“Recently, multiple betas have been subjected to forced indecent assault by alphas at night. Police investigations indicate that several cases involve the same suspect, who disguises himself as a taxi driver to commit crimes. The public is advised to…”
Click. The car radio shut off, and the low hum of the engine gradually became clearer.
Wen Zhiyu didn’t know where he was lying. His thoughts were chaotic, countless images churning and collapsing in his mind. Each scene felt like shards of glass with sharp edges, stabbing his nerves with excruciating pain. He tried to curl his fingers but found his wrists stiff as ice, already numb and unfeeling.
“Xiao Yu, you can finish the drawings tomorrow. Go home early tonight. That alpha recently…” The voice of his junior, Chen Ling, flashed by like scattered duckweed. Wen Zhiyu reached out but grasped nothing.
The car window wasn’t completely closed. Through the narrow gap, gusts of wind rushed in. Streetlights passed one by one, alternating light and shadow inside the car.
His head throbbed, every cell feeling as if pierced by needles. Wen Zhiyu couldn’t quite recall how he had responded at the time. Perhaps it was: “If I leave the drawings for tomorrow, it’ll be a disaster. It’s fine, I’ll book a taxi on the official platform…”
Suddenly, a pair of cold hands pressed against his face.
Wen Zhiyu’s eyelashes trembled slightly before he immediately resumed his long, steady breaths.
Crossing a speed bump, the car descended a slope, tilting forward. No more light seeped through his eyelids until the strong scent of disinfectant filled his nostrils. The car slowly came to a stop, the engine shut off, plunging everything into utter silence.
In the silence, his junior’s voice still buzzed in his ears, vague and fluctuating: “I heard that the pervert injects some kind of drug, high-concentration something, that depresses the central nervous system, causing poisoning and unconsciousness…”
“Stop talking!” Wen Zhiyu urgently interrupted.
The car rustled softly for a while. Wen Zhiyu remained motionless, feigning unconsciousness. Not long after, the faint sound of a button switch clicked, and a hand covered his eyelids. The touch and temperature of the skin almost made Wen Zhiyu cry out.
His eyelids were pried open, and the light from a pupil pen struck his eyeballs directly.
In the blinding light, Wen Zhiyu couldn’t see, and didn’t dare to look closely at, the person’s face. Only their white mask flashed by hurriedly.
Then the person released the hand supporting his eyelids. Wen Zhiyu thought there would be no further action, but immediately after, the weight of another person pressed down on him.
As Wen Zhiyu held his breath, a pair of lips descended.
“That pervert starts by gently kissing you. Once you let your guard down, he commits horrific violations, and finally kills…”
Wen Zhiyu shouted, “Chen Ling! Just go already!”
A delicate kiss landed, then withdrew, landed again, and withdrew once more, even playfully blowing air into his mouth.
Accompanying the kisses were the person’s caresses on his forehead and cheeks.
This state didn’t last long. Wen Zhiyu began to feel changes in his body, his heartbeat quickened, his skin temperature rose, and his consciousness seemed to grow even hazier.
This perverted alpha still hadn’t realized he was awake. Wen Zhiyu had only one thought: before the other person noticed, strike with the fastest, most lethal blow, escape, and call the police.
But just then, a low voice sounded beside his ear: “Awake?”
Wen Zhiyu’s heart stopped. His eyes snapped open.
Crash! The sound of shattering glass echoed loudly.
Wen Zhiyu picked up the glass ornament from the car and smashed it hard against the other person’s head, swift and decisive. Amidst the sharp, pained gasp, Wen Zhiyu’s hands trembled as he pulled the car door handle several times before finally managing to open it. Fresh air rushed in, but the moment his feet touched the ground, he pitched forward and collapsed.
He couldn’t feel it, he couldn’t feel his legs.
Wen Zhiyu lay on the ground, his heart pounding so fast he felt like he might vomit. Gritting his teeth, driven by sheer survival instinct, he desperately clawed his way forward with his hands.
What luck, running into a criminal suspect the police hadn’t caught for so long. But he had to get out of here, escape. He didn’t want to die yet.
Within seconds, hurried footsteps approached, followed by a powerful force grabbing his arm and hauling him up from the ground.
“Get away from me, you bastard!” Wen Zhiyu wanted to roar, but his body was so weak that the words came out as a feeble whisper.
The other person remained eerily calm, his tone icy. “Calm down. You’ve been drugged. It’s dangerous for you to go out now.”
Dangerous? Wasn’t he the biggest danger here?
“Get lost!”
Wen Zhiyu was thrown into the passenger seat. A burning pain suddenly surged in his chest, forcing him to gulp down cold air in an attempt to ease the agony.
Despite his fierce struggles and shouts, Wen Zhiyu heard the other person’s voice remain as placid as still water. “If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to tie you down.”
The sight of the other person removing his jacket was reflected in Wen Zhiyu’s pupils. Fighting against his restraints, he seized the last shreds of clarity and freedom, frantically groping until his fingers found the shattered glass fragments he had broken earlier.
“Go to hell!” Wen Zhiyu shouted, mustering every ounce of strength to stab downward with all his might.
The entire world tremble violently in his vision. In the distance lay a stretch of deep, shadowy grass. The night wind carried a fine drizzle that stung his face. Wen Zhiyu sat by the roadside, leaning against a flower bed as he gasped for air.
He had no idea where he was, how far he had run, or whether the criminal suspect would catch up. But the excruciating pain had reached an unbearable level.
His heartbeat grew louder and louder, the feverish heat and agony throughout his body becoming increasingly intense. The rain before his eyes seemed like a thick fog, blurring everything into a hazy, white expanse.
A long, long time passed, so long that Wen Zhiyu could no longer feel himself, so long that the endless patter of rain transformed into the alternating red and blue flashes of sirens. His consciousness plunged into darkness.
Needles pierced his veins, leaving three or four puncture marks on his wrist and arm. Another needle was connected to an IV drip, steadily pumping medication into his bloodstream.
Wen Zhiyu lay on the hospital bed, his brow furrowed in a permanent frown. Sweat dripped steadily from his temples, and his mind was still reeling from the chaos he had just endured.
He squinted half-consciously, watching as one police officer left and another entered, followed by several doctors.
“Does the back of your neck hurt?” a doctor asked.
Wen Zhiyu nodded with difficulty. It hurt, so much that he felt like he was dying, so much that he could barely hold onto his sanity. When he tried to speak, his voice trembled uncontrollably. “Is there any pain medication?”
“The pain medication is already in your IV drip. It should take effect soon. Just hang in a little longer,” the doctor said hurriedly before turning to leave. As he walked away, he called out to a nurse outside, “Has Dr. Li been notified? How soon can he get here?”
“Dr. Li ran into some trouble in the underground parking lot and is being treated for minor injuries. He’ll be here right away!”
A police officer sat by the hospital bed, questioning Wen Zhiyu while taking notes.
“So when you called the platform driver, you already noticed something off about their voice?” the police officer asked.
Wen Zhiyu nodded slightly, closing his eyes in pain. But as soon as his eyelids shut, two streams of tears flowed down uncontrollably.
“You wanted to sit in the back seat, but the driver said the previous passenger accidentally spilled water there, soaking a large area, and insisted you take the passenger seat?”
“Mhm.” Wen Zhiyu let out a muffled groan, indistinguishable whether it was a sound of pain or an answer to the question.
“And then?”
“Then…” Wen Zhiyu’s voice was hoarse, “then someone spoke up. He might have been afraid the car could be tracked, so halfway through, he grabbed me and switched vehicles.”
The door opened again, and the nurse who had been in earlier rushed in, saying urgently, “The test results are back. It’s a drug that stimulates beta pheromone secretion.”
The police officer nodded at her, then turned his gaze back to Wen Zhiyu. “Alright, the police are already pursuing the suspect. You were lucky, the place you escaped from is very close to this hospital. Get some rest now and wait for the doctor. We’ll come back to you with any updates. If you remember more details once you’re fully conscious, contact me anytime.”
Wen Zhiyu didn’t respond.
The police officer left, and the hospital room door closed, shutting out all the chaos of the night.
An hour later, a nurse entered the isolation room carrying a tray to change Wen Zhiyu’s IV bag, muttering quietly, “The tenth case of resistance syndrome this month… The omega isolation ward is almost full, and today we even got a beta… How strange…”
Wen Zhiyu stared blankly at the ceiling as a sudden, sharp pain flared at the back of his neck, as if something had taken root and begun to sprout there.
Recently, City A had been hit by a sudden outbreak of a disease, but the virus only spread among omegas. The illness caused genetic mutations in omegas, and experts had named it “pheromone resistance syndrome.”
Patients with pheromone resistance syndrome experienced unbearable pain all over their bodies, especially at the back of their necks, along with uncontrollable tears and immense physical and mental suffering.
There was no effective treatment for pheromone resistance syndrome yet, only a partner’s pheromones could provide temporary relief.
The higher the partner’s rank, the better the relief. Without a partner, patients could only endure the pain until death.
The illegal drug the suspect had injected into Wen Zhiyu altered his original physiological structure, causing him, a beta, to begin secreting pheromones uncontrollably.
Originally immune to the disease, he had now become a hidden carrier and potential spreader of pheromone resistance syndrome.
Police reviewing surveillance footage discovered that during his escape, Wen Zhiyu had brushed past a patient in the active phase of pheromone resistance syndrome. Perhaps that was when he had been infected.
The pervert’s injection had been the fuse, ready to ignite at the slightest spark.
In the silence, only the steady beeping of medical equipment filled the room. Painkillers slowly seeped into his system, and the person on the bed drifted into sleep, his breathing gradually steadying, though the tight furrow in his brow never relaxed.
After an unknown amount of time, the hospital room door opened, and Wen Zhiyu immediately stirred from his hazy consciousness.
The steady tap of leather shoes echoed on the floor, footsteps drawing closer.
Wen Zhiyu could sense someone watching him, but for a long while, the person made no move. He opened his eyes, and the world before him slowly came into focus.
A doctor in a white lab coat and a blue medical cap looked over at the exact moment Wen Zhiyu raised his eyes, their gazes meeting.
Wen Zhiyu’s eyes then drifted downward, landing on the other’s name tag, Li Qingchi.
Wen Zhiyu froze for a moment, the agitation stirred by the medication seeming to instantly settle. He lifted his gaze again, meeting the doctor’s eyes.
Li Qingchi stood by the bed, watching Wen Zhiyu in silence, his expression unreadable, like a doctor assessing a patient’s condition before making a judgment.
After a long pause, he suddenly sighed, reached out, and pressed his cold, gloved hand against the back of Wen Zhiyu’s neck.
“Ah…” Wen Zhiyu shuddered, unable to suppress a cry of pain.
Li Qingchi asked calmly, “Sharp pain all over, can’t hold back tears?”
Wen Zhiyu tilted his head back in agony. Before he could speak, tears had already begun to fall, one after another.
Li Qingchi continued, “Any other discomfort?”
Wen Zhiyu shook his head, paused for a moment, and then asked, “Has that damned bastard been caught yet?”
Li Qingchi: “What?”
Wen Zhiyu clenched his fist, enunciating each word clearly, “That damned perverted alpha!” At the mention of this, anger and hatred surged within him, momentarily overshadowing the pain. Worried his assumption might be wrong, he sought confirmation from the doctor again, “Sexually transmitted diseases can’t be spread through kissing, right? What if he had one? Ugh, it disgusts me just thinking about it.”
Li Qingchi: “…No, they can’t.”
Wen Zhiyu, lost in his own fury, exclaimed, “Hurry up and arrest that pervert who kissed me! I curse him to get a sexually transmitted disease, itch all over, and die without treatment in prison!”
Li Qingchi remained silent, bending slightly to pull Wen Zhiyu’s arm out from under the blanket. His gaze flickered to the bandaged hand, the nurse had already informed him that when the patient was brought in, there were glass fragments embedded in his palm, though not deeply, and they had been treated.
As the disinfectant was applied to his arm, Wen Zhiyu felt the cold sensation and closed his eyes again, allowing the sharp pain to pierce through his skin.
Whether it was due to the medication or the technique, this injection was exceptionally painful, more so than all the previous needle pricks and blood draws.
“Are you currently experiencing any sexual urges? Toward alphas or omegas?” Li Qingchi’s voice remained indifferent as he tossed the used syringe into the medical waste bin.
He then looked at Wen Zhiyu and continued, “Do you have a partner? Is the relationship stable?”
Wen Zhiyu took a deep breath, half-opening his eyes, “What does my condition have to do with these questions?”
“I need honest answers to accurately assess your symptoms.”