si always did what he said, and his authority level was also enough, downloading an application form and filling in the names of several small plants that were easy to grow.

“I want roses.” Ling Yi set the photo of the nebula as his screensaver.

“Roses have thorns.”

“I still want them.”

“They’re difficult to take care of.”

“I want it.”

Fine. As you like—everything as you like.

“Be careful of your hands when planting them.” Lin Si filled in a relatively well-known species of rose on Earth in the past, and sent out the form. The seeds or seedlings would be sent over along with the next batch of supplies, so thinking of this, he used his occupational authority to add some gardening resources to the list as well.

After consoling Ling Yi until he was happy, he left the ward and returned to the experimental area.

The days that followed were quiet and still. Because of Ling Yi’s presence, they finally achieved a breakthrough with the antibodies. As they deconstructed the virus’ form step-by-step, a preliminary approach for the vaccine also gradually appeared. What surprised them was that this breakthrough and approach had subtle, mysterious similarities to the original Berlin virus, and even the initial genetic modification experiment from the Berlin laboratory.

This resemblance was untraceable and lacked factual basis. Lin Si initially thought of it as a misconception, but others also raised similar observations—the members of the laboratory were all excellent scholars with astonishing intuition in scientific research.

Someone said jokingly, perhaps this virus also clung to carbon-based organisms similar to us humans to survive.

The research went well, but the days Ling Yi spent were not very good. Drawing blood, drawing bone marrow, drawing tissue fluid, taking slices from time to time, it was a dark period without daylight.

—The vast majority of those times were also done by Lin Si, which prompted Ling Yi to recall his fear of being dominated by him when he was a child.

However, despite living under the needle every day, his body was stubbornly recovering.

It first overcame the virus, then repaired the damage caused by it.

After confirming that he was fully recovered, he stayed in the buffer zone for another half month or so. After repeatedly confirming that he did not carry the virus, he finally returned to the ranks of the normal people.

The biggest change brought about by this matter was that he could finally return to the safe zone, no longer having to interact with Lin Si through a protective film.

However, the night he attained freedom, he got into an argument with Lin Si.

“You’re chasing me out?” Ling Yi was in disbelief.

“You’re not a child anymore, Mr Ling Yi.” Lin Si flipped open his file expressionlessly. “If you don’t have the correct perception of your age, I suggest you take a look at your own ID card.”

“But that has nothing to do with whether or not I can sleep in your room!” Ling Yi frowned.

“Any mammalian species has the biological instinct to build a nest independently in adulthood. Are you a single cell organism?” said Lin Si.

Ling Yi’s eyes were red with grievance. “Aren’t you my guardian?”

“The guardianship between us was terminated as early as the day you became an adult,” Lin Si opened the document regarding guardianship again; his speech was reasonable and well-founded, had strict logic, and even cited examples, “Zheng Shu also used to be Tang Ning’s guardian, but have you seen Tang Ning go to Zheng Shu’s accommodation?”

“They’re not the same…” Ling Yi opened his mouth to refute, but suddenly, it was as if his entire body suffocated.

Tang Ning and Zheng Shu.

They were not any different, actually.

They were both underage when they boarded the ship, then assigned a guardian by the ship, and this guardianship was terminated at the age of eighteen.

—And then?

And then they became like that.

Ling Yi still remembered that many years ago on his birthday, Tang Ning, who never paid attention to this kind of thing, sent him an unexpected congratulatory message just to ask how Zheng Shu was doing recently.

He did not send messages to Zheng Shu himself, as Zheng Shu’s reply would certainly be very standardised and very official, just like all his replies to his superficial friends. Compared to receiving an automated reply, he would rather beat around the bush.

There were other times too, where the interactions between them only consisted of cold, icy exchanges of business. But many years ago, Tang Ning was also a child who grew up with his hand held by Zheng Shu, a child who only had eyes for him.

Ling Yi did not know whether it was hard for Zheng Shu when it came to their relationship that was even more distant than strangers, but he knew that it was hard for Tang Ning. Every time he saw that expression that was evidently upset but still pretended to be fine, he would prefer it if Tang Ning was someone who had nothing in his heart besides codes and mathematics.

Now, Lin Si also wanted to part with him.

He also wanted to treat him like how Zheng Shu treated Tang Ning.

Ling Yi felt that his entire being was on the verge of collapse.

He turned and walked into his room next door, closed the door shut, leaned back against the door, and stared blankly at the silver ceiling.

“Ling Yi?” Lin Si was knocking on the door.

Ling Yi’s voice was very quiet. “I’m angry.”

Lin Si frowned slightly and stopped knocking.

He reflected on whether there was anything wrong with the tone he used just now.

But nothing seemed to be wrong.

Certainly, Ling Yi should have gotten used to living on his own—it did not matter much to him, it was not a big problem for a child to want to be closer to him, but it seemed like a child with normal psychology would not do this… On Earth, most boys his age would have already slept together with their girlfriends.

Furthermore, the spaceship was full of Ye Selin’s former subordinates or colleagues, so Lin Si did not want Ling Yi’s image in their hearts to be influenced because of this matter—a twenty year old still sleeping on the same bed as their guardian, what was the difference between that and wetting the bed?

From what he observed, the little thing still wanted to keep his face in front of other people.

Lin Si contemplated expressionlessly, then ultimately returned to his room and called Adelaide.

“My dear friend Lin Si, ten years have passed since the last time you took the initiative to call me. Have you finally remembered your poor ex-roommate and friend?”

The blonde and green-eyed Adelaide said to him, leaning lazily on the sofa.

“I have some issues.” Lin Si intertwined his ten fingers together on the desk, mulling over his words.

“I don’t care about what issues you have. I only care about when exactly you’re accepting treatment.” Adelaide’s eyes curved up.

“I believe my current psychological state is very healthy.”

“Patients with terminal illness always feel healthy until they see the results of their diagnosis.”

Lin Si chose not to argue with him, and went straight to the point, “Ling Yi’s condition feels a bit wrong.”

Adelaide sat up straight, “I’m afraid you’re joking. It’s very hard for a little angel of that level to have psychological problems.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a psychological problem,” Lin Si said after ruminating on his word choice. “You sent me something about Ling Yi before, about neoteny—and said that the environment on the spaceship was not suitable for a child’s growth, so his mental age might develop very slowly.”

“That’s right.” Adelaide nodded. “But life on the Expeditioner should’ve solved that problem.”

“He has no problem getting along with other people,” said Lin Si. “But his attitude toward me is still the same as when he was a child. Five minutes ago, I persuaded him to sleep in a separate room, but he got very angry.”

“Are you talking about the Oedipus complex?” Adelaide understood the sort of behaviour described in terms of “the same as a child”. His expression became serious, gazing at Lin Si in scrutiny.

“It’s a little similar,” said Lin Si.

“So how’s your current relationship?”

“He went back to his room and refused to open the door for me.”

“Hm, interesting.” Adelaide propped up his jaw. “So you too have a day where you get turned away at the door.”

He stretched out his joints lazily and said with a serious expression, “Don’t move. Leave it to me for the time being.”

Lin Si nodded.

Lin Si was not a person who carelessly solved problems according to his subjective judgement. After confirming there was definitely a problem with his interaction with Ling Yi, he chose the correct solution to consult a qualified psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist dialled Ling Yi communication. He was very patient, and knew that a sulking child who locked himself up did not want to talk to anyone on the phone, so he dialled again and again.

Ling Yi finally accepted the call.

A full body hologram of Adelaide appeared in the room.

He sat in front of Ling Yi, grinning as he looked at him.

The lights in the room were off. Ling Yi sat on the armchair by the window, his face slightly pale as he raised his head to look at him.

The brooding look he wore made one go back in time in a flash, to a dark, ghastly medieval castle, whose owner was a young noble who survived by drinking blood and was known by a title like ‘the Duke of Violets’.

Adelaide was slightly stunned, not because of his appearance, but because of his expression.

A person’s facial expressions and body language revealed a lot of information. In the eyes of a genius and experienced psychiatrist, nothing could be hidden away.

That disorientating woe in his eyes absolutely could not have come from the troubles of growing up or the Oedipus complex.

It was clearly—troubles of love.

“Did Lin Si ask you to come?” asked Ling Yi mildly.

“Dr Lin is worried about his family’s little one.” Adelaide smiled and sat on the opposite side of him.

“It’s because he thinks I have issues.”

“Actually, there’s no issue here,” said the psychiatrist, with a gentle smile that made one let go of all vigilance. “I heard that you two had a conflict over whether two people could lie on the same bed.”

“He said that adult animals should learn how to live by themselves.”

“That’s not the issue…” Adelaide’s lips curved upwards. “You love him.”

He believed that when his words fell upon him, Ling Yi would see the light and walk out of his haze, but unexpectedly, Ling Yi simply looked like he had heard any ordinary sentence.

“Yeah,” he said sullenly, “of course I love him.”

“No, not that kind of love,” said Adelaide softly.

“You have to categorise love too?” Ling Yi asked him.

“That’s right.” Adelaide raised his eyebrows. “I also like to divide love into kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.”

Ling Yi let out a laugh. “Sounds really complicated.”

“It’s actually not complicated.” Adelaide shrugged. “For example, the love of an offspring for their parents, the love of a parent for their offspring, the love of a parent for their grown-up offspring, and the love of the grown-up offspring for their parents.”

“Aren’t those the same kind of love?” Ling Yi thought for a while, then said, “Is the love of a parent for their grown-up offspring about throwing it out of the nest?”

“I don’t fully comprehend biology, but even I know that there’s only one situation where two adults will live together in the same nest for a long time.” Adelaide looked at Ling Yi gently with his jade-green eyes.

Ling Yi went silent for a very long time, then finally, said quietly, “Thanks.”

Adelaide still wanted to say something, but the call was abruptly cut off by Ling Yi.

“Tsk.” He leaned against the sofa, muttering the words with ambiguous connotations.

Those who lived in the same nest, of course, were mating partners.

Under the night sky, Ling Yi reminisced about eight years ago.

Eight years ago, the night he made the decision to leave Lin Si, it was also under such a starry sky, where he gazed at the still-asleep Lin Si with a heart filled with sorrow, as if a painful cry would burst from him in the very next instant.

At that time, he thought, why, even though he was looking at Lin Si who he liked so much, he wanted to cry.

At this very moment, he remembered a song.

It was one of the millions of songs stored in Lucia’s database. It was in Chinese, a language he was not unfamiliar with. He did not know which era it came from, the melody had been forgotten, but there were two sentences he could remember especially clearly.

Not only did he remember clearly, but when he first heard those two lines, that chord in his heart suddenly trembled.

…Rattling on and on, is the sorrow of time that refuses to grant me

…Still haven’t seen the eternity I wish for 1

Still hadn’t seen the eternity he wished for.

He lifted his head to look at the night sky.

The dark night was starlit, radiant and shimmering. Dawn rose and sank, the light of day breaking through.

The author has something to say:

Oedipus Complex: When one falls in love with the mother and kills the father. A desire to possess father or mother.

The reason why Lin Si hasn’t thought in that direction isn’t because he’s dense. He has other reasons =w=

The lyrics are from “Hills”. 38

As for the meaning of this chapter, ehehe ( mysterious smile )

I chose a more poetic translation that adheres to the metaphorical expressions used in the lyrics because it gets referenced later again. If you still have trouble understanding the lines, here is a TL in a more straightforward, understandable language: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/sh%C4%81n-qi%C5%AB-hill.html

Thank you for reading on myeasynovel.com