Shi Rui felt the cold sweat appear on his hands.
It felt like people were beating war drums in his chest—his heart pounded loudly and he struggled to breathe.
Mu Heng’s voice cut through his panic, “No need.”
He asked for Shi An’s room’s location and went up the stairs himself.
Even though he had left behind that father-son duo, the oppressive aura on Mu Heng’s body did not lessen.
He should not have let Fu Zhou arrange this matter.
In the future, he would manage everything to do with Fu Zhou himself.
—Mu Heng didn’t realize that he subconsciously put Shi An in his small bubble of people to protect.
He walked down the hall in the direction that Shi Zechun had pointed out.
Suddenly, Mu Heng’s footsteps slowed down.
He wrinkled his eyebrows, staring at the shut door.
He had some strange premonition that a familiar yet dangerous magic signature was behind that door, but when he got closer to investigate, there didn’t seem to be anything off.
A natural instinct urged him forward.
Mu Heng subconsciously quickened his footsteps.
He raised his hand to push open the door—it would not budge.
It seemed that it had been locked and blocked from the inside.
Mu Heng’s eyebrows wrinkled, and he raised his fingers, preparing to summon his magic.
At this time, a voice laced with panic sounded from behind the door. “Don’t come in!”
The youth’s sound was a bit raspy and soft. Instead of sounding alarmed, it was almost… coquettish.
It was Shi An.
Mu Heng: “Why can’t I enter?”
It was silent for half a second, then Shi An’s voice sounded, “I… I’m not wearing clothes.”
This was an answer that Mu Heng had not expected.
He hesitated, forcing himself not to picture it in his mind, to not let those previous events filter through his head.
“Then…”
Mu heng paused, answering hesitantly, “I’ll wait for you.”
Shi An: “…”
His voice was softer, “But I’m awake already and I don’t need an inspection.
What he wasn’t saying but clearly meant was… hurry up and leave.
But Mu Heng didn’t want to give up. His tone was soft yet commanding, clearly set on getting his way, “It has nothing to do with that. Regardless of whether you woke up or not, we have to do the inspection.”
He had asked around, but no one knew how or when Shi An disappeared.
Although he was sure that Shi An was the key piece to everything that happened, there were a lot of questions left answered.
Most importantly, this wasn’t just for his work. It was for Shi An’s personal wellbeing.
Physically, Shi An was perfectly fine.
But, if he weren’t mistaken, there was still a magical aspect to it. No one knew how the magic and Shi An were reacting.
This could only be tested after Shi An woke up.
There was no response from behind the door.
Mu Heng waited patiently.
Finally, after a long time, the door swung open.
It was an automatic door, so it could be opened even from the bed.
Shi An huddled on the bed, with a large, mismatchingly buttoned dress shirt covering him. The collar was crooked and showed a patch of white skin, luminescent under the moonlight.
Mu Heng immediately looked away, coughing lightly, “Did you just wake up?”
Shi An “mm”-ed, lowering his head and looking out of focus.
“How do you feel?”
The youth’s head lowered even more, and his eyelashes fluttered.
He thought about it and nodded, “… Alright”
Maybe it was because he hadn’t seen the sunlight in a few days, but Shi An’s face was overly pale and bloodless.
The blanket was pulled snuggly to his waist as if he were afraid of the cold.
The only thing visible on his body was the upper half covered by the shirt, and he seemed bony and fragile. He looked reakable with one snap, blowawayable with one gust of wind, super super pitiful.
Because his head was lowered the whole time, Mu Heng could only see the top of his head, which looked soft and inviting to touch.
His hand spasmed slightly at his side, and he vehemently forced down the urge to pet the other’s head.
Where Mu Heng couldn’t see, Shi An’s back tensed.
Because of his anxiousness, cold sweat appeared on his hands.
Shi An finally figured out how to change back into his human form when he heard Mu Heng come up the stairs.
His explanation wasn’t an excuse just now. After changing back into a human, he did have to put on clothes.
But…that wasn’t why it took him so long.
Shi An secretly clenched the sheet tightly and wiped the sweat from his palms on it.
Under the boy's blanket, a large dragon's tail stuck out from the hem of his shirt, and the tip of the slender tail wrapped around his calf. He was careful not to move for fear of being noticed by the other party.
——His tail couldn’t be retracted! !
