Chapter 2

Meanwhile, in the recording studio.

The projection screen above a certain light-brain device kept popping up message after message.

[SS: Annoying.]
[SS: It’s ruining my mood for recording.]
[Zephyr: You’re stuck in the dorm, not exposed to wind or rain, what’s there to be annoyed about?]
[Song Yao’an: Yeah, who even provoked you?]

Xie Sisheng typed two names on the screen, then irritably deleted them. Seeing those names immediately reminded him of what happened months ago. Back then, he was still a trainee at the company, often practicing dance alone until late at night. One evening, as he left, he bumped into a boy wearing a mask.

At first, it seemed nothing, but then they kept crossing paths—sometimes during the day, sometimes just outside the dance studio.

The last time they collided, the boy was taking out a light-brain device, seemingly to secretly film. Xie Sisheng caught him red-handed and got upset, ready to storm off, but the boy just turned and left.

He didn’t catch him, but he clearly saw the boy’s tousled light brown hair and the ballet shoes he was carrying.

Those shoes were expensive; their mother was the principal dancer of the Federal Ballet Troupe and owned several pairs herself.

Later, Xie Sisheng checked the company’s entry logs and found the boy was just a visitor.

Before this, he had encountered plenty of obsessive fans—mostly female Omegas and Betas—and the worst they did was sticking their scent glands close to him, teasing. Those pheromones were ineffective on him; he barely felt anything, like smelling air or water.

But being stalked by a male fan was a first, and it disgusted him deeply.

Later still, he even saw the boy’s photo and name on the debut roster.

He typed disdainfully.

[SS: No one special, just some commoner.]
[Zephyr: …Chi Xun? He’s back after recovering?]
[Song Yao’an: Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him. What does he look like?]

Xie Sisheng recalled how Chi Xun had greeted him warmly just moments ago outside the glass. Under the mask was a face still chubby with baby fat, smooth and pale, with eyelashes thick as a girl’s.

When greeting, he tilted his head slightly, his overly fluffy curls like a pair of wagging puppy ears... silly and naive.

If he were a girl, he’d still be the type Xie Sisheng liked least.

He replied with four words and turned off the light-brain.

[Looks average.]

* * *

Chi Xun returned to her room carrying a large box of suppressant pills from Zhuang Qu and two suitcases.

Once the door was locked, she immediately revealed her true form, collapsing onto the bed, no longer tense like when she pretended to be her brother. She melted into the mattress and rolled over.

Sigh, speaking while suppressing my voice is exhausting.

Exhausted in spirit, she also felt everything around her was strange and new. Her sudden debut, living alone in a single room without her brother’s supervision, and all these unfamiliar people appearing in her life.

Previously, in the lower city district, she had friends too, but for some reason, they all moved away or lost contact within a few months, and eventually, she drifted apart from everyone.

Only her brother remained in her life.

Chi Xun lifted her messy head to survey the room.

Clean and bright—that was her first impression.

Having been used to the dusty windows of the lower district, the floor-to-ceiling windows offering a distant view of mountains and woods made her feel incredibly fortunate. According to the original novel plot, she might never have been able to afford such a place in her lifetime.

The room was fully equipped. There was a washing-drying-fragrance integrated machine, a multifunctional exercise device that could change shape at will, and the wall at the foot of the bed was a temperature-controlled full-screen panel that could switch to a mirror, a light-brain projection, or full transparency.

The full transparency feature was definitely off-limits.

After all, next door was Xie Sisheng’s room.

Chi Xun stuffed the suppressant pills into the bedside drawer and picked up a photo frame placed above it.

It was a group photo of Isaro—six boys dressed in white and blue court-style attire, glaring at the camera with an air of noble arrogance. The elaborate embroidery and decorative patterns on their clothes couldn’t suppress the aura of privilege they exuded.

They were the kind of presence that could be the face of any troupe. Standing at the center was the flamboyant peacock, Xie Sisheng, handsome with a wild edge.

In the photo, her brother was still nowhere to be seen.

* * *

In her dreams, the story was the same. Her brother’s low popularity had kept him on the fringes of the troupe, with the fewest business activities, gradually becoming invisible. After the incident involving Xie Sisheng, he quietly left the troupe.

Chi Xun’s fingers traced the faces in the photo. Her brother would fit right in if he stood there.

Only he had never taken off his mask in front of outsiders; perhaps no one truly knew what Chi Xun looked like.

As she thought, a heavy suffocating feeling gripped her chest...

She tossed the photo frame aside and slipped her hand under her clothes, undoing two hooks of her chest binder. Still feeling stifled, she undid it completely after a while.

Her chest binder was a temporary find at a wholesale market.

After putting it on, she realized it was too small, and it was too late to return it.

She emptied the clothes from her suitcase into the wardrobe and placed her toiletries in the bathroom. After several trips, a thin layer of sweat formed on her body.

After finishing, she washed her face carefully but suddenly froze while wiping her neck.

Oh no, the scent gland!

Chi Xun sniffed the towel and indeed caught a faint aroma of green grapes.

She had accidentally wiped off the perfume on her neck... the long-lasting pheromone fragrance she had painstakingly chosen.

Betas have no scent glands.

For her, a Beta playing the role of a strong Alpha and having to reveal a unique pheromone, this was the only solution she had come up with. She even bought various green grape-scented gland patches, enough to last at least a month.

As for after a month—

Chi Xun sat back at the foot of the bed, changing into shorts, thinking faintly that by then, she might have already been kicked out of the troupe by these aristocratic boys.

* * *

Night deepened.

The pool beneath the villa had turned into a dark, mysterious pool under the moonlight.

Xie Sisheng finished recording the eleventh demo version and left the studio, only to find the villa unusually quiet. He thought Chi Xun had gone out but saw a pair of sneakers lying by the living room and entrance.

Men’s shoes, much smaller in size than theirs.

That kid was in the villa but hadn’t come to bother him.

Xie Sisheng raised an eyebrow, surprised.

He drank a bottle of nutritional supplement, holding another with his mouth, then carried his bass upstairs to the third floor. As usual, he scanned his fingerprint to enter his room.

At that moment, he heard faint noises behind him.

Turning, he traced the sound to Chi Xun’s room, separated by a single door panel.

He stepped closer, listening more intently. His brow furrowed slightly... The sound was like a girl’s soft gasps, irregular, sometimes rapid, sometimes slow.

Xie Sisheng’s expression turned odd.

Could Chi Xun be watching that kind of video inside the room?

He stood still for a moment, his ears warming. He’d overheard similar sounds during his trainee days when roommates were around, and back then, he thought it was noisy. But today’s tone made him inexplicably restless.

Could it be with a woman?

So he wasn’t gay?

Xie Sisheng sighed in relief but immediately became annoyed again.

If he wasn’t gay, why was he secretly filming him?

Putting away his bass, he returned to his bedroom. The noise on the other side of the wall seemed even louder in the quiet room. He felt irritated and went to knock on the opposite door.

Once, twice.

After several knocks, someone answered. Xie Sisheng was already impatient, and as the door opened, he wanted to mock him.

But the light spilling out from the room first revealed a pair of legs.

The person standing opposite looked a little uneasy, legs slightly pressed together, slender thighs trembling, dazzlingly pale.

Xie Sisheng was stunned for a moment, then stepped back half a pace, angrily shouting, “Why aren’t you wearing pants, big man?!”

Chi Xun was also taken aback.

“I am wearing them,” she said, confused, looking down and noticing that her brother’s oversized T-shirt covered her ballet pants. She lifted the hem to explain, “See, underneath I’m wearing shorts.”

But the boy across seemed pricked by something, pursed his lips, and turned his head away.

* * *

“I know, don’t lift your shirt.”

Well, Chi Xun didn’t quite understand him.

He had knocked so hard in urgency, and she only had time to put on the binder, not even changing her pants.

She tilted her head and asked, “So, why did you knock? Is there something you need?”

Xie Sisheng paused for half a second and said, “The soundproofing on the third floor isn’t good; keep your noises down.”

“What noises?”

“...”

He wasn’t sure if she was truly clueless or just pretending.

Xie Sisheng said nothing, and she didn’t either, just looking at him honestly.

Maybe it was because she had just finished “intense” exercise, but Chi Xun’s body carried a faint, subtle scent, like green grape vines wrapping around him, making him uncomfortable and restless.

“Everything,” he frowned, “Any loud noise can be heard by everyone on this floor.”

“Oh...” Chi Xun nodded, as if suddenly realizing something. Her face flushed, “I understand now. Thanks for the reminder.”

“...”

Seeing her suddenly grateful yet shy expression, Xie Sisheng frowned awkwardly. Was he really gay or not?

“Any other issues?”

“No.”

Xie Sisheng snorted and turned away.

Chi Xun watched him go back to his room, then closed and locked her door again.

She stepped back onto her yoga mat and continued practicing her ballet moves from earlier. Soon she was panting heavily, but thinking about what Xie Sisheng said made her cheeks burn even more.

So that’s how it is.

No wonder Xie Sisheng’s room was next to Si Heng’s, and no wonder the book included scenes of Si Heng pleasuring himself.

The author had even designed this little detail about the poor soundproofing on the third floor so the two could eavesdrop on each other while secretly pining.

But what about her?

Was she just a giant, high-wattage light bulb?

* * *

Perhaps because so much had happened today and she was in a new environment, Chi Xun didn’t sleep well that night.

She first dreamed of Xie Sisheng coming to confront her—maybe to make Si Heng jealous—trying to find her scent gland and mark her. No matter how she explained she was a Beta, it was useless.

His hot breath sprayed on the back of her neck, almost melting her.

The scene shifted; she was tied to a cold lab table.

Zhuang Qu, sitting opposite, threw a Beta test report at her and sneered, “We were all deceived by you. Chi Xun, have you thought about the consequences?”

Later, she escaped the lab but was hunted by a loan shark group and abandoned on a garbage planet to fend for herself—no water, no food, the air thick with acrid chemical fumes.

Then Chi Xun woke up.

The sunlight was blinding as she shielded her eyes and murmured instinctively,

“Brother, what time is it?”

No one answered.

Chi Xun gradually regained consciousness, sniffed, got out of bed, and went to the window. Gazing into the distance from the mountains to the courtyard parking lot, she noticed a new business van had arrived.

Her other two teammates seemed to have returned.