Le Yao unconsciously groaned, it was as if he could feel pain in his left calf down till his ankle. He frowned and turned restlessly as he lay on the bed.
It seemed like the pain was becoming more apparent. He wanted to wake up, but couldn't do so.
If only Le Yao had opened his eyes at this moment, he would have discovered that the black mist that emerged from his left leg was gradually being drawn away by Xu Yao in small increments. And, as this mist was funneled from his ankle, a black mark encircling a golden rune slowly became clear on that part of his body.
Upon seeing the rune, Xu Yao froze. Then, waving his hand in a practised motion, the remaining black mist was fully extracted. After these actions had all been completed, Le Yao's expression gradually relaxed. Xu Yao caressed his leg once more before he lay down beside him, hugged him and went to sleep.
Meanwhile, Le Yao had a dream.
He dreamed about the 'younger him' running to a small plaza in his neighborhood to play, but by the time he arrived, the children who had been playing there were all gone.
He was left all alone.
With no one to play with, he quietly picked up a thin and small branch from below a tree and carefully poked at an ant hole, watching as a little ant climbed onto the branch.
Suddenly, a voice sounded out from behind him.
"You want to catch ants?"
"No."
Little Le Yao subconsciously answered and turned around to see a boy who was quite a bit taller than him.
The boy was tall, and Little Le Yao couldn't see his face clearly. He only saw the tall boy put one of his hands into his pocket, while the other hand was casually tossing a bottle of wine.
"It's going to rain, aren't you going back?" The boy asked again, with a lazy smile lingering on his lips.
"Going back."
Little Le Yao continued, "Big Brother, what about you?"
"Me? I don't have a home."
"…"
Little Le Yao stood up. At this moment, two pairs of eyes stared at each other.
"That… Why don't you come with me to my home?" As he said this, Little Le Yao reached out towards the boy's hand and pulled him along as he walked upon the cobblestone path amidst the towering green trees.
It was really too dark.
Even though the rain hadn't started to pour down yet, he could still hear the thunder from afar. Little Le Yao's hands unconsciously clenched, and he held the other boy's hand tighter.
He didn't know why this was happening. Obviously, he had taken the same path as he always did when he headed towards the plaza, but the surrounding environment today had slowly become more and more strange.
He couldn't help anxiously emphasizing to himself that he was definitely on the right path, but in the end, though he didn't know why, he was completely engulfed by the darkness.
The warm touch in his hand suddenly disappeared and Little Le Yao was surrounded by a terrible silence, with not even a trace of the wind anywhere.
Little Le Yao froze on the spot, and his heart suddenly filled with panic and fear.
"Big Brother?"
"Big Brother, where are you?"
From the darkness, an indifferent voice echoed.
"He's gone."
Without warning, a pair of hands as strong as an iron hook grabbed Little Le Yao's ankle and dragged him down into the dark abyss!
"Aaahhhhhhhhh!!!"
—
Le Yao sat up abruptly.
He looked at his ankle and tried to move it slightly. Only when he was sure that there were no problems did he slowly relax.
However, the sensation of relaxation didn't last long. After a short while, he suddenly felt dizzy.
"Madam, are you alright?" Leslie's voice sounded out from the communicator.
"Your heartbeat is abnormal, did you have a bad dream?"
"Umm, it's alright."
Le Yao noticed that he was the only one in the bedroom. "Where's the General? He went out?"
"Yes. Lieutenant General Tang has just returned from Vodapei, so the General left for the Command Center."
"Well, that makes sense."
Le Yao lowered his head once again and glanced down at his ankle.
Dreams came to him easily only when it rained, but the content of those dreams would always be the same. It was a repetition of a couple abandoning him or asking him to wait somewhere, with the conclusion of them never appearing again.
It was the first time that he had dreamed about a 'Big Brother' and someone grasping at his ankle.
They said that dreams and reality were opposites. Did this mean that if someone had pulled him down in his dream, he was actually going to rise in reality?
After thinking this, Le Yao almost wanted to laugh at himself. Instead, he cleaned himself up and changed his clothes before going to see the children.
It was morning, which meant that Grandpa and Grandma were 'off work', and Leslie was in charge of watching the children at this moment.
After Le Yao had woken up, Leslie had cleverly controlled the intelligent incubator to float to the master bedroom. After Le Yao saw the little guys sleeping soundly with their eyes closed, he asked the smart chef to prepare a simple breakfast for him.
"Leslie, did the General tell you when he will be returning?" Le Yao asked.
"No. But the General did say that you can contact him at any time after waking up."
"Alright, thank you."
Le Yao sat on the dining chair, feeling a sudden lightness as he spooned his food.
He didn't know why but his body seemed to have become a lot lighter. Obviously, there wasn't as much stress as before when compared to the past, and he just felt a lot more relaxed.
Le Yao thought back but couldn't recall doing anything special yesterday. He just had a simple chat with Xu Yao before going to sleep.
Could chatting with the Ghost King also get rid of stress?
After having breakfast, Le Yao sent photos of the children over to Xu Yao.
He casually asked, "Husband, after I fell asleep last night, did you do something to me? Why is it that I feel so relaxed?"
Xu Yao raised his eyebrows. "If I had really done something to you, wouldn't you be feeling more tired now? How can you be more relaxed?"
"Husband, I suspect you are driving, and I have caught the evidence."
Xu Yao laughed. "Then what will Judge Le do? Should I drive tonight as well so you can confirm it?"
Le Yao: "Cough! A child has peed, see you later!"
Xu Yao looked at his communicator and smiled. At the same time, Tang Ye, who was standing next to him the whole time, rubbed his arms in a gesture of the suffering he was exposed to.
"Brother Xu, you really don't take me as an outsider, ah? Having kids or not—"
Xu Yao abruptly interrupted him, "A single person like you won't understand."
Tang Ye sensed that he was being despised.
He can't help feeling a little sour!
Why haven't I met my loved one yet?
Should I go to the Marriage Center to find that person?
Xu Yao saw that the other had gotten distracted and smacked him to pull him back to reality.
"Didn't you just say you have brought someone over for me to see? Where is that person?"
"In my hover car, in the restricted area. Let's go."
As soon as Xu Yao heard the words 'restricted area', he was sure that this person wasn't one of his own people. However, at this moment, he couldn't imagine who it could be.
The restricted area was located inside the Command Center. Its entry access was limited to only the senior soldiers of the Flying Wolf Division.
Xu Yao followed Tang Ye to the restricted area. Upon reaching the area, the hover car automatically recognized its owner and opened its door to slowly reveal the person sitting inside it.
The man's mouth was taped shut. His hands and feet were bound.
The instant he saw them, his eyes widened and he struggled to move forward.
"Hmmm hmmm hmmm!!!"
"Who do you think he is?" Tang Ye asked.
"Le Tianyu?" Xu Yao answered without any hesitation.
This Le Tianyu looked different from the version he had seen in Yan Jie's investigative information. It seemed as if he had changed his face yet again.
It just so happened that, when he had gone to pick up Le Yao in Huaxia before, he had smelt the scent of this person's pheromone. It was the type of smell that he hated, so he remembered it clearly.
"Why is he here?"
"I found him whilst scouring the Sarna Orcs' spaceship. When I found him, I wasn't entirely sure who he was, so I did a DNA scan to find out."
Tang Ye continued, "I wanted to report it to you directly, but something came up by the time the result came out, so I didn't manage to inform you in advance. It's up to you how you want to handle him."
"Wu wu wu!"
Hearing the word 'handle' frightened Le Tianyu so much that he tried to scream desperately through the tape. His eyes kept glancing at Xu Yao, trying to rouse a little mercy from him.
However, Xu Yao and Tang Ye just continued to talk casually, it was as if he didn't exist at all. The two simply chatted for a while before turning to exit the hover car.
Le Tianyu was afraid of being locked up again, of futilely shouting every day with no chance of being released. With a bitter heart, he bit into the small pill that had always been hidden inside his mouth. He hadn't done this before because he had been caught in an unconscious state and was already here by the time he regained consciousness.
The waxy substance inside the pill slowly melted into his mouth. His face quickly reddened, and his breathing became more and more unstable.
A rich, rose-like pheromone scent spread out into the restricted area. Xu Yao wasn't affected, but Tang Ye's face changed abruptly.
"How can you suddenly be in estrus?" Tang Ye was infuriated. He had to exert all his strength to stop himself from taking a single step forward.
Every Alpha of the Flying Wolf Division had undergone training in a professional anti-pheromone program. This made it easier for them to control themselves in front of an Omega in estrus when compared to ordinary Alphas.
However, the scent of Le Tianyu's pheromones this time was really just too strong; it was not the kind a normal estrus was capable of producing!
"Mmmm!" Le Tianyu raised his head and gestured at them to remove the tape from his mouth. Tang Ye wanted to go forward but was directly stopped by Xu Yao.
"You step back, I'll do it."
Xu Yao took out a pair of white gloves from his pocket, put them on, and then pulled off the tape.
"Hahhh!"
As soon as the tape was pulled off, Le Tianyu said, "Ca-can you help me?"
Tang Ye hummed coldly. "You expect us to help you? You used drugs to induce your estrus, right? It is obvious that the scent of your pheromones is abnormally strong!"
Drugs which could induce an Omega's estrus were very strictly regulated. Their use was prohibited, with exceptions being rare circumstances where a patient was incapable of naturally entering estrus on their own.
Le Tianyu shouted, "But… If I didn't do this, you-you will leave!"
Xu Yao coldly said, "Leslie, ask President Liu to personally come over here and instruct him to bring a strong inhibitor with him. Also, tell him to not spread it and let more people know."
"Yes, General."
However, not long after he had spoken, a hover car suddenly flew in from the entrance of the restricted area. The system greeted, "Welcome back, Officer Yan."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yao and Tang Ye looked at each other and saw a glimpse of joy in each other's eyes.
Fortunately, Yan Jie was a Beta!
The door of the hover car slowly opened, but the both of them froze when they saw its occupants.
Aside from Yan Jie, Yang Hengtian also walked out of the hover car!
Holy shit!
Yang Hengtian instinctively felt that something was amiss. When the door of the hover car opened completely, the rich scent of pheromones hit his nostrils. His body immediately became restless and hot.
Yan Jie didn't sense anything amiss at first, but after seeing Xu Yao and Tang Ye's expressions, he realized that he had come at the wrong time.
"Hey, Brother Yang, are you also—"
"No! Hurry up! Get me out of here!" Yang Hengtian hadn't received any training to resist pheromones. A few sniffs of it already proved to be unbearable, and if he didn't escape this situation quickly, he didn't know what he would end up doing.
Yan Jie looked at Tang Ye's reddened face, quickly shut the door of the hover car, and flew to a random place hurriedly!
Tang Ye couldn't help but ask, "Mr Yang should be fine, right?"
Xu Yao smirked, "Shouldn't you worry about Yan Jie instead?"
"Ah, why?"
…