Chapter 2: Kidnapped at the Same Time as My Boyfriend’s White Moonlight

◎Pretending to sleep.◎

Wen Tong dreamed that a furry beast had carried him off to its den. The beast seemed intent on showing off its prize, carrying him through the streets for all to see.

His body swayed back and forth in the beast’s jaws until he was dizzy and nauseous.

Through the haze, he heard voices: “Third Master, he seems about to wake. We won’t arrive for another hour.”

“Let him keep sleeping.”

That familiar, sicko voice sounded. Wen Tong’s muddled mind cleared for a split second. A needle-sharp pain pricked his arm, and he sank back into darkness.

…………

He didn’t know how much time had passed, but the air around him was growing hotter.

Wen Tong woke from the heat.

He forced his heavy eyelids open. His head spun and ached, as if he’d slept for a very long time.

The next second, he snapped fully awake.

He’d run into a gun-wielding psycho outside his home.

He was alive. He hadn’t died.

Wen Tong blinked and let out a slow breath.

“Wen Tong.”

A cool male voice came from beside him.

Wen Tong instinctively looked up, saw Bai Yue sitting on the floor, and blinked in surprise.

Bai Yue had woken earlier. Seeing Wen Tong still unconscious, he’d guessed the anesthetic hadn’t worn off and waited patiently.

Now that Wen Tong was awake but still looked dazed and completely lost, Bai Yue said, “We’ve been kidnapped.”

“Ah…” Instead of snapping to attention and making himself useful as Bai Yue hoped, Wen Tong sank into an even more dazed state.

He was genuinely stunned—stunned and delighted.

He and Bai Yue had been kidnapped together.

Which meant he was about to complete his mission and clear the game!

If he’d known it was a kidnapping, he wouldn’t have run at all…

As he was letting his thoughts wander, Bai Yue’s cold voice cut in again. “Wen Tong.”

Wen Tong snapped back to attention. “Here, here.”

Bai Yue sat on the floor, his shirt and trousers stained with dust and blood. He should have looked wretched, but his face was too exceptional—an androgynous beauty with a distant, indifferent expression—so that he didn’t look like a hostage at all. He looked like a fallen young nobleman.

Bai Yue assumed Wen Tong’s daze was fear and felt a flicker of annoyance.

But since he needed Wen Tong’s help, he suppressed his irritation and offered a stiff comfort: “You don’t need to be afraid.”

Then he got straight to the point: “Come untie these ropes first.”

“Oh, oh.” Only then did Wen Tong notice that Bai Yue’s hands and feet were bound.

He looked down at himself. He wasn’t tied up—maybe the psycho had decided he couldn’t run anyway.

Wen Tong climbed off the bed and went over. When he saw the handcuffs on Bai Yue’s wrists, he paused. “I don’t know how to pick handcuffs.”

Bai Yue: “Do you have anything like wire or a needle on you?”

Wen Tong blurted, “You can pick them?”

Bai Yue didn’t answer, only regarded him coolly.

Wen Tong knew he’d asked a pointless question. If Bai Yue couldn’t pick them, there’d be no reason to ask for tools.

He patted himself down, searched every pocket, and found nothing useful.

Bai Yue glanced at the crooked watch on Wen Tong’s wrist and frowned. “Untie the ropes on my ankles first.”

“Okay.” Wen Tong crouched down and started working on the ropes.

They were hemp ropes tied in dead knots, pulled painfully tight.

By the time Wen Tong managed to loosen them a little, his fingers were aching.

He let out a breath. “Hang on, this one’s hard to undo.”

Bai Yue hummed in response. Seeing Wen Tong covered head to toe in dust, his frown deepened.

The room looked like it hadn’t been used in years. The bed was filthy, and Wen Tong, who’d been lying on it, was filthy too. Dust clung to his face and hands, and there were stains of unknown origin on his clothes and pants.

He lowered his eyes, forcing himself to ignore these irritating details, and analyzed the situation. “There’s no window in this room, only one door.”

“No telling how many people are outside. The kidnappers check in every two hours.”

“They came just before you woke, so we have two hours of relative freedom.”

Wen Tong knew that in the plot, the Protagonist Bottom would be taken away safe and sound by the Protagonist Top.

He told Bai Yue, “Don’t worry. You won’t—we won’t be in any danger.”

Bai Yue: “You’re very optimistic.”

Wen Tong hadn’t spent much time with the Protagonist Bottom and missed the barb. He grinned and said, “It’s one of my few talents.”

He had no idea where this place was, but it was hot. He couldn’t stand it anymore, so he took off his jacket and tugged at the collar of his hoodie to let some air in.

His pale neck was exposed. Patches of red were faintly visible beneath the delicate skin, spreading all the way to the collar of his hoodie. As the collar shifted and slipped, dark red fingerprints flickered in and out of sight on the side of his neck.

His skin was white and fine, which only made the marks look more gruesome. Anyone watching could easily imagine how the boy must have struggled, weak and helpless, as a hand closed around his throat.

An inexplicable sadistic urge stirred.

Bai Yue looked at the fingerprints and asked, “I heard you’re dating Xie You?”

Wen Tong froze. He hadn’t expected Bai Yue to bring up him and Xie You at a time like this.

After a moment’s hesitation, he gave a vague murmur of agreement.

When he’d agreed to fake-date Xie You, he’d specifically asked about this.

If Bai Yue asks about our relationship, what should I say?

Xie You had said that if they were putting on a show, they might as well go all the way. A man in his twenties who still wasn’t dating might be assumed to have problems in that department.

And just like that, Wen Tong was persuaded.

After all, he was just a Tool Person. How the Protagonist Top chose to pursue the Protagonist Bottom wasn’t his business; all he had to do was play along.

At that, he looked up at Bai Yue. “Even though Brother Xie and I are dating, well…”

He paused, trying to come up with an excuse that would make it clear his relationship with Xie You wasn’t much without ruining Bai Yue’s impression of Xie You or getting in the way of their future romance.

“But, but…” A perfect excuse came to Wen Tong.

He’d just take the blame himself!

Wen Tong cleared his throat and finished, “But well, he’s not my type.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Bai Yue’s gaze settled on his face.

Bai Yue’s irises were pale, as cold and sharp as the rest of him—like snow on a distant peak, looking down as if he could see through everything.

Afraid of being seen through, Wen Tong let his gaze wander and changed the subject. “Why bring up Xie You all of a sudden?”

Bai Yue: “I heard the kidnappers mention Xie You’s name.”

“The Bai Family and the Xie Family are collaborating on a project, and you’re Xie You’s man.” He paused briefly. “Our kidnapping is probably tied to him.”

Wen Tong murmured in acknowledgment.

Bai Yue took in his flat reaction. “You don’t seem surprised that Xie You’s involved.”

Wen Tong explained, “Xie You’s the only young master among the people I know. If someone’s using me as a hostage, it has to be connected to him.”

“I’m an ordinary law-abiding citizen. I don’t stir up trouble.”

At that, Bai Yue glanced at his neck, then at his beautiful, vivid features—like peaches and plums in brilliant bloom.

He was a far cry from ‘ordinary law-abiding citizen,’ but ‘stirring up trouble’ fit him rather well.

Meeting Wen Tong’s clear, guileless eyes—utterly lacking self-awareness—Bai Yue pressed his lips together and said nothing more.

“Can you think of any clues?”

“Let me think.” Wen Tong lowered his head. He didn’t know whom Xie You had offended; Xie You never mentioned the Xie Family or his startup in front of him.

The only connection between him and Bai Yue, the only common ground the kidnappers could have targeted, was Xie You.

He was Xie You’s publicly acknowledged boyfriend.

Bai Yue was the White Moonlight buried deep in Xie You’s heart.

Bai Yue caught the shift in his eyes. “You thought of something?”

“No,” Wen Tong shook his head, quickly undoing the remaining knots. He answered honestly, “I was just thinking that I’m Xie You’s boyfriend, and you’re Xie You’s White Moonlight.”

“The kidnappers probably want to use us against Xie You. Don’t worry. Xie You will definitely come save us.”

Bai Yue’s fingertips twitched. He stared into Wen Tong’s eyes. “You know about Xie You… and me?”

Wen Tong: “Of course.”

Seeing his indifferent expression, Bai Yue asked slowly, “You don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind.” Wen Tong shook his head firmly.

Mind? He didn’t just not mind—this was what he’d been dreaming of!

For years, he’d worried himself sick over the two of them. He’d done everything he could—and for the things he couldn’t do, he’d even gone to temples to pray.

Noticing a subtle change in Bai Yue’s gaze, Wen Tong hurried to patch things up by playing up his scumbag image. “I’m just fooling around with him. Nothing to mind.”

Suddenly, low voices came from outside the door.

“Is he awake yet?”

“He wasn’t when I checked earlier.”

Several sets of footsteps approached, as if they meant to come in and check.

Bai Yue frowned.

Wen Tong immediately snatched up the rope, looped it loosely around Bai Yue’s ankles, then shot back to the bed with lightning speed and arranged himself in a pose of unconsciousness.

With a creak, the wooden door was shoved open.

Wen Tong heard several people enter. One set of footsteps came toward him and stopped right by the bed.

Then a sharp, searing gaze landed on him, sliding over his face.

Wen Tong’s nerves pulled taut; his heart pounded as if it might leap out of his chest.

The men spoke over one another. “Huh? Why isn’t he awake yet?”

“Third Master, with the dose we used, the anesthetic should have worn off by now.”

“Then why isn’t this kid awake?”

“Brother Qiang, don’t tell me your eyesight’s gone and you messed up the dose?”

“Get lost, all of you. I bet this kid’s just asleep.”

Wen Tong kept his breathing steady and raced through his thoughts.

“Third Master” sounded like what they called their boss.

Probably third in his family.

Besides Xie You, the Xie Family had another son and two daughters. The son was the eldest.

As for anyone else with a grudge against Xie You… Wen Tong couldn’t think of a single person who matched the title “Third Master.”

Suddenly, someone spoke up. “Third Master, want me to shake him awake?”

Wen Tong heard the faint rustle of fabric by his ear. The next second, a hand smelling of tobacco covered his face, pinched his right cheek, and tugged hard.

The pain made his eyelashes tremble. He hurriedly pretended to be half-asleep, gave a soft murmur, ducked his neck away from the hand, and buried his face in the crook of his elbow.

The hand withdrew.

Footsteps sounded by the bed again, but this time moving away.

Then the door closed.

Had they left?

Wen Tong breathed out internally. Listening to the mechanical tick of his watch, he counted a minute in his head, and his back slowly relaxed.

They should be gone.

His eyelashes fluttered. He was just about to open his eyes and check.

The large hand from before suddenly returned, sliding onto his neck. His heart stopped; he nearly cried out.

The callused pad of a thumb rubbed hard against the skin at the side of his neck, painful and ticklish.

A nasty, mocking laugh came from the pervert. “Pretending to sleep, are you?”