SDT 43

Chapter 43 Do You Not Know?

“It looks like his body has mostly recovered. The congestion in his brain has cleared up too. He should wake up soon.” After finishing the examination of the patient on the bed, Dai Jingxi glanced at his watch, and his expression subtly changed. “…I need to hurry home.”

He looked up at the Alpha sitting on the other side of the bed. The man kept his head down gloomily, as if his mind was drifting somewhere far away.

“Ye Yisan.” He called again.

Only then did the Alpha raise his head, touch the gland at his neck, and quickly lower his hand. “…Alright. Thank you.”

Dai Jingxi didn’t respond.

Ever since he had extracted Ye Yisan from the Intelligence Bureau’s control, the man’s behavior had been this strange.

“Thank you,” Ye Yisan said sincerely once he collected himself. “Thank you, Director Dai, for saving me and for helping me save this person too.”

“Stop thanking me. I’m only repaying a favor.” Dai Jingxi said as he glanced at the man on the bed. “If you really want to thank me, then share the components of that ‘drug’ with me. How about that?”

Ye Yisan was silent for a while before replying, “I’m sorry, that’s not my decision to make. For anything else, I’ll do whatever you want.”

Dai Jingxi knew he wouldn’t agree. He’d only asked casually. If M Country’s drug formulas could be shared with outsiders, Ye Yisan wouldn’t have risked everything sneaking in, only to get captured and tortured by the Military Intelligence Department.

The pharmaceutical industry was M Country’s economic backbone. It permeated the parliament, military, and judiciary. Among them, M Biochemical and Technological Pharmaceuticals was the leading giant, holding the world’s most advanced research projects.

Not long ago, the company needed to transport a batch of highly classified experimental drugs from the lab. To stay discreet, they “cleverly” decided to mix the shipment with regular biochemical supplies. But it backfired: though no foreign agents caught wind of it, the shipment was accidentally hijacked by an international criminal group, like a common robbery.

Even if those smugglers didn’t yet know what they had stolen, the moment the secret leaked, years of research and massive funding would go to waste, and the company would lose its strategic lead in the field.

On the surface, Ye Yisan seemed like an ordinary man who frequently changed jobs and personal data. In truth, he was the subordinate of the company’s top executive, one of the elite agents who’d passed the most rigorous training and screening in skill, willpower, and loyalty. The mission to recover the stolen drugs was assigned to him. When he learned that the shipment had been brought into S Country, he followed the trail there.

Unfortunately, bad luck hit. While he was dealing with an international informant, S Country’s military intelligence agents raided the area, targeting someone else who had slipped up elsewhere. Ye Yisan got caught in their net and was arrested along with the target. The intelligence department had no idea who he really was.

The ones making the arrest were confused, and the one being arrested couldn’t explain.

Those trying to steal contraband ended up with state secrets, and those chasing the drugs walked straight into an intelligence operation. Mistake upon mistake, as if hit by lightning and hail at once. That’s how elite agent Ye Yisan ended up in the hands of an unrelated foreign intelligence bureau. With his personality, he’d say nothing, and in his position, he couldn’t. The drugs were still within S Country’s borders, and everyone wanted a piece of M Country’s pharmaceutical technology.

Dai Jingxi didn’t know what kind of torment Ye Yisan had endured in the Intelligence Bureau to end up like this, but given the reputation of Commander Lu’s department, it couldn’t have been mild. But he didn’t ask. It wasn’t his concern.

Ironically, the only person who’d gained something from this entire mess was the undercover police officer lying drugged on the bed.

“When the time comes, I’ll need your help to send us back to M Country,” Ye Yisan said as he lifted the man’s arm and moved his muscles gently.

“You really plan to take him away?” Dai Jingxi took off his lab coat and put on casual clothes. He looked in the mirror and made sure he appeared as he usually did at home. “The drug’s effect clearly shows he’s an ideal test subject. But your company isn’t known for charity. You’d really use a top-secret experimental drug still in development to treat a police officer from S Country?”

Ye Yisan didn’t answer.

This unpredictable Alpha agent sometimes spoke with an odd, naïve sincerity, and sometimes was completely tight-lipped.

Dai Jingxi left his company’s private lab. Instead of driving, he exited through the back door that had its surveillance temporarily disabled, walked several blocks, and planned to grab a taxi home on Banana Avenue.

As he walked, he thought about that cop who’d practically come back from the dead.

Half a month earlier, when he and Ye Yisan had carried that stubborn police officer out of the mountain base, the man had been half-dead. After examination, they discovered that beyond his injuries, he also suffered from a terminal illness. He was beyond saving.

All Dai Jingxi could do was hide him in a private room at his company, bandage him for humanitarian reasons, give him nutrient fluids and antibiotics. There was nothing more he could do. But to his surprise, the man not only survived but started recovering. Further tests showed that the diseased cells in his body were decreasing abnormally.

Ye Yisan’s case contained all kinds of drugs, some of them dangerous experimental samples with strong side effects. Coincidentally, this police officer had a rare disease, and somehow, after getting injected with a few unknown shots, he lived. His luck was unbelievable. The worse Ye Yisan’s luck was, the better his got.

The results of those drugs astonished Dai Jingxi. He felt that after all he’d done, asking for the formula of one of them wasn’t excessive. But he also knew if he really pushed, that Alpha agent from M Country would probably inject himself with every remaining vial and swallow the syringes too before letting Dai Jingxi have even a drop.

That was how he’d been trained to think since the beginning.

Lost in thought, Dai Jingxi eventually reached Banana Avenue.

Ahead was a bakery that sold strawberry smile cakes. When his little brother was a kid, whenever he was upset, Dai Jingxi would bring one home after work, and the boy would brighten up instantly, smiling just like the cake’s face.

So… how did this happen… when did it start…?

The thought surfaced, and a chill ran down his spine. He subconsciously looked up, and the cold shot through his feet, freezing him in place.

Dai Lanshan was suddenly standing in front of him, in uniform, leaning against a military jeep, looking straight at him.

“Brother.”

Dai Lanshan smiled at him. Dai Jingxi didn’t react, so the younger man stepped forward and hugged him tightly.

“Brother,” he said again.

“What are you doing here?” Dai Jingxi asked coldly, ignoring the embrace.

After a pause, Dai Lanshan tilted his head and deliberately changed his tone. “Wife, were you coming to buy me cake?”

Dai Jingxi pushed him away and secretly clenched the prayer beads around his wrist, rolling them one by one.

Dai Lanshan stumbled back, then pointed at the car with a grin. “I already bought one! I came straight here from the military office. See? We’re really in sync. What are the odds we’d meet like this? Come on, let’s go home.”

Dai Jingxi said nothing, opened the door, and got in the passenger seat.

Dai Lanshan started the car. He glanced at his brother’s fingers still rolling the beads, then broke the heavy silence naturally. “Brother, can I ask you something? That company patent of yours, the one about ‘pheromone seal and preservation technology.’ Does it actually preserve pheromones left on objects?”

Dai Jingxi didn’t know why his brother was asking that. He looked at him and replied, “No. It can’t. Only pheromones freshly extracted and purified from the gland can be preserved. Dead pheromones can’t. The smell is just the evaporated compound of pheromones.”

“Oh.”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Helping a friend,” Dai Lanshan said, turning his head to look at him.

When their eyes met, Dai Lanshan’s expression slowly went blank, so Dai Jingxi reached out and turned his face forward.

“Watch the road.”

“It’s that roommate I had during training, Lu Kongyun,” Dai Lanshan said.

“Lu Kongyun.” Another Lu.

Dai Jingxi frowned. “Isn’t he the director of the Institute of Life Sciences? How could he not understand that principle?”

“I don’t know,” Dai Lanshan said. “He asked, that’s all. He just got out of the hospital today and called me right away. I figured it must be important, so I asked you.”

“He was hospitalized?”

Hearing the tone of his brother’s voice, Dai Lanshan started to turn his head again, but Dai Jingxi held it in place before he could. Lanshan leaned his cheek against his brother’s palm and answered softly, “Yeah. His pheromone instability during his susceptibility period triggered some kind of crisis. I don’t know the details, but he nearly died.”

Dai Jingxi pulled his hand back, surprised. “How could his susceptibility period get that bad? What was he doing?”

Dai Lanshan shrugged. “His family’s pheromone level is abnormal. They’re genetically unstable, basically lunatics. He even sent another roommate to the hospital a while ago.”

He thought of the fight he’d gotten into during his own training, how he’d embarrassed the Dai family too, and figured he and the Lu brother weren’t much different. He snuck a glance at his brother, who didn’t seem about to scold him, so he continued, “Apparently the doctor told him to find a partner for formal pheromone stabilization treatment. If it happens again, it could leave permanent damage.”

He deliberately added, “Being an Alpha is dangerous, huh. Good thing I’m already married.”

“Alpha, dangerous?” Dai Jingxi said coldly. “There are plenty of ways for Alphas to deal with rut. Worst case, they can pay someone to handle it. Omegas are the pitiful ones. Once they’re marked, they’re doomed for life.”

“I wouldn’t just find anyone,” Dai Lanshan said. “Your scent is my mark. You went into heat for the first time right in front of me, remember? I was the one who carried you to bed. Your pheromones ran down my legs, that’s why I had my first wet dream. You marked me first, wife.”

Dai Jingxi’s hands went cold, his shoulders trembling. He gritted his teeth. “Then I’ll just have my glands removed. How about that?”

The car screeched to a stop.

There were a few short, irritated honks from behind, but no one made a fuss. The cars went around the military jeep and drove off.

Dai Jingxi glared at him. “Dai Lanshan! How can you stop in the middle of the road? Are you a child? You think this whole street belongs to you?”

Dai Lanshan turned on the hazard lights and pulled over.

After a moment, his voice choked. “Brother, don’t hurt yourself. I just don’t want you to do something stupid. If you want to, then extract all the pheromones you need from my body, enough for a lifetime, and then remove mine. I won’t ever need anyone else’s. If someone has to lose their glands, let it be me. I’m the one who wronged you.”

“…”

After a while, Dai Jingxi leaned against the seat, his voice tired. “Drive.”

A moment later, Dai Lanshan wiped his face and looked at him with red eyes, an expression just as childish as when he was a teenager.

Dai Jingxi sighed. “I said drive. I want to go home.”

Dai Lanshan fell silent and restarted the engine.

He glanced at his phone. A new message had arrived.

Sender: Director Dai probably hid that Alpha in his company’s private area. Director Dai has already left. Should I go investigate?

He fought the urge to smash his phone to pieces and quickly typed back: Don’t touch anything.

Then another: Don’t act without orders. Keep watching. Report to me constantly.

Dai Jingxi saw him typing rapidly and asked, “Who are you texting?”

“Lu Kongyun,” Dai Lanshan said quickly, sniffing. “Didn’t he ask me that question earlier? I’m just replying to him.”

As he spoke, he opened the chat with Second Young Master too and typed: My brother said no. Dead pheromones are just dead. Gone is gone.

Then he added: Shouldn’t you already know that, Director Lu from the Institute of Life Sciences?