Lin Min shuddered violently inside the wardrobe.
The knocking on the door sounded incessantly. His thick, dark eyelashes trembled as he considered getting up to check, but he sensed that something was not quite right with Zhou Jin.
Why would Zhou Jin say he smelled sweet?
The comment reminded Lin Min of a humiliating incident when the other man had smelled him in that intimate place and asked why he was so fragrant. At the thought, the tips of his ears began to burn inexplicably.
“Mr. Zhou?” Lin Min asked tentatively in a small voice, his heart thumping wildly. His pale pink fingertips curled nervously as he gripped the suit jacket belonging to Fu Chenyuan.
He tried to push the cupboard door open just a crack. At the same time, he clearly heard the previously restrained breathing outside the door suddenly become rapid and scalding. Terrified, Lin Min stopped in his tracks. His feet, where faint blue veins were visible, curled for a moment, appearing exceptionally white against the black cashmere carpet. He warily refrained from moving further forward.
“Are you okay?” Lin Min spoke tentatively. He did not rush to open the door but asked toward the hallway, his fingers nervously clutching the cuffs of the jacket. “Where are Mr. Fu and the others? Why did only you come back?”
Listening to the strange panting outside the door, the beautiful husband hesitated. Ultimately, his concern outweighed his suspicion. His voice carried a timid probe. “Mr. Zhou, your breathing is so heavy. Are you injured?”
In truth, he found it even stranger that Zhou Jin’s breathing sounded exactly like what he had heard when he went to Wei Chi’s room to help bandage him. He wondered if Zhou Jin could be in the same state, but he quickly dismissed the thought as impossible.
Outside, there was silence, filled only by the sound of heavy breathing. After a while, Zhou Jin’s voice, now completely hoarse, rang out. “Yes, I am injured. Quick, open the door and let me in.”
The deep voice carried a coaxing tone, yet it betrayed a hint of indiscernible urgency. Hearing this, Lin Min’s heart leaped into his throat. If they were injured, it made sense; he remembered that Zhou Jin and the others had risked themselves to lead the monsters away.
Lin Min was still uneasy, but concern eventually overrode doubt. He slowly shuffled toward the bedroom door. He did not know that the tall man was currently leaning his body against the door panel, separated from him by only a hair’s breadth. Zhou Jin could even hear the hurried breathing from inside the room. His non-human vertical pupils constricted sharply, and his expression was obscured under the hallway lights.
Zhou Jin lowered his head slightly, his fiery red hair falling messily over his forehead and making his sharp jawline even more distinct. He leaned against the door, panting weakly. The fabric at his waist and abdomen was soaked in a dark patch. It was unclear if it was water or blood. One hand pressed firmly against the dark area, his knuckles white from the force. There were even several scratch marks across his abdominal muscles. He looked severely injured.
While Lin Min was hesitating, a muffled groan of apparent pain came from outside. He could not remain indifferent, especially since the other man had just risked his life to save him. Biting his lower lip, he finally reached out with a trembling hand to unlock the safety chain.
He gently turned the doorknob.
However, the moment the door opened a crack, a massive force surged in from the outside. Lin Min let out a cry of surprise, nearly falling backward from the impact. A scalding palm hooked around his waist, immediately pressing him tightly into a broad chest. Zhou Jin’s gaze felt tangible as it slid from the beautiful husband’s fluttering eyelashes to his slightly parted, pale lips. The gaze was too hot and too focused, as if he wanted to fiercely lick those soft shapes.
Lin Min was frightened by this behavior. He instinctively tried to struggle, but the oversized jacket slid off his shoulders, revealing snow-white skin and the thigh flesh that trembled in the man’s palm.
Zhou Jin’s breathing instantly became heavier. He panted, his chest heaving. His eyes, which were usually rebellious and untamed, were now clouded with a murky haze. They remained pinned to Lin Min’s face like a predator locking onto its prey. Anyone could see that something was wrong.
Unfortunately, Lin Min could see nothing. His pink-tinged fingertips instinctively pushed against the man’s chest. He felt like a cat being forced to expose its belly to be sniffed by a human. His voice carried a sob of fear. He grabbed a nearby pillow to try and block him, but Zhou Jin swiped it away.
“Where is this scent coming from, wife?”
The man’s nose rubbed against him frantically. The beautiful husband was forced to let out a tight whimper. He struggled to retreat, but a scalding hand grabbed his slender ankle. The strength was astonishing, and he was easily dragged back with one hand. The man’s tall silhouette loomed over him. Burning breath sprayed against the sensitive side of his neck.
Lin Min pushed his hands against Zhou Jin’s burning chest. Out of shame, tears slid down uncontrollably. Why would the player start calling people “wife” after losing his mind? He had said he did not like men.
“No, Zhou Jin, wake up!” Lin Min turned his head to avoid the invasion of that burning breath. His voice was tearful, and the soft end of his words trembled. “Look clearly, I am Lin Min! I am not your wife!”
The word was too embarrassing for him to utter. His cheeks were incredibly hot.
“So fragrant,” Zhou Jin muttered. He did not know what was wrong with his wife; he only followed his instincts. His nose rubbed and sniffed urgently against Lin Min’s neck and collarbone. Like a beast confirming its territory, his burning lips occasionally brushed against the delicate skin. The large hand was no longer satisfied with restraining the ankle and began to stroke upward along the curve of the calf. Everywhere it passed, it triggered a fine layer of goosebumps on Lin Min’s skin.
“Where on earth is it?”
Lin Min’s eyes instantly turned red and wet from fright. His bent knee tried to push the man away again. Their bodies were pressed tightly together. Through the thin clothing, Lin Min could clearly feel the startling changes and heat in the other man’s body.
Zhou Jin’s movements paused for a moment. His murky gaze focused on Lin Min’s lips, which were slightly parted due to crying and panting. Those lips were pale, appearing somewhat red and swollen from previous biting and tension. Between the moist gap, one could faintly see the tips of white teeth and the deeper, soft, wet red of his mouth.
His grip on Lin Min’s chin tightened slightly, forcing the lips to open wider as his head slowly lowered. Feeling the pressure on his jaw, Lin Min vaguely guessed what Zhou Jin wanted to do. His eyes widened abruptly. As if knowing how uncomfortable the next moment would be, the beautiful husband’s brows furrowed in pain. The tip of his tongue, hidden behind his teeth, curled up.
He found strength from somewhere. Taking advantage of the moment the other’s attention was fully captured by his lips, his free hand reached out and grabbed the suit jacket that had fallen to the floor. Lin Min fumbled for the jacket and, using all his strength, suddenly threw it over Zhou Jin’s head. Then, he jerked his knee upward with a sharp thrust.
“Ugh!”
Zhou Jin was caught off guard. The knee struck his waist and abdomen, which were unusually sensitive due to the toxin. He let out a muffled groan, his movements freezing as a flash of pain and shock crossed his face. Lin Min took the opportunity to scramble up. Like a startled silver fish, he slipped through the gap under the tall man’s arm and stumbled out of the room, fumbling his way directly into the dim hallway.
He did not dare look back. His heart was nearly jumping out of his throat, terrified that Zhou Jin would rush out and catch him again. Lin Min was blind and could only rely on his knowledge of the villa and instinct to run forward. Cold air poured into his lungs. Before long, he heard footsteps coming from behind. Zhou Jin had come out.
Lin Min understood he had to hide or find Fu Chenyuan or Wei Chi. He could not defeat Zhou Jin on his own. This thought sustained Lin Min as he ran desperately through the labyrinthine corridors of the villa. However, in his frantic flight, he suddenly crashed into a firm embrace that carried a faint, cold fragrance. Lin Min was so scared he nearly collapsed, but a cool hand timely supported his waist, preventing him from falling to the floor.
Panic-stricken, he raised his head. Although he could not see, Lin Min clearly felt the breathing coming from above. It was different from Zhou Jin’s, yet equally heavy with a certain suppressed tension. However, the joy of meeting another player overrode this slight anomaly.
“Mr. Lin?”
A deep, somewhat husky voice sounded. Lin Min felt the familiar woody fragrance surrounding him and quickly realized the person he had bumped into was Fu Chenyuan. That hand was burning hot against his cool skin. Lin Min trembled slightly and then, like a drowning man clutching a straw, he gripped Fu Chenyuan’s sleeve tightly.
“Mr. Fu! Zhou Jin… Zhou Jin seems wrong!”
He panted rapidly, entirely unaware of the burning fingers tightening around his waist. Fu Chenyuan leaned against the cold wall. His always meticulous tie had been pulled loose, hanging crookedly around his neck. Deep within his eyes, which usually held a gentle smile, a crumbling sense of reason was fighting a losing battle against a surging tide of desire. His gaze unashamedly swept over Lin Min’s messy collar and flushed cheeks. Finally, as if drawn by a magnet, it landed on his slightly swollen lips.
“Mr. Fu?” Lin Min received no answer. Hearing the footsteps behind getting louder, he did not have time to think. He pushed the man directly into a nearby empty room.
Fu Chenyuan’s abdominal muscles tensed. He heard the door click shut, temporarily isolating the sound of Zhou Jin’s increasingly manic footsteps in the hallway. The fragrant little widower in his arms was completely oblivious. Perhaps because his fear had not yet subsided, his pale fingertips still tightly gripped Fu Chenyuan’s sleeve. He did not notice the man’s gaze fixed on his wet, red lips.
The beautiful husband tilted up his snow-white face, his vacant eyes looking helplessly in Fu Chenyuan’s direction. “I do not know what is wrong with Zhou Jin. He has become very strange, as if he does not recognize me anymore.”
He was incoherent, too embarrassed to repeat the title “wife,” and his slender white neck flushed with an awkward pink. However, the expected comfort did not come. The man he was clinging to remained abnormally silent. In the darkness, Lin Min could only hear another heavy, yet more suppressed and restrained breathing close by. The palm supporting his waist was still burning hot. His fingertips seemed to tighten unconsciously, transmitting an undeniable heat through the thin fabric.
“Mr. Fu?” Lin Min called out hesitantly again, a trace of unease rising in his heart.
“Mm.”
Fu Chenyuan finally responded, but only with a short syllable. The voice was incredibly deep and hoarse. It was still as gentle and composed as usual, just rougher than before. Lin Min breathed a heavy sigh of relief. But before he could relax, he heard the footsteps outside seem to be approaching this direction.
Just as Lin Min was about to say something else, the man—who usually had a germaphobic streak—suddenly covered his mouth. Fu Chenyuan leaned down, his thin lips close to Lin Min’s ear, and whispered, “He has been infected by a monster. You should have heard him talk about those monsters, right?”
As he lowered his head, his high nose bridge almost touched Lin Min’s earlobe. The husband’s soft body, his dependent posture, and that alluring scent were all frantically dismantling the last of Fu Chenyuan’s sanity. He knew his own body was experiencing an abnormality.
Lin Min did not notice his wrongness; his attention was entirely captured by Fu Chenyuan’s words. Of course he remembered those monsters. He heard they liked to eat human eyes. No wonder Zhou Jin had become like that, licking his eyes like a puppy earlier. It turned out he was infected and wanted to eat his eyes.
Before Lin Min could recover, Fu Chenyuan suddenly grabbed his wrist and led him quickly into a narrow space. Lin Min instinctively felt around and guessed they were in something like a cupboard. The sound of a heavy blow to the door echoed at that moment. Zhou Jin had found them.
“He has turned into that kind of monster now? Does that mean he was also attracted by the scent on me?” Terrified, Lin Min instinctively shrank into the man’s embrace. He recalled Zhou Jin’s words. It seemed he needed some other scent to cover it up.
Only then did Lin Min realize his back was pressed tightly against Fu Chenyuan’s chest. He clearly felt the man’s steady, powerful heartbeat and a body temperature so high it could almost burn him. Scalding breath sprayed across the back of his neck. Remembering the other was also a player, Lin Min shrank his neck but still carefully asked, “Then what should we do? Is there any way to cover the scent on me?”
He did not dare imagine what kind of torment he would face if caught.
“There is,” Fu Chenyuan said huskily. His nose unconsciously rubbed against Lin Min’s delicate skin, his gaze fixed on the spot where the fragrance was most concentrated. “We can use a stronger scent belonging to someone else to cover it.”
The pupils of his long eyes constricted for a moment. His fragile sanity was nearly snapped. Instinct urged Fu Chenyuan to lick it. He averted his gaze with difficulty.
“A scent belonging to someone else?” Lin Min repeated blankly. He did not quite understand, but in this extremely tense atmosphere, Fu Chenyuan was the only person he could rely on. “Then… can you do it?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt the burning fingers at his waist tighten again. The next moment, Lin Min felt a heat at the back of his neck. It was not a simple touch. Fu Chenyuan’s burning lips pressed against the most tender and fragile skin at the back of his neck. Immediately after, a wet, forceful sensation accompanied by a bite was transmitted. The man’s fingers gripped his waist tightly.
“Ngh!”
Caught off guard, Lin Min let out a short gasp of surprise. His toes curled, and he instinctively wanted to struggle. A faint blush appeared on his snow-white cheeks. That area was too sensitive, and this action was far too intimate. It was well beyond a safe distance.
“Do not move,” Fu Chenyuan’s arms were like iron bands, pinning him firmly to his chest. His voice was incredibly hoarse, his sanity clearly pushed to the limit. “To cover your scent, I have to leave one behind.”
He seemed to be convincing himself. The unutterable impulses he had been deliberately suppressing quickly swept over his reason. The moist sensation gradually became forceful, bringing waves of strange, itchy numbness mixed with a stinging pain. Lin Min bit his lower lip hard to suppress the whimpers about to overflow from his throat. He felt like a piece of butter about to melt, trembling helplessly and heating up under the man’s hot lips and tongue.
At that moment, the door was finally smashed open.
Fu Chenyuan’s movements stopped, but he did not immediately release Lin Min. His lips remained pressed against the patch of skin he had worried into a red, hot state, calming his racing heart and breath. His long eyes stared at the husband’s wet, red lips. In a hoarse voice, he asked, “What should we do? He has come in. The original method seems to have failed.”
Lin Min’s whole body felt weak, and he relied almost entirely on the man in front of him to keep from sliding down. His cheeks were crimson, his eyelashes wet, and his mind was a complete blank. He felt a distinct stinging pain from the back of his neck. Before he could process the man’s meaning, burning fingertips suddenly pinched his chin. His lips were forced open, revealing the wet, red soft flesh inside.
Fu Chenyuan caught a whiff of the fragrance. He should have found this sort of thing disgusting, but he could not look away. He told himself this was all due to the influence of the mating period. When he was not smiling, he had a cold, noble air of detachment. But now, he pinched the beautiful husband’s cheek and crashed onto him almost impatiently.
Lin Min’s tongue shrank back. The bridge of the man’s nose pressed against the soft flesh of his cheek, making him uncomfortable. He instinctively struggled, but his hand was instantly caught by the man’s large hand. All his whimpers were swallowed by the protagonist, who was said to be extremely germaphobic.
The sound of Zhou Jin’s footsteps entering could still be heard. He did not know if this method was truly working, as the other man did not seem to notice their location. He was just rummaging back and forth in the room. The shame of almost being discovered made his thick eyelashes tremble uncontrollably.
But Lin Min was soon unable to think. His tightly closed teeth were forced open by the man. His eyes widened as the soft, wet red was entangled and dragged out. The beautiful husband’s thin eyelids turned pink. He looked as if he was about to faint. Fu Chenyuan’s breathing carried an aggressiveness completely different from his usual refined manner.
Lin Min was forced to tilt his head back. He opened his eyes blankly, not yet reacting when the faint woody scent and the unutterably burning breath quickly approached, spraying by his ear. He wanted to say something, but the fragmented whimpers were blocked deep in his throat. At a time like this, Lin Min did not forget to ask with his vacant, out-of-focus eyes, “Has he left?”
The beautiful husband did not realize that his current appearance looked a complete mess in the man’s eyes. He was gasping for air, his cheeks crimson, his eyelashes clumped together with moisture, and his reddened lips glistening with a watery sheen. He could barely speak clearly, yet he still looked at him blankly and asked with a good-natured tone, “Do we need to continue?”
Fu Chenyuan’s gaze darkened. Feeling the thirst that had not yet been fully quenched, he unusually averted his gaze with a hint of urgency. He extended his thumb, his somewhat rough pad brushing against the corner of Lin Min’s wet lips and wiping away that bit of shine. However, his chaotic mind had calmed significantly.
“To end this completely, we have to find a way to fully soothe his mating period,” Fu Chenyuan looked at him deeply, then leaned in close to his ear and whispered something.
Lin Min’s eyes suddenly widened, and his swollen thin lips parted slightly. How could he let someone else drink the stuff from there! How is that possible! This is too absurd and too shameful! Even when Xie Mingyuan wanted that before, he had not agreed, let alone letting another man do it.