Chapter 77
“Mine,” he said.
Shu Ci had never heard such direct and undisguised words come from Lu Wanqing’s mouth. His heart instantly went thump, exploding like a blooming flower.
He raised his head with proud satisfaction, propping himself up with his hand to create some distance.
The scorching heat was burning too close; he was afraid that in the next second, the fragile skin tissue would be bitten right through.
“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m not yours yet. No biting.”
Just a short while ago, Yi Xingshui and Li Yi had worked together seamlessly to solve Shu Changze’s test questions, gaining the qualification to inherit his database.
When they opened the sealed files, they discovered not only research on Disorder Syndrome but also research on compatibility rates in the directory.
Shu Ci took the opportunity to confess the truth about their compatibility to the two doctors. Both promised they would try their best to find a solution for him.
The dawn was in sight, but not right now.
The two of them couldn’t risk it all for a moment of pleasure.
Especially since one of them was currently in a state of delirium, he had to be the one to keep a tight grip on reality.
“Not… not mine.”
“No biting?”
The Alpha’s voice was slightly hoarse as he struggled to process the meaning, his jerky interpretation causing the light in his eyes to dim abruptly. He froze stiffly in place.
He clearly hadn’t fully understood Shu Ci’s meaning.
His lips trembled as he said aggrievedly, “Then… I am yours, okay?”
As he spoke, he tilted his head up piously, his Adam’s apple bobbing involuntarily.
This posture, like one offering their neck for the slaughter, made Shu Ci’s breath hitch. It was as if he were saying: If you can’t be mine, then I am yours. Come, take me.
He reached out to touch the burning, flushed skin, muttering, “What kind of joke is that? If I had that kind of equipment, would I have waited with you until now? I would have had my way with you ages ago.”
The reality was, he could only tease the tyrant without the means to conquer him.
…And in a narrow closet, no less.
“But Dr. Li said that if the repulsion isn’t strong, as long as we don’t mark, don’t exchange pheromones or fluids, other intimate acts shouldn’t be a prob—”
Scratching the itch was fine, but they couldn’t actually misfire.
This time, the Alpha understood his words quickly.
Before Shu Ci could finish his rambling, his lips were captured in a kiss.
It wasn’t gentle, nor was it skilled; the dense kisses drowned out all the noise as he began to conquer territory according to his own will.
Shu Ci, who had directed countless kissing scenes, went blank in the eyes at this moment, offering no critique.
Just as he was about to enjoy it, a subtle sense of repulsion rose between their lips and teeth.
Accompanied by a dissonant stinging pain, it reminded him of their 1% destiny.
Even a kiss could not be peaceful.
In this instant, he suddenly understood what Lu Wanqing had meant that day in the sea when he said, “Let him hurt.”
Pain allowed one to vividly feel the other’s existence.
Pain could be branded deeper into the soul, not swallowed by time, not forgotten by the years.
Even if it pierced the heart and carved the bones, it wouldn’t force him to give up this hard-won affection. This state of mind was shared between their two hearts.
Soon, the sharpest needle-like sensation struck, and Shu Ci hissed.
Even Lu Wanqing groaned and halted his movements in a daze. He looked up at him blankly, a bit panicked. “I didn’t use my teeth.”
Although he had a fleeting impulse to use the tips of his teeth, he had held back.
Shu Ci closed his eyes and endured it, the hollow, lifeless photos of the original host flashing through his mind. He furrowed his brows, opened his eyes, and stared fixedly at those two uncomprehending, deep blue eyes.
Lu Wanqing blinked. “I can hold back.”
“…” Nonsense, I’ve never seen anyone who can endure more than you.
A trace of fierce determination floated in Shu Ci’s eyes. He released the supporting force of his arm and lowered his head.
Heaven wanted him to be a soulless puppet, a marionette of the plot.
But he refused.
Who he chose was not for the compatibility rate to decide.
He lowered his proud, untamed head—not bowing to fate, but pressing down against that 1% of unblessed destiny.
If pain was Heaven’s way of making them give up, then it was wrong.
They would only draw closer to each other amidst the mutual repulsion.
Clang. The closet door closed.
A coat hanging overhead fell amidst the shaking, covering Shu Ci’s back.
The two embracing figures were plunged into total darkness.
Time seemed to stand still; even the millimeter of movement where their noses touched felt incredibly long.
Shu Ci breathed shallowly, and at the same time clearly felt that the moment he leaned down, the sensation of pain vanished completely.
Replacing it was infinite intimacy.
The Alpha pulled back slightly in the gap, his eyes bright, letting out a sigh of satisfaction.
Then he complained, “You… went drinking without me.”
Shu Ci pressed his tongue against his teeth and said grumpily, “I didn’t drink. It was the fermented rice glue balls from the main building’s small cafeteria.”
Thinking that Yi Xingshui and Li Yi would be eating and staying here, he had ordered three portions after showing them around, which also served as a simple inspection of the operating company’s progress.
“Let me taste.” Lu Wanqing paused for two seconds, then instinctively leaned in.
Shu Ci shivered.
“They added osmanthus,” the Alpha smacked his lips lightly.
This time, the active seizure quickly became excessively fierce. Shu Ci felt as if his vital point had been pressed, and he went soft.
In this soothing contact that stopped just short of crossing the line, the bulging veins gradually calmed, and the redness receded.
But Shu Ci couldn’t see anything in the dark, oppressive closet. He could only feel the energy in the air manifesting restless trajectories.
Unlike the last time when his cool and proud plum blossom scent was indifferent and ignored him, this time Lu Wanqing’s pheromones were a bit more cautious. They hovered around him but didn’t dare to get too close.
Shu Ci rarely let down all his guards and aggression, fully immersing himself in sensing Lu Wanqing’s pheromones.
Soon, he shrank into the other’s embrace.
He had seen Lu Wanqing kill mutated creatures; saying he could destroy heaven and earth wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Now that the target of the pheromones was himself, he could understand some indescribable sensations.
This was the first time he felt such oppressive pressure caging him, harboring an intense desire for destruction.
Especially since this was still his energy under restraint.
Compared to Gu Lanzhu’s domineering arrogance and oppressive terror, Lu Wanqing’s pressure held a despair buried deep within a vast, empty wilderness.
It clearly wasn’t a pressure meant to force submission, yet its very simplicity made it hard to breathe.
In the stagnant breath, he seemed to see a thin, frail youth standing alone between heaven and earth, venting a lifetime of confusion, yet receiving not a single response from the world.
He sat alone in a corner forgotten by the world.
The breeze did not stop for him, the drifting clouds did not pause; the garden was full of spring light, yet it seemed not a single flower bloomed for him.
Shu Ci was stunned.
That rainy night when he walked alone was filled with the same despair.
They were in different worlds, struggling to sustain every inch of breath, just to last until this day when they could meet each other.
He hugged Lu Wanqing tightly, his heart aching.
“Ah Ci, so fragrant,” Lu Wanqing murmured, hugging him back.
Shu Ci came back to his senses, sniffing, his eyelids trembling slightly.
A strand of mist-like, faint fragrance lingered around him.
The scent of osmanthus, laced with a tipsy hint of alcohol, surged forth vigorously, willfully and capriciously hooking onto the sharp point where the energy in the air had carefully gathered.
The usual colorlessness and odorlessness of the surroundings became intoxicated, tainted with the scent of wine.
In his light-headedness, Shu Ci realized with a start that his Disorder Syndrome had unconsciously flared up again.
Li Yi said he believed the Disorder Syndrome was a self-preservation mechanism born of resistance.
But in this very moment, was he really resisting?
No. Not only was he not resisting, but he was also more enthusiastic, more passionately longing to get close, longing to stay in this moment forever with the rich fragrance.
A thick and a light scent swept past the collar, brushed over the sleeves, and flowed across the cheeks, healing the unrest that the suppressants couldn’t quell.
The cabin of the boat moored at the shore rocked in the floating waves.
…
When General Lu woke up, it was already late at night.
From the closet to the window, there wasn’t a single spot that wasn’t messy and disordered, while Shu Ci was sound asleep lazily beside the pillow.
His gaze moved away from the room full of tenderness. Outside the window were the peaks of Dragon Spine Island, with the moon resting at the very top.
A single point of fragrance from the Moon Palace blows to make the whole mountain bloom.
Lu Wanqing raised a hand to his chest and suddenly noticed a small piece of paper on the bedside table with a sketch on it.
Memories from his delirium came flooding back, crashing into his mind.
Because he had once seen the storyboard sketches Shu Ci hand-drew while writing script proposals, a thought he shouldn’t have had was born during a meeting.
—If only these brushstrokes could leave his mark.
So, during the day, acting like a clingy pest, he had coaxed him, resulting in a scrawled depiction of himself on that paper.
His eyes shifted, and he remained silent for almost ten long minutes before putting down the paper and turning around.
Shu Ci’s osmanthus scent had not retracted; it lingered clingingly around Lu Wanqing.
Lu Wanqing was dazed for a moment. He curled his fingertips, bent down, and kissed the corner of Shu Ci’s mouth by the moonlight.
It seemed he could no longer deceive himself, nor could he endure it any longer.
The person before him seemed to have come to this world specifically to make all the flowers of the mortal realm bloom for him.
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