🍒Chapter 29: No more restraint, let’s die together, right now…

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The thirty-minute game ended.

What followed was just a regular dance. Shen Shuyi noticed that Xie Chenzhou seemed a little fatigued, faint sweat beading his forehead. Worried, he wondered if Xie’s susceptible period was coming again.

In such a crowded place, even though everyone wore disguise patches that functioned like pheromone blockers, it was still dangerous. The disguise patch wasn’t a suppressant. Not only could it not replace one, but it could even harm the gland by preventing pheromones from being released. For an Alpha whose susceptible period was about to begin, this was especially bad.

So Shen Shuyi decisively cut short their participation in the dance and led Xie Chenzhou out of the hall.

In the open air, both of them tore off their gland disguise patches. Shen Shuyi watched as Xie Chenzhou took out a pheromone dispersal spray from his pocket and sprayed it around himself.

“Mr. Xie, is your susceptible period coming again?” Shen Shuyi asked, worried.

Xie Chenzhou looked at him deeply.

That night, they went home together. After washing up and climbing into bed, Shen Shuyi received a message from Lin Shen.

[Today I saw you and your partner at the hall. You both wore matching fox and rabbit masks, and he was willing to wear a Beta disguise patch just to play along with you. I misunderstood him. He isn’t the kind of Alpha I thought he was. I wish you both well. You look very compatible.]

Shen Shuyi was tidying up the materials he needed for work at Huada Affiliated Psychiatric Hospital tomorrow. He didn’t read carefully, just replied briefly: [Thank you.]

After a while, Lin Shen sent another message:

[This is a detailed document Professor Dai compiled about Enigmas. You can take a look.]

[An Alpha friend of mine is in the same major as us. He even took an elective on how to use pheromones to roughly distinguish between Alphas and Enigmas. Of course, this method isn’t scientific or accurate. Honestly, I wanted to tell you about this earlier, but I didn’t think it was necessary. Just think of it as me casually sharing some study notes I sorted out for myself.]

[That Alpha friend said, from the very first glance at your partner, from the moment he smelled your partner’s pheromones, he felt there was a chance your partner might be an Enigma. Of course, we don’t have proof.]

After sending that message, Lin Shen went silent.

Shen Shuyi opened the document.

One line caught his eye even before the introduction:

[Normal suppressants are ineffective on Enigmas. They must use pheromone modulators to maintain daily stability. Furthermore, stable pheromones do not equal stable mental states. An Enigma can at any time suffer instability of the mind, which in turn agitates their pheromones, pushing them into loss of control or even violent chaos.]

“Nonsense.” Shen Shuyi tossed his phone aside.

He would study this material, but that didn’t mean he believed Lin Shen’s claim that Xie Chenzhou wasn’t an Alpha but an Enigma.

Mr. Xie was gentle and restrained. He seemed perfectly normal.

He was the type of Alpha who, sensing his susceptible period might be approaching, sprayed himself with dispersal spray just to avoid affecting others.

How could someone like that be an Enigma?

When Shen Shuyi returned to work at Huada Affiliated Psychiatric Hospital, he received a notice: he had been selected to accompany the hospital’s Gender Psychology and Mental Health elite team on a trip to D City, more than a thousand kilometers away, for an academic exchange.

His recommender, Director Chen Xin of Huada Hospital’s Pheromone Surgery Department, would also be going.

In truth, Shen Shuyi only got this rare opportunity to join because of Director Chen’s recommendation.

He was deeply grateful, but then remembered Xie Chenzhou’s warning to stay away from that man. He wasn’t sure how to tell him.

Still, it was too good a chance to miss.

So one evening, when Xie seemed in a better mood after work, Shen Shuyi brought it up.

They were sitting in Xie Chenzhou’s spacious business car. Clearly, he had just finished an important meeting, still flipping through a stack of minutes.

“Mr. Xie…” Shen Shuyi hesitated, then spoke softly. “This weekend, I’ll be going to D City with Huada’s team. Since I got lost as a kid, I’ve barely gone far from home, so I’m a little nervous. But… I wanted to ask you first. Is it okay if I go?”

Xie Chenzhou’s hand froze mid-page.

He said nothing. His grip on the papers slowly tightened.

The stack nearly crumpled into rags in his palm.

Alarmed, Shen Shuyi reached to smooth the documents out. “Mr. Xie…? What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Gently, carefully, he took the crumpled pages from Xie’s hand and began flattening them one by one, as if trying to soothe the turbulence raging inside him. “At the dance hall the other day, I wondered if your susceptible period was coming again. You seemed a little unstable. Bottling it up is bad for your health. If you feel unwell, you can tell me, or even Uncle Qian. You need some outlet for your emotions.”

Of course, that was the professional in him speaking. And it worked, Xie’s storm of dark urges calmed somewhat.

Because truthfully, just moments ago, the only thought in his head had been to lock Shen Shuyi in the basement right then and there, chain him tight, never let him leave.

His possessiveness was growing unbearable.

The idea of Shuyi traveling so far with others filled him with jealousy so sharp he wanted to bury them alive.

He was less and less rational.

His mother had been the same, keeping his father imprisoned at home in her madness. She denied him food and water, clung to him, marked him over and over, until he wasted away into skin and bones.

Xie Chengming had only escaped by sheer will, using a dull steak knife he had hidden away to saw through the iron chains, piece by piece, until he finally broke free.

So Xie Chenzhou understood why his father thought he was a monster too. From the moment he differentiated as an Enigma, his father had wanted to sever ties, to throw him away.

Even Xie himself believed Enigmas were terrifying. One day, inevitably, he would hurt Shen Shuyi.

Already, the gentler Shuyi was with him, the more deranged his thoughts became.

He no longer wanted to bury others. He wanted to squeeze the life out of Shen Shuyi, die together with him right there.

A double suicide. They would be buried together, never separated again.

But reason whispered that this was madness. Shuyi would never agree.

Unless he killed him instantly, Shuyi would escape. Then he would look at him with the same alien terror his father once had. He would go to the police, report him for attempted murder.

Or worse, he would commit him to a psychiatric hospital as a dangerous Enigma, lock him away forever, until he wasted into the same madness as his mother.

No. He didn’t want that for Shuyi.

What little sanity he had left wanted Shuyi alive.

He wanted to see him smile, watch him fuss, bully him until he cried from his shamelessness.

That was better than dying together.

Brief, extreme pleasure couldn’t compare to the lasting thrill of torment stretched across a lifetime.

Xie told himself this was wisdom. For once, reason had won over instinct.

Leaning back against the seat, relaxing, he asked calmly, “When will you be back?”

“About a week? It depends on the progress of the seminar…”

Xie’s expression darkened again. He was slipping. “What kind of seminar takes that long?”

Shen Shuyi explained everything in detail, even mentioning: “Teacher Chen Xin will be going too.”

Xie’s face went stormy.

No restraint left. A double suicide, right now.

That night, however, he still came over to help Shen Shuyi pack.

Both of them were busy during the day, so better to prepare early.

Uncle Qian, hearing that Shuyi was traveling, busied himself preparing things he might forget, like a small medicine kit with essentials.

But when he saw the two of them in the room together, chatting warmly over the suitcase, he hesitated. In the end, he quietly left the supplies outside Shuyi’s door and slipped away.

Xie had noticed, of course, but ignored it. This was Shuyi’s room, and he didn’t want Uncle Qian coming in. He even shifted his position to block their line of sight, making sure Shuyi never knew.

Fortunately, Shuyi didn’t notice.

“I’ll just bring three changes of clothes, right? And pajamas? The suitcase won’t fit much more…” Shen Shuyi muttered, dithering in front of the wardrobe.

Xie’s eyes lingered on the undergarments tossed into the suitcase. He picked them up, folding them one by one, his pheromones unconsciously seeping into the fabric.

Shirts, cotton pajamas, trousers, underwear.

So cute.

All his underwear was white. He seemed to like white underwear.

Xie suppressed the urge to lower his head, kiss and breathe them in. His gaze drifted instead to the corner of the room, where the unplugged surveillance camera sat pointed at the foot of the bed.

He wanted to turn it back on.

He wanted to watch Shen Shuyi sleep.

They would be apart for a week. Just one night of watching shouldn’t hurt, right?

Shuyi wouldn’t know. Watching your own partner sleep wasn’t a crime. Even if he called the police, it would only be considered a domestic dispute.

No punishment would come of it.

Yes. Tonight, he would sit in the basement and watch him sleep.

Those equestrian photos Zhao Jian had developed for him, half of them were already soiled.

Sometimes he just couldn’t control himself.

So tonight, he decided, Shen Shuyi’s sleeping body would soothe his hunger instead.

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Translator’s Corner

• Those poor photos…..,Eeeew Xie is such a creep.😭

• Shuyi: “Mr. Xie, are you okay? Do you need to talk about your feelings?”

Xie, internally: “Yes, actually, I want to chain you up in my basement forever.” Therapy failed.

• This man really went from “bury everyone alive” to “choke my lover and bury us together.” Sir, please pick a lane.