Chapter 86: Covenantor (IX)

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Chapter 86: Covenantor (IX)

After the birthday banquet, all the major entertainment outlets devoted extensive coverage to the event. Because of his connection to Lu Xiufan, Shang Ke’s identity also became widely known. News that the Yue Family’s eldest son was already “living together” with His Excellency spread even faster. Public opinion was generally favorable toward the pair, with many believing the declining Yue Family might rise along with him through this connection.

Lu Xiufan paid no attention to the gossip and focused instead on investigating the poisoning. The wine he drank at the banquet had been prepared separately, so very few people could have come into contact with the bottle, keeping the scope of the investigation relatively narrow. Surveillance covered every part of the palace as well. Even with an accomplice on the inside, it would be nearly impossible to leave absolutely no trace. That was precisely why attempts against Lu Xiufan inside the palace were so rare.

For the mastermind to dare strike inside the palace meant Lu Xiufan’s investigation was drawing increasingly close to the truth—and that he was becoming a greater and greater threat to them.

Knock, knock. Several taps at the door interrupted Lu Xiufan’s thoughts.

“Come in.” Lu Xiufan kept his eyes on the documents in his hands until the scent of medicine reached him. Only then did he look up, and the frost in his gaze gradually melted when he saw who had entered.

“It’s time for your medicine.” Shang Ke held the bowl out in front of him.

Lu Xiufan stared at the steaming bowl, his brows tightening almost imperceptibly. In the end, under Shang Ke’s watchful gaze, he drank the entire thing in one go.

“Little Ze, how many more doses of this do I have to drink?” he finally asked.

“Today’s the last one.” The moment the words left Shang Ke’s mouth, Lu Xiufan’s features relaxed as though he had just been granted a new lease on life.

Shang Ke was secretly amused and handed him pudding and chocolates to clear the bitterness from his mouth.

Lu Xiufan said, “Compared with these desserts, I think your kisses are sweeter.”

Shang Ke bent down and kissed him on the lips.

Lu Xiufan had not expected him to actually do it and froze for a moment. Then he looked at Shang Ke, tenderness flickering through his eyes. Perhaps this was the only person who would neither fear him nor keep his distance from him.

Lu Xiufan pulled Shang Ke into his arms and said softly, “Little Ze, I hope that someday you’ll stay close to me and listen to me because you want to—not because of the contract.”

Shang Ke was far too outstanding. If he had never become a Covenantor, Lu Xiufan might never have had the chance to have him by his side. But Covenantors had short lives. In less than ten years, Lu Xiufan might have to face the pain of losing him.

A fierce light flashed through Lu Xiufan’s eyes.

He absolutely would not allow that to happen!

“Little Ze, I have to leave on business tomorrow. I’ll probably be gone for seven or eight days. Stay home and wait for me.”

“Mm.” Shang Ke nodded. He guessed Lu Xiufan was probably following up on the classified-information leak. Although he wanted to go with him, suddenly asking would seem too out of character. For now, it was better to remain at the mansion and see how things developed.

Before Lu Xiufan left, Shang Ke gave him a small, extremely sharp scalpel. He remembered that during one of the attacks Lu Xiufan might soon encounter, his handgun would run out of ammunition while he had no other weapon on him, nearly leaving him trapped in a desperate situation. Giving him the scalpel was Shang Ke’s way of preparing for that possibility in advance.

After Lu Xiufan left, Shang Ke suddenly had plenty of free time. Aside from gathering information online each day, he spent most of it considering how to complete his mission. Becoming the Yue Family heir again was not actually that difficult. The hard part was finding a way to satisfy the requirement of dying heroically.

This was probably why the System had classified this world as difficult. The Empire was relatively peaceful, with no major wars; most conflicts arose internally. Assassinations, ambushes, and political schemes were common, but dying in one of those situations would at most count as bad luck or insufficient ability. The only viable route Shang Ke could think of was dying to protect someone else.

While he was thinking, the mansion’s head butler came to report, “Young Master Ze, Her Majesty has sent a messenger inviting you to the palace for a conversation.”

Shang Ke was puzzled. Why does the Queen want to see me?

Shang Ke changed into formal clothes and followed the messenger to the palace.

The Queen sat leisurely drinking tea in a garden pavilion. When she saw Shang Ke approaching, she smiled and beckoned him over to sit.

Shang Ke had assumed the Queen summoned him to ask about Lu Xiufan, but instead she merely made casual conversation and chatted about trivial everyday matters. Roughly an hour later, she dismissed him.

Strange. What exactly was the purpose of that meeting? Shang Ke could not make sense of it at all.

After leaving the palace, Shang Ke headed to retrieve the car. He had just entered the parking garage when an unfamiliar voice sounded from nearby. “So that’s Yue Ze? He really is beautiful.”

Shang Ke followed the voice and saw seven or eight people closing in around him. Among them was none other than Yue Xuan.

“Since he’s such a beauty, why don’t you gentlemen show him some ‘affection’?” Yue Xuan said to the others with a smile.

“Tsk. He belongs to His Excellency. Do you really think we dare touch him?” A tall man sat on the hood of a hovercar, staring at Shang Ke with obvious ill intent.

Shang Ke glanced at Yue Xuan. He had not even gone looking for trouble yet, and this fool had already delivered himself straight to him.

“You don’t need to worry. This elder brother of mine is a Covenantor. As long as you’re gentle with him, he won’t complain afterward,” Yue Xuan continued. “Her Majesty knows what he is too. She isn’t going to make trouble for you over one Covenantor. She might even prefer to see him kept away from His Excellency.”

Hearing this, Shang Ke vaguely understood why the Queen had summoned him. So she already knew he was a Covenantor. The source of that information was most likely his dear stepmother. Even in Luoxu, only a handful of people knew that the Yue Family’s eldest son had become a Covenantor. If the Queen had discovered it through her own investigation, it should have taken considerably longer.

The tall man rubbed his chin, clearly tempted. He jumped down from the car hood, walked over to Shang Ke, and looked him up and down. “I’ve never seen a Covenantor this beautiful. I wonder what it would be like to have sex with him.”

“Haha, Duopu, there’s only one way to find out,” the others jeered.

“Fine.” The tall man grinned. “There’s an underground warehouse nearby. Let’s go have some fun over there.”

The group immediately began shoving Shang Ke toward the underground warehouse amid noisy laughter.

Shang Ke had already assessed them carefully. Their footing was unstable and their eyes dull; one look was enough to tell that none of them had received proper training. They were nothing more than spoiled rich brats. He was just about to act when he noticed Yue Xuan pull a video camera from his bag.

Excellent. Since that’s what you want, I’ll help you.

Shang Ke allowed them to push him into the warehouse, letting his clothes become disheveled from their grabbing while skillfully preventing them from actually taking advantage of him.

Yue Xuan stood in one corner, raised the camera, and pointed it directly at Shang Ke.

“The person His Excellency has his eye on is about to get fucked by us. Just thinking about it is exciting.”

“Who’s first?”

“Let’s go by age. Duopu and I are the oldest. You guys hold him down.”

“Sure thing. Come here, pretty boy.” Several hands reached toward Shang Ke. He immediately dodged, deliberately allowing them only to pull off his outer coat and tear several buttons from his shirt, exposing his collarbone.

The men laughed crudely and lunged toward him again.

“Hurry up,” Yue Xuan urged. “He has guards with him. If he disappears for a few hours, they’ll definitely send people looking.”

Lu Xiufan’s guards were all waiting at the Retainers’ Pavilion. Shang Ke had left through a side entrance and gone directly to the staff parking area before he had a chance to reunite with them.

Hearing Yue Xuan’s warning, the others stopped wasting time playing around and began using force in earnest.

At that moment, Shang Ke’s communicator rang.

The caller was Lu Xiufan.

“Don’t let him answer!” One man seized Shang Ke’s wrist and slammed it toward the wall. Shang Ke deliberately added force to the movement. With a sharp crack, the communicator shattered, several metal fragments cutting into his flesh as blood began running down his arm.

Coldness flashed through Shang Ke’s lowered eyes. That’s enough. One communicator and a few drops of blood in exchange for half a lifetime of hell for all of you…

A succession of screams soon echoed through the secluded warehouse.

A short while later, Shang Ke put his coat back on, tidied his appearance, and calmly walked toward his parking space with the recording chip removed from Yue Xuan’s camera.

When the guards saw his disheveled appearance, they assumed the Queen had made things difficult for him and did not dare ask any questions.

After returning to the mansion, the head butler immediately told him, “Why couldn’t we reach your communicator? Master called several times asking where you were. Hurry and contact him.”

Shang Ke nodded, returned to his room to change clothes, and only then called Lu Xiufan.

“Little Ze, nothing happened to you, did it? Where did you go? Why did your communicator disconnect?” Lu Xiufan fired off several questions in succession.

Shang Ke waited until he finished before answering slowly, “I’m fine. I went to the palace. My communicator was accidentally broken.”

“The palace? Why did you go there?” Lu Xiufan’s attention was immediately diverted.

“The Queen summoned me and talked with me for a while.”

Talk with you? About what? A question-and-answer game? Lu Xiufan found the Queen’s behavior puzzling. Still, he knew she would not harm Shang Ke, so he could only wait until he returned to ask more.

Lu Xiufan gave Shang Ke several more reminders to take care of himself before reluctantly ending the call.

The next day, Shang Ke monitored outside news but found no unusual developments. He guessed the group did not dare publicize what had happened—which was exactly why he had deliberately avoided hitting their faces.

By the third day, however, some “well-intentioned” person had spread the news that Shang Ke was a Covenantor. Public opinion, which had previously been optimistic about him and Lu Xiufan, immediately changed direction.

【A Covenantor? So he’s nothing more than His Excellency’s pet.】

【The Yue Family certainly knows how to scheme. They sent their eldest son, now a Covenantor, to serve His Excellency in exchange for maximum benefit.】

【A handsome Covenantor from a prominent family would be difficult for anyone to resist. No wonder His Excellency keeps him at his side.】

Reading those comments left Shang Ke deeply dissatisfied. He had carefully researched Covenantors. More than a century ago, the Empire had enacted a Covenantor Protection Act guaranteeing their basic rights and had established an oversight department responsible for regularly inspecting their living and working conditions. Whenever abuse was discovered, the perpetrators were supposed to face immediate legal consequences.

But Covenantors were poor at expressing themselves and did not resist even when abused. Employers only needed to conceal things slightly for investigators to find no solid evidence. Bribery and deliberate cover-ups made matters worse. Gradually, the oversight department lost its intended function and became little more than an empty shell. By the present day, society had grown increasingly indifferent toward Covenantors, while the Placement Center, originally created to safeguard their basic rights, had slowly turned into a disguised slave market.

Most Covenantors sent to the Placement Center also came from ordinary civilian families. Unless someone else reported their abuse, there was generally no one willing to seek justice on their behalf.

By now, Covenantors had become a special kind of disposable commodity. They had lost their voices and emotions—and along with them, the dignity and rights they should have possessed.

The moment Shang Ke’s Covenantor identity was exposed, public perception of him instantly shifted from eldest son of a prominent family to His Excellency’s pet.

Shang Ke lightly rubbed the recording chip between his fingers as a thought suddenly occurred to him. Could I do something for Covenantors? Relying forever on other people’s charity would never bring true equality. The rights of Covenantors had to be fought for by Covenantors themselves.

Beep— The head butler’s voice came through the internal line. “Young Master Ze, Master will arrive at the mansion in ten minutes.”

“Understood.”

Shang Ke straightened his clothes, went downstairs, and joined the others waiting at the entrance to welcome Lu Xiufan home.

Lu Xiufan had been away for eight days. He had contacted Shang Ke several times at first, but later there had been no further messages. Shang Ke had not dared contact him recklessly for fear of interfering with his operation. Only now that Lu Xiufan had returned safely could he finally relax. Next time, no matter what, Shang Ke intended to find a way to accompany him. Rather than sit at home waiting helplessly, he would rather face the danger beside him.

Before long, a hovercar slowly entered the mansion’s parking area. Lu Xiufan stepped out, his gaze passing directly over the head butler coming to greet him and landing on Shang Ke at the entrance.

“Welcome home, Sir. You’ve had a tiring journey,” the butler said with a respectful bow.

“Mm.” Lu Xiufan strode over to Shang Ke and lightly wrapped an arm around his waist.

“I’ve prepared hot water. Would you like to take a bath first?” Shang Ke asked.

“Mm.” Lu Xiufan followed Shang Ke back to the bedroom.

The butler watched their retreating backs and thought that Master truly did dote on him.

What a pity he’s only a Covenantor…

On the way from the front entrance to the bedroom, Shang Ke noticed something strange about Lu Xiufan’s right arm. He kept it stiffly at his side the entire time. Shang Ke knew the way he walked far too well; Lu Xiufan would never normally adopt such an awkward posture.

Once they reached the bedroom, Shang Ke helped remove Lu Xiufan’s coat and took the opportunity to inspect his arm, spotting a strip of bandage beneath the sleeve.

“What happened to your arm?” Shang Ke carefully pushed up his right sleeve and found the entire arm wrapped in gauze.

“I ran into a little trouble on the way.” Lu Xiufan glanced at his arm. “It’s only a minor injury. Don’t worry.”

Shang Ke was silent for a moment before saying, “The wound shouldn’t get wet. I’ll give you a sponge bath.”

“Mm.” Lu Xiufan’s gaze darkened slightly as he accepted the offer with obvious pleasure.

Shang Ke’s real purpose was to check whether this man had any other injuries. After stripping him naked, Shang Ke carefully examined him from head to toe. Aside from several bruises across his muscular body, there were no other obvious wounds, allowing him to finally relax.

Noticing Shang Ke openly examining his body, Lu Xiufan became very pleased. He promptly pressed him against the wall and kissed him passionately.

“The sponge bath…” Shang Ke managed between kisses.

“Later.” Lu Xiufan caught his lip between his teeth, his movements carrying the urgency of eight days’ worth of longing…

Two hours later, when they finally emerged from the bathroom, both of them had been thoroughly “washed,” inside and out.

Shang Ke wore Lu Xiufan’s robe, wet hair clinging to the side of his face while a lingering post-climax flush still colored his cheeks.

Lu Xiufan wore only a towel around his waist, leaving his powerful, muscular body exposed.

Shang Ke took out the medical kit and applied fresh medicine before changing Lu Xiufan’s bandages.

Lu Xiufan somehow produced a watch-style communicator. “You said your communicator was broken last time, so I had a new one custom-made for you.”

He took Shang Ke’s left hand and was about to put it on him when he noticed several recently healed, uneven scars across his wrist, clearly left by something sharp.

“Did this happen when the communicator broke?” Lu Xiufan asked in a low voice.

“Mm.”

“How could you be so careless?” Lu Xiufan’s reproach carried obvious heartache. Those scars looked unbearably wrong against Shang Ke’s originally flawless, pale skin.

“Sorry.” Shang Ke lowered his head.

“You don’t need to apologize.” Lu Xiufan sighed. “Just take better care of yourself from now on. Don’t let yourself get hurt again, all right?”

“Mm.” Shang Ke nodded earnestly. Next time I run into something that disgusting, I’m going straight for the ruthless option from the start.

The two lingered together affectionately for a while longer before finally leaving the room for dinner.

The next day, Lu Xiufan went to the palace to report the results of his investigation to the Queen and then asked why she had summoned Shang Ke previously.

The Queen smiled. “I simply wanted to get to know this Covenantor who managed to capture your heart.”

“Your Majesty knows?”

“I’m afraid there’s hardly anyone who doesn’t know now.” The Queen shook her head. “Go online and see for yourself.”

Lu Xiufan’s gaze sharpened. Right in front of the Queen, he immediately opened his personal terminal.

A moment later, his face had gone completely dark. He bid the Queen farewell and hurried out of the palace.

While I was gone, people actually degraded Shang Ke to this extent? Who the hell has been deliberately stirring this up behind the scenes?

Once inside the car, Lu Xiufan forced down his anger and said to Shang Ke in the driver’s seat, “Back to the mansion.”

Shang Ke started the hovercar and sped back toward the mansion.

After parking, Shang Ke got out from the driver’s side. Lu Xiufan was about to leave the car when a silver glint caught the corner of his eye. Looking down, he saw a small chip wedged into a seam in the carpet.

He bent down and picked it up. Rather than question Shang Ke, who had just come around to open his door, he quietly closed his fingers over it. If he was not mistaken, it was a recording chip.

After entering the mansion, Lu Xiufan asked Shang Ke to prepare him a snack, then went alone to his study, inserted the chip into his terminal, and pressed play…

【…The person His Excellency has his eye on is about to get fucked by us. Just thinking about it is exciting.】

【…You guys hold him down.】

【…Come here, pretty boy.】

【…Haha… over here…】

【Hurry up… He has guards with him. If he disappears for a few hours, they’ll definitely send someone looking…】

Beep, beep, beep. The communicator rang.

【Don’t let him answer!】

Smash! The communicator struck the wall, and blood began running down Shang Ke’s wrist.

Shang Ke began fighting back, and the image rapidly blurred…

Lu Xiufan stared at the screen as it dissolved into static, a terrifying storm slowly gathering in his eyes.

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