A Cannon Fodder A Has No Intention of Moving Up - Chapter 5

Sure enough, when An Muxue returned home the next day, her room was once again filled with the scent of sandalwood. Only this time, the fragrance was no longer just a scent; it was linked to a person.

The moment she caught a whiff, she would begin to recall Lin Yue’s face and the sensation of being held in her arms.

An Muxue felt even more awkward. It felt like her private space had been invaded.

In truth, despite her popularity, An Muxue had never had any close friends. Sometimes, being too beautiful, having grades that were too good, or having a family background that was too elite created a sense of distance for other children. Even when peers were instructed by their parents to flatter her, they could never act naturally, often resulting in resentment. Over time, An Muxue preferred her own company, further cementing her reputation as the “Ice Queen.”

She was used to being alone and hated having someone else’s scent in her room.

Unfortunately, her pheromones didn’t share her hesitation. They surged joyfully from her glands, merging with the sandalwood in the room as if they were meant to be together. An Muxue felt a flush of shame at how “eager” her pheromones were, but she kept telling herself: Just a few more days…

Strangely, she usually absorbed the pheromones Lin Yue left behind before she even fell asleep. Yet lately, she could still sense a lingering trace of sandalwood in the morning.

Previously, she hadn’t thought much of it, but tonight, she had another embarrassing dream. In the past, the person in her dreams was faceless. An Muxue would simply yield to the sandalwood scent, sometimes resisting, sometimes accepting. This time, as things intensified and she began to lose herself, Lin Yue’s face appeared.

An Muxue woke up with a start, her heart thumping wildly. She bit her lip in shame, only to realize the scent in the room was wrong.

Why was the sandalwood smell so strong?

Lin Yue, as usual, was guarding the door, secretly sending in pheromones. She was so drowsy that her head was nodding, and she didn’t notice the bedroom door open a crack. It wasn’t until the door hurriedly shut again that Lin Yue snapped her head up.

“…” Was there a sound just now?

Lin Yue was wide awake. Crap. Did An Muxue see me?

Anyone who found a stranger pressed against their door in the middle of the night would assume the worst. Her lips moved, almost wanting to knock and explain, but then she heard the sound of the door being locked from the inside.

“…”

Lin Yue covered her face and retreated to her room. After much deliberation, she composed a text.

[Lin Yue: I sensed that the pheromones in your room were used up, and I was worried it would affect your treatment, so I went to provide more. I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.]

An Muxue never replied.

The next day after class, Lin Yue prepared to head to the villa, but she was informed she didn’t need to come; An Muxue wasn’t returning. At first, Lin Yue told herself not to overthink it. But then An Muxue didn’t return the day after that, either.

After that night, An Muxue began making all sorts of excuses not to return to the old estate. No matter what her mother said, she stayed firm. After all, she had a penthouse in the capital she could live in.

Finally free from sleeping in sandalwood and having those strange dreams, she breathed a sigh of relief.

However, a new problem soon emerged.

In the morning, An Muxue opened her eyes and covered her face in frustration. Instead of sleeping in her perfectly good bed, she had gotten up in the middle of the night to curl up in her walk-in closet, clutching Lin Yue’s old jacket.

The scent was long gone.

The beautiful woman stood up from the pile of clothes, her nightgown and black hair cascading down. Even with a furrowed brow and “bed head,” she looked stunning. Her closet, as large as a small boutique, made her look even more like a princess. Only the gray jacket in her hand looked out of place.

An Muxue looked at the jacket with a complicated expression. She couldn’t understand how it had “followed” her to the penthouse. She wanted to throw it in the trash, but she feared she might be desperate enough to sleepwalk downstairs and dig through the dumpster for it.

That would be the end. She would truly break down.

Left with no choice, she tucked the jacket deep into the back of a cabinet. She had even consulted Dr. Wu about it.

Dr. Wu explained it was a “nesting” behavior that only occurs in AO couples with extremely high compatibility. Because the pheromones fit so perfectly, a sudden break in contact causes the body to undergo withdrawal, sometimes even resulting in sleepwalking to find the partner.

What partner? What withdrawal? An Muxue grew more annoyed the more she thought about it. She didn’t care about the “why”; she just wanted a solution.

Dr. Wu hesitated, unable to give much advice. Normally, the symptoms vanish once the patient is in physical contact with the partner’s pheromones again. But An Muxue didn’t want to see that Alpha. The only medical precedents Dr. Wu could find involved widowhood, where patients required long-term therapy and medication—basically trauma recovery.

“Miss An, do you really not consider contact with the Alpha at all?” the doctor asked. If the answer wasn’t a total “no,” she felt the little Alpha was worth getting to know.

An Muxue was too angry to listen then.

Did she really have zero expectations of Alphas? She stepped out of the closet and saw her reflection in a floor-length mirror. No. When she was little, she used to drape bedsheets over her shoulders as a wedding dress, dreaming of finding “her” Alpha—someone who would kiss her, exchange vows, and treat her with kindness.

But remembering the Alphas she had actually met, her gaze turned cold. She was no longer a naive child. Compared to love, Alphas could never refuse the taste of power. They didn’t want love; they wanted slaves and toys.

She just wanted to be left alone.

Other Alphas pursued her, and she could watch their performances with cold eyes. But that Lin Yue… her pheromones had too much influence. It was terrifying. She couldn’t risk trusting her. She couldn’t become addicted.

As for her illness—she had survived this many years, hadn’t she?

As she thought, she shed her silk robe, revealing a breathtaking figure, and began picking her outfit for the day. It was time to join the film crew. Hopefully, in a new environment, buried in work, these strange symptoms would fade. Once the movie was finished, she would take a break and schedule the surgery to remove the glands.

Lin Yue hadn’t been to the villa in two weeks. Her schedule was open, but she felt anxious. She only had a year, and she couldn’t even see the person she was supposed to treat. Could she really cure An Muxue early?

In the original plot, her character was very proactive—not in treating the illness, but in harrassing An Muxue. She would wait in the room until An Muxue returned to start releasing pheromones, and she even followed her to film sets.

Lin Yue considered going to the set to find her. But after the hallway incident, she was afraid An Muxue would despise her even more.

Two weeks of indecision passed. On the weekend, Lin Yue carried two bags of groceries up an old apartment building to visit her grandmother. Her grandmother’s hair had turned entirely white since her parents died. Every time they met, her grandmother would nag her to be successful, stay safe, and live well.

Lin Yue always nodded. “I’ll be okay.” She wouldn’t let this family lose anyone else.

Her grandmother asked her to stay for dinner. Lin Yue had just rolled up her sleeves to start chopping vegetables when her phone rang.

“Yue, where are you? I’m sending a car to get you!” It was Ming Yulan’s panicked voice.

Lin Yue’s heart skipped a beat. “What’s wrong?”

“An Muxue collapsed. You need to come to the hospital immediately.”

It took over an hour for Lin Yue to reach the Central Hospital. Ming Yulan immediately pulled her into a cordoned-off wing. “I told her to take you to the set, but she wouldn’t listen…” Her eyes were red, her voice choking. “This time is worse than ever. She went into shock on set. If you hadn’t come, the doctors were considering immediate gland removal.”

“Lin Yue, save her.”

Lin Yue’s heart raced. She soon saw An Muxue lying on the hospital bed. She was deathly pale, her expression pained. Her neck was bandaged, she was on an IV, and she was hooked up to a ventilator. She looked like a fallen angel.

Crap. The delay made it worse.

The moment Lin Yue entered, she released her pheromones. She was instantly buried by an incoming sea of flowers. Every petal seemed to be “crying” as they surged toward her, seeking comfort, clinging to her.

There was so much that Lin Yue staggered, almost falling. She leaned against the wall and sat on the floor. If she were a high-ranking Alpha, she could have neutralized the scent quickly with a burst of sandalwood. But Lin Yue’s output speed couldn’t keep up with the floral deluge.

The room felt like it was raining petals. The pheromones condensing on her were so thick she felt like she needed the ventilator. Lin Yue struggled to her feet, fumbled to open the window, and leaned out, gasping for air.

When she turned back, she saw An Muxue had opened her beautiful eyes and was staring at her intently.

“I-I’m sorry,” Lin Yue stammered, thinking An Muxue was upset that her pheromones were leaking out. Lin Yue’s face was flushed, her voice full of self-deprecation. “I’ll just take a moment to recover…” Because she was an inferior Alpha.

But to her shock, An Muxue sat straight up. Her gaze was vacant. Ignoring the IV in her arm and the oxygen mask, she got off the bed and lunged straight at her.

“?? Miss An?”

An Muxue’s state was clearly wrong. Before Lin Yue could react, An Muxue grabbed her collar and tackled her onto the bed.

An Muxue was pressing her entire body against her—soft chest, smooth legs. Because she had been rushed there, she was wearing a loose white gown. Lin Yue’s heart hammered; she didn’t dare look down at the neckline.

An Muxue kept staring at her, breathing heavily. Her soft hair brushed Lin Yue’s cheek as she sniffed at her neck. Then, her brow furrowed, and she let out a small, dissatisfied huff from her nose—like a wife disappointed in an incompetent husband.

“??” Lin Yue’s face burned even hotter. “I…”

Before she could defend herself, An Muxue suddenly lowered her head as if to slam into her face. Lin Yue hurriedly turned her head away.

“Miss An? An Muxue!”

“Mnh…” An Muxue pinned her down, nuzzling her discontentedly. “More…”

She tugged at Lin Yue’s clothes and buried her head in the crook of her neck. Then, she opened her mouth—actually intending to go “self-service” and bite her gland.

Lin Yue’s entire face turned blood-red. Aside from AO couples trying for a baby, who on earth bites an Alpha’s gland to suck out pheromones??

Lin Yue could only cry out for help. “Nurse! Nurse!”