A Beastly Act

Water had been brought. Bai Tingting mixed a detoxifying agent into the basin, and it was clear why Song Xia's wounds were healing so slowly — whatever had attacked her had left some kind of venom behind. Healing magic couldn't touch it; the toxins would have to be flushed out the slow, patient way.

The air was stifling. Bai Tingting had shed her outer coat, her rounded, snow-pale shoulders exposed, damp wisps of hair clinging to the nape of her neck as perspiration traced lazy lines down toward her chest.

Mingcong stood nearby, looking down from his height. Something lit up in his eyes.

*What a view.*

With the extensive experience he prided himself on, Mingcong was convinced Bai Tingting had to be wearing some kind of compression garment — binding away what was clearly a breathtaking figure.

His imagination spiraled. He stopped bothering to hide it, just stared, openly, shamelessly, as though he could will his gaze through her clothes by force alone.

Bai Tingting finished cleaning Song Xia's wounds and wiped the sweat from her cheek with the back of her hand. When she looked up, she met Mingcong's eyes — eyes thick with unmistakable hunger.

She paused, then kept herself composed. "Have some dignity."

Mingcong didn't react. That fixed, unblinking stare didn't waver.

Slowly, Bai Tingting understood this was more than a stolen glance. What she saw wasn't mere curiosity — it was a possessiveness that was swelling with every passing second.

Mingcong stood perfectly still. His gaze was sinking deeper and deeper into something ugly.

Something had shifted in him during those spiraling fantasies — he'd felt himself being dragged down into a delusion where all the usual rules dissolved. A place where he could do whatever he wanted to Bai Tingting, just like the scenes from those classic films he used to watch.

An apocalypse. An abandoned building. A man and a woman, completely alone.

The villain's laughter. The girl's flustered, startled cry. The sound of fabric being wrenched apart. The shackles on the beast he kept chained in the back of his mind — the ones labeled *decency* and *restraint* — snapping clean in two. Nothing left to hold it.

**Riiip!**

"What are you doing?! Get *off* me!" Bai Tingting's face blazed with fury and shame.

Mingcong had lunged without warning, wild-eyed, and seized the strap of her inner garment. One brutal yank, and the strap snapped. The garment fell away, revealing far more than she would ever have permitted — snow-white, flawless, full beyond measure.

Bai Tingting was no one's victim. She stumbled back, her Star Trail snapping into formation around her in an instant.

She didn't want to use magic on one of her own group — but what Mingcong had just done was beyond shameless. She knew plenty of men harbored ugly thoughts; she had always accepted that as simple reality. But *thoughts* were one thing. To actually *act* on them, to take advantage like this, in a moment like this —

She had never imagined that someone who looked so composed and proper could be so rotten inside.

"You miserable excuse for a human being — *what are you doing?!*"

A figure appeared in the church doorway.

It was Lu Zhenghe. Riding his Shadowmark Berserker Wolf, he stepped inside — and immediately took in what Mingcong had done. The shout ripped out of him before he had a chance to think.

The Shadowmark Berserker Wolf crossed the distance in a few swift strides and slammed a heavy paw down on Mingcong, pinning him to the floor.

Mingcong was subdued. The damage, however, was done — everyone had seen. The looks directed at him were something beyond disbelief.

No one in the church spoke for a long moment.

Bai Tingting pulled her coat back around herself. The anger on her face refused to leave.

*Unforgivable.* What kind of person even does something like this? How had Mingcong ever earned a place among the elite students of the Imperial Capital Magic Academy? When they got back, she was going to make sure this didn't quietly disappear.

"Mingcong, what the *hell* is wrong with you?" Lu Zhenghe struck him hard across the face.

The blow snapped Mingcong back to himself. He surfaced from whatever had swallowed him — and walked straight into the stares of everyone in the room.

He looked at Bai Tingting: cheeks scarlet, clothes in disarray. The blood drained from his face.

*Wait. I thought that was just... something I was imagining. Did I actually—*

"I... I..."

"Spare me your excuses. Xiao Feng, Xu Dalong — tie him up." Lu Zhenghe's voice left no room for discussion.

"I didn't — I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I really am so sorry."

"I can't believe it. I never once thought he was like this."

"Neither did I." Zhao Mingyue kept her voice low, leaning toward Jingjing. "You've been spending time with him. Stay away from him after this."

The incident had erupted without warning, and no one had seen it coming. After Xiao Feng and Xu Dalong bound Mingcong to one of the pillars, any conversation about their next survey target evaporated. The silence that settled was a strange and heavy one.

Night crept in. The exhausted group was drifting toward sleep when footsteps sounded outside the church.

"Relax — it's me."

Mo Fan's voice. A moment later, the door swung open and he walked in wearing the same easy, unhurried smile he always had, his gaze drifting naturally across the faces he cared about.

He hadn't taken two steps before Bai Tingting shot up from where she'd been sitting and ran to him. Without a word, she buried herself in his chest, as though she had been wronged beyond all telling.

The soft, warm weight of her hit Mo Fan completely without warning. For a moment, it was almost too much happiness to absorb.

Every head in the room turned.

Anyone with eyes could see that Bai Tingting had always gravitated toward Mo Fan — the story went that he had once saved her life — but no one had thought their relationship had reached *this* particular point.

Or perhaps she really had just been frightened tonight, and some deep instinct had told her that Mo Fan was the one person who could make it better.

"Um — did something happen?" Mo Fan stood there a little at a loss, arms not quite knowing where to go. He'd half-expected someone to be injured, but looking around, everyone seemed to be alive and in one piece.

"Please don't go off on your own again." Bai Tingting's eyes were red at the corners, her whole bearing soft and fragile. In that moment she looked as though he was the only person in the world she trusted.

"I... all right. I won't." Mo Fan agreed immediately.

A beautiful girl in his arms was hardly a problem — but the sheer abruptness of it left him with a nagging, hard-to-place unease.

*We weren't this close before, were we?*

"Well, well," Liao Mingxuan said, his tone soaked in dry amusement, "the lone wolf who said he'd handle the survey all by himself has finally graced us with his return. So — how did it go?"

Mo Fan settled Bai Tingting, then reached into his pocket and pulled out two survey devices, their lights now glowing green. He tossed them toward Mu Ningxue, who had been keeping track of the equipment.

"Two survey points?" Mu Ningxue's brows rose slightly.

"Come off it. That's impossible."

"Wait, it actually looks like he did it." Peng Liang's voice jumped. "Mo Fan, *how?* We nearly got wiped out just finishing *one*."