After arriving home, Wen Zhiyu called his friend Chen Ling. Her voice was bright and cheerful: “Xiao Yu, what’s going on? I sent you hundreds of messages and you didn’t reply to a single one. What, is our friendship over?”
Chen Ling’s mouth chattered like a machine gun, jumping from complaining about his lack of replies to another topic: “But we really are on the same wavelength. I was just about to call you when you called me. What happened today? You didn’t reply to messages, didn’t go to work, where did you go to slack off?”
“The hospital,” Wen Zhiyu coughed lightly. “I was sick…”
Before he could finish, Chen Ling rushed to ask: “Ah, how did you get sick? Weren’t you fine at work the day before yesterday? What’s wrong? Is it serious? Did you see a doctor? Do you want me to bring you chicken soup? I just learned how to make durian skin chicken soup.”
Wen Zhiyu: “…” It felt so disheartening not being able to get a word in.
Chen Ling’s train of thought from one second to the next seemed to exist in entirely different dimensions.
“I called you to talk about this…” Wen Zhiyu organized his thoughts, as his condition wasn’t easy to explain. After thinking for a while, he decided to be direct: “What does your pheromone smell like?”
“Ah, that… Xiao Yu, that…” The question was too abrupt, and Chen Ling stumbled over her words.
“If you won’t say, I’m hanging up.”
After a moment of silence, Chen Ling slowly replied: “…Durian… I remember you don’t like durian.”
This was the first time Wen Zhiyu had asked about Chen Ling’s pheromones. After all, he had been a beta before, and in the world of betas, there were no pheromones.
“Sorry to bother you. Forget I asked. Just remember not to add durian to the chicken soup.” He hung up the phone and buried himself in the bed, collapsing weakly onto the mattress. The illness tormented him relentlessly, not just physically but mentally as well.
He didn’t know how to face an incurable disease, didn’t know when he would die, and didn’t know who to rely on.
Wen Zhiyu opened his phone and scrolled for a long time before finding that familiar profile picture. Just as he was about to type a message, a notification popped up from the family group chat, “One Loving Family,” tagging him.
Go With the Flow: @Zhiyu, your brother’s essay won another award!
His mother’s joy practically spilled out of the screen.
Wen Zhiyu stared at the ceiling and let out a cold laugh: That’s good. At least my obituary will make her remember me more than his essays.
Wen Zhiyu had always been someone with no one to rely on, not just emotionally, but in the truest sense. He had no father or mother. His mother had passed away when he was very young, his father was nowhere to be found, and none of the relatives around were willing to take him in.
A large part of his childhood memories were of the orphanage. Later, he was adopted by his current parents and finally had a complete family.
His current mother treated him well, but it always felt unreal, as if there was a veil between them, obscuring their view of each other. He had always felt that his arrival had placed a great burden on his current mother. After his younger brother was born and frequently showed hostility toward him, he consciously began to distance himself from his mother and this family.
After briefly experiencing care and love, he returned to a state of having no one to rely on. That was fine, Wen Zhiyu thought. At least he wouldn’t have to argue with that immature little brat at home over who got to eat one more ice cream.
After waking up in the medical room, Wen Zhiyu completed the discharge procedures, only to turn around and walk back without hesitation, finding his way to Li Qingchi’s consultation room.
The other party didn’t seem particularly eager to see this patient.
Dr. Li glanced at him and replied indifferently, “It’s half past twelve. I’m off duty now.”
Wen Zhiyu chuckled softly. “That’s why there’s time to discuss a deal.” He then closed the door behind him, locked it, and took a seat in the chair opposite Dr. Li, the one reserved for patients.
Li Qingchi frowned. “What do you want?”
Wen Zhiyu placed the milk tea he was carrying on the desk and pushed it toward Dr. Li. “Try it. I brought it especially for you. It’s really good.”
Li Qingchi didn’t drink it, merely glancing at the unremarkable cup of milk tea. Cheese foam green tea, seventy percent sugar.
“I don’t like milk tea. If you have something to say, say it directly. Beating around the bush is annoying.”
Wen Zhiyu spoke up. “Dr. Li, you seemed to really like that omega’s pheromones yesterday.”
Li Qingchi frowned. The statement felt intrusive to him. He had no idea where this beta had drawn such a conclusion.
Wen Zhiyu continued, “After you smelled that omega’s pheromones, I caught a whiff of yours too. Under what circumstances would an alpha release their pheromones?”
He seemed to think that alphas only released their pheromones when they encountered someone they liked.
He chuckled lightly. “But that’s not the point. The point is, I realized I don’t feel any aversion to your pheromones at all.”
“Does releasing pheromones mean I liked that omega?” Li Qingchi retorted sarcastically. “How do you betas determine if you like someone? I released my pheromones because that omega’s scent made me uncomfortable.”
Wen Zhiyu quickly backtracked. “Oh, I was just saying. Why are you so eager to explain?”
Li Qingchi fell silent. Then he asked, “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Do you remember what I said yesterday?” Wen Zhiyu replied. “I like your pheromones, and my body doesn’t reject them. So, I want you to be my ‘painkiller’ until my condition is cured.”
Painkiller…
Oh, so he wanted to use his pheromones as a painkiller.
Li Qingchi didn’t respond to this request.
Seeing that Li Qingchi showed no reaction, Wen Zhiyu added, “When you released your pheromones yesterday, my pain disappeared for a short while. It was because of that brief moment that I confirmed I don’t feel any aversion to your pheromones, in fact, I really like them.”
Li Qingchi watched the beta making such an unreasonable request. As he spoke, his eyes seemed to curve slightly, carrying the same slyness he had shown the night before when he said, “If possible, I’d prefer your pheromones.”
The next moment, a fountain pen was slammed onto the desk. A surge of pheromones, seemingly conjured out of thin air, pierced sharply toward the back of Wen Zhiyu’s neck. He couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan. As soon as he made a sound, the suddenly released pheromones abruptly stopped.
Li Qingchi’s gaze swept over the needle marks on the back of Wen Zhiyu’s neck as he asked calmly, “No aversion?”
Wen Zhiyu: “…”
Who told you to release suppressing pheromones?
Li Qingchi’s gaze was icy cold. “I’m not interested in betas, not interested in you, and I don’t like your milk tea either.” Then he raised his hand, picked up the milk tea, and mercilessly tossed it into the trash bin beside his feet.
The rejection was decisive.
“…”
“Dr. Li, no one asked if you liked it.” Wen Zhiyu leaned back in his chair, adopting a relaxed posture. “I didn’t give you a choice.”
It seemed as though his refusal was within this beta’s expectations, and the other party had even prepared a Plan B for when he rejected this unreasonable demand. Li Qingchi thought to himself.
If what was said earlier could be considered a request, then what he was saying now was outright coercion.
The kind that brooked no argument.
Li Qingchi fell silent, his eyes coldly fixed on the unflappable person before him.
Wen Zhiyu guessed that Dr. Li might be recalling something a friend or family member had told him, advising him not to meddle in other people’s business. But it was too late for regrets now.
Wen Zhiyu said slowly, “Dr. Li, you’ve been outstanding since childhood, with countless admirers. But do they know that you’re an alpha who inherited your father’s defective genes?”
An omega can only accept a permanent mark from one alpha in their lifetime, after which they develop a strong dependency. If a permanently marked omega suddenly loses their marking alpha or goes without pheromones for an extended period, they will die.
So, in a way, permanent marking is a form of restraint and threat to omegas. Conversely, it has no effect on alphas.
But Li Qingchi was different. He had “inherited his father’s defective genes,” as if the nature of alpha and omega genes had been reversed.
“A lifetime limited to permanently marking only one omega, and death if deprived of their partner’s pheromones.” Wen Zhiyu didn’t beat around the bush, laying out his leverage in one breath.
Li Qingchi’s expression turned grim, but he wasn’t surprised. “So what? Using this as a threat to force me to soothe you with my pheromones? These two statements as leverage don’t seem strong enough.”
“Whether it’s strong enough or not, we’ll find out soon enough.” Wen Zhiyu flashed a sly smile, appearing confident about the matter. “Besides, did I just say I have no tangible leverage?”
He leisurely took out his phone, tapped a few times, then gently pushed it to the center of the desk, directly facing Li Qingchi.
Li Qingchi’s gaze fell on the phone screen, a photo of a paper document, taken clearly. The document in the photo was labeled at the top: Greendale Private Genetic Disease Research Institute.
This institute was an organization under his father’s name. He had often been taken there for a series of mysterious examinations in the past, with all the data clearly recorded.
At the same time, he recognized at a glance that this examination report was the one he had accidentally lost during high school. After all these years, it had resurfaced, and in the hands of this beta, no less.
Li Qingchi frowned deeply. Who exactly was this beta? Had he stolen this document, or obtained it through other means? If it was the former, it meant this beta had attended the same high school as him, but that seemed too coincidental.
Everything felt premeditated. Had this beta kept this document for seven or eight years, just to use it to coerce him today?
Or perhaps, he had been waiting all along, waiting for the right moment to use this document. And now was the perfect time for coercion, because he desperately needed his pheromones to cure his illness.
From this, one could deduce a piece of information: this beta had been paying close attention to him back in high school, even going out of his way to gather information about him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know so much.
Yet, he had no recollection of this person at all.
“This is the genetic screening report you had done when you were seventeen.” He slowly withdrew his phone again, as if he knew Li Qingchi well and was certain he wouldn’t snatch the phone or delete the file. “If this were to appear in the hands of any media outlet or any of your Li family’s rivals who are eyeing you with hostility… what do you think would happen?”
In an era where pheromone levels reign supreme, once this secret got out, the Li family’s reputation and his status as the “perfect heir” would collapse instantly. There was no doubt about it.
For Li Qingchi, the latter wasn’t as important, but the former was a critical weakness, enough to nail the entire Li family to the pillar of shame. The weight of this evidence far exceeded his earlier expectations.
The choice was back in Li Qingchi’s hands: to fight to the bitter end or to let things take their course.