On a wide, straight highway, several military jeeps raced forward under the sunlight along the central lane. Four vehicles formed a formation, front, back, left, and right, tightly enclosing the car in the middle. Sunlight poured over the mountains and forests on both sides, revealing a sweeping, beautiful landscape.
Inside the central vehicle, no one was speaking. Only Liang Qu would occasionally yawn. He and Liang Zhao had stayed up late yesterday writing reports, processing procedures, and passing approvals. Early this morning they were already out escorting a prisoner. Truly, one sentence from the leadership meant the subordinates ran themselves to exhaustion. He opened his phone and used the camera to look at his face, then complained tearfully to the person beside him.
“Xiao Zhao, look at me. My dark circles are getting worse. This evil overtime culture is destroying my looks. If this continues, my handsome face is going to evolve into a panda’s face, and I’ll no longer be the most popular face among the omegas in the base.”
Liang Zhao ignored him. Liang Qu leaned over sneakily and even pinched his face.
“How come we both work 996 but you don’t get dark circles? Not even a single pimple. Don’t tell me you’ve been secretly doing skincare at night! Oh, so you’re quietly competing behind my back, huh? I knew it, you’re jealous of my ranking on NSMS Headquarters’ list of most handsome alphas. You look so honest, how can you do something so shameless?!”
“Tell me, what brand of mask are you using? Kiehl’s or L’Oréal? Valmont or Fresh? Hand it over, I want it too!”
Liang Zhao twisted his head trying to avoid his hands, but Liang Qu kept clawing at him and wouldn’t let go. Liang Zhao’s face was already pinched red, and even the soldier driving in front couldn’t help but snort out a laugh.
Liang Zhao finally grabbed his hand firmly and said, “Stop messing around. We’re on a mission.” He tilted his chin forward as a reminder.
Liang Qu snorted and sat back with his arms crossed. After thinking for a moment, his gaze shifted to the silent prisoner sitting in the front.
The person sat in a restraint chair, hands and feet bound with specialized cuffs. A hood covered his head so his face couldn’t be seen, but Liang Qu knew there was a level III-A suppressor needle inserted into his gland. He had worn a similar device before during special forces interrogation training, his was only Type I, and it had already felt like torture. All power in his bloodline was forcibly drained, leaving him gasping like a fish stranded on shore. He could not imagine what it was like to wear a Type III suppressor.
In addition, the prisoner was wearing a blindfold and had a mouth gag stuffed in. Some awakened individuals had special abilities that could still influence others through sight or sound even when their glands were suppressed. There had once been a case where escorting officers were all manipulated, resulting in the prisoner escaping and the vehicle being destroyed with all personnel killed. After that, headquarters tightened restrictions on high-rank criminals, though such extreme measures were still rare. In all his years of military service, Liang Qu had never seen a prisoner subjected to the highest level of restraint, with every possible action completely sealed off.
From appearance alone, no one would imagine this person, who looked as fragile as paper, could be so dangerous. He was only wearing a single thin layer of clothing. Liang Qu’s good eyesight could even make out the faint protrusion of his shoulder blades through his back. His body, hidden under that thin fabric, looked weak in every possible way. The skin exposed at his cuffs was pale as snow, and in contrast with the black restraints, even his wrist bones looked as fragile as jade.
Yet Liang Qu did not dare to let his guard down. When the “17·8 Yanzhou Pharmaceutical Factory Major Explosion Case” happened, he had still been a rookie in training. After that incident, the entire special military system was shaken. The military underwent massive internal investigations and reforms from top to bottom.
At the time, Colonel Ren and his wife were a very famous “model couple” within headquarters and even the AMP Alliance. Although the word “model” was questionable, the colonel had essentially obtained his partner through force, causing many alphas to curse him in secret for lacking moral conduct and crying over photos of the interrogation division chief for three days straight, his wife was genuinely gentle and obedient. There were even anonymous witnesses who had accidentally entered the colonel’s office and saw Division Chief Shen sitting on the colonel’s lap, his pale, delicate hands massaging his temples. Setting aside whether the colonel, whose pheromone perception was as sharp as a beast, had deliberately let those people in to show off, just Shen’s breathtaking appearance and gentle personality alone made him the “[1]“White moonlight” is a Chinese expression meaning someone deeply admired, idealized, and emotionally unforgettable — a person seen as pure, beautiful, gentle, and almost unattainable. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2390806_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2390806_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });white moonlight” of countless alphas in headquarters.
There is a beauty as cold and clear as the moon, unmatched by anyone; an ability to remain calm and work steadily; and the obedience, gentleness, and well-behaved nature to manage household affairs for an alpha, serve tea and water, and be submissive, finding such an omega to be a wife would truly make dozens of generations of ancestors’ graves emit great smoke!
Liang Qu was also very much into admiring Director Shen’s looks back then. When he heard they were together, he was very indignant, full of envy, jealousy, and hate. He felt that the Colonel was bullying the weak, forcing himself on them, while Director Shen was powerless to resist, and eventually developed Stockholm syndrome, that’s how it’s written in novels. But unexpectedly, before the unattainable moon could have a baby bump and run, or the Colonel could chase his wife to the crematorium, the forced-love melodramatic story turned into a revenge and abuse-on-villains one, the unattainable moon he had been adoring turned out to be the villain!
That was by no means some lofty, clear, cold moon above; that was a silver, crescent-shaped blade coated in poison, the kind that would directly stab you through, leaving a hole straight through.
Even their gender was fake, an alpha pretending to be an omega, playing everyone around like fools. They left a permanent, ineradicable scar on the great demon king, who was widely believed wouldn’t lose a single hair even if Earth exploded. Liang Qu couldn’t help but shiver, remembering how infatuated he once was with this person, this beauty laced with poison, thorns, and ruthlessness was truly too terrifying.
“Brother—”
Liang Zhao’s shout snapped Liang Qu back to attention. He had been staring at the prisoner without blinking for too long. Liang Qu scratched his head, dazed, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Liang Zhao stared out the window, frowning deeply: “There are too many cars outside.”
Liang Qu glanced outside and slowly narrowed his eyes: “Didn’t they already notify for traffic restriction? Where did all these cars come from?”
Outside, quite a few private cars were driving on the highway. Perhaps because the escort formation was so grand, an Audi driving alongside even rolled down its window and started taking photos of them.
Liang Qu took out his phone and dialed: “Doesn’t the traffic bureau know we’re secretly escorting a prisoner? Tell them to stop letting cars onto the G7 longitudinal line. Here—”
“BOOM—” With a sound, before Liang Qu could finish his words, a huge tremor shook the entire highway. The road bounced up and down like a jump rope. The car ahead couldn’t avoid it in time and crashed directly into the railings on both sides. The soldier immediately yanked the steering wheel hard, veering toward the emergency lane. “SCREECH!!—” The piercing sound of brakes pierced through people’s ears, surrounded by countless earth-shattering crashing sounds.
The instant the jeep crashed to a stop, both Liang Qu and Liang Zhao lunged toward the prisoner ahead, shielding them underneath themselves. After it stopped, they quickly got up. Liang Qu crouched down to check the prisoner’s condition. Due to the enormous inertial impact, the prisoner’s entire body had tilted to one side. Fortunately, their hands and feet were still locked to the chair with safety restraints. Aside from red marks left by the shackles around the wrists and ankles, they hadn’t suffered major injuries.
Liang Qu removed his hood. A head of white hair fell down. There was a slight scrape on the cheek, where tiny beads of blood were beginning to emerge.
“How is it?” While Liang Qu was checking, Liang Zhao had already drawn his gun, exited the vehicle, and was observing the outside situation.
“Just a minor scratch. Nothing serious.”
Liang Zhao looked toward the driver’s seat. The soldier gave him an “OK” gesture.
“It’s more dangerous inside the vehicle. You both get out.”
Liang Qu released the safety locks, pulled Shen Yue by the arm and got out of the car. The soldiers from the other four vehicles had already gotten out and set up their guns, surrounding the group in the middle for protection. One soldier was speaking into a walkie-talkie: “Reporting to base, reporting to base. On the G7 longitudinal line, during escort, a suspected earthquake has occurred. The cause of the earthquake is unknown. Currently, multiple vehicles have rear-ended and crashed into the guardrails. Requesting reinforcements. Requesting reinforcements.”
The entire highway resounded with cries of wailing. Shards of glass covered the ground. Several soldiers had already gone to the crashed vehicles to rescue people. As for the Audi that had been driving alongside the military jeep, lacking the jeep’s strength and crash resistance, it had been completely overturned. The man and woman inside had faces covered in blood, struggling to get out of the car doors.
Even more dangerous was the pungent smell of gasoline filling everyone’s nostrils. Gasoline was gurgling out from under the rear of many vehicles, already spreading over a large area.
Liang Qu threw off his jacket and rushed over: “Xiao Zhao, you protect the prisoner. I’m going to rescue people. Get all these people away from here!”
He ran to the Audi, lifted the car to a certain height with one hand, and with the other hand gripped the door handle and tore the entire door off. The female omega in the passenger seat tumbled out crawling and rolling, screaming in agony. Soldiers dragged her away. The male alpha in the driver’s seat wasn’t so lucky. He hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt. Even with airbag protection, he had still smashed his head through the windshield, half of his skull collapsed.
“Help, help me… help me…” the alpha called out weakly. Out of fear, he unconsciously released a large amount of pheromones. Liang Qu made a “Tsk” sound. The soldiers beside him helped him lift the car. He reached his body inside from the outside, grabbed the driver’s seat, which had been twisted beyond recognition, and pulled it backward. But the alpha was entirely stuck with his head down inside. Using brute force to pull him out would rip his head off. Liang Qu grabbed the seat’s base frame. Then, the cold, black iron melted like wax, emitting a burnt smell. Finally, there was some space inside the car. Liang Qu pulled the seat back a certain distance. But the alpha was too severely injured, his consciousness already blurred. After squirming for a long time, he couldn’t get up.
Liang Qu reached out his hand toward him: “Give me your hand!”
The alpha forced himself to lift his face and reached out his hand.
Just as Liang Qu was about to grab him, the Audi was suddenly pulled backward by something. Caught off guard, Liang Qu lunged forward from the force.
The soldiers quickly grabbed him. Something was pulling the car backward. Several people all grabbed onto the car, but were dragged forward bit by bit by the fierce force. Liang Qu’s feet left clear dragging marks on the ground as they were pulled. The car, subjected to these two opposing forces, began to split apart from the middle.
“Quick, pull him out!”
The soldiers lunged to rescue him. But then, with a “CRACK—” sound, the car finally couldn’t bear the strain and broke directly into two halves from the middle. One half, like a pulled toy, slammed directly into the guardrail. Liang Qu watched helplessly as the alpha, with a face full of terror, fell over the cliff along with the shattered half of the car.
“RUMBLE—”
The car tumbled down the mountain, erupting in a tremendous fire. A chelicera covered in spikes reached up from the cliff, scraping against the road with a piercing “SKREEE—SKREEE—” sound. Then, several legs at once leaped up. A giant, yellowish-brown monster appeared before everyone.
“It’s an awakened species: mountain spider!” the soldiers shouted.
Liang Qu stared coldly at the monster. Remembering the helpless, pleading look in the alpha’s eyes just now, between his eyebrows a brilliant red light suddenly flared.
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