Chapter 53

A human mouth feels incredibly good.

Especially when it keeps Jiang Linchuan too preoccupied to speak—that's even better.

Jiang Linchuan carried him to the bathroom to bathe him.

In the large bathtub, Shen Jin lay languidly as Jiang Linchuan used a towel to scrub and massage him.

"Comfortable?"

Shen Jin squinted at him. "It's alright."

"Since I've served you so well, can I ask for a little reward?"

"What do you want? To take your men and leave this place?" Shen Jin scoffed with a laugh. "You can leave whenever you want; I'm not stopping you." He hadn't injected any of the Special Operations Team members; they could walk out any time.

"Of course not. If I left, who would serve you?" Jiang Linchuan kept his gaze fixed on Shen Jin's face, carefully avoiding any inappropriate areas. Though they had been intimate, their relationship remained remarkably pure.

"I could just chop off your head and keep it in my room..." Jiang Linchuan clapped a hand over his mouth. "Shut up, don't say another word."

Shen Jin narrowed his eyes at him.

Jiang Linchuan quickly appeased him by pinching his earlobe. "How about this—can I meet the Abyss Lord?"

"Meet the Abyss Lord? Do you want to go serve him?"

"Pfft." Jiang Linchuan lightly feigned spitting at his face. "I have only one master in this lifetime, and I serve only you. How could you accuse me so wrongly?"

"..." Shen Jin frowned. "Slick-tongued and greasy."

"..."

Jiang Linchuan lifted him from the bathtub, wrapped him in a towel, and carried him to the bed. Shen Jin clearly relished the attention, his face showing pure contentment.

Jiang Linchuan seized the moment. "How about I be your pillow tonight?"

"You can get lost now." A tail coiled around him and flung him into the prison cell.

Jiang Linchuan hit the ground with a hiss of pain.

What a difficult little brat.

Once he got what he wanted, he disavowed everything.

"Captain Jiang, why is your lip cut? Were you abused?" Zheng Jian's eyes were sharp. "Did someone slap you hard enough to make you bleed?"

"Shut up." Jiang Linchuan licked the corner of his mouth. That brat had no concept of tenderness; when he felt good, he held nothing back.

Jiang Linchuan got up, left the cell, ascended to the first floor, walked out of the main hall, and stepped outside. He then pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Linchuan?" General Wu's surprised voice came through the phone. "Did you manage to escape?"

"No." Jiang Linchuan lowered his voice. "I barely found a phone to call for help. When are you coming to rescue us?"

"Are you safe right now?"

"Our lives aren't in immediate danger." Jiang Linchuan leaned against the wall, his long legs bent, his deliberately hushed voice sounding somewhat ethereal in the night. "These creatures don’t seem intent on killing, but everyone is being experimented on. Who knows when we might die?"

"I know," General Wu said.

Jiang Linchuan narrowed his eyes.

If he knew, it meant he was aware of the information Yun Feng had sent back.

"Hold on a bit longer. We'll have a solution soon. Reassure everyone and tell them not to panic."

"I heard from Yun Feng that the military has found a way to exploit the Abyss Lord's weakness. Is that true?" Jiang Linchuan asked.

"We do have a preliminary plan in place."

"But from what I know, the Abyss Lord hasn’t been here these past few days. Was the aura Yun Feng collected truly from the Abyss Lord? If this information is wrong, it could lead to disaster."

General Wu was silent for a moment before speaking: "The information is not mistaken. Years ago, when the senior general went to see the Abyss Lord, an old shoulder injury happened to flare up. The Abyss Lord healed his shoulder, and that aura has remained in his body ever since. The data Yun Feng sent back matches the trace of the Abyss Lord's aura within the senior general."

"Linchuan, you must protect yourselves and also protect the humans there. When the time is right, we will come to rescue you."

Jiang Linchuan tucked the phone back into his pocket, his fingers lightly tapping against his pant seam. His eyes gazed into the distant darkness. If General Wu was telling the truth, then the Abyss Lord should indeed be here.

But where was he?

Was he, like Shen Jin, equally indulgent with Jiang Linchuan, allowing him to move freely?

"Betraying me again?" A clear, cold voice sounded by his ear, accompanied by the cool touch of tentacles gently patting his cheek. "Jiang Linchuan, are you testing my limits?"

"Limits?" Jiang Linchuan chuckled softly. "So I can actually reach your limits? That makes me quite unique, then."

"Hmph."

Jiang Linchuan looked up toward the voice.

The full moon had silently climbed into the sky, illuminating the entire area brightly.

A figure in white pajamas sat on the windowsill of the eighteenth floor, legs swinging. Though the face was unclear, one could imagine the utterly mocking expression at that moment.

The night wind howled, and Jiang Linchuan's heart thumped steadily.

Life is unpredictable, full of twists and turns.

Shen Jin's layers, one after another.

"I'm going out for a bit." Jiang Linchuan stepped forward. "I'll be back soon."

"You think this is your home? Come and go as you please?" Tentacles hooked around Jiang Linchuan's neck from behind and dragged him all the way back, throwing him into the underground lab.

"Hey... using me and then tossing me aside?"

Jiang Linchuan was thrown back into his cell.

This time, Jiang Linchuan stayed quietly on the bed. The following night, he pried open the cell door and walked out again.

In just one day, the eighteenth floor had completely transformed. The broken limbs from yesterday were gone, replaced by large transparent glass tanks filled with dark brown liquid. Inside were human-shaped radishes and lotus roots. Radish Yun Feng was also in a tank, looking much more realistic than when Jiang Linchuan first saw him yesterday.

Jiang Linchuan grew increasingly certain that Shen Jin's experiment was likely to succeed.

It was almost laughable—human labs were drenched in blood yet never truly succeeded, while Shen Jin only needed to snap his fingers and carve a few radishes and lotus roots.

Passing the tanks, he entered the bedroom. Shen Jin had already bathed and was lying on the bed. Seeing him come in, Shen Jin arrogantly lifted his chin: "Kneel."

Jiang Linchuan: "..."

"Overindulgence isn't good for your health. Three to five times a week is more than enough."

"I'm not human." Shen Jin propped his chin up. "If you please me well enough, I might allow you to betray me again tonight."

Shen Jin just watched him.

Jiang Linchuan reached out and brushed the hair away from his forehead. "Want a kiss first?"

"No." Shen Jin refused. Last time, kissing made him feel good too quickly. He didn't like it short; he wanted it to last longer.

"Fine, I'm not worthy." Jiang Linchuan covered Shen Jin's eyes with his hand, his lips enveloping Shen Jin's "sugarcane."

Shen Jin moaned contentedly.

After getting Shen Jin to sleep, Jiang Linchuan stood by the bed, quietly watching his sleeping face.

From the first day he brought him back from the bushes, he had been toying with him, and even now, he was still playing games.

Jiang Linchuan leaned down and gently kissed his forehead, then pushed open the bedroom door and walked out.

The lab bench was covered with various instruments. Jiang Linchuan looked them over one by one and found a sharp dagger.

He leaned against the table, closed his eyes to concentrate, and his right hand abruptly transformed into a razor-sharp claw.

He picked up the dagger and traced the line of the knuckles on his hand, slicing open the skin and plunging it deep. He dug out the entire long bone of his middle finger.

The pain made sweat bead on Jiang Linchuan's forehead, dripping down in large beads.

He wiped his forehead with his elbow and began removing the long bone from his ring finger as well.

With both bones removed, Jiang Linchuan slid down the wall, sitting on the floor and breathing heavily.

"What are you doing?"

Jiang Linchuan slowly opened his eyes, blurred by sweat. His face pale, he managed a weak smile. "I was thinking... I've known you for so long but never gave you a gift. How about I give you one this time?"

"A gift?" Shen Jin took a step back in disgust, pointing at the bloody finger bones on the floor. "Are you planning to make me soup? Human flesh noodles?"

"Eat, eat, all you think about is eating." Jiang Linchuan rolled his eyes, leveraged himself up on the table, picked up the bones, and washed them at the sink. After checking their length, he grabbed Shen Jin's wrist and hung the pointed bones on it. Then he found a piece of cord from the lab bench and carefully wrapped and tied it tight. "You'll wear this from now on. Don't take it off."

"And why would I?" Shen Jin immediately tried to pull it off.

"It's an offering from a slave to his master, begging the master to wear it."

"..." Shen Jin scoffed, then extended his other hand, lifting his chin. "Seeing as you're so devoted, put one on this hand too."

Jiang Linchuan lightly patted the back of his hand. "That one's for the little one."

Jiang Linchuan picked up the disinfectant from the table and was about to pour it on his wound when Shen Jin grabbed his wrist.

Jiang Linchuan looked up at him.

Shen Jin jangled the bone bracelet on his wrist. "I know what this means. You humans like witchcraft. This is a spell you're casting on me, trying to control me with it."

"Bullshit." Jiang Linchuan laughed, then reached out and pinched Shen Jin's cheek, his expression turning serious. "Shen Jin, I know you're strong, but there are many unknown things in this world. Please have respect for the unknown and use all your strength to protect yourself."

Jiang Linchuan expected his lecture to be met with a sarcastic, "How dare you look down on me, foolish human." Instead, Shen Jin quietly watched him for a moment, then lowered his head and licked the wound on his hand.

Jiang Linchuan jolted.

As Shen Jin sucked, the wound slowly healed, and the claw transformed back into a warm human hand. But it would always lack two finger bones, lying limp.

"When I have time, I can carve you two radish fingers."

Jiang Linchuan reached out and pulled him into a tight embrace. "Thank you, Master."

Shen Jin leaned against Jiang Linchuan's chest, his chin resting on his shoulder. He jangled the bone bracelet on his wrist and slowly closed his eyes.

Humans are so strange...