Chapter Summaries

• Plot and events: Chi Li regains consciousness in a vast glasshouse after being severely injured and abandoned near the shore. He learns that he was rescued by Bai Qi, the former Emperor’s mysterious lover and a highly skilled healer. Bai Qi’s attendants treat Chi Li’s wounds, while Bai Qi offers him a safe place to recover but refuses to ask about the circumstances behind his injuries. Chi Li remains suspicious, especially because Bai Qi’s discovery of him seems too coincidental and because he senses that he has forgotten something important from the night he was wounded.
  Over several days, Chi Li observes that Bai Qi is deeply admired by everyone around him and appears genuinely kind, though he is frail and suffers from a persistent illness. Bai Qi repeatedly insists that he only saved Chi Li by chance and does not want to become involved in Chi Li’s troubles. Chi Li delays contacting Si Jinyan while determining whether Bai Qi knows his identity or the truth about the recent incident. He eventually concludes that remaining in the Empire is unsafe.
• Character development: Chi Li remains cautious and distrustful, but Bai Qi’s gentleness temporarily disarms him and makes him lower his usual vigilance. His unexplained sense of lost memory and suspicion of Bai Qi keep him alert despite the sanctuary’s peaceful appearance. Bai Qi is established as compassionate, private, medically skilled, and physically unwell. His reluctance to discuss his past or Chi Li’s injuries suggests deliberate emotional and political distance. The attendants’ devotion reinforces Bai Qi’s reputation as a benevolent master.
• Character interactions: Bai Qi treats Chi Li with warmth and respect, telling him he may leave whenever he wishes and avoiding questions about his past. Chi Li thanks him but carefully limits what he reveals, questioning the attendant instead. Bai Qi and Chi Li share a brief conversation in the greenhouse, where Bai Qi compares fragile human life to the easier vitality of plants, hinting at his awareness of mortality. The attendants portray Bai Qi as generous and harmless, while Chi Li continues to question whether that image is complete.
• Ending and relationship tension: Si Jinyan arrives unexpectedly while Chi Li is recovering outside. His appearance is terrifying: restrained pheromones, strange veinlike markings, and metallic eyes make him seem almost beastlike. Chi Li instinctively tries to escape his grip, but Si Jinyan forcefully restrains him and orders, “Don’t move!” He then tears open Chi Li’s robe, ending the chapter on a moment of intense fear, urgency, and unresolved tension between them.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Si Jinyan finds Chi Li in Bai Qi’s garden and examines his numerous injuries. Despite the risk of being seen, he focuses on the scars and bandages covering Chi Li’s body.
• When servants approach, Si Jinyan abruptly lifts Chi Li and carries him out of the manor. Bai Qi does not interfere, apparently having anticipated their departure.
• On Si Jinyan’s spacecraft, he removes Chi Li’s robe and questions him about what happened. Chi Li gives an incomplete account, concealing that his pheromones were extracted.
• Si Jinyan becomes increasingly distressed and enraged by Chi Li’s injuries. Chi Li releases his pheromones to soothe Si Jinyan, whose sensitive period and unstable condition have worsened during Chi Li’s disappearance.
• Si Jinyan apologizes, embraces Chi Li, and kisses him with intense desire. Their interaction becomes physically intimate before Lu Jiu interrupts from outside the cabin.
• Lu Jiu warns that Si Jinyan may be harming Chi Li because of his unstable state and Chi Li’s injuries. Si Jinyan agrees to wait until they reach the research institute, though he remains visibly affected.
• Afterward, Si Jinyan holds Chi Li and tries to suppress his desire. Chi Li, feeling responsible for Si Jinyan’s suffering, offers to help him in the same way Si Jinyan helped him, causing Si Jinyan’s fragile self-control to collapse.

Character developments

• Chi Li: Remains cautious and emotionally guarded, especially because he is concealing the truth about his pheromone extraction. However, Si Jinyan’s concern affects him deeply, and he begins recognizing that their connection may involve more than pheromone compatibility. His willingness to help Si Jinyan also shows growing concern and emotional involvement.
• Si Jinyan: His protectiveness and guilt become overt. Chi Li’s injuries trigger anger, worry, and an apology for failing to protect him. His unstable sensitive period makes his desire difficult to control, revealing both his vulnerability and dependence on Chi Li’s pheromones.
• Lu Jiu: Acts as a responsible observer and safeguard, monitoring Si Jinyan’s dangerous condition and intervening when he fears Chi Li may be harmed.

Significant themes

• Care versus biological compulsion: The chapter questions whether Si Jinyan’s concern and attraction are genuine emotions or merely the result of their highly compatible pheromones.
• Vulnerability and trust: Chi Li exposes his injuries and allows Si Jinyan to care for him, while still withholding important information.
• Guilt and protection: Si Jinyan’s apology reflects his belief that he failed Chi Li, while his reactions show how strongly he wants to protect him.
• Self-control and responsibility: Si Jinyan struggles to restrain his instincts, and Lu Jiu emphasizes that desire cannot excuse endangering an injured partner.

Character interactions

• Si Jinyan’s examination of Chi Li’s wounds shifts into an intimate, emotionally charged encounter.
• Chi Li attempts to calm Si Jinyan with his pheromones, while Si Jinyan responds with affection, apology, and intense physical desire.
• Lu Jiu’s interruption introduces an outside perspective, reminding both men of Chi Li’s physical limits and Si Jinyan’s unstable condition.
• Chi Li ultimately reverses the dynamic by offering to help Si Jinyan, strengthening the chapter’s tension between mutual care, desire, and loss of control.

Chapter Summary: “Suspicion (First Update)”

Plot points and events

After arriving at the research institute, Chi Li and Si Jinyan remain in the spacecraft briefly, where Si Jinyan tends to Chi Li intimately despite people waiting outside. Chi Li is embarrassed but eventually persuades him to stop. When they leave, Chi Li’s legs nearly give out, prompting Si Jinyan to offer to carry him, though Chi Li stubbornly insists on walking.
At the institute, both men undergo medical examinations. While waiting, Chi Li speaks with Geng Ji, who reveals that Si Jinyan nearly lost control and killed the Emperor after Chi Li was attacked. The mercenary group responsible has been identified, and Si Jinyan has issued a military order to eliminate it. The Emperor, Yao Di, denies hiring the group.
Geng Ji privately recalls that six mercenaries died during the operation and that Si Jinyan somehow located Chi Li along the storm-lashed southwestern coast, where only traces of blood remained. Chi Li returned unharmed, raising the possibility that he himself was responsible for the mercenaries’ deaths.

Character developments

• Chi Li remains proud and resistant to appearing weak, refusing Si Jinyan’s help despite his physical exhaustion. He is moved by Si Jinyan’s apparent willingness to avenge him, but this also reminds him that Si Jinyan’s loyalty may depend on believing they are allies. His fear of what might happen if his true identity is exposed deepens.
• Si Jinyan appears intensely possessive and protective of Chi Li. His recovery improves dramatically after being with Chi Li, and his near-violent reaction to the attack suggests how strongly he is emotionally affected by Chi Li’s danger.
• Geng Ji acts casually and reassuringly toward Chi Li, but beneath his humor he is observant and suspicious. He notices inconsistencies surrounding the mercenary deaths and Chi Li’s survival.

Significant themes

• Growing intimacy and vulnerability: Chi Li and Si Jinyan’s physical relationship strengthens their bond, but it also leaves Chi Li emotionally exposed.
• Loyalty versus suspicion: Si Jinyan’s protection may reflect genuine attachment, yet Chi Li worries it could disappear if his hidden identity is discovered.
• Hidden power and identity: Chi Li’s unexplained survival and the mercenaries’ deaths hint that he possesses abilities or a past he has not revealed.
• Political and military retaliation: Si Jinyan’s decision to destroy the mercenary group shows how personal emotions are influencing larger military and political actions.

Character interactions

Si Jinyan is openly attentive and protective toward Chi Li, while Chi Li responds with embarrassment, stubbornness, and concealed concern. Lu Jiu treats both men as patients and notices Si Jinyan’s improved condition. Geng Ji reassures Chi Li that Si Jinyan will not harm him, but his probing questions and private observations reveal that he is beginning to investigate Chi Li’s unexplained role in the incident.

Chapter Summary: “Out of Control (Part Two)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Chi Li’s examination, he returns to Si Jinyan’s residence with him. Lu Jiu warns Chi Li that Si Jinyan’s susceptible period is approaching and may be unusually severe.
• Si Jinyan’s condition has become more regular since Chi Li entered his life, but he still relies on suppressants and has difficulty controlling his episodes.
• Chi Li resumes living with Si Jinyan but begins seriously considering leaving. The kidnapping has left him uneasy, and he feels that he has become entangled in a dangerous, hidden situation.
• Lu Jiu contacts Qiu Rui under the pretext of asking about Si Jinyan’s health. Qiu Rui observes that Si Jinyan has become unusually dependent on Chi Li, spending far more time with him than he ever did with anyone else.
• As Si Jinyan’s susceptible period begins, he and Chi Li become nearly inseparable. Their physical relationship becomes increasingly frequent and intense.
• Si Jinyan prepares extensively for the episode, having Yuan Ru purchase nutritional supplements, soothing agents, vitamins, and even a childish comfort doll for Chi Li. Chi Li finds the normally intimidating Si Jinyan’s practical but awkward preparation unexpectedly endearing.
• During their intimacy, Chi Li feels something rough and scale-like on Si Jinyan’s arm. Although he later doubts whether it was real, the sensation raises the possibility that Si Jinyan may possess a hidden physical abnormality.
• Si Jinyan’s susceptible period becomes far more severe than usual. His rationality fades, leaving him consumed by the urge to mark and completely possess Chi Li.
• He ultimately bites Chi Li’s nape and marks him, overwhelming Chi Li to the point of unconsciousness. Afterward, Si Jinyan becomes gentle and protective, tenderly caring for him once his own desire has been satisfied.

Character Developments

• Chi Li: Becomes increasingly wary of his circumstances and recognizes that remaining with Si Jinyan may be dangerous. Despite this caution, he has grown physically accustomed to Si Jinyan and is emotionally affected by his unexpectedly vulnerable, domestic side. His discovery of the possible scales deepens the mystery surrounding Si Jinyan.
• Si Jinyan: Shows growing dependence on Chi Li and increasingly loses control during his susceptible period. His preparations reveal concern for Chi Li’s comfort, while his later marking demonstrates the violent, possessive instincts he struggles to suppress. His tenderness afterward contrasts sharply with his dangerous behavior.
• Qiu Rui: Remains loyal and observant, recognizing the unusual extent of Si Jinyan’s attachment to Chi Li.
• Lu Jiu: Continues monitoring Si Jinyan through Qiu Rui and becomes concerned about Si Jinyan’s dependence on Chi Li.
• Yuan Ru: Helps prepare supplies for Si Jinyan’s susceptible period, unintentionally exposing how carefully Si Jinyan has planned for Chi Li’s care.

Significant Themes

• Dependence and possession: Si Jinyan’s reliance on Chi Li shifts from medical necessity toward emotional and instinctive dependence, culminating in the desire to mark him permanently.
• Loss of control: The susceptible period strips away Si Jinyan’s restraint and raises questions about whether his actions come from instinct, destiny, or genuine emotion.
• Unease beneath domestic calm: Although Chi Li’s life appears peaceful, he senses that he is caught in a larger and increasingly dangerous conflict.
• Vulnerability behind power: Si Jinyan’s awkward preparations and tenderness reveal a softer side beneath his intimidating authority, even as his possessiveness makes him threatening.
• Hidden identity and bodily mystery: Chi Li’s possible discovery of scales hints that Si Jinyan may not be an ordinary alpha and foreshadows further revelations.

Important Character Interactions

• Chi Li and Si Jinyan: Their relationship becomes more intimate and intense, combining care, dependence, physical desire, and coercive possessiveness. Chi Li is amused by Si Jinyan’s preparations but alarmed by his increasingly uncontrollable behavior.
• Lu Jiu and Qiu Rui: Lu Jiu repeatedly questions Qiu Rui about Si Jinyan’s condition. Qiu Rui’s observation that Si Jinyan is overly dependent on Chi Li prompts concern about the relationship.
• Si Jinyan and Yuan Ru: Yuan Ru assists with preparations for the susceptible period, while Si Jinyan’s embarrassment shows how personally invested he is in Chi Li’s well-being.

Chapter Summary — Vanished

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Si Jinyan’s susceptible period, Chi Li spends several days in a physically exhausted, semi-conscious state. Si Jinyan cares for him closely, repeatedly comforting and tending to him.
• When the susceptible period ends, Chi Li finally sleeps deeply and awakens in the evening. He complains of widespread pain, unaware that Si Jinyan has permanently marked him.
• Si Jinyan realizes he lost control and gave Chi Li a complete mark without obtaining consent. He decides to conceal this temporarily, hoping Chi Li will come to accept him before learning the truth. He also resolves to pay for the mark’s removal if Chi Li eventually wants it reversed.
• Chi Li, still unaware of the permanent marking, relaxes into Si Jinyan’s care and enjoys his massage, suggesting increasing comfort and intimacy between them.
• At the Federation Central Government, Lu Jiu playfully brings flowers to Qiu Rui. Qiu Rui rejects them, though his small embarrassed reaction reveals that Lu Jiu’s attention affects him.
• Si Jinyan arrives precisely at nine o’clock. Lu Jiu examines him after the susceptible period and discovers that Si Jinyan has permanently marked someone.
• Lu Jiu warns that the mark stabilizes Si Jinyan but also creates dependence and a dangerous vulnerability. Chi Li’s absence now causes Si Jinyan’s condition to worsen more severely.
• Lu Jiu cautions that enemies may exploit Chi Li as Si Jinyan’s weakness, potentially endangering them both.
• Several days later, Si Jinyan urgently asks Lu Jiu whether a permanent mark can disappear like a temporary one, signaling anxiety about the consequences of what he has done.

Character Developments

• Si Jinyan: Becomes more openly possessive and emotionally attached to Chi Li. Although he feels guilty about marking him without consent, he prioritizes keeping Chi Li close and hopes affection will make the situation acceptable. He is also forced to confront his physical and political dependence on Chi Li.
• Chi Li: Remains physically vulnerable after the susceptible period but appears increasingly comfortable with Si Jinyan’s care. He does not yet know the mark is permanent, creating dramatic tension.
• Lu Jiu: Acts as Si Jinyan’s physician and a blunt moral advisor. He recognizes both the medical risks of the mark and the political danger of Chi Li becoming Si Jinyan’s weakness. His teasing pursuit of Qiu Rui also reveals a persistent romantic interest.
• Qiu Rui: Maintains a restrained, seemingly indifferent attitude toward Lu Jiu, but his embarrassment and heightened sensitivity show that Lu Jiu affects him more than he admits.

Significant Themes

• Consent and consequence: Si Jinyan’s permanent marking of Chi Li without permission raises serious ethical concerns, even though it occurred during a period of lost control.
• Possession versus affection: Si Jinyan’s desire to protect and keep Chi Li is intertwined with possessiveness, making his care both tender and controlling.
• Dependence and vulnerability: The mark stabilizes Si Jinyan physically but binds him emotionally and medically to Chi Li, transforming intimacy into a potential weakness.
• Political danger: The chapter emphasizes that personal attachments can be exploited in struggles for power.
• Concealed truth: Si Jinyan’s decision to hide the permanent mark from Chi Li creates tension and foreshadows future conflict.

Character Interactions

• Si Jinyan cares for the exhausted Chi Li with physical tenderness, while privately hiding the permanent mark.
• Chi Li responds passively but comfortably to Si Jinyan’s attention, leaning against him and accepting his care.
• Lu Jiu and Qiu Rui engage in a teasing but emotionally charged exchange over the flowers, revealing their contrasting personalities.
• Lu Jiu confronts Si Jinyan about marking Chi Li and warns him about the medical, emotional, and political consequences.
• The chapter ends with Si Jinyan seeking Lu Jiu’s help to determine whether the irreversible mark can somehow be undone.

Chapter Summary: “Blue Mermaid (First Update)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Si Jinyan notices that the permanent mark he placed on Chi Li is gradually fading, despite permanent marks normally being irreversible. He consults Lu Jiu, who is shocked because neither Si Jinyan nor Chi Li appears to have any physiological defect that could explain the phenomenon.
• Lu Jiu asks Si Jinyan to bring Chi Li in for testing.
• Chi Li visits Bai Qi Manor to thank Bai Qi for rescuing him previously. Bai Qi senses the distinctive mark of a Mermaid on Chi Li, even though Chi Li has used pheromone blockers.
• Bai Qi reveals that he belongs to a mysterious people whose members can summon one another when in danger through an ancient form of “illusion art.” He had found Chi Li while searching for someone from his own group and wonders whether Chi Li has any connection to them.
• Chi Li denies remembering any connection to Bai Qi’s people, though he offers to help search for them. Bai Qi becomes visibly sorrowful and ends the conversation. Chi Li later falls asleep inexplicably and wakes to find Bai Qi gone, with a gift left for him.
• Bai Qi is revealed to be a Mermaid with a damaged or incomplete blue tail. He privately plays chess with an artificial intelligence modeled on Yao He, the deceased former Emperor. Bai Qi repeatedly speaks to the AI as though it were truly Yao He, maintaining an emotional attachment to him nearly ten years after his death.
• Bai Qi’s attempt to explore Chi Li’s memories using his powers causes a backlash, making him cough blood. His servant warns him not to use his abilities again.
• The following day, Chi Li undergoes an examination at Lu Jiu’s clinic. The tests confirm that the genetic material responsible for Si Jinyan’s mark is decreasing inside Chi Li’s body.
• Unable to explain the fading mark, Si Jinyan proposes a startling possibility: Chi Li may not actually be an Omega.

Character Developments

• Si Jinyan: Becomes increasingly concerned and puzzled by the failure of his supposedly permanent mark. His protectiveness is evident in arranging Chi Li’s escort and taking him to Lu Jiu for examination. His final theory challenges what he believes about Chi Li’s identity.
• Chi Li: Demonstrates gratitude and politeness toward Bai Qi, while remaining skeptical of supernatural explanations. He experiences unexplained sleep and memory gaps after speaking with Bai Qi, hinting that his past or biological identity may be concealed. His possible misclassification as an Omega becomes a major mystery.
• Bai Qi: Reveals that he is part of a secretive Mermaid clan and may possess unusual mental or mystical abilities. His interest in Chi Li appears connected to Chi Li’s hidden identity. Bai Qi’s grief over Yao He is deep and ongoing, and his emotional dependence on the AI exposes his inability to accept Yao He’s death. Using his abilities to investigate Chi Li causes serious physical harm.
• Lu Jiu: His scientific understanding is challenged by the fading mark. Although initially confident in established genetic principles, he is forced to admit that Chi Li’s condition is unprecedented.

Significant Themes

• Identity and hidden origins: Chi Li’s biological classification, memories, and possible connection to Bai Qi’s people are all uncertain.
• Science versus the supernatural: Lu Jiu’s medical knowledge cannot explain the fading mark, while Bai Qi introduces ancient powers and clan-based mystical communication.
• Grief and denial: Bai Qi continues interacting with a programmed imitation of Yao He, blurring the line between memory, artificial intelligence, and emotional denial.
• Love, possession, and biological bonds: The fading mark undermines the assumed permanence of Si Jinyan and Chi Li’s connection, raising questions about whether their bond is natural, artificial, or fundamentally misunderstood.
• Loss and sacrifice: Bai Qi risks his health to uncover Chi Li’s memories, while his damaged tail and prolonged mourning suggest past suffering.

Important Character Interactions

• Si Jinyan and Lu Jiu: Si Jinyan reports the abnormal mark, prompting Lu Jiu to investigate and eventually question Chi Li’s Omega status.
• Chi Li and Bai Qi: Their polite reunion develops into a conversation about Bai Qi’s mysterious clan and Chi Li’s possible connection to it. Bai Qi’s hidden examination of Chi Li’s memories creates an unspoken power imbalance.
• Bai Qi and the Yao He AI: Bai Qi treats the artificial intelligence as though it were the real Yao He, alternating between playful dependence and painful accusations about Yao He’s absence.
• Chi Li and Si Jinyan: Their relationship appears close and trusting, with Chi Li following Si Jinyan to the clinic without questioning his motives, while Si Jinyan remains attentive to Chi Li’s health and safety.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Lu Jiu is shocked when Si Jinyan suggests that Chi Li may not be an omega. Lu Jiu defends his diagnosis, proposing that Chi Li could instead be an alpha or suffering from a latent medical condition, and agrees to conduct another examination.
• Si Jinyan asks whether an enigma can mark an alpha. Lu Jiu explains that this is theoretically possible, though alphas are poorly suited to receiving marks and may experience greater physical pain and psychological resistance. Such marks are also less durable.
• Chi Li remains unaware of the disagreement about his gender classification. He assumes Si Jinyan’s recent need to mark him is caused by renewed pheromone instability.
• During another marking in the bathroom, Si Jinyan appears unusually lucid despite his intense desire. His eyes briefly show a strange golden color, and his commanding presence makes Chi Li feel as though he is being watched by a dangerous beast.
• Si Jinyan uses his voice to calm and control Chi Li before marking the gland on the back of his neck. This time, Chi Li experiences sudden pain and asks him to stop, saying the skin may have been injured.
• Si Jinyan becomes suspicious and asks why the marking hurts now when it never did before. The chapter ends with him holding Chi Li in place and staring at him with completely black eyes, suggesting he may be confronting a deeper truth about Chi Li’s identity.

Character developments

• Si Jinyan: Becomes increasingly suspicious that Chi Li is not a typical omega. His heightened clarity during the marking, unusual golden eyes, and insistence on understanding Chi Li’s pain reveal growing control and concern, but also a more threatening, almost predatory side.
• Chi Li: Remains naïve about Si Jinyan’s suspicions and interprets the situation as ordinary pheromone instability. His sudden pain and momentary return of awareness indicate that his body may be reacting differently to the marking.
• Lu Jiu: Though initially defensive of his medical expertise, he approaches the possibility of an unusual gender classification scientifically and acknowledges that an enigma might be able to mark an alpha.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty of identity: The chapter questions whether Chi Li’s biological classification is what everyone believes, creating suspense around his true nature.
• Science versus unexplained phenomena: Lu Jiu relies on established medical theory, but Chi Li’s reactions may challenge current knowledge.
• Control and consent: Si Jinyan’s ability to influence Chi Li through his voice and pheromones blurs the line between desire, dependence, and coercion.
• Danger beneath intimacy: The intimate marking scene takes on an ominous tone as Si Jinyan’s predatory presence and Chi Li’s unexpected pain suggest that something is changing.

Character interactions

• Lu Jiu and Si Jinyan debate Chi Li’s gender and the possibility of an enigma marking an alpha, with Lu Jiu providing a clinical explanation.
• Chi Li questions Si Jinyan about his pheromone instability, unaware of the larger concern.
• During the marking, Si Jinyan controls and reassures Chi Li, but Chi Li’s pain disrupts their usual pattern and prompts Si Jinyan to question what is happening to him.

Chapter Summary: “Discovery”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After an intimate encounter, Si Jinyan privately worries that marking Chi Li may have caused him pain. He studies Chi Li while he sleeps, revealing concern and affection.
• Two days later, Chi Li searches Si Jinyan’s study under the pretense of reading. He discovers that Si Jinyan has secretly collected numerous historical books about:
  • The Empire–Loran war twenty years earlier, which made Si Jinyan famous.
  • The Humanoid Weapon Project, supposedly connected to Loran in some altered historical accounts.
  • Legends and investigations concerning mermaids.
• Chi Li notices that different books provide conflicting versions of the Humanoid Weapon Project’s history. This suggests that official history may have been manipulated and that Si Jinyan is investigating a concealed truth.
• Because Chi Li has been spending more time with Si Jinyan, the pheromones produced by his mutation are being depleted. He arranges to return to his “grandmother’s” home, using the trip as an opportunity to receive another forging-agent injection and contact his superiors.
• At a secret meeting point, Chi Li reports his findings. His superiors classify the information as Level Two and raise his next operation to S-class.
• They order Chi Li to investigate Si Jinyan’s identity, revealing their suspicion that he may be a modified human created through the Humanoid Weapon Project.
• Chi Li recalls Si Jinyan’s extraordinary healing and speed, realizing these abilities could support the theory.
• Despite the increased danger, Chi Li chooses to continue the mission because his closeness to Si Jinyan gives him a rare chance to uncover the truth. His superior calls it his final mission and says they will wait for his return.
• After destroying the evidence of his injection, Chi Li leaves. However, shortly afterward, the supposedly empty safe house is opened again, implying that someone may have followed him or been monitoring the meeting.

Character Developments

• Si Jinyan: His concern after marking Chi Li shows a gentler, more emotionally vulnerable side. His secret research suggests he is searching for information connected to his own past, the war, the Humanoid Weapon Project, or the mysterious mermaids.
• Chi Li: He becomes increasingly suspicious of Si Jinyan while remaining emotionally and physically attached to him. He demonstrates caution and competence as a spy, but his decision to continue the mission also reveals growing personal investment and willingness to risk himself.
• Chi Li’s superiors: They shift the mission from a relatively controlled investigation to an extremely dangerous S-class operation, indicating that Si Jinyan’s identity may be tied to highly sensitive state secrets.

Significant Themes

• Manipulated history and political control: Conflicting historical records suggest that governments or ruling powers may have rewritten the truth about the Humanoid Weapon Project.
• Humanity and artificial modification: The possibility that Si Jinyan is a modified human raises questions about identity, personhood, and whether “evolution” can be separated from exploitation.
• Trust versus deception: Chi Li is living with Si Jinyan while secretly investigating him, creating tension between his mission and his developing relationship.
• Forbidden knowledge and conspiracy: The repeated references to the weapon project and mermaids indicate a larger mystery that official society denies or suppresses.
• Dangerous intimacy: Their physical closeness strengthens Chi Li’s access to Si Jinyan but also increases the emotional and biological risks of his mission.

Important Character Interactions

• Si Jinyan comforts Chi Li after marking him and worries about whether he was hurt.
• Chi Li searches through Si Jinyan’s books, indirectly uncovering his hidden interests.
• Chi Li reports to his superiors through a concealed communicator, receiving orders to investigate Si Jinyan more deeply.
• The chapter ends with an implied third party entering the safe house, suggesting that Chi Li’s covert activities may already have been detected.

Chapter Summary: “Mermaid Identity (First Update)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chi Li returns home early and finds Si Jinyan already there, which unsettles him because Si Jinyan is normally still working at the Federation Government. Chi Li has increasingly realized that Si Jinyan is extremely dangerous and carefully suppresses his fear.
• While they sit together, Si Jinyan asks about Chi Li’s grandmother and suggests visiting her. He then proposes bringing her to live at their home, seemingly offering concern and support.
• Chi Li hesitates, mentioning that their home is small and unsuitable. His cautious, conflicted response frustrates Si Jinyan, who suddenly kisses and sexually dominates him in the living room before carrying him upstairs.
• Si Jinyan leaves numerous marks on Chi Li, but the marks fade because Chi Li’s body has recently received a forgery agent. The agent causes his Omega pheromones to resist Si Jinyan’s marking, though the results are unpredictable because Si Jinyan is not truly an Alpha but an unidentified “enigma.”
• Several days later, Chi Li accompanies Si Jinyan to the Federation Central Government. Having observed Si Jinyan’s routine, Chi Li chooses the marshal’s group meeting as the best opportunity to investigate his office and access restricted information.
• Chi Li activates a miniature surveillance-interference chip implanted beneath his wrist. It temporarily hijacks nearby security systems and replaces the real footage with a recording showing him sitting quietly on the sofa.
• Using his intelligence and military training, Chi Li infiltrates the Federation Government database and unexpectedly finds information about Si Jinyan after penetrating only three security layers.
• The chapter ends when Chi Li opens a video file and discovers a gigantic, silver-black-tailed creature resembling the mythical mermaid species, confined inside a glass isolation chamber.

Character Developments

• Chi Li: Becomes increasingly wary and distrustful of Si Jinyan while maintaining a submissive, affectionate façade. He demonstrates considerable intelligence, technical ability, and espionage expertise by manipulating surveillance and hacking the government database. His investigation confirms that he is willing to risk exposure to uncover Si Jinyan’s true identity.
• Si Jinyan: Reveals a possessive and sexually aggressive side, reacting harshly when he senses Chi Li’s hesitation or emotional distance. His behavior suggests that his interest in Chi Li is intense and controlling. The discovery that he is an “enigma” rather than an Alpha deepens the mystery surrounding him.
• Chi Li’s grandmother: Though absent from the chapter, she becomes a point of emotional leverage and a possible way for Si Jinyan to draw Chi Li’s family closer into his household.

Significant Themes

• Deception and hidden identity: Chi Li pretends to be compliant while secretly investigating Si Jinyan, whose publicly declared Alpha identity is false.
• Control and surveillance: Both characters possess methods of control—Si Jinyan through physical dominance and influence, Chi Li through technology, espionage, and surveillance manipulation.
• Trust versus suspicion: Chi Li’s outward cooperation contrasts sharply with his growing fear and desire to uncover the truth.
• Science challenging myth: The supposed mythical mermaid species exists in reality, suggesting that the Federation’s scientific and political systems conceal extraordinary biological secrets.
• Power and vulnerability: Chi Li’s technical competence and military training are counterbalanced by his physical and emotional vulnerability around Si Jinyan.

Character Interactions

• Si Jinyan calmly questions Chi Li about his grandmother and offers to visit or house her, while Chi Li responds with carefully performed gratitude and hesitation.
• Chi Li’s reluctance provokes Si Jinyan’s possessive reaction, leading to a forceful sexual encounter that reinforces their unequal power dynamic.
• Later, Chi Li uses his access to Si Jinyan’s office and systems—not with Si Jinyan’s knowledge—to investigate him, transforming their relationship into a covert contest of observation and concealment.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chi Li watches recovered footage of a monstrous aquatic being whose face is identical to Si Jinyan’s. The creature is enormous, covered in scales, fins, and gills, and possesses golden vertical pupils, terrifying strength, and an intelligent, contemptuous demeanor.
• The footage reveals that powerful nonhuman beings have existed alongside humanity and were once exploited as weapons. Chi Li realizes this explains the Intelligence Department’s warning to remain calm when confronted with something beyond common sense.
• Chi Li secretly copies the video and Si Jinyan’s medical records onto a chip implanted beneath his skin, then erases all evidence of his actions.
• On the journey home, Si Jinyan casually holds Chi Li’s wrist, but Chi Li recoils after remembering the creature. He conceals his fear by leaning against Si Jinyan and pretending nothing is wrong.
• The next day, Qiu Rui presents conclusive evidence that Chi Li has been investigating Si Jinyan:
  1. A destroyed syringe containing a high-grade falsifying agent.
  2. Evidence that Si Jinyan’s optical-brain database was forged and its browsing history erased, along with altered surveillance footage.
  3. Medical results showing that the sex-targeting genes from Si Jinyan’s permanent mark have dropped by another 35%.
• Qiu Rui exposes Chi Li’s true identity: he is an alpha from Loran’s military Intelligence Department, formerly affiliated with a mercenary group and involved in multiple espionage missions. He had disguised himself as an omega because he failed omega recruitment standards.
• Si Jinyan reacts strongly when Qiu Rui identifies Chi Li as an alpha, though he maintains an outwardly calm demeanor. By the end, his eyes turn into golden vertical slits, implying his monstrous nature and suppressed anger are surfacing.

Character Developments

• Chi Li: His understanding of Si Jinyan changes from suspicion to genuine fear after seeing evidence of his inhuman form. Nevertheless, his training as a spy allows him to suppress his reactions and continue concealing his investigation. His secret identity and deceptive actions are finally exposed.
• Si Jinyan: His hidden nonhuman nature becomes increasingly apparent. His instinctive awareness of Chi Li’s unease and his physical affection contrast sharply with the danger suggested by his true form. Upon learning Chi Li is an alpha and a spy, his restrained emotions begin to break through.
• Qiu Rui: Demonstrates the effectiveness of his investigation by uncovering physical evidence, Chi Li’s identity, and his past espionage activities.

Significant Themes

• Fear of the unknown: The footage forces Chi Li to confront beings that defy human understanding.
• Appearance versus reality: Si Jinyan appears human but possesses a terrifying, powerful nonhuman form; similarly, Chi Li presents himself as an omega while actually being an alpha and trained spy.
• Trust and deception: Both men have concealed crucial truths from one another, making their relationship increasingly precarious.
• Power and weaponization: The revelation that such creatures were once used as weapons raises questions about humanity’s exploitation of superior beings.
• Suppressed emotions and instinct: Chi Li hides his fear, while Si Jinyan suppresses his anger and possessiveness until his eyes reveal his true nature.

Character Interactions

• Chi Li instinctively withdraws when Si Jinyan touches him, then hides his fear against Si Jinyan’s shoulder.
• Si Jinyan responds gently, embracing Chi Li and rubbing his head, unaware—or at least outwardly unaware—of the terror Chi Li is concealing.
• Qiu Rui’s report publicly dismantles Chi Li’s false identity and exposes his betrayal.
• Si Jinyan’s controlled response to the revelation that Chi Li is an alpha reveals deep, suppressed emotion, ending the chapter on a threatening confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Human Body, Fish Tail”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chi Li awakens alone in Si Jinyan’s residence while entering an extremely severe susceptible period. His pheromones intensify, but he cannot find any inhibitors.
• He discovers that the bedroom has been locked from the outside, his Neural Computer has been removed, and the doors and windows are impossible to break through. His attempts to call for the butler, Yuan Ru, receive no response.
• As his fever, pain, and desire worsen—amplified by the falsifying agent previously injected into him—Chi Li takes a cold shower and tries unsuccessfully to escape.
• After several hours, Yuan Ru enters with food but refuses to provide an inhibitor without Si Jinyan’s orders. Chi Li forces himself to eat to preserve his strength, only to vomit afterward.
• Yuan Ru continues to deny him assistance, leaving Chi Li to endure the susceptible period alone. Chi Li begins to suspect that Si Jinyan has discovered his deception and may be deliberately torturing him as punishment.
• Si Jinyan eventually returns and asks whether Chi Li has eaten. By then, Chi Li is feverish, delirious, and physically weakened.
• Upon waking later, Chi Li hears water in the bathroom and finds Si Jinyan bathing. He is shocked and terrified to see that Si Jinyan has a human upper body but a huge silver-black fish tail—the same feature previously shown in the mysterious video.

Character Developments

• Chi Li: His physical suffering strips away his usual composure, making him vulnerable, frightened, and increasingly desperate. Nevertheless, he retains his survival instinct, forcing himself to eat and seeking ways to remain conscious and escape. His growing emotional focus on Si Jinyan reveals fear, resentment, dependence, and an unacknowledged sense of grievance.
• Si Jinyan: Though absent for most of the chapter, he exercises complete control over Chi Li’s environment. His orders determine whether Chi Li receives medical help, suggesting that he knows more about Chi Li’s condition and secrets than Chi Li realized. His fish-like body is finally revealed directly, transforming him from an enigmatic figure into something physically monstrous and inhuman.
• Yuan Ru: The butler follows Si Jinyan’s commands without sympathy or deviation. His polite refusal to help emphasizes the household’s strict hierarchy and Chi Li’s helplessness.
• Relationship dynamics: Chi Li’s dependence on Si Jinyan becomes more apparent as he considers calling him for help, while simultaneously fearing that Si Jinyan is punishing him. Their relationship is marked by secrecy, power imbalance, attraction or instinctive need, and growing distrust.

Significant Themes

• Captivity and powerlessness: The locked room, confiscated Neural Computer, military-grade defenses, and refusal of medical aid place Chi Li entirely under Si Jinyan’s control.
• Survival versus vulnerability: Chi Li’s determination to stay alive contrasts with the severe physical and emotional vulnerability caused by the susceptible period.
• Secrecy and discovery: Chi Li worries that Si Jinyan has uncovered his hidden identity or actions, while Si Jinyan’s own concealed nature is revealed at the chapter’s climax.
• Humanity and monstrosity: The image of Si Jinyan’s human torso joined to a massive fish tail challenges the boundary between human and nonhuman, and creates a frightening contrast between his familiar appearance and hidden form.
• Trust, punishment, and dependence: Chi Li cannot tell whether Si Jinyan is cruelly punishing him or controlling the situation for another reason, but his thoughts show that he has become emotionally and physically dependent on Si Jinyan.

Important Character Interactions

• Chi Li repeatedly calls for Yuan Ru and begs him for an inhibitor, but Yuan Ru refuses, citing Si Jinyan’s orders.
• Yuan Ru insists that Chi Li eat, while Chi Li tries to obey despite his worsening condition.
• Si Jinyan questions Yuan Ru about Chi Li’s food intake, demonstrating his awareness of Chi Li’s condition and continued supervision.
• Chi Li encounters Si Jinyan in the bathroom and reacts with shock and fear upon seeing his fish tail, creating the chapter’s major revelation and ending on a tense confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Suffocation”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Si Jinyan reveals overwhelming strength, unleashing intense Alpha pressure and susceptible-phase pheromones that force Chi Li to his knees.
• His hidden, monstrous form becomes visible: black scales, golden predator-like eyes, and a powerful fish tail.
• Si Jinyan uses the tail to strangle and restrain Chi Li, nearly suffocating him before loosening his grip and pulling him close.
• After Chi Li recovers enough to breathe, Si Jinyan confronts him about the recording and accuses him of lying.
• Si Jinyan questions why Chi Li ran and whether he truly believed he could escape or avoid the consequences of failure.
• Chi Li realizes that Si Jinyan likely knows far more about his actions than he had assumed.
• Si Jinyan continues controlling Chi Li physically, intensifying the pressure of his pheromones and exploiting Chi Li’s vulnerable susceptible phase.
• Chi Li’s body begins reacting involuntarily to Si Jinyan’s presence, even though he remains frightened and mentally resistant.
• The chapter ends with Si Jinyan observing this involuntary response and telling Chi Li that he should be as honest as his body.

Character Developments

• Si Jinyan: His concealed power and inhuman nature are fully exposed. He is portrayed as predatory, possessive, and ruthlessly controlling, but also deeply perceptive about Chi Li’s behavior and physical reactions. His anger suggests that Chi Li’s attempted escape has damaged the trust he had chosen to place in him.
• Chi Li: He shifts from someone attempting to flee or conceal the truth into a helpless captive confronted with Si Jinyan’s true strength. His fear, physical weakness, and involuntary physiological responses create a sharp conflict between his conscious resistance and his body’s dependence on Si Jinyan.

Significant Themes

• Power and helplessness: The vast difference in strength leaves Chi Li unable to resist, emphasizing Si Jinyan’s dominance.
• Predator and prey: Si Jinyan’s monstrous appearance and behavior frame the encounter as a hunt, with Chi Li reduced to prey.
• Truth versus deception: Si Jinyan repeatedly calls Chi Li a liar and demands an explanation for his escape, suggesting that hidden motives and betrayal are central tensions.
• Body versus mind: Chi Li’s conscious fear and resistance conflict with his body’s instinctive response to Si Jinyan’s pheromones and presence.
• Possession and control: Si Jinyan’s restraint of Chi Li reflects both physical domination and an emotional demand that Chi Li acknowledge their bond and his dependence.

Character Interactions

• The entire chapter centers on a confrontational encounter between Si Jinyan and Chi Li.
• Si Jinyan uses physical restraint, intimidation, and interrogation to force Chi Li to confront his deception and failed escape.
• Chi Li responds with fear, resistance, and attempts to survive, but his weakened condition and susceptible phase leave him increasingly vulnerable.
• Si Jinyan interprets Chi Li’s involuntary physical reactions as proof of a deeper truth than Chi Li’s spoken denials.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• At the Federal Central Government, Si Jinyan returns after being absent for three days following the exposure of Chi Li’s true identity.
• Qiu Rui and Geng Ji discuss whether Si Jinyan has ordered Chi Li’s removal. Geng Ji confirms that he has not, suggesting that Si Jinyan intends to deal with Chi Li personally.
• The chapter reveals that Si Jinyan deliberately included some genuine physical data in the fabricated database to make the deception believable to Chi Li, recognizing his intelligence.
• Geng Ji privately warns Si Jinyan that keeping Chi Li nearby is dangerous. Chi Li’s behavior has already exposed too much, his identity is complicated, and the Emperor’s faction is watching closely.
• Si Jinyan returns home and learns that Chi Li has refused lunch and remains in severe distress during his susceptible period.
• Chi Li is suffering physically and mentally from prolonged exposure to Si Jinyan’s pheromones. When Si Jinyan enters, Chi Li instinctively reacts to him, both seeking relief and resisting his control.
• Si Jinyan physically subdues Chi Li and uses intimacy to ease his symptoms. Afterward, he injects medicine directly into Chi Li’s gland.
• Chi Li regains partial awareness and anxiously asks what Si Jinyan has injected into him, ending the chapter on a threatening cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Si Jinyan: His three-day absence and refusal to delegate Chi Li’s fate imply deep personal conflict. Although normally decisive and ruthless, he has become unusually hesitant and emotionally softened toward Chi Li. Nevertheless, he continues to exert complete physical control over him and withholds information about his actions.
• Chi Li: He is revealed to be intelligent, resourceful, and dangerous enough that Si Jinyan had to provide genuine data to maintain the deception. Physically weakened by his susceptible period and lack of food, he remains caught between instinctive dependence on Si Jinyan and fear of being controlled by him.
• Geng Ji: He acts as Si Jinyan’s practical, ruthless confidant and recognizes that Si Jinyan’s attachment to Chi Li has changed him. His warning emphasizes the political and security risks of the situation.
• Qiu Rui: Despite his exceptional intelligence and analytical abilities, he fails to understand Si Jinyan’s emotional motives, prompting Geng Ji to mock him as being “made of wood.”
• The Butler/Yuan Ru: Both show concern for Chi Li’s deteriorating condition, demonstrating that others in Si Jinyan’s household recognize the severity of his suffering.

Significant Themes

• Control versus vulnerability: Chi Li’s body is controlled through pheromones, confinement, and medication, while Si Jinyan’s emotional attachment leaves him more vulnerable than he realizes.
• Trust and deception: Si Jinyan constructed a convincing false identity for Chi Li using partial truths, but Chi Li’s discovery of the deception has destroyed the fragile trust between them.
• Emotional softening and moral conflict: Si Jinyan’s hesitation contrasts with his usual decisiveness, suggesting that his feelings for Chi Li are influencing his judgment.
• Political danger and surveillance: The Emperor’s faction and other enemies are watching the Marshal’s household, making Chi Li’s continued presence increasingly hazardous.
• Instinct versus reason: Chi Li’s omega-like instincts pull him toward Si Jinyan for relief even as his conscious mind fears and resists him.

Character Interactions

• Qiu Rui and Geng Ji: They debate whether Si Jinyan intends to eliminate Chi Li. Their exchange highlights the contrast between Qiu Rui’s intellect and Geng Ji’s practical understanding of Si Jinyan’s emotions.
• Geng Ji and Si Jinyan: Geng Ji directly confronts Si Jinyan about the danger of keeping Chi Li, warning that the situation will eventually become public and politically damaging.
• Si Jinyan and the household staff: The butler and Yuan Ru indirectly plead for Chi Li’s well-being, but Si Jinyan remains guarded and authoritative.
• Si Jinyan and Chi Li: Their relationship is defined by conflict, coercion, dependence, and unresolved attachment. Si Jinyan relieves Chi Li’s physical suffering while simultaneously overriding his autonomy, culminating in the unexplained injection that leaves Chi Li frightened.

Chapter Summary: “Adaptation (First Update)”

Plot points and events

• Si Jinyan injects Chi Li with medication intended to neutralize the omega suppressant in his body. He explains that he wants to see Chi Li’s true alpha state and experience being with an alpha.
• Si Jinyan releases his pheromones to accelerate the suppressant’s breakdown and trigger Chi Li’s pheromone production. During the process, Si Jinyan repeatedly shifts into his mermaid form, using his cold, powerful tail to restrain Chi Li in the bathtub and later in bed.
• Chi Li initially resists and is frightened by Si Jinyan’s mermaid form, comparing him to a dangerous beast. However, after enduring repeated encounters, exhaustion, nutritional supplements, and another injection, Chi Li realizes that the process is helping him pass through his susceptible period more quickly.
• By the following day, Chi Li’s natural alpha scent begins to emerge. His pheromones start repelling Si Jinyan’s rather than responding to them as an omega’s would.
• Si Jinyan’s pheromones now cause Chi Li physical pain, including stinging skin and irritation in his nose and throat. Despite Chi Li’s pleas for Si Jinyan to stop, Si Jinyan continues to hold him down and force the interaction.
• The chapter ends when Chi Li understands what Si Jinyan intends to do and screams for him to stop.

Character development

• Chi Li: His fear and distrust of Si Jinyan intensify after his identity is exposed. Although he eventually stops actively resisting because the process shortens his susceptible period, this is a survival-based surrender rather than genuine acceptance. As his alpha nature returns, he becomes increasingly physically incompatible with Si Jinyan’s pheromones and more aware of his own vulnerability.
• Si Jinyan: He is determined to experience Chi Li’s authentic alpha state and appears fascinated by the physiological differences between them. His behavior becomes increasingly controlling and obsessive; even when he recognizes that his pheromones are causing Chi Li pain, he refuses to release him.

Significant themes

• Identity and suppressed nature: The removal of the suppressant symbolizes Chi Li’s forced return to his authentic alpha identity.
• Power and control: The chapter emphasizes the imbalance between Si Jinyan’s strength and Chi Li’s inability to resist, turning medical treatment and intimacy into coercive acts.
• Physiological incompatibility: The emerging alpha pheromones reveal that Chi Li and Si Jinyan do not share the natural attraction of an alpha-omega pairing; instead, their scents repel and injure one another.
• Adaptation versus consent: Chi Li adapts to the pain because it offers a way out of his susceptible period, but his endurance should not be mistaken for willing consent.

Character interactions

• Si Jinyan physically restrains, examines, and repeatedly exposes Chi Li to his pheromones, alternating between human and mermaid forms.
• Chi Li repeatedly asks Si Jinyan to change back, stop releasing pheromones, and let him go, but Si Jinyan dismisses these objections and insists that Chi Li must “get used to it.”
• Their relationship shifts from tense experimentation to overt conflict as Chi Li’s alpha pheromones emerge and Si Jinyan’s attempts to dominate him become painful and increasingly forceful.

Chapter Summary: “Beast”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The counterfeit omega x-gland cells in Chi Li’s body begin dying as the drug is metabolized, allowing his genuine alpha x-gland to awaken.
• As the counterfeit cells disappear, all of Si Jinyan’s previous marks on Chi Li vanish as well. Chi Li can no longer naturally accept Si Jinyan’s pheromones in his former artificially induced omega state.
• Si Jinyan attempts to mark Chi Li again by implanting Enigma x-genes, believing this could gradually desensitize Chi Li to his pheromones. He transforms into his half-human, half-Mermaid form and forcibly restrains Chi Li.
• Chi Li violently resists, terrified by the marking and convinced that an alpha cannot be marked. The process causes him severe physical and psychological pain.
• When Chi Li begins crying, Si Jinyan is shaken and stops. Chi Li begs him not to continue, and Si Jinyan agrees not to mark him “today.”
• For several days, Si Jinyan keeps his distance but confines Chi Li to the bedroom. He has the butler give Chi Li an inhibitor, which reduces Chi Li’s sensitive period by roughly seventy to eighty percent.
• Chi Li remains suspicious of Si Jinyan’s motives and begins considering escape, fearing that remaining with him would mean lifelong captivity and eventual exploitation.
• When Si Jinyan later returns, Chi Li notices dark scale-like patterns surfacing beneath his skin. Si Jinyan’s golden, vertical pupils fully emerge, and his expression loses its human awareness, suggesting that he is transforming into a dangerous, beast-like state.

Character Developments

• Chi Li: Reverts physiologically to an alpha and becomes increasingly aware of his vulnerability. Although he understands the power imbalance between himself and Si Jinyan, he resists fiercely and openly expresses fear, anger, and distress. His tears and plea for mercy reveal a growing emotional breakdown, but his determination to escape remains intact.
• Si Jinyan: Demonstrates overwhelming physical power but stops when he realizes how badly Chi Li is suffering. His panic at Chi Li’s tears exposes genuine emotional attachment and concern beneath his controlling behavior. However, his worsening physical condition suggests that he may be losing control of himself.
• Their relationship: The dynamic shifts from coercive control toward a complicated mixture of fear, dependence, possessiveness, and reluctant restraint. Si Jinyan claims to respect Chi Li’s immediate request, but still keeps him imprisoned.

Significant Themes

• Loss of bodily autonomy: Chi Li’s transformation and forced marking emphasize his lack of control over his own body and identity.
• Fear versus attachment: Chi Li fears Si Jinyan, while Si Jinyan’s reaction to Chi Li’s tears suggests attachment that he cannot express healthily.
• Identity and biological manipulation: The destruction of the counterfeit omega cells and awakening of Chi Li’s true alpha nature raise questions about whether identity is determined by biology, conditioning, or personal choice.
• Captivity and escape: Chi Li recognizes that being spared does not equal freedom and begins thinking more seriously about escaping.
• The beast within: Si Jinyan’s emerging scales and predatory eyes indicate his human restraint is weakening, foreshadowing a more dangerous confrontation.

Character Interactions

• Si Jinyan physically restrains and attempts to mark Chi Li despite his resistance, while Chi Li fights, curses, and strikes him.
• Si Jinyan tolerates Chi Li’s attacks, but his regenerative ability quickly heals the resulting bruises.
• When Chi Li cries, Si Jinyan becomes visibly unsettled, wipes away his tears, and tells him not to cry.
• Chi Li asks Si Jinyan to stop marking him; Si Jinyan agrees, briefly softening the coercive dynamic.
• Their fragile truce is undermined by Si Jinyan’s deteriorating condition, as Chi Li becomes the first person to notice that he is losing his human consciousness.

Chapter Summary: “Unease”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Si Jinyan loses control and enters a dangerous, increasingly beastlike state. He tries to bite Chi Li’s neck, revealing unusual fangs and reacting violently to Chi Li’s Alpha pheromones.
• Chi Li realizes that Si Jinyan’s condition has worsened because Chi Li’s return to being an Alpha has removed the means by which Si Jinyan previously stabilized himself. The resulting “withdrawal” has triggered a severe relapse.
• Chi Li manages to bring Si Jinyan back to his senses by calling his name. He discovers that the blood on his face and neck came from Si Jinyan’s badly bitten tongue rather than from an injury to himself.
• Once calm, Si Jinyan explains that he lost control and admits that the problem has returned sooner and more violently than expected.
• Chi Li bitterly predicts that Si Jinyan will eventually lose control completely and become a mindless monster. Instead of becoming angry, Si Jinyan quietly replies, “Perhaps,” which unsettles Chi Li.
• Si Jinyan leaves abruptly after receiving an urgent call. That night, Chi Li has a disturbing dream in which Si Jinyan rescues him, destroys his kidnappers, and then threatens to imprison and dominate him permanently.
• Chi Li wakes convinced that something ominous is about to happen.
• At dawn, Qin Meng arrives at the Marshal’s Residence with an arrest warrant personally signed by the Emperor. Chi Li has been accused of harboring an enemy spy.
• Yuan Ru refuses to allow Qin Meng entry, pointing out that the warrant does not grant him authority to enter the residence. Qin Meng counters that the espionage accusation is serious enough to justify a military search and reveals that Si Jinyan has been implicated, barred from attending the council meeting, and prevented from responding quickly.
• Yuan Ru attempts to delay the search, knowing that Chi Li’s arrest would likely be irreversible. The chapter ends when Chi Li, already anxious in his bedroom, is startled by tapping at the window.

Character Developments

• Si Jinyan: His condition is shown to be deteriorating rapidly. He is capable of becoming physically violent and losing his reason, but he can still return to consciousness when Chi Li reaches him. His quiet acceptance of Chi Li’s prediction suggests deep resignation about his eventual fate.
• Chi Li: He demonstrates courage and quick thinking by stopping Si Jinyan before he is bitten and using his name to restore his awareness. However, he remains angry and frightened by Si Jinyan’s instability. His hostile prediction is partly an expression of resentment, but Si Jinyan’s subdued response leaves Chi Li unexpectedly troubled.
• Yuan Ru: He remains loyal and composed under pressure, using procedural arguments to stall Qin Meng despite the danger.
• Qin Meng: He emerges as an aggressive representative of the Emperor, determined to exploit the espionage accusation and arrest Chi Li before Si Jinyan can intervene.

Significant Themes

• Loss of control and fear of monstrosity: Si Jinyan’s relapse raises the possibility that he may eventually become completely beastlike and lose his identity.
• Dependence and vulnerability: Chi Li’s change back to an Alpha has disrupted the relationship that once helped stabilize Si Jinyan, leaving both men in a dangerous and uncertain position.
• Resentment versus emotional attachment: Chi Li condemns Si Jinyan, yet Si Jinyan’s acceptance rather than anger causes Chi Li discomfort, suggesting that his feelings are more complicated than hatred.
• Political persecution and power: The Emperor’s authority is used to target Chi Li, while Si Jinyan’s absence and political isolation make the residence vulnerable.
• Foreboding: Chi Li’s nightmare, physical unease, and the mysterious tapping at the window build suspense and signal an imminent crisis.

Character Interactions

• Si Jinyan and Chi Li’s physical confrontation highlights both the danger of Si Jinyan’s condition and Chi Li’s ability to affect him emotionally.
• After Si Jinyan recovers, Chi Li scolds him and explains that he had injured his own tongue, while Si Jinyan checks Chi Li for wounds, revealing lingering concern despite the violent episode.
• Their exchange about Si Jinyan’s possible future loss of control exposes mutual pain: Chi Li speaks with bitterness, while Si Jinyan responds with quiet fatalism.
• Yuan Ru and Qin Meng engage in a tense power struggle outside the residence, with Yuan Ru attempting to protect Chi Li and Qin Meng using the Emperor’s warrant and the espionage case to force entry.

Chapter Summary: “Heart (Second Update)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chi Li is secretly rescued from his estate by Bai Qi’s young guard, who warns that the emperor has sent people to arrest him. The guard claims Bai Qi anticipated the danger and arranged an escape route.
• Despite distrusting the guard and questioning how Bai Qi could have known about the arrest, Chi Li follows him after the estate’s alarm sounds and the emperor’s forces begin pursuing them.
• The guard directs Chi Li southeast toward a hill with two dead trees, promising that someone there will send him “back,” though he cannot explain where.
• After nearly half an hour of running, gunfire reveals that the pursuers have caught up. The guard stays behind to delay them while Chi Li continues into the woods.
• The guard then reveals a compact tracking sniper weapon capable of firing penetrating Mermaid Scale bullets at marked targets. He shoots Chi Li through the back and chest, striking him directly in the heart. Chi Li collapses, apparently mortally wounded.
• Meanwhile, Si Jinyan is lured to a research institute by Qiu Rui, who claims that Lu Jiu’s faction has created a drug reproducing the effects of Chi Li’s pheromones.
• The invitation is a trap. Si Jinyan is anesthetized and awakens forcibly transformed into his complete Mermaid form, restrained by chains, deprived of moisture, and subjected to continuous anesthesia and blood extraction.
• Si Jinyan realizes Lu Jiu is absent and understands that the researchers have been conducting the experiment without him. When they increase the anesthetic after noticing Si Jinyan can still move, a violent pain suddenly erupts in his heart.
• The pain appears connected to Chi Li’s injury or death. Si Jinyan’s eyes turn completely golden, and he begins violently resisting his restraints. His wounds regenerate, while his powerful tail and scales start damaging the chains.

Character Developments

• Chi Li: Remains cautious and distrustful, recognizing that Bai Qi’s rescue plan contains unexplained motives. Nevertheless, he chooses survival and freedom over certainty, embracing the possibility of determining his own fate once outside the estate. His heightened danger-sensing ability warns him of the sniper, but not quickly enough to prevent the fatal shot.
• Bai Qi’s guard: Initially appears anxious and helpful, but his behavior becomes increasingly suspicious. Although he claims to be protecting Chi Li, he ultimately shoots him, suggesting betrayal, manipulation, or a hidden objective.
• Si Jinyan: Is placed in an extremely vulnerable position, stripped of his human form and physically exploited for research. His emotional or supernatural connection to Chi Li becomes evident when Chi Li is shot, triggering intense pain and a dramatic transformation in Si Jinyan’s eyes and strength.
• Bai Qi: Though absent, he becomes a major unseen force. His apparent ability to foresee events and his instructions to the guard suggest that he has planned or anticipated both Chi Li’s escape and its consequences.
• The researchers and Lu Jiu’s faction: Their willingness to imprison, drug, and experiment on Si Jinyan reveals their ruthless pursuit of Mermaid biology and Chi Li’s pheromone-related abilities.

Significant Themes

• Betrayal and false rescue: Chi Li escapes one threat only to be attacked by the person supposedly helping him, emphasizing the danger of trusting hidden agendas.
• Control versus freedom: Both protagonists are placed under physical and political control—Chi Li is hunted by the emperor, while Si Jinyan is restrained and used as an experimental subject.
• The mysterious bond between Chi Li and Si Jinyan: Chi Li’s heart wound coincides with Si Jinyan’s sudden heart pain and awakening power, suggesting a profound physical, emotional, or supernatural connection.
• Transformation and suppressed power: Si Jinyan’s forced Mermaid form initially represents captivity and exploitation, but his regeneration and growing strength turn it into a source of resistance.
• Foreknowledge and manipulation: Bai Qi’s apparent ability to predict events raises questions about whether Chi Li’s escape was genuine, staged, or part of a larger plan.

Character Interactions

• Chi Li and Bai Qi’s guard: Their interaction begins with guarded cooperation. Chi Li repeatedly challenges the guard’s vague explanations, while the guard urges him to run. The relationship ultimately shifts into betrayal when the guard shoots him.
• Chi Li and his pursuers: Their indirect confrontation drives the escape sequence, with the guard sacrificing—or pretending to sacrifice—himself to slow them down.
• Si Jinyan and Qiu Rui: Qiu Rui’s phone call deceives Si Jinyan into entering the institute, making him an unwitting participant in the trap.
• Si Jinyan and the researchers: The researchers treat him as a dangerous specimen rather than a person, while Si Jinyan responds with silent hostility and steadily mounts a physical revolt.
• Chi Li and Si Jinyan: They do not interact directly in the chapter, but Chi Li’s apparent death immediately affects Si Jinyan, linking their fates and ending the chapter on a major cliffhanger.

Chapter Summary: “Confinement (First Update)”

Key plot points and events

• At the research institute, Si Jinyan suddenly loses control despite extensive restraints and preparations. He breaks free from the extraction chamber and undergoes a terrifying transformation.
• Scales spread across his formerly human body, his fins sharpen, and enormous translucent wings emerge from his back. The researchers realize they have barely begun to understand his evolutionary abilities.
• An elderly researcher witnesses the transformation with a mixture of terror and fascination, but Si Jinyan kills him by severing his head with his tail.
• Elsewhere, Chi Li, wounded by a gunshot, struggles to survive. As he loses consciousness, he experiences a mysterious sensation of warmth and sees an indistinct figure approaching through mist.
• Chi Li awakens in a hot spring inside a cave, where he finds himself restrained by the transformed Si Jinyan. Si Jinyan’s appearance has become far more monstrous: his eyes are fully golden, scales cover his face and body, his hair has lengthened, and his tail traps Chi Li.
• Si Jinyan removes the bullet from Chi Li’s back using his inhuman mouthparts and destroys the Scale-made bullet. His actions appear partly protective, since he treats Chi Li’s wound, but they are also driven by predatory and possessive instincts.
• The chapter ends with Si Jinyan’s transformed instincts overwhelming his reason. He binds and silences Chi Li with his hair-like appendages and subjects him to an intense, frightening encounter while Chi Li remains unable to resist or communicate.

Character developments

• Si Jinyan: His condition advances beyond a temporary loss of control into a complete or near-complete beast transformation. His body develops new abilities, including rapid evolution, wings, sharper fins, and sentient hair-like appendages. His suppressed desires and instincts become dominant, particularly his fixation on Chi Li.
• Chi Li: Though severely injured, Chi Li survives and is rescued—or captured—by Si Jinyan. His fear and uncertainty intensify as he realizes that the person before him may no longer be capable of rational communication. He remains alert but physically powerless.
• The researchers: Their scientific fascination is shown to coexist with extreme fear. The old researcher’s death demonstrates the danger of treating Si Jinyan merely as a specimen.

Significant themes

• Science versus the unknown: Si Jinyan’s transformation defies established biology and exposes the limits of the researchers’ knowledge.
• Confinement and loss of control: Physical restraints, laboratories, and attempts to suppress instinct all fail as Si Jinyan’s true nature emerges.
• Humanity versus monstrosity: Si Jinyan’s transformation raises questions about whether his identity and emotions remain beneath the monstrous exterior.
• Desire, instinct, and possession: His buried subconscious impulses focus intensely on Chi Li, blurring the line between protection, attraction, violence, and predation.
• Fear and fascination: The researchers and Chi Li are both horrified by Si Jinyan, while also being compelled by his beauty, power, and uniqueness.

Character interactions

• The researchers observe and attempt to contain Si Jinyan, but their control collapses; his interaction with the elderly researcher ends in fatal violence.
• Chi Li and Si Jinyan reunite in the cave, but communication is impossible. Chi Li calls Si Jinyan’s name in fear and tries to remain cautious.
• Si Jinyan restrains Chi Li, removes the bullet from his body, and then acts according to his awakened instincts. Their encounter is intensely one-sided, with Chi Li unable to escape or defend himself.

Plot Points and Events

• In the Emperor’s palace, Bai Qi tells Emperor Yao Di about visions involving enemy spies, Merfolk and humans, and a possible shift in imperial power.
• Bai Qi suggests that Chi Li’s identity may be connected to Merfolk royalty and that Si Jinyan may eventually “lose control.” He describes a vision of Si Jinyan covered in scales, resembling a demonic figure.
• Yao Di interprets this as an opportunity to capture or control Si Jinyan, whom he fears because of his immense reputation and growing independence.
• Bai Qi later reveals that he fabricated the prophecy. Through observation, he has deduced that Chi Li is human but carries a Merfolk Core, while Si Jinyan appears to possess royal Merfolk blood without a Core Scale.
• Alone at his manor, Bai Qi reflects on the mystery while playing chess. The black pieces defeat the white king, symbolizing the advantage held by the forces surrounding Chi Li and Si Jinyan.
• Chi Li awakens in a cave, restrained and in severe pain. Si Jinyan has repeatedly marked him while in a partially feral state.
• Si Jinyan forces Chi Li to consume his blood to keep him alive, explaining that Merfolk blood can restore Chi Li’s strength.
• Chi Li begs to be released, but Si Jinyan continues, claiming that he has no choice. He repeatedly tells Chi Li to remember him and promises to find him again.
• The chapter ends with Chi Li losing consciousness as Si Jinyan’s obsession, grief, and instinct overwhelm his reason.

Character Developments

• Bai Qi is shown to be calculating rather than merely prophetic. He exploits Yao Di’s ambition by presenting deductions as visions, manipulating the Emperor into targeting Si Jinyan.
• Yao Di becomes increasingly eager to remove or control Si Jinyan. His fear of Si Jinyan is overshadowed by his desire to exploit the situation for political power.
• Si Jinyan is caught between rationality and violent instinct. Although he remains protective enough to sustain Chi Li with his blood, he also restrains and repeatedly marks him against his will.
• Chi Li becomes physically and emotionally vulnerable. His confusion and fear intensify as he realizes that Si Jinyan has lost control and that he cannot resist or escape.
• Bai Qi’s memories of Yao He reveal unresolved grief and affection; his smile disappears when he reflects that he only became stronger after Yao He left.

Significant Themes

• Political manipulation and ambition: Yao Di turns uncertain information into a pretext for attacking Si Jinyan.
• Identity and hidden heritage: Chi Li’s human nature conflicts with the Merfolk power within him, while Si Jinyan’s royal lineage remains incomplete or concealed.
• Instinct versus reason: Si Jinyan’s behavior is driven by biological or supernatural impulses, even as fragments of love, guilt, and judgment remain.
• Possession and memory: Si Jinyan’s repeated command—“Remember me”—reflects his fear of separation and desire to permanently bind Chi Li to him.
• Destiny versus deception: Bai Qi’s apparent prophecy is actually a strategic lie, raising questions about whether fate is being revealed or manufactured.
• Grief and loss: Bai Qi mourns Yao He, while Si Jinyan’s rage and despair emerge from the possibility of losing Chi Li.

Character Interactions

• Bai Qi and Yao Di: Bai Qi feeds Yao Di carefully chosen information, while Yao Di eagerly searches for a justification to control Si Jinyan.
• Bai Qi and Yao He: Though Yao He is absent, Bai Qi’s memories of playing chess with him show their emotional bond and Bai Qi’s lingering loneliness.
• Si Jinyan and Chi Li: Their interaction is dominated by restraint, forced marking, and Chi Li’s fear, but also by Si Jinyan’s conflicted attempt to preserve Chi Li’s life and his desperate emotional attachment to him.

Chapter Summary: “Absurdity”

Key plot points and events

• Chi Li awakens in severe abdominal pain while Si Jinyan watches over him. Si Jinyan comforts him physically, but the interaction becomes coercive, leaving Chi Li confused, frightened, and unable to resist.
• Meanwhile, Bai Qi arranges Chi Li’s escape before the Emperor can reach Si Jinyan’s residence. Bai Qi’s servant persuades Yuan Ru, the butler, to release Chi Li without Si Jinyan’s permission.
• Chi Li is shot with a bullet made from merfolk scales. Bai Qi explains that the bullet was deliberately aimed to graze Chi Li’s heart and activate the connection between the scale embedded there and Si Jinyan.
• Bai Qi reveals that the scale protects a merfolk’s heart and has strengthened Chi Li’s vitality, recovery, speed, and offensive abilities. The Merfolk Core must be kept from Yao Di, and Bai Qi views the unfolding events as part of a larger strategic game.
• Chi Li later wakes in a secluded cave, dressed and provided with a signal-blocking communicator that can contact only Si Jinyan. Si Jinyan is absent, leaving Chi Li uncertain whether the device is an invitation, command, or trap.
• After realizing he may have been confined for more than a week, Chi Li explores the area. The surrounding mountain forest is unnaturally silent, with no birds, flowing water, or normal sounds of wind and wildlife.

Character developments

• Chi Li: Becomes increasingly wary of Si Jinyan and disturbed by the loss of control over his own body and circumstances. He begins thinking independently about escape and survival rather than immediately obeying Si Jinyan’s implied instructions. His hidden merfolk abilities are also revealed to be developing.
• Si Jinyan: Remains possessive and physically dominant toward Chi Li, yet also shows signs of attachment by watching over him, dressing him, leaving him shelter, and providing a communicator. His motives and intentions remain unclear.
• Bai Qi: Demonstrates careful planning and manipulation. Although he appears to endanger Chi Li, he deliberately ensures that Chi Li survives and uses the situation to protect the Merfolk Core from Yao Di.
• Yuan Ru: Makes an independent, risky choice by releasing Chi Li without Si Jinyan’s authorization, becoming essential to Chi Li’s escape.
• The servant: Shows concern for Chi Li’s survival and questions whether Bai Qi’s plan was safe, despite carrying out Bai Qi’s orders.

Significant themes

• Absurdity and loss of control: Chi Li is trapped in inexplicable, repetitive circumstances and cannot determine how much time has passed or what Si Jinyan wants from him.
• Power and possession: Si Jinyan’s care is inseparable from control, blurring the line between protection and imprisonment.
• Hidden identity and transformation: The merfolk scale within Chi Li changes his physical capabilities and may connect him more deeply to the supernatural conflict.
• Political manipulation: Bai Qi treats the characters and the Merfolk Core as pieces in a larger strategic game, suggesting that Chi Li’s suffering is part of a broader power struggle.
• Isolation and uncertainty: The silent forest and hidden cave reinforce Chi Li’s alienation and the threat that he may still be under surveillance or trapped.

Character interactions

• Si Jinyan watches and physically comforts Chi Li, but Chi Li experiences the encounter as frightening and coercive.
• Bai Qi’s servant coordinates with Yuan Ru to secure Chi Li’s release, while later seeking reassurance from Bai Qi about Chi Li’s condition.
• Bai Qi explains the protective power of the merfolk scale and his intentions regarding the Merfolk Core, confirming that Chi Li’s survival was deliberately engineered.
• Chi Li’s only remaining connection to Si Jinyan is the restricted communicator, creating a tense choice over whether he can trust or contact him.