Chapter 28: See You Tomorrow

Chapter 28: See You Tomorrow

Yan Wanqiu did not answer, merely gazing at Xie Chi's face with a dark, unreadable look.

The repair fluid had worked remarkably well—not a single scar remained on Xie Chi's body. Having just showered, the youth's hair was still half-dry, plastered against his handsome face, making his lips appear even redder and his teeth whiter.

Xie Chi had always possessed delicate, refined features, but due to his eccentric ways and position, few people ever paid further attention to his appearance after the initial shock of seeing him.

After all, not everyone had the nerve to admire the face of such a ruthless killer.

But Yan Wanqiu was different.

Yan Wanqiu looked at Xie Chi and quietly wondered why, in the past ten-odd years, he had never noticed that Xie Chi had such a face.

"Wife?"

Seeing that Yan Wanqiu remained silent for so long, Xie Chi asked again, confused.

Yan Wanqiu finally moved.

He strode to Xie Chi's side, and acting on pure instinct, raised a hand to pinch the shadow guard's fair cheek, then leaned down and kissed him.

Before Xie Chi could even figure out what was happening, he was caught off guard by his wife's forceful kiss. Caught unprepared, he let Yan Wanqiu sweep in without resistance.

Their lips and tongues intertwined, a warm, woody scent flooding his mouth.

Xie Chi's head spun from the kiss, instinctively chasing Yan Wanqiu's lips and tongue, a fresh and sweet orange scent emanating from him.

He was getting aroused.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

Just then, a knock came at the hospital room door.

"Captain Xie, is something wrong?" A doctor, drawn by the noise, asked from outside.

Only then did Xie Chi realize he was still in the hospital room. Flustered, he pulled away from Yan Wanqiu and quickly replied, "It's nothing—I accidentally broke a glass. I'm resting now, you don't need to come in."

This was the camp's VIP ward, and the person inside was Captain Xie, who had just defeated Yan Wanqiu. Though puzzled, the doctor obeyed Xie Chi's instruction and left.

After the doctor was gone, Xie Chi hurried to the door, locked it, then pushed the wardrobe against the broken window to block the draft. Only then did he turn back to look at Ji Chou, who stood there deep in thought.

"Wife, why are you here? Did you get hurt breaking the window?" Xie Chi asked.

Yan Wanqiu stared at Xie Chi's lips, made even redder and more luscious by the kiss, and still said nothing.

The boy's orange pheromones lingered in his mouth, doing nothing to quench the burning thirst in his body—instead driving him to crave even more.

*Thud.*

Yan Wanqiu strode over, grabbed Xie Chi's wrist, pinned it against the door, and kissed him deeply once more.

Xie Chi could have dodged or twisted away, but why would he refuse when his wife was being so proactive? So even though Ji Chou was acting a bit strange, Xie Chi cooperated fully with the kiss.

His wife must have been worried sick during this mission—it was only natural he'd want to release that anxiety through a kiss.

With that thought, Xie Chi wrapped his arms around the man, gripping his lean waist.

They kissed all the way from the door to the bed.

Finally, Yan Wanqiu pressed Xie Chi down onto the mattress, his tongue nearly numbing Xie Chi's own. When they parted, a thin, glistening strand of saliva stretched between them.

Xie Chi's breathing was ragged, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks as he stared intently at the man's neck.

"Wife..."

Xie Chi's voice was hoarse.

Through the thin fabric of their clothes, he could feel that the other man was just as hard as he was.

Yan Wanqiu looked down at Xie Chi from above and finally spoke his first words since they'd met tonight.

"Mark me."

Xie Chi was stunned. For a moment, he thought he'd misheard.

This was a hospital room, after all.

He'd always known Ji Chou was bold, but he never imagined he'd pull something like this.

"Wait—this is a hospital!" Seeing that Yan Wanqiu had lost patience and was already starting to strip off their clothes, Xie Chi hurriedly clutched at his hospital gown to stop him.

"Wife, I promise I'll go see Yan Wanqiu tomorrow and request a meeting. Can we do it at my place tomorrow night instead? I bought a new bed—it's wider than the hospital one..."

*Riiip.*

His answer was the crisp sound of fabric tearing.

Ji Chou had torn his clothes again.

The white-haired man reached out to touch Xie Chi, looking down at him with half-lidded eyes, and said in a low voice: "Cut the crap. Hurry up."

Xie Chi's reaction grew even stronger.

Saying something like that with such unapologetic audacity was pure seduction.

Xie Chi told himself this wasn't right, but his hands were already reaching for the man's waist without thinking.

"Only once," Xie Chi said, without much conviction. "If Yan Wanqiu finds out we're messing around in his hospital, he'll really cut me into pieces."

Yan Wanqiu let out a snort of displeasure.

If Xie Chi dared to refuse, *he* would be the one cutting him into pieces.

He said no more, propping himself up slightly.

Having already been craving Xie Chi for so long due to his Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome—ever since he'd huddled in that room in the palace, surrounded by gifts Xie Chi had sent—Yan Wanqiu's body had long since prepared itself.

And so, with incredible ease, he took Xie Chi in.

Xie Chi's scalp tingled, his eyes darkening.

Yan Wanqiu was completely unaware of the impending crisis. All he wanted was to squeeze out every drop of Xie Chi's pheromones, supporting himself with his arms and thighs, carefully avoiding the deepest spots as he moved back and forth.

After what felt like an eternity—just as Yan Wanqiu had already climaxed once and his inner thighs were beginning to ache—the orange pheromones finally burst forth.

Caught off guard by the flood of another alpha's pheromones, Yan Wanqiu's pupils glazed over for a moment. His thighs twitched, his strength giving out, and he collapsed onto Xie Chi.

The originally carefully protected reproductive cavity collided head-on with Xie Chi.

"Nngh!"

Yan Wanqiu immediately shook like a leaf, unable to suppress the sound that escaped him, and reached out with trembling hands to pull back.

But the moment he sat up, Xie Chi's hand, which had somehow already clamped around his waist, pressed him firmly back down.

This time, Yan Wanqiu couldn't even utter a sound. His mind went completely blank, and his woody pheromones leaked out uncontrollably.

That single motion made him climax again.

Having released pheromones twice in such a short time, Yan Wanqiu was already overwhelmed. He shoved at Xie Chi and gritted out, "Let go..."

This audacious brat! Who gave him permission to move?!

Yan Wanqiu thought so, but when he met the young alpha's eyes, his heart quaked.

Xie Chi's round eyes were now brimming with lust, staring at him intently like a beast that had caught its prey—beautiful and perilously sharp.

"Wife," Xie Chi murmured.

As his words fell, the world spun around Yan Wanqiu.

Xie Chi pressed him down onto the bed.

Xie Chi bent down, bringing his mouth close to Yan Wanqiu's neck, and whispered, "One more time, alright?"

As he spoke, his warm breath fell fully on Yan Wanqiu's gland, and Yan Wanqiu couldn't help but shiver, losing his chance to refuse.

Xie Chi's eyes crinkled into a smile, two innocent, pretty dimples appearing at the corners of his mouth: "No answer means you're agreeing, wife."

Yan Wanqiu was briefly dazed by the smile so close to his face.

Then, panicking, he arched his back and struggled desperately.

Xie Chi was mercilessly slamming into his most vulnerable reproductive cavity with every thrust.

"Stop... mmph!"

His words of refusal were completely swallowed in a kiss.

Yan Wanqiu tried desperately to pull back, but the narrow hospital bed offered no room to escape. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't get away.

The once green and harmless orange-scented pheromones had become dangerous, and Yan Wanqiu was nearly drowned by the overwhelming flood of pheromones. His earlier longing turned into fear.

Xie Chi was giving him too many pheromones.

Finally, when Xie Chi bit down on his gland from behind to mark him, a helpless, strained cry escaped from Yan Wanqiu's throat, and his eyes involuntarily rolled back.

It had been opened.

That place that should never have been opened.

...

Encyclopedia entry:

"Alphas possess a vestigial reproductive cavity that normally has no function. In rare cases, among certain alpha partners with highly compatible pheromones, the receiving partner may undergo secondary development."

"Permanent marking can also occur between alphas, using the same method as alpha-omega marking—that is, marking the gland during a knot. However, due to alpha physiology, very few alpha-alpha couples can achieve permanent marking."

Late at night, Xie Chi sat by the disheveled hospital bed, listening to the sound of water running in the bathroom, guiltily reading the encyclopedia on his smart device.

His knowledge of ABO physiology was limited to knowing that omegas could give birth. Earlier, he had been driven wild by Ji Chou's teasing in bed, and in the heat of the moment, he had acted purely on instinct, completely unaware of what outrageous thing he had done.

It wasn't until he saw Ji Chou unable to come back to himself, looking as if he had nearly died, that Xie Chi realized something was wrong.

Confused and at a loss, he had fed Ji Chou a bottle of repair fluid before Ji Chou slowly came back to his senses, shot him a glare, then scrambled off the bed and into the bathroom to wash up.

Xie Chi sat by the bed and opened his smart device to search for what had just happened.

The more he searched, the guiltier he felt.

So that had been Ji Chou's reproductive cavity.

According to the encyclopedia, this part of an alpha is vestigial—narrow, sensitive, and fragile. Normal alpha-alpha couples approach any exploration of this area with extreme caution.

But he, on his first try, had left Ji Chou unable to close his legs and filled that place entirely with his pheromones.

It was fortunate he wasn't in his rut, or he wouldn't have been able to form a knot.

When an alpha forms a knot, it swells another size and locks firmly into the receiver to increase the chance of pregnancy. Ji Chou's reproductive cavity would probably...

But then again, it really did feel amazing inside.

Xie Chi felt both guilty and flushed at the same time.

When Yan Wanqiu finished washing and came out wearing his mask, what he saw was Xie Chi staring at his smart device, face bright red.

Yan Wanqiu: "..."

Though he didn't know what Xie Chi was blushing about, his instincts told him the other wasn't thinking about anything good.

Xie Chi heard the noise and looked up at him: "You're done washing? Any discomfort?"

Yan Wanqiu hummed in acknowledgment and shook his head: "You fed me the repair fluid. I'm fine now."

This time, he had truly gotten his fill of Xie Chi's pheromones, and it had thoroughly confirmed the suppressive effect of Xie Chi's pheromones on his Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome.

The dysregulation had completely subsided, and Yan Wanqiu was now fully lucid.

Looking at the broken, drafty window in Xie Chi's hospital room, Yan Wanqiu belatedly realized just how bold he had been under the influence of the syndrome, and the tips of his ears grew warm.

Xie Chi was also at a loss. He looked at the white-haired man wrapped in a towel, thought for a moment, and said quietly, "Um... do you want to sleep for a bit?"

Yan Wanqiu looked at the messy bed.

The hospital bed was covered in both their pheromones, clearly unfit for sleeping.

Xie Chi realized this too and hastily stood up to strip the sheets and blanket: "There are spares in the cabinet. I'll change the sheets."

"No need. I need to head back first."

As he said this, Yan Wanqiu subtly shifted his stance.

There was too much of Xie Chi's pheromones inside him, too deep. He had washed in a hurry and hadn't fully cleaned himself out. Even standing now, Yan Wanqiu could feel Xie Chi's pheromones trickling down.

Xie Chi froze mid-motion, his expression visibly dimming: "I see... that makes sense. You came to see me secretly while Yan Wanqiu was trapped by the pheromone dysregulation, right? Staying any longer would indeed leave evidence."

Yan Wanqiu: "...I suppose so."

Xie Chi was downcast for a moment, but quickly recovered and smiled at Yan Wanqiu. "Wife, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I can be discharged tomorrow. I'll go straight to Yan Wanqiu and ask to see you tomorrow night. I did a good job on this mission, so Yan Wanqiu won't make things difficult for us."

"I know you're worried about me, but don't ever sneak out to come see me like this again. If anything comes up, just hit me up on the smart brain, and I'll find a way to help you."

Yan Wanqiu: "..."

He wasn't worried about Xie Chi at all—what was this guy even on about?

Xie Chi took Yan Wanqiu's silence as a yes and kept rambling. "Also, wife, I think I saw you while I was out cold. Did you come to pick me up? Or was it all just a dream..."

"It's getting late. I need to go."

The moment this topic came up, Yan Wanqiu felt super uncomfortable and shut him down firmly.

He had always been careful to keep "Ji Chou" and "Yan Wanqiu" separate, but in the heat of the moment, he had answered Xie Chi as Yan Wanqiu. Instinctively, he wanted to dodge the topic.

Xie Chi froze for a second, but went along with it anyway. "Then I'll walk you out."

"No need. I can see myself out. We'll talk later."

Avoiding Xie Chi's gaze, Yan Wanqiu said a quick goodbye and slipped out the window.

Or rather, ran away.

The repair fluid could heal wounds, but it couldn't fix what was going on in his head. Yan Wanqiu felt like Xie Chi was still inside him, and he stumbled toward the palace, clutching his ragged coat.

His thoughts were all over the place.

Xie Chi was right—if he wanted to see Xie Chi, he could simply contact him through the smart brain and have him come over to mark him.

Even if he'd lost his mind to Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome, smashed through the window to find Xie Chi, grabbed him for a quick mark, and left, it would've only taken a few minutes.

He kept the "Ji Chou" identity precisely so Xie Chi would willingly be his antidote.

Given everything Xie Chi had poured out in the mine, even using him and tossing him aside wouldn't have been a big deal—after all, that fool Xie Chi didn't have a clue what romance really was.

But the second he locked eyes with a perfectly fine Xie Chi, everything spiraled out of control.

Now that he'd come to his senses, looking back, Yan Wanqiu felt like he must've been insane—dressing up on purpose and handing himself over to Xie Chi.

That bold Xie Chi had not only taken the chance to open his birth cavity, but even wanted to see him again the next day.

Yan Wanqiu ground his teeth.

He wasn't actually Xie Chi's wife. He had too much to deal with at camp—where would he find time to play house with Xie Chi?

But the next second, when he realized he didn't feel even a hint of anger and was actually looking forward to tomorrow instead, Yan Wanqiu froze.

A confusion he'd never felt before washed over him. He stood frozen in the snow, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

What was... wrong with him?

.

On the other side.

Xie Chi deliberately didn't pry into Ji Chou's whereabouts.

Some things, only by knowing absolutely nothing about them, could he act natural in front of Yan Wanqiu.

Yan Wanqiu could trust him now for three reasons: one, he was capable; two, he'd protected his master; and three, Ji Chou was the hostage.

If Yan Wanqiu ever found out Xie Chi knew where Ji Chou was and might run off with him, that fragile trust would shatter.

Tomorrow night, the freezing period on the North Pole Star would begin. The temperature across the whole region would drop to minus two hundred degrees, followed by blizzard conditions.

During the worst of it, even the planetary network would completely cut out. Factions would brawl over scraps of resources, and countless civilians without supplies would freeze to death in their homes.

Outdoors, even one fall could give you severe frostbite, leading to amputation and permanent disability.

In that kind of environment, no matter how capable Xie Chi was, he wouldn't survive out in the wild.

Yan Wanqiu had prepared for the freezing period with everything he had when he first arrived at Snowstorm City. Now the whole camp ran on independent pipelines fueled by thermal ore, with heating in every indoor facility. With Mr. Ai and Shi Peijue joining, the gaps in food and weapon supplies were quickly being filled.

In the whole North Pole territory, you'd be hard-pressed to find another civilian settlement living as well as Yan Wanqiu's camp.

Xie Chi still hoped he and Ji Chou could safely ride out the freezing period under Yan Wanqiu's protection.

He wondered if Yan Wanqiu's Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome would ease up by tomorrow—he needed to request a meeting with him anyway, so he could openly go see his wife.

With that in mind, Xie Chi quickly stuffed the "evidence" in his room into his spatial ring, then snuck into the empty ward next door, swiped a glass pane, and installed it in his own room.

Thanks to last time, Xie Chi was way more skilled at this now.

After that, Xie Chi took another shower, lay back on the hospital bed, and opened his smart brain.

He found the contact pinned to the top and sent a message.

"Xie Chi: Wife, get some sleep. I'm fine, don't worry about me too much. See you tomorrow."

At the palace, Yan Wanqiu lay in the guest room, staring at the message that popped up on his smart brain.

His heart was a mess. He typed and deleted his message several times.

He wanted to back out and refuse the meeting, to explain that he hadn't actually been worried about him, and finally to just not reply and pretend he was already asleep.

But Xie Chi's face kept popping up in his mind, and the scent of oranges lingered around him, refusing to fade.

Yan Wanqiu knew damn well that with Xie Chi's personality, if he didn't reply, the guy would wait at least a full hour before reluctantly closing his smart brain.

In the end, Yan Wanqiu replied anyway.

"Ji Chou: You get some rest too. See you tomorrow."