Chapter 61: Ambers of the Long Night (17)
On the second day of the academic exchange, Seth calmly walked down the corridor, ignored Dodge—who was still sleeping on the carpet—and opened the door. After confirming the secret signal with Tang Mobai and waiting for him to finish his “frail patient” makeup, he finally turned and said to the eager Dodge, “You can come in now.”
Dodge entered the room without hesitation and got straight to the point: “Hello, I’m Dodge. My main research field is aerospace. I want to discuss the orbital technology theory you left on the whiteboard.”
Straight to business, huh. But… that worked too.
In order to get whatever information Dodge might know, Tang Mobai agreed to discuss the aerospace problem with him. However, he added that he’d have to return to the hospital for surgery on the third day, and after that, they could only communicate online.
To his surprise, Dodge got so excited that he immediately asked, “Which hospital are you in? I’ll rent an apartment nearby. Ah, but the lab has some heavy equipment—I’ll have to find a company willing to move them for me…”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Tang Mobai rubbed his forehead, feeling like he’d just gotten stuck to an overenthusiastic piece of gum. “Even if you moved into the ward next to mine, I wouldn’t be able to do experiments. I’ll barely even be conscious half the day. Where would I find the energy for academic discussions?”
Dodge looked disappointed. “True… How long will your recovery take?”
Tang Mobai was speechless. Honestly, Dodge had this kind of brutally sincere beauty—completely ignoring whether others lived or died. By normal logic, seeing someone this pitiful, one’s first reaction (even without pity) would be to tell them to rest, right? Who else would be like Dodge, practically begging the sick man to crawl out of bed to discuss science?
“Why are you in such a hurry anyway? I get that you’re passionate about developing aerospace, but science doesn’t move that fast.”
“Because if we don’t hurry, it’ll be too late!” Dodge’s face suddenly turned intense.
Tang Mobai blinked. “Too late? Are you sick too?”
“Uh… no.” Dodge froze for a moment.
“Then why the rush?”
“I don’t know.” Dodge answered honestly. “I just… feel like we have to hurry.”
Then, unable to stop himself, he asked again, “Are you sure I can’t move next to your hospital? I can take care of you! Really, I’ll treat you like treasure!”
“…”
Tang Mobai immediately and awkwardly changed the subject. “Right, about the theory I left on the whiteboard, it goes like this, balabala…”
Dodge shut up instantly, giving his full attention to the technical discussion. Ten sentences later, Tang Mobai repeated his old trick and started coughing violently. As his “attending physician,” Seth used that excuse to usher Dodge out—but unlike Dr. Fletcher and the others, Dodge refused to leave easily.
The grown man clung to Seth’s leg like a three-year-old. “Let me stay! I’ll be quiet as a log, I promise. I’ll wait until he’s rested to ask questions!”
“He needs rest. Come back tomorrow.”
“I won’t disturb him! No, really—I’ll take care of him! I’m very good at taking care of people; everyone says so! You can test me! I don’t mind even helping him to the bathroom if needed—”
“Cough, cough—COUGH!” Tang Mobai choked for real this time. Who needs that level of dedication?!
Eventually, Seth got firm and managed to push Dodge out… only as far as the hallway.
Yes—Dodge ended up sleeping in the corridor again, not caring one bit about his image. If Seth hadn’t forced him out, Tang Mobai was sure the man would’ve just slept in his room and jumped up at dawn to resume their “academic exchange.”
Someone this single-minded, obsessed, and utterly oblivious to social cues was… truly a rare specimen.
Yan Wuzhen couldn’t stand it anymore and secretly messaged Tang Mobai through the Lost Paradise account:
“Want me to just tie him up and interrogate him? He’s been missing for days and hasn’t contacted anyone. No one will notice if he disappears for a bit.”
Tang Mobai chuckled and stopped him. “Forget it. He doesn’t seem like the scheming type. I’ll just ask him directly tomorrow.”
The exchange conference lasted three days total. On the third day, after the closing ceremony and before the final banquet, they would need to leave—because, according to custom, the queen herself would attend the closing banquet. Since she likely carried the Super-Intelligence within her, Tang Mobai and the others couldn’t risk being seen.
The next day—the final day of the conference—Seth handled all three of Tang Mobai’s meals, bringing food to his bed to maintain the “frail patient” act.
So when Yan Wuzhen walked in, he was greeted with quite a sight:
Emmanuel and Dodge were sitting on opposite sides of Tang Mobai’s bed. The blond, blue-eyed man smiled gently, holding up a bowl of instant nutritional porridge, eyes full of warmth. “Ah, open up—I’ll feed you.”
Meanwhile, Dodge, who wasn’t as handsome but had a certain pale, worn-out researcher charm, held up another bowl. “I looked into it last night. Tang Mobai’s suffering from Type X45 hereditary disease—it causes congenital lung underdevelopment and weakens liver and stomach function. I read some old medical texts and found recommended nutrients from before the AI era. You should have millet in the morning, so I added that, plus vitamins B and D, and some throat-soothing ingredients. You should eat mine first.”
Tang Mobai: Someone please save me!
Yan Wuzhen calmly turned away from his desperate eyes and snapped a few photos for their group chat—“Quack Doctor Squad.” Originally, it had just been Tang Mobai, Seth, and himself, but for some reason Tang Mobai had added Deville later, which Yan Wuzhen still didn’t understand.
[LOL, heartthrob Mobai.]
[@Boss come look—someone’s breaking the bro code, dump him and pick me!]
[So obvious, that thirst. Ignore him, pick me instead!]
After enjoying the show, Yan Wuzhen said casually, “It’s the last day. Pack up—we’re leaving soon.”
The last day…
Tang Mobai froze, then checked his level:
[Tang Mobai Lv. 90]
It seemed the past two days were enough for the scholars to confirm the corrections he’d written on the whiteboard. Fletcher and his group had already spread his reputation—by now, everyone at the conference knew that the hotel housed a frail but brilliant young genius.
Anyone who tried to visit yesterday had been turned away by Dodge—probably more out of fear that others would waste Tang Mobai’s time and reduce his own discussion hours, but it did help keep things quiet.
The mission was basically complete. His level-up had gone smoothly, and no hidden guild demons had appeared to attack. Everything was too smooth—it almost felt unreal.
No, no—don’t jinx it. If he thought that, something would happen.
“I’m heading to the ship to pick up some things,” Emmanuel said. “You guys are going to the closing speeches, right?”
Tang Mobai snapped out of thought and nodded. “Yeah. I’m interested in the speech content.”
He wasn’t leaving without milking the last bit of benefit from this event.
After that thought, he ignored the two weirdos beside him, quickly finished eating, and said, “Alright, let’s go.”
“Okay,” Emmanuel said—and then suddenly leaned closer, brushing a crumb from Tang Mobai’s lips with his fingertip. Smiling softly, he said, “See you at the venue.”
It wasn’t until Emmanuel left that Tang Mobai realized what that gesture meant. It was the kind of deliberately intimate move straight out of a romance scene. He’d seen plenty in dramas—if he still didn’t get it, that was on him.
“H-he wasn’t kidding earlier?!”
Dodge’s attempts to feed him made sense—he genuinely thought Tang Mobai was sick and just wanted to help. The man hadn’t even given up on the idea of moving into his hospital to discuss science during visiting hours.
But Emmanuel… knowing it was an act, and still doing that—
Yan Wuzhen sighed, patting his shoulder. “You don’t have to worry. He’s not in love with you—he’s in love with the way you love someone else.”
Tang Mobai: “…Huh?”
Wasn’t that… kind of twisted?
Meanwhile, Dodge—utterly uninterested in gossip—was still staring intently at Tang Mobai. “You seem fine today. Why don’t we continue yesterday’s discussion right now?”
Tang Mobai blinked, realizing Dodge was still there. “Haha… no rush. I’m feeling better, but let’s wait until after the closing ceremony.”
Dodge looked reluctant but didn’t argue. Instead, he fetched a wheelchair. “Fine, then I’ll push you there—you shouldn’t waste your strength.”
Staring at the wheelchair, at the ready Dodge, and at Yan Wuzhen and Seth struggling not to laugh, Tang Mobai sighed deeply.
This… is the price of keeping up a persona.
Resigned, he let Seth and Dodge help him into the chair.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel, having just left the hotel, put his disguise mask back on and headed for the ship. He was about to board his hovercar when someone called out from behind:
“Emmanuel?”
He didn’t even look back, just opened the car door.
But the voice wasn’t testing—it was certain, and the footsteps were drawing nearer. “You think changing your face can fool me?”
Emmanuel said nothing and sat in the driver’s seat—but the onboard AI, which normally responded instantly, was completely silent.
He had used a Level 60 clearance—enough to bypass almost any restriction. That meant only one thing:
Someone with higher clearance had intercepted him.
“Will you get out now?” the short-haired brown-haired man said, standing in front of the car.
Without power, the vehicle was just scrap metal. Emmanuel sighed, got out—and immediately took a punch to the face, knocking his mask askew.
The man’s cold gaze locked on his now-exposed face. “Knew it was you.”
Trouble had come.
“Nahem,” Emmanuel breathed, wincing. “If you’re here… then where’s the queen? Aren’t you supposed to be at her side?”
Nahem—Her Majesty’s appointed regent—rarely left her. She was supposed to appear only at the banquet, as always. Why was he here?
“The Queen arrived early,” Nahem said flatly. “This closing speech involves the next stage of policy—Her Majesty must oversee it personally.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What we didn’t expect was that you rats would dare show up here at all.”
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