Part 2
The car window slowly rolled down, and a cool night breeze fanned his face. Qin Yichuan quietly opened his eyes, only to see the colorful neon lights flashing by, casting a dreamlike and mottled reflection on half of Jiang Zhaosheng’s profile, making his expression unreadable.
The corner of Jiang Zhaosheng’s mouth seemed to be tilted in a strange arc. His arm was draped limply over the steering wheel, his chin resting on his arm as he turned his head to look at him. Those blue-green eyes were narrowed slightly in the interplay of light and shadow, flickering with some unfathomable, crafty light. His lower eyelashes were thick and neat, as if they had been meticulously drawn, looking like the blurred and captivating eyes of a gorgeous girl on an old poster.
Jiang Zhaosheng always loved wearing loose coats with long sleeves. At this moment, the back of his fair hand was half-hidden by his cuff, making the fingers resting on the steering wheel appear even longer and more bony.
Right now, those slender fingertips were tapping the steering wheel every now and then. Jiang Zhaosheng stared at him intentlyâQin Yichuan only felt as if that gaze had hooks, making his heart skip uncontrollably. He was the first to buckle under that silent gaze and surrendered, speaking in a raspy voice:
“…What is it?”
Even though he knew the other was intentionally applying pressure, he still proactively handed over the “whip.” Qin Yichuan felt he was pitifully stupid, looking for trouble.
“Opening the window to get some air,” Jiang Zhaosheng extended the index finger that had been tapping the steering wheel and lightly touched the back of his own neck, teasing lazily, “It seems there’s an ‘inferior product’ in the car that’s leaking gas.”
Qin Yichuan’s entire body froze. He had heard an absurd rumor: if you fall in love with someone before you differentiate, your pheromones will unconsciously cater to the scent that person might like when you do differentiate.
He hoped this was just baseless talk, and hoped even more that Jiang Zhaosheng had never heard of this theory.
The entire car was currently filled with the scent of his newly differentiated, uncontrollable, sweet-enough-to-bubble lemon soda. This scent left him with nowhere to hide, brutally laying bare his deeply hidden feelings.
“Whooshâ”
The summer rain came so unexpectedly, pattering down on the car windows. Strands of rain drifted into the car with the wind, bringing a cool moisture and wetting several disobedient strands of hair by Jiang Zhaosheng’s cheek.
In that moment, inside the cramped car, the sweet fragrance of lemon soda, the freshness of the rain, and a faint scent of blood were intertwined. The tense atmosphere between the two seemed to be diluted slightly by the sudden rain, creating a short-lived, illusory sense of peace and quiet.
…
So Jiang Zhaosheng clearly remembered his original scentâjust as Qin Yichuan himself had predicted back then, that oddly-flavored soda soon vanished from the market. However, Jiang Zhaosheng didn’t give up on using this opportunity to humiliate him.
Occasionally in the hallway, he would hold a glass of water and intentionally pass by, then suddenly reach out to pinch the back of Qin Yichuan’s neck. He would lean close to his gland to sniff it and whisper beside the stiff, large man:
“I really miss that discontinued scent… Stupid dog, release some ‘inferior soda’ for me to smell, will you?”
But now, the scent on Qin Yichuan was an extreme, bitter sourness.
Why had the scent changed to this?
In the next second, Qin Yichuan flashed him a smile that was so bright it was almost tragic.
âHe had actually always firmly believed that Jiang Zhaosheng “liked” Shen Qiming, and therefore liked Shen Qimingâs powerful and special pheromones by extension.
It was at a party long ago when he had accidentally overheard Jiang Zhaosheng chatting and laughing with others, his voice carrying that familiar, lazy tone:
“What scent do I like? If I had to pick from among you… probably Shen Qimingâs pheromones?”
“They really are special… the scent is reassuring, isn’t it?”
In that moment, standing in the shadow of a pillar, Qin Yichuan felt his heart being squeezed tight.
So that was it.
So that was what… he liked.
It had nothing to do with the scent itself, but only with who the person emitting the scent was.
This realization was like a dull, poisoned knife, slowly carving through Qin Yichuan’s internal organs day and night. Watching Jiang Zhaosheng occasionally showâeven if only on the surfaceâhis obedience to Shen Qiming, he felt that perhaps it was a confirmation of his suspicion.
And what about his own pheromones? Nothing more than a “low-quality drink” that Jiang Zhaosheng laughed about, a discontinued, unpresentable lemon soda scent. It was a ridiculous remnant of his humble love before he differentiated.
âWhat a ridiculous and cheap substitute.
So, when the organization suggested placing a miniature device in his gland that could simulate and release Shen Qimingâs pheromones to “better soothe and protect” the target person, Jiang Zhaosheng, Qin Yichuan had almost zero hesitation.
He even thought with a kind of masochistic pleasure: That’s fine.
Since he couldn’t give Jiang Zhaosheng what he wanted, then he would be the vessel, to emit the scent that could make Jiang Zhaosheng “happy.”
Even if that scent originated from another Alpha, even if every emission was like a reminder that he was a base substitute, even if this device would lock him under the organization’s control like a shackle.
He had personally turned himself into the vessel for the scent his beloved “loved.” Qin Yichuan looked deep into Jiang Zhaosheng’s eyes without hesitationâ
A flash of silver!
Jiang Zhaosheng’s eyes widened in shock at the scene before him. Qin Yichuan held his folding knife and stabbed it ruthlessly into the flesh at the back of his own neck!âinstantly, an extremely sour, bitter, and nauseating pheromone erupted violently. It was so thick it was almost tangible, making Jiang Zhaosheng choke.
Pungent sourness and bitter lemon scent. Jiang Zhaosheng even wondered… if those somewhat not-so-bad memories about Qin Yichuan were a hallucination.
This scent was filled with pain and despair.
“…Qin Yichuan?” Jiang Zhaosheng wanted to stop him, but his body was too soft to move.
Suddenly, his vision went black.
“It’s too ugly; don’t look…”
Qin Yichuan squeezed out the words through his teeth. His other hand haphazardly covered Jiang Zhaosheng’s eyes. His palm was burning hot and damp.
He also seemed to realize that his pheromones had changed, becoming unpleasant and murky. His tone held a hint of humiliating wretchedness.
Jiang Zhaosheng could only hear the faint sound of flesh being torn and smell the even richer scent of blood mixed with those sour, bitter pheromones.
The hand covering his eyes was shaking violently, yet it held him firmly.
Finally, the hand covering his eyes slid down weakly.
Jiang Zhaosheng regained his sight and immediately looked at Qin Yichuan.
The man was as pale as paper, looking as if he had just been fished out of water. In his open palm lay a silver metal object, slightly larger than a grain of rice and covered in blood, with a bit of blurred flesh still attached to the edges.
He had dug the object out of his gland with his bare hands.
That dense, sour, and bitter pheromone seemed to find an outlet and became thinner.
A hint of the familiarâthe sweet and slightly astringent scent of lemon sodaâstruggled to emerge through that heavy blood and sour bitterness.
“It’s this thing… Shen Qimingâs pheromones…”
Now, the scent on the bedraggled Alpha was still a mixture of blood and pain, but this was the scent from the depths of Jiang Zhaosheng’s memory, the one he had smelled at midnight that had strangely made him crave itâthe scent belonging to an outdated beverage.
Jiang Zhaosheng suddenly understoodâthe scent of Shen Qimingâs pheromones that he had smelled, which could control his heart and mind… was produced by this object Qin Yichuan had implanted.
This idiot… had been carrying this time-bomb-like object all along… until this moment, when he stripped it away in such a tragic manner.
Qin Yichuan panted heavily, his gaze somewhat unfocused from the intense pain.
He stumbled to his feet, ignoring the bleeding knife wound on his waist and the bloody mess at the back of his neck. He knelt beside the bathtub and used his clean hand to scoop up water, clumsily but carefully wiping the sweat from Jiang Zhaosheng’s face and neck, as well as… the marks he had left behind.
Blood continued to flow from the wound on his neck, dripping onto the white floor tiles of the bathroom and blooming into small flower-like shapes. The pink in the water grew deeper and deeper, a shocking sight.
Qin Yichuan seemed not to feel the pain, focusing only on the Jiang Zhaosheng in the water. His gaze was so complex that Jiang Zhaosheng couldn’t understand it.
“It’s… safe for now…” he said hoarsely. “They… likely can’t locate me for now…”
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