The black market. Restricted zone.
In the dim, murky half light, the red and blue flashes of police beacons flickered between the crumbling ruins of the warehouse district in the southern part of the city. The sharp, grating crunch of car tires rolling over scattered gravel shattered the stillness.
When Shen Louchen pushed open the car door, he was instantly assaulted by the heavy stench of blood mixed with the acrid bite of low grade pheromones. His expression tightened at once, every line of his face sharpened by instinctive alertness.
“Minister!” Zong Zhuyuan’s voice came from the shadows of the warehouse, breathless and tense. He rushed forward, the armband of his uniform torn open by a long gash.
“Something is seriously wrong inside. These alphas’ pheromones have completely spiraled out of control. It’s like they were forcibly injected with some sort of catalyst, their strength far exceeds anything their original rankings should allow.”
Shen Louchen didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he reached up and tugged at his collar, a low, hoarse breath slipping from his throat. The moment his own pheromones detected abnormal fluctuations from the mutated alphas, they stirred restlessly, like a predator smelling blood, every slight provocation triggering an instinctive desire to respond.
The metal warehouse door had been torn open from the inside, leaving a jagged hole. Twisted rebar protruded outward and pieces of flesh still clung to the metal.
A towering figure, easily over two meters tall, stood with its back to them, raising its bare hands and smashing an entire shipping container into a heap of mangled scrap.
The creature’s skin was an eerie blue gray, veins bulging grotesquely along both sides of its neck as if something alive writhed beneath the flesh. When it finally turned around, even Shen Louchen inhaled sharply.
Its face was twisted into something monstrous, its eyes completely devoid of pupils, replaced by a cloudy, milky white. Drool dangled from the corner of its mouth and a guttural, incoherent growl rattled from its throat.
It could no longer even be called human.
“It’s a mutated specimen,” Zong Zhuyuan whispered from behind, his hand trembling as he held up the detection device. “The pheromone concentration exceeds the safe threshold by more than three hundred times. The characteristics match exactly with the experimental subjects Jiang Fenggu described from Qingyang City’s old lab!”
Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, the mutated alpha lunged forward with an ear splitting roar.
Shen Louchen dodged to the side, his elbow slamming into the back of the creature’s neck. A dull crack echoed but the monster didn’t seem to feel pain. It swung back blindly, one clawed hand ripping open Shen Louchen’s suit jacket and drawing a splatter of bright blood.
“Damn it!” Shen Louchen growled under his breath. His hand instinctively reached toward the gun holstered at his waist but he shoved it back. The force behind that last blow proved it, regular bullets wouldn’t penetrate skin that had undergone this level of reinforcement.
Anything born, no matter how mutated, still had weaknesses.
He circled the mutated alpha, testing its reactions. Then, gathering his strength, he let out a sharp alpha roar, a sound like a predator’s tiger like bellow. The creature froze in place, clutching its ears and writhing in pain.
So that was it, high frequency sound waves. His roar had far stronger penetration than a normal voice but maintaining that form consumed an enormous amount of pheromones.
“Throw me the sonic controller from Tech Department!” Shen Louchen shouted after pressing a switch on his wrist.
Zong Zhuyuan narrowly dodged another swipe from an incoming creature and hurled a compact metal device toward him.
Catching it cleanly, Shen Louchen flicked on the switch. A shrill, piercing whine erupted, forcing the mutated alpha to curl inward, howling. Seizing the brief opening, Shen Louchen launched himself upward, landing on the creature’s shoulders.
His knee slammed against its temple and with one decisive twist, a sharp crack snapped through the air.
Using the wall to stabilize himself, he pushed off and flipped backward, landing steadily on the ground.
The blue gray corpse collapsed with a thunderous thud. Its skin began to wither rapidly, shriveling like a punctured sack. As Shen Louchen watched the body lose vitality, he noticed a faint reddish brand on the back of its neck, barely visible now as the skin dried and darkened.
Crouching down, he brushed aside the creature’s hair to get a better look. “A black market modification mark.”
Zong Zhuyuan leaned in to take a photo, enlarging the brand’s pattern on his screen. “It matches Jiang Fenggu’s laboratory markings. These mutated ones may be failed experiments.”
Failed experiments? Then how had they ended up here?
He didn’t have time to think.
From deep inside the warehouse, the sharp crackle of gunfire suddenly erupted.
Shen Louchen grabbed the sonic device and sprinted forward. In the deeper section of the building, five or six mutated alphas were swarming a cargo truck, ripping through the metal panels like paper.
The back doors had already been torn off their hinges. Wooden crates tumbled out, smashing against the ground. Glass shattered and white inhibitor fluid spilled everywhere, rippling with an eerie silver sheen under the faint emergency lights of the truck.
“This is the one!” Zong Zhuyuan shouted, almost jubilant. “The smuggling convoy hid the goods in the underground garage, these creatures are here to destroy the evidence!”
The mutated specimens tore at the truck, ripping the cargo hold open even further. Dozens of inhibitor vials scattered to the ground, their glass shattering in flashes. The pungent stench of low quality inhibitors filled the air instantly.
Shen Louchen’s pheromones surged violently, completely losing control. The air pressure around him dropped sharply, dense and suffocating. He clenched his jaw, knuckles whitening from strain.
Those earlier hits had nearly drained his pheromone reserves. Now, with the sudden flood of impure inhibitors entering his system, his temples hammered fiercely with pain.
“Minister!” Zong Zhuyuan rushed forward, panic tightening his voice. “You’re not okay, let me help you!”
Shen Louchen swatted his hand away, tasting iron as blood rose in his throat. He waved Zong Zhuyuan off, signaling he was fine but even that motion was shaky.
Forcing himself through the dizziness, he gathered his pheromones again and snatched up a broken steel pipe from the ground. His figure blurred as he charged into the swarm of mutated alphas.
The clash of metal against hardened skin, the violent thuds and the monstrous roars echoed through the warehouse. Every strike tore through the air with explosive force.
Only when the final mutated creature collapsed into a pool of blood did Shen Louchen finally lean against the steel pipe, chest heaving. His shirt was thoroughly soaked with sweat and blood, clinging to his skin.
“Seal the site immediately. Send every vial in for analysis.” He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse like gravel scraping against stone. “Trace the origin of these containers.”
Zong Zhuyuan stared at him, horrified. The minister looked as though he might collapse at any second. “Minister, you have to rest. If you keep pushing yourself, you’ll fall into a berserk state!”
Shen Louchen didn’t answer. His eyes remained locked on the shriveled corpses on the ground. His unstable pheromones coiled tightly around his throat like venomous serpents, squeezing and provoking another surge of killing intent.
“Damn it,” Zong Zhuyuan muttered, gritting his teeth as he forced a tranquilizer into Shen Louchen’s bloodstream. Only then did the man stagger and allow himself to be helped into the car.
As the vehicle pulled away from the warehouse district, Shen Louchen, half conscious, murmured hoarsely, “Don’t let anyone inside the villa.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Shen residence.
Soft sunset light spilled through the floor to ceiling windows, casting a warm gold glow across the vast living room. When Fu Xu placed the final dish of sweet and sour ribs on the dining table, there was still flour clinging to his apron.
He arranged each plate carefully, then returned to the kitchen to clean everything spotless. Only when no trace of dust or clutter remained anywhere did he finally pat his hands, satisfied.
Looking at the steaming dishes on the table, his fingers twisted nervously around the ribbon of his apron.
Mr. Shen had said he would be home for dinner. It was already nearly dark… Did something happen?
He picked up his phone, turning the screen on and off, over and over but never mustering the courage to actually call.
As he was still debating with himself, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from the entryway. Fu Xu’s eyes brightened instantly. He rushed toward the door,
And froze the moment he pulled it open.
It wasn’t Shen Louchen standing outside.
Instead, an elderly man, perhaps around sixty, stood there. He wore a dark Chinese style suit, his back straight as a blade. His gaze was sharp like a hawk’s, sweeping over Fu Xu with chilling precision. Under that intense stare, Fu Xu instinctively shrank back a little.
“So you’re the omega from the Fu family?” the man asked, his voice low and firm, leaving no room for resistance.
Fu Xu tightened his grip on the corner of his apron and whispered, “Y-yes… that’s me.”
The old man raised a brow and stepped directly into the living room. His eyes swept over the table full of food before returning to Fu Xu.
“Shen Louchen is the one who ordered you to live here?”
Fu Xu nodded, then shook his head, cheeks burning red. “Mr. Shen… he said I should stay here temporarily.”
The old man did not press him further. He walked over to the sofa and sat down, his knuckles tapping lightly against the armrest. The living room sank into a heavy, awkward silence. Fu Xu stood frozen where he was, his palms damp with cold sweat.
He had often endured this kind of gaze in the Fu household, the gaze of someone above looking down on someone beneath them, the evaluation of a superior toward a servant, laced with undisguised contempt.
“Where is Shen Louchen?” the old man finally asked, his tone turning noticeably colder.
“Shen… Shen sir hasn’t… hasn’t come back yet.” Fu Xu twisted his fingers together, his voice trembling. “He should… he should be back soon.”
The old man shot him a sideways glance, as if he had just heard something amusing. “An omega actually thinks he has the right to keep track of an alpha’s whereabouts?”
Fu Xu’s face was drained of all colours. He knew his gland was defective, knew he was unworthy of someone like Mr. Shen, an alpha with status and power but hearing it thrown at him so bluntly still made a sharp ache bloom in his chest.
He lowered his head, his voice barely audible. “I wasn’t… I didn’t mean it like that…”
The old man let out a cold snort, pulled an envelope from his pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table. “You’re not that S class omega from the Fu family, are you? Go on, then, tell me exactly what tricks you used to marry into this family.”
Fu Xu shook his head, even his attempts at explanation sounding pale and powerless. “I didn’t… it wasn’t me… it was my father…” His words faltered halfway, unable to continue.
If he explained that his younger brother was the one who refused to come, that Shen family was like a dragon’s lair and a tiger’s den and that the boy had been too terrified… then wouldn’t the old man in front of him skin him alive?
The old man’s eyes narrowed. He rose from the sofa and stepped in front of Fu Xu, looking down at him from a position of absolute dominance.
Fu Xu instinctively ducked his head. All he could see were the impeccably polished leather shoes before him, luxurious even at a glance and a pair of hands that were pale, well kept and impossibly elegant.
“Our Shen family has no need for a defective omega,” the old man said, his voice deep and steady. A faint fruity fragrance slowly drifted through the air. “Since you schemed so hard to marry into this house, then you should already understand the consequences.”
Fu Xu didn’t even dare breathe too loudly but he still caught that drifting scent.
Yes, an omega’s scent.
He suddenly remembered something his mother had warned him of before forcing him to marry into the Shen family. She had said that other than Shen Louchen, there was only one elder left in the Shen household.
Fu Xu had naturally assumed that the elder was an alpha, only an alpha would have such suffocating authority, enough to make someone like Shen Louchen accept a political marriage without protest.
But unexpectedly… the old man was an omega?
Seeing that Fu Xu said nothing, the old man gave a cold, displeased huff and ordered the people beside him, “Take him back to the old estate. There’s no need to inform Loucheb. He’s just an omega, tell him I’ll choose a more suitable one for him another day.”
Fu Xu tried to speak, tried to explain everything but the other’s pheromone pressure crashed over him like a tidal wave, robbing him of all strength. Before he could utter a single word, darkness swallowed him and he collapsed.
He didn’t know how much time passed. From the depths of the dark void, consciousness slowly returned. When he opened his eyes, he realized his vision was covered by a thick cloth. Somewhere nearby, a voice drifted toward him, indistinct, blurred but familiar enough that it sounded like Mr. Shen’s.
✦ ✧ ✦
Vynellia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The Realm accepts your wallet. The translator accepts coffee. ✦
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Substitute MarriageChapter 2 · PleaseChapter 3 · Thank you, Mr. ShenChapter 4 · Mr. Shen, are you going to throw me away?Chapter 5 · You don’t have to please me in everythingChapter 6 · Is This For Him?Chapter 7 · Do you know you don’t have long to live?Chapter 8 · But what about you? What will you be then?Chapter 9 · That’s a vehicle from the logistics department.Chapter 10 · What do you take my Shen family for?Chapter 11 · Can I bite your gland?Chapter 12 · He is not my “medicine catalyst”Chapter 13 · Who is that Alpha?Chapter 14 · Perfectly matched omegaChapter 15 · Perhaps you could call him, baby?Chapter 16 · That’s… Fu Xu’s scent?Chapter 17 · It was made by the masterChapter 18 · Abusing a pregnant omega is a serious crime.Chapter 19 · Mr. Shen is the best alpha.Chapter 20 · Family elderChapter 21 · Shen Louchen’s berserk periodChapter 22 Part 1 · You are my wifeChapter 22 Part 2 · You are my wifeChapter 23 · Aren’t we mutually in love?Chapter 24 · Which alpha did you go to see?Chapter 25 · Fu Xu, tell me you like meChapter 26 · Could Mr. Shen possibly have a little crush on him?Chapter 27 · Get out!Chapter 28 · Stay close to meChapter 29 · Mr. Shen and I are a legally married coupleChapter 30 · Spit it outChapter 31 · He’s been acting increasingly strangely latelyChapter 32 · Do you listen to everyone except me?Chapter 33 · Monthly ExamChapter 34 · Parent Teacher MeetingChapter 35 · The classroom was cold at nightChapter 36 · Court deathChapter 37 · Wife, Kiss meChapter 38 · This omega trying to steal a kiss from him?Chapter 39 · His omega turned out to be a little cunning.Chapter 40 · Is this little omega taking advantage of him?Chapter 41 · “Madam Shen” is your trump card, understand?Chapter 42 · Mr. Shen, I don’t know how to wear it…Chapter 43 · HusbandChapter 44 · Why is Shen Louchen acting like a peacockChapter 45 · I won’t abandon you, and I never willChapter 46 · Omega with a 92% match rateChapter 47 · Are you waiting for him?Chapter 48 · How can someone magically transformChapter 49 · Now it’s all good, two kids.Chapter 50 · Mr. Shen, will you regret it then?Chapter 51 · What is regret?Chapter 52 · If you’ve got the guts, say it again!Chapter 53 · That’s my milk teaChapter 54 · What he wanted to replace was the alphaChapter 55 · How do you know I’m not part of Mr. Shen’s plan?Chapter 56 · Why don’t you just kill me?Chapter 57 · Are we sending him away?Chapter 58 · Are you angry?Chapter 59 · Inhibitor or marker?Chapter 60 · Let Fu Xu mark himChapter 61 · There should be limits to joking, right?Chapter 62 · Do you really not like Young Master Lian?Chapter 63 · Will you still love me after I go to school?Chapter 64 · You are the best husband in the worldChapter 65 · Extra 1Chapter 66 · Extra 2