Pheromones used to suppress others are exceptionally effective, especially when a beta infected with pheromone resistance syndrome faces an S-class alpha’s pheromones. They stand absolutely no chance.
Wen Zhiyu’s consciousness was instantly blurred by the pheromones flooding into his body. His legs went weak, and his entire body felt like his bones had been pulled out, leaving him barely able to stand upright, relying only on external support to stay on his feet.
But at this moment, the pheromones Li Qingchi released brought him pleasure, not pain, so comfortable that he felt like he was lying on a soft, fluffy cloud.
For him, this counted as… a reward?
Li Qingchi’s arm tightened around his waist, steadying his sliding body. His gaze swept over Wen Zhiyu’s weakened hands, and he commanded in a low voice, “Hold on.”
The pheromones continued to pour into Wen Zhiyu’s body. “No, that’s enough, too much.” Wen Zhiyu’s breathing grew rapid. He felt like a bomb was buried in the back of his neck, and Li Qingchi’s pheromones were the spark that had lit the fuse.
“Hm?” Li Qingchi asked mischievously, “What’s wrong?”
Revealing a side of himself rarely shown.
At this moment, Wen Zhiyu truly understood what it meant that debts won through sharp words must be repaid in another way.
“You… goddamn it, can you take it easy with the treatment? Can you stop pouring in pheromones so aggressively?” The impact of an S-class alpha’s pheromones was too overwhelming; even Wen Zhiyu’s voice was trembling.
“Isn’t this what you asked for?” Li Qingchi was slightly out of breath. Though not as disheveled as Wen Zhiyu, he wasn’t exactly at ease either.
Both of their body temperatures rose sharply. Wen Zhiyu felt like his whole body was burning, as if he had a high fever.
“Dr. Li… do you treat other patients this… roughly?” He struggled to find the right words.
“Treatment plans vary from person to person.” Li Qingchi replied calmly.
“Liar.” This position relied entirely on Li Qingchi’s arm for support, leaving Wen Zhiyu with no sense of security. He urged, “How much longer?”
“About half an hour.”
“So tired.” Wen Zhiyu’s breathing was erratic. “My waist is about to break.”
Li Qingchi let out a light snort, tinged with mockery.
A phone rang urgently nearby. Wen Zhiyu glanced sideways at it but made no move, mainly because he was currently restrained by a “grappling hold,” and any struggle would be futile. He couldn’t break free anyway.
The ringing persisted for half a minute before stopping, then started again quickly, as if something urgent had come up. Wen Zhiyu reached out to pry Li Qingchi’s hand off his waist: “…The phone.”
“Who’s calling?” Li Qingchi asked in a low voice.
“Don’t know,” Wen Zhiyu guessed, “Maybe my boss.”
“…” Li Qingchi said, “Or maybe your junior sister.”
Most of Wen Zhiyu’s conversations with Chen Ling were through messages on social apps; direct calls were extremely rare. Wen Zhiyu judged that there was a ninety-five percent chance the caller wasn’t Chen Ling.
Thinking about it, he found it a bit strange, why was Li Qingchi’s first reaction to think of Chen Ling?
Soon he figured out the reason: among the people around Wen Zhiyu, Li Qingchi only knew Chen Ling.
But that didn’t mean everything had to involve the young woman, right? Where was that fair, rational doctor who spoke with facts? Could it be that he’d been influenced by Wen Zhiyu and his style was gradually drifting toward Wen Zhiyu’s own?
At that thought, Wen Zhiyu instantly felt a heavy sense of guilt, the kind that required him to voluntarily knock on a wooden fish for a month to atone.
The increasingly tight grip around his waist snapped Wen Zhiyu’s wandering consciousness back.
Li Qingchi was clearly just holding him, so why did it feel like a giant python coiling around him? How much strength was he using just to get revenge?
“Li Qingchi, you’re really like a snake. Clinging.” Wen Zhiyu voiced his thoughts.
Li Qingchi replied, “Wen Zhiyu, you’re like a fox. Always deceiving people.”
“…” Wen Zhiyu weakly tugged at his hand. “Pause the treatment. Hurry up… let go, let me answer the phone. If you delay my work, I’ll punish you.”
Li Qingchi made no move: “How would you punish me?”
A few seconds of silence.
Wen Zhiyu answered, “If you can imagine it, I can do it.”
The force around his waist suddenly vanished. Caught off guard, Wen Zhiyu’s legs gave out and he nearly fell to his knees, luckily, Li Qingchi grabbed him with quick reflexes, barely keeping him upright.
Li Qingchi frowned: “Can’t even handle basic treatment?”
“Why don’t you try having an S-class alpha’s pheromones poured into you?” Wen Zhiyu’s cheeks burned.
He picked up the phone. The screen showed “Lindong Police Station.” He flipped the screen to show Li Qingchi, then answered the call while raising a finger to his lips, signaling Li Qingchi to stay quiet.
His tone instantly switched to polite and proper, a completely different person from the one who was nasty to Li Qingchi. Only his voice, roughened by the treatment just now, was hard to adjust back to normal in a short time: “Hello?”
“Hello, hi.” A young officer’s slightly youthful voice came through the receiver. “This is Lindong Police Station. Is this Mr. Wen Zhiyu?”
Li Qingchi recognized the owner of the voice faster than Wen Zhiyu did. His gaze locked onto Wen Zhiyu’s flushed face, and he quietly adjusted the intensity level on his wristband.
Wen Zhiyu remained oblivious. “Yes, this is me. Is there something?”
“The suspect who kidnapped you has been apprehended. We may need you to come to the station now to identify him.” the young officer explained.
“Right now?” Wen Zhiyu asked.
“If it’s convenient for you, please come now.”
“Alright, I’ll head over right away. It’s my duty to cooperate with the police.” Wen Zhiyu put on the air of a model citizen.
Not that fox again.
The call ended, and Wen Zhiyu rubbed his face, then looked up at Li Qingchi. “How about… we reschedule the treatment?”
“Mm.” Li Qingchi replied flatly.
“That easy to talk to, Dr. Li?” Wen Zhiyu tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“After all, ‘it’s your duty to cooperate with the police.'” Li Qingchi shot back coolly.
“Then… how about Dr. Li comes with me?” Wen Zhiyu tested.
“No.” Li Qingchi’s tone was indifferent. “The kidnapper has nothing to do with me. Besides, treating you is mentally draining. I don’t want to get involved in anything related to you again.”
“Don’t you want to know what was actually in the drug that guy injected into me?” Wen Zhiyu dangled the bait. “It should help with your treatment plan, right? Aren’t you dying to get rid of me sooner?”
He had looked into the drug before, but only by extracting blood from the back of Wen Zhiyu’s neck for analysis and reverse-engineering the drug’s effects. They had no knowledge of the actual formula, and were completely helpless against the pheromone resistance syndrome.
After Wen Zhiyu contracted the pheromone resistance syndrome, the hospital quickly reached a conclusion about the banned drug injected into his body based on his physical condition, its main effect was to alter the physiological structure of a beta and accelerate gland growth.
But to this day, no research institute had identified the drug’s specific composition. Because from start to finish, they had never had access to the drug itself, let alone obtained a vial to analyze its components.
Identifying the exact composition of the inducing agent would be a huge help for drug development. Conversely, if they didn’t even know the inducing agent’s composition, directly developing a drug would face a hurdle that was hard to cross.
Li Qingchi was recently preparing to take on the pheromone resistance syndrome research project. He needed to contact the suspect, obtain the catalytic injection from him, or get information about the catalytic injection’s composition.
He looked at Wen Zhiyu, who seemed to have been watching him for a while as he weighed his options. Most likely observing whether he would waver because of this reason.
The two locked eyes. In some ways, Wen Zhiyu was indeed a bit clever, though his schemes appeared straightforward and clumsy.
No different from Jiang Taigong fishing, those willing would bite.
Li Qingchi: “Being entangled by someone like you is truly…”
“Truly what?” Wen Zhiyu cut in. “Isn’t it enjoyable? Don’t you regret not talking to me sooner?”
Li Qingchi: “…” He conceded.
The two left together. Wen Zhiyu changed back into his own clothes, and only after leaving that room that was no different from a dye vat did he realize how thickly the vetiver pheromone had soaked into him.
Li Qingchi went to the garage and picked an ordinary commuter car, driving Wen Zhiyu to the police station in silence. It wasn’t until before getting out that Li Qingchi asked flatly, “Are you scared?”
Of that suspect.
Wen Zhiyu: “Who’s scared. I’m itching to punch him right now. Beat him into a juicy tomato.”
Talking tough, at least.
…
The police station was brightly lit, the light spilling outside bleaching the darkness of the night, clearly showing how much effort had gone into interrogating the suspect.
The young officer was waiting at the entrance and hurried over when he saw Wen Zhiyu arrive.
Wen Zhiyu spoke first: “Where is he? What do I need to do?”
“The betas he kidnapped before were all killed. You’re the only survivor. He hasn’t confessed yet, so we need you to identify the suspect.” The young officer led them toward the interrogation room.
The door to the interrogation room opened, and the three stepped inside. The pervert’s hands were bound in silver shackles, with a striking ring of bloodstains around his wrists. Wen Zhiyu looked up and met those vicious, venomous eyes, as if they wanted to devour him whole.
Wen Zhiyu showed no fear. He stared back, raising an eyebrow in provocation, his usual tactic of mockery.
When he’d been injected with the banned drug back then, he had been scared. But times had changed, this was the police station, after all. Wen Zhiyu stood with his back straight as a rod.
But the man before him looked vaguely familiar, like he’d seen him somewhere before.
The pervert stared hard at Wen Zhiyu, then suddenly flashed a sinister grin.
The senior officer behind the interrogation table tilted his chin toward the pervert and turned to Wen Zhiyu: “This guy’s too cunning, it took a lot of effort to catch him. Take a good look. Is it him?”
“Yes, it’s definitely him.” Wen Zhiyu’s tone was resolute. “He always wore a mask, but these eyes, I’d recognize them even if he were burned to ashes.”
“Ha ha ha…” The pervert suddenly burst into manic laughter. “You’re calling me a pervert? What did I even do to you? I hadn’t even laid a hand on you before someone else snatched you away!”
“Didn’t do anything?!” Wen Zhiyu’s mind buzzed at the first half of the sentence, the rest fading into background noise. “You drugged me, tied me up, and…” He cut himself off abruptly, his fury turning into a cold laugh. “Then what, in your twisted mind, would count as ‘doing something’?”
“Heard you got sick? Pheromone resistance syndrome?” The pervert’s gaze slithered across the back of Wen Zhiyu’s neck like a venomous snake. “You and your attending physician, you’ve done everything there is to do, haven’t you? Haha, what a noble soul he is, selflessly sacrificing his pheromones for a patient. But then again…” A sinister, unfathomable smile crept across the pervert’s face. “Treating you? He’s not losing out one bit.”
Noble soul? Selflessly sacrificing?
That was nothing but a compromise forced out of him under threat. Nothing in this world comes for free.
What baffled Wen Zhiyu even more was, was releasing pheromones such a monumental feat for an alpha? Did it really warrant words like that?
“None of your damn business.” Wen Zhiyu didn’t hold back. “You sick freak, rot in prison for the rest of your life.”
The pervert didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. His gaze shifted right, landing on Li Qingchi, whose expression remained indifferent. He let out a snicker: “It’s him, isn’t it? That scent on you is thick… just got a fresh dose of pheromones?” He addressed Li Qingchi directly, his eyes wild with madness. “Is this little beta fun? Hahahaha… you like this little thing.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.
“Shut up.” Li Qingchi, who had remained silent the whole time, finally spoke. His brows were furrowed tightly, and his tone carried a sharp edge of menace.
The pervert scoffed. “I’ve only offed a few betas, nothing’s gonna happen to me. You wait. When I get out, I’ll go find him again.”
Pure provocation.
Before the pervert even finished speaking, the seasoned detective had already sensed the shift in the atmosphere. He quickly escorted Wen Zhiyu and Li Qingchi out of the interrogation room. There was no point in arguing with a madman devoid of all humanity.
“It’s confirmed to be him, right?” The old detective asked again for certainty.
Wen Zhiyu nodded. “That sick freak, I’d recognize him even if he were burned to ash.” He suddenly remembered something and pressed further: “This pervert… he doesn’t have any contagious diseases, does he?”
The topic shifted so abruptly that even the detective was caught off guard. “Contagious diseases? Why do you care about that?”
“Just in case,” Wen Zhiyu said. “H. pylori? Hepatitis A or B? Or… severe halitosis?”
The detective couldn’t help but wave his hand with a chuckle. “None of that. Don’t worry.”
Only then did Wen Zhiyu’s tense heart finally settle. “Good. Just the thought of having been in contact with him makes me sick. If he had something contagious, I’d rather be dead.”
The old detective’s brows knitted tightly. “This bastard has ruined plenty of betas. He started his spree three months ago. The victims he targeted…” He shook his head heavily, his tone laced with regret. “You’re the only one who survived. The others all…”
Before he could finish, a woman who looked to be in her forties, with hair already streaked with gray, burst into the police station like a woman possessed. She was about the same age as Wen Zhiyu’s mother.
She lunged at the old detective, clutching his shoulders in desperation, tears streaming down her face: “Officer, you’ve caught the bastard who killed my child? Where is he? Where is he?! I’ll kill him! I’ll make him pay with his life!”
The old detective gently patted her arm to calm her down.
The woman’s emotions completely collapsed. It took several officers stepping in to barely hold her back. She screamed and sobbed toward the interrogation room: “My child was only twenty-two! How could you do this?!”
Another officer stepped forward to console her: “We understand how you feel. The law will punish him severely and give you justice.”
The woman let out a bitter scoff. “The law? Does the current law protect betas? Protect us, the invisible people of this society?”
At those words, the police station fell into dead silence.
The legal code had special protection laws for alphas and omegas, but none for betas. Just as she said, betas were the default, overlooked class in this society.
Wen Zhiyu quietly stepped forward and gently patted the woman’s back, offering silent comfort. In the end, it was her husband who arrived and took her home.
Wen Zhiyu stood there, silent for a long time, his chest feeling like a stone was lodged in it, hard and heavy.
He looked at Li Qingchi. “What do you think?”
“Just looking won’t change anything. It has to change.”
“How?” Wen Zhiyu pressed. The invisible status of betas wasn’t something that could be changed overnight.
“Step by step.”
Li Qingchi walked straight up to the old detective and flashed his War Chain Department credentials. “Please have this suspect transferred to the War Chain Department tomorrow at nine in the morning. Someone will be there to take over. He’s not just involved in criminal offenses, he’s also connected to an international smuggling case of illegal pharmaceuticals that the War Chain Department is currently investigating. We’ll handle the rest from here.”