Chapter 141: The Mastermind

Chapter 141: The Mastermind

Jiang Xingliu stayed at the door of the ward for a while before Shen Zhixue pulled him aside to dress his wound.

The hospital had just gone through a pheromone disturbance, and now there was a shortage of staff. They waited at the door for a long time, but no one came to help Jiang Xingliu with his wound.

Shen Zhixue had no choice but to ask a nurse for some sterile cotton and alcohol, and then he cleaned Jiang Xingliu's wound himself.

"It might hurt a bit," Shen Zhixue said as he reached out to remove Jiang Xingliu's mouth guard. The gland was severely injured, and the blood had flowed into the back collar, already dried and crusted.

Jiang Xingliu murmured softly and finally said, "It's okay."

Shen Zhixue first used alcohol-soaked cotton to wipe the blood around the wound, then used iodine to clean the wound carefully. Fortunately, he had gained experience from dressing Jiang Huizhou's wounds before, so he managed it skillfully now.

He quickly disinfected the wound, bandaged the gland, and even applied a protective patch.

"Try to see if you can control your pheromones and suppress them," Shen Zhixue said, holding the mouth guard. "Wearing this is always uncomfortable."

Jiang Xingliu tightened his lips and tried, then said dejectedly, "No, it's too difficult."

His awakened pheromone levels were too elevated, and he had been forced into early differentiation. With his current ability, it was indeed very difficult to control such powerful pheromones.

"Zhi Zhi, you should put it back on for me," Jiang Xingliu touched the back of his neck. "I'm fine."

Shen Zhixue had no choice but to put the mouth guard back on Jiang Xingliu.

Fortunately, with a layer of medical cotton, the mouth guard wouldn't irritate the wound again.

By the time they finished handling everything, Lu Qingyan sent Shen Zhixue a message saying that Du Du had woken up.

Shen Zhixue took Jiang Xingliu to the outside of Du Du's isolation room.

Lu Qingwan had already put on a hazmat suit and was about to enter.

When Lu Qingyan saw Jiang Xingliu, he scowled. Lu Qingwan patted the back of his hand, and he turned his head away without looking at him.

"We were just about to go in, and you happened to come," Lu Qingwan spoke up. "Would you like to come in with me to see Du Du? He would be very happy if you were there."

Jiang Xingliu said, "I..."

Before he could finish, Lu Qingyan interrupted, "You what? Get out of here."

Lu Qingwan gave Lu Qingyan a disapproving look, spoke up, and said, "Xingliu, I know you also want to go in and see Du Du, but... the doctor said Du Du's condition is not stable yet, and Alpha cannot enter. If you have anything you want to say to Du Du, I can pass it on for you, okay?"

Jiang Xingliu paused for a moment, but finally shook his head. "I have nothing to say, Mrs. Yuan."

Lu Qingwan smiled and turned to enter the isolation room.

Shen Zhixue frowned, put on a hazmat suit, and followed Lu Qingwan in.

He had to find out who gave Du Du the transformation drug—whether it was an accident, or someone targeting the Yuan family, or... someone trying to harm the Yuan family.

Not figuring it out would always be a lingering threat and a thorn in Jiang Xingliu's heart.

Entering the isolation room, Du Du sat on the hospital bed, looking very weak. He used to be a plump, pale little boy, and even in military school, he didn't get tanned, just lost some weight, but still looked a bit chubby. After this illness, he had lost even more weight and looked very pitiful.

Du Du raised his eyes, saw Shen Zhixue, and smiled through squinted eyes, raising his hands. "Zhi Zhi, you're here! Give me a hug!"

Lu Qingwan, with red eyes, teased him, "You only have eyes for your Zhi Zhi, why not give mom a hug?"

"Mom, I want a hug too!" Du Du, who was always good at being cute and keeping things fair, quickly hugged Lu Qingwan around the waist and nuzzled her: "Mom, don't be sad. It's my fault. I'm sorry. I won't do it again next time."

"Do you still think there will be a next time?" Lu Qingwan snorted: "You never tell Mom anything. Don't ever do this again!"

"I know!" Du Du nodded, glanced behind her, and whispered: "Is Jiang Xingliu not here?"

Lu Qingwan's expression paused for a moment, then she pursed her lips and smiled: "Isn't it enough to have Mom and Zhi Zhi?"

Shen Zhixue glanced at Lu Qingwan, opened his mouth, but still said nothing.

Du Du visibly deflated: "Is he mad at me too? Then he should come and see me. I'll apologize to him. Why is he ignoring me? He's being so mean."

Lu Qingwan grabbed Du Du's wrist: "How can you even say that? If it weren't for him saving you from the hospital, you would have been in danger. You're always holding him back. No wonder he's annoyed with you."

Du Du pouted, seeming like he was about to cry: "I didn't mean to. I had no idea..."

Shen Zhixue spoke up to divert Du Du's attention: "Where did you get that drug that changes you?"

Du Du sniffled, a bit scared, and stammered: "When I went to the underground black market with Jiang Xingliu before, I met a guy who said he had something that could turn an Alpha into an omega."

Then he glanced at Lu Qingwan and whispered: "Mom said that when I grow up, I'll become an Alpha, and Jiang Xingliu will too. That way, Jiang Xingliu would play with other omegas instead of me."

Shen Zhixue looked at Lu Qingwan and said: "So, you bought the drug from that guy, right?"

Du Du nodded his little head: "If I were an omega, I could play with Jiang Xingliu. I just wanted to play with Jiang Xingliu and didn't think much about it. The drug was really bitter, and it made my neck hurt so much."

He sniffled, feeling extremely wronged: "The guy said I had to take a lot for it to work, but it was really expensive. I used up all my allowance on it and couldn't even get snacks. But Jiang Xingliu gave me all his allowance too, and he even bought me some sweet oranges!"

Lu Qingwan finally realized that their little Du Du had always been inseparable from snacks. Before, to break this bad habit and make him eat properly, they had tried to hide snacks everywhere, but the little guy was so clever that they couldn't catch him. They had to let it go and just try to make sure Du Du ate healthier snacks.

So they gave him a lot of pocket money every month. Plus, the assets Jiang Huizhou left in the empire were a considerable amount, and the interest from the bank would be deposited into Jiang Xingliu's account. Jiang Xingliu's pocket money was only more than Du Du's, never less.

These two kids had millions of star coins between them every year, but it always ran out, and she never suspected a thing.

Shen Zhixue narrowed his eyes. Was it really just a coincidence that Du Du needed so much money?

Du Du nervously fidgeted with his fingers: "Zhi Zhi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Lu Qingwan took a deep breath, patted Du Du's head, and said: "It's my fault. When I'm busy with work, I can't take care of you. I always thought Jiang Xingliu could look after you, but I forgot he's just a kid too... And what I said earlier was wrong."

If she hadn't joked like that with Du Du, maybe Du Du wouldn't have thought about becoming an omega.

She was the one who put the wrong idea in Du Du's head, leading him to be tricked.

It was ridiculous that these past few days, she had started to blame everything on Jiang Xingliu. She, an adult, was blaming a seven-year-old child for not taking care of her son.

How ridiculous.

Shen Zhixue handed Lu Qingwan a tissue and said in a deep voice: "Now's not the time to point fingers. We need to find the person who provided Du Du with the transformation drug and figure out his intentions. If his target is not just Du Du, then we must catch him quickly to prevent him from harming another child."

"Right, right." Lu Qingwan quickly took a deep breath and rallied: "Du Du, do you know what the man who gave you the transformation drug looks like?"

Du Du's eyes darted away as he looked outside: "I do."

"Du Du." Shen Zhixue's tone became serious: "I hope you understand that no matter what your secondary gender is, who you play with, and who you are with, are your choices, not influenced by any external factors. But the transformation drug you took has caused serious harm to your body. The doctor said there might be complications, and your gland could become very unstable, potentially losing control at any time."

Du Du blinked, not quite understanding what Shen Zhixue meant.

"What I mean is," Shen Zhixue explained: "Until your gland stabilizes, you cannot have any contact with any Alpha, including Jiang Xingliu."

Du Du slightly widened his eyes.

"The doctor said that with medication, it would take at least ten years, or even longer, to balance the hormones in your body."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Du Du blinked, and large tears fell from his eyes. He whispered, "Does that mean I won’t be able to see Jiang Xingliu for a long, long time?"

"Not just Jiang Xingliu, but also your little uncle, or any other Alpha friends, you can’t see them either," Shen Zhixue said word by word. "So, the more you keep from us, the longer your illness will take to heal. Do you really want other kids to end up in hospital beds because of this?"

Du Du sniffled and whispered, "I don’t know... The uncle told me not to tell you. He said... he said you definitely wouldn’t agree, so I had to take it secretly by myself."

"He gave me the medicine, and every month he would take me somewhere."

Shen Zhixue quickly asked, "What place?"

"I don’t know," Little Du Du shook his head. "I just know there are many kids there, and many machines. The uncle made me lie in a medical capsule, saying he needed to check my body. Then I would sleep in the capsule for the whole afternoon, and then I could leave."

Shen Zhixue pressed on, "Are you sure you only met this uncle in the underground black market? Besides telling your parents and me about your wish to become an omega, who else did you tell?"

He knew the underground black market was a chaotic place, but such human genetic modification transactions could never be openly discussed. How did he know Du Du wanted genetic modification and specifically target him?

Du Du thought for a long time before slowly saying, "...Jiang Xingliu, and Zhi Zhi, and my little uncle, and... um... Wan Chong."