Can a Hopeless Romantic Cure Lovesickness?

Yu Yan had a strange illness.

He was fascinated by every kind of pain. When a knife's edge touched his skin, he trembled with excitement; when deep water stole his breath, he took pleasure in suffocating.

Yet in public, he remained the cold, aloof genius student of the Academy of Sciences, a peerless talent.

Yu Yan knew he was ill. After seeing countless doctors, he finally received a recommendation.

-The doctor advised him to fall in love.

So Yu Yan started an online relationship with a boyfriend a few years younger than himself.

His boyfriend was sunny and cheerful, considerate and attentive. After they met in person, their relationship warmed up even faster.

But soon Yu Yan had something else to worry about.

His illness hadn't gotten better. On the contrary, having to hide it from Xia Guiyi made it worse and worse.

When Xia Guiyi kissed him, he imagined his boyfriend biting his lips hard enough to draw blood.

When Xia Guiyi gently stroked his face, he imagined those hands tightening around his neck.

The gentler Xia Guiyi was, the more tormented Yu Yan felt.

At last, Yu Yan endured the pain and asked to break up.

As it happened, the Academy of Sciences' new research project came with a three-year confidentiality period. Yu Yan snapped his SIM card in two and resolutely boarded the hovercraft bound for the research station.

*

Three years later, Professor Yu emerged from the research institute and felt that something was off everywhere he looked.

First, there were inexplicable signs that someone had been in his home. Water he'd left unfinished was cleanly drained by the time he woke up.

Then, in the corner of his room, he found five surveillance cameras in total.

The gaze that followed him everywhere; a location-tracking app that had suddenly appeared on his phone; dampness against his neck in the night...

Then one day, a colleague sent him a message:

"High-risk esper 'Eclipse Flame' has escaped. Anyone who spots them must report it immediately..."

He opened the picture in the news. The instant he recognized the wanted criminal, two icy fingers came to rest against the side of his neck.

The wanted criminal in the picture pressed close against his back. The boyfriend he'd abandoned wrapped an arm around his waist and forced him to lift his face inch by inch, until he could see their reflections in the full-length mirror before them.

Xia Guiyi's voice was sweet, but in the dim room it was as cold as a snake.

"My dear professor."

"You really... made me search for you."

Theme: Love can stop the pain