Shou-Switching System Has Been Bound - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Scent of Flesh

 

The desperately resisting Qi Youli suddenly went still, his pupils trembling violently. If his senses were correct and if he wasn’t going crazy, then this guy was currently licking his neck.

 

He was momentarily dazed.

 

Weren’t we just fighting? We weren’t “doing it,” right?

 

Then why the hell is he licking me!

 

Qi Youli was now questioning the world, questioning himself, his mind filled with: Who am I? Where am I? What is happening?

 

The licking tongue brushed against his earlobe, and a wave of hot, unreasonable breath swept over him. It tunneled from his ear into his body, scalding him and causing an uncontrollable shiver, finally forcing him to face reality.

 

Fck! This pervert!

 

“Get the f*ck off me…” he cursed in a low, panicked voice. His tone was wavering. When he slept with people, he just “did it”; he didn’t do kissing, he mostly just held the other person at best, and he didn’t like others touching his body because he was extremely sensitive.

 

His neck, ears, chest, and waist were all sensitive areas. He didn’t want to be a “0” who trembled the moment he was touched that would be too embarrassing.

 

But the hands restraining him now were like iron pincers. The older man’s large frame completely pinned him down; this was no light “0” he could easily toss aside.

 

“You perverted son of a b*tch!”

 

Qi Youli cursed and struggled, his voice was already lowered for fear of alerting the neighbors and growing trendier at the end.

 

The flesh on his neck felt like it was about to melt. Ji Lianyi could even feel the pulse in the boy’s jugular through his tongue, thrumming rapidly…

 

It made his own gums ache with an itch.

 

Saliva welled up uncontrollably. His nose was buried in the flesh of the neck. How could he describe the scent? Meat. A pure, primal scent of flesh that hooked one’s deepest desires.

 

It whetted his appetite, leaving him feeling ravenously hungry.

 

A bead of sweat slid from Qi Youli’s hairline and landed on the tip of Ji Lianyi’s nose. The fragrance was magnified to the extreme; his eyes went glazed.

 

Want to eat him. Want to eat! Want to eat! Want to eat! WANT TO EAT!!!

 

His heavy breathing repeatedly scalded Qi Youli’s neck, turning that half of the boy’s body numb. His struggling strength gradually weakened.

 

The younger man’s face was flushed with shame and annoyance at this helpless resistance. He no longer looked fierce; his eyes were shimmering with moisture from the heat of Ji Lianyi’s breath.

 

“You have a—”

 

Before the word “disease” could leave his mouth, Ji Lianyi completely lost control. He retracted his tongue and bit down hard. Almost no human reason remained in those light-colored eyes. He bit straight through the skin and flesh. The metallic taste of blood instantly filled his mouth, a rush so intense his soul nearly left his body.

 

The grip on Qi Youli’s hands tightened further, as if he might crush the bones.

 

Qi Youli hissed in pain. This was the first time he’d encountered someone who bit during a fight. This was too humiliating how was this any different from pulling hair?

 

As a gay man, his thoughts at this moment were exceptionally “straight.”

 

Images of wild beasts clamping down on prey in a nature documentary flashed through his mind, except he was the prey that had been turned into a toy, unable to resist.

 

He could actually feel his blood being sucked out. The sensation made him shudder. Consequently, he failed to notice that a “loaded gun” had already been pressed against him. Aiming right at him.

 

He shifted his gaze toward his hand pinned against the wall, his fist still clutching the keys he could use as a weapon. If he just had one chance—

 

White teeth sank into flesh, stained crimson. The suction was to get more blood to quench a thirst, to fill a stomach.

 

Ji Lianyi was like a child tasting milk for the first time greedy and reckless. Gulp after gulp of blood mixed with saliva was swallowed eagerly. He wanted nothing more than to embed his entire being into Qi Youli.

 

His state could be described in two words: Out of Control.

 

Qi Youli, finally thinking about how to counter-attack, noticed the audible glug-glug of swallowing.

 

Swallowing? Swallowing what?

 

He blinked blankly. Sensation finally caught up to his stalled brain, and he realized that for all this time, Ji Lianyi had been sucking blood from his wound!

 

His brain short-circuited for a second.

 

Fear is an uncontrollable human instinct. At the moment he realized the truth, it was like a rising darkness swallowing him whole, leaving him ice-cold.

 

In front of the quiet, unlit elevator, only the sound of swallowing continued to echo. It was as if the thing behind him wasn’t a person, or even a beast, but something uncanny!

 

For a moment, Qi Youli even forgot to resist. In his peripheral vision, the head buried in his shoulder was darker than the shadows. He was going to be eaten—in the literal, physical sense.

 

His pupils dilated silently.

 

Ji Lianyi lifted his gaze to look at the no-longer-struggling Qi Youli, swallowing the blood in his mouth. But it wasn’t as satisfying as it had been at first.

 

Because the “puppy” wasn’t resisting or struggling.

 

If the boy was just a lump of dead meat letting him do as he pleased, he could have gone to the raw meat section of a supermarket instead of coming here. Had he held him too tight? Had the boy given up hope of resisting?

 

So, he loosened his grip slightly.

 

The fireworks outside erupted again.

 

The moment his vision returned, Qi Youli violently threw off Ji Lianyi’s hand and slammed his body backward with all his might.

 

With a smack, Ji Lianyi’s hand was flung against the wall, the back of it turning red. Yet he felt nothing. He stepped back, the corners of his mouth curling up in satisfaction.

 

Qi Youli turned around as fast as possible to create distance, his gaze landing on Ji Lianyi’s thin lips, which were smeared with blood.

 

That’s my blood!

 

That handsome, refined face looked eerie because of that splash of vivid color. For a split second, Qi Youli actually felt an urge to retreat.

 

Ji Lianyi stared straight at him. Droplets of blood slid from the wound on the back of the boy’s neck, staining his collar. Ji Lianyi felt it was a pity; once it got into the clothes, it wouldn’t be easy to suck out. A waste.

 

He thought this as he walked toward Qi Youli. How long could the puppy resist this time?

 

The desire in his eyes was almost tangible. The pressure forced Qi Youli to take an involuntary step back, his hand clutching the keys making a cracking sound.

 

Ji Lianyi, however, froze for a moment. Seeing the flash of terror on Qi Youli’s face and the taste of blood in his mouth reminded him of what he had just done. The “human” colors in his eyes began to wake up.

 

Qi Youli, realizing he was shrinking back, was overcome by a fit of rage and swung his fist at Ji Lianyi again. Fiercer than before.

 

Ji Lianyi suddenly gave no reaction to the attack. He seemed trapped in his own world. He took a punch to the cheekbone from Qi Youli, staggering against the wall.

 

Qi Youli’s eyes showed doubt, but that didn’t stop him from continuing the assault.

 

Ji Lianyi now radiated a heavy exhaustion, looking like a completely different person from a moment ago and different from his usual self. He raised a hand, not to strike back, but to knock on the neighbor’s door.

 

Qi Youli: Fck!

 

He glanced at the neighbor’s door, stopped his attack, and turned to run toward his own entrance. He didn’t want to have to endure the judging stares of those neighbors every time he left or came home, and he certainly didn’t want to become the talk of the neighborhood group chat.

 

Two men fighting outside in the middle of the night, with one biting the other’s neck—he didn’t even want to imagine how many versions of that story would spread.

 

The door opened, and a sleepy man poked his head out. Forget a person; he didn’t even see a ghost.

 

In the stairwell, Ji Lianyi’s frame swayed as he walked down step by step, like a lost soul leaving behind a masterless body to move aimlessly.

 

Taking another step down, he grabbed the railing at the turn and stopped. His tall, straight back slowly bent, as if crushed by something. In the darkness, he was a man abandoned by the light.

 

He suddenly slammed his fist against the railing, the skin breaking and drawing blood. Every drop of falling blood was his resistance, his struggle, his silent scream toward the light… A cry for help.

 

Ji Lianyi hurriedly raised his hand to wipe his mouth, trying to remove every trace of blood. But the more he wiped, the clearer the taste of blood hidden between his teeth became.

 

At a certain point, Ji Lianyi unconsciously stopped wiping. Instead, he pressed his hand to his nose, inhaling deeply the scent of the blood he had just wiped off. Intoxicated, his features relaxed.

 

Then, realizing what he was doing, cracks appeared on his usually expressionless face. He staggered back until he hit the wall, collapsing to the floor like a mountain crumbling.

 

With no further movement, the motion-sensor light didn’t trigger again. He was left forever trapped in this patch of darkness.

 

“F*ck!”

 

“Sicko! Psycho! Lunatic!”

 

Qi Youli cursed through gritted teeth, but he refrained from smashing things to vent his frustration, afraid of scaring the little dog that was watching him blankly.

 

His neck hurt like hell and was still bleeding. He stood before the mirror, tending to the wound. Biting is one thing, but sucking blood? Does he think I’m a drink or does he think he’s some kind of vampire!

 

“That old pervert!”

 

Since the bite was on the back of his neck, he couldn’t see it; he could only fumble around based on feel. Too bad my blood isn’t poisonous, otherwise I’d have killed him!

 

He left the bathroom in a huff and picked up his phone.

 

In the stairwell, quiet as a tomb, the phone in the pocket of the man huddled in the corner vibrated. Those eyes, filled with dead silence and emptiness, flickered slightly. Like a corpse being startled awake.

 

Ji Lianyi stiffly took out his phone.

 

Puppy: “You big idiot!”

 

Puppy: “We are enemies for life! Why the hell did you bite me! Are you a dog?! Is there something wrong with your head? Wait, no, you definitely are sick!”

 

60-second voice messages were sent one after another. Noisy, full of life. By the end, his voice was hoarse from yelling.

 

Ji Lianyi clicked on the latest one, which was only 3 seconds long. “Why don’t you just go die.”

 

The hoarse voice sounded exhausted after the tirade. Qi Youli had finished his rant; he was tired and had nothing left to say, so he was about to put the phone down.

 

Unexpectedly, the other party replied. And it was a voice message!

 

He clicked it curiously. Let’s see what kind of crap this pervert has to say.

 

The other man’s voice was as deep as a pool of stagnant water. He asked calmly: “Do you want me to die?”

 

The phrase “Hurry up and die” was on the tip of his tongue. Then he reconsidered that wouldn’t do. If he died, how could he get revenge?

 

He pressed the screen: “No, I want you to live.”

 

Ji Lianyi’s drooping eyelids slowly lifted. In the darkness, there seemed to be a glimmer of light.

 

Qi Youli continued: “I want you to live a long, long life, so that I can take my revenge and torture you for a long, long time. Mark my words, I’m not done with you!”

 

He was exhausted today too, working like a horse at the shop during the day, then getting tormented by a perverted Uncle at night. Cursing took a lot of energy. He dragged his slippers back to the bedroom to sleep.

 

At the entrance, the tall figure stood silently, his bent back straightening once more. He stared unblinkingly at the peephole on the door, as if he could see the person sleeping soundly inside through the lens.