Threat

The room was pitch-dark.

Chi Li was restrained on the bed, enveloped by the heavy, stifling scent of sandalwood pheromones.

Though it was completely dark, Chi Li recognized who had come solely from the pheromones.

Chi Li was shocked. Why was Si Jinyan here?

Yet he had no time to ponder those questions. He had not even had the chance to think about what had happened to his teammates, why no warning had come through his earpiece, or why there was still no sound outside the door.

Si Jinyan's pheromones descended upon him with crushing pressure, leaving him almost unable to move.

Chi Li's breathing gradually became ragged. Si Jinyan losing control did not merely make him irritable and volatile; it also threw his susceptible period into disorder.

In just a few seconds, the situation had changed completely, plunging them into another predicament.

Si Jinyan said nothing. His arm and scorching palm gripped Chi Li's shoulder and body.

Si Jinyan's grip tightened further, as though he wanted to crush him. Chi Li could feel cold scales brush against his skin, sending tremors and fear spreading from the point of contact.

Chi Li breathed rapidly, his hand at his side clenching.

The next second, beneath the blanket, Chi Li subtly turned the hand gripping his gun and pressed it against Si Jinyan's waist and abdomen.

Half a second before Chi Li could pull the trigger, his wrist was seized. As if Si Jinyan had expected it all along, pain shot through Chi Li's wrist. Before he could break free of Si Jinyan's restraint, the gun had already been flung away.

Chi Li's wrist was gripped tightly and pinned above his head.

Si Jinyan raised his face from the side of Chi Li's neck.

Only then did Chi Li finally see Si Jinyan's face clearly—

Uncontrolled golden vertical pupils, dark scales growing along his neck—scales that appeared only when he was on the verge of losing control. In the hazy moonlight, they gleamed with an eerie luster.

No matter how many times he saw Si Jinyan like this, Chi Li's chest still tightened abruptly as it had the first time. It felt as though his heart had been clenched, pounding violently and choking off his breath.

Si Jinyan stared at him like a beast staring down its prey.

Before Si Jinyan, Chi Li always found himself at a disadvantage, unable to fight back.

After a single breath, in an exceedingly brief instant, Chi Li suddenly drove his knee into Si Jinyan's lower abdomen.

Before three moves had passed, Si Jinyan had twisted both of Chi Li's hands behind his back. His leg pressed into the bend of Chi Li's knee, forcing him face-down onto the bed, his face buried in the pillow.

Though he had failed to subdue Si Jinyan, the sounds of their struggle were enough to alert the companions outside.

Chi Li had achieved his objective as well.

Du Wei knocked on the door and asked in confusion, "Young master?"

Before Chi Li could speak, he felt the person behind him lean over him, the hand gripping his wrist tightening even more.

Si Jinyan bent close to Chi Li's ear. "If you want them to die, you can let them come in."

Chi Li had agreed on a code word with Du Wei and the others. At this moment, as long as he spoke that predetermined signal, Du Wei and the other companions outside would enter.

Si Jinyan's low voice sounded intermittently beside his ear. "Do you think it would be difficult for me to kill them all?"

"I can spare you, but I won't spare them."

"They can't see me like this."

The words he had yet to say were swallowed back down completely. Chi Li slowed his breathing, but his heart pounded ever harder, his chest rising and falling.

Chi Li could not help cursing inwardly.

The air seemed to solidify, suffocatingly still.

Chi Li moved his wrist. After a moment, he conceded. "What do you want?"

Du Wei's voice sounded again from the doorway. He was checking on Chi Li's safety.