Jiu Shu retracted his gaze and entered the banquet hall as if nothing had happened, only leaving the waiter behind with a dim smile.
As soon as he entered the banquet hall, a few well-dressed young talents came up in front of him with big smiles on their faces.
“Mr. Jiu Shu, I’ve heard so much about you! It’s an honor to meet you today!”
“Yes, Mr. Jiu has always been a man of the world; it’s hard for us to find you to talk business!”
“It’s really better to meet you than to hear about you; it’s a pleasure to meet you!”
Several people extended their hands to shake hands with Jiu Shu.
Their eyes were kind and eager, as if they were just businessmen who had long admired Jiu Shu.
However, the palms of those who surrounded him came extremely close, as if they greedily wanted to touch Jiu Shu’s skin as they surrounded him.
It was almost as if they were going to squeeze out Lu Yuan at his side.
“……”
Lu Yuan’s gaze swept over their heads, then became a bit gloomy.
The smiling and gentle Jiu Shu didn’t seem to notice the covetousness in the gazes of the others, and he sat down on the sofa next to him with a calm demeanor.
Avoiding the palms of those who stretched out towards him.
Lu Yuan accompanied Jiu Shu to sit on the side, blocking those who wanted to sit with him.
His silent appearance, matched with the bandages wrapped around his face, made people feel a murderous aura that would make them tremble even if they looked at him.
“Is this your bodyguard beside you, Mr. Jiu?”
The chestnut-haired young male said with a soft smile and a slightly troubled voice, “He seems a bit scary.”
As he spoke, he gave Lu Yuan an intentional glance.
He made a worried and scared gesture as if he were intimidated, as a way to show Jiu Shu that his concern was not unjustified.
“But for your reputation, you do need a bodyguard to protect you.”
The black-haired, black-eyed youth next to him had handsome eyebrows and a pleasant smile.
He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he looked similar to Lu Yuan’s silhouette under the bandage.
It was just that he looked even more handsome and bright than the reticent Lu Yuan.
Jiu Shu’s gaze lingered on his face for a moment.
This moment was also caught by several people who had been observing him.
Although they shared the same consciousness, the others came up as if they were jealous, revealing the same handsome face.
They seemed to be hoping to get the same attention.
Jiu Shu looked at these few people who were about to fight with themselves and was silent for a while.
These people didn’t realize Jiu Shu’s silence and actively displayed their well-dressed appearance in front of him.
“If you don’t mind, I can recommend a few security companies to you; the bodyguards inside should be more in line with your requirements.”
An elegant man with an extraordinarily affable smile looked at Jiu Shu, his tone cordial.
“Yes, after all, with our status, bodyguards are very important; if there is only one, something will inevitably go wrong.”
“Oh right, wasn’t there a news story about a bodyguard mur*dering people for money some time ago?”
Another tall young man was also added with a face full of concern.
He had the same gentle brows and eyes, with features and a tall figure that fit the public’s aesthetics.
With his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and straight suit, he was a veritable son of heaven.
“But choosing a bodyguard is a good idea if you know their background. I happen to have a security company under my banner, so if you want, I can provide you with services at any time.”
A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses walked naturally to Jiu Shu’s side with a warm and gentle demeanor.
Looking around, the group of people surrounding Jiu Shu almost all had handsome faces and eye-pleasing, robust bodies.
It was just that they inevitably looked a bit thin compared to the horrifyingly tall figure of Lu Yuan.
But in fact, in the eyes of popular aesthetics, Lu Yuan was too tall, even if their muscular proportions were near-perfect, and they were more on the side of intimidating behemoths.
They were truly handsome and strong in the eyes of the crowd.
Lu Yuan grew more and more silent as he watched the contemptuous glances these people around the couch threw at him.
He also noticed Jiu Shu’s line of sight just now, but he didn’t show it.
He only looked at these people around him from a place where Jiu Shu couldn’t see, and his dark pupils were gloomy and ghastly to the extreme.
The arms at his side were tightly tensed, and the muscle lines under his slim-fit suit tightened, as if he were suppressing an extremely deep anger.
And the crowd surrounding Jiu Shu also returned an icy stare towards Lu Yuan.
The smile at the corner of their mouths carried a creepy eeriness.
“Don’t bother; I’m satisfied with my lover.”
It wasn’t until Jiu Shu’s gentle voice with a smile rang out that the atmosphere of the moment’s saber-rattling was broken.
His delicate eyebrows carried the soft affection that only a lover could have, and he didn’t hide his relationship with Lu Yuan.
As he said that, Jiu Shu affectionately wrapped his arms around Lu Yuan.
“Also, I don’t want to hear those slanderous words a second time.”
His voice was gentle, yet it carried a detached tone.
It was as if to him, only Lu Yuan was the most important thing, and these non-stop, noisy crowds around him were just accompaniments.
“……”
The atmosphere in the banquet hall had a moment of dead silence.
Especially for those young talents who had watched Jiu Shu and Lu Yuan get close, the gentle smiles on their faces nearly collapsed.
Their eyes also showed emotions of dismay and sadness.
It was as if Jiu Shu had done something incomparably hurtful.
Even the other people in the banquet hall who hadn’t come over yet and were just standing at a distance and watching became a bit depressed.
As for Lu Yuan, in the face of Jiu Shu’s defense, his originally depressed mood instantly improved a lot.
All the muscles in his body relaxed, and he no longer looked at those clamoring animals.
Instead, he focused on his lover, who was leaning on his side.
He was tempted to kiss Jiu Shu.
But Jiu Shu was supposed to act properly on an occasion like this, so Lu Yuan held back.
Then Jiu Shu kissed the back of Lu Yuan’s hand and interlocked his fingers with his.
They were like an intimate little couple.
Lu Yuan was silent and lowered his head. The tips of his ears were a little red.
“The two of you have a good relationship, then.”
After a moment of silence, the chestnut-haired young man forced a smile and sat down on the other side of Jiu Shu.
Revealing his own side face that was much more handsome than Lu Yuan’s.
His gaze remained soft.
“It was my fault for the misunderstanding just now; I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, we accidentally misunderstood; we’re really sorry.”
“Hmm.”
Jiu Shu absently played with Lu Yuan’s long, pale fingers and politely replied.
The atmosphere seemed to have returned to the beginning.
All of them had smiles on their faces and were happy.
They hid their growing malice towards Lu Yuan as much as possible and turned to Jiu Shu with a cordial demeanor.
“It’s just that your lover doesn’t seem to be very talkative; he seems to be a shy person, not quite the same as you.”
“If it were me, I mean, if I could stay by your side, I wouldn’t be able to resist talking a lot, haha!”
“Yes, Mr. Jiu Shu’s appearance happens to be the type I like very much; the more I look at him, the better he looks!”
The words had a disparaging tone towards Lu Yuan, if anything.
“……”
Jiu Shu glanced at the speaker, his seemingly smiling eyes watching the man’s smile stall.
As if finally realizing that such a disparagement would only cause Jiu Shu’s resentment, the crowd stiffened for a moment before the words changed again.
“Ah, more than that, Mr. Jiu Shu’s talent is not to be underestimated; I’ve read reports about you for the past year, and every deed can only be described with the word genius!”
“I really hope that one day I can accompany Mr. Jiu Shu; I would definitely benefit a lot!”
The black-haired, black-eyed youth smiled brightly.
The ambiguity in the words was somewhat mismatched with the bright smile on his face.
The others followed suit.
They praised Jiu Shu as if he was the most successful tycoon in the world.
Jiu Shu, however, looked very withdrawn in the face of these compliments.
Although there was a smile on the corner of his mouth, it wasn’t as gentle as when he was facing Lu Yuan.
The more they looked at it, the more they felt lost and frustrated.
“……”
The surrounding circle of people gradually lowered their voices, seemingly no longer knowing what to say.
But their gazes still lingered on Jiu Shu.
And Jiu Shu snuggled closer to Lu Yuan intimately.
It was as if a third person wouldn’t be able to enter the gap between the two.
This caused the god of doom’s mood to become extremely low.
He had meticulously prepared for so long, with each human skin arranged according to the aesthetics of the greatest multitude, yet he had never expected that he would still be no match for his other self.
It was clearly just having a strong body.
He could always fabricate countless others, and each one would be more perfect than Lu Yuan.
Why couldn’t Jiu Shu look at him?
The god of doom watched in frustration as Jiu Shu looked distracted while talking to him.
Their gazes paused for a moment and then turned into undisguised hatred as they moved over to Lu Yuan.
Though Lu Yuan was a soul that He had split off, it was the greatest hindrance to the god of doom.
In the past, he was a stumbling block that prevented Him from continuing His descent into madness, and now he was a thorn in His side that prevented Him from obtaining His beloved human.
Only by getting rid of him could he achieve happiness.
Good thing he already had a plan for that.
Rustling-
A fine sound that couldn’t be heard by humans resounded in the banquet hall.
It was a murmuring sound full of malice from the god of doom’s essence.
It was enough to drive any mentally sane ordinary person to madness.
“!”
The palms of Lu Yuan’s hands resting on his knees showed veins, and the pain drumming at his brain made it a little hard to bear, even as a person who was almost numb to pain.
But he remained silent in order not to worry about the love of his life beside him, waiting for the hallucination to go away.
He had long since gotten used to his mental illness, but this time it didn’t seem to be as simple as he thought it would be.
The pupils under the bandages dilated, and a tinnitus that hadn’t appeared in a long time roared in his ears.
His eyes also turned into a scarlet world made of bl*ood and flesh.
And this time, this world made of blo*od and flesh was even more real, so real that Lu Yuan could smell the rich scent of blo*od.
Snap-snap-snap-
Sticky flesh mixed with bl*ood fell from the gaps of his bandages, and gusts of tingling sensation came as if the skin of his face was cracking and growing ugly animal heads.
Lu Yuan’s fingers trembled nervously, and he kept telling himself it was just a hallucination.
But the flesh and blo*od let out a shrill mocking sound, sarcastically criticizing his naivety.
“Monster!”
“You’ve become a monster!”
Lu Yuan lowered his head in the direction from which the voices came and saw that his palms were filled with newly grown flesh tumors, and they were continuously growing up his arms and spreading all over his body.
Unfamiliar images also kept flashing in his mind.
In those images, he was a ghost wandering alone inside the slaughterhouse, dragging a heavy machete all day long to slaughter the monsters that broke into the slaughterhouse.
And that was simply because of habit.
Because he had been uncared for and lonely since the beginning.
No one ever cared about him, and no one ever fell in love with him.
His existence was meaningless; he was just a monster to be loathed.
“Lu Yuan? What’s wrong with you?”
Jiu Shu’s voice yanked Lu Yuan back a bit from the edge of madness.
He stared blankly at Jiu Shu in front of him.
This lover, who had never appeared in his past memories.
His eyes hesitated for a long time on the pure white feathers behind him.
He reached out his hand fondly, as if to touch Jiu Shu, and then paused at the sight of his own sarcoma-covered arm.
He dared not approach.
Both in the past and in the present, he was a far cry from the pure and flawless color of his beloved.
Jiu Shu’s face frowned slightly as he looked at the trance-like Lu Yuan.
His eyes glanced at those nearby who had suddenly fallen silent with smiling faces.
“I… am fine.”
Lu Yuan didn’t dare to meet Jiu Shu’s eyes, and his breathing became confused.
His memories were constantly mingling and mixing together.
It made his fragile spirit a little confused, and he even began to be unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
He didn’t know whether he was the monster butcher dragging a machete in his memories or the incomparably happy Lu Yuan.
As a monster, he was the one who would hurt Jiu Shu, so he couldn’t get close to him.
Right now, he only had this one thought in his mind, and that was to leave Jiu Shu.
The farther away, the better; that way, he wouldn’t hurt him.
But Jiu Shu held Lu Yuan’s palm, making him not dare to use too much strength to break away at all.
“Don’t be afraid; if it’s hard to bear, take a rest.”
Jiu Shu’s voice was soft as he placed Lu Yuan’s head on his lap and gently stroked his trembling palms.
The rustling in his ears seemed to instantly become much smaller.
Lu Yuan, who was lying on Jiu Shu’s knee, froze for a moment, and his eyes under the bandage widened slightly.
Reflecting the gentle frown of Jiu Shu.
Lu Yuan looked at him for a long time, and his taut nerves finally relaxed.
In the soothing presence of Jiu Shu, he closed his eyes and fell into a fitful sleep.
Completely isolating the murmuring voice of the god of doom.
“……”
Inside the banquet hall, the god of doom, who was originally expecting Lu Yuan to go crazy and break free from Jiu Shu, became silent.
This was different from his plan.
The sudden failure of the plan left the originally well-planned god of doom feeling somewhat bewildered.
His original plan was to make Lu Yuan go crazy, unable to distinguish reality from the past, so he’d think he was a monster and flee from Jiu Shu in order to not harm him.
Then he’d take advantage of the situation.
Comforting the Jiu Shu who watched Lu Yuan run away and became confused, showing his own maturity and steadiness that was completely different from Lu Yuan.
In that case, Jiu Shu would be on the defensive against Lu Yuan, even if he favored him.
He would then be able to become Jiu Shu’s new favorite by virtue of his own merits.
But now…
Rumble–!!!
“!”
The sound of a violent explo*sion suddenly came from outside the banquet hall, startling the god of doom, who was pondering why his plan had failed.
Inside the banquet hall, almost every guest’s eyes widened in shock, growing more and more confused.
Even though it was a plan that he had formulated himself, he would still be at a loss for the parts that didn’t fit into the plan.
After all, no matter how well thought out, He still couldn’t get away from the crazy nature given by His essence.
Looking at the chaotic status quo within the banquet hall, Jiu Shu calmly covered Lu Yuan’s ears.
Preventing Lu Yuan from being awakened by the sound of the explo*sion.
His calmness also made the frightened god of doom seem a little too unstable.
Fortunately, he quickly corrected this mistake.
Concerned smiles appeared on the faces of the few people surrounding Jiu Shu.
In unison, they reached out their hands and said towards Jiu Shu, “There seems to be danger outside; let me help you; let’s get out of here together!”
The words in unison almost overlapped.
As soon as the words fell, they stiffened for a moment as they looked at each other.
According to the god of doom’s plan, now should be the time to comfort Jiu Shu. After that, Lu Yuan went mad, and then the explosions would go off, and he could take advantage of the approaching danger to do a heroic rescue.
That would surely capture Jiu Shu’s heart.
But the god of doom’s plan forgot to calculate the most important aspect.
That was who should comfort Jiu Shu and who should rescue him.
Even though they were all controlled by the same consciousness, there seemed to be a difference when these scattered consciousnesses were attached to different bodies.
Especially when each of them had dressed up carefully for this meeting in anticipation of building a closer relationship with Jiu Shu’s.
Each one of them wanted to be the only one for Jiu Shu.
“Come with me, Jiu Shu.”
“No, follow me!”
“I know where the safe passage is! Mr. Jiu Shu should come with me!”
“……”
Jiu Shu had a rare headache as he looked at the group of people in front of him who were arguing with themselves.
TN:
This reminds me of that spiderman pointing meme ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧