Chapter 43: The Anaconda Disaster – Two? Three?

“Hyman!”

Jiang Shulan caught Hyman’s unsteady body, becoming a human cushion for someone else for the first time.

If Hyman hadn’t pushed him away, the one who got shot might have been him.

Although he knew death wasn’t the end, Hyman didn’t.

Blood spilled from the corner of Hyman’s mouth, trailing down his chin and soaking into his collar.

Jiang Shulan could smell the warmth of it, carrying that unmistakable metallic scent of blood.

This wasn’t right.

How could Hyman die so easily?

“Hyman, hang in there!”

Jiang Shulan’s eyes instantly reddened.

“We’re almost out of here. You’ll be okay. You’ll be saved, alright? Just hold on.”

Hyman’s lips trembled as though he wanted to say something, but only a short, indistinct breath escaped his throat.

Blood continued to overflow from the corner of his mouth, tracing the line of his jaw. A few drops fell into the hollow of his collarbone.

Jiang Shulan leaned close to his lips, sobbing uncontrollably.

“What do you want to say?”

“If… if I survive.”

Hyman’s eyelashes still fluttered faintly.

His eyelids were half-closed, revealing a thin sliver of emerald green through the gap.

“Can I be… your husband?”

“…Yes.”

Kyle immediately shot and killed Salang, who had been hiding beneath the boat.

But before Salang died, he muttered, “I found it. I found it…”

‘Found what?’

Kyle pushed the question aside.

Saving Hyman was the priority now.

But it was already too late.

The few golden strands of hair at Hyman’s temple that hadn’t been stained by blood hung softly in the dim light.

They swayed gently with his final weak breath.

Then they became completely still.

“Hyman…”

Silence fell over everyone.

Suddenly, a deep, muffled sound came from beneath the boat, like some enormous creature turning over.

A gigantic serpentine body tensed.

The scales parted slightly under the strain of contracting muscles, their edges gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.

Its head was pressed so low it was nearly parallel to the ground.

Its jaws were slightly open, and its tongue flicked rapidly between them, producing a dense, dangerous hissing sound.

“My God! How can a python be this huge?!”

The black python quietly gazed at Jiang Shulan, who was holding Hyman’s body.

Then, before the horrified eyes of everyone else, the center of its forehead split open.

A single eye was revealed.

That eye was emerald green.

Rich.

Cold.

Aloof.

Utterly devoid of emotion.

No one could stop themselves from meeting that eye.

The moment they did, it felt as though their souls were sinking into an endless swamp of dark green mud with no visible bottom.

In the next instant, everyone lost consciousness.

“Shu, are you feeling better?”

Jiang Shulan was awakened by Terry’s voice.

“Where are we…?”

“The Xixia Ma Tribe.”

Terry answered naturally.

“This is the territory of the Xixia Ma Tribe.”

Terry and the others had finally achieved their goal.

Jiang Shulan closed his eyes wearily.

“…Where’s Hyman?”

“Hyman? He and Kyle went hunting.”

“Hunting?”

Jiang Shulan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Wasn’t he shot?”

“Did you sleep yourself silly?”

Terry touched his forehead.

“The one who got shot was Salang.”

How could it have been Salang?

Jiang Shulan remembered it clearly.

Voices drifted in from outside the tent.

“Hyman, I saw the announcement you posted online. Does Shu know?”

“Of course he knows. He already agreed.”

Laughter colored Hyman’s voice.

“When the time comes, all of you should come. I’ll send a plane to pick everyone up.”

“What a grand gesture!”

Danny asked shyly, “Then… can I skip the wedding gift?”

“No need.”

Hyman waved his hand generously.

“Everyone who comes will get a huge red envelope.”

“Congratulations!”

“Wishing you both happiness!”

Hyman walked into the tent with a smile.

“You’re awake? Wife?”

“What wife?!”

What on earth was happening?

“Wife.”

Hyman raised an eyebrow.

“You personally agreed to marry me.”

“You-”

Jiang Shulan had only agreed because he thought Hyman was dying.

“Wife!”

Hyman scooped Jiang Shulan up from the bed and tossed him lightly into the air like a child before catching him securely.

Ignoring Jiang Shulan’s furious protests, he carried him out of the tent with a gentle expression.

Laughter immediately broke out around them.

Even Terry couldn’t help smiling.

Not long afterward, a documentary exploded in popularity online.

It followed a group searching for the legendary Xixia Ma Tribe, only to encounter poachers with ulterior motives, be lured into the tribe’s territory, and face pursuit by giant pythons.

“A documentary? This is basically fantasy!”

“No, no, this has to be a mockumentary!”

“But those giant pythons looked unbelievably real…”

Danny’s outstanding cinematography earned him invitations from numerous film studios.

Terry won multiple awards and became a famous director almost overnight.

The others also found success in their respective fields.

Sitting on the sofa, Jiang Shulan watched the ending of the documentary.

Salang was shot by Kyle, then swallowed whole by a giant python that arrived moments later.

He frowned.

Something wasn’t right.

Wasn’t Salang supposed to shoot Hyman?

How had it become this?

It had been a month since they returned from the Xixia Ma Tribe.

Hyman had promised to tell him the truth after they got married.

Now they were married.

They had slept together countless times.

And Hyman still wouldn’t tell him.

“Wife.”

Hyman wrapped himself around Jiang Shulan from behind, entangling his limbs.

He kissed the hollow of his neck repeatedly, holding him tightly, like a drowning man clinging to driftwood.

As though letting go would kill him.

How could the ruthless ruler who terrified countless people outside become such a clingy pest and shameless cuddle addict with him?

The online comments described this shameless man as “tyrannical,” “inhuman,” “cold and merciless,” and “ascetic.”

Which one of those words was actually correct?

Jiang Shulan pulled the man’s hand out from beneath his shirt.

“Are you sick?”

“Didn’t we already do it this morning?”

“But we haven’t done the afternoon session yet.”

Hyman looked aggrieved.

Jiang Shulan felt even more aggrieved.

His body trembled uncontrollably.

Hyman had been far too rough.

His body had already developed a conditioned fear.

No.

He had to have a serious talk with Hyman.

At this rate, he’d end up in the ICU within a month.

A long table separated them.

“I have to warn you.”

Jiang Shulan sat with a straight face, looking extremely serious.

A textbook lay open in his hands.

His slender finger pointed at a short paragraph at the top as he earnestly explained, even though the tips of his ears were red enough to drip blood.

“This frequency is not normal. Normal humans don’t do this.”

Hyman rested his chin in his hand and deliberately acted cute.

‘You were already ridiculously handsome. Why were you acting cute too? The contrast was unbearable!’

Jiang Shulan slapped the table, signaling for Hyman to give his professional evaluation.

Hyman smiled with those emerald-green eyes.

“But wife, breeding season isn’t over yet.”

They had only been married for about a month.

“Breeding season?”

Jiang Shulan rolled his eyes.

“That’s for animals. You’re not an animal.”

“I am.”

Hyman leaned closer and licked his lips.

His emerald-green eyes darkened.

That look always meant trouble.

“Doesn’t wife know?”

Jiang Shulan instinctively covered himself.

He often called Hyman inhuman, but he had only meant that Hyman’s behavior was inhuman.

Yet after hearing those words, Hyman had become unusually excited and cornered him against the wall, personally demonstrating how animals reproduced.

“You have to leave your scent completely inside the other person. But during breeding season, the other one always tries to run away because they can’t bear it. So at times like this…”

Hyman bit the back of his neck.

His lean waist was powerful.

One arm braced against the wall to keep Jiang Shulan from hitting it.

The other arm easily restrained him.

“You bite the back of their neck so they can’t escape.”

Jiang Shulan’s legs were trembling.

He was barefoot because Hyman had insisted there was no need for shoes.

“You won’t need to walk anywhere.”

He couldn’t speak.

He bit his lip desperately, terrified that even the slightest sob would excite the “animal” behind him further.

This demonstration lasted from three in the afternoon until nine at night before Hyman finally carried him away to eat.

The servants were impeccably trained.

When their master didn’t need them, they disappeared.

When he did, they appeared instantly.

But didn’t that mean they could see everything?

Hyman kissed the back of Jiang Shulan’s hand.

“How could that be?”

He couldn’t get enough of looking at Jiang Shulan himself.

Why would he let anyone else look?

He simply paid them enough that they understood what proper professionalism meant.

Half a year later, Jiang Shulan had finally more or less adapted to Hyman.

Then, on his birthday, Hyman brought home another man.

The very same man Jiang Shulan had seen in the cave behind the waterfall.

The one who had seemed long dead.

The man had unusual golden eyes.

He couldn’t speak.

His skin was pale, and his body temperature was unnaturally cold, like a cold-blooded animal.

That night, while Hyman was distracted, Jiang Shulan rested his foot on Hyman’s shoulder and declared triumphantly,

“I figured it out! You’re a vampire! That’s why you didn’t die!”

The more he talked, the more convinced he became.

“And Terry and the others forgot that you were shot because you changed their memories, right?”

When Hyman didn’t respond, Jiang Shulan grabbed a fistful of his golden hair and tugged.

Only then did Hyman reluctantly lift his handsome face.

There was still moisture at the corner of his lips.

His voice was low and dangerously attractive.

“Everything wife says is correct. But bringing this up now… Does that mean I still haven’t done enough?”

“I didn’t-”

Before he could finish, Hyman attacked.

For the entire night, Jiang Shulan was unable to say a single complete sentence.

Only fragmented words escaped him.

What he didn’t know was that, separated from them by only one wall, the golden-eyed man stood silently.

His chest never rose or fell.

Without making a sound, he listened to everything happening in the next room.

Just as he had often done back in the rainforest.

Crying again.

Hadn’t it only just started?

Wouldn’t the little human become dehydrated?

He cried so easily.

His younger brother loved drinking water.

But…

He wanted some too.

The man’s golden eyes slowly narrowed into dangerous vertical slits.

A soft hiss escaped his throat.

Even though he had escaped the black python’s body, he had never escaped its instincts.

He wanted to know what the thermal image of the two people in the next room looked like right now.

Face to face?

One above the other?

When would his younger brother finally be willing to let him drink too?

But his younger brother had already taken on part of the curse.

His possessiveness and desire toward his mate would only continue growing stronger.

That day would probably be a very, very long time away.

But that was alright.

Waiting was what he did best.

And his younger brother had brought him so many clothes carrying the little human’s scent.

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