CH 5

In a debauched and corrupt private box1, the air in a dimly lit closed room was mixed with the seductive scent of omega pheromones and the smell of powerful alphas. With his busy schedule, Lu Shangjin seldom got together with his friends. 

A young master alpha with two delicate and beautiful omegas on either side sat in front, sipping the champagne the omega attentively served him. He snapped his fingers at Lu Shangjin, “Lu ge, I’ve got a gift for you, better thank me properly.” 

Lacking interest, Lu Shangjin supported his cheek with his hand, “What sort of good things are there?” 

The young master alpha sold a story, “In the land of Jiu An city…”

Lu Shangjin pressed on his sudden pulsing temple, “I’ve said my greetings, you can get to the point.” 

The young master alpha drew out a smoke ring, smiling in satisfaction and clapped his hands. From outside, a thin and frail young omega came in. 

As soon as he entered, the shallow yet distinctive pheromones spread delicately to Lu Shangjin’s nose. The scattered pheromones in the air resonated with his glands. He stood up abruptly. It startled the omega who was standing in front, and he shuffled back a step. He clamped down his short and soft tail, his eyes stared at Lu Shangjin clearly. He wanted to run but didn’t dare to, yet wanting to stay in place to sound it out. 

He was an undifferentiated hamster omega whose glands had roused, his pheromones emitting a light, creamy scent. 

Lu Shangjin slowly walked over, gently raising his hand and touched his tender cheek with his knuckles. 

Just by feeling, he knew that this hamster omega’s pheromones were extremely compatible with his, at least a 95% suitability, which made Lu Shangjin unable to restrain himself calmly. 

The colourful lights shone like midnight stars, pouring down on this inexperienced and beautiful little hamster. Outside the window, the dark clouds cleared, revealing a bright crescent moon behind the haze, it’s glow reflecting the beauty of the earth before it. 

How perfect it would be if the white shirt on his body changed into a skintight bulletproof suit, replacing the champagne glass in his hand with a tactical dagger, and two snow-camouflage painted uzi hanging by his waist.

From the bottom of his heart, Lu Shangjin also felt some sort of feeling of “like”. He smiled sincerely, and called out faintly, “Yan Yan.” 

The hamster looked at Lu Shangjin in surprise and bewilderment, “Xiansheng, my name is…”

The alpha by the side coughed and interrupted the little hamster’s self introduction, “Lu ge can call you whatever name he wants to give you.”

He had a favour to ask from Lu Shangjin, of course he hoped that everything went according to Lu Shangjin’s liking. 

The little hamster timidly agreed and accepted the new name.

Then, Lu Shangjin’s words made everyone in the whole room shudder.

——

Yan Yi sneezed, and his little rabbit ears trembled. When he finally calmed down, he continued cutting apples by the hospital bed.

There were only two omegas in the intensive care unit. With his right leg in a cast, Yuan Mi trembled in fear as he opened his mouth, accepting the apple slices handed over by Yan Yi. While chewing, he watched Yan Yi warily, afraid that he would suddenly rush over and punch him again, or kick him to the sky. 

Seeing that Yan Yi was still quietly cutting fruit, Yuan Mi found the courage to be disbanful, “Are there no other subordinates under Jin ge? Why would he send you to accompany me?”

If the lady of Lu Shangjin’s main palace had a meek and submissive lukewarm character, Yuan Mi could swoop in as the third party without being restrained with fear in his heart. 

Yet this was one he couldn’t afford to provoke. 

Hearing this, Yan Yi lifted his head and smiled politely, “I’m very good at taking care of people and will do so until you recover. I apologize for my lack of self-restraint earlier.”

As the other party spoke and behaved with propriety and magnanimity, Yuan Mi had no opportunity to entangle further. Discouraged, he said, “Forget it. Anyway, Jin ge just treats you like that…” not paying you much attention as what the legends have said. 

Yan Yi maintained his composure as he clutched the handle of the knife and said lightly, “Mn. Just like that. We’ve already been separated for three years.”

(t/n: 离 can mean left/ separated, and also the first character for 离婚 divorced) 

Yuan Mi watched in surprise at his perfectly calm demeanor and withdrew his gaze. 

Divorced. 

He scratched the chicken nest-like hair that hadn’t been washed for days. The little star’s pride had been stirred by his face that had no makeup on and had not been washed. He simply smashed the cracked pot and pillowed his hands, leaning against the standing pillow, “Is your compatibility with him high?” 

Yan Yi thought this was a stupid question. It seemed that not only were his glands still dormant and undifferentiated, his brain cells were also not fully differentiated. 

Dumb human. 

Yan Yi absent-mindedly carved the orange peel into a rose and said casually, “Very low.”

Yuan Mi was not surprised. As if deep in thought, he comforted tolerably, “Compatibility levels have no influence on Jin ge, so your divorce probably has nothing to do with this. You should think about other reasons.” 

Yan Yi gave him a sympathetic look. He felt that the both of them were like ugly concubines stuck in a cold palace in TV dramas. He comforted the other as well, “It doesn’t matter if you’re ugly, His Majesty likes ugly ones.” 

Otherwise, it was like the weak student who placed second from the bottom of a class lecturing the one from the very bottom; one dared to lecture while one dared to listen, how terrible.  

Yuan Mi frowned, “My compatibility with Jin ge is 89%, do you believe it?”

Yan Yi raised his ears and looked at him, like watching a singing parrot from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, strange and absurd. 

89% compatibility. 

It should be a number that emitted the smell of love right through a film screen.  

Was it because of Lu Shangjin’s cool and indifferent nature, or were there more omegas that were attracted to him in the outside world of sensual pleasures, making him arrogant enough to toss an omega who had a 89% compatibility rate with him in the hospital without the least bit concerned.

Yan Yi was a little comforted as neither were favoured. He seemed to have taken advantage of staying with Lu Shangjin for so many years with only a fit of 75%. 

Yuan Mi pulled out a book from the bedside table and flipped through it. It looked like several student nurses were here preparing for their postgraduate entrance exams, leaving a pile of Masters of Medicine books and magazines. 

He picked out a magazine, planning to flip through it to see if there were pictures of him as illustrations. There were several medical papers and advertisements promoting newly developed drugs, so he closed it disappointingly. 

There was a striking advertisement on the back cover. 

Yan Yi slapped the table in astonishment, asking Yan Yi to take a look, “Look at this, aerosol nitrogen mustard injection… alkylated… guanine… er, forget it, I don’t know this word. It’s a high-tech drug that can improve compatibility. Nonsense… there’s no such amazing thing, isn’t it the same as the advertisement for the blue pill? Let me see, the reporting number… Hello? Is 315 fake…” 

Yan Yi grabbed Yuan Mi’s phone and hung up, snatching the magazine and reading it again and again, his eyes frozen on the two words ‘improve compatibility’.

Yuan Mi cried out. Although Yan Yi was a rare omega with first-order differentiated glands, he will also submit to the manipulation of pheromones, regarding it as the standard, while shelving his own feelings. Pathetic. 

“It’s just a small ad that you can see everywhere on the street. If you believe this, you want to get killed?” Yuan Mi taunted, “What’s so good about pursuing this? I know a few alpha models, I can introduce them to you. They’ve got wide shoulders, narrow waists and long legs. Although not as strong as the second-order differentiation, it’d be enough to date you. With so many alphas, it’s not so difficult to find one with a higher compatibility by your standards.”  

He wanted to get rid of this highly competitive lop-eared rabbit omega from Lu Shangjin’s side quickly, so he could have Lu Shangjin—’s power and financial resources all to himself. 

Truthfully, such a high compatibility level was a burden to Yuan Mi. He didn’t want to be tormented by pheromones and fall in love with a heartless alpha, but he could also only rely on this high compatibility to secure his position in Lu Shangjin’s circle of courtesans. 

Yan Yi sighed, “You don’t understand.”

Yuan Mi rolled his eyes, “Go get the shot then, it’s good once you’re dead.” 

Yan Yi had no choice but to smile. He really was a straightforward omega, with a poisonous mouth and low EQ, but had outstanding acting skills.

A crowd of entertainment reporters were outside the hospital ward, waiting to interview the original best actor. 

Yuan Mi hurriedly wiped his face with a wet towel, added on a layer of cushion BB cream, and put on a cap to cover his unwashed hair. He took out the script from under his pillow and placed it on his lap, flipping it to the page with a few notes that he didn’t remember which day he had jotted, and pretended to be absorbed in reading. When the reporters came in, the radian of his head and side angle were just perfect. He could perfectly show the withering aesthetic of a sick beauty in the camera lens, and flashed a tired smile, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back on set soon. Everyone, rest assured.” 

Yan Yi didn’t want to watch the chicken with three gold trophies anymore. 

——

Late at night, Lu Shangjin returned to the villa, covered in a mess of pheromones and wine scents, his face still slightly red from drunkenness. 

When the driver sent him back, he didn’t see the lights turned on inside. In the past, even if it were too late, the lights would remain on for him, and Yan Yi would be falling asleep while hugging the eiderdown blanket at the corner of the sofa. He would never not wait for him at home. 

This made Lu Shangjin feel very agitated. 

The lights in the house were turned off, only the ones in the bathroom were on. Lu Shangjin pulled open the door and glanced inside.  

Something rolled down from the basin and crashed next to his leather shoes. The ice cold liquid splattered against the expensive-cut trousers, and the sharp ear-piercing shattering of glass sounded through the silent and empty house.  

Yan Yi laid unconsciously on the bathroom floor, his pupils slack, and his face was as pale as the white wall, remaining motionless. Beside him was a box of unlabelled injections, and a used syringe was thrown not too far away. The gland on the back of neck was swollen red, and his pale body was like a porcelain figure. 

“Yan Yan.” The pupils in Lu Shangjin’s eyes suddenly constricted. He bent down to pick Yan Yi up, rushed out the front door, and shoved him into the back seat. He turned on the engine, floored the accelerator and sped away. 

Yan Yi’s body was ice cold with not a point of temperature, as soft as a corpse with its bones removed. 

Lu Shangjin made a phone call. Within ten minutes, all the doctors in the hospital were on standby. At three in the morning, a black BMW stopped at the entrance of the hospital. With swift action, the nurses carried Yan Yi onto the stretcher and pushed him into the operating room at the fastest speed. 

Lu Shangjin waited outside the operating room and listened to several doctors explain the situation. Not long after, his assistant rushed over as well, running the errand of going through the medical formalities in the hallway. 

The doctor was a beta. Facing the frosty cold face of Lu Shangjin, he froze all over and his legs trembled. The pheromone pressure emitted by the second-order differentiated gland was powerful and fierce. With a trembling low voice, the beta doctor reported, “The patient injected some unknown drugs into his glands, causing it to become uncontrollably imbalanced. The situation is still uncertain and we will do our best. Lu xiansheng, please wait patiently for the final results.” 

The assistant hurried back after completing the formalities. Before even wiping his sweat off, he heard Lu Shangjin ask in a low and sullen tone, “How did this happen?” 

The assistant cried without tears. How could he explain the lop-eared rabbit’s impulsively strange behaviour? 

On the edge of Lu Shangjin’s rage, he could say, “I don’t know”, but he didn’t have that courage, so he could only try his best to recall Yan Yi’s routine for the day and patted his forehead, “He stayed in Yuan xiansheng’s hospital room the entire day, Yuan xiansheng should be resting around this time… I can ask him tomorrow?”

Lu Shangjin swept the assistant aside, got on the elevator alone and stopped on the floor of the intensive care unit. 

The original best actor slept soundly, but was woken up by the loud kick on the door. The next second, the lights turned on, pricking his eyes closed. Suddenly, a hand picked him up and hauled him off the hospital bed. 

Lu Shangjin looked down at him coldly. 

After listening to Yuan Mi’s explanation, not only did Lu Shangjin’s anger not dissipate but he stepped on Yuan Mi’s fragile abdomen without mercy. 

Yuan Mi curled into a ball of shrimp in pain, a mouthful of blood clogged at his throat. There was nowhere to hide under Lu Shangjin’s foot, and he asked shrilly, “What does his crazy and stupid actions have anything to do with me?! Jin ge, what have I done wrong for you to take your anger out on me? I did stab his hand, but he didn’t suffer!”  

Perhaps there hadn’t been news about an alpha destroying an omega whom he had a 89% compatibility rate with. Lu Shangjin’s mania did not subside, remaining cold and silent. 

Stabbed his hand?

Lu Shangjin paused. He thought that Yan Yi’s unreasonable attack on Yuan Mi was just a sudden intention. 

Yuan Mi rubbed Lu Shangjin’s feet like a sorrowful believer begging the gods, struggling to grasp onto a trouser leg, while his voice choked with painful sobs sought for an answer. 

“Jin ge…why…despite the 89% fit between us, why am I the one you hit?” 

Footnotes