Bella stared at the jumping death countdown. She thought for a moment, held her breath, carefully lifted her hand, and gently placed it over Ye Jinzhi's warm little hand.
[Ding! Lifespan +1 second]
Bella: ?
Not giving up, she pulled her hand away and pressed it down again.
[Ding! Lifespan +1 second]
Thus, an extremely bizarre scene appeared in the young master of the Ye family's bedroom: an exquisite doll with a serious face was performing a repetitive, glitch-like action on her sleeping master.
Lift, place down, [+1].
Lift, place down again, [+1].
[+1], [+1], [+1]...
Ten minutes later, Bella, covered in sweat, looked at the screen that had only increased her lifespan by 5 minutes and fell into a deathly silence.
Bella: [System, come out. At this rate, when will I ever live long enough to see the sun rise tomorrow morning?]
Bella refused to believe in this nonsense.
Hah!
She took a deep breath and, with a smack, pressed her small hand onto the back of Ye Jinzhi's warm hand, holding it down firmly without moving an inch.
One second, two seconds.
The next moment, the original "+1" disappeared, replaced by a string of wildly jumping golden numbers:
[Lifespan: +1s, +2s, +3s, +4s... continuously loading...]
Bella maintained this hand-pressing posture, looking as if she had been struck by lightning.
So... what was she doing just now?
Bella's mind collapsed: [Am I playing Whack-a-Mole? I tossed and turned here, lifting and pressing for so long that my hand is about to break, and you're telling me... I just needed to leave it there without moving?]
She laughed at her own stupidity~
Watching the continuously rolling numbers, although Bella was cursing wildly in her heart, her body was exceptionally honest.
Not only did she not let go, but she also pushed her luck by burrowing deeper into Ye Jinzhi's embrace, even casually resting her other hand on his arm.
Every inch closer counted; every second lived mattered.
Bella's tense heart finally settled back into her chest.
Under Ye Jinzhi's furnace-like body temperature, a strong wave of drowsiness hit her. She finally couldn't hold on any longer and groggily fell into a deep sleep.
The world in her dreams was simply paradise.
Sizzling roasted sausages dripping with oil, golden honey-roasted chicken with crispy skin and tender meat, massive, plump, and thoroughly stewed soy-braised pork knuckles...
[Drooling like crazy! Baby, here I come! What Ye Jinzhi? He smells nothing as good as this pork knuckle!]
She opened her arms and lunged at the bright red pork knuckle like a starving tiger. Opening her mouth, she aimed for the perfect piece of meat with alternating layers of fat and lean, ready to take a vicious bite!
Right at the moment she bit down, it was replaced by Ye Jinzhi's infinitely magnified, exquisite, and gloomy face.
Those black onyx-like eyes were staring at her faintly, with a half-smile lingering at the corners of his mouth.
[June 2, 2027, Ye Family Manor]
In the bedroom, the curtains blocked out the blazing sun. Ye Jinzhi pushed the door open, entered, and sat on the edge of the bed.
He leaned over, his slender fingers gently brushing aside Bella's long hair scattered across the pillow.
He wasn't in a hurry to wake her up. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, his scalding breath mischievously brushing against the base of her ear.
His thin lips pressed against her delicate, porcelain-white skin, pecking at it intermittently.
"Darling~"
He chuckled softly, his kisses trailing all the way down her neck, lingering repeatedly on her tender skin, even sucking with a touch of ruthlessness.
His palms behaved improperly as well, measuring her waist inch by inch through her thin dress.
Seeing that she still had no reaction, Ye Jinzhi's eyes darkened.
His kisses were no longer restrained, falling in tiny, fragmented pecks on her eyelashes and the tip of her nose, before finally lingering by her bright red lips.
Ye Jinzhi even wickedly caught that small piece of soft flesh gently between his teeth, grinding it with just the right amount of pressure.
He lowered his head, his slightly cool nose affectionately rubbing against the soft white skin below her collarbone. As their breaths intertwined, all he could smell was the scent that belonged uniquely to her.
"Has my darling not slept enough? Or... do you want me to wake you up in a more 'forceful' way?"
However, after tossing about for a long while, the breathing rate of Bella beneath him hadn't faltered even a bit.
Ye Jinzhi's smile froze at the corners of his mouth. This seemingly familiar scene made him panic in an instant.
His previous desires retreated like the tide. His fingertips trembled uncontrollably as he tentatively reached out to the tip of her nose.
It wasn't until he felt that faint trace of warm breath that Ye Jinzhi's tense nerves finally relaxed a fraction.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the reckless panic surging in his chest.
[Thank goodness... thank goodness.]
Frowning, he touched her forehead again. No fever.
He propped himself up, his lowered eyes observing her unblinking.
She looked very "normal."
Lying there quietly, her face showed a faint rosiness, and her body temperature was no different from an ordinary person's.
Her long eyelashes cast a small shadow, and her mouth even bore a faint, almost imperceptible smile. She looked exactly as if she was immersed in a beautiful dream, just like Sleeping Beauty.
But why... couldn't she be woken up?
"Darling? Wake up, darling?"
Ye Jinzhi reached out, the back of his fingers gently stroking her cheek.
He deliberately relaxed his tone, carrying a bit of the indulgence and helplessness he usually had when flirting, and coaxed her with a light laugh:
"Wake up and eat. Let's not pretend to be asleep anymore, okay?"
He even wickedly pinched the tip of her nose, waiting for her to open her eyes angrily and fuss at him just like in his memories.
But no matter how much he fussed, the girl in front of him maintained that perfect sleeping posture without any response.
As time slipped away minute by minute, the teasing, coaxing smile on his lips stiffened bit by bit, finally disappearing completely.
The room was terrifyingly dead silent. Only his own increasingly rapid breathing remained, like the panting of a dying beast.
A familiar sense of powerlessness engulfed him like a tidal wave.
He abruptly turned around and grabbed the phone on the table.
"Hello, Huo Dan. Come over here, right now, immediately."
His voice was terribly hoarse, and he couldn't bear to look away from the figure on the bed for even a moment.
"Bring that female assistant of yours, too."
Hanging up the phone, Ye Jinzhi leaned against the edge of the bed as if he had lost all his strength.
He closed his eyes, suppressing the scalding, sour redness in them. When he opened them again, only bottomless gloom remained in his dark eyes.
He looked down at the dress on Bella, which had been made a bit messy by him just now.
After a moment of silence, he uncharacteristically suppressed his aggressive aura. He rummaged through the bedroom's walk-in closet for an extremely conservative set of pure cotton long sleeves and pants, and personally changed her into them, covering up all her alluring skin.
Finally, he sat back down on the edge of the bed, tightly gripping Bella's hand, his eyes surging with unease.
"Darling, if you dare to just keep sleeping like this..." he murmured softly, kissing her knuckles, his tone so gentle it was heartbreaking.
"When you come next time, I won't be so easy to fool... Darling..."
Two babies were urging for an update~ Then I'll update two chapters today~
