Moonlight Shines on Me - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“July 15th.”

“001’s exercise duration and intensity have both improved compared to before. I have initially gained his trust, and the situation is stable and trending in a positive direction.”

I set down my pen and looked back toward the full-length mirror by the wardrobe.

Zhou Di had changed into the suit I bought him and was straightening his collar.

Faintly raised veins extended from his wrist down the back of his hand, his fingers long, lean, and strong. When he tugged at his collar, the line of his throat stood out in a distractingly sensual way.

Capable and restrained.

His animal ears looked almost like an added accessory. Paired with the suit, they gave off an intense, ambiguous allure.

My eyes widened slightly.

It was as if he had become a different person. Or perhaps this was the first time I had truly noticed his appearance.

Not as a researcher looking at an experimental sample, but as one person appreciating another.

This scene shouldn’t have been happening in a research room.

It belonged somewhere with floor-to-ceiling windows, a luxury flat, champagne-colored crystal lights, and the faint haze of tipsy alcohol.

I stared for a while before abruptly coming back to myself.

“Buying those clothes was the right call.”

I folded my arms and leaned against the desk.

“But you probably won’t be wearing that today. Warm up first. I’ll take you out for training in a bit.”

It was time for him to pick his hunting skills back up.

And I needed to change out of this damned professional outfit.

He lowered his head obediently, silently indicating that he understood.

Rubbing my leg, I kicked off one high heel.

“…Hm?”

I sat there stiffly.

Zhou Di was half-kneeling on the floor, awkwardly kneading the sole of my foot for me.

Heat shot from the bottom of my foot straight to the top of my skull. For three solid seconds, my entire body went numb.

My heart suddenly slammed hard against my chest.

As if possessed, I copied some overused scene from a drama and lifted my toes to tilt his chin up.

Desire had appeared in those eyes that were usually so empty.

His gaze locked firmly onto me as he lowered his head and kissed my calf.

Even through the thin layer of my stockings, the warm, soft sensation was magnified to the extreme.

I snapped back to my senses as if I’d been electrocuted.

Absurd… This was too absurd.

To actually have thoughts like that toward a research sample.

I hurriedly pulled away and turned my back to him to steady my breathing. “I’m going to change.”

After being shaken off so abruptly, Zhou Di looked very confused.

But right now, I had no attention to spare for his emotions.

Thankfully, he didn’t follow me.

In the reflection on the glass, he stood there, dejected and at a loss.

I sat in the dressing room for a full ten minutes.

In my twenty-five years, my romantic experience could hardly be called extensive.

After all, I was just a researcher. I had never experienced some soul-stirring romance, nor had I stumbled through the kind of pain that broke tendons and shattered bones.

The greatest hardship I’d ever endured was making money and dealing with the idiots at the company.

Most beastmen were gorgeous, but eight out of every ten I’d come into contact with were textbook cases of illness.

Highly destructive, naturally vicious, sickly and frail…

Zhou Di was an exception.

Pathologically docile, with thick psychological barriers, but approachable.

Deadly.

It was precisely this long period of emotional cultivation that had made me lose control.

But it wasn’t too late to rein it in.

I fastened my protective suit tightly and pushed the door open.

“001, let’s go.”

Zhou Di froze for a long moment.

When he didn’t follow, I didn’t urge him either.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

Without looking sideways, I took a full bucket of raw meat from the chilled room and headed toward the rewilding area.

He was already in wolf form. His thick paws stepped heavily forward as he lifted his head and gently bit at my wrist.

Without a change in expression, I avoided him and pointed toward the predation toys among the trees.

“Go practice pouncing and biting. Later, I’ll drive, and you chase. Catch as much of the meat I throw out as you can.”

He stared at me without moving, then suddenly shifted back into human form.

“I don’t want to eat raw meat.”

I was silent for a moment. “You’re a hunting-type beastman. This is the food most suited to you.”

He knelt on the ground and looked up at me, his voice low. “If I eat raw meat, will it scare you?”

So that was what he was worried about?

In the past, most of the beastmen raised in the research institute lost all reason once they saw blood.

Having grown used to him in human form, I truly couldn’t imagine his beastly habit of tearing into raw flesh and blood.

“Don’t worry about whether it scares me or not. Right now, you don’t know how to hunt, which means you can’t protect yourself. If one day I’m not around and someone tries to capture you again, what will you do?”

I hesitated for a few seconds, then pressed my palm to his face and rubbed soothingly.

“All right. Go on.”

In the end, he obeyed, his figure vanishing into the trees.

I sat on the observation platform and watched as he clumsily rubbed against trees to sharpen his claws, then practiced pouncing and biting at the imitation prey over and over again.

His running posture grew more and more relaxed, and every roar carried a surge of wildness.

So in truth, he was still more beast than man, wasn’t he?

Between humans and beastmen, there really was a barrier.

I couldn’t quite describe what I was feeling.

Perhaps regret. Perhaps relief.

Relief that I could convince myself not to imagine anything more.

In the distance, Zhou Di had already stopped pouncing and biting.

I picked up the bucket of fresh meat, got into the off-road vehicle, and waved to him.

He followed tightly behind the car, every stride lithe and powerful.

I tossed the chunk of meat out the car window and watched him in the rearview mirror.

He caught it, but he didn’t bite into it.

Probably because it had been so long since he’d last left his rearing pod, his stamina gave out quickly, and he gradually fell behind.

I hit the brakes and stopped, then walked over to him.

“You did very well.”

I cupped his face in both hands and smoothed down his fur.

“What a beauty. You’re even prettier when you run. Keeping you locked up in the research institute all these years was such a waste.”

Still, if we kept training like this, he would be able to return to his own territory soon.

Then he wouldn’t have to stay in the rearing pod anymore.

His wolf form slowly faded, turning back into his human shape.

A faint sheen of sweat dotted the tip of his nose. Exhausted, he rested his chin on my shoulder, his short, quick breaths brushing against me.

They were hot, stirring up a ticklish sensation.

My smile froze for a moment, but in the end, I didn’t push him away.

He didn’t notice my expression. Puzzled, he asked, “Why did you call me a beauty? I’m not a girl.”

That pale face, long deprived of sunlight, had flushed from the exercise, giving the illusion of being tipsy and breathless.

Of course he was a beauty.

Strong, restrained, loyal.

A beautiful wolfdog, aloof yet obedient.

He had lived in a specially designed rearing room since he was a cub, isolated from the outside world.

Expecting him to understand the hidden meanings behind such words was asking too much of him.

“Mm…”

I averted my gaze and said, “Anyway, it means I’m praising you.”

He thought about it seriously for a while. He didn’t understand, but he accepted it. “Okay. Thank you.”

The summer dusk was unbearably hot.

I sat with him in the shade until the blue hour of night arrived.

A crescent moon hooked itself along the horizon.

I shrugged and told him to get up.

“Come on. Let’s play something fun.”

Zhou Di had no idea what I meant, but he stood up with me.

I connected the prosthetic exoskeleton, added a protective layer over my skin, and finished the adjustments.

His eyes lit up as he watched my body suddenly become lithe and agile.

“What is that?” he asked.

Satisfied with his reaction, I explained, “A prosthetic exoskeleton. Wearing this lets me reach the same speed as deer-type beastmen. I’ll hold the meat, and you hunt me down. Don’t worry about hurting me. I’ve got protection.”

He nodded, eager to try.

I grinned, and while he was off guard, I slipped into the night.

His expression sharpened in an instant. He came after me at full speed, staying right on my heels.

It was like he was giving it everything he had, and yet also like he was playing with me.

When I sped up, he sped up. When I slowed down, he slowed down.

God help me, even with the exoskeleton, I still got tired.

I fixed the meat to my shoulder and shamelessly cheated.

I climbed up onto a tree branch.

After all, wolves couldn’t climb trees, but I could.

Zhou Di stopped beneath the tree, panting lightly. He seemed to be laughing.

I had never seen him smile before, and without realizing it, my voice softened. “Having fun?”

He looked up at me, shifted back into human form in a flash, and leapt up beside me in just a few easy movements.

Right. He was a beastman, but he was also human.

Now I was the clown.

I burst out laughing.

He sat beside me, awkwardly searching for the right words.

“I’m very happy. When you wear that, it’s like you’re the same as me.”

Under the moonlight, a faint ripple seemed to stir in his dead-still eyes, shimmering across the surface.

I didn’t answer. I jumped down from the tree and patted the meat on my shoulder.

“It’s not over yet. It only ends when you eat this piece of meat!”

Before I could take off running, he seemed unwilling to drag things out any longer. With one easy spring, he pounced at me with startling speed.

I fell into the waves of grass. With the exoskeleton protecting me, it felt as if I’d plunged into rippling water.

A heavy wolf paw pressed against my shoulder, soft and weighty.

The chunk of meat that marked his victory was pinned to the side of my shoulder, close enough to touch.

But he didn’t bite it. As if he had made up his mind, he lowered his head and nuzzled my face. Then, raw and bashful, he let out a soft call:

“Keke, I… I think you’re wonderful, like the moon.”

His lips brushed the corner of my mouth, light as a dragonfly skimming water.

Once again, I saw those intense feelings clearly.

And not just his. They reflected my own despicable thoughts back at me.

I pushed him away at once.

What was this supposed to be?

A researcher and an experimental subject were like a teacher and a student, an instructor and a trainee, a doctor and a patient. There was an absolute hierarchy between us.

People trapped in difficult circumstances would instinctively submit to those above them.

Developing feelings for him in our current positions would be no different from an abuse of power.

I couldn’t.

After being rejected again and again, his expression clouded with shame and confusion. His breathing and his knuckles trembled uncontrollably.

In the end, he didn’t keep pushing.

I stood and slowly brushed the dirt from my body.

“Zhou Di.”

I paused, trying my best not to hurt him.

“Right now, you need my help, so you’ve developed a certain dependence on me. That’s normal, but it isn’t love. Once you return to a normal life, you’ll break free from these emotions.”

He stood there in silence, his expression unreadable.

I didn’t dare look at him any longer. As if fleeing, I turned my back on him. “Let’s go. It’s time for you to return to the rearing pod.”