Chapter 23 Cannon Fodder Ex-Boyfriend 23 Help me with an experiment...

Soon, Li Qingran heard the sound of the doorknob turning. The gears inside the lock cylinder meshed together and then slowly separated, making a series of subtle friction sounds.

The sound wasn't loud, somewhat like the sound of ropes winding around a wheel. As the ropes tightened, the large, gleaming sword on the guillotine rose to its highest point, awaiting the executioner's command to deliver the final judgment on the criminals below.

Li Qingran watched as the door was pushed open.

As he expected, the first thing he saw was Gu Shiyu's figure.

Alpha must have gone to find Su Jingyi right after hanging up the phone, and without having time to freshen up, he sped all the way here with his entourage.

Her hair was disheveled, and her pale face was covered with obvious raindrops. There were even a few mud splatters on the hem of her black trench coat.

Li Qingran guessed that after getting out of the car, he probably didn't use an umbrella, but instead went straight into the rain and knocked on the gate of the Jiang family's old manor.

Alpha looked somewhat dazed, as if he was shocked by the scene in the room, or perhaps he was completely overwhelmed by the two equally strong Alph pheromones in the room the moment the door opened, and his brain didn't have time to react before he entered a state of dizziness.

His Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably several times, and his pupils dilated for several seconds. The instinctive desire and fighting spirit made him want to rush into the house and knock down the two ungrateful Alphas who were still releasing pheromones.

Control, suppress, violently counter with pheromones, until they all completely submit to you.

Before Gu Shiyu could even take a step into the house, a cool breeze swept over him, taking away the hazy view in front of him and revealing the scene inside the house without reservation.

As far as the eye could see, the black-haired, gray-eyed youth was leaning against the armrest of the sofa, whether squeezed by the Alpha next to him or voluntarily. He tilted his head slightly, and his gray eyes, looking up, were filled with obvious water, like a pool of spring water, with a bright red extending towards the corner of his eyes as the light rippled.

He seemed to feel no discomfort whatsoever, even though he was right in the center of the pheromone storm. There wasn't a trace of pain on his face. In fact, his eyes were slightly curved, and his slightly swollen lips were slightly parted, sticking out a pink tongue tip towards the Alpha above him, enticing the other to willingly transform into a fish and bite the bait he casually tossed down.

Gu Shiyu watched as the Alpha, who was almost completely enveloping Li Qingran, carefully leaned down and rubbed his cheek with the tip of his nose.

Li Qingran showed no resistance whatsoever. He even reached out and patted the Alpha's head as a reward. Between his long, slender, and fair fingers, a dark green gemstone ring looked exceptionally eye-catching...

Gu Shiyu felt a wave of fear of AIDS wash over her, and she froze on the spot.

No... is this really right?

Aren't they two Alphas? Shouldn't pheromones repel and hate each other? How can they be so intimately close together, even doing...

Gu Shiyu's gaze involuntarily fell on Li Qingran's slightly parted lips, where he saw a clear tooth mark on the glistening lips.

Did he bite himself? Or did Jiang Siran bite him?

What would have happened in this room if he hadn't come in?

Gu Shiyu didn't think any further, nor did he dare to.

He felt like his brain had been burned by the pheromones of the two Alphas. While he couldn't understand Li Qingran and Jiang Siran, a surprised thought came from deep in his mind: "So it really works this way."

"..."

What is he thinking?!

Inside the room, the scents of two pheromones, both suppressing and intertwining, grew increasingly intense, almost suffocating the air.

Gu Shiyu gritted his teeth and took two steps back with all his might. As he retreated, the heavy door that concealed all the romance and ambiguity was closed again.

"Bang!"

The irritating smell finally disappeared from his sight, but Gu Shiyu's heart was still beating fast and his mind was completely blank.

He kept the door closed, his fingers gripping the doorknob tightly, his head slightly lowered, his slightly damp black hair obscuring most of his expression, making his face appear even paler and the red on his lips even more vivid.

"I'm going out for a bit."

After a long while, Gu Shiyu finally let go.

He didn't look up or even glance at Su Jingyi before turning and leaving the dark and oppressive corridor.

The creaking sound rang out again, but only once.

Su Jingyi remained rooted to the spot, staring at the door that, even though Gu Shiyu had closed it, was still sending him a whiff of icy pheromones mixed with the smell of gunpowder. His amber eyes seemed frozen, unable to move.

At the same time, he felt that his mind was clearer than ever before. While thinking about how to face Li Qingran, he could still spare a bit of attention to calculate how many times an Alpha had done this.

The first time was with that strawberry-flavored Omega. His approach was to send the Omega abroad and then convince himself that "he was the one who was always chatting with the Alpha" so that he could pretend nothing had happened and happily go to the appointment.

The second time was with Qi Ziyan. He also used the fact that the Omega couldn't control himself during the bonding phase, and that Li Qingran hadn't marked him, to tell himself that the Alpha still belonged to him alone, and that the other person still loved him. He didn't even pursue Qi Ziyan's responsibility.

The third time was still Qi Ziyan. Even though he knew Alpha was his boyfriend, he still chose to betray their friendship of so many years. He knelt in front of his boyfriend, who was in his vulnerable period, and begged Li Qingran to agree to let him offer himself to help Alpha get through his vulnerable period.

Su Jingyi didn't want to blame Li Qingran for this. It was normal for him to lose control of his behavior during his susceptible period. The only one at fault was Qi Ziyan.

So he chose to leave directly and began planning to take Li Qingran away to a place far from the city, where it would just be the two of them.

In this way, they would only have each other left, and could only have each other.

But before he could even finish planning and was choosing clothes to go with Li Qingran, a new person appeared next to Alpha.

He was still an Alpha, but unlike the previous Omega, he was strong and violent. Before Su Jingyi was ready, he brought Li Qingran to his lair.

Will he choose to leave quietly again this time?

Su Jingyi stared at the heavy door and blinked twice.

Should we continue to pretend nothing happened? Should we keep whitewashing the situation? Will this even work?

It's no use!

Su Jingyi knew perfectly well...

The door was pushed open again.

Li Qingran reached out and pushed away Jiang Siran's face, then looked up at the door.

Su Jingyi was standing there looking back at him.

His face was pale, and his golden hair was slightly damp, like a dead sea under the setting sun—golden, dazzling, yet still lifeless.

When Li Qingran saw him smile at her, the corners of her mouth were stiff and lifeless, like a puppet on strings, completely failing to affect the Omega's eyes, which were so calm they were now just a desolate wasteland.

"Brother." In the air around them, which was about to freeze, Su Jingyi looked at Li Qingran and spoke slowly. His voice was very soft, but it was very clear in the silent room.

He said, "Did I bother you?"

Li Qingran did not speak.

Su Jingyi didn't care about Alpha's silence. He slowly walked into the room, came to the sofa, and his gaze swept directly over Jiang Siran and landed on Li Qingran's face. He paused, then continued downwards until he saw a touch of dark green between her fair skin before stopping.

For some unknown reason, he suddenly burst out laughing. The smile on his lips deepened with the laughter, but his eyes grew increasingly dark and unfathomable.

"I remember we bought a pair of rings when we first started dating."

Su Jingyi said softly, "But later you said it was inconvenient to do experiments with the ring on, so you took it off. I was in a bad mood at the time, and when I saw you weren't wearing it, I took it off too. Now that I think about it, I should have insisted that you wear it all the time."

This way, not so many ungrateful people would rush at him, and the situation where the Alpha is wearing someone else's ring wouldn't exist...

Omega leaned slightly forward and extended her fingertip toward Li Qingran, seemingly wanting to touch the ring on his hand.

Jiang Siran, standing beside Li Qingran, stood in front of him like a puppy whose beloved bone was about to be stolen, and grabbed his hand.

The dark green ring was completely obscured by another hand with distinct knuckles, and Su Jingyi's fingertips froze in mid-air.

He seemed to only then realize that there was another person beside Li Qingran, blinking in surprise before speaking in a gentle tone.

"Who are you?"

Omega's obviously feigned ignorance did not escape Jiang Siran's notice, especially since Su Jingyi already knew his identity when he invited him before.

Jiang Siran didn't believe that Su Jingyi wouldn't send someone to investigate his background after returning home, so the other party must know him. At this moment, he pretended to be a stranger, as if he couldn't see him, just to make him feel embarrassed and ashamed as soon as possible with this attitude of ignoring him, so that Jiang Siran would be intimidated before the two of them actually faced each other.

This is a common tactic used by the Omega wife in wealthy families to deal with mistresses.

But Jiang Siran is not an Omega, and he doesn't see himself as the third party between Li Qingran and Su Jingyi. In fact, he acts more like the rightful wife than the rightful wife does.

Seeing this, Jiang Siran snorted coldly, moving even closer to Li Qingran, his dark green eyes fixed on the Omega before him like a venomous snake.

"Young Master Su is truly forgetful; he's already forgotten about your broken promise so quickly."

His tone was clearly aggressive, and his words were full of provocation.

Li Qingran felt like he was about to jump up and point his finger at Su Jingyi's nose, saying, "Come on! Let's go outside and fight. Whoever wins, Li Qingran will be their boyfriend!"

This is a typical way Alpha handles problems.

Just as Jiang Siran wasn't an Omega, Su Jingyi wasn't an Alpha either. So, faced with the other's provocation, the Omega standing in front of the sofa simply tilted his head slightly and replied in a very innocent tone, "Is that so?"

Then, without looking at Jiang Siran again, he looked directly at Li Qingran and said:

"Brother, are you sure you don't want to introduce me to him?"

Jiang Siran, ignoring who he was asking about, rolled her eyes and said, "What's there to introduce? Didn't you see he's wearing my..."

"alright."

Before Jiang Siran could say anything more that would cause Su Jingyi to have a mental breakdown, Li Qingran interrupted him. Then, seeing Jiang Siran's eyes instantly turn aggrieved, she gently patted the back of his hand to comfort him.

Do you remember what we agreed on before?

"But—" Jiang Siran was still unwilling, but under Li Qingran's persistent gaze, he gradually gave in. "Fine, I won't say anything more. I'm not like some people who go back on their promises!"

Jiang Siran spoke, reluctantly getting up from the sofa.

"I'll be right outside. Call me immediately if anything happens."

"Okay." Li Qingran smiled at Jiang Siran, her smile slightly dazzling in the firelight, almost making Jiang Siran sit back down.

However, remembering what he had just said, Jiang Siran gritted his teeth and turned to walk towards the door.

The wooden door, which had been unusually busy today, opened again and then closed once more.

With a dull thud as the door locked, only Li Qingran and Su Jingyi remained in the room, which still reeked of gunpowder.

Su Jingyi watched as Li Qingran took off the dark green ring from her middle finger and placed it in a wooden box on the table next to her. Then she looked up and saw orange flames dancing in her gray eyes, but surprisingly, Su Jingyi did not feel any warmth from them.

Su Jingyi suddenly felt that the Alpha in front of him was somewhat unfamiliar.

Is it because we haven't been seeing each other much lately?

Or has the Alpha truly changed his mind, fallen in love with someone else, and is now leaving him, leaving him forever...?

Omega's fingertips trembled uncontrollably as he looked at Li Qingran's hand. Even though the ring had been removed, he could still feel a faint green tinge between her white knuckles, like a snake coiling there, neither gone nor willing to leave.

How could he do this to him...?

She was unwilling to label him, but she could accept comfort from others.

Tell him to shut up, while you can smile and wait for someone else's answer.

She was unwilling to wear his ring, yet now she allows others to leave a mark on his finger.

Why?

On what grounds?!

Why did the Alpha leave so quickly after provoking him, leaving him alone to struggle and suffocate in this swamp of emotions until he died?

"No..." Su Jingyi heard his own voice trembling.

"Brother, you can't."

"You can't leave me, you're mine, you'll always be mine!"

"Boom—"

The rain outside was pouring down harder, but the temperature inside the room was rising instead of falling because of the fireplace.

Amidst the flickering firelight, on the gray-black floor, the slender figure that had been standing there drifted down to Alpha's feet like a leaf struck by a heavy rain amidst the thunder.

He reached out and grabbed Li Qingran's finger that had worn the ring, and before she could react, he shoved it into his mouth.

The long, slender fingers violently stabbed into his throat. The urge to gag clouded the Omega's amber eyes, but even so, he did not spit out the Alpha's fingers.

They even pushed it in deeper.

The rounded fingertips stimulated the Omega to swallow repeatedly, and saliva was secreted in the tender mouth. The well-defined fingers became moist under the tongue, and finally, thanks to the Omega's efforts, a clear teeth mark appeared at the bottom of the finger that had not left a trace.

You are mine!

Even if it's a lie or a betrayal, it still has to be his!

"Then help me with an experiment."

Just as Omega was about to deepen the mark he had just left on the Alpha's hand, a hand that seemed to have been soaking in ice water for a long time suddenly grabbed his chin.

The cool touch stopped the Omega's primal biting motion. The released fingers were pulled out of his mouth, a silver thread flashing in mid-air. The next second, Su Jingyi unconsciously lifted his drowsy head with the force of the pressure on his chin.

As he struggled to make out the gray eyes before him, a flash of white light suddenly appeared outside the window, illuminating the room and allowing Su Jingyi to see the Alpha's expression. He also saw his own reflection, which had instantly become wet, in those gray eyes.

Another thunderclap exploded over the manor.

Amidst the lightning and thunder, the sky seemed to have been torn open with a huge gash, pitch black, as if it were about to swallow the entire world.

Anxious.

struggle.

In the deathly silent room, a rich lemon scent quickly spread, and Li Qingran's voice also reached the Alpha's ears through the crack in the door.

"Jiang Siran!"

The next second.

Both hands gripped the doorknob at the same time.

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Author's Note: Xiao Jiang: Come on! Let's fight. Whoever wins opens the door, okay? [Clenched fists]