Chapter 32: CH 32

Seeing Huo Wuling approaching him, Ji Ning instinctively wanted to move away, but his back was pressed against the back of the sofa. Huo Wuling loomed over him, caging him inside his arms, before leaning down to kiss him. Before Ji Ning could protest, Huo Wuling deepened the kiss, pinning him against the sofa.

The bitter aroma of coffee passed between them and Huo Wuling’s eyes curved in pleasure. He pressed Ji Ning into the sofa, trapping him so that he couldn’t escape from his embrace. 

Whoosh…

The rain on the street swelled, slowly muffling the gentle female voice of the gramophone. An icy wind blew in through the open door, causing the chandelier on the ceiling to sway gently, reflecting a grotesque shadow.

“Aaaaaahhh–”

A shrill scream broke the silence of the rainy night. Huo Wuling opened his eyes and glanced out the door. After a moment, he released Ji Ning and focused his attention on the grocery shop door, as if waiting for someone to enter. 

Panting, Ji Ning looked toward the door as well. After a while, he could make out some dark figures, with blurred features and empty faces, wandering near the door of the store. One moved closer, lingering in the doorway, as if it wanted to enter but was still afraid to.

Ji Ning had seen a figure like this before and still remembered it clearly. It was the dark shadow in the shape of a woman who plucked out her lover’s heart and gave it to Huo Wuling.

The wind and rain outside grew stronger, as the temperature in the room plunged. The dark figures in the night twisted into mangled shadows that stretched across the shop floor.

But none of them ever entered.

After waiting for a while, Ji Ning curled up on the sofa.

“Feeling cold?”

Huo Wuling looked down at him and asked with a smile.

“Then I’ll close the door.” 

The dark haired man walked to the door, flipped the ‘OPEN’ sign to ‘CLOSED’, and, ignoring the shadows who were hesitantly reaching in, slammed the door shut. He then moved over to one of the storage racks and grabbed a large blanket to drape over Ji Ning.

A little dazed, Ji Ning took the blanket. Huo Wuling patted him on the shoulder again and said, “Ningning, I want to sit too.”

Although it was a single person sofa chair, if two people squeezed together, there was enough space to fit. Ji Ning guessed Huo Wuling would directly sit on his lap if he didn’t make room, so he leaned to one side. Huo Wuling sat next to him and huddled with him under the warm blanket.

When he sat down, his arm naturally wrapped around Ji Ning’s shoulders. Ji Ning glanced sideways towards him and was immediately caught in a lingering kiss. 

“Huo…”

Ji Ning tried to speak, but his attempts only made Huo Wuling more aggressive. It wasn’t until they were both breathless that Huo Wuling released him, pressing final gentle kisses to his cheeks and forehead before burying his face into Ji Ning’s neck in contentment.

Ji Ning was half lying across the sofa, pressed into it by Huo Wuling’s entire body weight. Although the position was slightly uncomfortable, he couldn’t help but feel a little wistful, because this was what their relationship used to be like.

Huo Wuling appeared easygoing and friendly, but was actually completely cold blooded. However, that was only how he showed himself to outsiders. In private, he was happy to spend all day lazing around with Ji Ning, like a house cat who would shy away from others, but was loving to its owner. 

Experiencing this sweetness again made Ji Ning feel both unfamiliar and a little scared, but it was undeniable that he also felt a strange nostalgia.

Back then, he had actually been very afraid of Huo Wuling due to his ruthlessness. He was aware that he couldn’t change the established plot, and knew that one day he would have to gouge out half of Huo Wuling’s heart and leave him forever.

Therefore, he spent every day walking a thin line between guilt and worry and always kept up a slight barrier between himself and Huo Wuling. The better Huo Wuling treated him, the guiltier he felt, and the faster he wished to end the relationship between them.

After the planes merged, he was scared to see Huo Wuling again. Firstly because he was scared of Huo Wuling’s revenge and secondly due to his unconscious desire to escape their past. 

He should have apologised to Huo Wuling…

Feeling Huo Wuling’s hand wrapped around his fingers, Ji Ning wished he had and opened his mouth several times. But the words were extremely difficult to say out loud.

What if he thought he was just apologising to save his own skin? It wasn’t that simple, but he didn’t know how to explain it to Huo Wuling. Even if he had various reasons, for instance he was forced to do so, or that he knew that not only would the betrayal not kill Huo Wuling, it would make him stronger, the excuses all sounded hollow.

For a second, Ji Ning even wished Huo Wuling would continue chasing him, so that all he would have to think about was how to escape from him. 

But Huo Wuling never acted according to common sense and was instead trying to act like they were close again. What was worse was that he knew he was the only person Huo Wuling would do this for, which made him feel, feel…

“You should feel guilty, Ningning.”

The young man leaning across him played with his fingers and spoke abruptly, “I’m so kind to you, but you gouged out my heart to complete your mission. Looking back on the past, are you feeling terribly uncomfortable right now? Do you want to make it up to me?”

Ji Ning, “…” 

He couldn’t speak. Huo Wuling let out a low laugh, uncaring, and continued.

“When I first found you in this world, it was obvious that you were surprised to see me. But you seemed shocked that I appeared, not that I was alive.”

“When I greeted you, you asked me how I found you, but you didn’t ask how I survived. I didn’t think about it at first, but now that I look back, can I understand it this way-”

He turned Ji Ning’s face so that he could look him in the eyes, “Ningning, you actually knew I wasn’t going to die at that time, so you weren’t surprised to see me alive. You just didn’t expect me to find you in another world.” 

Ji Ning could barely remember what he and Huo Wuling said on the set of ‘Ghost Mansion’. He hadn’t expected Huo Wuling’s memories of the event to be so detailed.

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“Ktja’r fcbeut obg wf.”

Leb Qeilcu rwlifv revvfcis, ifjcfv bnfg, jcv ilutais xlrrfv tlr obgftfjv, “P’w gfjiis tjqqs atja sbe vbc’a kjca ab xlii wf Rlcuclcu, atja’r fcbeut.” 

Hearing him say that, Ji Ning felt a painful ache in his chest, as well as a release of tension he hadn’t known he was holding. The words that had been stuck in his throat, now forced themselves out, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry about what happened back then.”

No matter what, he owed Huo Wuling an apology.

“You don’t need to say sorry to me,” said Huo Wuling, still smiling, “I’ve said before that I don’t care about my body. Even if it’s destroyed, I only need to rebuild it. You can have as many of my hearts as you want.”

“…That’s not necessary.” 

“But don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean I won’t kill you.”

Huo Wuling continued, “Although I hope you can keep this body. If I can’t have you, I’ll destroy your body and steal your soul back.”

Ji Ning’s blood ran cold, but when Huo Wuling saw the frightened look on his face, his smile grew even happier. He lowered his head to kiss him again, but suddenly turned his head to look out the window.

“The rain stopped.” 

He said, with a hint of surprise in his voice.

Ji Ning took the opportunity to free himself from the blanket and escape to the other side of the sofa. Curling his hands around his knees, he also looked outside. As Huo Wuling had said, the rain outside the window had stopped, the dark clouds disappeared and a few faint stars had appeared in the night sky, emitting silver white starlight.

“How unusual.”

Huo Wuling stood looking out of the window for a while, then moved to reopen the store door. The dark shadows hovering outside the door had vanished, while the fresh, rain scented air blew in from outside. 

“Does it often rain here?” asked Ji Ning, “What the hell is this place?”

“You can think of this as my spiritual world.”

Huo Wuling chuckled, “I couldn’t bring you here previously, because before you left, this place was just a hazy shadow. It was only afterwards that it became like this.”

“It’s been raining all these years since it took shape and has only stopped once before now.” 

He turned and gave Ji Ning a heated look.

“When I found you again in that world, even though I still thought you had betrayed me, my soul was ecstatic to see you again.”

“…” Ji Ning bowed his head deeply, not daring to respond to him.

“There are often various illusions in here.” Huo Wuling said, “The shadows you see are all ghosts. They are the people I once killed, trapped in here. They remain here, wanting to invade and destroy my spirit, but don’t have the guts to do it.” 

“If that’s the case, then why don’t you just close the door?” Ji Ning took the opportunity to divert away from the earlier conversation, “Every time I’ve come here, the door’s been open. Aren’t you afraid they will take advantage of that?”

“Because I’m waiting for other visitors.”

Huo Wuling folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, looking out at the dark and desolate street.

“There’s someone I wish to see, but…I might end up waiting forever.” 

As soon as he finished speaking, a dark cloud floated across the night sky, obscuring the starlight. A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance and shortly after the drizzle began to fall again.

So what are you waiting for?

Ji Ning was just about to speak when he felt his body jolt violently. Without warning, the dream ended and he opened his eyes to see the underground base shaking vigorously. Even the water tank was trembling.

Boom. 

There was a terrifying noise from above, as if bombs were falling on them. The floor of the base shook as dirt and dust rained down from the ceiling.

This awakened both Ark and Fu Ji. Ark’s silver pupils looked directly upwards, a cold expression on his face. Fu Ji raised his hands to cover his ears. When he saw Ji Ning was watching them, he yelled over the sound of the blasts, “Don’t be afraid, block your ears, it’ll be over in a minute!”

Ji Ning nodded and furled up his ear fins. As a mermaid, his physiology was very convenient for soundproofing.

A few minutes passed before the bombing stopped. Ark lowered his head, the frost from his eyes finally easing a little. He walked over to the tank and mouthed at Ji Ning, ‘Good morning.’ 

Ji Ning unsealed his ears and smiled at him, “Good morning.”

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Fu Ji scratched his head and said irritably, “I don’t know what clan these guys are from, but they’ve been flying over the asteroids around here recently. There were a lot of casualties on the Andrea belt last month but no one knows what they’re trying to do.”

Ji Ning knew that Noah was still paranoid after Ark went rogue and disappeared and were systematically bombing the asteroid belts that Ark could have potentially taken refuge on, in order to ensure his death.

“That settles it, we have to leave. The further away, the better.” 

Fu Ji frowned as he said this. They had just drawn a lot of attention to themselves by slaughtering the entire auction house. Although they’d lost everything they’d taken, others weren’t aware of that. They needed to leave to avoid being chased or attacked for items they no longer had.

Fu Ji had always been an action oriented person, so immediately switched on his computer to scour the mercenary channel for suitable tasks that would take them to a different part of the galaxy.

After more than an hour of searching, his eyes suddenly lit up, selecting a particular task. After some communication with an agent, Fu Ji finalised the deal. He slapped the table and said, “Ark, in two days we’ll set off for the Republic of Anmoya.”

“The Republic of Anmoya?” Ark shook his head, “I can’t go.” 

Fu Ji was taken aback, “Why?”

“I want to take care of him.” Ark stroked the water tank, looking at the mermaid inside, “Anmoya Republic is too far away, I can’t leave him behind.”

“Ah…I forgot…”

The red haired man closed his mouth. He was so excited to take the job just now that he had even ignored the mermaid. “How about I entrust him to an old friend of mine to take care of him? I can guarantee they’re absolutely reliable and there’ll be no problems.” 

Ark still shook his head, “I’m sorry.”

“What about this…”

Fu Ji scratched his hair, thinking fast. He couldn’t leave the mermaid at the base. Even if the ghostly guy could take care of him, he was worried about leaving these two strange people at his precious base.

Nevermind that, he still had to prepare forged identities and flight tickets! 

The man really couldn’t think how to solve this dilemma and finally sighed and walked out of the base. He couldn’t help but glance back at the mermaid with some regret.

If only he could transform now, then the mermaid could just come with them…

He didn’t know if God actually heard his prayers, but the night before he was going to leave, Ji Ning returned to a human form.

At the time, Ji Ning had been safe inside the water tank. When he regained human form, he almost drowned, but Ark quickly flew into the tank and fished him out. 

The red haired man was the most excited about this development. Now he could finally make Ark go on the mission with him. He urgently applied overnight for an identity certificate and flight ticket for Ji Ning, and the next day they boarded a borrowed aircraft together.

Huo Wuling, of course, didn’t need those things, he could just hide in Ji Ning’s shadow. Inside the aircraft, he sat next to Ji Ning, carefully observing his new human appearance. After a while, he said, “I prefer the way you look now.”

He gave Ark a pointed look.

It was obvious that the winged boy was more attached to Ji Ning’s mermaid form, although he still liked him as a human. It was so annoying to see, why couldn’t he just kill the boy? 

The dark haired man leaned closer into Ji Ning, pressing himself against him. A while later, he said abruptly, “Ningning, your body has a nice scent.”

“Scent?” Ji Ning sniffed at his sleeves but couldn’t smell anything different, “No, it’s your delusion.”

“It has an aroma of fruit,” Ark lifted up Ji Ning’s hand and bowed his head slightly to smell the back of it, “It’s very sweet.”

“You only need your mouth to speak.” Huo Wuling removed Ark’s hand from Ji Ning’s wrist, his usual smile nowhere to be seen, “There’s no need to touch.” 

Ark gave him a cold look and held Ji Ning’s other hand. The atmosphere between the two was tense and Ji Ning’s expression slowly darkened. After changing from a mermaid back to a human, he’d thought the time distortion was over. But an aroma of fruit…that had to be…

“Here we are.”

Fu Ji was relieved to see the spaceship not too far away. He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned back to stop the two murderous humanoid weapons, “It’s time for us to board the ship, Mr Huo, please hide yourself.”

Huo Wuling glanced at him. His expression was mild, but he waited until a cold sweat broke out on Fu Ji’s forehead before he let Ji Ning stop him. 

“I’ve got a problem…”

Ji Ning’s face flushed slightly, heat building in his skin. Holding his forehead, he whispered to Huo Wuling, “I need to be alone for a bit, please hide in someone else’s shadow first.”

“It’s just your shadow, how could I affect you?” Huo Wuling replied, contrarily.

“I’m begging you.” 

Ji Ning lowered his voice even further and took the initiative to kiss Huo Wuling’s cheek.

“…”

Huo Wuling showed a rare look of shock as he touched the place where Ji Ning had kissed him. Finally, he let out a low laugh and kissed him back, “Okay, call me if you need anything.”

As he said that, his figure melted into the shadows of their luggage, shooting the snowy haired angel one last smirk. 

“Calm down, calm down.”

Fu Ji quickly grabbed Ark’s arm and pleaded with him, “Don’t destroy our luggage.”

“…” Ark pursed his lips and forced himself to look away. He turned to Ji Ning, a note of concern in his normally indifferent voice, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m fine.” 

Ji Ning waved his hand, declining Ark who had moved forward to support him. He followed behind them to board the spaceship, his breathing quickening. He could feel his face grow hotter and his body sway slightly, like a patient with a high fever.

He was too distracted to listen to the whispers of the two in front of him, until after he had passed the ship’s ticket check.

“My friend gave me a code in case we got questioned.”

Fu Ji caught the eye of the ticket inspector and nodded slightly. This was a signal he was used to, having often bribed inspectors when using false identities to travel. 

At the ticket gate, their inside man made a subtle gesture, informing them they might get questioned. It was unlikely, but they wouldn’t know how rigorous the interrogation was, which could expose their fake identities.

Yet, after a brief consideration, Fu Ji decided to board the ship anyway. On one hand, their original base might not be safe in the near future, and on the other hand, he had already been warned about the questioning. It was not for their destination, Anmoya, but a neighboring country, the Mo Ling Empire, so the procedure shouldn’t be too strict for them.

“I heard that Mo Ling’s Emperor, Ozer, is searching for someone.”

Fu Ji laughed, “Could it be that his little lover ran away with another man? They say the Emperor has always been single, but I don’t believe that he doesn’t even have a lover in private. Even if his legs are disabled, doesn’t mean he can’t…” 

Ark didn’t speak a word on the topic, but Fu Ji was used to it and didn’t mind leading the conversation.

“I’d guess his lover is probably a man, otherwise he’d have no reason to hide them. That Empire’s weirdly opposed to same sex couples.”

He rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, “The Mo Ling Empire might be powerful, but its education is pretty backwards.”

“But that Emperor, ha, I admire him. He actually ignored the opposition of the noble families and forced the abolition of the law that prohibited same sex relationships. The country was close to rioting, but he didn’t care and crushed anyone who opposed him. I heard he went on a rampage and struck the titles from a lot of long standing noble families, so amazing…” 

“Well, he must be very dedicated to have people searching so far out. His little lover must be a very beautiful man. Although I don’t know who could be more charming than you, little fish.”

Fu Ji spoke for a long time in his seat, but when he turned around for the other’s opinions, he found that neither Ark nor Ji Ning were next to him. He stood up and looked around.

“Where are they?”

With Ark’s support, Ji Ning stumbled into the ship’s lounge, collapsing onto a sofa. He panted, sweat dripping down his neck as he curled up into a ball, an uncomfortable expression on his face. 

“What happened to you?”

The angel kneeled beside him, at a loss. Ripples of anxiety flickered through his silver pupils.

“I, I’m really fine, just leave me alone for a while…Ark, please go out first. I want to rest by myself.”

Ji Ning struggled to maintain his sanity amidst the scorching waves of heat that pulsed through his body. 

Ark held his hands tightly, but didn’t know how to help Ji Ning. Finally, he said, “I’m sorry, please bear with me, I’ll ask them to find a doctor.”

It was useless for a doctor to come. This was an Omega’s heat, he needed an inhibitor, but where could he find one here…

Shit, it hurt so bad…

Ji Ning watched Ark leave and smiled wryly. Dizzily, he stood up, leaning against the wall and moved towards the door, wanting to lock it. 

Just as his fingertips touched the doorknob, the door was pulled open. Ji Ning assumed it was Ark returning and wanted to tell him he was really okay, but his legs crumpled and he fell into the arms of the person who entered.

“An Omega in heat?”

The person’s voice was low and magnetic as he caught Ji Ning effortlessly. An intoxicating mix of pine wood and Alpha scent overwhelmed Ji Ning.

The scent of those pheromones was so familiar… 

Ji Ning’s body stiffened and the person who held him seemed to also sense something, his arms tightening around Ji Ning’s body to support him.

“…Ji Ning?”

This was the chapter that really made me fall in love with Huo Wuling. Under all that snark and teasing, the only thing that matters to him is that Ji Ning doesn’t want him dead, it’s just so pitiful (╥﹏╥)

Everyone please look at the fanart Aeanbelle drew for mermaid Ji Ning, he’s so gorgeous and it makes me happy every time I look at him!!

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