Even though Bai Chunian had once experienced a simulated mature-state version of Lan Bo during the ATWL exam, hearing him speak fluent Chinese in reality still felt strangely unfamiliar.
Bai Chunian stood rigidly where he was. His Adam’s apple moved, but no words came out.
“How long will this drug last?” Lan Bo murmured near his ear, his steady voice brushing against the Alpha’s nerves. The icy tip of his tail slipped under Bai Chunian’s collar, popping open the buttons to reveal his collarbone and chest.
“Twenty-four hours,” Bai Chunian answered stiffly.
“I’ll treasure it,” Lan Bo said with a smile. His long fingers lifted the special iron chains fastened to his neck and wrists. “These human high-tech gadgets make me completely powerless.”
“I’ll do it.”
Bai Chunian knelt on one knee beside the pool and twisted apart the restraining chains locking Lan Bo in place.
His hardened bones allowed him to break alloy restraints easily, but he still placed his palm between the cuff and Lan Bo’s skin to prevent the broken edges from cutting the merman.
Lan Bo made no effort to hide his heated gaze.
His bold stare settled on the Alpha’s focused face as his webbed hand, dripping with water, slowly traced the elegant lines of Bai Chunian’s features.
Once all the chains were broken, Bai Chunian hesitated before extending his hand.
“You… can hold onto me.”
As the restraints fell away, the wound on Lan Bo’s face began to heal gradually, his skin returning to flawless smoothness. Propping his elbow on the edge of the pool, he leaned closer to the Alpha and murmured near his ear:
“You’ve been staring at me this whole time… do you want to kiss me?”
Back when Lan Bo was still in the developmental stage and unable to speak full sentences, it had been less noticeable.
But now his voice reminded Bai Chunian strongly of a French singer he liked—an angelically beautiful face paired with a voice as rich and intoxicating as expensive coffee and wine clinking against glass.
Bai Chunian forced himself to endure it.
The hand he had extended toward Lan Bo clenched tightly into a fist.
“Randi,” Lan Bo said, resting his head in his hand as he gazed at him. “Are you wondering if this would count as betraying the version of me from the developmental stage?”
“Shut up for a second. Do you even know where you are?”
Bai Chunian grabbed his thin shoulders and fiercely bit down on his lips, capturing his reckless tongue and stealing the air he breathed.
“Let’s go.”
He lifted Lan Bo out of the water and held him against his chest to warm him.
The icy pool had dropped Lan Bo’s body temperature dangerously low. His joints were stiff, and even his healing ability had slowed. The scattered wounds on his body had turned pale from soaking in the water—rapid temperature changes were extremely harmful to a merman’s body.
“Your kissing skills are pretty good… practiced seriously before?” Lan Bo coiled obediently around him, the tip of his tail wrapping around Bai Chunian’s left leg as he licked his lips, savoring the kiss.
Bai Chunian carried him away, carefully avoiding surveillance cameras.
“I can tie the tip of your tail in a knot with my tongue.”
“That won’t do.” Lan Bo wrapped his arms around him, the slender tip of his tail brushing lightly against his pants. “The tip of my tail is one of my most sensitive spots. I can’t just let someone put it in their mouth.”
A curse squeezed through the clenched teeth of Bai Chunian. He reacted almost instantly. Freeing one hand, he grabbed the tip of Lan Bo’s tail and stuffed it into his pocket to stop him from teasing any further.
The Alpha’s innocent reaction clearly amused Lan Bo. He gently sucked on Bai Chunian’s earlobe.
“It’s so hot here… why is it red? Did my words make you shy?”
“Talk less.” Bai Chunian released a thread of oppressive pheromones.
Lan Bo’s gland had already been severely overexerted. Stimulated by the pressure pheromone, he hissed softly and rested against the Alpha’s shoulder, finally quiet.
“When I fuck you later, I’ll bully you with pressure pheromones too.”
“Sure.” Bai Chunian curled his lips slightly. “Come try it.”
Only now could he focus and concentrate on planning their escape route.
After turning a few corners, two patrol officers appeared at the end of the corridor and came face to face with them. Both had guns holstered at their waists. When they saw Bai Chunian carrying Lan Bo, they froze for a moment, immediately drawing their pistols and contacting their superiors to report the situation.
The faucet of a sink at the corner had not been fully closed. Lan Bo released a spark from his fingertips and manipulated the faucet open. The surging stream of water condensed in his hand into a transparent grenade launcher.
He fired six water shells in rapid succession at the two officers.
Lan Bo had not compressed the water molecules to the density required for true Water-Forged Steel, so the shells lacked the destructive power of real grenades. Still, when the water shells exploded, the shockwave was strong enough to blast the officers backward. Water drenched them completely, and their radios short-circuited, cutting off communication.
“Hold on tight,” Bai Chunian said.
Lan Bo wrapped his arms around the Alpha’s waist and gripped the back of his clothes. Bai Chunian supported the merman’s waist with one hand and moved with agile steps, lightly touching the wall with his feet. Every crack or dent became a foothold.
Like a swift hunting cat, he silently crossed several red laser beams and fled along the planned route.
Lan Bo’s weapon changed depending on the water sources they passed—sometimes a handgun, sometimes a rocket launcher.
His aim was precise. High-pressure water shells fired one after another, each strong enough to knock opponents unconscious. No one could block their path.
Lan Bo deliberately avoided compressing the water ammunition into Water-Forged Steel rounds. After the explosions, only puddles remained. Once the water evaporated, there would be no evidence that any attack had occurred.
—
The pure black Bentley was waiting outside the detention center.
Suddenly the alarm bells inside the facility began blaring. Bai Chunian and Lan Bo were likely being surrounded and hunted.
Domino rested his chin on his hand by the window.
“This is troublesome. If both of them get caught on camera, all our work will be wasted. I’ll go give them a hand.”
The Alpha driving the car silently allowed it.
Domino jumped out of the car and removed his hood. Two antennae rose from his curls. He casually picked up a small stone and tossed it into the air.
Behind him, the faint shadow of fiery red scaled wings appeared, fluttering lightly.
His J1 ability quietly activated.
Sun Flash Butterfly gland ability — “Chain Reaction.”
Do something trivial, and it will completely alter the direction of an event’s development.
(The direction cannot be controlled.)
The small stone Domino tossed struck a wildflower growing between the cracks of an old wall. A bee resting inside the flower woke and flew off with a buzz, landing on a window frame of the detention center and crawling through a gap.
One of the officers chasing Bai Chunian and Lan Bo ran directly into the bee. It stung his nose.
He shouted and fired a shot in pain. The bullet blew apart a surveillance camera. At the same time, he slipped and knocked over a bottle of undiluted disinfectant alcohol sitting on the windowsill.
In the monitoring room, a guard suddenly saw one of the camera feeds turn into static. He contacted nearby patrol officers to investigate.
A patrol officer who was about to change shifts received the message. The ash from the cigarette in his hand fell onto a pillow on the resting bed without him noticing. As he left the room, the ash slowly ignited the pillow.
The flame spread across the bed sheet, then to the curtains, and then to the duty logbook on the table, setting the entire rack of logbooks on fire.
The fire spread out of the room and ignited the alcohol spilled on the cleaning supplies. Rags, mops, the cleaning cart, and the dirty sheets and clothes waiting to be washed all burned together.
The fire-suppression system detected smoke and flames and began spraying large amounts of water. The entire corridor descended into chaos.
The patrol officers still in the hallways completely lost track of their targets in the confusion.
—
Bai Chunian carried Lan Bo through a ventilation duct, then leapt from the tall building.
His toes touched the ground silently, absorbing the impact.
Moments later, they vanished into the lively maze of old city streets.
—
The Bentley started.
Domino climbed back inside, and the car quietly drove away from the detention center’s back entrance.
Meanwhile, Han Xingqian and Xiao Xun were not nearby. They had returned to the place where Lan Bo had fought the Yeqibu-armored Alphas.
The ground was still covered in blood, and officers were guarding the scene and photographing everything.
In a concealed spot, Han Xingqian activated his J1 ability — Endurance Reset, restoring the blood-stained ground and walls scarred by battle back to a spotless, brand-new state.
Then he repeatedly used the same ability on the officers’ photography equipment, halving the devices’ operational lifespan again and again. Eventually, when an officer pressed the shutter button once more, the camera smoked and completely failed.
Meanwhile, Xiao Xun took advantage of the officers’ distraction maintaining order. He climbed onto a tall building and used a water-pellet gun taken from a shop to launch small thin-sheet bombs onto the police cars below.
One by one, the police vehicles exploded.
The thunderous blasts caused panic among onlookers. People shouted about a terrorist attack, running away while excitedly filming videos to upload to public platforms.
Soon after, the Alliance Technical Department got to work.
For Duan Yang, hacking the city’s surveillance network was effortless. He easily erased every piece of footage capturing Lan Bo and successfully blamed the entire disturbance on a nonexistent terrorist organization.
Citizens believed the patrol officers had captured terrorists and enthusiastically delivered several banners of appreciation to thank them for their service.
It was as if the battle from the previous night had never existed.
Bai Chunian’s raid on the detention center to rescue Lan Bo sank like a stone into the sea—every trace of evidence vanished.
The Alliance Technical Department reported the entire situation truthfully to the president.
After listening to the full account, President Yan silently crushed the coffee cup in his hand.
The Omega assistant beside him was so frightened his legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees on the carpet to gather the shattered pieces.
“Notify the senior staff of a meeting at one in the afternoon.”
The chairman, usually gentle and amiable, carried an unmistakable authority in his voice today. He stared calmly at the computer screen and said lightly, “I ignored that rogue prison for too long. Now they’ve started plotting against my people.”
“Have Xiao Bai return to the special training base. He doesn’t need to show himself for a while. And Han Xingqian as well. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Y-Yes, Chairman.”
Bai Chunian did not stay in the city. He took a ferry back to the Aphid Island Special Training Base.
Aphid Island was isolated from outside communication. No one there knew about the bloodshed and turmoil beyond the sea. The trainees continued their orderly routines day after day, and the peaceful atmosphere gradually calmed the agitation in Bai Chunian’s heart.
When the ferry docked, the trainees were already standing in two neat lines along the path to welcome him. Each raised a hand to their chest in salute.
Bai Chunian had changed into his instructor’s uniform—a black training vest covered by a leather tactical vest, camouflage trousers tucked into mid-calf combat boots, and a black baseball cap.
The more observant trainees could tell that their instructor looked slightly worn today, but no one dared say anything. Bai Chunian greeted them just as he always had.
At the very end of the line stood Ying and Clownfish. The moment they saw their instructor, they rushed forward excitedly and hugged him.
After returning from the live-combat mission at Enxi Hospital, several trainees had personally received the Free Bird Medal of the Special Agent Unit from the chairman himself. Once they graduated this year, they would officially join Bai Chunian’s Investigation Division.
“Not bad.” Wearing rough tactical gloves, Bai Chunian rubbed their heads. “Even when you join my division, don’t get cocky. Work hard. And you’d better get good scores on your graduation exam.”
“Waaah…”
“Stop crying. I don’t take sniveling brats in my department. If you cry until I’m annoyed, I’ll return you both and send you back here.”
After comforting the two little omegas, Bai Chunian turned to look at Bi Lanxing.
“How’s your training been lately?”
Bi Lanxing’s physique had grown more defined since he first arrived. His skin had turned a healthy wheat-tan, and he had grown a little taller—leaner and more balanced than before.
“I’ve been keeping up with the program,” Bi Lanxing replied.
Ying muttered quietly in protest, “That’s not true. He got first place in every subject on the weekly test… even a perfect score in theory… he’s leaving the rest of us no chance.”
“Speaking of theory.” Bai Chunian turned back to Ying. “Did you finally pass logic?”
Ying immediately ran off, clutching his backside.
The return of the demon instructor made Aphid Island lively again.
Lan Bo floated quietly beside the ferry with his lower body submerged in the seawater. Resting his chin on his hand against the hull, he drifted slowly while watching from a distance, his gaze following Bai Chunian’s every movement.
“My little randi is very popular,” he murmured lazily while playing with the water. His fingers stirred the sea, shaping it into a tiny kitten made of Water-Forged Steel that wriggled as if alive.
“Mine.”
He pinched the transparent kitten by the scruff of its neck, lifted the little creature as it kicked its limbs wildly, then popped it into his mouth and bit it to pieces.
A chill ran down Bai Chunian’s spine. He turned his head and secretly glanced toward the ferry, where Lan Bo was hiding.
Several omega trainees stood between them. Their attention was fixed entirely on their instructor, unaware that another omega by the ferry was exchanging silent glances with him from afar.
The omegas eagerly asked about the operation at Enxi Hospital, their eyes full of admiration.
But Bai Chunian seemed distracted, repeatedly glancing toward the sea.
“Instructor?”
“Ah—oh… that operation was very dangerous. I’ll tell you about it later…” Bai Chunian answered vaguely, yet he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the dazzling merman glimmering in the rippling water.
Lan Bo blinked innocently at him and silently mouthed the words:
“My tail tip got dirty from some seaweed. Can you clean it with your tongue in a sexy way?”
The omegas whispered to each other.
“Look. The instructor is smoking.”