Chapter 32
Ye Xiyao soon lost clarity.
This lack of clarity might be because his body was absorbing Xing Xu’s power, leaving no energy to focus on the present.
But it could also be that Ye Xiyao was simply indulging in the moment, losing himself completely.
He didn’t know what to make of this situation and didn’t bother analyzing it.
At first, it was merely to ease the pain brought by the magic mark. Now, though his body no longer felt discomfort, he still hadn’t stopped Xing Xu. Xing Xu’s kisses or bites were always measured, making him feel comfortable, so Ye Xiyao let him do many overly intimate things.
It was unclear how much time had passed before Ye Xiyao, feeling hazy, realized he was about to faint. Xing Xu’s lips had unknowingly moved up along his neck, kissing and nibbling his chin, then kissing him again.
…He had had enough.
He couldn’t take any more kisses.
Otherwise, he might really be kissed to death by Xing Xu.
Ye Xiyao hurriedly gave a little push. But Xing Xu, pressing against him, didn’t budge, coaxing him softly, “Just a little longer.”
“No…” As soon as Ye Xiyao opened his mouth, Xing Xu captured it, engaging them in another intense kiss for several seconds. Summoning all his strength between breaths, Ye Xiyao managed to shout, “Stop!”
Still unsatisfied, Xing Xu brushed his lips against the corner of Ye Xiyao’s mouth. “Just two more minutes?”
Ye Xiyao replied, “Not even one minute.”
Xing Xu: “Then one minute.”
Ye Xiyao: “?”
When someone is too speechless, they actually laugh out loud. He decided to give Xing Xu a reason he couldn’t refuse. “Lunch break is over. What if Brother Qiao and the others come looking for me?”
“I told them to leave,” Xing Xu said.
Ye Xiyao frowned, patting Xing Xu’s forehead in displeasure. “Now you’re starting to look like one of those annoying capitalist bosses.”
Xing Xu: “I wasn’t like that before?”
Ye Xiyao: “Before, you were just a slightly lazy boss’s relative.”
Xing Xu: “Kiss me one more time, and I’ll go back to being that relative.”
“You…” Ye Xiyao was amused by him, instinctively wanting to retort, but changed his mind and whispered, “Okay, but no tongue.”
“Alright,” Xing Xu agreed quickly, and before the words were fully out of his mouth, he kissed him again.
At first, he only pecked at Ye Xiyao’s lips, but soon, taking advantage of Ye Xiyao’s inattention, he slipped inside, chasing after Ye Xiyao’s tongue, engaging in a heated pursuit in the moist warmth of his mouth, nearly suffocating Ye Xiyao with the intensity of the kiss.
Frustrated, Ye Xiyao decided to risk using his magic to push him away. But to his surprise, the bit of magic he used couldn’t even move Xing Xu!
How could this be…
He never imagined that a mere human like Xing Xu could resist magic. The only explanation he could come up with was that his own magic was insufficient.
Several more minutes passed before the kiss ended. Ye Xiyao opened his eyes weakly, gasping for breath, and, feeling indignant, pinched the flesh on Xing Xu’s arm.
Though it didn’t hurt Xing Xu at all, he knew that if it didn’t hurt him, Ye Xiyao wouldn’t be happy. So, he pretended and cried out, “Ow, that hurts!”
“Good, I hope it kills you,” Ye Xiyao finally pushed Xing Xu off and sat up.
Xing Xu also sat up and asked him, “Why?”
While searching the bed for the shirt that had been taken off of him, Ye Xiyao responded angrily, “Why what?”
But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find his clothes.
Suddenly, Xing Xu tugged at his hand and then handed him a sleeve. Ye Xiyao obediently slipped into the shirt, and Xing Xu slowly buttoned it for him.
While doing so, he asked, “Why is it that whenever we kiss, you seem like you’re going to faint?”
Ye Xiyao: “Uh…?”
He thought Xing Xu’s earlier “why” would have been something like: Why are you kissing me so mindlessly? Why do you feel better when I rub away your discomfort?
There were so many “why”s he didn’t ask, yet he chose to ask one Ye Xiyao had never even considered.
“Last time, too. You fell asleep while we were kissing.” Xing Xu seemed very interested in this question. “I was actually curious to test how long you could last.”
Ye Xiyao: “…”
No wonder you keep kissing without stopping — you’re doing research!
However, Xing Xu was indeed sharp, noticing such a detail. Ye Xiyao couldn’t come up with an excuse to explain it right away.
In truth, he wasn’t fainting; it was just that consuming too much of Xing Xu’s fluids at once gave him far more energy than his body needed. If he stayed fully conscious in such moments, he might lose self-control. Succubi have an instinctive craving for human fluids, which leads to unconscious overindulgence.
So falling asleep was a unique self-protection mechanism for Ye Xiyao.
It not only protected Xing Xu from being drained dry but also kept Ye Xiyao from being overwhelmed by his instincts.
Of course, this wasn’t something he could tell Xing Xu. So, he downplayed it, saying, “I’m just tired.”
Xing Xu was fastening the third button. Whether he couldn’t see clearly or was lost in thought, he suddenly stopped. Ye Xiyao reached out to button it himself, but Xing Xu caught his hand.
“I wanted to ask earlier,” Xing Xu said, holding one of Ye Xiyao’s fingers and touching a spot near his ribs. “There’s a small scar here… How did it happen?”
Ye Xiyao hadn’t expected the subject to change, but he gladly went along with it. He touched the scar Xing Xu mentioned and laughed, “Oh, this? I think it happened in middle school. I climbed the back gate of the school, trying to pick some fruit from a tree outside. My foot slipped, and I fell, hitting a small rock on the ground.”
His first reaction to the fall was both pain and fear. He ran to the school nurse’s office, but no one paid attention to him—by then, he was already an invisible figure, and he didn’t dare use even a bit of magic to heal himself to avoid drawing attention.
Ye Xiyao had dug out some iodine and gauze by himself and haphazardly treated the wound. He hadn’t even thought about applying medicine, nor had he cared about the scar.
As he recounted this story, his tone was casual, as if it were no big deal.
But Xing Xu’s breathing inexplicably grew heavier, and his voice became a bit strained as he asked, “After all this time, it hasn’t healed?”
“It’s healed, it doesn’t hurt. It’s just that I didn’t apply any medicine at the time, so over time, it scarred.”
Ye Xiyao’s skin was delicate. Even the slightest bump or bruise would leave a mark, and it would take a good ten days or more to fully disappear. He was used to it.
This old scar was barely noticeable — small and in an obscure spot.
If Xing Xu hadn’t brought it up, Ye Xiyao would have long forgotten about it.
What Ye Xiyao didn’t know was that what Xing Xu cared about wasn’t the scar itself.
Having often dealt with demons, Xing Xu knew very well that the physical forms demons manifested were not like human bodies. Their limbs and skin were mere disguises made of magic energy, a façade meant to fool others. They weren’t real “flesh and blood.”
Simply put, demons didn’t have the process of healing and scarring after an injury.
Minor wounds would disappear instantly, and for major injuries, there was a simpler solution—if a finger was severed, they would pull off the whole arm; if their stomach was pierced, they would cut off the entire lower half of their body.
Demons would immediately discard damaged parts and grow new “flesh” to replace them. That was the norm for them.
This was also the premise behind the Special Bureau’s research on magical creatures — extracting magic energy samples from demons.
A few pieces of flesh falling from a demon’s body didn’t bother them at all, but they could be preserved for various experiments and analyzed to extract data.
But the small scar on Ye Xiyao’s body, still lingering after all these years, was very unusual.
If Xing Xu had just met Ye Xiyao, his response would have been: “Are you still pretending? Trying to act human with a fake old scar? You’ve really gotten addicted to this act, haven’t you?”
But now, he just remained silent.
In the pitch-black darkness, Xing Xu tried to find Ye Xiyao’s eyes.
But he couldn’t see anything.
He continued buttoning Ye Xiyao’s shirt, his mind elsewhere.
Sensing something was off, Ye Xiyao softly asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
Perhaps to prevent Ye Xiyao from noticing anything, Xing Xu casually started a conversation, asking, “What kind of fruit were you trying to pick back then?”
“I don’t know,” Ye Xiyao smiled. “I can’t even remember what kind of tree it was; I just really wanted to eat it at the time.”
“Who would’ve thought you were so mischievous as a kid?” Xing Xu said. “I thought you were well-behaved from the start.”
He wasn’t just making this up — Luo Yiji had previously given him all of Ye Xiyao’s records from childhood to now.
Xing Xu didn’t examine the files closely at the time, but he caught glimpses of phrases like “Top student in the school” and “First in all subjects,” as well as things like “XX full marks,” so he assumed Ye Xiyao must have been a model student.
Hearing about Ye Xiyao climbing walls to pick fruit seemed very different from what he had imagined.
“I’m not sure if I’d call myself well-behaved,” Ye Xiyao recalled. He thought he’d been quiet back then, but not necessarily obedient. “I was just greedy. When I saw fruit on a tree, I wanted to taste it.”
“How good could fruit from a roadside tree be? It’s not even clean, and you might have gotten sick,” Xing Xu commented.
Ye Xiyao said, “I didn’t care about that. At the time, I just wanted to eat the fruit.”
“Why not just buy some when you got home?”
Ye Xiyao laughed playfully, “I didn’t have any money.”
“I don’t believe you didn’t even have a few coins,” Xing Xu laughed. “You were just being mischievous.”
“No, really,” Ye Xiyao argued, which was rare for him. “A few coins could buy rice or flour that would last a long time, but it would only buy one apple. It wasn’t worth it. I only had a 200-yuan subsidy each month; I couldn’t waste it.”
Xing Xu paused his movements, then asked, “…What subsidy?”
“The country has a monthly allowance for orphans between the ages of 14 and 18,” Ye Xiyao explained. He thought for a moment, then added, “I’m not sure if everyone gets it, maybe only those from the orphanage, because the director helped me apply for it.”
Xing Xu recalled seeing information about the orphanage in Ye Xiyao’s records, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time.
Back then, Xing Xu had firmly believed Ye Xiyao was a powerful demon, and that his presence in the orphanage was likely to devour the souls of those neglected children. He naturally didn’t think of Ye Xiyao as one of them.
But hearing Ye Xiyao mention it so casually now made Xing Xu start to consider another possibility.
“So, you stayed in the orphanage until you were 14?” Xing Xu subconsciously lowered his voice. “How was life there? Did anyone bully you?”
Ye Xiyao replied, “No, not at all. The people there were very kind to me. I was well taken care of until I left.”
The country had a robust welfare system for abandoned children. After Ye Xiyao was taken in by the orphanage in Lu City, he lived a fairly carefree life.
The orphanage’s policy was to care for the children until they were 14, during which time they would try to find adoptive families for them. But when Ye Xiyao turned 14, he left the orphanage on his own, living off the 200-yuan monthly subsidy.
Fortunately, the country’s policies were good. Most schools waived tuition for children like him and provided boarding. Of course, Ye Xiyao also worked hard, earning almost every scholarship available to him.
Since he wasn’t yet old enough to work, the 200-yuan subsidy was nearly his only source of income until it stopped when he reached adulthood.
It had been a tremendous help to him.
But Xing Xu latched onto a strange detail and asked, “But why didn’t anyone adopt you? Did you not want to be adopted?”
Even though Ye Xiyao was a demon, no one knew that back then. A child like Ye Xiyao — healthy, attractive, lively, and likable — should have been in high demand for adoption.
Unless he didn’t want to be adopted himself, how could he have stayed until he was 14 and then left to live on his own?
After hearing the question, Ye Xiyao took a deep breath and, in the end, smiled. “Of course I wanted to. At first, there were a lot of families interested in adopting me. Every month, the director met with several families who applied to take me in.”
He spoke as if it were someone else’s story, completely devoid of emotion from the past, as if it was no big deal. “Eventually, the director chose the family with the best conditions and let me go with them. But who knew their documents were fake? The day after taking me in, they turned around and sold me. Luckily, I used my wit to escape, haha.”
Ye Xiyao was laughing, but Xing Xu’s expression grew darker and more terrifying.
He tensed his body without realizing it, his hands trembling with a fury even he hadn’t noticed. It was anger over something that had happened many years ago, something Ye Xiyao himself didn’t seem to care much about.
Xing Xu couldn’t understand how Ye Xiyao could laugh about it.
Was it because he genuinely found it funny? Or because he didn’t know what other emotion to use when recalling such a memory?
In any case, Xing Xu didn’t want to hear such unreasonable laughter.
He wrapped his arms around Ye Xiyao’s shoulders, pulling him into his embrace, and asked, “How old were you at the time?”
Ye Xiyao said, “Seven or eight. I can’t remember.”
Xing Xu clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked.
Sensing Xing Xu’s anger, Ye Xiyao unexpectedly turned to comfort him, “Actually… maybe they didn’t do it voluntarily.”
“You mean there was someone behind them?” Xing Xu gritted his teeth, ready to storm off and obliterate whoever was responsible.
“It’s not what I meant, it’s just…”
Ye Xiyao was trying to think of a way to explain the issue without bringing up his succubus nature, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t avoid it.
Even though Ye Xiyao was young at the time, he was already aware of the differences between humans and himself. He understood that once he emitted that non-human scent, it would be impossible for others to resist the temptation.
The people who sold him had initially noticed how different he was from other children and thought he would be valuable, which is why they acted maliciously.
Ye Xiyao had always hoped that the world was filled with good people, so he instinctively blamed himself, thinking that it was the scent he gave off that caused those who originally wanted to adopt him to “turn bad.”
After escaping back to the orphanage, he began to suppress his scent, hoping to become a normal child.
At first, Ye Xiyao wasn’t skilled at this. Whenever he made physical contact with people, he would inevitably release his scent, and those around him couldn’t help but be overly kind to him — to the point where it felt abnormal.
Fortunately, as he grew older, Ye Xiyao became more adept at controlling his powers, and he eventually learned how to completely hide his scent.
Gradually, he went from being the most adored, beautiful baby in the orphanage to becoming an unnoticed, invisible figure.
In the beginning, Ye Xiyao couldn’t handle the loneliness. Sometimes, after being ignored repeatedly, he would play a little trick and suddenly release his scent, drawing in everyone within sight to surround him, enjoying the brief feeling of being the center of attention.
But people’s affection slowly became a burden.
At 14, by the orphanage’s rules, Ye Xiyao had to leave.
He didn’t want to leave, nor did he feel brave enough to live on his own. So, he “cheated” again, using his succubus nature to charm those around him, hoping to receive special care.
What he didn’t anticipate was that as his body matured, people’s gazes shifted from the kindness and affection of the past to a more unpredictable obsession.
The consequence of relying on his succubus power was that the more people “loved” him, the more they demanded from him.
Ye Xiyao didn’t want to become a true succubus, using his body to satisfy humans. The more he refused, the more desperate and insatiable they became. They chased him, driving him into an inescapable corner.
In the end, Ye Xiyao fled the orphanage.
After frantically suppressing his scent, he ran out of the doors, and the crowd chasing him suddenly stopped, bewildered.
It was at that moment Ye Xiyao fully understood —
Once people were enchanted by demonic energy, they lost their self-awareness and became irrational. Their affection for him, and their desires, might not have been their true intentions.
From that point on, Ye Xiyao lived alone, and after so many years, he never actively used his powers again.
Hugging himself tighter, Ye Xiyao pulled back from his thoughts and, unable to find an explanation, simply said, “Anyway, it’s been so many years, and now I think most people in the world are still good.”
Xing Xu, still angry, couldn’t let it go. The thought of young Ye Xiyao being in such danger infuriated him. “What good people?”
Ye Xiyao suddenly hugged Xing Xu back, his tone filled with undisguised joy, “You.”
“Me…?” Xing Xu had never felt so struck. He responded coldly, “I’m the worst.”
I came to you with the intention of killing you.
What kind of ‘good’ am I?
Ye Xiyao, oblivious to what Xing Xu was thinking, assumed he was joking. “I don’t think you’re bad.”
“Little Bao, isn’t it tiring living alone?” Xing Xu asked suddenly, “Why did you choose to stay here?”
The question was vague, open to many interpretations.
Of course, what Xing Xu wanted to ask was why a demon like Ye Xiyao would choose to stay in human society.
Moreover, Ye Xiyao didn’t behave like other demons, who often transformed into more powerful and ferocious beings to wreak havoc. Instead, he stayed quiet and well-behaved, growing up in the unnoticed corners of this world.
What was the point of that?
Was he here to experience life?
“I don’t know where else to go,” Ye Xiyao said. “I was thrown here when I was born. People took me in, and so I made this place my home.”
He said it so lightly, as if it was no big deal to him — like missing a train and simply deciding to wait for the next one.
Angels could never admit that a child punished by the gods was one of their own, and demons watched with malicious intent, eager for entertainment, with ill motives and overflowing malice.
Ye Xiyao was an abandoned being, but humanity accepted him.
So, he stayed here.
It was as simple as that.
Xing Xu remained silent for a long time.
Ye Xiyao even thought he had fallen asleep when Xing Xu suddenly said, “I’m sorry.”
“Hmm?” Ye Xiyao didn’t understand what he was apologizing for.
Before he could ask, Xing Xu pressed him down and kissed him again.
Wait.
Isn’t this a bit too sudden?!
“You…” Ye Xiyao barely opened his mouth before it was swiftly taken over again, “Mmm!?”
Are you addicted to kissing now!?
No, no, if this keeps going, I’ll be filled up with Xing Xu’s energy, and I’ll really pass out!
—
Strategic Meeting Hall of the Security Bureau—
“In short, there are three plans for this operation, which can be adjusted depending on the target’s actions.”
“First, we have arranged for sharp objects to fall from a high place along his route home. If it hits, it will surely leave behind a substantial amount of demonic energy samples. However, we must account for the demon’s sharp reflexes, and the chances of him avoiding it are over 80%.”
“If he dodges the falling object, then at the next intersection, an autonomous vehicle accident will occur. But again, considering the demon’s reaction speed, this accident will result in a major explosion. We have stationed traffic officers at nearby intersections to block off the explosion site.”
“If neither of these plans work, the third step is for Captain Yu Liefeng and his team to execute the fallback plan—”
Allebai explained to Luo Yiji, “Yu Liefeng will pretend to be a drunk maniac and attack Ye Xiyao in a sparsely populated area. As long as the knife makes contact with any part of the demon’s body, our ‘bystanders’—who are actually undercover officers—will immediately apprehend him. Naturally, the demon wouldn’t want to expose his identity in public, so he won’t retaliate.”
Luo Yiji reminded, “You need to consider that such a blatant attack could provoke the demon. If he fights back, everyone will be in danger.”
“We’ve based our fallback measures on the demon observation reports that Xing Xu sent back recently,” Allebai explained. “According to Xing Xu’s observations, the demon is very intent on keeping his identity hidden and won’t expose any flaws in front of outsiders. Additionally, he hasn’t shown any aggression and seems emotionally stable without any intent to kill. So, there’s an 80% chance that our people can safely leave the situation.”
Luo Yiji raised a few more concerns, and Allebai answered each one. Their plan seemed thorough, so Luo Yiji didn’t press further. He simply said, “On the surface, Ye Xiyao doesn’t seem as terrifying as the demons we’ve encountered in the past, but this is just one side of him. Don’t underestimate him. If things get difficult, retreat immediately—don’t get caught up in the fight.”
“Understood.” It was unclear whether Allebai was responding to Luo Yiji or reassuring himself. He added, “I trust Yu Liefeng. He knows what he’s doing.”
Finally, Luo Yiji synced the operational plan with Xing Xu.
After all, Xing Xu was the true front-line operative and needed to be informed of everything to adapt on the fly.
In the meeting room, everyone’s expressions were solemn.
Even the researchers were nervous.
Once they obtained the demon’s blood or body tissue, they would need to preserve the samples as quickly as possible for experimentation. Any delay could waste the best opportunity for observation.
Everyone was on high alert.
Just as Luo Yiji’s phone rang, Yu Liefeng had finished reporting the latest progress via video. Everything was set, just waiting for Ye Xiyao to finish work.
In front of everyone, Luo Yiji answered the call from Xing Xu.
As always, Xing Xu’s tone was forceful, but this time, everyone found his words surprisingly pleasant.
“We’ve got the sample. Throw out all those useless plans of yours.”
