Chapter 14: So you’re feeling shy

Translator: Abo Dammen

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Case One: The Phantom Sniper

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Dry heat, as the name suggests, means the body does not secrete large amounts of fluids during the heat. Symptoms only include gland swelling and a craving for caresses, among others.

Unlike a wet heat, a dry heat only requires reaching climax to relieve the heat state. The method to reach climax is also relatively simple, such as soothing the penis or stimulating the gland.

Dry orgasm does not involve ejaculation.

There is only a spiritual outburst of pleasure. 

Therefore, even though Xu Pei was lying limp in He Yixun’s arms, close to collapse, there was no actual physical indecency. But he still couldn’t lift his head.

The scalding breath against his neck gradually steadied. He Yixun looked at the person who had buried his face in his neck and remained motionless. “Can you get up?”

Xu Pei didn’t make a sound.

He found it very hard to accept that he, an expert on glands, had gone into heat in front of someone he barely knew, even if it was only a mild dry heat. What was even harder to accept was that he could have held on a little longer to get back to the room, but he had failed to control himself, letting an impotent “alpha” he’d known for less than 24 hours resolve his heat. 

Professor Xu’s world had collapsed.

But one must always look forward.

Xu Pei comforted himself. Resolving the heat promptly was the correct choice. If it had escalated into a wet heat before reaching the room, he would’ve been completely doomed.

Perhaps thinking Xu Pei had lost consciousness due to his lack of response, He Yixun placed his hands on the ground, shifted to a kneeling on one knee posture, and made as if to pick Xu Pei up bridal style. 

At this point, continuing to play dead was no longer appropriate. Xu Pei got up from the ground himself, his expression normal as he looked down, straightened his clothes, brushed the dust off his pants, and then silently turned his head away, pretending nothing had happened.

His avoidance couldn’t be more obvious.

He Yixun glanced at Xu Pei’s profile but didn’t ask anything. He walked to the door and said, “The gap is wide enough now. You go out first.”

—The alarm was still blaring. No matter what had just happened, leaving here was their top priority. 

The elevator was stopped precisely between two floors, the floor slab positioned at chest level for Xu Pei. His first instinct was to climb down, but unexpectedly, He Yixun stopped him. “Go up.”

The space above was also sufficient to pass through. From an efficiency standpoint, going up was indeed the better choice. But Xu Pei hadn’t fully recovered from the heat, so his body was still weak. Climbing up posed a significant challenge for him.

He Yixun noticed the hesitation in Xu Pei’s eyes. “I’ll lift you up.”

“No need!” It was the first sound he’d made since the incident, his voice sticky, sweet, and slightly nasal. 

How could Xu Pei possibly let He Yixun carry him again? He cleared his throat and said, “I’ll do it myself.”

He placed his hands on the floor slab and pushed himself up with a jump. But his arms, which should have supported his upper body, held for only a second before his feet landed back on the original spot.

Amid the looping alarms, Xu Pei tried again. The result proved that he simply couldn’t do it.

He Yixun, who had been silently watching, lost patience. Without another word, he picked Xu Pei up, supported his butt, and pushed him out of the elevator. 

Even though his pants weren’t thin, he could feel the heat of He Yixun’s palm. His gland, having just experienced climax, was still somewhat unstable. Xu Pei took a deep breath and suppressed the peculiar sensation.

He Yixun agilely jumped up. Seeing Xu Pei’s face inexplicably flushed, he frowned and asked, “Are you going into heat again?”

His expression was as if they had just finished getting ready to go out, and now Xu Pei needed to use the bathroom again. He Yixun’s face was written all over with the word “trouble.”

Xu Pei: …. 

“That was just an accident,” Xu Pei said, turning towards the staircase to avoid eye contact with He Yixun.

Originally, He Yixun was walking behind Xu Pei, but in just a few steps, he was walking with him. “Do you have a fixed time each day for going into heat?”

“What do you mean, each day?” Xu Pei was shocked by this utterly senseless question. “We only go into heat twice a year!”

So it really is like a little dog, He Yixun thought. 

By the time the two reached the wheelhouse on the top floor, the gunfire downstairs had become sporadic. But just when you thought it was over, another shot would ring out unexpectedly.

The captain had canceled the fire alarm because the crew downstairs, after checking the situation, reported via the internal phone that the alarm had been triggered by a bullet hitting the alarm bell. There was no actual fire.

After He Yixun used the broadcast to convey that “the person who most wants to see infighting between the two sides is the killer,” the gunfire downstairs ceased completely, indicating that both sides were also waiting for this solution to back down.

Out of personal concern, he certainly didn’t want the scene of his heat being caught on surveillance. But his worry was somewhat unnecessary, because the ship’s surveillance signals were transmitted via the network, and the interference was still ongoing.

The surveillance didn’t capture him and He Yixun, and likewise, it didn’t capture the killer’s movements either.

Returning to the first floor, seven or eight underlings had suffered gunshot wounds. The most serious one had a chunk of flesh missing from his arm; the others were just grazes. The ship’s doctor was attending to them. 

Ling Feng occupied the area on the right side of the casino, idly flicking a lighter on and off. He Maohu sat on the left side of the casino, his back hunched, holding his gun loosely, hands resting on his knees, staring blankly at the floor.

After venting his rage, he seemed to have aged considerably.

“Has everyone calmed down?” He Yixun asked, walking to the center of the casino.

Ling Feng snapped his lighter shut with a click and leaned back in his chair. “I wasn’t the one who started the trouble.” 

He Maohu, who had been zoning out, sharpened his gaze the moment he heard Ling Feng’s voice, as if halftime was over. “You still haven’t said where you were when the shot was fired!”

“Did you give me a chance to speak?” Ling Feng retorted.

Not wanting the two to start arguing again, He Yixun took control of the conversation. “So where were you just now?”

“Looking for the killer,” Ling Feng said. “I don’t want anything to happen to Mayor Lin either, you know.” 

“Who can verify that?” He Yixun asked.

“Cindy was with me, but you definitely won’t believe her word. You can ask the people who arrived on the deck first when I got there.” Ling Feng tilted his chin towards He Maohu’s men, looking completely unafraid of a confrontation. “When the shot was fired, I was in the kitchen on the lower deck, trying to see if I could find any clues related to the poisoning. I only came up after the gunshot, and there were already people on the deck by then.”

He Maohu looked at his own men. “Did anyone see him?”

For anyone to step forward and prove Ling Feng was telling the truth would be tantamount to saying the recent gunfight was meaningless, that He Maohu had been blinded by anger and accused Ling Feng without verifying the facts. This was no different from slapping their own boss in the face. So, for a long moment, none of He Maohu’s men stepped forward to corroborate Ling Feng’s story. 

There were people on Ling Feng’s side who spoke up in support, but He Maohu naturally wouldn’t believe their testimony.

He Yixun changed his line of questioning. “Who arrived on the deck first?”

A man from He Maohu’s side timidly raised his hand. It was the very thug who had been firing wildly towards the revolving door.

He clearly hadn’t seen many major scenes. Under everyone’s gaze, he shrunk his neck in fear. “Our room was the closest… we came down the earliest.” 

“What did you see?” He Yixun asked.

“There was no one on the deck, just… Young Master He lying there.”

He had slipped up, corroborating Ling Feng’s account.

An older man next to him smacked him on the head. “If you don’t know how to talk, then keep quiet.” 

“Well, I arrived later,” Ling Feng shrugged. “You should believe in your own man, shouldn’t you?”

He Yixun asked further, “From the moment you heard the gunshot until you arrived on the deck, how much time passed in total?”

“As soon as the shot rang out, we looked down from the window. There was absolutely no one on the deck,” someone else chimed in, now that the ice was broken. Others followed suit, no longer avoiding the topic. “The killer probably fired from a distance, ran away immediately after shooting. No one saw him.”

The Lucky Number’s cabin structure was oval-shaped. A few rooms near the bow could indeed see the deck. 

“Then you’re still a suspect,” He Maohu retorted. Despite his anger, his intelligence hadn’t completely deserted him. He addressed Ling Feng, “You could have fired the shot, then rushed down to the lower deck to hide before others arrived, pretending you came later.”

“That’s also a possibility,” Ling Feng said indifferently. “But there should have been crew members who saw me when I went to the kitchen. You can go verify.”

He Yixun had a pretty good understanding of the situation after the gunshot. Asking more questions wouldn’t be of much significance. He arranged for people from both sides to verify each other’s alibis, then took Xu Pei back to the most important place—the crime scene.

After the crowd on the deck dispersed, the vast pool area became cold and deserted, making He Jun’s corpse appear particularly tragic. 

Xu Pei was still not accustomed to facing a murdered body directly, nor did he like the smell of blood. He stood far away by the railing, but then he heard He Yixun say, “That’s where Li Menglan’s son and the waitress fell overboard and drowned.”

Xu Pei: “……”

He returned to He Yixun’s side and asked, “Found anything?”

He Yixun didn’t answer, intently examining He Jun’s wound. 

After a good while, he moved to a different position and began checking He Jun’s body for any other external injuries. “Are you completely fine now?”

It took Xu Pei a moment to realize He Yixun was making conversation with him.

And, as luck would have it, it was about the very thing he wanted to leave behind.

He gave a perfunctory “Mm,” trying his best to show no desire to discuss the topic. 

But He Yixun’s curiosity seemed to rise along with his trust in Xu Pei. Even though Xu Pei made it clear he didn’t want to talk, He Yixun still asked, “Why do you go into heat?”

“Evolution decided,” Xu Pei continued perfunctorily.

“An animal trait?” He Yixun looked up at Xu Pei, then continued examining the corpse.

“Mm.” 

Finally, He Yixun stopped asking and focused on searching for clues. After quite some time, he stood up from beside the corpse, looking as if the official business was finally done and he could start chatting. “You seem unwilling to go into detail.”

“Please,” Xu Pei found this tactless person utterly headache-inducing. “How can you go into detail about something like this?”

So, the reason He Yixun hadn’t pressed about the heat after leaving the elevator wasn’t lack of curiosity, but lack of spare time. Now that the most critical situation had passed, he had plenty of time to understand this matter.

Xu Pei had thought he could brush it off and move on, but it seemed it wouldn’t be that easy. 

“Then I’ll ask, and you answer,” He Yixun said. “Did you have an orgasm just now?”

Xu Pei was about to lose it. Why should he have to answer just because He Yixun asked? What kind of unequal clause was this?

“Can’t you show some respect for the deceased!”

He Yixun glanced calmly at He Jun. “I’ve already finished the examination.” 

“So, any clues?” Xu Pei quickly changed the subject.

But it was unsuccessful.

“You didn’t seem to ejaculate,” He Yixun said flatly. “Is it related to your inability to have morning wood?”

Xu Pei: “…..” 

It was as if all his strength had been drained away.

His face ashen, he said, “Officer He, your task right now is to catch the killer, not investigate me, okay?”

Officer He maintained his thirst for knowledge. “Did you pass out from pleasure just now?”

“No!” Professor Xu was close to exploding. “I was just playing dead because I didn’t want to face you!!!” 

Xu Pei didn’t have a high sex drive, but he wasn’t completely without needs.

In his world, there was a type of neck masturbator that looked like a shoulder and neck massager, which could simulate an alpha’s bite. Having been single his entire life, Xu Pei occasionally used the self-pleasure device to relieve stress.

But it was undeniable that a cold machine ultimately couldn’t compare to a warm, real person. The moment He Yixun licked his gland earlier, he had experienced a pleasure he’d never felt before. Maybe one percent more, and he would have indeed passed out from the intensity.

Stop. He couldn’t think about this anymore. 

His sensitive period wasn’t completely over, and his gland was feeling warm again.

“Oh.” He Yixun observed Xu Pei’s unnatural reaction. “So you’re feeling shy.”

“I’m a normal person with a sense of shame,” Xu Pei retorted, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, his temples throbbing. “Can we talk about the case now?”

“Okay.” He Yixun finally withdrew his attention. 

Xu Pei breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “Can you tell anything?”

“The corpse has no other external injuries. It can be basically determined he died from the gunshot,” said He Yixun. “There are powder burns, gunpowder particles, and scorch marks around the entry wound, indicating the killer fired at close range.”

“Wait,” Xu Pei couldn’t help but interrupt. “Didn’t those people just say the killer wasn’t on the deck?”

So how could it be a close-range shot? 

“Yes.” He Yixun’s eyes darkened. “Just like the poisoning in the restauran. This killer… can turn invisible.”