Chapter 45: “Then… Jiejie, Do You Need Me to Provide a Temporary Mark?”
The study on the third floor was brightly lit until ten o’clock at night.
Zhu Yiqiao sat in the study chair. Two hours ago, she had been wearing home clothes, but now she had changed into a fitted white shirt and was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses she rarely wore.
Her shirt sleeves covered her fair wrists, and the pheromone bracelet she usually wore was placed beside her.
She looked at the floating screen in front of her, listening expressionlessly to Secretary-General Wei Lingyu’s report. The other senior officials of the Trial Court on the screen sat upright and meticulously, all wearing the uniform of the Trial Court.
“After investigation and review, the Trial Court’s enforcement department, in conjunction with the Sisi National Police Department, conducted a thorough investigation of twenty-six individuals who had long-term contact with Bai He. During the investigation, Ms. Tong Jia, who had the closest contact with Bai He, admitted that the business dealings she maintained with Bai He were actually a cover for regularly supplying a mysterious organization in Moli.”
Wei Lingyu paused: “Their supply was genetic samples stolen from various countries, mainly Silla.”
Lan Lubai’s expression darkened, and she couldn’t help but ask, “Is this organization just a gene theft group?”
Wei Lingyu reminded her, “Not exactly, Executive Lan, please patiently listen to the full report before speaking.”
“When the intelligence department investigated the latest movements of the Kail family in Moli, they discovered that Ms. Xi Shan of the Kail family had contact with this organization. Through tracing and investigation, Ms. Tong Jia and Ms. Xi Shan confessed that they had been working for this organization for seven years. Meanwhile, Bai He, who was escorted back to the Silla court yesterday, will be executed on the fifth of next month, according to a joint discussion between high-ranking officials from various countries.”
Wei Lingyu said, “This concludes the report. Now, please look at the picture on the public screen.”
Zhu Yiqiao’s fingertips moved slightly, ripples appearing in her eyes.
“According to Tong Jia and Xi Shan’s testimonies, this mysterious organization doesn’t have a fixed base or fixed contact method, and even the contact person for each transaction changes. During the subsequent investigation, the two criminals only drew the organization’s totem symbol.”
And the picture on the floating public screen was the totem symbol of the mysterious organization, also the ancient creature identified by Ming Fei in the ancient book—W1215304.
Zhu Yiqiao asked coldly, “Tong Jia and Xi Shan’s roles in this organization are different from Bai He’s. What do they want to gain?”
Min Man was also puzzled: “To become the so-called first batch of new humans?”
“Initially, when faced with the investigation, Tong Jia did lie and claim that she wanted to evolve into a so-called new human. Later, when investigating clues from other countries, the investigation department discovered that Tong Jia had a genetically cultivated child, and her child had contracted an incurable disease three years ago.” Wei Lingyu explained, “After gradually breaking through her psychological defenses, she confessed that she wanted her child to become a new human.”
“Because this organization claimed that perfect new humans are, to a certain extent, immortal.”
If it weren’t for the ongoing meeting, Lan Lubai would have wanted to ask how these people’s minds worked. She only felt it was absurd and ridiculous.
The other senior officials on the floating screen had different expressions, wanting to speak but hesitating, their gazes turning to Chief Judge Zhu, the highest authority of the Trial Court.
Zhu Yiqiao issued the first order.
“Synchronize this information with the military department and have them deploy teams to cooperate with the investigation department’s work in Moli.”
Wei Lingyu replied, “Yes.”
She seemed to hesitate for a moment: “During the investigation, Xi Shan inadvertently mentioned the words ‘special abilities.’ When the interrogator followed up with questions, she refused to admit it, saying that she had misspoken in a moment of confusion. And according to the investigation data, Xi Shan does have a history of anxiety.”
Zhu Yiqiao’s tapping finger paused, her eyes narrowing.
…
After the nearly hour-long internal meeting, Lan Lubai initiated a video call in their private group chat.
Because they all knew about the existence of transmigrators in this world, when they heard Wei Lingyu mention “special abilities,” Lan Lubai’s first thought was Xue Xun, who came from a post-apocalyptic world.
She wondered, “Yiqiao, do you think the ‘special abilities’ this organization refers to are similar to Xue Xun’s abilities?”
Zhu Yiqiao said, “Xue Xun has been to every country on the map after transmigrating, and she uses her ability to confirm whether there are other transmigrators from the apocalypse in each country. So far, there hasn’t been a second ability user from the apocalypse in any country.”
Min Man was also wearing glasses before the meeting. When she took off her soft brown-rimmed glasses, her amber eyes were like an eagle soaring in the sky.
She said, “Perhaps this so-called organization, the research institute behind the scenes, isn’t from the apocalypse, but wants to give people in the new calendar era abilities similar to those in the apocalypse, just like the… Yagbort experiment in the old calendar era.”
In the last century, a mad scientist had secretly conducted human experiments on abilities. The scientist believed that when humans were under extreme pressure, they would undergo various physiological changes and develop abilities beyond scientific explanation.
The research methods of this experiment were very cruel, and once exposed by the media, it quickly aroused public outrage. People around the world demanded that the government immediately intervene, investigate, and conduct an official trial.
Thirty-six hours after the media exposé, the scientist and their team were stripped of all their property and political rights and sentenced to death.
In the bedroom on the second floor, Ming Zaozao was sleeping with Ming Fei tonight as well.
When she slept alone, she would toss and turn, rotating 180 degrees like a combination punch, her cheeks always flushed when she woke up. But when she slept with Ming Fei, she would be very quiet and well-behaved, like a delicate doll figurine.
According to their usual bedtime routine, Ming Zaozao would usually fall asleep after listening to a fairy tale. But perhaps because she had napped for a long time today, she didn’t close her eyes even after listening to two bedtime stories.
Ming Fei pinched her round cheeks and softly asked if she couldn’t sleep.
Ming Zaozao suddenly asked, “Mommy, are you happy living here with Auntie?”
Ming Fei replied, “Of course, Mommy is happy. What’s wrong, Zaozao, are you unhappy?”
Ming Zaozao shook her head: “Baby is happy! But Baby also wants Mommy to be happy~”
“When we came here, Mommy told Baby to tell you if Baby was unhappy.” Ming Zaozao explained, “Baby remembers, but Baby also wants Mommy to be happy. If Mommy doesn’t say it, Baby will ask Mommy!”
Ming Fei’s heart softened, and the shyness she had felt after receiving the message was thrown to the back of her mind.
She kissed Ming Zaozao on the face: “I’m very happy, every day.”
Although she had never asked Ming Zaozao to be well-behaved and understanding, Ming Zaozao really was a very good and understanding child. She remembered once when they were playing in the park, a stranger walking her dog asked Ming Zaozao if only her mother had come to play with her.
Ming Zaozao had just learned how to speak in sentences at the time and often used gestures to help express herself.
She earnestly told the stranger that she only had one mommy, and that her mommy worked hard every day to take care of her and earn money to support her, and that she loved her mommy very, very much.
Ming Fei was very touched at the time.
That feeling hadn’t completely dissipated even now. She chatted with Ming Zaozao for a while, and after telling her another story about a little bear in the forest, Ming Zaozao finally fell asleep.
After making sure Ming Zaozao was sound asleep, Ming Fei glanced at the time.
When she saw that it was almost 11:30 pm, she quickly put on her coat and shoes, quietly left the bedroom, and went straight up the stairs to the bedroom on the third floor. But as she passed the study, the sensor door opened automatically.
Ming Fei stopped, encountering Zhu Yiqiao, who happened to be coming out of the study.
The light and shadows in the corridor became both distant and ambiguous as they looked at each other. Ming Fei averted her gaze, like the rabbit in the fairy tale she had just told Ming Zaozao, hiding in the grass and vigilantly raising its ears.
And Zhu Yiqiao at this moment was like a snake in the flowers, watching her with cold eyes, slowly coiling its tail around her as she remained vigilant.
The carefully monitored pheromone-blocking bracelet had been left in the study.
Suddenly, as if countless fir and cedar trees had sprung up in the corridor, Ming Fei felt like she was in a snowy forest, the air filled with a clear and elegant woody scent.
She felt a little dizzy, the strange feeling from the evening returning, her body temperature rising slightly. Even though she was wearing a suppressor patch and a bracelet, she couldn’t control the overflowing pheromones.
…What was going on?
Why was Zhu Yiqiao’s pheromone scent so strange?
The surging pear scent blossomed into pear flowers on the cedar and fir trees, and sweet pears fell to the ground beneath the trees.
Ming Fei was a little dazed by the intertwining of the two pheromones, her brain slowing down. Her gaze swept over Zhu Yiqiao’s wrist, noticing that she wasn’t wearing a pheromone bracelet, and she immediately asked,
“…Jiejie, are your pheromones leaking because you’re not wearing the bracelet?”
Zhu Yiqiao didn’t say a word, like her name—a silent, towering mountain, full of dangerous cliffs.
The pheromone bracelet on Ming Fei’s wrist flashed a red warning, indicating that the current pheromone concentration was too high and might cause some chaotic situations.
Because the red light was very conspicuous in the dim environment, Ming Fei glanced at the pheromone bracelet, originally intending to take it off and give it to Zhu Yiqiao, but after a second thought, she realized it might not be what she thought.
After all—
Even though she was wearing both the bracelet and the suppressor patch, she still couldn’t control the overflowing pheromones.
So, perhaps it wasn’t the bracelet at all.
Then, what was the reason for Zhu Yiqiao’s pheromone release?
Ming Fei was puzzled. The pheromone concentration in the air was getting higher and higher, and her thoughts became more and more chaotic.
She couldn’t help but wonder, could this be… a premonition of Zhu Yiqiao’s heat cycle?
Once this thought emerged, it couldn’t be suppressed, just like her pheromones. To confirm her guess, she even asked directly without considering anything else.
“Jiejie, is your heat cycle coming?”
Zhu Yiqiao didn’t confirm or deny, only her gaze deepened, her elegant pheromones surging silently like an unpredictable deep sea.
Seeing this, Ming Fei felt that her guess was probably correct.
Because the premonition of her own heat cycle was like this, and from Zhu Yiqiao’s pheromone state, she could sense that Zhu Yiqiao seemed to have… suppressed it for a long time.
…What should she do? She thought.
After a brief moment of thought, Ming Fei, who had received help from Zhu Yiqiao many times, couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. She decisively made a decision.
However—
She didn’t know that the person in front of her wasn’t an alpha like her, but an omega who had extensive experience pretending to be an alpha, possessed extraordinary endurance, and could always withstand her heat cycles.
She was like an innocent, naive deer, approaching a flower bush full of traps with good intentions.
“Then… Jiejie, do you need me to provide a reverse temporary marking?”