Chapter 3: Seemingly

Chapter 3: Seems Like

Old habits really die hard—mistaking someone throwing themselves into his arms for an attack.

Xie Chi blushed, embarrassed: "Sorry, I was just taking a shower and probably didn't hear the knocking..."

Yan Wanqiu furrowed his brows, puzzled by what Xie Chi was up to.

He had almost no rationality left. After killing off the Night Owl Syndicate's people, he had instinctively slaughtered his way to Xie Chi's door, intending to eliminate him.

But perhaps because he'd been in pheromone disorder for too long, the moment Yan Wanqiu kicked open the door, he caught a familiar tart, fresh scent. His head spun, and his strength gave out midway.

"Xie Chi." Yan Wanqiu snapped back to his senses, speaking through gritted teeth as he stepped forward, reaching out to grab the other's delicate neck.

Xie Chi jumped in surprise.

So forward about holding hands?

He didn't see anything wrong with "a blind date showing up masked and covered in blood in the dead of night" at all. He reached out, took the man's hand, and introduced himself politely: "Yes, I'm Xie Chi. I'm eighteen, good at killing people—it's literally my day job. I'm an assassin. What's your name?"

Yan Wanqiu: "...?"

He tried to pull free, but was shocked to find he couldn't break Xie Chi's vise-like grip.

Xie Chi used the momentum to pull the man inside, shutting the door to keep out the cold wind while awkwardly letting go of his hand.

He'd never held hands with anyone before.

"So..." Xie Chi tried hard to find something to talk about, "Is this, like, your personal style? Did you dress up like this specially for tonight? It's very... distinctive."

All Yan Wanqiu wanted was to kill this traitor, Xie Chi. He sneered: "I'm in this state all thanks to you."

With that, he directly raised the weird gun he'd just seized with his other free hand, jammed it against Xie Chi's forehead, and pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation.

"Click."

The gun just clicked—nothing happened.

Yan Wanqiu froze.

Why isn't it loaded?

Xie Chi looked at the electromagnetic gun in the man's hand—obviously not even turned on or charged up—and blinked in confusion.

Is this some kind of inventive roleplay?

The room went dead silent, leaving only the sound of water rushing in the bathroom.

"Oh, I forgot to shut off the water." Xie Chi suddenly remembered he'd been filling the tub, and quickly released the man's hand. "Sorry, let me go turn off the water first."

Yan Wanqiu: ?

Is Xie Chi crazy? Can't he tell he's here to kill him?

He stared as Xie Chi turned his back completely defenseless and walked toward the bathroom, frozen for a good few seconds before chasing after him through gritted teeth.

Inside the bathroom.

The tub was already half full of hot water, and Xie Chi was bending over to turn off the faucet when he suddenly felt a shove from behind.

"Splash—"

He lost his footing and plunged straight into the tub.

Xie Chi looked up in shock to see the man from before had followed him in, half-kneeling, half-sitting on top of him, looking down at him while gripping his neck, speaking word by word: "Where do you think you're running?"

The water soaked through the man's clothes, making his already practically nonexistent clothes even more see-through.

Xie Chi's face turned beet red as he thrashed around: "Wait wait wait... we just met for the first time!"

Yan Wanqiu listened to Xie Chi's nonsensical words and only felt himself growing hotter and more restless.

In the bathroom, that sweet, green scent grew more pronounced, and Xie Chi's voice became more and more muffled.

The strange sensation from before surged back with a vengeance.

Yan Wanqiu's pheromones began leaking out uncontrollably. The originally icy cedar scent completely lost its sharp edge, gradually giving way to a warm, mellow woody base note.

Xie Chi caught the unusual pheromones.

He stopped mid-sentence, staring at the man's reddened ears, and blurted out in shock: "You've been drugged?"

Drugged?

Yan Wanqiu finally realized his state was off.

Completely different from pheromone disorder—the murderous rage that had wanted to kill everyone had vanished somewhere along the way, replaced by a hotter, more restless urge he'd never experienced before.

His fangs itched, his scent gland was burning hot.

Even his body was screaming out in need.

Yan Wanqiu clenched his jaw.

Damn that Night Owl Syndicate—pulling dirty tricks.

Seeing the man before him remain silent, Xie Chi grew anxious, cursing Yan Wanqiu under his breath for being a monster and resorting to such dirty tricks, while asking in a panic: "Are you okay? Is there an antidote? How can I help you?"

Yan Wanqiu still said nothing. Behind his mask, his crimson eyes fixed darkly on Xie Chi's moving, red lips and fair face. The hand around the other's neck twitched slightly.

This shadow guard isn't completely useless after all.

At least he's easy on the eyes and handy to have around.

Yan Wanqiu's last thread of sanity began to fray.

"I'm going to go get a doctor, mmph—!"

Just as Xie Chi started to get up and leave, the man yanked him back into the water.

This time, the man mounted him directly.

Xie Chi: ?!?!?

"Don't bother." The man rasped.

With that, he reached out and started tearing at Xie Chi's bathrobe.

"Come help me."

Water splashed in the bathtub. Xie Chi held his bathrobe tightly with one hand while pushing against the man's chest with the other, his face bright red: "Wait! You can't use me to cure yourself! I'm straight! I'm gonna marry a wife someday!"

Yan Wanqiu raised an eyebrow and pulled open Xie Chi's bathrobe: "Straight?"

Xie Chi noticed his own reaction too, and his worldview was so shaken he froze in place.

Yan Wanqiu scoffed and tossed the annoying clothes aside. His reasoning was simple. In his eyes, Xie Chi was as good as dead anyway. The guy wasn't bad-looking, so using him as an antidote before killing him was perfect.

...

Yan Wanqiu wasn't in great physical or mental shape, so the two didn't struggle for long before the alpha's warm, woody pheromones filled the air.

His mind cleared a bit, and he was about to get up and toss the guy aside now that he was done with him, when he suddenly felt his wrist grabbed tightly by the guy underneath him.

"You looking to die?" Yan Wanqiu was breathing unevenly.

"I'm sorry." Xie Chi lowered his eyes, the teardrop mole at the corner trembling slightly, and whispered, "I think I might not be so straight after all."

Yan Wanqiu was so mad he almost laughed.

What the hell was he spouting at a time like this?

But the next second, Yan Wanqiu felt the world spin.

"Splash—"

Water splashed everywhere as Xie Chi pressed Yan Wanqiu down.

Xie Chi braced one hand on the tub's edge for leverage while pressing the man down with the other, and said seriously: "Wife, I know you must've been threatened into this too, but I'll take responsibility for you. Tomorrow I'll find a way to get you out from under Yan Wanqiu's control."

What the hell was this idiot babbling about?

Yan Wanqiu's heart jolted, and even in his dazed state, a sense of danger surged up.

But before he could say anything, Xie Chi had him pinned down.

Yan Wanqiu opened his mouth to curse the man for seeking death, but the threat died on his lips and turned into broken gasps.

In the thick, sweet scent of oranges, Yan Wanqiu could only dazedly feel everything blurring—including the headache that had plagued him for six years because of his Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome.

The bathtub was already full, water spilling over the edges in torrents, splashing around like crazy.

...

He was definitely going to kill Xie Chi.

That was Yan Wanqiu's only thought after Xie Chi carried him from the bathroom to the bedroom bed and he woke up again.

Just the thought that Xie Chi—this traitor—had seen him at his most vulnerable made Yan Wanqiu shake with rage.

Xie Chi, completely oblivious, had already accepted the reality of marrying a male wife without missing a beat. He was rummaging for fresh sheets, practically radiating little pink hearts of joy.

The future was uncertain, but he had a wife now.

The gender wasn't quite right, but a wife was a wife, and his current wife fit his type perfectly. He liked it.

Xie Chi happily carried the new sheets to the bedside.

Yan Wanqiu sat up instinctively, eyeing Xie Chi warily: "What are you doing?"

Xie Chi answered obediently: "I'm changing to clean sheets."

Yan Wanqiu froze for a moment, his ears burning before anything else.

He climbed off the bed stiffly, his tone harsh: "Hurry up."

"Okay." Xie Chi quickly changed the sheets.

This was his first time having a "wife," and even though it was already dawn, he wasn't tired at all. After he finished, he sat by the bed with sparkling eyes, staring at the man.

"What's your name? Did Yan Wanqiu force you to come here? Don't be scared—I just wanna understand what's going on. I won't hurt you."

Yan Wanqiu: "..."

Did this guy seriously not recognize that he was Yan Wanqiu?

Was he dreaming, or was Xie Chi crazy?

Exhausted beyond belief, Yan Wanqiu just wanted to go back to his own room to sleep, then chop Xie Chi down himself when he woke up. He made up a name on the spot: "My name is Ji Chou. I wasn't exactly forced to come here either. Just go to sleep quickly."

Hearing that his wife hadn't been forced, Xie Chi's eyes went wide: "You weren't forced? Then how'd Yan Wanqiu drug you?"

Yan Wanqiu himself: "...How are you so sure it was Yan Wanqiu who drugged me?"

Xie Chi blushed, his voice shrinking into stammering: "Th-then it was you who made the first move?"

Yan Wanqiu's head throbbed even harder at his nonsense: "Shut up already. You're so loud."

"Oh." Xie Chi immediately fell silent, his cheeks still flushed pink.

Wuwu, so his wife had taken a liking to him and agreed willingly?

Yan Wanqiu had just started to leave when he saw Xie Chi put two pillows on the bed, looking at him expectantly.

Yan Wanqiu: "...?"

Seeing Yan Wanqiu make no move, Xie Chi tentatively spoke up: "Do we need to sleep in separate blankets?"

Yan Wanqiu finally realized Xie Chi had been making the bed for both of them.

The bed was only a meter and a half wide—during their earlier struggle, Yan Wanqiu had nearly fallen off several times. Now with two pillows on it, it felt even more crowded.

Yan Wanqiu was silent for a moment before finally asking: "Haven't you noticed anything wrong with me?"

Xie Chi's face grew even redder: "No, I think your body's in great shape."

Yan Wanqiu: "...That's not what I meant!"

Physically and mentally drained, he no longer had the energy to argue with this weirdo whose brain worked differently. He waved a hand: "Forget it, pretend I said nothing."

Xie Chi immediately brought out a second blanket and added a few thermal ores to the combustion furnace: "Then let's rest."

Yan Wanqiu briefly considered the possibility of chopping Xie Chi down right now to escape his entanglement, but ultimately gave up.

His whole body was weak—even if he could defeat Xie Chi, it would make quite a commotion and alert the guards outside.

No sooner had he arrived at Blizzard City than rumors of an affair with a shadow guard spread—it really wouldn't help him establish authority with the public. It'd be safer to get a full rest, leave, and then have Xie Chi executed.

Yan Wanqiu, having thought it through, stopped dwelling on it and just returned to bed, intending to doze off for a while.

But there was a burning gaze on him the whole time.

Yan Wanqiu tried to ignore it, forcing his eyes closed.

After a full five minutes, unable to take it anymore, he opened his eyes and turned. Xie Chi was lying in the blanket, head poking out, staring at him: "Are you gonna sleep or what?"

"I am, I am," Xie Chi said, quickly closing his eyes.

A few seconds later, he opened his eyes again, looking at the masked man beside him, and whispered, "Then can I call you my wife? Are you my family now? Is this our home?"

The word "family" made Yan Wanqiu think of the relatives who had reduced him to this, and he frowned in annoyance. He threw the blanket off and grabbed Xie Chi by the throat.

"Say one more word and I'll rip out your—"

He caught Xie Chi's eyes and stopped mid-sentence.

Those round eyes were quietly watching him, filled with earnest hope.

The youth's hair was soft, damp and limp from a recent bath, with none of the aggression from before. Instead, he clutched the blanket nervously, completely unguarded.

Yan Wanqiu: "..."

His grip on Xie Chi's fragile neck loosened slightly, and he found it almost absurdly funny: "You're really that desperate for a family?"

Xie Chi nodded eagerly.

Xie Chi was still looking at him with hope, and Yan Wanqiu lowered his gaze, glowering at him for a while.

Memories of the past flooded his mind uncontrollably.

His mother's silent acquiescence, his father's suspicion, his siblings' relentless attempts to destroy him.

He watched helplessly as everything—including his health—was stripped away by the family he trusted most. All that was left were the terrified stares and curses of the people who once adored him.

And here was this shadow guard, so naively wanting a family.

Even begging for it from the very man who planned to execute him.

With a twisted, mocking glee, Yan Wanqiu chuckled softly: "Of course."

Tomorrow, when Xie Chi learned the truth and his head was chopped off, he'd surely look utterly despairing and broken, wouldn't he?

Xie Chi, oblivious to Yan Wanqiu's malicious intent, smiled at that, his eyes sparkling and two dimples appearing on his cheeks.

Yan Wanqiu looked away as if burned.

What a fool.

Just like he used to be—so stupid it was laughable.