Chapter 3: Setting the Trap

After the typhoon passed, the Kowloon Walled City lay like a blind gut abandoned by God, its maze of tangled electrical wires like moldy blood vessels coiling around the crumbling tenement blocks, blotting out what little clear sky remained.

A pitch-black Maybach S680 pulled up steadily before a rusted iron gate covered in colorful graffiti.

From the shadows deep in the alley emerged a man — this was the “information broker” Shen Yanzhou had come to meet, Jiang Xu.

The most troublesome information broker in Hong Kong’s underworld, and a notorious A-class Alpha who navigated both sides of the law.

He had a deceptively attractive face: peach blossom eyes, thin lips, and even a teardrop mole at the corner of his eye. He looked romantic and fickle, like one of those rogues from eighties and nineties Hong Kong films who would choose beauty over empire.

Shen Yanzhou stepped out of the car. Shedding his usual rigorous suit, he wore only a black shirt, which made his fair, refined face appear even more striking. Standing in the filthy alley, he was like a white rose blooming upon a grave.

“Young Master Shen.” Jiang Xu walked right up to Shen Yanzhou, close enough to be intrusive.

“You’re truly punctual. Not a minute off.”

“Jiang Xu.” Shen Yanzhou lifted his chin slightly. “Your choice of location is truly… special.”

“Wrongly accused.” Jiang Xu spread his hands, a playful smile tugging at his lips. “Proper business is conducted in Central’s office towers. Only dealings involving life and desire happen in places like the Kowloon Walled City.”

He suddenly leaned in, intending to brush away the raindrops on Shen Yanzhou’s shoulder, but was stopped by an umbrella tip pressed against his chest.

“I don’t like being touched.” Shen Yanzhou looked at him coldly, disgust flashing in his eyes.

“Lead the way.”

Jiang Xu glanced at the umbrella tip against his chest, smiled, and withdrew his Alpha pheromones. He led Shen Yanzhou through two narrow alleys. Behind a disguised abandoned ice storage door lay an unmarked industrial freight elevator.

Accompanied by the sound of gears meshing, the elevator began its slow descent.

In the cramped space, Jiang Xu leaned against the elevator wall, pulled out a cigarette pack, tapped one out, and held it between his lips. Just as he was about to light it, he remembered Shen Yanzhou’s engagement to Fu Sihan and offered the cigarette and lighter to him instead.

“Young Master Shen, want one? It’ll help you forget your troubles for a while.”

Shen Yanzhou turned his head away. “Smoking in an enclosed space? Were your manners eaten by dogs?”

“Tsk, Young Master Shen is still so difficult to please.” Jiang Xu wasn’t annoyed. He smiled, tucked the cigarette behind his ear, and his gaze grew meaningful. “This place was dug fifty meters underground. Cost a fortune to avoid police radar.”

“Who built it?” Shen Yanzhou asked casually.

“Young Master Shen, you’ve been in Hong Kong all these years. Can’t you guess?”

Jiang Xu pointed downward. “The entire underground network of Hong Kong, the inhibitors, the pharmaceutical factories — almost all of it is in one family’s hands. This place may carry the names of several puppet gangs, the Green Dragon Triad or the Hung Mun, but seventy percent of the monthly revenue goes into the same overseas offshore account.”

Shen Yanzhou looked at him and said flatly, “The Fu family?”

“Precisely.” Jiang Xu snapped his fingers, leaning forward slightly. “The Fu family’s methods are ruthless. This underground black market operates with their tacit approval. They call it a trash bin for bored elites to vent their desires, keeping them from causing trouble outside and dirtying their Hong Kong.”

Shen Yanzhou’s lips curved into a cold smile upon hearing this.

That family again.

He was about to marry into the Fu family for his family’s interests, yet here he was in a black market tacitly approved by the Fu family, buying a tool to cuckold his fiancé.

What an absurd fate. Truly marvelous.

As the elevator doors opened, what greeted them was a massive circular underground arena structure. The dome rose twenty meters high, with luxurious crystal chandeliers hanging from it, illuminating the entire space as bright as day.

In the cramped underground space, the scent of cheap Cuban cigars mingled with various heat pheromones, futilely masking the thick stench of blood, sweat, and semen in the air.

“That’s your seat.”

Jiang Xu didn’t rush to lead the way. First, he took a pure black feather mask from a tray offered by an attendant and handed it over. “Old rules. Cover your face. After all, most of the patrons here are ‘important figures’ who can’t be seen in public.”

Shen Yanzhou flicked the mask up with his fingertips and casually fastened it behind his head.

The pure black feathers just barely covered his cold, beautiful face, revealing only his silver eyes and those pale pink lips. This “half-concealed” look made him appear all the more ascetic and tantalizing.

Jiang Xu looked at him and swallowed silently. If not for fear of the Shen family, and that man, he would have pinned this person against the wall, torn apart his refined exterior, and seen whether the blood inside ran hot or cold.

“This way.” Jiang Xu suppressed his thoughts, his voice husky.

Following him up to a second-floor private box, Shen Yanzhou walked to the glass wall and swept a cold gaze over the seating below.

“See that man in the pig mask?” Shen Yanzhou pointed vaguely through the glass with his index finger. “Director Li of the Urban Construction Bureau. That turquoise ring on his left ring finger is the ‘Twenty-Year Eternal Love Memorial Edition’ his wife bought back at Sotheby’s last month. Now look at that fat hand wearing the astronomical ring where is it going?”

Below, the man in the pig mask had a boy who looked barely of age sitting on his lap. That hand wearing the expensive ring was crudely probing into the boy’s waistband, kneading wantonly, causing the boy to spasm and retch in a mixture of pain and ingratiation.

Jiang Xu snorted. “That old bastard has been into this for ages. Last month he killed a virgin in bed, and the Hung Mun cleaned up the mess.”

“And over there.” Shen Yanzhou’s gaze shifted to a woman wearing peacock feathers. She was straddling the back of a low-ranking Alpha, her stiletto heels grinding against his spine, a whip clutched in her hand.

“Miss Zhao Wan’er of the Zhao Group. Usually poses as an Omega equality activist, crying on media about Alpha atrocities. Behind closed doors, she most enjoys abusing disobedient Alpha male servants.”

Shen Yanzhou withdrew his gaze in disgust. He had seen enough of them in business circles.

“Didn’t expect to see them here too, gathered together sniffing each other’s rears.”

“Young Master Shen, don’t be such a spoilsport.” Jiang Xu leaned back on the sofa, legs crossed, his gaze burning as he looked at Shen Yanzhou’s fair chin. “Though the people are rotten, the merchandise is good. Tonight there will definitely be something to your taste. For this, I nearly risked my life pulling strings.”

At that moment, the lights in the arena suddenly dimmed, leaving only a single spotlight on the center stage.

A host in a tuxedo and exaggerated clown makeup leaped out, his voice sharp and frenzied: “Distinguished guests, welcome to tonight’s climax — the Alpha Hunting Ground.”

“In this place, money is the only law.”

“Number X-1, B-class Alpha, body fat eight percent, endurance test three hours…”

An Alpha covered in cheap body oil with knotted muscles was led out. Clearly drugged with potent medicine, he knelt on the ground like a dog in heat, thrusting his hips frantically at the audience below, drool dripping from his muzzle.

“One million!” Zhao Wan’er was the first to raise her paddle.

Shen Yanzhou looked away after just one glance, even more impatient than before.

“This is the ‘good merchandise’ you spoke of?” He laughed coldly, his voice lazy and venomous. “This dead muscle was built with protein powder, wasn’t it? Looks stringy. Other than panting like a dog, I doubt that thing of his can even get hard. Jiang Xu, do you think I have nothing better to do?”

Jiang Xu looked at Shen Yanzhou awkwardly. “Young Master Shen, your tongue is truly vicious.”

The subsequent items were even more unbearable.

“Number X-8, starting bid five hundred thousand…”

“Truly ugly.” Shen Yanzhou closed his eyes, feeling physically nauseous. “Even with the lights off in bed, I have aesthetic standards. Looking at a face like a failed ape evolution, I’d probably lose my arousal in one second.”

He stood up, his tone icy. “I’m leaving. A waste of time.”

“Don’t rush, don’t rush.” Jiang Xu grabbed Shen Yanzhou’s wrist. “The finale is almost here. If you don’t like this one, I’ll write my name backwards.”

Before he finished speaking, all the lights in the arena went out.

The darkness fell without warning. The originally noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

Then, a terrifying pressure that made one’s scalp tingle poured over the entire venue along with a cage slowly descending from above.

The top-tier Alpha pheromones caused several lower-ranked Omegas and Betas in the front rows to turn pale. Some even clutched their chests and retched, their bodies going limp uncontrollably, seemingly on the verge of entering heat.

Even as an A-class Alpha, Jiang Xu sat up straight. The smile vanished from his face, and his hand on his knee clenched unconsciously, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

“Fuck.” Jiang Xu gritted his teeth, a layer of fine cold sweat appearing at his temples. “What level of Alpha is this? This pressure is absolutely above S-class.”

Yet Shen Yanzhou still stood elegantly before the floor-to-ceiling window.

Because he was a “scentless” Omega.

“Next.” The host’s voice trembled. “Tonight’s finale. Number: X-9. Ability level: Above S-class.”

A harsh, glaring spotlight shone directly on the man in the cage.

He wore a silver mask, revealing only a sharply defined jawline. His muscles were tight and fluid, full of explosive power. Though his hands were bound behind his back and he wore a muzzle collar around his neck, he sat there with his spine perfectly straight, showing no hint of submission or appeasement.

As if sensing that gaze from the second floor not fearful, but filled with scrutiny and discrimination.

The man slowly raised his head.

Across a dozen meters of vertical distance.

Across noise and silence, across iron cage and glass, across the boundary of light and darkness.

Those eyes crashed into Shen Yanzhou’s line of sight without warning.

Deep, dark, wild.

“I want him.” Shen Yanzhou’s voice was very light. His eyes were fixed on that man.

Jiang Xu came back to his senses, looking at Shen Yanzhou with a complex gaze. “Young Master Shen, you want him? Even I can feel his danger.”

“I want him.” He repeated.

“At any cost, I want this man.”