Chichi hugged Huo Jin

Ji Chi's head felt foggy. He tugged violently at his collar, his heavy breathing and thick, choked sobs reaching Huo Jin's ears.

Inside the cramped car, every sound was amplified a hundredfold.

"Chi-Chi..." Hearing the unusual sounds, Huo Jin called his name.

But there was no response.

Then a loud door slam came through the phone.

Bang!!

"Chi-Chi?"

"Chi-Chi!"

Huo Jin's brows knitted tightly. Ji Chi must have run out of his room. He started the car and drove toward Ji Chi's home, its orange-red taillights vanishing down the street in an instant.

Dazed, Ji Chi rushed out of the Ji family villa. He looked back at the quiet neighborhood and shook his head fiercely.

He didn't know where Huo Jin was...

The only thought left deep inside him was the hope that he could find him.

After going so long without pheromones to soothe him, Ji Chi was already exceptionally sensitive during his heat.

Now all his senses had been pushed to their limits.

He wanted to find Huo Jin.

He only wanted to find Huo Jin.

But he didn't know where Huo Jin was. He couldn't find him.

No matter what, he couldn't find him.

The towering buildings around him circled like hawks. Trapped among them, Ji Chi wandered in circles, imprisoning himself. Roads were no longer roads, trees no longer trees. Only the scorching breaths he felt were real, and they terrified him.

He couldn't even tell north from south, left from right.

Faint bloodshot streaks filled Ji Chi's eyes. Every part of his body screamed for those cool sandalwood scent pheromones.

It was like sinking into the deep sea, knowing he would suffocate and drown the next second.

It wasn't simply about saving himself. At that moment, there was nothing in his heart but Huo Jin.

He missed Huo Jin.

Desperately.

He wanted to stay by his side.

Only by his side.

Ji Chi wandered aimlessly into the wind, unsure where to go, yet moving incredibly fast. The burning heat and pain were unbearable, but he never stopped, constantly tearing at his clothes. Even the biting wind sweeping over him felt like fire burning into his bones.

Driving, Huo Jin could no longer hear anything from the other end of the phone, and anxiety gripped him.

Veins bulged on the hand gripping the steering wheel. A dangerous red light flashed on the dashboard.

The call was still connected, but the phone was deathly silent.

Huo Jin was beside himself.

Without a location, how could he find him? An alpha in heat-Huo Jin didn't dare imagine how devastated Ji Chi would be if people saw him like that and mocked him.

His anxiety grew by the moment.

Huo Jin kept driving along the roads, searching, and contacted Zhou Qi to help investigate the surrounding area. "Call me immediately if you hear anything."

"Understood."

Suddenly, as Huo Jin passed a bar, the commotion outside caught his attention. A crowd had gathered, conspicuous even in the dark corner.

"Fuck... this alpha's in heat!"

"This alpha's actually in heat! Hahahaha..."

"There are alphas in this world who go into heat?"

"Hahahaha... that's fucking hilarious..."

"Look at how slutty he is. Tsk, tsk..."

The raucous insults reached Huo Jin's ears.

The shock made his heart seize.

An alpha...

In heat...

Huo Jin immediately swung the car around! The voices continued, every word utterly vile. The group stood in a circle, their foul contempt plain in their eyes.

"Should we send him to the CE Research Institute for a little research? Hahaha, an alpha actually going into heat."

"So pretty and slutty. He really does look like he's been f***ed."

"He's torn his own clothes to pieces."

Every vicious remark targeted the same person. One particularly bold alpha took the mockery even further. "Want me to help you find a doctor, sweetheart?"

From inside the car, Huo Jin couldn't get a clear view of anything.

But a voice screamed inside him, and his heart clenched painfully.

He slammed on the brakes, stopped by the roadside, then sprinted toward them.

As he pushed into the crowd, he happened to hear that offer of help.

When he saw the person surrounded by them, Huo Jin felt as if a white-hot iron had stabbed his heart a thousand times. The pain lashed him again and again, leaving him no chance to breathe.

There was no blood, but it hurt too much for words.

Ji Chi sat slumped on the ground, dazed and despondent, his arms wrapped around his knees in a posture of utter insecurity.

His eyes were faintly bloodshot, a few fine strands of hair clung to his forehead, and even his fingertips were flushed red.

His entire body emitted type 2 heat pheromones that no alpha should have, and they were far too intense.

That was why so many alphas had been drawn over.

Only when those alphas arrived did they discover that the person in heat wasn't an omega, but an alpha.

Normally, any omega in heat could stir an alpha's urges.

And that could lead to crime.

But Ji Chi's type 2 pheromones left every alpha present, without exception, unable to respond normally.

They were silently restrained.

Powerful, high-level pheromones emanated from him in waves, frightening every alpha there.

Those pheromones were possessive and obsessive.

In other words.

The heat of this alpha before them.

Would affect only one particular person.

And clearly, he had been abandoned.

That was why he had wandered aimlessly alone and collapsed on the street.

"Did his enigma dump him?" Another voice reached Ji Chi's ears.

His mind was so muddled that he couldn't even be bothered to fight.

But when he heard those words, his perception magnified them a hundredfold.

Huo Jin didn't want him anymore.

It seemed to be true.

He couldn't find Huo Jin.

And Huo Jin wasn't coming to find him.

His already reddened eyes began to burn.

Huo Jin must not want him anymore...

Things never ended well for alphas who were marked.

It was exactly the outcome he'd imagined at the beginning.

At that realization, Ji Chi suddenly began crying like a child, no longer resembling an adult.

His choked voice was threaded with unmistakable sobs.

He cried loudly, lost in emotions amplified a hundredfold.

Lonely and helpless, he was too distraught even to speak.

By the time he came to his senses, the commotion around him had vanished.

He slowly raised his eyes. Moonlight fell across his face, damp hair hanging untidily over his eyelids. His bloodshot eyes, fragile and pitiful, drew all attention.

As Ji Chi regained his awareness, he saw several alphas sprawled haphazardly on the ground, howling in pain.

"Aaah..."

"Ugh, aaah...!"

One after another, the alphas curled up on the ground, rolling and trembling.

The sharp crack of a breaking bone rang out, followed by an even louder scream. "Aaaah!!!"

The spectators quickly scattered at the fighting, allowing the wind to sweep in.

Ji Chi couldn't see very clearly. His weak gaze drifted over, and he found one person still standing.

That man viciously planted his foot on someone's neck, his fury terrifying. "Get lost!!"

Huo Jin had beaten all five or six alphas who had mocked Ji Chi until they lay helpless on the ground. He hadn't even released his pheromones to suppress them.

Instead, he had struck them one by one, every punch landing solidly, leaving their faces bruised and swollen.

Their breathing was painfully labored as they lay on their backs, howling in agony.

This man had to be someone close to the alpha in heat on the ground. He gave off no pheromones, seeming like an ordinary person, yet his strength and presence were beyond anything ordinary.

The pressure left them unable to breathe.

How could these alphas not fear an enigma, someone so rare one might not appear in a hundred years?

Hearing the command to leave felt like deliverance to them.

They hurriedly apologized and scrambled away.

"Go! Hurry...!"

People always moved fastest when fleeing danger.

In the blink of an eye, the space around Ji Chi, who had just been surrounded by a crowd, was completely empty.

Ji Chi's eyes shimmered, his vision still blurred.

When Huo Jin approached and crouched before him, intense soothing pheromones mingled with the evening breeze and enveloped Ji Chi completely.

Huo Jin took off his coat and draped it over Ji Chi.

He lifted his hand and gently wiped away Ji Chi's tears with his fingertips.

That gentle, low voice, unbearably hoarse, brought Ji Chi back to himself almost instantly.

"I'm sorry."

Endless tenderness and heartache filled those words, but beyond all that, his guilt ran deeper still.

With the tears wiped from his eyes, Ji Chi could clearly see the man before him.

He looked up and met Huo Jin's gaze for two seconds. Then an overwhelming sense of hurt crashed over him like a tidal wave.

"Huo Jin..."

"Huo Jin..." Ji Chi called his name uncertainly.

His voice trembled, faint and unsteady.

"It's me." Huo Jin couldn't describe what he felt. He was nearly driven mad. His warm fingertips brushed the tears from Ji Chi's cheeks. "It's me."

Ji Chi's mind was utterly muddled, and he followed only his heart.

The moment he saw Huo Jin, his strongest thought was that this was his enigma.

And he hadn't abandoned him.

Trembling slightly, Ji Chi raised his hands and tentatively wrapped his arms around Huo Jin's neck.

A hint of fear flickered in his shimmering eyes.

Ji Chi leaned his whole body against Huo Jin, burying his head in his neck and sobbing softly. Everyone behaved differently during heat, and Ji Chi seemed to become prone to tears. The change left one at a loss for what to do.

"Huo Jin... sob... sob..."

Such blatant tearfulness was an emotion Ji Chi would never show when clearheaded.

As all his vulnerabilities piled together, his mind surrendered more and more to instinct.

Deep down, Ji Chi was afraid of Huo Jin.

When that awareness was amplified a hundredfold, his fear grew even stronger.

He hadn't flung himself straight into Huo Jin's arms. Instead, he had embraced him tentatively.

Afraid of being abandoned.

He made no great movement, only held him.

Afraid Huo Jin would push him away, he wrapped his arms tightly around him.

He craved Huo Jin's scent. Those cold purple sandalwood pheromones penetrated everything, spreading through every limb and bone.

He was going to die right here.

Ji Chi rubbed his head against Huo Jin's neck. "I couldn't find you..."