Chapter 88: My Lips Hurt… Could It Be Because of Heat Rashes or Something?

Perhaps because he had a plan in mind, Ji Laili had already taken precautions in advance.

He meticulously arranged his dorm room, setting up countless small traps in an attempt to catch the Imperial infiltrator.

If he failed, it wasn’t a big deal—Instructor Aiger was already aware of the situation and had more authority than Ji Laili.

Having done everything he could, Ji Laili stopped worrying about it.

Feeling satisfied, he happily drank his nutrient solution and went to sleep without a care in the world.

With its host asleep, the system also shut down all data feeds and entered sleep mode.

However, it still remembered Ji Laili’s efforts to capture the Imperial agent, so before going dormant, it set up a security alert.

It wouldn’t trigger the moment someone entered, but at the very least, it would activate the moment Ji Laili’s life was in danger.

Both the human and the system were well-prepared.

But in the end, they never expected that the hardest thing to guard against… was the thief at home.

Deep in the night, with the little pup fast asleep…

Shen Yu once again got out of bed, silently drifting to the bedside, his dark eyes fixed on the sleeping figure.

His gaze dropped to Ji Laili’s lips.

Laili thought an Imperial spy was responsible for what happened before—so didn’t that mean he could continue?

Otherwise, how would Laili be able to assess his progress?

Shen Yu whispered softly, “Laili, giving up halfway isn’t a good habit, right?”

“Why aren’t you answering me, Laili?”

“You’ve said before that silence is sometimes a form of agreement… So I’ll take that as a yes.”

A satisfied smile curved Shen Yu’s lips.

His usually cold expression softened, eyes relaxing as he leaned in, his pheromones spilling out.

The thick scent filled the space, forming a cocoon around them.

Laili was covered in his scent.

Shen Yu, pleased, gently pressed a kiss to the corner of Ji Laili’s lips before softly taking a small part of his lower lip between his own.

That Alpha was right—he really did enjoy the texture here.

As he kissed, his pheromones wrapped even tighter around Ji Laili.

He wanted his scent to seep into Laili’s bones, his cells, his very blood.

He wanted him to always carry his mark.

At last, Shen Yu understood why Alphas were so obsessed with marking their partners—this was the possessiveness born from love.

Carefully, he kept his teeth in check, making sure not to hurt him.

Replaying his actions from the night before, Shen Yu recalled what he had learned that day—and eagerly put his new knowledge to use.

If he practiced a few more times…

Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed as he set himself a grand goal.

So what if Ji Laili already had someone he liked? As long as they weren’t together yet, he wasn’t a homewrecker.

One day, he would kiss Laili right in front of the little O he liked—until Laili was utterly entranced.

A flash of satisfaction flickered through Shen Yu’s cool black eyes. He pressed his lips together before gently nuzzling Ji Laili’s.

—As expected, the next morning, both of them had dark circles under their eyes again.

Ji Laili yawned, muttered something under his breath, and grumbled to the system, “Had another dream.”

“This time, I dreamt something weird was wrapping around me… It was kind of scary. Oh, and I felt a little cold in the middle of the night.”

The system scanned the room before replying with precision: [According to the data, the temperature was normal.]

[Perhaps it dropped slightly during the night.]

Ji Laili didn’t think much of it and nodded. “That makes sense. It did feel cold for a moment… but then I got really hot.”

He’d wanted to kick off the covers, but something weird kept tangling around him, pressing down on him.

Thinking about it now, wasn’t this kind of like…

“Sleep paralysis?”

Ji Laili found the perfect term, scratching his messy curls before bursting into laughter.

“There are ghosts here? Could it be a Chinese ghost crossed over with me?”

[…]

The system was chilled by his words.

Ji Laili was laughing, but his joy quickly turned to sorrow—his lips suddenly stung. He looked closer and saw that they were swollen and chapped.

That was strange. They were fine yesterday.

His expression turned blank.

After quietly pondering for three seconds… Ji Laili gave up. It was just a small wound, nothing worth fretting over. He should focus on tracking down the Imperial infiltrator instead.

“A tiny cut like this can’t possibly be more important than catching an Imperial spy.”

Three days later—

Ji Laili clutched his mouth, teary-eyed. “Jiejie, Miss Jiejie, is there really no medicine for this?”

The Beta medic, who was already quite familiar with Ji Laili, looked at him with helpless amusement.

“There really isn’t.”

“This kind of wound…”

She gave him a look that was hard to describe. “It doesn’t even count as a wound. With an Alpha’s healing abilities, it should disappear within half a day.”

“A small wound like this isn’t worth worrying about. Don’t stress, it’ll be fine soon.”

…That sounded oddly familiar. He had said something similar a few days ago.

Ji Laili glanced at the other Alphas in the infirmary—some missing arms, others with injured legs, all receiving treatment and recovery injections—who were now looking at him with barely concealed amusement.

Frustrated, Ji Laili wanted to rip out his own curls.

“But…”

He lowered the hand covering his mouth, baring his teeth in pain. “It hurts! And it’s not getting better at all!”

The Beta medic gasped.

Ji Laili had naturally red lips and white teeth. When he smiled, he looked like a cheerful little pup—warm, cute, and effortlessly healing to those around him.

But now, his lips were unnaturally red, especially the lower lip, which was heavily swollen and engorged. It looked like it had suffered severe abuse.

Paired with his clear, misty eyes brimming with grievance, he looked utterly pitiful.

The Beta medic couldn’t help but feel a wave of sympathy.

But… this situation… seemed oddly familiar.

Where had she seen this before?

As she pondered, the distressed Alpha before her began pulling at his curls and venting his frustration.

“I know it’s just a small wound, but no matter what, it won’t heal! And it’s getting worse! At first, it healed quickly without leaving a trace.”

“But lately, my healing has been getting slower, and my lips just keep hurting more.”

“Even after a nap, I wake up feeling worse.”

“Napping?” The Beta medic gave him a surprised look. “I wouldn’t have expected you to be the type to nap.”

Ji Laili sighed at the painful memories. “I didn’t use to.”

“It’s just that lately, I mishandled something.”

Because he suspected that an Imperial agent had infiltrated their dormitory and was planning to target Shen Yu.

“I finally found a clue, so I thought it was over. But then I kept having dreams.”

At first, he had assumed he could leave the matter to Instructor Aiger, but after several days, the dreams continued.

The Beta medic asked, “What kind of dreams?”

Ji Laili thought for a moment before vaguely describing them. “At first, I fell into a cave filled with a sweet scent.”

“Then, a huge python coiled around me.”

“The python must’ve been attacked and died, because in the end, it felt like sleep paralysis!”

The Beta medic watched the excited Ji Laili with exasperation. “Maybe you’re just too exhausted.”

“That’s exactly why I started taking naps.” Ji Laili sighed in distress.

But somehow, things had only gotten worse.

Not only was he sleeping poorly, but his lips still hurt.

“Shen Xuezhang has dark circles under his eyes lately, too. But when I asked him about it, he just told me to get more rest. Looks like he doesn’t have the same symptoms as me.”

Seeing Ji Laili so distressed, the Beta young lady wanted to say something to ease his frustration.

But then she saw him lift his head, his expression serious.

Beta young lady: “W-what’s wrong?”

“I just thought of a possibility…”

Ji Laili touched his lips, falling into deep thought. “My mouth hurts so much… Could it be that I have heat rashes or something?”