Chapter 12: Milk Tea Cup
The campus environment of A University was excellent. There was a large artificial lake in the center, surrounded by greenery and many benches. Students liked to sit by the lake after class to study or cool off.
After finishing their filler class, Duan Ke and Heracles ordered milk tea and sat by the lake to escape the heat.
Hearing soft, off-key humming constantly coming from beside him, Heracles rested his chin on his hand, turned his head, and asked boredly, “What did you do to be so happy? Found money?”
“No.”
Duan Ke held his full-sugar roasted milk tea with both hands, took a sip, and said seriously, “Brother He Le, you can’t have your brain full of making money. Are there no other beautiful things in life worth your attention?”
“Oh.” Heracles crossed his arms and legs, glancing sideways at Duan Ke. “Then in your eyes, is there anything more important than eating human vitality?”
“Well, no.”
“Then why lecture me?”
Sure enough, a cunning Western capitalist. Duan Ke felt he couldn’t win the argument.
Duan Ke’s temper was like a Daifuku full of filling: poke him, and he just dents; stop poking, and he slowly bounces back. Poke too hard, and he just flattens on the plate. So Duan Ke easily gave up retorting and answered the initial question.
“My keeper finally agreed to kiss me last night, so I’m very happy.”
Speaking of this, the scene from last night began to replay in Duan Ke’s mind.
After he proposed the new feeding method, Qin Huai first hugged him very suddenly, and very tightly, refusing to let go. He pressed the back of Duan Ke’s head—a bit forcefully, but not enough to hurt—until Duan Ke let out an uncomfortable whine in his arms before being slightly let off.
Duan Ke wasn’t pressed down anymore but was lifted by his bottom and sat on Qin Huai’s powerful legs. Qin Huai’s shoulders were broad, blocking Duan Ke’s view. He couldn’t see Qin Huai’s face clearly, but he could feel that the skin temperature of this usually calm person was a bit high, and his breathing seemed hoarse and heavy.
Duan Ke smiled as he recalled these scenes, his shallow dimples sinking in. But seeming to think of something else, his fine, light-colored eyebrows drooped. He sighed a small breath, took out his phone, and opened the clock.
Duan Ke muttered dejectedly in a low voice, “But he said only once a week; not even one extra kiss is allowed. This is a bit of a pity. It’s still 71 hours and 38 minutes until our first kiss. It’s really tormenting!”
“Hah?!?!”
It was so absurd that Heracles almost sprayed the black tea from his mouth. He was in disbelief.
“Kissing?? And once a week?? My God, are you and he playing house like children?”
Heracles held up four fingers, his jewel-like green eyes widening. “I thought you two had already shattered at least four beds! Duan Ke, did you find a high schooler? What adult man plays platonic with the Progenitor Succubus?”
“My keeper does,” Duan Ke stirred the milk tea in his hand to drink the pearls at the bottom, looking innocent.
“He seems to have no interest in me, and he really dislikes kissing.”
“Yesterday I asked him if we could have sex if we didn’t kiss, and he refused that too. Maybe he just dislikes physical contact?”
“No, he has erectile dysfunction. Guaranteed. Dump him!” Heracles clapped his hands and said decisively.
“I’ll find you one. Young, handsome, take your pick. Since we’re relatively close, I can give you a… twenty percent discount.” Heracles originally held up nine fingers but changed to eight midway.
Heracles’ last three words seemed squeezed out through his teeth. Duan Ke knew that for him, a twenty percent discount was already bone-breaking, bone-crushing level. Under normal circumstances, Heracles would probably offer a 0.01% discount.
Duan Ke was touched, but still refused.
“Thanks, but no need. I won’t dump him. I’ve already promised my keeper that we are one-on-one!”
“And I’ve already asked the Small Black Ball to find suitable humans for me. If the adjustment is really difficult later, I’ll switch keepers myself.”
Just as Duan Ke finished speaking, the Small Black Ball, unseen for a long time, suddenly spoke up as if receiving a summons.
Duan Ke held the milk tea straw in his mouth, looking pleasantly surprised in the direction of the voice.
“Lord Duan Ke! Lord Duan Ke!”
The round Small Black Ball cut a rift from the void by the lake. First, short forelimbs poked out, followed by the whole black, round body. It held a piece of paper larger than itself, with a few sparse lines written on it.
“Little Black!” Duan Ke happily extended both hands to hold it, his almond eyes bright.
“Thanks for the hard work. Any harvest these past two days?”
“Of course, Lord Duan Ke!”
The Small Black Ball proudly shook the paper. “I almost overturned the entire ground of City A, and finally found a few men who barely fit your appetite! Lord Duan Ke, please take a look!”
The succubi’s undisguised words made Heracles’ eyelid twitch.
The way they talk makes Duan Ke seem like a fatuous ruler flipping tiles to choose a concubine, and the Small Black Ball is the head eunuch presenting the tray.
This made him curious about what was written on the paper, even if it had no direct relation to making money. He asked reservedly, “Can I see?”
“Sure.” Duan Ke good-naturedly leaned over and placed the paper between the two of them.
Heracles looked closely. It read:
[Chen XX, 21 years old, height 188, eight-pack abs, 21cm, duration approx. 20 minutes. Little Black’s Critique: Plus is length, minus is looks! Looks average, not very tasty! If other keepers are drained to death by you, Lord Duan Ke can barely make do with this one.]
[Gu XX, 27 years old, height 183, six-pack abs, 18cm, duration estimated 26 minutes. Little Black’s Critique: This one is a bit short, but duration is okay, looks are decent too. I recommend this one! If Lord Duan Ke doesn’t mind age, you can choose this one!]
[Lu X, 22 years old, height 191, 24cm, male model under AA Company. Little Black’s Critique: Handsome and fierce in that, explode the lamp!! Explode the lamp!!]
…
There were only five or six people in total, all simple records like this.
Having read the full text, Heracles tsk-tsked a few times in immense shock. The sharp-tongued merchant was momentarily speechless. He choked for nearly half a minute, pointed at the line “Lu X,” and stared at Duan Ke with a difficult expression.
“Do you see this cup of black tea in my hand?”
Duan Ke turned his head and answered obediently, “I see it.”
Heracles gave a “Mn” and tapped that line again.
“24cm. Is there any difference between this and swallowing this milk tea cup raw?”
“…?”
Duan Ke tilted his head in confusion, a question mark slowly emerging from his forehead.
Although he didn’t know the connection to the milk tea cup, he was a good-tempered succubus who answered every question. Duan Ke touched his lower abdomen seriously and explained:
“24 is doable. I have a reproductive cavity, and combined with the front part, mmh… although I haven’t tried it, I should be able to swallow quite a bit.”
Heracles choked for another half minute before finally squeezing out: “Wow.”
He actively sat a bit further from Duan Ke to show he really, really had no improper thoughts. Heracles worried, “If your keeper knows you told me this… he won’t silence me, will he?”
Although he hadn’t met Duan Ke’s keeper himself, the instinct cultivated over a millennium told him that a man who could top ten regular men was probably some distance from a normal human, definitely a ruthless character not to be messed with. Heracles chose to keep a respectful distance.
“He won’t. He’s very nice, not violent at all, very gentle.”
Duan Ke seriously defended Qin Huai, folding the paper neatly and putting it in his pocket.
“And why would he silence you? This doesn’t seem like something that can’t be said.”
For succubi, discussing such things was indeed as simple as eating and drinking. So Heracles didn’t dwell on it, ignoring the two succubi to continue studying his stocks with his head down.
“Lord Duan Ke, is there any human you fancy?”
The Small Black Ball lay on the back of the bench, its short tail wagging. “If there’s one you like, I’ll go call him over now and negotiate conditions with him.”
Duan Ke was drinking milk tea while listening seriously to the Small Black Ball, but hearing the words “negotiate conditions,” his chewing of pearls suddenly stopped, and he abruptly realized something.
Right, when I first invited Qin Huai, I said “I’ll give you a reward,” but until now, I don’t seem to have given Qin Huai any benefits. And Qin Huai hasn’t actively mentioned wanting a reward, just good-naturedly feeding me blood and agreeing to kiss me.
Duan Ke tried to use human common sense to think of the reason. Is it because I pretended to be a kitten and triggered Qin Huai’s sympathy?
Maybe that’s part of the reason, but it seems to be more than just that.
Duan Ke inexplicably remembered the sunny-side-up egg Qin Huai pushed to him, and that embrace—domineering yet warm, making one want to melt into it—accompanied by the man’s somewhat heavy breathing.
…
Duan Ke was good at observing humans.
At school, he occasionally saw humans playing with cats. If the cat had a good temper, humans would indeed feed them and occasionally hug them, wanting to be close.
But it seemed no human would just bring a kitten home randomly. If one day, a human passed the layers of tests from an organization called the Cat Department and brought a kitten home in a box, it meant they were family from then on. The kitten would be loved unconditionally by the human and bring comfort to the human.
And last night, Qin Huai invited him home thinking he was a kitten.
Does this mean Qin Huai does these things because he willingly wants to be good to me?
Thinking about this, a sour and swelling feeling surged in Duan Ke’s heart, like soda fizzing after being shaken hard and opened. He didn’t know how to describe this feeling—different from happiness, different from sadness, but it didn’t seem bad.
“…Lord Duan Ke, what’s wrong?”
The Small Black Ball flew around Duan Ke in confusion, finding its King dazing with a straw in his mouth, his exquisite, full face red—not sure if from heat or what.
But isn’t the King drinking an iced beverage?
Flying and flying, a thought flashed in the Small Black Ball’s not-so-smart brain. It clutched its head and shrieked, “Lord Duan Ke, you don’t fancy any of them??”
“These are already the most capable ones in City A, absolutely true!! If you don’t like any of them, what to do? You can’t stay hungry forever!”
Just as the Small Black Ball was considering whether to act like a butler in a wealthy family manga and persuade its King “Young Master, just eat a bite,” Heracles, who had been silent beside them, spoke up.
“Haven’t you noticed your King’s mental state is quite good right now? What are you worrying blindly about?”
Reminded, the Small Black Ball reacted. It observed its liege up and down, only then realizing Duan Ke had completely lost the weakness of his previous hungry state, and his magic was fairly abundant.
Moreover, the quality of the vitality Duan Ke consumed seemed excellent. The corners of his eyes and brows flushed with a faint red from being nourished, and his skin was even more delicate and translucent. He looked like a ripe petal that would drip juice with a pinch.
The Small Black Ball was very surprised: “…Could it be, you’ve already found a suitable keeper, Lord Duan Ke?”
“Yes.” Duan Ke rose cheerfully from the bench, brushing off fallen leaves. “I’ll take you to see him, okay?”
Even among monsters of the same species, there were subtle differences in abilities between individuals, just like humans had different heights.
And the Small Black Ball’s unique ability was distinguishing the “quality” of reserve food humans. Just like written on that paper, as long as it used charm magic on a human, it could automatically see detailed data like the human’s height, duration, length, and girth, like a spherical scanner.
It was once very proud of its ability because this was an important weapon to assist Lord Duan Ke. From now on, the food reaching Lord Duan Ke’s mouth would pass through its layers of checks, ensuring quality compliance!
Not just any human could receive Lord Duan Ke’s favor!
So when Duan Ke told the Small Black Ball he and Qin Huai were in a one-on-one relationship, the Small Black Ball expressed intense protest to their King for the first time.
“Lord Duan Ke, how can this be!” The Small Black Ball shrank in Duan Ke’s front pocket, waving its small hands excitedly.
“You are the noble Progenitor Succubus! King of Succubi! All humans will bow beneath your skirt! How can you let a single human get such a bargain alone? This is too against the rules… Why does he get to eat so well…”
Duan Ke listened to the chatter in his pocket while taking out his access card, opening the complex gate, entering the elevator, and pressing the floor button.
While no one was watching, he took the Small Black Ball out of his pocket and defended seriously, “No, his sexual ability is very strong; I can feel it. You’ll know when you see him later.”
The Small Black Ball was heartbroken hearing this.
Bad news. Tried to persuade for half a day, but it backfired! Lord Duan Ke is even more certain about this damn human!
This human must have used some despicable means to bewitch Lord Duan Ke in his delusion to monopolize their beautiful King!
It felt like a loyal minister urgently needing to save a fatuous ruler, just like in TV dramas.
Wait until I see that hateful man later. I must loudly report his data to Lord Duan Ke and let Lord Duan Ke know his true colors!!
[Author’s Note] It’s a size that even Lord Duan Ke finds difficult to swallow (wiping tears). Even after many years together, he probably won’t fully adapt. Every time he’ll cry woo woo, and Qin Dog will only coax but not stop… Bad guy paired with obedient baby is truly delicious [Rainbow Fart]
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