This Damned Thirst for Survival

Chapter 4

The voice chuckled again, animatedly commenting, "What an interesting story this is."

Why on earth would Chi You appear at a time like this!

Jiang Luo's feet were off the ground, his toes barely touching the floor as he clutched at his throat, struggling for more oxygen through the thin mist. But after repeated failures, his complexion turned utterly somber.

The mist couldn't take on a human form and writhed incessantly behind Jiang Luo. That eerie, dreadful voice continued to hum the tune Jiang Luo had just been humming, turning the lively melody into something sinister, the once charming tune now cold and twisted.

Logically speaking, Chi You shouldn't even have the capacity to show up now, not even on the seventh day after death, when the spirit is said to return.

Oxygen was depleting in Jiang Luo's lungs, sweat glued to his hair, his face tinged with a hint of blue. Even in such dire straits, the handsome young man remained stunningly beautiful, struggling against the formless mist like a delicate, pitiful bud.

Watching such a bud wither away in one's own hands would make most people relent. But for a rare few, this is precisely how they appreciate beauty.

All beautiful things are most moving at the moment of death.

Chi You was among this rare few.

His humming, now more pleasurable, tightened the grip of the grey swirling mist, pushing Jiang Luo to the brink of death.

Chi You was really going to kill him.

Fucking lunatic, he had taken an interest in him, yet he wanted to kill him even sooner than the story originally intended.

Jiang Luo forced himself to look at the mirror, his mind exceptionally clear and calm at this moment. He recalled what Ye Xun had said about mirrors reflecting and belonging to Yin, and that mirrors in bathrooms, being places of filth, were particularly heavy with bad energy. Especially now, at the hour of Zi, when Yin energy was at its peak, perhaps this was why Chi You could manifest.

If the mirror was destroyed, would Chi You disappear as well?

It was a gamble, a perilously dangerous one.

But doing nothing meant certain death.

Jiang Luo refused to believe this demon, who had shown his true colors, would suddenly show mercy and let him go.

The square mirror captured this tense and thrilling scene, Jiang Luo lifted a leg onto the sink, his body bending into a beautiful long arc from his back to his legs.

His black hair fell over his shoulders, becoming disheveled once again. Beads of sweat on Jiang Luo's face slid down to his chin as he managed to draw a breath, suddenly revealing a sweet smile in the mirror.

His face, flushed from lack of oxygen, seemed intoxicated, his eyes squinted, the shadows of his lashes casting over his lower eyelids, the light flickering uncertainly, yet filled with a sweet, lingering affection, "Chi You..."

He mouthed silently, with great difficulty, "You love me so much, look, you even came to find me specially."

The smile was tender, but his eyes were filled with mockery and provocation.

Jiang Luo's fabricated story was just to fool the other living souls who didn't know the truth; he knew he couldn't deceive Chi You.

He didn't even intend to deceive Chi You.

In facing Chi You, Jiang Luo revealed his purest malice, his smile growing wider as he looked at the demon, "Everyone knows how much you love me."

The excitement in his blood boiled uncontrollably, stirring up, clamoring to suppress Chi You, to make this demon bow and admit defeat.