Back to the Peak

Chapter 27: Skin Hunger 

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Gu Changjin was not young, and although he did not fight in battle, he was tired after spending a whole day outside the city and driving a car for a long time.
He fell into deep sleep this night.

However, the older man couldn’t sleep long because he was worried about Cheng Ran’s admission to school.
The next day, he got up earlier than usual.

Helping Cheng Ran pack his things, cleaning the house, and reading the materials of Spark Academy again… Gu Changjin was busy the entire time, but still felt unprepared.

Cheng Ran had never been to school since he was a child, and he didn’t know what would happen… For a while, he even had the impulse to apply to be a teacher at Spark Academy, but he soon gave up.
Cheng Ran needed to learn to be independent.

In the blink of an eye, it was more than six o’clock in the morning.
Gu Changjin went into the kitchen to cook porridge.
At the same time, he paid attention to what was happening upstairs.
At this time in the past, Shi Qingyang would come to the kitchen to help.

The porridge was ready, but Shi Qingyang hadn’t come down yet… Gu Changjin sighed.
Shi Qingyang had gone through turmoil yesterday, and it was normal to get up late.

As time went by, it was 7:30 in a flash, but there was no movement upstairs

Gu Changjin frowned slightly and went up to the third floor.
Unexpectedly, he heard an alarm ringing just after he went up.
He found that the door of Shi Qingyang’s room was not closed.
The sound of the alarm came from the room.

Did Shi Qingyang have an accident? Could it be that he used too much radiant energy yesterday and fell ill? The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Gu Changjin hurriedly pushed the door and entered.

The quilts on the bed were neatly folded, looking like no one had slept there.
The window on the balcony was wide open…

Did he run out in the middle of the night? Had he been consumed by hatred and ran out to get revenge? Or was he with Cheng Ran? Gu Changjin thought a little and went downstairs to knock on Cheng Ran’s door.

“Grandpa Gu, come in.” Cheng Ran’s voice rang out in the door.
When Gu Changjin opened the door, he saw Cheng Ran sitting on the ground with his quilt on the floor, seemingly having slept there last night.

“Young master, it’s cold on the ground.
You can’t……” Gu Changjin suddenly widened his eyes halfway through his words.

Is that a man lying next to his young master? That man seems to be the Shi Qingyang he didn’t find?

Why was Shi Qingyang in his young master’s room? And clearly not dressed yet! Gu Changjin widened his eyes angrily.
His sympathy for Shi Qingyang was swept away.
He felt furious.

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Cheng Ran’s attention was still on Shi Qingyang, and he didn’t see Gu Changjin’s expression: “Grandpa Gu, you’re right.
Qingyang is really tired.
Little M said he suffered from exhaustion.” Little M is his commonly used treatment robot.
It couldn’t do much, but was very good at diagnosis.
If he hadn’t checked with Little M before and determined that Shi Qingyang had no other problems, and that Gu Changjin said yesterday that Shi Qingyang had been exhausted, he definitely would have gone to consult with Gu Changjin.

“Why is Shi Qingyang here?”

“Grandpa Gu, Qingyang came to see me, and then he fell asleep in exhaustion.
I gave him medicine and took care of him all night!” Cheng Ran looked at Gu Changjin with some pride.
He was seriously ill a few days ago.
It was Gu Changjin who took care of him.
Now he can take care of others!

“Young master…” When Gu Changjin approached, he found Shi Qingyang was still asleep.
His naked upper body was blue and purple.
It looked like he had been trampled.
On the contrary, the young master was wearing pajamas, looking neatly dressed and refreshed.

Why does this image look like a sunny boy taking advantage of the bully?

(T/N the mtl on this seems wrong but you get the idea.
Raw line is  这样子，怎么像是恶霸强占了阳光少年？if someone can correct)

Gu Changjin suddenly felt a deep sense of the disobedience, and calmed his heart.
He told himself that Shi Qingyang wouldn’t be able to do anything to his young master like this, but how could Shi Qingyang appear in his young master’s room?

Gu Changjin suddenly thought of Shi Qingyang’s balcony – he shouldn’t have let Shi Qingyang live upstairs from the young master!

“Grandpa Gu, Shi Qingyang still hasn’t woken up.
Do you want to take him to the hospital?” Cheng Ran asked curiously.
He was also anxious.
Although Little M showed that Shi Qingyang had no problem and his body was not damaged, he was still very worried.

“No, he’s awake.” Gu Changjin had seen Shi Qingyang move.

Sensing that there was someone around him, Shi Qingyang subconsciously became alert.
He immediately sat up and found that he was chilly.

He’s not even dressed? Shi Qingyang could not react for a moment.
The next second, he felt a hand on his skin.

Cheng Ran gently touched Shi Qingyang’s chest: “Qingyang, are you still in pain?”

“I’m fine…” What happened last night appeared in his mind.
Shi Qingyang thought of his behavior of climbing the window and was extremely embarrassed.

He had never done such a thing before, and it seemed that he slept with Cheng Ran last night, and was caught by Gu Changjin in the early morning… He vented his anger yesterday, and after waking up, Shi Qingyang suddenly felt much more relaxed.

But Cheng Ran was still touching Shi Qingyang’s chest: “Shall I apply the medicine for you?”

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My young master, are you flirting with others? Gu Changjin stared at Cheng Ran’s hand for a long time and took a deep breath: “Young master, if Shi Qingyang had an issue, you should have informed me earlier so that he could go to the hospital.”

“Grandpa Gu, didn’t you say yesterday that I shouldn’t mention if there’s anything off with Qingyang?” Cheng Ran looked at Gu Changjin with some doubts.
Shi Qingyang was obviously in a wrong state last night, but Gu Changjin not only stopped him upstairs, but also told him not to say anything about Shi Qingyang in school.

“Young master, even so, you can’t leave Shi Qingyang in your room.” Gu Changjin wanted to say that Shi Qingyang had bad intentions, but from the looks of things, it seemed that his young master was the one with bad intentions? 

“Grandpa Gu, why not?” Cheng Ran looked at Gu Changjin curiously.
“I really like being close with Qingyang.”

Gu Changjin was stunned.
He didn’t know what to say to Cheng Ran’s simple appearance.
Cheng Ran had been under surveillance since he was a child, and no one taught him to learn such things at all.
Although he became more and more fond of Cheng Ran, after all, Gu Changjin had never raised a child before and naturally did not pay attention to teaching him physiological knowledge and the like.

(T/N Talking about the birds and bees.
Sex education.
lmao)

Moreover, Cheng Ran was not yet an adult.
Even if he could use a computer, he had set restrictions on it.
He couldn’t go to inappropriate websites at all…

If someone else couldn’t access those illicit websites, they would try their hardest to find a way, but Cheng Ran was extremely obedient.
He hadn’t gone to school, and naturally he hadn’t taken a physiology class…

“Grandpa Gu, I like to touch Shi Qingyang.” Cheng Ran said again, reluctant to let go of Shi Qingyang.

Shi Qingyang had already understood his situation by this time, and although he liked Cheng Ran’s behavior very much, he felt something was wrong: “Grandpa Gu, is Cheng Ran suffering from skin hunger?” Cheng Ran’s mind seems to have matured more slowly than others’, and his budding of first love was also delayed.
Cheng Ran likes him, and he sees Cheng Ran’s closeness and affection for him, but he never saw love in Cheng Ran’s eyes…

Cheng Ran liked to touch him so much he could even overcome his shyness to do so.
There must be another reason.

After thinking about it, Shi Qingyang only thought of one problem, skin hunger and thirst.

Cheng Ran was always subconsciously trying to please everyone.
Obviously, he hadn’t received much care.
He also suffered from touch deprivation… How did he live in the past?

Gu Changjin frowned and soon checked with his contact device.
His face became more and more ugly.

When he met Cheng Ran, the boy was over two years old.
At that time, Gu Changjin had just been saved by Cheng Hong from his ruined household, and he had been very grateful.
Cheng Hong asked him to look after Cheng Ran but didn’t need to take care of him at all.
Although he had changed his views as he grew older, by that time, Cheng Ran had been able to take care of himself.

He rarely touched Cheng Ran, and could even say he purposefully avoided touch with Cheng Ran… Cheng Ran did pester him in the past, but he worried that Cheng Hong would see that and would make him leave.
Naturally, he harshly stopped Cheng Ran’s behavior.
After that, Cheng Ran didn’t touch him.

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Skin hunger and thirst?

Shi Qingyang thought about what to do next, and his grief was suppressed.
He looked at his clothes and found that they had been cleaned up.
Then he put them on: “Grandpa Gu, who took care of him when he was a child?”

“When I was a child, I was kept in an iron house, and people in white coats would give me my meals and medical treatment.
Every time, I walked through a long, long passage.” Cheng Ran also observed himself for touch starvation, and tried to recall his childhood memories.

All he could remember was some fragments, but in his memory, no one really held him.

“The young master has been living in the hospital since he was a child,” Gu Changjin added.

Hospital? Cheng Ran’s description were more like the research institute he had stayed in before… Shi Qingyang was shocked, hesitated for a while, and finally chose to change the topic: “Should we go to register?”

“Yes, let’s go sign in!” Cheng Ran nodded.
He wanted to be close to Shi Qingyang.
He felt a little embarrassed and his face was full of hesitation.

He didn’t know he was ill before, obviously, he could take the appropriate medicine soon.
But after having rubbed him for a long time, Shi Qingyang wouldn’t hate him, would he?

“Let’s go.” Shi Qingyang smiled at Cheng Ran.
He didn’t plan to stay in Spark Academy for too long, but he would start there.

Cheng Ran obediently followed Shi Qingyang out of the room.
Gu Changjin was full of guilt and regretted that he didn’t take good care of Cheng Ran before.
He suddenly remembered that he forgot to ask Shi Qingyang how he could climb into Cheng Ran’s room…

He must make up a physiology class for his young master! Although most families are made up of a man and woman, it wasn’t uncommon for there to be men with men, and women with women.
For a while, he suddenly became dissatisfied with Shi Qingyang.

Shi Qingyang has just learned about the death of his parents.
He was inevitably a little silent.
Cheng Ran and Gu Changjin had their own thoughts, and they behaved similarly.

After breakfast, the three went to Spark Academy.
On the other side, Yin Tiancheng had already finished his packing and called Yin Jinru.

“When you arrive at the Academy, you can get in touch with Cheng Ran and Shi Qingyang.
It’s best to find out Cheng Ran’s identity quickly.”

“Brother, I know.” Yin Jinru nodded repeatedly.
What he was most afraid of was his brother who was only a few months older than him.

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“It’s good if you know.
And that Shi Qingyang, you should pay more attention to him.” Yin Tiancheng added.
Normally he would never spare a thought for someone like Shi Qingyang, but Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin obviously had a good relationship…

“Alright, alright.” Yin Jinru continued to nod, but his face was obviously unconvinced.

“They’re all trash!” Yin Tiancheng scolded in a low voice, thinking of the situation when he saw his uncle a few days ago, he wanted to swear.

Shi Qingyang’s parents did die in the mouth of a beast, but it had something to do with his uncle.
Relying on the power of the Yin family, his uncle established an aphid farm outside the city and made a lot of money.
He was already very rich, but who knew why the richer he got, the more money he wanted.

Shi Zhen, the father of Shi Qingyang, was a level-2 radiation warrior.
His wife was also a junior pharmacist.
They both lived a stable life and were not short of money.
He suddenly rented a piece of land outside the city that had no owner, and even started cultivating medicinal herbs without prior experience.
The reason for that was – he found some wild ah furong [T/N poppy] flowers in that place, relying on the knowledge his wife had explained to him.

This kind of medicinal herb that could stimulate the radiation warriors’ potential was very expensive.
It was also because of this that he hollowed out his family funds and rented the land.
The lease was signed for 50 years.

Although Shi Zhen had a good idea, he also planted other herbs to cover up those ah furong.
In a place like Spark City, very few people knew of the ah furong, but Yin Tiancheng’s uncle had keen eyesight.

There were dozens of almost mature ah furong flowers, and a large number of medicinal herbs that were about to mature… ah furong flowers could not be planted in ancient times, and now they were of course, extremely rare, with no way to cultivate them artificially.
Yet it could be refined into medicine that could stimulate the potential of radiation warriors at the juncture of life and death, and raise their warrior potential by a level…

Every ah furong could be sold at a sky high price.
His uncle was full of envy.

His uncle didn’t have the courage to kill people.
However, he had a good relationship with the leader of the inspection team, and after knowing that several powerful beasts were close, he led the creatures there and dragged the inspection team away.

At that time, the patrol team was nearby when Shi Zhen sent a distress signal.
It wasn’t too late to rush to the rescue, but in the end, no one came…

Fortunately, the matter had now been settled, and Shi Qingyang’s parents died eaten by mutated beasts.
There was no doubt that Shi Qingyang couldn’t find evidence against them.
At most, the conviction would be that of dereliction of duty…

Yin Tiancheng thought for a while, but decided to stay put.
After a few months, no one would remember this.

As for Shi Qingyang, it would be better to do nothing than to act and draw his attention.

Returning to his senses, Yin Tiancheng looked at Yin Jinru again: “In school, don’t embarrass me!”

Yin Jinru didn’t do anything other than nod.