Lan Bo set down his lunchbox, raised a finger with the tip slightly parted, and the Dead Sea Heartstone, responding to the summons, melted from its sculpted form into a rope, binding Bai Chunian’s hands.
“You’re a quick learner. Try softening the form.”
“Got it. Watch this.” Bai Chunian snapped his fingers. The rope melted away from his wrists and flew toward La Bo, nimbly wrapping itself around the mermaid’s arms and waist before finally binding her body with a masterful knot.
The thin, semi-transparent black ropes cinched the mermaid’s toned muscles and snow-white skin; the flesh of her chest and arms bulged slightly in arcs through the mesh formed by the intertwined ropes.
Bai Chunian shook his ears smugly. “What do you think? Pretty impressive, huh?”
Lan Bo stared at him.
Bai Chunian: “……”
……
Bai Chunian knelt on the keyboard forged from Dead Sea Heartstone, while Lan Bo sat on the edge of the fish tank, eating shrimp and watching him.
Bai Chunian: “Wah, wah.”
—
“It seems you’ve got the hang of it, so no need to practice anymore today.” ”La Bo retrieved the Dead Sea Heartstone from beneath Bai Chunian’s knees. After the black crystal melted, it flew back toward Bai Chunian, fastening itself around the Alpha’s neck to form a collar. A chain extended from the back of the collar, wrapping around the wrought-iron railing at the head of the bed, trapping Bai Chunian face-up on the bed with his neck restrained.
A blue light flashed from Lan Bo’s fishtail, transforming into a streak of blue lightning that vanished in an instant. The next second, he reappeared on top of Bai Chunian, sitting between his thighs. His hands rested on the Alpha’s chest, and his hair brushed against Bai Chunian’s skin, causing a faint tickle.
“Let me take a look.” Lan Bo lowered her gaze to examine him, arching her back to get closer to his chest. Her fingertips lightly brushed against the scar on Bai Chunian’s chest. Back at the training base, Lan Bo had ripped open Bai Chunian’s chest and abdomen with a backhand strike to secure his own spot in the institute during a chaotic brawl. Bai Chunian, who had protected him all along, had been left with severe injuries and an infection, ultimately losing his eligibility to enter the institute. That scar had never fully faded; it had merely grown fainter with the passage of time.
Bai Chunian let out a low groan as his cold fingertips brushed against the scar.
“Does this still bother you?” Lan Bo asked. “It’s not hard to remove. It’ll hurt, but bear with it—I’ll do it.”
“No.” Bai Chunian’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as his hands clenched tightly around Lan Bo’s slender waist, his fingertips even leaving a few red marks on his skin.
“I’ll remember this. You’re saving me.”
Suddenly, the Alpha rolled over violently, like a young, impetuous male lion claiming its prey, pinning Lan Bo beneath him and breathing heavily against the nape of his neck.
His tongue was a hair’s breadth away from touching the merman’s cool skin when, suddenly, Bai Chunian felt a tightening around his neck—the collar had tightened, forcing him to stop.
It was Lan Bo who had reached around from behind to pull on the chain, forcing Bai Chunian to lift his head slightly.
Bai Chunian looked at Lan Bo with a gaze that was a mix of confusion and hurt.
“You’re not letting me kiss you again?”
Lan Bo raised the tip of his index finger slightly, making a feigned motion near Bai Chunian’s lips, leading Bai Chunian to think he was going to put his finger in his mouth. Bai Chunian stuck out the tip of his tongue slightly, but Lan Bo instead slipped his finger into the gap between the collar and Bai Chunian’s neck to test the tightness.
Lan Bo asked, “Is it tight? Tell me if it hurts.”
Bai Chunian froze for a moment, then lowered his head, burying his face in Lan Bo’s neck, and whispered hoarsely as if afraid to be overheard, “It’s a little suffocating, but it’s very exciting.”
“Hmm?” Lan Bo stroked his hair and pinched the fluffy ears hidden beneath it.
“Touch me more often,” the Alpha murmured. “I don’t want to always be the one seeking you out.”
“Then where do you like to be touched?” Though Lan Bo was in a submissive position, his demeanor remained composed. His fingertips lightly traced the Alpha’s abs. “Do cats like having their bellies rubbed?”
Bai Chunian didn’t answer, but his ears visibly flushed red.
Lan Bo smiled faintly.
“Why?” Bai Chunian asked, still sounding sullen. “I’m utterly obsessed with you, and it’s getting worse. A few months ago I could still keep my wits about me, but now I can’t control myself. I could do nothing at all, just stay with you like this, and my body and mind would gravitate toward you—longing to touch you, to kiss you, to let your scent cover every inch of me, to have you hold onto this chain at all times. I don’t want you to let go of the chain; it would feel as though the space beside me were suddenly empty.”
Lan Bo listened quietly, cupping his cheeks with both hands and gazing into his clear, hopeful eyes.
“Are you really a siren?” Bai Chunian asked. “Is it you who’s bewitching me?”
“I can do what a ‘demon’ cannot. If I were to use human terms, ‘god’ would be more fitting.” Lan Bo’s fishtail gently wrapped around Bai Chunian’s ankle and slender toes, sending a shiver down the Alpha’s spine that made the fine hairs on his back stand on end.
“Obe?” Lan Bo murmured softly in his ear.
Bai Chunian nearly lost himself in that seductive voice, but suddenly shook his head vigorously and sat up. “Wait, I came back to see you about something serious. It was too early when I left, so I didn’t wake you up. I went to the cafeteria to grab some food and brought you along.”
“Isn’t ‘obe’ a serious matter?”
“……There’s something slightly more serious.” Bai Chunian stepped away from Lan Bo, got off the bed, and fished the clean bandage out of the fish tank. He wrung it out, applied the damp bandage to Lan Bo’s body, and wrapped it tightly around him, layer by layer, until it lay flush against his skin. He tied a small knot at the waist and tucked it inside the bandage.
Alliance Police Headquarters.
Satan was escorted back to headquarters by Alliance police officers. After receiving medical treatment and having a suppressor implanted, he was returned to the police station for interrogation. He was currently held in the station’s detention center, displaying a defiant attitude toward the interrogation and remaining perpetually silent, refusing to answer.
Lan Bo saw Satan sitting inside the interrogation room through the glass of the detention center and turned his head away with some impatience: “ “Is this what you call business—visiting an omega who’s been sowing discord between us?”
“I need to talk to him,” Bai Chunian said, placing a hand on Lan Bo’s shoulder. “If you don’t want to go in, I’ll go. You wait for me outside.”
Lan Bo dug his fingertips into the adhesive beneath the glass and said indifferently, “Go ahead.”
Led by a guard, Bai Chunian pushed open the door and stepped inside. Satan sat in a chair right in the center of the room, his chin resting on his bent knees, one leg dangling down. His bare, pale foot hung close to the ground, half-hidden by the hem of his black robe; a red metal ring adorned his toe, and a pair of horns protruded from the hood of his black robe.
Smelling the scent of the Divine Messenger in the air, Satan slowly raised his eyes, his gaze indifferent and uninterested.
The interrogation room’s window was open to prevent Satan from using his ability to split into multiple forms within a confined space, though an electric fence and railings had been installed outside the window, making escape impossible.
“It’s still cool out, and the wind is too strong.” ” Bai Chunian walked to the bedside, rested his hands on the windowsill, glanced at the quiet white fir trees outside, and closed the window.
After the window was shut, a moment passed before Satan spoke slowly: “If you want to talk, come closer.”
Bai Chunian showed not the slightest sign of being intimidated; he sat down at the interrogation table in front of Satan.
Satan lifted his eyelids, showing a relaxed expression for the first time. “Has the Divine Messenger come to deliver me?”
“I wouldn’t dare.” Bai Chunian pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, put one in his mouth, lit it, and exhaled slowly. “You haven’t harmed any of our IOA personnel or civilians, so naturally we won’t execute you. What happens next is entirely up to you.”
Satan understood the implication: the IOA needed him to do certain things in exchange for his freedom, and they hoped he wouldn’t be ungrateful.
Satan stared at him meaningfully.
“What are you looking at?”
“I’ve seen the apocalyptic disaster.”
“Oh? What kind of disaster?”
“A drought.”
“We’ll find a way when the time comes. Disasters come and go, but people live on. Didn’t we have Noah’s Ark during the Great Flood?” Bai Chunian lowered his head. “Speaking of which, I have a favor to ask of you. You won’t refuse, will you?”
Satan gazed calmly at the ground: “I won’t. But you’ll have to grant me a request in return.”
Bai Chunian nodded.
“Come a little closer.” Satan sensed his aura, quietly feeling the powerful beat of his heart.
“After being in the dark for so long, I just want to get close to something sacred,” Satan said. “I’m not worthy of touching Rimbaud, but having you here is good enough.”
But from outside the interrogation room’s glass, the way the two figures inside looked to La Bo was rather suggestive. The two inside suddenly heard a loud crash behind them. They turned to see La Bo’s right hand shatter the bulletproof glass, knocking off several shards as he climbed in from the outside.
A powerful wave of dominant pheromones followed, and in an instant, Rimba appeared at Satan’s side. He grabbed the omega by the back of the neck, tilted his head slightly downward, and fixed his narrowed, vertical pupils on him: “Come here and get your fill of me.”
The sealed room had been breached, rendering Satan’s ability to project the future ineffective; he could no longer predict the course of events within this room.
Normally, La Bo was somewhat tolerant of other Omegas, but this time, Bai Chunian could understand where La Bo’s anger stemmed from. The submarine laboratory had been destroyed because Satan had failed to destroy it, and he couldn’t claim to be entirely innocent regarding the resulting leakage of the infection agent into the surrounding waters. Since they hadn’t yet captured the mastermind, Aileen, it was understandable that La Bo was taking his frustration out on him.
Satan didn’t flinch. Instead, he stared intently at La Bo, his arms crossed over his chest, facing him in a posture of devout prayer.
La Bo gradually loosened his grip, letting his hands fall to his sides as he clenched his fists—unable to do anything further to Satan.
“Stay away from him.” ” La Bo grabbed his jaw and warned him, enunciating each word clearly, then turned and walked away.
La Bo left in a huff, leaving Bai Chunian somewhat baffled.
Satan sensed his confusion and said expressionlessly, “God cannot harm a believer, or it will backfire on himself. I am willing to surrender and submit to your will—that is why he cannot kill me.”
When Bai Chunian arrived, he had closed the windows, turning the interrogation room into a sealed space. Satan had already understood that Bai Chunian was asking him to use his ability to foresee the future to prove he wouldn’t harm him.
“…What exactly counts as a believer?” Bai Chunian asked.
“Surrender, conversion, a sense of reverence, attachment, and fervent love.”
“Then… if I were to harm him, what would happen?” A bad feeling welled up in Bai Chunian’s heart, and he quickly added, “It wasn’t my intention to harm him; I was trying to save him.”
“He would endure ten times the pain until the day the believer recovers. It’s no big deal, after all—he is immortal.”
“I’ll contact you later.” Bai Chunian said hurriedly, gave a hand signal to the guarding officer, and then ran off in the direction Lan Bo had left.
Lan Bo was sitting by the edge of a flower bed as tall as a person outside the main entrance of the police station, waiting for him. With his back to the station’s main gate, the tip of his fishtail reached into the flower bed and plucked a True Universe rose. A sunshower was falling from the sky, with sunlight and rain both falling on Lan Bo.
The raindrops on his head were suddenly blocked. Lan Bo turned his head and lowered his gaze. Bai Chunian stood at the bottom of the steps, his right hand in his pocket, his left hand holding an umbrella held high, the edge of which barely covered Lan Bo’s hair.
Lan Bo raised the tip of his tail and handed the flower to him.