TL: Hua
Shaikh instinctively held his breath.
Ji Xuan’s fingers were icy cold, even more so than the snake scales. Though there was a smile in the eyes watching him, they also held a bone-piercing chill, like a frosted blade that would slice through flesh the moment it touched.
Give it to him?
Shaikh couldn’t control his fingers from tightening against the leather of the sofa. Secret Blue-Bellies are extremely rare across the major galaxies; it was precious and difficult to obtain, and he had gone to great lengths to get this one. Because it was hard to domesticate, he rarely let it participate in betting matches.
But now, this poisonous snake was quietly entwined around Ji Xuan’s wrist, its head resting obediently as if intentionally trying to please and cater to him.
Shaikh stared at Ji Xuan. After a long silence, he finally laughed, his voice pitched very low: “…You always manage to give me surprises.”
“I only have this one Mephisto,” he pressed against the back of the chair, leaning toward Ji Xuan despite the other’s hold on his chin, his eyes dark. “If you really want it, it’s not impossible. But the item is precious; you have to give me something else in exchange.”
He paused deliberately, his tongue pressing against the tips of his teeth. His tone was as sinister and flippant as a poisonous snake flickering its tongue:
“What should you use for the trade—”
Ji Xuan’s fingers tightened instantly, his fingertips digging two marks into Shaikh’s face. Yet the expression on his face remained undisturbed, his eyelashes slightly lowered with a faint smile.
“You can think it over carefully. It’s just that regarding the things you want—I dare to give them, but would you dare to take them?”
Shaikh was provoked into a state of boiling blood, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. If it weren’t for the dim light in the box and the fact that Ji Xuan was mostly obscuring him, no one would have failed to notice his hand resting on the back of the sofa, trembling with excitement.
“Brother is right.” Shaikh’s expression relaxed instantly. He paused for a few seconds, his gaze sweeping over the wines displayed in the box’s showcase before landing on the mini-bar. “That bottle of wine, like Mephisto, was shipped from the Second Galaxy. If Brother can finish the whole bottle, I’ll give Mephisto to you. How about it?”
Ji Xuan’s gaze followed his toward the bar.
The brownish-red bottle reflected varying shades of amber luster under the light. The cap had been opened, and a bit of the wine inside had already been drunk.
Ji Xuan slowly withdrew his hand, seemingly piqued by Shaikh’s words.
He didn’t agree immediately; instead, he stood up and walked toward the bar with unhurried grace.
His fingertips rubbed against the side of the bottle. Upon opening the cap, the scent of strong spirits instantly diffused through the air, pungent and scorching. Even without tasting it, it was enough to make one’s throat burn.
An inscrutable light flashed in Ji Xuan’s eyes.
Zephyr spoke up to stop them: “Forget it, Shaikh. I’ll pay for Mephisto on his behalf. An Omega can’t handle this wine. Don’t take the joke too far.”
But Shaikh and Ji Xuan both seemed not to have heard him.
Ji Xuan didn’t take a glass. He picked up the bottle directly with his right hand. As he turned around, the crowd’s gaze was firmly glued to him, waiting to see if he would tilt his head back to swallow the fiery liquor.
Shaikh walked to his side.
“Just finish it?” Ji Xuan asked.
Shaikh nodded. “Of course. They can all bear witness for me. I never go back on my word.”
Ji Xuan pulled up the corners of his mouth and flashed him a smile.
In the next instant, he suddenly struck—
Ji Xuan thrust one hand into Shaikh’s golden hair, forcing the other to step forward and tilt his head back. With his other hand gripping the neck of the bottle, he poured the brownish-red liquid out along the glass line, straight into Shaikh’s mouth.
The strong liquor flowed down the corners of his lips, drenching the collar at the side of his neck.
Shaikh instinctively wanted to struggle, but he seemed completely unable to resist this force. Instead, Ji Xuan tightened his grip on the back of his head, and a frigid sense of oppression traveled from his neck straight to his spinal cord.
“Don’t move around.” Ji Xuan leaned down close, and the Mephisto on his right wrist raised its head along the bottle. “Otherwise, I can’t guarantee it won’t want to do something.”
It was rare for Shaikh to experience the feeling of being threatened.
He was forced to swallow, the burning liquid rolling through his throat, while the corners of his eyes turned red with excitement due to the suffocation.
Moreover, his gaze never moved for a single moment from Ji Xuan’s cool, elegant face; the color of his eyes deepened further as the wine flowed.
It wasn’t until Ji Xuan poured out the last drop and let go that Shaikh, finally regaining his freedom, covered his throat and coughed a few times.
Just as everyone thought he was going to lash out, they suddenly heard him start to laugh playfully.
“You’ve become different, Ji Xuan.” He looked up from below, his Alpha pheromones leaking out uncontrollably.
Ji Xuan looked down at him without much comment, simply saying, “Can I take the snake away now?”
“Of course,” Shaikh leaned back into the sofa with a beaming smile, the burning heat of the strong liquor still lingering in his throat. He licked the corner of his lip and said, “I always keep my word.”
He narrowed his eyes at Mephisto, which was coiled around Ji Xuan’s wrist. It was still clinging very tightly, its head pressed against Ji Xuan’s pulse, its tiny tongue flickering in and out as if affectionately confirming the scent of its new master.
“However, it is an uncivilized mutant after all. Brother should be careful not to get bitten back.”
“You don’t need to trouble yourself with that.”
After saying this, Ji Xuan looked with some disgust at the hand that had previously touched Shaikh; a bit of the spilled wine had stained his palm.
He let out a soft breath and turned toward the restroom.
The metal door of the box opened and closed. Everyone looked at each other, and someone couldn’t help but mock, “Shaikh, it looks like this time you failed to mess with him and even threw in a snake for nothing.”
The smile on Shaikh’s face deepened. He swept a gaze that was almost chillingly indifferent over the speaker and scoffed, “What do you know? I think it’s… more interesting this way.”
He stared at Ji Xuan’s departing back, his eyes filled with immense excitement, like the instinctive pleasure and thrill a beast feels when hunting. He wished he could tear the other apart and devour him immediately.
–
Ji Xuan went to the restroom in the VIP area.
Cold water splashed onto the back of his hand, washing away the sticky wine. The dormant Mephisto on his wrist had already retreated into his sleeve, its icy tail pressing against the skin of his inner wrist, perfectly overlapping with the tattoo underneath.
Ji Xuan’s eyes were half-closed, and as if he had thought of something, a trace of an unidentifiable expression flickered across his face.
[That scared me to death wuwuwu. With so many snakes, I almost thought we were going to be done for in there!]
[Host… maybe you should find a snake box to put it in. I’m afraid it’ll suddenly bite you.]
No need.
[But, but…]
You should know that I used to keep a venomous snake, too.
Ji Xuan said coldly.
[How could that be the same? Queyue had developed spiritual intelligence; it wouldn’t bite its master back.]
Ji Xuan let out a light laugh and countered: Who told you it never bit me? Back then, it was precisely because it was hell-bent on biting its savior that it was sent to my place.
Ji Xuan recalled that little jet-black snake. When it first arrived at the Demon Realm, it probably wasn’t even as large as Mephisto, but it was fierce, aggressive, and committed every evil imaginable. It accompanied Ji Xuan as he killed the old demon venerable, stayed by his side as he guarded the Demon Realm for decades, and later grew into a snake king thicker than a man’s thigh, roaming the Demon Palace with utter impunity.
However, Queyue was a mortal snake after all. No matter how much Ji Xuan used his cultivation and spiritual elixirs to extend its life, he ultimately couldn’t keep it.
He unconsciously squeezed his wrist. Mephisto, pained by the pressure, poked its head out and gave a raspy hiss, flicking its tongue.
“Sorry.”
Before his voice could fade, it was interrupted by another.
“Secret Blue-Belly. Three million star coins for one.”
The door behind him was pushed open, and the mirror reflected the silhouette of a young man leaning halfway against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Out of all Shaikh’s collection, this is the one he likes most.”
Ji Xuan lifted his eyelids, meeting Pei Yingye’s scrutinizing gaze through the mirror.
“Is that so?” he said with a half-smile. “I didn’t know. Thanks for the tip.”
Pei Yingye walked to the sink next to him.
Cold water flowed down; he washed his hands and shook off the droplets, which splashed onto the mirror’s surface.
He had also changed out of his daytime training uniform and was wearing a long black leather coat, his handsome face carrying a hint of roguishness. When he turned his head, his eyes fixed on Ji Xuan like a wolf sizing up its prey, somewhat casual, yet too blunt to look away.
However, the first thought in Ji Xuan’s head was: the atmosphere of Mars Military Academy is really worrying. The students are running to places like this one after another.
If this were his original world, and the disciples of those prestigious righteous sects dared to go to such decadent places for fun, being hung up and beaten would be the least of their worries. If they encountered some old-fashioned elders, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to be expelled from the sect immediately.
Pei Yingye didn’t notice his distraction and spoke slowly: “So you are the Ji Xuan of the Ji family who just returned to the capital planet.”
His voice was slow and careless, but if one listened closely, a hint of gritting teeth could be detected.
This attitude puzzled Ji Xuan. After all, the original owner of this body and Ji Yan’s white moonlight had never been involved with each other from start to finish.
Ji Xuan arched an eyebrow, leaning half against the sink: “From the moment I stepped into the fighting ring until I entered the box, someone was watching me for a long time… Such concern. Is it because you lost this morning and feel indignant?”
At the mention of the morning, Pei Yingye uncontrollably rubbed his palm. His gaze drifted toward Ji Xuan’s thigh, then landed on his right hand. Sensing his aggressive gaze, Mephisto on the wrist issued a warning hiss.
Pei Yingye scoffed and withdrew his gaze: “Hardly. I was just curious why Shen Que’s fiancé, someone who only recently presented, would run to such a chaotic place. So, I took a few extra looks while watching the spectacle.”
“You certainly know a lot…” Ji Xuan paused, then used the sink for support to lean a step closer. “It really causes misunderstandings.”
“Misunderstandings about what?”
“A misunderstanding that you have some ulterior motives… toward him, or toward me,” Ji Xuan said.
As he spoke, his upper body leaned forward slightly, the corners of his eyes tilting up. His pale skin under the lights gave an illusion of being nearly transparent, and his calm pupils were like obsidian. Pei Yingye clearly saw his own reflection in the depths of those eyes and seemed to even feel the breath exhale as Ji Xuan spoke. Although it wasn’t as agitating as the pheromones he smelled in the simulated training, this strange sensation made his gaze gradually grow hot.
But the moment he thought about the things he had learned after this person left, he felt as if he were being played.
The two top chiefs of Mars Military Academy, he and Shen Que, were both 3S-grade Alphas. Although they rarely interacted, there was a natural exclusionary aggression between high-grade Alphas.
How could this person have a marriage contract with Shen Que?
Pei Yingye subtly pressed his tongue against his teeth and said word by word, “Terribly sorry, but I never eat the grass near my own nest.”
Ji Xuan chuckled: “But looking at you now, that sentence doesn’t seem very convincing.”
Pei Yingye’s eyes flickered, and his brows pressed down: “What do you mean?”
Ji Xuan’s gaze slid down the bridge of the man’s nose, passing his lips and sharp jawline, finally landing on his neck.
Then, without any warning, he raised his hand and pressed it against Pei Yingye’s Adam’s apple, his finger pad resting exactly on that mole.
The Adam’s apple bobbed in response. A muffled “What the…” started in Pei Yingye’s throat but was swallowed back down, leaving only ragged breathing.
Ji Xuan leaned forward with interest, whispering against the side of the man’s neck: “It doesn’t look like you don’t want to eat; it looks like you can’t.”
With that, he neatly withdrew his hand, gave a casual wave, and turned to walk out.
Silence returned to the restroom.
The man in the mirror stared at the mole on his own Adam’s apple for a long time. Suddenly, he let out a laugh and cursed something under his breath.
Pei Yingye pulled a cigarette from his leather coat pocket and bit it between his lips but didn’t light it.
His fingertips gently rubbed the cigarette paper, mimicking Ji Xuan’s previous action, as if savoring something.
Half a minute later, a message arrived on his personal terminal. Pei Yingye glanced at it and subtly pressed his hand against his gland.
Then, he tossed the cigarette into the trash and walked out.
Hua: Chapter 1-50 is available for purchase on Patreon in EPUB format. The second half is coming soon. I’m currently working on the last few extras.
You can now purchase completely translated novel (EPUB format) on Patreon.
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