Chapter 127

Chapter 127

-

"Thirteen hours left."

The high-latitude waters were about to enter the midnight sun season, where daylight stretched endlessly and the angle of sunlight shifted sluggishly. Groggy and disoriented, Xu Changying felt as though he had been trapped in an endless fever dream. Yet each time he awoke, he found himself still confined to that damned room. It wasn’t until an indeterminate amount of time later that Lin Shuhua’s voice finally cut through the nightmare.

Corbett had already left—apparently, he couldn’t stay away from medical support for too long. However, his subordinates stayed behind, methodically continuing the interrogation of the blood-soaked beta splayed on the floor. At Tiberius’ time check, who had been silently standing by, they froze simultaneously. Two of them exchanged glances before hurrying out of the room.

"So, is the Messiah really shutting down the dark web in thirteen hours?"

Finally catching a brief respite, Xu Changying hacked violently, as if expelling the copper taste of blood from his throat before he could speak again. Taking advantage of Octavius’ men leaving, he struggled to shift from lying prone to curling on his side, his breathing easing slightly.

"Yes. A 72-hour advance notice was sent to all members via the Holy Grail System. Didn’t you receive it?"

Lin Shuhua remained by the floor-to-ceiling window, the bright daylight casting a pristine sheen on his expensive suit—a stark contrast to Xu Changying, who lay barely holding together amidst a spreading stain of blood, his once-white shirt now almost entirely stained red.

"Damn it, three hours of interrogation already. Give me a break," Xu Changying wheezed, his cuffed hands tucked against his chest as he croaked darkly. "If you insist on believing I’m Nero, fine. I really can’t give you the Holy Grail account you want. Just kill me already."

"I don’t understand why you refuse to admit it," Lin Shuhua shook his head. He walked slowly to Xu Changying’s side and sat in an armchair, studying coolly at the beta’s blood-streaked face. "You’ve seen it yourself—Octavius would rather risk Emperor bloodshed than let this go. He won’t stop. How many more hours can you hold out?"

"Is shutting down David City really that serious?" Xu Changying asked.

"Extremely serious," Lin Shuhua replied impassively. "Think of it as a complete reset. Every existing account will be wiped clean—meaning all our Emperor privileges will be revoked. When it reopens, it’ll revert to how it was in 2009, with the Messiah arbitrarily granting permissions based on his whims."

"That is serious," Xu Changying gave a pained chuckle of understanding from the floor, though his words were slurred from the severe damage inside his mouth, making every swallow and syllable agonizing.

No wonder Corbett had gone for his throat like a rabid wolf the moment they met. If everything were reset, the Nauron Family and Octavius’ faction would see over a decade of careful machinations reduced to nothing in an instant.

"But why does it feel like he’s targeting me more than you?" Xu Changying ground out between labored breaths. "I’ve never even met him before."

"Oh, Changying," Lin Shuhua seemed amused by the beta’s ability to quip despite being barely holding together. He let out a soft laugh before gently adding, "Can’t you tell how dire his condition is? Corbett can’t wait any longer. He must get that file from you."

Xu Changying went statue-still, then with great effort lifted his head to meet Lin Shuhua’s eyes—alight with hunger. Coughing uncontrollably, he hesitated before asking, "You mean the files in Nero’s account?"

"Have you forgotten?" Lin Shuhua reminded him slowly. "You and Cherub took something from the Garden of Eden in Serbia—Octavius only realized after you two burned it down that he’d never discovered the concealed safe hidden there."

At those words, Xu Changying wrenched back to the autumn of 2018—to that day in the Serbian monastery. Just as he was about to leave the basement, the gray-eyed man had snagged his attention.

Lawrence kicked aside a corpse sprawled on the ground. "Edmund, come here."

The 25-year-old Xu Changying approached and was forced to help the gray-eyed man move a canister of liquid nitrogen. Then, with practiced ease, the man wrenched up a concealed floor safe. Dust plumed as the small vault was revealed, its contents neatly arranged in plastic-sealed paper files.

Gun in one hand, Lawrence flipped through the stack of files before casually extracting a few and tossing the rest back inside, sealing the safe again.

"Aren’t you taking the rest?" Xu Changying had bit out.

"What’s left behind is the most important," Lawrence replied with an enigmatic smile before striding toward the basement stairs without another glance. To the subordinate waiting at the entrance, he ordered, "Make sure this room isn’t burned too thoroughly."

"Hey," Xu Changying called out, baffled, as he hurried after him and stepped out of the basement. "So what were those papers you took?"

"Nothing special. Just some IVF records," Lawrence answered patiently—as he always did whenever the Beta Commissioner asked questions. At the end of the hallway, he turned back, flipping through the files before pulling one out and handing it to Xu Changying. "See? I’m not lying."

Xu Changying examined it carefully. It was indeed an IVF record, but unlike the files they’d retrieved months earlier from the Congo sanatorium, this one contained no mention of genetic editing.

By now accustomed to the man’s eccentric behavior, Xu Changying didn’t dwell on it. He shook his head and was about to return the file when, just as his gaze was about to shift away, he caught sight of a name at the top of the document.

In that instant, a full-body tremor seized Xu Changying.

"Oh, right. Keep this one. Isn’t this what you’ve been looking for?"

The beta commissioner stared blankly upward, only to see Lawrence smiling at him. People were still coming in and out of the rooms on either side of the corridor, dousing them with gasoline. After saying this, Lawrence turned and waved the other files in his hand, generously adding, "No need to thank me. I've got plenty to spare."

"You and Kherub took 17 of those files back then, didn't you?"

Lin Shuhua's voice pulled Xu Changying out of his memories. Huddled on the floor, Xu felt the weight of the gaze from above. His thoughts instantly tangled into knots, and he frowned subconsciously, muttering, "But those were just ordinary files found in every Eden. What does Octavius want with them?"

As the words left his mouth, Xu Changying suddenly realized something was off. He slowly raised his head to see Lin Shuhua silently staring at him. In that moment, the Beta finally understood. His face twisted into an expression of absurdity and disbelief. "No way—you don’t actually think what he took was the list of successful experiments from Eden, do you?"

"You see, you know everything," Lin Shuhua said softly. "Yet you still claim you’re not Nero. Changying, what exactly are you holding onto?"

"I don’t understand either. Why would you believe such a fairy tale could come true?"

A strong sense of dread rose in Xu Changying’s throat. He realized he was on the verge of uncovering the real mystery. He stared fixedly at Lin Shuhua and asked gravely, "Since when have you believed the Messiah was a successful product of Eden?"

"Probably around 2015, two years after the San Greal subsystem was officially launched. The Nauron Family could no longer bear living forever under the Messiah’s shadow. They began trying to infiltrate the inner sanctum of the Messiah and Kherub. But it wasn’t easy. Kherub only used people he’d brought out from the early Edens—stateless ghosts, fiercely loyal."

"It wasn’t until 2017 that the Nauron Family managed to wrest one truth from a dying Elite Alpha: 'The Messiah, like Kherub, is an Elite Alpha from Eden.'"

"And what happened next, you already know," Lin Shuhua said slowly, watching as Xu Changying’s face drained of color. "Kherub and the Fourth Seat Emperor, as the Messiah’s closest confidants, began purging the Second Generation Eden sites that had fallen into the hands of the Eternal Life Society the following year. They took away a batch of 30-year-old files from those ruins."

"Even a fool could see Kherub was destroying evidence of the Messiah’s existence. It was only then that Corbett, who had by then become Emperor, realized that Xia Gaohan and Lawrence—who had deceived and ruined their lives—might have actually succeeded in their gene-editing experiments. They could have created a batch of flawless, perfected Elite Alpha children—like the 17 children whose files you took from Serbia."

"And then what?"

Xu Changying suddenly spoke up, his expression calm as he stared at Lin Shuhua, pressing further. "Why did you choose to go all-in at the LSA Conference, only to end up in this mess?"

Lin Shuhua's mask slipped. The next second, a flicker of shock and shadow crossed his face. He stared into the Beta’s dark, bright eyes, now smeared with blood, for a long moment before finally replying coldly:

"Because starting this January, when Professor Kefei, who oversaw the Second Generation Eden, was assassinated by you, scholars and politicians involved in the project began dying one after another. We were forced to realize time was running out. The Eternal Life Society could never keep up with your pace in tracking clues—especially after Octavius’ failed underground auction triggered a series of crises across Asia and North America. Our informants monitoring Kherub reported that the Messiah might bring the dark web back online after the LSA Conference."

"Just because of that?" Xu Changying asked.

"Just because?" Lin Shuhua hadn't expected this reaction. The characteristic calm on his face slowly faded, replaced by a chilling tone. "What do you mean?"

Xu Changying didn’t answer. Instead, he huddled on the ground as if deep in thought. A few seconds later, Lin Shuhua was startled to hear the Beta bark a laugh.

"So that’s it," Xu Changying laughed between coughs. Three of his ribs were broken, and every laugh sent white-hot spikes of pain through him—yet he kept laughing as if he couldn’t feel the pain.

Just as Octavius’ subordinate, who had been standing guard nearby, weighed another kick, Xu Changying finally stopped laughing.

Lin Shuhua said, "You’re the one behind all this. What’s so funny?"

"That’s exactly why it’s funny," Xu Changying grinned. Gritting through the pain, he rolled onto his back, lying flat on the ground. Lin Shuhua watched as the blood-smeared Beta looked up at him, still smiling. "Let me guess—the video of me killing Kefei was something you struggled to obtain from Kherub’s informants, right?"

"Wrong," Lin Shuhua said coldly. "We breached one of Kherub’s servers in Oslo a week ago and found it among tens of thousands of data entries."

"Ah, well, that’s irrelevant. Same difference."

"How's that the same?"

"It was all deliberately leaked to you by Lawrence," Xu Changying said, staring at the ceiling with a world-weary look. "Letting you discover Nero’s true identity—me. You must’ve been thrilled when you found out, huh? No wonder Corbett was so excited to see me. Turns out I was his last hope."

So that was it. In that instant, Xu Changying pieced together the twisted puzzle. He was the Messiah’s key chess piece. Though he knew nothing, he had unwittingly helped him—or her—and Kherub complete this decade-long game.

From the moment Xu Changying agreed to help Kherub "purge" the Second Generation Eden and rescue those children, whether he wanted to or not, he had become the genuine Fourth Seat Emperor, Nero. To Octavius’ faction and the "Council of Elders" behind him, he was indeed the Messiah’s loyal hound, always one step ahead, turning the screws on any evidence linking the Messiah to "Eden."

Until, driven by panic over the rumor that "the Messiah would reactivate David’s City after the LSA Conference," they went all-in in Abu Dhabi, desperate to extract the Messiah’s secrets and the whereabouts of the "Ark of the Covenant" from the remaining scholars and politicians involved in the Second Generation Eden. Even just the Messiah’s real name would have been enough for the Council to leverage their earthly influence and have him disappeared.

Little did they know, this was a perfectly laid trap by the Messiah and Kherub all along.

"You are truly my pride, Faust."

When he stood in the Abu Dhabi hotel room, his hands stained with blood, Messiah's delighted and approving praise had already said it all—it was immensely satisfied with its foolish and disposable lackey, who had independently carried out the tasks of cornering, pursuing, and hunting down the prey.

Yet Octavius' faction and the "Council of Elders" behind them remained utterly oblivious to all this. Instead, they fully exposed their betrayal at the LSA Conference, allowing Messiah to legitimately mobilize public forces through this international incident to complete the crackdown.

Octavius and his allies were likely still puzzled over what flaw had led to the failure of their betrayal. Little did they know they had been lured step by step into a trap, with the bait being the entirely non-existent "successful gene-editing experiment."

By the time Octavius' faction, cornered under the pursuit of AGB Officers and international law enforcement, was left with no way out and prepared for a final desperate move, they had finally "found" the damned true identity of the Fourth Seat, Emperor Nero.

How could they possibly believe that Xu Zhangying had never joined LEBEN? He had done everything Nero had done—he and Corbett had cleansed the Second Generation Eden, even retrieved the so-called "experimental archives" together, and kept his identity strictly hidden. The whole affair was so absurd that even Xu Zhangying would have believed himself to be Nero.

Xu Zhangying understood all too clearly now that no matter what he said next, Octavius' faction would firmly believe he was Nero. His San Greal account not only contained the experimental data from the Second Generation Eden but also files documenting Messiah's real name.

Thinking about it this way, Messiah had predicted every move, accurately targeting the deepest desires of both Octavius and Xu Zhangying.

After all, Xu Zhangying had countless opportunities to avoid the trap. Yet whether it was Corbett inviting him to cleanse Eden or standing on the rooftop in Burkina Faso, reviewing the personnel files of the Guangzhou 523 case, he had consistently picked the worst possible option.

"Just see him once, leave when the case is over"—that was the pathetic excuse Xu Zhangying had used to convince himself months ago.

Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, then Los Angeles—in just a few months, he had lost all vigilance under Xia Qing's gaze while walking step by step with Octavius into the abyss orchestrated by Messiah.

So his current fate was exactly what he deserved. If given another chance, no matter how much he missed Xia Qing, he would never appear before him again.

He should have contented himself with watching from afar at the LSA Conference every year—seen the radiant Xia Qing, who remembered nothing of him, standing on the podium that was rightfully his, surrounded by crowds and admired by all—instead of now, with his memories restored, pulling them both back into danger.

He couldn’t afford to dwell on it any longer. Xu Zhangying clenched his fists, the pain in his lungs dragging him back to reality. It was then that he heard footsteps. He turned his head and saw the two men from Octavius' group returning to the room.

"Zhangying," Lin Shuhua remained seated on the sofa, unmoving, watching as Octavius' men forcibly tied Xu Zhangying to a chair. He stated softly, "You know you can’t change the outcome. Why torture yourself like this?"

Blood from his forehead trickled down his cheek and into Xu Zhangying’s left eye. He instinctively tried to wipe it, but his upper body was tightly bound, leaving him no way to struggle. He could only shut that eye in discomfort, watching as Octavius' men unlocked his handcuffs and slid a needle into the vein on the inner side of his arm.

"Senior Shuhua," Xu Zhangying looked up, puzzled. "What are they injecting me with?"

"Thiopental sodium," Lin Shuhua replied gently. "You won't be in so much pain soon. Though it’s addictive, it’s not glory. I’m heeding your advice—leaving myself a way out."

As an AGB Officer, Xu Zhangying naturally recognized the name—a type of intravenous anesthetic. However, since its pharmacological effect was to block neural signal transmission, it could also rapidly induce a drunken state, making it harder to lie. Thus, it had been used as a "truth serum" by American police in the last century.

Using glory to control hostages was indeed a tradition of LEBEN, as its hallucinogenic effects were a hundred times more potent than ordinary "truth serums." Lin Shuhua, despite seeming to completely distrust Xu Zhangying’s words, had still chosen this comparatively humane approach. For a moment, Xu Zhangying even wondered if he'd had a moment of compassion. So he asked the question he had been holding back.

"I heard Li Jiayu was brought into LEBEN by Tiberius. Was it really you?"

Xu Zhangying raised his eyes. Due to his high tolerance for sedatives, he could still feel himself remaining conscious. He saw Lin Shuhua’s calm expression.

"It was me."

Lin Shuhua admitted, "But at the time, I wasn’t Tiberius yet. I don’t know how Li Xuyin got the intel."

Xu Zhangying stared fixedly at the figure bathed in bright daylight. "Then was it also you who got him addicted to glory?"

"You could say that," Lin Shuhua’s expression remained unchanged, utterly calm. "But it’s complicated. I don’t remember the details clearly."

"I’ve been thinking about it these past few days. It must have been in 2018. I knew Li Jiayu, who had just joined LEBEN, would attend one of Corbett’s exclusive parties where glory circulated. Li Xuyang and the others had elders to warn them. He had no one to warn him, so of course he’d get hooked."

Even though he had expected it, Xu Zhangying still felt a chill when Lin Shuhua admitted it outright. He asked quietly, "So you could have warned him?"

"Yes, but I didn’t." Lin Shuhua looked at Xu Zhangying, tied to the chair, and stated flatly, "I’ve always felt guilty about it."

"Why?"

Xu Zhangying stared at Lin Shuhua's impeccable features, struggling against the drug-induced delirium, and asked in confusion, "Whether it's Li Jiayu or Li Xuyin, your relationship with them has always been good. There was no conflict of interest between you and Li Xuyin either. Why did you have to drag Li Jiayu into this?"

"Because there was no reason not to," Lin Shuhua seemed puzzled by Xu Zhangying's confusion. "Li Jiayu's father and brother were both nobles of LEBEN. He went through great lengths to appeal to me. It shouldn’t be strange that I agreed, should it?"

"Then since you knew Li Jiayu would get hooked on Glory, why didn’t you warn him?"

In his drug-induced haze, Xu Zhangying suddenly remembered Li Jiayu at the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau months ago. Even when beaten black and blue, he instinctively hid behind Lin Shuhua—that kind of closeness and trust couldn’t be faked.

Thinking about it, even knowing Lin Shuhua was a higher-ranking LEBEN noble, Li Jiayu still instinctively saw him as an elder brother he’d grown up with.

"Because he was too close to Li Xuyin, and Li Xuyin was far more dangerous than him." Lin Shuhua sighed, his gaze tinged with regret as he looked at Xu Zhangying. "And not just me—the Li family thought the same. If I recall correctly, it was Li Tianyue who instructed Li Jiayu to attend that party. They also knew that if he got addicted, he’d never dare mention LEBEN to Li Xuyin again."

Despite Lin Shuhua’s calm tone, as if discussing mundane daily affairs, a chilling coldness surged in Xu Zhangying’s chest. To ensure Li Jiayu couldn’t speak to Li Xuyin about LEBEN, even his closest family and trusted friends had silently watched him cross the point of no return.

Xu Zhangying lifted his gaze. Through the blood-tinged vision in his eyes, Lin Shuhua’s gentle smile suddenly seemed grotesque. He couldn’t fathom what thoughts lurked in this man’s mind—how much humanity remained.

"I know what you’re thinking," Lin Shuhua said with muted amusement, though the warmth in his eyes cooled imperceptibly. "But I’m also curious. Given that our circumstances and positions are similar, why do you seem to cling to a higher moral standard, Zhangying?"

As he spoke, the Caucasian subordinate observing Xu Zhangying seemed to notice his tolerance to the drugs and promptly readied another dose.

Lin Shuhua remained still, watching as the second injection was administered into Xu Zhangying’s arm, his expression indifferent. "In truth, when it comes to fate, the person making the choice bears the greatest responsibility. The debts of others can’t be neatly divided."

"I know I have no right to judge," Xu Zhangying said, watching as Octavius's subordinates withdrew the syringe. He fought to stay lucid, his gaze sharp. "But your ethical framework is curious, senior. Good benefits are yours, but the bad consequences are blamed on fate."

"I truly didn’t expect Jiayu to meet such an end."

Lin Shuhua met the Beta’s gaze calmly, seemingly unbothered by the sarcasm. "Though my initial motives weren’t pure—I did want to use him to monitor Li Tianyue—I never disregarded his life. In fact, out of everyone involved, including those who murdered his own father, I was the only one who felt remorse."

Xu Zhangying realized his body was growing numb, the world swaying before him, yet his speech remained intact. Through the haze, he saw an inscrutable depth flicker in Lin Shuhua’s clear eyes.

"You might not believe it," the young Tiberius murmured, "but Glory is now produced by Akalai’s factory in Hawaii. To stabilize market prices, production is deliberately restricted. Someone of Li Jiayu’s rank couldn’t secure a steady supply. To prevent addiction withdrawal, I secretly arranged channels for him."

In the silent room, it took Xu Zhangying several seconds to process the words. When he did, his face paled. He looked up in disbelief, only to find the Elite Alpha staring back, his tone flat.

"Since you’re with Xia Qing, you know this—Glory users without withdrawal symptoms can live to around fifty. But once addiction withdrawal starts, that’s when the fatal countdown commences."

"So if Li Xuyin hadn’t forced Li Jiayu into detox without understanding the situation, raising his tolerance, and if Li Tianyue hadn’t encouraged it, Li Jiayu wouldn’t have met such a wretched end in prison."

Xu Zhangying’s world spun as the cruel words sank in. He knew Lin Shuhua was likely deflecting blame, yet his instincts whispered that this was the truth—just unbearably cruel, especially for Li Xuyin, the only one who still cared for Li Jiayu.

"That’s not how it works," Xu Zhangying said, his thoughts lagging behind his words. He shook his head hard. "If you hadn’t brought Li Jiayu into LEBEN and deliberately got him addicted, none of this would’ve happened."

"I knew you’d say that."

Lin Shuhua smiled, completely unfazed by the accusation. "But people’s minds can’t be changed. I don’t think I was wrong—at least, not entirely. Yet you and Li Xuyin still lay all responsibility at my feet."

Xu Zhangying instinctively prepared a retort, but the last sentence struck him. His focus sharpened, and he snapped, "You’ve met Li Xuyin?"

After their final meeting with Qin Ye in Brazil, Xu Zhangying had heard nothing of Li Xuyin. Had he traced Lin Shuhua's whereabouts in that time? If so, where was he now—

"Just two days ago," Lin Shuhua said calmly. "I was surprised he uncovered my identity. As Li Tianyue predicted, Li Xuyin is far too dangerous as an opponent."

Xu Zhangying stared. "Did you kill him?"

"Of course not." Lin Shuhua’s lips curled faintly at the Beta’s glare. "Though he wanted to kill me, I only had him confined—in one of the cabins beneath your feet. We were fellow students for more than ten years. Why assume I’d kill him?"

The room fell silent. As Lin Shuhua spoke, Octavius’s subordinates remained wordless. The deep blue geometric light patterns from the aquarium now stretched between them like a boundary, irrevocably dividing their realities.

"I don’t understand you," Xu Changying, his face smeared with blood, stared at Lin Shuhua with dark, bright eyes, his voice deep and grave. "Lin Shuhua, you've given up so much. What is it you truly want?"

"That question is a difficult one for both of us," Lin Shuhua lifted his head to glance at the shark patrolling the aquarium before turning his gaze back to Xu Changying. "Because neither of us dares to admit the deepest yearning in our hearts."

With that, Lin Shuhua stood up and walked over to Xu Changying, crouching down slowly to meet his eyes. At this close distance, Xu Changying could clearly see Lin Shuhua's clear eyes—unlike Xia Qing’s, these held the Lin family's distinctive clarity.

"Changying," the last traces of Lin Shuhua's gentle smile vanished, leaving only a cold and unfamiliar indifference. He looked at Xu Changying and said, "I’ve been thinking all week—since you chose to become Emperor, you'd at least make provisions for yourself. That's why I held my tongue earlier."

"But it seems you truly have no intention of leaving yourself a way out," Lin Shuhua gently wiped the blood from Xu Changying's eyes with a handkerchief, his voice soft. "However, have you forgotten something crucial? Xia Qing is also a member of the Lin family. There are some things we would inevitably know."

"Among the 17 files you took, one of them was Xia Qing's, wasn't it?"

Xu Changying's face instantly paled.

In the corridors of the Serbian monastery, the acrid smell of gasoline permeated the air. The Beta Commissioner was about to look away from the file in his hands when, at the last moment, he caught sight of the name under "Biological Mother"—"Lin Grace."

Lin Grace—Lin Hanshan.

—"If Lin Guangji and the others hadn't assured me back then that he was an Elite Alpha, I should have used any random surrogate to give birth to him."

"That has nothing to do with it," Xu Changying struggled to suppress the nauseating dizziness, gritting his teeth. "The files show no record of genetic editing. The Second Generation Eden didn't conduct experiments on that batch of children. I’ve seen it with my own eyes."

"I told you—you know everything, yet refuse to admit any of it," Lin Shuhua said coldly. "Every word from your mouth is a lie."

Xu Changying glared at Lin Shuhua, his voice shaking with barely-contained rage as he spoke each word deliberately: "This is also Lawrence's scheme. There’s no such thing as a successful genetic experiment in this world. Just because Xia Qing is Xia Gaohan's son, you all believe—"

His words cut off abruptly. Halfway through, Xu Changying finally realized what he had overlooked all this time. He stared blankly at the expressionless Elite Alpha, disbelief spreading across his face.

"You too? Impossible. Zhao Yang said in Abu Dhabi, you—"

"Corbett and I were born a month apart. My file was also in that safe," Lin Shuhua said indifferently. "But I was luckier—my gene expression was more stable. Everything was normal. Except, like you, I'm anosmic to pheromones."

"For example, I’ve never known what Zhao Yang’s pheromones smell like."

Xu Changying opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but by then, he had already remembered—throughout their long adolescence, he and Zhao Yang had pondered repeatedly:

—Why had they never once caught the scent of the Lin family's Elite Alpha heir?

Only now did Xu Changying realize that the one who had fanatically clung to the mythos of the Second Generation Eden due to misplaced identity wasn’t just Corbett—it was also Lin Shuhua.

"I don’t understand you either, Changying," Lin Shuhua gave a hollow laugh.

"If Xia Qing isn’t a test subject, then can you tell me why, at the exact moment of his secondary gender differentiation, you—an A-rank Alpha—suddenly developed Pheromone Disorder?"

"Because—" Xu Changying, under the truth serum's effects, was about to speak when his face drained of color. He clenched his jaw tightly and refused to say another word.

Lin Shuhua let the matter drop. He merely patted Xu Changying’s shoulder and stood up, then turned to Octavius’ subordinate and said in English, expressionless, "He’s resistant to barbiturates. Give him another dose."

"Yes."

Soon, Xu Changying was dragged into the turbulent depths of his subconscious. As the crimson seawater drowned everything before his eyes, the long-buried truths in his heart finally surfaced.

—Where is Xia Qing now?

-

Three hours later.

On the yacht "Oasis" in the Beagle Channel.

"If Xu Changying isn’t who he claims to be, then why would he take the blame?"

Outside the helipad, Zhao Yang, holding his helmet, snapped off a salute as the Sikorsky S-92 carrying Team A took off. Over the deafening roar, he turned to Zeiss and Xia Qing and asked.

Zeiss leaned against the bulkhead with his arms crossed. "Because denial is pointless—the video is real. Like I said, this guy gets weirdly passive when it comes to his own affairs."

Zhao Yang glanced back at Xia Qing, who stood silently nearby, apparently not hearing their conversation. He was just staring quietly at something in his hand.

The evening sea breeze was strong, quickly whipping through their hair on the deck. The hem of Xia Qing's suit jacket fluttered, revealing the bulletproof vest underneath.

Xia Qing lowered his head, gazing at the small silver necklace in his hand—Xu Zhangying’s father, Xu Yiyuan’s press pass, which had hung from Xu Zhangying’s collarbone ever since they first met.

"Xia Qing, hold onto this for me, will you? I keep getting blood on it."

In Santos, Xu Zhangying stood bare-chested in the hotel room, bandages still wrapped around his torso. He grinned as he tilted his head toward Xia Qing, the sunlight filtering through the curtains washing his handsome features in soft light.

"Give it back to me once I’m fully healed."

"Mm. Then get better soon."

"Of course," Xu Zhangying said, throwing an arm around his neck like they were kids again, whispering warmly in his ear, "Don’t you trust me?"

Xia Qing looked up, meeting those arresting eyes of his and the prominent scar on the back of his neck.

"I trust you."

"Xia Qing."

Zhao Yang’s voice suddenly called from behind. Xia Qing snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see the fully kitted-out alpha, who had somehow already returned to the lower deck. Fastening his helmet, Zhao Yang gave him a quick grin. "Get ready. We’re up next."

"Copy that."

Nodding into the sea breeze, Xia Qing glanced down at the necklace in his hand, crushed it in his fist against his heart, then lifted his head and marched straight toward the inner deck.