Chapter 57 – The kitten’s call

Tang Qing’s legs felt like noodles, but he managed to support himself on the table and stood up.

With cat-like acute hearing, he could discern that these were not the familiar footsteps he knew.

Although the room was not large, there were few places to hide. Looking around, he had no choice but to hide in the wardrobe, buying himself some time.

“Little beauty, I’m here.”

The door was pushed open, then shut, and a person entered.

Li Ruiming stepped into the room, catching a faint scent that lingered in the air, causing his heart to flutter. He had long noticed that this beauty exuded a subtle fragrance, which became more pronounced in the enclosed room.

Surveying the room, he puzzled, “Where is the person? Are they not here?”

Tang Qing hid in the wardrobe, almost blending into the shadows, not daring to make a sound. He pressed his lips tightly together, hugging his knees, feeling a bit scared.

He could tell that the person outside was the new addition with metal abilities.

Although he didn’t know how this person had managed to sneak into his room or what their intentions were, he had a gut feeling that they were up to no good.

Li Ruiming searched everywhere but couldn’t find anyone.

“Weird, where is the person?”

Tang Qing heard him rummaging under the bed, behind the sofa, near the window sill – every possible hiding spot was checked, even the blankets and pillows were thrown to the floor.

The man was rough in his actions, muttering angrily, seeming to get frustrated for not finding anyone.

“Little beauty, don’t hide from big brother.”

The man continued to search, and Tang Qing heard footsteps linger near the wardrobe. His heart was pounding, his lower lip bearing teeth marks, holding his breath, not daring to make a sound.

Until the footsteps moved away, followed by the sound of opening and closing doors.

Had he left?

Tang Qing breathed a sigh of relief, burying his head in his knees. His head was still spinning, his temples throbbing incessantly, making it impossible for him to stand up.

At that moment, the wardrobe door suddenly swung open, and Li Ruiming appeared before Tang Qing with a wicked smile.

“Little beauty, did you really think you could hide? This wardrobe smells so nice, I could smell your scent as soon as I entered the room. Brother is just playing hide and seek with you.”

Li Ruiming reached out, roughly pulling off Tang Qing’s hood.

Beneath the hood was a small, flawless face belonging to a slender and delicate young man, with skin like jade, cascading long hair falling over his shoulders. This beautiful person even had a pair of cat ears, as white and fluffy as could be. Was this a way to please Lord Xuan?

The cat ears were so soft, detailed, and realistic, perched perfectly on the beautiful person’s head without any visible attachment marks. One could even see the dense light pink fur on them. Could it be that these ears were a mutation from the post-apocalyptic world?

Since the apocalypse, he, with his Level 3 metal abilities, had been renowned as a strong figure everywhere, having encountered numerous beauties. However, this was the first time he had seen such a stunning individual, a person so beautiful that it left him astonished and breathless.

His pupils dilated, breath becoming heavy, eyes filled with greed and desire.

He had only just noticed that hidden beneath the hood was also a pair of white and velvety cat ears. Was this a way to please Lord Xuan?

Tang Qing looked up at the man before him. Although not ugly, the man’s lecherous and greedy appearance made him feel nauseous. Tang Qing had never considered himself particularly virtuous, but if this man were to touch him, he felt like he would rather die.

Once again, Tang Qing felt his own vulnerability. He suddenly understood why Gu Mijing had looked so grave when he discovered that Tang Qing’s awakened ability was healing. Because he had no means of attack, even against a wood elemental user, a few vines could easily overpower him. Not to mention, he now faced a Level 3 metal user.

After leaving Gu Mijing, he realized that he was completely defenseless in the apocalypse.

He raised his hand to cover his face, biting his lower lip in despair. Fear rendered him unsure of how to react, instinctively calling out for the most powerful and trustworthy man in the apocalypse:

“Gu Mijing…”

Suddenly, his ring finger on his right hand began to heat up, and the ring on his finger started to burn. In the dim wardrobe, a faint green light shimmered from the ring, causing a tingling sensation in Tang Qing’s fingers, yet a strange warmth enveloped him.

Bang!

Li Ruiming’s hand was burnt before he could touch Tang Qing. He reflexively pulled back his hand, but before he could react, he was suddenly propelled several meters in the air as if kicked, crashing into the wall, his internal organs in torment, coughing up blood.

“Who?” Li Ruiming raised his distorted face.

Countless black particles and an uncountable number of bats twisted and entwined into a whirlwind, sweeping into the room from the window, landing in front of him.

A man in black appeared out of nowhere, emitting a chilling and ominous aura, casting a cold glance at Li Ruiming gasping for breath on the ground.

Tang Qing watched the tall and slender figure of the man, resembling a deity.

There was an indescribable sourness in his heart.

His Lord Xuan had truly appeared.

“Li Ruiming, dare you touch him?” The man’s voice was as cold as a blade.

“Lord Xuan! I, I, I didn’t, it’s not me, I didn’t…” Li Ruiming saw Lord Xuan appear out of thin air, scared out of his wits, he immediately knelt down, frantically kowtowing on the ground, heedless of the blood streaming from his head, desperately pleading, “It wasn’t me, it was that despicable person, he seduced me.”

Pointing at Tang Qing, he shouted, “It’s him! This despicable person told me that you wouldn’t be here tonight and gave me the key to his room, asking me to come find him here tonight!”

Gu Mijing couldn’t be bothered to listen to his explanation. With eyes swathed in dark mist, he waved his hand, sending a swarm of bats flying towards Li Ruiming.

Li Ruiming immediately activated his abilities, turning his body into steel, shielding his head with his hands. The bats collided against him, making banging sounds. The steel he mutated into had a hardness higher than a diamond, his strongest means of self-preservation as a Level 3 user, giving him the confidence to sneak around Lord Xuan.

While the bats couldn’t bite through his hardened body, they focused on his eyes, pecking at them.

Li Ruiming tightly covered his eyes, resisting the swarm of bats before him, as if a dark cloud had descended upon him.

He couldn’t believe that Lord Xuan would actually try to kill him over a useless beauty. As a Level 3 metal user, he was a highly sought-after figure in all bases. Even if he wasn’t as powerful as Lord Xuan, he could still do a lot for him. No one would casually kill a Level 3 ability user.

Glancing down at him from above, Gu Mijing looked at him as if he were an ant.

“A Level 3 ability user?”

It was only now that Li Ruiming realized he had targeted the wrong person.

A relentless intent to kill washed over him, the terrifying pressure causing him to tremble uncontrollably.

With a crisp sound.

As if an invisible hand had suddenly appeared, it casually snapped off his proudest steel arm, a completely overwhelming force.

Li Ruiming watched helplessly as his powerless arms fell, his face filled with disbelief. The next moment, everything went dark before him, and the bats swarmed in, their sharp teeth aiming for his unprotected eyes.

“Ahh!!”

Li Ruiming screamed in agony as his eyes bled profusely.

Gu Mijing bent down, carefully pulling Tang Qing out of the wardrobe and then left the room without looking back.

A cool hand rested on Tang Qing’s eyes, ensuring that the gruesome scene in the room didn’t tarnish the boy’s vision.

Unseen by Tang Qing, after they left the room, the man on the floor was completely engulfed by the swarm of bats. Rolling on the ground relentlessly, he couldn’t make a sound, his body torn apart, flesh and blood mixed, revealing stark white bones, resembling a bloodied figure.

Just as Gu Mijing finished dealing with Lu Yining, a faint, fragile call suddenly echoed in his mind.

It was his little cat calling out to him.

He had dripped three drops of his blood onto the ring he gave to Tang Qing, establishing a blood curse. As long as Tang Qing called out his name in distress, he would hear the summons of the blood curse.

“Tang Tang, are you feeling better?” He placed the person in his arms on the bed.

Tang Qing, still shaken, held onto the man’s sleeve tightly.

Sensing the young man’s complete reliance on him, the man didn’t protest even as his clothes were bunched up.

“I… I’m fine.” After a while, Tang Qing regained his composure, lowering his head, feeling despondent, “Lord, am I really useless? I can’t protect myself at all.”

“How could that be? Tang Tang is the rarest healing user. It was you who healed me while we were in the cave, allowing us to escape successfully,” the man reassured.

“Is that so? But that was because you fed me blood, that’s why…” Tang Qing started.

The man embraced the youth, gently rubbing his cat ears, and interrupted, “Tang Tang, you don’t need to worry about these things. As long as you’re by my side, nothing is better than that.”

Tang Qing’s fair face blushed instantly.

Gu Mijing had said quite cheesy words to console himself. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he buried his head in the man’s chest like an ostrich.

The man’s embrace was warm and reassuring, providing a sense of security. Tang Qing leaned on him for a while.

After a while, Tang Qing suddenly noticed the man clenching his teeth, trembling slightly, as if he was holding back something.

He remembered that today was the night of Gu Mijing’s “Divine Punishment”. Feeling awkward, Tang Qing pulled away from the man’s embrace and asked with concern, “Lord, are you feeling alright?”

The man closed his eyes tightly, clenched his fists, his expression twisted in a grimace.

During his confrontation with Li Ruiming, he had lost control. He shouldn’t have let his little cat witness such a bloody scene. On the night of Divine Punishment, his emotions were extremely unstable, and the connection between the blood curse would also drain his mental energy.

At that moment, the “Divine Punishment” took effect. He couldn’t control his desire to destroy everything, experiencing an unprecedented surge of destructive urge, his body feeling like it was being broken apart, blood boiling.

The man’s deep eyes stared directly at Tang Qing, a crimson hue filling his gaze, his bones creaking.

For a moment, Tang Qing even suspected that he might be eaten.

“Tang Tang, please leave for now,” he said.

With that, he suppressed the fervor and ruthlessness in his eyes, endured the intense aggression surging through him, and stood up with a violent air, intending to call Chen Ji to take Tang Qing away.

However, a soft, fair hand gently held him back.

“Lord, let me stay.”