Chapter 60: Bitter Swallow · Finale

Meng Duimo’s heart raced with eagerness to get home, but he still stayed late at the office, working overtime until everyone else had gone before finally heading out.

As the leader, he had a habit of double-checking every last detail, even when it fell outside his official duties.

The Laughing Falcon was a nocturnal creature. If Lin Shanyan had dozed off from exhaustion, Meng Duimo might run into one of those patrolling birds on his way back.

By the time he drove home, it was already 3:50 a.m.—later than he’d anticipated.

The living room light was on. Lin Shanyan sat huddled in the corner of the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. He looked up at the sound of the knock on the door.

“…Why on earth did you wait this late?”

Meng Duimo walked over to him. For once, Lin Shanyan was uncharacteristically silent. He simply opened his arms, silently asking to be held.

Meng Duimo’s instincts picked up on something wrong right away.

During the police rescue operation, he’d been upstairs on the second floor, directing tactics, so he had no idea what had really gone down.

But when he’d seen that Holstein Kestrel flying in with some wild snake dangling from its beak—looking utterly nonchalant—he’d assumed it was all a false alarm.

Lin Shanyan buried his face in the crook of Meng Duimo’s neck. His breathing was so faint it was barely audible.

Meng Duimo cupped the back of his head with one palm and frowned. “Feeling unwell? Should I take you to the hospital?”

“No,” Lin Shanyan murmured. “I’m just… scared.”

It was rare for Lin Shanyan to nestle into his arms with such meek vulnerability.

As a prosecutor—no less fierce than the Laughing Falcon itself—his commanding presence and sharp edge rivaled anyone else’s.

But tonight, at least, he had waited in silence for Meng Duimo’s return. Now he curled against him, letting the delayed wave of terror slowly ebb away.

Meng Duimo held him close. For a long while, he asked no more questions, content to stroke the top of his head over and over.

“I’m right here,” Meng Duimo said. “If you need it, we can both take a few days off.”

“Whether we go out to clear our heads or just hole up at home, I’ll be with you the whole time.”

Lin Shanyan steadied his breathing after a moment, his tense shoulder blades finally easing just a fraction.

“They forced me to turn into a bird.”

The fingers resting on Meng Duimo’s shoulder tightened unconsciously.

“They threatened you?”

“Yeah,” Lin Shanyan said. “The site was crawling with snakes. I had no clue how venomous they were or how aggressive.”

Many venomous snakes could spit their poison right into your eyes, guaranteeing permanent blindness—and more often than not, surgical removal of the eyeball.

A bite anywhere in that moment could have meant lifelong amputation.

His physiology could handle only mild hallucinogens or paralytics. Lethal toxins? He had zero resistance.

“Back in that half-finished building, I was still riding high on adrenaline, so escaping felt almost effortless.”

“On the flight home, I even found myself humming a little tune, thinking, ‘Eh, that was it? No big deal.'”

It wasn’t until he got home—showered alone and slid into bed—that the fear hit him like a tidal wave crashing in retrospect.

Like some unnoticed riptide. Or a tide that seemed harmless at first glance.

In one stunned instant, it swallowed Lin Shanyan whole.

He couldn’t stop the trembling now. He clutched Meng Duimo’s wrist and forced out the words in a hushed rush. “It started in the taxi, when they drugged me. That’s when the fear kicked in.”

“Duimo, I’m not like you. I’ve got no hand-to-hand training. No idea what comes after you’re knocked out cold.”

“That second I shifted into a bird? I flattened myself under the blanket and played dead, just waiting for the killing blow.”

“Back then, nothing else mattered. I had to save my own skin, so every bit of focus went into surviving the moment.”

“But now? I’m terrified.”

Meng Duimo felt the tears. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Lin Shanyan’s forehead, then dabbed them away with a tissue.

“You did amazingly.”

“Even trained SWAT might not have reacted as well in the heat of it.”

“I…” Lin Shanyan fisted Meng Duimo’s sleeve, his body quaking. “That second I turned into the bird—even through the blanket, one stomp could’ve knocked me out cold. Or worse.”

Falcons were just so damn small.

Thank God he’d escaped. Thank God it had all been a false alarm.

Meng Duimo leaned in close to his ear. “It’s okay to cry. Let it out.”

Lin Shanyan’s breath hitched for a beat. He pressed his face into Meng Duimo’s chest and drew in deep, ragged breaths.

He was too proud to sob outright.

But on this night, as the aftershocks of terror gnawed at him, he needed Meng Duimo more than ever.

Even if it was just breathing in the familiar scent of his chest. Even if it was just clinging to his sleeve, anchoring him in place.

“I need you,” he said—bluntly, for the first time. “Do you get it?”

It was as if a dam had burst. Lin Shanyan looked up at him through the dim night.

“I need you. I wanted to say it the moment I opened the door for you tonight. I wanted to say it while I was boiling those dumplings for you.”

“When I blocked you, when I held your hand at the wedding banquet, in every moment we kissed, I wanted to say it.”

“I couldn’t get the words out back then. So many times, I was like an idiot, unable to voice a single thing in my heart.”

“Meng Duimo, are you listening clearly now?”

“Can you stop working overtime? Can you spend more time with me? Whether I’m sick or not, whether I’m crying or not.”

“I need you. I can’t live without you. Is that okay?”

Meng Duimo held his hand, chuckling softly.

Lin Shanyan hadn’t expected himself to pour out so many words in one go. He stared at him in a daze.

He leaned down and kissed him tenderly.

Slowly, steadily, laced with an indescribable ache, regret, and love.

Meng Duimo had imagined that Lin Shanyan might run into trouble.

The moment he sensed something was off, he mobilized every resource at his disposal, scouring surveillance footage and racing to find him as quickly as possible.

When he saw him again, Lin Shanyan smiled easily, even diving back into overtime work for ages to ensure every suspect was rounded up, with airtight procedures and evidence.

But he’d never dared to entertain it, never dared to touch that thought.

What if Lin Shanyan got hurt, or worse, leaving him alone? What then?

He held him tighter, kissing him until his breathing grew ragged, his chest heavy.

“Shanyan,” he murmured his name over and over. “Shanyan…”

The reality I’d delayed facing was this: even if I devoured you, I wouldn’t let you go.

You’d linger in my blood, my bones, my fingerprints.

Even if you became my damning evidence.

“It’s my fault. I found out too late. I let you get bitten, let you face those people.”

Their fingers intertwined. Beneath the moonlight, he kissed his forehead and throat, pleading softly.

“Give me a chance to make it up to you, okay?”

“Let’s get married in the United States.”

Lin Shanyan nearly melted into his kisses. For a moment, he thought he’d misheard and looked up in astonishment.

Meng Duimo wasn’t joking.

“I’m done with dating.”

“No more breakups or makeups. Even if we fight in the future, the only way out is divorce.”

“Are you willing?”

Lin Shanyan blurted out instinctively, “Me, with you, in the United States?”

Meng Duimo replied, “I’d go right now if I could.”

The little falcon was a bit dazed, pondering in place for a moment.

He couldn’t bear to part even during those thoughts, his lips brushing Meng Duimo’s cheek. He had no idea how clingy he’d become.

“I know this is sudden and reckless,” Meng Duimo said. “No proposal, no ring ready—I always wanted to buy one, but I didn’t know your taste. Didn’t want to get something tacky and make you mad.”

“We can buy a new place for our marital home. We could have a small wedding with friends, and—”

“But I’m a bird, and you’re a snake,” Lin Shanyan said.

“We might end up eating each other.”

Meng Duimo looked at him without a shred of hesitation.

“I’m willing.”

I’m willing to be eaten by you. I’m willing to be with you forever, no matter how.

Lin Shanyan took a deep breath and cupped his face in both hands.

“You’re such an idiot.”

Tears spilled from his eyes again, uncontrollable. He laughed through them as he kissed him. “Do you know how terrified I was today, when I thought I was dying, that I’d never see you again?”

“From now on, save the blood-licking for anniversaries and birthdays—as gifts.”

“Other times, we quit. We live longer, stick around in each other’s worlds for a few more decades. Okay?”

Meng Duimo pressed stubbornly, “Have you said yes yet?”

Lin Shanyan kissed him hard.

“I’m in. I’m willing.”

It took them several months to finally head to the United States.

Given their line of work, private trips abroad required layers of approvals and weren’t smooth sailing.

But with public security pushing international training exchanges, and OAC needing experts for meetings and talks, both got official clearance to go.

It just so happened that amid their packed schedules, they made a detour to Las Vegas.

The gambling city glittered with excess, full of couples who, drunk on impulse or the moment, clutched electronic bouquets and exchanged vows with laughing embraces in chapels.

They both wore deep black suits, paired with matching sapphire cufflinks.

It didn’t go as quickly as imagined.

It was a weekend, right around Thanksgiving, so marriage licenses meant lines.

They sat at the end of the queue, hands clasped, palms slick with a thin sheen of sweat.

The rings had been custom-ordered long ago—Lin Shanyan sketched the design, Meng Duimo selected the diamonds.

On Lin Shanyan’s band, a little snake bit its own tail, its scales varying in shade, patterned like a snow leopard.

Meng Duimo’s ring was encircled by long feathers around a diamond, its shape traced directly from the plumage of the Laughing Falcon.

Marrying one’s natural enemy was a thrilling affair.

After all, if they held a wedding banquet, the other could easily end up as the main course—the kind of ingredient they craved most.

Yet compared to hunger or bloodlust, they shared a need that cut even deeper.

The priest appeared at the door, reading their surnames with some uncertainty.

“Meng and Lin?”

They rose one after the other and walked together toward the final rite.

As they approached the altar, Lin Shanyan clasped his hand. “Have you ever wondered… if we weren’t bound by this relationship, we might never have crossed paths from the very beginning.”

“We still would have.”

He turned to him with a hint of surprise.

“If you’re the falcon, then I’d be the snake.”

“If you’re the moon, then I’d be the sun.”

Meng Duimo gazed at him, his eyes deep and tender.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

“Shanyan, chasing you is in my nature.”

Fortunately, you love me too.

You crave me just as fiercely, and you’ll always choose to stay by my side.