The scorching sun poured down without obstruction, laying the entire barren basin bare beneath its glare.
Ling Yue stood by the rocks. The wind lifted her hair, and when she turned her head, she found Jiang Muchen looking at her again. She asked seriously, “Jiang Muchen, tell me—why do you always look at me like that?”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it cut clearly through the wind and reached Jiang Muchen’s hearing aid.
He remained silent, still watching her.
His gaze lingered on her face—from the strands of hair blown loose by the wind, to her smooth forehead, to those bright eyes, and finally, resting on her slightly swollen lips.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment. Only the wind howled in her ears.
Ling Yue hopped down from the slope again. Not far away, she noticed a recessed hollow in the cliff wall—a small kiln cave used to store firewood. Its pitch-black opening looked like a silent eye. A girl’s curiosity temporarily overwhelmed her unease, and she instinctively walked toward it.
The cave wasn’t deep, but it was stacked full of dry firewood, giving off a mixed scent of pine and dust.
The entrance was low. Ling Yue bent down and craned her neck to peer inside. It was dark within, with only a slant of light from the entrance outlining the vague shapes of the woodpile.
Just as she was wondering what the cave was used for and was about to turn around to ask Jiang Muchen behind her, “What is this?”—
A tremendous force suddenly struck from behind!
Without any warning, Jiang Muchen lunged forward. One hand pressed hard against her back, while the other clamped firmly over her mouth, brutally cutting off the question before it could leave her lips.
“Ah!”
Ling Yue’s eyes flew wide in terror. It felt as if all the blood in her body rushed to her head in an instant, then froze solid.
She struggled desperately, but the disparity in strength between them was brutally obvious. Jiang Muchen’s body was like an iron clamp, pressed tightly against her as he half-pinned her to the cave’s rough stone wall. The cold rock dug painfully into her.
She could even smell the faint scent of sweat on him, and something else… a dangerous aura given off by extreme agitation.
Then, to her utter terror and disbelief, Jiang Muchen’s face suddenly closed in!
This wasn’t last night’s cautious, tentative nibble. It was with a nearly savage, predatory force that he smashed his lips down onto hers.
“Mmph—!”
Ling Yue let out a muffled, desperate whimper, twisting her head frantically, but his fingers locked around her jaw like iron pliers, forcing her to endure the brutal kiss.
His lips were cold and dry, carrying an irresistible dominance as they ground against her soft mouth, even trying to pry her teeth apart.
Then he let her go.
She swung her hand up and slapped him hard, clutching her collar helplessly. His face didn’t move at all. Five clear finger marks slowly surfaced on his cheek. He only said, “I like you.”
She had just asked him why he liked staring at her so much.
Because he liked looking.
He had liked her from the very first moment he saw her.
“I like you,” he said again. Those four words, coming from his lips, formed a chilling contrast to his beastlike behavior just moments earlier.
Ling Yue was trembling all over, from extreme fear and humiliation.
Her fingers clenched tightly around her collar, the knuckles whitening. Her lips still carried the sensation of his rough pressure—burning with pain, mixed with an unfamiliar scent.
“You… you lunatic! Pervert!”
Her voice was shattered, thick with tears and uncontrollable shaking.
Jiang Muchen paid no attention to her insults. He even tilted his head slightly, turning the ear with the hearing aid toward her. Hearing her voice, he gave a soft laugh.
Such a nice voice.