While Grandma was out handling things, that morning, Gan Tang didn’t even have time to eat breakfast. Clumsily, he rushed to the kitchen to boil some water, intending to give the resurrected Cen Zibai a bath.
Although it was summer, the bathroom was steaming hot.
Gan Tang dipped his hand into the bucket, and the heat from the water made him shiver. He quickly added some cold water, but in the process, he accidentally splashed his sleeves and clothes, making them completely wet.
A strong gaze came from the corner of the bathroom, and Gan Tang couldn’t help but furrow his brows, his mood growing worse.
He rolled his eyes, forcing himself to suppress his frustration, and turned to look at the tall boy who was curled up in the corner of the bathroom.
When Cen Zibai caught Gan Tang’s glance, he froze instantly, his body stiffening, not daring to move. He even hunched his shoulders, as if trying to make his large frame appear smaller.
“I-I… didn’t… move…”
He stammered out each word, as if defending himself in an aggrieved manner.
Compared to when he first woke up and kept shouting “Tang Tang,” Cen Zibai was finally able to speak other sentences, though his tone was still strange, his words unclear… He seemed almost like an idiot, Gan Tang thought.
Perhaps it was because Gan Tang had personally chopped off his head when they were throwing him into the well.
Now, Cen Zibai’s behavior showed very obvious signs of regression.
After the incident this morning, Gan Tang was certain of this. After all, in the past, no matter what, that perverted lunatic would never have stood before him, shedding tears after being slapped.
He also wouldn’t have been so meek and submissive as he was now.
But this new version of him wasn’t any easier to deal with than the old one.
In fact, his behavior now was even more troublesome than before…
“Come over and take a bath!”
Gan Tang said coldly, his face stern.
Cen Zibai, sensing the teenager’s dark expression, slowly walked over.
His clothes had long been soaked, water dripping off him continuously.
But when he finally reached the water bucket, he didn’t undress. Instead, he simply grabbed a dipper and started pouring water over himself.
“Stop!”
Gan Tang’s pupils constricted as he shouted in a harsh tone.
Cen Zibai visibly flinched, still holding the dipper in his hand, not daring to move. His eyes, full of terror, were fixed on Gan Tang.
“I…I want to bathe.”
He lowered his head, his eyes glistening with moisture from the steam, looking like a dog that had been scolded by its owner.
He seemed so helpless and innocent.
“Tang Tang, let me take a bath.”
Because he hadn’t slept well last night, Gan Tang now felt an unbearable headache. Seeing Cen Zibai’s reaction made his temples throb painfully.
He didn’t understand how things had turned out like this.
After realizing Cen Zibai’s regressive behavior, Gan Tang’s mind was in turmoil.
For a moment, he didn’t know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, and he couldn’t even tell if Cen Zibai could recover. If he did recover, would he remember what happened that night… As his mind was overwhelmed with conflicting thoughts, the faint fishy smell and the dirtiness of Cen Zibai’s clothes made him feel even more frustrated.
He gave up trying to think about it. After hesitating for a moment, he quickly prepared some bathwater and pushed Cen Zibai toward the tub.
Cen Zibai, like a puppet obeying every command, didn’t know what to do when he saw the bucket. He simply jumped into the water.
When Gan Tang came to his senses, he saw the tall boy still wearing dirty clothes, drenched through.
“I’m done washing.”
…And he even said it with a smile, like he was trying to please Gan Tang.
*
Gan Tang finally realized that Cen Zibai wasn’t just acting foolish.
This guy had even lost the basic ability to take care of himself.
*
Gan Tang felt suffocated.
When Uncle Zhang came back, everything seemed normal—nothing like this had happened!
Was it because he had been so panicked last night that the ritual had gone wrong? Or was it because of the dismemberment?
Gan Tang thought to himself, gritting his teeth as he spoke to the fool in front of him, word by word.
“…First take off your clothes!”
“Then squat down and use the dipper to pour water on yourself!”
“After that, lather with soap!”
…
For some unknown reason, after becoming mentally impaired, Cen Zibai was even more obedient in front of Gan Tang than a dog that had been trained for a long time.
Every command from Gan Tang was seriously followed by the boy.
Without hesitation, he took off the tattered T-shirt he was wearing, his muscular and tall body fully exposed in front of Gan Tang.
Gan Tang involuntarily frowned.
In that moment, he just wanted to leave the closed bathroom immediately. No matter how obedient Cen Zibai seemed now, Gan Tang could never forget what that guy had done to him before.
Even though the other person was now standing quietly by the bucket, it made Gan Tang instinctively want to flee as soon as he saw his body… However, in the back of his mind, there was always a voice whispering, warning him.
He couldn’t explain it, but he could feel that there was something about Cen Zibai now that made his skin crawl.
Surrounded by mist, Gan Tang unconsciously focused his gaze on Cen Zibai.
It seemed that he didn’t realize he was being scrutinized with a suspicious and probing gaze. At that moment, the boy was very seriously following Gan Tang’s instructions, rubbing the dirt on his body.
Soap bubbles slid off Cen Zibai’s firm, light brown skin in clumps, flowing over his rippling muscles, the slightly raised veins, and the scars and bruises scattered across his body.
Even the scar on Cen Zibai’s neck was now just a long-healed old wound. Yet, until this moment, those long and short, fine scars scattered across the boy’s back and limbs still glowed with a shocking crimson. Under the hot water, the wounds looked fresh, as if they could bleed at any moment.
Gan Tang unconsciously took a step forward, extending his hand to touch a horizontal wound on the boy’s waist.
“What’s this?”
He asked.
From the direction of the wound, it didn’t seem like the injury caused by dragging a body across the ground and being cut by rocks last night.
The moment his fingers touched the boy’s warm skin, Cen Zibai’s muscles trembled lightly, as if he had been touched unexpectedly like a cat.
“No… I don’t know.”
Cen Zibai mumbled in reply.
Soon, Gan Tang found another anomaly on him.
The indigo and deep purple bruises spread out from the boy’s elbows, wrists, and knees, as if all of his joints had been violently broken before.
Were these marks from being reassembled after dismemberment? But the scar on his neck wasn’t like this… When Gan Tang noticed this, his hand had already moved to that spot.
He gently pressed it.
The feedback from his fingertips was firm and elastic, just like the sensation of living flesh should feel, completely different from the feeling when he chopped into this body with a machete last night…
Cen Zibai started shuddering again.
“Does it still hurt here? How many of these wounds… do you remember?”
Gan Tang asked.
“Ugh… no… I don’t remember… huff…”
The boy hunched over, his voice urgent and gasping.
Gan Tang vaguely felt that the wounds on Cen Zibai’s body didn’t match his memory. Even the boy’s build and skin color seemed a little different.
But when asked, the boy’s voice became more and more unclear.
He had been squatting by the bucket, obediently following Gan Tang’s instructions to bathe.
Now, he was kneeling beside Gan Tang, his back arched and his face flushed.
When Gan Tang realized it, he found that the hard, deep red thing had already risen and was pointing straight at him.
*
“Slap—”
Gan Tang slapped Cen Zibai again.
He didn’t hold back, and the boy’s head was knocked to the side. The slap mark on his pale face looked as red as blood.
However, after the pain, some things stubbornly flew out.
Some even splashed onto Gan Tang’s calf.
Sticky, pungent.
Gan Tang’s brain instantly went blank.
So disgusting.
So disgusting, so disgusting, so disgusting, so disgusting—
He nearly picked up the bucket and smashed the thing’s head in front of him. But just then, Cen Zibai, already tearfully prostrated at his feet, tightly wrapped his wet arms around his thighs.
“I’m sorry, wu… I’m sorry, Tang Tang, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t… I won’t dare again…”
“Please don’t be angry; please don’t be angry, wu wu wu wu…”
“I was wrong, I really was wrong, Tang Tang; please don’t be angry.”
…
He looked extremely flustered, crying so hard that the tip of his nose turned red.
When he met Gan Tang’s still incredibly disgusted gaze, his tears flowed even more fiercely. Then, like a real animal, he shamelessly pressed his face directly against Gan Tang’s calf.
He stuck out his tongue and started licking Gan Tang’s leg.
“Clean it up… Don’t be angry, Tang Tang, I’ll clean it up for you…”
The scorching wet tip of his tongue pressed against Tangtang’s skin, even shamelessly trying to sneak inside his shorts.
But Cen Zibai seemed to have no awareness of how disgusting his actions were. He continued sobbing, muttering incoherently.
“Don’t be angry with me…”
Until he was once again kicked into the farthest corner of the bathroom by the stressed-out boy.
“Tang Tang…”
His head hit the wall heavily, making a muffled sound, but he seemed not to feel any pain. Cen Zibai, on all fours, cried as he crawled toward Tangtang again.
“Get lost—” Tangtang shouted angrily, his hand already reaching for the bucket beside him.
At that moment, a hesitant voice came from outside the bathroom.
*
“Tang kid, is that you?”
“What are you doing in the bathroom…?”
