Chapter 90

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

Our great leader Bright is not only concerned with the development of the whole village, but is also concerned with the personal matters of the male singles who are starting to get old. After having been the godsend wingman for Alpha and Statistician, he happily goes back home.

Before entering he sees a few cute flowers that are blooming nicely, so he digs them up from the root, putting them in a small ceramic vase, presenting them to Hopkin. The pretty boy takes them, puts them where sunlight can reach on the veranda, and adjusts their position so they appear better.

In terms of quality of life improvements and aesthetics, Bright is nowhere near as proficient as Hopkin, who is always able to live the more elegant life in their everyday norms, as if able to discover the beady reflecting dews among the lush bushes. The tea set and other decorations in the house are all made by him, and the house, therefore, feels comfortable in many senses.

“I’m a bit late, so apologies.”

“I thought you promised you won’t meddle in these trivialities.” As expected, everything men promise on the bed is not to be taken seriously.

Hopkin is in his pyjamas. He only woke up at 2 in the afternoon, because he sleeps quite late normally. He basically only wakes up about this time.

Since the man is not next to him when he woke up, he was either at the village square or in the shop. There’s an earthen furnace in the kitchen where a soup was brewing with a small flame. There were noodles, mushrooms and vegetables on the table next to it. A combination of vegetables and protein which is both nutritious and tasty. He put the ingredient which has already been prepared into the pot, fanned the flames, and it’s ready to eat after a short while. Noodles cooked in a chicken soup is especially fragrant, because there are spices in there, which also absorbed the oil and is strangely aromatic, and especially appetising, so much so he drank two bowls and a half.

Since his last meal was quite late, he’s not hungry yet, so he decides to start making the meal when Bright finishes and comes back.

“Woof woof!” When he hears the barking, Hopkin knows Bright is back. Who knows where the man got a dog to come back, having named it Latiao. It appears to be a shepherd dog from the 20 ^th or 21 ^st century. It’s quite intelligent, and able to discern the man’s footsteps from afar.

The two chat as they do chores, one making the meal the other washing the dishes; one is sweeping the ground as the other takes out the trash.

It is mainly Bright talking. He’s a lot more talkative after leaving the City.

“Wolfie is much more active than Hope, often mucking about with the young werewolves and apes, making ruckus and being naughty and rowdy. He’s almost become the local alpha kid at this point.” There are schools in the village now named ‘Tomorrow;’ Bright is often the recipient of complaints against Wolfie made by the teachers.

Hopkin suggests, “have him re-schooled?”

“I’m worried he’ll be a bad influence to all the kids. Last time, there were newborn little male werewolves who wondered why their dangly bits are different from their elder’s, and he has little balls there. Wolfie told him casually it’s a tumour, so the little werewolf almost castrated himself when he went home, haha!”

Hopkin’s lips also perk up picturing Wolfie’s pitiful appearance after getting scolded by Alpha.

Since he’s late, he’ll have to make it up to his romantic partner. So he talks about some more interesting stories, many of which are embarrassments that happened when people from outside the village came for the first time.

They worked to build the village ‘Tomorrow’ together, and it is not a closed village. Bright firmly believes that a policy of isolation will not be a good development. With the presupposition that they’re able to defend themselves, he would encourage the villagers to go outside to interact. He also welcomes merchants and friends to come.

Though, for security concerns, the village does not allow outsiders to stay for the night yet, and it is strictly enforced. They’ll be asked to leave the valley when the time is up. Since the village is quite powerful, this is quite a safe area without beasts and criminals. Many Outsiders also begin to gather nearby. While it’s lively and good for development, but with many people about management becomes difficult. For example, the deterioration of public sanitation can be seen when people were spitting, littering and even excreting just off the road, which the villagers started to complain about. This only improved when Hopkin proposed the Alliance of Tomorrow which unified the factions that made a home outside the village, and then enacted public sanitation policies surrounding the village.

And so an Alliance that stood for centuries and changed the whole power dynamic of the world is actually originally founded for a public health campaign, but we digress.

When Hopkin is clearly relaxed and in a good mood, Bright talks about the triviality he meddled in today, and then lamented, “I sure didn’t expect the werewolves would live for so long.”

Hopkin tells him that Statistician’s human body will also age. Though if new organs were continuously used to replace his failing organs, theoretically he should live forever.

Still, if it is now one of them living for a bit over a hundred years while the other lives forever, who knows if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, or even a comedic tragedy.

“That’s what they’ll have to deal with.” It’s nothing to do with him. Bright, who has an old parent mentality and believes kids will have their own fortunes and misfortunes, so thinks.

Hopkin couldn’t care less himself. He’d rather Bright only cares about and worries about himself alone. Though Bright did already delegate most of his power out, as one of the main founder and manager of Tomorrow, he still has a lot to deal with. Earlier he’s often so busy he’s never home, and the two had very little alone time. It only improved bit by bit after that.

As for Statistician being with Alpha, Hopkin is actually more interested in Statistician’s stance following this. Perhaps he can use this for the development of the village.

This village is built by Bright and Hopkin and the rebellion. Hopkin’s contribution is visible in many aspects. It is with his strategies and schemes that Bright did not mess up anything or lose direction in the beginning. Everyone knows how valuable Hopkin’s contributions were which is also one of the main reasons why they did not mind his identity and accepted him as the King’s spouse.

After comparing the longevity between werewolf and Statistician, Hopkin seems to have thought of something, “I hope we will be able to depart this world together.”

“Oh?” Bright raises his brows.

The aristocrat says in a serious manner, “I’m worried about leaving you here alone. There must be many people who want you for themselves; I can’t stand a world without you. So, let’s die together, with not a second of difference.”

This is the first time he has talked about their eventual passing. Looking at how serious Hopkin is, Bright also straightens his posture.

“Then it’s a promise.”

After they’re full, Bright caresses Hopkin’s tummy,

“I’ve fed enough for you to get pregnant maybe seven or eight times, no?”

“Don’t say that out loud…” Hopkin sounds weakened. He did want to make him sound more imposing, but being exhausted as he is, he really didn’t have the strength. It sounded more like appealing or acting cute.

That they have a good relationship does not need to be proved by one side fainting or even becoming crippled. There was a time when he had to get viagra for himself and collected all sorts of medicine in secret. He even traded with Outsiders, and rumours started to circulate about how Bright is going limp. Who knows what Bright thought when he heard them, but he was even more diligent afterwards, and Hopkin had to take more medicine… and the vicious cycle continued until Hopkin couldn’t take it anymore and told the man, so the man finally understood. He let Hopkin be for seven days to recover his stamina, and has also learnt restraint for their activities after that.

Bright didn’t think he had a problem initially. Common sense would suggest that as the two become more and more enamoured with each other they must be doing it for longer and more intensely. It gets better when they’re deeply in love compared to when they’ve just met each other; it gets better when they’re living together compared to when they’re deeply in love; it gets better when they’re married compared to when they’re living together. Year by year, day by day, their relationship would progress and deepen. If he slacked off or acted not as passionately he would feel like their relationship would be headed downhill. So he did it more diligently and more diligently over time.

Though Bright’s starting point is already too high, and that was already too much for Hopkin. So when he did it, enhanced style, double enhanced style, triple enhanced style, quadruple enhanced style… it is already inhuman.

“Come. Let’s get cleaned up.” Bright soothes him with a quiet murmur, and carries him into the bathroom. They already have water, gas and electricity with a solar powered heater. Of course, it isn’t as good as Inner City. There is a bathtub in the bathroom, but not a jacuzzi.

Bright could only manually massage him, which makes Hopkin feel as if he is encountering a second round of torture.

“Stop pressing me…”

“You’ll feel fatigued in the muscles if I don’t massage you. You won’t even able to leave the bed. Have you forgotten last time already?”

“Then I won’t leave the bed.” Hopkin is a bit frustrated. What last time, how dare the perpetrator talk so imposingly to him?!

Bright pretends he didn’t hear it, and continues his action. He helps him cross his legs several times so the fatigue from it separating for too long is soothed.

Hopkin makes a few cries, and then splashes water onto Bright’s face angrily, “you’re listening to me less and less.”

“You’re the one who spoilt me.”

“…”

Hopkin wakes up late again. He doesn’t feel ashamed, and in fact, thinks it’s praiseworthy he can even manage to get up.

Unexpectedly, today Bright hasn’t left the house, and is reading some data on the desk.

Those are lesson plans that Bright thought of and Hopkin detailed. In the school in the village, the newborn ape younglings are about to enter more advanced classes after having become literate in the basic classes. Now it’s time to decide on their syllabus, lesson plans and textbooks.

Since the apes trust the couple a lot, they’d want to live up to the apes’ expectations and have thought hard and worked hard on this. They often had debates on the content of the course, and sometimes they would even have violent clashes——mentally.

Seeing Hopkin awake, leaning on the wall to walk, Bright feels a bit guilty after all. He attentively helps him about and cleans up for him, making his drinks for him, cooking and washing the dishes for him, working all over the place.

He can be said to be quite the good husband.

When Hopkin is full and all spiffed up, they start to work on it. Hopkin is knowledgeable in many different areas and has many relevant thoughts on them that shows his wits and intelligence. While Bright is not as well-versed as he is, he is often good at leading the discussion along and can also offer critical insights every so often. The two together can definitely be said to be one plus one greater than two. They sure are perfect for each other in marriage.

Oh, right, they had a wedding. The day Tomorrow was founded.

It was a simple wedding, just an announcement, an exchange of wedding rings, and treating everyone to a meal without wine. Though there were many heartfelt congratulations that made up for it.

The moment electricity was set up throughout the village and the moment it lit up, they held each other’s hands tightly and kissed. It is a memory etched vividly in Hopkin’s mind. From darkness to brightness, like his own life. He was extremely happy then, more than anybody else in the world.

He had walked alone in Hell, for a long, long time, until he thought he has become a devil himself, fit only to trudge along in darkness forever. Until Bright came along. The man is like a spark of light, shining onto his life. Hopkin sometimes looks at Bright as if looking at his whole world.

When Bright first heard what he thought, he’s also touched. He said affectionately, “if you didn’t open the window, the light wouldn’t have made it inside either. It is because you have extended your hand to me, that I could hold onto it tightly. You helped yourself, and helped changed me for the better too.”

Bright would never describe himself as a light. He’s not the sun and he cannot undergo nuclear fusion to continuously project energy outwards. He’s also a human, who has to eat, to rest, to work, to relax. He also has bad parts to him, and he also makes mistakes. When the village was being founded, he has also become frustrated with unsolvable conundrums. There are also conflicts between werewolves and apes. It is his clear thoughts and opinions, and all the decisions that he had worked out together with him, that allowed him to walk forward with him, that he didn’t become an authoritative dictator even when they had had their grand victory.

He sees Hopkin as his lover, his only soulmate for life. They love each other, they’re equal to each other, they complement each other, they rely on each other. They’re like gobiidaes and burrowing shrimps . The shrimps are almost completely blind, and they could only escape danger when the fish alerts them by swinging their tail. The shrimp digs holes in the sand which they also often clean, making a nest for the both of them.

They are missing something alone, and only together are they perfect.

[Post-chronicles]

When George ‘the Fan’ is a bit depressed over his idol missing, he becomes even more depressed when he receives a bit of news.

“Overtime work, season eight of the show is going ahead.”

“They’re still doing a season eight?” George jumps up from the bed, knocking a bag of chips over. The smell of tomato and BBQ sauce immediately chokes the medium-sized room. “Shit!” He cusses, a bit flustered.

He’s worried his leader would take it the wrong way, and explains, “I’m not talking about you, sir, season seven started well but ended disappointingly. The ratings plummeted to historical lows, so I thought it’s going to be cut.”

As George said, after all sorts of high-tension developments in season seven, key contestants either escaped or were caught. In the end, it was actually Beauty who few had viewed positively that won the championship.

This is the champion that has had the most naked scenes most frequently with the most number of lovers ever, like a porn star. Now many people inside both Inner and Outer City can say confidently, “ha, I’ve slept with the champion of season seven!” Beauty seems to be quite well adapted to this given his price has risen dramatically and he’s really happy. He’s back at his club where his popularity is through the sky. The show even used it as a joke for self-mockery, managing to lure back some audience with this.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” the team leader says quietly, “number 199 and Dog Soldiers rebelling and escaping, taking away the apes of the show; number 56 and Ginger arrested for treason, only being spared from the death penalty when number 56’s father vouched for them, and only ending up with life imprisonment. Apparently, they are going to have to join season eight this time.”

“Oh,” George still doesn’t understand, “so what do you want me there for?” There shouldn’t be anything for the video editors to do at this point.

The leader instead asks, “you know Ococo well?”

“Somewhat.”

“Season eight is going to be a bit special. While the show is in charge, there’s Outside factions involved, including Outsiders, werewolves and apes. Bright picked Ococo to be the agent in charge of negotiating their entry into the show for the contestants under him. Yep, that Bright.”

“Oooooh——” Does this mean he can see Bright again?! He’s alive again, hahaha!!

“I knew you’d react like that.” The leader complains.

After his initial excitement, George digests this big news.

The design of season eight is the result following a multi-sided fight by all factions.

After the werewolves have attacked the City and Bright led the group to escape, the fissure between Inner and Outer City have enlarged. Outer City is also split in two, however. Butler is pro-Inner City, while the military of Outer City is pro-fight. Though the latter did become weakened following the fight, they contacted factions from the Outside and formed an alliance with some factions and therefore managed to stand against Butler on equal terms. On the other hand, Bright founded the village ‘Tomorrow’ after rebelling, and formed an alliance with some creatures and some Outsiders as well. They might be a new player on the field, but their strength cannot be underestimated.

And therefore, the situation has evolved into something like the Three Kingdoms period – Inner City and Butler, Outer City military and some factions Outside, Alliance of Tomorrow. The three sides form a stable triangle, maintaining a delicate balance.

The show has now become the forefront for their power struggles and vie for control.

“How will the competitions be changed?” George asks.

“They’re still talking about it in the endless number of meetings. Apparently it’s mainly the Alliance of Tomorrow objecting to the discrimination of non-humans, so they demand that Inner City residents must also participate. The military is also fanning the flames next to them.”

“They’ll never come to an agreement then.”

The two quiet down. They both decide not to mention that last message Bright made on the Internet. Those who don’t believe in it don’t think it’s worth talking about; those who do need no further persuasion.

“Quit daddling and come.” The leader says at the end.

George puts on his clothes and wipes his face before leaving his house.

Their lives continue, as if completely unchanged, but also as if everything has changed.

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