Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lin Xingshu thought he’d misheard and froze in place, unable to move. It wasn’t until Li Yun leaned in, attempting to kiss his cheek, that he snapped back to reality and shoved him back hard.

“Are you insane?!”

Li Yun fell to the ground, his messy black hair obscuring his eyes. He lowered his head and suddenly started giggling, the eerie laughter echoing endlessly in the empty stairwell.

Lin Xingshu trembled as he stood up, horrified by Li Yun’s deranged appearance. He got chills, and he leaned against the wall, desperate to get out of the stairwell.

The moment he took a step forward, something tugged at his pant leg. Startled, Lin Xingshu looked down—it was Li Yun.

Li Yun was now kneeling on the ground, crawling forward, his hands gripping Lin Xingshu’s pant leg tightly. His pretty face wore a dazed smile, his mouth stretched in a creepy grin toward his ears as he continued to emit strange, unsettling laughter.

Those dark eyes never left him, staring with a disgustingly obsessive love.

“Li Yun, are you sick? Let go of me!”

Lin Xingshu tried to pull his leg free, but Li Yun clung to it desperately, even pressing his face against Lin Xingshu’s calf like some creepy stalker.

“Mr. Lin… Mr. Lin, look at me. I like you. I’m better than him. I'd be the perfect partner for you. Be with me—I’ll take good care of you…”

Li Yun’s voice trembled, his breath coming fast with excitement, his eyes bloodshot. He lifted his head, his eyes full of desperate longing.

“Just say yes, and I’ll deal with him for you right now. Then we can be together, okay?”

Crazy.

This Li Yun was truly insane.

Lin Xingshu didn’t even know this guy—where had he come from? Spouting nonsense about liking him out of nowhere… Was he mentally ill?

“Deal with Xie Guan”? What a joke! Did he think he was some wealthy heir with powerful connections?

Wake up! They were both just lowly office workers!

“Get off me!”

Seeing that Li Yun had no intention of letting go, Lin Xingshu couldn’t take it anymore. He kicked Li Yun away and stumbled toward the stairwell exit, grabbing the door handle and twisting it frantically—but it wouldn’t budge, as if locked from the outside.

He tried several more times, the door banging loudly but remaining firmly shut.

“What the hell…?!”

Lin Xingshu muttered under his breath, sweat dripping down his forehead as he twisted the handle in desperation.

“Mr. Lin.”

A cold puff of breath suddenly brushed against his ear. Lin Xingshu’s whole body went rigid as a pair of icy hands silently snaked around him from behind, followed by a satisfied sigh.

“Just give me a chance. I’ll show you that I’m the one who suits you best.”

As he spoke, Li Yun’s hands slipped beneath his clothes, gripping his waist tightly through the thin fabric of his shirt.

“Get the fuck away from me!!”

“Help! Is anyone there?! Open the door! Help!!”

But no matter how loudly he screamed, there was no answer. The world outside the door was eerily silent.

“Mr. Lin, I like you so much…”

Li Yun kept up his creepy confession. Lin Xingshu had finally had enough—he jammed his elbow hard into Li Yun’s stomach. Li Yun let out a pained groan, and Lin Xingshu seized the chance to break free.

“I don’t like you! Get lost! Don’t touch me! If you don’t let me go right now, I’m calling security!”

“You’re disgusting!”

His tone was furious, his eyes filled with revulsion as he pulled out his phone and made a point of dialing the security number right in front of Li Yun.

“Mr. Lin… you… you hate me?”

“Yes! I hate you, got it? I would never be with you—happy now?”

Li Yun flinched, his eyes flickering. His lips trembled before he slowly lowered his hands and took a few steps back, his head hanging low.

At that moment, the door handle finally turned with a creak. Relief flooded Lin Xingshu as he yanked the door open and bolted out without so much as a backward glance.

*Bang—*

The stairwell door slammed shut again, cutting off the two worlds.

Li Yun stood frozen, stunned. It took a long time before he finally snapped out of it, lifting his gaze toward where Lin Xingshu had disappeared. His eyes were filled with sorrow.

He raised a hand to touch his face.

Even after changing his appearance… why was it still not enough?

The identity of “Li Yun” had been carefully chosen.

Li Yun’s face was decent-looking, and he had once worked at the same company as the one he loved—though he had been completely unnoticeable, leaving without anyone noticing.

Today was his first time passing as human. He had taken over Li Yun’s identity, copying human ways to work a regular job. And, as expected, he had encountered the one he loved at the company.

He had seen his name tag—Lin Xingshu.

What a beautiful name… just as adorable as the man himself.

He had thought that changing his face would win his affection, but the one he loved remained cold… so cold it stung.

What hurt even more was that the one he loved already had a partner.

By human rules, he wasn’t supposed to interfere between Lin Xingshu and that man.

But in his kind’s culture, as long as no official commitment had taken place, it was fair competition.

He didn’t know if Lin Xingshu and that Xie Guan had bonded—but even if they had, he didn’t care.

At this thought, a spark of jealousy crossed Li Yun’s eyes. He subconsciously raised a hand and bit into his knuckles, not even noticing as blood dripped from his fingers.

The blood stained his pale lips. His eyes, red with jealousy, smoldered with anger. His normally delicate face now carried a strangely bewitching aura.

He didn’t understand—what did that guy have that was so great about that rude, aggressive guy?

Okay, he was good-looking, but his personality was awful.

That weak body couldn’t possibly satisfy a partner’s needs. Someone like that wasn’t worthy of Lin Xingshu!

But… Thinking back to Lin Xingshu’s harsh words, he chewed on his bleeding lip and hung his head in defeat, his eyes full of hopelessness.

He couldn’t figure out why Lin Xingshu disliked him. Was it how he came on to him?

For his kind, mating rituals were more direct and primal. Considering Lin Xingshu was human, he'd already toned it way down... So why was it still not working?

Then it hit him.

The gloom in Li Yun's eyes lifted—it must be because of his face!

Next to that other guy, this mug wasn't much to look at. If he could find a face even more perfect and beautiful than that guy’s, would Lin Xingshu even notice him?

He should leave now.

He needed to upgrade his face...

*

Lin Xingshu returned to his workstation, still rattled, looking like he'd seen a ghost.

His luck was the worst these past two days. Running into two creeps back-to-back? The weirdo from last night was one, and now this Li Yun—both totally unhinged.

"You okay there?"

It was almost lunchtime, and his colleague had finished her work and was clearing off her desk.

"It's nothing..."

"Oh, right, wait, weren't you asking about Li Yun before?"

Lin Xingshu went still, then nodded. His colleague suddenly turned around, her brow furrowed. After a moment of hesitation, she tapped her chin. "Why did you suddenly ask about him?"

"That Li Yun just came to see me, asking about the project... I didn’t really know him, so..."

"He came by for you?!"

His colleague suddenly exclaimed, shooting him a weird look.

Lin Xingshu got goosebumps under her stare. "Yeah... Didn’t you see him come over just now?"

"I was so busy I couldn’t even look up. I didn’t notice anyone coming to see you. Also, Xiao Lin... you sure you're talking about the same guy?"

His colleague gave him this weird, loaded look.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lin Xingshu felt increasingly uneasy under her stare.

"That Li Yun... he quit last month."

"What?!"

Lin Xingshu's blood ran cold. But he had clearly seen Li Yun’s ID badge around his neck just now...

"Are you positive you're not mixed up?"

His colleague waved her hand and pulled up their messages with HR. "I’m friends with Xiao Liu from HR. Last month, we were talking about employees who left the company. See? Li Yun resigned a long time ago."

Lin Xingshu took her phone with a frown. Sure enough, just as she said, Li Yun’s name and photo were listed among the departed employees.

"I even have his WeChat. Look, he got transferred overseas for training by his new company."

Lin Xingshu froze in shock.

An icy dread crawled up his spine. He felt as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar, his entire body drenched in freezing water, shaking like a leaf. His face turned frighteningly pale.

Transferred overseas?

How was that possible... That Li Yun had just been passionately confessing to him in the stairwell...

Had he mistaken someone else for Li Yun? No, that was impossible—the name and photo matched perfectly.

The coldness in his body intensified. Lin Xingshu instinctively curled up, biting his fingertips nervously, his eyes vacant.

"Xiao Lin... are you okay? Xiao Lin...?"

"Ah! Sorry, sis... I think I’m feeling a bit unwell. I won’t join you for lunch today..."

"Oh... okay."

His colleague gave him a complicated look before leaving. Lin Xingshu sat at his desk, shivering uncontrollably.

He slumped onto the table, his gaze went distant, replaying the scene of Li Yun’s confession in his mind.

His voice, his appearance—everything was vivid, his love-filled eyes locked onto him. It was all too real to be a hallucination.

If the real Li Yun was abroad right now... then who had he just met?