—

Monday after school, Xu Ze went to the Underground Club. He'd been coming by to do odd jobs whenever he had free time lately. Yesterday at the Sanatorium, Zhou Zhen said they'd switched Ye Yunhua to a new medication—more expensive than the last, but better efficacy and relatively fewer side effects.

Expenses climbing day by day, relying on one match a week to keep afloat had become too heavy a burden, especially since Xu Ze was occasionally assigned to throw free exhibition matches.

A little past ten, Xu Ze returned backstage, took off his cap and drank some water. A fighter pushed the door open to grab his bag, and on his way out murmured: 'The Boss is here.'

Xu Ze turned to look at him, but the fighter had already hurried out. Xu Ze didn't hesitate long; he went straight to the locker to get his school bag. But he'd barely straightened up when the door swung open and a tall Alpha bodyguard stood at the threshold, expressionlessly informing him: 'The Boss is coming right over. Wait here.'

'Okay.' Xu Ze set his school bag down on the table.

A few minutes later, Tang Feiyi entered the room. He locked the door behind him, walked to the table, and tossed a stack of photographs in front of Xu Ze. Tang Feiyi sat down in a chair, lit a cigarette, and after exhaling a puff of smoke, raised his eyes to look at Xu Ze.

Xu Ze picked up the photographs and looked through them one by one. His expression didn't change much, but it was clear he was looking at them very carefully.

Because every one of them was of him and Lu Heyang—Lu Heyang with his arm around a drunk Xu Ze, steering him into a changing room; the two of them restocking the beverage machine together in the lobby; Xu Ze chalking Lu Heyang's cue in the billiards room... Some close, some distant, some blurred, some sharp. About a dozen or so.

The more seriously he looked, the darker Tang Feiyi's expression grew—Xu Ze never paid excessive attention to anything.

'Seen enough?' Tang Feiyi flicked the ash from his cigarette and asked.

Xu Ze stacked the photographs together, his fingertips tracing the edges, trying to align the uneven parts like a man with a touch of OCD. He asked: 'What do you mean by this?'

'I was wondering why you hadn't brought up adding more matches again. Turns out you've latched onto a money tree.' Tang Feiyi leaned back in his chair, sizing Xu Ze up and down. 'What is it—after more than two years at the Preparatory Academy, you finally figured things out?'

Hearing that Tang Feiyi had clearly already looked into Lu Heyang, Xu Ze suddenly fixed his eyes on him. But Tang Feiyi only laughed: 'Nervous about what?'

'No need for you to get worked up over him, after all—he's Gu Yunchi's friend.' Tang Feiyi flicked his cigarette butt onto the floor. What irritated him most was precisely this: those two Alphas had an unusual relationship with Gu Yunchi, yet he couldn't dig up any personal information on them. The thoroughness of the secrecy meant their families were at least League-level backgrounds.

A strong opponent isn't the problem—you'll always find his weakness. The real problem is you have no idea how strong the other side actually is.

Xu Ze looked at him, still that same taciturn, cool-faced self. Tang Feiyi stood up, walked over to Xu Ze, took the photographs from his hand, and tapped them against Xu Ze's face as he asked mockingly: 'What have you gotten out of following these rich young masters around? Why are you still coming here to work?'

'That's my business.' Xu Ze tilted his face slightly away, his brow creasing just a fraction. 'It has nothing to do with you.'

'Nothing to do with me?' Tang Feiyi slammed the photographs onto the table, seized Xu Ze by the throat, and shoved him backward until Xu Ze's back hit the wall. Tang Feiyi's grip was heavy, his voice low and vicious: 'Who was it that brought you in here and gave you a way to eat? Who lent you the money for your grandmother's surgery when you needed it in a hurry? Why didn't you say it had nothing to do with me back then?'

Xu Ze's face flushed quickly from the lack of air. He didn't struggle, and said calmly but with difficulty: 'I've already paid you back.'

He didn't think he owed Tang Feiyi anything. Even if he hadn't come here to box, he would have found somewhere else to fight. If it weren't for that contract, if he didn't know that breaking it would invite Tang Feiyi's escalating harassment, Xu Ze would have left long ago.

S-Class Alpha Pheromone spread through the air, goading Tang Feiyi to grip harder. He sneered: 'That guy's only playing around with you. You don't really think he'd get serious with an Alpha like you, do you? Just looking for some fun and novelty. A penniless Alpha with no parents—what kind of dream are you having? Careful, you might not even know how you end up dead.'

These words couldn't do Xu Ze much damage. After all, he hadn't dreamed that kind of dream, and he didn't think there was anything fun or novel about himself that would interest Lu Heyang. As for 'a penniless Alpha with no parents'—Tang Feiyi wasn't wrong about that.

Xu Ze didn't want to explain or argue back. His throat was being gripped tight, and he didn't have the ability to speak anyway. Xu Ze half-closed his eyes, frowning. Tang Feiyi wasn't actually trying to kill him—not struggling or resisting was the most appropriate response, otherwise it would drag on endlessly.

Every second of oxygen deprivation stretched long. Xu Ze felt his heartbeat speed up and slow down erratically. When Tang Feiyi finally released his grip, Xu Ze could no longer stand. He bent over and coughed violently, his chest heaving. Xu Ze wiped at his eyes, then looked up to see Tang Feiyi returning to the table, picking up the photographs, and lighting them with a lighter.

The firelight was blinding. Xu Ze wiped his eyes again, then fixed his gaze on the burning photographs until Tang Feiyi threw them to the floor.

After Tang Feiyi opened the door and left, Xu Ze straightened up, took a few steps, and crouched in front of the pile of ash. He picked up one photograph that hadn't finished burning and wiped it with his hand. The photo was still warm, burned down to only Lu Heyang's profile, and in the lower right corner, Xu Ze's hand.

Xu Ze stood up, put the photograph into his school bag, rubbed his neck, and left Changing Room 4 in silence.

The next afternoon, swimming class. With the end of the term approaching, more people had shown up for class. After finishing his training, Xu Ze looked around the Swimming Pool but couldn't find Lu Heyang. Xu Ze returned to Changing Room 4, showered, and then stood in front of his locker and opened his Mobile Phone, thinking about trying to send Lu Heyang a message to tell him he was waiting in Changing Room 4 for him to finish class so he could return the shirt.

Xu Ze opened Lu Heyang's name in his contacts and typed, deleting and editing. A very simple thing, but he felt like no matter how he worded it, something wasn't right.

He was so absorbed in thinking that he didn't notice an Alpha walking up beside him.

A few seconds later, Xu Ze heard someone ask him: 'Are you writing a composition on your Mobile Phone?'

Xu Ze's hand trembled and his Mobile Phone nearly slipped to the floor. He turned his head in a slight panic. Lu Heyang was standing right beside him. He'd just come up from the pool, his hair still dripping at the ends, water droplets tracing lines down his smooth muscle contours.

'Did I scare you?' Lu Heyang smiled, reached out and patted Xu Ze's back, as if comforting a startled child, and said, 'Sorry about that.'

Xu Ze came back to himself, shook his head, and answered Lu Heyang's first question: 'I'm sending a text.'

As he spoke, he tilted the Mobile Phone screen up slightly. Lu Heyang glanced at it and asked: 'Sending it to me?'

'Mm.' Xu Ze nodded. 'I wanted to return the shirt to you.'

The moment he said it, he remembered why Lu Heyang had lent him the shirt in the first place. Xu Ze immediately turned his head away and went to his locker to get his school bag. He'd specifically put the T-shirt in a bag and placed it separately in the second compartment of his school bag.

'No need.' Lu Heyang said.

Xu Ze was startled, looked at him again, and wanted to explain that he'd already washed the shirt, but in the end said nothing, just nodded once.

'The shirt is new. I tried it on after washing and the shoulders were a bit small.' Lu Heyang explained. 'It suits you. If you're willing, keep it.'

He didn't say 'for you to wear,' nor did he ask 'do you want it'—he used the word 'willing,' giving plenty of room, but that very thing made it impossible for Xu Ze to refuse.

Xu Ze was quiet for a moment, then said: 'Thank you.'

He didn't think at all about why Lu Heyang would have brought out a shirt that didn't quite fit. Whatever Lu Heyang said, he listened to and believed, without a shred of doubt.

A stray hair fell onto Lu Heyang's forehead. Xu Ze saw it. He raised his hand slightly and pointed at Lu Heyang's face: 'There's a hair.'

Lu Heyang didn't move, just looked at him. Xu Ze paused, then reached out and gently plucked the stray hair away. A water droplet rolled down the bridge of Lu Heyang's nose, and Xu Ze wiped that away too, casually.

For no apparent reason, the surroundings suddenly went very quiet. Xu Ze vaguely sensed the atmosphere had grown strange—strange enough that he lowered his eyes, unable to meet Lu Heyang's gaze.

Lu Heyang's gaze swept from Xu Ze's eyes to his lips, then lower, and stopped.

He moved imperceptibly closer and pulled the towel on Xu Ze's neck to one side.

A long bruise, purple-blue, stretched across the center of Xu Ze's neck, stark against his pale skin.

The strange atmosphere vanished. Xu Ze realized what Lu Heyang had seen. Xu Ze hadn't paid any attention to this strangling mark all day—just as he never paid attention to injuries from boxing. But in front of Lu Heyang, Xu Ze couldn't not care.

He tried to gather the towel to cover himself better, but Lu Heyang caught his wrist to stop him, then used his other hand to pull the entire towel off Xu Ze's neck.

'What happened.' Lu Heyang asked.

He looked very calm. Xu Ze figured Lu Heyang was just asking casually, so he told a clumsy lie: 'I had a match yesterday. Got a little hurt.'

Lu Heyang was of course not that easy to fool. Grabbing someone by the throat was like pulling hair or clawing with fingernails—moves no fighter would make. And in that Underground Gym, choking was too boring, too low-class.

'Is that so?' Lu Heyang looked at Xu Ze's clearly evasive expression and said, 'Xu Ze. Look at me.'

Xu Ze blinked, a little nervous, and looked up at him.

Before he could meet Lu Heyang's gaze, Lu Heyang had his hand around his neck.

To say 'grabbed' wasn't quite right, because Lu Heyang had barely used any force. His grip was very light—he loosely cupped Xu Ze's throat and pushed him a step back against the locker.

Xu Ze's carotid pulsed strong and fast against his palm. The span of Lu Heyang's hand fit the strangling mark on Xu Ze's neck exactly. Xu Ze didn't resist at all—it was almost a blind submission. He looked at Lu Heyang's face, but Lu Heyang was no longer looking at him, only staring at his neck.

Lu Heyang asked Xu Ze: 'Can you tell me who did this?'

He had his own answer in mind, but he wanted to hear Xu Ze's.