If Heige possessed the vibrant spirit of a morning sun, then Jensen, standing before her now, was shrouded in a gloom born from harsh experience. It was obvious he had suffered far more torment at the original owner's hands.
Heige was still a child at heart, happy just to be allowed outside. But one look into Jensen's eyes made Shi Li suck in a sharp breath.
Shi Li suspected it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this man might transform into his beast form and devour her whole right then and there.
The surrounding attendants were all stunned. 'So, does this mean we've all just become part of your couple's foreplay?'
"Let's go home. Give me a chance to make it up to you." Shi Li made no attempt to hide from the original owner's past misdeeds. Her mission here, she figured, was to be a savior to these poor souls.
"Home? Go home my a—" Jensen didn't hold back, grabbing Shi Li by the neck and letting loose.
"Is this how you keep your promise to be good to me? I gave up my Royal Family status for you, and this is the game you play?" Jensen's breath grew heavy with agitation as he impatiently flicked his blood-stained tail.
'I feel like a scumbag player being called out on his trash behavior.'
As a Golden Dragon, Jensen was originally a Prince of the Royal Family. If he had wanted to retain his royal status, he would have had to either marry a princess from another planet or be married off to a noble.
But Shi Li's family was merely that of a minister with a hereditary title, possessing no royal blood. As a result, Jensen naturally could not retain his status as a Prince.
Unfortunately, Jensen's temper was so fiery and volatile that he didn't meet the criteria many Female Masters had for choosing a husband. After being rejected multiple times, a despondent Jensen finally crossed paths with the villainous original owner.
At one point, Jensen had genuinely believed the original owner was his salvation. At the same time, her White Moonlight had just started his new life as a married man with her "good bestie," He Bai Bai. This was a period when the original owner had given up on everything and was acting recklessly.
And so, the two of them ridiculously hit it off and rushed into a flash marriage.
She didn't just get a handsome Beast Husband like Jensen; she also got a massive dowry—so much money that even the current Shi Li could laze around at home for a lifetime and never spend it all.
'Sometimes, I think the original owner must have had a few screws loose. Ignoring everything else and just looking at the dowry—how could that White Moonlight possibly compare to Jensen?'
'Why was she so obsessed with someone else's Beast Husband?'
It could be said that of all her five Beast Husbands, the only one who had ever truly shared mutual love with the original owner was Jensen.
"I... I'll change... ngh!" Perhaps the threat of his dragon claws was too great, but Shi Li found it hard to breathe. She struggled to grip his wrist, trying to pull his hand away.
'If this keeps up, he's actually going to strangle me!'
Suddenly, Jensen's pupils visibly darkened to a deeper crimson.
Before, they had been red from agitation, but this level of redness could no longer be explained by mere physiology.
Although she had never controlled spiritual power before, her brain was screaming at her that a spiritual power outburst was happening.
Jensen was about to lose control and undergo Beastification!
Shi Li's neck was the first to feel the change of his Beastification. The texture of Jensen's fingers shifted from skin to something hard and unyielding, his sharp claws on the verge of tearing through her throat.
It felt as if he could snap her neck with the slightest bit of pressure.
"Didn't you say you wanted to talk alone? Why are you so quiet now?"
"It's rare to see you so withered." Jensen's tone dripped with mockery. With his cold right hand, he violently tore Shi Li's hands from his wrist.
He pinned them firmly above her head.
Her entire body was immobilized, forcing her to face the constant threat of death.
The terminal on her wrist began flashing a red alert.
It was a special alarm installed by the Female Protection Association to protect the females of Trish Planet, implanted into every female's terminal at birth.
It was used to monitor their vitals in real time, issue an alert when they were in danger, trigger the nearest alarm beacon, and broadcast their current location.
When Shi Li had processed this memory, she was simultaneously amazed at the advanced technology and chilled to the bone. It was called protection, but to a certain extent, it also stripped females of their privacy. They were put on a pedestal like precious treasures, yet they were also being monitored at every moment.
"Since you're still so obsessed with that guy, then none of us get to have a happy life."
"Come to Hell with me, little cat." Seeing that Shi Li wasn't reacting, her gaze merely growing distant, Jensen suddenly broke into a bizarre smile.
The original owner had always compared him to her White Moonlight. Jensen couldn't understand it. He had tried so hard, so why could she only see that White Moonlight?
What he, Jensen, couldn't have, he would simply destroy.
The shrill alarm, accompanied by the chaotic sound of footsteps outside the door, did nothing to deter Jensen. On the contrary, it only made him more excited.
With so many people to witness their mutual demise, wasn't this just another way of proclaiming to the world that they were a couple, bound together even in death?
"Let go of her now!"
"If you don't, we will open fire!" The soldiers quickly surrounded the pair.
Faced with their threats, Jensen just let out a disdainful sneer.
His life after marriage had nearly driven him insane. Wouldn't a quick death like this be a kind of release?
"Don't..." A weak, breathy whisper came from beneath him. Suddenly, Jensen's vision went black, and his entire body was enveloped in a warm, gentle light.
Shi Li stared into the dark sea of consciousness before her, at the nerve filaments tangled like a ball of yarn a kitten had played with, and fell into deep thought.
'This must be that super-soothing ability the system mentioned before it disappeared.'
'So "soothing" just means untangling this ball of yarn in the sea of consciousness?'
'It's that simple?'
Shi Li studied the ball of yarn and decided to just start untangling it and see what happened.
But the moment her fingers touched a thread, it seemed to come alive, winding its way up her hand.
The problem was, this thread wasn't content to just stay put. It coiled around her in a clingy, sticky way, rubbing against her fingers as it wound itself around her body.
What's more, Shi Li felt that the thread was warm, as if it had body heat! It wasn't a cold sensation at all.
It felt very much like a person's fingers caressing her in that same clingy manner.
It continued until it had brushed against her entire body, then it reluctantly vanished into the black sea of consciousness.
But Shi Li felt as though the thread had taken all her strength with it. Her eyelids grew heavy and began to fight to stay open.
But she couldn't fall asleep. After that huge commotion, if she passed out now, they would surely never let Jensen off the hook.
'What will they do to Jensen? Will they lock him up in that underground prison, too?'
"No! He can't be locked up!" Shi Li's eyes flew open, and she realized she was drenched in a cold sweat.
But the scene before her was completely unfamiliar. This wasn't the auction house.
It looked more like... a hospital?
"Lili, you're finally awake! The Female Protection Association came and found me, they said you were injured and in the hospital. You scared me to death!" The woman before her was wearing a pure white gossamer dress. Her side-swept braid was dotted with tiny flowers, giving her a gentle and sophisticated look.
It was no stranger, but none other than Shi Li's "good bestie," He Bai Bai.
"Where's Jensen?" Shi Li was in no mood to deal with He Bai Bai right now. She was only worried about whether he had been locked up!