Life Without Hope

Immediately after, that rough tongue began a new round of cleaning, from face to hands, from hands to feet, licking every inch with painstaking detail.

The surface of the bear's tongue was covered in fine, horny barbs. Although the One-Eyed Violent Bear was trying its best to control its strength, the friction was still considerable; Deng Tianxin felt as though he were being sanded down by a living piece of sandpaper.

"Let go... let me go!" Deng Tianxin thrashed about desperately.

His short little legs kicked wildly in the violent bear's embrace, but how could he possibly contend with the strength of a bear?

The more Deng Tianxin struggled, the tighter the violent bear held him, licking even more vigorously while emitting satisfied rumbling sounds from its throat, as if it were soothing an unruly cub.

"Sister Liu!" In the midst of his struggle, Deng Tianxin reached out a hand toward Liu Erlong for help. "Save me! Save me... pfft..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the tongue came again, scraping precisely across his cheek and licking his little face to one side.

Liu Erlong was covering her mouth with her other hand, her shoulders shaking, her face flushed red; she was clearly using every ounce of her willpower to keep from laughing out loud.

"Well..." Liu Erlong cleared her throat, trying her best to make her voice sound serious. "Is this what you meant by support?"

"No!" Deng Tianxin struggled with difficulty under the bear's licking assault. "This is a side effect! A side effect! This bear thinks I'm its... pfft... stop licking my ear! It tickles! You stinking bear, that's enough!"

Deng Tianxin pushed hard against the bear's large head as it leaned in, his short little hands slapping wildly against that furry face.

But this amount of force didn't even qualify as a tickle to the violent bear; instead, it made the bear feel like the cub in its arms was playing with it, so it licked even more enthusiastically.

Liu Erlong finally couldn't hold it back anymore and burst into a fit of laughter, unable to straighten her back.

Leaning against a crooked tree nearby, Liu Erlong laughed until tears streamed down her face: "Why don't you use your soul skill to hit it! Don't you have soul skills?"

At this moment, Deng Tianxin felt a sense of despair; he truly hadn't expected the Domain of the God of Love to be this powerful.

At the same time, he realized the terrifying nature of the domain; if he were to complete the God of Love's godhood, the domain would likely become completely absurd.

Deng Tianxin sighed and activated his first soul skill.

First Soul Skill: Entangled Web of Affection.

Countless fine, pink silk threads shot out from his palms, interweaving in the night sky into a large, shimmering net.

The threads themselves emitted a faint fluorescence, like harp strings spun from moonlight, humming slightly in the evening breeze.

The great net unfurled against the wind, instantly covering the One-Eyed Violent Bear completely.

The violent bear's licking stopped, and its single eye blinked.

It looked down at the pink silk web wrapped around its body, then back at the little creature in its arms, a look of extreme confusion appearing on its massive bear face.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear tried to struggle, but the silk threads were unimaginably supple. As it moved, they tightened slightly without breaking, instead emitting even more pink fluorescence.

At the same time, a warm drowsiness surged into its heart like a tide, reminding it of a winter cave from many years ago.

The warm fur of its mate, the faint cries of a newborn cub, the cool sensation of snowflakes drifting through the cave entrance and landing on its nose.

Those images were as clear as if they had happened yesterday, making it completely forget where it was now.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear's eyelids began to droop, the paw holding Deng Tianxin loosened unconsciously, and its massive body swayed twice before slowly tipping over onto the ground.

With one last satisfied rumble in its throat, it drifted into a deep sleep, still wrapped in that layer of pink silk.

In its dreams, there was its mate, its cub, and a mountain forest that would never be disturbed.

Deng Tianxin rolled out of the One-Eyed Violent Bear's arms, tumbling several times on the ground before coming to a stop.

Lying flat on his back on the dew-covered grass, his clothes soaked through with bear saliva, his hair a tangled mess, and his face, hands, and neck covered in red marks from the bear's tongue, he looked like he had just crawled out of a disaster.

Deng Tianxin stared at the sparse stars in the night sky, his eyes vacant, his chest heaving as he gasped for air.

Beside him, the One-Eyed Violent Bear was already snoring rhythmically, looking quite peaceful wrapped in the pink silk web, entirely unlike the ferocious beast it had been moments ago.

The sleeping bear smacked its lips, seemingly still licking its beloved cub in its dreams.

"Pfft—" Liu Erlong finally let herself go completely, laughing until she couldn't stand straight.

"Don't laugh!" Deng Tianxin scrambled up from the ground, his little face flushed red—whether from anger or the licking, he didn't know. "This is a side effect of the domain ability! A side effect! What do you know! The Domain of the God of Love forces enemies to see hallucinations of their loved ones. This stupid bear must have mistaken me for its dead wife! This isn't my fault, it's just that its eyesight is bad!"

"Yes, yes, its eyesight is bad." Liu Erlong wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes.

Liu Erlong walked over to Deng Tianxin and crouched down, using her sleeve to help him wipe the bear saliva off his face, though the corners of her mouth still couldn't stop curling upward.

"Darn it!"

Seeing this, Deng Tianxin didn't hesitate to pounce into Liu Erlong's arms, then gave her a light bite.

Liu Erlong's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

She looked down at the furry head in her arms; Deng Tianxin was using his two rows of neat little white teeth to nip a small piece of skin below her collarbone, the force neither too light nor too heavy, like a bite from a bristly little kitten.

Deng Tianxin was covered in wet bear saliva, which rubbed off onto her, and there were even a few bear hairs stuck in his hair; he looked as disheveled as a little beggar just pulled out of a ditch.

"Biting me?" Liu Erlong raised an eyebrow, reached out to pinch Deng Tianxin's chubby cheek, and pried his mouth away from her. "Are you a dog?"

"You're the dog!" Deng Tianxin retorted incoherently, his mouth pinched into a goldfish pout by her. "Who told you to laugh at me!"

Liu Erlong stared at his flushed little face for a moment, and the curve of her mouth reappeared—a smile that made Deng Tianxin's hair stand on end.

She slowly released her hand from his cheek, then reached both hands toward his armpits, lifting him up into the air like a doll.

"What... what are you doing?" Deng Tianxin's voice rose an octave involuntarily, his short legs kicking aimlessly in the air.

Liu Erlong didn't answer; she simply pulled Deng Tianxin into her embrace and lowered her head to plant a firm kiss on his saliva-covered cheek.

It was a forceful kiss that made a crisp "pop" sound, echoing far across the empty hillside.

"You bit me just now, and now I've kissed you. We're even," Liu Erlong said righteously.