Chapter 55 Part 2

Heat period. Ludwig’s red eyes darkened.

Perfect timing.

Gale-force winds raged outside the window, tree shadows thrashing in the pitch-black night. Dust scattered, dry air compressing into trembling mist. A storm brewed.

Shen Yu’s back hit the bed. The heat tide surged like a tempest within him. Truth be told, he’d never felt such intense impulse—like a raging fever evaporating his moisture, bringing not recovery but gnawing desire.

This thirst for release was overwhelmingly fierce, nearly devouring his reason.

So hot, so dry, so parched.

The male insect’s silver hair splayed across white sheets. His shirt wrinkled from sweat, clinging to reveal glimpses of pale muscle contours.

Fine sweat beaded on his forehead.

Transparent droplets rolled down his brow bone onto distinct silver lashes, bending them like snow-laden branches with elastic arcs, framing the beads like pearls.

Ludwig’s body soon pressed down. Logically, even an SSS female Zerg induced into heat shouldn’t lose reason this badly.

But—

Ludwig knelt on either side of Shen Yu’s body, legs folded, staring intently at the male insect on the bed.

Those serene deep-lake blue eyes gazed quietly at him, reflecting only his figure.

Ludwig reached out, sweeping back his disheveled red forelocks. He gritted his teeth and exhaled heavily.

Damn it. Like this, who the hell could stay clear-headed?

The male insect pheromones’ unique chill had become erotic in this moment.

Shen Yu narrowed his eyes, his chest heaving up and down. He tried his best to control his breathing to keep his voice from trembling and coldly spat out three words: “Stabilizer.”

He needed a stabilizer right now.

Ludwig frowned when he heard Shen Yu’s voice.

To boost the overall birth rate, the insect race had no heat period stabilizers for male insects. Stabilizers had always been exclusive to female insects.

Ludwig naturally took Shen Yu’s words to mean that he should take the stabilizer.

Although Ludwig didn’t pay attention to the twists and turns between male insects, for one male insect in his heat period to tell another female insect to take a stabilizer, the meaning was self-evident.

If he didn’t want this female insect, then he wanted some other female insect to help him get through his heat period?

Fuck!

The pent-up longing and rage erupted like a long-brewing volcano the instant he heard those words. Ludwig panted, his voice turning heavy as he asked word by word: “Who do you want to find? Fred?”

Shen Yu met his gaze, panting as he repeated: “Give me, stabilizer.”

What the hell was so good about that idiot Fred?

Hearing the male insect’s persistent voice, Ludwig’s heart sank once more. A dry bitterness twisted his heart into something sour. He cursed, regretting that he had only chopped off one of the female insect’s arms earlier instead of dismembering Fred into pieces.

Without another word, Ludwig bent down and leaned his head in, pressing a kiss to those opening and closing lips.

Shen Yu frowned and turned his head aside.

The lips grazed his cheek. The kiss fell short.

The surging atmosphere of passion stalled in an instant. Outside the window, gale-force winds howled, battering the trees. The sky tore open, and bean-sized raindrops poured down in a torrent.

The storm had arrived.

Shen Yu dodged his kiss. Then he clenched his fist. His heat period had greatly sapped his strength, and his mental power was in complete chaos. He gathered every ounce of power into his palm, separated out a thread of mental power, and smashed it heavily toward Ludwig.

Ludwig swiftly caught the counterattack with his palm. That sliver of mental power pierced mercilessly into his spirit sea through the contact, stabbing up a wave of dull pain.

The female insect took the hit head-on. He switched from blocking to grabbing, clamping down on Shen Yu’s wrist before seizing the other one as well. He crossed them together and pinned them above Shen Yu’s head.

The air, tangled with pheromones, breaths, and heat, grew thick beyond measure.

A blinding bolt of lightning flashed past, clearly illuminating their eyes.

One blue, one red.

Bright and clear blue, deep and rich red.

Their gazes locked.

The tide of passion surged. Shen Yu panted, his wrists crossed and pinned to the pillow above his head. Bluish veins stood out powerfully along the cool-toned back of his hand, beneath the clean, pale skin.

He lifted his thin eyelids and exhaled. Coldness seeped from his ice-blue eyes, his voice quenched in frost: “Get lost.”

An unmistakable rejection. Unmistakable disgust.

Something occurred to Ludwig. His body grew shrouded in thick, dark clouds. His narrow, sharp red eyes filled with violence and malice.

He reached out. His knuckles gripped Shen Yu’s jaw and lifted it. His voice was low, hoarse, and chilling: “Did he fuck you good?”

Shen Yu slowly typed out three question marks: 【？？？】

007 paled in fright and itched to punch Ludwig twice: 【With just that one mouth of yours, how can you slander someone’s innocence for no reason!】

Shen Yu was mildly surprised: 【You’re still here.】

007 sighed: 【Almost gone.】

Shen Yu kicked it away with one foot.

Ludwig’s gaze bored into him. Terrifying rage pressed down in his chest. He asked again: “Sadro, did he fuck you good?”

“Ha.”

Shen Yu parted his lips and fired back: “Who the fuck are you?”

How long had it been since he’d last felt this sense of being pinned down?

Shen Yu couldn’t remember. But his anger went beyond that.

The heat tide surged through his limbs and into every inch of his body.

A vein throbbed at Shen Yu’s temple. The mental tentacles hidden beneath his skin pulsed like bouncing beads, yet they couldn’t break free.

It wasn’t just those tentacles that were confined. His body, torn between ice and fire. The onrushing tide of passion. The long-suppressed emotions. All of it was tightly bound together, held in check, denied release.

Right now, his hands were crossed and bound above his head. He lay flat on the bed. Beneath the sweat-soaked shirt, his snow-white chest heaved violently up and down. Even the pink had been rubbed to a vivid red.

The passion battered Shen Yu to his limit. And it pissed him off to his limit.

Thin sweat beaded on the tip of his nose. Blazing light exploded in the male insect’s icy eyes: “Who I fuck, who I top— what’s that got to do with you? Who the fuck are you? Who the fuck are you?”

“Who am I?”

Ludwig stared at him. Every word vibrated from deep in his chest. He wanted to strangle the male insect right in front of him. He had offered his name, his loyalty, everything—

He had placed his very life in this male insect’s hands.

To kill or to spare—all rested on Shen Yu’s whim.

On that afternoon drenched in sunlight and floral fragrance, Ludwig had thought that perhaps he was willing.

Not out of submission or coercion. Not because of that voice in the darkness. Not some illusion. Simply because he wanted to—

He wanted to take care of this male insect.

He had thought that perhaps he was willing to spend his life with him: washing his clothes, cooking his meals, cleaning his courtyard, feeding him medicine when he was sick, serving as his punching bag when he wanted to fight—

After returning to Red Blood, Ludwig had wondered if some passing donkey had kicked his brain.

But who had discarded all that like a pair of worn-out shoes?

The female insect’s eyes turned red. His throat bobbed as he repeated: “Who the fuck are you asking me?”

Shen Yu narrowed his cold eyes and drove a harsher, more wounding blade straight into his heart: “Who are you? You’re fucking just my dog! The dog ran off on its own? Now it’s back, wagging its tail and begging for mercy—what for?”

Ludwig felt his heart constrict like it was under crushing pressure, as if serrated teeth had sliced it open. Every muscle in his body tensed. He stared darkly at Shen Yu.

Shen Yu wrenched his wrists outward, trying to break free of the female insect’s grip. He failed, of course.

Seeing no reaction from the female insect, Shen Yu kept pouring salt in the wound without mercy: “Ha, you even know what kind of female insect I hate most. You’ve gotten smarter, huh? Sending people to spy on me. Then shouldn’t you know damn well what kind of female insect I hate most?”

Wind and rain lashed together. Thick clouds churned. The gale tore through like a force of destruction, sending tree branches whipping wildly with howls. Leaves stripped away completely under the near-savage onslaught.

Sodden branches, bowed low under the downpour, were swept up by the fierce gusts and lashed against the glass window, producing a harsh scraping noise.

Then the branches snapped back. Everything fell silent once more.

Ludwig pressed his lips thin. His iron-clamp knuckles pinched Shen Yu’s chin as he demanded: “Who do you hate most?”

“Need me to say it out loud again?” Shen Yu tilted his chin up. His pale lashes fluttered. A hint of moisture gleamed in his ice-blue eyes, but they remained sharp and cold—like the keenest spear. Unflinching. Never flinching.

They both held back, enduring the crashing waves, the storm-like surge of lust, as if plunged together into roiling, molten magma.

Ludwig stared at him without blinking.

Under that gaze, a cruel smile curled Shen Yu’s lips.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.”

“Listen up.”

“I fucking—”

Shen Yu exhaled. Word by word, each one ice-cold.

“I. Most. Detest. You.”

The entire room plunged into dead silence, as if devoured by some invisible maelstrom.

A long time passed. Then Ludwig’s low voice sounded in the darkness.

“Fine.”

Ludwig’s face lay hidden in shadow. He abruptly released his grip on Shen Yu’s jaw. His fingers trailed along the male insect’s neck. The pads rubbed against his skin, feeling the pulse throb, inching downward with exquisite gentleness.

Then the pressure increased.

His scorching palm stroked over Shen Yu’s chest through the drenched shirt. His fingers pried apart the snow-white fabric between two buttons and slipped inside through the gap, slithering like a snake.

“Since you detest me, then detest me to the end.”