That’s more like it.
You An obediently closed his eyes, letting the cool fingers press against his skin. He hadn’t expected that someone as tall and physically imposing as Song Chengyu would have such unexpectedly gentle movements.
The boy lowered his gaze to the skin beneath his hands, noticing that the youth’s upturned nose tip had already flushed a light pink.
How utterly delicate.
He suppressed the surging wave of desire in his heart, remaining calm and restrained yet unable to stop himself from leaning closer.
Until their breaths were completely intertwined.
This excessively ambiguous and alluring atmosphere made You An freeze slightly, his long eyelashes fluttering as he didn’t dare open his eyes.
Little idiot.
Song Chengyu took in all of his small, cautious movements, withdrawing his hand with a lingering reluctance. “Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, it doesn’t hurt!” You An scooted a few inches to the side to put some distance between them.
“Oh, right.” Remembering something, he pulled a piece of paper with gold lettering on a black background from the tabletop and handed it to Song Chengyu. “I found this in the mailbox at the entrance.”
The boy pinched the page between two slender fingers and casually flipped through it. It was an invitation to a banquet scheduled for the day after tomorrow, addressed to residents living on the eightieth floor and above, and signed by Xin Jian himself.
It was probably just another tactic to eliminate rivals and consolidate his rule.
“You’re going to go, right?” You An looked up into his face, his eyes filled with anticipation.
When he received an affirmative reply, the pretty little face hesitated for a moment. “Then can you bring me along too?”
In the original plot, the protagonist gong and shou met precisely at this banquet. This was a crucial turning point, and he wanted to go observe how much the plot had deviated.
To his surprise, Song Chengyu frowned slightly.
“Can’t I?” You An panicked instantly.
“Well, you can, but the rules state that we can only bring our respective partners…” At this point, the boy looked down at You An. “You might have to suffer a little bit of grievance.”
“Your ability has grown stronger.”
In a secluded and deserted corner, Zhuang Yujiang looked at the boy standing before him. Though only a few days had passed, the aura around the other person had been honed into something even colder and more terrifying, like an unsheathed blade, every movement exuding a startling, bloodthirsty presence.
The boy smiled indifferently, glancing down at his own open palms. The stench of rotting zombie flesh still seemed to linger there.
“Naturally. I’ve devoured hundreds of crystal cores.”
“I came here to tell you that tomorrow Xin Jian is hosting a banquet on the top floor. You need to find a way to sneak in.”
Hearing this, Zhuang Yujiang turned solemn. “What is my mission?”
Song Chengyu’s gaze shifted toward the window. “You An will be entering with me. Protect him while I’m away.”
Zhuang Yujiang was puzzled. “Since you know the banquet is dangerous, why bring him along?”
Dark and complex emotions churned in the depths of the boy’s pitch-black pupils. “Keeping him right under my eyes is the only way I can feel at ease.”
Zhuang Yujiang was momentarily speechless at such intense possessiveness, but he ultimately nodded. “I understand.”
Time passed quickly, and soon the day of the banquet arrived. You An stood in front of the mirror, turning sideways as he tried to reach the zipper on his back.
Good news: through his unremitting efforts, he finally managed to touch the zipper.
Bad news: he could only pull it down, not up.
Song Chengyu, already changed into a black suit, waited by the door like any proper gentleman. Finding that it was taking a bit too long, the boy tapped his slender knuckles lightly twice against the bathroom door.
His voice was very gentle. “Aren’t you ready yet?”
You An bit his lip. They were both guys, what was there to be embarrassed about! He abruptly pulled back the curtain and stepped out.
“I can’t zip it up.”
The boy lifted his gaze, his breath catching slightly in his throat.
He had always known You An was pretty, but he hadn’t expected the youth to look so natural and harmonious in women’s clothing. The youth standing before him clutched the black spaghetti-strap maxi dress with a hint of shyness, the skirt draping as smoothly as water down to his calves. The lustrous black fabric made his fair skin glow with the translucent, radiant quality of fresh snow, holding an extreme, irresistible temptation.
That ambiguous face, neither strictly male nor female, had been lightly brushed with makeup, making him look like a tall, striking girl.
Song Chengyu quickly recovered his composure. “Let me help.”
He stepped behind You An, exposing a vast expanse of smooth, jade-white skin along his spine through the open back of the dress. Song Chengyu’s gaze darkened as his slightly rough fingers brushed intentionally or unintentionally over the delicate skin, causing a slight shudder to ripple through the person before him.
He suddenly regretted his own proposal.
Such a gorgeous, alluring sight should only ever be seen by him alone.
“All done.”
Hearing those words, the youth felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted. Just as he turned to run off, he was stopped once more by Song Chengyu.
“Wait.”
The remarkably tall boy dropped to one single knee, grasped You An’s slender ankle, and rested the youth’s pink-tinted, rounded toes against his own black-suited knee.
Heat rushed up to flush his cheeks. From his angle, he could only see Song Chengyu’s long, straight eyelashes.
Slender, nimble fingers slipped beneath the hem of the dress. You An gasped softly, instinctively grabbing onto the broad shoulders in front of him as the boy meticulously strapped a handgun onto his well-proportioned thigh.
Then, he heard a soft chuckle by his ear.
“If anyone tries to hurt you, use this to kill them.”
Ultimately, You An attended the banquet under the guise of Song Chengyu’s female companion. A pair of head-turning lookers will always draw attention no matter where they go, and the moment they made their entrance, they captured everyone’s eyes.
You An uncomfortably tugged at the black lace choker around his neck, which he had specifically worn to hide his Adam’s apple, though it unexpectedly matched the rest of his outfit quite well.
Ignoring the surrounding gazes, which ranged from covert to burning hot, he silently prayed not to have his disguise seen through.
“If anything goes wrong, go straight to the room at the western corner. Zhuang Yujiang is there; he’ll protect you.” After whispering these instructions, Song Chengyu stood up and walked away.
You An purposely picked the most secluded spot to sit down, maintaining a calm exterior as he observed everyone around him.
This was a world entirely cut off from the struggles of those at the bottom; they never had to worry about survival. Holding a cup of water, You An took a sip, feeling that everyone here was cut from the exact same cloth as Xin Jian.
Just as he thought about getting up to check if Song Chengyu and Xin Zhou had crossed paths, a heavily intoxicated person sidled up beside him.
You An instinctively frowned and tried to dodge, but the man scooped him right into his arms.
“Little beauty,” the man murmured, taking a deep breath right against his hair and letting out a satisfied sigh, “you smell just as good as I imagined.”
What a dead pervert!
Mindful of keeping his voice down, You An couldn’t yell out, so he drove his elbow backward with vicious force.
The man grunted in pained surprise, but then let out a chuckle instead. “Spicy! I like your style, sweetheart.”
Forget the apocalypse, even before the end of the world, he had rarely laid eyes on such a striking beauty. Now that he’d finally run into one, how could he possibly let go?
With that thought, the man slid his hand straight up the inside of the skirt to stroke his leg. Perhaps stimulated by the smooth, tender skin beneath his fingers, the man’s hands grew even more uninhibited.
He wasn’t entirely repulsive to look at, but that lecherous expression completely ruined what little decent looks he had. Regardless of what he looked like, however, You An had no desire to be pawed at by a total stranger.
In his eyes, kissing and intimacy were things reserved strictly for lovers.
Anger flushed his eyes red as he forced his voice to soften. “Wait, I have something to tell you.”
The man actually stopped.
Sensing a chance, You An quickly pressed on. “I was invited here just like you. Do you dare offend me?”
“But your ability is only level one; you can’t beat me. Besides, I know all the powerful people here.” With that, those hands resumed their restless wandering.
You An gritted his teeth. “That’s only because my husband is a level five ability user, and he’ll be right back. If you don’t want him to kill you, you’d better leave right now.”
The man’s movements paused for a second, as if evaluating the truth of his words.
You An pressed the advantage. “Have you ever heard of Song Chengyu? He’s my husband.”
“Tch.” The man finally released his grip with reluctance and slinked away in defeat.
You An shrank beneath the table, panting for breath as a chilling wave of disgust crept over the places he had been touched. Before he could even steady his breathing, a piercing scream echoed through the hall.
“Ahhhhh!”
Following the sound of a sharp blade slicing through a throat, a misty spray of blood bloomed into the air, and the scream cut off abruptly. Such a clean and efficient method screamed Song Chengyu’s signature style.
He looked up, suddenly realizing what the other intended to do, that he was going to slaughter Xin Jian and his cronies today and annex the District A Base entirely.
Chances were, the heavy stench of blood clinging to him over the past few days had also been the result of frantically hunting zombies to level up.
Realizing that a murderer had infiltrated the crowd, the remaining guests panicked and scattered in all directions. Remembering Song Chengyu’s instructions, You An immediately ran toward the western side.
He lifted the somewhat cumbersome hem of his dress, sprinted past a few puddles of oxidized, blackening blood, and finally reached the designated room.
You An raised a hand to knock, only to find the door wasn’t fully latched. A sudden wave of ominous dread rose in his chest as he pushed the door open, only to find a man lying flat on his back on the floor.
“Zhuang Yujiang…” Unbelieving, he wanted to drop down and check the man’s breathing, but he forcibly suppressed his trembling legs and choked back his voice.
Someone had already been here.
The moment that thought flashed through his mind, cold sweat soaked his back. Before he could even formulate a countermeasure, a hand wrapped in cloth reached out from behind to cover his mouth and nose.
“Mm, let go…”
You An’s eyes widened abruptly, and he struggled with all his might, but due to the effects of the drug, he softened and collapsed into the attacker’s arms in less than a minute.
The man looked down at the girl in his arms, his movements gentle as he scooped him up horizontally.
He clenched his teeth, speaking in a low voice.
“I’m sorry.”
Zhuang Yujiang woke up to the slightly pungent scent of disinfectant.
He stared blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds. As his memories came rushing back, he suddenly turned to Song Chengyu, who was standing nearby. “I’m sorry, I failed to protect You An. How is he?”
On Song Chengyu’s exceptionally handsome face hung a gloomy shadow. “There’s a high probability he was taken by Xin Jian and his people.”
“This isn’t your fault. I never expected Xin Jian to keep a backup plan.”
As he spoke, his tone was dead calm, but the calmer he sounded, the more hair-raising it felt.
“It doesn’t matter, though. I’ll find him soon enough.”
News of Song Chengyu’s bloody purge of the upper echelons quickly swept through the entire District A Base. Everyone who had long despised Xin Jian’s hedonism and disregard for human life cheered and applauded, swiftly pushing to elect Song Chengyu as the new leader.
Meanwhile, Song Chengyu himself was down in the basement, interrogating Su Lang.