On Rose Island, the feather flowers resembled heads of wheat, undulating like waves, while the lilac-breasted rollers yearned for a romantic love.
Just a line away was a massive funeral.
The names of the eliminated grew increasingly numerous, and the eyes of those taken out of the game were filled with disappointment. Luo Qingcheng instantly realized that transmigrators were being eliminated, forcing him to initiate a gear shift; teams like Huo Jing’s would soon be cleared out.
In truth, what Luo Qingcheng needed to do was likely the same as what Huo Jing and his group had discussed, but he could not accurately confirm how many transmigrators there were, nor did he have the time to negotiate cooperation with them to resist the unjust task system.
Everyone would ultimately become each other’s fiercest rival.
Perhaps the peppermint scent on his face mask had been weakened by his own breathing, and the deafening wails left him feeling irritated and flustered. Forcing himself to pull it together, Luo Qingcheng asked the system: “I need a gear shift to control everyone present for ten minutes. Is the collected pheromone enough?”
[System] After calculation: “With the discount applied, it will cost 43,000 pheromones. Deducting what was used for the dumpling and what was sporadically collected, you will have 1,777 milliliters remaining.”
It could actually be discounted?
Luo Qingcheng let out a long sigh: “Can you discount it a bit more?”
[System]: “No, the lowest discount policy is still the coupon I grabbed for you. Are you sure controlling them for ten minutes can settle everything? The little bit you have left won’t accomplish much.”
While serving tea and water to the eliminated Alphas, Luo Qingcheng calculated carefully, getting so distracted that he spilled the tea over the cup.
The eliminated individuals were in a terrible mood, their red, swollen eyes glaring angrily. “What kind of service is this?”
Luo Qingcheng was in no mood to argue with him at the moment. “Apologize, I will get you another cup.”
The Alpha had also lost to the point of losing his reason, and upon seeing Luo Qingcheng’s extraordinary beauty—his amber eyes appearing even more obedient and innocent while distracted—it made the Alpha’s heart pound restlessly. His bad intentions and brain instantly reached a consensus: “If you are going to replace it, replace it with yourself!”
At the same time, a gaze carrying the fiery spark of curiosity looked over.
He was Jiang Heming, and also the deceased Mu Xiao at the funeral. He had deceived everyone, and now his role was simply that of an out-of-the-ordinary-looking waiter.
He had just carried the mirror back from the cabin and set it in place. “Go check if the mirror is positioned correctly?”
Luo Qingcheng did not stand on ceremony and turned to leave. The company had a rule: if one employee in a group made a mistake, corresponding wages would be deducted from all group members. They were grasshoppers tied to the same rope, and the company called this unity and cooperation.
The full-length mirror on the ship that could hold a person had already been placed by Jiang Heming beside the funeral wreath. Standing at an angle, Luo Qingcheng saw directly from the mirror that Jiang Heming and that man were having a disagreement, resulting in Jiang Heming stepping on the man’s face to the ground.
The crowd was shocked. The violence of a waiter was so terrifying that he was surrounded by people, which alerted security.
Mu Xiao sneered, glancing sideways at this group of people who usually would not even dare look at him. Their boldness at this moment made him feel that staging this fake funeral was simply too interesting.
In Luo Qingcheng’s eyes, this scene looked extremely similar to the baseball-cap Alpha creating a scene at the club. Watching the fire from across the bank through the mirror, Luo Qingcheng saw Jiang Heming take off his work badge and high-profile wave to the other person, signaling for them to come together.
The sun gradually rose.
The feather flowers metamorphosed within the tidal waves, fluttering and falling all over the sky under the scorching sun.
Luo Qingcheng became increasingly curious about Jiang Heming. With his active mind, he instantly thought of the snipe and the clam fighting, prompting him to temporarily change his gear-shifting strategy.
However, the system prompted that his pheromones were insufficient!
Luo Qingcheng hurriedly rushed over to stop the people collectively attacking Jiang Heming. He bowed to apologize, explained to everyone right in front of Jiang Heming that the man was out of his mind and hoped they would focus on the funeral, and finally wrote an IOU to calm the matter down.
Mu Xiao was stunned at first. The person actually dared to call him out of his mind in public. Taking it easy, he watched Luo Qingcheng’s performance, growing even more curious about what Luo Qingcheng would do to him next.
Luo Qingcheng pulled him out of the crowd and behind the deserted mourning hall.
Though they were strangers, it felt as though they were very familiar. Seeing that there was no one around, Luo Qingcheng said earnestly: “I will repay the IOU you do not need to worry about, but I need your pheromones. It is for saving a life and is very urgent. I will explain it to you afterward.”
With deep-set eyes, Mu Xiao coldly pulled down his mask, supported the back of Luo Qingcheng’s head, and whispered deeply with an ambiguous movement close to his ear: “Do you know what my pheromones represent?”
With his other hand, he fished out a small folding knife, snapping the blade open.
Mu Xiao had a tall and sturdy build, completely trapping Luo Qingcheng. Panicking, Luo Qingcheng pushed him, but could not budge him.
“You misunderstood. My opinion was whether you could directly give them to me. Um, perhaps I expressed it incorrectly, I just need you to release your pheromones. No physical contact is needed. I know this request is outrageous, but human lives are at stake.”
Luo Qingcheng tightly guarded the secret of collecting pheromones, completely unaware that the Grim Reaper was kissing his back.
His nose and mouth were forced to brush against Mu Xiao’s shoulder. A sharp, icy-cold scent surged through his nasal cavity into his body, and Luo Qingcheng felt the suffocating emptiness and instinctive shudder brought by the powerhouse.
“You can refuse, I will find someone else.”
His gaze lingered on Luo Qingcheng’s profile. The folding knife slowly closed, and he released Luo Qingcheng. His half-hidden eyes revealed no emotion at all, his voice sounding like the cold wind on an ice sheet: “Do you really want it?”
Luo Qingcheng looked at him with a pair of clear eyes: “Of course.”
He looked straight into Luo Qingcheng’s lovely eyes. His gloved fingertips slid like a venomous snake from Luo Qingcheng’s chest down to his belt buckle.
Luo Qingcheng stared fixedly at that hand and let out a soft gasp. In the blink of an eye, the other’s fingers playfully hooked over his hand like a child’s, their unfamiliar fingertips lingering in a lingering entanglement.
He was at least one meter ninety tall. This was the first time Luo Qingcheng had seen a formidable physique carrying the childish aura of a pervert. He was treated like something in the other’s palm, played with until he trembled wantonly. When he tried to retract his hand, it was grabbed back again, and the edge of his palm was pinched and rubbed until it turned completely red.
The other released harmful pheromones: “Then give me this hand as a souvenir.”
“?” Luo Qingcheng was completely unaffected by the pheromones, but frightened by the perverted and horrifying words, he instinctively broke free and hid his hand behind his back.
He smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.
What kind of person did calling himself someone with such thoughts make him—thinking a madman’s pheromones might be more useful than ordinary ones? Luo Qingcheng smiled along with him: “I feel like I am going crazy following you.”
The madness in Mu Xiao’s eyes faded: “So do you still want the pheromones?”
Luo Qingcheng took a deep breath: “But I will not give you my hand.”
Mu Xiao: “It does not matter, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.”
Luo Qingcheng fading his smile turned to leave, but was pulled back by him again.
His gaze swept left and right: “If you make me look at your back, how will the pheromones come out? You are not afraid of death yet you are shy with me; I will not allow you to close your eyes.”
The two of them stared blankly at each other just like that.
There were simply too many security guards around, and he was currently the best choice.
The weeping at the funeral grew distant, and the surroundings became exceptionally quiet. The other’s breathing shifted from light to heavy, gradually turning from an inhalation and exhalation into a raging storm. Luo Qingcheng stood in the center, steadying his body and clenching his fists, while the panting opposite him grew increasingly rapid, like a fierce beast about to swallow him alive.
The Beta knew nothing about whether the madman’s demands were intense or merely teasing.
Suddenly, he heard the other’s panting intertwine with lingering laughter, emitting an eroticism that could submerge Luo Qingcheng: “You are blushing, you are running a fever.”
Beneath his sleeves, Luo Qingcheng clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, his fingertips digging into his palms until it hurt, before quickly relaxing them. “What kind of pheromones did you release at our first meeting? Do you dare say it out loud?”
Mu Xiao had used every single pheromone he could release, including murderous intent, but the opponent was a Beta who could not smell pheromones; all of his venting could only be excavated from the other’s eyes.
Mu Xiao only felt that his powerful control could not grasp the white clouds in the sky, and the yellow sand was blown in all directions by the wind without a direction, a sense of danger spontaneously arising.
In the depths of the other’s eyes, Luo Qingcheng saw a fatal danger that could not be ignored. Catching his breath, he fled in a panic.
Mu Xiao put his mask back on, staring at Luo Qingcheng’s retreating figure: “There is love in the pheromones, which you could not taste, but the hatred in your eyes was sensitive enough.”
Returning to the funeral scene, Luo Qingcheng felt the relief of escaping the tiger’s jaws. He could not help looking back to gaze at the madman in the distance. Their eyes met, and Luo Qingcheng hurriedly averted his gaze to observe the remaining contestants.
If the beginning of a large-scale competition is always hidden with storms and rain, then the ending is the exposure of the truth.
With Jiang Heming and the pheromones present, Luo Qingcheng successfully shifted gears. Originally lacking the right to compete for the inheritance, no one would care about an ordinary Beta waiter in a battlefield where everyone fought for survival.
The field suddenly fell quiet. The Alphas and Omegas stood frozen in place like statues, and colorful transparent bubbles appeared above the heads of some in the crowd. It was obvious they were transmigrators, and the images they wanted to shift gears into floated above the bubbles.
On the barren Rose Island, blue feathers fluttered and scattered in the wind, interweaving with the colorful transparent bubbles to form a huge painting with the sky as its canvas.
And all of this was enveloped by a huge bubble, as if half the sky was contained within it. Sunlight pierced through, illuminating the painting so that it sparkled like gold.
Everyone felt as though they were experiencing a wedding amidst breathtaking beauty, and the deceased Mu Xiao was simply marrying his bride, planning never to return.
[A romantic and grand funeral, dedicated to the souls entering the brave new world.]
The images and text cut into the big screen in real-time, and everyone regained their freedom of movement.
Mu Xiao’s uncle’s family, the lawyer, and the funeral director stared at this incredible scene.
Mu Xiao took out a cigarette and held it between his lips. With a click of a golden flip lighter, the flame lit the cigarette at the corner of his mouth.
Luo Qingcheng raised his hand to catch a falling feather flower, cursing Mu Xiao in his heart: even in death, he had to drag a bunch of people down to be buried with him. He must have been extremely malicious in life, go to hell.
He tossed the feather flower into the sky, and Luo Qingcheng picked up two cups filled with his hopes, ripples spreading as he walked.
Standing calmly in front of the mourning hall, Luo Qingcheng said unperturbedly: “The funeral is coming to an end. As an employee, speaking from the heart, a big figure like President Mu is someone I am not worthy to mourn, but I truly admire his talent. From now on, I suppose I will not have a single tear left.”
Mu Xiao’s uncle mechanically accepted the two cups of sincere hot tears.
The lawyer broke out in awkward goosebumps: “You are not qualified to claim the right to compete for the inheritance.”
The funeral director looked coldly: “Do your own job well.”
The single stick of incense on the mourning hall was still struggling to burn itself out.
Further back, Mu Xiao was puffing out clouds of smoke, silently watching the ugly crowd resort to every possible trick to gain his wealth.
A feather flower slowly drifted down before his eyes. He blew out a smoke ring, which coiled around the feather flower and transformed into Cupid’s arrow piercing a heart.
Mu Xiao’s eyes became slightly absent-minded, and he raised a finger to catch it, as if catching a piece of beauty bestowed by God, regardless of whether it was love or whatever affection it was.
As the white smoke faded, he acted like he had not grown up yet, playing around a couple more times.
He did not know that what he had caught was precisely the feather flower carrying Luo Qingcheng’s curse.
When Luo Qingcheng spoke, he possessed a mesmerizing tone, sending ripples across the funeral scene.
“Of course I have self-awareness, but I also saw a strange thing.”
Following the direction of Luo Qingcheng’s finger, everyone saw the full-length mirror that Jiang Heming had carried over from the ship. The mirror reflected the people participating in the competition for the inheritance.
The strange thing was that while they were clearly kneeling devoutly, the reflections of themselves in the mirror were standing with straight backs. Everyone was dumbfounded.
Looking closely again, they discovered another oddity: although Luo Qingcheng was standing, his reflection in the mirror was devoutly kneeling.
Mu Xiao’s uncle panicked: “What does this mean? What trick did you pull?”
Luo Qingcheng looked extremely exhausted: “I am curious too. You can check the origin of this mirror. To attend this funeral, I stayed up all night preparing. Is it officially over now?”
The time was exactly 12:00.
Countless colorful transparent bubbles—visible only to Luo Qingcheng, one by one shattered and vanished, leaving traces of their past appearance on the big screen.
[A romantic and grand funeral, dedicated to the souls entering the brave new world.]
The unexpected turn of events left those present bewildered. The lawyer nudged Mu Xiao’s uncle with his elbow, prompting him to announce to everyone: “Next, we will take a boat to the cemetery for burial, and the results will be sent to your mobile phones.”
Three helicopters suddenly appeared in the sky, their propellers churning the clouds and wind to create a thunderous roar as they hovered from afar and landed overhead.
At that moment, no one noticed Luo Qingcheng being pulled by Jiang Heming to Mu Xiao’s coffin. Jiang Heming forcefully shoved Luo Qingcheng into the coffin and then climbed in himself, closing the coffin lid from the inside.
Outside, eight riot police officers in uniform directly descended from the helicopters, holding long guns in their hands.
Mu Xiao’s uncle and the lawyer went forward to greet them, only to discover through conversation that the other party was from the Pheromone Administration Bureau, acting on a report that there were suspects hiding here who used pheromones to cause trouble at clubs and disrupt the prosperity of the commercial district while infringing upon personal rights.