A dim room, scorching body heat, sticky sweat.
Jiang Mian’s forceful struggles only seemed to agitate the Beastman on top of her.
He pinned her hands down with greater force, then aggressively intertwined their fingers, pressing their sweat-slicked hands to the cold floor.
A scorching kiss traveled across her neck, a sensation like being licked by the tail-end of a damp match’s flame.
“You touched me first…” Zhao Ci’s voice was low and hoarse.
His consciousness was hazy, as if caught between waking and drunkenness.
His eyelids felt heavy, as if weighed down by sweat, struggling to stay half-open, yet unable to close, hazed over with desire.
His voice even seemed to hold a trace of grievance.
‘She was the one who made the first move.
He’d accepted, so why was she struggling now?’
In his frenzied state, Zhao Ci’s mind was muddled.
Even this simple question felt like a tangled ball of yarn, making it impossible to find a clear thread of thought.
Jiang Mian realized she stood no chance of breaking free from an adult Beastman’s hold.
In fact, the more she struggled, the more immovably he would likely pin her down.
‘All she could do was relax, let the Beastman relax too, and then shove him away when he least expected it.’
The Beastman seemed to notice her stillness.
Sure enough, the force restraining her gradually lessened.
His hot, wet lips traveled along Jiang Mian’s slender neck, moving slowly toward her jawline, then her lips, each light kiss sending a tingling, electric numbness through her.
Jiang Mian, however, felt her scalp go numb with dread.
Just as Zhao Ci was about to press his lips to hers, his scorching breath growing ever hotter, Jiang Mian abruptly shoved him away!
She scrambled to roll over, managing to get one foot under her.
But before she could fully stand, a large, hot, wet hand seized her other ankle and yanked her forcefully backward.
The next second, instead of rising, Jiang Mian’s knees slammed heavily onto the ground.
Moreover, the shimmering, cloyingly sweet aphrodisiac scent sapped the strength from her entire body.
At that moment, Jiang Mian felt like she was in a sci-fi horror film—the main character whose ankle is grabbed by the monster, about to be dragged into the abyss.
That was her reality now.
She hadn’t escaped.
The Beastman had caught her ankle, dragged her back, and pinned her beneath him once more.
Her attempt to flee seemed to infuriate the Butterfly Beastman.
The Butterfly Beastman lunged down and bit her neck.
A sharp, stinging pain shot out from the spot.
The pain made Jiang Mian’s eyes water and redden.
She let out a pained cry as her hand flew up uncontrollably, slapping the Butterfly Beastman across the face.
Her palm went numb from the impact.
Her throat was dry, her voice hoarse with suppressed rage as she cried, “Wake up!”
The Butterfly Beastman’s movements faltered, slowing to a crawl.
He was dazed and groggy, yet he still seemed to sense her anger.
Then, as if subconsciously trying to placate her, he began to gently lick the blood welling from her neck, as if to soothe the wound.
The next second, the Butterfly Beastman’s body suddenly went slack.
He tried to mechanically turn his head toward a person who had suddenly appeared beside them, but his vision went black before he could see anything.
Jiang Mian blinked her eyes open and saw a figure crouching beside the Butterfly Beastman.
She didn’t know when he’d appeared.
In his long, slender hand, he held a transparent syringe, its needle buried in the Butterfly Beastman’s neck.
As the Beastman collapsed, the figure caught him by the back of his collar and casually tossed him aside.
“Mianmian, why so disheveled?” Rong Fei said, half-crouching as he looked down at Jiang Mian.
His gaze held a lofty, casual disdain, yet his voice was soft and tranquil.
Jiang Mian wiped her face and pulled herself up from the floor.
As she rose to her feet, Rong Fei stood up with her.
“Thanks,” Jiang Mian said with a sigh of relief.
Her eyes were still red and sore, and her brow remained slightly furrowed.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Butterfly Beastman lying on the floor.
After a moment of silence, she looked at Rong Fei and asked, “Is he going to be okay?”
‘She had no idea what Rong Fei had just injected Zhao Ci with.’
Rong Fei didn’t answer her right away.
His gaze fell on Jiang Mian, his silver eyes appraising her.
The girl looked unusually wretched.
Her clothes were a rumpled mess, as if she’d been ravaged.
Clear teeth marks stood out on her fair skin, tiny beads of blood welling up.
On her snow-white neck, they looked… particularly beautiful.
The rims of her dark eyes were slightly red, whether from anger or pain, he couldn’t tell.
Even the beauty mark at the corner of her eye seemed to have reddened.
“Mianmian, aren’t Butterfly Beastmen your favorite?” Rong Fei’s gaze fixed on her as he slowly reached a hand toward her face.
Jiang Mian froze, wanting to pull away.
But all he did was use his fingertips to gently hook a stray, messy strand of hair and tuck it behind her ear.
He spoke softly, his words slow.
“Today was such a perfect opportunity.
Why didn’t you seize it?”
‘Hearing his words, her lips parted.
Could she tell him it was the original owner of this body who wanted to sleep with Zhao Ci, not her, Jiang Mian?’
‘She couldn’t say that.’
‘Telling someone she had transmigrated was just too ridiculous.’
“I used to want to sleep with him, but not so much anymore,” Jiang Mian lied smoothly.
She lifted her gaze to meet Rong Fei’s, but it slid to the syringe he still held in his other hand.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Mianmian, he’s just asleep,” Rong Fei chuckled.
“So concerned for him, hmm?”
His fingers still lingered in the hair behind her ear, gently smoothing the strands.
His gaze paused for a moment on the small beauty mark on her earlobe, and the pad of his finger brushed over it, seemingly by accident, before he slowly drew his hand back.
A cool sensation brushed against Jiang Mian’s earlobe.
It was only then that she processed what he had just done.
‘Wasn’t that…
a little strange?’
‘Her hair was plastered to her face, damp with either her own sweat or Zhao Ci’s.
And yet this man, a known germaphobe, had actually reached out and touched it.’
‘A man who washed his hands until they were raw, whose mysophobia was severe, had just straightened her sweat-soaked hair.’
‘She hadn’t noticed at first, mainly because his movements had been so natural.’
‘Jiang Mian hadn’t reacted then, but now she couldn’t help but wonder: wasn’t he being a little insubordinate?’
‘In this era where humans raised Beastmen in captivity, he was merely a Beast Slave.’
‘An action like that was crossing a line.’
‘Then again, she had said she wanted them to get along, for them to treat her well.
In that light, him just straightening her hair seemed reasonable enough.’
Being a pure human who had been raised in captivity and single her entire life, Jiang Mian didn’t overthink it.
“I’m heading back now.” Jiang Mian felt uncomfortable all over.
“You know medicine, so go check on Zhao Ci.”
As she spoke, she started for the door.
Perhaps it was a concussion from the fall, but her steps were unsteady.
She nearly stumbled, and quickly reached for the doorframe to steady herself.
Just then, a hand gripped her arm.
“Mianmian, let me help you back.” Though Rong Fei’s tone was a question, his actions were decisive.
He was already at Jiang Mian’s side, an arm circling her waist and guiding her out the door.
And just like that, Jiang Mian found herself being led out.