A beautiful monster

Who... was his husband?

Perhaps it was his imagination, but as soon as he said that, Yu Qing felt the hand around his throat seem to... loosen...?

Of course. The BOSS coveted the power inside him. If he wanted to extract its purest essence, he couldn't kill him recklessly.

That was his greatest bargaining chip for survival!

"You..." Yu Qing had no strength left. Held entirely in the other man's grasp, he looked so small, utterly outmatched, but... he was smiling.

The young man lifted his almond-shaped eyes, gazing provocatively at the monster whose beauty rivaled a god's. "You felt me up the very first time we met, and then... I kissed you of my own accord. By human standards, that makes us mutually attracted and headed for marriage. If I don't call you my husband, what should I call you... mm..."

Before he could finish, the BOSS lifted his hand again. Thick veins bulged on its pale back, pitch-black against the eerie darkness, exuding a strangely mesmerizing tension.

"Baby... you're so... beautiful..." His throat wasn't completely crushed shut, so Yu Qing could still speak. "...Don't... be so violent."

He raised an eyebrow. "...Don't like being called 'husband'?"

"Then how about I call you 'wife'? Can you... lie back and let me fuck you... mm..."

This time, his windpipe was squeezed completely shut. The constricting sensation of suffocation overwhelmed him instantly. Yu Qing's ears reddened, while his lips visibly drained of color.

Blood stained his slender body, his long hair disheveled. He looked just like a flower growing at the edge of a cliff, one that had finally managed to bloom only for someone to seize its stem.

At the brink of death, its sap surged and its vitality returned, making its bloom all the more dazzling.

His eyes flickered, and that rare sight piqued the man's interest.

Without easing his grip on Yu Qing's neck, the BOSS slowly released his wrist and stepped back twice-

For some reason, he wanted to watch this person struggle on the verge of death.

He had a feeling... it would be quite the spectacle.

So the BOSS took another step back, decisively released his hand, and casually raised a tentacle. It coiled around the young man's neck, lifted his frail body, and cinched tight!

"Ah..."

Tears welled at the corners of Yu Qing's eyes. Sure enough, he struggled even harder.

His life burned all the more vividly in that moment, and excitement mounted in the man's crimson eyes.

A vicious urge to kill rose in the BOSS's heart. His gaze shifted as he debated whether to finish him off, when suddenly-whoosh!

An exceedingly fine Golden Needle shot from Yu Qing's wrist, hurtling straight toward his heart with tremendous force!

Struck in a vital spot, the man's pupils trembled, and he instinctively loosened the tentacle.

Sharp pain spread rapidly, forcing him two steps back. Black blood slowly seeped from the needle hole, and a moment later-thud!

The man dropped heavily to one knee.

Kneeling... before Yu Qing.

"Cough! Cough, cough, cough!" Finally able to breathe, Yu Qing coughed violently several times. His eyes fixed on the man before him, and the faintest trace of a smile appeared.

He slowly climbed to his feet, pulled out the Golden Needle, and drew it back into his body. At the same time, he tipped up the other man's chin. "Baby?"

As though deliberately trying to anger the BOSS, the young man brushed his fingers gently over the monster's lips, his tone suggestive. "What makes you so sure I only have one Golden Needle to defend myself?"

As he finished speaking, Yu Qing noticed the livestream comments: [Aaaah! I've got chills!] [Qingqing, my wife, hehehe.]

But... he wasn't in the mood to read them now.

He raised his hand to hide the livestream comments, then gritted his teeth and spent 5,000 points on a bottle of Dizzy Water from the system shop.

According to its listed effects, it could put any instance monster to sleep for a day.

He remembered that his confinement would also last a day. So, since he couldn't kill the BOSS outright, this was his best chance of staying alive.

But... the BOSS was different from ordinary monsters, after all. There was no telling how its effects might change. Whatever happened, he had to strike first!

Taking advantage of the man's distraction, Yu Qing grabbed the BOSS hard by both cheeks and tried to pry his mouth open.

But the man seemed to see through his malicious intentions. He clenched his teeth, refusing to open his mouth, and stared at Yu Qing defiantly with cold crimson eyes, like an elephant looking down at an ant.

Though the wound in his chest hadn't healed, he could control the tentacles trailing across the floor again. They slowly began to writhe and rise...

Time was running out!

His grip weakening, Yu Qing immediately asked the system, "Will this medicine harm a streamer who drinks it?"

At that question, not only the system but even the hidden livestream chat responded with: [???]

[What's the streamer trying to do? Knock himself out because he can't knock out the BOSS?]

[I'm lost. What kind of strategy is this? If he passes out, he won't have to worry about being killed? What a coward.]

[This is the top-performing streamer this year? How disappointing. He's nowhere near last year's.]

The livestream viewers kept throwing out guesses, but Yu Qing was only waiting for the system's reply.

As soon as he heard [This medicine only works on BOSSes...], he tipped the entire bottle of Dizzy Water into his mouth without waiting to hear the rest, then lowered his head.

Without hesitation, he pressed his lips to the man's exquisite ones.

[Aaaaaaaaaah!]

The mood in the livestream reversed. The lurking doubts were quickly buried beneath a screen full of screams.

Soon, "Mm..."

A low, muffled groan escaped the BOSS's throat. At last, those tightly sealed lips parted a fraction beneath the unexpected kiss.

It let Yu Qing glimpse a dazzling ray of daylight in the darkness.

The BOSS's pupils dilated again, and the tentacles hanging in midair froze once more. Clearly... he still hadn't grown used to being treated this way.

Why... did his body burn uncontrollably every time their lips touched like this...?

The BOSS preferred the cold. That burning sensation left him inexplicably irritated and restless, yet so enthralled that he didn't want to push him away.

This was madness...

Gulp-

At last, his Adam's apple bobbed, and the Dizzy Water went down. The livestream viewers were ecstatic.

Only Yu Qing knew... he was using his tongue!

This thing... was so hard to handle!

Gulp, gulp-

Once all the Dizzy Water had gone down, the man toppled backward. Yu Qing shoved him away and withdrew his numb tongue, finally gaining a brief sense of safety.

A thin sheen of sweat covered the young man's body. His stamina was all but depleted, and he nearly collapsed onto the floor.

Red marks covered his abused neck, as though some scoundrel had bitten down and branded him as his alone.

So the BOSS had erased the earlier strangulation marks on his neck out of possessiveness, wanting to leave his own instead?

...As twisted as ever!

Only then did Yu Qing finally get a clear look at the BOSS-

He seemed to be... over two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. His proportions came even closer to perfection than his face, and with his eyes peacefully shut, he possessed a strange divinity that made one want to kneel in worship.

His true form had three layers in all: a man at the core, countless pitch-black tentacles forming the second layer, and an outer shroud of black mist under his sole control that could stretch on endlessly.

He could also control the surrounding temperature, and even cut off the system's connection. "A level-seven BOSS..."

Yu Qing continued backing away on his hands, his pale fingertips brushing over the black tentacles. Soon, he stood up, and-thump!

He delivered a vicious kick, yet praised him. "A beautiful monster."

After kicking him, he found a comfortable spot to lean against and turned the comments back on.

But for some reason, his throat had begun to burn when he kicked the BOSS. Now that he was sitting down, discomfort spread through his entire body, his breathing quickened, and his fingertips tingled.

An ill-timed heat surged wildly through his chest like a raging current. "Hah..."

The system lit up, reflecting his slightly flushed face.

Yu Qing had opened the comments to ask the viewers about Qian Lai, but the first one he saw was...

[Aaaah! Wifey, wifey! Why didn't you let the system finish? Don't you know Dizzy Water has a side effect? If a streamer drinks it, it's basically hehe... hehehe...]