Who Wants to Be the Affectionate Cannon Fodder?! [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 23

Xie Zhizhang leaned against the cold wall of the isolation room, his breathing ragged and heavy. His entire body felt as if it had fallen into a sea of fire, leaving him weak and limp, while his gland burned with an abnormal intensity.

The cloyingly sweet scent of vanilla pheromones filled every inch of the small room. Sweat dripped from his forehead, catching on the corners of his slightly downturned eyes. His senses gradually sharpened until even a slight draft of air against his skin triggered a wave of tremors. His white T-shirt, soaked with perspiration, faintly outlined his slender muscles. Xie Zhizhang tugged uncomfortably at his collar, exposing his delicate collarbones, which were flushed a deep, feverish red from the rising heat.

“Xie Zhizhang, I can give you a temporary mark.” Xu Ze’an braced himself against the door of the isolation room, fighting back his own instinctive physiological impulses. His voice was dry as he asked, “There are no suppressants here. You won’t be able to endure this for long on your own.”

Xie Zhizhang bit his lower lip hard, desperate to stay conscious, yet a strong, base desire grew within him, pulling him in the opposite direction.

He wanted to agree to Xu Ze’an’s proposal—to agree to all his unreasonable demands, to his paranoid, crude, and malicious possessiveness. It didn’t even have to be Xu Ze’an; anyone capable of soothing the Alpha within him would do.

His pheromones surged toward Xu Ze’an uncontrollably, as if eager to drag him into this cage of desire to sink together.

But if he allowed this opening once, what about the next time? If it started with a desperate temporary mark, what would follow?

“No,” Xie Zhizhang bit through his lip, the taste of iron spreading in his mouth. “I don’t need it.”

The cramped isolation room was completely overtaken by Xie Zhizhang’s pheromones. The sweet scent of the Omega seeped into every part of Xu Ze’an’s body, enticing his own gland into a restless, agitated state.

Xie Zhizhang didn’t know if there were other Alphas outside searching for the source of the scent, so he didn’t dare risk opening the door to push Xu Ze’an out.

But as they squeezed together in this tiny space, it was obvious what would happen if things continued this way.

He could even smell a faint trace of Alpha pheromones leaking from Xu Ze’an.

Suddenly, he remembered the butterfly knife skills Yu Lin had taught him. If it truly came to that, he wasn’t sure if he should stab Xu Ze’an first or himself.

“Apologies.” Xie Zhizhang used the wall for support to stand, slowly moving toward Xu Ze’an. The intoxicating scent of red wine made his head spin. He bit down hard on his tongue with his canines, forcing himself back to clarity.

“I will hit you very hard, but I won’t injure you. Since it’s the first time, I hope you won’t resist.”

Two balls of burning fire dwelled in Xu Ze’an’s eyes. Before he could process what Xie Zhizhang’s sudden approach meant, he saw the other man’s hand brush past his shoulder, almost like an embrace.

He instinctively moved to respond, but in the next second, a sharp pain hit his neck, and darkness consumed everything.

Xie Zhizhang collapsed to the floor, no longer able to support himself. He leaned beside Xu Ze’an, gasping for air, his vision blurred by physiological tears. The isolation room felt like a giant furnace. He looked up at the overhead lights, and two flickering, flame-like shadows appeared before his eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, when he felt as if he were about to melt into a pool of boiling water, the door behind him was suddenly pounded. His fragile nerves jumped, and he instantly went on high alert.

His body had no strength left. The combination of weakness and heightened sensitivity brought only a fear of the unknown.

“Xie Zhizhang, it’s me. It’s Yu Lin.”

The familiar voice allowed him to relax completely. He struggled and fumbled to stand, opened the door for Yu Lin, and then let himself fall.

There was no logical reason for it; he just knew that as long as Yu Lin was there, he was no longer in danger.

Yu Lin caught Xie Zhizhang’s falling body and hooked his leg to pull the door shut.

The temperature of Xie Zhizhang’s body was so hot it made Yu Lin feel like he was heating up as well. Even as a Beta, the high concentration of pheromones in the air was impossible to ignore. Fortunately, he had already dealt with the Alphas outside; otherwise, if even a bit of these pheromones had leaked out earlier, it would have driven those beasts mad.

Yu Lin quickly scanned Xie Zhizhang’s body. Aside from the scratched and now-clotted gland on the back of his neck and a red mark on the wrist where he had been grabbed initially, there were no other injuries.

He glanced at Xu Ze’an lying to the side, guessing this was Xie Zhizhang’s handiwork. It seemed Xie Zhizhang had been serious about practicing what he had been taught.

Suppressants. How do I use them?

On the way there, Yu Lin had encountered a pharmacy. He hadn’t bothered to check the various types, grabbing every Omega-related item he could find. Now, with no time to read the instructions, he could only ask System 007.

System 007, who had been forced to brush up on its knowledge during the trip, said: “The red vial is an injectable; inject it into the gland. The green canister is a spray used to mask his scent. The others are inhalants or oral, which probably won’t be very useful right now.”

Yu Lin gave a quiet “Mm,” fished out the red tube, uncapped the needle, and calmly pierced Xie Zhizhang’s neck. If one ignored his movements and only looked at his cold, grave expression, he truly looked like a chilling, sociopathic killer from a suspense novel.

I really do hate this world.

System 007: “?” It was a bit worried that Yu Lin might lose control and stab right through Xie Zhizhang’s neck.

It seems to be really looking forward to the scenario where Xie Zhizhang and Xu Ze’an are bonded. If Xie Zhizhang hadn’t been able to fight back, he probably would have been marked by now.

This was the first time System 007 had heard Yu Lin speak in such a mocking and cold tone, and it didn’t dare to make a sound.

The suppressant entered Xie Zhizhang’s gland, soothing the restlessness in his body. The scorching heat on his skin began to recede. Yu Lin turned to look at Xu Ze’an, thinking about how to handle him.

Yu Lin sprayed the scent-masker haphazardly to cover the smell of Xie Zhizhang’s pheromones. He hoisted Xie Zhizhang onto his back with one hand. As he passed Xu Ze’an, he was about to kick him out of the way in disgust when he heard Xie Zhizhang murmur, “He was the one who took me to the isolation room. He didn’t do anything.”

“…Can we take him with us?”

Yu Lin snorted coldly and impatiently grabbed Xu Ze’an’s arm, hoisting him up by the waist.

Just like that, with one on his back and the other dangling from his hand, he headed straight down the stairs through the fire exit.

Lin He’s car was parked closest to the exit. Seeing Yu Lin come down safely with the others, the white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel relaxed, and he let out a sigh of relief.

Yu Lin tossed Xu Ze’an into the backseat. He shook his aching arm and, to prevent him from suddenly “coming back to life,” gave him another strike on the back of the neck before loading Xie Zhizhang in on the other side.

“To the hospital?” Lin He frowned, seemingly sensing the lingering Alpha pheromones on Xu Ze’an, instinctively feeling a sense of repulsion.

Yu Lin sat in the passenger seat and accidentally kicked a glass bottle by his feet.

“Sure.” He looked down inconspicuously. It looked very similar to the red vial of suppressant he had just injected into Xie Zhizhang, but there were slight differences. However, the light inside the car was too dim to see clearly.

He leaned down to pick it up. The streetlights reflected off the glass bottle; Lin He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, his expression sharpening. Taking advantage of the red light, he snatched it from Yu Lin’s hand and tossed it into the door compartment.

“What is that?” Yu Lin asked curiously.

“A suppressant.” Lin He remained silent for a long moment before answering as the light turned green. “I injected it when you went up. After all, I’m an Alpha too.”

Yu Lin thought of the faint trace of pheromones he had smelled just now. If Lin He had been in that situation, would he also have been unable to control his Alpha instincts and let pheromones dictate his logic?

The thought made his heart feel strangely heavy.

“Being an Omega is so exhausting,” Yu Lin remarked, leaning his head against the car window to watch the neon lights of the street drift by. “The feeling of being out of control isn’t good at all.”

Lin He froze for a moment and gave a low “Mm” in response.

“Brother, if…” Yu Lin paused, speaking hesitantly, “if an Omega went into heat in front of you, would you also be unable to resist your instincts? Would you want to mark them, even if you had no feelings for them?”

Lin He didn’t expect him to ask such a thing. After a moment of surprise, he said neutrally, “No. If I didn’t want to mark them, there would be many ways. I would lock myself in a place where I couldn’t reach them, or I would knock them out first, then knock myself out.”

Something about these words struck a nerve in Yu Lin, and he suddenly began to laugh. His eyes curved into crescents, reflecting the lights outside like a canopy of brilliant stars.

Even Yu Lin himself didn’t know what he was happy about. He belatedly touched the upturned corners of his mouth, murmuring in confusion, “Strange, why am I happy again?”

The Maybach entered the hospital emergency zone. Medical staff took Xie Zhizhang and Xu Ze’an to different departments for examinations. Standing at the entrance, Yu Lin watched the bustling crowd in the hall, only to realize that Lin He was still standing by the car without moving.

He turned back, confused.

The moonlight obscured Lin He’s silhouette; standing by the car, he almost merged with the bushes behind him.

Yu Lin couldn’t smell the faint pheromones from three different people lingering in the car. Although the scent spray had covered most of it, some traces inevitably remained. Having spent nearly ten minutes in that enclosed environment, even with the suppressant injected beforehand, Lin He’s instincts were unavoidably stirred.

“Brother, what’s wrong?” Yu Lin stepped into the shadows of the bushes and looked up at Lin He. He suddenly felt that Lin He’s dark eyes looked like those of a wolf.

Lin He tilted his head, lifting his eyelids to gaze at Yu Lin’s face. His agitated gland throbbed abruptly, like a spell inducing desire.

Yu Lin’s body was tainted with a chaotic mix of pheromones—from unknown Alphas, Xie Zhizhang, and Xu Ze’an. Once out of the messy environment of the car, those scents became suddenly obvious, yet he was completely unaware, as innocent as a fish on a chopping block.

“Brother?”

At Yu Lin’s confused call, Lin He suddenly took a step forward and embraced him.

“Shhh!”

Lin He’s signature cold fragrance washed over him. Yu Lin was surprised to find his heart rate suddenly accelerating, as if it were ready to bolt from his chest at any second.

A palm covered the skin on the back of his neck, but this warm touch, like Lin He’s embrace, was gone as soon as it arrived.

Yu Lin only managed to catch a glimpse of a faint red mark on the back of Lin He’s hand, it looked like it had been bitten by something.