Qin Chu moved his leg, and his ankle peeked out from under the mat.
His skin was extremely pale, and the bite marks on his ankles and the bruises left by the bindings were very noticeable at that moment.
He stretched his leg out a little further, and then his toes touched the wooden floor under the mattress.
A slightly cool touch came, and Qin Chu, who was fast asleep, frowned, pulled his foot back, his dark eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes.
Qin Chu has always been quick to wake up and has no habit of staying in bed.
But today, even though he had his eyes open, he couldn't help but squint for a while. Finally, he raised his hand, rubbed his eyes a couple of times, and sat up. When he put his hand down, his face was still scrunched up.
Getting up was incredibly difficult.
As soon as he sat up, Levi moved as well, tightening his grip on Qin Chu's body and forcefully pressing him onto the bed.
Qin Chu frowned as he pressed down on her, and reached out to slap his hand away.
Levi was still a little confused: "What...aren't you done yet?"
“…Get up.” Qin Chu nudged him.
"I'm not getting up, I'm sleepy." Levi hugged his waist and buried his head in him.
Qin Chu pushed him away and stood up.
He casually picked up a pair of pants from the ground, put them on without even checking whose they were, and then walked into the bathroom shirtless.
Walking to the sink, Qin Chu turned on the faucet to wash his face, but when he touched it, he found that the faucet was bent crooked. He twisted it hard and straightened it.
When he bent over to wash his face, his back flexed into a beautiful curve.
Qin Chu had several old scars on his back, which looked shocking. But now, the scars were covered with tiny teeth marks, as if someone had gnawed on them repeatedly.
This isn't even the most eye-catching part.
The most conspicuous feature was Qin Chu's neck, where there were several deep bite marks near his shoulder, each one drawing blood.
After washing his face, Qin Chu raised his hand to touch his neck and immediately hissed.
What kind of habit is this? You have to pick things up with your mouth before doing anything. Do you really think you're some kind of supernatural being?
A moment later, footsteps sounded behind him, and Levi came in. He leaned over to the sink and took a look.
The mirror on the wall was cracked, but it could still barely reflect a person's image.
He had a head of messy curly hair, some scars on his face, and his mouth was bluish-purple. The most horrifying thing was his throat, where there was a very obvious bluish-purple handprint, which even covered the shallow bite mark on his Adam's apple.
Looking up and down and left and right, Levi sighed, "With these marks, would anyone believe I was scratched during my heat?"
Qin Chu glanced at him, then took apart a toothbrush and started brushing her teeth.
“Don’t you think it looks like murder?” Levy said.
"You have the nerve to talk back to me?" Qin Chu raised an eyebrow, toothbrush in his mouth.
He raised his wrist, and like his ankle, there were marks left by rope wrapping on his wrist, which even extended to his elbow.
Levi didn't speak, staring at Qin Chu's hand that was resting on the sink.
It wasn't that I had a change of heart and was reflecting on my actions, but rather that Qin Chu's posture while leaning on the sink was really attractive.
For the past fifteen days, he has often rested his hands on the edge of the clean white sink, with his head down most of the time, and occasionally raising his slender neck like a swan.
Levi looked up at the mirror in front of the sink again.
The mirror was a bit fragile; it cracked as soon as Qin Chu touched it.
Qin Chu finished brushing her teeth, made way for him, and then went to the side to turn on the shower.
As soon as he turned it on, the shower head fell off.
He tugged on the pipe again, and it broke.
Qin Chu turned his head and looked silently at Levi.
Levy was baffled: "Why are you looking at me? I didn't break it, you must have strained too much when you were struggling."
"...If you don't tie me up with this thing, will I struggle?" Qin Chu's eyebrows twitched.
"If you don't beat me up, am I supposed to tie you up?" Levi retorted confidently.
"If you don't talk trash, I'll beat you up?" Qin Chu raised his voice a little.
"I didn't," Levi said innocently. "I just told you the truth and wanted to ask you for the truth as well. Why don't you just tell me? But you, you always manage to turn the tables on me at crucial moments. You're scaring me half to death."
Qin Chu gripped the water pipe tightly, wanting to shove it into Levi's face.
He considers himself to be fairly "reasonable" in bed, but he can't stand the shamelessness of some people.
Before succeeding, he looks aggrieved and might even shed tears, but after succeeding, he starts to show his true colors, becoming incredibly sarcastic and never stopping for a moment.
Sometimes Qin Chu would rather this guy bite his neck and not let go, so he wouldn't have a chance to be sarcastic.
Seeing Qin Chu's expression, Levi smiled: "You seem quite unwilling to admit defeat, darling?"
Qin Chu scoffed and ignored him.
He wasn't obsessed with this kind of thing, but he was indeed a little unwilling to accept it.
In terms of fighting alone, he and Levi were evenly matched. Levi was physically stronger, but his technique was superior.
But this matter isn't about skill; the key factor is how thick-skinned you are.
Levy completely outclasses him in this metric.
It makes people feel very unbalanced.
Qin Chu took the half-finished water pipe and started showering. Levi finished brushing his teeth quickly, ran over to rub his face with water, and also rubbed his face against Qin Chu's.
"Still not convinced? Keep trying! Everyone knows you can do it even when you're not in heat... right?" He grinned, looking incredibly irritating.
“Omegas are inherently at a disadvantage in these matters after being marked. Not to mention alphas are also…” Qin Chu glanced down and clicked his tongue, “In short, it’s like someone else is unarmed and injured, but you’re armed and taking advantage of them.”
"It's not worth it to compare with you now." Qin Chu thought he was being very rational, but after thinking about it, he still said, "Let's try again after we get out."
"After you get out? That's a rather long timeframe." Levi chuckled as he listened. "Also, let me tell you a little secret: some things are innate and have nothing to do with alphas. Hmm... just like this."
As he spoke, he stuck out the tip of his tongue, which was covered with tiny barbs.
Qin Chu was silent for two seconds, then cursed.
The two didn't linger in the bathroom, mainly because they were too hungry.
The past few days I had absolutely no appetite and just grabbed some nutritional supplements to tide me over. Yesterday I did feel hungry, but I was just too tired and sleepy, so we both went straight to bed.
Now that they had slept enough, the feeling of hunger swept over them, urgently urging them to find food.
"Hurry up!" Qin Chu called out as he came out to find some clothes to wear.
His uniform was tucked under the broken bed frame, crumpled and unwearable. Qin Chu opened the wardrobe to rummage through Levi's clothes, but most of them had been used as "ropes" by Levi, leaving only a few wearable items.
Qin Chu managed to get dressed and was the first to open the door and go out.
But after going out, he couldn't help but come back.
"What's going on?" Levi peeked out from behind him and immediately fell silent.
For some reason, as soon as they opened their door, all the residents on the entire floor came out of their rooms and stared at them.
Author's Note:
Neighbors: Come see the rare creature!
Chapter 113, Fifth Story (32)
Levi was also taken aback, and exchanged a glance with Qin Chu.
"What's going on?" Levi whispered in Qin Chu's ear.
"..."
Qin Chu didn't speak, but his mind was filled with thoughts of his unique experience as a neighbor when the Ao-A couple in the next-door painting studio went through their heat cycles, and he suddenly felt a little awkward.
The two whispered amongst themselves, which made the neighbors who were watching them even more peculiar.
This is where the difference in thick skin becomes apparent. Levi didn't back down; instead, he pulled Qin Chu outside and casually greeted the aunt next door.
Qin Chu was utterly shocked.
The two walked through the corridor and into the elevator, thus escaping the gazes of each other.
Qin Chu remained silent the entire way, only raising his hand to rub his temples after the elevator doors closed: "What kind of soundproofing do you have in your house?"
"Soundproof? Surely not?" Levi pondered, stroking his chin. "Our bed collapsed not long after we started sleeping, it wouldn't hit the wall, so where would the noise come from?"
Neither of them had any self-awareness.
The elevator dinged and stopped on the next floor. Two or three residents walked in, and when they saw them, they had an expression that was "full of emotion, yet hesitant to speak".
Qin Chu and Levi exchanged a glance.
Suddenly I realized that this was a huge mess.
When they reached the floor below, the elevator doors opened, and two people walked in. They were taken aback when they saw them, and their expressions were somewhat subtle.
Levi hooked his finger around Qin Chu's and leaned closer to whisper, "This... can't be that bad, right? How loud would the sound have to be if it traveled through a layer?"
"..." Qin Chu was so embarrassed that he couldn't speak.
On every floor below, whenever the elevator doors open, people who enter always look at them with strange eyes.
There was even an Omega carrying a backpack who had one foot in the elevator, but after glancing at Qin Chu and Levi, he hesitated and stepped back out...
Qin Chu and Levi arrived at the first floor under such strange scrutiny, and then quickened their pace to leave the apartment.
"Oh no, we're famous now," Levy said with a laugh.
"...Are you quite pleased with yourself?" Qin Chu didn't want to gain this reputation at all.
Levy's residence wasn't far from the base, so the two of them rushed back to the base and headed straight for the canteen.
The art competition was over, but there were other activities at the base, so the students did not leave.
It was lunchtime, and as Qin Chu entered the restaurant, a familiar face walked towards him—the Omega from the room next door.