Chapter 75 Storm in the Cabin
Huo Shen's grip on Su Yan's wrist was surprisingly strong.
Su Yan was practically half-dragged by him, leaving the dead silence and the focused gazes on the deck. The low pressure emanating from the man was more biting than the night wind at sea.
Su Yan stumbled after him, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. He couldn't tell if it was from fear or Huo Shen's obvious anger. His actions had been a gamble, winning Assistant Zhou's temporary retreat, but clearly, it had also ignited the even more dangerous lion beside him.
"Mr. Huo...Mr. Huo..." Su Yan tried to speak, his voice trembling slightly.
Huo Shen didn't respond, not even slowing his pace. He walked straight through the luxurious corridor inside the cabin, his leather shoes making a dull sound on the carpet. The waiters and guests he met along the way hurriedly lowered their heads and avoided him the moment they met Huo Shen's cold gaze, and no one dared to even glance at him.
"Bang--"
With a loud bang, Huo Shen kicked open the door of the most luxurious master bedroom on the top floor of the yacht, pulled Su Yan in, and then slammed the door shut. The loud noise made Su Yan's eardrums buzz.
The cabin was spacious and luxuriously decorated. Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows was the dark sea dotted with sparse starlight, and further away were the blurred lights of the city. But at this moment, Su Yan had no time to appreciate all this.
Huo Shen finally released his hand and turned around. His tall figure was like a mountain, casting a shadow over Su Yan. He approached step by step, and Su Yan subconsciously stepped back until his back pressed against the cold door, leaving him with nowhere to retreat.
"You've become more capable, Su Yan."
Huo Shen spoke, his voice low and hoarse, his emotions unrecognizable, but within his deep eyes, there surged an undercurrent that Su Yan couldn't understand. There was scrutiny, inquiry, lingering hostility, and a kind of... cold anger after being offended.
Su Yan's throat tightened, and he forced himself to raise his head and meet his gaze: "I... I just don't want to..."
"What don't you want?" Huo Shen interrupted him, raising his hand and pinching his chin with his cold fingertips. He was so strong that he forced Su Yan to raise his head, revealing the fragile lines of his neck. "Don't you want to be auctioned off like an item? Or do you not want to... leave me?"
He spoke the last few words almost against Su Yan's lips, his warm breath carrying a hint of dangerous ambiguity.
Su Yan froze. Huo Shen's question felt like a trap. Admitting the former would make his previous show of "loyalty" seem completely false; admitting the latter… he didn't dare to imagine what that would mean.
"Speak." Huo Shen applied slight force with his fingertips.
Su Yan frowned in pain, and the stubbornness born of fear in his heart emerged: "What does Mr. Huo want me to say? That I am willing to be locked up by you like a canary? Or that I should be grateful to Assistant Zhou for giving me the opportunity to 'make the best use of my resources'?"
He risked his life. Now that he had chosen his side, he couldn't waver any longer. In front of someone like Huo Shen, appropriate, controlled resistance was sometimes more interesting than blind obedience - this was something he had learned from countless observations.
Huo Shen stared at him, his eyes as dark as the night.
Suddenly, he chuckled. There was no joy in that laugh, but instead it carried a chilling chill: "You have sharp teeth and a sharp tongue."
His gaze slowly moved down from Su Yan's eyes, landing on his slightly red lips, then his slender neck, and finally stopped at the newly pinned, sparkling brooch on his chest.
"Tell me," Huo Shen's fingertips stroked the cold edge of the brooch, and his voice lowered even more. "Just now on the deck, did you really think that 'my things' should not be touched by others, or... was it just a desperate performance for self-protection?"
This was the issue that concerned him most. Su Yan's sudden, possessive declaration was like a stone dropped into the stagnant waters of his heart, stirring up waves he had never experienced before. He needed to confirm the cause of these waves.
Su Yan's heart nearly jumped out of his throat. He could feel the warmth from Huo Shen's fingertips and the undeniable pressure in his words.
He took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound steady and sincere: "Both."
He chose to tell the truth, or rather, a modified version of the truth.
"I want to live. I don't want to be taken away by Assistant Zhou. I don't know how I will be 'dealt with'." He paused, raised his eyes, and looked directly at Huo Shen with clear eyes, with a courage of desperate determination. "But I also know that you are the only one who can decide my life or death. At that moment, I didn't want anyone...including Assistant Zhou, to deal with me without your permission. This brooch was given by you, and the meaning it represents can only be given and taken back by you."
The cabin fell into silence, with only the intertwined breathing of the two people and the faint sound of waves outside the window.
Huo Shen's gaze remained fixed on him, that sharp scrutiny seeming to penetrate his skin and reach the depths of his soul. Time passed in silence, and every second made Su Yan feel tortured.
After a long moment, Huo Shen's grip on his chin loosened slightly. His thumb, almost affectionately, gently brushed against Su Yan's lower lip. The touch was filled with a subtle electric current, causing Su Yan to shudder uncontrollably.
This subtle reaction seemed to please Huo Shen.
He leaned down and moved closer, his nose almost touching Su Yan's nose, and his hot breath completely enveloped Su Yan.
"Remember what you said today, Su Yan." His voice was low and full of magnetism, with unquestionable possession. "This thing is mine, it's marked with my mark. Its life and death are decided by me."
His lips didn't fall in the end, but shifted their angle, close to Su Yan's earlobe, like a devil's whisper:
"Be it a performance or a sincere one. Since you have chosen to stand by my side, don't even think about backing off. Otherwise..."
He didn't say the rest of the words, but the unspoken meaning was more frightening than any explicit threat.
Su Yan closed his eyes, feeling a wave of exhaustion. He had made the right bet on the first step, but at the same time, he had also dragged himself into a deeper, irreversible vortex.
Huo Shen finished speaking and stood up, as if the extremely oppressive and ambiguous gesture just now had never happened. He straightened his collar, which was not at all messy, and his expression returned to his usual indifference.
"Stay here tonight and don't go anywhere." He ordered, his tone full of unquestionable control.
After saying that, he stopped looking at Su Yan, turned around and walked to the desk in the cabin, picked up his vibrating private cell phone, and the moment the call was connected, his eyes became sharp and deep again. Obviously, the turmoil on the deck was not over, and the mess left by Assistant Zhou still needed him to clean up.
Su Yan leaned against the door panel, slowly slid down onto the carpet, and hugged his knees tightly.
The exhaustion of surviving the disaster and the deeper fear of the future intertwined, almost drowning him. Huo Shen's last words kept echoing in his ears.
"Life and death are up to me..."
He knew that from this moment on, the relationship between him and Huo Shen had undergone a subtle but irreversible shift. He was no longer a simple "stand-in" or "chess piece" waiting to be dealt with. He had taken the initiative to step into the hunter's territory, becoming a more conspicuous and easily torn apart target in this dangerous game.
The sea outside the window is pitch black, as if it contains endless storms.
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