Chapter 116 Bonus Chapter 4 (End)

The difference between Yuan Chuyu's susceptible period and his usual period was enormous.

Lin Langyi retracted her earlier retort to Cheng Yanjin, "Do you think everyone is as promiscuous as you?", and also needed to re-evaluate her assessment of Yuan Chuyu as an aloof and celibate beauty.

Snakes are lewd; the ancients were right.

That day was clearly just a scientific research project. Yes, that's what the noble and selfless researcher Lin told herself. A once-in-a-lifetime research subject, now that she's in her hands, how could she let him get away?

But as she continued her research, she began to study people.

The snake's tail was very flexible; it could roll up a blanket that was halfway down the ground, or wrap around her ankles and drag her back.

Lin Langyi considered herself someone who really enjoyed sitting on her back and abs, but today she realized she hadn't seen enough of the world; she discovered that even densely woven scales had their merits.

Yuan Chuyu was in a vulnerable period, and the drugs raised his body temperature. Both of them were sweating profusely, making the already elusive snake tail even more slippery.

He insisted that the tail slipped because of her, but Lin Langyi argued that she wasn't sweating so much. He then kissed her while chuckling to himself, saying, "Hmm, it wasn't sweat. I didn't say it was sweat."

The human-snake form of Chu Yu still retained the markings of a snake for a long time. Lin Langyi stubbornly wanted him to bite her. She put her finger into his mouth and found that his teeth were much sharper than when he was in human form.

Although alphas are born with sharp glandular fangs for marking purposes, their deterrent effect is still worlds apart from that of snakes.

When he "bites" her, he is very careful to control his sharp teeth. Lin Langyi hears the sound of his teeth hitting each other when he doesn't have time to swallow, and she will ask him if he will bite his tongue when he swallows so fast, because even his tongue is thinner and longer than before.

Sometimes, long and thin things have their uses.

She couldn't quite tell whether it was the tongue or the tip of the tail. This person usually had a refined and elegant demeanor, but at this moment, he didn't even bother to pretend anymore. He was completely unrefined and even seemed eager to put both of them in.

In the end, Lin Langyi grabbed his hair and dragged him from between her legs to in front of her, abruptly ending the guessing game.

The scales were slightly cool, while the tip of her tongue was warm—it was like experiencing both ice and fire. How could she not tell the difference?

Lin Langyi: "I said you can bite me."

"Hmm..." Yuan Chuyu wiped away the glistening moisture from his crimson lower lip, a hesitant line appearing at the corner of his eye, and said softly, "Wasn't I biting you right now?"

"No, not this 'bite'—"

"You like it very much."

Lin Langyi's expression was subtle for a moment, and she coughed lightly, somewhat awkwardly: "I do like it, but I meant to really bite it. I didn't ask you to break down the words and understand them."

Even alphas probably couldn't stand that word. Yuan Chuyu's seductive and alluring aura instantly changed. He buried his face in her neck, his chest vibrating as he spoke:

He tried his best to remain reserved and dignified, but every word he spoke rose up with a joyful tone: "Zhuzhu, does that mean you allow me to mark you?"

"Our beta glands are useless."

After saying that, Lin Langyi suddenly seemed to remember something and changed her mind: "Never mind, after thinking about it, biting the gland doesn't hurt at all, that's its function."

"But if you bite me too hard, you can expect me to stuff dead rats into your meals every day."

Yuan Chuyu's pupils had completely changed; a thin line, as thin as a cicada's wing, pressed into the center of his dark eyes. At times like these, his voice grew softer, almost like a coaxing whisper:

"Zhuzhu, I won't let you feel pain."

"Just now... the barb was soft, right? It only got stuck when... um..."

"That's why I bit you earlier, with both my tail and tongue. I definitely won't be reckless and won't make you feel uncomfortable."

He began to peck at her, and finally he no longer seemed like a snake. His body was burning hot, and his breath was so hot it made her itch. He kissed her neck until he pressed his body tightly against her back.

The snake crawled up her back, its tail still tightly wrapped around her thigh, wriggling and tightening to hold her in place, making the two inseparable.

He was indeed a very gentle person, his soft lips lingering on the back of her neck for a long, long time. Lin Langyi felt herself sweating again; the room was so hot it made her dizzy. Her neck was soaked from his licking, and occasionally his sharp teeth would lightly scrape against her skin, sending shivers down her spine.

He loved kissing and hugging her. He held her and kissed her for a long time, and when the glandular teeth finally pierced her skin, Lin Langyi only straightened her shoulders slightly.

The glands are more tolerant than other parts of the body, but they are not without sensation. The feeling of a warm liquid being injected is very obvious. Lin Langyi twitched her nose and smelled the familiar scent of pheromones.

He's such a refined and self-possessed person, yet his pheromones have such a gentle and sensual scent... But thinking about it carefully, isn't that exactly who he is?

The more Lin Langyi interacted with this pheromone, the more he felt that it was a perfect match for him.

Yuan Chuyu's breathing was rapid, with an almost imperceptible tremor. The amount of pheromones he was marked with was increasing, and he was becoming more and more out of control. Even though it was she who had her skin bitten through with her glandular teeth, it was he who was emitting intermittent, unconscious groans of pleasure.

He tightened his arms around the person in his arms, holding her tighter and tighter. In his extreme excitement, his tail circled her thigh and rubbed against it repeatedly. There was a faint tooth mark there, covering the birthmark, with varying shades of red.

In this moment that could drive one to the brink of madness, he still remembered her warning. Before long, he forced himself to reluctantly pull his teeth back, then carefully licked the small wound, swallowing the faint taste of rust.

A long time passed, so long that Lin Langyi felt her broken skin had probably scabbed over, but Yuan Chuyu still refused to let go.

He seemed overjoyed, like a miser who meticulously takes gold coins out of his bag each night, wipes them clean, glances at them, and then solemnly puts them back. Every few seconds, he would scrutinize the back of her neck.

He glanced at her slightly swollen and reddened glands, leaned in and sucked away a few drops of blood from the broken skin, then stared at her intently for a moment before sweetly and affectionately kissing the back of her neck. His snake tail also twisted happily, its tip forming several knots.

Lin Langyi broke free from his tight embrace and propped herself up from the overjoyed commander's arms. She turned her head, and there was a few crisscrossing marks on her cheek from her hair pressing down on him. At first glance, they looked somewhat similar to his scaly profile.

Yuan Chuyu seemed to be suddenly touched. His eyebrows curved into a gentle smile. He bent his elbows to support his upper body and chased after him, wanting to kiss him again.

"Wait, are you done marking?" Lin Langyi interrupted him and asked.

Yuan Chuyu's eyelids were half-closed. The thought of continuing to kiss her made him exude a lazy and charming coquettishness. He gazed at her carefully with hazy eyes and said, "Hmm, the marking is done. Does it hurt, Pearl?"

"It doesn't hurt? No, you finished in such a short time?"

Its tail tip suddenly curled up, and it slapped the bed surface lightly, like a majestic pointer.

Yuan Chuyu seemed to have sobered up a bit. He stared at her intently for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled slightly, a gentle and elegant smile playing on his lips. He slowly asked, "Hmm? What?"

The tail had already begun to climb upwards in an ambiguous manner, and Lin Langyi was still endlessly asking her questions: "I mean, why is your marking time so short?"

The tail, which was slowly climbing upwards, paused for a moment, as if it had suddenly frozen.

Lin Langyi touched her neck: "Everyone else seems to last a little longer than you—hmm..."

Alphas during their vulnerable period can't stand hearing such things.

As for the others, ha.

He wrapped his tail around her, worried that she might be uncomfortable when she was marked. So even though his body instincts were screaming for him to succumb, he managed to regain a sliver of clarity and stop himself from going too far.

As a result, she not only openly began to make comparisons in bed, but also seemed quite disappointed and disdainful.

Alpha cannot say no.

Yuan Chuyu silently pulled the person over, which was his fault. A good partner should do more and talk less.

Lin Langyi, who had skipped work for an entire afternoon, put a bite stopper on Yuan Chuyu that evening.

Made of pure black metal, the leather strap fastened tightly at the back of his head, passing through his black hair and hanging from his ears to his chin, enough to cover the entire lower half of his face. Part of the cold, hard steel chain even covered the bridge of his high nose, and because it was worn so tightly, it soon left bright red marks.

His skin was fair, and after being put on this restraint, he had a strange, morbid allure. Lin Langyi didn't know what she was thinking, but before putting the bite stopper on him, she inexplicably stretched out a finger and pressed it on his lower lip, which had become especially red from kissing, and stared at his sharp teeth.

The trickle of fluid seeping from the glandular teeth was evidence of his restless and uncontrollable desires. Her mind was filled with too much nonsense, and she suddenly realized something and quickly withdrew her hand.

Yuan Chuyu lowered his eyes and slowly swallowed.

Lin Langyi sat on the bed facing the two of them. She crawled two steps on her knees and took out a flat, spherical object from behind her.

The anti-bite device was still on, and Yuan Chuyu watched her quietly, letting her play with it whether she was curious or being mischievous.

Lin Langyi put the flattened spherical object into his mouth.

The material is relatively soft, like a PU tube, and it has a very faint minty scent.

Yuan Chuyu lowered his eyes and watched her sit cross-legged next to him, tilting her head and staring intently at his lips, carefully putting the gag into his mouth as if she were gently picking up a white mouse.

“Bite down,” she said.

He then looked up and glanced at her with a cool, indifferent look.

She pushed the minty soft ball in, and it got stuck right in his mouth, pressing against the tip of his tongue, making it impossible for him to even speak normally.

"Bite down," she said a second time.

The glandular teeth were pressing against the hollow sphere. Yuan Chuyu knew how sharp his teeth were; with just a little force, he could pierce the soft rubber surface. The thing blocked his speech, so he didn't know how much force was needed to "bite" it.

He dared not actually bite through, so he restrained himself and tried his best to control his sharp teeth.

My cheeks felt sore, and soon my mouth was full of saliva.

He could only swallow repeatedly in a more decadent and erotic manner. Because his mouth was forcibly stretched open, the air in his mouth was squeezed out with a moist sound with each swallow. He himself did not know that he could actually groan out such an unbearable and delicate sound.

Lin Langyi sat in front of him, tilted her head to study the depth of insertion, and after deciding it was okay, she clicked the latch of the bite stopper.

Yuan Chuyu had no objections whatsoever. In fact, his soft, flexible snake tail wrapped around her and encircled her, then he clingily and quietly pulled her closer to him, completely unconcerned that if his current state of being bound and restrained were broadcast, it would be the headline news on all social media the next day.

But so what?

Yuan Chuyu had no objection to any of Lin Langyi's arrangements. Alphas in their vulnerable period only feel anxious when they can't see their partner. As long as she is by his side, even if she says at night that she wants to test whether his tail can regenerate after it is cut off, he will put his tail into her hand without saying a word and willingly become her fish.

Moreover, she must have had her reasons for doing things. It was rare for the former commander to so blindly trust others, and he even consciously began to look for the reasons within himself:

He must have been too indulgent in the afternoon, which is why Zhuzhu got angry.

The commander, who had reflected on his actions but hadn't changed anything, maintained a good attitude and a sincere expression. It wasn't until Lin Langyi put this unusual-looking anti-bite device on his mouth and gave him an expectant look that he finally managed to pull his gaze away from her face.

Unable to speak, saliva would glisten on his lips if he moved them slightly.

Yuan Chuyu was a man who cared about his appearance and dignity. He slightly raised his chin, swallowing more and more frequently as his Adam's apple bobbed. Lin Langyi leaned closer and followed suit, raising her chin and staring at him. The two of them sat facing each other in this strange way.

Yuan Chuyu tilted his head slightly, as if to say, "What's wrong?"

Lin Langyi's gaze sharpened: "Sour?"

Yuan Chuyu nodded, then hesitated as he looked at her bright eyes. Remembering her infuriating "comparison with others" to ease the tension, he quickly shook his head again.

Lin Langyi stared at the cold, hard metal mass on his face for a while, then skillfully traced his abdominal muscles down to the junction of the snake's tail and waist. The scales at the edge were very soft, like newly grown tender cartilage, thin and translucent, and could be easily bent when she picked out a single scale.

It will gradually harden and turn black as it goes down, eventually becoming a dangerous snake tail.

Lin Langyi remembered that whenever she touched him there, Yuan Chuyu would let out a low moan as if it were both itchy and painful, and his extremely intimidating snake tail would sway uncontrollably on the blanket, making the sheets wrinkled.

As soon as she touched him, Yuan Chuyu leaned in for a kiss as if he had been granted permission, but as soon as he bent down slightly, the cold iron headband on the lower half of his face became particularly in the way.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, a thin crease appearing on his face, and looked at her with an expression of utter grievance.

But Lin Langyi's words were full of expectation: "Wait a little longer. If you feel uncomfortable, or if you want to bite something, then bite it."

She pointed to the gag that was stuffed into his mouth, eager to try: "Bite it with your glandular teeth."

Yuan Chuyu remained silent for a while, and his brain, which usually went on strike whenever he saw her, finally managed to move with difficulty.

That afternoon, Mingming had marked her glands many times, sucking and biting until the skin was red and swollen. Large red marks, like shimmering flowers, spread down her neck to her clothes. When she finished, she even put on a patch to cover up the marks.

Logically speaking, such a concentration of pheromones staying in her body should not dissipate for at least two or three days. However, when his lover returned to the room that night, her scent was completely pure, without a trace of him.

It's impossible for anyone to erase the marks he left so cleanly, unless Lin Langyi used some kind of method.

Sure enough, the next second, Researcher Lin, who was only focused on his work and was in high spirits, said, "I installed a collector in the subcutaneous tissue of the gland, which can extract the pheromones completely each time. Your amount this afternoon was quite high, which is great. I feel like I'm almost there."

"The pheromone concentration and infectivity are both high during the labeling process. I've compared them, and only the pheromone extracted this way is the most practical. That's why I used this method to extract the pheromones from your team."

“But you don’t need to!” Lin Langyi said cheerfully. “You’re a snake, have you ever watched Animal World? Do you know how to extract the venom from a snake’s fangs?”

She pointed to the anti-bite device: "Once it's bitten through, the stimulation will allow it to be collected."

The commander, wearing a bite stopper, stared at her silently for a long time before finally drooping his chin, leaning weakly against her shoulder, and letting out a soft groan.

*

Lin Langyi extracted a lot of pheromones from Yuan Chuyu during his sensitive period. Since this was not the first time she had heard "I have never been like this since I differentiated, it is because of your existence... so...", she began to wonder if she was some kind of rare genius, like the common setting in movies and TV dramas where the female protagonist actually has a different bloodline than ordinary people.

She walked into Xiao Pucheng's isolation observation room, skillfully swiped her card and entered her password to open the door, and quickly walked up to Xiao, who was still a baby with barely grown pubic hair, startling him so much that the feathers on his wings stood on end.

Lin Langyi carefully studied the other party's solemn expression, which seemed to be full of anticipation. It didn't look like affection at all, and her originally confident words became less and less certain.

Lin Langyi called out a name: "Xiao Pucheng."

Xiao Pucheng: "?"

Lin Langyi carefully chose her words and slowly asked, "What do you think of me?"

Xiao Pucheng was shocked and exclaimed in horror: "???"

"What I mean is, don't you think I'm different from others? Consider how I differ from others in terms of pheromones, AB sex, and fertile periods—"

"No, no, no!!" Xiao Pucheng was on high alert, sweat beading on his nose. He waved his hands repeatedly. "Grandma, just tell me what I'm not cooperating with. You can stick tubes all over my body or needles from the top of my head to my heels, but please don't do this. I still need to go back to the military region. Don't make it impossible for me to survive."

Lin Langyi: ...okay, the TV drama plot has collapsed. Xiao Pucheng is trying to avoid her. To prove a proposition is false, all we need to do is find a counterexample.

Perhaps seeing the slight disappointment in her expression, Xiao Pucheng panicked even more and blurted out, "How could I dare to have any opinion against you? How could I dare to be disrespectful to you in the slightest?"

He spoke with such dramatic intonation that he was almost in tears: "Every time you come, I am so careful and reserved, afraid that I might accidentally leave my pheromones on you."

"Can I even touch that?! Huh?!" He exclaimed excitedly, as if he were sitting at a tactical table giving a passionate speech. "Your pheromones are like they're fighting every day. I can feel how dirty those lovebirds are hurling insults at each other with their pheromones from a distance!"

Lin Langyi: ...

As a beta, she couldn't smell or know anything. Aside from buying each other frozen rats, expired dog food, and bird feed that had exploded due to excessive parasites, this group of people would urge each other every few days that the military region was too busy with military affairs and couldn't do without the pillars of the military. One of them was even more eager to act as a test subject, wishing she could take care of the "sample" 24 hours a day... It seems like they didn't do anything else.

"I'm just here to collect service satisfaction surveys from all the research teams at Yingshanhu." Lin Langyi smiled without showing his teeth, but there was a chilling, insincere sense of persecution in his smile. "What are you thinking?"

Xiao Pucheng: ...

*

Fortunately, thanks to the existence of Yuan Chuyu, a rare example of a fully transformed beast, Lin Langyi was finally able to complete the last piece she had been struggling to piece together.

According to her, the instructions for the finished injection should list the names of the elite squad alphas as a memento.

Of course, such polite words were only used at Lin Langyi's victory celebration, which also greatly moved the alphas, as if it were some kind of solemn vow.

In fact, no one's name was written on it; the name of the first author and the patent right only had the three characters "Lin Langyi".

The professor even shed tears at the celebration banquet because the publication of Lin Langyi's achievement as a catalyst for secondary differentiation had been delayed by a full year.

Many genetic engineering studies involve humanitarian and ethical issues. Imperial bans and regulations may turn a blind eye to the gray areas that are not open to discussion, but when it comes to bringing them to the forefront, the layers of obstacles can wear people down to nothing.

Initially, Lin Langyi only used the precursor to the catalyst, the "specific inhibitor," on the elite team. The effect was immediate. The only drawback was that it had to be used every susceptible period. It was not a genetic modification, but a specific drug with minimal side effects, just like taking flu medicine when you have a fever.

The military region sent three special investigation teams to inspect the situation, as well as two rounds of inspection and supervision teams. These alphas, who had been manipulated by Lin Langyi, were taken from Yingshan Lake by the military region as national treasures and taken to a private sanatorium for special care, which proved that Lin Langyi's treatment was a great success.

How could it not succeed? The dosage she gave to these clingy creatures who kept saying things like "I have never...blah blah blah...it's all because of you, Zhuzhu...blah blah blah" was specially formulated, specifically targeting these stubborn types who knew she was the "allergen" but still insisted on being close to her like a m, willing to transform into beasts a few more times.

After this medicine was administered, these guys stopped having their periods of high fertility even when they were away from Lin Langyi.

Less than three months later, the person was sent back, with the explanation of "susceptibility period disorder," requiring Researcher Lin to take another look.

These people were in their vulnerable period less than a week after arriving at Yingshan Lake.

Lin Langyi: ...Sometimes I really feel helpless. When I encounter these few "living fathers," I really don't know how to write a report at a conference.

Fortunately, Yuan Chuyu was very good at writing documents and was also very familiar with the back-and-forth communication with leaders at all levels. Lin Lang knew that he couldn't write academic papers or official documents, so he would leave these tasks to Yuan Chuyu.

The Xi family's businesses are mostly distributed across various asteroids, and the main city planet is not their home turf. Therefore, Lin Langyi's secondary catalytic drug was first used in remote slums where people wanted to escape their omega fate.

The reason why the dark side of human nature has been a topic of discussion for thousands of years is that many things can be explained by human nature, as if everything makes sense.

The price of the catalyst supplied to Omega in the slums was deliberately kept very low. Yingyuan Group secretly contributed a lot of effort and funds, but after speculators discovered this, they began to buy it back at high prices on the black market and then resell it.

Resources will ultimately flow to the class that already possesses them.

Unfortunately, a middle-class man who had been transformed into an alpha using a catalyst got drunk and collapsed in front of the police station. While crying and babbling about his love-hate relationship with his ex-wife, he bought the drug at a high price and transformed from an ordinary beta into an alpha in an attempt to win back his love. The news then spread.

The next day, the publicity department of a certain guild came directly to the entrance of Yingshan Lake to take down the flag.

That flag is one of the symbols of Yingshan Lake.

Before Lin Langyi could speak, Cheng Yanjin exploded: "Take down the flags? He dares to take them down but I won't? If he takes down even one, I'll pull down all the flags from that lousy guild of his!"

Indeed, no one could get away with anything from Cheng Yanjin. He was a fierce dog with extremely high obedience; he could drive everyone back just by standing in front of the flag.

Lin Langyi didn't stop him. Instead, when he returned with an arrogant and aloof expression, she patted his head as a reward. The murderous gloom on his face vanished instantly, and he gave her a slightly shy look, scratched his head, and said, "Um... I just scared him a little. I'm going back now."

Yuan Chuyu didn't say anything. He stood at the end of the corridor, leaning against the window, making phone calls one after another.

A gust of wind blew in, and he turned his head to look at Lin Langyi, his vertical pupils clearly visible.

The authorities have been slow to issue a formal statement, and everyone seems to be blind to the situation, but the behind-the-scenes tug-of-war has not stopped.

Lin Langyi continued to go to and from get off work every day as if nothing had happened, and the protective and safety facilities at Yingshan Lake were quickly replaced with the latest and most advanced models. No more troublemakers were allowed in.

I heard that some knowledgeable military enthusiasts discovered that this complete set of protective equipment came from the same source as the military region's equipment, but the discussion thread was quickly blocked online, and then things calmed down.

Bian Shu returned to the military region once. The border was not peaceful, and the main intelligence force needed to do some things using the internal network.

He helped the empire achieve a partial victory by intercepting encrypted information and reversing the false information. However, at the commendation meeting, Bian Shu suddenly fainted on stage.

Upon being sent to the military hospital, the military region suddenly discovered that Bian Shu, who had consistently passed the ABO gender test, had experienced a slight change in his test results.

"Bian Shu is actually an alpha that differentiated from a bata, just like that middle-class guy. It's just that the early drug he used was immature and he needed to keep getting injections. It's possible that when he was at Ying Shan Lake, Researcher Lin was monitoring him in real time, and he was forced to stop taking the drug, which is why he was exposed."

When he appeared before the military court, Byun also admitted to this fact.

But Lin Langyi never stopped giving him the medication. She would send it to him every time they broke up. They both knew this, so how could Bian Shu possibly stop taking the medication just to avoid the monitoring of Yingshan Lake?

It was clearly Bian Shu who threw himself into the trap, putting himself in the shoes of the victim.

The military court convened three times but failed to reach a decision on how to deal with Bian Shu. This guy seemed quiet and reserved, and coming from the slums, he appeared easy to bully at first glance, but in reality, he was quite shrewd.

A partial victory? This isn't a true victory yet! Where's the intelligence team leader?

Oh, so it was in a military court.

This matter had to be put on hold again and again. The military region wanted to reinstate Bian Shu to his original position, but that felt like taking a high position and then letting him go lightly. They also wanted to suspend him on probation, but the war couldn't wait.

In the end, although Bian Shu lost his official title, the organization still used "special measures for special times" and put him back in the intelligence group.

This personnel change, which wasn't even officially announced, was broadcast in the media along with news of the next border victory. Compared to the simple two-minute victory news, the entire story of the border transition from bata to alpha was laid bare.

As a result, public opinion began to change. On the one hand, if the military region took the lead in doing this kind of thing and it went undetected the first time, how could they allow the BAT (Best Practices Association) who had used "banned drugs" to take the field after it went to a military court?

On the other hand, the enduring topic of gender antagonism, with its arguments that betas are inferior in society while alts receive preferential treatment, has resurfaced. Unlike the small-scale demonstration in front of Ying Shan Lake last time, this time it's a nationwide march, with organizations on various asteroids.

Beta is "mediocre", but there are many people in Beta.

The empire spent a lot of effort, suppressing the east while new ones emerged in the west. Many beta companies that were recruited and promoted fairly saw their stocks soar, but the most profitable were healthcare stocks during this period.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the most promising growth rates were linked to Yingshan Lake.

Lin Langyi has lost even the faint deathly aura she used to have at work lately. Whenever she's in a bad mood, she just checks her account balance and all her worries disappear.

Yuan Chuyu and Xi Zhiyue were quite capable of earning a living, so Lin Langyi could forgive these "little rascals" who occasionally tripped each other up. She could turn a blind eye and allow them to argue endlessly about who got to be chosen more often, a topic that seemed pointless.

Anyway, these alphas had very few vacations during their service. They used up all the leave they could by complaining about feeling unwell. The military region got annoyed and personally sent fighter jets to arrest them.

The alphas left feeling extremely wronged.

Lin Langyi no longer had to turn over in bed at night to find a pair of soft, long ears on her left, loose wings on her right, and a snake's tail wrapped around her waist.

We need to get a bigger bed.

...

Her research finally came to light because while the elite team was stationed at Ying Shan Lake, they lost two battles at the border. The elite team returned to the front lines and captured two prisoners on their next mission.

Interestingly, both of them had used drugs that catalyze short-term enhancements to improve their physical fitness, and one of them, like Bian Shu, was a beta-to-alpha.

This news immediately caused a huge uproar.

The Empire has a ban, but the enemy has not. Not to mention that the same alpha can quickly increase their combat power after "taking drugs," even when recruiting soldiers, selecting only from the much smaller alpha population will put them behind the enemy in selecting talent from a wide range of ABO genders.

Lin Langyi was invited to interview and give presentations by the Empire's official media one after another. The winds changed, and top universities with strengths in genetic engineering invited Lin Langyi to lead some research projects with their high-level talent introduction policies.

She was still working at Ying Shan Lake, going back and forth between the lab and the break room every day. The difference was that the team at Ying Shan Lake had grown considerably. Sometimes, she would eagerly ask, "Professor, can we skip the regular meeting this week?" and then a student from her team would plead with even more hopeful eyes, "Professor Lin, can the report be postponed for another week?"

*

Lin Langyi is dedicated to her work and enjoys her hobbies after get off work. She added a lot of artificial branches and pebbles to the snake breeding box in her room, truly transforming herself from an amateur snake breeder into someone who looks more and more professional.

A year has passed, and it's Christmas again. The "TV set cloth" on the animal enclosure has been replaced with a red veil with neat and fine stitches. At first glance, it looks like the wedding veil that was placed on the heads of newlyweds on their wedding day in history.

Lin Langyi certainly didn't have that skill; her buttons were always sewn on by a skillful alpha, and she never did needlework herself.

At first, there were some clumsy people in this group, like Cheng Yanjin, who could do things that were extremely sarcastic, such as tearing the buttons off her shirt and then taking the damaged clothes to his good brothers for help to sew them back on.

But the good brothers were all more wicked and petty than the next, so petty that they couldn't even tolerate the eye of a button.

After much painful reflection, Cheng Yanjin finally decided to rely on himself and practiced cooking and sewing buttons, skills that require care and patience.

However, his skills, acquired later in life, still couldn't compare to those of the original commander.

Yuan Chuyu was the first to successfully request leave and return to Yingshan Lake.

Lin Langyi was the last to come out of the laboratory, and it was already late at night. Just like the first time they met in this place, Yuan Chuyu was sitting on the bench outside the door, quietly and gently holding the same insulated box and waiting for her.

He hadn't even had time to take off his military uniform when he turned around, smiled at her, and called out softly, "Zhuzhu, come and eat."

"Why are you back? Didn't you all take all your annual leave? Did you escape?" Lin Langyi asked, but her body language betrayed her as she sat down next to him and took the lunchbox.

Yuan Chuyu used the lid of the insulated box as a bone plate for her, bringing it over every time she identified a fish bone so she could spit it out onto it.

He said, "The military region has always been very concerned about our physical and mental health."

Lin Langyi understood the implied meaning behind those casual words. She adjusted her posture, turned around, and carefully scanned him from head to toe:

Where do you feel unwell?

Haven't these people already exhausted all avenues for using sick leave as an excuse? Why would the military region still grant sick leave?

She looked at him again and suddenly realized that he hadn't touched his chopsticks since the two of them started eating. At first, she thought that he had already eaten beforehand because it was so late, but now that she looked at him again, compared to before... he did look a bit thinner.

Yuan Chuyu used his fingers to remove a soft fishbone stuck to her lower lip, twirled it on his fingertip, and said in a very soft voice, "I may need to hibernate and molt."

Lin Langyi paused for a moment, looking at his barely noticeable vertical pupils.

Unlike the last time they met, when no one else was around, he unguardedly revealed his dangerous yet captivating vertical pupils in front of her. A thin line, like the tip of a knife, clearly separated them in the middle, occasionally expanding or contracting depending on the light, adding a touch of aggressive allure to his originally refined and aloof temperament.

But now, although his pupils are still vertical, his clear pupils are somewhat misty, as if covered with a thin layer of sand, making them appear hazy and indistinct.

Before hibernating and shedding its skin, the snake begins to cover its eyes.

Lin Langyi unconsciously stopped eating. Yuan Chuyu blinked, and as if to see her face more clearly, he lowered his head and closed the distance between them. Then he slowly blinked at her again, his dark and thick eyelashes drooping obediently, looking incredibly well-behaved.

They had just met last year. Perhaps because he was around her, even his fertile period was chaotic. He was like a snake that didn't hibernate and was mating every day. But he spent the first half of the winter in the military region this year, so Yuan Chuyu returned to the physiological cycle that a snake should have.

"Are you going to hibernate?" Lin Langyi repeated blankly.

"Hmm." Yuan Chuyu still held the lid of the insulated box, gently resting his knees on her sides, and answered her question as if they were telepathically connected. "So it's not that I don't want to eat, Zhuzhu. I've been fasting for a while, so my appetite isn't very good and I can't eat much... I hope it hasn't affected your mood for eating, but I can stay by your side and keep you company. You can eat slowly."

"Don't you have the energy to eat?"

He lowered his eyes and didn't reply, but bent forward and gently rested his head on her shoulder as if he had no strength left.

Providing snakes with enclosures for hibernation and molting is a major undertaking.

Lin Langyi was a pragmatist; every day she considered what kind of stuffing to add to help snakes hibernate and molt, but Yuan Chuyu was clearly not.

He loved to bury himself in her belongings, letting her scent completely envelop him, preferably close to his skin. If there were no personal items, he would simply put them on himself.

The red veil on the terrarium was made from a cape that Lin Langyi had bought at a scenic spot for taking photos during her previous trip. She had thrown it into the back of the dressing room, where it was dragged out by a snake.

As soon as she opened the closet, she saw Snake emerge from its bright red cloak with a flat, black head, hissing incessantly at her.

Yuan Chuyu could no longer maintain his human form. His eyesight was getting worse every day, as if covered by a film, and his vision was rapidly declining. Even in this situation, he still had to work through the night to sew this wedding veil for himself stitch by stitch before he could see completely. The embroidery was made of gold thread, and the four corners were tied with love knots and tassels.

A red veil caused the usually skillful commander to prick his fingers until they were covered in tiny needle marks.

But he liked it so much that he reverently placed the red veil over the top of the enclosure.

Everyone who has visited Lin Langyi's lounge has praised the striking red veil, saying that it uses "traditional" stitching and is very authentic. They never expected that researcher Lin would be such a retro, old-fashioned lifestyle artist in private.

Lin Langyi: ...Haha, ah yes, yes, you flatter me.

Yuan Chuyu had set up a terrarium for himself, but what he liked most every day was to leisurely climb onto her bed, swim from the foot of the bed to the head, and finally stick his head out from under the covers to breathe, and then sleep with her on the same pillow.

He began to reduce his half-human, half-snake appearance.

Because his half-human, half-snake form made his skin increasingly dull, like a piece of cold jade forgotten in a corner, covered in dust.

However, Yuan Chuyu was very concerned about his appearance. In the past, he could shamelessly show off his beautiful abs and waistline, but now he was covered up every minute, like a respectable husband who never left his home.

Even the snake-like creature, with its all-black scales, had lost its former luster, as if it were on its last breath.

So he began to be unwilling to show his "unattractive" self in front of her.

During the day, Yuan Chuyu transforms into a snake and hides inside a coconut shell. Because he has grown a bit bigger, he needs to work very hard to completely curl up inside the coconut shell.

Lin Langyi returned early one time and saw him frantically trying to escape into a coconut shell, accidentally knocking the shell away a few inches. Only after he had finally managed to get inside did Lin Langyi stand in front of the enclosure and ask:

Isn't it crowded?

The tip of its tail, which hadn't had time to retract, swayed outside the coconut shell, not pushing or squeezing.

"Next time we'll get you a bigger one. We'll check the size again next spring after you shed your skin and grow bigger."

Its tail curls up and then obediently falls down again—that's good, that's good.

"Okay, sure." Lin Lang agreed.

The snake was in a good mood for a while, but then it suddenly remembered that its tail was also dull and lifeless, and it quickly retracted it in the next second.

The coconut shell, unable to bear the weight, wobbled.

Yuan Chuyu was in a hurry to stuff the tip of his tail inside, but that little bit kept popping out. He had no choice but to use the snake body on the outer edge of the mosquito coil to press down the tip of his tail, and only then did he successfully stuff himself completely into the coconut shell and hide.

The commander's US service is getting more and more serious every day.

So even when sleeping with her at night, Yuan Chuyu would wait until the lights were off and her breathing became calm and even before he quietly poked his head out of the coconut shell, carefully washed himself in the orange dish, dried his body with a clean cotton cloth, and then silently slipped into her bed to sleep close to her.

Before Lin Langyi woke up in the early morning, the snake had already returned to the coconut shell and was dozing off.

If he could, he would wish that snakes could also "sleep with makeup on."

Make sure your loved one can't see you at your darkest and most gloomy.

A week later, the snake could no longer crawl. He quietly curled up in the coconut shell. One morning, Lin Langyi called his name as usual, but did not hear a "rustling" sound in response.

She stopped at the doorway, turned her head and stared at the red cover on top of the terrarium for a long, long time.

Lin Langyi once said that if you want to keep a pet, you should keep a simple one, suitable for a lazy person like her who just wants to relax after leaving the lab. No need to walk it, no need to take care of it, it doesn't bark much, and it's quiet.

But it's really too quiet now.

It's like taking a nap in an old apartment building when you were a child, with the fan whirring and the occasional sound of marbles falling from upstairs, and the shouts of old people coming from the alley outside... Once you get used to all of this, you'll feel peaceful and at ease.

Lin Langyi didn't say anything more. She closed the door to the lounge and, as always, went straight into the laboratory.

Although it's a bit unfamiliar here, it doesn't matter, because it seems that Xi Zhiyue and his group made an appointment, and the group took turns going to Yingshan Lake at different times during their annual leave.

Life went on in a fairly lively cycle. Lin Langyi would change the water in Yuan Chuyu's enclosure every day. However, every day, the black jade-like snake remained motionless in the coconut shell, without any change.

But this had become a habit for her. Yuan Chuyu was a very clean snake, a bit of a germaphobe, who needed to take a bath twice a day, so Lin Langyi remembered this every day.

One day, Ying Shan Lake experienced a power outage due to a line malfunction, but the power was quickly restored, allowing Lin Langyi to continue his experiment.

But after only half an hour, Lin Langyi suddenly exclaimed "Ah!" and immediately handed over her work to her assistant. After giving a brief explanation, she walked out.

All the labs have their own dedicated circuits, but the rest area does not.

Lin Langyi walked towards her rest room. As soon as she entered, she reached out and touched the wall to turn on the switch, but it was still completely dark.

She restarted the control panel, and the room instantly lit up.

Her first glance fell on the enclosure; the thermostat for the hot and cold zones was plugged in and needed to be restarted.

The red lid fell onto the table.

The cotton "bath towel" inside had water stains of varying shades.

Lin Langyi paused, then slowly turned her gaze to her bed.

There was a slight bulge under the neatly laid-out bedding.

She slowly walked over, and quietly lifted a corner of the blanket, revealing a snake coiled up like a mosquito coil.

He was probably tired; the noise didn't wake him, and he remained soundly asleep with his eyes closed.

Lin Langyi hooked the tip of his tail with her finger.

He moved very slightly.

Lin Langyi smiled faintly, not wanting to disturb him, she covered herself with the blanket and went back to the lab to continue her work.

It wasn't until the third day that Yuan Chuyu began to regain simple movements, such as weakly and helplessly clinging to her arm.

He hasn't fully recovered yet and needs someone to support him, otherwise he'll fall.

In addition, Yuan Chuyu's eyes remained cloudy for a long time, only recently becoming clearer day by day.

The molting process was very slow. He would return to the enclosure during the day while she was in the lab and rub the enrichment items to speed up the molting process. At night, he would carefully place only the freshly molted head next to her.

Peeling away the old skin reveals scales underneath that are even more lustrous, a beautiful, translucent black.

Yuan Chuyu still refused to eat, which is normal for snakes during molting. Lin Langyi was becoming more and more skilled at raising snakes and had developed a psychological expectation of all of this.

She kept a close eye on his molting progress, prepared plenty of rocks and pieces of wood with smoothed edges for him, and ensured he had warm water at the right temperature when he got stuck, fearing he might dry out his tail or go blind. She carefully checked the condition of his eyes and tail during the molting process.

Yuan Chuyu was very persistent with her. Snakes are usually a bit irritable during the molting period, but he could only calm down when he was around her. He would then tirelessly climb onto her body, place his small flat head on her skin, and use his snake senses to carefully perceive her presence.

But! When he needed her the most, that bunch of damned bastards in the squad appeared one after another in front of Lin Langyi, posing and trying to get their attention!

Xi Zhiyue made several mini rabbits out of rabbit fur to remember her loved ones; Bian Shuren couldn't get leave, so he sent over a pair of brand-new hollowed-out handmade pumpkin lanterns; Cheng Yanjin got anxious and ran back to say that he also sheds a lot of dog hair!

Yuan Chuyu, crawling in the shadows, couldn't stop these two conspicuous figures. He was currently trapped in a special period, and a snake was observing him in the dark all day long. He also regretted in the gloom that he wasn't a venomous snake.

He desperately accelerated his molting process, as if trying to force growth, until the process was finally nearing its end. By then, his energy had mostly recovered, allowing him to greet Lin Langyi when she returned.

Now he is a brand new, beautiful snake!

I can use Manli's body to entangle her again!

Lin Langyi was also very happy: "You've finished your molting period, right?"

Yes, but whenever he is unwell, Zhuzhu is always especially indulgent and gentle. He missed a lot while he was asleep before, so of course he can't bear to miss it now.

At least I can do some bad things during these few days.

Yuan Chuyu seemingly unintentionally rolled out the coconut shell, and the half-human, half-snake-like man obediently coiled his tail around her legs, playing a game with her using the tip of his tail.

Lin Langyi: "Hey, speaking of which, we promised to get you a new coconut shell."

After shedding his skin, Yuan Chuyu's face was radiant and his eyebrows relaxed. His skin was now as clear and beautiful as if it had been thoroughly hydrated, with the skin and bones tightly attached, making him look like a demon that had stepped out of a painting.

He lightly nuzzled her leg with his tail and said with a smile, "Then do you want to... measure me?"

“I’ve measured it. I have data on your hibernation and after you molt. The coconut shell needs to be custom-made, not too big or too small, as too much open space is not good for snakes.”

"I remember Bian Shu is very good at doing these things." He still had that gentle look on his face. "Could you please ask him for a favor?"

He gestured: "It's very simple, just like a pumpkin shape like a bedside table, that's all. Thanks."

You like making handmade gifts, right? Let me show you how!

But Lin Langyi was very perceptive. These kinds of petty tricks between rivals to annoy each other had been commonplace since the Ying Shan Lake Zoo opened. She retorted, "Is Bian Shubai working for you?"

“Alright, if it’s inconvenient for him, then forget it.” Yuan Chuyu was adept at reading people’s expressions, and immediately withdrew his request, changing the subject instead, “Can I borrow the lab tomorrow?”

"No problem," Lin Langyi readily agreed.

the next day……

Lin Langyi was greatly shocked to see Yuan Chuyu collect the shed skin and intend to make it into a specimen. She asked:

"Yuan Chuyu, you have this kind of collecting obsession?"

Early in the morning, Yuan Chuyu snuggled up to her arm and went into the lab. He borrowed some materials and made a specimen out of the skin, which he then put in his notebook.

"Oh? Yuan Chuyu, you even keep a journal?"

Lin Langyi picked up the notebook and flipped through it quickly, seeing:

[Commemorating my first molt with Zhuzhu by my side.]

Lin Langyi: ...

Turn the page.

It's been a long time since we last met. The scent of her on the hat I took with me the last time we met was very faint now. I felt a little disappointed.

Lin Langyi glanced at him slowly. The other man looked miserable and pitiful, truly like a widower.

Turn it over again:

I miss her so much, I miss her so much, I miss her so much...

The next page was a whole page of her name.

Lin Langyi slammed the book shut, glanced at him a few times, and silently returned it to Yuan Chuyu.

Yuan Chuyu accepted it with her head bowed and eyes lowered, looking quite docile, but the snake's tail secretly draped over her shoe, like a small gesture of cautiously testing the intensity of the other person's anger during an argument.

Lin Langyi paused for a few seconds: "Pumpkin... I'll ask for you."

*

It was a week later when Bian Shu finally received the poorly made hollowed-out pumpkin lantern.

This pumpkin is so ugly it looks like it rotted in the ground. There are knife scars under the two dug-out "eyes," like weeping blood and tears.

Yuan Chuyu was overflowing with emotional value in front of Lin Langyi, like a love-struck fool praising the thoughtfulness of someone who gave him a cheap fake flower gift for Valentine's Day, repeating words of gratitude over and over again.

Finally, Lin Langyi hesitated, "He might have made a mistake... Uh, how about I give you the one on my bedside table?"

“That would be terrible.” Yuan Chuyu shook his head, showing exceptional understanding. “If Bian Shu saw this in the room, he would be heartbroken, since it was made with such care.”

As he spoke, he tried to stick his tail into the eye of the Halloween pumpkin, but he only managed to stick it in a few inches before he hissed and pulled it back.

Lin Langyi looked over instantly.

Its tail seemed to be hurt, and it writhed wildly on the sheets like a tentacle that had been cut off in a panic.

"What's wrong?" She looked into the pumpkin's eyes and found that it was like a bare shell, without any smoothing or barbs, and the cuts were sharp and could easily cause scratches.

Lin Langyi: ...Never mind, you can use mine.

Yuan Chuyu held the tail in his arms and nodded with a faint smile.

...

Lin Langyi certainly wouldn't get angry over such a trivial matter of jealousy; she was more concerned about whether Yuan Chuyu's procedure for making specimens from the shed skin complied with laboratory standards.

Also, I hope that the lake and mountains are peaceful and tranquil every day, and that there are no strange noises or disturbances, such as the commotion outside the door that I don't know what's going on.

Lin Langyi flung open the door, revealing an automatic cleaning robot scurrying about in the hallway. A large, open hard panel stood before it, its "stomach" held in its hands, displaying its internal organs one by one to everyone along the way.

"There's a dog! There's a dog!"

Cheng Yanjin, who was blocking the robot's path, impatiently patted its shoulder: "Stop yelling, I'm giving you a stomach pump."

"There's a dog! There's a dog!"

"Shut up!"

"Forest--"

Cheng Yanjin was horrified and slapped the robot to cover its mouth, but unexpectedly, its jaw was detachable and dislocated with a "crash." The robot screamed incessantly, "Researcher Lin—!"

"What are you doing?" Lin Langyi stood at the door with her arms crossed, and the sliding door behind her slowly closed.

Cheng Yanjin felt a chill run down his spine as soon as he heard her voice, and couldn't help but want to touch his head to see if his ears had been scared into flattened ears.

The automatic cleaning robot darted to her like a little mouse, rushing over and pouring out its grievances:

Every day when I open my stomach, it's full of dog hair!

I've never seen a dog shed so much!

It was a robot that worked diligently, but today its parts got tangled in clumps of dog hair after cleaning, forcing it to stand alone in the corridor reporting the error. No one heard it for a long time, so it could only pace back and forth in the corridor in frustration, shouting, "There's a dog! There's a dog!"

That's how they finally managed to call the person over.

Lin Langyi looked at Cheng Yanjin, who was still squatting on the ground, not daring to utter a sound.

He stammered, "I... I heard cries for help and I'm already reassembling its parts..."

Robot: "We need to add engine oil."

Cheng Yanjin: "I'll go, I'll go."

“I go every week.”

Cheng Yanjin's eyebrows twitched, and he squeezed out a few words: "Go, once a day is fine, I'll go until you die."

The robot then reluctantly gave up.

Cheng Yanjin didn't really care about being angrily called a dog by the robot. He cherished every opportunity to come to Yingshan Lake. If he was just scolded by the robot for this, it was no big deal.

If we're really talking about something, it's that sinister snake, Yuan Chuyu, who's always trying to trip him up.

Cheng Yanjin pretended not to see the black tail tip that Lin Langyi was showing off in her pocket. Honestly, he didn't know why Zhuzhu liked snake tails standing up. What was the difference between this and taunting him with a pinky finger? He was sure that Yuan Chuyu's tail was exactly what he meant when he raised it!

It's like they're acting like no one has a tail.

Cheng Yanjin: "Zhuzhu, you work hard doing experiments every day. Let me pet your tail tonight."

He pointed to his uncontrollable tail behind him, and Lin Langyi suddenly saw a blurry image of it shaking wildly like a whirlwind.

The tail hit the person quite hard. Lin Langyi intermittently reflected on her health problems caused by spending all her time in the laboratory, but after get off work, she could only move one of her body and heart... Thinking about it this way, it's okay.

After get off work, she called Cheng Yanjin into her room.

Cheng Yanjin had already finished his bath, especially his fluffy tail, which he had scrubbed several times with a strong-smelling shower gel, and finally blow-dried himself until it was fluffy.

"Come here." Lin Langyi patted her thigh.

Cheng Yanjin's clear, round eyes widened, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the snake coiled up in the box, its spirit lingering, without uttering a sound.

He didn't care. When Lin Langyi called him a second time, Cheng Yanjin responded immediately.

His ears were already perked up easily, looking majestic. He trembled with excitement when he heard his master call him. He took two steps to her and said shyly, "Yes, Zhuzhu, I'm here. And then?"

Lin Langyi reclined on the chair like the old grand tutor and patted his thigh.

Cheng Yanjin quickly crouched down like a well-trained house dog, and with one hand, he rolled up her trouser leg.

Inside the enclosure, a snake with its forequarters raised high suddenly slammed its tail down, revealing its bright white fangs.

Lin Langyi: Cheng Yanjin, what are you doing?

"Hmm?" Cheng Yanjin's face flushed, and he swallowed hard... he felt a little like licking it.

Lin Langyi raised her hand and spun it in the air: "Tail facing me."

Two minutes later, Cheng Yanjin stood with his back to Lin Langyi, looking dejected. His ears, which had been so lively just moments before, were drooping, and only his damned, perpetually uncontrollable tail was still wagging wildly.

The "bang bang bang" sound rang out rhythmically.

Lin Langyi lay comfortably on the chair, and the tail was right next to her leg.

"Heavier."

"Make sure you're in the right spot."

"Yes, yes, that's the right amount of pressure. Give me a tap on my gallbladder meridian."

[Author's Note]

The short play is finished!

Thank you for your continued support, dear readers! Wishing you all a prosperous and successful Year of the Snake!

(The End)