The Cracks in the Ring

Yuan Anqing presented the ring to Zhuo. With Yuan Anqing’s permission, Zhuo touched the chains that bound him for the very first time.

“It really did crack,” Zhuo murmured, tracing the fine fissures along the silver band.

“Are you feeling unwell anywhere?” Yuan Anqing asked him.

“No,” Zhuo replied, believing himself to be in excellent spirits. Aside from a slight, melodramatic melancholy regarding unrequited love, he felt perfectly at ease. His fingers lingered on the ring. “I almost forgot about this thing entirely.”

This ring was meant to control him through pain. As long as Yuan Anqing forbade it, Zhuo could not touch it.

“Then why did it crack?” Yuan Anqing pressed further.

“I have gotten a bit stronger recently,” Zhuo admitted, touching his massive chest. “But I’m not sure by how much. I haven’t harmed anyone lately, after all.”

Yuan Anqing scrutinized Zhuo, who saw no issue with his own statement. “My life has been quite fulfilling recently,” Zhuo added. It had been filled to the brim with domestic bliss.

Yuan Anqing remained uneasy. He was unsure if Zhuo might encounter problems similar to Zhou Qiong, the boy who had mutated from the strain of his powers. “Do you feel any dark desires swelling?”

“Desires of what kind?” Zhuo asked, puzzled. “I eat when I’m hungry, sleep when I’m tired. Does that count?”

“No, that doesn’t count.” Yuan Anqing breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then, do I want you to help me ‘solve my problem’ again?” Zhuo asked eagerly. “It’s all I think about lately, whether I have anything else to do or not. It makes me so happy.”

“…Perhaps you should choose a different desire.” Yuan Anqing feared Zhuo might lose his senses and drag him off to be a mere biological ‘electric toy.’

“I can’t change it.” If desires could be changed so easily, they wouldn’t be desires at all.

Yuan Anqing was about to say more when Zhuo abruptly cut him off. “Let’s eat! Let’s eat!”

“You have an appetite now?” Yuan Anqing raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Of course! There’s nothing I can’t eat.” Zhuo picked up his massive bowl. “You should eat too. Don’t let your food get cold; your stomach isn’t good.”

Yuan Anqing nodded. Perhaps being tied up by Zhuo and used as a toy wouldn’t be so bad after all… Zhuo’s restless, pining appearance was rather amusing, and it could certainly relieve boredom.

As he mused on this highly inappropriate thought, the phone on the table suddenly rang.

Yuan Anqing glanced at it. It was Bai Tian’s name.

Zhuo clicked his tongue in disgust. “Every time he calls, it’s bad news. I can’t even stand the word ‘Bai Tian’ anymore. Sooner or later, I’ll eat him.”

“Calm down. Bai Tian is just working.” Yuan Anqing pressed ‘answer’ and then gestured for Zhuo to be quiet.

Zhuo let out a soft hmph and buried his face in his food.

On the other end of the line, Bai Tian’s voice was urgent. “It’s about the Saviors.”

“What?” Yuan Anqing hadn’t understood the disjointed remark.

“The previous Saviors aren’t all dead!” Bai Tian blurted out.

“I’m not talking about you or Chen Jiao. I mean the first wave of Saviors who died before. They should have been completely dealt with,” Bai Tian spoke rapidly. “They weren’t thoroughly eliminated. Only the two that Zhuo consumed are truly gone.”

Zhuo’s expression turned grave. “The other two are still alive? Like walking corpses?”

“Not like walking corpses, but… more like several large tubs of meat.” Bai Tian struggled to describe the horror. “They dismembered the mutated Saviors’ bodies. They kept the pieces alive. Each piece of flesh is sliced extremely thin, and used to feed those inferior Differentiated Beings.”

Zhuo’s movements froze.

Bai Tian continued, “Those mutated Saviors themselves became vessels of desire, but they still feel physical pain. This pain intensified the depth of their corrupted desire. In a twisted sense, those slices of meat are still alive and suffering.”

Yuan Anqing understood the horrific implication. “The Saviors’ flesh and blood influenced those inferior Differentiated Beings, giving them artificial reproductive capabilities?”

“There’s a high probability, but we still need to investigate this thoroughly.” Bai Tian and his team had cooperated with Yuan Zhanhui and his spy group, using Yuan Anqing’s advice as leverage, to unearth this intelligence. “Anyone capable of capturing and harvesting the flesh of mutated Saviors is no ordinary person.”

Yuan Anqing knew this, of course. After all, news of his arrival as a Savior had leaked to the rebel organizations immediately.

At this point, Bai Tian took a deep, exhausted breath. “Those old beasts in the organizations have enjoyed enough stolen blessings.”

“Do you have a target list?” Yuan Anqing asked.

“We’ve identified a few, but we don’t dare to alert them yet.” Bai Tian’s voice sounded strained. “You must be careful.”

“What’s the point of talking about caution now? Those who are targeted are already targeted.” Yuan Anqing glanced at Zhuo and then asked, “Is Zhou Qiong and the others’ mental instability due to additional procedures? Because they weren’t ‘born’ from those inferior Differentiated Beings naturally?”

“We don’t know yet. To be honest, we probably know even less about Saviors and their mutations than you imagine.” Bai Tian wasn’t truly high-ranking, but he suspected the Directors didn’t know much more than they did.

“I understand.” Yuan Anqing sighed. This wouldn’t just be a problem; it would be a massive headache.

Looking at the cracked ring, his worries deepened. “One more thing. What exactly is Zhuo’s control ring made of?”

“It seems to have been originally taken from the bodies of the two Saviors he consumed…” Bai Tian began carefully. “Zhuo was irrational at the time, and I managed to restrain him.”

Zhuo’s tail stiffened. “!”

“It was harvested urgently when the Saviors’ consciousnesses dissipated,” Bai Tian explained.

“Consciousness dissipates, and you can just harvest their bones? How did you know their consciousnesses had dissipated permanently? Maybe they would have returned after a while!” Zhuo remembered Yuan Anqing’s previous dangerous ‘god-like’ state, which was a precursor to consciousness dissipation.

“If their consciousnesses were to return, you wouldn’t have been born from them,” Bai Tian said sharply. He couldn’t see Zhuo’s expression, but he guessed Zhuo’s sudden interrogation was born out of worry for Yuan Anqing. “When consciousness dissipates, a person is just an empty shell of power. Mr. Yuan merely entered an ’empty state’ earlier; he did not cross the threshold.”

“Who knows how you make your judgments?” Zhuo didn’t trust Bai Tian and his group.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with our medical judgments. You just need to protect the current Savior well.” Bai Tian had no intention of reasoning with the monster; it would be pointless.

“Do you really need to tell me that?” Zhuo hissed, highly displeased.

“Just keep it in mind. I’m hanging up now. Both of you must remain vigilant.” Bai Tian’s voice was urgent; he likely had more gruesome cleanup work to do.

“Alright,” Yuan Anqing replied. Only after the call ended did he look back at Zhuo.

Zhuo pushed his own bowl of food toward Yuan Anqing. “Eat quickly. The food will get cold soon.”

“It’s hot; the food won’t get cold that easily. Don’t be so aggressive when you speak to Bai Tian next time.” Yuan Anqing took the bento box back from Zhuo. “You’ll be dealing with his team frequently in the future. Making relations too stiff won’t do us any good.”

“I don’t need any favors from him,” Zhuo grumbled, his personality always arrogant and straightforward.

“That’s not how it works. No one can guarantee what the future holds,” Yuan Anqing advised. “Being well-behaved is always the politically correct thing to do.”

“Why can’t the future be guaranteed? I’ll always be this powerful.” Zhuo had raw strength, so he didn’t need to care about superficial office politics.

“Everything changes. Many things are beyond our control,” Yuan Anqing said softly. “Nothing in this world is completely unchanging.”

Nothing is completely unchanging?

For some reason, Zhuo took this particular sentence to heart. He felt it made sense; after all, he hadn’t expected to fall in love with Yuan Anqing. He liked this change that had already occurred, but he was also terrified of changes yet to come, because he didn’t know if they would be good or bad.

“Do you want something sweet?” Yuan Anqing asked, noticing Zhuo’s expression was off. “How about ice cream? I remember there are a few tubs in the freezer.”

“Okay!” Zhuo instinctively agreed. He thought the anxiety would only linger in his mind for a short while, and if he chatted and laughed with Yuan Anqing, it would naturally disappear. After all, he never dwelled on such vague worries.

But this time, Zhuo was mistaken. The thought would occasionally resurface, stinging him. Even when he and Yuan Anqing were laughing, it would suddenly appear, dragging Zhuo’s mood down into panic.

This emotion reached its absolute peak after they went to bed.

Because Yuan Anqing started having a severe stomach ache.

The pain wasn’t crippling, but Yuan Anqing’s face still paled significantly. “I probably ate too much cold food today, and I’ve also had a bit too much alcohol these past few days to cope.”

“Should we go to the hospital?!” Zhuo was extremely nervous, hovering over the bed.

“This level of pain doesn’t require a hospital,” Yuan Anqing knew his own body well. “I do have a chronic ulcer, so it’s not like I can just be completely fine all of a sudden.”

Zhuo didn’t know what to say. After a long pause, he finally managed, “Then don’t drink alcohol ever again. Go to sleep early.”

“Mm. I know.” Yuan Anqing nodded to him. His stomach ache wasn’t severe; it was probably just spasms for about ten minutes. After the pain subsided, Yuan Anqing washed up, got into bed, and held Zhuo as they went to sleep.

But Zhuo found it hard to sleep. He stared at Yuan Anqing’s face for half the night, marveling at the Savior’s incredible fragility. Finally, he managed to close his eyes, only to be plunged into a terrible, vivid nightmare.

He knew about Yuan Anqing’s physical condition. The man had been hospitalized before transmigration for a stomach hemorrhage; all of this was written in Yuan Anqing’s official file.

In Zhuo’s dream, he and Yuan Anqing were sitting normally in their office cubicles. Yuan Anqing was teaching him how to use CAD software when he suddenly collapsed to the floor, vomiting blood and losing all strength.

Zhuo was startled. He was very anxious, but he couldn’t do anything because saving humans wasn’t part of his monstrous abilities.

Afterward, Yuan Anqing was admitted to the intensive care unit. For some reason, the doctors treating him were Bai Tian and the government staff. The ICU only allowed half an hour of visiting time each day, and it had to be through thick synthetic glass. Zhuo visited every day, but Yuan Anqing showed no improvement. He went to ask Bai Tian, who only offered empty corporate platitudes, telling him that everything was fine and that Yuan Anqing would get better.

Then, Yuan Anqing suddenly started vomiting black blood again. Zhuo saw it with his own eyes through the glass. After vomiting, Yuan Anqing completely gave out, the heart monitor flatlining.

Zhuo pounded on the glass window, begging to be let in, but the people inside actually started studying Yuan Anqing’s corpse, taking scalpels and saws, wanting to dig out his bones to make new rings.

He watched Yuan Anqing take his last breath. Yuan Anqing was too weak to even look at him when he died.

In reality, Zhuo’s eyes snapped open.

He immediately looked down at Yuan Anqing in his arms. Yuan Anqing was still holding him, and they were pressed close. Zhuo could feel Yuan Anqing’s heartbeat against his chest.

Was it truly a heartbeat? Or was it a self-deceiving hallucination?

“Yuan Anqing.” Zhuo gently nudged the man. “Will you wake up?”

Yuan Anqing remained still.

Zhuo applied a little more force, shaking him, and Yuan Anqing finally reacted.

“What is it?” Yuan Anqing groggily opened his eyes and looked up at Zhuo.

“Nothing.” Zhuo breathed a massive sigh of relief.

“Can’t sleep?” Yuan Anqing didn’t close his eyes immediately. He reached out and touched Zhuo’s face, only to find it damp with tears. “Are you crying?!” He was fully awake now.

“I had a nightmare.” Zhuo wrapped his thick tail tighter around Yuan Anqing. “Can you just put your hand on my horn and sleep? If you stay closer, I won’t be so scared.”

“A nightmare involving me?” Yuan Anqing asked, placing his hand as requested.

“It was just a nightmare. Nothing auspicious, anyway.” Zhuo didn’t even want to voice the horror of the medical room.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t.” Yuan Anqing stroked Zhuo’s horn twice more. “Sleep well.”

“Mm.” Zhuo closed his eyes again, but sleep eluded him completely.

He was terrified of seeing such a lifeless Yuan Anqing in his dreams again.

This symptom of extreme anxiety didn’t just appear that night. After that day, Zhuo became exceptionally hyper-vigilant about Yuan Anqing’s safety. He realized for the first time just how precarious Yuan Anqing’s mortal situation truly was.

At work, people might accidentally step on Yuan Anqing’s foot. In the breakroom, Yuan Anqing could be scalded by the hot water dispenser. If he ate too much cold food, his stomach would suffer, but eating only hot food in the scorching summer heat also made him uncomfortable.

This human was truly difficult to keep alive; it felt like he could die so easily from a stiff breeze.

And Yuan Anqing himself didn’t care about these things; only Zhuo did.

On the subway commute, Zhuo held one of Yuan Anqing’s hands. The back of Yuan Anqing’s hand was slightly red, having been scalded by someone else’s hot breakfast baozi.

Zhuo gently caressed the reddened area, then glared fiercely at the terrified commuter holding the breakfast. The man was innocent; after all, there were so many people on the subway, and he was squeezed so tight he couldn’t move. The crowd had literally squeezed the hot filling out of his baozi onto Yuan’s hand.

Zhuo stroked and rubbed the back of Yuan Anqing’s hand, but Yuan Anqing didn’t understand the depth of his anxiety. Yuan Anqing just thought Zhuo was being clingy, as Zhuo had been particularly physically affectionate lately. So Yuan Anqing naturally reciprocated, holding Zhuo’s large hand in his.

Zhuo found it unbelievable.

Did Yuan Anqing truly not feel any pain? If he himself were scalded by hot pork filling, Zhuo knew he would be howling in pain due to his zero tolerance.

Yet Yuan Anqing seemed indifferent to everything, even his own physical injuries. This was not good.

With this thought, Zhuo’s gaze toward Yuan Anqing filled with profound worry. He constantly feared that one day Yuan Anqing would secretly die somewhere he couldn’t see, somewhere he couldn’t find him.

“Eh?” Yuan Anqing withdrew his hand. He looked at the silver ring on his finger; the hairline cracks on it had been increasing lately. “Zhuo, are you really not feeling unwell recently?”

“What could I possibly be unwell about?” Zhuo subtly wrapped his tail around Yuan Anqing’s leg. “You should be worrying about yourself.”

“Why should I worry about myself?” Yuan Anqing didn’t understand; he didn’t have a huge, ticking biological bomb buried inside him.

See? He doesn’t care at all. Zhuo felt even more distraught.

He couldn’t accept the outcome of Yuan Anqing’s death. If Yuan Anqing died, what would he do? He wished he could die with Yuan Anqing, but Zhuo couldn’t even find a weapon capable of killing himself.

Live alone in this world for centuries? No way!

“Why do I feel like you’re about to cry again?” Yuan Anqing asked. He felt that Zhuo often looked like he was on the verge of tears recently, but when asked directly, Zhuo would insist nothing was wrong.

Yuan Anqing wanted to figure out what was wrong with Zhuo, but the monster was strictly on guard, not letting even a hint of his paralyzing fear slip out.

These past few mornings, Zhuo had woken up earlier than him, yet at night, he slept later. Yuan Anqing remained skeptical about whether Zhuo was actually sleeping at all.

And finally, Zhuo’s suppressed emotions reached a complete, catastrophic outburst in the middle of a mission.

It was a Saturday. Yuan Anqing and Zhuo went to foster camaraderie with Yuan Zhanhui and his spy group, putting on a show of being good friends for the rogue organization observing them. Their ‘bonding’ felt like a mandatory corporate team-building event; no one enjoyed the activities, but they had to sacrifice their weekend rest time to appear united.

Yuan Anqing had a premonition that something would happen that day, as the scattered resistance organizations wouldn’t miss an opportunity to target the Savior. And those resistance members probably had day jobs themselves, so they always chose weekends to stir up trouble.

So when a knife was suddenly held to Yuan Zhanhui’s throat in a park, everyone’s emotions remained surprisingly stable.

Yuan Anqing merely felt like he was going through the bureaucratic motions again, while Yuan Zhanhui said nothing, only lowering his head and silently trembling at the knife.

The one who kidnapped Yuan Zhanhui was a man, a pure inferior Differentiated Being, not a conscious second-generation spy. Yuan Anqing hadn’t expected such an irrational, feral Differentiated Being to be able to control its destructive desires, leading him to fear that the organization behind it possessed some special manipulation methods.

The inferior Differentiated Being mumbled incoherently, “I… die… self-destruct… you… don’t.” He was merely imitating human pronunciations he himself didn’t understand.

“Is he saying he’ll self-destruct if he dies?” A pink-haired man, identical in function to Yuan Zhanhui, stood nervously beside Yuan Anqing.

“Probably,” Yuan Anqing wasn’t entirely sure. He only whispered to Zhuo, “Can you capture him alive?” This inferior Differentiated Being held high research value for Bai Tian.

Zhuo remained silent.

Yuan Anqing called out again, “Zhuo?”

A sound of shattering metal rang out. Yuan Anqing felt a sudden emptiness on his finger. He looked down to find the silver control ring had broken into two halves and fallen to the pavement.

From Yuan Anqing’s perspective, Zhuo’s human form began to destabilize violently. A scarlet aura surged skyward, staining even the daylight heavens crimson.

“Zhuo?!” Yuan Anqing grew tense.

Yuan Zhanhui and the others, who had initially been just going through the motions of a fake hostage situation, also became terrified.

Yuan Zhanhui cursed, “Holy crap! He hasn’t also broken through the critical point, has he?! If he forms a vortex of desire here, that’ll be a huge problem!”

“What nonsense!” Yuan Anqing retorted, raising his voice to defend his friend. “He would never forget who he is!”

Yuan Zhanhui: …Why is this Savior cursing at me?

Zhuo’s human form twisted continuously, flickering like a television image with a bad connection.

Zhuo didn’t respond to Yuan Anqing. He simply lunged and devoured the inferior Differentiated Being in one massive gulp.

A chilling crunching sound echoed, and Yuan Zhanhui and the spies felt cold sweat break out on their backs.

“I thought you said you didn’t like eating this?” Yuan Anqing looked up at Zhuo, confused.

At this moment, Zhuo’s body had begun to gradually enlarge, his skin turning a dark, bruised scarlet, and his horns and tail also lengthened. The sickening sound of bones being crushed rang out from his maw, and Yuan Anqing quickly ran toward him.

“Hey! Wait!” Yuan Zhanhui was startled by Yuan Anqing’s recklessness. He tried to reach out and pull him back, but as soon as his hand extended, Yuan Anqing vanished.

Yuan Anqing had been eaten by Zhuo.

Yuan Anqing had been… eaten by Zhuo?!!

“HOLY CRAP!” Yuan Zhanhui yelled.

Zhuo looked in his direction, his massive maw dripping, and Yuan Zhanhui instantly felt goosebumps cover his entire body. Fortunately, Zhuo didn’t attack him. He just glared. Then, a thick red mist gathered around him, enveloping his massive form. When the mist dispersed, Zhuo was gone.

“It’s over! It’s over!” Yuan Zhanhui’s head had shrunk back into its leopard beast form from pure fright. They had finally found a Savior who could bring them back from the chaos, but now this Savior was dead! And now there was the great, unchained menace, Zhuo, roaming free!

This was a disaster!

Yuan Anqing felt the scenery rapidly shift, and then he stood in a dark, scarlet cave. At his feet lay piles of fresh white bones. Yuan Anqing looked down at the bones, unimpressed. “Zhuo, are you trying to scare me?”

No one answered him.

Yuan Anqing heard a short, sharp roar, like the sound of some wounded wild beast.

“Zhuo?” Yuan Anqing looked toward the source of the sound. “What’s wrong with you? Do you still remember who you are?”

Still no answer.

“You haven’t digested me yet, so you clearly remember me, don’t you?” Yuan Anqing asked again.

Still no response.

Yuan Anqing felt a bit dejected. “You hide your aura so well, I couldn’t discern your biological changes. You’ve been acting strange these past few days, but you refused to say anything.”

“I also asked too little,” Yuan Anqing admitted, placing his hand on the cave wall. He found that the wall felt soft and warm to the touch.

Yuan Anqing froze. “Where exactly is this?”

“Zhuo?”

“Zhuo!!”

“Zhuo, are you planning to ignore me for the rest of your life?” Yuan Anqing frowned. “Are you putting me here to scare me, or to actually eat me?”

Still no movement.

Yuan Anqing silently crouched down, pressing a hand to his stomach. Intense emotional fluctuations could also lead to severe stomach cramps.

But this time, he didn’t need to call; Zhuo came out on his own.

Calling it ‘Zhuo’ wasn’t entirely accurate; what emerged from the fleshy wall was, at most, a single red tentacle.

The tentacle subtly squeezed in from Yuan Anqing’s side, helping to gently press on Yuan Anqing’s cramping stomach to soothe it.

Slap! Yuan Anqing swatted it away.

“Do you still remember who you are?” Yuan Anqing glared at the bewildered little tentacle. “Then why didn’t you say so earlier! I asked you so many times, and you pretended not to hear me, didn’t you?”

The tentacle stood there tremblingly, unsure what to do.

“Once you forget who you are, once everything from the past is erased, does the monster who comes back count as the original you?” Yuan Anqing stared at the tentacle, his corporate mask slipping. “Is the real you already dead? I can’t even be sure of these things. I get scared too, Zhuo.”

“Since you haven’t forgotten, then tell me!” Yuan Anqing let out a long, shuddering breath.

He had truly been frightened. After Zhuo’s tentacle secretly snuck over to comfort his stomach ache, Yuan Anqing felt both relieved and incredibly angry. “Tell me, what exactly are you trying to do?”

The tentacle froze in place, motionless.

Yuan Anqing pursed his lips. “Don’t want to say? Want to just keep up the silent treatment?”

“If you want to keep it up, then do so.” Yuan Anqing couldn’t be bothered with him anymore. “Just speak when you’re ready. I’m in no rush.”

Yuan Anqing leaned back against the soft cave wall, closing his eyes, no longer looking at Zhuo’s avatar.

The small tentacle cautiously reached out and poked Yuan Anqing’s cheek.

Yuan Anqing still didn’t open his eyes.

“Yuan Anqing,” Zhuo finally spoke, his voice echoing from the walls.

Yuan Anqing opened his eyes again, only to find that the white bones on the ground had vanished, and the fleshy cave had transformed into the interior of Yuan Anqing’s cozy apartment.

Zhuo still hadn’t appeared in human form. The slender tentacle gently stroked Yuan Anqing’s forehead. “Will you stay here from now on? This is the safest place.”

“What do you mean?” Yuan Anqing asked, his face devoid of expression.

“My body is the safest place I could find. Will you stay here? I won’t let you get hurt on the subway, or be sad about work. I’ll be with you forever. Just stay here, okay?” Zhuo’s tone held a hint of profound guilt; he knew it was wrong to restrict Yuan Anqing’s freedom like a pet.

But Zhuo felt he had no choice. Now, every time he closed his eyes, he saw Yuan Anqing vomiting blood in an ICU. Everyone coveted Yuan Anqing’s body—whether it was the resistance organizations trying to kill him or Bai Tian’s group trying to harvest him. Yuan Anqing wasn’t safe; Yuan Anqing wasn’t safe anywhere out there.

“You’re not asking for my opinion,” Yuan Anqing said coldly. “You’ve already made the decision for me by eating me. Why bother asking now?”

“I know you wouldn’t agree.” Zhuo’s small tentacle twisted and changed into a red, humanoid palm. The palm rested on Yuan Anqing’s cheek, then slid down to his neck. “Your human body is too fragile. You haven’t even realized your own fragility. You could die at any moment from a stomach bug.”

Yuan Anqing finally understood Zhuo’s true, overarching desire. Zhuo’s desire wasn’t for Yuan Anqing to be his ‘electric toy’; he wanted Yuan Anqing to live a long, enduring life. He feared Yuan Anqing’s death more than anything.

“Did you dream of my death in your nightmare before?” Yuan Anqing asked, gripping Zhuo’s red wrist.

Zhuo’s hand stiffened, and Yuan Anqing understood. “I scared you.”

“You didn’t scare me on purpose,” Zhuo quickly defended him. “It’s just that your body is truly too weak…”

“Zhuo.” Yuan Anqing interrupted the monster. He asked again, softly, “You like me, don’t you?”

Zhuo fell into a deathly silence once more.

“You want to be with me forever and ever because we are ‘close friends’?” Yuan Anqing gripped Zhuo’s wrist, preventing him from retracting it into the wall. With Yuan Anqing holding on so tightly, Zhuo didn’t dare exert any force to escape.

“Good friends wouldn’t help you in that way in the bathroom,” Yuan Anqing continued relentlessly. “You’ve completely broken free from your restraints now. According to your original plan, you should have gained freedom, become a great menace causing havoc everywhere, and eventually digested me.”

“Don’t say that. I would never eat you,” Zhuo quickly interrupted Yuan Anqing. “Even if I know you don’t like me back, I won’t let you out. I won’t let you die. I am a monster, and I should be willful and selfish.” Zhuo admitted his kidnapping so casually.

Zhuo actually felt that his relationship with Yuan Anqing was bound to fall apart now anyway. After all, he had restricted Yuan Anqing’s freedom, and no living person could accept being completely imprisoned in a stomach dimension. Eventually, Yuan Anqing would dislike him, detest him, and even wish to kill him. Zhuo was fully prepared for that hatred; he only wanted Yuan Anqing to live safely and peacefully.

“You like me, yet you’ve become so anxious over my mortality,” Yuan Anqing said, not reacting with anger as Zhuo had expected. “Perhaps it would have been better if we had never met.”

Yuan Anqing fell silent.

“Whether you want to or not, you can only stay with me from now on,” Zhuo warned again, trying to sound intimidating. “You can’t escape. Even if you try to mentally control me to let you out, I’ll just bring you back once I wake up. And then…”

“Alright,” Yuan Anqing interrupted Zhuo’s villainous monologue again. “I’ll stay here with you.”

“Huh? You… are you serious?” Zhuo was stunned.

“Yes, I’ll stay here with you.” Yuan Anqing reached out and patted the back of Zhuo’s red hand. “Your emotions are extremely unstable right now. You know that, right?”

“I’m very stable!”

Yuan Anqing didn’t reply to the obvious lie. In his vision, the surrounding scenery would occasionally twist and glitch, transforming from the cozy interior of their apartment into a horrifying space constructed of raw, pulsing flesh. Zhuo’s emotions were a mess, but Zhuo himself seemed oblivious to this. He was immersed in his own panic, stubbornly believing he was doing the right thing.

“Zhuo, you’re very important to me too,” Yuan Anqing told the monster. “You are also the biggest variable in my life.” He knew better than to provoke Zhuo while he was having a breakdown.

“But you’re making me a little scared right now,” Yuan Anqing tried to make his voice as gentle as possible. “I’m also afraid I’ll lose you.” Zhuo’s mental breakdown definitely couldn’t continue like this; he was going to mutate himself into mindlessness.

“I’m very powerful. You won’t lose me. Only I need to worry about that problem.”

“Can you give me a hug?” Yuan Anqing opened his arms to the void.

The small red hand hesitated for a moment. As Yuan Anqing’s expression began to show a hint of disappointment, more hands emerged. A massive shape of red flesh rose from the ground, taking on a humanoid form and embracing Yuan Anqing tightly.

“Stubbornness alone won’t help us achieve our goals,” Yuan Anqing gently persuaded into the monster’s chest. “You should know that.”

“You still want me to let you out?” Zhuo felt he understood. Yuan Anqing was manipulating him to leave.

“No, I’m genuinely worried about your mental state,” Yuan Anqing countered, turning Zhuo’s worry back on him. “You won’t leave me by going crazy, will you?”

“I would never!”

“But you’re unstable now,” Yuan Anqing said. Without waiting for Zhuo to refute, he continued, “In my original world, I thought I’d live at most to a little over eighty. But in this world, my lifespan has suddenly increased so much. If you lose control and die, what will I do, left all alone for centuries?”

“I won’t—”

“Yes, I shouldn’t think about those things either. If you die, I should just die too.” Yuan Anqing lowered his eyes. “If you don’t live long, how long can I possibly survive?”

“Don’t say things like that!” Zhuo gasped.

“If I don’t say it, can you guarantee you’ll stay with me forever?” Yuan Anqing countered smoothly. “I’ve seen too many partings in the orphanage; I get scared too. Don’t make me worry about you, okay?”

Yuan Anqing was masterfully coaxing Zhuo while simultaneously feeling his stomach cramps intensify.

The state of one’s emotions had a significant impact on the stomach. The stomach’s neural network was highly sensitive, but Yuan Anqing knew he couldn’t show any physical weakness. If he showed pain in front of Zhuo now, Zhuo’s state would only worsen out of guilt.

Zhuo’s current behavior was irrational; he was merely in an explosive, panicked phase, like humans experiencing severe anxiety. A normal Zhuo would not act this way.

“Zhuo, since you like me, you surely can’t bear to see me upset, can you?” Yuan Anqing felt like he was gaslighting a terrified child, but he had to do it to save them both. “I’m very upset right now. I’m worried about you having problems.”

“You’re never upset… you’re always so…” Zhuo’s words trailed off midway.

Because Yuan Anqing was actually shedding tears.

Yuan Anqing was actually shedding tears?!

Well, the tears didn’t actually fall. Yuan Anqing himself wasn’t one to cry easily; he had a bit of ‘crying shame.’ But Yuan Anqing’s golden eyes were definitely moist, and he was clearly holding back.

Zhuo, the entire terrifying monster, froze completely. He was flustered, wanting to reach out and wipe Yuan Anqing’s tears, yet terrified of startling him.

So easily fooled, Yuan Anqing thought, looking at the trembling mass of flesh before him.

Yuan Anqing’s tears weren’t due to sadness; others couldn’t detect his sadness because he never shed tears for it. The moisture in his eyes now was purely physiological—his stomach ulcer truly ached too much from the stress. He simply couldn’t control these biological tears.

“You… don’t be sad,” Zhuo stammered, his words barely coherent. “If you’re really unhappy with me, just hit me. Don’t cry by yourself.”

“I don’t want to hit you.” Yuan Anqing gently stroked Zhuo’s red hand. “If I hit you, you’ll be upset.”

“I won’t feel pain.”

“You’ll feel pain in your heart,” Yuan Anqing shook his head. “I don’t want you to feel pain in your heart either.”

Zhuo was momentarily choked with emotion. “You! How can you be like this?!”

“What about me?”

“You should hit me or scold me! I wouldn’t fight back or talk back! I’ve locked you up in my stomach, so why are you still so good to me?!” Zhuo didn’t feel comforted; he only felt more aggrieved. He felt aggrieved for Yuan Anqing. “It’s because your personality is too soft! That’s why others take advantage of you!”

“My personality isn’t soft; I just don’t care about them.” Yuan Anqing didn’t believe his personality was soft; he was a ruthless corporate manager. “There are many things I don’t care about.”

“But you are different. I’m not ignoring you; I’m making concessions because I genuinely care about you,” Yuan Anqing said. “I used to think about dying too. I longed for a sudden car accident to destroy me, to let me shed the corporate responsibilities that felt so distant, to let me fall into eternal sleep.”

Yuan Anqing noticed Zhuo’s movements stiffen slightly in horror. “But I don’t want to die now.”

“I don’t like it when others are sad because of my death. I imagine that when the original ‘me’ died in my world, no one would have cried. Because I wasn’t important. I was just good-looking, but no one truly liked me.”

“But if I die now, you’ll definitely cry. And I don’t want you to cry.”

“Aside from the fact that I inherently dislike people crying… perhaps it’s also because I like you too.”

Zhuo seemed to have been petrified, remaining motionless and unresponsive for a long, stunned time.

“I’ve never liked anyone. I’m not even interested in romance novels or movies,” Yuan Anqing said softly. “You once said that eighty percent of so-called ‘love’ comes from the lovers’ own imaginations. That merely holding hands leads to delusions of growing old together. I think you were absolutely right.”

“I’ve never had such fantasies, so I always thought I shouldn’t like you.” Yuan Anqing’s voice was light and gentle. “I merely crave your companionship every moment.”

“I’ve always been a solitary person. You are the only one who has ever truly entered my life, even though our meeting wasn’t entirely pleasant.”

“But every hug, every time you acted clingy, I loved it. I enjoyed all the positive emotions you gave me.” Yuan Anqing pursed his lips and offered Zhuo a faint, genuine smile. “I am a very despondent person. I never think about the future because my future won’t be good; I know that very well.”

“Your future will be beautiful,” Zhuo countered fiercely.

“Yes, it will become beautiful… after meeting you,” Yuan Anqing nodded. “But before that, I had nothing: no desires or emotions, no healthy body, and certainly no background that would allow me to rest in peace.”

He dared not hope for a future because he saw no hope. Being hit by a car or dying suddenly would be considered fortunate. What if one day his body suddenly collapsed, and he fell seriously ill, unable to stand again, alone in an apartment? He had no relatives, no friends. All the money he earned from work would be spent in the hospital. In the end, he would die, and not gracefully.

There was nothing to imagine about such a bleak future.

“I’ve only recently started fearing death. I’m afraid of leaving you behind, and then you crying every day, day after day.” Yuan Anqing lightly tapped Zhuo’s wrist. “Although I won’t see it after I die, as long as I’m alive for one more day, I’ll be scared by such thoughts. I’m afraid of leaving you.”

“I like you,” Yuan Anqing said, remembering something else. He emphasized, “Also, your body is truly beautiful. Every part of it is beautiful. I want to touch it more deeply.”

Upon hearing this sudden shift in tone, Zhuo recoiled slightly. “I’ve kidnapped you right now! Why are you telling me this?!”

“Kidnapped? Aren’t you just trying to protect me?” Yuan Anqing countered.

Zhuo remained silent, completely disarmed.

Yuan Anqing noticed that the surrounding environment had stabilized considerably; Zhuo was much less chaotic, the flesh-walls fully returning to the appearance of their apartment. “I’m inside your body. How will you get food and drink to me? Without food and drink, I’ll starve to death in here.”

“I can steal,” Zhuo said, completely forgetting his dream of becoming a world-class demon lord. “I won’t be discovered. I’ll steal the cleanest, most delicious things for you.”

“Then I can’t physically help you while I’m inside your body,” Yuan Anqing added smoothly. “What about when I want to see you joyous?”

Zhuo froze, beginning to feel deeply conflicted.

“I haven’t had any sexual experience yet, and I want to experience the happiness you speak of,” Yuan Anqing said practically. “Others go to bed after confessing their feelings. I just told you I like you; you wouldn’t just leave me hanging here, would you?”

Zhuo squirmed, unsure what to do.

Yuan Anqing continued, “I want to touch you, Zhuo.”

“Others don’t necessarily sleep together right after confessing! Some just hold hands!” Zhuo said, feeling inexplicably shy despite being a giant monster.

Yuan Anqing extended his hand to him.

Zhuo carefully clasped Yuan Anqing’s hand with his red fingers.

“Do you feel anything?” Yuan Anqing asked him.

“I feel like I like you even more,” Zhuo answered truthfully. “But your hand is so cold… did I scare you?”

“You didn’t scare me; my stomach hurts.” Yuan Anqing felt he could finally reveal his condition now that Zhuo had been largely soothed.

“Stomach ache?!” Zhuo grew instantly alarmed.

“Can you call Bai Tian and his team?” Yuan Anqing nodded, wincing. “Keeping me in your stomach probably won’t work. I need to go to a hospital.”

As his mind relaxed, the physical pain surged. “Try… to be quick.”

Upon receiving news of Zhuo’s violent loss of control on the street, Bai Tian immediately reported it, attempting to pinpoint Zhuo’s exact location. He didn’t believe Zhuo would directly digest Yuan Anqing, or rather, he was unwilling to believe it. But none of them knew what Zhuo was like when he went truly berserk—whether he still remembered his name, or if he still had emotions.

And they also lacked equipment to detect whether the Savior was still alive inside the domain. Yuan Anqing was the only way out they had found. If Yuan Anqing died, everything would be over.

Bai Tian ordered his subordinates to prepare hundreds of cups of coffee, getting ready for an all-nighter of searching.

However, Bai Tian hadn’t even waited for nightfall when he suddenly received a call from Yuan Anqing’s number. When he saw the caller ID, he nearly threw his phone across the room.

Bai Tian tremblingly pressed ‘answer,’ then heard loud, obnoxious sobbing from the other end of the line. The voice was quite deep, not as clear as Yuan Anqing’s. “Zhuo?!”

“WAAAH! Come quickly!” Zhuo’s crying sounded like a dying duck’s quack. “Yuan Anqing’s stomach ache is so bad he’s almost dying! He doesn’t even have the strength to speak anymore!”

“Where are you?!” Bai Tian was completely bewildered by the pivot from apocalyptic threat to medical emergency.

“I’m almost at the entrance of the government building,” Zhuo said, taking a deep, trembling breath. “Hurry out! He’s really in so much pain!”

“Okay! Okay, okay, okay!” Bai Tian was still a bit dazed, but he quickly reacted. “We’ll come out immediately! Let me just confirm—the Savior has no external injuries from you, just a stomach ache, right?”

“What do you mean ‘just a stomach ache’?!” Zhuo erupted indignantly. “Stomach hemorrhages can kill people too!” With that, he hung up the phone.

Bai Tian immediately called out to his panicked colleagues. “Notify the medical researchers! Go to the front entrance and bring the Savior back!”

“What’s the situation now? Are we under attack?” someone asked.

“It’s fine now,” Bai Tian said, rubbing his face and feeling profoundly relieved. “It’s really fine. Just an ulcer.”

The medical staff who had previously been in charge of the former Saviors quickly rushed to the main entrance to pick up Yuan Anqing. Zhuo followed beside the gurney, crying loudly and staring at the pale-faced Yuan Anqing. “He won’t die, right?”

“It’s not as serious as you think,” a young nurse said, trying to ignore the giant crying monster. “It shouldn’t be a stomach hemorrhage. You don’t need to be too anxious.”

Another nurse chimed in, “It’s probably just a sudden surge of emotion, causing too much stress.”

“So I scared him,” Zhuo concluded, and cried even harder.

The medical staff felt a massive headache coming on. They had been responsible for Zhuo before and knew his terrible, murderous temper well. This fellow would cause mass destruction whenever things didn’t go his way, and it was usually ordinary people like them who suffered. Damn it, they should have known not to study medicine, constantly enduring this humiliation.

However, this time they were mistaken. Zhuo didn’t suddenly explode and start bothering them, nor did he coldly sneer at them with sarcasm. Zhuo did absolutely nothing but cry.

When Yuan Anqing was taken back for his examination, Zhuo even sat quietly by the waiting room door, not uttering a single word.

Bai Tian arrived shortly after. He saw the terrifying monster sitting there, hugging his knees on the floor. Suppressing his fear, Bai Tian stepped forward to ask, “How’s the Savior doing?”

“I don’t know. He’s still having a gastroscopy.” At this, Zhuo started crying again. “Gastroscopies are very uncomfortable! And he’s been locked up by me in my stomach for so long, he hasn’t even eaten!”

“Don’t be sad.” Bai Tian breathed a sigh of relief. Zhuo seemed to be mentally stable again. Then he found it absurd and bizarre—Zhuo’s power was so formidable that it seemed unlikely he would recover from a rampage so easily.

“I’m not the one who’s sad right now; it’s Yuan Anqing,” Zhuo snapped, looking up at Bai Tian with red eyes. “Why do you never care about him? He’s in pain, so why are you asking me if I’m okay?”

He then lowered his head into his knees again. “I made him suffer. I’m just shedding a few tears, but you look as if I’m the one who’s been wronged. It’s truly unfair.”

Bai Tian: “…”

Zhuo’s condition probably hadn’t improved yet; he was still in a prolonged emotional outburst phase. However, while other anomalies’ outbursts meant wanting to destroy the world, Zhuo’s… meant he was in distress over his boyfriend’s tummy ache.

Yuan Anqing was actually conscious when he was brought in, but the pain made him disinclined to speak. Zhuo’s dramatic behavior, however, made it seem as though Yuan Anqing was undergoing some major open-heart surgery—a matter of life and death.

Bai Tian watched as Zhuo, after crying for a while, pulled out the fragments of the silver ring from his pocket. This ring was originally used to control him. The complete destruction of the ring proved that Zhuo was entirely free. His power would be subject to no physical constraints, allowing him to do whatever he wished.

Bai Tian grew tense once more.

But Zhuo ignored Bai Tian. He simply pieced the ring back together silently, then used his own crimson lightning to weld the metal. Zhuo wasn’t skilled at welding, so the silver band inexplicably developed a series of ugly bumps.

“I’m going to give this back to him,” Zhuo said.

“It’s useless now,” Bai Tian reminded him carefully. “The psychic link is broken.”

“Yuan Anqing never used this in the first place; it was always useless.” Yuan Anqing had never truly ‘locked’ Zhuo; Zhuo had always been free to leave. He knew what Bai Tian was afraid of. “I won’t eat you, Bai Tian. You don’t taste good.”

“Oh… alright.” Bai Tian didn’t perceive this as an insult; he felt pure relief.

And thinking of this, Zhuo started crying again. “He’s so good to me, and I still hurt him!”

“Alright, alright, you didn’t hurt him. The Savior definitely doesn’t think you hurt him.” According to the message from his colleague, Yuan Anqing had even stroked Zhuo’s horn before the examination, telling him not to worry.

“See, you’re speaking up for me again. I’m not the one who can save you in the future, so why do you insist on saying good things about me?” Zhuo felt Yuan Anqing wasn’t worth their disrespect.

“Because the Savior cares about you. If I were to blame you, he’d get angry,” Bai Tian said, helpless.

Zhuo’s current state was something they could never have imagined. Other less destructive Differentiated Beings would form a Vortex of desire after an outburst, which should be a crucial, deadly process. But Zhuo had skipped this step entirely; his apocalyptic outburst had turned into him crying and complaining about himself outside a gastroenterology clinic.

The physical ring was broken, but a stronger, invisible emotional shackle had been placed on Zhuo. And Zhuo didn’t resist it; he savored it.

The door to the examination room finally opened, and the doctor stepped out. “The Savior’s stomach spasms are a bit severe, but there are no serious complications. He just needs some medication and rest.”

Yuan Anqing followed behind the doctor. He saw Zhuo curled up on the floor. “What’s wrong? Feeling unwell again?”

Zhuo silently stood up and handed over the poorly repaired silver ring. “This is for you.”

Yuan Anqing took it, waiting for Zhuo to continue.

“This still counts,” Zhuo said earnestly. “I’ll still listen to you afterward.”

“If you control me, I’ll feel more at ease.”