“Fuck you… old man!” Ning Zhu had been swearing a lot these past few days. Dou Changxiao didn’t like hearing it, so he covered his mouth with one hand.

Mating—he wanted it badly. But even though Dou Changxiao’s mind was in a daze right now, he knew it wasn’t allowed.

Yet the pain of having their relationship denied by Ning Zhu drove him to seek a more direct way to achieve his goal—to prove they were partners who truly cared for one another.

He bit his way from Ning Zhu’s ear to his shoulder. Amid Ning Zhu’s angry curses, he etched a deep, circular mark across one side of his body, watching as Ning Zhu’s skin burned red.

Ning Zhu’s right hand was fidgeting again. Dou Changxiao gave up on undoing his belt, pressed down on Ning Zhu’s right wrist, and repeated the warning impatiently: “Right hand. Don’t move.”

Ning Zhu froze for a moment, then realized in a daze that perhaps the other person wasn’t discriminating against his right hand.

This man actually possessed some rationality? He’d suppressed his instincts during the susceptible period. Yet this shred of rationality was being applied in a strange way.

……A medical student’s sense of professional ethics?

Ning Zhu suddenly had a flash of insight and grasped something.

Dou Changxiao’s hand, covering his mouth, loosened slightly. Ning Zhu tentatively spoke in an affected, melodramatic tone: “My… wrist really hurts.”

Ning Zhu closed his eyes, thoroughly disgusted with himself.

But the person behind him stopped moving.

It actually worked.

This kid already has a professional habit before he’s even started working…

Ning Zhu: “Cough, uh, it couldn’t be… it hasn’t worsened from a hairline fracture into a full fracture, has it?”

Dou Changxiao: “No.”

“……”

Ning Zhu: “…Anyway, it just really hurts.”

He continued to act melodramatically: “Ugh, why does it hurt so much? Did you mess with it so much that it’s inflamed? I feel like it’s going to swell up in three seconds… three minutes.”

Dou Changxiao’s confident voice wavered: “…No.”

“Oh, then go ahead, Dr. Dou.” Ning Zhu repeatedly emphasized their doctor-patient relationship. “Hehe, go ahead and try to torture your patient to death in bed.”

Dou Changxiao: “……”

It seemed to backfire; the thing poking Ning Zhu’s tailbone appeared to get even more excited.

Ning Zhu: “……”

Fortunately, Dou Changxiao wasn’t quite that deranged; he quickly raised his body slightly and released his grip.

Ning Zhu scrambled out of the gap as fast as he could, nearly falling as he got out of bed, but Dou Changxiao caught him around the waist just in time.

Ning Zhu was pulled back, but as soon as he regained his footing, he snapped and wriggled free from Dou Changxiao’s grip.

He didn’t dare to make a sudden move and leave right away, however. Waving his right hand—which would be swollen in three minutes—he said, “I need to… go downstairs and put some ointment on it.”

Dou Changxiao stood still for a moment, then got up, clearly intending to follow him.

Ning Zhu: “I can go by myself…”

Dou Changxiao didn’t speak, but his silence was a refusal.

Ning Zhu had no choice but to swallow his pride and let him follow, turning to walk out of the room.

Fine, let him follow. At least he’d be away from that bed.

With his back to Dou Changxiao, he walked out, quickly tightening his belt a bit. He wished he could tie it in a tight knot.

Downstairs, as Ning Zhu pretended to go get some medicine, he caught a glimpse of himself in a glass cabinet door. His eyes were red-rimmed, and his lips were chapped and red, as if he’d just eaten a super-spicy Chongqing hot pot.

His chin and neck were even worse—they were a continuous streak of redness, like a severe allergic reaction. There was probably no way to cover it up.

He’d been swamped with work lately, and now this kid was going out of his way to make things even more chaotic. Given Dou Changxiao’s current state during his susceptible period, Ning Zhu didn’t dare leave him home alone. He’d have to take a day off from work tomorrow; otherwise, if the other guy went berserk and ran out to bite another Omega, it would be a major disaster.

He clenched his back teeth.

It was his own decision to have Dou Changxiao quarantine at his place; keeping an eye on the kid was his duty, so Ning Zhu really shouldn’t have any complaints. But if Dou Changxiao’s sensitivity period had been normal, that would’ve been one thing—but pulling this “real vs. fake sensitivity period” stunt? Ning Zhu was absolutely livid.

Dou Changxiao stood right beside him, as if afraid Ning Zhu would run away.

Ning Zhu was scheming in his mind about how to avoid being taken back by the other guy; he’d rather die than get all cozy with this little brat’s spike.

He grabbed a random blood-activating ointment and smeared it on his wrist.

Dou Changxiao pressed against his back, his voice ghostly: “Three minutes have passed, and there’s no swelling. You’re doing well. Does it really hurt?”

The other’s tone was calm, betraying no emotion.

To Ning Zhu, it seemed tinged with skepticism; combined with the other’s utterly flat voice, it sent an inexplicable chill down his spine.

He swallowed hard, intending to adopt a pitiful tone, but Ning Zhu’s mental defenses simply wouldn’t allow it. So he stated calmly, “…It’s true. It hurts.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his right wrist was seized. Dou Changxiao’s warm fingertips covered it, gently massaging the area.

Ning Zhu: “……”

And that’s supposed to fool me?

Alphas in heat really are dogs—and their IQs are all on the same level.

Ning Zhu felt extremely uncomfortable under the other’s gentle massage. It was too intimate; it had been years since anyone had touched him like this.

It was just a minor injury… Ning Zhu felt it was incredibly melodramatic of him to even say, “It hurts.” Dou Changxiao was even more melodramatic than he was.

Just as he was lost in thought, his waist was suddenly wrapped in an arm again.

Dou Changxiao held his most cherished bone close, burying his face to continue gnawing on it.

Ning Zhu: “…………”

He said, almost numbly, “I’m a little hungry. Can you let me eat something before you nibble on me again?”

Dou Changxiao slowly released his bone.

Ning Zhu walked toward the kitchen, stalling for time, his mind racing to figure out where he could hide to avoid being nibbled on.

Go back to his own bedroom? He thought of Dou Changxiao’s strength and gave up with a headache. His door had stood guard faithfully for two years; Ning Zhu certainly didn’t want it smashed to pieces by Dou Changxiao’s claw.

Leave the house? That wouldn’t work either. What if this kid followed him out and disrupted public order?

The registration form had clearly stated that he couldn’t leave the quarantine site during the contagious period… Hmm? Wait a minute…

Ning Zhu suddenly recalled the baffling words Dou Changxiao had spoken at this very hour last night.

“I can’t go out. I can’t leave this place.”

It clicked in his mind, as if he’d been granted a spell in a moment of crisis—though he wasn’t sure if the spell actually held any magic.

Ning Zhu walked toward the front door.

Dou Changxiao: “Aren’t you supposed to be eating? What are you going there for?”

Ning Zhu paused. “I put dinner… in the shoe cabinet.”

Dou Changxiao: “……Oh.”

Ning Zhu turned his back to him and curved the corners of his mouth. Even though he was seething inside, he still couldn’t help but smile.

You little brat, you’re dumber than a dog right now.

Dou Changxiao followed close behind, a step behind, his eyes never leaving Ning Zhu.

Ning Zhu walked slowly to the shoe cabinet, opened it, moved to the side of the door, then quickly turned the doorknob and slipped out nimbly.

Dou Changxiao’s reaction was a bit slow; watching Ning Zhu walk out, he instinctively started to take a step to chase after him.

Ning Zhu hurriedly said, “Are you planning to leave the quarantine zone, Dou? Hmm? That’s against the rules, isn’t it?”

Dou Changxiao’s movements faltered, and sure enough, he stopped in his tracks.

Ning Zhu let out a sigh of relief.

Damn, that scared the hell out of me. I thought the trick wasn’t working.

Dou Changxiao looked like a game NPC whose movement was restricted by code, stuck by the door, watching Ning Zhu just a step away from him, his brow furrowed with anxiety.

It was as if an invisible bite-stopper stood between them—weightless, yet incredibly effective.

Ning Zhu finally recovered from the tension of having his neck gnawed at. Bracing his right knee against the doorframe, he smirked coldly from the outside: “Oh, what’s the matter? Can’t bite me anymore? You little bastard, Dou. You sure know how to act all innocent in front of me, but you’re full of dirty tricks.”

Dou Changxiao looked at him with growing anxiety, shifting his feet back and forth along the doorframe.

Seeing how he dared not step out of line even the slightest bit, Ning Zhu couldn’t help but turn his face away and laugh.

But the moment he finished laughing and turned his head, Dou Changxiao was staring straight at him, his foot raised.

Tricks work, but their effectiveness weakens when they see him.

The NPC, confined to a specific area, was actually attempting to break through the code’s boundaries—one leg was about to step out.

Ning Zhu froze for a moment, then quickly and deftly shut the door.

Bang!

He took two steps back and waited quietly for a moment; Dou Changxiao was locked inside and didn’t come out to open the door.

Ning Zhu let out a sigh of relief, as if he’d survived a catastrophe.

From behind the door, a voice said, “What are you laughing at?”

Ning Zhu replied irritably, “Haha, I’m laughing at how silly you are. Fine, go back to your room. I’ve got nothing nice to say to you while you’re standing behind that door. Do you want to stand here and get yelled at by me, or go back to your room and sleep?”

Dou Changxiao: “It’s cold out here.”

Ning Zhu rolled his eyes without a care for his image, let out a cold laugh, and said sarcastically, “That’s right. It’d be so much warmer if I were lying in your arms, mating with you.”

There was a moment of silence behind the door.

This silence, following Ning Zhu’s remark, felt particularly awkward.

“……” Ning Zhu felt as though he’d actually been mated in the other’s imagination. His face turning ashen, he shouted, “Get back inside right now!”

Dou Changxiao: “You lied to me about your wrist hurting.”

“Finally caught on?” Ning Zhu said coldly. “So you’re the one keeping your word? You promised to let me go after just one kiss. Instead, you’re being unreasonable and insisting I say I like you.”

There was another moment of silence on the other end.

Dou Changxiao spoke again: “I wasn’t being unreasonable, and I didn’t force you to say you like me.”

Ning Zhu: “…”

Then who was the one just now gnawing on my lips and making me swallow his saliva?

Ning Zhu: “You…”

Dou Changxiao’s voice cut him off: “But you’ve been making me lie all along.”

“……”

“It’s not your pheromones I like. You heard me clearly.”

Dou Changxiao pressed his forehead against the door and whispered reproachfully, “You made me lie. You’re really mean.”

Ning Zhu froze.

Before he could voice his complaints, Dou Changxiao had already accused him first.

He instinctively wanted to retort, but as he opened his mouth, he suddenly found himself at a loss for words.