Sensen (Grim)
Zheng Yun knew this was coming. Ever since Ying Zhu took Cen Xie away that night, he knew there would be a day of reckoning. He still didn’t know what kind of game Ying Zhu and Cen Xie were playing at.
Feeling a bit wronged himself, Zheng Yun looked at Cen Xie and said, “I’ll give you a finger as an apology.”
The Canaan Society had caught its breath and was more united than ever. If Zheng Yun didn’t offer up a piece of himself today, settling the score privately later would cost much more than a finger. He preferred to resolve it here at the table.
Cen Xie didn’t look satisfied. He narrowed his eyes. “One finger for my foot? You think that’s a fair trade?”
Since this was a private dispute, Tong Nan didn’t intervene. He pulled out a cigar, sniffed it, and prepared to watch the show.
Zheng Yun, experienced in haggling with Cen Xie, gave a short laugh. “That plot of land behind the mountain you’ve always wanted? That’s yours too.”
Cen Xie thought for a moment and nodded. “Deal.” He gestured for Zheng Yun to proceed.
Tong Nan, enjoying the spectacle, offered Zheng Yun his cigar cutter.
Zheng Yun took it and placed his pinky finger into the circular hole. He hesitated for a second, then asked cautiously, “Is the doctor ready?”
A male Beta nearby stood up. “Everything is ready, Mr. Zheng.”
Zheng Yun exhaled, braced himself, and squeezed. Snap. The finger was severed clean at the bone. Blood began to pour out instantly. Zheng Yun’s brow furrowed tightly as he took several deep, sharp breaths.
The waiting doctor rushed forward, opening a medical kit to treat the wound, stop the bleeding, and apply dressing. Cen Xie watched coldly, without a hint of a flinch. Since the matter was resolved at the Round Table, it was officially over; he could no longer hold a grudge against Zheng Yun for the incident.
The metallic scent of blood filled the room. Someone came forward with cleaning tools to scrub the floor. Once the bleeding stopped and the doctor began bandaging, Cen Xie retracted his gaze and spoke.
“I’m married.”
He raised his hand, flashing the brilliant diamond ring.
The room fell into a deathly silence. No one spoke. Tong Nan and Zheng Yun first stared at Cen Xie, then at each other.
Zheng Yun was the first to find his voice. “To who?”
Cen Xie toyed with his pen and pursed his lips. “They won’t let me say. Wants a secret marriage.”
Zheng Yun sounded almost offended on his behalf. “Why? Is being the spouse of the Canaan Society Chairman something to be ashamed of?”
Cen Xie shrugged. “Claims my line of work isn’t ‘proper.'”
Zheng Yun frowned. “Nonsense. Your betting rings are perfectly proper—the taxes you pay are so high they basically count as public charity. And high-interest loans? That’s just the finance industry. How is that not proper? Does this person have a prejudice against our industry? No, bring them out. We need to talk.”
Cen Xie smiled but stayed quiet. He was secretly curious to see what Zheng Yun’s face would look like if he actually brought Ying Zhu out.
Tong Nan spoke up, “What does he do for a living?”
Cen Xie: “Hmm… he’s a civil servant, I guess.”
Tong Nan seemed to understand a bit better. “No wonder. If he still dared to marry you, he must really like you.”
Cen Xie leaned back, hands behind his head. “Yeah, he’s head over heels for me.”
Since Cen Xie was the only Omega among the three, and since the nature of an Omega was to submit once marked, the other two had always kept a close eye on his romantic status.
After a moment of silence, Tong Nan asked, “Is he an Alpha?” Zheng Yun followed up, “What’s his rank?”
Cen Xie tilted his head, spinning his pen lazily without answering. He couldn’t say, obviously—S-rank Omegas in Star County were few enough to be counted on one hand.
Tong Nan and Zheng Yun exchanged a look. Years of dealing with each other meant they didn’t need words to know what the other was thinking. Currently, the heads of the three gangs represented the three genders perfectly. An Alpha’s pheromones could suppress an Omega; S-rank could suppress A-rank. Tong Nan, as a Beta, had no special abilities but was also immune to pheromones and heat cycles.
The two ability users—Cen Xie and Zheng Yun—were occasionally powerless against the glandless Tong Nan. A Beta, an A-rank Alpha, and an S-rank Omega: they all accepted this as the ideal state. It was a perfect game of rock-paper-scissors that kept them in balance.
Tong Nan changed his approach. “Will you let him mark you?”
Zheng Yun also watched him intently. Ordinarily, whether someone got marked was a private matter, but Cen Xie’s position made it their business. If he were marked, it would essentially mean his power was compromised. Who knew what direction the three gangs would take then? If the spouse was an Alpha of unknown rank, the variables were too high.
Cen Xie saw their concern and stopped playing around. “He can’t mark me.”
Hearing this, they relaxed. They assumed the likelihood of the spouse being a Beta was high. With the worst-case scenario ruled out, the atmosphere lightened. Tong Nan and Zheng Yun offered some hollow wedding blessings and promised to send gifts to the Canaan Society.
The meeting ended at noon. Food was served on the boat, but Cen Xie didn’t plan on staying. He stood on the deck, looking out at the Star River. During the day, the river looked “unmasked”—wide and shimmering silver under the noon sun.
Tong Nan walked up behind him. “Is he a Beta?”
Cen Xie turned, silent for a perfectly timed few seconds, then said, “I didn’t specify his gender, did I?”
Tong Nan: “You said he can’t mark you, not that he’s not allowed to. That implies he isn’t an Alpha. That only leaves Beta.”
Cen Xie had no intention of correcting the misconception. He used silence to imply agreement.
Tong Nan asked again, “If a Beta can do it, why can’t I?”
Cen Xie said nothing. Both Tong Nan and Zheng Yun had pursued him—and still did, slipping in declarations of “affection” whenever possible. How much of that was genuine was anyone’s guess; they likely just wanted to absorb the Canaan Society.
Sometimes Cen Xie wondered why they thought emotions were the best weapon against him just because he was an Omega. Did they really think he was so “love-brained” that he’d hand over his syndicate just because his heart was fluttery?
Tong Nan joined him at the railing. “Sometimes I feel that our positions make you think I always have an ulterior motive—which makes my feelings look insincere.”
Cen Xie gave a half-hearted reply. “Oh, maybe.”
Tong Nan turned to him, his voice incredibly earnest. “But I’m not like Zheng Yun, Cen Xie. At the very least, I can’t mark you.”
Cen Xie thought about it and replied, “Fundamentally, you’re no different. Because even if I chose Zheng Yun, I wouldn’t allow him to mark me either.”
In truth, Cen Xie was more wary of Tong Nan than the more overt Zheng Yun. This man was like a viper in the grass—his thoughts were deep and inscrutable, and his bite was lethal.
Tong Nan looked at him deeply. “Then it really is just about our positions.”
Cen Xie patted his shoulder. “Let’s not talk about this between us. I have things to do, I’m heading out.” With that, he turned and disembarked from the ship.
Tong Nan stood there watching him until his figure vanished.
After getting off the boat, Cen Xie went straight back to the Eastern District. The construction of the Chairman’s building was nearing completion; the exterior was being finalized, and the interior was mostly finished. He had to admit, the Alphas under Ying Zhu’s command were quite efficient.
He went directly to see Li Qingchang. Due to the memory transfer, Li Qingchang no longer remembered his interactions with him. Cen Xie wasted no more time and forced the name of the supplier out of him.
Li Qingchang’s supplier was a professional—a middleman specializing in the recovery and sale of restricted memory cards. Once his address was confirmed, Cen Xie took his men, raided the place, and confiscated every restricted memory card in the house without even sorting them. Being a criminal himself, the dealer didn’t dare call the police and had to swallow the loss in silence.
……
Around 9:00 PM, Ying Zhu finished his shower and went to his study to log onto the Dark Web. He had been monitoring the sale listings, but Double-Omega memory cards were rare and highly sought after. He was too busy to stay glued to the screen 24 hours a day, so he hadn’t had any luck.
The doorbell rang. Ying Zhu opened it to find Cen Xie standing there. Given that that day was technically their wedding night, Ying Zhu felt a strange, subtle shift in his mood as he looked at him.
Cen Xie felt much the same. He looked at Ying Zhu for a few seconds, unsure of what to say. Ever since that morning, a restless, “hot and spicy” tension had been lingering between them.
Ying Zhu stepped aside. “Meeting’s over?”
Cen Xie grunted an “Mhm.”
“Let’s talk in the study,” Ying Zhu said.
After the chaos of the past few days, they finally had a chance to sit down and discuss the memory cards again. Ying Zhu had originally planned to cut ties with the male Beta contact, but Cen Xie being marked had served as a wake-up call. They had oversimplified things; tracing sellers one by one was safe in theory, but it left them vulnerable to unpredictable events. An S-rank Omega mass-collecting memory cards was too conspicuous.
Thus, Ying Zhu decided to keep the male Beta as a collection window. The man was a simple office worker and easy to handle. Cen Xie agreed and recounted how he had used Li Qingchang as a breakthrough to hit two higher-level dealers.
As he finished, Cen Xie’s eyes caught Ying Zhu’s computer screen. The browser was still open to a Dark Web search page. The keywords Ying Zhu had used were highlighted in a glaring red: “Double Omega,” “淫乱 (Lewd),” “调教 (Training),” and other similarly explicit terms.
Ying Zhu followed his gaze and froze. He quickly closed the window with his mouse and explained, “I check the listings when I have time, but I haven’t found anything.”
Cen Xie let out a small “oh,” noting Ying Zhu’s ears turning red, but said nothing.
The “spicy” tension in the air thickened. Ying Zhu didn’t look back; his mouse wandered aimlessly across the desktop until he found something to distract himself. He opened a folder. It was empty except for a small digital cat dozing inside. As the folder opened, the cat seemed to wake up, standing and pacing within the window frame. Ying Zhu dragged a few files from the desktop into the folder; the cat walked over and began “munching” on the icons, eating them in a few bites.
Cen Xie watched, baffled. “What is that?”
“My pet cat,” Ying Zhu replied, closing the folder.
“…” Cen Xie was speechless. “Oh. Don’t tell me you gave it a name.”
“Sensen (森森). That’s its name.”
Only then did Cen Xie notice the folder was titled “Sensen’s Home.” He suppressed a twitch of his lip.
Cen Xie pulled several memory cards from his pocket and laid them on the desk. “I found these at a dealer’s house today. I haven’t checked them yet.” The dealer had categorized them, and Cen Xie had only picked out the ones labeled “Double Omega.”
Ever since the incident where he was ambushed by that “torture” memory card, he didn’t dare read them in unsecure locations. They had agreed that all future readings would happen in a safe environment to prevent accidents.
Cen Xie moved to plug the cards into a splitter to read them all at once, but Ying Zhu stopped him. “I’ll screen them first. If there’s a trap, at least we both won’t be taken out at once.”
It was like opening a blind box—you never knew what was inside. Cen Xie picked up the VR headset but didn’t hand it to Ying Zhu. “I’ll do it,” he said. He didn’t want to pass the risk to Ying Zhu.
Ying Zhu didn’t argue. He sat and watched Cen Xie go through them one by one. Every few minutes, Cen Xie would take off the headset to swap cards. Ying Zhu watched his face grow redder and redder, wondering just how “hot” the contents were.
Finally, at a certain card, Cen Xie stopped. He removed the VR headset and looked at Ying Zhu, his face flushed. “I found it.”