Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Her Slap Is Fragrant

The lights were off in the lounge. Only faint moonlight filtered through the open French windows.

A strong hand slid down her back, grasping her slender waist and pulling them closer together.

The young man’s soft lips brushed against Jiang Qingli’s neck, his breathing heavy.

Jiang Qingli smelled the strong scent of alcohol mixed with an unidentifiable sweet fragrance, creating a dizzying, intoxicating effect.

Suddenly, she felt a slight sting on her neck.

The male Beastman nibbled at the flesh of her neck, his canines exploring her skin as if he wanted to break through it and devour the person in his arms completely.

Jiang Qingli flinched back, but he only held her tighter.

Unable to bear it any longer, the girl raised her voice and called his name, "Qin Muye! You’re hurting me!"

Hearing his name shouted so suddenly, Qin Muye froze.

He shook his head.

A snow leopard’s night vision was superb. Even without lights, Qin Muye could see her face clearly.

He opened his mouth, and his voice emerged from his throat as if a beat too late.

Qin Muye asked haltingly, "What... are you doing here?"

"You’re the one who dragged me in here," Jiang Qingli said, raising a hand to touch his forehead. "Why is your temperature so high? Do you have a fever?"

Her hand was cool and soothing.

Qin Muye couldn’t help but press his face into her hand.

He struggled to enunciate each word. "Someone... dru-drugged me..."

His leopard tail unconsciously coiled around the girl’s calf, slowly slithering upward.

Just as it passed her knee, a hand slapped it away.

"Stop it, that tickles," Jiang Qingli said, remaining calm. "I’ll take you to a doctor."

Afraid this misbehaving leopard would start biting again, Jiang Qingli covered his mouth with one hand while her other fumbled for the light switch on the wall, planning to call for a doctor through the terminal.

But before she could take more than a few steps, he tackled her from behind, sending them tumbling to the floor.

Jiang Qingli was startled, and a scream almost escaped her lips.

But the thought that screaming would attract a crowd made her force it back down.

Both she and Qin Muye were frequent subjects of gossip magazines.

If they were found tangled up in a lounge, there was no telling what the tabloids would say. Jiang Qingli wanted to keep a low profile.

In the few seconds she was silent, Qin Muye flipped her over with one arm around her waist.

The sweet scent of the female ignited the male’s primal, bestial side.

He narrowed his gray-blue eyes, his gaze locking onto the girl’s soft, slightly swollen lips, which glistened like glass.

’I want a taste.’

The dream where nothing happened and the kiss she’d witnessed that day sent the heavily beastified Qin Muye into such an emotional state that the rims of his eyes turned red.

He gripped Jiang Qingli’s shoulders, almost roughly, and lowered his head, pressing down toward her.

But before he could touch her, he felt a sharp pain across his face.

SLAP!

A crisp sound echoed through the room.

Qin Muye’s movements instantly went rigid.

He cupped a hand to his face, his gray-blue eyes widening slightly in disbelief.

The male Beastman, who just moments ago had looked vicious enough to tear her apart and devour her, now seemed to have short-circuited. He stared at the girl’s face, still etched with fright, his mind a momentary blank.

His thoughts were a mess.

But two words came through with perfect clarity—

’Smells good.’

Jiang Qingli was even more panicked than he was stunned.

She had put all her strength into that slap. A faint pink mark was already appearing on Qin Muye’s pale face, shockingly conspicuous.

Jiang Qingli snapped back to her senses and quickly explained, "I didn’t mean to slap you! Y-You were just so scary, I was afraid you were going to bite me, so—"

Before she could finish, the expression on Qin Muye’s face changed.

He panted heavily, using his last shred of sanity to back away as garbled words tumbled from his throat.

"Go..."

"Get... out..."

But before he could finish, the young man before her let out a hoarse growl and, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a powerful snow leopard.

The snow leopard bared its fangs, letting out a low, threatening growl.

Qin Muye had lost control and entered his beast form!

Jiang Qingli felt a chill in her heart as those feral eyes stared her down.

’How could this happen? Qin Muye’s pollution level wasn’t even 30%. Why would he suddenly lose control?’

’Did the drug trigger his mating period early? Was he framed and forced into his beast form? Or maybe... Qin Muye is just like Ye Linyuan... hiding his true pollution level...’

Jiang Qingli took a deep breath. When she looked up again, her eyes were filled with determination.

While calmly issuing commands to the lounge’s smart system—disconnect network, seal room, activate soundproofing—she very carefully approached the snow leopard.

The snow leopard roared at Jiang Qingli in a show of aggression, lowering its body into an attack stance.

The last time Jiang Qingli had seen such an expression was on the Vermilion Bird.

Faced with such a ferocious beast, Jiang Qingli was still terrified.

But she had common sense. If she fled rashly, the snow leopard would chase her as prey. After her death, Qin Muye would also die from the backlash. Wouldn’t that be playing right into the hands of whoever drugged him?

She didn’t want to die. She hadn’t enjoyed the beauty of life nearly enough.

So, she had to take a gamble.

Jiang Qingli spoke in a gentle voice, "Don’t be afraid."

It was unclear if she was comforting the snow leopard or herself.

She raised a trembling hand and placed her palm on the snow leopard’s forehead.

The snow leopard’s aggressive posture held for a few seconds before slowly relaxing.

Jiang Qingli breathed a sigh of relief.

’It seems my spiritual power really can make these beast-form Beastmen lower their guard.’

The girl wrapped her arms around the snow leopard’s neck, gently rubbing her face against its furry cheek. Her voice was soft. "Qin Muye, be a good boy, and I’ll perform Spiritual Healing for you, okay? Hmm?"

It was hard to say if it understood, but the snow leopard licked her face.

Jiang Qingli cupped the snow leopard’s head, pressed her forehead against its, and entered Qin Muye’s spiritual world, just as Ye Linyuan had taught her.

After a moment of dizziness, Jiang Qingli saw a landscape of endless, gloomy rain.

A filthy, chaotic alley was piled high with trash. Black rainwater fell in sheets, mixing with the mud on the ground and flowing into a foul-smelling sewer.

Jiang Qingli remembered Ye Linyuan telling her that the last time she entered his world, he had deliberately released his Spiritual Body for her.

But a Beastman’s spiritual world wasn’t always controllable.

If you entered while they were unconscious or delirious, you might see fragments of their memories.

In that case, you had to find the out-of-control Beastman and soothe him the moment he released his Spiritual Body.

The process had to be handled with extreme care because the Beastman was not lucid, and their Spiritual Body could harm an intruder.

Spiritual wounds were incredibly difficult to heal; some females had even died from them.

Jiang Qingli looked around.

’I remember Qin Muye grew up in the Lower District, but I never imagined the conditions were this awful. No wonder he has such a bad temper...’

"Hey, I hear you’re some kind of leopard Beastman?"

A questioning voice came from deep within the alley.

Jiang Qingli followed the sound and immediately spotted Qin Muye.

To be precise, it was a young Qin Muye.

The boy looked to be about five or six years old, small and scrawny.

He was clutching an apple in his hand, cornered by three older kids near a pile of trash.

The leader, a blond-haired kid, slapped the apple from his hand and snarled, "Who the fuck let you on my turf? You motherless mutt!"

He shoved Qin Muye’s body as he cursed.

Qin Muye’s lips pressed into a thin line as he lifted his gray-blue eyes to glare at them with disgust.

"Hey! You dare to look at me!"

"This mutt! Let’s kill him!"

The blond spat, then grabbed his hair and brutally slammed his head against the wall!

Jiang Qingli couldn’t watch anymore and rushed forward. "Stop!"