Secret & Lies (the forsaken #1) [WangXian FF]

40

"Wen Ruohan's bedroom?" Lan Wangji raised his brow in question. "That's where he moved the artifacts into? Paranoid much?" He sounded so sarcastic that Wei Wuxian laughed and kissed him.

"Exactly." He quickly opened the door and locked it behind him, then he walked to the small alcove that contained first edition books and pulled one out. The action caused a secret door to open and Wei Wuxian grinned. 

"I always wanted to do that." Then they entered the door, to find a big vault, full of artifacts. Wei Wuxian recognized some of the artifacts that he helped retrieve, but Lan Wangji only shook his head.

"These are all only cheap imitations of the real artifacts. Let Wen Ruohan have them." Lan Wangji then moved fast to look for the one particular item that they were looking for, and he found it near the back of the wall. Judging by the place it was placed, it seemed that Wen Ruohan did not know the significance of the artifact, so he took it and they got out of that place quickly.

"Take the artifact and go back to our place first. My brother and I will go after you." He gave the artifact, an ordinary looking needle with some kind of status gauge on top, inside a brass casing. "Be careful." Lan Wangji kissed him and they went their separate ways.

He didn't notice it, but Lan Wangji assigned Xue Yang to watch over him–discreetly of course. And Xue Yang did his job perfectly. He stood under the shadow and took care of the vermin that called themselves wolves. Although he, himself, was a wolf, he was an Arctic Wolf, unlike those bleak, pampered ordinary wolves who lived all their lives in packs and obeyed their corrupt leader. A snake of all beasts.

He snorted in a mocking manner.

Although he was also not a free beast, the one he followed was the Dragon, the most powerful beasts and the most majestic one. He had no regrets at all.

This one human though, he smelled suspicious. Not fully human, not fully beast, with his boss' scent mingled in–well, he knew exactly why, but still it was suspicious how he was not… complete.

But right now his job was to look after the human, and since the human left the building, he followed him.

Wei Wuxian was back at Lan Wangji's house and he quickly shed his clothes and took a shower to clean himself from the grime that he accumulated from crawling around the old well, and when he finished, Lan Wangji was already waiting for him in his room. 

He gestured to him to come closer and Wei Wuxian followed, sitting on his lap like an obedient lover.

"There were times when I did that and you snarled back at me like a little cat that you are." Lan Wangji chuckled as he pulled Wei Wuxian closer.

"That was when I knew better." Wei Wuxian smiled as he remembered back then when he hated Lan Wangji so much he could choke him to death from annoyance.

"Good times." Lan Wangji nuzzled Wei Wuxian's neck and he took out the artifact. "Are you ready?"

"I guess." He shrugged, but he felt kind of nervous and Lan Wangji could sense it too, so he hugged his waist tight.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt… much." He grinned devilishly as he stabbed Wei Wuxian's arm with the huge needle.

"Wh-what the…! Lan Zhan!!!" He almost screamed from surprise but when the needle pierced his skin, he did not feel hurt at all. He glared at Lan Wangji who chuckled and slapped his arm. "Not funny."

"You're too cute." Lan Wangji still smiled, when the artifact dinged–like a fucking microwave oven. Wei Wuxian couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity. "Well, we should see what's the result now." He took out the needle and read the status gauge. And frowned.

"What? Is it bad?" Wei Wuxian tried to look at the status gauge, which pointed right smack in the middle.

"Well…" Lan Wangji looked baffled, and he never looked like this. He was usually so knowledgable and knew about everything. "See this gauge?" He pointed at the needle. "Left is human, right is mythical beast. So, you tell me."

"It pointed right in the middle." Wei Wuxian was confused now. "What does it mean?"

"It means like I said before. You're not quite human, but not quite mythical beast. And I've never seen anything like this before." Lan Wangji took out the needle and pierced his hand. The needle went straight to the far right.

"Mm…" Wei Wuxian did not know what to say. This was all so bizzare. He didn't know that he was something else, more than a human, less than a beast. Maybe he was some kind of a mixed breed or something.

They were quiet for a while, trying to digest what this all meant, when someone knocked at the door.

"Enter." Lan Wangji answered with his calm voice.

The door opened to reveal Xiao Xingchen, who looked at Lan Wangji, then to the almost naked Wei Wuxian on his lap, then he cleared his throat.

"Nie Huaisang is here. He brought the things you asked."

Wei Wuxian was surprised. Nie Huaisang? That little weasel? He asked his help to investigate Lan Wangji, and here he was, crawling up to Lan Wangji's house to give him something. Unlike him, who had to go through some ridiculous tasks to only have five minutes meeting with him. He swore he would strangle him later.

Lan Wangji nodded, acknowledging the information. He also sensed some kind of tension from Wei Wuxian, but he knew that this lovely man must be fumed from Nie Huaisang's little pranks. He chuckled lightly.

"Tell him to wait in my office. I'll be there shortly."

Xiao Xingchen bowed respectfully and went out of the room then closed the door behind him.

Without further ado, Wei Wuxian asked him right away.

"Nie Huaisang? He worked for you?" Now he wondered if the information Nie Huaisang gave him about Lan Wangji had been filtered, since it was clean as a whistle. That little turd.

"Freelance. I use his service now and then. You do know that he's Nie Mingjue's younger brother right?" Lan Wangji smirked since he knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"...right. And what did you tell him to do?"

"Let's find out together."