Chapter 44: Wei Tingxia’s Secret Part 1

The next day at dawn, Wei Tingxia was still asleep when he vaguely felt someone gently press down on the bedding beside him.

“I’m leaving,” Yan Xinfeng’s voice was very low.

Wei Tingxia mumbled and rolled over, turning his back to him as he tossed out a single sentence: “Go early and come back early.”

Heartless omega.

Wei Tingxia seemed to hear someone say that. Before he could react, he felt Yan Xinfeng plant a kiss on his face, followed by faint footsteps that gradually receded until the room fell completely silent.

“…”

Wei Tingxia rolled back over and unconsciously rubbed the spot on his pillow that had just been kissed, soon sinking back into dreamland.

By the time he fully woke up, he had just received a call from his assistant.

“Your Highness, there’s something.”

“Speak.”

“It’s the little princess.” The assistant’s voice held some hesitation. “Her recent behavior has been a bit strange. I’m worried that someone with ulterior motives might notice and cause trouble, so I came to report it to you first.”

Wei Tingxia paused in the middle of washing his face and lifted his head. The mirror reflected his face dotted with water droplets, which silently dripped onto the countertop.

“How strange?”

“Your Highness has been particularly fond of going out to play and enjoy himself lately, often with multiple companions, and there are many more omegas in the residence. She heard about you handling enrollment for Mr. Yuan and started clamoring to do the same.”

Wei Tingyun. Playing and enjoying.

How did those two things connect?

And what was with the omegas?

Wei Tingxia wiped his face and guessed, “Could they be her friends or something?”

Wei Tingyun was already at an age where she could make friends, and as her older brother, Wei Tingxia wouldn’t stop his little sister from doing so.

“No,” the assistant firmly denied. “I paid attention and investigated. Some of these omegas are locals from the Capital Star, while others have unclear origins. From scattered information, it seems the princess brought some back from other planets or even star systems.”

“…”

Wei Tingxia tossed the towel back onto the counter. “When did she go to other planets?”

Wei Tingyun was an omega of the imperial family. In the Old Emperor’s view, she was an extremely precious political resource who couldn’t bear children, and she had just reached marriageable age. There was no way the Old Emperor would allow her to leave the Capital Star.

“That’s the problem,” the assistant said.

They couldn’t pin down the origins of those omegas or figure out exactly what Wei Tingyun wanted to do, so they could only report the issue to Wei Tingxia first.

“Alright, I got it.”

Wei Tingxia first asked System 0188, “Do I have anything else today?”

[Nothing much,] System 0188 said. [You can go handle your family matters.]

So Wei Tingxia instructed, “Come pick me up in ten minutes.”

“Yes.”

The call ended, and Wei Tingxia had already finished getting ready. He paced to the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel room and gazed toward the hazy skyline in the distance.

Yan Xinfeng had left at dawn, so by now, he should have departed the Capital Star and headed toward the border.

[Do you know he left this time to meet Lin Tao?] System 0188 asked.

Wei Tingxia’s expression didn’t change. “Why do you say that?”

[In thirty-nine hours, Lin Tao will arrive on the Tansvika Planet. That’s the final stop for the medical project,] System 0188 analyzed. [If Yan Xinfeng lies in wait there, it’ll catch her completely off guard.]

Lin Tao wasn’t some staunchly resolute person; she only wanted to stay alive. At first, she might quibble to cover for Wei Tingxia, but if Yan Xinfeng even hinted at killing her if she didn’t talk, no secret would hold.

“What can I do about it?” Wei Tingxia’s voice carried a trace of barely perceptible fatigue, more like stating an unsolvable fact. “Let him go. I can’t control him anymore.”

Ever since he had fled in panic after getting pregnant, Wei Tingxia had known this matter couldn’t be hidden forever. Many of his actions, driven by anger and dissatisfaction, seemed unreasonable, and Yan Xinfeng would surely grow suspicious.

With the recent string of misfortunes fueling it, Yan Xinfeng had probably connected a lot of bad dots.

“Can’t stop him, so let it be.” He said softly.

Even so, a thread of inexpressible sorrow quickly flitted across the depths of his eyes, like a fleeting glint through a rift in the clouds, soon covered by a deeper calm.

Wei Tingxia didn’t care about the child, but he sometimes wondered how Yan Xinfeng viewed the matter. Yet that thought itself brought pain, so Wei Tingxia didn’t dwell on it, lest he paint Yan Xinfeng as an ungrateful bastard, get angry at himself, wrong Yan Xinfeng, and end up hurting himself again.

…

Ten minutes later, the assistant arrived right on time.

Wei Tingxia injected a dose of disguised pheromones, changed clothes, and got into the hovercar’s back seat, having the assistant take him to Wei Tingyun’s residence.

“Don’t tell anyone,” he said, crossing his legs and casually taking a plate of fresh-cut fruit from the small cabinet beside him. “Especially Wei Tingyun.”

“Understood.”

The hovercar sped away.

When he had eaten half the fruit plate, the car stopped on the long driveway in front of Wei Tingyun’s house.

Before getting out, System 0188 said, [Lifeform count: 39.]

Wei Tingyun didn’t like crowds; the number of living things in her house usually never exceeded ten. Now it had spiked to thirty-nine. If it were anyone else, Wei Tingxia would suspect she was starting a harem.

After getting out and reaching the door, the tightly shut house door was forcefully yanked open from inside. Then Wei Tingyun burst out of the house with a huge grin and threw herself into Wei Tingxia’s arms.

“Bro!” Her voice held a contrived cheer. “Big shot, what made you think of visiting me?”

Wei Tingxia caught her, his gaze sweeping over the sweat beading on her forehead. “Came to see you.”

“I’m doing great,” Wei Tingyun said, but her arms tightened around him as if afraid he’d run off. “I was just about to go shopping. Wanna come with?”

She invited him enthusiastically and, saying that, tugged at Wei Tingxia’s sleeve to drag him outside. But Wei Tingxia didn’t fall for it; his heels stayed planted firmly in place.

He furrowed his brows, feigning confusion. “Didn’t you used to hate shopping the most? Always complaining it was a hassle.”

Wei Tingyun had her own logic. “It’s not for me or you; it’s for your future sister-in-law. You’re about to get engaged—haven’t you thought of buying her some gifts?”

He had bought some; yesterday he even took him to get a room. Wei Tingxia mentally added that, but his face remained impassive.

“Gifts can wait.”

He gently pressed down on the hand Wei Tingyun was using to tug his sleeve and looked toward the house.

A flash of clothing corner darted from around the bend, hiding in a hurry. Wei Tingxia’s eyes flickered as he said, “I’m a bit thirsty. Let’s drink some water first.”

With that, without waiting for Wei Tingyun to react, he strode straight into the house.

The moment Wei Tingxia entered, Wei Tingyun’s face instantly fell into complete gloom. But remembering she hadn’t been caught red-handed yet, she hurriedly followed him inside, full of feigned attentiveness.

“Bro, sit down quick. Want juice or water?”

Wei Tingxia didn’t answer right away. Instead, he slowly raised one eyebrow. Under Wei Tingyun’s cautious gaze, he leisurely sat on the sofa.

“You’re so enthusiastic it’s starting to scare me.”

“Hahaha… Look at you saying that. Aren’t I your sister? Of course I dote on you. And you’re about to get married, so after that, us two will…”

Wei Tingyun was purely blurting out nonsense in her panic.

She had always been bold and unyielding from a young age, fearless of anyone—even daring to glare at the Old Emperor when he scolded her. But when it came to Wei Tingxia, her courage faltered a bit.

Right now, Wei Tingyun knew full well she couldn’t hide it. Whether early or late, death awaited, so she could only smile at Wei Tingxia, trying to muddle through.

“Bro—”

Wei Tingxia raised a hand. “Cut it out. Call those two in the kitchen out here.”

Wei Tingyun: “…”

Wei Tingyun: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh?” In her last-ditch struggle, Wei Tingxia didn’t bother with her. He propped his leg on the table and recited from the map System 0188 provided. “Two in the kitchen, ten upstairs, fifteen in the basement, hmm… and eight more…”

“Stop talking!!!”

Wei Tingyun lunged onto the sofa and covered Wei Tingxia’s mouth with her hand, complaining all the while, “Why are you alphas so annoying?”

It wasn’t alphas who were annoying; it was her bro.

Wei Tingxia didn’t point it out and just chuckled. “Willing to explain what’s going on now? When I heard about it, I thought my sister was planning to marry dozens of concubines.”

“You know, you’re not funny at all.” Wei Tingyun plopped down beside Wei Tingxia, dropping the act. “Little Meng, I want some juice.”

At her words, the omega who had just scurried out of Yan Xinfeng’s line of sight emerged from the kitchen, carrying two glasses of freshly squeezed apple juice.

“It’s chilled, a bit cold.”

Little Meng’s voice was soft and weak, and the glance he shot over was timid. Wei Tingxia blocked Wei Tingyun’s move to take the glasses and stared at him.

Realizing this suddenly appeared alpha had bad intentions, Little Meng’s whole body trembled. He then carefully squatted by the table and set down the two glasses.

But in the moment he reached out, restricted by his posture, his sleeve slid up, revealing a slender, pale wrist. Wei Tingxia’s gaze instantly locked onto it.

Even though it had been meticulously repaired by medical devices, the wrist was still covered in dark needle marks and streak-like scars, like dust marring clean fabric.

Wei Tingxia suddenly grabbed Little Meng’s wrist and dragged him in front of himself. His fingers pressed on one of the scars, rubbing it repeatedly.

“Your Highness!!”

Little Meng let out a sharp cry, his face turning ghastly pale as his body shook violently. He tried to escape but couldn’t match Wei Tingxia’s strength at all. He could only tremble as he was pulled closer, tears streaming down all at once.

Wei Tingyun hadn’t expected her brother to do this. “Bro!”

She hurriedly reached out to pull Wei Tingxia away. “Bro, what are you doing? You scared him!”

Wei Tingxia’s tone was low. “You scared me too!”

He let go and sat back on the sofa, looking toward the people who had appeared some distance away at some point.

They were all omegas, and in more or less the same state as Little Meng. Even the ones in slightly better condition had the same numb, panicked look in their eyes.

“…”

Wei Tingxia rubbed his fingers, his gaze darkening. He could confirm from touching it: the scars on Little Meng’s arm were mostly from long needles directly piercing arteries and drawing blood over long periods. Combined with his current demeanor, Wei Tingxia thought of something.