Jiang Yu paused, stopping in his tracks to look down at the Omega standing in front of him.

He didn’t respond to Li Po’s question directly, instead asking calmly, “Do you need something?”

“…” Li Po’s lips stiffened.

He didn’t know that no one dared to stop Jiang Yu while he was walking, and he certainly didn’t know that no one would stop him just to say something pointless.

What he did know was that Jiang Yu had just set a record for killing the conversation quicker than anyone else.

Li Po lowered his eyes, focusing on the prominent bones of Jiang Yu’s wrist. His voice was deliberately soft, “There’s blood on your hand. I was worried you might be hurt.”

Though his words expressed concern, his eyes betrayed no such emotion. He simply stared at the sharp contours of Jiang Yu’s wrist, his gaze gradually deepening in thought.

From Jiang Yu’s perspective, the Omega had his head bowed low, his chin half-hidden in shadow, with only a pair of half-lidded, light brown eyes visible, framed by lashes as dark as crow feathers. There was something soft and indescribable in Li Po’s deliberately low voice, something that made people want to lift his chin and get a clear look at his expression.

Li Po’s naturally upturned eyes glanced downward, while his thin lips were tightly pressed into a line, leaving only a slight gap. The contrasting gestures made it hard to tell what emotion he was feeling. Though Jiang Yu couldn’t see Li Po’s full expression, he somehow got the impression that the Omega was afraid.

Jiang Yu couldn’t be sure where the fear was coming from, but his subconscious told him that the Omega was scared of him.

But why?

He had never interacted with Omegas before, though plenty of Alphas were afraid of him. However, Alphas and Omegas were different, and he couldn’t treat Li Po the same way he treated other Alphas.

After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Yu finally spoke, “No.”

Li Po blinked, slightly raising his eyes. “What did you say?”

In the next moment, it seemed as if he understood. His previously tight lips relaxed, and his gaze lifted, revealing an expression of relief. “I’m glad to hear you’re not hurt.”

With those words, the fear in his demeanor disappeared. The Omega lifted his face, but he didn’t meet Jiang Yu’s eyes. Instead, his gaze lowered, focusing on Jiang Yu’s sharply defined lips.

It didn’t seem like he was afraid of him anymore, more like he was afraid Jiang Yu might have been injured.

Jiang Yu glanced at him indifferently, his face showing no emotion.

Li Po was highly perceptive. When he wanted to, even the tiniest shifts in expression couldn’t escape his notice. He subtly observed Jiang Yu for a while and, seeing no change in his expression, reluctantly stepped aside. “I’ll let you get back to work then, I won’t bother you any longer.”

Once Jiang Yu walked away, Li Po stood there, his expression difficult to read.

In truth, the moment he got close to Jiang Yu, he knew the other man wasn’t injured. The reason was simple: he didn’t smell any pheromones from him. If someone were injured and bleeding, their blood would carry at least a trace of pheromones. There was no way Jiang Yu’s scent would be completely absent if he were hurt.

As for why he stopped him… Li Po had initially had an idea in mind, but Jiang Yu’s first words extinguished it immediately. The reason was simple—Jiang Yu was too distant, too cold, and there was no way he’d agree to anything.

Thinking of this, Li Po felt a bit exhausted. He rubbed his forehead and decided to go back to sleep.

Hong Mao’s body hadn’t fully recovered, but the system still assigned him a C-level mission.

After all, he was an Alpha, and his body healed quickly. Although he had been beaten so badly he was barely recognizable, after a few days of rest, he had mostly healed. The wounds had scabbed over, though some of them were reopened because of his habit of picking at them, exposing the tender new skin underneath.

This recent beating had filled him with pent-up anger. He resented the unfairness of his life, the bias in S District, and that Omega who had gotten him into all this trouble. Every time he saw his scars, dark thoughts would creep in, imagining the Omega being beaten to a pulp, his glands whipped until they were shredded, never able to get up again.

That Omega always wanted to go on missions, didn’t he? Well, let him experience what it was like to be eaten alive by pollutants, bit by bit.

Hong Mao had seen teammates slowly devoured by pollutants before. The hairy limbs would creep toward the Alpha, then, when the Alpha wasn’t paying attention, strike at his neck, injecting venom to paralyze him. The disgusting limbs would then wrap around the unconscious Alpha, and sharp, blade-like teeth would extend from the mouth, tearing and consuming the Alpha piece by piece…

The memory of that scene sent chills down Hong Mao’s spine. But when he imagined that beautiful Omega in such a situation, he couldn’t help but get excited. The thought alone made him tremble with anticipation.

Unfortunately, before he could finish indulging in his dark fantasies, his communicator buzzed.

The system notification informed him that he had a C-level mission in two days at the crematorium near the human base.

He glanced at the mission level without much care, letting out a disdainful snort.

If it weren’t for the fact that failing to complete a mission would result in him being kicked out of S District, he wouldn’t even bother risking his life. Although he resented S District, he couldn’t deny it was the safest place around, and a place everyone across the galaxy dreamed of being. Compared to losing his life, a few whips weren’t too bad—it was practically heaven in comparison.

Besides, it was just a C-level mission. He had done countless of those.

With little time to spare, Hong Mao headed out with a few teammates who had also been assigned the mission, despite his wounds not being fully healed. The mission was about as easy as he had expected—there were no particularly troublesome pollutants. Though the crematorium was full of all sorts of creatures, a single shot could take out a whole group. No challenge at all.

During the mission, Hong Mao felt something bite him on the forehead, a prickly sensation like a mosquito bite.

A few minutes later, that spot began to swell.

Well, it was a crematorium, after all. There were corpses, along with rats, mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches… plenty of species around. A mosquito bite was no big deal.

Hong Mao didn’t pay much attention to it. He brushed his long red bangs over the bump on his forehead and went on as if nothing had happened.

Since his hair was also red, no one noticed the change. With Zong Mao distancing himself from him and having few friends, Hong Mao had been keeping to himself lately, giving him little opportunity to interact with others.

But Hong Mao didn’t really care about that. His mood improved as the scabs on his body started to fall off, except for the itchy bump on his forehead. For the past few days, he had avoided looking in the mirror, afraid of seeing his disfigured face. But the itching was driving him crazy, and he’d nearly scratched it raw, yet the itch wouldn’t go away.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and glanced at himself in the mirror.

With just one look, he froze in place.

On his forehead was a large white pustule, about the size of a circle made with his index finger. It was filled with pus, and the edges were slightly damaged—probably from his constant scratching.

A cold chill ran down Hong Mao’s spine. Was he really disfigured?

Damn, those mosquitoes at the crematorium are brutal!!!

Suddenly, something caught his eye. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

The pustule… it seemed to be moving.