When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 138: Number One Player

Chapter 138: Number One Player

"Someone?" Shen Nianzu turned to him in surprise. "Is it Qing Mo?"

But Jin Jiuchi slowly shook his head. "No, it smells different..." He pressed his lips together and his expression turned somber. "How can this be..."

Shen Nianzu very seldom saw Jin Jiuchi like this, and everytime he did, it always gave him an ominous premonition. Who was it? Who could have visited his secluded villa, whose scent Jin Jiuchi could not even discern clearly?

Apart from Qing Mo, the only people who knew he lived here were his parents. Could it be them? But it was not like them to drop by all of a sudden without prior notice. Just as Shen Nianzu was pondering over this problem, he saw Jin Jiuchi looking around at his feet like a hound before fixing his gaze on a corner gap of the door. "Nian’er, look!"

He bent down to retrieve something and showed it to Shen Nianzu, confused. "What is this?"

Their heads snuggled together as they looked at the small piece of paper on Jin Jiuchi’s palm.

It turned out to be a name card.

"Qian Hui..." The corner of Shen Nianzu’s eye twitched as he murmured the name. It was a simple yet elegant name card engraved only with a name and a string of numbers.

"Do you know them, Nian’er?" Jin Jiuchi inquired.

Shen Nianzu shook his head, "No, but if I remember correctly, there is an old family surnamed Qian in Suzhou that has been my family’s business partner for years..."

Was it really someone from that family? But how did they find this place, and what could they have come here for?

With the question lingering in his mind, Shen Nianzu took out his phone and dialed the number on the name card. The call connected on the second ring.

"Hello?"

***

An hour later.

Shen Nianzu and Jin Jiuchi were sitting on the living room couch and watching SpongeBob Squarepants on TV when the doorbell rang.

"It must be Qian Hui." Shen Nianzu made a move to stand up, only to realize that Jin Jiuchi had gone completely still beside him.

He gave the man a scrutinizing look, as he had been acting strange ever since he discovered the presence of someone else outside the house. However, it was not polite to keep a guest waiting, so Shen Nianzu could only ignore him for now and walked toward the door.

Alas, he had just opened the door by a crack when a huge force seized him from behind and dragged him back, almost causing him to stumble on his steps. Jin Jiuchi held the jade doll tightly in his arms as he bared his teeth at the person on the other side of the door. A threatening growl resounded from his throat. Had he been in his animal form, perhaps all of the fur on his body would have stood on its end.

"Wha—" Shen Nianzu was caught off guard and almost suffocated from how tight Jin Jiuchi was clutching onto him, but before he could push Jin Jiuchi away, he heard the man roar in extreme agitation,

"Nian’er, she smells the same as the Nightmare! You... how dare you show yourself in front of our door!"

What?!

Shen Nianzu had been holding onto the handle when Jin Jiuchi dragged him away, and thus the door was pulled along, revealing a little girl in beautiful blue hanfu standing behind it.

She looked extremely shocked by Jin Jiuchi’s reaction. She raised her head and her bandaged eyes swept across Jin Jiuchi. In an instant, she scrambled backward and let out an ear-piercing scream as if she had seen something terrifying!

"AHHHH!!!"

Her scream was so loud that the birds flew away in a panic, leaving Jin Jiuchi dumbfounded. He looked back and forth between Shen Nianzu and the little girl, demanding in disbelief,

"Shouldn’t I be the one who screams the loudest?!"

The girl tripped on the hem of her skirt in her haste, but before she could fall, three paper dolls shot out from her long sleeves and transformed into a teenage girl with a poof, catching her in the nick of time. "Young Miss, are you okay?!" Holding the terrified girl in her arms, the paper doll shot a furious glare at Jin Jiuchi, "What have you done to our Young Miss, you stinky bastard?!"

"S–Stink..." Jin Jiuchi sputtered out in anger. "You’re the one who stinks. Your whole body stinks so much that I could die!!"

"What did you say?!" Her face twisted horribly in the mixture of rage and incredulity. If she hadn’t been holding onto her trembling Young Miss, she would have rushed forward and fought Jin Jiuchi with her bare fists!

The scene spiraled out of control so quickly that Shen Nianzu was not given the chance to react. By the time he came to his senses, Jin Jiuchi and the paper doll were trading childish insults like noisy aunties in the supermarket. Shen Nianzu’s head started to hurt just by listening to them and unable to bear it anymore, he hollered out loud, "STOP!"

Jin Jiuchi and the paper doll in hanfu clamped their mouths shut in an instant, though they still glared at each other like a cat and dog.

Shen Nianzu massaged his aching temple, feeling extremely tired all of a sudden. "Can someone tell me what’s going on?"

Fortunately, Qian Hui managed to regain her composure quickly and reassured her paper doll that she was unharmed. However, the same could not be said for Jin Jiuchi, who refused to let go of Shen Nianzu even under the threat of dinner. As a result, Shen Nianzu could only resign to his fate and let the agitated husky clung to him as he took a seat farthest from Qian Hui and her paper doll.

"I’m sorry for... everything that happened back there," Shen Nianzu started.

"No, I should be the one to say that," Qian Hui lowered her head in remorse, while the beautiful paper doll helped her dab the sweat on her forehead with a handkerchief. "I’m so sorry to let you see such an unsightly scene. Also, thank you for agreeing to meet me. Let me introduce myself first, I am Qian Hui and my nickname is... Hui."

Shock and incredulity crossed Shen Nianzu’s features as he examined the little girl before him. "Hui? You are... Harbinger of Doom?"

"That’s right," a bitter smile hung on Qian Hui’s lips. "I am the number one player on the leaderboard."