### Chapter 1:
It was just an ordinary afternoon.
The centrifuge in the lab emitted a low, rhythmic hum, and the air was filled with the distinctive scent of culture medium mixed with traces of evaporating ethanol. I sat on a high stool, carefully placing the last set of plant tissue sections under the microscope. Adjusting the focus through the eyepiece, I observed the subtle changes in cell walls under different reagents and recorded precise data in my notebook.
Thirty-five years old. In academia, this is a relatively young age, yet one where a solid reputation has already begun to form. Peers and seniors often praise me as a botanist with extreme passion for research, someone who could spend three days and nights in the lab deciphering the vascular structure of a unique plant species without feeling tired.
However, this extreme focus on academics had, to some extent, drained my passion for other aspects of life—especially my sex life.
"Ding-dong."
The phone screen on the corner of the desk lit up with a message from A-Zhe. A-Zhe is thirty-six this year, my boyfriend, tall and in the prime of his manhood. We've been together for four years. In the beginning, we had passionate physical explorations and intimate moments, but as my research projects grew more demanding, I often returned home exhausted. Every time he hugged me from behind and slipped his hand into my pants, I would skillfully push him away with excuses like "I'm too tired from experiments today" or "I have a seminar tomorrow morning."
At first, a hint of disappointment would flash in his eyes, but over time, he stopped initiating requests. After many times, he even seemed to get used to it and no longer sought any intimate behavior from me. At dinner, he would thoughtfully serve me soup, give me a light kiss on the forehead before bed, say goodnight affectionately, then turn over and fall asleep quietly.
This might be my good luck, meeting an extremely considerate and restrained quality man. He still helps me blow-dry my hair and holds me to sleep at night.
Of course, I often feel deep guilt toward A-Zhe, but every time I return home and look at the big bed, I truly can't muster any interest.
Just as I finished clearing the desk and was about to shut down the computer, the email system abruptly popped up a new email notification.
The sender was a top international cross-border academic research institution. The subject carried a high-security label. I opened it curiously, and the content inside instantly made my heart race—
A highly developed primitive civilization that vanished centuries ago had recently been discovered on an uncharted island in the Pacific not marked on standard nautical charts. Shockingly, the area around the temple ruins of this civilization was covered with vast unknown plant communities never recorded in existing botanical catalogs. The institution sincerely invited me, as a botany expert representative, to join an international archaeological team and biologists to land on the island for emergency sampling and research.
"This is simply... a discovery of the century!" I stood up abruptly, my blood boiling with excitement. Such an opportunity to discover new species is a lifelong dream for any scholar.
That evening at dinner, I could hardly contain my excitement and told A-Zhe about the message.
A-Zhe was picking up food with chopsticks. After hearing my words, his hand paused slightly, then he put down his chopsticks and showed his signature gentle smile: "That's great, babe. This is really a wonderful opportunity."
"Right? But... it might take a while, and the location is a very remote small island. Communication might not be great." I looked at him tentatively, feeling a bit guilty.
After hearing this, my boyfriend just smiled and said, "Don't worry so much."
After dinner, A-Zhe walked up behind me as I was washing dishes, then gently embraced me from behind. His voice was low and considerate: "Silly, go do your research with peace of mind. Safety is the most important. By the way, how long will you be gone? When will you be back?"
"Probably several months. It depends on the sampling progress."
"Okay, got it." A-Zhe kissed my hair, his eyes full of tenderness. "When you return to the country, remember to call me the first thing after turning on your phone. I'll pick you up at the airport."
At that moment, I was deeply moved by his understanding. I turned around and gave him a passionate kiss on the lips.
A few days later, I packed my heavy field collection gear. A-Zhe drove me to the airport. In front of the departure hall, he took my luggage, gave me a solemn hug, and stood outside the customs gate waving goodbye affectionately until I entered customs. My heart was filled with gratitude and security for this boyfriend's thoughtfulness and support.
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### Chapter 2:
After several transfers and long journeys, the plane's roar finally subsided into silence several days later.
I first met top experts from around the world in Country A, then transferred to a military transport plane arriving at a military airport on the border of Country B.
After the pre-departure briefing, we boarded a camouflage-painted military twin-propeller helicopter. With the deafening roar of the massive rotors, the helicopter flew for several hours over the vast Pacific, passing through thick cloud layers. Below finally appeared an unknown isolated island covered in dense rainforest with rugged terrain.
When the helicopter landed on a temporarily cleared open space by the coast, we could see that the advance engineering team had already set up a row of metal modular houses as a research camp by the beach. The coastline showed traces of human engineering—this was precisely a symbol of past civilization. I looked up at the endless stretch of primeval rainforest. The deep, ancient green across the mountains still exuded a wild and oppressive sense that no human had set foot on for centuries.
"Looking at this scale and state of abandonment, we might infer the direction residents collectively left by boat after resources were depleted." A low, magnetic voice came from beside me.
It was archaeologist Roger traveling with us. He is forty-two this year, wearing a pair of delicate half-rim glasses, exuding a refined scholarly aura. However, when he took off his heavy field jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves, the developed arm lines and broad, solid chest gave a contrasting sense different from his archaeologist image. Although there was a slight mature bulge at the waist from years, the whole person still radiated the masculine charm of a mature man.
"The plants here are almost completely isolated from other regions. It really makes one curious what endemic species there are." I picked up the topic and smiled at him.
After briefly organizing our gear in our respective modular houses, we set out with the team toward the town center of this primitive civilization.
The scale of the town was grander than expected. The buildings were mostly made of finely cut stone and soil. Although worn by centuries of wind and rain erosion and plant parasitism, the remaining colonnades and carvings still hinted at past prosperity. Most striking was the large number of strangely shaped endemic plants growing around the town. Although some traces of known families and genera could be seen, their leaf vein patterns and flower bud structures seemed slightly different from conventional plants.
In the center of the town, an ancient path paved with huge gray stones ran straight through the stone house clusters, extending all the way into the depths of the dark jungle at the island's center.
Looking along the stone path, although the distant route was obscured by layers of dense forest canopy, as long as one looked up, one could faintly see the majestic temple built of giant stones standing on the mountainside.
"Let's go," Roger adjusted the archaeological toolbox on his back and turned to give me a steady smile. "To study the core ideology of a civilization, we must start with its beliefs."
As soon as he finished speaking, he took the lead onto the stone path toward the temple.
Following the stone path deep into the jungle, the air gradually became damp and cold. Besides towering trees on both sides of the road, there were also many flowers of various colors.
"These plants..." I used tweezers to sample a leaf and petal, placed them in a sampling bag, then observed them briefly.
"A bit similar to poppies." I looked up and smiled at Roger. As a botanist, I had some knowledge of the relationship between certain plants and ancient civilizations' beliefs.
"Then this temple is probably the center of power worship," Roger walked beside me, slowing his pace to match mine. "After all, many ancient shamans or priests would use hallucinogenic herbs to control believers or induce hallucinations of divine miracles during rituals."
We continued discussing the connections between plants and history. Before we knew it, amid our conversation, we had arrived at the temple gates.
The moment we stepped into the temple interior, the humid heat of the outside rainforest was suddenly replaced by a cool chill from the stone walls. The corridors and main hall of the temple were lined with countless strangely shaped, exaggerated clay figurines and stone carvings. But the most shocking was the enormous plant standing on the half-collapsed broken stone platform at the very center bottom of the temple.
It was an unknown giant flower rising from the ground, over a person's height. The petals were a deep, mysterious purple-black, with a texture as heavy as tanned leather. The center of the stamen was a concave cup shape, with what seemed to be some crystal-clear, extremely viscous liquid in the middle.
"This is simply... incredible!"
Seeing this unknown giant flower I had almost never seen before, my academic fervor was instantly ignited. I couldn't help but exclaim and unconsciously walked toward the stone platform, eager to observe its structure up close.
However, the temple floor was ancient, and many stone slabs had loosened and shifted. Just as I was about to approach the stone platform, my foot suddenly tripped, and I lost balance, falling forward!
In the instinctive reaction to avoid falling heavily, I subconsciously reached out to steady myself on the broken platform stone wall beneath the giant flower.
"Mmm! Ah..."
A sharp stinging pain like being stung by a poisonous bee suddenly came from my fingertips and palm!
"Are you okay? Be careful!"
Roger was shocked and quickly rushed forward to help me up. He hurriedly took my right hand to check. There were several small puncture wounds on the pad of my index finger, slowly seeping tiny beads of bright red blood. Strangely, the edges of the needle-sized wounds showed a very faint purplish-red microvascular pattern, like a miniature flower pattern blooming under the skin.
"It's... it's fine, just a prick. Thank you..." I steadied myself, hand on my chest, then turned to look at where I had grabbed in panic. I discovered some thick roots of the giant flower. Upon closer inspection, the edges of the thick roots were densely covered with a layer of fine needle-like purple hard thorns.
At that moment, I suddenly felt as if my head had been struck. A strong dizziness surged without warning. My vision was instantly filled with white light.
I felt weak in the legs again from standing unsteadily. Just as I was about to fall again, Roger reacted quickly. A powerful arm instantly wrapped around my waist, pulling me smoothly into his embrace.
"Are you okay? Why is your face so pale?" Roger's low voice sounded in my ear, filled with concern.
"Mmm... should be fine... maybe just the air in the temple is too stuffy..."
I leaned against his chest, my nose filled with his faint sour sweat and the unique scent of a mature man. Roger's chest was broad and solid. The arm around my waist was full of strength. Through the thin field shirt, I could clearly feel the heat and firm muscles of his body. This sudden intimate contact made my heart skip a beat, and my cheeks flushed with warmth. I quickly stood up straight, somewhat shyly, using the excuse of checking the wound again to cover my loss of composure.
I carefully observed the puncture wounds on my index finger. Besides the very faint purplish microvascular flower pattern, the wounds showed no signs of severe redness, swelling, itching, or ulceration. There were no toxic reactions like vomiting or difficulty breathing. It seemed the microvascular part might be due to the flower thorns having barbs that caused minor capillary rupture.
"Although it looks fine, the composition of this unknown plant is still unclear. Disinfecting it would be safer."
Roger turned and took saline solution and a disinfectant bandage from the assistant's bag that had followed. He took my right hand again, lowered his head, and meticulously rinsed the blood from the wound with extreme care, then gently applied the bandage.
"Really sorry to trouble you, Professor Roger..."
"It's nothing. Caring for colleagues is only natural." Roger looked up and gave me a gentle smile.
Looking at his face so close, I truly examined this archaeologist carefully for the first time. In his forties, with glasses giving a mature and steady wise aura, and the solid physique honed from long-term field excavations, he exuded an aggressive male hormone.
"Okay, this should be fine now." Roger released my hand.
"Thank you... Then I'll start sampling and recording the plant."
"Good. We'll do stone carving sampling around here too. Call me if anything happens."
Roger nodded, then led his assistant toward the mural area on both sides of the temple for cleaning and rubbing. I took a deep breath, suppressing the inexplicable restlessness in my heart, and refocused my attention on the mysterious purple-black giant flower before me.
I picked up the camera to photograph and record the overall view, measured latitude and longitude and surrounding soil pH, carefully cut branches with flowers, fruits, and leaves and placed them in a drying specimen folder... I forced myself into a focused academic state. However, the fingertip where I was pricked faintly transmitted a subtle, rhythmic strange warmth, slowly flowing through the nerves to my entire body.
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### Chapter 3:
The sampling and excavation work went smoother than expected.
A few nights later, the modular houses in the camp were brightly lit. After days of cleaning temple murals and rubbing stone carvings, Professor Roger finally made a major breakthrough. At the regular progress meeting, he excitedly announced the current archaeological clues.
"Everyone, this is absolutely one of the most shocking archaeological discoveries of this century," Roger pointed to the stone rubbing image on the projection screen, his voice particularly impassioned with excitement. "The main deity worshipped by this civilization is a god governing fertility and sexuality, named Shiquetzull."
He pushed up his glasses and continued: "The name Shiquetzull, both in pronunciation and symbolized abilities, bears an astonishing resemblance to the Aztec mythological goddess Xochiquetzal—who governs love, beauty, fertility, and ultimate sexuality. This may mean that this isolated island civilization likely had some unknown transoceanic connection or common origin with ancient Mesoamerican cultures."
This major clue greatly boosted the morale of the expedition team, exhausted from days of work. That evening, to relax everyone's spirits a bit, the camp held a simple yet lively gathering. Everyone brought out their stocked liquor and canned goods, sitting together in celebration.
Watching the alcohol and cheerful atmosphere fill the square in the middle of the camp, Roger and I sat side by side on wooden chairs at the edge of the square. The night breeze blew through the rainforest, carrying away some of the alcohol fumes.
"I didn't expect your understanding of the connection between plants and ancient civilizations to be deeper than I imagined." Roger took a sip of whiskey, turned to look at me, his eyes appearing incredibly deep in the moonlight.
"They complement each other," I smiled. After a few drinks, my cheeks felt slightly warm. "Plants provide survival resources and also shape beliefs."
Roger chuckled lowly, then his gaze became somewhat gentle and distant. Watching the cheerful atmosphere in the square, our conversation deepened, even touching on sexual orientation. Of course, I openly shared that I am homosexual.
After hearing this, Roger first looked at me silently for a while, then lowered his head to look at the wine glass in his hand and slowly said: "Actually... I used to live quite repressed. When I was young, I followed societal expectations, married, had a daughter. It wasn't until a few years ago that I truly faced myself—I like men. My ex-wife and I divorced peacefully. She blessed me, and my daughter is grown now."
At this point, Roger turned his head and gazed deeply at me, then said softly, "From the first moment I saw you, I thought you were really cute..."
His body leaned slightly toward me. The body heat and faint sour hormonal scent of a mature man instantly enveloped me. In the slightly tipsy atmosphere, the restraint and tenderness in his eyes were almost overwhelming.
The distance between us grew closer and closer. Roger's breath was heavy on my lips, his eyes suggestively falling on my slightly parted lips. In that instant, my heart raced wildly. Our lips were almost touching.
However, reason stopped me at the last moment. I thought of A-Zhe far away in the country, of our four years of relationship and commitment.
I skillfully leaned back slightly, then picked up my wine glass for a sip and gave him an apologetic yet elegant smile: "Professor Roger, the wine tonight is really strong... I might have drunk a bit too much. I should go rest first."
Roger was stunned for a moment, then a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes, but he quickly showed the grace of a mature man and smiled gently: "Sorry, I got a bit out of line. Good night. Rest well."
However, from that night onward, things began to develop in an uncontrollable direction.