OVPBM 4

Chapter 4 – Learn to Enjoy Pain

Lu Yunwan bent his knees and held his blood-soaked right hand in front of Chu Xuanzhou’s eyes. He then slightly lifted his ring finger. It was the trading gesture used in the interstellar black market.

The drainage system in the cell had long since drawn away the bloodied water, leaving only a faint, shallow red on the ground.

At this moment, the merman was as lonely as one stranded ashore.

Chu Xuanzhou said nothing. With tremendous difficulty, he raised his hand and used his left ring finger, with all the strength he had left, to hook the human’s finger, completing the trade.

He took the forbidden fruit from Lu Yunwan’s hand.

* * *

Planet Cangrui, the Regent’s residence.

The slowly flowing stars across the arched dome vanished at the edge of the black marble floor, forming an image of heaven above and earth below.

The officials were discussing the super optical-brain that had been stolen last month when the Regent seated at the head suddenly extended his index finger, wrapped in a black velvet glove.

He tapped the light screen and frowned.

Seeing this, the people below instantly held their breath… Did we say something wrong?

In truth, Lu Yunwan was not handling state affairs. He was racing against time to read the novel.

From time to time, he marked the key points, studying how to be a proper villain.

It was not that Lu Yunwan had a poor work attitude. It was because the extra chapters of 《 The Merfolk Empire 》 spelled it out clearly: the super optical-brain that had been missing for many years would not be discovered until decades later, and it would be presented to Chu Xuanzhou long after he ascended the throne.

No matter how he looked at it, the whole thing had nothing to do with him.

Rather than listening to subordinates talk about it, he might as well seize the time to arm himself with knowledge!

Just as Lu Yunwan was about to continue studying, the light screen in front of him suddenly lit up with a red glow and popped out a notification.

“Anomaly in the test subject?” he murmured.

Something happened to the protagonist?!

Without a second thought, Lu Yunwan braced himself on the freshly repaired poppy cane and stood up.

He tossed out a single sentence, “Meeting adjourned,” and strode out of the hall toward the laboratory.

He left behind a hall full of high-ranking imperial officials staring at one another, mentally replaying every word they had said, trying to figure out which sentence had displeased the Regent.

* * *

The white shirt used in the laboratory looked slightly too large on the young man.

Chu Xuanzhou lay on the silver-white examination table, his long hair scattered behind his head.

The wounds on his body had already healed, but his teeth trembled uncontrollably from the pain.

As the hatch opened, the young man instinctively cast a pleading look in that direction. 

When he saw who had come in, he clenched his jaw and moved his gaze away.

“Your Excellency the Regent, Song Feiyan used a mental power disruptor to stimulate His Highness’s mental core!” the subordinate assisting with the experiment said with a horrified expression. “In just half an hour, His Highness has already fallen unconscious three times.”  

He suspected Song Feiyan was using the experiment as a pretext to intentionally torture Chu Xuanzhou.

But Lu Yunwan, who had read the novel, knew that Song Feiyan was not that kind of person.

And his method was indeed effective.

“Heh.” Song Feiyan let out a cold laugh as he checked the experimental data. He did not bother explaining himself to this group of people.

He did not even lift his head. Instead, he tapped a few more times on the light screen, increasing the disruptor’s frequency right in front of Lu Yunwan.

“Ah…”

A deep blue light instantly wrapped around the examination table.

Cold sweat beaded on the young man’s forehead. His beautiful violet eyes lost their focus in an instant, like shattered glass.

“Anesthetic…” Under the crushing pain, Chu Xuanzhou finally could not hold back and cast a pleading look toward Lu Yunwan. “Can I have anesthesia? Your Excellency the Regent…” His voice was so weak it barely sounded like him.

In this cold laboratory, Lu Yunwan had absurdly become the only person Chu Xuanzhou could turn to for help.

Chu Xuanzhou knew that pain could stimulate the mental core and trigger its vitality.

But when the agony surged, he still revealed his vulnerability as easily as a child afraid of injections.

Seeing this, Lu Yunwan felt torn.

Standing by and watching him suffer would draw too much hatred, but saying something like ‘This is for your own good’ was the kind of normal, punchable line the original host would never say…

What to do, what to do!

Lu Yunwan pinched his own palm hard, and at the instant the pain flared, the passage he had just read from the novel suddenly surged back into his mind.

“Since you cannot resist, then surrender and enjoy it.”

…Lu Yunwan knew what to do now!

The Regent knelt on one knee beside the examination table and gently took Chu Xuanzhou’s hand.

He pressed a tender, pitying kiss onto the young man’s fingertip, then spoke in a voice softer than a spring stream. “Your Highness, this is the first lesson I will teach you. Learn to enjoy pain.”

Enjoy.

Pain?

Perhaps the shock of Lu Yunwan’s words was so great that the intense throbbing in Chu Xuanzhou’s brow even eased slightly.

He looked at Lu Yunwan in disbelief.

“You must understand that pain is the symbol of being awake, and only those who are awake have the right to feel pain.” Lu Yunwan slowly bent down, bringing his lips close to Chu Xuanzhou’s earlobe. “So do not resist it.”

Inside the empty metal chamber, aside from one simple machine, there was nothing else.

Lu Yunwan’s voice crashed against the walls, then returned, echoing repeatedly in everyone’s ears.

Chu Xuanzhou’s body continued to tremble instinctively from the pain.

At that moment, Lu Yunwan gently gathered the merman into his arms. While softly stroking the youth’s slightly thin shoulders and back, he closed his eyes and murmured like someone lost in a dream, “The dead will never feel pain.”

“So, Your Highness, pain is also a blessing of life…”

“F*ck! Lu Yunwan, there’s seriously something wrong with your brain!” Song Feiyan finally could not hold back his shout. “What kind of twisted nonsense is that? Perverted lunatic!”

Lu Yunwan said nothing. He looked as if he had not heard a word, though inside he was furiously giving Song Feiyan a thumbs-up. You’re absolutely right!!

Given my current persona, I really am a pervert!

With his eyes closed, pretending to be profound, Lu Yunwan failed to see the difference—

Song Feiyan genuinely believed Lu Yunwan was mentally unsound and looked at him as if he had seen a ghost.

But Chu Xuanzhou slowly gathered away the fragility in his eyes and began seriously contemplating the words Lu Yunwan had just spoken.

Pain is the blessing of life?

…Then does Lu Yunwan, as he said, enjoy pain and even love it?

An illegitimate son of the royal family raised on a lower planet had no chance to stand on stage. The royal family had always treated Chu Xuanzhou as if he were air, let alone planned any education for him.

Aside from the lowest-grade educational robots, only his mother had ever taught him music.

From another perspective, Lu Yunwan was the first person in Chu Xuanzhou’s life to truly act as a teacher.

And as the protagonist, Chu Xuanzhou had always been a good student.

The pain inflicted by the mental power disruptor increased step by step.

Once the optical-brain detected that Chu Xuanzhou had gradually adapted to the current level of pain, it automatically increased the intensity by one level.

In an instant, Chu Xuanzhou felt as if thousands upon thousands of needles had pierced through his temples, as though his mental core would shatter in the very next second.

The red indicator light on the device made it perfectly clear to everyone present that the pain Chu Xuanzhou was experiencing now was approaching the absolute biological limit of what any living being could endure.

His breathing instantly turned rapid, and all color drained from his face.

“Do not be afraid.” Along with the rising red glow, Lu Yunwan’s voice came to Chu Xuanzhou’s ear. “Try to adapt to it. Your Highness, you will grow to like it.”

His voice was soft and slow, like a hypnotic whisper, like a bedtime story.

But the pain still caused a flush of scarlet to spread at the corner of Chu Xuanzhou’s eyes, and the young man’s reason nearly shattered beneath the overwhelming agony.

The pain surged over him like crashing waves.

Then, the next moment, something happened that Lu Yunwan had never expected.

Chu Xuanzhou, held against Lu Yunwan’s chest, suddenly bit down hard on the shoulder before him.

A merfolk’s mouth was one-third sharp canines.

In their savage, dangerous past, they could easily tear apart prey with their teeth.

Now, the prey was Lu Yunwan.

Chu Xuanzhou’s teeth tore through the thin fabric of Lu Yunwan’s clothing, punctured the fragile, pale human skin beneath, and sank directly into the soft blood vessels.

Blood poured out in thick streams. Within mere seconds, Lu Yunwan’s left sleeve was completely soaked.

Everything had happened far too suddenly. Only now did the delayed pain finally crash into Lu Yunwan’s mind.

Immersed in his persona, Lu Yunwan snapped fully awake.

Shit, ahhh!

Help!!

Instinctively, he wanted to pull his shoulder out of Chu Xuanzhou’s mouth, but at the last moment, rationality crushed his reflex.

He could not move.

He had just told Chu Xuanzhou to enjoy the pain. If he backed out now, would that not be slapping his own face?

After working so hard to play the pervert for so long, how could he ruin it here?

Lu Yunwan forcibly swallowed his tears and his screams, and with great difficulty, pulled up the corners of his lips into a smile.

The heavy scent of iron brought Chu Xuanzhou back to his senses. The dark red filling his vision finally made him realize what he had done.

Chu Xuanzhou met Lu Yunwan’s gaze. And, unsurprisingly yet still unbelievably, Lu Yunwan’s eyes held not even the slightest displeasure. There was even a hint of gratification.

Lu Yunwan slowly raised his other hand and gently stroked Chu Xuanzhou’s back.

His movements were as gentle as calming a small kitten. “This is the first gift Your Highness has given me.” Lu Yunwan’s gaze overflowed with thick, unmelting affection.

Before Chu Xuanzhou could even process what exactly this so-called gift meant, Lu Yunwan gave the answer clearly.

“Pain.”

“It is what allowed me to feel Your Highness’s existence so vividly for the first time.”

Lu Yunwan truly was enjoying the pain, just as he had claimed.

The disruptor’s frequency increased one final time, but by now Chu Xuanzhou felt no pain at all.

His world contained nothing but dark red and the gradually sweet, metallic taste spreading between his lips and teeth.

Chu Xuanzhou could not help sniffing lightly. Along with that strange sweetness, Lu Yunwan’s earlier words echoed once more in his mind.

——“Try to adapt to it. Your Highness, you will grow to like it.”

𓇼 ˚｡⋆ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞⋆｡˚ 𓇼

Author’s Note:

Happy Children’s Day

This chapter could also be titled: One dares to teach, one dares to learn