The Echo Between Xu and Ye - Chapter 1

【Get over here. Boss has gone crazy again.】

The message arrived while I was waiting outside to collect supplies.

My stomach had been off for days, and I was hoping luck might land me some medicine. The medicine never came. Instead, someone seized me by the back of the collar and hauled me out of line.

“What are you dawdling for?”

I looked up. It was one of Zhong Mingye’s men, a fire-ability user. He dragged me impatiently toward the central building.

“Boss’s frenzy came on suddenly this time,” he muttered as we walked. “Be careful in there…”

At the door, he slipped something into my pocket.

“Don’t get sick.”

He left at once, his tone stiff with embarrassment.

The sharp corner of the box pressed into my palm. Heat rushed into my face.

【Why is the cannon fodder blushing? Everyone knows what you and the villain do. The villain’s the only idiot who thinks it’s a dream and mistakes you for the protagonist bottom.】

【Right. Those are to stop the cannon fodder from getting pregnant. The villain only wants his darling to bear his babies.】

【The villain entered this frenzy because he was looking for something important. He used his ability to wipe out a whole city’s zombies—and that thing is for our darling, too.】

The bite marks the man had left high on my thigh two days ago still throbbed faintly.

Every word before my eyes reminded me of the same thing: I had mistaken convenience for affection.

I froze.

The door opened the next instant. A powerful arm shot out of the dark room, knuckles prominent and veins standing beneath the skin. Before I could react, it yanked me inside.

“Hey—wait…”

Darkness swallowed me.

【Oh my god, he’s like some damp, brooding ghost… Why did nobody tell me the cannon fodder and villain had this kind of chemistry? Don’t mind me, just passing by with my bowl and chopsticks.】

【No shipping them! The villain must love the darling protagonist. No deviations!】

【Didn’t I pay for this? Why can’t I see anything? One-star review!】

【Villain, cannon fodder—who cares? Eat whatever’s served. The moment that door closes, all magic dies!】

The instant the door shut, every comment vanished.

I was still wondering what magic they meant when someone pinned me down. The man bent over me and pressed his forehead to my collarbone. His skin was so hot that I flinched away, but his arm locked around my waist and gave me nowhere to go.

“I haven’t showered yet.”

The bases followed the law of the strong. The more powerful your ability, the more resources you received. An ordinary person like me was lucky just to eat.

Clean hot water was a fantasy.

But ever since I had climbed into Zhong Mingye’s bed, I had gotten more than hot showers. Even my meat was fresh.

He licked and bit at my collarbone, worrying the skin with sharp teeth. His voice came muffled and ravenous.

“Fine. Three minutes.”

Dear heavens. What could anyone accomplish in three minutes?

I spread all five fingers and bargained. “Five minutes. Please?”

He went silent, pinched my chin, and stopped my mouth with his.

“No shower.”

I panicked. “Three minutes! Three is fine!”

After a blissfully hot shower, I had not even managed to dress when vines slipped into the bathroom, shackled my ankles, and dragged me onto the bed.

Zhong Mingye was Base A’s strongest ability user. His quarters occupied an entire floor, with a huge black bed at its center. Vines curled around its four corners and bound my wrists and ankles tight, leaving me entirely at his mercy.

A black cloth covered his eyes.

Even blind, he found every sensitive place with unerring precision.

“Zhong Mingye…”

I ground out his name and twisted away. It was useless. One broad palm subdued every struggle with ease.

“What did I tell you to call me? Hmm?”

Humiliation burned through me. My eyes stung, and I bit my damp lower lip.

After a long while, I whispered, barely louder than a mosquito, “B-Brother… slower, please?”

The room fell silent.

Then rough breathing tangled in the air, and the darkness quickly turned feverish.