Chapter 19: Malignant Symptoms

Having failed to catch the cheater, Zhu Zhixi was very dejected. He only ate a little for dinner and then returned to his room.

He lay on the bed, face buried in his arms, his nose twitching.

He could smell the complex aroma of the mulled wine he had for dinner, and if he sniffed a little closer, he could also smell a faint hint of sandalwood.

Even earlier, the fresh and elegant scent of the jewelry store.

But there was no trace of Fu Rangyi’s pheromones.

Even Zhu Zeran could smell it.

He buried his head, closed his eyes, and the leather jacket chilled his somewhat hot cheeks. The image of Fu Rangyi confessing his pheromones appeared again, nouns with their own scents swirling in his mind like butterflies.

He seemed to actually smell it. His senses evaporated in the darkness, turning into hallucinations, so immersive and real it was unbelievable.

It wasn’t until his phone vibrated a few times that Zhu Zhixi suddenly woke up.

It was a work message from Zhou Ming.

That’s right, I’m a Beta. Being unaffected by pheromones is my talent. I am a higher animal born for work.

To clear his mind of random thoughts, Zhu Zhixi used work to sober himself up.

The most important thing for an exhibition is to be familiar with the exhibits. He spent a whole night reading the collection catalog, classifying and sorting, finding some that he was interested in, marking them, and planning to ask Fu Rangyi about them later.

Fu Rangyi.

He found that he couldn’t even think of him now. As soon as his mind wandered a little, his hard-won concentration would spiral out of control.

He was a little worried. It was a holiday, and his phone had been vibrating all night, but the chat box of [Pretty Widower] was completely silent, with no movement at all.

He should be home by now, right?

Why am I so concerned? He was the one who kept kicking me out.

He then remembered Zhu Zeran’s trash talk, about him being “sent away.” Although he understood that Fu Rangyi’s character would never do such a thing, and besides, their roommate rules stated that they couldn’t bring people back.

Roommate rules. He suddenly remembered another one—never interfere in the other’s private life.

Zhu Zhixi sobered up, turned off his phone, and opened the collection catalog.

After pulling an all-nighter, he barely finished going through the exhibits and sorted out a rough outline. He was about to start on the venue design, but just as he got to this part, he realized a troublesome matter.

[Bad Rabbit: Professor Fu, I need to work, but my laptop is at the apartment. The venue models are all on it. I want to go back and get it.]

[Bad Rabbit: I won’t disturb you! I’ll sneak in quietly, grab the computer quietly, and then sneak out quietly, like a little thief, I promise.]

[Bad Rabbit: Half an hour limit. If you don’t refuse, I’ll take it as a default, okay?]

Half an hour later, he appeared downstairs at the apartment building on time and received a message from Zhou Ming.

[Zhou Ming: Shall we meet at 2:30 then? Let me know when you’re almost here, and I’ll come out to get you.]

[Zhou Ming: Coffee? I’ll order now.]

Zhu Zhixi was annoyed by someone’s lack of response, so he just replied “no trouble” and logged out. He clicked into the pinned chat box, scrolled up and down, and confirmed again.

Pretty Widower still hasn’t replied.

He didn’t die before me, did he?

Zhu Zhixi took a deep breath, his finger touching the fingerprint lock. Beep—the door opened.

He was about to enter, but just as he lifted his foot, in an instant, it was as if he was violently frozen. A current of electricity shot down, piercing through him. His entire body was completely numb. Every muscle, every bone, instantly tensed, unable to move.

Only his heart. Thump thump. Thump thump. It was beating extremely heavily.

This was the first time in Zhu Zhixi’s life that he had felt this sensation, but it only lasted for a second or two before quickly disappearing.

Everything returned to normal.

What happened?

Could it be that my condition has worsened?

He glanced at the countdown on his palm.

[47d 01h 42m 05s]

Still shaken, he stood still for a while before walking in. The house was quiet, and everything was as usual.

The first thing he did was glance at the master bedroom. He remembered Fu Rangyi’s condition last night, and Zhu Zeran’s nonsense.

After a moment of struggle, Zhu Zhixi still walked quickly towards the master bedroom.

The door was not closed. He stood at the doorway and glanced inside. It was very dim, the curtains were drawn tightly, the lights were off, and the quilt on the bed was not neatly folded as usual, but was spread out. But there was clearly no one lying in the quilt.

“Fu Rangyi?”

So strange. Would Fu Rangyi leave the room in such a mess and go to work?

He even knocked on the door of the master bathroom, then came out and looked at the guest bathroom. Both were empty.

He really wasn’t home.

Forget it. I’ll get the laptop first.

He closed the door of the guest bathroom, walked through the quiet corridor, opened the door of the second bedroom, and the laptop was on the desk. Zhu Zhixi approached. But suddenly, he frowned.

The room was empty at a glance, and everything was the same as when he left. But he could clearly hear heavy breathing, and some rustling sounds.

Zhu Zhixi lightened his steps, cautiously investigating. He took some tools from the hiking bag placed behind the door and hid them behind his back.

The closer he got, the more certain he was that the source of the sound was the tent in the room.

So he approached cautiously until he came to the closed curtain of the tent, squatted down, and knelt on one knee. He gripped the crowbar, suddenly lifted the curtain, but was stunned.

Inside the tent was actually Fu Rangyi.

The light inside was dim and the space was small. Fu Rangyi was lying on his side, his body curled up. He was only wearing a thin, off-white Henley shirt, the collar open, the top few buttons unbuttoned. His broad shoulders and chest filled out the shirt.

Zhu Zhixi’s face suddenly felt a little hot.

Two days ago, Fu Rangyi had passed by his room and commented on a pile of things in his pedagogical tone: the room was untidy, clothes were scattered, and there wasn’t even a basic clean-clothes area.

At that time, he had been very unconvinced, being lectured like a child. He felt ashamed and was eager to find a place to hide his clothes. So he had stuffed all these clothes that had only been worn once into the tent and pulled the curtain. He had deceptively achieved a tidy room.

But now, these clothes, and the rabbit fur blanket in the tent, almost drowned Fu Rangyi.

This… what is this.

Who was the one who said he had mysophobia?

“Fu Rangyi,” Zhu Zhixi’s voice was very soft. He lifted the curtain with one hand, knelt into the tent, and gently patted Fu Rangyi’s leg with the other. “Are you okay? What are you doing curled up in here? Do you want to go to the hospital? I’ll drive you.”

The sick person seemed to have heard his voice, moved, and had some reaction.

He mumbled something, his voice very hoarse. Zhu Zhixi couldn’t hear clearly and moved closer, trying to make it out, but all he could hear was Fu Rangyi’s panting.

The light in the tent was dim. He saw Fu Rangyi’s chest moving.

He usually wore layers of clothes, one on top of the other, covering his tall figure. Even at home, his pajamas were neat and proper, every button doing its job.

But now, the thin fabric of his clothes was completely stretched by his muscles, rising and falling with his breath.

“Water…”

Zhu Zhixi suddenly came back to his senses, his face burning, “Water? You want to drink water?”

He reached out, fumbled for a while, found Fu Rangyi’s forehead, touched it, and it was covered in sweat.

His entire palm was soaked.

“You have a fever. No wonder you want to drink water. I’ll go get it.”

Zhu Zhixi didn’t think much and directly backed out of the tent, quickly left the room, went to the kitchen, took one of Fu Rangyi’s glass cups, and went to the water dispenser in the water bar to get water.

While waiting for the water to fill, he looked down at his palm again. The countdown was still paused, but his heart was beating even faster than before.

“He told me not to come back. If I hadn’t come back, you would have died of illness and no one would have known.”

Just as he finished muttering, he suddenly felt a stream of hot air on the back of his neck. The goosebumps all over his body rose, and he suddenly turned his head.

“Fu Rangyi?”

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned around.

How did he suddenly appear? Wasn’t he unable to get up?

“You sit down first. The water will be ready soon. I’ll…”

Before he could finish, Fu Rangyi, who was standing behind him, suddenly reached out and touched his cheek.

His hand was as hot as a red-hot piece of metal, branding the side of Zhu Zhixi’s face. A layer of sweat suddenly appeared on his back.

“Why aren’t you wearing a suppression bracelet?” Zhu Zhixi grabbed his wrist, which was empty.

Fu Rangyi opened his mouth, his voice very deep, “It’s useless…”

“What?” He didn’t hear clearly and wanted to ask again, but Fu Rangyi actually raised his other hand, touched Zhu Zhixi’s wrist, and his scorching fingertips hooked onto the beaded bracelet on his wrist.

The elastic cord was pulled, then released, and snap—it snapped back onto his wrist.

“This isn’t your bracelet. Don’t play with it,” Zhu Zhixi scolded him in a low voice. “You’re delirious from the fever.”

Gurgle, gurgle. The sound of running water appeared. He turned his head and realized that the water had already overflowed from the cup and was flowing onto the counter and the floor.

It’s over.

This person is the cleanest. He’s definitely going to scold me.

Zhu Zhixi quickly turned around, turned off the water button, randomly pulled a few paper towels, and went to wipe the water on the counter.

Fortunately, Fu Rangyi said nothing.

After getting sick, his language system seemed to have degenerated.

Perhaps it was because of the work, or perhaps the heating in the house was too high, but he also felt inexplicably hot. So while wiping the water, he untied the scarf around his neck, took it off, and then squatted down, wiping the water on the floor with his back to Fu Rangyi.

“Don’t just stand there. Go to the sofa…”

Before he could finish.

The remaining words were scattered by a body that suddenly crashed into him, changing their tune and being squeezed into a somewhat pained groan.

Zhu Zhixi couldn’t believe it. The person who had been standing behind him just fine a moment ago had suddenly crashed into him like a wild beast, pressing him to the ground.

His forehead hit the floor without warning. He was still clutching the soaked paper towel, as if he were carrying a mountain on his back.

“It hurts so much…” Zhu Zhixi was so pressed that he couldn’t breathe, his fingers clawing at the cracks in the floor. “So heavy!”

However, the collar of his clothes at the back of his neck was suddenly pulled hard.

“Cough, cough… are you trying to strangle me?”

I just came back, didn’t I? I gave you a heads-up, but you ignored me. Why are you treating me like this? Ungrateful wolf, wolf-hearted and lung-less, lung…

My lungs are about to explode! Zhu Zhixi’s mind was hazy. He reached his hand behind his back, trying to grab Fu Rangyi’s hand that was pulling his collar, but when he really reached over, he realized something was wrong.

It wasn’t a hand.

What he touched along the collar was a taut jawline, and clenched, sharp teeth.

Suddenly, Zhu Zhixi thought of the frenzied Alpha he had met in the subway car before.

A terrifying thought flashed through his mind.

So it really is his susceptible period!

How could I have been so careless?

Fu Rangyi is also an alpha, and a top-tier A at that. He had already issued a warning at the door just now.

So that was the legendary top-tier A’s suppressive pheromones? No wonder he couldn’t move.

A chill ran down his spine. The physiological fear gave rise to a survival instinct, but the difference in their body sizes was too great. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t escape the cage of being pressed down by weight.

“Fu Rangyi! Fu…”

A hot, humid stream of air sprayed onto the back of his neck. The pores all over his body trembled for a second. He could clearly feel the sharp canine teeth pressing against the back of his neck.

You’re going to mark me?

He used all his strength to block with his hands, to pull at his collar to stop it, and his mouth didn’t stop either.

“It hurts, it hurts! Are you crazy? I’m a Beta! I don’t have that thing in my neck at all. You…”

Suddenly, his whole body stiffened. The unfinished scolding suddenly turned into a ball of cotton, firmly stuck in his throat. Because he could clearly feel something of an astonishing size suddenly poking at his tailbone.

At the critical moment, there was a loud bang.

Zhu Zhixi was so scared that he trembled under Fu Rangyi. Cold sweat broke out. He instantly regained consciousness and continued to struggle.

A rush of footsteps approached, getting closer and closer.

Who…

“Holy shit!”

The voice was unfamiliar, but Zhu Zhixi suddenly felt saved. Like a penguin crushed by an iceberg, he struggled to turn his head, crazily stretched out his hand, and frantically slapped the ground, “Save, save me…”

The next second, a hand appeared in his field of vision, holding a syringe. The long needle glinted with a cold light and pierced into the arm of the out-of-control Alpha who was pressing on him.

A few dozen seconds later, he felt Fu Rangyi’s tense strength gradually loosen, collapse, and then completely lose strength, pressing on him without any restraint.

“No, I’m going to be crushed. Help…”

“Oh, right, right. I almost forgot about you,” the god-sent soldier quickly pushed away the unconscious Fu Rangyi and rescued him from the clutches of the demon.

Seeing his face, the other person was stunned for a few seconds. But Zhu Zhixi didn’t notice, only concerned with clutching his neck and gasping for air.

“Thank you, thank you…”

I’m alive.

He sat on the floor, looking at Fu Rangyi’s corpse-like body, wanting to give him a few hard punches.

“You’re his wife?” he smiled and added in a low voice, “Fu Rangyi really can’t take pictures.”

“I…” He didn’t hear the last part clearly and looked at this suddenly appearing guy while panting. He was dressed quite formally, with a tag hanging around his neck, but the string was twisted, so he could only see the back.

He looked like a decent person, but his smile wasn’t.

How did he get in? The door was clearly locked.

Does he have the password?

On what basis can he come in??

Zhu Zhixi’s face was flushed. He was out of breath and still talking nonsense, “Who are you? Don’t tell me you’re the other woman. Even if you are, don’t admit it… I’m suffering from oxygen deprivation right now. I’m afraid I’ll pass out if I hear it.”

“Me?” The person laughed heartily and also sat on the floor. “Fu Rangyi lives like a monk, abstaining from this and that. Forget about sleeping together, we don’t even piss in the same pot.”

Zhu Zhixi glared, “Who wants to hear about your bathroom business? How did you get into my house? If you’re not the other woman, then you’re a thief. I’m, I’m going to call the police.”

“Go ahead,” he raised his chin. “Hurry up.”

Zhu Zhixi took a deep breath, “Wait for me to catch my breath… Don’t rush the police uncle to death.”

The person laughed even more happily and even kicked the leg of the already unconscious Fu Rangyi, “I’m telling you, you’re really lucky.”

“Don’t kick him,” Zhu Zhixi moved his butt to sit next to Fu Rangyi, his legs spread apart like a split, creating a dividing line between the two.

The person almost died laughing, “Damn, you’re so fucking lucky!”

“You’re so uncultured.”

“I’m uncultured, but he’s cultured? He pounced on you like a hungry wolf and almost marked you on the ground, did you forget? If it wasn’t for this young master’s ultimate move flash, your neck would be a river of blood by now, and you’re still protecting him.”

It didn’t happen, did it? Zhu Zhixi muttered to himself.

“Who on earth are you?”

The person stood up and straightened his clothes, “My name is Li Qiao, his buddy.”

Zhu Zhixi immediately became vigilant, “Did he tell you everything about us?”

“What are you talking about? Your ‘that’ thing?” Li Qiao smiled.

Zhu Zhixi’s eyes darted around, his expression changing again and again. He wanted to act, but he didn’t have the script.

“What ‘that’ thing about us…”

“Alright, stop pretending,” Li Qiao laughed out loud. “I know you’re in a fake marriage. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have rushed over in such a hurry.”

As he spoke, he picked up the medicine box he had thrown on the floor when he rushed in, put it on the dining table, and opened it with a click.

Zhu Zhixi stood on his tiptoes and glanced inside. It was full of medicine and syringes.

There was also a bite guard that looked unusually sturdy.

“You’re the friend from medical school he mentioned, right?”

“Yo, he even mentioned me. What did you guys talk about that I was mentioned?”

Zhu Zhixi remembered some unpleasant memories, “He thought I was crazy and told me to be your test subject.”

Li Qiao laughed loudly. While unlocking the bite guard, he teased, “You two are getting along well. He even talks to you like that.”

He’s been talking to me like that from the very beginning.

Li Qiao’s movements were very swift, as if he were in a hurry.

He squatted down, helped Fu Rangyi up, and leaned him against the water bar cabinet. Zhu Zhixi went over to help him steady. Li Qiao put the bite guard on him. It was a double-layered model with a silver mouthpiece and a black muzzle cover, very sturdy.

“He was allergic to the previous one, so he asked me to buy him a new one,” Li Qiao taught him how to fix it and said, “The combination lock is on the back. This is a new one. You can set it yourself.”

“I set it?”

“Yeah, hurry up and set a random one.”

Zhu Zhixi didn’t think much and subconsciously set his own birthday, 0523, “Do you have to enter the password to unlock it?”

“It has Bluetooth. You can also unlock it with your phone. Just download an app. But don’t unlock it casually. This is my biggest piece of advice to you.”

“Actually, if his cycle were stable and he took his medicine in advance, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad. I don’t know what happened this time. It was so many days early, and his pheromone peak was off the charts,” Li Qiao sighed. “I’m his suppression bracelet’s emergency contact. I was shocked when I saw the data. His historical heart rate peak was so high last night it was about to explode. Fortunately, it was before my training camp…”

Last night. Zhu Zhixi frowned.

He shouldn’t have listened and gone home last night. At least he could have taken Fu Rangyi to the hospital.

“I was originally worried about what he would do at home alone, since it was so serious this time. Since you’re here, I’ll hand this glorious and arduous task over to you. It just so happens that you’re not affected by his pheromones.”

“But he…” Zhu Zhixi paused. “He didn’t let me come.”

Did he know his condition was bad and was afraid I would see it? Zhu Zhixi was a little confused.

“He didn’t let you come?” Li Qiao repeated, as if surprised. “You’re a Beta. You can’t release pheromones to seduce him. What is he afraid of?”

Zhu Zhixi was speechless.

I don’t have pheromones, but do I not have other, other charms?

“Ah, whatever. I can’t find anyone else for the time being. A fake wife is still a wife,” his frown deepened, and he coughed. “I really have to go.”

Looking at the unconscious Fu Rangyi, besides being worried, Zhu Zhixi was also a little confused, “My brother is also a SA, and I have many Alpha friends. Their susceptible periods are not like this. Why is Fu Rangyi’s so severe?”

“He has malignant susceptible period syndrome,” Li Qiao looked at Zhu Zhixi.

“Malignant… syndrome?”

“Simply put, because of long-term drug dependence, his malignant symptoms during the susceptible period are far greater than that of ordinary A’s: more adverse reactions, stronger aggression, and more unstable mental state.”

“Most importantly, his libido will also be heavier, and he will resort to any means to satisfy it.”

__

Author’s Note:

When the young master marries into a wealthy family, the happy fairy tale life turns into a bubble. A terrible family, a cold husband, and the fact that they have been living in separate rooms from the first day have completely shattered his expectations for marriage. Until one day, he returns home and suddenly stumbles upon the other side of his cold-faced husband’s ascetic appearance…
An innocent Beta, a top-tier Alpha who has gone wild, how to escape the fate of being eaten alive?
The urban rabbit saves the happy love-hate drama—How Long Can Your Snowman Live? Tune in every night at nine o’clock, please look forward to it!