The night was thick, impenetrable.
Yun Che lay with his eyes closed, breathing evenly, seemingly sunk in deep sleep under the influence of alcohol. Yet, the faint tremor of his eyelashes in the darkness betrayed the unyielding vigilance coiled deep within.
Years as an operative had honed him into a keen weapon. Even numbed by wine into a fitful slumber, his nerve endings remained taut as bowstrings, primed to react to lethal threats.
Sssk—
A sound so faint it was almost imperceptible—the minute friction of a door hinge turning.
Yun Che's body stiffened almost imperceptibly for an instant, then instantly relaxed. His breathing maintained the steady rhythm of sleep, but every sense was now heightened to its absolute peak.
The door was pushed open a crack. The dim emergency lighting from the hallway outside cast a thin sliver of light onto the plush carpet.
No footsteps.
Yun Che's heart plummeted. The intruder was no ordinary threat. They had navigated the estate's formidable surveillance grid and patrols with pinpoint precision, even controlling the minuscule sound of the door opening... Their purpose was deadly focused, their skill terrifyingly advanced.
The image of the day's harrowing confrontation in the conference room flashed through his mind. Ye Jin... Was it him? Had the cold-blooded Demon King finally decided he could tolerate not a shred of doubt? Had he chosen the dead of night for this shadowy purge? After all, his creed was absolute: Better to kill a thousand innocents than let one guilty escape. His "suffering gambit" might have bought him daylight reprieve, but the blade in the dark was perhaps the true sentence.
The silence in the darkness was like icy water, thick and suffocating, enveloping him.
Finally...
Thud. Soft. Barely audible. The muffled sound of a shoe sole compressing carpet fibers.
Here. One person. Male build. Steady, light strides radiating absolute control. Yun Che held his breath, mentally mapping the intruder's path: Doorway... one meter... two meters... Approaching the bedside!
Now!
Yun Che exploded into motion like a coiled spring released!
Flick! His left hand shot towards the touch-sensitive switch on the nightstand!
Click! Soft, warm yellow light flooded the room, shattering the darkness! Simultaneously, using the momentum of sitting up, Yun Che's right hand flashed like a striking viper from beneath his pillow, drawing the gleaming military dagger. With a hiss that tore the air, he slashed with lethal intent towards the shadow at the bedside! No questions, no hesitation—only a killing blow!
Yet, the other's reaction was faster. Impossibly faster!
An irresistible force, like an invisible iron claw, clamped onto Yun Che's knife-wielding wrist with devastating precision and crushing power! Agony lanced through him instantly! But it wasn't over!
Another large hand simultaneously seized the back of Yun Che's neck! Like a mountain collapsing, immense pressure slammed him face-first back down into the soft bedding! His nose smashed into the pillow, cutting off his air with a muffled whumpf!
"Ungh!" Yun Che grunted, struggling to twist his body, but the strength pinning him was unimaginable. A single hand on his neck felt like the weight of the Five Finger Mountain, rendering him immobile! The pain from his wrenched wrist was excruciating, the technique agonizingly precise, threatening to shatter the bone!
"Let go!" Yun Che's voice was muffled by the pillow, thick with fury and a sliver of disbelieving terror. Who was this?!
He hadn't even seen the man's face!
The next instant, his vision plunged into absolute blackness!
A piece of cool, silk-smooth, high-quality black satin was pressed forcefully over his eyes! The action was lightning-fast! Immediately, it was pulled taut at the back of his head and secured with a tight knot! Precise. Cold. Unyielding.
Damn it! Yun Che's heart sank into an abyss. The intruder wasn't just stronger; he was professional. He strained his eyes, but the satin was thick, allowing only the faintest blur of the bedside lamp's glow to penetrate.
Why blindfold me? An assassin wouldn't care if a dead man saw his face! Unless... he wasn't just an assassin? Or... he didn't intend to kill immediately? The fear this thought inspired was worse than death itself.
"Fuck! Who the hell are you?! What do you want?!" Yun Che thrashed violently, a fish nailed to the chopping block. He struggled, shouting threats and testing: "I warn you! This is Lord Ye Jin's estate! Guards will be here any—"
"Hah," a low chuckle sounded in the darkness, like a devil whispering in his ear. The voice... sounded utterly generic, devoid of any distinguishing characteristics—clearly artificially modulated. "Relax, little thing. Tonight... no one will disturb us."
Yun Che's body locked rigid. No one will disturb us...
The words were an ice pick shattering his last shred of hope. The intruder was inside the estate hierarchy! Someone with authority high enough to barge into his bedroom and guarantee no interruptions—far beyond a mere guard or assassin! Had Ye Jin truly abandoned all pretense? What was this? Interrogation? Humiliation before execution? Or... something else entirely?
The modulated voice spoke again, dripping with chilling, condescending amusement: "So stubborn." He seemed entertained by Yun Che's struggle.
Excruciating pain erupted anew from his twisted wrist! What was before a warning grip was now a bone-breaking punishment!
"Aaaagh—!" Yun Che cried out, vision swimming, the short scream ripped from him despite his efforts! His fingers spasmed, losing all strength. The sharp dagger slipped from his grasp, clattering loudly onto the cold floor and skittering away.
"Hah... Hah..." Sweat instantly soaked his thin sleep shirt. Yun Che could only gasp raggedly, trying to endure the heart-stopping agony.
The intruder seemed satisfied with his temporary submission. Something cold and hard pressed against the back of Yun Che's right wrist, already wrenched behind him. Click! Click! Two sharp metallic snaps echoed in the silent room.
A pair of cold metal handcuffs locked his wrists securely together behind his back.
From ambush to total restraint—less than a minute. Yun Che was like a fish stripped of its scales, trussed up tight, pinned helplessly to the bed. His face buried in the pillow, humiliation and rage made his whole body tremble. "Bastard... What do you want?!"
"Hmph." A derisive snort, laced with scorn. The intruder seemed to lose patience with keeping him pinned.
A large hand plunged into the hair at the nape of Yun Che's neck, fingers tightening, gripping fiercely. He was hauled bodily upwards and backwards off the bed!
"Urk!" The agony of his scalp being yanked brought involuntary tears to Yun Che's eyes. He was forced to arch his neck back, exposing the swan-like vulnerability of his throat fully to the dim light and the intruder's gaze. His Adam's apple bobbed violently with rage and suffocation. The posture was horribly familiar—a predator securing its prey before going for the throat.
The phantom sensation of a cold blade slicing skin was vivid.
However—
The expected icy steel did not descend.
Instead, came the touch of warm-cool human fingertips, slightly rough with calluses.
Those fingertips traced a path of profane intimacy, starting from the frantic pulse point of Yun Che's Adam's apple, sliding slowly upwards along the clear line of his carotid artery. The touch was cold, deliberate, like appraising fine porcelain or measuring the fragile boundary of life itself.
They slid over the tense line of his jaw, finally lifting his chin.
Yun Che's mind exploded into blinding white light!
The rough pad of a thumb pressed down with irresistible force onto his lower lip, then began to rub—slowly, deliberately, maliciously. The pressure increased, a violation steeped in utter humiliation.
What... What is this?!
Yun Che felt struck by lightning, his thoughts scattering into chaotic blankness. Even without romantic experience, he knew precisely what this touch signified between two hostile adult men!
The man behind him seemed to interpret his stunned immobility as consent? Or perhaps he simply relished his prey's helplessness?
Cold breath, laced with a scent like cedar and frost, suddenly pressed close! A flurry of kisses, cold as serpents, descended upon the exposed, elegant curve of Yun Che's nape.
At first, they were feather-light touches, carrying an almost pathologically obsessed tenderness, like rose petals brushing skin. But swiftly, the kisses intensified with bruising force! Hot, wet lips and tongue ground possessively against his warm skin, leaving marks that screamed ownership and raw violence!
"GET OFF!!!" The feeling of violation instantly overwhelmed fear. Yun Che snapped back to awareness, erupting with unprecedented fury and shame! He bucked wildly, body thrashing, trying to dislodge the malevolent, aggressively masculine presence behind him! "You lunatic! Look! I'm a man!" Humiliation shredded his voice.
The man's actions halted, clearly displeased.
A large hand instantly clamped over Yun Che's mouth, muffling his roar into choked gurgles. The modulated, characterless voice hissed against his ear, cold breath flooding the canal, radiating absolute control and offended anger:
"Behave. Don't spoil the mood." The icy tone was like soothing a disobedient pet, yet carried an iron command. "After all, it's our first time. I'd like to preserve some... pleasant memories." The words even held a deliberate, almost gentle "reasonableness." "The moonlight tonight... is beautiful, isn't it?"
"I—CAN'T—SEE!" Yun Che screamed through the muffling hand, despair and fury exploding within him! All his fear, humiliation, and terror of the unknown detonated at once!
Driven to the brink of suffocating despair, he gambled everything! He snapped his jaws open with desperate strength and sank his teeth savagely into the hand covering his mouth! Sharp canines pierced flesh instantly!
The taste of blood! Warm, coppery, flooding his mouth!
The man behind him let out a muffled grunt.
Instantly, the hand gripping Yun Che's jaw clamped down with bone-crushing force! But Yun Che held on, a cornered beast refusing to yield! Warm liquid trickled down his chin.
The stalemate lasted only a moment. The hand wrenched away!
Yun Che seized the chance, gulping air, his mouth filled with the nauseating taste of iron. He licked blood from his lip, his eyes blazing with feral intensity as he snarled into the darkness, "Biting you was mercy! If you don't get out now... when I get free, I'll snap your neck!"
The response wasn't retreat, but a low, pleased chuckle vibrating with naked conquest.
The very hand he'd just bitten shot forward again, faster! This time, its target wasn't outside. It plunged beneath the hem of Yun Che's sleep shirt! The cold, rough palm pressed against the smooth, firm plane of his abdomen with undeniable aggression! The contact of warm skin sent shivers through him! The hand even kneaded roughly, like handling a prized trophy!
The modulated, demonic voice rasped against the shell of his ear, breath hot, delivering the coldest pronouncement, pushing him towards the abyss:
"Beautiful little spy... such a temper? Do you truly believe you can hide?"
Thud—!
Yun Che's body locked rigid in an instant! His blood seemed to freeze solid within a fraction of a second! Icy terror swallowed all rage, leaving only the suffocation of impending doom!
The hand violating his abdomen felt deadlier than any venomous snake!
He forced down the scream clawing at his soul, his voice strained to the edge of breaking, yet unnervingly calm:
"I... don't know what you're talking about!"
The man behind him seemed to lean closer, cold lips almost touching his sweat-slicked ear. The voice dropped lower, each word a poison-tipped icicle stabbing into Yun Che's heart:
"What I'm saying..."
"You know perfectly well..."
The hand kneaded his abdominal muscles harder, cruel dominance in every movement.
Then, abruptly, the hand vanished!
Immediately, he felt his collar seized! Immense force hauled him bodily off the bed! Yun Che was dumped unceremoniously onto his knees in the center of the mattress, blindfolded, hands cuffed behind his back—a trussed-up sacrifice.
He tilted his head, straining to hear. Soft footsteps. Then the slight creak of leather—the man had sat down in the single armchair tucked into the corner by the wall.
Even blindfolded, Yun Che knew that spot. It was his favorite nook in the bedroom, now occupied by the intruder.
A modulated, inhuman voice, yet radiating overwhelming authority, came clearly from that direction. It delivered its icy judgment with absolute control:
"Save your strength. The evidence..." The voice paused, seemingly savoring Yun Che's razor-wire tension, "...is in my hands. Proof more irrefutable, more damning than those two suspicious logs you were questioned about. Enough to rip away that loyal-dog facade before Lysander Ye Jin in an instant."
Yun Che's breath stopped entirely.
The voice continued its final decree, like a judge's gavel falling:
"And that pitiful, laughable 'suffering gambit' of yours... This time, it won't work."
Yun Che felt his heart plunge into a glacial abyss the instant that cold, artificial voice uttered the name—Lysander Ye Jin.
This man... he knew the details of the daytime confrontation! He knew about the life-or-death performance in the conference room!
Who was he?! An enemy lurking in the shadows? A high-ranking estate official with access to surveillance?
Or...
A more terrifying thought, like black vines, instantly constricted his soul—the man sitting in the armchair...
Was he... right there in the room?!