The Heartthrob Guide: Dodder of S-Class Sentinels

Chapter 223 The Spider Cave? A Cowherd Gang?
"Guide Lin, I'm sorry my children have caused you trouble."

Colonel Lauen apologized to Lin Nan with a look of apology, his face full of tired and helpless wrinkles.

He rubbed his temples, his voice low: "They've been like this since they were little... each one more unruly than the last. If they offend us again, just tell me and I'll teach them a lesson."

"Actually, it was just a misunderstanding today." Lin Nan waved his hand and explained, "We were just chatting, nothing really happened."

"Oh? Is that so?" This time it was Colonel Lauen's turn to be skeptical. The man's calm eyes seemed to see right through her, making her feel guilty.

What kind of decent person would go to bed to chat, especially in such a disheveled state? It's just as ridiculous as using the excuse of going to someone's room late at night to study a script!

Lin Nan: Well, even she herself doesn't believe such a thing.

Just as she was struggling to find a way to salvage the situation, she suddenly fell into a warm embrace as hot as lava.

"Sweetheart." Caesar easily picked him up with one hand, his face very close to hers, almost kissing him. "You already have a cat, so don't go bothering those filthy bugs anymore, okay? I'll give you whatever you want... lick me wherever you want..."

Caesar's voice was almost filled with resentment, as if he was deliberately speaking to others. When facing Lin Nan, he was full of sorrow and grievances, but when facing Arachne and the others, he was full of hostility.

His emotions were too straightforward and outward, and sometimes he would act recklessly when he was being crazy. He was fine in private, but in some public places, this made Lin Nan feel a little embarrassed.

Especially now that their patriarch, Colonel Lawn, is present.

Lin Nan felt the increasingly intense gazes of those around her, and she couldn't stand it. She quickly kicked his calf, signaling him to calm down.

However, Caesar seemed not to understand. Perhaps he smelled an unpleasant odor on the back of Lin Nan's neck, so he stuck out his tongue and bit it.

The barbs on the tip of the feline's tongue made Lin Nan tremble immediately.

"You scum, don't think I don't know what you're thinking. You want to be my equals? In your next life!"

Receiving the blatant provocation, even the most impatient Moth Sentinel took a step forward, ready to attack, but Arachne called him back: "Moss, don't be impulsive. You should maintain your composure in front of a lady."

After saying that, Arachne casually tidied her long hair, a provocative smile on her face that was irritating: "Captain Caesar, you should put Lin down. You seem to have hurt her. She looks like she's in a lot of pain."

"What do you know? My sweetheart likes it when I treat her like this! It's just our fun, you country bumpkin!"

"I hope you're not forcing Lin to do these things to satisfy your own selfish desires."

"You're just saying one thing and meaning another. Don't you want to? I saw exactly what you did to her just now!"

"What did we do? We were just inviting Lin to experience the daily services of 'Spider Cave'."

As he said this, a dark glint appeared in Arachne's eyes, his gaze becoming like a still pool, brimming with tender, spring-like affection.

"I wonder what Lin thought of our service? If you feel there's anything you didn't like, we can improve it when we get back."

Lin Nan: ...

She didn't quite understand what the spider was saying. "Something utterly worthless!" Caesar scoffed disdainfully. He pulled Lin Nan away, as if she were some kind of filthy creature.

When the gazes of those around them fell upon the Arachne brothers, they began to look away.

Lin Nan was most able to sense the emotions of the people around her, and she increasingly couldn't understand what that place in Arachne was for.

"cough!"

At this moment, Colonel Lawn coughed, breaking the awkward silence.

“Vic, I’m not trying to be mean, but now that you’ve joined the army, you shouldn’t be doing those side jobs anymore. If you’re having financial difficulties, your uncle will help you. After all, that kind of thing… it doesn’t look good if word gets out…”

Ok?
Ok?
Ok?
Ok?
Twelve vines secretly stretched their heads out, their tops curving into curious question marks.

“Thank you for your kindness, Colonel Lauen.” Arachne nodded slightly, his voice polite but distant. “But we brothers do these part-time jobs not for money, but to repay our boss for taking us in back then. If the Colonel finds us an eyesore… we can resign from our positions as White Tower police officers.”

"Sigh..." Laun's sigh fell heavily between the two of them. "You child, you still hold a grudge about what happened back then. But you have to understand... some things are unavoidable."

“I understand,” Arachne interrupted him softly, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing together. “I understand everything, Uncle Laun.” The last word was spoken very lightly, like a snowflake falling on red-hot iron, melting away in an instant.

Laun's Adam's apple bobbed. Outside the window, dusk was engulfing the white tower's spire, casting long shadows of several people onto the mottled wall.

The smell of that fire five years ago seemed to rise again—charred beams, melted gun barrels, and those desperate eyes that had disappeared into the ruins, looking back at him.

"The way things unfolded back then was so unexpected..." Colonel Lauen said weakly, "By the time everyone realized what was happening, it was too late to evacuate. Your father, in order to ensure the survivors could leave that place alive, sacrificed himself..."

His voice trailed off abruptly, as if saying another word would tear open the old wound that had long since scabbed over.

Arachne was still smiling, but her fingers, hidden under her sleeves, tightened little by little, her nails digging deep into her palms.

He had heard this argument countless times over the years.

He gazed at the elder before him, an elder he had known since birth, noticing his graying temples, his slightly trembling lips, and the profound sorrow and self-reproach that appeared on his face whenever he spoke of his father's misfortunes—

His heart was at peace.

"That's all in the past." Arachne waved his hand dismissively, a nonchalant smile playing on his lips. "The old man is dead, it's no big deal. Compared to his fellow Zerg, he lived long enough."

After saying that, he beckoned his two brothers to turn and leave. The light shone down from above, casting a sharp shadow on his profile, making it impossible to see his expression.

“But you, Uncle Lauen,” he suddenly stopped, a subtle smile in his voice, “you’ve been retired for a long time. You’ve come back to District Nine this time for the old man’s death anniversary, haven’t you?”

“Of course. Every year at this time, I go to the entrance of Centipede Land to see him.” Colonel Lawn said solemnly, his wrinkles etched with the guilt that comes with the years.

“Then—” Arachne turned around, his shadow stretched long by the lamplight, like a drawn sword stuck diagonally in the floor, “then let’s go along this time too. It’s been so many years since we’ve been back, the old man probably won’t recognize us.”

(End of this chapter)