1 The start of everything (1)
Bai Lang always knew he was different. Born in a military family but known as "the nerd". It wasn't that he didn't know self-defense or wasn't able to learn it.
He learned all the self-defense skills that his family required him to learn. Bai Lang, however, was just more interested in studying and conducting research.
He could practice physical skills, but that simply wasn't where his passion was. The nerd wasn't just an empty nickname. Bai Lang was a genius, he had a PhD in Biology, Medicine and Science.
The entire military community just found Bai Lang a strange person and didn't know what to do with him. This made him self-conscious and led to him underestimating his own value.
This resulted in the fact that he was always trying to please his family by doing everything his family requested of him.
His thoughts were simple: "I already disappointed my parents enough by not joining the military, therefore I will try to follow my parents' wishes in everything else they require from me".
So, when Bai Lang's parents wanted him to get engaged, he agreed right away, even though he didn't have any romantic thoughts about his so-called fiancé.
His fiancé was a strong female soldier named Dio Claire.
It was Bai Lang's and Claire's grandparents who wished for the engagement and wanted to see them get married.
Their marriage would result in connecting the two families, something their grandparents always wished to see happen.
Bai Lang didn't want to disappoint his family, which, according to them, he did on a regular basis. Therefore, he simply agreed to the engagement without a second thought.
Claire, however, obviously wasn't satisfied with Bai Lang. In her eyes, Bai Lang was so weak that he couldn't even truss a chicken. This "opinion" of her was proven correct in her eyes when she met Bai Lang's brother.
Bai Lang's brother Bai Georgi was the kind of man she always wanted and envisioned herself with.
Bai Georgi had a muscular build, which he had gained by doing military training since he was very young. Besides that, the latter had already proven himself in the military. He was already a major while he was still just 28 years old.
Even more so, he was also responsible for his very own group of soldiers. It might not have been a group of special forces soldiers, nevertheless, the achievements he had made at his age were amazing.
In Claire's eyes, he was everything her fiancé, Bai Lang, wasn't. Bai Lang, in Claire's opinion, was 'nerdy'.
Bai Lang's build differed completely from Georgi's. His body composition was lean and compact. His clothes hiding all the strength his body contained. He also wore glasses, which covered his radiant moss-green eyes.
Claire assumed and found it feasible that Bai Lang was hiding in his books, because he had self-knowledge and knew he wasn't worthy of anything and definitely wasn't worthy of being her fiancé.
She never seemed to realize, though, that Bai Lang didn't like her either. He had simply agreed because he didn't have anyone he liked. Therefore, if he was engaged or not, didn't matter to him.
Claire visited the Bai family regularly. Of course, she didn't visit the Bai family to get to know her fiancé, Bai Lang. Dio Claire visited the Bai Family to get closer to Bai Georgi. Bai Georgi was the perfect man in Claire's opinion, he was her "dream man".
The Bai family, who didn't realize why Claire was visiting, were glad to realize she was putting in an effort for her fiancé.
She was the ideal daughter-in-law in the eyes of her future in laws. She seemed to be a very filial girl. She often visited, even though her fiancé was "disrespectful" of her efforts by hiding in his books, which made the future in law's love her even more.
Only Bai Lang realized that something might not be as it seemed. Every time Bai Lang met Claire alone in passing, she didn't even acknowledge his existence.
Although he had a low EQ, like most geniuses, he wasn't a complete idiot thanks to his genius IQ. He knew and felt that Claire seemed to be very dissatisfied with him.
However, he didn't really care if she would accept him or not. He just agreed to the engagement to make his family happy. If he had someone he liked, he would have refused, but that wasn't the case, or so he thought.
The only one whom ever made Bai Lang feel good about himself and accepted completely was Yao Mitzuki. Bai Lang met Mitzuki during a science competition in his freshman year in high school.
Meeting Mitzuki there surprised Bai Lang, since Mitzuki was a military brat, who took to military life really well.
Bai Lang and Mitzuki became good friends in a short period of time. Mitzuki became a safe haven for Bai Lang.
In one of their long conversations, Mitzuki had told him he should pursue his dreams and his studies. That by pursuing his studies and his dreams, he didn't become less then.
That there was more to life than the military. According to Mitzuki, Bai Lang has his very own brilliance, and he possessed his very own light.
It wasn't that Bai Lang's family was abusive, they just didn't understand him at all. He simply was to different, unique even.
His family tried to understand him but failed to do so, which made them distant. Bai Lang's family had the belief that the biggest goal in life should be to serve in the military.
Being able to serve in the military, according to them, was a tremendous honor. A traditional military family like the Bai family didn't think there was any bigger purpose in life than serving the motherland by joining the armed forces.
Nothing else could compare. Bai Lang's deviation from the path his family laid out was met with disappointment and cold-violence.
That any study Bai Lang would complete would make their motherland stronger wasn't considered at all. They probably hadn't even thought of that, too disappointed by his decisions to consider anything for Bai Lang at all.
While Claire might have been absolutely smitten with Bai Georgi as soon as she met him. Bai Georgi never even looked at his brother's fiancé for more than her being his future sister-in-law.
Therefore, any care Bai Georgi gave Claire was also under the reasoning of taking care of his future sister-in-law. Bai Georgi's honor wouldn't ever allow him to see her any differently as that as soon as the engagement was in place.
It was Claire wanting and trying to get closer to Georgi, even though she was already engaged to Bai Lang. Which showed a real lack of character.
Seeing how Claire behaved, Bai Lang wondered if he had made the right choice to get engaged.
Furthermore, ever since Bai Lang got engaged, he felt more distant from Mitzuki. He didn't know if it was all in his imagination or not, but he knew it was a horrible feeling to have.
He didn't like feeling distant from Mitzuki. Especially so since Mitzuki was the one person (outside of colleagues of his respective work fields) which made him feel relaxed, happy, cared for, and fully accepted as himself.
Mitzuki was his safe haven and being around him made Bai Lang feel joy, experiencing that this feeling was drifting away from him made Bai Lang panic. However, he didn't know what to do about it, which flustered him even more. He simply wasn't good at dealing with emotions.
Case in point. Every time Mitzuki left for his missions, Bai Lang was always worried and scared, praying and hoping that Mitzuki would return to him once more unharmed.
Bai Lang always had to keep himself busy, so that he wouldn't imagine the dangers Mitzuki would encounter when being away from home and serving in the armed forces.
Only after that 'event' he realized that his feelings for Mitzuki just might have been more than an ordinary friendship.
The day of the event didn't come out of nowhere for Bai Lang, although you might have expected otherwise.
Mitzuki had left on a mission once again. To keep himself busy and not think about the danger Mitzuki might encounter, Bai Lang had developed the habit of traveling whenever Mitzuki was away.
Being home alone without Mitzuki around didn't just make him worry, it also made him feel like there was this vast emptiness engulfing him.
Before leaving on his mission this time, Mitzuki had made a promise. "When I get back, I need to tell you something." He continued: "just don't get married before I get back." He walked behind Bai Lang and put his dog tags around his neck. "Please, wait for me."
The "Please" was a quiet, heartbroken whisper. So quiet that Bai Lang thought for a long time afterwards that he had only imagined it.
Then Mitzuki stood in front of Bai Lang again. Before Bai Lang could wonder if he had heard it correctly. Mitzuki touched and ruffled Bai Lang's hair (which was a habit which Mitzuki often did) before turning around and leaving with determined strides.
Leaving Bai Lang to stare at Mitzuki's back as he walked away. Even after he'd completely vanished from sight, Bai Lang remained fixed on where Mitzuki once was.
Bai Lang once again started his travels after Mitzuki had left on his mission. These travels took place two months before the apocalyptic event started. Bai Lang found a "Dome" in the rainforest in the middle of nowhere.
The Dome was naturally Dome shaped. Its surface seemed to be made of a blue glimmering material which reflected the sunlight brightly when the dome came in contact with the sun.
Which didn't happen all that often since the dome he found was placed under the large dense foliage of the rainforest trees.
The dome fascinated Bai Lang, and he was planning to do some testing on the Dome in question. However, before he could do so, he needed to travel home to get his research materials.
He didn't touch the Dome right away, since every scientist knows that "safety comes first" and he didn't have the right equipment with him to do research on the Dome of unknown origin.
Therefore, Bai Lang traveled home without touching the Dome. Only afterwards, almost a year after the start of the apocalyptical world, Bai Lang realized, with strong regret, that he had missed a great opportunity.
