“That is a decent idea.”
After saying that, the Devil and the Magician disappeared into the shadows, leaving everyone in the banquet hall looking at each other.
A long time passed before they were sure that the two of them wouldn’t return. Only then did someone ask, “Wh… What is going on here?”
The first voice was like a signal. All at once, the hall filled with a chattering of discussion.
“It turned out that they really knew each other, ahahaha,” another trainee laughed awkwardly.
“I think they should be on good terms with each other? But speaking of which, didn’t he openly express his goodwill for the Magician at the start? Then, wasn’t there a rumour that went that the Magician accepted the Night Clan’s invitation and was close to Van Zhuo? Which made No. 1 displeased with the Magician? The rumour was really widespread back then, but now it has been proven false.”
“Indeed, they do seem to be on good terms… but I am more concerned about the Devil’s parting words. A decent idea? What is a decent idea?”
The hall was silent. Nobody answered that question.
A while passed before someone said, “Anyway, the Magician is now No. 9. Whatever between them has nothing to do with us, so don’t worry so much about it.”
Everyone hastily nodded their heads.
Whereas in the live broadcast, those with richer imaginations were setting off fireworks.
[My godddd, guys, after connecting what happened with that comment about the atmosphere between them, I feel like I understand what’s going on here.]
[You are not the only one, my friend, I also…]
[Which means that we have a consensus here? When he said “that’s a decent idea”, he meant relying on his authority to take advantage of the Magician? Damn, forget everything else, if we follow this line of thinking, that explains the strange atmosphere between them.]
[I see I’m not the only one whose thoughts have gone down the drain. Fuck.]
But there were also some uninvolved passers-by and followers who were not convinced.
[Please stop talking nonsense. This is clearly the care that a senior is showing to a junior. There’s no need to force a ship like that. What are you guys getting at? Did you hide under their bed and see them do it?]
[Precisely. Whether you are talking about the Magician or No. 1, it makes me want to retch. Everyone knows how rare it is for love to bloom in the infinite loop. Must you tell such a disgusting joke? If you want to ship them so much, go to the forums. Don’t pollute our eyes over here.]
[Speechless. You guys can even make such a big deal out of a joke. Wake up, this is the Thriller Trainee competition; no one is playing house here. Hurry up and get your brains treated, don’t keep speculating about all these nonsensical things all day long. How have you guys not died in an instance yet?]
[Agreed. From the looks of it, they’re friends with benefits at most. It’s pretty normal in the infinite loop. Do you have to get so excited?]
As people could die anytime and anywhere, any intimacy found in the infinite loop was superficial. There were some who became friends after facing the brink of death together, but extremely few actually progressed to become couples. It was almost never heard of. There were more cases of people getting into a friends-with-benefits arrangement to resolve their physical needs. Coupled with the oppressive environment that favoured the strong, everyone acquiesced that the strong could have more resources.
A fresh war broke out in the bullet chat.
On the flip side, the crowd in the banquet hall seldom declared their true thoughts in public. They silently stood still.
The concertmaster played the violin again, and the ensemble started playing another ballroom song.
The trainees gave a jolt before symbolically continuing to dance.
Of course, after all that had happened, everyone was now a bit distracted from dancing. Even the initial excitement of trying to find out their dance partner’s identity had died down somewhat.
The Masquerade Ball was only just past the one-hour point yet there already had been so many twists and turns. Even the mysterious identity of the instructor had been exposed. The trainees had it all worked out.
The relationship between the Devil and the Magician was not important.
What was important was that No. 1 paid close attention to and looked after No. 9. That was all they needed to know.
The Magician was strong to begin with, and now he had an even stronger backer. It really was infuriating.
The Parasite Breeder who had been kneeling and shivering on the ground got up. His limbs still felt soft, and his face flickered between rage and fear.
The barely perceptible, seemingly imaginary jeers coming from all directions made him want to find a crack in the ground to hide in. He hastily made a request to the system to take his leave.
Elsewhere, the beauty Tsuchimikado looked away. He was covering his behind as he returned to locking eyes with the penguin Zhuge An.
Both of their masks were still firmly on their faces, without the slightest sign of coming off, however due to the awkward turn of events just now, they both figured out who the other was.
Zhuge An stared at Tsuchimikado’s twin ponytails, ultra-short skirt, stockings, and white sailor uniform with blue accents. Tsuchimikado stared at Zhuge An’s penguin headgear. Both of them fell silent.
Just now in the dark, Zhuge An had received the system prompt and thus recognised Tsuchimikado. But despite all of his schemes, he didn’t expect that the other would… um… have such an extraordinary hobby of cross-dressing.
The same was true of Tsuchimikado. The beauty lenses he wore were unable to disguise his shock. He didn’t expect that unlike how cold and composed Zhuge An usually seemed, sabotaging others without batting an eye, he was actually so fond of… err… cute little animals in private.
After a long time, Tsuchimikado broke the silence. “The Magician…”
“He will be fine,” Zhuge An denied.
Zong Jiu did have a tribulation that would be tricky to escape from, but it wouldn’t be at this point.
So, the two of them once again returned to speechlessness.
“If I tell you the whereabouts of the Exorcist…” A long moment passed before the penguin quietly spoke up.
Tsuchimikado hastily replied, “I’ll immediately wipe my memory of this.”
Zhuge An nodded, satisfied.
Tsuchimikado put down the hand covering behind him and was about to shake on it, representing the completion of the deal. However, the other glanced at his hands with the eyes of someone with mysophobia and instead slowly opened his mouth.
“Lf’r yftlcv sbe.”
Kremtlwlxjvb: ???
Ktf aklc qbcs-ajlifv yfjeas aegcfv raloois ab rff atf wjc yftlcv tlw qja tlr jrr, ktlrailcu klat j rwlif. “”Lfs, biv oglfcv, lrc’a la mbiv ublcu jgbecv fzqbrfv?”
Iteuf Cc, sbe cjras yjrajgv, sbe vlv wf vlgas!
Ktf Tlc-Tjcu Zjrafg aegcfv jgbecv lcvlucjcais bcis ab rff atf qfcuelc remmfrroeiis qeiilcu j vlrjqqfjglcu jma lc atf rfj bo qfbqif.
Fuck, how could he have forgotten how infamous Zhuge An’s duplicity was!
Tsuchimikado was dying of regret. Then, he heard the system tell him that he had been deducted another 900 points. He feigned composure. “How did you talk him into it?”
“I had no choice. I really gave up a lot.” The Exorcist extended his hand. “Come on, old friend, honour the bet. The blue talisman?”
The Yin-Yang Master’s heart was dripping blood by this point, but the situation now was urgent. In order to plug the big mouth of the Exorcist, he hastily retrieved a blue ticket from his system backpack.
“Here you go, hurry up and forget this scene for me, understand!”
No sooner than the words were spoken did an exclamation erupted and his surroundings suddenly went quiet.
Tsuchimikado was perplexed. He unconsciously looked up and found that everyone around him was staring at the… blue talisman in his hand.
It was general knowledge that the blue talisman was a powerful tool of Yin-Yang Masters, but due to the difficulty of forging, only No. 10 was currently capable of this feat. It was able to match with special props such as No. 2 Van Zhuo’s Caligula and No. 3 Zhuge An’s Taiji Eight Trigrams.
That meant that everyone could recognise it on sight.
People weren’t paying much attention to them at first. After all, it was just two people talking to each other, who would be so idle to watch them like a hawk? But the penguin had drawn a large swath of gazes, and the posture of the sailor-uniformed beauty seemed a bit off, so some had divided a bit of their attention over.
And Tsuchimikado had, in a moment of haste fearing that the Exorcist would let something slip, forgotten this very fact. As such, he took out his blue talisman in public.
As luck would have it, a trainee happened to catch the exchange.
The person who saw it had made an exclamation in surprise, which drew everyone else’s attention. And thus, even more people saw it.
[I… I… I don’t know what to say. Other than that Tsuchimikado really has a talent for cross-dressing.]
[I… same. Can’t say a word. But I never knew that the Yin-Yang Master actually had such a hobby in private.]
[Sisters, I’ve been guessing who this girl in a sailor uniform was since the start, but I never thought it would be him.]
[Drop it. A social suicide like this is something that only the unlucky Yin-Yang Master is capable of. /light a candle.jpg]
Tsuchimikado: “…”
He stood numb in place, listening to the endless pings of the system deducting points. Resigning himself to his social suicide, he pressed the button to teleport out of the banquet hall.
They were not affording him any mercy; he couldn’t bear to show his face anymore.
At this moment, the unlucky Yin-Yang Master was suddenly ignited with burning passion for the Thriller Trainee competition.
If he could win the ultimate c-position, then he would definitely, with the Universal Wish Ticket, wish for…
Everyone to forget this scene at once (screams)!
Ah, annoyed! May the world perish!
—
No. 1’s room was dark.
It was exactly the same as the last time Zong Jiu came.
The thick, suffocating darkness filled the large room, and the only light source was the cold moonlight seeping in through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows by the bath.
The young man’s waist-length white hair flew as he was backed into a wall by a strong force. Both his hands were still bound by puppet strings, free for the picking.
The black-haired Devil cupped the attractive young man’s lower jaw, prying open his teeth with ice-cold lips and tongue while the Magician had yet to snap out of the daze of travelling through the shadows. He invaded the other’s mouth, wantonly plundering the domain within those lips, enjoying the moment that the other was being made to endure this.
Unfortunately, it was only for a second.
The next second, those lax pale pink eyes finally sharpened.
The sudden invasion of such a cold temperature made Zong Jiu knit his brows. He bent his legs and kicked out, wanting to end this inexplicable kiss.
The black-haired Devil, whose eyes had remained open in anticipation of this, moved his white-gloved hand minutely. Countless puppet strings emerged from the void and bound the Magician in place.
His other hand now rested on the waist that he had critiqued for being ‘too slim’ earlier, holding the Magician in his embrace.
The Magician was only permitted enough slack to sink into the arms of the Devil. Other than that, there was no way out.
Zong Jiu narrowed his eyes, coldly staring into the dark desire in the Devil’s eyes.
Without the slightest warning, he bit down hard.
A thick rusty taste spilled into his mouth and filled the cold kiss.
Zong Jiu didn’t hold back at all. His sharp incisors cut into the uninvited tongue.
Wisps of scarlet blood dripped from the corners of the man’s mouth and onto the surface of the Magician’s bare wrist.
It turned out that the Devil’s blood was just as cold as his body temperature.
That inappropriate thought flashed through Zong Jiu’s dazed mind.
After seeing the blood, not only did the Devil not stop, but he instead became even more aggravated by the smell. His dark golden eyes blazed with a roaring fire, like a ferocious beast released from the prison cage, breaking out of the madman’s world.
His hand slid from the white-haired young man’s jaw to his nape, rubbing the fragile carotid artery. He held the other firmly against the wall. He didn’t allow any escape attempts and dove straight in, deepening the kiss.
No. 1 had no kissing technique to speak of. His actions were unbelievably crude and all he knew was to go deeper and deeper. He swept every corner of the Magician’s mouth and gluttonously stole the other’s breath, drawing saliva.
Since there was no escape, Zong Jiu put this idea to rest.
He paused before retaliating with the same rusty kissing technique.
They were both adults; it was just a kiss. Who cares?
Their lips and tongues danced together amidst the blood.
It was said to be a kiss, but it was more like a bite between beasts. Wild, unbridled, and full of desire.
It was no different from any of their previous bets and games. Only, the battlefield had shifted from the horror instances of the Thriller Trainee competition to a much smaller space.
In this large room which was so dark that the corners were not visible, their lips were enmeshed together with the same desire to emerge victorious.
What was supposed to be a fight to the death turned sharply, perhaps by a foolish joke of fate, into unknown territory.
Several times the silver-red crown almost slipped from the top of the Magician’s head, but the puppet strings all around them helped him position it upright.
If they had the luxury, they would kiss like this until the end of time.
For neither one was willing to retreat or admit defeat.
A short distance away, the weeping statue of the Virgin Mary watched the scene with empty eyes.
There was an exquisite portrait in the darkness depicting the Last Supper, where Jesus and his disciples were revelling in drink.
After a long time, the kiss where neither side showed any weakness was slowly suspended.
A unique scent full of cold cedar notes was surrounded in the Devil’s embrace.
The evil dragon, having captured his treasure, sighed contentedly.
The Devil fondly withdrew, but not before erotically licking the Magician’s luscious, bloody lips.
After all, it was the aggressor who had the upper hand.
Zong Jiu inclined his head against the wall. His long hair was damp with sweat, and the Adam’s apple on his slender neck rolled rapidly a few times.
“…Let go of me.”
It was only when he spoke that he noticed how unreasonably hoarse his voice was.
Despite breathing heavily, he was still adamant on covering that up before his nemesis and appearing as though nothing had happened.
Looking like the cat that got the cream, the Devil gladly complied.
The man yanked off his own tie, not forgetting to pull the tie off the other man as he did.
The puppet strings that bound the white-haired young man’s hands instantly vanished without a trace.
The next second, the Magician, still breathless, suddenly hooked the black-haired Devil’s neck, forcing the other to lower his head again, initiating a kiss.
This action caused the latter to startle briefly and his pupils dilated marginally. Then, he held the Magician tighter, his chest shuddering as he let out a muffled laugh of pleasure, engaging in a new round of intense battle.
Also with no kissing technique to speak of, Zong Jiu was single-mindedly focused on making a comeback. He couldn’t just leave the situation as it was just now, where he had been disadvantaged before his nemesis.
This time, warmth pressed up against icy coolness.
Unlike the last bloody kiss, this one was obviously much crazier and much more passionate.
Two bodies incompatible with the world leaned together, extremely similar yet different souls lying behind the skins. They kissed with abandon, smiling as they kissed, sharing each other’s drastically different body heat.
In the mortal world, they took pleasure from the suffering of others, performing deceptive tricks in the light. One lacked excitement, while the other was unable to fill the void.
It was as though there was a missing piece in both of them, yet found it on each other’s body, finally becoming whole.
The madman didn’t know how to kiss, and neither did the magician.
They only knew how to tear desperately in an attempt to suppress the other’s movements, devour the other, and embed into their bones and blood.
The Devil and the Magician were creatures who didn’t understand love.
They were smart. They were conceited. They had the same madness buried in their bones. Yet they had never learnt to love someone.
For the first time, the Devil set aside thoughts of winning, laughing as he kissed the Magician.
He simply unfurled his own territory and let the other man strenuously explore the frigid hell.
The man lazily wrapped his arms around the other, the hand on the nape toying with the white hair and slowly roaming around the loosened clothing.
The Magician was still dressed in the exact same outfit as the Devil.
The Devil’s figure was naturally much broader than the slender Magician’s. Because of the sudden shrinkage and shortening of the body, the fitted suit was now loose and sloppy, riding on the body like a child stealing adult clothes.
The white shirt was unsecured after the tie came off. Also, thanks to their intense kiss, the collar had loosened significantly, revealing a large expanse of skin on the back that was so fair it almost glowed in the dark.
Dark gold eyes stared at the collarbone that rose and fell with each breath.
This gaze wasn’t the same as seasoned hunters locking onto their prey, but was more like a gourmet staring at a feast served on the table, mentally calculating the order of eating to best savour the taste.
The man was pensive.
He finally figured out why he had a thirst when facing the Magician before. It was a thirst that burned more brightly than his desire to kill.
…It was lust.
The icy white gloves snaked around the body and unbuttoned the dark grey vest while the white-haired young man struggled to adapt to the temperature.
It was modelled after the Devil’s clothes. No one was more familiar with its construction than the Devil.
With a gentle hook, the vest to tighten the waistline was unfastened before the Magician could react, resting on the extended arm. From the higher vantage, he could spot a smear of crimson.
A smouldering fire was stoked in his pupils.
The other hand probed into the loose shirt, gliding up the nodes of the young man’s spine before resting on the shoulder blade in an unspoken hint.
Zong Jiu, who was mulling over how to regain the upper hand with a frown, finally came back to his senses. A burst of clarity lit his pale pink eyes.
The Devil admired the redness tingeing the tail ends of the other’s eyes from the kiss. His fingers circled the taut waistline, seemingly about to reach further down.
They had finally parted from the second kiss. The previous cold bite in the air seemed suffused with an indefinable, ambiguous mood.
The heat rose silently.
Zong Jiu’s expression turned marginally odd.
Although their lips were separated, they were still pressed against each other.
White was shackled by black. The cold and warm breaths mingled as intimately as a pair of lovers.
In such close proximity, every change in the body was clearly felt.
A moment of silence passed before the white-haired young man arched a brow. “You’ve reacted?”
The man chuckled quietly.
After what amounted to tacit admission, his voice deepened invitingly, incidentally relinquishing his hold on the other man.
“Shall we do it?”
The Devil had always followed the whims of his heart.
In the past, he had ignored countless men and women and even clandestine homosexual relations.
But the malice entrenched in his body, the twisted nature in his flesh, and the abhorrence in his blood made him uninterested in any of such pursuits. He only found them inferior and lowly.
Now, however, he had developed lust for his nemesis.
The Devil gladly accepted this. His blood was seething with excitement, eager to give it a try.
He wanted to tear off the facade of indifference off the other man, dragging him together into a descent.
The Magician’s clothes hung off his body, exposing skin.
The white-haired young man didn’t answer. Instead, he discreetly reached into his system backpack.
When the Devil pressed even closer in, the Magician unhurriedly rested his hand on the other’s shoulder.
In his hand was a budding rose dripping with dew, blooming quietly.
[S-rank trainee Zong Jiu has used a B-rank prop on you: Asteroid B-612’s Rose.]
[You have been immobilised. Time limit: 3 minutes.]
The Magician nimbly broke free from the wall and kicked the paralysed Devil to the ground, incidentally digging his black leather shoes into the other’s body again.
It was clearly apparent that though immobile, the Devil had conversely become even more excited.
Colour that burned brightly enough to glow in the darkness rolled through those dark gold eyes; it was like the abyss was gazing back at him.
Zong Jiu leisurely took out a familiar room card from his pocket and walked towards the door without a pause.
He tilted his body over, with brows raised and a sneer on his face.
“My apologies, I’m not interested at the moment. Deal with it yourself.”
“That is a decent idea.”
After saying that, the Devil and the Magician disappeared into the shadows, leaving everyone in the banquet hall looking at each other.
A long time passed before they were sure that the two of them wouldn’t return. Only then did someone ask, “Wh… What is going on here?”
The first voice was like a signal. All at once, the hall filled with a chattering of discussion.
“It turned out that they really knew each other, ahahaha,” another trainee laughed awkwardly.
“I think they should be on good terms with each other? But speaking of which, didn’t he openly express his goodwill for the Magician at the start? Then, wasn’t there a rumour that went that the Magician accepted the Night Clan’s invitation and was close to Van Zhuo? Which made No. 1 displeased with the Magician? The rumour was really widespread back then, but now it has been proven false.”
“Indeed, they do seem to be on good terms… but I am more concerned about the Devil’s parting words. A decent idea? What is a decent idea?”
The hall was silent. Nobody answered that question.
A while passed before someone said, “Anyway, the Magician is now No. 9. Whatever between them has nothing to do with us, so don’t worry so much about it.”
Everyone hastily nodded their heads.
Whereas in the live broadcast, those with richer imaginations were setting off fireworks.
[My godddd, guys, after connecting what happened with that comment about the atmosphere between them, I feel like I understand what’s going on here.]
[You are not the only one, my friend, I also…]
[Which means that we have a consensus here? When he said “that’s a decent idea”, he meant relying on his authority to take advantage of the Magician? Damn, forget everything else, if we follow this line of thinking, that explains the strange atmosphere between them.]
[I see I’m not the only one whose thoughts have gone down the drain. Fuck.]
But there were also some uninvolved passers-by and followers who were not convinced.
[Please stop talking nonsense. This is clearly the care that a senior is showing to a junior. There’s no need to force a ship like that. What are you guys getting at? Did you hide under their bed and see them do it?]
[Precisely. Whether you are talking about the Magician or No. 1, it makes me want to retch. Everyone knows how rare it is for love to bloom in the infinite loop. Must you tell such a disgusting joke? If you want to ship them so much, go to the forums. Don’t pollute our eyes over here.]
[Speechless. You guys can even make such a big deal out of a joke. Wake up, this is the Thriller Trainee competition; no one is playing house here. Hurry up and get your brains treated, don’t keep speculating about all these nonsensical things all day long. How have you guys not died in an instance yet?]
[Agreed. From the looks of it, they’re friends with benefits at most. It’s pretty normal in the infinite loop. Do you have to get so excited?]
As people could die anytime and anywhere, any intimacy found in the infinite loop was superficial. There were some who became friends after facing the brink of death together, but extremely few actually progressed to become couples. It was almost never heard of. There were more cases of people getting into a friends-with-benefits arrangement to resolve their physical needs. Coupled with the oppressive environment that favoured the strong, everyone acquiesced that the strong could have more resources.
A fresh war broke out in the bullet chat.
On the flip side, the crowd in the banquet hall seldom declared their true thoughts in public. They silently stood still.
The concertmaster played the violin again, and the ensemble started playing another ballroom song.
The trainees gave a jolt before symbolically continuing to dance.
Of course, after all that had happened, everyone was now a bit distracted from dancing. Even the initial excitement of trying to find out their dance partner’s identity had died down somewhat.
The Masquerade Ball was only just past the one-hour point yet there already had been so many twists and turns. Even the mysterious identity of the instructor had been exposed. The trainees had it all worked out.
The relationship between the Devil and the Magician was not important.
What was important was that No. 1 paid close attention to and looked after No. 9. That was all they needed to know.
The Magician was strong to begin with, and now he had an even stronger backer. It really was infuriating.
The Parasite Breeder who had been kneeling and shivering on the ground got up. His limbs still felt soft, and his face flickered between rage and fear.
The barely perceptible, seemingly imaginary jeers coming from all directions made him want to find a crack in the ground to hide in. He hastily made a request to the system to take his leave.
Elsewhere, the beauty Tsuchimikado looked away. He was covering his behind as he returned to locking eyes with the penguin Zhuge An.
Both of their masks were still firmly on their faces, without the slightest sign of coming off, however due to the awkward turn of events just now, they both figured out who the other was.
Zhuge An stared at Tsuchimikado’s twin ponytails, ultra-short skirt, stockings, and white sailor uniform with blue accents. Tsuchimikado stared at Zhuge An’s penguin headgear. Both of them fell silent.
Just now in the dark, Zhuge An had received the system prompt and thus recognised Tsuchimikado. But despite all of his schemes, he didn’t expect that the other would… um… have such an extraordinary hobby of cross-dressing.
The same was true of Tsuchimikado. The beauty lenses he wore were unable to disguise his shock. He didn’t expect that unlike how cold and composed Zhuge An usually seemed, sabotaging others without batting an eye, he was actually so fond of… err… cute little animals in private.
After a long time, Tsuchimikado broke the silence. “The Magician…”
“He will be fine,” Zhuge An denied.
Zong Jiu did have a tribulation that would be tricky to escape from, but it wouldn’t be at this point.
So, the two of them once again returned to speechlessness.
“If I tell you the whereabouts of the Exorcist…” A long moment passed before the penguin quietly spoke up.
Tsuchimikado hastily replied, “I’ll immediately wipe my memory of this.”
Zhuge An nodded, satisfied.
Tsuchimikado put down the hand covering behind him and was about to shake on it, representing the completion of the deal. However, the other glanced at his hands with the eyes of someone with mysophobia and instead slowly opened his mouth.
“Lf’r yftlcv sbe.”
Kremtlwlxjvb: ???
Ktf aklc qbcs-ajlifv yfjeas aegcfv raloois ab rff atf wjc yftlcv tlw qja tlr jrr, ktlrailcu klat j rwlif. “”Lfs, biv oglfcv, lrc’a la mbiv ublcu jgbecv fzqbrfv?”
Iteuf Cc, sbe cjras yjrajgv, sbe vlv wf vlgas!
Ktf Tlc-Tjcu Zjrafg aegcfv jgbecv lcvlucjcais bcis ab rff atf qfcuelc remmfrroeiis qeiilcu j vlrjqqfjglcu jma lc atf rfj bo qfbqif.
Fuck, how could he have forgotten how infamous Zhuge An’s duplicity was!
Tsuchimikado was dying of regret. Then, he heard the system tell him that he had been deducted another 900 points. He feigned composure. “How did you talk him into it?”
“I had no choice. I really gave up a lot.” The Exorcist extended his hand. “Come on, old friend, honour the bet. The blue talisman?”
The Yin-Yang Master’s heart was dripping blood by this point, but the situation now was urgent. In order to plug the big mouth of the Exorcist, he hastily retrieved a blue ticket from his system backpack.
“Here you go, hurry up and forget this scene for me, understand!”
No sooner than the words were spoken did an exclamation erupted and his surroundings suddenly went quiet.
Tsuchimikado was perplexed. He unconsciously looked up and found that everyone around him was staring at the… blue talisman in his hand.
It was general knowledge that the blue talisman was a powerful tool of Yin-Yang Masters, but due to the difficulty of forging, only No. 10 was currently capable of this feat. It was able to match with special props such as No. 2 Van Zhuo’s Caligula and No. 3 Zhuge An’s Taiji Eight Trigrams.
That meant that everyone could recognise it on sight.
People weren’t paying much attention to them at first. After all, it was just two people talking to each other, who would be so idle to watch them like a hawk? But the penguin had drawn a large swath of gazes, and the posture of the sailor-uniformed beauty seemed a bit off, so some had divided a bit of their attention over.
And Tsuchimikado had, in a moment of haste fearing that the Exorcist would let something slip, forgotten this very fact. As such, he took out his blue talisman in public.
As luck would have it, a trainee happened to catch the exchange.
The person who saw it had made an exclamation in surprise, which drew everyone else’s attention. And thus, even more people saw it.
[I… I… I don’t know what to say. Other than that Tsuchimikado really has a talent for cross-dressing.]
[I… same. Can’t say a word. But I never knew that the Yin-Yang Master actually had such a hobby in private.]
[Sisters, I’ve been guessing who this girl in a sailor uniform was since the start, but I never thought it would be him.]
[Drop it. A social suicide like this is something that only the unlucky Yin-Yang Master is capable of. /light a candle.jpg]
Tsuchimikado: “…”
He stood numb in place, listening to the endless pings of the system deducting points. Resigning himself to his social suicide, he pressed the button to teleport out of the banquet hall.
They were not affording him any mercy; he couldn’t bear to show his face anymore.
At this moment, the unlucky Yin-Yang Master was suddenly ignited with burning passion for the Thriller Trainee competition.
If he could win the ultimate c-position, then he would definitely, with the Universal Wish Ticket, wish for…
Everyone to forget this scene at once (screams)!
Ah, annoyed! May the world perish!
—
No. 1’s room was dark.
It was exactly the same as the last time Zong Jiu came.
The thick, suffocating darkness filled the large room, and the only light source was the cold moonlight seeping in through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows by the bath.
The young man’s waist-length white hair flew as he was backed into a wall by a strong force. Both his hands were still bound by puppet strings, free for the picking.
The black-haired Devil cupped the attractive young man’s lower jaw, prying open his teeth with ice-cold lips and tongue while the Magician had yet to snap out of the daze of travelling through the shadows. He invaded the other’s mouth, wantonly plundering the domain within those lips, enjoying the moment that the other was being made to endure this.
Unfortunately, it was only for a second.
The next second, those lax pale pink eyes finally sharpened.
The sudden invasion of such a cold temperature made Zong Jiu knit his brows. He bent his legs and kicked out, wanting to end this inexplicable kiss.
The black-haired Devil, whose eyes had remained open in anticipation of this, moved his white-gloved hand minutely. Countless puppet strings emerged from the void and bound the Magician in place.
His other hand now rested on the waist that he had critiqued for being ‘too slim’ earlier, holding the Magician in his embrace.
The Magician was only permitted enough slack to sink into the arms of the Devil. Other than that, there was no way out.
Zong Jiu narrowed his eyes, coldly staring into the dark desire in the Devil’s eyes.
Without the slightest warning, he bit down hard.
A thick rusty taste spilled into his mouth and filled the cold kiss.
Zong Jiu didn’t hold back at all. His sharp incisors cut into the uninvited tongue.
Wisps of scarlet blood dripped from the corners of the man’s mouth and onto the surface of the Magician’s bare wrist.
It turned out that the Devil’s blood was just as cold as his body temperature.
That inappropriate thought flashed through Zong Jiu’s dazed mind.
After seeing the blood, not only did the Devil not stop, but he instead became even more aggravated by the smell. His dark golden eyes blazed with a roaring fire, like a ferocious beast released from the prison cage, breaking out of the madman’s world.
His hand slid from the white-haired young man’s jaw to his nape, rubbing the fragile carotid artery. He held the other firmly against the wall. He didn’t allow any escape attempts and dove straight in, deepening the kiss.
No. 1 had no kissing technique to speak of. His actions were unbelievably crude and all he knew was to go deeper and deeper. He swept every corner of the Magician’s mouth and gluttonously stole the other’s breath, drawing saliva.
Since there was no escape, Zong Jiu put this idea to rest.
He paused before retaliating with the same rusty kissing technique.
They were both adults; it was just a kiss. Who cares?
Their lips and tongues danced together amidst the blood.
It was said to be a kiss, but it was more like a bite between beasts. Wild, unbridled, and full of desire.
It was no different from any of their previous bets and games. Only, the battlefield had shifted from the horror instances of the Thriller Trainee competition to a much smaller space.
In this large room which was so dark that the corners were not visible, their lips were enmeshed together with the same desire to emerge victorious.
What was supposed to be a fight to the death turned sharply, perhaps by a foolish joke of fate, into unknown territory.
Several times the silver-red crown almost slipped from the top of the Magician’s head, but the puppet strings all around them helped him position it upright.
If they had the luxury, they would kiss like this until the end of time.
For neither one was willing to retreat or admit defeat.
A short distance away, the weeping statue of the Virgin Mary watched the scene with empty eyes.
There was an exquisite portrait in the darkness depicting the Last Supper, where Jesus and his disciples were revelling in drink.
After a long time, the kiss where neither side showed any weakness was slowly suspended.
A unique scent full of cold cedar notes was surrounded in the Devil’s embrace.
The evil dragon, having captured his treasure, sighed contentedly.
The Devil fondly withdrew, but not before erotically licking the Magician’s luscious, bloody lips.
After all, it was the aggressor who had the upper hand.
Zong Jiu inclined his head against the wall. His long hair was damp with sweat, and the Adam’s apple on his slender neck rolled rapidly a few times.
“…Let go of me.”
It was only when he spoke that he noticed how unreasonably hoarse his voice was.
Despite breathing heavily, he was still adamant on covering that up before his nemesis and appearing as though nothing had happened.
Looking like the cat that got the cream, the Devil gladly complied.
The man yanked off his own tie, not forgetting to pull the tie off the other man as he did.
The puppet strings that bound the white-haired young man’s hands instantly vanished without a trace.
The next second, the Magician, still breathless, suddenly hooked the black-haired Devil’s neck, forcing the other to lower his head again, initiating a kiss.
This action caused the latter to startle briefly and his pupils dilated marginally. Then, he held the Magician tighter, his chest shuddering as he let out a muffled laugh of pleasure, engaging in a new round of intense battle.
Also with no kissing technique to speak of, Zong Jiu was single-mindedly focused on making a comeback. He couldn’t just leave the situation as it was just now, where he had been disadvantaged before his nemesis.
This time, warmth pressed up against icy coolness.
Unlike the last bloody kiss, this one was obviously much crazier and much more passionate.
Two bodies incompatible with the world leaned together, extremely similar yet different souls lying behind the skins. They kissed with abandon, smiling as they kissed, sharing each other’s drastically different body heat.
In the mortal world, they took pleasure from the suffering of others, performing deceptive tricks in the light. One lacked excitement, while the other was unable to fill the void.
It was as though there was a missing piece in both of them, yet found it on each other’s body, finally becoming whole.
The madman didn’t know how to kiss, and neither did the magician.
They only knew how to tear desperately in an attempt to suppress the other’s movements, devour the other, and embed into their bones and blood.
The Devil and the Magician were creatures who didn’t understand love.
They were smart. They were conceited. They had the same madness buried in their bones. Yet they had never learnt to love someone.
For the first time, the Devil set aside thoughts of winning, laughing as he kissed the Magician.
He simply unfurled his own territory and let the other man strenuously explore the frigid hell.
The man lazily wrapped his arms around the other, the hand on the nape toying with the white hair and slowly roaming around the loosened clothing.
The Magician was still dressed in the exact same outfit as the Devil.
The Devil’s figure was naturally much broader than the slender Magician’s. Because of the sudden shrinkage and shortening of the body, the fitted suit was now loose and sloppy, riding on the body like a child stealing adult clothes.
The white shirt was unsecured after the tie came off. Also, thanks to their intense kiss, the collar had loosened significantly, revealing a large expanse of skin on the back that was so fair it almost glowed in the dark.
Dark gold eyes stared at the collarbone that rose and fell with each breath.
This gaze wasn’t the same as seasoned hunters locking onto their prey, but was more like a gourmet staring at a feast served on the table, mentally calculating the order of eating to best savour the taste.
The man was pensive.
He finally figured out why he had a thirst when facing the Magician before. It was a thirst that burned more brightly than his desire to kill.
…It was lust.
The icy white gloves snaked around the body and unbuttoned the dark grey vest while the white-haired young man struggled to adapt to the temperature.
It was modelled after the Devil’s clothes. No one was more familiar with its construction than the Devil.
With a gentle hook, the vest to tighten the waistline was unfastened before the Magician could react, resting on the extended arm. From the higher vantage, he could spot a smear of crimson.
A smouldering fire was stoked in his pupils.
The other hand probed into the loose shirt, gliding up the nodes of the young man’s spine before resting on the shoulder blade in an unspoken hint.
Zong Jiu, who was mulling over how to regain the upper hand with a frown, finally came back to his senses. A burst of clarity lit his pale pink eyes.
The Devil admired the redness tingeing the tail ends of the other’s eyes from the kiss. His fingers circled the taut waistline, seemingly about to reach further down.
They had finally parted from the second kiss. The previous cold bite in the air seemed suffused with an indefinable, ambiguous mood.
The heat rose silently.
Zong Jiu’s expression turned marginally odd.
Although their lips were separated, they were still pressed against each other.
White was shackled by black. The cold and warm breaths mingled as intimately as a pair of lovers.
In such close proximity, every change in the body was clearly felt.
A moment of silence passed before the white-haired young man arched a brow. “You’ve reacted?”
The man chuckled quietly.
After what amounted to tacit admission, his voice deepened invitingly, incidentally relinquishing his hold on the other man.
“Shall we do it?”
The Devil had always followed the whims of his heart.
In the past, he had ignored countless men and women and even clandestine homosexual relations.
But the malice entrenched in his body, the twisted nature in his flesh, and the abhorrence in his blood made him uninterested in any of such pursuits. He only found them inferior and lowly.
Now, however, he had developed lust for his nemesis.
The Devil gladly accepted this. His blood was seething with excitement, eager to give it a try.
He wanted to tear off the facade of indifference off the other man, dragging him together into a descent.
The Magician’s clothes hung off his body, exposing skin.
The white-haired young man didn’t answer. Instead, he discreetly reached into his system backpack.
When the Devil pressed even closer in, the Magician unhurriedly rested his hand on the other’s shoulder.
In his hand was a budding rose dripping with dew, blooming quietly.
[S-rank trainee Zong Jiu has used a B-rank prop on you: Asteroid B-612’s Rose.]
[You have been immobilised. Time limit: 3 minutes.]
The Magician nimbly broke free from the wall and kicked the paralysed Devil to the ground, incidentally digging his black leather shoes into the other’s body again.
It was clearly apparent that though immobile, the Devil had conversely become even more excited.
Colour that burned brightly enough to glow in the darkness rolled through those dark gold eyes; it was like the abyss was gazing back at him.
Zong Jiu leisurely took out a familiar room card from his pocket and walked towards the door without a pause.
He tilted his body over, with brows raised and a sneer on his face.
“My apologies, I’m not interested at the moment. Deal with it yourself.”
