Chapter 160: Back To That Key Moment ③

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Chapter 160: Back To That Key Moment ③

Afterward, Rhine explained away his tears with two words: “Too spicy.”

Shang Ke was speechless. He had made plain congee and light side dishes—where was the spice supposed to have come from? Still, something was clearly off about Rhine. He seemed to have forgotten their relationship, yet Shang Ke’s scent and habits felt deeply familiar to him. Shang Ke could not help wondering what this man had gone through after his “death.”

That night, Shang Ke was given the guest room next to Rhine’s. After several hours together, Rhine had remained astonishingly well-behaved, without so much as a suggestive touch. Back then, he had never hesitated to pounce on Shang Ke even though they were both Alphas. Now Shang Ke had practically washed himself clean and delivered himself to Rhine’s plate, yet the man still refused to take a bite?

Shang Ke lay in bed, quietly sensing the faint pheromones drifting from the room next door. He released his own in answer.

The pheromones released by the two men were not strong. Like shallow ripples, they twisted and merged with each other, warm and gentle, soothing their lonely souls and leading them into sweet dreams.

The next day, Shang Ke got up early to prepare breakfast. Although there was a dedicated chef at the residence, he was still used to doing it himself. He felt that the food made by him could be used to trigger Rhine’s memories and remember their past as soon as possible. Of course, even if he couldn’t remember, it didn’t matter. They could start all over again.

A steady rhythm of hurried footsteps came from the stairway. Shang Ke turned his head and found Rhine running down with the aura of a vengeful spirit. He abruptly stopped at the foot of the stairs and stared at Shang Ke without blinking.

“What’s wrong?” Shang Ke’s gaze swept over him. Rhine’s hair was tousled, his robe hanging wide open over a hard, muscular body. Black briefs hugged his groin, outlining an impressively prominent bulge.

“Nothing.” Rhine’s expression finally eased a bit after he walked to Shang Ke and caught his scent.

“There’s a mecha tournament at nine. Want to go watch it with me?” Shang Ke asked as he set out the dishes.

“Mmm.” Rhine sat in the main seat and waited for food.

Shang Ke paused, then smiled. “My dear Major General, before breakfast, could I trouble you to go upstairs and wash up first?”

Although it was detrimental to a certain person’s image, the point was that Shang Ke could not happily eat his breakfast with someone who still had gunk in his eye.

Rhine seemed to have finally realized that he was not properly dressed, so he silently went back upstairs.

When he reappeared, he was once again a dignified and cold general.

Shang Ke helped him turn on the news while Rhine started eating.

When Rhine’s bowl was empty, Shang Ke very naturally filled it back up for him.

When Rhine set down his utensils, Shang Ke handed him a warm drink.

When Rhine picked up his napkin, Shang Ke ordered the attendant to clear the table.

The two acted as if they had lived together for a long time.

Rhine also noticed his familiarity, intimacy and trust with Shang Ke… it all pointed to one thing, their relationship before was unusual.

“Let’s go.”

The two left the residence and rode to the center where the mecha competition was held.

Shang Ke felt that Rhine’s attitude toward life was somewhat gloomy and negative. He lacked the passion toward life from before, as if nothing in this world could arouse his interest.

As such, Shang Ke planned to take advantage of his vacation to let him experience the passion of youth.

The arena thundered with noise. Thousands of Alphas and Betas packed the stands, filling the air with pheromones. Omegas rarely entered places like this unless they had taken suppressants and stayed inside isolated VIP suites; otherwise, pheromones this concentrated could drive them into heat.

Shang Ke booked a VIP room using his identity as an officer. There were more than a dozen matches at this competition. At minimum, it would take five to six hours. At noon, they could just order and eat right in the room.

At the beginning of the competition, two mechas flew out of the tunnel one after the other. They showcased their magnificent operation and fighting skills.

Rhine watched the flickering lights and shadows on the screen, and a blurry memory flashed by his mind… The swarming insects, a tall and strong silhouette, and injuries that covered everything…

“Fil” Rhine suddenly cried out.

“What?” Shang Ke turned to him in confusion.

Rhine kept a close eye on him. The sudden madness in his eyes gradually disappeared and he went back to being calm.

“Let’s go back.” Rhine got up and walked out.

“You’re not watching anymore?” Shang Ke quickly followed.

Rhine paused midstep, then wrapped his arms around Shang Ke’s waist before he could knock into him.

“Let’s go to the training room and fight a round.” His suppressed emotions could be faintly made out within his voice.

When they walked out of the VIP room, they also ran into the two people from next door. Shang Ke stared at them. It was actually an acquaintance.

“Oh? Major General Lancelot.” Zeka saluted, surprise flickering across his face.

Behind Zeka stood a young man of about twenty, pretty-featured and flushed, with the lingering haze of recent sex still in his eyes. A few suspicious marks showed beneath his collar. Even with suppressants, the scent of arousal clung to him like poppy smoke, enough to stir the Alphas around him.

Shang Ke held his breath and shot Zeka a sidelong glance. This shameless playboy had actually brought an Omega to the arena for a quick fuck—and more importantly, this Omega was not Ryan, the one he was supposedly pursuing.

“Are you going out for dinner?” Zeka warmly invited, “Why don’t we go together?”

“No need.” Rhine’s cold voice rebuffed him while releasing his pheromones, isolating the scent of the Omega from Shang Ke’s senses.

He guided Shang Ke by the waist and walked past Zeka and his partner, leaving the arena.

After getting in the car, Shang Ke thought back to the scene just now. When being faced with the pheromone of an Omega, even he had a bit of a hard time controlling himself. But Rhine acted as if it had no influence on him whatsoever. His pheromones remained steady and shielded him like an electrical screen.

Shang Ke thought again of Rhine’s recent “gentlemanly restraint” and wondered uneasily whether his man had somehow become frigid.

Shang Ke wouldn’t have thought much about it if he were someone else, but abstinence was simply out of the question for a mobile hormone maker.

So… had something actually gone wrong with Rhine’s sexual function?

Shang Ke could not help giving him a deeply affectionate look that clearly said, Even if you can never get it up again, I still won’t abandon you.

Rhine: “…”

The two soon arrived at the training camp and entered Rhine’s private training room.

“Pick one.” Rhine let Shang Ke choose any combat-training event he wanted.

Shang Ke scanned the list and chose “High-Speed Evasion.”

High-Speed Evasion required the participants to sprint across a moving course while dodging virtual obstacles. The pace increased steadily, testing physical endurance, speed, dynamic vision, agility, balance, coordination, and more.

At the end of the countdown, Rhine and Shang Ke both started to move. They nimbly jumped to and fro from various obstacles that appeared in the virtual training space.

As their speed grew faster and faster, numerous afterimages appeared around them like ghosts. The scene looked strange and elusive.

“Come over here, Major General Lancelot’s training room has started competition mode!” Outside the training room, a soldier shouted excitedly.

Everyone nearby immediately crowded over and submitted requests to spectate. Permission came through in less than five seconds; Rhine had not set the session to private, so the training system automatically approved every request.

The screen lit up, and the viewers saw afterimages that jumped and moved through the obstacles.

“Oh my god, it’s been over 30 minutes.” Obstacle Dodging would become harder every five minutes. An average soldier could last only fifteen minutes at most.

Anything over thirty and the person was at an abnormal level.

“Who is the person competing against the Major General? Do they need to be so strong?”

It was understandable for Rhine to have such an achievement, but it was unbelievable that someone could match him.

“Could it be Zeka?”

“Impossible. He went on a date with a beauty today.”

“We still have someone so strong in our camp?”

“Haven’t you guys forgotten someone?”

“Who?”

“Major Filmore.”

Rhine’s eyes were bright and his flying hair glistened with beads of sweat. It’s been a long time since he last felt so carefree and his blood was boiling all over.

Faster, faster!

Rhine lost himself in the exhilaration of the match. His battle-charged pheromones poured out without restraint. Sweat soaked his clothes and gleamed over taut muscles packed with strength; he looked like a beast finally freed of its chains—wild, unrestrained, and alive.

Then Rhine’s pupils abruptly contracted. The man beside him surged back against the pressure, and a familiar, irresistibly seductive wash of pheromones struck Rhine head-on. Desire ignited through him in an instant, followed by a rush of pleasure unlike anything he had felt before.

Rhine suddenly stopped and let the obstacles hit him. Then the System announced, “Challenge failed.”

Shang Ke stopped as well, shook his wet hair, and called excitedly to Rhine, his eyes sparkling. “I won!”

Rhine did not respond to his shouts, hanging his head and standing quietly in the middle of the field.

Shang Ke walked over in confusion and tilted his head. “Rhine, you…”

Before Shang Ke could finish, Rhine’s pheromones wrapped around him completely. Fine strands of scent coiled over his body like living snakes, their heat sliding across his skin, down between his thighs, and little by little probing at his entrance.

Shang Ke instinctively tried to close his legs, but the invasive pheromones slipped between them anyway.

Rhine slowly raised his head and walked over to Shang Ke, staring at him. Their bodies pressed tightly together, and they could almost feel each other’s heat.

Rhine lowered his head and kissed Shang Ke’s eyes, his nose, his lips… then tore open his shirt, dragged down his trousers, and kept moving lower…

Shang Ke’s entire body tensed as he looked at the man kneeling on one knee before him. His mind was in a daze.

With every deeper touch, lust burned away what remained of their reason. Shang Ke did not even know when Rhine forced him down onto the floor. The pheromones that had been teasing inside him were replaced by something far harder and hotter as Rhine began thrusting into him with fierce, relentless force.

Under Rhine’s almost bestial assault, low, hoarse moans escaped Shang Ke beyond his control.

Sweat drenched their clothes as their overheated bodies tangled and collided.

Shang Ke’s shirt hung open, his trousers tossed aside, while his long, slender legs locked around Rhine’s waist.

Rhine’s own clothes were barely disordered. His gaze on Shang Ke was intensely possessive, and with each hard roll of his hips he drove all the way to the deepest point inside him…

“Why did Major General Lancelot suddenly stop?” Outside the training room, the soldiers looked confused when they saw the still screen after the match.

“He probably didn’t want to compete anymore?”

“Thirty-nine minutes is already amazing. Now I just want to know if the one competing against him was Filmore.”

“Me too!”

“What he said.”

The soldiers were waiting outside the training room with great interest. But in the end, no one came out no matter how they waited, which made them wonder.

“It’s been forty minutes, why hasn’t anyone come out yet?” The soldiers complained.

Another hour passed and the door of the training room was still closed.

Two hours later, the soldiers had finished their dinner and still nothing happened.

Three hours, four hours … until the soldiers lost interest and stopped paying attention.

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