It was 3:30 AM in Hong Kong. The torrential rain had finally ceased, but Victoria Harbour had not found peace. A heavy fog drifted up from the sea, wrapping the Mid-Levels the enclave of the wealthy in a hazy, chilling shroud.
Shen Yanzhou pushed open his bedroom door. A cold fragrance hit him immediately. His room was the most “model-home” like space in the entire Shen estate: a minimalist palette of grey and white, decorated with furniture that lacked any soul or warmth. Aside from the massive black velvet bed, the room was so sterile it resembled a morgue waiting for a body.
Using only the faint moonlight filtering through the window, he shrugged off his robe, revealing a pale, nearly translucent upper body. The mask of effortless composure he had worn downstairs collapsed the moment the door clicked shut.
“Cough… hack…”
A suppressed cough echoed in the darkness. Barefoot and staggering, he moved to the liquor cabinet. His fingers trembled as he grabbed an unopened bottle of whiskey, bit the cork off, and tilted his head back to down it.
The stinging liquid burned its way down his throat.
Because he was an “odorless” Omega, his body wasn’t physically suppressed by Alpha pheromones, but a congenital genetic defect had left his nervous system extremely fragile. Tonight, exposed to Sang Biao’s violent A-Class pressure for so long, every nerve in his body throbbed with pain.
Only a high concentration of alcohol could numb this agony.
With half a bottle of spirits down, a sickly flush rose to his deathly pale face. He wiped the excess liquor from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Holding the bottle and dragging his scorched leg, he walked to his desk, turned on his computer, and opened an encrypted folder.
This was the data he had purchased at an exorbitant price from an information broker: the dossier on the man he was supposed to marry.
[File No.: S-008 · Fu Sihan]
The ghostly blue light of the monitor reflected in his eyes, illuminating the name that sent shivers down the spines of everyone in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, people said the Su family monopolized jewelry, the Tang family controlled the media, and the Shen family held the shipping lanes by the throat. To the public, these three were the elite of the elite. But to Shen Yanzhou, that was a joke.
Compared to the Fu family, they were merely leeches clinging to the side of the pier. The Fu family was the deep, bottomless black sea capable of swallowing everything.
From grey-market dealings in the 1930s to their current control over 90% of the high-grade Alpha suppressant market, the Fu family’s rise was a bloody history of Hong Kong’s own resurrection.
As for Fu Sihan, he was a monster raised within this massive underground empire.
Shen Yanzhou moved the cursor and clicked on a blurred photograph taken in a cemetery on a rainy night. The man in the photo wore a dark grey trench coat; only his tall silhouette was visible. In the mud at his feet was what appeared to be a freshly filled grave. A small note in the margin read: [Fu internal strife; Fu Sihan personally buried his third uncle, Fu Lei, alive at the Western Suburbs Cemetery after an attempted coup.]
“Buried alive…” he murmured. This was his fiancé a madman who could bury his own uncle without blinking. The rumors were clearly true.
He scrolled down. Personality: Extremely violent, mercurial, intense desire for control. Rank: S-Class Alpha (Estimated). Associated Omegas/Betas: Over ten.
The scroll wheel continued down to a series of blurred, surreptitiously taken photos.
Unlike typical “scandalous” photos, the Omegas and Betas in these shots had their hands bound behind their backs with leather belts. Some knelt naked on floors covered in shattered glass; some had backs covered in purple-and-blue lash marks; others were drenched in red wine or what appeared to be wax.
Even through the screen, one could almost smell the metallic stench of blood and fluids.
These weren’t bed partners; they were disposable materials used for venting and destruction.
“Heh.” A cynical smile curled the corner of Shen Yanzhou’s mouth. Fu Sihan specifically requested a “cripple” like him was it truly just for an alliance?
He looked down at his own pale wrists and took another swig of whiskey. The stinging liquid flowed from the corner of his mouth, sliding over his prominent throat.
“Other Omegas are too easy to break, so you want someone durable? Is that it?”
Knock, knock, knock. A very light tapping came from the door.
The cynicism in Shen Yanzhou’s eyes vanished instantly, replaced by his usual cold detachment. “Get out,” he said without turning around.
The person outside did not leave.
“Brother, it’s me.” A young man’s voice warm, clean. The handle turned gently, and a tall figure stepped inside.
The newcomer wore light grey loungewear and possessed strikingly handsome features. He was the adopted son the Shen family had taken in over a decade ago, and now served as the chief counsel for the Shen Group’s legal department.
“Who gave you permission to enter this late?” Shen Yanzhou closed the laptop and spun his chair around.
Shen Xizhi did not answer immediately. His gaze moved past Shen Yanzhou’s face to his bare ankle. The skin scorched by the tea was swollen and blistered, a jarring sight against his pale foot.
Though his gentle expression didn’t change, the air around Xizhi grew noticeably colder.
“If Second Uncle continues to overstep, I wouldn’t mind seeing him lose a few points on next quarter’s dividend distribution,” Xizhi said. He approached with a first-aid kit and naturally dropped to one knee.
“I’m fine.” Shen Yanzhou instinctively tried to pull back, but Xizhi was faster. His large, dry hand accustomed to turning legal files clamped onto Shen Yanzhou’s ankle. The grip was perfectly calculated: firm enough to prevent escape, but gentle enough not to hurt.
“Brother, you need medicine.” Xizhi looked up, his dark eyes staring directly at Shen’s white foot. “If it scars, my heart will ache.”
He opened the kit and dipped a swab into a cooling ointment. His movements were practiced and focused. Shen Yanzhou frowned but stopped resisting. In this filthy house, Shen Xizhi was an outlier. He was brilliant, rational, and most importantly, he listened only to Yanzhou.
“I heard Grandfather set the date for the eighth of next month,” Xizhi asked while applying the medicine.
“You heard?” Shen Yanzhou swirled the whiskey bottle, sounding indifferent.
“Fu Sihan is a lunatic.” Xizhi’s fingers suddenly tightened on his ankle. “Brother, you will die. You will truly die.”
He looked up sharply, his usually warm eyes now bloodshot. “That Omega who tried to force a marriage through pregnancy last month when they fished her out of the water, her scent glands had been torn to pieces. Fu Sihan doesn’t want a partner; he wants obedient dogs or corpses. Do you want to become that?”
Shen Yanzhou let out a soft laugh and leaned down, looking Xizhi in the eye. “And if I do? Did you come here this late just to give me a pre-marital risk assessment?”
“Brother, my trust fund in Zurich has been unfrozen. I’ve already arranged a safe flight path to Europe,” Xizhi’s voice remained calm. “New identities, new passports I’ve even made a contingency plan for how to clean up the mess here. If you just nod, I can take you away anytime.”
“Away? Where? To live like a stray dog in a foreign country, surviving on a trust fund?”
Shen Yanzhou leaned in closer, his exquisite face inches from Xizhi’s. His voice was soft, but sharp with venom. “Xizhi, do you have any idea how many greedy eyes in this house are staring at the seat I’m sitting in?”
He pointed a pale finger toward the door. “The moment I leave, that old bastard Shen Hong and that waste Shen Xiuming will be popping champagne. They’ll descend like hyenas and tear the legacy my parents left behind into scraps.”
At the mention of his parents, the frost in Yanzhou’s eyes deepened. “This is what my parents died for. I would rather destroy it with my own hands burn it to the ground than let it fall to those blood-sucking maggots.”
“But I can’t watch you be destroyed! Brother, you are so smart. With your means and intellect, even if you went abroad with nothing, you’d build your own empire within a few years!”
“Is it worth it?”
“Xizhi, you’re a good lawyer. You know how to weigh pros and cons. To you, living might be the ultimate win,” Shen Yanzhou said softly, his voice weary and raspy. “But for me, some things are more important than life.”
“I’m tired, and my head hurts. I just want to sleep.”
“Then, I won’t disturb you.” Xizhi’s voice was thick with unspoken bitterness. “Don’t get the wound wet. Tomorrow morning, I’ll have my assistant send over fresh suppressants.”
He walked to the door, hand on the handle. He turned back one last time and whispered:
“Goodnight, Brother.”
The room fell into a dead silence, broken only by the occasional tap of rain against the glass.
Xizhi’s words were naive, but they reminded him of one thing: Fu Sihan was a perverted piece of trash. Marrying him meant death. If he didn’t act before the engagement on the eighth, he would be meat on a butcher’s block. His broken body could never survive the whims of an S-Class Alpha.
Shen Yanzhou opened a drawer and pulled out an even more secretive medical report from the very bottom. It was his full physical from six months ago. The final page was marked in red with a cruel diagnosis: [Congenital Glandular Occlusion has entered the late stage. Reproductive cavity is severely atrophied. Recommendation: If there is a desire for offspring, it must be completed within 18 months, or the subject will permanently lose reproductive capability.]
“One year left,” Shen Yanzhou stared at the number.
If he didn’t fight back, he would rot in the Fu family’s backyard, becoming just another insignificant piece in Fu Sihan’s collection.
But Shen Yanzhou was never one to wait for death.
“Since you want to push me into the fire” He ran a fingertip over the blurred photo of Fu Sihan. His eyes held no fear, only a sudden, cold spark. “Since you’re so sure I’ll be a weak Omega for the slaughter then I’ll give you a ‘gift’ you’ll never forget.”
A plan, as insane as it was vicious, began to take shape in his alcohol-soaked mind.
The Fu family, a century-old dynasty, was obsessively fixated on bloodline purity. A possessive, germaphobic lunatic like Fu Sihan would never touch an Omega marked by someone else one carrying a “bastard” child.
And for the old fossils in the Shen family, as long as he was carrying the child of a high-level Alpha, even if the father was unknown, it would be a precious S-Class bloodline. Keep the child, discard the father. Once he had that child, he would have the leverage to play against both families.
Shen Yanzhou picked up his phone and dialed a number with no name the information broker who had sent the Fu Sihan files.
The call connected, and a raspy, voice-modulated male voice answered. “Master Shen. Two calls in one night? What information are you looking for this time?”
Shen Yanzhou walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside, Hong Kong’s night view was a glittering masterpiece, but the neon lights formed a giant web designed to swallow human hearts. He looked at his reflection in the glass: silver hair like snow, an exquisite face, but eyes as hollow as a ghost’s.
His voice was soft, yet chillingly calm. “I want to buy something.”
“Oh? What does Master Shen want?”
Shen Yanzhou lowered his gaze. “I want a person.”
“I want the strongest, most savage, and most aggressive S-Class Alpha gene in all of Hong Kong.”
There was a noticeable pause on the other end. Even the background music seemed to quiet. “What do you mean? A bodyguard?”
“No,” Shen Yanzhou’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “I want to breed.”
“Identity doesn’t matter. Appearance doesn’t matter. As long as his genetic rating is S-Class or higher. Even if he’s a madman.”
“Master Shen, you’re making things difficult for me.” The broker paused, his voice tinged with a mix of helplessness and amusement. “S-Class Alphas aren’t exactly common. In this city, people with those genes are either at the top of the power pyramid like your fiancé, or they’re death-row inmates in maximum security.”
“Any ‘wild’ S-Class is snatched up by the big families or forcibly recruited by the government the moment they appear. You want me to wash one, wrap him up, and deliver him to your five-star hotel? That’s about as hard as kidnapping Fu Sihan for you.”
Shen Yanzhou frowned, tapping the glass impatiently. “So, you can’t do it?”
“I can’t do home delivery. However,” The broker’s tone shifted, dropping an octave. “If you truly insist on this ‘wild flavor,’ and you’re brave enough there is one place where you might get lucky.”
“Where?”
“Two days from now. The underground auction at Kowloon Walled City.” The broker slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. “That place is a lawless land within a lawless land. As long as you can pay, forget buying him for a night no one would say a word if you bought his life.”
“But, Master Shen are you truly certain you want to step into that filth?”
Shen Yanzhou looked out at the pitch-black night. Filth? Compared to his current situation, what difference did a little mud make?
“Send me the address,” he replied curtly.