The room was quiet. Ji Xun could feel that Huo Ranyin was waiting for him to speak.
What should I say? Ji Xun asked himself.
His heart shattered and was glued back together, his hands sticky with blood. His eyeballs, pressed by the palm, saw a red light through the gaps of the fingers—red blood. He closed his eyes. The blood was gone. Darkness surged in, and the colorful static of a malfunctioning TV screen appeared in the darkness.
Soon, the other colors in the static were swallowed by red dots.
The red grew brighter, larger. In the blood-soaked darkness, listening to his own breath and heartbeat, he felt the same suffocating cold as that year—being beside his closest family, yet no longer able to hear their voices or see their movements, as if falling into an abyss.
In such cold, he felt his own breath and heartbeat also stop.
Huo Ranyin’s hand moved away from his eyes.
He could feel the other’s gaze. It first fell on him, oppressive, as if seeing through his skin. Then came the fingertips. Huo Ranyin’s fingertips were like a sharp scalpel, cutting open his skin, delving into his muscles, leaving one scar after another on his body.
In a shuddering pain, he suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed that hand!
“Are you so eager to see blood on New Year’s Eve?” he asked Huo Ranyin.
But Huo Ranyin smiled, a faint smile rippling across his face like water. He paid no heed to Ji Xun’s threat. Instead, he leaned in and enunciated clearly:
“No, Ji Xun. You’re not that angry. Don’t deliberately put on this act. Our positions are aligned.”
“Positions?” Ji Xun let out a laugh. “What common position do we have? The position of you hurting me?”
His smile also took on a bloody taste. He pulled away Huo Ranyin’s hand that was on him, but his own hand moved to Huo Ranyin’s neck. The other’s slender neck quickly reddened under the pressure of his fingers. Huo Ranyin’s chest heaved twice, and he couldn’t help but lift his head to get more oxygen.
In the night, Huo Ranyin’s thin lips were slightly parted, his cheeks flushed a vivid red, and his eyes glistened.
But his gaze was still lowered, fixed on Ji Xun’s face.
Those glistening eyes were dark and deep, like an ancient well. The water’s surface in the well reflected Ji Xun’s shadow.
“The position of revealing the truth. Ji Xun, Xin Yongchu was judged by morality. What about you? Have you been judged by morality? You can’t sleep night after night, you have recurring nightmares, you clearly have a stronger pursuit of justice than any police officer, yet you insist on cutting yourself off from the police… Ji Xun, you know better than I what judgment morality has passed on you.”
“You, who have always been judged by morality, won’t be angry because of what I said, because of the deductions I made. You will only feel a sense of relief from the bottom of your heart that this truth has finally been discovered.” Huo Ranyin slowly, word by word, hammered at Ji Xun’s heart. “Am I right?”
“—Continue.”
Ji Xun met Huo Ranyin’s eyes. He saw his own reflection in them.
Huo Ranyin’s words were like sharp awls. The pain that had been wandering through his body rushed to his head, making the back of his head numb and sore. But after the numbness and pain, he really heard—heard his own relieved breathing.
Huo Ranyin’s words had pierced his heart, and also pierced the heavy, airtight shroud around him.
The shroud tore open. He lay on the edge of the tear, greedily breathing in the fresh air.
The reflection smiled at him.
He smiled back.
Anger and coldness receded from him like a tide. His other hand also caressed Huo Ranyin’s neck. He cupped the other’s face with both hands, his gaze fixed on Huo Ranyin’s face. He was as gentle as if he were observing a rare treasure.
“If you speak well, there’s a reward. If you don’t speak well…”
His hand slid down to the base of Huo Ranyin’s neck.
He brought his hands together.
“If you don’t speak well, there’s also a reward—I think for you, this should also be a reward.”
The beast in the man’s heart had awakened, baring its fangs.
He had successfully shattered the other’s hard shell. He saw a bloody, but real, person.
Is this the Ji Xun I wanted to see? Huo Ranyin asked himself.
Yes, this is the Ji Xun I wanted to see, he answered in an instant. He’s different from the past, but he is Ji Xun.
He was now conversing with the real Ji Xun, not a fake, whitewashed shell.
“The blood spatter patterns at the scene were destroyed.”
Huo Ranyin began to speak. Because of the pressure on his throat, his voice was somewhat intermittent. The case file he had read countless times appeared in his mind. His voice was soft and calm.
“In your statement, you said that when you saw your sister commit suicide, your mind went blank. You could only unconsciously move forward to hold her falling body. In the process, your phone accidentally fell to the ground. You said you pressed on your sister’s wound while looking for your phone, which caused the drag marks from clothing on the floor. After that, you just held her and waited for the ambulance to arrive.”
“It’s very reasonable. It perfectly used large amounts of blood to cover up the spatter on your and her clothes that would have resulted from you using the knife. A police officer as excellent as you wouldn’t let others see any flaws.”
“But Ji Xun, precisely because you are so excellent, your subconscious would be even less likely to destroy the scene. The only possible answer is that you were lying…”
Ji Xun kissed Huo Ranyin, kissing away the remaining few words.
The kiss was fierce, the most intense kiss Ji Xun had ever experienced in his life. He felt that he and Huo Ranyin were like two wild beasts fighting for territory, wrestling and biting crazily. But very quickly, almost in an instant, Ji Xun led Huo Ranyin into a different kind of intensity.
He kissed Huo Ranyin, injecting tenderness and consideration into the confrontation. He easily conquered Huo Ranyin’s mind, making the other lose his footing, lose the strength to resist, and begin to submit, to enjoy.
When the long kiss ended, he did not immediately pull away.
He held Huo Ranyin. While the other’s mind was blank, unable to do anything, he quietly pressed his lips against the other’s, feeling the blood on Huo Ranyin’s lips moisten his own. The blood, still warm with body heat, was like a fire, burning and leaping wantonly on his lips.
“It’s broken,” Ji Xun said, his lips still against Huo Ranyin’s, the sound traveling from his teeth to the other’s.
“Mm,” Huo Ranyin replied, dazedly coming back to his senses.
“Will it heal in two or three days? You still have shifts, don’t you?”
“Who cares,” the moment Huo Ranyin became clear-headed, a defiant sharpness returned to his eyes.
Ji Xun couldn’t help but let out a low laugh.
He lightly touched the wound, then branded it with a gentle kiss, sucking away the blood.
He kissed a sweet taste from the blood.
He satedly released his arms from around Huo Ranyin.
But Huo Ranyin did not let go of Ji Xun. His hands were still wrapped around Ji Xun’s body, his breath fanning against Ji Xun’s ear, long and carrying the moist warmth of a recent shower.
“Why kiss me at this moment?” he asked. “Is it because you want to dirty me too?”
As he spoke, he intimately nuzzled against Ji Xun’s ear and temple.
“Ji Xun,” he chuckled. “You’re…”
“Ji Xun,” he chuckled. “You’re hard.”
Ji Xun’s finger touched Huo Ranyin’s lips. The lips he had just bitten were now painted a brilliant vermilion, ostentatiously inviting to be plucked.
He wrapped one arm around Huo Ranyin’s waist and slowly thrusted his hips.
Huo Ranyin held his breath instantly.
“Yes. So,” he asked, “want to have a pleasant night?”
“Don’t you need enough emotion anymore?” Huo Ranyin retorted, a mocking smile on his lips. “Because I exposed the wound in your heart?”
“Because I…” Ji Xun pulled Huo Ranyin closer, breathing into his ear, “want to sleep with someone who understands me. I want to hold him, to possess him, to completely dirty him…”
His hand was already caressing Huo Ranyin’s clothes.
The man who had just showered was wearing a set of pajamas. During their embrace and nuzzling, the collar of the pajamas had become crooked, and a button at the neckline had come undone—perhaps Huo Ranyin hadn’t buttoned it in the first place.
Through the gap in the pajamas, which both concealed and revealed, Ji Xun could see the shallow hollow of Huo Ranyin’s collarbone. Through the clothes, Ji Xun’s fingers traced over Huo Ranyin’s collarbone, finally stopping at the button.
He spoke such erotic words, yet his hand did not cross any boundaries. With extreme gentleness, he buttoned Huo Ranyin’s button, then looked up.
Their gazes met.
Huo Ranyin leaned down and licked Ji Xun’s mouth, like a beautiful serpent. “Come.”
Ji Xun lifted Huo Ranyin from the sofa, in a hold like one would carry a baby. Ji Xun supported Huo Ranyin’s back with one hand and his bottom with the other, walking towards the bedroom.
Huo Ranyin was surprised, but he didn’t struggle. He took the opportunity to hook his legs around Ji Xun and lean his body against him.
Ji Xun heard a soft laugh. Huo Ranyin said playfully:
“I thought you would do it on the sofa—”
“The bed is more comfortable,” Ji Xun said nonchalantly. “The sofa can be for next time, at least after you’ve torn off the plastic wrap.”
They entered the bedroom. The house was like the person; Huo Ranyin’s bedroom was just like his living room—concise, direct, modern in style, with a generally gray and black color scheme. The curtains were drawn, and the wardrobe was half-open, with a considerable number of clothes hanging inside.
He placed Huo Ranyin on the bed and fell down with him. He buried his head in the crook of Huo Ranyin’s neck and took a deep breath, smelling his scent, and also the scent of the blood flowing beneath the skin.
He planted a series of light kisses on Huo Ranyin’s ear and neck, feeling Huo Ranyin’s hands also roam over his back.
It was the first time he had felt Huo Ranyin’s hands could be so soft. Usually, Huo Ranyin’s hands were always firm, carrying the smell of smoke and gunpowder.
He undid the button he had just fastened with his teeth.
The two were so close their skin touched. His hair brushed against Huo Ranyin’s neck. Huo Ranyin’s chest heaved once, as if a stifled laugh from being ticklish had escaped.
He undid the buttons of the pajama top one by one. The shirt slid off the shoulders, pooling around his arms. Huo Ranyin’s upper body was exposed—strong shoulders, a lean waist, and carefully trained and maintained abdominal muscles. His skin was very pale, his proportions as perfect as if carved by a master sculptor from the finest stone. But even the best sculptor could not carve the vibrant life in him.
This vibrant life was made up of flaws.
Ji Xun thought, his fingers first covering the brown through-and-through scar on Huo Ranyin’s collarbone, his fingertips rubbing back and forth on it, gradually feeling the body beneath his fingers heat up.
“What did you do before you were transferred to Ning City?” Ji Xun asked.
“Nothing much,” Huo Ranyin’s expression was faint, showing no desire to elaborate on it.
“Does it hurt?” Ji Xun asked again, lowering his head to kiss the scar on his collarbone. But the tenderness was only met with Huo Ranyin’s impatience.
“Ji Xun, if you keep dawdling like this—”
Ji Xun was not rushed by Huo Ranyin’s impatience, but he hid his own slight uncertainty well. He caressed this wonderful body that made one want to play with it, all the way down to the man’s abdomen. The loose pajama pants couldn’t hide anything. He easily touched the half-soft, half-hard thing hidden inside.
His palm covered it, without needing much movement.
The thing woke up completely, becoming hot and large in his hand.
“It’s very spirited,” Ji Xun chuckled low to Huo Ranyin. “It looks impatient. Do you have a condom?”
Huo Ranyin looked at Ji Xun’s face. The half-naked person lying on the bed still had his usual calm and rational expression, which was telling a completely different story from his body.
“What are you thinking?” Ji Xun asked, and acting on intuition, he pulled open the drawer of the bedside table.
First drawer, nothing.
Second drawer, ha, there it was. A full, unopened set of things.
“Nothing,” Huo Ranyin replied, not saying what was on his mind.
In that instant just now, he had been thinking: If it’s Ji Xun, it doesn’t matter if we don’t use a condom.
Ji Xun took the opportunity to steal a kiss from Huo Ranyin. He used one hand to pull off Huo Ranyin’s pajama pants. The owner did not stop him, and even lifted his body to help the cumbersome clothes come off faster.
His lower body was also exposed. The only remaining clothes were pooled around his limbs. This way of dressing, with the key parts exposed and the non-key parts covered, had a different kind of eroticism.
Ji Xun’s fingers traced over Huo Ranyin’s instrument.
The already engorged instrument jumped heavily, visibly excited. But Ji Xun did not caress it much. His fingers soon touched the back, the secret place in the low-lying cleft.
He wasn’t quite sure of the position, and it took him two tries to find the right spot. His fingers circled the outside, as if making a preliminary, cautious probe. “So tight.”
Then he opened the cap of the lubricant, poured it all over his hand, and touched again.
This time, the secret place only offered a slight resistance at the beginning. When he used a little force and squeezed his finger in, it immediately became like a baby’s small mouth, sucking on him with relish.
Mmm.
Ji Xun’s fingers tensed slightly due to the strange sensation, but Huo Ranyin’s body tensed even more. His lips were pursed lightly, his brows furrowed unconsciously, and his Adam’s apple bobbed, as if some sound was about to spill from his lips but was swallowed back down.
“Not used to it?” Ji Xun asked.
“Your technique is bad,” Huo Ranyin answered steadily.
However, his body was in Ji Xun’s grasp. Ji Xun only had to move the finger that was inside him, and Huo Ranyin felt as if he had been stimulated by an electric current from the inside out. His whole body stiffened, and the sound he had just swallowed accidentally escaped. “Mm—”
“Relax a little,” Ji Xun let out a soft breath. The gurgling sound of moisture accompanied his fingers’ movements, making him feel as if he were searching for the tune of the body under his hands, so that he could play a beautiful sound on it.
“It’s okay now. Aren’t you coming in… Are you impotent?” Huo Ranyin ground his teeth.
Ji Xun smiled at Huo Ranyin and withdrew his fingers.
As if water followed, flowing out from the most secret part. Huo Ranyin closed his eyes, and what made him open them again was a condom handed to him. Ji Xun’s slippery hands couldn’t tear the wrapper, so he handed it to Huo Ranyin.
“…”
Huo Ranyin looked at the condom, his long lashes trembling once. Then he helped Ji Xun bite it open. As he bit it, Ji Xun saw Huo Ranyin look up at him from below, a soul-snatching, seductive glance.
The blood he had tasted earlier was now rekindled in his body. The flames burned so intensely, they almost became the fuel driving his body, surprising even Ji Xun himself. This time, his body moved before his reason. Perhaps in this kind of matter, men have the most primitive beastly nature. He put on the condom, spread Huo Ranyin’s body with both hands, and pressed against the narrow place he had just tested with his fingers. With a forceful thrust, he completely separated Huo Ranyin’s body, pinning him to the bed, and fiercely penetrated him!
As his desire pushed into that narrow entrance, Ji Xun’s eyes were fixed on Huo Ranyin’s face. He saw that calm, self-possessed face instantly lose its composure. The other’s dark pupils froze for a moment, then quickly lost focus. A layer of moisture easily covered those bright eyes. He felt Huo Ranyin’s hands grip his shoulders tightly.
Huo Ranyin almost let out a cry of pain, but the cry was only half-formed before it was bitten back by its owner, becoming a low, hoarse moan. His lips were pressed together even more tightly, his calm face almost stiff, with a hint of forbearance beneath the rigidity. But when Huo Ranyin’s gaze met Ji Xun’s, that hint of forbearance disappeared.
He curved his lips, relaxed his overly tense fingers, and said to Ji Xun, almost provocatively, “Come on, fuck me.”
Huo Ranyin’s words were another splash of gasoline on the fire within him.
Ji Xun felt Huo Ranyin’s slight tremor, but for a moment, he couldn’t quite tell if it was Huo Ranyin’s body trembling, or the channel that was tightly wrapped around his desire.
Pleasure came in waves from where they were joined.
He felt himself being encircled, surrounded. Following Huo Ranyin’s suggestion, he began to thrust gently. This was a stimulation he had never enjoyed before. Then his speed increased, and later, he mastered the technique, pulling out completely with each thrust, then burying himself fully, each time hitting the most sensitive spot inside Huo Ranyin’s body.
At first, Huo Ranyin still gritted his teeth and cooperated.
His body felt very uncomfortable.
Pain, of course it was painful, but that could be skillfully concealed and endured. What couldn’t be concealed was the feeling beyond the pain. It was a feeling of being full, of being achy and soft. His whole person was like a can of Coke that had been shaken to the extreme, but the cap sealing the opening was not tight. Just one more shake—
Ji Xun hit that spot again.
The reason Huo Ranyin had barely been maintaining was like a sandcastle, finally drenched by the repeated tides, washed away, and completely collapsed. He completely lost control of his body. Golden stars exploded before his eyes, and his mind went blank for a very long time.
The white turbidity from the other’s body shot onto Ji Xun’s.
Ji Xun was uncomfortably swollen, his unsatisfied desire still inside Huo Ranyin’s body. But the Huo Ranyin before him, at the moment of climax, finally lost the calm mask that was like armor.
His lips were slightly parted, his white teeth and red tongue trembling slightly, just like the channel that was tightly wrapped around his desire was trembling. His eyes also lost focus. His eyes, as if washed clean with water, rested on Ji Xun’s face.
“Xun…” his voice was almost broken.
“What?” Ji Xun didn’t move, patiently waiting for Huo Ranyin to come back to his senses.
Huo Ranyin didn’t speak again. He bit his lip, as if unsure whether to say what was on his mind. The flush on his flushed cheeks actually made him look innocent and helpless at this moment.
I must be crazy.
To think I could see those two emotions on Huo Ranyin’s face.
But being in the same bed with Huo Ranyin was already extremely crazy. Before leaving the house today, Ji Xun had absolutely no idea things would develop this way.
He held Huo Ranyin’s shoulders, his fingers stroking and kneading his back, helping the tense body to relax. At the same time, he lowered his head and pecked at Huo Ranyin’s cheek, pecking away the flush and helplessness from his face.
This small expression gave him a brand new feeling, as if Huo Ranyin suddenly had two appearances. One was visible to everyone, but only he possessed Huo Ranyin’s other appearance.
He felt a tiny bit of self-satisfaction.
After an unknown amount of time, when the blankness in his mind faded, Huo Ranyin slowly regained his senses.
He dazedly found himself lying on Ji Xun’s body. Ji Xun was stroking his back, one stroke after another. The other seemed to be very fond of his spine, his fingers spending most of their time sliding up and down along it.
Then, a sentence from Ji Xun made him instantly clear-headed.
“How did you get the scar on your back?” Ji Xun was a bit curious. When he was kissing Huo Ranyin’s shoulder, he had seen his back. On the bare back, behind the left shoulder, there was a whole patch of light-colored marks, like new skin that had grown after a burn.
“…Ji Xun, are you bored or not? Do you have to ask about every single mark on my body at a time like this?”
Huo Ranyin said through gritted teeth. As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a fine, dense tingling sensation. The tingling sensation came not only from Ji Xun’s fingers, but also from the place where they were still joined. Just the sound seemed to make the thing buried inside him even bigger. His body felt like it was about to be split open.
“Just asking,” Ji Xun saw that Huo Ranyin was gradually waking up and withdrew from his body.
Huo Ranyin’s hands, propped on the bed, tightened at once. He opened his mouth and said, “…What are you doing?”
His voice was very hoarse. He didn’t know if he had just screamed, but his throat was indeed dry and scratchy. He wanted to drink water, wanted to… kiss.
His fingers went down and touched Ji Xun’s still-erect desire. It was wet, he didn’t know if it was lubricant or something else. He tried to grip it twice, but it slipped away. The third time, Ji Xun grabbed his hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed it.
This might have just been a casual action for Ji Xun, but Huo Ranyin was so scalded that his shoulders tensed.
“Go in from behind,” Ji Xun said. “It’s less effort.”
“Less effort for me or for you?”
“If you insist on provoking me, you’ll be the one to suffer,” Ji Xun said gently.
Huo Ranyin was silent at first, then after a few seconds, he smiled at Ji Xun. “I suspect you think it wasn’t deep enough just now, and you want to go deeper. As expected, you can only use it from behind…”
His words were cut off. Ji Xun bit his lips.
This trick again.
Huo Ranyin thought, but he still quickly drowned in this kiss.
Ji Xun kissed Huo Ranyin, his hands pressing on his shoulders, circling the scar twice, then coming to the spine. Except for this area on his left shoulder, Huo Ranyin’s back was bare. The spine was faintly visible, proud like a crouching dragon. His fingers slid somewhat reluctantly over this spine, finally landing on Huo Ranyin’s rear.
He lifted Huo Ranyin’s body, spread his legs, and in the other’s slightly flickering gaze, he once again pushed his hardness into that narrow, tight, soul-stealing, bone-melting place.
After pulling out and going back in, this place seemed to be even softer and hotter than before.
Ji Xun easily entered all the way. The other’s body seemed to have completely adapted to him. The inner walls clamped down on him the moment he entered, entangling him tightly.
Ji Xun, who had originally wanted to let Huo Ranyin slowly adapt, couldn’t hold back for a moment and thrusted shallowly a few times, hearing a muffled groan from Huo Ranyin’s mouth.
But when he looked over, Huo Ranyin was already hugging him, burying his head in the crook of his neck.
His body became even stranger. It was as if just being touched would make it start to burn, to tingle, and then an unusual pleasure would shoot up from his tailbone to his brain.
Pain was easy to endure, but pleasure seemed impossible to control.
Huo Ranyin mobilized all his strength to control his body, but the more tense his body became, the more firmly Ji Xun spread it open. When it was stretched to the extreme, he was like a drunk person, his pale skin covered in large patches of red, sweat rolling down his body. And these were secondary. The most obvious was his desire. The desire that had just been spent and was limp had raised its head again, once again showing a clear, excited appearance.
“If you want to cry out, just cry out,” Ji Xun smiled at Huo Ranyin, who had his head buried in his neck. “Your voice is so nice. Isn’t it a waste not to let it out?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a pain shot through his shoulder.
Huo Ranyin, his body trembling, his lower mouth holding Ji Xun’s member, bit down hard on Ji Xun’s shoulder. As he bit down, a low moan accompanied a blood-red flower, blooming on Ji Xun’s shoulder.
Ji Xun sucked in a breath. At this moment, the blood and pain made him even more excited.
He gripped Huo Ranyin’s strong waist. He cast aside the last of his gentleness and, with all his strength, as if to shatter the other’s body, he slammed himself into him, molding himself into one with the other!
He forced Huo Ranyin to raise his head, to meet his eyes.
He saw that the flush spreading over the other’s body had already climbed all the way to his face. The corners of his eyes were stained a deep red, as if from being bullied. His long eyelashes were also wet with moisture. His lips could hardly close, trembling as moans and low sobs escaped, with a few syllables mixed in between.
Ji Xun tried to make it out again. “What are you saying?”
His voice, along with his thrusts, almost shattered Huo Ranyin.
This time, the broken sounds came together. The sound that had been hidden in Huo Ranyin’s throat clearly emerged. Huo Ranyin looked at Ji Xun with watery eyes. “Ji… Ji Xun—”
He looks at me, he calls my name.
Only looks at me, only calls my name.
Ji Xun was satisfied. He held Huo Ranyin tightly, burying himself completely. He brought the person beneath him to a climax that felt like life itself could be abandoned.
