Chapter 61: Come back with me

After a night of treatment, Ji Jinxuan was out of danger.

No one had expected a single vial of pheromones to nearly send Ji Jinxuan to the grave. The doctor who had administered the “poison” had been on edge the entire time. Only when Ji Jinxuan’s vital signs had fully stabilized did he finally exhale in relief. With that tension released, he nearly collapsed, his legs giving out as he almost slumped to the floor.

When he came out of the emergency room, Zhuang Xun and Zong Xi, who had been waiting outside, immediately approached. “How is he?”

The doctor said, “He’s out of danger for now.”

Hearing this, Zhuang Xun’s tense nerves relaxed. He frowned. “What exactly happened?”

He had left while things were still fine. He had not even made it out of the hospital when he heard the news that Ji Jinxuan was in critical condition. The anger he had felt toward Ji Jinxuan had not yet subsided, and now this happened. He hurried back and found Zong Xi standing in a daze outside the emergency room. When he asked, Zong Xi told him that Ji Jinxuan had reacted badly to the reagent made from Chen Yu’s pheromones.

He knew their compatibility was 92%. With such a high degree of compatibility, it could not be Chen Yu’s pheromones that were the problem.

Just then, the test results came back. A nurse brought them to the doctor, who turned pale as he read them.

The doctor hesitated. Zhuang Xun could not stand it and urged him, “What is it? Just say it.”

The doctor was drenched in cold sweat.

Zong Xi’s face darkened. “His gland is damaged, isn’t it.”

The doctor nodded. “Yes. But it’s not a simple problem.”

Zhuang Xun impatiently snatched the report from the doctor’s hand and saw the short conclusion in black and white.

“Permanent glandular damage.”

The doctor wiped the sweat streaming down his face. “His body has developed antibodies. Except for one specific pheromone, any other pheromones that enter his body will trigger an immune response. Even with the highest compatibility, his system will treat it as a hostile virus and cause a severe allergic reaction.”

“Mr. Ji may be permanently unable to accept anyone else’s pheromones.”

Zong Xi closed his eyes.

Just as he had suspected. Who that person was needed no explanation.

“In simpler terms,” the doctor said, his voice barely audible, as if he found it absurd, “Mr. Ji has been reverse-marked by an Omega.”

An S-class Alpha, reverse-marked. It would be a laughingstock if anyone found out.

Zhuang Xun’s eyes went wide. He stood frozen for a few seconds, then turned to look at Zong Xi.

Zong Xi looked away, not at all surprised. He clearly knew.

Zhuang Xun and Zong Xi went to the smoking room. Zhuang Xun sat on the sofa, leaning back. Zong Xi stood, gazing at the night view through the floor-to-ceiling window. Both held cigarettes, smoking in silence.

They were the only two in the room. Zhuang Xun finished one cigarette and, unable to help himself, lit another.

“What really happened?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

Zong Xi’s face was reflected in the window, expressionless. “He met a Beta before. His name is Xu Lin.”

The story of Ji Jinxuan and Xu Lin was neither long nor short. Zong Xi told Zhuang Xun everything—their meeting, marriage, deception, and the forced differentiation.

“Later, Xu Lin lost faith in him and wanted to leave. He wouldn’t let go. He stubbornly believed that if he turned Xu Lin into an Omega, they could go back to how they were. To increase his compatibility with Xu Lin, he injected various drugs into his own gland. No one knows the exact ingredients or proportions except him. But in the end, he failed. Their compatibility is only 43.2%. He can’t stand Xu Lin’s pheromones, and his pheromones have no effect on Xu Lin either. He forcibly differentiated a Beta into an Omega, schemed and labored, and in the end, it was worse than useless.

“The pheromones that burn him like sulfuric acid are now the only thing that can save him.”

The growing ash burned down to Zong Xi’s finger. He lowered his eyes and sighed. “It’s absurd.”

Only then did Zhuang Xun learn that Ji Jinxuan had such a story. He had used the equipment from the vault to chase after Xu Lin.

For one person, he had gone to such lengths.

Zhuang Xun could not help thinking of Ji Hongyun, still lying in a coma on his sickbed. He too had done it for a Beta.

He rubbed his brow in frustration and murmured, “The men in the Ji family. How are they all like this? What about that person? The one named Xu Lin?”

“He went back,” Zong Xi said. “Back to District Thirteen.”

Zhuang Xun exhaled a cloud of smoke and stubbed out his half-finished cigarette in the ashtray. He stood up and walked toward the door.

Zong Xi asked, “Where are you going?”

“Do you have a photo of him?”

“Who?”

“Xu Lin.”

Zong Xi paused. “You’re going to find him?”

Zhuang Xun’s silence was answer enough.

“He won’t help,” Zong Xi said. “He hates him.”

Zhuang Xun left without looking back, throwing out a final command, “Send it to me.”

Zong Xi watched him leave, then turned his gaze to the night sky.

After a long moment, he took out his phone.

Zhuang Xun got into his car and received a photo from Zong Xi.

In the photo, two people wore the same white suits, with a beautiful stained-glass window behind them. Beside Ji Jinxuan stood a man with a crew cut, his arm linked through Ji Jinxuan’s, smiling at the camera. Half of his face was covered in a bright red scar.

The next day.

Zhuang Xun stepped onto the soil of District Thirteen.

The moment he boarded the plane, Xu Lin’s information was sent to his phone. He followed the details and made his way toward his home.

On the way, he passed a school. It was three stories tall, not large. A group of young children played in the yard, lively as a flock of sparrows.

Zhuang Xun stood outside the gate for a while, watching them. After a few minutes, a stout man at the gate eyed him warily and shouted, “What are you looking at?”

Zhuang Xun’s clothes, from the fabric to the cut, were clearly expensive. His clean, sharp demeanor stood out against the gray haze of District Thirteen. Anyone could tell he was from out of town.

No wonder they thought he was a suspicious character.

Zhuang Xun ignored the stout man and walked away.

He walked for ten minutes and arrived at a small bungalow.

The wooden fence was entwined with flowering vines. The house was spotless, clearly well maintained by its owner.

He knocked on the door. “Is anyone home?”

He waited a moment and knocked again.

“Can I help you?”

No one answered from inside. Instead, a voice came from behind him.

He turned. Zhuang Xun’s pupils contracted sharply.

Pu Sha had come back to the school to get something and found a stranger standing at his doorstep.

The man looked like he had seen a ghost. His previously calm expression crumbled, and he stared blankly at Pu Sha.

Pu Sha was startled by his reaction and instinctively looked down at himself, wondering if he had something on his clothes.

He did not.

The man did not speak, his reaction strange. Pu Sha tried again, “Hello?”

A long time ago. How long ago?

Back then, they were still young.

Ji Hongyun had shown off a photo on his phone to Zhuang Xun, pointing to the Beta beside him. “I’m going to run away with him! He’s always wanted to open a school. Small guy, big dreams. Might as well make it happen for him. It’s not a big deal. When the school’s built, he’ll be the teacher, and I’ll be his bodyguard.”

Ji Hongyun had pressed his phone screen right up to Zhuang Xun’s exasperated face. “Isn’t he the most wonderful thing in the world?”

“Live a simple, ordinary life. Be a pair of ordinary people. Maybe even have a few kids—or not. That’s fine too. Just the two of us for the rest of our lives.” He had kissed the Beta on the screen affectionately and said, “He’s so handsome. Look. This is my wife. Next time you see him, you have to call him sister-in-law!”

“Ji Hongyun, give it a rest!” Zhuang Xun had shut his eyes, annoyed beyond measure. Ji Hongyun had pried his eyelids open and forced him to look.

The Beta on the phone screen smiled shyly. His face overlapped perfectly with the man standing before him now.

Aside from the inevitable traces of time, the Beta looked exactly the same.

But he was supposed to be dead.

Hadn’t he been shot through the heart?

“You…” Zhuang Xun took a step toward him, unable to believe his eyes.

His expression was serious. Pu Sha instinctively stepped back.

Zhuang Xun’s voice was low, urgent for answers. “Who are you?”

“…” Pu Sha looked at him warily and fell silent. His previously relaxed expression visibly tightened.

“Are you Meng Shan?”

Pu Sha flinched when the man said his real name, stumbling backward. Zhuang Xun’s reaction confirmed he had not been mistaken. “Do you know Ji Hongyun?”

At the mention of Ji Hongyun’s name, Pu Sha’s face went deathly pale. He tried to leave, but Zhuang Xun grabbed his arm. “Answer me!”

Pu Sha screamed in panic, “I don’t know him! I don’t know him! Let me go!”

He tried to pull away, but failed.

To confirm, Zhuang Xun reached for Pu Sha’s shirt, trying to see if there was a bullet scar on his chest.

Pu Sha had one arm trapped. With his free hand, he clutched his collar. His face was drained of color, his strength gone, like a hollow shell weakly resisting. “Let… let go of me!”

He struggled to run away. Annoyed, Zhuang Xun shoved him to the ground. He was no match for Zhuang Xun. Zhuang Xun pulled open his shirt with ease and saw a hideous bullet hole below his left chest.

“It really is you!” Shocked, furious, and somehow relieved, he roared, “Come back with me!”

“No! No!” Pu Sha was covered in dust, overwhelmed by fear, and broke down in tears. “Don’t!”

Zhuang Xun had not expected Pu Sha to cry. He froze.

The next second, a gust of wind came from behind him. He ducked, avoiding the incoming punch. Before he could see clearly, the next fist came straight at his face. He blocked it with one hand, but a heavy kick landed on his stomach.

He grunted, staggered back, and let go of Pu Sha’s wrist.

He steadied himself and looked.

Pu Sha, his clothes disheveled, was too shaken to stand, kneeling on the ground. A man stood in front of him like a wall, shielding him.

Xu Lin, his face dark and furious, glared murderously at Zhuang Xun. “You bastard! What are you doing to my teacher!”