The Wicked System: Path of the Devourer Chapter 38 The Long Game

Zhang Wenbin was already at the door. He looked back with a slight smile. "I admire the mettle, Teacher. But now your daughter's ended up in my hands — you're not going to include me in the hatred?"

"Hatred seems too simple," she said. "I've decided this must be her fate."

She followed him to the door and crouched to put his shoes on — the motion natural now, even graceful — and said with a faint, almost-helpless note underneath: "Master, I've stopped fighting it. You can do things I can't imagine. If Guoguo were to stay close to you — is there any way to make her willing? To make her come to it on her own?"

She couldn't stop or change tonight. She knew that. What she could still do was minimize her daughter's suffering — hope that whatever happened next could be approached with less pain, or even with acceptance.

"There's an approach. I need to think it through carefully."

He rubbed his chin, a dark smile coming and going. "But first — Teacher, what was going through your mind just now, pleasuring me while your husband was on the line?"

Xu Fei considered. Then she laughed — a light, real sound, without embarrassment. She licked her lips and said: "I'll probably disappoint you, Master. I felt nothing like guilt. All I could think about was one thing."

"What?"

"Your cock tasted worse after you bathed. I liked working your back entrance more when you hadn't showered yet. All cleaned up — nothing. No taste, no scent."

She leaned close — warm breath reaching him — and said: "Next time you come over, don't shower first. I want to get a water bed so you can lie back properly. I'll bathe you with my tongue and have a proper meal of it."

"Dreams bigger than your reach, little slut."

Zhang Wenbin laughed and pulled her in, working his mouth against the curve of her neck, saying against her skin: "For being so cooperative, Master will give it some thought — how to make your daughter eventually enjoy it the same way you do. Might be you'd end up competing with her for access."

"Thank you, Master!"

Debasing language, and she knew it — but Xu Fei was a woman whom reality had already trained in patience. This result, she was deciding, was livable. Better than her daughter being forced into something brutal and unwilling.

Willing was different. Without the suffering. Even if it took some of Zhang Wenbin's unconventional methods.

"The gu your daughter's raising is one of the milder varieties," he told her, thoughtful now. "A type of heart-gu. Its specific effect — I can't determine yet, it's too undeveloped."

"Is there any way to find out?" She was immediately alert. Everything concerning her daughter's safety bypassed her exhaustion.

"More observation. The thing isn't particularly dangerous — but your daughter went into this as an amateur, and amateurs make mistakes. The gu isn't finished cultivating. If it comes to it, I may need to assist the process."

He rested a hand briefly on her shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it, Teacher. This little thing is nowhere near beyond my handling. With me present, nothing will go wrong."

She gave him a slow, warm smile and leaned closer: "Master, I keep wondering when I'll earn the right to be taken by you. Every time I'm serving you I ache with how much I want it."

Once her daughter's gu is complete and she's become Five-Yin — I'll take her first, then take her mother right after…

Looking at the full-bodied, luscious woman before him, Zhang Wenbin's restraint faltered. One large hand slid to her bottom, gripping and working through the thin fabric.

A finger pressed into the crease of her back entrance — enough to make her shudder — and he said with amusement, "Teacher should be clever enough to know: before you get that, you'll need to prepare yourself. Research how to properly clean out the back passage. Get yourself scrubbed out clean, and next time Master comes, it'll be yours to give."

Xu Fei's face went rosy, eyes gone damp and bright. She rose on her toes and dragged her tongue slowly up his neck, breathing: "I'll look it up tonight. Next time you come, just send me a message first. I'll have everything ready — all clean and fragrant, just for you."

"The back is untouched," she added, voice dropping: "I've been saving it for you specifically. Master needs to promise me — take me there, hard, just like you did with my daughter tonight. Or I'll be jealous."

Zhang Wenbin gave her a look. "You're going to be dramatic over one accidental slip into your daughter's entrance?"

She gave a small, guilty laugh.

They tangled a little longer before he finally headed out. She pressed her number into his hands, then quietly gave him a set of keys to the flat. Whether it was genuine submission or a calculated investment in her daughter's safety — perhaps even she no longer knew.

Zhang Wenbin had no illusions about how complicated she was. He accepted the situation for what it was, and it suited him fine.

Eleven o'clock. The city blazed on, indifferent — traffic on every boulevard, women dressed for the night just beginning to appear on every corner.

Night — the hours belonging to yin. The hours belonging to darkness.

Zhang Wenbin had originally planned to stay and enjoy the warmth of a soft body beside him. But by the time he'd made it through the evening, a particular abundance of energy had him restless — not satisfied by mouth service or anything short of the real thing. He wanted to find his own kind of trouble.

He stretched at the curb and looked up. A black Mercedes had already pulled up — Yang Qiang's own car, the man having driven himself, now climbing out with an eager, polished solicitude to hold his door.

Call him Master in private. Sir in public. Whatever the setting demanded. Not unintelligent.

Zhang Wenbin dropped into the backseat and put his feet up. "Commissioner — still awake at this hour. Thoughtful of you."

Yang Qiang eased into the driver's seat with careful composure. "Master speaks too kindly. I could barely sit still, I'm worried enough. If it's all right, I was hoping you'd look at my office — see if anything's off."

"Which stop first?" Zhang Wenbin asked, gazing idly at the dark.

Xu Fei, on the way out, had mentioned Yang Qiang kept several mistresses. Two had apparently already given him children. The implication had been pointed: satisfaction by proxy, as close to genuine revenge as she ever let herself get.

Zhang Wenbin wasn't interested yet. Before he could do anything else with anyone, the priority was getting Yang Leguo's gu fully cultivated — turning her into a proper Five-Yin Cauldron. Once that was accomplished, he could take her, and the world opened up.

"I pulled an office all-nighter tonight," Yang Qiang said, tone worn thin with genuine strain. "I was hoping you might take a look — my workspace, see if anything's wrong there. Master, you really are the only one who can help me now. Please."

Zhang Wenbin, without much better to do, settled back and said: "Fine. Let's go."

He'd promised Xu Fei he'd deal with Yang Qiang. At the start he'd been humoring her. But the man had proven so remarkably useful tonight — and Xu Fei had been so thoroughly cooperative — that he thought a proper reward was in order.

The lingering curiosity: after the security guard's jump, the system had produced nothing. No notification, no reward. Which suggested the Godfather's ongoing modifications to the system had partially disabled the original task structure — but that the transformation was still in progress.

Things were still unclear. Zhang Wenbin's intentions, however, were not. He'd kill the man in time. Doing so would quietly remove the one obstacle between himself and complete control of the mother and daughter.

But first: extract every drop of value. Manipulating marks was more satisfying than almost any direct move. Yang Qiang had already walked into his net. The right sequence of pressure and flattery — give him just enough rope, let him think he was holding the other end — and when the moment came, it would feel inevitable.

Wicked inspiration surfaced. Zhang Wenbin said lazily: "Commissioner Yang — I'd enjoy your wife. How soon do you suppose you could deliver her?"

Yang Qiang's voice caught for just a fraction of a second — then steadied, with a faintly audible effort. "Master, the moment you're ready, she's yours. I'll handle it personally. Make sure it's everything you want."