Chapter 28: She’s an Enigma!

"Where’s Lu Zhanxing?!"

Shao Ye spat the words, dragging his broken body upright, fueled by nothing but desperation. Panic burned in his chest like a wildfire. "I need to see him!"

Yu Han blocked his path, face carved with worry. "Shao Ye, calm down. We don’t know the situation yet. Charging in blindly is suicide!"

And then, like a thunderclap in the dead of night, Ye Li’s voice hit every comm device. "Emergency alert! Commander Lu and Yas are critically injured! Vitals are plummeting—requesting immediate backup!"

A deafening ring replaced everything else in Shao Ye’s ears. His mind blanked, his body numbed. Yet somehow, sheer will dragged him forward. Stumbling like a man possessed, he bolted toward where Lu Zhanxing and Yas had last been.

Yu Mo and Yu Han exchanged one tense glance and followed close behind, throwing caution to the wind.

The scene that greeted them in the seaside villa was a waking nightmare. Blood soaked the floor like an obscene canvas, Yas sprawled lifeless, and Lu Zhanxing—a shadow of himself—clinging to the edge of consciousness.

Shao Ye dropped to his knees beside him, cradling his battered body with trembling hands. "Lu-ge! No, no, no..." His voice cracked, and his chest felt like it had been ripped open.

Hot blood poured from Lu Zhanxing’s chest, mirroring the dull, phantom ache Shao Ye had felt moments ago. His mind screamed at the cruel irony.

Through ragged breaths, Lu Zhanxing’s eyes fluttered open. Relief and sorrow flickered in his gaze as he forced a broken smile. Weak fingers brushed Shao Ye’s cheek. "Ah Ye... I’m sorry."

"Shut up! Don’t talk!" Shao Ye’s head whipped side to side, as if denial alone could rewrite reality. Tears streaked down his face. "It’s not your fault! It’s mine! I dragged you into this mess—I pushed you too far!"

Lu Zhanxing’s touch lingered, a whisper of goodbye, before his hand fell limp. His eyes closed, stealing the light from Shao Ye’s world.

Shock froze him in place, the weight of Lu Zhanxing’s lifeless body a cruel reminder. Yu Mo and Yu Han sprang into action, barking orders as they fought to save him.

Shao Ye could only stare, hollow and broken, until a flicker of motion yanked him from his daze. A figure hovered in the doorway—a masked intruder, oozing menace.

Their eyes locked.

The masked stranger bolted.

And Shao Ye snapped.

That was it. That was the bastard who did this. Rage boiled over, consuming every thought. He snatched a gun from the floor and took off, primal and unstoppable.

"SHAO YE!" Yu Han’s shout barely registered.

The chase was short but brutal. Cornering the masked figure, Shao Ye didn’t hesitate. Steadying his breath, he aimed, recalling every lesson Lu Zhanxing had drilled into him. The shot was clean, hitting their leg and sending them sprawling.

This wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

He closed in, fury fueling him as he raised the gun to their head. One pull of the trigger, and it’d all be over.

Then the mask slipped.

Dark hair tumbled free, framing a face he knew too well. His heart stopped cold.

"Ah Lan?"

His voice came out hoarse, strangled. His hands faltered, the gun trembling as he stared at his sister—no, the enigma she had become.

Yu Han arrived, panting, and didn’t hesitate like Shao Ye. He raised his weapon and fired.

But the shot missed.

Something invisible crushed him, stealing his strength. He collapsed, veins bulging and face twisted in pain. "Alpha suppression," Shao Ye muttered, piecing it together.

She wasn’t just an Alpha—she was the Alpha, a top-tier force Shao Ye couldn’t even feel.

But why? When had this happened?

Yu Han growled through clenched teeth. "Shao Ye, shoot her! Now!"

The words barely reached him. His hands refused to obey, his heart warring with his mind. He couldn’t do it. Not to her.

Ah Lan seized the moment, retreating into a waiting submersible. Shao Ye’s feet remained rooted, his heart breaking as her silhouette faded into the waves.

In the co-pilot’s seat, the infamous Bai Boss turned, locking eyes with him—a smirk playing at their lips, full of smug menace.

The submarine vanished beneath the ocean.

Yu Han finally staggered to his feet, disbelief etched into his face. "Why the hell didn’t you shoot?! She had nothing! No weapons, no tricks—why didn’t you end it?"

"I..." Words failed Shao Ye. Guilt and anguish clawed at him, leaving him hollow.

"Forget it!" Yu Han snapped. "Lu-ge’s dying! Let’s move!"

But Shao Ye couldn’t move. His mind was already lost to the chaos, to the image of Ah Lan and the unspoken betrayal that haunted his every breath.

Yu Mo had Lu Zhanxing slung over his shoulder like a sack of broken bones, blood dripping from the gaping wound in his chest. Yu Han wasn’t much better, lugging Yas’s lifeless corpse like dead weight as they sprinted out of the underwater lab, alarms screeching behind them.

Outside, Lai Xueluan and Li Rui roared in with their fighter jet, skidding to a halt at the lab's entrance. No time for pleasantries. They grabbed the toxin samples, piled onto the jet, and set course for Imperial Capital Star. The medbay onboard was the only shot at keeping Lu Zhanxing alive.

Ye Li took over the surgical robotic arm steady on the surgical console as the mechanical arms dove into Lu Zhanxing’s chest. She fished out the bullet and slapped on some quick clot patches. The scans were grim—too close to the heart. Every beat of the engine felt like it might be his last.

The cabin was a tomb of tension. Faces carved with worry. Yu Han broke the silence, spitting out the details of his run-in with the masked freak who had completely obliterated his mental defenses. An Alpha of his rank, paralyzed, crushed, humiliated, like a goddamn Omega. The others sat in stunned disbelief.

“Are you saying some human did this?” Lai Xueluan finally muttered.

“Not human,” Ye Li corrected, pulling up the lab’s internal data. “E001. Eighteen years old. Female Alpha originally, but the experiments twisted her. She’s something else now—pheromones mutated to the point where she doesn’t just overpower Alphas. She enslaves them. Turns them into drooling dogs. They’ve classified her as a new gender entirely.”

When they heard that, it hit like a punch to the gut. Everyone froze, wide-eyed and stunned, their faces practically screaming, What the hell did I just hear?

Shao Ye felt a chill run down his spine.

Damn, what kind of hell did my sister crawl through to end up like this?

“What the hell...” Lai Xueluan’s jaw dropped. “They made a damn monster?”

Ye Li continued, flipping to surveillance footage. “The experiment is still in the research stage, but she snapped. Killed almost everyone in the lab—researchers, guards, all of them.”

Yu Mo’s eyes narrowed. “And they just let her run wild? No contingency plans? No kill switch?”

“She didn’t need one. She used a lifelong mark on the lab director to seize control,” Ye Li replied, voice cutting and loaded up another clip. “Watch this.”

Shao Ye snapped his head up, his eyes wide, a mix of shock and "what-the-f*ck" written all over his face.

The room? Dead silent. Nobody dared breathe. It was like time had hit the brakes, and the tension was suffocating.

Finally, Yu Mo broke the stillness, slow-blinking like he'd misheard, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Ye Li, are you serious right now? Your big-shot AI made a mistake? Haha, come on! What are you even saying? Alpha getting marked? That’s gotta be some twisted joke."

Ye Li didn’t flinch, his tone ice-cold and cutting. "No joke. Based on the research data and surveillance footage, it’s confirmed—she’s locked in the lifelong mark with Boss Bai. No room for debate."

The screen lit up with high-definition horror: the lab director, the supposed Alpha, on his knees, sobbing, begging for mercy. It didn’t stop. The girl rode him into submission again and again, raw, brutal, horrifyingly methodical.

Not even the battle-hardened, elite special ops team—guys who've seen it all, done it all, and lived to tell the tale—could stomach this. It hit them like a punch to the gut, leaving them rattled, shaken, and downright furious.

The team turned away, faces pale.

Yu Mo couldn’t hold it together. He leaned over and vomited. “Jesus Christ. That’s beyond sick.”

"If an Omega had to face this kind of raw, unrelenting brutality, there’s no way in hell he’d make it through the night alive—he’d be done for before the clock even hit midnight."

“No wonder that bastard can’t walk without a wheelchair now,” someone muttered. “How the hell did he think creating this thing was a good idea?”

“Maybe he got off on it. A rich perv who’d rather be a bitch than a boss,” another said, disgust curling their lips.

“Rich psychos, man. But this? This is a whole new level.”

"As an Alpha, you'd rather get fucked than do the fucking? Damn, that's a new kind of twisted."

"I've seen rich assholes pull some sick shit, but Boss Bai? He's on a whole other level of depraved."

"Our eldest brother's got his flaws, sure, but at least he's not this far gone."

He turned to Lu Zhanxing, who was hanging by a thread, his gaze heavy with sorrow.

Lai Xueluan leaned in, trying to soothe Shao Ye. "Don't lose it, Shao Ye. The boss is still breathing—for now."

Yu Mo shook his head, trying to focus on Zhanxing’s shallow breaths. “Forget that freak. We’ve gotta get him back to the Lu family. They’ll have the resources to save him.”

Yu Han snorted. “You really think it’s safe? Lu Xinglan’s a traitor now. What if the family sides with him and leaves Zhanxing to rot?”

Lai Xueluan shot him a glare. “You think Lady Lu’s that stupid? She knows Zhanxing’s the backbone of that family. Xinglan’s betrayal won’t blind her to that.”

Yu Mo wasn’t convinced. “Yeah, but blood’s blood. She might choose her own son over Zhanxing.”

Lai Xueluan hesitated but squared her shoulders. “Then we stay glued to his side. If she’s as sharp as everyone says, she won’t risk the fallout of losing Zhanxing.”

In the corner, Li Rui, the youngest of the crew, choked back tears. “Yas... he promised he’d be there for Zhanxing’s wedding. Said he’d teach me mech training when he got back from the front. Now he’s just... gone.” His voice cracked, and he wiped furiously at his eyes.

“Cut the crying,” Lai Xueluan snapped, her voice like a whip. “What are you, an Alpha or a baby?! Tears won’t bring him back.”

Li Rui fell silent, biting his lip, though his shoulders still trembled. The tension was suffocating.

Shao Ye, silent till now, stood, head low. His voice was a whisper. “This is my fault. I couldn’t save her. My sister...” His fists clenched tight enough to draw blood.

"Shao Ye, I'm sorry." Lai Xueluan softened for a moment. “Shao Ye, we’ll find her. I swear. But Zhanxing’s barely holding on, and we’ve lost Yas. We can’t afford to lose you too.”

Shao Ye met her gaze, pain etched in every line of his face. “It’s not enough. None of this is enough.”

Shao Ye straightened up, his movements deliberate, and offered a low, deliberate bow, eyes locked on them like a challenge.

“This one’s on me. I owe you an apology.”