Locked Up (First Update)

Chi Li's consciousness gradually sank into chaos. Si Jinyan pressed close against his back, enveloping him beneath his body.

Chi Li tried to reach out and grab the edge of the carpet, but Si Jinyan noticed. His five fingers threaded between Chi Li's and pulled him back.

Chi Li's fingertips trembled, every breath controlled by Si Jinyan.

Si Jinyan's deep voice came from behind him, indistinct, as though from the end of a dream. "You are mine."

·

Chi Li could not move at all. He did not know how long had passed before his awareness gradually cleared. He knew he was dreaming. Something icy rested against his abdomen. A moment later, it hooked around Chi Li's wrist and gave it a shake...

It was alive. The terrifying sensation made the half-awake Chi Li abruptly open his eyes.

Chi Li stared at the ceiling covered in vintage patterns and slowly came back to himself.

He was in an unfamiliar room, and the memories from before he had fallen unconscious flooded back.

For Si Jinyan, silently taking Chi Li away had never been difficult. Even if Du Wei and the others discovered it, Si Jinyan had nothing to fear.

Si Jinyan had never intended to let him go.

Looking at his current situation, Chi Li was not particularly surprised.

As he braced himself against the bed to sit up, a faint metallic scrape sounded beneath him. Chi Li froze and lowered his head, only to see a thumb-thick chain around his wrist.

Chi Li's pupils trembled. After a moment of stunned silence, he clenched his back teeth.

Madman!

He was not surprised that Si Jinyan had taken him away, but what did Si Jinyan mean by this?

Chi Li got to his feet. His clothes had already been changed into a set of thin silk pajamas, and an identical metal chain was fastened around his left ankle.

There were no weapons around Chi Li, and every sharp object in the room that he could have reached had been deliberately removed.

The pain still lingering in his body reminded Chi Li of what had happened to him not long ago.

The chain was extremely short. He could not even reach the bedroom door, let alone the bathroom door!

His range of movement was confined to the area around the bed.

Anger surged in Chi Li's chest. Si Jinyan really was insane!

"Si Jinyan!"

No one answered.

Chi Li tugged at the iron chain embedded in the wall.

There was no response.

·

At a small secret base not far away.

In the office, Si Jinyan stared at the surveillance screen before him. It showed the person in the room forcefully yanking at the iron chain embedded in the wall.

The miniature camera was hidden in a corner of the bedroom.

Si Jinyan stared unblinking at the screen, satisfaction and pain rising within him.

Only when Geng Ji pushed open the door did Si Jinyan look away from the screen and minimize it.

Geng Ji asked, "Are you really planning to keep him locked up like this?"

Si Jinyan said nothing.

Geng Ji had not expected Si Jinyan to answer him. "Your condition is very unstable."

Geng Ji frowned slightly. Even without looking closely, he could see the faint metallic gleam of vertical pupils within Si Jinyan's black irises.

Si Jinyan had never maintained such an unstable state for so long before. Now, it seemed to have become normal, especially after Si Jinyan had brought Chi Li back.

Not long after Chi Li disappeared, Lu Jiu had also told Geng Ji, "We developed an inhibitor that can replace Chi Li's pheromones and stabilize Si Jinyan's condition. But a substitute is ultimately just a substitute. What we can now be certain of is that no omega can replace Chi Li and become an 'inhibitor' again."

They had once naively believed they could find an omega to replace Chi Li.

Lu Jiu frowned slightly as he solemnly described this shocking yet unsolvable discovery. "Si Jinyan and Chi Li will be trapped in an endless cycle. Chi Li's pheromones can ease Si Jinyan's condition, but Si Jinyan will also become increasingly dependent on Chi Li because of it... What the final consequences will be remains unknown."

Lu Jiu said, "This substitute drug can temporarily stabilize Si Jinyan's condition, but my recommendation... remains what I said before: reduce contact between Si Jinyan and Chi Li as much as possible, or avoid contact altogether."

Although Si Jinyan had not said where he had gone during the half month he had been missing—

The Empire government's internal affairs had fallen into chaos because of his disappearance. All kinds of accusations against Si Jinyan had surged toward the military in an instant. Qiu Rui and the others had been run ragged, and Si Jinyan's disappearance had put them at an even greater disadvantage.

Si Jinyan had not explained his disappearance or why the Emperor had failed to capture Chi Li, but Geng Ji and the others understood without saying so, silently arriving at the same answer.

Until a few days ago, when Geng Ji and the others encountered Chi Li again while capturing a mutant.

The instant he saw Chi Li, Geng Ji sensed that something was wrong. When he turned around, Si Jinyan was already staring at Chi Li.

Back in the office, after Geng Ji finished speaking, Si Jinyan said, "I know."

Geng Ji suddenly became angry. "You know, and you still did this?! Didn't you hear what Lu Jiu said?"

No matter how frivolous Geng Ji usually was, he still maintained the proper respect when facing Si Jinyan. He rarely questioned Si Jinyan in such a tone.

Geng Ji said, "You said you wanted to use your blood to make serum and save those mutants. Fine, save them... but look at the state you're in now! Are you trying to make yourself completely lose control first?!" Excessive blood extraction would also worsen the instability of Si Jinyan's condition.

Some of those words had not been what Geng Ji truly meant, but in his anger, what he said changed meaning and became barbed.

Geng Ji said, "Everyone told you not to look for Chi Li! Why did you still go? Why don't you think about whether Chi Li will die when you completely lose control?!"

With a loud crash, a clenched fist slammed down onto the desk.

None of them could predict what the future held. If Si Jinyan and Chi Li continued to stay together, what would ultimately await Si Jinyan? A stable condition? Or an accelerated descent into complete loss of control?

Before facing those two unknowns, they still had to face the greatest variable of all: Chi Li.

Chi Li was not someone they could trust, and Chi Li's attitude had already been laid bare.

Who could guarantee that Chi Li would not become the sharpest blade to stab them in the end?

Si Jinyan stood up, his gloomy gaze fixed on Geng Ji before him. Even the beastlike pupils in his eyes flickered in and out of sight.

Geng Ji shuddered, the tremor running from the top of his head through all four limbs. He knew only too well where that feeling came from. He was one of the people who knew Si Jinyan's identity best.

Geng Ji's Adam's apple bobbed nervously, yet he remained where he was.

However, Si Jinyan merely looked at Geng Ji. A moment later, Si Jinyan lowered his head, and the oppressive pressure bearing down on Geng Ji vanished in an instant.

Si Jinyan said nothing and walked toward the door.

·

Inside the room, Chi Li's attempts to vent his frustration came to nothing.

He had already searched for everything around him that might help him escape, but anything he could think of using to free himself was something Si Jinyan had anticipated long ago.

Chi Li found nothing and could only sit back down on the bed.

Until, at last, the sound of the door opening rang out.

Si Jinyan pushed the door open and entered.