Qinghai Hospital
“No, if you inject him with any more catalyst, he will die!”
“This is the young master’s will.”
Outside the hospital bed, a doctor accompanied by security guards stood in a standoff with the patient’s family.
The former was cold and ruthless, while the latter was entirely helpless.
“Impossible!” The white-haired, elderly man said in disbelief. “The young master would never kill Shen Hui!”
The doctor sneered with utter contempt, “Don’t you understand yet? He is nothing more than a discarded chess piece now.”
Those words exhausted the doctor’s remaining patience.
“Drag him out.”
The bodyguards behind him forcefully escorted the old man out of the hospital room.
The sound of the door closing shut out the old man’s feeble struggles and angry curses, leaving the entire room in an absolute, pin-drop silence.
The doctor walked over to the hospital bed, looking down at Shen Hui with a condescending gaze.
Even by the strictest medical standards of facial symmetry, this was an absolute beauty. His eyebrows and eyes were refined and striking, and his bone structure was peerless. His pale, sickly complexion made him look even more fragile and delicate. If he were an omega, this face alone would be enough to conquer countless alphas.
No wonder two rising alpha tycoons had torn their faces apart over him, fighting until they bled.
It was a pity that a beta was destined to become a disposable tool, ultimately falling into his hands.
Having the right of ownership and execution over such a beauty was always deeply gratifying to the body and mind. Filled with malice, he leaned down to whisper in Shen Hui’s ear.
“Mr. Shen, I am going to inject you with the gland transformation catalyst now. If you can endure it, you will have a thirty percent chance of converting into an omega and staying by the young master’s side.”
“You… you are awake?!”
Shen Hui, who had previously been unconscious, opened his eyes. His gaze was calm and clear, startling the doctor so much he almost dropped the syringe.
“Professor Li.”
Shen Hui coldly recognized Chen Shenzhi’s hand-picked confidant. Under the oxygen mask, his thin lips curved into a self-deprecating arc.
It seemed Chen Shenzhi had already discovered his betrayal and was kindly bestowing upon him a dignified way to die.
“I will not make things difficult for you,” Shen Hui said in a voice so soft it was barely audible. “The injection is fine, but do not use targeted transformation.”
Professor Li was stunned by his proposal, blurting out, “You are crazy! If you do not use a targeted catalyst, your chance of survival is less than ten percent.”
The research project on converting betas into omegas had been Chen Shenzhi’s life’s work for over a decade. The ultimate results were only two semi-finished products: one was a targeted conversion rate for turning a beta into an alpha, with a success rate of thirty percent; the other was an untargeted conversion, with a success rate of only ten percent.
Without exception, however, failure meant death.
It was Chen Shenzhi who had betrayed him first. Shen Hui recalled that rainy night, the time of his second failed surgery.
Chen Shenzhi was embracing and kissing another omega under the flower corridor blooming with roses.
Panting softly, the delicate omega collapsed weakly against his chest and gasped, “Are you not afraid Steward Shen will be angry?”
“He will not.”
Chen Shenzhi was calm and composed, his eyes devoid of any ripple.
“Are you not lovers, though?”
“A beta who cannot convert into an omega is nothing more than a defective product,” Chen Shenzhi said as if it were only natural. “He has no qualification to stand by my side.”
The heavy rain had muffled the sound of Shen Hui’s panicked footsteps as he fled.
Yet, Shen Hui had never been a fragile white lotus who only knew how to cry. Over the span of five years, using himself as bait, he had dealt Chen Shenzhi a fatal blow.
He could even imagine Chen Shenzhi’s resentment and fury upon seeing Yan Jiu’s victory.
Now, only his own ending remained undecided. Chen Shenzhi had given him two choices: struggle to survive and become his dog, or be buried alongside him.
Shen Hui refused.
The one who betrayed first did not deserve loyalty.
Looking at the hesitating Professor Li, Shen Hui smiled and curved his lips. “Do not tell me you actually hope I survive?”
Professor Li looked at the syringe in his hand, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
He knew about Shen Hui, a beta Chen Shenzhi had picked up from an orphanage when they were young. Later, because of his exceptional ability, he caught the eye of Elder Chen and was trained to be a personal steward. In reality, however, he was a sharp blade honed by the Chen family. Matters that could not be brought to the light always went exceptionally smoothly through his hands, striking terror into the hearts of many who heard his name.
Yet this fiercely sharp blade had been deeply devoted to Chen Shenzhi, even undergoing three gland transformation surgeries for him.
All three had failed, and everyone knew Chen Shenzhi had abandoned him.
Professor Li quickly calculated the pros and cons in his mind. If Shen Hui genuinely turned into an omega this time, Chen Shenzhi would undoubtedly look upon him with favor, and when the time came to settle scores with him, he would not be able to bear the consequences. It would be far better to let him die right here under the untargeted catalyst and eliminate the trouble once and for all.
Weighing the risks, Professor Li made up his mind. “You said this yourself. Do not come looking for me when you die.”
The very second he lowered his head to switch the vials, Shen Hui lunged upward, moving with lightning speed to clamp his hand around the chief surgeon’s neck. Leveraging the momentum, he rolled off the bed, dragging down an array of medical equipment that crashed to the floor in a clatter.
Professor Li had not even registered Shen Hui’s movement before a dull pain struck the back of his head, and everything went pitch black as he collapsed to the floor.
Only when he saw that Professor Li had completely passed out did Shen Hui finally loosen his grip. The sudden exertion made every joint in his body ache with burning soreness. As his vision darkened and he tipped toward the ground, someone caught him just in time.
“Shen Hui! Shen Hui!”
The person who caught him was terribly frightened, shouting at the top of their lungs as they tried to carry him back to the bed, only to be held back.
Shen Hui was drenched in cold sweat, the back of his hand scratched bloody from an intravenous needle, and stray locks of hair clung to his temples against his starkly pale skin. Forcing down the dizziness and nausea, he finally recognized the person holding him: Gu Yu.
The youngest chief surgeon in the Gland Department, and one of his few friends.
There was no time for pleasantries, however. Shen Hui gripped Gu Yu’s arm tightly, his face turning transparently white. “How is the situation over there?”
Dragging and pulling him back toward the hospital bed, Gu Yu chattered non-stop, “Old man Chen probably will not make it through tonight, but that does not matter. The real crisis is Chen Shenzhi. The moment he found out you were behind this, he told Yan Jiu straight to his face that you volunteered for the gland surgery yourself. That little cub you raised instantly flew off the handle, and right now he is coming over here breathing fire to settle scores with you!”
Due to his high fever, Gu Yu’s voice sounded distant and muffled, but Shen Hui managed to extract the crucial point a beat later.
Yan Jiu was coming.
He stopped Gu Yu, who was flustered and trying to shove him back onto the bed, and spoke with labored effort. “It is too late. I have to leave this place right now.”
Gu Yu roared, “Are you trying to die?!”
He did not even need to look at the medical chart to know Shen Hui was still in the post-operative recovery period. An inflammation triggered by a gland infection alone could kill him.
If Chen Shenzhi was a venomous snake who relished the joy of watching his prey struggle in agony, then Yan Jiu was a wolf, demanding absolute submission and possession.
Once that little brat realized he had been manipulated, dying right here on the hospital bed would be getting off easy.
“Find a way to let me function normally,” Shen Hui said, closing his eyes to ease the dizziness.
Gu Yu felt that every self-righteous patient deserved to be shot. “You are amazing, alright? Figure it out yourself then, my medical skills are subpar and I cannot do it!”
With that, he turned and stormed toward the door in a huff, only to hear a dull thump behind him.
That death-defying lunatic had actually gotten up on his own and was trying to walk out!
Why did he not just jump straight into the incinerator?!
Gritting his teeth, Gu Yu spun back around to prop up this arbitrary and willful lunatic. “I must have owed you five million in my past life!”
Shen Hui still had the energy to curve the corner of his lips, his weak gaze carrying a hint of teasing that completely cornered Dr. Gu.
Gu Yu was swept by that fragile, glistening gaze, and his heartbeat skipped a beat. He instantly blurted out what was on his mind: “We still have to use the catalyst. It can temporarily boost your glands to their peak state, and the gland stimulation will activate the hormones in your body.”
Shen Hui raised a hand to cut off his medical theory, deciding decisively, “Then use the catalyst. The untargeted one.”
Knowing he could not persuade him otherwise, Gu Yu said earnestly, “Hear me out. The catalyst can make your glands function like a normal person’s for seven days, and even hide your wounds. But after seven days, your glands will rapidly deteriorate, and if you fail to differentiate, you will die.”
Shen Hui: “That is enough.”
Gu Yu: You might as well just drop dead.
Recently, the young nurses’ favorite topic of conversation had been Shen Hui, because he was entirely too unique in the Gland Department.
As one of the hospital’s three major gossip hotspots, the high-quality gossip regularly produced by the Gland Department easily beat out both gastroenterology and obstetrics and gynecology. Everyone subscribed to a single truth: the prettier the face, the more chaotic the private life.
Shen Hui was the exception. His face effortlessly crushed numerous omegas, but throughout a month of hospitalization, not a single person had come to visit him except for an old man.
The new nurse looked toward his room and murmured, “He feels kind of pitiful.”
Just as the head nurse was about to pour cold water on her, a commotion erupted at the end of the corridor.
A squad of well-trained private bodyguards came charging down the hallway in a dark, imposing wave, every single one of them an alpha.
Nurses and patients in the corridor cried out in alarm and scrambled out of the way. At the lead was a furious alpha, his expression terrifyingly dark. “Where is Shen Hui?”
Having seen her share of the world, the head nurse forced herself to meet the man’s gaze and rebuked him with displeasure, “This is a hospital!”
The man was clearly on the verge of blind rage, but the upbringing Shen Hui had carved into his bones stopped him from unleashing his anger on an omega and a woman.
“Where is Shen Hui?!”
Just then, the hospital director came jogging over, wiping away sweat, his expression a mask of fawning terror. “Young Master Yan! Why are you here? I just received a corporate notice. I will take you right over!”
He had only just learned that this young master of the Yan family had successfully seized power, reclaiming all the original assets and companies, including this hospital, from the Chen family, even suppressing Chen Shenzhi in the process.
Respectfully leading the group to the door of the VIP ward, the director opened it, only for the newly appointed big boss’s face to turn pitch-black the instant the door swung wide.
“Where is he?” Yan Jiu spat out coldly.
The furious alpha could no longer suppress his pheromones. A searing, tyrannical wave of pheromones swept across the entire floor, causing the alarm systems to emit a piercing, shrill shriek.
Several medical staff, whether alphas or omegas, instantly collapsed to the ground in agony. As a beta, even though the director could not smell them, he felt as though he had been thrown into a blazing furnace, about to be scorched to charcoal.
Braving the alpha’s raging pheromones, he peeked inside. The VIP ward was completely empty, and the hospital bed was littered with tangled lines and equipment cables.
The patient had run away.
With a dark expression, Yan Jiu stepped inside, step by step. The hospital bed still retained the warmth of Shen Hui’s body; perhaps due to sweating from the fever, the bedding was still slightly damp.
Rubbing the moisture remaining on his fingertips, Yan Jiu reined in his scorching pheromones, standing still like a cooled-down mass of magma.
“He did not get far. Seal the hospital exits. Search.”
Five minutes later, Qinghai Hospital was locked down tighter than an iron bucket, with bodyguards patrolling even the underground parking garage.
Gu Yu hid in the corner of a utility room. Seeing a team of men walk past, he was about to pop his head out when Shen Hui pulled him back from behind.
The bodyguard sharply turned his head to glance at the corner they occupied, lingering for a moment before another commotion elsewhere drew his attention. Weighing his options, he turned and left.
Gu Yu let out a long breath in the corner. “Searching the hospital so blatantly, do they think this place is their family’s backyard?!”
“Yes, it is.” Shen Hui surveyed his surroundings cautiously. His face was pale, but he remained calm and composed; no trace of his previous weakness could be seen. His movements were even more agile than Gu Yu’s. He guided Gu Yu through the parking garage while Shen Hui whispered an explanation. “Qinghai Hospital and the research institute were originally Yan properties anyway, before they were usurped by the Chens. It was only a matter of time before he took them back.”
Gu Yu rolled his eyes. “You are defending him quite a bit then. Why run away?”
“If you liked a disease, would you sleep with the patient?”
Gu Yu stumbled from the jab, nearly falling flat on his face. That was not what he meant at all, and what did sleeping with someone have to do with this?! He was about to snap back when Shen Hui cut him off. “Which way?”
Gu Yu choked on his own breath, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he finally surrendered. “Climb out the window of the security stairway ahead into the green belt. The fence and surveillance cameras over there are broken. Squeeze through, and you will see the pickup car.”
Shen Hui nodded. “I will go over by myself.”
Gu Yu was still officially a doctor at Qinghai Hospital and could not be dragged down with him.
Knowing he could not be of much help, Gu Yu nodded. “You yourself be careful.”
The escape went much smoother than Shen Hui had anticipated. Yet, the unease in his heart only grew heavier the further he got from the hospital. He double-checked the license plate and the driver’s appearance before finally deciding to step into the car.
The moment he sat down, however, his internal alarm bells reached a deafening peak.
He immediately reached for the door to get out, but the car door swung open first.
Yan Jiu pulled the door open, blocking his only exit, and looked down at him with a cold, towering gaze.
“Got you.”