Early the next morning.
Jiang Nuan’s first thought upon waking was that every inch of her body ached.
Every muscle was protesting. Even turning over took effort.
She blinked blearily.
The first thing she saw was a devastatingly handsome face.
Shen Wu lay on his side beside her, one arm draped over her waist, as though he had remained in that position all night without moving.
He was still asleep. His eyelashes were absurdly long; even with his eyes closed, he looked better than most people did with theirs open.
Jiang Nuan stared at his face for several seconds.
She had to admit, the man really was unfairly handsome.
Asleep, without his usual vicious tongue, he looked even more like an otherworldly immortal than he did when awake.
Pale, cool-toned skin, long lashes, light-colored lips…
Combined with his slightly disheveled hair, he was the very picture of aloof restraint.
But…
Jiang Nuan unconsciously pressed the tip of her tongue against her still-swollen lips.
This man wasn’t restrained at all.
Not only was he not restrained—he was a kissing monster wrapped in the pelt of a snow fox!
All that aloofness and self-control was nothing but a deceptive facade.
He spared neither her mind nor her body. Whenever he wanted something, he showed absolutely no restraint.
She carefully reached out and tried to push away the arm around her waist. She wanted to take a shower and have some breakfast.
The moment she moved, the arm around her waist tightened.
Jiang Nuan froze.
“…Jiang Nuan.”
Shen Wu’s hoarse voice brushed against the back of her neck.
Before she could answer, that arm pulled her backward.
She was dragged back down, the back of her head settling against the soft pillow. Shen Wu’s face filled her vision.
His amber eyes were already open, though they had yet to fully focus.
Then he lowered his head, pressing his lips to her forehead, her nose, and her cheek.
Jiang Nuan planted both hands against his chest and pushed him away.
“W-wait!”
The moment she spoke, her voice was so hoarse that even she was startled.
“I really don’t have any strength left!” She glared at him in irritation. “There isn’t a single muscle in my body that’s listening to me right now!”
Shen Wu paused, then laughed.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said hoarsely. “I’m just kissing you.”
The instant he finished speaking, he lowered his head again and kissed her lips.
It wasn’t like last night, when he had kissed her with enough force to swallow her whole. This time, his lips merely rested against hers, rubbing gently.
Jiang Nuan let out a sigh of relief.
All right. It was only a kiss. She could handle that.
…He didn’t let go.
One kiss ended, immediately followed by another. From her lips to her chin, then back to the corner of her mouth, over and over without end.
Jiang Nuan’s muffled voice emerged from between his lips and teeth. “You said you were just going to kiss me, mmph…”
“Exactly,” Shen Wu murmured indistinctly against her lower lip. “Just kissing you.”
“Who kisses someone for five minutes without stopping?”
“Someone does,” he said. “Me.”
…
She gave up struggling completely and lay flat on the pillow with a look of utter despair, letting him do whatever he wanted.
A kissing monster.
Definitely a kissing monster.
Apparently, spending the entire night transferring liquor to her mouth wasn’t enough for him. He had to start again the moment he woke up.
Jiang Nuan was now absolutely certain that Shen Wu’s pure, dispassionate face was the greatest lie in the apocalypse!
After an indeterminate amount of time—
“…Shen Wu!”
Her muffled voice finally escaped from between his lips.
Shen Wu at last lifted his head, breathing slightly harder.
His amber eyes curved with a smile. He ran a finger along the corner of her lips, as though wiping away a trace of something.
“Good morning.”
Jiang Nuan stared expressionlessly at this fox.
Only now did he think to say good morning?
What had the previous half hour been? A warm-up?
*
By the time Jiang Nuan finally escaped from the bed, showered, and went downstairs, her legs were still weak.
As she walked, she swore to herself that she would never again drink liquor transferred from this fox’s mouth.
Chen Ping'an was already seated at the dining table in the living room.
When he saw Jiang Nuan appear, he politely raised his head to greet her. “Jiang Nuan, good mor—”
His words had barely begun when Shen Wu came downstairs behind her.
His hair was still slightly damp, and his entire presence was cool and distant, radiating the unmistakable air of someone who wanted to be left alone.
He walked over to the table, naturally pulled out a chair for Jiang Nuan, and then sat down right beside her.
Chen Ping'an’s gaze slid from Jiang Nuan’s face to Shen Wu, then quickly darted away.
He lowered his head and devoted himself to rolling strips of meat into his scallion pancake.
Jiang Nuan picked up a piece of pancake and took a bite. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the tips of Chen Ping'an’s ears had turned red.
That kid’s eyes were far too sharp.
She decided to pretend that nothing had happened.
Yes. World peace. Peaceful days.
The morning news was playing on the television. The background looked familiar, and Jiang Nuan recognized it at once.
The ice-lake arch bridge in Area A.
A middle-aged man in a perfectly tailored suit stood in the frame.
His hair was combed so neatly that not a strand was out of place. A uniformed technician stood behind him.
A line of bold text appeared at the bottom of the screen:
[Minister Sun Mingrui of the Federation’s Whale Harbor City personally visits Area A to inspect the seal]
Facing the camera, Sun Mingrui spoke with confidence. “According to our monitoring, the abnormal-energy seal set up here by the Lighthouse Squad has shown unstable fluctuations in recent days.”
“To ensure the safety of our citizens, we have decided to conduct an on-site inspection. We will not overlook a single potential hazard.”
As he spoke, he turned and made a sweeping gesture with one hand.
The technician behind him handed him an instrument. He pressed the power button.
The screen lit up.
It beeped for several seconds.
Then—
The readings remained stable. No abnormalities were detected.
The scene fell silent for a moment.
The host, off-camera, cleared his throat and tried to smooth things over. “It appears that… Minister Sun was just giving everyone a little scare.”
The muscles in Sun Mingrui’s face visibly twitched before he resumed his polished smile.
“Everything is safe. Citizens can rest assured.”
The footage quickly cut away, switching to the next news story about the New Year’s celebration.
Jiang Nuan’s heart sank.
She remembered very clearly.
Yesterday afternoon, while she had been waiting in line to buy roasted chestnuts at the ice lake, Lin Zhou had hurried over from the direction of the arch bridge.
After hearing Lin Zhou’s report, Lu Zhaoming had immediately entrusted young Lu Shiyan to her and hurried away with his people.
Could it be… that something had gone wrong yesterday, only for the people from the Lighthouse to discover and resolve it in advance?
If the seal had truly malfunctioned yesterday, then given the Lighthouse Squad’s efficiency and Lu Zhaoming’s capabilities, resolving the problem overnight would not have been difficult.
But then what was the meaning of this news report?
The minister of Whale Harbor City in the Federation would not inexplicably demand that a news segment be broadcast live if it was only going to make him look bad.
Unless he had confirmed beforehand that there really was a problem with the seal.
Either he was certain the seal was malfunctioning and wanted to use the incident to claim credit…
Or he wanted to use public opinion to pressure the Lighthouse Squad.
Jiang Nuan suddenly remembered the unidentified object Lin Zhou had slipped into her pocket yesterday.
It seemed that Minister Sun had no idea just how vigilant the Lighthouse Squad really was.
But another question followed close behind.
Jiang Nuan swallowed the piece of scallion pancake, along with an unpleasant thought.
The seal had malfunctioned…
Could Minister Sun himself have tampered with it?
But that speculation pointed toward something far too frightening, and she had no evidence whatsoever…
What could Minister Sun possibly want by doing something like that?
