For a moment, silence consumed the room.
Accompanied only by the indescribable sound of some viscous substance writhing nearby.
Qiu Yu, belatedly realizing she was thirsty, was about to get up and pour herself some water. But the moment she saw the culprit sitting next to her, she pointed at him without any courtesy.
"Go get me a glass of water."
Chen Cebai looked up at her but didn't move.
His eyes were still cloaked in shadow, making it impossible to read his expression. The only thing she could make out was a faint flicker on his lenses.
Qiu Yu didn't care to decipher his face. She kicked him with her foot and urged, "Hurry up."
Chen Cebai paused, unmoving.
But then, from the surrounding darkness, thick black matter began to ooze, taking shape—forming a skeletal hand, precise and articulated. It floated down the stairs, fetched a glass of water at exactly 37°C, and handed it to her.
"…I wanted cold water," Qiu Yu said, visibly displeased.
Chen Cebai replied flatly, "You didn't eat anything tonight. Cold water's too harsh on your stomach. Drink this."
It would've been better if he hadn't brought that up—mentioning it only reignited her anger.
"So you do know I didn't eat!"
Chen Cebai remained silent.
She took a large gulp of the warm water, then looked around.
"All right, talk. What the hell is going on?"
The ghostly hand hadn't left. It still hovered before her. She reached out and lightly tapped it.
"What… is this?"
Chen Cebai was quiet for several seconds. Then he took out a pack of cigarettes, lowered his head slightly, and clamped one between his lips. He didn't reach for a lighter. Instead, a cold blue flame rose from the tip of his index finger, igniting it. He took a drag.
Qiu Yu's eyes widened.
Chen Cebai looked at her, and after a moment, said,
"I can see into another dimension now. Probably the fourth, or maybe something higher."
His voice was indifferent, weary. As if this thing scientists had obsessed over for centuries meant nothing to him.
"Who knows."
Qiu Yu understood the concept of the "fourth dimension." Many science fiction stories speculated what higher-dimensional spaces might be like.
Imagine a piece of paper. You draw circles on it and pretend they're sentient beings from a two-dimensional world. The circles "wake up," but no matter how they turn or shift, they can only see lines.
—A being in 2D cannot possibly view itself in full.
Only by entering the 3D world can it realize: it's a circle.
To higher-dimensional beings, humans are simple, thin outlines. "They" can instantly comprehend the structure of a person—see what no human could ever perceive across an entire lifetime.
The 2D world has only length and width. No matter how hard they try, those little circles can never look down from above.
And in the same way, humans cannot rise above the third dimension to view society as a whole.
Whoever manages to do that—becomes a god.
In other words, Chen Cebai had become a god among humans.
Qiu Yu let out a soft, stunned, "Ah."
Everything made sense now.
The steering wheel—why it had shattered from the inside.
Chen Cebai had accidentally touched its microscopic structure.
In hindsight, his learning ability was terrifying.
To him, the three-dimensional world was no longer just a piece of paper—it was a dampened sheet soaked in water. Even slightly heavier breathing could cause irreparable damage.
Yet he had only destroyed a steering wheel, and already grasped the method of interacting with lower dimensions from above.
Qiu Yu felt her anger bubbling again. —You're this powerful, and you still went berserk on me?!
She let out a stiff, unimpressed "Oh."
"So all that stuff you said to me… what did it mean?"
Chen Cebai held the cigarette between his fingers, staring at its soft glow.
In another dimension, it wasn't fire—it was an unfolded chemical reaction, laid bare in exquisite detail. Every particle vibration visible.
If he wanted, he could zoom in on any one of them—see infinite complexity.
To him, "in a flower, a world; in a leaf, enlightenment" was no longer poetry—it was fact.
And it was so, so boring.
Expressionless, Chen Cebai took a slow drag and exhaled a cloud of pale smoke.
All along, he only wanted to be the man Qiu Yu saw—not the god everyone else saw.
But Qiu Yu had rejected him.
So what was the point of anything?
Yes, higher dimensions were vast. Impressive.
Even if some studies suggest the human brain is a multidimensional structure, we still live in three dimensions, and no one can truly imagine what higher dimensions are like—we can only theorize.
And yet, he had entered that mysterious realm with ease.
By all accounts, he should feel grateful.
Not sick of it.
But he was sick of it.
You don't get to choose where you're born. He'd never been bitter about his origins—accepted his poverty, accepted the consequences of gene modification.
The only thing he couldn't accept—was loving Qiu Yu, then losing her.
It was a cruel joke.
He'd never wanted to be a genius on the world stage. Even without genetic enhancement, he could've invented the neural blockers. Drug development didn't require this level of computational ability.
Everything the modification gave him—was excessive, unnecessary.
The only thing he truly wanted—was Qiu Yu.
But fate kept shoving him gifts he never asked for, and using them to push Qiu Yu farther and farther away.
Chen Cebai took a long drag, then suddenly hurled the cigarette away.
Qiu Yu stared at him in confusion.
"You still haven't answered me—what did all that stuff you said mean?"
Chen Cebai paused, his tone detached. "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
He pressed a hand to his brow, voice flat.
"I mean—I don't know. Maybe I was trying to keep you. Maybe I wanted pity. Maybe I was trying to scare you. Or maybe… I just wanted you to see what I really am."
Qiu Yu blinked. More confused than ever. "Keep me? Why would you need to keep me?"
Chen Cebai looked at her.
For the first time, she felt the weight of his gaze.
It was hard to describe.
As a lower-dimensional being, she shouldn't have been able to feel his gaze. But since Chen Cebai still existed, in part, in 3D, it created a strange phenomenon—he was both fully present in this world and completely beyond it.
Even the way he looked at her was like that—soaring above her, slicing through her in an instant: her organs, blood vessels, bones, molecular structures—all laid bare.
"Because you'll leave me," Chen Cebai said quietly.
"…What?" Qiu Yu didn't follow. "Leave you? Why would I leave you?"
Chen Cebai stared at her, voice hollow.
"Would you stay with someone who spies on you, terrifies you, holds absolute power over you?"
"Of course not."
Even though he'd expected that answer, the blood vessels in his eyes burst into a terrifying web of crimson. Rage and despair twisted beneath the surface.
That same violent urge surged again.
—To hunt her.
To possess her.
To force her.
Hope had collapsed.
But he could always make a new hope.
In higher dimensions, time was no longer a baseline—no longer how life was measured.
He could carve out a four-dimensional fragment, project it onto this 3D space, and freeze time.
Then, in this frozen pocket—own her.
Forever.
Own her.
Own her.
OWN HER.
His eyes blazed with a cold, manic fire.
Qiu Yu didn't know.
In that instant, he almost assaulted her with just his gaze—so real, so invasive.
After a long while, Chen Cebai finally tore his eyes away. He forced himself to speak calmly.
"Then why haven't you left?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Qiu Yu said.
Chen Cebai snapped his head up and stared at her.
She found him a little ridiculous. From the moment she walked out of the shower, it was like he'd been monologuing—conducting a one-man play, forbidding her from asking questions or speaking.
Now she finally understood what all that nonsense was about.
He thought… she would leave him once she knew his past.
Qiu Yu tightened her grip on the glass. She almost wanted to splash him with it just to jolt some sense into him.
But that wasn't her style.
She crossed her legs on the bed, patted the spot beside her. "Come here."
Chen Cebai stared at her from the shadows.
Qiu Yu was getting annoyed—she'd been giving him orders all night and he hadn't listened once.
"I said, come here!"
Only then did he step out of the shadows.
He walked up to her, gaze lowered, eyes locked on her.
Before, she always thought that sense of being uniquely cherished was just in her head.
Now she realized—no.
He truly could see only her.
Her heart skipped a beat.
…He'd become all-knowing, all-powerful, and yet still loved her—cherished her—needed her even more than before.
She was awful for liking that.
Worse for enjoying it.
And worst of all—her heart was racing because of it.
Qiu Yu sighed and hugged him.
She shivered immediately—if she hadn't touched him, she wouldn't have realized how cold his body had become. The air around him was freezing.
His emotions always dropped his body temperature. What had he been thinking about, alone, to get this cold?
Qiu Yu wanted to scream at him—but every sharp word in her throat softened and melted into a laugh.
Chen Cebai lowered his eyes and lifted her chin. "What are you laughing at?"
Qiu Yu didn't answer. She swatted his hand away, lay down on his legs, and got comfortable.
"I'm really mad today."
"I know," Chen Cebai said.
She hated that cold, dead tone of his. It made her elbow him—hard. He was a high-dimensional being now, right? He could take it.
He paused, about to speak.
"Don't talk. Just listen!" she snapped.
He obeyed, watching her.
"You know? You know what? You don't know anything. You think I'm mad because of your gene modifications? Because you can see me, control me, terrify me?
—Okay, yeah, that does piss me off. But it doesn't stop me from loving you.
"What I'm really mad about—is the fact that you lied to me."
Qiu Yu had wanted to say it calmly. But when she saw the slightly confused look in his eyes, she couldn't help it. She snapped,
"Do you understand me or not?"
"I understand." His pupils shrank to reptilian slits—sharp, unblinking.
"You love me?"
Qiu Yu nearly exploded. "Is that the part you focused on?"
Chen Cebai ignored her tone. His gaze grew colder, more intense.
From all directions, countless icy ghost hands reached out—grabbing her face, her throat, her wrists, her ankles.
Goosebumps exploded across Qiu Yu's skin.
Chen Cebai's voice turned to a chilling interrogation:
"What exactly do you love about me? What part of me is worth loving?"
Qiu Yu's mouth twitched.
She'd had enough.
She started kicking at the ghost hands. But the more she struggled, the tighter they gripped—bruises blooming in eerie shades of blue and purple.
She couldn't help but snap, "Chen Cebai!"
Chen Cebai looked at her. His throat moved slightly—perhaps he'd heard her, perhaps he'd chosen not to.
In front of her, he had always been calm, rational, dominant—driven by a deep desire to hunt and to possess.
But now, there was no trace of calm or reason left on his face. That hunger to dominate had amplified into something monstrous.
If she didn't love him, this would've been the most terrifying thing she'd ever seen.
The viscous black matter crawled over the chandelier like a damp, creeping reptile, dimming the light. All around them came the unnameable sounds of squirming and dripping.
The entire bedroom felt like it was about to collapse at any moment—crushed under the weight of his twisted, frenzied state of mind.
But she loved him.
And because of that, she couldn't be afraid.
Instead, knowing that all this madness stemmed from one casual "I love you" she'd said earlier—
A strange, giddy satisfaction began to rise in her chest, swelling, spreading.
She really was no good.
She'd married him, after all, driven by some perverse and deep-rooted urge to desecrate.
She wanted to know:
What would it be like—when a man this cold and unreadable finally fell in love?
Now she knew.
He was even more unhinged, more obsessive, and more dangerously alluring than she had ever imagined.
She thought to herself, Of course. A 100% compatibility score. Even like this, he's managed to hit every last one of my kinks.
Suddenly, Qiu Yu understood exactly how to handle him.
She spoke gently, "Chen Cebai, your hands are hurting me... could you loosen them, just a little?"
Sure enough, the moment her words landed, the ghostly hands instantly let go of her.
Qiu Yu blinked, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a quiet, knowing smirk.
Chen Cebai's pupils shifted, as if he'd caught the tiny flicker of that smile.
There was real confusion in his voice. "You're smiling?"
He sounded like he couldn't fathom it—how she could possibly smile in this moment.
He had exposed himself completely to her.
Revealed his inhuman traits.
Unleashed a depth of emotion so extreme it could make anyone's skin crawl—
And she still smiled at him, sweet as ever.
Was it a mocking smile? Cold? Cruel? What did it mean?
He didn't know.
Chen Cebai leaned in slightly, eyes locked on her face through his glasses.
He seemed completely unaware of just how deranged he looked—
Like he wanted to slice her open with that scalpel-sharp stare.
Dissect her with clinical precision—study every flicker of microexpression with detached obsession.
Qiu Yu's scalp tingled under the intensity of it. Her heart pounded wildly.
Unable to stand it, she reached up, plucked off his glasses, and covered his eyes with her palm.
But his gaze didn't vanish.
Even without sight, it still clung to her like static—cold and intimate, everywhere.
Qiu Yu had no choice but to loop her other arm around his neck, tip her head back, and give him a quick peck on the lips.
"If you keep looking at me like that," she warned, "I'm not telling you why I love you."
Immediately, his stare vanished.
Qiu Yu almost laughed again. She held it in.
"Honestly… I don't even know why I love you."
Chen Cebai said nothing. But the arms he had wrapped around her tightened suddenly.
Qiu Yu felt a chill run down her spine. For a second, it felt like his hands were about to touch her bones.
She panicked and shouted, "Can you explain why you love me? Love doesn't work like that—it can't be explained!"
Chen Cebai's grip loosened.
To prevent him from doing anything dangerous again, she hesitated for a moment, then sat up—
Tugged off his tie, and after two or three quick moves, tied up both his hands.
Chen Cebai glanced down at his bound wrists, then looked up at her, confused.
Qiu Yu warned him sternly:
"Until I finish speaking—you're not allowed to break free, not allowed to talk, and especially not allowed to touch me with any of your other hands. Got it?
If you understand, nod."