The brilliant sunlight cast a warm, golden glow, tracing the boy’s delicate profile.

Yet, his beautiful pink eyes held not a trace of warmth.

They were cold and sinister, flickering with intense killing intent.

Across from him, Ye Linyuan was lounging casually, utterly unfazed by the threat. "You’re welcome to try," he said languidly.

Gu Nian sneered. "You think I don’t have the guts?"

One hand went to his waist. From beneath a pristine white shirt that smelled faintly of gardenia-scented laundry detergent, he drew a pitch-black gun and pressed it to Ye Linyuan’s forehead.

Ye Linyuan didn’t even shift his posture. With one hand resting on his knee, an emotion that could only be described as boredom flickered in his golden, vertical pupils.

Gu Nian smirked, pressing the muzzle harder against him, his finger resting on the trigger.

Just as his finger began to squeeze, he suddenly heard a girl’s muffled voice from the bathroom. "Gu Nian?"

His eyelashes trembled. Gu Nian quickly holstered the gun, trotted over to the bathroom door, and asked in a small voice, "What’s wrong, Sister?"

The white-rabbit boy’s voice was clear and sweet, a completely different vocal tone from the raspy one he’d used to threaten Ye Linyuan.

Ye Linyuan: "..."

The young man frowned, a flash of contempt and annoyance crossing his golden, vertical pupils.

Meanwhile, inside the bathroom, Jiang Qingli was completely unaware of what had just happened outside.

She carefully opened the door a crack, peeking out. "There are no towels in here... can you grab one for me?" she asked in a low voice.

The bathroom had a frosted glass door, through which only blurry colors were visible.

Gu Nian took a single glance before quickly averting his eyes.

Taking a deep breath without letting it show, the boy’s eyes crinkled into a smile. "Of course. Wait a moment, Sister, I’ll go get it."

After speaking, he walked down the hall and started searching the room.

He opened the closet door, and his eyes fell upon a pile of blood-soaked towels.

Unsurprisingly, these were what Ye Linyuan had used for his bleeding last night. Judging by the trace elements of a Superpower left on the towels, the wound had been caused by one.

’With that much blood loss, the injury must have been severe.’

Gu Nian glanced back at Ye Linyuan, who was lounging on his side, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

’I’d heard before that the Underground City Lord has powerful regenerative abilities. The people of the Underground City used to call him a monster. Looks like they were right.’

’He lost so much blood, but after one night, not only is he not dead, he’s full of energy and hitting on a young girl.’

’What is he, if not a monster?’

Gu Nian sneered inwardly, his disgust for Ye Linyuan deepening.

’If he can heal on his own, he shouldn’t have called Sister over to help. It’s not like he was going to die anyway.’

’Wasting towels, wasting Sister’s spiritual power.’

’And another thing!’

’Sister was supposed to go on a date with me last night, but this damn snake ruined everything.’

’I didn’t sleep all night, busy dealing with Assassins for him.’

Filled with resentment, Gu Nian had a robot deliver a clean towel, then walked to the bathroom and knocked.

"Sister, I have your towel."

The bathroom door opened a crack. Gu Nian kept his eyes lowered as he handed the towel to her.

His fingers brushed against her fingernail, still wet with droplets of water. He froze as if he’d been shocked.

Only when he heard the girl’s quiet "thank you" did he rub the back of his ear and murmur that it was nothing.

The bathroom door closed, and the sound of running water started again.

Gu Nian walked back to the sitting area and sat on the sofa across from the bed, his gaze sweeping over Ye Linyuan with arrogant disdain.

His fingers rested on the gun at his waist for a moment before he pulled his hand away.

Gu Nian sighed softly, filled with deep regret.

’If he could, Gu Nian wished he could be the executioner who ended the lives of the other Beast Husbands.’

Unfortunately, the law stipulated that Beast Husbands could not kill one another. At most, they could fight, but they had to pull their punches. Causing overly serious injuries would attract the attention of the Regulatory Bureau.

Gu Nian had no interest in fights that couldn’t end in death. He only took action for money, and in his eyes, this old, useless snake Ye Linyuan wasn’t even worth the price of a bullet.

’More importantly...’

’If Sister found out her Beast Husbands were killing each other, she’d be unhappy.’

Gu Nian wouldn’t do anything to make Jiang Qingli unhappy.

’But if someone else did it... that would be fine, wouldn’t it?’

Gu Nian studied the wounds on Ye Linyuan’s body and suddenly asked, "Is Jiang Youchen trying to kill you?"

"Not this time." Ye Linyuan didn’t bother to hide it.

"He’s still wary of you, so he knows to hold back." Gu Nian frowned. "The people hunting me, on the other hand, have been relentless all the way from the Twelve Cities. From robots to Bounty Hunters..."

He had suddenly adopted the tone of a casual chat.

Ye Linyuan’s voice was cold. "What are you getting at?"

Gu Nian’s eyes crinkled in a friendly smile. "How about we kill him together?"

"Why is he hunting you?" Ye Linyuan asked instead of answering. "Is it about the auction house?"

The underground auction house and the Underground City were, in a way, neighbors.

A year ago, the underground auction house changed ownership.

This new owner had never shown his face. Ye Linyuan wasn’t interested in such things and had only planted a few people inside as usual.

It was only on the day of the auction that he learned this new owner was actually one of Jiang Qingli’s Beast Husbands, who had even role-played and sold himself, earning fifty million from him in the process.

With his identity exposed, Gu Nian didn’t deny it.

He knew that if Ye Linyuan had wanted to expose him, he wouldn’t be wasting his breath here, so he wasn’t afraid at all.

"As for why Jiang Youchen is after me..."

Gu Nian repeated the question. A smug look flashed in his eyes as a thought occurred to him, and he smirked. "Because... I tricked that idiot."

But that wasn’t the point.

Gu Nian skipped over the irrelevant details, blinked, and made a friendly proposal. "I know you’re capable. If you kill Jiang Youchen, I can give you the auction house." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Hearing this, Ye Linyuan sneered.

’First of all, Jiang Youchen has a unique Superpower and is stationed within the heavily guarded military; he wouldn’t be an easy target.’

’Besides, even if he did succeed in killing Jiang Youchen, what awaited him probably wouldn’t be a luxurious auction house, but a knife in the back from Gu Nian.’

’People like them had no concept of trust.’

Footsteps sounded from behind him.

The tips of Gu Nian’s ears twitched, and the look of disgust on his face vanished in an instant.

He strode to the bedside, picked up the white porridge, scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and held it to Ye Linyuan’s lips. "Uncle Ye, don’t be so stubborn," he said with concern. "Just take a bite. Don’t waste Sister’s kindness..."

Ye Linyuan: "..."

’Baili Jing left, only to be replaced by a damned two-faced schemer who’s even better at acting.’

Ye Linyuan’s lips curled into a cold sneer. "Get lost."

"What’s wrong?" Jiang Qingli asked as she approached, just in time to hear Ye Linyuan’s "Get lost."

"Sister." Gu Nian turned, biting his lip with a self-reproachful look. "Uncle Ye doesn’t seem to have much of an appetite..."

Jiang Qingli looked at Ye Linyuan. He glanced up at her, his face expressionless, a hint of impatience in his golden, vertical pupils.

’Oh, great. How dare he be impatient!’

Jiang Qingli, who had spent the entire night entangled with his Black Snake Spiritual Body in his Spiritual Domain, was frustrated. She felt like a pitiful employee who worked her tail off only to get a sour look from the boss.

’Even if their relationship was mutually beneficial, she had a temper, you know.’

’What’s with the fierce attitude?’

Jiang Qingli huffed, her tone becoming stiff. "It’s fine. If he doesn’t want to eat, just leave it there. He’ll eat when he’s hungry."

Gu Nian frowned with concern. "Is that really okay? Uncle Ye doesn’t look very well..."

"Shut up." Ye Linyuan finally shot Gu Nian a glare as sharp as a knife. His thin lips parted, a scathing remark on the tip of his tongue, but after glancing at Jiang Qingli, he only bit out a few cold words. "I’m not your uncle."

"But you are much older than Sister and me..." Gu Nian said, feigning confusion. "My teachers at the academy said we should respect our elders and care for the young."

Ye Linyuan narrowed his eyes, a few lazy, cutting words slipping from his lips:

"Calling me ’Uncle’ is too formal."

"If you want to be that respectful, you should call me ’Dad’."

Gu Nian: "..."