Chapter 550: Teammates

    Not far away, Gu Luoxin’s knees couldn’t help but become soft when he heard that question.

    Damn it, Jin Jiuchi looked hella scary like this— a madman through and through! But still, Gu Luoxin was unwilling to prove the man right – after all, that was his teammate! – so he gritted his teeth, puffed up his chest and kept his chin held high, as though countering defiantly, ’Who’s afraid of whom?!’

    On the contrary, Shen Nianzu’s gaze never wavered. His eyelids did not even so much as twitch as he cast a disdainful gaze over, as though Jin Jiuchi’s question was completely beneath him. "Am I the same as them?" he shot back in a matter-of-fact tone, looking as lovely and arrogant as ever.

    Meeting Jin Jiuchi’s eyes which grew brighter and brighter, his petal lips curved into a smirk as he mimicked the man’s playful tone, drawling, "I don’t need others to tell me you’re a lunatic, I already know that since day one. Besides..." a flicker of amusement danced in his pale purple eyes as he admitted with all honesty, "To like you this much even after all that, I must be insane as— oof!" Shen Nianzu nearly bit his tongue when he was abruptly tackled to the ground by a heated body that reeked heavily of blood.

    He wheezed, feeling as if all the air had been punched out of his lungs. "Y–You—"

    "Nian’er, I like you too— no, I love you! I’m so in love with you!"

    Jin Jiuchi exclaimed, almost trembling in excitement from how giddy and elated he was.

    The invisible tension seemed to dissipate with the return of Jin Jiuchi’s silly and dramatic self. On the other hand, Shen Nianzu’s face almost turned blue from suffocation. "Get... off me! Ugh!" he pressed his hands against Jin Jiuchi’s chest, trying and failing to push the man away. "Fuck, are you trying to squeeze me to death?!"

    Jin Jiuchi hummed happily as he nuzzled his face on the crook of Shen Nianzu’s neck, sniffing his beloved’s scent to his heart’s content. "But Nian’er... you said you like me! You’re not afraid of me! Well, even if you were, I would just devour you into my stomach so you wouldn’t be able to leave me— bones and all." The last sentence was spoken in a soft murmur, almost as an afterthought, but due to their proximity, Shen Nianzu heard it loud and clear.

    This madman really did plan to eat him if he had offered a wrong or unsatisfactory answer earlier.

    Shen Nianzu: "..."

    Disturbed.

    After a moment of silence, he allowed his body to fall back to the ground, his limbs spread out with a sense of powerlessness. The full weight of Jin Jiuchi’s head on his chest still made him feel smothered, and the pungent stench of blood assaulted his nostrils, twisting his stomach into knots with the lingering urge to retch, yet as he stared at the dense crimson canopy above, his lips faintly quirked into a smile.

    He glanced down at the top of Jin Jiuchi’s head and asked in a mixture of fondness and disgust, "Have you had enough?"

    "Nop–e!" Jin Jiuchi tightened his arms around him as though afraid he would slip away, smothering him further. "Nian’er, do you think I’ll ever have enough of you?" he countered with his own question.

    Before Shen Nianzu could open his mouth to reply, Gu Luoxin’s urgent cry rang out, "Hey, watch out!"

    Unbeknownst to them, the scarlet trees began to stir restlessly once more, their thick and sharp vines surging and lashing at Jin Jiuchi’s unsuspecting back.

    The effect of the skull necklace had worn off!

    Gu Luoxin’s cyan kingkong appeared in time to intercept the vines just as Jin Jiuchi leapt away with his jade doll cradled in one arm, like a child who just had his hands on his most favorite toy and could not bear to put it down even for a second.

    Jin Jiuchi took a second glance at the giant kingkong and unexpectedly met Gu Luoxin’s eyes in midair. The young man seemed to resist the urge to shrink back, the line of his body tense as he clung to the tips of his kingkong’s fleshy fingers for emotional support.

    "Just so you know," he widened his eyes in an awkward attempt at glaring, his tone stiff. "I am not afraid of you!"

    Perhaps realizing how unreliable that sounded, he begrudgingly corrected, "Okay, maybe I’m a little afraid— just a little, though! Who told you to torture that player in such a cruel and bloody way?! I know he deserves to die, but... but my courage isn’t even that big to begin with! Anyway, I just want to say no matter what you do, you will always be my teammate, Da Shen!" he blurted out everything he wanted to say in a single breath, leaving him gasping for air afterwards.

    Jin Jiuchi was stunned for a moment before his face broke into a radiant beam. "Okay!"

    Despite their towering build, the scarlet trees moved in a surprisingly agile fashion. Within the span of one breath, they assembled into a dense army, making strange hissing sounds from the high frequency rustles of their leaves. It was a terribly intimidating sight.

    Once again, the four of them stood back-to-back to fend off the vines, with Shen Nianzu still nestled in Jin Jiuchi’s arms. Several times Jin Jiuchi was almost caught because he could not fully utilize both hands, barely escaping by a hair’s breadth with fluid, extremely acrobatic maneuver.

    "Put me down, you damned husky!" Shen Nianzu was tossed around so much that he nearly hurled. He wanted to yank on the man’s hair in admonishment but stopped when he noticed it damp and sticky with blood. He dared not struggle either for fear he would affect Jin Jiuchi’s focus, which would lead to their instant deaths. He could only complain with his mouth, but how could that be enough to deter Jin Jiuchi?

    With a delightful guffaw, Jin Jiuchi leapt across tree branches and somersaulted twice in the air before rolling on the ground. He agilely jumped to his feet and continued running without a pause. "Hold on tight, Nian’er! Don’t worry, I will not drop you!"

    Shen Nianzu almost vomited blood due to anger. Am I worried about that?!

    However, Jin Jiuchi also realized that he could not keep this up in the long run. Somehow, the scarlet trees seemed to have sensed that their time was running out and grew increasingly fierce with each passing second. They even learned to cooperate with each other, setting up a few traps here and there to capture Jin Jiuchi!

    Jin Jiuchi wouldn’t have bothered with their cunning tricks if he was fighting alone, but he had his Nian’er in his arms. His pretty, dauntless, and lovely little Nian’er. He would cry a river of tears if the jade doll were to get even a single thin scratch! For that reason, Jin Jiuchi once again set his sight on Noir— or to be exact, the black cat perched on his shoulder.

    Between letting go of his beloved or making use of the nearby available resource, did it need to be mentioned which one he would choose?