The young man swept his bangs back with one hand, exposing his smooth, full forehead. His red eyes narrowed slightly, his vivid red lips alluring, and he radiated the dangerous allure of ripe fruit.
Shen Ru casually slipped on a bathrobe and emerged from the bathroom amid a haze of steam.
He ignored the gaze fixed relentlessly on him, walking out calmly as though he had not noticed.
Attacking recklessly in an instance without knowing what the other party was would be idiotic.
Shen Ru lounged across from Mo Yu. The broad sweep of his movements pulled his bathrobe open at the chest, revealing faintly defined abs.
The artery beneath his slender, pale neck pulsed with excitement. Even simply sitting there, the young man looked like an exquisitely sculpted work of art.
In the livestream chat:
[Open it a little more!!! We're all friends here, don't be shy!!]
[What did I do to deserve this!!! I can't believe we're eating this well, sob sob sob.]
[Now my face gets hot and my heart races whenever I see these two alone together. Anyone else, girls!?]
[Aaaaaah, me too!!!]
Mo Yu broke the silence first.
"I thought you would kill him."
The man raised his brows slightly, licked his lips, and drained the decanted red wine from his glass.
Shen Ru casually ruffled his wet hair, regarding him with amusement.
"When did I promise you I'd kill him?"
"Then it seems you left him as a gift especially for me."
Mo Yu leaned back slightly, settling his back fully against the sofa. The sound of his fingertip tapping the glass lingered between them.
Shen Ru could not fathom the man's thoughts. Mo Yu did not seem anxious, and everything Shen Ru thought he understood was merely his own speculation and interpretation. The man had never given him a direct answer.
But if he truly was not in a hurry, why had he dragged Shen Ru into the instance?
"Now you should tell me what your talent is."
Shen Ru's most pressing concern was to establish the extent of the man's abilities-for example, why Mo Yu had also been able to use Time Stop in the previous instance.
"Plunder. I can plunder other people's talents, but their duration is half that of the original owner's."
Mo Yu kept his promise. As he spoke, the young man's exquisite figure was reflected in his dark eyes, every inch of skin from head to toe captured in his gaze.
Shen Ru frowned slightly and continued, "After plundering a skill, do you retain the right to use it indefinitely?"
The man sat elegantly on the sofa. It was afternoon, and brilliant sunlight shone outside, yet none of that warm light reached him. Black shadows spread behind him, brazen and dangerous.
The man amid the shadows suddenly laughed, the low sound sending a chill through Shen Ru.
"That's a second question."
Of course Shen Ru knew what he meant. The answer about the screening mechanism had been payment for the first question.
To learn the answer to the second, he would have to offer something of equal value in exchange.
The red-eyed young man smiled without restraint. How interesting!
Not once did he mention killing Guan Wenyue, yet every sentence reminded Shen Ru that he could only get his answers by killing Guan Wenyue.
After they looked at each other for a moment, Shen Ru did something Mo Yu had not expected.
The young man rose and walked over to him, casually tugging at his neckline. The movement pulled his robe wide open, exposing his pale collarbones and enticingly rounded shoulders.
A broad expanse of skin lay exposed before Mo Yu, apparently drawing far more attention than the question had.
The man did not object, allowing this bewitching rose to settle into his lap.
The distance between them gradually shrank, until droplets from Shen Ru's hair trickled along the winding strands and down the man's neck.
"Why aren't you pushing me away?"
They had agreed from the start that something was around them, but its purpose still needed to be investigated and verified.
Although Shen Ru was testing that theory, he had also made the move to deliberately disgust the man.
Unexpectedly, rather than taking the bait, the man wrapped an arm around the young man's slim waist and pressed him suggestively closer.
"Be good. Someone's watching."
Those words could be interpreted in different ways: he might have meant the livestream viewers, or he might have meant something else was in the room.
Naturally, they both took it to mean the latter.
The young man raised a brow and obligingly leaned into his embrace.
In the livestream chat:
[Aaaaaaaaaah, it's finally fucking New Year's today!!!]
[Sob sob sob, even their acting feels so genuine. I can't imagine how sweet they'd be if they actually got together.]
[Wait... does nobody care about the plot? Like, who's watching them???]
[Uh, knowing how Mo operates, he probably doesn't mean us. I'm guessing they've noticed something's wrong.]
Shen Ru rested his head lightly against the man's shoulder. His forefinger slowly brushed over the man's sexy Adam's apple as he spoke chilling words in a beguiling, breathy voice.
"I can kill Guan Wenyue, but I want to know why. Will you tell me that along with the answer to my second question?"
The man smiled and lowered his voice, capturing the finger brushing his throat in his hand. His voice was husky and seductive, like a lover's whispered endearments.
"Of course."
That answer made Shen Ru even more certain that the man was plotting something terrible. He could let Shen Ru learn the secret of his talent, and could even freely offer up his reasons. He simply did not want the public to believe the Dark Night Guild had acted.
Shen Ru was not someone who rigidly followed the rules, yet every step he had taken in this instance had willingly led him into the man's trap.
That sick bastard was truly terrifying.
Having secured the promise he wanted, the young man lingered no longer. He pulled away swiftly and coldly, slipping out of the man's embrace with ease.
"Isn't it time we exchanged information?"
Mo Yu nodded. "This room must have been renovated at least twice, yet even repeated repairs haven't sealed the cracks in the walls. That can only mean one thing."
Shen Ru had headed straight for the bathroom upon entering and had not examined the room's furnishings closely, but the man's words were enough for him to conclude:
"It seems something lives in those cracks. The Leons must have noticed it too, which is why they kept renovating the room, but it doesn't seem to have helped much."
The man agreed and continued, "And the system explicitly told us the Leons had sensed a strange gaze. This must be what it meant."
Shen Ru considered this for a moment, then frowned. "But there's still a lot we can't establish. First, what is the thing in the cracks, and how far does its presence extend? Then, what is the room by the stairs for, and why is it unused? Finally, why specifically mention the Leons' aching backs?"
But there was one point that mattered most. The young man lifted his red eyes slightly, regarding the other man with an unreadable look.
"The system never explicitly said we had to solve the mystery. Couldn't some players decide it's better not to invite trouble and refuse to get involved in the instance?"
The man smiled, his icy words steeped in despair as he delivered them one by one.
"If you don't get involved, you die."
The moment he finished speaking, an agonized, tearing scream rang through the entire corridor.
"Aaaah-"
Before you continue