Always Ending Up as an Animal Cub

Although Yu Tong's memory was a bit unclear and he couldn’t recall many things, he felt this should be the first time he had ever appeared before someone in such an ‘unreserved’ manner.
This time, the antagonist truly didn’t leave him even a single pair of underwear.
Yu Tong instinctively wanted to curl up his body, but as soon as he noticed Yun Mingchen’s gaze, he quickly calmed himself down.

Only those who have lived long in society feel shame in being bare.
He thought it wasn’t time to expose himself yet, so he needed to be more cautious.
Yu Tong’s breathing gradually returned to normal, and his body began to relax.

As the system threw a tantrum over the mosaic, demanding to see high-definition… “resources,” Yu Tong finished his mental preparation and raised his hand to wrap it around Yun Mingchen’s neck, softly leaning into his embrace.
Yun Mingchen stood at the edge of the bed, his expression as calm as ever. Only Yu Tong, pressed tightly against him, could feel how stiff his entire body had become.
Yu Tong hid his own expressions, but the shame couldn’t be concealed.

The intense feeling of shame was transmitted through the telepathic tool to Yun Mingchen in real-time. As his heartbeat accelerated, Yu Tong also received a wave of extremely complex emotions.
The telepathic tool transmitted feelings back and forth, influencing both parties.
Yu Tong was nearly calm, but this tool disturbed him once again, making his face even hotter.

Yun Mingchen’s heartbeat became clearer, his muscles even more tense.
He probably had something important to say. He pressed his lips together several times but could only produce meaningless syllables.
A calloused palm unknowingly pressed down on Yu Tong’s shoulder, slowly sliding down his spine.

Yu Tong couldn’t suppress his body's instinctive reaction, his shoulders lightly trembling.
The system peeked out the window, holding a magnifying glass, squinting to see.
Looking left and right, it could only see the antagonist hugging a mass of white mosaic.

Its host looked like a peeled boiled egg, pale and tender all over.
If it weren't for the black blocks covering the hair, it couldn’t even tell which side was the head and which side the feet were.
Hearing the increasingly obvious breaths in the room, the blind system grumbled and tossed the magnifying glass onto the floor.
“Little Yu, Little Yu, what are you two doing? Tell me! I see a lot of tension between you two. Your brother Mingchen looks at you like he wants to eat you up.”

Just after asking, Yu Tong’s calm voice sounded in the space.
‘I’m pretending to be a cat that understands people but doesn’t feel human shame. He’s testing whether I really don’t understand or if I’m pretending not to.’
“….”

“So, you two are testing each other? Then why are you both breathing so hard?”
‘It’s a bit embarrassing, but we both kept testing each other, and accidentally, we both felt something.’
“???"

‘The current situation is… we’re both pushing against each other, and it’s awkward. I didn’t expect this to happen, so I haven’t figured out how to resolve it yet. He probably hasn’t figured it out either, so we’re just stuck like this.’
“Wow, so you’re going to…?”
‘No, I don’t think it’s necessary right now. I’m not sure if this will affect my character deviation value.’

Even though the system knew Yu Tong would answer this way, it still felt a bit disappointed.
It picked up the magnifying glass and squinted out the window while earnestly advising, “Little Yu, don’t just think about benefits. He’s your man, you two are communicating your feelings, not dealing with benefits.”
‘I’m the one on the bottom, not taking anything, I’ll lose out.’

“What’s wrong with being on the bottom? Does that even matter, high or low?”
‘It matters. I’ve seen a lot of this. The bottom gets beaten, scolded, and high fevers and bleeding are common.’
“I don’t mind doing something with Brother Chen, after all, we have a good relationship. I don’t hold it against him for stabbing me; I’ll find an opportunity to stab back. But I can’t be on the bottom for nothing, that’s a loss.”

The system was stunned.
It was silent for a moment. “You’re saying that kind of thing is the same thing I’m talking about?”
Yu Tong pretended to rely on Yun Mingchen’s embrace and subtly nodded.

“My god, what kind of environment did you grow up in? A prison?”
Yu Tong didn’t respond.
In his memories, the chilling screams from deep in the past resurfaced in his ears.

He remembered what had happened when he was younger.
That night, his parents were talking with a strange uncle. Little Yu Tong crouched beside them, wiping the blood stains on the floor.
There was a tattered book on the ground, covered in blood. As the pages turned, they made a rustling sound.

Little Yu Tong tried to follow his parents’ instructions to return the book to the shelf, but unfortunately, it had already rotted.
Crying and shouting sounds came from the walls, from the rooms on both sides. Little Yu Tong crouched next to the book, gave it a piece of candy, and wiped its body clean.
The strange man in military uniform finished talking to his parents and came over to lift ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) him up, wanting to see his face.

The broken book, as if provoked, suddenly crawled up and lunged at the man, biting him with its pages while screaming at Little Yu Tong.
At that time, Yu Tong was still very young.
He couldn’t remember exactly what had happened but recalled the constant rustling of the book, and the little black dog in the yard barking wildly.

For some reason, the blurry images in Yu Tong’s mind slowly became clearer. The tattered book in his memory turned into a tattered woman.
She clung tightly to the strange man, screaming for Little Yu Tong to run.
A boy with a chain around his neck and dirty clothes ran into the house, grabbing his hand and desperately pulling him outside.

In the end, they were caught and brought back.
His parents chased after the little black dog, and his grandparents led Little Yu Tong to a clearing on the mountain to bury the book.
As he dug the hole, Little Yu Tong looked up at the city above him.

From that day on, he thought to himself that he had to leave this home.
Taking his little black dog, the pile of books at home, and the dogs, he would leave.
Otherwise, they would all die.

—
The system’s noisy voice pulled Yu Tong from his memories.
8102 was still trying to correct his wrong understanding, making him realize that a normal exchange of love would never hurt anyone.

It swore with its year-end bonus that his ‘old attack,’ Brother Chen, would never hit or scold him. If he dared, it would leap out and slap him twice.
Thinking about the bothersome past, Yu Tong completely lost the earlier feeling.
The telepathic tool faithfully transmitted his emotions to the antagonist.

Yun Mingchen also became cold.
He didn’t release the person in his arms but instead held him tighter. His hand gently patted Yu Tong’s back as he softly comforted, “Don’t worry, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to do anything to you, don’t worry.”
Yu Tong quickly adjusted his expression and looked up at Yun Mingchen with an innocent and pure smile.

He naturally raised his hand, intending to give the antagonist a meow.
But he noticed, at some point, a white long-sleeve shirt had appeared on his body. His lower body was also dressed in long pants, covering the exposed skin.
The mosaic suddenly disappeared, and the system excitedly jumped out, then disappointedly jumped back in.

8102, unaware of the crisis, continued to complain that it hadn’t seen anything. Yu Tong’s heart, however, grew slightly cold.
Last time, Yun Mingchen had only wrapped him in a blanket in the dream. This meant that in the antagonist’s perception, he had been a cat with human understanding.
He covered Yu Tong’s body not to protect his dignity, but to calm himself down.

Now Yun Mingchen didn’t use a blanket but directly dressed him.
This time, it wasn’t for himself. He wanted to maintain Yu Tong’s dignity.
Only humans who have lived long in society would consider nudity shameful. And only when facing a similarly undressed person would humans alleviate their discomfort by giving them clothes.

From the moment Yu Tong saw the clothes on his body, he knew it was over. Everything was over.
His act of pretending to be a cat had been exposed, and the antagonist had realized he was human, not a cat.
He knew that at such a critical moment, he shouldn’t have let his mind wander. The antagonist was so clever, any small slip-up would be noticed.

Yu Tong closed his eyes, resting his forehead on Yun Mingchen’s shoulder, waiting for the other’s response, while his mind worked quickly to find a way to resolve the situation.
He had just thought of an emergency plan but hadn’t had time to use it when Yun Mingchen, who had been silent all along, suddenly patted his back gently and said, “It’s okay, don’t worry. I’m not angry with you.”
Yu Tong hesitated for a moment and slowly looked up.

Yun Mingchen’s expression was calm as usual, but there was a hint of gentleness in his eyes.
If it weren’t for the telepathic tool, which allowed Yu Tong to vaguely sense the antagonist’s feelings, he might have doubted whether Yun Mingchen was wearing a warm student council president mask.
Yun Mingchen gazed at him gently, “Since you’re human, not a cat, you should have a human name. What’s your name?”

Yu Tong still wanted to struggle a bit. He gave a fake innocent smile, “Xixi.”
Yun Mingchen shook his head, “Not a cat’s name, a human name.”
Yu Tong remained silent.

He only had his character deviation value, unsure of how much the antagonist liked him.
Most importantly, he didn’t know if Yun Mingchen liked the obedient cat Xixi, or the unloved human Yu Tong.
He wasn’t sure if revealing his true nature would disappoint Yun Mingchen or if he’d get stabbed with a knife.

Just like what Brother Chen did before.
Even now, Yu Tong couldn’t understand what he had done wrong.
Yun Mingchen was still waiting for him to answer his human name, and Yu Tong knew that the cat act was completely over.

He took a deep, subtle breath, pretending to be obedient and pure, preparing to give the excuse he had thought of.
Just as he was about to flash a shy, innocent smile and lie, Yun Mingchen suddenly raised his hand and gently covered his eyes.
“Since meeting you, I’ve inexplicably felt both happy and lost. I can feel a part of me that doesn’t belong to me, emotions that aren’t generated by me.”

“So, I realized a long time ago that you’re not really obedient, you’re just pretending. I just didn’t say it. I like the way you secretly do bad things, just like you like watching me pretend to be a gentleman while planning to kill my real parents.”
Yu Tong’s excuse, which had been on the tip of his tongue, was never said.
He pursed his lips, “Don’t you think I’m hypocritical and annoying?”

Yun Mingchen released his hand and lowered his gaze to look into Yu Tong’s eyes, “Why would I hate you? I’ve long seen it. You and I are the same kind of person.”
“What’s your name? I want to know your name. I want to understand the real you.”