Chapter 45: The Innocent Landlord and the Black Tenant 13 The sky outside the window seems...

The sky outside the window seemed like a huge piece of cloth soaked with ink, pressing down heavily.

On the day when Shao Ye was unusually sleeping in, as if due to the halo of the protagonist, a sudden torrential rain hit the city, paralyzing the traffic in the entire city, and the school was even suspended.

Shao Ye no longer had to go to school. The rain outside showed no sign of stopping.

He leaned on a recliner next to the skylight in the basement, holding a thick book "Introduction to Algorithms" in his hand.

This kind of weather that trapped me in a confined space and isolated me from the world unexpectedly opened the dusty door deep in my memory.

When I was a child in an orphanage...that dark, small room that was always filled with the smell of mold and damp.

Whenever there was a rainstorm like this, he would curl up on the cold bed, listening to the sound of rain dripping through the cracks in the roof and hitting the enamel basin.

Suddenly, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from outside the door. Then, the door was gently pushed open a crack, and a pale golden head poked in.

Ye Ling's hazelnut eyes seemed especially bright in the dim light. "Mr. Shao Ye? Well... the rain is really heavy, and the lighting in the basement isn't very good. It's hurting your eyes to read, right? How about... you come up to the studio? There's more space there, and the windows are brighter."

[Host! Perfect start! Keep it up!] 778 gave a thumbs-up in his mind. [Studio! Our home turf! The target came into view, and the 24-hour HD surveillance footage library expanded rapidly!]

Ye Ling suppressed the tension in her heart and waited quietly for Shao Ye's response.

"Okay." Shao Ye decisively closed the book and stood up, "Then I'll trouble you, Mr. Ye.

Agreed!

Ye Ling breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stepped aside: "No trouble, no trouble! This way, please!"

The studio is filled with the distinct aroma of turpentine. Outside the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, rain pours down like a cascade, distorting the world outside into a flowing ink painting.

The light in the room was dim, and Ye Ling fumbled to turn on a few soft wall lamps.

He deliberately reserved the best-lit position near the window for Shao Ye, and occupied the center of the studio himself. He quietly moved the drawing of "Power and Beauty" inspired by Shao Ye to the blind spot of Shao Ye's vision.

Shao Ye followed his instructions and sat down on the sofa by the window. He opened the book "Introduction to Algorithms" again, looking very focused. However, his peripheral vision kept falling on the landlord who was pretending to be focused but was actually very tense.

Ye Ling took a deep breath and picked up the charcoal pencil.

[Host! Imagine you're Monet, Rembrandt, the Picasso of perverts! Focus on your art! The goal is right before your eyes. This is a once-in-a-lifetime sketching opportunity!] 778's excitement was so intense that it almost made a short-circuit noise.

[…Stop talking! My hands are shaking!]

Time flows slowly in silence and the sound of rain.

The only sounds in the studio were the rustling of charcoal pencils rubbing against paper, the occasional rustling of pages, and the roar of apocalyptic rain outside the window.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and the afternoon felt like late night.

Thick dark clouds rolled in, swallowing up the last ray of light.

Although Shao Ye's eyes fell on the pages of the book, his thoughts were once again dragged back to that cold corner of his childhood by the sound of heavy rain outside the window.

Those fragmented memories of hunger, cold, and helplessness, along with the loud sound of raindrops hitting the glass, beat wildly on his nerves. He couldn't help but purse his lips, and his stomach began to ache slightly.

At this time——

“Boom!!!”

A pale, blinding flash of lightning tore through the inky black sky, and a deafening thunder suddenly exploded.

"ah!!"

All of Ye Ling's disguises collapsed in an instant.

The birds' natural fear of loud noises grabbed him like a giant hand, and he jumped up from the easel like a startled chick.

He had no time to think, his body followed the most primitive risk-avoidance instinct and ran towards the most "safe" direction he perceived!

Shao Ye didn't dodge at all.

Instead, he stretched out his arms without thinking, and the moment Ye Ling bumped into him, he naturally pulled her into his arms.

Time seemed to stop at this moment.

The two were of similar height. Ye Ling lowered her head, her cheek resting against the crook of Shao Ye's neck. Their skin was so close, unobstructed by clothes, that he could clearly feel the other's steady and strong pulse.

Shao Ye's arms were strong and powerful. One arm was firmly wrapped around his lower back, while the other one was gently pressing on the back of his head, protecting him completely in his arms.

It's a...completely protective posture.

Ye Ling had imagined countless times the happy life he would have after having a master, but his limited imagination had never touched upon the feeling of being held so tightly in the arms of a human being.

……etc!

A flash of white light flashed in his blank mind, and fragments of memory emerged. Once upon a time... someone had hugged him like this. It was Jiang Lian, his target in the previous world.

He couldn't recall how he felt at that time.

But for some reason, the scenes in those memories subtly overlapped with this moment.

The nose was filled with Shao Ye's scent, like a pine forest after a winter snow, clean and cold, yet with a familiar and reassuring warmth.

He even forgot to breathe, his heart was beating wildly, more deafening than thunder.

His light golden hair rubbed against Shao Ye's jaw, bringing waves of heart-pounding itchiness.

The fresh and warm scent belonging to Ye Ling, like grass basked in the sun, seeped into Shao Ye's breath and miraculously soothed the coldness in his stomach.

He tilted his head slightly, rubbing his chin against the soft crown of Ye Ling's hair, again and again. He greedily grabbed the warm breath from the hair of the person in his arms, filling his chest.

He tightened his arms, pushing the stiff little golden retriever deeper into his arms.

This posture also perfectly conceals the movements of his other hand.

In just these few seconds, his hand, which was originally pressing on the back of Ye Ling's head, slid stealthily to the inside of the sofa armrest.

A cold light flashed at his fingertips. It was a tiny sniffer, smaller than a grain of rice, disguised as the sheen of a metal rivet.

This device is not used to monitor sounds, but is specifically designed to capture abnormal fluctuations in bioelectric signals and nerve signals.

Shao Ye speculated that when that mysterious entity communicated with Ye Ling, it would inevitably trigger some subtle changes in Ye Ling's brain or nervous system. This would be a key step in his tracking, locating, and ultimately cracking that thing.

With a light push of the fingertips, the tiny device was quietly embedded deep into the gap of the sofa armrest, blending perfectly with the surrounding environment.

[Beep! Detecting a sharp rise in host adrenaline! Abnormally high body temperature!] 778's alarm blared in Ye Ling's head. [Analysis: Sudden loud noise, startling, and... unexpected close contact with the target? Current contact duration: 2 minutes and 17 seconds! Host! Are you okay? The original owner in the novel didn't even touch the corner of the protagonist's clothes, but you... this is the highlight of your perverted career!]

778 was immersed in the ecstasy of a great harvest. It was concentrating on recording this precious physical contact and completely ignored the fleeting movement on the armrest of the sofa.

The remaining power of the thunder gradually dissipated, and only the sound of dripping rain remained outside the window.

Ye Ling's stiff body finally regained consciousness and she realized that she was being held by Shao Ye in an extremely shameful posture.

He struggled, his voice filled with deep shame and embarrassment: "I'm sorry! Shao Ye! I didn't mean to do that. I..."

He struggled to get out of this overly hot embrace, his cheeks so red that they seemed to be bleeding.

Shao Ye loosened his arm, but did not let go completely. One hand was still holding his arm, as if he was afraid that his legs would go weak and fall.

"It's okay. The thunder was indeed too loud." Shao Ye comforted him gently.

After a pause, he asked again, "... scared?"

His gaze slowly moved downwards. A strand of light golden hair was stuck to Ye Ling's shoulder, probably having fallen down during the panicked struggle just now.

Shao Ye stretched out his hand and picked up the soft strand of hair with extremely natural movements.

Ye Ling was froze again by his sudden action and stared at him blankly.

Shao Ye did not explain, but just looked calm and quickly put his hands behind his back.

"The rain seems to be easing a bit," he said. "I'll go down and take a look. Mr. Ye... continue painting?"

He looked at Ye Ling deeply, his eyes as calm as a deep pool, yet seemed to contain a vortex that could suck people's souls away. Then he turned and left the studio.

Ye Ling was the only one left in the studio, with the faint sound of rain outside the window.

He stood there blankly, his heart still beating wildly, his mind constantly recalling the solid and warm touch of Shao Ye holding him in his arms.

"He...he..." Ye Ling opened his mouth but couldn't utter a complete word.

The heavy door of the basement closed behind him, completely isolating him from the landlord who had made Shao Ye upset.

The only light here was the faint sunlight coming through the skylight, blurred by the rain, and the faint blue light emitted by the computer screen on the desk.

Shao Ye leaned against the cold door and slowly closed his eyes.

In the darkness, every detail in the studio just now was infinitely magnified—

The impact of Ye Ling crashing into his arms, the touch of her soft body and the slight trembling, the slight itch of her hair brushing against his chin, and the refreshing scent that belonged only to Ye Ling... all of this washed over his senses over and over again.

He walked over to his desk and sat down, but didn't turn on his computer right away. His fingers lightly brushed the cover of the thick "Introduction to Algorithms," then, with a strange sense of ritual, he flipped open the pages.

Between the pages of the book, there was a strand of light golden hair.

The strand of hair was like a beam of frozen sunlight, lying quietly between the inky black printed characters. Shao Ye stretched out his fingertips and gently touched it.

The hair is incredibly soft and has a slightly cool touch.

He lowered his head and put his nose close to the pages.

The familiar, refreshing scent like sun-dried grass, mixed with a hint of turpentine, penetrates into the nostrils like silk threads.

This smell is purer than when we hugged in the studio just now, and also... more private.

He sniffed deeply and greedily, as if he wanted to inhale the scent and the soul of that person into his lungs. Every breath was filled with a secret, paranoid and obsessive intoxication.

He unconsciously twisted the soft strand of hair, feeling the touch of it entangled in his fingertips, bringing waves of shuddering electricity.

"Heh..." A hoarse chuckle sounded in the silent basement, filled with thick pleasure and twisted satisfaction.

He carefully closed the pages of the book, safely keeping that ray of precious sunlight.

Then, he opened his laptop. The cold light from the screen illuminated his hard-lined features, and a dark glint flickered in his eyes.

His fingers pounded across the keyboard, bringing up an extremely complex monitoring and analysis interface. The physical sniffer's signal had been successfully connected, and electrical ripples danced regularly across the screen.

Shao Ye gave a determined smile.

It’s almost there, we’re almost there to catch that “thing”.