The momentum was far too overbearing. Geng Nuo tried to twitch his arm, but before he even had a chance to push back, his wrists were clamped in Gu Chengyan’s grip, hoisted above his head, and ruthlessly pinned beneath the man.
This felt vastly different from before.
Gu Chengyan had never acted this frantic; his movements were even rougher than the first time. Radiating the aura of a predatory beast from head to toe, he looked as though he wanted to swallow Geng Nuo whole.
Geng Nuo felt a rising wave of terror, and he was still a bit sore.
This wasn’t a kiss; the man was tearing at his lips. Stung by the pain, Geng Nuo bit down on Gu Chengyan’s lip in retaliation. Their lips parted slightly, and thinking he had earned a reprieve, Geng Nuo braced for escape—only for Gu Chengyan to press back down the next second. Instead of lingering on his lips, the man tracked downward, trailing from his chin all the way down his neck, blooming a rash of pink kiss marks and tooth impressions.
It hurt.
Riaah. The sound of tearing fabric.
Compared to the flirtatious half-uniform from before, this tightly fitted, formal black swallowtail jacket clearly proved even more effective at inciting Gu Chengyan’s desire for destruction.
Late into the night, Geng Nuo was crying until his throat grew hoarse and his lips were split. Every time he opened his mouth to beg for mercy, Gu Chengyan would bite his lips, leaving him capable of doing nothing besides crying, stripped of any ability to utter pleas.
To put it without exaggeration, Geng Nuo genuinely suspected he was going to die in bed tonight.
What on earth had triggered Gu Chengyan?
Sprawled face-down on the bed, Geng Nuo tried to turn his head, shifting his body laboriously by an inch, only to have it mistaken for a struggle. Gu Chengyan swiftly pinned both of Geng Nuo’s wrists behind his back with a single hand.
Unable to budge, his dark hair damp with tears and sweat stuck against the sheets and his temples. He twisted his face slightly, gazing tearfully and piteously toward Gu Chengyan in search of even a shred of mercy.
Unfortunately, none was found.
The ragged, heavy breathing puffed against the side of his neck, and the pair of dark eyes gleaming in the dark flickered with a feral light. Geng Nuo felt as though he had been nailed to the bed by a beast in rut.
Rut?
Could Gu Chengyan be in his rut?
Geng Nuo couldn’t catch the scent of any pheromones, nor could he tell whether Gu Chengyan was currently experiencing a rut.
He knew precious little about these habits of Alphas.
Yet if Gu Chengyan was truly in rut, he should have gone to find an Omega! Why was he coming here to torture him?
As if to confirm his suspicion, Gu Chengyan leaned in close, sucking and biting at the back of Geng Nuo’s neck.
There was no gland located there, but Gu Chengyan gnawed on that patch of flesh with tireless obsession.
Geng Nuo’s heart turned stone cold.
How frantic would an Alpha in rut become if he couldn’t get an Omega’s pheromones to soothe him?
“G-General Gu…” Geng Nuo trembled, letting out a fractured voice. “P-Please wake up, I’m not an Omega, ugh!”
Gu Chengyan surged close to him from behind, whispering right beside his ear, “You figured that out on day one, didn’t you?”
Immediately afterward, those scorching lips slid back down to the back of his neck, his nose inhaling lightly as he issued a hypnotic prompt: “Call my name. You know my name, don’t you?”
Geng Nuo clutched the bedsheets, his body trembling, while Gu Chengyan let out a cozy chuckle, his voice murmuring indistinctly from deep within his throat: “You should count yourself lucky that you don’t carry any scent…”
Geng Nuo let out a soft whimper. The sound seemed to stimulate Gu Chengyan; his actions paused for a beat as he put some distance between them.
A moment later, Gu Chengyan leaned back in, delivering the second half of the sentence—
“…Nor can you be marked.”
Seeming quite satisfied, for a Beta acting like an egg striking a stone, his biological traits offered no assistance whatsoever, meaning Gu Chengyan naturally wouldn’t be affected by them.
With that, Gu Chengyan lowered his head and bit down viciously into that patch of clean skin on the back of his neck.
“Ah!”
Geng Nuo shrieked in agony, struggling frantically as cold sweat broke out across his forehead and his body spasmed uncontrollably. Even without the perception of pheromones, such an unmasked, direct injection of energy would inevitably exert an impact on him.
Pinned immovably within the Alpha’s embrace, the stifled sobs only served to fuel the wild beast behind him. Soon, the entire room was suffused with the suffocating presence of the Alpha.
“Gu Chengyan, let me go! Let go!”
Geng Nuo couldn’t smell a thing, yet he could feel an alien form of suppression, as though the entire sky had collapsed at that exact moment to press squarely down upon him. That inescapable, web-like control infiltrated every pore and blood vessel down to his limbs, leaving Geng Nuo clenching his teeth so hard his eyes were practically splitting at the corners.
The pain, combined with the innate sense of suppression, left him utterly powerless to resist.
“I beg you… let me go.”
Gu Chengyan turned a deaf ear. Long moments later, he finally released his bite, staring down at the tooth marks on Geng Nuo’s neck while a trace of imperceptible satisfaction flickered in his eyes.
Though God knows what he was satisfied with.
Sprawled across the bed, Geng Nuo drew in ragged, gasping breaths. Soaked in slippery sweat, he looked as though he had just been fished out of a river. A fresh, eye-catching tooth mark stood out with striking prominence amid the constellation of love bites coating his neck.
As his sobs quieted down, Gu Chengyan rose without a shred of lingering attachment, sitting at the edge of the bed and tracing every inch of the boy’s skin with his eyes.
Everywhere bore his brand.
This person belonged entirely to him until death. That thought flashed across Gu Chengyan’s mind.
Even if he had approached him with malicious intent, even if he had willingly acted as bait with the scheme of turning him into a demented puppet like Feng Qilong.
Too bad. Gu Chengyan thought: Your scheme with Pix is destined to fall through.
“Why?” Geng Nuo lay face-down on the bed, his voice slipping out as a faint whisper.
“What?” Gu Chengyan was pulled back to reality by the mosquito-like question.
“I’m a Beta, I can’t help you.” Geng Nuo closed his eyes, looking thoroughly exhausted—not the physical fatigue of indulgence, but a psychological exhaustion. He couldn’t muster the strength to move a single finger, and while he wanted to unleash his verbal fury, he didn’t dare speak too loudly, terrified that this savage Imperial General might take a dislike to him and genuinely rape-and-murder him on the spot.
He mumbled uncomfortably, “Shouldn’t an Alpha in rut go find an Omega? I don’t even have pheromones…”
Only then did Gu Chengyan realize Geng Nuo had mistaken his abnormal behavior tonight for being in rut.
He let out an incredulous chuckle. “Did you really think that for an Alpha like me, things like rut and susceptibility can just casually manipulate my emotions?”
Geng Nuo’s eyelids twitched without opening. The look on his face practically spelled out: Well, obviously?
“I’m leaving.” Gu Chengyan informed him. The teenage Beta on the bed showed no reaction whatsoever.
Yet the General who had claimed he was leaving sat by the bedside for a long time. Geng Nuo was a complete mess, while Gu Chengyan remained impeccably dressed; the series of passionate indulgences just now hadn’t even added a few creases to his clothes.
Gu Chengyan lowered his gaze, his dark eyes shimmering with turbulent, obscured light mingled with indecipherable emotions. Geng Nuo’s breathing gradually leveled out into an uneasy sleep, tear tracks at the corners of his eyes reflecting a faint sheen in the moonlight while his calf muscles twitched from time to time, causing his brow to knit gently.
Summoned silently to his side, the AI Let appeared without a sound. Reading the room, Fran inquired without instructions, “Should I treat him?”
Gu Chengyan looked as though he might nod, but rejected it. “Wait.”
He pulled out his terminal and opened the camera mode.
Fran had anticipated a series of perverted pranks; it never expected its master to be shameless enough to snap pin-up photos of someone he was preparing to kill.
How badly do you crave his body?
Yet it seemed to have guessed wrong. Carefully rolling the sleeping Geng Nuo over onto his back, Gu Chengyan raised his terminal and clicked away with several clicks. The screen displayed a face identical to the one on the bed the brow still furrowed, lips somewhat swollen with broken skin. Even the widest framing stopped strictly at the neck bearing the bite and kiss marks.
Finally, he snapped a shot of the bite mark resembling a seal.
Stowing away his terminal, Gu Chengyan stood up and gave a calm directive: “Treat him.”
Green light slowly enveloped Geng Nuo’s entire body. Even the turbid fluids within him were instantly cleansed away, after which the various marks slowly faded, and the tooth mark at the nape of his neck vanished without a trace. His skin was left flawless and pristine, without a single shred of evidence left behind by desire.
It was as though tonight had merely been a dream.
Fran teased, “General, should we take a few more? His brow is much more relaxed now.”
Gu Chengyan didn’t seem to share the sentiment. Seeing Geng Nuo’s body restored to perfection, he turned and walked away.
Every mark on that Beta’s body had been bestowed by him, and even the furrowed brow had been caused by him.
But once restored to perfection, he was nothing more than a spy harboring illicit designs.
No need for lingering attachments.
Gu Chengyan persuaded himself with those words and left Shark Club.
On the way back, he stared fixedly at the photos on his terminal for a long time. The teenager’s dreams probably hadn’t been pleasant, but surely they had featured him; those slightly parted lips hadn’t been for breathing, perhaps they were merely a means of temptation.
Gu Chengyan thought: He shouldn’t have gone today; startling the snake in the grass wouldn’t be ideal.
Upon returning to the General’s estate, the butler was astonished at when Gu Chengyan had gone out, seeing as he had supposedly remained home ever since returning from the palace, with only Wei Hai leaving around dusk.
“General, where did you go?”
“Nothing much.” Gu Chengyan’s expression showed not a trace of anomaly. Stepping through the door amid the morning dew with moisture clinging to his hem, he removed his jacket and strode upstairs. “Just took a walk.”
When Geng Nuo woke up, he genuinely believed he had experienced a nightmare.
His refreshed body felt entirely different from every previous morning after spending the night with Gu Chengyan. He refused to believe the General would be kind enough to clean up after him.
Moreover, with the banquet imminent, the General had no reason to visit these past few days, so despite feeling some soreness in his limbs, he wrote off last night as an excessively vivid nightmare, though certain details remained crystal clear in his mind.
He must have simply fallen asleep while counting money.
With that thought, he eagerly scrambled out of bed, retrieved the black money bag, and counted the cash inside one more time just to set his mind at ease.
While washing up, he felt a dull ache at the back of his neck. Twisting his neck in front of the mirror until it grew sore revealed nothing out of the ordinary, leaving Geng Nuo baffled as he headed out to forage for food.
Over the past few days, he had felt like a carefree idler unburdened by cares. The thought of imminent escape made Geng Nuo naturally detach himself from this place. He would no longer have the slightest connection to the people here; no one would know he had worked as a server here, and even fewer would know he had once been mounted by an Alpha. Once he left this place, he would remain a clean, untainted Beta, and everything here would vanish into the memories of his remaining years…
Thus lighthearted in his thoughts, Geng Nuo wandered over to the staff cafeteria and grabbed a piece of bread. With the General absent, naturally no one was delivering mountain delicacies and seafood to the presidential suite three times a day.
He quickly realized something was wrong.
From the moment he stepped into the staff cafeteria, everyone’s gazes were exceedingly strange. The Alpha guards at the door tried to block him, but failed, ending up half-kneeling on the ground. At the time, Geng Nuo still found it inexplicable, assuming the guy had suffered a sudden medical emergency. But he quickly realized that wasn’t the case. The Omegas in the cafeteria also began growing restless, as though struck by some immense shock their legs turning to jelly and failing to hold their weight, with the closest ones entering heat right on the spot.
Everyone looked at him with terrified eyes, desperately covering their noses and mouths.
Even the densest person would know what that meant by now. With an ugly expression, Geng Nuo hurried back to his room.
That definitely hadn’t been a dream last night.
He had no idea what method Gu Chengyan had used to leave zero visible traces on his body, but that rich Alpha aura had been left entirely intact on him.
Geng Nuo was a Beta, meaning the pheromones belonging to an Alpha injected into his body couldn’t form the effect of a mark, but they would linger temporarily upon him.
If an Alpha marking an Omega was an expression of territorial dominance that wouldn’t shock outsiders, the pheromones Gu Chengyan poured into Geng Nuo operated like an overbearing force projecting itself unmasked outward, momentarily transforming Geng Nuo into a Beta carrying an Alpha aura.
Geng Nuo grumbled curses internally, thoroughly baffled by Gu Chengyan’s confusing behavior—refusing to give him peace even in the final two days.
Well, great. He had instantly become the focal point of the crowd once again, making it impossible to even count money in peace.
Though outsiders wouldn’t dare approach him due to the aura he carried, that same aura simultaneously rendered his presence unmistakably glaring.
Clearly, that was unfavorable for his escape.
Time flew by in a blur, finally bringing the eve of the banquet.
Amidst the glittering lights and golden splendor of the lavish banquet hall, countless servers bustled about making final preparations. Geng Nuo hadn’t been assigned any work over the past few days, so amidst everyone’s bustle, no one remembered he existed. He deliberately gravitated toward the crowds a few times, noticing that the aura Gu Chengyan had left on him had likely dissipated or at least become negligible to the point where brushing past an Omega wouldn’t trigger their attention.
Geng Nuo’s mind settled.
Before leaving, he had one important task to execute.
Much like his escape, this task required the cover of the chaotic moments to pull off.
Geng Nuo jammed the signal on the third floor. This move carried immense risk, which was why he only allowed himself ten minutes. Within those ten minutes, he needed to slip into Pix’s office, locate his contract, destroy it, and leave. If signal restoration failed within ten minutes, his cover would be blown.
Pix’s office was exceptionally spacious and luxurious, easily spanning over a hundred square meters in plain sight, though whether hidden doors or partitions existed remained unknown. The walls were lined with honorary certificates and trophies from all walks of upper-class society alongside Pix’s cherished collection of various artifacts. Glancing over them perfunctorily, Geng Nuo let his gaze fall upon the desk and the bookshelf behind it.
Where is it?
Geng Nuo searched frantically while keeping one ear cocked to monitor movements outside. Motion stirred outside on a few occasions, nearly making Geng Nuo’s heart leap out of his chest, though thankfully they merely passed by.
Before long, he actually found it.
Right inside the document box on Pix’s desk, tossed aside carelessly as if brought back and forgotten without any deliberate organization. Perhaps the item held truly zero utility for the man.
Yet it represented a massive threat to Geng Nuo.
In Pix’s hands, the item was useless, and if Pix had him killed, the piece of paper wouldn’t serve any function either. But once he ran away once Pix realized he had bolted this single contract would become immensely useful.
If the man grew furious and tried to weaponize the contract against him, Geng Nuo had zero confidence in evading the pursuit of the Imperial courts for a lifetime.
Though unfamiliar with the specific legal nuances, with black-and-white text bearing his fingerprint, Geng Nuo could naturally deduce the legal sanctions that might follow. If he couldn’t articulate a defense, what with official-merchant collusion running rampant, how was he supposed to prove his innocence?
He couldn’t afford to gamble.
Geng Nuo looked around and spotted a paper shredder in the corner.
That would do the trick. Geng Nuo flattened the two contracts, shoved them into the shredder, squatted down, and tilted his head to peer through the plastic window to watch the entire shredding process, needing to ensure the item was pulverized to completion.
Then he discovered a problem.
The shredder’s operating principle was remarkably primitive and crude, merely slicing the paper vertically into long strips roughly half a centimeter wide. Watching the shredded fragments or rather, paper strips Geng Nuo could easily imagine how effortless it would be to tape those strips back together.
No way.
That offered zero security; Pix could easily have someone piece them back together and dig up his old accounts.
Not a single piece of leverage could be left behind.
Decisive as ever, Geng Nuo pulled out the cigar box General Gu had dropped behind earlier, which contained a few matches. Striking a match into flame, he tossed it into the shredder and quietly watched the paper scraps turn to ashes.
One minute remaining; it was time to go.
“Geng Nuo!”
His breath hitched.
Turning his head slowly, he saw it was He Fei.
Maintaining his composure, Geng Nuo asked, “What is it?”
Thankfully, he had already stepped out of Pix’s office, and he had verified that the surroundings were completely deserted before closing the door. Until the moment the third-floor signal was restored, he could guarantee his actions remained seamless.
He was merely feigning business while running into He Fei along the way.
He Fei seemed to detect nothing amiss, rushing over eagerly to grab his hand and blurting out without context, “Come quickly!”
Geng Nuo tried to pull his hand back; he had no time to waste right now. To his surprise, He Fei possessed quite a bit of strength, and a single pull failed to free his hand.
“Where are you going? I… I have an urgent matter right now, Boss Pix assigned me…” Geng Nuo attempted to find an excuse to shake He Fei off.
“A massive stroke of luck!” He Fei stubbornly insisted on dragging him somewhere. “Forget about that stuff for now, guess what I found?”
“What?” Geng Nuo had zero interest.
“Good stuff.” He Fei flashed a cunning smile. “You’ll definitely need this when you go out later.”
“What?!” Geng Nuo’s heart skipped a beat, thinking He Fei had somehow caught wind of something, before realizing the other was referring to “being taken home by General Gu” as “going out.”
Taking advantage of that momentary distraction, Geng Nuo was successfully dragged along by He Fei. To avoid tipping him off, he could only urge, “Where are we going? I’m genuinely busy; what if I’m reprimanded for delaying things…”
“Alright, alright, it won’t take you more than a few minutes.”
Standing before a single-story bungalow the very same one he had spotted earlier from the billiard room window, where wisps of white smoke had lazily curled upward, though its purpose had remained a mystery it looked remarkably quiet from the outside.
Viewed from upstairs, sheltered by the dense, towering trees, the bungalow had appeared tiny. Standing on the ground now, however, Geng Nuo realized the bungalow was nearly two stories high, stretching back so deep the end was invisible.
This kind of place actually exists here?
A faint, ominous premonition stirred in Geng Nuo’s chest, but his anxiety and agitation overrode everything else, leaving him no leisure to ponder.
“Wait for me.” He Fei ran up to the door to unlock it, and Geng Nuo asked casually, “You have the key to this place?”
He Fei’s movements faltered for a fraction of a second without turning his head, replying in his usual tone, “Yeah.”
The lock refused to yield. Sensing something was off, Geng Nuo took a couple of steps forward. “What on earth are you bringing me he”
Click. The sound of the lock opening cut him off.