绝代双骄 林志颖

Gao Cheng raised his eyes and secretly looked at Ge Xiu, who was already getting busy not far away.

The slender boy bent over, lowered his head and fiddled with the metal parts and tools on the table, with a pair of pointed cat ears on top of his head quivering slightly unconsciously, the fluffy edges were plated with gold by the lamp.

A jet-black tail hung outside his baggy trousers, pulling the edge of the oversized clothes down a little further, revealing half of his thin white waist with his movements.

He took a deep breath, plucking up his courage, and asked:

“That…”

Gao Cheng thought about his words before asking cautiously, “Yesterday…was that your beast form?”

Ge Xiu’s hand holding the tool paused: “…”

This hit the sore spot.

All other lycanthropes were both dangerous and powerful, either huge in size or with sharp fangs and claws — and he was actually just a kitten the size of a palm.

This difference was indeed a bit too big.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and turned his head to look at Gao Cheng, who was tied to the pillar, and the corners of his lips curved, revealing a bright smile that seemed extremely pure and harmless:

“How was it? Cute?”

Gao Cheng was about to nod his head subconsciously, but was suddenly interrupted by hurriedly raised voices of the other two, interrupting his train of thought: “No no no!”

Gao Cheng abruptly stopped half-nod, followed by the other two shaking their head fervently, trying to make his eyes sincere and credible:

“Not even one bit!”

Ge Xiu put down the tools in his hand and walked towards them with a smile on his face:

“Not convinced? Do you feel ashamed of having been beaten by a cute kitten?”

The three of them were shocked and shook their head like a rattle, denying crazily: “No no no no!”

Ge Xiu raised his brows, staring at the three people in front of him with unfathomable expression, making hair on their backs stand from the chill.

After a few long seconds, he finally let go of the three people who looked terrified to the bones, turned back and returned to the desk where he was working, continuing to study the dismantled collar.

Gao Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, paralyzed as if after surviving a catastrophe, and felt a layer of cold sweat on his back again.

Although he tried to deny it just now…

but…he had to admit…it’s really cute.

He once thought that the beastmen were terrifying and irrational beings, but the appearance of such person subverted the image of the lycanthropes in his heart — although the other still knocked him unconscious and kidnapped him, but the original fear and disgust stemming from the unknown has been inexplicably diluted.

It felt as if… the things that he had been afraid of for more than ten years, the fear of what he may become in the future, had become less scary.

Ge Xiu was unaware of Gao Cheng’s series of complex psychological changes.

He was concentrating on studying the metal collar placed in front of him, and he couldn’t tell the difference.

According to the equipment and facilities at hand, it would be completely impossible to further analyze that artificial material. If he wanted to find out what it truly was, he probably would have needed at least a laboratory with a confidentiality level above three.

Ge Xiu made an immediate decision.

In order not to affect the continued use of the collar, upon calculating carefully he took a small piece of artificial metal from each of the three restraint collars as a sample.

Then, after a certain transformation, Ge Xiu assembled each collar back to its original shape, then turned around and went to the three collar wearers who were still tied in place, and put the collars around their necks for them.

“I put miniature recorders in it — both sight and sound.”

Ge Xiu explained calmly: “From today onwards, your words and deeds will be under my supervision, if you try to talk about me to others, or if you attempt to share my information with anyone in any form— even if you write it down with a pen, it will automatically transmit the signal to my mobile phone.”

He shook the screen of his mobile phone: “And I have permission to remotely activate the electric shock device on your collars.”

The three of them were startled for a moment, and suddenly felt that the collar they were wearing on their necks became cold and heavy, hard against their skin, causing them to feel a little cold on their backs.

One of them gathered up his courage and asked,

“How do we…how do we know that you’re not bluffing us?”

“You don’t know.”

Ge Xiu smiled slightly, cold shimmer flashed in the depths of his dark pupils: “But I suggest that you don’t easily try to challenge my bottom line.”

His expression was too calm, and there was no joke at all.

Although they were still dubious about whether a high school student could master such a complex technology, but for some reason, they had an unspeakable sense of fear in their hearts — their instincts were telling them that the other was telling the truth.

For a person who grew up under the control of a collar, the fear of the electric shock function on the collar had always been with them, had been deeply rooted in the bone marrow.

They were silent for a while and quieted down.

Ge Xiu untied the ropes that bound them, and then stood there, watching the three of them stumble because of their numb legs, running eagerly out of the warehouse.

Gao Cheng turned his head and glanced at him, then turned to follow the pace of the other two.

Soon, only Ge Xiu was left in the abandoned warehouse.

The bright sunlight shone in from the open door of the warehouse, dispelling the damp darkness inside, revealing the flying dust particles.

Ge Xiu jumped lightly and sat on the table, shaking his slender legs in the sunlight.

He glanced at the sky outside.

It was only past noon now, still early.

It would be unrealistic to attempt to go the research institute in human form, especially under the extremely strict control and exploration of the beastmen, futhermore there were not many ways to hide Ge Xiu’s ears and tail, so the best option right now was to wait for the night’s arrival, and then do it in the form of a black cat — during this time, Ge Xiu had completely become accustomed to the state of becoming a cat, he became more comfortable at using his paws, not as helpless as when he couldn’t even unlock the phone screen.

Although it still was not as flexible as having five fingers, it was still fine for some simple operations.

Ge Xiu jumped off the table, then stuffed another set of clothes he wore from Shen Boyan’s house into his backpack, turned and left the warehouse.

Go back now and get the finishing touches done, and wait until the evening before getting started.

·

Shen Boyan leaned against the wall at the corner, watching the sunset gradually sink, leaving only a little afterglow in the sky.

The night fell, and the dark blue shadow gradually spread in the sky.

He straightened up, the dazzling light resembling fireworks from the setting sun still remained in his dark pupils.

Shen Boyan picked up the schoolbag that had been thrown aside, turned around and walked along the street.

He came to the door of his apartment.

He took out the key and inserted it into the keyhole. The squeaking sound of the hinges of the door panel broke the silence in the room.

Shen Boyan turned on the ceiling light, and the bright light shone down instantly, illuminating the small room as bright as day.

He saw the little black cat lying on his pillow at a glance.

It heard the sound, turning its head towards the door and looking at the door quickly, its green eyes were like a clear blue lake. The black cat yawned lazily, revealing its snow-white fangs and pink tongue, and then rested its fluffy chin on the paws in the front once again.

Shen Boyan came over and sat down beside the bed.

He raised his hand and gently touched the top of the little black cat’s head. His fingers ran from its back to the base of its tail. The little black cat narrowed its eyes and let out a soft “meow”.

Shen Boyan’s brows relaxed as he scratched the cat’s chin with his fingertips, watching it rest the weight of its small head on his hands as if its center of gravity was unstable.

“Are you hungry?”

The little black cat yawned again, lowered his head and licked his paws.

Shen Boyan stood up from the bed, took out a few pieces of cooked meat from the refrigerator, cut them into small pieces that were easy to eat, and put them on a plate that he usually used, then placed them on the ground.

The little black cat jumped off the bed lightly and came to the front quietly.

It lowered its head and sniffed the food on the plate, then ate it slowly.

Shen Boyan looked down at the undulating back of the cat’s head and the slightly trembling ear tips, her eyes dark and deep.

He was hesitating.

It was like swaying between the two ends of a scale, never entirely clear which two roads in front of him to chose.

Shen Boyan turned his head and glanced at the direction of the wardrobe without a trace.

If he guessed correctly, the two sets of clothes that had been missing before were now completely intact in the darkness.

——The cat supplies that Shen Boyan bought online were expedited items, so they were delivered here yesterday, but when he left the school early he didn’t find the cat when he got home, so he once again set for a search in the entire room.

He saw the open gap in the window and at the same time noticed the loss of his clothes.

Shen Boyan sat quietly beside the bed for a long time, staring thoughtfully at the open wardrobe in a daze.

He didn’t know how to describe his state of mind, so he restored everything in the room, leaving the gap in the window unclosed, and then walked into the bathroom.

Shen Boyan waited.

The water flowing out changed from hot to cold, the water in the bathtub changed from empty to full, and then was drained again.

Finally, through the sound of the water flowing, he heard the soft meow of a cat from outside the bathroom door:

“Meow.”

The cat’s reaction and the evidence he saw the next day further confirmed his conjecture.

But Shen Boyan didn’t know what to do next.

He just subconsciously ] acted on his own instincts — he waited on the corner of the street until it got dark, and then returned to the apartment nonchalantly.

Shen Boyan lowered her hand, touched the cat’s back, the silky fluff flowed between his fingertips.

Next…

what to do next?

·

The night was getting darker.

Ge Xiu waited until the breathing of the person beside the pillow became steady, then quietly got up. He took out what he had hidden at the foot of the bed before, carefully sealed in a bag, and carefully caught it between his teeth.

He leaped a few times, climbed to the window sill, opened the window with his claws, and jumped into the night through the gap in the window.

In the darkness, Shen Boyan opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.

He turned his head and glanced at the empty pillow, gently brushing the depression with remaining warmth on it with his fingers.

Shen Boyan narrowed his eyes silently.