As Jiang Xuechen had said, Dongcheng was a rainy city. For Shen Yue, who possessed the “Ripple Within the Palm” ability, rainy days were extremely uncomfortable. Back then, Ren Junzhu had once gritted his teeth and wanted to transfer him to the northern base. The northern base, located in Zhongjing, was surrounded by mountains, with dry weather and little summer rainfall. Although doing so would mean the two of them would see each other far less often, perhaps only a few times a year, it was still better than letting Shen Yue constantly suffer from fever.
But Shen Yue himself refused. “Ripple Within the Palm” brought him great pain personally, but the ability to control water was extremely valuable for flood prevention and disaster relief in the southern regions.
Since YS1653, extreme weather had become frequent. Southern cities such as Dongcheng, Yaoping, and Nanzhen experienced flooding disasters every year. At their worst, there had even been cases of torrential rain submerging entire cities. As a high-ranking awakened individual, Shen Yue could control floodwaters and water sources, allowing him to resolve water disasters with maximum efficiency when incidents occurred, protecting the safety of people’s lives and property.
When headquarters received Ren Junzhu’s report, they were in a difficult position. They knew it was unfair to make Shen Yue shoulder all of this alone, but in reality, although there were many awakened bloodlines, high-rank awakened individuals were still extremely rare, especially top-tier elemental control abilities like his. There were fewer than ten such individuals worldwide.
Moreover, even with such abilities, in the face of the boundless power of nature, humans remained extremely small and fragile. In order to ensure the safety of southern residents during the rainy season, they had no choice but to let Shen Yue endure the side effects of his ability.
Shen Yue understood the headquarters’ concerns, so he took the initiative to report to the commander and requested the cancellation of Ren Junzhu’s transfer order. He said, “As a soldier, my first duty is to protect the country and its people. If suffering from fever and illness can reduce casualties from floods, then it is worth it.”
However, Ren Junzhu was not pleased. At the time, Shen Yue had tightly hugged his waist, burying himself in his arms to comfort him. In fact, another reason was that he did not want to leave him and wanted to stay together forever.
After much coaxing, the cold-faced colonel finally softened, though his lowered gaze still carried deep worry and distress.
Even now, everything imposed on Shen Yue remains the same as before. But Ren Junzhu’s gaze had become far more complicated; those eyes were too deep and too dark, with no readable emotion left inside.
Jiang Xuechen took a blue injection from the medical kit. This was the Energy Dissociation Agent, abbreviated as “de-dissociation agent.” Long-term research had shown that awakened abilities were produced because certain cells contained special targeting factors. The dissociation agent could neutralize these factors, thereby reducing the negative side effects of the awakened abilities.
However, since each person’s targeting factor was unique, it was difficult to produce a universal version. With billions of awakened individuals worldwide, creating customized agents for everyone was too costly and impractical. The current version was only a first-generation formula, newly developed last year, effective for about 20% of awakened individuals.
Jiang Xuechen injected the drug into Shen Yue’s arm. After some time, he examined him again using Sacred Feather Light, then shook his head.
“As expected, it doesn’t work on him. His drug resistance is too strong.”
“I’ll perform acupuncture on him once. Clearing his meridians should help somewhat.” Over years of research, Jiang Xuechen had discovered that traditional Chinese medicine techniques were, in some cases, even more suitable for treating awakened individuals than Western medicine. Because of this, he had been actively promoting traditional Chinese medicine, including herbal medicine theory and acupuncture, in international circles.
“Colonel, it would be best if you were present as well. Your pheromones can help calm him.”
Ren Junzhu nodded.
After Jiang Xuechen finished the full set of acupuncture, the sky had already brightened.
“Xiao Xing…” he said when he saw Ren Suixing standing at the door. “You didn’t sleep at all?”
Ren Suixing didn’t answer. He opened his mouth to call out “Brother Jiang,” but then stopped, furrowing his brows in frustration, looking irritated.
Jiang Xuechen crouched down and patted his head.
“Did you argue with the colonel again?”
Ren Suixing put his hands in his pockets. His pretty little face was full of disdain, as if he didn’t want to talk about it.
“I won’t ask about what’s between you and the colonel,” Jiang Xuechen said, “but what I do want to say is that you need to learn to control your temper. I know that to a large extent, your temperament, like the colonel’s, is influenced by your innate ability. But human willpower has a very high limit. You need to learn to suppress your irritability with your own will.”
Although Ren Suixing did not have a pure fire attribute, he had inherited Ren Junzhu’s pure fire-type innate ability: Supreme Flame.
Attribute: Pure fire, innate constitution-type ability, passive ability.
Awakeners with this ability are highly prone to extreme emotions such as anger and hatred. When Supreme Flame is triggered, it suppresses the prefrontal cortex in the left brain responsible for rational thinking, while amplifying the sympathetic nervous system that produces anger and excitement. As a result, the awakened individual becomes extremely irritable, unstable, and difficult to control.
When the awakened enters an “sensitive period” or heat/instinct cycle, the effect of Supreme Flame is doubled.
“Even if your temper is caused by your ability and isn’t what you truly want, the laws targeting awakened individuals are now extremely strict. Regardless of whether it’s driven by instinct, any harm caused will be severely punished. You’re only seven years old, still a minor in the protection period, but from now on, you need to learn restraint. Otherwise, even if your performance is outstanding and your awakening level is strong, if you fail the discipline assessment upon graduation, you still won’t be allowed into the military.”
Ren Suixing suddenly looked up.
“No way. I have to join the military. I’ve worked so hard to earn so many merits.”
From the moment he became aware of himself, Ren Suixing had believed he was born to be a soldier. The battlefield and weapons had a special pull on him. If he couldn’t enter the military in the end, he would truly be disappointed.
“That’s exactly why…” Jiang Xuechen tapped his forehead. “You need to learn restraint. High-rank awakened individuals are a double-edged sword. If the awakened cannot prove to headquarters that they can control themselves and follow orders, then headquarters will never allow them in.”
“Your father also went through a long and difficult process before gaining headquarters’ approval. Although his emotions are unstable, he has never done anything out of line all these years. He’s approaching his sensitive period recently, so you should be more understanding of him.”
Ren Suixing pressed his lips together and lowered his eyes. After thinking for a moment, he obediently replied, “I understand, Brother Jiang.”
“I knew you could definitely do better than your dad.” Jiang Xuechen pinched his cheek.
Just then, Liang Qu and Liang Zhao arrived. Ren Junzhu also came out of the room. The two of them saluted, and Liang Zhao explained their purpose to him:
“Colonel, the monitoring team leader detected that your pheromone index has reached 47. He reported it to Staff Officer Liu, and the staff officer sent us to check what is going on.”
On Ren Junzhu’s left wrist was a black watch. A closer look revealed that its dial was not marked with a normal 24-hour clock, but instead divided into four sector zones.
This was a pheromone monitoring device developed by the military. It could measure the wearer’s pheromone concentration in real time. Levels 1–25 were green, 25–50 yellow, 50–75 orange, and 75–100 red. At this moment, the needle had already reached the edge of the yellow zone.
This monitor was one of the special devices that Liang Qu had mentioned before, equipment required by NSMS headquarters regulations to be worn at all times by certain high-ranking officers. It was a defensive measure against highly ranked and potentially dangerous awakened officers. Even though Ren Junzhu was a colonel, he still had to obey military orders.
The pheromone of dragon’s-breath incense surrounding Ren Junzhu was extremely dense, and within it could be sensed a strong irritability, like a male beast in a special period, becoming unusually aggressive due to unmet needs.
Ren Junzhu frowned, clearly forcing down his emotions. Dark clouds seemed to hang over his handsome face, so much so that Liang Qu instinctively hid behind Liang Zhao.
Ren Junzhu replied, “I will report this to the staff officer later. It’s getting late, you should head back first.”
“Liang Qu, Liang Zhao, escort Doctor Jiang back.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
Liang Zhao and Liang Qu quickly led Jiang Xuechen away. Outside the bedroom, only Ren Junzhu and Ren Suixing remained. The father and son said nothing and didn’t even look at each other, simply standing there with hands in their pockets, their postures almost identical.
In the end, it was Ren Suixing who couldn’t hold back. He spoke awkwardly.
“How… is he?”
Ren Junzhu didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “What exactly happened at school?”
“You’re so capable, I’m sure those people already reported it to you,” Ren Suixing muttered under his breath. “And you still keep asking me.”
“I want to hear it from you.”
Ren Suixing clicked his tongue. He didn’t really want to talk, but he still briefly explained, only, he didn’t mention Zhu Luozhen asking him to bring his mother over. He only said he got angry and ended up in a fight.
Ren Junzhu listened in silence. Looking at the smaller version of himself, he asked, “Then what happened to your chin?”
“Huh?”
Ren Suixing touched his jaw in confusion. It was slightly swollen, with faint fingerprints still visible, the mark left when Zhu Luozhen had grabbed him. He had strong recovery abilities, so most of the bruising had already faded overnight, leaving only a faint trace.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Who doesn’t get hurt in a fight?” he said casually. Then he tilted his head up. “You still haven’t told me, how is Shen Yue?”
He didn’t question him further. His eyes narrowed slightly, a flash of coldness passing through them. Then he answered:
“He’s asleep. The fever and fainting were caused by the rainy weather. A few days of rest and he’ll be fine.”
“…Really?” the child asked, eyes wide.
He nodded.
The boy let out a quiet breath of relief. He lowered his head, blinking as if thinking about something. After a long moment, he said softly, “Today… I couldn’t control myself. I didn’t mean it.”
“Mm.” He responded.
“I… I plan to take part in the school’s individual wilderness combat simulation assessment. About a month.”
“Why do you want to go again?”
This individual wilderness simulation assessment was highly competitive. One hundred and twenty students would be dropped onto a remote island for solo tactical combat. The exam had many constraints and tested not only combat ability with abilities, but also emergency response, thinking, intelligence, communication, and other comprehensive skills.
The assessment was divided by academic division. In the elementary division, those qualified to participate were mostly fifth- and sixth-year students. Because of his outstanding performance last week, he was the only first-year student invited.
At first, he hadn’t intended to participate. It wasn’t fear, he didn’t even know what fear meant. Even if it had been middle school or high school students, he would still have gone. It was simply that the duration was too long, and he didn’t want to leave Shen Yue. He was still too young, and when it came to emotions and study, he tended to choose emotions over logic, unlike adults who could rationally choose the path that advanced work and training.
But after the DNA test report and what happened tonight, he had begun to understand.
“Brother Jiang is right. I need to learn self-control. This assessment will temper my temperament and help me.”
That was one reason. Another was that he had begun to realize his complicated feelings toward Shen Yue were restraining his growth. He couldn’t let go of him, but he also couldn’t fully hold on. In that case, it was better to step away first. He was still immature and couldn’t make sense of certain things, so he would give himself time and distance to figure it out.
That would be better for both of them.
He looked up at him, only to find himself suddenly blushing under that gaze. Stammering, he said, “W-why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?”
He let out a faint laugh. “I didn’t expect to hear something like that from you. Alright, I understand. I’ll arrange it.”
Ever since the boy had started forming his own opinions, he rarely interfered with his decisions, unless they were extremely unreasonable. Otherwise, he let him do what he wanted. If it was right, he would enjoy the results; if it was wrong, he would bear the consequences himself.
In simple terms, it was free-range parenting. The only time he had strongly objected was when the boy insisted on joining the military. He could do anything else, but he didn’t want him entering the special armed forces like himself. However, the boy had been firm, and in the end he said nothing more.
Seeing the two of them reconcile, the housekeeper happily brought over breakfast. “Young master didn’t eat last night. You must be hungry now, come eat.”
“Ah, there’s ice too. Put it on quickly.”
He really was hungry. He had a strong appetite and plenty of energy, and since childhood his family had never worried about his eating habits. After not eating anything the night before, he was so hungry he felt empty inside. He took the ice and pressed it against his chin to reduce the swelling, while using his other hand to grab a bun and start eating.
Seeing him head-down, eating eagerly, he turned and went back into the bedroom. Before entering, he said, “After you finish eating, sleep for a while before going to school. What happened last night will never happen a second time at school.”
The rain in Dongcheng lasted for four days straight. Only after it finally cleared on the fourth day did Shen Yue begin to show signs of waking up. Because of the Moon God Suffering, his recovery was slow, and he ended up lying in bed for seven days before he could get up.
When he first woke, his vision swam with stars and he didn’t even know where he was. Once his sight cleared, he realized this wasn’t his room. Shen Yue stared blankly at the familiar minimalist black-and-white decor and the soft, comfortable large bed beneath him, thinking he was still dreaming.
“Awake?”
The sudden voice startled him so badly he jolted. He hadn’t even noticed when Ren Junzhu had appeared, he always moved without a sound.
Shen Yue rasped out, “Cough… cough…”
His throat was so hoarse it was almost frightening; he couldn’t even form proper words, his voice faint like a cat’s cry.
“You just broke your fever. Don’t talk yet. Drink some water,” Jiang Xuechen said. Only then did Shen Yue react. He opened his eyes, his gaze still somewhat dazed.
Jiang Xuechen helped him drink a glass of water. Only then did the burning in his throat ease slightly. Shen Yue looked around at the surroundings and pressed his lips together faintly.
He had been out of it for too long. Ren Junzhu spoke from the side, indifferent and cool: “What, you can’t even recognize this place anymore?”
Of course Shen Yue recognized it. This was the master bedroom of the Ren family estate—Ren Junzhu’s room. Seven years ago, the two of them had often been on this bed…
But he was confused. He didn’t know how he had ended up here. All he remembered was that before he passed out, he had been extremely cold, so cold that he could barely recall what had happened.
This severe illness had left Shen Yue gaunt and drained; his cheeks were hollow, and his already slim jaw had become even sharper. It made his large eyes look darker and brighter by contrast, fragile, exhausted, almost fragile to the point of collapse.
The thick dragon-scented pheromones filling the bedding wrapped around him, making him momentarily feel as if he had been thrown back seven years. That cold, elegant, overwhelmingly masculine scent seeped into his skin without any gap, so dense it felt almost physical, like a large hand slowly stroking him from top to bottom, inside and out.
Although his head was still foggy, that scent made his body feel slightly more relaxed. Yet he also felt exhausted, because he understood—Ren Junzhu was releasing his pheromones because he still had value. And precisely because of that, he felt even more drained.
Jiang Xuechen touched his forehead. “Still a bit warm. Go back to sleep. A good sleep will help.”
“…” Shen Yue did not speak, only nodded.
He buried his face into the quilt, revealing a pair of black, bright, and gentle eyes. He glanced at Ren Junzhu, who was working nearby. Ren Junzhu had not looked up the whole time; he probably did not want to see him. Shen Yue lowered his eyes, silently turned over, and hid himself under the quilt. He quietly stared at a corner of the room, just blanking out like that, not even realizing when he fell asleep.
The ambergris pheromones in the room lingered for a long time without dissipating.