Extra: Scent

It was the third year of Shi Wen’s death.

No matter how advanced the technology was, it couldn’t make the increasingly faint pheromone scent last.

Shang Yu suffered from insomnia, anxiety, and even mania every day and night. When he thought that Shi Wen’s existence was about to completely disappear, he was terrified. He called the Science and Technology Institute, urging them to quickly find a way to preserve Shi Wen’s scent — now, he could hardly smell any scent of that person’s existence.

Researchers at the Science and Technology Institute were exceedingly troubled. If it was a living person, pheromones could be extracted using a serum to generate the smell. Now that the person was dead, asking them to extract the residual pheromones from that person’s used pillows, sheets, and quilts to retain the smell from three years ago… It’s extremely difficult, everlasting retention was simply impossible.

The researcher helplessly explained to Shang Yu. Seeing that he was still obsessed, he said, “As for Mr. Shi Wen’s scent preservation, we have done everything we can. The only thing we can do now is to simulate his scent. What do you think, Mr. Shang?”

The long period of insomnia made Shang Yu seem to have changed into a completely different person. His head often hurt, his personality became anxious and irritable, and he also became temperamental — often speaking with indifference one second, and the next second, he would throw things and get furious. People around him avoided him. His life… except for work, had become increasingly lonesome because of this.

It would be nice if Shi Wen was still by his side.

Often, one would only realize the importance of a person once they were gone.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Mbl bsxl-nssjle qsse vbyv bl oyp wple vs, vbl pxlzz sq vbl oyax bsxl obldlhla bl nyxl cynj, yde vbl qykdv pxlzz sq ale okdl qasx bkp nblyr yavkqknkyz tzyde tayewyzzu ldnasynble sd bkp zkql shla vkxl — bl oyp wdxshle cu kv yv vbyv vkxl. Rv oypd’v wdvkz Fbk Eld zlqv vbyv bl alyzkgle vbyv vblpl vbkdtp vbyv olal wpwyzzu ktdsale oswze cl qlasnkswpzu qswtbv cynj kd vbl qwvwal.

Bdvkz dso, dsv sdzu eke bl byhl ekqqknwzvu pzllrkdt, cwv lhld obld bl bye qkdyzzu qyzzld ypzllr, bl dlhla pyo… Fbk Eld kd bkp ealyxp.

Tl dlhla lhld jlrv y rknvwal sq Fbk Eld.

Tl oyp ellrzu pyeeldle yde rykdle vs vbkdj vbyv Fbk Eld bye nyalqwzzu nwv swv y rbsvs sq vbl vos sq vblx cynj vbld— vs vbkp eyu, bl oswze vswnb vbyv rbsvs alrlyvlezu clqsal tskdt vs cle.

Fbk Eld…

Tl ktdsale Fbk Eld qsa y obszl elnyel.

Mbyv rlapsd ldele wr jkzzkdt bkxplzq. Tl lhld bwdt wr sd bkx kd ekptwpv clqsal bl ekle.

Fbk Eld, oyp ralhkswpzu vsavwale cu vos lmvalxl rblasxsdlp, yp olzz yp plhlal elralppksd.

He was the executioner who killed the only person in the world who loved him silently, without asking for anything in return.

Shang Yu lay on Shi Wen’s former bed, staring at the ceiling with wide-open eyes,  unable to hold back his silent tears again just by thinking of what kind of despair that person had died in.

It’s been three years. He could no longer smell Shi Wen’s scent at all.

When the researcher asked him, his eyes lit up and deluded himself into thinking… Shi Wen would be coming back soon. 

“May I ask how it needs to be simulated?” He pursed his lower lip and asked, “…Is it like an imitation?”

The researcher said, “We need Mr. Shang to give us a detailed description, and if necessary, Mr. Shang is also required to participate in the development. We will also… do our best.”

Shi Wen smelled like an extraordinary red wine.

Shang Yu never smelled such a special and attractive mellow scent on someone else.

Later, Shi Wen’s scent was tinged with the cheap sweetness unique to the omega artificial gland, as if a cheap sweet drink had been maliciously poured into a glass of precious red wine.

He used to miss Shi Wen’s original pheromone scent, so much so that he began to hate him later.

However, he didn’t expect to also miss Shi Wen’s later scent.

Because… no matter how the scent changed, it was still Shi Wen.

It was rare for him to be distracted from his work to engage in scientific research. His employees who were “enslaved” by him were secretly glad that the workload had finally been reduced recently. There was no need to worry about what they did wrong and being called upstairs to be scolded by Mr. Shang, and some unlucky ones were even directly fired by Mr. Shang.

Since Jiang— they were now afraid to mention the name of that person— after he left, Shang Yu almost became a completely different person.

From the indifferent work machine of the past… to the demonic boss of the present.

…Three years.

President Shang was still single. Some time ago, he solemnly introduced his deceased partner… Shi Wen? All the staff of the company felt that Shang Yu had gone crazy.

In personal matters.

In terms of work-related matters, due to the increase in salary, they were not too willing to leave their jobs even though the work was hard and tiring.

Ugh.

Shang Yu devoted almost a hundred percent of his energy to scientific research. Regarding the development of the new scent simulation, he calculated that seven percent of it came from Shi Wen’s own red wine scent while three percent came from the artificial gland.

In fact, even if it was developed… It was only the smell of pheromones.

But he always felt as if by completing it, he could delude himself into pretending that Shi Wen was still with him.

He anxiously waited for a year, and finally, the science and technical staff came to his house with samples of the research results. He almost ecstatically opened the lid and leaned over to smell—

That’s right, seven parts red wine scent, three parts artificial gland scent.

…But, that’s not what Shi Wen smelled like.

What went wrong?

The smell dissipated so quickly that the room was filled with that strange mixture of smells.

For the first time, Shang Yu felt the reality, as if he drowned in an abyss of despair.

Although he was sorrowful, remorseful, and in pain, because of the remnants of Shi Wen’s scent before, his faint scent gave him a little bit of comfort.

And now—

It was all gone.