Chapter 2

"Mm." The man murmured a low reply.

He studied Yun Zhi's face for a few seconds, then spoke again. "The people chasing you have left."

He stepped down from the barstool and moved it aside to give Yun Zhi room to climb out.

Yun Zhi answered his thoughtfulness with a sincere smile, revealing two cute little dimples.

Crawling out from under the bar counter, he brushed the dust off his trousers and carefully scanned the bar in all directions. Seeing no sign of those men, the tension in his nerves slowly began to ease.

"Thank you. I'll be off then." Yun Zhi dipped his head slightly and thanked the kind, beautiful stranger one more time.

The man, who stood half a head taller than him, looked down and nodded as well.

After leaving here, he still needed to figure out the identity of this body he was now inhabiting.

He had to at least find out who he was.

The moment he turned around, Yun Zhi was suddenly blinded by a fierce white light that hit him from the side. His vision went blank for an instant, and his body lurched forward with it.

Yun Zhi felt a sudden wave of exhaustion wash over him. He suspected he'd been given something earlier, and whatever it was hadn't fully worn off yet.

Just as he was about to hit the floor, a pair of lean, strong hands wrapped around his waist and steadied him.

Receiving his help for yet another time, Yun Zhi felt a flush of embarrassment. His cheeks tinged faintly pink, his curling lashes fluttered rapidly, and he said softly, "Thank you."

"It's nothing." The man gave a brief reply, then paused a beat and asked, "You're not in great shape right now. Should I walk you out?"

Yun Zhi was almost overwhelmed — it was far too much trouble to ask of someone. He moved to wave it off, but then considered his situation: he wasn't entirely safe yet. What if those men were waiting for him outside the bar entrance? So he tilted his head up and said hesitantly, "Then… thank you again?"

The moment the words were out, he couldn't help laughing at himself.

In the span of barely ten minutes, he had thanked this person five times.

The corner of the man's mouth curved upward just a fraction.

His thin lips lifted, like a patch of thin ice thawing on the surface of a lake that had been frozen all year — giving the impression that spring was just about to arrive.

Extraordinarily beautiful.

Yun Zhi walked out with him. They hadn't gone far when the man noticed Yun Zhi's injured foot and stopped, looking down at it.

Yun Zhi explained briefly, "I twisted my ankle. It's fine."

"Mm." The man didn't say anything more, simply reached out and took hold of Yun Zhi's right arm to support him.

As they neared the entrance, Yun Zhi hunched his shoulders and edged cautiously behind the man. Only after confirming no one was waiting at the door did he relax again, and shifted back to walk beside him.

"Get on."

When they reached the steps outside the bar entrance, the man stepped down one step ahead of him and crouched down.

Yun Zhi blinked. "...That's too much trouble. I can walk on my own — it's not even that painful."

The man thought for a moment and said, "There are still two alleyways before you can hail a car. At the rate you're moving, it'll take too long."

"Oh." Not wanting to waste any more of a kind person's time, Yun Zhi looked at his broad back, feeling extremely self-conscious, and climbed on.

He hesitated a moment, then draped his slender arms loosely around the man's neck.

The man stood up and appeared to do so with complete ease. Yun Zhi let out a quiet sigh of relief — good, good. At least he wasn't too heavy a burden for him.

His faint, warm breath was blowing directly against the back of the man's neck, hot and soft, raising a cascade of goosebumps across that sensitive patch of skin in an instant.

A sharp throb pulsed at the man's temple, and his footsteps faltered for just a moment.

He couldn't help turning his head slightly. "You——"

"Mm?" Hearing the beautiful man initiate conversation, Yun Zhi leaned his head forward curiously, and his fluffy curls brushed directly against the man's gland, sending another maddening itch rippling through him.

"Do you know what you're doing." That was what the man had meant to say — but somehow, by the time the words reached his lips, they had changed into: "Where do you live? I'll have my driver take you home."

Ah. His home address.

He didn't know that.

Yun Zhi buried his face a little deeper and said quietly, "I don't remember. When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything. I don't know where I live, or even what my name is."

His voice sounded sad.

The man fell silent as well, at a loss for what to say.

After a moment, he carried Yun Zhi out of the alleyway.

The city was still bustling at this hour of the night — traffic streaming in both directions, neon lights spreading in a glittering expanse.

"I'll take you to the police station to ask." The man turned his head slightly as he said it, and then his tone softened just a fraction as he added, "Is that alright?"

"That's fine."

The police station's systems would have his information on file, and from that he'd be able to find out who he was. He wondered if the original owner of this body had family — and if so, how he was supposed to explain that the body had a completely different soul inside it now.

In his previous life, Yun Zhi had been an orphan. He had no experience with family.

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became.

* * *

At the police station.

The officer said gently to the beautiful Omega seated across from him, "According to the fingerprint records in our system, your name is Jin Yunzhi. You're eighteen years old — an Omega who has remained undifferentiated at an unusually late age. It's not common at your age, but try not to worry too much. I've heard of people not differentiating until their twenties. Look at it this way — differentiating later means you get to suffer less from your pheromones for longer, doesn't that sound better?"

The officer, struck by how sweet and docile this Omega looked, couldn't help saying a few extra words to help put him at ease.

Yun Zhi sat quietly on the chair, hands folded on his knees, like an attentive schoolchild.

The officer looked at something in the system, and his thick brows furrowed briefly before smoothing back out. He gave Yun Zhi a friendly smile. "You have an older brother — his name is Jin Zeli, twenty-six years old. He's probably very worried about you. I'll contact him for you now."

Jin Zeli...

That name felt so familiar.

Yun Zhi had the sense that he'd heard it not long ago, but he couldn't place it.

Hearing that a call would be made to his brother made Yun Zhi very nervous. "Alright, thank you, officer."

Fortunately, when the call went through, the officer spoke with Jin Zeli first, explaining Yun Zhi's situation clearly before handing the phone over. Yun Zhi gripped the phone and opened his mouth, suddenly at a loss for how to begin. He could only manage to squeeze out two words with great effort. "...Brother."

There was a brief silence on the other end, and then: "I'm on my way. Don't go anywhere."

Yun Zhi nodded, then immediately remembered the other person couldn't see him and hurriedly spoke aloud. "Okay. I'll wait for you, brother."

Having learned who he was, Yun Zhi didn't want to bother the officers further and retreated to the waiting area on his own, sitting in a chair with a small blanket draped across his lap that a kind officer had brought over.

A pair of long, straight legs entered his field of vision and stopped in front of him.

Yun Zhi slowly looked up, and upon seeing that cool, imperious beautiful face, blinked. "You're... still here? I thought you'd left."

The man handed him a bottle of milk, then sat down casually in the seat beside him. "I'll leave after your family comes."

Yun Zhi accepted the milk.

It was warm.

This person is so thoughtful, he thought. Gentle and beautiful. If only he weren't so tall for an Omega — everything about him would fit right in with his kind.

He stuck in the straw and took a small sip. The warm liquid flowed into his stomach, spreading a gentle heat through him. With some warmth inside him, he felt his body wasn't quite so exhausted anymore.

A tickling sensation crept up his spine to the back of his neck. Yun Zhi reached back to scratch at it absently.

The person beside him fixed their gaze on the slightly reddened nape of his neck.

That was where the gland was located.

The skin there was no longer smooth — it was a little swollen, a little red. It looked almost as if it had just been scratched up.

He quietly withdrew his gaze, and a moment later, pressed a chilled can against the back of Yun Zhi's neck.

The sudden cold made Yun Zhi flinch with a start, but it did relieve the itch.

It's only the end of winter, the beginning of spring — how are there already mosquitoes?

Yun Zhi squinted warmly at him in a smile.

Revealing two cute little dimples, completely unguarded.

Ten minutes later, the police station door swung open with a loud bang as a tall man strode in. Everyone inside instinctively looked over.

Yun Zhi looked too.

The man who had just entered was very tall — close to 190 centimeters by the look of it. Long-legged and broad-shouldered, his suit was visibly expensive, the kind that made you involuntarily wonder which powerful figure from the capital had just walked in.

Except that his hair, which should have been impeccably groomed, hung in slightly disheveled strands over his forehead, and through them looked a pair of bloodshot eyes, staring at Yun Zhi without blinking.

He looked somewhat haggard.

The moment their eyes met, Yun Zhi knew — this was his brother, Jin Zeli.

Should he say "brother" first?

Yun Zhi thought that if the roles were reversed and he were the brother, hearing that his younger sibling had gotten into trouble and lost his memory would leave him feeling helpless and heartbroken, and deeply regretful for not protecting him better.

Jin Zeli clearly looked as though he loved the original host dearly. Since he himself had stepped into Jin Yunzhi's place and had no way back, he could only take over Jin Yunzhi's life and carry it forward.

Jin Yunzhi had given him a new life — so he would live that life brilliantly in his stead.

Yun Zhi quickly convinced himself to accept this reality.

He stood up and walked toward Jin Zeli. He lifted a smile he felt was about as sweet as he could manage, his beautiful almond eyes curving softly.

"Brother, you came!" He tilted his head to the side, and his smile showed a small canine tooth.

Jin Zeli, hearing his words, seemed as though someone had suddenly pressed a switch inside him. He closed the distance in long, rapid strides and wrapped Yun Zhi tightly in his arms.

The sudden embrace made Yun Zhi's head swim, and he could feel his ribs being squeezed painfully.

Brother's hugging too tight.

But he was certainly feeling the joy of finding something he'd thought was lost — that was why he'd forgotten his own strength for a moment. Yun Zhi thought that was kind of nice.

He let his brother hold him for several minutes. Only when a nearby officer started repeatedly clearing his throat as a hint did Yun Zhi shift his shoulders in embarrassment and nudge him away.

Yun Zhi tilted his face up with a smile. "Brother, I'm okay. Even if I can't remember things from before, you're still my brother."

Jin Zeli's eyes flooded with a deeper, darker flush of red in an instant. It was as if at the moment he heard those words, every drop of blood in his body had begun to scream.

The corner of his mouth curved into a smile. His eyes lit with an abnormal excitement, and his voice was bone-deep tender. "Good. As long as you remember that I'm your brother, that's all that matters."

He took hold of Yun Zhi's wrist and turned to leave.

"Brother, wait a moment." Yun Zhi tugged him back, looking up at him with a hint of anticipation. "Can I say goodbye to the person who saved me? If it weren't for him tonight, I might never have gotten to see you. Is that alright?"

Jin Zeli turned his head in the direction Yun Zhi's eyes had indicated, and saw the man sitting in the police station chairs, who was likewise watching this way.

Jin Zeli gave Yun Zhi a nod. "Go ahead."

Yun Zhi bounced happily over to stand in front of his benefactor. "I found my brother — he's going to take me home. For everything tonight, I'm really grateful. What's your name? Can I have a way to contact you?"

He waited somewhat anxiously.

He genuinely wasn't hitting on him — he just wanted the chance to treat him to a meal in the future as a way to repay him.

"Of course."

The man looked at him, his deep eyes curving ever so slightly — beautiful as ice and snow beginning to thaw.

He borrowed paper and pen from a nearby officer, wrote down a string of numbers, and placed it in Yun Zhi's hand.

"That's my phone number and WeChat. My name is Fang Yixing."

The moment those words left his mouth, Yun Zhi's smile froze on his face, and his amber irises contracted sharply.

He looked down in disbelief, and upon seeing the three characters "方一醒" written in clear, unmistakable strokes on the paper, his heart lurched violently.

Fang Yixing — that name. He knew it well.

And Jin Zeli — that name came back to him now too.

The beautiful Omega imprisoned and degraded. And the cruel, vicious Alpha.

The cool, beautiful shou of this world. And one of many unhinged gongs.