Slaughterhouse Master
The moment that familiar scent swept over and wrapped around him, Lu Congxing instantly knew who it was. Once he heard the voice, he stopped resisting entirely and let himself relax.
He turned over to face the man who was still burning with fury, and the distance between them closed to the point where just a small movement forward would be enough to kiss.
He Zhouyan paused slightly. His anger wasn’t directed at Lu Congxing, but at the realm that had placed the cub in danger. Still, the moment he saw those round eyes brimming with a hint of a smile, the killing intent in his own gaze disappeared, hidden away in an instant.
His icy-blue vertical pupils still carried a lingering chill.
A gaze that would make anyone else shudder in fear—but Lu Congxing seemed completely unaffected. He naturally reached out and patted the guardian demon on the head.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
He Zhouyan lowered his head carefully and buried it into the pale skin of Lu Congxing’s neck, sniffing lightly as if checking to make sure the cub wasn’t hurt.
The warm breath brushing against his skin sent a shiver through him. Lu Congxing’s expression began to shift into something unnatural, and before things could get weirder, he quickly stopped He Zhouyan from continuing further down.
With a gentle tug of his hair, the man was forced to stop his sniffing. His expression turned into that of a large dog that had just been abandoned—grievance written all over his face. For a second, Lu Congxing actually felt like he had done something wrong.
Clearing his throat, he quickly brought the conversation back on track. “How did you get in here?”
In truth, he had a lot of questions—like why He Zhouyan had suddenly become the new master of the slaughterhouse—but the man seemed a bit out of it, clearly still caught up in his own thoughts.
There was a desire thick enough to suffocate rolling behind his eyes, only to vanish in a flash—as if the intense moment just now had all been a figment of Lu Congxing’s imagination.
He Zhouyan stared at the boy beneath him. His eyes were hazy, almost tipsy, and the collar of his shirt had been tugged open from earlier, exposing his delicate collarbones—tempting enough to make someone want to leave a deep mark there.
He had to shift his position slightly to hide his own reaction before answering the cub’s question.
“I got home and saw you sleeping on the sofa. When I tried to carry you to bed, I realized something was wrong.”
As he spoke, the murderous glint nearly returned to his eyes, but the moment he met the cub’s clear gaze, it was suppressed again—like a beast cloaked in the skin of a gentleman. His voice dropped into a low, seductive tone as he continued, “So I tore open a crack in space and came through. Since I’m an outsider, it caused a bit of a commotion and attracted the attention of the slaughterhouse’s master.”
“Then we fought. Now I’m the owner of this place—the so-called master.”
He’d only taken half an hour to break into the illusionary realm and defeat its previous master, but in front of the cub, he made it sound casual and effortless.
Suddenly, he let out a low, amused chuckle. Pressing his fingertip lightly against the pulsing artery in the cub’s neck, he felt the steady, vibrant beat. His voice was hoarse as he said, “Come to think of it, I guess the butchers outside offered you up to me.”
As he spoke, his fingertips slowly wandered, as if measuring where best to start with this delicious little prey.
There it was again—that strange feeling.
Lu Congxing’s eyes remained open, but he was beginning to feel dazed. Every place that had been lightly touched seemed to burn and tingle at the same time.
He let out a couple of soft hums and reached out to gently push the man away.
He Zhouyan’s gaze swept greedily over his moist eyes, almost tangible in its intensity. But the moment he realized he’d been caught, he obediently followed the cub’s soft resistance and sat up.
Even so, his broad hand remained lightly resting on the back of the cub’s neck, gently stroking it.
Instinctively sensing danger, Lu Congxing tactfully skipped over the whole ‘sacrifice’ topic. Sitting upright, he tried to cool the heat that still lingered on his skin, his cheeks flushed red. “There are others who got dragged into this place like me. If we leave them alone, something bad could happen.”
He Zhouyan’s eyes flickered as he looked at the cub, sighing inwardly—So cute.
But there were still things out there trying to put the cub in danger. They had to be eliminated.
He let out a noncommittal hum and used his spiritual energy to forcibly suppress his own reaction. Only after making sure there were no traces left for the cub to see did he finally get up.
The man extended a hand toward him, smiling gently. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to find them.”
All his desire was tucked neatly behind that handsome face.
Sure enough, the cub—who had been vaguely aware of something earlier—dumbly placed his hand in the man’s.
His mind was still preoccupied with worrying about the people outside, completely missing the intense possessiveness gleaming in the guardian demon’s eyes.
The dog-headed butcher was still guarding the door. It perked up with excitement when the door swung open, but what it hadn’t expected was for the piece of meat it had just sent in earlier to walk back out—completely unharmed.
And what’s more, he was walking beside the slaughterhouse’s new master—a figure whose cruelty had been witnessed firsthand by every butcher here.
The man had defeated the former master right in front of all of them.
Now he strolled out casually, with a small tail quietly following behind him. That little tail even noticed the dog-headed butcher and threw a smug smile its way.
The dog-headed butcher bared its teeth in fury. Its eyes turned bloodshot as it stared at Lu Congxing, itching to tear him to shreds right then and there.
But such murderous intent didn’t go unnoticed.
He Zhouyan only spared it a glance—just a glance—and the monster felt as if something monstrous had seized its heart. If it dared to look at the wrong person even one more time, its heart would be crushed without mercy.
Shaking uncontrollably, it collapsed to the ground, forced to lower its gaze to their feet. Fear paralyzed its thoughts, and it could barely keep its vision from blurring. All it could do was pray to be spared.
Lu Congxing, without even glancing at it once, walked straight past.
He had more important things to do.
Even a second’s delay, and Wen Yi and the others might be turned into mincemeat.
. . . . .
“Quiet!” Zhai Huokang was filled with regret over the decision he had made just fifteen minutes ago.
He had just been captured and nearly offered up to the slaughterhouse master. Luckily, he’d played dead and managed to escape.
This was already the third illusionary realm he had been dragged into. He’d been on the run all night without a break, and the people he’d started with were all gone now.
If it weren’t for Lin Yang carrying a peach wood sword and actually looking somewhat capable, he wouldn’t have even called out to them earlier. What he hadn’t expected, though, was for Lin Yang to have brought two deadweights with him.
A young actress—fine, at least she was holding herself together. But the other one, with a crippled hand, was utterly useless and only slowing them down.
Zhai Huokang was about to lose it. When the man in the suit once again nearly exposed their location, he couldn’t help but snap, “If you wanna die, do it somewhere else!”
The suit-wearing man looked completely disheveled now, no trace of the composed elite he had seemed at the start. After being yelled at again, he finally bit back. “Didn’t you almost get us killed just a minute ago?”
He was referring to when Zhai Huokang, while being dragged off by two butchers, had deliberately yanked open their door. Even though he hadn’t fully opened it in the end, it had come dangerously close to putting them all at risk.
Zhai Huokang didn’t deny it. He had felt human presence behind that door at the time and, driven by sheer survival instinct, had made a rash decision.
But after surviving three kill-or-be-killed illusionary realms, most of his humanity had been ground down. He just let out a cold laugh in response to the other man’s sarcasm.
Lin Yang didn’t bother getting involved in the fight. He and Wen Yi only cared about going back to the factory to find Lu Congxing.
To Zhai Huokang, the two of them looked like absolute fools. He snapped irritably, “If your friend got caught by the dog-headed butcher, then he’s already as good as dead. That thing ranks near the top among all butchers. You’d be better off looking for whoever created this realm!”
Wen Yi: “Wait—there are rankings for butchers?”
Zhai Huokang nodded. “Yeah. The one ranked first becomes the master of the slaughterhouse.”
Even Lin Yang couldn’t help but be a bit impressed. This guy hadn’t been in the illusionary realm much longer than them, yet he already seemed to have figured out a lot.
Lin Yang: “Then once we find the person who created this realm, how do we break out of it?”
Zhai Huokang answered without thinking, “Once that person dies, or lets go of their obsession, we can leave.”
Then he suddenly realized the question hadn’t come from either of them. His head snapped up in surprise.
Wen Yi: “Xing Cub!”
Wen Yi was practically bursting with joy.
She scrambled up from the pit they’d been hiding in, grinning from ear to ear. “I knew you’d be okay!”
Zhai Huokang gave her a weird look. “This is the friend you mentioned earlier?”
Lin Yang nodded, a hint of pride in his expression. “Yeah.”
Inside, he was already quietly smug—this was the same guy who just a while ago had confidently declared that Lu Congxing wouldn’t be coming back. Now not only had he come back, but he was completely unharmed and even came to find them.
Wen Yi had been about to rush over and hug him, but the moment she lifted her arms, she felt a wave of deathly intent lock onto her. She instantly pulled back in fright.
Only then did she notice the tall man standing behind him.
Her face froze in shock. “Your friend came looking for you again?”
She recognized He Zhouyan immediately. Back when they were trapped in that little mountain village chosen for the film set, he had found Lu Congxing before even the search and rescue team could. She never expected him to show up in a bizarre place like this—and still manage to find him.
Suddenly, she felt like she’d just eaten a hundred lemons.
Who wouldn’t want to have a badass friend like this?!
He Zhouyan had the sudden urge to step forward, grab the cub’s hand, and declare ownership on the spot—“This is my boyfriend!”—but in the end, he held back. He simply stood there, silently watching Lu Congxing with unwavering focus.
Zhai Huokang still couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He glanced around suspiciously, lowering his voice. “Did you really kill the dog-headed butcher?”
“Nope,” Lu Congxing replied honestly, shaking his head. “It sent me off to be sacrificed to the new master of the slaughterhouse.”
“You—you saw the new master of the slaughterhouse?”
Zhai Huokang looked like he’d just seen a ghost, staring at Lu Congxing like he was some kind of monster.
Author’s note:
Xing Cub: Yeah, I saw him. Brought him along, too.