Yan Yi drew a deep breath and forced himself to stand, grabbing an iron-wire bat from behind the door and dragging it along the floor as he descended the wooden stairs step by step.
Downstairs, Gu Wei came into view first, one foot on a round stool, his right hand gripping a half-broken, jagged beer bottle, the sharp edge pointed toward the doorway. He panted heavily and shouted harshly, “You come here to make trouble every month! Are we supposed to stop doing business?”
A few patrons huddled behind overturned tables, trembling and hiding, only to be dragged out one by one by a group of leather-jacketed alphas for inspection.
Leading them was a J1-differentiated locust alpha, sporting a gold-dyed mohawk.
The locust alpha held a scanning needle, lifting each hiding customer and scanning their glands, then tossing them aside as though they were trash.
“Go. Search upstairs.” The locust alpha beckoned, and the five accompanying J1-differentiated alphas followed up the wooden stairs.
“Hey! Don’t just rush upstairs!” Gu Wei, worried for Yan Yi’s safety, grabbed the locust alpha’s arm. In an instant, he released oppressive pheromones while activating his own J1 differentiation ability.
A husky alpha’s J1 differentiation can turn objects touched by their fingers into shattered fragments in an instant.
The locust alpha’s sleeve creaked as leather twisted. He glared viciously at Gu Wei, pulled his arm back in time, and swung a sharp kick toward him.
Gu Wei instinctively blocked; his gland cells awakened biological traits—enhancing his hind legs like a locust alpha’s—so no one could resist the sweeping kick. He crashed into the wall, and in the scramble his hand landed on a high stool, which instantly shattered into pieces.
The locust alpha studied Gu Wei closely, sneering, “A little J1 pup dares to bark at us?”
Gu Wei clutched his stomach. As a civilian, the kick had felt like iron rods smashing into his organs. Weakly, he gritted his teeth and glared, “What do you want?”
The locust alpha sneered. “Any high-level glands upstairs?”
This wasn’t just a gang of ordinary thugs.
Yan Yi quietly observed from the second floor, stepping back two paces to hide behind a dressing mirror. He pressed a hand to his heaving chest and slowed his breathing.
“Gland hunter…” He clenched his bat and set it aside, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling his pristine sleeves up to his elbows. He tore two strips from a white bedsheet and wrapped them around his hands as wrist guards.
“Ugh.” Blood roared through his veins, and Yan Yi clutched his chest in pain, kneeling, sweat pouring like rain. His glands were still semi-dormant, barely reaching J1 level.
But against a few locusts, it was enough.
As the locust alpha and his five alphas reached the seventh or eighth step upstairs, a shadow suddenly flashed.
Yan Yi’s bartender uniform hadn’t even been changed yet. He leapt, hands wrapped in bandages gripping the wooden railing, pivoted off the wall with his toes, and performed a flying kick. Wood splintered explosively as several alphas were slammed down to the first floor.
At the same time, he released oppressive pheromones—a soft, sweet candy scent spreading—and activated his Lop-eared Rabbit J1 differentiation ability, “High-Speed Leap,” the moment he landed.
“Omega?” The locust alpha froze, then checked his scanning needle. The pheromone differentiation index indicated J1.
“Quick! Grab him! A J1 omega! Now, now, now!” Excited, the locust alpha’s face flushed red. His eyes fixed on Yan Yi like swarms of locusts on ripe grain, waiting for the moment to devour this omega entirely.
A J1-differentiated omega was far rarer than an alpha of the same level. Differentiated omegas were already scarce, but those able to influence offspring genes were even more coveted—prime targets for gland hunters.
The locust alpha barked orders. Five guns aimed at Yan Yi. He knew they wouldn’t dare fire, and in an instant, he leapt behind the locust alpha, locking his throat with one hand while wrapping his legs tightly around the alpha’s waist.
The size gap between alpha and omega meant even same-level omegas rarely subdued an alpha.
Yan Yi twisted onto the alpha’s neck, bones cracking in a series of sharp snaps, as the locust alpha screamed and collapsed, his cervical vertebrae dislocated.
“Shoot him! Cripple him! Don’t damage the glands—they still sell!” The locust alpha shrieked hysterically, but Yan Yi stomped on his mouth.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Five bullets were fired at Yan Yi’s legs, meant to disable the omega while keeping his glands intact for value.
Yan Yi flipped backward, the bullets grazing his waist, and with his right hand, swiped in a circle, catching all five bullets between his fingers, then threw them back before landing.
Blood spread across the bar. The five J1 alphas rolled on the floor clutching their bleeding calves.
“Ugh… Gu Wei… suppressant, give me two vials…” Yan Yi knelt, assaulted by the overwhelming scent of alpha pheromones, burying his face in his arm, fingers scraping the wooden floor with faint cracks.
“D-dead, you… die already!” Gu Wei slammed a tabletop onto the locust alpha, snapping out of his shock at Yan Yi’s weak plea, and quickly grabbed a box of suppressants, patting Yan Yi’s back. “You’re still fighting in heat?”
Gu Wei released as much soothing pheromone as he could, but their compatibility was low—perhaps below 65%—so the effect was minimal.
Still, it was better than nothing.
Yan Yi’s complexion improved slightly. Confused and exhausted, he retrieved a vial of suppressant, biting open the plastic seal just as the pressure outside the door surged.
Yan Yi froze, his expression hardening, and signaled Gu Wei: “Hide, now.”
A massive, muscular alpha stepped into the bar, bald head veined, the polished scalp stamped with a PBB logo and a small serial number, 000084.
PBB—the Pacific Biogen Differentiation Base.
“PBB…” Yan Yi took two cautious steps back, nostrils flaring slightly, heart rate surging beneath his calm exterior.
“Stop! Stop!” Gu Wei blocked in front of Yan Yi. He could sense the newcomer’s overwhelming aura. Even though this little rabbit fought well, he was drained from heat, and facing an alpha of this caliber was almost suicidal.
The newcomer was a Rhino alpha, gland type Giant Horn Rhino M2.
The alpha’s gaze didn’t waver. He grabbed Gu Wei’s neck like tossing a water bottle and slammed him to the ground with brutal force.
Gu Wei coughed up blood, bones screaming. Differentiation levels created an unbridgeable gap—J1 against M2 was utterly powerless.
The Rhino alpha stepped over the limp Gu Wei, heading toward the crouching lop-eared rabbit.
Yan Yi’s blood boiled, all focus consumed. When the Rhino alpha’s hand reached for him, he could only flee.
Activating High-Speed Leap again, the air suddenly thickened like congealed jam, slamming him backward. His ankle was gripped by a massive hand, almost crushing it.
Giant Horn Rhino J1 differentiation ability: “Strength Enhancement”
Giant Horn Rhino M2 differentiation ability: “Impenetrable Wall”
The world spun. Yan Yi curled to shield the baby in his womb, flung by the Rhino alpha.
He rolled, protecting the life within, scraping his cheek and bleeding from his nose.
Wiping the blood, he exhausted his last reserves, struggled upright a few times, then collapsed in defeat.
The Rhino alpha smiled with satisfaction, approaching. “Lop-eared rabbit J1 omega… a worthy catch. Quite the haul.”
“You’re a PBB member…” Yan Yi managed, breath ragged, bones aching from heat. “After defecting, you became a gland hunter…?”
The Rhino alpha touched the serial on his polished scalp. “You know PBB. Impressive.”
“Because I… am one too…” Yan Yi gasped, enduring the agonizing spread of pain through his skeleton.
Suddenly, the Rhino alpha paused.
From the end of the bar street, an even stronger aura approached.
A tall, imposing figure appeared at the street’s edge. The Rhino alpha squinted—another M2-level alpha, immediately exuding the pressure unique to M2 alphas.
Hostile.
——
Yan Yi felt himself scooped up, held tightly in a protective embrace. Aggressive, familiar scent flooded his nose—daffodil-like.
Excess calming pheromones coursed through his glands into his nerves, not exactly comfortable, but stabilizing each cell about to explode.
Lu Shangjin held the little rabbit with one arm, a cigarette pinched in his right hand, tilting his body so Yan Yi could rest against his shoulder.
A few ashes floated away in the wind. The smoldering tip fell at their feet; Lu Shangjin crushed it underfoot, eyes radiating an imposing coldness.
The Rhino alpha raised an eyebrow. “This lop-eared rabbit is my prey.”
Unconsciously, Yan Yi grabbed Lu Shangjin’s collar, face pale enough to inspire pity.
Lu Shangjin opened his right hand, a tactical dagger sliding out from his sleeve. He spun it in his palm a few times, reversing his grip, eyes half-lidded, calmly staring at the Rhino alpha:
“Are you worthy?”