Forcibly Marked by My Fiancé’s Best Friend - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Lian Xu cast a quick glance at him before turning his gaze back to Fia.

Her current state could only be described as monstrous—neither human nor ghost. To see such a lovely young girl modified into this form was tragic.

Not everyone could reclaim their lost sanity; the contents of that forged diary weren’t entirely accurate. Lian Xu knew that once a human body underwent certain experiments, the original cells would be destroyed. “Cellular reverse growth” was a physical impossibility.

The ultimate end was to become like that crowd of mindless, twisted walking corpses.

Fia was likely the only “semi-human” in their entire research history capable of normal communication; her ending had been written from the very start.

In the hidden compartments of the machinery, Lian Xu had found the records of Fia’s experimentation. Starting at age three, she had been used as a culture medium.

Growth stopped at ten. It took seven years of experimentation to produce the Fia seen today.

“Fia, do you still remember your parents?” Lian Xu asked.

The experimental records mentioned that to make the subjects more like real humans, they would continuously extract human memories and funnel them into the culture mediums.

Did Fia have any memories of her own parents?

Fia suddenly looked at Lian Xu, her lip trembling as if she were wronged.

“Brother, are you even going to abandon me?”

Lian Xu lowered his eyes. It seemed communication was impossible.

Yu stood to the side, observing the changes in Fia. He noticed her flesh and skin were slowly knitting back together.

“What’s the point in talking to her?” He Yu muttered.

There really wasn’t much to say. Lian Xu had simply wanted to see if he could extract any useful information.

Evidently, there was none.

Lian Xu pulled the gun from his waist and squeezed the trigger, his movements crisp and decisive.

Yu stared darkly at the familiar gun in Omega’s hand. He pursed his lips and said, “It’s useless. You can’t kill her with that.”

“I know,” Lian Xu replied. “I’m just buying time.”

“Is that so…” Yu raised his hand and fired ten consecutive shots—bang bang bang—nearly turning the small frame into a sieve. “There. She won’t recover for at least a dozen hours now.”

Looking at the holes in Fia, Lian Xu felt a twinge of pity. She was just a child, after all; there was no need to be quite so cruel.

With Fia dealt with, there was no longer any need to target the two brawling replica armies. They were merely mindless vessels driven by human commands. Once the control machine was destroyed, it would all be over.

As Lian Xu walked out of the lab, Fia was still there, screaming—sounding like a malfunctioning machine barely clinging to operation.

He didn’t stop his pace. Leading He Yu and the two locals to the replication machine, he turned and said, “Please destroy this machine. The base cannot remain either.”

Lian Xu handed the experimental records he found to He Yu: “This should be helpful.”

Yu took them but grabbed Lian Xu’s wrist before he could turn away. “Where are you going now?”

“There’s still one left in the aircraft.”

He was referring to the man they had brought back from the swarm of corpses.

Lian Xu wasn’t sure if the man would die along with the others once the base was destroyed. He had to use what time was left to ask the questions he needed answered.

He Yu’s fingertips brushed against the gauze on Lian Xu’s wrist. After a long pause, he spoke in a lazy, somewhat rakish tone, “Who knows if you’re going behind my back to do something dangerous again. Give me a guarantee.”

“What kind of guarantee?”

He Yu looked at Lian Xu without speaking. He placed his palm over the gland on the back of the Omega’s neck and gave it a rub. The intent was clear.

Lian Xu had forgotten—the Alpha was still in his rut.

So, in front of the two outsiders, Lian Xu lowered his head slightly.

“Good boy.”

He Yu didn’t hesitate and bit down.

Upon tasting the Omega’s pheromones, the Alpha seemed to come back to life. As his canines pierced the skin, injecting the scent of white camellia into the Omega’s private territory, that restless fear began to fade.

He Yu was insatiable. Pressing his tongue against the gland, he whispered in a voice only they could hear, “Not enough. I want more.”

Lian Xu’s shoulders trembled, and he stepped back.

I can’t give more, he thought.

Otherwise, He Yu wouldn’t be the only one losing control.

Yu’s eyes darkened, but he didn’t force him further. He simply said, “I’ll get out as fast as I can. Don’t forget what you promised me.”

Lian Xu didn’t respond. He had assumed the Alpha had forgotten; after all, he hadn’t seemed lucid at the time.

Determined to finish things quickly, Lian Xu left the base in a hurry. Without Fia’s mental control, the soldiers on the surface circling with guns looked more and more like rigid machines, indistinguishable from one another.

He bypassed the crowd and boarded the aircraft from the rear.

The man was already awake.

Time was tight, so Lian Xu didn’t mince words. “You are from the Empire. Why are you here? Who was the corpse you were holding last night, and why do you still have your human consciousness?”

Hearing the voice, the man stared blankly at the aimless crowd outside, looking dejected.

“Lian Xu, don’t you remember me?”

Lian Xu whipped his head around. Messy hair was matted together, covering most of the man’s face, but the voice—deep and resonant—sounded much more real than the raspy tone from the night before.

Bearded, grimy, and covered in blood—he bore no resemblance to the high-spirited Alpha who had once pulled him into the Star Tower to train together.

Lian Xu’s voice trembled as he asked tentatively, “Are you… Xia Zhi?”

The man smiled. “I thought you wouldn’t remember at all.”

Three years ago, Xia Zhi had been a captain leading a hundred men to the Desolate Star to observe the Savage Star’s movements and transmit intelligence. They were attacked almost immediately upon landing. It was nearly a total wipeout.

All hundred men were captured and taken to a secret base that was essentially hell. Transparent glass tubes filled the area, containing unrecognizable humans.

Xia Zhi was locked in a dark room. From the guards’ idle chatter, he learned the base leader was performing live experiments. Nearly three hundred people, including himself, were being held as vessels for the experiment.

Adrian was his lover, and the two were forced apart. In the dark room, day and night were indistinguishable. Xia Zhi didn’t know how long he had been there. When he was finally brought out, he saw his Omega inside one of the glass tubes.

The air was thick with pheromones—the scent of Adrian’s clary sage.

Adrian was naked, soaked in a thick liquid, with dense incisions running from the back of his neck to his ankles. A man in a white lab coat was using a cloth to wipe a constant flow of blood from the experimental table.

Xia Zhi breathed in the pheromones. The sage scent he once loved now felt like a noose around his neck, suffocating him.

The innate strength of Alphas made their mental control less effective, especially since these people hadn’t considered the impact of pheromones at all.

From the way they cruelly treated Adrian, it was clear they had never dealt with control via pheromones before.

The high-concentration pheromones extracted from Adrian were diluted into hundreds of portions and mixed into the daily meals of the experimental vessels.

“They wanted to use a powerful Alpha to control the humans who had consumed Adrian’s pheromones. If the controlled subjects were Omegas, it would be smoother. But Imperial soldiers are mostly Alphas; Adrian was the only Omega on that mission.”

“How did you escape?” Lian Xu asked.

“Replicas,” Xia Zhi said. “They don’t just modify and control humans; they create mass replicas. They replicate powerful bodies to wage war.”

“Influenced by Adrian’s pheromones, my replica was 100% subservient to them. That’s how I found a loophole.”

“Since the drugs entered my system, there are side effects. I often lose consciousness and have no idea where I am when I wake up.”

Lian Xu looked toward the ruins in the distance. “Once the base is destroyed, will you become like them?”

Xia Zhi looked down, the image of despair. “Maybe. I’ve lived long enough. Adrian must miss me.”

He should have died the moment Adrian’s gland was sliced open. An Alpha had failed to protect his Omega; a man who should have been strong had survived until now only by leaching off Adrian’s pheromones.

“I’m sorry, last night I…”

He hadn’t realized that Adrian would be among those walking dead.

Lian Xu and Adrian hadn’t been close, but the Omega had a gentle personality and was kind to everyone. Because of Xia Zhi, he had helped Lian Xu quite a bit.

“I don’t blame you,” Xia Zhi said. “If you hadn’t suddenly appeared, I might never have regained my sanity.”

The two looked at each other—old friends meeting after years, yet unable to find words at this moment.

A few minutes later, Lian Xu spoke.

“You called him ‘baby.’ I remember Adrian wasn’t from the Empire. Did they call their lovers in his hometown too?”

Given the language barrier, could Adrian even understand what “baby” meant?

Xia Zhi suddenly laughed. “He understood.”

Lian Xu nodded.

Xia Zhi added, “It was because of you that he pestered me to call him that.”

“What?” Lian Xu never expected such a reason.

“Remember that video you cherished? You asked me to help you find someone. Adrian saw it and asked me what ‘baby’ meant. I explained it, and he became obsessed—he insisted I call him that.”

At that time, Xia Zhi hadn’t even confessed yet.

Up until the moment Adrian lost consciousness, Xia Zhi had never expressed his love.

Lian Xu felt a surge of shame. That video…

“Lian Xu, don’t let the rest of your life be spent in regret.”

RUMBLE—

With a massive explosion, the ruins were blown to bits. Yellow sand filled the sky, obscuring the view.

Lian Xu stared anxiously at the ruins. The base was destroyed, but there was no sign of He Yu.

Was he buried underneath?

“Is there any… escape tunnel in the base?”

Lian Xu’s voice was as steady as ever, but Xia Zhi could hear the underlying worry.

“Is that Alpha the one you’re looking for?”

Lian Xu didn’t dare say yes, nor did he dare say no.

Xia Zhi advised him: “Don’t let your emotions get in the way.”

“He doesn’t love me,” Lian Xu said. “From the first moment I saw him, I could feel it. He has no love for me, only curiosity—an Alpha’s desire to conquer an Omega.”

“He didn’t even recognize me!”

Lian Xu’s emotions were becoming agitated. Just then, the hatch of the aircraft was pulled open. “Who didn’t recognize you?”

Lian Xu turned to find He Yu’s inquisitive eyes. He stepped onto the partition and squeezed inside, pressing close to Lian Xu.

“Wife, who did you say didn’t recognize you?”