Consultation at a Small Clinic

The middle-aged man asked in the same businesslike tone, "Have you been marked recently? Or had sex or done anything else that could cause pheromone fluctuations?"

Li Mao hadn't expected getting his pheromones drawn to involve so many questions.

His hands on his knees curled tensely, and the tips of his ears began to flush on their own.

How was he supposed to explain this?

More importantly, how was he supposed to explain that he'd been marked?!

Seeing that Li Mao had remained silent for a long while, his face turning the color of liver, the middle-aged man reminded him, "Extracting pheromones is pretty dangerous for both Alphas and Omegas. We're all trying to make money here; there's no need to risk anyone's life, right?"

Li Mao also felt that he was being a little too fussy.

He would have to come clean to a doctor when he went to have the mark removed anyway, wouldn't he?

Doctors at top-tier hospitals were doctors, but what made the doctors at a private little clinic any worse?!

A grown Alpha had to own up to what he did. If your heart was clean, you had nothing to fear!

Being all awkward and coy like this wasn't his style at all!

So Li Mao took a deep breath, looked the clinic doctor in the eye, and explained in a low voice, "Um, I... I was permanently marked a few days ago. Would that... affect anything?"

The doctor's pen paused over the paper. Slowly, he raised his head and looked at Li Mao, whose expression clearly showed he wasn't joking.

"You... aren't you an Alpha?"

Enigmas were so rare that many people had mentally erased this sex—one they had only ever seen in health education textbooks during their school years—from the world entirely.

In their worldview, Alphas were only the ones who marked others.

Having crossed that mental hurdle, Li Mao was now completely at ease. He even wanted to ask Dr. Liu Yong whether the permanent mark on him could be removed.

He nodded and answered, "Y-yeah. I ran into an Enigma, so he marked me."

"An Enigma?!" Upon hearing that rare sex, the middle-aged man was so startled his voice nearly cracked. "You were permanently marked by an Enigma?!"

Li Mao nodded again in confirmation and took the opportunity to ask, "Doctor, if you can extract pheromones here, can you also... remove marks?"

After saying that, he raised a hand and touched the gland at the back of his neck with lingering fear. That night, Enigma had nearly bitten it full of holes.

Clearly, this doctor from the so-called small clinic had encountered a case like this for the first time as well. No longer in the mood to record Li Mao's messy personal file, he hastily gathered the papers on the desk and asked Li Mao with some excitement, "You said it was a few days ago. About how many days ago?"

Li Mao had no idea what the little Mediterranean's excitement was about.

Touching his neck, he said quietly, "The... the day before yesterday, probably?"

"Are you sure it was a permanent mark? Did the permanent marking succeed? Are you sure your reproductive cavity, which had degenerated due to you being an Alpha, was opened..."

The more Li Mao listened, the more something felt wrong. When the topic reached his "reproductive cavity," he finally blew up.

He slammed the desk twice to express his displeasure, then cursed with a red face, "I'm only asking whether you can remove it or not! When I say permanent mark, I mean a permanent mark! How the fuck would I not know what counts as a permanent mark?! Why don't you ask what brand of underwear that Enigma wears too?! Is that important?!"

The Mediterranean doctor gave an awkward smile, cleared his throat twice, and replied, "Of course I can remove marks! I remove marks all the time for the Omegas who entertain clients on those two streets! Ask around if you don't believe me!"

Li Mao licked his lower lip, feeling conflicted.

He asked, "How... how much do you charge for removing a permanent mark?"

The Mediterranean doctor replied, "Normally, it's five thousand per procedure. The total depends on how many times it takes. The more procedures you need, the higher the risk, and the more it costs. For someone like you, having it done for the first time, five thousand is enough."

"Let me tell you, if you went to a regular top-tier hospital, you wouldn't get out for less than twenty thousand! Not to mention yours was an Enigma's mark. Wouldn't those doctors have to study it first?"

"Mark removal is just a minor procedure these days. It's done in half an hour, all by machine. There's nothing difficult about it. Why bother making a trip to a big hospital and wasting that money?"

The Mediterranean doctor vigorously pitched his clinic's services.

Meanwhile, Li Mao's brows were tightly furrowed.

The Mediterranean doctor was used to seeing patients react like this. After finishing his spiel, he fell silent and gave Li Mao plenty of time to think it over and make his choice.

After a long while, Li Mao finally asked, "Then since I've been marked, can... can I still sell pheromones?"

The Mediterranean doctor answered decisively, "Of course you can!"

Li Mao forced out a flattering smile and shamelessly bargained, "Bro, we were introduced by a friend. Give me a discount, yeah? Make it three thousand to remove the mark. You can draw a tube of my pheromones, and I won't charge you for it. Please, just take the trouble to remove my mark for me."

Just as Li Mao had said before entering the clinic, he had no other choice now.

Being able to offset the cost like this was the best possible outcome.

The Mediterranean doctor lowered his eyes and weighed it for a while before finally agreeing, seeming quite reluctant.

"Fine. We're both Fang Ming's friends, so I'll take it as doing Mingzi a favor. We can be friends too, and look out for each other if anything comes up!"

At those words, Li Mao's grin nearly stretched to his ears.

He nodded repeatedly. He had wanted to pull out a cigarette and offer one to the doctor, but when he looked up and saw the "No Smoking" sign on the wall, he awkwardly withdrew his hand.

"D-deal, bro! Remember what you said! If you ever need anything, just come find me, Xuanyuan Feifei!"

Li Mao wasn't stupid.

Though he called the man bro and buddy like they were closer than family,

the ID he had given him was one he'd gotten recently: a fake ID under the name "Xuanyuan Feifei."

Who used their real name for this kind of unlucky business these days?

For legitimate work, Li Mao would still use his real name to build up some recognition.

But for this sort of crap—selling pheromones and removing marks, no less—he naturally used a fake name.

The doctor, who had seen Li Mao's "ID," did not question his strange name.

He pointed toward the inner room of the clinic. "All right, brother, let's get down to business. Go to the examination room at the very end and lie face-down on the bed. I'll prepare some equipment and come over in a bit. Wait for me."

Li Mao had no additional suspicions toward the doctor, who looked so honest and straightforward. He got up and headed in the direction the man had pointed.

He did not notice that after he turned around, the doctor he considered an honest man took out his phone and sent someone a message, a lewd grin spreading across his face.