Daylight completely broke free from the horizon, illuminating the old mining area brightly.
Xavier slowly lowered his eyes, his brow ridges furrowing imperceptibly. A trace of discomfort swept across his pale-gold eyes, and his already pale complexion even revealed a hint of gloom.
Even if the planet was different, “sunlight” still made vampires loath it.
“Alright, Your Excellency the Bandit, I can roughly guess your concerns.”
Xavier crossed his arms, pulling himself together to propose, “Then the third rule: during the continuation of our cooperative relationship, neither side may betray the other. What do you think?”
Daylight made his eyes transparent like crystal underneath, and the small intelligent entity tried his best to pull off a serious expression with his exquisite and striking small face. To Kane, it lacked any majesty at all and instead appeared cute.
“Deal.” He agreed casually, then stretched out his finger, wanting to poke the small intelligent entity’s cheek, but this time he was nimbly dodged by Xavier, who now had experience.
Xavier was already too lazy to point out Kane’s social issues again, merely emphasizing, “Rule number two, unauthorized touching of me is not allowed.”
“Not happening.” Kane’s extended hand instead scooped Xavier up, lifted him to his chest, and demonstrated with practical actions—
“If touching me is not allowed, whenever we go out from now on, are you planning to trudge behind me on your short little legs, or crawl up and down my body every time?”
…Simply a question striking straight at the heart.
Xavier stood on his open palm looking down. After shrinking in size, this familiar height had become some sort of insurmountable distance gap.
Forget it, anyway Kane himself, just like that rugged-looking starship, was regarded by him as a kind of existense like a mount.
Thought of this way, contact was unavoidable.
“What you say makes sense.” Xavier withdrew his gaze, pondered for a moment, then refined the second rule, “Then let’s refine the second one: no casual skin contact, no touching my face, and no stroking my hair.”
Kane lifted Xavier’s trailing trouser legs again, revealing the fair, bare feet hidden underneath, which were currently standing flesh-to-flesh on his palm. “Then what about this?”
“This is forced by circumstances, it doesn’t count as casual.”
Xavier unhappily kicked his feet. In the sunlight, his skin was so white it was almost dazzling, “You should prepare suitable shoes and socks for His Highness the Prince as soon as possible. That way we can both better practice rule number two.”
“Oh, doesn’t count as casual.”
The man lowered his eyes and chuckled, his casual tone dropping every single word precisely, his ending note curling lightly with a teasing subtext.
“Just understand.” Xavier freed his trouser legs from Kane’s hands, carefully covering his bare feet to avoid any more skin being baked by the sunlight.
After Kane placed him back on his shoulder, Xavier urged, “Let’s head back quickly, the sunlight here is truly annoying.”
After speaking, he even patted Kane’s shoulder—this time deliberately patting through the fabric, and even gave the man an eyebrow raise, as if saying “Look, I didn’t touch you.”
Seeing Xavier deliberately “avoiding suspicion,” Kane’s gaze darkened slightly, sweeping over the spot that had been patted, and he lowered his voice to say, “I admire your compliance with the rules.”
With that, however, his thin lips parted slightly to reveal white, sharp canine teeth, and he reached out his hand once more.
The calloused fingertips this time did not rashly touch the restricted area again, but instead rested softly on Xavier’s shoulder.
Just as Xavier slightly relaxed his vigilance, those fingertips traced down along his lean spine in a single stroke.
The thin, soft fabric could not block the rough-textured heat, feeling almost like direct skin-to-skin contact, leaving a scalding brand on his back.
Even though the fingertips quickly withdrew, that heat lingered stubbornly on the vampire’s slightly cool skin, like a burning iron ball dropping into cold snow, instantly stirring up intense melting.
Xavier couldn’t help but feel his spine go numb, his lips tightening unconsciously, and his snow-white, sharp fangs abruptly exposed half their length, carrying the sharp edge of being offended.
“You—!”
He snapped his head up, only to find the familiar raised eyebrow on the man’s high brow ridge, hiding a trace of imperceptible control amidst his casualness.
“According to the agreement, that doesn’t count as touching you.”
Not expecting to be outmaneuvered by the man, Xavier was momentarily stunned, only able to tightly press his lips together sub-consciously.
The grey-blue eyes slowly moved downward, catching the exposed, sharp white fangs gently pressing against his lips, the watery red flesh of his lips slightly indented, making the vibrant color and cold white sharply distinct.
Kane stared fixedly for a long time before speaking with a playful tone:
“Does touching your fangs count as violating the rule?”
Xavier said coldly, “I’ll assume your sanity is still relatively sober, and that you shouldn’t be foolish enough to treat a vampire’s fangs as some sort of trinket that can be toyed with lightly. If you truly crave the thrill of dancing hand-in-hand with death, beg me properly and His Highness the Prince can also grant you a swift release.”
“For me, playing around with danger is just some seasoning to liven things up. If you’re willing to pay… well, don’t make that expression, I promise you I won’t do it casually.”
After promising nonchalantly, Kane took Xavier in a few leaps and bounds back to the Phantom.
From an angle where the man couldn’t see, Xavier somewhat uncomfortably licked his sharp fangs, suppressing the urge to attack, and then slowly shrugged his shoulders. His slightly wavy silver hair slid down from his shoulders, winding down his spine and bringing a vague, phantom itch.
As if the touch from just now hadn’t truly left, but had sunk into his flesh instead, surfacing clearly again with the slightest movement.
How strange.
Xavier recalled that when he used to be served closely by blood servants, there didn’t seem to be such a special reaction?
His Highness the Prince’s expression paused slightly. Unable to figure out the reason, he suddenly missed the wise and peerless Undead Lich immensely.
Yet with Kane right beside him, he couldn’t rashly contact Celin, so he could only harbor his doubts and sit quietly on the man’s shoulder as he carried him all the way back toward the central district of Florui.
By now daylight was fully bright, and this peculiar city instead lost its nighttime bustling, growing quiet.
The Sword of Thorns, which had been spinning for most of the night, also vanished along with the fading sky.
When the Phantom stopped in front of the Ring of Rust, Xavier’s inner question shifted to another one—for instance, when the sky lit up again tonight, would the broadcast be the auction promotional video or the Sword of Thorns of Blood Blade.
Seeing the little fellow looking solemn with his already defined jawline tightly clenched, making his face appear even smaller and more exquisite, Kane silently studied him for a while until the Phantom was taken away by the hotel’s robots for parking, before asking, “What are you thinking about?”
Xavier told him the truth.
“Not necessarily. Whatever you want to see, you can have them change it.”
Kane carried Xavier and strode into the skyscraper. The hotel was located on the upper levels of the Ring of Rust, with a dedicated passage provided for the “Tyrant” to pass through, ensuring no one would disturb them.
Entering the interior, Xavier finally perked up a bit, his gaze constantly sweeping around, curiously taking in the design aesthetic of interstellar technology.
Even upon hearing the understated arrogance in Kane’s tone, he didn’t utter any cold sarcasm, only asking out of curiosity, “Why are the people here so eager to please you?”
“Because they are out of options.”
As he spoke, Kane stepped into the anti-gravity elevator.
The walls covered entirely in silver-white caused Xavier’s pupils to constrict for a moment before he heard the man’s explanation.
“The special thing about RX-2 is its geographical location; there are almost no normal trade routes here, and only Blood Blade has the capability to frequently cross insect swarms and asteroid belts. Blood Blade has its own base and poses no fundamental threat to the local forces of Florui City. On the contrary, only by establishing a connection with Blood Blade can they secure a foothold here.”
The economic authority of this place was entirely held in his hands, and everyone relied on the “Tyrant’s” whim to survive, naturally flattering him to the utmost and pleasing him in every possible way.
“So that’s how it is.”
His Highness the Prince slightly raised his chin and acknowledged, “During my reign in Florence, there were thousands of dark creatures and humans prostrating at my feet, kissing the hem of my robes, craving eternal life and power. Such people are often noisy, but their fanatical pursuit of power also grants them extraordinary loyalty.”
Thinking of this, although still not comparable to himself, Kane could be considered to have some capability.
Kane imagined Xavier at the size of a fist standing before a crowd of humans as they raised their arms and cheered, and couldn’t help letting out a low laugh.
This short laugh pulled Xavier back from his reminiscences of the past, and he vigilantly questioned, “What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing.” Kane flatly denied. Just as the elevator reached the top floor, he strode out, smoothly shifting the topic and guiding Xavier to look outside, “We’ve arrived. Take a look, do you like it?”
Looking around, the entire top floor was exclusively occupied by a sky suite. Walking in, a high vaulted ceiling matched floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows, while the interior living room, study, private terrace, and luxury bathroom were all fully equipped.
There was even a training room inside!
Xavier’s attention was indeed captured, “They really went all out to please you.”
This suite was clearly configured for Kane and would normally not be open to the public.
Kane tapped the wall a few times, a semi-transparent screen lit up, and soon, the entire floor-to-ceiling window was covered with heavy, opaque drapes, while artificial lighting illuminated the interior.
The adjustment of the light made Xavier instinctively look toward the man, only to see his expression unchanged as he said indifferently, “This doesn’t count. This hotel is property under Blood Blade.”
Xavier: ……
Damn it, he managed to show off again.
Kane didn’t notice Xavier’s internal grumbling, bringing him to a resting area and pointing to a row of energy ports beneath the sofa as he reminded:
“I’m going to take a shower first. There’s a small energy replenishment station here with all kinds of energy available. Supplement as needed. The equipment on the Blood Blade is uniformly deployed by Gu Shen, and the energy types used might not necessarily match yours.”
“Hmm,” Xavier responded ambiguously.
Once Kane left, Xavier finally had the opportunity to poke the gemstone, “Celin? Celin?”
After a long while, a soft response came from within the gemstone, “…Xavier.”
“I found some magic raw ores. Once I get my sleeping robe back, I’ll refine them all cleanly and let you use them first.”
His Highness the Prince’s sleeping robe looked simple, but actually had one magic array after another embroidered onto it with enchanted silk during its creation, including a simple magic source purification array.
“It must have been very tiring.”
Xavier tilted his head and thought about it, “That’s alright. The newly found mount is quite serviceable; he helped a lot.”
A trace of confusion crept into Celin’s weak voice, “Mount?”
“It’s that star pirate boss. Before returning to my original form, I can only rely on him for transportation.”
“…Won’t you get beaten calling someone that?”
“Who dares beat me?! Ah, you mean the title? Of course I wouldn’t call him a mount to his face, I always respectfully call him Your Excellency the Bandit. His Highness the Prince pays great attention to social etiquette, unlike that guy.”
Celin: “…”
Celin barely responded, but Xavier knew she was listening and continued talking intermittently.
When he came out of the shower, Kane saw Xavier sitting on the sofa with his back to him, murmuring something in a low voice.
He walked closer step by step, the shadow cast by his figure easily enclosing the small intelligent entity completely within it.
Hearing the sound, Xavier turned his head, crashing into an atmosphere carrying dampness.
Kane only loosely tied a bath towel around his waist, his ink-black short hair damply clinging to his temples, and water droplets sliding down his clean-cut jawline, splashing onto his firm shoulder lines and well-defined muscular chest.
His gaze unconsciously followed that sliding track of water downward, pausing at the familiar chest before finally being hooked by the extremely oppressive contoured lines.
His pale-gold pupils openly sized them up for a moment.
Kane caught his frozen gaze, those grey-blue eyes still shimmering with moisture growing even more dark and deep. He took two steps forward, planting both hands on either side of Xavier, sealing off all avenues of retreat.
The towering posture and absolute physical advantage brought extreme oppression. He lowered his gaze, speaking with a playful and unhurried tone:
“In your behavioral module, is there also a pre-installed preference for this kind of thing?”