This profile picture…
This username…
This way of speaking…
—Is this really Yu Chen?
Yun Xunlan felt confused.
And he wasn’t alone in his confusion. In the comments section under this new status, there were many others sharing the same sentiment—
[Mrs. You: ?]
[Falling to become a god replying to Mrs. You: Do you know him? Who is this? When did I follow him? Is this a forced follow from the platform?]
[Forever protecting the Third Highness (Scalpers DM me): Not the real person?]
[Longan planted by the Third Highness (Scalpers DM me): Were you hacked? Our Brother Yu would never use words like “la” when speaking.]
Fu Yanxi and Gui Yan’s previous names were too long, and the platform had a new rule that names couldn’t exceed 25 characters, so they had to shorten their names. But Yu Chen still didn’t like looking at them. He first replied to Fu Yanxi with a question mark: [Lanlan’s: ?]
Then he replied to Gui Yan: [Lanlan’s: Are you telling me what to do?]
[Grab you to make Juwei chicken necks: Holy crap? It’s really Brother Yu himself?]
[Longan planted by the Third Highness (Scalpers DM me): How dare you! You have some nerve! You dare to directly use the Third Highness’s name!]
[Forever protecting the Third Highness (Scalpers DM me): Yu dog! You still dare to say you didn’t find a scalper to buy ice cream?!]
Clearly, Fu Yanxi thought that Yu Chen’s “very important thing” was to contact scalpers to buy lychee rose ice cream.
Only Yun Xunlan knew that Yu Chen’s important matter had nothing to do with lychee rose ice cream. He was going to confess to him—and he had indeed succeeded.
So he changed his profile picture to pink, representing the lychee rose, changed his name to Yun Xunlan’s nickname, and added a possessive “of” to indicate belonging. The joy and delight of being in the throes of new love seemed to overflow through the electronic screen right in front of Yun Xunlan.
Such intense and fervent liking couldn’t have formed overnight.
So Yun Xunlan opened the private chat interface between his alt account and Yu Chen’s starnet account, reviewing their past chat records to figure out exactly when Yu Chen’s feelings for him had begun.
After going through the records, Yun Xunlan found that Yu Chen’s online behavior could be described in eight words: impenetrable to oil and salt, unmoved by soft or hard approaches.
They couldn’t be a couple online, couldn’t be brothers, and certainly couldn’t establish an adoptive father-son relationship.
So the problem must have occurred in reality.
Yun Xunlan couldn’t help but think of that novel where the author wrote about a couple but insisted they were just good brothers: “Interstellar Journey: The Supreme New Emperor”.
“We indeed learned from the wrong book,” the system also thought along the same lines. “You suffered from never having dated before. If you had dated before, even if you learned from the wrong book, you could have quickly discovered at which stage your brotherly relationship with Yu Chen started to mutate, and could have corrected it in time.”
Yun Xunlan expressed doubt: “Is that so?”
“Yes, fortunately, you can switch between being gay and straight,” the system said. “Otherwise, if you were a staunch straight man, I don’t know how you would have handled the situation in such urgent circumstances.”
Yun Xunlan didn’t like Yu Chen’s new status update. Instead, he went to change the name of his alt account—deleting all the modifying words in parentheses from “Fish Raising Master (but future good brother proxy version)”.
After all, now that the blue betta fish had been returned to him to raise, Yu Chen could no longer be his future good brother.
Originally, Yun Xunlan had only planned to delete the two words “future”, but fate had other plans.
After changing his name, Yun Xunlan slowly replied to the system: “But I’m not straight, and I’m not gay either.”
If he were straight, he would like women.
If he were gay, he would like men.
However, in his past 2000+ years, he had never liked anyone.
“The past is the past, and now is now. No matter what you were before, you must be gay now. You have to pretend well that you like Yu Chen, otherwise if he finds out you don’t actually like him, you’ll break up. Then you’ll have to figure out how to be brothers with him, or adoptive father and son.” The system learned an uncouth phrase from Yu Chen, “But for these two things, one requires a perfect score in ‘War Psychology’, the other requires 99 points. Can you do it?”
Yun Xunlan: “…”
He indeed couldn’t do these two things, even passing would be difficult. But the system got one thing wrong—he wouldn’t pretend to like Yu Chen.
Just as Yun Xunlan was about to defend himself, his light brain bracelet vibrated.
He looked at the contact name, it was a communication request from Ni Chun.
Yun Xunlan accepted the call, and Ni Chun’s excited voice came through from the other end: “Your Highness, the transport ship from the Corona Empire has arrived at the Imperial Capital Star port. The ship’s captain asked me to inquire when you’ll be free to inspect and receive the 3S mecha?”
“Let’s do it tomorrow, 9 AM tomorrow morning.” Yun Xunlan gave this answer almost without thinking, he hoped for the earliest possible time.
But Ni Chun was a bit worried: “But your eyes still need two more days of rest to recover…”
Yun Xunlan pulled the curtains closed again, raised his hand to wipe the remaining tears on his cheeks, and said nonchalantly: “It’s just activating the mecha, doesn’t require much eyesight.”
“Alright,” Ni Chun had to comply. “Then I’ll arrange your schedule accordingly.”
After hanging up, the system was silent, and Yun Xunlan didn’t have time to argue with it further. After all, only he knew what the system said or thought.
He sent a message to Jian Wenxi via his light brain—
[Yun Xunlan: Wenxi, my 3S mecha has arrived.]
[Jian Wenxi: Oh my god oh my god oh my god!]
[Jian Wenxi: Voice message 60′]
[Jian Wenxi: That’s my scream above, no need to listen. Have you received it yet?!]
[Yun Xunlan: Not yet, I’m going to the port to inspect and receive it tomorrow.]
[Jian Wenxi: Can I go with you?]
[Yun Xunlan: Sure, but there will probably be a lot of people around. I’m worried you might faint.]
[Jian Wenxi: Oh come on, you know I always fake fainting. As long as I can see your wife, I can endure anything!!!]
My wife?
Did he mean Yu Chen?
Yun Xunlan paused slightly, puzzled. He and Yu Chen had just confirmed their relationship today and hadn’t told anyone yet. Logically speaking, Jian Wenxi shouldn’t know about it. Judging by the context, the “wife” Jian Wenxi mentioned should refer to his 3S-level mecha, right?
If he didn’t understand, he should ask. Yun Xunlan immediately typed: [Wenxi, by “my wife,” you mean my mecha, Jian Xingchen, right?]
Jian Wenxi also realized his previous message could easily cause misunderstandings and quickly clarified: [Yes yes yes, it’s Jian Xingchen. Don’t misunderstand.]
—I’ve already met your other “wife,” Yu Chen.
But Jian Wenxi still felt a bit confused: Was Yu Chen the “wife”? He looked taller and stronger than Yun Xunlan. With that physique and build, calling him “wife” didn’t seem right; calling him “husband” seemed more fitting. But then again, Yu Chen seemed quite “submissive.”
Fortunately, Jian Wenxi quickly recalled they only used their mouths anyway. In that case, whether Yu Chen was Yun Xunlan’s husband or wife didn’t really matter; no need to dwell on it.
He continued typing to Yun Xunlan: [I’ve seen many alphas call their mechas their wives, so I thought you did too. Don’t you?]
[Yun Xunlan: No, I usually treat my mecha as my son.]
[Jian Wenxi: Oh! Then I’m really looking forward to meeting your son!]
[Yun Xunlan: Alright, I’ll pick you up at your place tomorrow at 8:30 AM.]
[Jian Wenxi: Mhm mhm mhm!]
Just as Yun Xunlan finished his conversation with Jian Wenxi, Ni Chun also sent out his updated schedule to all the guards.
But before checking this new schedule notification, Yu Chen first called Pei Xingting.
Pei Xingting was probably busy with work and didn’t pick up immediately.
During the twenty-five seconds Yu Chen waited for the call to be answered, he closed all the windows in his dormitory tightly, sealed the door cracks with adhesive tape, moved away the bedside cabinet, pried open a floor tile beneath it, and finally took out a refrigerated medicine box hidden inside.
Inside the box were five syringes—three were empty already, and two remaining syringes were filled with a fluorescent purple liquid.
Yu Chen took one syringe and injected himself. Just as he finished pushing out the contents of the syringe, Pei Xingting answered the call: “Hello?”
“Pei Xingting, I’m almost out of γ-type Level III specialized injections,” Yu Chen never liked wasting words and went straight to the point. “I have only one left now. I’m not sure how long it’ll last. You’d better get me another box before next week. Thanks.”
“Only one left?”
Pei Xingting was extremely surprised and quickly moved to a secluded corner to lower his voice: “I gave you five syringes last time—that should’ve lasted at least three months.”
One syringe per month; two extra for susceptible periods or emergencies. Even if it couldn’t last three months exactly, it should’ve lasted at least two months. Yu Chen had just entered the second month—how could he be almost out already?
Listening to Yu Chen’s somewhat rapid breathing and recalling his earlier rough and hoarse voice tone, Pei Xingting suddenly frowned: “Are you in your susceptible period again?”
Yu Chen replied simply: “Yes.”
Pei Xingting’s brows knitted tighter: “How many times have you entered your susceptible period this month?”
Yu Chen answered truthfully: “Three times, but one was a pseudo-susceptible period.”
The first time was in the enclosed car cabin, triggered by Yun Xunlan’s pheromones in his blood; the second was after he first shared a bed with Yun Xunlan and returned to his dormitory, triggered by smelling the lychee rose—but that one was a pseudo-susceptible period; and the third was today.
“You weren’t like this before. Your first susceptible period was triggered by stimulation, seeing Manuel Hurst, right? What about the second and third times?” Pei Xingting was completely puzzled. “What caused your later susceptible periods? Tell me in detail.”
Unexpectedly, Yu Chen countered: “What does my susceptible period have to do with Manuel Hurst?”
“Every time I enter a susceptible period, it’s because I smelled Yun Xunlan’s pheromones—the first time was, the third time too. The second pseudo-susceptible period wasn’t entirely due to him,” Yu Chen explained to Pei Xingting. “That time it was from smelling the lychee rose fragrance. After taking suppressants, I was fine; no need for additional γ-type Level III specialized injections.”
Pei Xingting: “…”
He asked Yu Chen: “Are you really that deeply in love?”
Generally speaking, an alpha’s susceptible periods don’t occur as frequently as an omega’s heats—usually about three times a year.
Of course, some alphas might experience more frequent susceptibility episodes, but as long as it doesn’t exceed five times a year, it’s still within normal range. If it exceeds five times, one must consider pheromone imbalance issues and possibly seek medical treatment.
But Yu Chen’s situation clearly wasn’t pheromone imbalance.
He belonged to another special case—when an alpha has an extremely high pheromone compatibility with a certain omega or deeply likes another alpha or omega who releases pheromones, that alpha might enter a susceptible period upon smelling those highly compatible or beloved pheromones.
To put it bluntly: he loved too deeply.
Yu Chen could even enter pseudo-susceptibility just from smelling lychee roses—if this wasn’t due to deep love, what else could it be?
The solution for frequent susceptibility caused by this special situation is simple if the alpha’s loved one is an omega: marking the omega would solve it—temporary or permanent marking both work.
But if the loved one is also an alpha, things become trickier. Still, there are two ways to resolve it: first, breaking up and staying away from the pheromone source would naturally cure susceptibility; second, undergoing desensitization therapy—gradually increasing exposure to the other alpha’s pheromones to induce tolerance until susceptibility decreases.
Pei Xingting explained the treatment principles to Yu Chen.
Finally, he asked again: “Be honest with me—you were actually the one who fell for the Third Highness first, weren’t you?”
Yu Chen pretended not to hear this question and focused on treatment instead: “So I’ll have to let Yun Xunlan mark me every day?”
“Then you’d better prepare for daily susceptibility,” Pei Xingting said helplessly. “Other people’s desensitization therapy starts with low-concentration doses and gradually increases. And you want to jump straight into strong doses? Even dozens of γ-type Level III specialized injections wouldn’t be enough for you.”
“You need to start adapting from lower-concentration ‘doses’ first,” he advised Yu Chen. “There are plenty of products with the same scent as His Highness’s pheromones—perfumes, shower gels, fragrances—they’re everywhere on the streets. Just buy some randomly and use them.”
Yu Chen: “…Fuck.”
Yu Chen suddenly felt his head turning green—as if the lychee rose bushes had grown directly onto his head.
He lay on the bed, dismantling the bouquet of lychee roses Yun Xunlan had given him, gathering each flower around himself as if building a nest, sniffing this one and smelling that one. Finally, he clenched the finger Yun Xunlan had bitten and muttered, “I don’t fucking want to use those cheap knockoffs.”
—And he didn’t want anyone else using them either.
No, he still needed to report that damned lychee rose ice cream from Elianxia Sweets and get it off the shelves.
“I don’t care what you use,” Pei Xingting said. “Just control yourself properly. Don’t let your pheromone pressure get out of hand before I get you the new injections.”
“I’m on duty in three days. I’ll bring you Level IV injections. You’re having susceptible periods every day now; Level III isn’t suitable anymore. Level IV has stronger side effects—it’ll make you more prone to irritability and anger.” After a pause, Pei Xingting continued, “Coincidentally, now that you’ve caught this frequent-susceptibility ‘love sickness,’ it can help cover things up for you. But honestly, I think you’ve never had much self-control anyway. Even if you become a bit worse, probably no one will notice anything different.”
Yu Chen: “…”
Great. In the end, it turned out he was the one who caught this “love sickness.”
