An Act of Feigned Weakness

“Have you ever actually hit anyone when you weren’t angry?” Zhuo asked Yuan Anqing.

“No.” Yuan Anqing was currently standing inside Zhuo’s internal domain (“stomach”), holding an aluminum baseball bat that Zhuo had excitedly forced into his hands.

A red hand reached out and gently removed Yuan Anqing’s glasses. “Should I make you angry first?”

“How would you make me angry?” Yuan Anqing asked.

Zhuo fell silent.

Yuan Anqing waited for a response, but Zhuo thought for a long time without coming up with a viable method. Yuan Anqing simply didn’t get angry easily—especially not after they had confirmed their relationship. No matter how much Zhuo fooled around, Yuan Anqing wouldn’t get truly mad at him.

That one time Yuan Anqing had exploded and repeatedly hit the assassin, it was because of too much accumulated corporate pressure needing a physical outlet. But Zhuo couldn’t mentally drain Yuan Anqing like that; he didn’t want to, and his attempts at being annoying usually just amused the Savior.

“Then I’ll just go hit him, and you can cheer me on from the sidelines,” Zhuo decided, wanting to let Yuan Anqing be an observer.

“No need.” Yuan Anqing patted the giant red hand affectionately. “He wants to ambush me. It’s better if I take the initiative.”

Yuan Anqing wasn’t particularly interested in fighting, but he didn’t feel much guilt about it either. “I am an adult male, and my physical fitness as a Savior is better than most men’s.”

Zhuo, however, always compared Yuan Anqing to himself, concluding that Yuan Anqing was fragile and needed to be protected. Compared to Zhuo, everyone in the world was weak, so the comparison was meaningless.

“Are you really okay doing this?” Zhuo hesitated, looking incredibly worried.

“I’m half a head taller than that minor celebrity,” Yuan Anqing reminded him. “And my physical fitness is actually quite good.” His only real health problem was his digestive tract, and lately, his stomach ulcers hadn’t flared up.

“Then I’ll watch from the side. If you can’t handle it, I’ll take over,” Zhuo said nervously. He looked like a mature adult watching a toddler touch a stove for the first time, terrified they’d get burned.

Yuan Anqing found it amusing. When Zhuo acted spoiled and threw tantrums, he seemed like a petulant child who had grown in height but not maturity. But occasionally, Zhuo could seamlessly switch to this overbearing parent mode.

“I don’t need your help.” Yuan Anqing held out his free hand. “Give me back my glasses.”

“You can’t wear glasses while fighting! If the lenses break, they could hurt your eyes!” Zhuo sighed. “You really are just a good student who’s never been in a real street fight.”

“I know broken glasses aren’t ideal, but my glasses won’t break against him.” Yuan Anqing had a clear understanding of the threat level. The celebrity was probably around 175 centimeters tall and very thin. Yuan Anqing didn’t think the guy had the physical strength to fight back. And more importantly, Yuan Anqing needed his glasses to see clearly.

“Fine. But I’ll protect your eyes,” Zhuo promised.

Yuan Anqing felt helpless and decided to change the subject. “The detention center has high-security surveillance and alarms. Are you sure it’s okay for us to show up so abruptly?”

“They can’t monitor my true form on their cameras, and I’ve checked—there’s no surveillance inside the actual holding cells for privacy,” Zhuo said smugly. “We’ll phase straight into his room.”

Zhuo could phase through anything he wanted to ignore. If he had released his restraints earlier in his life, the authorities would have never been able to keep him locked up. But Zhuo didn’t think this ability was anything special; he just found it very convenient for beating people up undetected.

In the detention center, the minor celebrity sat on the stiff metal bed, hugging his knees.

Considering his ‘celebrity’ identity, the police hadn’t assigned him a cellmate. The cells next to him were empty. But the “single room” in the detention center wasn’t exactly luxurious—just a steel sink, a toilet, and a cot. Although it was cleaned fairly well, the minor celebrity couldn’t adapt. He even deliberately controlled his breathing, terrified of smelling strange odors.

He was confident these cops couldn’t dig much out of him. He had no criminal record and wasn’t deeply connected to the rebel organization. After all, he was a public figure. Once his fans outside made a fuss about his unjust arrest, the authorities wouldn’t be able to withstand the PR pressure and would have to release him.

Tap.

A very light sound of wood hitting the concrete floor.

The minor celebrity instinctively looked up. Suddenly, his cheek was pinched hard.

The hand pinching him was fair and slender, with well-defined knuckles. The clean scent of expensive hand soap wafted into his nose.

“Shh.” The person looked down at him. “If you want to live to see tomorrow, you’d better not make a sound.”

The minor celebrity met the Savior’s pitch-black pupils through the lenses of his glasses. At that moment, he felt as if his heart had stopped.

How had the Savior gotten in here?!

“You know about those dead bodies hanging in the warehouse, right?” Yuan Anqing’s voice was very, very soft, devoid of any emotion. “You don’t want to know what they experienced before they died, do you?”

The minor celebrity’s pupils trembled in sheer terror.

“Don’t make a sound from now on. Okay?” Yuan Anqing asked him politely.

The minor celebrity swallowed hard.

Yuan Anqing raised a single eyebrow. The celebrity nodded frantically. His whole body was shaking.

“Good.” Yuan Anqing withdrew his hand and picked up the aluminum baseball bat that Zhuo had given him. The tap earlier had been the bat hitting the floor.

Zhuo didn’t participate at all. He just hovered invisibly from the side. When the dull, sickening thud of the metal bat hitting flesh sounded, Zhuo even shrank his massive neck back in sympathetic wincing.

After methodically beating the man, Yuan Anqing disappeared on the spot.

The minor celebrity shuddered in agony on the floor, bleeding. Only when he was absolutely sure Yuan Anqing was gone did he dare to cry out loud.

“I’ll come find you again next time,” Yuan Anqing’s voice suddenly rang out from the empty air.

His crying was instantly interrupted. Fear paralyzed him, and goosebumps rose again. Staying behind to deliver a one-liner was Zhuo’s idea. The monster wanted to ensure the bastard was thoroughly traumatized.

“If he dares to cause trouble again, we’ll come beat him up,” Zhuo said to Yuan Anqing once they were back in the apartment. “You looked really scary when you were hitting him!”

Yuan Anqing looked at the red hands gesturing excitedly in front of him and silently pressed his temple.

Could I possibly be scarier than Zhuo?

“You seemed so inscrutable! You struck so hard, but your expression was still…”

“Still what?”

“That kind of half-smile, like it was just another day at the office.” Zhuo paused, then continued in awe, “Really like a high-IQ psychopath from a movie.”

“Is that a compliment?” Yuan Anqing asked.

“It’s a huge compliment!” A red hand came up to cup Yuan Anqing’s face. “You don’t look fierce or muscular at all, but you’re utterly terrifying!”

“I really wasn’t angry,” Yuan Anqing sighed. “And I wasn’t nervous.”

“But you hit hard.”

Zhuo’s extra hands started roaming over Yuan Anqing’s body affectionately again. Yuan Anqing let him squeeze and prod; he wasn’t ticklish anymore.

Then Zhuo murmured, “You looked really tempting just now.”

“I was committing aggravated assault.”

“That’s exactly it—the way you hit someone was really tempting.” Zhuo sighed dreamily. “Before, your every subtle move seemed to lure me into wanting to eat you. Now, your every move seems like you want to lure me into sleeping with you.”

Yuan Anqing thought Zhuo was a bit obsessed. “You’re the only one who’s ever said that to me. If I were truly that attractive, someone would have mentioned it before I turned thirty-five.”

“They just don’t appreciate you,” Zhuo huffed. He really thought other humans were blind. But even if they weren’t, Yuan Anqing wouldn’t have liked them back. “I was attracted to you the very first time I saw you.” He mentally included his predatory appetite in that ‘attraction.’ “If there were another ‘you’ in this world, you’d definitely fall in love with yourself too.”

“Forget it. I’d probably just find a clone of myself incredibly boring.” Yuan Anqing waved his hand dismissively. He knew Zhuo wore heavy rose-tinted glasses—since they got together, the monster saw absolutely everything about Yuan Anqing as flawless.

“You have amazing self-control,” Zhuo continued to praise. “I tried to seduce you in the hospital bed, and you didn’t even react.”

“Zhuo,” Yuan Anqing called his name.

“What?”

“I’ll say it again: that was not seduction.” Yuan Anqing felt that Zhuo, during those times, was like a giant monitor lizard performing a bizarre mating dance—doing weird, jerky moves with his big tail wagging. It was, at most, a strange, comedic sight.

Zhuo thought Yuan Anqing just had a high threshold for arousal; he didn’t think there was anything fundamentally wrong with his own technique. “If I refine my method, you might not be able to resist.”

“You didn’t react at all to my hot seduction,” Zhuo lamented. “In the future, you’ll definitely be a very faithful partner.”

He seemed to have convinced himself of this logic. The several red hands started affectionately caressing Yuan Anqing’s head. Yuan Anqing had seen how Zhuo used those exact hands to snap human spines like twigs. But now, the force of those hands on him was exceptionally gentle, only trying to mold expressions onto his stoic face.

One of Zhuo’s fingers poked at the corner of Yuan Anqing’s mouth and pushed it up, manually forming a strange smile.

Zhuo was delighted and laughed heartily.

Yuan Anqing felt helpless. He used to think Zhuo had a low threshold for laughter, but then he realized that he himself was genuinely amused by Zhuo’s glee, so his own threshold couldn’t be that high either.

Zhuo wanted to pinch his nose next. Yuan Anqing reached out and grabbed Zhuo’s wrist, but Zhuo simply used his other hands to push back. Yuan Anqing only had two human hands; even using both couldn’t stop Zhuo’s extra appendages.

Zhuo snickered and reached for his nose again, but his finger was suddenly bitten by Yuan Anqing.

Yuan Anqing didn’t use much strength, but Zhuo let out a yelp as if he’d been bitten by a wolf. Not because of pain, but because he touched Yuan Anqing’s tongue.

“You’re seducing me again!” Zhuo yelled, blushing fiercely. “Why are you licking my finger?!”

Yuan Anqing: “…”

He used his tongue to push the finger out of his mouth in disgust. Zhuo made even stranger, flustered sounds. Yuan Anqing snorted, “I’ll wash out that yellow, perverted brain of yours sooner or later.”

As he spoke, he suddenly felt the scene shift from their apartment back to the hospital room the military base had arranged for them.

“We’re back here?” Yuan Anqing looked around the sterile room.

“How are you going to wash my brain?” Zhuo demanded, standing in front of Yuan Anqing with his hands on his hips. He really seemed a bit angry. His tall frame was exceptionally intimidating when he frowned.

Yuan Anqing reached up, grabbed Zhuo’s horns with both hands, and pulled him closer.

Zhuo cooperated, bending down, but kept his stern face.

“Raise your tail,” Yuan Anqing ordered calmly. “A lot of things are only romantic fantasies to you because you have so little exposure to the real world. Once you get more physical contact, you’ll find there’s nothing special about them. It’s as ordinary as eating and drinking.”

“Great! So you’re thinking about doing these things to me too!” Zhuo couldn’t hold his serious face any longer and burst out laughing. “How dare you criticize me for being dirty-minded?!”

“I don’t talk about it every single day like you do,” Yuan Anqing let go of his horns. “And I don’t act spoiled all the time.”

Zhuo wanted to retort, but Yuan Anqing had already grabbed the sensitive tip of his tail.

“Ow! Wait! I need to argue with you!” Zhuo protested, blushing. “Whoa! Hold on! Don’t touch me randomly!”

His voice of resistance gradually blurred and became incoherent mumbles. Even powerful, world-ending monsters had things they couldn’t handle.

The next day, as they were secretly returning the aluminum baseball bats to the armory, they ran into that colonel again. The colonel came up very naturally and put his arm around Zhuo’s shoulder. “Hey, how’d it go?”

“How’d what go?” Zhuo frowned back.

“You beat that guy up at the detention center. How’s he doing?”

“I didn’t beat him. Yuan Anqing did. He’s not dead, no broken bones. Not sure if there are any hairline fractures.” Zhuo’s attention wasn’t on the celebrity’s health.

“Why didn’t you do it?” The colonel was puzzled.

“I wanted to, but Yuan Anqing thought I’d smash his brains out with one swing.” Zhuo could control his strength well, but Yuan Anqing clearly didn’t trust his restraint that much. After all, Zhuo knew that even if he accidentally killed that minor celebrity, the authorities wouldn’t blame him; they’d bend over backward to cover it up. But Yuan Anqing didn’t want him to be a murderer. Too much indulgence would negatively affect Zhuo’s morality.

“Mr. Yuan said that?” The colonel was a bit surprised; he thought the Savior was a ruthless pragmatist.

“He didn’t say it aloud.” Zhuo shook his head.

The colonel raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“I could just tell.” Zhuo pointed at Yuan Anqing’s blank face.

The colonel looked up at the Savior. He felt that Yuan Anqing was always cold and aloof—how could anyone analyze such rich emotions from those stoic features?

Zhuo didn’t know how to explain it to a human. Since Yuan Anqing had offered to take action yesterday, he definitely wanted Zhuo to control himself. That didn’t need to be said explicitly. Zhuo felt that was what Yuan Anqing thought, so he obeyed.

Yuan Anqing patted Zhuo’s back, then voluntarily engaged the colonel. “How much do you actually know about the previous Saviors?”

“Me?” The colonel pointed to himself. “Ha, I still don’t even understand what a Savior is.” He wasn’t lying; he really didn’t understand the metaphysics.

That Senior Qing claimed to be an admirer of the previous Savior, but the colonel thought Senior Qing’s admiration was incredibly strange. They had asked about Mr. Qing’s past with the previous Savior before.

“Let’s put it this way: I feel Mr. Qing didn’t have much physical interaction with the previous Savior at all. He doesn’t even know the previous Savior’s specific appearance or gender.”

“Huh?” Zhuo found it ridiculous. Not knowing the face was bad enough, but not even knowing the gender of your crush?

“Then what did he actually like about the previous Savior?” Zhuo asked. “Even a 2D anime character has a face.”

“Mr. Qing said it was the soul.” The colonel couldn’t empathize with Mr. Qing, and probably no one in the world could. “He said the Savior’s soul is a kind of beauty beyond normal human comprehension.”

Zhuo actually agreed on this point. “But before he became like this, he was an ordinary human. How could he see a soul or not?”

“So we don’t know.” The colonel shrugged. “All we know is that the previous Savior must have left something inside Mr. Qing, and Mr. Qing willingly does all this administrative work for the previous Savior.”

“He was hoodwinked?” Zhuo muttered. If Yuan Anqing were gone, Zhuo thought he would only find a way to leave the world with him; he wouldn’t care about the future of the organization.

“Mr. Qing’s mind is clear. He knows exactly what he’s doing,” the colonel said. He had thought all Savior-lovers were zealots like Qing, but looking at Zhuo’s possessive, grounded nature, he realized he was wrong.

“Then Mr. Qing insisted on meeting me just to ask those philosophical questions? Couldn’t he just send a text?” Yuan Anqing asked.

“Oh, Mr. Qing isn’t good at texting. And he said he wanted to confirm whether you were telling the truth or just brushing him off.” Text exchanges were far less clear than a face-to-face psychic connection.

Yuan Anqing frowned slightly.

“If you can’t figure it out, don’t think about it.” Zhuo pushed Yuan Anqing’s shoulder gently. “Let’s go skydiving today!”

“This isn’t a theme park for extreme games.” Yuan Anqing rubbed his forehead. “They have formal military training to complete here.”

“You can skydive,” the colonel offered generously. “You don’t come often; it won’t interfere. You could jump continuously for a week if you want.”

“A week is impossible. I have to go to a regular hospital ward tomorrow,” Zhuo grumbled. He was going to the hospital to lie among regular patients. “I have to lie down for over half a month, pretending to be unable to move at all.”

“Why can’t you move?” The colonel asked. “Didn’t the hospital arrange a VIP single room for you? Can’t you choose a double bed so Mr. Yuan can stay?”

“They can arrange it, but in a single room, the rogue organizations won’t get good information from their spies.”

The authorities had controlled the perpetrators, but they also wanted to make the organizations believe Zhuo was seriously injured. It was using Zhuo as bait to see if they could fish out more rebel factions.

In the rebels’ perception, the truly powerful one was the Savior, and Zhuo was just a ‘gift’ the authorities had prepared for Yuan Anqing to keep him compliant. The authorities certainly didn’t care about Zhuo’s safety, and Yuan Anqing might just be pretending to like him. Now that the organizations couldn’t contact the perpetrators, they could only guess. With such a powerful Savior by his side, how could Zhuo get hit by a car? It was too suspicious. Either Zhuo’s injury was fake, or the Savior’s affection was fake. Maybe the Savior detected trouble early and pushed Zhuo out before the group acted, deliberately causing the accident to ruin the organization’s plan and get rid of the annoying monster. If it was the latter, then Zhuo was indeed just a disposable toy to Yuan Anqing.

Zhuo explained this convoluted logic to the colonel, and he understood. “So you have to act bedridden for over half a month?”

“That’s my only fun,” Zhuo sighed. For half a month, he couldn’t sleep properly with Yuan Anqing.

“Then won’t the Savior have to wipe your body down with a sponge?” the colonel asked innocently.

“Huh?” Zhuo suddenly realized something was off. “Wipe my body?”

“You can’t move at all, right? You’ll need sponge baths.”

Zhuo’s red eyes lit up. If Yuan Anqing wiped his body down and he ‘couldn’t move,’ then Yuan Anqing could do anything to him, and he couldn’t resist?! That was a bit too much. Zhuo’s tail started wagging frantically. “Then tomorrow, won’t we…”

“The organizations won’t plant people that fast,” Yuan Anqing reminded him dryly. “You’re free until your ‘patient roommate’ spy arrives.”

He actually started looking forward to that special roommate.

Zhuo eagerly awaited the day when Yuan Anqing could do whatever he wanted to him in the hospital bed. But when that day finally came, he realized he had overlooked a fatal biological problem.

Now, Zhuo lay in a hospital bed, wrapped in fake bandages, looking entirely listless.

On the bed next to him, a man with extensive skin burns was the eye planted by the rebel organization. After spending half a day together in silence, the fat man couldn’t help asking, “Aren’t you holding it in?”

“What?” Zhuo weakly turned his head to look at him.

The fat, burned man’s injuries were real—likely inflicted by the organization just for the occasion to make him a credible spy. “You haven’t gone to the bathroom all day.”

Yuan Anqing, who was sitting by Zhuo’s bed peeling an apple, paused his knife.

“Aren’t you holding it in?” The fat man looked around and didn’t see a urinal near Zhuo’s bed, nor did Zhuo have a catheter bag.

Zhuo: “…”

What bathroom? He never needed to go! He had no such physiological needs! He digested everything cleanly with 100% efficiency every time.

Yuan Anqing silently set down the knife and the apple, then looked at Zhuo. “Do you need to use the bathroom, darling?”

How?! He couldn’t even go naturally!

Zhuo chose to stay silent, blushing furiously.

“Never mind. You’re probably still mad at me.” Yuan Anqing sighed theatrically, took off his glasses, then looked at the fat spy. “He doesn’t like using those bedpans. He’s very stubborn.”

The fat man: “Huh?”

Then he watched in absolute shock as Yuan Anqing picked up the massive Zhuo in a smooth princess carry.

The fat man’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

Zhuo wanted to widen his eyes too, but he held back his expression. He… he wouldn’t crush Yuan Anqing, would he? He weighed over 100 kg!

Clearly, Zhuo had underestimated Yuan Anqing’s Savior carrying capacity. As long as Zhuo didn’t struggle, Yuan Anqing carrying him to the bathroom wasn’t a problem.

“Did I touch your wound?” Yuan Anqing asked Zhuo tenderly.

Zhuo silently shook his head, burying his flushed face in Yuan’s neck.

Then Yuan Anqing carried the giant monster into the en-suite bathroom.

The fat man: “…”

His wife, who was also accompanying him in the hospital, sat beside his bed. They exchanged bewildered glances but didn’t dare speak or communicate via text, not knowing the extent of the Savior’s psychic perception. Both saw pure shock in each other’s eyes. They weren’t young, but at that moment, they felt they had stumbled onto the set of a bizarre, supernatural soap opera. And the leads didn’t look like the usual ones.

Inside the bathroom, Yuan Anqing and Zhuo stared at each other. Zhuo was blushing all over his body. Yuan Anqing patted his shoulder in consolation. Then, he took out his phone, found an audio file of water sounds, played it loudly, and flushed the toilet. Afterward, he picked up Zhuo, who was curled up on the floor in embarrassment, and carried him back out.

The fat man and his wife were staring openly. When Zhuo was gently placed back on the bed, the wife said, “You two are really in love.”

Zhuo let out a helpless, pathetic huff, as if bearing countless unspeakable sorrows. This time, he wasn’t acting—he was genuinely about to die of embarrassment. He had to stay in the hospital for half a month; would Yuan Anqing have to carry him back and forth every few hours?!

Yuan Anqing patted Zhuo’s hand again in fake comfort. “I’ll get you some hot water.”

He stood up, but Zhuo grabbed his hand tightly. Having Yuan Anqing out of his sight was too dangerous for his pride.

Yuan Anqing smiled and patted his hand again, pulling away. Right now, in the organizations’ eyes, the dangerous one was Yuan Anqing; they wouldn’t act against him easily.

When Yuan Anqing left the room, the wife sidled over to Zhuo’s bed. “Your boyfriend really cares about you. You two must have a great relationship, right?”

“Yeah… it’s great.” Zhuo forced a bitter smile. “He’ll do anything for me.” His hands trembled. “To outsiders, it probably seems really good.” He looked so melancholy, so sorrowful. Zhuo was a master of acting; he had long wanted to try the ‘vulnerable, abused flower’ role.

“What? Is your boyfriend’s kindness just an act? My husband never carried me around when I was hurt just for appearance’s sake.”

“What do you know?” Zhuo sighed again, looking away. “This injury of mine… forget it. I won’t say.”

The wife caught on instantly. “Wasn’t this injury caused by the car? Wait—was it caused by him?”

Zhuo smiled tragically without speaking.

The wife feigned indignation. “He did that?! What kind of man is he?!”

“Don’t say that about him.” Zhuo’s expression changed to fierce, battered loyalty. “He’s the best to me!”

“He hurts you and that’s the best?” the wife retorted, probing for intel.

“He had no choice! If there was any other option, he would never hurt me!”

“Couldn’t he hurt himself instead?”

“You don’t understand. He loves me.” Zhuo’s lips trembled beautifully.

The wife: “…”

She had thought this bodyguard would be easy to turn against the Savior, but he was truly, hopelessly love-struck and brainwashed.

“If he really loved you, he wouldn’t have laid a hand on you.” The wife tried to pat Zhuo’s hand in sympathy, but he dodged as if burned.

“Don’t touch me!” Zhuo frowned, playing the traumatized victim. “Only he can touch me.”

The wife: “…”

Tsk! What a dramatic, brainwashed man!

Zhuo silently tucked his hands under the blanket. “If someone else touches me, he might not like me anymore.”

Just then, Yuan Anqing walked in carrying a thermos, having heard that last line perfectly.

Yuan Anqing: “???”

Zhuo looked up at Yuan Anqing with wide, teary eyes. Yuan Anqing reacted quickly. He usually showed little expression anyway, so he didn’t need to do anything difficult like sneer or scowl. He just had to speak coldly, and the spies would fill in the blanks: “Good that you know.”

Yuan Anqing sat back down by Zhuo’s bed and aggressively continued peeling the apple with a sharp knife. “You’d better remember exactly what your existence is for.”

“Mm, I know.” Zhuo nodded submissively.

In a place the spy couple couldn’t see, the tip of Zhuo’s tail lightly, happily poked Yuan Anqing’s thigh under the sheets.

Yuan Anqing held the tail down firmly. “I hope next time I don’t catch you complaining to people.”

“I wasn’t complaining,” Zhuo shrank back.

“You’d better not have.” Yuan Anqing looked coldly at Zhuo. “My patience has limits.”

Zhuo silently nodded.

Yuan Anqing was indeed perfectly suited for the outwardly gentle but inwardly abusive persona. Zhuo grew increasingly excited by the roleplay. Based on the trashy romance novels he’d read, now was the time for Yuan Anqing to punish him severely. But unfortunately, there was an audience here; Yuan Anqing couldn’t do anything fun to him.

Just as Zhuo was getting riled up, a familiar voice came from the door. “Um… Mr. Yuan?”

Yuan Anqing and Zhuo both looked over and saw Yuan Zhanhui standing awkwardly at the door.

Yuan Zhanhui had a cast on his arm, and his leopard ears and tail were fully exposed.

Yuan Anqing: “… What happened to you?”

“I fell down the stairs. Those people thought I was the Savior and chased me.” Yuan Zhanhui used his good hand to touch the fluffy ears on his head. “When my true form showed, they realized I wasn’t the Savior. But I broke my arm.”

Yuan Anqing didn’t know what to say for a moment.

But Zhuo immediately became alert and territorial. “What are you here for?”

Yuan Zhanhui: “…Just… just to check in.”

His organization had sent him to seduce Yuan Anqing again. They thought Zhuo was finished—too injured to keep the Savior’s heart or have any physical relationship with him. The organization told him to try again; he was already ‘friends’ with the Savior, so he should see if he could succeed as a rebound.

Yuan Zhanhui hadn’t defected to the government yet, so he had to accept the mission.

Under Zhuo’s fierce, jealous glare, Yuan Zhanhui silently sat by Zhuo’s bed, facing away from the spy wife, and mouthed a silent “sorry” to Zhuo.

Zhuo felt a little short of breath from anger.

Then something even more unsettling happened.

Another unfamiliar male voice came from the door.

The three of them looked over and saw a tall, athletic, sunny-looking boy at the door, nearly 1.9 meters tall. He called out to the fat man on the bed, “Uncle! I’ve come to see you!”

Zhuo recognized that bright, fake smile. So did Yuan Zhanhui.

Yuan Zhanhui had done that exact same expression mimicking Zhuo one-on-one before. Seeing another spy doing it now made him want to cover his face in secondhand embarrassment.

It seemed that because Zhuo was ‘down,’ these rival organizations were ganging up to poach the Savior!

Only then did Yuan Anqing remember that he had run into someone exactly like that on the way here. That sunny boy had tried to strike up a conversation in the hall, but Yuan Anqing had only brushed him off.

Zhuo took a deep, shuddering breath. Yuan Zhanhui was afraid Zhuo would explode and kill them all.

But he was overthinking; Zhuo didn’t get angry. He just squeezed out some fresh, pitiful tears.

Yuan Zhanhui: “…”

The newly arrived boy: “??”

“How nice. They can run and jump, unlike me,” Zhuo choked up, looking at Yuan Anqing. “If I lie down any longer, I’ll probably get fat like that man over there. How could you still like me?”

The fat spy, who was pointed at, was innocently caught in the crossfire.

Yuan Zhanhui felt a pang in his heart. Zhuo’s physique wasn’t from exercise; it was natural biology. How could lying down make it disappear?

But Yuan Anqing quickly caught on to what Zhuo was playing at. He hugged him loosely. “No matter what you become, I only like you.”

“You’re lying. At first, you only liked my body.” Zhuo sniffled. “My super good-looking body.”

Everyone: “…”

He was just praising himself, wasn’t he?

“If I were in good shape, which of them could compare to me?” Zhuo glanced at Yuan Zhanhui and then at the sunny young man nearby. “He’s shorter than me, not as good-looking, and not as shapely.”

The young man silently stepped back half a step.

“But I’m not good anymore,” Zhuo wiped his dramatic tears. “If I’d known this, I’d rather have died in that crash. It would have been cleaner.”

“Don’t say that about yourself,” Yuan Anqing held his hand tightly. “You know I only like you. Only you are so obedient.”

“Um…” Yuan Zhanhui tried to cut in. How could these two act so naturally toxic?

“You were born for me, right?” Yuan Anqing wiped away the tears at the corner of Zhuo’s eye with his thumb.

“Mm.” Zhuo nodded. His tail trembled violently under the sheets. This time, it wasn’t from shyness or discomfort, but from holding back sheer laughter. Yuan Anqing’s deadpan seriousness was too amusing, and his acting as an abusive lover was incredibly convincing.

“If you insist on finding someone new, then kill me first,” Zhuo said pitifully. “I came into being for you. If you don’t want me, I have no reason to live.”

The accompanying wife’s frown grew deeper. In all her years as a spy, she had never seen someone with such pathetic, low self-esteem.

Yuan Anqing thought for a moment and said, “You will die. But not now.”

Zhuo found those words familiar.

Sure enough, Yuan Anqing continued smoothly, “When I’m done playing with you, I’ll eat you. Don’t worry, I won’t make it too painful.”

Zhuo coughed. Yuan Anqing was mimicking his own exact threats from the beginning of their relationship!

“I’ll savor every part of your body. Especially your soul,” Yuan Anqing patted Zhuo’s head condescendingly.

Yuan Zhanhui quietly remained a silent decoration in the corner.

The three spies on the neighboring beds gasped internally.

This Savior is truly a sadistic pervert! And Zhuo is blushing?! Does he actually LIKE that?! They are both total perverts! In a sick sense, they are indeed a perfect match!

The tip of Zhuo’s tail tapped lightly on Yuan Anqing’s thigh. He was having a hard time holding in his laughter. He didn’t know how Yuan Anqing could be so serious; he was really, really good at pretending.

Yuan Anqing gave Zhuo a light, patronizing kiss on the forehead, then looked at Yuan Zhanhui, who was standing like a vase. “Is there anything else you need from me?”

Yuan Zhanhui was taken aback. He thought he just needed to sit there. But he quickly caught Yuan Anqing’s meaning. Yuan Anqing wanted him to leave so that the spy family and Zhuo could talk alone, giving them a false chance to turn Zhuo behind the Savior’s back.

“Yes, there is something, but it’s too crowded here.” Yuan Zhanhui immediately stood up. “Let’s talk outside.”

Yuan Anqing nodded, then warned Zhuo again before getting up. “Don’t let strangers touch you while I’m gone, or you know what I’ll do.”

Zhuo grunted in submissive acknowledgment.

Yuan Anqing patted Zhuo’s cheek as a final, demeaning warning, then followed Yuan Zhanhui out into the hall.

The other three spies in the ward remained silent. They wanted to get closer to Zhuo to turn him, but they thought he was completely abnormal and didn’t know how to communicate with his masochistic type.

But Zhuo looked at the newly arrived sunny young man. “What’s your name?”

“Huh? Me? Yan Jin.”

“That’s a nice name,” Zhuo tilted his head. “How old are you?”

Yan Jin had the illusion that he was a junior concubine who had just entered the imperial palace. Because the Emperor had glanced at him in the hall, the jealous Empress was now digging into his background. Though he was indeed arranged by the organization to seduce Yuan Anqing, the Savior’s behavior was truly too creepy, and he felt a massive amount of psychological pressure.

“Twenty-four,” Yan Jin said.

“Twenty-four. Ten years younger than me.” Zhuo sighed heavily. “It’s good to be young. Youth is capital.” Then he looked Yan Jin up and down judgmentally. “Although you’re not nearly as good-looking as me, you’re still somewhat human-like.”

Yan Jin: “…”

This Zhuo guy really had a chip on his shoulder!

“Alas,” Zhuo sighed again, closing his eyes as if he was done talking to the trash.

The spy wife couldn’t hold back. “You speak so harshly. Even if you’re feeling upset about your abusive boyfriend, you can’t belittle my nephew like that.”

“I am upset, but is there anything false in what I said?” Zhuo curled his lips. “He’s not as good as me in any way. Is it wrong to state the objective fact that he’s ugly?”

His tone was so sharp and acerbic, completely mismatched with his massive, masculine appearance. He looked like a hearty, outgoing jock, but now he gave the distinct feeling of a sharp-tongued, scheming concubine who had time-traveled into the body of a tough mercenary.

Then Zhuo bit his lower lip again, turning back into the stubborn, abused little flower… a super-sized, two-meter-tall version of an abused little flower.

“You might be misunderstanding,” Yan Jin found it a headache. He hadn’t even spoken to the Savior yet. “I’m not interested in your boyfriend.”

“Not interested? How is that possible?!” Zhuo was astonished. “Are you blind? How can you not be interested in such a perfect person right in front of you? Who else can you possibly have eyes for?!”

“Don’t lie to me. He’s the best person I’ve ever seen.” Zhuo snorted. “Even a blind person can feel his goodness. If you really don’t care for him, then you’re a tasteless, stupid thing.”

This guy’s aggression is way too strong!

“You don’t allow me to be interested, and when I say I’m not, you think I have no taste?!” Yan Jin frowned. “What exactly do you want from me?!”

“Alas.” Zhuo sighed. “Everyone will like him eventually. I’d rather you didn’t, but it’s an objective fact that everyone likes him. Do you understand? No matter how unwilling I am to accept it, I can’t do anything about it. I’m just a helpless victim.”

Yan Jin: “…”

Psycho!

“You got hurt because of him, didn’t you?” the wife interjected softly. Her brow was almost knotted in confusion. The fat man also looked distressed, rubbing his forehead.

Zhuo ignored her, turning to Yan Jin and adding, “He wouldn’t fancy an ugly thing like you anyway. Give up.”

“Only I can be by his side. You’re just a rat in the sewer.” Zhuo’s aggressive aura returned.

Yan Jin clenched his fist. This Zhuo guy being bullied by the Savior wasn’t pitiable at all; he absolutely deserved it!

“You’re clenching your fist. Want to hit me?” Zhuo raised an eyebrow challengingly. “I can’t beat you in this bed, but if you dare lay a hand on me, my boyfriend will turn you into ground meat. Believe me?”

Yan Jin took a deep, furious breath.

Zhuo continued, “But I won’t let him hit you. I know people like you. Him hitting you would only turn you on.”

Yan Jin regulated his breathing, trying not to scream.

“What? Are you excited? Thinking about his fist on your face gets you going?” Zhuo sneered. “Indecent creature.”

Yan Jin’s rationality was about to collapse.

Why had he come here?! Why had he agreed to this mission?! And this Zhuo guy—even though he was paralyzed after the crash, couldn’t he have any self-respect?!

Meanwhile, Yuan Zhanhui was keeping watch around the corner in the hallway. After confirming no hospital staff was around, he glanced back at his companion.

Yuan Anqing was covering his face with his hands, laughing silently. He had no acting experience and usually could only maintain a blank expression. But thinking back to Zhuo’s feigned delicacy inside the room: “Hahahaha…”

Yuan Zhanhui: “You’ve been laughing for a while. Can you pull yourself together?”

Yuan Anqing cleared his throat, trying to suppress his laughter, but failed. “Ha… lying around getting fat… Hahahaha!”

Yuan Zhanhui: “…”

Was the Savior always like this? Did he have such a low laughter threshold? Remembering how he had repeated Zhuo’s earlier threats and Zhuo’s startled look, Yuan Anqing clutched his stomach, laughing soundlessly against the wall.

Yuan Zhanhui was genuinely afraid Yuan Anqing would laugh himself into an asthma attack.

The person is just like this, Yuan Zhanhui could only comfort himself, continuing to keep watch for the giggling Savior.