Su Mi had a moment where she wanted to turn around and leave.
The elevator to the underground garage was on the other side. As long as she turned her head quickly enough, Secretary Zhuang wouldn’t see her.
However, Secretary Zhuang had already spotted her. He revealed a perfect smile and nodded at her.
Fine.
Su Mi walked forward and greeted him politely. “Secretary Zhuang, good afternoon. May I ask what brings you here…?”
Both wore impeccably polite social smiles as they stared at each other for a moment.
Secretary Zhuang said, “President Shen said the matter you entrusted to her last time has been resolved. She asked me to take you there.”
Su Mi was stunned. Take her there for what?
The one who got bullied was Xu Nanqiao. If the antagonist wanted to show off her capabilities, shouldn’t she have Xu Nanqiao come along to see it too?
She asked exactly that.
Secretary Zhuang replied, “This is President Shen’s order. You can ask her about the details once you’re there.”
Su Mi could only say okay.
She sent a message to her parents saying she’d be back late due to something coming up, then followed Secretary Zhuang into the business sedan he had driven.
Secretary Zhuang was the type who preferred manual driving, and he drove very steadily, no worse than the light brain’s intelligent driving tech.
Su Mi sat for a while before suddenly realizing that the scenery along the way looked unfamiliar. It wasn’t the route to Southern Garden.
“Secretary Zhuang, are we going to Southern Garden?”
She knew from the plot that this Secretary Zhuang had always stood firmly on Shen Han’s side from beginning to end, so she was just curious about their destination.
Secretary Zhuang said, “We’re going somewhere else. You’ll know when we get there.”
Su Mi lowered her head and opened the navigation on her light brain. She discovered they were heading west.
Prime City’s nightlife had never been particularly vibrant, but West City was the exception. Most entertainment venues were located there, and as the streetscape changed, the neon lights in the densely packed buildings became increasingly prominent.
Su Mi remembered that in the plot, after Xu Nanqiao started university, her family suddenly faced massive debts. At that time, she had already intended to cut ties with Shen Han, so she came alone to work at a bar in West City, where a series of melodramatic events unfolded.
Secretary Zhuang navigated through the complex cluster of buildings, finally stopping in front of an upscale club.
He was clearly a familiar face here—or rather, this place was likely one of the Shen Family properties under Shen Han’s management with his assistance.
Su Mi followed Secretary Zhuang toward the club. They bypassed the reception area filled with howls of wolves and ghostly wails amid the lights and revelry, crossed the building, and entered another structure behind it—a three-story building.
The small building’s decor was entirely different from the debauched club in front. It resembled more of a research institute or a hospital, with pale blue and icy white tones blending together. The moment they stepped inside, the temperature felt several degrees lower.
From the entrance to the stairs, black-clad bodyguards stood every few meters along the way, security tight.
Su Mi walked this path with her heart pounding in fear.
Why did it feel like she had entered some underground research base of the Shen Corporation…? What shady things was Shen Han researching here? The original plot hadn’t mentioned it. At most, it had vaguely noted that the Shen Corporation dominated Prime City, with connections in both legal and underworld circles.
Su Mi suppressed her racing heart, bit the tip of her tongue, and quickened her pace to catch up to Secretary Zhuang.
They reached the second floor, where Secretary Zhuang led Su Mi to a metallic door made of some high-tech material. He whispered a few words to the bodyguard at the door, then turned back to her. “Miss Su, President Shen is waiting for you inside.”
Su Mi: “…Okay.”
The bodyguard at the door opened it, revealing a vast darkness inside, with only a faint blue light flickering dimly.
Su Mi took a deep breath and steeled herself to walk in.
Lately, she had read many novels recommended by the system, and many antagonists in them suffered from claustrophobia.
An antagonist like Shen Han, who lurked in darkness every time they met, was rare.
After Su Mi entered, Shen Han turned on the lights… and the screen in front of her.
It wasn’t exactly a screen; it was more like a large piece of one-way glass.
Once the lights were on, Su Mi could see clearly that this was a room resembling an observation chamber.
Unlike the casual home attire from their last meeting, Shen Han wore a beige embroidered silk shirt today, with the top two buttons undone to reveal her straight collarbone, where a bodhi seed-like pendant hung.
Her ink-black long hair was fully pinned up with a wooden hairpin adorned with a green jade stone. Her fine brows curved like hooks, with a small strand of hair at her temple draping down, partially obscuring the teardrop mole at the corner of her eye, faint as an ink dot.
She sat facing the glass, quietly watching the brightly lit side beyond it. Between the two slender fingers of her left hand, she casually held something like a cigarette, its tip emitting a faint blue glow.
Shen Han pointed to the side. “Sit.”
Su Mi obediently sat in the chair next to Shen Han.
A faint floral fragrance lingered in the air.
Su Mi looked to the other side of the mirror. It resembled a dormitory… or perhaps a ward?
There were six separated beds inside, each occupied by someone in patient garb. Su Mi narrowed her eyes to examine them, then was surprised to discover that the ones lying there were the alpha thugs who had cornered Xu Nanqiao and her that day.
“Recognize them?” Shen Han asked.
Su Mi nodded in a daze.
After handing the matter over to Shen Han, Su Mi hadn’t paid much attention to how these people were dealt with.
She had looked into some of this world’s laws. This ABO world had strong protections for pheromones, so alphas deliberately releasing pheromones to induce an omega’s heat period with ill intent were basically treated as rape cases from her original world.
She had thought these guys were already in custody awaiting trial, but they were here with Shen Han instead.
Shen Han hummed, lazily straightening up from her seat. She tapped a few times on the control screen in front of her, then shared a data panel full of readings and several files with Su Mi.
The panel displayed the pheromone concentrations in the room opposite, while the files appeared to be body reports for those alphas.
No… maybe they couldn’t be called alphas anymore.
On the panel monitoring pheromone levels, the alpha pheromone values had dropped to zero.
If she wasn’t mistaken, those swaggering alphas from before were now… betas?
It took Su Mi a good while to recover from her shock.
She asked hesitantly, “…Sister, these people, don’t tell me…?”
While Su Mi studied the panel and reports, Shen Han toyed with the cigarette-like thing between her fingers.
She replied indifferently, “Prime City’s inspectors tested the pheromone levels at the time—they reached 40%. Alphas who can’t control their lower bodies have no use for pheromones.”
Su Mi looked up at Shen Han in bewilderment. “Is… is this legal?”
She racked her brain recalling the Omega Protection Law she had learned about before. It did seem quite strict; for severe cases of intent to violate an omega, removing the gland’s secretory function wasn’t impossible.
Even so, why was it happening here with Shen Han…?
Shen Han glanced back at her, the corner of her pale lips curving slightly.
“More or less.” She said lazily.
What an answer.
Su Mi stared at Shen Han inexplicably.
The latter showed no particular expression, lounging casually half-reclined in her chair.
She resembled some dark-dwelling feline predator, squinting at people as if sizing up prey before the hunt.
Or perhaps simply not taking the person seriously.
Shen Han tilted her head and suddenly asked, “Do you think this punishment is too light? They’re in my hands right now. If you want, I could turn them into omegas too—just a simple surgery.”
Su Mi: ??
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head vigorously.
“No, no need! This is enough!”
It sounded utterly illegal!
“Ah, alright then.”
Shen Han sighed and leaned to the side.
She clearly wasn’t too regretful, nor inclined to offer further explanation.
Su Mi figured she’d ask Secretary Zhuang about the details later when she left.
As she pondered seriously, she heard Shen Han chuckle softly.
She looked up to see that moon-crescent smile flattening out.
Shen Han suddenly asked her, “Do you want to see the pheromone levels in this room?”
Su Mi felt she had no right to refuse. “Sure.”
She leaned over to Shen Han’s side—of course, not too close—and looked down at the screen in front of her.
At first glance, Su Mi almost thought she had misread it.
There was a lone alpha pheromone reading.
It was nearing red.
Su Mi paused, then looked up at Shen Han.
Uncertainly, she stammered, “What… what does this mean?”
Shen Han tilted her head, a stray lock of hair falling from behind her ear, adding a hint of interest to her cool brows and eyes.
“Hm, it means my pheromones are a bit unstable right now,” Shen Han said.
Su Mi: “…”
Dangerous.
An instinct like that of a small animal flared up. Su Mi looked up at Shen Han.
They were no more than thirty centimeters apart, face-to-face. Su Mi could clearly see the antagonist’s slightly quivering lashes, her ice-blue and limpid pupils, her snow-white cheeks, and her pale thin lips.
She only held Shen Han’s gaze for a second before instinctively looking away, toward Shen Han’s mouth.
Su Mi’s throat felt itchy—perhaps from tension. She wanted to swallow… but held back.
The smile at the corner of the antagonist’s mouth was faint as moonlight. She said, “Good thing you’re a beta, or you’d probably end up like Xu Nanqiao that day, triggered into your susceptible period.”
Su Mi: “…”
She summoned every ounce of willpower in her life to flash an equally flawless smile.
“Sister, I’m glad I’m a beta too,” Su Mi said brightly. “Otherwise, I probably couldn’t have escaped danger with Nanqiao that day.”
Shen Han looked at her for a moment, then suddenly let out a huff of laughter.
The air in the room seemed to circulate again with that sound, the faint oppressive feeling from before vanishing.
“Alright, sit up straight. Isn’t that posture uncomfortable?” she said lazily.
“Okay, Sister.”
Su Mi quickly retreated to the embrace of her own chair’s backrest.
She was still holding her breath, afraid Shen Han would notice her guilt.
“I watched the surveillance footage from that day. You handled it well. That set of pool cues got damaged, so I had Secretary Zhuang order a new set. It’ll be ready for you next week,” Shen Han said. “But you need to brush up on some AO physiology basics too. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even know when an omega like Xu Nanqiao gets triggered into susceptible period.”
Wasn’t that a blind spot for surveillance? How did Shen Han get the footage?
Su Mi braced herself. “Okay.”
Shen Han asked, “Anything else you want?”
She was even giving more?
Su Mi blinked, sighing inwardly.
Setting aside these frightening probing moments, the antagonist was indeed generous.
“Nothing for now.” Su Mi answered honestly.
Shen Han remarked, “Rare.”
Su Mi: “…”
What was the original host’s image like in the antagonist’s eyes?
In that moment, Su Mi remembered another important matter.
Su Mi said, “Should I tell Nanqiao about these guys’ fate?”
“Up to you,” Shen Han said lazily.
She then noticed Su Mi’s wording and repeated, “Nanqiao?”
Su Mi: Oh, here it came—the antagonist’s possessiveness!
She explained obediently, “Yeah, after that incident, we got much closer than before. I even told her about wanting to get into Prime City University. Now we study together often. She’s as important to you as ever, Sister—kind, super smart, and she’s helped me a ton. She’s amazing!”
Seeing no reaction from Shen Han, Su Mi blinked.
Shen Han huffed a laugh.
Her lips curved halfway, and the woman’s beautiful profile turned slightly as she sized Su Mi up.
“Su Mi, gotta say, you’ve changed a lot since your differentiation period.”
Su Mi quickly plastered on a smile. “After all, I’m a beta now. I figured I should improve my own abilities, learn some real skills that belong to me. That’s the true foundation to stand on.”
Shen Han hummed in acknowledgment. Her expression gave no indication of whether she believed it or not, but she played along, smiled, and said, “It’s fine. What’s Big Sis’s is yours. Big Sis can take care of you.”
Su Mi: “……”
She didn’t believe it.
