Restless Urges

Chi Li had been getting close to Si Jinyan for nearly three months, yet he still had not made much progress.

Si Jinyan almost never discussed official business at home. He left early and returned late, caring for Chi Li as though he were raising a little pet to warm his bed.

Chi Li appeared to be free to move about the residence, but several rooms involving secrets were strictly off-limits to him.

He had no reason to suddenly go out. The residence was enormous, and the backyard alone was enough for Chi Li to wander around. The butler kept everything in perfect order; whatever he needed, all it took was a word.

These past few days, Si Jinyan seemed to have run into some trouble. He had not returned for several days, only finding time to call Chi Li.

During those brief few seconds, Chi Li heard noisy, seemingly argumentative voices on the other end. One deep, angry voice came through clearly: "Are you trying to strip...!"

The call ended there, but Chi Li's heart gave two hard thumps.

Chi Li thought, if only he could get into Si Jinyan's office.

If all else failed, he might have to take a risk and sneak over to take a look. At the very least, before this mission ended, he had to bring back some valuable information.

That day, Si Jinyan told Chi Li that he would not be coming back.

With no need to wait for Si Jinyan, Chi Li washed up and went to bed early.

He flipped through a collection of Great Empire history, passing the time while criticizing which parts did not match the original historical record, which parts were whitewashing, and which parts were meant to deceive the public. Beside him lay two books about Si Jinyan's deeds, though most of their contents were exaggerated praise.

Still, one or two passages struck Chi Li as odd. One older biography read:

"Appearing out of nowhere..."

"Like a living Buddha who saved the people..."

"On that battlefield, he was shrouded in silver-black light, like an emissary from hell... He was a bloodthirsty humanoid weapon, yet he brought the first light of dawn to the suffering citizens of the Empire..."

"A humanoid weapon?" Chi Li murmured.

The mention of humanoid weapons unexpectedly stirred up some distant memories. Long ago, there had been news reports about mad organizations researching anti-human weapons, with no shortage of references to "humanoid weapons." Some people even claimed to have seen such monsters, throwing the public into panic. Later, those rumors were swiftly erased and suppressed.

Chi Li would not assume there was some connection between the two because of that alone. After all, those old reports had sounded like the alarmist words and actions of certain cult organizations.

Setting everything else aside, Si Jinyan's ever-stern face was certainly intimidating enough. It could probably scare quite a few people.

Chi Li came back to himself and began picking through the book's details again.

The degree of exaggeration in this book was obvious. It practically portrayed Si Jinyan as a living god.

Yet several passages revealed information that sharply pricked Chi Li's sensitive nerves.

Not everything was fabricated out of thin air. Once he peeled back the layers, he could find connections between events through the smallest clues.

The book described Si Jinyan as having "appeared out of nowhere," making him sound almost divine. Yet this only raised an even bigger question: where had Si Jinyan been before that? Someone so outstanding had been completely unknown and undocumented before that campaign.

Chi Li searched for records of Si Jinyan's earlier deeds in the military, but there were only a few. Even where records existed, they were little more than passing mentions.

Records of Si Jinyan's family were even scarcer. They only said that he came from a military family and that his parents were martyrs.

But Chi Li had never heard anyone in the residence mention Si Jinyan's family, nor had Si Jinyan ever brought them up.

Everything related to Si Jinyan, all those records, seemed to begin with that war against Loran.

This book was no longer being reprinted. Chi Li had secretly asked the butler for help, saying that he truly wanted to know more about Si Jinyan. Only then had he obtained biography after biography of Si Jinyan, eventually finding this old one.

Its cover boasted that its sales had surpassed one million copies in a short time. It should not have suddenly stopped being printed.

Chi Li rapidly sorted through the information in his mind, linking the pieces together bit by bit. As though he had thought of something, his breathing suddenly quickened.

His intuition told him that Si Jinyan himself might be hiding an even greater secret.

When drowsiness began to overtake him, Chi Li closed the book and put it back on the bedside table. Just as he was about to drift into sleep, he suddenly felt an inexplicable heat.

The heat spread from his heart to his limbs. Chi Li frowned impatiently, his breathing quickening, followed by a faint but undeniable craving.

Chi Li suddenly wanted Si Jinyan's pheromones.

The moment that thought surfaced, Chi Li abruptly became a little more alert.

It was probably a side effect of omega pheromones.

He had intended to suppress the thought as he had before, but tonight, it was like a tiny sprout forcing its way through a crack in stone, growing with fierce determination.

Chi Li tossed and turned, unable to sleep. After struggling in a hazy state for three hours, he suddenly sat up in bed, opened the door, and headed toward Si Jinyan's master bedroom.

Si Jinyan's bed was the place in the entire room where the pheromones were strongest. Having made his decision, Chi Li lay down on Si Jinyan's bed without hesitation, resting on Si Jinyan's pillow and wrapping himself tightly in the blanket saturated with Si Jinyan's pheromones.

Chi Li took a deep breath of the air steeped in sandalwood-scented pheromones, and his entire chest seemed to be liberated from its earlier heat.

Unable to resist, Chi Li rubbed against the soft pillow like a sleepy, lazy cat. He would leave before the butler came to clean in the morning.

With that thought, accompanied by the steady scent of pheromones, Chi Li's consciousness slowly sank into sleep.

At the master bedroom door, Uncle Yuan looked at the small figure curled up on the large bed, then at Si Jinyan beside him.

Si Jinyan had returned shortly before dawn. There was no expression on his face as he looked at the lump on the bed.

Uncle Yuan hesitated before saying, "Sir, I'll wake him up."

But Si Jinyan stopped the butler, who was about to enter. "It's fine. Go take care of your work."

Chi Li dreamed that he was on an enormous spiderweb, wrapped tightly in tough strands of silk. He could not move, and he struggled to breathe. A giant spider slowly crawled toward him from afar. He had expected to see an extremely hideous insect face, but in an instant, he saw Si Jinyan's face instead...

Crushed beneath Si Jinyan's heavy arm and struggling to breathe, Chi Li abruptly opened his eyes. The moment he did, Si Jinyan's magnified features appeared before him.

It connected seamlessly with the dream. Still not fully awake, Chi Li's breath caught.

Si Jinyan's features seemed like a masterpiece carefully sculpted by the Creator. Defiance, composure, and natural authority were displayed to perfection on that face. Even while sleeping with his eyes closed, he resembled a fierce beast lying low at rest, without losing the slightest bit of his majesty.

Only after several seconds did Chi Li slowly come back to himself. This was Si Jinyan. Si Jinyan was sleeping beside him. He was in Si Jinyan's room.

Chi Li suddenly realized that Si Jinyan had come back last night.

When had he come back? How had I failed to notice again? Chi Li could not help wanting to knock some sense into his increasingly dull nerves.

Si Jinyan was still asleep, and after staring helplessly for a while, Chi Li tried to quietly slip out of bed.

Chi Li had barely turned over and shifted a few inches toward the edge when a powerful arm seized him and pulled him back.

He glanced back at Si Jinyan. Si Jinyan's eyes were still tightly shut, but he had clearly been awake for a long time!

Chi Li had no idea when Si Jinyan had woken up. He twisted slightly, no longer acting timid. "I want to get down..."

The man behind him did not respond. Chi Li shifted again. He really needed to use the bathroom. "Marshal..."

Just as he was about to continue, Chi Li suddenly froze. Then every muscle in his body stiffened. Something was pressing against him.

Si Jinyan held him as though he were a soft cream cake, and that cream cake was still squirming restlessly.

Si Jinyan's deep, hoarse voice sounded beside Chi Li's ear. "Try moving again?"

Once Si Jinyan got started, he would not stop easily. Chi Li immediately behaved himself like a quail.

Then the back of his neck suddenly grew hot.

Chi Li's eyes trembled.

The omega in his arms looked at Si Jinyan pitifully. "Marshal, I need to use the bathroom."

As though begging for mercy, the omega's beautiful eyes shimmered with moisture. He clearly looked aggrieved, yet the sight made Si Jinyan's gaze darken.