Even though she had already guessed he would compromise, Zhou Jiao's heart still thudded heavily.
The scene before her was simply too overwhelming.
Rationally, she knew she should stay put and wait for Jiang Lian to come to her. The monster's concession had not come easy—if she wandered off, she risked derailing everything and being hunted again.
But she desperately wanted to know: how far would Jiang Lian go to compromise for her?
The thought surged so violently that it buzzed in her skull—a roar of excitement crashing into her brain.
By the time she came to her senses, she had already stepped into the elevator of the nearby building.
Calling it an elevator was generous. It looked more like a cage.
She pressed the button for the top floor. With a metallic screech, the iron gate clanged shut.
As the rickety cage slowly ascended, Zhou Jiao cast a radiant smile toward the hungry eyes staring from all directions.
"Tell him to find me on the rooftop," she said.
The elevator was agonizingly slow—it took a whole minute to crawl its way to the top floor.
The rooftop hadn't been cleaned in who-knows-how-long. Every few steps she kicked away a milk bottle, a pizza box, or a plastic bag. In the distance, a sea of neon holograms flashed across the skyscrapers, dazzling and disorienting.
One particularly garish ad showed an obese man stuffing his mouth with meat, juices dripping down his chin. Bold black letters floated into view:
"Who told you there's no real poultry left in this city?
Chiba Meats: No synthetic meat. No insect patties. Only the truest poultry!"
Obviously fake.
Poultry had long gone extinct. Even if some "real" meat existed, it would never make it to commoners.
Zhou Jiao walked to the edge of the rooftop and plopped down.
From this height, she couldn't really see anything. The slums disappeared from view entirely. All that remained were ads—vivid, grotesque, aggressive.
Advertisements filled every molecule of air. Across from her, a budget motel's guest had just opened their window, only to be blasted by the blinding red and blue flicker of an enormous ad screen. Even closing the window couldn't block the relentless glow.
Maybe it's true—being up high makes you think strange things.
Sitting there, looking down, Zhou Jiao's mind wandered—
Roaring subways. Warped firelight. A broken man.
White sheets draped over silent bodies.
They had all been corporate employees—sacrifices of this city.
She knew she wasn't someone who could change the times.
Don't be fooled by her standing up to Jiang Lian—
In her day job, if her boss told her to stay late, she never once said no.
Over the decades, people had resisted the corporations again and again. But they all vanished, like the person behind the account "When Will BioTech Collapse?"
Maybe she really was at the end of her rope, if she was pinning her hopes on Jiang Lian.
But what could he change?
He was just a monster.
He didn't understand human emotions.
He didn't keep promises.
He could promise not to kill you one second and be crushing your windpipe the next.
—So what could you possibly expect from him?
Then, a cold, deep voice rang out behind her:
"Why are you sitting there?"
Jiang Lian had arrived.
She turned.
He stood not far away, unmoving, his eyes locked on her.
It had been three days. The gold-rimmed glasses on his sharp nose were gone, exposing those narrow, shadowy eyes.
Whether it was the lack of glasses, or the naked aggression in his gaze, Zhou Jiao's scalp tingled. A hot, electric sensation shot up her spine.
She wasn't sure—was it fear?
Excitement?
Or just… her heart racing?
Why was her heart racing?
Because he'd yielded to her?
She swallowed hard, forcing her messy thoughts away. When she looked up again, she saw Jiang Lian staring straight at her throat. As she swallowed, his own throat worked visibly.
Zhou Jiao's heart skipped a beat.
Because she realized—she was affecting him. Powerfully.
And she loved it.
The sense of control, of taming a beast—it was exhilarating.
Then, Jiang Lian spoke again:
"You still haven't told me why you're sitting there."
His voice was freezing. Deadly.
"I promised I wouldn't kill you.
That's the only promise I made.
Even if you threaten me with your life, I won't agree to anything else."
Zhou Jiao couldn't help laughing.
Did he even know what he was saying?
That basically meant:
"Go ahead, threaten me. Whatever it is, I'll agree."
And she hadn't even said a word yet.
Seeing her laugh, Jiang Lian's gaze grew colder, his voice like knives wrapped in frost:
"What are you laughing at?"
Zhou Jiao slid a little closer to the edge—this was the 45th floor, 2.5 meters per level. A true 100-meter fall. Even with her augmented body, she would not survive.
She saw Jiang Lian's face twitch—visibly.
And in the next instant, an eerie, bone-rattling low-frequency hum echoed around her:
"Zhou Jiao, get down from there."
She swore internally—good thing she was mentally prepared.
That weird frequency could scare a normal person into falling.
Did he want her alive, or dead?
But his panic… it was real.
Zhou Jiao closed her eyes and savored the joy rising inside her.
These past days she had lived in fear—on the run, sleepless, switching clothes with strangers, slicing open her palms.
All of that pain…
Gone, in the instant she saw Jiang Lian panic.
Smiling, she said:
"Don't come any closer. One step, and I move one centimeter forward."
His aura dropped like ice. The rooftop surface visibly frosted over.
His voice came, wrapped in chaotic, frenzied static:
"Why should I care if you live or die?"
But he didn't move.
"Whether you die or not—what's it got to do with me?
You really think I'm obsessed with your scent? That's the old Jiang Lian—
the human one."
His gaze was cutting, like he wanted to flay her alive:
"I'm not the least bit interested in your scent.
You can't threaten me."
Zhou Jiao smiled.
"Really?"
She raised her injured hand.
Almost instantly, Jiang Lian's eyes locked on it, cold and feverish.
She tore off the bandage in front of him, tossing it to the ground.
His eyes followed it like it was magnetized—he couldn't stop himself.
It took him several long seconds to tear his gaze away.
So long it looked like invisible threads still connected his eyes to the bandage.
Zhou Jiao tilted her head.
"That's you not being interested?"
She was pushing him.
Hard.
His eyes filled with bloodshot red, each vein writhing like a furious tentacle.
He looked like he might lose control of his form entirely.
He growled:
"What do you want from me?"
Zhou Jiao smiled.
"I want you to back up."
His gaze said he wanted to devour her.
But then, slowly—
he took a step back.
And her heart pounded wildly.
A shiver of pure thrill burst down her spine.
—God, it felt good.
No wonder people liked taming beasts.
Getting a wild thing to submit was a high unlike anything else.
Jiang Lian watched her expression closely.
When he saw her smile in satisfaction, the rage in his eyes surged, and he stepped forward again.
Zhou Jiao instantly dropped the smile and snapped:
"Back off!"
The air froze.
Jiang Lian's voice no longer sounded human:
"You're not going to jump.
You're not that kind of person."
He despised humans.
Found them vile, filthy, pathetic.
Even when intoxicated by her scent, he saw her as a fleeting curiosity.
Hardly worth his attention.
But now—he was trying to analyze her.
Trying to understand her.
A monster, attempting empathy.
It was probably the biggest concession he could make.
But Zhou Jiao asked sweetly, with a wicked twinkle:
"How do you know I'm not that kind of person?"
"Before you showed up, I had a job, a place to live, savings.
I lived a peaceful life just like anyone else.
Then you appeared.
I lost my job.
My home.
My bank account was frozen.
You hunted me like an animal.
I've been under so much pressure...
I dream about jumping off this building."
All lies.
Blatant, shameless lies.
She didn't even try to hide it—her voice was nearly bubbling with delight.
She was so cruel—mocking him with her life, savoring his reaction.
Any creature with pride would've walked away.
Because she wasn't going to jump.
He could smell her will to live—it was overpowering.
More than that, her spirit was unbreakable.
When he'd wrapped his hand around her throat, watched her face turn red and blue, about to die—
She never begged.
Never cried.
Just fought back with everything she had.
It wasn't her words that made him let go.
It was that unyielding look on her face.
In that moment, her scent was so intoxicating, he wanted to bury his face in her skin until his chest collapsed.
Someone like her would never jump.
He had a thousand reasons to believe it—
But still, he didn't dare step forward.
Who knows how long passed—seconds, maybe.
Then finally, Jiang Lian spoke:
"…I won't hunt you anymore.
Whatever kind of life you want—go live it."
Zhou Jiao shook her head. "You're not human. You won't keep your promises. I don't believe you."
Jiang Lian's face twisted instantly, becoming terrifyingly contorted. "Do you believe I won't kill you right now?"
"Alright," Zhou Jiao said softly, as if backing down. "Don't kill me. I'm done playing... come help me down, will you? I've been sitting too long—my legs are numb."
Maybe it was because moving forward felt more natural than retreating, but Jiang Lian didn't even hesitate—he walked straight toward her.
As he passed the bandage she'd thrown aside, his Adam's apple bobbed violently. He even bent down to pick it up.
Zhou Jiao tilted her head and smiled, reaching out her hand toward him.
Jiang Lian grasped her hand roughly, one hand still clutching the bandage.
It had been so long since he'd touched her skin. The instant he felt her palm against his, it was like an electric jolt surged through him—searing, tingling heat shooting straight to his head like a live wire.
Cracks split open along his hand, and from within crawled damp, cold tongues—dozens of them—slithering out to lick and taste her fingers.
Just the taste of her fingers was enough to make his chest swell with a sick, almost sweet satisfaction. That tingling heat spread across every inch of his body, filling even his pores.
The restlessness that had haunted him for so long vanished in an instant, replaced by a hollow, aching emptiness.
Jiang Lian stared at Zhou Jiao, breathing heavily, throat dry. He gripped her hand like a lifeline.
He wanted… to press his lips against hers.
Strangely, the urge to kiss her was stronger than the urge to drink her saliva.
Why?
He kept staring, moving slowly toward her lips.
The closer he got, the tighter his chest felt. The tentacles writhed wildly inside him, frenzied.
His gaze burned with heat—so intense it seemed to scorch holes into her lips just by looking.
Then, Zhou Jiao wrapped her arms around his neck—firmly, tightly.
Jiang Lian froze. A flash of manic joy twisted across his face.
But Zhou Jiao smiled by his ear and whispered, "What do I do? I think I might be going mad."
Jiang Lian's expression shifted subtly. A terrible premonition rose in his chest.
"You're right," she murmured with a soft smile. "I'm not the kind of person who'd give up on life. I dream of surviving, every single day."
"But there's something I have to know. If I don't figure it out, I won't be able to eat, sleep, or even breathe."
She murmured again, "Maybe I am mad."
Jiang Lian's pupils contracted sharply. That same maddening, buzzing hum returned to his voice—chaotic, frenzied, delirious:
"What are you trying to do?"
"Verify something," she said.
Then, she pulled a dagger from her boot and bit off the sheath with her teeth.
Jiang Lian thought she was about to stab him. Instinctively, he let go of her and stepped back—a natural reaction, considering how well he knew her. Stabbing him would've been exactly her style.
But instead, she just smiled at him.
It was a dazzling smile—mesmerizing, radiant, almost too beautiful to bear.
When a woman's allure exists solely for herself, it burns with a brilliance no less blinding than the sun. It sears, it scorches.
She smiled so fiercely—and yet, all he felt was a chill straight from the depths of an icy abyss.
—The next second, she spread her arms and fell backwards, straight off the hundred-meter-high rooftop.
At that exact moment, Jiang Lian's chest split open, and a fleshy tentacle shot out toward her like lightning.
But it was too late.
She was falling too fast.
Maybe, in two more seconds, he could catch her.
But he couldn't risk it.
Without a shred of hesitation, Jiang Lian jumped after her.
Wind howled past them. Neon lights flashed wildly. The glow of holographic ads streaked across her falling face.
In the distance, a train whistled sharply as it sped between skyscrapers—Zhou Jiao was like some modern Icarus, melting and plummeting through a city of steel and neon.
Jiang Lian's gaze never left her, rage burning hotter than ever before.
And then—he caught up to her, wrapped her tightly in his arms, as if trying to pull her into his very bones.
Literally—his upper body split apart, enveloping her within.
But even that wasn't enough.
He was still afraid she'd be hurt in the fall.
Then suddenly—pain.
A sharp, searing pain pierced his heart.
Zhou Jiao had stabbed the dagger straight into it.
If he hadn't opened up to protect her, this crude weapon wouldn't have even scratched the surface of his flesh.
But he was the one who split himself open.
He had placed her right against his heart.
Seconds later, they hit the ground.
Jiang Lian yanked her out of his chest, pinched her chin between his fingers, and forced her to look up at him—his face utterly devoid of emotion.
At the same time, his chest squirmed open, spitting out the dagger—now corroded into a slimy, unrecognizable mess.
The pressure radiating off him was suffocating—so strong even pedestrians across the street shivered.
But Zhou Jiao's smile only grew brighter.
She grabbed his hand, tossed it aside, leaned close to his ear and whispered sweetly:
"Jiang Lian, don't tell me… you've actually fallen for me?"