"I… I don't know."
Bujing Nu's face was expressionless as he reached out, grabbed Shanu by the hair, and tossed her aside in annoyance.
"You don't know, and you still gave it to her?"
Bujing Nu's grip was far too strong.
Though Shanu was simple-minded, she still had her instincts. She was braver than most, not as terrified of Bujing Nu as others were, but every time he glanced at her, she would still tremble into a ball. This time, caught off guard, her limbs went weak. Bujing Nu was tired today—he kicked her once and left.
Xia Ji was completely unaware of all this.
She was still desperately climbing the wall.
Climbing walls was a true technical skill, and for a corporate drone, even more so.
Fortunately, she was still wearing the dirty clothes from when she had escaped. She wore her undergarments beneath, missed her footing several times, sweat pouring down her face, her whole body burning hot. The weakness and soreness that had plagued her seemed to have been activated, and she slipped again. Xia Ji gasped in fright, and even heard footsteps approaching behind her, but she didn't have time to turn around.
Her naive corporate-drone mind thought it was Shanv coming to bring her a stool to step on. At the same time, she dug her hands hard into a protruding ledge above, kicking against the wall with both feet.
"Bring it here, bring it here!" Xia Ji was drenched in sweat.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her ankle.
The hand that seized her was sticky and cold. Xia Ji let out a startled shriek, but her mind didn't short-circuit—she clung desperately to the wall, kicking her leg with all her might, but couldn't shake it off. Half her soul flew away in terror, and she looked down.
Looking down was a mistake.
It nearly scared her to death.
"Ahhh!"
Her hands went completely weak with fear, losing their grip. She tried desperately to cling to the wall but couldn't hold on. Xia Ji screamed in terror and fell straight down.
She landed flat on her back.
"Ow…!"
The cry of pain was trapped in her throat. She didn't even have a moment to catch her breath—catching sight of a shadow looming beside her, Xia Ji scrambled to her feet and shrank into the corner of the wall like a terrified hamster.
It was only then that she noticed her ankle, where she'd been grabbed, was smeared with blood, staining her clothes.
This frightened Xia Ji half to death. Her whole body trembled like a leaf in the wind as she shakily looked at the… youth standing across from her, staring down at her.
It was him. No mistake.
It was also at this moment that Xia Ji finally confirmed his gender.
The sky was overcast today, and in the distance, crows cawed hoarsely across the horizon. This residence bordered the mountain forest, with gusts of cold wind blowing through, the mountain's shadow dark and gloomy. He wore black clothes, his shoulder-length ink-black hair so dark it felt suffocating, loose and disheveled. His face was stained with large patches of dried blood, and even his exposed neck showed almost none of its original skin tone.
That beautiful, delicate boyish face was as it always was, hidden beneath the blood—eerily gorgeous, like a ghost crawling out of thick red gore.
She hadn't expected it to really be him.
Why had he actually brought her here?
Was he insane? What did he want with her?
Xia Ji stared at him intently. Bujing Nu let her look, but raised his fingers.
It was strange—his hands were covered in blood, yet only a few fingers remained relatively clean, making his fingertips look even paler in contrast. The crows' hoarse cries came from afar, and one flew over, landing on his hand with an ugly squawk.
Xia Ji was dumbfounded.
The crow had come, but Bujing Nu ignored it, still staring at this cowardly woman curled up on the ground, locking eyes with her.
Bujing Nu felt something unfamiliar. He stared into her eyes for a moment before realizing what it was—no living person dared to look at him so directly. Aside from fools, he rarely saw anyone gaze at him with such open eyes.
Bujing Nu tilted his head slightly. "What were you doing just now?"
The moment he spoke, Xia Ji flinched.
She couldn't tell his age. His voice was cold and sinister, slow, carrying a strange gentleness—the voice of a boy whose voice hadn't yet changed. That was why, on the night she first met him, even when he spoke, Xia Ji couldn't discern his gender.
Now, hearing his voice, it felt like a nightmare to her—a bone-chilling coldness that made her instinctively cover her still-throbbing neck.
Her gesture seemed to pique the youth's interest. The crow flew to his shoulder as he walked over to her, crouched down, and stared at her along with the crow on his shoulder, the stench of blood washing over her.
Strangely, this youth was clearly human, with human eyes, yet his gaze was just like the crow on his shoulder—utterly devoid of emotion. Xia Ji curled up in fear, not daring to breathe.
What blood was this on him?
If he wasn't a pig butcher, then there was probably only one possibility.
Realizing this, Xia Ji felt like vomiting when she looked at him. The beautiful face hidden beneath the bloodstains did nothing to dispel that nausea—instead, it made him resemble a sinister Buddha enshrined in a remote mountain village, terrifying and eerily beautiful, enough to make one sick.
"I'm asking you a question."
Xia Ji clutched her neck, holding her breath, trembling uncontrollably with fear.
Bujing Nu's dark, deep eyes held no emotion whatsoever. He simply looked at her clean, pale face, then raised his hand to touch her cold cheeks.
An overwhelmingly heavy stench of blood filled her senses.
Xia Ji stared wide-eyed, her entire body trembling.
Only after he had smeared her clean face with blood did Bujing Nu faintly smile, gripping the ankle he had grabbed earlier.
"You want to run." His palm tapped her ankle twice, not painfully, but Xia Ji was so frightened her whole body jolted twice. She looked up—Bujing Nu was still smiling.
"You are my woman."
Wh-what does that mean?
What do you mean, I'm your woman?
What kind of plot is this, and how can such a clichéd, greasy line sound so terrifying coming from your mouth? Xia Ji was choked speechless, still not daring to speak.
If she ran again, this foot of hers would definitely not survive.
She nodded like a pestle pounding garlic, then remembering his earlier question, gave a slight shake of her head, not daring to say anything.
"Get up and eat."
Bujing Nu pulled her up. Amidst her terror, Xia Ji actually breathed a sigh of relief. Although being picked up by this mad young man was truly frightening and unsettling, unexpectedly, this madman could communicate—though it was somewhat strange.
Xia Ji was a clever person who clung to life by any means, and her luck had always been bad. At this moment, she was unexpectedly already satisfied, feeling deeply that this was a blessing within misfortune.
He hadn't even watched her run, just given her a warning.
Still relatively gentle.
—If one ignored the blood covering his body.
And for some unknown reason, this young man led her into the room holding her hand. Xia Ji was forced to be held by him, feeling the sticky blood clinging to her entire hand.
Was he doing this on purpose? Why hold her hand? This sudden intimacy between strangers was too strange even for a modern person.
And what did he mean by saying she was his woman…?
Xia Ji carried a belly full of speculation as he led her back to that dim room with the drawn curtains.
The originally heavy scent of fragrant balm had been dispersed by the greasy smell of food. The wooden table that had been piled with luxurious clothes and jewelry had been hastily pushed aside to make half a space, with several precious garments and ornaments fallen to the floor, a gold-thread-embroidered waist sash rolled far away. In their place were several dishes of food, messily set on the table.
They hadn't been there before—that Shanu must have brought the meal.
But that Shanu didn't look like someone who could cook. Such lavish, beautifully plated dishes didn't seem like something Shanu could make.
Or was there a small kitchen here?
To be able to work as a servant here, one must have quite the nerve…
This young man's blood-soaked, foul-smelling body mixed with the fragrance of the food was disgustingly overwhelming. Xia Ji's stomach was empty—she was actually very hungry—but she truly had no appetite. She lowered her head, wanting to first tidy up the things on the floor. These clothes and jewelry were truly beautiful; it would be a shame to leave them lying there.
"Eat first. Try the clothes later."
The young man following behind her spoke suddenly. Xia Ji was still thinking about the clothes that had rolled onto the floor—she didn't want to try them on, just felt it was a shame to leave them there—but she didn't dwell on it now.
She was the kind of office worker who had long been polished by society, and her greatest "virtue" was obedience. When her boss ordered her to do something, she did it without questioning why. At this moment, she kept her clever thoughts hidden, not wanting to get too close to this blood-soaked young man.
She sat very far from him, gazing at him anxiously, and stiffly opened her mouth: "Where do I—"
Wash my hands?
Before she could finish speaking.
The young man sitting across from her had already picked up his chopsticks, covered in blood, and begun eating with his head down.
Xia Ji: ?
"You—you're not going to wash up?" Xia Ji couldn't hold it in anymore.
"What."
Bujing Nu didn't understand what she meant. "Wash?"
"You're covered in blood!"
"So what."
"Aren't you going to wash before eating?"
"Wash where."
Bujing Nu ignored her, vaguely recalling in passing that noble sons were always clean when they ate. Perhaps his woman wanted him to go bathe.
He didn't understand why.
Bujing Nu scattered the beautifully plated dishes into a mess, then picked up a spoon to scoop up vegetables and rice together. His grip on the spoon was extremely strange—he simply clutched it in his hand, shoveling large mouthfuls into his mouth.
He had been hungry for a day and a night.
The food at Dingyang Restaurant was delicious. Bujing Nu ate very quickly, and after several mouthfuls, he remembered Xia Ji.
"Come eat."
He beckoned to Xia Ji.
Xia Ji looked at his slender, beautiful hand, covered in fresh blood. Everything was too terrifying—the dark, oppressive room, the young man drenched in blood eating with bizarre gestures, the overwhelming stench of blood that even the fragrance of the food couldn't cover.
"Ugh—"
Xia Ji clamped her hand tightly over her mouth. She couldn't take it anymore. Covering her mouth, she ran outside.
The moment she stepped out the door, she vomited.
Bujing Nu continued eating with his spoon, unfazed. He often ate among piles of corpses, with people around him vomiting constantly, yet he ate on regardless. He didn't care what others were doing. Xia Ji clutched her stomach, retching up sour fluid, her face deathly pale as she staggered back inside.
The boy-devil was still in the room.
He sat cross-legged on the chair, gripping his spoon, still eating.
She had just vomited—the sound of retching had been so loud—and he could still eat.
Xia Ji steadied herself against the door, returning to the pitch-dark room. She glanced twice at the hellish, grotesque scene before her vision blurred and darkened, and she fainted once more.
She must have been insane just now.
To think she'd been lucky, that she'd met someone she could communicate with.
This was a painful reincarnation loop for the working class.
She'd run into a madman who was utterly inhuman, a monster in human form.
Behind her came a heavy thud. Bujing Nu turned his head while eating—Xia Ji had collapsed at the threshold.
Grease and blood smeared his lips. Bujing Nu wiped his mouth with the back of his bloodstained hand, walked over to Xia Ji, and pressed his fingers against her warm neck to feel her pulse.