On the fourth day of the incident, patrolling garrison troops were no longer visible on this unremarkable street. Public opinion online continued to ferment. Countless netizens swarmed the official Z152 garrison account, demanding more details and justice for Li Xiao. Although the Security Bureau had arrested Yao Qun, the verbal abuse directed at Li Ji persisted. Public relations departments across all sides were frantic.

Zheng Kang’an met with Meng Jian in secret to vent his frustrations. The group of grandsons at the Security Bureau had been arranged by Meng Jian, yet he was the one who had to clean up the mess.

“I wonder if this matter can be put to rest once that name list is submitted,” Zheng Kang’an said, setting down his teacup with a measured thud.

Meng Jian turned the walnuts in his hand and picked up his own teacup: “Being able to get rid of Li Xiao makes the sacrifice of a few people insignificant.”

Zheng Kang’an scoffed: “It’s easy for you to talk. Why don’t you try having this happen in your garrison area?”

Meng Jian: “Li Ji has basically been sidelined. What are you afraid of?”

“No matter what, he is still the one in power,” Zheng Kang’an said blandly. “And there’s that dog Lao Yi still at his beck and call. We can’t let our guard down until we kick him off the throne.”

Meng Jian sipped his tea slowly: “It won’t be long now.”

Zheng Kang’an’s eyelids twitched: “You’ve already made preparations?”

Meng Jian: “First, I’ll get my hands on the management rights for the Tianjiang Seat.”

Z152, Pleasure District.

Li Xiao had Jiang Hao and Qian Can stay behind to monitor the garrison’s movements while he and Song Jin went to investigate the freight depot in the middle of the night. 07 and 09 could steal surveillance footage, but since they were already there, Li Xiao wanted to see if there were other clues. Since problematic blood had appeared at that site, there might be more.

The two took the hovercar (transformed from 07) to a small park near the site and stood in the shadows of the trees to observe. This was a medical-specialized freight station, with large transport vehicles coming and going. Song Jin had detected the area on their first day and found no signs of a space similar to the feed base.

“This station is off,” Song Jin said, scanning the multiple layers of guards on the perimeter and narrowing his eyes. “The defense level is severely disproportionate.”

Li Xiao: “Wasn’t there this many people last time?”

Song Jin: “Maybe it’s because it was daytime, and we didn’t see the guards.”

Even if their armor was invisible, modified humans could see them, so they had to be cautious. They moved from blind spots to the high wall outside the freight center. Through the fence, they saw many trucks entering and spaceships taking off from the rear tarmac from time to time.

Li Xiao asked 09 mentally: [Can you hijack the access system?]

09: [Yes, but they are using the 384 energy system here. I can’t guarantee I won’t be detected.]

They couldn’t sneak in through the freight entrance, so the two hugged the high wall and circled to the side. They found a door for staff access that required a sensor to unlock, with quite a few guards stationed outside. Out of the corner of his eye, Song Jin saw a green belt not far inside the high wall and gestured for Li Xiao to go there. He raised his metal palm and aimed it at the nearest unmanned cargo vehicle at the exit.

Li Xiao pressed his hand down: [What are you doing?]

Song Jin pulled his hand away and aimed again: [Blow it up first, worry later.] He wasn’t about to be defeated by a single door.

Li Xiao: [Don’t be so impatient. Think of another way.]

Song Jin: [Troublesome. Too lazy to think.]

Li Xiao: “…” He looks more beautiful than anyone, but his methods are harsher than anyone.

A micro-air cannon fired. The unmanned vehicle exploded mid-air and crashed heavily to the ground. The massive commotion alarmed the guards in the area; some circled around vigilantly while others tried to extinguish the fire. Taking advantage of the moment two guards near the green belt approached, Li Xiao and Song Jin attacked simultaneously, stunned them, dragged them into the flower beds, stripped off their uniforms to change into them, and took their terminals.

Li Xiao hid behind a tree, raised his gun, and pulled the trigger on a more distant unmanned cargo vehicle.

[Don’t be so impatient,] Song Jin used Li Xiao’s own words against him.

Li Xiao: [Exploding it once or twice makes no difference.]

Song Jin: “…” He loves causing trouble and won’t admit it.

BOOM!

Another cargo vehicle exploded and crashed. While everyone’s attention was diverted, the two walked quickly to the door, scanned the terminals to enter, and simultaneously had 07 and 09 hack into the local surveillance system. They had already made a scene, so they didn’t fear detection as long as they weren’t counter-tracked.

After walking through a very long passage, they entered a large cold storage room. Dozens of meters of shelves lined up in rows, and quite a few logistics robots were busy sorting goods. Li Xiao saw virtual screens on the side of each shelf indicating they were currently in the pharmaceutical section. They found the blood section on the guide map and took a shortcut there. The temperature in the cold storage was very low; their exhaled heat turned into white mist.

Seeing Song Jin rubbing his fingertips, Li Xiao subconsciously wanted to help warm them, but stopped himself—they were in an environment where trouble could occur at any moment, and holding hands wasn’t convenient. Finding the “Blood Section” marked on the shelves, they split up with 07 and 09 to speed up the search.

After walking past two rows of shelves, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded in their ears. Li Xiao and Song Jin locked eyes and moved quickly in the opposite direction of the sound. A group of guards, moving like the snake in the game Snake, searched rapidly through the rows of shelves.

Li Xiao’s gaze swept quickly over the cargo on both sides of the shelves. As he reached a corner, he saw a leg stretching out from the other side. He reacted like lightning, catching the person’s wrist, locking their throat, and pressing them against the shelf. Just as the person was about to counterattack, they recognized Li Xiao’s face and paused: “Big brother? Why are you here?”

The person in the janitor’s uniform was actually Wei Feng.

Li Xiao released his grip and said in a low voice: “That’s what I should be asking you.”

The footsteps grew closer. Wei Feng patted him: “Talk later. Let’s get out of here first.”

Li Xiao frowned. I’m afraid these guards were led here by this brat, Wei Feng. Hearing gunfire from the next aisle, Li Xiao thought of Song Jin and turned to rush over.

It was effortless for Song Jin to handle these few people; in the blink of an eye, the guards were all lying on the ground, unable to get up. Four more guards rushed over and immediately released their pheromones upon seeing the situation. The air was filled with a mix of fruit, machine oil, and floral scents—specifically, a fragrance similar to narcissus that hit the senses directly. Song Jin felt a brief moment of dizziness; he instinctively dodged a wave of bullets, but a bloodstain was still left on his left arm.

Seeing Song Jin stumble backward, the guard slightly raised his muzzle, aiming at Song Jin’s heart. In a flash of lightning, Li Xiao pulled Song Jin aside and pulled the trigger on the four guards. In the blink of an eye, all four were headshot and fell to the ground.

Wei Feng finished off two others and rushed over. Seeing this, he whistled softly. Gunfighting against someone with abnormal reflexes like that only had one outcome: death. Setting that aside, Li Xiao’s combat instinct seemed carved into his cells; he didn’t need brain processing, relying only on muscle memory to make the most correct counter-strategies. He couldn’t have achieved that without long-term combat experience. This little prince was probably already blood-stained, far from as innocent as they had imagined.

After dealing with that wave, Li Xiao hurriedly looked at Song Jin in his arms: “How are you?”

“Not good.” Song Jin’s face darkened. His head felt like it was going to explode, and he was on the verge of erupting. “Are those modified humans?”

“Yeah.”

Listening to the movements from all directions, Li Xiao supported Song Jin and retreated quickly. “Hold on, I’ll take you out immediately.” Song Jin’s pheromones were releasing, already reaching a point where he couldn’t control them. It was too dangerous to stay here in this state.

“We haven’t finished checking.” Song Jin shook his head, struggling to stay conscious.

Forget it, stop checking. Li Xiao almost blurted it out.

09: [Found suspicious target!]

Hearing 09’s voice, a coordinate popped up in front of Li Xiao.

Li Xiao: [Get 07 back here immediately.]

09: [Notified.]

Wei Feng, following behind, saw Li Xiao turning toward the direction the guards were chasing from and reminded him in a low voice: “There are people over there!”

Li Xiao said coldly: “You led them here; deal with it yourself.”

“…” Wei Feng had no choice but to follow, complaining, “My ‘wife’ just got a small scratch, and he’s pulling a long face for who to see? He only knows how to bully me.”

Li Xiao: “Someone without a wife naturally wouldn’t understand.”

Wei Feng: “… Has anyone ever told you that you have a poisonous tongue?”

Li Xiao: “No.”

Wei Feng: “…”

07 flew over, sticking to the gland on Song Jin’s neck to help purify the released pheromones.

[Master, your heart rate is too high, and your pheromone levels are very unstable. Please slow your breathing and try to stay calm!]

Since 07 and 09 were connected, Li Xiao heard this too and couldn’t help but frown. Song Jin tried taking two deep breaths, but there was no relief; instead, he became increasingly irritable, suppressed violent emotions rising continuously.

Reaching the location guarded by 09, Li Xiao supported Song Jin and looked at the locked cargo. Seeing the virtual screen display the destination “Tianjiang Seat T999,” Li Xiao’s brow furrowed tightly. He quickly switched to the specific location—it was right near the First Military Academy. Li Xiao opened the box; inside were many reagent tubes identical to the problematic blood found earlier. He took one out casually and asked 09 to run a basic scan.

Footsteps were nearing again. Wei Feng stood guard by the shelf and urged: “Hurry up!”

“Never-ending.” Song Jin pushed Li Xiao away, his face cold, and strode toward the direction of the footsteps. He expertly changed to a new magazine and racked the slide with one hand. When Li Xiao reached out to grab him, he was already gone: “Get back here!”

But Song Jin couldn’t listen; his mind was entirely consumed by how to crush these annoying rats.

07: [I will protect Master!]

During the one minute it took for 09 to test the blood, Li Xiao and Wei Feng truly witnessed the combat power of Song Jin in a berserk state. Seeing only one enemy, the guards swarmed him in a rush. By the time they realized the dozens of people in front were gone in the blink of an eye, it was too late to run. The last few people hurriedly released their pheromones.

07: [Pheromone sensing shielding activated—]

Hearing the prompt, Song Jin knew these people were using pheromones as weapons again. His irritability reached its peak. He kicked away a guard’s gun, smashed the guard with his gun butt until the person’s head was bleeding and they fell to the ground foaming at the mouth. Turning around, he kicked away the last guard’s gun, pressed the muzzle against the person’s forehead, and walked forward a few steps, pinning them against the wall.

“I, I surrender—ungh!”

BANG!

Red liquid bloomed on the snow-white wall.

Wei Feng stared, eyes wide, at Song Jin standing in a pile of corpses. Sure enough, whoever can marry the little prince is definitely no ordinary person.

Feeling the gaze behind him, Song Jin tilted his head coldly, automatically ignoring Wei Feng, and bumped into Li Xiao’s eyes. In that instant of eye contact, the quiet madness and murderous intent in the depths of Song Jin’s eyes pierced straight to the soul, making Li Xiao’s fingertips tremble with excitement.

An Alpha’s instinct made him feel a repulsive force that felt almost physical, like the magnetic field produced by two same-pole magnets of similar strength, constantly reminding him that the opponent in front of him was dangerous. The stronger the Alpha, the more obvious the repulsion—it permeated every aspect of life and could not be ignored.

But this intense repulsion was exactly what he liked the most.

09: [Old man, your heart rate has accelerated!]

Song Jin said impatiently: “Look again and I’ll dig out your eyes.”

Li Xiao: “…”

09: [Heart rate back to normal, it’s fine.]

When Song Jin walked back, Li Xiao looked at the reagent tube again: “Test results?”

09: [Initial test, PRM value exceeds 600.]

Hearing 09’s prompt, Song Jin pushed Li Xiao away, took out a small bottle, sprayed the box twice, and slammed it shut. “Put it back where it was.” 09 carried the box away.

Seeing Song Jin was even more irritable than when they first met, Li Xiao knew his condition hadn’t improved and signaled for Wei Feng to leave immediately. Leaving the cold storage through the nearest small door, they encountered a wave of guards just as they reached the corridor.

“Looking for death.” Song Jin cursed impatiently in a low voice and pushed Li Xiao toward that direction, preparing for a head-on fight. Li Xiao hurriedly pulled him back and hid him in a small room across the way. Seeing the person in his arms struggling, throwing daggers at him with his eyes as if wanting to prick him into a hedgehog, Li Xiao pinned him against the wall to immobilize him and stroked his head, comforting him in a low voice: “Good, don’t move yet.”

The tricks for the raccoon fox seem to work on the little lion too.

The struggle weakened. Li Xiao thought he had calmed him down, but the next moment he was met with a pair of cold eyes, the look saying, “Say one more word, and see if I don’t kill you?”

Li Xiao: “…” So stroking the head wasn’t enough?

Wei Feng, who was forced to watch the little couple’s intimacy: “…” Can someone come and manage his life?

Once the footsteps receded, the three left the small room and moved quickly toward the exit. Nearly at the door, Li Xiao had 09 go out first to turn into a hovercar in an uninhabited area and wait, ready to switch to stealth mode as soon as they boarded. Although modified humans could see them, it wouldn’t show up on standard surveillance in stealth mode.

“Over there!” Outside the freight center, a team of guards rushed over and began shooting wildly at them. The armor’s hardness easily deflected the bullets. The hovercar rose into the air. At the very last moment of departure, Song Jin tossed a stun grenade out the window—with the philosophy that if I’m not having a good time, nobody is.

With the speed of the armor, they quickly left the pursuing guards behind. Li Xiao sat in the back with Song Jin. Once the car reached a safe distance, he asked in a low voice: “Are you feeling a little better?”

Song Jin frowned: “Headache.”

Seeing Song Jin’s breathing was a bit rapid, Li Xiao reached out and pressed his hand against his heart, feeling the heart rate was still very high: “Are you having a reaction to one of the Omega pheromones?”

“Don’t mention Omegas!” Song Jin barked, pushing his hand away. Just as he wanted to say something, he suddenly retched.

Wei Feng turned his head from the front seat: “Is he motion sick?”

Li Xiao patted Song Jin’s back, feeling heartache seeing his forehead hair soaked with cold sweat, and signaled for 09 to drive smoothly.

Back in the hotel room, just as Li Xiao intended to treat Song Jin’s wounds first, the other party rushed into the bathroom looking terrible, and the sound of vomiting followed immediately. Vomiting was an instinctive rejection response. But the quality of those few modified Alphas was far inferior to Song Jin’s and shouldn’t have caused such severe discomfort.

Li Xiao followed, saw Song Jin standing in front of the sink splashing water on his face, and took a clean towel to him. “Have you ever had such a severe rejection reaction before?”

Song Jin took it casually and turned to lean against the sink: “No. That modified human’s pheromones wanted to poison me to death.”

“It shouldn’t have anything to do with whether they are modified humans.” Li Xiao gently wiped the water from his chin. “I suspect that Omega’s pheromones have a very high compatibility with yours, which is why they have such a big impact on you.” The pheromones of modified humans fail after a certain distance; this batch wasn’t even as good as Qi Ge and his people.

Song Jin recalled that narcissus smell, retched, and felt like vomiting again.

“Impossible. Smelling it makes me want to puke.”

Li Xiao: “You haven’t gone through your first rut period yet, have you?”

Song Jin’s head-drying motion paused, his tone impatient: “What are you trying to say?”

“Sometimes you can have a rejection reaction the first time you smell the pheromones of a highly compatible opposite sex—simply put, it’s overstimulation.” Li Xiao stroked the silver ring on his ear. “You’re still just a kid.”

Song Jin: “…”

“Did you bring inhibitors? Take an injection and rest for a bit, and it’ll be fine.” Before he could piss the other off, Li Xiao withdrew his hand. “I’ll go prepare the cleaning tools; come out once you’re tidied up.”

Just as Li Xiao turned, his collar was suddenly pulled hard, and his lips felt warm. Song Jin pulled away at a touch, looking into his eyes: “So what if I haven’t gone through a rut? It doesn’t stop me from liking Alphas.”

Li Xiao’s gaze darkened. Having the little lion strike straight at him like this, it was impossible for him to pretend nothing had happened. Noticing the subtle change in Li Xiao’s expression, Song Jin laughed with a lazy drawl: “Scared?”

Li Xiao leaned in, supporting himself against the counter: “Don’t provoke me.”

Before they could kiss, Wei Feng’s loud voice came from the side. “Boss, I brought the medicine. Is he feeling any better?”

Wei Feng found them in the bathroom, and the moment he looked up, he saw the couple stuck together. Seeing the two looking over with murderous intent, Wei Feng gave a dry laugh: “I left the medicine in the room. You guys carry on.”

Having been interrupted, the atmosphere was gone. Song Jin’s arm wound began to bleed again, and Li Xiao pulled him out to clean it: “Don’t go anywhere.”

After injecting the inhibitor, cleaning the wound, and placing a therapeutic lamp over Song Jin’s injury, Li Xiao looked at Wei Feng: “Why were you at the freight center?”

Wei Feng leaned against the single sofa, lounging with his legs crossed, and pulled out a cigarette to hold in his mouth. “Did you go to the feed base again?”

Li Xiao didn’t hide it: “We found two boxes of blood sent from there, so we came to check.”

“I got them too.” Wei Feng projected a photo into mid-air. “Just snatched them from ‘Fire Flamingo’ at N4297 of the Nanming Seat. There was an address on the box. It should have arrived here a few days ago, but it coincided with the high-incidence period of the insect swarm, and entry into the territory was tightened.”

Li Xiao and Song Jin exchanged glances, their previous guesses resurfacing. It was very possible they had truly blundered into a hunting ground prepared for the Ravens.

Wei Feng: “What did you find there?”

Li Xiao reached into his pocket and fished out the encapsulated shoulder badge: “Do you recognize this?”

Upon seeing what it was, Wei Feng’s expression changed slightly, and he lunged to snatch it. Li Xiao pulled his hand back first. “Tell me what happened back then.”

Wei Feng sat back down in frustration: “You didn’t find it in the royal database?”

Li Xiao said faintly: “With so much information, how long would I have to dig?”

Seeing Wei Feng hesitate, Song Jin added slowly: “If you don’t say it, we’ll be able to find out sooner or later; the only one who loses is you.”

Wei Feng chuckled: “I can see it now—the two of you lovebirds singing in harmony just to bully an honest man like me?”

“Are you going to tell me or not?” Li Xiao shook the shoulder badge in his hand.

Wei Feng clicked his tongue: “How would I know what happened decades ago? I heard some Prince investigated it. If you really want to know, you can go find out for yourself.”

Li Xiao frowned slightly: “Li Xun?”

“Right, that seems to be the name,” Wei Feng said carelessly. “That’s all I know.”

Li Xiao had almost no impression of this uncle; after all, he had passed away more than a dozen years before he was born. If Li Xun had been involved in the investigation of the Bique tribe back then, could his cause of death also be related to this?

Seeing Li Xiao deep in thought, Song Jin looked at Wei Feng: “Li Xun has been dead for thirty years; this piece of intelligence is useless. Exchange it for another one.”

Wei Feng sat up straight: “Hey, hey, no way to cheat people like this.”

Song Jin: “Do you still want the stuff or not?”

Wei Feng: “…” They’re all black-hearted and of one family. “How are you two even more heartless than a space pirate?” Wei Feng couldn’t help but complain.

Li Xiao was unperturbed: “Otherwise, how would I negotiate with you?”

Wei Feng: “…” He has a point.

Wei Feng played with the crow-shaped lighter in his hand, stayed silent for a moment, and looked at them: “Do you know about the ‘Ferryman’?”