Chasing Husband

The study in the old Shao family mansion was filled with the scent of leather and cigars. Shao Wei stood before his uncle Shao Zhenye's safe, his finger hovering over the combination dial. Ever since returning from the abandoned laboratory three days ago, this thought had been lingering in his mind: his uncle must know the truth about Number 9.

The combination was my mother's birthday. The safe made a soft click and the door opened.

In addition to some land deeds and jewelry, there was also a black folder with the words "Archive: Project Ω" printed on the cover. Shao Wei's fingers trembled slightly as he opened the first page -

A birth certificate for twin babies. Only one name was filled in: Shao Wei. But the handwritten note read, "Identical twins, second son transferred to the project team."

Shao Wei's breathing paused for a second. He quickly flipped to the next page, which contained a medical record: "Subjects 8 (Shao Wei) and 9 (Unnamed) have a 99.8% genetic similarity, and are expected to have a 97% pheromone compatibility... However, Subject 9 exhibits unusual aggression... Separation is recommended..."

The papers rustled in Shao Wei's hands. He had never imagined that Number 9, who looked so like him, was actually a blood-related twin. Even more disturbing, the documents revealed that the twins were deliberately separated at the age of three, one remaining in the Shao family to be raised as the heir, while the other...

"Keep looking down." A voice suddenly came from behind.

Shao Wei turned abruptly. His uncle, Shao Zhenye, was standing at the doorway, a glass of whiskey in his hand and a complicated expression on his face. He didn't call out for help, nor did he get angry. He simply walked slowly into the study and sat down on the leather sofa.

"You knew I would come to check." Shao Wei calmed down and held the document tightly in his hand.

Shao Zhenye took a sip of his wine and said, "I deliberately used your mother's birthday as the password." He gestured for Shao Wei to sit down. "It's time to tell you the truth."

The truth was as brutal as Shao Wei had suspected. The "Twin Alpha Project" required identical twins as the perfect experimental group. Mrs. Shao was forced to undergo an embryo splitting experiment, resulting in the birth of Shao Wei and his twin brother. However, when the two children were three years old, the younger brother displayed an unhealthy attachment to Shao Wei and exhibited aggressive tendencies, leading the project team to deem them a "risky pairing."

"They wanted to get rid of him directly," Shao Zhenye said, twirling his wine glass. "I insisted on giving him a chance to live. He was secretly sent abroad for upbringing and only returned when he reached adulthood."

Shao Wei's chest tightened. "Where is he now? What's his name?"

"Shao Lin." Shao Zhenye put down his wine glass. "My 'adopted son', the current CEO of Shao Technology."

The name hit Shao Wei like a punch in the stomach. Shao Lin—the always silent young man who stood in the corner at family gatherings—quickly looked away whenever his eyes met his. It turned out it wasn't out of shyness, but...

"Does he know about our relationship?"

Shao Zhenye smiled bitterly: "Of course. And he hates me, hates you, and hates everyone who broke you up." He pointed at the document, "Continue to read the last page."

Shao Wei turned to the last page and found a recent surveillance report that recorded Shao Lin's abnormal behavior: secretly contacting Dr. Chen, hacking into the hospital database to retrieve Shao Wei's medical records, installing monitoring equipment in Siqi Company... The most disturbing thing was that the report mentioned that Shao Lin seemed to be able to sense Shao Wei's emotional state, even from a distance.

"He also has a chip in his body?" Shao Wei looked up and asked.

Shao Zhenye nodded. "It's more primitive than yours, but functions similarly. Dr. Chen has been using it to monitor you." He sighed. "I should have stopped this long ago. But now... I'm afraid he's out of control."

Shao Wei's phone suddenly vibrated. It was a text message from Si Qi: "I have a severe headache. I'm going home first."

An ominous feeling crept up Shao Wei's spine. He immediately called Si Qi, but the phone rang for a long time without anyone answering.

"I have to go back." Shao Wei stood up and stuffed the documents into the inner pocket of his coat.

Shao Zhenye didn't stop him. When he reached the door, he just said, "Be careful of Shao Lin. He doesn't just want revenge on us... he also wants to take you back."

The rain began to fall again. As Shao Wei drove through the drizzle, his mind flashed back to strange yet familiar images—the cries of the forcibly separated twins in the laboratory, tiny hands slapping the glass, a voice repeating, "Brother, don't go"... Were these real memories? Or illusions created by the chip?

As the apartment elevator ascended, Shao Wei felt a strange palpitation in his heart, like some kind of warning. He quietly opened the door to his home. The house was pitch black, with only a ray of light peeking through the crack of the bedroom door.

"Siqi?" He called softly, but there was no response.

Pushing open the bedroom door, the sight before him froze Shao Wei's blood—Si Qi was kneeling on the bed, pinching his temples with both hands, his face covered in cold sweat, his expression contorted as if in immense pain. Even more terrifying, his eyes...his pupils were dilated to the limit, the color of his irises barely discernible.

"This time!" Shao Wei rushed forward.

Si Qi suddenly raised his head, his eyes like black holes locked onto Shao Wei. The next second, Shao Wei was thrown onto the bed by a huge force, and Si Qi's fingers were like iron pliers, pinching his throat.

"Si... Qi..." Shao Wei struggled to squeeze out the name, grabbing Si Qi's wrist with both hands, trying to break free. But the Alpha, who had been evenly matched in the past, was now incredibly powerful, as if controlled by some program, leaving only the instinct to attack.

As the oxygen level gradually decreased, Shao Wei's vision began to blur. On the verge of losing consciousness, he suddenly made a desperate move - he stopped struggling and reached out to gently stroke Si Qi's cheek.

"It's me..." he rasped, "your...matched..."

This sentence was like a code. Si Qi's pupils contracted, and his fingers loosened slightly. Shao Wei seized this fleeting opportunity and continued softly, "Do you remember the snow in Kyoto?"

Si Qi's body trembled violently, as if two minds were fighting for control. Finally, he let out a low growl that was almost a sob, suddenly let go of Shao Wei, stumbled back, and hit the wall.

"Go..." Si Qi squeezed out the word from between his teeth, "Go quickly...I can't control myself..."

Shao Wei coughed and sat up, watching Si Qi grab a glass and smash it hard on his head. Blood trickled down his forehead, but the darkness in his eyes faded only slightly.

"The chip... has been activated..." Si Qi said intermittently, "Shao Lin... he..."

Before he could finish his words, his body tensed again, and a dark tide swept back in his eyes. Si Qi let out a roar that was not human, turned and rushed out of the bedroom. When Shao Wei chased him out, he only heard the sound of the elevator door closing.

"Damn it!" Shao Wei punched the wall and immediately took out his phone to call the hospital security department, asking them to block all exits. Then he rushed to the stairwell—the elevator was too slow.

Shao Wei practically jumped down the fifteenth floor. As he pushed open the first-floor security door, he saw Si Qi stumbling toward the lobby exit. Even more disturbing, a woman in a black windbreaker approached him from the side, holding something shiny.

"Siqi! Behind!" Shao Wei shouted.

Si Qi turned around slowly, but it was too late. The woman quickly plunged the syringe into his neck and pushed the plunger. Si Qi's eyes widened for a moment, and then his body fell like a puppet with its strings cut. The woman easily caught him and dragged him towards a black SUV at the door.

Shao Wei rushed over with unprecedented speed, but he was still a step too late. The SUV's doors slammed shut, and the tires screeched as it drove away. He could only remember the last three digits of the license plate: K47.

The security guards finally arrived. Shao Wei didn't have time to explain and rushed to the underground garage. As he started the car, his cell phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number.

"If you want to see your Alpha, come alone to Warehouse 7 at the Old Pier," a female voice said. "Tell anyone, and the chip will detonate his glands."

Before the phone was hung up, Shao Wei heard a faint moan in the background - it was Si Qi's voice.

The rain intensified. As Shao Wei drove through the drizzle, countless possibilities raced through his mind. This was clearly a trap, but he had no choice. While waiting at a red light, he pulled out the file his uncle had given him and quickly scanned the section about Shao Lin, trying to find a clue.

A blurry photo caught his attention: young Shao Lin was standing in a laboratory, next to a young woman in a white coat. Her face was obscured by shadows, but the unique tattoo on her wrist was clearly visible - a snake wrapped around the number 9.

Where has he seen this tattoo?

A flashback hit him - when the woman in the black windbreaker gave Siqi the injection, she had an identical tattoo on the inside of her left wrist.

The dock area looked particularly desolate on the rainy night. Shao Wei parked his car near Warehouse No. 7 and approached quietly. The warehouse's side door was ajar, and a faint light shone from inside.

When he opened the door, the sight before him made Shao Wei's heart stop—Si Qi was tied to a metal chair, his head drooping limply, the blood on his forehead dried. The woman in the windbreaker stood beside him, wiping his face with a wet wipe.

"You're here so fast," the woman said without even looking up. "Close the door. There's a monitoring device outside."

Shao Wei closed the door cautiously but did not approach: "Who are you?"

The woman finally looked up, revealing a delicate yet cold face. She appeared to be in her early thirties, with black hair tied into a neat ponytail and eyes a rare amber color.

"Li Wei. Former assistant to the Watchers, now a fugitive." She briefly introduced herself, then pulled up her left sleeve, revealing the snake and number 9 tattoo on the inside of her wrist. "Like you, a product of an experiment. But I'm an Omega, designed to serve an Alpha."

Shao Wei did not relax his vigilance: "Let Siqi go."

"No." Li Wei shook her head. "The chip is fully activated. He's in danger." She pointed to the surveillance screen in the corner, which displayed a map of Si Qi's brain activity. "Look at this area. It's like a switch has been flipped. Shao Lin's order is 'Kill Shao Wei.'"

This sentence made Shao Wei's stomach twist. Did his twin brother really hate him to this extent?

"Why help me?" Shao Wei looked straight into Li Wei's eyes.

Li Wei's lips curled up into an arc without a smile: "Who said I was helping you?" She walked to the table beside her and picked up another syringe. "I have a condition."

"What conditions?"

"All the data from the experiment back then. The original files from the Si and Shao families." Li Wei's eyes were like the pupils of a predator in the dim light. "I know Shao Zhenye showed you some of it, but it's far from all."

Shao Wei frowned: "What do you want those for?"

"Freedom." Li Wei said briefly, "Find the switch in my brain and destroy it." She shook the syringe, "This can temporarily block the chip signal, but it's only a temporary solution. I need the original design to completely remove it."

Shao Wei looked at the unconscious Si Qi, his chest tightening. He needed time to think, needed more information...

At this moment, Si Qi suddenly convulsed, and the belt binding him creaked under the strain. The brainwave pattern on the monitoring screen fluctuated violently, and the alarm blared shrilly.

"Damn it!" Li Wei quickly adjusted the infusion rate. "He's resisting control. This will accelerate the damage process of the chip!"

Shao Wei couldn't bear it any longer and rushed forward to grab Si Qi's hand: "Si Qi! Can you hear me? It's me!"

Si Qi's eyes snapped open, his pupils still unusually dilated, but seemingly able to focus briefly. His lips trembled as he struggled to squeeze out a few words: "...Study...Room...Floor..."

Then his body tensed again, and he let out a howl that was not human. Li Wei acted decisively and injected another dose of the drug into his vein. Si Qi gradually calmed down, but the waveform on the monitoring screen became more chaotic.

"There's no time." Li Wei said seriously, "Either agree to my terms, or watch him become a vegetable. The chip has begun to burn his synapses."

The sound of rain pounding on the iron roof was like drumbeats. Shao Wei looked at Si Qi's painful expression and knew he had no choice.

"I'll take you to get the files," he said finally, "but stabilize him first."

Li Wei nodded and turned to prepare more medicine. Shao Wei gently wiped the sweat from Si Qi's forehead and suddenly felt a weak pressure squeeze his fingers back - Si Qi was still here, still fighting.

And he will do whatever it takes to bring back his Alpha.

At that moment, the shadows in the corner of the warehouse suddenly shifted. Shao Wei looked up alertly and saw a slender figure stepping out of the darkness—blond hair, blue eyes, and a face identical to his own, albeit with a more sinister look.

"Brother." Shao Lin said softly, with a cold smile on his lips, "Long time no see."