Chapter 4: High Fever

Chapter 4: High Fever

"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!"

Xie Chi was awakened by the terminal's safety alert for excessive sleep duration.

He instinctively threw off the covers and leapt out of bed, silencing the terminal alert while pulling a quantum gun out of his spatial ring.

It wasn't until he saw the room's sparse furnishings that Xie Chi remembered he had transmigrated.

He immediately relaxed, turning sleepily toward the bed: "Wife, did I wake you up... Huh?"

Xie Chi stared at the empty bed, his drowsiness vanishing instantly.

Where the hell did his wife go?!

Xie Chi hurried over and pressed his hand to the bed. The side where Ji Chou had slept was ice-cold, and even the thick woody pheromones that had hung in the air all night had faded to a faint whisper.

He'd been gone for a long time.

"Ji Chou?"

Xie Chi searched the room in disbelief, but the small house no longer held another person's figure. Only the messy bathroom and the unkempt floor proved last night hadn't been a dream.

The energy stones in the combustion furnace were nearly depleted, and the room's temperature was low. Xie Chi stood there in his thin pajamas, his expression slowly turning cold.

He'd almost forgotten—Ji Chou was sent by Yan Wanqiu to test him.

That tyrant Yan Wanqiu would never just let Ji Chou stay with him. Ji Chou's probably been dragged off for questioning by now.

Xie Chi yanked at his hair in frustration.

He'd been completely swept up in the heat of the moment last night. With all that time to come up with a plan, all he'd done was sleep with Ji Chou.

Now, not only was he at risk of being executed at any moment, but with Yan Wanqiu's paranoid personality, if he found out Ji Chou had agreed to be his wife, he'd either kill Ji Chou on the spot or use him as a hostage to control Xie Chi.

No, he had to go see Yan Wanqiu right now.

Xie Chi pressed his lips together and pushed the door open, nearly running straight into Nie Huaiyi, who was standing guard outside.

"Uncle Nie?" Xie Chi looked at the middle-aged man who brought him meals.

Nie Huaiyi clearly hadn't expected the door to suddenly swing open. After a beat of surprise, he asked, "Captain Xie, you're up? Want a meal?"

Xie Chi glanced at the sky and saw it was already dusk.

He'd slept through an entire day—no wonder the terminal's passive alert went off.

Xie Chi kept his face neutral and said flatly, "I want to see His Highness."

"Well..." Nie Huaiyi hesitated, his face betraying his reluctance.

"Captain Xie, it's not that I'm stopping you, but His Highness was badly hurt last night when the Night Owl Syndicate attacked because of a traitor's betrayal. This afternoon, he personally ordered that he'd be resting for the next few days and wouldn't see anyone. After that, he plans to hunt down the mole. Anyone who causes trouble now is just asking for it..."

Xie Chi closed his eyes, the impulsive fire in his chest doused by Nie Huaiyi's words.

The intel on the Night Owl Syndicate had been given to Yan Wanqiu by the original owner on Yan Baiyue's orders.

Add that to his communications with Yan Baiyue, and once Yan Wanqiu recovered and got his head straight, Xie Chi was as good as dead.

Stay calm. He couldn't drag Ji Chou into this.

This was the only family he'd ever had.

He had to find a way to clear his name fast while keeping Ji Chou safe. Only by staying alive could he figure out how to avoid getting dragged down by Yan Wanqiu.

After all, Yan Wanqiu was a tyrant who died a miserable death in the history books. Xie Chi had zero loyalty to the crown—no way was he going to martyr himself for the state.

All he wanted was to make money, take care of his wife, and finally have a family.

Xie Chi let out a slow breath, a thousand thoughts racing through his head.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and looked at Nie Huaiyi, his voice serious: "Uncle Nie, I have important intel for His Highness. It's urgent—it's about whether Blizzard City can survive the ice-sealing period. Please find a way to get the message up the chain."

"What?" Nie Huaiyi blinked, confused.

Xie Chi enunciated each word: "The distribution map of all the thermal ore in Blizzard City."

.

Meanwhile, back in the palace bedroom.

Yan Wanqiu—the ruthless tyrant in Xie Chi's eyes—had come down with a high fever and was lying groggy in bed.

Xie Chi's words had stirred up old memories, and he'd completely lost any desire to sleep. After Xie Chi fell asleep, he'd thrown on whatever clothes he could find and, with no one around in the early morning, limped back to his palace through the minus-thirty-degree wind.

That little bastard Xie Chi—he looked all innocent and naive, but he'd bitten nearly every inch of Yan Wanqiu's body, leaving it covered in red, swollen marks, and the other place was even worse.

If an alpha couldn't be marked by another alpha, Yan Wanqiu figured even his gland wouldn't have gotten off unscathed.

Forcing yourself on a bodyguard all night and getting fucked by one all night were clearly two very different things—especially when he'd ended up in such a pathetic state.

Yan Wanqiu could only swallow his pride and his blood. He didn't even call a doctor. After handing the confiscated weapons to the mechanic, he treated his own wounds, ordered everyone to leave him alone for a few days, popped some anti-inflammatories, and went to sleep.

As it turned out, that was the right call.

Not long after he fell asleep, the fever hit.

Yan Wanqiu gritted his teeth, reaching with difficulty for the water glass on the nightstand.

It was all that idiot Xie Chi's fault—why the hell did he have to be so big? Even now, there was still some he couldn't wash out himself.

He'd been just as swept up by Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome. He should've taken care of Xie Chi while the bastard was asleep.

Once this fever broke, he'd kill Xie Chi with his own bare hands...

"Knock, knock, knock."

Yan Wanqiu's thoughts were cut off by a knock at the door.

"Get lost!" he rasped. "Didn't I say not to bother me?!"

"Your Highness." The guard outside was shaking. "Deputy Captain Nie sent word—Xie Chi—"

The second Yan Wanqiu heard the name "Xie Chi," he unleashed a pheromone pressure dripping with killing intent, and the guard's voice died in his throat.

"Go on. What about Xie Chi?" Yan Wanqiu ground out through clenched teeth.

The guard, a local hire from Blizzard City, was facing the wrath of this brutal Monarch up close for the first time. His legs went weak as he stammered, "H-he-he says he has the thermal ore distribution map and wants to see you!"

The killing intent on Yan Wanqiu's face froze solid.

.

Three days later.

"A Chi, I'm so glad you're alright. I haven't slept a wink since that day, worried something might have happened to you. I heard Yan Wanqiu was seriously injured—did you give him the false intelligence about the Night Owl Syndicate as I arranged?"

Xie Chi, who had been confined for three days, stared expressionlessly at Yan Baiyue's phony concern on the smart screen and nodded curtly.

Although the information had actually come from the original owner, he'd have to take the fall for it anyway.

Yan Baiyue looked all emotional: "I knew you'd have my back, A Chi. I'm all packed and heading out today, arriving in Blizzard City in three days. Then you follow the original plan—work with the Night Owl Syndicate and me from the inside, stage a mining accident and frame Yan Wanqiu. With any luck, he'll die in the thermal ore mine, and then I'll definitely be able to marry you—"

"Does the Night Owl Syndicate have contact with you?" As a married man who kept his nose clean, Xie Chi cut Yan Baiyue off mid-sentence.

Yan Baiyue froze, then blurted out instinctively: "Yes, it's one of my elder brother's enterprises, like Frost City, mainly for dealings with foreign—"

Yan Baiyue stopped mid-sentence, realizing he had said something he shouldn't have, his voice trailing off abruptly.

He awkwardly changed the subject, with a forced smile: "A Chi, look at my new necklace—isn't it pretty?"

As he spoke, Yan Baiyue leaned in a little to show Xie Chi the diamond necklace on his chest.

It was a heavy piece—a huge round center diamond set in the middle, crystal clear, encrusted with layer after layer of smaller diamonds, super intricate and flashy.

"This is the dowry my big brother gave me. It was a gift from the late master jeweler, Edmond, to his only son, but that son's been missing ever since. Now this is the only one of its kind left in all of Eberis."

Yan Baiyue clearly truly loved this necklace, tilting his chin up proudly as he spoke.

Xie Chi listened with half an ear, his mind totally focused on how to get the most out of Yan Baiyue's information and report it to Yan Wanqiu.

His status as an A-class omega was confirmed, but Yan Wanqiu seemed even angrier. According to Nie Huaiyi, when Yan Wanqiu heard of his request for an audience, his Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome pressure nearly crushed the guard at the door to death on the spot.

Xie Chi had been a little scared of the infamous Tyrant—after all, he had only proven that he hadn't conspired with Yan Baiyue; his traitor status was nowhere near cleared, and the moody, paranoid Tyrant could still have him killed at any moment.

But after three days of waiting, his mood had gone from tense to calm, and now he was even getting a little impatient.

During these days, he'd read through the historical records and come up with a way to clear his name. If he didn't get to see Yan Wanqiu soon, Xie Chi was afraid Ji Chou would get dragged into it too and meet with misfortune.

"A Chi, are you listening to me?"

Xie Chi was so obviously zoned out that even Yan Baiyue noticed something was off.

Xie Chi replied flatly, sounding totally perfunctory: "Yes, your dowry is very beautiful. It must be expensive, right?"

Yan Baiyue thought Xie Chi was impressed by his dowry, covering his mouth as he laughed: "You can't put a price on this—after all, my royal brother had it made to marriage-alliance standards. But don't worry, A Chi, you've helped me so much that of course I won't ask you for a bride price."

Historically, Yan Baiyue had never planned to marry beneath him. If he hadn't died in Blizzard City, he would've been married off to the Mechanical Civilization as part of an alliance. Xie Chi didn't buy a word of it.

But it did get him thinking about something else.

He'd never bought Ji Chou anything.

That just wouldn't fly. His old coworkers used to say that keeping a wife cost a fortune—not just to improve your living situation, but also to keep surprising her with gifts.

Xie Chi's mind drifted off again, thinking about how to make some money to upgrade their living situation if he survived this crisis, and what gift to give Ji Chou when he saw him. His attitude toward Yan Baiyue was obviously half-hearted.

Yan Baiyue watched the guard go all stiff and wooden again and curled his lip.

He'd only given Xie Chi a second glance because of his looks, but looking at him now, he was still the same quiet, boring lump as before.

Yan Baiyue lost all interest: "Alright, I need to get busy. Next time we meet will be in Blizzard City. Make sure you find a chance to hit up the Night Owl Syndicate headquarters early and coordinate with Boss Ye. Yan Wanqiu took out two of the Syndicate's leaders in one go recently, and Boss Ye can't handle everything alone. I'll send you the meeting point and code words later."

Xie Chi nodded perfunctorily and ended the video call.

Yan Baiyue quickly sent over the meeting point and code words—clearly, that had been the purpose of this call.

"The Night Owl Syndicate..."

Xie Chi looked at the messages on the smart screen, narrowed his eyes, and put on his terminal glasses.

The terminal had been running in power-saving mode; when not in use, Xie Chi would shut it down. It still had 50% battery remaining.

Just as Xie Chi was about to examine the details of the meeting with the Night Owl Syndicate, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the door.

He took off his glasses, stood up, walked to the door, and opened it almost simultaneously with the knock: "Uncle Nie, is something the matter?"

Because Yan Wanqiu was recovering from his injuries, Nie Huaiyi didn't know that Xie Chi was one of the traitors, only thinking he was an unlucky soul caught in the Tyrant's wrath.

His expression was relaxed as he smiled: "Captain Xie, good news—His Highness just responded and has summoned you."

Xie Chi wasn't surprised by this outcome, smiling back at the man: "Thank you, Uncle Nie."

He had already looked up the man's information on the very first day.

The man's name was Nie Huaiyi. He was a guard recruited locally when Yan Wanqiu arrived in Blizzard City, and he was an Alpha. After "Xie Chi" had been flayed, Nie Huaiyi had taken over the original owner's position, and was later appointed by Yan Wanqiu—who was constantly expanding his territory—to garrison Blizzard City, acting as deputy city lord.

He was also the last acting city lord who, in order to resist the invasion of the Mechanical Alien Race, held his ground in Blizzard City until the very end, and was the one who pressed the city's self-destruct button under Yan Wanqiu's hand, turning to ash along with the entire city.

Regarding Blizzard City's self-destruction, history had many accounts. Some unofficial records claimed that Nie Huaiyi led the entire city's populace in a blood petition to die together, but the more mainstream theory was that Yan Wanqiu, driven nearly mad by Pheromone Dysregulation Syndrome at the time and seeing defeat was certain, chose to rather die in glory than surrender, dragging everyone down with him.

Xie Chi didn't particularly care what the truth was—in any case, Nie Huaiyi had never betrayed Yan Wanqiu to the very end, and had already initially gained Yan Wanqiu's trust. There was no risk of his message being relayed into Yan Baiyue's ears.

That was enough.

Nie Huaiyi was somewhat surprised to see him smile, then smiled back, lowering his voice to warn: "His Highness just recovered and is in a very bad mood. He's screened everyone in the camp top to bottom again—several guards have been thrown into the dungeon. Be careful, and don't provoke him."

Yan Wanqiu was paranoid and frequently arrested suspected traitors in camp—it was a common occurrence. After Xie Chi had produced the thermal ore distribution map a few days ago, Nie Huaiyi clearly regarded him as another unlucky soul under suspicion.

After all, what traitor would produce such decisive strategic intelligence to prove their innocence?

The traitor in question, Xie Chi: "..."

"Thank you." Xie Chi thanked him again.

After quickly getting dressed and placing a backup terminal in the drawer of his room, Xie Chi followed Nie Huaiyi out the door, carrying the simple hand-drawn map he had sketched over the past few days.

Outside, the wind was biting cold.

Having been confined since the moment he transmigrated, this was Xie Chi's first time seeing the camp.

Although it was currently the brief summer season, the temperature in Blizzard City was still as low as minus thirty degrees.

The ground was covered in thick snow, with only a single cleared main road running through, flanked by half-meter-high snow walls on both sides. To preserve warmth and save costs, the camp's buildings were low and cramped, with tiny windows, mostly constructed on elevated wooden frames.

The mixed wood-and-stone cottage Xie Chi lived in was already among the finest in the entire camp.

Looking at the patrolling soldiers clad in all manner of animal furs for warmth, Xie Chi—wearing a thermostatic combat suit beneath his outer coat—once again keenly realized just how backward and impoverished a place he had landed in.

Oh, right—he still had several unopened thermostatic combat suits. Those could be given to Ji Chou.

He just felt a little embarrassed about it.

The thermostatic combat suit can protect the body's vital organs from fatal harm while keeping warm. It's genuinely rare and practical for this era, but in the future, it's just an everyday thing. If money allowed, Xie Chi would rather gift things that count as pricey luxuries in this time period.

But the problem right now is that he doesn't have the money.

As a certified simp, the original owner spent all his wages pursuing Yan Baiyue, burning through every cent.

And the cash he needed was no joke.

For starters, just fixing up his place would cost a fortune. Plus, modifying his terminal and unlocking his weapons meant shelling out big bucks for a mechanic.

The only mechanic in this era who could work on weapons from three thousand years in the future—Xie Chi could only think of one name: Shi Peijue, the father of interstellar mechanics, who historically showed up at Yan Wanqiu's side.

But that guy only appeared next to Yan Wanqiu after Blizzard City had entered its frozen period, and the terminal records didn't say where he'd come from. Xie Chi could barely keep himself alive right now, let alone go hunting through all of Blizzard City for a mechanic he only knew by name.

Besides, word was this mechanic had a weird temper. Even if he did find him, he probably couldn't afford to hire him...

Xie Chi let his thoughts wander as he walked, until Nie Huaiyi, leading the way, stopped.

"We're here," Nie Huaiyi said.

Xie Chi shook himself out of his thoughts and looked at the building before him.

This was a small palace sitting right in the middle of the camp.

The courtyard was ringed by low blue-stone walls. Two guards at the entrance shoved open the heavy wooden gates, revealing the bare ground inside.

The snow had been cleared and the dirt packed down, but no bricks had been laid, and there were no flowers, trees, or decorations.

The main palace building was also stone, two stories tall—the tallest structure in the whole camp. Flanking the main hall were rows of side rooms for storage.

To suit the local climate, the palace had a steep wooden gable roof instead of the fancy domes you'd expect from imperial standards. The lack of decoration gave it a desolate, exiled feel, but it still carried a solemn, cold dignity.

Xie Chi began to feel nervous.

Yan Wanqiu probably wasn't still pissed off... right?

Nie Huaiyi stopped at the entrance. Xie Chi, clutching the blueprint, was led by the guards to the palace's audience hall.

"Creak—"

The heavy wooden door creaked open, and the guards silently withdrew. From across the hall, Xie Chi could see the man sitting on the throne.

White hair, crimson eyes, cold, sharp features. The man rested his chin on one hand, staring at him with a dark look, radiating restless irritation.

Xie Chi flinched, terrified the Tyrant might pull the same move as last time and use pheromones to crush him under pressure. He quickly dropped his head and stepped forward to bow. "Your Highness."

"Xie Chi."

Yan Wanqiu looked down at this bold guard who'd dared to sleep beside him for a night. Just thinking about how he'd had to clean up after himself while burning with fever made a wave of inexplicable rage rise in his chest.

"You'd better have something good to offer me, or I'll have you gelded on the spot."

Xie Chi: "...What?"

Why the hell would he castrate him too??