Contrary to his expectations, Hopkin does not take him to Inner City. Instead, they are going to a library in Outer City.
Bright is not blindfolded. When he can see his destination, he canât help but be disappointed. He even swallowed a u-drive thatâs only as big as a fingernail into his stomach connected only by a narrow string wrapped around his teeth. He received the u-drive from Piers. This is the most technologically advanced mini storage device in the City right now. There is a driver system on it and it has incredible reading and writing speed and great capacity. It is also simple to operate. As long as it is connected onto the target smart chip it will automatically start breaking down the firewall and download whatever data there is.
Bright did not imagine the Shithead summoning him to somewhere like a library, nor did he even realise the City still has public amenities like a library.
Still, while the library is grand in size with an abundant amount of books, it is barely used. Bright has not seen more than a few souls walking in and is lamenting the disuse.
He walks through the forest of books. He can smell the familiar scent of a library here, reminding him of his days of studying by himself just before the finals in university. The scent is hard to describe, containing not just the smell of paper and ink, but also the quiet, condensed fragrance of books. It can calm even a restless soul when immersed within. It is not exactly a comforting smell either, there is also a taste of history, a taste of admiration, and a taste of resignation.
That said, the feeling is mostly comfort.
Bright stops in front of a bookshelf labelled âUseless Knowledge,â he sees Hopkin there.
âIâve looked through all electronic records and I couldnât find âThree Character Classic,â not in the smart chip nor the database. The only possible location left is here.â
Through the gaps in the bookshelf, Bright can see Hopkinâs beautiful eyes with its pretty brows. He is wearing a neutral expression while dressed in a delicately produced 3-piece suit. Khaki in colour, retro-style buttons and cufflinks, a nineteenth-century British gentleman himself. He still looks as elegant and bright and mannered as ever. He is basically unrecognisable from the person who was in the hands of criminals and begging for a manâs touch under the influence.
For some reason, Bright is recalling that âGoing Homeâ performance in saxophone and those pair of wet black eyes under the dusk sun which are full of desire.
He doesnât understand why Hopkin is looking for âThree Character Classic.â Though it probably has to do with studying him or looking for ways to torture him, just like sending Hope to his side.
Bright does not want to dig deep and investigate subconsciously. He chooses to avoid it instead. This is his self-protection mechanism that fires when he has fear of certain things. If he were to understand the deeper reasons behind it, he might never be able to get out.
Bright has understood his identity as a slave in his many bouts with Hopkin. It has carved itself deep in his heart that before he acquires freedom, any emotion is a luxury.
He has buried his cherish for his companionships, his responses to otherâs affection, his pity for the weak and insignificant, his respect for the strong, his adoration and attraction to beautiful things⌠all this deep within his mind. Only when he has broken the chains and become free, become a normal, independent, respected person, can he be allowed to show that; can he be capable of and have the capacity for all that.
âAs man begins, his personality good.â
This is what Bright has told Hopkin. Hopkin has managed to dig up some clues in the fallacy of man being inherently good.
It contains six characters that are in duizhang . It is an ancient literary format. He digs up Confucianism, a religion from the era of feudalism. It is something that exists for enhancing monarchic absolutism. It tries to dictate regular citizens with the Three Principles and Five Characteristics , to bind their thoughts, to eliminate their will to fight, to tame the populace into a pack of sheep, waiting to be slaughtered in service of the ruler and the ruling class.
Humans naturally want to correct the mistake of each other, as a form of instinct. To make a mistake deliberately in front of a target waiting for their correction is an effective means of interrogation and information gathering.
Hopkin has brought Bright here so that he can force him to spit out information using these broken and fallacious records, so that he can understand him more.
The aristocrat not only wants to know where the slave comes from and his background. He wants to understand him more than that, including his worldview, his way of thought, his principles of action, his emotional tendencies, anything and everything. He is a treasure that is full of surprises. He wants to dig at it forever.
Hopkin has succeeded in what he wants. He can see Bright obviously trying to restrain himself while reading. The man knows his goals too, but he is too fixated on that knowledge, unable to withstand the ludicrous notes and explanations historians labelled it with. He canât help but say, âConfucianism is not a religion.â
âI donât know that much about it either. Though I can say for sure it is a field of study, and not a religion. It has been treated as national curriculum by the ruling authority and it has deep connections with politics. Besides its significance in politics, it has also deeply shaped the cultural discourse of the civilisation.â
The deep emotions in those brown pair of eyes is not a momentary passion nor a burning love. It is as silent as a mountain, as deep as the ocean. It contains pain, lament and reminiscence. He must love those things very much, or at least the memories and past those things represent.
Those emotions are so strong that even if he was on guard against him, and treading carefully on thin ice, his pain still leaks through.
Hopkin is fascinated. He is hoping dearly in his heart that Bright will also carry such dense and profound emotions for him, like a well-aged wine, that one would feel drunk with just a single sniff.
He can now openly admit his fascination with the slave. Director says so, Detective says so, Scientist also says so. He does not deny it.
What is wrong with fascination? He can still be conscious even while fascinated. To be fascinated with a slave is the same as being fascinated with a cat or a perfume. At most the difference is the length of time for which it can be maintained.
The characteristics of Bright has attracted him. He is willing to give his patience and time for that. The attraction will weaken, will grow thin eventually. He will lose his interest then, like that for an idol he might have admired when he was young, or like eating his favourite candy surreptitiously when no one was looking. When the experience becomes a norm, the senses will dull due to the repeated stimulations. The slave will lose his use then, and he will have let it go. Or perhaps even tired of, disdainful of or even annoyed with it.
Now just happens to be the time his interest has peaked and the most fortunate time for Bright to be.
And fortune, the bitch that She is, never stays long on a single person.
Hopkin pushes Bright onto a bookshelf until his back is against the cold shelves and old books.
Hopkin did not use a great amount of force. The man is strong, but he obeys due to the authority. Besides his initial surprise at Hopkinâs movement, he has retrieved all his emotions. He is expressionless, the same look he has when in the show, when being filmed on camera, when facing all sorts of danger.
Inner City residents are the most ruthless, most deceptive, most cruel type of creature.
Hopkin caresses Brightâs face with his other hand. From his cheeks to his nose bridge, up to his eyes and forehead, down via his nose onto his mouth. The lips are neither thin nor thick, slightly dry, warm, soft.
Hopkinâs expression darkens a bit. He is recalling the scene of the man kissing with number 56. An anger surfaces from the corner of his heart. He splits his lips apart with the tip of his index finger, and touches his teeth. His fingers push on trying to move inside, but he is blocked.
Bright is sweating in the palm of his hands. He suspects his secret has been discovered, or Piers has one-upped him. Why else would Hopkin not have taken him into Inner City and suddenly grow interested in his mouth?
Hopkin is appearing dissatisfied since he is unwilling to open his jaw up. Bright tries to maintain his calm as much as possible and decides to probe him. He lifts his head up and behind and leaves Hopkinâs finger behind. The aristocrat furrows his brows.
Then, Bright moves forward and kisses Hopkinâs lips.
Bright has the initiative here. He is sucking onto the lips that are like roses, then he envelops the aristocratâs tongue and sucks on it, so that he has no chance to investigate the secret he has in his mouth. The small string tied on the teeth in his back is easy to discover if one is attentive, after all.
The aristocratâs black pair of eyes stare at him for a while, and before Bright can figure out what is in his expression, the pair of eyes close. He seems to be enjoying the slave diligently and actively serving him.
Bright does not stop while many emotions are flaring up in his mind.
Have I deceived him?
It seems to have worked?
He is extremely shocked, while also feeling this is how the event should have played out. He also feels the relief of dodging a bullet.
Right now, Bright is glad that his body is attractive. While he is normally repulsive of sexual desire, he is now thankful for it. It is a good thing he can still distract the aristocrat with it. This idea is making him ashamed.
The two peopleâs position have minutely reversed. While the aristocrat was pushing the slave and the slave has his body against the bookshelves, now the slaveâs back has left the bookshelves and his body is leaning forwards. He is hugging the aristocrat with his hands so that his body is sticking to his closely. The centre of gravity has moved from the back to the front, and he is the one pushing the aristocrat now.
Without breathing, only drowning himself in the intimate interaction. All his attention has been given to his lips and tongue, until the pain from his lungs and trachea remind Hopkin the need for oxygen.
He usually hates any form of touch, but since that time when he begged the man, he has never had that barrier in front of Bright. This is not an accurate description, it is more that his desire has overpowered his repulsion.
Bright predicts that if he obtain the satisfaction once, or for a few times, his desire would lower and he will return to his initial state.
âContinue.â He orders coldly, his breathing still quickened from the long kiss just now. The emotions swirling in his black pair of eyes seemingly devouring the man in whole.
To what degree? Bright is getting goosebumps just being stared like that.
âDo you want a slave to fuck you?â Bright says that on purpose, trying to anger the aristocrat. After the danger of his u-drive being discovered has passed, he now wants to eliminate Hopkinâs desire for him.
âIf I remember correctly, who the slave has sex with is decided by his master alone.â
A cold breeze starts freezing Brightâs heart. His body stiffens, it canât beâŚ
The aristocrat who has seen through his emotions perks his lips up in a small angle, which is extremely terrifying in Brightâs eyes.
âYouâre father and son.â
Brightâs breath is abruptly taken away.
âYou have to remember this firmly. I can make you destroy him with your own hands, but I will not do so. Be grateful for that for every day you live.â
What a familiar sentence structure!
It is basically the same structure Bright has said to Hopkin when he was in Brightâs hands.
âRemember this well. What I can do to you, I will not do to you.â
As fortune turns, nobody is spared from fate.
Bright is thinking, fuck this shit Iâm just gonna fuck him to death.
Authorâs notes: Good progress towards HE, me thinks.