He Juan immediately covered his nose and recoiled to the end of the hallway like a cat whose tail was being stepped on. "Is the ventilator in this place not working?! At least give me some warning, for God’s sake!" He hollered out loud, his voice strained on the edges.

Heart lurching to his throat, he desperately tried to subdue the rising heat in his stomach to no avail. He would not be affected if it was an omega in their normal state – previously A-Mu had tried to use his pheromones twice to seduce him only to receive nothing but disappointment when he saw that He Juan was totally unruffled – but it was a different case altogether when it came to an omega in heat! And this scent... why did it seem sweeter and more intense than usual?!

"Oh shit!" Jia Molei shot up to his feet once he realized that the pheromones had lingered on his body. He Juan could see the dawning horror in his face when he checked on some data on his tablet, but then it turned into anger once he faced He Juan. "Bastard, who told you to come so quickly?! I haven’t even gathered my fucking thoughts yet! What the hell are you doing here? Go down and wait for me in the waiting area!"

He Juan needed not to be told twice. He swiveled around and speed-walked to where he came from. But instead of settling in the waiting area like the doctor instructed, he rushed out of the building at once and took in huge gulps of freezing air and fluttering snowflakes like a madman, trying to keep his surging blood under control.

"Fuck..." a hoarse curse slipped out of his mouth.

He could feel his Alpha’s agitation and restlessness like millions of ants gnawing on his skin, clamoring for him to return inside and head to where the source of the sweet, savory scent was. Fertile omega, it whispered to him enticingly. There was a fertile omega close at hand, waiting for you to—

’Damn Alpha and their ravenous nature!’

Gritting his teeth, He Juan closed his eyes and forcibly shook the treacherous thought out of his mind. He tried to think of something else – anything that did not have to do with solicitous activity. For example, the solid weight of a gun in his hand, the sharp metallic scent of blood, the cries of despair from people whom he hunted down when they realized that they had nowhere to escape to... and also, Mu Yuze...

The image of the boy flashed by with startling clarity behind his eyelids, slowing down his thundering pulse that was stimulated by the omega’s heat.

When he imagined Mu Yuze’s pure and soulful eyes seeing him in such a condition – so pathetic, appalling and animalistic – his blood instantly ran cold as if a bucket of ice was injected into his veins. Any impulse spurred by the pheromones vanished without a trace and what remained was only one thought – ’Damn! If I let Xiao Ze see me like this, then my dignity will be completely ruined!’

Somehow, that calmed him down way quicker than the previous imagination he had desperately concocted. Too quickly, in fact, to the point where he felt like he would no longer be affected even if he went inside for the second time.

He Juan couldn’t help but chuckle helplessly to himself. Goodness, the boy was not even here at the moment. Just how could he be so magical? Later, he must buy Mu Yuze another gift to relay his gratitude...

Just as he was hesitating whether to purchase another piece of clothing or the snack Mu Yuze had been eyeing for longer than two seconds the other day, the double door behind him swung open and Jia Molei ran out, looking visibly relieved to find He Juan still sane and composed.

He, much to He Juan’s relief, no longer smelled like an omega in heat.

"Fucker," he spat out with a deep scowl. "I told you to wait downstairs! What the fuck are you doing running around as you please? Do you want to give me a heart attack?!" Even though he said that, he still closed the door behind him, took his spot beside He Juan and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, placing one between his lips.

He offered one to He Juan, to which He Juan replied with a shake of his head. "I don’t smoke."

Jia Molei scoffed. "You don’t smoke, you never drink either. Are you secretly a good boy beneath this bad guy getup?"

He Juan deadpanned, "Smoking and drinking are bad for your lungs and liver. As a doctor, you must know it better than anyone. Sorry to break the news to you, but I plan to live until a hundred years and die peacefully of old age." He did not think that what he said was funny, yet Jia Molei abruptly burst out into laughter so intense that he choked on the cigarette smoke. In the end, he was torn between coughing and laughing, tears pooling on the corner of his eyes.

"Fuck..." he gritted out after his laughter-cough episode subsided, crimson suffused into his cheeks. "Who told you to crack a joke out of nowhere?"

But He Juan was not joking, though. Helpless, he could only give a shrug.

Jia Molei bit down on the cigarette, his voice muffled. "Aren’t you gonna ask?"

He Juan stared at the frozen surface on the fountain and carefully deliberated on what to say. Oh, he had a lot of questions in his mind, but in the end, the first thing he asked was, "Why are you taking the omega in? You’re breaking your own rules." And an omega in heat to boot, He Juan added bitterly, still reveling in how close he was to his own demise.

Jia Molei took a deep drag of his cigarette and slowly blew out a ring of smoke. "...She’s being fed with heat inducer."

He Juan sucked in cold air, surprised for one full second before he quickly regained his composure. ’No wonder it smells much cloying and sweeter than usual,’ he thought. ’So it’s because of the damn heat inducer.’

Over the months he had been hunting down the omega trafficking organization and ambushed a few of their strongholds, he had seen enough of the abomination inflicted on them. Slavery, abuse, illegal drug injection, forced heat or worse, being sent to the stage to become some kind of revolting performance for wealthy weirdos, he had witnessed them all with his own eyes, enough to get sick by the mere reminder of it.

Such crime was no longer uncommon. It could be found behind any closed doors, hidden from the eyes of law and society.

So what had spurred Jia Molei to make a move?

When He Juan made his confusion known, Jia Molei let out a sneer, threw his cigarette butt to the ground and stomped it with his feet. "Do you know who she is?" He did not really need He Juan’s answer, because he immediately followed up with another sentence that sent icy chills down He Juan’s spine,

"She’s Liang Yuanjun, a member of the Chinese Communist Party. She was drugged in the middle of a campaign, witnessed by tens others who did nothing to help her."