LABMY CH88.1

The dazzling and extravagant chandeliers illuminated the luxurious banquet hall. Ladies and gentlemen dressed in elegant attire held wine glasses in their hands. It should have been a lively and bustling scene, yet the hall was shrouded in complete silence.

All eyes, filled with shock and bewilderment, were fixed on the two individuals standing in the corner of the banquet hall.

Those who originally stood in the shadows had now become the center of attention.

Not far away, Li Wenshu silently pushed up his slipping glasses, while the head of the Lu family, a shrewd elder with graying hair who stood beside Lu Qianyun, also revealed a rare expression of astonishment. Being the closest to the scene, he was hit the hardest by the shock.

However, no one’s emotions could compare to the complexity surging within Lu Qianyun’s heart at this moment.

A mix of emotions—indescribable and overwhelming. Even though he tried his best to maintain composure, the flush that spread across his face betrayed him. The same man who remained calm and composed under heavy fire during the Academy Tournament was now visibly flustered and panicked.

Lu Qianyun wanted to say something to salvage the situation, but when he saw Jian Yuanbai staring at him with unwavering focus, his lips moved slightly, yet no words came out.

He could tell that something was off with Jian Yuanbai’s state. Without hesitation, Lu Qianyun grabbed him and fled the scene at lightning speed.

Yes, fled. Not simply left.

Fortunately, despite his plummeting intelligence and logic due to the heat period, Jian Yuanbai obediently followed wherever Lu Qianyun led him. When Lu Qianyun ran, he ran too.

As they sprinted, Jian Yuanbai kept asking, “Wife, are we going to…”

Before he could finish, Lu Qianyun swiftly covered his mouth. Their awkward posture made running difficult, and Lu Qianyun stumbled along the way.

Noticing his “wife’s” struggle, Jian Yuanbai suddenly squatted down and attempted to carry Lu Qianyun on his back.

Lu Qianyun didn’t want to waste time arguing with him at this point, so he simply climbed onto Jian Yuanbai’s back. Carried by him, they rushed out of the royal estate.

Countless eyes followed them as they left.

While covering Jian Yuanbai’s mouth, Lu Qianyun belatedly realized how strange this posture was. Yet, instead of getting off, he buried his face in Jian Yuanbai’s shoulder like an ostrich and whispered, “Let’s go home.”

After a brief pause, he asked, “Do you remember where home is?”

Seeing Jian Yuanbai nod, Lu Qianyun finally buried his entire face in his Alpha’s neck.

As he lay on Jian Yuanbai’s sturdy back, memories of the past flooded his mind, and a serious thought emerged:

—Is there any other uninhabited, habitable planet in this universe?

Because he desperately needed one.

When they finally arrived home at full speed, Lu Qianyun had just gotten off Jian Yuanbai’s back and hadn’t even closed the door when he was suddenly pinned against the wooden cabinet.

Jian Yuanbai could no longer restrain himself. He pressed closer, kissing Lu Qianyun’s lips eagerly. His restless tongue sought entry, but Lu Qianyun refused to let him in. This only made Jian Yuanbai more anxious.

“We’re the only ones here now, wife,” he murmured.

“Let me kiss you, okay?”

Lu Qianyun was helplessly trapped against the cabinet. “Can you get off me first? It hurts.”

The sharp edge of the wooden shoe cabinet pressed against his back, making him gasp in pain.

Jian Yuanbai slipped his hand between Lu Qianyun’s lower back and the cabinet, creating a buffer, but instead of easing off, he pulled Lu Qianyun even closer.

A person in heat had little rationality to speak of. At this moment, Jian Yuanbai only knew that he and his “wife” were in a closed environment filled with his pheromones.

This was his territory, and his sweet little wife was right here with him.

Jian Yuanbai couldn’t hold back anymore. He buried his face in Lu Qianyun’s neck, inhaling deeply. His burning lips brushed against the pale skin of Lu Qianyun’s neck, teasing and longing.

In a voice only he could hear, he called out, “Wife…”

Lu Qianyun tilted his head back in distress, his legs trembling as he struggled to remain standing.

“You… you’re in heat, aren’t you?”

“Let me go. I’ll get you some inhibitors.”

Alpha heat periods could be alleviated with medication, which was fast-acting and had minimal side effects, though not suitable for long-term use.

However, sensing Lu Qianyun’s intention to leave, Jian Yuanbai locked him tightly in his embrace and, with a tone filled with grievance, murmured, “Wife, do you not like me?”

His voice was hoarse and vulnerable, yet his actions were relentless. He pressed soft kisses against Lu Qianyun’s neck, inching closer to the gland at the back of his neck.

“Wife…”

When Jian Yuanbai’s burning lips brushed against his gland, Lu Qianyun’s eyes widened in fear and panic surged through him.

“Jian Yuanbai, no! Not there!”

He was an Alpha. He couldn’t be marked. If Jian Yuanbai bit down, it would only cause excruciating pain, and his instincts as an Alpha would drive him to resist and flee.

The fear of being bitten on the gland triggered an adrenaline rush, and Lu Qianyun pushed Jian Yuanbai away with all his strength. He turned and tried to run to get the inhibitors.

However, he barely took two steps before being tackled to the ground from behind.

Jian Yuanbai grabbed his jaw, forcing him to tilt his head and expose his vulnerable gland.

With brute force, Jian Yuanbai restrained him, but his voice was filled with heartbreak and longing as he pleaded, “Wife, don’t leave me.”

His voice was low and raspy, filled with desire and helplessness.

“Wife… wife…”

The intimate and affectionate title, repeated over and over, made Lu Qianyun’s ears flush red.

Even after experiencing two lifetimes, Lu Qianyun rarely heard Jian Yuanbai call him “wife.”

Jian Yuanbai had always treated him as his “wife” in his heart, but perhaps because they were both men, he rarely called him that out loud.

Only now did Lu Qianyun realize how fast his heart would beat when Jian Yuanbai called him that.

At this point, Lu Qianyun felt like giving up.

—Fine, let him bite me.

—It’s just a little pain, right?

“You… mmph…”

Jian Yuanbai, upon hearing Lu Qianyun speak, thought he was about to be rejected again. His hand, which was gripping Lu Qianyun’s jaw, slid upward to cover his lips.

“Wife, my wife.”

Jian Yuanbai’s gaze fixated on the faint, blooming imprint on Lu Qianyun’s pale neck. With increasing obsession, he lowered his head and bit down on the gland at the back of Lu Qianyun’s neck.

(In the ABO universe, biting the neck to mark a partner is a common setting. Stop locking my account, thank you.)

Pinned to the ground, Lu Qianyun struggled to break free, but the moment Jian Yuanbai’s pheromones were injected into his gland, his eyes widened, and his head tilted back in shock.

Like a dying crane, crying out in despair, it lifted its neck, exposing its slender, snow-white throat. It wanted to scream but couldn’t. Saliva soaked the hunter’s fingers, and crystalline tears rolled from the corner of its eyes.

He was marked.

As an Alpha, he was marked on the neck’s gland like an Omega.

Lu Qianyun sobbed, tears streaming down his face. On the back of his neck, where the gland lay, Jian Yuanbai’s burning tongue repeatedly licked the freshly bitten wound, swallowing the beads of blood that seeped out.

Jian Yuanbai let out a soft sigh, his knees pressing against the ground as he leaned forward slightly.

“Wife, you ran away first.”

He licked away the blood droplets and murmured, “So unfair… You’re too cunning, wife.”

Lu Qianyun, crying uncontrollably, choked out, “Stop talking… Stop saying that.”

He thought it would be painful, but it wasn’t. Instead, an entirely different sensation overwhelmed his body.

As an Alpha, he had been temporarily marked by another Alpha.

Not only was there no pain, but it felt as if he had died once and been reborn. The shame was unbearable.

This sensation was like becoming Jian Yuanbai’s personal Alpha — a doe marked with his brand.

Jian Yuanbai flipped him over and clumsily licked away the tears on Lu Qianyun’s face.

“Wife, don’t cry…”

“Clearly, you like it too. Why are you crying?”

Hearing this, Lu Qianyun cried even harder, his tear-filled eyes glaring at Jian Yuanbai in humiliation.

“I told you… to stop talking!”

Jian Yuanbai’s kisses trailed downward. With their lips almost touching, his scorching breath intertwined with Lu Qianyun’s.

“Wife, you’re not honest at all.”

He kissed Lu Qianyun, greedily indulging in his scent. Their wet, heated mouths became the perfect breeding ground for desire.

When the kiss finally ended, Jian Yuanbai whispered against his ear, “People who aren’t honest need to be punished, wife.”

“Wife… Your lips are so soft… Not just your lips… but also…”

Lu Qianyun blushed furiously and glared at him with misty eyes.

— You’re too straightforward!

In the face of an Alpha in heat, logic was meaningless.

Despite his embarrassment, Lu Qianyun, face flushed, slowly opened his mouth.

The thick scent of bamboo, unique to Jian Yuanbai’s pheromones, exploded on Lu Qianyun’s tongue, burning his fragile mouth like wildfire.

He always thought Jian Yuanbai’s pheromones smelled cold, like bamboo in the snow.

Only now did he realize that cold bamboo could also burn — searing and scorching, leaving behind a lingering heat.

In general, a first heat period arrives suddenly, but after a temporary marking, it dissipates just as quickly.

Watching Jian Yuanbai fall asleep after completing the marking, Lu Qianyun let out a long sigh.

His lips, swollen and bruised, throbbed with a dull pain. Dragging Jian Yuanbai to the sofa, Lu Qianyun got up and headed to the bathroom.

Turning his head slightly, he saw the faint bite mark on the gland at the back of his neck. The once-closed gland seemed to have slightly opened, and disbelief flooded Lu Qianyun’s eyes.

—Jian Yuanbai… actually completed a temporary mark.

For Alphas, if the heat period wasn’t soothed, it would take several days to naturally subside. Yet Jian Yuanbai passed out right after marking him.

This could only mean one thing:

Jian Yuanbai had truly marked him.

Lu Qianyun thought it was just a bite, but Jian Yuanbai really did it.

This realization left him stunned and… faintly disturbed by the gland that emerged due to the Flower Seed Experiment.

He sighed again, gargled some water, and washed the tear stains from his face.

In the mirror, the young man’s eyes were slightly red, droplets of water falling from the tips of his hair.

Beautiful yet fragile.

But the most eye-catching thing was his swollen lips, as if they would burst with the slightest touch.

Even gently pressing them sent a sharp pain through him.

Lu Qianyun’s eyes flickered with embarrassment, but he still returned to the living room to keep watch over the sleeping Jian Yuanbai.

The sudden ringing of a phone shattered the quiet.

Lu Qianyun answered impatiently and, after a few words, was forced to get up and leave.

Because he had left the alien planet that helped suppress his gland, the plot he had been avoiding began to unfold in advance.

Before leaving, Lu Qianyun glanced at the sleeping Jian Yuanbai.

—This time, he definitely won’t catch me again, right?

Just in case, he turned back and grabbed a mask before stepping out the door.

__

The moment Lu Qianyun arrived at the Lu family estate, the butler led him directly to the study of the Lu family head.

As he followed the butler along this all-too-familiar path, Lu Qianyun felt nothing but irritation. Even before stepping inside, he could already guess what the old man wanted to say.

Inside the study, the white-haired yet sharp-eyed Elder Lu pointed to the seat in front of him as soon as he saw Lu Qianyun enter. “Sit.”

Looking at Lu Qianyun, who was wearing a mask, Elder Lu remarked, “Is it really necessary to avoid seeing me to this extent? Even wearing a mask?”

Lu Qianyun replied coldly, “Just tell me why you called me here.”

The reason he wore a mask was not to express rejection in such a childish manner, but because his current state made it obvious what he had just experienced.

Lu Qianyun’s words were distant and blunt, but Elder Lu said, “After all these years, the Lu family hasn’t treated you poorly. Now that your gland has recovered, you didn’t even inform me first. You’ve really grown up.”

“I thought my grandfather was already six feet under,” Lu Qianyun replied indifferently. “As for you, you’re nothing more than a selfish old man who discarded me when I was no longer useful.”

The servant brewing tea at the side turned pale, wishing he could bury his head in the teapot.

Fortunately, Elder Lu quickly dismissed him. After the servant left, Elder Lu poured a cup of tea for Lu Qianyun and said, “Back then, when you lost your gland and tried to cut out Qianshan’s gland in your rage, you knew we couldn’t let you harm him.”

Lu Qianyun sneered, “But I could be dragged down by Lu Qianshan, right?”

“It was because, after you lost your gland, only Lu Qianshan could barely hold up the younger generation of the Lu family,” Elder Lu responded, though his tone carried a hint of concession. “Do you really expect me to watch the Lu family fall into decline?”

Seeing that Lu Qianyun remained silent, Elder Lu continued, “I only asked you to leave temporarily to calm down. Without the Lu family’s connections, do you think Jian Yuanbai would have cared so much about you?”

“Don’t forget who sent you to Jian Yuanbai’s side.”

Then, Elder Lu dropped a bombshell: “You and Jian Yuanbai are together now, aren’t you? Your body reeks of a pheromone that doesn’t belong to you.”

Noticing Lu Qianyun’s nervous reaction, Elder Lu smiled. “Don’t worry. The Lu family won’t interfere with you.”

“No matter what, your surname is still Lu. The Lu family will always be your home.”

Lu Qianyun rubbed his temples. “What exactly do you want?”

Elder Lu said, “Return to the First Imperial Academy. With the Lu family’s support, the principal won’t make things difficult for you. After graduation, you can directly enter the Third Military District. Your talent and abilities will be fully realized there.”

“You know as well as I do that the Zerg won’t stay quiet for another two years. With the Lu family’s backing, you can gradually climb your way to the rank of Imperial Marshal.”

The Third Military District was an army fully controlled by the Lu family.

As Elder Lu confidently waited for Lu Qianyun to nod in agreement, Lu Qianyun suddenly laughed.

“The Lu family’s support will ensure the principal won’t trouble me?”

“The Lu family’s influence can help me become the Imperial Marshal step by step?”

Lu Qianyun’s laughter was filled with ridicule. “Where was the Lu family when I was expelled from the First Imperial Academy?”

“When I was discarded for being useless, you kicked me away without hesitation. Now that my gland has recovered, you’re crawling back to me like a dog.”

His expression was cold and mocking, but deep down, he couldn’t help thinking: When I say the most embarrassing lines, Jian Yuanbai always happens to hear them. But now, when I’m actually being reasonable, he’s not here.

After experiencing this situation a few times, no wonder Jian Yuanbai thinks I’m just an arrogant and delusional brat.

And then, that guy even spent a fortune producing a movie that only delusional teens would enjoy…

The more Lu Qianyun thought about it, the harder it was to keep a straight face. He simply stood up and turned to leave, throwing one last line over his shoulder: “Elder Lu, this isn’t how the game is played.”

“Lu Qianyun.”

For the first time since Lu Qianyun entered the room, Elder Lu called him by his full name in a deep, stern voice.

Lu Qianyun turned around to see Elder Lu’s darkened expression as he warned, “You should know the power the Lu family holds.”

“I hope you won’t regret this decision one day.”

Lu Qianyun chuckled. “Regret?”

“What would I regret? At worst, I’ll return to the days of being a cripple with my gland removed.”

He bent down and pushed the teacup in front of him forward. “I’ll return to the Lu family—if you dig out Lu Qianshan’s gland for me.”

The lone teacup on the table seemed to exert silent pressure. Lu Qianyun tapped his finger on the table, just in front of the cup. “It’s up to you whether you’re willing to take that step.”

Elder Lu slammed the table. “Don’t push your luck!”

“Looks like the Lu family isn’t that welcoming after all,” Lu Qianyun shrugged and turned to leave.

The butler, who had been standing outside the door, entered upon hearing the commotion. Brushing past the departing Lu Qianyun, he cautiously asked the furious Elder Lu, “Shall we keep him here?”

Elder Lu shot him a cold glare. “With so many eyes watching the situation between the Lu family and Lu Qianyun, if he walks in today and disappears tomorrow, do you think others are fools?”

Cold sweat trickled down the butler’s forehead as he quickly responded, “Understood.”

Lu Qianyun couldn’t care less about their schemes. After finishing this “plotline,” he immediately took a car back home.