Only Me

The loss of control caused by the "pheromone deficiency" grew increasingly severe, and dark patterns began to crawl across Si Jinyan's skin. Yet now, in the center of the glass chamber, those patterns had completely transformed into rigid silver-black scales, bursting through his skin and covering his upper body. Fine scales blanketed his arms, waist, abdomen, chest, and even his neck.

Translucent fins had grown along his arms and the sides of his waist and abdomen, as though excess energy had nowhere to vent. He was becoming more and more like those Aberrant Forms; scales and fins erupted uncontrollably from his bones and skin. Winglike fins tore open the skin along Si Jinyan's back, expanding, spreading, growing.

Chi Li's heart trembled. The shock was no less than when he had first uncovered Si Jinyan's hidden identity.

A few days earlier, Chi Li had sought out Lu Jiu to ask about Si Jinyan's past. Lu Jiu had mentioned that, after high-intensity experiments and training, Si Jinyan's inability to walk in his human form had been resolved.

Chi Li knew that in the memories he had revisited, Jin had never suffered from anything resembling "pheromone deficiency." Lu Jiu said that Si Jinyan's symptoms had only gradually emerged later, like a chronic, incurable illness that accumulated and worsened over the years.

Lu Jiu said, "It's strange. With his constitution, he actually developed symptoms like this. It's more like necrosis of his internal functions, an inability to coordinate..."

Chi Li's breath caught. He had thought about it countless times. Whenever he touched his chest and felt the beat of his heart beneath his palm, the image of Si Jinyan removing his scales surfaced again and again. What exactly did that scale mean to Si Jinyan?

Inside the sealed glass chamber, Si Jinyan's eyes were