Call My Name

Shen Ranxin let out a cold laugh. "And what makes you think you can?"

He brushed Lu Zhi's hand aside and got into the car the production team had prepared long ago.

Logically, Fang Yu and the others should have gone along to take a look, but the livestream still had to continue, and besides, no one had eaten yet.

Gu Yifei sat on the sofa in a daze before asking blankly, "With Cheng Cheng and Ranxin gone, what are we supposed to eat tonight?"

Jiang Ye said, "You make it sound like we'd get a meal even if Shen Ranxin were here."

Hugging a cushion, Gu Yifei defended Shen Ranxin. "We would! Shen Ranxin is amazing. Even if he can't cook, he'd still take us out to eat something else!"

The look in Fang Yu's eyes changed as he looked at Gu Yifei. "What did Shen Ranxin do with you this afternoon? Weren't you avoiding him like the plague before?"

"You people wouldn't understand." Like a cat, Gu Yifei lifted his snow-white chin high. "He secretly bought me ice cream this afternoon! Three servings! And they were the large ones!"

Lu Zhi turned and went upstairs with a grim expression.

Without Cheng Cheng's cooking or Shen Ranxin's endless antics, everyone could only spend points at the little shop next door to get a few packs of instant noodles and make do.

They had originally planned to go to Paperbush Garden after dinner to hang red strings, but with Shen Ranxin and Cheng Cheng both absent, the production team canceled tonight's red-string event and told everyone to turn in early.

Shen Ranxin had only gone to the hospital to visit Cheng Cheng in order to flesh out his devoted-dog persona.

After spending this time together, he had found Cheng Cheng thoughtful, considerate, tactful, and emotionally intelligent. Aside from Lu Zhi, he greeted everyone with a smile.

Logically, he should have been happy to be friends with someone like that.

Yet whenever he looked at Cheng Cheng's innocent, harmless face, something always felt off.

He could not say where that feeling came from. Maybe it was because he still had not fully settled into this identity... In any case, he was not used to being alone with Cheng Cheng. He only stayed at the hospital for a while, learned from the doctor that Cheng Cheng could be discharged tomorrow, then prepared to leave.

"Ran." Cheng Cheng suddenly called out to him from the hospital bed. "Can you not get so close to Lu Zhi?"

Shen Ranxin paused, feeling inexplicably guilty. "I'm not that close to him. Get some rest and stop overthinking. I'll come pick you up when you're discharged tomorrow."

Cheng Cheng grabbed his sleeve and looked up at him. "Do you like me, Ran?"

Shen Ranxin forced himself to reply, "Of course I..."

"Then let's be together." Cheng Cheng spoke quickly, as though afraid Shen Ranxin would change his mind. "I love you, Ran. I've always loved you."

Shen Ranxin jumped. "Huh?"

Wait, what? This plotline?

Was this really a plotline meant for a cannon-fodder background character like him?!

He stepped forward, touched Cheng Cheng's head, and said seriously, "Tell your bro the truth. Did Lu Zhi hit your head so hard he broke your brain? Want me to call a doctor for you?"

Cheng Cheng seized his wrist and leaned forward slightly. The next moment, the scent of white tea enveloped him. That elegant fragrance now felt like a succubus, luring him in.

Shen Ranxin raised a hand to cover the burning gland at the back of his neck, only then realizing what was happening. "You..."

Cheng Cheng had released pheromones meant to seduce him.

No Alpha could resist such temptation. They were animals completely subservient to pheromones.

Shen Ranxin quickly backed away two steps. An uncontrollable urge for violence surged within him, and everything before his eyes blurred.

The world rapidly faded to white. Only that trace of pheromone scent remained vivid, making him instinctively chase after it.

Cheng Cheng's fingers climbed up his neck, and he breathed a puff of hot air into Shen Ranxin's ear.

"Ran, belong to me." Cheng Cheng's voice seemed to come from far away. "Even if it's only because of pheromones, this time, the one who gets you will definitely be me..."

Shen Ranxin took two deep breaths. Gathering what little strength he could, he grabbed Cheng Cheng by the shoulders and pushed him away. "...Cheng Cheng, this isn't right."

"What isn't right?" Cheng Cheng asked. "If you aren't with me, who do you want to be with, Ran? Lu Zhi?"

He became agitated, both hands viciously clamping around Shen Ranxin's throat with enough force to nearly strangle him to death.

Shen Ranxin had never expected an omega like Cheng Cheng to possess such strength. He swallowed with difficulty, gripping Cheng Cheng's slender, pale wrists as he rasped, "What's wrong with you... Cheng Cheng, let go..."

Unlike the feeling Lu Zhi gave him, Shen Ranxin could sense tangible killing intent coming from Cheng Cheng.

Those pheromones did not make his gland ache as though it were about to explode, but they carried a chill that made his spine go cold.

Lu Zhi... would never be like this...

Lu Zhi's figure instinctively appeared in Shen Ranxin's mind. His muddled thoughts barely cleared a little, and he gritted his teeth, exerting force with his hand!

A crisp crack rang out, and the fingers around his throat suddenly went limp.

Cheng Cheng tilted his head. The pain of broken bones seemed to mean nothing to him as he casually bent his own hand. "Ran is always so disobedient."

Shen Ranxin's heart began hammering wildly. His body resisted desperately, yet the pheromones made him want to draw infinitely closer to the omega before him. He slowly edged backward, his gland burning as though it would explode.

"You want it too, don't you? Don't resist me, Ran." Icy fingers pressed against his neck.

"No..." Shen Ranxin bit his lower lip, his Adam's apple bobbing. He could no longer see anything clearly, and it felt as though all the strength in his body was being drained away bit by bit. Even raising his hand was difficult.

A bitter smile tugged at Shen Ranxin's lips.

So pheromones could have this much effect.

It seemed Lu Zhi had never truly used them on him before.

Cheng Cheng's fingers undid Shen Ranxin's collar, revealing a stretch of porcelain-white skin.

Shen Ranxin's complexion was cool-toned and pale, unlike Cheng Cheng's bloodless pallor. Under the lights, it was translucent and luminous, like flawless jade.

Cheng Cheng's knuckles rubbed apart Shen Ranxin's lower lip, which he had bitten bloody and mangled. "Why restrain yourself like this? You're an Alpha. Alphas are born to submit to omega pheromones, aren't they? You will, and so will Lu Zhi. You two are destined to never be together."

Shen Ranxin could not make out what he was saying. At that moment, all his attention was focused on resisting the primal desire within his body.

Just as Cheng Cheng undid his third button, someone seemed to say something in his ear. Cheng Cheng's hand paused, then his face darkened as he cursed under his breath, "Persistent bastard."

"Has the person arrived?" Cheng Cheng stood up and looked at his hand, an unreadable glint in his eyes.

A man in a black suit beside him said, "He arrived just now."

"Bring him over." Cheng Cheng sat back down on the bed. "Finish this before Lu Zhi gets here."

The man in black nodded and had someone carry Shen Ranxin out.

Shen Ranxin only felt someone roll up his sleeve and inject him with something. Then everything went black, and he lost consciousness.

A point of light appeared in the boundless darkness, and Shen Ranxin instinctively walked toward it.

A white sphere floated in the darkness. Shen Ranxin froze. "What... is going on? How did I get here? Wasn't I at the hospital visiting Cheng Cheng? What happened afterward?"

The white sphere flickered with a crackle, then vanished.

Shen Ranxin's entire body was frighteningly hot. As he groggily opened his eyes, all he could see was a section of someone's chin.

That jawline was clearer than his life plan.

His mouth was dry, and he opened his hazy eyes. "It hurts."

Something inside his body seemed to be clamoring to be released.

Lu Zhi held the person in his arms tighter and said hoarsely, "Hold on a little longer."

Shen Ranxin exhaled a puff of hot breath and squirmed restlessly in his arms.

He could not remember much of what happened afterward. He only felt as though he was floating amid the clouds. At the very end, he heard Lu Zhi's voice.

"Who am I? Shen Ranxin, call my name."

Shen Ranxin choked back a sob and whimpered.

"Lu... Zhi..."