Chapter 82: Seeking Pleasure in His Arms, Past Events Finally Drift with the Wind
A piercing alarm siren stabbed into the observation room.
The lingering warmth of the ambiguity previously stirred by Lin Nuo had not yet dissipated before it was cut into chaotic fragments by this shrill scream.
Susan lost control of her fingertips, and the glass she held tilted by half an inch; a few drops of cold water splashed onto her white skirt, quickly seeping into a small dark stain.
Just as she was about to stand up, Lin Nuo's hand covered hers, his thumb and forefinger locking around her slender wrist bone; the force was not heavy, but it prevented her from moving further.
"Relax, you're about to crush the glass."
His thumb pressed gently against the side of her wrist, like checking a pulse, or perhaps like pressing a secret rhythm into her skin.
"You're so tense that I can't tell if you're afraid of him, or if you can't bear to let him go."
Susan's breathing faltered for a beat; she wanted to pull her hand back, but he took the opportunity to press it against the edge of the table.
The bottom of the glass scraped against the metal tabletop, making a faint sound; the smell of disinfectant in the room was very faint, but the clean, woody scent on Lin Nuo pressed closer, making the skin behind her ears burn.
She turned to look at the huge one-way glass, trying hard to move her attention away from the heat on her wrist.
Inside the isolation ward, a storm had already erupted.
Reed Richards, who had been lying limp on the hospital bed, sat up; his movements were weird and defied common sense, his loose body forcibly lifted by some power, causing the bed frame to emit a harsh metallic sound.
His head, deformed by the torture of the Universe rays, shook at an out-of-control frequency; his facial muscles twitched, pulled, and rearranged, struggling to reconnect his fractured consciousness.
"Target awake! Vital signs abnormal!"
The loudspeaker in the ward transmitted the uncontrollable screams of the medical staff.
"Heart rate has exceeded 300! Brainwave curve is completely out of control; we cannot read a stable interval!"
The chaotic shouting passed through the walls and drilled into Reed's ears.
He raised his head, moving sluggishly; his murky eyes swept across the pale white walls, bedsheets, instruments, and the medical staff standing in the distance, not daring to approach.
The next moment, fragments of memory crashed back into his mind, and his bewilderment was swallowed by mania.
"No!"
An incoherent roar squeezed out of his twisted throat, the syllables broken, making one's back numb.
He wanted to get off the bed, but found that his legs had long lost control; his skin tissue adhered horribly to the bedsheet fibers, and his struggle pulled out a nauseating, fine sound.
Despair and anger dragged him to the edge of losing control.
He swung his right arm, which was still capable of movement, the action purely for venting, without a target or method.
The next second, the breathing of everyone in the observation room stopped for a beat.
That arm, which should have been hanging limply, stretched out the moment it was swung; the flesh and skin tissue extended into an unnatural shape, the joints were completely smoothed out, leaving only a twisted and terrifying long limb slicing through the air.
1 meter, 2 meters, 3 meters.
It struck the special alloy wall opposite with a sharp whistle, slamming heavily against it.
"Bang!"
A muffled sound echoed in the sealed ward, the alloy wall was dented clearly, and the warning lights flashed wildly.
The arm that completed the attack quickly lost support, sliding down from the wall and dragging on the floor, soft and without a shred of dignity.
The ward was quiet for a few seconds, with only the urgent alarm sound of the instruments remaining.
Reed lowered his head, looking at his weird limb that could no longer be called a hand, his whole being falling into a brief blankness.
Susan's chest felt like it was being held by something; she stared at the man on the other side of the glass, wanting to find the once-familiar Reed from that deformed skin.
There was fear, and there was pity.
What made her feel even more embarrassed was that a certain sinful sense of lightness was also poking its head out from the most secret place in her heart.
She hated herself for having such a thought.
But what she hated even more was that when Reed was carried into the isolation room, the first thing she thought of was not rushing in to hug him, but remembering the temperature of Lin Nuo's palm.
Lin Nuo did not let go of her wrist.
He even picked up the glass she had touched, slowly and deliberately bringing it to his lips, his gaze pausing for a moment on the faint lipstick mark on the rim.
He drank very slowly, the rim of the cup pressing exactly over the mark she had left.
Susan saw this scene, her throat tightened, and the heat on her cheeks burned all the way to her ears.
"Can't handle it just when it's starting?"
Lin Nuo leaned close to her ear, his breath brushing past her earlobe, stirring a few strands of hair.
"Where did that stubbornness you showed in front of me just now go?"
This sentence was clearly talking about Reed inside the glass, but falling into Susan's ears, every word carried a different weight.
She wanted to call him shameless, but Reed in the ward had already given her a crueler answer.
When everyone thought he would collapse over his own body, Reed just stared at that deformed arm for a while.
Then, he raised his head.
The bewilderment and fear in his murky eyes were suppressed by a terrifying clarity; he looked past the bed, past the panicked medical staff, and looked accurately at the surveillance camera in the corner.
He understood that someone was watching.
His throat made a wheezing sound like a leaking pipe being forcibly squeezed; his mouth opened, but several times he only spat out off-key syllables.
Under the bewildered gaze of everyone in the observation room, he used all his strength to roar out the first sentence after waking up from his deformed vocal cords.
That sentence did not ask about his own body, nor did it ask about the accident, nor did he collapse because he had become a monster.
"Where is my data array?!"
The twisted, hoarse voice came through the loudspeaker, carrying a chilling paranoia.
"That motherboard!"
He struggled, his long arm dragging on the floor, leaving a winding, wet trail.
"The motherboard containing the core Universe ray data! Did it survive?!"
At this moment, he didn't care at all what his body had become.
That skin could rot, could collapse, could be pressed onto the hospital bed by medical staff as an experimental subject, but those data could not be lost.
This statement was transmitted to the observation room, word for word.
The color on Susan's face drained away completely.
Her hand holding the cup tightened, the glass wall emitting a small sound of protest; only then did Lin Nuoreach out and take the cup from her palm.
His fingertips brushed across her palm, lingering longer than necessary.
"Don't squeeze it."
Lin Nuo reminded her in a low voice, sounding like consideration, and also like he was laughing at her.
"If this thing breaks, it will scratch you, and Dr. Reed might not ask if you're in pain first."
Susan did not refute.
In the ward, a medical staff member received instructions and braced themselves to approach the communicator.
"Dr. Richards, please stay calm."
He swallowed, his voice still tight.
"Your escape pod and all personal belongings have been fully taken over by the Star Umbrella Group."
The medical staff glanced in the direction of the surveillance and continued: "The core data you mentioned is currently being analyzed and backed up in the central server."
"Star Umbrella..."
Reed chewed on this unfamiliar name, the madness burning in his eyes finally being lowered a bit by confusion.
He diverted a pitifully small amount of reason from his obsession with data and began to think about other things.
"Susan..."
It was only then that he remembered this name.
After shouting out the data that carried his life's work, he finally remembered Susan.
"Where is Susan? How is she? Let her come to see me!"
While roaring, he tried to wave that ridiculous and pathetic long arm, wanting to reach the communicator on the wall.
This belated concern, falling into Susan's ears, was more hurtful than any scolding.
So, in your World, I will always be ranked behind that data, right?
Only after confirming that your career is safe will you remember that there is a person named Susan, right, Reed?
She looked at the man in the glass, the genius scientist who once gave her pride and expectation, now only possessing a strange ugliness.
That ugliness was not entirely on his body.
It was more in the fact that after he ranked his lover behind formulas and samples, he still thought a single shout could win back forgiveness.
Susan slowly put down the glass.
The bottom of the glass touched the tabletop, making a very light click, but it made her whole person settle down.
She did not look at the farce in the isolation ward again, but turned to look at the man beside her.
Lin Nuo was still sitting there, his white shirt clean, his gaze behind his gold-rimmed glasses resting on the glass, his posture like he was enjoying a pre-arranged play.
But Susan knew clearly that all his attention was on her.
Including her chaotic breathing, her fingers tightening and then releasing, and the patch of water-stained mark on her skirt.
Lin Nuo raised his hand, his fingertips falling behind her shoulder, straightening the clothing that had gone askew because she had just stood up.
The movement was very light, but his fingertips brushed past the back of her neck, slowly stopping along that soft patch of skin.
Susan's spine went numb, yet she did not dodge.
"Mr. Lin."
Her voice was hoarse when she spoke, every word sounding like it was picked out of burnt ashes.
"I think we should go deal with some... private matters."
Chapter 83: Palm Against Abdomen, Bowing Head for a Kiss to Take Over
The alarm light outside the ward was still flashing.
Susan stood at the entrance of the observation room, clutching the document in her hand.
The pages were creased from her grip, and the corner scratched her index finger, leaving a faint red mark.
Lin Nuo approached from behind her, his palm resting on the small of her back, pressing down through her shirt.
"If you're scared, you can still back out now."
His voice was lowered, audible only to her.
Susan did not turn around.
She could feel his body heat, and she could also feel the black-gold ring on her ring finger.
The ring was wedged at the base of her finger, its presence heavy, reminding her of what she was about to do.
"Open the door."
As the two words fell, the medical staff by the access control looked at Lin Nuo.
Lin Nuo raised his hand slightly.
Access verification passed, and the heavy alloy door slid open to both sides.
The white mist expelled by the air valve spread along the floor, and the stench of disinfectant, medicine, and decay surged out, causing Susan's stomach to churn, and she stopped in her tracks.
Lin Nuo's hand did not leave.
He even took a half-step forward, letting her back press against his chest.
"Stand steady," he reminded her in a low voice, "Today, it's not him choosing you; it's you discarding him."
Susan's hand, hanging by her side, clenched and then relaxed.
She walked into the ward.
Reed Richards lay slumped on the hospital bed, his body secured by several specialized restraint straps.
The shell of his body no longer retained its original upright posture; his shoulders had collapsed, his torso was elongated, and his skin had lost its normal texture, clinging to his skeleton and soft tissues, with mucus still oozing from the surface.
That arm of his hung on the floor, stretched out for several meters, its end still twitching unconsciously.
A wet trail was dragged across the floor, and the medical staff stood far away, none of them willing to get close.
Hearing the sound of high heels, Reed struggled to lift his head.
When he saw Susan, his initially chaotic breathing quickened.
"Susan!"
The cry was hoarse and jarring.
Susan stopped at a position 3 meters away from the hospital bed, not moving any further.
Reed paid no attention to her clothes at all, nor did he ask if she was injured.
He propped up his upper body, pulling the restraint straps taut, causing the bed frame to shake.
"Quick, take me to the laboratory! Where is the motherboard? Where is the core data? Have the people from the Star Umbrella Group touched my server?"
Susan's fingers pressed onto the cover of the document.
At that moment, she couldn't even be bothered to feel disappointed.
Reed was still struggling.
"That data cannot be lost! Susan, you know best how important that set of cosmic ray frequency conversions is. As long as the samples are re-exported, I can still correct the model, I can still—"
Before he could finish his sentence, that long arm hanging limply on the floor suddenly sprang up, curling toward Susan's feet.
The medical staff screamed and retreated.
Two security guards raised their guns but dared not fire recklessly.
The place was full of monitoring lines and life-support equipment; any stray bullet could cause a secondary accident.
Susan stepped back, her heel hitting the floor, and she nearly lost her balance.
The next second, Lin Nuo swept past her side.
He raised his leg and stepped on the middle section of the long arm, his leather shoe grinding into the slick tissue, a dull thud echoing off the alloy floor.
Reed cried out in pain, and the arm tried to curl back, but Lin Nuo leaned over, one hand pinning the end down, while the other grabbed a restraint lock from the instrument table nearby.
"Click."
The specialized lock snapped shut, and the long arm was pinned into the floor anchor.
The entire sequence of movements was fast, clean, and without any unnecessary flair.
Reed writhed on the hospital bed, the restraint straps making a jarring friction sound.
"Let go! Who are you? What right do you have to touch my body?"
Lin Nuo pulled out a tissue, wiped away the mucus clinging to his fingertips, and then tossed the tissue into the medical waste bin.
"You almost touched her just now."
He adjusted his cuffs, his tone steady.
"I have quite a few faults, and being protective is one of them."
Susan stood behind him, her chest heaving heavily.
That deformed arm had just grazed her skirt, and the feeling of nausea lingered, but Lin Nuo's action of blocking her was even clearer in her mind.
It wasn't that she hadn't seen heroes save the day before, but Lin Nuo's way of saving her was rougher and more direct.
He didn't ask if she wanted help.
He simply stepped on the danger for her.
Lin Nuo turned around, his palm pressing against the back of her neck, pulling her a little closer to him.
"Continue."
Susan looked up at him.
He lowered himself, his lips brushing past her ear, his voice low and raspy.
"Don't let that thing think it still has the qualification to order you around."
Susan's ears heated up, but she did not pull away.
She regained her strength from Lin Nuo's palm, walked to the instrument cart, and placed the document on it.
The paper pressed onto the stainless steel surface, making a clear sound.
"Reed, we are finished."
The ward fell silent, with only the monitor still beeping.
Reed stared at the document, taking several seconds to understand her words.
"What did you say?"
"This is a dissolution of engagement agreement." Susanopened the folder, her signature already signed on the first page, "I have already signed it. If your legal department can still function, they can contact the Star Umbrella Group."
A harsh, wheezing sound squeezed out of Reed's throat.
"No, Susan, you are not calm right now. We went through an accident, and you are traumatized. Wait until I finish organizing the data, wait until I recover, and then we can talk."
"I am very calm."
Susan raised her left hand.
Under the cold light, the black-gold ring pressed against the base of her ring finger, the Star Umbrella logo on the ring's face clearly visible.
Reed's body stopped struggling.
His attention finally shifted away from the data, the motherboard, and the experimental models, landing on that ring.
"What is that?"
Susan looked at him.
"The ring you gave me back then, I threw it away."
Reed opened his mouth, his deformed face twitching.
"You threw it away?"
"Yes."
Susan placed her left hand on the document, the black-gold ring pressing against the title of the dissolution of engagement declaration.
"From the moment you locked the escape pod door, we were already finished. You asked about the motherboard first, then the data, and only remembered me last. Reed, I don't want to lie to myself anymore."
Reed let out rapid, wheezing breaths.
"That is science! That is the future of humanity! Why do you always have to put personal feelings first? You weren't like this before; you used to support me."
As these words fell, Susan finally smiled.
It was not gentle, nor was it nostalgic.
She just found it absurd.
"I supported you before because I thought you would treat me like a human being too."
She flipped through the document, pointing to one of the pages.
"I helped you secure experimental funding, I shielded you from the media at press conferences, and I cleaned up your messes after projects went out of control. You go missing, I wait. You are late, I wait. With one sentence from you that the experiment is important, I would put my own affairs aside."
She paused for a few seconds, her fingertips pressing on the edge of the paper.
"But when I was about to die, you didn't even open the door."
Reed became anxious.
"That was an emergency procedure! The spaceship structure was unstable at the time, and I had to ensure the integrity of the core module. As long as the data comes back, we have a chance to fix everything!"
Susan looked at his arm that was locked to the floor.
"You see, you've gone back to the data again."
Reed was rendered speechless.
Lin Nuo stood behind Susan, reaching up to straighten her crooked collar.
When his fingertips brushed against the side of her neck, her shoulders flinched slightly, but she did not push him away.
This small reaction was seen by Reed.
He first stared at Susan's neck, then looked at Lin Nuo's hand resting behind her shoulder.
The restraint straps on the hospital bed were pulled tight again.
"You..."
Lin Nuo did not shy away.
Instead, he held Susan's hand that wore the ring, lifting it up.
The black-gold ring faced the hospital bed directly, glaringly clear.
"Dr. Richards, look closely."
Lin Nuo's thumb pressed on the ring's face, turning it slowly.
"This ring is not just an ornament. Through this ring, she can now access all Tier 1 projects of the Star Umbrella Group, and she can also veto all research applications under your name."
Reed's facial muscles twitched, and his voice completely changed in pitch.
"By what right?"
Lin Nuo leaned close to Susan, lowering his head to press a kiss onto the back of her hand.
The action was light, yet it was clearly visible to the entire ward.
Susan's breathing faltered, her wrist held by him, unable to pull back.
She knew Lin Nuo was deliberately provoking Reed, but she also knew that she didn't really want to pull away.
Reed was driven mad by this scene.
His locked long arm struggled violently, the floor anchor creaking under the strain.
Security guards immediately stepped forward, electromagnetic restraint guns aimed at his shoulders and back, blue-white electric arcs suppressing the abnormally stretched tissue.
Reed roared in pain, the bed frame knocked half an inch out of place.
"Susan! You cannot treat me like this! I am Reed Richards!"
Susan pushed the document forward.
"That is why I came in person."
She picked up a pen and placed it next to the document.
"Sign it, or have your lawyer come to talk. My words end here."
Reed stared at the pen, his breathing becoming increasingly rapid.
After a moment, he looked at Susan's hand again.
The black-gold ring was wedged on her ring finger, fitting snugly against her fair finger.
The position of the old ring had been completely taken over, leaving not even a trace behind.
Reed finally realized that this was not a temporary fit of pique.
She really didn't want him anymore.
His brain, which he was so proud of, capable of calculating cosmic ray trajectories and deducing complex models, could not process the dissolution of engagement agreement before him.
The monitor in the ward alarmed again.
The values soared all the way up.
The medical staff rushed to the console.
"Emotional fluctuation out of control! Restraint system pressure exceeding safety limits!"
Lin Nuo pulled Susan behind him, his arm horizontal across her waist, his palm pressed against her abdomen, shielding her in a position half a step in front of him.
Reed lifted his deformed head, his voice squeezed out from between his teeth.
"Did he touch you?"
Susan did not answer.
Lin Nuo took the hand she wore the ring on into his palm, lifted his head, and looked at Reed, who was on the verge of losing control on the hospital bed.
"Let me correct you."
His tone was gentle.
"It was after you lost her that I took over."
Chapter 84: Whispers in the Ear, the Ex-Lover Is Furious
The monitor's readings jumped up another notch.
On the hospital bed, Reed was pinned down by several specialized restraint straps, his deformed arm nailed into a floor fixation slot, with a wet trail dragging from the bedside to underneath the instrument table.
The medical staff stood far away, the security guards did not lower their weapons, as no one could guarantee what this former genius would do in the next second.
He heard Lin Nuo's words, "I'll take over."
What was worse was that Susan did not deny it.
She stood beside Lin Nuo, the black gold ring on her left ring finger pressing down on the engagement annulment agreement; the spot for the old ring had been taken by a new mark, leaving not even a hint of hesitation.
A strange sound squeezed out of Reed's throat.
"Susan, what on earth are you making a scene for?"
The bed frame was pulled askew, the restraint straps digging into his softened body. Two medical staff members tried to approach, but were scared back to their original positions by the arm he was dragging on the floor.
"I've become like this, and you don't help me, don't comfort me, and you still bring this kind of thing to humiliate me?"
Susan looked at the documents on the instrument table, her fingertips pressing against the edge of the cover.
She did not rush to reply.
But Reed thought she was wavering, and his speaking speed increased.
"You are my fiancée, and you are also my most important assistant. The laboratory cannot function without you, and the project cannot function without you."
He was panting heavily, his gaze glued to the document.
"Now is not the time for you to be willful. Take the document back and help me retrieve the core data immediately."
Susan's hand paused.
She lifted her face, looking at the man on the hospital bed from a distance of three meters.
"So, up until now, I am still just your assistant?"
Reed froze for a beat.
But he quickly returned to his familiar logic.
"We have been doing research together for seven years. Without me, would you be where you are today?"
He stared at the ring on her hand, his tone becoming increasingly grating.
"Are you going to throw away seven years of achievements just because someone else sweet-talked you with a few words?"
As soon as these words fell, Lin Nuo finally took a step forward.
He did not look at Reed, instead first raising his hand to press on Susan's lower back, pulling her back half an inch from the edge of the instrument table.
The movement was small, but it pulled her entire person into his sphere of control.
The folder in Susan's hand almost slipped.
Lin Nuo reached around from her wrist, supporting the file for her, and simultaneously grasped her wrist.
His thumb and forefinger locked around her slender wrist, his thumb pressing against the pulse on the inside of her wrist, rubbing it slowly twice, as if helping her press her chaotic rhythm back into place.
"Don't argue with him."
His breath brushed against her ear, the heat pouring into her earlobe and stirring a few strands of hair.
"Reasoning with this kind of person is a waste of energy."
Susan's ears heated up, and she wanted to pull her hand away, but his grip was very steady.
She turned her head to look at him, lowering her voice to remind him.
"Lin Nuo, this is a hospital ward."
"I know."
Lin Nuo smoothed out the fabric at her lower back that had been pulled askew, his fingertips lingering along her waistline, gripping that slender curve through the thin fabric.
"That's why I'm already being very restrained."
Susan's breathing became a bit chaotic, her fingertips pressing against the edge of the document, and she didn't pull away again.
Under the cold white light, her skirt hem was creased from being rubbed, and her neckline was crooked by half an inch due to the earlier tugging.
These traces fell into Reed's eyes, more stinging than any words.
The hand resting behind Susan's waist, the ring that Lin Nuo had personally pushed to the base of her finger, and Susan's reaction of not pulling away, all pressed down on his snapped nerves.
"Take your hand away!"
Reed roared, and the long arm nailed into the fixation slot suddenly straightened.
The metal buckle made a deforming sound from being forcibly pulled, the edges of the locking ring cutting into his tissue, but it couldn't stop the arm from continuing to extend.
The softened flesh slid along the floor, the end lifting up, bypassing the security guards' muzzles, and heading straight for Susan's feet.
The security guards disengaged the safeties.
The medical staff screamed and retreated.
Just as Susan was about to dodge to the side, the hand at her waist tightened.
Lin Nuo pulled her behind him, his other hand reaching out to grab that mutated arm directly.
The touch was slick and slimy, but the strength was absurdly strange.
The arm coiled around Lin Nuo's forearm, its tip continuing to probe toward Susan, trying to coil her out from behind him.
Lin Nuo looked down at it and tightened his fingers.
"Still reaching out?"
He didn't retreat; instead, he stepped forward half a step, exerting force from his shoulders and back, forcibly dragging the long arm up from the floor.
Reed's whole body was dragged half an inch off the bed surface, the restraint straps pulled to their limit, and the bed frame scraped against the floor with a harsh sound.
The long arm tried to coil around Lin Nuo's shoulder, the slick tissue twisting on his cuff, its tip probing towards Susan's ankle several times.
Lin Nuo turned sideways to block it, flipped his wrist, and pinned the arm to the edge of the instrument table.
The metal table surface shook from the impact, and the tweezers and scissors in the tray rolled all over the floor.
He held the arm with one hand, grabbed an alloy clamp from the instrument table with the other, and clamped it directly onto the thinnest part of the mutated tissue.
With a click, the locking teeth engaged.
Reed's entire body convulsed in pain.
"Let go! That is my body!"
Lin Nuo did not let go.
He raised his leg and stepped on the middle section of the long arm, his leather shoe grinding down, forcibly pressing the still-struggling limb back to the floor.
Subsequently, he picked up the fixation buckle, locked it again, and added an extra backup restraint lock.
The entire set of actions was so swift it was cruel, giving Reed no chance for a second counterattack.
The hospital ward went silent for half a second.
Only the alarm sound of the monitor became increasingly urgent.
Lin Nuo pulled out a disinfectant wipe, wiped off a little residue from his hand, and threw it into the medical waste bin.
"You just tried to touch her."
He returned to Susan's side, this time not just supporting her.
He controlled her from behind, one hand falling on her waist, the other hand grasping her left hand wearing the ring, and held that black gold ring up in front of Reed.
Susan's back pressed against his chest.
Through his white shirt, she could feel Lin Nuo's body temperature, and also the overly clear sense of possession when his palm rested on her waist.
His fingers didn't wander, but they were placed precisely, just enough to keep her from pulling away, yet not enough to cause her to lose composure in front of others.
There were medical staff and security in the ward; her cheeks burned, and she could only remind him in a low voice.
"Can you not be so excessive?"
Lin Nuo leaned close to her ear, his breath brushing against her earlobe.
"I can't."
He paused, his fingertips pressing lightly on the side of her wrist.
"With the ex-partner present, the process must be completed thoroughly."
Susan bit her lower lip and didn't speak again.
Reed stared at that ring, his voice broken beyond recognition.
"You guys… when did you…"
"Dr. Richards, let me officially introduce myself."
Lin Nuo lifted Susan's hand.
"Lin Nuo, the actual controlling shareholder of the Star Umbrella Group."
He looked at that miserable appearance on the hospital bed, his tone gentle to the point of cruelty.
"That money-burning Space Station of yours, the three billion in startup capital, was signed by me."
Reed's struggle stopped.
Lin Nuo continued.
"The data you care about most is also in my hands."
He smoothed out the corners of the file for Susan, as if tidying up a personal item for her.
"Escape pod, motherboard, server backups, Cosmic Ray Model, all sealed."
He looked up at Reed.
"The Star Umbrella legal department has taken over project permissions; you are currently not qualified to access them."
"Impossible!"
Reed pulled on the restraint straps again.
"That is my research!"
"The funds are mine, the equipment is mine, and the rescue team is also mine."
Lin Nuo lowered his head and pushed the ring toward the base of Susan's finger for her.
The ring fit even tighter; Susan's fingers curled, but she didn't pull away.
"As for the person, after you lost her, I caught her."
This statement was too blunt.
With so many people in the ward, Susan should have felt embarrassed.
But what was even more absurd was that she did not refute it, nor did she take her hand back.
Reed finally broke down.
"Susan, say something!"
His voice was hoarse, his body deformed by the pressure of the restraint straps.
"Tell him, you are not that kind of person, you wouldn't betray our seven years of feelings just because he has money, just because he gave you a position!"
Susan pulled a bit of strength from Lin Nuo's palm.
She walked to the instrument table, flipped the engagement annulment agreement to the signature page, and flattened the paper.
"I did not betray you."
She looked at Reed.
"I am just leaving someone who never put me first."
Reed opened his mouth to argue.
Susan didn't give him the chance.
"The first thing you asked when you woke up was about the data, the second was about the motherboard, and only then did you think of me."
Her fingertips stopped at the signature section, her tone steadier than before.
"It's the same now; you don't want to win me back, you just can't accept that your assistant has changed bosses."
Reed on the hospital bed froze completely.
Is it Susan coming back that he wants?
Perhaps.
But he couldn't accept even more that she no longer revolves around his laboratory, no longer blocks the media for him, no longer helps him clean up his messes, and no longer puts herself behind his formulas.
Susan picked up the pen and placed it next to the document.
"Sign it, or have your lawyer contact Star Umbrella."
She looked at him, her fingertips leaving the document.
"I will not come a second time."
Lin Nuo walked to her side, grasped her left hand, and planted a kiss on the back of her hand.
That kiss was very light, but he intentionally paused for half a beat.
Susan's wrist shrank back, but she couldn't break free.
She turned back and glared at him, lowering her voice.
"That's enough out of you."
Lin Nuo didn't answer her, only looking at Reed.
"She is now the Global Strategic Executive of the Star Umbrella Group."
His palm fell back onto Susan's waist, bringing her back to his side.
"After work, she is my partner."
A heavy, garbled noise came from Reed's throat, and his body arched again.
The bed frame shook, and the electromagnetic restraint gun was immediately aimed at his shoulders and back.
Lin Nuo looked down to adjust his cuffs, his voice low.
"Be polite when you speak to her from now on."
He raised his hand to straighten Susan's crooked collar, his fingertips brushing across the side of her neck, lingering just right.
Susan's ears were bright red, but she didn't dodge.
Only then did Lin Nuo look at Reed, his tone gentle.
"I can't even bear to yell at my own person, so who do you think you are?"
Chapter 85: Claiming His Position, Breathing Low Against Her Ear, Making Her Knees Weak
"Give her back to me!"
Reed's roar was amplified by the loudspeaker, causing the metal walls of the ward to vibrate.
His arm, which was fixed to the floor, moved first. The locking ring was caught on the mutated tissue, the edges pulled until they deformed, and a harsh grinding sound emanated from the fixing slot.
The next second, a second arm whipped out from the other side of the hospital bed, wrapped around the foot of the bed, and headed straight for Lin Nuo's face.
The Security Captain's face tightened, and he immediately raised his weapon and shouted, "Fire!"
Two electromagnetic beams struck Reed's shoulders and back. Blue-white arcs crawled along his softened skin, causing his entire body to jolt upward, straining the restraint straps to their limit. Yet, that hand did not stop, using the inertia of the stretch to curl along the edge of the instrument table.
The instrument tray was swept over, and tweezers, scissors, and disinfectant forceps rolled all over the floor.
Susan instinctively moved to press the emergency stop button on the wall. She had only taken half a step when Lin Nuo caught her by the waist.
He did not let her move forward, pressing his palm against the small of her back to pull her back to his side, while his other hand smoothly locked onto her wrist bone.
Susan was pressed back into his embrace, her shoulders and back colliding with his chest. Her breathing faltered, and the sound of his shirt collar fabric grazed her ear.
"Don't run around."
Lin Nuo lowered his head, his breath pressing into her ear, the warmth pouring in and stirring a few stray hairs.
"He doesn't want to talk right now, he only wants to snatch you away. Relax. You're so tense, it makes it hard for me to protect you."
Susan grabbed his cuff, her fingertips brushing the edge of his wristwatch. Though she wanted to warn him of the danger, the words died on her lips, suppressed by that cold, woody scent.
Reed's deformed arm had already reached them. Lin Nuopushed her behind him—a short movement, but one that shielded her completely.
The rubbery fist smashed past Susan's hair, the pressure of the wind lifting her collar. The smell of disinfectant and Lin Nuo's scent tangled in the narrow space, the latter closer—so close that she tightened her grip on his shirt.
Seeing that she did not push Lin Nuo away, Reed squeezed a harsh sound from his throat.
"Susan, wake up! He's just using you to humiliate me!"
Susan's hand was still gripping Lin Nuo's shirt, the fabric wrinkled under her touch. She did not answer Reed.
This silence was more ruthless than any counterattack.
Reed completely lost control. The fixed wheels at the bottom of the hospital bed were dragged out by half a meter, and the monitoring lines snapped one by one. Red alarms flashed wildly on the screens. The medical staff huddled behind the control console, no one daring to approach.
The Security Captain raised his gun and shifted his position, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Mr. Lin, it's dangerous! The target's strength is still rising!"
Reed's arms were already coiled in mid-air, moving in strange trajectories—one attacking Lin Nuo, the other skirting along the ground toward Susan's feet.
He wanted to drag Susan out from behind Lin Nuo.
Lin Nuo finally moved.
He first reached out to press the back of Susan's neck, his fingertips pressing against that soft skin, guiding her behind his shoulder.
The movement was not forceful, but it blocked any chance for her to peek out.
Susan's face pressed against his back, her palm resting on his waist. Through his shirt, she could feel the power coiled in his body.
"Stand steady."
Lin Nuo only dropped these two words.
The next moment, he raised his right hand.
Reed's deformed fist had already smashed in front of him. Lin Nuo did not dodge; he splayed his fingers and caught the fist head-on.
A dull thud echoed through the ward. The floor beneath Lin Nuo vibrated, and the heels of his leather shoes left black marks, but he did not retreat.
Reed's elongated arm was brought to a dead stop, the softened tissue shuddering all the way back to the bed.
Reed cried out in pain: "Let go!"
Lin Nuo curled his fingers, his knuckles pressing into that mass of mutated tissue.
"I told you not to reach out earlier, but you wouldn't listen."
As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Susan, his tone incredibly languid.
"Are you scared?"
Susan was shielded behind him, seeing only his profile and tensed shoulder line. She paused for a beat, her hand still gripping his hem without letting go.
"Don't get distracted yet."
"Fine."
Lin Nuo answered quickly, a wicked edge pressing at the corners of his lips.
"Since my girlfriend has spoken, I'll get serious. You can't handle it just when we've started? That's not like that stubborn streak you had earlier."
These words fell into Reed's ears with more devastating effect than the electromagnetic gun.
"She is not your girlfriend!"
Reed roared, his other arm springing up from the floor, wrapping around Lin Nuo's calf, aiming to coil around Susan's ankle.
Before Susan could dodge, Lin Nuo had already raised his foot and stomped down.
His leather shoe pinned the middle section of that arm. A dull sound came from the floor as Reed's body was jerked, the hospital bed sliding out another stretch, hitting the wall with the headboard, causing the life-support equipment to shake violently.
Lin Nuo held the front end and pinned the middle section under his foot, directly locking both of Reed's arms at once.
"Security, lock it."
The Security Captain hesitated for a beat, then immediately led his team to rush up, locking two spare restraints into the floor's fixing holes.
Reed was still struggling, his softened arms constantly contracting, trying to slip out of Lin Nuo's palm.
Lin Nuo twisted his wrist, pinning that fist against the edge of the metal table, and picked up an alloy clamp from the instrument tray with his other hand, locking it onto the thinnest point.
"Click."
The locking teeth snapped shut.
Reed arched his body on the hospital bed, his hospital gown torn, the monitoring patches all falling off.
"What right do you have to touch my body!"
Lin Nuo pulled out a disinfectant wipe, wiped the residue from his fingertips, and threw it into the medical waste bin.
"You tried to touch my person earlier."
He finished speaking and returned to Susan's side.
Susan was still standing in the same spot, her face pale, her breathing not yet steady. That arm had just swept past her feet, leaving a wet mark next to her heel.
She looked down, her stomach churning.
Lin Nuo reached out to support the small of her back, guiding her away from that area. This time, Susan did not resist.
He lowered his head to straighten the collar that had been ruffled by the wind pressure, his knuckles grazing the side of her neck, then pausing by the top button.
As he buttoned it back up, the fabric rubbed gently. Susan's ears burned, and she lowered her voice to remind him.
"There are people here."
Lin Nuo flattened her collar, his fingertips lingering briefly above her collarbone, the measure of his actions dangerously close to the line.
"That's why I've been very restrained."
Susan raised her hand to press against his wrist. This action should have been to stop him, but to Reed, it looked more like the two of them were long accustomed to this distance.
Reed stared at that hand.
Susan's fingers were hooked around Lin Nuo's wrist bone, the black gold ring pressed under the cold white light. She hadn't taken it off, hadn't hidden it, and hadn't explained it.
Reed's breathing became increasingly erratic.
"Susan, you weren't like this before."
Susan raised her face to look at him.
"And I'd never seen you ask about the motherboard before asking whether I was dead or alive either."
The ward went silent for half a second.
None of the medical staff dared to make a sound.
The annulment agreement was still on the instrument table, having been blown open by the air currents earlier, the signature page exposed.
Susan's name was written very clearly, with the empty space next to it left for Reed.
Reed did not look at the document, staring only at Lin Nuo.
"You brainwashed her."
Lin Nuo took Susan's hand off his wrist and held it in his palm.
He used his thumb to press and turn her ring half a circle, so the Star Umbrella emblem on the ring face pointed directly at the hospital bed.
"Don't lose so ugly."
His tone was not heavy, yet it made Reed's body spasm again.
"She is not experimental equipment that you can permanently claim just by registering first."
Lin Nuo looked down at Susan, his palm closing more firmly around hers.
"When you left her outside the escape pod, you should have expected that someone would pick her up and protect her better than you."
Susan's fingers moved.
Lin Nuo lowered his head and touched the back of her hand.
It didn't feel like comfort; it felt more like affixing the final seal right in front of Reed.
Susan's cheeks heated up. She wanted to pull her hand back, but he held it even more firmly.
She glared at him, her voice very low.
"You really know how to pick your moments."
Lin Nuo stepped half a step closer, his lips almost brushing her ear.
"When an ex goes crazy, the current partner has to verify if their position is secure."
Susan's chest heaved, and she forced herself to swallow the urge to scold him.
Seeing them standing so close there was no gap between them, Reed's body began to elongate again.
The newly fastened restraint lock triggered a pressure alarm, and the metal plate around the keyhole was pulled until it deformed.
The Security Captain immediately raised his weapon.
"Target is losing control for the second time! Prepare the anesthesia!"
The medical staff rushed to the medicine cabinet, frantically inputting their authorization.
Before the anesthetic round was fully loaded, Reed's torso suddenly collapsed to one side, and his entire body squeezed out of the restraint straps at a bizarre angle.
The restraint straps on the bed were still fastened, but half of his body had already slipped out through the gap.
The Security Captain's face turned ghastly pale.
"He can break free from restraints!"
Susan had just been shielded behind Lin Nuo. Hearing this, her fingers immediately tightened on his shirt.
Lin Nuo did not look back, only pressing her another half-step further behind him.
On the hospital bed, Reed's deformed face lifted, his voice cracking and unrecognizable.
"Susan, come here!!"
Chapter 86: Destroying His Spirit, Kissing Her in Front of Him
The alarms in the ward were still blaring, with red lights pulsing along the walls. The medical staff huddled behind the control console, and the Security Captain aimed their guns at the wreckage of the hospital bed, yet no one dared to fire first.
Susan stood behind Lin Nuo, her hand still clutching the side of his shirt. Her palm, separated by the fabric, pressed against his waist, and she could feel that he hadn't retreated; instead, his body had leaned forward by half a step.
The hospital bed had been dragged and knocked sideways, two of its metal wheels broken. Half of Reed Richards' body had squeezed out from the restraints, his shoulders and back collapsed, his waist and abdomen stretched out, and his two arms were locked to the floor, still constantly contracting and pulling.
The Security Captain roared, "Back off, everyone back off!"
The electromagnetic restraint guns were already charged, but Reed Richards' body structure was a chaotic mess; hitting him would only slow him down, not stop him completely.
He lifted his deformed head, and a hoarse voice squeezed out from his throat, "Susan, come here."
Susan did not move.
Lin Nuo raised his hand to grip the back of her neck, his fingertips pressing into that soft flesh, rubbing gently twice before pressing her back behind him.
This movement didn't use much force, yet it gathered all her paths of retreat into his sphere of control.
"Stand behind me, don't peek."
Susan's breathing grew slightly disordered, her fingertips tugging at the hem of his shirt, "Don't push yourself; he's completely out of control now."
Lin Nuo turned his face, his gold-rimmed glasses still perched on the bridge of his nose, and his White shirt cuffs were excessively clean. When he leaned close to her ear, his warm breath poured directly into her ear canal, stirring a few stray hairs.
"Relax. If you're wound this tight, how am I supposed to protect you?"
Susan's earlobes burned, and her hand gripping his clothing tightened. The ward was filled with the sound of alarms, yet she had clearly heard this improper remark.
As soon as he finished speaking, Reed Richards' body arched again.
The two floor anchors were pulled until they deformed, the edges of the lock holes emitting a harsh grating sound. His right arm hadn't broken free, but using the distance of its extension, it sprang up from the floor, bypassed the remains of the hospital bed, and headed straight for Lin Nuo's face.
The other arm slid along the floor, circling toward Susan's feet.
He wasn't attacking blindly; his target had never changed from start to finish. He still wanted to drag Susan out from behind Lin Nuo.
Lin Nuo didn't move his feet.
His left hand was still pressed against the small of Susan's back, his palm against the outside of her dress, keeping her firmly blocked behind him. He raised his right hand, fingers spread wide, to meet the incoming mutated fist.
Susan instinctively held her breath.
The next moment, Lin Nuo's right arm began to extend.
His sleeve was stretched open, the bones and muscles of his arm rearranged, and a low-frequency vibration emanated from beneath his skin. For every inch it extended, the power was compressed into an even denser structure.
The monitor readings jumped erratically.
A medical staff member stared at the screen, their voice trembling, "This isn't right. His cell activity is rising, and the density is rising too. This doesn't match standard data."
The second half of the sentence was swallowed by the sound of an impact.
Lin Nuo's hand had already clamped onto Reed Richards' fist.
Bang!
The ward floor shook.
The metal plate beneath Lin Nuo's feet buckled downward, his heels leaving black marks. Reed Richards' arm was intercepted in mid-air, the stretched skin rolling back all the way from the fist, and a harsh dislocation sound came from the joints.
Reed Richards roared in pain, "Let go!"
Lin Nuo's fingers continued to tighten.
He didn't tear at it; instead, he twisted in the opposite direction of the extension of Reed Richards' arm. That mutated arm, which should have been flexible, was forced to fold back within his palm, the front end pressed against the middle section. The longer the length, the heavier the load it bore.
The Security Captain watched, his face turning pale.
Even though it was the same stretching ability, for every meter Reed Richards extended, his body became harder to control, whereas for every inch Lin Nuo extended, his power became more concentrated.
This was no longer on the same level.
Reed Richards clearly realized this too.
His left arm sprang up from the floor, trying to take advantage of Lin Nuo's right hand being occupied to coil around Susan's ankles.
Just as Susan was about to warn him, Lin Nuo's left hand had already moved half an inch from the small of her back, the back of his fingers brushing against her waist before pressing down on the hem of her dress, pulling her entire person further behind him.
This movement made Susan press even closer.
Her forehead almost bumped against Lin Nuo's shoulder and back, her cheek pressed against his shirt fabric. The cold, woody scent mixed with the smell of disinfectant seeped into her breath, so disorienting that she spoke half a beat slower.
"Don't, at a time like this..."
"Don't move."
Lin Nuo interrupted her, already stepping down.
His leather shoe pressed onto the middle section of Reed Richards' left arm, and a dull thud came from the metal floor. The mutated arm was pinned back against the floor. As the end tried to writhe, Lin Nuo ground his toe, pinning it directly into the gap in the floor.
Susan pressed against his back, her palm on his waist, feeling the muscles tense as he exerted force.
She wanted to step back half a step, but Lin Nuo's hand returned to the small of her back, his fingertips pressing against her through the fabric. The position where he rested was restrained, yet it carried an obvious sense of possessiveness.
Everyone in the ward could see it.
Reed Richards could see it too.
"Don't touch her!" Reed Richards roared, his body squeezing out another section from the restraints.
Lin Nuo lifted the hand that was clamping onto his right fist, his arm extending again, dragging Reed Richards entirely off the remains of the hospital bed by half a meter.
One of the restraint straps snapped.
The bed frame toppled over at an angle, medicine bottles and IV stands crashing all over the floor. The engagement annulment agreement was lifted at one corner by the airflow, only to be pressed back into place by the sole of Lin Nuo's shoe.
Lin Nuo didn't give him a chance to land. He reversed his grip with his right hand, his five fingers locking onto Reed Richards' wrist, and pressed down.
Crack.
A new dent was smashed into the floor's fixing slot.
Reed Richards' right arm was pressed into the dent by Lin Nuo. The security team reacted, immediately rushing up to apply additional locks. Two alloy clasps engaged in succession, locking down the arm that had already been twisted into several arcs.
Reed Richards tried to struggle again.
Lin Nuo retracted his right arm, then extended it again mid-way, his palm bypassing the remains of the hospital bed to grab Reed Richards' shoulder, pressing half of his body back onto the bed frame.
The movements weren't fast, but every one landed on the position where Reed Richards found it hardest to exert force.
The Security Captain finally found the opportunity, and three electromagnetic restraints struck Reed Richards' back simultaneously.
Blue-white electric arcs crawled across his mutated skin, Reed Richards' body convulsed, and he emitted an uncontrollable scream.
Susan turned pale hearing it.
Lin Nuo raised his free left hand, covering one of her ears, his thumb stroking along the soft flesh behind her ear and stopping at the edge of her hairline.
"Don't listen. No matter how loudly that dirty thing screams, it's not your place to feel sorry for it."
Susan's eyelashes fluttered, but she didn't push his hand away.
The ward was a complete mess, yet with Lin Nuo circling her behind him, she unexpectedly felt a brief sense of security.
The danger was all in front, and Lin Nuo was in front as well.
He blocked Reed Richards, and he also blocked that past which made her feel nauseous.
Reed Richards' body was pressed back onto the wreckage of the hospital bed, panting: "This is impossible..."
Lin Nuo released his right hand, and his arm returned to its normal length.
His cuff was torn, revealing the skin at the edge of his wrist bone, yet his fingers remained clean, and his breathing was not disordered.
He took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with a disinfectant wipe.
Susan looked at him, her voice lowered: "Your hand..."
Lin Nuo put his glasses back on, casually grasping the wrist she had extended. The crook of his thumb locked onto her slender wrist, and he pressed his thumb against her pulse, rubbing it slowly twice.
"It's fine. Borrowed things can be quite handy to use."
As these words fell, Reed Richards' body froze.
He had originally been pressed down by the electromagnetic restraints, unable to lift his head, but at this moment, his whole body began to struggle again.
"What did you say?"
Lin Nuo held Susan's hand and pulled her to his side, but he did not let her leave his range of protection.
His palm pressed against the small of her back, his fingertips pressing inward through the fabric, forcing her to move half a step closer, the hem of her skirt brushing against his wrist with a faint rustling sound.
Susan's cheeks grew hot, and in front of so many people, she could only lower her voice: "Lin Nuo, that's enough."
"Not yet."
Lin Nuo looked at Reed Richards on the hospital bed and raised his right hand.
That hand extended a few inches in front of Reed Richards again, the bones and muscles arranged stably, without deformation, without adhesion, and without any signs of being out of control.
Reed Richards stared at that hand, a broken, gasping sound emanating from his throat.
That was his ability.
The Universe rays bestowed upon him the molecular extension.
But when Lin Nuo used it, it was steadier, stronger, and closer to perfection than his.
"Impossible. This is my research result; this is my body's transformation..."
Lin Nuo gripped Susan's wrist, his thumb pressing over the black gold ring on her ring finger, the Star Umbrellaemblem on the ring facing the hospital bed directly.
"Dr. Richards, let me correct you."
He lowered his head and kissed the back of Susan's hand.
"It's not yours anymore."
Chapter 87: Same Ability, I Use Your Power Better
"The elasticity is too poor, Dr. Richards."
Lin Nuo clamped down on Reed Richards's deformed fist, his tone excessively calm.
The alarm in the ward was still blaring; red lights swept across the walls and over the annulment agreement on the floor.
Susan stood behind him, her hand still gripping the side of his shirt.
Reed Richards's arm had just curled past her feet, and the wet marks it left had not yet dried.
Reed Richards tried to pull his hand back, but he couldn't.
Lin Nuo closed his fingers, pressing his palm into that mass of mutated tissue.
Reed Richards's body was no longer normal flesh and bone, but the unstable cartilage and muscle bundles inside still could not withstand this kind of force.
"Snap."
Reed Richards's body jolted on the remains of the hospital bed.
"Let go! Let me go!"
Lin Nuo did not let go; instead, he yanked that elongated arm half a meter toward himself.
Reed Richards's torso was dragged off the bed, the broken metal buckles of the restraints swinging in mid-air. His deformed face pressed against the edge of the bed as he kept shouting Susan's name.
"Susan! Look closely! He's hurting me!"
Susan did not go over.
She was shielded behind Lin Nuo, her shoulder pressed against his back, her palm resting on his waist. She could feel his body tense up as he exerted force, and she could feel his other hand reach back from his side to press down on the back of her hand, pinning her in a safe position.
The movement was very assertive.
But she did not dodge.
Lin Nuo turned his head slightly, his voice dropping low.
"Don't let go."
Susan's throat tightened, and she curled her fingertips, wrinkling his shirt even more.
Seeing this, Reed Richards began to struggle again.
"Don't touch her!"
His left arm sprang up along the floor, bypassing the overturned equipment cart, and rushed toward Susan's feet again.
Lin Nuo didn't even turn his head.
His leather shoe came down, landing squarely on the middle of that arm.
With a bang, a dent was formed in the metal floor. Reed Richards's left arm was pressed into the crevice of the floor, its end still writhing, but he couldn't pull it out no matter what.
The Security Captain held up his gun, his voice hoarse.
"Mr. Lin, we can apply additional locks!"
"Lock it."
Lin Nuo gave only one word.
Two security guards immediately rushed forward, snapping the spare alloy buckles into the floor's fixing holes. As the locking teeth engaged, Reed Richards's entire arm shuddered.
"This is my body!"
Reed Richards's voice cracked severely.
Lin Nuo looked down at him.
"Just now, you wanted to use it to steal my person."
When this sentence was spoken, Susan's ears burned. She wanted to remind Lin Nuo not to say such things in a place like this, but her wrist had already been grasped by his backhand.
Lin Nuo's thumb pressed against the black gold ring on her ring finger, gently turning it half a circle.
The ring was exposed right in front of Reed Richards.
Reed Richards panted more rapidly, his chest heaving abnormally.
"Susan... you can't let him do this to me..."
"You threw the first punch."
Susan finally spoke.
Her voice wasn't loud, but it made Reed Richards freeze.
"You didn't want to talk just now, nor did you want to apologize. You just wanted to drag me back."
A garbled sound came from Reed Richards's throat.
He still wanted to explain.
But Lin Nuo had already moved.
The arm Lin Nuo used to clamp onto Reed Richards's right fist began to extend. The cuff was stretched open, the fabric pulled to its limit, yet there was no sign of the arm losing control. With every extension, the muscle lines rearranged themselves, and force was pressed into his palm.
The medical staff stared at the monitoring screen, their faces pale.
"His cell density is rising... there's no decay after stretching..."
No one answered.
Everyone saw it.
The same ability was a disaster when Reed Richards used it, but when Lin Nuo used it, it was chillingly stable.
Reed Richards saw it too.
"Impossible..."
Lin Nuo flipped his wrist, pulling Reed Richards's long arm backward. Reed Richards's body was yanked away from the remains of the hospital bed, half his torso suspended in mid-air, the broken IV tube whipping against the wall.
"Dr. Richards, you've spent your whole life researching this, and this is the level you use it at?"
Lin Nuo's arm elongated again, the force traveling back along that mutated limb.
Reed Richards was dragged up.
The security team subconsciously scattered to the sides.
Lin Nuo didn't give Reed Richards a chance to adjust his body. He used that long arm as a pivot point, exerted force with his feet, pressed his wrist down, and threw Reed Richards straight from mid-air toward the side wall of the isolation room.
"Bang!"
The alloy wall dented inward.
Reed Richards's body slammed into it, his torso spread out, his limbs pulled into a chaotic mess. The internal support structure of the wall made a cracking sound, and debris fell all over the floor.
The alarm sound changed pitch.
The sprinkler system in the ceiling of the ward popped open, spraying white mist, but it couldn't suppress the smell of burning and medicine in the air.
Reed Richards slid halfway down the wall, only to be hung up by his own elongated arm. He tried to retract his body, but his neural control was in chaos after the heavy blow; his torso couldn't gather back into its original form, and his limbs would retract a section only to scatter again.
"Lin Nuo!"
Susan's voice came from behind.
She wasn't trying to stop him.
It was just that the blow was too heavy, and she had instinctively called his name.
Lin Nuo turned back, his hand still clamped on Reed Richards.
Susan stood in the white sprinkler mist, her hair tips wet, and her jacket shoulder soaked. Her hand was still suspended in mid-air; she wanted to step forward, but was held back by reason.
Lin Nuo let go of Reed Richards's arm, which was nearly out of control, and returned to her.
He first raised his hand to block the sprinkler mist, then pulled her half a step into his arms. His palm landed on her lower back, pressing inward through the wet fabric with a firm force, pinning her securely in front of him.
Susan's body tensed.
"There are other people here."
"That's why I didn't continue."
Lin Nuo lowered his head, brushing the wet hair stuck to her neck aside for her. His fingertips grazed behind her ear and paused along the edge of her collar.
Susan raised her hand to grip his wrist, lowering her voice.
"Don't go too far."
Lin Nuo didn't pull his hand away; instead, he used his other hand to hold the hand she wore the ring on.
"That thing almost touched you just now."
Susan heard the displeasure in his tone, and the words she originally wanted to say stopped on her lips.
She looked down and saw her hand being held by him, the ring pressed against his palm. That trace of warmth traveled up from the base of her fingers, causing a flutter in her heart.
By the wall, Reed Richards was still struggling.
"Susan..."
He squeezed the sound out of his throat, having lost his previous momentum.
"Don't be fooled by him... he's just using you to provoke me..."
Lin Nuo didn't turn back immediately.
He raised his hand to wipe away the water marks on Susan's face, the back of his fingers grazing her jaw. The movement was very slow and very blatant.
Susan's breathing hitched, and she didn't loosen her grip on his wrist bone.
Reed Richards watched this scene, his body again attempting to retract. But the more anxious he became, the less his limbs obeyed him; he hung in front of the dented wall, looking so disheveled that he didn't resemble the genius scientist he once was.
"You stole my ability..."
Reed Richards stared fixedly at Lin Nuo's right arm.
"This is my achievement, my evolution, my research..."
Lin Nuo finally turned around.
His right arm returned to its normal length, the cuff torn open to reveal the skin on his wrist. Other than that, there wasn't a hint of dishevelment on him.
He took off his gold-rimmed glasses, wiped the water droplets off the lenses with a disinfectant wipe, and then put them back on.
"Yours?"
Lin Nuo walked over to the annulment agreement, his leather shoe stepping on the edge of the signature page.
"The funding is Star Umbrella's, the Space Station is Star Umbrella's, and the rescue team is Star Umbrella's."
He raised his right hand.
That hand elongated a few inches again in front of Reed Richards. The bones, muscles, and skin all maintained a stable state, with no collapse and no excessive deformation.
"Even the ability, I use it better than you."
Reed Richards's lips moved, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence.
This was more painful than being beaten.
Lin Nuo had not only taken Susan away, but had also taken the transformation he was so proud of, and proved in front of everyone: Reed Richards himself was the failure.
The Security Captain seized the opportunity, leading his men to rush forward and snap three sets of restraint locks onto Reed Richards's shoulders, back, and waist. The electromagnetic restraints restarted, and blue-white electric arcs suppressed his body, which was still trying to move.
Reed Richards let out a muffled groan in pain, but he could no longer break free.
The medical staff finally dared to approach the console and reconnect the monitoring equipment.
Susan stood behind Lin Nuo, looking at the dented human-shaped pit on the wall, then at the scattered annulment agreement beside the hospital bed.
She walked over, bent down, and picked up the document.
But Lin Nuo pressed his hand on the paper first.
"Don't touch it, it's dirty."
Susan glanced at him.
"That is my annulment agreement."
"I'll have the legal department print a new one."
Lin Nuo raised his hand, pulling her back to his side. His fingers clamped onto her wrist bone, pressing half an inch inward along the cuff, then stopped, as if testing the boundary on purpose.
Susan's face heated up, and her voice dropped significantly.
"Lin Nuo, you are in a ward right now."
"I haven't forgotten."
He leaned close to her ear, his voice dropping very low.
"So I'm just collecting some interest."
Just as Susan was about to push him away, Lin Nuolowered his head and kissed the back of her hand.
This time, he didn't avoid anyone.
The ring pressed against his lips, and the Star Umbrellalogo on the black gold ring surface was clearly illuminated by the cold light.
Reed Richards hung by the wall, watching that scene, a broken, wheezing sound coming from his throat.
"No!!"
Susan's fingers curled, but she couldn't pull her hand back.
She should be angry.
But she knew even more clearly that she no longer wanted to explain anything to Reed Richards.
Lin Nuo raised his hand, his fingertips grazing the corner of her lips, brushing the hair that had been dampened by the water mist behind her ear.
"That piece of scrap has been dealt with."
He leaned even closer, his voice falling only into her ear.
"Susan, next, shouldn't we continue with those... deep, private interactions that only you and I can participate in?"
Chapter 88: Supporting Her Waist, Stepping on the Ring, Publicly Claiming Her
That ambiguous and dangerous question pressed down, and Susan's hard-maintained sanity was forced into a corner.
Lin Nuo's fingertips still rested against her lips; the pressure was light, yet it forced all her retorts back down her throat.
The woody scent on him, mixed with the dampness from the sprinklers, drew close, and his warm breath brushed against her nose, forcing her to consider the gazes in the ward even if she wanted to dodge.
Susan's eyelashes fluttered, a watery sheen welled up in her blue eyes, yet she remained stubborn, refusing to lower her head.
The more she resisted, the more patient Lin Nuo became.
He wasn't in a hurry for an answer; he simply retracted the hand that had just struck Reed Richards, placed his palm on the small of her back, and pressed in through the wet fabric.
The placement was precise, as if steadying her, and also as if pinning her to his side.
Susan's breathing faltered for a beat; she raised her hand to grip his wrist, and as her fingertips touched the torn edge of his cuff, she realized that hand was excessively clean.
Lin Nuo lowered his head close to her ear, his hot breath pouring directly into her ear canal, curling a few strands of wet hair, the ticklish sensation drilling all the way to the back of her neck.
"Relax. You're so tense, how am I supposed to take you out of here?"
Susan's ears burned, and she replied in a hushed voice: "Lin Nuo, you had better remember that this is a medical quarantine zone."
"Of course I remember."
Lin Nuo's fingertips rubbed back and forth against the soft flesh on the back of her neck, as if checking for injuries, or perhaps evaluating where to bite.
"So I'm just checking if you're hurt. Don't let your mind wander elsewhere."
Susan bit her lip, wanting to call him shameless, but Reed on the ground groaned in pain at that moment, blocking her words.
Only then did Lin Nuo turn his face to look at Reed, who had slid from the wall to the floor.
This former genius scientist had lost all dignity; his body was stretched out of shape, and the mutated tissue was spread across the floor, leaving behind a nauseating damp trail.
Security personnel surrounded the area, their electromagnetic restraint guns not lowered, and no one dared to get too close.
Lin Nuo walked forward two steps with his arm around Susan, his leather shoe stopping above the hand that Reed hadn't fully retracted.
Susan sensed his intention, her fingers tightening, crumpling his shirt.
"Lin Nuo."
"Don't look."
As he spoke, his palm moved up half an inch along her waist, forcibly turning her body toward him.
The next moment, his sole descended, pinning down Reed's deformed hand.
Reed's scream pierced the ward, causing the metal walls to vibrate with a faint sound.
Lin Nuo did not move his foot; his heel slowly applied pressure, and the rubbery tissue beneath his leather shoe was pressed into the crevices of the floor, with intermittent muffled sounds coming from within.
He looked down at Reed, his tone maintaining the composure of someone explaining data in a laboratory.
"Dr. Reed Richards, it seems your pain conduction is still intact; the mutation hasn't spared you from this trouble."
Reed struggled to pull his hand back, but the more he struggled, the more his body dispersed, and he was dragged down by the electromagnetic restraints, left only able to pant on the floor.
Lin Nuo didn't look at him much longer, his attention returning to Susan in his arms.
He smoothed out the collar that had been dampened by the mist for her, his fingertips lingering on the edge of the button for a moment before circling to the back of her neck, touching the delicate skin hidden by her wet hair.
Susan's shoulders and back tensed, and her grip on his wrist tightened.
"Are you done yet?"
Lin Nuo's fingertips stayed there, as if checking the button, and also as if deliberately waiting for her to lose her composure first.
"Just a little more."
He finished saying this in a low voice, helped her button her collar, and the back of his fingers brushed along the top of her collarbone, quickly falling back to her waist—not crossing the line, yet pressing against the boundary in a way that made one's heart flutter.
Susan's throat moved slightly, and she resisted the urge to back away.
The alarm was still sounding in the ward, water droplets remaining from the sprinkler system dripped down from the lampshade, and the rustling sound of fabric being crumpled became exceptionally clear between them.
Lin Nuo held her waist with one hand and pressed down on the hand where she wore her ring with the other; the black-gold ring face pressed into his palm, the Star Umbrella mark facing Reed on the ground.
"Do you see clearly?"
He finally spoke; the words were directed at Reed, but his breath fell against Susan's ear.
"Your body, which you are so proud of, becomes such a mess with just a little force."
His heel pressed down another fraction; Reed's scream changed pitch, his fingertips retracting frantically, but he was pinned motionless by Lin Nuo.
Susan's face turned pale, but she didn't push Lin Nuoaway.
She could feel the temperature of his palm against the small of her back, and she could feel him shielding her from all danger.
This kind of protection was aggressive, making one afraid, yet hard to refuse.
Lin Nuo looked down at her, his thumb slowly rotating half a circle over her ring.
"Can't handle it when it's only just begun? Where did that stubbornness from earlier go?"
The tips of Susan's ears turned even redder.
Lin Nuo gave her no room to retort, his gaze pressing back onto Reed.
"Dr. Reed Richards, where is the momentum from when you wanted to snatch her away just now?"
A broken hiss was squeezed out of Reed's throat; his body tried to lift again, but as soon as his shoulders and back left the ground, they were pressed back down by the electromagnetic restraints reinforced by the security personnel.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked at Susan with difficulty.
"Susan... he is just using you to provoke me..."
Susan's fingers moved, but she didn't pull them from Lin Nuo's palm.
Lin Nuo lowered his head, chuckling against her ear, his voice pressed very close.
"The Water is deep here; don't move around. I'll test the depth before I take you across."
Susan understood his double entendre, her cheeks heating up even more, and she nudged him lightly with her elbow.
"Shut up."
"Fine, I'll listen to you."
Lin Nuo answered readily, but his hand did not leave her waist.
He even brought Susan half an inch closer to him right in front of Reed, letting the back of her hand rest against his shirt.
The shirt had already been crumpled by her, his tie was crooked, but the gaze behind his gold-rimmed glasses remained gentle—so gentle that it appeared even more wicked.
"Susan deserves the best life, the most respectable status, and she also deserves someone to block all the filth for her."
Lin Nuo lifted his foot, finally moving it away from Reed's hand; his sole was stained with a small amount of tissue fluid, and he slowly wiped it clean on the sterile floor mat.
"The partner she needs must at least be able to control themselves and stand in front of her when danger arrives."
He paused for a moment, lowering his head to adjust his cuffs, the torn fabric revealing the skin on his wrist.
"What about you, Dr. Reed Richards? You can't even control your own body, yet you want to control where she goes and who she goes with?"
Reed's breathing became rapid, and his entire deformed face contorted.
"Lin Nuo!"
He roared this name, his voice no longer sounding human.
He tried to lift the hand that had been stepped on, but as soon as the fingertips retracted a little, they fell limply to the ground again, unable to even perform basic aggregation.
Lin Nuo looked at him, his demeanor still refined.
"You claim to love her, yet when you woke up, you first looked for data, then for the motherboard, and only finally remembered that she was still alive."
Hearing this, Susan's eyes grew hot.
Lin Nuo's grip on her hand tightened, his thumb pressing against the base of her fingers, as if reminding her not to look back.
"You threw her into the most dangerous position, and then put on the appearance of a victim after she left."
Lin Nuo looked down at Reed on the ground, the disdain in his tone more vicious than a fist.
"Dr. Reed Richards, don't wrap selfishness in deep affection; your set of formulas can't fool her, and it can't fool me."
Reed wanted to speak, but only chaotic gasps remained in his throat.
Lin Nuo didn't give him another chance.
He raised his hand to signal the Security Captain, and three team members immediately stepped forward, locking new restraints onto Reed's shoulders, back, and waist; the electromagnetic restraints were reconnected, and blue-white arcs pressed down on his constantly deforming body.
Reed curled up in pain, but could no longer break free.
Susan watched the person on the ground, her chest heaving once, and then she averted her gaze.
Lin Nuo sensed her movement, his palm moving from the small of her back to her shoulder, guiding her away from the chaotic area.
When passing by the divorce agreement, Susan paused.
The paper had been dampened by the mist, the signature line was still empty, and the edges had curled up.
She wanted to reach out and pick it up, but Lin Nuogripped her wrist a step faster.
"Don't touch it, it's dirty."
Susan looked up at him: "That is my document."
"I'll have the legal department print another copy."
As Lin Nuo spoke, his thumb pressed gently along her wrist bone, as if checking her pulse, and also as if measuring territory.
"Your hands shouldn't touch this kind of waste paper."
Susan felt flustered by what he said, turned her face away, and her voice lowered.
"You are very good at making decisions for me now."
Lin Nuo lowered his head, his kiss falling beside the ring on the back of her hand; the gesture was restrained, yet it completed a declaration in front of everyone.
"I only block trouble for you; the right to decide is left to you."
He looked up at her, the gaze behind his lenses pressing very close.
"Of course, if you are willing to leave the subsequent procedures to me as well, my service is always thorough."
Susan's ears turned red, and her fingertips curled in his palm, unable to pull away.
Reed by the wall saw this scene, and a discordant sound came from his throat.
"No... Susan!"
Lin Nuo didn't look back, only dropping one sentence.
"You are not worthy of touching her."