Encoding 1: Step on Her
The car glided into the White Tower underground parking lane, decelerated along the guiding light strip, and stopped smoothly.
Pei Yuan turned her head to look at the passenger seat.
Cen Zhixu lowered her head, the seatbelt securing her properly. Her shirt rose and fell with her breathing, relaxing and tightening.
It looked as though she had truly fallen asleep.
Should she wake her up? Pei Yuan stared at her for two seconds, suddenly feeling troubled.
If she woke her up, it felt like she would disturb her rest, yet if she did not, she had no idea how long she would have to wait.
Could she possibly carry her back?
Pei Yuan’s ears grew hot, feeling inexplicably shy. Just as she was hesitating, Cen Zhixu suddenly let out a muffled hum.
Cen Zhixu’s breathing grew rapid, her finger bones curled tight, and her shoulders and back trembled ever so slightly.
A drop of sweat seeped from between her brows, moistening her fluttering eyelashes and winding its way down along her neck, throat, and collarbone, tracing a thin trail of water.
Her skin was thin and translucent, tinged with a flushed hue. As her breathing pulled at her chest, that line of water rose and fell along with it.
Pei Yuan looked away. For some reason, she felt the interior of the car was stuffy, and the air somewhat sticky.
The scent of iris grew heavier, wrapping around her thread by thread, stirring up an inexplicable restlessness.
Wait.
Pei Yuan’s alarms blared, and she hurriedly reached for the back of her neck. Sure enough, her gland was frighteningly hot.
An Alpha’s pheromone had caught the scent of sweet temptation, growing restless behind its blockade and desperately crashing against the barrier.
Wait, what did Mole say again?
She seemed to mention that suppressants had limited effectiveness, and if one encountered a high-compatibility Omega, the pheromones might break through their restraints and leak outward.
Pei Yuan muttered under her breath.
Mole.
If I ever actually fall into a pit and unfortunately kick the bucket, that damn pit was definitely dug by you!
Meanwhile, in the outer district at a skewered-meat stall.
“Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”
Mole sneezed three times in a row.
People bustled back and forth in front of the stall, iron skewers piercing chunks of meat and wild mushrooms as they sizzled and dripped oil. The owner patted his chest, swearing everything was completely non-toxic, though whether anyone died depended entirely on luck.
Magpie chewed on a piece of meat and glanced at Mole. “What is it? Are you catching a cold, or did the boss curse you again?”
Mole sniffed. “Who knows? Maybe the boss got dumped by the pretty lady, and the lady doesn’t want her to be her little dog anymore. So the boss had no choice but to bite her leash, crouch by the roadside, and curse me while howling.”
Magpie clicked her tongue twice. “How did it come to this? To get dumped by a lady like that, Boss, you really are pathetic.”
Scorpion chimed in, “Pathetic.”
The three of them happily continued chewing on their skewers. As for where Red Snake was or whether she had actually been dumped by the pretty lady, it seemed no one cared at all.
On the other side, Pei Yuan quickly scrambled out of the car door.
She rummaged thoroughly through the cakes and cookies she had swiped, finally fishing out a temporary suppressant from the bottom.
The needle pierced her gland, and the cool liquid poured in. The surging heat fought back for a moment before calming down bit by bit.
Pei Yuan let out a breath, wasting no more time as she pulled open the passenger door once again.
Cen Zhixu was curled up in her seat, her silver hair dampened by sweat and clinging messily to her neck.
Pei Yuan hesitated for a fraction of a second. The moment her hand touched Cen Zhixu’s shoulder, Cen Zhixu snapped her eyes open.
An Omega in the midst of pheromone disorder was far more sensitive than Pei Yuan could have ever imagined.
Sweat soaked her temple hair, and the silver strands stuck scattered across her cheeks. Cen Zhixu looked up at her, water droplets clinging to her eyelashes, her breathing still uneven.
That gaze pierced through the damp strands of hair and landed on Pei Yuan.
She stared at her like a startled feline crouching in the dark.
Sharp and tense.
She was drenched, looking a mess, yet remained overwhelmingly proud and noble. Even when on the verge of losing control, she would never allow herself to lose the upper hand.
“Did you take a suppressant?”
Her voice was somewhat hoarse, the tail end trembling.
Pei Yuan awkwardly replied, “Yes. I was afraid I would affect you, so I took a shot first.”
Cen Zhixu pushed aside a strand of wet hair blocking her vision and gave a self-deprecating laugh.
“Pheromone disorder syndrome,” she muttered to herself, “truly an irritating thing.”
She said, “Help me up.”
Cen Zhixu braced herself to stand, but the moment she barely steadied herself, she swayed and tipped forward.
Seeing she was about to crash onto the ground, Pei Yuan reacted purely on reflex and caught her.
The moment her arm wrapped around the other’s waist, Pei Yuan’s mind went blank for a brief second.
Cen Zhixu collapsed into her arms, her body startlingly soft, sinking inch by inch into the crook of Pei Yuan’s arm like warm water flowing out of control between her fingers.
Her shirt was more than half soaked through, the thin fabric clinging tightly to her spine and rising and falling with her rapid breathing.
Pei Yuan pressed against her lower back, her fingers sinking into the soft flesh. The person in her arms was burning and tender, almost spilling out between her fingertips, sending dense, tiny tremors directly against her palm.
Pei Yuan’s heart beat rapidly, her breathing caught on the exhalations brushing against her neck, fluctuating in rhythm.
She wanted to tighten her arms and steady her, but Cen Zhixu suddenly pushed her away.
Her boot heels scraped the floor with a short, sharp sound as Cen Zhixu took half a step back, her shoulders and back bumping softly against the wall to steady herself.
Crossing her arms, her legs crossed, her boot heel slightly raised with the toe tapping the ground, she looked at Pei Yuan with a half-smile.
“Where are you touching?”
Pei Yuan’s hands were behind her back, her fingers curling together, her palm seemingly still caught in that handful of soft, perfectly sized warmth.
Fortunately, Cen Zhixu did not pursue the question. The next moment came a concise and cold command.
“Go to Cloud Ladder 3,” she said.
Pei Yuan’s voice was hoarse. “Right, okay.”
The one-minute cloud ladder ride was, to Pei Yuan, the longest sixty seconds of her life.
The Omega pheromones crashed recklessly, no longer a faint floral scent, but a rich, heavy scattering of crushed petals.
Even after injecting the suppressant, Pei Yuan’s glands still throbbed faintly, leaving her head somewhat dizzy in tandem.
The cloud ladder stopped steadily. After biometric verification, the door slid open automatically, and the lights snapped on, casting a cool hue across the space.
Pei Yuan helped Cen Zhixu sit on the sofa. When she straightened up, she realized her own shirt was soaked through as well.
Clinging to her back, it felt both cold and sticky.
Pei Yuan entered the bathroom, pulled the door shut behind her, and splashed cold water onto her face, letting it stream down her jawline.
Her reflection in the mirror showed messy curly hair and a flushed face, looking truly disheveled.
When Pei Yuan returned to the living room, Cen Zhixu was curled up in the corner of the sofa, her knees pulled together as she huddled inward.
Her long hair cascaded past the cushions, her heavy coat had been tossed aside casually, and her tall boots lay discarded on the carpet.
Pei Yuan paused for a moment, then turned toward the kitchen. When she returned, she held a cup of warm water and a cup of hot milk.
She bent down, placing the two cups side by side within Cen Zhixu’s reach.
Cen Zhixu glanced at them and suddenly spoke, “Pei Yuan, you actually do not need to do these unnecessary things.”
Pei Yuan blinked. “Did you not hire me precisely to do unnecessary things?”
Cen Zhixu froze for a moment.
The next second, the corners of her eyelashes curved upward. She lifted her knees and gently kicked Pei Yuan.
Calling it a kick was an exaggeration; she used no real force at all, the silk-wrapped toes stepping against Pei Yuan through her shirt.
Soft and gentle, branding a small, indistinct burst of heat against Pei Yuan’s abdomen.
Her toes slid downward, the silk sliding across the fabric of her shirt, producing a faint rustling sound as they brushed against her thigh and knee before finally sinking into the milky-white long-pile carpet.
The knitted pile was long and soft, closing over them to hide her away, leaving only the narrow curve of an instep.
Cen Zhixu picked up the milk, her lips pressing against the rim to leave a faint impression, and chuckled softly.
“Quite a bit of nerve. Starting to talk back now?”