Chapter 22: Arrival

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“Huh? What’s happening outside?”

Ding Yi stood up from her chair a bit awkwardly, her face showing an apologetic smile.

“I’ll go check. Please, stay seated.”

‘Mu Yu’ nodded eagerly, startled by the attention, his tone humble.

“Please, go ahead. Don’t mind me.”

Ding Yi nodded uneasily, hurrying toward the door, feeling goosebumps crawling up her back.

She was already regretting her impulsive decision to call Mu Yu over. That look in the elevator had seemed almost like a dream.

The man before her now, bowing and scraping, was the reality.

Step by step, Ding Yi moved toward the office door, thinking of a polite way to send Mu Yu away.

It wasn’t as if she’d never met obsequious people before—with her illustrious family background, she’d seen plenty since childhood.

But Mu Yu always gave her a strange feeling.

His forced smiles and formulaic words felt stiff and odd.

Almost as though… he’d learned it from a television drama?

The absurd thought flickered through her mind.

Indeed, no matter how much someone wishes to please, a normal person would at least try to conceal it, not provoke disgust.

But Mu Yu acted just like those sycophantic villains on TV, designed to make the audience dislike them.

Ding Yi’s expression remained calm, betraying none of her inner distress. She turned the doorknob as she always did, slowly and steadily.

“Xiao Xi, what’s going on out there? Why is it so—”

Her words trailed off as her eyes widened in shock, her pupils trembling.

“X-X-Xiao Xi?”

Her shapely figure froze in terror.

Before her stood a figure draped in bloody flesh, holding a dripping piece of skin and muscle, pressing it to their face, rising slowly with a tone of regret.

“What a pity. If you’d come out just a moment later, she wouldn’t have had to die.”

Indeed, no one would have had to die—only someone else would have taken her place.

“Why are you so slow? There’s no need for such thorough questioning. Just simulate it.”

A familiar voice sounded cold and disdainful behind Ding Yi.

She turned in terror to see Mu Yu standing there, clear displeasure on his face.

“Do you think I’m like you—a first-generation specimen? It takes me ages to get it right.”

The figure muttered, again trying to drape the bloody skin over its face.

Then it turned around, blood streaming down, yet wearing a familiar smile.

“Boss, wouldn’t you agree?”

Ding Yi could no longer contain herself and staggered out of the room.

“Tsk, no sense of humor at all.”

The secretary pouted, then quickly switched to a coquettish smile.

“Sir, haven’t you asked enough?”

Mu Yu’s face darkened.

“Not even close. Never mind. I’ll ask after we’ve caught her. What are those four idiots doing, making such a racket?”

“Well, with that monster holed up in the elevator, it’s not surprising things got loud.”

The secretary tried to link arms with Mu Yu, but he brushed her off coldly.

“Go clean your face, finish your meal. We still have to deal with the government people.”

“Yes, sir~”

Showing no hint of dissatisfaction, the secretary cheerfully scooped up the remains on the floor and headed back inside.

After all, it was her first day as a human—what could be more delightful?

Mu Yu’s face, however, grew even more troubled.

Time was still too tight. They had already replaced some people through Li Yan, but that phone call Mu Yu made in the stairwell had completely disrupted their plans.

Damn it. Hadn’t he always acted like a normal person? Why, after taking a day off, had he gotten involved with the government people?

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High heels clattered urgently on the marble floor.

Ding Yi, panic-stricken, pounded the elevator button, glancing back again and again.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

She watched as Mu Yu advanced down the corridor, never before so desperate for the elevator to arrive.

But the pixelated number on the display didn’t change, as if stuck.

“Don’t waste your effort. As long as you cooperate, I won’t kill you.”

Mu Yu gazed at Ding Yi, her face twisted in terror and tears, a hint of ridicule in his voice.

After all, for the sake of their human identities, their appreciation for beauty was much like any human’s. In Mu Yu’s eyes, Ding Yi was—

A rare delicacy.

If she cooperated, Mu Yu would savor her properly, not devour her like that other monster.

Good ingredients deserve to be prepared with care.

At this thought, Mu Yu’s earlier worries gave way to a kind of joy, his slender tongue licking his lips.

“No, please don’t…”

Ding Yi collapsed in despair, the display still frozen at the first floor.

Even the strange noises from inside the elevator had stopped; the entire floor was deathly silent.

Only the faint sounds of gnawing from the other rooms, and Mu Yu’s approaching steps, broke the stillness.

“Lift your head. I’ll ask, you answer. Understood?”

Mu Yu gripped Ding Yi’s delicate chin with one hand, savoring the tears spilling from her eyes and her struggle to suppress them.

A perverse satisfaction filled his heart.

This was the life their kind deserved—not hiding in the shadows forever.

Ding Yi stared blankly at Mu Yu’s wicked smile, curling into the corner as if it might offer some safety.

“Help…”

A barely audible whisper, laughable to Mu Yu’s ears.

He tightened his grip slightly.

“Who could save you? Your employees? The police still on their way?”

A sob of pain escaped Ding Yi, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Since childhood, she’d been raised as the heir to her family’s conglomerate. While other children listened to bedtime stories in their parents’ arms, she was taught to be independent.

Rely on no one. Never cry.

That was the lesson she’d learned from her cold, distant father the time she’d fallen as a child.

No one would comfort her; no one would pick her up.

Only by standing on her own could she earn a rare, stern smile from her father.

That was what she knew.

But the strength instilled in her since childhood was ruthlessly shattered now. She was once again the little girl who’d fallen to the ground, her skirt hem dirty, crying helplessly.

“Help…”

Bang!!!!!

A deafening crash drowned out Ding Yi’s voice. Mu Yu recoiled in shock, releasing her and stepping back.

The sharp protrusions on the elevator door caught Ding Yi’s eye, but Mu Yu’s casual tone quickly dashed her hope.

“Tsk, what’s gotten into that monster? Isn’t the monthly tribute enough?”

He wasn’t worried. That creature had been lurking in the elevator shaft long before they set their sights on this building. As long as it received fresh blood every month, it stayed put.

Dangerous, yes, but also a sort of insurance.

“Those four idiots didn’t pick a fight with it, did they?”

Mu Yu scratched his head, watching as the elevator door shuddered with continuous crashes.

The protrusions multiplied, as if a demolition crew was smashing through the wall.

The entire building seemed to tremble with the force, dust raining down onto Ding Yi’s face, leaving filthy streaks.

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“Never mind. I’ll let it have you as an apology.”

Mu Yu glanced at the figure cowering in the corner, deciding her fate with chilling nonchalance.

“You’ve only yourself to blame. If you hadn’t fought back, you wouldn’t have to die at the hands of a monster.”

He dragged Ding Yi by the arm to the elevator doors, ensuring that the creature’s first sight would be its meal.

“Not even going to struggle? This monster isn’t as gentle as I am, you know.”

Mu Yu watched her face with interest, but saw only eyes brimming with tears.

“Tsk, boring. So you’re just going to give up?”

“Maybe I should have a taste first. It’d be a shame to waste such fine food.”

He sighed, disappointed by the lack of resistance, then bent down, his crimson lips nearing her neck.

Ding Yi felt the cold metal of the elevator door vibrating behind her. She turned her head away and closed her eyes, tears streaming down.

Hot breath hovered close to her skin, making her bite her lip involuntarily.

But then, everything stopped abruptly.

With a screech of twisting, tearing steel, Mu Yu’s ravenous face was gripped tightly by a hand, unable to move an inch closer.

“Wh-what…”

Mu Yu’s voice rose in shrill terror.

Through Ding Yi’s blurred vision, she saw the elevator doors being wrenched apart, the force so great the metal glowed with heat.

“I heard some disgusting things.”

A familiar voice echoed from the elevator shaft. A man, bare-chested, emerged from within.

He looked like a demon escaped from hell, or perhaps a war god who had slaughtered all evildoers.

He radiated an invincible might.

“Don’t—don’t kill me!”

Mu Yu’s twisted plea came muffled through the grip, making the newcomer frown in disgust.

Then, abruptly, it was silent.

Silvery fluid seeped through the fingers and dripped down the arm.

Mu Yu tossed the body, now reverted to its true form, onto the floor, sending up clouds of dust.

“Are you alright?”

Ding Yi collapsed, gazing upward.

Through the settling dust, light poured down from above. Familiar eyes looked at her, a hand extended.

Like a god, casting light to those at the end of their rope.

Mu Yu looked at the woman sitting dazed on the ground, staring at him, thoroughly confused.

Fortunately, Ding Yi quickly regained her senses, her cheeks flushed as she timidly took his hand.

“Don’t cry. You’re safe now.”

Mu Yu awkwardly comforted her as she buried her face in his chest, at a loss for what to do—he’d never been in this situation before, never even held a girl’s hand.

Well, Mu Qing didn’t count. Did holding your cousin’s hand really count?

He tentatively stroked Ding Yi’s back, speaking gently.

But Ding Yi only cried harder, fat tears soaking his shirt, her shoulders shaking.

“Come on… there, there. Can you walk?”

Mu Yu hastily wiped her tears with his clean hand, but only succeeded in smudging her dust-streaked face further, making her look like a little tabby cat.

“No, I can’t.”

Oblivious, Ding Yi only blushed, limp in his arms, gazing up at Mu Yu with eyes like rippling lakes.

“My legs… they’re weak…”

“Alright, excuse me then.”

With a startled yelp from Ding Yi, Mu Yu scooped her up in his arms.

“I’ll get you somewhere safe first.”

Ding Yi buried her face in his chest and nodded almost imperceptibly, her dusty cheeks barely concealing her shy, delicate beauty.