When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 158: Protective Jin Jiuchi

Chapter 158: Protective Jin Jiuchi

What happened next seemed to be in slow motion.

Shen Nianzu heard the blood curdling shriek from Gu Luoxin nearby, though it lasted only for a short second before it was cut off. His heart skipped a beat, but before he could even react, a chilling gust of wind rushed towards him from the side!

’Danger!’ Alarm bells went off in his mind and his entire body grew tense in preparation for the fight.

With the sudden absence of light, Shen Nianzu was completely blinded right now, but at least he could still gauge the direction of the attack from the shift in the air. He flicked his fingers, silver needles ready at hand, but before he could throw them forward, a powerful force suddenly yanked him from behind, causing him to fall into a warm and familiar chest.

"Piss off!" Jin Jiuchi growled in anger as he stretched out a leg to kick the troublemaker away, all the while holding the jade doll in the protective circle of his muscular arms.

Stunned, it took Shen Nianzu one full second to react. He had not fully adjusted to the dark yet and thus when he raised his head, all he could see was a pair of glowing silver eyes that were blazing in irritation. It was both inhumane... yet incomparably beautiful. Those eyes glanced down to him, and Jin Jiuchi’s furious complaints rumbled above his head, "Nian’er, these creatures almost dragged me away from you! They also wanted to attack you! How dare they...!"

Those words managed to snap him out of the lure of Jin Jiuchi’s glowing eyes, and he finally registered what the man had just told him. "Creatures?" he asked, alarmed. "What kind of creatures? Wait, where is Xinxin?!"

"They dragged him away!" Jin Jiuchi glared at the slimy creature which he had just kicked to the ground.

His excellent sight allowed him to take in its full appearance. At first glance, it looked no different than an NPC clad in the crew uniform. But upon closer inspection, its skin had a lustrous sheen to it and pale blue scales scattered across its body. Fins protruded from its ears, its nails were sharp and lethal, and its mouth was filled with thin fangs.

Those sharp nails were just an inch away from Shen Nianzu just now! If Nian’er was scratched, he would definitely get injured and bleed! The mere thought of it enraged Jin Jiuchi further, and he couldn’t help but hold the jade doll even closer, almost wishing that he could tie this person to his waist and bring him everywhere he went.

Perhaps it was the intensity of his glare, the creature dared not go forward anymore and chose to flee instead.

Jin Jiuchi’s ears picked up shuffling sounds nearby and he turned to catch a few more similar creatures hovering around them. When he bared his teeth at them, they promptly scrambled away like headless flies.

Meanwhile, Shen Nianzu almost choked on his breath when Jin Jiuchi tightened his arms around him. This damned husky... did he not know the extent of his own strength?! What was he squeezing him so tight for?!

"Let... go!" Gasping, he slapped Jin Jiuchi’s rock hard arm, and only then did Jin Jiuchi realize that he had used too much strength.

"Oops..." Jin Jiuchi loosened his hold, but kept his arms loosely wrapped around Shen Nianzu, reluctant to let go. "Nian’er, are you okay?" He asked with deep concern. Gone was his fierce demeanor earlier as he rubbed his cheek against the crown of Shen Nianzu’s head like a spoiled child. "That was such a close call! What should I do if Nian’er gets hurt again?"

Shen Nianzu was rendered utterly speechless when he heard that. He did not notice it back in the real world for the lack of danger, but it seemed like since entering the Cycle, Jin Jiuchi had become... extremely protective of him, almost to the point of paranoia. Not only that, he had become more clingy too, always wanting to stick together at all times.

Wait a damn minute, had this dumb husky forgotten who was supposed to be the top 50 player? Had he forgotten who had almost drowned him to death when he was in a berserk mode before?

However, none of them were important right now. He pushed Jin Jiuchi away and surveyed the surroundings with a frown, "Where did they take Xinxin? Did you see anything?"

Jin Jiuchi puckered his lips into a pout, "Nian’er, you’re worried about Xinxin, but not me?"

Veins throbbed on Shen Nianzu’s forehead and in the heat of the moment, he slapped Jin Jiuchi’s shoulder. "Now is not—" his words abruptly halted when he felt a damp and sticky sensation on his palm.

This was... blood?

Shen Nianzu’s breath hitched on his throat. In that split second, his logical mind was overtaken by the intense concern for the man before him. He grabbed Jin Jiuchi’s palm and went on his tippy toes, anxiously trying to look at the man’s shoulder. "Did you get hurt?!"

But Jin Jiuchi, this shameless rogue, instantly seized the chance to act boneless and draped his whole body’s weight on Shen Nianzu, almost causing him to stagger. "Nian’er~" he drawled out, his silver eyes narrowing sharply at the end of the corridor, though nothing could be detected on his tone. "I saw where they took Xinxin. I can lead you there, but..."

Shen Nianzu’s eyes darkened. He had a bad feeling about what Jin Jiuchi was about to say next. "But what?"

Sure enough, Jin Jiuchi eased back and grinned, his silver eyes curving into crescents. "Call me Gege?"

Shen Nianzu: "..."

"Fuck..." a curse slipped out of Shen Nianzu’s mouth. If Jin Jiuchi hadn’t been injured, he would have given him a good beating to teach him a lesson! He demanded furiously, "Can’t you be serious for once?!"

Feeling wronged, Jin Jiuchi retorted, "But I am! Nian’er, you didn’t hear it, but when we were exploring the ship earlier this evening, there were so many NPCs who—"

"AAAH!!"

An ear-piercing scream tore through the air, cutting off Jin Jiuchi’s words. That voice belonged to none other than Gu Luoxin, who was currently missing!

Without a beat, Shen Nianzu grabbed hold of Jin Jiuchi’s wrist and dragged him to the source of the voice. All along, he remained on high vigilance in case the nightmare creatures would appear again, but the corridor was completely empty and desolate. In less than one minute, they burst into the crew restaurants and found Gu Luoxin sprawled on the ground, a terrified expression on his face.

"Xinxin!" Shen Nianzu rushed over and quickly checked on the young man, and only when he saw that there were no notable injuries did he let out a sigh of relief. "What happened? Why did you scream?"

"X–Xiao Shen..." Gu Luoxin appeared on the verge of tears as he pointed at something in the distance. "T–There are so many dead bodies! No, a ghost— there’s a ghost over there!"

Frowning, Shen Nianzu turned to face the dark path leading to the half-open kitchen door. Through the gap, he could see a horde of NPC bodies piled on top of each other to form a small hill, while faint sounds of activity could be heard from the kitchen.

Shen Nianzu’s jaws tensed, and he slowly rose to his feet, his gaze fixed on the kitchen door. "Don’t move," he instructed the other two with a tone that brooked no refusal.

"But Nian’er," Jin Jiuchi interjected, earning him a warning glare from the jade doll. With a hint of grievance, he added, "I just want to say that—"

The kitchen door suddenly slammed open and Gu Luoxin shrieked, his heart almost jumping out of his throat. "G–GHOST!"

"—it’s someone we know," Jin Jiuchi finished his sentence and waved to the man with a casual smile on his face, as if they had crossed paths in the middle of the bustling street and not a dark restaurant with a bunch of NPCs whose fate was currently unknown. "Hey, how did you get here?"

The ghost – Noir – stared at Gu Luoxin for a while as though he failed to figure out why he was mistaken as a ghost. Hearing Jin Jiuchi’s question, he raised his hand that was holding onto a plate of pasta and deadpanned, "The restaurants upstairs are closed, so I’m here to search for food."

Jin Jiuchi’s eyes lit up. "Is there more?"

Noir stepped aside and gestured for him to go ahead, and Jin Jiuchi happily went into the kitchen. He called out loudly, "Nian’er, are you hungry? There is food here!"

For a moment, Gu Luoxin and Shen Nianzu’s faces contorted horribly, as though they wanted to explode in anger but desperately holding themselves back.