Ludwig paused, fingers spasming uncontrollably. He added in a deep voice: “The strongest batch.”
Ludwig shut off the terminal and rose from the bed. He searched the room hurriedly and found only a basic medical kit.
He glanced at the time with the kit in hand, then returned to the bedside. Gritting his teeth with resolve, he twisted open the stabilizer vial.
The slender needle emerged, red liquid swaying coldly inside.
Ludwig’s lips pressed tight. He lifted Shen Yu’s hand.
It burned to the touch, triggering a terrifying shiver.
Shen Yu’s body flinched almost imperceptibly. Ludwig thought he feared the pain. His voice rasped terribly, like he’d swallowed a hot iron: “It won’t hurt. I’ll be quick.”
Shen Yu’s furrowed brows tightened further, then relaxed. He said nothing.
Ludwig’s knuckles whitened from grip. He aligned the needle and pierced the wrist, pushing the plunger.
The viscous stabilizer liquid flowed through the punctured skin into the vein. Once fully injected, Ludwig swiftly withdrew the needle.
The stabilizers Ludwig used were top-grade, not even available on the market. They worked wonders.
Almost instantly, Shen Yu felt the heat waves recede from his body. His temperature dropped, and at the same time, the long-absent Heavenly Dao Power seeped back into his bones and surged into his soul spirits.
As the tide ebbed and Heavenly Dao Power descended, he felt like he was in the warm embrace of spring.
Shen Yu steadied his breathing and unconsciously flexed his fingers, brushing the pillow fabric like soft down.
Drenched in sweat, his pores relaxed. The soaked shirt turned nearly transparent, clinging to his waist. Beneath the fabric, his taut muscles gradually loosened and stretched.
He was utterly exhausted, breathing lightly as if he had just awakened from a nightmare.
Suddenly, Shen Yu felt an itch on his lip.
Even without any touch, he could sense the vigorous heat source nearby.
A small cotton ball gently pressed against his lip to staunch the bleeding. Then, a cooling healing drug was applied to the cotton ball and gently pressed onto the jagged wound.
Shen Yu blinked, lifting his pale lashes to look at the female insect in front of him.
Ludwig crouched by the bed, body leaning slightly forward like a leopard poised to strike at any moment, his entire presence awe-inspiring.
Though Ludwig was the major villain, he was truly favored by the Heavenly Dao—one could tell from his face alone. His features were sharply defined, with slanted brows sweeping into his temples, as if carved by a knife.
For the first time, Shen Yu examined this face so closely.
Noticing Shen Yu’s gaze, Ludwig’s eyes flickered, and he averted his own.
Shen Yu’s heat period had come quickly and receded just as fast. Though he no longer released pheromones, the scent in the room had not dissipated.
What should have been a soft, pleasant aroma now pressed down on Ludwig’s shoulders like a mountain, aggressive and overbearing.
Ludwig quickly finished treating Shen Yu’s wound. His throat bobbed as he abruptly stood.
“Call me if you need anything.”
With those words, Ludwig strode into the bathroom.
Click. The bathroom door locked heavily.
Just released from the little black room, 007 was utterly shocked: 【You guys done already?】
In just a few seconds??
Shen Yu: 【……】
Shen Yu slowly rose and walked to the window, pushing it open.
The storm had stopped. Only the dripping branches and roadside leaves bore traces of its passage.
The heat outside exchanged with the cold inside through the open window.
This little building was extremely secluded, surrounded entirely by massive pointed onionwood trees. These trees had adsorption properties that effectively prevented scents from spreading.
A gust of cold wind hit Shen Yu, and he realized his clothes were completely soaked with sweat. He turned his head, his gaze shifting to the bathroom door.
Shen Yu blinked, then belatedly realized: 【Fuck, he didn’t only bring one stabilizer, did he?】
007: 【Yep.】
【……】
Shen Yu fell silent. With Ludwig locked in the bathroom and no stabilizer, what he was doing was obvious.
He turned away, touched his ear, and picked up the dry cleaning agent from the table, spraying it over himself. His soaked clothes and body instantly dried under the mist.
Though Shen Yu didn’t usually like high-tech products, he had to admit they were pretty convenient.
He withdrew his gaze, ruffled his hair, and leaned against the window again, looking up at the distant starry sky.
What was the next step?
Before this, Shen Yu had always worried whether his seduction approach even worked on Ludwig.
In insect society, as a male insect seducing a female insect came with a natural advantage. But Ludwig wasn’t an ordinary female insect, and Shen Yu’s identity wasn’t that of a normal male insect either.
Even if their identities fit the word “ordinary,” could a female insect falling for a male insect truly be called love? Shen Yu wasn’t convinced.
Love emerged only when freed from base desires.
Only by making Ludwig reach for this bitter fruit himself—yet unable to grasp it—could he capture the female insect’s wild, untamed heart.
From the start, Shen Yu had deliberately layered on mysteries about himself, guiding Ludwig to probe him, pursue him—
And ultimately become ensnared by him.
On one hand, his persona made seducing Ludwig exceedingly difficult. On the other, wasn’t it precisely his complexity that sparked others’ curiosity?
Everyone loved solving puzzles.
The moment you fix your gaze on me, you can’t look away.
I’ll reveal the answers bit by bit myself—Ludwig, will you fall completely in love with me then?
The descent of Heavenly Dao Power validated his approach.
Shen Yu lowered his pale, long lashes, his expression blank as he opened his terminal.
In the original plotline, he would soon ascend to the Tribunal, with Fred as the trigger. Could this plot point be utilized?
Shen Yu narrowed his eyes, his finger scrolling through his contact list.
After their first “date,” he had exchanged terminal numbers with Fred but blacklisted him since the plot point hadn’t arrived yet.
Thanks to Shen Yu’s auto-reply feature, the major general still didn’t know he was blocked.
Shen Yu removed Fred from the blacklist and discovered the female insect had sent him quite a few messages recently.
The latest one was from moments ago—lengthy, mostly asking where he was and if he was safe.
Shen Yu thought for a moment and tried sending his coordinates, but some kind of jammer here blocked it repeatedly.
He pursed his lips and asked 007: 【007, can you send the coordinates?】
Shen Yu recalled 007 saying it only had near-field observation functions, so this was just a tentative question.
But 007 surprised him: 【Of course.】
Through their mental link, the coordinates were sent out swiftly.
Shen Yu first assured Fred he was safe and hoped the female insect could pick him up here tomorrow afternoon and take him back to Azure Sparrow Hill.
After sending the message, Shen Yu closed his terminal and asked: 【How’d your functions upgrade all of a sudden?】
007: 【007 just discovered it too. Seems like because the host shared some of his luck with me, some of my functions are being repaired.】
Oh. Shen Yu lifted an eyelid—truly an unexpected boon.
He rubbed his chin, still thinking about that golden cage from the previous world.
007 immediately caught on and refused outright: 【……No way.】
Cold water poured down instantly. Ludwig was bare-chested, one heated, throbbing arm roughly unzipping his pants and reaching inside.
His thing was enormous, impressively sized almost to the point of intimidation, but utterly useless here—it was purely for manual relief.
Ludwig’s muscles tensed rigidly. One hand braced hard against the bathroom’s icy tiles, but he couldn’t release no matter what. The female insect clenched his fist and smashed it viciously against the wall.
A crisp crack rang out. Fractures spread across the tiles like a spiderweb, followed by a shatter—
Countless shards peeled from the entire wall, sharp edges slicing Ludwig’s hand as they fell. Blood flowed instantly.
Tile fragments scattered everywhere, blood dripping steadily and swirling down the drain.
Under the cold water, Ludwig hung his head, arm extended, fist pounding the wall like a trapped beast.
Three hours later, the medical team arrived swiftly.
The lead sub-female insect nearly choked to death on the room’s female insect heat pheromones the moment he entered. The oceanic scent had mostly dissipated, but the Boss’s pheromones were like gunpowder smoke, nearly suffocating him.
Male insects couldn’t detect female insect pheromones. Sub-female insects lacked pheromones and weren’t induced into heat by them, but they could identify male and female insect pheromones alike—this was their natural edge as physicians.
Noticing the commotion outside, Ludwig yanked open the bathroom door and strode out.
The lead physician set down his folding mechanical medkit. Seeing a male insect in the room, his eyes widened in shock, gaze darting suspiciously over Shen Yu.
Suddenly, the physician felt a chill down his back. He looked over and met the Boss’s deathly glare, shuddering instantly.
Ludwig rubbed his furrowed brow and lifted his chin, signaling the medical team: “Give him a full-body checkup.”
The silver-haired male insect sat quietly on the bed. He pursed his lips, suddenly realizing something: this female insect he had picked up might not be as simple as he thought.
Be it the entry pass or summoning this medical team, they were beyond what an ordinary fugitive female insect could manage.
Damn. Shen Yu lowered his gaze, a dark glint flashing in his cold eyes hidden by pale lashes.
He stayed silent, letting the medical team scan his body with various instruments.
From two meters away, Ludwig sprawled aggressively in a chair, pressing his brow bone, eyes fixed unblinkingly on him.
His hands moved without hesitation, however. Ludwig’s chest heaved as he deftly injected a high-potency stabilizer into his sweat-slicked arm—one needle after another. One crate of eighteen high-potency stabilizers, each worth a fortune on the black market.
Things countless insects begged for were now all plunged into the female insect’s body.
The empty transparent syringes piled up like a small mountain, leaving the medical team trembling in fear.
Fuck, what kind of terrifying, monstrous desire was this? That was a full eighteen shots!
The insects kept their eyes down and noses to themselves, hearts surging with shock waves, not daring to utter a word.