Gu Sheng walked through the school, his head heavy and foggy.

He didn’t notice that the people around him suddenly began to edge away from him in fright, as if they’d seen some kind of rampaging beast.

They turned their heads, eager to find out what kind of alpha was releasing such a powerful scent on campus.

“This scent’s intensity is at least S-rank, right?” one alpha said irritably, feeling the oppression that seemed to come from its lineage.

Anyone could tell by the smell—there was a high-ranking alpha entering his heat.

Gu Sheng was in a bad state. It should have been almost October, but it was still so hot; in that short walk he was sweating all over.

The pheromones in his body were raging, running wild, making him extremely uncomfortable.

From the start of the second heat, Gu Sheng’s pheromones had been unstable.

For other high-level alphas, this feeling was not unfamiliar.

The higher an alpha’s rank, the stronger their outward aggression and the wilder their pheromones.

After the first heat, every alpha’s pheromones were in a very unstable state; with suppressants they could barely reach a balance, and yearly heats were kept to within three times.

But the instinct encoded in their genes clamored to release their pheromones freely, and the older the alpha, the stronger the reaction.

This instinct is especially pronounced in high-ranking alphas.

So every alpha, upon reaching adulthood, would accept the omega arranged by their family, choose their betrothed, and marry when the time was right.

Only an omega’s pheromones can soothe an alpha entering a receptive period — it has been that way for a thousand years.

Gu Sheng’s situation was even more unusual. The inhibitor barely worked on him, and he was actually allergic to everyone’s pheromones; even his biological parents, when they came near, would make him break out in red rashes all over.

That also meant Gu Sheng couldn’t soothe his agitated pheromones by being permanently marked to an omega.

Gu Sheng’s whole body ached. He staggered and leaned against a tree, his vision flooded with red.

Alarms blared across the campus. Doors and windows of every classroom were sealed shut, and the barriers meant to block pheromones had already been activated.

Every student in the classroom had a suppressant in hand, in case of emergencies.

Outside the classroom, there wasn’t a single person.

The sharp alarm grated on Gu Sheng’s nerves. He tugged at his school uniform collar and leaned against the tree trunk to ease his discomfort.

Gu Sheng felt his forehead. Still nothing.

The familiar fever and that muscle soreness made him realize what had happened: his third rut had come early.

It had been less than a week since his second rut when Gu Sheng entered another one.

Perhaps because his second rut hadn’t fully passed, this time was merely a final backlash from the pheromones; once this wave passed, his hormone levels would return to normal.

This kind of thing had occurred before in clinical medicine.

Gu Sheng bit his lower lip. He sent a prewritten text message to his family and waited for someone to notice him.

“Gu Sheng?”

Gu Sheng seemed to hear someone calling his name. He opened his eyes and saw someone he thought could never appear before him.

He thought the first people to find him would be the school’s security guards and teachers, or someone the Gu family had assigned to protect him; at worst, the police would take him away for disturbing the public order.

He never imagined it would be Zhou Shiyi who found him first.

Gu Sheng suddenly felt a little aggrieved — why did this person always see him at his most miserable?

His eyes were red as he looked at Zhou Shiyi, his face cold, like a lone wolf with no one to turn to.

“What are you doing here? Where is everyone else?” Zhou Shiyi had just bought a pen refill from the supermarket when he heard the alarm on the street.

He had assumed it was an air-raid drill, but he didn’t see anyone coming out of the classrooms; walking down the road, there wasn’t a single person on campus.

By coincidence, Zhou Shiyi noticed it was getting late and decided to take a shortcut, and happened to run into Gu Sheng — who looked really unwell.

“Are you okay? You look like you’re in bad shape.”

Gu Sheng watched Zhou Shiyi’s mouth open and close; he guessed what Zhou Shiyi was about to say. His own lips trembled, and a tear slipped from the corner of his eye and fell to the ground.

He stumbled and fell into Zhou Shiyi’s arms, a little aggrieved: “Why are you only coming now?”

Zhou Shiyi caught Gu Sheng; hearing him say that, he felt a bit baffled. He reached out and patted Gu Sheng’s back, saying, “Sorry I’m late. Do you want to go to the hospital?”

Zhou Shiyi could only think that Gu Sheng’s temperature was alarmingly high. The minty scent coming off him grew stronger and stronger, making Zhou’s head a little dizzy.

Maybe it was the heat, but Zhou Shiyi felt a little hot too—so hot that it made him inexplicably irritable.

Not sure what happened, Zhou Shiyi still decided to help Gu Sheng to the school infirmary first; along the way, Gu Sheng practically put all his weight onto Zhou Shiyi.

The two of them were having a hard time walking. When they passed the corner of the academic building, Gu Sheng suddenly lunged and pressed Zhou Shiyi into the shadows.

That spot happened to be at the corner between the stairwell and the restrooms, so from the outside it looked like a blind spot.

Zhou Shiyi was taken off guard, and both he and the Gu Sheng in his arms crashed into the wall.

His back was pressed tightly against the wall, and Gu Sheng buried his head into his chest, colliding hard enough to make his ribs ache; Zhou Shiyi let out a muffled groan.

“What are you doing?” Zhou Shiyi tore Gu Sheng off him.

Gu Sheng pressed against the cold wall, one hand gripping the sleeve of Zhou Shiyi’s school uniform; he closed his eyes and took a moment to steady himself.

“I can’t go straight to the school infirmary like this.”

Hearing that, Zhou Shiyi looked a bit surprised: “So what do we do now?”

Gu Sheng took another step toward him, looking as if he could pass out at any moment. He collapsed against Zhou Shiyi; this time Zhou Shiyi was prepared and didn’t get knocked over.

The two of them were facing each other in an embrace.

Gu Sheng rested his head on Zhou Shiyi’s shoulder, his voice weak: “Help me to the bathroom first.”

There was a restroom right next to them, and Zhou Shiyi supported Gu Sheng and helped him into a stall.

Fortunately the aunt here kept it very clean; besides the scent diffuser, there was no other unpleasant smell.

Zhou Shiyi lowered the toilet seat and set Gu Sheng down to sit on it.

“What can I do?”

Gu Sheng reached into the school uniform pocket and fumbled a few times, but his hand kept shaking.

Zhou Shiyi noticed too—Gu Sheng was trying to retrieve something from his pocket.

“I’ll get it for you.” Zhou Shiyi reached to feel Gu Sheng’s uniform pocket and found an unopened bottle of pheromone blocker. “A pheromone blocker—this is it?”

Zhou Shiyi looked up and asked him, only then realizing how close the two of them were.

He leaned his head back as if in discomfort, closing his eyes to rest.

From Zhou Shiyi’s angle, he could still see Gu Sheng tilt his head back, exposing his Adam’s apple and the skin slightly flushed.

Gu Sheng blinked; sweat had flowed into his eyes, making them sting. He glanced at the pheromone blocker in Zhou Shiyi’s hand, nodded, and said, “Okay.”

Zhou Shiyi glanced at the instructions, realizing Gu Sheng was in a susceptible period. He tore open the pack and sprayed a few bursts toward Gu Sheng.

Before Gu Sheng could speak, he was sprayed in the face with a full blast of pheromone blocker. He nearly choked in the thick smell of disinfectant and coughed a few times.

Surrounded by the familiar scent of disinfectant, Gu Sheng’s wits snapped back. He looked at Zhou Shiyi, who had been driven back a few steps by the spray, and suddenly let out a light laugh.

“You’re not supposed to use it like that. Fine, come here, I’ll show you.”

Zhou Shiyi frowned and handed the bottle of pheromone blocker into Gu Sheng’s hand.

This time, after all, it wasn’t an official heat—just an aftershock from the last one. Having been sprayed all over his head and face with pheromone blockers, Gu Sheng felt much better.

Gu Sheng shook the bottle and sprayed once about thirty centimeters above their heads.

Zhou Shiyi felt a mist of disinfectant spray hit his head; he stepped back slightly.

“Do all of your pheromone blockers smell like this?”

Gu Sheng’s eyes were still red. He stared at Zhou Shiyi without blinking, as if the moment he blinked, Zhou Shiyi would vanish from before him.

“No, but I don’t think this scent is unpleasant. What do you think?”

Zhou Shiyi thought for a moment: “I don’t mind it much either, it’s just that now the whole bathroom smells like disinfectant.”

To be honest, Zhou Shiyi didn’t really hate the smell of disinfectant; it’s just that this scent makes most people think of hospitals, so few people like it.

“Then smell me and tell me what I smell like.” Hearing Zhou Shiyi’s comment, Gu Shengji got a mischievous idea to tease him.

He had meant to say that Zhou Shiyi had sprayed him all over with disinfectant earlier, but he didn’t expect Zhou Shiyi to give him such an unexpected reply.

“Mm, a strong smell of disinfectant, and a hint of mint.”

Zhou Shiyi studied the small bottle, not looking up as he spoke.

The teasing smile on Gu Sheng’s face froze. “What did you say?”

“Disinfectant is the scent of a blocker. You had a strong mint smell just now—sprayed a pheromone blocker, and I can still catch a little.” Zhou Shiyi said seriously.

“Does your pheromone smell like mint?”

Watching Gu Sheng look at him in disbelief, Zhou Shiyi was slow to realize.

“Sorry, I didn’t think about it earlier—asking someone about the scent of their pheromones is a bit disrespectful. I didn’t mean it that way.”

Zhou Shiyi belatedly realized that his earlier action had been somewhat suggestive in an ABO world.

After all, pheromones are a very personal thing; most of the time only family and partners can smell them. Rashly asking an alpha about his pheromones implies a desire to take things further with him.

“No, that’s not what I meant. You said just now you smelled my pheromones as mint, so you—” Gu Sheng grabbed Zhou Shiyi’s arm and looked him straight in the eye.

Zhou Shiyi was baffled as to why Gu Sheng was so agitated, even showing some covert hope and excitement.

“Mm, I couldn’t tell earlier—it was your pheromone scent.”

Unexpectedly, Gu Sheng suddenly grinned; his laughter grew louder and louder until tears came out.

He reached out and hugged Zhou Shiyi, leaning against him weakly.

Not understanding why Gu Sheng liked physical contact so much, Zhou Shiyi could only stay stiff. He was standing while Gu Sheng sat, so he had to bend down, and the two were incredibly close.

“I really didn’t expect it, Zhou Shiyi, you’re a beta— you can actually smell it,” Gu Sheng finally laughed enough, hugged Zhou Shiyi and said absurdly.

Where Zhou Shiyi couldn’t see, Gu Sheng took a deep sniff at the scent on the back of his neck.

The disinfectant on Zhou Shiyi wasn’t strong enough to cover the faint smell of laundry detergent, but Gu Sheng simply thought his scent was pleasant.

There was a crazed gleam in Gu Sheng’s eyes, and a deep, obsessive infatuation.

Sensing Zhou Shiyi’s slight struggle, Gu Sheng said softly, “Zhou Shiyi, can you let me hold you? Just for a little while, I’m not feeling well.”

Zhou Shiyi sighed inwardly and still let him hold him like that, awkward as it was, for a while.

After a long while, just as Zhou Shiyi’s legs were starting to go numb, Gu Sheng finally let him go.

Gu Sheng lowered his eyes, somewhat reluctant, but when he looked up again everything was back to normal.