Inside the villa, Lu Xincheng, having just been untied, breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, his vision went black, followed by an overwhelming sense of vertigo and weightlessness that caused him to lose consciousness instantly.
When he woke up again, he was met with total darkness.
“Where is this?”
“Your consciousness,” a mellow voice rang in his ear. Lu Xincheng immediately recognized it as the man in the felt hat. “Did you have intimate contact with him?”
“Who?” Lu Xincheng immediately realized who he was talking about. “No,” he replied. Then he asked in surprise, “Does drinking his blood count as intimate contact?”
Felt Hat remained silent. After a moment, he said slowly, “In 24 hours, you will be able to come back to life.”
“What?” The sudden good news left Lu Xincheng stunned for a moment.
“Right, I left this behind last time.”
Lu Xincheng looked down to see a small pinky ring on his hand, shaped like a black-gold snake.
The conversation with Felt Hat took place briefly within his consciousness; meanwhile, he could faintly hear the pitter-patter of water outside.
When Lu Xincheng opened his eyes, he nearly cried out. Right in front of him was an enlarged view of a bare back. Lu Xincheng pursed his lips tightly, his pupils shrinking from tension.
It was simply too close!
The distance was such that if he took half a step forward, or if the person in front took half a step back, they would be pressed tightly together.
Amidst the thick white mist, the showerhead sprayed down from above. The man kept his head slightly lowered, his wet black hair clinging neatly to his neck. Lu Xincheng closed his eyes and opened them again. His gaze followed the stream of water as it slid over the man’s perfectly lined shoulders, down his bare back to his narrowing waist, curving along the silhouette before flowing deeper.
Lu Xincheng noticed the distinct surgical scar in the middle of the man’s spine. He held his breath silently as Felt Hat’s final words echoed in his ears: “During this period, you must also maintain an intimate distance from him.”
Lu Xincheng: “…”
The definition of “intimate distance” popped unbidden into his mind: less than forty-five centimeters.
Damn it.
Lu Xincheng cursed silently. He rarely used profanity, but when a straight man who repels physical intimacy encounters such a scene, there were no other words to express his feelings. He couldn’t resist it, so he could only close his eyes silently and chant in his heart, “He can’t see me.”
But things did not go as planned.
“How long do you plan on watching from there?”
A cold voice echoed in the cramped space. From a moment ago, Wen Yaozhi felt as if someone had been by his side. Ever since they left the mountain villa, the presence had followed him all the way from the car to his home. Though he couldn’t see it, he was certain something was watching him.
In the small bathroom, there was no sound other than the splashing of water. Wen Yaozhi looked up. The glint in his heterochromatic eyes sent a chill down one’s spine, yet his voice carried a hint of casual playfulness. “You had better pray I don’t catch you.”
Fortunately, Lu Xincheng was behind him and could not see his face. Realizing that Wen Yaozhi could not actually see him, Lu Xincheng’s heart settled.
Although there was no evidence that something was peeping at him, Wen Yaozhi clearly sped up his routine. He wiped his wet black hair and combed it back from his forehead, draped a bath towel loosely around his hips, and pushed open the door to step out of the shower.
Lu Xincheng originally had a good physique. The original owner of his body was an actor who prioritized fitness, so his current body was top-tier. However, when he saw the man’s front, his gaze froze slightly.
Wen Yaozhi usually kept his skin covered tightly with clothes, rarely showing any flesh. His skin, which rarely saw the sun, was exceptionally pale. His muscles were firm. They did not look exaggerated, but every inch of skin contained powerful and dangerous strength. It was not the kind of physique built in a gym; the latter was like a bull fed on fine grain for the arena, while he was a leopard lurking in the jungle.
The bathroom temperature was high, and Wen Yaozhi’s usually bloodless face looked a bit more flushed than usual. Lu Xincheng happened to be standing right by the bathroom door. When Wen Yaozhi pushed the door open to leave, it nearly grazed the tip of his nose.
Lu Xincheng did not react in time. He covered his nose, which had almost been sliced off, and cursed under his breath. Wen Yaozhi walked out, completely unaware.
He really can’t feel a thing.
Twenty-four hours should pass quickly, Lu Xincheng thought to himself.
Wen Yaozhi still lived alone in the employee dormitory. Although the original novel emphasized how harsh the protagonist’s living conditions were, seeing it with his own eyes still exceeded Lu Xincheng’s expectations.
Last time he had sneaked in at midnight and did not look closely, but this time, under the bright lights, he saw the full view. The entire room consisted of just a few narrow beds and desks. Even college dorms had better conditions than this.
After Wen Yaozhi changed his clothes, he used the towel on his shoulder to dry his damp hair and walked over to a safe. In such a minimalist environment, the presence of a safe was undoubtedly very out of place. Wen Yaozhi opened the safe with a code and took out a crystal the size of a fingernail.
The white crystal lay quietly in his palm, its multi-colored brilliance refracting from the unpolished surfaces, beautiful enough to be intoxicating.
“Just for this thing,” Wen Yaozhi narrowed his eyes. “A piece this small, how much could it be worth?”
He opened his phone to search. Looking at the text on the screen, his gaze froze slightly.
Natural white crystal; the highest purity grade can reach prices of one million per gram.
Wen Yaozhi: “…”
Wen Yaozhi put the crystal back in the safe and brewed himself a cup of coffee. As he lowered his head, he felt a burning sensation on the side of his neck. He went to the mirror to check. He had not noticed when he first came back, but after the shower, the unhealed wound on his neck had started bleeding again.
Wen Yaozhi stared at the two neat rows of teeth marks in the mirror. Looking at the depth of the bite, the person who did it had shown no mercy. Almost uncontrollably, he recalled the sensation from that moment.
The instant the sharp teeth bit through the skin, there was a piercing pain. With Wen Yaozhi’s reaction speed, he could have easily thrown the spirit off his back immediately, but he had turned his head and forcibly suppressed the reflex to shake the person off. A slight numbness had spread across his shoulder. It was strange; even though the other party had no physical body, he felt as if he could clearly feel two soft, cool lips.
At that moment, Wen Yaozhi clearly heard his own heart rate accelerate. He did not know why; logically, he should not have such emotional fluctuations.
While Wen Yaozhi was staring blankly in front of the mirror, Lu Xincheng, standing behind him, reached a peak of agitation. The scent of blood kept drifting into his nose. At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to run far away from Wen Yaozhi, but the “intimate distance” restricted his movements. It was like dangling drugs in front of an addict; Lu Xincheng was going crazy.
He unconsciously took a small step forward, nearly pressing against Wen Yaozhi’s back. The distance between them was now so small that not even a hand could fit. Lu Xincheng tucked his chin slightly, burying his head in the crook of that neck. It was warm and damp, lingering with the scent of shower gel, like some kind of delicious fruit. It stirred an indescribable obsession in his heart. Without him realizing it, blood-red once again flooded his eyes. Lu Xincheng’s vision became burning and blurred; the red in front of him seemed to overlap with a fruit box from a dessert shop.
Lu Xincheng cautiously extended the tip of his tongue.
In front of the mirror, Wen Yaozhi’s pupils suddenly contracted. Not only that, but the muscles of his entire upper body tensed up simultaneously. The numbness from his memory reappeared in the exact same spot.
At first, he thought it was an illusion, but the itchy, tingling sensation slowly deepened and spread. Wen Yaozhi closed his eyes, his breathing tightening, his thin lips pressed into a straight line—an obvious expression of endurance. It was not until the teeth finally bit down in the same spot that he snapped his eyes open, his gaze bloodshot from suppression.
“Lu Xincheng.” His voice carried a trace of nearly undetectable irritation.
It was not a question, nor a test; it was a precise affirmation.
Lu Xincheng slowly raised his head from the warm crook of the neck, a lingering attachment in his eyes. He had no reflection in the mirror; otherwise, he certainly would not have thought the person in the mirror was himself.
Lu Xincheng’s looks were nowhere near feminine. Although his features were refined to the point of perfection, he always carried a sunny aura. In a simple white T-shirt, he looked like a university heartthrob adored by thousands.
But now, his eyes had lost focus, his two soft lips were soaked in fresh blood, and his handsome eyebrows were slightly knitted in disappointment, giving him a strangely beautiful and eerie charm.
Wen Yaozhi turned around, his fingers accurately gripping Lu Xincheng’s shoulder. His tone seemed to carry a hint of surprise. “What did I just say? Don’t let me catch you.”
Because the distance was too close, Lu Xincheng was almost held in his arms. This dangerous proximity made him want to break free immediately. Then, he belatedly realized something was wrong: Wen Yaozhi could actually see him.
Wen Yaozhi stared at him, his face expressionless as usual, but his heterochromatic eyes flashed with a dangerous, dark light. Lu Xincheng suddenly thought of the scene in the bathroom earlier. Surely Wen Yaozhi would not kill him to keep him quiet?
In those few seconds, Lu Xincheng’s brain worked at high speed. Just as he was about to speak, a vibration came from the tabletop.
“Do you want to answer the phone first?” Lu Xincheng’s voice was unusually hoarse.
With one hand restraining him, Wen Yaozhi reached for the phone on the desk with the other. He glanced at the caller ID, answered, and put it on speaker. A young voice erupted impatiently on the other end of the line.
“Yaozhi, I am telling you, we really struck gold today!”
Wen Yaozhi turned the volume down. The person on the other end continued: “Do you know? That Director Dai is quite a character. He used to have a protective umbrella at the deputy-departmental level. Originally, this time he might have just been brought in for a chat, but who would have thought? Just this morning, that deputy official was investigated for corruption and fell from power. Now he is finished. Watch us investigate him to death.”
The person’s tone was high-pitched, and he spoke faster than the average person. It was a rapid-fire delivery. Lu Xincheng did not even need to see the caller’s name to guess who it was: Cheng Su, the second male lead in the original novel and an honorable police officer.
Wen Yaozhi did not show the slightest surprise at what he said. Luck is conserved; the good luck that Dai Shengfan had stolen before would now be repaid twofold.
Wen Yaozhi only asked calmly, “Is it enough for the death penalty?”
Cheng Su fell silent. “The death penalty is a long shot. After all, his hands are not literally stained with blood. Besides, many things involve the metaphysical, so the logical chains cannot be closed, making the investigation very difficult. The Lovesick Tears case is almost past the statute of limitations. The only thing we can convict him for is instructing the stagehand to swap the gun to kill someone. But without a witness, he can completely shift the blame to that stagehand. For the rest of the economic crimes, he will spend a few years in prison at most.”
Cheng Su’s voice was full of regret and indignation, thinking of how many lives had passed through that man’s hands, only for him to not even face the death penalty in the end.
Unexpectedly, a light chuckle came from the other side. “That is actually quite good.”
“What?” Cheng Su doubted his hearing.
“The death penalty is too easy on him. Spending the rest of his life with the wronged souls is his best destination.” Wen Yaozhi’s eyes were cold, as if he could see Dai Shengfan’s end through the mirror in front of him.