Chapter 45: The Archives
Qin Huai’s feeding session lasted for several more hours.
During this time, he acted with utter indulgence, calling Lin Jiangli to demand another half-day of leave.
Qin Huai’s tone during the conversation was flawless, calm, and natural to the extreme. He coolly instructed Lin Jiangli to organize his backlog of work, promising to clear it all tomorrow.
When assigning tasks to his subordinate, Qin Huai’s words were logical and clear, his voice sounding ascetic and detached—completely in work mode. No one could have guessed he was doing something extremely obscene at that very moment.
By then, Duan Ke was entirely unable to detect anything strange about the conversation, not daring to make even a sound. He covered his mouth tightly, looking as if he were broken, his eyes rolling back slightly.
The succubus tail wrapped around Qin Huai’s arm with near-collapsing strength, yet received not a shred of pity.
The heart-shaped tip of his tail was being toyed with in Qin Huai’s hand, tormenting Duan Ke beyond endurance. His consciousness was scattering; he wanted to retract his tail, but Qin Huai cruelly refused. Both his succubus horns and tail had become the man’s toys.
…
It was only after a full round of feeding that Duan Ke managed to recover slightly. Dragged back from the brink of death, he coughed softly as if collapsing, his eyes struggling to focus.
After a long while, the poor little thing asked weakly in a hoarse voice, “Isn’t Brother a public servant… taking leave so casually… ngh… won’t they, won’t they deduct your wages…”
His sentence was fragmented by Qin Huai’s actions, pitiful to behold.
Qin Huai laughed low, lightly biting Duan Ke’s lip while playing with the damp tip of his tail. He said casually, “Your boyfriend is very rich. A little deduction doesn’t matter, don’t worry.”
Besides, no one dared to deduct the Inquisitor’s pay.
Duan Ke’s concept of “rich” was very vague. The wealthiest person he knew was Heracles, but that guy was stingy to the bone, looking like a college student with a 1,000-yuan monthly allowance who went broke by the end of the month.
Duan Ke’s entire face was pink. His calves hooked around Qin Huai’s legs, his hands resting weakly on Qin Huai’s shoulders as he asked in a daze, “Mmh… just how rich is Brother?”
Qin Huai slowed his movements, quickly reviewing his assets in his mind.
Unable to find a summarizing word, he casually pinched Duan Ke’s cheek and said indifferently, “Hard to describe. Next time I give you the password, I’ll let you take a look.”
In short, enough to keep a delicate little clingy thing very well provided for.
…
The minute hand completed another circle. During the intermission, the two of them, drenched in sweat, held each other and kissed ceaselessly.
The kiss wasn’t intense; it was a rare gentle style between them. Qin Huai licked and kissed the seam of Duan Ke’s lips with lazy, sporadic movements, as if soothing the overstimulated little guy.
His large hand gently patted Duan Ke’s lower abdomen, which still twitched occasionally. A light press was enough to make the boy want to cry again.
“Be good, relax.”
Qin Huai lowered his head to nuzzle close, letting Duan Ke’s forehead rest against his shoulder. “If you stay tense, your back will hurt tomorrow.”
Duan Ke was puzzled; his boyfriend seemed to lack physiological common sense. If he didn’t take the thing out, how could he relax? Of course he would be tense! It wasn’t something he could control.
But Qin Huai’s gaze was too open. His eyes, dark as ink, seemed to look straight into Duan Ke’s heart, certain that his guidance was correct.
Holding Duan Ke’s waist with one hand, Qin Huai gently taught him how to relax his body in this situation.
He had Duan Ke maintain a posture that allowed for easy movement. Whenever Duan Ke did something right, he would reward him with a kiss.
Qin Huai’s kisses were too comfortable, and Duan Ke easily began to doubt himself. After all, he lacked so much common sense, whereas his brother seemed to know everything.
In the latter half, Duan Ke followed Qin Huai’s instructions completely, posing his body as directed, sometimes sitting, sometimes kneeling. When he did well, Qin Huai would pat his head and praise him for being a good boy.
Duan Ke ate this up; he loved it too much. Even if he couldn’t handle it, he wanted to be good.
…The result of such indulgence was predictable.
The posture was simply too convenient, too scientific; inevitably, some unexpected events occurred.
Duan Ke’s incredibly flexible body was touched in a place that was almost impossible to reach. He lost control completely, unable to hear anything anymore.
…
His consciousness scattered amidst the sound of rushing water that drove him to collapse.
The two were so compatible that Duan Ke became as indulgent as Qin Huai, taking nearly a week off in a row.
The amount of piled-up homework was imaginable. When Heracles sent over the summary, Duan Ke nearly fainted from fright.
[Brother, we really can’t do this anymore. We need restraint.]
Duan Ke sent the homework file to Qin Huai, accompanied by a crying kitten sticker. [Look, I have so much debt to pay off now, my head is huge!]
Qin Huai didn’t reply instantly, which meant he was at work.
With a bitter face, Duan Ke turned his attention from his phone back to the computer and started grinding away at his paper.
The more tasks there were, the less he wanted to do them. He had already spent the whole morning playing on his phone. Duan Ke considered himself a succubus of firm will; this time, he would definitely overcome the hurdle of phone addiction and successfully finish the first assignment.
This was a very secluded study room at A University. Because the location was hard to find and far from the dorms, hardly anyone came here at noon.
Duan Ke liked places that were empty, quiet, and bright. He often chose this time to come here alone to daydream or read.
He had specially picked a good environment for homework, yet he hadn’t written two words before becoming drowsy. He yawned after every paragraph, his forehead nearly smashing into the laptop keyboard.
Suddenly, an icy drink was pressed against Duan Ke’s cheek, startling him into a yelp. He covered his numbed face and looked up quickly.
“Brother He Le… cough, Heracles?”
Seeing the person above him clearly, Duan Ke exclaimed, “What happened to your eye? Are you okay?”
Heracles’ expression turned a bit odd at Duan Ke’s strange address, but he didn’t say anything. He handed the peach soda to Duan Ke and sat in the adjacent seat.
Heracles was wearing a white eyepatch over half his face, revealing only his emerald green right eye. He was also wearing an exceptionally loose black coat.
Duan Ke knew he was very proud of his jewel-like eyes; in Heracles’ words, they “looked expensive even when glaring at people.”
Duan Ke couldn’t think of a reason why he would deliberately cover one eye unless he was heavily injured.
But who could inflict such heavy injuries on a Western evil dragon, causing him to lose one of his most important eyes?
Perhaps the worry in Duan Ke’s eyes was too exaggerated, for Heracles sighed and said faintly, “Not blind… no need for such a dramatic reaction. My body is just a bit out of control.”
Duan Ke didn’t understand what Heracles meant by “out of control” and continued to stare at him with concern.
Seeing Duan Ke’s confusion, Heracles sighed and lifted the eyepatch with one hand.
The exposed vertical pupil was no longer green but entirely gold, shining extremely brightly even in daylight.
Heracles then lifted a corner of his coat. Duan Ke looked down and saw, for the first time, the dragon’s priceless emerald scales.
Heracles’ eye looked extremely ferocious—a pupil that only a beast would possess. He seemed unwilling to let anyone see it, dropping the eyepatch after a few seconds and frowning in displeasure.
“I can’t maintain my human form.”
Heracles’ voice sounded tight. “I’ve lived for thousands of years… this is the first time I’ve encountered this. Part of my magic was sucked away. I’ve been recovering for days, but it hasn’t fully returned.”
“How could that be?” Duan Ke took a sip of the peach soda, muttering, “Were you attacked by some monster? But who could attack you… oh.”
A white light suddenly struck Duan Ke’s brain. He remembered. Previously, when Heracles was chatting with him at the Security Bureau, he had mentioned this.
He had been bitten by a monster, so he burned down the entire haunted house in a fit of rage, which got him caught by Ji Qing.
…Duan Ke had met that Mirror Demon in the haunted house too. When it attacked him, it had also tried to gain magic by biting his shoulder and sucking his blood.
So, Heracles had also had his magic drained by that monster, causing him to lose control of his true form?
Just how much did that monster suck to make an S-rank, arrogant monster lose his composure like this?
And what does he plan to do next?
If one of his targets is me… will he follow me and find Qin Huai?
The more Duan Ke thought, the more alarmed he became. His worry was written all over his face; this Progenitor Succubus couldn’t hide anything.
Normally, Heracles would have awkwardly comforted Duan Ke. But right now, the dragon couldn’t deny that the situation was indeed tricky.
Heracles recalled silently.
When the haunted house suddenly started evacuating the crowd, he had guessed a monster attack was underway. He never took any monster seriously, so he let the crowd run wild while he leisurely went to change out of his work clothes.
There was clearly no monster aura in the changing room, yet his shoulder suddenly hurt, and a monster clone began rapidly devouring his magic.
In less than half a second, Heracles reacted and burned it to a crisp. But before the clone dissipated, it said a few words that left a deep impression on him.
[Time regression and spatial tearing… as expected of the incarnation of Greed, you have so many good things on you.]
[Someday, I’ll swallow you too.]
Heracles wasn’t scared—too many people and monsters had talked big to him. He just found it troublesome.
The bad news was that Duan Ke seemed to be targeted by that thing too. Heracles thought, The succubus’s combat power is definitely lower than mine; Duan Ke is very likely to be ambushed.
“By the way, have you ever seen a similar guy among your own kind?”
Heracles asked, chin in hand. “I suspect he’s also a succubus… or something similar. His rank might be close to yours.”
Duan Ke was stunned. “Why do you think that? I’m nothing like him.”
“Able to bewitch human minds, absorb the power of humans and monsters, and feed through blood… not similar?”
Heracles replied lazily, “I actually think you two are exactly the same.”
“…”
This conjecture, which had never occurred to him, made Duan Ke feel as if his blood was flowing backward.
Duan Ke had never tried directly absorbing a monster’s power; he had no interest in taking other people’s things.
But he knew his charm magic could indeed work directly on monsters. Heracles’ words were very likely correct.
Duan Ke finally realized that there was something in the world far too similar to him, and it was trying to kill him.
He recalled what the Mirror Demon had said to him in the academic building and the haunted house. He said he wanted Duan Ke to become him.
That sentence was obviously wrong. It should be that he wanted to become Duan Ke, right?
So that thing wants to completely replace me? Wants to snatch everything of mine?
That was too disgusting. Just thinking about it made Duan Ke’s hair stand on end, his expression turning extremely ugly.
Perhaps Duan Ke’s unhappiness was too obvious, for Heracles couldn’t help but comfort him, “You might not necessarily lose to him. That thing’s combat power isn’t high…”
“When I was in the haunted house, I saw someone from the Bureau killing his clones. One slash per clone; they died before they could even scream… Such a weak thing, couldn’t even beat a human from the Bureau, so he probably can’t do much to you.”
Duan Ke thought about who could be in the haunted house and asked tentatively, “Was it a man? Quite tall?”
He gestured Ji Qing’s approximate height.
Heracles: “…About that? I didn’t pay attention. Anyway, probably from their Action Team. Usually, the Action Team leads people to handle such emergencies; there’s no one else.”
That must be Ji Qing then.
Although a policeman who kills bad monsters is good… Duan Ke had thought Ji Qing was a kind person. He didn’t expect him to be so ruthless and decisive when killing monsters!
Are everyone in the Bureau killing monsters without blinking an eye? Truly the minions of that bad Inquisitor!
Duan Ke shuddered. Humans were indeed hard to fathom. He really needed to carefully screen his surroundings for anyone planted by the Bureau.
After chatting for a while, Duan Ke checked the time and was scared out of his wits—only a few hours left until the deadline, and his progress was less than ten percent.
Duan Ke settled down and started rushing his homework with a frown. Heracles sat idly beside him.
The dragon lazily propped up his chin, quietly scrutinizing Duan Ke, then abruptly dropped a sentence: “Are you really dating?”
“Looking like this, and calling me that just now…” Heracles looked suspicious. “You didn’t really let your new keeper mark you, did you?”
“Cough cough…”
Duan Ke nearly choked to death on the peach soda, his entire face turning red.
He turned his head to look at his friend, unable to squeeze out a word for a long time, staring wide-eyed at Heracles.
“H-How did you know…” Duan Ke stammered. “I didn’t even say…”
“…”
Do you need to say it?
Heracles was speechless. He stared blankly at Duan Ke, scanning him from the red marks on his neck to his broken-skin lips.
This way of leaving marks—Duan Ke couldn’t cover them no matter what he wore. It was clearly meant for anyone with eyes to see.
And forbidding Duan Ke from using intimate addresses, correcting him deliberately so others couldn’t take advantage of Duan Ke even a little bit.
As the incarnation of Greed, how could Heracles not understand?
Just as Duan Ke could judge a human’s sexual ability, Heracles could see through a human’s greed and jealousy by their scent.
Although he hadn’t met Duan Ke’s keeper, the thick scent left on Duan Ke was enough for Heracles to see clearly the man’s twisted-to-the-extreme possessiveness.
It was as if he wanted to swallow Duan Ke alive, allowing no one to intervene.
That man treated Duan Ke just like Heracles treated money. Even after obtaining it, he was insatiable, never stopping his pursuit and control. Anyone who dared to covet it would surely be put to death.
Actually, it’s quite dangerous… Heracles thought.
But seeing Duan Ke blushing at a mere mention, eyes darting around, he was clearly completely smitten—the kind ten dragons couldn’t pull back.
Heracles sighed. He couldn’t break this move, so he simply skipped the topic.
He said, “If you want to understand that monster, you can find a chance to check the Reference Room at the Bureau. They collect data on all monsters there; it should include the one that attacked us. Even if the data isn’t complete, there will be at least a part of it.”
“I can’t move in my current state… I can’t even retract my demonic aura; the alarms would blare the moment I stepped into the Bureau. But you should be able to.”
Seeing Duan Ke looking wavering, Heracles continued.
“You don’t need to fear the Inquisitor discovering you. The spy I sent out recently reported that the Inquisitor is on a long leave and hasn’t appeared lately.”
“A rare opportunity,” Heracles whispered. “Ensuring safety… you can try.”
〓 Author’s Note 〓 Little Ke braves the bad husband’s base camp [Lop-eared Rabbit Head] Qin Huai saving up so many years of vacation was useful after all; the honeymoon with the wife can last over half a year, taking him to all the places he wants to visit [Pity]
Translator’s Note:
- The term “Shou” (Receiver/Bottom) and “Gong” (Attacker/Top) in the raw snippet refers to the BL (Boys’ Love) dynamic.
- “Reference Room” can also be translated as “Archives” or “Data Room”.
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