Behind him, Yan Ruoyun was still hitched to his back.

The man had one arm hooked around the front of his neck, while his other hand thrust Lin Zhu’s own phone directly in front of his face, his tone of voice exceptionally bright and lighthearted.

“Puppy Lin, you performed even better than you did on your mock exams!”

The phone screen was displayed right before Lin Zhu’s eyes, making it impossible to miss. With a cursory sweep of his gaze, he caught sight of a number displayed on the total score line—

He had scored 714 points.

Yet, when confronted with this stellar score that ranked exceptionally high within both the city and the province, the youth blanked for a long while. In the end, he could only utter a dumbfounded, blank ‘Ah’ before falling completely silent.

Had he become stupid with joy??

Yan Ruoyun tilted his head, attempting to catch a glimpse of Lin Zhu’s expression. However, hindered by his posture of clinging to the youth’s back, he could only see the smooth contour of the youth’s jawline and his tightly pressed lips.

Consequently, loosening the grip of his two long legs, he detached himself from Lin Zhu’s waist and jumped directly onto the wooden floorboards, producing a dull thud.

The sound wasn’t particularly heavy, yet like the striking of a war drum, it jolted Lin Zhu back to his senses. Snapping back to reality abruptly, he stared with a tense expression at the man who had rounded to the front of him, his voice carrying a trace of hollow weakness.

“Ge, don’t jump down from my back so suddenly.”

Suspecting that the youth hadn’t processed a single word he said, Yan Ruoyun took a deep breath, once again thrusting the phone right in front of Lin Zhu’s face as he repeated, “You scored first in the city rankings! Didn’t you see it?”

A long silence ensued.

Nodding his head while saying “I see it,” Lin Zhu scooped the man up by his waist. The youth moved as though he had been cast under a slow-motion spell, taking one deliberate step after another as he walked back…

He gently deposited Yan Ruoyun onto the sofa.

That movement, that expression—

It was as though the person he held wasn’t a grown man of significant height and weight, but rather an incredibly fragile ceramic doll that would chip and fracture at the slightest hint of negligence.

Following that, Lin Zhu extended his arm to fish out a throw pillow, wedging it behind the man’s lower back. He then crouched before him, asking in a low, careful voice,

“Ge, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

Yan Ruoyun’s expression turned quizzical. He couldn’t resist raising his hand to feel the youth’s forehead, confirming that the other didn’t have a fever before speaking slowly, “Have you lost your mind from happiness? What nonsense are you talking?”

“What could possibly be wrong with me?”

Hearing this, Lin Zhu fell into an abrupt silence.

With his head lowered, his gaze happened to land squarely on the man’s waist and abdomen. Yan Ruoyun was currently dressed in a set of loose loungewear, its relaxed cut blurring his waistline.

Yet, even without removing the concealment of the fabric, Lin Zhu remained intimately aware of every single nuance of Yan Ruoyun’s physical form—after all, his eyes and his hands had measured every single inch of it.

Over and over again.

Perhaps due to receiving an excessive amount of care during certain occasions, although Yan Ruoyun’s weight clearly hadn’t fluctuated much, from a visual perspective, he appeared to have gained a bit of weight. It was just that he hadn’t put on weight on his face.

Nor had he put on weight on his waist.

Excluding certain special moments, Yan Ruoyun’s waistline had always remained smooth and fluid, his lower abdomen flat and devoid of a single trace of excess flesh.

It remained exactly the same now.

…It was entirely impossible to tell that he was already pregnant.

Pregnant.

The moment these two characters entered Lin Zhu’s mind, his entire being instantly crashed. Not only did his brain turn utterly sluggish, but his tongue tied itself in knots, and his rationality went completely offline.

His current state of mind was simply far too chaotic.

Consequently, Lin Zhu silently sat down on the floor, looping his two arms around the man’s waist. He slowly buried his head against Yan Ruoyun’s abdomen, his warm breath permeating through the thin summer clothing to brush against the other’s lower belly, inexplicably scorching.

Yan Ruoyun flinched slightly out of reflex.

He naturally smoothed his hand over Lin Zhu’s head a few times. The strands under his palm felt slightly coarse, but they no longer pricked his skin. Staring down at the small whorl of hair at the crown of the youth’s head, he said in an amused tone:

“It’s over, you’ve truly gone daft.”

Closing his eyes, Lin Zhu let out a soft murmur of agreement.

Simultaneously, the system chattered away relentlessly within his mind.

“What a surprise! You should know that the task trigger point for the final critical plot point is detecting the protagonist’s pregnancy!”

“I didn’t think the protagonist would get pregnant this quickly. After all, the host formed a knot inside his cavity so many times before, and he even secretly stopped taking his contraceptive capsules, yet he still failed to conceive then—let alone later on when you two took full precautions.”

“Wow, host, the earliest a male Omega’s pregnancy can be detected is roughly 10 to 15 days following intercourse. Calculating the timeline…”

As one of the individuals involved, Lin Zhu was undoubtedly the most aware. Without even needing to deliberate, a specific point in time automatically surfaced within his mind.

It had to be that night after his live stream was caught red-handed, when Yan Ruoyun had laid his cards on the table.

That night, he had lost control and pushed things far too cross, putting the other man through an immense ordeal. The bite marks on the man’s gland had overlapped layer upon layer, the sweet fragrance permeating the ocean breeze while the heavy moisture surged…

The full-length mirror reflected the scene unfolding inside the room.

The breath exhaled from Yan Ruoyun’s nose and mouth had misted over the surface of the mirror, causing his distinct reflection to turn hazy and indistinct, only to be wiped away by his palm, leaving behind a chaotic, winding trail.

Lin Zhu had been watching. He had been watching the entire time.

Therefore, the moment Lin Zhu closed his eyes now, the vivid imagery from that night rushed to the forefront of his mind, complete with full audio and visuals.

He wanted to tighten his arms around the man’s waist, yet he didn’t dare to. His emotions were tangled to a degree where he couldn’t even discern which feeling held the upper hand.

“Hmph, although the quality of safety products in the ABO world has drastically improved, driving the efficacy rate up to 99%,” the system paused before continuing, “the host still managed to pull off that 1% miracle.”

Yes.

It could truly be called a miracle.

Previously, Yan Ruoyun hadn’t permitted Lin Zhu to use protection and had hidden all the supplies in the house. Lin Zhu’s knotting period was inherently longer than that of an ordinary Alpha, and a simple rinse simply wouldn’t suffice…

There would inevitably be some residual substance left behind.

Going without protection meant he could only rely on medication.

Yet, Yan Ruoyun had skipped his doses on several occasions, a fact Lin Zhu had only stumbled upon entirely by accident while cleaning the house.

Under such a premise, Yan Ruoyun had failed to conceive, which was precisely why the current development felt so incredibly dramatic.

At this point, the system spoke again:

“Host, the final critical plot point is highly complex and spans a relatively long duration, so the roleplay task is a long-term one. Furthermore, according to the plot, it is divided into two parts: a prior phase and a subsequent phase.”

Lin Zhu had read the original novel, so he merely listened in silence.

“Corresponding to the timeline of the original novel, the scumbag ex-husband has already grown thoroughly sick and tired of the protagonist. It’s only due to the agreement struck with the Yan family that he lacks the courage to venture outside and hook up with other Omegas…”

“Consequently, he subjects the protagonist to emotional neglect and cold shoulder in their daily life, while on the other hand, he experiences immense torment and abuse at the hands of the protagonist.”

“Therefore, during the first half of the task, the host needs to inflict emotional neglect on the protagonist, leaving the protagonist’s compromised body in a state of unfulfilled desire, thereby leading into the task evaluation point…”

“Which is when the host discovers the protagonist in a peculiar state within the bathroom, subjecting him to all manner of manipulation and humiliation, and delivering that critical line of dialogue with sheer mockery.”

The system paused for a few seconds, then suddenly asked back: “As for the critical plot point that follows, I presume the host should be well aware of it without me spelling it out?”

Lin Zhu let out a low murmur of assent.

After delivering that critical line of dialogue, he would slam the door and storm out, while the physically and emotionally shattered Yan Ruoyun would choose to extricate himself from this agonizing marriage… Keeping everyone in the dark, he would place a phone call to Doctor Xu.

Prior to the surgery.

The man would first send over the divorce agreement.

With that, the plotline involving the scumbag ex-husband would draw to a close, marking the completion of exactly half of the roleplay task, while the remaining half was significantly more straightforward.

It merely spanned a considerable length of time.

It required Lin Zhu to cross paths with Yan Ruoyun by chance at a banquet many years later, and upon hearing the other casually introduce him to someone nearby as “my ex-husband,” the task would reach its conclusion.

—An absolute conclusion.

From that point onward, the scumbag ex-husband would possess no further scenes within the original novel.

“…”

The room remained enveloped in a long, profound silence.

Abruptly, Lin Zhu felt a faint, ticklish sensation against his ear.

It was Yan Ruoyun.

With his waist firmly embraced and rendered unable to move, the man had grown bored and decided to stir up trouble. He used his fingertips to repeatedly stroke the fine, soft hairs on Lin Zhu’s ear, trailing all the way down to knead his earlobe.

It felt very comforting.

Unconsciously, Lin Zhu’s nerves loosened by a fraction. His train of thought suddenly branched away from the suffocating details of the original plot, abruptly settling on an entirely separate matter.

His total score on the college entrance examination was exceptionally high.

Without a shadow of a doubt, he would definitely hold the highest score within the school, and the scholarship funds established by the elite academy for top scorers were extraordinarily generous… Coupled with the revenue he had accumulated from streaming over this past period, the aggregate sum had already crossed the threshold of one hundred thousand yuan.

He possessed sufficient funds now.

On the day of returning to school several days later.

Lin Zhu donned his high school uniform after a long absence, temporarily stepping back into his identity as a high school student.

Following the conclusion of the homeroom session, right as Lin Zhu was stuffing his college application reference materials into his backpack, he heard the homeroom teacher call out the names of three or four students from the podium, his own included.

“The few of you, please stay behind for a moment.”

Inside the faculty office.

The other students had already departed, leaving Lin Zhu as the final one remaining.

He sat adjacent to the homeroom teacher, separated only by half a desk. The teacher carried a jubilant expression, clamping a hand down onto Lin Zhu’s shoulder while sighing in admiration:

“Lin Zhu, you are the biggest dark horse our school has ever seen. Over this final year, the faculty has witnessed all your hard work and dedication… You must maintain this momentum moving forward.”

Lin Zhu responded, “I will, thank you, Teacher.”

The homeroom teacher nodded with a smile. As if suddenly recalling something, his smile deepened further as he inquired,

“By the way, how are things between you and your Omega?”

Hearing this question, Lin Zhu first gave a firm, resolute nod. Following that, he couldn’t resist proactively inquiring about the details regarding the scholarship for graduating seniors, focusing his attention on the specific timeline for the disbursement of the funds.

The homeroom teacher replied instantly: “I was just about to discuss that exact matter with you.”

“…”

The outcome was highly pleasing.

The efficiency of the scholarship disbursement was also remarkably swift.

On the very night he received the bank transaction notification on his phone, Lin Zhu logged into the official online store of that luxury bridal brand. He placed an order for the pair of men’s matching rings that Yan Ruoyun had taken a fancy to, but had ultimately bypassed due to the steep price tag.

After the order was finalized, a customer service representative reached out to coordinate with him.

Lin Zhu’s fingers flew across the screen, reporting his and Yan Ruoyun’s measurements in a single breath before logging the initials for their custom engraving along with other pertinent details.

Having completed all of this, he finally pushed open the bathroom door and stepped outside, catching sight of his own reflection as he passed the mirror.

The dark circles beneath his eyes were rather pronounced, making him look thoroughly exhausted.

Lin Zhu had been exceptionally busy of late.

Not only was he fully occupied with his remote online internship responsibilities, but his mind was also completely consumed by the impending roleplay tasks. He was worked to the bone during the day and plagued by poor sleep at night, causing the dark circles under his eyes to appear terrifyingly heavy.

He felt that this period was even more grueling than the intensive review phase prior to the entrance examinations.

The reason was none other than the prerequisite task of inflicting emotional neglect on Yan Ruoyun. Lin Zhu found it to be fraught with difficulties, because to his own heart, executing such an act felt like a form of pure punishment.

Particularly since…

Yan Ruoyun was currently in the fragile, early stages of pregnancy.

Stepping out of the bathroom, the bedroom was brilliantly illuminated.

In reality, it was still quite early.

Less than an hour had elapsed since he and Yan Ruoyun finished eating dinner. Outside, the night sky hadn’t completely darkened yet, presenting a beautiful, shifting gradient of deep blue. It was a lovely sight.

The man was currently changing his clothes inside the room.

His suit jacket had already been shed the moment he returned home from work. At this moment, he was unbuttoning his dress shirt piece by piece, exposing his smooth, snowy, yet faintly flushed skin…

Following that came his leather belt and suit trousers.

After changing into a set of loungewear, Yan Ruoyun twisted his waist slightly before the mirror, speaking with a trace of uncertainty, “Puppy Lin, have I been eating too much lately? Have I gained a bit of weight?”

He patted his lower abdomen, adding,

“It feels like I’m starting to get a bit of a belly.”

Without waiting for Lin Zhu’s response, he turned his head to look over, speaking with absolute candor: “Speaking of which, you’ve been so wrapped up in your internship lately that we haven’t been intimate for nearly half a month.”

“How about exercising with me a bit to get some workout in?”