On Friday, when the bell rang for the end of the last class, He Wei sleepily propped himself up. The other students were packing their schoolbags. After being awake for two seconds, He Wei simply grabbed his phone and car keys and left.
He slowly made his way to the back door of Class One and glanced toward the seat at the end of the third row. Empty.
He Wei tilted his head and asked an omega who was organizing his desk, “Where’s Lu He-Yang?”
“An omega just came looking for him. He went out,” the other person answered softly, rather shyly.
“Okay, thanks,” He Wei said.
What could an omega possibly want with Lu He-Yang? He Wei didn’t even have to think about it to know.
From childhood until now, he had always thought of Lu He-Yang as a rather cold alpha, accustomed to keeping his distance from other people. But, coincidentally, that sense of detachment might actually make him even more attractive.
He Wei thought that, setting aside Lu He-Yang’s face and figure, if he were a little gentler and more approachable, perhaps people wouldn’t be so excessively infatuated with him.
Or he could do what He Wei did and use “My ideal type is an omega over six feet tall with abs” as his reason for rejecting people. That was equally effective.
He Wei went downstairs to the vending machines on the open-air level and bought two bottles of water. He waited by the staircase for a while before seeing Lu He-Yang walking over from another passageway.
“How many people have you rejected at the Preparatory School so far?” He handed the water to Lu He-Yang.
Lu He-Yang said nothing. He unscrewed the cap, took a sip of water, and walked toward the school building’s exit.
It was early summer, and large patches of tulips were blooming in the flower beds. Because of their variety, their fragrance was very faint. Students slowly made their way toward the school gate along the central avenue, and among the crowd were quite a few couples walking together.
The Preparatory School had never restricted dating. Whenever students got into a relationship, their parents would investigate the other person’s background more thoroughly than anyone else. If they deemed the relationship suitable, the parents would turn a blind eye. If they deemed it unsuitable, they also had plenty of ways to make the relationship end.
“Hey, what kind of person do you actually like?” He Wei suddenly became curious, even though he knew he wouldn’t get an answer.
Lu He-Yang answered, “An omega over six feet tall with abs.”
He Wei laughed and cursed, “Oh, come on!”
Lu He-Yang skipped over the topic entirely and asked, “Where are we going?”
“Food first.” He Wei bit the tip of his tongue and gave a soft, amused snort. “After we eat, we’re going to Huyan Club.”
“What are we going there for?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know. Just tell me if you’re going or not.”
Huyan Club was located in a scenic area on the outskirts of the capital. The entire scenic area was open only to members and provided services for leisure, socializing, or handling public-relations matters. Huyan Club was considered the most discreet establishment there, one whose existence was tacitly understood by all the wealthy and powerful.
“Last time I took an omega there to have some fun, he watched for less than two minutes before throwing up. He cried and asked me to take him home. Later, he even called me and said he’d had nightmares for several days, asking me why I liked watching that kind of perverted stuff.” He Wei found it both funny and helpless. “It’s precisely because it’s perverted that it’s interesting. Life is so boring. If you don’t look for something bizarre, how are you supposed to blow off steam?”
Some people had only lived a dozen or so years yet had already seen everything that others might never encounter in their entire lives. So they needed rarer, newer forms of stimulation to satisfy something inside themselves. He Wei was one of those people.
“I’ve seen it,” Lu He-Yang said succinctly.
The car keys He Wei had been tossing in the air a second earlier immediately fell to the ground.
Lu He-Yang bent down and picked them up. He Wei stared at him, stunned for several seconds, before finally asking, “Why did you go watch that kind of thing?”
It seemed he had already forgotten that only half a minute ago, he had been asking Lu He-Yang whether he wanted to go to Huyan Club.
“You said it yourself.” Lu He-Yang placed the car keys back into his hand. “Bizarre.”
“Oh… Lu He-Yang is a hidden pervert.” He Wei came back to himself and clicked his tongue several times. “I’ll expose this sooner or later and ruin your reputation.”
Lu He-Yang smiled but said nothing.
After walking out of the school gate, He Wei took off his bracelet and raised a hand to slick his bangs back. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he said, “Oh, right. It’s Friday today.”
He raised both elbows into a boxing stance and said, “I heard No. 17 is fighting today.”
Lu Heyang looked at him. “Who?”
“You’ll know when we get there. He won’t disappoint you.”
Lu Heyang did not ask any more questions, and the two of them headed toward the parking lot. On the way, they passed a row of vehicle sheds, likewise specially prepared by the preparatory school for students to park their vehicles. Mountain bikes costing a few thousand yuan and heavy motorcycles worth hundreds of thousands were arranged in a jumbled assortment.
Since it was dismissal time, most of the vehicles in the sheds had already been ridden away. So although the old bicycle by itself was extremely inconspicuous, it still caught one’s attention at a glance—especially with an alpha squatting beside it.
Xu Ze was repairing the bicycle by hand, gripping the chain as he worked. It had probably come off when he parked it that morning, but he had not noticed. This old bicycle frequently developed all sorts of problems, and he was used to it.
“Need some help?”
Xu Ze raised his head. He saw that He Wei still wore that irritating smile on his face, the kind that seemed to say he would die if he did not cause trouble, as he looked down at him.
“No, thank you.” Xu Ze did not look toward He Wei’s side. He promptly withdrew his gaze and lowered his head, continuing to fiddle with the troublesome chain.
“Isn’t this oil really hard to wash off your hands?” He Wei seemed quite interested in this nearly scrapped bicycle. He even leaned closer to look. “How long does it usually take to repair?”
The temperature seemed somewhat high today. Xu Ze felt a thin layer of sweat forming on his back, and his neck was hot as well. All he could see was his own hands, rubbing back and forth, covered in black grease. Finally, he accurately fitted the chain back onto the gear, gripped the pedal, and turned it several times. Then he stood up and answered, “Three or four minutes.”
After saying that, Xu Ze rubbed his fingers together. Then, for some reason, he instinctively moved his hand toward his clothes to wipe it.
“Hey, your school uniform.” He Wei reminded him.
Xu Ze’s hand stopped stiffly halfway. He then rubbed his palms together, awkwardly rubbing them against each other a few times. He smelled the strong scent of machine oil. He had never found it so unpleasant before.
A tissue was suddenly held out in front of him. The thumb pressing down on it was fair and clean. Looking farther forward, the wrist was slender. The alpha’s tone was calm. “I only found one. Wipe your hands with it.”
Xu Ze froze for a moment and raised his head, but his gaze stopped halfway upward, finally landing on Lu Heyang’s nose. It looked as though he was looking directly at him, but in reality, their eyes never quite met.
“Thank you.” Xu Ze’s throat seemed somewhat uncomfortable, and even the voice that came out sounded unlike his own.
“You’re welcome.” Lu Heyang glanced at his phone and said to He Wei, “Let’s go.”
After dinner, He Wei had someone deliver some clothes over. The two changed out of their school uniforms and drove toward the western part of the city. Compared with the other areas of the capital, the western district had relatively frequent population movement, and the situation was somewhat more complicated. Most of the buildings here were old, aged and run-down. The concrete roads were full of potholes, and at a glance, nearly every neon sign outside the shops was missing a character or part of one. Very few were intact.
“No wonder you wanted to change cars.” Lu Heyang looked out the window.
“Driving a supercar into a place like this would be asking to die.” He Wei smiled. “It’s a mess around here. The people above have been afraid to touch this place for so many years. I’m not going to be the one who sticks my head out.”
The car drove into a narrow alley. Half a minute later, they arrived in front of a building. Several faded, shabby advertising signs hung on its exterior walls. None of the lights inside or outside the building were on, leaving everything pitch-black. Yet faintly, they could hear indistinct voices coming from somewhere far away.
The two climbed the steps, pushed aside a hard, yellowed rubber curtain, and entered the building. After passing through the empty, dim lobby, He Wei led Lu Heyang to an elevator and stopped. The inside and outside of this building looked like a scattered demolition site, yet the elevator was still operating. The voices they had heard outside were now closer—it seemed they had not been coming from far away at all, but from underground.
The elevator doors opened, and Lu Heyang and He Wei stepped inside. The elevator walls were plastered with advertisements. He Wei pressed B2. As the elevator descended, the noisy sounds grew increasingly clear.
Ding—
The instant the doors opened, it was as though a heavy curtain had been lifted. The sounds that had been suppressed beneath it suddenly became sharp and distinct, crashing directly against their eardrums with a pounding roar.
“This used to be a shopping mall, but it was abandoned later.” After stepping out of the elevator, the surroundings were too noisy, so He Wei had to lean close to Lu Heyang’s ear to speak. “Someone connected the basement parking garage on B2 with the supermarket on B1 and turned it into an underground club.”
Various smells filled the air: pheromones, perfume, smoke, alcohol…
An omega wearing a bikini had approached at some point and pressed against Lu Heyang’s side, her soft chest against his arm.
Lu Heyang turned his head and lowered his eyes. The omega had a pack of cigarettes pinched between two fingers, with another cigarette held between their lips. Their lips were slightly parted as they gently blew a puff of blueberry-capsule smoke toward him. Beneath long, curled eyelashes were a pair of eyes wearing purple-colored contact lenses.
Dark pink light shone down from above, making everything hazy and suggestive. Lu Heyang smiled at the omega and reached out to take the pack of cigarettes. Then, with his fingertips, he hooked the strap of the omega’s bikini and tucked several bills into it.
“Young Master Lu really knows how to play along.” He Wei tossed around a can of iced beer he had just bought from another omega and laughed.
Constantly, probing gazes were directed toward them from within the crowd, sizing up the two unfamiliar young, tall alphas. He Wei paid no attention, draped an arm around Lu Heyang’s shoulder, and led him toward another passage.
At the end of it was a circular arena. It was not particularly large. The stepped stands were already packed with people, while at the very center of the venue was a sunken octagonal cage enclosed fighting ring.
The spectators were all kinds of people, from disheveled drunks to white-collar workers in shirts, and then to the wealthy people seated in the VIP section. They had gathered here in a dense, noisy mass.
After their tickets were checked and they entered, a lean alpha hurried over with his back bent. He Wei lowered his head and said a few words to him. The man immediately nodded and led them forward to the third row.
After sitting down, He Wei pulled out several bills. Lu Heyang casually handed over the cigarettes they had just bought as well. The alpha accepted everything and immediately left, quick and knowing his place.
Less than half a minute later, the lights suddenly went out.
The entire venue plunged into darkness. Then, a dazzling beam of light shot down from the center of the ceiling, illuminating the octagonal cage. At the same time, the electronic screen directly above lit up, displaying the fighters’ names: Owen and No. 17, with several strings of betting numbers beneath them.
“Number 17 is the youngest fighter here, an S-rank alpha. He comes to fight every Friday,” He Wei said. “But when I came last Friday, he wasn’t here. I heard he fought early on Thursday. That match was particularly brutal.”
“He’s really just called Number 17?” Lu Heyang looked at the screen and asked.
“Yeah, he’s just called Number 17. He’s pretty good, but I heard he doesn’t win very often. In underground fighting, there’s bound to be some behind-the-scenes manipulation. If someone wants him to win, then he has to win. If they want him to lose, of course he has no choice but to lose.” He Wei said, “People get killed in this kind of ring all the time. Number 17 is pretty smart. He doesn’t fight for victory or try to stand out. Although he doesn’t make as much money as the others, at least he can keep his life.”
A sudden wave of screams erupted. A spotlight shone on the fighters’ entrance, and an alpha walked out, throwing punches into the air arrogantly toward the crowd. His muscles were astonishingly bulging, to the point of looking somewhat exaggerated. Only after he lifted his leg and stepped into the octagonal cage did Lu Heyang clearly see the other alpha who had been blocked behind him—Number 17.
By comparison, Number 17 looked much younger and thinner. He had an upright build, long limbs, and a layer of smooth, lean muscle covering his body in just the right amount. Under the lights, he looked fresh and clean—if one ignored the scars covering his skin.
The screams grew even louder. Number 17 bit his mouthguard into place and put on his gloves. Then he raised his head and calmly glanced toward the audience. The upper half of his face was covered with greasepaint, obscuring his features and leaving only his lips and chin visible.
The referee entered the ring. The door of the octagonal cage closed. The two alphas stood facing each other inside, surrounded on all sides by black steel wire mesh.
There were no judges here, no standards, no scoring, and no medals. There was only violence without rules or weight classes, like the most primitive arena of beasts.
The audience was already roaring so loudly before the match had even begun that it seemed ready to burst through the roof. He Wei’s eyes grew excited as well. He popped a piece of chewing gum into his mouth and chuckled. “Isn’t this more exciting than all that fencing, horseback riding, and taekwondo we learn?”
Lu Heyang merely adjusted the setting on the bracelet around his left wrist, stared at Number 17’s profile, and said nothing.