Hi everyone! I’m Jane, and I picked up this story on 10/17/23, and I started from Chapter 37 onwards. Since the first uploader and translator of this story (nanes_i of KnoxT, not BlackBoxTL) dropped this because of translation issues, I’ll be replacing Chapters 20–36 one by one while also updating the latest chapters. It’ll take a few weeks before I can catch up, so please bear with me.
(If you don’t see the same title format in the next chapters, that means it’s still nanes’ translation and not mine yet. Thank you for understanding!).
最佳契合 (Perfect Match) – 十九瑶
Chapter 20
“You really should’ve come here earlier.”
The young doctor in a white coat opened the clinic door, placed down the lab form, and grabbed a 10ml vial of clear medicine from the medical freezer. After carefully warming, extracting, and sterilizing the medication in a fresh syringe, he carefully injected it into Zheng Feiluan’s body.
When the needle’s tip entered the skin intravenously, there was a slight pain followed by an odd, icy sensation.
Zheng Feiluan loosened his muscles after lying on the couch with his eyes closed. His shirt-wrapped chest slowly rose and fell. One by one, the agitation subsided as the therapeutic liquid relaxed the blood vessels that had previously been tense. His distressed mind, which had clattered, tumbled, and been restless all night, eventually cooled off when a tube was poked through.
“Lie down properly, relax your body, and clear your mind.”
As a way to make a comfortable space for him to rest, Jiang Qi pulled out the syringe and tossed it in the trash bin. He then went to the side to make a cup of coffee.
Jiang Qi sipped his coffee and asked, “Are you comfortable?”
“Yeah.”
Zheng Feiluan gave a sluggish reply.
Jiang Qi, on the other hand, wore a grim expression, “This is the highest dosage of injectable sedative, 18% higher compared to the previous oral drug. However, it doesn’t last long, twenty-four hours tops—and is highly addictive. Feiluan, you might need to rely on it to live a normal life in the future; do you realize how serious this is?”
After pausing for a while, Zheng Feiluan finally snorted, “I’d rather be addicted to the drug than submit to an omega.”
“They’re not the same!” Jiang Qi answered with seriousness, “Sedatives can cause chronic damage to both the lungs and the heart when used for long periods of time. If you take one on a daily basis, your lifespan is likely to be a lot shorter, but an omega’s natural pheromones are unique and healthier for you in every way.”
Zheng Feiluan looked at the other person nonchalantly and asked, “Huh, was convincing me to give in your plan all along?”
⋮
The clinic fell silent.
Betas rarely dare to step over the extremely strict line of an alpha’s self-esteem. Even if he had thousands of courage, Jiang Qi felt paralyzed when Zheng Feiluan asked in that manner.
However, the blinking red warning light was just too confusing, and if he didn’t make it absolutely clear now, things could only grow worse in the future.
Jiang Qi inhaled deeply as he cautiously said, “As a friend, of course I’m hoping you are able to endure through it. But as a medical expert, I must persuade you to face the truth: the withdrawal therapy was unsuccessful for you. This document here is the pheromone stability report that recently came out…”
Raising the piece of paper in his hand, he continued, “Your condition keeps getting worse and at a lightning-fast pace, which means… our previous theories were too optimistic.”
“What theory?”
“Theories about the exact cause of your addictive behavior.” Jiang Qi stated, “We previously thought that you were briefly addicted to the omega; now it appears that it’s likely a root addiction.”
Zheng Feiluan quickly opened his eyes and asked, “How sure are you?”
Jiang Qi didn’t dare to sugarcoat the facts and stated a very high probability, “Ninety-nine percent.”
⋮
The term “brief addiction” refers to a manageable pheromone dependence. It’s a lot like a cigarette addiction. As long as one can stay away from the source and pair it with a substitute drug, an alpha can cut off the pheromone dependency in a few years, or even months.
On the flip side, root addiction is impossible to cure.
At the first bonding, the alpha leaves bloody teeth marks on the back of the omega’s neck, and the omega places an irreversible mark on the alpha’s glands. From that point forward, the omega will serve as the candle’s wick, the eye of the spring, and the alpha’s breathing air and sunlight. If the omega goes away one day, the alpha would be like a monstrous being that had lost its home, growing more agitated and depressed by the day until it lost its energy.
As stated in the stability report, the pheromone slope of “brief addiction” is gradually increasing, shifting in the middle, and will eventually return to the usual range in a span of time, whereas the pheromone slope of “root addiction” is the opposite, veering increasingly farther from the usual range until it becomes completely beyond control.
Jiang Qi changed his mind shortly after learning Zheng Feiluan’s most recent pheromone slope: a massive wave of decline from a specific turning point, only eleven percentage points away from the high-risk red line.
⋮
”This slope of yours has always been very stable. If it’s a brief addiction, it should more or less show a little upward pattern, but your range dropped 20% in a month at the same rate of development…” Jiang Qi sighed helplessly, “A month from now, you probably won’t be able to sit here and have a good chat with me.”
“What will happen to me then?”
Zheng Feiluan asked, his hand resting on his jaw and his face expressionless.
“You will be in an endless state of mate-seeking, searching for them day and night, not willing to rest.” Jiang Qi explained, “According to my research on mate-seeking, you will go looking for him by any means necessary until you get him back, even the ways that the present you wouldn’t dare to try.”
“What about sedatives? Won’t they work either?”
Zheng Feiluan lifted his left hand which had just received an injection.
Jiang Qi laughed harshly, “Trust me, by that time, absolutely nobody else can get close to you except your omega.”
Zheng Feiluan’s fingertips tapped his cheeks lightly and quietly. He lowered his eyes for a few seconds in thought before calmly summing it up, “I can’t function without him; is that what you mean?”
His tone of speech was cold, and his demeanor was unfazed, as if the topic of discussion was about someone else’s fate, life, and death rather than his own.
Jiang Qi stopped for a few seconds before nodding, “Yes.”
“Then let’s see just how long I can last without him!”
Zheng Feiluan had no intention of talking anymore and took the initiative to end the conversation. He grabbed his suit jacket, picked up the car keys on the coffee table, and went over to open the door without saying goodbye.
Before he was about to walk out the door, he stopped in his tracks and said, “Jiang Qi.”
“What, what’s wrong?”
“What happens to me if he dies?” Zheng Feiluan asked with grim eyes, “You said that root addiction is untreatable, so if he dies, will I die too?”
Jiang Qi hurriedly responded, “No, of course not. The mate-seeking disorder itself is psychological, so if he’s no longer around, you’ll subconsciously know that it’s impossible to meet him again, and your attachment will naturally disappear, but… but the mental pain of losing your mate is going to be excruciatingly unbearable.”
“Interesting.”
Zheng Feiluan raised an eyebrow while flashing a thoughtful smile.
Upon seeing his icy expression, Jiang Qi thought about an eerie possibility, and a tingling sensation ran down his spine, “Feiluan, what are you implying…?”
“I’m not implying anything; I’m simply afraid of being dragged down by an omega.” Zheng Feiluan said as he reached out and pulled the collar of his shirt, “You can rest easy that even if I can do anything I want, I still have my morals attached.”
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I hope you enjoyed reading my first chapter! Thanks and happy reading~
Translated and edited by janemoyu (10/18/23)
Update: As of 02/14/24, Chapters 20–36 have been fixed. Enjoy binging!
