After Unbinding the Simp System, I'm Targeted by the Villain - Chapter 22

The curtains in the study were half-drawn. With the desk acting as a boundary, one half of the room was bright while the other was shrouded in shadow.

Duan Huaijin examined Yu Chucheng’s complexion and stated with certainty, “Your heat is here.”

A misty haze had settled over Yu Chucheng’s eyes at some point. Hearing this, he looked at Duan Huaijin sluggishly. “How? It should still be about ten days away.”

He remembered the family doctor saying the first heat after secondary differentiation would happen after a month. It had only been a little over two weeks; how could it suddenly arrive ahead of schedule without warning?

The peach fragrance in the room gradually grew denser, gently plucking at Duan Huaijin’s nerves.

Yu Chucheng had originally been leaning against the edge of the desk, but his legs were like jelly, and his body began to slump uncontrollably.

Duan Huaijin gripped his waist and lifted him, leaving Yu Chucheng’s feet dangling as he sat on the desk.

Duan Huaijin gave him a deep look. “Wait for me here. I’ll go find a suppressant for you.”

“Hurry up then…” Yu Chucheng propped his arms on the desk, his fingers haphazardly tearing open the buttons at his collar.

His sharp collarbones were exposed to the air. With his back to the window, his half-dry hair was rimmed with a pale golden halo of light.

Duan Huaijin pursed his lips and said once more, “Wait for me.”

Outside the door, Zhang Hanzhou and the others had just come up the stairs.

Seeing that Duan Huaijin had entered the study, Zhang Hanzhou clenched his fingers. His father hated it when people entered his study without permission. This Duan Huaijin was clearly an outsider, yet he acted as if he were in his own home, showing no respect even to him, the host.

Zhang Hanzhou moved to open the door with a cold face, but Ji Zhou stepped forward and blocked him. “Wait a second!”

Zhang Hanzhou glanced at him haughtily. “Move.”

Ji Zhou dug his heels in at the doorway. Are you kidding? I can’t let you in. Who knew what the “battle” looked like inside? If things had already escalated, wouldn’t Zhang Hanzhou seeing everything be a disaster?

Most of the onlookers only dared to watch from the hall downstairs, but a few had followed them up.

Zhang Hanzhou’s jaw tightened. He was partly afraid his father would blame him upon his return, and partly dissatisfied with Duan Huaijin’s overbearing behavior.

Just as he and Ji Zhou were at a standstill, the study door opened. Duan Huaijin stepped out but shut it quickly behind him, not allowing a single trace of the pheromones inside to escape.

Duan Huaijin scanned the crowd. “Who has an Omega suppressant?”

Zhang Hanzhou’s expression faltered. So the person inside was an Omega? No wonder his face looked so strange earlier.

But who would carry suppressants to a graduation banquet? Even if they did, they were all Alphas; an Alpha suppressant used on an Omega would only be counterproductive.

Zhang Hanzhou spread his hands. “In my family, only my mother is an Omega. To find one, you’d have to go to her room, but no one is allowed in without her permission.”

Hearing this, Ji Zhou was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. In a desperate “any port in a storm” move, he grabbed Qi Rui, who had followed to watch the fun. “Hey, do you have one!”

Qi Rui: “???”

Was he not tall enough, or did his aura not scream Alpha?

Qi Rui got a headache just looking at Duan Huaijin now. After all, the two had a major grudge, and the memory of being suppressed by S-Rank pheromones was still fresh. He let out a disdainful scoff. “Don’t ask me. I don’t have that stuff.”

Just as everyone was at a loss and Duan Huaijin was planning to head downstairs to ask others, the female companion Qi Rui had brought opened her small designer bag. She let out a short “Ah!”

“I’m an Omega. I have one.” She pulled a small, portable suppressant from her bag, adding, “But the dosage isn’t very high. I don’t know if it will help.”

Duan Huaijin took the suppressant. “Thank you.”

Back in the room, Yu Chucheng was in such distress that he grabbed the jacket he had tossed aside and took two deep breaths of it.

The scent of soap, mixed with a lingering trace of bamboo leaves, smelled wonderful.

Yu Chucheng’s mind cleared slightly, and he realized he was clutching someone else’s clothes and sniffing them like a pervert.

Holy crap…

Yu Chucheng felt even hotter. He hurriedly tried to throw the jacket away to pretend nothing happened, but before he could, the door opened. Duan Huaijin strode toward him with the suppressant in hand.

Yu Chucheng’s hand froze mid-air. He couldn’t throw it, but keeping it felt wrong. In his conflict, his fingers tightened unconsciously, wrinkling the fabric.

Duan Huaijin’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. “Do you want to do it yourself, or should I help you?”

Yu Chucheng quickly set the clothes down, hiding them behind his back in a blatant cover-up. “I’ll do it myself.”

He tried to act calm, but his fingers were trembling slightly.

In summer, clothes dry quickly. His shirt was half-clinging to him, and the fabric on his back was darker—impossible to tell if it was pool water or sweat.

Yu Chucheng’s fingers were too weak. Usually, he could knock an Alpha aside with one hand, but now even popping the cap off the suppressant was a struggle. He used every ounce of strength to pull the cap off, pressing the sharp, slender needle against a pale blue vein on his arm.

Yu Chucheng: “…”

He didn’t just faint at the sight of blood; he was also a bit needle-phobic. Usually, the family staff helped him; with someone else doing it, he just had to look away. But if he did it himself without looking, it would basically be self-mutilation.

Duan Huaijin noticed his grim expression. “What’s wrong?”

Yu Chucheng gave up and handed the suppressant to Duan Huaijin. “You do it. I can’t bring myself to do it.”

The boy’s arm was fair and smooth, like fine mutton-fat jade without a single blemish—clearly someone who had been pampered and raised in luxury since childhood.

Duan Huaijin’s pupils constricted. He stood before Yu Chucheng. “Alright. It might hurt a bit. Bear with it.”

Yu Chucheng nodded and closed his eyes the moment the needle pierced his skin. As long as he didn’t see it, he wouldn’t be afraid.

Duan Huaijin pushed the plunger very slowly, so it didn’t hurt much. But having a sharp, cold needle in his vein while the medicine flowed into his body made the heat-stricken Yu Chucheng feel incredibly insecure.

With the peach pheromones swirling wildly in the room, Yu Chucheng instinctively lowered his head, seeking a reliable support. Since Duan Huaijin was standing right in front of him, he inevitably rested his forehead against Duan Huaijin’s shoulder.

He felt the owner of the shoulder hold his breath for two seconds, but he couldn’t care less. Right now, this person felt like the safest place in the world.

Duan Huaijin pulled the needle out as gently as possible and pressed a cotton ball over the site. “Do you feel any better?”

“…”

No response. Yu Chucheng remained leaning against him.

In this season, everyone’s clothes were thin. Yu Chucheng’s burning breath hit Duan Huaijin’s shirt, the staggering temperature seeping through the fabric.

Duan Huaijin tossed the spent suppressant aside, grabbed Yu Chucheng’s shoulders, and looked down.

Whether the shot was too late or the dosage was simply too small, Yu Chucheng didn’t seem relieved at all. Instead, his heat seemed to be intensifying.

His dark eyes looked as if they had been washed in clear water, but his pupils were completely out of focus.