Chapter 100

The master bedroom’s window was wide open, letting the autumn wind rush into the room and dilute the thick scent of pheromones in the air. Xu Zhangying stood in the walk-in closet, adjusting his tie in front of the full-length mirror. He turned his head and saw the alpha wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the bed with his back to him.

“Don’t be mad anymore, I’ll still come back tonight.”

Xu Zhangying, halfway through tying his tie, couldn’t resist returning to the room and wrapping his arms around the sulking alpha, blanket and all.

But the next second, he realized he was being presumptuous—Xia Qing was indeed sitting in the blanket, but he had already closed his eyes and fallen back asleep. In the sunlight, his long eyelashes cast delicate shadows over his fair face, trembling slightly with each quiet, even breath.

“I can’t believe this,” Xu Zhangying muttered, amused and exasperated. He nuzzled Xia Qing’s cheek. “Only when you’re asleep do you act like a good kid. Off to work now, kiddo.”

Xia Qing stirred at the sound, his eyelashes fluttering as if he were about to wake. Xu Zhangying quickly covered the young man’s eyes with his hand and gently laid him back down on the pillow. “Sleep, sleep. You barely rest even on vacation, too busy *sleeping* with people. Now you’re finally quiet, but you still have jet lag to deal with.”

Only when the fluttering under his palm stopped did Xu Zhangying withdraw his hand. He stared at Sleeping Beauty for a long moment before clambering off the bed. As he walked to the window to close it, he glanced down and spotted the gun in the drawer.

With brief hesitation, he picked it up.

With a click, the magazine slid back into place. The familiar sound seemed to snap Xu Zhangying fully awake, pulling him out of the dreamlike haze of the moment.

With the gun in hand, he looked up to find the sky outside clear and endless.

---

6:30 PM, in front of an international hotel in Guangzhou.

Two black cars pulled up one after another along the fountain-lined driveway. The doorman immediately stepped forward to open the doors.

Zeiss stepped out of the car, handing the keys to the valet. The first thing he saw was the Beta Commissioner leaning against a pillar in the hotel’s portico.

The days had grown shorter in autumn, and the hues of sunset already painted the city’s edges. Xu Zhangying had skipped his usual three-piece suit, opting instead for a simple, classic black blazer left open, no tie to be seen. The autumn wind ruffled his bangs and scattered the smoke curling from his fingertips.

Perhaps due to back-to-back injuries, he had noticeably lost weight over the past two months. He didn’t notice Zeiss and the others at first, his gaze distant, lost in thought. For a moment, Zeiss felt as if he’d been thrown five years into the past.

Just then, Xu Zhangying lifted his eyes and looked in Zeiss’s direction. Spotting them, his face suddenly broke into a bright smile. Before the dominant alpha could react, Benjamin strode past him toward Xu Zhangying.

“Long time no see,” Xu Zhangying said, crushing his cigarette underfoot and clapping Benjamin on the back with a laugh. “How was the mission in Indonesia?”

Li Jiali shrugged. “A C-rank mission rarely has much action. But you should be asking someone else.”

As she stepped aside, Xu Zhangying finally noticed the female alpha tossing her car keys to the valet.

Laura, standing at an imposing 190 cm, still carried her signature sharp aura. Dressed in a black pantsuit, her figure and beauty remained striking, though her face showed more wear from time. She held a black duffel bag in one hand and gave Xu Zhangying a knowing grin. Her Chinese was now remarkably fluent:

“Long time no see, kid. But really, you’re not Italian—why wear a scarf with a suit?”

Xu Zhangying crossed his arms, unimpressed. “Before you roast me, how about explaining why you got booted to the European Bureau?”

Laura burst into laughter, hooking an arm around her protégé’s neck and teasingly tugging at the silk scarf tucked into the handsome man’s collar—only to have her hand smacked away.

“You’re getting shameless in your old age,” Xu Zhangying snapped.

“I just missed you too much—did you say hi to little Xia Qing for me?” Laura pinned Xu Zhangying’s head in a headlock and mercilessly mussed up his hair.

“I did. He said no.” Xu Zhangying struggled but still managed to reply.

“Figures,” Laura said, glancing up at Zeiss and the others as they approached. With a sigh, she added, “He’s definitely holding a grudge. Back then, every time I tried to recruit you for AGB, little Xia Qing looked like I was the enemy.”

Li Jiali blinked in surprise at this remark—she hadn’t realized the famed Inspector Laura had such deep ties with Xia Qing and Xu Zhangying in their youth. “If that’s true, then this mission just got a lot trickier.”

Suddenly, a strange male voice spoke up in English. The beta, still restrained by Laura, struggled to lift his gaze. In the instant he recognized the figure standing beside Zeiss, his eyes widened in shock:

“How could it be you—Superintendent Samuel?”

Samuel Luther, a 1st Class Police Superintendent from the North America Branch, 35 years old, with brown hair and green eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses—a cultured but brutal operative. Like Laura after her 30s, he was one of the rare AGB Officers adept at solo missions, specializing in classified gov ops. This earned him a rep for being a ghost—at least, that was the consensus among most Officers on the Ocean forum.

Most importantly, at his age, he ranked 14th globally among all AGB Officers.

Xu Zhangying was stunned.

What kind of mission would require the presence of four Police Superintendents, including him?

Wait a second—Xu Zhangying’s eyes flickered with another flash of surprise.

“What do you mean, ‘if it’s true, it’ll be troublesome’—what does this mission have to do with Xia Qing?”

In the presidential suite on the hotel’s top floor, Xu Zhangying sat on the sofa in the lounge, eyeing the five Officers.

“What exactly is this mission about?”

Zeiss tossed his jacket onto the sofa and took a seat in the single armchair opposite, crossing his arms as he regarded him. “Bit late to be asking now, don’t you think?”

Xu Zhangying turned his head, his expression blank as he stared at the alpha in a gun harness. “I take a three-year break once in a blue moon, and now I’m dragged into work halfway through. I’m in a terrible mood. One more sarcastic question, and I’m reporting you to headquarters for sexism.”

Zeiss’s face twisted with frustration. After a brief pause, he gritted his teeth and said, “You’re the last person here who should accuse others of gender bullying!”

“Then go ahead and report me too. I welcome it.”

“Honestly, after all these years, you two still go at each other’s throats on sight,” Laura, who had been taking in the skyline by the floor-to-ceiling window, turned around and sighed at the two young Police Superintendents locked in their usual standoff.

“So what does this have to do with Xia Qing?” Xu Zhangying ignored the others, locking eyes with Laura directly.

Behind him, Li Jiali and Benjamin, busy at the conference table with their laptops, exchanged a glance—their expressions clearly saying, “And there it is.”

“Relax,” Laura said, smacking the beta Police Superintendent hard on the forehead. The sharp wallop echoed through the room.

The American leaning against the wall, who had been watching the scene calmly, was startled by the sudden noise, his bright green eyes widening in surprise.

“Don’t get all prickly when you hear Xia Qing’s name,” Laura chided as she sat down beside the dazed beta, her tone turning serious. “He’s not involved in the case, but he is the center of this operation. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

“In five days, Xia Qing will declare the Gene Mutation Theory as fact at the LSA conference.”

Although China’s genetics team and the LSA had yet to publicly disclose the final conclusions of their human chromosome research, the fact they planned to “announce the findings at the LSA conference” was a dead giveaway—the world knew this would be the final nail in the coffin for the long-standing belief that “betas, alphas, and omegas differ only in sex gene mutations” rather than “alphas and omegas being more evolutionarily advanced humans.”

While the absence of reproductive barriers, intellectual gaps, or fertility disparities between primary and secondary genders was an objective fact—logically deducible—the society’s rigid gender caste system was so stubborn that only hard genetic proof could spark a full-blown ideology shakeup.

LEBEN, for all its terror and extremism, had convinced the majority of alphas and omegas in mainstream society to dogmatically believe that “secondary genders are genetically superior to betas”—a conclusion deemed unshakable.

This was why Xia Qing’s research and his current personal circumstances had become so critically important.

Xu Zhangying, his forehead still throbbing from Laura’s wallop, suddenly snapped back to reality. Clutching his forehead, he asked in disbelief, “Five days?”

Zeiss suppressed his irritation and, with uncharacteristic directness, reminded him, “It’s October 4th. The 9th is the same damn conference you never miss.”

Only then did Xu Zhangying realize what he’d forgotten. But the next second, he looked up at Zeiss in shock. “The hell are you talking about?”

Zeiss glared coldly at him. “You know damn well if I’m lying.”

Xu Zhangying: “Oh, so now you’re stalking me?”

Zeiss: "It's just that you're too stupid to think no one would notice. Your whereabouts every October are quite deliberate, and—I saw you at the venue four years ago."

Xu Zhangying: "You’re a terrible person, you know that?"

Benjamin, sitting at the computer, turned to Li Jiali. "A Li, what are they talking about?"

Li Jiali smiled. "No idea, but it probably has nothing to do with us."

Xu Zhangying pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked up at Laura. "I get it. This year is special for both Xia Qing and the LSA conference, but this level of response seems excessive—you and Samuel, two First-Class Police Superintendents, are rarely seen even in red-level cases."

"No," Samuel, who had been silent until now, spoke up. He appeared to understand Chinese but spoke it poorly, so he continued in English, adjusting his glasses. "This operation isn’t just us. The European Bureau will provide twice as many AGB Officers as we do, and there are likely two more First-Class Police Superintendents."

Xu Zhangying froze for a moment before realizing something. He fixed his gaze on Laura. "Something happened, didn’t it?"

Laura neither confirmed nor denied it. "I like that you’re sharp."

Samuel watched the beta and the female alpha, his resemblance to the lead actor from *Prison Break* giving him a thoughtful expression.

Just then, Benjamin finished adjusting the files. He set the laptop on the coffee table, screen facing Xu Zhangying. "Boss."

Laura sighed and looked at Xu Zhangying. "Actually, the AGB’s European Bureau and Asia Branch had already drafted security plans for the LSA conference early this year. You should remember—ever since Xia Qing took charge of the Chinese genetics team, his work on disproving the 'gene mutation theory' has made him a target of international media and numerous extremist groups."

"In June, after Xia Qing mentioned at a conference in the UK that he’d complete the gene decoding work this year, two terrorists uploaded bloody videos on YouTube to threaten the LSA and Xia Qing’s team. Neither had ties to Life—one was from a Middle Eastern religious group, the other a young American college student."

Xu Zhangying did remember this. In fact, the events of this summer had started there—when he received the mission for Case 523, he’d been crouched on the rooftop of a hotel in Burkina Faso, scrolling through Twitter. "Chinese scientist’s statement" and "YouTube threat videos" had topped global trends.

Seeing Xia Qing’s name on the mission list and the snuff video on his phone, despite swearing he’d never seek him out again, he’d taken the job anyway—using that tired old excuse: *I just want to see if he’s okay.*

"But just over a month ago, after Xia Qing’s research institute held a press conference announcing the completion of the genetics team’s work, everything changed." Laura tapped the keyboard as she spoke.

Xu Zhangying saw a crime scene photo pop up on the screen—a close-up of a sofa with obvious charred human remains. It was clearly a burned corpse, the fat having seeped onto the carpet, which was also half-destroyed.

"This is the latest one, sent by the European Bureau. It happened 43 hours ago. The victim was a Swiss life scientist, a former LSA council member and tenured professor at a state university. He was tortured before death."

Xu Zhangying stared at the gruesome photo, frowning slightly. "Which number is this case?"

"The seventh," Zeiss said. "The first was confirmed to be that Danish professor I told you about—the one who sent a distress letter to the IGO ten months ago. He claimed to have participated in inhumane experiments over thirty years ago and was being silenced by the Emperor from the 'Society of Eternal Life.'"

"Clearly, this 'Society of Eternal Life' is Life’s Babylonian wing, and the Emperor is Corbett—or as we call him, 'Octavian.'"

Xu Zhangying felt a stabbing pain in his temples, but he didn’t show it. He nodded. "What do these six cases have in common? I’m guessing they’re all high-ranking LSA members, aged 55 or older, with signs of torture?"

Zeiss locked eyes with Xu Zhangying and nodded. "Exactly."

Xu Zhangying frowned. "Was the first victim tortured too? You didn’t mention that before."

Zeiss shook his head. "That’s the strangest part. The first victim was silenced, but the next six were tortured before being killed."

Laura added, "But the methods were all highly professional. And these LSA elders behaved oddly before death—as if they’d received advance notice of their murders. Some made cryptic remarks to family about their affairs, others appeared disoriented. All were alone when killed, and three even deliberately sent their families away—"

"They were all guilty."

Laura paused. Samuel and Zeiss looked up at the calm beta as he analyzed coldly: "They received Life’s death warrants and feared death, yet died struggling. That means they knew their crimes were beyond redemption—crimes so severe they couldn’t even confess to family or police to save themselves."

"So," Xu Zhangying shrugged icily, "what kind of inhumane experiments were these? Did they help Life’s Emperors harvest organs from refugee kids?"

Samuel stood up straighter, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "From the first murder and the six that followed, only the first victim—the Danish professor—knew the truth. But he was silenced."

"The other six scientists were subjected to extensive torture. They likely didn’t know the full picture, because multiple victims had more than three fingers severed—one finger is the psychological breaking point. Anyone who knows secrets and can talk would spill everything after losing one finger. If they still don’t talk after that, they either won’t talk at all… or they simply don’t know."

Xu Zhangying thought for a moment: "Based on their pre-death behavior, it's clear the latter six scientists didn't know the secret Emperor was after."

Laura nodded in agreement: "You just summarized our entire analysis—six renowned scientists dead. This is already a top-priority red case, and all within this past month. So you can understand why our team is assembled at this level."

Xu Zhangying asked, "Did the six victims leave any clues behind? About who wanted to kill them or what secret they were after?"

"One," Zeiss spoke up. "A Cambridge tenured professor left a sentence—or rather, half a sentence—carved under his desk."

Xu Zhangying’s eyes sharpened as he turned to him. "What was it?"

"*Forgive me. We created Messiah.*"

Xu Zhangying froze.

"What?" he said disbelievingly. "Are you saying the experiment they were involved in is related to the current Messiah?"

The current Messiah is LEBEN’s third-generation Messiah. The second-generation Messiah died in 2004 when LEBEN was completely destroyed—he was the American who brought the devil's seed out of the warzone and into modern civilization.

No one knows when the third Messiah emerged, just as no one knows how LEBEN managed to rebuild into the terrifying scale it is today after 2007—surpassing even its 2000 peak, especially with the support of the modern dark web spanning every corner of the globe.

But it can be inferred that the third Messiah appeared suddenly about ten years ago, inheriting the "aristocratic system" used by the previous LEBEN before its downfall—the foundation of this sinful empire, originally crafted by Xia Gaohan, Xia Qing’s biological father.

After Xia Qing came back to the mainland from Hong Kong, one of his labs was given an LSA assignment: to study the connection between two drugs, DoloraX and Glory.

As expected, Xia Qing analyzed them himself and found their molecular structures strikingly similar. The first, a once-widespread addictive painkiller, was the precursor to Glory—the drug that helped LEBEN conquer territories and amass wealth.

One can easily guess that after Xia Gaohan died, the DX formula fell into the hands of LEBEN’s remnants and was continuously refined, eventually becoming the most dangerous drug in the world today.

No wonder they called him the Fire Thief—the first Emperor, Xia Gaohan, died so young, yet everything he did laid the most unshakable and fundamental foundation for LEBEN’s current empire.

Ironically, his own son, Xia Qing, became the fiercest opponent of extremist gender ideology.

It’s hard to see this as anything but fate—or that breaking free from his father’s sins was already etched into the core of Xia Qing’s destiny.

In just a few seconds, Xu Zhangying connected the dots on Xia Qing’s sensitive position and nodded. "I understand."

Laura said softly, "The location for this year’s LSA conference was announced just three days ago. We’re in Guangzhou to coordinate with Chinese Public Security. China will also provide security for the genetics team. In two days, we’ll escort Xia Qing to the conference site and meet up with the other AGB Officers."

Then she smiled and patted her disciple’s back. "Look on the bright side—yes, it’s a red case, but Xia Qing is only at risk during the conference. We’re just playing it safe—after all, he and his team are the center of international attention right now. Once the conference ends, he’ll be much safer, and that’s when our real work begins."

Xu Zhangying understood the stakes perfectly. "I know. I’ll talk to him later."

"Were Edmund and Professor Ralph friends originally?"

Suddenly, Samuel, arms crossed, asked the question. Xu Zhangying then remembered—aside from Laura, Zeiss, and the others, the external AGB Officers didn’t know about his relationship with Xia Qing. At that moment, Laura smiled and looked up at the American Officer.

"Yes, old classmates. But only a few of us know—the less exposed Ralph’s information is, the safer, right?"

She spoke in English. Samuel eyed the female alpha in front of him and, surprisingly, accepted it without question. "Right. Noted."

They went over plans for the next two days—how to collaborate with the Chinese side and other details—until it was already 10 PM.

"Are you still staying at Xia Qing’s place?" Laura asked Xu Zhangying with a teasing glance at the men’s scarf tucked into his collar as the AGB Team meeting neared its end.

"Where else?" Xu Zhangying said through clenched teeth, forcing calm. "After years of slaving away for Amber, I’m homeless in China."

"Alright, alright, get going before Xia Qing resents me even more," Laura said, flopping onto the sofa and waving him off.

Xu Zhangying stood up and said dismissively, "That's just how life is. He knows it."

The woman clicked her lighter to light a cigarette. "But in the end, it was me who talked you into being an AGB Officer. I feel pretty guilty about it myself."

The exceptionally astute Li Jiali pieced together the general scene from just a few words and couldn't help but laugh. "You can't predict fate. If you hadn’t lured Xu, Boss Laura, we might not even be standing here today."

Xu Zhangying also grinned. "That's why I don't sweat fate stuff."

Hearing this, Zeiss looked up at the beta with his faint smile. After a moment of silence, he stood. "You didn’t drive here. I’ll take you back."

"Ah, so polite," Xu Zhangying waved his phone. "I already got an Uber."

Zeiss asked, "Do cabs even go to Chairman Xia’s residence?"

Xu Zhangying replied, "No big deal. I just get dropped off at the gate."

With that, he waved to the others in the lounge and headed for the suite’s door.

As Zeiss walked Xu out, Samuel’s green eyes behind his glasses showed confusion. "Are Zeiss and Edmund on good terms or bad?"

Laura laughed loudly at this, crossing her legs and tilting her head back with the cigarette between her lips. "People can’t be too similar, or they’ll end up tangled together without realizing it."

Two seconds later, Benjamin finally looked up. "Is Officer Zeiss that similar to the boss?"

Li Jiali shrugged. "Who knows?"

At the entrance of the presidential suite, Xu Zhangying suddenly remembered something and turned back. "Shit, I forgot to ask—where is this year’s LSA conference being held?"

Zeiss's eye twitched. "You spend every day with Chairman Xia, and you don’t even know that?"

Before he could finish, Xu Zhangying cheerfully raised a finger. "Just kidding. I’ll email him when I get back."

Zeiss finally lost it, shouting, "Then go write it! The number of times I’ve been reported for sexism probably doesn’t even come close to your record, you fucking alpha-hating asshole!"

"Wow, Officer Zeiss, your Chinese cussing has improved," Xu Zhangying said, genuinely impressed before clapping for the top alpha. "Such a complex sentence, and you delivered it so smoothly."

Zeiss felt like punching air, his fury burning in his chest. He closed his eyes, using all his self-control to stop himself from actually punching the infuriating beta in the face.

Xu Zhangying, riding high on his own mischief, was about to grab the doorknob when he heard a voice behind him. "Abu Dhabi."

"What?" He turned back.

"This year’s LSA conference is in the UAE, in Abu Dhabi. The announcement was made three days ago," Zeiss said coldly.

Xu Zhangying hadn’t expected it to be held in the Middle East, but considering recent international events in the region, he nodded. Then he extended his hand.

Zeiss: "What?"

But he instinctively reached out, only for Xu Zhangying to grasp it firmly.

"Thanks," Xu Zhangying said earnestly. "You’re petty, but not a bad person."

Zeiss yanked his hand away. "You little shit—!"

But the guy was already laughing as he swung the door open. Zeiss could only stare daggers at the guy who’d managed to infuriate him twice in a minute. Then, suddenly, his expression changed sharply as he grabbed Xu Zhangying’s shoulder. "Edmund."

Xu Zhangying, now in the hallway, got goosebumps. Turning back, he saw the top alpha holding a men’s scarf, staring in disbelief at his neck.

"Shit," Xu Zhangying reacted instantly, covering his neck and stepping back into the corridor.

Zeiss stared at the bite marks covering the beta’s neck, froze for a moment before growling angrily, "He fucking bit your neck?!"