Chapter 40: High and Mighty Alpha Young Master

Su Bai froze for a moment, then frowned. “Why?”

Naturally, it was because the protagonist shou’s situation was closely tied to the mission.

For Su Bai, who had no background to speak of, having that diploma or not made a huge difference. His original dream had never been to hole up here with Zhou Wu, scraping by on odd jobs and backbreaking labor just to get by.

However, with Zhou Wu’s “foolish” persona, he couldn’t just come out and persuade Su Bai to go back and finish school.

Seeing Zhou Wu fall silent, Su Bai couldn’t help worrying that deep down, Zhou Wu wanted to return to Shen Yanzhi’s side.

Word of the marking had already spread. Su Bai had no choice but to face the fact that Zhou Wu might not be a beta after all. Could he really be an omega?

Damn that Shen Yanzhi. He had never once treated them as equals, yet he could so effortlessly sway 05 with his naturally superior pheromones.

Why… why couldn’t he be an alpha himself?

If he were, then maybe he wouldn’t have to hide Zhou Wu away like this…

“Enough. Let’s head up.”

Su Bai practically dragged Zhou Wu by the arm into the dimly lit apartment building.

The single room Su Bai had rented was ridiculously cramped. The single bed sat right up against a tiny stove, the bathroom was so narrow he could barely turn around in it, and the air hung heavy with the faint musty dampness unique to old buildings.

It stood in stark contrast to the Shen Family’s villa, which was luxurious enough to rival a palace.

Su Bai’s plan was to spend the holiday tutoring those rich classmates of his, scrape together some living expenses, and then try to build the most “normal” life he could here with Zhou Wu.

Zhou Wu let himself be pushed down onto the room’s only bed and watched as Su Bai quietly unpacked their scant belongings.

His mind raced as he searched for some indirect way to convince him not to abandon his education.

But Su Bai seemed dead set on his course, meeting every attempt at conversation with silence.

When Zhou Wu tried to speak up again, Su Bai approached with a glass of water, the suppressor drug he’d bought cradled in his palm.

His voice held a gentle firmness that brooked no argument. “Take your medicine.”

Zhou Wu: “…”

The next morning, Su Bai headed out.

Zhou Wu tested the door and found it locked.

For the moment, Zhou Wu was out of ideas. This world’s protagonist was different from the last one’s—not weak at heart by any means.

After all, in the original text, once he set his mind on being with the protagonist gong, he’d scrapped fiercely with that noble “harem,” even going so far as to ruthlessly dose himself with hormones to force a pregnancy.

That kind of resolve could conquer a career just as easily.

But right now, it felt like all that determination was aimed in the wrong direction…

Zhou Wu sank back onto the bed in the room, forced to rethink his strategy.

He had no idea how things were going for Shen Yanzhi.

He hadn’t even had a chance to check if the impregnation had worked.

Back then, after making the tool work overtime all night, he’d sensed the pregnancy sac was ready once more. 05 had originally planned to use a syringe to deliver the seed…

But extracting it from the pheromones had left him dizzy, and then people showed up outside. In the end, there hadn’t been time—he’d just gone ahead and done it.

Thinking back now, 05 felt his cheeks heat, his emotions a tangled mess. He’d figured once was enough for someone he’d done it with. One accident was plenty.

It had been a mission target, and it was over. He’d just keep it to himself.

And yet, here they were…

05 covered his face. He really couldn’t let this happen again.

Meanwhile, Shen Yanzhi’s condition was far worse than his mother imagined, even with professional doctors and medication on hand.

His withdrawal symptoms were glaringly obvious. He couldn’t keep food down—whatever he managed to eat came right back up—and his face was ashen.

Watching him like this, his mother felt both heartbroken and utterly baffled.

“You don’t look like someone who marked another person. You look more like the one who got marked…”

“Of course not…!”

He’d meant to shatter his parents’ defenses, but Shen Yanzhi flat-out refused to admit how pathetic he felt.

“I’m just furious! You let Zhou Wu and Su Bai leave.”

In his rush to regain control and fix his mistake, he’d gone straight back to the villa with his mother. It wasn’t until after she’d locked him away that he thought to ask where she’d sent Zhou Wu.

When he learned she’d let him go off with Su Bai, regret hit him like a truck. He’d even lashed out in a temper.

“Why would you let him go? You could’ve just tied him up in the room next door! How could you send him away?”

His mother stared at him in disbelief, as if she were seeing her son for the very first time. “Yanzhi, what are you saying?

Do you even realize what you’ve turned into? And how could you… how could you dream of splitting them up and forcibly marking a child with a simple mind like that!”

“What do you mean, splitting them up?”

Shen Yanzhi grew even more restless. There was nothing between Su Bai and Zhou Wu.

Right?

He pressed a hand to his forehead, convinced he’d made a colossal blunder. “Bring him back.”

“No.”

“Then let me out!”

Shen Yanzhi stormed toward the door in a rage.

Mother Shen hardened her resolve and summoned several bodyguards to block his path. “Shen Yanzhi! The Shen Family will never accept you marrying an omega like that.”

“What… No such thing. As if I’d ever marry him?”

Shen Yanzhi’s tone turned abruptly icy and off-kilter.

Don’t make him laugh—marry him and let a fool top him every day?

No way in hell could he accept that. It had only been the marking heat, clouding his judgment temporarily.

Shen Yanzhi opened his mouth to further distance himself from that ridiculous notion, but what tumbled out instead was:

“But I need to know where he is!”

The thought of Zhou Wu leaving with Su Bai twisted in his gut once more.

“I won’t be with him, but no one else can be by his side! He needs to stay right here, obediently with me.”

“…” Mother Shen was utterly terrified.

Was this still her polite, even-tempered son? She couldn’t tell anymore if it was hatred or some warped kind of love driving him.

But at least his declaration that he had no intention of marrying Zhou Wu rang true.

It left her feelings in a knot—she wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or afraid.

Mother Shen held firm for several days, convinced that once the peak of the marking’s influence passed after a week, he’d pull through.

But a week later, while the pallor had faded from his face, Shen Yanzhi still couldn’t eat or sleep. He looked gaunt, practically wasting away.

Fearing for his health, Mother Shen finally gave in.

She reached out to Su Bai, but he stubbornly refused any meeting.

With no other options, and after Shen Yanzhi’s endless pleading, she handed over the address.

The day Shen Yanzhi arrived, a light drizzle was falling.

A fleet of sleek, expensive black luxury cars pulled one by one into the rundown, unremarkable neighborhood, drawing curious stares from the residents as they peeked out.

Several bodyguards quickly exited the car and held up a black umbrella for Shen Yanzhi.

They even rolled out a strip of clean carpet from the car door all the way to the entrance of the apartment building, as if to completely shield him from this shabby, decaying environment.

Shen Yanzhi had deliberately changed into a perfectly tailored suit and leather shoes.

His tall, upright figure and handsome features remained striking. If not for the heavy dark circles under his eyes, he would have exuded an utterly commanding presence.

Amid countless astonished stares from onlookers, Shen Yanzhi ascended the narrow, dilapidated staircase step by step. Not a single drop of water touched his trouser cuffs.

Yet deep down, he couldn’t help wondering if he was in poor shape.

Did Zhou Wu and Su Bai really have that kind of relationship?

But how could Su Bai possibly measure up to him?

He had to make Zhou Wu understand exactly who he should choose.

Their last parting had left him in such an embarrassing state. This time, Shen Yanzhi was determined to reclaim the upper hand with unyielding dominance and take Zhou Wu away.

With a cold expression, he signaled his subordinates to open the door.

If Zhou Wu refused to leave, he would show him the true meaning of wealth and power.

However, the instant the door swung open, all of Shen Yanzhi’s assumptions crumbled.

Zhou Wu peeked out timidly, but his eyes lit up the moment he spotted him.

“Shen Yanzhi?”

He threw himself straight into Shen Yanzhi’s arms, hugging him tightly.

Zhou Wu’s voice brimmed with unmasked delight, and a sweet fruit fragrance wafted from his body.

He called Shen Yanzhi’s name with intimate affection and even reached out to touch his abdomen.

The fruit fragrance enveloped Shen Yanzhi’s face, nearly prompting him to hug back—but there were people watching.

His ears flushed red as he awkwardly blocked Zhou Wu, struggling to keep his tone icy.

“Ahem. Come with me.”

“Sure.”

The two descended the stairs with effortless ease. None of the speeches Shen Yanzhi had rehearsed proved necessary.

He felt dazed himself.

After all his long, hard efforts, Zhou Wu had never greeted him with such clingy joy before.

Why now? Could it be because… Shen Yanzhi’s nape suddenly burned red, and irritation flared toward himself.

What did it matter if a fool liked him or not? Zhou Wu couldn’t escape his palm anyway.

Only once they settled into the spacious car did Zhou Wu speak up.

“So… what about Su Bai? Can he go back to school?”

Shen Yanzhi immediately scowled at him.

“You want him to go back to school?”

His tone sharpened into cruelty as he sneered. “Tell him yourself that you chose to come with me because you don’t want to cram into that dump with him anymore. Say the word, and I’ll let him go.”

“05!”

Just then, Su Bai came running back.

The sight of that fleet of luxury cars outside had already set his heart racing. He clutched a few groceries in his hands, but upon seeing Shen Yanzhi, he flung them aside onto the roadside and dashed over in panic, reaching to pull Zhou Wu away.

But Zhou Wu didn’t budge.

“Su Bai.”

“I want to go with Shen Yanzhi. I don’t want to stay here. It’s too small. Your cooking tastes bad, the bedding’s uncomfortable, and there’s no big TV.”

Su Bai froze on the spot.

Zhou Wu spoke so naturally, as if they were just deciding where to hang out.

“You should come back with us too.”

“Su Bai deserves to live in a big house.”

Over the past few days, Su Bai had switched back to his old clothes—a plain T-shirt faded from countless washes. He paled utterly in comparison to Shen Yanzhi, who stood like a cold, godlike figure beneath the umbrella.

That crushing sense of inferiority from their first encounter surged back, crueler than ever.

Shen Yanzhi was pleased. He summoned Zhou Wu with arrogant command, and Zhou Wu obediently followed him into the car.

The drizzle persisted as Su Bai stood there, lost and soul-drained, as if his mind hadn’t caught up.

At that moment, the car behind pulled up. Its window slid down slowly, revealing Mother Shen—her face a mask of complicated emotions, words hovering unspoken on her lips.

…

In the end, Su Bai rode back with Mother Shen too. Letting Zhou Wu and Shen Yanzhi meet had been a desperate measure, after all.

Mother Shen couldn’t keep a young boy at her side indefinitely, so she decided to bring Su Bai back as well. For the moment, at least, they were allies united in keeping Zhou Wu and Shen Yanzhi apart.

She deliberately arranged for Zhou Wu and Su Bai to stay together.

Meanwhile, she separated Shen Yanzhi and Zhou Wu upon their return.

In the guest room on the first floor.

“Su Bai.” Zhou Wu approached him casually, as if nothing had happened.

Su Bai kept his head lowered, anger evident in his posture. “If you don’t want to stay with me, take the whole room. I’ll go next door.”

“I’ll graduate as fast as I can, work hard, make money, and get a big house. Someday when Shen Yanzhi tires of you and tosses you out…”

Su Bai bit his lip, unsure what he was even saying. Did he expect Zhou Wu to beg before he’d take him back?

Why was he angry this time?

What did Zhou Wu know anyway? And he was right.

Giving Zhou Wu a good life like this wasn’t realistic. Su Bai was still too powerless.

His eyes reddened. For the first time, he yearned so fiercely for success and renown. With that, he shut the door and walked away.

Zhou Wu stayed silent the whole time. Only after Su Bai left did he let out a breath.

This was for the best—not getting too entangled with the mission target…

Meanwhile, though Zhou Wu was back, Shen Yanzhi felt only marginally relieved.

He still couldn’t sit still in his room, too restless to relax.

No trace of that scent lingered, and he had no idea what Zhou Wu was up to.

Shen Yanzhi resorted to pacing the corridor deliberately.

His mother was dead set against further contact, with guards posted at Zhou Wu’s door.

Zhou Wu was too dimwitted to even poke his head out for a glance.

Shen Yanzhi spotted only a servant emerging from Zhou Wu’s room, likely collecting his laundry.

For some reason, his eyes locked onto that basket and refused to budge.

Moments later, Shen Yanzhi inexplicably wandered into the laundry room. He shooed the servant away with some flimsy excuse.

Then he stared at the clothes in the basket, torn with indecision.

Should he… smell them?

No—he couldn’t stoop to something like that!

But there seemed to be a faint fragrance clinging to them still.

If he didn’t, wouldn’t it all go to waste?

Shen Yanzhi didn’t realize it, but his expression resembled that of a man starved for days.

Though he’d insisted to his mother that his desire to bring Zhou Wu back stemmed from emotional attachment, not physical need…

In truth, Shen Yanzhi knew his craving for Zhou Wu’s pheromones was purely physiological.

He’d vomited far more often than she realized. Sleep brought frequent palpitations and breathlessness. His stomach ached without reason.

And he craved… intimacy so badly…

Seeing Zhou Wu had only confirmed it. When Zhou Wu lunged into his arms, Shen Yanzhi’s legs had nearly buckled, threatening to drop him to the floor.

Shen Yanzhi had his own theory: the withdrawal had hit him too hard, which was why his body hadn’t recovered right away. His hormones must have been thrown out of whack.

As long as he could get just a little more exposure to pheromones, things would slowly return to normal.

When he finally snapped out of it, he picked up the clothes after all.

If any servants had passed by at that moment, they would have been utterly shocked.

Their family’s proud, nose-in-the-air young master was squatting in the laundry room, clutching an old T-shirt with his face completely buried in it. He sniffed obsessively, his ears and neck flushed bright red.

He desperately tried to draw in even a trace of that fruit fragrance.

But there was far too little.

It wasn’t nearly enough.

Deeply dissatisfied, Shen Yanzhi eventually snuck the clothes away.

Back in his own room, he sniffed at them for a good long while.

After agonizing over it for what felt like forever, he threw caution to the wind. He closed his eyes, draped the shirt over his head, and unfastened his pants…

…

That evening, Zhou Wu heard someone knocking on his window.

At first, he thought he’d imagined it—the sound of wind rustling the branches.

But the knocking only grew more insistent.

“?

He opened the window and came face-to-face with a stone-faced Shen Yanzhi.

It was pitch black outside, and the garden stood empty. Distant lights cast only a hazy glow across the ground.

Shen Yanzhi said nothing upon seeing the window open. He simply reached out and yanked Zhou Wu straight through it.

“!”

Luckily, it was only the first floor, right by the garden. The two of them tumbled right into the flowerbed.

Shen Yanzhi hit the ground hard, pinned beneath Zhou Wu, but he showed no anger. Instead, he demanded, “Give me more pheromones.”

Zhou Wu stared at him in a daze. Truth be told, he had never really figured out how to control it.

Shen Yanzhi fell silent. He pulled Zhou Wu into a fierce embrace and buried his face in the crook of his neck, inhaling greedily and obsessively. He paid no mind to the dirt from the flowerbed staining his clothes.

Zhou Wu held still obediently. Finally, he reached out and touched Shen Yanzhi’s belly. His eyes lit up.

It had worked.

But the condition was terrible.

It felt like it was about to fall right off…