Chapter 77.1

Have You Seen the Dragon’s Human Form? (1)

At night.

Shi An’s brow was furrowed as he sat on the edge of the bed in deep thought.

The air was tranquil, with a touch of tenseness.

Finally, after a long time, the demon insect slowly spoke. “So, my lord… you failed?”

Shi An nodded slowly.

“?”

The three demonic creatures in front of him looked at each other.

“Why?” The demon insect asked in great confusion.

Shi An: “…”

I want to know too!

Although the three demonic creatures were still at odds with each other, they were united in fighting when facing an external enemy.

The Eye asked, “That… how did you propose wanting to keep a distance?”

Shi An told them exactly what had happened earlier.

The three demonic creatures fell into silence in unison.

The demon insect: “…”

True. It suggested a random reason to indicate how the two men were unsuitable and how Shi An did not like his clothes…

But was too casual!

Anyone would think that was a joke!

The Eye glared hatefully at the demon insect on the side. “Look at your bad plan!”

The demon insect was pissed off and fought him furiously. “What do you mean? As if you made any good suggestions! To burn Mu Heng? Why don’t you give it a try?”

The two demonic creatures fought together again.

Black Smoke sighed wearily as he looked at his two unreliable companions.

So tiring. Let them destroy each other.

Shi An shouted, “… Be more serious!”

With Shi An giving the word, the two demonic creatures reluctantly stopped fighting.

The demon insect took a deep breath and slowly said, “T-This time, it was indeed my mistake, not explaining in regard to what others might think is a random reason… but what happened next? Have you mentioned it again later?”

After all, that happened just after Shi An had come downstairs, but he had left for a long time. Had it not occurred to Shi An to bring the subject up again during the time he was out?

Shi An was deep in thought.

After a long time, he opened his mouth with shame. “… No.”

The three demonic creatures: “?”

The Eye was heartbroken and cried out, “M-My lord! Could it be that you genuinely have feelings for this human? Huhuhuhu!”

Shi An got a headache from all the noise. “Shut up.”

The Eye burped and looked over with tears in its eyes.

Shi An thought for a moment, his voice getting smaller. “… It’s just that I truly forgot about it.”

Even now, Shi An still felt puzzled when he thought about it. It seemed that every time he thought about mentioning it, he was constantly distracted by something else. At last… he had forgotten about it altogether.

The Eye said conclusively, “That human must have done it on purpose!”

It glared viciously as if it wanted to pierce the human with its gaze from a distance. “He must have had bad intentions for my lord since long ago!”

“Do you also know about this?”

The demon insect sneered. “Before speaking of others, why don’t you look at yourself first? You’re also not a good thing.”

The two demonic creatures wrestled together again.

Black Smoke had long been used to this.

It floated over and landed in front of Shi An, giving him an idea. “In my opinion, you can think of what the other person hates, then walk in that direction. Rather than let my lord say this thing, why don’t you let the other party initiate it first? Am I right?”

Shi An thought about it.

Mm, that seemed to make sense!

He nodded solemnly. “Right!”

***

When he got home, Shi Rui held the toilet and vomited.

Although there wasn’t a single wound on his body, the phantom pain he had experienced earlier in the simulation remained as though it was still writhing under his skin.

He wiped his mouth, lifted his head weakly, and walked to the sink.

The mirror showed a contorted face covered in snot and tears, his eyes red and bloodshot, no longer the disguised composure they once were. He squeezed his fingers together in a death grip, staring into his own sinister eyes reflected in the mirror.

Though there was no proof, Shi Rui knew it.

It had to be Shi An.

It couldn’t be anyone else.

Shi Rui washed his face and dragged himself out of the bathroom on two legs.

He fished a communicator out from under his bed.

A man whose face was obscured by shadows appeared on the screen and a voice processed by a voice changer came through. “Have you gotten the items?”

Shi Rui took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“Okay.” The man on the other side said, “We will send someone to take it.”

“Still the same method.”

“… Okay.”

Shi Rui gritted his teeth.

This wasn’t the first time.

The first time the other man had initiated contact with him, the man on the other side of the communicator had asked Shi Rui a question.

“Do you want to change your current situation?”

Shi Rui grasped at the straw that was held out to him.

The next day, he was picked up by the Shi family and transformed from a poor, penniless, illegitimate son who didn’t know who his biological father was into the second young master of the Shi family and perhaps even the future heir to the Shi family.

If it weren’t for the other side, Shi Rui might never have passed the Ability Academy test.

He might have always been the bastard struggling in extreme poverty.

The taste of ascending to the top in one step was too good to be true.

The kind of taste that could never be forgotten after just a single try.

That day at the Shi family dinner, Shi Rui had brought in the man with the Abyssal seed in his body.

He didn’t know who the man was or the purpose. All Shi Rui knew was that if he did as he was told, the opposite side would continue to help him.

As long as the current position could be maintained, Shi Rui was willing to pay any price.

So, after discovering that Shi An was not the loser he initially thought he was, Shi Rui became genuinely panicked.

He began to ask for help from the other side more and more frequently.

Whether it was collecting the insect corpses that had invaded the Shi family banquet and cultivating them unnoticed before releasing them into the simulation field or the small sachet that could attract demons and the poisoned gem he kept on Shi An’s bed…