That thing is definitely shattered.

Could there be poison in this bread? Bai Wei held the bread, caught in a dilemma. At last, he raised the bread and smiled sweetly at Lucen. “Darling, you eat first.”

“My love, you eat first, then I will.”

Was it that his earlier smile wasn’t sweet enough, not pathetic enough? Bai Wei switched tactics. He put on the most pitiful expression of his life, gazing at Lucen. “Why do you insist I eat first, darling?”

The words made his skin crawl—the disgust was mostly at himself.

Lucen’s reply was even more resolute, nearly making Bai Wei faint. “Dearest, I want to eat what you leave behind.”

Bai Wei felt he might just pass out.

He studied Lucen, trying to discern if he was acting or sincere. Whatever the case, Bai Wei was certain Lucen had ulterior motives. But if Lucen intended to poison him and ended up poisoned himself, perhaps that would be a better outcome.

An idea stirred in his heart. Bai Wei set the bread on the plate and dragged his chair next to Lucen.

Lucen looked at him with confusion.

Is this what humans do? he wondered.

Bai Wei steeled himself. Sitting beside Lucen, he wiped his hands clean with a napkin. Then, he tilted his head back, reached out, and wrapped his arms around Lucen’s head, bringing his lips close.

It was a kiss scented with milk and bread—a kiss from Bai Wei. Lucen’s eyes widened slowly.

It was Lucen’s first taste of Bai Wei’s lips. They had touched lips before, but it was always a mere brush, done for Lucen’s role as Bai Wei’s “fiancé” or “husband.” Lucen never realized Bai Wei’s lips were so soft, like jelly, naturally rosy and glossy even without lipstick, shining after drinking milk. He experimentally bit down, confirming their softness and Bai Wei’s unique fragrance. He wondered if Bai Wei’s tongue and teeth were just as soft. He wanted to try.

How could he keep pushing his luck? Before Lucen could deepen the kiss, Bai Wei swatted away Lucen’s hand reaching for the back of his head. He was already immersed in Lucen’s aura—no need for more. The sudden surge of possessiveness in Lucen’s aura made Bai Wei uneasy.

His goal accomplished, Lucen had opened his mouth. Bai Wei swiftly disengaged, stuffed the bread from the plate into Lucen’s mouth.

One hand slapped Lucen’s cheek, the other clamped over his mouth, forcing him to swallow the bread.

For reasons unknown, Bai Wei felt an inexplicable delight. This time, his smile was genuine. “Darling, I told you to eat first.”

Perhaps it was the taste of victory—“darling” flowed willingly from his lips.

The handsome man’s face was distorted by Bai Wei’s grip, yet his eyes never blinked as he stared at him. Bai Wei didn’t let go, coldly waiting for him to finish the bread.

That proud, aloof demeanor returned to Bai Wei. It didn’t matter, even if he’d overreacted—he could always tell Lucen it was just a joke. Bai Wei said, “Lucen, whatever you want me to eat, you should finish yourself.”

He had no idea how his demeanor might stir a desire for conquest.

He sensed Lucen had finished the bread. Bai Wei released his hold. Suddenly, he realized his hand was pressed directly against Lucen’s mouth—a thing his fastidious nature would never permit. Just as he tried to withdraw, his palm was licked by something cool.

Then, bitten.

Bai Wei: ...

“Dearest,” Lucen murmured, biting his hand, his eyes like a cold-blooded creature brimming with possessiveness, “your hand is as soft as your lips.”

Bai Wei stumbled back two steps, but he couldn’t escape—Lucen reached out, seized his nape, and pressed him against himself. Bai Wei never knew Lucen was so strong, his stature overpowering, making resistance futile. He protested, then found himself buried in Lucen’s mouth. Lucen’s lips drew closer. First on the chair, then shifting to the sofa.

He must be trying to poison me—!

That thought drifted in Bai Wei’s mind.

Lucen finally indulged, devoured, and at last distinguished the difference between Bai Wei’s lips, jelly, and bread. Bai Wei, meanwhile, was nearly suffocated.

“I forgot,” Lucen said, kneeling over him on the sofa, holding his chin, “you need to breathe.”

Bai Wei glared at him, the corners of his eyes flushed, tears glistening. If there had been poison in that bread, at this moment he’d be beyond salvation, doomed to descend into hell with Lucen.

So perhaps there was no poison after all? Then what was Lucen truly after?

Dull from lack of oxygen, his mind echoed with the question. Lucen, seeing Bai Wei bullied into a dazed state for the first time, found it endearing. He straddled him again, beginning another round of kisses.

Only when their lips and tongues ached from the separation did Bai Wei finally consider another possibility.

Was Lucen simply after his leftovers?

Did Lucen merely want to kiss him?

Did Lucen simply...

His mouth burned. Bai Wei fought to inhale and exhale, supplying himself with oxygen. Lucen always carried the scent of sea and forest, lingering in Bai Wei’s mouth too. Yet Bai Wei anxiously searched for any trace of decay, afraid of the taste of a corpse.

He would never forget—Lucen had been struck by a stray bullet, buried, placed in a coffin, right there in Naples. Bai Wei had seen with his own eyes Lucen’s half-shattered head, pale face, body wrapped in a shroud. Impossible to forget, impossible to mistake. Now, Lucen, resurrected from death, was kissing him—deeply.

And he also...

“How strange,” Lucen said, “holding you gives me a peculiar feeling.”

They were pressed too close, and Bai Wei had felt it just moments ago. With near terror, he glanced down at Lucen’s body.

Terrifying size... No, that’s a dead man’s thing...

Suddenly, a memory from Blackport City surged into his mind.

Lucen looked down at the same spot. The man’s expression was full of study and exploration. “What reaction is this? What does it mean?”

Bai Wei clamped his legs together. Fear washed over him like a tide, swallowing him whole. Shivering, he pleaded, “Let me go...”

Lucen glanced at him again, his meticulous gaze as if scrutinizing every inch of Bai Wei’s skin. “Are you afraid of me? Why?”

Yet that intense, possessive aura lingered. Like a great beast stalking its prey, Bai Wei was certain that, in those deep gray eyes, he was dinner. A sudden, fierce desire to fight roared within him. He shoved Lucen hard with his arms.

Lucen was caught off guard, falling back. Bai Wei scrambled to the other end of the sofa. In that instant, he heard a sharp, crisp impact.

Thud.

The sound of skull meeting floor—a forceful knock. Anyone could tell from experience, that thing must have shattered.

Bai Wei froze.

He looked at the man lying on the floor, unmoving as a mountain. The flush of excitement faded, and a cold, indifferent expression crept over his face. At that moment, his heart felt empty, like a traveler wandering a snowy plain, finding a shelter just before freezing to death, only to discover the hut has no charcoal, no people.

But this was part of his plan. He quickly regained composure.

He walked to Lucen’s side, a pale silhouette. Bai Wei crouched, checking Lucen’s pulse and breath.

No pulse, no breath.

At last, the first chain shackling his life had vanished.

He would never again need to explain or disguise his marital situation.

He felt lost, yet a faint thrill stirred in him. He stared at Lucen—his husband’s corpse. Dark stains on the carpet from Lucen’s cranial blood formed a perfect tableau of death. In that moment, the scene of death became the most satisfying, joyous part of Bai Wei’s marriage.

“I have this cold-blooded instinct, like a bird that must sing.”

Bai Wei echoed a line from a poetry collection.

He sat beside Lucen for a while. In those ten minutes, he recalled the verdicts given by his school psychologist. Whether it was psychological disorder, sexual deviation, frigidity, or personality disorder—it all meant he could never live like a normal person.

Now, he had fulfilled those judgments. He no longer needed to read newspapers in the square, pretending to be normal.

His nature and life had planted seeds of malice in his heart, and now, they had sprouted, blooming black flowers. He had taken the first step away from paradise. He could do anything without fear.

Bai Wei lowered his eyes. To Lucen, now unable to leave his side or disturb his life, sunk in sleep, he spoke.

“You’re the second, darling.”

Bai Wei looked out the window. Today was a workday—the supermarket owner neighbor on the left was away, the elderly accountant and judge couple on the right were not on the path that passed by, so no one would discover what happened in their entire row of townhouses. He would tidy up the scene and Lucen, then drive away from Snow Mountain Town, forgetting Lucen just as he had forgotten everything in Blackport City. But first, he had to dispose of the poison he’d hidden behind the backyard trellis.

Bai Wei ran to the backyard, surrounded by tall walls and fences. In the yard was a standalone cabin, a glasshouse, two lounge chairs, several trees, and a heap of flower racks. Flowers and potted plants cluttered the space. Their family’s neglect of gardening had even prompted the supermarket owner next door to complain several times, worried their carelessness would lower neighborhood property values. Yet now, it made the yard a perfect place to hide things.

Especially the flower racks beneath the shadows and climbing ivy.

Yesterday evening, Bai Wei had disguised leftover drugs as fertilizer and hidden them under these racks. But this morning, sunlight illuminated the area. Bai Wei vaguely noticed something behind the racks, and on closer inspection, it turned out to be the entrance to a cellar.

A cellar?

Lucen had handled the purchase of this house entirely. At that time, Bai Wei had just been brought back from South City by Lucen, living in a haze, harboring resentment toward his father, with no interest in the house. He vaguely remembered the realtor mentioning the large backyard—not only a cabin, glasshouse, and pavilion, but also a cellar. Bai Wei had no interest in gardening, which is why, in half a year, Lucen turned the tidy yard into a chaotic jumble where nothing could be found.

Now, it seemed the cellar had been deliberately hidden by Lucen. Who would purposefully cover it with flower racks?

As Bai Wei reached for the “fertilizer,” he heard a voice behind him. “Bai Wei.”

He shuddered.

He couldn’t turn around. His husband, who had just lain on the ground, breathless and pulseless, now stood behind him, calling his full name. Soon, Lucen spoke again. “Darling, what are you doing here?”

“Are you looking for something?”