The target was already dead and he couldn't return empty-handed.
Pei Zhuo spent one second contemplating his next move and decided to take this opportunity for what it was worth. After all, he had come so far.
His motto would never disappoint its loyal follower twice.
A gust of wind swept across the room, carrying fine dust that shimmered like stars in the sky, dancing lightly amidst the air currents.
This was a chemical weapon designed to destroy the glands at the base of the neck.
Whether inhaled or injected, once inside the human body, it could completely dismantle the basic functions of these glands—including innate talents—within a minute, and due to its unique properties, most ability barriers were rendered ineffective against it.
In other words, the 001 who had inhaled an excessive amount of interference dust now resembled a lamb awaiting slaughter, utterly defenseless.
Pei Zhuo circled around the rubble and walked toward the token still clenched in his hand. When he leaned down, the faint minty scent floated softly onto the man's face like a ball of cotton infused with warmth, gently caressing his skin. The tip of the 001's left hand twitched imperceptibly.
Pei Zhuo remained oblivious to this reaction.
The token was a smooth octahedron, easily rolling out of his grasp with just a gentle push. It fell neatly into his palm, so effortlessly it seemed almost unreal. He paused briefly before instinctively looking up at 001.
In the dim lighting of the treatment room, Pei Zhuo never saw 001's face clearly; he only remembered that his pheromone had smelled like chocolate... Probably dark chocolate, because it smelled slightly bitter.
Now, when he looked at him, there was nothing particularly special about his appearance. His nose was a nose, and his eyes were eyes; he could be considered decent-looking enough to pass for human.
Setting aside his incomparably flawless facial features, those long silver-gray hair draped down to his shoulders were beautiful, like a silk satin—expensive even just looking at them, much less if they were stained with blood or dust, yet they still emanated the aura of wealth.
Pei Zhuo likes expensive things.
Except 001.
He felt somewhat regretful. After hesitating briefly, he glanced left and right, then reached out as though stealing something, swiftly stroking the hair hanging by 001's ear.
It felt great to the touch.
Two fingers instantly formed a blade as delicate as a cicada wing, and with a swift snatch, Pei Zhuo plucked off that strand of soft hair.
Satisfied, Pei Zhuo tucked away the hair and was about to stand up when suddenly, without warning, someone grabbed his wrist.
Those glass-like eyes, sharp and penetrating, focused slightly and turned toward him, revealing a glimmer of revitalized vitality.
"You..."
Pei Zhuo nearly exploded from shock, instinctively grabbing that hand and violently slamming it against the wall, exerting such force that the wall emitted a muffled sound.
At the same time, Metal Perception activated, and a dagger appeared in his hand, spinning once before it pressed firmly against 001's throat.
The two were very close; even the interference dust in the air had nearly vanished.
Under the pressure of the dagger, blood slowly oozed from 001's neck. Instead of showing any fear, 001 leaned closer, staring intently into Pei Zhuo's eyes.
Those eyes were dark and cold, like a well that blocked out all light, emanating a damp aura. The emotions hidden below were unclear, only seeing glimmers of light dancing within.
"... Who are you?"
The smell of blood and burnt flesh brushed past the tip of his nose. Pei Zhuo frowned and leaned back
Realizing his avoidance, 001 seemed momentarily confused. After a moment, he asked again, "Have...have I seen you somewhere before?"
Pei Zhuo pursed his lips, feeling a strange sense of absurdity rise within him. It was hard to say whether it was because 001 had no memory whatsoever of their previous relationship or because Pei Zhuo hadn't killed this ungrateful bastard outright but instead chosen to listen to his nonsense in such a place.
Beep beep—
A timer on his wrist sounded, and his palm was empty—the dagger disappeared along with Metal Perception. Pei Zhuo glanced down at the silver-gray hair fallen on the ground, his mood inexplicably worsening. He was too lazy to say anything more. He shook off his hand, picked up the token, and left.
"...I'm injured." The voice came from behind him, as if 001 had just confirmed that he couldn't move anymore. "Can you take me with you?"
Surprised, Pei Zhuo turned his head back. "Are you sick?"
Qin Wenzhou was stunned.
He was not sober at this time. The sharp pain from the glands at the back of his neck was tearing his brain, making him almost lose his ability to think. He instinctively thought that this Omega who suddenly appeared—or the octahedron that was taken away—couldn't be let go so easily. However, he didn't know how to persuade this seemingly bad-tempered Omega.
Perhaps out of some intuition or almost instinctual cognition, Qin Wenzhou blinked at the black-haired omega. "I'll give you money, lots of money."
Pei Zhuo stopped walking.
He had no hobbies other than making money, so he turned around and knelt before Qin Wenzhou.
Qin Wenzhou understood, then lifted one arm over the omega's shoulder and tried to pull himself up with all his strength.
Unfortunately, he misinterpreted the situation.
Suddenly, his body became light, for he had been effortlessly picked up by Pei Zhuo, who draped him over his own shoulder like a sack of grain.
Qin Wenzhou blinked in surprise. He struggled a little, trying to regain some of his dignity as an Alpha.
"Don't move around," Pei Zhuo said coldly. "If you move one more time, I'll leave you here."
Qin Wenzhou was at his limit too and simply closed his eyes, gracefully passing out onto the dependable omega's shoulder.
-
It had taken Pei Zhuo quite some effort to bring this large living alpha back to his own cramped and outdated apartment.
If the gland damage was mild, it could result in paralysis; if severe, death. Fortunately, he still possessed two doses of highly effective healing medicines specifically designed for experimental subjects. These substances were derived from the same lineage as those inducing hormone differentiation many years ago, with side effects that ranged from major to minor but differed greatly between individuals, often manifesting as unpredictable aftereffects.
Pei Zhuo gave the unconscious Qin Wenzhou a dose of these medicines.
The tip of the needle pierced his skin. The cold liquid slowly entered his blood and flowed throughout his body.
As Pei Zhuo watched the liquid inside the syringe enter Qin Wenzhou's body, he found himself somewhat lost in thought.
In the past, he had spent countless days and nights as an experimental subject. The same needle pierced his skin. It was cold and terrifying. The straps on the experiment table tightened as he struggled. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his spine. It was like he had fallen into hell. Even his screams were strangled in his throat. All that was left was a glaring red, like a piece of meat on a chopping board.
...
A slight resistance at the tip of his finger indicated that the needle had reached its end.
Pei Zhuo jerked back to reality and tossed the syringe into the trash, then rubbed the small mole on his earlobe with some displeasure.
He wasn't someone who clung to the past.
The reason he'd saved 001 was simply to add an extra layer of protection to his savings; after all, that strange octahedron was merely a suspected form of currency, not guaranteed to be exchangeable for cash.
Thinking of this, he opened the 28-inch ultra-thin LCD screen computer he bought from the antique market and logged in to the black market.
In an era devoid of privacy, every brain-computer interface was connected to the eye created by the S-rank talent—Data Flow. Even if one bought it under a false identity, it would still be easy to trace back to the buyer.
These relics of the past were like aphids secretly siphoning sap from the giant tree that was the neural network. Though slightly safer than a brain-computer interface, they were hardly secure.
There were no new messages in his inbox.
Pei Zhuo pondered briefly, then sent an email: The item is in my possession.
His message sank without a response.
He glanced at the hundred thousand yuan deposit that had already been credited to his account, then scrolled through his chat history with the philanthropist.
There were less than five days left until their scheduled transaction.
Pei Zhuo hesitated for a full five minutes between "Looks like I can only scam a few more deposits to raise the money" and "Let's wait a little longer. Maybe the boss is still in the ICU after hearing that the transaction failed." Suddenly, he heard a buzzing sound from the bedroom.
He turned his head and saw the disk-shaped sweeping robot that was supposed to be charging inside the room rush out, waving its two brushes about as it collided with the table leg at lightning speed, froze, took half a step back, then spun 360 degrees before bravely charging forward again.
Pei Zhuo stared speechlessly.
Artificial retard.
He gently kicked aside the sweeping robot that had hit the wall, then got up and entered the bedroom.
The bed was empty, its covers tossed messily on the floor, most of them draped over the foot of the bed. Next to the charging station for the sweeping robot, Pei Zhuo found a disheveled silver-gray humanoid creature crouching near the window, crackling with electricity all over its body.
Pei Zhuo leaned against the door frame and watched him for a while before calling out, "Hey."
The humanoid creature turned around, silver-gray hair immersed in occasional sparks, face bewildered like a newborn puppy.
"Who are you?" he asked. "And... who am I?"
"Let go and stop charging." Pei Zhuo was unsurprised by this. Losing memories was a relatively light symptom of amnesia. "Even though the landlord doesn't charge for electricity, I haven't said that your usage is free."
Qin Wenzhou let go, his hair falling to cover his face messily and hiding his confusion.
S-level talent- Bestowal:
The user could ignore any conditions and strip away any level of talent, with a success rate of 10% and a cooldown period of 1 hour. The user could then bestow any talent upon another (including themselves). The success rate was 50%, with the talent remaining permanently until it was successfully bestowed again.
Pei Zhuo guessed that this fellow's current stolen talent involved electricity, which was why Qin Wenzhou had kicked aside the robot upon waking up and taken over the charging port.
He walked around the bed and squatted before Qin Wenzhou. "How much do you remember?"
Qin Wenzhou shook his head, reaching behind his ear to push back his hair and expose his forehead.
Suddenly, it seemed as if he smelled something, and he leaned forward without warning, nearly pressing his nose to the omega's chin, murmuring, "...It's minty."
Pei Zhuo blinked, caught off guard.
"I like... mint... smell..." Qin Wenzhou gradually pulled himself out of his dazed state and finally stopped mumbling nonsense as he surveyed his surroundings. "Where is this? Who are you? How did I end up here?"
He suddenly realized that the clothes on his body were cute but not quite to his taste, cow-patterned pajamas.
Meanwhile, the other set was currently on Pei Zhuo's body. With his black hair and eyes along with those cow-patterned pajamas, he looked like a standard innocent and harmless omega.
Qin Wenzhou blinked slightly before turning his head toward the silhouette cast by the window behind him.
There were no stars or moon outside, only pitch darkness, yet within it reflected the broad shoulders and slender waist of an alpha, his long silver-gray hair draped casually about him like satin, gleaming luxuriously beneath the lamplight. Only one button of the cow-patterned pajama top was fastened, revealing a hint of his well-proportioned abs.
It perfectly complemented the omega before him.
Having regained the confidence he had lost alongside his memories, Qin Wenzhou turned toward Pei Zhuo and confidently asked, "Honey, I'm hungry. Is there food at home?"
Pei Zhuo: "???"
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