When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 247: Care To Explain Why?

Chapter 247: Care To Explain Why?

Shen Nianzu was rendered speechless by this man’s crooked yet oddly reasonable logic. After spending enough time with him, Shen Nianzu had begun to decipher his thought process to some extent. Don’t want to let go? Just take Shen Nianzu along with him! What a wonderful solution!

Wonderful, my ass! Shen Nianzu cursed under his breath. Jin Jiuchi’s abnormal logic notwithstanding, how was he supposed to share such a confined and intimate space with another person, especially a man he was – most likely – dating? Absolutely not! His clear conscience would not allow him to do that! Jin Jiuchi might not think anything was wrong with it, but the same couldn’t be applied to him, okay?!

Alas, Jin Jiuchi interpreted his speechlessness as silent acquiescence and began to drag him toward the cubicle in the corner of the room. "Let’s go go go!"

"W–Wait!" Shen Nianzu sputtered. "The manager..." Where would he put his face if he were to be caught red-handed attempting such an indecent act in his favorite boutique?! He scanned the area where the middle aged man had been standing moments ago, only to find nothing but empty space. Where had he disappeared to?!

Shen Nianzu was stunned, and Jin Jiuchi seized that momentary lapse of attention to haul him into the changing cubicle together with him.

Shen Nianzu: "..." Sigh, forget it.

Fortunately, the changing room was quite spacious, offering a small couch, a clothes hanger, and a full length mirror. Resigning to his fate, Shen Nianzu made his way to the couch, intending to take a seat as he waited for Jin Jiuchi to change, but then a tug from behind stopped him in his tracks. Ah, that’s right they were still holding hands. He turned to Jin Jiuchi with a mixture of fond exasperation and amusement, giving their hands a gentle shake, "I’m already here, still not letting go?"

Jin Jiuchi stuck closer to him like an affectionate husky and rubbed his cheek against the top of his head. "But I don’t wannaaa~" he drawled on his words.

"Ha!" Shen Nianzu wanted to be angry, but for some reason, the thought that Jin Jiuchi could not bear to separate from him even for a second made his head feel a little... fuzzy.

How to describe it? It was like he had taken a sip of a potent century-old fine wine. One sip, and that was all it took for him to become lightheaded and intoxicated. His chest felt ticklish as if the tip of a feather was grazing on it, and he had the urge to do something, though he still had no idea what it was. It felt... good, he supposed. At least, it was a thousand times better than Jin Jiuchi running off with another person to do God-knows-what.

He raised his hand and ruffled the big dog’s fluffy hair, a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Fine, don’t let go then. Let’s see if you can change your clothes like this."

Jin Jiuchi straightened up with a whoosh and raised a playful brow, "Is that a challenge?"

Before Shen Nianzu could respond, he used his other hand to reach behind his back, grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head... only for the said shirt to end up hanging awkwardly between their hands. "Huh?" he blinked, seemingly confused on how to solve this problem.

That lost expression of his would have been adorable had Shen Nianzu not been distracted by the tantalizing sight before him. Jin Jiuchi was still moving around, trying to see if he could get rid of the shirt without disentangling their hands, but that only enabled Shen Nianzu to ogle at him without obstruction.

Shen Nianzu’s breath stuttered and his throat inexplicably went dry. His gaze traveled over the hard plane of Jin Jiuchi’s broad shoulders, the enticing dip of his collarbones, down to his chiseled chest and brown pebbled nipples. This was clearly not the first time he had seen Jin Jiuchi’s bare upper body – hell, he had seen even more than that before! – but Shen Nianzu couldn’t shake off the feeling that... something had subtly changed about him...

Holy hell, had he gotten more muscular since the last time Shen Nianzu saw him? That’s right, his biceps seemed to have grown thicker, and his six-pack abdominal muscles... God, it looked like solid rock. He couldn’t suppress the temptation of imagining what it would be like to run his fingers along those well-defined contours.

Shen Nianzu’s brain felt like it had encountered a sudden blue-screen error as a single thought dominated his mind. The thought, which he knew very well already since the first time he laid his eyes upon Jin Jiuchi in front of that narrow rooftop room of his, and was further seared by the perfectly sculpted pectorals, sharp jawlines and the prominent veins snaking down his arm: Jin Jiuchi was truly the hottest specimen to ever walk the Earth.

The fog in Shen Nianzu’s head seemed to thicken, enveloping his mind in a hazy, sensual glow. He could feel the temperature rising within him and the ticklish sensation on his chest – which had been vague earlier – finally gained its clarity.

Shen Nianzu wanted him; not only his attention, the twinkles in his silver eyes and his dazzling smiles, but also his dark and dangerous side. The side that had the power to unhinge him, sent thrilling shivers down his spine and caused his toes to curl up— he wanted them all.

"How much is your SAN value now?" Shen Nianzu pressed his back against the wall and... breathed. That’s right, he had to breathe and steady his racing heart. He hoped that Jin Jiuchi had not noticed the slight moisture on his palm.

"Huh?" Jin Jiuchi, still wrestling with the troublemaker shirt, replied absentmindedly. "It’s 68."

"It has improved," Shen Nianzu commented.

"Uh-huh, wait until I find my brother and it will continue to go up. One of these days, I keep feeling like I can hear his voice, you know? Ugh, this is so annoying—" Fed up, Jin Jiuchi gathered his strength and ripped the shirt into shreds.

Shen Nianzu stood there in disbelief as he stared at the tattered remnants scattered across the floor. "Y–You... madman! You could have just let go of me for a second – no, not even for one second – and the problem would have been solved! But instead, you chose to..." he raised his head and abruptly choked on his words when he noticed that Jin Jiuchi was inhaling deeply, as if savoring the scent in the air.

Oh. Oh no.

"Nian’er..." Those silver eyes finally settled on him, filled with mirth, intrigue and also something else— something dark and heady that made Shen Nianzu straighten up by reflex. "Your scent is getting sweeter. Care to explain why?"

"I..." Shen Nianzu was tongue-tied, his mind racing a thousand miles per second. What was he even supposed to say? Admit that he had harbored inappropriate thoughts just by the sight of Jin Jiuchi’s bare upper body?

But Jin Jiuchi did not seem like he required an answer. He stalked closer, closing the distance between them in just two long strides. He backed Shen Nianzu against the wall, and all of a sudden, there was so, so much honey-bronze skin that Shen Nianzu had no idea where to look. He could only raise his head but it seemed like the wrong decision because he found that... Jin Jiuchi’s intense gaze was fixed on his lips. Shen Nianzu’s fingers involuntarily twitched, and the hand he held felt like it was on fire. Or perhaps it was his own temperature skyrocketing, he could no longer tell.

"Nian’er, do you want to know when my brother’s voice will appear in my head?" Jin Jiuchi lowered his voice to ask, as though whispering a secret known only to them. His warm breath brushed against Shen Nianzu’s cheek, sending an electric current down his spine.

"W–When?" Shen Nianzu heard himself asking, in an uncharastically quiet voice that was so unlike him.

"When I’m with you... or to be exact, when I’m kissing you..." Jin Jiuchi’s eyes flicked up to meet his. It might only be a trick of the light, but Shen Nianzu seemed to catch a swirl of darkness within the depth of his silver eyes. It was fleeting, so brief that it could totally pass off as a product of his own imagination.

"Do you want to know what he told me?" Jin Jiuchi pressed closer, so close that the tip of their noses nearly brushed against each other. It was at a time like this that Shen Nianzu was reminded of the fact that Jin Jiuchi was— broader, taller; he had no idea about their strengths because they had never seriously fought each other before, but something told Shen Nianzu that the man would always give in to him. But oh, looking at their current position, it would be all too easy for Jin Jiuchi to pin him down, to restrain him and have his way with him...

This sense of losing control over himself was a feeling he detested the most, but somehow, when it came to Jin Jiuchi— when he thought of handing control over to Jin Jiuchi— Shen Nianzu felt even dizzier. Giddy. As if he had truly been drunk by this man’s presence alone.

Jin Jiuchi leaned in to whisper, his voice barely a rasp. "He always tells me to devour you, to consume you completely so that no one can ever take you away from us. What do you think, Nian’er?"