Imperial City First Military Hospital.
This hospital normally only treated the Empire's high-ranking officials, nobles, and senior military officers. Its confidentiality was second to none.
Huo Shaoyan pulled some strings and brought Qi Xing straight here without having to wait in line. The hospital had the most elite Omega medical team in the entire Empire, and he was determined to have Qi Xing undergo the most comprehensive examination possible for drug residue, his scent gland, and his entire body.
"There is slight redness and swelling in the scent gland at the back of your neck, but last night's temporary mark was made in time, and..." The Omega hospital director, who was over fifty, studied the test report with a strange expression. He adjusted his glasses, then secretly glanced at the intimidating Huo CEO standing nearby, radiating an unmistakable keep-away aura.
"And what?" Huo Shaoyan's brows drew together, his voice dropping.
"And the compatibility between your pheromones is astonishingly high. President Huo's pheromones soothed the drug residue extremely well. Young Master Qi has no serious problems. He just needs to return to a normal routine—eat when he should, drink when he should, and sleep as much as he can. The swelling will naturally go down in a few days." The hospital director wiped the cold sweat from his temple and hurriedly answered.
"You heard him, right, Housekeeper Huo? I told you I was fine." Qi Xing sat in the examination chair, his two long legs swinging back and forth.
Today, he was wearing a loose beige turtleneck sweater that conveniently covered the patch of scent gland at the back of his neck that someone had bitten rather hard the night before.
As he spoke, he arched his brows and winked at Huo Shaoyan. The teasing in those peach-blossom eyes was so thick it practically dripped.
Huo Shaoyan let out a cold snort and was just about to step forward and pull up that heartless little tyrant when the examination room's heavy alloy doors suddenly slid open with a sharp swish.
The next instant, a tidal wave of pheromones surged through the crack in the door without warning—a winter blizzard scent carrying the cold of iron and blood, along with the acrid tang of gunpowder! It was the pheromone of a top-tier Alpha, overwhelmingly powerful and even tinged with the bloody stench of the battlefield.
Qi Xing's expression tightened slightly, surprise flashing through his eyes.
This fluctuation, this scent... It seemed a little familiar.
His memories flashed back to his previous life in the cultivation world, when there had been a peerless, wildly talented sword cultivator. To fight Qi Xing over a ninth-grade divine lotus, that lunatic had battled him for seven days and seven nights, gripping his natal flying sword the entire time.
In the end, they had both been gravely wounded, but that fight had also led to them becoming friends.
That brainless idiot had actually appeared in this world too?
"General Lu, I'm examining a patient. What brings you here?" The hospital director recognized the newcomer, his expression changing instantly as he snapped into a respectful military salute.
Standing in the doorway was a tall, strikingly built man who stood well over six feet three, his figure silhouetted against the light.
He wore the Empire's crisp, deep-navy uniform of a senior general. The gold stars on his epaulets glittered beneath the lights.
His features were so sharp they were nearly severe, as though carved with a knife and chiseled with an ax. Most striking of all were his ice-blue eyes, sharp as a hawk's, carrying the merciless disdain unique to a man in a position of power.
The youngest top-tier general in the Empire, Lu Xiao.
Lu Xiao had come to the hospital for a follow-up examination of his mental power. But when he passed this floor, he keenly caught the faint, cold rose scent in the air—a fragrance that stirred a wild tremor deep in his soul. That was why he had barged straight into the examination room in such a frenzy.
His gaze swept across the room before landing with unerring precision on Qi Xing.
In an instant, the ice-blue eyes that had been cold and lifeless erupted with astonishing light, as though he had crossed countless light-years and finally found the prey fate had chosen for him.
"What's your name?" Lu Xiao strode into the room, his military boots striking the floor with heavy, muffled thuds.
Ignoring everyone else in the room, he advanced straight toward Qi Xing. His deep, rich voice held an almost imperceptible tremor and a feverish intensity. "It really is you... I've been looking for you for so long."
The familiar exchange made Qi Xing's mouth twitch. He really was exactly the same as ever.
In his previous life, this sword cultivator had been called Lu Jiuyuan. Qi Xing still didn't know what he was called in this life, but his overbearing, overly familiar personality hadn't changed one bit. And what was with that attitude when asking someone's name, not to mention the commanding tone? It wasn't as if he even knew this man yet.
However, before Qi Xing could say a word, Huo Shaoyan had already reached out with one large, powerfully muscled hand and clamped it around Lu Xiao's shoulder, applying pressure in secret.
"General Lu, this isn't a military district. Isn't it rather rude to release oppressive pheromones at someone else's Omega in a public place?" Huo Shaoyan had already moved in front of Qi Xing, shielding him completely behind his back.
His dark eyes were as sharp as a hawk's, and murderous fury churned within them. In that instant, his pure, violent red-wine pheromones exploded without restraint!
"Boom!"
The top-tier red wine and winter blizzard collided head-on in the cramped space. The air seemed to twist, sending faint currents rippling outward from the extreme clash of pheromones.
The hospital director and the nurse beside him turned deathly pale. They scrambled out of the examination room and locked the door behind them. As long as the door stayed shut, the pheromones couldn't reach anyone outside.
Qi Xing quietly snapped his fingers. Fine strands of golden spiritual energy wound around his fingertips, and with a turn of his hand, he sealed off every attack the two men launched from reaching him. He was only an innocent patient here to watch the drama, after all. He wasn't joining the fight, and he refused to get caught in the crossfire.
The two most formidable top-tier Alphas in the entire Empire began a silent yet deadly struggle for dominance.
Lu Xiao slowly turned his head and looked coldly at the hand resting on his shoulder, then at Huo Shaoyan's icy face. The corner of his mouth curled into an intensely provocative sneer. "Someone else's Omega? President Huo, as far as I know, Qi Xing is only staying with the Huo family. You two aren't legally registered, and he hasn't received a permanent marking. So whose he is remains uncertain."
As he said this, Lu Xiao's gaze passed over Huo Shaoyan's shoulder and locked onto Qi Xing. The possessiveness, predatory interest, and aggression in his eyes were completely undisguised. "Besides, the 'cause and effect' between him and me began much earlier than you could imagine. He should have been mine from the start."
Those words struck Huo Shaoyan's deepest nerve dead-on.
The jealousy and possessiveness that had nearly spiraled out of control the night before were completely detonated by this sudden Imperial general.
"You're asking for death." Huo Shaoyan's eyes were scarlet. The rich red-wine pheromones surrounding him turned unbelievably savage, like blood-red flames burning in the abyss. He drew back his fist and slammed it toward Lu Xiao's face with a sharp whistle through the air!
Lu Xiao's eyes narrowed. His combat instincts as an Imperial general kicked in, and he tilted his head aside to evade the blow. At the same time, he bent his elbow and drove a vicious strike straight toward Huo Shaoyan's ribs.
The two men instantly engaged in the not-so-large examination room.
They used no weapons. It was purely a battle pushing the bodies and speed of two top-tier Alphas to their limits.
The dull thud of fist meeting flesh rang out again and again. Both men were left bleeding, while the medical equipment around them buzzed from the pheromones surging through the room.
"Hey, stop fighting! Stop fighting! Those machines look really expensive. Remember to pay for anything you break, okay?" Qi Xing watched from the back with his chin propped in his hand, gleefully fanning the flames as though he feared the world might not descend into enough chaos. Too bad there was no fruit or sunflower seeds to snack on. He was getting hungry.
Watching the two men throw themselves into a brawl right in front of him, Qi Xing showed not the slightest awareness that he was at the center of a love triangle. Instead, he found the way Shaoyan was jealous and fighting over him...
Hmm. It was easy on the eyes, and excellent with a meal. Yep, he really does love me.