Why is this top-tier Alpha boss acting like this? - Chapter 6

A single hospital is enough to drive the economy of an entire street; pharmacies, fruit gift shops, and snack stalls of all kinds lined the area.

Cheng Yan picked a random eatery and ordered a bowl of beef noodles. This was his first meal of the day.

Since the doctor had left, Song Yang had fallen into a mysterious state. He didn’t speak, he didn’t look at anyone; he just sat on the sofa with a deep frown, looking as if he had lost the ability to think. He was like a marionette—he did whatever he was told, but without any soul.

The fruit Cheng Yan bought? Song Yang ate it. The meal Auntie Wang sent? Song Yang ate that too. When Cheng Yan said goodbye, Song Yang simply nodded without a single word of nonsense.

It was strange, but he was certainly being obedient.

After finishing his noodles and paying, Cheng Yan took a taxi back to the bar’s parking lot. His car was fully charged. He unplugged it, paid the parking fee, and drove home.

He was absent-minded the whole way, driving on muscle memory. When he reached his complex, he reversed into his parking spot with practiced ease. But when he stood before his familiar grey front door, he stopped. His hand, reaching for his keys, froze in mid-air.

One question had been gnawing at him all the way home.

The Omega pheromones Song Yang smelled on me… whose are they?

He didn’t doubt Song Yang’s words. The man had a temper, but his character was solid; he wasn’t the type to lie about pheromones to make things difficult. If he hadn’t been absolutely certain, he never would have brought it up in front of the doctor.

So, where did the scent come from?

Before he left the ward this morning, Song Yang had been normal. But when he returned from the bar in the afternoon, everything changed. Song Yang had stared at him for a long time—had he smelled it then?

That meant the problem occurred between the time he left the ward and the time he returned. During that window, he hadn’t interacted with any Omegas. However, his glands had felt strange.

He touched the back of his neck, his heart sinking. Could it be…

He had a ridiculous theory.

To test it, he burst into his apartment, not even stopping to change his shoes. He went straight to the study and pulled an unopened box from the very top of the bookshelf.

It was a prize he’d won at the Song Corporation’s annual gala a few years ago: a BRX Portable Home Pheromone Detector. It was one of their own products, rumored to be the most precise home detector on the market. Because of his condition, he’d never had a use for it, so he had tossed it aside the moment he brought it home. He never imagined he’d actually need to turn it on.

The device was simple. He popped in some batteries and attached the sensor to his glands. After five minutes, it would calculate the pheromone concentration around his body.

He lay down on the sofa and waited. Five minutes later, the device beeped.

He lifted it to read the screen.

Pheromone Detection Result: —

Concentration: $le 0.0$ / m²

Reference Value: $ge 35 sim 128$ / m²

“???”

That can’t be right. Why is it zero?

He stared at the data in a daze, unable to fathom the result. He didn’t even hear the knocking at his door. Only when his phone started ringing did he snap out of it. The glowing screen was blinding in the dim living room.

He fumbled for the phone on the floor. It took several seconds for his brain to process that he needed to answer it. The caller was Su Runan, his childhood friend who had grown up to be a doctor.

He answered, and Su Runan’s voice exploded through the receiver, laced with urgency. “Holy crap! Are you okay?!”

Cheng Yan moved the phone away from his ear to save his eardrums. “I’m fine. What’s wrong?”

Su Runan let out a massive sigh of relief before immediately pivoting to scolding him. “What’s wrong? I’ve been banging on your door for ages! I thought you’d died in there!”

Su Runan was one of the few people who knew about Cheng Yan’s physical condition. Because he worried, he always made a point to check on Cheng Yan during his “physiological periods,” no matter how busy he was.

Cheng Yan rubbed his temples, his brain finally clicking into gear. “Sorry. I was thinking about something and didn’t hear you.”

“Well, you hear me now,” Su Runan huffed. “Open up, Yan-zi. It’s your ‘dad’ at the door.”

Cheng Yan hung up and let him in. Su Runan was standing there with a grocery bag. He didn’t come in immediately; instead, he put the bags down and spun Cheng Yan around, inspecting him from head to toe, front and back, like he was checking for a dent in a car. Finally satisfied, he marched inside.

“Why are the lights off? And it’s dinner time—why doesn’t this place smell like food? Did you skip eating again?” Su Runan chattered as he put the bags on the table and flicked on the lights.

The sudden brightness made Cheng Yan’s eyes sting.

“Wait, what is this doing on the sofa?”

While Cheng Yan was still adjusting to the light, Su Runan had already managed to grab a soda from the fridge, turn on the TV, and discover the pheromone detector. He was impressively fast.

Su Runan looked at the result on the screen, then looked at Cheng Yan with a pitying expression. “Look, your gland issues aren’t totally hopeless. If we treat it aggressively, I can’t promise a full recovery, but it’ll be better than it is now.”

He clearly thought Cheng Yan was testing himself out of desperation.

In this world, an Alpha’s superior physical traits come from their glands. The substances secreted by the glands provide energy, better judgment, stronger muscles, and faster healing. Generally, the more developed the glands, the higher the Alpha’s rank and pheromone intensity.

Because his glands hadn’t developed properly during his teens, Cheng Yan had always been physically frail compared to other Alphas. In a society where “weak” Alphas are looked down upon, his school years hadn’t been easy. If he hadn’t spent years training at a boxing gym later on, he wouldn’t have even met the physical standards of an average Alpha.

Su Runan had chosen medicine largely because of Cheng Yan.

Cheng Yan didn’t hide anything from him. He sat down and took the detector back, hitting the reset button. “Today, my boss said he smelled Omega pheromones on me.”

Su Runan’s eyebrows shot up. “Your boss? You mean that S-class Alpha from the Song Corporation? Wait, you’re on vacation—why were you seeing him? No, wait… you have an Omega?! Holy shit! Is she here? Where is she? Am I… intruding? Should I go?”

Su Runan stood up abruptly, his eyes darting toward the bedroom. His expression shifted from shock to pure gossip-hungry excitement.

Cheng Yan closed his eyes, too tired to deal with the enthusiasm. He pulled his friend back down and gave him a summarized version of everything that had happened since the night before.

After hearing the full story, Su Runan sat frozen like a statue for ten minutes. His excitement had vanished into thin air.

Cheng Yan wasn’t in a hurry. While Su Runan played “statue,” Cheng Yan tested himself two more times. Both results were zero. He was about to start a fourth test when Su Runan snatched the device away and tossed it onto the sofa.

Su Runan’s face was grim. He grabbed Cheng Yan’s arm and dragged him toward the hallway. “Stop testing. That thing is useless right now. You’re coming with me to the ER!”

Cheng Yan stumbled after him, still dazed. “ER? Is it that serious?”

Su Runan didn’t have time to explain. He hauled him to the garage, shoved him into the car, and floored it out of the parking lot.

Only when they hit a red light did Su Runan find the breath to explain. “I need to lecture you first. During your ‘special period,’ how could you just run around?! Do you have any idea how chaotic the pheromones are in a place like a bar? For a normal person, it might be uncomfortable for a bit, but your glands are special! They’re normally numb, which makes them incredibly fragile during this period. Contact with that much ‘noise’ is enough to cause a stress reaction. And then—brother, comrade, Cheng Xiao Yan! What did you do next? You willingly soaked yourself in the pheromones of an out-of-control S-class Alpha!”

Su Runan emphasized the word “soaked” with terrifying intensity. Cheng Yan leaned against the car door, trying to get as far away from his furious friend as possible.

The light turned green. Su Runan continued to drive at a speed that flirted with a speeding ticket. “I won’t even start on the fact that you haven’t rested or eaten. But I have to ask—when your head was hurting that badly, why didn’t you go to the hospital?”

Cheng Yan gripped his seatbelt as Su Runan expertly overtook a truck. “I have migraines,” he whispered. “I’m used to the pain. And besides, I didn’t break out in a rash…”

Su Runan let out a cold laugh. “People get rashes because too many pheromones are hitting their glands constantly. You? The chaotic mess at the bar started the reaction, but then your CEO’s S-class pheromones ‘cleared the field.’ They chased away all the other scents. You were only being stimulated by one single, overwhelming source. Where were you supposed to get a rash from?!”

They arrived at the City Second Hospital, where Su Runan worked. If the City Hospital had the best Alpha center, the Second Hospital was the best for Omegas.

Su Runan bypassed the usual wait and got Cheng Yan into testing immediately. After one specific report came back, Cheng Yan was rushed to an IV room.

Su Runan sat beside him, making calls to rush the rest of the results. When he finally hung up, he looked at Cheng Yan. “Two pieces of news. One good, one bad. Which first?”

Cheng Yan looked at the needle in his hand. “The bad one.”

“The bad news,” Su Runan said, leaning in and lowering his voice, “is that because you were overstimulated during your period, you’ve developed Pheromone Stress Disorder. Specifically, your boss’s S-class scent was too domineering. Your underdeveloped glands couldn’t handle the load and almost gave out entirely.”

He pointed to the IV bag. “If we hadn’t started this drip now, your glands would be dead. The headache and the ‘burning’ sensation you felt were symptoms. You stopped feeling them later because the painkillers dulled the headache, and your glands… well, they just went numb. If left untreated, the result would be gland removal, lifelong medication, and your body aging three to five times faster than normal.”

The glands are a temperamental organ; even if they don’t function properly, their presence maintains a certain biological balance. Removing them is a nightmare for the body.

Cheng Yan went silent. He had no idea he was on the verge of losing a part of himself. He looked at Su Runan. “Once this IV is done, I’m bowing to you in thanks.”

Su Runan straightened his back, looking like he was ready to accept the tribute. “Good. Now for the good news. Because of my brilliant and heroic decision-making, your glands are saved. Furthermore, the stress reaction actually ‘shocked’ your glands into an active state. With the right medication, we can actually get your underdeveloped glands to start developing again.”

He slapped Cheng Yan on the shoulder with a grin. “You’re going through a second ‘puberty,’ son! Happy?”

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