You got my pants wet

“…Seizing your abs!”

What an impudent demand.

However, the arrogant command was completely at odds with his restrained actions.

Logically, a hostage-taker should have been holding a weapon and making violent threats. Yu Chen, however, felt that the body pressed tightly against his back trembling uncontrollably, completely soaked by the cold rain. It was called a threat, but the only truly “harmful” things were his ice-cold hands. He didn’t seem like a vicious assailant at all. He was more like…

…a stray puppy that had run up to someone’s feet in the rain, pretending to be a threat.

Yu Chen good-naturedly asked, “How long do you plan on seizing them?”

How long…? When asked, Bai Ling’s muddled brain couldn’t process it. What is he talking about? Why isn’t he resisting?

The voice was gentle, holding no trace of panic for someone being held hostage. Instead, it continued pleasantly:

“My butler will be back in ten minutes. When it sees you, it will likely raise a racket. So, if you could please leave before then, mn?”

It was a compromise wrapped in a suggestion, so much so that one couldn’t even tell it was a negotiation.

Bai Ling bit his lip. A rebellious urge surfaced, and he tightened his arms, hugging the man even closer. He even pressed his frozen cheek against the man’s shoulder, hissing a strained, cold sneer next to his ear:

“I’ll stay warm for as long as I want. You don’t have a choice.”

So fierce. Yu Chen couldn’t help but smile. If his voice hadn’t been so hoarse and trembling, it might have sounded even fiercer.

But he was utterly frozen.

To climb the outer wall of the palace tower in this freezing rain— just what kind of objective and willpower drove him to do such a thing?

Yu Chen was just about to ask when he was cut off by an alarm that suddenly blared through the floor.

“BEEP! BEEP—!”

The palace tower’s defense system had activated. An intruder had been detected. Bai Ling jolted, realizing he must have tripped an infrared sensor. If he didn’t move, guards would be there in moments to eliminate him.

His hands loosened, and Bai Ling instinctively grabbed his “captive’s” hand, shoving them behind his back. He moved to stand in front of the man, commanding coldly without looking back:

“Don’t move. I’ll handle this.”

It wasn’t that he was being noble. It was his falcon instinct, which made him habitually place his “prey” behind him.

He drew the small knife from his waist, gripping it tightly. Bai Ling’s vision was blurry, but he leaned forward, ready to fight.

Snap. A soft sound.

Bai Ling looked down, stunned. He saw that his own numb wrist had been gripped with precision and was then yanked backward.

Like an expert hunter snatching a falcon’s wing, Yu Chen dragged him into the corner, hidden deep into the shadows. He then pressed one hand against the wall, trapping Bai Ling between his own body and the stone.

The color immediately drained from Bai Ling’s face. He bared his teeth, about to struggle, but the man pressed a finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

“Shh. They’re here.”

As soon as he spoke, they both heard the slide of a distant door track. A squad of R-5 Guardian robots rolled in. They were armed with 20 rounds of conventional ammunition and had perfect accuracy within range—more than enough to turn any intruder into Swiss cheese.

Bai Ling knew exactly how dangerous they were and didn’t dare hesitate. He looked back, urgently threatening:

“Let me go! Do you want to die?”

“You don’t want me to die?”

“…Why would I want you to die?”

“True. You just wanted to use me as a hand-warmer.”

Bai Ling: “……”

What a weird thing to say! It was as if the man was scolding him for being irresponsible.

Bai Ling couldn’t stand it. “I can hear their footsteps! Can’t you see what’s happening?”

Yu Chen said lightly, “I’m blind. I can’t see.”

…So he’s blind? Bai Ling unconsciously began to wonder if he had just been bullying the weak.

He let out a cold snort to cover his embarrassment. “Disabled civilian. Just hide behind me.”

“’Disabled civilian?'” That choice of words successfully made Yu Chen raise an eyebrow.

Just then, the robots outside issued a cold alert: “Detecting… Infrared scan complete… Heat signature detected 5 meters ahead. Preparing to fire—”

We’re done for.

Bai Ling’s mind went blank. His body moved faster than his thoughts, tackling the man. The instant they hit the floor, he heard the man give a low laugh. The next second, a deep, heavy hum flooded his mind, the effect comparable to white noise. It was like a signal jammer used in an examination hall. In an instant, all surrounding sound and sensation were annihilated, reduced to a flat, stable waveband—

A mental interference field!

A full-spectrum blocking domain that only an extremely high-level ability user could deploy.

This kind of field was not bound by physical constraints. It was highly penetrative and could dimensionally attack all electromagnetic signals, even burning out a machine’s core components. It was considered an ultimate battlefield weapon, the absolute nemesis of mecha.

However, its weakness was also obvious.

It was… short.

The ringing in his ears faded within five seconds. Bai Ling looked back. The menacing robots had suddenly become… singers and dancers. They chanted “Error, Error” while playing the kind of music you’d hear from street-cleaning trucks, spinning wildly as they departed. They had clearly been hit hard by that one blast of interference.

Bai Ling climbed up with a blank expression. He wanted to say, “That’s a little short,” but figured that wasn’t very polite so he said instead:

“You don’t last very long.”

“Long or not, it was enough to save you.” Yu Chen also got to his feet, casually dusting off his clothes.

Bai Ling: “……”

For the first time in his life, he didn’t know how to respond.

At night, those with avian bloodlines generally had poor vision. With the exception of monsters like owls, they were all but blind in the dark.

Bai Ling looked at the man. He was just a shadowy figure and it was impossible to see clearly. He could only tell that the man was very tall, at least ten centimeters taller than he was.

With the crisis averted, Yu Chen asked, “Why would you climb the outer wall in this cold?”

Bai Ling said, half-truthfully, “I came to kill someone.”

Yu Chen laughed. “Kill who? Me?”

Bai Ling ignored his humor. He had wanted to say the tyrant, Kaide, but as his body temperature slowly returned, his mind cleared. He couldn’t expose his objective. He narrowed his eyes and randomly pulled out a public enemy.

“I’m here to kill the former emperor, Izsu Paraiso. I heard this is where he disappeared.”

Izsu Paraiso— Izsu Paraiso — was the name of the last emperor of the previous Imperial dynasty.

In the current official records, Izsu Paraiso was a pure totalitarian. He was cold, cruel, and slaughtered indiscriminately. His desire for power and control had swelled to an extreme, and he was denounced by the populace as “a demon devoid of humanity!”

During the 127 years he ruled the previous dynasty, it was said that Death paved his path and Satan bowed to him. The entire Empire had lived under his terrifying rule until he was overthrown ten years ago.

However, after the New Empire was founded, the former emperor Izsu Paraiso vanished without a trace.

Some said he was dead. Others said he had fled the Empire. The rumors were many, but no one knew where that ferocious merman had actually gone.

So, using the old emperor as a shield was a safe bet.

After listening, Yu Chen asked thoughtfully, “The old emperor never once appeared in public. You don’t even know what he looks like. How do you plan to kill him?”

Bai Ling was completely unconcerned. “That fish has lived so long, he’s definitely just an old man who’s lost all his scales. I’ll definitely recognize him when I see him.”

Yu Chen smiled and was about to say something, but he suddenly sniffed the air. He caught the faint scent of blood.

He asked abruptly, “Are you alright?”

Faced with his sudden concern, Bai Ling instinctively brushed it off. “Just fine.”

“But you got my pants wet.”

He lifted the hem of his trousers and casually rubbed the damp fabric between his fingertips, bringing it to his nose to sniff lightly. The scent was faint, but he could distinguish it. It was Omega blood.

Such a reckless and slow-witted kid.

Hearing this, Bai Ling’s daze instantly turned to panic. His right leg had been numb before, but now that he mentioned it, he could vaguely feel some liquid trickling down his prosthesis.

It was thick, and stained the floor.

His gaze fell on a small, yellowish puddle on the ground, and shame made his spine tremble.

That… That was battery fluid. His prosthesis was such poor quality that it leaked whenever it was bumped or jostled. Compounded by the fact that the climb had torn his flesh, the yellow fluid was now mixed with brownish blood, looking filthy and pungent.

And he had gotten it on the man’s pants.

Bai Ling’s mind went blank. He only had one thought: wipe it clean, wipe it away quickly. He pulled off his soaked jacket, hunched his back, and bent over, desperately trying to wipe the floor tiles.

But battery fluid wasn’t easy to clean. Using a damp cloth only spread it further.

When he reached the man’s feet, his hand stretched out, then recoiled. He suppressed his shame and said:

“…I’ll pay for your pants. I’m sorry they got dirty.”

Yu Chen was silent for a moment, then slowly said, “Compensation isn’t the issue. Are you sick?”

Bai Ling froze. He immediately realized what the man was asking and explained, “It’s not what you’re thinking. It’s just battery fluid… I’m missing a leg. I have a prosthesis, and it’s broken, so—”

In his panic, he tried to straighten up, but his foot stepped on a shard of glass.

Damn it. His medicine had fallen out.

Yu Chen heard the noise and frowned. “What was that?”

“My painkiller injector…” His voice, which should have been just annoyed, suddenly turned into a curse spat through gritted teeth. “Fuck! The injector smashed too. What shitty luck!”

Bai Ling kicked the glass shards, venting.

Yu Chen couldn’t see, but a strange image surfaced in his mind: a young hawk that had fallen into a ravine, struggled to flap its wings, dragging a broken leg as it forced itself into the air.

A tenacious life force.

It was as if even his dark, sightless world had been illuminated for a moment.

“Come here, come over,” Yu Chen suddenly said.

“What for?” The voice was wary.

Yu Chen’s lips curved unconsciously. “I can perform some mental soothing,” he told him. “It can act as a temporary painkiller.”

Bai Ling rejected the offer, his voice cold. “I don’t need it.”

Is this guy some kind of saint, offering to soothe a total stranger? It’s bizarre.

“Your injector broke, and I bear some responsibility for that,” Yu Chen said. “If I hadn’t been here, you probably would have left already, and you wouldn’t have dropped your medicine.”

He really knows what to say. When he framed it as shared responsibility, it suddenly didn’t seem so hard to accept.

“Don’t… touch me randomly, then.” Bai Ling approached cautiously.

This was the top floor of the palace. Aside from the Emperor, only the pet Omegas were here. Getting a free mental soothing probably wouldn’t cause any real trouble. Besides, the guy was blind and Bai Ling had a knife. If he really wanted to, killing the man would be a matter of moments.

Yu Chen chuckled. “So, you’re allowed to touch me, but I’m not?”

“Hmph,” Bai Ling replied.

So domineering. Yu Chen mused internally, feeling rather pleased. He had seen too many timid, cautious Omegas. To suddenly encounter a personality this bold felt new and interesting.

The next second, his hands met the Omega’s sharp, protruding bones.

Even simple mental soothing required a degree of physical contact.

Yu Chen’s movements were very restrained. He only held him in a loose, frontal embrace, his palm stroking lightly from the Omega’s neck down his back. But that single touch allowed him to feel, with stark clarity, the paper-thin back, the sharp shoulder blades, and the knobs of a spine that protruded from severe malnutrition.

He was so thin it was painful to the touch.

The Empire had once maintained a strict Omega care system. Omegas were the nation’s vital reproductive resource. The government had passed multiple laws ensuring Omegas received regular, high-quantity nutrition. This was so they would have sufficient nourishment during their differentiation to develop their pelvises and reproductive cavities properly, allowing them to mature healthily.

But that was all in the time of the previous dynasty.

Now, not only had the New Empire’s government grown lax, but parents and guardians had also become irresponsible. This Omega was nothing but skin and bones, and had a missing limb. What kind of irresponsible guardian had allowed a precious Omega to end up like this!

Yu Chen’s gaze darkened. In the past, he would have had guardians like that hanged long ago.

As he thought, his hands continued their gentle stroking. The warmth of his palms was enough to send heat spreading through Bai Ling’s back. Bai Ling unconsciously tilted his head back, finding the sensation novel and comfortable.

He hadn’t fully differentiated, so he didn’t recognize them as soothing pheromones. He only knew that he instinctively craved this kind of comfort.

It was like something a guardian would do.

It felt… nice.

It was just that it was too dark. He couldn’t see what the man looked like.

Bai Ling unconsciously looked up. Beneath the dim, gloomy sky, the sea breeze gusted onto the terrace, lifting the man’s light, thick, long curly hair. An emerald earring glinted faintly, illuminating a jawline as sharp and sheer as a cliff.

“Does it still hurt?” A palm rested on Bai Ling’s forehead.

Bai Ling hesitated for a few seconds before answering honestly, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” He fumbled for something on his body and stuffed it into the pocket of Yu Chen’s high-quality coat.

Yu Chen felt the weight drop into his pocket. He reached in and felt a large, hard, square block.

What’s this? A brick from his little bird?

“I don’t owe people favors,” Bai Ling said, his cold tone returning.

It was an Imperial custom for Avian Omegas: if one accepted a kind mental soothing, one had to offer appropriate repayment, such as a small gift or a cheek-press.

It was politeness.

Where Yu Chen couldn’t see, a faint blush stained Bai Ling’s ice-cold features. After a moment of hesitation, he reached up, bracing himself on the man’s shoulders. He quickly pressed his cheek against the man’s, a touch as light as a dragonfly skimming water, and pulled away instantly.

“I don’t care who you are, but… may you be in good health.”

After speaking, as if he had completed a vital mission, he limped away as fast as he could.

Yu Chen stood alone in the darkness. He raised a hand to touch the spot on his cheek, and a slow smile spread across his lips.

Such a polite kid.

The AI butler finally arrived, its speaker hissing with static in its shock.

“You activated your mental field and released a massive amount of soothing pheromones! It’s over! I must have given you the wrong medication!”

Yu Chen accepted the cane and slowly walked into the light. In the background, night fell over the vast, churning waves, and the city lights dissolved into a glittering, golden sea. But when he turned his face, even the most brilliant night view paled in comparison.

The AI let out a sigh of relief. “Your complexion appears normal.”

“Don’t make a fuss. I was just taking care of a little bird.”

In the palace tower, theoretically, the Tyrant Kaide was the only Alpha.

The AI naturally assumed, “Was an Omega distressed in front of you? It seems I must lock the door to prevent them from running up here and disturbing you.”

It glided away, muttering to itself, then suddenly spun back around, its camera lens glowing with excitement.

“Wait, that’s impossible! How could any Omega withstand your mental field without immediately fainting?

“My respected Majesty, if that person isn’t a lunatic with severe mental damage, then they must have a compatibility with you of over 90%!

“Combined with your precognitive dream today about the bird crashing into you, according to my powerful calculations, your first spring, which is 127 years late, is about to arrive!”

Yu Chen gave it a look. “And what did you use for that calculation?”

The AI replied profoundly, “A search engine query for ‘Ancient Dream Interpretation for Dummies.'”

“Shut up. And shut down.”

AI: “Yes, sir!” Then it zipped away.

---

Meanwhile, Bai Ling avoided the surveillance and returned to the dormitory.

North had seen him disappear for a day but didn’t ask questions. He just grinned. “You’re back. Good timing! I just made the rounds and gathered a bunch of essential info. I brought a copy for you, too.”

Bai Ling said, “Thanks,” as he accepted it, but he set it aside and instead asked:

“When you were making the rounds, did you hear anything about a really tall Omega?”

North looked helpless. “Do you have any more specific features?”

Subconsciously, Bai Ling rubbed his fingertips together. He suddenly looked down and saw a single strand of golden hair wrapped around his knuckle. He had no idea when he’d snagged it.

“Blond, a huge —”

Bai Ling thought of the man’s infuriatingly self-assured posture, and finished decisively:

“Player!”

---

Author has something to say:

About the Peregrine Falcon: Falcons are the only raptors that actively adapt to living in human cities. Kestrels or peregrines often build nests on human balconies, windows, or rooftops. They are a carnivorous type of hawk that is domineering, fierce, and (supposedly?) affectionate.