At exactly eight o'clock in the morning, the air in the conference room felt thick and stifling.
Gu Qing stood at one end of the long table, gripping her notebook tightly. The digital clock on the wall flashed 8:01, and the man across from her lifted his eyes, his gaze sharp as a blade.
"Gu Qing, did you verify the data in this presentation three times?" His voice was cool yet sharp.
"I did verify it, but the market forecast section—"
"But?" He scoffed, his long fingers tapping the tabletop. "I don't need 'buts.' I need accuracy."
The conference room fell silent, so quiet that you could hear the low hum of the air conditioner.
Gu Qing gritted her teeth and murmured, "Yes, I'll correct it immediately."
Su Cheng, the young assistant in the corner, stole a sympathetic glance at her. She knew that Gu Qing had recently caught the attention of her boss, Shen Jiyuan, who nitpicked her in nearly every meeting.
This man—handsome, cold, and perpetually flawless—seemed forged from steel and fox fur.
At lunchtime, Gu Qing fled the office, clutching her file box.
Only she and Su Cheng were in the elevator.
"He's picking on you again?" Su Cheng asked in a hushed voice.
"Is that even a question?" Gu Qing replied with a bitter smile. "I'm starting to wonder if I wronged him in a past life. He finds trouble with me every single day."
"That kind of person has deep, dark thoughts. Best to avoid him."
"I haven't provoked him at all!" Gu Qing gnawed on her straw in frustration. "He must be a demon sent to torment me!"
She didn't notice that, the moment the words left her lips, the elevator monitor flickered as if something were watching her.
That afternoon, Shen Jiyuan convened the second department review meeting.
As Gu Qing placed the presentation slides on the projector, the man spoke calmly. "I've revised this section."
She looked down and saw that the entire report was meticulously annotated in his handwriting.
Red lines crisscrossed the pages like bloodshot veins, vivid and jarring.
"This isn't your fault," he said without emotion. "I simply won't tolerate errors in my team."
He said this as if it were perfectly reasonable. Yet, those words cut deeper than any curse.
Gu Qing took a deep breath, forcing her anger back down. She knew this man's standards were pathological, and she knew she couldn't resist them.
Quitting time arrived, and the lights began to dim across the entire floor.
She was the one left behind for one reason: "Rewrite the report. Have it to me by eight tomorrow morning."
Gu Qing glared at his retreating back, silently cursing him as a fox, a devil, a tyrant countless times.
Only when the clock on her screen ticked past ten did she finally stretch and prepare to pack up her computer.
Just then, the wind outside suddenly grew louder. The building's lights flickered like an irregular heartbeat.
Snap—the entire office plunged into darkness.
The moment the power cut out, computer screens went black, and printers stopped humming.
The entire high-rise was now lit only by the dim red emergency exit sign.
She pulled out her phone to use as a flashlight, her fingers trembling.
"Don't be scared. It's just a blackout," she murmured to herself.
But the next second, a cold wind swept down the corridor, carrying a faint, low hum. It sounded like someone was chuckling softly.
She whipped her head around; the light from her phone swept the corner, but there was no one there.
Yet, as she took two steps forward, her phone signal vanished completely and the light flickered.
"Who's there?" Her voice trembled.
The only response was the sound of steady, composed footsteps drawing nearer.
"Mr. Shen?" she ventured tentatively.
In the darkness, that familiar silhouette approached.
The man wore a crisp suit, and a faint, cool fragrance emanated from him.
"Why haven't you left yet?" His voice was low and husky. "Company policy requires overtime to be reported."
"I...I wanted to finish editing the report." She took a half-step back and hit the corner of the wall with her back.
But he stepped forward, brushing a strand of hair from her ear with his hand.
"You're such a headache," he murmured. "Always lingering where you shouldn't be."
Gu Qing's heart skipped a beat. She tried to speak, but it was too late. Her foot caught on a cable and sent her reeling backward into his arms.
In the next instant, her soft lips unexpectedly met another pair of cold ones.
Time seemed to freeze.
Both of them stared wide-eyed. In that split second, a faint red light flickered, and a pair of fluffy fox ears slowly materialized from the man's hair.
Gu Qing gasped. "This is—"
The man sighed softly and covered her mouth with his hand.
His amber pupils shimmered in the darkness like an untamable wildness he couldn't conceal.
"You saw it," he said in a flat yet dangerous tone. "Then don't speak of it."
Gu Qing froze completely.
He was so close that her could feel his breath mingling with a chill and an unfamiliar heat. She felt as if she might suffocate.
"Mr. Shen, who exactly are you?"
"Don't ask." His Adam's apple bobbed slightly. His voice was low and hoarse, almost a growl.
"You'll regret this."
A gust of wind blew in through the cracked window and sent papers flying everywhere.
He raised his hand to shield her, moving with inhuman speed.
In the flickering red light, Gu Qing glimpsed a shadow stretching behind him—not a human shadow, but that of a massive fox with a swaying tail.
The next morning, Gu Qing returned to the office looking pale. Su Cheng noticed immediately and asked, "Didn't get much sleep?"
She hesitated for a moment, then simply smiled and said, "I worked late."
Su Cheng didn't believe her but didn't press further. Instead, he quietly handed her a cup of hot coffee. "I heard President Shen took the day off. You're in luck."
Gu Qing's fingers trembled slightly. That "demon" took a leave?
Returning to her rented apartment that night, she prepared for bed after showering, only to find something new in her bedside drawer.
A yellowed piece of paper with a fox-shaped design. The back had neat handwriting that read: "If you see a fox, do not speak."
She remembered this as the "protective charm" her mother had forced on her years ago—something she should have thrown away long ago.
A chill ran through Gu Qing's heart.
The talisman seemed to glow faintly in the moonlight.
That night, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The image of those fox ears and eyes kept replaying in her mind.
She should have been terrified, yet her heart raced wildly for an inexplicable reason.
"What exactly is he?" she murmured softly.
A gentle breeze blew past the window as if in response.