# 15
Chapter 15 – 003
Zhao Kongcheng felt like his lungs were about to explode.
“Me! And you still ask who I am? I’m the innocent victim whose feelings you tricked last night and who stood in the cold wind for half the night!”
He clamped Lin Qiye’s arm in a death-grip, like a shy middle-aged man terrified his boyfriend would be snatched away. “Listen, stop playing dumb—you’re not getting away today!”
Lin Qiye glanced at his locked arm, gave up struggling, and looked ready to accept whatever came next.
“Fine. You name the place.”
“Follow me.”
Zhao Kongcheng hooked Lin Qiye’s arm and strode off toward some unknown destination…
When Lin Qiye realized they were approaching a love hotel, his face changed and he spun to flee.
Zhao Kongcheng didn’t give him the chance. He twisted the boy’s arm and hauled him toward the entrance.
“W-what are you doing? I’ve got hemorrhoids—don’t try anything…!”
“…What on earth is stuffed inside a teenage boy’s head? We’re just finding somewhere to talk.”
“Talk? In a love hotel? Did you see the looks people gave us? I’m dying of embarrassment!”
“You don’t get it—this is a safe-house. Nothing else. Besides, do I look like… like that kind of guy?!”
Zhao Kongcheng rolled his eyes, dragged the struggling Lin Qiye to the front desk, and threw the stunned receptionist an oily wink.
“One Dynamic Passion themed king room, thanks.”
Lin Qiye: …
The receptionist froze; after a short circuit her eyes lit up with inexplicable excitement.
“Y-yes, sir! ID, please. And this… young comrade, yours too.”
Forced to hand over his card, Lin Qiye watched the woman’s delight and wondered what BL drama she was imagining.
But who could blame her? At midnight a middle-aged man strong-arms a teenager into a love hotel for the “Dynamic Bromance Suite,” claiming they’ll just chat—who’d believe it?
“Here’s your key—Room 3966. Have… a pleasant stay!” She beamed at the boy’s captive expression, eyes nearly vanishing in a smile.
Lin Qiye’s fists clenched.
“Stop dawdling, come on.” Zhao Kongcheng pulled him into the elevator.
Once inside the room, surrounded by eye-opening equipment, the innocent Lin Qiye discovered how extravagantly the rich played…
Definitely passionate enough!
Zhao Kongcheng locked the door, finally released him, and flopped onto the vibrating bed, his stiff body relaxing.
“Relax, we really are just talking.” Seeing Lin Qiye’s battle-ready face, he laughed.
Lin Qiye sighed and sat on the sofa by the door. “So talk.”
“About you, of course.”
“Lin Qiye, male, 17, single, 175 cm, weight—”
“You know that’s not what I mean.” Zhao Kongcheng rubbed his forehead and pointed at the boy’s eyes. “I mean these.”
Lin Qiye fell silent.
“You’ve met Michael?”
The question made him shiver. After a long hesitation he nodded slightly.
Sure enough, this man knew far more than he let on, and the force behind him was anything but simple.
The words also told Lin Qiye that the blazing angel he’d seen ten years ago was none other than the famous Archangel Michael.
Seeing the nod, Zhao Kongcheng exhaled in relief and stared at the boy with growing heat.
“Why did He pick you? What did He say? How far can you push your Forbidden Ruins now?”
The questions came like machine-gun fire. Lin Qiye frowned and shook his head.
“Too many at once.”
Realizing he’d lost composure, Zhao Kongcheng gave an awkward chuckle. “Fair. You must be full of doubts. Ask away; I’ll answer.”
Lin Qiye studied him, then spoke.
“First question: do the gods of myth… really exist?”
“They do.” No hesitation. “But not every myth is real.”
“What do you mean?”
Zhao Kongcheng pondered how to begin. “What do you think myths are?”
“Spiritual sustenance for the ancients? Fear and fantasy toward nature’s unknown forces?”
“Correct—until a hundred years ago everyone thought so.”
“A hundred years ago?”
“Yes. Before the Fog appeared, there’d never been a trace of gods on Earth.” His eyes narrowed. “But after the Fog covered the planet, everything… changed.
September 1922—one year after the Fog—a Great Xia exploration team in the Mariana Trench observed an enormous dragon drifting slowly across the sky. It was humanity’s first recorded sighting of a mythic creature.
Research identified it as the Chaos-dragon Leviathan from the Bible, a being said to be made by God. Its discovery overturned the worldview of Great Xia’s leadership; they realized the world had become something else.
To maintain stability, the findings were classified.
Leviathan, designated 001, was the first mythic life form logged. Later expeditions found more, numbered in sequence.
The Archangel Michael you saw was the third, recorded in 1928—code 003.”
“1928?” Lin Qiye blinked. “We hadn’t reached the Moon yet. How did they find Michael there?”
“We didn’t find Him.” Zhao Kongcheng shook his head. “March 1928, a golden sword-beam shot from the Moon, crossed space, and flattened a major volcano in North America. Only then did we learn a god dwelt up there.”
“What’s in North America?”
“A year later our team reached the volcano and, amid the ruins, discovered the fourth logged deity sealed within a God’s Ruins…”
He paused.
“The fallen angel—Lucifer.”