Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Boom—

The massive explosion jolted the neon-lit coastal city of Qinghai. Everyone instinctively turned toward the source of the sound, followed by the piercing wail of fire engine sirens rushing toward Qinghai Hospital in the city center.

Half an hour later, all social media apps were flooded with headlines.

Phrases like "Major Medical Accident at Qinghai Hospital," "Top Floor Fire," and "Personnel Evacuation" shot to the top of trending lists. The top video was shot by a passerby, showing flames raging behind the windows of the top floor against the dark sky, thick black smoke enveloping half the horizon. On the ground, firefighters and medical staff hurried back and forth.

*

In a makeshift ICU.

Tang Fan, Yan Jiu's personal assistant, showed him the video. "I just checked with the doctors. All rescued patients have been settled here. Shen butler isn't among them."

Yan Jiu took the phone, glanced at it briefly, and stared intently at the person lying on the hospital bed. "Where is he?"

Chen Shenzhi, still stained with remnants of the explosion, a bandage around his head and his left arm in a cast, showed no sign of being disheveled. Leaning against the bed, he responded to Yan Jiu's question with a mocking smile.

"The entire building has been searched. If he's not here, he must be in the morgue. Sorry to make Young Master Yan's trip wasted."

His reply was met with Yan Jiu's furious punch. Chen Shenzhi's head snapped to the side from the blow, yet he continued to watch Yan Jiu with a mocking smile as Tang Fan restrained him.

"Boss, calm down! You'll get arrested for hitting someone in a hospital!"

Chen Shenzhi reveled in Yan Jiu's rage, his smile growing more mocking and delighted. "If you knock me out, you'll never know what happened before the explosion."

Yan Jiu's struggles paused abruptly. Both men turned their attention to Chen Shenzhi.

Chen Shenzhi remained utterly composed. "Isn't this what you wanted to know? I don't mind telling you."

"When A Hui was brought into the operating room, his gland was completely necrotic. It had to be removed." Beneath his pleasant smile, a hint of something darker flickered. "With current medical technology, someone with a removed gland can live for at most three years."

The thought of Shen Hui's fragile state made Yan Jiu's heart bleed.

Chen Shenzhi narrowed his eyes, enjoying Yan Jiu's remorseful expression before continuing slowly, "A Hui is very important to me. Of course, I would do everything to save him. There was only one way: gland transplant. The one you know about."

Everyone froze for a moment.

Even Tang Fan was incredulous. "You gave him the prototype gland!"

Chen Shenzhi nodded cheerfully. "Correct."

Instantly, the room filled with the oppressive scent of blazing Alpha pheromones. Tang Fan's legs went weak under the pressure, but Chen Shenzhi, lying in the bed, maintained his artificial smile. Icy pheromones silently spread, enveloping the room and clashing with the fiery assault.

Yan Jiu and his team had investigated that experimental gland. They hadn't uncovered much, only that it came from a young man who died young. The gland's compatibility match rate with Chen Shenzhi was 99%, far exceeding the usual 70%.

Chen Shenzhi watched the shifting expressions on their faces with satisfaction and added, "A Hui accepted it voluntarily. The explosion happened right after the gland transplant. He pushed me to safety but didn't make it out himself."

He spoke each word deliberately: "Shen Hui, he, died for me."

Yan Jiu snapped back, "Impossible!"

The two top-tier Alpha pheromones clashed fiercely, ice against fire.

Even the Beta doctors in the room were overwhelmed by the intensity. Tang Fan dragged a doctor out swiftly, slamming the door shut behind them.

Chen Shenzhi stared directly into Yan Jiu's furious, youthful eyes with malicious pleasure. "He came to me when he was six years old. He promised me himself: his life and death belong to me. You were merely a tool he happened to pick to use against me."

Yan Jiu's jaw tightened; he couldn't utter a word.

Chen Shenzhi leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Initially, he didn't want to take you in. I merely mentioned wanting the Yan family's gland modification project, and the very next day, he agreed to your father's request to mentor you. You didn't actually think you won him over, did you?"

This was Chen Shenzhi's spiteful jab. Back when Shen Hui agreed to mentor Yan Jiu, an unnamed fury had consumed Chen Shenzhi's rationality. The usually refined man had wrecked his entire office in a rage.

That was only the beginning. Shen Hui, wielding a sharp blade, had closed in from the shadows, delivering a fatal blow on the very day Chen Shenzhi was to become the head of the Chen family.

Fortunately, Chen Shenzhi had been prepared, keeping the core gland secure. But he hadn't anticipated that Shen Hui had accounted for even that, choosing to destroy both himself and the gland right before Chen Shenzhi's eyes.

In the end, both had lost completely.

"I don't believe you," Yan Jiu declared, looking down contemptuously at Chen Shenzhi. "I don't believe a single word you say. And I don't believe he's dead."

Chen Shenzhi narrowed his eyes threateningly.

"Even if he's turned to ashes, I will find him."

Tang Fan risked his life pressing his ear to the door, terrified his boss would erupt and beat Chen Shenzhi to a pulp. He wasn't prepared for the door to suddenly swing open from inside, sending him stumbling into his boss.

Yan Jiu placed a hand on Tang Fan's head, as if ready to twist it off any second. He glanced sideways at Chen Shenzhi, his voice filled with lethal intent. "The Chen family owes me. I will make you repay every last bit."

With that, he shoved Tang Fan aside and strode away, radiating murderous intent.

Tang Fan jogged to catch up with the seething Yan Jiu at the hospital entrance, enduring the intense pheromone pressure to tentatively ask, "Shall I take you back to the villa?"

Yan Jiu didn't answer, merely staring out at the heavy rain in the night. In the distance, large neon signs flickered before going dark.

It was past midnight. All of Qinghai was cooling down, except for the burning pheromones emanating from Yan Jiu.

Suddenly, a commotion by the entrance caught their attention. Yan Jiu frowned and looked over to see several doctors assisting a middle-aged man.

The man was dressed shabbily, his coat sleeves stained with grease. He wore an apologetic expression, nervously waving away the nurses rushing toward him. "It's nothing, really! The floor was just slippery. I slipped."

With a guileless smile, he was helped to the rest area by the nurses, repeatedly thanking them. Once seated, he tentatively asked the nurse who assisted him, "Can the emergency department prescribe fever reducers?"

The nurse frowned. "Do you have a fever? Let me get a thermometer for you first."

The man waved his hands hurriedly. "Not me, it's... my son. He's burning up and can't come to the hospital..."

Yan Jiu expressionlessly averted his gaze and got into the car that had pulled up in front of him. In a low voice, he commanded, "To the Chen residence."

Three years later.

In Zhongshi Village, Qinghai's largest urban village, the working-class beasts of burden began emerging from damp, shadowy corners after 7 a.m. They were dragging their floating souls, invading the subway station like zombies, then queued up in an orderly, sluggish line. By the time the subway had mostly transported the zombies to their workplaces, the elderly residents finally emerged, slowly pushing their grandchildren toward the village entrance.

*

Only then did the densely packed urban village receive the damp, harsh sunlight. The old shops along the main street gradually rolled up their shutters.

Aunt Sun saw off her son and daughter-in-law, then pushed her chubby grandson in a stroller while carrying a broken electric kettle to the repair shop downstairs. The shop had been in Zhongshi Village for over a decade. Boss Yang was not only skilled and affordable but also friendly.

Aunt Sun walked in, kettle in hand, and got straight to the point. "Old Yang, take a look at this kettle! Why isn't it heating up?"

Only after speaking did she notice that Boss Yang's usual black leather seat was empty. Puzzled, she glanced back at the open door.

"The shop's open, so where is he?"

Just as she was about to step out and ask, she saw a very handsome young man coming down from the living quarters on the second floor. Their eyes met, and both stared blankly at each other.

The handsome guy had legs so long they made the staircase seemed cramped. He wore a clean white cotton T-shirt and trousers; his dark eyebrows and disheveled hair accentuated his pale, somewhat sickly complexion. His quiet and steady demeanor was completely at odds with the cluttered, worn-out repair shop.

In the next second, an alarmingly intense gleam lit up Aunt Sun’s eyes.

The six-foot-tall guy was practically forced back up the steps by her predatory, fox-like gaze as he asked politely yet distantly, “Are you here to get something repaired?”

His voice was nice too!

He looked like a little Omega, but with a face like that, even if he were a Beta, he’d definitely have no trouble getting dates.

Aunt Sun instantly ran through all the unmarried Alphas, Betas, and Omegas she knew in her head, smiling like the Big Bad Wolf’s grandmother.

“No worries, I’m just here to fix a kettle!” Aunt Sun plopped down without ceremony on the stool, asking with concern, “Are you Old Yang’s relative? How come I’ve never seen you before?”

The handsome guy nodded. “Yeah, Uncle Yang went to pick up Xiao Bai. He probably won’t be back until afternoon. Maybe you could come back then?”

His manners were good too.

“No problem! I’ll wait a bit.” Aunt Sun made herself comfortable on the stool. “What’s your name? How old are you? Do you have a partner?”

The guy couldn’t just kick her out, nor could he ignore her, so he pretended to tidy up and selectively answered, “I’m Shen Hui, 31 years old.”

Aunt Sun felt he was pulling her leg—he looked to be in his early twenties at most, 25 at most.

Shen Hui was used to such skeptical looks and quickly changed the subject. “Didn’t you want your kettle fixed? Should I take a look?”

The aunt handed over the kettle skeptically. “You know how to fix this too?”

Shen Hui took the kettle, skillfully detached the base, and tested it. “I’ve seen Uncle Yang fix these before. The coupler’s broken. I’ll replace it for you.”

“Alright.” Aunt Sun watched skeptically as Shen Hui rummaged through a messy box of parts and pulled out a coupler. The small black component looked especially pleasing in his hands.

Only then did Aunt Sun sense something oddly out of place. A man like this should be appearing in those dramatic, wealthy family stories on TV, not in this damp, gloomy urban village.

Did Old Yang’s family have some big-shot relatives?

Before Aunt Sun could figure it out, Shen Hui had already reassembled the kettle and plugged it in.

The indicator light lit up with a ding. Shen Hui neatly coiled the cord around the base and handed it to Aunt Sun. “All fixed.”

“Huh? Oh! Thank you, young man! How much?” Aunt Sun took the kettle and examined it. Even the way he coiled the cord was neat—he’d tucked the plug inside too. He was a careful and meticulous person.

This time, it was Shen Hui’s turn to be at a loss. He really didn’t know how to price it, so in the end, he just had Aunt Sun pay what she usually paid.

But Aunt Sun didn’t leave right away. She spoke up hesitantly, “So, Xiao Shen, are you a Beta or an Omega? Married? If not, Aunt Sun can fix you up with someone?”

Shen Hui had never been asked so directly to his face like this before. Back in the day, everyone had considered him Chen Shenzhi’s property—unfit to be Young Master Chen’s wife but also not to be coveted by anyone else.

“I—” Shen Hui’s words were cut off as salvation came in the form of a car braking outside.

Immediately after, Yang Bai stuck his head in, saw Shen Hui, and flashed a brilliant smile before bounding toward him like an excited puppy with a wagging tail.

“Bro! I missed you so much!” Yang Bai clung to Shen Hui like a koala, refusing to let go. “You didn’t even come pick me up!”

Shen Hui staggered from the impact, a gentle curve forming at the corners of his eyes as he ruffled the golden retriever-like hair. “You’ve grown taller again.”

“Yeah.” Yang Bai puffed up his chest and stood straight for Shen Hui to see. “I’m three centimeters taller than you now!”

“Stop bothering your brother.” Boss Yang called to Yang Bai from outside. “Hurry up and move your stuff down. I’ve got deliveries to make soon!”

“Coming!” Yang Bai hurriedly brought down his school bedding, computer, figurines, and all sorts of miscellaneous daily necessities.

Boss Yang came in, rescued Shen Hui, and saw Aunt Sun out. Shen Hui then helped Yang Bai carry his things up to the bedroom.

“Bro, tomorrow’s my graduation ceremony. You and Dad should both come.” Yang Bai tugged at Shen Hui’s hand, starting to whine. “You haven’t visited me at school even once in three years! I’m telling you, our campus is really pretty! There’s a wonton stand in the cafeteria I’m sure you’d love. And most importantly—”

Yang Bai spun around three times in front of Shen Hui like a magical girl’s transformation, radiating Ultraman-like confidence as he raised an eyebrow proudly. “This year, I’ll be speaking on stage as the outstanding graduate representative!”

Shen Hui coldly refused. “No, it’s not convenient for me to go out.”

Shen Hui had hardly shown his face these past three years—after all, officially, he was already dead.

“Bro!!!” The Ultraman magical girl instantly turned into a pathetic puppy, clutching Shen Hui’s legs with accusing eyes. “Do you not love me anymore?!”

“Just go with him.” Boss Yang came back for his car keys and could see Shen Hui’s hesitation. “It’s been three years already. Besides, Qinghai is huge—it’s not like you’ll necessarily run into anyone unpleasant.”

Shen Hui met the equally expectant gazes of the father and son and was completely defenseless and defeated. “Alright.”

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Author's Note: [Heart][Heart]