Knock, knock.

A steady, rhythmic knock sounded from outside the door.

Su Mu frowned slightly. He set down the Level-2 Zombie Emperor crystal core he had been examining and said flatly, “Who is it?”

The knocking stopped abruptly.

The next second, there was a click—
The door, which had been locked from the inside, was twisted open directly.

Su Mu’s eyes widened a fraction as he looked at Luo Beiyao, who was pushing the door open and stepping inside. A flicker of realization flashed through his cool, peach-blossom eyes. At the same time, his hand moved, and the crystal core was swiftly put back into his spatial storage.

Luo Beiyao’s emotions were clearly unstable.

A thick, oppressive gloom clung to his brows and eyes, impossible to dispel. His long, narrow phoenix eyes looked more profound and more unfathomable than usual, and his finely shaped lips were pressed tightly together. His gaze fell on the young man sitting cross-legged on the bed, instantly becoming complicated and turbulent.

Anyone could see that something was wrong with Luo Beiyao.

And Su Mu knew very well that running from a beast was the stupidest possible choice—it would only hasten one’s death.

He forcibly suppressed the urge to retreat, but his guarded eyes remained locked on Luo Beiyao, not daring to move even for a moment.

After Luo Beiyao entered, the door shut automatically behind him.

Su Mu’s lips twitched faintly. His pale cheeks tensed with vigilance, and his pleasant voice was noticeably colder than usual.

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“Is there something you need?”

Luo Beiyao didn’t answer.

He strode forward and pulled Su Mu forcefully into his arms.

Su Mu’s expression darkened instantly.

Luo Beiyao didn’t move after that. He simply held him there.

Su Mu thought that if he endured it for a moment, it would pass—but before long, Luo Beiyao lowered his head and began rubbing against Su Mu’s neck, breathing warm, unfamiliar air against his skin.

Su Mu had never been this close to anyone before. It felt as if he had been burned.

One hand shoved at Luo Beiyao’s chest while the other instinctively protected his neck. He lifted his leg and kicked.

His knee slammed into Luo Beiyao’s lower abdomen.

Driven by pain, Luo Beiyao paused for a split second.

Su Mu seized the opening and broke free. One foot had just landed off the bed when an arm snapped around his waist and dragged him back.

The back of his head hit the soft mattress heavily.

It didn’t hurt—but it stunned him long enough for his reaction to lag.

Something soft suddenly pressed against his lips.

Su Mu’s eyes flew open.

Right in front of him were Luo Beiyao’s phoenix eyes, magnified several times over. The gloomy, obsessive emotions within them seemed to burst out all at once, stabbing straight into Su Mu’s pupils. His heart clenched painfully, beyond his control.

This was… the original owner’s emotion.

When he felt Luo Beiyao trying to pry open his teeth, Su Mu immediately turned his head aside. Warm breath brushed against his neck.

His lips pressed together slightly.

“Do you want me to hate you?”

Luo Beiyao froze.

Those words snapped him awake in an instant.

As if electrocuted, he withdrew the hand resting on Su Mu’s shoulder and pushed himself up, looking down at the young man whose expression had returned to indifference.

The images that had been endlessly circling in his mind surged up again, and he suddenly felt as if the distance between them was being pulled farther and farther apart by something invisible.

He felt lost.

He felt afraid.

He didn’t want to lose Su Mu.

He had once selfishly wanted to imprison him at his side, to hide him away—but he knew that was wrong. Love was not confinement. It was not possession.

He loved Su Mu, and because of that, he could never bear to force him.

Even now, he often felt guilt and remorse for the harm he had caused in the past.

Yet at some point, he had begun to feel more and more insecure—like a startled bird, overly sensitive and suspicious. The slightest thing involving Su Mu could leave him sleepless and restless all night.

He kept dreaming of Su Mu turning into a zombie.

And yet those dreams felt unnervingly real and painfully familiar.

Especially the scene he saw after being mentally stimulated earlier—it felt as if he had personally lived through it.

After the apocalypse, not only were awakened individuals’ five senses heightened—their sense of danger was terrifyingly sharp as well.

Luo Beiyao desperately wished that his instincts were wrong.