Chapter 91: Only you can save him

Xu Lin had lost all sense of time.

He was trying to eat again, barely managing a few bites before his stomach rebelled. He was hunched over the sink, retching, when an uninvited guest arrived.

Zong Xi.

Zong Xi didn’t look much better. He looked tired, drawn. Seeing Xu Lin’s gaunt frame, he looked surprised. “What happened to you?”

Xu Lin shook his head weakly.

Li Mu didn’t speak, just helped Xu Lin sit down and handed him a glass of warm water to sip.

Zong Xi studied Xu Lin. “I thought you’d want him dead.”

Xu Lin paused mid-sip.

Li Mu frowned, annoyed that Zong Xi was adding fuel to the fire.

But Zong Xi continued, “He thought so too.”

Xu Lin looked up at him.

What was this? Was grief making him lash out?

They stared at each other. Zong Xi closed his eyes, then opened them. “You thought he was dead?”

Xu Lin froze.

“He’s not dead,” Zong Xi said. “But he’s barely alive.”

The glass slipped from Xu Lin’s hand and shattered on the floor, water splashing everywhere.

“Are you free now?” Zong Xi said. “Do you want to see him?”

Half an hour later, Xu Lin was in Zong Xi’s car. Li Mu insisted on coming along.

On the way, Zong Xi explained.

The night after the explosion, Zong Xi had rushed to the scene after hearing the news. Xu Lin had already left the institute and didn’t know what happened next.

Zong Xi mobilized everyone he could. At 5 AM, they found Ji Jinxuan.

“In the basement.”

Ji Jinxuan was barely breathing, lying in a pool of blood. No one knew how he’d gotten there.

Zong Xi pulled him out. He wasn’t out of danger yet, and to avoid complications, Zong Xi ordered a media blackout. Since Ji Jinxuan had been found, the rescue teams naturally pulled out. But Xu Lin, unaware, thought Ji Jinxuan was dead.

“I’ve been busy with him this past month. I thought you’d left Danshi by now. I didn’t expect you’d still be here.” Zong Xi rubbed his brow, exhausted. “He only came out of the ICU last night. He’s still unconscious.”

“He’s out of danger, but I’m not here for nothing.”

Zong Xi’s car took them to a private hospital. On the seventh floor, in a private room, Ji Jinxuan lay still, eyes closed, an oxygen mask over his face, his chest barely rising.

Xu Lin and Zong Xi stood side by side behind the glass. Xu Lin stared, unable to breathe.

Zong Xi spoke. “He has a severe penetrating wound. When we found him, it was infected, and he had a high fever. His left leg was shattered. They put in seven screws and an internal fixator. If he recovers well, he’ll walk again, but he probably won’t be able to run.”

Xu Lin heard every word but couldn’t process them.

“I’m not telling you this to guilt-trip you. I’m just being honest about his injuries. They’re serious, but with time, they’ll heal. The reason I came to you is something else, something only you can help with.”

Xu Lin looked at him, confused. Was there anything Zong Xi couldn’t handle with his resources?

“His injuries can wait. But there’s something that can’t. I know your history. I won’t pretend to understand it. But right now, I’m just a friend asking for help.”

Zong Xi glanced at Li Mu, who understood that this was a private conversation. He gave Xu Lin a sad smile. “I’ll go get you a warm drink.”

Without waiting for a response, he stepped into the elevator. As the doors closed, Zong Xi explained.

“You know he was reverse-marked by you. He needs your pheromones. The ones you gave him three years ago—he couldn’t bear to use them. Even if he had, they would’ve run out by now.”

“His heat cycles are more frequent. To suppress them, he’s been abusing drugs, which only made things worse. Without your pheromones, even if his physical wounds heal, he won’t last long. A while back, after he got back from District Thirteen, he wanted to have his gland removed.”

Xu Lin’s eyes widened.

Gland removal? As in—cut it out?

“Yes,” Zong Xi said, guessing his thoughts. “He’d rather be a Beta and live a little longer.”

Xu Lin’s voice faltered. “Why would he do that…”

“Why do you think?” Zong Xi asked with a bitter smile. “You’re the only thing he cares about in this world. He just wanted to stay alive a few more days.”

Zong Xi looked at Xu Lin, who was speechless.

“He knows your pheromones could save him, but he won’t ask you. He’s afraid you’ll think he’s using you. He knows you wouldn’t give them to him anyway. If he’s going to die either way, and gland removal could buy him a few more days—what other choice does he have? He thought you hated him. That if he died, you wouldn’t care.”

“I used to think that too.” Zong Xi studied Xu Lin’s haggard face. “But I guess I was wrong.”

His words struck Xu Lin like a punch.

So that red snowman—the blood inside was Ji Jinxuan’s. His pale face wasn’t from a cold. His body had reached its limit. When he’d picked up those ribs from the floor and eaten every last one, he’d already made his decision.

“If he has the surgery, he’ll become a Beta?” Xu Lin asked.

“If it’s successful, yes. If it fails, he won’t survive the procedure. Fifty percent chance.”

Death. He could die.

Xu Lin clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms.

Wasn’t he scared? How could he do this?

Disappearing from District Thirteen overnight—was that his final farewell? The washed lunchbox, the strawberries, were those goodbye gifts?

Xu Lin gritted his teeth. What a joke.

Zong Xi continued. “When I heard about it, I went to stop him. It was only a temporary fix. I thought the reverse-marking might be reversible. Maybe he could be saved without removing his gland.” He sighed. “But there’s no way. Nothing works.

“That’s why I came to you today. Xu Lin, only you can save him now.”

Xu Lin entered the room.

He walked to the bedside and looked down at Ji Jinxuan.

He wore a hospital gown, bandages visible underneath. Around his neck was a white medical collar, filled with fine needles extending into his skin. A clear tube connected the gland at the back of his neck to the monitoring equipment.

Xu Lin pressed the switch on the collar. The needles retracted, and he removed it gently.

As he did, Ji Jinxuan’s brow furrowed, as if he sensed something.

Xu Lin tore off his suppressant patch and slowly released his pheromones.

Ji Jinxuan’s frown deepened, but the monitors remained stable. Xu Lin sat down and quietly let his pheromones fill the room.

Ji Jinxuan’s lashes fluttered. Xu Lin thought he might wake, but he didn’t. After an hour, the room smelled not just of disinfectant, but of their mingled scents.

Xu Lin caught his own, and a faint floral scent—Ji Jinxuan’s. Normally potent, but to Xu Lin, it always smelled faint, like a fading flower.

He reapplied the patch and left the room.

Li Mu and Zong Xi were sitting in the hallway, at opposite ends.

Xu Lin came out, and Li Mu handed him a warm cup of milk. “Drink some.”

Xu Lin took a few sips.

Zong Xi said, “We’ll need you to come every day for now. Once he’s out of the woods, we can figure out the rest.”

Xu Lin nodded.

Zong Xi asked, “When are you being discharged? If you need a place to stay, I can arrange it.”

Xu Lin’s foot was healing well. He could walk with the brace. He could have left the hospital earlier, but his poor appetite had required nutritional IVs, so he’d stayed.

“No need,” Xu Lin said. He could stay at a small hotel.

Zong Xi thought for a moment and handed him a business card. “Stay here. I’ll set it up.”

It was the hotel where Xu Lin had first met Ji Jinxuan. Part of the Zong family’s holdings.

When Xu Lin didn’t take it, Zong Xi tucked it into his pocket, leaving no room for refusal.

Later that night, back at the hospital, Xu Lin slowly ate the food Li Mu had brought him. All of it.

He didn’t throw up.

He slept peacefully that night. The nightmares that had haunted him vanished without a trace.