At this moment, no one can understand Shen Yue’s feelings. He is stunned for a long time before he can barely speak: “Why… why are you suddenly asking this?”
Ren Suixing: “You’ve noticed it too, right? Your tear mole is very similar to mine. And you didn’t ask me to turn on the light, which means you also have night vision. This ability is not common among awakeners, it is an innate awakened. There is a special tapetum behind the retina in the eye that can reflect light, appearing as a silver glow in the darkness, similar to a cat’s eye. Your silver glow is faint, but I can still see it clearly, and I have it too.”
His round pupils, emitting a silver glow from their inner rings, stare at him unwaveringly. Shen Yue is stiff, not knowing how to answer, and feigns a wry smile: “Actually, I—”
“You only need to answer yes or no.” When Ren Suixing’s face is expressionless, he looks exactly like his father. He has not only inherited his meticulousness and decisiveness, at only seven years old, the dominant and ferocious traits carried in his genes have already revealed themselves without question.
Shen Yue bites his lip. Nerves pulse and throb in his brain. Ren Junzhu’s deep, threatening words echo in his ears, if he dares to acknowledge the child, he will personally kill their child right in front of him. Not to mention whether Ren Junzhu would actually do such a thing, even if Ren Junzhu had not said those words, Shen Yue himself would not dare to admit it.
Having abandoned him for a full seven years since birth, betrayed the headquarters he served, betrayed his biological father, caused the deaths of so many people, he has no face to face the child. He cannot let the child know he has a mother so heartless and covered in stains.
“No… not.”
His voice is hoarse yet calm, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible tremor. Shen Yue half-closes his eyes. His heart feels hollow, as if he has lost something forever, yet it brings him a sense of relief.
Under the current circumstances, letting him know his origins would be meaningless. This is for the best. Having a mother like him would only be an obstacle for the child.
“Not?” Ren Suixing’s brow furrows slightly: “Think carefully. Don’t lie to me.”
Shen Yue says in a low voice: “No. It’s just a coincidence.”
Ren Suixing grabs Shen Yue by the collar, causing the chains to rattle loudly: “Coincidence? Over six billion people in the world, do you know how low the probability is for these genetic traits to appear in people without blood relation?!”
After repeated questioning fails to get the answer he wants, Ren Suixing seems somewhat out of control. His brows are tightly locked, and a trace of anger surfaces in his eyes. Although still young and undifferentiated, without pheromones, the innate sense of oppression, the shadow of the one who gave him his blood, is already there.
Shen Yue lifts his gaze to look at him and says softly: “It really is just a coincidence. Don’t you know? I am an alpha.”
“An alpha, whether in gland or internally, cannot be marked. So how could I possibly give birth to a child?”
Ren Suixing looks at the side of his neck. The Type III-A suppression collar he wears is specifically designed for high-rank alpha awakeners. On the inside of the collar, suppression needles inserted into the gland can suppress their awakened to the lowest possible level.
Ren Suixing releases his hand. Shen Yue’s head falls forward. His face is pale as paper. All the light in his eyes has been swallowed by the darkness. His back is hunched, as if he has aged ten years in an instant.
“You really are an alpha…” The childish face is full of disappointment. He does not yet know how to hide his emotions, and his expression is so sorrowful.
“True, it’s already been seven years and we still haven’t found him. There’s no way we’d just stumble onto him by sheer luck like a blind cat finding a dead mouse. I really was overthinking it,” Ren Suixing said self-mockingly.
Hearing his words, Shen Yue’s heart feels as if it is being cut with a knife.
After a moment of silence, knowing that Shen Yue is not his mother, Ren Suixing’s demeanor changes completely: “That stinky old man told me that you used to be a member of the base too, and now you’re in confinement because you betrayed Headquarters. Is that true?”
Shen Yue did not expect he would even know about this. He knew that one day this matter would be brought up, but he did not expect it would come right after that previous question, nor that it would be asked by his own child.
In a daze, the boundless endless artillery fire and that blood-red sun appear before his eyes, along with that person’s face, spitting blood, showing a rarely seen expression of extreme shock.
Shen Yue closes his eyes and slowly says: “……Yes.”
Ren Suixing is stunned for a moment, then says in disbelief: “So that means when you were carrying out the mission, you stabbing him is also true?!”
“Yes.”
“How could you do such a thing?!” Ren Suixing’s face is full of anger as he looks at him. This time, he is truly enraged.
“As a soldier, you betrayed your comrades and your organization! He said you caused the deaths of many people, I didn’t believe it, but I was wrong about you!” Even if Shen Yue is not his biological mother, Ren Suixing never imagined that the person who risked his life to save him in Wenshan Village was a heinous traitor, a criminal. He gives Shen Yue a hard shove, his eyes full of disappointment and the anger of being deceived.
Shen Yue’s face is pale. He hangs his head, saying nothing.
“They entrusted their backs to you, yet you stabbed them in the back. Where is your conscience?”
“Why did you do such a thing? Speak!”
Seeing Shen Yue’s cold face silent, Ren Suixing reaches out to grab him: “How could you—” Before he finishes speaking, Shen Yue’s pale, taut face trembles, and under Ren Suixing’s gaze, he vomits a large mouthful of blood!
He was already at the end of his rope, merely waiting for death. Every question Ren Suixing hurled at him was like a slow execution upon his mind and soul. Under the relentless torment, that nerve stretched to its absolute limit finally snapped under the strain, and the mouthful of blood he had been desperately suppressing could no longer be held back, spraying violently from his throat!
Countless blood spills from the corners of Shen Yue’s mouth. In no time, it stains his entire body, becoming the most vivid and piercing color in the darkness.
In the blur of shadows, he sees Ren Suixing’s anxious and flustered expression. He opens his mouth but cannot utter a single word. He feels his body is impossibly heavy, as if countless hands below are pulling him. He does not struggle, allowing his body to be dragged downward, sinking into a cold, silent abyss.
Right before losing consciousness completely, he silently opens his mouth, to Ren Suixing and to the lonely silence of this room, saying:
“I’m sorry… I’m truly sorry…”
His consciousness slightly clearer, Shen Yue slowly opens his eyes. What greets his eyes is a pitch-black world. Around him, there is no sound, no light. He waits for a while, then weakly asks into the void: “Don’t I need to… be boiled in oil?”
It takes him a moment to realize he is not dead, nor has he descended into the eighteenth level of hell. He tries to sit up, but a “clanking—” sound comes. He seems to be restrained somewhere.
Shen Yue’s brain is still somewhat chaotic. Nerves throb with pain, and his ears emit sharp, tearing sounds. Before he can recover from this tinnitus, a deep male voice sounds in the darkness. The voice carries a faint, smoky quality, with a notably deep timbre. In bed, this voice always sounded behind his ear, making Shen Yue’s entire body tremble uncontrollably. But now, this extremely magnetic voice is filled with mockery——
“Boiled in oil? You think your crimes can be atoned for just by being boiled in oil?”
Even though they are not in bed, Shen Yue still shivers abruptly. He then realizes the room is not completely dark. Moonlight mingled with scattered starlight streams in through the window. By the window, with his back to him, stands a person. From the back, one can see the man is tall, his back very broad. He has his arms crossed over his chest. Seeing Shen Yue awake, he half-turns, revealing a pair of extremely dark, extremely deep eyes.
Shen Yue sees clearly that this is a hospital room. The decor suggests it is the Southern Base Medical Center. His injuries have been treated. His right arm, the most severely injured, is wrapped in thick bandages. The smell of medicine still lingers in the air. But to prevent him from moving, both his hands are handcuffed to the side rails of the bed.
Shen Yue presses his lips together and says nothing more.
“You truly have remarkable skill. Putting on such a performance forced me to release you.” The deep voice carries even heavier mockery as it stares at him with an extremely cold gaze.
“I… I didn’t…” Shen Yue is stunned for a moment, then opens his eyes wide and says. His voice is hoarse and dry, as if it might bleed from the friction. But the man is unmoved:
“Didn’t? You happen to cough up blood and faint just when that little brat sneaks in to see you. You even use a child. Is there anything you wouldn’t do?”
Shen Yue turns his face aside and weakly defends himself: “I didn’t… truly, I didn’t… Junzhu, please believe me.”
Ren Junzhu curls his lips in a cold sneer: “Believe you? You think I’ll give you another chance to stab me in the back? Put away this hypocritical act of yours. It makes me sick to see it.”
Shen Yue’s face is deathly pale. Grief overflows from his chest. After a long while, he says, in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s whine:
“I’m sorry…”
He apologizes, but Ren Junzhu’s expression does not improve much. Instead, it grows even darker. Flickers of anger appear in his eyes, as if he might rush over and beat him in the next second. Shen Yue clutches the bedsheet, not sure whether his body in its current state could withstand one punch from him.
Ren Junzhu seems to disdain physical confrontation and does not hit him. Instead, he asks: “What did you say to that little brat? Did you admit your relationship with him?”
“No.” Shen Yue answers very quickly, afraid that Ren Junzhu might think he still harbors ill intentions. He lowers his gaze, his snow-white eyelashes trembling like feather fans, concealing the shattered light in his eyes.
“I am not worthy…”
The hospital room grows a bit quieter. Only the breathing of the two can be heard. Ren Junzhu turns his head away, no longer looking at him, and snorts coldly: “Good that you know. If you don’t want anything to happen to him, stay away from him.”
His fingernails dig straight into his palms. Traces of blood seep out. Shen Yue is accustomed to using physical pain to mask the pain in his heart. He says softly: “I know.”
Then, thinking of something, he cannot help but ask: “Then… how is he?”
Ren Junzhu’s eyes narrow slightly as he lifts his chin: “What do you mean?”
“You just said he came to see me secretly…” Shen Yue hesitates for a moment, then continues: “Then now that he’s been caught, what will happen to him? Where is he now?”
“Unauthorized entry into a confinement room to interact with a serious criminal, you, as the Head of the Interrogation Department of the Southern Base, oh no, I mean former Head…” Ren Junzhu lets out a mocking laugh:
“You should still remember what punishment that carries, right?”
Shen Yue frowns: “But he is still a child, under the differentiation age of 16. The Base can at most educate him; it cannot punish him.”
“You certainly remember clearly.” Ren Junzhu says.
“So where is he now?” Shen Yue is somewhat anxious. Suixing came to see him behind Ren Junzhu’s back. This not only violates Base discipline but also offends Ren Junzhu’s authority. He is very afraid that Ren Junzhu, in his anger, might do something to the child.
Ren Junzhu’s expression darkens slightly. The oppressive ambergris pheromones fill the hospital room. His voice is as deep and cold as ice:
“Are you questioning me?”
With just that one sentence, Shen Yue shivers. The dominant alpha pheromones, even filtered through the suppression collar, bring him an unbearable burning sensation. For the first time as an alpha, he experiences Ren Junzhu’s pheromones. He has previously participated in same-sex pheromone competitions, but never has he withstood such fierce, oppressive pheromones that brook no disobedience, the feeling is completely different from when he was an omega.
When he was an omega, though it also allowed no resistance, it always carried some soothing meaning. In bed, that scent was incredibly sexy and full of male hormones, wrapping around him tightly from inside to outside, leaving no room for escape. But now, having returned to his alpha identity, all the intoxicating passion has been replaced by instinctive confrontation and struggle. Shen Yue can no longer feel any trace of love, only cold, suffocating rejection.
Shen Yue clenches his teeth and says nothing, silently enduring this blade-like oppressive pheromone. He hopes Ren Junzhu can vent a little, this is what he deserves to bear. But Ren Junzhu’s expression grows increasingly cold and grim. Shen Yue’s silent endurance, this baring of himself, makes his face turn extremely unpleasant.
The pheromones coiling around his neck suddenly withdraw. Shen Yue leans to the side of the bed, dry heaving a few times. His white hair falls messily across the bed.
He lifts his face, looking at that tall, imposing figure, and says with a pale face: “Junzhu—”
“Don’t call me.” Ren Junzhu’s brow ridges furrow: “I don’t want to hear you say my name.”
Shen Yue closes his eyes and says in a low voice: “I’m sorry, Colonel… can you… tell me… please, I beg you.”
“The confinement room.” Ren Junzhu says.
Shen Yue is shocked: “The confinement room? Why?”
“The Base cannot punish him, but I can.” Ren Junzhu says coldly: “Although I’m reluctant to admit it, as his biological father, I have the right to discipline him. What, you want to plead for mercy for him, in your capacity as his mother?”
The last sentence is like a slap on Shen Yue’s face. Shen Yue’s heart clenches in pain, and he says in a small voice that he dares not.
“You’d better not pull any more tricks. Since you haven’t forgotten the Base’s regulations, you know I have the right to sanction you. If you dare play any more games—”
The tone is not too cold, rather very flat, but it makes Shen Yue feel as if he has fallen into an icy abyss. Cold creeps up his spine, and his hairs stand on end one by one.
The following words Ren Junzhu does not say, and Shen Yue naturally understands. The oppressive figure paces past Shen Yue. The door opens with a “click” and then closes again. The hospital room has very good soundproofing; Shen Yue cannot hear the sounds outside, only sees two figures standing before the door, presumably the officers guarding him.
After a long while, that chill slowly fades. Shen Yue goes limp on the bed, his whole body covered in cold sweat. He pants heavily, enduring the throbbing pain behind his neck, and just stares blankly at the ceiling like this until dawn.