Chapter 50

Huo Cheng froze for a moment, then felt a surge of blood rushing through him in reverse.

There was a private toilet stall in the bathroom, and he could have gone by himself.

But Luo Li was too embarrassed. With Huo Cheng right outside, if he made any noise, and Huo Cheng heard it, that would be mortifying…

He resisted weakly and said in a small voice, “Can you go out first and wait until I’m… done?”

The usually spoiled and domineering little concubine rarely looked so pitiful as he begged like this.

It seemed like he was on the verge of tears.

Luo Li was indeed feeling awful right now. He’d drunk too much, and his little belly was bloated. His thighs spasmed now and then, his slender knees pressed together and rubbing against each other, while his lips bore faint teeth marks from biting them.

Huo Cheng gripped the door handle and closed the bathroom door tightly.

“I’ll wait for you outside.”

Once the footsteps faded away, Luo Li finally let out a breath of relief. He opened the stall door and stepped into the toilet. The boy steadied himself against the wall, beads of water rolling down his nose and neck, making that flushed redness even more striking.

He was still deeply ashamed. It took him forever to tug his little underpants down just a bit, but for some reason, his body remained tense as ever—he couldn’t do anything.

Luo Li had never been through something like this before. Embarrassed and anxious, he started regretting chasing Huo Cheng away so hastily.

Who could come help him…

Just as 007 was about to break the impasse, he suddenly heard strange “plop-plop” sounds coming from the floor.

It sounded like something wet and sticky walking across the tiles, then turning into a slithering noise against the ground. Blackness visibly filled the grout lines between the tiles, and the bathroom walls quickly crawled with shadows.

Wherever the black shadow spread, the lights went out in an instant.

Luo Li was already on high alert, and when he noticed the shadow on the floor, a chill broke out across his back.

“Who… who’s there?”

It left only a dim light in the toilet, just enough to illuminate the boy’s body.

The Ghost Hand pressed close, its damp, sticky tentacles clinging tightly to the boy’s snowy, slender legs, wrapping around them coil after coil.

The suckers slowly caressed that soft, pale waist, then gently kneaded the boy’s plush little belly.

Its movements were gentle, a far cry from the malice and provocation in the cave that day. Now, it was like tenderly stroking a precious treasure.

But for Luo Li right now, even the lightest press on his belly made his body spasm and tremble.

He hurriedly grabbed that restless tentacle and yanked it away. Only then did he glance back briefly, his eyes meeting a pitch-black body bulging with veins.

007 thought he would scream in terror, but he didn’t. Instead, he just pursed his lips in humiliated fury and lifted a foot to kick at the shadowy mass.

Like he was shooing it away.

…That gesture felt oddly familiar.

A bad premonition surged in 007’s heart—and sure enough, not only did the Ghost Hand not leave, it extended a few tentacles to cover Luo Li’s eyes.

Only then did Luo Li start mumbling in a small, frightened voice, “What are you doing… wuh… go away…”

The Ghost Hand didn’t respond. Its body undulated in the darkness as it carefully bent down and parted its lips.

More precisely, its “mouthparts.”

Luo Li’s body shuddered violently. His toes flailed wildly, his knees pressing against the black shadow’s massive pecs, only to be pinned in place by tentacles that probed out to hold his knees down.

No one knew what kind of evil spirit it was, but the insides of its tentacles were lined with sensitive, moist suckers that adhered tightly to the boy’s tender skin, leaving red mark after red mark.

At the outer ends of the tentacles were rough protrusions, like little pebbles—like they’d been studded with beads.

It slipped a tentacle under the boy’s knees, parting and lifting his legs.

The Ghost Hand’s bulging shoulders and back rose and fell in the shadows as several tentacles held the boy’s ankles, working to soothe him.

And Luo Li, who had started out resisting, gradually shifted to small tremors.

Only his damp, pink lips remained bitten tight, growing ever more vividly alluring.

Luo Li couldn’t see, but 007 could see it clearly: the Ghost Hand’s movements were careful and gentle, as if afraid of angering the boy, every muscle on its body holding back with utmost restraint.

But in truth, the restraint was only in its actions, not its desires.

Just then, an icy, eerie artificial intelligence voice sounded in his ear.

“Get out.”

The Ghost Hand looked up indifferently, and a low chuckle echoed through the empty bathroom.

-What are you pretending to be?

-Haven’t you ever thought about it, after knowing him and staying by his side for so long?

-No, you have thought about it, but you’re powerless. You follow your programming, and your programming didn’t give you this kind of reproductive urge.

-So what makes you so full of jealousy?

007 paused for a moment.

The black shadow grew even bolder, provocatively sliding in the tentacle studded with protrusions.

…Accompanied by a soft, needy whimper. Huo Cheng, who hadn’t left, stood right outside, his gaze growing darker.

Intense splashing sounds came from the bathroom. Water droplets trailed down the contours of the Ghost Hand’s thigh muscles. It curled its tongue tip into a terrifying grin.

The boy in its arms had soaked lashes and eyelids cracked open just a slit, revealing unfocused pupils.

【I fuck Baby】

【Feels like hearts are gonna pop out of his eyes, little treasure】

【This cheap dog monster is pissing me off, I wanna do little rabbit too*】

【Your attack hubby is gonna cry pig tears, that burly tentacle monster did what I couldn’t so easily】

【Wifey’s legs are still dripping… lemme lick lemme lick】

007 instantly cut the power.

But the half-delirious boy, in a daze, leaned toward that muscular Ghost Hand.

Compared to a formless artificial intelligence, he might need this powerful, sturdy monster more right now.

…

The Jinzhou Grand Hotel suddenly lost power without warning, then regained it just as abruptly. In between, chaos reigned, and the banquet was forced to end early.

The car was parked outside the hotel. It took a long time before Bern emerged from behind the door, his face stormy.

His subordinate looked worried. “Young master, are you alright? It was total pandemonium in there earlier.”

“Oh, of course. It just took some effort to get out. I thought Huo Cheng wouldn’t let me go that easily.”

He stood in front of the car, speaking as he glanced back over his shoulder.

As if still dwelling on something.

His subordinate got the hint and opened the car door for him. “This was my failure as your subordinate. You managed to escape, but a few of our brothers got held back… We’ll inevitably have to negotiate with Huo Cheng later.”

Bern hummed in acknowledgment and got into the car.

Though outsiders gossiped endlessly, his subordinate knew the truth: deep down, their young master was the purest sort.

He’d never dated anyone, man or woman, never pursued a soul. All that talk about liking Eastern boys was just because Eastern faces were rare abroad—it kept away the unwanted suitors.

He never cared about such things—except this time.

To think he’d walk right into the lion’s den for a boy he’d only glimpsed once on the street.

Even now, sitting in the car, his eyes drifted involuntarily toward the hotel.

Looking thoroughly unwilling.

The car headed east through the city. By the time they neared the alley entrance, dusk had fallen.

The driver spotted a dark crowd ahead and felt a surge of unease. Before he could warn Bern, there was a loud “bang”—a tire blew out.

The leader was a burly, towering brute covered in savage tattoos. He leveled his rifle and advanced on the car step by step.

Bern rolled down the window, and the black gun barrel pressed right against his forehead.

“You the bastard who bullied my Little Waste?”

…The local tyrant could strut even past the guard troops in these backwater parts, let alone fear some foreign merchant.

Chu Jing spat a bloody glob. His dark face was visibly swollen.

And that handsome foreigner wasn’t faring much better—bound hand and foot with rough rope and tossed into the corner of Room 201.

…Who the hell would’ve thought this foreigner had real fight in him? If not for the home turf advantage, Chu Jing wasn’t sure he could’ve taken him down.

Bern coldly surveyed his surroundings, then looked up again, his tone now laced with a smile.

“You’re one of Huo Cheng’s men?”

“Fuck Huo Cheng.”

Chu Jing cursed. “I’m talking to you—don’t drag in other irrelevant bullshit.”

He squatted down and patted Bern down, finally growing impatient and reaching out. “Where’d you stash the antidote?”

Bern furrowed his brow.

“What antidote?”

Chu Jing grabbed his collar. “Don’t play dumb with me. You’re the one who drugged Luo Li at the banquet, right? Hand over the antidote—now!”

Bern furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, then suddenly understood. He shrugged. “You got the wrong guy. I don’t have any antidote.”

Chu Jing raised the gun barrel to his throat.

“Bullshit. It was that drink you handed him at the banquet—everyone saw it clear as day. You think I’m blind?”

Bern smiled faintly.

“Your eyes aren’t exactly reliable.”

“Before me, someone else gave him something to drink too. Why not suspect him instead of fixating on me?”

“If I’d wanted to drug him, I wouldn’t have left the hotel. Can’t you even figure that much out?”

Chu Jing’s thick brows furrowed, but he kept his gun trained on the man. “Who knows what your real intentions are? You drugged him and then let someone else in… That’s entirely possible.”

Though he said this, deep down, Chu Jing knew the foreign devil had a point.

He turned back to his underling and gave a few quick instructions before facing the man again. “Who was the other person who gave Little Waste that drink?”

~~~

The door to the suite’s Room 201 creaked open slowly.

The overhead lights were off, leaving only the dim glow of the bedside lamp. Its yellowish light illuminated the face of the boy on the bed—soft and pale, serene as if he had already drifted into slumber.

The intruder approached the bed step by step and sat lightly on the edge.

He gazed silently at the sleeping boy for a long while, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill.

He crushed the pill into powder and stirred it into a glass of water nearby. But just as he lifted the glass to bring it over, he froze.

The boy stretched languidly on the bed, rolling over until his cheek pressed against the back of the man’s hand.

The man’s wrist trembled. After a long moment of hesitation, he set the glass back down.

Then he leaned forward. His broad, towering frame enveloped the small boy completely, their noses less than half an inch apart.

A bead of sweat formed at his temple and dripped onto the bedsheet, vanishing into the boy’s hair.

Bern’s words echoed in his mind—the finger plunging into the wineglass, stirring with vicious intensity.

He really was… so small.

Just his hand would be enough to—

This was his final chance to verify, wasn’t it?

He knew Huo Cheng wasn’t far away. If he didn’t act fast, he’d be caught.

Yet in that moment, he found himself thinking that doing it right in front of Huo Cheng might be…

Thrilling.

After all, it was Huo Cheng who had first allowed this little concubine to stay in the Huo Mansion.

What if he exposed Luo Li’s lie right there in front of him? Let Huo Cheng see with his own eyes that the figure on the bed wasn’t some delicate, precious pregnant auntie, but a complete and utter little fraud? Huo Cheng would surely explode with rage.

【No wayyy, so what if Baby’s a little scammer? I’d still spoil him rotten】

【You gonna pretend you didn’t get anything out of it? Didn’t you get Little Rabbit’s kisses and cuddles?】

【Lol this guy’s got nothing, sexually frustrated much?】

【Wait, what the hell is this dude planning? Fuck off with that dog nose, stay away from my baby girl!!】

【He’s not about to take advantage, is he? I’m pissed—my top getting NTR’d over my dead body】

The man ignored the barrage of comments. He paused for a beat, then buried his nose forcefully against the boy’s neck and inhaled deeply.

His ears flushed red as he slowly lifted the hem of Luo Li’s clothes, which had draped across his thigh.

In that instant, a flicker of doubt gripped him.

Everywhere he looked was flushed pink.

Could it be that Luo Li really…