The reason Lin Zhu had sent that text was because the system’s judgment process had glitched. He had only wanted to test whether restoring that key line Yan Ruojun said in the original novel would count as filling in the plot point…

If getting one-third of the progress bar for free had barely counted as within expectations, what Lin Zhu truly hadn’t expected was that Yan Ruojun would actually come.

So after hearing Yan Ruojun lean in and say those words, boom—

Lin Zhu’s brain nearly exploded on the spot.

The most concrete symptom of this was that certain unspeakable reactions of his became even more intense, impossible to hide.

Lin Zhu had always had excellent physical health. Growing up, he had hardly ever gotten sick, and this was the first time he had found himself in such an awkward situation.

The man stood only half a meter away. From that downward angle, everything was visible at a glance. No matter how much Lin Zhu tried to shield himself by drawing up his leg, it was useless.

He was at the height of youth. It wasn’t as if he had never felt restless in the mornings before, but usually, as long as he recited some memorized text and didn’t pay attention to it, he would calm down quickly.

Not like now—

impossible to suppress, impossible to control, his body sinking into waves of heat, his reason on the verge of being knocked offline.

Especially when Yan Ruojun stood in front of him, Lin Zhu had to use all his strength just to restrain the urge to pounce. Breathing unevenly, he asked:

“…Can you… can you bite me once?”

According to the system’s report, tonight’s key plot point was already two-thirds complete. They were only one final push away.

An Alpha-Omega temporary mark.

Even though Lin Zhu knew perfectly well that completing the task was his only path forward, the values he had built over eighteen years were not so easily overturned.

Now that the moment had truly come, he found that he really couldn’t bring himself to bite down.

This lousy little system was too unreliable. Maybe if the protagonist bit him once, that would count as task completion too, Lin Zhu thought.

Yan Ruojun, however, thought he had misheard. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes as he asked in return:

“What did you say?”

As he spoke, his gaze dropped to the boy’s neck.

Lin Zhu was practically drenched from head to toe. His slightly long reddish-gold hair seemed to have lost its luster, hanging limply against the side of his neck and still dripping water.

Lowering his head, he sat with both legs drawn up, elbows braced on his knees, both hands reaching around his shoulders. With obvious impatience, he pushed aside the damp strands of hair at the back of his head, exposing the smooth nape of his neck and the slightly swollen gland there.

One long finger pressed against the skin beside it.

“Right here. Can you bite me once?”

In twenty-eight years of life, it was the first time Yan Ruojun had ever heard anyone say such a thing to him. For a moment, he genuinely didn’t know how to react.

After all, aggression and possessiveness were carved into an Alpha’s bones.

Especially an Alpha in rut—one who rejected others of the same sex to the extreme, while craving Omegas intensely.

But no matter what sex they were facing, an Alpha’s instincts did not change…

Attack. Possess. Seize.

And yet the boy before him displayed a kind of retreat and yielding that Yan Ruojun found impossible to understand.

Because of that, the fingers he had curled at his side trembled twice, and he couldn’t help asking again:

“Do you know what you’re saying?”

His tone remained cool and distant as ever, but for some reason the last note came out a little tight.

“Uh…” Lin Zhu kept fiddling with his hair, his eyes showing through the overly long fringe as he looked at Yan Ruojun and answered, “Yeah… I know. But aren’t you nervous right now?”

In truth, from head to toe, Yan Ruojun had shown no sign of nervousness at all. If anything, he looked especially composed and in control.

But Lin Zhu simply felt that way instinctively.

Standing here, he really looked tense.

So they should just let Yan Ruojun bite him first.

If the task didn’t count as successful, then Lin Zhu would beg the other man to let him bite back. One bite from you, one bite from me—less awkward, less guilt-inducing. That was how Lin Zhu saw it.

After all, he was a freshly minted Alpha. He had none of the usual territorial instincts of ordinary Alphas, nor did he think being bitten once on the gland was some unbearable violation of personal boundaries.

The only reason Lin Zhu resisted biting and being bitten on the gland was probably because it was too intimate of an act. For two strangers who had just met for the first time, it felt unbearably awkward.

Yan Ruojun didn’t respond to that outrageous claim that he looked “nervous.”

He simply held eye contact with the boy.

At first glance, all he saw in those bloodshot eyes was restlessness and desire… but as he kept looking, he suddenly realized that something else seemed to emerge from beneath it.

Setting aside all his resistance and prejudice, Yan Ruojun suddenly discovered that it was something like water, and also like wind—something with neither threat nor pressure in it, something that even carried warmth and acceptance.

Inwardly, he thought coldly: He’s just a flaky little brat.

But his body moved before his thoughts did, pressing downward first and blocking the overhead light, casting a muted shadow over the boy.

He leaned close to Lin Zhu’s nape.

There was still not the slightest scent at all at his nose. It was impossibly clean.

Then he opened his mouth and bit down hard on Lin Zhu’s gland.

For reasons even he did not fully understand, Yan Ruojun bit especially hard.

Almost at the same instant, he felt Lin Zhu’s body go rigid. The boy’s frame was slim but not weak, and the half-transparent wet fabric of his clothes outlined the lines of lean muscle beneath, revealing a distinctly masculine strength.

But Lin Zhu didn’t move.

He only tightened the hand gripping the side of his neck, all ten fingers clenching hard, the veins on his neck standing out, while a low pained sound escaped his throat:

“…Tss.”

After biting down, Yan Ruojun released him quickly. The entire process lasted less than three seconds.

But Lin Zhu was still sweating from the pain.

Would getting bitten once by another person really hurt this much?

Lin Zhu was honestly beginning to question reality.

He asked the system, “Did the task complete?”

The system popped out, sounding guilty. “Nope. Maybe it’s because an Omega can’t mark an Alpha, so the temporary mark doesn’t count as valid… after all, the essence of marking is pheromonal fusion and possession, not just simple biting.”

“Host, looks like it still has to be you. Come on! You can do it!”

Ignoring the system’s cheering in his mind, Lin Zhu glanced at Yan Ruojun again.

The man had already straightened up and stepped back to where he had been before. His suit was still impeccable. The black leather blocker collar and gloves fit tightly around his neck and hands, making him look restrained, ascetic, and cold.

As if he hadn’t just bitten someone viciously a moment ago.

Perhaps feeling that it was too improper to talk while sitting on the floor, and perhaps because the sharp bite from Yan Ruojun had jarred some sense back into him, Lin Zhu sucked in a breath and pushed himself up against the wall to stand.

Then he lifted the hand that had been covering the back of his neck in front of himself, extended one finger to gesture “one,” and asked tentatively:

“Uh… can you let me bite once too?”

The two of them, one standing and one sitting, had now become two people standing face-to-face.

Yan Ruojun was notably tall. Being of mixed Chinese and French descent, he had already passed 180 cm during puberty, and by the time he had fully matured, his bare height reached 185 cm. With shoes on, he looked even taller.

Such an impressive height was very rare among Omegas. Perhaps only runway models in the fashion industry could compare.

Lin Zhu, too, was much taller than the average among his classmates, but he was still about two centimeters shorter than Yan Ruojun. When he had been leaning against the wall just now, the difference between them had seemed even greater.

Still, at least they were now at eye level.

And from this angle, Lin Zhu could see Yan Ruojun’s expression and movements more clearly.

The man used the back of his gloved hand to lightly wipe at the corner of his lips. The black gloves and his pale skin formed an extreme contrast, making his skin seem whiter and his lips pinker.

His eyes were very beautiful—a pair of slightly upturned phoenix eyes, unlike Lin Zhu’s drooping eyes that always made him look tired and listless.

The glow from the overhead light spilled down, scattering into his deep eyes and faintly reflecting a hidden gray-green buried within the dark.

Yan Ruojun stared intently at Lin Zhu, as if examining some rare and very strange animal.

There was neither liking nor disgust in his gaze—none of those dramatically opposed emotions.

What there was, more than anything, was—

curiosity, and scrutiny.

After a long moment,

the man gave the faintest nod.

“Alright.”

“But I don’t want to do it here.”

He added that afterward, his gaze sweeping the surroundings as he signaled with his eyes.

Lin Zhu immediately nodded.

Understandable.

Even though he and Yan Ruojun both looked every bit like men, they were in fact different sexes. Just seeing Yan Ruojun appear alone at the door to the Alpha restroom had already shocked Lin Zhu.

To perform their first temporary mark in a place like this would be, to some extent, insulting toward Yan Ruojun…

If this were Lin Zhu’s original world, wouldn’t it be basically the same as dragging a female classmate into the men’s restroom to kiss her?

Though… biting a gland to establish a temporary mark seemed even more intimate than kissing.

Suddenly thinking of something, Lin Zhu asked Yan Ruojun:

“Right now, my pheromones seem to be leaking too much. If we just walk out like this, will it be okay?”

Even if he couldn’t smell his own pheromones or anyone else’s, other people could still smell his.

Thinking of that, Lin Zhu paused, then added:

“You really… didn’t smell anything from me?”

In the original novel, as long as the scumbag ex-husband let out even the slightest thread of pheromones, Yan Ruojun would turn into a pool of disturbed spring water, his body going soft to the point of barely being able to stand—after which came pages and pages of indescribable content.

According to the system’s scans, Lin Zhu was currently the equivalent of a broken sprinkler truck, his pheromones gushing out nonstop with no way to shut them off.

Ordinary Alphas leaked pheromones during rut too, but they could quickly pull them back under control.

Lin Zhu, however, did not yet possess that ability.

Which meant that to outside eyes, it looked exactly as if he were intentionally releasing pheromones.

Even if he grew eight mouths, he wouldn’t be able to explain this clearly.

Tilting his head slightly, Yan Ruojun raised both hands to his neck and slowly removed the heavy-duty blocker collar. Hearing Lin Zhu’s question, he stared at him strangely for several seconds before saying:

“I can’t smell your pheromones.”

The hospital report had written it out in black and white. He and Lin Zhu had a 100% pheromone compatibility.

Logically, this should not have happened.

And yet it had.

Suddenly, that phrase he had heard countless times recently flashed through Yan Ruojun’s mind—

This is a miracle.

Why not try it?

So Yan Ruojun extended the blocker collar slightly forward, and with his other hand raised his phone and dialed the clubhouse reception directly.

Then, in a straightforward tone, he said:

“Prepare a room for me.”