In the instant before he instinctively closed his eyes, two thoughts flashed through Su Kun's mind:

So the word after "dog XX" earlier turned out to be "emperor"...

With all this commotion, why the hell hasn't Geng Zimo woken up yet! Is he a pig?

Su Kun was silently cursing Geng Zimo in his mind while subconsciously trying to lift his body and back away.

But he only managed to raise his head before his eyes met the other person's. Before he could even utter a scream, it was stifled as a pair of shockingly cold hands with a strange texture tightly gripped his neck. The force was so fierce that it pushed Su Kun's head back down, the back of his skull hitting the bed board with a loud "bang".

Holy... shit!

Su Kun only felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, his vision even flashing white for a moment, followed by a prolonged dizziness accompanied by a constant ringing in his ears. He wasn't sure if it was real or just psychological, but he seemed to taste a coppery sweetness in his mouth. If that person had used even a bit more force, his life would have likely ended right there.

As his consciousness that had been knocked out of him returned, Su Kun tried to pry off the hands around his neck, but found that even using all his strength, he couldn't get that person to move a finger.

All the blood flowing from his heart to his head was unable to return to his heart. Instead, under the iron-like grip of those hands, it accumulated in the areas above his neck. Su Kun felt like a blood vessel in his brain was infinitely enlarged, and along with the person's tightening fingers, it pulsed frantically, shaking his entire brain into mush.

The ringing in his ears intertwined with the throbbing of his blood vessels, blurring into one. It was as if two cups were covering his ears, making all the surrounding sounds dull and distant.

Amidst the chaos and increasing suffocation, Su Kun heard the person speak again. The voice was even lower and hoarser than before, the anger in the words not only undiminished, but seeming to grow more intense along with the tightening fingers.

Through the increasing ringing in his ears, Su Kun could only make out a few fragmented words, similar to what he had heard before. The person said a lot in his extreme anger, but the words that were repeated were still things like "fatuous ruler", "pay with your life", "revenge".

His vision grew more and more blurry. In the backlit night, even at such a close distance, the person's blood-stained face was a bit hazy, most of it hidden in shadows. The only thing somewhat clear was that pair of eyes radiating a chilling coldness, filled with resentment and murderous intent. That cruel and reckless gaze was like a starving wolf finally pouncing on its prey.

Just from seeing those eyes, Su Kun felt that he definitely wouldn't be able to escape tonight, but he had been wronged too damn much!

"I--" He tried to squeeze out a bit of sound from his throat, "I-- am not-- the person-- you're talking about--"

Unfortunately, when his words actually came out, there was only a raspy whisper left. The person, in the midst of extreme anger, continued saying what he wanted to say, suddenly increasing the force of his hands. That momentum was no longer just trying to suffocate someone to death, but to snap Su Kun's head right off.

"You-- got the wrong--" Tears had already seeped out of the corners of Su Kun's eyes, but before he could finish, he felt the coldness in the person's eyes abruptly intensify.

Fuck, he won't even let me say I'm the wrong person! TAT

In the extreme suffocation, Su Kun mustered his last bit of strength to struggle a few times, even though he felt it was futile. It was like a little chick already caught in an eagle's talons - how could he expect to be put down nicely?

As Su Kun struggled, the red string originally hidden under his collar slid out, pulling out a jade pendant tied to the end.

Su Kun had worn that jade for over twenty years. Pretty much since he could remember, this pendant had hung around his neck. It was about the size of a one yuan coin, a grayish-white color. It usually didn't look very translucent, as if it had never been properly cleaned, giving it a dull and dusty feeling.

In short, it wasn't any high-end item. It also seemed to have been dropped before, the edges and corners very abrupt, but probably from being worn down, the broken parts weren't sharp. Having worn it for so many years, it never felt like it was digging into him anywhere.

They say that people nourish jade, and jade also nourishes people. The elders in his family had even told Su Kun before that after wearing jade for a long time, the color would become more vibrant and even.

He had worn it for over twenty years, but never noticed if the jade's color had gotten more beautiful. The only feeling was that it got colder and colder. In the winter it wasn't very noticeable, because it was always inside his collar against his chest, warmed by his body heat, so it never got too cold.

But in the summer it became very obvious. The jade would occasionally swing out from his collar, exposed to the outside. When Su Kun would notice and tuck it back into his collar, the skin it touched would get goosebumps from the cold.

For so many years, other than this one point, Su Kun never felt this piece of jade had anything special about it. He had just gotten used to wearing it for so long, so he never took it off.

But today, the instant the jade pendant slid out and touched the hand the person had around Su Kun's neck, Su Kun felt a shockingly cold breeze sweep by, making all the hairs on his body stand up. Before he could even react, he felt the iron-like restraint around his neck suddenly loosen.

Along with a hoarse cry that seemed to carry a hint of pain, the bloody smell mixed with dust that had been enveloping Su Kun finally disappeared. That pair of wolf-like, frosty eyes only wavered for a moment before leaving his field of vision.

The entire process only happened in an instant, not even the time it takes to blink.

Finally getting oxygen, Su Kun lay on the bed gasping for air. Along with intense coughing, the blood congestion above his neck slowly dissipated, the wetness at the corners of his eyes gradually dried, and the ringing in his ears finally faded away bit by bit.

The moment his senses were restored, Su Kun heard a crisp "snap" from the coffin lid beside the bed. From the sound, it seemed to have been put back on the coffin.

Su Kun: "............" Was it sealed, or trying to pretend like nothing happened?!

Just as he was lying on the bed, weak and gasping for breath, slowly recovering his strength from the earlier suffocation, the ajar bedroom door was pushed open with a soft "creak--".

Su Kun, who had just barely caught his breath, immediately tensed up again: There's more?!

The ceiling light was turned on, the warm glow instantly filling the entire bedroom. A thin figure walked a few steps into the room, then paused and asked in a puzzled tone: "What's wrong with you--" The familiar voice reached Su Kun's ears, sounding both pleasant and irritating in this situation. He sighed inwardly: the guy next door who had been sleeping like the dead had finally woken up.

Geng Zimo looked at Su Kun lying on his back on the bed, his gaze moving from his slightly flushed face and neck to his noticeably heaving chest. He tilted his head, twitched the corner of his mouth, and said, "You're jerking off in the middle of the night, how come you're making enough noise to tear the house down..."

Su Kun: "............"