My Arch-Nemesis is the R-Rated Male Lead - Chapter 22

Lu Rong slowly approached Wuhui Pavilion, thinking about what she should do later to raise Zhou Li’s attraction level to 60%.

When she saw Bing Lie fly out again, she asked, “Bing Lie, where’s your master?”

Bing Lie instantly transformed into a thin rope, binding Lu Rong and yanking her inside. Before she could even react, she was dragged into the dim room.

She stumbled a step before regaining her balance, when Zhou Li’s presence suddenly covered her like a heavy snowfall—cold and clean.

Her waist was gripped as well, pulling her into a scorching embrace.

Her heart skipped a beat as she looked up in alarm at the person restraining her.

“I told you to leave.” Zhou Li pressed his palm against her back, staring at her with deep, shadowed eyes. “Why did you come back?”

Lu Rong’s gaze slid down from the hot sweat rolling along his Adam’s apple.

All of his exposed skin was flushed red.

He… wasn’t he in heat again?

Instinctively, Lu Rong pressed her hand against his chest. “I came back to get something! Let go of me!”

Lu Rong was afraid. She hadn’t expected what the system warned, that he would go into heat again so soon, to happen this fast.

Zhou Li’s aggression was terrifying. His palm could wrap around most of her waist, holding her so firmly that she had no room to retreat at all.

Lu Rong knew it clearly, he wouldn’t just knock her down, he would literally kill her.

Seeing how frightened she was, Zhou Li withdrew his strength and pushed her away. “Go. Don’t come looking for me for a while.”

After saying that, he left immediately.

Lu Rong stood where she was, her heart still pounding chaotically, so tense she was almost gasping for breath. She shuffled her feet, trying to leave.

Yet the room felt even more intensely saturated with desire and cold than usual. It was as if she had wandered into a snowy mountain she couldn’t escape.

And yet, the heat in the air felt capable of melting that entire mountain.

Was Zhou Li really alright?

Would he take a dagger again and carve into the scales on his chest?

Thinking of A’Miao’s death, Lu Rong’s steps came to a dead stop. Though she thought Zhou Li was cold and distant, she didn’t want to see him die.

At a complete loss, she could only ask the system in her mind, “Is there any other way to help Zhou Li get through his heat? Or is there a way to eradicate it entirely?”

[Sorry, the male lead’s settings cannot be changed.]

Lu Rong: “……”

Stupid machine.

“Can kissing still solve this?” Lu Rong clung to that hope, wishing there was a simplest possible way out.

[If he remains unsatisfied, the male lead may go crazy and literally kill you.]

Lu Rong fell silent. Thinking of Zhou Li’s build and stamina, if he really lost control… someone could actually die.

She shuddered, but then another thought struck her. Why would he go crazy and do that to her?

[Because you awakened his heat cycle.]

Lu Rong froze. “I awakened his heat cycle?”

[You touched his reverse-scale mark twice, causing the male lead to enter heat prematurely.]

Lu Rong thought of the two times she had touched Zhou Li’s chest.

No wonder he had suddenly lost control in Tinglan Garden that day. Turns out a man’s body really isn’t something you can touch casually either.

She was filled with regret. Damn these hands! Why did you have to touch a man’s chest?

She smacked her own hand, thinking of how Zhou Li had endured earlier. After hesitating, she still quietly slipped behind the screen and peeked out, wanting to see whether Zhou Li was holding himself back to the point of suffocation.

Zhou Li’s room was very empty. Aside from the table and chairs, the only thing that truly stood out was the bed.

She looked over and saw Zhou Li sitting on it. The dim candlelight fell across his face, making him look fragile—yet carrying a strange, unsettling allure.

It was like a succubus feigning injury, waiting for some kind-hearted soul to come to his rescue, only to devour them whole in a single bite.

Lu Rong pressed her lips together. It was the first time she had ever seen Zhou Li look this weak.

She called out softly, “Zhou Li… are you alright?”

Her voice lacked confidence. After all, she was the one who had brought him to this state.

But Zhou Li didn’t respond. As Lu Rong hesitated where she stood, she saw him press his palm against his chest. Bright red blood spread down from his wrist, instantly staining his snow-white robes.

Startled, Lu Rong rushed over. “What’s wrong with you?”

Before she could reach the bedside, Zhou Li raised his hand and forced her back several steps, his voice weak as he said, “Get out.”

At a glance, Lu Rong saw the vivid blood in his palm and knew he was trying to suppress the desire raging inside him with pain.

She stepped forward again. Zhou Li was struggling with all his might, but Lu Rong’s presence lingered around him, rendering all his resistance and restraint utterly futile.

He cracked his eyes open and saw that she was still approaching. Those eyes that were usually cold and razor-sharp were now bloodshot, hot sweat sliding down his brow bone. His long lashes trembled before closing again as he coldly repeated, “Get out!”

As he spoke, his brows twisted in pain, his breathing turning ragged, hot sweat already soaking through his collar.

Lu Rong knew that Zhou Li’s condition was probably even worse than A’Miao’s had been.

The heat all around them steamed her body until she was drenched in sweat.

She knew there was no other way. She needed to help Zhou Li one more time.

She wasn’t frightened by him. Instead, she continued to close the distance between them. When she reached the bedside, she lowered her head and looked at his flushed face.

The candlelight cast her shadow over his body, and Zhou Li forced down the emotions in his eyes.

Bracing his hand against the bed, he tried to stand and leave, but Lu Rong’s soft body moved forward of its own accord, wrapping tightly around him.

“Zhou Li, I’ll help you one last time.” She rose onto her toes, tilting her head up as she tried to press her lips to his.

Zhou Li reached out and covered her mouth, still clinging to his last shred of reason. “No.”

“It’s you who can’t, isn’t it?” Lu Rong yanked his hand away and fiercely pressed her lips to his.

Zhou Li’s lips weren’t as cold or hard as other people’s. They were soft, carrying a hint of sweetness.

She awkwardly licked and nibbled at his lips, unsure of what to do. All she could do was imitate how he had kissed her before, licking his lower lip, then trying to slip past his lips and teeth, only to be stopped by him.

“Open your mouth.” At that moment, Lu Rong only wanted to kiss him.

She wanted to kiss back everything she had once imagined, to kiss his mouth until it swelled.

Zhou Li parted his lips, completely releasing the beast buried deep in his bones. He lowered his brows, concealing the barely perceptible smile of triumph in his eyes.

He seized the initiative, plunging straight into her lips, deeply hooking and tangling with her tongue.

Lu Rong was pressed against the edge of the bed, utterly soaked in his presence. She felt that she was even more out of control than Zhou Li.

She tilted her head back and lightly bit his lips, following the glistening moisture at the corner of his mouth down to his chin, then to his Adam’s apple.

“Don’t bite randomly.” Zhou Li’s hand gripped her chin. She pushed him down onto the bed, lowering her head to bite his hand, then his wrist bone, and finally returning to kiss and bite his Adam’s apple.

Zhou Li lifted his neck, his palm gripping the back of her neck, allowing her to run wild at his throat. Yet his gaze burned so fiercely it seemed ready to incinerate the clothes wrapped around her.

Lu Rong felt the hand at her waist tightening again and again, gripping that section pressed beneath his lower abdomen.

She burned so hot her entire body trembled. Her mind was a chaotic blur, faintly sensing that something was wrong.

The number was wrong.

It felt as though two scorching-hot surfaces were pressed against her abdomen.

He… how…

Her foggy mind could no longer think before Zhou Li seized her final breath.

Zhou Li’s body was already in a state of extreme excitement, the demonic fire within him flickering and stoking his madness.

His demonic form was on the verge of bursting out of control.

Lu Rong looked at him with eyes shimmering with moisture, wanting to ask if he was alright, only for him to lower his head and cover her eyes with his palm.

Her vision went completely dark, their warm breaths tangling at the tips of their noses.

But above her ankles, a cool sensation coiled around her.

The touch of scales slid steadily upward along her calves.

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