Living Without Hope

Right after that, the rough tongue began another round of cleaning, licking him thoroughly from face to hands, then from hands to feet.

The bear's tongue was covered in tiny, rough barbs. Although the One-Eyed Violent Bear tried its best to control its strength, the friction was still considerable. Deng Tianxin felt as if he were being scrubbed by a moving sheet of sandpaper.

"Let go... Let go of me!" Deng Tianxin thrashed desperately.

His little legs kicked wildly in the Violent Bear's embrace, but how could he possibly stand against a bear's strength?

The more Deng Tianxin struggled, the tighter the Violent Bear held him, and the more enthusiastically it licked him. A satisfied rumble rose from its throat, as though it were soothing a disobedient cub.

"Sister Liu!" In the midst of the chaos, Deng Tianxin stretched out a hand toward Liu Erlong in a plea for help. "Save me! Save me... Pfft..."

Before he could finish, 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 trembled, and her face had gone scarlet. Clearly, she was using every last ounce of her willpower not to burst out laughing.

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

"No!" Deng Tianxin struggled desperately beneath the Violent Bear's assault of licks. "This is a side effect! A side effect! This bear thinks I'm... Pfft... Don't lick my ears! It tickles like crazy! You stinking bear, that's enough!"

Deng Tianxin shoved at the Violent Bear's enormous head as it leaned in, his little hands flailing against its furry face.

But to the Violent Bear, that little bit of force wasn't even enough to tickle. Instead, it seemed to think the cub in its arms was playing with it, so it licked him even more vigorously.

Liu Erlong finally couldn't hold back. She burst out laughing, doubling over.

Liu Erlong leaned against the nearby crooked tree, tears of laughter in her eyes. "Why don't you use a Soul Skill on it? Don't you have one?"

At that moment, Deng Tianxin felt utterly hopeless. He truly hadn't expected the Domain of the God of Love to be so powerful.

At the same time, he realized how terrifying the Domain of the God of Love was. If he completed the Godhood of the God of Love, the domain would probably become absurdly powerful.

Deng Tianxin sighed and used his first Soul Skill.

First Soul Skill: Entangled Web of Affection

Countless pink threads, fine as silk, shot from his palm and wove together in the night sky, forming a great net that shimmered with soft light.

The threads themselves gave off a faint glow, like strings spun from moonlight, humming softly in the evening breeze.

The net unfurled in the wind and instantly wrapped the One-Eyed Violent Bear from head to toe.

The Violent Bear stopped licking and blinked its single eye.

It looked down at the pink web wrapped around its body, then at the little one in its arms. An expression of utter bewilderment spread across its enormous bear face.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear tried to struggle, but the threads were far more resilient than they looked. They tightened slightly with its movements, yet didn't snap. Instead, they gave off an even brighter pink glow.

At the same time, a warm drowsiness surged through its heart like a tide, bringing back memories of a cave one winter, many years ago.

The warmth of its wife's fur, the faint cries of their newborn cub, the cool touch of snowflakes drifting into the cave and landing on its nose.

Those scenes were so vivid they seemed to have happened yesterday, making it completely forget where it was.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear's eyelids began to droop. Its paw, which held Deng Tianxin, loosened without it realizing. Its massive body swayed twice, then slowly toppled onto its side.

A final, satisfied rumble came from its throat, and wrapped in that layer of pink threads, it sank into a deep sleep.

In its dream were its wife, its cub, and a forest where no one would ever disturb them.

Deng Tianxin rolled out of the One-Eyed Violent Bear's arms and tumbled across the ground several times before coming to a stop.

He lay on his back in the dewy grass, his clothes soaked through with bear saliva and his hair a tangled mess. Red marks left by the Violent Bear's tongue covered his face, hands, and neck. He looked like he'd just crawled out of a disaster after escaping a bear's jaws.

Deng Tianxin gazed blankly at the sparse stars in the night sky. His chest heaved, and he panted hard.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear beside him was already snoring evenly. Wrapped in the pink web, it looked almost peaceful, nothing like the vicious beast it had been moments ago.

The sleeping Violent Bear smacked its lips, as though it were still licking its beloved cub in its dreams.

"Pfft—" Liu Erlong finally let herself go completely, laughing so hard she could barely stand.

"Don't laugh!" Deng Tianxin scrambled up from the ground, his little face bright red. It was hard to tell whether it was from anger or from being licked. "This is a side effect of the domain's ability! A side effect! What do you know? The Domain of the God of Love forcibly makes enemies see the phantom of someone they love most. That stupid bear must have mistaken me for its dead wife! It's not my fault; its eyesight's bad!"

"Yes, yes, its eyesight's bad." Liu Erlong wiped away the tears of laughter at the corners of her eyes.

Liu Erlong crouched in front of Deng Tianxin and used her sleeve to wipe the bear saliva from his face, though the corners of her mouth still kept curling upward.

"Damn it!"

Seeing that, Deng Tianxin immediately threw himself into Liu Erlong's arms and gave her a light bite.

Liu Erlong's laughter stopped dead.

She looked down at the furry head in her arms. Deng Tianxin had clamped the neat rows of his little white teeth onto a patch of skin below her collarbone. His bite was neither light nor heavy, like a kitten with its fur standing on end taking a nibble.

Deng Tianxin was dripping with bear saliva, which had smeared all over her, and several bear hairs were stuck to his own hair. He looked as miserable as a little beggar who'd just been fished out of a ditch.

"You bit me?" Liu Erlong raised an eyebrow and pinched Deng Tianxin's chubby cheek, prying his mouth off her. "Are you a dog?"

"You're the dog!" With her fingers pinching his cheeks, Deng Tianxin's mouth puckered like a goldfish's as he mumbled back, "You laughed at me!"

Liu Erlong stared at his flushed little face for a moment. Then the corners of her mouth lifted again, forming a smile that made Deng Tianxin's hair stand on end.

The hand pinching Deng Tianxin's cheek slowly let go. Then both of her hands reached for his armpits, grabbed him, and lifted him high into the air like a doll.

"Y-you... What are you doing?" Deng Tianxin's voice rose an octave without him meaning to, and his little legs kicked twice in the air.

Liu Erlong didn't answer. She simply pulled Deng Tianxin into her arms and planted a hard kiss on his cheek, still smeared with bear saliva.

It was a forceful kiss, and it made a crisp smack as it landed, echoing far across the empty hillside.

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