Xu Shuyuan seemed very set on taking Ying Qiuman to this so-called banquet. Only at the entrance did he finally let go of him, and he made a point of reminding him, “Don’t leave.”
Ying Qiuman nodded in agreement. He truly had no intention of leaving. On holidays he only ever chose to stay home and curl up, and as for which “home,” he didn’t much care.
He wasn’t someone who had to remain in his “safe house” at all times. What’s more, without realizing it, he had already grown attached to and reliant on Xu Shuyuan. His skin-hunger condition had eased, and staying here made him feel relaxed.
“No one should come looking for me over the break,” he assured Xu Shuyuan. But the other man wasn’t reassured and added, “If someone does, you still have to tell me.”
Ying Qiuman nodded again, a strange warmth rising in his chest.
After Xu Shuyuan left, Ying Qiuman returned to the sofa and went on decoding. Faced with a set of geometric codes that seemed to follow a pattern but ultimately led nowhere, he struggled for a long time before deciding to ask for help.
He messaged Ye Li and Qiu Yuan separately. Ye Li didn’t reply. He seemed to be busy but Qiu Yuan answered quickly.
【Try sorting the shapes into categories first?】
【What is this, anyway?】
Ying Qiuman glanced at the message, then looked at his draft paper, where he had already grouped the shapes in various ways. He sighed.
【It’s from that mystery movie I showed you before the trailer for the second part.】
【I already split them into several groups. Still goes nowhere.】
【Try combining the categories?】
Ying Qiuman took the hint and looked at the shapes again. The sketch was scattered, but a few of the symbols sat close together, and from a distance they could be read as forming clusters.
He tried separating those clusters to analyze them, but still found no progress.
【The upright snowflake is always next to the four-pointed star, and the five-pointed star is always next to the circle.】
【This probably needs a codebook, right?】
Codebook?
“Wasn’t the killer in the first part of Circle communicating through codes?!”
【Exactly!】
So many years after Circle’s release, the codebook the murderer used in it had long since been reconstructed by fans of the film.
Ying Qiuman immediately followed Qiu Yuan’s line of thinking, sorted the symbol combinations into categories, then treated them as letter combinations, matched them against the codebook to translate them, and finally arrived at the answer—
NIGHT.
Night?
Was that the timing for the new promotional release? The first teaser had dropped at midnight on the 1st, which did indeed count as nighttime. So what date would the next one be?
There were no more clues about time to be found in the video.
Cruise ship, ticket, restart.
Left is right.
NIGHT.
And also… the doll?
Would the second part be connected to that?
Ying Qiuman felt he needed to rewatch the movie. It would be perfect to wait for Xu Shuyuan to come back and watch it together.
He wondered whether, after being frightened by it as a child, Xu Shuyuan had ever gone back and watched it again.
As these thoughts came to him, his hand unconsciously pressed against the gland on the side of his neck.
That spot would turn red and swollen every time after being marked. Even now, when he touched it, it still felt faintly hot. Although it couldn’t achieve the effect of a proper marking, Xu Shuyuan seemed especially fixated on that reaction.
【Let me tell you something.】
He wanted to tell Qiu Yuan about it, to get an outsider’s opinion.
【He said he isn’t keeping me as a lover, and that I can ask him for things.】
【Does this count as liking me?】
He felt what he’d sent was a bit too absolute, and a little off in its wording too, but Qiu Yuan didn’t give him a chance to take it back and rephrase. Almost the instant he sent it, the other side replied.
【Yo~】
【I always figured your “transmigrating into a book” thing was karma for reading morally bankrupt melodramatic trash, but I didn’t expect your shut-in self would actually land in a home-invasion romance.】
So… this really did mean “liking someone”?
Ying Qiuman didn’t know how to process his current emotions, and suddenly felt empty all around him. He curled inward, replaying the feeling of being held.
Was this a dependence on “medicine,” a craving for health, or had he genuinely developed feelings?
【Is there any way to prove it directly?】
In the dramas and novels he’d read, there was usually at least one way to account for an emotional shift between two people, and a clear reason for falling in love.
Qiu Yuan paused a moment, then sent a long message:
【In ABO worldviews, there’s a very obvious way to verify it just ask about their pheromone scent!】
【From what I know, emotion and scent are connected, and this comes up in 100% of ABO novels.】
【Go in with zero buildup and catch him off guard!】
【If he’s evasive, or even refuses to answer, then I’d advise you to cut your losses early and squeeze a bit more money out of him while you still can.】
When Ying Qiuman saw the word “pheromone,” his heartbeat suddenly stuttered. The perfume Xu Shuyuan had given him was still in the jacket he’d worn the day before.
He asked again:
【What about other situations?】
For instance, giving him perfume with the same scent as his pheromones?
Although he wasn’t sure whether that perfume really matched Xu Shuyuan’s pheromones, spraying it somewhere as sensitive as the gland would indeed easily lead to misunderstandings.
【Other situationseither that alpha is a scumbag toying with you, or he’s as clueless as you are. Otherwise, it just means he’s interested in you.】
His heartbeat grew noticeably uneven. Ying Qiuman rested his hand on his gland, and he could even feel the pulse of blood moving through his body, his thoughts growing clearer and clearer.
But another thought slowly rose from the bottom of his heart: what did he like about Xu Shuyuan? And what did Xu Shuyuan like about him?
Emotion was something illusory, something even the human brain itself couldn’t fully explain.
Ying Qiuman sighed and got up, went into the bedroom for Xu Shuyuan’s jacket from the day before, and draped it over himself before leaning into the balcony’s floor-to-ceiling window area to sit in the sun.
The jacket was much too big for him, when he sat down, it even covered the middle of his thighs.
He buried his nose in the fabric and breathed in. The bitter note in the perfume’s base was stronger now, but for some reason it set Ying Qiuman at ease.
It suddenly occurred to him that maybe this was fine just as it was. No matter what the outcome would be in three years, or what would ultimately come of the two of them, at least right now he felt happy and content.
【Got it.】
Qiu Yuan ended their conversation with an emoji, as always. Ying Qiuman held his phone in a daze, and just as he was drifting toward sleep, it suddenly buzzed in his hand.
It was Ye Li calling.
“What is it?” Ying Qiuman asked after picking up. The apartment held only him, so it was very quiet, which made the noise on Ye Li’s end sound all the more chaotic by contrast.
“Where are you?”
Ying Qiuman immediately grew alert. Ye Li occasionally sang at bars, but they were usually quiet loungeshow could it be this loud?
“Lihe Hotel, third-floor entertainment hall help me.” Ye Li’s voice was very low, buried in the noisy background. It took Ying Qiuman a while to make it out clearly, and he immediately stood up and set off.
He threw on clothes and rushed out at once, keeping the call connected the whole time. But Ye Li’s phone seemed to have been set down somewhere, he could only hear distant laughter mixed with metal music. Occasionally the click of high heels passed by on the line, but no matter how he called out, there was no response from Ye Li.
Lihe Hotel was a high-end hotel in An City, in the heart of the city. It would take Ying Qiuman about an hour by taxi to get there.
For that whole hour, he listened quietly to the sounds on the other end. Now and then a male voice caught his attention, but after listening carefully he felt they didn’t sound like Ye Li.
It should be inside a private room, but exactly where was unknown.
Suddenly the tread of leather shoes drew near. For some reason the music seemed to dip in volume, and a clear male voice came through:
“Huihui, where’s the 317 wine? It’s been a while since we last came is this how you treat us?”
“Oh my, Mr. Zhang, how would I dare? He hasn’t even rested since last night. You really don’t know how to take care of people at all!”
The latter line was clearly a woman’s voice, her tone drawn out as if she were feigning drowsiness, though it came across more like a different kind of coy charm.
How could Ye Li be in a place like this?
Ying Qiuman couldn’t reach anyone, but he was glad he’d given it a little more thought before leaving. He’d worn relatively expensive clothes. Before going in, he loosened his tie and ruffled his hair to either side, baring his forehead, making himself look more in keeping with the situation on the call.
He had always been the type who grew calmer the more tense the situation became, so his bearing really did look convincing.
After a few steps to the front desk, he casually rapped twice on the counter with the back of his hand.
“Hello, sir. Do you have a reservation?” The receptionist wore a standard polite smile. Ying Qiuman glanced around, then fixed his gaze on him and said impatiently, “Where’s Mr. Zhang?”
“Which Mr. Zhang would that be?”
Ying Qiuman’s expression turned cold. He forced himself to look less approachable, stared at the receptionist for two seconds, and said, “The Mr. Zhang in room 317.”
Clearly this wasn’t enough for the receptionist to take him upstairs. Ying Qiuman feigned irritation, waved a hand, and was about to raise his phone as if calling that Mr. Zhang to “confirm,” using it as cover to head up and find the room himself.
But just as he lifted his foot, before the receptionist could stop him, a woman’s voice came from ahead:
“Did you find that bottle of Romanée-Conti Mr. Yan asked for?”
It was Huihui’s voice.
Ying Qiuman didn’t look up. He spoke into his phone, pretending no one had answered: “I just got back aren’t you even going to come out and meet me? That’s not very polite, Mr. Zhang.”
Huihui came down from the stairwell. Hearing a well-dressed, distinguished-looking man talking on the phone, she couldn’t help glancing his way a few more times.
Ying Qiuman strolled along, almost deliberately bumping into her. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, but only gave the heavily made-up womanwhose exhaustion still showed through her face a brief glance. He didn’t accept her apology, yet didn’t make a scene either, as if magnanimously letting it slide.
He raised his voice a little and went on talking to “Mr. Zhang” on the phone:
“Which Huihui?”
Huihui looked up at the sound, forcing herself to stay sharp as she stepped forward. “Boss, I’m Huihui. Are you looking for Mr. Zhang?”
The woman leaned toward him and smiled up at him.
Ying Qiuman glanced back at her. To avoid giving himself away, he only gave her a faint, indifferent look, as if he couldn’t be bothered to spare even one extra word for someone like her.
Then he said, “Oh. Lead the way.”
Huihui stole a glance at Ying Qiuman, recalling what he’d said earlier about just getting back, and smiled as she tried to strike up a conversation. “Boss, you don’t come here often, do you? You don’t look familiar.”
“Mm.” Ying Qiuman stuffed his phone back into his pocket without hanging up. “I just heard there’s Dom Pérignon put it on Mr. Zhang’s tab.”
Ying Qiuman walked quite fast, but since he didn’t know the way, he had to take a couple of steps, pause, then keep following Huihui, which made him look a bit unnatural. Huihui didn’t notice, she only assumed the boss was in a hurry, so she sped up too.
When they reached the door of private room 317, the soundproofing was so good that nothing inside could be heard from outside. Ying Qiuman felt a little nervous.
He stepped ahead of Huihui and put his hand on the doorknob. Turning slightly toward her, he said, “The Dom Pérignon brings it over, quick.” Then he opened the door and blocked her on the outside.
The music inside abruptly grew much louder, making Ying Qiuman frown in discomfort. The moment he entered, before anyone noticed him, his gaze swept the room and he saw Ye Li trapped in the arms of two alphas.
There were quite a few people inside, scattered in clusters. Colored lights kept shifting, washing across Ying Qiuman’s calm, indifferent face. People near the door heard the movement and looked over, his refined, out-of-place air instantly drew their attention.
“Oh? And whose beauty is this?” A man by the door, spotting Ying Qiuman, swayed a bottle of liquor as he came over, using his height to try to block the entrance.
Ying Qiuman raised a hand to dodge him and walked straight toward Ye Li.
“Xiao Man?” Ye Li, already half-drunk and dazed, saw him, and a flash of panic crossed his eyes before quickly turning into something like grief.
Ye Li was wearing a hotel staff uniform, but it was messy now, stained with red wine. Paired with his innocent-looking face, he came across as both pure and alluring.
Ying Qiuman didn’t know how to handle a situation like this. His friendwhom he never liked to see in scenes like this was now this drunk, slumped in the arms of the very alphas he disliked most.
He was angry, but couldn’t fully let it out, and he also worried there might be some other reason behind it.
“Get up.” He took off his coat and wrapped it around Ye Li, pulling him out of the arms of the two alphas.
“Oh? What’s this? Playing the hero who rescues the beauty [1] swooping in to save someone in distress jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2638891_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2638891_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });?” One alpha grabbed Ye Li’s wrist, stood up, and looked at Ying Qiuman. He didn’t seem angry, instead he looked Ying Qiuman over with a sticky, lingering gaze.
Undisguised greed.
Ying Qiuman felt nauseated under that stare. “Sorry, my friend’s had too much to drink. I’m here to take him home.”
His tone was unfriendly and sharp, yet his expression stayed completely still. The alpha, however, laughed at this, releasing Ye Li’s arm and reaching toward Ying Qiuman instead.
“Oh, hero,” he drawled, “I’ve had too much too. Take me away as well, won’t you?”
Laughter broke out all around. Ying Qiuman’s brows knit even tighter as he took Ye Li and stepped back, only to bump into someone else behind him.
That person spoke in the same careless, mocking tone: “Baby, who comes to a place like this and stays sober?”
He’d known there was bound to be risk in coming here. Ye Li’s expression right now was panicked and frightened, barely able to hold himself upright. The pheromones in this place were probably chaotic too.
But Ying Qiuman was counting on the fact that, as a beta, he wouldn’t be easily affected, and that his fighting ability was fairly decent, so he wasn’t afraid, more disgusted than anything.
“This little beauty came here on his own, trying to take a shortcut in life. Surely he has to pay something for it, hm?” The alpha in front of him smiled slyly, his words heavy with implication.
He took a sip from his glass, then turned the spot he’d just drunk from toward Ying Qiuman and held it out. His gaze was suggestive, his movements flirtatious. Then he picked up a bottle from the table.
Seeing that Ying Qiuman didn’t take the glass, he curled his lips, tapped it against the bottle, then forcibly pushed it toward Ying Qiuman’s mouth.
Ying Qiuman tilted his head to avoid it and asked Ye Li beside him in a low voice, “Can you run?”
Ye Li trembled slightly at the words and nodded a small movement, but firm enough to read.
Ying Qiuman let go of him and looked up, meeting the alpha’s heated gaze. Under the colorful lights, his gray eyes lent him an almost sickly beauty, so striking that no one would have guessed such a beautiful face could be dangerous.
He let out a cold laugh, which sent the alpha’s mind drifting. The alpha’s hand slid unconsciously toward his waist, but Ying Qiuman blocked it, raising his own hand as if to take the drink.
The alpha’s gaze grew even more expectant, as if he were about to drown in Ying Qiuman’s smile.
But the next second, Ying Qiuman shifted his grip, twisted the alpha’s wrist, and spilled the red wine all over his clothes. At the same time, he shoved Ye Li forward hard and Ye Li immediately bolted toward the door with everything he had.
This sudden turn of events put everyone in the room on alert. The alpha who’d been splashed flew into a rage at once and reached out to grab Ying Qiuman.
But Ying Qiuman was faster.
He snatched the bottle from the man’s hand, struck the alpha in the stomach with its base, then drove his knee up to kick him to the ground. The bottle was then smashed against a nearby table, and he seized a shard of the broken glass, pressing it to the alpha’s neck in warning.
His movements were clean and decisive, startling everyone present.
“So,” he said coldly, “are you all going to keep drinking or come down to the police station with me?”
References[+]