You and me, a shared monster. Zhang Lu did not know…
Zhang Lu did not know how else Jin Yuan intended to torture him.
Yet he truly had no strength left to resist or struggle. When Jin Yuan supported him back onto the bed, he was already drenched in a cold sweat.
Jin Yuan was in no rush to do anything else.
Instead, he returned to the bathroom and brought back a warm, damp towel.
He gently wiped the sweat from Zhang Lu’s face.
Inwardly, Zhang Lu cursed him, thinking that this man was perverted in a uniquely eccentric way.
He closed his eyes, completely exhausted.
Before long, a light, gentle touch came from his lower abdomen.
Opening his eyes, he saw Jin Yuan sitting on the bed, looking at him with a faint smile.
“What do you want this time?” Zhang Lu’s voice was hoarse, laden with deep exhaustion.
“Here.” Jin Yuan pressed something into his hand.
Zhang Lu looked down, the veins on his forehead throbbing violently:
It was a children’s picture book.
The colors and composition were exceptionally exquisite, featuring a dreamlike, towering tree alongside vibrant, blooming flowers and lush greenery.
A little bear was snuggled securely in the embrace of a big bear, a serene smile hanging at the corners of its mouth.
Until the End of the World.
Against a background of a crescent moon and scattered stars, a line of small text was printed along the side:
“I love you, from here until the place where the stars fall.”
Feeling as though he had grabbed a red-hot iron, Zhang Lu tossed the picture book away: “What are you playing at?”
“Prenatal education,” Jin Yuan said with complete seriousness.
“Pre-prenatal what?”
Zhang Lu’s scalp tingled.
Terror crept back into his heart, but this time, it felt entirely different.
“Reading a story to little one.” Jin Yuan picked up the book and gently placed it back into Zhang Lu’s hands.
“I won’t do it!” Zhang Lu took a deep breath, triggering a dull ache in his abdominal cavity. He stared fixedly at the children’s picture book, his Adam’s apple bobbing hard as he forced down a mouthful of saliva. “Jin Yuan, if you drive me to my death, little one won’t survive either!”
Slowly opening the first page, Jin Yuan spoke in a leisurely tone: “I’m only asking you to read a story. It won’t kill you.”
“Why don’t you read it yourself?”
“I will read too,” Jin Yuan said, his gaze flickering. “You first.”
Zhang Lu glared at him, then glared back down at the children’s picture book, his eyes filled with dread of the unknown.
What was drawn on those pages?
Soft, plush grass, with stars hanging at the edge of the sky.
The little bear was resting on the big bear’s shoulder, gazing up at the night sky, while the big bear bowed its head, quietly watching the little one in its arms.
Jin Yuan tapped his fingertip against the page, leaning in a fraction closer as his warm breath swept across Zhang Lu’s earlobe: “Go on, read.”
Gritting his teeth, Zhang Lu forced the words out from between them, one by one: “Little Bear asked, ‘Is the outside world so much fun? Can I go take a look?’ Big Bear replied, ‘Of course you can, my little treasure.'”
Reaching that point, he stopped abruptly, unable to utter another syllable.
His clenched fists trembled slightly, and a towering wave of shame forced his body to tense up.
“Relax, little one will feel uncomfortable.” Jin Yuan’s palm covered the back of Zhang Lu’s neck, kneading with moderate pressure before sliding smoothly onto his shoulder to gently stroke and soothe him.
Whether it was psychological or not, Zhang Lu suddenly felt a very faint flutter come from his lower abdomen.
That weak movement seemed to tug directly at his heart, and in an instant, a numb, dull sensation welled up in his chest.
Terrified that Jin Yuan might see through his abnormality, and ignoring the sweat sliding down his forehead, he gritted his teeth and continued reading in a broken, stuttering stream:
“The little bear asked in a low voice, ‘Then if I walk far away, will you still love me?'”
Before he could tense up further, Jin Yuan softly took over the lines:
“I will. No matter how far you walk, I will always love you.”
The next second, Zhang Lu could no longer endure it. He violently flung the picture book away and let out a low, rough roar: “Enough! This is sickening!”
He turned his head away in agitation, but as his gaze swept over Jin Yuan, he froze.
The man who always wore a trace of mocking amusement was now frowning deeply, his eyes vacant and his lips stiffened into a tight, straight line.
Yet, in just a blink, a bottomless, murky darkness resurfaced in those eyes.
Leaning forward to pick up the picture book, Jin Yuan reopened it to the previous page and curved the corners of his lips slightly: “Sickening?”
“Isn’t it sickening?” Zhang Lu suppressed his racing heartbeats.
Something was wrong.
Deep inside his body, something unusual was happening.
Jin Yuan chuckled lightly. His slender, beautiful fingers tapped against the words on the picture book again, his gaze shifting rapidly between the book and Zhang Lu’s face:
“I love you, even before you truly came into my world.”
“Enough! Shut up!” Cold sweat broke out across Zhang Lu’s forehead in an instant. He slammed a hand down onto the page, an action that instantly left him gasping for air and forced him to breathe heavily.
Jin Yuan’s gaze lifted from the book, locking directly onto him as he dropped every single word with heavy deliberation: “I love you, from…”
The voice was cut short and swept away by a sharp, sudden gasp.
Zhang Lu dropped his head sharply and bit down unceremoniously onto Jin Yuan’s shoulder.
He put real strength into it, feeling the other man’s body tense up abruptly, which stirred a shred of inexplicable satisfaction in his heart.
Yet Jin Yuan did not push him away. Instead, he gripped Zhang Lu’s shoulders, bringing his entire body forward to press close.
There was no force, no coercion, just a firm enclosure trapping Zhang Lu in front of him.
In that split second, both men froze in place.
Zhang Lu was completely dumbfounded.
They were practically pressed flush against one another. Even though the sudden movement in his lower abdomen had been faint, this pervert definitely felt it.
The blood in his veins felt as though it were flowing backward.
He instinctively tried to break free from Jin Yuan’s restraint, but Jin Yuan tightened his grip, commanding in a low voice:
“Quiet.”
Pressing his forehead against Zhang Lu’s sweat-drenched brow with warm breath and a voice barely louder than a whisper, he murmured:
“Little one is moving.”
Four words, like a blazing fire.
Zhang Lu felt scorched all over, as if trapped inside a furnace.
So this was:
Fetal movement.
It was as if his strength had been instantly drained away, or as if he had turned into a suddenly frozen volcano, caught completely off guard as he stiffened inside Jin Yuan’s embrace.
Even his previous heavy breathing came to an abrupt halt at that moment.
Through a thin layer of fabric, that faint, barely perceptible pulse acted like an invisible little hand, violently breaking through his iron-clad defenses and grabbing hold of his battle-hardened heart.
An uncontrollable tremor began to spread outward.
Starting from his calloused fingertips, hands that had thrown punches for years, it raced up his broad shoulders and tense spine, making his entire body tremble lightly.
This shaking didn’t stem from the residual effects of muscle relaxants, nor was it fear of Jin Yuan; rather, it was an instinct so foreign it bordered on despair.
A flash of battered, chaotic panic, one he hadn’t even realized was there, flickered through his red-rimmed eyes.
It was a fear born entirely against his own will:
That struggle just now, could it have hurt it?
His teeth clenched tight, his breathing growing increasingly chaotic. His still-trembling hand lifted slowly, stiffly, and sluggishly.
Jin Yuan’s gaze was as deep as a black well.
Zhang Lu no longer cared. With near-instinctive caution, his hand dropped down to rest over his slightly protruding lower abdomen.
He opened his mouth, his voice as hoarse as sandpaper scraping over a throat: “This is…”
“It’s little one.” Jin Yuan’s lips were practically pressed against his earlobe. “You and me, a shared monster.”
Zhang Lu shuddered all over, instinctively grabbing onto Jin Yuan’s arm as he spoke with difficulty: “No, it’s not…”
He seemed startled by his own words.
Shutting his mouth tightly once more, he could not stop his lower lip from trembling.
“Not what?”
Jin Yuan’s hand gently covered the back of Zhang Lu’s hand.
“A monster.” Zhang Lu took a deep breath, feeling as though the air itself were sharp blades cutting into his windpipe.
“Oh?” Jin Yuan’s lips curved slightly upward. “Not a monster?”
His palm caressed Zhang Lu’s jaw, a contour that remained strong and sharp.
Zhang Lu raised his head, fixing a pair of bloodshot eyes on Jin Yuan.
This face was impeccably handsome. No matter who scrutinized it, they wouldn’t find a shred of abnormality, let alone any trace of a so-called monster.
Yet: “Why?”
He couldn’t figure it out, completely failing to understand: “Why on earth choose me? Do you want a monster that badly?”
His hand remained resting on his lower abdomen. Although the abnormal movement had ceased, Zhang Lu knew it hadn’t been a hallucination born of an unstable mind.
“That’s, that’s a human, when it’s born, it’s a person, you, you…”
The words choked up in his throat, refusing to go any further.
Zhang Lu felt utterly powerless.
He knew nothing about the growth of the fetus in his belly, nor did he know whether the little one inside him right now already possessed a human form.
Yet the genuine flutter that had just emanated from deep within his body still struck him like a heavy hammer.
Jin Yuan’s silence only made it harder for Zhang Lu to breathe, tightening the oppressive knot in his chest.
Drawing upon what little strength he had left, he gripped Jin Yuan tightly, unable to suppress the fracture and grief in his voice: “Even if you hate me, you shouldn’t use little one to get your revenge!”
“I hate you?”
Jin Yuan’s beautifully shaped brow arched slightly, murmuring as if talking to himself.
Then, letting his gaze fall back onto Zhang Lu’s face, he let out a scoff:
“That’s right. I hate you. I want you to suffer, I want you to use a man’s body to bear my child. And then, and then I want you to watch with your own eyes as the brat you give birth to turns into a monster…”
Before the words fully faded, the redness in Zhang Lu’s eyes shattered.
A fierce, enraged determination made him ignore his fading stamina and aching muscles. Relying on sheer brute force, he lunged violently at Jin Yuan, using his weight to pin Jin Yuan straight down onto the bed.
The moment he lunged, he instinctively tightened his waist and abdomen, pulling his lower belly safely out of the way.
Yet before Zhang Lu could muster the strength to throw a punch, Jin Yuan had already reacted. Flipping his wrist, he locked onto Zhang Lu’s arm while his other hand pressed firmly against the back of Zhang Lu’s head, forcing him down.
Their chests pressed tightly together, their warm breaths intertwining and burning hot.
The very next instant their eyes met, Jin Yuan savagely captured Zhang Lu’s lips in a kiss.
The fierce momentum, laden with the weight of punishment, left Zhang Lu feeling like a wild beast caught in a trap, completely unable to move a fraction of an inch.
A bold, sweeping advance that turned everything upside down.
A rough, muffled groan escaped Zhang Lu’s throat.
He whipped his head to the side, trying to dodge the suffocating kiss, but the hand holding the back of his head pinned him firmly in place. Gritting his teeth in a flash of defiance, he used his remaining strength to bite down hard onto Jin Yuan’s lower lip,
Only when he tasted the faint tang of blood spreading in his mouth did the fierce hostility in his chest ease slightly.
Yet Jin Yuan did not let go.
The predatory assault swept through like a storm.
The strength of Zhang Lu’s struggle gradually waned, and his hands dropped limply to his sides.
Where their chests pressed together, the powerful heartbeat of another person echoed clearly.
Accompanied by those tiny, faint movements from his abdomen.
In all his life, Zhang Lu had never felt so utterly at a loss.