Call Me Husband, and I'll Take You Out

The familiar strength, the long-missed sensation.

President Lu was thrilled again. With the five-finger mark still on his face, he followed Shen Ranxin into the manor.

He didn't know whether the production crew had installed central air conditioning throughout the manor, but the moment they stepped inside, the temperature seemed several degrees lower than outside. A fine layer of goosebumps rose on Shen Ranxin's skin.

Every hair on his body stood on end, his muscles taut like a bristling cat.

Lu Zhi let him pinch him and followed his steps deeper inside, inch by inch.

The first ten meters were fine—just some horror music mixed with blood-soaked props.

Though the props looked quite realistic and especially terrifying beneath the dim lights, they were at least inanimate objects. As long as you didn't touch them, they wouldn't touch you.

It was still within Shen Ranxin's tolerance. He merely pressed himself a little deeper into Lu Zhi's arms before continuing forward.

Further in were machine-operated props: a mummified corpse doing sit-ups inside a coffin, shriveled claws suddenly reaching out from the grass by the roadside, plastic figures mechanically raising and lowering knives, and baby bodies flying overhead while making strange noises.

Shen Ranxin's breathing had already grown rapid. Pressed tightly against him, Lu Zhi could smell the pheromones Shen Ranxin could no longer control because of his unstable emotions.

The aggressive pheromones unique to an Alpha spilled out even through the suppressant patch.

Lu Zhi knew that what they had encountered so far was already at the edge of Shen Ranxin's limits. If they went any farther and live NPCs appeared, Shen Ranxin might enter a certain... horrifying state.

Actually, everyone had seen that state before.

It was probably like that night when Gu Yifei insisted on singing Love You Till Death in the middle of the night.

It was a form of self-protection Shen Ranxin activated, as well as an aftereffect left behind by the surgery after what he had gone through.

Lu Zhi soothingly rubbed Shen Ranxin's nape, gently brushing against the gland at the back of his neck. "If you're really too scared, we don't have to keep looking, okay?"

Shen Ranxin's lips trembled as he spoke. "D-Don't fucking talk nonsense. If we don't look, how are we supposed to get out? How are we supposed to find the red string?"

Lu Zhi held Shen Ranxin by the shoulders. "How about this? Call me something nice, and I'll find a way for you to get the red string with your eyes closed."

Shen Ranxin paused, biting his lip as he hesitated. "...Can you really?"

"Of course." Lu Zhi said, "Now then, call me husband, baby. How about it?"

Shen Ranxin was silent for two seconds, then muttered sullenly, "...I can't say that. Pick something else."

Lowering his head, Lu Zhi pressed his forehead against Shen Ranxin's and murmured, "Then call me Zhizhi."

Shen Ranxin froze, nearly forgetting his fear. "Zhizhi... Who's called Zhizhi? Don't tell me it's you? Hahahahaha... How do you have such a childish name?"

Lu Zhi lowered his eyes and said quietly, "Yeah. Why would anyone give me such a childish name?"

Shen Ranxin sniffed, coughed, and said softly, "Zhizhi, take me out of here."

Lu Zhi held his breath. After a long moment, he let out a helpless chuckle. "Who exactly is the seductive ghost here, Teacher Shen? How come I never knew you were so good at tempting people?"

Shen Ranxin mumbled, "You're so annoying. You said you could help me find the red string. Are you planning to... Ah!"

Before Shen Ranxin could finish speaking, Lu Zhi lifted him up with one hand supporting his ass.

Shen Ranxin was very familiar with this position. Back in that restaurant's erotic suite, Lu Zhi had held him like this too.

Lu Zhi seemed to like this position very much. One hand slid up to Shen Ranxin's neck and pressed his head into the hollow of his shoulder. "Teacher Shen, close your eyes. Zhizhi is taking you away."

Before him was a scorching chest. A powerful heartbeat passed through where their bodies pressed together, one beat after another, steady enough to make him feel safe.

Behind him were Lu Zhi's strong arms, as though he had enclosed Shen Ranxin in an extremely safe little space.

With Lu Zhi's heartbeat guiding it, Shen Ranxin's wildly pounding heart finally settled down.

Lu Zhi's arms were strong. Holding up an adult Alpha weighing over one hundred and thirty pounds didn't seem difficult for him at all. His steps were steady, and he wasn't even breathing heavily.

Shen Ranxin's ears quietly reddened. He buried his face in Lu Zhi's neck, his breath heating the fabric, but he didn't lift his head.

His legs instinctively hung at Lu Zhi's waist, then tightened slightly. "If you think I'm heavy, you can stop and rest for a bit... But you promised me—you can't put me down, okay?"

"Mm." As Lu Zhi spoke, the vibrations in his chest carried through.

Reassured, Shen Ranxin kicked his legs lightly, wrapped his arms around Lu Zhi's neck, and closed his eyes.

Lu Zhi carried him like that for a stretch of the way, leaving the live NPCs waiting in the manor completely dumbfounded.

What the fuck, you could show off like this too?

Someone, come deal with this! Who the hell flaunted their love in a haunted house?!

They had worked here for years and scared off countless young couples, but they had never seen anyone this shameless. So they worked even harder, putting on the performance of their lives!

The NPCs exhausted every trick they had, yet they couldn't make Lu Zhi take even a single step back.

Instead, beneath the various dim lights, the icy look in Lu Zhi's pale eyes made the NPCs themselves shiver.

What the fuck, whose home turf was this?!

The night-vision cameras in the haunted house perfectly captured every move Shen Ranxin and Lu Zhi made and transmitted it back to the livestream.

[President Lu's boyfriend energy is off the charts!]

[How many pillows do I need to stack to have a dream this good?]

[President Lu is truly the Ancient Greek god in charge of hormones... I'm more excited than when I watch them have sex!]

[Can Shen Ranxin please get it together? He's an Alpha who's six feet tall, and now he's acting like a delicate little wife! Where's an Alpha's dignity and pride?!]

[I'm dying. Who needs pride in front of your husband?!]

[These NPCs are useless. If I were an NPC in there, I'd definitely scare Shen Ranxin right off Lu Zhi!]

Perhaps the NPC performer had somehow synced brainwaves with that viewer. Just as Lu Zhi easily obtained the red string and was about to carry Shen Ranxin out, an NPC suddenly fearlessly leaped over and viciously clawed Shen Ranxin across the back!