Minglan and Si Yalin reached huge wooden doors. Minglan swore that what stood in front of him only existed in a high-budget horror movie. Dark wooden doors, no sign, not even a handle. Just a gigantic door standing in a hotel hallway.
Si Yalin lifted one hand, hesitated for a bit, then finally knocked twice.
For a moment, nothing happened. Only silence followed before the seam widened. The doors opened on their own.
Cool air greeted them, carrying a faint scent of herbs and something sharper underneath.
Si Yalin stepped aside, telling Minglan to enter first.
Minglan glanced at her. "Why me?"
Si Yalin shrugged. "You're the one who bled."
Minglan rolled his eyes. "You're not a loyal one."
"Never said I was."
Minglan knew the girl was joking, even though her face looked as emotionless as ever. He then stepped inside.
The room did not look like a hotel room or even a hotel hall at all. It looked more like a laboratory. A few benches held strange equipment that intimidated Minglan just by how it looked. He wondered how much it cost to even buy one of those high-tech-looking machines.
There were a few shelves lined with bottles and folded cloth. But that was not the strangest sight in the room. A wall of glass showed nothing but darkness behind it. However, Minglan caught movement in it. Someone, or something, was inside.
As if the world couldn't bear Minglan's curiosity a second longer, someone came out of the glass wall. A man in a black cape walked like the whole world owed him respect. Even the air seemed to get intimidated and run to hide, because for a moment, Minglan unconsciously held his breath.
The man was terrifyingly imposing. Tall, still, and looking like he would kill an ant if it ever dared to step on his toe. Menacing. How many lives had he sucked into himself to be so powerful by aura alone?
The cape that had been covering his face fell down as he walked, revealing a face that, once again, made Minglan hold his breath.
It was that guy, the pretty guy on the window screen Minglan had watched for hours before he finally decided to get out of his room. However, he looked so different. On the screen, he looked like a regular person, skilled and awesome, but he didn't possess an overbearing killing intent. Was this like those celebrities who looked friendly on screen but were super rude in real life?
No doubt, the guy was really good-looking. Like his killing intent, his beauty was also much more breathtaking in person. If he didn't look like he would eat Minglan for dinner, Minglan swore he would idolize him the way he used to idolize those Chinese actors back in his real world.
Si Yalin clasped her hands and made the same bowing movement she had done to the cat before. "Greetings, Senior Han."
As always, Minglan followed suit.
Han Chengwen's gaze went straight to Minglan's wounded hand. The cut was shallow, but the edges looked too clean. It looked like the skin had been sliced by something that didn't like leaving a mess.
Han Chengwen stepped closer, close enough that Minglan caught a faint scent of pine smoke and clean perfume. It wasn't perfume, he was sure. Not even soap. Just his scent. In contrast to his cold demeanor, the smell of him was actually... warm.
Han Chengwen lifted his hand, and Minglan's heart stopped for a second.
Casually, Chengwen's two fingers pressed lightly against the inside of Minglan's wrist, checking for something. Surely there was no comfort, nor romance, intended in the touch, but Minglan felt the contact was warm and entirely too intimate. His heart raced so fast he was scared it would jump out of his chest in a minute.
"It happened in the herb garden," Han Chengwen said. Not asking, not confirming. Just stating it flatly.
Minglan's jaw tightened. "A cat scratched me."
Han Chengwen's eyes, already way too pretty and unfairly so, flicked up to meet Minglan's. "A cat," he repeated.
The corner of Si Yalin's mouth twitched. She really wanted to call Minglan stupid for it, but she stayed calm.
Han Chengwen finally released Minglan's wrist, and with that, Minglan also released the breath he had been holding.
"You greeted the warden," Han Chengwen said.
Proud, Minglan nodded. "I did."
Han Chengwen stared dead into his eyes. "After calling it fat."
Minglan wanted to grunt and say that it was indeed fat, but he was sane enough to swallow those words.
"So you touched the holy warden," Han Chengwen continued. "Spilled blood on the herb garden he guards. Then proceeded to body-shame him. In that order. So fast and efficient." He listed all of Minglan's sins.
"Isn't it too much to say I body-shamed him? I really thought it was just a fat cat," Minglan tried to defend himself.
Si Yalin, who watched the whole scene unfold before her eyes, really wanted to slap some mouth-tightening tape on her friend. But since she couldn't, she just flung a glare at him. He looked back at her, confused.
However, Han Chengwen ignored him. "And you are not even officially a student yet," he added to Minglan's already bloodied list of wrongdoings.
"It really was an accident, Senior Han. I'm new. I know nothing of this place." This time, Minglan was genuinely frustrated. How could he know that a random fat orange cat he met was an entity he should respect?
Han Chengwen nodded. It looked like he considered Minglan's defense before walking closer again. He brought his face close to Minglan's, eyes scanning Minglan's frightened ones. "Intent does not matter."
Without Minglan and Yalin realizing, Han Chengwen lifted two fingers and pressed them to the back of Minglan's left ear.
The world tilted in Minglan's vision.
His mouth opened on instinct, but no sound came out. Air refused to reach his lungs. It felt like something was strangling him, like his organs had stopped functioning altogether.
He tried to pull away, but his body didn't obey.
Something cold spread under his skin, pricking through his whole body.
Minglan's eyes opened wide, jaw locked, breath trapped.
It felt like death.
But Chengwen didn't even blink. He pressed on, moving his face closer to Minglan's right ear. "Hold still," he whispered, as if Minglan had a choice.
Thud.
Minglan fell lifelessly to the floor.