Yan Ji’s “my hand slipped” was sent just a second ago.
Xin Hexue glanced at the communicator. The time in the upper right corner showed 22:02.
It was hard not to suspect that this redundant explanation wasn’t really about the “slip of the hand,” but rather because he had missed the time limit for message retraction set by the app.
Very much in line with that stupid dog’s style. Xin Hexue thought with a calm expression.
He lowered his head slightly and tapped a few times on the virtual keyboard.
[Xin Hexue: Let’s talk when I get back, okay?]
However, no reply came from Yan Ji.
There was neither a heartbreak value notification nor any “typing…” indicator.
Xin Hexue thought for a moment and decided to dial his number.
But all he got was a busy tone.
Xin Hexue frowned.
Yan Ji actually dared to act tough even after falling off the bed?
The night wind on the balcony was chilly. The air was mixed with the sharp, damp cold that mingled with the scent of cypress and pine drifting from the fog-shrouded mountains outside.
Unable to reach him, Xin Hexue fell silent.
The moon cast his slender shadow across the balcony and onto the hallway beyond, until another long shadow approached from outside the corridor and covered Xin Hexue’s shoulders.
There was the weight of a woolen coat on his shoulders, and a pair of large hands.
When Xin Hexue turned his head, Wei Zhuo withdrew his hand.
Whether it was because the balcony lighting was too dim or some other reason, Xin Hexue noticed that the tips of Wei Zhuo’s ears had a faint reddish color.
Xin Hexue said softly, “Thank you.”
Wei Zhuo retracted his gaze and looked down toward the still-frozen lake below the balcony. “Did something happen?”
Xin Hexue shook his head. “No, just… a small disagreement.”
Wei Zhuo: “A fight with that guy?”
Xin Hexue nodded silently.
Facing an old friend of many years, who was also the best friend of his deceased fiancé, the young guide seemed to shed some of the mask he wore in front of others. A trace of confusion flickered in his eyes.
“Sometimes I wonder… did I do something wrong?”
The image the young man usually projected was always gentle, resilient, and composed. Now, showing this rare vulnerability, he seemed all the more stirring.
Wei Zhuo felt as if a feather was gently brushing across his heart, pressing lightly against his throat. He asked, “Why do you think that?”
Xin Hexue lowered his eyes. “I shouldn’t have chosen to form an intimate bond with a new sentinel so quickly.”
Wei Zhuo frowned. “But your physical condition didn’t allow for delay.”
Just as Ji Yushan had said, forming a bond with a new sentinel as soon as possible was currently the most effective, harmless, and side-effect-free solution.
If there was a side effect, it would probably be running into a shameless, clingy sentinel.
A cold light flickered in Wei Zhuo’s eyes.
Suddenly, Xin Hexue spoke, his breath turning to white mist in the air. “I still can’t forget He Botian.”
At these words, the sentinel beside him turned to look at him.
Xin Hexue turned his head as well, his expression serious. “I saw him in the mental landscape of the Strangling Tree.”
Wei Zhuo knew exactly who he meant. He noticed the faint trace of hope in Xin Hexue’s eyes, as if wishing Wei Zhuo would affirm the guess he hadn’t dared speak aloud.
Wei Zhuo frowned sharply as he directly refuted him: “Impossible. He Botian is already dead.”
He Botian had died right in front of them. All the members of the Honeysuckle Squad had seen it.
The final bullet from Xin Hexue’s gun had pierced the sentinel’s chest. Because the two were so familiar with each other, the bullet had struck precisely at the heart, without deviation.
Crimson blood had gushed from the hole in the pitch-black combat uniform.
There was no chance He Botian had survived.
The young man, whose guess had been rejected, lowered his head slightly and said nothing.
Wei Zhuo realized his tone had been a bit harsh, so he softened it. “Some monsters are very good at creating hallucinations. Maybe because you entered the mental landscape of the Strangling Tree, it made you see He Botian.”
He denied Xin Hexue’s guess and offered a suggestion.
“You need an environment unrelated to him. If you keep thinking of him, it’ll put too much strain on your body and emotions.”
Xin Hexue listened quietly.
Until Wei Zhuo finally revealed the true intent behind his words.
“That sentinel…does he look too much like He Botian? Maybe…”
Maybe you need to leave him.
Find a sentinel completely different from He Botian.
Wei Zhuo never got the chance to finish his sentence.
Not far from the balcony, a scream rang out from the second-floor hallway.
Xin Hexue and Wei Zhuo’s expressions darkened instinctively, a sense of danger instantly putting them into a guarded combat state.
The two of them quickly moved toward the source of the sound.
………
The room was unlit, with only a few shafts of light filtering in through the floor-to-ceiling windows from the street lamps outside, casting a dim atmosphere.
Yan Ji couldn’t hold it in and cursed aloud.
He always paid extra attention to his image in front of Xin Hexue. Normally, he never even cursed. But now, he was so flustered that a string of winter-season bird chirps flew out of his mouth.
He knew very well that no matter how furious he was, it would be of no use.
The communicator that had hit the floor a few hours ago now had a web of cracks across the screen, and a dark blue-black liquid seemed to be seeping from the top right corner.
The touchscreen had stopped working. Yan Ji saw that Xin Hexue was calling, but he couldn’t answer.
He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, scratching his hair in frustration. Finally, he remembered that there was an old landline phone on the first floor of the villa.
He rushed down the stairs in a panic.
But after dialing, no one picked up.
Yan Ji clenched his molars tightly.
…………
This time, it wasn’t that Xin Hexue was deliberately trying to hook Yan Ji.
It was simply that he and Wei Zhuo were too busy to spare any time.
An attendant just happened to glance into the guest lounge while passing by, and immediately covered her mouth and screamed.
Wei Zhuo and Xin Hexue rushed over. “What happened?”
The attendant pointed fearfully at the gap in the open door. “Monster! A monster!”
Wei Zhuo kicked open the door to the lounge.
The scene inside was shocking…not because it was too horrifying, but because it was something that shouldn’t exist in a royal palace.
What had previously only appeared as vines as thick as a child’s arm had now grown into grotesque, thick, trunk-like limbs.
They were locked inside an iron cage.
But to Xin Hexue and Wei Zhuo, the iron cage looked like it would be torn apart easily if the vines simply flailed around. They had seen the power of these vines before in the Folded Zone at the amusement park.
Count Naiem seemed completely unaware of the commotion outside. The attendant’s sharp scream and Wei Zhuo’s loud kick should have been enough to get anyone’s attention.
He was completely absorbed in feeding raw meat through the iron bars of the cage to the vines.
The dark red meat left sticky blood trails from his withered palms, dripping onto the carpet with soft plops.
The tip of one of the vines had split open into a vague mouth-like organ. Its sharp teeth, stained deep red, clumsily mimicked the chewing motion of humans.
The dark red raw meat made sticky, squelching noises as it was chewed, and now and then the joints inside the meat emitted a sharp crackling sound like rubbing glass.
The piercing sound made Xin Hexue’s temples twitch.
The palace guards arrived soon after and gasped at the sight.
Wei Xian, the captain of the royal guard, was also among them as the king had also attended this significant event. He saw Xin Hexue and gave a brief nod of acknowledgement, then turned his attention to the person standing at the doorway.
His younger brother.
“Wei Zhuo.”
In response, he heard the sharp sound of a sword being drawn. Wei Zhuo unsheathed the sword at his(Wei Xian) waist, and the blade gleamed coldly as it pointed directly at the noble who had hidden the mutated creature.
Wei Zhuo’s face was cold. “Hand it over.”
…………
The sudden change happened in an instant.
Just as Wei Xian was about to snatch back his sword from his brother, intending to scold him for pointing a weapon at a harmless old nobleman as if dealing with a Folded Zone monster, the vine finished chewing the last piece of raw meat and suddenly went berserk.
Its deep red maw let out a sharp screech and turned toward the crowd at the door, as if locking onto a target.
The iron cage behind Count Naiem shook violently, metal clanging in chaotic rhythm.
Then the vine lunged forward and bit off Count Naiem’s right hand!
Blood splattered, and white joints were cruelly exposed to the air.
Count Naiem seemed to finally snap out of a trance. Clarity appeared briefly in his eyes, only to be consumed by overwhelming pain. “My hand! My hand…!”
His face turned green like seaweed, and the blood drained from his parched lips. He looked to the sentinels for help. “Save me, save me!”
…………
Fortunately, there was only one vine. Even though the royal guards stationed in the imperial capital city lacked experience dealing with mutated creatures, Wei Zhuo alone was more than enough to swiftly suppress the chaos before it could spiral out of control.
Count Naiem, who was undergoing emergency treatment by the palace doctors, looked ashen and haggard.
Wei Zhuo glanced at his mutilated right hand without changing expression. “Where did you get this mutated species?”
Count Naiem’s blonde hair had fallen down in a messy heap, completely stripped of any noble dignity. At this moment, he looked like nothing more than a homeless man. “I-I… that sentinel from the Eastern Frontier! He wanted to harm me!”
Wei Zhuo followed his pointing finger to look at the sentinel.
The A-rank sentinel couldn’t say a word under the oppressive pressure of a 3S-level sentinel, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down from his forehead.
Because the situation involved the secretive movement of the Strangling Tree, both Count Naiem and the sentinel were immediately isolated and interrogated.
By the time the questioning ended, the moon had already risen in the east.
The matter wasn’t complicated; Count Naiem had contacted the sentinel at the Eastern Frontier through connections and asked him to bring over a “collectible”.
Tempted by a large sum of money, the sentinel secretly delivered a bizarre vine species found in a coastal fishing village to the collector-enthusiast count.
But once Count Naiem received it, he seemed to fall under a trance and kept ordering servants to bring raw meat to feed it.
As a result, what had started as a thin, fragile vine quickly grew into a grotesquely thick tree trunk after just a few feedings.
Xin Hexue could roughly tell that the vine came from the main strangling tree and was not under He Botian’s control. The vine had a dark green, almost black color, whereas the vines he had previously seen under He Botian’s control were always a vibrant green full of life.
After the collapse of the amusement park Folded zone, they obtained a new clue.
A small fishing village on the eastern coast called Taobakou. The vine had originally been fished out of the sea by a local fisherman.
According to the map, not far off the coast of Taobakou was a volcanic island.
………
The remains of the vine were collected by the research institute for further study. As for what would happen next, whether to go to Taobakou immediately or wait and observe, was no longer a decision for Wei Zhuo or Xin Hexue to make.
Wei Zhuo continued to carry out assignments under the military control committee, while Xin Hexue had sentinels needing mental guidance waiting for him after the New Year holiday.
The banquet had ended and they were supposed to part ways.
Suddenly, the communicator rang.
The caller was Yan Ji.
Perhaps it was because Xin Hexue hadn’t returned at the agreed-upon time, the other party had grown anxious.
His fingertip slid across the screen to answer and held it to his ear. “Hello? Yan Ji?”
Suddenly, as he passed by the balcony where he had stepped out for air earlier, Xin Hexue felt a strong force pull his right hand and drag him in.
Curtain-like drapes fell, cutting off the balcony from the hallway. This was already a rarely visited spot, and after the banquet dispersed at night, it became even more silent and isolated.
The communicator fell to the ground.
“Wei Zhuo?”
Xin Hexue lifted his gaze and, using the moonlight, recognized the other party. There was a hint of surprise in his voice.
What responded to him was an almost reckless kiss.
Like a cloudy sky brewing with a long-awaited storm, there was a muffled thunderclap…and the kiss poured down like torrential rain.
The pressure and grinding of lips brought a flush of red to Xin Hexue’s mouth.
“W-wait…”
The panting breath that spilled from the young man’s lips seemed drenched with moisture.
His narrow, slender wrists trembled as they were pinned above his head by the sentinel and pressed against the cold wall. The stark contrast in temperature behind him was offset by the heat radiating from in front.
Compared to Xin Hexue, Wei Zhuo had a hotter body temperature. His broad shoulders and back cast the young man’s figure in shadow.
Xin Hexue tried to struggle, but his hands were restrained above his head, and Wei Zhuo’s knee had forcefully wedged between his legs.
He could smell the persistent scent of alcohol clinging to Wei Zhuo.
No wonder…
Xin Hexue lowered his eyes, remembering how the other party had abruptly taken the sword of the captain of the guards, how his ears had flushed unnaturally red, and how irrational his current behavior was.
So it was because he had helped block drinks earlier… and got drunk.
He remembered Wei Zhuo had a poor alcohol tolerance.
A faint metallic taste began to spread in the mouth that felt like it was about to melt from the kiss.
Xin Hexue finally turned his head away, breaking the kiss. His neck was fair and slender in its lines.
“Don’t do this… you’re drunk…”
Wei Zhuo didn’t show the usual symptoms of a drunkard. He replied stiffly, “I’m not. I’m not drunk.”
“Xin Hexue.” Wei Zhuo’s voice was calm and restrained.
Their eyes met. “Break up with him.”
Xin Hexue frowned and pretended not to understand. “You’re drunk. What nonsense are you saying?”
The sentinel lowered his head and tilted it slightly to kiss his jaw, an upward motion from below.
Xin Hexue had never heard Wei Zhuo speak like this, and his voice was hoarse and rough as he pleaded: “I can do everything he can do. So… break up with him.”
The smell of alcohol was blown away by the night breeze, but in its place, Xin Hexue caught whiffs of blood coming from Wei Zhuo.
A low murmur: “Like.”
“I like you.”
This time, it didn’t get drowned out like years ago by the honking of cars and deafening music from a tavern performance.
The tall sentinel leaned in close to the delicate pink earlobe, his thin lips moving slightly as he spoke. Xin Hexue was trapped in his arms, and upon hearing those words, his pupils dilated in shock.
Wei Zhuo drew back slightly. “Can I?”
He had been very quiet lately, but because it fit his usual personality, no one found it strange.
Now, he revealed the reason to Xin Hexue…
A cold tongue piercing lay hidden inside his mouth.
Even for a noble heir who had received the strictest of upbringings, Wei Zhuo had seen countless dark sides of the upper class and had heard a lot about what happened in bed.
At this moment, he was like a shameless dog, using those very tactics he once despised and avoided, casting aside his morals to seduce a guide, his good brother’s widow, and the friend he had secretly liked for many years.
“Can I? I’ll lick you…”
“…until it feels really good.”
As those words landed, it felt like some towering wall came crashing down.
Wei Zhuo felt the moonlight tonight was especially bright. A weight lifted from his shoulders, and he even experienced a lowly kind of pleasure from begging the young man.
He looked into Xin Hexue’s eyes. Traces of tears and a pink flush bloomed, and they looked stunningly beautiful.
Wei Zhuo moved to kiss him, and a soft “click” suddenly rang out.
Xin Hexue wasn’t sure if he had actually heard it, but the pin of the belt buckle at his waist was undone.
The communicator screen flickered with a dim green light from a dark corner of the floor.
