CR CH21

Chapter 21: The Confinement Room

At some point, the massive training grounds had fallen into a dead silence.

Ling Kongmiao casually tossed his cap and jacket to Zhao Hengyi. He then picked up the two men from the ground and flung them into a corner like pieces of trash. Behind him, the instructors dispersed and organized their respective squads with a single sharp look, leaving Ji Yandong and a few others standing frozen in place.

The captain had thrown them effortlessly, but to the two who were tossed, it felt as though a thousand-pound hammer had smashed them against a metal wall, causing their energy barriers to flicker violently.

The taste of iron welled up in Jiang Tianji’s throat. An unfamiliar, frantic surge of wild energy breached his defenses of sanity. Breathing heavily and uncontrollably, a sharp pain flared in his abdomen, causing him to instinctively curl inward.

As Feng Huo let out a sharp cry of pain beside him, Jiang Tianji’s chin was abruptly seized and forced upward.

“Suddenly caring about your dignity today? How rare,” a voice murmured.

Through his blurred vision, a figure knelt down and leaned closer. Driven by sheer instinct, Jiang Tianji clamped his teeth down hard on the hand gripping him.

Ling Kongmiao let out a soft chuckle, staring at the frenzied Alpha without saying a word.

Jiang Tianji’s eyes were a highly unusual dark green. They resembled an ancient gemstone, reflecting a mysterious golden hue under the light. The loss of control over his pheromones had caused his gaze to lose focus; stripped of any warmth or lively emotion, his eyes looked cold and predatory.

As the Alpha breathed in rapid, ragged gasps, Ling Kongmiao could feel the latent power within the body before him. It was primed to spring, acting purely on a wild beast’s instinct to tear out its prey’s throat.

Blood trickled down Ling Kongmiao’s pale, well-defined fingers, creating a stark, jarring contrast of crimson against white. Behind him, Tang Min took a step forward, concern lacing his voice: “Captain.”

Ling Kongmiao shook his head, a cold glint flashing through his eyes. His tall frame blocked the view of those behind him as he shoved his bloodied fingers deeper into Jiang Tianji’s mouth, pressing down firmly on the root of the Alpha’s tongue. Only when he heard Jiang Tianji dry-heaving did he slowly withdraw his hand.

Clearly, he had underestimated the vengeful nature of a delirious Alpha.

The moment Jiang Tianji caught his breath, he bit down savagely on the wound again. Blood dripped from the Alpha’s jaw, staining his collar.

That actually hurts quite a bit, Ling Kongmiao thought, drawing in a sharp breath as his gaze darkened.

A blue glow began to swirl around the two of them. Jiang Tianji’s nose twitched slightly. The moment he caught the scent of that familiar pheromone, his volatility visibly began to settle.

Staring at the silver-white tips of Ling Kongmiao’s hair, he belatedly realized his mouth was filled with a liquid carrying a subtle, crisp fragrance. Instinctively, Jiang Tianji darted his tongue out, his hot, rapid breaths pouring directly over the wound.

The soft, deft tip of his tongue left a glistening, wet trail over the injury, the blood smearing like scattered plum blossoms. The man before him stiffened for a fraction of a second before swiftly grabbing Jiang Tianji’s jaw and slamming him brutally back against the wall.

“Agh—cough, cough…”

As the blue energy completely integrated into his body, Jiang Tianji’s eyes cleared. Belatedly realizing what he had just done, he snapped his head up to look ahead.

Yet, the moment he looked over, Ling Kongmiao averted his gaze. The captain walked over to Feng Huo, who was slouching nearby—looking either dazed from the beating or numbed by the pain—and threw a biting sarcasm that cut into both of them.

“Getting thrashed like this by the person in last place? You might as well give up entirely.”

Feng Huo hung his head, looking deeply shaken and utterly dejected.

Having received the alert, the medical squad rushed onto the scene. They knelt beside the two fallen Alphas to assess their condition, while the leading doctor approached Ling Kongmiao.

“Captain Ling.”

“Mhm.” Ling Kongmiao nodded, turning to instruct Tang Min beside him. “Once they’re done in the medical pods, send them straight to the confinement room. Thirty lashes each. Tonight, thirty laps around the training grounds.”

An energy whip directly links to the recipient’s neural network. With the pain receptors fully activated, an ordinary person could barely survive thirty lashes. Though it caused no physical damage, the process was excruciatingly agonizing, originally designed to handle extreme withdrawal symptoms.

Ji Yandong hesitated before speaking up: “Chief, isn’t that a bit too…”

Ling Kongmiao cast a cool glance at him, and that single look pinned the man rigidly to the spot.

“Starting tomorrow, everyone goes on active rescue missions.”

The confinement room.

The dim lighting cast an eerie glow on the torture implements lining the distant wall. A freezing, dismal aura clung to the gleaming mechanical frames, causing the young man bound to the apparatus to shudder involuntarily.

[ Neural link established. ]

The monotone electronic voice sounded like the final warning before a guillotine dropped. Jiang Tianji drew in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, bracing for the worst. The confinement room was suffocatingly quiet, offering nothing but the faint hum of running machinery.

[ Executing command. ]

“Ugh!”

The moment the first lash “struck,” Jiang Tianji’s entire body seized. His hands, pinned securely by the restraints, clenched into tight fists. His head snapped back uncontrollably, the veins on his neck bulging violently.

It wasn’t the typical pain of flesh tearing open. Instead, the mechanical chair continuously surged current-like energy directly into his body. The agony bypassed his skin, piercing straight into his marrow. His body trembled and spasmed violently, leaving nothing but his own ragged, chaotic breathing echoing in his ears.

The energy whip caused massive stimulation to his mental faculties. Because it operated in absolute silence, Jiang Tianji had no way of knowing when the next strike would land. He could only endure it passively, each sudden, piercing jolt of pain hammering away at his psychological defenses.

The inescapable agony paired with the pitch-black environment allowed a deep dread to well up from within. Physiological tears rolled unchecked down his face.

He lost track of how many strikes he had endured; it felt as though an eternity had passed. Driven past the brink of endurance, Jiang Tianji began to thrash violently. The light left his eyes, and like a crazed, trapped beast, he fought desperately against his bonds. The mechanical chair rattled loudly against his frantic movements, his muffled groans thick with unbearable suffering.

In his dazed state, Jiang Tianji faintly heard the heavy door of the confinement room slide open. It seemed someone had entered.

“Save… ugh!”

He couldn’t tell if it was a hallucination born of pain or reality. His survival instinct screamed at him to call for help, but he couldn’t form a single coherent word, left only to flail uselessly against the restraints.

Through his blurred vision, a flash of silver-white flickered past. It was like a sudden moon rising in a pitch-black, silent nightmare; even if it did nothing but hang quietly in the dark, it brought a spark of hope to a desperate soul.

A familiar scent drifted into his nose. Jiang Tianji’s chest heaved violently as he greedily inhaled the air.

[ Command execution complete. Neural link terminated. ]

Perhaps because his frayed nerves had suddenly snapped taut, the exact moment the punishment ended, the frantically thrashing Alpha went completely still. His head slumped limply against his chest, his breathing shallow and rapid as his eyes remained tightly shut.

The figure standing in the shadows finally stepped forward.

Ling Kongmiao pulled off his black tactical gloves. His inherently pale fingers looked as smooth as fine porcelain in the gloom of the confinement room. He came to a halt right in front of Jiang Tianji and leaned down slightly, his silver-white hair brushing past the youth’s cheek. Sensing something even in his unconscious state, the young Alpha’s knitted brows slowly smoothed out.

Just a moment ago, when he detected a strange Alpha’s pheromones, he was acting like a rabid little lion, full of hostility.

Ling Kongmiao lowered his long lashes, concealing a fleeting look of complexity in his eyes. His fingers brushed like a feather over Jiang Tianji’s reddened eyelids, and a soft blue glow began to emanate from his fingertips, enveloping the unconscious youth.

Jiang Tianji’s body relaxed entirely, slumping limply to the side until a hand caught his cheek just in time. Sensing the presence of the scent he adored, a look of profound contentment washed over Jiang Tianji’s face, and he instinctively nuzzled his cheek against the slender hand.

A quiet murmur echoed through the silent confinement room, the low, raspy voice carrying a trace of tender helplessness.

“How did you know back then… that I smelled like jasmine?”