15

Every time Xu Ze ran a fever, he dreamed a great many dreams — all of them much the same, some good, some bad.

He was led by the hand into that unfamiliar residential block, and a voice instructed him: 'Be good now. Don't speak. Smile when you see people, understand?' Xu Ze lifted his head, but could not make out the face of whoever was speaking.

The dream was stiflingly hot; Xu Ze could barely breathe. Then, without warning, cold water came crashing down over his head, his vision blurred, and somewhere near his ear a child's voice shouted, 'You deserve it.' Xu Ze raised a hand to wipe his face, but no matter how he wiped it the wetness would not dry; water kept streaming down.

The world around him went quiet all at once. Someone was dabbing gently at his face with a tissue, saying to him, 'It's all right. I'll stay with you till you're dry.'

Xu Ze parted his lips, wanting to answer 'okay,' but his throat would not give up a single sound.

He forced his eyes open with effort and saw a thin seam of light pressing through the curtain. His head was extraordinarily heavy. It took Xu Ze the better part of half a minute to recall where he was; the moment he did, he turned at once toward the next bed — empty.

'Awake?'

Xu Ze followed the voice upward. Lu Heyang was leaning against a table a few meters away, his face unreadable. Xu Ze sat up and asked, 'Are we late?'

He noticed his own voice was a little hoarse, his nose stopped up, his head swimming, his glands faintly warm.

'No.' Lu Heyang went over and drew the curtain back a crack. 'You had a fever in the small hours.'

So the body's discomfort had its explanation — but Xu Ze's attention was entirely elsewhere. He asked, 'Did I wake you?'

Because of the congestion, Xu Ze's words came with a faint nasal hum. Lu Heyang stood in the sliver of light that had crept in, looking out the window — last night's rain had been a downpour, and today the weather was clear. He answered, 'Mm. You did.'

The white sheet was suddenly bunched tight in Xu Ze's grip. He had only begun to shape an apology when Lu Heyang added, 'I took your temperature. Gave you something for the fever.'

He didn't remember. Not the faintest impression. The only image Xu Ze could summon was this: under the dim glow of the wall lamp, his eyes half-open, a blurred figure standing before him, something in his own mouth — he had taken it for a dream.

'Tha—'

Lu Heyang cut him off, flat and unhurried: 'While I was taking your temperature, you licked my finger.'

Xu Ze went utterly still.

'Get up, wash up. Pack your things, check out, then breakfast.' Lu Heyang reached up and drew the curtain halfway back; the room filled with light all at once.

Xu Ze had by then lost all capacity for thought. He answered only, emptily, 'Okay.'

By the time breakfast was over and they were in the car pulling up to the Base, Xu Ze still had not come back to himself.

He had no intention of forcing himself to reconstruct the details of the small hours — the licking of the finger, how it had been done, how long it had lasted; none of it mattered. Lu Heyang said he had licked it, so he had licked it; Xu Ze believed him without condition.

Lunch was had at the Base cafeteria; afterward they got back in the car for the Preparatory Academy. As Xu Ze was leaving the cafeteria he noticed the palm-sized notebook that had been in his trouser pocket was gone — it must have slipped out during the meal. He turned back at once to look for it, and happened upon Lu Heyang alone at the cafeteria entrance; He Wei and Gu Yunchi were standing by the drink machine in the hall.

Xu Ze walked past Lu Heyang with his head lowered, but was stopped: 'Looking for something?'

He stopped, looked up. Lu Heyang was holding the little notebook. 'An Omega picked it up,' he said. 'Your name's written inside.'

'Thank you.' Xu Ze reached for the notebook.

But Lu Heyang drew his hand back, and Xu Ze's fingers closed on empty air. Xu Ze's face took on a faintly startled, uncomprehending look. Lu Heyang regarded him and asked, 'Is the fever gone?'

It had been — but the moment the question was raised, sweat broke out across Xu Ze's back and the heat came rushing back: a shame-faced, unbearable mortification. He let his gaze drift slightly aside, away from Lu Heyang's hand, and answered, 'It's gone.'

Only then did Lu Heyang hand the notebook back.

Xu Ze took it. A pause. Then he said, 'I'm sorry.'

'Why are you sorry?' Lu Heyang asked, with what looked like genuine curiosity.

He was not smiling, yet Xu Ze felt there was something of a smile in his eyes — elusive, impossible to pin down.

'I shouldn't have — licked your—' Xu Ze began, glanced at Lu Heyang, then quickly turned his head aside. '—finger. I didn't know anything at the time. I'm sorry.'

In his view, it was a deeply offensive thing — to an Alpha or to an Omega, it made no difference.

'You really didn't know anything,' Lu Heyang said. 'It's fine. Don't dwell on it.'

Xu Ze looked up at him. Lu Heyang's expression was perfectly natural — nothing at all like a man with something on his mind. Xu Ze pressed his lips together and nodded, quietly relieved that he did not seem to mind.

They were back at the Preparatory Academy a little past four in the afternoon. He Wei stepped off the school bus and immediately announced that his neck was killing him and he had to go straight home and sleep, could not wait another instant.

He carried his travel bag toward the parking lot, stopped after a few steps, turned around, looked at Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi standing shoulder to shoulder where they had been, and asked, incredulous, 'You two aren't seriously going back to class for the last period, are you?'

'No,' Lu Heyang said. 'It's Friday.'

He Wei was baffled. 'So?'

'We're going to Chengxi,' Gu Yunchi answered, typing on his mobile phone as he spoke. 'Booking a table. You've got three seconds to decide whether you're coming.'

The moment Gu Yunchi finished, Lu Heyang began, calmly, to count: 'Three. Two—'

He Wei, goaded past all resistance, burst out, 'Going, going, going, I'm going!'

Then, looking past Lu Heyang's shoulder, he said suddenly, 'Xu Ze — you're going back to class?'

Lu Heyang and Gu Yunchi turned. Xu Ze was walking toward the school gate with his schoolbag on his back; hearing He Wei call his name, he turned back. The heavy evening sun fell across his face, yet somehow gave the impression of something clean and cool. This time Xu Ze did not look at Lu Heyang; he only nodded at He Wei. 'One more class.'

'Such a hardworking kid,' He Wei sighed. 'If you were my dad's son, he'd be over the moon.'

It was a careless joke, but something in Xu Ze's expression froze for half a second. Then he said, 'I'm heading off.'

'Bye-bye!' He Wei waved at him.

Xu Ze had not gone two meters when he heard He Wei, with mischief in his voice, ask Lu Heyang, 'Who was that Omega who called you last time? Let's invite her out today, let us have a look?'

'You really want to see her?' Lu Heyang asked.

Xu Ze dropped his eyes to the ground and quickened his pace a few steps; soon the rest of their conversation faded beyond hearing.

'Mm, mm, I want to see!' He Wei nodded vigorously.

'But you've already met her,' Lu Heyang said.

He Wei's eyes went round. Lu Heyang went on, 'You can see her in the news often enough.'

The corner of He Wei's mouth began to twitch. Lu Heyang finished, 'Her name is Lu Qingmo.'

'Oh… so it's our beautiful diplomat, Sister Lu.' He Wei could not laugh. 'I said as much — how could you possibly… never mind, I'm too naive. Naive people always get hurt.'

'You're sick,' Gu Yunchi said.

After dinner the three of them changed cars and drove to Chengxi. Stepping out of the elevator and into the Underground Club, Lu Heyang was bumped by a tall, broad Alpha; the other man could not even be bothered to apologize and kept walking forward without a backward glance.

'Was it on purpose?' He Wei asked in a low voice.

'No.' Lu Heyang turned his head slightly and saw the Alpha already at a corner of the room. A few people were standing there; among them an Alpha in a black shirt had his back to them, one hand resting on a game machine beside him, a cigar pinched between his fingers.

'The one who bumped you is a bodyguard,' He Wei said — he was sharp about these things. 'Someone important must be here tonight. Be careful.'

Inside the venue every seat was taken; Gu Yunchi had booked first-row seats. The three of them had been seated only a few minutes when the first match began. Lu Heyang noticed that one VIP seat had been empty the entire time.

Not long after the second match started, four Alphas emerged from a small corridor and made their way toward the VIP seat. The Alpha in the middle wore a black shirt and settled onto the sofa; the other three stood guard behind the chair. The venue lights had already dimmed, and the man's features could not be made out.

'Tang Feiyi,' Gu Yunchi said, taking a sip of water, his tone flat. 'So it's him.'

Lu Heyang was not unfamiliar with the name. Tang Feiyi's father had once been an arms dealer and drug trafficker; later he had laundered his assets through legitimate business and crossed paths with the Gu Family in the commercial arena — but the Gu Family had been powerful enough not to be touched. Now Tang Feiyi had taken over most of the operation; on one hand he cultivated the image of a businessman, on the other he carried on his father's old trade, walking the line between black and white — the sort of person one did not want to provoke.

'Here comes the gossip,' He Wei said, mobile phone in hand. The ticket-selling junior had already briefed him in detail.

'Tang Feiyi has a stake in the Underground Club, too. This boxing ring is his personal booking — he's the big Boss. And every time he comes he places a bet himself, always on the biggest fight of the night.'

'For the last few months, he's only bet on one person each time.' He Wei looked up. 'Care to guess who?'

The words had barely landed when a whistle blew and the second match ended; the big screen lit up with the names of the two fighters in the next bout.

One of them was Number 17.

The lights brightened a little. Lu Heyang turned his head and saw Tang Feiyi's face.

It was a very young face — the corners of the mouth tilted upward, the eyes long and narrow, exuding a sickly, almost beautiful wickedness.

Tang Feiyi was sitting on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, slowly turning a saddle ring on the fourth finger of his right hand, his head tipped back, watching the fighters' names on the big screen.

'No way — everyone knows Tang Feiyi likes to play with Alphas,' He Wei said, in genuine anguish. 'How many has he already ruined? Now he's set his sights on Number 17?'

Lu Heyang shifted his gaze from Tang Feiyi's face to the big screen. Alongside the fighters' names, the screen displayed the night's biggest bettor: Tang.

'My Number 17 — great body, young, can fight — waaah.' He Wei was still lamenting beside him when the lights dimmed and the third match was about to begin. Before Lu Heyang could turn his eyes toward the fighters' corridor, He Wei's tone swung wildly and he cursed, shouting, 'Shit! What is this! What the hell is this!'

At once, the sharpest, loudest cheer Lu Heyang had heard in some time rang in his ears. He saw Tang Feiyi drop his leg, lean forward, gaze toward the fighters' corridor, an indescribable smile on his face.