“Too noisy.”
Gu Chen frowned and shot a disgusted glance at the door blocked by tables and chairs.
“Move that trash out of the way. It’s an eyesore.”
“But… the evil woman is outside.” Su Rou said softly, referring to Qin Hongyi.
“I told you to move it,” Gu Chen said emotionlessly. “Or do you want me to do it myself?”
Su Rou shuddered. She scrambled off the bed on all fours and quickly cleared away all the obstacles blocking the door.
Once done, she looked up at Gu Chen like a dog waiting for a reward, eyes full of anticipation.
Gu Chen sat up. His purple dress was already in tatters, revealing large patches of fair skin marked with red scratches from Su Rou’s claws earlier.
He ignored Su Rou’s expectant gaze and walked straight to the window, looking out at the pitch-black rainy night.
The sanatorium was in a remote location, but with Qin Hongyi’s resources, it was only a matter of time before she found it.
What he needed to do now was tame this out-of-control monster Su Rou before Qin Hongyi broke in.
Rustling sounds came from behind.
Su Rou crawled over again and carefully tugged at the hem of his skirt.
“Brother Gu Chen, I’m still hungry.” Her voice carried a sob.
“Something’s banging around in my head. It hurts so much.”
It was the withdrawal reaction from genetic rejection.
Gu Chen turned around and looked at her.
“You want some?”
Su Rou nodded desperately.
“Beg me.”
Su Rou froze. Her pupils filled with struggle.
But the intense pain in her body quickly overpowered what little pride she had left.
She dropped to her knees, hugged Gu Chen’s leg, and whimpered.
“Please… give me… just a little…”
“Where are your manners?” Gu Chen’s voice remained cold and ruthless.
Su Rou’s body stiffened.
Then, as if remembering something, she lowered her head and gently pressed her forehead against the back of Gu Chen’s foot, uttering two words in complete submission.
“Master.”
***
Outside the sanatorium, more than a dozen black SUVs surrounded the building.
Qin Hongyi kicked open the car door. She had changed into a clean black tactical outfit.
The blood on her face had been wiped away, but her red eyes looked even more terrifying than demons from hell.
“Boss, thermal imaging shows only one life signature on the top floor,” Buddha reported, holding a tactical tablet with a grave expression. “The energy fluctuations are extremely high—not something a human should have.”
“Young Master Gu, he…”
“Shut up.” Qin Hongyi cut him off and drew a modified Desert Eagle from her waist.
She walked toward the sanatorium’s main entrance. Her bodyguards immediately followed, preparing to breach the door.
“Wait.” Qin Hongyi suddenly raised her hand, signaling everyone to stop.
She tilted her head, ears twitching slightly.
It was too quiet.
No sounds of fighting. No screams. Not even any roars.
Buddha handed her a high-sensitivity listening device.
Qin Hongyi put on the earphones and cranked the gain to maximum.
After the static of electrical noise, a suppressed sound came through.
It was Su Rou.
It seemed the fight inside hadn’t ended yet.
But the next second, what came through the earphones was another voice that made Qin Hongyi’s blood boil.
It was Gu Chen’s voice.
He spoke in an extremely flat, slightly lazy tone, saying words that would make anyone’s scalp tingle.
“Remember this taste.”
“This is both a reward and a rule.”
“Next time you dare act on your own, I’ll pull out every single one of your teeth.”
“Understand?”
The response was Su Rou’s soft, nasal, kitten-like sound.
“Mmm…”
Qin Hongyi’s expression froze.
She removed the earphones. Buddha immediately leaned in. “What’s the situation? Should we force entry?”
Qin Hongyi didn’t answer.
She simply stood quietly in the rain, her chest rising and falling heavily.
There were no screams or cries for help in the earphones.
Only submission.
Even trapped, that man was still the high and mighty king who played everyone in the palm of his hand.
A mix of scorching heat, intense jealousy, and sick admiration rose from the depths of Qin Hongyi’s heart.
Suddenly, she no longer wanted to go in.
She wanted to keep listening.
The rain outside grew heavier, pounding against the windows.
The room fell silent for half a minute.
Su Rou lay on the floor convulsing. Her spine cracked loudly as her back arched high.
“It hurts…”
Su Rou rolled on the floor clutching her head, her nails gouging deep grooves into the wooden floorboards.
The genetic rejection reaction surged. The clarity in Su Rou’s eyes completely vanished.
Gu Chen’s face darkened.
It had failed.
Su Rou had swallowed 002 and drunk his blood. The two domineering energies were fighting inside her body.
“Roar!”
A savage howl exploded from Su Rou’s throat.
She jerked her head up. Her brown eyes turned into a murky, deathly gray.
The skin on her back split open. Six bloody bone spikes fanned out dramatically, piercing through the pink bedsheets.
“Hungry! Eat! I’ll eat you!!”
Su Rou had completely lost it.
Brother Gu Chen, Master—none of it mattered anymore in the face of extreme hunger and pain.
In her eyes now, Gu Chen was nothing but a walking ginseng fruit.
“Su Rou!” Gu Chen shouted sharply.
It was useless.
Su Rou charged at him on all fours, bringing with her a gust of foul wind.
She was too fast.
Gu Chen’s body was still in a weakened state and he couldn’t dodge.
He only managed to raise his arms to protect his throat.
Squelch.
The claws pierced straight through his shoulder.
Gu Chen let out a muffled groan. The immense impact sent him flying. He slammed hard into the wall.
Before he could slide down, Su Rou was already on him. Her bone spikes pinned his limbs, nailing him to the wall like a specimen.
“So fragrant… so fragrant!”
Su Rou opened her massive mouth. Saliva mixed with blood dripped onto Gu Chen’s face.
Her sharp teeth were less than an inch from his carotid artery.
Outside the door.
Qin Hongyi removed the earphones.
Su Rou’s roar could be heard even through the door.
Then came the sound of a heavy object hitting the wall, followed by Gu Chen’s suppressed groan.
“Boss?” On Buddha’s tablet, the thermal signature representing Su Rou was expanding wildly, glowing a deep purple-red.
“She’s lost control. Young Master Gu is in danger.”
The playful look in Qin Hongyi’s eyes disappeared.
“Blow it.”
She took a step back, her voice ice-cold.
“But Young Master Gu is still inside. The explosion might…”
“I said blow the door open!”
Qin Hongyi smashed the butt of her gun into Buddha’s forehead and pressed the muzzle against the lock. “If the door isn’t open in ten seconds, I’ll stuff you in there instead.”
***
Inside the room.
Gu Chen stared at the twisted face in front of him.
His shoulder throbbed with pain, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
This damn girl had no sense of restraint.
Gu Chen had no strength left now, and he couldn’t kill her.
He… didn’t want to kill her either.
Looking into those deathly gray eyes, Gu Chen remembered the timid girl from five years ago who shivered in the rain and didn’t even dare touch a stray cat.
All for him, she had turned herself into this monstrous state.
“So ugly.” Gu Chen suddenly smiled. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Su Rou’s movements paused.
The monster’s instinct made her confused by her prey’s reaction.
No screaming? No begging?
“Su Rou.”
Gu Chen ignored the claws in his shoulder and the bone spikes tearing at his skin.
He raised his uninjured right hand and threaded it through Su Rou’s mucus-covered long hair.
His movements were slow.
His palm cupped the back of her head and gently pressed her face into the crook of his neck.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Gu Chen’s voice was soft, cutting through the sound of the thunderstorm.
“I’m here.”
These four words carried a magical power.
Su Rou, who had been about to sink her teeth into Gu Chen’s neck, froze completely.
Several years ago.
On the night the Gu family went bankrupt and was liquidated.
Everyone avoided them like the plague.
Only this silly Su Rou had used all the pocket money she had saved for over ten years to block the creditors’ convoy in the pouring rain.
She was shoved into the mud, crying like a child who couldn’t find her way home.
At that time, Gu Chen had done exactly this.
Despite his own disheveled state, he walked over with his usual arrogance, took off his suit jacket to cover her head, pulled her up from the mud, and said those four words.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
Memory and reality overlapped.
The roar in Su Rou’s throat turned into a whimper.
“Wuu…”
She trembled as she tried to pull back and withdraw her claws.
But the bone spikes had barbs. Even the slightest movement tore away chunks of flesh and blood.
“Don’t move.”
Gu Chen sucked in a sharp breath and tightened his arm around her.
He pressed his face against Su Rou’s ice-cold forehead, unconcerned by the corrosive slime.
“If it hurts, just cry it out. Don’t hold it in.”
“I’m not dead yet. If the sky falls, the tallest one will hold it up.”
“Look, I’m taller than you.”
Even though Gu Chen’s current body was that of a woman, he was still holding up the sky for Su Rou.
A single tear.
Murky and streaked with blood, rolled from Su Rou’s dead-gray eye socket.
Then came the second, and the third.
“Waaah!”
Su Rou buried herself in Gu Chen’s arms like a child who had suffered the greatest injustice in the world and burst into loud sobs.