Flav

Tired from all that chasing, Xuan Li decided to sleep a bit more. Spreading out his body, he flung himself on the bed, a loud creak following him.

"What? You're going to sleep again?" The panther asked, a cute scornful look on its face.

Li threw a pillow on the panther's head and groaned, "Shut up, Dumdum. My body still feels lethargic."

"What about the trial site?! Weren't you goin-" Another pillow struck Dumdum's face and it snarled.

A snore made it clear that Xuan Li had once again fallen asleep.

Grumbling to itself, the panther laid down and curled itself into a ball, planning to catch a bit more sleep as well.

Soon, a human's snores and a beast's adorable grunts were heard throughout the room.

---

Xuan Li stirred.

Something was tickling his face.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, squinting as the bright sunshine made his eyes hurt.

A pale face, with bloodshot eyes and long hair, stared back at him, with an intense gaze.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Xuan Li screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The face parted its lips and yelled back.

"GRAAAAAA!" The panther, who woke up to the screams, roared along.

"WHO THE F*CK ARE YOU?!!!" Xuan Li backed a 100 metres away from the face.

"Huh? I could ask the same to you." The face replied.

The face… was not just a face, it was attached to a body.

"Oh… it's not a ghost…" Xuan Li murmured to himself.

A man with long, silky hair, pale complexion, bloodshot eyes and dark circles stood on the bed.

He was currently giving an odd look to Xuan Li.

Xuan Li was about to apologise when he realised it wasn't even his fault.

"Hey, why are you giving me that look? Who are you? And what are you doing in my room?" Xuan Li blinked and asked, trying to push away the guilt from his tone.

The panther eyed the newcomer warily.

Maybe it was Xuan Li's influence but he couldn't sense this man's arrival at all. Dumdum licked his paw, giving the raccoon— no, the man, a sideway glance.

'Those dark circles are truly amazing.' Dumdum snorted to himself.

Even Xuan Li thought the same. 'It's like he has kohl smudged around his eyes. What in the world is he on?'

Back in Xuan Li's world, the men used to grind some powder at midnight. Later, they would make small paper rolls and inhale the powder with it.

Their actions after doing so… Xuan Li couldn't help but smile wryly. They had been like animals, howling, biting and mating.

At that moment, Xuan Li sucked in a deep breath.

This guy… Maybe he had gone insane after snorting some drugs and—

Xuan Li instantly went even further away from the raccoon man.

The man in question was preoccupied with a hair strand that was stuck on his collar.

Li had his hands around himself in a protective manner. "I-I refuse to give my chastity to you! Leave me alone, you pervert!!" He hissed.

The raccoon man stopped fidgeting with his hair, and gave Xuan Li another judging look.

"What?" His voice went down a pitch.

"You heard me right. Go away from here or— or I'll… call the police!" Xuan Li threatened.

The panther resisted the urge to chuckle.

Things had taken a different turn. It felt that today would be a very interesting day.

The raccoon man's eyes darkened. He took a step ahead. *Tap*

And another. *Tap*

Each *tap* made Xuan Li's heart rate shoot up like crazy and his legs trembled.

He scrambled around, looking for something to protect himself but in vain.

Before he knew, the man was standing in front of him. His minty scent hit him right on his face, making him freeze.

Xuan Li panicked, and pleaded, "P-please… Spare me. I'm not gay!!"

The raccoon man gave a wry smile. "What's it to me if you're gay or not?"

Xuan Li blinked. "Aren't you going to assault me?"

The panther's ears cocked up on this comment and it let out a chuckle.

Both of them ignored the chuckle.

The raccoon man gave another smile, just that this time, Xuan Li sensed a dangerous feeling beneath the smile.

Before he could say anything else, a jaw-breaking slap was delivered right to his face. Yes, 'jaw-breaking', because Xuan Li's jaw actually broke from the impact of the slap. But his body automatically fixed the issue and snapped the jaw back in place.

Still, the pain was enough for Xuan Li to get back to his senses.

"I-I'm sorry, I went over the line." Xuan Li apologised, rubbing his sore jaw.

"Good that you know." The raccoon man gave a closed-eye smile.

"As for why I am here… Why wouldn't I be here? This is my room, which I especially bought with my own money." The raccoon man emphasised on 'my'.

Both the panther and Xuan Li sent a confused look at this. "But I bought the room too. Just yesterday." Xuan Li retorted.

"I've been staying here for a few days. Just that I rarely appear because I'm busy practising." The man said, letting out a sigh.

"Maybe the manager made some mistake…" Xuan Li said and got up from the floor. He patted off the dust on him.

"Could be."

Xuan Li now knew why the man had such intense dark circles. He had probably been up all night to practice for whatever he was preparing for.

He had to give him… This amount of dedication was amazing.

"What are you practicing for?" Xuan Li asked. He then quickly backed up by saying, "That is, if you don't mind answering."

'This man looks really powerful. If I stick to him… maybe I'll get killed someday.' Xuan Li thought to himself in glee.

How could the panther not notice Xuan Li's track of thoughts. It resisted the urge to facepalm and just puffed out a breath.

The raccoon man sat on the bed and replied, "For the Ascension Academy' s trials. What else?" He let out a bitter laugh.

Both the panther and Xuan Li straightened up on hearing this. This was just where they wanted to go, too!

"You know where the trial site is?!" Xuan Li asked excitedly.

"You could say that.. But getting there is one hell of a pain. That's why I've been training like mad." The raccoon man sighed and flopped on the bed.

"I'm Flav. A Qi Manifestation stage Martial Artist. You?" He introduced himself.

"I'm… Xuan Li. Not a Martial Artist."

"A mage?"

"Nope.. just a normal…mortal." Xuan Li replied. He was somewhat embarrassed admitting this.

The guy looked so cool while introducing himself but why did he have to be the one to look like a weak insect?