Xiao Xun, who had been missing for nearly two years with no word from him, suddenly returned home. This news startled the elders of the family, but since he was merely an omega with no leverage whatsoever in the division of the estate, they concluded that Xiao Xun had returned solely to make a splash at tomorrow’s Selection Ceremony. Though they were inwardly displeased, they managed to maintain the dignified composure befitting their status as elders.
The servants led them directly to the dining room. Though called a dining room, its scale rivaled that of a banquet hall. Two long tables stood in the spacious, well-lit hall, with an enamel vase filled with fresh flowers placed at regular intervals along each. The servants bustled about, distributing cutlery and serving exquisite dishes.
Han Xingqian assumed some important figure must be attending the banquet today, but Xiao Xun whispered, “This is how we eat every day at our house.”
A group of young masters and young ladies were ushered downstairs and took their seats at the long tables. Most sat quietly at their places, each engrossed in their phones. Once the ladies had settled in, they chatted and laughed politely in hushed tones, discussing the new jewelry each had acquired, as well as other gossip about the Song, Qi, and Lingti families.
It wasn’t until the younger generation and the Omegas were all seated that the Alphas began to enter one by one. Third Uncle was still on the phone; his booming voice, typically full of vigor during business discussions, sounded somewhat jarring in the dining room.
After a while, the hushed conversation in the hall came to a halt.
Han Xingqian followed the crowd’s gaze and saw the patriarch of the Xiao family and his eldest uncle descending the spiral staircase together.
The patriarch, Xiao Changxiu, was vigorous and alert. Though in his seventies, he stood tall and straight; the lean, muscular build characteristic of the Lingti clan kept him from looking old, though the unavoidable wrinkles on his face gave him an air of inevitable age and weariness.
Ever since the passing of the late Patriarch Xiao Youzhang, the entire Lingti clan had continued to function as usual under Xiao Changxiu’s control. As long as the Patriarch kept his ambitious sons in check, the Lingti clan would remain orderly.
From the moment the old patriarch, Xiao Changxiu, came into view, Xiao Xun had been staring at him coldly. Unlike the other younger relatives whose eyes betrayed reverence, his gaze held no respect; in fact, his right index finger began to lightly rub his thigh, making a subtle motion as if pulling a trigger.
When his eldest uncle entered the hall, he gave Xiao Xun a perfunctory pat on the shoulder and said, “It’s good to have you back.” Spotting Han Xingqian in his white lab coat, he frowned imperceptibly and asked in a lowered voice, “You must be Dr. Han, the one Old Chen recommended to treat Xiao Feng. You’re quite a promising young man.”
Though he spoke these words, Han Xingqian could tell that the uncle didn’t have much faith in his medical skills. In the medical profession, seniority is always valued, but he responded with a polite smile: “Yes, I’d like to see Ms. Song Feng first. Is now a good time?”
“There’s no rush. You’ve traveled a long way; please stay for a simple meal first.” ” The old man called a servant to show Han Xingqian to his seat, then turned and sat down at his own table. From his attitude, it was clear he didn’t take his daughter-in-law’s condition very seriously.
Xiao Zizhe, half her face swollen from a blow by Xiao Xun, walked in with an ice pack. She glared fiercely at Xiao Xun before taking her seat.
At the table, the old patriarch picked up his chopsticks before the others began to eat.
Han Xingqian, too, came from a scholarly family; his manners and demeanor were impeccable. However, since he was an outsider, he was not seated at the head of the table where the Alphas gathered, but rather closer to the ladies.
This made it easier for him to observe the Lingti family’s Omegas.
There were both men and women, in roughly equal numbers, and every one of them was strikingly beautiful, with elegant manners and refined speech. However, they generally did not approach outsiders to chat, nor did they discuss topics at the table that might embarrass the guests.
A seat remained empty at the long table. As the meal drew to a close, an omega dressed in loose-fitting robes and trousers finally arrived late. Her cheeks and limbs were slightly swollen, and she needed a servant’s support to walk.
Han Xingqian could easily tell that her swelling was caused by having recently given birth and now being pregnant again. Among the Omegas of the Lingti family, the bloated figure of a mother who had just given birth stood out as extremely jarring.
People scrutinized her with strange looks. One young lady giggled quietly under her breath, only to be glared at by her mother sitting beside her as a warning.
“Eldest Sister-in-Law.” Xiao Xun struggled to recognize her amidst the swelling that had distorted her features.
Song Feng apologized sheepishly to the others, explaining that the child had been crying and she’d only managed to calm him down and make her way over, which is why she was running late.
Seeing that she was having trouble, Xiao Xun stood up and pulled out a chair for her. Song Feng noticed him and gave a faint smile: “Xiao Xun, is it? Thank you.”
Her eyes and brows weren’t the delicate, gentle type; instead, she had a slightly defiant arch to her eyebrows. Her features looked sharp and commanding, though her beauty was obscured by puffiness.
This kind of appearance was not the type that would be popular in the Lingti family.
Her eldest brother, Xiao Zichi, was sitting not far away at another long table. Yet he didn’t care at all that his wife had difficulty walking; in fact, when others laughed at her figure, a wave of shame and resentment welled up in him, and he simply turned his head away to avoid looking.
The smile on his wife’s face froze until it vanished; she silently lowered her head, staring blankly at the exquisite meal on her plate.
Suddenly, she sat up with a start, hurriedly left the table, and went to the nursery next to the dining room. She took her child—who had started crying for no apparent reason—from the nanny’s arms, soothed the baby nervously, and only relaxed once she was certain the child was unharmed.
Han Xingqian closed his eyes to sense his sister-in-law’s heart rate, pulse, and breathing. He had a general understanding of her condition: prenatal depression. It was only to be expected that it would worsen in this environment, reducing a once-powerful female executive to such a haggard state, where she was on edge at the slightest sound.
Fortunately, their real objective was merely to draw attention in the open; otherwise, curing his sister-in-law’s illness would have been no easy task.
Aside from my sister-in-law’s condition, Han Xingqian also noticed a peculiar phenomenon: the Omegas at the table were mostly engaged in soft, quiet conversation, and when they did put food in their mouths, it was only a tiny amount—perhaps just a grain or two of rice. It seemed as though eating was merely a performance meant to display elegance.
Han Xingqian was puzzled and wanted to ask Xiao Xun, but he noticed that Xiao Xun, sitting next to him, wasn’t using his chopsticks much either; the food on his plate hadn’t diminished at all.
“Omegas don’t eat at the table,” Xiao Xun explained softly. “After lunch, the servants will bring the food to the private dining rooms in their bedrooms.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone is wearing a corset, and it’s laced very, very tight—that’s how they keep their waists slim. Even a small amount of food makes their stomachs feel very full. They wait until lunch is over to return to their rooms, loosen their corsets, and eat—but they can’t eat too much, or they’ll gain weight.”
“And even without a corset, you can’t keep eating. Others will think this omega is a glutton, and gluttony leads to weight gain. Being overweight makes you ugly, and ugliness brings shame to your elders. If you bring shame, you won’t be able to get married. If you can’t get married, you can’t bring benefits to the family. An omega who can’t bring benefits is useless.”
“Bullshit.” Han Xingqian silently mouthed the swear word. He found this etiquette, which ran counter to modern medical theory, laughable.
Xiao Xun’s body trembled slightly. He silently tucked his tail between his legs, lowering his head and avoiding Han’s gaze.
With everyone gathered in the dining hall, Bai Chunian and Lan Bo’s mission went much more smoothly. Since most of the servants were helping out in the kitchen and dining hall, places like the data backup room—where few people ever went—were exceptionally quiet.
Lan Bo short-circuited a few circuit breakers to distract the security guards near the backup room, while Bai Chunian deftly picked the lock and teased in a low voice, “Oh, Brother Han swore. That’s a classic.”
No matter how complex the lock, it was no match for Bai Chunian. He pushed the door open just a crack, put on his glasses, and scanned the room for any infrared motion detectors. Once he confirmed it was safe, Lan Bo reset the circuit breakers and slipped inside just before the backup room door closed.
“Don’t touch anything.” Bai Chunian slipped on a pair of rubber gloves and quickly began rummaging through the file racks for the backed-up documents.
“This is it.” Bai Chunian pulled a bound copy of a contract from the newest file rack. They were all transportation contracts signed with Research Institute 109, including purchase lists for finished pharmaceutical products and raw materials destined for export. Among them was “Monoenine,” the drug with the highest demand.
Bai Chunian used a miniature camera to photograph everything and sent the images back to the technical department. The covert photography mission was complete; everything had gone smoothly.
As they prepared to leave, Lan Bo pointed to the bottom of the filing cabinet: “There’s a stack of papers here.”
Bai Chunian was a bit puzzled and picked it up to take a look.
It was a stack of contract manufacturing agreements. Under these contracts, the Institute commissioned Lingti Family to transport raw materials to their factory, where they were processed into semi-finished products before being shipped to the Institute’s various cultivation bases. The core technology, however, remained firmly in the Institute’s hands.
The raw material components for various basic pharmaceuticals were listed in detail in the contract. Bai Chunian had already memorized the basic ingredients of each formula. By cross-referencing the ingredient list in the contract, he recognized that these materials were used to synthesize SH Shielding Agents, Ac Promoters, and IN Infection Agents. After roughly calculating the tonnage, it appeared that some raw materials would be left over, and there were also some unfamiliar materials present.
He photographed this information and sent it back to the technical department, also forwarding a copy to Han Xingqian.
Not long after, Han Xingqian said, “These are the raw materials for the artificial fusion-promoting agent. We’ve detected a special gene in you, Lan Bo, Jin Luchong, and his brother—it’s harmless to the body and only helps establish a connection within you. The one in your bodies is natural, while this is artificial.” ”
“Union-promoting factor… what’s it for?”
“It forcibly connects two unrelated glands, allowing one to nourish the other. But there are definitely side effects and limitations; its applications are very narrow.”
“Oh.”
Attached to the end of the contract was a blurry black-and-white photocopy of a photo. It depicted a tall, ghostly test subject draped in white cloth, hands reverently clasped before their chest, cradling a smooth, fist-sized spherical object in their palms.
The caption read: Test Subject 200, Immortal Spirit; photographed on March 20, K034.
Although the photocopy of the photo was extremely blurry, Bai Chunian felt a strange intuition that made him unable to tear his gaze away from the fist-sized sphere held in the immortal spirit’s hands.