But this is drinking poison to quench thirst

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Bai Ling wasn’t an omega who had been raised through normal means. He had no experience with emotional exchanges with alphas, nor did he know that this question sounded exactly like a guardian fulfilling his duty—

[Responsibly monitor the omega’s physical condition; coax and comfort them into stating their true feelings.]

Bai Ling didn’t know how to answer. Talk about it? What was there to say… He wasn’t good at describing his condition. For him, there were generally only three options: “Fine,” “Can move,” and “Can’t move.” But just answering “Fine” felt too perfunctory.

“Blood pressure 110/65. Body fat 9%. Heart rate was 60 three minutes ago. After receiving your call, it is 100.”

He recited the data from his restriction ring, his tone as serious as if he were delivering a military report.

“After receiving my call…” Yu Chen paused on the other end. He couldn’t help but press a hand to his forehead, his lips curving. His emotions, which had been like stagnant water, suddenly felt much lighter. He replied softly, “One moment. Let me get a pen and paper.”

Bai Ling’s lips parted in surprise. Ah… why, why is he suddenly being so serious about this?

“Please repeat the data.” The sound of paper turning came through the communicator.

Bai Ling, with sweaty palms, quickly said, “There’s no need to write it down, the data is just a mess… Why don’t I just send it to you?”

After saying it, he fell silent with a blank face. Sending him his body data… what was that? So weird.

Yu Chen smiled slightly, accepting the offer. “Then input my communication number.”

“My communicator is in my room. I’ll go get it.” Bai Ling, without thinking, turned to go back to the dorm, but Yu Chen stopped him.

“Not your communicator. I meant, add it to your restriction ring.”

Bai Ling’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He said instinctively, “But the restriction ring can only add one emergency contact. That’s my…”

Guardian.

“Delete him,” Yu Chen’s tone was gentle, but the words themselves were the exact opposite— direct, like an order that could not be refused.

Bai Ling thought about it. This restriction ring wasn’t his to begin with, and he didn’t know the guardian on it. Deleting it was fine.

As for his own original guardian, Mr. D… He and Mr. D were just online friends. In his past life, he didn’t think they had ever even met. He had only asked the man to be his guardian because he needed the permit to travel freely as an omega.

Besides, Mr. D was a good person. He probably wouldn’t mind.

He moved his fingers, inputting the number the merman had given him. The screen automatically prompted: [Are you sure you want to overwrite?] He tapped [Yes] without hesitation. The screen flashed. The new call bar instantly and forcefully shoved the old one aside, taking its place as the one and only contact.

Yu Chen heard him go quiet for a moment, guessing he was working the device. He rubbed the thumb ring on his hand, leaned forward slightly, and asked, “Was it successful?”

“It’s done. I also saw your name, Yu Chen…”

Bai Ling had accidentally read the name in the [Emergency Contact] field aloud. His clear, cold voice was carried by the invisible radio waves, echoing softly in Yu Chen’s study.

Yu Chen didn’t speak for a moment, surprised by his compliance.

A faint, tingling pain emanated from the ankle shackle, warning him not to indulge in reckless thoughts. But his fingertips twitched. He suddenly turned, bent over, and pressed his hand to the fingerprint lock on the back of the shackle.

With a soft beep, the metal shackle clicked open and slid down to his instep.

He picked it up, tossed it under the desk, and then straightened up. He switched the communicator to an earpiece, clipping it to his right ear, and sank into the velvet armchair in a relaxed, indulgent posture.

Perhaps it was the snowy atmosphere, but he had, for once, let his restraint go. He wanted to indulge, just this once.

“I received the candy you left in the note. I liked it very much.”

Bai Ling’s heart unhelpfully skipped a beat. He felt that Yu Chen was somehow different tonight. His tone was warmer, more… intoxicating.

Even though he was standing in a freezing stairwell in shorts, shivering as the cold wind leaked through the window cracks, this lazy, decadent voice whispered in his ear. A strange heat seemed to burn from his ear, spreading throughout his whole body.

Bai Ling was guided by that strange stirring, and the words flowed from his lips. “I’m glad you liked it. I’ll buy more next time I get paid. You were sleeping this morning, so I didn’t want to disturb you. I just left a note.”

Yu Chen slowly undid the top two buttons of his collar. On his long-boned fingers, his nails, which had been pale and translucent, were gradually dyed into a dangerous, deep black. “If you want, you can come directly to the master bedroom to find me next time. It’s no trouble.”

Bai Ling felt the efficacy of the five alpha pheromone supplement pills he’d taken earlier, which was now, with every passing second, rapidly declining.

He could feel his heart speeding up again and his breathing growing shallow. It was as if invisible strings were tied to his limbs, trying to pull him toward some unknown abyss.

Bai Ling pressed his forehead against the glass window. He tried hard to think through the man’s proposal, and then rejected it. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because… you shouldn’t do this. You’re being too trusting of a stranger you’ve only known for a week. You should be on your guard.”

Yu Chen, hearing this, laughed, comfortable and pleased. Who’s the one with no guard up?

The condensation on the window dampened the soft, white hair. Bai Ling asked, confused, “Why are you laughing?”

“I was just thinking about ruffling the little feathers on your head.”

My little feathers? Bai Ling subconsciously reached up to touch his head. The crest feather was also damp. He gave his hair a quick, random ruffle, but was suddenly seized by a profound sense of emptiness.

In that instant, his mind inexplicably conjured the image of a large hand and began to fill in the details. Deep palm lines, clean nail beds, each long finger with two thick, prominent knuckles. The veins on the back of the hand were a faint blue, climbing over the ivory-colored skin, like rivers flowing across a snow-covered plain. Every time this hand threaded into his hair, ruffling it gently, he would feel as if he were being washed over by a river, left lying on a scorching sandbar, parched, as if he were… addicted.

“You can’t indulge me like this. It will give me bad habits,” Bai Ling said, his eyelashes low. He paced anxiously, the hand at his side spasming occasionally.

I want… I really want to be…

Stop! It must be that he hadn’t taken enough of the alpha pheromone supplement. He’d have to take a double dose later.

Yu Chen slowed his voice. “What kind… of bad habits?”

Bai Ling sat down on the stairs, wringing his hands at a loss. “You keep having the robot send me things. If this goes on, I’ll be like the cuckoo in an old clock, waiting at the door right on time. That’s… not appropriate.”

Yu Chen instinctively rose from his chair. His fingertips slid over the slick, smooth edge of the mahogany desk, as if caressing the contours of a firm, young body.

He walked slowly around the table, seeming to think, or perhaps hesitate. Finally, he stopped. He bent his long legs slightly, and his left hand, with prominent veins, braced against the desk’s edge. He half-sat on the wide desk, his figure slender and his golden hair brilliant. He lowered his voice, coaxing.

“Are you free right now? I’d like to invite you for a cup of black tea. And perhaps a biscuit or two. The ones you gave me.”

“Tea? Is it… instant powder?”

“No. It’s roasted leaves. I picked them from the tea bushes in my garden this spring.” Every word seemed to have a hook.

“You have a garden? Where?”

That was the sound of a little bird, surprised. Yu Chen smiled. No Avian could dislike an abundance of flowers and plants.

“It’s behind the bath. The night-blooming flowers are open. I can set the tea table next to the garden.”

On this artificial continent, green vegetation was already scarce. All kinds of flowers and plants from the Old Earth era could only be seen, at high prices, in botanical gardens.

Bai Ling couldn’t help but imagine the steaming hot tea and the faint, warm scent of flowers. He couldn’t stop himself from wanting to agree. “Okay…”

“Who’s there!” Suddenly, a focused beam of light shone down from above, pinning Bai Ling in its glare.

Bai Ling shot to his feet, wary. His cold, gray eyes looked up at the person standing high on the top step.

It was the dorm supervisor.

“What are you doing sitting here this late?” The supervisor scanned him from head to toe with the flashlight, suspicious.

Bai Ling said flatly, “I came out to memorize the Omega Virtue code.”

“Well, you’re certainly eager.” The words were laced with mockery.

The supervisor’s gaze lingered on the small, metal object in his hand. Concubines were officially forbidden from using communication devices. While getting caught wouldn’t get him kicked out of the palace, it would result in demerits and a reduction in his living standards.

But the thing in this omega’s hand… didn’t really look like a communicator.

The supervisor couldn’t find any fault, so he just ordered, “Go back to your room immediately. Our Great King is hosting a banquet for state dignitaries and legion commanders tonight. To prevent alphas from wandering into the rear palace, all floor passageways must be sealed. This stairwell will be locked immediately.”

“Alright. I understand.”

Bai Ling agreed. He watched the supervisor walk down to the next level, flashlight in hand. He quickly left the stairwell. He was almost at his door when he couldn’t help but look back at the little pincer-communicator.

It had no screen; it didn’t show if the call had been disconnected. He put it to his ear, not expecting anything. “Hello?” he said.

“I’m here,” Yu Chen replied softly.

Bai Ling froze. A strange feeling washed over him. It was partly a sense of security, and partly the feeling of being indulged—of thinking he’d been cut off, only to find the other person had been patiently waiting. “You didn’t hang up…?”

“You hadn’t said goodbye to me yet.”

Bai Ling unconsciously rubbed his cheek. He knew Yu Chen must have heard the supervisor’s warning. He kicked lightly at the base of the wall. “I… I don’t think I can come over… No, wait, climbing the wall might work. Let me check the window to see if the outer wall is icy—”

“Then come tomorrow night. Alright?” Yu Chen used a soothing, negotiable tone. At the same time, his hand, hidden from view, ruthlessly punched a hole straight through the two-centimeter-thick wood desktop.

“Climbing the wall is too dangerous. I don’t want you arriving all wet and cold.” Yu Chen pulled his thumb from the hole and licked it, tasting wood splinters and the metallic tang of his own blood.

But this was only sipping poison to quench a thirst…

He let the desk go, no longer taking his anger out on it, and instead entered a command to open the window.

The blizzard instantly poured in, whipping his hair. The thick, frantic pheromones in the room were swept away by the frigid wind. The deep black color faded from Yu Chen’s fingertips, and he once again became elegant and polite.

He didn’t give a vague “some other day.” He gave a sincere, precise time.

“Tomorrow evening. Six o’clock. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Six o’clock.

Upon hearing this moment, Bai Ling’s blood suddenly flowed back and his heart stopped for a second.

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The author has something to say:

The Old Merman, despite his advanced age, is still making long phone calls late at night to flirt with young omegas (pointing fingers).

The stereotypical behavior of some male animals mating around a table!