“Don’t worry about them. Answer me,” Jiu Yi commanded the system, maintaining her composure.
【The ones outside are two masked thugs. They don’t have guns, but they look like trouble.】
“Who is actually trying to target me this time?” Hearing its description, Jiu Yi felt a slight sense of relief but pushed further with another question.
【I suspect it might be the He family. However, the He family has been on a downward slope these past few years, so I think… there might be someone else pulling the strings behind them.】
“I understand.”
Jiu Yi pressed no further. As the two kidnappers continued to bang on the door outside, she calmly sprayed some pheromone eliminator, temporarily stifling the scent between herself and Leng Xuelang.
This would at least serve as a decent cover.
【Host, the two kidnappers outside are Betas. They can’t smell your pheromones,】 the system reminded her once more.
“Alright, I got it.” Jiu Yi had initially considered subduing the two to extract some information, but looking at the situation now, it likely wouldn’t yield any results anyway, so she let the idea go.
She harbored no desire to let anyone else see Leng Xuelang in her current state, especially given the conflicting mix of innocence, cruelty, and seductiveness playing across her features. Those contradictory yet pure expressions combined to evoke the image of a beautiful predator driven purely by the instinct to kill.
It was hard to put into words, but the current Leng Xuelang was vastly different from the Leng Xuelang in Jiu Yi’s memory.
Yet, now was not the time for such reflections. They absolutely could not stay in this place any longer; they had to leave immediately.
Otherwise, let alone Leng Xuelang holding out, Jiu Yi herself was on the verge of reaching her limit.
The two Betas clearly hadn’t noticed anything amiss in this direction, completely unaware that this room hid a secret compartment. After doing a quick sweep and finding nothing else, they finally left.
Jiu Yi waited until they had entirely vanished before stepping out. Her legs had gone completely numb, and a pervasive stiffness left her unable to speak. Turning her gaze back to Leng Xuelang, she saw the woman’s entire body flushed a deep red, looking thoroughly ripe and inexplicably bringing to mind a fresh, mature peach.
“What are you looking at? Look at me again and I’ll gouge your eyes out.”
Leng Xuelang remained both wary of and dependent on her. Yet, unable to accept these surging emotions and fueled by the shame of losing control over her own body, she could only confront Jiu Yi in this manner.
“If you have the ability, I’ll be waiting for you to try.” Jiu Yi simply threw it as a minor temper tantrum from someone in a foul mood. However, as a single disabled person, it would be incredibly difficult for her to carry Leng Xuelang out of here on her own. She had no choice but to wait for rescue.
Jiu Yi had double locked the room, and Xin Tang had just called to say she would arrive in five minutes, asking her to hold on a bit longer.
Laying Leng Xuelang down on the sofa, Jiu Yi took off her own coat and draped it over her. She then seated herself a great distance away, not casting a single glance back.
It was as if she were deliberately avoiding something.
Leng Xuelang felt that gnawing sensation return, the agonizing feeling of being bitten by thousands of ants that could only be alleviated by a warm embrace and soothing comfort. It felt as though her very bones were being crushed and her heart broken.
In the past, she had experienced similar symptoms, but they had never been this dangerous. She had no idea what was happening this time for the severity to escalate so drastically.
Could it be that Jiu Yi had discovered the secret about her body and was using this to threaten her?
But the woman was sitting so far away now, even completely reining in her pheromones. She looked entirely oblivious to Leng Xuelang’s pain and inner struggle. It seemed she had merely been overthinking.
【Host, are you really not going to help her? She looks like she’s suffering terribly.】
Seeing how Leng Xuelang was biting her lip almost to the point of bleeding, flushed from either the heat or the distress, the system found it impossible not to feel a surge of pity.
“Going over to her right now would only harm her.” Jiu Yi remained completely unmoved by the system’s prompt, still refusing to grant her even a single glance.
The system truly felt its host possessed a heart of stone and let out a heavy sigh:
【So you’re just going to sit there and watch her suffer? Omegas are different from Alphas, especially female Omegas. If you keep leaving her like this, she’ll be in grave danger. If something goes wrong with her gland, you’ll have to take responsibility for her for the rest of your life.】
“Then what do you want me to do? Actually mark her?”
【Is there a problem with that?】
“Would doing that truly change her fate?”
【You aren’t the male lead, so why wouldn’t it?】
Jiu Yi lapsed into silence once more, disinclined to answer the question. Fortunately, Xin Tang arrived just in time, bringing a doctor along. Seeing her boss sitting so righteously far away from Leng Xuelang, Xin Tang found it almost beyond belief.
However, a small patch of her boss’s lip was split, which couldn’t help but ignite a cascade of wild imaginations.
She immediately directed the doctor to check on Leng Xuelang while urging Jiu Yi to quickly get into her wheelchair and leave, given that those people were targeting her.
Jiu Yi waited a brief moment and instructed Xin Tang to pull out the employee handbook.
Xin Tang didn’t quite grasp why her boss suddenly wanted the employee handbook at a time like this, but she complied and handed it over anyway.
“Don’t give it to me. Give it to Leng Xuelang.”
“Huh?” Xin Tang was dazed, thinking she had misheard.
“Read it to her, rule by rule. Make sure that by the time she finishes listening, she is entirely purged of all worldly desires.”
Xin Tang: But boss, your life might be the one that gets purged!
【Oh, my dear host, do you think Leng Xuelang’s hatred toward you isn’t high enough already?】 The system felt a massive headache coming on.
Jiu Yi offered no reply, keeping her instruction for Xin Tang to read the employee handbook while she settled into her wheelchair, preparing to depart.
Her close friend, Nie Yu, had actually returned as well. She stood outside looking at Jiu Yi with deep anxiety, her presence further aggravating Leng Xuelang’s frayed nerves.
“Jiu Yi, are you hurt anywhere?”
Leng Xuelang looked at the cold employee handbook before her, then watched as Jiu Yi prepared to leave with her friend without a shred of hesitation, seemingly utterly indifferent to whether she lived or died.
Seeing Jiu Yi safe and sound, Nie Yu wept tears of joy. She couldn’t resist throwing her arms around Jiu Yi, placing a sharp kiss right on her cheek.
This vivid display of Alpha-Omega affection struck a violent chord in Leng Xuelang’s eyes, sending a surge of crimson through her vision in an instant.
“Si Jiu Yi, I hate you!”
Losing all semblance of control, her massive serpent tail whipped violently toward Jiu Yi’s position, striking recklessly as if intent on piercing right through her body.
Sensing the danger, Jiu Yi tilted her body to the side to evade the strike. When she turned back to look, the stark room held nothing but fluttering window curtains. Leng Xuelang was gone without a trace.
A jolt of shock hit Jiu Yi’s heart. She vanished into thin air?
“BANG!”
From outside came the abrupt crack of a gunshot followed by a sharp, miserable shriek, as the heavy, metallic scent of blood began to spread through the air.