Pei Du's burning pupils suddenly contracted! Like the hungriest beast smelling blood! A suppressed, beast-like growl erupted from his throat! The shadow of the crown between his brows shone brightly! Those scorching dark gold lines instantly covered half of his face, making his handsome features appear ferocious and terrifying!

"Thirst..." He practically groaned the words, his supporting foot taking a sudden step forward! His heavy boots crushed the frozen ice crystals on the ground. His gaze was fixed on the side of Xu Shuangyao's neck, surging with pure, primal, predatory desire, thoroughly ignited by the thorny poison! It was no longer the gaze of a human, but that of a beast whose instincts had been twisted by the power of the crown!

Xu Shuangyao's blood nearly rushed backwards! She knew all too well what that look meant! In the ABO world, a completely out-of-control Alpha, whose pheromones had mutated into a highly toxic form, would spell absolute disaster for an Omega whose glands were exposed! It would no longer be a mark, but a bite, a devouring, a total destruction!

escape!

The instinct for survival overwhelmed everything! Xu Shuangyao twisted his body suddenly, ignoring the severe pain in his back, and rushed towards the darker crevice deep in the metal ruins with his hands and feet! There, the huge wreckage of server cabinets was piled up, forming a narrow passage that might block the way for a moment!

"Don't... run..." Pei Du's hoarse voice was like a maggot on the tarsal bone, with a creepy obsession. He moved! No longer stumbling, but like a cheetah hunting, he burst into astonishing speed! The scorching breath of thorns was like a physical shock wave, slamming into Xu Shuangyao's back!

Bang!

Xu Shuangyao was knocked forward by this violent aura, and her forehead hit a protruding metal edge hard! The severe pain made her vision black out, and warm liquid flowed down her forehead again, mixing with the previous blood scab.

The heavy footsteps were like the drumbeats of death, approaching in an instant!

A big hand, as hot as a branding iron, suddenly grabbed her slender ankle with irresistible force!

"Ah!" Xu Shuangyao let out a short scream and kicked desperately! The cold metal ground rubbed against her body, but it couldn't shake the iron-like palm at all!

She was forcibly dragged back!

A burning, heavy body, reeking of thorns, pressed down like a mountain! The potent, mutated Alpha pheromones, like a sticky venom, instantly enveloped and drowned her! The aura was no longer merely oppressive; it carried a powerful corrosive quality, sending sharp pain through her limbs, like thorns piercing her bones! Her consciousness began to blur, and her resistance melted like ice and snow.

Pei Du's eyes, blazing with golden flames, were close at hand, revealing only the most primitive, poison-driven predatory instinct. His scalding, blood-scented breath puffed against Xu Shuangyao's fragile neck. His scorching lips, with an almost blasphemous greed, roughly brushed against the sensitive, deadly, alluring skin at the back of her neck—the site of her glands!

There was a sharp sting! It was his teeth!

Just when the sharp teeth were about to pierce her skin and inject the deadly thorn toxin into her glands!

The last bit of clarity left in Xu Shuangyao made her do something almost crazy!

She didn't try to push away the heavy body, nor did she try to protect her glands in vain. Instead, she suddenly raised her hand, which was stained with her own blood and dust, and used all her remaining strength to grab the violently flashing crown of thorns on Pei Du's forehead, which looked like a core of energy!

Her fingertips did not touch any entity, but it was as if they passed through a layer of hot, sticky energy barrier!

Buzz——!!!!

An unimaginably powerful, cold and majestic torrent of will flowed along her fingertips, like a flood bursting through a dam, and rushed back into the depths of Pei Du's chaotic and violent consciousness!

That was the Crown of Thorns' original will! It was the absolute suppression of the loss of control over its own carrier!

“Ugh, ahh ...

He clutched his head tightly with both hands, curled up and rolled to the side, uttering a suppressed, painful whimper like a wounded beast. His body twitched violently, each spasm accompanied by a subtle sound of bones unable to bear the weight.

Xu Shuangyao collapsed to the cold ground, gasping for air like a fish out of water. A searing sting pierced the side of her neck, leaving a distinct, bloody tooth mark. Her skin was reddened by the scorching breath, but the bite hadn't completely broken through. She looked at Pei Du, huddled in agony in the corner, the fear of surviving a catastrophe mingled with a deeper pain. In that moment, she truly felt the cold tentacles of death.

She struggled to sit up, her back against the cold metal. Her trembling fingers traced the searing teeth marks on the side of her neck. A speck of crimson blood stained her fingertips. She didn't tend to the wound on her forehead, nor did she pick up the fallen gel. Instead, she stared at the red spot on her fingertips.

A cold and resolute thought grew wildly in her heart like poison ivy.

The antidote...or perhaps...also a weapon.

Deep within the deadly metal cemetery, only Pei Du's suppressed, intermittent gasps of pain echoed. Time passed in repression, and the dark red of the creeping fungus web above his head was the only light source.

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