Chapter 25: Blindness
This was Samuel’s territory.
That Italian man had just given him a nearly pathological confession, and Jiang Zhaosheng didn’t think he could endure for long. In this reunion, he felt that Samuel had a “get it or die trying” look. He had just been in front of him… the impression of being “frivolous” probably couldn’t be washed away.
No saints were raised in the Esposito family. The more this former “dog” yielded, the less he dared to relax.
Furthermore, his current state: dominated by lust, with no power to resist. If Samuel or anyone else returned…
Jiang Zhaosheng suddenly shuddered.
He had a feeling… he absolutely could not lose his ground in such a den of iniquity.
Jiang Zhaosheng chose to take a gamble, pulling open the wardrobe drawer that Shang Yan had kicked shut earlier.
He was gambling on the suppressant. Although an ordinary suppressant would cause a backlash, if he could endure it until he left this hellhole, he would lock himself up.
Trembling, he pried open a sterile package. Jiang Zhaosheng fumbled for the injection, nearly pricking himself several times. Finally, he successfully pushed the cool liquid in.
The effect was quick. The burning in his blood was suppressed by a cooling sensation, allowing him to gain clarity, and much of his strength returned.
The feeling of exhaustion from the heat being forcibly suppressed made Jiang Zhaosheng lean against the wall for a while.
Only one thought became increasingly clear in his mind—
He had to go to the auction. His purpose for coming to Samuel’s territory hadn’t been achieved yet.
In the last “Pandora’s Box” auction, a piece of vague information about his whereabouts was sold anonymously and fell into Shang Yan’s hands, directly leading to the subsequent string of “troubles” and last night’s danger.
Samuel’s auction followed a principle of absolute free trade and neutrality. As the host, he wouldn’t hold seller information; this was an iron rule.
Since he couldn’t get an answer from Samuel, he could only find it in a simple way—waiting for the prey to come to him.
He hypothesized that the seller who dared to sell his information, having tasted success, would likely strike again. The auction itself might have new related leads leaking out.
Jiang Zhaosheng casually threw on a shirt and put on sunglasses.
…
When led to the highly private booth by the butler, Samuel stood up with a surprised smile and opened his arms toward him:
“Stellina! You finally came! I thought you were angry with me and wouldn’t grace me with your presence.”
“Is there a seat that won’t be seen by others?” To avoid trouble, Jiang Zhaosheng briefly stepped forward and touched shoulders with him.
Unexpectedly, Samuel pushed his luck and took him into his arms. As he tried to kiss his cheek, he stopped at the “death stare” behind Jiang Zhaosheng’s sunglasses, choosing to give a cheek-to-cheek greeting through the air.
This was already the maximum result Jiang Zhaosheng would yield. Samuel released his arms with some disappointment. He felt he could hold the man all day, but something just now concerned him—a faint fragrance was coming from the back of Jiang Zhaosheng’s neck.
“What perfume are you wearing?” He couldn’t help but sniff again. “It’s a bit like ‘The Coveted Duchess Rose’.”
Jiang Zhaosheng only treated it as a brainless compliment from his “love-struck” state and replied without much sincerity, “I only see ‘Mr. Esposito’s Covetedness’.”
“You’re truly so understanding. I think about you every day…”
No matter how thick-skinned he was, he couldn’t stand Samuel praising and pursuing him in front of a group of people. Jiang Zhaosheng pushed his back:
“Stop being cheesy. Let me see the ‘menu’.”
Samuel signaled his subordinates with a smile: “Bring it to him.”
Although this was an irregular operation, no one raised an objection—after all, their superior had just practically turned into a sunflower.
Pandora’s Box didn’t auction antique jewelry, but secrets—whether it was scandals of the powerful, core corporate data, unpublished technological blueprints, or even… the ownership rights of certain special “talents.”
Jiang Zhaosheng used to be a regular here, and when he was close to Samuel, he was practically half a master. So he didn’t think such a request violated the rules. He sat down in the velvet armchair and picked up his wine glass with a composed posture.
“Prepared for you, sir.”
The waiter handed over a somewhat heavy menu, which recorded tonight’s lots.
Samuel sat down beside him, passionate as fire, his blue eyes sparkling:
“Darling, see anything interesting? Anything at all, as long as you ask.”
While he was hinting, he was reliving the days of indulging the man in his mind.
Jiang Zhaosheng’s mind was currently a mess, and he had no heart to respond.
All his attention was focused on the menu in his hand.
Most were common business secrets or rumors, which didn’t pique his interest.
Uneasily, the heat in his body began to faintly surface again under the shackles of the suppressant, bringing waves of unbearable tingling, itching, and emptiness. Fine cold sweat broke out on his back, clinging to his shirt, separated by his suit.
“I don’t see anything related.”
After his inspection, Jiang Zhaosheng’s patience and physical strength were exhausted. Just as he expressed his disappointment and was about to tell Samuel he was leaving, the auctioneer’s voice rang out:
“Everyone, the next lot is code-named ‘Green Eyes’.”
Jiang Zhaosheng’s heart jumped violently: this item wasn’t on the menu.
Samuel also noticed. He turned his head and lowered his voice, “‘Green Eyes’? Does that mean…”
The description… was too obvious. Even if it was a trap, it definitely had something to do with him.
Jiang Zhaosheng forcibly suppressed the discomfort in his body, his face behind the sunglasses turning pale. He had to figure out who the seller was.
Jiang Zhaosheng struggled to stand up. The weakness brought by the clash between the suppressant and the heat made his footsteps falter imperceptibly. He had to go confirm that “Green Eyes.”
Samuel immediately reached out with concern to help, but was avoided by Jiang Zhaosheng without a word. “I’ll go take a look.” His voice was deliberately leveled, masking a physiological tremble.
“I’ll accompany you, Stellina.” Samuel’s gaze darkened. He clearly also realized the abnormality of this abrupt lot, especially since it likely involved Jiang Zhaosheng. He waved for his men to stay put and personally led Jiang Zhaosheng toward the secret room specially prepared for important transactions backstage.
The passage was deep and lined with thick carpet that absorbed all footsteps, leaving only the sound of their two breaths—one light and one heavy. Jiang Zhaosheng could feel Samuel’s gaze on him, scorching and probing, as if trying to pierce through the sunglasses and see his true state. He could only use all his willpower to maintain the stability of his pace and resist the increasingly surging backlash that hit him as the suppressant approached its expiration.
Before the iron door, the auctioneer and a waiter stood waiting silently. Seeing Samuel, they lowered their heads respectfully.
“The seller is inside?” Samuel asked, his tone returning to the coldness of an Esposito patriarch.
“Yes, sir. According to the rules, only the buyer may enter,” the auctioneer replied carefully, glancing at Jiang Zhaosheng.
Samuel frowned, clearly not at ease letting the recovered Jiang Zhaosheng face this alone. But the auction house’s rules were an iron law he had set himself; he couldn’t break them.
Jiang Zhaosheng took a deep breath and spoke before Samuel could. “Rules are rules. I’ll go in alone.”
He couldn’t let Samuel get involved; it would only make things more complicated.
A flicker of displeasure crossed Samuel’s blue eyes, but in the end, he nodded and signaled his men to open the door.
“I’ll be right outside,” he whispered in the man’s ear, the meaning in his words self-evident.
Jiang Zhaosheng didn’t respond and pushed the door open.
The room wasn’t large and was well-lit. A person wearing a voluminous cloak stood in the center of the room, their back to the door.
“You’re the seller of ‘Green Eyes’?”
The person didn’t turn around or make a sound.
The doubt and unease in Jiang Zhaosheng’s heart intensified.
“What do you want to trade? What information about ‘Green Eyes’?”
Still no answer.
Jiang Zhaosheng’s patience ran out, and at the same time, he felt his vision begin to blur. The world beneath his sunglasses was covered in an unreal thin mist. The effect of the suppressant was fading rapidly. He had to finish this quickly.
He strode forward and reached out to roughly grab the person’s shoulder—
The contact was cold and stiff.
That wasn’t a living person at all. The hood of the cloak slid off, revealing a pale face with eyes wide open in terror—it was the Omega from this afternoon who had been dead for a long time, but whose body had vanished!
Jiang Zhaosheng’s head buzzed. At this moment, the world spun.
It wasn’t that he was so scared his legs gave out; it was worse than that… the effect of the suppressant vanished abruptly, and the forcibly suppressed heat counterattacked with a ferocious force.
The scene before him was plundered by large patches of blinding white. Finally, the face of the corpse was replaced by an endless expanse of white.
He was blind.
In the next second, a strong hand wearing a black leather glove reached out from behind without warning, accurately pinching his chin and forcing him to lift his face.
Jiang Zhaosheng shuddered and tried to break free, but this backlash was too lethal. He could feel the cool, fine texture of the glove clinging to his burning skin.
He couldn’t see; his other senses were infinitely magnified in his blindness.
The glove slid over his skin like a venomous snake. The smell at his nose was a familiar one, along with an intense itching sensation rising from his very bones.
The owner of that hand was observing the person in their grip at close range and without restraint.
His “lover” was powerless to struggle in the face of heat and blindness.
The bothersome sunglasses were taken off and discarded. The green eyes looked like two jewels on his pale face, though they were dimmed by blindness.
His petal-like lips were slightly parted, trying to get more oxygen, exhaling a familiar cloying scent. It made the person lean close to his face in intoxication, drinking in the moist, hot air exhaled from the Beta’s mouth.
Time was simply too biased. He was still so beautiful. Even after that past, he still looked arrogant, as if he wouldn’t accept any man’s love—the same cold Jiang Zhaosheng who remained unmoved even if a suitor died before his eyes.
Only his black hair was dampened by a thin layer of sweat, several strands clinging to his smooth forehead and elegantly lined neck, revealing a softness that was the polar opposite of his current posture of resistance.
A deep, raspy voice—one so familiar it made the marrow of Jiang Zhaosheng’s bones turn cold—rang out:
“Look who it is… my lost, disobedient little kitten.”
the voice paused, and the fingertip of the glove ambiguously stroked his lower lip.
“And you seem to have made such a mess… of yourself.”
This was Samuel’s territory.
But at this moment, the one using a cold glove to lift his chin and enveloping him with pheromones was definitely not Samuel.
Jiang Zhaosheng’s heart suddenly sank into an ice cellar.
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