HOYSE CHAPTER 18

Chapter 18 — Still In One Piece?

Rong Jing’s reactions have always been a beat slower than most. He remembered his mother joking that even in the womb he lagged behind, lazing past the due date without the slightest sign of wanting to come out. She had actually wondered if he would suffocate in there. The moment she steeled herself for a C-section, the child finally decided not to make his mother suffer and kicked off labor the instant they reached the hospital.

He looked down at his palm and replayed everything that had just happened by the pool. Only now did it really hit him what he had done. When he saw that bleached-blond punk forcing a waiter under with a mouthful of filth to go with it, his first instinct was to figure out how to shock the crowd into backing off and drag the waiter out of danger.

So his mind jumped to a gangster film he had once starred in, where after layers of scheming the man he played took the throne and became the new “Godfather.” However he had performed then, he simply reproduced it now. When Xie Ling muttered earlier that his brother seemed a little split-personality, well, he was not wrong. On set and off set are two different modes. Only now did Rong Jing fully peel himself out of that role and switch back to Rong Jing 1.0.

How did that performance land just now? Did it fool them? There was no camera here, no playback to check, but at least he had hauled the victim out. Life is theater; rely on your acting.

He drifted to the buffet, accepted a glass of red wine from a waiter, and from a distance watched Xie Ling glide through the room with perfect ease. He let his mind wander, trying to pull up the key beats of the original book. Fine, start with the details.

It was an ABO dog-blood romance called Deadly Temptation. At first, he had not even known what “ABO” meant. Fans kept calling him a “peerless Alpha,” and with his 2G-era curiosity he had asked his second sister. She had just taken a supporting role in a BL adaptation and tossed him a novel she was chasing like crazy. “

In Chinese slang, “very yellow” refers to content
that is sexually explicit or pornographic. Yes, it’s very yellow,

,” she said. “The bottom suffers like sh**, body and mind, there’s imprisonment and cuffs, but it is so damn cathartic! Tragic romance does not need logic. I want to see the poor baby get tied up and put down, try to resist and get ruthlessly crushed. That is the thrill.”

The protagonist, Gu Xi, was the adored Omega of the masses. Dirt-poor family, but self-reliant and unyielding, handsome with a golden cheat code, heart set only on his career. His pheromones made moguls bow and lose their minds. The more they loved, the crazier they became. Forced love after forced love: stealing resources, arson threats, staged car “accidents,” forced marking… love and hate all the way.

What were the tags again? Deeply angsty romance, love on the brink, shattered mirror made whole. Something felt off. If it is so “angsty,” how do you still end up with a happy ending, with the bottom forgiving the people who literally imprisoned him?

Could not. Should not. That was one reason he had never finished it. If the lead could swallow all that, all he could do was rage as a reader and close the tab. If he had known he would one day drop inside, he would have memorized it cover to cover.

Gu Xi had a red lotus at his sternum. Whenever he went into heat, the shut blossom would slowly open. As absurd as it sounded, in this ABO world it somehow did not feel out of place. Fans called the phenomenon “Red-Lotus Fireworks: daily car crashes.” Meaning once Gu Xi’s pheromones spread, any A wanted to “

In Chinese slang, “drive” or “driving” is a
euphemism for engaging in sexual activity,
often used in fan communities to refer
to explicit or suggestive scenes. drive.

” See that lotus, and everyone wanted a hit. Hence the title Deadly Temptation.

Why would a man have a lotus on his chest? Was he Ultraman now? A straight guy cannot compute. Not the point. He was not interested in Gu Xi, and in this lifetime he would never be seeing any “red-lotus fireworks.”

There were five main seme leads, all either powerful or radiant, with wildly different personalities. Whatever they used to be like, the moment they brushed Gu Xi, it was as if their meridians opened and they went feral, cue forced love and rope play galore. So, where exactly had the plot progressed to?

Across the room, Xie Ling noticed his brother staring into space like a left-behind kid. Unable to bear it, he gestured a server over. A moment later a glass of milk arrived with a message that President Xie wanted him to come over. The milk in his hand stood out painfully against the champagne crowd, drawing a hundred stares.

Rong Jing did not notice Ji Leping shadowing him from a distance. Ji wanted to say hello, but the classmates in his locked stream were spamming for updates, so he braced himself and came closer. “Hey, are you…” Before he could finish, Rong Jing had already risen and gone.

Answering Xie Ling’s summons, Rong Jing headed over. Xie Ling was introducing him to several executives. As soon as they saw an unfamiliar face, they tried to place him. Someone at each elbow quietly supplied the basics: the tagalong the Madam had brought into the Xie family. With that, their interest dropped. They pivoted effortlessly into flattery. Such bearing, such looks, surely a top talent from the film academy. They believed great work would soon follow, and when it did…

Fake was fake, but it was at least pleasant nonsense. Xie Ling thought it all sounded right and, for once, nodded with a hint of a smile. The harmony lasted exactly until Wu Fuyu, who had been itching to jump back in, joined them.

Wearing what he thought was a killer smile, glass raised, he said to Rong Jing, “Not friends yet, but we can drink to meeting.”

The moment Rong Jing saw Wu Fuyu, the fog from that transmigration moment thinned even more. A hum rose in his ear, like the Creator had flicked open the lock and the story wheel had begun to turn.

He remembered the opening of the novel. The bottom’s heats were unstable. During a paid appearance at a station, a heat had hit out of nowhere. Wu Fuyu happened to catch it, smashed into the Omega restroom like a battering ram, and tried to haul Gu Xi off for a forced take. Who knew the weakened Gu Xi would not play. He whipped out pepper spray and blasted Wu in the face, then pulled a pocketknife and stabbed wildly a few times at that key area a few inches below the waist. The process had a crude nickname: physical castration.

Wu had gone rabid and chased him down. In the chaos Gu Xi dove into a car at the curb, which was when the second top appeared.

Rong Jing glanced at Wu Fuyu. the instant Wu’s eyes took on that provocative edge, he let his own gaze slide down and stop, deliberately, at a very specific three inches.

Little brother, how are you doing? Still in one piece?

A chill raced up Wu Fuyu’s spine. What was with that look. Something was off. Could this guy be… into men?

Zhou Xiang, who had been on standby by Xie Ling’s side the whole time, saw exactly where the young master’s eyes had landed and shivered. Young master, your secret may not stay secret for long…

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