The boy's lashes trembled in the darkness as he looked at the man before him in confusion.
What was that sound?
Had Huo Yuzhou spoken?
The room was very dark.
Fortunately, he was very close to Huo Yuzhou. The man's handsome features were faintly visible in the darkness, and Nan Qing had seen perfectly clearly that his mouth hadn't even opened just now.
Where had that voice come from?
He stared at the man blankly, looking a little dazed.
The man holding his neck remained indifferent, his voice barely fluctuating.
"What? Not moving anymore?"
This voice was completely different from the one just now.
The tone and pauses were the same, but those earlier remarks clearly hadn't traveled through any medium. They had sounded directly inside his head.
Nan Qing frantically prodded the system, sending a string of question marks.
The system's mechanical voice sounded, carrying a soothing power.
"I can't detect any abnormalities, nor can I hear the voice you described, Host."
"Based on what you've reported, the system has determined that excessive stress has worsened the malicious cannon fodder's neurasthenia, resulting in these negative effects."
"It's nothing serious. Just wait a little longer. You'll be able to die soon."
Nan Qing lifted his small face. Before he could fully breathe a sigh of relief, the villain boss's icy voice sounded, laced with mockery.
"You came to seduce me? To ask whether I wanted you?"
"And this is all you've got?"
This is all he's got?
Who was he looking down on?
Nan Qing was annoyed. He had always completed his missions beautifully. Even the system said he was the best host among the last few batches, and now a fictional character was questioning him?
He raised a hand and shoved Huo Yuzhou down onto the bed.
The man's sharply defined features resembled a rugged mountain. The wind lifted a corner of the curtain, letting a faint light fall across his face and soften its perpetual coldness.
He had been drinking. His lips were red, his eyes moist.
Lying on the bed and looking at him like this, his long neck slightly raised, he lacked his usual overbearing menace and actually looked strangely vulnerable.
As though he would be easy to bully.
Nan Qing tugged at his bow tie as an odd thought surfaced in his mind.
Huo Yuzhou looked so sexy...
The night breeze drifted through the curtains and brushed his face, tickling a little. Huo Yuzhou had made Nan Qing's heart itch, too.
Perhaps he had drunk too much while socializing at the banquet. Even the villain boss couldn't hold his liquor, looking so drunk that Nan Qing could do whatever he pleased with him.
His courage emboldening his wickedness, Nan Qing grabbed Huo Yuzhou's cheeks with both hands and pinched them.
"Huo Yuzhou, have you run out of strength?"
"One push and you fall over? All soft and delicate? Are you the princess and the pea?"
"Weren't you so tough just now? Weren't you threatening me?"
"I'm telling you-ah!"
A powerful force hit him. With a dizzying sensation of the world turning upside down, Nan Qing was pinned to the velvet quilt.
The princess and the pea, who had been utterly drunk a moment ago, lowered his gaze. His thick lashes cast broad shadows beneath his eyes as he braced himself on his long arms and looked down at Nan Qing.
"Nan Qing, have you had your fun?"
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes.
The scene where he gets choked half to death was finally here.
Nan Qing's eyes lit up. Looking ready to die in peace, he gazed expectantly at the man's large hand.
The next second, that large hand patted his face.
It didn't hurt, but it was deeply insulting.
Nan Qing couldn't spare the attention to get angry. He simply watched the man eagerly, his round, dark almond eyes blinking, filled with the man's reflection.
Was the choking next?
Had they finally reached that part?
He was getting exhausted from all this acting!
The scent of ebony and agarwood spread through the air. Huo Yuzhou leaned down slightly, until their breaths almost mingled.
His stare made Nan Qing's skin crawl. His heart thumped uneasily, and he gradually lost patience.
The man's well-defined fingers finally moved, gripping his chin, his voice slightly husky.
"Tell me. What do you want?"
Nan Qing: ?
What else could he want? Didn't he just want to be strangled to death?
What did that bastard Huo Yuzhou mean?
Was he giving him a chance to say his last words?
The boy pressed his rosy lips together, their full central curve a lush, alluring shade.
He pretended not to understand, his voice both coy and greedy.
"There's plenty I want. You know I've never had to put up with anything since I was little, but now I'm supposed to live in that dump? I refuse!"
His soft voice carried an unconscious haughtiness. Even though he had long since ceased to be the Bai family's legitimate young master, that pride remained in his bones.
"Of course I want to live in a manor, drive luxury cars, take yachts out, and throw parties! And I can't go without luxuries like the season's clothes, watches, and jewelry. Every season's new releases have to be delivered to my home first..."
"And you know the roses in my bathtub are flown in from Morocco, my dinner plates are privately commissioned from Italy, and even the duck-down duvet I sleep under is flown in from Iceland..."
"If you can give me the best of everything, this young master might consider giving you a chance and being with you."
The fingers gripping his chin remained motionless, and Nan Qing began adding fuel to the fire again.
"You know how popular I am. I can't help it. I'm just too beautiful, and I have so many admirers."
Huo Yuzhou held him trapped on the bed, yet he showed no sign of admitting defeat. The outer corners of his full, round eyes tilted upward, his fluttering lashes thick and dense.
With red lips, white teeth, and lushly beautiful features, he spouted nonsense in an impossibly coy voice.
"Actually, I know you fell for me ages ago."
"That time you accidentally walked into my bathroom, you couldn't stop staring. Then early the next morning, I caught you washing your sheets. Did you spend the night-mmph-"
A scorching palm covered his mouth. Huo Yuzhou's hand was so large that it covered Nan Qing's entire face.
Nan Qing's eyes widened, defiance in their depths.
He couldn't bear to listen anymore, could he!
He couldn't take it anymore, could he!
He was finally showing his true colors, wasn't he!
He was getting ready to strangle him, wasn't he!
Come on! Let the storm rage even harder!!
Sure enough, Huo Yuzhou leaned down, closing in on him with that pleasant scent of ebony and agarwood. His narrow eyes were dark and bottomless.
His long fingers covered Nan Qing's face as his strikingly handsome features suddenly drew closer, his voice low and husky.
"Little boys shouldn't say all that filthy nonsense."
Nan Qing bit his palm, his muffled voice spilling between the man's fingers, utterly unreasonable.
"I'll say it!"
"Whatcha gonna do? Stwangle me!"
His muffled words were indistinct. Huo Yuzhou pinched his face with his fingertips, then let go.
But before he could withdraw his hand, the boy's soft fingers caught it.
Nan Qing pulled his hand against his own throat and shouted,
"Come on, strangle me!"
For some reason, Huo Yuzhou looked at him with those dark eyes.
His fingers applied no pressure, and he was unusually silent.
At the same time, the voice from a few minutes ago sounded in Nan Qing's head again, carrying a soft chuckle.
[Noncon?]
[My wife likes to play this wild?]