Shen Hui was instantly hooked into estrus.
Shen Hui did not remember what he had replied to him, but that scorching kiss extended from the dream into reality.
His entire neck ached with a burning heat, yet it remained within a tolerable range.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a clean ceiling and an IV drip falling at a steady pace. Turning his head slightly, he locked gazes with Gu Yu.
The young and handsome Chief Physician Gu wore dark circles under his eyes that reached almost down to his neck, and he spoke leisurely.
“If you hadn’t woken up soon, I would have had to contact the crematorium.”
Shen Hui’s mind was filled entirely with that scalding kiss, prompting him to ask reflexively, “Where is Yang Jiu?”
Gu Yu: (A helpless love brain; even if a zombie came along, it would spit in disgust.)
“You had better worry about yourself first.” Gu Yu snapped irritably: “You’ve been unconscious for a full three days and almost received a critical condition notice due to gland atrophy!”
Shen Hui instantly sobered up: “Did you tell Uncle Yang and Xiaobai?”
“No.” Gu Yu felt as though he must have owed Shen Hui several million in a past life: “I told them you were an innocent passerby attacked by a frenzied Alpha, and the father and son even wanted to report your pet Alpha!”
“Thank you.”
Now that both Yang Jiu and Chen Shenzhi knew he was still alive, they certainly wouldn’t let the matter rest, and he couldn’t drag that father and son down with him. It was time for him to leave as well.
“If they come again, I will make things clear to them.”
“Instead of worrying about others, think about whether you can even live long enough to see that day.” Gu Yu tossed a check-up sheet glowing with red warning flags at him: “Your gland function is exhibiting a cliff-like decline, and you’ve already danced on the critical threshold several times. By tomorrow at the latest, you either get surgery or go roll in bed with the pup you raised.”
The image of Yang Jiu in his frenzied state lingered stubbornly in his mind. Regardless of whether his mania stemmed from the drugs injected back then or from that marking three years ago, he bore an unshirkable responsibility.
If he rashly proceeded with a gland removal surgery, he might very well cut off Yang Jiu’s only lifeline.
“How is Yang Jiu right now?”
Gu Yu raised an eyebrow, surprised yet unsurprised: “Not very good.”
Shen Hui’s expression darkened, and Gu Yu sighed in compromise: “I knew you’d end up hounding me for answers. Follow me.”
Gu Yu led Shen Hui straight to the entrance of the Sanyuan Research Institute.
As a high-security experimental zone, the security personnel immediately went on alert: “No parking in front of the institute, move along!”
Gu Yu rolled his eyes and pointed at Shen Hui: “Do you dare stop him?”
Confirming that Shen Hui was not personnel from the institute, the guard retorted: “No matter how good-looking he is, he can’t pass!”
Gu Yu couldn’t help laughing out loud, gleefully nudging Shen Hui with his elbow: “Regretting it yet?”
Ignoring him, Shen Hui looked straight at the guard: “I’m looking for Yang Jiu.”
“You?” The guard was practically amused by his audacity and was just about to offer a sarcastic remark when Professor Zhao rushed over toward Shen Hui in a flurry of activity, full of nostalgia and emotion: “So you really are still alive.”
Shen Hui gave a slight nod: “I’m sorry.”
Professor Zhao waved a hand: “You young people can make all the fuss you want. Since you’re here to see Yang Jiu, I was actually just about to look for you anyway.”
Professor Zhao led them directly into the institute, leaving the guard looking completely baffled.
“Who even is he, getting Professor Zhao to come out and welcome him?”
Gu Yu kindly offered a hint: “What is your institute called?”
Guard: “Sanyuan.”
Gu Yu: “Which Yuan do you think it’s tracing back to?”
With that, he strutted away, leaving behind a bewildered and incredulous guard: “Wait, isn’t the boss’s wife gone?”
Along the way, numerous people stared with curiosity at Shen Hui walking beside Professor Zhao, wondering who on earth he could be, though Shen Hui was already accustomed to such gazes and paid them little mind.
“What on earth happened to Yang Jiu?” Shen Hui frowned slightly at the cryptic and hesitant expressions of the group, remembering clearly that he had already suppressed Yang Jiu’s mania.
Guessing his thoughts at a glance, Professor Zhao sighed: “The boss is already in the late stages of mania, which can no longer be suppressed merely through pheromones. Your condition at the time was too poor to extract pheromones for soothing, so we’ve been trying to use similar pheromones instead, but a very strange problem has come up.”
As the group walked inward, they quickly briefed him on the situation. Shen Hui used his eyes to ask what the problem was.
“There is an Omega whose compatibility rate with the boss reached one hundred percent.”
Before Professor Zhao’s voice had even faded, Shen Hui abruptly halted in his tracks, staring at Professor Zhao in disbelief, wondering if he had misheard.
Meeting his gaze, Professor Zhao sighed: “You heard correctly. I measured it three times with my own hands; it’s exactly one hundred percent.”
It felt as though Shen Hui had stepped into empty air, an indescribable sensation gripping his heart, the familiar, unrecognized loneliness of being abandoned all over again.
After a long while, he managed to find his voice: “Who is it?”
“The young man who was brought back with you.”
When that person was first brought back, he didn’t even look human, not only was one of his arms torn off, but he also suffered multiple bone fractures throughout his body and ruptured internal organs. Yet even injured to that extent, he still clung to a breath, and his recovery speed after treatment surpassed even Shen Hui’s.
Suspecting he was like Yang Jiu, Professor Zhao had conducted a comprehensive medical check-up. Nothing else out of the ordinary turned up, except for the unnaturally high compatibility rate with Yang Jiu.
Blinking away the emotion, Shen Hui gathered his composure, his face revealing little expression: “Have you tried using his pheromones to give Yang Jiu a trial treatment?”
“Not yet.” Professor Zhao wore a troubled expression: “Because we can’t get close to the boss.”
Shen Hui frowned, but Professor Zhao remained silent. As the elevator doors opened, he led them toward the observation room.
Through the observation glass, Shen Hui saw Yang Jiu in the grip of his manic phase for the first time, his fingers involuntarily pressing against the glass.
Inside the confinement room, wearing shackles and an electric shock collar, Yang Jiu sat barefoot in the corner with his head lowered, his arms resting on his propped-up knees, remnants of unhealed electric burns still marking his body.
The moment Shen Hui looked over, Yang Jiu’s nostrils twitched. He whipped his head up toward Shen Hui’s direction and, ignoring the restrictions of his chains, lunged forward frantically.
That savage, deranged appearance resembled a wild beast far more than a human being.
Even though Shen Hui had already witnessed Yang Jiu in estrus, he had never imagined things could have deteriorated to this extent.
“It’s starting again! Electric shock! Maximum intensity!” Without a moment’s hesitation, Professor Zhao slammed the shock button. In an instant, high-voltage electricity surged through Yang Jiu, sending his entire body into uncontrolled spasms as he collapsed to the ground, bluish-white electric currents crackling visibly across his skin.
Never expecting that Yang Jiu relied on this method to repeatedly suppress his mania, Shen Hui rushed straight to the control console and shoved Professor Zhao aside: “Enough! Stop!”
The electric shocks ceased. Yang Jiu collapsed onto the floor, showing no other reaction aside from intermittent twitching.
“He…” Shen Hui couldn’t even begin to describe his current feelings, as if that high-voltage current had pierced through his own defenses too.
“It’s fine.” Knowing what Shen Hui wanted to ask, Professor Zhao replied: “Catalyst Number 01 has been continuously reinforcing his body. High-voltage currents of this intensity only require half a day for him to recover without a trace.”
Yet the pain inflicted by it was entirely real.
Looking at the unconscious Yang Jiu, Shen Hui tasted regret for the first time. If he had chosen a different method back then instead of direct drug injections, things might have been different.
The next instant, Shen Hui crushed that thought, gathering all his emotions back together until he resumed the familiar, aloof, and calm demeanor everyone knew.
“Didn’t you say that kid’s compatibility with him is one hundred percent? Haven’t you tried using his pheromones for soothing?”
“The boss refused before he regained consciousness.” Professor Zhao looked equally helpless: “You know the boss’s temperament. If we tried it by force, when he comes around to settle accounts later, the ones reduced to ashes would be us.”
Shen Hui cast a glance at Yang Jiu: “Go extract the pheromones now. If there’s any issue, have him come find me.”
Seeing Shen Hui’s unyielding expression, Professor Zhao still tried to advocate a little for his own boss: “Would you like to try extracting your pheromones instead?”
Shen Hui fell silent, having no desire to subject himself to humiliation.
Just when Professor Zhao thought he would refuse, Shen Hui gave a slight nod.
Visibly relieved, Professor Zhao immediately signaled the students behind him to get to work.
Yet the final result exceeded everyone’s expectations, although Shen Hui’s pheromones carried an Omega-leaning tendency, they were extremely faint, and his compatibility rate with Yang Jiu was zero.
This simply shouldn’t be possible. Everyone had seen the footage showing Shen Hui using materialized pheromones to soothe Yang Jiu during his frenzy; how could the compatibility rate be zero?
Everyone stared at Shen Hui, waiting for his stance.
“Perhaps it truly wasn’t me.” Shen Hui spoke with complete calm, as though he weren’t the person in question.
“Blood contains the highest concentration of pheromones. At the time, that youth suffered a severe hemorrhage when his arm was torn off; perhaps the pheromones in his blood acted as the soothing agent.”
He was even making excuses for someone else.
Seeing Shen Hui put on such an evasive and awkward act, Gu Yu was equal parts exasperated and amused: “Impossible! Liu Fenghua’s video captured it clearly; it was definitely your pheromones. That kid’s blood splattered all over Yang Jiu’s face, and he didn’t even blink.”
Shen Hui raised a hand to cut off Gu Yu’s remaining words and instructed Professor Zhao directly: “Extract the pheromones and inject them into Yang Jiu. Keep that youth under control and ensure a stable supply of pheromones until his mania is suppressed.”
With a complex expression, Professor Zhao still instinctively obeyed, mindful that back then at the Yan family, Shen Hui’s word was law, and sometimes even Yang Jiu couldn’t overrule him.
“Can his arm still be reattached?” Shen Hui called out to stop Professor Zhao just as the latter was about to leave.
Momentarily failing to grasp Shen Hui’s meaning, Professor Zhao answered honestly: “Lacerated wound, very difficult.”
“If possible, find a way to reattach it.” Shen Hui rubbed the bridge of his nose. If the youth truly was a one-hundred-percent compatible Omega, their mutual estrus instincts would naturally draw them into affection, making him practically the future Madam Yan.
He didn’t want Yang Jiu’s other half to have such a physical defect.
“Alright, I’ll do my best.” Looking aged by the stress, Professor Zhao hurried off to make arrangements.
Watching from the side, Gu Yu felt a deep sense of frustration: “So generous, huh? Are you planning to tuck him right into bed next?”
Shen Hui remained stubbornly silent.
“So what on earth are you agonizing over? Even if that kid has a one-hundred-percent compatibility rate, Yang Jiu likes you so much he’d smash his head against a brick wall for you. Anyone with eyes can see it! You!”
“Human affection cannot override the dominion of pheromones.” Shen Hui spoke calmly: “If we cannot be each other’s only, we shouldn’t hold any expectations for one another.”
Gu Yu was left speechless.
“Once matters here are settled, prepare the gland removal surgery.”
With that, Shen Hui strode away.
The pheromone extraction went smoothly, but because the automatic injector in the confinement room had been damaged earlier and hadn’t been repaired yet, someone had to enter in person to administer the injection to Yang Jiu.
Everyone’s gazes fell squarely on Shen Hui.
“Give it to me.” Calmly taking the medication and the self-defense stun baton, Shen Hui walked into the confinement room under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Professor Zhao swung the iron door shut the moment Shen Hui stepped inside, shooing everyone except Gu Yu away from the observation room.
Gu Yu had a gut feeling that his senior harbored some hidden agenda: “Is the automatic injector actually broken?”
Professor Zhao wore a perfectly serious expression: “Why would I lie to you? I’m simply looking to verify a hypothesis.”
Following his gaze, Gu Yu looked into the confinement room.
Shen Hui had already walked up to the unconscious Yang Jiu, squatting down halfway to softly call his name.
The muscular, well-defined frame on the floor was still covered in traces left by the electric shocks. He wanted to touch him, but stopped himself just short.
For a split second, even Shen Hui wasn’t sure what kind of feelings he held for Yang Jiu anymore, how he was supposed to face him, or perhaps he wouldn’t need to face him ever again.
Pulling back his thoughts, Shen Hui readied the pheromone syringe, aiming straight for a vein.
In a flash of lightning, a hand abruptly seized his wrist, its grip as immovable as solid steel.
Before Shen Hui could react, the world spun around him, and he found himself pinned beneath Yang Jiu.
The pheromone injector was knocked aside. With brutal dominance, Yang Jiu pinned Shen Hui’s wrists above his head, pressing one leg against his knee and gripping his flexible waist with one hand, giving his prey zero opportunity to react.
With burning eyes, Yang Jiu let his scorching pheromones obey the dictates of his primal instincts, dense, overbearing, wrapping completely around Shen Hui before pressing against the gland at the back of his neck.
“Ugh!”
The already weakened gland was instantly scorched by wildfire, and Shen Hui was dragged into estrus in an instant, his entire body going limp.
The cold snow mountain melted into sweat beads along his temples and tears at the corners of his eyes as Shen Hui gritted his teeth and reprimanded him: “Yang Jiu!”
“I’m here.”
A trace of tenderness flashed through Yang Jiu’s extremely manic gaze as he lowered his head to press a devout, fiery kiss to his salvation.