Chapter 61: Fantasy of Desire
Soaked in the sweet, fresh floral scent, hearing those words, Zhu Zhixi actually felt a powerful wave of dizziness, as if he had truly sensed Fu Rangyi’s pheromones and had truly been affected by them.
He was clearly a Beta. They were clearly separated by such a long distance. Yet even this could make him react like that. It was terrifying.
Fu Rangyi held the phone at a slightly low angle, and because it was so close, his whole face gave the illusion that he was hovering right in front of him.
He looked down at him and continued ordering him in a tone that brooked no offense. “Answer me.”
“I smell it.” Zhu Zhixi also lowered his eyes. Under the light, the mole on his eyelid looked even redder and brighter. “As an Alpha, aren’t you a little too fragrant?”
There was undoubtedly a hint of provocation in those words.
Fu Rangyi smiled and slowly said, “Then what should an Alpha smell like? Eucalyptus? Or sandalwood?”
So jealous. Zhu Zhixi lifted his eyelids and smiled too. “Doesn’t matter. I can’t smell any of them anyway.” His lips were very red, opening and closing as he spoke, vaguely revealing his pearly white teeth and the tip of his tongue.
Then he said, “I can only smell yours. Whatever you smell like, that’s what an Alpha smells like.”
On the screen, Fu Rangyi’s lashes trembled, but he said nothing. He stayed silent for a while, and when he spoke again, his words were somewhat inexplicable. “What are you wearing?”
Zhu Zhixi looked down. “A bathrobe. It was so cold when I got back just now, so I took a hot shower. Over there…”
“Take it off.” Fu Rangyi suddenly lifted his eyes and looked straight into his.
Zhu Zhixi froze at first. A few seconds later, he laughed. “No.”
“You’re not listening?” Fu Rangyi said. “This is an order.”
“It’s cold.” The light flowed in his eyes like black agate, watery and bright. But soon, the eyes on the screen disappeared, replaced by the ceiling. The phone had been placed on the blanket.
The next second, a slim, fair foot appeared, swinging lightly. The sole and toes were tinged pink. Fu Rangyi could even imagine his posture: leaning against the bed, legs crossed, gently swaying his foot.
“My feet are still cold,” he complained a little.
Fu Rangyi said again, “Get under the blanket.”
“Fine.”
Zhu Zhixi picked up the phone and burrowed into the blanket. His face returned to the screen, but only the lower half. Then the camera continued downward: neck, collarbone… His slender hand appeared too, moving downward.
The white bathrobe that had originally been wrapped tightly around him opened like a flower, revealing his shoulders and chest.
“I listened,” Zhu Zhixi said.
“So good.” His face was cold when he praised him, but his neck was already red.
It was hard for Zhu Zhixi to judge the extent of his arousal from his expression. Even when they were usually together, he felt Fu Rangyi was far too composed. Only at some careless moments could he catch the version of him controlled by desire. That always made Zhu Zhixi’s heart itch.
Through a screen, it seemed even harder to catch those threadlike traces of lust. Zhu Zhixi could not help secretly switching away to check his data. That was the most honest and direct reaction.
That entire scarlet patch looked frightening.
But he was caught immediately.
“You’re looking at the data?” Fu Rangyi’s tone even carried an unreadable smile.
Zhu Zhixi quickly switched back and pretended to be innocent. “Hm?”
Fu Rangyi did not seem to blame him. Instead, he said to himself, “Then I won’t take off the bracelet.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Fu Rangyi had drunk, so his speech was slower than usual, and hoarser too. “You seem to really want to know how bad my condition is right now.”
He pressed further. “Does that excite you?”
Zhu Zhixi’s heart began thumping wildly.
He had been guessed.
“What do you think?” he asked back.
Fu Rangyi did not answer. He only said, “I set it to the highest level.”
“Hm?” Zhu Zhixi was a little confused.
With an expression of nonchalance, Fu Rangyi told him, “Right now, out of everyone, only you can smell my pheromones. I can’t even smell them myself.”
Help. He knew exactly how to grasp a heart: with “special,” with “only.” He had even excluded himself.
In the end, Zhu Zhixi could not withstand it. He quickly turned his head and buried his face in the pillow. On the screen, only a section of his fair side neck remained, the tendon at his throat moving lightly.
“Fu Rangyi, drink less in the future…” His voice was muffled. “I can’t take you anymore.”
“Can’t take me again.” Fu Rangyi laughed lowly.
Zhu Zhixi seemed to still want to look at him, so he turned his face back again. His bangs had been rubbed messy against the pillow, and his eyes were extremely bright.
He stared for a while, then asked, “Why aren’t you wearing clothes? Because I didn’t pack pajamas for you?”
The person on the other side of the screen said flatly, “They got dirty.”
“Dirty?” Zhu Zhixi smiled. “Aren’t you the cleanest person ever? How did they get dirty?”
“How else can pajamas get dirty?” Fu Rangyi asked back.
Zhu Zhixi’s face suddenly heated up. He questioned him, “You! You used my pajamas to do bad things?”
“In my dream.” His tone was light, but his gaze stayed fixed on him.
What? Zhu Zhixi was stunned.
Fu Rangyi’s voice was cold, but once a bit of laughter mixed into it, there was a faintly teasing quality. His gaze crossed the screen, carefully examining Zhu Zhixi’s face. “Who told you to come into my dream?”
Zhu Zhixi was so annoyed by the drunk man’s logic that he wanted to laugh. “How are you blaming me instead?”
“I learned it from you.”
So after all that, it was all my fault? Too bad. Zhu Zhixi pursed his lips and glanced elsewhere. Curled up in the blanket, his body temperature gradually rose, and the floral fragrance in the room grew richer and thicker. A thin layer of sweat seemed to form on his back, sticky and damp. The white bathrobe clung damply to his spine, making him itch.
“You don’t want to talk to me again?”
Zhu Zhixi looked back. Was it an illusion? On the screen, Fu Rangyi’s neck seemed to be getting redder and redder. His nape must be very hot to the touch right now, and behind his ears too. If fingers stroked and pressed down, one could feel beneath that thin, smooth skin a small gland, like a living thing, twitching ever so slightly.
He loved clinging to Fu Rangyi’s nape, stroking it, pressing and kneading it. Whenever he did, that icy shell of calm self-control around him would shatter and melt. His kisses would become deep and urgent, his breathing heavier and heavier.
Just like… now.
Zhu Zhixi frowned and asked instinctively, “You… what are you doing right now?”
On the screen, Fu Rangyi leaned half-back against the pillow, his lips slightly parted. His sharp teeth had emerged.
The phone vibrated a few times, and a message popped up.
[Warning: Bracelet wearer’s pheromone indicators have exceeded the safe range. Please take suppressive measures in time!]
[Warning: Bracelet wearer’s pheromone indicators have exceeded the safe range. Please take suppressive measures in time!]
Fu Rangyi’s reaction was a little delayed. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at Zhu Zhixi. “I’m… dreaming while looking at your face.”
“Dreaming?” Zhu Zhixi froze.
“A dream that was interrupted.” He smiled, his Adam’s apple rolling.
Zhu Zhixi’s cheeks burned, and he nearly failed to hold his phone steady. “How can you be like this? You’re not allowed to look at me…”
“Why?” Fu Rangyi was panting more obviously now, his eyes flushed. Whether it was from alcohol or pheromones, it was hard to tell. After a pause, he said, “You don’t let me look normally either. You’re always covering yourself with your hand.”
Zhu Zhixi had to process it in his head before realizing what he was talking about, and his face grew even hotter. “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Fu Rangyi did not listen. Instead, he said word by word, “Zhu Zhixi, don’t cover yourself. You’re beautiful. Whatever you do is beautiful.” His tone was clearly serious, yet mixed with low panting. It was both solemn and wanton.
Zhu Zhixi stared, a little entranced. His brain even began acting beyond his control, enlarging and reconstructing the whole Fu Rangyi: taut arms, abs, legs…
Was it his imagination? He seemed to vaguely hear sounds.
“Fu Rangyi, aren’t you going too far?”
“No? You hate it?” The sound grew even clearer, even carrying a sense of provocation, but Fu Rangyi’s expression looked very innocent. “You don’t like me looking at your face while doing this? We’re married.”
“Aren’t you my wife?” he asked innocently.
Hearing that title, Zhu Zhixi’s inner defenses collapsed again and again. He did not want Fu Rangyi to misunderstand, so he said, “It’s not that I don’t like it. I’m just…” Not used to it. It was the first time being seduced through a screen like this. It was so strange.
Fu Rangyi suddenly leaned closer to the screen, just like every time he kissed him. In an inviting tone, he asked, “Want to do it together?”
Hearing that, Zhu Zhixi’s temples throbbed. It felt like… returning to Fu Rangyi’s previous susceptibility period.
“Zhu Zhixi, look at me. Don’t hide.” His panting traveled through the electromagnetic signal, reaching him like a feather brushing softly against his ear.
Zhu Zhixi took a deep breath. He did not want to be controlled so easily, so he deliberately played bad. “Professor Fu, you’re very bold. Aren’t you afraid I’ll screen-record? If I post it online, you’ll be finished.”
His ending tone was light and rebellious. “You’re even a university professor. You don’t have any sense of self-protection at all. When the time comes, you definitely won’t be able to keep your job.”
Who knew that after hearing this, Fu Rangyi would actually raise a brow and smile.
“Post it.”
He really wasn’t afraid at all.
“Zhu Zhixi, if I lose my job, I’ll have a lot, a lot of time.” His tone grew heavier. “I’ll lock you up and bully you from morning to night.”
That was absolutely a threat. Yet for some reason, when Zhu Zhixi heard it, a faint trace of anticipation actually welled up inside him.
How was this still the cold, distant Professor Fu everyone else saw?
“If you lock me up, I’ll tie you up.” Zhu Zhixi’s tone became sticky and soft. “With outdoor rope. Starting from your shoulders, looping down, passing through your arms, wrapping around your waist, so your shoulders will be opened up very nicely…”
As he spoke, he suddenly fell silent and laughed.
“What are you laughing at?” Fu Rangyi asked.
“Nothing.” Zhu Zhixi took a deep breath and shifted deeper under the blanket, his free hand reaching downward. “Just imagined it. It should be very pleasing to the eye.”
The bathrobe had completely fallen open.
He had only said it casually, yet Fu Rangyi seemed to genuinely think about it. Frowning, he said, “Tying the hands is troublesome. Last time…”
“You still dare bring that up? Even with the handcuff loop around your wrist, it didn’t stop you from doing whatever you wanted.” Zhu Zhixi softly shot back.
“Doing whatever I wanted…” Fu Rangyi asked, panting. “Can I?”
There was no communicating with a drunk. Zhu Zhixi felt a little helpless. Before he could speak, the drunk man opened his mouth again.
“Call me. That’s an order.”
Zhu Zhixi stared at his Adam’s apple rolling with each deep breath, lowered his voice, and called, “Fu Rangyi…”
“Another one.”
It was too hot under the blanket. Zhu Zhixi felt a little dizzy. He did not want to let him get his way so easily, so he said nothing. He deliberately placed the phone beneath his ear, pressed close to the receiver. Fu Rangyi could no longer see him, but Zhu Zhixi could hear every trembling syllable clearly.
Fu Rangyi repeated, “Another one. This is an order.”
Zhu Zhixi took a deep breath and deliberately refused to say what he wanted to hear. “Professor Fu.”
“…Another one.”
The sound of his inhale was so obvious.
“No.”
Zhu Zhixi grew a little rebellious and deliberately flipped the phone over, pressing it into the pillow. That tight, aching sensation appeared again. Was it the reproductive cavity? Zhu Zhixi did not know. This strange feeling was utterly unfamiliar. He even felt something flowing out. Was this normal? It clearly should not be a Beta’s reaction.
It was only secondary gland development. It was not as if he had changed sex…
So hot. Invisible pomelo blossoms bloomed lushly, cluster after cluster, until in a daze he seemed to have walked into some April night. He was sweating heavily and simply threw off the blanket.
Fu Rangyi’s “orders” became increasingly excessive. That clever brain of his seemed to have been invaded by something; he was practically the same as during his susceptible period. The moment he opened his mouth, it was “give it to me.”
But Zhu Zhixi was no longer the same as he had been then. So many days, so many nights—even a stubborn rock would be pierced through by water droplets falling one after another, continuously, burrowing in.
Without realizing it, he had long since been trained, had tasted marrow and learned its flavor. Even if it was only breaths, deep and shallow, he could still pull images from his memory. There was no touch, no embrace, no kiss. There was only sound, only that face blurred by the screen. Yet the hand he knew best seemed to pierce through distance, through the screen, holding a branch of pomelo blossoms, gently sweeping down from his cheek, side of his neck, collarbone, all the way to Zhu Zhixi’s trembling wrist and damp fingers.
“Baby.”
Those two words nearly shattered Zhu Zhixi’s fantasy game. He let out a sound, then realized it and clenched his teeth.
Perhaps precisely because there was a layer of glass between them, Fu Rangyi was even more provocative than before. It had been so, so long since Zhu Zhixi had heard Fu Rangyi make sounds like this—not calm, not self-possessed, not selflessly giving, but as if he could not live without him.
“I miss you so much… Sit on me…”
Fu Rangyi’s voice grew more and more urgent.
Just like that, Zhu Zhixi gritted his teeth, listening to the kind of filthy words he would never normally hear. The heavy yet weightless thoughts in his head rose and fell, layering upon one another, rippling outward. The further it went, the emptier he felt. This was far from enough. The longing from this period of separation covered him completely like a layer of black gauze. The more he heard Fu Rangyi say those wildly improper things, the more it felt insufficient. He wanted the real Fu Rangyi, pressed tightly against him with no gap between them. Lost in frantic thoughts, Zhu Zhixi arched his sweaty body until finally, the taut string snapped completely. The stubborn stone was pierced through. Water dripped down, drop by drop.
The muscles throughout his body loosened. Zhu Zhixi went limp all over, with no desire to move. His lips were pressed against the receiver, and he could barely breathe. Only after a long while did he finally reach out, take the phone, and flip the screen back over.
Fu Rangyi had his head tilted back, breathing hard. Sweat slid from his temple to his jawline.
[Warning: Bracelet wearer’s pheromone indicators have exceeded the safe range. Please take suppressive measures in time!]
[Warning: Bracelet wearer’s pheromone indicators have exceeded the safe range. Please take suppressive measures in time!]
The vibrations would not stop…
He steadied his breathing and decided, out of great mercy, to help Fu Rangyi.
“Professor Fu, look at me.”
Hearing his voice, Fu Rangyi lowered his head and looked over. The screen was no longer filled with the familiar face. Instead, it was occupied by a slim waist so fair it was almost overexposed. This angle was practically like…
A lean, pale hand lowered and pressed down.
“You haven’t even cared whether it’s grown properly.” He “complained” softly.
His canines ached so badly.
He wanted to mark him.
Now. Immediately. Bite through that layer of skin and flesh, inject pheromones, as much as possible.
No, not just that.
He wanted to permanently mark this person.
The warning vibrations became more and more frequent.
Separated by the screen, Zhu Zhixi had also become much bolder. He teased him endlessly and continued, “Professor Fu, I never asked you. The memories from your last susceptible period… have they all come back?”
He heard a sound from Fu Rangyi’s nose, low and deep, as if admitting it.
“You remembered everything? All of it?” That dark mole appeared, pressed by reddened fingertips. Zhu Zhixi’s voice carried a smile, the ending tone light and sticky. “Then you should apologize here, shouldn’t you? You did something so excessive.”
He heard exactly what he wanted: panicked, terrible, uncontrollable sounds.
“Hurry and apologize. This time I’ll forgive you, and you can continue.” As Zhu Zhixi asked, he lowered himself until he almost touched the cold phone screen.
“And I won’t tie your hands. I promise.”
The intense, frequent vibrations could not drown out the hurried breathing. The candle flame by the bed swayed, and the scented candle dripped pink wax drop by drop, nearly melted through. This heated dream was about to end too. The dream collapsed with extraordinary urgency, everything trembling.
Fu Rangyi’s brows drew together tightly, his eyes shut. “Zhu Zhixi…”
But then he heard two short sounds, as though knuckles were tapping the screen. So at the very end, he opened his eyes.
“Hubby, look at me.” On the screen, Zhu Zhixi’s face appeared again. He was smiling. His bangs were damp with sweat, sticking to his temple. Like a child, his face was covered in a faint blush, and his slightly parted lips were the same.
Everything collapsed completely. Pink ink fell into water, spreading in wisps, then dissolving, briefly disappearing. Fu Rangyi breathed deeply, trying to calm himself, but it was still difficult. The bracelet continued glowing silver-white.
Zhu Zhixi smiled, his ending tone light and smug on purpose. “Are you okay? Hubby.”
“Your baby can’t see you clearly anymore.”
Author’s Note:
Summary of this chapter: the ultimate showdown between two little succubi.
