I'm He Jianing from the Blue Team

Deep in the dense forest, the three hurried along, Xie Lin silent the entire way.

Lu Ye's brows were tightly knitted. He suspected Xie Lin was remembering that terrible experience.

"Don't worry, Taotao. Those two kids will be fine!"

Xie Lin exhaled.

Besides the time he had been taken to the warehouse, he had experienced something like this once as a child.

When he was ten, both his parents had died in a car accident.

Overcome with grief, his two grandfathers had resolutely left their hometown and moved with him to Jiangzhou to start their lives over.

One day after school, his grandfather had been a few minutes late picking him up, and a human trafficker who looked very much like his mother had lured him away.

On the way, the van had sideswiped an oncoming car, and both vehicles had overturned into a mountain ravine.

When he woke, he was covered in blood, held in Pretty Older Brother's arms with a hand over his mouth, hiding at the top of a tall tree.

The night wind was cold, but Pretty Older Brother's embrace was warm.

"Don't be afraid. It's all right. I'll take you home in a little while."

Then he had passed out again.

When he next woke, he was already in the hospital, clutching a filthy blue badge. Pretty Older Brother was gone.

At the thought, Xie Lin's eyes dimmed.

It had been too dark, and between his terror and excessive blood loss, he hadn't managed to see what Pretty Older Brother, who had saved him, looked like.

His face had blurred into the darkness, leaving only a gentle outline and the words that would echo through countless nightmares afterward-"Don't be afraid."

Until the Fu family moved in next door.

Fu Yunxi's build was exactly like Pretty Older Brother's!

The same height, the same long legs. Even his smile overlapped with the person in Xie Lin's dreams.

From then on, Xie Lin had followed him around as though possessed, pursuing him for ten whole years.

But the last time he had been kidnapped, Fu Yunxi hadn't become Pretty Older Brother and come to save him.

Instead, Lu Ye, someone unrelated, had helped him at the last moment.

His Pretty Older Brother had fallen from his pedestal!

Waves of tightness filled Xie Lin's chest, leaving him stifled.

Just then, several figures appeared in the dense forest ahead to the left, moving swiftly.

A familiar voice came through their earpieces.

"Is that Xie Lin and Lu Ye?"

"Tch!"

Yue Lan scoffed.

"And your big sister here!"

The other side fell silent for a moment.

"...Sister Lan."

"Mm. Don't hold me back later!"

Xiao Lie choked up and chose to shut his mouth.

As everyone knew, women weren't to be trifled with, and female alphas even less so!

Another hour later, they reached a completely unfamiliar stretch of woodland.

This place was also outside the safe area designated by the production crew.

The vegetation was thicker, and there were more wild animals. Small animals that had scrambled up trees in fright could be seen everywhere.

"Stay here. I'll go scout ahead."

Xiao Lie spoke first.

Xie Lin gave a derisive chuckle.

"I'm an omega. I'm the best choice. If it comes to it, I can play weak, and those people won't suspect anything."

With that, Xie Lin straightened and started forward, only for Lu Ye to hold him by the shoulder.

"Stay here. I'll go."

"Tss!"

Xie Lin turned and kicked him, baring his teeth.

"I said I'm going, so I'm going. Stand right here, damn it."

Lu Ye pouted pitifully. Such a big alpha, and he looked as though he was about to cry.

"But I'm worried..."

"Worried, my ass! Are your ears just for decoration?"

Xie Lin glared at him, then turned and darted ahead.

After six or seven hundred meters, faint voices came from up ahead.

Xie Lin slowed his steps, mussed his hair, and tore several holes in his clothes.

The next second, he stumbled out and met the eyes of several burly men.

Their leader was bald, with a centipede-like scar running across the top of his head.

A vicious gleam flashed in his eyes as his hand reached behind his waist.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Xie Lin stared with wide, round eyes while quickly scanning his surroundings out of the corners of his eyes.

Five alphas, two tents, faint silhouettes visible through the gaps, and half-packed luggage.

These people were going to run!

He couldn't let them get away!

Xie Lin spoke in a bright, clear voice, soft and sweet.

"How come I've never seen you before? Are you from the Red Team?"

The bald man's brows knotted tightly. He remained tense and silent.

"I'm He Jianing from the Blue Team! Even if you don't know me, you must have seen my movies, right?"

Xie Lin blinked, his eyes clear, and edged a few steps closer.

"I'm dying of thirst. Do you have any water?"

The bald man looked him up and down. Seeing that he was an omega, he relaxed a little, but kept his hand behind his back.

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of large yellow teeth.

"I was wondering why you looked familiar. So you're a movie star."

"Hehe, if you're not from the Red Team, you must be from Half-Mountain Village, here to gather medicinal herbs?"

"Ah, right. It got too late, and we didn't make it down the mountain."

The bald man went along with it, slowly taking a few steps toward Xie Lin.

"What's this Red Team and Blue Team you were talking about?"

"Oh, we're filming a show on this mountain."

Xie Lin plopped down on a rock, fanning his face with a fair, delicate hand. His collar slipped down half an inch with the movement, exposing his finely shaped collarbones.

"It's one of those competitions between two teams. Whoever reaches the summit first wins."

The bald man's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.

"Then how did you end up here?"

"I thought I'd take a shortcut. I want to win. Hey, do you really not have any water for me?"

As he spoke, he pouted forlornly, and a watery mist instantly veiled his almond-shaped eyes.

The bald man abruptly straightened and waved a hand behind him.

A bottle of mineral water was tossed through the air into Xie Lin's hands. He unscrewed the cap, tipped his head back, and gulped down half of it.

Water droplets slid down his jaw and disappeared beneath his collar.

The bald man stared, swallowing hard several more times.

"Thank you so much."

Xie Lin wiped his mouth and turned to leave.

"Time's almost up. I have to win!"

"Hold on. Out here in the wilderness, it's not safe for an omega to travel alone. Want me to take you?"

Xie Lin stepped back half a pace and stiffly tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"You're all alphas..."

His voice grew quieter and quieter, its final notes trembling.

"That isn't exactly safe for me either, haha..."

A young man with a tattooed arm curled his lips, exchanging silent glances with the others beside him.

Just as he was about to speak, a scream suddenly rang out, then vanished as though something had cut it off.

Xie Lin's pupils contracted.

"That was..."

"Ah... haha, you clearly haven't done that sort of thing before."

The bald man looked back and signaled one of the others with his eyes.

"Go tell them to keep it down while they're at it. They're scaring our little omega."

The man nodded obsequiously and ran toward the tents.

The bald man and the remaining three closed in on Xie Lin.

Whether his story was true or not, now that they'd come across him, he wasn't getting away.

Xie Lin still stood there in a daze.

"You..."

Before he finished, four figures had trapped him in their midst.

The bald man reached out with a lecherous grin.

"A star, all right. Fucking gorgeous. What's so great about filming some lousy show? Come with us, and we'll keep you living in luxury, every day like paradise..."

Xie Lin's eyes widened in terror. He turned and bolted for the woods.

The tattooed man grinned viciously. A foul burst of pheromones, stinking of scorched pig bristles, exploded outward, heading straight for the gland at the back of Xie Lin's neck.

Bang!

An ebony scent bore down from every direction like a landslide and a tsunami.

Partway through, a strand split from those utterly overbearing pheromones and gently wound around Xie Lin, shielding him without leaving a single gap.

The rest slammed into the four alphas like a sledgehammer!

The tattooed man's expression changed drastically. Before he could turn, he was pinned in place, his eyes rolling back as he dropped stiffly to his knees.

The others fared no better. Their knees struck the ground one after another in a series of dull thuds.

In just one second, all four had been crushed flat against the ground, unable to move a muscle.

Xie Lin withdrew the Boning Knife he had extended. Before he could turn his head, his back fell into a warm embrace.

Wisps of ebony pheromones enveloped him as though they had physical substance.

They even... inexplicably carried a hint of aggrievement.