Chapter 74

Chapter 74

High-tier alphas, due to their stronger genetic expression in secondary gender traits, often experience delayed presentation compared to the general population—a phenomenon also known as secondary presentation.

This is a scientific fact written in textbooks.

At the age of 12, after his father passed away, Xia Qing finally underwent his belated presentation—this was what he was told upon waking at the age of 20.

During an experiment in university, he suddenly developed a high fever. When he woke up a week later, due to retrograde amnesia, he had lost all memories from his father’s death until the age of 20.

Upon waking, Xia Qing saw unfamiliar faces—his mother, grandfather, and elder brother—wearing expressions of carefully measured concern and relief.

His procedural memory was unaffected, but the episodic memories in his brain had become blank. The overwhelming sense of loss even impaired his ability to function—he struggled to speak or engage in emotional exchanges with others. It wasn’t until half a year of rehabilitation in the U.S. that he could function socially again.

His family constantly provided him with photos from his middle school and university years—such as him playing the piano in an auditorium or walking a bike down an alley—but he couldn’t summon a single memory.

Even at 22, during a trip to Shanghai for a conference with Lin Shuhua, when their car passed by a middle school, Lin Shuhua suddenly turned to him with a smile and asked, “Want to go in and take a look?”

He stared at the international school’s gleaming new clock tower but couldn’t conjure any image of his own middle school years, so he declined.

It was as if a river that used to flow steadily in his heart had suddenly frozen one day.

Again and again, he stepped into that river, yet could no longer feel its current.

On instinct, he resumed the academic path he had followed before his amnesia, spending three quiet years in the ivory tower, re-entering this seamless yet alien life.

But from the very first day he woke up, he knew there was something he had forgotten.

Something immensely important, something he absolutely must not forget.

Whenever he stepped away from work and the world around him grew silent, that gnawing anxiety would return in his heart, as if a voice were urging him—*hurry and remember, that thing is still unfinished.*

And the moment the Beta Commissioner walked into the lab, that voice in his heart suddenly vanished from his world.

Whenever those smiling eyes locked onto his, the noisy, chaotic world seemed to go silent. The closer he got to him, the quieter the world became.

*But was the person reflected in those eyes truly him?*

Why did he lie?

Why didn’t he come looking for him?

Why did he leave again?

“Professor Xia.”

Yu Mei looked up in alarm at the high-tier alpha who had abruptly risen to his feet.

But Xia Qing seemed not to hear her, stalking out of the room instead.

Zhang Ke and the others waiting outside saw Xia Qing emerge and were about to ask what was wrong when they caught a whiff of his leashed-but-raging pheromones. Their expressions instantly changed.

“Mr. Xia, what’s wrong? Where are we going?” Zhang Ke hurried after him, voice careful.

“Hong Kong.”

After Xia Qing left the office, everyone inside remained reeling in shock and confusion.

Fang Puxin, pale-faced, turned to Qi Feng and said in a trembling voice, “How could you keep such a massive lie?—Why do you and Professor Xia have prior history?”

"Xia Qing," Qi Feng, sitting to the side, lowered his head and wiped his eyes fiercely. "He doesn’t remember."

Yu Mei asked blankly, "Doesn’t remember what?"

"After his secondary presentation at 20, he forgot everything before that. The Lin family kept feeding him the lie that he differentiated into a prime alpha at 12."

Song Yuli said incredulously, "Why would they lie to Professor Xia? Why didn’t you say anything either?"

"Because after his father’s incident," Qi Feng opened his mouth with difficulty, "the Lins wrote him off."

Yu Mei instinctively shook her head. "That’s impossible. Professor Xia is now the Lin family heir!"

But as soon as she finished speaking, Yu Mei suddenly understood how everything connected. She stared blankly at Qi Feng, whose eyes were red, "So you and Zhao Yang lied along with the Lin family for Professor Xia’s sake?"

Qi Feng didn’t answer.

"Impossible. How could secondary presentation occur after adulthood?" Fang Puxin refuted with a grave expression. "After 15, secondary presentation causes severe reactions—it would destroy a person!"

Ten is the most common age for presentation, when their still-developing bodies undergo the greatest changes during puberty. These bodies can withstand and adapt to the hormone surge from presentation. The later the presentation occurs, the more harmful and risky the hormonal effects on the body become.

"But that’s just how it is," Qi Feng muttered bitterly. "I also want to know why! Why did it turn into this disaster? Lin Shuhua said Xia Qing’s amnesia was most likely caused by secondary presentation, so this is fate!"

"What about Officer Xu?" Fang Puxin immediately asked. "Why was Officer Xu a prime alpha before? What are the odds? Have you lost it? Can’t you see there must be something behind this?"

"I had no idea he’d become a beta," Qi Feng choked up as she spoke, tears rolling down her cheeks. "All these years, I thought Xu Zhangying was already dead. So when he appeared, we didn’t think too much about it, let alone connect it to LEBEN."

Seeing Qi Feng in tears, Yu Mei's eyes also reddened, but she still pushed through her confusion, "Then why did Officer Xu become a beta instead?"

"The illness he had back then wasn’t heart disease," Qi Feng raised her tear-filled eyes to look at Fang Puxin. "It was Pheromone Dysregulation."

Fang Puxin froze, instinctively leaning back, his chair screeching against the floor.

Guangzhou.

The office door was pushed open as Li Jiali and Benjamin hurried in. "Captain Yan—"

Suddenly, Li Jiali’s words were cut off by the tense atmosphere in the office.

Yan Jianbai placed his recently ended call on the desk. Tan Song, Shao Qiaoqiao, and the others sat dazed in their seats, not even lifting their eyes to look at her.

Li Jiali tightened her grip on her phone and asked cautiously, "Did something happen?"

"Officer Li," Tan Song finally shook himself out of it, slowly turning to look at her seriously. "Did you know Officer Xu used to be a prime alpha?"

"What?" Li Jiali’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at Tan Song in disbelief.

Tan Song lowered his head and glanced at Yan Jianbai again.

Shao Qiaoqiao then looked up at Li Jiali and said softly, "Officer Li, Sister Qi Feng has already admitted it. Officer Xu had Pheromone Dysregulation back then—the same illness as Zhao Lanyue."

Li Jiali stumbled, catching herself on the desk. "Xu was a prime alpha? That’s impossible, that’s impossible—"

As she spoke, Li Jiali seemed to recall something and shook her head firmly. "There must be a mistake. Xu has always been a beta. I handled his physicals myself—he doesn’t even have the gland for it!"

Tan Song and the others were stunned. Li Jiali looked at them seriously. "Pheromone treatment doesn’t mean removing the gland—that would completely destroy the patient’s hormonal regulation system. Xu never had a gland to begin with. How could he have been an alpha?"

"Are you positive, Officer Li?" Zhang Qi and Tian Chengyi exchanged glances, puzzled.

"Positive," Li Jiali nodded. "I can pull all his CT scans from the past four years for you."

"Officer Li, then please show us the evidence now," Tian Chengyi said with a bitter smile. "We're all seeing threats everywhere and don't know who to trust anymore."

"Of course," Li Jiali gestured for Benjamin to retrieve the files immediately. "But Captain Yan, we have something even more urgent right now."

Everyone knew they had been negotiating with AGB's Asia Branch today, so they all turned to Li Jiali. Yan Jianbai asked, "What is it?"

Li Jiali looked at everyone, her face slightly pale. "Zeiss might be compromised."

Tan Song couldn't help but frown. "You mean Officer Zhang? Didn't he already leave China?"

Li Jiali shook her head. "The Duncan family pressured the North America Branch into lying earlier. Zeiss disappeared the day he was discharged from the hospital. The NA04 Team couldn’t reach him and claimed he’d taken leave, but in reality, he’s still in the country."

Shao Qiaoqiao also seemed confused. "But why would Officer Zhang lie? He could’ve just taken leave normally."

"We don’t know his motives," Li Jiali said gravely. "But the cybersecurity office at the Asia Branch discovered that Officer Xu’s internal email was hacked by an unfamiliar IP. After tracing it, the most likely culprit is Zeiss."

Everyone’s expressions turned grim. Tan Song immediately asked, "Officer Zhang hacked Officer Xu’s email? What was he looking for?"

Benjamin, who had just retrieved Xu Zhangying’s medical records, looked up. "I traced it with the network office and found that Officer Zeiss downloaded a top-level encrypted file from the captain’s email."

"And this file is extremely critical," Li Jiali’s tone grew heavier. "Case file A20077354—a sealed archive—it took the branch the entire morning to realize this was a confidential document requested under Director Amber’s name from the Geneva headquarters archives. It must have been a private exchange between Officer Xu and her."

Zhang Qi frowned. "Officer Li, what does this A20-something case file have to do with our current investigation?"

"Case file A20077354," Li Jiali took a deep breath, "details the final operation of LEBEN back in 2007."

Everyone was stunned. No wonder Li Jiali had been in such a rush earlier. Zeiss had lied about leaving the country, hacked Xu Zhangying’s email, and stolen classified files related to LEBEN—As exhausted as they were, everyone couldn’t help but suspect Zeiss’s connection to LEBEN.

Shao Qiaoqiao spoke up immediately. "Should we start tracing the IP? I can help, Officer Li."

Li Jiali nodded gently. "We’ll need you and Benjamin on the IP trace. But first, where is Officer Xu’s phone? The cybersecurity team said it’s his primary device, and we’ll need it for the trace."

Tan Song stood up. "I stored it. Just a moment, I’ll get it."

He strode to the office’s metal cabinet, unlocked it with a key, and pulled out a plastic bag. After rummaging through it, he found Xu Zhangying’s battered phone.

Tan Song handed it to Li Jiali. "Here. I haven’t touched it since, so I’m not sure if there’s any battery left."

"It’s fine, there should be some," Li Jiali took the phone and instinctively pressed the power button. The cracked screen lit up.

"There’s still power—" Just as she was about to hand it to Benjamin, her expression froze as if she’d seen something horrifying on the cracked screen.

"Ah Li, what’s wrong?" Benjamin asked curiously.

"Why —" Li Jiali could barely suppress her trembling. She looked up at everyone, her voice shaking with panic. "Why is there a second LEBEN message here?"

The room went deathly silent.

Tan Song and Shao Qiaoqiao jolted to attention simultaneously. "When was it sent?"

Knowing Xu Zhangying’s lock screen password, Li Jiali quickly swiped open the interface. The message had been sent at 6:00 PM the previous evening. Unlike the previous cryptic religious riddle, this one was instantly recognizable to everyone in the Major Crime Unit—but it made their blood run cold. It was a far more ominous threat.

*To the Honorable Duke Faustus:*

*Act VII—to be specially presented to you in 24 hours.*

*-Mephisto.*

(To the Esteemed Duke Faustus:)

"Act VII, specially presented to you in 24 hours."

- Mephisto

"Act VII," Shao Qiaoqiao's face instantly paled. "It can't be referring to that auction last time, right? I remember Shen Feng's execution was the last act. Why isn't it over yet?"

Tan Song angrily exclaimed, "Why is it Mephisto again? What the hell does he want now?"

"24 hours," Li Jiali glanced at the phone's time. "That's today at 6 PM. It's 11:34 AM—just under six hours left."

At the thought of Shen Feng's execution last time, Benjamin went pale. "How are we even supposed to watch this?"

"Xu...," Li Jiali murmured instinctively, but she immediately knew Xu Zhangying couldn't help her now. Then, she thought of someone else and turned to Tan Song. "Where is Professor Xia? Where is he now?"

Tan Song and the others exchanged grim looks.

3:15 PM—just under three hours to go.

Hong Kong, Outlying Islands.

A black sports car sped along the bay's road, one after another of similar white buildings flashing past the windows. Finally, a new building hugging the mountainside came into view.

The white villa sat amid sprawling green lawns. The moment the car halted, a guard in a pale uniform stepped forward.

Xia Qing strode past the smiling staff without a glance. Zhang Ke and another assistant, Yao Anping, followed closely behind as they entered the high-end clinic for the elite.

This facility was only two kilometers away from the renowned Second Gender Experimental Medical Center. Having worked at the Los Angeles branch before, Xia Qing quickly noticed that this so-called rehabilitation center bore striking similarities to the medical center in both interior design and layout.

This was a high-end clinic for the elite, specializing in second-gender disorder treatments.

Xia Qing’s commanding aura caught the attention of a medical guide in standard uniform with a polite smile. "Hello, sir. Are you here to visit a patient? Do you have an appointment—"

The alpha ignored them entirely, heading straight for the elevator on the left side of the lobby based on prior intel, while Yao Anping stayed behind to deal with the staff.

In the elevator’s mirrored doors, Xia Qing’s stern reflection stared back, and for a moment, he froze.

Over the past eight years, Xia Qing had shot up five centimeters taller than the beta in that photo—meaning he now stood five centimeters taller than Xu Zhangying.

The floor numbers ticked upward, and for some reason, Xia Qing suddenly recalled Xu Zhangying sitting cross-legged in the hospital bed, smiling at him.

—"I may not fully understand the life plans of scholars like you, Xia Qing, but the path you've chosen must be the right one."

—"Treasure this beta’s praise—it doesn’t come often!"

_A beta... huh._

With a ding, the doors parted, revealing a bright, expansive white corridor.

As soon as they stepped out, Zhang Ke heard Xia Qing murmur softly, "Stay here."

Zhang Ke replied, "Understood."

The ward was unnervingly silent. An open door revealed a room stocked with critical care gear—all matching the specifications of the experimental center.

At last, Xia Qing faced a stark white door. His eyes dropped to the handle, hesitating a beat, then pushed it open.

The room was vast, dominated by a floor-to-ceiling window. Outside, endless green lawns and forests spilled into the space like poured paint.

A breeze swept in, catching Xia Qing off guard.

He turned his face slightly, only to see the hospital bed that should have held a patient strikingly empty, with a green apple resting quietly on the white sheets.

Xia Qing slowly approached the bed, but the next moment, his sharp pheromone senses picked up on another presence in the room.

He turned his head and saw a man in a white shirt emerging from behind the door, slowly raising his eyes to meet Xia Qing's.

It was Zeiss.

"You just missed them," Zeiss leaned against the door, watching Xia Qing calmly. "They left a while ago."

"Where is Xu Zhangying?" Xia Qing asked.

"Don’t worry," Zeiss pointed to his right arm. "An injectable chip—your company’s own patent, no less."

Xia Qing replied coldly, "You had no right to do that."

"Whether I had the right is irrelevant," Zeiss straightened up. "I knew you'd come, so I waited three minutes for you, and now I’ll take three more minutes to confirm something with you."

Xia Qing remained silent, his gaze indifferent.

"Xia Qing, 28 years old, top-tier alpha, chairman of the LSA Young Scientists Council," Zeiss recited the information expressionlessly. "Right away, you seemed familiar."

"No wonder Xu Zhangying wouldn’t even let anyone see you."

With a mocking tone, Zeiss added, "Has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like your father?"

"Xia Gaohan, superior alpha, former chairman of VIDA International Biopharmaceutical Group, developer of Glory—or should I say, the thief who stole Life’s fire."

"Oh?" Zeiss chuckled at the other’s impassive expression.

"So you truly had no idea."