Chapter 45

Yu Xi: “?”

Temporary what?

What mark??

Neither of them spoke until the bracelet screen automatically dimmed.

As if to confirm Luo Qin’s words, Yu Xi’s breathing suddenly hitched, his heart twitched abruptly, his brain spun for an instant, and a throbbing pain pulsed at his temple. His entire body exhibited fever symptoms.

Yu Xi: “…”

Luo Qin’s mouth really had the power to make things happen just by speaking them.

“How are you?” Yi Chen clearly hadn’t expected the symptoms Luo Qin mentioned in the voice message to appear at this moment.

“Not great.” Yu Xi clenched his jaw tightly.

The symptoms spread extremely quickly. From the initial mental fog to his body growing heavy, it took only a few short seconds. Following that came the intense pain in his gland. During the precursor heat, it had felt like needle pricks, but now it was as if a hand gripped the gland tightly, kneading it viciously, as though trying to crush it.

A scorching heat like flames burned outward from the back of his neck.

Yu Xi grabbed Yi Chen’s shoulder.

It hurt so much.

Not just the pain from his nape and the discomfort throughout his body—his chest and abdomen ached terribly too. Cold sweat poured down Yu Xi’s face, his lips turned deathly pale from biting them, and his pheromones leaked out uncontrollably, spilling like a punctured tire.

Luo Qin’s voice message arrived again at that moment.

“Secondary differentiation will cause the growth of Omega-exclusive organs like the reproductive cavity. Previously, during the precursor heat, symptoms were mostly limited to the gland. In this stage, the physical pain from differentiation will intensify day by day, becoming more pronounced. These symptoms last a long time, with each flare-up continuing for over an hour. A temporary mark can alleviate it.”

Amid the overflowing gardenia scent, threads of peppermint pomelo wove in. Yi Chen was momentarily stunned.

How could he hold back? Yu Xi didn’t know what he looked like now, but Yi Chen did—eyes reddened at the corners, his whole body glistening and alluring. Yu Xi climbed up, yanked open his collar, and tore off the useless pheromone blocker patch, revealing the bite mark on it: “Bite.”

This single word nearly triggered Yi Chen’s susceptible period.

His rationality blanked for an instant, and Yi Chen almost couldn’t restrain himself. He lowered his head, his lips brushing the smooth, soft skin of the gland’s surface.

Marking was every Alpha’s instinct—injecting pheromones into an Omega’s gland.

He had wanted to bite here countless times before.

The gland after secondary differentiation seemed to have changed slightly—softer, whiter, like it had grown a new layer of skin. But that bite mark was still deeply etched into the gland.

That was his mark.

His teeth grazed the gland’s surface for a moment, and just as he was about to bite down, a voice suddenly sounded from the distance, drawing nearer.

“Hello, everyone!”

It was Wu Zhiqi.

She held her self-recording camera, filming aimlessly around her: “The production team assigned me a special task to show everyone the nighttime rainforest.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not wandering off. We’re staying in the activity zone. Look, the stars here are so bright. I haven’t seen such a beautiful night sky in ages.”

Wu Zhiqi aimed the camera at the sky. As the lens shook, the surrounding scenery flashed by in the frame.

[Hey, sis, there seem to be shadows up ahead?]

A barrage comment noticed the fleeting black shadows not far away.

“Really?” Wu Zhiqi looked in the direction the comments indicated. Nothing was there—just an empty grassy area.

“No one here.” Wu Zhiqi walked over to the grass, which was a manicured lawn without weeds, soft enough to sit on without discomfort. She sat cross-legged. “With such a beautiful night view, wouldn’t it be a waste not to chat with everyone?”

Not far away, behind a tree, Yi Chen and Yu Xi embraced tightly.

Just moments ago, Yi Chen had used his last shred of rationality to move himself and Yu Xi behind the tree.

He didn’t want anyone to discover them, and even less did he want any interruptions.

The moment Luo Qin’s message arrived, he had felt a wicked spark of joy.

He had a new excuse to reclaim Yu Xi, to bind him back to his side.

But when the moment truly arrived, he only thought it wasn’t formal enough.

—Even though this was just a temporary mark.

Wu Zhiqi was a beta and didn’t detect the pheromones floating in the nearby air. She chatted with her livestream fans.

The nighttime Easter egg livestream wasn’t watched only by Wu Zhiqi’s fans; followers of the other guests crowded the barrage too.

Wu Zhiqi answered the comments one by one.

“You’re asking about Teacher Yu Xi and Teacher Yi Chen?”

“They’re really nice people, very caring toward me.”

“Actually, I kinda ship them in secret too. I don’t know how to describe it, but they have this… um, exes vibe. Not that they actually dated or anything, but when they’re together, there’s this lingering tension, like unfinished business… Yeah, I shouldn’t say any more.”

Wu Zhiqi’s voice brimmed with energy, and her tossed-out hints greatly boosted interaction in the barrage. The livestream atmosphere was extremely harmonious.

Behind the unnoticed tree, Yi Chen bit through Yu Xi’s gland, slowly injecting his pheromones into it.

Yu Xi—he witnessed firsthand as Yu Xi took on his scent. With their pheromones blending, the possessiveness in his heart boiled over, surging wildly.

Yu Xi felt his heart tremble terribly. Yi Chen held him tighter and tighter, harder and harder, his teeth quivering slightly as they pierced the soft skin of the gland, drawing blood.

But it didn’t hurt.

It felt so good.

So good that sounds threatened to escape his throat.

Yu Xi didn’t dare make a noise; he could only clamp his hand over his mouth desperately.

The pain in his body eased as their pheromones intertwined and fused, gradually diminishing from intense agony to eventual pleasure—pleasure that made his tailbone shudder, pleasure that left his legs too weak to stand.

The Easter egg livestream wasn’t long. Soon, Wu Zhiqi left the lawn.

Yu Xi and Yi Chen stayed put to recover for a bit, ensuring their pheromone scents had dissipated and reapplying the pheromone blocker patch before returning to camp.

“Where did you two go?” They ran into Wu Zhiqi, who had just ended her livestream. “I wanted to find you to interact with the audience together earlier, but couldn’t spot you.”

“We went for some exercise,” Yi Chen said. “We’re a bit tired; we’ll head in to rest first.”

Perhaps because of the temporary mark, Yu Xi slept very well that night. When he woke the next day, he was full of energy.

But the other guests seemed less spirited.

Wen Yimeng hadn’t gotten up yet. Due to his special health condition, the production team let him rest longer.

Fang Peng had back issues and usually slept with a lumbar support pad. Even though the production team had prepared mattresses and he brought his own support, it still wasn’t as comfortable as a proper bed.

Wu Zhiqi was the same; she wasn’t used to sleeping bags and had tossed and turned all night without sleeping well.

Fu Le looked particularly drained, eating breakfast listlessly.

Facing the task card delivered first thing in the morning, everyone turned their gazes to the only two who looked full of vigor: Yu Xi and Yi Chen.

The task wasn’t difficult—it involved going to the guide’s house to carry supplies needed for that day’s rainforest exploration. Pure physical labor.

One livestream camera followed Yu Xi and Yi Chen. The director waved grandly to the guests left behind: “Everyone, head back to your tents for more rest. Once Teacher Yu Xi and Teacher Yi Chen return, our rainforest trip today will officially begin!”

Fu Le trudged back to his tent dispiritedly. He hadn’t slept well.

Lately, his public image had taken a hit. Though it had warmed slightly after two weeks of good behavior, netizens still occasionally dug up clips of him being humiliated by Yu Xi that day and shoved them in his face.

His sugar daddy had given him advice: “Want to turn your reputation around? It’s simple. Who got you into this mess? Find his dirt. With leverage in hand, make him look worse than you—dirtier, more severe. Then, netizens won’t fixate only on you; some will even see you as the victim.”

So… what dirt did Yu Xi have?

Fu Le pondered this as his steps halted in front of Yu Xi and Yi Chen’s tent.

Yu Xi and Yi Chen weren’t there. The tent was empty.

If… he just rifled through Yu Xi’s personal items a bit…

Fu Le’s hand rested on the tent zipper.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t choose to stir trouble right now.”

Yi Chen’s voice came abruptly from behind. Fu Le’s body stiffened; he turned rigidly, forcing a smile: “What are you talking about, Brother Yi Chen?”

“His mood has finally improved a bit. I hope you don’t mess it up.” Yi Chen gripped Fu Le’s shoulder, leaning down to whisper near his ear, “If you want something to do, I have plenty of time to play with you.”

Yi Chen’s tone carried a smile, his ending note light and airy, but it sent chills through Fu Le’s limbs.

“I-I… Brother Yi Chen, I didn’t…”

“Good if you didn’t.” Yi Chen smiled faintly, the mirth not reaching his eyes.

“Come on.” Yu Xi’s voice called out. “Taking this long for one item?”

“Coming.” Yi Chen strode quickly toward Yu Xi, hooking an arm around his neck as the two pressed intimately together.

Where to Go This Weekend‘s third episode’s second-day livestream went very smoothly.

No emergencies, no bad weather. Everyone completed the livestream and returned one after another.

The first thing upon returning, Yi Chen took Yu Xi to the hospital.

Luo Qin was on duty that night: “No single rooms tonight. You’ll share a double first; we’ll see about arrangements tomorrow. Here, get these hooked up.”

Luo Qin hooked Yu Xi up with a full array of monitoring devices to track his differentiation status, with real-time data feedback.

Hooked up to so many machines, Yu Xi could barely move, lying like a corpse on the hospital bed while Yi Chen tidied his things nearby.

The other bed in the double room held a middle-aged man, reportedly hospitalized from a car accident. He had been resting when they arrived.

Yu Xi and Yi Chen had tried to be as quiet as possible, but soon after they entered, the man rolled over, groaning “ow” twice as he woke.

“Sorry for disturbing you,” Yi Chen said. “I’ll try to be even quieter.”

“No problem.” The man waved it off, his voice husky with sleep. “I’d slept enough; it was about time to wake anyway. No disturbance, you can con…”

The middle-aged man’s voice cut off abruptly.

His new roommate and attendant… looked familiar?

“You’re… Yi Chen and Yu Xi?”

Yu Xi wasn’t surprised to be recognized. The man who spotted them was probably a fan via his kids at home. Just as Yu Xi prepared a polite greeting, he took a closer look at the man’s face.

“Hm?”

An extremely familiar face—he hadn’t met him in person, but he’d seen it countless times lately in entertainment news.

“You’re… Wang Hui, Director Wang?”