Chapter 31: The Battle for Top Spot Part 2

He Siheng’s last message had asked if Tan Wan was coming for late-night snacks. After Tan Jing lied and said she was busy, there’d been no response.

Was he disappointed? Or angry?

Maybe he shouldn’t have lied…

“Happy birthday, bro. Like the gift from your sis?” A woman’s voice came over, teasing.

Tan Jing snapped back to attention, his tone flat. “If it weren’t a model, I’d like it more.”

For his birthday, Tan Wan had added a new motorcycle to her garage and given him a model version as a “gift,” citing his lack of a license.

That was Tan Wan’s gentle, generous true nature for you.

The stingy one herself laughed heartily now, deliberately dangling the motorcycle keys in front of him. “No license yet, and you want the real thing?”

“It’s not like I haven’t ridden one before.”

“Shh,” Tan Wan hushed him guiltily. “If Mom hears I let you ride my bike secretly, she’ll kill me.”

Tan Jing chuckled lightly and checked his phone again—no reply.

He frowned and called He Siheng.

In a dimly lit room thick with damp air, on a grimy floor, a syringe needle glinted coldly. A incessantly ringing phone was picked up by a pale hand.

Lu Xinshu glanced at the caller and waved the phone at the person on the bed. “Little Heng, see who’s calling.”

The slender teen, jacket stripped off, curled on the bed struggling to breathe, glared daggers at him. “What… did you inject me with…”

“Don’t be scared,” Lu Xinshu smiled gently. “This drug just advances your Heat Period—no harm to your body. I know you’ve Differentiated as an Omega, right?”

He Siheng’s arms trembled as he tried to stand, only to collapse from weakness.

Lu Xinshu stood by the bed, watching like a fawn learning to walk, his smile even gentler. “Save your strength—the sedative hasn’t worn off yet.”

He Siheng gnashed his teeth. “Bastard…”

Lu Xinshu answered the call in front of him, on speaker. “Classmate Tan Jing, what do you need with my Little Heng?”

Tan Jing’s pupils contracted at the voice.

“Wanna guess what Little Heng and I are doing?” Lu Xinshu laughed smugly and suggestively. “We’re in a room—want to hear how he’s panting—”

Before he finished, crashing furniture and shattering glass erupted from the phone.

Tan Jing shot to his feet. “He Siheng!”

The banquet continued, but heads turned at the noise. Tan Cong and Jiang He, who were schmoozing nearby, stopped laughing and looked over puzzled.

Tan Wan, closest to him, whispered, “A Jing, what’s wrong?”

No answer. Tan Jing snatched her motorcycle keys, clutched the still-connected phone, and bolted without looking back.

Tan Wan gasped softly. “My baby new bike—ride carefully!”

Too late—she clapped a hand over her mouth, but Mom’s death glare had already landed.

At the guesthouse, while Lu Xinshu took the call, He Siheng struggled off the bed and shoved him hard toward the bedside table.

Unprepared, Lu Xinshu crashed into the table and chairs. The glass on top shattered across the floor.

The sedative lingered, plus the aphrodisiac injection—He Siheng’s limbs were jelly. Knowing now wasn’t the time to fight, he stumbled toward the door the instant Lu Xinshu fell.

But before he reached it, the man scrambled up, grabbed his collar, and yanked him back.

He Siheng staggered and fell onto the glass-strewn floor. Shards sliced his palm, blood pouring out.

Lu Xinshu straddled his lower back, yanked his hair to force his head up, eyes ferocious. “Why run! Why won’t you obey!”

“Do you know how much I like you? From the day you saved me, I fell for you. I loved you so much, sending you gifts every day, but you? Wouldn’t even glance!”

Alpha Pheromones exploded from him, aggressively coiling toward He Siheng—a sticky, nauseating bloody scent. His drugged Gland screamed for it despite everything.

He Siheng clenched a glass shard under his palm, using the pain to fight the damn instinct.

“Liked by someone like you… talk about bad luck.”

Even struggling to breathe, He Siheng’s mouth stayed sharp.

Provoked by the contempt, Lu Xinshu laughed in rage. “But now you’re in the hands of someone like me—what can you do?”

“Like it or not, you’re mine soon.” Lu Xinshu leaned over his back, fingers stroking his nape. “My Omega—mine alone.”

“Honestly, I used to worry. I’m already an Alpha—if you Differentiated as one too, I couldn’t Mark you. Such a pity.”

“Seeing you become an Omega made me so happy. We’re perfect for each other.”

He Siheng silently tightened his grip on the glass in his palm. It cut deeper, pain intensifying—but it wasn’t enough. Far from it.

He closed his eyes. “Perfect for each other? Who’re you trying to make laugh? Ask anyone at school—even the dean would say I’m the heavenly match for Tan Jing.”

“Looking at the entire North-South High School, who doesn’t know how loving we are? He’s even been to my house for dinner—my parents adore him. As for you, who the hell are you?!”

He Siheng spat out the words while inwardly rejoicing that Tan Jing wasn’t present. These shameful lines made him want to vomit, but he had no choice—this was the only way he could think of to buy time.

Lu Xinshu’s attention was successfully diverted, and he was thoroughly enraged. “Tan Jing, Tan Jing—it’s always Tan Jing! What’s so great about him? Why is your mind full of him?!”

“It was like that before, and it’s still like that now!”

“I already tore that photo off the wall and deliberately framed him for it—why are you still hung up on him?!”

In a fit of irrational rage, Lu Xinshu spat out the truth of the past misunderstanding. He Siheng’s pupils trembled slightly.

What?

That photo wasn’t torn by Tan Jing?

How did Lu Xinshu even come into contact with Tan Jing? Where did he contact him from?

In a flash, He Siheng suddenly recalled what Shu Qiu had said.

—”He broke his leg in junior high.”

—”I heard he was hit by a bike. The kid riding it wasn’t much older, also a junior high student, from a poor family. A Jing pitied him and didn’t make them pay much in medical fees.”

—”He told me himself not to tell you. You two were on the outs back then, after all.”

So that was it…

It was actually like that!

His eyes turned red, his eyelids burned, and He Siheng clenched the glass shard in his hand until it pierced his skin. Sharp pain shot through his nerve endings, but it was nothing compared to the dull ache in his chest.

“Weren’t you two already done? Hadn’t you broken off your friendship? Why did you reconcile?!”

Lu Xinshu’s eyes brimmed with ferocity. “I should have run him over and killed him back then!”

Suddenly, a blood-drenched hand gripped the glass shard and viciously stabbed into his thigh.

Caught off guard by the attack, Lu Xinshu howled in pain. Seizing the moment, He Siheng—who had regained some strength—wrenched himself free from under him. He clamped his palm over Lu Xinshu’s face and slammed the back of his head hard against the floor.

Lu Xinshu’s vision swam from the blow, but before he could react, his neck was seized in a death grip that choked off his air. He struggled futilely, his face turning purple.

The slender youth choking him had veins bulging on the back of his hand.

Those amber eyes burned with undisguised fury.

“Say that again,” He Siheng said, his eyes wild with madness, his voice trembling with extreme rage. “What exactly did you do to him?”

As the words fell, the door to the motel room was kicked open.

Overwhelming pheromones, laced with bone-chilling murderous intent, flooded the room.