TCFOKTB 57.1

Chapter 57: Photograph PART 1

He Yunzhou was overwhelmed by the Omega, who threw himself into his arms. He put his hand on Lou Ting’s waist and said, “I can’t mark Omegas. If you don’t believe me, I can try, but…”

“Okay.” Before he could finish, Lou Ting turned his head and lay down beside him, exposing his glands to He Yunzhou.

This was a completely open and unguarded action.

He Yunzhou was helpless. He had planned to just bite him lightly to get it over with, but the moment he bit down, his Alpha instincts caused him to inject his pheromones, deepening the bite.

“Oof?!”

Lou Ting lay on his back on the bed, a slight stinging pain in his neck glands. The pain was mild; if he hadn’t been paying attention to it, he might have ignored it.

He Yunzhou had just spoken to Doctor Zhao and returned to see Lou Ting in a dazed state, staring at the ceiling.

He walked over and said, “Are you alright?”

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Nsw Mkdt pyke, “Zlyb.”

Rv oyp fwpv y vlxrsayau xyaj.

Mblu byed’v tsdl yzz vbl oyu; obyv oyp vblal vs osaau ycswv?

Jwv vbl qllzkdt oyp vawzu ekqqlaldv.

Gzvbswtb Nsw Mkdt nswzed’v rkdrskdv lmynvzu obyv oyp ekqqlaldv.

Usxryale vs Nsw Mkdt’p nsxrspwal, Tl Zwdgbsw oyp qya xsal dlahswp.

Tl qkapv alynble swv vs vswnb Nsw Mkdt’p qsalblye; kv oypd’v bsv.

Tl Zwdgbsw wple y vblaxsxlvla; vblal oyp pvkzz ds rasczlx.

But even without a change in body temperature, He Yunzhou still couldn’t rest easy. He thought for a moment and then said, “Let’s go to Imperial Hospital.”

“I’m fine,” Lou Ting said helplessly. “What are you so nervous about?”

He Yunzhou didn’t answer but asked, “Do you know why I wanted to divorce you before?”

“Uh…?” Lou Ting furrowed his brow, thinking. He remembered hearing something vaguely when He Yunzhou transformed into his beast form at He Corporation.

But it was a long time ago, and he couldn’t quite remember the specifics. He thought it had something to do with…pheromones.

Lou Ting said, “You don’t have pheromones?” How was that possible?

He had clearly smelled the scent of alcohol just now, so how could he not have pheromones?

“Yes.” Unexpectedly, He Yunzhou said, “Pheromones and spiritual energy are somehow linked. Because my spiritual energy is unstable, my pheromones are disordered. Pheromones are an important factor in the communication between Alphas and Omegas during their heat cycles.”

As someone without pheromones, He Yunzhou assumed he wouldn’t have any relationship with any Omega.

Lou Ting said, “I clearly smelled alcohol just now.”

He asked suspiciously, “Didn’t you smell it?”

He Yunzhou paused, shaking his head.

“Maybe some red wine spilled, and the scent misled you.”

“…Impossible.” Although Lou Ting wasn’t sensitive to such things, it was impossible for him to not be able to distinguish between pheromones and the actual scent of alcohol.

The two have very different scents.

Lou Ting looked at He Yunzhou with a strange expression. “Are you sure it’s a problem with your spiritual energy, resulting in a lack of pheromones, and not a problem with your sense of smell, so you can’t smell pheromones?”

He Yunzhou: …

That…that’s a bit far-fetched.

It shouldn’t be.

“I think we should go to the hospital to check it out.” Lou Ting seemed to understand why He Yunzhou was so worried.

It seemed that besides the marking between Alphas and Omegas, He Yunzhou himself also…

He Yunzhou said, “Let’s go.”

Things had spiraled out of everyone’s control. He Yunzhou worried that the mark left due to his unstable spiritual energy would negatively affect Lou Ting, and he was also puzzled by the pheromone scent he detected from Lou Ting.

He could smell flowers.

That is, he could smell pheromone scents, but he couldn’t perceive his own.

What was this?

Schrödinger’s sense of smell?

On the way back with Lou Ting, He Yunzhou remained filled with doubts.

Imperial Hospital was located within the Imperial Palace. Next to Imperial Hospital was the Imperial Research Institute, built for research convenience.

Ji Xing received He Yunzhou’s message and waited at the entrance. When he arrived, he immediately gestured for the doctors to come forward and take Lou Ting away.

As soon as they met, before he could say anything, He Yunzhou quickly stepped back two steps, “Wait.”

Ji Xing didn’t want to listen, simply saying, “Take him away.”

“Lou Ting…”

“I’ll take care of him.”

“…”

He Yunzhou didn’t speak again. The doctors immediately took Lou Ting away.

In the blink of an eye, He Yunzhou was taken inside for a comprehensive examination.

Ji Xing looked at Lou Ting and said, “Come with me.”

“Okay.”

After He Yunzhou was taken away by the doctor, Ji Xing personally received Lou Ting. He led Lou Ting inside, saying, “Your doctor will arrive in an hour. Before that, I’ll show you something.”

Lou Ting asked, “Is it related to my memories?”

“More or less.” Ji Xing, having nothing better to do, had been researching the connection between Lou Ting and his parents. He said that Lou Wenjiang was there to monitor Lou Ting, which wasn’t entirely accurate. Someone who could accurately say he was Lou Ting’s father under the influence of drugs was far more than just a monitor.

Moreover…Ji Xing said, “Lou Wenjiang’s memories were altered.”

“What?”

“To put it simply, Lou Wenjiang’s overall memories were fragmented, some memories were injected that someone wanted him to have, then the extra memories were wiped out.” The deeper operations were more complex, and Ji Xing didn’t explain further, simply summarizing it as memory alteration.

He could confidently say that he and Lou Ting were father and son, not because they truly were, but because his memories told him that he and Lou Ting were father and son.

The drug’s influence wouldn’t be too deep, which is why Lou Wenjiang could say that.

If Lou Wenjiang’s memories were problematic as a whole, they wouldn’t be able to get any information they wanted from him.

Because they couldn’t distinguish between true and false memories, they wouldn’t know if the memory was a real experience or a fabricated scene created by someone manipulating things behind the scenes.

The uncertainty was too high to make any conclusions.

Lou Ting also understood the difficulties involved; the situation seemed to have reached an impasse.

Ji Xing said, “Do you know? The first time I saw you, I felt you were very familiar.”

Lou Ting raised an eyebrow, “Hmm?” The first time he saw him?

Had he met Ji Xing before?

Or was it the original owner?

“Was it when you weren’t wearing any disguise?” After all, the original owner was a very popular celebrity. Ji Xing had also been in the entertainment industry, so it was normal for him to be familiar.

“No.” Unexpectedly, Ji Xing denied his statement. “I don’t pay much attention to other celebrities, and you debuted around the time I was busy with other things. I checked the dates; I wasn’t in the Empire then, and it’s impossible for me to have paid attention to the Imperial entertainment industry.”

So…he had seen Lou Ting elsewhere.

Ji Xing said, “I have a good memory. Saying I have photographic memory might be a bit immodest, but at the very least, I’ll remember something I’ve seen once.”

“But later, I thought about it again, and I felt that you looked a little different from the person in my memory, so I suspected that I might not have seen you in person.”

“A photo of me?” Lou Ting guessed, slowly furrowing his brows. “A photo of someone who looks very much like me…?”

“Yes.”

Saying this, Ji Xing stopped and gestured for Lou Ting to look ahead.

Ji Xing asked, “Do you recognize the person in that photo?”

The moment he looked up, Lou Ting’s pupils constricted. That was—?!

The man in the photo was nine-tenths similar to Lou Ting in appearance. Perhaps due to age, Lou Ting looked slightly more youthful, while the other man’s features possessed a more aggressive beauty.

Even in simple, plain white robes, his beauty couldn’t be concealed.

Describing a man’s appearance as beautiful might seem laughable, but this beauty, devoid of any effeminacy, was hard to describe in words. Lou Ting stared at him. This was the first time he had seen this photo, yet he felt strangely familiar.

This feeling was very complex, and Lou Ting couldn’t quite articulate it.

Just then, Ji Xing handed him a tissue, saying, “Wipe your face.”

“Hmm?” The moment he spoke, the heavy nasal tone startled him.

Tears had flowed down his cheeks without him noticing.

“Although things haven’t been determined yet, but…” Ji Xing didn’t finish his sentence.

But Lou Ting understood. If he was referring to the relationship between him and the man in the photograph, based on his current reaction, he could guess what it was.

Lou Ting asked, “What’s his name?”

Ji Xing shook his head. They had no clues; it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.