Chapter 67 The Empty Syringe

Chapter 67: The Used Syringe

Lin Yunshu returned home, utterly exhausted, and collapsed onto the sofa.

His arm muscles trembled faintly, and the pain throughout his body hadn't subsided. He closed his eyes, enduring it silently in the quiet living room, where the burning sensation from his scent gland felt overwhelmingly magnified.

Lin Yunshu took a deep breath. The air carried almost no trace of Zhou Yu’s pheromones anymore.

Over the past few days, thanks to Zhou Yu’s presence, he'd been able to reduce his medication significantly.

It was only now that Lin Yunshu realized his body had grown completely accustomed to Zhou Yu’s existence. So much so that the sudden absence of the other’s pheromones left him unable to adjust.

He bit his lip, feeling a bitter taste spread through his mouth and across his tongue.

After struggling through most of the night, as dawn began to break, Lin Yunshu finally gave up resisting.

He pushed himself up from the sofa and slowly made his way to the storage room.

The storage room was neatly organized. Lin Yunshu rummaged through the bottom drawer of the corner shelf and pulled out an unopened box of painkillers. He dry-swallowed a few pills and then injected himself with a dose of suppressant into his arm.

With the combined effect of the medications, the pain inside him finally subsided. Lin Yunshu crouched on the floor and let out a slow, relieved sigh.

He contacted his doctor to reschedule his check-up.

As he put the painkillers back into the drawer, Lin Yunshu’s gaze caught on a photo album.

It was small and thin, with a landscape painting on the cover that showed its age. Inside were photos of himself and his parents.

The album had been well-preserved; even after all these years, the cover had only slightly yellowed.

This palm-sized album had moved with him from his aunt’s house to his school dormitory, then from the dorm to a rented apartment, and finally here.

But Lin Yunshu rarely ever opened it.

He almost never looked back on his life.

His eyes lingered on it for a long time, but this time, as if guided by some strange impulse, he picked it up.

The first page showed a photo of him being carried out of the delivery room by a nurse on the day he was born. Lin Yunshu stared at the red, wrinkled infant, hardly able to believe it was himself.

By the second page, he had already grown up—a photo taken by a classmate during his high school graduation ceremony. He was surprised to see that he had such a round face back then.

The third page was from university. He had used money earned from a summer job to buy his first camera, though his selfie skills were terrible.

After that, he stopped taking photos.

Among these well-preserved pictures, one stood out abruptly—it wasn’t tucked into the plastic sleeve.

Lin Yunshu picked it up and was astonished to find it was a photo of Zhou Yu.

At the time, he and Zhou Yu were sharing a train compartment. Zhou Yu was wearing a black hoodie, head bowed, eating instant noodles.

Zhou Yu had a large frame, with long arms and legs, squeezed beside a small table by the window, looking somewhat comical.

But the sun was out that day, and the scenery outside the window was quite beautiful.

Lin Yunshu didn’t remember taking this photo.

He held it up for a closer look. Zhou Yu back then was quite handsome—fresh-faced, simply dressed, with an air of being a charismatic upperclassman.

How did he end up like this now?

Lin Yunshu thought again of Zhou Yu devouring an octopus whole on his phone and sighed, closing his eyes.

He slipped the photo into the transparent sleeve of the album, sealing away Zhou Yu’s preserved university days with a touch of regret.

What followed were much older photos—old pictures of Lin Yunshu’s parents.

The couple were quite a match back then, talented and good-looking. Lin Yunshu flipped through them one by one, engrossed.

The album was thin, and even though Lin Yunshu took his time, it only took three to five minutes to go through it all.

He carefully put the album back, but as he placed it in the drawer, his hand suddenly paused. Something felt off, as if something was missing.

In his memory, there was a photo of his parents standing under a phoenix tree.

He remembered it clearly—the tree was unusually lush, its leaves blocking most of the sky, and his mother had just become pregnant with him.

Lin Yunshu considered that photo part of the family portraits.

But he hadn’t seen it just now.

He quickly took out the album and carefully flipped through it again. Sure enough, it wasn’t there.

Lin Yunshu’s palms began to sweat.

Where had it gone?

Had it been lost during one of the moves?

That shouldn’t be possible. The album was securely bound, and unless someone went through it page by page, the photos couldn’t have fallen out.

So why wasn’t it there?

Unless it had never been in there to begin with.

Lin Yunshu began to doubt his memory. He had always assumed the photo was in this album, which was why he had only taken this one when he left his aunt’s house.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

His aunt did seem to have several albums filled with photos from her youth, Lin Yunshu recalled carefully.

Had he seen it in one of those albums instead?

His mind was in turmoil, and he regretted not looking through old photos more often. If he had gone through them earlier like this, he wouldn’t have only noticed now.

Without overthinking it, he took a taxi straight to his aunt’s house.

·

Lin Fang opened the door and was taken aback to see Lin Yunshu.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her tone full of wariness.

Lin Yunshu knew she wasn’t welcoming him and couldn't be bothered to explain.

"I'm not here for a chat," he said. "I need to find something. I'll leave as soon as I find it."

Lin Fang looked him up and down but didn't move aside.

Lin Yunshu simply brushed past her.

"Hey, you!"

Lin Fang widened her eyes in surprise, quickly closing the door and following him.

Lin Yunshu walked straight into the storage room.

It seemed like it had been cleaned not long ago.

In Lin Yunshu's memory, the storage room was always messy and covered in dust, but now it was spotless.

He touched the shelf—there was hardly any dust—and a lingering sense of unease crept into his heart.

"What's this, a health inspection?" Lin Fang leaned against the doorframe, clearly displeased with his actions.

Lin Yunshu ignored her. "Like I said, I'm just here to look for something."

He absentmindedly placed his phone on the shelf, took off his scarf, removed his coat, and started moving things around.

"What else could you possibly be looking for? Didn't you take all your things with you?" Lin Fang said, suddenly growing nervous. "Just so you know, I didn’t take anything of yours," she added defensively. "Don’t blame me if something’s missing!"

"I never said you took anything," Lin Yunshu shrugged off.

He moved piles of clutter aside, bent down, and pulled out a cardboard box from the very bottom. "I remember all your old photos were kept in here, right?"

"Yes, why?" Lin Fang looked puzzled. "I thought you didn’t like looking at photos. What are you looking for now?"

Lin Yunshu didn’t answer, his lips pressed tightly together.

He opened the box, spilled out all the photo albums inside, sat down on the floor, and began scanning through them intently.

Lin Fang waited for a while, but when Lin Yunshu ignored her, she pouted in annoyance and walked away with a huff.

Chen Hongming returned from his night shift to find an unexpected visitor in the house, with the storage room light on.

"What’s going on?"

He walked closer and saw Lin Yunshu, whom he hadn’t seen in months, suddenly there, sitting amidst a pile of photo albums, searching for something. Photos were scattered all over the floor.

"What’s he doing?" he asked Lin Fang.

"Who knows what’s gotten into him?" Lin Fang said, linking her arm with his and pulling him away. "Don’t bother with him. He’s being cryptic. Let’s have breakfast. You must be tired."

"Not too bad."

Chen Hongming sat down at the dining table, waiting for Lin Fang to bring him freshly steamed buns and youtiao, his gaze occasionally drifting toward the storage room.

"Call Shuyang," he said.

"Why? The kid’s at work," Lin Fang said unhappily.

"Just call him, quit dawdling," Chen Hongming said, giving her a meaningful look. "He showed up here first thing this morning—it can’t be for anything good. Let Shuyang be a witness so he doesn't accuse us of taking anything later."

Lin Fang mulled it over for a moment and decided he had a point.

"Alright, I’ll talk to Shuyang," she said, patting Chen Hongming’s shoulder. "Hurry up and eat. It’s getting cold."

·

Zhou Yu booked the earliest flight back.

He rushed home without delay as soon as he landed, running from the garage all the way to the elevator. But he paused for a moment at the front door.

He carefully straightened his clothes and used his phone's front-facing camera to fix his tousled hair, making sure he looked impeccable—perfect from every angle.

Tan Cong was right: people are visual creatures, and Lin Yunshu was no exception. Having a face that could bring joy to others was a real advantage.

He took a deep breath and nervously entered the passcode.

A pleasant unlocking chirp sounded.

Great, Lin Yunshu hadn’t changed the password!

Zhou Yu’s heart leaped with joy.

They had been arguing for a week, and Lin Yunshu hadn’t even changed the password to lock him out, leaving him stranded outside?

Was this a form of reconciliation, an olive branch, a peace offering?

Unable to contain his excitement, Zhou Yu bolted inside.

It was the weekend morning back home, and Zhou Yu guessed Lin Yunshu was probably still in bed, maybe half-asleep and still booting up.

"Meow~"

Yu Shu heard the noise and ran out. It had been a while since they’d seen each other, and the kitten affectionately nuzzled against Zhou Yu’s pants leg, acting coy.

Zhou Yu quickly picked up Yu Shu, held him up, and made a "shh" gesture.

"Quiet, buddy. Don’t wake your mom," he cooed, pecking the kitten. "Did you miss Dad? Dad’s back. Your mom missed me too. I’ll never leave you two again!"

The kitten struggled with distaste and wriggled free.

Zhou Yu: "..."

Afraid of startling Lin Yunshu, he padded toward the bedroom.

The bedroom door was wide open, the curtains half-drawn, and the bed was empty, neatly made, as if no one had slept there.

Zhou Yu did a double-take for two seconds, then returned to the living room, where a large throw blanket was bundled in one corner of the empty sofa.

Lin Yunshu must have slept there last night.

Why did he have to curl up on the sofa...

Zhou Yu pictured the scene, and his heart sank.

He took out his phone, acting faster than he could think, before he could second-guess himself, and dialed Lin Yunshu directly.

Ring, ring...

The ringing felt incredibly long, each ring stretching longer than the last. Zhou Yu fretted, tapping his foot.

No one answered.

"Where did he go?" he mumbled to himself.

Maybe something came up and he didn't hear it ring. Zhou Yu comforted himself, suppressing the faint unease in his heart, and waited patiently awhile.

Ten minutes later, Zhou Yu dialed again.

Followed by a third time, a fourth time...

Still no answer.

Zhou Yu took the phone down, stared at the black screen, his eyes showing disbelief.

Lin Yunshu wasn't the impulsive type. Due to work, his phone was always on.

Zhou Yu knew him well. Even during an argument, even during a cold war, it was impossible for him to not answer the phone at all.

What on earth was going on?

Zhou Yu stood frozen, unable to make sense of it for the moment.

Yu Shu finished breakfast and hopped over to nibble at his pants leg. He bent down and picked up the kitten. "Where's your dad? Where did your dad go?"

Yu Shu: "Meow?"

Just then, the phone vibrated. Zhou Yu quickly answered, but it was Chen Shuyang on the other end.

"Hey, are you back?" Chen Shuyang got straight to the point. "I heard from my boss that you're back."

"Just got back," Zhou Yu said. "Is your brother with you?"

"I was just about to tell you that. He went to Lin Fang's place."

"What's he doing there?" Zhou Yu frowned.

"Seems like he's looking for something, photos or something... Lin Fang wasn't too clear about it."

"Photos?" Zhou Yu put Yu Shu down and automatically headed toward the storage room.

In the farthest corner of the storage room, a drawer was left open. On the floor lay a photo album, as if someone had left in a hurry and hadn't had time to put it away.

Zhou Yu crouched down and picked up the album. "Okay, got it. I'm heading over now."

"Well..." Chen Shuyang coughed. "When you see him, talk things out properly. It's just a fight—what couple doesn't have conflicts? Just give each other an out, and it'll be fine. It's not like you're getting divorced, right?"

Zhou Yu gave a faint smile. "Alright, don't worry about it... Thanks for this. I’ll treat you to a meal later."

"Wait," Chen Shuyang refused. "I’d be thanking heaven and earth if you two could stop causing drama and dragging everyone around you into it."

He hung up.

Zhou Yu looked at the darkened screen and shook his head with a wry smile.

He put the album back and stood up, ready to head to Lin Fang's place to pick up Lin Yunshu. As he pulled the drawer, a metal box slid out.

It was long and narrow, somewhat like a portable case for chopsticks.

Zhou Yu picked it up and turned it over. On the front of the metal lid was printed a line of small text: Medical-Grade Potent Inhibitor.

Zhou Yu froze in place.

Medical-grade potent inhibitor?

Zhou Yu blinked, his mind momentarily blank. He couldn’t figure out why this would be in Lin Yunshu’s home.

Zhou Yu was an Alpha who had seriously studied medical training. He knew well that most injectable inhibitors for Omegas were strictly regulated.

Especially this medical-grade potent inhibitor.

In Zhou Yu’s understanding, this thing was typically only used in emergency situations in operating rooms or for treating serious illnesses.

A small dose could save an Omega’s life in an instant.

But for normal, healthy Omegas, its side effects were extremely damaging to the body. Its use during an Omega’s heat cycle was explicitly prohibited by law.

So how could Lin Yunshu, Lin Yunshu of all people...

Didn’t he have pheromone dysregulation?

Dysregulation only required high-compatibility Alpha pheromones. Even if medication was needed, it wouldn’t be this kind.

Besides, lately Lin Yunshu’s pheromone levels had clearly stabilized quite a bit...

Zhou Yu’s breathing quickened.

Maybe it’s just the box, he comforted himself. Maybe Lin Yunshu was just using this box to store something else.

Clutching at a sliver of hope, he opened the metal lid with trembling hands.

The next second, his heart sank heavily.

No surprises.

The two-dose inhibitor now had only one left; the other had been used.

Zhou Yu felt his vision go dark.

By the time he came to his senses, his back was drenched in cold sweat.

He thoughtlessly began frantically searching the drawer, bending down to check the gaps under the cabinet, leaving no corner unturned.

Finally, he caught a glint of metal under the tightly drawn curtains.

Zhou Yu walked over and pulled the curtains aside.

Lying by the corner of the wall was an empty syringe that had somehow slipped there unnoticed.