With a mere flick of the Crown Prince’s finger, crushing him to death would be as effortless as squashing an ant.
The lingering, ambiguous warmth of that small transactional exchange had evaporated with a “bang” the moment he saw Helin Zhou in the training ground. The bias and arrogance dripping from the man’s every word only made him all the more repulsive.
The scratched skin on his neck even the gentle friction of the cotton collar of his white hospital gown felt as piercingly painful as being pricked by needles. Shi Yixing pressed his red lips into a rigid, straight line, his stubborn, dimmed eyes fluttering unsteadily as the little rabbit slumped into a dejected, downcast slump like one beaten down by a torrential downpour.
Regardless of how high their pheromone compatibility score was, to Helin Zhou he was merely a tool used to safely navigate a rut cycle. Someone like Helin Zhou probably couldn’t even be bothered to care about the identity of the S-class omega who had accompanied him through his rut.
“You were the one who struck first. Among those seven A-class high-tier alphas, three suffered broken ribs and soft tissue contusions, one has a concussion and hasn’t woken up yet, two sustained torn ankle-joint trauma, and another is still in the ICU undergoing emergency treatment due to massive blood loss.”
Beneath Helin Zhou’s sharply carved, sword-like brows, his piercing pupils were cold and gloomy, resembling a beast of prey seasoned in the hunting grounds, lacking only the baring of fangs to tear its quarry apart. His unangered, majestic aura made people want to back away and keep their distance.
His face possessed an extreme impact and oppressive force; with striking, bold features that instantly grabbed one’s attention, his handsomeness was stark and direct. His brow ridges arched into a handsome curve, his nose bridge was straight and textbook-classic, his lip line was clear and well-defined, and his jawline flowed smoothly, with flesh and bone fitting together to absolute perfection.
His voice was as cold as his appearance: “Shi Yixing, if I hadn’t stopped you, did you plan to beat them to death? The punishment you deserve is something you must bear.
No matter who you are, don’t harbor any delusions of getting special treatment right under my nose.”
Yao Tao reached over to take the water cup tightly clutched in Shi Yixing’s hand. Her soft, long, wavy strands of hair intertwined with the work badge hanging across her chest, tapping against the glass to emit a crisp sound. Her movements were gentle and unhurried, always possessing that soft gentleness like a feather drifting down onto a lake’s surface, stirring up nothing more than the faintest ripples.
She reached out and pinched the flushed, chubby flesh on both sides of Shi Yixing’s cheeks to stop him from chewing on his lips any further, shooting a reproachful glare at Helin Zhou.
“Go easy on your words. He’s a patient right now too—look at how you choked his neck, and he’s still got injuries on his waist and legs. Why do you have such a heavy gunpowder attitude toward Xingxing darling? Can’t he fight back and retaliate when he’s being harassed?”
Her words were not heavy in the slightest, yet Helin Zhou was remarkably obedient. Like a damp firecracker whose fuse had gone out, he unexpectedly fell silent, his throat choking up with a hesitant look as his aggressive aura subsided by more than half. His white tiger ear tips folded and twitched, and the arrogant major general displayed a rare moment of flustered awkwardness, his fingers nervously hooking against the seams of his leather trousers.
Softening his voice, he conceded: “Alright, alright, what you said is right, but the demerit can’t be waived—no matter what, he was the one who threw the first punch. Yao Tao, are you coming back with me for dinner tonight? My mom and the others miss you a lot.”
He stepped closer, plucked the cup right out of Yao Tao’s hand, didn’t even spare it a single glance, and tossed Shi Yixing’s used cup away to the corner of the table with clear disdain. Clasping Yao Tao’s arm, he waited in expectant anticipation for her reply, and only when she nodded did he release his hold. The gentle gaze transformed abruptly into icy coldness the moment it shifted toward Shi Yixing.
Shi Yixing felt it was utterly inexplicable; Helin Zhou didn’t even bother to disguise his contemptuous, dismissive gaze directed at him. A fresh spark of anger rekindled from the depths of his chest, and feeling it was absurd, he actually let out a genuine, speechless laugh:
“Rest assured, Major General, I will surely reflect upon this properly, and I’ll reimburse their medical expenses. But I require an apology both you and they owe me an apology.”
As these words left his mouth, the low atmospheric pressure in the medical room abruptly plummeted to its absolute limit. He didn’t think the demand he raised was excessive; in fact, he felt it was far too lenient. If he hadn’t been strong enough, those alphas would never have let him off, and might even have escalated to violating, trampling, and tormenting him.
That gaze was all too familiar; he had witnessed it far, far too many times.
“Xiao Shi…”
For the very first time, he ignored Xiaze Zetian’s call, stubbornly hoping to receive an answer.
“Xingxing darling, don’t be like this. Let’s just let this matter turn a new page, alright?”
“Xiao Shi, don’t be stubborn.”
Both of them were nervously smoothing things over, attempting to persuade him not to pursue the matter further. Going up against Helin Zhou brought him a hundred harms without a single benefit. In their eyes, this was stepping out of bounds; they simply wanted to protect Shi Yixing.
Turning a deaf ear to their words, Shi Yixing stared stubbornly into Helin Zhou’s eyes, catching the astonishment, confusion, and condescension hidden within those ink-blue pupils. Suddenly, he smiled again he had been wrong. He shouldn’t have tried reasoning with this kind of person; at the end of the day, Helin Zhou was no different from those alphas who had provoked him.
He was merely a bastard standing atop the pyramid draped in a layer of golden cassock.
Lowering his gaze, he smiled faintly, and when he raised his eyes once more, all emotion had vanished from the depths of his pupils. Looking as though he had compromised, he apologized with calm flatness: “I’m sorry, Major General, it was my fault. I accept the demerits and punishments, and I’ll cover all the medical expenses myself. It won’t happen again.”
Next time he beat someone, he would drag them to a place with no people and no surveillance cameras, bypassing their vital points to slowly torture them to death.
The combative atmosphere in the medical room eased slightly. Helin Zhou’s dense eyebrows furrowed tightly, yet the expression on his face did not improve upon hearing Shi Yixing’s words of capitulation. An eerie silence dragged the atmosphere down by another notch.
An indescribable, strange emotion spread within his heart, and the pheromones inside his body clamored to break out of their cage. Shi Yixing’s pheromone was plain water, but that trace of grape fragrance leaked out in the training ground was.
Helin Zhou turned his face away, refusing to look at the face that kept scrambling his train of thought, and responded in a low voice: “It’s best if you know.”
“Tap-tap” the sound of leather boots striking the floor tiles receded into the distance as Yao Tao followed closely behind Helin Zhou’s footsteps, leaving the medical room and closing the door behind them.
The bunch of lilies sitting on the bedside table was neatly wrapped in pale purple tissue paper, with an elegant and clean color scheme that set off the blooming, delicate white lily petals to look pure and lustrous. Dewdrops hung upon the pistils and leaves, and the moistened water vapor mixed with the sweet, faint aroma of lilies to create a delightful fragrance.
Shi Yixing cradled the bouquet in his arms, burying the tip of his nose into the flowers to inhale deeply. The rich floral scent drilled straight into his nasal passages it was his favorite lily.
Yet no matter what, his heart could not find any trace of joy. As the back of his head was gently massaged and stroked, Shi Yixing lifted his head slightly, his gaze fixed upon the brilliantly blooming, dazzling lilies as he offered a bitter smile: “You know I like you.”
Xiaze Zetian stiffly pulled his hand back, remaining silent as he simply looked down at him. The youth’s white-gold chopped bangs and bangs concealed his brows and eyes, making it impossible for anyone to pry into his emotions as he merely bit his lower lip and gently brushed past every single lily petal.
“You’re still young; this isn’t something you should be thinking about right now.”
“Then do you… like me?” The mumbled, soft whisper sounded like a devout and pious prayer offered up to the gods.
Shi Yixing’s red pupils shone brilliantly, his watery, sparkling eyes containing six parts anticipation and four parts anxiety as a breeze brushed away the moisture lingering in his eyes, causing a crystal droplet to seep out from his blood-red outer eye corners.
“Xiao Shi, in my heart, you and Mingluo are both just my younger brothers.”
His heart was chiseled open with a gaping wound, leaving even the pain numb. A single sentence rejected him cleanly and decisively. Xia Mingluo was Xiaze Zetian’s biological younger brother. Treating him the exact same way as Xia Mingluo meant that the two of them would never, ever have a possibility between them.
“If you needed money, why didn’t you tell me? When did you pay off Grandma’s medical bills? Where did you get so much money? Xiao Shi, don’t hide things from me, and don’t do anything foolish, alright? The rest I’ll—”
“No… no need, Brother Tian, thank you. You’ve already helped me enough, I can’t… I can’t take your money anymore. Whatever I owe you, I will also… slowly pay back.”
Shi Yixing’s choked, weeping voice stuttered and broke, barely managing to piece together complete syllables: “Please… let me be by myself for a little while.”
It was like a soap bubble blowing larger and larger until it “pop” burst and shattered, splashing water all over his face. His brain grew clear and sober, and the price he paid was getting drenched right along with it.