Zhou Jiao rarely laughed this happily.
Compared to excitement or thrill, happiness was the emotion she found hardest to feel.
She couldn't even remember the last time she laughed so hard she couldn't breathe.
When Jiang Lian brought her that pile of gifts, she'd been surprised, even excited—but deep down, she'd also felt a flicker of boredom.
Using money to win someone over was indeed fast and effective. It appealed to human greed and vanity with ruthless precision.
But the smoothness and worldliness unique to human behavior had diluted the eerie, alien charm he once held as a non-human being.
That day, part of the reason she refused the gifts wasn't just to play hard to get—it was also because of that subtle disappointment.
But once she learned how he'd actually "acquired" those things, the dullness vanished.
Instead, she felt something rare—happiness.
She could practically imagine the path his thoughts had taken:
—The clothes and shoes fit her perfectly, meaning they'd been intended for her from the beginning.
—But he couldn't tolerate the inefficiency of delivery companies, so he decided to hand them over in person.
—Though he'd reluctantly accepted the human name and skin of "Jiang Lian" for her sake, he'd never let go of his predator instincts.
When he didn't love her, that nature was terrifying—creepy and dangerous.
But now that he did love her, it came across as something else entirely: pure, focused, intense.
It was strange.
She was human, he was not—
Yet it was he who was awakening her humanity.
Making her feel things she'd never truly felt before: fear, adrenaline, excitement, passion…
And the most elusive of them all—happiness.
With a playful smile, Zhou Jiao tilted her head back and crooked a finger at him.
Jiang Lian didn't want to lower his head.
He had a vague sense that he'd embarrassed himself.
And she… was openly mocking him.
It was an odd feeling.
His expression stayed cold, but the tips of his ears were burning.
He wanted to grab her face and silence her laughter—
But as he stared at her again and again, he still didn't move.
She was too beautiful when she smiled.
He couldn't bear to take that smile away.
Fine.
Soon, the world would be reduced to just the two of them.
He loved her. He could allow her to tease him.
But everyone else who knew the truth… had to die.
Expression chilling, Jiang Lian reluctantly lowered his head.
Zhou Jiao's warm breath brushed across the shell of his ear.
"Did you just confess to me?"
His whole body was cold and dry—only his breath was warm and damp.
That contrast made him hyper-aware of her sultry breath against his skin.
Jiang Lian swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.
It was a grotesque and uncanny sight:
Cool-toned office buildings were crawling with thick, glistening purple-black tentacles that squirmed and pulsed.
Worse still, those tendrils were spreading outward like sticky carnivorous vines, wrapping around lampposts, traffic lights, and overpasses.
Above, a massive, terrifying shadow began to loom in the grey sky—shaped like a celestial body.
Thanks to sci-fi media, many people had dreamed of seeing something that vast up close.
But dreams had limits—real life didn't.
In reality, faced with such overwhelming cosmic horror, there was only one response: vomit.
Reflexive, uncontrollable nausea.
It was a scene ripped straight from the end of the world.
And yet, as the one responsible for this apocalyptic chaos, Jiang Lian had completely forgotten about destroying the world.
He stared at Zhou Jiao's lips, his pupils shifting like a cold-blooded beast, with only one thought in mind:
How can I use that confession to steal a kiss?
Elsewhere, at BioTech's California branch, Araki Isao was knee-deep in paperwork.
On the surface, he'd been promoted. He even had the power to appoint or dismiss branch managers in the CEO's place and held veto power over key company decisions.
Naturally, people speculated that former CEO Fujihara Shuu had stepped down because Araki, with his cunning and subtle manipulation, had gradually sidelined him.
But the truth was far less glamorous:
He was playing CEO only because Jiang Lian simply didn't care.
—The creature had fought his way to the top of BioTech, and his first act as CEO… was to design shoes and clothes for a woman.
At first, Araki thought he'd misheard.
He checked and double-checked, only to finally fall silent under Jiang Lian's cold, impatient stare.
—No, he hadn't misheard.
Jiang Lian had gone through all that trouble to seize control of BioTech… just to pursue a woman.
Araki couldn't believe it.
He was born post-2015. He knew what CEO romance fiction was, sure.
But never in his wildest dreams did he think it would actually happen inside a biotech corporation.
What kind of company was BioTech?
One of the world's Big Three corporate giants—spanning dozens of industries: pharmaceuticals, weapons, healthcare, food, energy, logistics, genetic engineering, biotic chips… even media.
If this era was a forest of steel and neon, BioTech was the steel holding it together.
Without that steel, the entire cityscape would collapse overnight.
So even when Jiang Lian, a complete unknown, suddenly became CEO and tanked the stock price for a while—things eventually stabilized.
People might hope for BioTech's collapse, but aside from that lunatic Lu Zehou, no one really wanted it to happen.
Monopolies of this size don't truly fall—they just get carved up and swallowed by other giants.
And during that whole process, only ordinary people get hurt:
Stock crashes, economic downturn, food shortages, mass layoffs…
Every one of those hits is a mountain ordinary people can't climb over.
But the company?
It would survive—just in a different form.
Jiang Lian had an eternal, unshakable business empire.
Yet he used it—to court a woman.
When Araki Isao realized this, his mood plummeted lower than ancient warlords duped by a beauty's beacon fire. His hands trembled slightly. More than once, he'd worked up the courage to rally his forces and rebel against this "demonic god's" tyranny. In the end, he became nothing more than the god's lapdog, offering advice on how to win a woman's heart.
After Jiang Lian left for California, Araki struggled with the decision but eventually followed him—he was afraid that if Jiang failed to win Zhou Jiao over, he might just destroy the world in a fit of rage.
Yesterday, Araki had tapped into city surveillance and seen Jiang Lian go home with Zhou Jiao. His nerves, strung taut for days, finally loosened a little.
If Jiang succeeded in winning her over, he probably wouldn't destroy the world—at least not in the short term.
Araki finally had time to deal with the mountain of accumulated work.
But he'd barely sat down for half an hour when his communicator lit up and began flashing wildly. It was from the on-duty "monitoring" staff assigned to keep watch on Jiang Lian. Of course, "monitoring" was just a euphemism—none of their surveillance equipment or drones could get within a kilometer of Jiang. They could only guess what was happening by looking at the surrounding environment.
But this time, they didn't need to guess.
Something had clearly gone terribly wrong—entire blocks of the city were being overtaken by writhing tentacles.
The staffer's voice trembled:
"Mr. Araki... what should we do…? Is Mr. Jiang in a bad mood or something…?"
Veins bulged on Araki's forehead. His fingers trembled slightly. The internal injuries he'd suffered from Jiang's past sonic shockwaves began to throb again.
He wanted to scream: Why?! Didn't they just talk yesterday?
Why is he still trying to destroy the world?
What is he so dissatisfied with?!
Araki's mind was a mess. He gripped his pounding temple and finally squeezed out words through clenched teeth:
"Sound the level-one alarm. Mobilize every armed force in the country. Make sure every armored vehicle has a mounted machine gun turret. Tell everyone—this isn't just about protecting the company anymore. It's about survival."
"We're not up against another human being. We're facing a terror unlike anything this world has ever seen. Our current tech is utterly incapable of defeating it."
"So I won't ask you to win this war. I just want you to do everything you can—to end it."
Then, as if something occurred to him, Araki's eye twitched sharply. He added:
"And remember—do not attack the woman by his side. Under any circumstances, do not harm Zhou Jiao!"
He repeated the warning three or four times. Still uneasy, he logged into the biotech database and elevated Zhou Jiao's safety clearance to the highest level possible.
Now, if anyone carrying a biotech chip or using biotech-manufactured weapons even tried to shoot her, the bullet would reroute mid-air.
Only after doing all this did Araki collapse into his chair, wipe the cold sweat from his brow, and exhale a long breath.
What the hell happened?
Why did Jiang suddenly decide to overrun the entire city?
—
Jiang Lian looked at Zhou Jiao and slowly nodded.
"Yes. I love you."
He bowed his head, the tip of his nose brushing hers, silently inhaling her breath.
"I confessed. Will you kiss me now?"
Zhou Jiao shook her head and smiled.
"I don't want to kiss you. I just wanted to tell you—I think I might like you too."
Jiang Lian said nothing.
For a few seconds, his mind went completely blank.
He'd known he liked Zhou Jiao.
He knew he loved her—wanted to possess her, to please her, to pile everything rare, precious, and priceless at her feet.
He knew he wanted to kiss her, to inhale her breath, to secretly taste the sweetness of her mouth.
But… he had never considered the possibility that she might actually like him back.
She liked him.
But… why?
What was there about him worth liking?
He hadn't even started making it up to her.
He hadn't paid the price for the things he'd done.
How could she forgive him—like him—so easily?
If he, a cold-blooded, cruel, greedy non-human creature could win her heart, did that mean anyone else could just as easily?
His eyes locked on her, his breath ragged and icy.
After elation came panic. After desire came jealousy.
He couldn't stop the questions flooding his mind.
How much did she "kind of like" him?
Was she telling the truth?
What did she want from him?
What could he give her?
How could he repay her, make up for all the harm he'd caused?
What would it take to turn that "kind of like" into "like"… and then into "love"?
Finally, Jiang Lian murmured:
"…You shouldn't like me. I haven't figured out how to repay you yet."
He paused, worried she might misunderstand.
"I mean—you shouldn't like me now. Wait until I figure out how to make things right. Then… you can like me."
Zhou Jiao chuckled softly.
"If feelings could be controlled, they wouldn't be feelings."
She couldn't help liking him.
Jiang Lian's breathing grew heavier.
His eyes were fixed hungrily on her lips. He was starting to lose control.
His heart raced. There was even pain in it—deeper and more despairing than the day he realized he loved her.
Why does mutual love feel more painful than one-sided love?
Maybe because liking was vague.
She "kind of liked" him.
But he couldn't hold on to that kind of affection.
Joy turned into fear. Into obsession. Into jealousy. Into the agony of having and losing all at once.
He wanted to tell her—he regretted everything. Every time he'd nearly killed her, he was now haunted by sheer terror.
If he could, he wanted to tear out his own heart and show her how much it hurt.
Wait… why couldn't he?
He had three hearts. The one in his human body was the most vital—but even if he pulled it out, he wouldn't die. It would leave an unhealable hole, unless he put it back.
A dangerous move.
But in human society, not truly dangerous.
Even with two hearts left, he could obliterate anyone outside like squashing ants.
So he took Zhou Jiao's hand… and placed it over his chest.
Zhou tilted her head, confused.
Outside the building—
Armed soldiers from BioTech, flanked by hundreds of drones and war machines, slowly closed in with electromagnetic rifles.
They knew how dangerous Jiang was. They didn't dare provoke him. All they wanted was a chance to negotiate.
But the moment they stepped within a hundred meters of the building, they were blocked by an invisible barrier.
Jiang Lian wouldn't let them come closer.
But he did allow them to watch—as he offered his heart to his wife.
The sky darkened. Neon lights flickered on, casting dazzling reflections on the glass towers.
But instead of awe, it inspired dread—purple-black tentacles clung to every flickering sign.
Zhou Jiao had no idea what Jiang Lian was about to do.
But she could feel his heart thundering beneath her hand.
It was boiling.
Strangely, her own heart began to race as well.
She said nothing.
Jiang Lian said nothing.
The outside world didn't dare make a sound.
And then—
A sickening, wet sound of flesh being pierced broke the silence.
Jiang Lian guided her hand—through his chest.
Together, they pulled out his rapidly pulsing heart.
Zhou Jiao flinched, instinctively trying to pull away.
But Jiang held her wrist firmly, forcing her to hold the heart—watch it throb, stretch, contract, and keep pumping blood as if nothing had happened.
Her mind went blank.
With every beat of his heart in her hand, it was like a tidal wave crashed in her ears.
She didn't know if it was from the heart, or the tentacles beyond, but she could hear the low-frequency hum of unbearable pain.
They were screaming.
"It hurts."
Jiang's expression never changed. He stared at her with terrifying purity.
She had offered her complex, human, tainted emotions—
And in return, he gave her a heart that was scalding and pure.
Zhou Jiao's rational mind finally shut down.
She didn't know what to say.
Somewhere in the back of her dazed thoughts, she even wondered—Can this thing go back in?
After a long pause, she croaked out:
"Why are you giving this to me?"
The wound in Jiang Lian's chest was gaping, horrific, pouring blood like a waterfall.
His hands were cold. But the blood was hot—so hot it burned her palm.
Without sparing a glance at his own wound, he looked straight at her and said:
"I just wanted you to know…
I have a heart, too."
"Zhou Jiao—
Give me some time. I will become someone worthy of your love."