Chapter 49

Ch. 49

Lu Mingye stared at the glass in his hand. The drink had been swapped—when?

He glanced at Chen Zui, who was watching him with a playful smirk. The sight ignited a furious anger in him; he wanted to tear that face apart.

He knew exactly what drug he had administered. With no time to confront Chen Zui now, he filed away this debt for later. Lu Mingye turned to leave, only to hear footsteps behind him. He looked back to see Chen Zui following him, openly and brazenly.

The chibi avatar on his head stomped its feet, hands on its hips, its little belly jiggling as it pointed at Chen Zui and spewed a torrent of impressively foul language.

Chen Zui saw it but paid no mind.

Everywhere he looked, similar thought bubbles floated above people's heads.

*Ugh, this is so boring. I just wanna go home and veg out in bed.*

*This guy’s breath is awful.*

*Wow, there’s a hottie over there. Come to me, handsome~*

*Both of those alphas are so hot. Two at once? Bring it on!*

Chen Zui felt visually assaulted. Lu Mingye, after a sharp glare, hurried toward the banquet hall entrance. As he followed, Chen Zui asked Ao Tian, "About these thought bubbles—can I choose to turn them on or off?"

"Of course! Our Dark Transmigration Bureau products are very user-friendly."

Chen Zui: "Can I choose to enable them for just one person?"

"—Not that user-friendly yet," Ao Tian replied awkwardly. "But we’re working on it! I’ll pass along your suggestion right away."

As Chen Zui stepped out of the banquet hall, a staff member suddenly stopped him. "Sir, how was your experience at the banquet? Was there anything you weren’t satisfied with?"

The beta smiled politely, his demeanor impeccable.

But the thought bubble above his head betrayed him: *That guy said he was being followed. Who would’ve thought? He looks proper on the outside, but I don’t need to say much—just stall him a bit.*

The beta’s smile grew even friendlier.

"I’m very dissatisfied with you stopping me without permission."

Chen Zui strode away, leaving the beta with a stiffened expression. Lu Mingye had already vanished without a trace.

Ao Tian: *That guy’s got some brains, I’ll give him that.*

Chen Zui agreed. He opened his light-brain device and tapped an app in the top left corner. A map appeared with a small red dot moving across it. Chen Zui zoomed in continuously with two fingers, and detailed location names began to appear—first the name of the hotel, then its floor plan.

The red dot stopped, showing: 1203.

It barely moved after that.

Ao Tian: *But you’re still smarter and more resourceful.*

Chen Zui: "Thanks for the praise."

He closed the app. That hand he’d reached out toward Lu Mingye’s cheek wasn’t just to cover him setting down the glass, nor was it just to touch Lu Mingye’s face—it was to place the micro-tracker hidden on his fingertip onto—

Lu Mingye swayed and collapsed onto the bed. A tiny, barely noticeable glint shimmered faintly in his dark hair.

He didn’t have time to go to the hospital.

The drug kicked in fast. Lu Mingye felt the world spin around him, and then he saw the Grim Reaper, scythe in hand, walking toward him. Everything around him turned dark, with blood welling up from below. He lay in a pool of blood as the Reaper’s scythe swung toward him.

Lu Mingye scrambled back in panic, tumbling off the bed and crashing onto the floor. The ground beneath him cracked, countless fissures spreading open. Man-eating plants sprouted from the gaps, opening their mouths toward him.

"Stay away…"

Lu Mingye stood up, waving his arms wildly. In his vision, he held a radiant, indestructible rainbow-colored lightsaber, slicing through the man-eating plants one by one. The severed plants transformed into Shen Yanzhi’s heads, all with eyes wide open in death—among them were also a few of Chen Zui’s heads.

Lu Mingye laughed.

Ao Tian: *What kind of drug did he use?*

Ao Tian: *My guess is an aphrodisiac. 80% of novel plots go that way.*

Ao Tian: *Heh heh heh, let’s hurry and find him. Under the influence, he’ll be begging you to have your way with him.*

Chen Zui arrived outside room 1203. One downside of coming to such an advanced technological era was that his lock-picking skills were useless here. From inside, he could hear someone shouting—it didn’t sound like the effects of an aphrodisiac, more like outright madness.

Before he could use Ao Tian’s visual override to get the entry code from a staff member, the door suddenly swung open from the inside. He saw Lu Mingye’s face, expression wildly exaggerated, pupils dilated.

Lu Mingye grabbed his arm. "You’re finally here, my comrade."

Chen Zui: ?

He didn’t resist, allowing Lu Mingye to yank him inside and shut the door. The room looked like a war zone. Lu Mingye pulled him onto the bed and waved his arm grandly. "Behold! All this is the kingdom I’ve conquered for you."

Chen Zui: ?

It was rare for Chen Zui to be thrown off balance. He glanced at the thought bubble above Lu Mingye’s head—the mini version of him was foaming at the mouth, eyes spinning in circles, swaying and giggling deliriously. No readable thoughts whatsoever.

Suddenly, Lu Mingye pinched Chen Zui’s chin, pulling their faces close together. "My pretty~ Come and have some fun with me~"

The sweet, creamy scent in the air grew stronger.

Lu Mingye swayed again and giggled deliriously. "So many mushrooms. Oh, I’m a mushroom too."

He began running wildly around the room. "I’m a free-range mushroom~ la la la~" He tossed his jacket aside and started taking off his pants.

"It’s raining."

"Mushrooms need rain."

He knelt in front of Chen Zui. "Shower me generously."

He opened his mouth, waiting for Chen Zui to "quench" him, his tongue moving restlessly.

Chen Zui guessed the drug was probably a hallucinogen.

Ao Tian: *It wasn’t an aphrodisiac after all? I formally protest this development!*

Lu Mingye climbed to his feet again and suddenly launched into a series of martial arts moves, grabbing at the air as he let out a wicked laugh.

"Come on! Who dares to fight me!"

"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—never underestimate the youth of today!"

He was really committing fully to the bit.

Chen Zui sat down on the edge of the bed. He’d never seen such a spectacle before—a man wearing only underwear putting on an unhinged performance. He appraised the alpha’s physique: broad shoulders, narrow waist, a toned and lean body, with a small mole near one of his areolas.

Lu Mingye suddenly slumped to the ground, his feet together and flapping like a fish tail.

Chen Zui: The current role should be that of a merman.

The deer merman turned his gaze toward him, his eyes lighting up: "Prince."

The deer merman crawled to Chen Zui's feet, lifted himself, placed his arms on Chen Zui's legs, and looked up at him.

"Are you my prince?"

"Yes, I am."

The deer merman posed expectantly for a kiss: "The prince's kiss will awaken me, and from then on, the prince and I will live happily ever after."

Chen Zui hadn’t expected this little rascal to be so familiar with fairy tales.

It was a cute side of him.

He pinched Lu Mingye’s chin, his fingers gently stroking his lips, making him squirm and involuntarily part his lips, waiting.

"Why do you deserve my kiss?"

Just as Lu Mingye was about to suck on his fingers, Chen Zui spoke these words and pulled his hand away.

Lu Mingye mused dopily for a moment, then smirked: "Because I’m... sweet."

An alpha with a cream-scented pheromone was indeed sweet.

After answering, Lu Mingye, unable to withstand the effects of the drug, passed out.

His head fell into Chen Zui’s palm, looking utterly placid.

——

Chen Zui placed Lu Mingye on the bed and took out something resembling a syringe, but inside was actually a microtracker, even smaller than the one on Lu Mingye’s strand of hair.

He chose the spot at the crease where his thigh met his buttock, where the flesh is pressed down.

Chen Zui had always felt this was the most sensual part of the human body.

With one hand, he pushed the buttock flesh upward, and with the other, he implanted the tracker into Lu Mingye’s body. This was one benefit of the technological era—everything was much more advanced. Such a miniaturized tracker was something Chen Zui had never seen before.

It felt like a mosquito bite, with almost no pain, and the alpha showed no reaction.

After securing the tracker, Chen Zui turned his attention to the alpha’s neck, where he could see a solid-colored scent blocker covering the alpha’s scent gland.

Chen Zui was also somewhat curious about this.

He reached out and, without hesitation, tore off the scent blocker, revealing the alpha’s slightly red gland.

His dry fingertip grazed it, and the unconscious alpha let out a faint whimper.

Ao Tian: "You’re both alphas; you can’t mark each other."

Chen Zui leaned in, attempting to bite down, then released his pheromones freely. The room flooded with the scent of roses, enveloping Lu Mingye.

——

——

This was Chen Zui’s first time being an alpha, and the sensation was new and strange. He couldn’t quite describe it, but when he released his pheromones freely, there was a wordless thrill, especially when the other’s sweet pheromones tingled on his lips and tongue, swallowed down as if he had completely claimed this person from the inside out, even though he had actually done nothing.

He could smell Lu Mingye’s body gradually becoming steeped in his own rose fragrance, and this feeling pleased him.

So much so that he got carried away for a moment. By the time he calmed down, the alpha’s gland was nearly chewed raw.

Chen Zui felt a flicker of remorse.

He wiped away the blood from the bite marks, then left as the door opened and closed, leaving Lu Mingye alone in the room.

Lu Mingye didn’t wake up until the next day, his head still dizzy and heavy. As soon as he regained consciousness, he noticed the pain at his gland and reached up to touch it.

The scent blocker was gone.

The alpha jolted upright in shock, his fingertips feeling the uneven texture, like residual bite marks, and the room was filled with a strong rose fragrance.

He turned on his light-brain’s camera, rotating the virtual screen to his neck. The crisscrossed bite marks were a shocking sight, making him suck in a sharp breath.

A smear of ointment still remained on the bite marks.

Residual aftereffects of the drug still lingered in his body, and under the stimulation, Lu Mingye’s sight dimmed. After a wave of dizziness, he collapsed back onto the bed, fuming, breath coming in ragged bursts.

Chen Zui!

As soon as Lu Mingye stepped into the elevator, the people inside scrunched their noses and moved aside. The man’s alpha pheromones were too strong. They assumed it was his own scent, and such a blatant emission in public was extremely impolite.

Lu Mingye knew, but there was nothing he could do.

Goddamn Chen Zui.

The fucking nerve!

——

Chen Zui had just returned home when his landlord accosted him.

"When exactly are you paying this month’s rent?" The landlord all but looked down his nose at him, since the previous occupant was a poor young man with debts left from his mother’s illness and passing. Even though he rented in the cheapest part of the urban-village, with extremely outdated facilities and the rent was just 500 yuan a month, it was still a huge sum for the original tenant.

Now, this situation had fallen to Chen Zui.

Since arriving in this world, he had been focused on his mission target, and this was the first time he had returned.

"Definitely tomorrow."

Chen Zui answered with certainty.

The landlord was decent enough, knew his situation, and didn’t give him too much shit. Instead, he even offered some unsolicited advice.

"Not to be rude, but with your build and face, one night’s work could earn you at least eight to ten grand. It’s all work—there’s no high or low status. Cash in hand is what’s real."

Chen Zui smiled: "You’re right."

The landlord was in a hurry to go back and deal with his kid and didn’t have time to say more: "Tomorrow. If you still can’t pay the rent, I’ll have to move your things out."

Chen Zui nodded: "Definitely. Thank you for your flexibility."

The landlord left.

Chen Zui entered the small studio apartment. Chen Zui was no stranger to rough living—on the contrary, he had been through worse.

If he had such a room when he was young, perhaps he wouldn’t have become a hired gun.

The room was small but tidy.

The mattress was set right on the floor.

Chen Zui sat down: "Can you arrange for me to be a rich guy in the next world? I’ve never been one."

Ao Tian: That’s unfair—you’ve already been a top boss in two worlds.

Ao Tian: "I’ll do my best to set it up for you."

Chen Zui: "Thank you."

Ao Tian: "So how do you plan to make money? Since we’ve recorded a video of Lu Mingye, why not threaten him for money? Let’s play hardball while freeloading!"

It has to be said, Ao Tian is getting real shady.

Chen Zui scrolled through job sites and laughed at Ao Tian’s suggestion.

"You’re really clever."

"You know it."

Chen Zui’s scrolling finger stopped as he found a job right up his alley.

——

Lu Mingye walked into the VIP room, sat down, and took a glass of wine from the waiter.

In front of him was a large screen broadcasting a live match from the fighting ring. On the screen, two men built like mountains were fiercely battling—one covered in blood, the other limping.

Participants in such matches signed death waivers before stepping into the ring, making the fights exceptionally brutal and thrilling, stimulating the audience’s senses and adrenaline as they yelled their heads off and placed bets.

Lu Mingye enjoyed this kind of blood and guts excitement, so he often came here.

"Anything new today?"

"Sir, there’s fresh blood today who will enter the ring after the exhibition match."

"New guy."

As soon as Lu Mingye said this, a section on the left side of the screen popped up, displaying the newcomer’s profile.

Code name: Wolf

Gender: male alpha

Height: 194 cm

Lu Mingye’s gaze fell on the full-body photo. The alpha wore a techy-looking mask, with only two crossed black straps covering his bare upper body, making his chest muscles appear exceptionally developed. The straps also wrapped around his lean waist, slightly above the waistline of his pants, covering his navel.

Perhaps because his physique was too impressive, the two straps alone looked incredibly kinky.

The white pants, however, were plain, with the legs neatly tucked into high-top shoes.

But white—makes things look bigger.

This one was already packing, and the effect was overly eye-catching.

This was the organizer’s usual style—a sexy, powerful body, drenched in sweat and blood, could make many people splash cash on bets.

As a VIP here, Lu Mingye could tell at a glance that this was a goldmine waiting to happen.

As long as his first match wasn’t too disappointing, countless people would be willing to spend money on him. The fact that he didn’t show his face was the cherry on top, allowing people to fantasize freely. Some even had a preference for guys in masks.

Lu Mingye swiped the small screen beside him, and the page on the large screen switched to the betting section.

As a newcomer, Wolf already had 7.35 million in bets placed on him.

This was purely due to his physique.

Lu Mingye casually threw in a mil.

"Can we pick his gear for the next match?"

For just three million, you could have a fighter wear whatever you wanted.

Lu Mingye thought those long legs would look great in a short skirt, with thigh muscles tightening dangerously during combat.

"Sorry, sir, he’s not a signed fighter, so this service isn’t available."

Lu Mingye felt a bit disappointed.

The audience’s excitement had been low for the past few matches. Even when the exhibition match fighters came out in lingerie, the atmosphere didn’t really get going.

It wasn’t until the host announced the newcomer Wolf’s entrance that the venue darkened, and a spotlight shone on the alpha who appeared exactly as in the photo. After a moment of silence, screams nearly blew the roof off.

He’s the real deal!

The alpha walked toward the ring, the spotlight following him. His mask glinted, his skin glinted, and his white pants glinted.

The most excited were undoubtedly some omegas, who seemed about to pass out.

Wolf stepped onto the ring and stood casually, looking damn fine.

The straps on his body made people want to pull them and hear them snap back with a "pop."

Lu Mingye had no interest in alphas, but admiring something hot was almost a human instinct.

This alpha’s physique could be described as perfect.

So perfect it made one want to wreck it.

Lu Mingye took a sip of wine as he thought.

Ao Tian: Logging data now. Once it can have a human body, it will copy Chen Zui’s build to a T.

Chen Zui’s opponent, Spade K, stepped onto the ring. The alpha wore tight black leather pants and a black off-shoulder leather top that exposed his waist. He was a head shorter than Chen Zui but much more jacked.

As a veteran, he had some loyal fans here who immediately cheered for him. He responded by pumping his fists vigorously, appearing crazy and aggressive.

As the referee signaled, the two met in the center of the ring. Chen Zui’s mask was see-through, allowing him to clearly see the killer look in his opponent’s eyes.

A sexy omega walked by holding a round card, getting some hoots.

With the referee’s whistle, Chen Zui quickly backed off, and as expected, his opponent came at him right away.

"Go! Take him down!"

"Tear off his belt!"

"Rip his pants off!"

The arena was filled with savage shouts.

Spade K continued his assault. Despite Chen Zui's tall frame, he was agile, moving with unexpected lightness on the ring that it almost seemed like he might take flight at any moment.

As time passed, the audience's anticipation was built to a fever pitch, like being tempted by a teasing beauty just out of reach, fueling their impatience.

"Get him already!"

"Get him, you fool!"

Spade K grew increasingly frustrated and desperate from repeatedly failing to catch him, his movements becoming more frantic and his footing less stable. Chen Zui coolly observed.

Then, seizing an opportunity, he viciously kicked at Spade K's right foot just as it touched the ground.

His long leg swung up, taut.

But the audience's attention was almost entirely captured by what swung along with that movement...

His dick.

Some were swallowing hard.

Others were muttering, "My god."

Spade K was kicked down by Chen Zui but reacted quickly, rolling away the moment he hit the floor. Chen Zui, however, had predicted the move and delivered another fierce kick, stomping hard on Spade K as he rolled.

It felt like Spade K's chest dented visibly.

Amid Spade K's pained cries, the referee stepped in, blew the whistle, and signaled for Chen Zui to back off.

As soon as Spade K got up, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His look toward Chen Zui grew more wary, but even more ferocious.

Lu Mingye's blood was on fire.

Ao Tian detected the Favorability Rating jump to 3%. It wondered why, but to avoid affecting Chen Zui, it didn’t report immediately.

After the match, it could surprise Chen Zui with the report.

The referee blew the whistle again.

This time, Chen Zui changed his fighting style, launching a fierce offensive. He moved like a wolf descending the mountain—fast, powerful, and with a deadly intensity.

The audience watched in stunned silence, jaws dropped, too mesmerized to even notice anything else. All they could see were his long legs kicking out, his fists swinging—a dazzling, relentless flurry.

Spade K found no opening to counterattack and could only defend desperately, his arms and legs constantly battered, forcing him to retreat step by step.

Thud after thud echoed through the arena. Spade K gritted his teeth, feeling like his arms and legs were about to break.

He stared intently at Chen Zui's footing, waiting for an opening, then lifted his leg to kick back. But Chen Zui, after delivering one kick, didn’t land—instead, he launched a second kick mid-air. Leveraging his incredibly strong core, he swung his leg straight into Spade K's head, sending him flying.

On one side, Spade K crashed heavily to the ground. On the other, Chen Zui landed effortlessly.

The entire venue fell silent.

Already formidable, Chen Zui, enhanced by Ao Tian's first small world, was now overwhelmingly powerful in close combat.

He stood there, much like when he first entered the ring, the only difference being the slightly heavier rise and fall of his chest.

With each breath, the black belt around his waist pulled tighter.

Making you wish it would just snap.

Ao Tian: "Hm? It rose to 4%."

After that kick, Spade K lay on the ground, blood flowing steadily from his ears. The referee counted to ten, but he still didn’t get up.

Robots entered to carry Spade K off the arena.

The referee raised his hand, declaring Chen Zui the winner.

The arena exploded with cheers.

"Wolf!"

"Wolf!"

"Wolf!"

Some even howled like a wolf.

—

Chen Zui returned to the locker room, removed his mask, and cracked his neck left and right. It had been a while since he’d stretched his muscles like that.

That felt good.

A knock came at the door. A staff member informed him the boss wanted to see him.

Chen Zui had earned 1.2 million credits from this match, enough to live until completing his mission in this world. He knew exactly why the boss wanted to see him.

"I have other matters to attend to. Next time, definitely."

The boss, wanting to keep him, wouldn’t turn hostile too quickly. Banking on this, Chen Zui left without any trouble.

Ao Tian: "The Favorability Rating rose to 4% during your match. Strange."

Chen Zui thought for a moment. So Lu Mingye had been there. Was he into that?

Chen Zui headed toward where he’d parked his speeder. Suddenly, a figure materialized from the shadows behind him, holding a sharp knife.