Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ying Zhiyu died under baffling circumstances.

A school-organized blood drive unexpectedly revealed that Ying Zhiyu's pheromones matched those of Li Xi, the "Third Prince" of the pheromone commercial empire.

Months later, Ying Zhiyu was forced at gunpoint to marry Li Xi.

Ninety-eight percent of the nation's authoritative medications related to glands and pheromones originated from the Li family's LI Pheromone Laboratory.

In modern society, where daily life, studies, and work are inextricably linked to pharmaceutical products like "inhibitors," the Li family's monopoly on cutting-edge pheromone technology meant they controlled the nation's medical and economic lifelines.

Thus, as the third son of the current head of the Li family, it was no exaggeration to call Li Xi the "Third Prince."

From the moment their pheromones matched until their marriage registration, Ying Zhiyu and Li Xi never once met.

Ying Zhiyu only learned later that Li Xi chose him solely because a "married image" offered a competitive advantage in the battle for family inheritance.

After a comprehensive screening based on compatibility, age, education, and background, Ying Zhiyu emerged as the perfect Alpha candidate for the role of a "live-in husband."

Li Xi was a busy man. Aside from his heat cycles, he never actively sought out Ying Zhiyu after their marriage.

The two barely communicated.

It wasn’t until the eleventh year of their marriage, when Li Xi's Alpha father, Li Songqian, fell gravely ill, that a highly publicized battle over the inheritance of the pheromone commercial empire erupted.

It was during this critical period that Ying Zhiyu was kidnapped.

He became the unlucky pawn, transformed into a bargaining chip.

Ying Zhiyu didn’t quite understand why he had been targeted.

He felt that over the past decade, his role for Li Xi had been primarily for public relations—hardly significant enough to sway the inheritance of the pheromone empire.

To Ying Zhiyu’s surprise, however, Li Xi received a call from Ying Zhiyu’s phone during a shareholders’ meeting.

Upon learning Ying Zhiyu had been kidnapped, he fell silent for a moment.

He then requested a video call with Ying Zhiyu.

Clearly, he needed to confirm whether Ying Zhiyu was truly in their hands.

But the kidnappers refused Li Xi’s request, hung up immediately without giving Ying Zhiyu a chance to speak, and casually tossed the SIM card out the car window.

Upon reaching their destination, the kidnappers severed one of Ying Zhiyu’s fingers.

Ying Zhiyu suddenly understood—they intended to use this method to prove he was indeed in their custody.

It served both as proof of identity and as a chilling threat.

Ying Zhiyu had marked Li Xi, so upon seeing the finger, Li Xi wouldn’t even need lab tests to identify the source from the pheromones in the severed digit.

Over the next week, the kidnappers moved Ying Zhiyu to three different hideouts.

During the fourth transfer, they were intercepted.

Ying Zhiyu was rescued.

But an unlucky pawn remained unlucky.

Though found, Ying Zhiyu was immediately admitted to the intensive care unit.

The damned kidnappers—whether due to using a contaminated blade to amputate his finger or careless wound treatment—had caused Ying Zhiyu to develop a high fever, convulsions, and even difficulty swallowing days earlier.

By the time he was rescued, he was already unconscious.

After less than forty-eight hours in the ICU, Ying Zhiyu ultimately succumbed to multiple organ failure due to an untreated tetanus infection.

In his final moments, a brief surge of clarity returned, and Ying Zhiyu regained consciousness for a short while.

His family entered the room—his father, mother, and sister.

And Li Xi.

Li Xi, however, had been in the room all along. Ying Zhiyu knew he had been sitting there for a long time.

But he hadn’t uttered a single word.

His family’s eyes were red. Ying Zhiyu looked at each of them and felt he had nothing left to say.

His death was indirectly caused by Li Xi, and Li Xi would take responsibility for caring for his family.

Then Li Xi stood up and walked to the bedside.

Their eyes met. Li Xi appeared calmer than his family.

Ying Zhiyu looked into his eyes and really wanted to complain.

Amputation was excessive treatment!

Those incompetent doctors, out of options and pressured by Li Xi, had reluctantly proposed amputation.

At the time, Ying Zhiyu couldn’t speak and was furious.

But since he was truly dying, he had come to accept it.

Fine, let it be.

As he closed his eyes, he thought he heard Li Xi call his name.

His voice was hoarse.

-

"Zhiyu, heads up!"

Xu Kuo tossed the lab report booklet onto Ying Zhiyu’s desk and walked over to casually offer a few pleasantries.

The implication was clear: he wanted Ying Zhiyu to write the lab report for him.

Xu Kuo was Ying Zhiyu’s roommate during graduate school.

A typical "dragon-realm elite" (privileged elite), his family business, though not as powerful as the Li family’s, owned its own biopharmaceutical factory.

When he opened his eyes after the ICU, Ying Zhiyu was reborn eleven years earlier.

He'd returned to before the forced marriage at gunpoint, but after he'd already donated blood.

In his previous life, Ying Zhiyu had achieved decent success.

Although he had unwillingly become a live-in son-in-law, Li Xi did not restrict his career.

Ying Zhiyu built a reputation for himself in his field—after earning his Ph.D. from Biomedical University, he studied abroad for two years, then returned to China and naturally went into research, eventually working at the National Institute of Biology.

At this moment, as a second-year graduate student, the lab reports were no challenge for him.

However, Ying Zhiyu had other things to do today.

"LI Pheromone Laboratory?"

Xu Kuo asked suspiciously, "What are you going there for?"

Everyone in the country knew the reputation of the LI Pheromone Laboratory.

Xu Kuo’s first thought was that their advisor was showing favoritism and had secretly pulled strings to get Ying Zhiyu an internship at LI.

However, Ying Zhiyu opened an email on his laptop.

An official email bearing the "LI" laboratory logo indicated that Ying Zhiyu had apparently won some commemorative inhibitor gift set worth ¥88,000.

Xu Kuo raised an eyebrow, "Is this some new scam?"

Ying Zhiyu closed the email, "I checked on LI’s official website—the prize pickup location is their headquarters lab in the capital. The official customer service also verified my identity."

Of course, this was something Ying Zhiyu had done in his previous life.

This time, he didn’t bother verifying the prize was real.

After all, the so-called prize was actually a discreet "screening process" orchestrated by the Young Master.

With plenty of time to spare, Ying Zhiyu washed his hair. As he came out of the bathroom, he ran into Xu Kuo, who was about to leave.

Xu Kuo laughed at him, "You’re taking a shower and burning incense just to pick up a prize at the lab? Country bumpkin."

Ying Zhiyu towel-dried his hair and didn’t respond.

Xu Kuo didn’t say more.

As graduate school roommates under the same advisor, almost all of Xu Kuo’s work had previously been done by Ying Zhiyu.

How a playboy young master like Xu Kuo got into a top-tier university like Biomedical University was an open secret.

He could mock Ying Zhiyu’s modest background once or twice, but he had no intention of actually falling out with him.

The dorm door clicked as it shut as Xu Kuo left.

Just as Ying Zhiyu finished getting ready to go out, Xu Kuo suddenly WeChat-called him.

"How are you getting to the lab?"

Ying Zhiyu replied, "By subway."

Xu Kuo said, "Then, since you’re passing by Wangfujing, can you get a gift for Ni Lu?"

"My mom froze my cards recently. Take some gift cards from my drawer—take a few, I need to sweet-talk someone."

In truth, Xu Kuo didn't know if the route from the school to the LI Pheromone Laboratory even passed by Wangfujing. But the young master only cared about getting what he wanted, not whether it was convenient for others.

Ying Zhiyu didn’t reply immediately.

Instead, he switched from audio to video call, turned on the back camera, and walked over to Xu Kuo’s bed.

Xu Kuo’s drawer was full of gift cards from various major shopping malls.

As an Alpha and a rich second-gen, Xu Kuo often used these to charm Omegas.

Of course, these cards, usually with values rarely exceeding five figures, were mostly used for casting a wide net—just casual fishing.

A real girlfriend couldn’t be won over with such careless little gifts.

Ying Zhiyu counted out ten Wangfujing shopping cards, each with a value of 1,000 yuan. He took a screenshot clearly showing both the remaining cards in the drawer and the ones in his hand before hanging up.

Then he sent the screenshot and left the dorm.

About an hour later, while on the subway, Ying Zhiyu received a voice message from Xu Kuo.

"Young Master Xu: Why didn’t you take more? Just pick out some cosmetics or skincare products—don’t buy a bag."

Before Ying Zhiyu could finish listening to the first message, a second one came through.

"Young Master Xu: A 10k bag is too cheap to give as a gift."

The wealthy Young Master Xu didn’t care whether his less wealthy roommate might have taken a few extra cards. It was only after seeing Ying Zhiyu’s screenshot that he realized ten cards only amounted to 10,000 yuan—a paltry sum in the young master’s eyes.

Ying Zhiyu stepped out of the subway station and replied, "Okay."

At the same time, he unlocked a shared bike at the station exit, locked his phone, and put it back in his jacket pocket.

When he arrived at the designated "prize collection" location, Ying Zhiyu parked the shared bike by the roadside.

Staff at the entrance were guiding people to line up, fill out forms, and register.

Of course, Ying Zhiyu wasn’t the only Alpha who met Li Xi’s pheromone compatibility requirements.

There were about ten people in line ahead and behind him.

The young Alpha had a tall, slender build. When he bent over, his back muscles stretched naturally, making his back appear lean and his frame well-proportioned.

The receptionist glanced at Ying Zhiyu a couple of times, then leaned in slightly to observe his handwriting.

After filling out the form, staff distributed the commemorative inhibitor gift sets, each worth 88,000 yuan, to everyone one by one.

Each box had a serial number on the outer packaging, and every Alpha’s number was different.

Carrying the gift set, each Alpha held what felt like their own ID tag.

Since the LI Pheromone Laboratory was almost never open to the public, when staff informed them that they could be given a tour of the lab, no one objected. They all excitedly followed the staff into the main laboratory building.

Little did they know at that moment…

He already felt like a product on a supermarket shelf, carrying his own price tag, seemingly waiting for someone to condescend to select him.

When Ying Zhiyu walked into a laboratory with walls made of tinted glass, he had a feeling and instinctively looked up, glancing at one of the glass walls.

At the same moment,

The observer sitting quietly behind the one-way mirror paused, their gaze fixed.

The assistant standing behind them was quick to understand and immediately stepped forward, calling up an identity information card—

Name: Ying Zhiyu

Gender: Alpha

Age: 21

Height: 188 cm

Education: Second-year graduate student in Genetic Engineering at Biomedical University

Romantic History: Suspected Omega partner; his shopping account has repeatedly purchased related gifts.

Annual Income: 800,000 – 1,000,000 RMB

...

"21 years old, a second-year graduate student, with annual earnings of nearly a million yuan?"