Chapter 42
Ye Xiyao’s entire body was soft, and being pressed against him felt like touching a smooth, tender piece of tofu, as if a little force could break him apart.
Of course, Xing Xu didn’t dare hurt him, so he was as gentle as possible. In the cramped stall, there wasn’t much room to move, so they just held each other tightly, sharing a sweet, intimate breath.
As Xing Xu gathered more energy, Ye Xiyao’s hair gradually retracted. However, his tail remained firmly grasped in Xing Xu’s hand, who refused to let it go. He stroked and pinched it, then kissed it. The poor little thing, attached to Ye Xiyao, had nowhere to escape. Every time it trembled, Ye Xiyao’s entire body followed.
Once they both caught their breath and calmed down, Xing Xu lifted Ye Xiyao up, holding him by his soft parts, with Ye Xiyao’s legs wrapped around his waist. Xing Xu’s fingers circled the base of the tail as he laughed and asked, “Do all of you have this?”
Ye Xiyao wasn’t sure if by “you” Xing Xu meant all demons or just succubi.
There were many kinds of demons, and the differences between them could be greater than the differences between humans and animals.
If Xing Xu meant all demons, Ye Xiyao could easily answer “no,” since not all demons had tails. Some demons didn’t even have eyes, noses, or ears, just a blob of flesh like mud.
But if Xing Xu was referring specifically to succubi, Ye Xiyao had no idea how to answer, as he had never seen another succubus. Theoretically, they all should have tails.
Seeing Ye Xiyao’s long silence, Xing Xu bit his ear and ran his hand down the tail again.
Ye Xiyao immediately tensed up. “I’m full,” he said.
“Eat a little more, just in case your hair grows back,” Xing Xu teased.
Ye Xiyao clung to Xing Xu’s neck and shook his head firmly. “It won’t.”
“You never know,” Xing Xu kissed his neck and ran his hand up and down Ye Xiyao’s spine, sending shivers through him. “Your tail is still out, isn’t it?”
“That’s because you’re holding it,” Ye Xiyao protested.
Xing Xu smiled, “Try pulling it back in.”
Ye Xiyao had tried, but he found that every time he made the slightest move to retract his tail, Xing Xu just gripped it tighter.
Frustrated, Ye Xiyao slapped Xing Xu’s shoulder, his hand stinging from the impact. “You’re cheating.”
“Alright, my fault.” Xing Xu blew on Ye Xiyao’s palm in mock apology and added, “But don’t pull it back in just yet, let me touch it a bit longer.”
“You’re weird. What’s so interesting about a tail?” Ye Xiyao didn’t understand why Xing Xu wasn’t repulsed by his half-demon, half-human body features. Ye Xiyao himself certainly didn’t like them.
Whether it was his hair or his tail, he always wanted to hide them.
“Your tail is a part of you. You’re showing it to me, which means you’re willing to reveal all your little secrets to me alone. Of course, I have to study it thoroughly,” Xing Xu said.
Ye Xiyao instinctively argued, “I didn’t show it on purpose.”
“But I’ve already seen it,” Xing Xu replied.
“Well, you’ve seen it, so stop touching it…” Ye Xiyao turned away, trying to grab Xing Xu’s hand.
Instead, Xing Xu caught his hand and held it. “You always hide yourself in front of others, but when it’s just the two of us, don’t hide anything. Whether it’s your tail, your hair, or any other little secret, show it to me. I don’t just want to see it—I want to touch it, and I want to kiss it. And even if you don’t agree, it doesn’t matter. If you won’t let me play with your tail, I’ll find something else to play with.”
Ye Xiyao bit his lip at Xing Xu’s words, unsure of what to feel. His heart felt itchy, as though feathers were brushing against it.
Seizing the moment, Xing Xu pressed Ye Xiyao onto the shelf beside them and kissed him again, their bodies colliding as their souls entwined.
Just then, from the bar’s dance floor, where the music had been pounding rhythmically, there were sudden screams and commotion.
Ye Xiyao, with his heightened senses, immediately sensed something was wrong. He pushed Xing Xu away. “Something’s happening outside.”
Xing Xu chased after his lips. “Ignore it. Let’s keep going.”
“I heard… mmph… someone…” Ye Xiyao’s tongue was numb from the kissing, and he was dizzy, when suddenly, there was a loud explosion.
This time, Xing Xu heard it too.
Their sticky lips parted, and Ye Xiyao, nervous, jumped down from the shelf. He pressed his ear to the crack in the door and listened carefully. “Xing Xu, do you hear that? Is it gunfire?”
Ye Xiyao’s knowledge of guns was limited to what he had seen in movies and TV shows. He had never encountered them in real life. The loud *bang* *bang* sounds made him think of gunfire. Since Xing Xu was half a cop, Ye Xiyao figured he would know, and looked to him for confirmation.
“It’s not gunfire, probably something exploded,” Xing Xu remained completely calm. He first helped Ye Xiyao tidy up his clothes, wiping away the wetness from his lips, and then said, “Your clothes are wet, you’ll need to change.”
When he arrived, he was already soaked, though it was unclear where he had gotten wet. After spending so much time tangled up with Ye Xiyao, naturally, Ye Xiyao ended up wet as well.
But Ye Xiyao couldn’t worry about that right now. “It seems something really happened. I heard someone shouting for help.”
Seeing Ye Xiyao about to rush out, Xing Xu grabbed his hand. “Bars are like this, people get drunk and lose control. Next time you come to a place like this, you have to bring me along, got it?”
Ye Xiyao sighed in exasperation, “Is this really the time to be saying that?”
Xing Xu shrugged, “Alright, let’s go. I’ll show you a live case study.”
When they opened the door, they saw that the area outside the sink was completely empty—everyone had probably gone to watch the commotion.
Ye Xiyao checked himself in the mirror, making sure his hair had returned to normal before breathing a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, over by the dance floor in the hallway, the music had completely stopped, leaving only the sound of people screaming.
Ye Xiyao and Xing Xu exchanged glances.
“This doesn’t seem like a typical disturbance,” Xing Xu muttered after a moment, “Stay here. I’ll go handle it.”
By “handle it,” he clearly meant he was going to get involved. But Ye Xiyao was a bit scared.
“What if they really have guns?” Ye Xiyao tried to peer down the hallway, but all he could see was a sea of heads.
Xing Xu chuckled. “Guns are banned in Lucheng. Other than the police, the most anyone could have is a toy gun or some cheap knockoff.”
Still, Ye Xiyao didn’t let go of his hand.
Xing Xu leaned down and stole another kiss from his lips. “Worried about me?”
Ye Xiyao nodded. “Yes, bullets can kill people.”
Xing Xu, always drawn in by Ye Xiyao’s straightforward and honest gaze, sighed heavily. He wrapped his arms around Ye Xiyao and spun him around a few times before laughing playfully. “Don’t worry about me. I’m tough. There’s only one way I’d ever die.”
Ye Xiyao asked, “What way?”
Xing Xu gently set him down but kept his body close, brushing against Ye Xiyao’s soft belly, making him shiver from the warmth. Then he said, “If you ever told me to die.”
Ye Xiyao froze, but Xing Xu had already let go and was quickly walking toward the source of the commotion.
Even though Ye Xiyao knew Xing Xu was probably teasing or just speaking casually, he still stood there, stunned, for over half a minute because of those words.
—
There was indeed a fight in the bar, but it wasn’t a typical drunken brawl.
After asking a few people, Xing Xu learned that someone had “gone crazy.”
The reason people were calling him crazy rather than drunk was that he had rushed in from outside the bar. He was carrying a hammer—ridiculous as it sounded, it was indeed a hammer—and after barging in, he started smashing everything. He even broke the large screen on stage, and the DJ’s mixing console didn’t escape either.
However, the crazy guy wasn’t hurting anyone—he was just destroying things.
Some people were injured by shards of glass from the explosions, leaving traces of blood here and there. Even so, most people hadn’t left the bar.
Xing Xu found the situation odd. He looked toward the bar’s exit and saw that it was deserted.
Frowning, he took the opportunity, while everyone was watching the madman, to run toward the entrance and check it out.
A few minutes later, Xing Xu returned to the scene.
He understood now—it wasn’t that people didn’t want to leave; it was that the path to the exit had “disappeared.”
It seemed that this madman wasn’t just crazy—he was either possessed by a demon or was a demon in disguise. A creature capable of creating an inescapable illusion wasn’t weak.
The demon-slaying sigil on Xing Xu’s left hand began to stir.
“Damn… Xing Xu? Xing Xu!” someone in the crowd called out his name.
Xing Xu looked over and saw Qiao Linchuan and a few others.
They were hiding in a corner booth, not too close to the rampaging man. It seemed the shock had sobered them up.
Xing Xu walked over and confirmed that none of them were injured.
They asked him where Ye Xiyao was, but Xing Xu simply told them to take care of themselves. Qiao Linchuan said, “We can’t make any calls. We can’t even call the police. This bar’s signal is completely gone.”
Qin Zai’s expression was a bit awkward: “This place is usually strictly managed. I can’t believe a madman managed to get in today. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
Xing Xu glanced at him: “You really shouldn’t have.”
Qin Zai knew he was in the wrong, but felt that Xing Xu’s look carried more than just a hint of reproach—it was colder, sharper.
No one asked when Xing Xu had arrived or why he was here. They only cared about when the madman would leave.
But in less than two minutes after Xing Xu stood next to them, the madman shifted his target and charged toward them.
Even more unexpected was that the hammer in the madman’s hand had somehow turned into a knife.
The crowd screamed again, instinctively moving aside. This only made the madman more reckless.
Xing Xu didn’t even dodge. He walked straight toward the man. Amid the terrified shouts of Qiao Linchuan and the others, Xing Xu snapped the knife in half, grabbed the madman’s throat, and slammed him to the ground.
It was effortless, so easy it almost seemed like a scene rehearsed countless times.
Silence fell around them.
The hundred or so people in the bar started applauding Xing Xu, cheers rising one after another. His heroic act in subduing the madman became the highlight of the night, intoxicating everyone into a frenzy of celebration.
Only Xing Xu’s face remained cold.
The exit of the bar was still unclear, and the madman subdued so easily in his hands was likely just a decoy.
The Slaughter Demon Array hadn’t sensed even a trace of demonic energy from the madman.
Xing Xu lifted his head and scanned the crowd around him.
Where is it?
Where was the demon that had deliberately caused this chaos?
Surely it hadn’t just wanted to give Xing Xu a moment to shine in front of so many people, right?
“Wow, that guy’s incredible! Did you see him grab that knife barehanded?”
“I was terrified! I really thought someone was going to die.”
“No kidding! That madman must’ve had a death wish, picking a fight with the one guy who looked really tough.”
“Quit standing around! Does anyone’s phone have a signal? Call the police!”
“Screw this bar, I’m never coming back! Not a single security guard in sight when it matters.”
Just then, a black shadow flashed past the corner of Xing Xu’s eye. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was watching him, it darted toward the bar’s exit.
And it was dragging someone with it.
It was Ye Xiyao.
Xing Xu’s gaze ignited with rage.
Damn it!
He punched the struggling madman unconscious and bolted toward the exit.
This time, the exit didn’t disappear. He made it outside.
But the moment he crossed out of the demon’s illusion, Xing Xu found himself standing on the rooftop of the building.
This demon was no ordinary creature.
A flood of terrifying images flashed through Xing Xu’s mind.
Ye Xiyao injured, Ye Xiyao killed, Ye Xiyao disappearing from this world…
Halfway through running, he tripped and fell hard, something he had never done before. He scrambled up, more disheveled than ever, searching frantically in every direction. He didn’t dare call out Ye Xiyao’s name, knowing that once a demon learned a human’s name, it could easily exploit that weakness to invade their mind.
At this moment, Xing Xu forgot that Ye Xiyao was, in fact, a demon too.
Not calling out his name was like holding a blade in his mouth, unable to move up or down. Xing Xu felt blood rising in his throat, threatening to spill out.
Fear, dread.
Emotions he had never experienced before overwhelmed him.
Then the sky opened up with torrential rain.
Something was terribly wrong.
Earlier in the day, the sky had been clear and bright. Even just a few minutes ago, it was a warm summer night with a gentle breeze. But after Xing Xu ran outside, a fierce wind picked up, thunder rumbled, and then the downpour began.
There was no doubt that the rain was targeting him.
Xing Xu had realized this a couple of days ago.
That day, after leaving the security bureau, he planned to find Ye Xiyao and tell him that he had received a confidential letter from the Alliance government, asking him to report on his mission promptly.
In fact, Xing Xu had already written a detailed report about Ye Xiyao being a succubus, with solid reasons proving that he was harmless. But that was only true as long as Ye Xiyao wasn’t hungry.
Succubi were too unique. Every time Xing Xu thought about Luo Yiji’s suggestion to have Ye Xiyao help “purify” the demonic energy from others, he felt irritated. He needed to find another way to assure the Alliance government that Ye Xiyao wouldn’t harm anyone.
Therefore, in his report, Xing Xu emphasized that he himself could act as Ye Xiyao’s “guardian.” As long as he was alive, he would ensure that Ye Xiyao wouldn’t hurt anyone.
But writing this report required finesse—he couldn’t let the Alliance know that he was hopelessly in love with Ye Xiyao. Otherwise, no matter how well he wrote the report, others would just think he was biased.
Xing Xu knew this wasn’t something he could decide on his own, because reporting it to the Alliance came with risks.
After thinking it over, he decided to consult Ye Xiyao. If he agreed to let him report, he would. If not, he would hold off and wait until they found a better solution. As for using the same method to purify others’ demonic energy—he wouldn’t even consider it.
But on his way to find Ye Xiyao, his car suddenly lost control in the rain and veered off the highway.
Xing Xu jumped out to avoid danger, only to get trapped in the rain, narrowly avoiding several bolts of lightning that shot directly at him.
If he hadn’t reacted quickly, he would have either been struck dead or electrocuted.
A deadly premonition washed over him. It felt like he had encountered some kind of fatal trouble.
By the time he reached Ye Xiyao’s house, it was already late. He thought about just giving up on the visit and delaying the report to the Alliance for a while longer.
But Ye Xiyao opened the door for him.
Ye Xiyao seemed to want a resolution quickly, so Xing Xu didn’t delay any further. Early the next morning, he boarded a helicopter heading for the Alliance government.
But no one expected the rain to follow him.
Xing Xu never made it to the Alliance government.
The helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in a violent windstorm. Xing Xu had to hike out of a valley and only reached the nearest city this morning.
By now, Xing Xu was certain—the demon lurking in the shadows was after him, or more precisely, wanted to kill him.
But if it wanted to kill him, why take Ye Xiyao?
Xing Xu pushed himself up and continued searching for Ye Xiyao in the rain. Finally, in a corner, he spotted a small figure curled up on the ground.
His heart leaped, and he sprinted toward her.
Don’t die, don’t die—this was the only thought left in his mind.
–
When Ye Xiyao came out, the bar was still chaotic, but people had calmed down. As soon as their phones regained some signal, they started calling the police.
The moment Qiao Linchuan saw him, he rushed over, followed by the others.
“Oh my god, you missed it—it was insane!” Qiao Linchuan eagerly recounted how Xing Xu had subdued the madman, marveling, “Xing Xu is seriously amazing.”
Ye Xiyao listened, her heart racing. “Was he hurt?”
“He probably was, but not by the madman. He grabbed the knife with his bare hands!” Qiao Linchuan embellished the story even more.
Ye Xiyao cut him off. “Where is Xing Xu?”
Everyone froze at his question.
Right—where was Xing Xu?
It had only been a few minutes since he subdued the madman, but the hero himself was nowhere to be seen.
Before Qiao Linchuan and the others could search, Ye Xiyao turned and ran.
“Xiaobao, where are you going?!”
Someone called out after him, but Ye Xiyao didn’t care. He rushed outside.
It was pouring rain.
Ye Xiyao was lightly dressed. By all accounts, he should have been drenched the moment he stepped out into the storm.
Strangely, after running on the street for quite some time, Ye Xiyao’s body showed no signs of being drenched by the rain.
His mind was entirely focused on Xing Xu, so he didn’t notice this. He stood in the rain, extended his hand, and closed his eyes, silently feeling the raindrops land on his palm and then roll off.
Suddenly, he grabbed one raindrop, pouring all his demonic energy into it. With a flick of his hand, that single raindrop shattered into countless tiny droplets, merging into the rain and dispersing everywhere.
Ye Xiyao intuitively knew how to use demonic energy to find someone.
Maybe it was because he used a lot of demonic energy, but it worked well—he locked onto a direction and ran toward it.
When Ye Xiyao climbed to the rooftop of the building, the rain suddenly stopped.
Although he wasn’t too disheveled, he was still a bit wet. With each step, he felt heavier.
“Xing Xu!”
Ye Xiyao shouted his name.
In the corner, Xing Xu stood hunched over in a puddle, head bowed, his wet hair hanging messily over his face. Most alarming, his body was covered in wounds.
It was as if he hadn’t heard Ye Xiyao’s voice. Suddenly, his knees gave out, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, sending a spray of blood-tainted water into the air.
Ye Xiyao rushed to him, grabbing Xing Xu’s shoulder.
“Xing Xu?” Ye Xiyao turned his face, trying to bring him back. “Xing Xu, what happened to you?”
Only then did Ye Xiyao notice that Xing Xu’s eyes were bloodshot, and a crimson totem had spread from his left palm, stretching all the way to his face.
It was the Demon-Slaying Array.
By now, Ye Xiyao knew what the Demon-Slaying Array was and recognized that this was its backlash.
But Xing Xu had just given him a lot of demonic energy, so how could the backlash be this severe?
There was only one explanation: during the brief time that had passed, Xing Xu had suppressed a massive amount of demonic energy—enough to put his life at risk.
“Did you encounter a demon seed?” Ye Xiyao asked.
Xing Xu stared at him with an odd expression. Ye Xiyao couldn’t understand it. “Xing Xu, don’t scare me. What happened?”
Xing Xu said, “Are you real? Please, tell me you’re real.”
Ye Xiyao didn’t know what had happened, but he immediately held Xing Xu’s face, looking at him earnestly. “I’m real.”
Xing Xu seemed to be trying to confirm if what Ye Xiyao said was true. “Ye Xiyao…”
Ye Xiyao thought for a moment, then leaned in and kissed him. “It’s me, I’m Ye Xiyao. Xing Xu…, what’s wrong?”
Suddenly, Xing Xu let down all his defenses and hugged him tightly, trembling all over.
“I thought… I thought I killed you…”
From Xing Xu’s fragmented explanation, Ye Xiyao learned that the demon had taken on his appearance and tricked Xing Xu. Initially, it had tried to kill him, but because it wore Ye Xiyao’s face, Xing Xu didn’t fight back. However, once Xing Xu noticed something was off, he killed the demon.
Normally, when demons die, they revert to their original form or dissipate into smoke.
But the demon Xing Xu killed had kept Ye Xiyao’s appearance even in death.
Xing Xu couldn’t tell the difference anymore. At first, he was sure he had killed the demon, but later, he feared that he had accidentally killed the real Ye Xiyao. He fell into a deep state of fear, on the verge of mental collapse.
Thankfully, Ye Xiyao arrived in time and pulled him back before he completely lost it.
“Ye Xiyao, Ye Xiyao…” Xing Xu kept calling his name, kissing his hair, his forehead, his cheeks, and finally his lips, as if he wanted to merge Ye Xiyao into his very being.
“It was all fake, I’m perfectly fine,” Ye Xiyao gently reassured him.
Xing Xu said, “If I ever really hurt you by accident, I’ll end my own life.”
Ye Xiyao patted his back. “You can’t do that. A person’s life is the most important thing.”
Xing Xu rubbed his face against Ye Xiyao’s neck and kissed him again on the lips. “It’s not important. Nothing is important except you.”
Instead of pushing him away, Ye Xiyao used the moment to absorb the demonic energy from Xing Xu, gradually calming the backlash of the Demon-Slaying Array.
Once the backlash subsided, Ye Xiyao suddenly remembered something, catching his breath before asking, “But how do you know that I’m the real me now? When that demon was pretending to be me earlier… did you… kiss it like this?”
Xing Xu’s face darkened, and he gritted his teeth. “How could I?”
He hadn’t even kissed it. When he called the demon “baby,” it had shown a disgusted expression—who should have been disgusted here, anyway? He was the one who mistook another demon for Ye Xiyao. It was revolting!
It was precisely because the demon didn’t understand the way Xing Xu and Ye Xiyao interacted that such an obvious flaw allowed Xing Xu to realize something was wrong.
He didn’t want to think back on the scene just now, so he nuzzled Ye Xiyao again. “That stupid demon scared me to death. Baby, give me a kiss.”
Ye Xiyao knew he was genuinely frightened, so he obediently leaned in and kissed Xing Xu.
If Ye Xiyao were to imagine himself “accidentally” killing Xing Xu one day, he’d be terrified too.
Even knowing it was fake, that feeling wouldn’t be easy to handle.
Xing Xu grabbed his hand and pressed it to his chest. “My heart almost jumped out.”
Ye Xiyao lowered his head and planted a kiss on his damp chest.
Xing Xu swallowed. The false alarm of near-death had relaxed him somewhat, but holding Ye Xiyao’s hand again immediately brought his body back to an excited state.
He could never control himself around Ye Xiyao.
Xing Xu nibbled slowly on Ye Xiyao’s ear while pulling his hand lower. “It’s jumping here too.”
Embarrassed and annoyed, Ye Xiyao was just about to pull his hand away when a sudden clap of thunder boomed.
Instinctively, Xing Xu pushed Ye Xiyao aside.
And then, he got struck by lightning.
“Xing Xu!”
Ye Xiyao was startled. When he looked over, he saw that Xing Xu was unharmed, except his face was completely blackened.
Literally blackened.
Ye Xiyao: “Pfft.”
Xing Xu: “…”
Damn.
Looks like that demon wasn’t quite dead after all.
