Chapter 38: High and Mighty Alpha Young Master

Zhou Wu seemed about to get up, but he was quickly pinned back down. Shen Yanzhi’s eyes were glazed as he bit Zhou Wu’s neck with eager impatience.

Yet the sensation after the bite was nothing like what he had imagined. There was no profound soul-deep satisfaction, no effortless domination.

Once the clear, sweet fruit fragrance erupted, it was like the tide had turned—it surged back with fierce aggression, counterattacking him.

The reversed suppression hit him like a shockwave. He recoiled instinctively and toppled unsteadily to the ground, his head spinning in confusion.

“Uh…?”

Shen Yanzhi rubbed his forehead vigorously and shook his head.

A numb, aching soreness throbbed through his sinuses and skull. He was still reeling when Zhou Wu yanked open his collar.

“Wait… w-what are you doing?”

A vague foreboding stirred panic and fury in Shen Yanzhi’s chest. He started to fight back.

But Zhou Wu seized his wrists and slammed him flat against the floor.

Shen Yanzhi’s eyes bulged wide. He had never realized Zhou Wu possessed such strength.

In truth, 05 didn’t dare use his full power at that moment. He only matched it to Shen Yanzhi’s level.

Shen Yanzhi was already a top-tier Alpha—if 05 slipped up, it could glitch the whole scenario.

Even so, Shen Yanzhi was utterly stunned. He clenched his teeth until his neck flushed red, but he couldn’t break free. In a rage, he lashed out with a fierce kick.

The two tumbled across the floor in a tangle, neither gaining the upper hand. That was, until Zhou Wu unleashed a flood of even more pheromones.

It felt like a passionfruit rain had begun falling from the sky, a fine mist settling over Shen Yanzhi’s face.

Shen Yanzhi’s cheeks burned hotter than ever. He tried to hold his breath, but he ended up gasping desperately. His arms went limp, pinned immovably to the ground.

Elsewhere below the belt, though, he brimmed with urgent energy.

“Zhou Wu? You dare…! Wait—Zhou Wu!”

Zhou Wu said nothing. He fisted Shen Yanzhi’s hair and smashed his head down.

“No! Urgh!”

Zhou Wu bared his teeth.

“!!”

The world lurched into a dizzying whirl.

Shen Yanzhi struggled, but an even fiercer vertigo crashed over him. With his nape caught in Zhou Wu’s jaws, his breath felt shackled by iron chains. It was as if venom had been pumped straight into his veins.

His body began shuddering violently. His eyes lost focus, his breaths came in ragged bursts. Sensory overload consumed him.

Intense heat blazed through his entire frame, his mind churning like it was caught in a blender.

For several long minutes, he couldn’t utter a sound, helpless to resist.

As awareness trickled back, an overwhelming craving—unthinkable, unprecedented—surged over him like a tidal wave.

Shen Yanzhi’s face turned scarlet. His ears rang hot as blood, his eyes bloodshot with fury.

This was just like an Omega!

Zhou Wu had been dazed for a moment after the bite, but now he sluggishly began peeling away Shen Yanzhi’s clothes.

To his surprise, Shen Yanzhi mustered enough strength to whip around and land a punch. He clutched Zhou Wu’s collar, hands trembling, eyes blazing red.

“What the hell are you…!”

Marking an Alpha? Impossible.

“How could you even do that?!”

Shen Yanzhi looked utterly enraged, desperate to pummel him—but the pheromones were wearing him down relentlessly.

He raised a fist and sweat poured from him. His gaze locked on Zhou Wu’s face; every sense screamed that Zhou Wu smelled more intoxicating by the second. His heart hammered wildly.

Zhou Wu’s dark eyes held no expression as he pinned him down with one hand. Prostrate on the floor, Shen Yanzhi nearly let an Omega whimper escape.

No! He wasn’t! In a panic, Shen Yanzhi bit his tongue and snatched the nearby table lamp.

But before he could bring it crashing down on Zhou Wu’s head—

Zhou Wu intercepted it.

Their eyes met, and Shen Yanzhi’s heart lurched in terror. He watched Zhou Wu heft the lamp with casual ease.

“Don’t…”

Zhou Wu swung.

Thud.

Shen Yanzhi took the blow, and 05 activated a system function to knock him out cold.

Exhausted, 05 slumped beside Shen Yanzhi with a sigh.

He needed Shen Yanzhi unconscious because…

05 covered his face.

He wanted to test injecting the seed with a syringe—see if it would work.

Though it was just a trial, 05 already knew it probably wouldn’t.

Impregnating an Alpha was incredibly complicated. Their womb pouch, if it existed at all, was severely atrophied. It required repeated injections and dousings of pheromones to coax it into developing and opening.

This wasn’t a one-and-done deal.

Even if it took, miscarriage was likely. Successful Alpha births were exceedingly rare.

Did it really have to be this way?

05 had never second-guessed himself mid-task before. But the last one… it had felt off. Different.

The target had been too compliant…

This time, too.

05 pursed his lips and glanced instinctively at his chat window with the Main God. Still no reply.

Back when he was just starting out as a system, the Main God had always guided him with endless patience. The other systems had even gotten jealous, complaining that the Main God clearly favored him most.

He wasn’t sure when things had changed, but the Main God had grown distant. Cold.

Replies had become almost nonexistent.

Why was he being treated this way?

Did he have to keep going like this forever?

If he couldn’t impregnate targets without physical contact, was he even a Good Luck System anymore? Wouldn’t he just become some sleazy system that hooked up everywhere…?

Was that what the Main God wanted?

05 felt an inexplicable pang of sadness, but his hands still drew Shen Yanzhi into his arms.

Yet amid the dialog box’s endless stream of mechanical task reports, 05 broke precedent with an emotionally charged message to the Main God.

【You’re doing this to me, and it makes me feel so wronged.】

【If it’s going to be like this from now on, I don’t want to work for you anymore.】

The Main God’s presence seemed to waver; the online indicator flickered erratically.

Shen Yanzhi, who had been frowning in unconsciousness, suddenly went fully slack, his head lolling to the side.

His voice resonated directly in 05’s ear.

“Thinking of retiring?”

05 pursed his lips. Why did the Main God always act like he was incompetent? Hadn’t he always ranked first?

He shot back: 【I’ll go work somewhere else!】

“…”

“…No.”

The Main God sounded at his wits’ end. With a chime, he unlocked a System Mall 05 had never seen before.

05: ?

Then came a line of reassurance.

“It won’t be like this forever. There aren’t that many… At most two more tasks. After that, if you still want to work, I’ll restore your functions.”

After a long silence, the Main God added something oddly out of character.

“And I won’t allow any more intimate contact with targets.”

Huh?

Zhou Wu was utterly baffled—one moment forcing this on him, the next forbidding it. But the Main God’s icon had gone dark again.

05 turned his attention to the mall, even as his hands diligently continued the task.

He worked to relax Shen Yanzhi a little more.

“Mm.” Shen Yanzhi’s brows furrowed again as he leaned against him, his face soon flushing a deep red without him even realizing it.

The untouched path was excruciatingly narrow. Even though the grassy depths were somewhat slick, it still felt utterly impassable.

Zhou Wu poked around inside, his fingers brushing against who-knows-what. Suddenly, Shen Yanzhi unconsciously gripped his wrist tight, his face burning as he arched his waist.

“Urgh…”

It seemed it wasn’t entirely impossible after all.

In the end, Zhou Wu found it—a realistic little toy, smaller than himself, something Shen Yanzhi might accept more easily. Once activated, it would work on its own right there, like a magical bubble machine.

By the time Shen Yanzhi slowly regained consciousness, he realized his hands were bound and his eyes blindfolded.

Zhou Wu was sprawled atop him, his scorching breath hot against Shen Yanzhi’s neck.

A foreign sensation made his eyes fly wide open.

“Urgh, no!”

“Zhou Wu, get out!”

His entire neck flushed crimson, veins bulging.

“You bastard dog! I’ll kill you…”

Zhou Wu sank his teeth into Shen Yanzhi’s neck again, and in an instant, Shen Yanzhi’s voice changed, trembling violently.

Zhou Wu thrust the tool in deep, hoping to reach the shrunken womb pouch.

Shen Yanzhi couldn’t even curse anymore. His eyes rolled back, his mouth gaping as he panted nonstop. It took him ages to force out a word or two.

“No… don’t… stop…”

But his body betrayed him completely, even lifting of its own accord. The entire passage was flooded.

Zhou Wu stayed with him like that, holding him close through the night. Every time Shen Yanzhi tried to curse again, he’d give him another bite.

Several groups of people had clearly come by outside, cautiously asking about Shen Yanzhi’s condition and offering help. But with no response, they didn’t dare barge in.

After toiling away through the night and into the day, Zhou Wu was starting to feel lightheaded just from all the biting.

Without that little tool, he really would have been worn out to death.

He stroked Shen Yanzhi’s belly, feeling the tears streaming down nonstop, and finally sensed that the womb pouch might be stirring back to life a bit.

Unfortunately, he was out of time.

Shen Yanzhi’s status was too lofty to tolerate even the slightest mishap.

Though his parents were probably just worried he’d bitten some other family’s omega.

Another group had clearly arrived outside—perhaps the cruise ship had docked, or a helicopter had landed.

In any case, they were determined to check on Shen Yanzhi. They announced they were about to release suppressor spray, then breach the door.

There was no way Zhou Wu could stall that.

His head throbbed as he put Shen Yanzhi back to sleep and dressed him.

This time, there was no time left.

When Shen Yanzhi woke again, he was in a private hospital.

His eyes snapped open, and he tried to bolt upright—only for a wave of dizziness to slam him back onto the pillow with a loud thud.

The medical staff rushed in at once.

Zhou Wu pretended to sleep on the bed beside him.

He listened as Shen Yanzhi, for the first time uncaring of his dignity, flew into a massive rage, demanding to know just what the hell Zhou Wu was.

The chief physician hesitated for ages, his face etched with unprecedented uncertainty.

“Young Master Shen, please calm down. As for Mr. Zhou’s situation, we’ve… we’ve preliminarily determined that he might be a… very rare gender…”

“What?” Shen Yanzhi’s gaze sharpened like a blade.

The doctor seemed intimidated by his aura, scrambling to recall the details.

“It’s called an ‘enigma’—an extremely rare gender. Oddly enough, the information on it has always been there; it’s just so obscure that we’ve all overlooked it…”

The novel’s original setting hadn’t included enigmas, but with Zhou Wu’s arrival, it slipped in seamlessly. The doctor explained as if he’d only just slowly remembered it had always existed.

“Theoretically, a tiny fraction of people have glands capable of secondary development.

“Mr. Zhou’s case is especially unique. His gland might have had some inherent defect, leaving his gender expression incomplete and unstable. Then, through some trigger, his secondary sexual characteristics—the ‘enigma’ traits—emerged…”

“So he just… turned into a completely different person?” Shen Yanzhi asked in disbelief.

“It’s possible,” the doctor nodded with difficulty. “This secondary gender is extraordinarily dominant.”

Shen Yanzhi thought of something, his face flushing red again. He whipped his head around, his glare raking over Zhou Wu’s seemingly peaceful sleeping profile. He wanted nothing more than to strangle the man right then and there.

“Restrain him.”

Shen Yanzhi felt utterly wretched all over, his mind a chaotic mess. He’d deal with this dog of a man once he recovered.

He forced himself to sit up, trying to put some distance between him and Zhou Wu.

“Young Master Shen!” The doctor hurriedly blocked him, his expression even more troubled.

“You’ve just been marked by him. Physiologically speaking, at this stage, it’s best if you… don’t stray too far from his pheromones.”

What?

That line was usually reserved for omegas lost in marking heat. Using it on him, an alpha, was humiliating in itself.

“Nonsense,” Shen Yanzhi snapped, his face reddening as he clenched his fists and shoved the doctor aside.

“As if I’d ever depend on his pheromones. Out of my way!”

Defiant to the end, he gritted his teeth through the discomfort and strode toward the door.

But the moment he stepped into the corridor, the cold air hit him—and a violent panic seized him.

Where was Zhou Wu?

His heart pounded wildly, threatening to burst from his chest. His limbs went limp, his eyes burned hot, and his vision blackened in waves.

He couldn’t even stand, forced to grab the wall to keep from collapsing. He didn’t dare turn back immediately.

The nurses cried out in alarm and rushed over to support him.

“No need…” Shen Yanzhi tried to resist, but his body’s instincts were brutally honest.

Cut off from Zhou Wu’s pheromones, he felt like a fish out of water, gasping for air.

In the end, Shen Yanzhi had no choice but to yield. He and Zhou Wu would isolate together for a while.

The doctor said this temporary marking would fade in about a week, as long as they avoided any further intimate contact during that time.

Shen Yanzhi sneered. Was he insane? More intimate contact?

Right now, he wanted to kill the man.

And so, the hospital’s top-tier isolation suite was activated.

Two rooms separated by a specially reinforced glass wall, with small holes allowing pheromones to circulate slowly between the air on either side.

But direct contact between the two was impossible.

At first, Shen Yanzhi stood at the farthest side of the room, arms crossed over his chest as he coldly watched Zhou Wu.

But Zhou Wu had slept for far too long.

The pheromones drifting through the air alone were far too faint.

Before long, Shen Yanzhi found himself pacing the room without realizing it. Eventually, he gave up all pretense and approached the glass wall, leaning against it right by the fist-sized air vent.

It was still not enough.

Damn it. Why did it have to feel this bad?

Shen Yanzhi buried his face in his hands, his body breaking out in cold sweat from the withdrawal.

He had never imagined he would take such a hard fall in his life.

When Zhou Wu finally woke, the sight that greeted him was Shen Yanzhi leaning back against the glass.

Puzzled, Zhou Wu glanced around the room before hurrying over to the glass as well.

“Shen Yanzhi.”

Shen Yanzhi pressed his lips together and shot him a cold glance, but he didn’t move. He stayed right there by the glass.

The pheromones were growing thicker now—the clear, sweet fruit fragrance he had been craving all day.

Zhou Wu gazed at him and reached out, gently slipping his hand through the air vent to touch Shen Yanzhi’s neck.

Shen Yanzhi’s ears turned red in an instant.

He clenched his fists tightly. For a long moment, he still couldn’t bring himself to pull away. Instead, his face flushed deeper and deeper, allowing Zhou Wu’s fingers to trail slowly from the ends of his hair to his earlobes.