Open your mouth. Let me see your teeth

Mu Yi said, "Zhong Xuezhi, what's wrong with you?"

Zhong Xuezhi seemed unable to hear his question. A vicious glint flashed through his eyes, followed by a trace of struggle and restraint.

In the end, those tangled emotions converged into a craving, driving him to inch toward Mu Yi, his breath hot.

Mu Yi grabbed his hair and dragged him back again, while his other hand felt for the Identity Bracelet on his wrist.

When he woke the screen, he discovered the damn thing needed a fingerprint to unlock.

So he released Zhong Xuezhi's hair, quickly pulled over his right hand, and tested each of his fingers.

After finally unlocking it, he discovered he needed a password to access the system.

"Fuck...!"

Mu Yi braced his elbow under Zhong Xuezhi's jaw and asked, "What's the password?"

Zhong Xuezhi's jaw remained tight, and he said nothing.

Mu Yi wasn't a patient man. He jabbed his elbow hard against Zhong Xuezhi's chin a few times and demanded, "The password! Let me check your safety readings."

The words "safety readings" seemed to pluck some nerve in Zhong Xuezhi's mind, restoring a sliver of reason.

His Adam's apple slowly bobbed a few times before he rasped out a string of numbers.

Mu Yi quickly entered them and successfully brought up the projected interface.

The Identity Bracelet had so many functions that it took Mu Yi a while to find the self-safety assessment data.

He hurriedly opened it, his gaze going straight to the mutation value field. The reading was a glaring red 91%.

Beneath it was a line of small explanatory text: mutation values below 60% are normal; values above that are abnormal. Values exceeding 80% are critically abnormal. Please suspend all energy absorption and release.

Mu Yi squinted through it, his head full of questions.

If 80% was critically abnormal, how abnormal did that make Zhong Xuezhi now that he'd shot past 90?

And what would happen if this thing went over a hundred?

While he pondered that, Zhong Xuezhi's mutation value actually jumped another 1%, reaching 92%.

Fuck, that fast?

Mu Yi immediately reached into Zhong Xuezhi's pockets and rummaged around. But the square box he pulled out was light, and when he shook it, nothing rattled inside.

Zhong Xuezhi had chewed through all the Suppressant as though it were rice.

"Damn it." Mu Yi stuffed the square box back into Zhong Xuezhi's pocket and lowered his head to inspect the data panel again.

His mutation value was still 92; that number hadn't changed. But the numbers beside two other entries kept ticking like a stopwatch.

One was his mental value, which was plummeting. It had already dropped to 45%.

The other was his attack desire, which kept rising. It had already reached 78%.

Although Mu Yi didn't yet know the safe ranges for these readings, neither of those two looked normal.

He considered it, then tried to communicate with him. "Hey, can you hear me?"

Zhong Xuezhi's brief moment of clarity seemed to have been one last rally. Now he was dazed again, offering no response to Mu Yi's words and merely panting.

As he panted, he kept trying to lean against Mu Yi, his nostrils flaring slightly as though he were sniffing for something.

Mu Yi found the sight somewhat funny. He patted Zhong Xuezhi's cheek. "You're a Beta. What are you sniffing for?"

But as he tried to withdraw his hand, Zhong Xuezhi abruptly caught his wrist, turned his palm upward, and brought it before his eyes.

He used considerable force, pressing hard enough to hurt Mu Yi's already injured palm.

Mu Yi tugged twice. "What are you doing? Let go!"

Zhong Xuezhi didn't let go. His grip only tightened as he brought his face close and sniffed with harsh, noisy breaths.

Mu Yi found it strange, and a little ticklish, so he curled his fingers inward.

Yet the instant he closed his hand, Zhong Xuezhi's breathing suddenly grew frantic, and that vicious glint flashed through his eyes again.

At the same time, the mental value on Zhong Xuezhi's safety data panel plunged, falling to 30% in moments.

His attack desire also shot up to 86%.

The abnormality was far too obvious. Mu Yi immediately put aside his curiosity, no longer daring to keep experimenting on his own.

He fumbled through the projected interface, intending to find the Identity Bracelet's calling function and call An Beize next door.

An Beize had the sharpest mind on their team. He was always the right person to turn to when something happened.

Unfortunately, the Identity Bracelet had far too many functions, and Mu Yi knew nothing about them. He could only scan through them one by one.

As he concentrated on searching, he suddenly felt a tight grip on both shoulders. Then his back slammed against the cavern wall.

Zhong Xuezhi had lunged at him without warning and pinned him firmly in place.

Mu Yi snapped his head up, faint sparks flickering over his body. Watching Zhong Xuezhi pant incessantly, he frowned. "You fucking want a fight?"

Zhong Xuezhi's brows were also tightly furrowed, his expression tinged with pain. His breathing grew increasingly frantic. Though he gulped down air, he looked as though he were suffocating.

The longer Mu Yi watched, the more something seemed wrong. Did he have some kind of respiratory problem?

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Zhong Xuezhi, still struggling for breath, suddenly buried his head against Mu Yi's neck. A sharp pain pierced his shoulder an instant later.

"Fuck...!" Mu Yi reflexively discharged two bursts of attacking current and shoved Zhong Xuezhi hard.

Zhong Xuezhi didn't budge against him. The force of his bite on Mu Yi's shoulder only tightened.

"Ugh...!"

After the searing pain, Mu Yi heard loud gulps.

Zhong Xuezhi was drinking his blood.

Mu Yi blanked for a few moments. Once he came back to himself, he immediately pressed a hand against Zhong Xuezhi's throat and pushed, forcing him to cough and choke until he had to release his bite.

Then Mu Yi braced a hand beneath his chin to prevent him from drawing close again.

But after being pushed away, Zhong Xuezhi showed no intention of coming back for another drink.

He slowly extended his tongue and licked the blood from his lips, a trace of satisfaction appearing on his face.

Afterward, all his hostility and agitation faded. He stopped panting so hard, too, merely lowering his faintly gleaming eyes to watch Mu Yi in silence.

Mu Yi watched him as well. After a while, he reached up and touched the place where he'd been bitten.

The two rows of tooth marks were quite symmetrical, and the four little punctures on either side stood out clearly.

Mu Yi withdrew his hand and brought his bloodstained fingers before his eyes, his expression unreadable.

Suddenly, Zhong Xuezhi shook his head against the hand supporting his chin, seemingly trying to lean closer. His eyes were fixed on the blood coating Mu Yi's fingertips.

Mu Yi wiggled his fingers and asked with a smile, "You like my blood?"

At this point, Zhong Xuezhi might as well have been deaf and mute. He seemed not to hear, and certainly wasn't going to answer.

But a moment later, Zhong Xuezhi abruptly tightened the arm around his waist, and the tail behind him gave a slight flick.

For some reason, Mu Yi was pleased. "You're rather like a pet when you keep your mouth shut."

As he spoke, he found a clean patch of fabric on his clothes and wiped his fingers several times. Then he touched Zhong Xuezhi's lips and tried saying, "Open your mouth. Let me see your teeth."

After drinking his blood, Zhong Xuezhi seemed just barely capable of interacting. When Mu Yi poked his lips, he actually opened his mouth.

Mu Yi immediately grinned and hurriedly tilted his head to look.

Sure enough, among Zhong Xuezhi's two neat rows of teeth were four conspicuous little fangs, slightly longer than the rest.

No wonder he could bite holes.

After looking for a while, Mu Yi slipped his cleaned fingers into Zhong Xuezhi's mouth and curiously felt around.

But before he could touch much, a faint sting came from his fingertips. Zhong Xuezhi held his fingers in his mouth and began sucking.

Unlike his earlier gulping, Zhong Xuezhi drank very delicately this time, taking only a few drops with each suck.

So Mu Yi didn't pull his fingers out. He simply watched him drink.

Because of his pheromones, his blood smelled much stronger than most people's. Whenever he suffered even a minor break in the skin, no one wanted to come near him.

And Zhong Xuezhi actually craved his blood?

How interesting.

He pondered this as he watched the big cat drink his blood, thoroughly absorbed.

But soon, Zhong Xuezhi pushed his fingers out, then dropped his head without warning and slumped against him again.

"Zhong Xuezhi? Zhong Xuezhi?" Mu Yi reached up and patted his shoulder, but there was no response.

Had he passed out?