Chapter 4: The Dangerous One

The massive crystal chandelier cast warm yellow halos, making the cigar smoke floating in the air seem dreamlike and surreal. Perfumed hair and elegant shadows, wine cups and chopsticks clinking, old songs from the Paramount era flowing from the gramophone, accompanied by the excited gazes of the crowd at the auction.

A life of paper and gold, of drunkenness and dreams, the ultimate absurdity.

“Starting bid, five million!” The host almost shouted this number until his voice broke, the microphone clutched tightly in his hand soaked with cold sweat.

“Eight million.”

The beaded curtain of the eastern box on the first floor moved slightly. A hand wearing a full green jadeite bangle emerged, leisurely flicking ash from the tip of a cigarette.

Zhao Wan’er did not stand up. She lounged lazily against the soft couch, her expensive velvet qipao outlining her voluptuous figure. Through curling smoke, she narrowed her shrewd phoenix eyes, their sticky gaze roaming over the man in the cage.

“These eyes are well born… wild enough.” Her voice was not loud, but carried the arrogance of one who was certain of victory. “If I dug them out and soaked them in formalin, placed them by my bedside, they would shine brighter than those few night pearls. Such a supreme specimen, only by breaking his bones and hearing him gasp and beg for mercy would it be interesting.”

A round of low, knowing laughter rippled through the surroundings.

“Ten million!”

From the western box, the pot-bellied Director Li pushed away the trembling Beta boy in his arms. His fat face gleamed with oily shine, his tone lewd: “Miss Zhao has such refined taste, but this top-tier Alpha’s pheromones… even just to warm the bed would be supreme. I too would like to try, to see what it tastes like.”

“Twelve million!”

“Fifteen million!”

The price soared like a runaway wild horse, skyrocketing to twenty million in mere minutes.

The entire auction floor sank into a morbid carnival. Those Hong Kong elites who normally prided themselves on being gentlemen and ladies, now like sharks smelling blood, fought to tear at this piece of fresh meat called “X-9.”

They were not buying an Alpha. Through this violent means, they were experiencing the perverse pleasure of trampling a top-tier Alpha at the apex of the food chain underfoot and wantonly humiliating him.

A perversion of power, a twisted revenge.

However, in this frenzied atmosphere boiling like water, the most mysterious black box on the second floor, dead center, remained silent as death.

Jiang Xu sank into the leather sofa, his hand carelessly swirling half a glass of red wine. Looking at the frenzied crowd below, the corner of his mouth curved into a mocking arc, and he let out a soft “tsk.”

“These madmen. Twenty million for a nuclear bomb that could explode at any moment. Do they have a death wish?” He took a sip of wine, shook his head, and turned to look at the figure by the floor-to-ceiling window.

“Young Master Shen, you don’t still want to buy him, do you?”

Shen Yanzhou still had his back to him, standing before the massive glass wall. Those rare silver-gray eyes, through the glass, through the noisy crowd, stared fixedly at the silent man in the cage below.

The bidding voices downstairs gradually grew sparse.

When Zhao Wan’er coolly spat out “twenty-five million,” the entire floor fell into brief dead silence.

She set down her teacup, looked around, and smiled lightly: “Everyone, give me some face. This ‘wild dog’ has caught my eye. Whether to guard the gate or warm the bed, tonight he enters the Zhao family gates. We are all sensible people here. Surely no one would damage harmony over a mere plaything?”

Her words, inside and out, were all the oppressive weight of a great family.

The host wiped the oily sweat from his face, raised his wooden gavel, his voice trembling: “Twenty-five million once! Twenty-five million twice! Is there anyone…”

“Thirty million.”

A cold, lazy, yet penetrating voice abruptly cut through the heat of the scene.

That voice was not loud, but like a basin of ice water, it doused all the agitation from above. The casual tone, as if what he had tossed out was not thirty million in real gold and silver, but three coins casually given to a beggar by the roadside.

The entire floor erupted in uproar.

The smile on Zhao Wan’er’s face instantly froze.

She slowly turned her head, her gaze venomous as she stared at the pitch-black window on the second floor.

“This friend, I don’t recognize you.” Her voice seemed squeezed from between her teeth, carrying a cold warning. “In Hong Kong, some things may have a price, but not everyone has the life to take them. This ‘wild dog’ I have already claimed. Why not sell the Zhao family of the Nightless City some face…”

Shen Yanzhou did not even lower his head to look at her.

He turned slightly, a trace of impatience flashing between his brows, and said to Jiang Xu in a flat voice: “Tell her I don’t like too much noise.”

Jiang Xu shrugged helplessly, walked to the railing, and shouted down with a smile: “Miss Zhao downstairs, thirty million, this young master wants him. If you don’t have the money to follow, then don’t… disturb the people here. After all, in Hong Kong, face depends on who is giving it.”

Zhao Wan’er’s face turned livid with anger. She wanted to raise her paddle to compete again, but her assistant beside her gripped her wrist tightly.

“Miss! You can’t bid anymore!” The assistant’s face was pale, his voice lowered and urgent. “The board is already very dissatisfied with your spending. And listen to that voice, it sounds like… like that one from the Shen family.”

The Shen family.

In Hong Kong, there was only one family with the surname Shen. That family controlled half of Hong Kong’s shipping lifeline, and the current heir Shen Yanzhou was famously known as the “Mad Beauty.”

Zhao Wan’er bit her teeth, staring dead at that tightly closed black window, and finally could only withdraw her gaze unwillingly. She did not want to cross the Shen family in any way, and there was no need to offend Shen Yanzhou over an Alpha plaything.

“Bang!” With the heavy fall of the gavel, everything was settled.

“Congratulations… to the distinguished guest on the second floor, winning X-9 for thirty million!”

——-

The underground handover area.

The air here was even more damp than above, mixed with nauseating blood stench, old rust smell, and pungent disinfectant odor.

Several burly men pushed a massive alloy cage, stopping it before Shen Yanzhou.

Shen Yanzhou stood in the shadows, a slender unlit cigarette held between his fingers. He lifted his eyes slightly, his gaze passing through the cold iron bars, landing on the person in the cage.

Viewed up close, this Alpha’s oppressive presence was even heavier. His entire body was wrapped in special restraints, muscle lines faintly visible beneath the taut fabric, his face wearing a half-broken mask, revealing only a pair of pitch-black eyes and a sharply defined jawline.

The man in the cage slowly raised his head. Their gazes collided silently in the air, separated by the rusty iron bars.

In that instant, Shen Yanzhou even felt he could smell a mixture of gunpowder, blood, and fir.

Extremely overbearing, and possessing intense aggression.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. A physiological tremor made him shudder slightly. He extended his pale, almost translucent hand, passing through the gaps in the iron bars, slowly approaching the man’s face.

Slender fingers hovered before the man’s half-broken mask. With a light lift, he could see this face worth thirty million.

The man in the cage did not move. He merely looked at Shen Yanzhou quietly. In those pitch-black eyes was reflected Shen Yanzhou’s cold, beautiful face. The man’s breathing was heavy, carrying scorching heat, spraying onto his cool fingertips.

“How do you look?” Shen Yanzhou withdrew his hand, asking carelessly.

Silence in the cage for a moment.

“Not as good as you.” The man’s voice was hoarse, deep, his tone flat and unemotional.

Shen Yanzhou raised his eyes, re-examining him. A trace of extremely faint, even pleasantly surprised smile flickered across the depths of his eyes.

“You know what’s good for you.” He turned around, no longer looking at the person in the cage.

To the trembling auction floor manager who had rushed in, he tossed down cold instructions:

“Clean him.”

“Inside and out, clean him thoroughly. I don’t like that… nauseating blood stench on him.”

“Then send him to Repulse Bay Number 7.”

“Yes… yes! Young Master, rest assured, we will clean him spotlessly! Not a trace of odor will remain!” The manager nodded and bowed repeatedly, cold sweat pouring down.

Shen Yanzhou did not linger. He turned and walked into the pitch-black curtain of rain.

—-

Repulse Bay, mid-level villa. This was Shen Yanzhou’s private territory, and also the most expensive, most lonely district in Hong Kong. Backed by mountains and facing the sea, normally even birds were rarely seen. Tonight it was shrouded in torrential rain, like an isolated island upon the sea.

The top-tier Alpha he had just bought back was too dangerous to bring to the Shen family old residence. He could only bring him here, to keep him in captivity.

When Shen Yanzhou returned home, it was already deep night. He casually tossed the car keys onto the marble countertop in the entryway and walked straight into the bathroom.

The smell of smoke and alcohol from the black market, the decadent aura of decay, and that Alpha’s intense pheromones that seemed ready to burn holes in his skin, all made him feel suffocated.

He turned on the shower, setting the water temperature to the highest.

He removed the rain-soaked windbreaker, unbuttoned his shirt. One button, two buttons… the black silk shirt slid to the ground like a pool of ink, revealing a body that had long been hidden from daylight.

He was thin, pale to the point of illness. Shoulder blades protruded sharply, like a butterfly with broken wings. Every inch of line was exquisite as porcelain carved by God’s own hand, breathtakingly beautiful yet fragile beyond bearing.

Steam rose, soon blurring the mirror surface.

Shen Yanzhou closed his eyes, tilted his head back, letting the water flow rush over his face. Water droplets slid down his high nose bridge, his pale lips. His fingers slowly moved downward, landing on his own slender neck.

There, beneath fragile skin, pale blue veins were clearly visible, pulsing slightly with his heartbeat. Further down was the gland at the back of his neck, normally sealed tight by special suppressant patches.

Tonight, due to close contact with X-9’s overbearing pheromones, this long-dormant gland was now sending waves of swelling that could not be ignored.

Itchy and painful.

Like countless ants gnawing, or like a fire burning beneath the flesh.

To relieve this discomfort, he pressed his fingertips hard against the soft flesh around the gland, nails digging into the meat, bringing a wave of pain. Pain mixed with that strange pleasure, like a dose of poison, temporarily easing the enormous, abyss-like emptiness in his heart.

“Uh…” He couldn’t help but let out a low moan, the sound shattering in the rushing water.

Yet his mind uncontrollably conjured those eyes. Those pitch-black, deep eyes.

That man… he should have been delivered to the basement by now, right? Would the auction staff put a muzzle on him? Would they lock him in chains? If those powerful large hands broke free of their bonds, what would they do?

An inexplicable, dangerous restlessness spread in his heart. Not only did it not make him feel fear, but it made his long-numbed nerves feel an excitement they had not felt in ages.

Half an hour later.

The water finally stopped. Shen Yanzhou wrapped himself in an ink-blue silk robe and walked out of the bathroom, the belt tied very loosely, exposing a large expanse of cold white chest.

His hair was wet, clinging to the sides of his face, bare feet stepping silently on the expensive Persian wool carpet.

The living room was very dark. Only the occasional lightning flash outside the window illuminated this dead silent space in an instant, casting out strange long shadows.

He walked to the liquor cabinet, wanting to pour a glass of wine.

“Crack.” An extremely light crisp sound, in this storm-lashed deep night, was especially jarring. That was… the sound of joints moving.

Shen Yanzhou’s fingers stopped on the wine bottle. Every muscle in his body tensed instantly.

Someone.

In this house, besides him, there was someone else.

The housekeeper and servants had long been dismissed by him. Those bodyguards would absolutely not dare enter the main building without his command.

Unless it was… him…

“Who?” Shen Yanzhou spoke coldly, his voice echoing in the empty living room.

No response. Only the rain outside remained violent, the wind crying like cranes in alarm.

But he could feel it. A cold, damp, intensely aggressive aura was surging from all directions, like invisible tentacles, in the darkness slowly wrapping around his ankles.

That was the scent he had smelled at the auction. Only now, that scent had lost its blood stench, and gained a crisp, fir and sea-like quality.

More pure, and more dangerous.

He turned sharply, his hand instinctively reaching behind his waist, where a Browning pistol was normally hidden. But he forgot, he had just finished bathing and wore only a robe.

In the instant he turned.

A dark shadow pounced from the darkness like a cheetah.

A pair of cold, powerful, calloused large hands seized his waist from behind without warning, their strength astonishing.

Shen Yanzhou had not yet managed to emit a muffled groan before his entire body was dragged into a broad yet cold embrace.

The man’s body was still dripping water, the soaked coarse cloth shirt pressed tightly against Shen Yanzhou’s thin robe. The bone-chilling cold instantly penetrated through two layers of fabric into his skin, making him break out in goosebumps all over.

Then, that man slowly, heavily buried his head into the crook of his neck.

“Hoo…” His breathing was heavy, carrying scorching heat, spraying onto the most sensitive area at the back of his neck.

Cold rain dripped from the man’s hairline, sliding along Shen Yanzhou’s slender neck into the depths of his robe, like cold little snakes frantically writhing through his body.

Cold and hot.

Ice and fire.

Extreme danger and fatal temptation.

What followed was the unreserved explosion of Alpha pheromones. Without the iron cage’s obstruction, this pheromone was as thick as strong liquor, instantly breaking through all of Shen Yanzhou’s defenses. He could even feel his gland beginning to throb violently, the shallow skin itchy and swollen, even his lower back growing numb from that heat.

His legs involuntarily went soft. If not for the iron arms behind him holding him tight, he would probably have already slid to the ground.

Shen Yanzhou forcibly suppressed the impulse to turn back and bite through the other’s throat. He turned his head slightly, looking in the darkness at that black head buried in the side of his neck.

“You are… that thirty million?”

Translation Notes:

Repulse Bay (浅水湾): An actual prestigious residential area in Hong Kong, known for its luxury homes and celebrity residents.