Chapter 11

Unfortunately, the two Alphas happened to be walking toward the convenience store at that very moment.

Shu Baiyu tightened his hold on the items in his arms, lowered his head again, and continued walking toward the exit, brushing past them.

The two men did not seem to notice him. They entered the store while continuing to complain furiously.

Shu Baiyu did not slow down even after leaving.

No matter what, they were still at university. He did not want to make the situation into a larger incident. Avoiding them was the best option.

Things did not go as planned, however.

Only a few minutes later, he detected hurried footsteps following from behind.

His pace faltered slightly. Beneath his bangs, his eyes darkened.

Lowering his head, he abruptly changed direction and turned onto a narrow path running through the wooded area of campus.

The two Alphas following him exchanged glances, each seeing delight in the other’s eyes.

They had been worried that acting here might attract too much attention, but the Omega had voluntarily walked somewhere deserted.

That made everything much more convenient.

Without hesitation, they followed him into the woods.

As though afraid they would lose sight of Shu Baiyu, they deliberately quickened their pace.

Yet when they finally saw him again, he had stopped in the middle of the path.

The bread he had been carrying had been placed to one side.

At first glance, his posture made it seem as though he had been waiting for them.

The thought startled them, but they quickly dismissed it.

What Omega would have the courage to do something like that?

The Alpha whose arm Shu Baiyu had twisted in the cafeteria called out to him.

“Hey, still trying to run?”

Shu Baiyu turned toward the voice and saw the smug smiles on their faces.

“Do you remember what happened in the cafeteria last time?” the Alpha asked. “You dared treat us like that. Did you really think there wouldn’t be consequences?”

Shu Baiyu said nothing.

He remembered.

He had twisted one man’s arm and kicked the other in the crotch.

His gaze swept appraisingly over the two Alphas before him. He paid particular attention to the empty path behind them, where no one else was passing.

The Alpha who had been kicked in the crotch suddenly felt a chill down his back and instinctively glanced behind himself.

There was nothing there.

“We’re not trying to bully you. There’s no one around to help you now.” The man continued, an obscene gleam in his eyes. “We’ve heard all about how desperately you suck up to Qi Yan.”

He pointed explicitly downward.

“Do the same for both of us, and we’ll let you go.”

As he spoke, his gaze fixed on the clean, pale half of Shu Baiyu’s face visible beneath his bangs. He could not resist licking his lips.

Shu Baiyu did not react.

He merely reached down and picked up the bottle of mineral water he had set on the ground.

He weighed it in his hand.

The Alpha seemed amused by the movement. He turned toward his companion and laughed mockingly.

“No way. Does he think he can fight us with a water bottle? Ha—”

Before he could laugh a second time, the other Alpha saw Shu Baiyu abruptly rushing toward him.

His pupils contracted as he tried to warn him.

“He—”

Bang!

Amid the impact, he heard Shu Baiyu say:

“Suck your father’s.”

The mineral-water bottle smashed solidly into the laughing Alpha’s face.

Half the bottle’s contents immediately spilled all over him.

Before the furious Alpha could react, a heavy impact struck his abdomen.

Shu Baiyu kicked him hard, sending him crashing several meters away.

After witnessing this, the other Alpha immediately became wary of Shu Baiyu.

He suddenly lunged forward.

Before he could restrain him, Shu Baiyu swiftly bent aside and avoided him.

In the next instant, he moved behind the Alpha and kicked him with all his strength.

The Alpha fell face-first onto the ground, getting a mouthful of dust.

Shu Baiyu stared at the two men on the ground and silently tightened his grip on the water bottle.

He did not know whether this body was too weak or these two Alphas were simply too solidly built.

The leg he had used to kick them was still numb.

If both Alphas attacked him together, the situation would become extremely troublesome.

“Fuck!”

The Alpha attacked first flew into a rage.

The other man beside him immediately climbed up, shouting, “I’ll beat him up!”

However, his companion stopped him.

“Beat him? Do we even need to?!”

He roared furiously:

“I’ll use my pheromones. Let’s see how you resist then!”

Shu Baiyu still did not properly understand the “rules” of the ABO world, but he instinctively tensed upon hearing those words.

Even without understanding the exact reason, the idea of being suppressed by their pheromones filled him with a heavy sense of unease.

He could not remain here.

The moment he caught the strange scents coming from the two men, his eyes shifted toward the space behind them.

Tension entered his voice as he shouted:

“Lu Xingzhou!”

The two Alphas, who had been gritting their teeth in fury, abruptly stiffened and quickly turned around.

Shu Baiyu took advantage of that instant and rushed directly toward them.

They instinctively raised their arms to block him, only to see the Omega race past them without hesitation and sprint away.

Two seconds later, they finally reacted.

“Fuck! He ran away!”

Shu Baiyu sprinted toward the academic buildings without stopping.

There would be many people there. Once he reached them, he would no longer need to worry about what the two Alphas might do.

The two men chased relentlessly behind him, while the phone in his pocket began vibrating.

He had initially managed to put several meters between them, but before long, they began catching up again.

Damn it!

His breathing grew heavier.

Of course these two had to be physical-education students!

The distance between them continued to shrink, and the phone in his pocket stopped vibrating.

Shu Baiyu glanced toward the academic building, which was still several minutes away.

For the first time, he felt somewhat nervous.

There were very few people on the path.

The two Alphas behind him appeared to have been thoroughly enraged, and no one was nearby to stop them.

Gritting his teeth, Shu Baiyu abruptly stopped.

He turned to face the two men pursuing him and once again tightened his grip on the half-empty mineral-water bottle.

He slowly adjusted his breathing.

Before he could launch a surprise attack, however, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

“Shu Baiyu?”

His movements stopped.

Upon hearing that voice, the hand he had raised abruptly changed direction.

The water bottle he had been preparing to throw poured over his own body instead.

He then turned around and stumbled toward Lu Xingzhou.

The instant Lu Xingzhou saw his appearance, his gaze abruptly changed.

As Shu Baiyu ran to his side, he said:

“Someone’s chasing me!”

Lu Xingzhou did not move and allowed him to hide behind him.

He raised his eyes and saw the two Alphas who had followed closely behind.

The two men had clearly noticed Lu Xingzhou as well.

They barely managed to stop several steps in front of him, their eyes firmly fixed on Shu Baiyu behind him.

“Brother Lu… We have a private matter to settle. Please move aside.”

Hearing this, Shu Baiyu retreated several more steps and completely concealed himself within Lu Xingzhou’s shadow.

Lu Xingzhou frowned almost imperceptibly.

His voice carried a faint chill.

“What matter?”

They replied viciously, “That Omega behind you played tricks on both of us and left us like this! Of course we need to settle the score!”

Because of Shu Baiyu, both of them had fallen to the ground.

Their clothes were covered in dirt and dust, making their miserable condition obvious at a glance.

Lu Xingzhou glanced back at Shu Baiyu.

Shu Baiyu had anticipated this.

He had already poured the remaining water over himself, so he looked no better than the two men.

To reinforce the impression that he had been bullied, he reached out, tugged at the corner of Lu Xingzhou’s clothes, and lowered his eyes.

Speaking in the tone of a victim, he said:

“They bullied me first. They blocked me in the woods.”

Without giving the two Alphas an opportunity to argue, he added:

“The bread I bought for you also fell in the woods.”

“They tried to suppress Read on BaiLianTales me with their pheromones. I didn’t have time to retrieve your breakfast before I ran.”

Lu Xingzhou’s body paused.

“…What?”

For some reason, after Shu Baiyu said that last sentence, Lu Xingzhou’s expression abruptly changed.

It darkened instantly, and something shadowy surged within his eyes.

Lu Xingzhou remained motionless, as though he had not heard clearly.

He asked again:

“What did they do?”

Shu Baiyu did not understand his reaction and simply repeated himself.

“They used their pheromones to suppress me, so I didn’t have time to retrieve your breakfast—”

Before he could finish, Lu Xingzhou abruptly turned toward the two Alphas.

His voice became completely cold.

There was no warmth in the eyes fixed upon them as he enunciated each word:

“What did you do?”

The moment the two men saw Lu Xingzhou’s expression, their hearts sank, and they began considering retreat.

That Omega had nothing to do with Lu Xingzhou.

They had assumed he would not interfere.

Yet judging by his current appearance, they seemed to have angered Lu Xingzhou instead.

Gritting their teeth, they forced themselves to explain:

“We—we didn’t even have time to…”

In the next instant, both of their expressions changed simultaneously.

Their faces turned deathly pale, and they bent over as though about to vomit.

The muscles throughout their bodies bulged, yet they were unable to straighten their backs.

“Ugh—!”

Lu Xingzhou slowly walked toward them and repeated:

“Pheromone suppression?”

The two Alphas were now so overwhelmed that they could barely raise their heads.

Their hands clutched their throats as they continued retching.

Alpha pheromones were extremely repellent toward one another.

Once one Alpha possessed sufficiently powerful pheromones, the other could be suppressed to the point of complete immobility.

But what was happening with Lu Xingzhou?

He had clearly released no pheromones.

They could not smell anything at all.

Yet their senses had been violently stimulated, making them gag uncontrollably. Once their spines bent, they could not straighten themselves again.

Lu Xingzhou’s face gradually filled their vision until he stopped directly before them.

There was no excess emotion left on his face.

He merely delivered one final word:

“Scum.”

“Ugh—!”

Shu Baiyu stood where he was, watching the scene.

After his thoughts briefly stalled, he belatedly realized that this was what pheromone suppression meant.

So this was what they had intended to do to him?

After Lu Xingzhou ordered the two men to get lost, a trace of complicated emotion remained in Shu Baiyu’s eyes.

He was wondering what would happen if someone suppressed him with pheromones.

Would he also become unable to move, like those two?

While he was still thinking, Lu Xingzhou stopped two steps away from him.

When Shu Baiyu prepared to approach, Lu Xingzhou told him:

“Don’t move.”

“There are still pheromones on me.”

Shu Baiyu stopped and raised his head, frowning at him.

For the first time, he felt an impulse to understand the basic knowledge of the ABO world.

Pheromone suppression seemed extremely powerful.

As though seeing through his thoughts, Lu Xingzhou lowered his eyelids slightly and looked at him.

“Do you know what pheromone suppression is?”

Naturally, Shu Baiyu could not admit that he did not.

He nodded.

Lu Xingzhou continued, though it was unclear whether he believed him.

“Do you know that pheromone suppression between two Alphas is different from an Alpha suppressing an Omega?”

Shu Baiyu paused almost imperceptibly before nodding again.

“Mm.”

Seeing him like this, Lu Xingzhou gave a cold laugh.

His gaze became faintly chilly.

“They are completely different.”

“An Alpha’s pheromones can forcibly induce an Omega’s heat. In that state, no matter what the Alpha does to the Omega, the Omega will be unable to resist.”

Shu Baiyu’s heart trembled.

He unconsciously stepped backward.

Lu Xingzhou, however, closed the distance by taking half a step forward.

The oppressive presence made even Shu Baiyu’s breathing falter.

“…That is the pheromone suppression they were talking about.”