Ji Chuan's thoughts

At six thirty in the morning, the beeping alarm woke the man lying dead drunk on the floor.

"So noisy."

The murmur was followed by an impatient grunt, and the noisy phone was smashed to pieces.

At last, it was quiet.

Ji Chuan scratched his disheveled hair, his expression dark. Although he had agreed to work with Lu Keyan,

that illegitimate son had been coming and going like a ghost lately, nowhere to be seen.

And then there was...

Ji Chuan remembered what he had seen that day. Lu Keyan had effortlessly pinned an A-rank alpha underwater, leaving him utterly powerless to struggle...

Just how strong was Lu Keyan's mental power?

It couldn't be weak, or he wouldn't dare covet A-Xiao.

At the thought of A-Xiao, a dull ache spread through Ji Chuan's heart.

If not for him, A-Xiao wouldn't have been bullied like that by Gu Yun.

Ji Chuan lit a cigarette and took a fierce drag, letting the ash fall onto the floor.

He stripped off his pajamas and tossed them aside, exposing a pale back crisscrossed with whip marks.

After another drag, Ji Chuan spat the cigarette butt straight out of his mouth, yawned, pulled open the curtains, and left the room.

After drinking all night, his head still hurt badly today.

Ji Chuan sank into the bathtub, letting the jets of water pound his body.

He flipped a switch, and a screen slowly descended in front of him.

Projected onto the screen was a view of A-Xiao's bathroom.

At that moment, naturally, there was no one in the picture.

Not until ten past seven did a familiar body appear right before Ji Chuan.

Those legs wouldn't even fit on the screen.

Ji Chuan's breathing grew heavier.

He knew A-Xiao had probably guessed something.

Last time, he had even made quite a commotion over it.

Fortunately, Ji Chuan used the most advanced technology. A camera the size of half a grain of rice was firmly embedded in the chandelier. A-Xiao wouldn't discover it.

It was just that this camera sometimes had mishaps.

Before A-Xiao's birthday, something had gone wrong with the surveillance camera. It had suddenly stopped working while A-Xiao was taking a bath.

"A-Xiao..."

Ji Chuan watched the screen, his murmured voice hoarse. With a screen between them, he couldn't touch him.

Could merely watching satisfy him?

No, it couldn't.

A-Xiao had been far too vigilant lately. Being able to watch from a distance was enough.

He was being watched again.

Gu Xiao's taut muscles soon relaxed again.

After all these days, this was the second time someone had spied on him.

He had thought that thorough sweep had gotten rid of everything that looked like a camera.

Now it seemed it hadn't worked.

The other person was very cautious, and very perverted.

Expressionless, Gu Xiao submerged himself in the water, one person after another surfacing in his mind.

He had no leads.

Aside from those three, Gu Xiao couldn't think of a fourth person.

But if it were those three, there was no need for them to peek.

Gu Xiao scoffed and stared straight in one direction.

He spat out the words, "You. Coward!"

On the other side of the screen, Ji Chuan trembled all over at that response.

A-Xiao had noticed!

A-Xiao had noticed him watching him again!

Ji Chuan shook with excitement. Yes, he was a coward!

Ever since his feelings for A-Xiao had been discovered in his teens, he had never shown his love for A-Xiao again.

Even though he knew he yearned for A-Xiao beyond measure.

Even Feng Ji only teased him, unaware that he still loved A-Xiao.

As for Fu Huai... he had probably seen through him, but said nothing.

Because there was nothing he could do.

They were all the same.

There was nothing any of them could do!

Only when the water slowly cooled did Ji Chuan get out of the bathtub.

Only a bathtub remained in the picture, too.

At some point, A-Xiao had also left.

Ji Chuan's mood could hardly be called good, but he was considerably more relaxed than before.

Once he put on another layer of clothing, the whip marks on his back were completely concealed.

Gu Xiao was in a very bad mood.

Anyone would be unhappy about being spied on first thing in the morning.

And in the bathroom, no less. Which omega was this crazy about him?

Gu Xiao narrowed his eyes. The other person had better be a female omega, or else-

He would find a way to track him down, then kill him!

Too many people liked him. It was only normal for a few of them to be rich, powerful lunatics.

But few had the nerve to install a camera in his bathroom.

Gu Xiao had initially suspected those three, because aside from Fu Huai, Ji Chuan, and Feng Ji, no one else had that kind of capability.

But those three had no need to do something like this.

Take Feng Ji, for instance. That little bastard was capable of squeezing straight into the same bathtub as him. He had no need to go to such trouble.

Though Gu Xiao certainly wouldn't let Feng Ji get his way.

Gu Xiao was in such a foul mood that even Fu Huai could tell with ease.

"A-Xiao, if you really are sick of those twins," Fu Huai said gravely, "it's not as though there's no way to get rid of them."

"It has nothing to do with them," Gu Xiao said. "They don't matter."

"Really?" Fu Huai asked. "A-Xiao, what are you thinking about?"

Gu Xiao sneered. "I'm wondering where Ji Chuan has gone off fooling around again. He hasn't been chasing after He Shuyu lately."

"...A-Xiao, you've misunderstood him. He wouldn't lower himself that far." Fu Huai was helpless.

"A-Chuan is A-Chuan, after all. No matter how much he likes someone, he won't go chasing after them. If you want to see him, I can make him get his ass back here."

Gu Xiao couldn't help rolling his eyes. "That's not what I meant. Do you really not know what he's up to?"

Fu Huai hesitated, then nodded. "He hasn't met with that illegitimate son of the Lu Family in a long time, either."

"Oh, Lu Keyan." Gu Xiao chuckled. "He probably wants to turn the Lu Family upside down."

Fu Huai's eyes shifted slightly. "A-Xiao, why are you interested in the Lu Family's affairs, too?"

"I'm just bored. What, should I be interested in your Fu Family instead?" Gu Xiao smiled. "I hear your cousin is about to return to the country. A-Huai, you'd better be careful."

Fu Huai showed no sign of fear. "Fu Sinian is only a beta. He has no effect on me."

Fu Sinian, Fu Huai's older male cousin, was merely an ordinary beta with indistinct features.

In the original novel, he had appeared in only a scant few lines.

But Gu Xiao had a fairly good impression of this Fu Sinian, whom he had never met.

Those few short lines had made him remember Fu Sinian.

In this world, betas made up the largest share of the population.

They weren't troubled by pheromones. Although they had no mental power either, their advantage lay in their stability; inexplicable desires wouldn't disrupt their lives.

In Gu Xiao's view, betas were actually better suited to taking the lead in this world.

Compared to betas, omegas and alphas were more like beasts.