Chi Xu walked to his room with a trail of water droplets all the way. He opened the door—did he not lock it? Chi Xu squatted down to check the gap under the door, and the small piece of paper that had been clamped there was long gone. Did the cleaning staff see it, or was it someone else?
Was it an accident or was it intentional?
He frowned and thought for a while. After much consideration, the face of a detestable person gradually emerged. Reason told him it was impossible. How could that scoundrel know which room he was in? Emotionally, he couldn’t control himself and started muttering curses. Anyway, it was all Zong Yuan’s fault!
If it wasn’t for the note Zong Yuan wrote last night, why would he not come back for a whole night? Now, why face such a dilemma?
As he spoke, he even believed it himself. Whatever! Why should that guy who touched his butt comfortably return to his room to sleep soundly while he himself had to squat at the door in the cold wind?
Find him! Pick a fight!
—
Zong Yuan was taking a hot shower, and as soon as his hair felt the warmth of the water, there was banging on the door. “You scoundrel, come open the door!”
The voice became distorted after passing through the sound of water. Who’s this big idiot? As a person targeted for assassination, he was really worried about him. “The little assassin is here.”
0046 clicked his tongue. “He really came. Did his IQ decrease a lot after soaking in seawater? Now he’s really cute.”
Zong Yuan walked out wrapped in a towel, opened the door for him, and casually threw the gun belonging to Chi Xu on the chair under the bed. “Wait a moment.”
Chi Xu became more arrogant. “Did you do this?” If not, why would he come over so graciously to open the door for him?
The door opened from the inside, Zong Yuan, covered in water droplets, with only a small towel covering the essential parts, the damp heat making the surrounding air warm. He propped himself against the door frame and shamelessly asked, “What did I do?”
Chi Xu, caught off guard, looked at the muscles with full eyes. “…Damn.”
Zong Yuan, with his damp hand, pulled him in. “Darling, don’t use foul language.”
Chi Xu’s whole body stiffened. He was originally filled with impulsiveness, and now this impulse had turned into stuttering. “You, you, you… What are you doing, washing like this? Or do you want to seduce me? Get me to let you off?”
“Oh,” Zong Yuan suddenly realized. He pretended to want to untie the towel. “So this appearance can seduce you. Come on, baby, do you want to take a bath too?”
Chi Xu abruptly stood up and walked towards the door, pretending to be generous as he waved his hand. “You saved my life, so I’ll spare you. We’re even this time. Next time, I’ll definitely take care of you.”
Zong Yuan didn’t stop him, casually returning to the bathroom and saying, “Why did you let me off?”
He assuredly asked just one question, no mockery in his words. However, whether it was 0046 or Mr. Assassin, it felt like the ultimate irony.
Chi Xu automatically interpreted the words in his heart: You let me off? Kid, you can’t beat me, and you can’t kill me. Where do you think you’re letting me off? How shameless.
Chi Xu, in extreme anger, laughed in return. “I may not beat you in a fight, but as an assassin, I have thousands of ways to make you die silently. It’s your problem if you look down on me. But you should know that I haven’t used many methods that you haven’t seen and can’t defend against. I chose the dumbest one.”
He stood by the door, saying this through the bathroom. Zong Yuan couldn’t see his expression, only a straight and upright figure through the fog and frosted glass door. Zong Yuan inexplicably felt like he was looking at a pitiful little cat, maintaining a proud expression despite its grievances.
Zong Yuan softened his tone. “I didn’t mean that.”
Chi Xu maintained his posture. “Maybe you really look down on me, but the mission isn’t over yet. How do you know I can’t kill you?”
Even Chi Xu himself didn’t know that his voice contained a bit of injured grievance.
Zong Yuan opened the glass door, staring at Chi Xu naked. Half serious, half-joking, he said, “You really can’t kill me. Are you willing to kill me?”
This sentence sounded like a lingering and melancholic love phrase. Probably due to the mist and hot water, Chi Xu only felt that Zong Yuan’s gaze contained a visible deep affection. Chi Xu thought his eyes were blurry enough. “Why wouldn’t I be willing to kill you—unless you’re more likable than money?”
Zong Yuan replied, “I can give you double the money.”
“Heh,” Chi Xu arrogantly raised his left foot. “We both have rules, double the money means nothing!”
“In that case,” Zong Yuan picked up the towel again to wipe his body, and slowly said, “a boyfriend who can give you a lot of money and is also very handsome—does that interest you?”
Thump thump.
Rich, handsome, boyfriend. Do you want it or not?
Chi Xu’s head was like a surveillance camera, looking around in all directions. He forcefully pushed his heart, which had jumped to his throat, back to its place. Crossing his arms, he suppressed the tangled thoughts into a twisted mess. Lowering his IQ by 30 points, he coolly and arrogantly replied, “Whether you interest me or not, what’s it to you?”
Zong Yuan chuckled; this guy was being timid, pretending not to understand.
Seeing his unease and not wanting to scare away the little assassin, Zong Yuan reluctantly put on a bathrobe. He nonchalantly tied the belt and walked over to Chi Xu. “I’m very wealthy, and all my money will go to my boyfriend.”
Chi Xu’s heart nervously pounded. He gripped the door handle. “It’s none of my business!”
Once a man starts to back down, it’s hard to make him stand firm again.
Zong Yuan grabbed Chi Xu’s hands, placing them above his head. He inserted his thigh between Chi Xu’s legs, trapping him in his embrace. Chi Xu struggled to resist, but this posture made it difficult for him to put up a fight.
Zong Yuan was a very charming man.
He caught the scent of shower gel and shampoo emanating from Zong Yuan as the hot steam dispersed. He wasn’t sure if the liquid dripping from Zong Yuan’s face onto his own was sweat or water. The skin touched by Zong Yuan felt like it was being touched by fire, and even the untouched skin seemed to warm up and tingle.
What’s more, Chi Xu only realized today that he might not be as straight as he had imagined.
Zong Yuan lowered his voice, knowing that Chi Xu loved to hear him speak like that. “Kid, you’re pretending to be stupid.”
Chi Xu “forcefully” resisted for a moment, feeling that he had clearly expressed his refusal, so he stopped. He put on the most mocking and disdainful expression. “I’m just giving you a way out.”
Damn, was that too much?
“Give me a way out,” Zong Yuan used one hand to control Chi Xu’s wrists, and with the other, he lightly lifted Chi Xu’s chin. “Kid, your ambiguous words only reveal your true thoughts.”
“I don’t have any true thoughts!”
“Let me ask in a different way,” Zong Yuan made eye contact with Chi Xu. When their eyes, similar in color, met, a stirring and ambiguous atmosphere surged through the entire room like a breaking ice. Zong Yuan moved against Chi Xu’s thighs between his legs, deliberately brushing against him twice.
Everyone has an impulsive side, be it the atmosphere or the environment. In this hormone-filled situation, minds tend to go blank.
Chi Xu grunted twice, squeezing his legs tightly. “Get lost.”
Zong Yuan teased in a courteous manner, his lips close to Chi Xu’s, maintaining a distance even when approaching. “You’re squeezing so tight. How can I get lost?”
Chi Xu, with a layer of sweat on his forehead, retorted, “Stop making dirty jokes.”
“Am I making any?” Zong Yuan stepped back slightly, assessing Chi Xu’s disheveled appearance. “This should be a dirty joke, dear. I really want to ravish you in bed.”
“Damn you—”
Chi Xu’s eyes sparkled, his lips seemingly moistened by water, dazzling in their redness. Zong Yuan realized he had a twisted sense of humor. He shed the layer of mature gentlemanly demeanor, revealing his most wicked self in the nude. “I want to press you against the wall right now, face to face, make you beg and cry. Darling, what do you say?”
There was a knock on the door from the cleaning staff outside. “Sir, do you need cleaning?”
Chi Xu’s face turned crimson. He shouted loudly, “We d—”
“No, we don’t,” Zong Yuan interrupted, staring into Chi Xu’s eyes. “Where are the condoms?”
The cleaning staff, feeling awkward, replied, “In the bathroom drawer.”
As the footsteps outside gradually faded away, Chi Xu took a deep breath. He looked like someone who had just been bullied, his face, blushing with a hint of spring, serious as he declared, “Today, it’s over! Can we end this or not?!”
Is it over? Is it alright now?!
This man is beyond wicked!!!
Seeing his exhaustion, Zong Yuan stopped teasing him and released his hand. In the next second, Chi Xu grabbed the door handle, ready to rush out. At the critical moment when the door was slightly ajar, Zong Yuan lifted Chi Xu around the waist, carried him into the bathroom, and threw him in after closing the door. “Take a shower, change your clothes, okay? Your body is soaked with seawater; where do you think you’re going like this?”
He turned on the hot water, and a torrent of hot water cascaded over Chi Xu. Chi Xu wiped the water off his face, unable to open his eyes. “Damn—”
The answer to him was Zong Yuan ruthlessly closing the bathroom door and leaving.
“F**k,” Chi Xu cursed for a good five or six minutes before taking off his clothes to shower. As he took off his socks, he remembered Zong Yuan’s question on the deck earlier. His expression distorted for a moment, muttering to himself while undressing, “I wonder if there are disposable underwear and socks on the ship. Even if I wear them for three days straight, it’s none of his damn business.”
The socks were off, and Chi Xu hesitated for a moment. Still, he picked up the socks and sniffed them. “They don’t smell at all…”
Each room had two bathrobes prepared. Zong Yuan rummaged through things and found the disposable underwear and socks Chi Xu had mentioned. The socks were no surprise, but just looking at the plastic-wrapped underwear made it clear they weren’t of high quality.
Zong Yuan opened one package and felt it. The snowy white fabric was only slightly better than gauze in thickness. Zong Yuan tugged at it, and with a tearing sound, he ripped the triangular fabric into two halves.
Zong Yuan, “…”
He balled up the torn underwear and threw it in the trash can. Then he took an unopened package and knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, do you need disposable underwear?”
With this thin type of underwear, it was likely to reveal everything.
Chi Xu was still rinsing the foam from his hair. He mumbled, “Just leave it on the floor.”
“How can underwear be left on the floor?” Zong Yuan spoke with righteousness, completely ignoring the plastic packaging outside the underwear. “I’ll bring it in for you.”
“You dare!” Chi Xu hastily looked up, and the water with foam on his head flowed into his eyes unnoticed. “Hiss.”
Zong Yuan’s heart tightened. “What’s wrong?”
Chi Xu rubbed his eyes. The professional killer, accustomed to countless injuries from minor to major since childhood, nonchalantly said, “It’s fine, just don’t come in.”
Zong Yuan sighed, murmuring softly, “Be careful, I’ll worry.”
It felt as if a bee had stung Chi Xu’s heart, making him dizzy. He couldn’t control the upward curve of his mouth, no matter how hard he tried. His right hand clenched into a fist, hitting the wall made of tiles a few times before he replied with a nonchalant tone, “What’s there to worry about? What could happen to me?”
Zong Yuan said, “If it were you, I’d be afraid that my worries wouldn’t be enough.”
Thud, thud.
Chi Xu continued to pat hot water onto his body, hiding under the shower, silent and unwilling to speak.
He even wondered, why does this man speak like this?
This man named Zong Yuan, does he know the extent of Chi Xu’s soft-heartedness, enabling him to strike so forcefully and accurately time after time?
The author has something to say:
Zong Yuan, “Shall we go up?”
Chi Xu, “No, no, no, I don’t like it.” In his mind, “Don’t be timid, face me head-on!!!”
