Chapter 279 - 249: Desire for Her
Chapter 279: Chapter 249: Desire for Her
In just a moment, Barto turned away as if nothing had happened and said to the still-stunned Minoz, "Now you see."
Minoz: "I... I... I..." ’Fuck.’ he thought.
’This damn psycho.’
Gu Ning was also stunned for a moment. Hearing what Barto said to the little fox, she touched the spot he had kissed her, not understanding his intentions.
"I didn’t see anything." Minoz shut his eyes, trying to make one last desperate attempt.
Barto pulled out a small knife from his belt and pressed it against Minoz’s face. "Didn’t see anything, huh? Then you don’t need your eyes anymore."
Gu Ning grabbed Barto’s hand. After the two exchanged a look, she silently let go.
"Please, spare me!" Minoz pleaded. "I really won’t sell Yuanbao’s photos anymore!"
Barto ignored him and asked, "Did you see?"
Minoz gritted his teeth and opened his eyes. "...I saw."
"Good," Barto said. "I have a job for you."
Minoz: "What job?"
Barto didn’t answer. He took Minoz’s terminal, pressed it against his nose to unlock the interface with his nose print, then opened his personal information page and showed it to Gu Ning.
Gu Ning looked closely:
Name: Minoz
Age: 18
Race: Fox Clan, Atavistic Mixed Breed
Mutant Value: 42%
Address: (N/A)
Family Members: (N/A)
’So he’s just an eighteen-year-old little fox, a year younger than Cook.’
Barto waited for her to finish reading, added the little fox’s contact info, and threw him back into the bedroom.
"That was all for his benefit."
After closing the door, Barto fell silent for a moment before turning to Gu Ning.
Gu Ning: "...Oh, I know."
Barto paused, walked over, took her hand, and led her to the sofa. "We can’t just let him go. Someone from Zone 15 has their eyes on us. Handing him over to anyone would cause problems."
Seeing that his mood was much calmer than before, Gu Ning felt relieved. She quickly wrote on a piece of paper: *If we don’t let him go, should we take him with us?*
"I’m still considering it." Barto’s gaze inadvertently swept over the spot he had just kissed, and he tried his best to act natural. "This little fox isn’t easy to handle."
Gu Ning wrote: *I actually think he’s quite cute.*
"Cute?"
Barto placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you know why he’s being so docile?" As he spoke, he opened his other palm in front of her. Gu Ning lowered her gaze and saw an oval-shaped device with a flashing red dot resting in his palm.
Gu Ning recognized the object. She wrote: *You put an electric collar on him?*
Barto gently scraped his finger across her cheek. "How else would I dare leave him alone with you? Do you disapprove?"
Gu Ning shook her head and wrote: *I just think he doesn’t seem that dangerous.*
Barto’s fingers gently toyed with the edge of her mask. He felt the strange, alluring scent from her body growing stronger, drilling into his nostrils without him even trying to smell it.
He glanced at the note she’d written, and his throat bobbed. He hooked a finger under her mask and pulled it down. "I told you not to rely on the translator. You need to speak more."
Gu Ning smiled and pointed to the translation earpiece on her ear. "Outside, we... need this."
Without breaking away from the translation environment, her progress in learning the common Beastman language was slow. Still, it was much better than before. At least she could manage simple spoken conversations.
Barto wrapped an arm around Gu Ning’s shoulder, watching her mouth open and close as she spoke. He felt that the two kisses from before had barely scratched the surface, leaving him wanting more.
’But he had a reason just now,’ he thought. ’What about now?’
Gu Ning lowered her head to write on her lap, not noticing the unusually deep and intense look in Barto’s eyes.
In the depths of his eyes, a small flame ignited, fueled by a desire he had never felt before.
A desire for her.
When Gu Ning finished writing the note and looked up, Barto had already averted his gaze.
He took Gu Ning’s note and glanced at it. She was asking how his talk with Deviant went.
"Don’t worry about it for now. The plans he came up with are garbage. I’ve already talked to him. We’ll plan our work properly once we get to Zone 5."
Gu Ning nodded. It was true they were unsettled on the road and couldn’t really start any related work.
"You liked that video?"
Although he disliked bringing up the topic of those two foxes, Gu Ning would inevitably have to deal with them in the future. It was a subject he couldn’t avoid, so he might as well understand her opinion of them.
Gu Ning: "...It was okay."
’But I did like the recommended photos,’ she thought. ’The composition and aesthetics were both excellent. Mainly because Idelos was just so stunning.’
Barto: "So you liked it."
In his eyes, if Gu Ning didn’t say she disliked something, it was automatically classified as liking it.
Having spent a long time with her, he’d discovered that her feelings of ’like’ were vague, as if seen through a pane of frosted glass. Her ’dislikes’, however, were crystal clear.
When she no longer showed obvious dislike for something, it meant she liked it.
But he himself wasn’t sure how to categorize "like."
’Gu Ning definitely doesn’t dislike me,’ he reasoned. ’Right now, we’re family in name. No one is closer to her than I am.’
’If it’s not dislike, does that mean it’s like?’
Barto felt a little lost. He was so sure of his understanding of her emotions, but when it came to himself, he couldn’t be certain.
He only knew that he couldn’t take that step. He was a Mixed Breed...
Even as he thought this, Barto’s gaze uncontrollably fell upon her lips, and his mouth began to water.
Gu Ning sensed that Barto was acting a bit strange today. His gaze kept drifting. She asked, "What’s wrong with you?"
’Is his unstable Mutant Value making his emotions erratic?’
The little fox didn’t speak. Gu Ning asked again, "Inhibitor... you still have?"
Barto swallowed hard. "I’ve already taken my Inhibitor."
Gu Ning was feeling a faint, dull ache in her stomach at that moment. She rubbed it and said, "I’ll go get... the scanner."
’I’ll only feel at ease after I check his levels.’
"Did you think I was cute before?" Barto suddenly asked, grabbing her wrist.
"Hm?" Gu Ning looked at him in surprise. ’Since when does the arrogant, cocky little fox ask questions like this?’
"Nothing." The tips of Barto’s ears grew hot. He instantly felt stupid for asking.
"It’s getting late. You should go back next door and sleep." Barto released her hand. "I’ll head over after I finish up here."
Gu Ning stared at the little fox’s deliberately averted face for a moment, then walked over and cupped his cheeks. Her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. "Of course. Very cute."
’Ever since I met Barto, I’ve thought he was cute. Who wouldn’t find a fluffy, talking, tsundere fox cute?’
Barto’s pupils constricted slightly. His heart began to pound wildly in his chest.
Seeing his dazed expression, Gu Ning guessed that his mood was off due to his mutation. She kneaded his cheeks as if calming an anxious little animal. "Always wanted... to touch your... tail. Before."
’But the little fox always acted too fierce, so I never dared.’
When Barto heard her mention his tail, he tilted his head and lightly nuzzled the cool palm of her hand. "Do you want to touch it now?"
Gu Ning said, "Then... you change."
’How often does the little fox willingly offer his tail to be touched? Why would I refuse?’
Barto didn’t change back into his beast form. Instead, on a sudden impulse, he unbuckled his belt and, right in front of Gu Ning, pulled down his pants.