My Love Was Born of Desire

Qi Ning nudged Xueli with his gun. "Did you run into ghosts?"

The tear tracks on Xueli's face had not even dried. She sniffled and said, "There were... snakes... two huge ones, and so many little ones. It was terrifying..."

"Snakes? Where?"

"At the base. In the captain's backpack. Lots of little snakes hatched, and they drew the big snakes over." She could not stop trembling whenever she recalled that scene. It had been too horrifying. She did not even want to keep filming; she wanted to go home.

"In Chu Lan's backpack? Did he go catch snakes?"

She shook her head. "I don't know what happened."

Zhang Wen could not make sense of it either. He sat beside Chu Lan and patted his shoulder. "Captain, what happened? How did there end up being so many little snakes in your backpack?"

Chu Lan's face was livid. "When Xia Yu and I went out to look for Revival Cards, he said he had picked up a few bird eggs and would put them in my backpack first so we could boil them for dinner."

At the time, he had been agonizing over whether to revive Liu Yue or Xueli first, so he had not paid much attention. Then Xia Yu had been eliminated, and Liu Yue had returned and said those things, leaving him irritated. He had completely forgotten about what was in his backpack.

Who would have thought they were a clutch of snake eggs about to hatch? Damn it, he had even used them as a pillow while sleeping. The hatchlings had crawled all over him, and if he had not noticed quickly enough, those two giant pythons would have wrapped themselves around him.

Zhang Wen stared in shock. "Xia Yu picked up snake eggs, put them in your bag, and they hatched into little snakes?!"

"Yeah." Chu Lan gritted his teeth in hatred. Sure enough, Xia Yu was still as black-hearted as he had been in childhood. He should never have let his guard down! He had nearly been killed again!

"He was way too bold. How did he dare dig up snake eggs? What if there had been a big snake in the nest? Wouldn't he have been done for?"

"..." What was Xia Yu afraid to do?!

After hearing this, Qi Ning shook his red hair and said with glee, "Serves you clingy pack dogs right."

[I remember now. Before Xia Yu was eliminated, he wrapped up a pile of stuff in his clothes and stuffed it into Chu Lan's backpack. They were snake eggs about to hatch! He wanted to harm Chu Lan, didn't he? That's so vicious!]

[Don't pin this on my husband! He didn't know they were snake eggs! He thought they were bird eggs, okay? Before putting them in the bag, he even asked Chu Lan and said they could take them back to boil that night. Chu Lan teamed up with Xia Wanqing to eliminate him, then forgot about them himself, which was why the little snakes hatched!]

[Hahahaha, karma! This is what those clingy pack dogs deserve! That's what you get for screwing over my husband! That nest of little snakes helped my husband vent his anger. I think they all look like fellow fans!]

[Stop disgusting fellow fans, damn it!]

[I just went to watch the recording. It scared the hell out of me. Chu Lan slept with his head on a nest of baby snakes, and they even crawled onto his neck. Ugh, my scalp goes numb just thinking about it!]

[I'm furious! The production team needs to replace someone already! Let Brother Lan switch with that privileged favorite! Being on the Blue Team is like surviving a trial!]

They sat there until the sky began to lighten. Qi Ning kept watch until he was too sleepy to stay awake, then ran back to sleep.

Chu Lan blinked his dry eyes, checked the time, and stood up. "Everyone, pack up. It's 7:45. Let's leave first. Otherwise, once Qi Ning wakes up, we'll start fighting again."

Zhang Wen rolled his stiff neck. "How about we wait for the game to restart and kill him? None of his teammates are around. We can take over No. 1 Base and get some proper rest. Nothing should happen during the day."

Chu Lan frowned. Killing Qi Ning really was the best option, but Qi Ning had already angered him badly yesterday. If he angered him again, he might do more than just go crazy—he might take a life.

"Let's not fight him." Xueli spoke softly. "When we came over last night, he agreed to pause the game. It wouldn't be right for us to gang up on him just because there are more of us."

Liu Yue had said bad things about Qi Ning yesterday and was still worried that the investors might blacklist her. She wanted to make up for it now, so she nodded. "Yeah, let's not fight Xiao Ning yet. One against many isn't fair."

Zhang Wen looked a little embarrassed and said awkwardly, "Fine. I was only worried that Sister Yue and Xueli wouldn't get enough rest. Let's go find Revival Cards."

"Let's go."

The four of them gathered their things, left No. 1 Base, and headed toward Outpost No. 3.

Xia Yu slept comfortably and woke up feeling refreshed.

"Host!" The reconnected 001 was beside itself with excitement. "Your points have risen to sixty thousand!!!"

He raised his brows slightly. "That much?"

"It's all Chu Lan's contribution! At three in the morning, his fear value rose by twenty thousand! His anger value rose by five thousand! We struck it rich!"

"Because of that nest of snake eggs?"

"Yes! You're so brilliant, Host! You bought the accelerated hatching agent and the snake-luring medicine from the shop, but you even guessed that he would forget to take the snake eggs out of his backpack. You're amazing!"

"Just a coincidence."

When he had put the snake eggs into Chu Lan's backpack, he had not been certain Chu Lan would forget to take them out. Even if he had, Xia Yu had sprinkled snake-luring medicine in his bag, so he still could have frightened him in the middle of the night. He had not expected Chu Lan to truly forget, nor for that nest of snake eggs to be so devastating. Well, he had indeed made a huge profit.

It was no wonder Chu Lan had been frightened so badly. Anyone would be scared to death after sleeping with their head on a nest of snake eggs, having little snakes hatch, and then being found by big snakes. The fact that Chu Lan had remained calm after something like that meant his mental fortitude was already strong enough.

After washing up, Xia Yu changed into his freshly cleaned custom combat uniform and walked out of the bedroom.

"Good morning, Young Master." Chi Yi greeted him respectfully. "Breakfast is ready."

Xia Yu walked into the dining room and sat down. "Where's Chi Yan?"

"Uh... Sir is probably watching the sunrise on the deck..."

Last night, Chi Yi had seen Sir leave the room with a grim expression. He had thought Sir had failed to coax Xia Yu, so he had not dared approach and risk provoking him. But Xia Yu did not look like he was still angry. If Sir had already soothed him, then why had he gone to the deck to spend all night in the cold wind? Chi Yi truly could not understand it.

"Oh."

Not long after, Chi Yan came downstairs. Having not slept all night, the dark circles under his eyes were obvious. After standing in the wind all night, his shirt had become wrinkled as well.

Xia Yu smiled and greeted him. "Good morning."

Chi Yan pressed his lips tightly together, turned around, and went back to his room to shower.

Chi Yi was even more confused. Why did it seem like Sir was the angry one now?

"Did you contact the director of that show?"

Chi Yi came back to himself and nodded. "Yes, Young Master. If you still want to go back and play, Black Snake can take you in."

"I'll go in after breakfast."

"Understood. I'll go tell Black Snake."

After showering, Chi Yan came out with a dark expression and sat across from Xia Yu. "We need to talk."

Xia Yu wiped his mouth. "I only talk about love and romance with you."

"Xia Yu! I'm serious."

"Fine, fine. Go ahead."

"I can't do it."

"Hm?"

"I really do like you. When I see you cry, my heart hurts and I want to comfort you. When I hear you call someone else, I get jealous and want to tear him apart. I want to drag you back and make you stay by my side only. Desire is merely born of love. I've lived for twenty-eight years, and whether women or men, you're the only person I've ever felt anything for."

Xia Yu looked up and studied his eyes seriously. "Then you and I are different."

Chi Yan's heart tightened. "How are we different?"

"My love was born of desire. I want to possess you completely."

"I'm yours. I can give myself to you."

"I want to take you myself."

Chi Yan's temple throbbed. "We're obviously so compatible. I think this is already good."

"Not at all. If my heart remains unsatisfied, then we're merely a couple in appearance, not in spirit."

"..."

Xia Yu stood, walked around the dining table, and stopped before him. He touched Chi Yan's cheek. "I hope that once this week is over, you'll be mentally prepared."

After saying that, he leisurely left the dining room and disembarked from the yacht.

Chi Yan was left behind with reddened ears, smashing his fist against the table in embarrassment and irritation.