SDT 7

Chapter 7  Lu Kongyun really can’t

….

After a while, a message from the blackmailer came.

艹: You care about that?

艹: ^ ^

Lu Kongyun thought that Alpha wasn’t any good person, just a young, thirsty guy with no steady sex life, trying to take advantage of the situation. If that kind of Alpha got this kind of chance dropped from the sky, he’d definitely keep it going till midnight at least.

But the blackmailer had just been given truth serum. For a while afterward, the sedative effect would dull some sensations and make him less sensitive to pain or discomfort. If someone handled him too roughly, he might not even resist.

Lu Kongyun felt obligated to warn him. He sat up on the bed, typed with both hands, and sent: Your heat’s already suppressed. You don’t need to mess around with random people.

艹 quickly replied: Hehe. Bad guy. You’re hinting at something.

Lu Kongyun: No idea what you’re talking about.

After a moment, the blackmailer replied again. The text was strange.

艹: If you want to keep blackmailing me, at least be careful not to expose our relationship.

“…..”

Lu Kongyun realized that was something he’d said himself that night in the pavilion, when he’d told the blackmailer to come home with him.

After a moment, Lu Kongyun clenched his phone and replied: You’re boring.

Since the blackmailer still had time to joke around, he probably hadn’t been tricked into bed by that Alpha.

Lu Kongyun didn’t want to deal with him anymore: Good night. Sweetheart.

He lay down again. The man’s annoying scent still lingered in his nose, and it felt like his whole house had been soaked in that Omega’s heat.

After a while, he got up, walked to the window, and opened it. The air that had been noisy with rain was now quiet, silent, blowing into his room through his skin and hair.

His phone buzzed. He picked it up.

艹: I’m off the day after tomorrow. Stay on standby.

Lu Kongyun: I have a meeting that morning.

艹: Dr. Lu, from now on, I’m your biggest meeting.

艹: Because I can make the whole country talk about your family online every day. [dog emoji]

A breeze moved the curtain beside him, brushing his arm. What should’ve been refreshing suddenly felt irritating. He yanked the window open wider.

The next morning, he arrived at the lab early to organize his work. He needed to free up the next day, in case the blackmailer called him.

One of his biochemical project files required military approval. He called home. Lu Qingchuan told him to come by the next day. He paused, then said he had something to do tomorrow. So Lu Qingchuan told him to bring it tonight.

When night fell, he left the lab with the file and drove to his father’s residence, a heavily guarded estate. After the vehicle check, he parked in the quiet backyard and entered the house.

He walked through a silent corridor lined with art and stepped into the main hall. His mother sat on one sofa, his older brother Lu Qifeng on the other, the two talking quietly. Lu Qifeng raised his hand to brush a strand of hair from their mother’s temple.

Lu Kongyun stopped and didn’t go further.

Lu Qifeng noticed him, put his hand down, and turned with a smile. “Hey, you’re here. Couldn’t come earlier? Dinner’s already cleared.”

Lu Kongyun looked more like their mother, while Lu Qifeng resembled their father. Both had presence, but in different ways. When Lu Qingchuan wore his uniform, he always kept his collar buttoned and his posture rigid. Lu Qifeng, though, had his jacket unbuttoned, one leg crossed, his authority mixed with casualness.

“Not eating. I just need Dad to sign something,” Lu Kongyun said.

At the mention of that name, his mother froze for a moment, then smiled again and called to him softly. “Kongyun, you’re here already, what’s the rush? Rest a bit. I’ll tell the kitchen to heat up dinner before you work.”

“No need. It’s urgent,” he said.

After greeting them both, he turned and went upstairs toward his father’s study. The wooden floor creaked under his steps. He walked down a dim corridor and pushed open the door at the end.

Lu Qingchuan sat behind a wide desk. When he heard the door, he looked up.

“Dad,” Lu Kongyun said, walking over and sitting across from him. He took out the file and placed it on the desk.

Even at home, Lu Qingchuan’s clothes weren’t casual. His collar was buttoned up, his hair was styled, his face was stern.

“What project?” he asked, pulling the file closer.

“The anti-radiation drug model proposed by the military last time. The lab finalized a plan.”

Lu Qingchuan glanced at the title, nodded, and flipped it open.

“After I sign, it still needs approval from the Military Affairs and Finance departments.”

“Mm.”

Lu Qingchuan read carefully. Lu Kongyun stayed quiet across from him.

His phone buzzed. He took it out. It was the blackmailer.

艹: Off work yet, sweetheart Kongyun?

艹: No matter how I think about it, I still feel like you were hinting at something yesterday.

艹: Feeling down today because you didn’t get to take advantage of me?

Lu Qingchuan glanced up between pages. “That dinner your cousin Xiaoyue arranged with Director Chen’s daughter, how was it?”

“I didn’t like her,” Lu Kongyun said.

Lu Qingchuan frowned.

“Childish nonsense,” he said, looking him straight in the eye. “What do you mean didn’t like her? You’d better understand soon that marriage is part of a man’s career. A proper family doesn’t hold you back, it helps you. Don’t be like your brother, fooling around outside, ruining the family’s reputation.”

Lu Kongyun looked at his righteous, imposing face without responding.

“Did you hear me?”

Still nothing. The two looked at each other for several seconds. Then Lu Qingchuan went back to reading, slamming his hand lightly against the desk.

“Useless, both of you.”

Lu Kongyun didn’t reply to the blackmailer, so the man switched tactics to provoke him.

艹: Hey, seriously, even if you don’t like my scent, I’m still an Omega. How can you not want me at all?

艹: You have some hidden issue?

艹: You can’t, huh?

“You can’t stay in that lab forever,” Lu Qingchuan said while turning pages. “If you’re aiming for a district council seat or a Military Affairs position, you’d better start planning early.”

“Neither,” Lu Kongyun said.

Lu Qingchuan threw the papers on the desk with a loud slap.

“Say that again?” His low, threatening tone made the air feel heavy.

“Neither,” Lu Kongyun repeated in the same tone.

The atmosphere was tense.

After a while, it was the father who finally gave up his temper.

He chuckled softly and opened the documents again. Then he signed the document and pushed it over to Lu Kongyun. He looked across at his son, his otherwise upright face tinged with a touch of disdain and mockery that didn’t suit him.

…

Yu Xiaowen wasn’t doing well that day. After work, he went home, his chest aching like it was tearing apart. He took painkillers and curled up under the blanket, drenched in sweat.

The victim still hadn’t replied.

Even when he said the man couldn’t perform, there was no response. This guy, supposedly a fool, would have competed with even a trashy mega, yet he didn’t argue.

So Yu Xiaowen figured he probably hadn’t seen it.

After a while, the victim actually called.

He coughed twice, cleared his throat, and answered casually, “Hello?”

The other end stayed silent.

After a moment, when he was about to say something else, the man spoke.

“Upload the video.”

“….”

“What?” Yu Xiaowen thought he was hearing things.

“I said, upload Lu Qingchuan’s video online. I don’t mind,” Lu Kongyun said this time with emphasis.

Yu Xiaowen was stunned.

He felt the last bit of warmth in his body leave him. He reached out and clutched his chest, but couldn’t hold it back.

His throat felt dry: “Why…”

“Forget it,” the man said.

After a while, the person on the other end of the line sighed. “What are your plans for tomorrow?”

“…I haven’t decided yet.” Yu Xiaowen shifted on the bed, away from the soaked human form. “Anyway, you, I’m on call for you.”

“What’s wrong with you?” the victim asked.

“What?”

“Your breathing,” he said.

“…I’m exercising in bed,” Yu Xiaowen said softly, his tone turning playful. “Guess who it’s with…”

The man hung up.

Yu Xiaowen thought, maybe Lu Kongyun really can’t.

….

Guava Beach was one of Manjing’s most popular spots, a dating and tourist hotspot.

Crowds everywhere, even busier than the old night-market street. Lu Kongyun didn’t understand why that man loved such places. He hated them. Like many people, he’d never once thought of visiting his hometown’s famous attractions.

But when he showed up at the meeting point, he saw the blackmailer dressed like a tourist, an oversized shirt covered in palm trees, baggy shorts, a flower lei, and two coconuts with straws in them.

When he saw Lu Kongyun, the blackmailer lifted one coconut and waved him over.

Lu Kongyun already knew this day would be harder to endure than watching movies at the blackmailer’s house.

He walked over. The man handed him one of the coconuts. When he didn’t take it, the Omega squinted his pale eyes, and they seemed darker.

“Hehe. Since you’re here, stop pretending to be pure. Don’t upset your superior, got it?”

The man warned him slowly in that sticky tone.

Lu Kongyun pressed his lips together and finally reached out to take the coconut.

“I always thought criminal police were busy, but you make it seem like you’ve got nothing but free time,” he said.

“That’s because my superior took all my free time,” the blackmailer replied, handing him the second coconut too. “You hold these. I’ve been carrying them forever. My arms are tired.”

He crooked a finger, signaling Lu Kongyun, who was holding both coconuts, to follow him toward the shore.

The blackmailer spread his arms to the sea breeze and shouted into the wind, “Our schedule’s packed today. So I hope you won’t just stand there staring, hesitating, refusing orders, wasting everyone’s time. Like I said, as long as you listen! I won’t make things hard for you!”

The wind caught his voice, carrying it far. He got louder and louder until people around started turning to look.

Lu Kongyun’s fingers dug into the coconut shell.

“Stop shouting.”

One following, one leading, they walked along the beach. After a while, the blackmailer slowed down and headed toward a more secluded coconut tree a bit away from the shore. He sat down, breathing heavily, then gestured for Lu Kongyun to sit beside him.

Lu Kongyun set down the coconuts and sat. The shirt he wore felt stuffy, completely wrong for the weather. He rolled up his sleeves, and his arm brushed against the other man’s leg.

The blackmailer’s skin felt cool, oddly out of place in the warm air.

He turned his head, staring at Lu Kongyun’s face, eyes unmoving.

So Lu Kongyun touched his face. “What.”

“…..” The blackmailer pointed at a group of men wearing only swim trunks. “Look at them. Then look at you. You look like you’re sick or something.”

Then he drew his hand back and lightly rested it on Lu Kongyun’s collar, pausing for a few seconds before looking up at him.

Lu Kongyun met his gaze but said nothing.

So the blackmailer’s fingers continued down, unbuttoning one button, light and smooth. He pulled the fabric slightly, and Lu Kongyun felt the ocean breeze rush into his suffocating shirt.

“Are you hot?” the man asked.

He tilted his head, his soft hair brushing in the wind, close enough to make it seem like he might touch Lu Kongyun’s shoulder.

But in the end, he didn’t.