Shen Ye Lost Control

Song Shiya's expression shifted from indifference to surprise. She called out tentatively, "Shen Ye?"

But Shen Ye ignored her.

He kept stuffing food into his mouth.

His belly swelled at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Normally, Shen Ye's abdomen was flat and muscular.

His body's previous owner had developed it through frequent hiking and exercise.

But now, his stomach bulged like an inflated balloon, stretching his clothes taut.

The seventh biscuit.

Shen Ye's chewing finally slowed.

His stomach felt as though a rock had been shoved into it-heavy, swollen, and aching dully.

But he gritted his teeth and kept swallowing.

The eighth biscuit.

He crumpled the wrapper in his hand and swallowed the eighth compressed biscuit.

Then came the remaining three or four sausage sticks.

Song Shiya finally couldn't stand watching anymore. She freed a hand and grabbed his left hand as he tried to stuff more food into his mouth.

His bulging belly bumped against the seat belt buckle, making him grunt in pain.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Song Shiya looked utterly baffled. His behavior had even left her struggling to control her emotions.

The moisture in her round, almond-shaped eyes shimmered faintly under the light inside the car.

Shen Ye leaned back in his seat, trying to steady his breathing.

Waves of bloating pain rose from his stomach. He gritted his teeth, trying not to look as miserable as he felt.

"Nothing. I was just hungry."

He didn't want to tell her the truth, so he instinctively lied.

Song Shiya's gaze moved from his face to the bulge of his stomach. No matter how she looked at it, this wasn't what a normal person should look like after being "hungry."

Her eyesight was already far keener than an ordinary person's, and she had previously worked in healthcare. To her, Shen Ye's behavior had gone beyond binge eating. It looked as though he was trying to eat himself to death.

"Hungry?" Song Shiya's voice rose slightly, a mocking curve at her lips. Her expression plainly said, Do I look like an idiot to you?

"You ate eight compressed biscuits and six or seven sausage sticks in one go. How is that normal eating?"

Shen Ye said nothing.

"Your stomach is about to burst."

Song Shiya pressed her lips together and offered the warning out of concern.

Rather than remain silent, Shen Ye sidestepped the issue and teased her. "Are you worried about me?"

"What else would it be?" Song Shiya snapped.

Her face grew warm as soon as she said it, and she stubbornly added, "If anything happens to you, we won't survive either."

Silence settled over the car for a few seconds, broken only by the roar of the engine.

The guilty look on Shen Ye's face somehow irritated Song Shiya. In a rare outburst, she challenged him loudly. "You don't trust me."

When she said it, the worry in her voice was gone, replaced by a wounded disappointment, as though something had struck a nerve.

Shen Ye froze for a moment.

"If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have let you stay in the car."

The instant those words left his mouth, Shen Ye realized he had said the wrong thing.

Song Shiya was a woman, guided by emotion, and her expression changed when she heard that.

It wasn't fury or hurt indignation, but the look of someone who had suddenly been struck by something.

There were no tears in her eyes, but that quiet disappointment hit harder than any tears could have.

She stepped on the brake, pulled over, and unfastened her seat belt.

Just as she was about to push the door open and get out,

Shen Ye reacted faster than she did.

He grabbed her wrist.

Song Shiya's wrist was slender, warm and smooth as jade. Its bones were distinct but its contours soft, and holding it felt like holding a piece of warm jade.

But now that wrist was pulling hard against his grip, with enough force to drag an ordinary person off their feet.

Shen Ye, however, was no ordinary person.

The physical enhancements from his two sequences made even his casual grip as firm as a vise. Song Shiya struggled twice, but his hand didn't budge.

She turned to look at him, emotion finally showing in her eyes.

It wasn't the hurt of someone on the verge of tears, but a stubborn anger. "Let go!"

"You misunderstood," Shen Ye said quietly.

"Misunderstood what? You've never trusted me, not once!"

"Ever since we left Snake Village, I've seen you as my partner, my comrade. I wanted to stay with you and survive together!"

"But you?"

"We've escaped death together so many times, yet you've never once let your guard down around me."

Faced with her accusations, Shen Ye's Adam's apple bobbed.

He suddenly remembered how Song Shiya had stayed beside him after he passed out, taking the initiative to drive for him.

He remembered all the times he had been in danger, and how her Light of Holy Healing had pulled him back when he was about to give out.

Even just now, if she hadn't rushed out of the tollbooth to heal him in time, he would already have been a corpse, suffocated to death by the Oil-Shadow Ghost.

Yes, Shen Ye was formidable. He was the Dawn Convoy's only combatant.

But without Song Shiya, no matter how well he could fight, he wouldn't have survived this long.

Maybe I really am too wary of people, he thought.

If she had wanted to harm him, he might never have woken up after passing out in the car.

"You really did misunderstand," he explained again, his tone much gentler than before.

Song Shiya didn't answer, but she stopped trying to pull away.

The bloating pain in his stomach was still tormenting him, making his voice strained as he spoke. "This is actually a side effect of my sequence."

Song Shiya paused, surprise crossing her face.

"After a fight, I have to satisfy a desire." Shen Ye spoke slowly, almost struggling to admit it.

"Otherwise, I'll lose control and become a monster that knows nothing but killing."

"What kind of desire?"

"Killing, or some other primal desire, like hunger."

"But I'm still testing this. I don't know whether it'll work."

He didn't specify which sequence.

He didn't reveal a word about the Butcher Sequence's specific abilities, or the existence of the Asura Sequence.

It wasn't distrust, but caution.

This habit was etched into his bones. In his previous life as a mercenary, he wouldn't have revealed all his trump cards even to his closest comrades.

Some things were better known to as few people as possible.

Song Shiya parted her lips, but before she could speak, Shen Ye's expression suddenly changed.

That dazed sensation surged back.

This time, Song Shiya saw it too.

Shen Ye's pupils contracted to pinpoints in an instant, and several dark red veins appeared in the whites of his eyes.

The corner of his mouth jerked upward against his will. That expression wasn't a smile. It was as though something had crawled out from deep inside his body and forcibly taken command of his facial muscles.

A savage grimace.

A savagery beyond anything human.

And his gaze.

Those eyes, which had been struggling to remain calm just a second earlier, now churned with pure, undisguised killing intent.

Cold and brutal, like a blade freshly quenched in blood.

That killing intent was aimed at her.