Xie Sen quickly became familiar with the feeding department. To his surprise, he had initially assumed there would be no chance of gaining energy from feeding his contracted beasts, but surprisingly, he reaped the rewards.
Each contracted beast had a dedicated feeder, who usually performed competently, though the process was often complex. After all, animals are naturally irrational when it comes to food.
With Xie Sen's help, feeding became incredibly easy. They were quick, didn't have to compete with the contracted beasts, and weren't pushed or played around by them.
Consequently, each feeder gave Xie Sen energy back.
At the end of his shift, Xie Sen looked at his energy level, which read 21, and beamed with joy.
Sun Mao was quite surprised to see him like this. Feeding is physically demanding, especially since the contracted beasts Xie Sen fed were all B-rank or above, with their voracious appetites. Even scooping food was a challenge.
Xie Sen's stature was petite among the towering male beast masters, and Sun Mao had expected him to collapse. But after an entire afternoon of hard work, he could still smile so brightly.
Sun Mao patted Xie Sen on the shoulder and praised him, "Good job!"
Xie Sen immediately declared, "I'll keep working hard."
Xie Sen went straight back to his apartment after work. The gold medal wasn't far from the building, and it was a little before six when he returned, and Maine still hadn't returned.
He grabbed some spicy dried meat and ate it as he went into the kitchen to make dinner.
He had deliberately left the soundproofing on, and was chopping when he heard the door close. He put down his knife, washed his hands, and ran out of the kitchen. Seeing Maine, he smiled, "You're back!"
Maine paused, glanced at Xie Sen, his expression dazed for a moment. This was the first time anyone had said that to him. He smiled, "Yeah, cooking?"
Xie En didn't answer. Instead, he ran over to him and pointed at the long, thin scar on the left side of his neck. He asked nervously, "What's going on?"
He hadn't been injured at all before leaving. Had he really been in a fight?
As Xie Sen approached, he noticed the faint scent of blood on Maine. He was dressed in black, and aside from his exposed neck, there was no visible injury.
Maine casually traced the wound with his fingers, unconcerned. "It's okay, it'll be fine tomorrow." "
What happened? Did you get into a fight? Are you injured anywhere else? It smells like blood," Xie Sen asked sternly.
Maine raised his arm and sniffed it, frowning. "No, it's not my blood. I'm going to shower."
Xie Sen grabbed him, "Speak clearly."
He felt a pang of fear. If Maine was truly secretly doing something evil, would he attack him?
Maine turned sideways, glancing at Xie Sen's hand holding his arm. Seeing the worry on his face, he raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried I'm hurt?"
He grabbed Xie Sen's arm with his backhand and pulled him forward with a slight force.
Xie Sen stumbled forward, and Maine ducked his head. They were suddenly extremely close. Maine's voice was much softer than usual. "Why are you so worried about me?"
Xie Sen looked at his handsome face, distorted by the proximity, and listened to his feather-light question. His heartbeat lost its rhythm for some reason, and even his face suddenly felt hot.
"I, I, I... We're friends!" Xie Sen said quickly, his eyes wandering, not even looking at Maine. "You're my brother, of course I care about you!"
"You..." Maine paused after saying the first word, looking at Xie Sen with a complicated expression. "Brother? Brothers for how long? In a few days, can you be brothers with others? Like you are with me now?"
"Of course we're brothers forever. Even if we meet other friends, we'll still be brothers!"
Maine let go of his hand and said calmly, "I don't need a brother with other friends." With that, he went to his room.
Xie Sen stared at the closed door, stunned. What did this mean? Was it the same as when you played with me in elementary school, and you weren't allowed to play with others?
This... Although Maine was his only friend now, who only had one friend in their life? Maine's thinking was flawed!
He stood there thinking for a moment, then thought of dinner. He hurried to the kitchen, and while making dinner, he thought about how to change Maine's view of friends.
When dinner was ready, he suddenly realized something was wrong. He had been the one asking Maine what she had done that afternoon, so how had the topic been diverted?
The most important thing was whether Maine had done anything wrong!
He took dinner out and placed some bacon strips on a plate between the two barbecues. Just as he was done, Maine came out of the room, dressed in light grey pajamas, looking very casual.
Xie Sen looked at the side of his neck. The scar there was much lighter, obviously having been treated.
"What is this?" Maine pointed at the spicy jerky.
"Spicy jerky, it tastes great, try it." Xie Sen looked at him expectantly.
Maine took a bite, unprepared. It was his first time eating spicy food, and he coughed from the spiciness. His fair face flushed, and his eyes watered. He looked very pretty.
Xie Sen was stunned, but quickly came to his senses and quickly handed him a glass of water: "Drink slowly."
Maine drank several sips of water, and when he recovered, he exclaimed in surprise: "Is this also spicy? It's delicious!"
Xie Sen laughed: "Well, this isn't the spiciest." One chili pepper and three pounds of meat, the spiciness has been diluted a lot.
Maine continued eating, his lips reddening from the spiciness. Xie Sen ate his barbecue, glancing at him from time to time, thinking, "This guy is so handsome! He really wants to... kiss him! "
Oh my!
"Bang..." Xie Sen realized what he was thinking, slammed his hand on the table, and abruptly stood up.
Maine looked at him in surprise. "What's wrong?"
Xie Sen didn't dare meet his gaze. His eyes flicked to the plate of spicy dried meat and reached for it. "You're injured. You can't eat. Spicy food isn't good for your wound."
Maine wasn't satisfied. The more he ate, the more he wanted to eat. He was eating with great enthusiasm. "I said it's okay," he tilted his head, revealing the injured side of his neck. "Look, it's healed."
His gesture was like showing off his slender, white neck. He was wearing loose pajamas, the top undone, revealing his collarbone completely.
It was simply seductive.
Ahhhh, Xie Sen was frantic. What was he thinking? This man across from him was over 1.9 meters tall. A man. A masculine man!
"Bang..." Xie Sen put the tray down, sat down and continued eating, determined not to look up at the person opposite him.
Maine was satisfied and continued to eat the spicy dried meat. While eating, he noticed that something was wrong with Xie Sen. He knocked on the table: "Are you angry? I said the wound is okay."
When the wound was mentioned, Xie Sen remembered that he had something important to ask: "How did you get the wound?"
Maine was silent for a moment: "It's a secret."
Xie Sen raised his head: "Have you done anything bad? Anything illegal?"
Maine wiped his hands with paper, took a sip of water, and said after a while: "Are you afraid of being implicated by me? You can move out at any time."
Xie Sen clenched his fists. This was an admission that he had really done something bad or illegal!
Could it be that he had no time to stop him from turning evil, and could only strangle him in the cradle?
"Tell me, what did you do?" Xie Sen asked, he was hoping that perhaps things had not reached the worst point.
In the book, Maine ultimately collaborated with the alien beasts to attack Brandt. The alien beasts were on another planet, and at this point, Maine likely hadn't left Brandt and wouldn't have come into contact with them.
Maine didn't answer, clearly serious about keeping it a secret.
Xie Sen was practically pissed off, but there was no way he could get him to say it. He bit into the barbecue fiercely, thinking of the alien beast attack on Brandt. He stared at his plate. Did he really have to act now?
After finishing his meal, he was preoccupied with clearing his plate. Maine raised a hand to stop him, "I'll do it."
Xie Sen waited until he entered the kitchen, looked at the glass of water on the table, and pulled a small white medicine box from his pocket. Inside was a gold-medal contracted beast sterilization pill. It dissolved in water, harmless to touch, but poisonous if ingested.
He had secretly hidden it to prevent Maine from turning evil, so he could nip the culprit who would bring disaster to Brandt in the bud.
He dragged the water cup toward him, clutching the bottle tightly in his right hand. He kept thinking back to the apocalyptic scene of the alien beast invasion, trying to cheer himself up. However, the thought of Maine prevented him from bringing the lid open.
"What are you doing?" A hand suddenly gripped his right wrist, and Maine's stern voice echoed in his ears.
Xie Sen felt a sudden pain, and his grip loosened, causing the medicine box to fall, where Maine reached out to catch it.
Maine held the box close to his eyes, carefully reading the instructions, his expression growing increasingly grim.
It's over! Xie Sen was panicked. How could he explain himself?
Before he could even speak, Maine slammed the box to the ground, grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and glared at him coldly.
"Are you trying to commit suicide again? Don't you have anything else to do every day? If you want to die, why do you have to cling to me? Do you think it's fun to play tricks on me?"
Maine's voice was cold, and he stared at him like a ferocious beast, ready to pounce at any moment.
Xie Sen was stunned and subconsciously explained: "I didn't, I didn't want to commit suicide."
"If you didn't want to commit suicide, why did you take out the medicine?" Maine took a deep breath, "I saw that you were fine this morning. I thought you regretted it after your failed suicide attempt by jumping into the water. I didn't want to upset you, so I didn't mention it. I didn't expect you haven't given up the idea yet."
"Diving to commit suicide?"
"You can't swim. If you threw yourself into the pool, what else did you want to do if not suicide? First you jumped off the building, then you jumped into the water, and now you take medicine..."
Maine paused, and the hands holding his shoulders suddenly tightened: "No, you can't do this. You must see a psychiatrist. You must have a mental illness."
He let go of Xie Sen's shoulders and turned to pull Xie Sen's arm: "I'll take you to the hospital now. If you don't get treated, you might succeed in committing suicide someday. It's too dangerous for you."
Xie Sen was simply at a loss for words, grabbing the corner of the table to prevent him from pulling away: "I'm fine, I don't have a mental illness, no need to go to the hospital."
"Let go. You have to go."
Xie Sen's strength was no match for his, and it was difficult to exert force holding onto the corner of the table. He was being dragged out, and Xie Sen was anxious. He was fine, why did he need to see a psychiatrist?
Seeing Maine's insistence, Xie Sen felt helpless. He glanced at his clothes and hurriedly said, "You're still in your pajamas!"
Maine paused, as if worried Xie Sen might try to commit suicide again. He continued to pull Xie Sen, first picking up the pill box in the corner, then leading him to his bedroom.
His bedroom was mainly gray and white, simply and cleanly decorated.
"Stand here, don't move." Maine led him to the closet, then released his hand, casually pulled out a dark purple suit from the closet, tossed it on the bed, and began to unbutton his pajamas.
His strong chest gradually emerged from the clothes. As Maine unbuttoned his clothes, he kept his eye on Xie Sen, as if worried he'd run away.
Xie Sen was stared at by Maine, his heartbeat getting faster and faster. He became more and more nervous as he saw more and more exposed. When Maine's hand was on his waistband, he turned around suddenly.
The next moment, he was caught by Maine: "Where are you going?"
Let me go! Xie Sen screamed in his heart. If he stayed any longer, he would be tempted to pounce!