The dry wood and raging fire are about to ignite, and I am afraid you will straight up burn him into nothingness.
Yan Jiu’s smile was unhinged and eerie, and his scorching alpha pheromone gradually steamed the air. Terrified by the heat, Tang Fan instantly pounced forward.
“Boss, calm down! We just brought you back with a defibrillator!”
Yan Jiu slowly turned his head to look at him. His gaze looked as though it had been tempered in a furnace, icy yet searing, and it rooted Tang Fan to the spot.
“Go investigate that person named Yang Bai.”
Tang Fan hesitated slightly because the big boss was currently acting completely abnormal, and he suspected the high voltage had fried his brain.
Giving him not an extra glance, Yan Jiu yanked out the intravenous drip and prepared to walk out barefoot, only to collide head-on with the elderly professor walking in with a medical chart.
“Assistant Tang? Boss? You’re awake?”
Yan Jiu gave a slight nod, stepping aside to make way for the elderly professor. “Uncle Zhao, I’m heading out for a bit.”
With lightning-fast reflexes, the elderly professor reached out to block him, wearing a rare expression of deep gravity. “Even if you have matters of life and death, you must first hear me out.”
At this moment, Yan Jiu’s mind was entirely consumed by Shen Hui, and his inner impatience had reached its absolute peak. Yet, the upbringing Shen Hui had carved deep into his bones allowed him to endure it.
Furthermore, the elderly professor truly counted as an elder to him. Professor Zhao had been a close friend of his father and had helped him immensely during the past struggles against the Chen family.
Yan Jiu took a deep breath, suppressed his internal agitation, and sat back down on the bed. “Please speak.”
Professor Zhao scrutinized the inspection reports in his hands. “The data shows that you were stimulated into a rut the other day by an omega, which caused your inhibitors to fail. Did you find that person?”
Yan Jiu nodded. “It’s Shen Hui.”
Professor Zhao and Tang Fan frowned simultaneously. It was common knowledge that Shen Hui had failed all three of his gland modification surgeries and was destined to remain a beta for the rest of his life. How could he have had such a high resonance rate with Yan Jiu three years ago?
Regardless, the fact that Shen Hui was still alive now was incredible news.
Catching something amiss in his expression, Yan Jiu asked, “What is it?”
Professor Zhao waved the document in his hand. “Your mania was originally caused by the forced separation of a high-resonance partner. In other words, as long as you and Shen Hui undergo marking and bonding, your symptoms will lessen or even completely cure.”
Yan Jiu stood up. “I’m on my way to bring him back.”
“There is also.” Professor Zhao pressed down on the alpha who was eager to fly to Shen Hui’s side. “I must remind you that this time, to suppress your mania, we had to use the maximum dosage of inhibitors.”
Yan Jiu hadn’t realized things had escalated to such a serious degree.
The elderly professor continued, “Under unprovoked conditions, this dosage will last for three days at most. Therefore, you must bring Shen Hui back within three days, and you must remember: do not ignite the spark on the spot!”
Yan Jiu blinked in silence.
Tang Fan wore a look of awe at the professor’s supreme boldness.
Professor Zhao spoke with profound earnestness. “If Shen Hui truly succeeded in his third surgery and gets marked by you, his current state won’t be much better either. If the dry wood and raging fire start burning, I’m afraid you’ll straight up burn him into nothingness!”
Yan Jiu remained entirely speechless.
Professor Zhao’s words hit Yan Jiu like a basin of ice water, completely shocking him into calmness. “Alright, I understand. I’ll bring him back first.”
Professor Zhao nodded in relief. Having delivered the most critical warning, he seized the opportunity to bring up another issue. “There’s one more thing. Do you remember what happened during your differentiation?”
Yan Jiu paused in the middle of changing his clothes and didn’t answer directly. “What about it?”
“I suspect your differentiation period was forcibly interfered with by medication.” Professor Zhao picked up another report. Yan Jiu’s physical condition was exceptionally fine; yesterday’s high voltage, which could have turned an ordinary person to ash, was mere tickling to him.
A term from old-fashioned web novels flashed through his mind: genetic warrior.
Yan Jiu remained silent for a moment before speaking. “I don’t remember either.”
Professor Zhao was taken aback.
“The circumstances were quite critical when I differentiated. My consciousness was hazy and chaotic, and when I woke up, only Shen Hui was by my side.”
Amidst those hazy and chaotic memories, he only remembered Shen Hui’s icy and murderous voice: “Die, or hand over the medicine.”
Professor Zhao let out a long sigh. “It seems truly only Shen Hui knows.” He then glanced at Yan Jiu, who was still lost in thought. “Then what are you waiting for? Go find him!”
Yan Jiu and Tang Fan were unceremoniously thrown out of the hospital ward.
Tang Fan cautiously let out a whimper. “Boss, where are we going to find Shen Hui?”
Yan Jiu thought for just a fraction of a second. “Look up the address for that Yang Bai person, and head over right now.”
Tang Fan quickly flipped through Yang Bai’s resume, pausing when he saw the address. “Zhongshi Village?”
However, Shen Hui was not at home right now; he had brought Yang Bai to the Earth God Temple in Zhongshi Village.
Zhongshi Village covered a massive area, encompassing several lush green hills. Among them, the Earth God Temple occupied an entire hill by itself and was even designated as a cultural heritage preservation unit.
Standing behind Shen Hui, Yang Bai looked up at the nearly one-hundred-tier staircase, then turned to look blankly at Shen Hui. “Bro, didn’t you say you wanted to find a way to stop the Yan Group’s demolition? Why are we coming to the Earth God Temple?”
It couldn’t possibly be to pray for the Earth God’s blessing and strike down the Yan Group’s boss with divine lightning, right? For someone looking as young as his bro, he wouldn’t expect him to have such a superstitious side.
Without looking, Shen Hui knew what kind of weird thoughts were running through his head. Resignedly, he said, “I’m here to find someone.”
Instantly shifting from skepticism to worship, Yang Bai thought, “Bro even knows people in the temple? Um… can a monk stop the Yan Group’s demolition?”
Helplessly, Shen Hui enlightened the curious baby. “The person in the Earth God Temple isn’t a monk; he’s a Daoist priest.”
Nodding repeatedly, Yang Bai followed Shen Hui into the temple grounds.
“Then can a Daoist priest do it?”
“An ordinary Daoist priest can’t, but this Daoist priest is a rich second-generation heir, and this entire temple was fully funded and renovated by his family.”
Curious, Yang Bai went to check out the merit stele at the entrance. The name at the very top was Liu Fenghua, and the name immediately following it made him pause.
It was Shen Hui.
On a weekday, there weren’t many worshippers in the temple. Aside from the Earth God in the main hall, the God of Wealth hall in the side courtyard had the most bustling incense traffic, where Yang Bai even spotted someone kneeling in front of the Wealth God holding an ID card while scratching lottery tickets.
Following ritual, Shen Hui took three sticks of incense and respectfully paid his respects to the Earth God. Yang Bai imitated his actions, sneaking glances at Shen Hui in the process.
Shen Hui’s appearance while bowing with closed eyes was deeply pious and earnest, yet he simultaneously carried a detached aura of being entirely free from worldly desires. Even when bent over, his spine remained straight and upright. His refined, three-dimensional profile and incredible head-to-body proportion could easily pass for a viral post if snapped casually and paired with a popular background track.
The curiosity about what he had been through flared up once more, becoming utterly agonizing at this moment.
He gathered the courage to ask for the first time, but Shen Hui had already familiarly turned toward the side courtyard. Yang Bai’s subtle inquisitive desire instantly vanished as he sprinted to catch up.
Just as Yang Bai was starting to feel dizzy from following Shen Hui winding through the temple, he suddenly heard the sound of a zither.
The zither notes were elegant and melodious, lingering and ethereal, completely different from the vibe of short videos he usually scrolled through. Unable to help himself, Yang Bai stopped walking. Shen Hui turned right into a covered corridor, opening up a view of a classical courtyard.
Inside the courtyard were pavilions, water lilies, koi fish, and corridors winding past rockeries and ornamental stones into the dim shadows of the main hall, resembling the backyard of an ancient high-ranking official. In a fraction of a second, it felt completely cut off from the outside world, forming a realm of its own.
“I had no idea Zhongshi Village had such a pretty place!” Yang Bai caught up to Shen Hui in a few steps, his expression of shock resembling a newcomer just stepping into a spirit club.
Shen Hui walked along the corridor toward the sound of the zither. “This is a private estate, ordinary people can’t get in.”
“Oh.” Yang Bai suddenly felt that the expert here might actually be able to save the village.
The two walked along the red-wood corridor toward the hall. Pricking up his ears to listen to the zither, Yang Bai faintly felt the tune was somewhat familiar, even humming along with the melody.
“Wrongfully trespassing into the heavenly domain, advising me to let go of the sand in my hand.”
This expert must scroll through short videos quite a bit.
Deep within the courtyard was a classroom resembling an ancient private school, though the students were all adults, ranging from young to old. The person teaching was a young man with a celestial, untainted air. At a glance, Yang Bai deduced he must be Liu Fenghua.
Liu Fenghua didn’t stop playing even when the two of them walked in. Shen Hui pulled Yang Bai over to find seats at random, listening to the young man lecture on the sheet music for that exact internet trending song.
Knowing nothing about musical rhythm, Yang Bai fell asleep face down within three minutes, only to be spotted by the instructor, who called him out directly. “That concludes our lesson for today. Now, let’s have a student come up and demonstrate.”
Before his brain fully woke up, Yang Bai snapped upright, staring straight ahead with a blank expression.
This instinctive reaction instantly amused the instructor, whose pointing finger purposely aimed at Yang Bai, watching his ostrich-like expression that screamed “don’t pick me, don’t pick me.”
“Then let’s have this classmate!”
The head instructor’s index finger pivoted at the last split second to point at Shen Hui.
Shen Hui raised an eyebrow slightly, while the lecturer wore an expression anticipating a good show. “Don’t daydream, it’s you.”
In Yang Bai’s impression, Shen Hui was an extremely pragmatic and efficient person; despite his beauty, his personality had nothing to do with these refined pastimes. Just as he was about to help explain, he saw Shen Hui calmly walk up to the instructor’s seat, his posture in handling the zither completely practiced and familiar.
Amidst Yang Bai’s astonished gaze, the zither notes rang out melodiously. The tune was likewise very familiar, an anime insert song Yang Bai had loved in his early years, telling a tale of an entangled cross-time triangle romance between a red rose and a white moonlight.
While the original melody was deeply melancholic and sorrowful, Shen Hui played it with a tragic and lonely resonance, resembling a goddess of mercy whose love encompassed the world.
As Shen Hui finished playing, the class also concluded. The students successively bade farewell to the teacher, and the lecturer very naturally dispatched Yang Bai to see the guests out. Pointing at himself with a face full of question marks, Yang Bai looked at the lecturer and then turned back to Shen Hui.
Shen Hui nodded. “Go ahead.”
Fine, this was clearly his way of dismissing him again.
Dejectedly, Yang Bai left with the crowd, leaving the young lecturer to look at Shen Hui with smiling eyes. “I knew you weren’t dead.”
Shen Hui had no desire to discuss this topic and was just about to open his mouth to get straight to the point when Liu Fenghua placed an index finger over his lips.
An intimate and frivolous gesture, yet executed by him, it carried the elegance of an immortal blessing one’s crown.
“Let me divine your fortune. The protagonist of the tune you played ultimately achieved their wish, so the matter you are asking about will succeed, but that protagonist ultimately exited the stage, so you have a mortal calamity today.”
Shen Hui expressionlessly pried his finger away. “Liu Fenghua, is this how you routinely swindle people? Does no one hit you?”
“Probably not, they actually quite like when I talk like this.” Liu Fenghua rubbed his chin with cheap smugness. “And most importantly, I have money.”
Shen Hui remained silent.
Back when Shen Hui was still a manager for the Chen family, Liu Fenghua had been notorious throughout the circle of demonic and monstrous second-generation heirs. Because he didn’t hit bars, didn’t like omegas, and didn’t care for thrills, he had dedicated himself wholeheartedly to Daoism, even running off to the Chunyang Palace on Mount Hua to apprentice under a master with heavy funds, nearly getting his legs broken by his father and achieving instant fame. Even the renovation funds for this Earth God Temple had been transacted with Shen Hui’s help.
Too lazy to waste words with him, Shen Hui cut straight to the chase. “Do you know about Yan Jiu’s plan to demolish Zhongshi Village?”
“I know.” Liu Fenghua shrugged. “But like I said, there’s no way he’s going to pull it off.”
There was simply no talking to this guy. Shen Hui felt his brain must have short-circuited for him to come seeking him out.
“Forget it, I’ll figure something out myself.” Shen Hui stood up to leave, but Liu Fenghua pressed him back down, pulled a flashy little dagger engraved with runes out of his sleeve, and handed it to Shen Hui. “I told you, you have a mortal calamity today.”
Rarely did Liu Fenghua look this serious. The last time was right before Shen Hui’s surgery, when he had only uttered four words: find a way out of a dead end.
Three minutes later, sitting alone in the zither room waiting for Yang Bai, Shen Hui tilted his head slightly, precisely dodging a sneak weapon hurtling from a tricky angle. Opening his eyes, he saw the person standing at the back door.
The opponent had an androgynous, beautiful face, wore a high ponytail, and was wrapped tightly in black athletic wear despite the thirty-six-degree heat of Qinghai, with a slender, diminutive figure resembling an underage girl.
“Omega.”
The opponent refused to back down. “Shen Hui?”
To his surprise, it was a young man.
Shen Hui didn’t answer, though the other party didn’t care much either. “Master told me to take you somewhere.”
“Chen Shenzhi?”
“You’re not worthy of speaking the master’s name.”
Without batting an eye, Shen Hui sighed, cursing internally: Liu Fenghua, you absolute jinx.
The youth’s movements were exceptionally agile, and his speed was unlike that of an ordinary person. In the blink of an eye, he rushed in front of Shen Hui and launched a fierce attack. Shen Hui stepped back, and the zither and rosewood table before him were instantly split in half, the strings wailing with a sharp snap.
Shen Hui furrowed his brows slightly. Such formidable power already surpassed many alphas and couldn’t possibly be strength an omega could possess.
Yet the youth gave Shen Hui no time to think, thrusting a direct strike toward Shen Hui’s glabella. It stopped dead just a millimeter away from his eyeball.
With the iron-clad grip of a vise, Shen Hui locked onto the youth’s wrist. Taking a step back to steady his lower stance, he slammed the person mid-air against the wall, giving them zero breathing room. With a swift hook punch aimed right at the other’s chin, his strikes were steady, accurate, and merciless, completely devoid of any gentle chivalry.
Not expecting Shen Hui to be genuinely this formidable at fighting, the youth took a couple of solid blows. The impact on his jaw made his vision go dark, and he was pinned straight to the floor by Shen Hui, both hands pressed behind his lower back under complete control.
“Hah, has Chen Shenzhi started looking down on me this much? Sending a mere kid to assassinate me?”
Struggling violently, the youth’s brute strength proved no match for Shen Hui’s leverage. Then, a deeply wicked smile spread across his face. “More than enough to kill you.”
Realizing the calculation behind that smile, Shen Hui instantly retreated, but it was already too late. A roaring wave of fierce, fiery pheromones instantly coiled around him. His unstable rut swept over his entire body in a matter of seconds, leaving Shen Hui devoid of even the strength to raise his arm.
The tables turned instantly. The youth flipped over, pinning Shen Hui to the floor with an expression of unfathomable jealousy and reluctance in his eyes. “Just like Master said, you really did turn into an omega.”
Shen Hui tried to struggle, but his body had turned too soft and refused to obey. He couldn’t figure out what on earth this youth had done.
“Originally, Master only told me to bring you back. But I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to kill you.”