The Price of Obsession

A ragged breath escaped her lips. Luo Yao’s reflection shimmered in Mu Yaochen’s vacant eyes, her mind a tempest of conflicting emotions.

She could, at this very moment, whisk Luo Yao away from Pingzhou City, back to Fanhai, and subject him to an endless cycle of captivity. Beatings, verbal abuse, imprisonment—a rigorous ‘re-education’ until he finally fell in love with her.

Her eyes, usually so vacant, now seemed to shimmer with the light of a thousand stars as she considered him. She liked Luo Yao; it was the first time Mu Yaochen had ever truly understood the sensation of ‘liking.’ It felt akin to the fleeting crushes of adolescence, an attraction to the opposite s*x, perhaps drawn by some admirable quality he possessed. Yet, this superficial emotion, she knew, had perhaps arrived too late for her.

Beyond such youthful stirrings, Mu Yaochen’s feelings for Luo Yao ran deeper; they were undeniably love.

Yet, love, in its profound complexity, defied all explanation.

Mu Yaochen yearned to imprison Luo Yao, yet simultaneously longed to atone for her past actions.

From the very beginning, Mu Yaochen had been a creature of stark contradictions.

“Let go of me,” Luo Yao demanded, his voice laced with frigid contempt. “I don’t want to see you.” His body trembled, yet his spirit remained unyielding, locked in a fierce confrontation with Mu Yaochen.

He harbored no fear of Mu Yaochen. In fact, when it came to her, Luo Yao had already resolved himself to death. To be imprisoned by her again would mean a life far worse than death, stripping him of any semblance of humanity.

“Luo Yao, I truly can’t live without you,” Mu Yaochen pleaded, her eyes wide with terror as she gazed at him. “Please, forgive me, won’t you? I swear I’ll never treat you that way again.”

She looked like a lost, pathetic little girl.

‘Devil… why now, of all times?’

As he stared at Mu Yaochen, a network of crimson veins began to spiderweb across Luo Yao’s eyes.

“Luo Yao, if you’re still angry,” Mu Yaochen implored, her eyes brimming with desperate apologies, “hit me, won’t you?” She seemed to have utterly burned her bridges, her desperation palpable.

Though she feigned composure, feigned indifference, the truth was she had been a mere shell of herself, a walking corpse, since the day she lost Luo Yao. Beyond channeling that vast emptiness into her work, Mu Yaochen’s body had long since ceased to belong to its original spirit.

“Mu Yaochen, there is nothing left between us,” Luo Yao stated, his voice flat. “I beg you, just let me go, alright?” His eyes held an expression that transcended words.

Vacant, and utterly disgusted.

“No, I… I can’t be without you anymore, Luo Yao,” Mu Yaochen pleaded, her voice attempting a forced tenderness, as if trying to coax him. “Please, just look at me.”

She had no idea how she could possibly earn Luo Yao’s forgiveness. She hadn’t even formulated a plan before arriving; she had simply, inexplicably, bought a ticket to Pingzhou City.

“No, Mu Yaochen,” Luo Yao countered firmly. “I have my own life, and you have your career. If you refuse to give up, I will repay everything I owe you. I understand that my running away alone was my mistake, but please, stop clinging to me.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, then pushed forcefully, sending Mu Yaochen sprawling to the floor. His gaze remained utterly indifferent as he watched her.

By now, Luo Yao was seething with anger.

He no longer cared what Mu Yaochen might do to him, for some matters needed to be laid bare, spoken plainly, to achieve their desired end.

Mu Yaochen had already inflicted enough sorrow upon him.

“No, Luo Yao, I beg you!” Mu Yaochen cried, scrambling up from where she’d fallen, then dropping to her knees before him, her pleas desperate.

“Remember how you treated me before?” Luo Yao retorted, his arms crossed over his chest. “There was never any hope for us. Even without *that* incident, I could never have liked you. Now, leave. Su Mengqi’s people are nearby, and I don’t want to see you again.” He gazed at the somewhat defeated Mu Yaochen before him. Though he had no idea what had transpired with her over the past few months, he was utterly resolved against any further entanglement.

Even if he provoked her fury, Luo Yao no longer cared.

Even if it meant total destruction for them both, he was indifferent.

“Luo Yao, no… please,” Mu Yaochen pleaded, her head shaking uncontrollably as if to deny his words. “I beg you, I’ll do anything. I… I can compensate you.”

“I won’t say it again. Leave.” Luo Yao remained unmoved by Mu Yaochen’s kneeling pleas. He had once envisioned such a scene, even wondering what emotions it would stir within him.

Yet, he never could have predicted the profound calm that now settled over him.

Instead, Luo Yao simply wished for Mu Yaochen to depart swiftly. His adversary knelt before him, yet he found not a shred of satisfaction within himself.

“Woof, woof, woof… Luo Yao, I beg you, forgive me!” Staring into Luo Yao’s frigid eyes, Mu Yaochen seemed to lose her mind in that instant. She lunged at him, whimpering like a desperate puppy.

“Let go of me! What are you doing?!” Luo Yao roared, startled by Mu Yaochen’s sudden lunge. He strained with all his might to break free, but her body coiled around him like a cunning python, holding him in an unbreakable grip.

“Luo Yao, please forgive me, won’t you?” Mu Yaochen whimpered, her words a raw, unvarnished outpouring of her deepest desires. “If only I could… I could be your dog.”

Before Luo Yao could even react, Mu Yaochen’s slightly wet tongue darted out, licking across his face.

‘If Luo Yao couldn’t be her dog, then she would simply become his. That way, she could remain by his side forever, couldn’t she?’

“You… what do you mean by this?” Luo Yao stammered, his voice laced with confusion and alarm. “Let go of me first, do you hear me?!” Luo Yao’s skin was incredibly sensitive; even Mu Yaochen’s light, tentative licks were enough to bring a flush to his cheeks.

Meanwhile, Luo Yao paid no heed to anything Su Mengqi might have said to him.

‘What in the world did this mean?’

He felt no concern whatsoever for her drastic change in demeanor.

To Luo Yao’s utter surprise, Mu Yaochen obediently released her grip, her arms falling away from his body. Luo Yao scrambled to his feet, only to be confronted by a sight he could never have conceived.

There, before him, Mu Yaochen knelt, utterly docile. Before he’d even processed it, she had, with unsettling obedience, fastened a collar—one originally engraved with Luo Yao’s name—around her own neck. In her mouth, she now held something resembling a remote control.

Her eyes, filled with a desperate longing and a fawning eagerness, seemed to plead for Luo Yao to press the button on the remote control.

‘Mu Yaochen, what in God’s name has happened to you?’

Witnessing Mu Yaochen’s transformation, Luo Yao was genuinely terrified.

He found himself involuntarily recoiling, his mind reeling; Luo Yao had never, in his wildest dreams, imagined Mu Yaochen capable of such an act.

Yet, Mu Yaochen, too, was caught in a torment of indecision and hesitation.

She longed to forcibly take Luo Yao away, yet… yet she also craved his rough punishment as a means to atone for her transgressions against him.

Conflicting desires merged, twisting a once normal soul into something grotesque—a soul as distorted as Mu Yaochen’s very understanding of love.