Clang.
The impact vibrated the wall and the ceiling lamp above.
Cyril panted heavily, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time. His right hand pressed against the wall while his left hand completely enveloped Ning Qing’s shoulder. Because of this, he absorbed the full brunt of the heavy impact himself, preventing Ning Qing from feeling the slightest bit of pain.
Trapped within the tight space, Ning Qing’s throat bobbed. His face darkened as he spoke, “Cyril, I don’t know how I offended you to make you handle Benson behind my back and throw such a huge temper at me.”
He had been acting so strange since this morning, he was remarkably adept at cold violence.
Ning Qing’s original intention was simply for Cyril to view their relationship rationally to avoid any misunderstandings. Why were alphas so difficult to communicate with? Was it due to a lack of proper education or a lack of affection?
He gazed at Cyril for a long time, his eyes as serene as a deep pool of spring water. Then, he extended a finger and slowly brought it close to Cyril’s lips.
“Are you dissatisfied with the repayment I offered, wanting to get more?”
“Or do you feel that a mere commoner Beta like me doesn’t deserve your respect?”
During this time, Cyril tried to speak several times, but Ning Qing cut him off each time. That long, pale index finger was like a thread stitching his mouth tightly shut.
So badly want to lick it.
Once Cyril calmed down, he found himself losing control again.
He had watched so many short videos over the past few days, smelling the meat without getting a taste, it felt worse than dying.
It was indeed true that he had acted on his own. His brother insisted on keeping Benson around, claiming that fool was merely an instigated figurehead and taking him down would only give the old fox behind him something to hold over them.
Cyril was also deliberately going against his brother. If he couldn’t beat his sibling, could he not even clean up the son of a third rate noble? So, on the night after the handover, he secretly paid a visit to Benson, who was “recuperating from illness.” At first, he called it a visit, followed by interrogation mixed with intimidation. Before leaving, he couldn’t hold back and beat the man into secondary minor injuries.
Who told Benson to say that Ning Qing sounded so enticing when he panted? He hadn’t even heard it in person himself, what right did that guy have!
However, he couldn’t say any of this to Ning Qing.
“…No, I’m not dissatisfied, and I don’t look down on you.”
Cyril removed himself from the incident and lied with his eyes open. “Bansen ruined himself by taking drugs. He injected stimulants before the match and ingested a massive amount of aphrodisiacs before coming to find you. After getting injured, multiple complications broke out. He’ll probably have to lie down for a few years before waking up. I handled his withdrawal procedures for him, completely legal, compliant, and reasonable.”
A draft blew past, wet and cold at the doorway. As he spoke, Cyril exhaled white mist, which softened his sharp, handsome face.
Ning Qing accepted this explanation.
His reason for letting Cyril off the hook was simple, he believed Cyril was not inherently bad.
Although this big guy had been holding an umbrella earlier, his sleeves and gloves were soaked from the wind and rain, and his stiff blonde hair hung limply. It was clear he had been waiting outside for a long time, perhaps even running back and forth between the nearby training room and the library trying to find his trace.
Ning Qing had left first after the match without informing Cyril of his whereabouts. After sulking, Cyril had probably sent him messages, but unfortunately, Ning Qing’s terminal had run out of power.
“Alright, back off first.”
Ning Qing tried to push Cyril away by pressing against his chest, but he couldn’t budge him, it felt as hard as an iron wall.
Ning Qing: ?
“I was wrong, okay?” After softening up, Cyril squatted down halfway and rubbed his head against Ning Qing’s shoulder. “I have another favor to ask you, Senior.”
Next, Cyril personally demonstrated what it meant to push one’s luck.
He said, “Let’s try kissing once, Senior.”
Then he threw out a logically self-consistent reason. “My mother wants to see you. Look at how you hide from me even when I just lean in. With such an estranged appearance, who would believe we are a couple?”
The more he spoke, the more Ning Qing wanted to stay away from him to avoid being infected by such terrifying reasoning. He turned his head away, refusing to face Cyril directly. “What if I don’t agree?”
“Then I won’t let you leave. I won’t let you step out of this door, forever and ever.”
Cyril grinned with a playful, cheeky expression, looking remarkably like the ten-year-old mixed breed dog Ning Qing kept at home. Whenever Ning Qing went out hunting, it would stand on its hind legs, using its paws and mouth to bite tightly onto his pant legs without letting go.
Ning Qing raised his hand, pretending he was going to slap him, only to see Cyril look even more excited.
…What on earth was he so pleased about?
He mournfully discovered that he had a major weakness, he yielded to soft tactics but rejected force. However, this requirement was clearly written in the contract, so he considered it a necessary sacrifice to carry out the plan.
Ning Qing had no choice but to close his eyes and offer his pursed lips to Cyril.
Not knowing whether Cyril had picked up on the explicit hint, Ning Qing waited for two or three minutes before the warm breath spraying onto the bridge of his nose suddenly paused.
Then, a kiss landed softly like a dragonfly skimming the water.
It was very light, with almost no sensation of a foreign object touching him, nor was there any lip smacking or wet sounds like in those videos. Ning Qing had specifically downloaded a few two days ago, and the commotion in them had been huge, but in reality, there was only the pitter-patter of rain falling from the eaves.
Even long after the heat on his lips had departed, Ning Qing still hadn’t opened his eyes, as if stunned.
His eyes were narrow and long, with slightly visible lower whites. He rarely bothered to make expressions, which usually made him appear cold and indifferent. But when his eyes were closed, his aura instantly turned obedient and innocent, making one’s heart itch unbearably.
Fortunately, for now, Cyril was the only one who could exclusively enjoy this sight, no one was allowed to share Ning Qing with him.
Is it over just like that?
Ning Qing dazed out by himself. Only after a while did he hear Cyril speak.
“Can Senior accept this level?”
Ning Qing spoke truthfully. “It’s fine, didn’t feel much.”
Outside the house, lightning flashed, and a white light burst loudly on the open ground a few meters away. Amidst the faint scent of scorching, a storm like offensive slammed toward Ning Qing.
In complete contrast to the previous fleeting touch, this was not just the contact of two pairs of lips, but an exchange of teeth and tongues, clumsy, rough, yet filled with raw enthusiasm.
Like a hyena tasting meat for the first time, Cyril began biting wildly without any technique. It hurt so much that Ning Qing bit down hard with his sharp canine teeth until he tasted the flavor of rust. From that moment on, Cyril seemed to gain enlightenment, switching to a more sophisticated method of tormenting Ning Qing.
He was hooking his tongue… and licking.
The sticky sensation made Ning Qing’s scalp go numb. As time slowly tickled away, it became increasingly difficult for him to breathe, and he could only slide down slowly against the wall.
Ning Qing didn’t quite remember how it finally ended.
On that night, that early summer night where the heavy rain never stopped, in an almost unvisited corner of the mountain forest on the Capital Planet, Cyril told him that this was what lovers were supposed to do. He should remember this feeling and act it out.
Due to oxygen deprivation and being caught in the rain, Ning Qing coughed severely and developed a low-grade fever in the second half of the night. Cyril bustled back and forth, covering him with a woolen blanket, and brought over a plate of pancakes along with a cup of piping hot black tea. Cyril said he had personally added two sugar cubes, as he had noticed that Ning Qing actually quite liked sweet food.
Cyril, wearing an apron, had eyes sparkling with light, making Ning Qing unable to bear telling him that the pancakes didn’t seem fully cooked.
Nor did he expose another secret.
I am acting, but what are you doing, Cyril?
With warm food in his stomach, Ning Qing grew groggier, so as Cyril chattered on, he could only nod weakly at the end of his sentences.
“Senior, don’t go to the Royal Medical Center. That would leave your genetic information on file in the database, and I don’t want them targeting you. I’ll get a report drawn up for you in a couple of days. Don’t go out these next few days, okay?”
“Even if I ask you to go out, don’t go.”
“Did you hear me, Qing?”
The only response he received was steady breathing. Ning Qing had unconsciously fallen onto Cyril’s lap, wrapping himself up tightly in the rolled blanket, a sleeping posture indicating a lack of security.
In truth, even that advice was a lie to deceive him.
The reason he had been urgently recalled to the family residence this time was to deliver Ning Qing’s genetic sample to the Lancaster family. The test results had filled everyone with overwhelming joy.
Ning Qing carried the primeval genes from when humans first underwent AO differentiation, giving him not only the potential to differentiate again, but also mental strength far surpassing ordinary people.
This also meant that his talent could be passed down to descendants, making him the optimal maternal blueprint for the new humanity.
The current year was Star Calendar 1026, seven hundred years after the end of the Great Interstellar Navigation Era. Aside from the nobles who held ruling power, almost no one knew the truth behind AO differentiation. Just like pedigree cats and dogs in the ancient Earth era, Alphas were actually just a superior breed selectively bred by human hands.
Continuous inbreeding, reproduction, modification…
Finally cultivating generation after generation of geniuses and monsters.
Cyril or rather, Cyril and Lyle was originally just one of many failed products in the test vats at the Lancaster base. Possessing raw talent, he was trapped in madness every day, whispering to empty corners and losing his memory of the previous day every time the sun rose.
Until a certain turning point, when it was discovered that two souls resided within Cyril’s body.
The black tea was laced with a sufficient dose of sleeping pills. Ning Qing slept peacefully in Lyle’s arms. Lyle touched him from top to bottom. Ning Qing was no longer as resistant as he was at the beginning, though he wasn’t wet at the touch like Lyle had imagined.
Well, he would absolutely never admit that his skills were worse than his brother’s.
Lyle decided to rush a custom order for some props that balanced aesthetics and fun. According to the measurements he had taken by hand, the size needed to be a bit smaller, and they should be engraved with the initials of Qing and Lyle.
Pinching the soft flesh of Ning Qing’s cheek, he thought that to conquer a man’s heart, one must first conquer his body.
In truth, regarding his father and mother, as long as he produced a few more offspring, they wouldn’t care at all how close he got to Ning Qing. His brother was set on entering politics, far beyond his reach, and couldn’t control him here.
As for what Ning Qing himself thought.
Apologies, with Lyle’s emotional intelligence, he hadn’t considered that question at all.
At four in the morning, as dawn was breaking, the rain stopped.
Only then did Lyle remember to check his communications. He recalled setting his device to silent mode in advance to prevent his brother from ruining things.
“Lyle, what are you doing with Ning Qing behind my back?”
“According to our plan, according to Father’s instructions, you shouldn’t have told him so much, let alone revealed confidential information to him.”
Ten minutes later.
“I’m coming back right now.”