After saying that, Xie Xishu quickly turned around, his neck stiff and rigid, not daring to move a muscle.
Anyone could tell that Xie Xishu was absolutely terrified at that moment.
In fact, “terrified” was no longer sufficient to describe his emotions. As the distance closed, Qi Wu’s presence became increasingly intense and overwhelming. Earlier, Xie Xishu had managed to calm himself by pretending to write assignments or read, and by frantically trying to self-hypnotize. But now, the overwhelming mental pressure made him feel nauseous.
He hadn’t even heard the bell signaling the start of class until Teacher Li, holding her lesson plan, walked into the classroom step by step, her expression grim.
The classroom instantly fell silent.
Xie Xishu remembered clearly that when Teacher Li had first arrived at Nanming, she wasn’t like this. She was so young, just a newly qualified female teacher. Let alone disciplining students—if a student gave her any attitude, Teacher Li would end up with red eyes, almost on the verge of tears.
But now, the woman standing before him no longer showed any trace of that former timidity or innocence.
Recently, some students behind her back had started calling Teacher Li “Madwoman.” Xie Xishu didn’t like this derogatory nickname the students of Nanming had given her. But at that moment, he had to admit that the young female teacher’s face was indeed shrouded with a persistent air of madness.
After the various mishaps that morning (and Xie Xishu was sure that the cowardly and opportunistic headmaster had already approached Teacher Li), her expression hadn’t changed much from what it had been at the school gate earlier.
Her heightened agitation made the veins at her temple stand out prominently. Seeing that the class had quieted down due to her presence, Teacher Li’s bloodshot eyes suddenly widened. The corners of her mouth stretched into a strange smile.
“See, your classroom behavior is fine now, isn’t it? I told you, as long as you behave, there’s still hope for you—”
But before she could finish her sentence, her gaze froze on an unexpected figure sitting in the middle of the classroom.
She saw Qi Wu.
Her thin eyebrows instantly furrowed tightly, and the veins at her temple snaked down to her neck like earthworms. Even the muscles in her face began to twitch.
“Why are you sitting there, Qi Wu? That’s not your seat. You’re disrupting my classroom discipline.”
Teacher Li’s neck stiffened, and she gritted her teeth as she growled at Qi Wu.
She glared at him, hands braced on the desk. As she spoke, her fingernails effortlessly dug into the wooden surface of the podium.
“Screech—”
The sound of nails scraping against wood sent a chill down everyone’s spine. At that moment, even the most rebellious students instinctively held their breath, not daring to meet the eyes of the terrifying woman at the front of the room.
Except for Qi Wu…
Qi Wu seemed completely unaware of Teacher Li’s erratic behavior. He sat slouched as usual, his eyelids drooping lazily over his eyes. He didn’t even bother to lift his head—his gaze remained fixed on the back of the boy sitting in front of him, whose neck was stiff and unmoving.
“Switched seats to listen better.”
He replied absentmindedly.
As soon as he finished speaking, Teacher Li’s mouth twitched violently.
A few drops of saliva dribbled from her crooked lips, though she quickly raised her sleeve and wiped them away with a rough swipe.
“Huff…”
Faintly, a low, deep, almost inaudible growl seemed to rise from deep within the slender, frail woman.
Xie Xishu’s heart inexplicably began to race.
He couldn’t help but lift his head to glance at Teacher Li, but the fleeting sound had already vanished. Still, to Xie Xishu, Teacher Li didn’t look right.
In fact, she looked… as though she were on the verge of a breakdown.
Whether it was the uncontrollable twitching of her mouth, her flushed and purple face, or the visible trembling of her shoulders, everything made one worry that she might collapse from an aneurysm at any moment.
Fortunately, Xie Xishu’s irrational fears were unfounded.
After a bout of violent trembling, Teacher Li suddenly deflated, like a balloon pricked by a needle, her shoulders sagging.
She gasped for breath, staring at Qi Wu, and muttered.
“…Just don’t disturb the others while they study.”
As she spoke, her head tilted slightly to one side.
Then she opened her lesson plan and began lecturing with fervor.
“Crack—”
Below the podium, Xie Xishu had pressed so hard that his pen tip had torn through the thin notebook. The ballpoint was bent, and ink bled out, staining several pages.
Although a bit naive, in his heart, Xie Xishu had been silently praying: Teacher Li is so crazy, maybe, just maybe, she might actually be able to force Qi Wu back to his original seat—although he knew this was nothing but a pipe dream.
With Teacher Li’s silent approval, Qi Wu, now seated behind Xie Xishu, seemed even more at ease.
Xie Xishu could feel the back of his chair being nudged by the edge of the desk, and Qi Wu shifting several times in the increasingly cramped space behind him before finally finding a more comfortable position. Xie Xishu didn’t turn around, yet all his attention was uncontrollably focused on the boy behind him.
Perhaps because he was too tense, Xie Xishu felt that his senses had become unusually sharp. He could even detect the subtle air currents caused by Qi Wu’s movements. He could hear the faint rustling of Qi Wu’s clothes as he shifted… and also, his breathing.
Qi Wu probably had a cold like Cheng An.
Xie Xishu thought.
That heavy, congested breathing—more intense than a normal person’s—seemed to come from just that.
Faintly, Xie Xishu could also sense a certain… smell emanating from Qi Wu.
He did catch the scent of some kind of high-end laundry detergent on Qi Wu, but beyond that, there seemed to be another scent. Xie Xishu couldn’t quite describe it, but it reminded him of the musky odor of young male animals in the wild.
The summer fans on the classroom ceiling whirred, sending warm, humid gusts of air over the drowsy students below. This should have been a rare comfort in the heat of summer, but Xie Xishu’s throat only felt tighter, and sweat began to seep from his pores, covering his back in a clammy layer.
Whenever the breeze brushed over Xie Xishu, his body would involuntarily tense up.
That faint wind made Xie Xishu think of Qi Wu’s breath, as if the warm currents could at any moment slip down the back of his neck and into the depths of his shirt collar.
Each time the soft hair at the nape of his neck was stirred by the breeze and touched his skin, Xie Xishu would shiver uncontrollably.
Xie Xishu had no doubt that if this continued, he would go completely insane from this constant state of paranoia and anxiety.
And then, in the next second, Xie Xishu suddenly felt something touch the back of his neck.
This time, it wasn’t his hair.
*
Qi Wu’s fingertips were lightly trailing down the curve of Xie Xishu’s neck.
Wherever his fingers passed, fine beads of sweat appeared on the boy’s skin.
A scent filled with fear and despair wafted from Xie Xishu’s body—slightly bitter, rich, and undeniably tempting.
Qi Wu knew that Xie Xishu must be absolutely terrified right now.
But he hadn’t meant to do it.
Before making that move, Qi Wu’s mind had already gone blank from the overwhelming effort of holding himself back.
He could only vaguely sense that he had made a very, very bad decision.
And that he had missed the best opportunity to correct his mistake.
*
Humans are such pitiful creatures: if they are stuck in hell from the very beginning, enduring immense suffering without ever finding salvation, they will instead become numb to it, get used to it, and continue to persevere.
But if that person finds a moment of relief, only to lose it again—
Then the original suffering becomes even more intense and unbearable.
*
Qi Wu was no different.
*
For all those days, Xie Xishu’s school uniform, carrying his scent, had been Qi Wu’s thread of escape from the stinking hell.
But as time passed, the scent on the uniform had faded considerably.
Worse yet, it had been touched by Xiao Wu and others.
Adolescent boys tend to secrete oils excessively, and they usually pay little attention to their personal hygiene. Their hands reeked of sweat, smoke, the fishy smell of semen, and the rancid stench of grease…
These overpowering foul odors instantly contaminated the faint, sweet fragrance Xie Xishu had left on the uniform.
Every time Qi Wu instinctively tried to find solace in that uniform, his abnormally keen sense of smell would only become more and more acutely aware of the stench left behind by others.
*
Qi Wu had once again fallen back into hell.
*
According to Qi Wu’s plan, the reason he stayed at school was merely to absorb more of Xie Xishu’s scent—it had become the only remedy to keep his sanity in check.
Qi Wu didn’t want to, nor did he dare, fully unleash the “thing” stirring inside his body.
He was very aware that his body was undergoing some strange and inexplicable transformation.
Yet, the boy named Xie Xishu was clearly unaware of the sacrifices Qi Wu had made for him.
As Qi Wu stared at the pale nape of Xie Xishu’s neck, struggling to suppress the dense, hard objects constantly surging from the depths of his gums, the boy’s scent suddenly changed.
It was… the sweetness of blood.
A scent so strong and rich it seemed to turn into a luscious syrup, crashing over him like a tidal wave, nearly pulverizing Qi Wu’s will and reason.
It was only through years of training that Qi Wu managed not to completely lose control and pounce on Xie Xishu, sinking his teeth into the boy’s neck—he practically fled the classroom in haste.
*
Rationality told Qi Wu that he absolutely could not return to the classroom, should not get any closer to Xie Xishu—no matter how sweet the boy’s scent might be.
Qi Wu was certain he was losing control.
And this kind of “loss of control” was unlike anything he had ever known.
*
He extended his long tongue, licking the sharp, serrated teeth lining his mouth.
The teeth were layered upon one another, stretching from his gums all the way down to the depths of his throat.
It wasn’t until his emotions completely settled that those teeth slowly retracted back into the deep red flesh.
But in the end, Qi Wu still couldn’t truly stay away from Xie Xishu.
After leaving the classroom, the smells of the outside world became overwhelmingly foul.
Yet, his senses were still fully heightened, and every nerve, every cell in his body was still foolishly and greedily craving the dizzying scent he had just smelled not long ago.
So in the end, Qi Wu went back.
Like a moth to a flame, or like falling into an abyss.
No one had ever been able to resist such temptation.
And neither could Qi Wu.
So, when he saw his own fingers suddenly split open after touching the back of Xie Xishu’s neck, revealing a small piece of moist, fresh red flesh, he only slightly narrowed his eyes. Deep inside, he wasn’t the least bit surprised or repulsed.
In fact, vaguely, he felt… that perhaps this was how he was supposed to be all along.
Wrapped in skin, his dull fingers could never achieve what he desired—only the “tongue,” covered in countless olfactory and taste cells, could fully sense the other person’s scent.
…
Qi Wu quietly watched as his newly formed organ adhered to Xie Xishu’s pale skin, covered in beads of cold sweat.
In the next moment, he couldn’t help but shudder.
Just as he had imagined… Xie Xishu was indeed very, very, very sweet.
