Jiang Lian watched Zhou Jiao leave.
Standing in the filthy, damp stairwell, the guilt and pain on his face slowly faded, replaced by coldness, darkness, and gloom.
His guilt had been genuine. So had his apology.
But watching her walk away—that wasn't genuine.
Just the sight of her back triggered a burning, boiling panic deep within him.
He wanted to pull her back.
Tie her down with his gaze.
As long as she wasn't within his line of sight, he couldn't stop thinking about her. Couldn't stop panicking. Couldn't stop falling apart over her.
She could tug at his emotions effortlessly, teaching him humanity's most pathetic, frail feelings.
She was his only weakness.
Someone like that… should either be killed, or locked away.
But he didn't want to kill her. Didn't want to hide her, either.
Not for any profound reason—just because he didn't want her to suffer.
He already regretted how he'd treated her.
But even though he'd learned to regret, he had no idea how to make it up to her.
And she refused to teach him.
Jiang Lian's eyes burned with a chaotic, feverish madness.
He had never experienced emotions so tangled—
Obsession. Possessiveness. Greed. Restraint. Regret. Pain. Panic. Unease… even a sharp sting of hatred trembling along his nerves.
She had taken him, and now she didn't want him.
Refused to teach him how to please her.
He hated how easily she maneuvered him—
And yet, he wanted her to keep doing it forever.
He was so much stronger than her.
If she ever lost that ability to handle him, she'd be the one to get hurt in the end.
—Like a beast fearing the day it might maul its tamer, hoping the leash around its neck might tighten just a bit more.
That, too, was something that defied nature.
But Jiang Lian wasn't thinking about that anymore.
He was thinking about something else—
…Should he ask for help from the "human" Jiang Lian?
·
Zhou Jiao was, unsurprisingly, late. And fined five hundred bucks for it.
She was a bit frustrated. If she'd known better, she wouldn't have let Jiang Lian corrode all those gifts. Just one of those outfits was worth tens of thousands—enough to cover a year's worth of tardiness.
Maybe it was the intense confrontation with Jiang Lian earlier, but her already boring job now felt even more unbearable.
She yawned multiple times, wondering if she should just quit and find something new.
She slogged through the morning doing next to nothing.
The company she worked for was part of a global transport monopoly—one that handled 80% of the world's logistics. They had deep ties with biotech firms, too.
Transport companies like this rarely dealt just in cargo. Sometimes they moved people—either helping clients escape the city or making sure certain individuals never left it again. If the cargo was valuable enough, there were even shootouts over it.
But since Zhou Jiao started, she hadn't seen a single exciting incident.
She was starting to wonder if she'd picked the wrong career.
After lunch, she went to the breakroom with her cup. That's when she heard shouting coming from the office:
"What did you just say?! That shipment is gone? Do you have any idea what that cargo was worth? We couldn't cover the loss even if we sold you for parts!"
"Don't feed me that crap. You think I'm buying this? Surveillance blacked out. Comm systems failed. Your cyber-eye recording function just happened to glitch. So why the hell are you still alive? Save it. I don't want to hear another word."
Zhou Jiao eavesdropped while casually tearing open a packet of instant coffee.
She thought to herself with detached amusement, Is this company finally going under? Great. Saves me the trouble of submitting a resignation letter.
The instant coffee tasted like cigarette ashwater—supposedly the most expensive kind of synthetic coffee available.
She took two sips before dumping it. If not for needing the caffeine to stay awake, she wouldn't even bother.
As she rinsed her cup, she overheard more muffled, heated arguments from the office.
Losing cargo like that was a PR nightmare for any transport firm—especially for something that valuable. The company was basically as good as dead.
She wasn't curious what her boss was planning—until her comms buzzed suddenly.
Riiing—
The caller ID read: Richard, her supervisor.
Zhou Jiao's instincts instantly sharpened. Years in biotech and the Special Bureau had taught her how to read warning signs.
She set her cup down gently and answered, "Hello, Mr. Nelson. What can I do for you?"
Richard Nelson sounded calm, almost suspiciously normal:
"Go downstairs and grab me a coffee. I want Saint Ines beans—not synthetic. I've sent the money."
It obviously wasn't about coffee.
Zhou Jiao knew rejecting him now would only escalate things. He'd drag her out of the office and deal with her then and there.
If she was right—and her gut told her she was—this was it:
Her long-anticipated moment.
Her boss was going to send her out as the fall guy for the missing shipment.
She quietly slipped on her coat. Her fingers brushed her taser gun in her pocket—still there. That gave her a bit of comfort.
She didn't wait for the elevator. She took the stairs.
At the bottom, she ran into someone unexpected—Jiang Lian.
He stood by the glass doors of the office tower, tall and poised, dressed in a white coat with gold-rimmed glasses. One hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette, the ash nearly an inch long before he flicked it.
When he caught sight of her, he turned slightly, knocked off the ash, and smiled faintly.
"Zhou Jiao. Long time no see."
He didn't need to say it outright—Zhou Jiao already had a feeling.
This was the original Jiang Lian.
Her brow arched slightly.
He's still alive.
Or more accurately—
"He" actually let him come out.
"Wanna talk?" he asked.
Zhou Jiao walked up to him. "You're picking a hell of a time. I'm currently being hunted."
"No worries," Jiang Lian replied. "He's here too. We'll protect you."
Zhou Jiao had barely interacted with the original Jiang Lian and didn't quite trust his ability to protect her. Her fingers stayed on the taser's safety the entire time.
While scanning the surroundings, she asked, "So what the hell is going on?"
There was a noticeable difference between the two Jiang Lians.
He always stared at her—eyes wild, obsessive, and naked in their madness.
The original Jiang Lian, on the other hand, concealed his obsession behind a deep, unreadable gaze.
"You gave him a problem he can't solve," Jiang Lian said. "He doesn't know how to make it up to you."
Zhou Jiao found that odd. "So now he turns to you for help?"
Jiang Lian took a drag from his cigarette, exhaling lightly. "He has no choice. You won't teach him."
Zhou Jiao frowned, even more confused now.
She refocused on him, narrowing her eyes. "And how exactly are you teaching him?"
Jiang Lian paused. "Before I answer that, I have a question of my own."
She recalled his question from earlier that morning—"Why don't you respect me?"
That made her want to laugh again. But then she sobered, saying seriously, "Go ahead."
Jiang Lian stepped forward, cigarette in hand. His gaze behind the glasses locked onto her face without blinking.
"Do you know why he's obsessed with your scent?"
Zhou Jiao's brow twitched. "Yeah. Because of you."
Jiang Lian's eyes darkened.
"Then do you know," he said, gripping her chin and taking a drag, exhaling smoke into her face,
"That he and I have already fused?"
His sharp features blurred in the smoke, and for a moment, a flicker of dark jealousy crossed his expression.
Zhou Jiao caught it. Her unease deepened. "You and him already fused? That's news to me."
Jiang Lian let out something like a cold laugh.
"One body. Two anomalies. Layers of pathological emotion."
"Lu Zehou's evaluation of us. Already forgotten?"
His grip on her chin tightened, tone sharpening:
"Or do you just like being loved by two monsters?"
His face stayed outwardly calm, but a disturbing twitch twisted his expression—
Like purplish-red tendrils writhing just beneath the surface.
"..."
Zhou Jiao more or less understood now.
She held back a laugh. "And if I said yes?"
Jiang Lian smiled again—chillingly.
He took another drag. This time, he used his thumb to gently brush his lip—
That small, familiar gesture confirmed it for Zhou Jiao.
This wasn't the original Jiang Lian at all.
It wasn't the original Jiang Lian standing in front of her—
It was the monster Jiang Lian. The one she knew all too well.
At first, his disguise had fooled her.
But his flaws were too many. Too obvious.
First of all, the real Jiang Lian would never say things like "You gave him a problem he can't solve," or "You won't teach him." Those words dripped with that monster's cadence.
Second, the original Jiang Lian was someone with very high emotional intelligence. Even though he disdained social conventions, he would still politely ask a woman's permission before lighting a cigarette—he would never blow smoke directly in someone's face.
And finally, only the monster ever used his thumb to brush across his lips like that—
He did it every time he felt hungry.
Zhou Jiao's expression flickered.
Had she really become that familiar with the monster without realizing it?
Her momentary distraction didn't escape him.
Jiang Lian tilted her chin up with a flick of his fingers, voice cold and commanding:
"Look at me, Zhou Jiao."
Zhou Jiao blinked, lashes fluttering, and met his eyes.
"Today, you have to make a choice between me and him," he said icily.
"Tell me—who do you choose? I want to know. Who will you choose?"
Jiang Lian was unraveling.
Granted, ever since falling for Zhou Jiao, he hadn't had a single moment of sanity—
But now, he was drowning in something worse than madness:
Jealousy.
Yes. Jealousy.
He had finally learned how to feel jealous.
And it hurt even more than guilt.
Only now did he understand why he'd always felt so unreasonably agitated—
It was jealousy all along.
When she talked to others—he was jealous.
When his tendrils longed to look at her—he was jealous.
When she shook someone's hand—he was jealous.
And when a stranger drank her blood—
He was nearly incinerated by the flames of envy.
That was the first time he'd nearly lost the ability to maintain a human form.
If he hadn't finally accepted the consciousness of Jiang Lian,
He might never have realized what that emotion even was.
Truthfully, he and Jiang Lian had long since fused.
But until recently, he had always looked down on the rules of human society—
He'd never truly embraced Jiang Lian's awareness.
If Zhou Jiao hadn't given him that "problem,"
He might never have accepted any of it.
But even after he did accept it,
The "problem" didn't solve itself—it only deepened.
It became an unsolvable riddle.
He might never be able to have Zhou Jiao entirely to himself.
If they were together,
He would have to endure other lowly humans looking at her.
Endure his own tendrils aching for her.
Even endure her calling him by that human name.
The truth was—
Jiang Lian no longer existed.
He had inherited Jiang Lian's obsession, madness, and genes.
In a way, he was Jiang Lian.
They were one and the same.
But he still felt jealous.
He now understood—
In love, jealousy was even more unbearable than restraint, panic, or fear.
Jiang Lian was struck by a terrifying realization—
He wasn't becoming a pitiful, lowly human.
He already was one.
She had made him human.
Only humans understood what drowning felt like.
Jiang Lian stared at Zhou Jiao, his gaze frigid and violent.
His biological instincts screamed at him to tear her apart—
She had tamed him, lured him in, poisoned his mind with pathetic emotions.
She had made him weak, pitiful, and full of vulnerabilities.
She was changing him.
He should kill her.
And yet, even with that murderous rage surging in his blood—
Even with the veins in his eyes bulging hot with fury—
When he stood before her,
All he could do was ask:
"Who will you choose?"
"The original Jiang Lian… or me?"
A wave of helplessness and despair washed over him.
He had learned so many human emotions just for her.
Because of her, he had become a true monster.
And what if, in the end, she still didn't want him?
What would he do then?
He couldn't make her suffer anymore.
So he couldn't hurt her.
Couldn't take her by force.
Couldn't keep her locked away.
If she wanted to leave him—
He could only watch her walk away.
Jiang Lian's throat tightened. His breath came shallow and heavy.
For just a split second—
He almost begged her not to go.
But then came the harshest truth:
If it were only liking her, it would never have gone this far.
…He had fallen in love with her.
And in that very instant,
A terrifying, bone-chilling soundwave exploded through the building.
What happened next defied human language—
The chandelier on the ceiling burst into crackling sparks.
The glass walls on the ground floor shattered violently—
Sharp shards fell like a torrential downpour.
The building plunged into chaos. The entire structure groaned with fear and pressure.
At that exact moment upstairs, her boss—Richard Nelson—was leisurely sipping his coffee.
But before he could swallow, a piercing jolt stabbed through his brain.
He doubled over, gagging and retching uncontrollably.
Everyone in the building was overwhelmed by the emotional backlash of Jiang Lian's inner storm—
And yet, not a single soul could hear his thoughts.
No one knew just how bitter, how broken, how tormented he truly was.
Because the sound was a low-frequency wave.
One that no human could hear.
And then—
Her lips touched his.
Zhou Jiao reached up, curled her fingers around the back of his neck, and kissed him.
As she kissed him lightly, she chuckled softly against his mouth.
"Why would you think I wouldn't recognize you?"
She leaned in, whispering near his ear:
"What are you losing your mind over this time, my little monster? Have you figured out how to make it up to me?"
She had known all along.
She had recognized him.
Jiang Lian's expression didn't change.
Still cold. Still violent. Just as feral as he'd been a minute ago.
But deep inside—
A tidal wave of ecstasy shattered through his heart.
For a fleeting instant, he could almost hear that voice again—
The one from before, the human side of him whispering:
"You're finished."
So what?
Jiang Lian lowered his eyes and stared at Zhou Jiao—intently, obsessively.
He held back. And held back. Until finally, he couldn't anymore—
He entangled her tongue with his, pulling her deep into the kiss.
Their breath grew sticky, their throats moved in sync.
Because right now,
The one kissing her was him.
Not the human he devoured.