"Yuyang?" Jia Molei furrowed his brow. "Yuyang is in another province, isn’t it? So how the fuck did she get— wait..." his eyes widened in surprise once another revelation dawned on him. "It’s a she?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

When he saw the purple bruises on He Juan’s chest for the first time, he had expected it to be a man. A burly and muscular man, at the very least. Otherwise how were they supposed to injure a superior Alpha like He Juan to such a degree?!

"And a minor too," He Juan added dryly. He was no less surprised than Jia Molei. If not for A-Mu who looked truly repentant and vowed to fulfill the agreement to the end, He Juan would have thought that the omega was trying to crack a sickening joke on him.

The person who had bumped into him... the one who had shoved him an SOS note, who had shown such familiarity with the city’s surveillance cameras to the point where they could perfectly avoid getting their face seen... turned out to be a girl who was not even sixteen yet?

If not for her reflection that was caught on the train’s window, they would not be able to find out anything about her either.

There was also one more crucial point He Juan did not mention: A-Mu had failed to identify who that girl was.

What did it mean for a world-class hacker to be unable to track down a single person? It meant that either the girl had powerful connections everywhere that could help her erase her presence, or... she had been an unregistered civilian from the start.

Under which circumstances could someone be an unregistered civilian?

He Juan’s mind automatically drifted to the secret research that had been going on for decades, and coupled with the girl’s frightening strength, only one thing appeared in his mind — a mutated Alpha.

Could it really be the case? Had a mutated Alpha really appeared to seek his help? But... why now? What were the odds of her showing up right after he learned about the secret project for the first time?

It couldn’t be a coincidence, right? Him discovering the uncanny corpses and sensing the presence of a mysterious Alpha in the Queen of Spades, which led to him making an impromptu trip to Myanmar to seek Marius’ help...

The more He Juan thought about it, the more aghast he was. Had his actions been predicted all along? Had they – whoever the real mastermind behind this was – led him to the Queen of Spades on purpose and allowed him to glimpse into the vile conspiracy concocted by the government for years? Chills ran down He Juan’s spine at the mere thought of it. If... If this was really the case, then how brilliant and terrifying the mastermind was? And most importantly, what purpose did they have to drag him into this mess?

A horrid sensation punched through his gut, it was as if he had eaten something awfully rotten. He had a hunch that he had stepped into a carefully crafted net. The more he tried to struggle, the deeper he would sink, the quicker he would drown. Alas, it was already too late for him to make an escape, for he had played right into the palm of their hand.

So far, the only person who could give him such a feeling was—

"Ugh, that sounds like a pain in the ass." Jia Molei’s voice snapped him out of his reverie. It took a while for the doctor to recover from the shock and after that, his expression was replaced with one of sympathy. It was fortunate that he knew to keep the boundary and did not press for details. He merely asked He Juan a question, "So are you going? To Yuyang?"

Of course, that would be the right course of action. If the one who had sought him out truly turned out to be a mutated Alpha, then things would only turn out to be in his favor. He had been wanting to meet one of them, to ask the questions that had been plaguing his nightmare for days and also... to place a stop to this utter madness. And the first thing he should do was to locate that girl in Yuyang.

But why couldn’t he open his mouth and say yes?

He Juan parted his lips, yet no words came out. His mind suddenly went to the boy whom he had just tucked into bed a few moments ago. Why? Why was Mu Yuze’s face the first thing that popped into his mind when he hesitated to leave?

...What was he hesitating for?

Was it because the boy had begun to open up to him and thus he did not want to destroy this delicate moment between them? But compared to spending time and bonding with Mu Yuze, his mission to discover the repulsive truth about the secret project and eradicate the omega trafficking organization was more... more...

’Is it really more important than Xiao Ze?’ He Juan was utterly caught off guard when that small voice whispered in his mind.

"XIU?" Doctor Jia frowned after hearing no answer from He Juan. "What’s wrong with you? Why does your complexion look so horrible all of a sudden?"

"I..." He Juan’s tongue felt like lead inside his mouth, heavy and swollen. Eventually, he barked out a hollow laugh and rubbed his face, frustrated and confused in equal measure. It seemed like after he met Mu Yuze, he had been acting so unlike himself. It made him feel off-balance, like the world was swaying right under his feet. "I feel like I’m going crazy soon..."

Jia Molei heaved a sigh and walked forward to pat him on the shoulder. On rare occasions, he held himself back from cursing. "Don’t be so hard on yourself. You are still a recovering patient. It’s natural to feel exhausted. Take your time to recuperate first." The doctor’s face quickly crumpled like a bitter melon after offering a few words of comfort, and he soon returned to his rude and straightforward self. "That really sounds like a huge pain in the ass. But well... at worst, you will only die because of it. So why not enjoy the last few days of leisure time, right?"

He Juan stared at him for one long moment, then he gave a chortle. He realized that Jia Molei had misunderstood what he meant by that woeful sentence, but he was not about to correct the man. Indeed, the worst thing that could happen to him was death. He had long promised himself and Marius that he would not die so soon. He still had a lot of people to save and protect; the poor missing omegas who were suffering somewhere unknown, his beloved little brother and also... Mu Yuze...

For that, he could not allow himself to die.

"You’re right..." He Juan heaved out a long sigh. "It seems like I have been too hasty. Let me think about this matter again for a few days. But let me ask a question, Doctor Jia. According to you, what are the chances that I will survive if I am surrounded by powerful enemies in my current state?"

Jia Molei pondered for a while and took a guess. "...Sixty percent?"

"Sixty percent..." He Juan chuckled wryly. "Such a low probability, huh?"

Hearing this, Jia Molei let out a loud harrumph and lifted the folder in his hand. "It’s good that you realize how weak you are right now! Just look at these broken ribs of yours..."