Exclusive Possession – CH 049

Chapter 49.

A faint, blue light filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the man’s face. A playful smile graced Mu Xian’s handsome features. His dark eyes narrowed dangerously, devoid of any of Mu Xian’s gentleness, only filled with a sinister rage.

I felt my whole body stiff as if it were filled with lead. The wrist he was holding felt like it was locked in an iron clamp, and any movement caused excruciating pain.

But how could I just sit here and wait to die? I raised my fist and punched him hard in the injured chest!

No sooner had I thrown my fist than I saw him smirk. My heart skipped a beat, and suddenly he grabbed my waist, pulling me forward uncontrollably into his arms. My punch missed its mark without a doubt.

My heart pounded as he held me tightly in his arms, my face pressed against his chest, unable to move. The unfamiliar masculine scent enveloped me—the smell of blood, tobacco, sweat, and his hot breath… completely different from Mu Xian’s embrace. I felt incredibly uncomfortable.

He looked down at me, his dark eyes sharp and piercing.

“Try attacking me again?”

I remained silent.

Perhaps feeling he had intimidated me, he released me from his embrace, but one hand remained around my waist. His fingers were spread, his thumb gripping my waist, as if he might snap my back at any moment if I struggled.

I daredn’t move, but then he suddenly lowered his head, reached for his waist, and began to unbuckle his belt.

I was startled. Did he intend to attack Mu Xian by insulting me?

“What do you want to do?” I asked in a trembling voice.

He had just unbuckled his belt, not even drawing it yet, when he glanced at me with a look that sent chills down my spine. I immediately growled, “Yi Pucheng, if you’re a man, fight with a man. Do you intend to defeat your opponent by bullying a woman? Is that even manly?”

He was arrogant and self-important, so I could only hope that provocation might work.

He paused, then looked me up and down. I met his gaze without flinching.

To everyone’s surprise, he suddenly laughed, his tone somewhat meaningful: “Whether I’m a man or not, haven’t you seen it for yourself?”

I was taken aback, and meeting his amused gaze, I suddenly realized—he was referring to the time when Morin and I accidentally saw him while he was impersonating Adop…

That scene flashed into my mind again, and I felt my face burning and tightening. I subconsciously lowered my head to avoid his gaze. But he grabbed my wrist again and said slowly, “You untie me. Tie your hands with my belt—I’m not that thirsty to play with women right now.”

I looked up at him abruptly. He had stopped smiling and was staring at me with that same frightening expression. But I breathed a huge sigh of relief—so that was what happened. That scared me to death.

“What are you dawdling for? Are you really waiting for me to rape you?” His eyes narrowed slightly.

I quickly reached out and grabbed his waistband, pulling it outwards.

The black leather belt was both flexible and sturdy. He reached out and took it, then pinched my wrists and wrapped it around them. A moment later, my hands were tightly bound. He tied the knot quickly and intricately, and I could tell at a glance that I couldn’t possibly untie it on my own.

After I tied him up, I looked up and was startled—he had somehow regained his original appearance and was looking out at the light outside the forest.

The forest was still shrouded in darkness, his tall figure like a black, impenetrable wall. His handsome, sculpted face, gleaming with bright eyes like two beams of snow, proclaimed, “What are you waiting for? Take me out of this space!”

He pulled me forward a couple of steps, then I suddenly realized what he meant and froze.

He asked me to take him out of the space. What did that mean?

Isn’t this… the space he created?

Sensing my hesitation, he glanced at me sideways. “What, you don’t want to? Are you forcing me to rape and kill you? Or are you hoping Nuo’er will come to save you?” A cold, arrogant smile played on his lips. “Your life’s in my hands. What good would it do if he came? Just to watch us get intimate? Hmm?”

His expression still looked sinister, but it also seemed to carry a hint of anxiety, as if… as if he couldn’t wait to leave this eerie space.

Looking at him, a sudden, inexplicable unease rose in my heart. That unease made me anxious, and I immediately asked, “Yi Pucheng, I don’t understand what you’re saying. What exactly do you want? Didn’t you create this virtual space?”

He gave me a strange and surprised look, but then smiled sinisterly: “Playing dumb? Looks like you really want to provoke me.”

My heart skipped a beat, and a growing unease gripped me, my throat tightening and dry. I grabbed his sleeve and asked, with difficulty, “This space…wasn’t it you who created it?”

He looked at me, his expression slowly turning serious, with a hint of disbelief: “You really think I made it?”

I nodded. “I’ve always thought so. Otherwise, why would we be here? Aren’t you a robot?”

“Fuck you!” He twisted my hand, clearly getting angry too. “I’m an intelligent command-type armed cyborg, not some supercomputer unit from the Galactic Alliance. If I could create space, would we even need to fight wars? We could just build space and make money from tourism!”

I was suddenly stunned and couldn’t say a word for a moment.

Really… Didn’t he build it?

He glanced at me, a cold smile playing on his lips. “Looks like you really didn’t expect this. This is interesting—only the three of us were involved. It wasn’t me, and it certainly wasn’t you. Tell me, who created this space?”

There were three people here, not me, not you. Tell me, who created this space?

Yi Pucheng’s words struck me like a hammer blow. I stared at him, completely incredulous. At the same time, some vague thoughts and clues flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t grasp them clearly.

After a moment of silence, I looked up at him and slowly said, “That’s impossible. Why would he create this space? You saw it yourself that day; his mental power’s so strong, he wouldn’t need to create this space to deal with you. And why would he be willing to drag me in and risk my life? You saw how he treated me.”

Yi Pucheng was taken aback by what I said; his thick, dark eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he remained silent for a moment.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly looked up and smiled, a smile that was somewhat enigmatic: “In that case, let’s go find him. Whether it’s him or not, I’m going to break through this space and get out.”

***

Bathed in the light filtering through the cracks, the damp mist in the forest took on a pale, off-white hue. The faint sound of water could be heard from a grove of trees ahead. Yi Pucheng was leading me there.

I didn’t know how he would find Mu Xian. But since I was already in his hands, he would definitely find Mu Xian faster than I could. So I could only take it one step at a time.

At first, Yi Pucheng was a little hunched over and walked slowly behind me. After a while, he moved to a position diagonally in front of me, his body straight and his steps steady—it seemed that his injuries were recovering quickly.

This made me even more worried about Mu Xian.

It was quiet around us, and Yi Pucheng didn’t say anything. Perhaps it was too quiet, making one’s mind wander. I recalled my conversation with him earlier, and my mind started to race again.

Although I dismissed his speculation, some latent doubts in my mind seemed to have been awakened by his words, lingering and refusing to dissipate. These doubts grew stronger with each passing second.

I couldn’t help but recall the various strange occurrences in this space:

The world had many colors, changing every day;

24 hours a day;

The sudden appearance of unicorns and floods;

The whole world was spotless, as clean as a sterile environment…

Wait, a sterile world?

Who places such importance on this aspect when creating virtual spaces?

My steps abruptly halted, and I stood frozen in place, my heart pounding faster and faster with growing fear and tension. All the clues seemed to reconnect in my mind in a flash, presenting a crystal-clear picture.

The reason he had a completely “clean” world was that he had severe obsessive-compulsive disorder about cleanliness.

A 24-hour day and night was exactly the same as on my home planet, Earth;

The castle was piled high with jewels, clothes, and children’s toys; he had always been just as extravagant in spending these things as I had been in the past…

No, not only that, there was more.

The day before, the world was still white, and I said to Mu Xian, “There won’t be any red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, or purple left, will there?” The next day, the world turned red, and Yi Pucheng even joked that I had guessed right.

Even the day before, the world was gray; I had said, “The water looks dirty.” The next day, the world turned into a cleaner-looking white…

We needed food, and the next day a lone unicorn appeared, and we devoured it…

The first time we avoided Yi Pucheng, when we were making love at the foot of the mountain, I mentioned that I missed my big bed and food at home and that my back hurt from sleeping in a cave. The next day, we were swept away by a flood to a beautiful village where we had everything we wanted, and then we made love…

I initially thought the spatial rifts appeared in the sky because Yi Pucheng was injured by Mu Xian, but then I realized that Mu Xian had also suffered a series of heavy blows from Yi Pucheng. So, were those rifts actually caused by his injury?

But if he created the space, why were we besieged by unicorns? Why did we almost die in the flood? Why was he beaten so badly by Yipucheng just now?

…

My forehead was covered in cold sweat, and my hands and feet were ice cold.

This space was very likely created by Mu Xian using his powerful mental energy.

But he probably didn’t know; otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept it from me.

Perhaps his subconscious controls the world, but he couldn’t completely control it, so there was a danger of it getting out of control.

Why?

Could it be because…?

“He created this space, but he didn’t realize it, nor could he control it,” Yi Pucheng’s voice suddenly rang out.

I was horrified—how did he know what I was thinking?

I looked up hastily, and he was staring at me, his eyes cold and sharp: “You look terrible, because that’s what you think too, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” I asked with great difficulty.

He stared at me, his gaze sharp and piercing: “Wasn’t his mental power injured and unusable before? On your wedding day, he forcibly unleashed such a powerful burst of mental power, completely exceeding the limits of the human body. In that case, the brain that bears the mental power must have suffered severe damage, right? So, the out-of-control mental power created this chaotic space?”

I stared at him blankly, feeling as if a stone was stuck in my throat, making me extremely uncomfortable.

I knew he was right, because that was what I thought too. Morin did say that if Mu Xian forcibly uses his mental power on a large scale within six months, it would have very serious consequences, and he might even die.

So now, Mu Xian’s mental power had gone out of control?

“I guessed right.” Yi Pucheng stared at me. Undoubtedly, he had seen my expression just now. So he became even more certain.

Then, he said coldly, sarcastically, word by word, “Mu Xian has gone mad.”

My heart ached terribly, and I glared at him angrily: “He isn’t crazy. He just doesn’t know. He’s perfectly normal when he’s with me!”

Yi Pucheng stared coldly at me: “The person who’s been with you these past few days is his consciousness; the world we live in is also his consciousness. Tell me, isn’t he insane?”

My heart jolted, and a surge of bittersweet emotion welled up in my eyes.

The thought that Mu Xian was completely unaware of what he had done, the thought that he was so determined to take me away, the thought that even with his amnesia, he still said that I was irresistible to him… my chest ached. Tears streamed down my face without warning, falling heavily.

“Stop crying.” Yi Pucheng’s cold voice suddenly rang out.

When I heard his voice, I was suddenly filled with resentment—would we have ended up in this situation if it weren’t for him?

I looked up at him, my voice choked with sobs, and blurted out, “Why did you attack our wedding? You invaded the Wasteland first; you couldn’t beat him. So many of us died, and you still come for revenge, you still want to kill him, and now we’ve all fallen into this mess…”

Before I could finish speaking, a sharp pain shot through my wrist as he grabbed me. I bit my lip, remaining silent, but the ruthlessness in his eyes filled me with a sudden chill, and my tears involuntarily stopped.

A few seconds later, he suddenly let go of me, and his expression calmed down.

Then, in a low, somewhat cold voice, he made my heart plummet into an invincible abyss.

“Hua Yao, we can only get out of here by killing him.”

***

My mind was in turmoil as I followed Yi Pucheng forward, my thoughts filled with Mu Xian’s aloof and handsome face and his long, strong arms. How could I tell him the truth? And how could I escape from Yi Pucheng’s clutches?

Thinking of this, I looked at Yi Pucheng. He had stopped and was squatting by a stream in the woods, drinking water. The thin stream shimmered with a dark light, making his face appear both somber and handsome.

“Aren’t you going to drink water?” He suddenly looked up at me.

I’d been out all day, and my throat was incredibly dry; I’d just cried a bit more. I didn’t answer. I walked to the stream, squatted down, and reached for water. But his hands were bound tightly together, my fingers barely parting. I tried several times but couldn’t scoop up any water. I knelt down by the stream, trying to immerse myself in it to drink, but the water was too low; even craning my neck, I couldn’t reach it. Any further, and I’d have to kneel in the water.

Suddenly, a large hand reached out from the side, the water rippling gently in his palm, and droplets of water kept falling onto my skirt through his fingers. I was slightly startled. Yi Pucheng had squatted down in front of me at some point, his thick, dark eyebrows and eyes quietly watching me.

I was so thirsty, and there was no reason for me to torture myself, so I lowered my head and gently sipped water from the edge of his palm. But the sensation of my lips touching his warm, soft hand was a little strange, as it was slightly itchy.

Just as I was finishing my drink, he suddenly pulled his hand away, spilling the remaining water all over my skirt. Then my jaw tightened, and I was forced to lift it up to see him pinching my face with his wet fingers.

His eyes were dark and cold, without a trace of a smile.

“It’s very itchy; do you know that?”

His deep voice and sharp eyes sent a shiver down my spine. Then he stared straight at me, his face slowly moving closer, his warm breath brushing against my skin…

Could it be… impossible…?

Does he want to kiss me?

Absolutely not!

I instinctively turned my head to avoid it!

“Hua Yao.” A clear, gentle, and familiar voice suddenly broke the silence of the night.

I froze. Yi Pucheng, who was in front of me, had already released me and stood up with a cold expression, his eyes looking behind me.

I stood up almost immediately and turned to look.

In the soft, dark blue light from the cracks, a tall, slender figure slowly walked towards us from the dark forest.

“Mu Xian!” A surge of joy welled up in my heart. As I watched his handsome face gradually approach and become clearer, and his slender eyebrows and eyes, I felt as if my heart was about to jump out of my chest.

Whatever the virtual space or the mental confusion, I believed him. As long as I followed him, we would definitely get out!

I instinctively tried to run towards him, but after taking only half a step, my waist was suddenly tightened, and I was firmly held by Yi Pucheng.

“Stop.” Yi Pucheng’s cold voice came from above my head.

Mu Xian paused, standing about ten steps away, and looked up at us. I was startled!

He was wearing a brand-new, crisp military uniform, his cap and gloves neatly fastened. A pale blue sheen reflected on his face, making his handsome features so striking they sent a chill down one’s spine. Yet, his normally clear black and white eyes were now filled with a cloudy, golden hue, making it impossible to see the pupils clearly.

What… What was going on? Didn’t his eye only turn golden in his beast form? And even then, it was only the pupil that changed color, never like this, with his entire eye socket filled with a murky yellow.

I suddenly remembered that he had been punched twice in the head by Yi Pucheng, and my heart sank.

Could it be that another brain injury had driven him insane…?

“Mu Xian, this space was created by your spiritual power. Only when you die can the people inside leave,” Yi Pucheng suddenly said coldly. “Now that Hua Yao’s here too, what do you plan to do?”

My heart skipped a beat—Yi Pucheng must have noticed Mu Xian’s strange behavior too. He knew Mu Xian was having mental problems, and he was pushing Mu Xian too hard! He was really pushing him too far!

No! Absolutely not! Mu Xian looks completely dazed right now. What if he listens to Yi Pucheng and commits suicide to save me?

“Don’t listen to him!” I yelled. “Mu Xian, let’s think of another way.”

“Shut up!” Yi Pucheng pressed me hard into his arms.

Mu Xian didn’t speak immediately.

He lowered his head and slowly removed his snow-white gloves, putting them into his pocket. Then he raised his incredibly dark eyes and quietly gazed at us.

A few seconds later, he spoke, his voice low, gentle, and calm.

“This place is good. She will stay and stay with me forever. As for you, you can die now.”