Possessiveness
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At the same moment, on the top floor of the office building.
Richard Nielsen rushed into the restroom, vomiting violently into the toilet. His nose ran, his eyes teared uncontrollably, and he even threw up streaks of fresh blood.
Several minutes passed before he finally stopped retching. His expression shifted several times, and for a moment, he thought Biotech had changed its mind and directly deployed a sonic impact weapon on this building.
—The shipment they had lost belonged to Biotech. It consisted of high-end fashion made entirely from organic fabrics, valued at millions of dollars.
The delivery guy had claimed he had no idea what had happened. All electronic devices had malfunctioned, and in the blink of an eye, the goods had disappeared.
Nielsen tracked all the accounts under the man’s name and even implanted a nano-level tracking chip in his body, confirming that he was not lying.
Biotech had stated that the shipment was a gift from their CEO to his wife, and they demanded an explanation.
But who the hell knew where that shipment had gone?!
By mid-morning, Nielsen was on the verge of losing his mind.
He had been trying to find out the identity of Biotech’s new CEO to personally offer his apologies, but no matter how much he searched, he found nothing.
The most terrifying part was that when Biotech’s higher-ups learned of the situation, one of them personally called him—not to help, but to warn him against prying any further.
Nielsen couldn’t help but ask, “Why? I remember when I wanted to meet Mr. Fujiwara back then, you never warned me like this… This Jiang Lian—who exactly is he, that even you avoid mentioning him?”
Before he could finish speaking, the superior barked, “Who allowed you to call him by name?!”
Nielsen was stunned. “…Even his name is off-limits?”
His superior’s face was projected onto Nielsen’s retinal display. Nielsen had never seen him afraid of anything before. Yet now, the man’s teeth were chattering, the muscles in his cheeks were rigid, and his entire body was trembling violently. That was the look of someone utterly consumed by fear.
Many media outlets speculated that the newly appointed CEO, Jiang Lian, was merely a puppet of the Araki family, put in place to divert public attention. After all, power struggles in major corporations were always bloody and ruthless—there was no need for the public to know the details.
But if he really was just a puppet, why would even his superior be this terrified of him?
…This didn’t feel like reverence for a CEO.
It felt more like the unwillingness to speak of some unspeakably terrifying legend.
A chill ran up Nielsen’s spine, making his hairs stand on end. He dared not ask any further.
After a long pause, his superior finally continued, “I can’t tell you much. I can only give you one warning: If you see ‘him,’ run as far as you can. Don’t try to speak to ‘him.’ Don’t try to approach ‘him.’ And never try to please ‘him.’
“This is the most sincere advice I can give you, in honor of the years you’ve been loyal to me.”
The call was cut off.
Nielsen recalled his superior’s look of sheer terror and felt a deep, bone-chilling cold spread through him. He immediately notified Biotech’s people, telling them that Zhou Jiao had already gone downstairs—she was the one who had lost their shipment. They should waste no time and take her away immediately.
—
On the other side, Jiang Lian had finally managed to kiss Zhou Jiao. He had no intention of ending it so soon.
He forcefully restrained his craving to suck the saliva from her mouth, merely keeping his lips pressed against hers, tongue brushing against tongue.
But ultimately, he was not human. Even though he had learned restraint, it was difficult to suppress the fierce love and desire surging within him.
A few seconds later, his eyes locked onto Zhou Jiao’s, unwavering. His tongue involuntarily extended, just a little—quietly brushing against the back of her throat.
Zhou Jiao: “…”
Enough already!!!
She shuddered, grabbed his hair, and yanked his head away. “Alright, that’s enough. I have things to do. You wait here—”
Before she could finish her sentence, dozens of soldiers in Biotech uniforms suddenly stormed into the room.
They held submachine guns in their hands, the barrels dark and icy cold, emitting scarlet laser sights that locked firmly onto Zhou Jiao and Jiang Lian.
Zhou Jiao was momentarily stunned. What was going on?
Had Biotech rebelled?
A soldier at the front of the group stepped forward and stated coldly, “Ms. Zhou Jiao, you are suspected of endangering company property security. Please come with us.”
Zhou Jiao lifted her head and looked at Jiang Lian.
Jiang Lian’s brows furrowed slightly. He seized Zhou Jiao’s wrist and pulled her behind him.
Almost instantly, all the red laser sights shifted onto him.
The leading soldier warned, “The company is conducting an arrest operation. All unrelated personnel must leave immediately and not obstruct the execution of our mission!”
Zhou Jiao tilted her head slightly, using her finger to lightly scratch Jiang Lian’s palm as she softly inquired, “…Aren’t you Biotech’s CEO? Why are they still trying to arrest me?”
Jiang Lian looked down at the soldiers before him. Behind his lenses, his gaze turned dark and violent, exuding a chilling murderous intent.
In an instant, the surrounding temperature plummeted. In the dim corners of the room, something shadowy and grotesque seemed to squirm and writhe in the darkness.
All the soldiers felt a sudden dizziness and, in unison, shuddered violently.
…What was happening?
The soldiers exchanged uncertain glances.
Why did an inexplicable sense of fear suddenly creep into their minds?
Jiang Lian did not seem to notice that some of the soldiers were already struggling to keep hold of their submachine guns.
He felt nothing but rage—and humiliation.
It was only to pursue and please Zhou Jiao that he had lowered himself to take control of Biotech.
Yet not only had Biotech failed to assist him in winning her favor, it had now even dared to harm her.
Even he did not dare to pursue her—who gave them the audacity?
In an instant, the temperature plummeted further. A thin layer of frost began to form over the floor.
A damp and unsettling chill crept up from the soldiers’ feet.
They all heard the slick, slithering sounds of some crawling creature moving in the shadows, but when they looked down, they saw nothing.
This unnatural, unknown horror pushed every soldier to the brink of madness.
One soldier, his nerves stretched to their limit, suddenly raised his submachine gun, instinctively preparing to fire a burst at Zhou Jiao—
But just as he was about to pull the trigger, Jiang Lian looked at him.
In that instant, the soldier’s wrist bent backward, twisting into an utterly unnatural position that no human should be able to achieve.
“AAAAHHH—AAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
The soldier’s hand went slack, his submachine gun clattering to the floor. His body convulsed as he collapsed, letting out a blood-curdling scream.
Biotech’s soldiers had witnessed countless horrors. They had heard their comrades’ agonized wails before.
But this was the first time a scream had made their blood run cold.
—Their muscles and bones had all been bioengineered, capable of pulling a truck weighing tens of tons with their bare hands.
Yet this person hadn’t even touched them—and he had snapped their bones apart as if it were nothing.
How… was this possible?
That thought had barely flickered through the soldiers’ minds when, in the next second—
Crack. Crack. Crack.
A series of sharp, sickening snaps echoed through the room.
All the soldiers’ hand bones were suddenly gripped by an invisible force and violently wrenched backward.
Simultaneously, every soldier’s hands twisted into a grotesque, inhuman shape, sending a wave of nausea and horror through those who witnessed it.
The man before them…
What the hell was he?
Was he still human?
How could a human possibly possess such terrifying power?
All the soldiers had lost their ability to fight—some collapsed onto the ground, others knelt, screaming in agony, while others trembled violently, kicking their legs in futile resistance.
Yet the icy, bone-chilling murderous intent in Jiang Lian’s eyes had not faded.
He still felt humiliated.
No matter what reason Biotech had for arresting Zhou Jiao, it enraged him beyond reason.
It was merely a tool he used to please Zhou Jiao.
Not even a subordinate—just an object at his disposal.
And yet, it dared to defy him and attempt to harm her.
—Eliminate them.
Completely.
Until now, Jiang Lian had never thought about protecting anything.
He only knew slaughter and destruction.
It was only now that he realized—the desire to protect was an even more violent impulse than the desire to destroy.
If he hadn’t come to find Zhou Jiao today, would these worthless pests have already captured her?
He knew she was calm-minded, quick-witted, and far stronger and more agile than most humans.
But still—he feared she might be hurt.
And worse—just imagining these scum laying their filthy hands on her, twisting her arms behind her back, shoving her into one of Biotech’s transport vehicles—
Bloodlust surged through him.
He wanted to wipe out every living creature in sight.
At that moment, Jiang Lian understood something.
—He could not forcefully claim Zhou Jiao.
—He could not cage her.
—He could not harm her.
But he could eliminate everyone else.
If this planet was reduced to just the two of them, then naturally—she would belong to him alone.
Jiang Lian lowered his gaze slightly, his golden-rimmed glasses hiding the fleeting glint of ecstatic joy and triumph in his eyes.
This idea was feasible.
This way, he would never again have to endure others looking at her, approaching her, speaking to her.
He would never again have to worry about anyone else touching, harming, or kidnapping her.
Not only was this idea feasible—it was a perfect plan.
Jiang Lian took a step forward.
Then another.
Each step he took toward the soldiers sent a palpable wave of suffocating pressure crashing down upon them.
With his towering, ice-cold figure approaching, the surrounding space seemed to undergo a sickly, nightmarish transformation—
As if infected by some grotesque, alien disease.
A wet, squelching sound of writhing flesh echoed through the air.
Dark, violet-black shapes slithered across the floor, the walls, the ceiling—growing, spreading, devouring everything in their path.
Within mere seconds, the entire office building was engulfed.
A scene straight out of a nightmare.
The soldiers stopped screaming and writhing.
Instead, an instinctual, primal terror ignited within them—so overwhelming that it drove them to tap into inhuman reserves of strength just to flee.
They bolted. Scrambling. Shoving. Clawing over each other.
Because if they didn’t run, they would die.
This man—
This thing—
This terrifying, oppressive being—
Was going to slaughter them all.
The way he looked at them—
It was as if he were gazing at a pile of worthless, disgusting trash, ready to be erased from existence.
Run!
No one knew who shouted first, but the panic spread like wildfire.
Desperate, terrified screams and frenzied shouts echoed through the office.
Everyone was running—not just the Biotech soldiers with their dislocated arms, but also the office workers in the building.
The latter had no idea what was happening, but the sheer hysteria of the crowd was enough to send them rushing toward the exits in blind confusion.
The scene was pure chaos.
But in the midst of it all—
Jiang Lian stopped.
He had been walking forward, ready to erase everything in his path.
Until—
Zhou Jiao grabbed the hem of his shirt.
His footsteps halted. He turned back.
Zhou Jiao frowned slightly. “Come here. I have something to ask you.”
Jiang Lian stared at her.
—She wants to save these pieces of trash.
The ones who might have touched her, hurt her, arrested her.
And if he dared to go against her wishes, then—
he would instantly lose the right to pursue her.
Unfair.
Jiang Lian’s eyes remained motionless, pinned onto her face. Slowly, he began walking toward her.
The writhing black appendages that had spread through the office now turned their attention to Zhou Jiao, shifting their cold, sticky, pulsating gaze toward her.
The pressure was suffocating, as though they were draining the oxygen from the air around her.
But Zhou Jiao was used to this kind of attention.
Or rather—she enjoyed it.
She liked how he craved her, obsessed over her, fixated on her.
She knew this feeling was mutual.
He was obsessed with her.
She was obsessed with his obsession with her.
…And who was to say that wasn’t just a twisted way of being obsessed with him?
Where was the line between them, really?
Their gazes met.
The air between them seemed to ignite, thick and molten, as if overheated wax had melted and sealed around her skin—dense, suffocating, inescapable.
It took her a moment to realize—
That searing, burning sensation… was Jiang Lian’s gaze.
He reached her.
She instinctively tried to release the fabric of his shirt.
But he moved first.
In a single, fluid motion, he caught her wrist—locking it in place like a serpent striking its prey.
“What do you want to ask me?”
Just thinking about the question made Zhou Jiao’s eye twitch.
“Be honest with me. The things you gave me… where exactly did they come from?”
Not because she wanted to plead for those people’s lives.
Jiang Lian’s expression eased slightly, no longer as chilling and terrifying as before. “I took it from Biotech.”
Zhou Jiao narrowed her eyes. “How did you take it?”
“From a transport truck.”
Zhou Jiao: “………Explain properly.”
Jiang Lian responded matter-of-factly, “A Biotech transport truck passed by. It had something I wanted, so I took it.”
Then, as if to clarify his reasoning, he added with utmost confidence, “Biotech is my company. Taking things from them is completely legal and justified. What’s the problem?”
As he finished speaking, a thought seemed to cross his mind. His gaze softened slightly, and he added in a thoughtful tone, “I love you. If you want anything from them, you can take it too—however much you like.”
Zhou Jiao raised a hand to her forehead, fingers trembling slightly—whether from frustration or the impact of his sudden confession, even she wasn’t sure.
At that moment, Jiang Lian completely forgot about chasing down the soldiers.
His gaze unconsciously drifted downward—fixating on her lips.
He had just confessed to her.
By human societal customs, didn’t that mean he could kiss her again?
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, struggling to suppress the overwhelming urge to kiss her right then and there.
But he endured.
He forced himself to wait.
He wanted her to move first.
Only if she took the initiative to kiss him, could he then dive in, deepen the kiss, entwine their tongues, and fiercely—
He was calculating the best moment to let her reward him—
But before he could react, Zhou Jiao suddenly burst into laughter.
“?”
At first, it was just a small chuckle.
Then, as if the absurdity of the situation fully hit her, she laughed louder.
Laughed until she couldn’t stand upright—until she collapsed into his arms, laughing so hard her shoulders trembled uncontrollably.
Jiang Lian instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist, securing her in place. At the same time, he shot a chilling glare at the eagerly twitching tendrils around them, silently commanding them to back off.
Looking down at her, his possessiveness was deep and unfathomable, but his expression was filled with genuine confusion.
“Why are you laughing?”
It took Zhou Jiao a long time to regain her composure.
Even then, her smile remained, her breaths still uneven from laughter. She slowly straightened up, looked at him with teasing amusement, and said:
“Do you know why these people are trying to arrest me?”
Jiang Lian’s gaze darkened. “Why?”
“Because you stole their goods and gave them to me.””Then my boss framed me for it.”
Zhou Jiao barely finished the sentence before bursting into laughter again.
Jiang Lian: “……”