The Fox Spirit Survived as an Alpha by Consuming Pheromones - Chapter 1

The early autumn night carried a slight chill. Jiang Li pulled her collar tight, wandering in a daze through Yucheng’s most decadent district, Huayin Alley. This was a place where one could release their pheromones without restraint, a place where shame and etiquette held no sway. As long as you caught a scent that pleased you, it was easy to find a match, surrender to desire, and drown in the rising tides of passion.

Yet, the usually bustling alley was eerily silent tonight, as if Jiang Li were the only soul left.

She clutched her growling stomach, her eyes clouding with confusion as she stared down the empty street. She was a fox spirit with meager powers; she didn’t know where she had come from or where she was going. She only knew she had to survive. In her original world, she had lived a cautious life. Having witnessed too many scenes of humans slaughtering animals, she lived in a constant state of trepidation, grateful only for the human skin she inhabited. To maintain this human form, she was forced to rely on her only skill—a simple charm spell, to bewitch humans and steal just enough vital essence to keep her disguise intact.

She vaguely remembered leaving one city for another, praying to the heavens to end her life of displacement and hiding. After a bout of vertigo, she had woken up here. It was a place saturated with the scent of human essence, though here, the essence was divided into distinct aromas—some pleasant, some foul. She eventually learned that these scents were called “Pheromones,” the fragrance humans emitted when they yearned to mate.

She thought she had finally found a paradise where she could fill her belly. For the first few days, she ate her fill; though pheromones weren’t particularly sustaining, their sheer abundance made up for it. But after a few nights, the crowds began to thin. She overheard whispers: “There’s a monster around here that sucks away people’s pheromones. It’s killing everyone’s drive. What’s the point of coming out anymore!”

With a jolt, she realized the “monster” they were talking about was her.

She tried finding food elsewhere, but to her dismay, since arriving in this strange land, even her basic charm spells had failed her, let alone her ability to draw essence. After wandering in circles, she had been drawn back here.

She was weak, so weak she felt her true form might reveal itself at any moment.

Suddenly, a car pulled up in front of her. Jiang Li sensed a flicker of danger, but before she could bolt, two men in black suits hopped out. With practiced efficiency, they shoved her into a burlap sack and tossed her into the vehicle.

Fear took hold, and she let out a low, instinctive whimper, like a small, cornered animal.

“Don’t be afraid.”

A woman’s voice reached her. It was cold, yet laced with a gentleness that swept through Jiang Li’s heart like a morning breeze. Her nose caught a beautiful fragrance: tart, sweet, and vibrant. A name flickered in her mind—Passion fruit. Before she could savor it further, her exhaustion won out, and she drifted into a deep sleep.

…

When she woke again, she found herself tied to a massive, snow-white bed. The room was filled with humming medical equipment glowing with red lights and people dressed in white lab coats.

“Physical condition: stable. No infectious diseases. Gland is necrotic; incapable of marking. Meets the requirements.”

The person in the lab coat spoke tonelessly from behind a mask. Jiang Li’s mind raced with panicked images of a slaughterhouse. She recalled that before a pig was butchered, it had to be inspected, then slaughtered, scalded, and plucked… Was this “doctor” actually a butcher?

Sure enough, two middle-aged women grabbed her from either side and led her to a tiled area. They stripped her clothes and began spraying her with warm water, scrubbing her skin with coarse cloth.

As streaks of dark grime washed away with the water, Jiang Li experienced the sensation of shame for the first time. She should have been terrified, but seeing the dirt being scrubbed off her body made her want to bury her head in the floor.

The two women chatted as they worked.

“The girl was filthy, but she’s actually got quite fair skin. Doesn’t look like she’s been on the streets that long.”

“Stop talking and keep scrubbing. They’re waiting for her on the other side.”

Jiang Li’s heart skipped a beat. Once I’m clean, am I going to be slaughtered like a sow? She wanted to run, but she was seeing stars from hunger and had no strength to resist. She bit her lip, feeling a wave of grievance. Why do I have to die on an empty stomach?

Once she was clean, the women dressed her. Jiang Li allowed them to move her like a marionette, her mind becoming increasingly foggy. Someone gave her instructions, but the words sounded like a meaningless chant. Dazed and confused, she was finally pushed into a room.

The slaughterhouse she had imagined was nowhere to be found. Instead, the room was thick with the scent of passion fruit, so concentrated it made Jiang Li shiver. She took a deep breath, letting the fragrance rush into her brain.

The scent was so stimulating it cleared some of the cobwebs from her mind. Beneath the aroma, she sensed a heavy, stifling tension. In the center of the room, a woman lay trapped in the throes of a feverish heat, her presence both fragile and devastatingly alluring.

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