Separated by a single door.
Lin Yu’s hands clenched into fists again.
His nerves were stretched taut, and waves of searing pain pulsed through his head.
That feeling welled up again.
‘Who is she mistaking me for now?’
Lin Yu couldn’t tell if the feeling in his chest was anger or something else entirely.
‘How dare she treat me as a substitute for someone else?’
Jiang Mian stared at the tightly shut door.
She knew Lin Yu’s berserk state was accompanied by headaches.
The headaches were a side effect from his childhood.
Tortured by humans who issued commands directly to his brain area, he had tried to claw the chip out of his own head with his bare hands.
He failed, and the trauma left lasting consequences.
Jiang Mian fell silent.
‘To have the courage to tear at his own head as a child…
it’s a miracle he even survived to meet me.’
While she was still wondering how to get inside, a scorching, crimson-tinged arm shot out and yanked her into the dark room.
The door slammed shut behind her, pinning Jiang Mian’s back against it.
“Who am I?” Lin Yu’s grip on her wrist tightened, his voice laced with rage on the brink of breaking.
A scorching heat and a tall body loomed over her.
On the floor, a massive, coiling snake tail thrashed restlessly, slapping against the ground.
It was pitch-black; Jiang Mian couldn’t see a thing.
Yet she accurately reached with her free hand, her palm coming to rest on the dense layer of snake scales covering the right side of his face.
They were burning hot to the touch.
Healing Power slowly gathered in her palm, flowing onto his face.
She smiled gently and said softly, “You’re Lin Yu.”
Lin Yu felt her gentle fingers stroking his face, and his grip on her wrist loosened slightly.
His vertical, slit-like red pupils widened slightly in surprise.
‘At least for now… in her eyes, I’m Lin Yu.’
Jiang Mian breathed an inward sigh of relief.
‘If Lin Yu had truly lost consciousness, I would have had to inject him with the dizziness agent in my pocket to treat his berserk state.’
“Don’t you… think the scales on the right side of my face are ugly?” Lin Yu’s voice was hoarse, cold, and somber.
His voice was usually cold, yet pleasant to the ear.
He just rarely spoke.
‘Are the scales on his face really that ugly?’
Jiang Mian’s lips parted slightly.
‘That was the original host, not me.’
As long as a Beastman’s berserk state hadn’t been completely cured—meaning they couldn’t seamlessly switch between their full human and full beast forms—vestiges of their beastly characteristics would always remain.
Therefore, even when Lin Yu wasn’t in his berserk state, snake scales would sometimes appear on his body.
Once, they had covered the right side of his face.
The original host had seen it and been utterly disgusted.
She had ordered Lin Yu to cover that side of his face with his hair and never show it.
But Jiang Mian didn’t find them ugly.
They were glossy and black, and when the light hit them, they shimmered with a dazzling brilliance.
Anyone who said his scales were ugly simply hadn’t seen how beautiful they truly were.
Ever since she arrived, Jiang Mian had seen Lin Yu hide half his face with his hair every day.
It made her heart ache.
Their relationship had been too tense back then for her to say anything.
But now that things were better, she could.
“No, they’re beautiful,” Jiang Mian said softly.
“When the light hits them, they give off a soft, brilliant, iridescent glow.”
She smiled faintly and continued, “So, you don’t have to hide half your face anymore.
You’re so handsome, why would you want to hide it?”
Lin Yu could tell she was speaking from the heart.
And because of this, a dense, bittersweet feeling spread through Lin Yu’s heart.
The Healing Power from Jiang Mian’s palm soothed his face as she gently brushed aside the dark, curly locks that had fallen forward, tucking them behind his ear.
“From now on, you should show it off proudly!” Jiang Mian said with a gentle smile.
The searing pain of his berserk state slowly faded, replaced by her gentle, fragrant, wind-soft touch.
The tip of his snake tail flicked, then slid up the wall and flipped the light switch.
Incandescent light flooded the room, instantly chasing away the darkness before Jiang Mian’s eyes.
In that instant, she saw Lin Yu clearly.
Half his face was covered in black snake scales, and his red, slit-like pupils stared out like those of a cold, merciless animal.
Lin Yu’s eyelids were half-lowered, his gaze locked onto Jiang Mian’s face.
This sudden burst of light would let him see the emotions on her face before she had a chance to hide them.
In this one moment, he would know if she was lying or if she truly meant it.
Lin Yu would be able to see her expression clearly.
In truth, she had seen his face covered in snake scales before.
She had even seen his entire face covered in them…
The young woman seemed only momentarily startled by the sudden light.
Her gaze quickly returned to his face.
Looking up at him, she gave a small smile.
“The scales really do give off a soft, beautiful, brilliant light.”
No fear, no disgust.
Only gentle acceptance…
Her palm was still pressed against his right cheek, a gentle warmth radiating from it.
The pain was driven away, leaving only a softness he couldn’t bear to let go of…
Lin Yu’s eyelashes trembled.
Beneath her palm, the snake scales on his face slowly receded, revealing smooth, pale skin.
Jiang Mian’s eyes flickered.
As the scales vanished, her palm came into direct contact with his skin.
She even saw that as a scale near the right corner of his thin lips disappeared, a small, sexy mole was revealed.
Before, it had always been hidden, either by his hair or by the encroaching scales.
Jiang Mian recalled that the mole under the corner of his lip was quite striking.
‘And seeing it now, it really is,’ she thought.
Her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled.
“Handsome.”
Lin Yu stared at her through half-lidded eyes, saying nothing.
His mind was much clearer now.
His brow furrowed slightly.
His hand was still loosely curled around her wrist, frozen in place.
He didn’t dare pull her closer, but he couldn’t bear to let go.
When Jiang Mian saw his red, slit-like pupils return to their normal, ruby-like appearance, she knew her healing was working.
He had calmed down considerably.
“Lin Yu, does your head still hurt?” Jiang Mian asked, her eyes glinting.
‘I need to understand the frequency of his headaches, and how severe they are now.’
‘But I don’t have any advanced equipment.
I can’t just get a scan of his brain.’
‘I’ll have to rely on my own experience to diagnose him.’
Lin Yu stared at her for a moment before slowly replying, “Yes.”
Jiang Mian reached out and gently pressed a spot on his head.
She looked at him seriously.
“Does it hurt here?”
The searing pain of the berserk state had faded, but the associated agony in his brain area was still excruciating.
‘I never thought I’d one day be able to ignore this agony.’
‘And yet now, more than the pain in my brain area, I’m feeling the warmth of her fingers.’
A deep, inscrutable emotion churned in Lin Yu’s eyes as he spoke softly:
“It hurts.”
“A little, or a lot?”
“A lot.”
“Does it hurt here?”
“A lot.”
“What about here?”
“A lot.”