Where's Your Tail?

After Zhong Xuezhi slumped forward, Mu Yi shook him a couple more times. There was no response. He really was out cold.

With considerable effort, Mu Yi pried Zhong Xuezhi's arm off his waist and opened his Identity Bracelet again.

Fortunately, both his mutation value and attack desire were plummeting, while his mental value was steadily rising.

His other readings were also a safe green, and the physical health assessment showed that he was healthy.

All right. Looked like he was fine.

Up and down like a roller coaster. Pretty damn thrilling.

After that silent assessment, Mu Yi shoved Zhong Xuezhi off him and took several deep breaths.

"Goddamn, you were crushing me."

With the weight off him, Mu Yi shifted around, found a less uncomfortable spot against the rock wall behind his back, and closed his eyes, giving up on doing anything else.

Before they hurried into the cave, Zhong Xuezhi had ordered everyone to rest here overnight. It was now five in the morning, so Mu Yi could still squeeze in a little sleep.

As he dozed, he kept feeling as though something was missing from his hand. He opened his eyes again, rustled his way over to Zhong Xuezhi, grabbed the tip of his tail, and settled back down.

The next day-

For once, Zhong Xuezhi's internal clock failed to wake him. By the time he opened his eyes, it was nearly eight in the morning.

This was such a novelty for him that he spent several minutes lying there in a daze after waking up.

Once he came around, he suddenly noticed a weight on his shoulder. Looking down, he discovered a tousled head resting there.

Zhong Xuezhi stared at that head for a long while, but couldn't remember a single thing that had happened after they entered the cave last night. Apparently, he'd blacked out.

"Huh... that's weird..."

Zhong Xuezhi patted his head. Still unable to recall a thing, he had no choice but to give up.

He stopped dwelling on it and raised his hand to open his Identity Bracelet instead, checking his safety readings. The assessment on the data panel was completely unexpected.

Everything read safe and healthy. Most importantly, his mutation value had actually dropped below 30%, an unprecedented low.

"Huh?" Zhong Xuezhi narrowed his eyes, wondering if he was still half asleep.

Did I save the planet after blacking out last night? Is this my reward?

His mutation value had always been considerably higher than other Mutants'. Even at its best, it had only reached 45%, and it usually hovered between 55% and 60%.

Of course, that was under normal circumstances. The moment anything went wrong, his mutation value shot up toward seventy or eighty percent.

Because of that, the energy available to him was extremely limited. Using just a couple of bars of energy was enough to push his mutation value into the abnormal range.

Now that it had dropped below 30%, he could use several more bars of energy.

Zhong Xuezhi was excited but also baffled. This stroke of good fortune had come out of nowhere.

After taking a moment to process it, he carefully pushed the head off his shoulder and gently rested it against the rock wall.

Then he stood and rummaged through his backpack. He'd actually fallen asleep covered in pig's blood last night. Staying like this a moment longer would suffocate him.

Zhong Xuezhi dug out clean clothes and toiletries, stripped naked in a few quick motions, then used the waterfall cascading outside to quickly rinse the blood and grime from his body.

As he washed, he smacked his lips, feeling as though his mouth tasted of blood too.

"Shit, did pig's blood splash into my mouth?"

Zhong Xuezhi grimaced in disgust and immediately turned to grab the rinsing cup and toothbrush behind him.

Unexpectedly, the moment he turned, Mu Yi, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly opened his eyes.

Both froze, their pupils contracting at the same instant.

Zhong Xuezhi spoke first. "You can't blame me for this! You're the one who opened your eyes."

He only moved his mouth, not his hands, and didn't even think to cover himself. Mu Yi had to turn his head and look away.

"Zhong Xuezhi! Have you got no fucking shame?!"

His reaction made Zhong Xuezhi laugh. Resting a hand on his hip, he said, "Why do you make such a fuss every time? You make it sound like I'm teasing some innocent maiden."

The relief of having all his safety readings back to normal had restored Captain Zhong's usual flippancy.

And when he was flippant, everything out of his mouth was infuriating.

Mu Yi immediately turned back and glared at him, refusing to back down. Then he raised his hand and flung a string of electric sparks at him. "Just get on with washing!"

Zhong Xuezhi casually twisted his naked body, dodging with ease, and said in amusement, "All right, all right. I'll finish up quickly."

With that, he bent down to pick up his toothbrushing supplies, turned around, and obediently got on with washing up.

Mu Yi sat cross-legged and haphazardly raked his fingers through his messy hair. His thoughts were just as tangled.

For a Beta to keep stripping naked in front of an Alpha, he had to be either trying to seduce him or outrageously brazen.

Zhong Xuezhi was definitely the latter.

"Fuck..." Mu Yi felt blatantly underestimated.

Let's see if I look away next time!

As that thought ran through his mind, he abruptly looked up again and glared at Zhong Xuezhi's bare ass. "Zhong Xuezhi, where's your tail?"

Zhong Xuezhi looked back with his toothbrush in his mouth and answered indistinctly, "Once your mutation value drops below the safety threshold, you can manifest and retract your mutated form at will."

"Oh," Mu Yi said. At will is good. That means he can bring it out again anytime.

Still not quite awake, he yawned and leaned back against the rock wall. It wasn't very comfortable, so he shifted around several times, trying to adjust his position.

As he moved, his shirt, already missing buttons, slipped farther open and skewed to one side, exposing the distinct bite mark on his shoulder.

Zhong Xuezhi, who had been about to turn back and continue brushing his teeth, paused and asked suspiciously, "Who bit you hard enough to leave a whole row of marks like that?"

They've got quite a set of teeth.

Mu Yi slowly opened his eyes and looked at Zhong Xuezhi expressionlessly. "You don't know who bit me?"

Zhong Xuezhi raised a hand to wipe the toothpaste foam running down his chin, his face a picture of innocence. "No idea. I completely blacked out last night."

"Ha..." Mu Yi suddenly laughed, then answered, "A big deaf and mute cat."

A big cat? And a deaf and mute one at that?

Zhong Xuezhi laughed too, his toothbrush still in his mouth. "You might as well say I bit you. That'd be more believable."

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Mu Yi's eyes.

Judging by Zhong Xuezhi's reaction, he clearly didn't know he had a habit of biting people indiscriminately, or even drinking their blood.

After thinking for a moment, Mu Yi stared at Zhong Xuezhi and gave a cold laugh. "Captain Zhong, about last night... I suggest you take your time and think long and hard."

Memory blackouts were sometimes a subconscious defense mechanism. Forcibly uncovering those memories could often trigger a series of negative effects.

In light of similar experiences in his past, Mu Yi showed a rare measure of tolerance and let Zhong Xuezhi unlock last night's memories on his own.