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As Wei Yin came closer, the scene gradually came into focus. First she saw the mess strewn across the floor: food, drinks, and a shattered bowl.

Further up, Hua Yu stood in a strangely twisted posture.

At Hua Yu’s feet lay a box of pastries, broken to pieces.

The pastries had been crushed inside the plastic container. The box had been overturned on the floor, and it was obvious someone had hurled it down hard.

The room was a wreck. Hua Yu stood in the shadows, her wrist cut, faint streaks of blood sliding down the back of her pale hand.

At the sound of Wei Yin’s approach, her unfocused gaze shifted toward her.

Then she tilted her head and used her bloodied hand to brush the hair from her cheek.

Blood smeared through the strands, staining both sides of her face. Hua Yu’s eyes were rimmed in red, the bloodshot spreading across the whites like a web.

Little by little, her focus gathered and settled on Wei Yin’s face.

It was a suffocating, out-of-control sight.

“Dr. Hua, you’re hurt!” Wei Yin covered her mouth to stifle the cry, the words pushing out through her fingers. She couldn’t help stepping back half a pace, then forward again. “Don’t move. I’ll bandage you.”

“Ah Yin.”

Behind her came Hua Yu’s whisper, so hoarse it would have been missed if she hadn’t listened closely.

Wei Yin turned to look at her. “Wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”

She didn’t know that the instant she turned away, it was like a poisonous spike driving into Hua Yu’s eyes.

Hua Yu’s mind wasn’t clear. She only recognized Wei Yin.

Then, in the next instant, Wei Yin turned and left.

Why was she leaving?

Years ago, after she and Wei Yin had fallen out, Wei Yin had cut off every connection between them in a way so absolute it was almost cruel. After that estrus cycle, Hua Yu had nearly not made it through.

Back then, you were the one who came to provoke me; that shy, timid girl, again and again, like a snail stretching out its thin, sensitive feelers to test her reaction.

She had been a flower growing on a branch, all too easily trodden down, all too easily discarded.

Wei Yin hurriedly found the first-aid kit. Carefully stepping around the scattered things on the floor, she took Hua Yu’s hand in the middle of that tangled, hard-to-read expression.

Wipe, rinse, disinfect, bandage.

Hua Yu didn’t move at all; she let Wei Yin do as she pleased.

“What exactly happened?”

Wei Yin had already turned on every light, and the marks on the floor were plain as day.

Hua Yu’s condition was clearly not normal. Had she eaten something bad?

“Why did you come back?” Hua Yu said expressionlessly.

Wei Yin didn’t understand. She softened her voice, trying to soothe her, and touched Hua Yu’s forehead. “No fever... Mm, I came back to bandage you.”

Hua Yu still stared at her without blinking. “Am I dreaming?”

“It’s okay,” Wei Yin, unable to tell whether Hua Yu was conscious right now, could only comfort her again and again. “You’re in your estrus cycle now. Is there anywhere on your body that feels uncomfortable? Tell me, okay?”

Hua Yu didn’t answer her question. Wei Yin placed her on a dining stool, her hands spread and resting carelessly at her sides.

Wei Yin sat on a low stool. She had just finished bandaging her, and her face was right there within reach.

Hua Yu lowered her eyes. Her hand trembled, then suddenly reached for Wei Yin’s eyes.

Wei Yin instinctively shut them.

“The eyelashes... they’re real,” Hua Yu murmured to herself. “The lip lines, the mole, all these details are real. This isn’t a dream.”

The words made no coherent sense. Wei Yin was certain Hua Yu wasn’t well.

Thinking of Hua Yu’s behavior before this estrus cycle—fever, headaches, large doses of suppressants, even locking herself up—Wei Yin took out her phone, intending to call the provincial hospital’s emergency line.

At that moment, a shadow suddenly fell over her. Wei Yin looked up, and before she could speak, the phone in her hand was snatched away and thrown aside. Immediately after, the world spun; she was lifted by the waist and pressed onto the dining table.

The back of her head hit the cold tabletop. Wei Yin flinched and trembled, eyes wide as she cried out, “Hua Yu!”

Hua Yu held one of her shoulders down with a single hand, the other still gripping her waist, her whole body half-shrouded over Wei Yin’s head. Against the backlight, her face couldn’t be seen clearly; only her breathing, uneven and erratic, beat down on her, hot and feverish.

“Are you sick?” Wei Yin’s eyes quickly filled. She wanted to get up, but she had no strength. Afraid and anxious, she was on the verge of tears when she spoke. “I’ll take you to see a doctor, okay?”

She was truly scared.

Above her, Hua Yu watched her quietly, her gaze deep and empty, like a carnivorous beast in the mountains—bloody, savage, absurd, containing only pure and undisguised desire.

...Desire.

“Hua Yu!” A chill ran through Wei Yin’s entire body, and fear surged up at once, driving her to struggle desperately.

The person before her was an alpha; a purebred, high-tier alpha in a manic estrus cycle, pinning her beneath her.

And her? She was weak, slight, and an omega.

The instinctive fear etched into her genes surged ahead of reason. Wei Yin thrashed wildly, her hands swinging. In the motion, her nails scraped across Hua Yu’s cheek, adding a fresh streak to the blood already marked by her hair.

“Tch.” The sting on her cheek scattered some of the mist in Hua Yu’s eyes. Her gaze regained a little clarity, and the strength in her hand eased.

Wei Yin hurriedly slid off the table and ran aside.

But that brief moment of clarity lasted only a few seconds. Hua Yu caught her ankle from behind with astonishing speed and dragged her down to the floor.

“Ah!” Wei Yin cried out in pain.

Hua Yu pressed down on her from behind and bent over her, her gaze fixed on the back of Wei Yin’s neck.

So soft, so slender, so fragile it seemed it would snap with the slightest force. In her memory, that place had once released a sweet scent as well.

She wanted to bite.

If she bit through the gland, would that sweet pheromone spill out?

Wei Yin’s pheromones were sweet, thirst-quenching, craving-sating.

But she looked so frightened; she was trembling.

- Want to bite. Want to so badly.

- But it would hurt her.

Wei Yin felt fingers brush over the nape of her neck, like the press and wipe before tasting something delicious. Her gland was so sensitive it plunged her into utter terror.

“Hua Yu—” Wei Yin cried out in distress.

Pinned under Hua Yu’s hand, she struggled. “Hua Yu, Dr. Hua, wake up!”

“What did you just call me?” Hua Yu tilted her head; her speech was slow, each word dragged out with effort.

Wei Yin trembled, her eyes red-rimmed. “Hua Yu, Hua Yu, Hua Yu, let me go!”

Hearing her own name shouted from Wei Yin’s mouth—perhaps because of the trembling voice, or because the sound was familiar down to her bones—it stirred a trace of consciousness in Hua Yu.

Hua Yu’s whole body jolted violently. She closed her eyes, trying to suppress something.

She couldn’t bite.

It was Wei Yin. Her body was already unwell. She was injured. She couldn’t be treated like this.

Pain, struggle, restraint, collapse; all kinds of expressions flickered across her face. Wei Yin saw the veins jumping at Hua Yu’s temples, her pale lips trembling, and the fine brows tightening from pain.

Light and shadow carved distinct lines across her sculpted features, yet they also shook and shifted with the pain on her face.

Time seemed to stretch on forever, yet it also felt like only a few minutes.

“You... stay away from me..."

Bit by bit, Hua Yu released the hands that had restrained Wei Yin and sank back to the floor.

She hung her head, silent, motionless.

In the dead of night, there was only Wei Yin’s breathing, trembling with fear.

Hua Yu didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was undeniably suffering; the loss of control just now had gone far beyond what she could contain. She had been like a puppet on strings, stripped of all reason and awareness, and when she finally came to again, she saw Wei Yin’s tear-streaked face.

Wrong; everything was wrong.

A tearing pain exploded above her head. Hua Yu clutched at it, dropped her face to her knees, and did everything she could to curl herself into a ball.

Wei Yin lived so carefully, so cautiously; she had done nothing wrong. What right did she have, and why should Wei Yin suffer this innocent disaster?

She should not have brought her home. She should not have let her stay by her side. None of this should have happened.

The hormones raging and boiling inside her were still clamoring. Hua Yu felt like a fireball, her insides nearly parched to death, while her soul had already drifted free of her body, floating above to watch coldly.

Guilt and frustration; burning and desire; all of it tangled together, and in the end it turned into a dense, heavy loathing.

Loathing for herself.

Time ticked by one second at a time, and then a light, gentle touch suddenly landed on her shoulder.

Hua Yu’s whole body went rigid.

Wei Yin, having escaped her grip, had somehow edged closer little by little and now rested a hand softly on her shoulder.

Hua Yu looked up at her. Wei Yin lowered her head; her fingertips touched her and withdrew at once, then curled in midair and pulled back.

She was still afraid, and she still chose to come closer.

“...How are you still brave enough to come over?” Hua Yu’s throat was hoarse. Her voice felt as if it didn’t belong to her.

Wei Yin’s voice was very soft, like a small beast too frightened to move. “...Suppressant, for you.”

She quietly found Hua Yu’s medicine box and pushed it in front of her.

Looking at the medicine, Hua Yu tasted only bitterness. “No need.”

“If you take it, you’ll feel better,” Wei Yin thought Hua Yu was still suffering from estrus symptoms, and only wanted her to be more comfortable. “Don’t be afraid of the pain. One milliliter at a time, push it in slowly, and it won’t hurt.”

“I’m not afraid of pain,” Hua Yu said hoarsely with her eyes closed. “These won’t work for my current condition.”

Wei Yin lifted her misty eyes. “?”

Hua Yu gave a low laugh, carrying a trace of mockery. “I came into contact with an omega’s pheromones.”

“An omega?” Wei Yin was completely shocked. “How could there be an omega in the house..."

Thinking of Xu Ya Qing, Wei Yin quickly said, “Only Ya Qing came over. I sprayed her with half a bottle of barrier spray.”

Hua Yu said nothing. She weakly lifted her wrist and pointed toward the side of the refrigerator.

Wei Yin followed her gesture and looked over. There was only an overturned plastic container there, with the broken pastries inside.

On closer inspection, one of the pastries had been bitten off slightly, and there was a round tooth mark.

“Where did this come from?” Hua Yu asked softly.

Wei Yin went over, rummaged around for a bit, and came back with a note that had been stepped on and dirtied.

Hua Yu took the note and looked over the words on it.

“I left you a note, and I sent you a message too,” Wei Yin tried to defend herself, though her confidence was weak. After learning that the pastries sent by the neighbor had caused Hua Yu to end up like this, she was already so ashamed she wanted to disappear. “...It’s all my fault for not explaining clearly.”

“She’s a high-tier omega,” Hua Yu said, setting the note on the floor and leaning back against the table leg. Her gland was probably about to explode; the pain made her consciousness blur. “A university music teacher. I met her once at a property meeting.”

“Most high-tier omegas use special barrier spray to keep their pheromones from leaking out and causing trouble for themselves. She probably thought I didn’t know she was an omega. First she borrowed kitchenware and deliberately let out her pheromones; when I didn’t react, she sent pastries.”

“There was a high concentration of omega pheromones inside, and I was in estrus...”

Hua Yu didn’t say the rest, but how could Wei Yin not understand?

It was like throwing a torch into highly concentrated oxygen, or a spark landing on gasoline; once alpha pheromones and omega pheromones combined, the reaction would be violently intense.

Wei Yin crouched with her knees hugged to her chest, only half a step away from Hua Yu, shaking with anger. “How could she do that? This is—this is poisoning! Reckless endangerment with dangerous goods!”

“You’re right,” Hua Yu said, her voice growing softer and softer. “Just now, when you took out your phone, what were you going to do?”

Wei Yin froze. “Call emergency services.”

“Call now. Call Yang Cha,” Hua Yu said slowly, lying down. She no longer had the strength to stay conscious. “Tell her I fainted from shock during my estrus cycle.”

“...Tell her the pastries were the problem.”

Half an hour later, the ambulance siren sounded, along with police cars that arrived at the same time and stopped downstairs.

Medical staff and police came into the apartment fully equipped. One group carried Hua Yu out, while another collected evidence at the scene.

Wei Yin was taken to the police station as a witness to give her statement.

She looked back over her shoulder toward Hua Yu on the stretcher.

Hua Yu was unconscious, her face even paler than the white fluorescent lights in the hallway.

Suddenly, a suffocating fury surged in her chest.

It was unfamiliar, and yet faintly familiar.

Like when she was little and someone threw her cat off the second floor; she had never been one to raise her voice, but if no one had stopped her, she would have pushed that person down too.

She wanted to push everyone who had hurt Hua Yu off the building.