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Shao Wenchi’s primary school security was extremely strict. The school was mostly made up of prominent aristocratic children, so they would not be able to handle the responsibility should any danger come across them.
But nothing was 100% foolproof. If someone wanted to, they would be able to find an opportunity.
During the second class every afternoon, the cleaning staff would take out the whole day’s garbage from the back door of the school playground. And every second class on Wednesday afternoons was when Shao Wenchi’s class had P.E.
Children at this age were active and noisy. P.E. was usually only scheduled to be 20 minutes of physical training, and the other 20 minutes was left for the students to free play.
Lu Shangjin’s car was parked a few dozen meters away from the back door of the school, his eyes falling on Jiang Xiaohong as she wobbled towards the back door.
As the situation on Jiang Xiaohong’s suspension had yet to be announced to the whole school, the cleaner still greeted Jiang Xiaohong with a smile, “Miss Jiang, how come you’re coming from back here?”
Her shoulders shuddered hard, she tried hard to calm herself and let out a dry laugh, “There’s a student’s home in this direction. Since I didn’t have any class to teach, I paid them a visit.”
The cleaner pushed the garbage out the back door where there was a large trash bin in front of the door. He lowered his head and propped up the lid, putting bag after bag of daily garbage neatly in, half his body reaching into the can.
Jiang Xiaohong took this time to call Shao Wenchi over.
Wenchi was completely unguarded towards his homeroom teacher, even though his gege had told him never to leave the school grounds without his bodyguard by his side.
Jiang Xiaohong took Wenchi’s small hands and led him to where Lu Shangjin was parked.
Lu Shangjin gave her a sum of money to have her bring Wenchi out before the glandular hunters pursued the lead.
She guessed that Lu Shangjin was a glandular hunter, having a gun held to her throat and yet having to do as she was told.
Furthermore, the reward given by Lu Shangjin was a salary she couldn’t earn from even ten years of teaching. She and her daughter need not worry for their survival anymore.
Other people’s children were uncomparable to your own gold and valuables. Just bite the bullet and forget about it; consciousness won’t feed you.
In the short few dozen meters over, Jiang Xiaohong’s heart welled up with anxiety.
Wenchi looked up. Blinking his eyes, he asked, “Teacher, why didn’t you come teach us? Why haven’t you given out this time’s composition yet?”
Jiang Xiaohong often read well-written essays out to the class, commenting carefully on how well it was written. Wenchi liked the composition class the most.
This little spider’s talent for composition was higher than his peers, his young and tender words always giving shine to things that others couldn’t see. When other children wrote about helping grandmothers cross the road and making up some trivia to make up the numbers, he wrote about ants on a maple leaf.
Jiang Xiaohong asked him before, and Wenchi said, even if he suddenly laid down on the road to stare at something, gege would never scold him. Instead he would crouch next to him quietly waiting, and when he stood up, he helped him pat the dust off his clothes.
He was also a treasured baby held in the palm of another family’s hand.
Jiang Xiaohong gritted her teeth, choked and pulled Wenchi back towards where they came from, “Okay Wenchi, let’s go back, hurry back to school……”
Lu Shangjin noticed that she was backtracking and immediately thought of getting out of the car to do it himself.
But before he could push open the car door, the surrounding air suddenly filled with a strong alpha scent that was quickly approaching. At least 30 J1 grade alphas charged in from all different directions, snatching Wenchi from Jiang Xiaohong’s hand, and throwing him into a black cloth bag before turning and fleeing.
The small child was terrified, kicking and screaming frantically in the sack for his gege to save his life.
The janitor was just an ordinary omega and was crushed by the powerful alpha scent, unable to breathe. Jiang Xiaohong screamed shrilly and ran into the school to call security.
Wenchi’s bodyguards were not allowed to enter the playground inside, but upon hearing Jiang Xiaohong’s scream, they broke in at once through the gate to rush over, but the young master was gone.
Lu Shangjin’s face went cold. He closed his car door and floored the gas pedal, speeding off in the direction where the several high-grade alphas had left.
The 30 J1 alphas that had pounced out at once had probably spent up half of their glandular hunter powers.
This little spider was the only bargaining chip that could get Yan Yan back, and Lu Shangjin would not let go of this opportunity.
The maple leaves by the hot spring were getting more lush and prosperous, and these days Yan Yi felt that his condition had gotten worse.
He often sat by the bench and zoned out. He sat for three or four hours, holding a leaf in his hand until the stem of the leaf was bent and shrivelled.
Who was the alpha that had called him Yan Yan?
Yan Yi froze for a moment as something flashed through his mind. The name Lu Shangjin appeared.
A reflexive pain in his stomach followed.
Was he one of the alphas he used to keep? He had the impression that he was a well-behaved and obedient alpha, he liked him like crazy and had even given him gifts.
An alpha whom he had abandoned, how pitiful.
At a loss, Yan Yi played with the ring he wore on his right hand.
Every meal he had in the manor was exquisite, but Yan Yi was getting thinner. His ring finger was so thin that he needed his middle and pinky fingers to squeeze the ring so that it wouldn’t be swung off.
He was surprised to find an extremely fine string of floral tattoo in English on his ring finger, “everlasting love”.
Had he once also given some other alpha a never-ending love?
He sat curled up in a ball on the bench with his head in his arms. Shao Wenjing had given him a new phone to make it easy for him to make contact himself.
Yan Yi wanted his alpha to come back to be with him.
When he picked up his phone, he subconsciously dialed a sequence of unfamiliar numbers. He probably did have Shao Wenjing’s number saved. Who did this string of numbers belong to?
He dialed it out just to give it a try.
He was a ball of a rabbit nestled on the bench, flipping around his little ears.
It rang twelve times; the number you have dialed was not answered.
Yan Yi wondered as he set his phone down, still holding the maple leaf in his hand. Soft music played from the hidden stereo by the hot spring, the piano parts wafting through his ears.
He pulled himself up, asking the servant cleaning beside him, “What is this tune?”
The servant stopped and gently wiped the sweat from her forehead, her Euroamerican face was simple and profound. She smiled politely, “Luv Letter.”
A love letter.
Shocked, Yan Yi lifted his ears and listened to every detail.
He vividly recalled a pair of hands covered in scars from bullet shell fragments, knuckles long and elegant as they played the keys with a bleak sense of disconnection.
The music inside the manor could not be heard outside, even if Lu Shangjin was nearby.
Lu Shangjin carried an ordinary Souct sniper rifle across his back with another AK47 slung across his back the other way. Clutching a pile of documents and bending his hand back to hold Shao Wenchi, his other hand leaned against the wall as he flipped over it with ease.
Behind them, bullets fired and several vans chased them to the low wall. Gland hunters all rushed out of the car and followed suit in flipping over the wall.
Shao Wenchi cowered in Lu Shangjin’s arms. The ground suddenly rose and fell, scaring him so much as he clung to Lu Shangjin’s neck, whimpering into his ear, “I want to go home…… I want gege……”
He only whimpered softly, seeming to become really terrified.
Unexpectedly, Lu Shangjin was not annoyed and even released a bit of soothing pheromones for him.
But he only let out a little. His glands had been overdrawn twice recently, so it was hard to regain full strength in a short amount of time. No extra pheromones could be further spared for other omegas.
After the little rabbit was picked up, he would give all the soothing pheromones to the rabbit so that he felt safe. Lu Shangjin would never leave him again, he would never let him stay alone at home waiting for him late into the night.
He had always been a lone wolf that strayed from the pack, wandering at the edge of darkness. Stepping into the abyss, he had become exactly what he feared most.
In fact, the little rabbit had been pulling him into the light. His hands were scratched and his heart was pierced, yet was still willing to pull him out, dragging him back to his original world from the edge of incurable depths.
The phone suddenly vibrated. Lu Shangjin subconsciously freed his hand to take a look. It was an unknown number.
The current situation was an unfit time to answer the call, but Lu Shangjin was afraid of missing any news on Yan Yi.
He had even guessed it would be Shao Wenjing on the other end.
He picked up the call, and the opposing end was silent, as if surprised that he had picked up.
The numerous gland hunters who were chasing him saw that the peregrine falcon alpha was answering the phone. It immediately provoked their dignity as chasers.
Lu Shangjin didn’t care, his heart thumping, as if he had already smelled the faint and thin scent of milk candy through the phone.
“Yan Yan…… is that you?” Lu Shangjin didn’t have any free hands to grab his gun, he kept propping his elbows on the edge of the low wall and could not bear to hang up.
“I…… think I’ve got the wrong number, sorry.”
It really was Yan Yi’s voice.
Lu Shangjin begged him not to hang up, “No, it’s not the wrong number, listen to my voice, it’s me, Lu Shangjin, why don’t you remember me? Cut it out, I know I’ve wronged you, Ge has let you down……”
“Sorry……” There was a hint of surprise in Yan Yi’s voice, “I just wanted to tell you that maybe I played with you a few times before and I went overboard, but now I can only say that I’m sorry. How much do you want for the breakup fee?”
“What?”
Lu Shangin only felt a bottle of liquor directly hit his head, every shard stabbing him, it hurt so much that it was like being thrown into a pan and fried.
Even his scalp was feeling numb.
Suddenly, the side of his rib hurt a little. Stunned, Lu Shangjin reached to touch it, and his right hand still holding the phone was all covered in blood.
A bullet had grazed his ribs, it took Lu Shangjin ten seconds to feel the pain that felt like his finger had been severed off.
He silently put down the phone, flipped over a scrap wall, took off the AK47 hanging from his back and shot back. Pressing Shao Wenchi into his arms, he rolled in a circle on the ground while dodging the bullets, and when he got up, he vanished.
Perhaps because he had received a little bit of soothing pheromones, Shao Wenchi quieted down and pressed his cheek against Lu Shangjin’s shoulder. A wave of sadness flowed out Lu Shangjin’s chest and into the small child’s mind.
This person was full of sorrow.
Shao Wenchi could feel it.
Lu Shangjin led him away to shake off the pursuing gland hunters. They burrowed into a half-demolished building and climbed up the dusty stairs to the top floor.
He slowed down then sat on the ground to catch his breath, letting the blood of the gunshot wound in his ribs drip from his side as his spine hunched over into a lonely arc.
When thinking of his teenage years during the most intense fight they had, the little rabbit had also mentioned breaking up because he said hurtful things, saying the dishes that the little rabbit cooked were awful. He had said it tasted like he had cooked candles with green peppers.
Yan Yi was sad for so long, sitting on the balcony and ignoring him. That was the first dish he had learned for Lu Shangjin. How could he say that?
No matter how fiercely he said to break up, the little rabbit would only find somewhere at home to sulk alone.
But he did want Lu Shangjin to coax him softly.
Lu Shangjin took the clean plate to the balcony and put it in front of him, “Hard to eat is hard to eat, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t eat it.”
Yan Yi pursed his lips.
Lu Shangjin took out another bowl of scorched black tomatoes and scrambled eggs and proudly told Yan Yi that ge’s cooking was even worse tasting.
The little rabbit awkwardly squirmed into his arms.
When he didn’t want to break up, he would leave the room no matter what, instead of asking over the phone  “how much do you want for the breakup fee”.
Lu Shangjin was getting scared.
The little rabbit was following his example and insulting him.
Yet he had nothing to say, he had done similar things to Yan Yi, but worse.
“Are you…… okay?” Shao Wenchi stood unbalanced and dropped to the ground onto his butt.
Lu Shangjin picked him up and brought him closer, “Tell me, what did Shao Wenjing do to Yan Yi.”
He could guess that it had something to do with the spider’s paralyzing powers. He wanted to know more but was also afraid of what he would learn.
Wenchi twiddled his fingers and looked at him blankly.
What could a kid know? His brain really was broken.
Lu Shangjin put him back on the ground and pinched the bridge of his nose. Taking out his phone, he took a picture of Wenchi. He sent the picture and location to the number that had just called.
“Bring Yan Yi in exchange for your little brother.”
He then leaned against the wall and looked through the stack of papers he had grabbed.
If they had just snatched one prey from the hands of the glandular hunters, they would not have been chased down by so many people. This pile of documents was the important thing that they could not lose.
Inside was a thick file with lists of names and corresponding photos.
Most were children around Wenchi’s age; some were even younger ones, all omegas.Their differentiation potentials were mostly above J1, some had yet to be tested.
Wenchi crawled over and looked at the papers with him. He pointed at one of the photos and said in horror, “This is my deskmate, he hasn’t been in class since two days ago. His father came to the school and was still crying as he was packing up his things.”
Lu Shangjin’s full attention was caught as he took a closer look at the picture of the small child.
It was a soft little grey rabbit, his soft little ears hanging adorably, just as pleasing to look at as Yan Yi was when he was a child.
All were small children who were targets of glandular hunters.
Small children didn’t have the ability to defend themselves and were the easiest targets to capture. But most of the children at this school had backgrounds, glandular hunters who dared to target them also had strong people backing them, providing them with weapons and resources which emboldened them to run rampage.
Lu Shangjin tidied up the files, rolled them up and tucked them into his tactical belt.
Right at this moment, nothing was more important than finding Yan Yi.
He wasn’t in the mood to think about anything else. From his pocket, he fished out a laminated photo and gently stroked it.
Wenchi crawled over to look at it with him.
He also particularly liked the omega in the photo who was laughing while pulling his little rabbit ears. Wenchi wanted him and gege to be together, because then he could see him everyday.
He looked back at Lu Shangjin, the alpha’s face was moist with water.
The rusting iron doors of the balcony were violently kicked open. Lu Shangjin was immediately on alert and grabbed Wenchi. Holding him, he backed away towards the edge of the balcony.
Shao Wenjing walked in, his bloodshot eyes stared fiercely at Lu Shangjin, as if he was staring at the natural enemy of poisonous insects. Evil hostility rushed through and filled his body.
Wenchi yelled out clearly, “Gege!”
Shao Wenjin’s pupils quivered, his fists were clenched. His peach blossom eyes that seemed to be carrying a frivolous smile had diminished into nothing but viciousness.
“Lu Shangjin…… don’t stand there, come here.” It was too high over there, Wenchi would get scared.
Lu Shangjin stood his ground, his face expressionless as he stood at the edge of the balcony, “There are a lot of glandular hunters around here. Hand Yan Yi over and I won’t make things difficult for the child.”
“So you’re aware that you’re making it difficult for a child?”
From the iron gate, Yan Yi stepped out, in his hand was a desert eagle pistol, the muzzle pointed in between Lu Shangjin’s eyebrows. His gaze was cold as it swept across Lu Shangjin’s body. Lu Shangjin knew this look extremely well. He was estimating the distance and speed to determine if he could kill the target without hurting the hostage.
After having been partners for so many years, they were familiar with each other’s vigilant actions by heart.
Lu Shangjin’s heart cracked inch by inch.
But Yan Yi had not opened fire.
At first, the only worry was that blood may spill onto Wenchi, which would cause childhood trauma for the little child.
Later, it was because he saw the sadness and loneliness on the alpha’s face.
Yan Yi covered his heart, where there grew a dull pain.
But it was just an unfamiliar alpha, maybe one of his one-night stands, maybe a few too many nights.
He saw Lu Shangjin’s hand, chiseled and covered with old scars, and on the ring finger on his left hand was a wedding ring.
Suddenly, the delicate silence was broken by a chain of machine-gun bullets going off. Lu Shangjin saw the red dots appearing on his own chest. He abruptly rolled over for cover while subconsciously pushing Wenchi out of the sniper range.
Machine-gun bullets flew around haphazardly, then a shock bomb was thrown onto the balcony and exploded violently. After the thundering bang, the balcony that was already half in ruins suddenly collapsed.
Wenchi screamed and slid violently off the roof.
Shao Wenjing threw caution to the wind and lunged after him, “Wenchi! Wenchi!”
Shao Wenjing dodged out of the way without warning. Where Yan Yi was standing, he was exposed to all the heavy machine gun rounds going off around them.
He froze for a moment and forgot to dodge.
After a while, he felt a familiar coldness.
He had been abandoned again.
He was always the one being abandoned.
Yan Yi froze for a long time, he reached for his own glands, wanting to ask himself, aren’t A3 glands very valuable?
The more someone didn’t need to be protected, the more they were curious and expected protection.
But why had no one been willing to treat him like the best?
His body jerked tightly and immediately hit the ground hard. However, he didn’t hit his head, as there was a warm hand cushioning it.
Lu Shangjin wrapped his body around him and rolled into cover. He switched to the sniper rifle on his back, narrowing his eyes, and located their opponents on the other side. He took aim and pulled the trigger.
His gun had no magnification, so he could only rely on his peregrine falcon eyes for his extreme vision.
A sniper fell from the high points of a building.
The balcony collapsed with a bang. Lu Shangjin jumped down with Yan Yi in his arms, his hand hooked onto the lower protective window, while he swung his body into the lower level. He held onto Yan Yi’s back as they smashed through the glass which shattered all over the ground.
Yan Yi’s head was pressed tightly against his chest.
His body was wrapped in a rich wave of soothing pheromones, the smell of Narcissus mixed with the smell of blood.