Chapter 52: Strange Occurrences
Long Ling looked at the small pink ball in his palm, and after a few seconds, he suddenly realized something, leaning closer to his phoenix, “What’s wrong, Phoenix?”
His voice carried a hint of amusement as he casually added, “Are you shy, or feeling… amorous again?”
The little phoenix: “…”
Returning to human form, the phoenix looked at Long Ling expressionlessly. His face, now pale, had acquired a slight blush at some point. Though his expression remained cold, in Long Ling’s eyes, it added a contrasting cuteness.
But apart from that… there seemed to be nothing unusual about his phoenix.
Long Ling stared at Su Muluo from left to right, asking, “Doesn’t the phoenix feel strange to you?”
“Not at all,” Su Muluo replied, “I won’t let you touch my feathers next time.”
Long Ling: “!”
Upon hearing this, Long Ling immediately clung to his phoenix, looking aggrieved, “I didn’t do anything wrong, yet the phoenix blames me.”
How could he know that touching the phoenix’s feathers would make them so fluffy and his face so red? But it did look quite nice.
Thinking this, Long Ling added, “The phoenix feathers turning pink are actually quite cute.”
Su Muluo: “Not at all, they’re ugly.”
He still preferred his own bright white feathers.
So next time, this dragon shouldn’t touch his feathers again.
After a while, Su Muluo felt the heat on his face gradually fade away and looked at Long Ling, “Is my face still red?”
Long Ling replied, “No, it’s not.”
He had thought that touching the phoenix’s feathers too much might make it amorous, but now it seemed it just changed color.
But in the phoenix clan, not allowing others to touch their feathers wasn’t for this reason—in their eyes, feathers were extremely precious. Only when they truly liked someone and had opened their heart would they reveal their feathers for them to touch.
So when his phoenix let him touch its feathers, it was a complete trust in him.
Thinking of this, joy bubbled up in Long Ling’s heart again, unable to help but chuckle and hug his phoenix tightly.
Su Muluo didn’t want him to hug him, pushed him away, and said, “You just said you’d pinch my tail.”
Long Ling froze for a moment upon hearing this, then innocently looked back at his phoenix.
Su Muluo wasn’t buying it, squinting at him and saying, “I want to pinch your tail!”
Long Ling locked eyes with him for a few seconds before saying, “Does the phoenix really want to pinch my tail?”
“I do!” Su Muluo grabbed his hand and said, “You promised, no backing out!”
He had let this dragon touch his feathers.
And now the feathers were all pink!
Seeing that Su Muluo still looked a bit reproachful, as if he were looking at a scoundrel, Long Ling couldn’t help but laugh, embracing his phoenix from behind and saying, “The phoenix should think it over… Pinching the tail also holds special meaning for the dragon clan.”
He said it so mysteriously that Su Muluo just thought he was making excuses and didn’t quite believe him, asking, “What meaning?”
Long Ling smiled faintly, leaned close to Su Muluo’s ear, and said slowly, “Pinching the tail can make dragons more… in bed—”
He deliberately lowered his voice for the last few words, almost whispering into Su Muluo’s ear.
Su Muluo: “…”
Su Muluo: “???”
He felt his ears burning!
Immediately, he angrily patted Long Ling’s head several times.
Long Ling burst into laughter, blinking innocently and saying, “So if the phoenix wants to pinch the tail now, I can let the phoenix pinch it as many times as you want.”
Su Muluo huffed, “Go away!”
He didn’t want to deal with this dragon anymore!
Feeling like he was about to explode from anger, especially when he remembered that he had let this dragon touch his feathers several times just now… he became even more furious!
Meanwhile, Long Ling was still laughing smugly, thoroughly enjoying himself.
After silently watching him for a while, Su Muluo said softly, “Are you happy?”
Long Ling: “…”
He had a bad feeling and quickly suppressed his laughter—but it was too late.
A minute later, this dragon who had angered his phoenix was kicked out of the room with a pillow, looking extremely resentful.
—
Inside a dark cave, heavy and painful gasps echoed. A golden dragon hovered at the deepest part of the cave, blood flowing from a deep wound on its abdomen, slowly healing at an extremely slow pace.
“Such a pity,” a voice devoid of emotion sounded beside the golden dragon, “if this continues, you’ll die, and this wound won’t heal properly.”
The golden dragon gasped heavily, filled with intense unwillingness and anger in its voice, “If only my strength had fully recovered—”
“Your lack of strength led to provocation, which was foolish,” the voice interrupted, “Moreover, by the time you recover, they will also recover. Right now, you are no match for them.”
The golden dragon fell silent.
The cave remained quiet for a few seconds before the voice spoke again, “Let’s cooperate. I’ve said it before, you should cooperate with me.”
“…”
The golden dragon struggled visibly for a while before finally asking, “Who are you exactly? What is your purpose?”
“I know who I am, and you know it well,” the voice said. “As for the purpose… it’s quite simple.”
“I just want to stay alive, that’s all.”
—
The next afternoon, Su Muluo and Long Ling went out together. Last night, Long Ling was kicked out of his room and stood guard for a minute. Today, he clung to his phoenix when he got up, unwilling to let go.
“Phoenix always bullies me,” Long Ling said, “Phoenix is so bad.”
Su Muluo glanced at him and said nothing.
The look in his eyes meant, “Do you think I care about your complaints?”
Long Ling clicked his tongue lightly, took Su Muluo’s hand, and tucked it into his own pocket.
The two arrived at the coffee shop. Since Su Muluo had contacted Qiansui in the morning, the shop was not yet open and Qiansui was not there either.
They arrived on time, but there were already several people waiting outside the shop—Zheng Hechun and Liu He were there, along with a young man and woman, and an older man who appeared slightly older than Zheng Hechun.
“Mr. Su!” Liu He waved to Su Muluo. “We’re over here!”
Su Muluo walked over and said, “Sorry for being late.”
Zheng Hechun smiled, “Not at all. You and Lord Long Ling arrived on time. We were just too eager and came early.”
As he spoke, Su Muluo’s gaze had already swept over the three beside him—though the young man and woman seemed to have decent cultivation levels, what interested him more was the older man.
Standing beside Su Muluo was his dragon, and these three clearly knew. Facing the real dragon, although the young man and woman tried to remain calm, their faces still showed obvious fear, while the old man remained calm, as if accustomed to storms and waves.
In addition, his cultivation was the highest among the outsiders present, at least higher than any human cultivator Su Muluo had encountered.
Zheng Hechun introduced the three to Su Muluo and Long Ling. The old man was named Fan Huai, and the young man and woman behind him were siblings, the brother named Zhou Yang and the sister named Zhou Lu, both following Fan Huai.
“Mr. Fan has no official position in the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings , but he is currently the foremost cultivator and our backbone,” Zheng Hechun said respectfully. “The current head of the headquarters is Mr. Fan’s son.”
Su Muluo hadn’t expected someone of such high status to be sent by the headquarters. He nodded slightly at Fan Huai and said, “Pleased to meet you.”
Fan Huai smiled and said, “I dare not claim much. What I have to offer is insufficient compared to Mr. Su and Lord Long Ling.”
His gentle and calm tone made people feel warm and close.
Su Muluo looked at the foremost cultivator and knew that among human cultivators, those with higher cultivation levels also had longer lifespans. Fan Huai appeared to be over sixty, but his actual age could be several times that.
He should be a human who had lived for at least two hundred years… such individuals were rare nowadays.
Thinking this, Su Muluo opened the door of the coffee shop and invited everyone inside.
“Would you like some coffee?”
Inside the coffee shop, Fan Huai shook his head. “I don’t want to trouble Mr. Su. Besides, I’m too old to enjoy what these young people drink.”
He declined, and Zhou Yang and Zhou Lu behind him dared not speak. Su Muluo glanced at Zheng Hechun, who smiled and took out a thermos cup containing his red date and wolfberry soup.
Liu He also remained silent, just like the Zhou siblings, completely unwilling to speak in front of Mr. Fan… although she still wanted to drink the coffee brewed by Mr. Su.
Since none of them wanted coffee, Su Muluo glanced at his dragon and said, “Go pour some water.”
Before he finished speaking, the thermos cup in Zheng Hechun’s hand tilted slightly, and Zhou Yang and Zhou Lu behind Fan Huai almost simultaneously said, “No need, no need! Please sit down, we’ll do it!”
Are you kidding? How could they dare to let a real dragon pour water for them!
That’s too terrifying!
After saying this, the siblings ran to pour water, and Liu He followed suit. Su Muluo looked at them, hung a sign at the door saying “Closed Temporarily,” to prevent anyone from coming in and disturbing them.
Afterwards, they sat in the coffee shop. Fan Huai looked around and brought up a relaxed topic, saying, “Mr. Su’s coffee shop must be doing well, I presume?”
Su Muluo replied, “Not really.” After all, it’s been closed for several days, which is quite worrying.
Fan Huai was silent for a moment, then cleared his throat and said, “Well, things should be better after that.”
Su Muluo said, “I hope so.”
With that, the topic came to an end. After thinking about it, Fan Huai decided to come clean. “Su Muluo, Long Ling, I don’t know whether they can do a more difficult task.”
Actually, the last time at Suyuan was a great opportunity to confront the Golden Dragon, but unfortunately, he was caught up in memories at that time, and his dragon was concerned about him, allowing the Golden Dragon to escape… After that, this Golden Dragon is likely to be even more cautious.
Fan Huai said, “We plan to gather all the forces of the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings to search for his whereabouts. Once found, we will immediately send out the elite of the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings to set up an ambush—by then, we hope Mr. Su and Lord Long Ling will join us.”
Su Muluo looked at Long Ling, intending to ask his dragon’s opinion, but Long Ling’s face was heavy, with a cloud of gloom in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Su Muluo leaned closer and whispered, “Do you disagree?”
Long Ling glanced at his phoenix, then after a moment, said, “No, I’ll listen to the phoenix.”
Though his tone was calm, Su Muluo felt something was amiss. He gently tugged at his sleeve and asked, “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
“I’m fine,” Long Ling held his hand and said, “The phoenix doesn’t need to worry about me.”
His words only increased Su Muluo’s concern. He quickly decided to end the conversation with Fan Huai and said, “Alright, please inform us if there’s any news.”
Fan Huai also sensed something amiss between them, smiled and said, “Very well. Thank you, Mr. Su and Lord Long Ling. We won’t disturb you any longer. Goodbye.”
They quickly left.
The coffee shop quieted down. Su Muluo turned his gaze back to Long Ling, worried. “What’s really going on?”
His dragon was clearly not okay.
Su Muluo raised his hand to touch Long Ling’s forehead, but Long Ling grabbed his wrist and rested his head on Su Muluo’s shoulder.
“I’m fine,” Long Ling whispered softly, “Phoenix, let’s go back.”
His words only deepened Su Muluo’s unease, but he didn’t say anything more. He just held Long Ling’s hand tightly and said, “Okay.”
After a moment, they returned to their rental house. Long Ling’s face grew increasingly dark, his brows furrowed tightly, and he remained silent.
However, no matter how Su Muluo asked him, he wouldn’t respond or would just say “it’s nothing”. Finally, Su Muluo became anxious and said, “If you don’t speak up, I’ll ignore you!”
Worried, he stared closely at Long Ling. Long Ling, seeing how flustered his Phoenix was because of him, felt a pang in his heart and said, “I—”
Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly felt dizzy and closed his eyes.
Su Muluo immediately supported him, asking, “Are you dizzy? Do you have a headache or are you sick?”
The next moment, his vision spun, and before he could react, Long Ling pressed him down onto the sofa.
Su Muluo blinked in surprise, meeting Long Ling’s eyes, only to notice a hint of crimson tinting those dark golden eyes… like blood.
“Long Ling?” Su Muluo felt an extremely bad premonition, grabbing Long Ling’s shoulders with trembling voice, “You—”
Before he could finish, Long Ling silenced him with a kiss that carried a breath of plunder, almost leaving him breathless.
At the same time, Long Ling pinned his hands above his head with such strength that Su Muluo couldn’t move.
“Wait, Long Ling…” Su Muluo struggled to say amidst the restraint, but Long Ling frowned disapprovingly, using a belt to tie his wrists and gripping his jaw, forcing him to look at him.
The cold and forceful gaze was completely different from Long Ling’s usual demeanor. Su Muluo’s heart pounded, fearing that something very bad was about to happen…
Long Ling lowered his head, burying his face into his shoulder, inhaling his scent.
Then he hugged his Phoenix tightly, closed his eyes, and fell asleep without a word.
Su Muluo: “…”
T/N: Hello hello! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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Also, check out the other series we have on HoH!
If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
If you like dragons, check out I’m Pregnant with the Hope of the Entire Planet and The Dragon and the ‘Princess’
How about some mystery or showbiz? Check out Morbid Addiction & Perfection
What about the perfect, most non-toxic male lead ever? Laws of Love
How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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