Chapter 9 Group Attack

Chapter 9: Ganging Up

Luo Qingxi followed the criminal profiler's gaze toward Solace. Solace stood tall and straight, with broad shoulders and a clean, sharp silhouette. His long legs were straight and powerful, and his stride was steady.

He was undeniably handsome. Nothing off about him.

A big game like the Custom Boyfriend app shouldn’t pull some "surprise, the target was your custom boyfriend the whole time, now make a moral choice" crap.

"System: No."

So that left...

Luo Qingxi turned to look at the criminal profiler beside him.

The man’s narrow eyes were rimmed with vivid red, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses sat on his high-bridged nose. Completely at odds with his cultured-scoundrel appearance was the iron muzzle locked over his mouth and teeth—something Luo Qingxi had seen on the neighbor’s fierce dog.

Very strange.

Luo Qingxi sat down in the seat next to the profiler. A stronger, sickly-sweet scent of blood rushed into his nostrils. He frowned, pulled his scarf up a little higher, and said, “Why do you say he’s off?”

The profiler’s sticky gaze slid over him like a tongue of fire.

That porcelain-white skin looked paper-thin; pinching it between thumb and forefinger would leave red fingerprints. Those feathery eyelashes, when hung with drops of tears, would look even more beautiful against eyes clouded with mist.

“Take off my muzzle and I'll tell you.”

The cold iron pressed against Luo Qingxi’s cheek. He flinched back, instinctively glancing toward Solace.

The custom boyfriend was still looking at the route map.

The profiler was suspicious.

But in a game, trying it out couldn’t hurt.

He raised his hand, pressed the button behind the profiler’s ear on the muzzle, then quickly withdrew his finger.

“Omega detected. Muzzle unlocking.”

“Based on my professional instincts, I judge that man carries a strong murderous aura.” The profiler’s eyes seemed to flicker with ghostly flames. As the muzzle unlocked, his fingers crept up to his belt, slowly undoing it, grinding his teeth.

Wrong!

He was definitely the “off” target.

Luo Qingxi sensed danger and tried to stand, but a pair of large hands shoved him back down.

He looked up—another chiseled handsome face—

“Mafia Boss, Alpha”

“Leaving so soon? Take me with you?” The Mafia Boss chuckled lowly. “Let's go together.”

Surrounded by two wall-like men, Luo Qingxi could feel the burning gazes of the other passengers on the train, like fire on his skin, making him restless and uneasy.

Luo Qingxi bit his lip. “Together for what?”

The Mafia Boss blocked the view behind him and shamelessly thrust his hips forward. “Unlock mine too.”

The moment he got close, Luo Qingxi smelled an even stronger, cloying sweetness. He realized what it was… Once he realized it, he felt as if he had been thrown into murky, filthy water, rising and falling, struggling to breathe.

How… how many mission targets are there?

His mind went blank. While breathing in small gasps, in the gap between the carriages blocked by the Mafia Boss, he caught a glimpse of Solace approaching. The custom boyfriend finally arrived like a savior.

Luo Qingxi had never weaved through a crowd so fast. He ran to Solace, panting, hiding behind his boyfriend like an ostrich, afraid to look back.

Solace paused, then turned and laughed. “Done? Have fun?”

Luo Qingxi: ?

Luo Qingxi: “Not fun.”

The Custom Boyfriend app's romance game was a full reality simulation; there was no boyfriend affection meter. But Luo Qingxi figured that even if there were, it hadn't hit 'like' level yet. Otherwise Solace wouldn't react like this—too gentle, too understanding, too tolerant—not boyfriend-like at all.

As he thought this, his heartbeat abruptly quickened by half a beat. What would Solace look like when he truly fell for someone? Would Luo ever get to see it?

Solace smiled. “The AGI assigned this mission based on the traits it detected in you.”

Luo Qingxi was a little confused, but soon the system flashed the fully maxed-out flirtation bar in front of his eyes, as if reminding him of something.

Luo Qingxi suddenly understood.

As they were talking, the profiler and the Mafia Boss had already approached, bringing with them an aura of danger. Luo Qingxi whispered in a tone only the two of them could hear, “Save me.”

“Didn’t I tell you? He’s the bad guy.” The profiler ground his teeth and spoke through clenched jaws, furious.

The Mafia Boss, a man of few words, just scowled and reached out to grab Luo Qingxi.

Solace pulled Luo Qingxi half a step back, dodging the grab. “Sorry, we're leaving.”

The Mafia Boss sneered. “Think you can just come and go? What do you think this is?”

Luo Qingxi: ?

A subway??

As the Mafia Boss finished speaking, heavy footsteps sounded behind them.

As the subway's automated female voice announced, “Next station, NP Station. Doors open on the left,” a man blocked their way.

“Professional Boxer, Alpha – his muscles bulging, clearly defined, still wearing his gloves.”

He clashed his gloved fists together with two booming thuds.

This display immediately drew the attention of the other passengers. But they all stayed silent, watching intently.

This whole car is full of crazies...

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Luo Qingxi said, “What do you want from me?”

At that, all three ground their teeth in unison, the sound grating.

Luo Qingxi: …

Help.

Solace patted his back soothingly and addressed the group: “We already have two Omegas. We only need one Alpha. Which one of you wants to step up?”

Luo Qingxi trusted Solace completely, so he pressed his lips together and nodded in agreement.

As long as he could get rid of these people, he would even admit that he could give birth.

Hearing this, the Alphas' faces immediately darkened. They exchanged glances, and gradually, hostility surged, killing intent spilling out.

In a holographic game, rules are paramount. Metro Line 21 transferring to Bus 188 is no exception.

Every night, these naturally lustful men stationed themselves on Line 21, strictly following the game rules to serve the arriving Omegas and vent their own desires.

In a pornographic game, the boundaries of the rules are extremely blurred.

On the NP route, they could beat people up and package it as BDSM content or discipline content; they could ignore an Omega's refusal and pounce on them, conveniently calling it "forced love."

None of this violates the rules. After all, who knows if the Omega is being disingenuous, saying no while meaning yes?

But the Omega before them, who smiled without really smiling, was playing for the first time and even had the title of "companion," yet his grasp of the game rules was more precise than theirs.

He straightforwardly stated the need for one Alpha with multiple Omegas, fulfilling the content of the NP line while dodging their "forced love" get-out-of-jail-free card.

Someone like him—no one knew his background—was truly terrifying yet extraordinarily tempting.

The situation had turned. To get a piece of the action, they could only fight to determine the winner.

Luo Qingxi watched helplessly as Solace uttered a single sentence, and the few horny Alphas actually started fighting. Every blow landed on flesh, blood splattered everywhere, almost like a life-and-death struggle, as savage as wild beasts.

Luo Qingxi pulled Solace back and ran in the opposite direction of the brawl.

"System: EXP +1"

"System: Hang in there, Qingqing! Hang in there, Qingqing!"

"Where are we going?" A sinister voice clung to them like a shadow, quickly catching up.

Luo Qingxi turned his head. He hadn't expected that in just a few moves, the outcome would already be decided, nor had he expected that the one standing at the end would be the refined-looking criminal profiler.

Solace: "His Alpha rank is higher. The other two are no match for him."

No wonder he was the only one among the three wearing a muzzle.

Luo Qingxi gave a slight nod of understanding, then his neck suddenly went stiff, and his pupils contracted.

No, wait. If the other two Alphas couldn't beat him due to their lower rank, what about them, the Omegas?

As if reading his concern, Solace reassured him, "It's okay. There's always a way."

Luo Qingxi nodded firmly and gripped Solace's clothes. "Let's reason with him again."

In this mad world, even though Custom Boyfriend was essentially the same as everyone else—data generated by the AGI—he still had the illusion that he and Solace were in this together, clinging to each other for survival.

"Shh." The criminal profiler raised a finger to his lips and squinted. "You're just a couple of Omegas. From now on, I don't want to hear any sound except crying and moaning."

As soon as he said that, Luo Qingxi felt as if his entire body had been encased in concrete. He couldn't make a sound from his throat, and his finger joints became too stiff to move. The metallic smell of blood filled his mouth and nose.

Heat radiated from his body in waves, his eyes lost focus, and in his chaotic mind, only lust consumed him, ignoring warmth and comfort. A boulder pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to almost kneel in submission.

The criminal profiler had used his pheromones to forcibly suppress them.

"I just wanted to mess with you. Don't take yourself too seriously." Icy fingertips glided across Luo Qingxi's thin eyelids. They were fingers as slender as Solace's, yet they made him sick to his stomach.

When the fingertips reached his lips, a shred of clarity returned to Luo Qingxi's eyes. Mustering the last of his sanity, he opened his mouth and bit down.

"Tsk." The profiler withdrew his fingers just in time, but he was pissed off at this act of defiance. He raised his palm, as if to deliver punishment.

Luo Qingxi had never been slapped before. The system said some people enjoyed that feeling, and now he was about to experience it firsthand.

Luo Qingxi's long lashes fluttered, then he squeezed his eyes shut. But the anticipated pain never came. He squinted through a slit and saw Solace slightly shaking the sweat-soaked ends of his hair, catching the profiler's raised hand mid-swing.

"That's incredibly rude."

Veins throbbed on Solace's forehead as their strength clashed. Frowning, he unexpectedly exerted force a second time, twisting his wrist. Two cracking sounds came from the profiler's arm—the sound of bones popping out of joint.

The profiler hissed in a sharp breath, stepped back half a pace, took off his wire-rimmed glasses, and tossed them into a corner. He popped his bones back into place, then looked at Solace, fury blazing in his eyes. "I'll deal with you first."

With the profiler's technique interrupted, Luo Qingxi, though still dazed and weak in the legs, could at least move. He took the backpack Solace tossed to him, put it on, and retreated three meters.

This was the first time he had seen Solace fight someone, and his heart pounded like a drum.

They were at the junction of two subway cars, where the space was relatively open. Each blow was exchanged in a flash, heavy thuds echoing one after another. He couldn't do a thing to help.

At that moment, he finally believed that Solace was a professional killer. Only long-term professional training could embed such combat skills into one's bones—every move crisp, the attack arriving the instant the thought was conceived.

The criminal profiler gritted his teeth. His moves were venomous—vicious and lightning-fast. He even used the subway wall to spring off for extra momentum, leaving only afterimages in his movements.

Solace, however, remained expressionless. After dodging a few moves, he caught the profiler's missed punch, twisted his arm behind his back, and drove a decisive elbow into his neck.

The profiler winced and tilted sideways. Before he could recover, Solace struck his already injured spot again with a hook kick, sending him stumbling and falling to the floor. He rolled awkwardly, barely dodging another knee strike aimed at his face.

After several exchanges, the profiler realized that the man he was fighting was best at opportunistic attacks and striking first. As soon as he showed any opening, he would be relentlessly pursued. This left him no time to release his pheromones for suppression; he could only rely on pure physical combat.

No, he couldn't get emotional. He had to stay calm and secure victory.

Unfortunately, by the time he realized this, his condition had severely deteriorated, and he was full of openings. The repeated rear naked chokes and joint locks were too much even for an Alpha like him. He eventually fell in defeat, at Solace's mercy.

"Hurts, does it?" Solace let out a hot breath, planted his left foot firmly on the profiler's hip bone, grabbed his wrist with his right hand, and slowly twisted his bones. After a series of cracking and popping sounds, the profiler let out a silent wail of extreme pain.

After a long while, Solace released the tension, dropped the profiler's arm like a wet noodle, and raised an eyebrow. "Can't be helped."

Sweat dripped from Solace's jawline, and blood stained his knuckles. His expression was serious, standing alone on the battlefield like an unapproachable general. It was a side of Solace Luo Qingxi had never seen before.

"Badass." Sweat trickled into Luo Qingxi's misty eyes. His porcelain-white cheeks flushed pink as he weakly clung to a nearby handrail, offering praise without thinking, but his mind was in a chaotic whirl.

His gaze slid from Solace's cheek down into his collar, and his brain started automatically conjuring images.

He wanted to tear off his clothes, expose the slick, sweat-glistening muscles, shatter his always gentle and composed facade, see the side of him that no one knew—out of control. He wanted to get close, to touch, to be controlled, to be...

No.

Luo Qingxi shook his head, trying to shake the dirty thoughts out of his mind.

After Solace dealt with the man, he walked toward him and explained, "At that time, you were the one who accepted the mission. So the game's host is you. It affects me less."

"Oh..." Luo Qingxi nodded his groggy head. After the tense fight, adrenaline was wearing off. He could feel the gazes of the surrounding passengers on them.

But for some reason, when Solace got close, he let go of the handrail and collapsed like mud into Solace's arms. "I feel terrible."

Solace caught him off guard.

Skin touched skin. Luo Qingxi's first reaction was that Solace had lied to him again.

Because Solace's body was even hotter than his. As soon as they touched, their pheromones merged, diluting the smell of blood, blending together like flowers blooming after rain. And more importantly, in that warm embrace, something unexpectedly pressed against his hipbone.

Luo Qingxi was already weak. After that prod, his entire body went numb, and he suddenly understood the meaning of this subway line—because the long-dormant number had reappeared.