A Scorching Yet Pure Heart
///
Zhou Jiao rarely laughed so happily.
Compared to excitement and thrill, happiness was the hardest emotion for her to perceive.
She had already forgotten the last time she laughed so hard that she couldn’t catch her breath.
When Jiang Lian gave her that pile of gifts, although she was surprised and excited, deep down, she actually felt a little bored.
Using money to please someone was indeed efficient and convenient, easily satisfying a person’s greed and vanity.
But that uniquely human sense of smooth tactfulness and worldliness significantly diminished his charm as a non-human being.
That day, she didn’t want to accept his gifts—not only as a form of playing hard to get, but also for this very reason.
However, after learning how he had “gotten” those gifts, that feeling of boredom vanished. She even felt—rarely—happy.
She could almost imagine his thought process.
—Those clothes and shoes fit her size perfectly, meaning they were meant for her from the start. He simply couldn’t tolerate the inefficiency of delivery services and decided to deliver them himself.
Even though he had integrated into human society for her, reluctantly accepting the identity and appearance of “Jiang Lian,” he had never abandoned his predatory nature.
When he didn’t love her, that nature was terrifying, chilling, and horrifying.
But after falling in love with her, it seemed pure, simple, and burning hot.
It was strange—clearly, she was human, and he was not.
Yet it was she whose humanity was being awakened by him, gradually sensing emotions she once found difficult to perceive.
Fear, thrill, excitement, passion… and the hardest of all—happiness.
With a smile, Zhou Jiao tilted her head back and crooked her finger at Jiang Lian.
Jiang Lian didn’t really want to lower his head.
He vaguely realized that he had embarrassed himself.
And she—she was wantonly laughing at him.
It was a strange feeling.
His face remained cold, but the tips of his ears burned. He wanted to pinch her cheeks and silence her laughter, yet after staring at her again and again, he still didn’t make a move.
She looked too beautiful when she smiled. He couldn’t bear to make that smile disappear.
Forget it.
Soon, this world would have only the two of them left anyway.
He loved her, so he allowed her to laugh at him—but anyone else who knew the truth had to die.
Jiang Lian’s expression was cold and heavy as he reluctantly lowered his head.
Zhou Jiao’s warm breath scattered over the shell of his ear. “Did you just confess to me?”
His entire body was cold and dry—only his breath was damp and sticky, making him especially sensitive to the humid heat of her exhale.
Unconsciously, Jiang Lian swallowed, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down.
The cold-toned office buildings were crawling with thick, writhing purple-black tentacles. Even more terrifying was that these tentacles were still extending outward, like some kind of highly adhesive carnivorous plant, coiling around streetlights, traffic signals, and overpasses, taking root as they spread.
In the gloomy sky, a massive, terrifying shadow slowly emerged, vast like a celestial body.
Influenced by science fiction, people had all, to some extent, experienced nightmares about observing a celestial body up close. But dreams were, after all, just dreams—the sense of oppression they evoked was limited. Confronted with a truly colossal entity of planetary scale, there would be only one response—a visceral urge to vomit.
It was a scene straight out of an apocalypse.
Yet, as the mastermind behind it all, Jiang Lian had completely forgotten his plan to destroy the world.
His gaze was fixed on Zhou Jiao’s lips. Like a cold-blooded creature, his eyes shifted slightly, and a single thought occupied his mind—how to use a confession as an excuse to steal a kiss from her.
—
Meanwhile, Araki Isao was handling corporate affairs at the California branch of BioTech.
On the surface, he had been promoted—he could even appoint or dismiss branch managers on behalf of the CEO and held a veto power over major company decisions.
Because of this, many within the company speculated that the former CEO, Fujiwara Osamu, had stepped down because Araki Isao was cunning and ruthless enough to subtly usurp his authority.
In reality, the only reason he was doing the CEO’s work was because Jiang Lian couldn’t be bothered.
—That monster had taken over BioTech, and his first reaction was to make clothes and shoes for a woman!
At the time, Araki Isao thought he had misheard. He confirmed it multiple times, only to be met with Jiang Lian’s cold and impatient gaze. Silently, he shut his mouth.
—No, he hadn’t misheard. Jiang Lian had gone through all that effort to take over BioTech, all for the sake of courting a woman.
Araki Isao found it utterly unbelievable.
As someone born after 2015, he knew that a certain type of literature called “tyrannical CEO fiction” existed. But never in his life did he imagine it could happen in a Biotech corporation.
What kind of company was BioTech?
One of the world’s three corporate giants, spanning across dozens of industries—pharmaceuticals, weaponry, medical technology, food, energy, logistics, genetic engineering, biochemical chips… even media.
If this era was a steel-and-neon forest, then BioTech was the very steel within it.
Without steel, the neon forest would collapse in an instant.
So, even when the CEO was suddenly replaced by Jiang Lian—a complete nobody—the stock prices only plummeted briefly before stabilizing.
Everyone wanted to see BioTech fall, but aside from that lunatic Lu Zehou, no one truly hoped for its collapse.
A corporate monopoly never truly falls. It simply gets divided and devoured by other monopolies.
And in this process, only ordinary people suffer—stock market turbulence, economic crises, food shortages, waves of unemployment… Each of these was a crushing weight on the shoulders of the common folk, an insurmountable mountain.
And the corporation itself?
It simply continued to exist in a different form.
Yet this everlasting corporate empire was something Jiang Lian had seized just to please a woman.
The moment Araki Isao found out…
His heart sank harder than the ancient feudal lords tricked by King You of Zhou’s false beacons.
His hands trembled ever so slightly.
Countless times, he had mustered the courage to gather forces and rise against the tyrannical rule of the eldritch god.
And yet, in the end, he became the eldritch god’s lapdog, brainstorming ways to help him chase a woman.
—
After Jiang Lian headed to California, Araki Isao struggled internally for a long time before ultimately following him there.
He was afraid that if Jiang Lian failed to win over Zhou Jiao, he would destroy the world in a fit of rage.
Yesterday, he had accessed the city’s surveillance system and saw Jiang Lian going home with Zhou Jiao. His tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
If Jiang Lian succeeded in courting Zhou Jiao, then at least for the foreseeable future, he wouldn’t annihilate the world.
Only then did Araki Isao finally have time to deal with the mountain of backlogged corporate affairs.
Who knew that not even half an hour after Araki Isao sat down in his office, his communicator would begin flashing wildly?
The call came from the personnel specifically assigned to “monitor” Jiang Lian—though, of course, “monitoring” was merely a polite term.
Any surveillance equipment or drones completely lost all function within a thousand-meter radius of Jiang Lian.
The only way they could infer his actions was by observing the surrounding environment.
And right now, there was no need to infer anything.
Even through the grainy, disrupted footage, it was evident that something catastrophic was happening—
The entire city was on the verge of being swallowed by writhing tentacles.
The voice on the other end trembled, barely able to form words.
“…W-What do we do, Mr. Araki…? What is happening? Is Mr. Jiang in a bad mood…?”
Araki Isao’s forehead throbbed violently, veins bulging. His fingers trembled slightly, and the internal injuries he had sustained from past sonic shockwaves flared with pain.
He also wanted to ask—What the hell is happening?!
Hadn’t Jiang Lian already started talking to Zhou Jiao?
Then why was he still trying to destroy the world?
What does he have against this world?
Araki Isao’s thoughts were a chaotic mess. He massaged his pulsing veins, struggling to suppress his headache. After a long silence, he finally ground out his response through clenched teeth:
“Activate Level-One Emergency Protocol. Mobilize all available armed forces. Ensure every armored vehicle is equipped with a mobile turret-mounted heavy machine gun.”
“Tell everyone—this is not a battle for the company. This is a battle for their own survival.”
“What we are facing is not a human being, but an unprecedented terror.
With our current level of technology, we are utterly powerless against it.”
“So, I do not ask you to win this war. I only ask that you do everything in your power to contain it.”
Just as he finished speaking, something struck him like a bolt of lightning.
Araki Isao’s eye twitched violently. He quickly added:
“Remember—do NOT, under ANY circumstances, attack the woman beside him.”
“No matter what happens, do NOT touch her.”
He repeated it three, four times, yet still felt uneasy.
Immediately, he accessed BioTech’s global database and elevated Zhou Jiao’s security clearance to the highest level.
From now on, anyone equipped with BioTech’s cybernetic implants, using BioTech-manufactured firearms, or firing BioTech-produced bullets—
Even if they aimed at her and pulled the trigger—
The bullets would divert mid-flight.
Once he finished setting the restrictions, Araki Isao collapsed into his office chair, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead as he exhaled a long, shaky breath.
Now… can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!
Why did Jiang Lian suddenly decide to engulf the entire city?!
—
Meanwhile.
Jiang Lian stared at Zhou Jiao.
Slowly, he nodded.
“Yes. I love you.”
As soon as the words left his lips, he lowered his head, his nose brushing against the tip of hers, silently inhaling her breath.
“I confessed. Do you want to kiss me?”
Zhou Jiao, however, shook her head.
Smiling, she said, “I don’t want to kiss you. I just wanted to tell you… I think I might like you a little, too.”
Jiang Lian didn’t respond.
For several seconds, his mind went completely blank.
He had always known—
That he liked Zhou Jiao.
That he loved her.
That he wanted to possess her, to please her.
That he wanted to bring her the rarest, most valuable, most precious things in the world.
He knew—at this very moment, he wanted to kiss her.
He wanted to bury his nose in her skin and breathe her in.
He wanted to steal a taste of her saliva.
…But never once had he considered the possibility that—
She might like him too.
She likes him.
Why?
Why would she like him?
What was there to like?
He had not yet pleased her, nor had he paid the price for his past transgressions.
How could she so easily come to like him?
She was someone who could forgive so easily, someone who could like so easily.
Even a cold-blooded, cruel, and greedy non-human like him could win her favor.
Did that mean others could, too?
He lowered his head and stared at her, his breath heavy, yet as cold as ice.
After the surge of euphoria came an extreme sense of unease and jealousy.
He couldn’t control the urge to press her—to demand exactly how much she “liked him a little.”
In front of her, he had almost never used his collective thinking ability, but in this moment, thousands upon thousands of minds involuntarily began to operate, countless questions flashing through his consciousness.
—Her liking him, was it the truth or a lie?
—What did she want?
—What could he give her?
—How could he compensate for the harm he had done to her…? How could he turn “liking him a little” into “liking him,” and then into “loving him”?
After a long time, Jiang Lian finally spoke:
“…You shouldn’t like me. I haven’t decided how to compensate you yet.”
He hesitated, afraid she might take his words seriously, then quickly added:
“I mean, you shouldn’t like me now. Wait until I’ve figured out how to make it up to you—then it won’t be too late to like me.”
Zhou Jiao laughed. “If liking could be controlled, then it wouldn’t be liking.”
—She couldn’t control her feelings for him.
Jiang Lian’s breathing grew even heavier. His eyes locked onto her lips, the urge to kiss her surging uncontrollably. He was about to lose control.
A powerful, aching palpitation spread through his chest. Beneath the deafening sound of his own frenzied heartbeat, he even detected a trace of pain.
This pain…
It was even more desperate than when he first realized he had fallen for her.
Even more unwilling.
Why—when their feelings were mutual—did it hurt more than when he had loved her alone?
Maybe because liking was intangible, fleeting.
She liked him a little.
But he couldn’t grasp that fragile wisp of affection.
So, after the euphoria came unease, a racing heart, inexplicable jealousy, and a violent fear of loss.
He feared losing her liking.
Feared that she might like someone else the same way.
Feared that he would never be able to deepen her feelings.
He wanted to tell her—he deeply regretted treating her the way he had before. Every time he remembered how he had almost killed her, the terror that gripped his heart was bone-deep and soul-crushing.
If he could, he would tear out his own heart just to show her that pain.
—Yes. Why couldn’t he tear out his own heart?
He had three hearts.
The one inside his human body was the most important, but even if he took it out, he wouldn’t die. It would only leave a gaping, unhealable wound in his chest—one that could only mend if the heart was put back.
Still, it was a dangerous act.
But in human society, danger was irrelevant.
Even if he had only two hearts left, he could still easily wipe out the garbage outside.
With that thought, Jiang Lian took Zhou Jiao’s hand and placed it over his heart.
Zhou Jiao tilted her head slightly.
At the same time, outside the office building—
BioTech soldiers, fully armed and clad in high-tech combat gear, advanced cautiously under the cover of hundreds of drones and combat robots, their electromagnetic rifles trained forward.
—They knew how terrifying Jiang Lian was.
They dared not act recklessly.
They only wanted a chance to negotiate.
However—
The moment the soldiers crossed into the 100-meter range of the building—
They could go no further.
An invisible barrier blocked their path.
Jiang Lian did not permit them to approach any closer.
But—
He allowed them to stand there.
Allowed them to witness him offering his true heart to his wife.
As dusk fell, neon signs flickered to life, their colors reflecting off the towering skyscrapers, painting the city in a dazzling glow.
Yet this scene sent a chill down the spines of all who beheld it—
Because those glowing signs were also coiled in grotesque, wet, and writhing purple-black tentacles.
Zhou Jiao had no idea what Jiang Lian was about to do.
But she could feel it.
His heart was beating wildly.
Like it was on the verge of boiling over.
For some inexplicable reason—
Her own heartbeat grew uneasy and rapid.
She did not speak.
Jiang Lian remained silent as well.
The people outside didn’t dare to make a sound.
For a long moment—
The silence was absolute.
So still that even the drop of a needle would have echoed.
Then—
A single sound pierced the silence.
The wet, sticky, and sickeningly visceral sound of flesh being torn open.
A sound that sent shivers down the spine.
—Jiang Lian, gripping Zhou Jiao’s hand, brought it to his chest, and together, they reached inside—
And pulled out a violently trembling, still-beating heart.
Zhou Jiao’s hand shuddered violently.
Her body reacted instinctively—she tried to pull away.
But Jiang Lian’s grip was firm, unyielding.
He forced her to hold that heart.
Forced her to feel its heat.
Forced her to watch as it continued to contract and expand, pumping blood as if it were still inside his body—completely unaware that it had already been removed.
Zhou Jiao’s mind went blank.
Each time his heart pulsed in her palm, it sent thunderous waves crashing in her ears.
And then—
She heard it.
A deep, agonized low-frequency humming, rising from all directions.
A voice that was not human.
The voice of the tentacles.
They were saying—
“It hurts.”
Yet—
Jiang Lian’s expression remained perfectly still.
Not a single tremor. Not a single flicker of pain.
His gaze remained locked on her.
Pure. Blazing. Terrifyingly intense.
…She had used her human emotions—complicated and impure—
And in return—
She had received a heart that was scorching hot and utterly pure.
Zhou Jiao’s cold, rational mind—
In this moment—
Completely ceased to function.
She didn’t know what to say.
For a moment, in a daze, she even wondered—can this thing be put back?
A long time passed before she finally managed to ask hoarsely, “Why are you giving me this?”
The gaping wound in Jiang Lian’s chest was grotesque and horrifying, blood gushing out like a waterfall. His hands were cold, yet his blood was scalding hot, searing her palm with its heat.
He didn’t even glance at the gaping hole in his chest.
He only stared at her.
His gaze was unwavering, piercing straight into her soul.
“I just wanted you to know—
I have a heart, just like you.”
“Zhou Jiao, give me a little time.
I will make myself worthy of your liking.”
—
TL: He took “Give your heart to me” literally 😭