Chapter 6: The Instinctive Desire to Draw Near

“Where did you come from? Why are you here? Why… didn’t you leave with the others?”

Gathering her composure, Chao Xu stared sternly at the strange boy who had suddenly appeared before her, her tone sharp with interrogation.

The boy’s features were delicate, almost ethereal, yet his beautiful eyes held no trace of light. There was a lifelessness about him, an air so devoid of vitality that anyone seeing him for the first time would feel an eerie sensation, as if they were falling into an endless void.

Only when he looked at Chao Xu did a faint glimmer appear in his gaze. He shook his head earnestly, replying to her with utmost obedience, enunciating every word, “I don’t know.”

Chao Xu: …

“You don’t know how you got here? Are you saying you can teleport?”

She felt as though her extraordinary intelligence was being mocked.

Sensing Chao Xu’s growing irritation, the wooden boy seemed to realize something was wrong. He shook his head quickly, as if trying to make amends. “No, I’m not making fun of you. I truly don’t know why I’m here. Someone told me they would take me somewhere nice, and then they brought me here.”

As he spoke, there was a slow, almost dazed innocence about him. Nervousness flickered in his expression, as if he feared Chao Xu might really take offense. He hurriedly added, “Don’t be angry with me. If you’re upset, you can bite me. I’ll give you my arm to bite—just please don’t be mad, all right?”

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeve, revealing a pale, cold arm, and raised it to her lips, nodding encouragingly for her to hurry and take a bite.

Chao Xu was silent for a while before politely pushing his arm away. “Sorry, I don’t eat raw meat.”

“Oh, all right then.”

The boy withdrew his arm, his expression falling in obvious disappointment. He anxiously clutched his sleeve, as if pondering how to make Chao Xu dislike him less.

It was around this time that Chao Xu began to sense that something was amiss.

The person before her seemed dull-witted, not particularly bright, and appeared to have no concept of basic common sense. As for how he’d ended up here… it was as if he’d been lured over by someone.

After a moment’s thought, Chao Xu probed gently, “Do you know who you are?”

The boy paused, thinking for a while before answering, “Ci Mo.”

He added, “Ci as in ‘speech’, Mo as in ‘indifferent’.”

So that was his name.

Tsk, quite a pleasant name, actually.

Chao Xu went on, “Do you know how old you are today? What’s your name? Where do you live? Why did you come here?”

Faced with her string of questions, the boy who called himself Ci Mo paused, then shook his head at each one.

“I don’t remember. I only recall that my name is Ci Mo.”

Beyond those two words, his mind was a blank—devoid even of excess emotions. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have followed that unknown person without a sound.

It wasn’t that he lacked caution, just that danger seemed incapable of stirring any reaction within him.

At last, he glanced at Chao Xu, his alabaster ears tinged with crimson.

She was the only one whose scent, voice, movements—everything about her—he liked.

A primal instinct urged him to move closer, but reason told him it was not yet the right time.

So after a quick glance at Chao Xu, his Adam’s apple bobbed twice, and Ci Mo forcibly suppressed that yearning.