Until death

After leaving the shared rental, Ji Chi checked his phone. His messages had blown up: greetings from his drinking buddies, his two dads, and his respectable friends. Even Chen Youjin, far away in the military district, was checking on him.

I got fucked, and now the whole world wants to kiss me too?

Fortunately, fortunately, none of them knew what had happened.

He could say he had slept with a muscular Omega while he was out. Plausible, and nothing embarrassing.

But why had his search for someone even alerted Chen Youjin in the military district?

Was the guy a fugitive?

Chen Youjin: Why are you looking for Huo Jin?

Ji Chi had no idea how to answer, so he threw caution to the wind: To sleep with him.

Chen Youjin: Don't joke with me, and don't mess with him either. He's not someone you can afford to provoke.

Ji Chi clicked his tongue. His friend really had gone out of his way to warn him from so far away.

Ji Chi: What? Is he a suspect? Did he kill someone?

Chen Youjin: A suspect isn't as scary as he is. Listen to me.

Ji Chi brushed him off with a few words and repeatedly agreed. Chen Youjin was nothing like his layabout friends; he was a genuinely important figure. There were few people Young Master Ji respected, and Chen Youjin was one of them. A warning from him really left Ji Chi's heart hanging in uneasy suspense.

He walked along the roadside in a daze and nearly collided with a utility pole. Ji Chi kicked it, then dialed a number.

After two rings, a pleasant male voice came through. "Hello, Chi."

"Song Lin, come to the hospital with me."

A cool breeze brushed through his hair, its chill seeping into him. Ji Chi's figure looked thin in the wind. The clicking of his lighter mingled with his indifferent, icy voice, more lonely and desolate than a painting in cold tones, without a clear sky for miles.

The voice on the other end paused, then grew more concerned. "What's wrong? Where do you feel unwell?"

Ji Chi gave a quiet hum of assent.

Song Lin was a childhood friend who had grown up with Ji Chi. No one else could find out about this. Chen Youjin was too far away for telling him to help. Right now, only Song Lin could put him at ease.

As it happened, Song Lin was an Alpha. Given how much he cared about Ji Chi, and all the little clever tricks Ji Chi lacked...

Ji Chi knew he couldn't hide it from him, so he might as well ask him for help.

According to the textbooks... removing a mark hurt terribly.

Even removing a temporary mark required hospitalization.

That was common knowledge. No matter how many beautiful Omegas surrounded Ji Chi, he never got involved unless he genuinely liked them.

Marking someone without intending to marry them was nothing but taking advantage.

It was abuse. Anyone who did it deserved to die. Huo Jin deserved to die too.

Young Master Ji didn't want to go to the hospital by himself and lie there half-dead and alone.

When Song Lin drove over to pick him up, Ji Chi stood dejectedly by the road, looking as though he had lost his soul. The cigarette between his fingers was about to burn his hand, but he didn't notice. Ji Chi was beautiful, though not in a soft way. His refined, privileged air marked him as a rich young man at a glance. He looked thoroughly masculine, thoroughly straight, with the dangerously charming air of a seasoned womanizer. If he actually wanted to play around, he would never lack a partner.

Yet he was a virgin. No one would believe it.

Ji Chi hadn't noticed Song Lin. A few strands of hair fell over his eyelids. When the cigarette burned his hand, he irritably raised his head. The redness at the corners of his eyes made Song Lin's heart tighten without a sign.

Beep, beep, beep... Song Lin honked several times by the roadside.

Ji Chi seemed not to hear him, still immersed in his own world.

As though a gust of wind could scatter him.

"Chi." Song Lin rolled down the window and called again.

"Huh?" Ji Chi turned toward the voice, his drifting thoughts abruptly pulled back.

"What were you thinking about? You were so distracted." Song Lin pressed his lips together.

There was something inexplicably aggressive about the man's features. His sharply defined face carried an imposing air. An expensive suit and a costly watch made him look exceptionally distinguished, the sort of man whose high-end cologne you could imagine smelling from ten meters away.

Ji Chi suddenly drifted off again, Huo Jin's face leaping back into his mind.

"Nothing." Ji Chi walked to the passenger side, opened the door, and got in.

Song Lin glanced at Ji Chi's clothes. They were obviously cheap. "If you're short on money, I can give you some."

Ji Chi froze briefly and followed his gaze down to his clothes. Rather than answer Song Lin, he wanted to get straight to the point.

Ji Chi's eyes lost focus. The road ahead blurred as though overlaid with countless damp films. His throat felt gripped, the sensation overlapping with the intimacy of the night before. Huo Jin stroked his neck, a tingling # sensation slipping into every sense, and the hazy images suddenly became painfully clear.

"So eager. Almost like you like me."

"Your legs are long, like an Omega's."

"Why are you so slutty? Are you really an Alpha?"

"You want me to hold you while you sleep? Come here yourself."

"Your waist is beautiful. So thin I can see ##."

"Can I mark you again?"

"Ah!" Ji Chi suddenly punched the car, losing control as his body spasmed for several seconds.

"I've been marked," Ji Chi said.

Screech...

The car, which had just begun to move, braked abruptly.

Veins instantly bulged on Song Lin's hand as he gripped the steering wheel. His temples throbbed relentlessly, refusing to settle.

"What... did you say?" Song Lin was visibly stunned.

Ji Chi didn't want to say too much. "Let's go to the hospital. I can't explain it."

"Was it... an Alpha?" Song Lin's breathing turned harsh.

Ji Chi shook his head.

"An Omega?" Song Lin asked again. His hand rubbed against the steering wheel, his knuckles white.

Ji Chi pressed his lips into a pink line. "He had no pheromones." At least, none when he wasn't deliberately releasing them.

Aside from the differences in build, pheromones were the clearest indication of whether someone was an Alpha or an Omega.

They were a symbol of one's sex, a calling card whose release could not be consciously controlled.

In public, these uncontrollably emitted signs of one's designation were the most accurate way to distinguish Alphas from Omegas.

No one could control the release of their designation's pheromones so freely.

Let alone conceal their designation.

No one.

Neither medication nor pheromone-blocking patches could accomplish that.

Someone who could control his pheromones at will, resist suppression by Alpha pheromones, and even mark him-Ji Chi himself was utterly confused.

Ji Chi heard Song Lin draw a deep breath.

Song Lin looked at the side of Ji Chi's neck and started the car again.

This time, Song Lin drove extremely fast.

He looked as though he knew something.

Song Lin drove to a private hospital.

After getting out, he grabbed Ji Chi and headed inside. Ji Chi thought he seemed even more anxious than he was.

He had even started contacting a doctor on the way.

Song Lin dragged Ji Chi before a doctor in a VIP room and got straight to the point. "Remove his mark."

Every domineering CEO had a doctor friend. Clearly, Song Lin had one too.

The doctor beside them chuckled at the sight. Song Lin had already explained the situation on the way over.

The doctor looked up at Ji Chi. "For an Alpha who's been marked, the removal procedure is very complicated."

He handed Ji Chi a questionnaire. "After being marked, did you react in the front or the back?"

Ji Chi: !!!!

A bolt of lightning tore through his brain. In Ji Chi's world, the flowers rotted and the grass scorched. The world called Alpha collapsed.

Ji Chi rubbed his clothes, his lips turning pale. Do I really have to say it?

His lips parted, but he couldn't get a single word out for a long time.

The doctor raised his brows, then lowered his gaze.

"No need to say it. I understand."

"First, we'll check the current pheromone levels in your gland and trace their source. Then we'll decide on a surgical plan."

At that, Ji Chi took the test order and left the VIP consultation room.

After Ji Chi left, Song Lin looked at the doctor and asked heavily, "Was it... an Enigma?"

Only an Enigma could conceal his pheromones at will and even mark an Alpha!

A king who could suppress everything.

"What are the chances?"

The doctor picked up the teacup before him and took a sip. "One hundred percent."

Shock froze Song Lin's face. For a long time, he couldn't speak.

The doctor's lips curved as he cast Song Lin a mocking glance and slowly said:

"This is the fourth sex you've dreamed of becoming, above every Alpha."

"A king who can mark an Alpha and turn him into his own exclusive Omega."

The doctor's words brimmed with teasing, his interest languid, his delight utterly undisguised.

Song Lin clenched his fists until they creaked.

The doctor raised his brows. "Well? Doesn't it break your heart?"

"You've spent years researching an Alpha's third differentiation, all so you could one day differentiate into an Enigma and make a move on the person you like. You've dreamed of marking Ji Chi, but someone else beat you to it."

His mockery grew sharper.

"Shut up!" Song Lin snapped.

"He'll have the mark removed. After today, he won't have anything to do with that man again."

The doctor raised a slender, pale hand and adjusted his glasses. "For someone marked by an Enigma, it doesn't end until death."

Ji Chi, who had returned just then, stood motionless in the doorway.

He had heard every single word.