The boundless universe stretched out, an infinite expanse of hollow depth.
Explosions, like fireworks in brilliant bloom, hung frozen in the vacuum. Meteorites collided, and as a light so dazzling it was nearly blinding seared the eyes, rolling flames surged forth to swallow everything.
Heat… it was so hot…
Raging fires burned; the very earth shook.
Feng Zhixi opened his eyes amidst a violent jolting. The buzzing in his ears drowned out his surroundings, but he saw a face of peerless elegance, illuminated by the glow of fury. It was Ji Yeran.
In his daze, he grumbled silently. No wonder people clung to this man; that face was nothing but trouble!
With features so tender and soulful, even when he wore a perennially cold expression, he couldn't hide the flirtatious grace that lingered in the corners of his eyes and brows.
*He’s the one out here unintentionally seducing people. Who else is there to blame?*
*A face that could bring ruin to nations!*
Feng Zhixi’s thoughts were a muddle, and his eyelids grew heavier. Just as he was about to drift off again, another violent shake forced his eyes open.
*What now? Can’t a person sleep?!*
Woken once more, Feng Zhixi glared at Ji Yeran with displeasure, thinking the man had truly lost his mind.
It was then that the fragmented, whispering sounds circling his ears finally pierced through the buzzing.
"Feng Zhixi, what is wrong with you?!" Ji Yeran gripped Feng Zhixi’s shoulders, his face terrifyingly grim.
Feng Zhixi had been asleep for a long time. At first, Ji Yeran hadn't noticed anything amiss, until he began to catch a faint scent of liquor mixed with green plums—sour, sweet, and sharp enough to sting the throat.
It was Feng Zhixi’s pheromones!
The moment he caught that scent, Ji Yeran knew something was wrong. When he rushed over, he found Feng Zhixi looking as though he’d been fished out of a river.
The youth’s black hair was plastered wetly against his forehead. His curled-up body trembled like a cat that had fallen into water, and his face was so pale it was devoid of blood.
The ship lacked proper medical equipment. Ji Yeran had managed to shake him awake with great difficulty, only for this wilted, delicate brat to push his hand away with a look of utter disdain.
A persistent low-grade fever left Feng Zhixi in a stupor. He swiped at Ji Yeran’s hands to dislodge them from his shoulders and let his body fall back onto the bed.
"Old ailment… I’ll be fine after a nap… I’m tired, stop shouting…" Feng Zhixi muttered with half-closed eyes, internally annoyed by the other man’s overreaction.
*What’s the big deal? Just a flare-up. Haven’t you seen one before?*
Feng Zhixi forced one eye open a crack to peer at him.
He was a "partially disabled" Omega, and a congenital one at that.
Long illness makes a patient a doctor; Feng Zhixi understood his own body perfectly.
He was a partially disabled Omega. "Partially disabled" meant that although he was an Omega—and an S-rank one, the highest level currently known—his glands suffered from congenital hypoplasia. His subsequent growth had only added insult to injury.
However, his current disability rating was only Level 3. He was still a long way off from the maximum disability level he would reach in the future.
The Omega who, in the future, would honorably reach that maximum disability level thought quite nonchalantly about it now. Because so much time had passed, he had forgotten just how fragile his body was at this age.
The future body was better; once it was completely ruined, there weren't so many troublesome side effects.
In his half-conscious state, Feng Zhixi grumbled vaguely, selectively forgetting the frantic complaints of the "Smiling Fox" from his future…
"So what if the pheromones have built-in offensive attributes?" The future K had found it utterly inconceivable. "In this day and age, who can stop an Omega from enjoying their life?"
At that time, Feng Zhixi, his experiment interrupted, had worn a sour face as he told K and the Alpha he’d brought along to get lost.
"Wait, you really don't want him?" K, concerned for his friend, had clung to the doorframe, refusing to give up his sales pitch. "I picked him out specifically! Young, strong, and most importantly, his technique is top-tier~"
"Fine, then keep him for yourself," Feng Zhixi had said expressionlessly before slamming the door.
He left K outside to knock fruitlessly. The Smiling Fox truly couldn't understand how a friend who usually seemed easy enough to get along with became so cold and ruthless whenever this time of the month came around.
*Sexual frustration will make you sick!* the Smiling Fox had fretted.
Listening to K slander his private life outside the door, Feng Zhixi had silently injected himself with another dose of suppressants.
It could be said that the eventual total collapse of his glands was half due to his own doing…
Back in the present, Feng Zhixi, lying on the bed and about to pass out, was jolted awake by yet another violent shake.
*Are you looking for a fight?!*
Having been disturbed for the third time, Feng Zhixi was thoroughly enraged. He glared at the culprit—Ji Yeran.
The young Alpha’s face was dark as he stared at the wilted but vibrantly-eyed Omega. Ji Yeran’s voice was low, each word heavy with an undeniable pressure.
"What 'old ailment'? What is going on?" He didn't recall the Feng Zhixi of four years ago having such an ailment.
Faced with Ji Yeran’s relentless attitude, Feng Zhixi knew he wouldn't get any sleep if he didn't explain.
He sat up haphazardly and brushed the hair from his forehead. "Have you heard of Pheromone Disorder?"
Pheromone Disorder? Ji Yeran paused, then heard Feng Zhixi continue.
"My symptoms are similar, but mine is congenital."
"Here." Feng Zhixi pointed to his own gland. "Congenital underdevelopment. Pheromone reception functional disorder."
"It makes my pheromones smell wrong—they have an offensive attribute. I also can't smell 'correct' pheromones."
"What are 'correct' pheromones?" Ji Yeran’s brow furrowed deeply.
"It means the scent I perceive is different from the person's actual scent." Feng Zhixi noted that this was why everyone else was intoxicated by Hill’s wonderful, sweet pheromones, while he found them foul and stenchy.
Pheromone reception disorder combined with gland damage was actually no big deal. Suppressants were so common now, and high-grade ones could even be used for a lifetime; the worst consequence was just the total failure of the gland.
His only lingering side effect was this persistent low fever, which was much more bearable than enduring a heat cycle.
Feng Zhixi privately speculated that the temporary mark was likely the cause. His gland was already damaged, and between the sudden onset of heat and Ji Yeran’s temporary mark, the repeated stimulation had caused the side effects to trigger early.
*So fragile!* Feng Zhixi mocked himself.
It had been so long; when was the last time he’d had a flare-up?
As he tried to remember, a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Then what does my pheromone smell like to you?" Ji Yeran suddenly asked.
Feng Zhixi blinked and looked at him.
"In your eyes, what is my scent?" Ji Yeran pressed.
"Green plum," Feng Zhixi answered honestly.
It was incredibly sour. He had no idea what Ji Yeran’s real scent was.
*What kind of scent would mutate into green plum in my nose?* Feng Zhixi was suddenly curious.
"So, every time you have a fever, you just tough it out like this?" Ji Yeran let out a frustrated, dry laugh. He leaned in close, his gaze fixed on Feng Zhixi. His tone was light and gentle, carrying the tenderness of someone caring for a patient.
The fever had lowered Feng Zhixi’s guard. He nodded. Now that the "hundred thousand whys" were over, could he finally go to sleep?
Feng Zhixi thought naively, believing he could finally crash.
However, he had miscalculated.
The man who had received his answer pulled him into his arms, and Ji Yeran did the one thing he had been wanting to do—he bit him, hard!
Firmly pinning down any potential struggle from the Omega, Ji Yeran bit down savagely on the gland at the nape of Feng Zhixi’s neck. The gland, forced to endure a second intrusion, turned a red so deep it looked ready to bleed. The Omega held tightly in his arms shuddered slightly at first, then his body went limp.
With the vulnerable spot on the back of his neck clamped in someone's teeth, the gland felt both painful and searingly hot. Feng Zhixi closed his eyes, his body soft and devoid of strength.
He curled into Ji Yeran’s embrace, surrendering all his weight and support to the other man. Feng Zhixi merely used a finger to shakily trace three words on the Alpha’s waist: "Deduct the area!"
The large exclamation mark at the end carried a heavy weight of fury.
Ji Yeran’s brow twitched. *It’s just a landing pad. Deduct away; let's see what's left.*
As the Alpha’s pheromones were injected into his body, the scent of green plums merged with the aroma of strong liquor. The Omega’s not-yet-fully-ruined gland received the soothing influence of the Alpha’s pheromones, and his own scent of strong liquor grew even more potent.
Holding the burning youth, Ji Yeran, having reinforced the temporary mark, looked down at him silently, his gaze deep and inscrutable.
After a long while, sensing that the person in his arms had finally achieved steady breathing, Ji Yeran pressed his hand to the youth’s forehead. The skin-to-skin contact no longer felt scalding; the fever had finally broken.
Ji Yeran breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at Feng Zhixi’s sweat-soaked clothes and his pathetic, "drowned cat" appearance, he thought for a moment, then picked up the sleeping youth and headed for the ship’s bathroom.
The pure white bathroom door opened and closed. Not long after, it opened again.
Ji Yeran emerged, carrying a figure wrapped in a large white blanket.
Walking to the bed, he looked at the mattress that had been turned into a mess. After a brief thought, he decisively carried the sleeping Feng Zhixi out of the room.
Passing through the ship’s corridor, he brought the Omega to his own temporary quarters and laid him gently on the bed. Ji Yeran sighed and pulled the quilt over him.
In deep sleep, the Omega appeared unusually well-behaved. His cheeks, steamed by the warmth of the bath, finally regained a hint of color.
"What a coincidence. My pheromones actually *are* green plum scented," Ji Yeran murmured, though it was unclear who he was saying it to. Then, he turned and left the room.
As Ji Yeran departed, the lights in the room dimmed. In the darkness, Feng Zhixi slowly opened his eyes.
Lying in a bed enveloped by the scent of green plums, he grumbled softly, "So sour."
*Mutated green plums are even sourer!*
His words were filled with utter disdain.
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
信息素紊乱症 | Pheromone Disorder | A medical condition involving abnormal pheromone levels or perception.
信息素接收功能障碍 | Pheromone reception functional disorder | A specific condition where an individual cannot correctly perceive pheromone scents.
笑面狐狸 | Smiling Fox | A nickname for K, implying he is cunning or sly despite his friendly appearance.
扣面积 | Deduct the area | Refers to the previous chapter where Feng Zhixi promised Ji Yeran a small "circle" of land on the planet for a landing pad.
