Chapter Summaries

Chi Li recovered at Bai Qi’s secluded estate after being rescued from the shore, but remained uncertain about the circumstances of his injuries and Bai Qi’s intentions. Si Jinyan found him there and, looking frighteningly altered, restrained him and tore open his robe.

• Bai Qi introduced himself to Chi Li and had his attendant treat Chi Li’s wounds.
• Chi Li learned that Bai Qi had found him alone near the shore and chose not to question him further about his injuries.
• Chi Li recovered at Bai Qi’s estate, observed the residents’ devotion to Bai Qi, and later asked Bai Qi about the rescue.
• Bai Qi denied knowing how Chi Li had been injured and said he did not want to meddle in Chi Li’s affairs.
• Si Jinyan appeared on the lawn, seized Chi Li, ordered him not to move, and pulled open his robe.

Si Jinyan brought the injured Chi Li away from Bai Qi’s manor and apologized before kissing him in the spacecraft. After Lu Jiu interrupted them and warned that Chi Li was still recovering, Chi Li offered to help Si Jinyan, and Si Jinyan’s restraint broke.

• Si Jinyan examined Chi Li’s bandaged injuries in Bai Qi’s garden, then carried him to the spacecraft before Chi Li could say goodbye to Bai Qi.
• Aboard the spacecraft, Chi Li described what had happened without mentioning that his pheromones had been extracted, and Si Jinyan grew increasingly distressed.
• Si Jinyan apologized and kissed Chi Li, and they became intimate until Lu Jiu knocked and warned that Chi Li was injured and Si Jinyan could not control his unstable condition.
• Si Jinyan ordered Lu Jiu to have the spacecraft fly directly to the research institute, then returned to hold Chi Li and tried to calm his desire with Chi Li’s pheromones.
• Chi Li offered to help Si Jinyan as Si Jinyan had helped him, and Si Jinyan’s fragile restraint collapsed.

After Si Jinyan brought Chi Li to the research institute, Chi Li learned that Si Jinyan had ordered the mercenary group that attacked him wiped out. Geng Ji privately suspected Chi Li was connected to the group’s six missing men and to the bloodied southwestern coast.

• Si Jinyan finished caring for Chi Li aboard the spacecraft, then helped him outside despite Chi Li insisting he could walk alone.
• Lu Jiu arranged examinations for both Si Jinyan and Chi Li at the research institute.
• Geng Ji told Chi Li that investigators suspected Yao Di had hired the mercenaries and that Si Jinyan had signed an order to eliminate the group.
• Geng Ji withheld that the mercenary group had lost six men in a transaction and that Chi Li had returned unharmed.
• Geng Ji recalled that Si Jinyan had headed for the southwestern coast during a rainstorm, where investigators found the faint smell of blood, and watched Chi Li with suspicion.

Chi Li stayed with Si Jinyan as his susceptible period began, but Si Jinyan became increasingly out of control and marked him before Chi Li passed out. As Si Jinyan tenderly held him afterward, Chi Li’s earlier sensation of scales on Si Jinyan’s arm remained unexplained.

• Lu Jiu warned Chi Li that Si Jinyan’s susceptible period was approaching and would likely be severe.
• Chi Li considered leaving Si Jinyan’s residence, while Qiu Rui told Lu Jiu that Si Jinyan had become unusually dependent on Chi Li.
• Si Jinyan prepared susceptible-period supplies and carried Chi Li to the bedroom, where Chi Li noticed the many products he had bought.
• During Si Jinyan’s susceptible period, Chi Li felt what seemed like raised scales on Si Jinyan’s arm but doubted his own senses.
• Si Jinyan’s desire to mark Chi Li grew uncontrollable, and he bit Chi Li’s nape, causing Chi Li to pass out.
• Afterward, Si Jinyan tenderly licked Chi Li as he held him in his arms.

During Si Jinyan’s susceptible period, he permanently marked Chi Li without his consent and decided to hide it while hoping Chi Li would accept him. After Lu Jiu discovered the mark and warned Si Jinyan about its risks, Si Jinyan asked whether a permanent mark could disappear.

• Chi Li woke after Si Jinyan’s susceptible period ended, and Si Jinyan cared for him while concealing that he had permanently marked him.
• Lu Jiu brought Qiu Rui a bouquet of roses, which Qiu Rui threw away, then went to check on Si Jinyan.
• Lu Jiu’s examination revealed that Si Jinyan had permanently marked Chi Li, and he warned that the bond could make them vulnerable to their enemies.
• Si Jinyan told Lu Jiu that keeping Chi Li by his side might be a reasonable choice if he had to decide about his future.
• Several days later, Si Jinyan asked Lu Jiu whether a permanent mark could disappear like a temporary one.

Si Jinyan learned that his permanent mark on Chi Li was fading, and Lu Jiu’s examination confirmed that the genetic material was decreasing. The chapter also revealed Bai Qi’s grief over Yao He and ended with Si Jinyan questioning whether Chi Li was really an Omega.

• Lu Jiu told Si Jinyan that a permanent mark should not disappear, so Si Jinyan arranged for Chi Li to be examined.
• Chi Li visited Bai Qi, who claimed his people could summon nearby clan members in danger and asked whether Chi Li had a connection to them.
• After Chi Li fell asleep and left the manor, Bai Qi used his tail to play chess with a device imitating Yao He, then suffered backlash from exploring Chi Li’s memories.
• Si Jinyan took Chi Li to Lu Jiu, whose examination confirmed that Si Jinyan’s genetic material in Chi Li’s body was decreasing.
• Si Jinyan asked Lu Jiu whether Chi Li might not be an Omega.

Si Jinyan questioned whether Chi Li was truly an omega, and Lu Jiu explained that an enigma might be able to mark an alpha. Si Jinyan continued marking Chi Li, who felt pain for the first time and was left confused by Si Jinyan’s unsettling question.

• Si Jinyan challenged Lu Jiu’s diagnosis of Chi Li as an omega, and Lu Jiu promised to examine Chi Li again.
• Si Jinyan asked whether an enigma could mark an alpha, and Lu Jiu explained that it was theoretically possible but difficult.
• Chi Li asked Si Jinyan if his pheromone instability had flared up, and Si Jinyan agreed before carrying him to the desk.
• Si Jinyan carried Chi Li into the bathroom and marked the gland at the back of his neck while watching him with unusual clarity.
• Chi Li shuddered and said the mark hurt, and Si Jinyan asked if he knew why as Chi Li looked back at his black eyes.

Chi Li discovered that Si Jinyan had been investigating the Humanoid Weapon Project and mermaids, then reported his findings during a forging-agent injection. His superiors raised the mission to S-class and told him Si Jinyan might be a modified human connected to the project, while someone reopened the building after Chi Li left.

• Si Jinyan asked Lu Jiu whether an alpha could experience pleasure from being marked, and learned the process was likely painful for an alpha.
• Chi Li searched Si Jinyan's study and found books about the battle between the Empire and Loran, conflicting accounts of the Humanoid Weapon Project, and repeated references to mermaids.
• Chi Li met his contact in a hidden room, injected the forging agent, and reported what he had found in the study.
• Chi Li's superiors classified the discovery as Level Two information, raised the next operation to S-class, and ordered him to investigate Si Jinyan's identity.
• Chi Li agreed to continue the mission after learning Si Jinyan might be a modified human created by the Humanoid Weapon Project.
• After Chi Li boarded the departing airship, someone opened the residential building door he had just left.

Chi Li returned home to find Si Jinyan waiting and was drawn into an intense encounter after they discussed visiting Chi Li’s grandmother. Later, while secretly searching the Federation Government database, Chi Li uncovered footage revealing Si Jinyan’s hidden mermaid identity.

• Si Jinyan suggested visiting Chi Li’s grandmother together and offered to bring her to his home.
• Si Jinyan kissed Chi Li and carried him upstairs, leaving marks that Chi Li’s forged Omega pheromones soon erased.
• Chi Li planned to search Si Jinyan’s office Neural Computer during a group meeting and used his wrist chip to disguise his movements on surveillance footage.
• Chi Li hacked into the Research Institute’s system and found a video file connected to Si Jinyan’s identity.
• Chi Li watched the recording and saw a powerful, silver-black mermaid tail inside a glass isolation chamber.

Chi Li discovered footage revealing Si Jinyan’s monstrous form and secretly copied the evidence before hiding his reaction from him. The next day, Qiu Rui presented proof that Chi Li had deceived Si Jinyan and was an alpha spy, leaving Si Jinyan’s eyes transformed into golden slits.

• Chi Li watched footage of a scaled, fish-like creature with Si Jinyan’s face and copied it, along with Si Jinyan’s examination reports, before erasing his tracks.
• Chi Li recoiled when Si Jinyan held his wrist aboard the spaceship, then concealed his fear and composed himself on the journey back.
• Qiu Rui presented evidence of a falsifying agent, altered records, and a decline in Chi Li’s sex-targeting genes after Si Jinyan’s mark.
• Qiu Rui revealed that Chi Li was an alpha from Loran’s military intelligence service who had disguised himself as an omega and conducted espionage.
• Si Jinyan read the files and raised his eyes, which had turned into golden vertical slits.

Chi Li was locked in his bedroom during a dangerously intensified susceptible period and was denied an inhibitor while Si Jinyan was away. When Si Jinyan returned, Chi Li discovered him in the bathroom with the enormous fish tail from the video.

• Chi Li woke with a worsening susceptible period, found the bedroom locked, and realized his Neural Computer had been taken.
• Chi Li endured hours of fever and pain, but Yuan Ru refused to give him an inhibitor without Si Jinyan's orders.
• Chi Li forced himself to eat lunch, vomited it up, and tried to cool his body in a cold bath.
• Si Jinyan returned and asked Yuan Ru whether Chi Li had eaten; Yuan Ru reported that Chi Li had finished lunch and later fallen asleep.
• Chi Li heard water in the bathroom, went to investigate, and found Si Jinyan sitting in the tub with a huge silver-black fish tail.

Si Jinyan overwhelmed Chi Li with his Alpha pressure and fish tail, then confronted him over trying to run and accused him of lying. As Chi Li’s susceptible phase returned and left him unable to resist, Si Jinyan told him to be as honest as his body.

• Si Jinyan pinned Chi Li down with overwhelming pressure and coiled his fish tail around Chi Li’s neck until he nearly lost consciousness.
• Si Jinyan dragged Chi Li close, asked whether he had been satisfied with the recording, and called him a liar when he denied it.
• Si Jinyan restrained Chi Li and demanded to know why he had run and whether he had considered the consequences of failure.
• Si Jinyan stripped Chi Li’s torn clothes away as his susceptible-phase pheromones intensified and Chi Li’s symptoms returned.
• Si Jinyan pulled Chi Li away from the bathtub, bit his knuckle, and told him to be as honest as his body.

At the Federal Central Government, Geng Ji warned Si Jinyan that keeping Chi Li close would eventually expose them, while Si Jinyan returned home to find Chi Li suffering through a prolonged susceptible period. After easing Chi Li with his pheromones, Si Jinyan injected him with an unknown medicine, leaving Chi Li frightened and asking what it was.

• Qiu Rui and Geng Ji discussed whether Si Jinyan had ordered action against Chi Li, and Geng Ji said he had not.
• Si Jinyan arrived at work, handled several matters, and left early while Geng Ji followed him to warn that Chi Li's identity and the Emperor's scrutiny made their situation increasingly dangerous.
• Si Jinyan returned home and learned from Yuan Ru that Chi Li had not eaten lunch and was unlikely to endure his condition much longer.
• Si Jinyan found Chi Li feverish and disoriented, released his pheromones, and held him as Chi Li instinctively grabbed his throat.
• After Chi Li resisted him, Si Jinyan overpowered him and eased his symptoms, then injected medicine into the gland at the back of his neck.
• Chi Li regained some awareness, saw the empty syringe in Si Jinyan's hand, and asked what he had injected.

Si Jinyan tried to accelerate the disappearance of Chi Li’s suppressant by forcing him through his susceptible period, despite Chi Li’s fear and resistance. As Chi Li’s alpha pheromones emerged, they began repelling Si Jinyan’s, and Si Jinyan continued until Chi Li screamed for him to stop.

• Si Jinyan injected Chi Li with medicine to neutralize his suppressant and said he wanted to experience him in his alpha state.
• Si Jinyan used his pheromones and mermaid form to keep Chi Li in the bathtub and force him through his susceptible period.
• After Chi Li received another injection, he realized that enduring Si Jinyan’s actions could help his susceptible period end sooner and stopped resisting.
• The next day, Chi Li’s alpha pheromones began emerging, and Si Jinyan’s pheromones caused him pain and repulsion.
• Si Jinyan held Chi Li through breakfast and continued their daily encounter despite Chi Li’s pain and pleas to stop.
• When Chi Li realized what Si Jinyan intended to do, he screamed for him to stop.

As Chi Li's counterfeit omega cells died and his alpha x-gland awakened, Si Jinyan tried to mark him as an alpha, but stopped after Chi Li begged him not to. Days later, Si Jinyan's Scales surfaced and his eyes became beastlike as he faced Chi Li.

• Chi Li struggled while Si Jinyan attempted to mark him, but Si Jinyan paused when Chi Li began crying and pleaded with him to stop.
• Si Jinyan promised not to mark Chi Li that day and kept his distance over the next few days, though he confined Chi Li to the bedroom and had the butler deliver an inhibitor.
• Chi Li used the inhibitor and resolved that he had to escape rather than remain imprisoned by Si Jinyan.
• When Si Jinyan entered the bedroom, Chi Li saw dark patterns rise beneath his neck and Scales emerge as his sensitive-period pheromones no longer soothed Si Jinyan's condition.
• Si Jinyan looked at Chi Li with fully emerged golden vertical pupils and an empty, dangerous stare.

After Si Jinyan lost control and nearly attacked Chi Li, he recovered and explained that Chi Li’s return to being an Alpha had triggered a severe rebound in his condition. Chi Li dreamed of Si Jinyan imprisoning him, and at dawn Qin Meng arrived with an imperial arrest warrant to seize him on espionage charges.

• Si Jinyan nearly bit Chi Li while out of control, but Chi Li called to him and helped him regain consciousness.
• Chi Li told Si Jinyan that the blood on him came from Si Jinyan’s bitten tongue, and Si Jinyan explained that his symptoms had worsened since Chi Li became an Alpha again.
• Chi Li warned that Si Jinyan might one day lose control completely; Si Jinyan quietly replied that it was possible, then left to answer an urgent call.
• Chi Li dreamed that Si Jinyan would imprison him and woke before dawn with a sense of unease.
• Qin Meng presented an arrest warrant signed by the Emperor and demanded Chi Li’s arrest, while Yuan Ru refused to grant access to the Marshal’s Residence.
• As Chi Li lay awake in his bedroom, tapping sounded against the window.

Chi Li escaped the estate with Bai Qi’s guard but was shot through the heart by the guard’s hidden weapon. At the research institute, Si Jinyan was trapped and restrained in Mermaid form, then felt a violent pain in his atrium as he sensed Chi Li’s apparent death and began fighting his bonds.

• Bai Qi’s guard helped Chi Li escape the estate, warning him that the emperor’s men were coming and directing him southeast.
• As Chi Li ran toward the forest, the guard shot him in the heart with a tracking sniper pistol.
• Si Jinyan went to the research institute after Qiu Rui summoned him to test a drug that replicated Chi Li’s pheromones.
• The researchers trapped Si Jinyan, forced him into Mermaid form, chained him to an iron frame, and extracted his blood.
• Si Jinyan felt a severe pain in his atrium, his eyes turned gold, and he began straining against his chains as his wounds regenerated.

Si Jinyan broke free during his transformation at the research institute, then found the wounded Chi Li and brought him to a cave pool. As Si Jinyan’s beast instincts took control, he removed the bullet from Chi Li’s wound and overwhelmed him, leaving their encounter unresolved.

• Si Jinyan transformed further inside the extraction chamber, grew enormous translucent wings, and killed an elderly researcher with his tail.
• After being shot, Chi Li hid by a tree and lost consciousness as he sensed a familiar warmth and saw someone approaching through mist.
• Chi Li woke in a cave pool and found Si Jinyan in a monstrous transformed state, with silver-black scales, long hair, and a tail restraining him.
• Si Jinyan bound Chi Li with his hair and used a tentacle-like mouthpart to remove and crush the bullet lodged in Chi Li’s back.
• Driven by the instincts unleashed by his transformation, Si Jinyan continued to overwhelm Chi Li as Chi Li struggled helplessly in the darkness.

Bai Qi manipulated Yao Di with a false prophecy about Si Jinyan losing control, while piecing together a connection between Chi Li and Merfolk royalty. In the cave, Si Jinyan repeatedly marked Chi Li and forced him to drink blood, leaving Chi Li gravely weakened and unresponsive.

• Bai Qi told Yao Di that Si Jinyan would lose control and appear covered in scales, presenting it as an opportunity for Yao Di.
• Bai Qi privately reasoned that Chi Li, though human, carried a Merfolk Core, while Si Jinyan seemed to have royal blood but lacked a Core Scale.
• Bai Qi remembered Yao He and reflected that he had only improved at chess after Yao He left.
• Chi Li awoke bound in the cave as Si Jinyan continued marking him, and Si Jinyan explained that Chi Li had swallowed his blood to survive.
• Chi Li begged Si Jinyan to release him, but Si Jinyan continued marking him and told him to remember him.
• Si Jinyan held Chi Li in the pool as Chi Li's body went rigid and his gaze lost its light.

Chi Li woke in a hidden cave after Si Jinyan had kept him captive for over a week, and he questioned whether he could trust him. Meanwhile, Bai Qi revealed that the Merfolk Core had merged with Chi Li and protected him from the bullet; Chi Li ended the chapter exploring a strangely silent forest.

• Chi Li woke in pain as Si Jinyan pressed close to him, then lost consciousness again.
• Bai Qi learned that his servant and Yuan Ru had helped Chi Li escape, and explained that the scale protecting Chi Li's heart had made him stronger and more resilient.
• Chi Li woke alone in a hidden cave with a communicator that could contact only one number, which he chose not to call.
• Chi Li went to scout the area and discovered that the mountain forest was unnaturally silent.